12 Years a Slave

Funny thing at nearly every awards event this year. “12 Years a Slave” wins virtually nothing all night and then keeps ending up with Best Film. So odd that a film where the constituent parts aren’t deemed award-worthy is overall the greatest film of the year. This rarely happens.

Before you ask, yes Chiwetel Ejiofor won Best Actor at the Baftas, but that was due to a) British bias and b) the fact that Matthew McConaughey wasn’t even nominated, something I can only attribute to a blip in the matrix.

When it came to the Oscars, MM won for Actor, with Alfonso Cuaron winning for directing “Gravity”. And “Gravity” won a whole lot of other stuff. And then “12 Years a Slave” won Best Picture (fair enough, it got Best Supporting Actress as well, after the Jennifer Lawrence backlash grew too much).

I have nothing against “12 Years a Slave”, but I do wonder, particularly in America, if it had to win because of its subject matter. It is almost as though to reward “Gravity”, which is essentially a sci-fi story designed to make stomachs lurch and adrenal glands secrete, would somehow be disrespectful to the suffering of real-life slaves all those years ago. “Gravity” isn’t flawless (though it is ground-breaking), but “12 Years a Slave” isn’t flawless either.

Firstly, it is episodic, simply moving from event to event and slave owner to slave owner without really forming character arcs or developing any narrative thrust. There are a lot of cameos from actors that you know from other roles. You could argue that this structure is because it is a true story, but it also means that the lead character is passive in his own life; stuff simply happens to him and, by the nature of slavery, he has to put up with it.

Secondly, it focuses on Solomon Northup, a ‘free man’ who is kidnapped and taken away from everything he knows. There’s a recurring sense of injustice from Solomon that he shouldn’t be there because he has a wife and a family and a house and a job and can read and write. I don’t think there’s a strong enough sense from his character that this is equally unfair to all the slaves; it’s the same for the people born into it, who have never known anything different, as it is for him. Maybe that is just “Schindler’s List” syndrome, where you tell the story of the holocaust by looking at the German guy who saved Jewish people (being the exception that proves the rule), but I felt they could have done with more of Solomon acknowledging the suffering of other people too – people that he is never seen giving two shits about before he finds himself in the same situation as them. This to me should be the main lesson of the film – otherwise, he’s just one person surviving something horrible, like Sandra Bullock in space. All the other slaves are George Clooney.

Lastly, my main criticism of the film is that you don’t feel a significant amount of time passing within the story. If “12 Years” wasn’t right there in the title, I would’ve guessed the timeframe of this film was one or two years maximum. I wanted to feel like he’d been there over a decade in this awful situation, in order to get the full impact. I don’t want cheesy aging make-up or the like, but I think a film can express a long period of time through its story-telling. “The Godfather” (just part 1, I mean) is a perfect example where you feel the weight of the years passing and the impact this has on people as they get older and go through what they go through. Don’t get me wrong, Solomon goes through some horrific shit, but twelve actual real years trapped there must’ve felt like five lifetimes.

That’s enough criticism though, because it is a good film and well worth anyone’s time. It is not an easy watch and it shouldn’t be. What it does achieve is making you feel the injustice of slavery right in your gut. That basic sense of ‘This is awful. How could anyone treat other people like this?’ is palpable. The best example of this is when a slave owner justifies himself by saying black people are basically animals who can’t read or write. A brave soul points out to him that any slave picking up a pen or a book would be severely beaten for their temerity.

It sounds obvious, but previous cosy versions of slavery (like “Gone with the Wind”) or stories that only focused on white people saving black people (“Amistad”, “Lincoln”) risk missing the true horror of being owned by someone who can do whatever they like to you. And they will work you to death. And in 99.9% of cases there is no rescue or happy ending. On a logical level, of course we know slavery is wrong. Really trying to empathise with it, however, is near impossible. That’s what this film is aiming for. The worst sufferings of slavery are personified in the character of Patsey (played by Lupita Nyong’o, Oscar winner) who becomes the object of her owner Epps’ sexual obsession. He’s played by Michael Fassbender. He regularly rapes her. Then his wife, who can’t control her husband, punishes Patsey for ‘seducing’ him. It’s ghastly.

As good as Ejiofor is at suffering with dignity as Solomon, the stand-out performance is Fassbender’s. Surprise, surprise. It’s simply the juicier part. Psychotic-tempered, filled with unknowable self-loathing and armed with a bible to justify whatever he does, Epps is a truly scary character because there are no limits on what he might do. The tension during his scenes is as exciting as anything in “Gravity”.

And so Steve McQueen, as director, must be mentioned as deserving a lot of credit. It’s a gorgeous-looking film and never for a moment dull. I’ve heard it described as the kind of film where watching it feels like doing your homework and that’s unfair. It doesn’t light my ass on fire like “Wolf of Wall Street” and it’s not a movie-movie like “Gravity”, but if the Academy feels the need to assuage its collective conscience by voting for the ‘slavery film’, I won’t begrudge it a shiny gold trophy. Cos that’s makes everything better, right?

Vulpine Descent

“Work hard, play hard – keep partying like it’s your job.”
David Guetta, ‘Play Hard’

Too early for film of the year 2014?

‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ is the finest collaboration between Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio so far. That is a high bar to hit considering how much I love ‘The Departed’ and ‘The Aviator’ (and ‘Shutter Island’ is pretty ace, too. ‘Gangs of New York’? Well, at least they tried).

The true story of stock-broker Jordan Belfort, the film shows his rise and fall with all the expected accompaniments – drink, drugs, women and an FBI investigation. The FBI are involved because all of Jordan’s vast, vast wealth is built on illegal means, ripping off peoples’ life savings with crappy investments and taking huge commissions time and again.
This might on the surface feel like familiar territory and plot-wise, we know all the usual sign-posts; The first wife who gets dropped when success hits, the second wife who’s more of a trophy than a real person, the descent into drug addiction, the dogged FBI agent who simply won’t quit. We know all the elements, but Scorsese, at the age of 71, can put them together into such thrilling, sugar-rush entertainment that it feels brand new. It is very much a ‘typical’ Scorsese film and God bless him for that. Anyone who enjoyed ‘Goodfellas’ or ‘Casino’ will be happy with another set of recognisable elements; the voice-over, the dark humour, the voyeuristic pleasure in watching utter debauchery.

The debates/criticisms around the film seem to be three-fold; regarding its length, its sexism and its ‘celebration’ of the amoral lifestyle. Let’s look at those now.

Firstly, the length. Yes, it is nearly three hours long. But to me, the time absolutely flew by, especially when compared with the slightly shorter ‘American Hustle’, which did drag at times. ‘TWOWS’ was so fast-moving, consistently funny and such a pleasure to watch that it in no way felt over-extended. We live in a time of marathoning TV boxsets and extended editions of yet another ‘Hobbit’ sequel. We can’t spare a few hours for the new Scorsese?

Secondly, the sexism. This is a tougher nut to crack. Is the film itself misogynistic or is it simply showing misogynistic characters? There is certainly more full-frontal female nudity than I’ve seen in a film for a long time, but it’s also true that these people were not living a 12A lifestyle and the film is being true to that. If the film pretended that no one ever takes their clothes off, that’s as crappy and false and gutless as the new trend of action films being cut down for the censors to the point where you can’t actually tell what has happened. So yes, the prostitute may be naked and being banged over a desk, but Jonah Hill* with his shirt rucked up and his trousers round his ankles, rutting away, isn’t exactly made to look good, you know.

*Ah, Jonah Hill. Who amongst us, watching ‘Superbad’ back in the day, would have bet on him having two Oscar nominations by 2014, or ever? He’s ridiculously good as Jordan’s second in command. The two of them riffing on non-alcoholic beer is one of my favourite scenes.

Which leads me to the third point of criticism, namely whether the film celebrates or denigrates these vultures, led by Jordan Belfort. And ultimately that is all down to us, the audience. Martin Scorsese clearly dislikes these characters and wants to show them in the least flattering light possible. Belfort discovered a way to rob people blind and get away with it for a long time. He put his brains, his efforts and the means of a terrible, corrupt system into “transferring money from their pocket and putting it into my pocket.” He’s the worst kind of greedy arsehole and the most thought he gives to his victims is that he knows how to spend the money better than they do.

If, however, an audience were to watch this and think that Belfort is some kind of hero and to be admired (and apparently some have, including some current Wall Street workers), then that is their responsibility. Like the rappers who watch ‘Scarface’ and want to replicate that lifestyle (really?), if you watch this film and only see the yachts, the cars, the breasts and the clink of glasses, congratulations, you have entirely missed the point of the film, you are an idiot and I don’t think Martin Scorsese should lose any sleep or have to walk around in a t-shirt that says “Jordan Belfort is the bad guy”. They called the film ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ – do we still need our hand held when crossing the street?

Back to the actual film – Margot Robbie as Jordan’s second wife Naomi is completely new to me and a real find. Much like Vera Farmiga appeared out of nowhere and took on a bunch of famous male faces in ‘The Departed’, Robbie fits in perfectly. She nails every scene where he has to seduce Jordan and, later, every scene where they are screaming in each other’s faces. In 2011, she was still starring in ‘Neighbours’, apparently. Now, she’s here. Bloody hell.

Matthew McConaughey is simply the man of the moment in Hollywood right now (‘True Detective’ on HBO will see him conquer the world of TV too, this year) and he will probably deny DiCaprio a well-deserved Oscar due to ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ (where McConaughey has AIDS and lost extreme amounts of weight). But I begrudge McConaughey nothing because he has an extended cameo at the beginning of this film that nearly steals the whole thing. He’s the one who sits down and teaches Belfort how Wall Street works (“Do you know what a fugazi is?”) and the necessity of lots of drugs and masturbation to cope with the stresses of the job.

Ultimately, this film rests on Leonardo DiCaprio’s shoulders and he proves again why he is currently the best actor in the movies. At first, I couldn’t think what was so different about this part to his usual work and, specifically, his work with Scorsese, but then it clicked; here, he is playing someone having a ridiculous amount of fun. He’s normally so tortured and struggling; as Belfort he’s playing someone who has found the keys to the kingdom and could not give the slightest shit about the devastation left in his wake. DiCaprio won the ‘Best Actor in a Comedy’ at the Golden Globes recently. While the Golden Globes are generally bollocks (and especially their definition of what is drama and what is comedy), here I think they got it right. The film is continually hilarious and DiCaprio gives a genuinely funny performance. There’s one scene of brilliant physical comedy that you would more likely expect from a Jim Carrey or a Will Ferrell type.

It’s almost as if Scorsese and his writer (Terence Winter, creator of ‘Boardwalk Empire’ and high-up in the ‘Sopranos’ hierarchy) saw this story of greed, corruption and obscene consumption and the lack of any comeuppance for so many of the people who ripped us all off and thought, well, if you don’t laugh, you’d cry.

Top Ten of the Year – 2013

10. Gravity

“It’s a miracle I’ve even made it this far.”

Morrissey, ‘Something Is Squeezing My Skull’

Everyone is all about ‘Gravity’ right now and, to be fair, there’s good reason for this. I’ve read lots about the huge technical lengths they went to in order to make the film and how they had to invent some of the technology to make it possible and so on – yet it was still all too easy to believe that they were actually filming in space. That’s how seamless it is. I’ve always been a sucker for ‘Apollo 13’ and this film shared much DNA with that one, with a seemingly simple mission suddenly plunged into a fight for survival. A film like this is a good argument for using movie stars (Bullock and Clooney, in this case) because we think we know them and so they can create a back-story just by showing up. We already like them, so we can drop right into the action and root for them regardless. And that’s what makes this film work. As much as the sights (and sounds, there’s amazing sound in this film) are new and genuinely stunning, the important thing is wanting the characters to get home in one piece from the most isolated and dangerous place you can imagine.

9. Lincoln

“I am so very tired of doing the right thing.”

Morrissey, ‘Dear God Please Help Me’

I wrote at greater length about this film when it was released and my opinion hasn’t changed. It is expertly-made entertainment, put together by the finest people working in the business, but it should not be put on a shelf as simply Oscar-winning worthiness. The story of a person doing what is clearly the right thing when every possible obstruction was in his way and the only personal reward was assassination should inspire anyone who watches it. Important and entertaining. Just like Abe himself.

8. Captain Phillips

“America, your head’s too big, because America, your belly’s too big.”

Morrissey, ‘America Is Not The World’

A big juicy metaphor; An American cargo ship cruising around the world laden with goods being chased by tiny fishing vessels filled with poverty-stricken African pirates, trying to get a share of the spoils. Paul Greengrass is currently the man for mixing blockbusters with a healthy dose of political comment and shaky cameras. Like ‘Lincoln’, this is an important true story, in this case, to try and get us to think about what our material comfort means for the rest of the planet. Like ‘Gravity’, it takes a star we already like and puts him in immense peril, in this case taken hostage by the pirates when they become increasingly desperate. Don’t be put off by my talk of politics, etc. For the most part, this works simply as a properly nail-baiting adventure-thriller. It feels almost redundant now to talk about how good Tom Hanks is, but this film (especially, the final moments) reminded me that you should never get bored of someone’s excellence. He is outstanding.

7. About Time

“At one time the future stretched before me, but now it stretches behind.”

Morrissey, ‘My Life Is A Succession Of People Saying Goodbye’

As you may expect from Richard Curtis, this is easily the soppiest and most sentimental of the entries in my top ten. ‘About Time’ is the romantic comedy with time travel. At least, it’s time travel in which the hero can go back and re-live moments in his life in order to do them better. Domhnall (rhymes with Tonal) Gleeson is clearly an actor on his way up and he plays the Hugh Grant role here with a well-judged heft of gawkiness. The mechanics of the plot, romancing Rachel McAdams, are less important than the overall sense of loveliness. Everyone’s lovely in Richard Curtis land: lovely, a bit quirky and surprisingly wealthy. Curtis isn’t so much tugging the heart-strings as spraying them with an AK-47, so it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but you need to give yourself over to it in a similar way to ‘Love Actually’. Will our hero discover that you can’t endlessly rewrite the mistakes of the past, start to appreciate what he has and live in the ‘now’? Let’s find out…

6. Rush

“If we can destroy them, you bet your life we will destroy them.”

Morrissey, ‘We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful’

I love a good sports film but I hate Formula 1. You can see my dilemma. ‘Rush’ solves that by first, filming the car like the rocket-fuelled death-machines they are (or were in the 70’s), all noise and close-ups of spinning wheels and wide eyes behind helmets and secondly, by telling a true story that is so right for a film that it feels like it should have been made-up instead. James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth on his day off from being Thor) is the wild-card, existing only a diet of booze, fags and blow-jobs, and driving seemingly without fear or discipline. Nicky Lauda (Daniel Bruhl, my first sight of him since ‘Inglourious Basterds’) is the Spock-like piece of clockwork engineering in human form, reducing the artistry of racing to the science of the best car driven in the most efficient way possible. You just know these two are not going to get on. But just like Rocky Balboa needed Apollo Creed and Sigourney Weaver needed the Alien, their rivalry makes them both raise their game and learn to respect each other as a worthy opponent. It’s a very straightforward kind of film. You know where it’s going and it doesn’t provide much in the way of surprises, but it does what it does very well. Ron Howard is at his best with true-life stories like ‘Apollo 13’, ‘Cinderella Man’ or ‘Frost/Nixon’, and ‘Rush’ was one of the most enjoyable cinema trips I had this year.

5. Iron Man 3

“I just want to see the boy happy, why is this such a bad thing?”

Morrissey, ‘I Just Want To See The Boy Happy’

‘Avengers Assemble’ was a tough act to follow, but Marvel jumped that hurdle by taking their biggest risk so far; hiring Shane Black as writer-director. RDJ was born to say Black’s words, but beyond the quips, it’s probably the most satisfying solo Iron Man adventure yet. Tony Stark remains a hugely appealing lead character and seeing the aftermath of his Avengers adventure take him to a fairly dark place (fairly dark – it’s still a family blockbuster), and seem to end the trilogy more at peace than he’s ever been, is extremely rewarding for an audience who’s spent a lot of time with this guy.

4. The Way, Way Back

“Disappointment came to me and booted me and bruised and hurt me.”

Morrissey, ‘That’s How People Grow Up’

Settling nicely in the awkward teenager coming of age niche (‘Stand By Me’ and ‘Almost Famous’ being my personal favourites of this genre), ‘The Way, Way Back’ is another heart-warmer. It takes all those humiliations and embarrassments and disappointments (specifically in parents and other adults) and reminds us that life aint so bad, really. 14-year-old Duncan (Liam James, superb) has to go away for the summer with his mum and her arsehole boyfriend (Steve Carell, enjoying the chance to be a nasty piece of work). Miserable as sin, and too self-conscious to have any social life of his own, he gradually gets taken under the wing of the staff of the local waterpark and starts to come out of his shell. I freely admit that any film which features Sam Rockwell as an idealised man-child mentor who teaches you that life is worth living, probably booked its place on this list when the ink dried on his contract.

3. Cloud Atlas

“Nobody know what human life is, why we come, why we go.”

Morrissey, ‘I Will See You In Far Off Places’

In some alternate universe somewhere, ‘Cloud Atlas’ is a box office smash, winner of, like, twelvety Oscars and a cinematic landmark. Instead, it flopped financially (after spending a huge budget) and no one really gave a toss. However, the fact that such a daring, uncategorisable, unholy mess of a film even got made these days is reward in itself. There is no point summarising the plot(s). The film cross-cuts between settings, centuries and genres (with Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent and Ben Whishaw, among others, recurring in a variety of roles) and leaves me unable to find a comparison point for what this film is actually like. Since making ‘The Matrix’, there’s been a whiff of the Emperor’s New Clothes about The Wachowskis (‘Speed Racer’, anyone? Anyone?), but this re-affirmed my faith that they are film-makers with a vision. More than any other film on this list, I can understand people not liking it and/or being baffled by it. Most likely, I don’t think I’ll ever sit down and watch it again. Someone once told me that certain films are a journey you can take only once (this was in relation to ‘Vanilla Sky’) – ‘Cloud Atlas’ is much the same. When I saw it, I wasn’t sure what I’d seen, but I knew I seen something.

2. Side Effects

“I am not naturally evil, such things I do just to make myself more attractive to you.”

Morrissey, ‘The Last Of The Famous International Playboys’

Another film where I look around bewildered as no one else seems to really notice and I think, ‘Holy ball-sack, this is amazing!’ – this may be due in part to Steven Soderbergh releasing two films in 2013 and the second being ‘Behind the Candelabra’, which grabbed the attention with its Liberace subject and graphic scenes of Matt Damon giving Michael Douglas a good seeing-to. ‘Side Effects’ is by far the superior film, however. Rooney Mara (her of the Dragon Tattoo and Social Networking) is the unstable young woman whose anti-depressants may have unwanted, wait for it, side effects. Jude Law is her psychiatrist. Law has spent much of the last few years either as part of ensembles (‘Contagion’, ‘Anna Karenina’) or as a sidekick (Dr. Watson). Here he’s back as leading man and still so handsome you want to spit in his face, but he doesn’t get enough recognition as a good actor. He’s great here and the plot is an extremely satisfying jigsaw-puzzle, with the main players laying traps and counter-traps for each other with ever-escalating consequences. It is a great example of what Roger Ebert named the ‘Fatal Basic’ genre – sexy people doing bad things in lovely homes.

1. Django Unchained

“I’ve had my face dragged in fifteen miles of shit, and I do not like it.”

Morrissey, ‘How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?’

Again, on this blog you’ll find a far more lengthy appraisal, but suffice to say, ‘Django Unchained’ has a writer-director at the top of his game – QT is out on his own at the moment. He is making superb films that blur the line of art and entertainment and ‘Django’ is staggering in the width and breadth of its humour, drama, music, dialogue, action and horror. It is simply matchless movie-making; for me, far and away the film of the year.

Tag it

For a long time, my favourite movie tag-line has been the 1967 ‘Bonnie & Clyde’

 “They’re young, they’re in love and they kill people.”

 

I’ve also had a soft spot for ‘Alien vs Predator’

“Whoever wins, we lose.”

 

and ‘Jurassic Park’

 “An adventure 65 million years in the making.”

 

and ‘Kill Bill Vol.1’

“Here comes the bride”

 

and, before it became massively overused, the simple-but-effective ‘Apollo 13’

“Houston, we have a problem.”

 

But all those must now joined by Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Pacific Rim’

The film released next month of giant (and they do mean giant) monsters that come from the sea and can only be battled by giant robots piloted by humans.

 “Go big or go extinct.”   

That’s enough for me to want to see it right there.