Brooklyn

For F*** Magazine

BROOKLYN 

Director : John Crowley
Cast : Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters
Genre : Drama
Run Time : 1 hr 52 mins
Opens : 18 February 2016
Rating : NC-16 (Sexual Scene)

One heart is torn between two lands in this historical romance. Said heart belongs to Eilis Lacey (Ronan), a young woman from the small Irish town of Enniscorthy. Eilis’ older sister Rose (Glascott) arranges for Eilis to go to Brooklyn in search of better prospects, Eilis leaving Rose and their mother (Jane Brennan) behind. Father Flood (Broadbent), a priest active in the Irish community in Brooklyn, arranges for Eilis to stay in a boarding house run by the landlady Madge Kehoe (Walters). Father Flood also enrols Eilis in bookkeeping classes at a night school. Eilis meets and soon falls in love with Tony Fiorello (Cohen), a plumber from an Italian family. When Eilis returns to Ireland after a family emergency, she begins spending time with eligible bachelor Jim Farrell (Gleeson), a mutual acquaintance of Eilis’ best friend Nancy (Eileen O’Higgins). The small Enniscorthy community, unaware that Eilis is already in a relationship with an American boy, expects her and Jim to end up together. Eilis begins to re-evaluate the future she has planned, feeling the pull of home and of the promise of a bright future in Brooklyn.

            Brooklyn is based on the novel of the same name by Irish author Colm Tóibín, adapted for the screen by Nick Hornby. This is not a particularly grand story, but the intimacy and honesty of the tale draws one in. Director John Crowley has crafted a drama that is earnest and wonderfully devoid of cynicism. It’s a throwback to a bygone era without being self-conscious and it captures the period in eminently relatable fashion. While Eilis is meant to represent any number of young Irish girls stepping across the pond to forge new lives in America, the story doesn’t sacrifice the character’s individuality in the process. Its portrayal of the immigrant experience is quietly stirring and thoughtful rather than overtly political. Tonally, Brooklyn hits all the right marks to make a maximum impact: there’s a pervading melancholy that achingly conveys what it feels like to be homesick, but the film never becomes dreary and Hornby’s script contains well-placed moments of wit and humour.

            Ronan reminds us yet again why she’s among the finest performers of her generation, Brooklyn capitalising on her talents in the best way possible – she gets to use her delightful natural Irish brogue, for one. The blend of impish charm, raw vulnerability and emotional depth that Ronan brings to the role of Eilis is ever so appealing. The audience is in her corner from minute one and it is satisfying to see the initially tremulous Eilis’ confidence gradually increase as she becomes accustomed to her new life in Brooklyn. As an Irish-American herself, Ronan says she identifies strongly with Eilis’ journey. With this role, Ronan has become the second-youngest actress to be nominated for two Oscars. One hopes that many more projects like Brooklyn find their way to her.

The film’s portrayal of young love is clear-eyed and just sentimental enough, Cohen endearingly awkward and just sweet as can be as Eilis’ suitor Tony. The “aww shucks” factor he brings to the part comes off as genuine and wistfully romantic without straying into sappiness. We’re cheering for Eilis and Tony to stay together, so Gleeson has an uphill battle in making Jim seem like anything more than a nuisance. His measured dignity ensures there is an actual conflict as to who Eilis ends up with. Walters and Broadbent are perfectly cast as the stern, traditional landlady and the kindly priest respectively. Eilis’ housemates are sometimes catty, but the girls do form a certain camaraderie. A scene in which two of them teach Eilis how to twirl spaghetti without making a mess, in preparation for Eilis’ visit to Tony’s house for dinner, is amusing and heartfelt.

            Brooklyn is comprised of several conventional narrative elements, but it ends up being far more than the sum of its parts. This is a relatively simple story that is absolutely captivating, a romance that is sweet but not cloying, a drama that is heart-rending yet not manipulative. The specificities of the setting and the care taken in realising the 50s Brooklyn and Enniscorthy locales imbue the movie with texture and authenticity. It’s old-fashioned but steers clear of stifling stodginess and is resonant even if one doesn’t have a personal connection to the specific culture and period depicted. Lyrical, engaging and sincere, Brooklyn is a work of disarming beauty.

Summary: Personal and richly humane, Brooklyn is a small tale gracefully told, carried by a glowing, transcendent performance from Saoirse Ronan.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong 

One Chance

For F*** Magazine

ONE CHANCE

Director: David Frankel
Cast:   James Corden, Alexandra Roach, Mackenzie Crook, Julie Walters, Colm Meaney, Jemima Rooper, Valeria Bilello
Genre: Drama
Run Time: 103 mins
Opens: 1 May 2014
Rating: PG

Before Susan Boyle took the world by storm and was the runner-up of the third season of Britian’s Got Talent, Paul Potts won the first season. Based on his life story, One Chance tracks Potts from his childhood in the Welsh steel town of Port Talbot to his success after winning the televised contest. It was far from a smooth ride – bullied as a child and stuck in a seemingly dead-end job as a mobile phone salesman, all Paul Potts wanted to do was sing opera. He faces teasing and torment, suffers rejection at a prestigious opera academy in Venice, overcomes accidents and illness and clears many other such hurdles in pursuit of his dream, supported by his girlfriend and later wife Julz (Roach), his mother Yvonne (Walters) and his co-worker and friend at the phone shop Braddon (Crook).

James Corden said in an interview with the BBC, “I think my reaction was the same as everyone else’s when they hear there’s a Paul Potts film. I was like ‘Really? Are you sure this is a good idea?’” It’s good to know that Corden was aware of the scepticism a biopic about a reality talent show winner would draw from the get-go. It’s a ripe target for scoffing but One Chance has enough talent behind it to work, and is sufficiently charming and humourous instead of overwrought and self-important. This reviewer was worried that One Chance would come off feeling like a sappy made-for-TV movie, but director David Frankel of The Devil Wears Prada fame has ensured that this doesn’t look cheap, with lots and lots of establishing shots of Venice to show for it.

Sure, a good chunk of the movie does feel embellished, ever so slightly melodramatic and contrived, but it’s also surprisingly funny. Paul Potts seems to have been on the receiving end of a whole string of rather unfortunate incidents, but the movie manages to stay uplifting and not lose that skip in its step. Justin Zackham’s screenplay does have its fair share of clichés and “true underdog stories” are nothing new in cinema, but One Chance is a movie that is easy to enjoy and go along with. All the elements at play here are familiar ones: a hero with a working-class background and an unlikely dream, a supportive mother but a disapproving dad, girlfriend troubles, a best friend on hand to provide comic relief, seemingly insurmountable obstacles and all that jazz (or opera, rather). Corden sums it up as a “sports movie”, except the sport here is opera. However, all this is presented palatably and the audience isn’t being hit over the head with some big stick, so it is a pleasant experience.

A large part of why this works is Corden’s turn as Paul Potts. Donning a set of veneers to capture the sorry state of Potts’ choppers before he got them fixed with his prize money, Corden is endearing and believable as the confidence-deficient phone salesman-turned opera star. He didn’t do his own singing and is dubbed by the real Potts in the movie, but that doesn’t detract from this sweet, loveable performance. Alexandra Roach won this reviewer over just as easily as Julz, the girl Potts met online and eventually married. The two share palpable chemistry and, while there is the inevitable rom-com-style big misunderstanding, Roach is always measured and brings considerable down-to-earth appeal to the part. Her performance makes it clear that Potts wouldn’t have been able to do it had it not been for the love and support of Julz and their love story is as central to the plot as Potts’ passion for singing. Crook is eccentric, funny but thankfully a safe distance from annoying as the designated comic relief and Julie Walters is as warmly maternal as she usually is. She is Molly Weasley, after all.

A particularly grim chapter in Potts’ life during which he was sexually abused by a Sea Cadets leader is omitted from the film and actually didn’t come to light until Potts’ autobiography (also called One Chance) was published after the movie’s release in the UK. That certainly would have made this a lot darker. As a biopic, One Chance is safe, predictable and sometimes cheesy, and one can’t help but feel the cloud of producer Simon Cowell’s gargantuan ego hanging overhead. There's also an annoying Taylor Swift song playing over the end credits. However, this isn’t as bad as it could have been, is pretty entertaining and yes, even actually inspirational.

Summary: The jaded should stay away from this sometimes-treacly biopic, but surprisingly, there is a fair bit here to enjoy, particular James Corden and Alexandra Roach in the leading roles.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

Justin and the Knights of Valour

For F*** Magazine

JUSTIN AND THE KNIGHTS OF VALOUR

Director: Manuel Sicilia
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Freddie Highmore, Saoirse Ronan, Mark Strong, Olivia Williams, Rupert Everett, Julie Walters, Alfred Molina, Charles Dance, Michael Culkin, James Cosmo, Barry Humphries, David Walliams
Genre: Animation
Run Time: 90 mins
Rating: PG
Opens: 14 November 2013

       

     Being the knight in shining armour who will fight for the fair maiden’s honour before taking her to a “castle far away” was cheesy when Peter Cetera sang about it in 1986, and it’s only cheesier now. Soft, sanitized and romanticised medieval fantasy has since been usurped by the likes of Game of Thrones, or has had the mickey taken out of it with comedies like The Princess Bride. Spanish animated film Justin and the Knights of Valour does nothing to make old-timey fantasy adventure cool again.

            Justin (Highmore) dreams of taking up the sword as a knight like his grandfather, the legendary Sir Roland. Of course, Justin’s father Reginald (Molina), chief lawmaker of the land, is adamant that Justin go to law school instead. Encouraged by his kindly grandmother (Walters), Justin heads off to an abbey to train under elderly warrior-monks Blucher (Cosmo), Legantir (Dance) and Braulio (Humphries). He intends on winning the hand of the vapid Princess Lara (Egerton), but is eventually drawn to feisty barmaid Talia (Ronan) of the Broken Eagle Inn. The treacherous disgraced knight Heraclio (Strong) plans to usurp the throne, with flamboyant right-hand man Sota (Everett) by his side. The charlatan Sir Clorex (Banderas), a self-absorbed palace cleaner who poses as a knight, gets mixed up in all this too.

            Justin and the Knights of Valour feels like a third-rate knock-off animated flick that would have been released in the mid to late 90s in order to ride on the Disney renaissance wave and is reminiscent of Quest for Camelot, The Swan Princess and its ilk. If it were any more formulaic, you could bottle it, slap a label on it and put it on a supermarket shelf. The young protagonist who goes against the desires of his parental unit to forge his own path and come of age, the figure from his family past that he has to confront, the wise and somewhat crusty old mentors who take him under their wing, the spirited lass who’s a better companion for him than the spoilt princess….check, check, check and – yawn – check.

            Animation is a medium where it’s particularly obvious when something isn’t of a high level of quality, since every last thing on screen has to be drawn or otherwise animated from the ground up. You can’t go film in the historic train station to add production value with a cartoon. This reviewer will admit that the animation in Justin and the Knights of Valour isn’t quite as bad as he expected – there’s some decent fluid simulation going on – but it’s still bad. We understand it isn’t quite fair to stack Kandor Graphics against, say, Pixar, but there’s such an obvious gap in quality that it’s almost embarrassing.

            There are many poorly-made animated films that somehow rack up an impressive cast, and this film is an example of that to a degree. The voice mix seems to lack a refinement and sticks out more than it should. Freddie Highmore sleep-talks his way through the film, audibly disinterested in the material. Mark Strong’s talents are entirely wasted as an unmemorable villain and Rupert Everett’s performance is so limp-wristed and camp, tents almost sprout up around his character. Antonio Banderas (who also produced this) was far better as Puss in Boots than as the Gaston-esque Clorex. David Walliams is amusing but borders on unbearable as the manic comic relief medium with a split personality. At least Saoirse Ronan and her wonderful Irish brogue seem to be having fun.

“It’s a kids’ film” is not an excuse for bad filmmaking. Justin and the Knights of Valour regurgitates a bog-standard “hero’s journey” plot, combines it with obvious, pratfall-heavy gag-based humour and unengaging animation for a wholly mediocre end result. Alright, the crocodile with the mechanical wings that the monks try and pass for a dragon is funny.

SUMMARY: Persistently uninspired and will be a chore for any parent to sit through. Our sympathies.

RATING: 2 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong