In the Heart of the Sea

For F*** Magazine

IN THE HEART OF THE SEA

Cast : Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Tom Holland, Cillian Murphy, Ben Whishaw, Brendan Gleeson, Michelle Fairley
Genre : Action/Adventure/Drama
Run Time : 121 mins
Opens : 3 December 2015
Rating : PG13 (Some Disturbing Scenes)

Pull up a chair, because director Ron Howard’s got a whale of a tale to tell you lads, a whale of a tale or two. Author Herman Melville (Whishaw) travels to Nantucket Island, Massachusetts to interview innkeeper Thomas Nickerson (Gleeson), in order to research the novel Moby-Dick. At age 14, Nickerson (Holland) was a cabin boy aboard the whaleship Essex, sailing with Captain George Pollard, Jr. (Walker), First Mate Owen Chase (Hemsworth) and Second Mate Matthew Joy (Murphy). It is the year 1820 and whale blubber is a valuable commodity for its use as fuel. While off the South American coast, the Essex is rammed by a bull sperm whale and sinks, stranding its crew at sea. Nickerson recounts the harrowing events to Melville, confronting dark memories of starvation, madness and survival, during which the crew drew lots to determine who would be killed and eaten for the others to live.

            In the Heart of the Sea is based on Nathaniel Philbrick’s 2000 non-fiction book of the same name. The film was originally set for release in March this year, but was pushed back to December presumably for awards season consideration. The true story seems like it has all the makings of a gripping film, but while the end result is competently executed, it fails to be truly thrilling or moving. By now, audiences know what to expect from a survival at sea drama – the elements will be braved, there will be desperate situations, the crew will be at each other’s throats, the survivors will have to band together to stay alive and so on. In the Heart of the Sea hopes to offer something different in the form of the whale, but there is very little of the film in which the crew of the Essex actually face off against their Cetecean nemesis.

            This is a film about extremes that often plays it very safe, even with the depiction of cannibalism. There are times when In the Heart of the Sea comes across like it’s trying to emulate a prestigious British costume drama epic and while effort is made to capture the whaleship setting and time period, the film never quite attains the desired level of authenticity. Because of the way the framing device is set up, with the middle-aged Nickerson reluctantly telling Melville about the events he braved in his youth aboard the Essex, there is a significant amount of exposition. It feels like we have to wade through the history to get to the exciting bits, as opposed to being actually invested in these characters and caring about what happens to them.

            The cast take the material very seriously and while this is not a poorly acted film, there isn’t quite enough personality to each of the historical figures. There is conflict between Captain George Pollard, Jr. and First Mate Owen Chase, because Chase was promised the captaincy but Pollard got the position through his family connections. The two men eventually come to an understanding, but given the circumstances, their interaction should be more riveting than this. Hemsworth, reuniting with his Rush director, famously went on a diet of 500 calories a day to portray the starving sailor. Bidding farewell to all that muscle must be like sending a firstborn child off to college. Hemsworth’s Chase is the hero who looks out for his men, a very straight-forward role. Walker is often quite bland opposite him and even though he’s playing the captain, there are moments when this reviewer almost forgot he existed.

            Murphy’s usual magnetism and subtle unpredictability are all but absent from his turn as Second Mate Matthew Joy, and given how the story is told from Nickerson’s point of view, we expected Holland to be given more emotional beats to play. The sequence in which the Essex goes down in flames after it is struck by the enraged whale is excitingly staged, but most of the drama is predictable and the film stops short of being truly immersive. There are also scenes depicting baby whales in the pod, and one can’t help but side with the whales at times. Sure, the whalers are doing their job and we don’t mean to get all Greenpeace, but at the end of the day, this is a movie in which our heroes are killing animals that wouldn’t bother them if they didn’t get all up in their business. This reviewer never really felt like he was stranded alongside the crew of the Essex and the detachedness is what ultimately lets In the Heart of the Sea down.

Summary: What should be an epic adventure is mostly dull and doesn’t offer anything drastically different from other survival at sea films.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong 

Philomena

For F*** Magazine

PHILOMENA

Director: Stephen Frears
Cast: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Barbara Jefford, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Michelle Fairley, Anna Maxwell Martin
Genre: Drama
Run Time: 94 mins
Opens: 13 February 2014
Rating: NC-16 (Some Sexual References)

At the 71st Golden Globe Awards, in the midst of the expected movie stars, Hollywood big-wigs, filmmakers and entertainers was an 80-year-old Irish woman completely foreign to the world of the Tinseltown glitterati. Philomena Lee was brought on stage by star/co-writer Steve Coogan as Coogan introduced the film that tells her remarkable story, based on Martin Sixsmith’s book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee.

Coogan plays Sixsmith, a journalist who’s been fired from his government communications job and is contemplating the none-too-exciting prospects ahead of him: writing a book on Russian history. At a party, he meets Jane (Martin) who tells him about a secret her mother Philomena (Dench) has been harbouring for 50 years. As a teenager, an unmarried Philomena became pregnant and was forced by the Magdelene Sisters to relinquish parental rights to her son Anthony, who was put up for adoption and taken from her. Martin is initially dismissive of this “human interest story”, but as he gets to know Philomena and agrees to seek out Anthony’s whereabouts, he gets increasingly invested in her plight. Using his contacts as a journalist, Martin traces Anthony to the States; he and Philomena embarking on a quest in search of her lost child.

The Daily Mail has called Philomena “a film that’s left grown men sobbing” and this reviewer can attest to that. The film has attracted a degree of controversy for its depiction of the Roman Catholic Church’s practise of forced adoptions at the time but at its core, it is a heart-rending, sincere portrayal of a mother’s love and of the unbearable anguish any mother would feel from being separated from her child. The more jaded might worry that this would result in the film turning into a schmaltzy gloop, but the superbly-written Oscar-nominated screenplay by Jeff Pope and Coogan tempers this with a judicious sprinkling of sardonic wit, keeping the film’s tone consistent throughout.

There certainly are embellishments and some artistic license is taken with the material – for example, Martin confronts a nun who, in real life, died long before Martin knew about Philomena. However, director Stephen Frears (of The Queen fame) ensures the film stops a safe distance of being emotionally manipulative, allowing the drama of any given moment to flow naturally. Flashbacks are given appropriate period detail, a good portion of the film is set in Washington, D.C. and all of it is gorgeously lensed by cinematographer Robbie Ryan, lending geographical and historical scope to Philomena and Martin’s mission. Alexandre Desplat’s soundtrack, playful at times and weighty at others, is excellent even if the main theme bears more than a few similarities to Desplat’s work on Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Dame Judi Dench more than earns her seventh Oscar nomination, playing the title character as endearingly gauche but also expertly conveying the deep yearning for a reunion with her long-lost son. She also admirably battled deteriorating eyesight and memory while working on the film. Today, Dench may be best-known as James Bond’s no-nonsense boss M, but in Philomena she exudes warmth and geniality, sometimes naïve but always well-meaning. Much of both the humour and drama in the film is derived from the collision (it’s more of a bump, really) of the forgiving, pious Philomena and the world-weary Martin who has long since forsaken his Catholic faith. There is an “aw shucks” quality to seeing how delighted Philomena is at the hotel breakfast buffet or the enthusiasm with which she regards a silly comedy flick available as an in-room movie. But Dench, skilled performer that she is, ensures the audience never forgets the pain that Philomena was so cruelly subjected to in her youth, and Sophie Kennedy Clark’s portrayal of the young Philomena in the flashbacks is also commendable.

Steve Coogan, well-known in the U.K. for his character Alan Partridge and for the celebrity impressions in his stand-up comedy routines, is the co-writer, co-star and co-producer on Philomena – with many other actors, this could easily become a blatant vanity project, but it’s definitely not the case here. The deadpan cynicism that Coogan provides as Martin Sixsmith serves as an effective counterpoint to Philomena’s sweet, idealistic worldview and given how much Philomena had to endure, she has the right to be mad at the world more than Martin does. The relationship between Philomena and Martin unfolds believably, starting out as very much a journalist-subject deal but developing to the point where Martin’s righteous indignation at the situation eventually outstrips Philomena’s, who was never really angry to begin with.

Through the point of view of a likeable protagonist, Philomena looks at the injustice of the Magdelene asylums and the lingering, painful impact it has had on the “fallen women” whose children were sold to the highest bidder; its comments on faith and prejudice well thought-out, the film never coming across as hateful, hysterical, angry or vitriolic. It also touches on themes of belonging and identity – there’s a clever scene built around the motif of a Celtic harp. Philomena is moving, entertaining, thought-provoking and funny in equal measures. We’re sure that Philomena Lee is honoured to see her story given such sublime treatment.

Summary: Boasting wonderful lead performances and a screenplay which expertly handles a moving true story, the search for the lost child of Philomena is a quest everyone should embark on.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong