Chris Curtis

Feast!

A feast, that's what we're currently experiencing. A glorious glut of the kind of film that by right should only appear a few times a year.

Let me elaborate:

'Let there be blood'.... and yes, blood there will be. Did someone say this is the 'Citizen Kane' of the modern day? Daniel Day Lewis is a force of nature in this movie based on a little know 1927 novel about the oil business. Will give you new ideas about uses for a bowling alley.

'Juno'... they said every line was a, well, clasic. And they were right. This is so good it'll make you weep. Except it's a comedy so maybe you'll laugh. Laugh-weep... oh, who knows. It's GOOD though!

'Before the devil knows you're dead'... Phillip Seymour Hoffman, wow. With a script so labyrinthine and exciting, you'll want to see it again and again.

'The diving bell and the butterfly'...the only one on the list I haven't seen, but the word is out that it's a cracker.

So eat up, enjoy the feast. National Treasure Book of Secrets is around the corner and we'll be back to sandwiches again.

Battle for Haditha (Nick Broomfield)

It would seem kind of bad taste to say that, together with everyone else in the cinema that night, I left shell-shocked, especially give the subject matter of Nick Broomfield's film 'Battle for Haditha'. But shell-shocked is exactly what it felt like. I've watched a lot of news coverage, documentaries and, of course, feature films about the current conflict in Iraq, but none has come close to giving such an uncompromising blast of the depravity, injustice and suffering that is life in the middle of this war zone.
I admit I went in biased: Nick Broomfield is some I admire hugely and his film about the Morecombe Bay tragedy 'Ghosts' was the best thing I saw on the big screen in the whole of 2007. That's out of over 120 films, so it's going some. Like that film, 'Bridge to Habitha' is a something you struggle to use the word 'enjoy' alongside: I don't mean that detrimentally, it's just that this is such a full-on baptism of fire to the realities of Iraq that words like "challenged". "moved" and "inspired" seem more appropriate.
The film itself is a simple retelling of the events of November 19th 2005 when a group of American soldiers, the victims of a roadside bomb in which one of their colleagues had died, went on a frenzy killing 24 men women and children in nearby homes.
The power of the film is that it resists playing to assumptions and prejudices about any of those involved. Instead we follow the bombers, the soldiers and the innocent civilians in three separate story arcs, leading up to the moment of the bombing itself. The soldiers , in particular, come across not as evil, but as poorly led and frightened. By doing this, the film doesn't let them off the hook, but it does give a sense of the moral vacuum in which they're made to operate. And, in using real Iraq veterans to play the part of the soldiers, Nick Broomfield manages to blur the line between film and documentary in a very clever way. The authenticity of their performances is what makes the whole thing so powerful.
So, back my my experience of seeing 'Battle for Haditha'. It is, by a long margin, the best film of the year so far and I'd be amazed if it wasn't still sitting somewhere at the top in ten months time. Showing at a measly three cinemas in the whole of Britain, you'll have to be clever to catch it unless it rolls out wider on Friday. I hope so. I'm going to be encouraging everyone I can to see this. It's about the most powerful 85 minutes you could spend trying to get your head around what's going on in Iraq, and why hope is so thin on the ground.

Dan in Real Life (Peter Hedges)

Dan in real life is, frankly, something I don't want to experience. That's after having to fact 'Dan on the cinema screen' for nearly two hours. Dan is stuck in a story arc so predictable, it's like watching a missile approach on a radar screen. Except when it hits, instead of an explosion, there's just the bad smell of something that been around too long and gone off. Dan, in short, needs to keep out of real life, especially mine.

Once (John Carney)

Once. Finally got to see it tonight. Loved it. See it. At least once.

Half Moon (Bahman Ghobadi)

The Iraqi film industry is, I guess, pretty much non-existent these days, so anything appearing from the region deserves to be noticed.... and applauded for even managing to be made. Which is what took me to the ICA in London - the inner sanctum of arthouse cinema - to see Bahman Ghobadi's latest film 'Half Moon'.

It helped that I thought 'Turtles Can Fly' was pretty much the best film of 2005. I won two copies - no mean feat given how obscure the film is - and I recommend it at every opportunity. (be warned, a film that starts with the suicide of a twelve year old girl is not for the faint-hearted).

So there's a kind of expectation on 'Half Moon', his next film, which is at least a comedy. Phew.

It doesn't help that the ICA have THE most uncomfortable seats in cinema history. I'm assuming it's all part of an arthouse approach to cinema that includes some kind of self-flagellation as part and parcel of the experience. A bed of nails would have been more pleasant.

Anyway, the film. The synopsis goes like this:

"Bahman Ghobadi's third feature, Half Moon, follows the musical journey of Mamo, a Kurdish musician who has been given permission to perform a concert in Iraqi Kurdistan. He is convinced that the essence of the upcoming festival is the voice of a woman, Hesho - but as women are forbidden to sing in front of women in public, she must be carefully concealed on the bus. A majestic landscape and a sense of premonition pervade a journey informed by experiences of oppression, adventure and the transcendent power of music, and set against the backdrop of Saddam Hussein's fall from power. "

What that actually means is that this is a very strange film. It took me back to the experience of seeing 'The Death of Mr. Lazarescu' a year back... you don't come out thinking it was the greatest cinematic experience of your life, you're not even sure you enjoyed it, and yet you're glad you saw it. Make sense of that if you can.

What is clear is that it's got plenty of humour and charm, plus a kind of mysterious air pervading the whole thing. At one point Mamo visits a village populated entirely by banned Iraqi female singers who welcome him in with a hypnotic drum beat... wow, it's worth it just for that.

I can't pretend this is mainstream, but it's an intriguing experience. catch it on BBC4 (I assume) and see if you think I'm right.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (Sidney Lumet)

"May you be in heaven half an hour before…the devil knows you're dead."

Sidney Lumet's new film is so good that directors half his age must be resigning themselves to being also-rans for the rest of their lives. Not that being half his age makes you some kind of spring chicken. At 83, making his 43rd film (12 Angry Men, The Hill, Network, Dog Day Afternoon... the list goes on and on) Lumet should be kicking back watching reruns of the Antiques Roadshow. Instead he's making this kind of film.... and this is definitely this kind of film: deliciously complex, with twists to boot.

I had the extra pleasure of walking into this knowing pretty much nothing about it. It was either this or 'Balls of Fury' and it felt too early in the new year to go spoiling the run of good movies so far. That meant I could relish the story without knowing anything about where it might go.... which is something you should aim to do too.

So what's to like: well, can Phillip Seymour Hoffman make a bad movie for a start. That's what Kermode was wondering on Friday and, apart from 'Twister' it seems the answer is no. He's one of three men who this film is really about: the other two being Ethan Hawke and Albert Finney. All clearly were taking performance enhancing pills, because they're gripping from start to finish. The film is a character study of all three of them.

Then there's the plot itself, which I'm not going to reveal here. Suffice to say this is a film about slow destruction, about how one decision can change the course of a life... and, as sub-plots, about the trials of fatherhood and the desperation that deception eventually brings.

So, respect Mr Lumet. I'm half you're age and I have the creative energy you clearly still have when I'm in my eighties, I'll be a happy man. Roll on the 44th film.

Paranoid about Romania?

After feeling like I was dangerously over the boundaries of liking a mainstream Hollywood movie in the form of 'I am Legend', it was back to first principles today with two gloriously art house films that won't be showing in any multiplex anywhere soon.

First up was 'Paranoid Park', directed by Gus Van Sant. Having been so moved by many of his earlier films, I was eager to see what he's come up with. The answer is a peculiar tale of a teenager who becomes entangled in a murder. For something that sounds like a thriller, it's actually more concerned with the minutae of teenage life rather than dramatic plot twists but somehow that is just as compelling. The weird cinematography and soundtrack didn't always work for me, but the central performance by Gabe Nevins is great. Classic arthouse fare.

Actually that was nothing compared to 'Four Months, Three Weeks, Two Days' (Cristian Mungiu), a Romanian film following a young girl seeking an illegal abortion in 1980's Romania. With the proviso that it's not for the faint-hearted, and is about as far from comedy as you can get, it's actually brilliant. The story begins in the girl's student dorm, and follows events over the evening as she meets the man she has paid to carry out the abortion in a seedy hotel. As an essay on the desperation of poverty, and our seemingly endless capacity for the abuse of others for our own gain, it's about as powerful and moving as it gets. There's almost no sound track but such is the strength of the story and cinematography, it still works. I loved it, if you can say that about so grim a subject.

The Kite Runner (Marc Forster)

What a great story. A really great story. Following the lives of two boys from the streets of Kabul in 1978 through to modern day California, I have to say this is a wonderful film with a real emotional impact. A lesson in fatherhood too. Film of the week and almost certainly film of the month.

You are legend!

It's two days into 2008 and that means it's time to dispense with the old preconceptions and welcome the new. And no sooner have I said that, than I find myself coming out of a mega-buck Hollywood blockbuster having thoroughly enjoyed myself. Yes, 'I am Legend' is, as far as I'm concerned, the best of the year so far.

OK, so it's also the first film of the year, but nevertheless, it is very very good. Even though the end was sweetened and technology has replaced garlic from the original story as the way to protect yourself, this is still a very accomplished film and has, in one leap and bound past 'The Pursuit of Happyness' reformed my opinion of Wil Smith.

There are plenty of sites with a synopsis of the film, so I won't bother here, suffice to say, the opening twenty minutes around an overgrown and deserted New York are spectacular. And even though the CGI is heavily used, and there are a few plot holes, the story cracks on with great effect. Some people have said the creatures aren't scary enough, but they worked for me. I jumped out of my seat more than few times. And as happy as the ending (sort of) is, it's nice to see there's still a reasonable bite left in it.

So, number 1 film of the year,... out of 1, but still a cracker.

PS. 'Balls of Fury' showings sold out (!!!) last night when I was at the cinema. Have you no shame people?

Films of the year

top films of 2007

The final days of the year provide the space to reflect back on the films that I've seen in the past 365 days. It's been good....

January got off to a great start with APOCALYPTO, despite having to see it at Cineworld Bedford - is that the grubbiest cinema in the country or what? Still thankful I wasn't born in Mayan culture, it was on to GHOSTS, Nick Broomfield's utterly brilliant film about the fate of the Morecombe Bay cockle pickers. The real power of this film is that it depicts a story whose victims we are all connected with our buying power at the local supermarket. Ouch. Watch it and you'll never look at spring onions in the same way again. January also included the fantastic VENUS but sadly also involved enduring ROCKY BALBOA. Somebody tell him it's time to stop.

February was a thin month. Some of us made the mistake of watching SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS on the basis that it starred Billy Bob Thornton - and believe me, it was a mistake. CLIMATES was the film of the month, capturing perfectly the slow detachment in a relationship about to split. Brilliant.

March meant Sean Bean was busy killing off anyone offensive in the vigilante film OUTLAW whilst Nicolas Cage was doing much the same on behalf of the devil in GHOSTRIDER. Both were...well, rubbish. Highlight of the month was seeing SUNSHINE at the NFT followed by an interview with Danny Boyle. Fab.

April's highlight was THE FAMILY FRIEND, a delicious black comedy that jostled with THE LIVES OF OTHERS as one of the best foreign language films of the year. Adam Sandler also made up for a great deal of crass rubbish with REIGN OVER ME.

May and June were notable only for the woeful experience of SPIDERMAN 3, easily my worst film of the year...yes, that's right, worse than TRANSFORMERS. That's quite an achievement. 28 WEEKS LATER was an adrenalin shot in the arm, especially those opening minutes. Loved it, though it's a pity Spiderman wasn't infected with the Rage. The documentary WAR ON DEMOCRACY is also worth a mention.

July was a month of extremes. Seeing EVAN ALMIGHTY and TAXIDERMIA in the same evening counts as one of the strangest experiences of my life. Check out the trailers to see what I mean. HARRY POTTER was the best yet, although that's hardly a notable achievement. DIE HARD 4.0 was too silly to enjoy, which left THE GOLDEN DOOR as the movie of the month.

August saw one of the comedy highlights in WAITRESS and one of the few big budget movies worth seeing THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM. But even that was topped by ATONEMENT, one of the very very best of the year.

September arrived and I stumbled into TWO DAYS IN PARIS knowing nothing about it but finding it to be a fantastic comedy... you see, it doesn't have to be all gloom and doom. Oh yeah, it was about a relationship failing, so may it does.

October mean a visit to the USA and seven films in as many days. best of th bunch was THE DARJEELING LIMITED. Weirdest was 30 DAYS OF NIGHT but that was only because a couple in front of us had brought their two young kids with them.

November was a lean month, with no time to waste at the cinema. of the 5 movies I saw, the best was SICKO although INTO THE WILD has to be mentioned too.

That leaves December. I finally got around to seeing EASTERN PROMISES and wasn't disappointed. Which is not what you could say about HITMAN. And the year ended with BEE MOVIE, kind of fun I guess.

All in all, it's been a good year and some great films. 102 in all. I must be slacking.