The Adjustment Bureau

“Wow” I thought. Matt Damon, he of a Bourne Identity with Emily Blunt, English actress (wave flag) of Devil Wears Prada (I preferred “Sunshine Cleaning”) fame – in a SciFi adventure where men with hats and shades secretly rule our lives, a bit like the CIA and FBI do! Oooookaaay. Hang on, they don’t rule everybody’s lives cos there are too many people in the world for them to do that. Oooookaaay. Oh and there are some things they are not responsible for because occasionally “chance” has something to do with it. Ooooo – And the people that control them don’t really understand why they are doing it, but like muppets in the matrix, they continue to do what they do until one day they witness real emotion.. Oh the real emotion where a guy meets a girl and “kisses properly” with her and…..

I kid you not. The script is just as appalling as the ill thought out excuse for a storyline. And with such a brilliant cast line up and such a promising premise, you can imagine how gutted I was when I discovered that the only real thread of a storyline keeping this film standing was a simple love story. Boring. And neither was the love-story something I really cared about. Love stories in films involving famous actors rarely work as we know the actors better than we know the characters and so are incapable of engaging any empathy. So, in the end, it just looks like two celebrities having a snog cos all the lights have turned blue! And cue saxophone!

And I thought this was going to be a great piece of Sci-Fi, not some sentimental slush! Shame! DVD release is the 4th July 2011. The Adjustment Bureau [DVD]

[rating=2]

Posted in 2011, DVD | Leave a comment

The Innocents

Released in 1961 starring Deborah KerrMegs Jenkins and two utterly stunning performances from child actors Martin Stephens and Pamela Franklin – this is one of my favourite ever films!

Based on Henry James’ “Turn of the Screw”, directed by Jack Clayton with screenplay adaptation by William Archibald and Truman Capote – it tells the story of a governess, hired to look after a pair of wealthy orphan children at a large country estate house called Bly. However, it soon becomes apparent that the children have “secrets” and after seeing several apparitions of “others” on the estate, the governess soon unearths the terrible history of what has happened there before.

The storyline is a common enough premise and can be found in many incarnations in “house with a history” horrors such as Amityville, Psycho and The Others, to name the obvious ones (the latter taking many parallels with this film). But, as with any suspense thriller, it’s how it’s executed (if you’ll pardon the pun) that determines whether we buy into it or not. I am a big fan of the “less is more” approach. Add the old crackle on the soundtrack (more 1940′s than 60′s) and the dim, candle-lit shots of the dark quiet corridors of the old house and my imagination starts to work overtime, becoming my worst enemy in the whole experience. Ghostly apparitions are slow, menacing and wickedly understated – the distant appearance of the former dead governess staring back from across the lake at Bly will always be one of the most enduring cinematic images of my life.

Special mention must go to the child actors, particularly Martin Stephens who plays Miles – a child possessed by the wild, angry yet promiscuous spirit of Peter Quint (played silently by Peter Wyngarde) Indeed the part requires the child to behave in a disturbingly adult manner including a kiss on the lips (the scene itself inspired the song “Infant Kiss” by Kate Bush) I wonder whether such a scene could ever be tackled today?

Are you still reading this? You should be buying this film now! Oh well, here’s a link to help you
The Innocents [1961] [DVD]

[rating=6]

Posted in DVD, Halloween