The Ring

Tags

2000's, Brian Cox, David Dorfman, Gore Verbinski, Horror, Jane Alexander, Martin Henderson, Naomi Watts, The Ring

Film Title

The Ring

Director

Gore Verbinski

Starring

• Naomi Watts as Rachel Keller
• Martin Henderson as Noah
• David Dorfman as Aidan Keller
• Brian Cox as Richard Morgan
• Jane Alexander as Dr. Grasnik

The Ring is a remake of a well-respected horror so I can understand the trepidation of some people about how successful it would be. They need not have worried because The Ring is an exceptionally well crafted and very unsettling horror with imaginative brush strokes.

The Ring centres around an unusual videotape that comes with a strange and unsettling story. Filled with bizarre images, it is said that anyone who views it will then receive a phone call, telling the viewer that they will die in seven days. A group of teenagers who viewed the tape while on a trip all turn up dead exactly a week later and at the exact same time. One of the victims was the teenage niece of Rachel Keller, an investigative journalist. While supporting her young son Aidan who was very close with his cousin and is very troubled by it, she becomes curious after she hears someone mention the sinister tape. Being a journalist, she is naturally drawn to delve into the mysterious case. Tracking the whereabouts of her niece she comes to the cabin she stayed at, and it is here that she encounters the mysterious tape. In an attempt to understand the events attributed to the tape, Rachel watches it and sure enough receives the ominous phone call of seven days left. Desperate to uncover what is going on and fearing for her life, she calls upon the services of her ex-boyfriend Noah, who is also the father to Aidan. He is an expert in video technology and is helpful to her cause, though he is very skeptical of the power of the tape. In her investigation, the images of the tape and strange visions lead her to link it with The Morgan family, in particular a strange young girl named Samara. Yet there is still more to unearth that could spell a different outcome for all party to the tape. Now terrified of whether she can save herself and those closest, Rachel has just seven days to discover the origins of the tape before it is too late for anything else.

Gore Verbinski handles the material with a stylistic yet still accomplished sense of direction. He has a clear eye for pacing and making events not what they seem, deepening the mystery with resplendent assurance and command. While he is very much a visual director, he also taps into the unpredictable and unraveling mystery of the piece rather well. As The Ring boasts a lot more thematic maters than the average horror film, this is something of a given. I loved seeing a horror film that wasn’t mindless but instead intelligent and gripping. Imagery throughout The Ring is pretty haunting and the way that it is explored deeply is another bonus in the supernatural horror of everything. And by the far the most creepy image is that of Samara, a pale young girl in white dress and flowing black tresses that cover the eyes emerging from a well on the tape. There are some stretches within The Ring that get a bit too drawn out for its own good. But the overall impact and atmosphere paper over these minor cracks in what is still an essentially frightening movie, that gladly has brains as well as a scare factor. The green-blue tint that pervades almost all of the film conjures a surreal aura to everything, which goes a long way in making the audience feel both drawn into the building set of events and cause deep anxiety. This use of a colour palette can’t be praised highly enough as it weaves a creative spell all through The Ring. Hans Zimmer is on music duties and structures a deepening dead that drips from every sonic tweak he infuses into the film.

Naomi Watts is very convincing in the terrified yet steadfast role of Rachel, who finds that the mystery with the tape may just cost her everything if she doesn’t decipher it all quickly. Watts brings out a purposefulness and a confusion that go in hand in hand in making us feel something for the character whose investigation turns deadly and more unsettling. Supporting her is the easy charm and growing nervousness of Martin Henderson as Noah, who scoffs at the idea of a tape having that power but then regretting it big time. It must be said that the level of fear that both Watts and Henderson project is excellently conveyed and pretty potent. David Dorfman plays the scared and unusual child of Rachel’s well, with the drawings and things that he sees becoming integral to the plot. Brian Cox and Jane Alexander add a lot to their roles as people from Samara’s past, who are terrified of the horror that occurred and seems to be spreading once more.

A downright eerie film with a compelling mystery throughout, The Ring is one hell of a spooky film that knows just the right way to have you creeped out as well as getting you to think.

Dangerous Beauty

Tags

1990's, Based on a true story, Catherine McCormack, Dangerous Beauty, Drama, Fred Ward, Jacqueline Bisset, Marshall Herskovitz, Moira Kelly, Naomi Watts, Oliver Platt, Romance, Rufus Sewell

Film Title

Dangerous Beauty

Director

Marshall Herskovitz

Starring

• Catherine McCormack as Veronica Franco
• Rufus Sewell as Marco Venier
• Oliver Platt as Maffio Venier
• Jacqueline Bisset as Paolo Franco
• Fred Ward as Domenico Venier
• Moira Kelly as Beatrice Venier
• Naomi Watts as Giulia De Lezze

Taking basis from the true story of 16th Century courtesan and poet Veronica Franco, Dangerous Beauty is an underrated movie that finds a somewhat inspiring and passionate tale in the journey of a trailblazer who gained both respect and scorn.

16th Century Venice: women are seen as property and marriage has nothing to do with love, more for the sake of duty and money. Veronica Franco is a beautiful young girl with a passion for verse and desire for learning. She is of lowly birth, yet has a kittenish disposition that covers this. Young and passionate Veronica is in love with Senator’s son Marco Venier, and he returns that love. Yet due to the fact that she is of inferior birth and that her family can’t provide a dowry, the two can never marry. Devastated by this knowledge, she is consoled by her mother Paolo. Her mother then gives Veronica a talk on a path to that could liberate her to a comfortable existence. The profession in question is being a courtesan. Hearing this surprising advice from her mother, Veronica recoils at first at the idea of selling her body for profit. But once she hears that courtesans can have a sense of influence and rights to an education, she takes note. Forsaking her love for Marco, Veronica transforms due to her burgeoning intelligence and drive into a courtesan of which she becomes greatly renowned. Veronica finds her fortunes changing and her reputation growing, both for better and for worse in some quarters. She gains respect from a lot of people higher up the social ladder, yet earns the hate of ladies who see that their husbands could very well be Veronica’s clients. Her poetry flourishes and though the world that she inhabits is male-dominated, through her intellect and passion she gets a foothold in society. Yet Veronica, while gaining independence, craves the love of Marco secretly yet understands the precariousness of standing. Fate has other plans however as war brews, plague arrives and the Inquisition takes residence in Venice. Veronica is forced to testify in court about her life, to which she shows her mettle and takes aim at the hypocrisy of society in unconventional style.

A film like Dangerous Beauty had the potential to be overly sleazy and trashy, so it’s good that it steers clear of both by way of confident and understanding direction. Marshall Herskovitz has this innate ability to sympathise with the characters, mainly in the case of Veronica. He doesn’t pass judgement on her despite the profession she embarks on, portraying her more as a girl who takes the initiative in order to prosper in a world that is obsessed with social standing and class. A script filled with drama, romance and wittiness, stands Dangerous Beauty in good stead as it busts apart the hypocritical attitudes of the time and especially the burdens on women in general. The parts of humour, provided mostly by Veronica and her excellent way with words, moves the story along with a brisk pace that doesn’t scrimp on the deeper parts of the story either. Now with Dangerous Beauty being a film about a courtesan, there is a sexual tone to the movie. Yet as sensuality is presented, it is done in a way that isn’t just about naked bodies and sweating. Sex is a power play in a sort of way in Dangerous Beauty, exposing how women were looked at in the time but how Veronica switched it up with her untamed personality. There are some areas where the film can be a little uneven, but Dangerous Beauty is not harmed by this thankfully as its story and execution remain intact. Beauty is glimpsed through the vast array of colour that features heavily, the visual department really knock it out the park recreating 16th Century Venice. An expressive score encompasses the humour, drama and passion on display with beautiful shifts in emotional levels.

Catherine McCormack delivers a splendid performance here as the soul of the film. Imbuing Veronica with a keen intention to learn, seductiveness and later outspoken feeling, she truly is a marvel. Boasting a beauty yet a heart and desire, you can’t quite take your eyes off her. Plus, her interpretation of the often witty and poetic words Veronica speaks are both fun and refreshing. McCormack is simply like a breath of fresh air, boasting the right temperament and conviction for the part of a woman who refused to be compromised by chains and retained dignity. The character of Veronica Franco is supposed to stand out and man does Catherine McCormack do just that. Rufus Sewell exhibits a sensitivity and sense of conflict within nobleman Marco, who knows that he loves Veronica but is obliged by duty to marry someone else. We witness the stiffening of his backbone as Dangerous Beauty commences and he begins to change. One of the biggest stand outs after McCormack is Oliver Platt. He essays the role of Marco’s cousin who isn’t as well off as he and whose jealousy burns that Veronica’s poetry flourishes with a chance of money while his dwindles. Although the character is a wastrel, there are many notes of tragedy to him. Jacqueline Bisset is simply terrific as the extremely wise mother who instructs her daughter into the ways of a courtesan under her watchful eye. She boasts a delightfully observant cynicism that has been shaped through her years as a young woman in a male-dominated world and the way in which she can educate her daughter in how to gain something. Then we have Fred Ward who clearly has a ball with the role of Marco’s uncle, playing him with a wily understanding of his nephew’s needs and a genuine respect for Veronica, where others scorn her. Though largely in the background for a lot of Dangerous Beauty, Moira Kelly comes into her own later on with a scathing attack on the unfair treatment of women in society. And look out for an early role from Naomi Watts as the timid and dutiful wife chosen for Marco.

A satisfying and beautifully rendered drama of one woman and her integrity, Dangerous Beauty is sumptuous, fresh and at times quite funny. I greatly advise people to see this film as it is a pretty underappreciated one in my eyes.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

Tags

2010's, Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, Comedy, Drama, Freida Pinto, Gemma Jones, Josh Brolin, Lucy Punch, Naomi Watts, Pauline Collins, Woody Allen, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

Film Title

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

Director

Woody Allen

Starring

• Anthony Hopkins as Alfie
• Gemma Jones as Helena
• Naomi Watts as Sally
• Josh Brolin as Roy
• Antonio Banderas as Greg
• Lucy Punch as Charmaine
• Freida Pinto as Dia
• Pauline Collins as Cristal

Although there is wit and drama to be found, when watching You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, you can’t help but feel that Woody Allen has done better movies over the years. Sure he knows how to write some great characters and situations, but unfortunately this movie isn’t a shining example of his talent.

The film focuses on the tangled love lives and questions of fate within a family living in London. Firstly, we have Alfie who has had an epiphany that time is not on his side and that he needs to relive some of his lost youth. The first step to do this is to divorce his shocked wife Helena, who because of this becomes friendly with fake fortune-teller Cristal, who she begins to trust almost completely. Life then becomes besotted with the much younger Charmaine, who is a former call girl and gold digger. Alfie quickly marries her, but soon enough he looks like he may regret it as her money spending gets out of control and his bank balance plummets. Alfie and Helena’s daughter Sally works in an art gallery, hoping one day to open one of her own yet blighted by the fact that her husband Roy is a washed-up writer. Roy wallows in misery at a lack of inspiration because his first novel was a success, but he has failed to replicate it in the following years. He is currently awaiting the response to his latest submission, but the arrival of Helena talking of cosmic energy does nothing to quell his fears. He finds some form of solace in a growing attraction to Dia, a beautiful music student who lives in the apartment opposite. Sally has grown tired of Roy’s lack of success, moping around and wants to start her own family, which seems out of the question as Roy has no intention. While at work, she begins to develop feelings for her new boss Greg, yet she doesn’t know whether to act on them or not. Let’s just say, entanglements ensue.

While it must be said that Woody Allen still has the ear for dialogue, he isn’t on his finest form here leaving many of the stories feeling tired and exhausted. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger isn’t completely terrible, it is actually quite good in parts. But I can’t help have the nagging feeling that Woody Allen can do so much better than this. One major problem I had with the film was that as certain stories seemed to get going, they were shoved to the back and not focused on a lot. This in turn made You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger a disjointed film, because some stories work a lot better than others and certain characters were more engaging than others. There are positives to the film to be found, despite the flaws that riddle the piece and make it one of his less accomplished efforts. I liked how the theme whether fates holds sway over lives and loves was presented, in the form of a charlatan fortune-teller whose predictions are often quite close to the truth. As is typical with a multi layered film, some parts of You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger work better than others. When it does work, the film has a gleefully ironic tone to it that is hard to miss. This is best summed up in the narration that has a mordant view of events and takes swipes at the misfortunes and romantic entanglements the characters find themselves in. A jaunty jazz soundtrack is used well enough to signify the changes in love that everyone goes through.

Anthony Hopkins is on good form(yet again, when he is not anything but excellent?) as Alfie, who thinks the grass is greener on the other side and is in for a rude awakening as it turns out to be not the bed of roses he expected. The delightful Gemma Jones is by turns funny and touching as his former wife, who takes to consulting supposedly clairvoyant forces for answers on her directions in life. Naomi Watts is splendidly overwrought as the frustrated Sally, while Josh Brolin, all scraggly hair and hangdog appearances is suitably pathetic and engulfed in self-pity as the washed-up Roy, desperately wanting success. The main standout within the cast for me is Lucy Punch as the trashy gold digger Charmaine. She helps provide some outrageous humour and crude appeal as Charmaine begins to fleece Alfie for every penny he’s got, despite not being the brightest person there is. Punch just has the necessary humour and attitude for the part that she clearly makes the most of. I myself found that Antonio Banderas and Freida Pinto were shortchanged with the material they were given. Both are talented stars, but the script just didn’t have enough flesh on the bones of either character for them to register with me. At least Pauline Collins, despite being only seen sporadically, is very amusing in the part of the fortune-teller who may actually be telling the truth.

With too many loose ends not tied up and some actors wasted in their respective parts, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger just lacks that extra spark that a lot of Allen’s work has. In the end, it resembles something akin to a mess that had potential but somehow squandered it.

21 Grams

Tags

2000's, 21 Grams, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Benicio Del Toro, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Drama, Guillermo Arriaga, Melissa Leo, Naomi Watts, Sean Penn

Film Title

21 Grams

Director

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Cast

• Sean Penn as Paul Rivers
• Naomi Watts as Cristina Peck
• Benicio Del Toro as Jack Jordan
• Charlotte Gainsbourg as Mary Rivers
• Melissa Leo as Marianne Jordan

The second film by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, 21 Grams is a vivid, visceral and fragmented view of lives intersecting after tragedy. Examining the lives and actions of three principal characters, the film becomes a visual jigsaw as the audience attempts to fathom what events will lead them to redemption and revenge.

The three principal characters in this fragmented narrative are Paul, a dying mathematician, Cristina a former drug addict who has cleaned up her ways and Jack, an ex-con turned devout christian. Their lives collide when Jack after drinking runs over and kills Cristina’s husband and two daughters. This leads Cristina back to her old ways to try to cope with unimaginable grief. Paul, is in need of a new heart and eventually receives the heart of Cristina’s late husband. As his marriage to his British wife Mary crumbles, Paul begins a relationship with the grieving Cristina who is out for revenge. All of these events transpire in non-linear order, giving the viewer an insight into the characters before and after the tragedy and the events that will transpire as a result of this one fateful incident.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has fashioned an interesting film about redemption and retribution. The script by Guillermo Arriaga delves deep into the emotions of these emotionally wounded characters, revealing the inner turmoil and confusion each experiences throughout the narrative. Although at first the non-linear narrative may leave you bewildered, as the events continue to unravel we are given a bigger picture of what is happening as the pieces begin to form an inexplicable link to each other. This style is not for everyone, but it is certainly interesting to watch the past, present and future of each character’s life as they unfold like a coiled snake.

The acting of the leading trio is uniformly excellent. Sean Penn reveals a deep humanity within the character of Paul, who is just about holding on as the last flicker of light in his life begins to slip away. Naomi Watts puts in a powerful turn of sorrow, anger and heartbreak as her character tries to grieve and later get even with the cause of her pain. Benicio Del Toro is a menacing presence as the ex-con turned preacher who attempts to write his wrongs, but is ultimately unable to escape the guilt he has inflicted upon himself. Because of this powerful trio of portrayals, the secondary characters lack something and only contribute tiny things to the story. Charlotte Gainsbourg and Melissa Leo are talented actresses but are underused in this film. Regardless of this minor gripe, the film still remains an evocative look at damaged people trying to make good with their lives.

Evocative, thought-provoking and inventive, 21 Grams is a film that is once seen, never to be forgotten.