The Girl with All the Gifts

Tags

2010's, Colm McCarthy, Drama, Gemma Arterton, Glenn Close, Horror, Paddy Considine, Sennia Nanua, The Girl with All the Gifts

A horror drama with ethical and provocative questions at its core, The Girl with All the Gifts finds new life in the zombie horror genre with fine acting, scares and a surprising intelligence.

Some time in the future, most of mankind has been overrun by a virulent fungal disease that turns the sufferer into a flesh craving zombie. These people are known as “hungries” by others. In a secret underground army base, a second generation of these creatures in the form of young children are taught. Unlike their savage relatives, these kids can think and learn, but also have a craving for flesh. Humans have a certain blocker gel that masks the smell of human flesh, but that is still no long term guarantee. The story mainly focuses on one such child known as Melanie( Sennia Nanua), who is immensely gifted, polite and eager to learn. The growling Sergeant Parks( Paddy Considine) keeps things running in a brusque way, while head scientist Dr. Caroline Caldwell( Glenn Close)experiments on the zombie children in a search for a cure to the disease. Although most see the children as just mere monsters, teacher Helen Justineau( Gemma Arterton) treats them with respect and compassion which puts her in opposition with both. Just as Dr. Caldwell is making some breakthrough, the facility is attacked by hungries. In the confusion, Melanie, Justineau, Caldwell and Parks survive and head for what they hope will be safety. But as tensions mount and Melanie is fought over, it becomes clear that there is no easy answer to what’s going on. But is Melanie the salvation of destruction of mankind in the grand scheme of things? And just how long is she to be trusted as the world around her crumbles and slips into a worse state than it already is?

Colm McCarthy is a director who clearly wants to bring that something different to the zombie horror sub genre. And that he does with this film that is both eerily tense and reflective on thematic material. I like how things start out mysterious and gradually we begin to understand the horrifying vision of the future. And once it hits the half an hour mark, intensity reigns and the pace quickens considerably backing up the horror credentials. One can make successful parallels with 28 Days Later and with good reason, for both are exemplary entries into zombie horror with more on its mind than just action and blood. Not that there isn’t action or blood as is envisioned in kinetic style and blood soaked horror, like the standout sequence of the hungries attaching the facility with a ferocity akin to a war movie. These events sit nicely along with the deeper thematic value of the piece. Considering The Girl with All the Gifts wasn’t made with the biggest budget, it never shows as it’s a gorgeously and hauntingly visual film. This extends particularly to its version of London, one in which overgrown plant life has taken over like a vicious jungle of vines that will prove fatal to those who can’t survive. And lets just say there is plenty of meat to chew over( pardon the pun.) The battle between good and evil is blurred considerably and admirably. No one is clear cut bad or good, least of all the eponymous Girl who is a mixture of both. The Girl with All the Gifts asks us to feel sympathy for her but like most of the characters, keep a certain sense of worry about her true nature and whether it’s just a matter of fate that she becomes rabid. In fact, there’s a certain tragedy attached to Melanie. You witness that she wishes to be like everyone else but is cursed from it, Some might say some of it is typical zombie fare and while there are going to be some cliched moments in here( no one said it was flawless), but what the film accomplishes is something with more heart and smarts than your average flick in this genre. A shimmering and reverberating score should rightfully be praised. It hums and throbs with an alarming intensity and haunting aura.

As the titular Girl, Sennia Nanua is a revelation in her first main role. For such a young actress acting alongside more seasoned co-stars, Nanua shows no sign of nerves and turns in a layered performance that is at once sympathetic and menacing. And what a cast it is. Gemma Arterton, of pleasing, warm face and expressive eyes, beautifully portrays the teacher who treats her charges as if they were just average children. In her eyes, although they are dangerous, they still matter and it is a fine.y judged, emotional performance from Gemma Arterton. Glenn Close( a superb actress of the highest order) is once more on amazing form as the ruthlessly determined scientist who seems heartless but possesses some care within her. Close doesn’t make her a villain and although she’s questionable as a character, it’s that flawed nature that Close gets across so well. Paddy Considine is on hand for sarcastic, aggressive lines and action as the skilled soldier navigating a crew of at odds survivors through a hellish London.

A chilling, thrilling but also deep examination of moral dilemmas set against a world gone mad, The Girl with All the Gifts discovers inventive and astute ways to blend post-apocalyptic horror and sensitive drama about ethical and ambiguous questions on humanity, science and the complex link between good and evil.

Macbeth

Tags

2010's, David Thewlis, Jack Reynor, Justin Kurzel, Macbeth, Marion Cotillard, Michael Fassbender, Paddy Considine, Sean Harris, Tragedy, William Shakespeare

Film Title

Macbeth

Director

Justin Kurzel

Starring

• Michael Fassbender as Macbeth
• Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth
• Paddy Considine as Banquo
• Sean Harris as Macduff
• Jack Reynor as Malcolm
• David Thewlis as King Duncan

Shakespeare’s classic play Macbeth is one that is often committed to film many a time, but this version of the tragedy has enough clout and striking atmosphere to distinguish it from the crowd.

The film begins on a Scottish battlefield as civil war is raging. Lord Macbeth is fighting for the cause of King Duncan against the opposition. The battle is a bloody one and following events will also change for Macbeth. After the battle, Macbeth encounters a group of witches who tell him of a prophecy that he will be king. The other part of the foreshadowing is that his friend and fellow fighter Banquo’s descendants will also be kings in the future, as Macbeth’s child has died. This prophecy, in particular the fact that he will become king, haunts and consumes Macbeth, who is unsure of how to react to it. Yet spurred on by the deep ambitions of his manipulative wife Lady Macbeth, he goes through with the deed and kills King Duncan. The King’s son Malcolm sees what has happened yet flees, leaving the throne wide open to Macbeth, who already holds a significant title. Macbeth, thanks to the murder he committed with the help of his wife, is crowned King just like the prophecy of the witches said. But the grips of paranoia seize Macbeth and he is haunted by his actions. People grow suspicious of Macbeth and his ways, in particular Banquo and Macduff. This brings out the depraved cruelty within him that begins to wipe out anyone who stands in the way of his tyrannical rule. Soon Macbeth is spiraling into full-on delusional behaviour and outright savagery, as what was once good inside him shatters in the wake of his viciousness and ambition.

Adapting anything from Shakespeare must be a challenge, as you want to  stamp your own impression on the material and not just follow suit of everyone else, though keeping the feeling of the play is crucial to. No one need worry though with Justin Kurzel in the director’s seat. He makes this Macbeth bold, uncompromising and daring in style and content. I’ve always seen Macbeth as something of a cinematic work, and Kurzel holds control over events like a maestro conductor with a dazzling repertoire of celluloid techniques that thrust the story into visceral and dark life. Mist and oppressive setting of the film gives grandiose and spooky ambience to Macbeth, that ensures that the coldness and savagery we witness practically seeps off the screen into our conscience. Gothic splendour exudes from almost every frame before we get an orange-red climax that is an exhilarating spectacle of overflowing anguish and corrupting darkness in which Macbeth faces off with Macduff. Macbeth should also be praised for adhering to the text in a largely faithful manner. It doesn’t try to bring anything up to date and has the verse intact, allowing the actors to savour the lines they are given. A Celtic influenced score matches the events beat for beat as treachery and murder ultimately take hold of almost every character.

At the heart of the film there is Michael Fassbender, who is searing as the eponymous character. Displaying a an engulfing ferocity that becomes more impossible to contain, Fassbender truly draws out the menace and cruelty of Macbeth. Yet in quite a few instances he humanizes the character a little bit, so you can practically feel the anguish and growing paranoia from the moment he stabs Duncan and begins his downward spiral. Fassbender is truly on fine form as Macbeth, wrapping his voice around every syllable with a commanding performance of intensity and suffering. Matching him move for move is Marion Cotillard as the driving force which is Lady Macbeth. She’s a calculating woman of dark ambition that Cotillard plays to the hilt with a sometimes mask like detachment that serves the character well and gets the audience to puzzle over what is going on in her head. With the added sub-plot of her losing a child, Cotillard works wonders in unfurling that maybe Lady Macbeth has filled the devastating void left my her loss with a ruthless and cruel plots of which she has control over. It’s a different interpretation of the character that is all the better for the uniqueness that Cotillard provides, especially in the later scenes of a guilt-ridden woman knowing that a lot of her husband’s descent is by her own hand. The excellent supporting cast is strong and includes David Thewlis, Paddy Considine , Sean Harris and Jack Reynor. Each of these respective actors is fine in their roles, though the film ultimately belongs to Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard.

A visceral, violent and bold retelling of the play, Macbeth brings the action to the cinematic heights yet never sacrifices the intimacy or verse of the source material. Shakespeare never looked so brutal and entrancing as it does here.