The Revenant

"I ain't afraid to die. I've done that already."

                                          

A man wakes and pushes himself out of his frozen, half-covered grave. He is injured and left for dead in the cold, harsh winter of the wild American frontier. He crawls across the ground in obvious agony to the snow-covered corpse of his loved one, the last of his family. He checks the corpse for breath or a heartbeat before laying on the chest and vowing to never leave. The camera, low to the ground, pushes in on this broken man and as his breathes become more ragged and heavy, the camera fogs. The scene transitions to an aerial shot close to a patch of thin clouds, high over the snow-capped mountains and plains of the rugged, brutal countryside as time and space pass. These clouds then become the smokey, slightly nervous breath of the murderer. A man, as tough as the land, who inhales his pipe while his companion nearby is unaware of the man's crimes. He is contemplative, eager to survive this moment and willing to do anything but to survive he must keep his companion alive without alerting him to his crime. The murderer and his companion are unaware that the injured man is hell-bent on revenge and hunting them across the wilderness.

Alejandro González Iñárritu won Best Picture last year with Birdman, Or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance, a comedic-drama about the decayed mind of a star actor that was most presented in one take thanks to some nifty digital editing, In 2015/2016 he and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki return for The Revenant, a breathtaking journey through the uncharted American frontier that has made headlines throughout the year due to its troubled production. Moving the entire production from Canada to Argentina to follow the weather, overblown action scenes and shooting in harsh wilderness and natural light. The Revenant stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson and Will Poulter as prominent members of a band of hunters during America's early days who, after their camp is destroyed by Pawnee Native Americans and their hard-earned cargo of animal pelts lost, are forced to march across the frozen mountains and tundra's back to the safety of their frontier fort. Meanwhile the Native American tribe search and hunt for their chief's missing daughter.

The concept of breathing is the central thematic concern of the film, whether that be the physical embodiment of it, the emotional significance of it or even the psychological motivation such an innate part of life can provide within the perils of such a brutal environment. The score invokes the concept with percussion and low tones briefly swelling, booming and dissipating like heavy breaths, or higher more tense tones emulating hyperventilation in some action scenes. The transitions and editing within and between scenes uses the setting to its fullest, specifically bodies of water, to add the feeling of breathing through editing besides just communicating the advancement of time, and this extends to Iñarritu repeatedly using the emergence of characters from womb-like positions to echo the first breaths of life. Breathing is an integral part of the performance of the antagonistic leads DiCaprio and Hardy, often used instead of dialogue and feeding into the simplistic manner of this well-told story. Hardy again especially puts in another fine performance this year disappearing into the role of Fitzgerald, and this certainly is exemplified in his scenes with the other leads such as DiCaprio's silent skilled survivor, Poulter's youthful moralist and Gleeson's passionate, rational and tested noble captain who all often run foul of Hardy's brutal simplistic logic, lack of scruples and antagonism fueled by his desire to live in spite of those around him. The performances of the cast, the film's production design and costumes are flawless, brilliant and brutal, creating unique characters, and are never stock in appearance or performance but the true star of the film is the cinematography of Emmanuel Lubezki who, if all is right with the world, should take home his third straight cinematography Oscar because of his work on this film.

Iñarritu and Gonzalez collaborated last year on the Oscar-winning Birdman and enough of the camera styles of that film are evolved within The Revenant to warrant the connection between the two films. While far from a single-take film there is plenty of single-take scenes and digital editing, "invisible cuts" achieved through matching moments and using digital editing software to manipulate and create the appearance of an unbroken moment, within large moments and the low-angle, diagonal close-ups on faces that made Birdman such a stand-out visually. But The Revenant is bolstered by a camera that almost breaks the fourth wall, that uses the breath-taking scenery and natural light to un-matched effect, and pushes digital film-making forward with its enviable clarity. Simply put, this is easily the best looking film in a good long while. Some of the landscape, establishing and aerial shots could be directly compared to the westerns of Sergio Leone and his unparalleled eye for capturing the location, while others appear as though directly taken by a seasoned wildlife photographer. Certain moments of action and tension are tastefully shot in one take, but the night shots prove especially beautiful with incredible scenes captured supposedly without artificial light sources. Lubezki committed to using the ALEXA 65 camera on the shoot and the results are instantly and emphatically apparent.

On the downside The Revenant does feel its 156-minute run-time with more than enough scenes of birth-like emergence and hairy men breathing heavily while hungrily devouring meat, Hardy's voice again borders on impenetrable at moments, a multi-lingual exchange has its immersion destroyed by the necessity for the subtitles to tell the audience that they're in French, and the final shot is a bit of a cop-out. But that hardly matters, The Revenant is worth the hype on the strength of the cinematography alone, and the reality that behind that is an intense, affecting, tragic story by a director in his prime, a brilliant cast and skilled crew (with a perfect score to boot) makes The Revenant a must-see film.

Birdman

Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) is a fading movie star who was famous two decades. Fearing that he is losing relevance, he decides to star in a stage adaptation of Raymond Carver's story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" that he is also directing, producing and has written. Riggan's best friend and attorney, Jake (Zach Galifianakis), is hoping for Riggan's sake that the play is a success, as his daughter and assistant Sam (Emma Stone).

This film has a lot to say thematically. The method of acting is explored in great depth, with a lot of focus on how actor's draw a solid performance from themselves, as well as which reality is real for an actor. Edward Norton's character Mike Shiner has trouble being honest in real life, but when he is on the stage, all his emotions are real. Riggan also has the same problem. Due to being thought of as Birdman for his whole career, he starts to believe that he actually is Birdman. Of course this fact draws a lot of comparison between Riggan and Michael Keaton, whose most famous role is undoubtably that of Batman in the Tim Burton films.

Riggan is also disgusted by the dominance of superhero movies that proliferate the real world of the movie. Seeing Downey Jr. on TV talking about Iron Man and hearing that he is unable to get actors for his play because they are acting in these types of films. It also has to do with Riggan (read: Keaton) being the precursor to the current crop of superhero franchises. The film also discusses the relationship between creators and critics, with Mike Shiner commenting to a critic that people only become critics when they can't produce something of their own. This comment made me laugh, due to this reviewer straddling the world between creativity and criticism.

Iñárritu has created a superbly technical film. Birdman is simulated to make it seem like the film is one single take. This makes the film feel not only more real, but adds to the sensation of being on the stage as the camera explores the St. James Theatre where the movie was filmed. Antonio Sanchez's drum score is perfect at building the tension that so many of the scenes have and it is perfectly placed.

All of the performances are mind blowing. Keaton flows from being manic to in control to being at his wits end and just all out insane so perfectly. Edward Norton's Mike Shiner is simultaneously loveable and extremely hatable for both his arrogance and brutal honesty. Emma Stone gives Riggan's daughter such depth and humanity that she feels like a real person. Both Naomi Watts and Andrea Riseborough play superb actresses who are just excited to be in a broadway play and Zach Galifianakis is so far removed from his regular idiot persona, here he is closer to his stand-up self, and his performance just feels refreshing.

Verdict: An amazing look at acting for the stage, whilst saying so many other things. Iñárritu is superb at making stunning and technical films as well as drawing the best from his actors. A must see.

Classic Movie Review: Babel (2006)

In the late 90s to mid 2000s, a swath of films that were made up of interconnected stories were released. Unlike these other movies, like Traffic, Crash and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (all of which are fantastic), Babel took this film structure and made a far greater film. Maybe it's the lack of an ensemble cast (with only two big actors known two mainstream audiences) or maybe it's the plausible storyline that plays on the audience's fears that make this an excellent film.

The film takes place in three different locations around the world and focuses on four groups of characters. The first group of characters are Moroccan goat-herders. Abdullah (Mustapha Rachidi) buys a rifle from one of his neighbours to shoot jackals that prey upon his herds. He gives the gun to his sons Ahmed (Said Tarchani) and Yussef (Boubker Ait El Caid) when they go into the hills. The two brothers begin to fight about who is a better marksman and end up shooting at a bus full of tourists. This is called an act of terrorism by the United States and there is pressure on the Moroccan authorities to find the culprits. The police eventually track down Abdullah, Yussef and Ahmed. Ahmed is shot and killed by the police, at which stage Yussef gives up and surrenders to police custody.

Richard (Brad Pitt) and Susan (Cate Blanchett) are two American tourists on holiday in Morocco. Susan is increasingly worried about getting sick from poor hygiene in what she considers an unclean country and is desperately missing her children back home. While they are on the tour bus, a gunshot hits Susan in the neck. Being too far to get to any major cities, the tour guide suggests that they go to his village which is closer, much to the apprehension of the other tourists. The busload of tourists eventually decide to leave Richard and Susan in the village. They are later airlifted out and taken to the US embassy.

Back in America, Amelia (Adriana Barraza) is looking after the children of Richard and Susan. She is trying with some difficulty to find someone to look after the children while she goes to Mexico for her son's wedding. Her nephew, Santiago (Gael Garcia Bernal) suggests that she brings the children to Mexico. On the way back, there is some confusion at the border and Santiago, who has been drinking, makes the mistake of driving through the border and into the US, prompting a chase in the night. Santiago stops the car and tells Amelia and the children to stay there and he'll come back for them. Amelia and the children stumble through the desert and get separated. Amelia gets found by the border patrol, who also find the children. Amelia ends up being deported to Mexico for working as an illegal immigrant within the US.

The final story, which is seemingly unrelated to the rest of the film, follows Chieko Wataya (Rinko Kikuchi), a deaf-mute schoolgirl from Tokyo. She is self-concious about her disability and tries very hard to get the attention of boys when she is out with her friends, as she wants to lose her virginity. All the attempts she makes are unsuccessful. A young police officer, Kenji Mamiya (Satoshi Nikaido), has been asking to question her father. Chieko believes this is to do with the suicide of her mother, but it is in fact to do with the ownership of the rifle used to shoot Susan in Morocco.

Now that the plot's out of the way, we can finally talk about the rest of the movie. First off, I love the symbolism of the title of the movie. In biblical terms, the Tower of Babel was built by humanity who had a united language and believed that they could reach God if they built a tower. As punishment, God made all the people on Earth speak a different language. One of the major themes in this film is being able to communicate with one another, whether it be Richard trying to tell the Moroccans what is wrong with his wife or Chieko being able to communicate with anyone.

I really like the casting in this film. Brad Pitt is fantastic and gives one of the best performances of his career, although we see very little of him. Likewise, Gael Garcia Bernal gives a fantastic performance, but he is not in the film for long. The two standout performances come from Rinko Kikuchi and Adriana Barraza. The scenes in which Barraza is walking listlessly throughout the desert are fantastic. Kikuchi is also fantastic and it is her story that I can relate to the most. Having a disability myself, I watch the story of Chieko and I can see parallels between that story and my own teenage years.

Surprisingly, that is not the only story I can relate to in this film. I too have been injured in a country where I don't speak the language and although my injury wasn't as bad as being shot, you do feel a certain helplessness in being unable to communicate what you need. Perhaps this is why this film resonates with me, because half of the movie's plot is recognisable.

The soundtrack for this film really sticks out for me too. Gustavo Santaolalla's score is fantastic and his use of guitar makes the film even more evocative. All of the Mexican music played at the wedding is fun to listen to and it makes me want to travel there all the more.

Verdict: A powerful movie that makes you think about how small the world has become.