By the Sea

It’s no secret that I was less than impressed with Angelina Jolie Pitt’s last foray into the directing world with Unbroken. Now she’s back with what appears to be a much more personal story in By the Sea. 

Winding down the mountains toward the sea-side in an elegant convertible, American writer Roland (Brad Pitt) and his wife (Angelina Jolie Pitt) sit silently as he lights-up a cigarette, the first of many he’ll have throughout the film. Vanessa is an ex-dancer and is clouded in a mysterious depression. Her attitude and his failed career/spiralling alcoholism has caused the two to grow disparate, however as much as the trip is about Roland gaining inspiration for a new book, it’s also a chance for the two to rekindle their relationship. A chance that Vanessa seems fine to squander. 

Staying in a luxurious villa-style hotel, Vanessa frequently stays home, often not even venturing out onto the balcony, while Roland gets to know the town-folk, hoping to find an interesting character amongst them. In the next room, a young couple Lea (Mélanie Laurent) and François (Melvil Poupaud), just married, prove fascinating to Vanessa and she starts to interact with the couple and introduce them to Roland. 

A thriller this is not. Stretches of this film are so agonisingly bland that I gained a whole new appreciation for cinema design. How did they choose what felt to use on the walls? Who designed these cup holders? Much more interesting than watching the film during these sequences. The first 20 minutes or so are so depressingly dull and repetitive (day after day) that I was sure this would all amount to possibly the worst film I’ve ever had to review. However soon afterwards, the story takes a turn that I can only describe as ‘voyeuristic’ - that’s about as spoiler-free as I can make it - and this at least brought some interest back. 

Ultimately this film’s downfall is its characters, a pretty-big sin for an utterly character-driven drama. Jolie’s Vanessa starts off a depressed social introvert/agoraphobic, brought on by a traumatic event slowly pieced together through flash-editing - a technique that certainly doesn’t suit this type of film and proved more of a distraction - and the character really doesn’t evolve enough out of that state. The aim is obviously to draw pity towards Vanessa, but she comes off as more annoying than anything else, despite whatever troubles she may have. Roland seems a little more fleshed-out, despite being a struggling alcoholic writer - how original - and his interactions with the barman Michel (Niels Arestrup) are probably the most interesting scenes in the film. 

Sure, the view of Malta and scenic shots of the ocean looks beautiful, but the story flows about as willingly as a stagnant pond. It feels like an unhealthy mix between a romantic Arthouse film from the French New Wave and poorly integrated stylistic elements from a Fincher or even Aronofsky film. It just doesn’t work. 

By the Sea is another disappointing project from director Jolie, however where Unbroken was unoriginal and tedious, this film squanders its opportunity to embrace originality. It's bland opening act is only replaced by a weird subplot, carried through by characters that are near-impossible to care about. Jolie has said the message of this film is about grief and how it consumes you. Ultimately the only grief I felt was for my wallet.

Unbroken

Angelina Jolie aims to impress with her second stint at directing (the first being the 2011 film In the Land of Blood and Honey), Unbroken, a biographical film about U.S Olympic athlete and WWII veteran Luis Zamperini. Zamperini's story is certainly epic in scope, but Jolie's talent behind the camera is yet to be seen.

Louis "Louie" Zamperini (Jack O'Connell) grew up a rebellious troublemaker. His brother Peter (Alex Russell) saw that Louie had a talent for running and helped to train him as an athlete. Zamperini eventually makes it to the 1939 Olympic games in Berlin, where his success highlights his strong potential. However when war breaks out, Louie becomes a bombardier in the U.S Air Force where his plane is eventually shot down.

After surviving at sea for months on end with his crew mates, Russell (Domhnall Gleeson) and Mac (Finn Wittrock), they are captured by the Japanese and sent to a prisoner of war camp, where Zamperini encounters a vicious guard, Mutsuhiro "The Bird" Watanabe (Miyavi).

I'll be honest, I had a lot of issues with this film, and was left a little disappointed. For a script that was, in part, written by the Coen Brothers, it's decidedly underwhelming. The dialogue is at points clichéd, and often dull, for instance, one of the most evocative lines is literally Zamperini recounting a recipe. There's also its timing. At a little over two hours, it's certainly not long compared to other war features, yet it felt quite drawn out. Split into three parts, it moves along smoothly enough but at a slow rate, and some times almost carbon-copying whole sequences from similar movies such as Life of Pi and The Bridge on the River Kwai. It may be telling a true story but it should be able to differentiate itself in the presentation of that story. Though that's not to say that some scenes don't work quite well, there are certainly some powerful moments throughout, but they stand out like a sore thumb.

None of this is helped by the fact that O'Connell's performance as Zamperini feels somewhat forced. He's by no means terrible, but he wasn't particularly convincing, and this made it difficult for me to understand or relate with the character, and subsequently the story started to lose my attention. Japanese singer Miyavi is decent as the brutal Mutsuhiro "The Bird" Watanabe, a POW guard that abuses Zamperini, though he doesn't have the same screen presence as his filmic equivalent, the ruthless Colonel Saito in Bridge on the River Kwai, although that was a fictional character. Both Fin Wittrock and Domhnall Gleeson are great as Zamperini's lost companions.

Considering that epic DP Roger Deakins, long-term collaborator with the Coen Bros, was involved with Unbroken, it's visually quite ordinary. Much of the film has been colourised to the bland "Summer Blockbuster" look that favours oranges and subsequently makes most people appear like Oompa Loompas. The plane sequences in the first act are very obviously CGI, which wouldn't normally bother me but for fairly straightforward shots, it would seem like some practical effects/model work would be much more effective here. There are also some weird issues throughout, such as the fact that Zamperini appears to have styled a goatee in his months at sea. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't think that grooming would be their primary concern in that situation.

I always admire the drive to make a biopic, especially one as ambitious as this, but unfortunately many of the issues here are indicative of textbook directing from Jolie, not terrible, just nothing special. The musical score did impress me and there were a few standout scenes, but generally this just fell flat. I have no doubt that Zamperini's story is one that should be told, but this film doesn't do it justice.