Love & Friendship

With an unexpected amount of satire and snark, Whit Stillman's Love & Friendship impresses audiences with a fresh take on some classic Jane Austen literature (no zombies needed for this one). Love & Friendship is a romantic comedy disguised as a pre-Victorian drama, with the structure and atmosphere of the movie mirroring that of a theatre play. Mixing quick witted dialogue with old-timey English speech in a game of sociopolitical chess creates an enjoyable and unique cinema experience for all viewers of this movie.

In the late 18th century, flirtatious widow Lady Susan (Kate Beckinsale) finds herself in a social trough following the death of her husband. In a calm struggle for power, she looks to win the heart of young bachelor Reginald De Courcy (Xavier Samuel), while at the same time solidifying control over her highly contested daughter Frederica (Morfydd Clark). With the powers of various highborn families of England at play, Love & Friendship displays a layered sociopolitical conflict hidden calmly under the guise of one-upmanship in seemingly respectful and proper public affairs, with comedic value often found in these displays throughout the film.

Kate Beckinsale is the clear star of the show, with her portrayal of Lady Susan being both elegant and proper as a woman of stature, as well snappy and sharp-witted as a social player. Beckinsale proves both her flexibility and experience as an actress and creates a strong base performance for the rest of the cast to build off. While some background characters aren't entirely as convincing, the supporting cast does well to build off Beckinsale's lead and impress across the board. Notable performances come from  Chloë Savigny as Lady Susan's amiable yet equally manipulative American friend Alicia Johnson, as well as a surprisingly enjoyable showing from Tom Bennett, who plays an incompetent and socially inept bachelor. While the performances are solid, the real praise should go to the screenplay of Whit Stillman, for creating a Mean Girls-esque vibe of snappiness and banter that we can only hope really existed in these historical times.

As aforementioned, Love & Friendship views somewhat as a theatre play, with character introductions, title cards and musical transitions. The actual scenes of the film are void of any musical score, with authentic classical pieces only accompanying these transitions between different scenes or locations. The simple editing, both musical and otherwise, create a genuine feel to the film, with believable costumes and location adding to this feeling. In all aspects, the movie feels like a bona fide classical English story, while also managing to incorporate the wit and dynamism of modern day.

While at first glimpse Love & Friendship may seem like a standard and possibly boring classical English movie, in practice it is anything but. Combining romance with wit and comedy in a historical setting results in this film feeling both authentic and accurate as well as strangely familiar and modern, and audiences can expect to come out of a viewing with a pleasant feeling of satisfaction, whether they are a fan of the historical genre or not.

Classic Movie Review: Kids (1995)

I have always been a big fan of movies that give brutally honest depictions to parts of society that I am unfamiliar with. Larry Clark's Kids is definitely one of them, but it also has an added bonus of being twenty years old at the time of viewing, so it also gives an insight to a world that I can barely remember.

Taking place in Manhattan over the course of a day, the film follows 17 year old Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick), who has an unsavoury habit of only sleeping with virgins. He spends most of his time with his pal Casper (Justin Pierce) as they wander aimlessly around town, looking to get high or laid. Meanwhile, Jennie (Chloë Sevigny) and Ruby (Rosario Dawson) both go to get tested for STD's. Jennie admits to only having sex once, with Telly, and finds out that she has contracted HIV.

After telling a friend that I had seen this movie and fallen in love with it, he told me how this film was very controversial upon release. This apparently had to do with the very frank depiction of the lives that the people in the film led and that no one (read: middle class white people) could believe that the youth of the early 90s would talk or behave in this manner. However, writer Harmony Korine has openly stated he had based this movie on a lot of what he had seen growing up in Manhattan. Indeed, the scene in which Casper brutally beats up a fellow youth with a skateboard was reportedly filmed only twenty feet from where Korine witnessed the bashing on which it was based.

And this film captures perfectly the outlook of society at this time. HIV was still a very worrying thing and there was a stigma attached to anyone who had contracted it, due to the heavily homophobic culture that existed. Many times in the movie, the characters come across some homosexual people and condemn them for just being themselves. But of course as we learn through the movie, anyone can contract HIV regardless of sexuality.

All the performances in this movie are amazing, especially considering it was many of the actors first movie. Leo Fitzpatrick's Telly is a reprehensible character who you come to realise isn't supposed to be likeable. Chloë Sevigny shot to fame after her performance in this movie and it was well deserved. Jennie is vulnerable in a world of guys who are out for her. Rosario Dawson made her debut as a fifteen year old and plays an amazing part and this movie would have benefitted from having a lot more of her in it.

Verdict: A great movie to have watched outside the time it came out, as it offers a brutally honest window into the time that it came out during.

Classic Movie Review: American Psycho (2000)

American Psycho is the kind of movie you have to watch at least twice. Preferably more. The first time you'll watch it and see a movie about a guy who just likes to murder people and is just what the title says. But after a few viewings you start to notice things that you missed out on before. So after probably my fifteenth viewing, I think (rather hopefully) I finally understand the film.

It follows Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), a young attractive finance executive in New York, who tells us that he is an insane psychopath who loves to murder people. And that's anyone and everyone. Through the course of the film he kills homeless people, dogs, models, colleagues, prostitutes, police officers and friends.

From the first viewing I always knew that this film was an obvious satire of late 80's yuppie culture. It's pretty hard to miss it. Bateman and his friends are obsessed with the best clothes, girls and food. Through Bateman's narration we are told of his morning routine with precise detail, including the specific types of lotions he uses and the properties that they have. There is a great scene where the guys compare each others business cards, with Bateman's tense narration playing over the top. This particular scene highlights the need Bateman has to one-up everyone, even in the most minute details.

But at it's core the film is also about conformity and Bateman's extreme need and desire to fit into the popular culture. He loves listening to Huey Lewis & The News and at many times gives lengthy speeches about particular singers before offing his victims, you can watch the most famous of them here. One facet of conformity that he cannot attain however, is a table at the elusive restaurant Dorsia, much to the dismay of the people around him.

Now, despite being best known for playing Batman, Bale's best work ever is as the two-faced Bateman (only one letter really divides the two roles). In the above scene, the blood splatter on his face only accentuates the two-facedness of his character.

There are also great supporting roles from Jared Leto, Justin Theroux, Reese Witherspoon and Willem Defoe. But due to Bateman's role as an unreliable narrator, all these characters fade into the background due to his disinterest in them.

As the film goes on and Bateman kills more and more people his grip on reality becomes more tenuous.  The films ends with with a mind-bender and leaves you thinking what just happened and when you think you got it, you don't.

Verdict: A scathing satire of of yuppie culture of the 1980s that is also about the need to fit in.