Hell or High Water

Modern westerns seem like a bit of a misnomer. The whole idea of the genre is to capture the futility and struggle on the frontier of America, a frontier that disappeared in the early part of the twentieth century. These neo-westerns have shifted the focus of the struggles of the people living in the rural parts of America away from physical dangers to economic threats. Everything from No Country For Old Men to Breaking Bad has included this in some form or other, but nothing has embraced it fully like Hell or High Water.

Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster) have started their week by robbing banks. Not just any bank either, specifically Texas Midlands Bank. They have a plan to rob as many as they can in the week and launder their ill-gotten gains at the Indian casino over the Oklahoma border. The case comes to the attention of Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges), who sets his sights on trying to find out who they are, despite total resistance from a population happy to see the crooked banks getting what they deserve.

A lot of people probably won't know what to expect when going into this movie. It looks like it will have a lot of action like a western or the thrills of a heist movie and it has both of those, but in very limited doses. It is however a slow burning western that focuses on its themes and characters on both a small and grand scale, something which a lot of movies in general are incapable of doing. The economic reality of places like rural Texas is that they never bounced back from the global financial crisis of 2008, but they can see that big cities in their own country are saying that it's over. I don't want to make this review about Donald Trump, and this movie isn't about him, but more than anything this movie really shows the landscape that a political movement like his can be born out of. There are so many references to the fact that small town America is lost and that families are being put out of a living and that's what makes this movie great. There's a level of realism simmering just below the surface that may not be in keeping with the classic idea of realism that was built all those years ago in post-war Italy, but it's there all the same.

The other thing that makes this movie fantastic is its characterisation. There is a distinct lack of characters that have any bearing on the plot and none of these characters are the archetypes that you would find in a western or heist film. Jeff Bridges has played a law man many times before, but never has he been such an abrasive and unlikeable character. Not only is he always antagonising his Mexican/Native American partner Alberto (played so perfectly by Gil Birmingham), but he fails to identify the world in which the other characters live. Chris Pine's Toby is reminiscent of Jake Gyllenhaal's Lou Bloom from Nightcrawler, however his thinness comes from the lack of available food. Ben Foster plays a special level of unhinged that is similar but different to his regular unsettling character.

Hell or High Water is a surprising look at the current economic reality of rural America. It also fights the conventions of genre so much that it transcends any genre and becomes a realistic portrait of life. This is one of those quiet movies that slip past people but ends up winning awards without people knowing it. Definitely go watch it.

Seventh Son

                                               "To be no-good at a bad thing is good."

A wise and battle-weary Old Man is confronted by the greatest enemy from his past and recruits a young farm-Boy who slowly learns his destiny through interaction with a mysterious artifact he owns. As the boy grows, the Man, though grumpy, comes to respect and rely on the Boy, the Boy in turn slowly learns to accept the teachings of the Old Man and together the boy falls in love and they defeat the Evil and its Empire.

That's pretty much the basic plot outline of nearly every fantasy film made since Star Wars at the very least, whether it's Science Fantasy like Star Wars (or as TV Tropes dubs it, the Standard Sci-fi Setting), or the Standard Fantasy Setting from a popular book (see: Eragon). The latest incarnation of this tired trope is helmed by Russian director Sergei Bodrov, director and writer of Quickie, Prisoner of the Mountains, and Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan. Based on Joseph Delaney's 2004 fantasy novel, The Spook's Apprentice, Seventh Son follows Tom Ward, the seventh son of a seventh son as Jeff Bridges' Master Gregory, a Spook (basically a Monster Hunter Gandalf), recruits him to defeat the recently escaped evil witch Mother Malkin, played by Julianne Moore, who should know better.

Seventh Son is an awful, boring and completely unoriginal film in almost every way. The source material is apparently loosely based on Lancashire, the English county Delaney is from, and yet the film is shot in the lush wilderness of British Columbia, a Canadian province. Other sets range from Christian churchs to Meditteranean market-harbour-cities, and finally to an ancient Roman-themed deserted mountain fortress with Arabic interior decorations. The deluge of influences on the production design becomes so distracting that the first time you see Asian peasants carrying water buckets in the background you're confused, but by the time the Hindu protector god Vishnu appears alongside a giant salamander and a pair of dragons to destroy the harbour-city one no longer cares about a consistent universe. In terms of costuming it cannot be stressed enough how obviously this film wants the viewer to sub-consciously align it with Star Wars with the fact that Tom, Gregory and in one dream sequence Tom's mother all dress like fucking Jedi. It's more confusing than Lando Calrissian wearing Han Solo's outfit at the end of Empire Strikes Back.

Ironically, there's little to no magic used besides constant transformations into bear, dragon or salamander by villains, and besides those creatures and some worthless ghosts that are somewhere between a Dementor and the ghost army from Return of the King, there are no creatures or monsters in this magical world. Tom and Gregory's repertoire of magical ability is as extensive and interesting as their names are exotic as their main solutions to magical shape-shifter attack is throw glitter, light torch or swing sword.

On the performances, Ben Barnes is as handsome as a young David Wenham look-alike should be, but otherwise predictably bland white-bread protagonist. He offers no charm, no personality, and his character goes from gormless farmboy to trained warrior apparently by plot magic. His lineage that is the reason for his selection and the film's title is inconsequential, his father appears in one scene (you'd be mistaken for thinking the father of the seventh son would matter, but no), and any power he has comes from a magic amulet the audience is told his mother gave him that is ignored before the third act. His love interest is so worthless she only warrants mentioning for her AWFUL lines, but the actress' name is Alicia Vikander. Jeff Bridges must have been on another planet making this film, probably the one from Zardoz as he's doing a Sean Connery impersonation via his Rooster Cogburn character from True Grit. His constant goofy expressions and gruff demeanour only inflame the burning apathy in the hearts of the audience. Julianne Moore is utterly wasted in this role but is the one enjoyable aspect of it because she's Julianne Moore.

Seventh Son is a waste of time and money. That is the worst thing that I can possibly say about a film, that it is worth ignoring. There's no magic, no mystery, no personality and no care for this project. The amount of talent wasted on this project (Moore, Bridges, and writer Steven Knight) is damn near a criminal act, and if there's any film worth forgetting about this year, it's Seventh Son.

The Giver

As with other teenage dystopian books converted to movies, fans of The Giver (written by Lois Lowry) were worried about how Phillip Noyce's film adaptation of the same name would turn out. But hey, it has Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges in it, so it can't be that bad right? Can it?

In 2048, after a damaging war, society has placed itself in a controlled environment, devoid of colours and emotions, and with the citizens' memories from before this new society erased, in an attempt to prevent history repeating itself. The Societies' Chief Elder (Meryl Streep) is assigning roles to young adults as they mature, but Jonas is not selected. However, as it turns out, Jonas has a special ability that has seen him assigned to the position of Receiver of Memory.

As Receiver of Memory, he will be the only one to hold the memories of the past and must use these to advise the elders. But first he must be trained by the current Receiver of Memory (Jeff Bridges). It is during this training process that he receives the truth about society.

I have never read the book, but the plot, whilst convoluted, was at least a change from some of the more generic tales of dystopic societies. However, it never quite evolves into anything that challenges its characters or proves particularly thought-provoking. For a movie about the removal of memories and manipulation of emotions, its attempt to illicit an emotional response from us through the flashback of memories, whilst cinematically stunning, feels a bit too superficial.

However, there were also some serious faults with the acting. Bridges and Streep are both fine, but this is hardly up there with either of their best performances, and the three younger actors playing Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), Fiona (Odeya Rush) and Asher (Cameron Monaghan) were pretty appalling, although they vastly improved as the film went on.

The most interesting part of the film for me, was its significant and select use of colour, utilised not just as a visual motif but as a plot-point. Beginning in black & white, colours slowly bleach in and out throughout the story, emerging with increasing contrast and intensity. The colourists have done a fantastic job with this film.

However, interesting cinematic elements aside, this film fell flat for me. It's certainly not a terrible movie but, although it did improve a fair bit towards the end, it was just too little, too late. It's a shame to see a film that clearly had potential become, for want of a better word, pedestrian.

Robin Williams Tribute Month: The Fisher King (1991)

Terry Gilliam's films have always offered something unique to the viewer. They're quirky and fun whilst harbouring some fairly challenging and profound themes, no wonder then that Robin Williams was such a perfect match for Gilliam's 1991 classic The Fisher King.

Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges) is a radio shock-jock that makes a living from his pessimistic opinions, until one day, a mentally-unstable caller takes his views too seriously and goes on a rampage. Three years later, working in a video store with his girlfriend Anne (Mercedes Ruehl), Jack attempts to commit suicide, but is interrupted by a gang that mistakenly identifies him as a homeless man and beats him.

 He is saved by Parry (Robin Williams), the leader of the local homeless collective. Parry convinces Jack to help him on his quest to find the Holy Grail and recounts the tale of the Fisher King to him. However Jack discovers that Parry's delusions and homelessness are due to the massacre three years earlier, and so, suffering a moral crisis, Jack attempts to help Parry turn his life around.

Before I get onto William's performance, a word about the supporting cast. Bridges is, as usual, fantastic in the lead, portraying the selfish and ignorant Jack, who we still empathise with thanks to the extreme guilt he suffers. Mercedes Ruehl (who won the Academy Award for Best Actress) as Anne, is also very good, a charismatic kindly soul that is unfortunately stuck in a loveless relationship, beset by her loneliness and desperation.

As usual with Robin Williams' more serious performances, all I can say is, wow. The sheer raw emotion that gushes from his conflicted performance as Parry is both beautiful and confronting. Parry has such a love for life yet struggles with his inner psychological demons, and Williams is able to jump from these different states with ease. Some people have criticised Williams for supposedly over-acting here, but I don't find that at all. Just with Jack Nicholson in The Shining, he portrays a character struggling with his conflicts and on the verge of a breakdown. It's not over-acting, it's being human.

The film is another of Gilliam's wild fantasies, much like Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, hence it is full of his quirky set-design, wide angle low shots and most of his other stylistic attributes. Yet it's the touching story that really resonated with me, if you're a fan of Robin Williams and human interest films, I urge you to take a look.