The Wrestler

I've never liked Mickey Rourke and the films of Darren Aronofsky usually leave me cold - with the exception of The Fountain - so I haven't been particularly eager to see this film. Throw in the subject of wrestling and it's a real turnoff. Fortunately the film recognizes the inherent absurdities in (over) grown men wearing spandex garppling with each other in front of a baying audience, while also having a clear-eyed approach to the cost, both physical and emotional, especially for those past their prime. Randy spends as much time on his appearance as any woman - working out, dyeing his shaggy mane blonde, tanning and shaving his body - all in order to live up to his public image. This was fixed during his heyday in the 80s but there's no mistaking that he's getting old. He limps, wears a hearing aid and seems to need support bandages all over his body, not to mention taking a pharmacy's-worth of drugs. Then he has a heart attack. From that point, we're in familiar territory: will Randy risk his health (and possibly his life) for one last shot at glory via a rematch of his most famous bout?
Emotionally he's also a mess, long estranged from his daughter and harboring an affection for ageing lap dancer Cassidy. You might think redemption is in the offing and it briefly appears to be. Randy gives up wrestling to work on a deli counter, hunts out his daughter and attempts to start a relationship with Cassidy. However, Cassidy keeps him at arm's length while his daughter finally cuts off all ties with him after yet another let-down. The only bond that's ever worked is the one Randy has with his fans, his audience. He's a performer, just like Cassidy, only she sees it as a means to an end, finally reclaiming her real name and breaking free. For Randy it *is* the end - and it may just be precisely that.

Push

After sitting through several trailers all featuring heavy use of CGI and, by the look of it, mass destruction of various places across the globe, Push came as a refreshing, pleasant surprise. Minimal CGI, location shooting and NO world-famous landmarks being blown up. Admittedly the plot is insanely complicated but the pace is so frenetic that the viewer doesn't have much time to ponder implausibilities (as anyone who has ever watched The Terminator will know, thinking about changing the future can bring on a very bad headache ...) Instead of the glossy sheen of the vast majority of superhero films, Push is gritty and grainy, making a virtue of a low budget. Rather than the expected expansiveness, there's a sense of claustrophobia, with the tightly packed buildings and teeming streets of Hong Kong pressing in on the main characters, just as the agents of Division relentlessly track them down.
Nor does the film make any concessions to the ADD viewer. Pay attention to Cassie's opening voiceover, and watch carefully, and it's not too difficult to follow. The viewer is very much thrown into the middle of a pre-existing world. I liked the fact that Paul McGuigan left the audience to do a bit of work on their own (we have brains, let's use them!) and I'd much rather watch a film that tried to do too much and didn't quite succeed than one that didn't try in the first place. The main thing that carries the viewer through is the thoroughly engaging central relationship between loner Nick and bolshy teenager Cassie. She gatecrashes his life; he starts behaving like her elder brother ("did you lose a bet with your hairdresser?") while getting beaten up by just about everybody he encounters - there are a couple of wince-inducing moments during his fights with Victor, another Mover. Nick's frequently out of his depth but perseveres and as he does, he gains more control over his powers (there's a lovely look of suprise the first time he deflects a bullet) although he never loses that streak of vulnerability. Chris Evans makes him a very human "superhero" which lends a welcome air of uncertainty to the outcome. And did I mention NO silly costumes anywhere in sight ...

Byzantium

The aspect that most impresses is the incredible detail in the ivory carvings, be they plaques or diptyches. The figures might be deceptively simple but the skill involved is unmistakable. The artists themselves might be anonymous but the works speak for themselves. Likewise, a perfume burner on the shape of a fabulously decorated Orthodox church is breathtaking. It's a tiny step though from the beauty of holiness to outright garishness, courtesy of heavily bejewelled icons or elaborate heavy jewellery that looks like it must have been painful to wear. By and large, the less elaborate items are the most appealing: glazed ceramics, geometrical gold jewellery, carved caskets. Also fascinating are the surving 4th-5th century textiles, faded and worn but the patterns still visible. The geographical spread was also surprising: from Egypt to Armenia to Turkey to Serbia and Russia, reflecting the way in which Byzantine art both influenced and was influenced by other cultures. It was never in danger of becoming naturalistic but then again, much of the art was about expressing the divine light of God (hence all that gold) Just don't judge by the standards of the Renaissance.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

I haven't been to see a Woody Allen film at the cinema for literally years. The accumulation of tiresome, cliched female characters, their annoying male counterparts and increasingly tin-eared dialogue finally made me avoid any future films. OK, I finally cracked. Critics proclaiming Vicky Cristina Barcelona was a return to form weren't quite enough (I've heard *that* one before) but the presence of the mighty Javier Bardem swung it - the logic being that no film featuring him could be completely unwatchable. So it proved. Whenever he and Penelope Cruz were onscreen together, the film was very good indeed. He berates her for not speaking English in front of Cristina, while hypocritically doing exactly that during their altercations. By turns exasperated and affectionate with each other, they bring a sense of a shared past and feel like more rounded characters than the Americans whose lives they disrupt. You know immediately that, despite Vicky's disdain and reluctance to accompany Juan Antonio and Cristina to Oviedo, she will succumb and thus have her nicely ordered life thrown into turmoil, while equally lacking the courage to do anything about it. There's also an oh-so-arch, oh-so-irritating voiceover determined to spell out what's happening, just in case you weren't paying attention. So, better than Woody's recent efforts (not difficult to be honest) but not exactly "great".

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Well, I've now seen all this year's BAFTA/Oscar Best Film contenders. The Reader and Frost/Nixon are both over-rated, Milk is conventional but thoroughly engaging, and Slumdog Millionaire a dark-tinged delight. I so wanted Benjamin Button to be great (I adore Seven, which is still David Fincher's best film) but although it has it's moments and possesses some moving moments, it's slightly disappointing. Benjamin's life may map onto the history of the 20th century but it's oddly bereft of social engagement. Setting the framing story during the onset of Hurricane Katrina is about as far as it goes - and then one suspects it's more because of the dramatic sound and vision of an impending storm than anything actually meaningful. It's one of the few occasions when the action isn't bathed in a golden glow. The film's New Orleans seems to exist in a parallel world where racism and bigotry don't exist and everyone gets along just swimmingly. Blacks and whites co-exist in perfect harmony. In fact, *everybody* is pleasant and well-meaning, draining the film of dramatic tension and certainly making it feel like a fantasy. The most impressive sections are when the act is kicked out of it's comfort zone and a bit more imagination is shown: the early "reversal of time" sequence, bringing the dead young soldiers back to life or the fateful series of incidents in Paris that lead to Daisy's accident. They give tantalizing hints of what might have been.

Revolutionary Road

The Academy may be bafflingly in love with The Reader (literary adapation! Holocaust! accents!) but thankfully it resister the precision-tooled awards-wannabe that is Revolutionary Road. Confronted with two people continually arguing over the course of a couple of hours, the only sensible reaction is to leave them to it. With a lack of context and backstory, April and Frank's dissatisfaction is a self-indulgent irritation rather than an understandable state of mind. A flashback to the couple's first view of their house juxtaposed with April's current reaction to the neighbourhood tells us nothing about *why* she now feels this way. Large house, two perfect kids, liked by seemingly everyone - it takes a huge leap of faith to fill in the gaps and frankly I didn't care enough about the characters to bother. And oh, are you made aware of the fact that this is an "acting showcase"! Raised voices, tears, quivering lips, and the voice of reason froma mentally unbalances man. God, I hated this film.