On Sunday night I had the pleasure of watching Martin Scorsese’s The Departed. The film is an American retelling of Infernal Affairs and tells the tale of a hood that has infiltrated the police and an undercover cop posing as a gang member, played by Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio respectively. Jack Nicholson plays the bodacious crime lord at the centre of the intrigue. Inevitably, the plot gets complicated as interests conflict and allegiances mutate. The film is stylish edited, adding to the snappy pace, much needed due to its excessive run time. Pleasingly, Scorsese is unafraid to show separate scenes running parallel to each other, again, adding to the pace of the narrative.
The film perhaps meanders too long into an extended epilogue which probably could have been more economically made (by that I mean doing more with less, rather than that they blew the budget on pyrotechnics or anything). Perhaps Scorsese would do well to give the gangster genre a rest now, though that said this is arguably his most engrossing take on the genre yet: the plot is excellent and much less predictable than you might expect – though having the two leads share a love interest seemed hugely artificial to my mind. The best thing about the film is the wonderful supporting cast, with standout performances from Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin. A well deserved best picture Oscar then, even with the stiff competition it faced from Little Miss Sunshine and Babel, both brilliant films too.
Earth is a kind of ‘greatest hits’ to the BBC’s superlative documentary series, Planet Earth’s ‘complete discography’, if you will. Edited into a feature length film from many of the aforementioned series’ best bits, Earth shows us a year in the life of our planet and truly is awe-inspiring in every sense of the phrase. Make no mistake; if you see any film that I have mentioned in these blogs, make sure you see Earth: it has by far the greatest cast of characters, set design and photography of any I’ve mentioned.
I was only slightly disappointed in that there was precious little footage I had not already seen, but then, this isn’t the kind of stuff that gets old easily. Tracking shots over Angel Falls and bus-sized sharks leaping out of oceans may draw a tear to your eye. Different from the TV series is Patrick Stewart narrating in place of David Attenborough, though either’s dulcet tones are welcome in my book. Again, the most exciting thing about the film is, apart from the use of extreme slow motion and sped up camera work, there are no special effects whatsoever; everything you see happens somewhere on our still beautiful planet and if you do not find that a joy to behold, then I don’t want to know you.
My friend lent me Prachya Pinkaew’s kung fu film Chocolate, which I watched on Friday. This is the story of a mentally troubled girl whose mother has cancer. To pay for her mother’s medication, our heroine Zen sets out to collect the various debts people owe her mother. Unfortunately, due to her mother’s dodgy gangster past, these people are BAD MEN and are unwilling to pay up. Fortunately, Zen is a kick-ass martial artist. The inevitable result is lots and lots (and lots) of people getting kicked about the face by a thirteen year old girl in a varity of inventive ways.
The plot is only slightly thicker than the paper it is written on and characterisation is merely functional. However, the choreography of the fight scenes is predictably excellent and the film is shot stylishly and often artistically. The soundtrack too is rather decent. There are a couple of flaws in the plot, for example, would the average factory worker really take a meat cleaver to an adolescent girl at a moment’s notice? And would people really be so unwilling to pay up for cancer medication? Had it lasted any longer, it may have outstayed its welcome, as it stands though; it is a short and sweet, enjoyable beat ‘em up with unexpected and welcome pathos adding an interesting hook for the viewer. Zen’s gleeful shrieks and whoops as she takes on the workers of the ice factory are hugely endearing too.
Finally, I re-watched Edgar Wright’s modern classic and action movie pastiche, Hot Fuzz this very eve. Simon Pegg is a big cop in a little village and Nick Frost is his idiot partner. Laughs ensue, arse is kicked and everyone goes home with a smile on their face. Another great ensemble cast here, in particular, Timothy Dalton’s scene stealing Simon Skinner, played with villainous joy. The editing is fast and furious and the soundtrack here too is brilliant and demonstrates an often fascinating use of sound (really!).
The film is wonderfully dense in references both self-reflexive and parodic which warrants repeated viewings. The script is tight and there are some real belly laughs as well as impressive set pieces in the film. Only one or two lines fail to hit their target, but with this tiny exception, Hot Fuzz is one of the most consistently enjoyable films I can think of. I await Wright, Pegg and Frost’s next venture with barely contained anticipation!
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