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Reviewdle 25 – Two grieving fathers named Joe (and an aggrieved one named Jack)

November 18th, 2009

I got sidetracked from finishing writing part two of the catch-up reviewdle by watching more movies. I promise not to see anything else until I’ve written up the ones I’ve already seen!

The Boys are Back

Joe’s wife dies suddenly and tragically, leaving him to raise his six-year-old son in rural South Australia. Joe (CLIVE OWEN, The Inside Man, Children of Men) is coping spectacularly badly and can attend to neither his own or his son’s emotional or domestic needs. When his fourteen-year-old son from a previous marriage arrives the disaster that had been kept at bay comes crashing in. Owen is good in this, despite giving a performance that feels familiar from Croupier, Gosford Park and others – that not very likeable and yet compelling emotional cripple. For a self-professed character-based film, I feel like they skirted around some of the really meaty issues like Joe’s infidelities, his attitude to responsibility and his aforementioned crippleness in the area of emotions. The support cast are good, especially George McKay and Nicholas McAnulty as the sons, but some of the peripheral characters (like a tepid, go-nowhere love interest) are completely unnecessary. For a film “inspired by a true story” rather than, say, “based on the memoirs of the main character with the exact same title of the film” the screenplay is too faithful to the source material to the detriment of an emotional arc or significant emotional journey.

Genova

Joe’s wife dies suddenly and tragically (I kid you not) leaving him to raise their two daughters. Rather than cope with his grief, Joe moves everyone to Genova, Italy, where things spiral impressively out of control.
Things I love about Genova: Colin Firth (Pride and Prejudice, And When Did You Last See Your Father?). Director Michael Winterbottom (The Claim, Welcome to Sarajevo). Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation). Complex story about grief, guilt, blame and family. Deeply flawed and yet sympathetic characters. Beautiful settings. Elegant, naturalistic direction that cultivates an edge of tension out of everyday dangers.
Things I hate about all movies (but especially Genova) because it’s just so frickin’ lazy: Over reliance on shaky, handheld camera in key scenes. It’s supposed to heighten the sense of danger, yes? IT DOESN’T WORK. It just heightens my sense of cranky.

An Education

It’s the 60s and 16-year-old Jenny (newcomer Carey Mulligan who is terrific) is frustrated by her lack of options after school and university. When she meets an older man who loves art and Paris as much as she does, she is instantly drawn in. Based on the memoir of journalist Lynn Barber, novelist Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy) demonstrates the correct way to adapt memoir source material to film. His screenplay is terrific. The characters are complex and well drawn, the action is to the point and serves the progression of the characters well. Director Lone Scherfig (Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself) mostly rises to the standard of the script, and has created a terrific 60s feel for the film. The only weak point is Peter Sarsgaard (Garden State, Orphan) as the older wooer. The character calls for a Batman/Bruce Wayne kind of split performance, this time between charming playboy and icky lech. Sarsgaard does a brilliant job with the charming part but stumbles in a few key, lechy scenes. The support cast are very very good and include Alfred Molina (Spiderman 2, Frida) as the aggrieved father, Olivia Williams (TV’s Dollhouse) and Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility, Peter’s Friends).

– Jen