22 June 2011
It’s summer. Well it’s meant to be. The weather is proving, let’s just say, wanting. You don’t have the budget to travel to exotic climes? Lift that chin. Remove the morose expression. What follows is cinematic escapism....
The Darjeeling Limited
Three American brothers (played by Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman) make a journey to India to see their estranged mother after the death of their father. The journey, like the best movie journeys, appears to have multiple purposes – the main one being a bonding exercise for the siblings. We only see the US in one flashback, the rest is the stunning exteriors of the Asian subcontinent and the ornate interiors of the train they take. As you can guess from a Wes Anderson picture, the mise en scène is intricate, the camera-work stunning and the colours beautiful.
Avatar
Not a traditional holiday movie. For all Avatar’s faults, and there are many (story, dialogue, acting), the one thing it has going for it is the vistas. Talk about wow. Wasn’t there talk in the news that some were getting depressed as they wanted to live on Pandora so badly? The movie maybe like a cheesy Dances with Wolves, but with floating cliffs, dragon horse things, mega trees and nine-foot aliens, it is pretty transporting.
|
|
A Good Year
Much maligned, but I feel unfairly so. Consummate visual stylist Ridley Scott moved into rom-com territory, eschewing epics (Gladiator), sci-fi (Blade Runner) and horror (Alien). Instead he brought his palette to a genre that could do with some enlivening. While not scaling the masterful heights of Jean de Florette, A Good Year can certainly join it as a wondrous portrait of France. If by the end you aren’t feeling anxious to move to a vineyard near a village populated with the likes of Marion Cotillard, then maybe you shouldn’t be reading this?
In Bruges
Belgium? Escapism? It is when two hitmen (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) are hiding out after a botched job, awaiting instructions from their boss (Ralph Fiennes). Some of the most cracking dialogue of the last few years, this is how to do comedy-crime. There is the perfect mix of hilarity and thrills.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
I could’ve gone for a Bond film, but a historical travelogue made with a creative team firing on all cylinders – no Bond is as good as this. Two of the world’s greatest leading men – Harrison Ford and Sean Connery – fighting the forces of evil. From the deserts of Utah we can encounter the young Indiana Jones as he is set on his path, then to his teaching post at Marshall College, Connecticut. The audience is then catapulted to Venice, Berlin and Jordan. Though this is no sightseeing tour. The action sequences are spectacular, even over twenty years on.
Henry Jones, “Those people are trying to kill us!”
Indiana, “I know, Dad!”
Henry Jones, “This is a new experience for me.”
Indiana, “It happens to me all the time.”
Spiritual, exciting and moving. What more do you want?
Henry Jones, “Those people are trying to kill us!”
Indiana, “I know, Dad!”
Henry Jones, “This is a new experience for me.”
Indiana, “It happens to me all the time.”
Spiritual, exciting and moving. What more do you want?