Film reviews 2012

This page is part of the visual arts section.

Reviews of films screened in Leicester during 2012

14th May

This Must Be The Place

Reviewer: Karen McCandless

Phoenix Square, Leicester

Rating: ***

Paolo Sorrentino, director of political epic Il Divo, returns to the fore with a road trip movie, which is about finding yourself, retracing your roots and many, many, many other things.

In This Must Be The Place, Sean Penn plays aging rock star Cheyenne, currently residing in Dublin and enjoying a relatively quiet life with his down-to-earth wife Jane. On learning of the impending death of this father, Cheyenne travels to New York where he embarks upon a quest to find the Nazi war criminal who tortured him in Auschwitz.

A road trip spanning Michigan, New Mexico and Utah then ensues. This Must Be The Place seems to be a film that can't quite decide what it is about - is it a road trip movie where Penn tries to find himself, reconcile with his lost Jewish roots and understand his father, or is it about events back in Dublin, and music, death and abandonment.

Both storylines have great potential and were played out well, but could have been even better with a clearer focus. The storyline in Dublin is abandoned when Penn leaves for the US and only ever referred to fleetingly until the end of the film. This leaves us with a feeling that seemingly important plot points have not been resolved.

This film would have benefitted from exploring in more detail Cheyenne's reason for not playing music again and his relationship with his wife Jane, which has survived for 30 years against the odds.

Penn's performance - supposedly based on Robert Smith of the Cure - has divided opinions. While I found Cheyenne to be an immensely likeable and warm character, others have described him as monotone and irritable. Admittedly dragging his suitcase everywhere and blowing a bit of his hair out of his face was annoying at times. But it was the understated moments of humour and surprising emotional depth from Penn that carried the film.

Despite having a somewhat addled brain, Cheyenne was still able to be a pillar of strength to those around him. This Must Be The Place is worth a watch for Penn's performance alone, which was interesting, funny, quirky and at times moving.

This Must be the Place runs until 17 May at Phoenix Square, Leicester

Find out more about this film |

12th May

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Reviewer: Karen McCandless

Phoenix Square, Leicester

Rating: ****

Pleasant and easy going, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a quirky yet enjoyable rom com starring Ewan McGregor as Alfred Jones, a mild-mannered fishing expert tasked with the seemingly insurmountable task of bringing salmon fishing to the Yemen at the whim of a Sheik (Amr Waked).

Helping him in this project is Harriet (Emily Blunt), the kind, funny and, of course, attractive representative of the Yemeni Sheik with a passion for salmon fishing. Jones is initially sceptical (no water, too hot, nowhere to get the salmon) but is won round by the considerable charms of Blunt and a visit to the Sheik's picturesque Scottish estate.

Cue the rolling green hills, kilts and bleak weather that trips to Scotland seem to feature in many films. Directed by Lasse Hallström of Chocolat fame, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen was directed at a mass market audience rather than the indie crowd that you might have expected given the slightly unusual subject matter of the film.

Heart warming is the phrase that springs to mind when watching this slightly predictable film. There are the usual obstacles to overcome - both characters have partners in the early stages of the film and not everyone is entirely happy about the Sheik's idea, especially in Yemen - but there aren't any real surprises or twists and turns.

Cute is another word you might use with two immensely likeable main characters who discover they have feelings for each other and then work out how to deal with this. McGregor and Blunt sparkle with understated chemistry, portraying a very convincing love story between a socially-awkward scientist and a shy beauty.

This isn't Hollywood movie-star love with fireworks and bold declarations of love, this is British romance that simmers gently along the way. Meanwhile, in stark contrast to the 'nice' main characters, Kristin Scott Thomas plays a fierce press secretary to the Prime Minister, with an acid tongue and domineering nature, adding the necessary comic twists to this tale.

The instant messaging scenes between Scott Thomas and the Prime Minister are probably the best addition and the truest representation of the type of humour Paul Torday's book features throughout. Again there is nothing controversial or ground breaking; it's just very clever and very British humour and a perfect contrast to all the other do-gooders in the film.

All in all, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a triumph for British cinema, mixing together romance and humour and over coming a few obstacles in the process - a film that aims to inspire people to fulfil their dreams no matter how crazy, but in quiet way.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen web site | This film is show at the Phoenix Arts until 24th May

21st January

The second documentary film festival at the Phoenix

Last year, we reported on the first documentary film festival. The second DocFilm Festival, in partnership with Dogwoof Popup Cinema, arrived at Phoenix Square on Friday 20th through to Sunday 22nd January 2012. This year's festival played host to a range of fascinating and controversial documentaries from around the world covering subjects as diverse as inner-city life in America, journalism, human rights, war, and the environment. Running alongside the films there was a full program of talks, lectures and interactive Q&As.

The 15th British Silent Film Festival hosted a two hour matinee showcase, featuring the Olympic themes of courage and determination, reflected through the silent films of a bygone age.

Find out more about DogWoof films.

ArtsIn was there to check out some of the films.

High Hopes

De Montfort University 30 years on. Tigerlily Films and Stopwatch Productions in association with EM Media. Directed by Mark Craig, a former De Montfort University art and design student, High Hopes is a feature documentary about what became of seven of his former classmates from 1978 to 1981. Now all aged 50, the film discovers to what extent they fulfilled their youthful dreams and ambitions, and how university life has changed 30 years on.

See our review of High Hopes

A Small Act

Trevor Locke reports

Three gifted African students compete for a life-changing educational scholarship. The film focuses on their own struggles, that have lead up to the point where they find out if they have been successful or not. In Nazi Germany, a stranger helped jewish girl Hilda Back to escape the concentration camps and flee to Sweden. From Sweden, years later, Hilda sponsored Chris Mburu, an african child who got to secondary school through Hilda's benefaction.

Thirty years later we find Chris, now working for the United Nations, setting up a scholarship scheme for Kenyan children, in the name of Hilda Back.

This well made documentary never got boring; it's compelling story drew the viewers into the lives of the main characters, telling the story and filling in the background, using both contemporary and archive footage.

For teenager Chris, winning a scholarship to secondary school was a life changing experience. The funding for his education came from Hilda Black in Stockholm. Just as her life had been changed by the small act of kindness of a stranger, so Chris's life changed. Having succeeded in secondary school in Kenya, he went on to attend Harvard University and later won a top job in the anti-discrimination department of the United Nations.

Recognising the importance of education to African communities, Chris set up a Foundation to sponsor secondary education for African young people, giving it the name The Hilda Black Foundation. Thirty years later, Chris sets out to trace Hilda, now an old lady living in Stockholm, finds her and brings her to Kenya to be the guest of honour at the opening of the Foundation that bears her name.

For Chris, education is a "life and death issue". The narrative of the students studying, sitting their exams and waiting a long time to hear the results of their application for scholarships is set against a background of Kenyan politics. A general elections takes place but the winning politicians are in dispute about rigged results. Tribal animosities erupt amongst the followers of the various political camps, people are killed and rioting takes place.

A horrified Chris sets off to Kenya to see what help he can provide. We also see him as the Foundation's Board assesses the exam results and make a decision as to which students will get a scholarship.

Chris believes that education could be the answer to the country's problems. For him, education is a pathway to potential leadership, work and prosperity. Those involved in the riots and murders were dispossessed people living in poverty whose life chances were limited by their lack of education, Chris believes. "Ignorance breeds intolerance and violence", Chris says in the film.

So, even though this is about life in an African country, the film's message has a contemporary resonance for life both in Europe and in this country where we also have witnessed rioting and murder.

Whilst A Small Act did have have a clear message, it was not one of those preachy docs. Whether education does have the degree of humanisation that Chris believes, is open to the viewer to decide. The central story of how small acts by individuals can have far reaching consequences is, however, well verified and evidenced by the film.

Moving and illuminating.

Written, Directed and Produced by Jennifer Arnold. See more on the film's web site

22nd January

Countdown to Zero

Could a terrorist get a nuclear weapon? This 2010 film reports on the current threats, facing today's world, of nuclear weaponry. Countdown to Zero traces the history of the atomic bomb from its origins to the present state of affairs: nine nations possessing nuclear weapons capabilities with others racing to join them, with the world held in a delicate balance that could be shattered by an act of terrorism, failed diplomacy, or a simple accident.

In a series of vox pop, on the street interviews, people in various cities (of various nationalities) comment on questions about nuclear weapons. The shots that struck me the most were the comments made by young people, who said they were not worried about the threat of a nuclear attacks.

I lived through the cold war. I was a kid in 1962 when the Cuban Missile Crisis posed an active and real threat of nuclear war to the whole world. British television broadcast a series of documentaries and current affairs programmes, explaining what would happen if an atomic bomb landed on London or other cities. The British government believed it could give the nation a 'four minute warning' of an incoming attack and broadcast a series of government adverts (public information films) explaining what the population should do if the sirens started to sound. Those of us that were fortunate to have sturdy tables were advised to get under them and stay away from the windows.

Films about the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki defined my early teenage years. I still remember to this day the nightmares I had about nuclear war and the threat of an atomic holocaust.

Teenagers and young adults today know this only as history; when it happened they were not yet born. They might be living in a post 9/11 world of bombings and terrorism but that is nothing like living in a world where the complete destruction of mankind and what we know as civilisation was a real fear.

Countdown to zero brought it all back: Kennedy, Cuba, the arms race, the TV documentaries about what an atomic bomb detonation would do to one of our cities ... young people might not be able to understand what it was like in the 60s, living in a world where nuclear annihilation was possible but people of my generation lived through that.

Seeing this film was both disturbing and comforting. It's analysis of the possibility that terrorists could make and detonate a nuclear advice was disturbing. It was comforting that people are still making serious films about the threats posed to the world by atomic bombs. The issue has not gone away.

I liked the way the film presented its material, 'exposing a variety of present day threats and featuring insights from a host of international experts and world leaders who advocate the total elimination of nuclear weapons.'

There were interviews with the present day Jimmy Carter, President Mikhail Gorbachev and even Tony Blair, alongside a good deal of archive footage. There were shots of terrorist bombings in recent years: Madrid, London, Nigeria, Israel, Delhi ... we understand the panic, pain, confusion and the comments about medical stuff being inundated with casualties. Against this, the film poses the scenario of even one device being detonated in an urban area and the impact this would have on hospitals, police, fire services, local government, the military and the political backlash that would follow. We can focus on the after-math effects by studying what happened in Hiroshima in 1945.

The film documented how the material that could be used to make a nuclear bomb has gone missing, the bulk of it having disappeared from the countries of the form USSR, where security is lax. Various cases of thefts of Uranium appeared in the film, pointing to the conclusion that if terrorists were determined to obtain fissile material, they could. Or, they could obtain a whole ready made bomb.

In the view of the film-makers, Highly Enriched Uranium could easily be imported in the United States or any other country, through the normal channels of trade and shipping. Detecting it is difficult if not impossible. It is suggested that the world has about 1,700 tonnes of HEU and keeping track of it is by no means easy.

Nuclear explosions could occur by accident, error or misjudgment or just madness. The film works through each of these scenarios in some detail.

The film has a clear and impactful conclusion: that we should campaign for a world that is free of all nuclear weapons, a position that many people would agree with and many of the politicians and experts appearing in the film came to that conclusion.

What is scary is the incisive message from the film that nuclear weapons could increase, as countries that feel threatened by nuclear states feel the only solution is to protect themselves by also obtaining such arms.

The art of modern documentary film-making is to inform, educate and expose and this Countdown to Zero does very well. It disturbingly challenges its viewers to realise that the threats of nuclear explosions have not vanished with the cold war. There are still around 23,000 devices in today's world in a variety of different states, including Pakistan and, some believe, Iran. Not that is scary.

Impactful and alarming. A must-see documentary.

Directed by Lucy Walker, produced by Lawrence Bender and Participant Media. See more on the film's web site.

Read up on the 'four minute warning'. You might find it hilariously funny or just unbelievable.

The Artist

Nicola Gee went to The Artist at the Phoenix, screened from Friday 6th January to Thursday 26th January.

The Artist captures the beauty of the Hollywood silent years, fascinating us throughout the entirety of the picture without the aid of blockbuster faces and the overrated 3D cinematic craze.

Screened in black and white, accompanied with occasional title cards and almost wholly silent, Michel Hazanavicius has created a French masterpiece which has been delivered with a loving kiss from the history of art and film.

Geroge Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a successful Hollywood actor of the late 1920s, appearing in all of Kinograph's films with his comical, and very intelligent, sidekick canine Uggie.

When leaving the premiere of one of his films, he meets the charming, undeniably attractive Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) who later appears as a dancer in the star's next huge hit. Valentin instantly falls for her, so inherently helps her achieve her first big break. However, the arrival of the talkies causes Valentin to lose his career in the spotlight, in comparison to Miller who rises to fame.

The stubbornness of Valentin and his obvious fear of the future are executed in sight-gags as well as in more subtle scenarios. Valentin dismisses the thought of talking within movies as a fad, and tries to succeed within the film industry by directing, producing and acting within his own film Tears of love.

However, the public are not interested in yesterday's man, a verdict also reached by his unhappy wife who subsequently leaves him, ironically due to the fact he "never talks." Even his loyal producer Al Zimmer (John Goodman) chooses the future of film over the once sought-after handsome man, with the perfect cartoon-like moustache.

Valentin's downward spiral depicts his deprivation of what he enjoys, and his progressive fading into oblivion. Miller strongly contrasts this, as she passionately embraces the new form of cinema. Bejo's youthful smile and stunning beauty is visually captivating, and even when drained of colour and sound, we are able to create a likeable affection towards Hollywood's new 'It' girl.

The Artist itself, however, sides with the actor stuck in the past of what cinema use to be, favouring written dialogue on title cards rather than allowing us to hear the spoken word. The spectacle is the true art, and Hazanavicius appoints many of the film's eloquent scenes as reflections of the classics, such as the iconic change-of-time montage adopted in Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941).

It would not be too absurd to suggest that this film, as well as celebrating the golden era, is actually stating what is classed as true art - a complete opposite to many of the productions of Hollywood to date. They say "they don't make them like they use to," but obviously they can, and in The Artist's case, has successfully brought the lost art of the silent film back to life. Tipped for many Oscar wins, The Artist is a true gem which everyone will be talking about.

Midnight in Paris

Nicola Gee went to see Midnight in Paris, screened at The Phoenix from Monday 16th January to Thursday 19th January.

Midnight in Paris entrances us from the very beginning. Its opening montage complimented by a non-diegetic jazz score paints a picture of a romanticised, idealistic Paris. However cliched, do not be fooled into thinking this is merely a spin on the typical rom-com of contemporary cinema.

After a decade of drought, Woody Allen returns to form by cleverly discussing Gil's (Owen Wilson) struggle between his desire for the past and his inability to deal with his present, in an iconic and charming way. Gil is a Hollywood script-writer in search of much-needed inspiration to finish the novel he has been working on.

He needs Paris, but not the touristic Paris his superficial fiancee Inez (Rachel McAdams) appreciates, or the elegant, over-priced French capital her pompous parents and friends saunter through.

The city Gil desperately lusts for is the Paris in the 1920s; it's artistic golden era. In an attempt to discover the Paris of now, in its golden light, Gil strolls through the cobbled streets drunk and lost. Just when all seems hopeless, the chimes of midnight strike and an antique vehicle rolls up beside him with its loud and wine-swilling occupants urging him to hop inside.

We are as shocked as him when we find out the loud partyers are in fact the artistic figureheads (Ernest Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein) whose help Gil could only wish for.

From here, the literal world meets literary and we have on our hands a familiar yet iconic Woody Allen fantasy film. Although subtly echoing The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Midnight in Paris is by no means a tired imitation of the classics which engulf the director's heyday. Gil faces the recurrent dilemma for Woody Allen heroes, except this time he is in love with two women and flirts with a third; the poor thing.

In the present he is blindly paired with the attractive yet wholly incompatible Inez whereas in the past, he seems to have found his perfect woman - Picasso's mistress, played by the stunning Marion Cotillard. Thankfully, the director avoids questioning the mechanics of time-travel and continually allows the protagonist to venture from time to time, woman to woman, on the stroke of midnight each night.

The contrast between the two times however is not as clever as hoped. It is easy to fall out of love with present day Paris when it means being in a world inhabited by an Inez Rebecca McAdams portrays as caricature and two-dimensional.

Paul, Inez's pretentious friend, is executed excellently by Michael Sheen but, again, his character is too easy to dislike when all his phrases predictably have the main purpose of annoying Gil. Wilson suits playing the Woody Allen archetype; he is bewildered, confused and sometimes, infuriatingly naive.

Hemingway's philosophical rambling about facing death and Stein's subtle words of advice help Gil grasp the existential concept of accepting time as it is in the present, and understand how nostalgia is a form of denial.

However do not be mistaken in thinking the intelligent motif is the only concern of Midnight in Paris. The film successfully delivers a script of charming wit and crisp cinematography that blends well with its eras. Ultimately, it is this that makes Woody Allen's latest, a beautiful, stand-out experience.

Other pages you might like:

Film reviews for 2011