The Rum Diary

The latest movie I've reviewed for lipmag is The Rum Diary, starring Johnny Depp. You can see it here!

More posts after pre-Easter homework subsides!

lipmag Film Reviews

My latest film reviews for lipmag:

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

My Week With Marilyn

Weekend

The Descendants


Have a read if you like! As I mentioned below, My Week With Marilyn is definitely the best film I've seen in a while, but all of these films had something to offer in their own way.

More to come!

Arty Beginnings

Sometimes, movies can be just too arty. Sophia Coppola's Somewhere comes to mind, a film that left both me and my movie going partner with one simple question- 'what?'.

Luckily, Beginners doesn't fall into this trap- it is just arty enough. Whimsical characters and the photographs and drawings that are interspersed throughout the story are simply cute and funny, rather than seeming to scream 'look at me! I'm profound!'. Oliver (Ewan McGregor) is a man in his late thirties who has just lost his father, Hal (Christopher Plummer). Dragged along to a party by his friends, where he dresses as Freud and can't help but take his friendly dog Arthur (who is complete with subtitles), Oliver meets a girl that is equally sad and equally interesting- the beautiful french actress Anna (Melanie Laurent). The movie follows their romance and flashes back to Oliver's childhood and his final years with his father, who came out in his seventies and began a relationship with a younger man.

Each of the different stories complement each other perfectly, explaining why Oliver is who he is now. Plummer is fantastic as a man living the final stage of his life to the fullest, not worrying in the slightest about the years that have passed or the years that won't happen. The closeness that develops between Oliver and Hal is sweet and comforting, while Oliver and Anna's romance is nothing short of lovely: a classic tale of two lost souls finding their place with each other. Of course, one of the highlights is definitely the cute animal: Arthur is a chatty and loyal pet that we can probably all recognise. It's not a movie I'd watch again and again, as it was quite long and heavy at times, but it's definitely worth at least one look.

Have you read the book? *Awkward silence*... A Jane Eyre Review

Confession: I've never read Jane Eyre. This is pretty strange, when you consider that my mother owns six copies of the book itself as well at least three different Charlotte Bronte biographies (did i say three? I meant five). The thought of going to see the latest dramatisation starring Mia Wasikowska, without reading the book first, made me feel slightly inadequate and a bit like I was betraying the family bookshelf. Plus, how would I join in with the post-movie chatter without being able to groan "that didn't happen in it the book", or "Charlotte Bronte would be rolling over in her grave"? Still, I ventured out to the cinema last night with the Bronte-crazed mother as well as my intellectual inferiority complex. And once I got over my frustration at not being able to understand everything about the plot, I absolutely loved it.

The movie opens with Jane (Mia Wasikowska) running through the rain, sobbing, until she ends up being taken in and nursed back to health by a man and his two sisters. When asked her name, she answers "Jane Elliot". For those of us who haven't read the book, an understanding of why she lies won't come until much later in the movie. Disturbing flashbacks detail Jane's early childhood and schooling, and then a much longer flashback shows Jane working as a governess for the handsome, challenging and somewhat mysterious Mr Rochester (Michael Fassbender). All this time-traveling is initially a bit confusing, but once the movie gets going it becomes easier to understand what's happening. The mystery of why Jane ran away slowly unravels as the love story develops, and soon enough it all makes sense.

Mia Wasikowska is brilliant as Jane. She looks quite different to how she's been in other movies and on the red carpet: much less glamorous ("that's how Jane is meant to be!" my mother insists). She portrays a powerful mixture of restraint and passion throughout the movie. Her acting is particularly impressive in the final scenes- some of her lines were said with such intensity that I found myself thinking I want to read that in the book! Now! The parts of the movie that were slightly unexplained are actually a good thing, as presumably it means that viewers will be treated to more than a reiteration of the movie plotline if they choose to read the book.

This is one of those movies that you think about for the entire day after you've seen it, pondering the actions and emotions of characters that really, you only knew for a few hours. All in all, this was definitely worth the bruised ego that comes with an 'I haven't read that classic novel' meltdown.