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Following (DVD)
by GentleGenius
RELEASED: 1998, Cert. 15
RUNNING TIME: Approx. 69 mins
DIRECTOR/SCREENPLAY: Christopher Nolan
PRODUCERS: Christopher Nolan, Jeremy Theobald & Emma Thomas
MUSIC: David Julyan
MAIN CAST:-
Jeremy Theobald as the writer man, billed as The Young Man
Alex Haw as ... Cobb
Lucy Russell as the blonde woman, billed as The Blonde Woman
John Nolan as the policeman
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FILM ONLY REVIEW
Unemployed writer, The Young Man, develops an interest for following random strangers around, partly because he feels it may give him something to write about, and partly because he is interested in where they go and what they get up to.
One day, The Young Man chooses to follow Cob, a smartly dressed lounge-lizard type. Cob notices he is being followed, so introduces himself to The Young Man, declaring that he is a burglar and extending an invitation to The Young Man to assist him.
Cobb isn't a run-of-the-mill type of burglar, in that he isn't particularly interested in stealing anything, although he does. He is more interested in studying items in people's houses....personal effects such as their underwear, the contents of memento boxes, photos, letters etc. Whatever he removes from the houses, he insists is designed to make the victims re-think their lives from the aspect of loss, in that if they are suddenly missing something important, it tests their sense of value of the things they hold close.
Still very much under Cob's thumb, but also wanting to see if he is capable of rifling a few houses on his own, The Young Man strikes up a relationship with a woman whose house he and Cob had recently burgled.....then, things get out of hand as a few surprises are in store for him.
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Following is shot in black and white, mostly on the streets of London, obviously being a very low budget film. It is also short, lasting only 69 minutes.
From the outset, Following is much more like a play than a film, being created in almost borderline art noir style. At first, the acting is very much in method style, but becomes more staged as the film progresses.
I found The Young Man quite an intriguing character, in that he seems to be nervous, hesitant and shy, yet he is capable of quietly asserting himself when called for, plus he does have the gall to follow total strangers, putting himself at risk of all sorts should what he is doing be noticed....he is aware of this, and although it worries him, it is part of the thrill.
As far as the acting is concerned, I felt that Jeremy Theobald as The Young Man was the best of the bunch, as he came across far more naturally, hence more believable than Alex Haw and Lucy Russell as Cob and The Blonde Woman respectively. Cob's character I found to be a little too 'neat', and I felt that Lucy Russell was unsuccessfully aiming for a Marilyn Monroe lookalike and talk-alike....Russell did imitate a lot of Monroe's body language, facial expressions and even her voice to a degree. I'm not sure if that was what the director/producers wanted, or whether Russell simply fancied herself as a second Norma Jean.
To me, the idea of this film is quite interesting, in that it homes in on the psychology of the particular type of burglaries that Cob likes to indulge in, but there are lengthy stretches which I found a bit tedious. The dialogue is mainly ordinary conversation, coming across to me as superficial and dull. I'd have liked to see a bit more spark in the script as that would have gone a long way towards holding my attention more closely.
It did take me a little while to sort out the framework and dynamics of Following in my head, as it is presented in what I can only call triple flashback mode, which isn't immediately obvious...hence causing a bit of confusion until realisation dawns. What I mean by triple flashback mode, is that some of the story is acted out in the present, and some from three different points in the recent past. These differing time scales are put across seamlessly - which is a good thing - but in such a way that it isn't at first easy to understand what is going on.
The music is tasteful, laid-back and non-intrusive, largely being comprised of little electronic noises which are tuneful here and there....I want to put a genre to the music, but am unable to. It does suit the mood of the film though, and has that cold-ish edge to it which befits the late 1990s atmosphere and setting.
Although I can appreciate that Following is a valiant, and maybe commendable effort at creating a low-budget film which is a little out of the ordinary, maybe even artistic, I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected to. As said above, I found some stretches boring, where nothing of interest seemed to be happening. The film felt far longer than 69 minutes, and I'm not sure what could have been changed in order to create a more gripping atmosphere. I detect (perhaps mistakenly) that Following was an attempt at creating something 'Hitchcockian', but the outcome unfortunately fell a bit flat for me. I also found the relationship between The Young Man and Cob a bit too 'tidy' in that Cob so easily managed to lure The Young Man into his strange burglary game....although The Young Man largely appears to be of malleable character, I'm not sure that in real life somebody could so easily be influenced. Perhaps that part of the film needs to be expanded out a bit more, because as it currently stands, it feels as though something is missing.
Following does have a lot of potential in that it is a reasonably original idea, but the lacklustre presentation makes the film drag in parts, to the point where it becomes difficult to focus on and continue with. All of the basics are there for a really interesting, fascinating storyline, but for me such didn't hit the spot as it is a very laid-back film on a topic that really needs to be delivered with more punch. However, the ending is quite good....so that may be worth hanging on in there for.
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At the time of writing, Following can be purchased on Amazon as follows:-
New: from £24.50 to £45.45
Used: from £9.49 to £18.50
Some items on Amazon are available for free delivery within the UK, but where this doesn't apply, a £1.26 charge should be added to the above figures.
Thanks for reading!
~~ Also published on Ciao under my CelticSoulSister user name ~~
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Unfaithful (DVD)
by anonymili
Unfaithful is a Hollywood film released in 2002 starring Richard Gere as Edward Sumner, Diane Lane as his wife Connie and Oliver Martinez as Paul Martin. The film is an adaptation of a 1968 French film The Unfaithful Wife and it falls under the erotic thriller genre.
PLOT SUMMARY
Edward and Connie have been ... married 11 years and clearly love each other but it seems passion is missing from their marriage. They live in the suburbs and Edward catches the train into New York City on a daily basis whilst Connie drops and collects their son to and from school, in between which she's involved in various charitable activities. On a trip into the city one day, Connie is caught up in a fierce storm and literally bumps into a sexy stranger and falls, scraping her knees quite badly. The stranger, who introduces himself as Paul Martin, offers for her to come up to his apartment to put on some plasters, an offer which she reluctantly accepts after he jokes that he's not an axe murderer. He makes a pass at her in his apartment and even though it's obvious she's attracted to him, she makes an excuse to leave quickly but not before he gives her a book of Persian poetry. Connie is so tempted by Paul that she returns to his apartment under the guise of discussing literature and again makes an excuse to leave when he makes physical advances on her. With her thoughts becoming obsessive about Paul, she returns a third time, this time they start a steamy sexual relationship after initial hesitation on her part. She feels guilt every time she leaves his apartment and her behaviour starts to make Edward suspicious enough to hire a private detective to follow her. When confronted by the evidence of his wife's infidelity, what does Edward do and how does this affect his marriage and why do the police get involved?
ANALYSIS
Unfaithful is from Adrian Lyne, the director of films such as Fatal Attraction, 9½ weeks and Indecent Proposal, all of which had a central theme of sex and obsession.
I'd not heard of this film prior to watching it but the fact that it had Richard Gere starring in it was the main attraction for me. I had a huge crush on Gere years ago and still enjoy watching films he appears in. Watching the film, I just couldn't fathom why someone would want to cheat on HIM *grin*.
At the time of filming Unfaithful Gere was 52 years old and could still pass for early to mid 40s. His character in this film wears glasses and seems was intentionally made to look as un-sexy as possible (I understand that Gere and Lane were required to put on weight for their roles in the film to make them more credible as a middle aged couple). Gere still looked fabulous as far as I was concerned. He doesn't overdo his acting in the film, even when he finds out the love of his life is having an affair, we don't see unnecessary histrionics on his part and even when his actions have tragic consequences it's done in a way that one could understand why he does what he does.
Diane Lane who ably plays the cheating wife Connie looks glamorous and sexy on the whole but there are quite a few scenes where she's required to cry due to her feelings of guilt at having an affair. I found her acting to be credible during the "lovemaking" scenes in which Lane was required to look sexy, appear highly turned on and feel guilty all at the same time. It was not really evident how old her character was supposed to be, but I'm guessing around late 30s from a comment made by Gere later in the film.
Oliver Martinez as the sexy mysterious Frenchman was as sexy as his character was supposed to be. I found myself disliking his character Paul as there didn't really appear to be anything likeable about him aside from the obvious. He wasn't declaring undying love for Connie nor was he claiming to be seeing just her so a scene where she attacks him in a book store when she sees him with another woman was a bit odd. For a woman who's supposedly feeling guilty about having an illicit affair, attacking her lover physically out in open view of dozens of people seemed a bit out of character. In one particular scene I found Martinez's character to be downright despicable so I felt what happened next seemed quite appropriate. Martinez's character was supposed to be 28 but he looked more like mid to late 30s. Maybe it was the dishevelled unwashed look that made him look more aged?
Edward and Connie's son Charlie was played by Erik Per Sullivan, who comes over as a rather plain looking child. I thought this was a good piece of casting Sullivan wasn't overly cutesy or precocious and didn't try to steal any scenes. I found his acting to be spot on in the scenes he appeared in.
If the story was supposed to make people think twice about having affairs due to the devastating effect it can have on the rest of their lives, then possibly it MIGHT make some people think twice. In one scene Connie is having coffee with a couple of female friends and one of them admits that she had an affair some time ago and has regretted it ever since. Even hearing this, Connie isn't deterred, so the moral of this story seems to be that people will go ahead and risk their own and their family's happiness regardless of advice given by friends or the feelings of guilt they might experience. The message I got from this film was that if you're determined or even predisposed to cheat, nothing will stop you...
As an erotic thriller, Unfaithful wasn't especially erotic (despite its numerous nude and sex scenes), nor did I feel it really reached thriller status. I'd personally say this is more of a romantic drama with a few titillating scenes thrown in here and there.
RATING
Overall I would give Unfaithful an above average and fairly decent rating of 4 out of 5 stars. Although it's not a film I'd really go out of my way to watch again, I did think the ending was really well done and leaves viewer wondering what they'd do in the same situation.
CAST/CREW
Cast: Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Oliver Martinez
Director: Adrian Lyne
Producer: Adrian Lyne, G Mac Brown, Arnon Milchan
Original screenplay: Claude Chabrol
Cinematography: Peter Biziou
Release date: May 2002
Duration: 125 minutes
Classification: 15 (although I felt this should be 18 due to sex scenes and bad language)
p.s. If you're still wondering about my review title, did you NOT read the bit where I said I used to have a huge crush on Gere?
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Shutter Island (DVD)
by SWSt
Shutter Island is something of a departure for Martin Scorsese. Normally, his films New York based character studies of how good men can be seduced by evil. On the face of it, Shutter Island is more of a popcorn movie, a bog standard conspiracy thriller, although in the hands of Director Scorsese and writer Dennis Lehane, the truth is ... somewhat more complex.
US Marshall Teddy Daniels is sent to Shutter Island, an asylum for the criminally insane off the coast of Maine. There to investigate the disappearance of a prisoner, he soon starts to realise that all is not what it seems.
Shutter Island is one of those clever films with a well-structured narrative. You spend much of it confused (in a good way!) and trying to work out (along with Teddy) what on earth is going on. It's clear from very early on that something is not right on the island, but piecing together all the seemingly contradictory information is challenging. It's a slow-burning film where everything builds towards the climax and the big reveal.
This leads to a strong sense of atmosphere and tension. Shutter Island is not a "horror" film, but it uses many of the techniques common to that genre. Everything is seen in the half-dark, layered in shadows; danger seems to lurk around every corner, although in reality there is relatively little real peril. The sense of tension is heightened by the isolated location, the weather (a storm hits Shutter Island, preventing any chance of escape) and the people Teddy encounters (dangerous criminal lunatics). The script combines these elements effectively to create a sense of creeping danger that puts the viewer on edge.
It is helped by some excellent camera work from Martin Scorsese. Shutter Island may be something of a change of direction for him, but he takes it in his stride, using all his knowledge and experience to maintain the tension through his camera work. The jarring, odd camera angles reinforce the sense of danger and the feeling that something is very, very wrong.
The film is cleverly constructed so that once you have watched it and seen how it ends, you think back over what you have seen. Suddenly apparently random conversations or events make sense in a way they didn't before and the reactions of some people to Teddy's questions are more understandable. It's definitely one of those films that you will want to watch at least twice: the first time to get the basic flow of the story; the second time to appreciate the clever narrative structure and to pick up on all the (obvious) little pointers that you missed first time around.
If there's a major criticism, it's that the film is too long, particularly in its closing moments. The flashback sequences that explain how we came to that position are dragged out which leads to the tension seeping away a little. This is a real shame, because this should be the film's "Sixth Sense" moment when everything suddenly come together and make sense. Yes, that happens, but because the end sequences are drawn out, their impact is blunted.
As you might expect from a by Martin Scorsese film, Shutter Island has attracted a top-notch cast. Leonardo DiCaprio may sometimes rely a little too heavily on frowning severely to communicate confusion/anger (or pretty much every emotion, in fact) but he gets away with it in this role, because his character is meant to be permanently confused. Mark Ruffalo provides strong support in a much less showy role as Teddy's back-up, Chuck and the two work well together.
Ben Kingsley is superb - and suitably ambiguous - as psychiatrist Dr Cawley, and you spend the whole film trying to work out whether he genuinely is trying to help Teddy, or whether he is being obstructive and hiding some dark secret. Max von Sydow is similarly eerie as Dr Naering - a man Teddy suspects may be an ex-Nazi conducting illegal experiments on the patients of Shutter Island. Both play their parts well, bringing a subtlety that means you are never quite sure what to make of them. These ambiguous performances add to the already tense atmosphere.
I'd heard mixed things about Shutter Island before watching it for myself. Some hailed it the best modern thriller of recent years; others dismissed it as "slow" and "boring". As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between. Yes, Shutter Island's pacing can be a little pedestrian, but this is also used effectively to build a tense atmosphere. Despite one or two slips it is an interesting and cleverly told story and one that will benefit from repeat watching. I certainly intend to watch it again sometime soon so that I can pick up on all the clues that I missed first time around. When a film makes you want to see if again, you know it's done its job.
Basic Information
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Shutter Island
2010
Director: Martin Scorsese
Running time: approx. 138 minutes
Certificate: 15
(c) Copyright SWSt 2013
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