Film Review | We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011)

Alan Partridge. Probably not the first thing you expected to read in a review of a film neither featuring nor involving Steve Coogan in any way, but it's where I'm going to start. You see, the "autobiography" of Coogan's fictional TV and radio personality was released in late 2011. The title of the book: I, Partridge. Still no connection, but stay with me. Its subtitle is We Need To Talk About Alan. And herein lies my point.

We Need To Talk About Kevin, both Lynne Ramsay's film and the 2003 novel by Lionel Shriver upon which it is based, has a title that has become more notorious than the works it stands for. A lot of people who have neither read the book nor seen the film will have heard the title or at least a sentence derived from it (such as that linked to the aforementioned Partridge-flavoured tome). Shriver's book certainly caught public attention too at the time of its release through its potentially shocking subject matter.

All of which leaves Ramsay's 2011 film adaptation in a curious, and not altogether desirable, situation. It's now very difficult to watch We Need To Talk About Kevin without knowing at least a little about its story. A shame, because to know a little is to be able to work out a lot. The clues mount up as to where the film is leading us for its climax; whilst I unfortunately had a rudimentary knowledge of why Kevin is someone needing to be talked about, meaning I could link things together somewhat quicker than maybe I was meant to, I couldn't help but feel that some of the puzzle pieces were a little too unsubtle to the point that even someone who had no idea how things were likely to end up would be able to join the dots a bit too easily.

Ramsay is also heavy-handed when it comes to symbolism. Red is a colour which follows Eva (Tilda Swinton), mother of the titular teenager (Ezra Miller), throughout the film, linking to all the obvious connotations from anger and violence to love and passion. But again there's no subtlety to Ramsay's touch. Eva's house and car is slathered with crimson paint in an early scene, and it's almost as though Ramsay has adopted the same method in leaving great dollops of red throughout her film.

Elsewhere, the director is much more successful. Ramsay's choices of cinematography and editing blend tropes of crime drama, psychological thriller and subtle horror in a very pleasing manner. The non-linear structure is controlled and delivered skilfully, adding intrigue to the story and building both Eva and Kevin's characters in an unusual but largely satisfying way.

The performances from the central two are also key to much of the film's success, with Miller crafting a chillingly unpredictable adolescent from the haunting Damien Thorn-esque performance of Jasper Newell playing the prepubescent Kevin. This is Swinton's film however, expertly putting across Eva's transformation from carefree twenty-something through paranoid and unnatural mother to an emotional shell of a woman struggling to put her life back together. It's a shame that John C. Reilly can't manage the same success as husband and father Franklin. It really isn't any fault of Reilly's, as his performance is fine enough; his very presence in the role is just too much of a distraction throughout and constantly feels like a truly bizarre piece of casting. There are any number of excellent actors who could easily have taken the part and not seemed so at odds with the film around them.

What we end up with is a good film with plenty of areas of strength that also misses a few too many steps, which holds it back from being great. It's a shame, because those areas in which the film succeeds - Swinton's performance in particular - are genuinely excellent. But they can never be fully appreciated due to those areas where Ramsay misses the mark, meaning We Need To Talk About Kevin will unfortunately most likely be remembered for its title more than anything else.

7/10

Film Review | Wreck-It Ralph (2013)

Walt Disney Animation Studios has had a chequered recent history. With the "Renaissance" of the 1990s well behind them, and 2009's The Princess And The Frog marking the end of their traditionally animated big screen output for the foreseeable future at least, the studio has focused solely on refining their computer-animated movies. After lacklustre beginnings at the turn of the century, more recent offerings such as 2008's Bolt and Tangled in 2010 - whilst never reaching the heights of computer-animated master craftsmen Pixar - have felt decidedly more successful in both scripting and animation. And whilst Wreck-It Ralph also falls short of Pixar's incredibly high benchmark, it's the closest Disney (or arguably any other studio) have come to reaching it.

Previous non-Pixar CGI films have fallen short in at least one area: sometimes the animation isn't up to scratch, although this is becoming less and less of an issue as technology continues to progress; much more often it's the writing or direction that simply don't cut it. Thankfully, Wreck-It Ralph doesn't fall significantly short in any of these areas. The world that Ralph and his fellow video game characters inhabit is crafted beautifully through Disney's finest computer animation yet. It's also one of the most original ideas from the studio in a long time, with echoes of Toy Story and Monsters, Inc. in the way Ralph's universe is realized and presented to us. The realm of the arcade has a warmth and tangibility that many computer-animated efforts fail to achieve.

The script is for the most part shot through with both humour and heart, although the dialogue doesn't zing with wit quite as often as you'd like; a few juvenile jokes clearly aimed squarely at the kids in the audience will more likely induce tutting and eye-rolling from mums and dads. The story has a pleasing complexity to it, developing from a deceptively simplistic opening concept to bring together several threads pleasingly during the film's climax. Ralph is impossible not to warm to immediately with John C. Reilly's understated vocal performance fitting the big friendly juggernaut's personality superbly. His character arc, despite dealing with well-worn moral lessons, has satisfying notes of subtlety throughout. Sarah Silverman's Vanellope initially threatens to grate and at times feels a little too one-note, but once she finds her groove with the character the results are pleasing. The supporting turns from Jack McBrayer as Fix-It Felix Jr. and Jane Lynch as Sergeant Calhoun are strong with both developing characters of depth and humour as well as sharing marvellous chemistry in the film's best subplot.

Wreck-It Ralph's main flaw is that it sets itself up with more than it's able to deliver, even in the two hour running time the film has. After introducing us to a host of characters and settings, the bulk of the film's plot takes place within the realm of video game "Sugar Rush". Whilst this works in terms of the story being told, as well as allowing for regular moments of sharp sweet-based observational humour, it would have been nice to explore more of the places where the film only affords us a relatively brief time. The references to retro video games also feel underutilized beyond the film's first act, where they are genuinely charming. After seeing many a familiar face from classics of arcade and console, it's a shame that these aren't worked into the plot more throughout the film's entire running time.

Wreck-It Ralph ends up as the finest output of Walt Disney Animation Studios yet, surpassing more recent Pixar efforts but not quite matching their finest. With other rival animation studios seeming increasingly happy to churn out middle-of-the-road movies and lazily squeeze every last penny out of their franchises, Disney deserve high praise for creating a film of such ingenuity and quality. The gap between their Pixar and non-Pixar efforts is shrinking; if Disney's films continue to improve in quality the way they have been over the past five years, the studio could very soon have the market cornered and once again rightfully claim themselves as absolute top dog in animation.

8/10

Film Review | Carnage (2011)

Films based on plays are a curious breed; there are stylistic choices for the director, and none of them are the obvious selection. Do you take the story and characters of a play and retell it using solely the language of cinema, but risk displeasing both theatre fans and the playwright; or do you opt for essentially filming a stage performance, with all the facets of theatrical acting and direction, in the knowledge that what you create may alienate cinema-goers and feel somewhat underwhelming when compared to a full-on cinematic experience? Carnage opts firmly for the latter, and I can't remember the last time I saw such a strong argument for choosing this approach.

Based on the play God Of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, the film centres around a visit by one couple, Alan (Christoph Waltz) and Nancy Cowan (Kate Winslet), to the apartment of another, Michael (John C. Reilly) and Penelope Longstreet (Jodie Foster), after the Cowens' son strikes and injures the Longstreets' son with a stick whilst playing in the park. What starts as a brief and civil meeting to agree how the two boys can reconcile soon untangles into a much more tense and emotionally brutal affair.

As stated before, Polanski's film feels almost like a filmed performance on a stage, with the vast majority of the action taking place in one room in the Longstreets' Brooklyn apartment. There are a handful of scenes which venture into other rooms, as well as the action spilling into the apartment block hallway more than once, but this is a theatrical film with very little set changes. In this way, Polanski places pretty much all of his eggs in one basket, those eggs being the four actors playing the pair of couples.

It's a move which pays off dividends, with each performer putting in an incredibly strong performance. All four begin the film feeling somewhat forced and unnatural in their portrayals, but it soon becomes clear that this is entirely intentional, with each couple putting on a "performance" for the other. It's when the fur begins to fly that we truly see these actors at their best. Winslet is superb as the put-upon wife trying to make up for her husband Waltz's lack of care for middle class niceties and his constant preoccupation with his mobile phone. Both skilfully shed the layers of their facade as the situation unravels. Foster too is pleasingly strong as the doting mother and houseproud wife, slowly descending into hysteria and desperation. Of the four, Reilly is probably the least safe bet on paper, but he more than holds his own. Beginning the film as the buttoned-down hubby, he finally shows his true colours with a blistering performance from Reilly as an everyman on the edge.

The screenplay too, adapted by Polanski with original writer Reza, is an intoxicating powder keg waiting to explode. The first act of the film threatens to keep things largely civilised, but this is just Polanski waiting to signal the true nature of the uncomfortable yet ludicrously funny beast on show; once he does so, in spectacular fashion no less via one (involuntary) action of Winslet's character, things are firmly kicked into high gear until the credits roll. The dialogue fizzles with an enigmatic blend of realism and rhetoric, with only a couple of moments where what the characters are saying feels slightly too clever for its own good. These are minor niggles however in what is an exceptionally well-written film.

The mirror that the film holds up to a certain subset of society through these characters is hardly a new one, but the way in which Polanski does it has rarely been so entertaining. There is an intricate web of action and reaction, battle lines are drawn and redrawn with each character realigning themselves more than once. We move sublimely between character study to social satire to farce, with the whole thing poignantly put into perspective by the only two scenes set outside the apartment, shown to us behind the opening and closing credits. The brief running time of just under an hour and twenty minutes mean that none of the characters outstays their welcome.

Carnage establishes itself as a gem within theatrical film adaptations. It's smart, slick and deliciously over-the-top, with the quartet of actors at its centre making this the comprehensive success that it is. Polanski may not be the darling of the cinema world for reasons outside his work as a director; however, Carnage is a powerful statement of his expert directorial craftsmanship that still demands respect and the highest of praise.

9/10