«cinema R Sª review
ENOUGH SAID
Enough Said The first thing that this unreconstructed Seinfeld fan thought was ‘jeez, hasn’t Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) aged’. Well yes, she has (haven’t we all), but she’s still lovely, which led to a second inescapable observation – that writer/director Nicole Holofcener has provided us with one of the most perceptive and kind-hearted romanticcomedies to come our way since her Friends With Money (2006). And she has managed to do it without flooding her characters’ dialogue with aggressive, blokey expletives. Eva (LouisDreyfus) is a divorcee whose daughter Ellen (Tracey Fairaway)
is about to go off to college. Self-employed as a masseuse, she meets poet Marianne (Catherine Keener), who soon after becomes a regular client. Eva is also introduced to Albert (the late James Gandolfini) and, without her knowing that he is Marianne’s ex, they start dating. The set-up, if purely functional, has countless possibilities for humorous episodes while the prospect of everything blowing up in Eva’s face is ever present. In accordance with the title, what Holofcener homes in on is how Eva, untrusting of her own instincts, allows her perceptions of Albert to be altered by Marianne’s mean-
mouthing recollections of their failed marriage. A love story featuring a mature-aged couple who don’t look like they have just breezed out of the pages of Who magazine is a rare kettle of fish but, notwithstanding her wrinkles and his baldness, body hair and gut, their first kiss, sitting on his porch, is as sweet and shy as any you’ll see. Holofcener’s restraint, the quietness with which she deals with what are problems of everyday distress, encourages an empathy that grows deeper with every little faux-pas and misunderstanding – when Albert is hurt by the discovery of Eva’s closeness to Marianne, you
can’t help feeling for him, and when Eva sees off Ellen at the airport her sense of loss is heartbreaking for its naturalness. Toni Colette and Ben Falcone are terrific as Eva’s married friends, while Tavi Gevinson enchants as Chloe, the teenager whom Eva would take under her wing. Piquant, funny and smart. ~ John Campbell
sprang to mind when WikiLeaks was irreverently referred to as ‘Big Brother’ in this over-long but even-handed account of the Julian Assange soap opera. If nothing else, the ostracism
of Priestley supports the idea that those who would change the world inevitably wish to recreate it in their own image. But keyboard warriors need a hero as much as any low-brow footy tragic and Assange, played here with irksome arrogance and growing paranoia (and an excellent Australian accent) by Benedict Cumberbatch, fits the bill for a certain type of privileged radical. It begins with Assange and his German associate Daniel DomscheitBerg (Daniel Brühl) on the eve of their sensational online exposure of the thousands of secret US military documents forwarded to them by the now jailed whistleblower, Pvt Bradley Manning, then flashes back three years
to cover the rollercoaster ride of WikiLeaks’ growing notoriety. By treating them as though unrelated, director Bill Condon tends to make a dog’s breakfast of the movie’s three significant themes. The relationship between Assange and Domscheit-Berg closely resembles the exploitative one that pulled Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin apart in The Social Network – Brühl, after coping with the overbearing James Hunt in Rush, is a natural for the part, and the more sympathetic of the two men. The looming shift in media influence, from newspapers and traditional journalism to the internet, is clearly understood by The Guardian’s Alan Rushbridger (Peter Capaldi), who is desperate to
form a publishing alliance with what he sees as an information source that might make hard-copy obsolete. But the most serious issue, of just how much ‘knowledge’ should be freely accessible before others’
lives are put at risk and the cosy freedom with which we lounge in front of our laptops is threatened, is evaded. That Assange is afforded a preachy coda, speaking to camera, stuck in my craw. ~ John Campbell
Lauda (Daniel Brühl) were Formula 1 world champions in the seventies. Though both from conservative backgrounds, their natures were opposite in the extreme. Handsome, blond Hunt was all ‘sex and drugs and rock’n’roll’, whereas Lauda, smaller and less physically imposing, was the precise, no-nonsense perfectionist who found contentment in a loving relationship with wife Marlene (the beautiful Alexandra Maria Lara). Their intense professional rivalry and personal enmity underpin what is a simple but timeless story. It begins, unusually, with each man introducing himself through a voice-over on the morning of the fateful German Grand
Prix at Nürburgring, 1976. It is a peculiar technique and it gives to proceedings a sad and retrospective fatalism. Lauda goes so far as to allude to what is about to happen later that day. As is Howard’s way, the approach is tabloid to start with, but subtler tensions and deeper understandings are eventually eked out. Hair and costume design is strictly authentic (embarrassingly so for some of us – check out the Italian guys who give Niki and Marlene a lift), crowd scenes are expertly handled, archival footage is
virtually seamless and, given the unavoidability of featuring screaming cars, the rev element is kept to within easily bearable portions. Honour is never far below the surface in any good sports flick and it crosses the line here with belated poignancy. ~ John Campbell
THE FIFTH ESTATE In 1949, the great English novelist JB Priestley, because of his politics, was blacklisted by George Orwell from contributing to a government organ, a piece of trivia that
TUESDAY
19 NOV to
WEDNESDAY
27 NOV
11.00AM - SUN 24 NOV
OPENS THURSDAY
BRITISH FILM FESTIVAL (No free tix) OPENING NIGHT! Thu 21: 7:00pm - ONE CHANCE (CTC) Full schedule: britishfilmfestival.com.au 3D DOCTOR WHO 50TH ANNIVERSARY (No free tix) Sun 24: 11:00am THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (M) (No free tix) Thu 21: 11:15, 1:30, 6:40, 9:10 Fri 22: 11:30, 1:50, 6:40, 9:30 Sat 23: 10:00, 2:10, 6:40, 9:30 Sun 24: 2:15, 3:50, 6:40, 9:20pm Mon 25, Tue 26: 11:30 1:50, 6:40, 9:30 Wed 27: 11:30am, 1:50, 6:40, 9:10pm NT LIVE: FRANKENSTEIN V1 (No free tix) Sat 23: 1:00pm ENOUGH SAID (M) (No free tix) Tue 19 & Wed 20: 12:00, 4:50, 7:10pm Thu 21: 11:20, 4:50, 6:45 Fri 22, Mon 25, Tue 26: 11:00, 5:00, 7:00 Sat 23: 12:10, 5:00, 7:00 Sun 24: 9:00, 12:20, 7:20 Wed 27: 11:20am, 5:00, 7:00pm CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (M) Tue 19 & Wed 20: 11:45, 4:20, 9:00 Thu 21, Wed 27: 1:20 Fri 22, Mon 25, Tue 26: 1:00pm Enjoy our licensed bar
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OPENS THURSDAY!
THE FIFTH ESTATE (M) Tue 19 & Wed 20: 9:25, 4:35, 9:10pm Thu 21, Wed 27: 4:00, 9:30pm Fri 22, Mon 25, Tue 26: 2:20pm Sat 23: 9:30am Sun 24: 10:30am THE BUTLER (M) Tue 19 & Wed 20: 9:30, 2:00, 6:50pm Thu 21: 2:10, 9:00pm Fri 22, Mon 25, Tue 26: 3:45, 9:00pm Sat 23: 9:30am, 9:00pm Sun 24: 1:10, 9:30 Wed 27: 2:20, 9:00 3D: GRAVITY (M) Tue 19 & Wed 20: 9:50, 2:25, 7:00pm Thu 21: 11:30, 4:30pm Fri 22, Mon 25-Wed 27: 11:50, 4:45pm Sat 23: 4:45pm Sun 24: 5:25pm ABOUT TIME (M) LAST DAYS! Tue 19 & Wed 20: 2:20, 9:25pm STORIES WE TELL (M) Last Days! Tue 19 & Wed 20: 12:05pm All sessions are correct at the time of publication. Current session times at: www.palacecinemas.com.au Gift cards are the perfect gift
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24 November 19, 2013 The Byron Shire Echo
RUSH When a director as singular in vision and equally direct in expressing it as Ron Howard collaborates with a screenwriter as succinct as Paul Morgan, the result is bound to be engaging in its narrative and insightful in the manner in which it deals with its subjects. In combination, the pair has pulled off the near-miraculous feat of making possibly the world’s most boring sport totally absorbing. So if you are of the opinion that Grand Prix racing is an enormous wank, try to bury your prejudice for the screening of this ripper movie. England’s James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth, yet another grad from the Australian soapies) and Austria’s Niki
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