Cinema s w e i v e R The script is overwritten in parts and sometimes stodgy with declamatory dialogue that threatens to overwhelm passion with politics, but having said that, it’s not a bad thing for any filmmaker to delve deeper than the superficialities that are so regularly dished up in historical dramas.
SELMA Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech was one of the greatest ever made (http:// bit.ly/mkdreamspeech). It was delivered in 1963, two years before he led the famous freedom march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery, but King’s stirring oratory is a feature of Ava DuVernay’s tense and righteous movie. The degree to which racism was entrenched in the deep south of the US remains incomprehensible to us (or it should do), with coloured people virtually disenfranchised by the fact that their application to vote needed to be endorsed by a white. Black resentment came to a head in Selma, as King and his supporters campaigned for legislation that would enforce their civil rights.
The behind-the-scenes negotiating with a reluctant President Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) is enlightening, as is the exposure of rifts that threatened to erupt between the movement’s hawks and doves. DuVernay does well to not wallow in the violence of the period – the little girls killed in the church explosion at the beginning and the attack on the bridge towards the end accentuate the everpresent physical threat much more than any gorefest might. Nor does she take the easy option of using big hit songs from the period to create atmosphere – her soundtrack is much more down-home and earthy, and, because it is held back to the last, her use of archival footage is incredibly moving. David Oyelowo does a fantastic job in portraying a leader of dignity and solemn commitment coming to a slow boil, while Tim Roth’s Governor George Wallace is hateful in the extreme. Doctor King was no angel, but he was a giant among men – would that we could find anybody like him in Oz today.
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WHAT WE DID ON OUR HOLIDAY It was a throwaway line from Mister Turner that boomeranged back into my head while watching this altogether adorable film: ‘no good deed goes unpunished’. The McLeods are just another modern family falling apart. Doug and Abi (David Tennant and the gorgeous Rosamund Pike, nice again after her murderous ways in Gone Girl) have reached the end of their tether and are in the process of divorcing. For their three children, Lottie, Mickey and Jess, life goes on in its ever-unpredictable manner. When they drive from London to Scotland for the seventy-fifth birthday celebrations of their granddad Gordy (Billy Connolly), the kids are instructed to not let on about the domestic upheaval – for sophisticated grown-ups, the truth is best kept hidden. Of course that doesn’t happen, as Gordy, dying with cancer, creates the miraculous arc between old age and extreme youth that puts into perspective the white noise of all those frenetic, self-absorbed years in between. The child actors, Emilia Jones, Bobby Smalldridge and Harriet Turnbull, are neither cloying nor worldly – though Mickey, obsessed with Vikings, does know from Silent Witness that dead people can fart. What they do in response to an unforeseen (by me, anyway) turning point in the story is so heart-warming and right, but so wrong by contemporary society’s stitched-up strictures, that the plans for Gordy’s big day are thrown into chaos and controversy. This is a warm and wise movie, and thankfully direct in its telling. The fact that Connolly in real life is suffering from a terminal illness makes doubly poignant the moment on the deserted beach when Gordy tells his fretful wee lassie Lottie that the toil and trouble we daily encounter ‘doesn’t really matter’ – he says it so genuinely as though it were entirely unscripted. The Scottish Highlands are a backdrop of rugged melancholy, a delightful diversion involves another grandson, Kenneth, falling for the girl playing violin in the hired band, and the kids teaching themselves to drive in a crisis is pure gold.
BYRON INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL! From 6 till 15 March, the 9th Byron Bay International Film Festival celebrates the unique experience this grassroots cinematic event offers by connecting international filmmakers with audiences on a shared journey of inspiration, discovery and screen magic. Festival director J’aimee Skippon-Volke said, ‘This year’s festival is all about celebrating the unique experience we gain by leaving the comfort of the couch and attending a grassroots film festival like Byron Bay International Film Festival’. Official program announced and tickets on sale Monday 23 February 2015 at www.bbff.com.au. For early announcements and exclusive presale offers subscribe to the newsletter or find the festival on Facebook.
WEDNESDAY
18 FEB to
WEDNESDAY
25 FEB
MOVIE CLUB PRICES Adult $12.00 / Golden Club $8.50
2 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS
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WHAT WE DID ON OUR HOLIDAY (PG) (No Free Tickets) Wed 18: 9:00, 11:30am, 6:55pm Thu 19-Wed 25: 11:10am, 4:30, 6:35pm
OPERA DE PARIS: THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO (CTC) (No Free Tickets) Wed 18: 11:00am FIFTY SHADES OF GREY (MA15+) (No Free Tickets) Wed 18: 1:30, 4:00, 6:30, 9:00pm Thu 19-Wed 25: 1:10, 3:45, 6:20, 9:00pm
2 Academy Award Nominations SELMA (M) (No Free Tickets) Wed 18: 9:00am, 1:45, 6:40pm Thu 19-Wed 25: 11:00am, 1:55, 8:40pm KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE (MA15+) Wed 18: 11:20am, 4:15, 9:10pm Thu 19-Wed 25: 4:15, 6:50pm Enjoy our licensed bar
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5 Academy Award Nominations THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (PG) Wed 18: 9:00am, 8:50pm Thu 19-Wed 25: 1:40, 9:30pm 2 Academy Award Nominations WILD (MA15+) Wed 18: 4:40pm Thu 19-Wed 25: 11:30am 2 Academy Award Nominations AMERICAN SNIPER (MA15+) Wed 18: 2:10pm All sessions are correct at the time of publication. Current session times at: www.palacecinemas.com.au
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The Byron Shire Echo February 18, 2015 25