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cinema reviews The Lincoln Lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC can wring his silken hands and make Churchillian pontifications about the slaying of Osama bin Laden until the cows come home, but there will always remain a goodly number of people who are not convinced that justice must be meted out solely by those fluent in the shadowy niceties of legalese. Reflecting the culture which has nurtured it, American cinema, whether in the nineteenth century badlands of Nevada or the modern county courthouse, has always been accepting of the maverick (sometimes expressed in the softest way, eg when Atticus and Judge Taylor decide between themselves that Boo Radley need not be tried for his ‘summary execution’ of Bob Ewell in To Kill A Mockingbird. Robertson would certainly have argued with them (did you?), and of the larrikin lawyer who bends the rules to get a result. Working with a laptop out of the back of his chauffeur-driven Lincoln (the title is a nice play on words, falsely alluding to the revered president), Mick Heller (Matthew McConaughy) has made a name for himself defending dope-peddling bikies and other not exactly upright clients. A case comes his way in which he is to defend Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillipe), a scion of California’s plutocracy, who has been charged with brutally bashing a prostitute. The evidence is damning, but Roulet, adamant that he is innocent, will not plea bargain. Heller, assisted by his gumshoe mate Frank Levin (William H Macy), uncovers the truth of the matter relatively early, but the revelation only muddies the water and shatters Heller’s hubris. Based on the novel by Michael Connelly, and with more than just a hint of Raymond Chandler in its red herrings, double crosses and illicit sex, this is a slick, taut and thoroughly satisfying nailbiter. That an acquitted detainee might be released from custody with a tracking monitor still attached to his wrist is a crack in an otherwise flawless script…but in the end the bad guy gets his just deserts. Excellent. ~ John Campbell
Mad Bastards What a wonderful film. I dreaded yet another red-dust misery-thon but, in the words of its charismatic star Dean Daley-Jones, this is no ‘poor fella me’ whine. And, although it is explicitly focused on Indigenous Australians and their ongoing problems of inequality, isolation and grog-induced violence, it deals more broadly with issues breaking plenty of men – be they black, white or brindled. TJ (Daley-Jones) is released from prison in Perth and promptly instigates a pub brawl before, powerless, broke and spiritually emasculated, he heads north to find Bullett, the thirteen-year-old son whom he abandoned long ago. Arriving at Five Rivers (in the Kimberley) with the mother of all chips on his shoulder, TJ is confronted by Tex (Greg Tait), Bullett’s grandfather and local cop. Tex is committed to saving his people through tough love and he’s not about to take any rubbish from a trouble-making southern ‘sheepeater’. TJ, however, is being torn up inside by ‘a little man with an axe’ (his demons are similar to Jake’s in Once Were Warriors), and it is this inner turmoil that must be quelled before he can find rapprochement with his boy, Bullett’s mum (Ngaire Pigram) and his new mob. It may be unpolished, but Tait’s performance is one of the most compelling and loveable in recent Australian cinema, his character the most genuine – Tex’s determination to establish a men’s group is a perceptive blend of the comic and the tragic. Director Brendan Fletcher’s keen eye for incidental tenderness underpins a jagged scenario with immense warmth and the Pigram brothers’ (both were co-writers) beautiful songs add to the glow. The need to add an epilogue should have been resisted. In summing up what we’ve just watched it is superfluous and detrimental to the world of ‘story’ that would embrace us all, tending to make a big statement seem no more than a doco about its actors (having been so much inside that world, I briefly felt not included). But go and see it – it’s true, big hearted, positive and deeply moving. ~ John Campbell FULLY AIR-CONDITIONED
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The Byron Shire Echo May 10, 2011 25