Byron Shire Echo May 13 2008 25
www.echo.net.au
>>>cinema... ...>>> GONE BABY GONE The introduction has Casey Affleck’s voice-over observing that it is what we don’t choose in life – most significantly our family – that makes us who we are. Four year-old Amanda McCready was born into a fatherless household to a foul mouthed, drug addled mum. The girl’s abduction comes after a botched cocaine deal, with the secretive circumstances surrounding it and subsequent twists of the investigation into her disappearance opening up unexpectedly like a Russian doll. Taking a child from its mother has a particular resonance in this country and it is a brave if not foolhardy man who would present the argument that it might often benefit the kid, but that is exactly what director Ben Affleck does in this provocative, superior
crime drama. It is set among Boston’s demi monde with, given the subject matter, pointed reminders made of the city’s Catholicism (as they also were in Mystic River). The police make little headway so, in desperation, Bea McCready, Amanda’s aunt, approaches Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan), two struggling gumshoes, to use their first hand knowledge of the neighbourhood’s low life and become involved in the case. Though equals, it is Kenzie who becomes the focal point of activity as, like a dog with a bone, he gnaws away at getting to the truth. Seeming at first to be an ineffectual type, he reveals in an intense bar room scene a convincing yet near unhinged toughness that gives him a smouldering magnetism. The younger Affleck is fantastic in the part,
Last Day
while Michelle Monaghan, relegated to playing second fiddle, is nonetheless more arresting than she was in her insipid role in Made Of Honour. The moral question that she and Kenzie (and the audience) ultimately debate goes to the heart of the overarching theme of childcare. The plot is complex and not without a hole that might waylay the pernickety, and its writing leaves till late some revelations that are potentially confusing if you have not been paying attention. I baulked at Morgan Freeman in a police commissioner’s uniform, but the performances are universally praiseworthy, including those from the lesser lights, who give so much grittiness and a sense of truth to events (Amy Ryan deservedly got an Oscar nomination as Amanda’s mother). This is a movie of the highest quality, from its design, photography and seedy atmospherics to its perfect score – and a gunshot that startled me more than any has for ages. ~ John Campbell
WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS Cameron Diaz, a Wall Street power chick (off to a bad start already, aren’t we?) is humiliatingly dumped by her nerdy fiancé at a surprise party she has organised for him. Ashton Kutcher is sacked by his father for his lackadaisical approach to his job at a furniture factory. Independently, the pair fly to Las Vegas to lift their spirits (could you think of any place worse to go?). They meet on a night of boisterous revelry and terrible acting, and next morning FULLY AIR-CONDITIONED EVERYY WEDNESDAY ALL SEATS ALL SESSIONS $8 ONLY
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they wake up hitched. In sobriety’s cold light they realise that they have done a stupid thing, which is not a one-off moment, for this is a movie full of stupid people doing stupid stuff. They have a bit of a barney before deciding to go their separate ways. As Cameron is stomping off, Ashton is feeding a pokie with her last quarter. Bing! He hits the jackpot. Three million bucks. Their squabbling over who gets what share of the windfall (remember, they are still married) is what sets the story in train. Next minute they are before a judge who sets them one of those ridiculous tests so common to this type of pap. The couple must stay together for six months and demonstrate some effort at finding conjugal bliss before any determination is made about the money. In reality, each conspires to have the other walk away from the marriage and thus forfeit any claim to the booty – c’est la guerre. At this point, if you hadn’t already begun to do so, you’ll start wondering how long it will be before the two quarrelsome hearts are beating as one. Dauntingly, that joyful moment is about another eighty minutes away, which is an arduously long time, by any humane standards, for the viewer to put up with Ashton and his jackhammer Adam’s apple. In all honesty though, it must be said that he is an awfully pretty fellow – in fact he is prettier even than his leading lady. Cameron still has the legs, and we get a couple of ganders at them, but up against the boy she looks old enough to be his mother. The temptation is to dismiss this as tripe, but as I am constantly reminded, there is no accounting for taste – in the second row a group of youngsters hooted and laughed like drains as frequently as I nearly dislocated my jaw with yawning. ~ John Campbell
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL Lars And The Real Girl stars Ryan Gosling as a shy 27-year-old who doesn’t like contact with anyone. He’s never recovered from his father’s death (his mother died in childbirth), and his older brother Gus
has never understood him. Then Lars turns up with a new girlfriend, Bianca, who’s a full-size doll. The family doctor (Patricia Clarkson) advises them to go along with the delusion to allow Lars to sort it out. And with everyone in their small Midwestern town cooperating, Bianca becomes much more than part of the furniture. By filling the story with hilarious dark comedy, the filmmakers draw us gently into Lars’ experience, his own warped reality and its impact on the community. As the doctor observes,
‘Bianca is in town for a reason.’ And she’s in this film to allow us an intriguing glimpse of real humanity, along with a light-handed look at such weighty themes as religious tolerance, mental illness, male-female issues and what it means to be a grown-up. By the end, we realise that we probably have a quirk even more ridiculous than Lars does. This film is a delightful and heartwarming cinematic treat. This drama, laced with comedy, is one of the most original films in years. ~ Lounge Cinema
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