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Cinema Review Cinema Review Cinema Review Gravity It’s an age since I’ve seen a movie as different as this. Longer since I’ve seen one that, if only briefly, helped me look at the world through clearer eyes. Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón already has a distinguished CV (including a ‘Harry Potter’), but with a script co-written by son Jonás, he gives the impression here that he is fulfilling a personal ambition. Naysayers might argue that it is merely another tale of triumphalism against the odds… but sometimes our voguish cynicism can
be our own worst enemy. The (courageously) longheld opening shot sets a spellbinding tone. A curved segment of blue-shrouded Earth covers part of the screen, the rest is the black silence of weightless space. The vacuum is punctuated by the banter of US astronauts working to repair damage to one of the countless telecommunications nodules that orbit the planet. Ryan (Sandra Bullock) is a novice, but Matt (George Clooney) is an old hand. Gradually they come into view and just as their mission
seems as banal as taking out the wheelie-bin, Ground Control (voiced by Ed Harris in a nod to Ron Howard’s Apollo 13) commands ‘abort!’ A distant explosion has sent debris hurtling their way. Irreparable damage is done to their base, so they must travel across space to a Russian station. The tension led me at one point to involuntarily hold my breath in suspense, and the special effects are overwhelming – the tear floating off Ryan’s face is a jewel. Clooney, who has mastered debonair humility,
even in a NASA bubble suit, is… well, he’s George Clooney and we love him for it, but Bullock, as the central character, carries the weight of the message. Her performance is stunning, from the moment she is set adrift to when she drags herself ashore in the quasi-religious finale, re-born from the egg of her capsule. To understand that, even with our ever-multiplying apps and gizmos, we are no different from prehistoric amphibians is a profound and liberating irony. Fantastic. ~ John Campbell
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 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
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
TUESDAY
8 OCT to
WEDNESDAY
16 OCT
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
Blanchett pushes the envelope to an uncomfortable degree in her best part for a ages, but equally good are Hawkins and
Cannavale – as a spindly little bird and bull in a china shop, they are perfectly matched. ~ John Campbell
Blue Jasmine
11 - 20 OCTOBER
OPENS THURSDAY
LAVAZZA ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL (No free tix) Fri 11: OPENING NIGHT GALA. 6.30 for 7.00 screening THE GREAT BEAUTY (MA15+) followed by official after party. Sat 12: 1.30 - COSIMO AND NICOLE (MA15+) 4.00pm - A PERFECT FAMILY (M) 6.30pm - WOMEN DRIVE ME CRAZY (M) DIANA (M) (No free tix) Thu 10: 12:10, 4:30, 6:45pm Fri 11: 12:15, 2:30, 7:10 Sat 12: 10:30, 1:15, 8:30 Sun 13: 10:10am, 12:15, 7:15pm Mon 14-Wed 16: 1:30, 4:20, 6:45pm NT LIVE: OTHELLO (No free tix) Sat 12: 1.00 MARY MEETS MOHAMMAD (PG) (No free tix) Thu 10: 6:30 Sun 13, Mon 14, Wed 16: 8:30 Tue 15: 8:40pm RUSH (MA15+) (No free tix) Tue 8: 4:15, 7:10, 9:00 Wed 9: 4:30, 7:00, 9:30pm Thu 10: 12:15, 4:40, 9:05 Fri 11: 1:45, 4:45, 9:20 Sat 12: 11:00, 4:50, 9:30 Sun 13: 2:30, 4:45, 9:15 Mon 14-Wed 16: 12:30, 3:55, 9:10pm PUCCINI'S TURANDOT (CTC) (No free tix) Wed 9: 11:00am 3D: GRAVITY (M) (No free tix) Tue 8: 3:10, 7:15, 9:15 Wed 9: 3:20, 7:30, 9:30 Thu 10: 2:45, 7:10 Fri 11: 11:45am, 4:15pm Sat 12: 7:15pm Sun 13: 12:35, 5:05pm Mon 14-Wed 16: 3:00, 5:00pm Enjoy our licensed bar
Lavazza Espresso Coffee
6-9 OCT ONLY!
2D: GRAVITY (M) (No free tix) Thu 10: 9:10pm Fri 11, Sun 13: 9:30pm Sat 12: 3:30, 9:15pm Mon 14-Wed 16: 9:15pm BLUE JASMINE (M) Tue 8: 3:15, 5:10, 6:45pm Wed 9: 3:10, 5:20, 7:10 Thu 10: 2:25, 4:20, 8:15 Fri 11: 3:10, 5:15, 7:15 Sat 12: 5:30, 7:30 Sun 13: 2:30, 7:15 Mon 14-Wed 16: 12:00, 2:15, 7:00 2D: PLANES (G) Tue 8, Wed 9: 9:00, 11:00am Thu 10: 10:15, 12:15 Fri 11: 10:15, 11:15 Sat 12: 9:00am Sun 13: 9:30am Mon 14-Wed 16: 11:30am 2D: TURBO (G) Tue 8: 9:00, 11:10 Wed 9: 9:00, 2:30 Thu 10: 10:05, 2:15 Fri 11: 9:10, 1:10 Sat 12: 9:00am Sun 13: 11:30am Mon 14-Wed 16: 9:50am PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS (PG) Tue 8: 1:00 Wed 9: 11:10 Thu 10: 10:00am Fri 11: 9:30am Sat 12: 11.00am Sun 13: 9:55am Mon 14-Wed 16: 10:20am 2D: THE SMURFS 2 (G) Last Days! Tue 8: 9:40am, 12:00pm Wed 9: 9:00am 2D: ONE DIRECTION - THIS IS US (PG) Last Days! Tue 8, Wed 9: 1:10pm RUNNER RUNNER (MA15+) Last Days! Tue 8: 2:10, 5:15, 9:35 Wed 9: 1:20, 5:15, 9:10 All sessions are correct at the time of publication. Current session times at: www.palacecinemas.com.au Gift cards are the perfect gift
Group Bookings available
108-110 Jonson Street, Byron Bay 6680 8555 | www.palacecinemas.com.au
North Coast news daily: www.echonetdaily.net.au
Woody Allen’s later movies are proving to be predictably erratic. His last, set in Rome, was a dismal affair, but the one preceding it, in Paris, was sublime. As for Barcelona… well, let’s just not go there. Back on home soil, he has this time delivered what might come to be regarded as a signature work – when he’s good he’s great, and this is vintage. As an artist who has maintained an affectionate high regard for his predecessors, Allen enjoys nothing better than to re-invent seminal characters from cinema’s past. Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) is a New York socialite who has fallen on hard times following the arrest and suicide of her wheeler-dealer husband, Hal (Alec Baldwin). On the turps, broke and going to pieces, she lobs at her halfsister’s cosy but downmarket flat in San Francisco. She imposes herself regally on Ginger (Sally Hawkins), whose marriage was a victim of Hal’s
skullduggery, and comes between her and her rowdy, roughhouse boyfriend Chili (Bobby Cannavale) – it is Blanche Dubois, Stella and Stanley Kowalski all over again. Unusually for Allen, the story’s structure includes a high number of time jumps that take us from the present to when Hal and Jasmine were major players on Wall Street and Park Avenue. The transitions are handled smoothly and an easy rhythm is established early and maintained throughout. Jasmine is not easy to like – she is far too deluded and judgmental – which makes it difficult to feel sympathy for her. Damaged people need special treatment and Allen, you suspect, is pleading for forgiveness for Jasmine and in the last disturbing scene he very nearly wins it. But is there a limit to what we can we expect from or give to others? And how do we know when we’ve reached it?
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COEN BROTHERS DOUBLE SATURDAY 12th OCTOBER
FEAST OF FILM AND FOOD BOOKING ESSENTIAL
Call 6688 4134 or fran4134@gmail.com Tickets: $30 non-members, $25 members Includes a drink on arrival, a two course dinner, two movies and tea & coffee.
The Byron Shire Echo October 8, 2013 23