Reel Rewind: “The Tourist”

Seeing the “The Tourist” was an unexpected surprise. I had been playing games all day and since I travel by bus, Robert kindly offered to drive me home as he was hosting “The Tourist” as an event in my part of the world. However, we left the game playing too late for Robert to drop me off and then head to the movie, so he suggested that I come to the film event, he’d pay for my ticket, if I’d pay for parking. Well with the cost of parking being five dollars and the movie ticket costing $11.50, that was a definite yes on my part. Thank you Robert!

“The Tourist” fits well into my day’s theme of travel and game-playing – journeying from Paris to Venice and with a cast of players searching for an elusive thief and recovering a large amount of money as the ultimate objective. The players: Alex – robber of millions from a mobster, in hiding for two years, and Elise’s lover; Elise – two-year long surveillance subject of Scotland Yard’s Inspector John Acheson; John Acheson – frustrated policeman in search of Alex; Frank – unwitting American tourist being used in Alex’s misdirection plan; and Reginald Shaw – mobster in search of Alex and his stolen money.

The starting point of this international game is a café (where I had my first Salade Niçoise) near the Palais-Royal in Paris where Elise, along with her usual breakfast fare, unexpectedly receives a note from the elusive and plastic surgery altered Alex. Now it’s time for action and Elise takes a train for Venice from the Gare de Lyon and begins the implementation of Alex’s plan when she picks out Frank to be the decoy. British surveillance follows Elise on the train and in the meantime Reginald learns that Alex will be in Venice and makes his way there. Now in Venice all the players converge and games of running across Venetian rooftops, exchanging Frank for cash, night shooting in the canals, boat towing and bullet ducking rescue, departing player and returning player, and twisting revelations play out over several days.

I anticipated that “The Tourist” would be the typical action film with plenty of drama, but surprisingly there’s a comedic element to the film - from Elise looking directly at her not-so-subtle-surveillance and her subsequent maneuvering in the Palais-Royal/Musée du Louvre Métro station, to Frank constantly speaking Spanish to the Italians (Spanish..Italian..it’s all Romance right?) and the film ending exchange between Elise and Alex. With comedy being so obvious, especially with Frank, there can be confusion as to what the film wants to be - one of suspense and intrigue or a spoof/parody of the genre or of the source material (2005 French film “Anthony Zimmer”). It is not completely one or the other. Though I tend to view the film as more dramatic than comedic, the Hollywood Foreign Press sees it differently (it has received a Golden Globes nomination in the category of Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical). If you need the films you see to be easily categorized, then “The Tourist” is not for you. However, if you can accept the interplay of genres or if you are a fan of Johnny Depp (I am) or Angelina Jolie, you should see “The Tourist”. The film may not be either actor’s best work (Angelina’s main function appears just to be beautiful and wear wonderful clothes), it is not horrible by any means.

There may not be obvious clues to help the viewer figure out the twists before they are revealed, but there are some observations one can ponder as “The Tourist” progresses, such as the quality of the note burning. I could state others, but it would give too much away. If nothing else, “The Tourist” is a diversion from all the end of year craziness and has the beauty of Venice to please the eyes (as well as Johnny and Angelina). Game over.


Film Facts: Director/Writer: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Writers: Christopher McQuarrie, Julian Fellowes, Jérôme Salle, Cinematographer: John Seale, Editors: Joe Hutshing, Patricia Rommel, Musician: James Newton Howard, Producers: Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman, Ron Halpern, Tim Headington, Graham King, David Nichols, Denis O’Sullivan, Lloyd Phillips, Production Companies: GK Films, Spyglass Entertainment, Studio Canal

Film Type: Action, Drama, Thriller, Cast: Johnny Depp (Frank Tupelo), Angelina Jolie (Elise Clifton-Ward), Paul Bettany (Inspector John Acheson), Timothy Dalton (Chief Inspector Jones), Steven Berkoff (Reginald Shaw), Rufus Sewell (The Englishman), Christian De Sica (Colonello Lombardi), Alessio Boni (Sergente Cerato), Daniele Pecci (Tenente Narduzzi), Giovanni Guidelli (Tenente Tommassini), Raoul Bova (Conte Filippo Gaggia), Bruno Wolkowitch (Capitaine Courson), Marc Ruchmann (Brigadier Kaiser), Julien Baumgartner (Brigadier Ricuort), François Vincentelli (Brigadier Marion), Length: 103’, Language: English, Countries: United States, France, Year: 2010
Film Trailer
United States release date Friday 10 December 2010


Images:
Left: Johnny Depp as Frank Tupelo and Angelina Jolie as Elise Clifton-Ward from the website cinemablend.com
Center: Graphic interpretation of “The Tourist” created by Adrean Darce Brent
Right: “The Tourist” poster from the website filmposter-archiv.de

Reel Rewind: “Un Balcon Sur La Mer”

French title – “Un Balcon Sur La Mer” / English language title – “A View Of Love”
The translation of the French title into English would be “A Balcony Overlooking The Sea” and the English language title would be “En Vue De L’amour” in French. After seeing the film, my choice for the French title would be “En Vue De L’amour”, with “A View Of Love” for the English language title.

Although my invitation to see the World Premiere of “Un Balcon Sur La Mer” is from the French Consulate of Los Angeles, the film is actually one of the screenings for the first day of the 2010 American Film Market. Of course I didn’t discover this until my arrival at the AMC Criterion theatre in Santa Monica. The AFM is an annual event in Santa Monica for industry buyers/players from around the globe. Since I am only tenuously connected to the film industry, I am pleased to attend the Market, even if I am not a potential buyer and it is just for one screening.

Well, this World Premiere is not getting off to a good start – some of the lights in the theatre are not turning off, but they go ahead and start the film. However, a few minutes into the showing of “Un Balcon Sur La Mer”, the film stops. All the lights come up and a man announces, in French and English, that they are going to start over again. This time all the lights turn off and the film is projected from the beginning without any further problems.

Real estate agent Marc enjoys working with his father-in-law and happily lives in Southern France with his wife and daughter. However, the past arrives one day, upsets his present and changes his future. The past is a girl named Cathy who Marc loved during his childhood in Algeria, before the country achieved independence. The return of Cathy into his life disrupts Marc’s domesticity and brings back memories of life in Oran before his family’s abrupt departure to escape the violence. Allowing himself to fulfill his childhood love for Cathy, Marc irrevocably changes the future for himself and his family. Perhaps it is the lack of closure in his youth that propels Marc towards this life changing behavior.

But all is not completely right. Although a number of memories of Algeria are recounted, some memories for Marc and Cathy are not shared/same ones and they should be. Has time diminished or distorted them? When Marc questions his mother about Algeria and his friend Cathy, she reveals some disturbing information that he can’t believe – won’t believe about this woman who has reentered his life. What is the truth and will Marc be able to see it through the love? Marc searches for answers and in so doing uncovers a real estate scam from inside the agency and Cathy’s role in the deception. He is able to prevent the completion of the scam and although Cathy’s complicity is undeniable, Marc chooses to be with her. She is a part of his life whose ending left a space in his heart and no matter what the reality, for Marc, now only she can give him back his first feelings of love for the girl Cathy.

Though the film does not go in the direction I thought it would (more straightforward, more anguish about his wife and daughter, rejection of the deception), “Un Balcon Sur La Mer” nevertheless provokes one’s thinking of the struggle for independence, aspects of life that still remain open, how perceptions can change, but maybe not so much. The films starts out in a calm morning in Algeria and ends in a rainy night in France and in between is the life of the boy Marc and the man Marc coming to a resolution for love. So I ask, what needs resolution in your life? Better still, what needs resolution in my life?


Film Facts: Director/Writer: Nicole Garcia, Writers: Frédéric Bélier-Garcia, Natalie Carter, Jacques Fieschi, Cinematographer: Jean-Marc Fabre, Producers: Xavier Amblard, Alain Attal, Gaëtan David, André Logie, Frantz Richard, Production Companies: Europa Corp, France 3 Cinéma, Les Productions des Trésor

Film Type: Drama, Romance, Thriller, Cast: Jean Dujardin (Marc), Marie-Josée Croze (Cathy), Claudia Cardinale (Marc’s Mother), Toni Servillo (Marc’s Colleague), Sandrine Kiberlain (Marc’s Wife), Michel Aumont (Marc’s Father-in-law), Jean-François Malet (Le gardien), Philippe Napias (Thierry), Length: 105’, Language: French, Country: France, Year: 2010
Film Trailer
France release date Wednesday 15 December 2010
No United States release date set as of this post


Images:
Left: Jean Dujardin as Marc from the website lyricis.fr
Center: Graphic interpretation of “Un Balcon Sur La Mer” created by Adrean Darce Brent
Right: “Un Balcon Sur La Mer” poster from the website cinemotions.com

Reel Rewind: “Fair Game”

Tonight I’m at the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood to watch a free preview screening of “Fair Game” thanks to Film Independent and their Filmmaker Forum. Usually I only see screenings at the DGA in April (ColCoa), but it was no problem coming here this October night (except for the door on the bus that refused to close for at least ten minutes – a source of amusement and annoyance). Although I arrived later than I planned, people were still in line to enter theatre one and I ended up in the general area that I like to sit.

The film, “Fair Game”, is based on events in which lying to deceive was the modus operandi and the truth was repelled and ignored. CIA agent Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts) is a NOC (No Official Cover) covert leader with operations in Kuala Lumpur, Cairo, Amman et. al. who becomes responsible for finding the intelligence on Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) program. As part of this investigation, the CIA sent her husband, former diplomat Joseph Wilson (Sean Penn), to Niger to check on reports that Iraq had bought a large quantity of yellowcake (a powder formed from the processing of uranium ore) from Niger for use in its nuclear weapons. Wilson’s trip determined that no such sale had taken place, yet this truth was eventually sidestepped by the White House.

A portion of George Bush’s Tuesday 28 January 2003 State of the Union address is shown in which the “sixteen words” are stated – “The British government had learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” This false statement was the basis for sending Americans into a needless war in Iraq (and perhaps the start of Tony Blair’s fall from grace). Unforgivable. Wilson’s refutation of that statement resulted in a backlash from the US government against him and the outing of his wife as a CIA agent. The consequences of the revelation compromised not only Valerie Plame and her operations, but other agents with the same work cover and their operations. All of this because a decision was made to cover up the truth.

The tragedy of the situation was that the Iraqi scientists who could confirm that Iraq did not have a WMD program were not able to be retrieved from Iraq because Valerie’s departure operation for them was stopped. And besides would the United States actually find it in their interest to rescue people who could have debunked the country’s position regarding the reason for entering the war. I think not. What happened to the scientists in Iraq can only be imagined and despaired. Under this type of reality, Valerie and Joseph fight for the truth, while also fighting with each other. Despite White House efforts, the truth does come out. Unfortunately, Valerie’s (and other CIA agents) career is over and the unnecessary Iraq War continues, with causalities of all kinds. Joseph has vindication and the marriage with Valerie does remain intact.

Naomi Watts portrays Valerie Plame as a woman who is good at lying and deceiving in the name of her job, but who just might have a conscious on the cost those qualities have to others. I am not a Sean Penn fan, however he disappears within Joseph Wilson and displays a man determined to have the truth prevail. A treat to see Sam Shepard for a few minutes. Although the truth about the Iraq War has been known for some time now, it is enlightening to see the effects of deceit on an individual level as opposed to a national scale. Which makes everything that much more tragic.

The Q&A session with director Doug Liman was moderated by John August. During the discussion, Liman revealed that he had talked with some former colleagues of Valerie Plame for a more in depth understanding of the whole debacle. “Fair Game” was shot in forty-five days on a budget of twenty-two million dollars. And most of the film was actually shot on location. Liman also said that the Egyptian government hadn’t wanted the Egyptian actor who played the primary Iraqi scientist to act with the Israeli woman who played his sister. You’d think they were still at war. Where is hope?

Film Facts: Director/Cinematographer/Producer: Doug Liman, Writer/Producer: Jez Butterworth, Writers: John-Henry Butterworth, Joseph Wilson, Valerie Plame, Editor: Christopher Tellefsen, Musician: John Powell, Producers: Mohamed Khalaf Al-Mazrouei, Dave Bartis, Gerry Robert Byrne, Kerry Foster, Sean Gesell, Akiva Goldsman, Anadil Hossain, Bill Pohlad, David Sigal, Mari-Jo Winkler, Kim H. Winther, Janet Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Production Companies: River Road Entertainment, Participant Media, Imagenation Abu Dhabi FZ, Zucker Productions, Weed Road Pictures, Hypnotic, Fair Game Productions

Film Type: Action, Biography, Drama, Thriller, Cast: Naomi Watts (Valerie Plame), Sean Penn (Joseph Wilson), Ty Burrell (Fred), Sam Shepard (Sam Plame), Louis Ozawa Changchien (Nervous Analyst #1), Bruce McGill (Jim Pavitt), Brooke Smith (Diana), Noah Emmerich (Bill), Michael Kelly (Jack), David Denman (Dave), David Andrews (Scooter Libby), Iris Bahr (CPD Agent), David Warshofsky (Peter), Satya Bhabha (Jason Neal), Sunil Malhotra (Ali), Length: 104’, Languages: English, Arabic, French, Countries: United States, United Arab Emirates, Year: 2010
Film Trailer
United State release date Friday 5 November 2010


Images:
Left: Naomi Watts as Valerie Plame from the website movieplayer.it
Center: Graphic interpretation of “Fair Game” created by Adrean Darce Brent
Right: “Fair Game” poster from the website cinemablend.com

Reel Rewind: “Män Som Hatar Kvinnor”

Swedish title - “Män Som Hatar Kvinnor” / English title – “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”
This is not a direct translation of the Swedish title into English, which would be “Men Who Hate Women” and that should have been used as the English title – so much more appropriate than the innocuous “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” (which literally translates into Swedish as “Flickan Med Draken Tatuering”). I rate the actual English title as a Failure and “Men Who Hate Women” is what I would use.

How ironic is it that I’m seeing “Män Som Hatar Kvinnor” in the Santa Monica Public Library (for free!) and I have not actually read the novel upon which the film is based? Plus I’ve seen a documentary on the life of Stieg Larsson, the author, back in July which was my introduction to the existence of the novels and films. After seeing this first of three films, I will try to read the trilogy before seeing the next two films.

Although the first images of the film are of professional computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (played by Noomi Rapace) covered up, head down and walking in a Stockholm subway, it is investigative reporter Mikael Blomkvist (played by Michael Nyqvist) who we first begin to know. Through a series of connections, Blomkvist is hired by Henrik Vanger (played by Sven-Bertil Taube) to discover what happened to his niece, Harriet Vanger, who disappeared forty years ago at the age of sixteen from a Vanger family gathering on their island of Hedeby. Henrik believes that Harriet has been murdered and that the killer, who has been sending him framed dried flowers from a different place every year for his birthday (a tortuous reminder of the gift that Harriet used to give him), is one of his family members. Blomkvist begins his search with boxes of material and interviews with the powerful Vanger family members and the original police investigator, Gustav Morell (played by Björn Granath), on the case.

Lisbeth provides the research that convinces Henrik to hire Blomkvist and she continues to hack into Blomkvist’s hard drive, even though her assignment is over. We learn that Lisbeth is on some sort of probation (she has a troubling and disturbing past) and that her new guardian is a disgusting sexual sadist and rapist. However, Lisbeth is able to have revenge on her pig of a guardian when she records the atrocious acts he forces upon her and she threatens him with legal and media exposure unless her demands for controlling her own life are met. The inking of “sadist” and “rapist” on his chest was a bit much – no need for the mutilation, though I understand the need to label what he is and have it visible.

With the regaining of herself and a new, powerful computer, Lisbeth obtains the name and number codes that Blomkvist found in Harriet’s diary and she is able to decipher the number part of the codes and anonymously e-mails the results to Blomkvist. However, through Henrik’s lawyer, Dirch Frode (played by Ingvar Hirdwall), Blomkvist is able to track down Lisbeth and he persuades her to work with him on the search for answers. Their collaboration, both professionally and personally (the rapist can’t be her last sexual encounter with a male), in figuring out the names part of the codes results in uncovering a series of killings of women from the 1940s through the 1960s. Members of the Vanger family were involved in those murders and one of them is still alive. Blomkvist is captured and tortured by Martin Vanger (played by Peter Haber) and from certain death Bromkviszt is rescued by Lisbeth. It is discovered that Martin had been raping and killing women for decades, but that he had not killed his sister Harriet. The long missing Harriet is actually alive and living in Australia. When she returns to Sweden with Blomkvist, Harriet tells of her rape and constant abuse by her father Gottfried and her brother Martin. It was to escape potential further abuse at the hands of Martin which was the reason for her disappearance and Harriet had sent the framed flowers as her way of telling Henrik that she was somewhere out in the world.

The film ends with Blomkvist being vindicated in his investigation of a Swedish industrialist for which, at the beginning of the film, he had been sentenced to three months in jail for libel. Lisbeth gives Blomkvist the material he needs on a jail visit to see him and as news of the industrialist’s suicide reaches Blomkvist, the final image in the film is of a blond, head up, smartly-dressed Lisbeth walking down the street of a tropical paradise.

I do like the film, despite some disturbing elements, however, I do question some plot points. Unless I missed it, there is no indication that Henrik ever tried to track down the shipments of the framed flowers he began receiving years ago. It is unclear how Harriet came to obtain the information for the codes she wrote in her diary which led to the uncovering of the serial killings. And why does an experienced investigative journalist reveal anything regarding the status of the investigation to a member of the suspect group, especially when that investigation has turned into a different direction? I do like that Lisbeth rescued herself and Blomkvist from their respective torturers – a woman who does not need someone to rescue her and can rescue someone herself – great! Although he is not as complex a character as Lisbeth, I do hope that Blomkvist does show up in the other novels and films. Perhaps he will be Lisbeth’s calm place. No matter, I will look forward to reading the novels and seeing the other films.



Film Facts: Director: Niels Arden Opley, Writers: Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg, Novelist: Stieg Larsson, Cinematographers: Jens Fischer, Eric Kress, Editor: Anne Østerud, Musician: Jacob Groth, Producers: Susann Billberg-Rydholm, Anni Faurbye Fernandez, Jenny Gilbertsson, Lone Korslund, Jon Mankell, Peter Nadermann, Ole Sønberg, Søren Stærmose, Mikael Wallen, Production Companies: Danmarks Radio (DR), Det Danske Filminstitut, Film i Väst, Filmpool Stockholm Mälardalen, Nordisk Film, Nordisk Film-&TV-Fond, Sveriges Television (SVT), Swedish Film Institute, TV2 Norge, Yellow Bird Films, ZDF Enterprises

Film Type: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Cast: Michael Nyqvist (Mikael Blomkvist), Noomi Rapace (Lisbeth Salander), Lena Endre (Erika Berger), Peter Haber (Martin Vanger), Sven-Bertil Taube (Henrik Vanger), Peter Andersson (Nils Bjurman), Ingvar Hirdwall (Dirch Frode), Marika Lagercrantz (Cecilia Vanger), Björn Granath (Gustav Morell), Ewa Fröling (Harriet Vanger), Michalis Koutsogiannakis (Dragan Armanskij), Annika Hallin (Annika Giannini), Sofia Ledarp (Malin Erkison), Tomas Köhler (‘Plague’), David Dencik (Janne Dahlman), Length: 152’, Language: Swedish, Countries: Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Year: 2009
Film Trailer
United States release date Friday 19 March 2010


Images:
Left: Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander and Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist from the website moviepicturedb.com
Center: Graphic interpretation of “Män Som Hatar Kvinnor” created by Adrean Darce Brent
Right: “Män Som Hatar Kvinnor” poster from the website weirdscience.se

Reel Rewind: “Never Let Me Go”

Arriving an hour before the scheduled start for the FIND Film Series preview screening of “Never Let Me Go”, I receive one of the last Wait Passes with the director’s name of Michael Moore. Haven’t seen any of Michael’s recent documentaries – last one I saw was “Bowling For Columbine”. After getting assurance that novelist Kazuo Ishiguro was going to be at the Q & A, I went to the nearby Barnes & Noble and found the last copy of “Never Let Me Go” on the shelf. Very lucky! Browsing around in Barnes & Noble for a while, I didn’t find anything else I wanted to buy, so the Ishiguro book was the only purchase.

Returning to the Landmark Theatres, I found an empty space on a couch and began waiting for the names of directors to be called. In a departure from the last Film Independent screening I attended, the name caller wanted all the people with director names at the end of the list to go into the Wine Bar to wait there to be called. Of course Michael Moore’s name turned out to be the last one (have to come earlier to get a Wait Pass that’s higher up on the list). Even though the theater for the screening was next to the bar, I don’t know why people had to squeeze themselves into that space to wait. Rather ridiculous.

Because my director’s name was the last one called, I was not able to sit where I usually do, but ended up in the first row – which requires a strong and flexible neck and with leg room being the only physical advantage to sitting in that row. There was the usual introduction of the film and request to silence all electronic devices. The setting of “Never Let Me Go” is England and the story of the three main characters – Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth – covers the years from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. We first meet the trio around age twelve at their boarding school, Hailsham. At first it seems that they and the other children are living a typical boarding school life, but soon things don’t seem right. Why have the children been psychologically conditioned to fear the world outside the grounds of the school – making the retrieval of a ball that went over a low fence impossible to do and requiring them to role-play being customers in a tea shop instead of actually going to one? Why are the only toys the children have broken, old ones that they “purchase” with tokens they have acquired? And why are they equipped with some sort of electronic bracelet that they scan regularly at their dormitory?

The realization becomes clear that this is an alternate reality in which the children are to serve a purpose when they are adults that is beyond their control. At twelve they are not to know that purpose – a teacher is removed for telling them they have no choices in life. While they are still at school, the relations between the friends changes when Tommy and Ruth begin a romantic connection; thus leaving Kathy looking in from the outside on a relationship that should have been hers. Boarding school life ends at age eighteen and by that time they know that they are part of the National Donor Programme, i.e. they are the donors. And they are clones - clones who don’t know their “originals” and whose knowledge of the outside world is limited. Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth are sent to live on a farm in a transition period before they begin donating. With no hope that Tommy and Ruth will breakup, Kathy becomes a “Carer” which allows her to focus attention on others and delays her entry into active donorship.

When the friends are reunited years later, Kathy is still a Carer and Tommy and Ruth are active donors. Finally, Kathy and Tommy begin to enjoy their long overdue love and seek a deferral from donating. Though rumors about deferrals circulated through the donor community for years, they were just false hope – there were never any deferrals. Kathy and Tommy just have the time until Tommy’s next donation. With Tommy and Ruth having completed their donations, Kathy’s tenure as a Carer ends and her own donations will begin. Essentially, “Never Let Me Go”, is the story of a “family” in circumstances that I hope will never happen. Although the focus of “Never Let Me Go” stresses the love and friendship aspect of the film, I’m concerned with the underlying text of the cloning of humans whose sole purpose is to provide organic material as needed by, one assumes, the non-cloned humans. Is this a version of humanity’s future that will come to pass or will this be taken as a warning to avoid this genetic path? Despite today’s general restrictions on the type of human cloning presented in the film, I have no doubt that it will happen and we need to begin now to determine how clones will be integrated into human life. They are us.

During the Q & A (which included Mark Romanek, Alex Garland, Kazuo Ishiguro, Allon Reich, Carey Mulligan, and Andrew Garfield), various aspects of bringing “Never Let Me Go” to the screen were discussed from the perspectives of the director (in terms of casting and directing) and the producer, along with the screenwriter’s interpretation of the novelist’s work, and of course, how the filming process was for Andrew and Carey. Oh, and there was one other advantage to sitting in the first row - catching Kazuo Ishiguro right after the Q & A and having him sign my newly purchased copy of “Never Let Me Go”. He hadn’t seen the movie tie-in edition until signing it and Mark Romanek also took a look at the book. While they and the rest of the film team were going off to another Q & A session, I, my singular self, was heading into the night and home.


Film Facts: Director/Producer: Mark Romanek, Writer/Producer: Alex Garland, Novelist: Kazuo Ishiguro, Cinematographer: Adam Kimmel, Editor: Barney Pilling, Musician: Rachel Portman, Producers: Richard Hewitt, Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich, Tessa Ross, Production Companies: DNA Films, Film4

Film Type: Drama, Thriller, Cast: Carey Mulligan (Kathy), Andrew Garfield (Tommy), Keira Knightley (Ruth), Izzy Meikle-Small (Young Kathy), Charlie Rowe (Young Tommy), Ella Purnell (Young Ruth), Charlotte Rampling (Miss Emily), Sally Hawkins (Miss Lucy), Kate Bowes Renna (Miss Geraldine), Hannah Sharp (Amanda), Oliver Parsons (Arthur), Luke Bryant (David), Fidelis Morgan (Matron), Damien Thomas (Doctor), Nathalie Richard (Madame), Length: 103’, Language: English, Countries: United Kingdom, United States, Year: 2010
Film Trailer
United States release date Wednesday 15 September 2010


Images:
Left: Carey Mulligan as Kathy, Keira Knightley as Ruth, and Andrew Garfield as Tommy from the website filmindependent.org
Center: Graphic interpretation of “Never Let Me Go” created by Adrean Darce Brent
Right: “Never Let Me Go” poster from the website filmtotaal.nl

Reel Rewind: “Gardiens De L’ordre”

French title – “Gardiens De L’ordre” / English title – “Sphinx”
This is not a direct translation of the French title into English, which would be “Guardians Of The Order”. I actually like the English title better – more in line with the film. Gardiens De L’ordre brings images of vigilantes, storm troopers, and knights templar to my mind. Sphinx actually is specific to the film, although Sphinx might bring to mind Egypt. In any case I would make “Le Sphinx” the French title and have “The Sphinx” be the English title.

It’s small. It’s round. It’s yellow. It glows in the dark. And it fires your brain into craziness. Sphinx is the newest platinum standard street drug that Julie and Simon need to find in order to dissolve the department cover up, which if it sticks, will cost them their police careers. They are on their own in pursuit of the drug suppliers and go undercover as drug dealers while performing desk duty at the police station. Still working at the police station gives them access to information and materials useful in catching the suppliers. Of course they are vindicated in the end and there were no real surprises in “Gardiens De L’ordre” – same situations seen in other films of this type.



Film Facts: Director: Nicolas Boukhrief, Writers: Dan Sasson, Nicolas Boukhrief, Cinematographer: Dominique Colin, Editor: Lydia Decobert, Musician: Nicolas Baby, Producer: Sylvie Pialat, Production Companies: Les Films du Worso, Gaumont, Entre Chien et Loup
Film Type: Crime/Thriller/Drama, Cast: Cécile De France (Julie), Fred Testot (Simon), Julien Boisselier (Marc), Nicolas Mane (le commissaire principal), Stéphan Wojtowicz (Gilbert), Nanou Garcia (Sandrine), Stéphane Jobert (Roland), Jean-Michel Noirey (Rudy), Gilles Gaston-Dreyfus (Christian), Foued Nassah (Joseph), Anthony Decadi (Stan), Length: 105’, Language: French, Country: France, Year: 2010.
Film trailer
No United States release date set as of this post.



Images:
Left: Front side of the ticket for “Gardiens De L’ordre” (“Sphinx”)
Center: Graphic interpretation of “Gardiens De L’ordre” created by Adrean Darce Brent

Right: Fred Testot as Simon and Cécile De France as Julie from the website ecranlarge.com