Tenet

 seen on 1 September 2020

Christopher Nolan's new film Tenet stars John David Washington as 'the Protagonist', Robert Pattinson as Neil, Elizabeth Debicki as Kat Sator and Kenneth Branagh as Andrei Sator. It has been described as Nolan's "James Bond film", and has unwittingly become the blockbuster which the cinema distribution world hopes will bust the blockage of unease over the coronavirus and encourage people to take up cinema-going again as a safe leisure activity. In my local complex, which has nine screens, the film is being shown this week at twenty-minute intervals in different rooms. I was the only person in the screening I attended, with about 200 empty seats keeping me socially distanced.

The film has many Nolan trademarks - sharp design, personable actors, impressive special effects, an insistent but basically appropriate score, and a demanding plot. Even though there is a Bond-type villain intent on mass destruction, the whole situation is massively complicated by 'inversion', an apparent flouting of the laws of physics which could put the whole world in peril. Naturally it is too hard to explain, and attempts at exposition often tail off before they get going - a sign, perhaps, that we don't really need to understand the theory of what is going on in order to be able to enjoy it. 

This is all fair enough providing the film maintains internal consistency by its own lights and remains more or less coherent. I think it does this, but a second viewing would confirm the impression. As advice for a potential first-time viewer I would only say, pay very close attention to details, especially when the camera shots seem to invite attention. I suspect that (apart from the hokum of 'inversion') there may be one certain implausibility - but maybe my second viewing, when it happens, will prove me wrong about this.

John David Washington and Robert Pattinson make for a good double act, perhaps not given enough space to shine as brightly as they might. Pattinson delivers one of his last lines with a perfect blend of charm and ruefulness made all the more enjoyable for its cunning and knowing riff on one of the most famous endings on film. Elizabeth Debicki plays a role that is not new to her, as it resembles her position in The Night Manager, an excellent TV adaptation of John LeCarre's novel. Kenneth Branagh brings to his part both the classic Bond villain superciliousness and a terrifying streak of vicious cruelty which certainly raises the personal stakes for our hero, named simply, though perhaps pretentiously, as 'the Protagonist'.

Nolan thinks big on effects, having given us folding up cities (Inception), massive tidal waves (Interstellar), the mayhem of war (Dunkirk) and now the mysteries of 'inversion'. The effects in Tenet are cleverly disorienting as they fiendishly serve to illustrate the challenge our heroes face. What more could one ask of a Bond movie made by someone who delights in visual puzzles made possible by film technology? Ah yes, an amusing cameo from Michael Caine, and a 'Q' substitute to fail to enlighten us in the form of Clémence Poésy.

An enforced pause

Measures aimed to discourage the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 were announced by the British Prime Minister on Monday evening 16 March 2020. These included strong advice to practise 'social distancing' as a precaution, quite apart from any personal necessity to embark on self-isolation.

This has resulted in the closure of galleries, museums, theatres, opera houses, cinemas and concert halls. Consequently this blog will fall silent for the foreseeable future - not for lack of will on my part, but for lack of opportunity.

I wish all my readers well in the meantime.

1917

seen on 10 March 2020

Sam Mendes directs George MacKay Will Schofield and Dean-Charles Chapman as Tom Blake in a film about two soldiers sent on a mission to prevent a fruitless advance from the trenches of the Western Front - the apparent German retreat from this section of the Front is in fact a trap. The story, which might on the face of it appear implausible, is based on stories told to the director by his grandfather Alfred Mendes. Actors such as Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Andrew Scott, Mark Strong, Adrian Scarborough, Daniel Mays and Jamie Parker provide generally unobtrusive cameos.

The film covers less than twenty-four hours, shot almost entirely with the two young soldiers in view, and devised to appear as if made of one continuous shot. Technically, then, it is an impressive achievement, and emotionally too we are forced to concentrate on the terrifying circumstances in which the two young men find themselves. The opening and closing episodes show populated trenches, but for much of the time there is an uneasy silence and emptiness, since the mission entrusted to the lance-corporals is to cross abandoned lines in order to reach the endangered Devonshire regiment in time. A personal incentive heightens the urgency, as Tom Blake's brother is a lieutenant in the Devonshire's.

The Personal History of David Copperfield

seen on 12 February 2020

Armando Iannucci directs the excellent Dev Patel as the titular hero in his adaptation with Simon Blackwell of Charles Dickens's novel in which the narrator accounts for his life and tries to establish whether he will indeed be the hero of his own tale. The fine supporting cast includes Tilda Swinton as an eccentrically fierce Aunt Betsy Trotwood, Hugh Laurie as the troubled Mr Dick, Peter Capaldi as the optimistic but financially imprudent Wilkins Micawber, Rosalind Eleazar as Agnes Wickfield, Morfydd Clark as both David's mother and his first love Dora Spenlow, and Ben Whishaw as the ever-creepy Uriah Heep.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

seen on 4 February 2020

J. J. Abrams directs episode IX of the long-running Star Wars saga, from a script by himself and Chis Terrio, with Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Daniels, and many others including characters from episodes IV to VIII and voices from episodes I to III.

This is, in short, a summing up and look back to the whole sweep of the story, though some of the cameo roles are extremely perfunctory, and the voices largely emanate from 'The Force', a mysterious entity which seems to allow for any number of reappearances that might help our heroes out of a really sticky situation. The deus ex machina has become the jedi ex machina and is in danger of rendering the whole enterprise ridiculous. Indeed, one reappearance has had to be explained (in the press) as 'not a Force ghost' just to clear up any confusion engendered in the heat of excitement about seeing it.

What can be said about this particular episode? It does tie up a number of loose ends left trailing in episodes VII and VIII, thus confirming George Lucas's original idea of 'three three-act sagas'. There is a more elegiac tone in the quieter moments, not least because Carrie Fisher's contribution had to be created from out-takes and early shoots made prior to her untimely death. But there is also the usual derring-do with spectacular effects and wholesale destruction of the baddies, dependent upon the bravery, steely resolve and sheer recklessness of the goodies, and a not-too-surprising change of heart by several characters initially either bad or cowardly.

Lots of challenge, lots of inner demons put to rest, lots of self-discovery, lots of loss stoically dealt with, and even some useful self-sacrifice - but all rather overblown and verging on the tendentious. Almost entirely missing is the verve and insouciance of the first episode presented to us (now numbered as IV); the stakes have been raised by the inevitable sense of self-importance generated by the franchise, and young Luke's innocent enthusiasm or Han Solo's world-weary wisecracking have no place in a more sombre world. Now, the young heroes tend to shout and quarrel as if under real stress, and C-3PO's banter has degenerated into the tiresomeness of the dinner-party bore. The administrative command, having once been the action heroes, evidently feel the need to be gravely portentous. Evil, of course, just throws more and more electricity out of its hands at the first opportunity, while the light sabres continue to flash and fizz.

The concessions to a realistic presentation of constant warfare - harassed staff, lightning decisions in the face of unexpected or overwhelming attack, battle fatigue - are all very well, though it leaves our heroes with a very restricted palate of emotion to work with (mainly, stress). But older patterns continue alongside, and the plastic-encased stormtroopers are only there to be killed by endless rains of gunfire. The unexpected appearance of a freedom-fighter who was apparently part of an imperial detachment that rebelled at the order to kill civilians raises an uncomfortable question about all the destruction. Admittedly she was not actually a storm trooper - but can they all have been always mindlessly obedient? Can every one of the countless thousands of crew and troops on the ships seen so gloriously exploding have been deserving of death? Of course, the question is ludicrous in the context of this sort of action-movie - but having raised the possibility of rebels from within, the subsequent cataclysmic destruction becomes more problematic. Apparently giant ships in some cases just collapsed onto planets. What fun for anyone near the crash sites.

As for the Force - the adept can apparently levitate (until concentration breaks) and leap out of the way of thunderous waves in order to carry on with a crucial duel. But in negotiating the shattered spaces of the old Death Star, Force-enhanced leaps lead to desperate hand grabs onto metal fragments. Why not just organise the Force to help you land properly on a safe ledge?

This is hardly the forum for such niggling gripes. except to point to the foolishness of taking any of the narrative framework seriously; it's just an entertaining movie if you find loud special-effects movies entertaining.

Little Women

seen on 5 January 2020

Greta Gerwig directs Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlon, Laura Dern and Timothée Chalamet in her own adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's famous novel about four sisters growing up near Concord Massachusetts in the 1860s (in the shadow of the American Civil War).

The book has been adapted for theatre, film and TV many times - indeed there was a creditable TV version as recently as 2017 - but a fresh look at a much-loved classic can often be justified if it is well conceived and produced. In this case, the film is an enjoyable entertainment, perhaps undercutting its more melodramatic moments and thus avoiding some of the sentimentality attached to the storyline.