The Labor Day weekend is one of the dead times at movie theatres. The new films tend to be also-rans although this year a low-key but smart political thriller has snuck through. Also two with performers that young teens like, a kung fu chronicle from China and a sci fi film so silly it’s great fun.
Here’s the list:
Closed Circuit: 3 stars
The Grandmaster: 3
One Direction: This is Us: 2 ½
Getaway: 2
Sharknado: 2
Latin American Film Festival: various
CLOSED CIRCUIT: If this were an American film it would climax with some loud courtroom yelling along the lines of “You can’t handle the truth!” But this is British. Things are calm and understated and even beyond uncharacteristic in the way they wind up so quietly. Make no mistake, though. This is a thoughtful thriller concerned more with ideas than fireworks. It's cynical about people in power and quite engrossing.
A terror bomb explodes in London. A young Muslim is arrested and two lawyers (Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall) are appointed to defend him. Since it’s a national security case and much of the evidence is secret, Hall’s role is “special advocate” which means she can see the evidence which is not revealed to the accused or his other defender. It’s just one of several legal wrinkles this film explores about how states deal with highly sensitive security cases. A couple of other old hands, Jim Broadbent, as a government insider, and Ciarán Hinds, as Bana’s boss, are there to talk us through the intricacies. Suspense and paranoia grow. MI-5, the British CIA, comes into it. Surveillance is everywhere, just like the real modern world.
A few script problems get in the way, though. The two defenders are not allowed to talk to each other but how can they not? They previously had an affair. That’s a bit contrived. Worse, plot points are telegraphed before they’re revealed. We’re denied the pleasure of real surprise. Except for that ending. It slips in so fast we’re caught right off guard. (5th Avenue, International Village and a few suburban theatres) 3 out of 5
THE GRANDMASTER: Plenty of style, atmosphere and beauty is what you get here. Enjoy them; the story is harder to connect with. That’s partly because it bounces around over a long time frame and feels disjointed. Also, it’s a biography that concentrates more on philosophy than facts, and takes liberties with those.
This is Hong Kong director Kar Wai Wong’s take on the life of Ip Man, the martial arts master who taught Bruce Lee (a fact mentioned only in a post script but well-known to both their followers). Forty years after his death he remains a national hero in China. He brought martial arts styles from the north and south together, taught a style called wing chun and has been portrayed in several movies. Tony Leung plays him with a cool, stoic demeanor, even in the several beautifully-staged fights (choreographed by Yuen Woo-Ping) that he gets into and wins easily. This film doesn’t mention that he was a policeman who was on the wrong side when the Communists took over and had to escape to Hong Kong. It does make some fuzzy sniping comments about collaborators.
And it invents a fictional love interest who brings rapturous scenes of longing but also snags into the story. She (played by Ziyi Zhang) is the daughter of an opponent, inheritor of his style and seeker of revenge for his death. Inconveniently, she takes a vow of celibacy and swears off martial arts. There’s a strong melancholy tone here and the movie is much more of an art film than a kung fu experience. (Scotiabank and suburban theatres) 3 out of 5
ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US: Yes, but it doesn’t turn out to be that much. Niall, Zayn, Liam, Harry and Louis are just nice guys. They’re not witty or edgy. They like each other and love their fans and are amazed at what’s happened to them in just three years. Simon Cowell put them together as a boy band after they failed to win individually on his X-Factor show in the U.K. (He appears to tell that part himself). Thanks to the internet, they were world famous before they even recorded any songs. Now they draw young girls screaming joyously to their mega concerts. This film follows them on a world tour and alternates between on-stage performances (just singing, no dancing, the same show, I’m told, that they did in Vancouver recently ) and backstage hanging out where they come across as amiable and safe. Martin Scorsese and Chris Rock both show up to say good things about them.
It seems to be an authorized portrait, although directed by Morgan Spurlock who in other films like Super Size Me has shown a maverick streak. He’s represented by the same management as Cowell, which might explain why he’s done this. He’s given us a pleasant visit with the boys that at times feels stage-managed. When Zayn, the one who recently got engaged, buys his mum a house, the camera is there when she first walks in and there are cameras at both ends when he phones to ask how she likes it. On the other hand, there are a couple of conversations among the boys about their surprise fame that seem genuine. The concert scenes capture the bouncy energy of their shows but I did have the feeling at the end that I’d just heard the same song over and over. I’d rank this film far above the Jonas Brothers’, below Justin Bieber’s and a bit behind Katy Perry’s. (International Village and many suburban theatres) 2 ½ out of 5
GETAWAY: Ethan Hawke is here for the thinking crowd and Selena Gomez for her young fans. But the real star is a car, a Ford Shelby GT500 Super Snake, the most powerful Mustang ever produced. It gets a real workout in no fewer than eight car chases. They’re a mindless and exciting wonder screaming through the streets of Sofia, Bulgaria, crashing, smashing and flipping police cars everywhere (the country can’t have many left), narrowly missing the cross traffic at every intersection and , not surprisingly, by chase 5 or 6, getting awfully repetitive.
Less clear is what exactly it is doing in Bulgaria. (Tax incentives maybe?) Hawke is an ex-race car driver who moved his family there for the quiet. His wife is kidnapped, her abductor (always on the telephone only) tells him to steal the car and perform a number of tasks, most leading to those chases, and Selena shows up as the owner who wants her car back. Naturally she has to come along for the entire ride because Ethan can’t stop. She turns out to be adept at hacking into computers en route from an i-pad and despite her baby face shows a tough assertive side. None of it makes too much sense. John Voight does a good Eastern European accent as the voice on the phone. (International Village and many suburban theatres) 2 out of 5
SHARKNADO: If you didn’t see this on the Discovery channel or at the Rio Theatre’s sold out show a couple of weeks ago, you have another chance. But you’d better be the kind of movie fan who can enjoy bad movies because this is a prime example. It became a twitter-fueled sensation back in July when the SyFy network in the states showed it (three times eventually). Cory Monteith’s last two tweets were about it. A sequel is already in the works.
Climate change is now the culprit in movies like this, just as the atom bomb used to be. In this one, tornadoes are stirred up; they suck sharks out of the ocean and drop them on Los Angeles. We watch one group of people try to escape and eventually turn to fight them off. Ian Ziering (90210), Tara Reid (American Pie) and John Heard are the most recognizable of the actors. The director wisely played it for cheese factor laughs. It’s goofy and silly and an entertaining piece of camp. (Screens Fri and Sat; check the website: http://riotheatre.ca/schedule/) 2 out of 5
LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL: This event is now in its 11th year, a testament to both the local interest in films from the region and the good work of the organizers. This year they’ve got some 40 films (short and full-length) including one of the big winners from Cannes last year, the dreamy hallucination Post Tenebras Lux (the title means “After Darkness, Light”). It got some boos there and then won the best director prize for Carlos Reygadas, known as Mexico cinema’s enfant terrible.
Other notable titles include Viva Cuba, named best children’s film at Cannes and Eufrosina’s Revolution, a nominee for best documentary in Mexico’s top movie awards. It’s about an indigenous woman in politics. The films of Columbia are highlighted this year, including the opener La Playa D.C., in which three teenage brothers flee the civil war that killed their father and land in the mean streets of Bogotá.
The festival runs until Sept 8 and you can get more information from the website www.vlaff.org or the preview on this site. Click on CULTURE up above and scroll down.
NOTE: All images are movie stills provided by the producers. They are the exclusive property of their copyright owners.