CANVI CLIMÀTIC 1

Què més necessitam per actuar ja?

Documental L'HORA 11 (Leonardo di Caprio)


Documental CANVI CLIMÀTIC,de National Geogràfic

FILM REVIEW: MACBETH

Direction: Justin Kurzel

Script: Jacob Koskoff, Michael Lesslie, Todd Louiso

Actors: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jack Madigan, Paddy Considine, etc.

Photography: Adam Arkapaw

Music: Jed Kurzel

Costume design: Jacqueline Durran

Genre: Drama, Art house

To make a film about Macbeth that has been made in several occasions (Welles, Kurosawa, Polanski, etc.) it can reasonably be assumed that it will have a new contribution to the cause or at least a breath of r fresh air. We cannot say that the Australian director Justin Kurzel has not tried so noble an aspiration and there are interesting and surprising new values to be appreciated in this film, but we must say that his objective has not been completely achieved at all.

The production is really fascinating: the open spaces of Scottish landscapes, the fog effects in which the witches appear and the soldiers disappear in the intensity of their fights, the camera resources (slow motion, canted shots, etc.) the impressive lighting and the realistic costumes accompanied by a dramatic music, compound a remarkable piece of art, a powerful visual machinery.

On the other side, we have an unarticulated plot, absolutely lacking in rhythm, in which we have to guess  several times what has really happened, when a ghost is a ghost and not a real person and how  the evolution of the different characters is, particularly Lady Macbeth (Marion Cotillard) and Banquo (Paddy Considine). Probably, the problem rests in how to combine these different worlds such as drama (defined by convention and words) and cinema (defined by realism and images).  We also can see that in the dialogues in which there is  “Shakespearian”  excess.

Obviously all these elements affect the acting. Macbeth (Michael Fassbender) goes very quickly from being an implacable warrior to an ambitious politician and from there to a poor mad king tortured by guilt and fear. The performance has strength in some scenes but is not brilliant. The tone is monotonous, extremely steady and murmuring. Where is the connection, the passion, the empathy for his wife?  Lady Macbeth has an impressive magnetism in the first shots (and a good accent too, considering she is performed by a French actress): beauty and nastiness; but we can’t see this magnetism towards her husband or her evolution from being an ambitious and manipulative woman to a desperate one who commits suicide (By the way, how does she do it?) Her best moment is at the coronation dinner, where she takes the power and dignity of the crown in front of the king’s delirium.

In conclusion, the proposal is interesting because it tries to show a modern view on a classic Shakespeare drama that happens in the early middle ages, gathering two of the most attractive and reliable contemporary actors, but the result, in my opinion, is a little bit disappointing, mainly considering the potential achievements one might have expected of these elements.

FILM REVIEW: ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL

TITLE: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (USA, 2015)

DIRECTOR:  Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

SCRIPT: Jesse Andrews

MUSIC: Brian Eno, Nico Muhly

ACTORS: Thomas Mann, Olivia Cooke, RJ Cyler, Nick Offerman, Connie Britton, Molly Shannon…

The film tells the story of three teenagers from the perspective of one of them, Greg, the storyteller. Greg is a High School student, a little bit weird, who tries to pass unknown in his school as a survival strategy. He spends his time making domestic films inspired by the classics, with his mate Earl. Suddenly, his entire world changes when his mother obliges him to be friends with a girl who has leukaemia, Rachel. He has to visit her and be with her. Then, slowly, a beautiful friendship begins. Everything is shared from the perspective of a countdown… except perhaps love and sex. He shares his friend Earl, his odd movies, his strange and smart sense of humour and his time, while being on the verge of failing the term and losing his admission to the local university. Rachel shares her fears, her sense of life, her intimacy, her tenderness and her practical vision of things.

The film speaks about friendship in the context of a fatal disease, but with a lot of humour, making a good combination of drama and comedy. The film also deals with subjects like death, education, human relationships (parents-children, teachers-students, teenagers-teenagers), creativity, cinema, etc. but in a natural way, thanks to the smart and credible dialogues so brilliantly acted. It also combines different narrative and cinematographic languages: flashback, voice-over, cartoon, puppets, etc. with good music and in an adequate rhythm.

Before watching the film you might think you will be crying the whole time. During the film, as spectator, you have the impression that you are watching a kind of comedy and that leukaemia is a pretext. Indeed you are expecting a happy ending, but cancer is cancer and what happens sadly has to happen. That is life. Just some tears. He deeply feels the emptiness that his beloved friend has left… but he has to continue living his own life.

In fact, the film is the personal letter that Greg writes to the university asking for a second trial. He tries to justify his academic failure because he has spent the last months of his life doing a good deed and that is a good point to consider: he is a good person and is normally a good student.