The Rehearsal: DVD Review

The Rehearsal: DVD Review

Eleanor Catton's first book gets the big screen treatment with this Emily Perkins/ Alison McLean cinematic outing, starring national treasure James Rolleston.

Rolleston is Stanley, a naive newcomer to the bright lights of the big city and who's got a desire to end up on the stage. In his innocence, Stanley falls for a 15 year old schoolgirl called Isolde (Ella Edward). But Isolde's sister is part of a national scandal having been seduced by her much older tennis coach.

However, this soon proves to be inspiration for the drama school he attends after they're all chopped up into groups and deconstructed as both actors and at times, human beings. Drawing on his beau's sister's predicament, Stanley finds himself treading a dangerous path. between what's right and what right for his career....

The Rehearsal is a stiffly starch kind of film.

Its coldness is at times, off putting, and there's certainly a lack of engagement with many of the characters around the peripheries. One key moment in the story is supposed to resonate but because it comes so far out of leftfield (and is even remarked on by the brute of the head of the school played by Kerry Fox as coming out of nowhere), you don't feel anything at all - which is somewhat of a fatal move.

While The Rehearsal's swathed in ambiguity, its aloofness at times makes it hard to guess what exactly is going on and why some relationships either flourish or continue.

Consequently, while the audience is made to work for parts of the film's rewards, some may feel the effort is not worth it. Secrets may abound, but in this Lolita in the suburbs story, the opaqueness is almost oppressive.

Fortunately, blessed with a James Rolleston performance that's at both ends of his character's spectrum, there is a slightly commanding presence on screen that makes the Rehearsal worthwhile. Rolleston has the power to know when to dial down the acting and equally when to ramp it back up and makes some of his scenes all the more delicious for it (certainly in one sequence with Kerry Fox's character).

But overall, The Rehearsal is a muddled film of execution and one that may lack the broader appeal despite its oh-so-familiar story. It's not a disaster by any stretch of the imagination, and perhaps its refusal to conform makes it laudable, but by the same token, it makes it less embraceable. 

Chasing Great: DVD Review

Chasing Great: DVD Review

Directors: Justin Pemberton, Michelle Walshe

The ultimate film about rugby in New Zealand has already been made - and that film is The Ground We Won about the team in the heartland of the Bay of Plenty.

But Chasing Great aims to be more a film about the one man some would believe to be New Zealand's greatest ever rugby player - Richie McCaw.

And it faces a major hurdle too - it's not as if Richie himself is not an unknown figure, blessed with enigma and living life in the shadows. Most of what is known about Richie is already there in the media, as he lived the rugby life in the spotlight and in the glare of the camera both on and off the field.

So this is the nature of the challenge facing Pemberton and Walshe who followed McCaw around for a year; and in the run up to the 2015 Rugby World Cup with the hope that the All Blacks would lift the Webb Ellis trophy for the second time in a row and Richie would call time on his career.

With over 700 hours of footage on hand, what emerges in Chasing Great is predominantly more a film about rugby than the man himself - and perhaps is indicative of the fact how synonymous with rugby Richie has become (though whether that makes a great doco is, in this case, extremely subjective).

While there's use of home video footage from the McCaw family, showing a young but big unit Richie on the Otago rugby fields, in the early part of the film, there is plenty of insight into the guy that may surprise and delight his already mountainous number of fans.

From doing exceptionally well at school to capturing the moment when his family sat huddled in the front room around a radio waiting to hear if Richie gets the call up to the All Blacks, there's a degree of personal intimacy that's welcomed and offers a newer side to the man so over-exposed in the media.

But there's no escaping the line uttered at one point  - "We're an unemotional bunch, the McCaws".

And it's a flaw which shatters the second half of the film as it becomes like a sporting autobiography writ large on the big screen, as we are forced to relive the fatal loss to France in 2007, and various other games including the ultimate win in 2015 (itself a foregone conclusion that is still quite recent in our memories).

It's understandable that these moments should feature as it goes some way to explaining McCaw's mindset and shift in mental fortitude with the involvement of psychologist Dr Ceri Evans (shadowy room meetings leading to feelings of a cult-like abduction), but it still feels like a sports highlights package, with edited game moments and pumping music puncturing the changing room scenes and sporting celebrations, as well as talking heads either praising his field performance or criticising it.

There's no further insight into the man, and it's not as if pre-game brief interviews are enough to give a greater reading of McCaw.

To their credit, the directors have committed some truly impressive imagery to celluloid - from shots high over the Otago hills as Richie cruises in his glider to scene setting slow mo track shots across stadia seats, every moment sings quality and aims for epic.

But equally, there are moments writ large from the cinematic sporting cliches shot book - slow mos on the field, slow mo running through corridors et al.

Frustratingly the film ends abruptly after the victory and with the very Kiwi "Yeah I'm done" as Richie flies off in his glider. This is already the story we knew, albeit fleshed out with some younger days Richie insights - and it's tantamount to feeling underwhelming in its denouement.

Ultimately, that is Chasing Great.

If you're after a film that celebrates and mythologises the man on the field as well as wanting to relive some of rugby's spectacular highs and lows, then this is that film for you, delivered just in time for Father's Day and with the release of Richie's book.

But unfortunately, if you're after a warts and all insight into the man who's been dubbed one of the nicest in sport, then you may feel it's somewhat wanting as a rounded picture. 

Ice Age 5: Collision Course: DVD Review

Ice Age 5: Collision Course: DVD Review

There's a moment in the fifth Ice Age movie (yup, not a typo) where woolly mammoth Manny asks "Did I hit my head? What's happening here?".

It's a question that many will face in this latest instalment of the admittedly gorgeously animated tale of the three friends Sid, Manny and Diego (Leguizamo, Romano and Leary respectively).

This time around, the gang's facing extinction after an asteroid meteor is set on a collision course with Earth by Scrat who's up in space still trying to get that elusive acorn. (This time around, Scrat is a propeller of opportunistic plot, rather than a great lunatic aside). With Buck (a brilliant Simon Pegg) along for the ride, the group tries to work on a plan to prevent the inevitable happening and stop them all being wiped out.

But for Manny, there's more terrifying prospect - losing his daughter to perky newcomer Julian (Pitch Perfect and Modern Family star Adam Devine) who's about to marry her....

It's churlish to suggest Ice Age: Collision Course adheres to the law of diminishing returns because to be frank, with its silly puns and zany antics of both Scrat and Buck, there's lots for the younger kids to engage with and keep amused during the upcoming school holidays.

However, any semblance of logic or consistency of narrative's been abandoned this time around for ACME style silliness that defies belief and throws everything at the screen to service anyone who's ever been in previous Ice Age movies.

Despite some clever insertions and throwaway references to 2001, Cocoon and The Planet of The Apes denouement, as well as Neil de Grasse Tyson, Ice Age Collision Course jettisons any kind of smarts for a series of loosely connected moments.

Chief offender among these is Scrat, whose antics up until now, have proven fertile ground for interludes that have been separate to the movie's actual goings on. This time, with Scrat in space, firing around beams that rocket into planets like snooker cues, the charm wears quickly thin. That's not to say that his shenanigans aren't amusing, more that they don't really do much except perfunctorily propel the narrative.

Back on Earth isn't much better either, with far too many characters to be serviced and a narrative that's too cluttered by far. Poor Diego gets badly sidelined with little to except a piecemeal plot involving kids, and even Manny's plight and enforced message of accepting growing up feels a little weary and hoary as the film goes on.

It's perhaps a good sign though the Blue Sky animation work is excellent, with sequences feeling fresher than the plot they're servicing and CGI work that brings depth to all elements of Manny et al's world.

Ultimately, the kids may enjoy the more out there elements of the story of Ice Age Collision Course, and the film was clearly never going to fulfil its potential extinction storyline, but Ice Age Collision Course's story is severely lacking.

If this is the cinematic extinction of the gang, its exit, based on this entry alone, won't be mourned.

Jackie: Film Review

Jackie: Film Review

Cast: Natalie Portman, Billy Crudup, Greta Gerwig, Peter Sarsgaard, John Hurt, Richard E Grant
Director: Pablo Larrain

Natalie Portman shines as Jackie Kennedy in this intriguing and at times, unconventional, biopic about the President's wife after the death of her husband JFK.

In an unusual move, it feels at times like a coming of age film as Jackie negotiates the treachery of life afterwards as people swarm around her suggesting what's best for both her and her husband's immediate legacy.

The film though, begins with Jackie welcoming a reporter (Billy Crudup, based on biographer Theodore H White) to her retreat and who's clearly there to get her side of the story (in perhaps a nod to the article which appeared a week after JFK's death in Life).

But flashbacks, and present day flashes mean that Jackie's also shown gaining her White House legs as well as her exposure to television by bringing cameras into the White House to demonstrate how their home is. In a move that simulates both the desire to be accepted by the public and into the history of the White House, Portman's Jackie tentatively begins a journey into our collective consciousness.

Mixing archival footage along with Portman's powerful vocal affectations (which, admittedly, take time to get accustomed to) as Kennedy proves to be a heady mix for Jackie. With its drained aesthetics and faded looks, Larrain's strength in the film comes from the subtleties of the scenes and the rhythmic feel of the prose played out on the screen.

From blood stains on Jackie's dress to the absolutely earth-shattering visceral sound of the bullet ringing out across the motorcade when the inevitable flashback occurs, everything about this film screams detail.

It's undoubtedly a classy affair, albeit one which takes a little time to adjust to as its groove begins to wash over you with its funereal feel.

As the ebbs and flows of post JFK life come into sharp focus, the initial portrait of a fragile and vulnerable First Lady drains away to present a figure borne of fire, and bereft initially of power but content once again to rise from the ashes.

Portman commits to this wholeheartedly as a mother struggling to tell her kids what's happened, as a stateswoman determined to not be undermined and as a newly crowned widow, fighting to ensure her husband is fairly farewelled (NB - a lot of time is spent on funeral arrangements).

But as she staggers out into the cinematic light and from the screen, Portman emerges as the character building her own myth; it's clear to see why she's been nominated for an award in this almost chameleonic turn.

While there are moments when it feels showy initially, once the bluster is stripped away, the ebbs and flows of the character portrayal are laid down and the bombastic OST silences itself, Jackie becomes a clear portrait of power, led by an utterly commanding turn.

Chilean director Pablo Larrain's film frees itself from the shackles of a conventional biopic and emerges as a hauntingly different and striking way to tell a story that's so familiar to so many. And with a central powerhouse of a performance, it lingers long in the mind after the lights have gone up.

Whisky Galore: Film Review

Whisky Galore: Film Review

Cast: Eddie Izzard, Gregor Fisher, Sean Biggerstaff, Ellie Kendrick
Director: Gillies MacKinnon

A remake of the 1949 Ealing classic of the same name, the 2017 version of Whisky Galore doesn't quite pack the same sweet punch.

At the height of the Second World War on the Scottish island of Eriskay, the islanders are shocked to find they've run dry. With no sign of any more rations of whisky on the way, the island begins to fall apart - but that all changes when a ship runs aground just off the coast. With the postmaster Macroon (Rab C Nesbitt star Gregor Fisher) discovering their cargo is whisky, a devious plot to steal the good stuff is put in place.

But the only thing standing in the islanders' way is the officious Captain Wagget (played by Eddie Izzard) as the battle of wits escalates.

Even though it's based on a true story, Whisky Galore is perhaps more suited to a home viewing than a big screen outing.

With its gentle broad slightly nostalgic humour and occasional am-dram performances, it does feel more like the blue rinse brigade will enjoy it more than a younger audience, who may feel some of its timings and pacings are a little slow at best.

Eddie Izzard's Wagget is extremely reminiscent of Dad's Army's Captain Mainwaring in terms of bumbling officiousness and self-pomposity but that's no bad thing.

There's a gentle calmness to proceedings but there's very little edge to what's happening - and some of the sub plot threads about Macroon's daughters getting married off aren't mined for the emotional depth and wistfulness they could provide.

All in all, Whisky Galore puts the dram in Am-dram, but it's not as intoxicating a shot of cinema to anyone other than an older audience, despite beautiful settings and an old school nostalgic vibe.

The Edge of Seventeen: Film Review

The Edge of Seventeen: Film Review

Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, Woody Harrelson, Blake Jenner, Haley Lu Richardson, Hayden Szeto
Director: Kelly Fremon

The pantheon of teen coming of age films is not one that is lacking in entrants.

From Clueless to Me and Earl and The Dying Girl, it's not like the chance to shake up the genre appears that often.

So it is with The Edge of Seventeen, a distinctly tween-ish drama that's not exactly new, nor one that proves to be a game-changer. It is however, competently trotted through the tropes, thanks largely to the story and engaging performances.

True Grit's break-out star Hailee Steinfeld is Nadine, a kid who's perpetually lived life on the outside of the school groups and permanently in the shadow of her good-looking brother Darien (Everybody Wants Some!!'s Blake Jenner).

Life's rough for Nadine, with her father dying unexpectedly and her butting of horns with her mother (Kyra Sedgwick) - it's the usual teen traumas all mixed up in the self involved drama that so consumes many a youth.

But in among the debris and detritus of high-school life, Nadine's world was changed when she met her pal Krista (Haley Lu Richardson).
BFFs forever, true blue buddies who bond over their outsider status, the duo becomes inseparable until one day, Krista ends up hooking up with Darien and Nadine's selfish world is shattered....

The Edge of Seventeen brings another precocious teen to the screen, and with it a feeling that kids these days don't actually speak like that in real life or realise that what's going on is part of the growing pains process.

Kelly Fremon Craig's flick sets out its store initially by having Nadine striding with purpose before staunchly informing her put upon teacher and surrogate father figure (a nicely sarcastic and laconic Woody Harrelson, echoing Jon Bernthal's role in Me and Earl and The Dying Girl) that she intends to kill herself. complete with self-absorbed voiceover and slightly off-kilter edges, the story back spools to present how we got to this point.

Thankfully, while Nadine verges on grating due to her incessant over-use of exaggeration, language and self-involved nature, Steinfeld makes a good fist of Nadine's petulance and lets the humanity and empathy come through in this fairly rote coming-of-age thriller. It'll speak volumes to its target market teen audience, but it lacks the levity of a Cher in Clueless approach and manufactures melodrama when simple drama will suffice.

There are moments that older age wisdom permeate, thanks largely to Sedgwick's beaten-around-the-track widow, and there are certainly more optimistic touches in a burgeoning relationship between Steinfeld's Nadine and the film's break-out star Szeto as nerdy awkward type Erwin (whom many may identify with).

Theirs is a romance that revels in its awkwardness and delights in its differences, and as a result, thanks largely to Szeto's on-the-nose performance, is one that feels the most real of the entire film.
Other relationships in the film (aside from the BFFs) feel greatly exaggerated for effect and push only to permeate the view that self-involvement is the only common thing we all share as teenagers.

The Edge of Seventeen may fail to offer up any trite or new insights into teen life, preferring more to stick to the tried and tested formula and oft invoked lessons, but thanks largely to its performers (and Szeto in particular) and occasionally off-kilter moments, it just about succeeds despite bordering nigh on irritating at times.

The Eagle Huntress: Film Review

The Eagle Huntress: Film Review

Cast: Aisholpan Nurgaiv, Rys Nurgaiv, Voice of Daisy Ridley
Director: Otto Bell

Blasting as much female empowerment as it's allowed and with a closing track from Sia with the refrain You Can Do Anything, The Eagle Huntress comes dangerously closing to over-egging its cinematic pudding.

But thankfully, the simplicity of execution for this story helps it soar as highly into the skies as one of the titular birds the cameras are following.

It's the story of 13-year-old nomadic Mongolian Aisholpan, who's determined to smash centuries of patriarchy and tradition that dictates women can't be eagle huntresses, as it's the sole domain and right of the men.

However, Aisholpan is a falconry prodigy and despite her always smiling, red-faced exterior, she's determined to ensure she follows her heart and dream.

Thankfully, with a tremendously supportive father, the pair set out across the remote Altai Mountains to achieve their goal. First, it entails Aisholpan getting her own bird, then taking part in the eagle festival and finally off out into the wintry plains to hunt.

Through the traditional coming-of-age tale that unfolds, director Otto Bell's managed to craft something that looks spectacular and cries out to be seen on the biggest screen possible.
Mountain vistas and the barrenness of the world inhabited by Aisholpan and her father make for eye-popping visuals.

There's more to this simple tale though than just pigtails and pluck.

The chubby faced Aisholpan embodies a spirit that's facilitated to shine on the screen, and it's easy to see why the likes of Morgan Spurlock and Star Wars' Daisy Ridley are involved with this tale - it screams empowerment as its simple MO.

There's little in-depth interviewing of the family, Bell's camera is simply there to capture the moments and transpose them to Western worlds unaware of a life lived. There's little intimacy, but Bell hilariously and simultaneously decries the decades-old detractors, determined to dwindle Aisholpan's flame. Showing scenes of her school friends engaged and excited by the prospect of her break-out adds elements to the innocent 13-year-old's journey but doesn't deify it; this is a kid who not once loses her charm and sweetness as the path to destiny is trod.

Blessed with beautiful cutaways, and literal eagle eye views, The Eagle Huntress is hypnotizing in its simplicity, but what shines through is not what you'd expect.

For in among the traditional coming of age triumphs as Aisholpan innocently decimates the decades-old way of doing things, emerges as tender a portrait of a father- daughter relationship as has ever been committed to celluloid. Bell's eye for the more intimate moments between the two speaks more to the familial bond, than it does to the bird or the tension of competition.

And while you could level claims of the film lacking bite in parts, the lingering image of a father and daughter trekking on horseback together, along with brief moments of Aisholpan's father's fears speak more loudly than any eagle's cry ever could or do.