Darragh Byrne's feature debut tells the story of Fred Daly (Colm Meaney) who having returned to Ireland after working in England has no fixed abode and so takes to living in his car in a seaside car park. He seems settled and contented enough, while still winding up the local welfare services hoping for help with housing and benefits.
Then a young drug user, Cathal (Colin Morgan), arrives in his beaten up yellow car and they slowly bond and build a friendship. They take to going to the public swimming baths, where Fred befriends a Finnish woman, Jules (Milka Ahlroth) and they have a sort of romantic courtship - whilst Fred is eager to engage with her, he is nonetheless shy about his current living environment.
Cathal is convinced Fred can sort his life out, and it works with Fred's story garnering some press attention; and so Fred wants to return the favour but his ever worsening drug habit starts to hit Cathal as drug dealers come in search of money.
Ciaran Creagh's first feature length screenplay is a brilliant work of characterisation and place - so little is told to us about the character's reasons for being were they are and why they are here that it is given subtexts of mystery and enigmatic qualities. It is no surprise to hear that Byrne counts as his influences the two films from Tom McCarthy, The Station Agent and The Vistior
The film is helped in no small amount by the superb pairing of Meaney and Morgan as the male protagonists, Meaney that warm hearted soul and Morgan all fire and hostility - Fred and Cathal should not be friends, and yet sometimes in adversity the strangest friendships can ferment. Both actors are able to shed themselves from their most famous roles; Meaney and his Star Trek association and Morgan and his eponymous role in BBC's Merlin.
Shot with a stream of lo-fi independent quality, lots of close-ups shot by John Conroy but Byrne is able to really shoot a sensethe cold environment and there is this lovely piano led melody - composed by Niall Byrne - searing throughout the film, a nod to Jules' character as a piano tutor. Yet this tinge of melancholy reminded me of Aki Kaurismaki's Lights in the Dusk (2006) - a story of impossible friendships with a tinge of bitterness.
It may not be original and the third act may go against all the goodwill of the previous two acts yet Parked's narrative about homelessness and outsiders from this angle is produced with a real tenderness and conviction rarely seen in British and Irish productions.
Showing posts with label Fictional cinema. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fictional cinema. Show all posts
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Thursday, 18 August 2011
In A Better World
In spite of other competing more notable films, Biutiful for instance, In A Better World won the 2011 Best Foreign Language Film at this years Academy Awards surprising many people.
The film now gets its English release, from Axiom Films, and it is a compelling picture full of ideas and theories about violence and pacifism.
Anton (Mikael Persbrandt) works for Medecins Sans Frontieres in a war-torn country of Africa, where he regularly treats pregnant women who are mutilated by a warlord who bets on the sex of the foetus before birth. When said warlord himself becomes injured, should the good doctor treat a man who has killed a woman he could not save. Such moral dilemmas abound in this film.
Our good doctor is currently separated from his beautiful wife, Marianne (Trine Dyrholm) yet remains close to his children. His youngest, Elias (Markus Rygaard) is being bullied at school and only finds refuge through the friendship of the new boy, Christian (William Johnk Nielsen) who confronts and stands up to the bully.
Anton then encounters a local ruffian who slaps him in front of the children. His passivity to the attack, and his argument that if he fights back he is but merely the equal of this lout, serves notice to the children. And yet here is where the films message becomes hazy - violence begets violence, and the case is made clear by young Christian's actions where the innocent get injured.
However, for all the moral quandry and minefield of social troubles, the film remains a brilliantly acted film by a sterling cast who although spending a lot of the time in humdrum poses do exhibit a warmth when required. Susanne Bier constructs a telling observation of the slowly decaying nuclear family - all of the characters are touched by abandonment, divorce and/or death, and yet Bier has a track record in deconstructing family relationships - After The Wedding (2006), Brothers (2004)
The cinematography by Morten Soborg of both the harsh desert in Africa and the lush countryside of suburbia in Denmark is shot expertly and gives a real stillness to proceedings in contrast to the many questions abounding on screen.
Given greater credence following the tragic events in the neighbouring Scandanavian country of Norway, In A Better World shows that violence may well get results but ultimately it is the last resort when communication breaks down, or violence is a sign of weakness of the socially inept.
The original title of the film Haeven may look like Heaven, but is in fact 'Revenge', the filmmakers cleverly chose a better English-language title - as the sheer optimism of its title means an audience familiar with Bier's oeuvre will guarantee an arthouse audience.
The film now gets its English release, from Axiom Films, and it is a compelling picture full of ideas and theories about violence and pacifism.
Anton (Mikael Persbrandt) works for Medecins Sans Frontieres in a war-torn country of Africa, where he regularly treats pregnant women who are mutilated by a warlord who bets on the sex of the foetus before birth. When said warlord himself becomes injured, should the good doctor treat a man who has killed a woman he could not save. Such moral dilemmas abound in this film.
Our good doctor is currently separated from his beautiful wife, Marianne (Trine Dyrholm) yet remains close to his children. His youngest, Elias (Markus Rygaard) is being bullied at school and only finds refuge through the friendship of the new boy, Christian (William Johnk Nielsen) who confronts and stands up to the bully.
Anton then encounters a local ruffian who slaps him in front of the children. His passivity to the attack, and his argument that if he fights back he is but merely the equal of this lout, serves notice to the children. And yet here is where the films message becomes hazy - violence begets violence, and the case is made clear by young Christian's actions where the innocent get injured.
However, for all the moral quandry and minefield of social troubles, the film remains a brilliantly acted film by a sterling cast who although spending a lot of the time in humdrum poses do exhibit a warmth when required. Susanne Bier constructs a telling observation of the slowly decaying nuclear family - all of the characters are touched by abandonment, divorce and/or death, and yet Bier has a track record in deconstructing family relationships - After The Wedding (2006), Brothers (2004)
The cinematography by Morten Soborg of both the harsh desert in Africa and the lush countryside of suburbia in Denmark is shot expertly and gives a real stillness to proceedings in contrast to the many questions abounding on screen.
Given greater credence following the tragic events in the neighbouring Scandanavian country of Norway, In A Better World shows that violence may well get results but ultimately it is the last resort when communication breaks down, or violence is a sign of weakness of the socially inept.
The original title of the film Haeven may look like Heaven, but is in fact 'Revenge', the filmmakers cleverly chose a better English-language title - as the sheer optimism of its title means an audience familiar with Bier's oeuvre will guarantee an arthouse audience.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)