Hearts Beat Loud

The new film from Brett Haley is a coming-of-age movie for two people at different ends of the age spectrum, both overcoming life difficulties and hurdles.

Frank (Nick Offerman) is a 40 year old owner of a vinyl record shop in Brooklyn, New York called Red Hook Records; at the outset he is deciding to shut up his business having discussed the lease with his landlady Leslie (Toni Collette). The reason for this big decision is that Frank's daughter, Sam (Kiersey Clemons) is leaving the Big Apple for college at UCLA where she will study medicine.

Frank is a single parent, following the death of his wife and Sam's mother in a bicycle accident shortly after Sam was born, and there is a kinship between the pair cemented by their weekly jam session.  Helped by the upheaval in their life, Frank's missed opportunity at a career in rock music by the sudden death of his wife and Sam's blossoming lesbian relationship before she departs for LA means the song they start playing around with in the session, ferments to the song that gives the film its title.

Giddy with excitement, Frank publishes the song on Spotify and remarkably it appears on a new Indie playlist along side his idols - Spoon and Iron and Wine - this give Frank a much needed shot of enthusiasm and asks Sam to forego her university career and make a start of being in a band together.

The film is a sweet confection of comedy and drama; from Ted Danson's barman Dave who offers Frank morsels of comfort over bottles of beer to the actual awkwardness of Frank and Leslie's courtship. However, the same sex relationship is handled delicately with real sincerity with Frank instilling the belief that life and love is important to music.

Shot through medium close ups mostly and with a score that is winning, it is a shame that on occasion that the film is very much middle of the road ending in a concert of triumph but the main protagonists are ultimately settling. There may have been ample opportunity to discuss matters such as dementia in old age, the resentment towards missing opportunities and young love in the last summer of childhood.

Hearts Beat Loud is out now from Park Circus Films
Thanks to them for the review opportunity.

The Night of the Hunter

 

Out in cinemas on Friday 17th January released by Park Circus Films, Charles Laughton's masterpiece The Night of the Hunter is released in a glorious new restoration that brings one of cinema's most beautiful films back to the big screen.  The Night of the Hunter will screen at selected cinemas around the country, but will enjoy a two week run at the BFI Southbank as part of the successful ongoing BFI Gothic film season.

Originally produced in 1955 based on a novel of the same name and adapted by James Agee (The African Queen), cinematically shot by Stanley Cortez and directed by renowned actor Laughton with Robert Mitchum in the leading role of the preacher Powell.  Big things were expected of the film upon its release, however, the film famously flopped at the box office and did not reach the audience intended despite the stardom of Mitchum and the return of silent film starlet, Lilian Gish into a film role as the matriarch who overcomes Powell.

The legend goes that the poor reception for the film led to Laughton never making another film again as a director, the scars were too much for him to bear and he remained an actor-for-hire until he died in 1962, only seven years later.

Now the film is held up as a marvel of cinema; at times horrifying and yet with moments of  poetic purity in the cinematography that is still and momentous in direct contrast to the maelstrom of horror that surrounds Powell; Laughton should be applauded for utilising the source material and expanding it to a wider vista of theatricality.

Garnering career turns from both Robert Mitchum and the newcomer, Shelley Winters as the naive conquest of Powell. Mitchum's performance as Powell is at turns both sinister and his famous love-hate speech as he explains the tattoos on his respective knuckles is legendary.

Many observers prefer Mitchum's role in Cape Fear (1962) as Max Cody, but without the role of Powell, Cody would not have been possible and the producers would not have considered Mitchum for the role.  And without the kind of work Mitchum did by bringing a genuine charisma to such a sinister role with questionable intentions, you would not have the influence he had on the film careers of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro (who did his own Max Cody in 1992).

Cited as an influence on many film-makers with the use of shadows and tone, the film itself was influenced by the German Expressionism films of the 1920s and 30s, as well as the early talkie films of fellow Brit, Alfred Hitchcock. The use of a fairy tale like feel coupled with the Southern Gothic nature of the environment, as well as the cynical attention served to bible bashers, no wonder this film could not garner an audience.  Film-goers probably liked the film but most likely found it hard to categorize the movie. This tends to happen with films that are unlike anything that has been seen before, think also Mean Streets and Blood Simple.

The Night of the Hunter is re-released in a new print on Friday 17th January

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Gilda

Gilda is Rita Hayworth. Rita Hayworth is Gilda. 

You can imagine that resembling the actual tagline when the film was first released in 1946.  Primarily created as a vehicle for Hayworth, following the end of the Second World War in the previous summer.

However, the film does not start with Gilda, it starts with the chance meeting between Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford), a down and out gambler and Ballin Mundson (George Macready), a crooked German casino owner, on the docks of Buenos Aires where Ballin saves Johnny from a robbery attempt.  Farrell is then employed by Ballin in his casino and business is very good until Ballin leaves on holiday and leaves Johnny in charge. 

After agreeing that gambling and women are not a good mix, Ballin comes back married to a beautiful sensuous wife named Gilda (Hayworth).  It soon becomes clear that Johnny and Gilda know each other and were an item before something led to a break up and Johnny ending up in Argentina.

Much has been made of the psychological and Freudian undercurrent taking place in the film - the constant referral of Ballin's little friend (an actual knife that erects from the bottom of his walking cane) and how he now has Johnny as his new little friend.  The Freudian interpretation is that Ballin is actually a closeted homosexual, but an impotent one who in Johnny sees a younger version of himself - but virile and powerful.  After Ballin and Gilda return, it never becomes clear if they have consumated their union, yet Johnny most like can do.  Hence forth, we have an unusual love triangle taking place prompting jealousy and bitterness, ending with fatal results.

The new digital print does brilliant justice to Rudolph Mate's luscious black and white cinematography, and whilst a lot is focused on the luminous Hayworth, Charles Vidor does create some brilliant shots of film noir such as when Johnny and Ballin watch Gilda go up the prominent staircase - Johnny is in the light, whilst Ballin is in permanent silhouette, it is a shot of sheer beauty and yet terror at the same time.

Hayworth practically glows throughout the entire film, the first time we see her she throws her head back with a full head of hair getting ready for a night out - and yet the full object of desire not just for Johnny but any returning GI Joe from the war; she is beautiful, strong and made desirable by the fact that no man in the picture can truly attain her.  It is also helped by the presence of Hayworth's memorable performances of on 'Put the Blame on Mame' with arm length gloves and 'Amado Mio' (dubbed by Anita Ellis).

The script by Marion Parsonnet does whip along beautifully, yet I feel it does suffer somewhat by the third act troubles once a major player in proceedings is killed off, the narrative seems to get lost in its own labyrinthe and the not knowing if Johnny and Gilda will be reunited, and the comic relief of Uncle Pio (Steven Geray), who mocks Johnny as a peasant, is much missed.

Hayworth who is the centre of attention, is helped by Ford then a young buck who plays Johnny as a chancer but also with a fierce vulnerability at how Gilda treated him previously, making him wary of returning to her affections again.

Nevertheless, this is one of the more memorable film noir movies of the post WW2 eras and highly deserving of a re-release on the big screen, and can be seen at the BFI from Friday 22 July for an extended two-week period, as well as Filmhouse Edinburgh and Irish Film Insitute in Dublin.

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www.bfi.org.uk/southbank

Floodtide (1949) - DVD review

Much like the other recent Park Circus film release, The Brothers, this film directed by Frederick Wilson (The Quiller Memorandum) depicts young adults with high aspirations and intentions beyond their normal social circle.

In this instance, David Shields (Gordon Jackson) wishes to leave the farm that he lives on with his father and head for the shipyards of Glasgow and earn his keep as a shipbuilder.  David has a flair for the designing of these huge structures and after attending night schools, he grabs the attention of the boss, Anstruther (played by Jack Lambert) who decides to send him to a technical college, where he passes in style. 

Added to the mix, is David's growing affection for Anstruther's daughter, Mary (Rona Anderson) a woman of privilege who wants David to forget his down at heel roots and leave behind his good friend, Tim Brogan (James Logan) who shows David who to let his hair down.  One amazing sequence is when David and Tim go out on the town to a dancehall, and you see a scrum of people you think fleeing the scene of a major accident when in actuality they are dancing in perfect choreography to the show band playing on the stage.  Like the films great location camerawork, this scene is shows you something that is definitely of its time but also the swell of community spirit that occured in Scotland during the post World War 2 years.

David's panache and willingness to stand out from the crowd can mark him as a cinematic forerunner of Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness in The Man in the White Suit) and Arthur Seaton (Albert Finney in Saturday Night, Sunday Morning); two other aspirational young men who had ideas above their station and come into trouble for doing so. 

Whilst the former may well be in the same satirical vein of most Ealing Studios production, David certainly appears closer to Arthur and his 'angry young men' contemporaries played with relish by Tom Courtenary and Richard Harris, that helped make their distinguished careers.

Shot on location in the streets of Glasgow and Clydeside featuring sweeping magasterial shots of the historic shipyards.  but of cultural significance and historical merit as these shipyards are now not used and lie dormant in this modern age.

Acted with great skill by the consumate cast, which includes the Dad's Army veteran John Laurie, this fine film released on DVD for the first time is not just a time capsule to a forgotten world, but a different way of life.  The film concludes on a heath with a romantic clinch which marks it as an equal to The Brothers in terms of melodrama, but on this instance the melodrama takes a back seat to depict a young man with aspiration and the thrilling ride to succeed.

Released on 20th June, Floodtide is available for the first time on DVD from Park Circus films (http://www.parkcircus.com/)  for £15.99RRP, with extras consisting of an image gallery.

The Brothers - DVD review

Released on DVD for the first time by Park Circus Films - tells the story of Mary (Patricia Roc), who raised in a convent leaves for the Isle of Skye to serve an old man.  Whilst there she works hard for the old fiend, who reminds her constantly at how lucky she is to have a roof over her head; while also deflecting advances from the men folk of the island.  She works for the Macraes, a family who have a long rivalry with the McFarishes.  Mary's arrival provokes latent sexual urges in the young men of the families, the rivalry reaching boiling point on certain occasions.

Melodramatic by genre, but not a women's picture as Ms.Roc portrays Mary as a woman far from vulnerable who can fend for herself as she has to resist physical advances on more than one occasion.  The film is quite suggestive, unlike the fiercely proud and distinctly British fare of the era from Powell and Pressburger, and earlier works of David Lean in his collaborations with Noel Coward.

The otherness of the region and distinct air of non-Englishness on display helps proceedings, as you treat it as something altogether different from that which you are used to.  The scenery is shot beautifully, giving the highlands a sense of dread as this omnipresent character.

The night scenes when Mary is either out with Fergus (Maxwell Reed), John (Duncan Macrae) or at a social event, Roc is shot with her hair down and suddenly the Scottish landscape is like Brigadoon with Northern lights beaming in the background, so there is a hint of fantasy and even, magical realism taking place.

Featuring John Laurie (of Dad's Army fame) in a supporting role with his wild eyes acting for him, this film has more redeeming features for you to watch than for you to turn off.  Even if it does feature one of the most ludicrous fist fights between Fergus and John which peeters out in a waterfall, and the first (and only) example of death by goose.

Surprisingly suggestive for its time in the immediate years following World War II, the film is pleasantly entertaining and at times a tense viewing but that is credit to the director David MacDonald, who directs with vigour and assurance, and he is himself helped by a brilliant leading performance from Roc as the feisty and irresistible Mary, and it is a shame that Roc never reached the exalted heights of her contemporaries, Margaret Lockwood and Vivian Leigh.

Available for the first time on DVD, The Brothers is out on Monday 6th June from Park Circus films for £15.99RRP