Love is Strange Review

An elderly gay couple (John Lithgow and Alfred Molina) who have been together for 40 years finally tie the knot in a charming little ceremony, surrounded by friends and family in New York. However, George is then fired from his job as a music teacher at a Christian school, despite the fact that everyone has been aware of his sexuality in the past. The loss of George’s income means that the couple are forced to move out of their apartment and must rely on the generosity of their nearest and dearest for a place to live. Ben bunks with his nephew Elliot, Elliot's wife Kate, and their teenage son Joey, while George stays on the sofa of their former neighbours, a younger same-sex couple of two party-loving cops, Roberto and Ted.

Love is Strange is so laidback, it feels as though it could fall right off the screen at times. This should be a furious film about the rights of same-sex couples; a film that rails against the treatment of George by his Catholic school. Instead it is a slice of life drama; one where the characters too easily accept their mistreatment and new predicament and all around them scramble to make their lives bearable. It is an intimate drama rather than a crusade against injustice and if that is what you want, then Love is Strange is a very well acted and touching tribute to love surviving against the odds.

To its credit, Love is Strange is an incredibly refreshing take on homosexual characters. There are none of the clichés that have become so familiar; for example, no one dies of AIDS, no one gets beaten up by homophobes or anything like that. In fact, the real hardships faced by the characters are simply those of being a burden on family and friends. They could happen to anyone, and the only thing that makes this different is that the Catholic school’s response to George getting married is the cause of all their problems. 

Writer/director Ira Sachs deliberately avoids melodrama and over sentimentality, but in doing so removes much of what could have been a more emotional and engaging story. Love is Strange feels like a step in the right direction but it should be angrier when life can still be this unfair.

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Coherence Review

A group of friends gather for a dinner party on the evening that a comet is set to pass the Earth by at very close range. What starts off as a normal night of eating, drinking and conversation soon turns into a mind bending nightmare as the comet begins to exert its influence on reality. Just as some old resentments begin to bubble up between the four couples, there is a power cut. When the lights go out and phones and the internet go down, some members of the group leave the house to see if other houses in the street are having the same problems. From there, things get incredibly weird as it becomes clear that nothing is what it seems anymore.

Coherence is one of those films that has to be seen to be believed. You can’t explain the story without ruining its many secrets and brilliant twists and turns. It is a film that your brain just has to run alongside and do its very best to keep up with as the confusing and frequently ingenious plot developments pile up. It is a very smart piece of low key science fiction where the scientific theory has to be explained from a book, but the improvised nature of the dialogue and the believable behaviour of the cast completely sell the bonkers premise.

Debut feature director James Ward Byrkit’s experimental production process pays off in spades as his cast of recognisable faces (mostly from TV shows) completely convince as couples and friends, even as the story takes its unexpected course. Shot in the director’s own house and barely leaving the living room, Coherence is low budget but high on ideas; not quite as hard to follow as the vaguely similar Primer, but pretty close. Whether it all absolutely adds up by the end will probably remain a mystery to most, but that just means that you will have to take the time to enjoy a second viewing.

With such a smart set up and slick twists throughout, the ending can’t quite reach the high points of the rest of the film. Given its limitations though, Coherence is inconceivably thrilling; a must see if you want your head scrambled by comets and quantum mechanics.

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More reviews from I Love That Film:

 
American Sniper

The Cabin in the Woods

Ex Machina 

Interstellar 

Jupiter Ascending 

Safety Not Guaranteed

The Theory of Everything      

Talking Films on Amazing Radio for Movie Month

Over at Amazing Radio, where I talk new releases with Dani Charlton every week, they are having a Movie Month to celebrate that it's awards season. You can head over and vote for who you think will win the big categories at the Oscars: Oscars Poll « Amazing Radio

You can check out some of the DJ's and my own contribution on the soundtracks that we love here: Amazing Scores & Soundtracks: Part One

You can also just check out Dani and I talking about last week's film releases here: Films: Selma, Jupiter Ascending, The Interview, Shaun the Sheep

Jupiter Ascending Review

‘Could this get any weirder?’ Mila Kunis asks at one point in Jupiter Ascending. With bees that recognise royalty, hover shoes that allow the wearer to skate and surf in thin air, and Channing Tatum wearing pointy prosthetic ears; the answer is definitely no Mila, it probably bloody couldn’t.

Jupiter Jones (Kunis) is an ordinary girl from Chicago, born under a night sky with the stars aligned to spell out her destiny for future greatness. Her reality is cleaning toilets; day in, day out like a modern day Cinderella. Out of the stars, flies her very own Prince Charming... or perhaps that should be Prince Channing, with Tatum playing a hunter who has been sent to Earth to find his princess. He’s a genetically engineered ex-military hybrid; part man, part dog with gravity defying boots and a keen sense of smell. His mission is to discover Jupiter who, unbeknownst to her, is actually an intergalactic royal heir and in line to inherit a fortune that could decide the future of every human on Earth.

The Wachowski siblings have never really dealt in small ideas. Their debut Bound feels light years away from this epic space saga which eclipses even The Matrix and Cloud Atlas for the scope of its ambition. However, Jupiter Ascending is not the masterpiece that either The Matrix was, or that Cloud Atlas may one day be hailed as. It is brimming with action, special effects and imagination, but is sadly lacking when it comes to character and real emotion. This is like The Fifth Element on steroids; if you liked Luc Besson’s vision of the galaxy, strap in for more bonkers creatures and OTT villains than you can shake a misplaced Lightsaber at.

Jupiter Ascending has Hogwarts extras, Koopa Troopas from The Super Mario Bros movie, henchman dressed like gimps and plenty more crazy aliens for its down to earth heroine to contend with. It also has Eddie Redmayne on turbo charged uber-villain duties. As one of a trio of royal siblings that are squabbling over what to do about the threat that Jupiter poses to them, he chews the huge and extravagantly designed scenery to pieces. With his creepy features and strained voice, it is a shame when he resorts to moments of SHOUTING to make sure he tips over into pantomime.

Jupiter Ascending is a film filled with chasing and rescuing, but the action scenes go by in a bit of a blur of special effects and repetitiveness. Kunis gets a few chances to show her charm but spends most of the film going from outrageous costume to costume and either clinging to Tatum or chasing Channing (who forgets to put his shirt on for a large section of the film) for a quick kiss. If Jupiter Ascending isn’t numbing with its action, it’s getting bogged down with the likes of Sean Bean delivering pages of exposition. If you just want to know what's in Tatum's genes, you might want to wait for Magic Mike XXL.

Still, if you like big special effects driven space odysseys more like The Fifth Element than Interstellar, then Jupiter Ascending might just be the star you’ve been searching for. 

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More recent reviews from I Love That Film:

Selma

American Sniper

Birdman

The Imitation Game

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash

Selma Review

Starting as civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is being awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, and ending with a small victory on the way to attempting to secure African American equality, Selma examines only a very short period in the life of a legend. King’s non-violent activism has already been established before the film begins and his assassination at the age of 39 is merely a footnote. Selma, as its title suggests, is the story of just one of many struggles in King’s life. When it becomes clear that African Americans are not being allowed to vote in many Southern states (despite this being against the law), King and his colleagues head to Selma, Alabama, a place where ‘whites only’ signs are still visible, and organises a march from Selma to Montgomery to ensure every black person is allowed to vote without being refused or intimidated. 

Hounded by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI, hindered by President Johnson, and attacked by outraged white people and Southern law enforcement, King must overcome divisions within his own movement, and outright racism from many locals in order to succeed. 

Selma is not a traditional biopic, in that most of King’s life is left out of the film. Don’t expect to learn much about why King developed his strict code of non-violent protest or what achievements led him to winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Selma focuses in on one moment in his life and is all the better for it. There are hints and mentions of what came before and what will come after, but this is the story of Selma and the people who put their lives at risk to gain the right to vote. Most notably, Selma enacts the night of the death of one activist on the streets of Selma in tragically true detail, where Jimmie Lee Jackson was unarmed and shot by police.

The timing of Selma, and its snub in the Academy Awards  acting categories, couldn’t be more pertinent. This is a film that many might want to ignore. The police brutality, the fear of African Americans (particularly from those in power and law enforcement) and the desire to protest their own treatment all feels ripped from recent headlines. For all King’s sacrifices, victories and righteousness, America still has a lot of work to do in terms of race relations and Selma shines a light on this by looking into its recent past.

The decision to concentrate on this pivotal moment is smart; with King’s life having too much to fit into a single film. It touches on the troubled relationship with his wife and Malcolm X briefly pops up for a single scene, but mostly it deals with King, his colleagues and the ordinary people of Selma. The fantastic Brits in the cast - David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Tom Wilkinson and Tim Roth - stand out in this none more American tale but as with so many true life stories, it is the moments where we see real footage that really hit the hardest.

Despite King's speeches having to be rewritten for the film due to rights issues, Oyelowo captures the essence of the man beautifully. With so much left of King’s life to cover, we can only hope that director Ava DuVernay, writer Paul Webb and star David Oyelowo are given another opportunity to shine a spotlight on this great leader in the future.

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Reviews for other Best Picture Nominees 2015:

American Sniper

Birdman

The Imitation Game

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash