Best/Worst Film

Okay so the first proper post. I thought I'd start with films - these may not actually the 'best' or 'worst' film I have seen this year, but I am explaining my thoughts on these productions which either surpassed my expectations or I thought were a severe let down, as is the case here.

Best Film - Winter's Bone (Debra Granik)

As may become apparent, I am a bit of a fan of lower key films with just a few characters, without loads of computer-generated effects to carry the story along. Hence my love of this film, focusing on 17 year old Ree (Jennifer Lawrence), her family, and the few families in her community. It is set, as the title suggests, in a winter in the Ozark mountains in the central United States, and focuses on Ree's search for her father who has put the family home up as a bail bond - that is, if he doesn't show up for court, the house can be repossessed and the family made homeless. She must unravel the mystery of his disappearance by negotiating with her reclusive and dangerous neighbours.
Without giving too much more away, I was engrossed not only with the plot, but with the landscape. This is not the America of Hollywood or New York – it is grey, bleak, and oppressive. The oppressiveness emphasises the poverty in which the families live, in makeshift shacks, cabins and caravans. With a sick mother and absent father, Ree must navigate this landscape and provide for her younger brother and sister, teaching them to shoot and skin squirrels for food, for example.
As well as the engrossing story, this example demonstrates the highlight of this film – a young female lead as de facto head of the family, shown to act out roles traditionally left for men to perform. Ree’s strength is carried through Lawrence’s performance. To say she often speaks drolly is not insinuate boredom, but highlights beautifully the tragic hardships of her poverty stricken life, deflating the dreams an adolescent should be full of. Her lifestyle takes a physical toll on her. On top of this (and this is no insult to Lawrence in any way) by casting a relatively unknown actress, one who is not paper thin and classically beautiful, Debra Granik has ensured authenticity, as well as suggesting women can easily handle roles not conventionally ascribed to them without simply being an object for male desire.

Worst Film – Robin Hood (Ridley Scott)

Now to the film with which I was severely disappointed. I have always enjoyed a good Robin Hood adaption, such as Prince of Thieves with Kevin Costner, despite the American accent. But what happened here? Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven are two similar historical epics directed by Scott which, although clearly taking historical liberties, were visually very impressive and without too many clichés (let’s forget about Orlando Bloom, ahem). I am afraid to say that almost every scene in this film made me wince with what I saw as a gaping plot hole or blatant discrepancies necessary for the plot to develop.
For example, Robin takes the identity of Robert Loxley, a member of the king’s guard, fooling both noblemen who would surely be intimate with the king’s right hand men, and also – his own townspeople! Sure, the man is meant to have been away for 10 years but you would most surely recognise their own lord. Maybe the real Loxley didn’t ride his horse around town as much as Robin does – but that would be a huge change of character wouldn’t it? Also, Robin and his men are deserters from the army of the king, hoping to gain as much money as possible from stealing arms and armour. So why care so much to return Loxley’s sword to his father? He could make a fine profit from that.
Once home, Robin manages to also fool the whole of the royal court. Has not a single one of these people ever associated with the king’s closest knights before? Anyway, enough of these rhetorical questions.
One thing I was impressed with was that if Scott did use CGI to create the horsemen galloping to the coast to defend against the French, then it was most convincing. I am aware that Scott did use hundreds of extras to represent the Roman army in Gladiator, and so am hoping that he has done the same again here.
But this is not the case for the French invasion fleet, apparently sent all the way across the Channel in small rectangular boats, their shape suggesting they are flat bottomed. The effects team should have spent a few minutes at least to realistically show a few ships on the horizon to give some hint on how these hundreds of men had crossed the sea. Then the ramps go down on the craft and the men pour out onto the beach under a hail of missiles – not so much a nod to Saving Private Ryan, but a direct rip off. It’s okay though, because the day is saved by the wild children riding on ponies – who have previously been nothing but hostile to the film’s heroes. By having them led by Cate Blanchett’s Marion (she can do so much better) Scott reinforces a motherly role, suggesting that taming these feral boys is the only task she is capable of.
I feel I should stop there because I would have to sit through the DVD to recall all the other anachronisms, which I really don’t want to do. Maybe Scott is waiting for the inevitable sequel to develop the rest of his characters instead of inexplicably happily following Robin’s meandering lead.
Oh, Russell Crowe can NOT do a Midlands accent either. Or Scottish. Or Irish. But he has a stab at all of them.