Soul

“Soul”

Directors: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers. Cast: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade.

Let’s be honest, if you really wanted to pick hole in this film you could certainly do that (not quite sure why you’d want to do that, you heartless human being! )and you could easily argue that it’s not really a 5 stars film… And you may be right, but what it’s also true is that after a whole year of watching mainly junk or even just average-to-mediocre animated films (the likes of Secret Life of Pets come to mind) to find something like “Soul” a film which not only is beautiful to look at, but also explodes with life, ideas, thoughtfulness and most of all ambition, is enough for me to give it as many start as it needs to, if that’s what’s going to move you to watch it. Because we need more films like this not just for our children, but for our grown-up souls too.

This is so-so close to be a masterpiece that you just want to forgive it all the messy bits that don’t quite gel together. How do you even come up with an idea like this for what’s essentially a kids movie? This is the question I’ve been asking myself a lot watching most of the Pixar’s outcome, whether it’s Wall-E, Up, Inside Out, Coco… “Soul” perfectly marries the surreal with the mundane, the metaphysical with the everyday life of a New Yorker, the silly slapstick and the deep meaning of life (and the afterlife too). This marriage of extremes is not just in the story, but also in the animation style as well. This is one of the most gorgeous films from Pixar in years.

At times it may feel like it’s almost succumbing to the weight of the ideas it’s has, but just when you think it’s overdone it a bit, something wonderful comes along and you just fall in love with it again: whether it’s piece of Jazz being played by the characters so wonderfully that you forget you’re watching an cartoon, or whether it’s a hilarious scene where a cat and a human exchange souls, or the depiction of the afterlife (or rather the before-life), or the details of a hair-cut sequence at the barber shop…It is a film about life that doesn’t just celebrates life at its fullest but actually teaches you to appreciate the smallest things too, whether it’s just a ray of sun, or nature… or even a pizza.

The message to live every day of your life at its fullest is particularly poignant during this Covid-times. A very telling last credit at the end of the film says “created & producer at Pixar Animation Studios… And in home at least 6-feet away from each other. Well if that’s the result of working remotely from home, then this must be the future!

On Disney +

The Midnight Sky

The Midnight Sky ⭐️⭐️

Director: George Clooney. Cast: George Clooney, Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Caoilinn Springall

This apocalyptic story is probably not be quite the right kind of movie to watch at during this Xmas: yes, there’s a lot of snow in it, but it’s also very downbeat and actually utterly depressing (though some may argue it’s a fitting film for this end of 2020).

Having said that “Midnight Sky” is also one of the best looking films Clooney has ever directed, not just the wide vistas and space sequences, but also the use of special effects: one sequence towards the end involving a person bleeding in zero gravity is very effective and both beautiful and terrifying. Unfortunately neither its elegant visual, nor its ambition and not even its star power (not just Clooney but Felicity Jones and Kyle Chandler among the others) was quite enough to keep my interest going, especially during the first half.

I have to be honest I found the film frustratingly slow and I couldn’t quite engage with it, let alone be interested in any of it, which is a real shame because having finally got to the end and seen what the trajectory and the (rather touching) point of arrival was, I just wish the film could have made me care a lot more. Whether that’s a problem with the script of the direction… or both, I’m not sure, but certainly there’s a good film in there and a good story too, but the storytelling itself is very un-engaging and much too disperse.

The film does pick up in the second half (and then really lands it in the last 30 minutes) but by the time the first action sequence kicks in about half way through (and finally woke me up from complete numbness) my brain was already half checked-out.It didn’t help that fact that I felt I had already seen most of what was on the screen in other films before, from Gravity to Solaris, 2001, Interstellar, the Martian, Midnight, and so on. Clooney as the main actor does everything in his power to be as less “Clooney” as possible and he does a good job, but since most of the essential information that would make him likeable are held back as long as possible, it’s actually very hard to engage with him as a character, which makes me wonder “Are we supposed to like him, just because he’s George Clooney?

I really wish I could have like this one a lot more… but I’m sorry I was much too bored for most of it.

On Netflix

I Lost My Body

I LOST MY BODY (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Director Jérémy Clapin. Cast: Hakim Faris, Victoire Du Bois, Patrick d’Assumçao 

This is certainly one of the most beautiful, original, poetic animated feature film I’ve seen in quite a while (though certainly not one for kids) and it’s great to see it nominated at the 2020 Oscars (after winning the Critics’ Week in Cannes in 2019).
“I Lost My Body” is a touching French animated story (co-written by Clapin and Laurant, the writers of “Amélie”) which blends classical 2D technique with impressive 3D digital animation, resulting in a unique look which resemble something between a graphic novel and a Japanese anime. 

But beyond the great look and mood, the tale of a severed hand, a broken heart and the loss of childhood (hence the dismemberment and loss are both physical and emotional) manages to be both incredibly profound and unexpectedly horrific at the same time: some of the scenes were as tense and electrifying as any good thriller/horror out there and had me clutching my seat several times. But at the same time the film wears its heart on its sleeve and the emotional moments are incredibly sweet, poignant and really heart warming. 

Highly recommended, it’s now available on Netflix

System Crasher

System Crasher (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Director: Nora Fingscheidt. Cast: Helena Zengel, Albrecht Schuch, Gabriela Maria Schmeide 

A raw, harsh, bittersweet, heartbreaking portrait of the world of foster homes, social care, a troubled child and all the people around her trying to help the best they can. The beauty of this German film (winner of the silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival last year and the Audience Award at TIFF, among the others) is the honesty of the way the story is told and the slow stark realisation that nothing is black and white and there are no simple solutions. Everybody is trying to do their best to help Benni, the 9 year old protagonist who’s desperately looking for the love of her mother (an astonishing performance by Helena Zengel who deserves all the recognition she’s getting) and yet nobody’s perfect and people are human and can make mistakes, often against their better judgments. They cross the line and (Understandably) get emotionally invested, beginning to loose their professional prospective and eventually compromising their work.

This is a rather bleak film (albeit with moments of extreme tenderness) that in a way highlights the invisible and at times inevitable cracks of the foster system. It’s certainly not an easy watch but it’s a powerful one and this is powerful film-making.

You can rent in on Amazon prime

News of the World

News of the World

Director: Paul Greengrass. Cast: Tom Hanks, Helena Zengel, Elizabeth Marvel, Ray McKinnon

A rather unusual choice for director Paul Greengrass who’s used to films with much stronger messages and energy. His handheld camera style of film-making is still present here, but in fact it feels rather at odds with the more old fashioned type of film that this is.

It’s amazing to think that this actually Tom Hanks’ first western. He plays Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a man at the end of the Civil War in the 1870s who drifts from town to town to read stories from newspapers to groups of people and gets paid for it. Basically it’s like a one-man show a sort of live theatre, or as he says: “Something to take us away from our troubles”. During his travels he comes across Johanna (the wonderful Helena Zengel from “System Crasher”), a little girl from an indigenous tribe which has been slaughtered by the settlers. Her parents have been killed too. Tom Hanks takes it upon himself to return her to her only known blood relatives miles away somewhere in Texas.

Along the way, through various adventures, the two of them will obviously bond in a sort of father-daughter relationship.

Tom Hanks is always a reliable and very likeable presence, and goes without saying that his subtle performance here leaves nothing to desire, particularly towards the last 3rd of the film where his mask really comes off and we see him for the broken man he really is. That’s not a spoiler really. Most of the film’s arc is fairly predictable and you won’t get any brownie points to guess where it’s all heading.

Having said that, the predictability of the plot itself doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of it. It is essentially a feel-good movie though a rather fluffy and quaint one. The two elements of the story, a man bringing the news to people and the relationship between the two characters, don’t really feel they are part of the same film and in the end I couldn’t help feeling that the intriguing premise about the travelling newsman (and the title itself) is slightly wasted for a more generic plot about 2 broken people basically finding each other.

The film comes out on Christmas Day on Netflix. Still worth a watch.