February 2017 Film Review, Continued

PRIMAL FEAR (1996) D- Gregory Hoblit
A teenage altar-boy (a brilliant Ed Norton in his film debut) is accused of murdering his priest, and it looks like an open-and-shut case: he's got blood all over him, and he's found next to the body. Nobody believes his cries of innocence, except Richard Gere, who plays a whiz-kid lawyer who can see a real juicy way of advancing his already successful career. But is everything as it seems? Are you kidding me? Of course it isn't.
          Competently written and directed, and starring some more than competent players, this had me gripped from start to finish. Great courtroom thriller.

NAPOLEON (1927) D- Abel Gance
A twelve-year old boy studying at a military academy is taking part in the great annual snowball fight, where half the school takes on the other half. Hit by a snowball wrapped around a sharp pebble, he is bloodied but unbowed, and starts to organise his fellows into an effective fighting force. Before long he prevails, and the "enemy" is routed. Looking on, one of his mentors murmurs to his colleague that this boy will go far...
          Later, he rises through the ranks of Le grand Armee, becoming a brigadier-general by the age of 24. Then comes the French Revolution and, losing favour, escapes the guillotine by a whisker. Nothing can stop him now...
          At 5 hours and 32 minutes, this is one of the longest feature films ever made. It is also one of the best. First there was Georges Melies, then there was D.W. Griffith, then there was Abel Gance, a man who, like a Beethoven or a Picasso, single-handedly brought his chosen art into a new, completely different realm. Devising virtually on the hoof one revolutionary technique after another (colour-washes, slow pan, zoom, tight close-up, split-screen, multi-screen, hand-held camera and even ultra-wide screen, "cinerama", to name just a few) and, moreover, drawing an astounding performance from his star, Albert Dieudonne, Gance created one of the key movies in the history of the cinema. And to think, this was to be just the first in a trilogy of films that might have lasted a total of more than eighteen hours! Poor bugger, ran out of funding and was almost forgotten until Kevin Brownlow decided to devote a fair fraction of his life to restoring the fading print that was available in the 60s to the crisp, beautiful version we can see today, further digitally enhanced by a team from the BFI in the Millennium. Unique.

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (2016) W/D- Kenneth Lonergan
A Massachusetts man's brother dies unexpectedly, and, even more unexpectedly, stipilulates in his will that his brother look after his 16 year-old son. But Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) already has more than enough problems of his own, and cannot see how he is ever going to be able to take on this new responsibility.
           A few days later, two women watch him walk past in the street. "Isn't that Lee Chandler?" One asks., to which the other says, "What, the Lee Chandler?" Now it is clear, Lee has a past, some notoriety indeed, though it is some time before, in this remarkable piece of "showing-not-telling" we find out what. And when we do, we can see why Lee is reluctant to take a confident, horny adolescent under his wing. Which doesn't mean he doesn't try. He tries hard, but it is beyond him.
There is an unforgettable moment towards the end of the film when he tries to explain to his charge why he can't hack it:
           "I can't beat it. I'm sorry. I can't beat it."
            I don't wish to spoil the plot for a movie which is one of the most moving, brilliantly written and directed pieces I have seen in the past twenty years. Casey Affleck's performance is a miracle, as is Michelle Williams's, an actress who can portray more with a slight quivering of the lips than most actresses can do with their whole bodies. I cried at several points, and believe me, I'm a hard-bitten bastard. A wonderful, wonderful picture. If you only see one film this year, make it this one.