February 2018 movie review part 2

MAGIC MIKE (2012) D- Steven Soderberg
A very fit young man (Channing Tatum) is making good money as a male stripper, and encourages an even younger, but no less attractive Alex Pettyfer to join his troupe. But really he wants to start his own business and is only stripping to fund the enterprise.

I’ve admired Soderberg’s film making ever since Sex, Lies and Videotape, and this maintains his high standard. Watching his films feels a bit like a film crew has wandered into a real-life situation and are quietly filming as apparently real life unfolds. The stripping sequences seem completely authentic, right down to their completely unerotic nature (according my wife, anyway) but eventually the plot loses its way and by the end this viewer for one stopped caring. Pity.

THE TALL BLOND MAN WITH ONE BLACK SHOE (1972) D- Yves Robert
A rather scatter-brained Parisian is somehow mistaken for an international spy by a ring of other spies, and is drawn into a befuddling series of events which confound the real spies, without any apparent effort on the part of the protagonist, played hilariously by Pierre Richard. One of them (Mireille Darc), who is supposed to ensnare him ends up falling for him big time, while the others tie themselves in knots trying to work out what he is doing, which is impossible because he doesn’t know either.

The ‘blond man’ series of movies were an enormous hit in 1970s France, with its blend of 007 and Jacques Tati. Today they have dated alarmingly, as so many films from that era have, especially the spy movies, but it retains a charm and pace which remains engaging to this day.

IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE (2014) D- Hans Petter Moland
A Norwegian man (Stellan Skarsgård, who else?) is so maddened with grief when his son is found dead of a drugs overdose, he resolves to take down the people responsible, from the bottom, with his suppliers, right to the top of the drugs distribution network. Normally an inoffensive snow-plough driver, he transforms into someone only slightly less dangerous than John Wick.

If you want a definition of ‘black comedy’ you need look no further than this film, a minor classic of its kind, with its blood-and-guts violence told with exceptional style and wicked humour. Skarsgård is excellent, as he always is, and he is strongly supported by the ensemble, and the director whose work we should look out for in the future. Excellent work all round.

I, TONYA (2017) D- Craig Gillespie
Being the life story of Tonya Harding, who was nearly, but not quite, America’s greatest figure-skater. Considering the vicissitudes she faced, suffering domestic violence at the hands not only of her husband but also her mother (magnificently played by Allison Janney), it is astonishing she made any kind of impression at all. But she did. Combining great skill with marvellous athletic ability, she sometimes failed to reach the top of her discipline because her face and trailer-trash background didn’t fit the criteria of a reactionary skating establishment.

Margot Robbie puts in a stunningly realistic portrayal of the troubled star, and the story of her now infamous rivalry with Nancy Kerrigan is brilliantly told. I always had a soft spot for the real-life Tonya, partly because, like John Mc Enroe, she emerged as a rebel against the dominant culture. Like McEnroe, she was sometimes her own worst enemy, but really, she was doomed never to reach the heights because of her spirit-destroying roots. A tragic tale, wonderfully realised on screen.