August 2018 film review part 1

THE DUELLISTS (1977) D- Ridley Scott
A soldier in the Napoleonic Wars decides he has been dissed by a fellow officer and challenges him to a duel. They fight. Neither dies, and they go their separate ways. Until chance brings them together again and the issue of ‘face’ forces them to fight again. And again...
             Based on a short story by Joseph Conrad, this was Ridley Scott’s first full length feature film, and it boded well for the future. Soon the film acquired cult status, despite its unremarkable script. With too small a budget to build sets, the whole film is shot in a series of real locations, which only adds to its authentic feel. Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine perform well, as we might expect, but it is the film’s overall atmosphere which lingers in the mind.

EQUALIZER 2 (2018) D- Antoine Fuqua
A retired black-ops specialist (Denzel Washington) finds a bunch of former colleagues have gone rogue and would do him in. Big mistake. They soon find themselves wishing they’d chosen an easier target...
           The tag line for this film could be “If you liked the first Equalizer film you’re going to like this one, ‘coz it’s more of the same”, because all the elements of the original are in this film too: a quiet, unassuming man whose skill set makes him into a kind of one-man army, righting wrongs in a way we all fantasize we’d like to do ourselves. It isn’t quite as good as the original, which I found totally engaging, but it’s still pretty exciting. My favourite trope was the prospect of a hurricane on its way, while the atmosphere on the ground was ramping up in a way that reflected the maelstrom to come. Superior summer movie fodder...

STUDIO GHIBLI SEASON ON FILM FOUR
My goodness, what a treat Film4 have been giving us in August! They’ve taken it on themselves to show the entire cannon of that revered anime production company, from the 80s to the present day.
Take time to enjoy the unique animation style which seems to place us in the midst of Japanese culture, and let the plots, whether they be of young love (Whisper of the Heart), survival at the end of WW2 as the Americans rain down fire bombs on Japan (Grave of the Fireflies) or enter a magical world (Castle in the Sky) simply wash over you and enter into your subconscious. Even when they decide to use a European story, such as Diana Wyn Jones’s Howl’s Moving Castle, you’re still in a world that is the Japanese psyche through and through. Just pick any at random and enjoy...

See next post for more films