127 hours

“Slumdog Millionaire”, showered with numerous awards, appreciated by eight Oscars (including those for best picture, screenplay, director, music, film editing and pictures) dissappointed me. Indeed, from a technical point of view much cannot be criticised, Danny Boyle reveals his storytelling ability and exceptional control over its form, and also shows his... market knowledge. I don't know how it was possible that a formal masterpiece lacking substance like “Slumdog Millionaire” convinced critics, in the meantime sweeping all awards from right under the political genre bomb that Ron Howard's “Frost/Nixon” was. Boyle enchanted people around the globe and was able to create an additional artificial Hollywood-Bollywood ideology to the story of Cinderella. Another movie, courtesy of the English director – 127 hours – consists of many elements that comprises “Slumdog Millionaire”, however, fortunately it varies hugely in its substance layer.

“127 hours” begins a story about freedom told with the language of popculture. We meet the character – Aron Ralston (James Franco) – who, in search of a surge of adrenaline and wanting to endure a sense of freedom, travels around the canyon in solitude with a camera, bike and backpack with essentials. Like he himselfs states – the canyon is his second home. By running, playing around, jumping from rock to rock he shows off his physical abilities. The camera lens is always directed at his face – he enjoys watching his own reflection. And after millions of confident, faultless stunts he fails only once. Almost instantly he becomes a prisoner of a gigantic boulder, which crushes his upper arm. At that moment something reaches its demise; the epic locations, the soothing sound of music – somewhere along the line the freedom manifestation becomes suppressed. The movie's title appears and the cramped drama of one actor commences.

From capturing a graced by sunlight canyon to an imprisoned between boulders arm – Boyle supplies the audience with a visual rollercoaster. The popcultural imagination of freedom (wind blowing through one's hair, wide plains in the sunlight, soothing music) contrasts with a tight rocky gap. He ponders upon freedom and humility. Aron Ralston is confident that he's a free man. His excursions away from the city, the breaking away from family and friends were supposed to be a sign of independence from the world and the “system”. Jumping from rock to rock the main character felt like a king of the hill, putting his manly pride and egotism at rest, humbling nature while simultaneously integrating with her. He thought that nature plays a part in the process of him breaking free from the global village's chains; that thanks to it he can be someone exceptional, gain a real, unique personality. And all of this was supposed to render him as someone great, atleast in his eyes.

Boyle confronts Aron's imaginations with nature; a nature so adament and neutral. With the fall of a boulder that crashes the character's arm, a changing process occurs, an alteration commences. On our very eyes the director presents a clash between the character's thoughts and the truth – reality. Desiring and longing for something to drink, he thinks of pictures from commercials. Reminiscing about past mistakes, he presents them in the form of a television drama. It turns out that he's a slave of globalism just like everybody else. Was he really free? Did he know what freedom actually was? 

With time, Aron begins to understand his past mistakes. In this boulder he sees some kind of divine message, one that could change his attitude towards the world surrounding him, one that was supposed to be a chance for a different future by mending the mistakes of his past youth. And when the last of the 127 hours end, Aron is a totally different person.

“127 hours” didn't have to be a success. Its plot was thought to be boring and not movie material. Fortunately, Danny Boyle shows an unbelievable director's craft, a talent for interesting storytelling, exceptional cooperation with the actors, and experts responsible for visual effects. The pictures are great – courtesy of Anthony Dod Mantle (awarded for “Slumdog Millionaire” and with an OBF award) and Enrique Chediak – which were merged into a quick and creative film edit by Jon Harris. The art direction presents the canyon very well with A. R. Rahman's music wonderfully complementing it. Also, a vital aspect of the movie are spectacular music singles such as Dido's “If I rise” and Sigur Ros' “Festival”. Especially the latter sounds beautiful and just, and proves to be a wise choice of melody for the movie finale. However, it seems that James Franco hugely contributed to the final success of “127 hours”, giving life to an unbelievably mature and emotional character. At times the camera focuses the audiences' complete attention on him. It is then that Franco shows off his theatrical abilities.

Danny Boyle had a vision for this motion picture. He supplies a true feast for the eye, simultaneously reaching for quite a universal subject. At times he's able to shock us, sometimes he manages to cheer us up. “127 hours” is a beautiful film, hugely hypnotising and emotional. It is a masterpiece – a masterpiece so mature, so complete.

True Grit

Joel and Ethan Coen's “True Grit” aroused high expectations, especially due to the impressive ten nominations it had received from the Academy. The talented brothers, with an unbelievably fertile imagination, fiddling and playing around with convention, disintegrating various set stereotypes, create masterpieces and one of a kind motion pictures with a characteristic aura, with an attractive and recognisable style, giving life to mass imagination. This is why their movies arouse emotion, attract attention. Besides the fact that they produce atleast one film each year, contrary to other renowned directors such as Christopher Nolan or David Fincher, critics can always feel confident that with the premier of another Coen brothers motion picture, something special is in store for them and atleast a satisfactory movie awaits. Unfortunately “True Grit” is just a satisfactory movie.

A resolute Mattie (Hailee Steinfeld) intends to kill Tom Chany (Josh Brolin), the murderer of her father. However, the fourteen-year-old girl isn't capable of capturing such a lethal criminal on Indian territory and thus seeks help.  She sets out in search of Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) – a brutal and merciless drunken federal sheriff. And eventually finds him. In an outhouse.

In “True Grit” the creators lack conviction. The Coen brothers portray a world known from classic westerns – the gold of desert seems striking in the beautiful pictures, the scenography is identical to that of “3:10 to Yuma”, the music reminds of the 70's and 80's westerns. The movie's setting adhers to a classical western, but it doesn't lack cliché-less scenes that are capable of taking any western into an 'anti-western' direction. However, the directors fail to give us an idea of what kind of a film they intended to create. Was it a tribute to the genre? Was it supposed to be a demostration of breaking the rules, playing around with convention, a real anti-western? Perhaps a homage of their own, seasoned with a pinch of Coen-like irony? To defend this assumption, it would be necessary to notice  something more than a handful of shocking scenes in 'True Grit' in which the character of the creators of “No Country for Old Men” is evidently present. Moreover, the story itself seems a little bit bookish, as if it weren't properly “remade” by the screenwriters. Lengthy dialogues with a classical exchange of information embossed with a touch of irony seems to be the remedy here, only traces of the characteristic humour can be observed, and the final showdown disappoints with its sloppy portrayal and lack of finesse.

 “True Grit”, like I said earlier, is a satisfactory film. As if by tradition, the Coen brothers have a strong cast. Above all Jeff Bridges is the one that fascinates and intrigues, portraying a role that is complete and just. Actors restricted by the script like Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and the known from “Saving Private Ryan” Barry Pepper all showed titanic effort in their roles, and though graced with little screentime, their performances remain ingrained in memory. A certain maturity can be noticed in their performances and, especially in the case of Brolin, the audience can be slightly disappointed due to their shortened to the minimum plot. Unfortunately, Hailee Steinfeld who appears throughout the majority of the movie offers only a mediocre performance. Her portrayal of the character lacks clarity and, in fact, irritates instead of arousing sympathy.

The greatest pro of the film are the pictures. Classical and highly picturesque, at times even striking. The professional contribution of Roger Deakins can be felt. It is the sequences of the sheriff on a galloping horse in a race with death and the initial pictures from the prologue that remain ingrained in memory. However, the mentioned earlier final showdown turned out to be a disaster for the whole crew and even Deakins presented it in a sloppy a manner.

 “True Grit” is the Coen brothers' poorest motion picture since “Intolerable Cruelty”. It lacks an artistic bite, a certain confidence in implementation. But it is watchable and has a few memorable scenes. However, the Coen name has set a rather high level of expectation and it just doesn't seem right to plunge below that anticipated level and create a movie that is not worth the hype. For the audience's sake and benefit, and also the creators'. That's why I have to put this film down to a cautionary three.

the Fighter

“Everything has been said in the history of movie-making” - Quentin Tarantino once stated, an idol amongst real movie-maniacs. “Nowadays, a moviemaker's goal is to first modify, and then use the same old beaten up tricks.” Agreed, a certain repetition in movie-making can be observed, yet it often tends to tell a different story altogether, in some degree supplying the movie industry with a fresh breeze of innovation. David O. Russell's newest recent motion picture “The Fighter” is a perfect example that confirms this.

For a long time now sport dramas, precisely boxer movies (though I have no idea whether professionally you can include any film into such a genre)  have been regarded as an epitome of overexploited film, one of only a few outlines, which isn't possible to miss and develop. After the cult-classic “Rocky” with Sylvester Stallone we witnessed an authentic series of twin-like movies under the sign of gloves and a boxing ring. Indeed, such films had their ups and downs, though each nearly told the same exact story. Only did it change with the protagonist's position in his career – as a boxer, the story told itself somewhat differently. An icon was on a losing streak and had to give it his best shot to once again reach the top, a beginner proved everybody wrong, working his fingers to the bone during training sessions. At last comes the great fight on which our boxer's future depends on, symbolizing the struggle in striving for a better future. Let's not forget about the family, who, sure enough was involved in everything, motivating the protagonist in his strive for success, from a financial perspective to a morale one. Most of the time the film is based on a true story.

Every movie (this generalisation doesn't exclude exceptions :) ) about boxing has its foundations – a boxer protagonist; a motivation or incentive to act – a master's fall from grace or a beginner's ambition; conflict – a need for income; and a difficult and problematic love-family affair in the backround. And The Fighter also comprises these elements, including the real characters as a fundamental part contributing to the script.

Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) is a young boxer, Dicky's (Christian Bale) brother, the son of Alice Ward (Melissa Leo). Dicky is an ex-boxer, who once threw away his career due to drug abuse. He lives in the past, constantly reminiscing about his one huge match, dreaming of a comeback, in the meantime training his younger brother. Their mother and also Mickey's manager, Alice takes care of her nine children, following the footsteps of the “Bold and Beautiful” characters that live by the the saying: “Family is most important.” Apart from her, there's the father that is incapable of taking control of the household; a chain of already grown up sisters still living with their parents; and a brother-junkie. Micky isn't making the most of his potential, being a prisoner of the toxic family ties surrounding him. He's quite shy, unable to put his foot down and express his views, approving of anything and everything with only a slight grimace on his face. It is Dicky who is the star – everybody knows him, is often called the pride of Lowell, their mother spends most of her time speaking of his comeback rather than focus on the career of her youngest son, and the sisters just adore him. The family refuses to notice that their 'golden boy', the so-called pride of Lowell has lost his life and is a human wreck. Because of this, Mickey is suffering defeat after defeat on a regular basis, his career hanging by a thread. One day the underachieving boxer is introduced courtesy of his father to a female bartender – Charlene (Amy Adams) – a college dropout that has drowned her ambitions in the alcohol she each day serves to her drunken clients. With the progression of time, their acquaintanceship takes on a different form. The confident girl turns out to be the perfect antidote for Mickey's poorly conducted, abysmal boxing career. Alongside a local businessman, policeman and the boxer's father, she offers him another chance at making his dreams finally come true in getting a better life, however at the cost of his cooperation with his mother and brother. Micky makes the decision and agrees and as soon as Dicky is thrown into jail, his career begins to flourish. However, once he participates in his first major match, his strategy fails him. It is the moment that he takes advantage of his brother's advice that he stands victorious and wins. Micky's success eventually guarantees him a chance at the world title, but finds himself in a possibly career-changing dilemna: he stands at a crossroads on whether to continue down the path that Charlene has chosen for him, or to reunite with his brother and mother.

For the majority of the film I wondered whether the main protagonist's poor personality was in keeping with the movie's initial vision, or was it just an effect of Wahlberg's rather mediocre acting performance. Of course, an unbelievable lack in opinion and letting other's grab the steering wheel of his destiny turned out to somehow be a thorn in the story's side, but Wahlberg wasn't able to live up to the expectation and deliver a sense of plausibility to his character. The impressive cast didn't make his job any easier – the oscar-winning duo Christian Bale and Melissa Leo. Christian Bale in his role as Dicky delivered the best acting performance since Heath Ledger's Joker, literally bombarding the audience with a wide range of acting skills. Excellent voice control, exceptional posture and eye play, great facial expressions, and apart from that a huge sacrifice (he lost twenty kilograms to portray a drug-ridden physique). Bale changed immensely, choosing a method smilar to that of Heath Ledger's. Bale literally turned into Dicky, and this is emphasised by the movie's creators once an authentic clip of the two brothers is shown next to the credit roll. Melissa Leo plays an uneducated woman who, on every step, uses the term 'fuck' and excessively results to cigarettes, successfully portraying a character of pure blood and bone, without making it seem like a target for ridicule.

“The Fighter” consists of many elements that make a classic boxer movie, but despite the occurrence of a few clichés, the audience doesn't endure a moment of boredom or distaste. David O. Russell attracts attention on to the main protagonist's unfavourable predicament. Micky's chance at a career is used by his closest family members as an opportunity to put their complexes at ease and recompensate for their past mistakes. Putting a boxer into such a situation has never been done before, and actually facinates and intrigues. Christian Bale's portrayal helps one get through the boring moments and clichés during the movie. The banal editing and convincing narrative also doesn't seem to get in the way. The viewer just sits down and observes. And sometimes even admires.