Starring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwarzman
Rating: 4/5
Scott Pilgrim (Cera) is a 22 year-old geek living in a bedsit with his gay best friend (Culkin) and trying to get his beloved band The Sex Bob-Ombs a record deal. He is dating hyperactive, 17-year old Knives but has recently fallen madly in love with the girl of his dreams, Ramona (Winstead). Not only must he shake off the teenage girlfriend, but he must fight to the death with Ramona’s “Seven Evil Exes”, all of whom are his physical superior.
Lucky for Scott, not only is this film set in a world of videogame logic, but it is also set in a universe where Scott makes the rules. This should have been called “Scott Pilgrim RULES the World”, because he is clearly the master of his own fate, despite lacking in confidence and grace. If Twilight is wish-fulfillment for dull teenage girls then Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is the same for nice but nerdy young men. Scott’s journey may be filled with Bollywood action heroes, Hollywood action heroes and evil record producers but at the heart of the story it is about one man’s attempt to have enough self-respect to win the respect of the girl of his dreams. This task is harder than it looks, especially considering it takes him 90% of the film to figure out his mission.
This film is so full of hipster aesthetic and attitude that it really should have been irritatingly “too cool for school” and, although it does wander into that territory at times, it is forgiven because of its sparkling wit and its big heart. The story is full of larger than life characters and situations but never falters when it comes to engaging the audience emotionally. Scott fits into his group of friends so intrinsically that their sense of closeness helps the audience to transcend the over-the-top scenarios and feel a sense of danger at the most basic level, not that Scott will be turned into a handful of coins, but that his close-knit group will be torn apart. It is on this level that, for all the silly graphics and too-hip soundtrack , Scott Pilgrim is a successful rom-com.
Adventure, excitement and a campy sense of nerdiness, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World gives us some hilarious villains, some delightful supporting characters and most importantly, a loveable hero played perfectly by Michael Cera who may be accused of being a limited thespian, but he’s a genius at what he does well! Colourful, unique and limitless in its ability to entertain, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is incredibly fun and energetic. Not to be missed, unless you’re a cranky old codger!
First coming to the attention of the movie-going public as the beautiful, masochist Dominique Francon in the big screen adaptation of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, Patricia Neal immediately grabbed the attention of the media with a highly publicised affair with the married and much-older Gary Cooper (she was 21, he was 49). Needless to say, this notoriety followed her and she was treated like a jezebel, thus never getting any of the glamorous studio roles she richly deserved. This did not deter her from becoming a fascinating actress who used her sad elegance to bring a touch of class to a variety of roles.
Her most memorable role was probably in The Day the Earth Stood Still but she also won an Oscar for her role in Hud. Married for 20 years to fascinating literary genius Roald Dahl, Patricia Neal led a somewhat unglamorous life, herself and her children plagued with health problems. Soon after winning her Oscar, she had three strokes which left her semi-paralyzed and unable to speak for a while. She overcame these problems however, and lived a long life, dying yesterday from lung cancer at the ripe old age of 84.
Ms. Neal...you've left your mark!
Recommended watching:
The Day the Earth Stood Still (Wise, 1951)
The Fountainhead (Vidor, 1949)
Hud (Ritt, 1963)
Cookie's Fortune (Altman, 1999)
Breakfast at Tiffany's (Edwards, 1961)
Dublin's Screen Cinema is having a weekend tribute to the wonderful John Hughes who died a year ago this week. Kicking off on Friday night with a 35mm screening of The Breakfast Club, then what better way to start your Saturday night than hanging out with Ferris Bueller. Sunday evening sees my personal favourite teen movie of all time, Pretty in Pink. Nobody epitomised 80's fringe culture like Molly Ringwald. Her style, her attitude personified the wildness of the youth of the 80's! But she's not the reason we're here. The reason we're here is one Mr. John Hughes.
After his death last year I posted a very sentimental, very intensely worshippy blog about why the man was a genius and how it's easy to forget why he made such a mark on the world. You can check it out here and decide whether it's worth checking out but I'm telling you now, it totally is!
The Breakfast Club: Apart from having the most 80's soundtrack ever built, the most 80's dance ever danced and the most stinging insults ever slung ("DoesBarry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?"), The Breakfast Club is a biting insight into the world of isolation that everyone endures. High school stereotypes provide a microcosm of the human struggle to be recognised for who they are and reinforces the idea that we are who we are inside our own heads, even if the world can't see us that way...it's also a bagload of fun!!
Pretty in Pink : Unjustly seen as a silly rom-com, this mopey teen romance suffers from the same ailment as it's heroine Andie. It lives on the fringes, not mainstream enough to be classic and not alternative enough to be cool. However, it must be said that Pretty in Pink certainly has style! And kudos for not letting Andie end up with Duckie just because we all feel sorry for him. Few films make bold statements about going for someone because it "feels" right, even if the audience doesn't like it. Brave move, and the movie has always suffered for it! Young James Spader proves yet again why he's the greatest villainous actor ever and look out for a young Ellen Tighe for all you Battlestar nerds!
Ferris Bueller's Day Off: What can I say? If good will were hydrogen molecules, this film would be a mushroom cloud! Ferris, Cameron and Sloane take a wild ride from the subarbs to the city with trials and tribulations aplenty. Tremedous fun ensues and treachery comes in the form of the evil Mr. Rooney. Great stuff. come see it!
Vincenzo Natali has spent his career on the line between “acclaimed” and “notorious”. His first film Cubebecame an international cult classic and even though he hasn’t officially been given the title of “the new David Cronenberg” it can’t be denied that his latest film fits the term “Cronenbergian”. Splice follows two brilliant scientists whose experiments with genetics result in a super-secret human-animal hybrid, Dren, who they watch grow from an embryo, to a baby, to a girl, to a woman, to a- let’s not give too much away. Totally Dublin spoke to Vincenzo Natali about Splice and his fascinating adventures in the screen trade.
In today’s world of receding economies, if a film isn’t a sequel or a remake it is almost impossible to get funding. Natali’s Splice with all it’s mad science, body horror and corruption of basic human nature must have been a challenge: “It’s a miracle that it got made. And it’s an even greater miracle that it’s receivedthe release that it’s had. I had the first draft written twelve years ago. It has been this very long, fortuitous, process and numerous moments along the way I just thought there’s just no way this is going to happen but somehow it’s like this film just sort of willed itself into existence, despite my best efforts. The good side of a long development is that it becomes very rich, very layered. And I do feel that the film has that quality. There’s a lot of things going on below the surface.”
The film incited major festival buzz when it screened at Sundance earlier this year, however it was not without its detractors who were put off by the film’s mischievous treading of the line between exploration and exploitation.“It’s a very divisive film. There’s one particular moment in the film...I can’t say what it is here...but it’s kind of a litmus test. Some people can take that leap and others simply cannot. That was always part of the design. I was very aware from the beginning that this was going to shock everyone but I also felt that the people who do respond to it will respond to it in a big way. Audience reaction has been amazing and to be perfectly honest I don’t even mind the negative responses.” His lead actors Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley had a lot on their hands in exploring the dark places their characters Elsa and Clive go to. “A lot of aspects of the making of this film were very difficult but the casting of the film went extremely well. I always had Adrian and Sarah at the top of my list. I just thought they would be great and they responded to the script so it was actually a very straightforward process. I didn’t know either of them personally before making this movie but I really enjoyed working with them.”
He admits: “I personally have great affection for Clive and Elsa. When they start off, they’re kind of heroic because they’re risking everything for what they believe. They’re putting it all on the line. They’re genuine. I kind of related to them too because as an independent filmmaker, I’ve been in a similar place. I have these crazy things that I want to do, like Splice and it takes a lot of money and I need the approval of the powers that be and that can be a very frustrating process. That was kind of my emotional entry point for their story. That’s where we meet them at the beginning of the movie. They want to invest in this very progressive experiment but their corporate handlers say “no”. Believe me, I’ve lived that many times before.”
One of the many things that makes Splice such a joy to watch is that it is an effects-heavy film that never forces the audience out of the film’s world because of heavy-handed effects; the creature Dren is a human/CGI hybrid and the subtle adjustments to a brilliant physical performance makes for a very believable monster. Natali calls it; “a great compliment to me, and to the great artists and technicians who made Dren a reality and of course a great compliment to Delphine (Chaneac) and Abigail (Chu) who played Dren as a child. Not to make the comparison too strongly but designing Dren was allowing me to be a mad scientist. It was one of the reasons I wanted to make the movie; I wanted to be able to make this creature. But I wanted to do it in a way that’s very realistic. That was always the prime directive; let’s make this biologically possible. Let’s not just make a movie monster. And so, to that end, we really tried to portray a real physical persona to Dren, even though Dren always has some level of digital augmentation, I felt it was critical to have a real performer. I think the level of believability was really because of that and I really had an amazing effects department.”
Another fascinating project that Vincenzo Natali has on his CV is the group effort Paris Je T’Aime, a film made up of short films about Paris. Some of the world’s most acclaimed filmmakers worked on the project such as the Coen Brothers, Gus Van Sant and Wes Craven to name but a few. Natali’s film stood out from the others because instead of a quirky tale of true love it was a highly stylised, very dark film starring Elijah Wood as a tourist who falls in love with a sexy female vampire. When I asked him what it was like to work on such an adventurous project, he replied; “It was a wonderful experience. The way they structured it. The films were shot back-to-back with mostly the same crews. So, in that sense, it was almost like film school. I was there working on my film at the same time Alexander Payne was working on his film and Wes Craven was working on his film. There was a very congenial attitude but I felt very much like I didn’t belong there amongst all that exceptional talent but professionally it was exciting experience. Being a French production, we had complete creative control. The only boundaries we had was that it had to be a film about love and it had to be five minutes. And you could do whatever you wanted in those 5 minutes.”
Most of Natali’s fame and notoriety rests on his classic sci-fi mind-melter Cube, a film that is so high-concept that sci-fi fans get giddy at the set-up alone. Six people wake up in a cube-shaped room and soon find that outside the room there are more cubes, set with booby traps and they must solve complex mathematical problems in order to finally escape. Despite its seemingly simple setup Cube is not merely a cheap thriller. It has stood the test of time and is still a respected genre piece some thirteen years later, having spawned a sequel and a prequel. Natali explains why the film has survived in a sea of low-budget horror/sci-fi films; “I think these things, when they work, they tap into these very archetypal contexts that are universal and very profound. It uses very mythological archetypes but it is re-cast into a science fiction context so it becomes something new. But basically it is about existence. We’re just dropped into this life. No rules, no concept of why we’re here and yet we have to figure it out. And it is a dangerous road. I think that resonates because it’s about the human condition. He goes on to explain his mistrust of human nature. “I always believe that the greatest enemy lies within. If you want to face the enemy, first look in the mirror. I think that’s where it comes from. I have a lot of faith in people by the way. If anything it’s myself I don’t trust.”
Although his twelve year journey of Splice is coming to an end, he has recently confirmed that he is currently adapting the previously condemned as “unfilmable” cyberpunk classic Neuromancer. “Yes, it’s confirmed, it’s real, I’m writing it. I don’t have any money yet but I do think it is filmable. I think it’s a very adaptable book. I think any book comes with challenges. I think that comment comes from the fact that William Gibson’s prose is not easily digested. But if you really look at it, Neuromancer is a fairly conventional story. Maybe conventional isn’t the right way to put it but it does have a story and it is quite film friendly. I think the key is not to be too reductive. If you want to turn the book into a film that’s like Star Wars, then you’re going to have a problem because you’re not going to be able to be faithful to the book. But if you believe that Blade Runner for example is a commercial film and a good film then I think Neuromancer is very adaptable. I think you just have to take a more literary approach to the writing. I’ve actually been surprised myself by how easily the adaptation has been going. There only thing that’s challenging is the ending. It doesn’t end in a film-friendly way so that will need some invention.” Let’s hope that this one doesn’t take him another twelve years in the making!
Splice oozes into a cinema near you on Friday 23rd July. You can read this article in Totally Dublin hitting shelves on 3/8/10
