Bronson. Nicolas Winding Refn's 2008 biographical film about UK prisoner Michael Peterson/Charles Bronson (played by Tom Hardy), who's a guy who basically randomly erupts in extreme violence all the time, and has therefore been in prison for most of his life.
That does not sound like a great premise, but it's actually an amazing film. Refn's intersperses key moments in Bronson's life with Bronson commenting on or presenting these moments in various guises. The results is a sort of very clever dark comedy, that partly invites you to enjoy Bronson's craziness, but also holds up a mirror to you doing so. For example, when Bronson grabs his art teacher and you don't know yet if he kills him (it looks likely at that moment), the scene switch to his vaudeville theatre show, where his audience erupts in laughter - as actual watchers of the film might. But is this funny, that he's going to molest and possible kill that teacher who's been nothing but nice to him? Of course it isn't. I really liked that. We're often asked to enjoy careless extreme violence in films (think the John Wick films or a lot of Tarantino's work), and I like how this film offers that while also criticizing it.
Other than that, it's just great film-making. As could be expected, Refn does a lot to make scenes interesting with camerawork, music, and other finds (interestingly, there is nothing of his slow-cinema style here), plus those moments of Bronson commenting really give the film something extra. Hardy is great as well. And I like how the film doesn't offer any kind of explanation for what happens - cause there isn't, and life can be like that sometimes. I could go on, but it's just very, very good. 9/10 (With thanks to a couple of people who discussed Refn with me last week, which led me to watch this! Pity our Netflix doesn't have anything else by Refn.)
Crazy, Stupid, Love. A 2011 romcom about a guy (Steve Carell) whose wife (Julianne Moore) suddenly decides to divorce him, at which point he is rather lost until some slick dude (Ryan Gosling) helps him find his mojo back, while his daugther (Emma Stone) is going through her own relationship trouble, and various other family stuff plays out as well. The plot is a bit of a puzzle, but all the pieces fall together nicely as the film develops. Carell and Gosling are great in this, but I thought the film was not very consistent tonally, switching regularly between the more cynical bits in most scenes involving just the adults (which I liked), to cringe scenes whenever the kids are involved (which I didn't like). 6 7/10
The Nanny Diaires. A 2007 comedy-drama featuring Scarlett Johansson as a recent university graduate who doesn't know what to do next and then decides to fill some time by becoming the nanny of a wealthy New York City family. The film is a bit of a mix between societal criticism (on that weird group of wealthy New Yorkers that live a life of appearance and basically contract out their entire parenting duties), drama (the hard life of the nanny and her life choices), and romance (the nanny meets a hot dude). The film basically has nothing new to say, and says it with the subtlety of a sledgehammer; but it's enjoyable enough while it lasts. I liked the anthropology perspective at least, even if it's mostly abandoned after the first 15 min or so. 5/10
i will watch anatomy of a fall next week.
