Exberliner Issue 167, January 2018

WHAT’S ON — Film
REVIEWS
Editor’s Choice
Here come the contenders
With Oscar season kicking into gear, this month’s big releases are
dominated by grandstanding central performances. By Paul O’Callaghan
L’Amant Double
D: François Ozon
(France 2017)
HHH
Ozon’s camp and
frequently ridiculous
erotic thriller, about
a patient who has
an affair with her
therapist and his twin
brother, is worth
watching if only for
the stunning bravura
of its gynaecological
opening shot. Starts
Jan 18
Beach Rats
D: Eliza Hittman
(USA 2017)
HHHH
This erotically
charged, unsentimental,
compellingly
voyeuristic coming-of-age
drama
confirms sophomore
director Hittman (see
interview, page 30)
as a major new voice
in US indie cinema.
Starts Jan 25
Wonder
D: Stephen Chbosky
(USA 2017)
HHH
Based on the YA
novel about the first
school experience of
a young boy with a
genetic disorder, this
inoffensive familyfriendly
fare ends
up, for the most
part, on the right
side of charming.
Starts Jan 25
At the time of writing, this
year’s Oscar race is wide
open, with around a dozen
titles duking it out for
consideration. The safest bet among
the major categories appears to be
Gary Oldman as Best Actor for his
turn as Winston Churchill in Joe
Wright’s Darkest Hour (photo). It’s
the archetypal Oscar-bait performance
– a seasoned thesp disappearing
behind unflattering prosthetics to
deliver an uncanny impersonation of
a revered historical figure. The film
chronicles the turbulent early days of
World War II from the perspective of
the British powers-that-be, with the
newly-elected PM struggling to take
the reins of a divided government
as Hitler’s troops march ever closer.
But while Oldman offers compelling
glimpses of the haunted soul cowering
behind the grandstanding orator,
Wright over-eggs the pudding with
ostentatious visual flourishes, whilst
Ben Mendelsohn’s gently lisping King
George VI pushes the whole thing perilously
close to parody. What a shame
it would be for Oldman to net his first
little gold man for this prestige piffle.
Frances McDormand is a serious
Best Actress contender for her outstanding
work in Martin McDonagh’s
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing,
Missouri. She plays Mildred Hayes, a
grieving mother enraged by the local
authorities’ inability to solve the rape
and murder of her teenage daughter.
In a bid for closure, she rents the titular
billboards to call out the ineptitude
of police chief Willoughby (Woody
Harrelson), sending shockwaves
through the community.
Some will embrace Mildred as a
potent symbol of the #MeToo movement
– she’s a boiler suit-clad badass
who speaks uncomfortable truths
about systemic misogyny in a manner
that’s truly exhilarating to behold.
But McDonagh delights in testing
the limits of our sympathy, endowing
the character with a malicious streak
that becomes increasingly difficult to
ignore. Similarly, the filmmaker sets
himself the challenge of eliciting a degree
of sympathy for cop Dixon (Sam
Rockwell), a deadbeat racist with a
track record in torture. This element
has proven wildly divisive, with many
finding Dixon’s redemptive arc hard
to swallow. For me, this is rendered
less problematic by the film’s heightened
realism – this is a world in which
every seemingly innocuous interaction
feeds into a satisfyingly tricksy
overarching narrative. But while he’s
a prodigiously talented yarn-spinner,
McDonagh’s childish penchant for
button-pushing may ultimately scupper
the film’s Oscar prospects.
Despite a warm audience reception
at its Venice world premiere,
Paolo Virzì’s English-language debut
The Leisure Seeker was dismissed by
critics as an awards season also-ran,
although that didn’t stop the Hollywood
Foreign Press from doling out
a 12th Golden Globe nomination to
star Helen Mirren. She plays Ella, an
ageing Southern belle dying of cancer
who resolves to bow out on her own
terms by embarking on a road trip
from Boston to Key West with her
Alzheimer’s-stricken husband John
(Donald Sutherland). Needless to
say this is an absolutely shameless
tearjerker, but I can’t deny that it
did the job for me. Mirren’s accent is
ludicrous, but she and Sutherland vividly
evoke the sense of a relationship
that’s spanned decades and suffered
countless setbacks. Meanwhile Virzì
revels in the beauty of the open road,
and serves up enough wry humour to
offset all the schmaltz. n
Starts Jan 4 The Leisure Seeker HHH D: Paolo Virzì (Italy, US 2017) with
Donald Sutherland, Helen Mirren | Starts Jan 18 Darkest Hour HH D:
Joe Wright (UK 2017) with Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas | Starts Jan 25
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri HHHH D: Martin McDonagh
(US, UK 2017) with Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson
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EXBERLINER 167