Diversity seems to fit
Dan Slevin
At the movies with Dan Slevin
After a week when New Zealand has been forced to confront its own intolerance and social myopia it seems fitting that two films that are essentially about understanding and accepting diversity should arrive in cinemas in the same week. They both take drastically different approaches to the topic, too.
In Dinner for Schmucks, ambitious hedge fund analyst Paul Rudd has to find a guest to take to a monthly senior management party in which unusual people are secretly held up to ridicule. When his Porsche knocks over mild mannered public servant and amateur taxidermist Steve Carell he thinks he’s found the right man. But Carell’s character, Barry, latches on to him causing mayhem wherever he goes.
Eventually, after Rudd’s relationship and career are wrecked, they both reach a deeper understanding of each other and some decent human values: laughing with someone is ok. <bold>At</bold> someone? Not so much. And if you are anything like me, you will laugh.
Why did I enjoy Dinner for Schmucks so much more than The Other Guys last week? Because, Jay Roach’s film was actually crafted rather than spitballed on the back of an envelope and (based on a successful French farce called The Dinner Game) Dinner for Schmucks puts its jokes in service of something solid and, dare I say it, meaningful.
Taking a more dramatic (and magical realist) tack is Auckland indie The Insatiable Moon, set around a Ponsonby halfway house for former psych patients and other damaged individuals. Rawiri Paratene is Barry who in his better moments believes himself to be the second son of God and actually starts to convince others too. Pitting a worried community against its less fortunate neighbours, the film carefully manages to send a clear message: we are all different, and yet we are all the same.
Usually these sort of micro budget features are a massive challenge to actors - no rehearsal, few takes - but the cast of The Insatiable Moon are magnificent, particularly Greg Johnson as boarding house owner Bob and legend Ian Mune as alcoholic Norm. In fact, only a rushed ending really betrays director Rosemary Riddell’s lack of resources.
The best bits of Legend of the Guardian: The Owls of Ga’hoole can be found at either end. Don’t arrive late and miss a nicely done 3D Road Runner cartoon, and keep your specs on for the beautiful closing titles. In between you have an amazingly well animated adventure about a young owl (voiced by Jim Sturgess) who discovers a fascist plot and flies across the sea to the mysterious Guardians (also owls) to find help.
Director Zack Snyder (the next Superman film) is a bit of a one trick pony with his trademark digital slow motion pulled out far too often and the violence (quite a lot, quite scary for younguns I’ll bet) means Legend of the Guardians is more like Snyder’s 300 with owls than, say, Happy Feet which was made by the same animation studio.
Idiosyncratic Aussie acting legend Barry Otto plays an Echydna in Legend (along with a refreshingly dinkum voice cast) but you can see him in real life in a little indie called South Solitary. His daughter Miranda (Eowyn in Lord of the Rings) plays his niece in the film and they both arrive on a remote island off the coast of Australia so that he can supervise the lighthouse there.
It’s set in the early 1920s and WWI casts a long shadow over all the inhabitants, not least assistant lighthouse keeper Fleet (Marton Csokas) who damaged his leg, his psyche and, if his odd accent is anything to go by, his vocal chords.
Taciturn but chivalrous, Fleet and Miranda Otto’s character (named Meredith) have to learn to get on with each other when fate leaves them alone to cope with a hurricane.
Notwithstanding whatever it is that Csokas thinks he is doing with his accent, there’s an audience somewhere for this nice little film. Unfortunately the Paramount’s strategy of opening films under a cloak of invisibility might get in the way of that a bit.
For five years Sara Ziff was a top runway and fashion model, jetting around the world to glamorous locations, wearing extraordinary clothes and standing atop architecturally unlikely heels. Unusually, I guess, in Picture me - A Model’s Diary she chose to spend a lot of that time putting herself in front of her own camera (with boyfriend Ole Schell’s help), documenting her life from inside the machine. With the help of some fellow models (mostly articulate and self-aware), she gives us a glimpse of the darker side of the business but holds back from really spilling the beans.
Finally, a word about the 15th Italian Film Festival which gets underway tomorrow. Festival director Tony Lambert has got this thing down to a fine art and this year he returns to the Paramount to present a fortnight of screenings: 17 features, the best of modern Italian commercial cinema.
At the Media Launch there was a danger that the fine Nicolini’s spread would send us to sleep before the film started but Lambert’s feature selection, A Matter of Heart, turned out to be a splendidly acted drama about two very different men with an unexpected bond.
As you might expect there are plenty of love stories (dramatic and comedic) but my eye was drawn to Fortapàsc, another investigation into the Naples underworld that was so well portrayed in last year’s Gomorrah. There’s plenty more to choose from so look for the brochures at Italian-owned businesses around town or outside the Paramount itself.
After a week when New Zealand has been forced to confront its own intolerance and social myopia it seems fitting that two films that are essentially about understanding and accepting diversity should arrive in cinemas in the same week. They both take drastically different approaches to the topic, too.
In Dinner for Schmucks, ambitious hedge fund analyst Paul Rudd has to find a guest to take to a monthly senior management party in which unusual people are secretly held up to ridicule. When his Porsche knocks over mild mannered public servant and amateur taxidermist Steve Carell he thinks he’s found the right man. But Carell’s character, Barry, latches on to him causing mayhem wherever he goes.
Eventually, after Rudd’s relationship and career are wrecked, they both reach a deeper understanding of each other and some decent human values: laughing with someone is ok. <bold>At</bold> someone? Not so much. And if you are anything like me, you will laugh.
Why did I enjoy Dinner for Schmucks so much more than The Other Guys last week? Because, Jay Roach’s film was actually crafted rather than spitballed on the back of an envelope and (based on a successful French farce called The Dinner Game) Dinner for Schmucks puts its jokes in service of something solid and, dare I say it, meaningful.
Taking a more dramatic (and magical realist) tack is Auckland indie The Insatiable Moon, set around a Ponsonby halfway house for former psych patients and other damaged individuals. Rawiri Paratene is Barry who in his better moments believes himself to be the second son of God and actually starts to convince others too. Pitting a worried community against its less fortunate neighbours, the film carefully manages to send a clear message: we are all different, and yet we are all the same.
Usually these sort of micro budget features are a massive challenge to actors - no rehearsal, few takes - but the cast of The Insatiable Moon are magnificent, particularly Greg Johnson as boarding house owner Bob and legend Ian Mune as alcoholic Norm. In fact, only a rushed ending really betrays director Rosemary Riddell’s lack of resources.
The best bits of Legend of the Guardian: The Owls of Ga’hoole can be found at either end. Don’t arrive late and miss a nicely done 3D Road Runner cartoon, and keep your specs on for the beautiful closing titles. In between you have an amazingly well animated adventure about a young owl (voiced by Jim Sturgess) who discovers a fascist plot and flies across the sea to the mysterious Guardians (also owls) to find help.
Director Zack Snyder (the next Superman film) is a bit of a one trick pony with his trademark digital slow motion pulled out far too often and the violence (quite a lot, quite scary for younguns I’ll bet) means Legend of the Guardians is more like Snyder’s 300 with owls than, say, Happy Feet which was made by the same animation studio.
Idiosyncratic Aussie acting legend Barry Otto plays an Echydna in Legend (along with a refreshingly dinkum voice cast) but you can see him in real life in a little indie called South Solitary. His daughter Miranda (Eowyn in Lord of the Rings) plays his niece in the film and they both arrive on a remote island off the coast of Australia so that he can supervise the lighthouse there.
It’s set in the early 1920s and WWI casts a long shadow over all the inhabitants, not least assistant lighthouse keeper Fleet (Marton Csokas) who damaged his leg, his psyche and, if his odd accent is anything to go by, his vocal chords.
Taciturn but chivalrous, Fleet and Miranda Otto’s character (named Meredith) have to learn to get on with each other when fate leaves them alone to cope with a hurricane.
Notwithstanding whatever it is that Csokas thinks he is doing with his accent, there’s an audience somewhere for this nice little film. Unfortunately the Paramount’s strategy of opening films under a cloak of invisibility might get in the way of that a bit.
For five years Sara Ziff was a top runway and fashion model, jetting around the world to glamorous locations, wearing extraordinary clothes and standing atop architecturally unlikely heels. Unusually, I guess, in Picture me - A Model’s Diary she chose to spend a lot of that time putting herself in front of her own camera (with boyfriend Ole Schell’s help), documenting her life from inside the machine. With the help of some fellow models (mostly articulate and self-aware), she gives us a glimpse of the darker side of the business but holds back from really spilling the beans.
Finally, a word about the 15th Italian Film Festival which gets underway tomorrow. Festival director Tony Lambert has got this thing down to a fine art and this year he returns to the Paramount to present a fortnight of screenings: 17 features, the best of modern Italian commercial cinema.
At the Media Launch there was a danger that the fine Nicolini’s spread would send us to sleep before the film started but Lambert’s feature selection, A Matter of Heart, turned out to be a splendidly acted drama about two very different men with an unexpected bond.
As you might expect there are plenty of love stories (dramatic and comedic) but my eye was drawn to Fortapàsc, another investigation into the Naples underworld that was so well portrayed in last year’s Gomorrah. There’s plenty more to choose from so look for the brochures at Italian-owned businesses around town or outside the Paramount itself.
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