marcelproust Reviews

Telstar: The Joe Meek Story (2008)

Fame, fortune and it all goes horribly wrong

[7/10 · 29 October 2008]

Saw this last night at the LFF, and while it does betray its stagey origins from time to time, there is much to enjoy in this biopic of Joe Meek, legendary music producer and nutcase. The film doesn't shy away from the murkier aspects of this mercurial character's life - the drugs, the rent boys, the cottaging, the verbal and physical abuse meted out to all and sundry - but Meek does emerge as something of a sympathetic character. I guess that's why so many people put up with him - there must have been something charming about him.

Good performances - including a pointless cameo from Kevin Spacey as Meek's financial backer, the appropriately named Major Banks. Standouts include the young actors playing Heinz and Patrick, the latter being a general factotum-cum-boyfriend who is one of the few people loyal to the last.

Nick Moran should be commended for bringing this quirky, sometime shocking story to the screen - whether it will find an audience beyond 60s music fans or those with a morbid curiosity for stories of pop scandals will remain to be seen.

Incidentally, I live in Islington and walked home past 304 Holloway Road, where almost the whole film takes place. It did send shivers down my spine.

Dante's Cove (2004–2007)

Deliciously dreadful

[8/10 · 1 August 2008]

God, how I love this programme.

They say that if you put a thousand monkeys in a room with a thousand typewriters then in a thousand years they will write the works of Shakespeare.

Some years ago a group of producers put one monkey in a room with an etch-a-sketch and the result was: Dante's Cove.

It's genius. A parallel world where concepts that we accept as normal just do not exist. Like "acting". And "shirts".

But goodness me, what a wonderful place to live. An entire island populated by beautiful, young, sexy people. And Tracy Scoggins.

It's a place where someone called Reichen Lehmkuhl (who apparently won a reality TV show and dated Lance Bass) must atone for his sins by submitting to living his life under a sheen of baby oil.

It's where we marvel at the "performance" of Charlie David - possibly the most wooden actor who ever lived. (Let me put it this way - that chiselled torso isn't so much the result of Gold's Gym as it is a carpenter's workshop. No really, you can see the other actors batting away the splinters.)

In short, a masterpiece. I wouldn't miss an episode.

A Room with a View (2007 TV Movie)

A gloom of a "View"

[3/10 · 5 November 2007]

Oh dear. When it comes to remakes, or "re-imaginings" or whatever the current vogue is for churning out an old favourite with a new cast, Sir Michael Caine said it best: only remake the flops. It makes perfect sense: if you fail then everyone thinks one can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear, but if you succeed then it's bouquets all round.

But that remaking a classic like James Ivory's film of E. M. Forsters's novel of Edwardian manners is folly of the highest order was borne out last night with this limp and unengaging ITV drama.

Wrapping the action in a clumsy flashback device robbed the story of any freshness or spontaneity, and it quickly became a lot like watching a school play version of one of your favourite films.

There were some interesting touches - Mark WIlliams' closeted Mr Beebe picking up Florentine rentboys would have brought a blush to Forster's cheeks. Also amusing were Mr Beebe's blushes as George Emerson and Freddie Honeychurch shed their clothes for the famous bathing scene. But in order the find the gold there was a good deal of dross.

Comparing any actress to Dame Maggie Smith is unfair, but Sophie Thompson really came off badly - her Miss Bartlett nothing more than the same irritating ticks and tricks she always uses. There was no real person there. Laurence Fox's far-too-handsome Cecil Vyse seemed to be reading his lines from a cue card and far more interested in his clothes than in Lucy.

All in all it makes one deeply fearful for adapter Andrew Davies' upcoming version of Brideshead Revisited.

Lions for Lambs (2007)

An intelligent and engaging drama

[8/10 · 23 October 2007]

"Is it better to try and fail, or fail to try?" That's the challenging question put by liberal professor Stephen Malley (Robert Redford) to gifted but lazy student Todd (Andrew Garfield). It also underpins much of the debate in Lions for Lambs, Redford's talky but effective look at America and Americans' response to the war on terror.

Malley wants Todd to rise above the cynical and dismissive attitude of his generation and engage with the world. To illustrate this he tells the story of two students who took that message to heart and joined the Marines - and we watch as the two recruits get caught up in a terrible situation in the icy mountains of Afghanistan.

In a separate storyline, journalist Janine Roth (Meryl Streep) and up-and-coming GOP star Senator Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise) meet for the senator to unveil (albeit only piecemeal) his plans to escalate the Afghan campaign (and his own presidential ambitions) in an ill- thought-out military intervention. Irving plays masterfully on the media's complicity with enabling the current Iraq War and also on Roth's (and the audience's) innate fear of another 9/11.

If that all sounds a little preachy, well it is. WIth most scenes consisting of two people in a room talking to one another, and everyone from Socrates to von Clausewitz getting a name- check, many people may be turned off - and this unwillingness to engage in debate is, ironically, one of the film's major themes. But I found it refreshing to hear a lot of these views (from both sides of the political spectrum) get an airing on such a high-profile platform as a major Hollywood movie.

And the cast doesn't come much more high-profile than this. While I found Meryl Streep's earnest TV reporter a little unconvincing and Redford's professor too perfect they both turn in solid performances, with Streep especially making the dialogue seem utterly fresh and spontaneous. The acting honours undoubtedly go to Cruise - always at his best when playing someone with something to hide. His Senator Irving has the magnetic smile, twinkling eyes and "trust me" demeanour that is bred into the bones of all major US politicos. But there are moments where that facade cracks just enough to show the "love it or leave it" jingoism that lurks beneath the smooth surface. Cruise is nothing less that spectacular - could this be the role that finally gets him the little statuette?

I hope, however, that when envelope season begins in Hollywood there is room for Andrew Garfield's name. A US-born but British-trained talent, this magnetic young actor has star quality is spades - quite a compliment when you look at the company he's keeping. (Watch his wonderfully expressive eyes when he's talking to Redford - there's a real, thinking person in there.) His character manages to be charming, intelligent, self-deceiving, confused and scared - a lot like the rest of his generation.

If Lions for Lambs doesn't succeed on every level, it does pack an intellectual and emotional punch - and isn't it better to try and fail than fail to try?

Ang pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (2005)

An unexpected delight

[8/10 · 3 April 2007]

I really didn't know what to expect on sitting down to watch The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros. Only knowing a few details of the plot - a young Philippino boy, the slums of Manila, a cop - I was worried that this was not likely to be the feelgood film of 2007!

How wrong I was. This film is one of the most unexpected delights of recent years, anchored by a central performance from 12-year-old Nathan Lopez that is dazzlingly mature and breathtakingly charming. Although the film does veer into melodramatic territory in the predictable conflict between JR Valentin's young cop and Maxi's family of petty criminals, the central storyline of Maxi's crush on the hunky policeman is handled with tremendous sensitivity, humour and warmth.

In a perfect world performances like Lopez's would gather awards like daffodils, but in the absence of any trophies I hope he's happy to have created such a memorable character. If your heart doesn't break watching Maxi's story, chances are you have no heart to break.

Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds (2006)

Brisk and breezy fun

[7/10 · 2 April 2007]

One of the other posters here refers to "harsh and unsubstantiated" reviews - how right you are. I'm not sure what people were expecting from a film called Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds, but I found the whole thing delightful from start to finish.

There is ample eye candy in the shape of Marco Dapper and Brett Chukerman. (Although Ryan Carnes is sorely missed. The boy is a subtle and sensitive actor trapped in the body of an Abercrombie & Fitch model.) Yes, there is a totally unbelievable plot, but this is a farce, after all. Rebekah Kochan seems to be channeling Jennifer Coolidge, and I mean that as a huge compliment, and kept me laughing all the way through the film's brisk and breezy ninety minutes.

Great fun.

Un jour d'été (2006 TV Movie)

A tender portrait of love and loss

[8/10 · 2 April 2007]

As Un jour d'ete came to an end the person behind me turned to his companion and said: "Why on earth would they show this film at a gay film festival?" There may be some truth in that question, but although the "gay" nature of the film may be debatable, the quality of the script and the performances mean that this is a film that shouldn't be pigeon-holed but deserves as wide an audience as possible.

The premise is simple: the accidental death of a popular member of the local football team throws a small community into turmoil. The boy's mother, who has already lost a husband, must now come to terms with her grief. The town's mayor must face the fact of his office's possible culpability. And, most touching of all, the dead boy's friend must face the future.

This is a film about loss - and at times is painful to watch. It is always wonderfully acted - not least by the incandescentally beautiful Baptiste Bertin as Sebastien - and filmed, although the limitations of a tight budget are sometimes apparent.

The "gay" angle is subtly understated. A homoerotic sensibility is in evidence in the way that the (often shirtless) Sebastien is filmed, and in the complicated relationship he has with the mayor's handsome son Francis (Brice Hillairet). Is Sebastien gay? Bisexual? Ultimately I don't think it's important. His loneliness is palpable, and he has trouble reaching out to others and sharing what is in his heart. I think many gay men - young or not - can relate to that.

200 American (2003)

Get a refund

[2/10 · 19 July 2006]

There's nothing wrong with low budget - the sight of boom mic shadows hovering on the actors' faces, scenes filmed in cast and crew apartments, a "supermodel" with thighs like canned hams - but honestly, there is no excuse for a script that can't make up its mind.

There are at least three different films being made here - and sadly none of them hold enough interest to keep your attention for the 80 minute running time. There is a gay remake of Pretty Woman, with the Julia Roberts part taken by an Aussie tart with a heart. There is a cynical portrait at a broken-hearted ad exec whose good looks can't conceal the control freak underneath. Competing with these are some bizarre sub-plots regarding the fashion industry, NYC gay life and even white slavery. (Incidentally, what is the difference between white slavery and, well, slavery?)

The acting is perfunctory at best and there are a few amusing moments, but by and large, after laying out 200 American, you may well be asking for your money back.

Bleak House (2005)

Great expectations entirely justified

[9/10 · 21 June 2006]

At the forthcoming request for Charter renewal by the BBC, the Governors could do no better than to sit MPs comfortably on their green benches and screen the entirety of Andrew Davies' magisterial adaptation of Dickens' Bleak House.

A TV series that can afford to throw away a consummate actress like Sheila Hancock as a giggling ninny with almost no dialogue who occupies just seconds of screen time must, by definition, be supremely confident in its ability to entertain. Bleak House has that confidence in spades, and rightly so.

There is so much to treasure here - not least from the seemingly unending parade of well-known (to British audiences, at least) faces on parade. I particularly relished Matthew Kelly's absurdly self-important Old Mr Turveydrop, Liza Tarbuck's do-gooding drab, Nathaniel Parker's loathsome Mr Skiphold, Denis Lawson's achingly tender-hearted Mr Jarndyce and Hugo Speer's staunch Sergeant George. But even from the lesser-known cast - like poor, sweet Harry Eden and the two young wards who float prettily at the story's centre - there are moments of pure joy.

Three performances, however, really stand out as being responsible for making this so much more than a collection of delightful cameos. Anna Maxwell Martin provides a calm and sensible centre to the many comings and goings in Dickens' complex tale - her pale, inquisitive face registering calm resignation at the turmoils Esther must undergo. Stalwart of epic dramas like The Jewel in the Crown, Charles Dance is hypnotically dreadful as the wicked Tulkinghorn, glowering and scheming with real menace, and without once resorting to camp.

For me though, the performance of the series (and that is saying something) is Gillian Anderson's Lady Dedlock. Shot in an eerily bleak blue light, and seeming always on the verge of cracking like a porcelain vase, she is nothing short of mesmerising.

In short, the finest TV adaptation of a Dickens novel ever made and another triumph for Andrew Davies and the BBC.

The Line of Beauty (2006)

All the makings of a classic

[9/10 · 11 April 2006]

Okay, so it may seem unfair to review The Line of Beauty after having only seen Episode One, but the sneaky peek on show last night at the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival gave every indication that this adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst's Booker Prize-winning novel is a classic in the making.

Everyone who has read the novel will have his or her own impression of the characters and locales. (I lived in Notting Hill for more than a decade, so my mental picture of the story was probably more vivid than most.) But within minutes of the bravura opening sequence (grafted onto the novel by canny adapter Andrew Davies), director Saul Dibb makes Nick Guest's world his own.

What I found so extraordinary about this adaptation (or at least the first episode) is how cleverly Davies has mined the novel for humour, social commentary and romance. On- screen representations of the upper-middle-classes tend to show us the wholly implausible world of PG Wodehouse, but without Wodehouse's wit, or stick the knife in with bitter class hatred. The Line of Beauty does neither; showing us the Fedden family warts and all. Gerald Fedden MP (in a stunningly good characterisation by Tim McInnerney) is quite the pompous paterfamilias, but is also generous, funny and kind.

As our "eyes and ears" through the story, newcomer Dan Stevens is pitch-perfect; his clear, blue eyes miss nothing as his life becomes more and more entwined with the Feddens and their glittering world.

The clips shown of the following two episodes promise no decline in quality, so if The Line of Beauty does not come quite as close to perfection as Brideshead Revisited - which remains the high watermark of British television drama - it is still shaping up to be landmark adaptation, and not to be missed when it premieres on BBC2 later in May.

Dare (2005)

Short but sweet

[8/10 · 10 April 2006]

Sometimes, small is beautiful.

This touching and sexy short film makes the most of its rather traditional set-up (geeky gay fancies straight Adonis) and turns it into something rather wonderful.

The closest high school senior Ben gets to gorgeous jock Johnny is shining a spotlight on him during rehearsals for A Streetcar Named Desire (and there is something of the tremulous fragility of a Tennessee Williams heroine in Adam Fleming's touching portrayal of gay Ben.) On stage, playing Stanley Kowalski, Michael Cassidy's handsome but arrogant Johnny can't remember his lines.

A solution presents itself, as Ben offers to help him rehearse. It doesn't look promising, as it doesn't appear that Johnny's memory even extends as far as remembering Ben's name: "Light Boy" is the best he can do.

The rehearsal takes place poolside at Johnny's home - with refreshments courtesy of abandoned champagne from a recent party of his parents'. It's a bit corny to put the boys next to a pool - gee, I wonder if they'll strip off - but it works.

As they drink, run lines and chat their relationship develops. Saying any more would spoil it, but it is a testament to the skill of the screenwriter and the two young actors that each step along the way is handled with great appreciation for the many nuances and feints of adolescent male sexuality.

As Johnny, Cassidy is spectacularly charismatic - with a megawatt smile that could light up LA. (It's no surprise that he auditioned for Superman, and it's a wonder that Bryan Singer let him get away.)

Taking an age-old story and making it come alive, plaudits all round. Apparently, director Adam Salky hopes to turn Dare into a feature film. Let's hope he does.

Like a Brother (2005)

It seems to me I've heard that song before

[5/10 · 10 April 2006]

The directors and star of Comme un frere were in town for a screening at the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival yesterday. The screening I attended looked to be a sell-out, but I can only think that the audience was primarily attracted by the cunning use of a "boys on the beach" promotional photograph rather than any Fesitival buzz surrounding the film itself.

One of the directors spoke rather charmingly (in French) about how he was inspired by British cinema, particularly by the gritty realism of Mike Leigh and Stephen Frears. He found their films, however, too "noir" and hoped to make something more optimistic in Comme un frere. Well, all I can say is that the French idea of optimism is like the Luftwaffe's idea of town planning, so hopes were not particularly high.

Comme un frere (Like a Brother) is the tale of Zack (Benoit Deliere), a pretty blond lad who has come to Paris to explore his sexuality. He clubs, he hooks up on chat lines, he has a beauty routine that would put Elizabeth Arden to shame. But, as seems to be obligatory in all French cinema, he is pining for something.

That something is Romain (the extraordinarily beautiful Thibault Boucaux), his best friend, left behind in the Styx when Zack moved to the big city. Scenes of Zack and Romain on the beach, hanging about in cafés and even (platonically) sharing a bed have a tendresse that is deeply touching - but their scenes are filmed in a washed out grey that removes any sense of what made this time special for young Zack.

By contrast, the Paris scenes have a colourful vibrancy that makes one wonder why on earth Zack would be pining for his dreary seaside town, with or without the lovely Romain.

If you're thinking "It seems to me I've heard that song before" then you've nailed the problem with Comme un frere. Young men with unrequited crushes on their best friends have been a staple of gay cinema since the year dot, and Comme un frere has nothing new or fresh to add. The performances are generally good, with some real star potential from Boucaux, and the sex scenes are filmed with urgency and passion, but the inconclusive ending (which really does seem as if the producers just ran out of money and had to stop filming) and the absence of anything to make this stand out from the crowd make it a fairly lacklustre affair.

Boy Culture (2006)

A slightly offbeat take on the world's oldest profession

[7/10 · 3 April 2006]

I saw Boy Culture yesterday at the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, having seen and enjoyed Q. Allan Brocka's last film, Eating Out. Once again we are in the rarefied atmosphere of the buffed and the beautiful - three pectorally perfect young studs with an apartment from the pages of Wallpaper magazine.

But the surface perfection hides a trio of unhappy people. 'X', the un-named narrator is a high-class rent boy with a select group of only 12 clients - the Disciples. Andrew, his room-mate and object of X's affection is a stunningly handsome boy who wants both love and an open relationship. Completing the triptych is Joey (aka Blowy Joey), a cute-as-a-button twink who plays 'son' to the dysfunctional duo.

X has a problem - not only is he in love with Andrew but his life as a hustler has left him able to have sex only when there is cash involved. Enter the enigmatic Gregory - X's newest Disciple - a reclusive figure who isn't quite what he seems.

Once all the protagonists are in play, Brocka does an efficient job of keeping all the plates of the various story lines spinning in an entertaining and engaging fashion. As X, Derek Magyar is not afraid to present an unsympathetic character, albeit one who asks for no sympathy from the audience. Andrew and Joey are a little too cute to be true, but their snappy dialogue and willingness to disrobe at any opportunity are ample compensation.

Indeed, many of the scenes and much of the dialogue have a saucy snap that puts Boy Culture streets ahead of the sweet but rather formulaic Eating Out - and the supporting characters that our boys encounter (especially Andrew's razor-tongued little sister) all play their parts to perfection.

But for me the film came most alive in the conversations between X and Gregory. Inter-generational gay relationships are the missing link of contemporary gay cinema, and the way in which their friendship develops is handled with great poignancy and charm, helped by an impressive performance from the great Patrick Bauchau.

Calendar Girls (2003)

Causes don't come much better than this

[8/10 · 6 May 2004]

As someone who was fortunate enough to be at the world premiere of Calendar Girls in September last year, and to have met Angela Baker (the inspiration for Julie Walters' character) on several occasions, I would like to say that this is an amazing true story beautifully realised on film.

In real life the "Girls" are just as inspiring, funny and brave as you expect them to be. I think that it is important to remember that there is a very serious message underlying this film - the devastation that a disease like leukaemia (or lymphoma, which Angela's husband died from in real life) can wreak on a family.

The charity that the original Calendar Girls donated to is the Leukaemia Research Fund, and I would encourage anyone who was moved by the film to seek them out and make a donation at www.lrf.org.uk. So far the girls have raised just over £1 million, but there is still so much to do to fight these deadly diseases.