Up In The Air (Dir: Jason Reitman)
Precious (Dir: Lee Daniels)
Invictus (Dir: Clint Eastwood)
2010 starts off with the typical award baiting films, and I have just wrapped my peepers around three of the main contenders. So, are they worthy of a few statues over the coming months?
Up In The Air is the third feature from Jason Reitman, who has made a considerable mark on the industry with the acid sharp ‘Thank You For Smoking’ and the uber-hit off beat comedy ‘Juno’ so expectations were high for this movie, especially after George Clooney signed on the dotted line to be lead. The great news is that expectations have not only been met, but surpassed as Reitman has delivered a gem of a movie, with a performance from Clooney that may see him holding the Best Actor Oscar. The movie revolves around Clooney’s Ryan Bingham, a professional hired by big companies to make their employees redundant. His job involves non stop travel and it is a life he has embraced and crafted to perfection. Just watch him at airport security; something everyone else who travels treats as an extreme pain is something he sees as an everyday part of life, something he has honed to a fine art. Bingham’s life goal is to reach the magic target of 10 million air miles and he seems to be coasting towards it, until his blissful life gets torn apart by the arrival of two women. Typical. First comes Alex, another business woman that lives mostly on a plane. Bingham sees her as a female version of himself, and their scenes crackle with a chemistry that is all in ambiguous wordplay and deft looks. It is a relationship that is a real throwback to the golden age of cinema partnerships, all whip smart exchanges and subtlety. Bingham finds himself drawn to Alex’s similar view on life to begin with but his attraction turns into genuine feeling, leaving the viewer to wait for the inevitable happy ending. But Reitman leaves us guessing and guessing, constantly pulling the rug from under us. The second lady is Natalie, a college graduate who brings Clooney’s jet set life in severe danger with a proposal to make the redundancies over video link, cutting out the need to travel. Suddenly Bingham has to face the end of his dream life and the start to living like everyone else, but not before having to guide Natalie across the Country to train her how to be an efficient downsizer.
The scenes between Bingham and Natalie are a complete joy, with Natalie trying her hardest to remain as professional and failing miserably whilst he fails to keep his level of icy indifference towards the young upstart. Reitman guides everything along with a real sense of authenticity, hiring people who had been made redundant in their own lives to do the interview scenes with Clooney, a smart move with a film that has so much of its heart steeped in the modern economic state. Reitman proves that his mastery of filmmaking is getting stronger with each feature, becoming as strong in stature as Alexander Payne. Reitman draws out perfect performances from Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick and knows when to let the actors own the camera, and when to change it up, as he does so splendidly in the scenes involving Bingham’s wedding. Overall the film is near impossible to fault, giving us a modern day battle of the sexes with a most modern feel to it. The film and Clooney start off ice cool but as he melts then you are left feeling that rarest of things in a romantic movie - joyful and surprised. Clooney for Oscar, yeah, and a few more for the ladies and their helmer.
Precious is a film made of nothing but raw emotion. Believe me when I say this, it is as hard to watch as anything you will see. The story revolves around Precious, a severely overweight teenager with a harrowing home life; her father rapes her and she is pregnant with their second child (he is also nowhere to be seen in the film) and her mother is a monster; abusive towards her daughter and instead of protecting her daughter against the evil father, she is jealous of her, accusing her of stealing ’my man.’ Precious gets through by living in a fantasy world where she is a superstar, adored by millions. She ends up attending a special school for kids who for different reasons have not been given a good education. With the help of her teacher, and a social worker the pain of her life gets exposed and Precious starts to get a semblance of a life, not the one she fantasies about, but a dream one all the same.
Lee Daniels has made a film that is basically just a showcase for the story and therefore relies on the actors to be convincing enough to engage the audience due to the lack of any technical frills. So eyebrows may have been raised when Mariah Carey was cast as the social worker. Do not fear however, for Ms Carey has pulled a ’Glitter’ hammered nail out of her acting coffin with a solid, strong performance as the person that finally uncovers what Precious has had to endure all these years. In fact, she adds greatly to the highlight of the film, as she brings in Precious’ mother for a three way conversation. In it, the monster is finally exposed and with it go the plaudits for Mo’Nique as Precious ‘mum.’ She is terrifyingly excellent throughout but is her extracted confession that leaves you drained of all emotion, a performance so good that you forget that it’s a film. There can not be enough said about her and if her name is not already attached to the Best Supporting Actress Oscar than I will be extremely shocked. Finally, unstoppable kudos goes to Gabourey Sidibe as the title character. It is not an easy task to play a character with such a miserable existence but she handles it with such skill that you are glued to her every minute, though the sadness, into the joy and finally, into a real life. Best Actress? We can only hope. Plenty of tears will fall during this film but it is a must see.
Finally Invictus is the latest film from the veteran of veterans, Clint Eastwood. It tells the story of Nelson Mandela’s involvement in getting the South African rugby team to win the World Cup in 1995, the year they hosted the event. Mandela saw it as the perfect opportunity to get South Africa back on the map as a unified Country and finally shake the apartheid tag away for good; not easy for a team with only one black player, and with a squad that were generally seen as whipping boys in recent years. When stripped away of all it’s political content Invictus is that age old cinematic cliché film, the underdog sports film. However in Eastwood’s masterful hands it surely must become something better.
Sadly, it doesn’t. Despite another solid directorial performance from Eastwood, the script is nearly killed with cheesy scenes, showing the team as a unified world beaters, when they were weeks before drinking in the changing rooms. Not only that but Matt Damon does not look natural in his role as Francois Pienaar, the team captain. He tries his best to nail the accent but it seems as if he is trying so hard that he stiffens up in his performance. He still has some pretty good scenes but you are left in no doubt that it is Matt Damon acting, rather than Francois Pienaar.
Thank God then for Morgan Freeman, in a role of a lifetime as Mandela. He brings all the mannerisms of the great man to life, and we are transported into the mind of a living legend and the mechanics that made him such a worldly respected man. If it were not for his performance than I would say that the movie was quite disappointing. It’s not that it’s a bad movie, in fact the final half hour shows off Clint’s ability to film wonderful, suspenseful sport scenes. In fact, if the action all took place on the field then the film would be a very good film. However a mix of clunky image clichés (watch the borderline hilarious trophy raising at the end - black hand and white hand joined as one) and even clunkier dialogue stifle the promise that shimmers underneath. Not classic Clint, but he has directed Freeman to a probable Oscar again.
Up In The Air: 5/5
Precious: 4/5
Invictus: 3/5
