My Review: The Invisible Woman (6/10)

"Every human creature is a profound secret and mystery to every other."

In this follow up to his directorial debut, Coriolanus, Ralph Fiennes directs himself as Charles Dickens focusing on a specific period of his life rather than on a full blown biography. I am a huge fan of Dickens' work and have read many of his novels, but this film focuses on his later years after he had become a successful and respected writer. He was a very popular figure during the Victorian Age and we get glimpses of this here in The Invisible Woman as he struggles to hide his affection for a teenage stage actress he encounters named Nelly Ternan (played by Felicity Jones). Dickens is married, but he finds no fulfillment in his wife who doesn't understand his work. But since he's such a public figure, he must keep his affair a secret which is something Nelly finds hard to accept. This period piece stands out visually thanks to the beautiful costume design and setting which transports us to the Victorian Age. The Oscar nomination for achievement in costume design was well deserved although it lost out to The Great Gatsby. The performances from Felicity Jones and Ralph Fiennes were superb and the chemistry between them was strong, but the major issue with this film has to do with its slow pacing. The film is a little less than two hours long, but it feels like much more. However it's hard to resist this film due to the charm that Fiennes' Dickens evokes on the viewer. We have read his novels where he bears his soul about his troubled and difficult past (David Copperfield is my favorite work of his and it is his most autobiographical one), but I really never pictured him as this successful writer who enjoyed the spotlight and had such charisma. Its that very essence of Dickens that got me through the movie. 

The Invisible Woman was adapted by Abi Morgan from Claire Tomalin's book and it focuses on Dickens' affair from Nelly's point of view as she dealt with the pain of their secret relationship despite having a privileged life. Everything about this period piece looks beautiful, but still it feels like its missing something and I quite can't figure it out yet. I can't fully grasp the mystery as to why Nelly accepted to live this life while internally she despised herself for it. The film doesn't bear her soul, but only shows signs of this externally through her strong performance. She is troubled and despite her admiration for Dickens' work we don't see that same passion in her eyes that he shares for her. The supporting performances from Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Hollander, and Joanna Scanlan do lift the movie. Scanlan plays an important role as Dickens' wife as she comes to grasp the reality of her husband's affair. It's the poor way she's treated by Dickens that turns her off. However, Dickens is so charming that it's hard not to like him. Scott Thomas plays Nelly's mother and she is the one that convinces her to accept the life Dickens offers her. The film explores this complex relationship and it succeeds in most part thanks to the strong performances but it still fails to engage us more in their world. Just like Nelly's repressed emotions, the film at times feels repressed and doesn't quite manage to open up for the audience. 

My Review: Only God Forgives (3/10)

"Time to meet the devil."

I've never gone from a love-hate relationship as fast as I have with Nicolas Winding Refn after watching Only God Forgives. His prior film, Drive, was my favorite movie of 2011 and now only two years later I was utterly disappointed with his follow up movie also staring Ryan Gosling. Everything that I loved about Drive, I hated about this film. It was an exercise in style, but it lacked substance. It's an existentialist surrealistic film that never managed to connect with me. I have to admit the style and the visuals were great, but the story was way too vague and the movie didn't say anything to me. I know that there are many film buffs that loved this film and have explained the meaning of the story, but despite understanding what they are saying it didn't really say anything to me. I respect their point of view, but I can't justify a film that narratively didn't draw me in or had no meaning to me personally. I wouldn't want to waste another 89 minutes of my life re watching it and trying to find a deep new meaning just because I didn't see it the first time around. Only God Forgives is a very divisive film and in a way that proves Refn's success here. He did manage to reach to a specific audience just like a specific art piece speaks to one person but to another it is just a paper drawing. Despite how much respect I have for Refn I have to say this was simply an empty exercise in style that we've seen in much better films in the past.

Julian (Ryan Gosling) manages a Thai boxing club in Bangkok, but it is only a cover up for his underground drug operation which is the real reason as to where the money comes from. His partner and brother, Billy (Tom Burke) rapes and kills a 16 year old girl and all hell breaks lose. A former police officer, Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm), allows the victim's father to kill Billy in order to restore order and balance, but when Billy and Julian's mother, Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas), arrives in town to reclaim her son's dead body she asks Julian to kill those people responsible for killing his brother.

The plot may seem pretty straightforward like any other revenge movie, but this is far from it. It is a slow paced film with long shots of colorful wallpapered hallways full of silent moments, it is stylish and has little characterizations, the narrative is surreal and dreamy, it sometimes can seem pretentious and extremely showy which may leave the audience feeling tedious, and it is brutal and sadistic in its portrayal of violence. There are extreme close ups on Ryan Gosling whose character shows no emotion at all. I felt like he was just in a photo shoot at times simply modeling for the camera. He only has 22 lines in the entire movie. He was completely empty, but it was exactly the character he was asked to play. Kristin Scott Thomas is supposed to play this menacing character, but she reminded me of Lady Gaga in her weird days. I didn't enjoy her performance at all. Everyone was detached or at least that is how I felt towards the movie. Pansringarm also played a very silent character with some sort of supernatural ability or quality. He was sort of the God figure who was sent to restore order and justice. There is a lot of style in this film and several stunning camera shots but the movie is extremely dull and hollow.

My Review: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (7/10)

¨When things get tricky in my life, I talk to my fish¨

Don`t be scared away by the title of this film or by the slow opening because this movie is really worth your time thanks to some strong performances and some interesting characters which are actually hard to find nowadays. This British film was brought to us by Swedish director, Lasse Hallstrom (Cider House Rules, What`s Eating Gilbert Grape, and Chocolat) and the screenplay was adapted by Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours) so there were a lot of talented people involved. I found this romantic comedy pretty charming and enjoyed the dialogue very much despite not knowing or carrying much about Salmon fishing. The heart of the film relies on the relationship between Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt`s characters who are so different from each other but have great chemistry together. The film was adapted from Paul Torday`s novel and some elements probably didn’t work as well in the movie as they did in the book but I still enjoyed this film considering most Hollywood rom-coms are overly sentimental and predictable. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen has some heart touching moments, but it never tries to be melodramatic and most of the dialogues and jokes are pretty well written without being raunchy or forcing the comedy. Fans of the actors won`t be disappointed as both Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt give strong performances and have great material to work with. They make what seemed as a boring idea turn into a good film.

Dr. Alfred Jones` (Ewan McGregor) life revolves pretty much around Salmon fishing. He`s a fisheries expert working for the British government living a dull life with his wife Mary (Rachael Stirling) who`s also dedicated to her job and always travelling. When the relationship between the Middle East and Great Britain gets tense, the Prime Minister`s press secretary, Patricia Maxwell (Kristin Scott Thomas) decides to search for a good will story that could help lessen the tension. She finds her story when she hears that a Yemen Sheik named Muhammed (Amr Waked) is trying to bring the sport to his homeland. When Dr. Jones is asked to help the Sheik he claims it`s impossible and foolish to try to take the sport to the Yemen desert. However, the government forces him to accept the proposition and come up with some plan to make the Sheik`s dream come true. The Sheik`s representative is Harriet (Emily Blunt) who is in charge of accommodating the doctor and putting the team together. Despite the doctor`s reluctance at first he discovers that the Sheik actually has good intentions for the project and that things might work out. He also befriends Harriet and despite the fact that at first they can`t stand each other and that she`s dating a military soldier sent to Afghanistan they become good friends.

Ewan McGregor has been choosing some interesting projects lately, although I wouldn’t say this one was as good as his character in Beginners, but he does some interesting things with his character once again. He`s obsessed with fishing but at the same time seems emotionally detached which makes us question really if he suffers from Asperger`s when he joked about it in one scene. He`s also very analytical, but he changes after befriending Blunt`s character who has great charm once again. The film seems to point out how sometimes we become so comfortable with our own routines that we forgive really to live and that was what was happening to Dr. Jones. Once the project was forced up his throat he had to change and ended up enjoying the process. Change can be difficult at times, but sometimes it can be good for us. Overall I enjoyed this film quite a bit and thought the characters had a lot of charm, I would definitely recommend it.

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