'Whip It' review: Barrymore's entertaining directing debut

With her debut feature, ‘Whip It’, Drew Barrymore asserts herself as a capable filmmaker, after years in front of the camera and many spent behind the scenes as a producer (on projects as diverse as ‘Donnie Darko’, ‘Music and Lyrics’ and ‘Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle’). But whilst it is hardly surprising that someone raised in the movies should take so easily to making them, it is surprising just how much fun ‘Whip It’ actually is. Boasting the quirky, colourful aesthetics that have almost become the house-style at Fox Searchlight, set to a soundtrack selected by Randall Poster (music supervisor on all the Wes Anderson films) and starring Ellen Page (of ‘Juno’ fame), ‘Whip It’ is well-placed to become an firm “indie” favourite, and deservedly so.

Ellen Page stars as Bliss Cavendar who becomes “Babe Ruthless” when she takes up the alternative, amateur, all-girl US sport of roller derby. Dragged to beauty pageants by pushy mother (played by Marcia Gay Harden), Bliss sees roller derby as a better match for her personality and soon befriends a group of social misfits of varying ages and backgrounds, who are a better match for her quirky, off-beat personality than the fellow students at her high school. She lives in a small Texan town and also sees roller derby as a means of escape to the more exciting and vibrant life possible in the state capital, Austin. This teenage coming of age story takes place, to pleasing effect, alongside the well-worn clichés of the sports movie genre (the rival team; the tough but fair coach; shots of the scoreboard; the big final game; etc).

The best thing about ‘Whip It’ is the sense of fun which runs through the film, aided in no small part by a terrific cast of supporting players: Jimmy Fallon is a charming presence as the derby commentator, Juliette Lewis was born to play Bliss’s sporting rival “Iron Maven” and Daniel Stern is a suitably warm and likable presence as Bliss’s father. The real comic highlight is Andrew Wilson’s brilliant, understated comic performance as the girl’s coach “Razor”, which feels straight out of a Wes Anderson movie and is a consistent delight. It is nice to see him in a sizable role and here he makes his biggest impression since he turned up as “Future Man” alongside his brothers (Owen and Luke) in 1996’s ‘Bottle Rocket’. It is also nice to see Drew Barrymore give herself a small role as “Smashley Simpson”, the most violent member of Ellen Page’s team of roller derby heroes.

There is a palpable sense of joy throughout this movie, which resolves one key confrontation with a light-hearted food fight (cinema’s first since ‘Hook’ in 1991?). One of the great things about ‘Whip It’ is the way in which the derby girls swing elbows and break each others noses with real intent. It is great to such a tough attitude in a film primarily aimed at young girls. Bliss’s decision to give up pageants isn’t simply cosmetic, as it might be in so many other films (probably symbolised by dark eye makeup and wrist bands). Here it’s actually backed-up by an attitude, which is (crucially) about standing up for yourself, as opposed to being anti-social and starting fights.

Where the film suffers is in its third act in which the pacing takes a dip and the laughs cease during the inevitable “down” section of the movie where everything contrives to go wrong all at once for Page’s plucky hero. Some of these threads are necessary for the story of the film: most notably Bliss has to convince her mother that she should be able to take part in roller derby rather than beauty pageants. However, the thread concerning the temporary break-up of her friendship with Alia Shawkat’s character is a major drag and undermines the rest of the movie, which succeeds in convincing us that they are really best friends (who you’d have thought wouldn’t be so prone to irrational implosion). The other low point is the male love interest Oliver, played by Landon Pigg (apparently a singer-songwriter new to acting). Whilst the individual tender moments written for the romantic scenes are fairly sweet, Pigg is just too wet-behind-the-ears and the film becomes a lot less enjoyable when he is onscreen.

Overall, ‘Whip It’ is a confident and thoroughly enjoyable directorial debut for Drew Barrymore. It manages to have an authentic “sisters doing it for themselves” feel, without being tacky or patronising and whilst it didn’t perform amazingly well in the North American Box Office, ‘Whip It’ may eventually find an audience later on (on TV and DVD) and stake its claim for “cult classic” status. But before then: if you’re up for a good time at the pictures, you could do much worse then to buy a ticket for this funny and charming film.

'Whip It' is on general release in the UK and is rated '12A' by the BBFC.

'I Am Love' review, plus the new (and last?) Splendor podcast...

Regular readers (hello mum and dad) may have noticed that this blog has not really been updated with its usual frequency in the last week or so. This has been due to my work for Obsessed With Film, for whom I interviewed Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and reviewed their latest film 'Cemetery Junction'. During that time I saw 'I Am Love', but have only just been able to take the time to review it here. It is a bit shorter than my usual reviews on here, but I wanted to get something down before I forgot everything about the film! On a seperate note: there is a new Splendor Cinema podcast up in the player at the side of this blog. It is labelled episode seven because whilst the 'Kick-Ass' episode got put up on iTunes, it was the victim of a staff holiday at the Picturehouse site and so seems to have been passed by. When the latest episode appears on iTunes it will (correctly) be number eight.

And number eight, in which Jon and I tackle the subject of the future of cinema and of piracy, may well be the last Splendor Cinema podcast... ever. But have no fear gentle listener! We are re-branding it the "Obsessed With Film" podcast and it will continue in the same vein, but hopefully reaching a larger audience. So keep on listening.

Anyway, here is the 'I Am Love' review:



‘I Am Love’ is an Italian film produced by (and starring) Tilda Swinton and directed by Luca Guadagnino. According to Swinton the film was conceived in part as a tribute to filmmakers “whose claim on the development of the cinematic language is unassailable”. ‘I Am Love’ is apparently “an attempt to honour this kind of bravado” from these great artists who so advanced film as an art form. But whereas the works of Hitchock, Huston and Kubrick (three of the filmmakers cited as influences) were always constructed to appeal to an audience and to provide entertainment, ‘I Am Love’ is content to pander to an art house crowd who will no doubt call it “a sumptuous and sublime work” and will remind us that “Swinton is superb!”. Guadagnino and Swinton may feel that they have paid a tribute to the greats in terms of their execution of the cinematic form as a “toolkit” (again Swinton’s words), but none of the excitement of ‘North by Northwest’ or ‘The Maltese Falcon’ or ‘A Clockwork Orange’ can be felt in this formal exercise in pretension.

Some individual scenes are truly excellent. The film expertly evokes the feeling of a late summer afternoon, with especially beautiful sunlit scenes depicted on Yorick Le Saux’s camera. Le Saux also worked with Swinton on ‘Julia’ and it is easy to see why she would have asked him back for this project: the cinematography is faultless. Similarly evocative is John Adams operatic score, which lends a level of grandeur to the occasion and renders the films visual elegance audible. I would also say that some key scenes and moments did affect me, with one of the film’s key revelations occurring in a purely visual way – surely the mark of the purest kind of cinema. Furthermore, I enjoyed the way in which Edo (Swinton’s favourite son) subtly mirrors his father (and the whole family) in his treatment of women throughout the film and also how the daughter’s homosexuality (an early plot development) is treated with tenderness and real love.

However, despite these admirable qualities the film generally kept me at arms length throughout. It feels like more of a showcase for Tilda Swinton’s undoubted talent, rather than a story that needed to be told. There was one brief chase sequence that alluded to the Hitchcockian influence with it’s pacing and sense of urgency. But the rest of film moves at a wearying pace, as the filmmakers hope that the undoubted visual splendor will keep you hooked. Long, well-composed shots of people sitting around nicely-lit tables can only hold my attention for so long and as early as twenty minutes into the films two hours I found myself bored, however much I really want to admire and applaud anyone who so earnestly celebrates the cinematic.

I can see how, in the age of ‘Transformers 2’ and ‘The Bounty Hunter’, this sort of ambitious and self-indulgent cinema might appeal to those who hunger for something with a bit of substance. But for me, ‘I Am Love’ is an example of the opposite extreme, for as much as ‘Transformers’ is so brazenly artless, ‘I Am Love’ is an example of art for arts sake - which to my mind is ultimately just as artless in the final analysis. Great art doesn’t (or shouldn’t) primarily aspire to be art. ‘I Am Love’ certainly sings of its artiness from the well-lit rooftops of its many splendid Milanese villas. But then maybe it is only fitting that a film entitled ‘I Am Love’ should be so enamored with itself.

'I Am Love' is still playing across the UK in selected screens, including Brighton's own Duke of York's Picturehouse. It is rated '15' by the BBFC.

'Cemetery Junction' review: Check it out at OWF

My review will not be posted here this time! It is up on Obsessed With Film here.

I hope you head over there and enjoy it! Just so you don't leave empty handed, check out this clip from the movie:



Also, check out my interview with the writer/director team behind the film here.

A Conversation with Gervais and Merchant...

As promised at the end of last weeek, here is a link to Obsessed With Film and my interview with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, who talked to me to promote their new film 'Cemetery Junction'. My review will be up on the same site on Wednesday, so I'm told.

I won't publish the whole thing on here (I don't know that I'm allowed) but I'll put a taster here to encourage you to read the full article:

Robert Beames: Even though you obviously write these moments and you know Emily Watson is a really good actress so you’re not too surprised, but does it still surprise you at the end of the day when you’re watching dailies and you see your words…

Ricky Gervais: Yes. Yes. Absolutely.

Stephen Merchant: Those people always bring something extra.

RG: The way she does that and people like that underplay it. At the time you don’t think anything of it, but when you look back at it on a screen they fill your heart. Honestly, they’ve got something else, they’ve got an alchemy. It’s indescribable and I don’t know how they do it. And that’s the difference between a great actor and a film star and you can be both. There about fifty people in the world who are both.

SM: Well Ralph Fiennes turned up and I think the first thing he did was that big…

RG: Speech. Remarkable.

SM: Wasn’t it? That big monologue he’s giving the guy and [Merchant rhythmically slaps his hands] he came in word perfect, bam, there in front of two hundred extras, nailed it. We were embarrassed; we didn’t have any direction to give him… “do you want to do it again?”


Go and read the full article now!!!

T'was 'Cemetery Junction' day in Soho!

I don't know how much I can really say much about today as I need to give the articles to the website that kindly commissioned them: Obsessed With Film and their generous editor Matt Holmes. But what I can say is that I saw 'Cemetery Junction', the first film by the Gervais/Merchant comedy writing team, at Sony's Soho office (in the world’s most comfortable theatre and on a brilliant screen!) You can read my review shortly (and on OWF). Afterwards, I was lucky enough to be invited to the Soho Hotel where I saw Zach Braff milling around the lobby (and I also passed that guy Lizo from 'Newsround' in the street on the way in). Once at the hotel, I attended a press junket on the second floor, where I was lucky enough to snag a 10 minute interview with Gervais and Merchant themselves (which will also go up on OWF when it's done)!

It was basically like that scene in 'Notting Hill' where Hugh Grant tries to get into a junket as an excuse to talk to Julia Roberts again (only without the possibility of romance, sadly). I really enjoyed the whole experience greatly. Happily, the duo were nice enough to sign my copy of the press notes and a copy of this month's Total Film (which they have guest edited), which I shall treasure.

Anyway, stay tuned at OWF to read my thoughts when they are uploaded. I'll remind you again on here when they are anyway, but got to OWF all the same.

'Cemetery Junction' is rated '15' by the BBFC. It is released on the 14th of April in cinemas everywhere!

'Lourdes' review: My Sweet Lourdes

‘Lourdes’ is a French film (by Austrian director Jessica Hausner) which follows Christine (Sylvie Testud, also seen in the Oscar-winning ‘La Vie en Rose’ in 2007), a woman paralysed from the neck down, as she goes on a pilgrimage to the iconic Catholic site named in the title. There is the sense in ‘Lourdes’ that Christine is possibly not drawn to the journey by her Catholicism, but by the fact that joining up with the group of nuns (who take parties of wheelchair bound people on this pilgrimage) is enabling her to see more of the world: “It is difficult to travel in a wheelchair” Christine tellingly admits early on. But Christine is not cynical or manipulative and has the best intensions. She is not unmoved by Catholic doctrine either, as she clings to the hope that a divine miracle will help her to walk again, a hope encouraged in dreams of the Virgin Mary.

For someone as irreligious as I, the films greatest pleasures are found in its representation of the tacky and crassly commercial side of Catholicism as an organisation, with Mary figurines readily on sale at Holy sites and gaudy neon halo’s adorning many of the Mary statues seen in the film. Similarly, the pilgrims take their group photo on a bench designed exactly for such a purpose outside one religious monument and Christine herself refers to ‘Lourdes’ as “too touristy” and finds it lacking in culture. Amusingly the music on the soundtrack seems to imply commerciality even to the films version of the Ava Maria, which sounds cheesy and synthesized. The film even culminates at a Catholic disco.



But to say that the film is itself anti-Catholic would be unfair and the things I have seen as evidence of commerciality and opportunism could be seen differently by those coming to the film with a different outlook. As the (usually still) camera lingers on scenes of the pilgrims eating dinner, it is up to the viewer to decide where to look and what to make of what is happening during a number of terrifically detailed scenes. It can also be said that the pilgrims themselves seem sincere, as do the majority of the nuns and priests depicted (with the possible exception of a young nun who seems to view the pilgrimage as a Catholic holiday camp and an alternative to summer skiing). Most telling of all is the fact that the film doesn’t do anything to discourage the idea that divine miracles can and do happen. This is another detail which helps to keep the film pleasantly ambiguous and stops it from seeming at all polemical.

Instead of asking the question “do miracles happen?” the film looks at who they may happen to and is mostly concerned with the reactions of people to potential miracles. Perhaps (the film posits) miracles may happen to the nicest people, not necessarily the most pious, and the film would seem to suggest that the two are not necessarily linked. Christine is never mean to anyone, even though she would have cause: she is frequently patronised for being in her condition and sometimes forgotten or ignored by the nun assigned to care for her. She is only really interested in making the best of things. By contrast some of her more pious co-pilgrims seem to gossip and view the receipt of a miracle as some sort of competitive sport.

To say that ‘Lourdes’ is a slow moving film of subtle observations and small moments would be an understatement, as to many it would probably fit the description that “nothing happens”. There is a story here, but it is slight (and I have done my level best not to spoil it here). It is in the interactions of the characters and specifically their treatment of Christine that the film is strongest. It is odd perhaps that a film that accepts the possibility of miracles could be so matter of fact and naturalistic, but maybe that is the point: in a world where miracles exist (and are indeed scrutinized and recorded by the Church) are miracles simply as banal as everything else?

'Lourdes' is playing in a select number of screens across the UK and can be seen at the Duke of York's in Brighton until Thursday. It is rated a 'U' by the BBFC.

Q&A with Uckfield Picture House owner Kevin Markwick

Kevin Markwick owns and runs the Uckfield Picture House in East Sussex (not related to the 'Picturehouse' chain). An impassioned cinephile, Kevin was interviewed by Francine Stock on BBC Radio 4's Film Programme in February and came across as a funny and interesting guy. I got in touch and he was nice enough to answer a few questions for this blog:

Has there ever been a single feature which has saved the cinema from going out of business during hard times?
There have been a few over the years that came in the nick of time. Whether they were solely responsible for saving the cinema may be an overstatement, but it might have been close without them. Mamma Mia I know saved a few smaller independents from disaster. Billy Elliot is one that springs to mind as being the cavalry.

Apart from Mama Mia and Avatar, both of which you mentioned on the radio, what have been the biggest success stories during your time managing the cinema?
Well, I’ve been here my whole life so I’ve pretty much seen everything huge since about 1968! Since my time totally in charge, the first Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Titanic etc stick out. The titles you would expect really. More bespoke to us if you like, Sense and Sensibility, Calendar Girls, Shakespeare in Love, Gosford Park.

Any notable disasters? Anything that you agreed to play for a few weeks and no one came at all?
There are always disasters. It’s the nature of the business that nothing is totally foreseeable. Out of the worst films of all time here, at least two of them star Adam Sandler so I now have a no Adam Sandler rule. He would have to be in a Merchant/Ivory production set in India during the Raj starring Judi Dench featuring Abba songs for me to change my mind.

I'm not familiar with Uckfield. Which cinemas are your nearest rivals and do you program your cinema to be distinct from them?
As the crow flies I think the nearest cinemas are East Grinstead and Burgess Hill. They don’t worry me, I just do my thing. I play more non mainstream product than them purely out of instinct. If they started doing more I still wouldn’t worry. I just try and make my cinema the best I can so that when people are looking where to go they choose us.

Besides your own, what is your favourite cinema, and why?
My fave cinema outside my own is the Arclight cinema in Hollywood. Although it’s a Multiplex they take great care over the picture and sound for every show. I have seen many films there and never once had a bad experience. Sound is always the right level and the picture is bright and in focus. Of course that is the least anyone should expect when going to the cinema but sadly too many multiplexes are letting the popcorn sellers run the box. They should teach them where the porthole is and what it’s for, i.e looking out of to see if the picture is correct.

Did your recent interview on Radio 4 have any impact on business that you noticed? Any new customers?
It got a very positive response and hopefully gave us some good publicity. Can’t say we have seen a massive spike in attendance but it can’t have done us any harm.

Are most of your customers regulars? What is the demographic?
We have a great number of regulars as well as new customers. We also lose a few now and then as you can’t please all the people all the time. We are having over 120,000 people through the door every year, quite remarkable for a little place like Uckfield. We draw from all over, I know people travel from Newhaven and Tunbridge Wells, which is nice. Our demographic is families and people over 25. We seem to miss the bit everyone wants, 18 – 25. They seem to think it’s better in the big towns. They are wrong of course, but what can I do? They come back eventually! This is why I don’t play Jason Statham movies.

You show quite a mix at your cinema ('A Single Man' and 'The Last Station' alongside 'Avatar' and 'Alice in Wonderland', for example). Do you try to make sure your three screens are all showing different sorts of movies? Or do you simply play the three biggest you can get hold of, regardless of what they are?
To explain in detail how the process works would take a while. Basically, biggest isn’t always best for us so the three most suitable for my audience would be a more appropriate description.


Finally, what has been your personal highlight at the cinema, both when you were younger and since you became the owner?
Personally one of the biggest thrills was the day I opened the third screen. It had taken many years and a lot of hard work to get it done and walking round the cinema that day with all three screens full felt pretty groovy. This was immediately followed by one of the worst sustained periods of business for about ten years so beware feeling smug, you’ll always fall flat on your face.

Thanks again to Kevin Markwick for that interview. A complete history of the cinema (which has been operating since 1920) can be read on its official website.