Everything That Dies, Some Day Comes Back

This is an engaging coming-of-age comedy drama, written and directed by Richard Ayoade. The central focus of the film is a romance between nerdy and shy Oliver (played by Craig Roberts) and his classmate Jordana. Maybe it's in the writing, or the performance by Yasmin Paige as Jordana, but I couldn't get as  emotionally invested in Oliver's and Jordana's relationship as I should have. Instead I really enjoyed the subplot involving Oliver's rather depressed dad, Lloyd, (played by Noah Taylor),  his mum Jill (Sally Hawkins) and her ex-boyfriend and now new-age guru Graham (Paddy Considine).  All three are great fun to watch here. There's also a lovely sequence where Oliver is recalling moments of his relationship with Jordana when it seems it's all over between them.  It's beautifully shot and very affecting.  I also liked the general air of melancholy throughout which reminded me a little of Wes Anderson, but thankfully without all the quirky detail that ...

I've seen this  Pulitzer Prize winning play by David Mamet (about real estate salesmen) twice in the theatre, including its initial run at the National Theatre when it blew me away.   This adaptation (by Mamet himself) has an ensemble cast so strong that fine actors such as Ed Harris and Alan Arkin only get to play minor roles.  The cast also includes Alec Baldwin who gets just the one scene, especially written by Mamet for the film, as a guy from head office trying to kick some life into the team by threatening them with the sack.  There’s also Kevin Spacey, well cast as the office manager who is despised by all the salesmen,  Jonathan Pryce, terrific as a hapless customer trying to back out of his “investment”, and Al Pacino as the smooth salesman determined to stop him doing so.   It’s an understated and effective performance by Pacino, and his best scene is one where he and Jack Lemmon improvise a way of bamboozling Pryce. Which brings us...

Well this is a weird film to say the least, and a very difficult watch at times, charting the degrading behaviour of its protagonist, the eponymous Lieutenant, played by Harvey Keitel who gives an extraordinarily committed performance. Apparently the director Abel Ferrara was on drugs whilst making this film, which seems appropriate given the nightmarish quality of some of the film, not to mention the amount of substance abuse committed by the Lieutenant as his life spirals out of control. This might make a good entry in a triple bill  about police corruption, along  with 'Serpico' and 'Training Day'.  Certainly the Lieutenant exploits his badge to extract money, or drugs, or in one especially gross scene, sexual favours. The film is not interested in explaining the Lieutenant's depravity but given the prominence of the Roman Catholic Church in the film, and the Lieutenant's hostility towards it, it is tempting to speculate that childhood abuse might be a partia...