Everything That Dies, Some Day Comes Back

The critics back in 2003 really gave this erotic thriller from Jane Campion a thumbs down - a wretched 35% on Rotten Tomatoes tells its own story. Whilst there was acknowledgement of the superb cinematography by Dion Beebe, the story came in for a lot of flak.  And there was widespread disapproval of ‘America’s Sweetheart’ Meg Ryan trying to move out of her romcom lane and indulging herself (so it was seen) in graphic sex scenes.  Plus it was too arty and pretentious, which is certainly true in places - Meg Ryan's character, Frannie, reading aloud bits of poetry off posters on the subway, for example, did nothing for me. The film (for whatever reason) is clearly intended to evoke the 1971 classic ‘Klute'.   Both are psychological thrillers set in New York about a woman who is at risk from a murderer and who gets herself involved with a police detective. 'Klute' was a commercial and critical success, and Jane Fonda picked up an Oscar, even though her playing a prostit...

This film by Todd Haynes is based on real events concerning a long-running legal battle with DuPont. Mark Ruffalo stars as a corporate lawyer Robert Bilott who reluctantly gets dragged into representing a farmer from his home town whose cattle are dying in large numbers and in mysterious ways. Superficially it starts off as though this is simply going to be Erin Brockovich Redux. But whereas ‘Erin Brockovich’ is ultimately a feel-good story ‘Dark Waters’ is much less so. Erin Brockovich’s story is one of personal triumph, given her lack of legal training, whilst in contrast the DuPont case, which runs for many years, takes a heavy toll of both Bilott’s health and of his finances, putting his marriage under great strain. Haynes could of course have chosen to focus on Bilott's legal successes but instead we zoom in on the reality of what it is like to single-handedly take on a ruthless corporate behemoth.  This makes for a less commercially attractive film maybe but also a more truth...

This film, the latest collaboration by director Yorgos Lanthimos and screenwriter Tony McNamara , who worked together on 'The Favourite', is a weird and wonderful thing which defies description. I t's a fantasy owing a little to 'Frankenstein' and maybe also to 'Pygmalion' in that it s starting point is the creation of a woman Bella (played memorably by Emma Stone) who to begin with has the brain of a child and therefore has to be taught the ways of polite society.  Willem Dafoe is well cast as her creator and all-round mad scientist. Some of the grotesque and absurd elements of the fantasy world presented here reminded me of Tim Burton's work, whilst its hermetic nature brought to mind Wes Anderson. Since I'm not a great fan of either of those directors, or of the fantasy genre, I was surprised to find myself enjoying this.  It certainly helps that there's a lot of humour in the screenplay, stemming in part from Bella's direct and unfiltered...