Andrew499

There are scenes in this film that make your jaw drop. Not by effects or plot twists, but by words. Some of the dialogue and interchanges between the four protagonists of this wordy and questionably disfunctional film are as raw as anything I've heard on celluloid. Writer/director Noli attacks the senses via your ears and offers an anti-antidote with sugar-coated visuals that make the nastiness seem even more harrowing. The story is nothing new, two couples talk sex, indulge in quite a lot of it, and there are no happy families, but the relentless commitment to denouncing love and fidelity makes this uncomfortable yet compelling viewing. Overlong with little reward but contemplation of your own relationships in the bleakest of sense, this remains a searing autopsy on marriage and monogamy. Great acting throughout, especially from the women who suffer the verbal onslaught with towering performances. Heartstopping.

What Von Trier does better than anybody at the moment is to make you believe what you shouldn't believe in. Be it a musical or a protagonist that looks right at the camera, he creates the truth within untrue circumstances. Here, he makes us believe in a community when all we see is a black stage and chalklines. And the way he does all this is through his supremely structured narrative. Ten minutes into the film, you forget there are no walls, no buildings, no horizons. You believe in the people and you see what is not there. Kidman delivers another flawless performance as the girl on the run. But it is Von Trier who deserves the praise for taking Cinema into the 21st century like no other.

It's true that DV filmmaking has allowed bad directors to make films. This is the real proof of that. Harmony Korine may have a (slight) gift for writing considering he penned films like Kids and Ken Park, but his prowess as a director and visual storyteller is zero. This is rubbish. Pretentious, boring, redundant rubbish. For every Von Trier who takes DV and makes it shine there are a thousand Korine's who flood an already tired market with even more pap. And Korine is the king of pap. Someone take the camera off him!

Ken Loach once again proves he is not only a superior director to his middle-class equivalent Mike Leigh, but one of the finest directors in the world. This mesmerizing, bleak coming-of-age fable leaves a haunting emotion that stays with you long after the credits roll. Superb performances throughout, especially by the young lead who puts most seasoned actors to shame. And Loach yet again directs with a look-no-hands ease that makes you forget this is not real. Brilliant.

Based on the superior book by Philip Roth, Anthony Hopkins gives an emotionally strong and convincing performance as the professor accused of a racist comment. The overwhelming consequence of this results in the death of his wife. Alone and embittered, he meets dowdy and troubled Nicole Kidman many years his junior and an unlikely unity is forged. What is grossly underwritten by this adaptation is Kidman's ex played by Ed Harris. Here he appears as nothing more than a sub-plot, when by the end he is anything but and therefore dissolves all tension and drama. Good performances throughout and the direction effortlessly combines the all-revealing flashbacks of the past to reveal the futility of the future.

This is a far superior film to 'Together' because it abandons the feel-good set-pieces and instills a darker realism. Lilya is abandoned by her mother, conned by her boyfriend, and sacrificed by her friend. Yet through all this she has a beautiful sense of hope and belief. A sad, touching and exquisitely performed gem.

Firstly, I have to say I watched this on video recommended by a friend so didn't get the 'cinema' experience of it. Not that there's a single striking image that would be worthy of the big screen. I just didn't buy any of it. The performances were average, actors waiting for their next cleverly constructed but ultimately contrived line and the direction adequate but little more. Mildly amusing but not a patch on a film like CLERKS which it clearly tries to emulate/plagiarize. I understand this has been highly praised, but for me, must do better.

I wanted to like this film. I like Larry Clark and I like what he tries to say. Kids and Bully were excellent. I even liked Another Day In Paradise. And there is much to like about Ken Park. The opening scene dazzles as only Larry can dazzle. And once again the teenage actors exell with an authenticity that makes The Osbournes seem fake. But it just doesn't work. These interlinked yet self-contained stories of a bunch of disillusioned kids was captured much better in previous films. The boy who is having an affair with his girlfriend's mother is merely that, no insight or subtext to either character, just an overlong cunnilingus scene that tells us nothing. The hyper-aggressive youth who hates his grand-parents is contrived and gratuitous. I'll champion freedom of speech and freedom of visuals, but do we really need to see a five minute masturbation to get it? Yet there is still much to praise. The sexual release of a teenage girl brought up by an overtly religious father and the hatred between a father and son are both harrowing and hilarious. Clark still shoots from the hip, but should realize he creates enough power in his films to be able to hold back from overt shock tactics.

I'm not a big fan of Ewan Macgregor, never bought his movie-star appeal based primarily with his feeble Star Wars attempt and the weakest character in Trainspotting, but in Young Adam he proves he's a class act. A subtle and controlled performance in this atmospheric but on the whole vacuous adaptation of Trocchi's novel. Director David Mckenzie is unable to capture the stream of conciousness the book evokes and relies on relentless sex-scenes (averaging one every 5 mins!) to fill the gaps. It's all much ado about nothing, but Macgregor's performance shines, as does the ever brilliant Swinton.