Suffragette
(UK, 106 min.)
Dir. Sarah Gavron, Writ. Abi Morgan
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne-Marie
Duff, Nathalie Press, Ben Whishaw, and Meryl Streep
Carey Mulligan scores another point for feminism on film
with Suffragette. The film offers a
hearty follow-up punch to Mulligan’s spectacular performance as a Bathsheba
Everdene with contemporary sensibilities in Far from the Madding Crowd, and Suffragette
affords another strong role while paying tribute to women who turned the tide
for women’s rights in England. The film tells the story of a specific group of
women involved in the suffragette movement, particularly those taking up the
cause under the guidance of Emmeline Pankhurst (played by Meryl Streep), whose
radical advice of “deeds, not words” throws the suffragettes into a fight. Maud
(Mulligan) finds herself at the front lines of the battle when a co-worker at
her laundry mill (Anne-Marie Duff) inspires her to stand up for her rights.
Through Maud’s reluctant awakening to the movement demanding votes for women, Suffragette shows the power that one
individual has to change the world.
Mulligan nevertheless gives a very strong performance as she
wears Maud’s fatigue with “the way things are” with a composure that melts from
pacifism to anger. Abi Morgan’s script treads preachiness, but as one watches
Maud transform under Mulligan’s care, the film shows an ideological awakening:
once one sees things as they are, one cannot go back. In the spirit of the
film, though, Suffragette stands with
the united power of the women championing the fight. The ensemble is strong
overall with Helena Bonham Carter and Press joining the ranks as fellow
suffragettes, while Streep’s pivotal cameo as Pankhurst is a spot on bit of
casting that uses the actress’s power and persona to create a larger than life
figure who speaks with compellingly charismatic authority. See Suffragette to admire its performances
and to help cast a vote for more films by and about women. Every ticket is a
ballot!
Rating: ★★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
Suffragette is now playing in theatres.
45 Years
(UK, 95 min.)
Written and directed by Andrew Haigh
Starring: Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay
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| Courtesy of Mongrel Media |
45 Years is
filmmaking in the barest and best sense. Driven simply by a provocative premise
and two wonderful performances, 45 Years
beautifully envelops the viewer in an understated story of love and the
challenges it faces over the years. Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay star
as Kate and Geoff Mercer, a married couple in the midst of the golden years of
marriage. Preparations are underway for a large fête in celebration of their
forty-fifth wedding anniversary, but Kate worries that the past forty-five
years were all a lie.
The sad twist comes when Geoff receives a letter about a
woman he loved years before he met Kate. As Geoff slips into his rose-coloured
remembrance of the past, life takes a bitter hue for Kate as she reframes their
marriage and wonders if she’s simply been a placebo all these years. 45 Years plays out this tense lingering
conflict over the week that precedes the anniversary party. Each day, marked by
a title card, brings a bittersweet twist as Kate and Geoff mesh like a potion
mixed with the perfect chemistry, yet lingering doubts pollute their harmony as
more revelations from the past surface with poignant consequences.
Haigh plays out this drama like any fight a couple could
encounter over the course of a lengthy marriage. Every notes arises naturally
and evenly—don’t expect heightened shouts or smashed plates in 45 Years—and he uses one crucial grain
of truth to invite the audience to invade the intimate space this couple occupies.
Rampling and Courtenay have never been better as they play their roles with
seasoned unstated grace. Their rapport speaks volumes of their experience as
actors with an eye for subtly conveying the complexities of love. Rampling is
especially good—and 45 Years affords
her the showier role with its construction—in two key scenes that let the
silent power of her face, wrinkles and all, inform the viewer with its jarring emotional
language.
One scene lets Kate revisit an archive of Geoff’s former
flame. As Kate watches images on a slideshow, Haigh simply trains the camera on
Rampling’s face and lets the audience witness Kate’s reactions to the images
that on the screen (which we can’t properly see). As the wheel of the projector
turns with each click, 45 Years lets
the audience examine Rampling’s eyes for clues as Kate quickly scans the
pictures. It’s a powerful scene, as each picture tells a story as Kate looks
for hints that Geoff’s love is a betrayal. Rampling offers the same devastating
silent power in the film’s final scene as Kate takes Geoff in her embrace and
weighs the dance of their 45 years together. Love rarely seems so wonderful—and
so cruel—as it does in each bittersweet frame of 45 Years.
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
45 Years opens in limited release in Canada on January 22, 2016.
Shaun the Sheep Movie
(UK/France, 85 min.)
Written and directed by Mark Burton, Richard Starzak
Starring: Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes
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| Courtesy of Elevation Pictures |
What a fun adventure Shaun
the Sheep Movie is! The film adapts the popular TV series from the creators
of Wallace and Gromit, and it delivers
the same enjoyable stop-motion animation that brings out the kid in all of us. Shaun the Sheep Movie is especially
notable for its ability to elicit laughs and good cheer without uttering a
single word, for the larks of these barnyard animals led by Shaun the sheep
communicate solely through gestures, expressions, and the occasional barnyard
noise. Shaun herds the animals on a barnyard rebellion, which eventually takes
the flock into The Big City in search of their farmer, who isn’t as bad as he
originally seems once the animals eject him from the farm. The loony,
free-spirited animation is funky, warm, and consistently appealing—it’s
refreshing how much more life an animated film has when it doesn’t look like a
computer program—and the film pays as much attention to story and character as
it does to the visuals. It’s a funny, madcap caper.
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Also noteworthy: The Danish Girl and Phoenix hold up
to repeat viewings!
Up next: Carol!
