My first batch this week were all rented on Amazon.
French comedy My Donkey, My Lover and I is pretty lightweight and with some problems but it is fairly enjoyable. Primary school teacher Antoinette (Laura Calamy) is having an affair with Vladimir (Benjamin Lavernhe), the father of one of her pupils. Jealous when he tells her he is going on a week’s walking holiday with his wife and daughter, she impulsively books herself on a similar donkey trekking vacation, hoping to bump into him… There is plenty to like here. Antoinette’s interaction with the stubborn Patrick (her donkey) raises a lot of smiles. Her mealtime discussions with fellow hikers are well written and nicely performed.
The main issue is that Antoinette is a pretty annoying character, pining over Vladimir like a love sick child from her class. That is definitely the fault of the writers rather than Calamy who brings all the charm and charisma she can into the role. Vladimir, is in turn, quite unpleasant, wanting to keep both his wife and his girlfriend without disrupting his life. Whilst it is not always essential to have likeable characters in films – there are plenty of gangster films I love for example – in a romcom, as this is billed, you really need a person or couple to root for.
Another film with an obvious weakness is End of Sentence. Frank (John Hawkes) has just lost his wife to cancer. When his estranged son, Sean (Logan Lerman), is released from prison in Alabama, Frank persuades the reluctant Sean to fulfil his wife’s dying wish to have her ashes scattered in her native Ireland. A road trip follows with some predictable adventures along the way and resulting in the father and son bonding. The problem is not with the obviousness of the plot but with the setting. There is no real reason to have set it in Ireland, as opposed to a part of America the men have not been to before. It means the cliched Hollywood view of Ireland is in full effect. Eccentric locals abound and you cannot spend more than a couple of minutes in a pub before someone starts singing Dirty Old Town! However, the two lead performances more than make up for that and the low key ending is very effective.
If you are in the mood for a gory home invasion thriller, then For the Sake of Vicious may do the trick. Romina, a tired nurse arrives home to find a desperate man in her house with a terrified hostage. As a series of violent intruders descend on the house, Romina has to find a way to survive. The plot is fairly daft but Lola Burke pulls off the part of Romina with some style and there is one great scene where she multi tasks tending to someone’s wounds whilst taking a phone call which is both very amusing and also demonstrates her resourcefulness.
Last year, Netflix brought us the above average Korean zombie pic #Alive. Now we have a very rapidly made American remake, Final Days. The story of a young man finding himself stuck alone in his flat when a zombie outbreak occurs is pretty much exactly the same, though, typically, his accommodation is much more luxurious. It feels a little pointless, and despite a brief appearance by Donald Sutherland, the performances do not match up.
A much more original take on a much used horror trope can be found in Rose: A Love Story. A married couple, Sam and Rose, hide out in a shack in the woods for reasons that are not clear, though Rose being ill is mentioned. When another woman unexpectedly arrives in their lives, the truth starts to emerge. This is gloomy, intense stuff, that may lack the obvious scares for many horror fans. But it is nicely atmospheric and Sophie Rundle is terrific as Rose.
By a whisker, my film of the week is Cowboys. A heartfelt movie about Troy, a father (Steve Zahn) who has not long been released from prison and has mental health issues, apparently kidnaps and takes off into the wilderness with his daughter Jo (Sasha Knight), leaving his estranged wife, Sally (Jillian Bell), frantically harassing the police officer investigating (Ann Dowd) to find them.
This is a rare occasion where the decision to embed flashbacks into the story to show why Troy did what he did, and the reason’s for Jo’s unhappiness really works. As the story unfolds your sympathies change from Sally to Troy and will remain with Jo who just want to live life as a boy (Joe).
Unfortunately, the film does become a little bogged down as Troy and Joe’s adventure starts to come to an end, and the ending itself feels a little too neat and not really believable based on what we have seen before.
My Donkey, My Lover and I: 6.5 out of 10
End of Sentence: 7.5 out of 10
For the Sake of Vicious: 5 out of 10
Final Days: 5 out of 10
Rose: A Love Story: 6 out of 10
Cowboys: 7.5 out of 10
Just a few lines on some other films seen this week.
Firstly, on Netflix, Oxygen. Mélanie Laurent plays a woman who has awaken in a cryogenic chamber with no idea how she has got there and with her oxygen running out. Set entirely in the chamber, this is pretty inventive filmmaking by Alexandre Aja and Laurent is convincing and the terrified and panicked woman. However, the 100 minute running time feels quite flabby.
Run comes in at just 90 minutes but feels much longer. A home schooled teenager becomes suspicious about her Mum, who she thinks is hiding secrets from her. For a supposed thriller with a decent cast including Sarah Paulson and Pat Healy, this is a plodding, turgid, affair.
Finally on Sky Movies there is Under the Stadium Lights. At the start of the film a voice over informs us that in Texas, there is God, family and football. That sets the tone for this thick headed and totally unoriginal drama about a high school football team. Apparently, a true story it duly introduces every cliché of the genre. Very boring indeed.
Oxygen: 7 out of 10
Run: 3 out of 10
Under the Stadium Lights: 2 out of 10