The Eyes Of My Mother is a very stylish and at times stylised film. It’s a disturbing tale of a daughter’s quest to replace the maternal love so brutally taken from her by a serial killer at a young age. The events that take place in the film are horrifying but does this qualify it as a horror, not quite.
The Eyes Of My Mother is the debut feature by writer/director, Nicolas Pesce and he does an admirable job. The decision to shoot the entire film in black and white is what raises it above mediocrity and sets the tone for the film. Also, the principal actress, Kiki Magalhaes is convincing for the most part as the adult although as the film reaches its climax she becomes too self aware. That would be my sole criticism of this film for all its beautiful cinematography and interesting play with the genre, it is just too self aware. Watching the film you sense that Pesce wants you to think isn’t this clever and look how I inverted what usually happens in a horror e.g. near the beginning you think a character will be killed but isn’t. It’s acceptable to employ the misdirection technique but sparingly. In this film it happens far too frequently.
The Eyes of My Mother is following the trends of other recent horror films that place maternal love at the heart of the film – Under The Shadow and Babadook. Those films the mother is very much present whereas in The Eyes Of My Mother it’s the loss of the maternal figure that plays the pivotal role.
Also, I am giving this film an extra gold star as it was mercifully short at 1 hour 13 mins.
The Eyes Of My Mother is out in cinemas Friday 24 March.
Adapted from Milean Agus’ novel ‘Mal di Pietre’, veteran French director Nicole Garcia has made a beautiful film about people’s neediness of love. Gabrielle Savourney (Marion Cotillard), the passionate young adult daughter of successful farmers in French Provence, proves to be a mystery to her parents. Adele, her perplexed and apathetic mother comes up with all sorts of illnesses to describe Gabrielle, while threatening to have her put away in an institution and ignoring the truth. Eventually she spots Spanish workhand José (Alex Broudermühl) glancing at Gabrielle, and comes up with another solution.
Honest and direct, José knows what he is up against, but having lost everything in Franco’s Spain, considers that there is nothing more to be lost. Perhaps he has seen in Gabrielle a reflection of his own needs, however unwilling she is to identify them. José provides Gabrielle with an escape, away from her mother, and in exchange, Gabrielle’s mother provides him with a way to start a business. Alex Sauvage (Louis Garrel), a wounded and shattered soldier on leave from the war in French Indo-China provides the catalyst to the second part of the story, that takes place in the sanitarium, where Gabrielle receives treatment for kidney stones, explaining the original title of the film.
Set in the 1950s, the film is saturated by the summer heat of the south of France. With a soundtrack performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and cicadas, director of photography, Christophe Beaucarne (AFC) has created beautiful images, from the shadowy barns of Provence to the saunas of the Swiss sanitarium, and finally to the Mediterranean. The story’s mystery is retained by the mixed-up chronology, leaving Gabrielle with a new-found confidence in her capacity to be loved, as well as resolution for José.
Selected in competition at the last Cannes film festival, the success of this film is its lack of sentimentality. Cotillard and Broudermühl’s portrayals of empathetic and raw characters are incredibly moving. Go and hug someone, they probably need it.
Back in 1991 the Oscars made film history, by nominating an animated film for best picture; that film was Beauty and the Beast. Today it still remains a Disney classic, loved by all. To me Beauty and the Beast is one of the best films the studio has ever produced! It’s one of those rare films where every time I see it I love it more. So when Disney mentioned that it was getting the live-action treatment I was understandably sceptical. But it started getting positive reviews and word of mouth was very good too. I booked tickets to see it, which was a good idea because the showing was full, and sat and watched a new take on the tale as old as time.
The story…you know what, I really shouldn’t have to tell you the story. We all know it; a prince is turned into a beast for his selfishness, his staff into ornaments and utensils, and is cursed to remain so unless he discovers true love. Love found in a selfless, kind-hearted and of course beautiful girl. The film this time does add more to the story, with numerous subplots and backstories to flesh out the world, as well as twisting the rules of the curse a bit.
So, what did I like about this film? I will say that Kevin Cline as Belle’s father was a surprisingly inspired choice. He was charming, worked well with Emma Watson and you related to him almost instantly. He was also funny, being Kevin Cline and all. There is actually a nice early scene with Belle and her father; the scene is almost told completely visually. It’s just a lovely scene. There’s a really good twist with the rose and the castle. You see in this version when a petal from the rose falls the castle crumbles a little. And when it does the inhabitants become less human and more like the objects they are becoming. This leads to a pretty good moment towards the end. And I have just mentioned the best scenes in the film, but they are really good scenes. And…umm…yep that’s it. Okay time to make some enemies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3Nl_TCQXuw
Emma Watson, this woman can’t sing! She hits the notes but she can’t hold them. It’s unfair of me to say that though, to be fair…because the same can be said about every single member of this cast! And Watson is giving possibly the worst performance of her career. I don’t blame her though, because there was nothing for her to work with. The comparisons to Paige O’Hara are unavoidable at this point, but we also have a terrible script and complete misdirection. She just felt completely miscast. But again, that isn’t fair to say to her because (with the exception of Cline) everyone felt miscast. This cast includes Dan Stevens as Beast, Luke Evans as Gaston, Josh Gad as LaFou, Ewan McGregor as Lumiere, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, Emma Thompson as Mrs Potts and Stanley Tucci as a piano. How do you make every single one of these actors feel completely out of place? McKellen sounds miserable all the time, I can’t tell what accent McGregor was doing but it wasn’t French and Emma Thompson, one of my favourite actresses, stop impersonating Angela Lansbury! Even Luke Evans as Gaston, who starts the film with such promise, becomes so hard to watch towards the end. Gaston is one of my favourite Disney characters, and personally I always saw him as a Bruce Campbell like figure, big and over-the-top and just silly with a hint of madness. This guy is just unpleasant and not entertaining to watch in the slightest, after the butchering of tavern song “Gaston”.
This film was directed by Bill Condon, the man who gave us Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and 2. That should tell you all you need to know about this film’s quality. He has a horrible habit of giving us lovely, gorgeous sets and locations and then shooting them in such an unflattering and sometimes blurry shot. Also, Belle’s village is like Hook in how obviously it’s a set on a studio. The action shots are not chaotically shot and you can tell what is going on in then: Hurray! But the action itself is slow, uninspired and badly choreographed: Boo! And the special effects are a mixed bag. Beast and the inhabitants of the castle look good for the most part, although each of them has that one shot where they just look terrible. The wolves look alright but are clearly made in a computer. But the castle looks awful! It’s passable in establishing shots when it’s just the castle, but when it’s a person looking out of a window or down from a rafter then it’s Gods of Egypt bad with how obvious the green screen is. And the designs of the living furniture, which was once cute, is now hideous. These characters are horrible to look at now.
But what kills Beauty and the Beast here is the writing. Everything else aside the writing, coupled with the directing is just a travesty. It is trying to be different, it really is but it also copies too much from the original. When it tries to be new though, it doesn’t nearly live up to its potential. Examples are: the revelation that the Beast had a horrible father who made him as he is today. That’s just glanced over. Why? LaFou is now gay; great, go LGBT rights. But it’s just an unsubtle and undeveloped character point that it just doesn’t work, and feels more like an executive decision to get more people in the cinemas with controversy. Belle’s mother died of the plague. What does that have to do with a beast in a castle? And when they do the ball scene, crapping on a musical masterpiece as they do so, we get a shot of the decorations shaped like instruments playing the music. That’s great and really creative, but’s it’s just one shot, why?
Beauty And The Beast
And how can I forget about, what I have called, The Book Of Plotholes! There’s a book in the castle that teleports you to wherever you want. I don’t mean as an illusion, it actually teleports you. This makes the whole story mute! Gone is the isolation! Gone is the character’s common sense! And fuelled is the theme of Stockholm syndrome! It’s like they feel they should restrict themselves for familiarities sake.
And when it’s just playing the original it’s nowhere near as good. Examples: when Belle leaves the Beast sings about his feelings. Forgetting that this is a forgettable song (if that makes sense), this is far less emotionally effective as the Beast just roaring in emotional pain in the original. Belle’s father is going somewhere and gets lost on the road. In this version I have no idea where he’s going, the market I suppose, but how do you lose the road to the market? The Beast is fighting Gaston, nearly kills him; here Beast says “I’m not a beast”. That’s true, but in the original that’s told only through his facial expressions. But the kicker to me was when Belle wishes to go back and save her father. Here she says that her father needs her help…and Beast says go to him straight away. In the original, he looks at her, then the mirror, and then the rose; he has a look of horror as he sees how few petals there are, but then softens, cradling the rose and then tells her that he has set her free. Five emotions compared to absolutely none! That could have been avoided if there was any form of chemistry between Belle and Beast, but there isn’t a shred of it.
I could go on much longer but this review would never end if I did. I know what some will think: it’s a different film and shouldn’t be compared to the original. Normally I would say so too, but this film is adamant of reminding us about the much better film. It’s shot for shot at some points, it’s just insulting. The songs that I love are butchered, the characters sucked dry and the passion is replaced by product. And that there is the worst crime of all. The original is such a passionate film, dripping with imagination and wonder. This abomination is the most cynical product I have seen in a long time. Technically films like Assassin’s Creed, Underworld Blood Wars and The Great Wall are worse films, but none of them came even close to angering me as much as this did. And then it has the gault to be a success, not just with money but with critics and audiences. How? Why? I will never know. Although, I will give it this much credit; it has made me appreciate the 1991 animated film more than I have ever done before. If it isn’t baroque, don’t fix it.
In 1987, Rhode Island boxer Vincenzo “Vinny” Pazienza – also known as The Pazmanian Devil – won the IBF Lightweight Championship of the World in his home town of Providence. As he got bigger he began struggling to make the weights but, following three defeats for world titles in the Light Welterweight division, Vinny finally became a two-weight champion in 1991 having stepped up a couple of divisions to beat Gilbert Dele for the WBA Light Middleweight World title, once again in his home town. For a guy jumping up two weight classes who had lost his previous three title fights and was now struggling as a credible draw, it was a hell of a comeback.
Then, late in 1991, Vinny was involved in a head-on motoring collision with another vehicle, which broke his neck and almost severed his spinal cord altogether, leaving doctors uncertain as to whether he would ever walk again. Box again? Pfft, forget that. That was over, and his title was relinquished.
Vinny, however, wasn’t prepared to accept that his career was finished. With a tightly-fitted “halo” brace screwed to his skull, he began a training regime in secret and against strict doctor’s orders which culminated, thirteen months after his car crash, in a points victory over future light-middleweight champ Luis Santana. Three years later (and having gone up ANOTHER couple of weight divisions), Vinny beat legendary Panamanian fighter Roberto Duran to win the IBC World Super-Middleweight title. This comeback didn’t just put his previous already-impressive comeback in the shade, it was – and still is – considered by most to be arguably the greatest sporting comeback of all time. Bleed For This tells that story, starting at the press conference for Vinny’s ultimately unsuccessful tilt at the WBC Light Welterweight title versus Roger Mayweather (Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s uncle), and ending in the delirium of that win in Atlantic City against the “Hands of Stone”. But is it any good?
Well, yes. Fans of Pazienza – who changed his name legally to Vinny Paz in 2001 – should find plenty to enjoy here and I consider myself to be in that bracket. Performances are terrific across the board, particularly from Aaron Eckhart as Mike Tyson’s former trainer Kevin Rooney, caught between wanting to help Vinny and wanting not to kill him, and from Ciarán Hinds and Katey Sagal as Angelo and Louise, Vinny’s parents; and Ted Levine is almost as monstrous here as the odious Lou Duva than he was way-back-when as Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb in Silence of the Lambs (1991). Miles Teller often feels quite distant to me and, even here, he doesn’t quite nail the inherent likeability of The Pazmanian Devil but he’s warmer than I’ve ever seen him, and his physical performance really captures Vinny’s style. Writer/director Ben Younger’s direction is low key, not something one might expect or hope for from a real-life Rocky but it works well, bringing the human relationships to the fore. It’s not faultless: Bleed For This plays fast and loose with the timeline of events, making Vinny’s 1994 bout against Roberto Duran his comeback fight after the crash when in fact Paz had six other matches between the crash and the Duran fight, not least of which was an 11th-round knockout of Canadian Dan Sherry for the vacant IBO World Super-Middlewight title. But it’s an understandable enough jump for the purpose of a bit of dramatic license although, considering the release four months prior to that of Bleed For This of Roberto Duran’s own biopic Hands of Stone (in which Duran’s two defeats to Pazienza are glossed over), it seems to me the boxing industry has missed an opportunity to do a “Marvel” and pull together its own cinematic universe, as everyone seems to be doing lately. Placing some real footage of Vinny Paz alongside the closing credits was a nice touch, though.
Icon Entertainment’s 2.40:1, 1080p blu-ray presentation is clean and clear, if spartan and a little lacking in additional content. The main feature follows skippable trailers for City of Tiny Lights and for Personal Shopper, both receiving wide general releases this year.
Extras
Inspired By a Legend: Short promotional piece featuring several of the main players (writer/director Ben Younger, Aaron Eckhart, Miles Teller, Vinny Paz himself among others) simply citing their enthusiasm for making the movie (2:39)
An Authentic World: Another short promotional piece again featuring the same people as in the first piece, this time focussing on filming Bleed For This on location, and on trying to have Miles Teller carry himself in the fight scenes like Vinny Paz as opposed to performing in some generic boxing manner (2:46)
Theatrical Trailer (2:02)
Deleted Scenes: Six in total (10:06)
Bleed For This is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Monday, 27/03/2017.
The Incredible Story Of Stone Boy follows Marina and her cousins in a quest to help a young man who having lost his will for living has been turned into a marble statue unable to see, hear, smell, touch or taste (or move or do anything at all basically). With the collaboration of the Wind of the West (a talking cloud with a Southern accent), Marina and company visit the land of the senses and face a series of challenges to bring back the joy of living to their stoned (had to…will come back to that) friend.
The story teaches a lesson about family unit, friendship and positive attitude towards life in general. As a metaphor to portray the difficulty of getting into teenage years but being able to find a way to enjoy them instead of just getting stoned and moody (told ya…) I have to say it works; and I’m being completely honest right now. I really think the parallelism and the fable articulated around it is quite a beautiful way of delivering the message intended.
That being said, I find two main problems with The Stone Boy: first off, the animation by itself is quite basic and not really able to compete against other similar products which look way cooler (using the audience language). It’s true that the visuals, the colours and the aesthetics are somehow appealing mixing child-like motives with Latin-American mythological imagery; however, that is not enough to keep a child’s attention (at all) when you have Peppa Pig (or whatever) one TV station away.
The other flaw I’d point out is the following: the way I see it, this is a movie addressed to little children (pre-school and not much above) with a message that talks about a life stage quite far away from the potential audience one. On the other hand, maybe it’s a good way to start preparing them (so a few years after they will be like: now I get it) or making it easier for them to understand why their older brother has suddenly turned into a block (last one, I swear).
In any case, it’s also worth mentioning that the story and the way it’s articulated makes sense, it’s sweet and it’s as real as a children story has to be. Visuals and cool stuff aside, I’d like to see many Pixar/Disney products sharing those traits…
