Granny Magnet

I've just rewatched Attack the Block (2011; dir: Cornish) for some Uni analysis and I remembered why I first liked it. It is funny, fresh and a very modern take on the alien-invasion theme - as demonstrated in this scene in which Jerome only has a small amount of credit left and, needing to warn everybody about the impending alien attack, exclaims: "This is too much madness to explain in one text!".

The alien-invasion theme is a well known one and this film has done well to update it, asking how different retaliations would be if the heros were (mostly) black, working-class and held in suspicion by the police. Having no credit, having to improvise with weapons (fireworks and super-soakers, anyone?) and forgetting your contact lenses are all real-life touches that add a sense of comedic realism to the movie. As a disclaimer, I will note that weapons are not a part of my everyday in any sense, but I do think that if aliens suddenly crashed into my conservatory, I wouldn't have a gun to hand like they do in the movies - I'd have to work out a defense strategy with only a pair of tweezers and a box-set of The Smiths CDs to hand.

It is also worth mentioning that the title of this post comes from the amusing slogan emblazoned on Pest's t-shirt toward the end of the film.

Water Weight

For my first post back after a relative absence, I thought I would give you a vignette into my life today. Today my skinny jeans don't fit but I'm taking it on the chin and assuming they've shrunk in the wash. I'm eating a big bowl of supernoodles as I type to bolster my confidence...

I also chose this film - Mean Girls (2004, dir: Waters) - because I was discussing it with a group of my friends the other day and we decided that it is pretty superb. It may be a comedic look at power-play in female friendships but every point it makes is salient and everyone can empathise - every teenager has been bullied for their looks or behaviour but has then in turned thrown a snide remark at someone else for theirs.

I say every teenager and not every teen girl because this film does appeal to men too. A consensus of my male friends agree that it's not light, fluffy or "annoying" like so many so-called Women's Films can be - it shows how women think sometimes and may give the guys a clue as to why we fly off the handle at the slightest comment sometimes.

The cast is genius too and this film will definitely make you feel lucky you don't have the ability to make three-way phone calls...

Learning The Hard Way

As I'll be away all weekend, I'm posting another scene today to fill the silence.

I had a rented copy of The Reader (2008, dir:Daldry) in my possession for quite a while, but for some reason kept putting off watching it. Then on Tuesday, with the due date looming, I dived in and watched it in bed. It was getting on to midnight, so I decided to watch the first half an hour then go to sleep and return to it in the morning.

Naturally, this didn't work out.

I was absorbed by the storyline, Winslet's acting, Kross' beauty, the cinematography and most of all, my conflicted feelings. You don't get to know, to understand, the character of Hanna Schmitz, but through Michael's devotion to her, you find yourself welling up at her war-crimes trial, confused by your own small shred of sympathy for this character who, in so many other films, would have been the mark of evil.

This shot is taken from the scene in which one of Michael's fellow students angrily challenges their professor, saying that these women are guilty of a terrible crime and controversially claiming that everybody - parents, teachers, everybody - knew what the Nazis were doing. One student runs out of the classroom, while others look horrified. Michael tries to counter that their task as law students is to understand these women; his colleague insisting there is nothing to understand.

I think this scene impressed me both because I am currently a student - participating in debates like this and relishing the acquisition of knowledge and the chance to use it - and because it shows so clearly how, whilst you might have a strict moral code, while you may be taught right from wrong, when you find yourself in the middle of a moral conflict, the lines blur and you can see new shades of grey.

Talk To Me

To return to Eyes Wide Open - I've restricted myself to these two shots, but hundreds are beautiful; it is subtle, could almost be wordless and makes your heart race in the way a will-they-won't-they Hollywood rom-com struggles to recreate - I've selected this scene as my favourite.

Ezri and Aaron are working together to unpack a meat delivery at Aaron's butchery. Following their discussion, detailed below, Ezri assumes he has been rebuffed by Aaron, but we know the longing remains. Here, Aaron is seen repeatedly returning to where Ezri is working, without rhyme or reason. He simply wants to talk to him, to look at him, to have an excuse to be near him.

This scene so resonated as I feel we've all been there; desperate to break the ice or to have any form of communication with that one person you can't breathe without contacting. Aaron awkwardly claps his hands, light-heartedly punches the wall and turns around and the tension is palpable - he wants to physically, as well as verbally, reach out, and you beg of him to.

Look What Beauty

I'll break my own rules to begin with - start as you mean to go on and all that - by posting a shot I like; but I will follow it up with my favourite scene.

This is a screen grab from the moment in Eyes Wide Open (2009, dir:Tabakman) when Aaron appeals to Ezri to resist temptation and pass the test he feels God is sending him. Aaron comments that God has never made a "broken tool" and illustrates his point by exclaiming that Ezri has such beauty he can't be defective.

Therein lies a key theme in the film - even as he reaffirms his faith, Aaron's words and actions are undercut by the desire he feels for Ezri and we, as the audience, are invited to gaze upon Ezri's sculpted face and note the achingly small distance between the two men.

Even to say someone is a masterpiece makes your heart soar a little - the kind of compliment you know comes from a place of truth and love, not just lust.

There's a bit more to come from this film yet.

As an aside, yes, I was watching this on BBC iPlayer - props to them for making such a beautiful film available to everybody.

My Favourite Scene

Today is the day I decide to start a blog, dedicated to my favourite film scenes.
Tomorrow may be the day I give up posting.
For the moment, however, I'll stress that these aren't my favourite scenes from my favourite films, they are just the bits in films I've been watching that have broken my heart, restored my faith in people, given me a new crush, helped me understand, caused me fits of laughter or blurred my eyes with tears.
I'll try not to just have photo after photo of Michael Fassbender or Ryan Gosling, but I can't make any promises...