www.list.co.uk/film
DRAMA/COMEDY GREENBERG (15) 107min ●●●●●
The worst thing about a mid-life crisis? You are only half way through. Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) is 40 years old, unemployed, house-sitting for his rich brother and a minefield of mildly autistic behaviour. Obnoxious, confrontational, irritable and self absorbed in that way that only the middle class and middle-aged can be, Greenberg is our unreliable and morally schizophrenic guide through the sun scorched Los Angeles landscape to which he has returned after years away. The trouble is that Greenberg is delusional and his attempts to connect to the past with old loves and friends (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rhys Ifans) are often misguided.
Redemption arrives in the youthful, kooky shape of
his brother’s assistant Florence (mumblecore icon Greta Gerwig), with whom Greenberg starts an on/off fling. True to form, Greenberg sabotages any potential happiness with his curious mixture of apathy, pomposity and callousness, but can free spirit Florence transcend his behaviour? Writer/director Noah Baumbach here teams up with
actress turned screenwriter Jennifer Jason Leigh (whose previous screenwriting credit, The Anniversary Party bears an influence on Greenberg) with unsettling and honest effect. As his previous films The Squid and the Whale and Margot at the Wedding have shown us, Baumbach’s gig is the withering, unacceptable and downright unpleasant face of educated America. He’s into skewering a certain breed of psychiatrist coach- surfing, self-justifying, pseudo-intellectual elite. Greenberg is his most successful attempt to date of doing this for a variety of reasons. Stiller’s Greenberg is a masterful creation – awkward,
uncharitable, a comic creation sculptured from the bitterest of woods. As screenwriters Baumbach and Leigh never take the easy option, Greenberg’s is a journey from idiocy into stupidity, one touched by the kindness of a stranger. Greta Gerwig’s Florence is equally nuanced – sloppy, rootless and oddly aimless for someone who looks after the needs of others. Harris Savides cinematography finds a sort of hazy inspiration in the work of Vilmos Zsigmond’s early 1970s work and James ‘LCD Soundsystem’ Murphy’s nutty, uncharacteristic soundtrack is a joy. (Paul Dale) ■ General release from Fri 11 Jun.
Reviews Film COMEDY WILD TARGET (12A) 90min ●●●●●
Hitman farce Wild Target consistently shoots wide of the mark in spite of some promising ingredients. A remake of 1994 French film, it’s
directed by Jonathan Lynn (My Cousin Vinny, The Whole Nine Yards) and boasts a strong cast including Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt and Eileen Atkins. But an unfunny script, unconvincing
characters and some loose direction put pay to any of its early potential.
Middle-aged hitman Victor Maynard (Nighy) finds his professional routine upset by the feelings he develops for his latest target, kooky thief Rose (Blunt). Turning protector instead, he subsequently bids to stop the ruthless art dealer (Rupert Everett) and rival assassin (Martin Freeman) now threatening their lives with the help of a novice apprentice (Rupert Grint).
Despite a promising start, Wild
Target quickly becomes riddled with problems ranging from Nighy and Blunt’s failure to convince as potential lovers, to the haphazard nature of the comedy, which offers edgy black humour one minute and sitcom friendly material the next. Lynn’s direction is also uninspired
and sometimes shoddy, failing even to mask the use of a hand double for one of Nighy’s romantic moments. It’s a measure of how uninvolving the film becomes, though, that such flaws are exposed. (Rob Carnevale) ■ General release from Fri 18 Jun.
DRAMA THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD (CEA MAI FERICITA FATA DIN LUME) (15) 100min ●●●●●
The debut feature of Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude, this ironically titled comedy unfolds over the course of a sweltering summer day in Bucharest. Provincial working-class teenager Delia (Andrea Bosneag) has won a new car in a competition run by a soft-drinks company, and she has travelled to the capital with her mother (Violeta Haret Popa) and father (Vasile Muraru) to record in University Square a television commercial promoting a brand of orangeade. The problem is that the sullen Delia has no discernible acting skills, and she’s furious that her parents are planning to sell her prize vehicle in order to fund a guesthouse business.
With its long takes, mainly static camera set-ups, authentic locations and sparing use of music (in this case The Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Rent’) The Happiest Girl in the World has, stylistically at least, plenty in common with other recent ‘realist’ Romanian films. Jude has fashioned an amusing study of the laborious filmmaking process. The director of the commercial is in conflict with the marketing team, and endless takes are required for even the most straightforward of shots. And assisted by the cast’s naturalistic performances, this economical film also sympathetically examines the generational tensions within a family struggling to prosper in a consumer-driven society. (Tom Dawson) ■ GFT, Glasgow from Fri 18–Thu 24 Jun.
10-24 Jun 2010 THE LIST 53