Film REVIEWS
DRAMA THE FORGIVENESS OF BLOOD (12A) 109min ●●●●●
Los Angelino filmmaker Joshua Marston repeats the success of his first film, the award-winning Maria Full of Grace, with a second compelling drama that unfolds beyond the borders of the First World. Marston’s follow-up to Maria, which was about a young, pregnant Columbian drug mule, also places a young person in a perilous situation that’s largely beyond their control. In this case, it’s a teenage Albanian boy who becomes the focus of a decades-old tradition of resolving an injustice by blood feud. The boy in question is Nik (Tristan Halilaj), a rural kid who is
more interested in girls and motorbikes than he is in taking over his family’s failing business. When an ongoing squabble over land inheritance culminates in his father murdering their neighbour, Nik finds himself subject to an ancient law that allows the victim’s family to claim retribution through the killing of a male heir of the murderer. Nik is, effectively, placed under house arrest at a time in his life when he feels like flying the coup. Meanwhile, with the male members of the household out of action, Nik’s sister Rudina (Sindi Lacej) becomes the head of the house.
Marston, who co-wrote the film with Albanian filmmaker Andamion Murataj, uses this bizarre situation, in which ancient law exists in the modern day, to sharply dramatise the tension between tradition and progress in contemporary Albania. By casting the men of the story as self-destructive and self- obsessed and the women as able and willing, Marston makes a convincing argument for lack of progress being a gender issue. In this respect, The Forgiveness of Blood has, its exotic locale notwithstanding, universal significance. And the strong, naturalistic performances by the cast of non-professional actors, along with the handsome painterly composition of many of the scenes, ought to guarantee a fair degree of audience appeal, too. (Miles Fielder) ■ Selected release from Fri 17 Aug.
DRAMA TAKE THIS WALTZ (15) (116 min) ●●●●● ACTION THE EXPENDABLES 2 (15) 102mins ●●●●●
Are you old enough to remember the anthemic Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles which will go down in history as one of the first ever music videos to play on MTV? Canadian actress-turned-director Sarah Polley uses the song on two occasions to powerful effect in her follow-up to Away from Her. Set during a sweltering Toronto summer, Michelle Williams plays copywriter
Margot, who’s been contentedly married for five years to cookbook author Lou (Seth Rogen). On a work trip she meets handsome Daniel (Luke Kirby), a rickshaw driver and artist, who turns out to live on her street. She soon realises that her feelings for Daniel are beginning to jeopardise her marriage.
Shooting in warm tones and taking her time Polley proves to be a perceptive observer of the body language between couples, particularly the passive- aggressive dynamic between Margot and Lou. At times Polley appears to load the dramatic dice: Seth is given a brood of noisy yet warm-hearted relatives, including Sarah Silverman’s alcoholic sister, while Daniel is a man seemingly without family or friends. Yet there are some impressive individual sequences here, notably an erotic monologue (in which the two characters remain fully clothed), and Williams is typically compelling, conveying the profound ambivalence Margot feels towards the emotional choices she ends up making. (Tom Dawson) ■ Selected release from Fri 17 Aug.
Sylvester Stallone all but guaranteed himself a new franchise by making ‘the expendables’ of the first film nowhere near as expendable as the title suggested. But while their return in this bigger, bloodier, more star-studded sequel is enjoyable enough, it’s not quite the romp it could have been.
Rather, The Expendables 2 is the kind of movie where in-jokes are the order of the day, clichés abound and plot plays a distant second fiddle to explosive, if repetitive, action. Barney Ross (Stallone) and his crew of expendables embark on another mission that leaves one of their member dead and the ageing mercenaries seeking revenge. Jean Vilain (Jean Claude Van Damme) is the man on their hitlist but the size of his army means that Stallone’s crew need extra help, which comes in the form of old die-hards Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris.
At its best, The Expendables 2 thrives on the camaraderie that exists between the various action icons, while dropping in cheesy gags that reference their back catalogue. Willis and Schwarzenegger benefit from bigger roles but the best laughs come from Norris, whose grandstanding entrance is one of several highlights. But while the film delivers what you expect there are missed opportunities, not least in Van Damme’s under-used Vilain. A little more brain to match its brawn would have helped. (Rob Carnevale) ■ General release from Fri 16 Aug.
104 THE LIST 16–23 Aug 2012