list.co.uk/fi lm DRAMA A LATE QUARTET (15) 106min ●●●●●
As befits an unapologetically grown-up and classy film about posh people who have loads of money and play in a string quartet, this drama has some supremely elegant, subtle and well-turned scenes. It also has moments of preciousness choking enough to make Woody Allen seem like a rough and ready man of the people. Christopher Walken is effortlessly lovable as an
ageing cellist who, as his health begins to fail, decides to step down from the world-famous quartet with which he’s been playing for a quarter-century. At the very thought of continuing without him, his fellow musicians – his stepdaughter Jules (Catherine Keener), her husband Robert (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and their solemn, deeply talented friend Daniel (less familiar but impressive Mark Ivanir) – begin to come unstuck.
Rushing, arguably, a little too fast, too many moneyed mid-life crisis clichés collide too suddenly,
with the consequence that the characters, Walken’s apart, begin swiftly to grate on our sympathies, threatening the film’s capacity to hold on to our attention. In short, believing in and sticking with people you might leave a dinner party to avoid is arguably the biggest challenge of a film that elsewhere offers many pleasures, not least some ravishing music. (Hannah McGill) ■ Limited release from Fri 5 Apr.
FAMILY ANIMATION THE CROODS (U) 98mins ●●●●●
A prehistoric cartoon set around the adventures of a family, The Croods is always going to draw comparisons to The Flintstones, though this DreamWorks-produced 3D title is somewhat different from the Hanna-Barbera classic. Here, there are no stone-age gadgets or gizmos. Rather, The Croods are a frightened family of six that live in a forbidding but fantastical landscape where danger lurks at every turn. If the stereoscopic images are breathtaking, the story is pancake-flat, relying on stereotypical
characters to form this blueprint for the nuclear family. Father Grug (voiced by Nicolas Cage) is over- protective; mother Ugga (Catherine Keener) is long-suffering; teenager Eep (Emma Stone) rebellious, her brother Thunk (Clark Duke) a proper Neanderthal. There’s even a sharp-tongued mother-in-law (Cloris Leachman) and a Bamm-Bamm-like toddler. Curiously, the film started out under the title Crood Awakening – with co-director Kirk DeMicco
and ex-Monty Python star John Cleese set to write the script for Wallace & Gromit creators Aardman Animation. One wonders how different that would have been, though with DeMicco now collaborating with co-writer/director Chris Sanders, who helped bring that anarchic Disney effort Lilo and Stitch to the screen, it’s clear to see where The Croods gets its more bizarre elements from. Eschewing Jurassic Park-like dinosaurs, the landscape is littered with curious hybrid creatures (a
multi-coloured sabre-toothed tiger, for example) that will fire your imagination – more so than the story. It is pure soap, as boy-curious Eep is drawn to orphaned loner Guy (Ryan Reynolds), a more sophisticated cave-dweller to whom Grug takes an instant disliking. Ploughing this coming-of-age furrow is fine, though The Croods hardly does it with any
sophistication, preferring to wow us with hyperkinetic action. But there are some nice moments amid the relentless swooping and whooping – not least when Guy invents shoes for Eep and she squeals with delight. Some things never change. (Vincent Renwick) ■ General release from Fri 22 Mar.
Reviews | FILM
PROFILE: FRANCOIS OZON
Born 1967, Paris, France Background On the basis of his early shorts See the Sea and A Summer’s Dress, and his debut feature Sitcom, writer-director François Ozon was labelled as an enfant terrible of late 90s French cinema. He has worked prolifically ever since, showing an impressive ability to move between genres and styles, and has directed some of France’s most acclaimed female actors, including Catherine Deneuve, Charlotte Rampling, Isabelle Huppert and Ludivine Sagnier. Unafraid to explore the perversities of sexual desire, not least within the ostensibly heterosexual family unit, he has achieved international box-office success with the star-driven likes of 8 Women, Swimming Pool and Potiche, whilst receiving considerable critical acclaim for more probing, intimiste dramas such as 5x2 and Under the Sand. What is he up to now?
His latest Dans la Maison (In the House), starring Fabrice Luchini, Kristin Scott Thomas and newcomer Ernst Umhauer, is a sparkling black comedy, in which a jaded school teacher becomes fascinated by the audacious literary imagination of a teenage male pupil.
On the appeal of Dans la Maison ‘It’s inspired by a play by Spanish writer Juan Mayorga, called The Boy in the Last Row. I thought it would be an interesting way for me to explore the process of creating a story in a playful way, and to blur the boundaries for the viewer between reality and fiction.’
On film-making
‘I don’t like the writing part of filmmaking. If I could make a film without a script, it would be perfect. I prefer the shooting and the editing, where you can find the film’s rhythm.’ On Alfred Hitchcock
‘People have told me that Dans la Maison reminds them of Rear Window. Hitchcock is probably my desert island filmmaker. He really took on board the idea that it’s up to the director to manipulate the audience.’
Interesting fact
Both of Ozon’s parents were teachers, and he was taught at film school by the late Eric Rohmer. (Tom Dawson) In the House is on limited release from Fri 29 Mar. See review, page 63.
21 Mar–18 Apr 2013 THE LIST 64