FILM | Reviews
BLACK COMEDY GOD’S POCKET (15) 88min ●●●●●
Mad Men star John Slattery makes his directorial feature debut with this bleak black comedy based on the novel by The Paperboy scribe Pete Dexter. Set in the fictional blue- collar neighbourhood of God’s Pocket, the film stars Philip Seymour Hoffman (in one of his final screen performances) as Mickey Scarpato, an outsider who’s been accepted into the community by virtue of his marriage to the beautiful Jeanie (Slattery’s Mad Men co-star Christina Hendricks). When Jeanie’s lowlife son Leon (Caleb Landry Jones) is killed at work, she correctly suspects a cover-up, so Mickey asks his shady best friend Arthur (John Turturro) to investigate, setting off a chain of shockingly violent events. Meanwhile, sleazy newspaper columnist Richard Shelburn (Richard Jenkins) takes an interest in both the story and Jeanie.
Having cut his teeth on five episodes of Mad Men, Slattery’s direction is assured, achieving an over-arching sense of melancholy, aided by Lance Acord’s deliberately dark cinematography. Slattery draws terrific performances from his superb cast: Hoffman and Turturro make an appealing best- buddies double act, while Hendricks is heartbreaking as the grief-stricken mother, and her scenes with Jenkins are quietly devastating. (Matthew Turner) ■ Limited release from Fri 8 Aug.
ACTION TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION (12A) 157min ●●●●●
The fourth film in the Transformers franchise may mark a freshening-up of sorts but it still suffers from the same problem as both previous sequels: the presence of Michael Bay. Here, Bay outdoes his own ridiculous standards by delivering a movie that clocks in at close to three hours.
Picking up four years after the climactic events of Dark of the Moon, the film finds the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, on the run from a shady CIA official (Kelsey Grammar), who is hunting them down to use their metal to create his own robot army with the help of an egotistical technology mogul (Stanley Tucci). Standing in their path are all-American father and daughter Cade and Tessa Yeager (Mark Wahlberg and Nicola Peltz), as well as the latter’s Irish immigrant boyfriend (Jack Reynor).
Early on, Bay’s film just about entertains as it introduces
new characters, puts the Transformers on the run, and drops in some impressive set pieces. But once the first hour has passed, the bombardment begins to take its toll – and not just from the nausea-inducing camera-work but also from the shameless product placement, the logic-defying storytelling and the idiotic dialogue. (Rob Carnevale) ■ General release from Thu 10 Jul.
DOCUMENTARY FINDING VIVIAN MAIER (PG) 84min ●●●●●
By turns amusing, poignant and disturbing, this documentary investigation into the work and life of the previously unknown but now posthumously celebrated street photographer is never less than thoroughly intriguing. Looking for some visual material to illustrate an urban history book project about the Chicago neighbourhood he grew up in, co-director John Maloof chanced upon a big box of photo negatives being sold off for peanuts in a local thrift sale. Maloof was astonished to discover a treasure trove of images taken on the streets of 50s and 60s America that were as accomplished as the work of the nation’s greatest 20th century photographers. Intrigued, Maloof began researching the woman responsible for the pictures and found they were only a fraction of a hoard of 100,000 images boxed up and lying forgotten in a storage facility. Spurred on by this revelation, he decided to make a documentary film about his investigation into the life of Vivian Maier. That Maier turned out to be a mystery woman who went to great lengths to conceal the
details of her life only further motivated Maloof, and what he found makes for riveting viewing. Without giving too much away – for much of the film’s pleasure lies in the succession of revelations about its subject – Maloof and Siskel discovered that Maier moonlighted as a photographer while working a day job as a nanny. Much of what we subsequently learn comes through interviews with Maier’s former wards, all of whom note how private she was, which raises an ethical question about her life being documented through this film. The filmmakers address that question, but, perhaps wholly appropriately, they are ultimately unable to provide a full portrait of their secretive subject. They have, however, brought a startling artistic talent to the attention of the public. (Miles Fielder) ■ Selected release from Fri 18 Jul.
DRAMA GRAND CENTRAL (15) 94min ●●●●●
A love-triangle set in the imposing shadow of a nuclear power station may not sound like an automatic must-see – indeed, it’s probably the worst date movie set-up ever conceived. But that’s not to say Rebecca Zlotowski’s film should be overlooked. Tahar Rahim plays Gary, a labourer who travels to the lower valley of the Rhone to pick up work in a nuclear plant. The dangers are clearly outweighed by a regular wage, and it becomes even more appealing when he meets the alluring Karole (Lea Seydoux), wife to his colleague Toni (Denis Ménochet).
Almost immediately sparks fly between Gary and Karole, as they fall into a passionate affair. Even a workplace incident involving a particularly high-dose of radiation exposure fails to shake him from his reverie. Showing the dizzying sickness that love can cause, and the way it can contaminate our bodies,
Zlotowski has found almost the perfect metaphor by basing her film in a power plant. Set in a unique sub-culture that feels authentically represented, it’s a film about the infectious nature of love, and how it burns brightly, violently and sometimes too quickly. (James Mottram) ■ Limited release from Fri 18 Jul.
76 THE LIST 10 Jul–21 Aug 2014