Movie Reviews - Romance and Cigarettes

[beckymonster]

There is a cliche that's often heard when discussing football/soccer in the UK. Namely, 'a game of two halves'. If this is used elsewhere, please tell me - I'd love to know;)
Well, this was a film of two halves.

When I went into it - I had an idea of what to expect. I knew of the 'gimmick' that the characters would use pop songs to express their inner emotions. So far, so Moulin Rouge. Also that it was produced by the Coen Brothers and directed by one of their regular actors, John Turturro. So, I was expecting quirky.

The film starts with an analogy of a certain part of the female anatomy to be like a jammy doughnut. No kidding. And goes from there;)
Nick (James Gandolfini) is carrying on with Tula (Kate Winslet with the broadest Yorkshire accent I've ever heard!) behind his wife, Kitty's back (Susan Sarandon - excellent as ever). This isn't turn of the century Paris, but post '01 New Yoik 'burbs.

Even so, the scenes where (if you'll pardon the preteniousness) Berkley meets Scorsese work very well. Tula's 'intro' as a scarlet woman (literally - not even Monica Bellucci looked that seductive in red!) burning down the house with hunky firemen is beautiful. So is Susan Sarandon's take on Erma Franklin's 'Take another piece of my heart' sung as a gospel song (with Eddie Izzard as a organ playing pastor - yes, you did read that right!) That girl might not have sung on film since Rocky Horror, but she's still got it.
Oh yes, and Christopher Walken's take on Sir Tom Jones' 'Delilah' was sublime. Who knew the NYPD could hoof as well as West End Musical Dancers?;)

That all works great. Okay, Winslet's accent was a bit comical - I kept thinking of 'Wallace and Gromit' when I heard her talk! Which was dumb as Wallace is Lancashire, not Yorkshire (different side of the country) and I'm digressing...

What doesn't work (and where the analogy comes in) is when Nick finishes with Tula and seemingly 'pays' the penalty for his indiscretion. To say what happens would give away the ending but the title should give you a small clue.
I'm not 100% sure what bothered me but it seemed too heavy handed in the way it was handled. There are many songs about losing love and begging for forgiveness. Couldn't they have been used - keep up the conceit?

Anyway - if you're a great fan of any of the main actors (especially of Winslet) then I would recommend this to you on DVD. Other than that - go see something else.


Something I'm doing, more for my own amusement than anything else, is keeping a list of the films that I loved that I saw during the year. It's the BBM list;) As in 'Becky's Best Movies' rather than 'Brokeback Mountain'. Though that film is on it.
You'll find it in my links section and here I can't promise a miracle, but I'll try highlight the link each time I update the list. Please, have a looksee and give me your opinions.