Of Mice and Men (1992) review

 Number 730 on the top 1000 films of all time us Gary Sinise's 1992 drama 'Of Mice and Men.;

Based on John Steinbeck's story of the same name, we watch George (Gary Sinise) and his intellectually disabled friend Lenny (John Malkovich) try to find work during America's great depression. They then find work on a Californian ranch.

The reputation of this film precedes it. Many English school children study it for their GCSEs. I've never read it, but I knew the story and the ending. However, this didn't make things any less tragic. Where Gary Sinise succeeded was by taking a well-known story and distilling it to its base elements. Naturally, things were changed, but the core story remained the same.

It can't be easy both directing and starting in the same film, but Gary Sinise succeeded there too. George had to play a fine balancing line between looking after the emotionally immature and fragile Lenny, but also appeasing his new employer, more, in particularly, his nasty son Curly (Ray Walston.) The film also looked great, as Sinise captured the remote Californian landscape.

But I think the true star was John Malkovich who played Lenny with a great vulnerability and a great humanity. In many ways, Lenny was a gentle giant who didn't know his own strength.

I already knew how his story ended, but that didn't make it any less sad to see on-screen. And that was down to Malkovich's performance and Sinise's direction.

Being John Malkovich review

 Number 500 on the top 1000 films of all time is the surrealist fantasy-comedy 'Being John Malkovich.'

Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) is a down-and-out puppeteer living in New York City. He is trapped in a loveless marriage with his wife Lotte (Cameron Diaz.) When he finds work as an office-clerk, he stumbles upon a mysterious portal that leads him into the mind of John Malkovich. He discovers that for fifteen minutes a day he can literally be John Malkovich. He and his co-worker Maxine (Catherine Keener) then decide to exploit this by charging people $200 for the experience of 'Being John Malkovich.'

I have watched over 500 films on this list. I have watched comedies, dramas, musicals, romances and horrors. And this has to be one of the weirdest, zaniest, most creative films I have ever seen. It takes a simple concept, which could have easily become tedious, and kept taking it to new levels. The surrealism is what made everything so relatable. In many ways, the film is like a daydream - who hasn't thought about being a celebrity for a day? It's one hell of a vicarious thrill if completely bonkers.

Although could we expect anything less from Spike Jonze? This was the man who went onto the direct the absolutely excellent and similarly creative 'Her.' But what's most impressive is that 'Being John Malkovich' was his directorial debut, as well as the debut of Charlie Kauffman, who penned the script. Kauffman was up for the best Original Screenplay Oscar, but he ultimately lost to Alan Ball and 'American Beauty.' While 'American Beauty' is a good film in its own right, it is pretentious, and not nearly as creative as 'Being John Malkovich.' Kauffman penned a great script that didn't take itself too seriously.

But it only worked because John Malkovich agreed to star in it. Reportedly he only wanted to produce and instead recommended Tom Cruise, but Kauffman was adamant that it had to be Malkovich in the role. When the studio also suggested other actors, Kauffman stuck to his guns. This was a great decision, as the film wouldn't have worked with another actor in the role.

Cameron Diaz also really surprised me. She was virtually unrecognisable as Lotte. I have never rated her much as an actress, but she did the drama well here. And although Craig Schwartz was a slimy toad, John Cusack played the role well. He was intriguing enough to want to keep watching. He was also weak-minded enough to be influenced by the scheming Maxine who was a Lady Macbeth character of sorts. She machinates much of the film's conflict including the scheme to charge people to inhabit John Malkovich's mind.

Being John Malkovich might have been one of the zaniest films ever-made, but it is definitely worth a watch. 

The Killing Fields review

 Number 382 on the top 1000 films of all time is a biographical drama 'The Killing Fields.'

Set during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, the Killing Fields details the relationship of two journalists during the Cambodian genocide. One journalist is the American 'Sydney Schanberg' (Sam Waterston) and the other is Sydney's Cambodian interpreter Dith Pran (Haing S. Ngor.) John Malkovich co-stars as Sydney's photographer Al Rockoff.

Whenever I watch films about subjects like war or genocide. I am always of the mantra or go hard or go home. The Holocaust film 'The Pianist' goes hard and it's all the better for it. However, I cam coming to believe that this doesn't always need to be the way. the Killing Fields is subtle and understated. This isn't to say it shies away from the horrors of the genocide, but it far more selective in what it chooses to show.

We see the build-up of prisoners being executed, but we never see these executions first hand. So when we do see scenes like Pran escaping his internment camp to find himself tumbling into a pit of skeletons, the impact is all the stronger. The fact these skeletons are the remains of the executed prisoners makes the image even scarier.

A recurring issue I find with films about world historical events told from a Western lens is that there is the tendency to wrongly focus on the Western character. I wouldn't go far to say there was a white saviour narrative. Sydney is no hero and definitely no saviour. When he and the other Western journalists are being evacuated home, they do all they can to take Pran with them - even going so far to making him a fake passport. When this fails, they have no choice, but to leave them behind.

Sydney later acknowledges had a chance to leave long ago, but Sydney convinced him to stay. Back in the US, Sydney uses every contact he has to find Pran, but it is Pran who escapes and find a Red Cross refugee camp near the border with Thailand. Obviously growing up in the Western world, I view things through a Western lens. And so narratives like Sydney's are very familiar to me. Overly-familiar I would say. It wasn't until halfway when the film switched to Pran in the internment camp did I start taking serious interest. Pran was an infinitely more interesting character and I was rooting for him to escape. He was also a very clever man, playing dumb when interred, as he knows he'll be killed otherwise. If he is even suspected of being a working professional then the regime would kill him.

And all due credit to Haing Ngor. Having survived three stints in Cambodian prison camps, he went onto win an acting Oscar for this role, despite having no previous acting experience. He is the only Asian actor to win an Oscar and he very much deserved it. It is so sad his life was cut short when he was killed in a 1996 robbery.

Please give this film a watch. Albeit, it is very traumatic, but it makes for absolutely essential viewing.

Changeling review

 Number 498 on the top 1000 films of all time is Clint Eastwood's mystery drama Changeling.

Based on a true story, Changeling follows the trials of single mother Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) whose nine-year-old son Walter goes missing in Mira Loma, California. A few months later, the LAPD claim to have found Walter. But Christine is insistent that this is the wrong boy. However, her claims are dismissed and she is made to look like an unfit mother. Together with Reverend Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich,) vocal critic of the LAPD, Christine begins building a case to challenge them, but the police have her imprisoned in a psychiatric institution.

This is an insane story, made even crazier by how it is based on real life. Yes, the film does play fast and loose with some of the finer details, but the core plot is the same. Christine Collins' son disappears. The police claim to have found the boy but Christine is insistent they are wrong. Rather than admit their mistake and face the ensuing negative publicity, they silence her by sending her to a mental hospital. If it wasn't so horrific, it would be funny. And it really is a case of fact being stranger than fiction.

It's a tale of women being dismissed in a patriarchal society by arrogant men, as well as the corrupt nature of the LAPD. During this time, they had received intense negative publicity after failing to solve other missing children cases. They desperately needed a win and were determined to get it even if that meant ignoring the truth. Eastwood created an atmosphere that was hostile and tense all at the same time. Police captain J.J Jones is an arrogant villain who is too proud to dare admit he was wrong. Instead he attacks Christine for daring to question his authority. 

And it's difficult not to feel for Christine at this point. All she wants is her son back yet she is ridiculed and mocked by the very people who were supposed to help her. Jolie makes her into the most sympathetic protagonist. But Malkovich was also great as the Reverend Briegleb portraying a character that was brave enough to fight against the police department. He was powerful enough to get Christine freed from prison and was the driving force she needed to take justified legal action against the police.

So what really did happen to Walter Collins? Well, like I said, Eastwood played fast and loose with history but he got the main facts right. Collins was kidnapped and murdered by Canadian serial killer Gordon Northcott (Jason Butler Harner) on the Wineville chicken coop. He is caught and sentenced to death, but refuses to admit whether he ever killed Walter. Harner was formidable as Northcott - he was unhinged enough to make him scary, but not so much he becomes a cliche. When he is about to be hung and he has the hood over his face, he starts singing Silent Night. As monstrous as he was, it was difficult not to take pity on him. In real life, Northcott was only in his early twenties - little more than a misguided kid himself. 

As for Walter's imposter, he decided to pose as him, so he could travel to Hollywood and meet his favourite actor Tom Mix. He also wanted to escape the abusive clutches of his step parents, but this was omitted. And as for the LAPD? They were punished but not really - as is often the case for corrupt members of authority. Captain Jones was supposed to pay Christine $10,800 but he never did. And even though he was fired, he was later re-instated. Why am I not surprised?

But this was a great effort from Eastwood. Although it wasn't 100% accurate, it was a fascinating depiction of a horrendous true story. You do wonder if Christine Collins had been a man, would the police have been more likely to have believed her?