Lilya-4-ever review

 Number 402 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Russian tragedy 'Lilya-4-ever.'

Lilya Michailova (Oksana Akinshina) is a sixteen-year-old young woman living in a Communist-era Russian town. When her mother unexpectedly abandons her for a new life and man in the USA, Lilya is lost. She befriends the equally lost and younger Volodya (Artyom Bogucharsky) but it looks like that Lilya's life will improve when she begins a relationship with the mysterious Andrei (Pavel Ponomaryov.) He encourages her to go to Sweden with him, in the promise of a new life together, but upon arrival, she is trafficked into sexual slavery.

Lilya-4-ever has been compared to Lars Von Trier's Dogme 43 movement. The comparisons are plain to see form the tight, claustrophobic camerawork, the lost, naive female characters and the brutally realistic tone. Just like Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark and Breaking the Waves, Lilya-4-ever is a powerful if deeply upsetting film. And its realism is what made it so powerful. Lilya's story is one that undoubtedly happens to so many women everywhere. And it does, as this was based on the tragic true story of Dangoule Rasalaite

Oksana was great as the innocent Lilya - somebody so desperate to escape her awful life that she ignores all the red flags about Andrei that even the far younger Voldymyr can recognise. Lilya is nothing more than a victim, but Oksana played her with a lot of will and determination. She's more than prepared to fight back than necessary.

The best part of the film was her relationship with the younger Voldymyr. Similar to Lilya, he comes from a broken home with an alcoholic father who constantly beats him. He and Lilya form a touching big sister/little brother relationship. She scrapes together whatever money she can get to buy him a basketball, which he carries everywhere with him. Even when his spiteful father punctures it, Volymyr still carries the half-inflated ball. This was just so sad and really highlighted Voldymyr's innocence. Like Lilya, he desperately clings to any escape from his awful life.

*Spoilers*

Voldymyr sees Lilya going to Sweden as a complete betrayal. She is going to a better life leaving him alone and friendless. Once she leaves, he commit suicide. This was all predictably tragic. Yet he continues to appear as an angel and hallucination in Lilya's mind. Complete with angel wings. Okay, I get him being an angel. The kid is so innocent that he wouldn't even hurt a fly. It also makes complete sense that Lilya would imagine her only friend at the more traumatic moments of her life. But actually giving Voldymyr angel wings felt like heavy-handed imagery.

Another criticism would be the film's pacing. In its efforts to dive into the storyline, it skipped over some important set-up. it wasn't made clear why Lilya's mother was so ready to abandon her daughter. Instead we're given hints and snippets. Although, I talked about realism earlier, and this is certainly a realistic thing to happen. Sometimes people, even parents, can walk out of your life with no exploration. it might not be satisfying to watch, but it's painfully true.

As is the horrific sexual treatment that Lilya experiences upon her sexual trafficking. Being forced into prostitution, we bear witness to Lilya's POV, as she has sex with a plethora of creepy scumbags. But these POV shots acted as a mirror to Lilya's awful situation. Just like her, the audience was trapped with no escape.

Finally, I didn't like the film's soundtrack. It was a weird mixture of Eurodance and German industrial rock. Rammstein's Mein Herz Brennt plays during the film's climatic sequence. It felt incredibly out of place. I know that Rammstein was popular in Russia at the time, but I think something softer might have been appropriate.

Nevertheless, Lilya-4-ever was a devastating film that perfectly encapsulated the phrase: all children deserve parents, but not all parents deserve children.

Help review

 Help is too modern to be on the top 1000 films of all time, but I'm reviewing it as it touched me so profoundly.

Sarah (Jodie Comer) is a directionless, young woman just starting work in the Bright Sky care home in Liverpool. There she quickly befriends Tony (Stephen Graham) who has early-onset dementia. But their world comes crashing down when the Covid-19 pandemic hits.

I've spent the last six years working in care homes. I worked in a care home all throughout the Covid era, so this film hit close to home for me. A little uncomfortably close. It was a raw, unflinching and visceral look at how the adult care sector was completely forgotten. No, not forgotten. Abandoned. Nobody cared about us. But Help honed in perfectly on what makes a care home a care home. There are the relationships between the staff and the residents, as well as the residents and their families. We see the residents enjoying poetry, meeting sheep and having a Christmas party. The authenticity was brilliant. But it also focussed on the stress that carers are under. It really is a thankless job.

Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham were terrific as the two leads. When Sarah begins, she is lost and directionless, but she quickly finds herself. She is a hard worker and a good carer. Comer was brilliant. She bought the role to life. I know many hard-working carers just like Sarah. Graham was also fantastic, as can only be expected from an actor of his calibre. Like Sarah he is lost. Some days he knows who he is and others he doesn't. But this touches upon a very important, but little-known aspect of dementia. People have a variable capacity. Some days they can be lucid and others not so much. If you'll permit me to be a little un-pc, they're not crazy loons all the time.

Graham played the role with a great subtlety. Tony is a quiet, but powerful character. Most importantly, he is human and never reduced to a gross caricature. Tony and Sarah's relationship was at the heart of this film. And this all culminates in a breath-taking 26-minute 1-take shot where Sarah is working a hellish night shift. With all her colleagues sick with Covid, she is forced to work a double and take care of all her residents by herself. One resident becomes particularly sick, and when it becomes clear, nobody is coming to help, Sarah enlists Tony to help her. It was heart-in-the-mouth action that was stunningly shot and acted. Comer and Graham's performances had literal tears running down my cheeks. That is saying something.

I may argue that the film peaked here. Perhaps this is where it should have ended, as the second half felt like a strange addendum that had been lazily tacked on. Tony is established as a flight risk, constantly trying to return home to his long-dead mother. When he tries escaping one too many times, the manager drugs him up to his eyeballs. Sarah protests this blatant abuse, but she is promptly fired. She goes rogue and breaks Tony free. They intend to self-quarantine at the seaside, before trying to send Tony to a different facility.

This is all well and good, but it felt incredibly disjointed. It didn't seem to match the first half at all, and it also lacked a lot of the same tension and immediacy. Writer Jack Thorne originally wanted to solely focus on the daily life of a care home, before he was convinced to write about Covid-19. I wonder if this was a latent idea that he tried and failed to shoe-horn into an otherwise faultless film.

Nonetheless, Help is a near perfect film. It was a damning indictment of how the adult social care sector was forsaken during the pandemic. Coming out in 2021, it is too new to make it onto the top 1000 list, but it has earned its place on any future lists.

As Good as it Gets review

 Number 539 on the top 1000 films of all time is James L. Brook's comedy drama 'As Good as it Gets.'

Melvin Udell (Jack Nicholson) is a bigoted, grumpy, mean-spirited writer with OCD living in New York City. His neighbour Simon Bishop (Greg Kinnear) is a gay, depressed artist. And Melvin's favourite waitress at his local cafe is Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt) is an over-worked, over-protective single mother. The three form an unlikely friendship when life throws them all together.

Every so often, I see a film that reminds me of why I have enjoyed working through this list so much. As Good as it Gets surely deserves being higher than number 539. It has a great tone, equally hilarious and heartbreaking. Much of the humour comes from James L. Brook's witty script. Considering he also produced the Simpsons, it's no surprise that it was so funny.

You could certainly argue that the characters and plot were nothing original - a bitter old man finds a new lease of life upon meeting an attractive younger woman. Yet in the hands of Nicholson and Hunt, the characters felt fresh and dynamic. Both of them won best acting Oscars and understandably so. Udell having OCD was a refreshing touch and Nicholson played the ticks well. I think you could argue that it would take more than the love of a good woman to make him better, but I can suspend my disbelief.

And Greg Kinnear's character of Simon Bishop was a great addition. He was effectively a plot device to help orchestrate Melvin and Carol's relationship, yet he always felt like a real character. While he is sketching a portrait, he is brutally beaten and loses his muse. But through Carol's help, he rediscovers his love for painting. His tempestuous relationship with Melvin Udell even improves and and the two become friends at the end. This was a great film. It deserves all the praise I can give it. 

The Be All and End All review

If you're a long-time reader of my blog, you would know that I am working through the top 1000 films of all time. However, this film doesn't appear on this list, so why am I reviewing it?

The Be All and End All was written by Steve Lewis and Tony Owen who wrote the indie comedy-drama, and one of my personal favourites, Three and Out. They stumbled upon my review and sent me the link to their next film 'The Be All and End All.'

Robbie (Josh Bolt) and Ziggy (Eugene Byrne) are two fifteen year old boys and best friends in Liverpool. When Robbie is diagnosed with a terminal heart condition, he asks Ziggy to help him fulfil his dying wish: to not die a virgin.

At heart, this is a coming-of-age film about the bond between these two best friends. It was darkly comic, but also tragic and touching. Robert has a goal, which is relatable for teen boys everywhere, regardless of whether they're dying, and Ziggy's efforts to help him, leads to some of the film's funniest moments. He takes Robbie to a brothel, which, of course, is promptly raided by the police. Ziggy has to carry the virtually naked Robbie back to the hospital.

One of my film's favourite scenes is when Robbie is approached by a lady who works for something similar to the Make-a-Wish foundation. She wants to help him realise his final goals whether that's swimming with sharks or meeting the Avengers. When he snaps that he wants to lose his virginity, she suggests going to Disneyland instead. This character was a great example of the cliched, well-meaning, but misguided people who are always wanting to help. I work in an old people's home and I've lost count of the amount of do-gooders suggesting nice, but completely impractical things for the residents to do. 

I also loved the scene where Ziggy stands up to the school bullies making fun of Robbie's heart condition. It was very satisfying to see them get a punch to the nose.

As well as being a good comedic actor, Josh Bolt was also great at the sadder scenes. In a confrontation with Ziggy, he breaks down saying that "he doesn't want to die." And for how the film is laden is with sexual innuendo, I did like how they underplayed the ending. Robbie loses his virginity to his old flame Sophie in a simple fade-to-black. This leant a nice elegance to the scene. It was all we needed to see. But I was a little puzzled that despite how Ziggy organised for this, he also went ahead in organising a prostitute for Robbie as well.

Steve Lewis explained that the film was made on a time budget. Sometimes this isn't a bad thing like in the Irish romantic-comedy Once. However, it did look like that director Bruce Webb shot the film using natural lighting, lending a dark, subdued tone to most of the film. While this might be appropriate for the subject matter, it also did make it difficult to actually see everything.

There was a subplot of Ziggy trying to reconnect with his errant father. It didn't receive the same importance as the main plot, so it didn't land for me. In the ending scene, we see him finding and embracing his father in a big hug. I'm not sure how believable I find that considering their fractured relationship.

It was also highly unlikely that a nurse such as Tina (Liza Tarbuck) would ever have the time to help Ziggy and Robbie, but I think it worked for the purposes of the film.

All in all, while being far from perfect, I did enjoy the film. It was a charming British indie film. Word of warning though, if you do watch it, then be prepared for the Scouse accents. They are thick. 

Hotel Rwanda review

 Number 169 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2004 drama Hotel Rwanda.

Hotel Rwanda tells the real-life story of Paul Rusesabagina (portrayed by Don Cheadle) and his wife Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo). Paul is the manager of the Hotel Des Milles Collines during the Rwandan genocide. He becomes a reluctant hero as he and his family begin sheltering Tutsi refugees against the Hutu militias who want to kill them all.

Claudia Puig of USA Today described this film as an African Schindler's List - a comparison that was running through my mind as well. Like Oskar Schindler, Paul Rusesabagina, despite being Hutu and in a position of respect and influence, does everything in his power to protect the oppressed Tutsis. However, unlike Schindler's List and The Pianist which detailed an unflinching portrayal of the Holocaust, Hotel Rwanda is far more understated. While sometimes it is better to depict a genocide in all its atrocious detail, at times it is also better to leave more to the imagination.

Throughout Hotel Rwanda, we hear a lot about the machetes that the Interahamwe militia use to kill the Tutsi, we don't witness any of these executions ourselves. Instead we hear the victim's screams or in a particular chilling scene, upon negotiating with Interahamwe leader Georges Rutaganda for supplies and refusing his offer to give up the Tutsi he is harbouring, on Paul's journey home, he finds that the road he and his traitorous receptionist (more on this later) Gregoire are driving on is uneven and bumpy. However, due to a fog, they are unable to see anything. Upon leaving the van, Paul is horrified to see that they have been driving on a road of bodies. I found this to be a far more subtle and sensitive way to depict the horrors of the genocide.

But, also importantly, the film focused on the plight of those left behind. While the UN is present with its peacekeeping force, their orders are to only evacuate foreign nationals i.e anybody who isn't Rwandan. The local church with its white missionaries arrive to be evacuated but their Rwandan congregation is refused entry. In a film, littered with heart-breaking scenes, this was the scene that told me that Hotel Rwanda is too upsetting for me to watch ever again.

Joaquin Phoenix and Nick Nolte also star in supporting roles, Joaquin Phoenix as photojournalist Jack Daglish and Nolte as UN Colonel Oliver respectively. And while both men were only in supporting roles, they were some of the best characterisations within the film. Daglish is disgusted by a massacre that he films and the fact that he cannot do anything to help these people. Paul reassures him that when Western audiences see his footage, they will be moved to take action. Daglish disagrees with him, proclaiming that "they'll say that's disgusting and carry on eating their dinners." 

Truer words have never been spoken. Speaking as one of these privileged Westerners in my proverbial , ivory tower, it's difficult for me to truly connect with the struggles of these people as I am so far removed from them. And I think the same goes for lots of Western audiences. How many times have you seen a charity advert for starving African children and gone "oh that's awful. I can't imagine what that's like" before continuing on with your day? My answer to that. More times than I can count.

Nolte also bought a great humanity to the character of Colonel Oliver. In what could have easily been a generic army grunt, I truly felt the inner conflict that Oliver was feeling. Having connected with Paul and seen the horrors first-hand, he desperately wants to help them but his hands are tied by bureaucracy. Overworked and understaffed, I truly felt his frustration at his superiors who could not care less about the plight of the Rwandans for the sole reason that they're black. And I don't mean to be provocative, but truthful. Although interestingly Senator Romeo Dallaire, whom Oliver was based on, has always been a vocal critic of the film's historical accuracy.

And of course we have to applaud Don Cheadle who received an Oscar nod for his portrayal of Paul Rusesabagina and deservingly so.  He was playing a man who had to survive in an impossible situation, and not just survive, but keep his Tutsi family alive, keep running his hotel, fend off the Interahamwe and look after the 1000 Tutsi refugees that he is harbouring. And that is exactly what he did. He managed to get every single one of those refugees to safety. I just wish that Sophie Okonedo had more to do. She is a great actress and I think she was short-changed in this film. Okonedo was great in the parts that she was in and was deserving of her Oscar nod, but her part could have been more interesting.

All in all though this was a brilliant film that broke my heart and made me cry many tears. Just don't ask me to watch it again. My heart couldn't take that.