Kramer Vs Kramer review

 Number 540 on the top 1000 films of all time is the legal drama Kramer vs Kramer.

Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman,) his wife Joanne (Meryl Streep) and their son Billy (Justin Henry) seem to be the perfect happy family. That is until wife Joanne abruptly says that she is leaving her family meaning Ted has to balance his advertising job and being a single father. Later on, Joanne returns and demands custody of Billy. A vicious battle ensues.

Kramer Vs Kramer explores a number of different themes like fathers' rights, single parenthood and gender roles. There are some who would argue that it portrays the difficulties that single fathers have in raising their family. Others would say that single fathers do exactly the same as single mothers do except they demand a lot more praise for it. The film does well in not taking any particular side but instead leaves the audience to make their own decisions.

At first Ted Kramer seems like a bad father - stressed out at doing well in his new advertising job, he struggles in balancing his new responsibilities as a single father. Meanwhile, Billy hates living with his father and wants nothing more than for his mum to come home. The tensions lead the two to fight a lot. Whether you sympathise with Ted or not depends on what side of the aforementioned debate you land on,  but I think Hoffman did well in making him an objectively understandable, if not sympathetic, character. You understand his irascibility even if you don't agree with it. Hoffman won his first of two acting Oscars for this role and it was well-earned.

Justin Henry was also very good in his debut acting role which went onto land him a Best Supporting Actor nomination. He had a natural chemistry with Hoffman which led to them being able to easily improvise many of the film's most famous scenes together like the ice cream for dinner scene. And just like Ted, while you might not find Billy sympathetic, you at least understand why he is acting the way he does.

Rounding out the cast is Meryl Streep. While she was great, earning the first of her three Acting Oscars, her character of Joanne was the weakest part of the film. Compared to her husband and son, she is quite shallow. The film doesn't take the same time to really delve into her motivations. We get a vague idea that she lost her self-confidence in her marriage. Having found herself again, she decides to take her son back. However, because she is largely absent for most of the film, I didn't find her very believable. Her decision to suddenly return sounded a little contrived like Robert Benton needed a new source of conflict after Ted and Billy reconcile their differences. But Benton went onto win the Best Directing Oscar while the film itself won Best Picture along with the acting wins, so what do I know?

What I do know is that this was a powerful film. It takes a neutral position and never talks down or preaches to its viewer. Instead it leaves them to make their own decision. Who do you think Billy should live with? His mum or his dad? Let me know in the comments below.

A Single man review

 Number 725 on the top 1000 films of all time is the period romantic drama 'A Single Man.'

Colin Firth stars as George Falconer, a gay, English academic in 1960's Los Angeles. He is left suicidally depressed after his lover Jim (Matthew Goode) is killed in a car accident. But through his interactions with his best friend - fellow English expat Charley (Julianne Moore) and student Kenny Potter (Nicholas Hoult) he begins to re-evaluate his attitude to life.

A Single Man was directed by fashion designer and perfume-maker Tom Ford in his directorial debut. And it definitely felt like it was directed by a fashion designer. At times it seemed like an extended perfume advert. You do get some perfume adverts that look stunning like K by Dolce & Gabbana or Chanel no. 5. Other perfume adverts are ridiculous and over-the-top. But whatever camp they fall into, perfume adverts are generally style-over-substance. I would argue the same here.

The art direction consisted of sepia and monochrome filters, gratuitous slow-motion, multiple sequences set to grandiose classical scores and strange shots of men swimming in water tanks. At times it worked - I loved the shot of George crying in Charley's arms after learning of Jim's death - the sequence was set to music, so you heard none of Firth's crying. But mostly, the art direction was self-indulgent, pretentious and it bloated up the film. A Single Man is a relatively short film clocking in at roughly 100 minutes, but it seemed like much longer.

As well as a perfume advert, A Single man reminded me of one of the old, dusty books that I studied in university. Some type of academic, overly-intellectualised text where nothing happens except for in the character's heads. This did lead to a dull and boring film. Obviously you don't need gun fights and explosions, but you need some type of drama or tension.

Charley and George do have one fight which did provide an edge that the film was dearly missing. Otherwise, everything was so monotone. The mood never changed. Throughout it was downbeat, slow and introspective.

I also hated the ending. The whole film is about George overcoming his suicidal thoughts and coming to terms with his grief. Just when it looks like he has done so he *spoiler alert* suffers a heart attack and dies. At best this is a copout and at worst this is lazy writing. I guess it's easier to kill a character rather than have them trying to process and live with this guilt and sorrow.

This was all a shame as the narrative itself wasn't inherently bad. Sure it's simplistic, but it had the potential to be a really interesting character study. Instead, this was all lost in overly-flashy visuals.