STACK #149 Mar 2017

CINEMA REVIEWS

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FENCES

RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Denzel Washington CAST: Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen Henderson RATING: PG Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by August Wilson and set in Pittsburgh in the ‘50s, Denzel Washington plays Troy Maxton, a larger-than-life bin-man whose garrulous nature hides some darker urges that are gradually revealed throughout the film. Troy was a star baseball player when the sport was still segregated, which meant he never got the chance to play in the big league. Consequently, he is vehemently opposed to his youngest son Corey (Jovan Adepo) pursuing his dream of playing college football. He also has conflicting feelings about his brother Gabriel (Mykelti Williamson), who suffered brain damage during the war and whose army disability pension allowed Troy to buy his home. His devoted wife Rose (Davis), meanwhile, attempts to keep the peace, but when she discovers another hidden side to her husband’s life, even she begins to question her loyalties. Washington gives a bravura performance as Troy, capturing both his easy-going charm and tyrannical inclinations, and Davis is equally as good as his long-suffering partner. However, his work behind the camera is less satisfying: there’s an assured tempo to his direction, but the action is restricted mainly to the Maxton home – you are never in any doubt that this is a filmed play. As a cinematic experience, Fences is not without its flaws, but as a celebration of an important work of African-American culture it can’t be faulted. John Ferguson As with most of Martin Scorsese’s movies, Silence is all about faith, in particular why God remains silent when suffering is inflicted upon good people, and balancing your spiritual beliefs with the compromises needed to live your life. The tortured hero is Father Sebastian (Andrew Garfield), a devout Portuguese Jesuit who, together with Father Francisco (Adam Driver), travels to 17th Century Japan to find their former mentor, Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson), who has reportedly renounced his faith following a violent backlash against Christians by the country’s rulers. At first the pair succeed in eluding the authorities while carrying out secret masses for the incredibly brave Japanese peasants who have defied their rulers and stayed true to the faith. But when Sebastian is captured after setting out alone to find Ferreira, a cruel cat-and-mouse game begins between him and a wily old Samurai interrogator, who will do anything to get his prisoner to renounce his religion. Silence is all about stillness and painterly composition; it looks superb but with its two and half hour plus running time, things begin to drag before the end, and an overly portentous script doesn’t help matters. Despite its flaws, there's no doubting the passion Scorsese brings to the work and the film confirms once again that even when he is not at the top of his game, the veteran filmmaker remains in a different class than most of his contemporaries. Ultimately though, Silence is a film to admire rather than love. John Ferguson SILENCE RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese CAST: Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson RATING: MA15+

RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle CAST: Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle RATING: R18+

T2 TRAINSPOTTING

Choose this mostly satisfying sequel.

W hen we last saw Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor), he'd just ripped off his mates to the tune of 16,000 quid (and Underworld's 'Born Slippy') and was going straight and choosing life. Now, twenty years later, he's returned to Edinburgh to look up old friends, and needless to say it's a tumultuous homecoming. After saving a suicidal Spud (Ewen Bremner), who's still on heroin and a failure as a father, Renton looks up Sick Boy/Simon (Jonny Lee Miller), who's now a volatile cokehead running an extortion racket involving incriminating videos with prostitute partner Veronika (Anjela Nedyalkova). Having vented his initial anger over his mate's betrayal, Sick Boy offers Renton a partnership in a new business venture, a high class sauna (read brothel), and the pair slip back into their old groove. Then there is the matter of one Francis Begbie (Robert Carlyle), who's still as psychotic as ever and has just made a sly prison break, and it's only a matter of time before he runs into Renton.. Trainspotting was very much a film of its era; like Quadrophenia , it defined the UK youth culture and music of the period. But as Kelly Macdonald's Diane noted back in '96, "The world is changing, music is changing, even drugs are changing" and T2 reveals those changes in a sombre and lethargic sequel that reflects its now

middle-aged protagonists. The junkie squalor, scatalogical gags and anarchic energy are conspicuous by their absence. So is the propulsive soundtrack that was an intrinsic part of Trainspotting ; the playlist is more incidental this time. And where Renton was the narrator and focus of the first film, T2 divides the screen time between all four characters and their respective subplots, and as a result feels overlong. There is a lot to like, though. An impromptu sing-along by Sick Boy and Renton in a Protestant pub is a highlight, as is the inevitable confrontation between Begbie and Renton via some split-screen genius. The hyper-stylised look is back and nostalgia and fan service proliferate T2 , with echoes and beats from the original resonating throughout – an updated "Choose life" monologue, a Prodigy remix of 'Lust for Life', and minor characters returning for a cameo. Sick Boy sums it up best in a remark to Renton, and the audience: "Nostalgia, that's why you're here. You're a tourist in your own youth." Trainspotting didn't really need a sequel; Renton's "minor betrayal" was the perfect ending to a hard act to follow. This mostly satisfying follow-up doesn't top or equal the first film, but instead leaves a nagging sense that these characters were more interesting as junkies. Scott Hocking

RATING KEY: Wow! Good Not bad Meh Woof!

MARCH 2017

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