Woman in Gold (2015) film review

Year: 2015
Running Time: 109 minutes
Director: Simon Curtis
Writers: E. Randol Schoenberg and Maria Altmann (life stories), Alexi Kaye Campbell (screenplay)
Cast: Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Daniel Bruhl, Tatiana Maslany, Katie Holmes, Max Irons, Charles Dance

Woman in Gold is a biographical film that does a fine job of telling the story of Maria Altmann and her family, but it's dramatization struggles to remain immune from the curse of cliché. Based on the ground-breaking case of the Republic of Austria v. Altmann, Woman in Gold is the tale of Austrian born Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren) who's family were the owners of the incredible painting by Gustav Klimt of her aunt, Adele (Antje Traue) entitled "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" until their home was invaded by Nazis who took possession of the everything including the painting. Now living in Los Angeles in the 1990's, Maria seeks the assistance of young lawyer, Randol Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds) to help her seek justice for having her family's property stolen. Her journey takes her back to the country she vowed never to return to and to face the past she wanted to forget.

Maria Altmann's life story is told wonderfully on screen. From her life of hardships in war torn Vienna to her later years fighting for justice in the United States, her fight for her life and then for justice is well documented and very thorough. Altmann's earlier years in Vienna (as portrayed by Tatiana Maslany) are particularly well done, as great suspense is generated with her and her husband's (Max Irons) quest to leave the Nazi dominated city and her inevitable separation from her family is extremely emotional. However, the scenes set in the 1990's struggle for the same type of suspense. While the real life proceedings in the case were undoubtedly eventful and extremely important, it's dramatization in the film is somewhat cliché and feels almost overdone. There are several features of the film which were changed from the reality for dramatic effect (such as Randol working without pay for years), but these changes come across as extremely cliché due to the heroism that is attempted to be attached to the characters and their situations.

However, what is done well in the scenes set in Maria's later life are the internal struggles that she experiences in deciding whether to go ahead with her case. The portrait in question which is now on display in New York City's Neue Galerie, was much loved by the Austrian people when it was hung in their country. This is one of the ethical dilemmas that Maria is faced with in the film as she does not want to take something away that is so important to her homeland, yet she believes that justice must be served. The other dilemma she is faced with is whether she should just let the past be the past or if she should seek to reclaim something that belonged to her family half a century earlier. It is indeed a painful thing for her to revisit the past and to once again see the place she left because of the horrors that were occurring there. Maria's journey is an emotional one for her as it means going back to a place she vowed never to return to. She is also faced with the pressure of outsiders making their opinion that she should just let it all go very vocal. Yet her belief in doing what is right by her family who are now gone, but always a part of her is very admirable.

Woman in Gold is beautifully shot with some incredibly lovely images. The beauty of the city of Vienna is well captured on camera with glorious shots of it's sights including the Hofburg Palace. The Vienna occupied by Nazis and the Vienna Maria returns to have two completely different atmospheres. Of course this is created by the oppression felt by the Nazis which is not there upon returning, but the cinematography allows for the feeling of a dark cloud constantly following the characters during the war. The soundtrack by Hans Zimmer and Martin Phipps is absolutely exquisite.

Helen Mirren does a very good job in the lead as Maria Altmann. She gives a solid performance as a woman who is exhausted from her years of guilt over leaving her family and bitterness towards her home country. The one problematic thing about Mirren's Maria is that her past between when she first arrives in America and when she looks for a lawyer is a mystery. There is no word of when her husband died or whether they had any children (which she did indeed as she had three sons and one daughter). Ryan Reynolds also gives a very good performance and shows a great deal of emotion especially when he acknowledges his own Austrian heritage. Tatiana Maslany doe exceptionally well as the younger Maria and the pairing of her and Max Irons works extremely well.

Extremely well made and a fine tribute to both Maria Altmann and other families who suffered the hardships her and her family once did, Woman in Gold is entertaining but would be taken more seriously if it did not try to overdramatize itself. The story itself is incredible enough without inserting Hollywood clichés into it.

7/10

The Host (2013)

Year: 2013

Director: Andrew Niccol

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, William Hurt, Max Irons

Before I begin my review…

I feel like I have come full circle with The Host cycle.

The book will always be plagued by the fact that Stephenie Meyer, creator of the Twilight phenomenon penned it. I was completely sceptical of it and I know many other people who assumed before knowing anything about it that it was just another Twilight.

So I read the book and was pleasantly surprised to find out that there were no sparkling vampires or chiselled werewolves to speak of. For my tastes, I enjoyed The Host far better than I did the Twilight books. I read 63 books last year including The Host (yes, I am a massive book worm as well as being a cinephile!) and it was one of my favourites for the year.

So naturally I was very excited about the upcoming film. Until the first few minutes of it when I discovered that I should have realised that it could never work as a film the same way it did as a book.

That voice inside her head.

As soon as I heard Melanie voice for the first time inside Wanda’s head, it was moment where I felt like smacking my forehead with an open palm. I was so excited about a book I really enjoyed being made into a film that I forgot in my excitement this crucial piece of information that could break it.

Some good books should be left just as that. Good books. We don’t need to make a movie out of it. Just because it is a good book doesn’t scream that the film will work.

Why don’t film producers work more on mediocre books so it’s image can be improved by creating a better film?

I think I just spoilt the ending of my review….

Review

It is said often enough that the book is normally better than the film and the usual reason for that is that some books just don’t transfer to the screen well.

The Host is unfortunately one of those films. Various aspects of Stephenie Meyer’s novel have had some bad treatment and have not been used in a way that makes them effective on the screen and instead makes them quite ridiculous. The story itself isn’t bad and is really quite creative, it’s just a shame that director, Andrew Niccol and Meyer in the producer role made some bad production decisions.

An alien race has taken over the human race in order to eliminate all hatred and violence and bring Earth to peace. They have done this by inserting Souls into human bodies and thus eliminating the human soul. Wanda, or Wanderer as she is known as at the beginning of the film (Saoirse Ronan) has entered the body of Melanie Stryder, who refuses to completely fade from her physical form. Wanda constantly hears Melanie’s voice I her head trying to get her to go to and protect her loved ones from being taken over by this alien race. Seeker (Diane Kruger) is suspicious of Wanda and keeps a close eye on her before Melanie convinces Wanda to seek out her Uncle Jeb (William Hurt), brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and her love, Jared (Max Irons). While Melanie is committed to Jared, Wanda is drawn to Ian (Jake Abel), forming a bizarre love triangle which involves three bodies, but four souls.

The Host has all the potential in the world with an intriguing and unique story, but it lets itself down in so many areas. The worst part of the film is the way in which Melanie’s voice inside Wanda’s head is created. It’s understandable that the film makers wanted to show how loud and clear her voice is inside Wanda’s head, but it sounds like nothing more than a dubbed over voice. Of course that is what it is, but that loses all the magic as it brings it seems so constructed. Melanie’s dialogue just sounds ridiculous at times and her constant “No! Please!” just becomes irritating and almost laughable.

There are other ways which this inner voice could have been achieved and heard by the audience, such as a quieter voice or perhaps even with some background noise, so that the audience could focus on the tension forming in Wanda’s mind and the expression on her face displaying this inner turmoil.

The film doesn’t really find momentum until about halfway through it (which is coincidently when Melanie pipes down), but even then doesn’t gain enough to create suspense and tension. The story is very interesting and the concept is intriguing, but the script doesn’t support the plot in the way which it should and doesn’t do it any justice.

The cinematography isn’t bad and some images are quite beautiful. However, the editing is pretty amateur, especially when it is chopping and changing between Wanda’s dream and the image of her in bed.

Honestly, the character of Wanda is not a very interesting or likable character. Obviously Wanda is supposed to be a very placid creature and is not supposed to experience emotion, but you feel no real attachment to the lead character and that is never a good thing. You are indifferent about who ends up with who and what happens to Wanda. This is not Saoirse Ronan’s fault, she was just not given much to work with. It’s a very lack lustre role.

Diane Kruger is not half bad as The Seeker. Even though his role wasn’t really a fantastic one and his performance wasn’t extremely powerful, you can see a glimmer of hope in Jake Abel that he does have big things in store for him. He shows emotion where need be, but again, his role calls for it to be pulled back. The Host doesn’t show what he really is capable of.

So many films have potential to be greater than they are and The Host isn’t one of them. People who haven’t read the book may flock to see it once they hear that just because it is based on a book by Stephenie Meyer, it doesn’t mean it is about vampires, yet that doesn’t mean you will like it any better.

4.5/10

You may have also seen Saoirse Ronan in....
The Lovely Bones
Hanna

Red Riding Hood

Red Riding Hood
Year: 2011
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons

In My Own Words
Oh boy, I really wanted to like this movie. I love the idea of a dark take on a fairytale. There hasn't really been that many since "The Brothers Grimm" starring Matt Damon and Heath Ledger back in 2005. To tell you the truth, I don't know if there is any other way to do make a fairy tale into a movie these days than to do a dark take on it. Of course, to make a fairytale worth watching these days it needs to be somewhat different to the version we have heard hundreds of times since we were children. There are two such dark fairytale adaptations coming up in the future. "Sleeping Beauty" has been redone once again with Emily Browning in the lead and is set for release this year. However, this film won't be one you'll be wanting to take your children to see. In this remake, a university student find herself caught up in prostitution and other naughty activities. The other dark fairytale which is currently in pre-production is "The Brothers Grimm" Snow White", which is already gaining a tremendous amount of interest with it's recent casting news. Julia Roberts is to play the Evil Queen, Saoirse Ronan  is cast as Snow White and Armie Hammer of "The Social Network" fame is to play the Prince.

It almost seems almost as though the only people who can get away with making a traditional fairytale into a movie and doing it successfully is Disney, but even they don't do it as much these days as what they used to. They released "The Princess And The Frog" and "Tangled"  in two consecutive years, but upon release of "Tangled" they released a statement saying that they would be making no more princess movie.

Everybody loves a fairytale, whether in traditional style or with a twist. A twist creates a lot more interest these days though and doesn't seem to hurt at the box office as "Red Riding Hood" has shown. As we all know though, box office figures don't always point to a good film.

These are my own words and here is my review.

Review
Catherine Hardwicke knows she struck gold when she directed the first and best so far of the "Twilight" saga. After a three year break from feature film directing, she returns with "Red Riding Hood". The film's release was greatly anticipated, but the release fails to live up to expectations. "Red Riding Hood" is a classic example of how directors have a success and feel that they have to continue their success by trying to replicate their first success. The result is a film which seems like it is just trying too hard and is overdone in everyway. However, there is still something entertaining and suprising enough in the film to make it bearable. Amanda Seyfried is Valerie (Red Riding Hood), the small medival village girl who is betrothed to Henry (Max Irons) and in love with Peter (Shiloh Fernandez). Her village has a truce with a wolf who live in close proximately to her and her family, until the wolf strikes again after many years and kills Valerie's sister. The whole village is now in danger and the wolf specifically has it's eye on Valerie.

The main reason why "Red Riding Hood" fails is because it is trying so hard to be a dramatic historical horror film. It doesn't qualify as a horror film despite how dark the film tries to be because while being suspenseful, it really isn't that scary. The image of the wolf really isn't as threatening as one would expect it to be. The wolves in "Twilight" were scarier than this one! The film is suspenseful and actually succeeds more in being a thriller or a mystery as the ending is quite surprising. This is the best thing about the film and a film where you don't see the ending coming is more often than not a success. This film is a success in suspense and storyline, but weak in everything surrounding it. The cinematography and the way which the landscape is captured is really quite beautiful, although some scenes in the snowy village are quite clearly inside a set. The script is quite well written, but the way it is carried out on screen and directed is horrible.

The acting and chemistry between the actors is really quite atrocious. Amanda Seyfried isn't bad as Valerie and she was a good choice for the role. The character of Valerie is quite a dark character, never cracking a smile and extremely serious. She doesn't show too much emotion throughout the film, which she probably should have done more of in certain scenes. The chemistry between Seyfried and Shiloh Fernandez is really poor. These two have no connection with each other at all even in the most intense of scenes and physically do not look right together on screen. Fernandez's performance is also not anything to write home about. He was a horrible choice for the role and one might think that he was cast as the role of Peter just because his looks somewhat resemble that of the black wolf. Max Irons is nowhere near as bad as Henry showing the right amount of emotion at the right moments in the film. Gary Oldman probably gives the best performance in the film as Father Soloman, even though it is far from his best role. Again, the chemistry between Seyfried and Virginia Madsen who plays her mother, Billy Burke who plays her father and Julie Christie who plays her grandmother is almost non-existant in each case.

Looking back at "Red Riding Hood", it is so easy to see why there has been so many comparisons to "Twilight". The wolves, a girl with two boys after her and Billy Burke once again playing the lead character's father. The film isn't bad enough to miss altogether, but it is more worthwhile borrowing it on DVD when it comes out rather than make the trip to cinemas to see it on the big screen.
4.5/10