Cinema Vox Film Reviews - Coming Soon in English
Chamonix Cinema Vox will be showing Crazy Heart, Edge of Darkeness and An Education playing in original language English (V/O) with French subtitles from 15th April to 2nd May. Please see the Cinema Vox website for show times.
CRAZY HEART
Veteran country singer/songwriter ‘Bad' Blake (Jeff Bridges) battles bills and booze on endless tours of dead-end towns. He's interviewed by journalist Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and sees some hope for himself and the future in her and her son Buddy.
Jeff Bridges gives an amazing, heart-breaking performance as the whisky-wracked Bad; a man for whom drunk driving isn't so much a crime as a lifestyle choice. Selfish, charismatic, charming but utterly destructive, he's both lovable and infuriating. Maggie Gyllenhaal is wonderful, too - her relationship with Bad would stretch credulity but for the fact she plays the role so warmly and believably.
The film also has great music, written largely by T Bone Burnett (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) and the late Stephen Bruton. Colin Farrell plays Bad's (more successful) protégé, and both he and Jeff Bridges sing surprisingly well.
Combined with the music, the fantastic cinematography sets the tone, capturing the landscape of the Southwest of the US, beautifully. (Cert 15)
EDGE OF DARKNESS
When the daughter of veteran Boston detective Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) is killed in front of him, police assume he was the target. But Craven begins to suspect it's to do with the ‘dodgy' businessman she was working for.
Craven is “damaged goods,” attacked by inner demons and haunted by grief — literally, as he hears the voice of his late daughter and imagines her there, as a little girl, during his exploration of her killing.
The original story is by the late Troy Kennedy Martin, fuelled by his frustration at a Thatcherite Britain in thrall to American interests. This film, directed by Martin Campbell (Golden Eye, Casino Royale, The Mask of Zorro) is similarly suspicious of government and big business.
Mel Gibson's excellent comeback performance is worth seeing - the Lethal Weapon hasn't lost it. (Cert 15)
AN EDUCATION
Jenny is pretty, doing well at school, and set to land a place at Oxford. Then she meets David, an older man who dazzles her with the world beyond her '60s suburban life, and soon a very different destiny opens up before her.
An Education is a movie that is gently engaging. Danish director Lone Scherfig never feels the need to hit the drama button for the sake of hammering home any moral points.
While this film has an easy charm that will leave you thinking that it was a “lovely” film, its primary pull is through the strong performances, particularly the new starlet Carey Mulligan who plays “Jenny,” and who is deeply convincing as a young woman who is intellectually a step ahead of the rest, but experientially three steps behind. (Cert 12A)
