Murphy’s Law Embodied in Film – Argo

Posted on October 15, 2012 by kirifarrell

Argo – Official Poster – from IMDB.com

Argo (2012)

Director: Ben Affleck
Writers: Chris Terrio (screenplay), Joshuah Bearman (article)
Stars: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston and John Goodman

As I sit in my comfortable bedroom feeling safe and warm, I write with a heaviness of heart for the parts of the world that live in true terror, not knowing if their streets will be safe tomorrow. I have become desensitized to war, crime, death, riots. I do not know what it is like to fear for my life. And yet I surround myself with entertainment that reveals these terrors to me; that engage and entertain me; that help me escape from my mundane and uneventful life. Argo is a film that has shocked the reality and terror of war and military resistance back into my heart and mind.

Based on a declassified true story set in 1979 Iran. The U.S. Embassy has been stormed and hostages are held for 444 days. Six American embassy workers escape and find refuge in the Canadian embassy. The rest of the film unfolds as the adventure of how they get out of Iran without being found and executed for being spies for the U.S. Affleck has composed a film that builds slowly and steadily the tension and stress of these people as the CIA tries to get them out as a Canadian film crew. With parts verging on the ridiculous side of tense, the film plays out Murphy’s Law in every way possible. It is a movie that you have to buy popcorn, because you will stress eat the entire way through the final third of this film.

What really made this film brilliant for me was the reactions of my friends sitting either side of me. It made me realise how unfeeling and desensitized to violence and war that I’ve become. This film captures the way fear and anxiety can play in war and uprising, and how innocent people can get trapped in the middle of military and government games. It’s the horrible truth of war and our world that people who have not called war upon themselves are thrust into the horrific arena of government power plays. You take the side of the Americans naturally throughout the ordeal of the film without considering much of what the Iranians were uprising against, and without wanting the American government to do what the Iranians want. I want to sit and question this position because I don’t know where I stand on this. Is it right for a country to play in the affairs of another country if it demands the people of that country to rise up against their authority because of oppression? Should they be held accountable for their part in the mess? What part does diplomacy play? I don’t have answers for these questions but I’m glad Argo has made me think about it.

All in all this is a brilliant and dramatic film with moments of both terror and humour. Affleck has brought to life a fantastic epic and has created a film that will be nominated for awards and will (in my mind) hopefully win a few. It is gritty and deals with a point in history that we don’t look at much. If you like action, drama, humour, hollywood, history, documentary or war themed films, go and see this. It’ll be a great adventure for you and will make the journey back to reality a great relief.

Sadness and Pity – The Words

Posted on October 14, 2012 by kirifarrell

The Words – Official Poster – from IMDB.com

The Words (2012)

Directors: Brian Klugman, Lee Sternthal
Writers: Brian Klugman (screenplay), Lee Sternthal (screenplay)
Stars: Bradley Cooper, Dennis Quaid, Zoe Saldana and Olivia Wilde

There are moments when a movie trailer can win me over enough to send me to the cinemas. The Words wasn’t even on my radar and I’m usually not a huge fan of Bradley Cooper or Dennis Quaid. It was the story that was told in the trailer that caught my attention. (Watch it here)

The story of a stolen novel and a stolen life. The composition of the film is beautiful and tragic. You know from the moment the film begins that it won’t have a wonderful and happy ending but neither do you know what will inevitably become of the young man who dreams of being something more than what he is. This isn’t a fast moving, action packed film, nor is it an utterly tragic drama, and yet it left me with a feeling that I cannot fully explain. I left the cinema with a heaviness and depth of pity and sadness for the men in the film that I haven’t felt before, which makes me ask the question: why?

It wasn’t the most amazing film I’ve ever seen, it wasn’t even hitting in my top twenty or fifty necessarily. However, it was able to convey something that I hadn’t experienced before. The darkness of fame, the twisted shame of lies, the hurt and pain of loss, the need for redemption and to right our wrongs, and the emptiness that comes with keeping a secret that tears apart your life. That is what the film left me with. The simple truth that we do wrong and we have to live with the consequences.

The way that Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal composed this film brought into light that if a story is worth telling then do it simply, without grandiose or theatrics. Just tell it like it is, let the characters be real and true and awful. I felt the pain and shame of Bradley Cooper’s character; and the hurt and loss of Jeremy Irons old man; and the love and fear of Zoe Saldana’s character. There was depth to the narrative and development of the characters without being obvious or over-the-top. It meant that the heart of the film was able to shine through without being tarnished by me thinking about the film making techniques or script. It was a beauty and sad story told simply and graciously.

I really recommend you see this film. Not just for the gorgeousness of Bradley Cooper’s blue eyes, but for the feeling that this film leaves you with when the lights go up at the end of the film. It may not change your life, or stay with you forever, but it will make you feel something different.

Just don’t think about it too much – Looper

Posted on October 10, 2012 by kirifarrell

Looper – Official Poster – from IMDB.com

Looper (2012)

Director: Rian Johnson
Writer: Rian Johnson
Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt

Time travel is always a tricky idea to play with. It can do your head in a bit if you think about it too much. There is always the “what if you change something that changes the course of history which means you can’t have been sent back in time to change it?” thing. To be honest I like not thinking about that, it’s nice to just go along with the flow. But when a film demands you think about it and you are thrown into the mystery of chasing the future and changing the past at the same time it’s hard not to like getting swept up into the thrill of it. And it really is thrilling.

Looper is a film that makes your head hurt a little bit after and leaves you Googling for answers. Luckily the writer Rian Johnson is happy to give answers (yes I went to Google as soon as I left the credits started rolling). However, in saying this, I did think too much during the film. A friend had said that she was confused by it, and so I spent most of the second half of the film trying to work out the twist. If I hadn’t done that I would’ve found it less troublesome at the end. Looper is a real adventure and you do get swept away with Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his life as a looper, an assassin from the future.

Looper makes a massive comment on the value of life and the problems that hurt, pain, and killing cause for future generations. This is what stuck with me when all the time travel stuff had subsided. The fight to live and the acceptance of death are powerful mental and emotional drivers that can determine the way we make decisions and the way we think about the consequences of our actions.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has proven once again why is one of the most in-demand actors. His performance throughout the film is captivating, even with prosthetics. Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt are incredible drivers of the emotion and complexity of life. But the actor that steals the show is little Pierce Gagnon. He is simply terrifying and adorable at the same time. He performs in such a dark and violent film with such maturity and truth that it is a little scary to see. I was blown away by him.

This film isn’t as confusing as some other films that have come out in recent years (yes, Christopher Nolan, I’m looking at you sir) but it takes a great idea and conveys it with conviction and continuity which can be the most troublesome thing for a futuristic time travel film. I really enjoyed getting swept up in the world that Johnson brings alive on screen and he grounds it in the present enough for it to be realistic which is something I always love about futuristic dramas, if it looks like today then I will buy in to your idea.

I really recommend this film. It’s a great escape and an adventure, although be warned there is a lot of splattery blood…

Life isn’t worth living if I can’t be beautiful! – Howl’s Moving Castle

Posted on September 12, 2012 by kirifarrell

Howl’s Moving Castle – Official Poster – from IMDB.com

Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)

Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Writers: Hayao Miyazaki (screenplay), Diana Wynne Jones (novel)
Stars: Chieko Baishô, Takuya Kimura and Tatsuya Gashûin

My dad had raved about this film after he saw it. I thought I had seen it before but it turned out I hadn’t. I know realise why my dad ranted about how wonderful this film was. There is a charm and childish dreamlike quality to this film that brings the animated characters to life.

I wasn’t expecting anything brilliant from the film, but I really should have since I’ve seen Spirited Away and Ponyo. Howl’s Moving Castle is in the same style of Japanese animation that Hayao Miyazaki is renowned for and it has the same magical and quirky sense of mystery and wonder that his other films have. And I have to say, the best thing about this film is how the script and animation ground the magic in this film. There are just utterly unreal moments in this film where a character will come out with the best lines. For example, our heroine, Sofi, has been transformed into an old woman by a witch’s curse and then leaves her town, meets a scarecrow with a turnip as a head that keeps following her and she casually says as they are about to part company: “It was a pleasure meeting you, even if you are my least favorite vegetable! Take care, Turniphead!” – Genius! Seriously, if you can’t love crazy old Sofi then there is something wrong with you. There are gems throughout this entire film which had me giggling hours after the film had finished.

Sofi is so down-to-earth and matter-of-fact about everything but with a childish sense of adventure that gives her character wholeness and depth that you don’t really see in animated films (or at least I don’t). Her world is simple, magical, random, and at some times just plain insane and yet she deals with it as anyone would in any other world. She is compassionate, kind, hardworking, strong, and determined. She keeps her youthfulness in her aged-form and it reminds me of how I want to be when I get old. I want to be that crazy old lady who has the passion and determination to go mountain climbing at 70 or to step out of a comfort zone even at the age of 80. I want to live life with the dignity and love that Sofi shows to everyone around her.

In comparison to Sofi, Howl is vain and cursed to be heartless, always seeking something more beautiful and more magical. And yet through their interactions you see his broken humanity come into full view as he fights to save the world he lives in and attempts to save the beauty that is left. For Howl, he must learn to put aside his desire for his own beauty and to seek a beauty for others. Miyazaki seems to weave this moral of nature and beauty in an unusual way, for he both condemns and applauds the search and fight for beauty. It is framed so it is the beauty within and the beauty around us that we are to fight for, not the physical beauty of our own appearance, which just tends to cripples and destroys us.

I love how an animated film like Howl’s Moving Castle can illicit dreams and passions that I know lie dormant when I step back into reality but that remind me that I do have the capacity to be fabulous and to live a life of pure passion and adventure. Living vicariously through film means finding myself in every story and being reminded of the wonder that the world holds, and that it is waiting patiently for me to step out into it and take the opportunities that are in front of me. The great things about films, all films whether documentaries, animations, surrealist or otherwise, they help us to live and dream and to envision a world with us as the protagonist. I shall take up my part in the story of my life and live as it were a film, scripted just for me.

Stripped bare – The Terminator

Posted on September 7, 2012 by kirifarrell

The Terminator – Official Poster – from IMDB.com

The Terminator (1984)

Director: James Cameron
Writers: James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd, and William Wisher Jr. (additional dialogue)
Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn

When I was 12 years old my parents took us to Los Angeles. It was a dream come true. It was my first overseas trip, we went to Disneyland, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas (not so fun as a 12 year old, but the Stratosphere was awesome) and of course Universal Studios. I was so excited. My love of film had been growing since I was a child and I was so excited to see where the movies were made. One of the things I remember most about Universal Studios is the Terminator “ride”. We all entered a room and a woman appeared on a balcony-like platform and introduced us to the ride, the way she said “Suuuuupeeeeer” had us all in giggles and then a guy ran out on another balcony saying it was a trap and not to go in. There was a moment where I stood there and thought “what if it really is a trap?” and the terror started to fill me, like it was supposed to I guess. I remember talking to my mum about it afterwards, wondering why we were so willing to go along with something we knew could be dangerous. I don’t recall her answer but it is one of the moments that has stuck with me till this day.

Since then I’ve always been a little cautious of actually watching the film, and so until a few days ago when my housemate demanded I watch it because I wasn’t a true movie buff until I did (those weren’t her words but it was the gist of it). So I finally watched The Terminator. And I don’t know why people don’t rave about it more often because it is actually a great action film for it’s time. I mean I wasn’t even born when it was made and it brilliantly encapsulates the potential terror that can come with the advancement of technology and the way experience the world through the eyes of media and the way we rely on technology. Of course there were moments when it was just a little silly and the 80s clothes are somewhat special to behold, but it was a good action film all around. And I finally understand the Skynet references that people make now.

I ended up live tweeting the entire film which I think I might continue to do for old films I watch (follow me on twitter @vicariousfilm). I really enjoyed watching it even though a lot of it was a bit gross and invasive, like the bit with his eye ball, oh my, I never want to see that again, it reminded me too much of Salvador Dali’s film. Ew. The main reason I like the film was because it was the female that triumphed over all the male wreckage. And although she was the typical damsel in distress and ended up pregnant at the end, I still felt like she was the fight through the latter part of the film. I just spent most of the time wanting Kyle to let go of Sarah Connor’s hand and let her run for herself because I had faith she’d be much quicker without his “help”. But there you have it, it was the 80s after all.

Like I’ve said previously, I grew up with an older brother and watched action films with him all the time. I attributed my love for action films to him but I really do love the hero stories they capture. I want to live as a hero, to be able to make those tough life or death decisions, to live with fear being a motivator instead of an inhibitor. I wish I was as badass as Sarah Connor and I hope if a handsome man comes and tells me my life is in danger that I would be able to. I guess we’ll see what happens when Skynet does engage humanity in war.

Is there a film that people rave about and always tell you to watch that you finally saw and it was awesome? Or are they all a little overrated?

Films I’ve Seen A Million Times – Oh The Cheese! – Get Over It

Posted on September 3, 2012 by kirifarrell

Get Over It – Official Poster – from IMDB.com

Get Over It (2001)

Director: Tommy O’Haver
Writer: R. Lee Fleming Jr.
Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Ben Foster and Melissa Sagemiller

There is something wonderful about overly cheesy films that can make fun of themselves. I have a particular love for them even though I know most people would probably not. It is a way of letting go of reality and living in a world where the ridiculous is accepted. It’s one of the reasons I love old school musicals like Singin’ In The Rain, Easter Parade, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It is the way it allows you to accept the fantasy and giggle and cringe your way along through it. And especially in the case of a lot of musicals, it is the fantasy of falling in love with a man that will sing and dance around you that I love to live in. I’ve always said I wanted a guy who can dance, sing, and make me swoon, pretty much just because I want to live in a musical for a day. If you combine this with Shakespeare you have an absolute winner for me.

Get Over It is just this. It’s a quarter musical, a quarter Shakespeare, a quarter comedy, and a quarter romance film. And it’s awesome. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Colin Hanks, and Mila Kunis, among others, there is a wonderful cheesiness about this film that makes me laugh every time. It is a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and includes high school musical, slapstick comedy, and really random moments of unexpected hilarity along the way. The main character, Berke Landers (Ben Foster) is a guy with your usual high school problems, just been dumped by his long term girlfriend and soul mate Alison McAllister (Melissa Sagemiller), he signs up to the school musical, an adaptation of A Midsummer Nights Dream, to win her back from the sleaze of a boy band member she’s started dating (Shane West). Oh and his parents are sex therapists with their own TV advice/chat show. I mean it’s just comic brilliance. And with friends like Colin Hanks and his on-screen-sister Kirsten Dunst, who could imagine anything better? Parties, getting arrested by police at a strip club for being under age, public humiliation at the basketball match, a girl with an epic bad luck curse on her, getting shot by your best friend’s sister with an arrow. This movie has everything you could possibly ever want (and probably not want).

What makes it brilliant is the way it makes fun of itself which is balanced with Shakespeare’s brilliant love triangle. The comedy and music play against one another and the messy relationships that sprawl across the screen make this film so enjoyable for me. It’s also one of those moments when I relate to one of the characters incredibly closely to the point where it scares me a little, except they get the ultimate happy ending because that’s what the movies are all about. It really appeals to the things I treasure deeply, that are my insecurities, that I hold as honourable, that I hope for. I know that it plays on my imagination and makes me dream a little dream and that it isn’t the greatest film ever made by it is well made and just plain funny.

It’s my guilty little pleasure for when I’m feeling down which I know will always cheer me up and escape my negativity.

Do you have a guilty pleasure film that you watch but know isn’t that great?

Drama, Drugs & Devotion – London

Posted on August 31, 2012 by kirifarrell

London – Official Poster – from IMDB.com

Drama, Drugs & Devotion – London (2005)

Director: Hunter Richards
Writer: Hunter Richards
Stars: Jessica Biel, Chris Evans and Jason Statham

I tend to go through phases of watching a particular actor’s films because I become obsessed with them and this week with the Avengers coming out on DVD/Blu-Ray, I have chosen Chris Evans as my obsession. I really hadn’t watched much of Chris Evans before Captain America but going back and watching bits and pieces of his career has been interesting. He’s done some not so great films but he’s also done some surprisingly good films. London is one of the good ones in my mind.

It’s a drama centred around Syd (Chris Evans) who is a bit of a druggie – cocaine mostly – and who is trying to win back the love of his life, London (Jessica Biel), who is about to move away and start her life with her new guy. He meets Bateman (Jason Statham) the day of her going away party, which he wasn’t invited to, and takes him along. The film then consists of flash backs of London & Syd’s relationship and Syd and Bateman in the bathroom of her best friend, Rebecca’s (Isla Fisher) parents house and their discussion of life, relationships, religion, and where things went wrong. It is a gripping film as you are drawn into these men’s lives with little prior knowledge about them and as their friendship as strangers grows you see how it is they came to be at this point in their lives. Evans shows a different side to his acting as he portrays the tormented soul of this grown man and standing next to Statham doing the same is something I didn’t think I’d ever see, and they are both incredibly brilliant. It has actually made me think of them as actors rather than action movie stars. They show depth to their characters and are able to capture a great deal of emotion and convince you that these men are so much more than you just see on screen. They are brilliantly directed by Hunter Richards, also the writer, and the film delivers a unique look into this world. Biel and Fisher are also brilliant in this film and ground the narrative.

I really liked this film and I really loved Evans and Statham in these different roles. They are brilliant action stars but it is great to know they can really, truly act. I really recommend seeing this film, it’s edgy and different and is able to deal with big questions of life and love in a bathroom with Van Gogh and Cocaine. Go watch it.

Metaphors Galore, Quirkiness Reigns – Moonrise Kingdom

Posted on August 27, 2012 by kirifarrell

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Moonrise Kingdom – Official Poster from IMDB.com

Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Stars: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward and Bruce Willis

When I said I was going to see Moonrise Kingdom a friend asked me “So you’re a Wes Anderson fan?” and to be honest I would never have considered myself a fan of Wes Anderson. His movies are quirky, strange, and in some cases just completely bizarre. But after seeing Moonrise Kingdom I think I finally understand why people either love or hate him. However if you hate this film then there is something seriously wrong with you and you need to go to Disneyland and reclaim your childhood or something.

To try and describe Moonrise Kingdom would be to strip it bare of any real substance. At its heart it is about the love of children and how they feel passionate and life defining things. But there is so much more than that to the film. I could rant and rave for hours about the nuances of genius in the screenplay, or the incredible performances by every single one of the cast members, including the three little brothers of our heroine, Suzy (Kara Hayward). The children in this film are incredible actors and actresses. Most of the time I was sitting in awe of their ability to bring this story into life with their genuine acting. There was nothing false about their performances. The two main leads Suzy and Sam (Jared Gilman) are both “troubled” children, they are misunderstood and are trying to live in a world that will never really, truly understand why they are a little bit quirky or different. And they deal with it splendidly. Their adventure is crafted with such a big vision but also with an innocence that defines even the smallest things like what they pack for their escape. Suzy and Sam are two characters who I will never forget, they make me want to be a child again and wish that I was more adventurous when I was one.

Moonrise is beautiful and quirky and fun in every moment but with an underlying sadness of the adult lives of our parents, scout masters, and policemen. Anderson brings to light how children see the world with so much more depth than we give them credit for. We forget so easily what it was like to be a child, a teenager, a young adult even. Instead we try and grow up, we try and put on a brave face rather than being brave, and we forget how to enjoy the simple little things in life like the beauty of music and how it is constructed in so many layers. Anderson brings to light the falsehoods of adulthood, and the way we can affect children in even the smallest of ways with our actions and opinions. This film is filled with beautiful metaphors of life and love. I really want to find a way to use this as an English text as a teacher.

P.S. I still don’t love Bill Murray because he embodies the awkward and tense humour which I continually both cringe at and giggle to. It’s just too confusing to deal with. He’s great in this film, but I still don’t love him.

The Woman I Wish I Was – Beauty & The Beast

Posted on August 23, 2012 by kirifarrell

Beauty and the Beast – 3D Poster – from IMDB.com

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Directors: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
Stars: Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson and Richard White

There is something truly magical about Disney. It is the fantasy it creates of a world where issues can be overcome, where evil falls and good triumphs, where all things end in the most spectacular of ways. But the endings have never been my favourite part. I also like to see where the characters begin. And this is why Beauty and the Beast is still my favourite Disney film. Not just Disney “princess” film, but Disney film overall. And it is all because of who Belle is at the beginning of the film.

The first time you meet Belle she is walking into the village and the whole town erupts in song around her. The way she treats people through this sequence is what I love and the fact that she is strong, intelligent, polite, respectful, humble, and the same to all people. Her sense of equality breaks through the walls of the judgment she faces from the town, and even when it comes to the ghastly Gaston, she is polite and dismisses him respectfully, if only a little tersely. She is accepting of everyone and the one person she tells her true judgments to is her father, and even then she gives reasonable accounts of why she dislikes someone like Gaston.

Her whimsy, strength, sacrifice, boldness, and adventurous nature continue to be what shapes her throughout the film. When she comes up against the Beast her response is one of fearlessness and willingness to take him on and see past the harsh exterior of his beastly appearance. This is what I love about Belle. I love her character for every single moment of this film, there is never a point when I don’t like her or disagree with what she does. She is honest and kind and thinks of others as well as herself. She is encouraging and joyous of everyone and seeks to treat them as she would like to be treated. The only moment when I think she does the wrong thing is when she goes into the west wing where the Beast has forbidden her to go, but even then I would’ve done the same, just not on the first night I was there… And even then you expect it because, let’s be honest, the Beast is asking for it as soon as he says it’s “forbidden”.

Belle was my role model as I was growing up. She was my heroine of all literature. It was her intelligence and strength that captivated me and made me want to be her. I didn’t necessarily want to fall in love with a prince and live in a big castle but I did want to be strong and wise and kind.

Who has your role model been from a film, book, tv series, or other form of literature?

Gotta have soul – The Sapphires

Posted on August 21, 2012 by kirifarrell

The Sapphires – Official Poster – from IMPawards.com

The Sapphires (2012)

Director: Wayne Blair
Writers: Tony Briggs, Keith Thompson
Stars: Chris O’Dowd, Deborah Mailman and Jessica Mauboy

There is always a little part of me that tends to cringe at Aussie humour. It’s something about it being a little bit corny and overdone that I find groan-worthy. It is something that I’ve been discovering has been shaken out of Australian films little bit by little bit over the years and it has now hit the right tone in most Australian films that I’ve seen over the last couple of years. I think it’s also a better quality of all aspects of film making as well which has begun to give Aussie films a real chance of succeeding in other countries as well as at home. The Sapphires is a perfect example of the quality films that Australia is producing.

Based on a true story, The Sapphires follows the story of a group of Australian indigenous women with talented voices and a passion to use them. It is set during the Vietnam war, which is not a time period I know much about, apart from the funky music and cute fashion, oh and Forrest Gump. The story between the women is heartbreaking and endearing all at the same time. It shows the intricate difficulties of racism in Australia in the 50s and 60s and how it affected all people involved, not just Aboriginals nor just white people. I found that this point was handled incredibly well. It balanced the sensitivity with the truth and harshness of racism and made the world of Australia in the 1960s really come alive with a unique view from the point of view of indigenous Australians.

The highlight of the film for me had to be the relationship between Deborah Mailman’s character of Gale and Chris O’Dowd’s beautiful and hilarious portrayal of Dave. The arc of their story has a unique and wonderful twist to it and to watch it unravel on screen is simply delightful. You really feel for all the women in this film, from the women in the Sapphires to their mum, aunt, cousin, etc, there is a grace and sharpness to the shape of the relationships between the women. It is this that gripped me through the film, I was pulled in through the comedy and emotional take on the women and the battles they faced in their lives. The strength of these women is showcased in a variety of ways and it was fantastic to see strength in women displayed in these ways as it really illuminated the different ways femininity can be expressed.

Chris O’Dowd provided a wonderful lightness and humour to the film and really bound the film to an international grounding, as well as the link with the Americans in Vietnam. I really do hope this film is accepted by an international audience.

The only complaint I have about this film is the one or two times when that old Aussie cringe-worthy humour and corniness came through the cracks, but I was able to overlook this because of the strength of the rest of the film. Go and see it if you get the chance. It’s made me fall in love with Soul music all over again.