56th BFI London Film Festival

Caesar Must Die

4 stars

The big winner at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, this low budget but intricately directed and intimately staged Italian prison drama lives up to its reputation, as inmates of a prison in Rome rehearse for their very own production of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Beautifully drifting in and out of their world and one written by Shakespeare himself, the prisoners (all of them actually serving time for various crimes, with no prior acting experience, but giving such raw, powerful performances) find parallel between the lives they’re leading, and the characters they’re playing. Very little is told about the details of prison life, but a lot can be deduced during their audition and rehearsal processes. A short, concise but undeniably stirring and surreal experience.

Grassroots

3 stars

Two jobless best friends decide to take on the supposedly corrupt incumbent council member in Seattle. Their method is to heavily campaign the use of the city’s electric monorail for a cleaner, less grid-locked neighbourhood. That strategy, along with the running man’s genuine, earnest albeit quirky desire to improve the area does gain a lot of support. For the campaign manager (American Pie’s Jason Biggs), who started this with a half-hearted belief, it becomes an important project that could really become something legitimate. The film is simple, light on details and the brisk pacing does not help with the film’s political aspects wanting to be taken more seriously, but the ensemble of various talents does bring out the occasional outrageous laughs.

Like Someone in Love

2 stars

A young Japanese student working as a prostitute gets a call to pay an elderly professor a visit. She reluctantly goes, naturally assuming that the service she needs to provide would be sexual in nature. Turns out the old gentleman has very little interest in actually sleeping with her. What follows is a dull, plodding series of conversations between the two, covering a range of topics that are clearly supposed to have some sort of a deeper meaning. The two brilliant actors are given plenty of room to breathe, as director Abbas Kiarostami has no problem standing back and letting the leads do all the talking, but the criminally abrupt ending that provides absolutely no sense of closure will surely leave everyone dumbstruck without fail.

In the House (Dans la Maison)

4 stars

French director Francois Ozon’s latest offering is a warm blend of intriguing drama as well as downright hysterical comedy that handsomely unveils the many hidden layers in his characters and plot points with his controlled pace. A frustrated high-school literature teacher finally finds a young student who shows talent in the subject. The only hiccup is, all the boy wants to write about is his obsession with his friend’s mother. It’s fascinating, disturbing, amusing all in one big swoop, which is why he lets his pupil carry on with this task. But as time goes by the situation gets slightly out of hand, and the two find themselves in precarious positions. Sounds dead serious, but often it’s not, which is one of the film’s greatest strengths.

Crazy Eyes

2 stars

There is nothing wrong with exploring the dark and twisted sides of wealth, women and alcoholism, but when handled distastefully, as it is with Adam Sherman’s latest feature, it can turn into nasty, unpleasant viewing. A rich young man (Lukas Haas) with a long list of problems turns to heavy drinking for comfort and solace. He has a string of eccentric lovers but the one he is truly interested in doesn’t return his feelings. His obsession is creepy, her money-grabbing, quirky behaviour is frustrating, and the film fails to truly hone in on either of their true nature. Lacking a single character worth giving a damn about and bombarded with meaningless, pretentious narration, there are far too few redeeming factors on offer here.

Antiviral

3 stars

In a distant future where celebrity culture has grown wildly out of control, members of the public pay to receive injections of diseases that were once carried by the big shot superstars themselves. It’s an odd concept difficult to fully accept, which is a part of the reason why this social satire never fully works. Despite a strong, unsettling performance from Caleb Landry Jones, as one of the employees of a mass pharmaceutical firm that provides such eccentric services who purposefully acquires the latest “disease” only to discover its deadly consequences, there always exists that feeling of disbelief that undermines the film’s narrative drive. Still, the ideas behind the story, as well as its reflection on modern day’s fixation on fame provide some food for thought for the audience.