- Classification: M
- Directed by Simon Curtis
- Starring Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench & Emma Watson
- Runtime 99 minutes
WHEN Marilyn Monroe came to England, with her new husband Arthur Miller, to make the 1957 film The Prince and the Showgirl to be directed by Sir Laurence Olivier, she caused a storm. Everybody wanted to see the blonde bombshell. My Week with Marilyn is the not before told story of Colin Clark’s week with Marilyn Monroe. A film in which Michelle William’s performance completely steals the screen from everyone else in a cast of greats. Is it a great love story? We know 23-year-old Colin Clark fell in love with Marilyn Monroe, but was Marilyn Monroe in love with him? Or was it a case of a 30-year-old woman playing with the emotions of the 23-year-old man? It’s anyone’s guess, but as the dead don’t tell, we’ll probably never know.
So who was and is and Colin Clark? Now in his seventies he’s a British documentary filmmaker. At the time he was a young man, busting to work in the British film industry. After begging for job with Laurence Olivier Productions, he was eventually hired as the third director (the director’s dogs body, errand boy, whatever) on the film The Prince and the Showgirl. Marilyn Monroe was never easy to work with, she’d be late, she’d want to do things her way, in fact she drove Laurence Olivier to distraction, only Colin Clark could handle her, calm her down and see her point of view.
Written by Adrian Hodges based on the book by Colin Clark, My Week with Marilyn Monroe, reaches into the private world and unhappy mind of Marilyn Monroe, a Hollywood star who was so insecure and a troubled soul who was eventually found dead of a prescription drug overdose, or was it something else? Born to a single mother who died in a mental institution , she married three times but never found happiness.
With a cast of greats like, Judi Dench as Dame Sybil Thorndike, Kenneth Branagh, the up and coming Eddie Redmayne gives a fine and believable performance as the young Colin Clark. With a whole stack of British character actors in smaller parts, this is much more than Michelle Williams’ movie, although she actually becomes Marilyn Monroe, right down to her walk, her pouting and all the other Monroe gestures. With its catchy smart dialogue Adrian Hodges’ tight script is more than good, beautifully shot, and together inspiring music, this is a fine film, and highly entertaining.
Twenty-three-year-old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) is persistent in chasing his dream, a job in the British film industry. When he hears that Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) is making a movie in London, he turns up a Laurance Olivier Productions trying to get a job, any job. When he finally gets to see Hugh Perceval (Michael Kitchen) who manages the company, Colin becomes his unpaid errand boy, found to be useful he’s hired as the third director on The Prince and the Showgirl movie set. Dating Lucy (Emma Watson) a young woman in charge of wardrobe, she becomes secondary to Marilyn Monroe, and is jealous of Colin’s relationship with Marilyn.
My Week with Marilyn is in cinemas February 16.
The Movie Hound’s Picks
- This Means War (Three and a Half Stars – in cinemas February 14)
Two CIA agents Chris Pine and Tom Hardy, are partners and best friends, that is until the fall for the same woman Reese Witherspoon. Having been grounded for a messed up operation in Hong Kong, when they failed to capture a master world criminal. Now with all the time in the world, they utilise the CIA’s tracking technology to follow each other whilst dating Reese Witherspoon. While it’s pretty silly at times, and very over the top, this young man James Bond style of movie, is both fun and entertaining.
- The Grey (Three and a Half Stars – in cinemas February 16)
A shift change of fly-in-fly-out oil rig workers in Alaska board a plane for home, but when it crashes Liam Neeson takes leadership of the survivors, he knows all about the behaviour of wolves, back at the rig it was his job to shoot wolves who threatened the camp. The survivors find themselves being hunted by a pack of wolves led by an alpha male, who take their time picking off the survivors one by one. A frighteningly harrowing tale of not necessarily surviving, but of trying to survive. This is icy cold entertainment, exciting, a well crafted movie that keeps its audience alive wondering who’s next.
- Chronicle [PG ] (Three and a Half Stars – in cinemas now)
When three young men, high school mates, go down into a hole in the ground, they come out with magical powers which they don’t understand. When they start understanding them and develop them, they find they can move heavy objects by wishing them with hand movements, they can fly like birds and do other things. While these special powers lead to one of them getting dying, the remaining two are left, but one is responsible and the other not, as he spins out of control the town becomes a disaster zone.
- Safe House [M] (Three and a Half Stars – in cinemas now)
CIA rookie Ryan Reynolds is in charge of a CIA safe house in Cape town, South Africa. Bored with his job his boss Brendan Gleeson tells him to be patient, prove you can do this job first and then we’ll see. When the CIA’s most dangerous renegade Denzel Washington returns to the fold after a decade on the run, Reynolds becomes his keeper. When the safe house is attacked and sacked by people after Washington. The two of them build a repour, and try work out who is trying to kill them. With everybody double crossing each other, his quickly predictable action thriller is great entertainment, but not much more.
- The Vow (Two and a Half Stars – in cinemas now)
After Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum have been married for a time, a car accident leaves McAdams with a head injury. Put into a coma, she wakes with severe memory loss. She can only remember what happened before her marriage. Unable to remember marrying Tatum, he sets out to date her all over again, with no help from her family who don’t like him. Based on a true story this looks more like a light romantic comedy without the comedy. Only the presence of McAdams seems right in this, Tatum looks hopelessly miscast, as do others in the cast
Lotterywest (PIAF) Film Festival
Headhunters (Hodejegerne) [TBC]
- Directed by Morten Tyldum
- Starring Aksel Hennie, Synnøve Macody-Lund, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau & Eivind Sander
- Runtime 98 minutes
- Four Stars
AS a black comedy-thriller Headhunters (Hodejegerne) is tightly written and well directed, and full on absolutely hilarious. As the most successful head-hunter in Norway, Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie) nearly has it all. A stylishly modern architect designed house, expensive cars, a beautiful wife Diana (Synnøve Macody-Lund) who runs a profitable art gallery, and the lifestyle that goes with it all. If only he wasn’t so self conscious about his height and the need to fund such an extravagant lifestyle. He wouldn’t have to spend his time away from work and home stealing art.
At one an exhibition opening at her gallery Diana introduces him to Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), a man whom Roger has been interviewing for a chief executive’s position. When Diana tells him that Mr Greve is the owner of a Rubin’s painting worth millions, Roger sees this as the answer to all his financial problems. However, Mr Greve’s last job was with a firm that manufactured advanced security equipment, and was a mercenary before that. Having stolen the Rubin’s painting, Roger soon finds out he’s the mouse in a highly dangerous and hilarious game of cat and mouse.
Adapted from Jo Nesbø’s best selling novel of the same name, by Lars Gudmestad and Ulf Ryberg, and directed by Morten Tyldum (Fallen Angels; Buddy). This black comedy-thriller will have you in stiches from beginning to end, and while Roger will initially annoy in the beginning, you’ll soon be barracking for the mouse as the film progresses.
The Headhunters screens at the Somerville, February 26 – March 4, and at Joondalup Pines, March 6 – 11.
Neds [MA15+]
- Written and directed by Peter Mullan
- Starring Conor McCarron, Peter Mullan, Greg Forrest & Joe Szula
- Runtime 124 minutes
- Three and Half Stars
IN the 1950s the British Labour government puled down the slums of London and other cities, and moved slum families into high rise apartments on the edge of cities, Scotland followed in the 1960s. Neds, “Un-Educated Delinquents” is a story about what happened in Glasgow, Scotland, to one particular boy whose family was moved out of the slums of Glasgow. This is a story which has been told many times before, on stage, screen, radio and television, and while it’s a story well told, it’s dragged out far too long at 124 minutes, and tells us little of what we haven’t been told already. Adolescents don’t want to be outsiders, they want to be part of a group, often a gang.
Written and directed by Peter Mullan (The Magdalene Sisters; Orphans), who gives a realistic and biting performance as the boy’s drunken and abusive father, this is a bit of a disappointment. We are told that he made this as a reminder of his past in 1970s Glasgow, but it’s not autobiographical.
Ten-year-old John McGill (Greg Forrest) is top of his class, and academically his future suggests he’s headed for university, and escape from his dysfunctional home life. His drunken and abusive father (Peter Mullan), his cowering mother, his juvenile delinquent prison ready older brother Benny (Joe Szula), all make life difficult. Whilst he tries to brush it aside by reading books, only his auntie Beth’s (Marianna Palka) visits bring him any joy and acceptance of his academic diligence.
When on of his teachers, on his last day at primary school, makes him stand up on his desk and tells him and the whole class that he’s a swat, and unlike the rest of them he has a future. After the summer holiday break John McGill (Conor McCarron) although late, is welcomed into high school by his headmaster, but John McGill is a changed person. Having being told by his primary school teacher that he’s different, John a big boy, joins a gang of delinquents and becomes like his older brother.
Neds screens exclusively at the Somerville, February 28 – March 4.
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