Bridge Of Spies (15.)
Directed by Steven Spielberg.
Starring Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda, Amy Ryan, Sebastian Koch and Austin Stowell. 141 mins
Bridge of Spies opens with a glum and impassive Mark Rylance sat at his easel in his Brooklyn apartment, looking at his glum and impassive face in a mirror and comparing its likeness with the glum and impassive face in the self portrait he is putting the finishing touches to, before being affronted by the intrusive sound of his phone ringing. In the next scene we see him on the subway, seemingly oblivious to the four men in hats who are trailing him. It's a meticulously well crafted bit of cinema, from its deadpan humour to the way the subway sequence is shot as a duel between hats. Very few film makers could've got as much out of the material – but even so, it's not exactly gripping.
This decade Spielberg has teased us with glimpses and promises of a parallel career in which he would’ve made films like Interstellar, Robopocaylpse, American Sniper and Ready Player One. These days though Based On Real Events, trumps Based on a Best Selling Book* with Spielberg so instead he's chosen respectable, sensible and, dare I say, dull projects like War Horse, Lincoln, and now this. He's already got three; how many more Oscars does he need?
Bridge of Spies was at one stage a Coen Brothers project and still has them with a part credit for the script. It's set against the backdrop of late fifties Cold War paranoia and American culture trying to assimilate the concept of nuclear annihilation into its psyche. It’s a fascinating milieu but after a perky opening in which Soviet spy Rudolf Abel (Rylance) is arrested by the Feds, your heart sinks when the film looks set to be a court room drama with Hanks going it alone to defend the American way. Everybody just wants a show trial but Hanks believes that justice can't just be seen to be done and sets about mounting a proper defence to show that democracy and justice are what make us better than them.
Flying in to save the day is Gary Powers (Stowell.) His U2 spy plane gets shot down over the USSR and he falls into the hands of Soviets and the last half of the film becomes a pleasantly involving tale of Cold War espionage set on either side of the Berlin War, with Hanks trying to negotiate a hostage exchange. It’s like a Le Carre story with James Stewart replacing Smiley.
Insurance lawyer Donovan (Hanks) is initially reluctantly to mount Abel's defence, knowing that it is going to cost him lots professionally and personally. His character’s reluctance may have been mirrored by Hanks at the prospect of playing opposite Rylance. 50 years ago a version of the story was proposed with Alec Guinness in the role. He would've been perfect casting but I doubt even he could have bettered Rylance's work here. Abel, an inscrutable Soviet spy with a soft Scottish accent, is an energy conserving show stopper of a role; so passive, so droll, he's like a spent clown, or a comic sitting in his dressing room waiting for a call to the stage. Rylance is mesmerising in the role.
n comparison Hanks is stuck playing his standard golly gosh role. Despite it all, Hanks holds his own. Never undervalue the ability to play decency convincingly, it's very rare. Villainy and evil is easy, but honourable is tough.
*Yes, I know, Interstellar was an original script, War Horse and Lincoln are also based on books. Just go with the gist rather than the specifics of the statement.
Indiana Jones and the Crystall Skull
Tintin
Directed by Steven Spielberg.
Starring Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda, Amy Ryan, Sebastian Koch and Austin Stowell. 141 mins
Bridge of Spies opens with a glum and impassive Mark Rylance sat at his easel in his Brooklyn apartment, looking at his glum and impassive face in a mirror and comparing its likeness with the glum and impassive face in the self portrait he is putting the finishing touches to, before being affronted by the intrusive sound of his phone ringing. In the next scene we see him on the subway, seemingly oblivious to the four men in hats who are trailing him. It's a meticulously well crafted bit of cinema, from its deadpan humour to the way the subway sequence is shot as a duel between hats. Very few film makers could've got as much out of the material – but even so, it's not exactly gripping.
This decade Spielberg has teased us with glimpses and promises of a parallel career in which he would’ve made films like Interstellar, Robopocaylpse, American Sniper and Ready Player One. These days though Based On Real Events, trumps Based on a Best Selling Book* with Spielberg so instead he's chosen respectable, sensible and, dare I say, dull projects like War Horse, Lincoln, and now this. He's already got three; how many more Oscars does he need?
Bridge of Spies was at one stage a Coen Brothers project and still has them with a part credit for the script. It's set against the backdrop of late fifties Cold War paranoia and American culture trying to assimilate the concept of nuclear annihilation into its psyche. It’s a fascinating milieu but after a perky opening in which Soviet spy Rudolf Abel (Rylance) is arrested by the Feds, your heart sinks when the film looks set to be a court room drama with Hanks going it alone to defend the American way. Everybody just wants a show trial but Hanks believes that justice can't just be seen to be done and sets about mounting a proper defence to show that democracy and justice are what make us better than them.
Flying in to save the day is Gary Powers (Stowell.) His U2 spy plane gets shot down over the USSR and he falls into the hands of Soviets and the last half of the film becomes a pleasantly involving tale of Cold War espionage set on either side of the Berlin War, with Hanks trying to negotiate a hostage exchange. It’s like a Le Carre story with James Stewart replacing Smiley.
Insurance lawyer Donovan (Hanks) is initially reluctantly to mount Abel's defence, knowing that it is going to cost him lots professionally and personally. His character’s reluctance may have been mirrored by Hanks at the prospect of playing opposite Rylance. 50 years ago a version of the story was proposed with Alec Guinness in the role. He would've been perfect casting but I doubt even he could have bettered Rylance's work here. Abel, an inscrutable Soviet spy with a soft Scottish accent, is an energy conserving show stopper of a role; so passive, so droll, he's like a spent clown, or a comic sitting in his dressing room waiting for a call to the stage. Rylance is mesmerising in the role.
n comparison Hanks is stuck playing his standard golly gosh role. Despite it all, Hanks holds his own. Never undervalue the ability to play decency convincingly, it's very rare. Villainy and evil is easy, but honourable is tough.
*Yes, I know, Interstellar was an original script, War Horse and Lincoln are also based on books. Just go with the gist rather than the specifics of the statement.
Indiana Jones and the Crystall Skull
Tintin
