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Hostel
Cert: 18
Starring: Jay
Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Eythor Gudjonsson, Jana
Kaderabkova, Vanessa Jungova, Jennifer Lim
Director: Eli
Roth
Running Time: 93
minutes
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A
big hit in America, Hostel arrives with a reputation for being
a genuinely nasty piece of work.
Josh (Derek Richard-son) and Paxton (Jay Hernandez) are a couple
of mates from the States looking to live it up in quaint old Europeland.
While misbehaving in Amster-dam, someone tells them that Bratislava
in Slovakia is full of beautiful women des-perate to have sex with
them. Accompanied by Oli (Eythor Gud-jonsson), an annoying Icelander
they met in Paris, they hop on the next train heading east.
After initially finding their Slovakian hostel to be packed full
of model types as promised, events take a darker turn as Oli goes
missing.
The first 40 minutes or so of Hostel play out like a slightly more
grown-up version of Euro Trip or some other frat-boy comedy. It’s
all about comic episodes of soft drug consumption and lots of gratuitous
female nudity. In a flash it all changes as the dream trip turns
into a horrible nightmare.
What follows is indeed properly nasty, and the story takes a couple
of turns you don’t quite expect. In terms of how likely it
is to give you nightmares, Hostel is certainly miles better than
so many of the plastic horror-lite films that Hollywood churns
out. It does lack a bit of finesse however.
A build up in tension rather than a sudden switch from light to
dark would definitely have made for a more exciting film. Also,
scenes of torture (which feature heavily) are deep-
ly unpleasant to watch, but don’t really require much skill
to make horrific. It’s almost like cheating.
Nasty, gruesome and unpleasant. A delight for teenage boys but
possibly too heavy handed for anyone else. |
Trans
America
Cert: 15
Starring: Felicity
Huffman, Kevin Zegers, Fionnula Flanagan, Graham
Greene
Director: Duncan
Tucker
Running
Time: 103
minutes
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David
Spritz (Nicolas Cage) is a TV weather man in Chicago whose
life is falling apart. His ex-wife (Hope Davis) is becoming
increasingly exas-perated with him, his two children have behavioural
problems and his esteemed author father (Michael Caine) has
been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
The only thing going right in Spritz’s life is career and he is being
courted by a national news programme; a move which would represent reaching
the very top of his profession. The only problem is, Spritz finds his job
undemanding and unstimulating which only adds to his feeling of worthlessness.
It doesn’t help that members of the public regularly throw things
at him (usually fast food) when they see him on the street.
As a dark comedy, The Weather Man has its moments but overstays its welcome
rather quickly. The root of the problem is the character of Dave Spritz.
The more you get to know him, the more you begin to agree with him that
he is a waste of space and therefore a waste of your valuable time.
He is the least sympathetic character in the film and you begin empathise
with the people whose lives he is affecting. Watching him stagger from
one humiliating episode to another becomes monotonous after a while.
It is of course possible to make funny films with real intellectual and
emotional wallop, but here the mixture of comedy and drama just doesn’t
work. If they had played it more for laughs the whole thing might have
worked better. As it is, some of the gags become repetitive (the flying
fast food) and the film (like Dave) bottles it when it might take a properly
dark and interesting turn.
Thinks it’s clever and funny, but falls short on both counts. |
Inside
Man
Cert: 15
Starring: Denzel
Washington, Jodie Foster, Clive Owen, Christopher
Plummer, Chewitel Ejiofor
Director: Spike
Lee
Running
Time: 129
minutes
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Directors
who come out of the independent film scene all have to find
their own way to deal with the might and money of mainstream
Hollywood. Some try
to ignore it and others, like Steven Soderbergh, work on a ‘one
for them / one for me’ basis.
Twenty years after he made his first film, She’s Gotta
Have it, Spike Lee proves that, while making one for them – in
this case a straight-up genre film – you can still leave
your mark on it.
Clive Owen plays the leader of a gang of robbers who take over
a bank in downtown New York. The bank is quickly surrounded
by the police, and Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington)
is given the job of negotiating with the bad guys.
The shady owner of the bank (Christopher Plummer) then hires
an elite fixer (Jodie Foster) to use her power and connections
to make sure that a dark secret of his, contained in a safety
deposit box, is not discovered.
You don’t have to inspect Inside Man too closely to quickly
surmise that the plot is as far-fetched as any Hollywood hokum
you are likely to see. As usual with ‘perfect’ heists,
it’s all far too complicated and reliant on too many
unpredictable elements to work. Thankfully, taut writing and
slick directing, together with some well-pitched performances,
do a darn good job of keeping your disbelief suspended and
deliver some quality entertainment.
Clive Owen spends most of the film behind a mask and his customary
blankness is well suited here, while Denzel Washington plays
Detective Frazier with an abundance of swagger, but never crosses
the line into caricature.
With a range of incidents, looks and lines of dialogue, Spike
Lee draws attention to underlying racial tensions that other
mainstream films would probably ignore. It’s done with
varying degrees of subtlety but enhances what is already an
accomplished piece of work.
Clever and slick enough to make you swallow its far-fetched
plot. |
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