Soundtracking Perfection: Lover’s Spit, Half Nelson

If there’s a criticism I could have made of Half Nelson, it’s that the whole thing is sometimes a little too cool and goodlooking – the soundtracking choices and cinematography sometimes showcase Gosling (admittedly a man very fit for showcasing) like he’s floating through an exceedingly credible music video. That said, given how in keeping that style…

Exberliner: This is the End

Seth Rogen and James Franco’s gang of celebrity buddies meet in the latter’s Hollywood pad to party like there’s no tomorrow – and wouldn’t you know it, the apocalypse strikes. The stage is set for a hefty dose of self-indulgent bro comedy. Their boy-man style does have its moments of puerile glory, especially in the…

Home for Christmas (2010)

The average non-Scandinavian might harbour certain preconceived notions about Christmas in Norway. Does Bent Hamar’s film feature hymns sung in no-nonsense wooden churches? Do gruff, stoic blondes in woolly jumpers make do amid the grim winter? Yes indeed. However, there’s no corresponding chill to this film. The story, adapted from a book of short stories by…

Soundtracking Perfection: He Needs Me, Punch Drunk Love

Maybe it’s because he’s so alone Maybe it’s because he’s never had a home Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch Drunk Love is a strange little gem, wrapped in vibrant colour, lens flare and a pervading sense of discomfort and imbalance, searingly personified in Adam Sandler’s best performance (also featuring his best threat.) The woozy, weird atmosphere…

Cloud Atlas (The Wachowskis, 2012)

In the interests of full disclosure: I wanted to like this film. The notion of a production that would play so fast and loose with everything from narrative to the very ethnicity of its extremely famous cast was pretty intriguing – and when it comes to Tom Hanks, I find myself pretty firmly in the…

Snap (Carmel Winters, 2010)

Carmel Winter’s much-lauded first feature film is not easy viewing. Opening on a fraught warm-up interview with hard-bitten single mother Sandra, the story follows the tensions and revelations that spring from her involvement in a documentary about her son Stephen, who at 15 kidnapped a two-year-old boy and kept him for five days in the…

Sound of Noise (2010)

Cruelly-named Amadeus Warnebring is the tone-deaf black sheep of his intensely musical family. A policeman living in the shadow of his pompous composer brother, plagued by jokes such as “caught any violinists fiddling?”, he quietly wishes for a life of sweet silence. However, quiet does not figure in the plans of anarchic, experimental musicians Sanna…