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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
Unbelievable, untenable, unlovable...
...and probably more of an insult to the intelligence of >1,100,000 Jews who died in Auschwitz than, say, Mein Kampf. If a naive 8-year old can get into the death camp just by crawling under the fence - just to play Explorers with a depressed-looking peer, who fails entirely to convince as a likely friend, mind you - then why was there not a whole series of successful escapes? This film is a simple vehicle built on the simplistic thought "What would those nazis have said if it had been THEIR children!" The story is pathetic, unbelievable, and - while beautifully filmed - deserving of the very lowest rating, because it has already convinced far too many people that it is based on true events, or has any important cultural qualities.
Rocketman (2019)
Spectacle serving the actual story in the most beautiful way
So it is a musical, and not a "straight biopic". Given that this is a story about Elton John, it probably works better that way.
The film has plenty of interpersonal drama without a music score. But the musical fantasy scenes, all rearrangements of Elton John songs performed by the cast, are the heart and soul of the story. They reminded me of Moulin Rouge and also of Jesus Christ Superstar, with clever edits to flip between different timelines. The trip down memory lane along to "The Bitch Is Back" used colour filters to distinguish between the 1950s and the time Elton John spent in rehab. The young Reggie Dwight's fantasy of conducting an orchestra in the dark with a torchlight that he uses for secretly studying music in his bedroom is another inspired choice. Not only do these scenes fit the artist's exuberance, but they also offer possible insights in the creative processes behind the songs.
Apart from this, the focus of the film is clearly on the themes of friendship, lack of self-love and redemption. The timeline including flashbacks suggests it is a well-rounded story rather than a step-by-step biopic for people to pick factual holes in. The contrast between Elton John's relationships with John Reid (sex without love) and Bernie Taupin (love but not in a sexual way) may seem a bit binary in that context, but the characters of Reid and Taupin do come across as very realistic.
Elton John's parents in the film seemed very one-sided, and especially the mother just sat there looking expectantly in another direction, like she was in a film of her own. For me, though, this was more than compensated by scenes with Elton and Bernie Taupin, as well as so many others.
Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne (2019)
Live and let live
If there is anything that the division and outrage at the final episode shows, it is how many people have come to love the characters in Game of Thrones, and how many of them are struggling to accept the last goodbye. It certainly left me feeling quiet and ponderous for a couple of days.
Oddly enough, the most moving scene for me in the episode had nothing to do with the final scene between Jon and Daenerys. What got me was the moment Brienne took a pen, opened The Book of Brothers, and finished Jaime Lannister's entry. Where it had previously ended with Jaime's betrayal of King Aerys and his subsequent nickname of "Kingslayer", Brienne added every single honourable deed she could remember of Jaime, however personal it may have been to just her. Finally, after racking her brains for more, she ended with "Died for his queen." That this queen was the ruthless and sociopathic woman whose incestuous relationship with Jaime was the reason he ultimately left Brienne, after a long road to almost redemption, just shows how much Brienne is prepared to put her own interests aside to make sure the man she loved gets the story she feels he deserves.
The big question is of course whether Daenerys gets the ending she deserves. I watched it with a sort of numb sadness rather than shock because for me it had seemed pretty inevitable from the end of episode 4. The amount of disagreement among fans over this just emphasises how Game of Thrones has always been about characters that do not fit squarely into boxes labeled "good" or "evil". When Jon asks whether it was good what he had done, Tyrion answers "Ask me again in ten years." Likewise, the reception of the final season of Game of Thrones may well have changed in ten years' time. For now, I think we can agree that Daenerys' instant assessments of what is right and wrong were precisely what drove her to the insane tragedy that ensued.
The other big questions that the episode raises have to do with how awkwardly the decisions are made regarding the succession. Initially, as Tyrion is a prisoner, Greyworm does not let him finish his thoughts about choosing a new ruler. But then other leaders of Westeros start to listen to Tyrion, as they have done before. And Greyworm, who knows mostly how to fight for Daenerys, is no longer certain over what to do with Tyrion now that Daenerys is no longer. And the same goes for what to do with Jon, for that matter.
The main thing I missed in this episode was how Jon presumably was found, or turned himself in, after stabbing Daenerys. One could imagine that the Unsullied or the Dothraki would have killed Jon. But then, he had the support from most of the allied forces whereas Dany's armies were now without a leader. Likewise, one could imagine that Jon would have asserted his better claim to the throne in defending his attack on Dany. But he had made it abundantly clear he did not want to be king. It would have been an exciting scene to watch, like the scenes in which Tyrion approaches Cersei knowing full well she is armed, and wants him dead.
The whole tentative process that led to Bran's election as a man of knowledge rather than strength was sparked off, in a way, by Drogon destroying the Iron Throne, but not Jon Snow. I was initially surprised at this, but then it was already said in earlier seasons that dragons were far more intelligent than people might give them credit for. And the scene of the dragon melting the throne illustrated the end of one era, and the beginning of a very new and unknown one, very well.
In the end, I think most people got what they deserved, if not what they wanted. Even the Hound got his revenge on his brother, and it seems fitting that he faced his worst fears and chose the flames eventually. The Unsullied got their own ships to sail, and good hope of a new start in the land Missandei came from. But most importantly, the Stark siblings and Jon Snow each went to a place that felt right for them.
Satisfying is not a word that fits very easily when you feel sorry to see the last of all these people. However, when Jon was reunited with Ghost and with Thormund and the rest of the Wildlings, it was clear his new life had started, and that we as viewers are not necessarily a part of that anymore.
Game of Thrones: The Last of the Starks (2019)
Daenerys' descent
Having just seen this episode for the first time last night, I am obviously late to the party. The average rating seems to indicate a lot of anger and/or frustration from erstwhile fans. Since the episode made a big impact on me, it is tempting to read critical reviews to find out if I missed anything, but I would really like to write a review of what I have seen first and then compare it with others, lest it become another political tug of war between 1 and 10 star ratings.
The main storyline in this episode is that of Daenerys, and it is heart wrenchingly tragic. Varys sums it up by telling her she is in danger of becoming what she has tried to control all of her life. But Daenerys herself shows it to be true in the most uncanny way, when pleading with Jon not to tell anyone that his claim to the throne is better than hers. Her face gets all worked up and suddenly reflects her late megalomaniac brother Viserys so much that I gasped at the screen and said to my partner: "Look! Did you see that?!"
What sympathy Daenerys got from me throughout the whole series was based mostly on her initial underdog position, her ability to handle the Dothraki language and culture, and her idealism regarding slavery. And on the respect and love she had for Jorah Mormont. The cruel streak was always there, though - her various executions, from Mirri Maz Duur via the Son of the Harpy to Randall Tarly and son, went from bad to worse. They kept reminding me of the insanity that ran in Daenerys' family.
Daenerys' tragedy is that she has tried so hard to be a good queen - and failed. She just lost the man who loved her unconditionally and who fell protecting her against the undead. She just lost most of the Dothraki army and the Unsullied who she invested so much in, to save Jon who could easily claim the throne that was her life's ambition. None of her sacrifices has earned her much respect from the people in the North. Now in her desperate attempt to beat Cersei she has lost another dragon, and to blow the last shred of her sanity to smithereens she has faced the execution of possibly her dearest friend, who is decapitated right in front of her much like Ned Stark was executed in front of Arya.
The carelessness with which Daenerys loses her second dragon, after the meeting with her advisers at Winterfell warning her, is the most frustrating thing about the episode. However, Euron's fleet was hidden behind massive rock formations and they knew the territory better than Daenerys, and what happens, happens. Just like Ned Stark's demise I blame Daenerys' defeat on stubborn pride, which in this case ignored the sensible advice to let her troops and dragons rest before descending on Kings Landing.
That Missandei, who was probably the least aggressive of all Daenerys' real friends, utters "Dracarys" as her single last word before she dies, creates a leaden sense of doom. Daenerys' descent into madness when she walks off to take revenge on Cersei has now become all but inevitable. Any last hope that Tyrion may have entertained of her and Jon sharing the Iron Throne evaporates. It turns out Varys was right when he and Tyrion discussed the different possibilities for a new reign over Westeros.
That Missandei's decapitation is executed by the undead Gregory Clegane I find quite telling after the end of the Night King in the previous episode. One reviewer wrote that the wights seem to be a result of the political strife between mortal kings and queens, and that it would feel wrong if this was really the end of the undead. It seemed to me that Clegane served as a reminder that the undead could easily rise again, just like political strife could easily continue after an epic victory like Arya's at Winterfell.
Throughout this storyline were a number of others, very intricately interwoven. The confrontation between Bronn on the upper hand and Tyrion and Jaime on the other had me in a sweat. Given Bronn's history with these brothers and his career as a sellsword, I found it really unpredictable what was going to happen. The conclusion seemed to make sense but I could not help shouting some involuntary obscenity when the shot went off.
Which brings me back to another reason why the final scene was so tense. Tyrion walking alone towards the gate, where Cersei is protected by some twenty archers and a dragon killing scorpion, knowing full well she has promised Bronn a castle in return for shooting both her brothers - and he presents himself to her at such a vulnerable moment? You can see the deliberations on Cersei's face when she raises her hand to signal the archers. What she does and does not do in that moment can only be part of her strategy to provoke her opponents as much as she can while keeping up the appearance of a just queen to the people inside the Red Keep.
And then Cersei's other brother, Jaime. After all the clamour that he has become such a softy he leaves Brienne in a mess of tears to go back to Cersei. "She is hateful - and so am I." I expected this to mean he is going to give Cersei a bloody reckoning after her threat to have Bronn shoot him, but it is easy to see how Brienne would interpret it differently.
Because of the intricate way the different storylines are interlinked, the acting - especially Emilia's face resembling Viserys -, the dialogue - especially between Varys and Tyrion - and the shocks this episode gave me, with echoes of earlier episodes all the way back to Ned's beheading, I think this deserves 9 or 10 stars.
I haven't seen the final two episodes yet but I expect a tragic end to Daenerys' ambition to match that of Macbeth - and it will be so much sadder because we have invested so much more in her over the years.
Secondhand Lions (2003)
struggling to believe it
After watching Secondhand Lions (which we had bought on blue ray as a wild card in a sale), I struggled to comprehend what I had just seen. I viewed the feature about how the story was accepted and produced by New Line Cinema and still felt baffled. The screenwriter / director's four-page rant at a previous producer, who had suggested certain changes, shed more light on the singular mindset behind the film than on the story. At the same time, so many studio officials said how it was the writer's most personal script, and how they absolutely loved it, that I wondered what I might have missed. Turning to the reviews on IMDb as a sanity check, and the majority of the reviews being positive, I was initially not sure I'd seen the same film.
I reckon the most important question the film asks is what stories to believe. Walter is about 13 years old and the only people in his life present him with challenging versions of the truth. At the start of the film, Walter's mother prepares to pack him off to his great-uncles with all kinds of speculations about their wealth, their brief remaining life expectancy, and Walter's chances of becoming their heir just by paying them an unannounced visit for an indefinite period of time. On the other hand, Walter's uncles, who spend most of their time shooting at salesmen and trying to build their own airplane, tell tall tales set in the Middle East about a beautiful princess, an evil sheik, and bags and bags full of gold pieces.
It could be a comedy, given all the flat characters. There is also a suitably annoying bunch of hillbilly relatives and an inconsequential quartet of fight-eager late teens who look like rebels with no cause times four.
But it isn't funny. Just when things get so ridiculous one might want to laugh - the quartet of teens that get beaten to pulp by one of the uncles eagerly take in his Wise Old Man's speech on How To Be A Good Man in the next scene, for instance - there are hugs, eager looks from Walter who wants to hear the speech too and become a Good Man, and intense music to tell us that this is Significant.
However, things that really are significant are brushed under the carpet. Walter is aware that his mother is lying to him; that she is ready to abandon him in search of the next boyfriend; and that the next boyfriend is likely to be an idiot who will end up beating her (presumably like all the previous ones). Instead of dealing with this in a sensitive way, the film gives us a bunch of "keep the kid(s) happy" surrogates.
The uncles provide entertainment in the form of exotic stories, but their idea of providing food amounts to hacking at a vegetable patch with a shovel and shooting fish with a gun. A random lioness turns up who protects Walter from his mother's latest, and predictably violent, boyfriend. The animal does this apparently because Walter had previously set her free in a corn field - where the meat-eater presumably turned vegetarian. Oh, and a surreal amount of money scattered in a basement under the porch (some of it in safes, but with the safe doors open) provides a bit of mystery, but quickly dissolves into irrelevance. Everybody seems to know about it anyway, including the thick relatives; Walter ignores any rumours about theft, and chooses to believe the tales about African adventures and gold pieces; but most of all, the story has lost the plot by this time, and no amount of money stacked wherever can save it.
I've seen films before that were an equal waste of time, but I've never felt compelled to write such a long review of them. Maybe it is because I am trying to comprehend how the studio that produced The Lord of the Rings allowed Secondhand Lions to happen. And how such a respectable cast, and support from a heap of well-trained animals with potential for comedy to boot, ended up in such a mess. The most offensive thing about this mess is how it pretends to be family entertainment, while not a single family value I am aware of is upheld, or parodied, or dealt with in any other mature way. Someone's review on the IMDb said this film was as responsible a type of entertainment for kids as pornography, and I sadly have to agree.