Fifty Shades of Grey, the Bret Easton Ellis version

Bret Easton Ellis’ Twitter feed has been full of Fifty Shades of Grey in recent days.  He has expressed a genuine interest in adapting the novel for the big screen and has high hopes that E.L. James will agree.

His Fifty Shades dream team is David Cronenberg directing, himself writing and Ryan Gosling starring as Christian Grey.  He suggests, unconventionally Lena Dunham as Ana, or conventionally Scarlett Johansson.

Bret Easton Ellis

I would be very excited to see a Cronenberg/Ellis collaboration, both men have not been afraid to court controversy in their careers and certainly thrive on it.

Cronenberg has the ability to attract leading and often mainstream actors into roles they may not have considered under the guidance of other directors, so if he is involved we may be in for some surprises.

If Ellis gets his way, this film could be a very exciting prospect indeed.

Who would be involved in your Fifty Shades film dream team?

Martha Marcy May Marlene – a study of life post-cult

What happens to people who escape cults and try to get back to a more conventional existence?  Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene explores the difficulties for one ex-cult member and her family.

Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene

Elizabeth Olsen plays Martha who can be seen leaving a Manson Family style cult tucked away in rural Upstate New York in the early hours of the morning.  After an awkward encounter with a “family” member at a local diner she plucks up the courage to call her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulsen) who she has not contacted since joining the cult two years previously.  Martha may have escaped, but her problems really only begin at Lucy’s Connecticut lakeside house.

Martha’s paranoia and unconventional behaviour is in some way explained by regular cuts to experiences within the cult.  John Hawkes portrays the Charles Manson like leader Patrick who sexually initiates all new female members of the cult – the women are prepared for this by being drugged and left alone and drowsy in a room awaiting his arrival.  Martha was asleep when she was “initiated”.

Martha has trouble sleeping alone at Lucy’s house, largely because she shared rooms and beds with numerous people before her escape.  She climbs into bed with her sister and her husband Ted (Hugh Dancy) which highlights with great clarity that she has not adjusted to everyday life and no longer understands boundaries.

At a party hosted by her sister she believes someone from the cult has followed her – her paranoia had escalated since her departure.  It takes a number of episodes before Lucy and Ted recognise that Martha needs professional help.

This is a confident feature length debut for director Sean Durkin – character studies are no longer common place in modern cinema.

Elizabeth Olsen gives a strong, subtle and mature performance and leads the film with confidence. It is surprising that she is the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.  Elizabeth appears to have an indie career path ahead of her, perhaps following the lead of Michelle Williams.

The film could have better explained how Martha came to join the cult.  Some of the “family” members, as well as leader Patrick could have been developed further.

This is an intense film that keeps the viewer hooked throughout by it’s regular flashbacks to explain Martha’s behaviour.

Highly recommended.

 

Fifty Shades of Grey with another shade of Mr Grey

It’s been well reported this week that relative unknown British novelist EL James has done spectacularly well in the US bestseller lists with her erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey.  It hasn’t been widely published in the UK, so I have only read the synopsis, however I couldn’t help but notice the parallels to another Mr Grey.

Given the similarities, I would be surprised if Secretary short story writer Mary Gaitskill hasn’t read this without some scrutiny.

Rare James Spader films on UK TV

UK viewers have a great opportunity to catch two lesser known, but excellent films starring James Spader.

The first is A Killer In The Family (1983) showing on True Movies (Sky 321) on Tuesday 13th March at 5pm or Wednesday 14th March at 7pm.

Eric Stoltz and James Spader in A Killer In The Family

Spader stars alongside legendary Robert Mitchum in a true story of three brothers convinced to break their father out of jail and go on the run. Spader plays the elder brother Donny. Eric Stoltz also appears.

A Killer In The Family is quite an unsettling film but it is worth watching to see Spader and Stoltz starting out opposite a major actor from another era.

Next up – CBS Action (Sky 148) is showing The Pentagon Papers (2003) on Saturday 17th March at 6pm. Here, James Spader portrays Daniel Ellsberg who leaks US government classified information about the Vietnam War to the press, closely mirroring today’s Wikileaks scandal. Claire Forlani, Alan Arkin and Paul Giamatti provide an excellent supporting cast.

Claire Forlani and James Spader in The Pentagon Papers

Make sure you set your Sky+!

The Boat That Rocked – Review

Richard Curtis has decided to deviate from his usual romantic comedy schtick and present us with sixties nostalia – so how did he do?

The plot is a thinly veiled look at the Radio Caroline story – Caroline, becomes Radio Rock for example.

And it’s not just the boat that’s had it’s name changed – brash American DJ Emperor Rosko is renamed “The Count” and is played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman.  The character Bob appears to be a nod to the late John Peel.  Bill Nighy plays, well.. you guessed it, Bill Nighy!

Rhys Ifans and Bill Nighy

As with many Richard Curtis films, there are too many characters and not enough opportunity to get to know them, to care about them and follow their story with interest to the end of the film.  Despite the film feeling too long, I got to the end still not feeling I’d “discovered” the characters.

There’s plenty of fun and games on board, the cast appeared to have had a ball filming this.  Interestingly though, former Radio Caroline DJ Johnnie Walker said in an article in The Times that his time on the boat wasn’t as fun as on the fictional Radio Rock, and it could get pretty grim.

With Johnnie Walker’s thoughts in mind, it would be interesting to see this subject tackled by another writer – perhaps we’d see tensions – cabin fever, if you will – building between the DJ’s marooned out in the cold North Sea in the winter.

I failed to understand why Curtis thought it was necessary to introduce the teenage lad – was it purely to display the supposed corrupting influence of the top DJs of the time, or to find and an excuse to bring Emma Thompson out to Radio Rock?

Kenneth Branagh’s turn as a Hitleresque London establishment figure was frankly embarrassing, as was the lame humour in naming his sidekick “Twatt”.

Rhys Ifans played the rock star DJ Gavin to perfection, but again,  he didn’t have enough material to work with and develop the character.

Watching this as someone from the UK in Australia, with an Australian audience, it became apparent very quickly that many of the references in this film did not travel.  The only jokes the Australian audience seemed to get were squarely aimed at Angus the Kiwi DJ!  It doesn’t take much to get an Aussie to laugh at a Kiwi!

I’m sure it’s been said before, but The Boat That Rocked didn’t really rock me and all it’s left me wanting is another writer/director to have a go at tackling similar subject matter.  Richard Curtis should stick to Hugh Grant and romantic comedies!