A Most Wanted Man - Review

A Most Wanted Man Review.

A Most Wanted Man, one of late Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s last performances, is essentially a thriller about the paranoia of terrorism directed by Anton Corbjin (Control, The American). The film focuses on a Muslim Russian, Issa (Dobrygin) who has come to Germany illegally and is considered by the Russian government to be an extremely dangerous terrorist. An espionage agent who focuses on Muslims gathers information on this Russian and believes him to also be a terrorist. Issa gains a lawyer (Rachel McAdams) who goes out of her way to help him by getting in touch with banker (Willam Dafoe) involving money that Issa’s father had left him.

The film is very dialogue based and has little action unlike a lot of espionage thrillers are; this trait requires a lot of attention whilst watching and a lot of patience as it can be slightly paced out at times. The acting is definitely the main praise of this film; Phillip Seymour Hoffman is always good in everything I’ve seen him in and it really is a loss to the film industry that he’s passed. Dobrygin gives a very captivating performance, showing vulnerability and honesty.

Speaking of honesty, this is a film that lacks it. The whole film is very paranoid about Muslims being terrorists and almost everybody in the film is unfaithful to someone one way or another, including Rachel McAdams who seems to be very genuine towards Issa. The irony about it all that the only character in the film that is completely honest throughout is Issa who is completely misunderstood in the film.

The characters’ performances in A Most Wanted Man definitely make this film worth watching as they give off so much emotion you actually care about the outcome. My only problem would be is I wasn’t particularly happy with the ending – I usually like ambiguous ends that let the viewer decide what happens but in this instance I left wanting to know the future of the characters. 

Cooking With Elvis Review

Cast: Jill Victoria Bewick 
         Stuart Riley Jones         Mam Tracy Whitwell         Dad/Elvis Joe Caffrey

Cooking with Elvis is a 15 year old play about a dysfunctional mother and daughter who are coming to terms with their father/husband’s accident which has made him paralysed. The play is written by Lee Hall also wrote the famous Billy Elliott. The daughter (Victoria Bewick) cannot stop eating and cooking after her father’s accident and her mother has become a raging man-eating alcoholic to deal with her stress.  The final character, Stewart, plays the mother’s lover who moves in and causes havoc throughout the two hour long play!

The performance is described as a “dark comedy” but i wasn't expecting it to be as dark as it actually was. It is full with jokes about the disabled, cannibalism and statutory rape! All things that in a normal day-to-day basis would definitely not be funny, but somehow it works in Cooking With Elvis; the play somehow takes away the seriousness of these issues by adding light-hearted comedy to it and amazingly the audience forgets the actual content and thoroughly laughs out loud. Amazing. I can imagine this would not be to everybody’s taste, especially for people with personal issues with the content, but for the majority this wouldn't be a problem and in no way does it pick or make fun off anybody.

Elvis fans eat your heart out! Joe Caffrey who plays the disabled Elvis impersonator performs an array of Elvis Presley songs throughout accompanied by the cast’s dancing. Not being an Elvis fan, I found myself enjoying the performances a lot so I can imagine someone who is a hardcore Elvis fan would be over the moon.

All in all, a marvellous play with full on entertainment and I’d just like to praise Live Theatre on their Cooking With Elvis programmes which are set out like a menu and actually include a seafood gumbo recipe – very interesting. Cooking with Elvis has a devilishly dark ending and I would recommend this for everyone! Except children, for obvious reasons.

Prisoners Review

Prisoners Review 

Prisoners is a gritty suspenseful crime drama directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Aaron Guzikowski. Hugh Jackman plays a doting father whose child gets abducted outside their neighbourhood along with a family friend; whilst Jack Gyllenhaal plays Detective Loki, lead of the investigation into the disappearance of the girls.

The overall style of the film is very grim, with low key lighting throughout and no use of bright colours, which obviously adds to the depressing element of the film. Watching the trailer for this film, I thought I was going to be watching an emotional drama, but the film was actually much darker and deep than I thought.

Prisoners is a fairly long film with a running time of 153, and usually I prefer a much shorter film, but I found this film to have not one boring moment and it was very tense. Villeneuve keeps the audience hooked by introducing numerous suspects and toys with minds; it’s always good for a film to have audience members guessing the plot right till the end of the film. I thought the plot twist was genuinely good and I was quite surprised at the ending as I hadn’t anticipated the twist. This film definitely is one for those who like suspenseful films that keep them on the edges of their seats.

In terms of faults on this film, it isn’t a lot; but I don’t know about anyone else who has viewed this film but I found it difficult at times to hear the dialogue of some of the characters which could make it difficult for audiences to grasp the plot in detail. Also, although the plot is very well thought out in terms of opening sequence and the cliff-hanging end; there are some parts of the film that I felt were just there to fill time as I felt that some things that happened in the film weren't necessarily followed up which left me thinking why certain things had happened.

Gyllenhaal’s character is very likeable and mysterious – the film doesn't give any of his background, so audiences are left questioning his motives. Jackman’s character on the other hand wasn't likeable at all, I found myself getting really agitated at some of the things he did in the film and considering he’s supposed to be a protagonist, he is not very relatable.

Overall I think a fantastic film with good cinematography, style and acting. It’s definitely not for the faint hearted but it is for those who like a bit of drama and suspense but wanting to be left fulfilled yet still questioning the film.