Capsules: The horse, the fish & the cult

As can be expected from Spielberg, War Horse is relentlessly sentimental. I fell for every lavishly lit and shot second. By the end of the film, I was properly doused in Spielberg’s particular brand of saccharine, and I savoured every moment. Spielberg is superb at historical drama (Schindler’s List, Munich), but here his focus is less on history and more on humanity. Based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, Steven Spielberg’s latest epic is a family drama set against the backdrop of the World War I. It’s a stunning looking film, shot as usual by Spielberg’s right hand man Janusz Kaminsi, and scored by the legendary John Williams. Again Spielberg explores a favourite theme, the return home, but this time he anchors the narrative around a noble horse instead of a human character. That said, in the figure of Albert (Jeremy Irvine) the recurrent character of the young male innocent returns, as does the father who cannot be trusted (Peter Mullan) and the sensitive mother (Emily Watson). The film also has Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch and Niels Arestrup in smaller but important roles.

So it’s the familiar Spielberg film of virtuous youthful faith and belief, but told from the position of Joey the horse. War Horse follows Joey as he leaves his home and becomes a participant in World War I as he moves from owner to owner. The film builds to an ending that depends so much on coincidence and chance that it can only happen in a Spielberg film, and he’s a master at emotion for those susceptible to it. I’m sure that some thorough psychoanalysis can shed light on my readiness to be exhilarated by the infamous filmmaker, but for the moment I’ll say that the masterful final images are perfectly constructed moments of affect as well as tributes to another classical master in cinema history.

With references to A Nightmare on Elm Street, an opening scene-setter featuring Gary Busey and bringing David Hasselhoff in for support, Piranha 3DD, the sequel to last year’s moderate hit 3D horror, has fewer stars, a lower budget and a less competent director who doesn’t allow things to go completely off the rails during the bloody climax (admittedly, this could be due to budget constraints). Set in a water park no that the lake from the first film has become a quarantined wasteland, Piranha 3DD has a bunch of horny teenagers up their genitals in blood and mayhem when the prehistoric piranha make a return. Mercifully clocking in at only 79 minutes, Piranha 3DD is exploitative and gratuitous, and not in a good way. The film gets most of the nudity out of the way its opening minutes, and from there on there are many budget-restoring underwater piranha POV shots as the aquatic critters go for heels, hands, breasts and, once again, penises. While the film has enough gore for horror hounds, it is devoid of ideas. In other words, it’s pretty much what you expect from a film called Piranha 3DD. It has a heart of cash and a mind of silicone.  

 

Writer-actor Brit Marling, so impressive in Another Earth, stars in The Sound of My Voice as Maggie, a sickly woman claiming to be from the future where living in America is a daily struggle for food and survival. She presents herself as someone who can train people to prepare for this dark future. So convincing is her story that she’s become nothing less than a minor cult leader. A teacher (Christopher Denham) and his girlfriend (Nicole Vicius) enter the cult with the prerogative to film a documentary expose on Maggie and her clan. The Sound of my Voice plays with the absurdity of Maggie’s tales of time travel and what future America looks like, and as can be expected draws you in to believe some of her stories only to have you later shake your head at the impossibility of it all. The science fiction element (the possibility of time travel) is even less prevalent here than in Another Earth (literally another Earth appearing close to our own), and The Sound of my Voice seems more prone to actively avoid spectacle. The result is a quiet, claustrophobic drama that is far more successful in exploring cult psychology than the over hyped Martha Marcy May Marlene.