FILM | Reviews
US INDIE PRINCE AVALANCHE (15) 93min ●●●●●
Despite its A-list leads, the eighth feature from David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) marks a return to his indie roots. Prince Avalanche is based on the 2011 Icelandic film Either Way, a road movie featuring a whole lot of road as its idiosyncratic duo both travel and work on a country highway.
It’s 1988 and the setting is Bastrop, Texas. Paul Rudd plays Alvin, a man who is perhaps a little too comfortable in his own company, but working alongside his girlfriend’s slacker brother Lance (Emile Hirsch), repainting highway stripes in the aftermath of a forest fire. Initially, Alvin is a happy camper, an outdoors man who passes the time with ease. Lance however longs for action and, in between grizzling, tells Alvin about his mostly disastrous encounters with women. And so the men drink, paint, encounter odd locals, and drive each other crazy.
Green melds eccentricity and idiocy with something more soaringly spiritual, which is frequently delightful, though not always a natural fit with the film’s comedy. Rudd and Hirsch are well cast and nicely matched and there’s a stirring score from David Wingo and Explosions in the Sky. Funny, sad and sometimes strange, Prince Avalanche is an imperfect oddity that deserves an audience. (Emma Simmonds) ■ Limited release from Fri 18 Oct.
DRAMA PARKLAND (15) 94min ●●●●●
This November, it is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F Kennedy. And for Americans, at least, the fascination surrounding JFK’s murder on that fateful day in Dallas appears not to have waned. Former journalist Peter Landesman makes his directorial
debut with Parkland, an ensemble drama set in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. The title refers to Parkland General Hospital, where some of the action is set, with Zac Efron’s doctor and Marcia Gay Harden’s nurse among the medics. As the day’s chaos unfolds, Landesman widens his focus to the Secret Service, led by Billy Bob Thornton’s ball-buster, who requisitions the grainy footage of the incident filmed by local clothier Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giamatti).
It’s competently assembled, and certainly engaging, but it’s hard to see what the point of Parkland is. While recreating some well-known events, it doesn’t add a great deal to the history books. That said, there are some fine performances. Giamatti is outstanding as Zapruder, and Jacki Weaver and James Badge Dale as Lee Harvey Oswald’s loopy mother and hard-working brother are also wonderful – almost making you wish Parkland was re-titled ‘The Oswalds’. (James Mottram) ■ General release from Fri 8 Nov.
SPACE ADVENTURE GRAVITY (12A) 90min ●●●●●
Few directors have mastered the art of using 3D in a way that enhances and deepens the human story. Martin Scorsese in Hugo, perhaps. James Cameron in Avatar without doubt. Alfonso Cuarón makes it look effortless in Gravity, sculpting exemplary sound design, breathtaking images and 3D technology into a film that plunges the viewer straight to the heart of a sweat-inducing, pulse-racing nightmare scenario. Gravity takes a simple premise and spins it into an experience so visceral and emotional
that you forgive its cornier elements and overlook how slight it sometimes appears. Scientist Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), affable commander Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) and a fellow astronaut are working to repair their craft when a shower of debris comes hurtling towards them. Stone and Kowalski are detached from the ship, drifting into an eerie, terrifying silence. They are literally lost in space. No longer in contact with NASA and with oxygen supplies running dangerously low, Kowalski’s calm reassurance that they can survive strikes a hollow note.
How this impossible dilemma plays out is handled by Cuarón with edge-of-the-seat
tension and a good deal of existential musing. There is nothing like imminent death in a vast, starlit wilderness to concentrate the mind on what really matters and what it truly means to live and love. Clooney brings a warm presence to a supporting role in which he provides the comic
relief of sassy banter and long-winded yarns to distract from the terrors that await. However, this is really Bullock’s film. She is in virtually every scene, nicely underplaying a part that allows her to travel the emotional gamut from despair to gritty determination, weary acceptance to rousing defiance. Expertly performed and technically flawless, Gravity finds the human pulse of the space age blockbuster. (Allan Hunter) ■ General release from Fri 8 Nov. See feature, page 68.
FAMILY ANIMATION TURBO (U) 95min ●●●●●
The enduring popularity of the lovable minion characters in the Despicable Me franchise proved to be too much of an obstacle for Turbo to overcome at the US box office, but a delayed UK release pushes this DreamWorks animation over the finishing line as one of the summer’s better family films.
It’s the unlikely, upbeat story of a frustrated snail called Turbo (Ryan Reynolds) who dreams of winning the Indianapolis 500. After accidentally swallowing nitrous oxide, he finds himself blessed with super- speed, and quickly graduates from small-time snail
racing to a shot at realising his dreams, competing against racing driver Guy Gagne (Bill Hader). David Soren’s film avoids too much of the slapstick violence that often mars family films, and sets
thoughtful obstacles in Turbo’s path. Despite the heavy use of popular music on the soundtrack, Turbo is definitely a film that skews towards pre-teens and doesn’t have the mature resonances of Toy Story or How To Train Your Dragon. But with a bright production design enlivened by strong 3D, and a simple, likeable story about self-actualisation, it’s a slow but sure winner. (Eddie Harrison) ■ General release from Fri 18 Oct.
70 THE LIST 17 Oct–14 Nov 2013