ARE YOU READY TO BECOME SOMETHING NEW... "THE LOBSTER"

I saw the trailer for The Lobster some time ago. I thought it was categorically the funniest thing I have seen in years. I then, like a muppet, missed in the cinema. I was overjoyed when it came out in VOD and I actually watched it absolutely ages ago, practically on the day it came out. Its director Yorgos Lanthimos is not a household name yet – but he is getting there. And those who HAVE heard of him tend to give a knee jerk YES! Or NO! response. If you haven’t tried him out yet, you really should give his work a whirl – see which camp you end up in!

The Lobster takes place in a dystopian near future. There (as in quite a few places here, as a matter of fact), being a couple is categorically the most important thing you have to achieve in your life. However fewer invitations to dinners and awkward conversations are the least the singletons of this universe have to worry about. If you find you are single, you have 45 days to find a partner. If you fail, you are transformed into an animal of your choice and released into the wild. Now, of course the process in monitored, the moment you report you have become single to the authorities you are transported to a special facility with other singletons where you have to endeavour to find a partner. Our tale follows David (Colin Farrel) who is recently divorced. He has just started his stay in the facility and has a whole world of new characters to meet, make friends with and hopefully date. Oh the whole place looks like a slightly eccentric holiday village, but David is under no illusions. The real question is whether he will survive – and if he does, in what form…

Yorgos Lanthimos is one of those –black and white – kind of directors. You either adore him and, like me, think he is the best thing since moving images on a screen, or think he is crass, extreme and all together hard to watch. His films are definitely not for the faint of heart. In my particular case I found watching Dogtooth (the first film I ever watched by Lanthimos) a weirdly sado-masochistic experience. Yes, definitely hard to watch. Harder than a lot of things I have ever seen in fact. But also weirdly pleasurable… And why? I guess because he has the rather dubious talent of being able to give you the kind of shock the goriest slashers do, only without the gore and blood and in a very innocuous looking setting. And let’s be honest here – it is rare to find the kind of film that gets that kind of visceral response out of you in the day to day cinematic market. I don’t necessarily think it’s a matter of shocking to get publicity and bums on seats. It actually is the job of all art to make you feel things. To make you react. To make you think. There is a little too much playing it safe, a little too much staying within your comfort zone when it comes to films these days I feel. That is sort of why Hollywood films are less of my day to day consumption and more of an occasional treat. I need the films that I watch actually do something to me – and if you are of the same tribe as me I can promise you that The Lobster will smack you around the head  several times and leave you spinning like a top…

Like all of his other films, this universe of Yorgos Lanthimos is unforgiving. The rules are as harsh as they are eccentric and disobedience is really not an option. Well. I say that, but in this universe – as in, I strongly suspect, most others – as long as you give the illusion of going by the rules, you can get away with, well, a certain amount… This, in the film has hilarious results that I will not be discussing here today as a lot of the film counts on the element of surprise to make it work. The film does, however, become a Kafaesque dance where our characters have to apply an endless set of rules to the most intimate areas of their lives. And what makes the film even funnier is the fact that most of us – without being aware of it – do this anyway. You know those little things called social norms we are all so attached to. Yeah… I am willing to bet you any money that you will be giving them a hefty amount of thought after you have watched this little number.

Of course the brilliance of the actors only adds to the success of the dance – Colin Farrel is the perfect slightly bumbling everyman helping us understand this universe as we try to figure it out ourselves. Ably assisted by the likes of John C. Reily, Ben Whishaw and Rachel Weisz who all participate in this straight faced – in fact deadly serious – dance with conviction and gusto that will have you cringing and crying out for them as the story takes its twists and turns…

In short, the first thing Lanthimos does when he takes you into a universe is tear up the rule book, the second is to throw you into the ring at a no-holds-barred cage fight. It is something you definitely need to decide on for yourself – but if you survive the fight, well, the benefits are absolutely glorious…

LIFE CAN BE HARD WHEN YOU'RE "SIX FEET UNDER"

Ok, it has been a while since I’ve shared my opinion on series as opposed to films. And, even though films are truly splendid things, nothing really beats a good series to take your brain out to of an evening. I have born this in mind and have decided to share one of my more recent discoveries, Six Feet Under. Now, you may point out that the series is, give or take, ten years old and many people have already discovered it. You may even ask yourselves how the heck I managed to miss it the first time round. Well, these things happen. Life happens. And I am pretty sure I am not the only one who loses track of all the series coming out these days. So much so, it can be a bit of a challenge to tell the good from the bad. So here is one, for those who want to get stuck in, that is definitely one of the best around. As the name itself implies, Six Feet Under is very much about death. And the life that inevitably surrounds death. The only thing is that in this particular case, it surrounds it from a little more closely than usual – our story is set in a Funeral Home. A funeral home that has been run by the same family for generations and who “live above the shop” as it were. Now, living almost if not completely in a funeral home is both depressing and has its own challenges but the whole family is thrown into utter disarray when Nathaniel Fisher, the father of the family and the person who runs the funeral home, dies unexpectedly in a traffic accident. Now, the family has to both get over their own grief and get the business of its knees. The business is on its knees mainly because of big cooperate competitors – as are a lot of small businesses today. But each and every family member has their own demons to fight alongside the big cooperation. All this, and the need to keep the business going means that every single family member pretty much has their hands very, very full. So, what can I say about Six Feet Under? Created by Allan Ball (the guy who created True Blood among other things) and starring Michael C. Hall (this is the guy who played Dexter. Before he played Dexter that is) the series already had a lot going for it, but supremely good quality writing has really made Six Feet Under something special. Of course, the film is depressing on certain levels. Death abounds, it is everywhere, as is a really dark brand of humour. The thing is, I love dark humour so I got into it straight away. The other wonderful thing about this series is that every single one of the characters is so real. Not only is the acting good (and it is amazing to be fair) but the storylines, their actual characters are very real. Flawed, yet basically good. No “baddies” and “goodies” here; the characters seem to incorporate flaws, fears and goofs we all have in real life but very rarely actually see on the big screen, much less something as mainstream as an HBO series. This, in turn, makes it so easy to sympathise with the characters that you will find yourself glued to the screen from beginning to end. And I don’t mean the episodes, I mean the seasons. Definitely give it a whirl. You’ll love it.

TIME FOR SOME CRIME AND MYSTERY : "VAVIEN"

There are good and exciting things happening in Turkish cinema. I mean yes, directors like Semih Kaplanoğlu (Berlin Film Festival – Golden Bear) and Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Cannes Film Festival – Golden Palm) are the ones getting all the praise but they are not alone in making achievements. Normal films, for lack of a better word – minimalist cinema is something I respect and enjoy greatly but I wouldn’t call it “normal” if you see what I mean. But never mind that now, what I want to talk about is a film about lies, deceit and murder. Now, a good quality film noir is literally non-existent in Turkish cinema. And if this carries distinct traces of humor that stop it qualifying as a “film noir” it is definitely a “film gris” if you see what I mean…
Celal and Sevilay (played by Engin Günaydın and Binnur Kaya respectively – two of the best Turkish comic actors of today) are a married couple living in a small Turkish town with their son Mesut. They have a pretty average life as far as family lives go, Celal is an electrician, Sevilay is a housewife and they make a living somehow. And all three family members have their own separate lives that the other members don’t have a clue about… Mesut sneaks out of his bedroom window every night to meet up with his girlfriend next door. Sevilay stashes money her parents send her around the house without telling the family and is close to amassing a small personal fortune. And Celal wants to kill his wife to marry the woman of his dreams. And because she really annoys him. Now, Celal is not exactly known for being a man of action, but today he will make an exception. He plans the whole thing carefully, prepares and sets the deadly trap in action. The trap seems to succeed alright… However, it will have results that Celal’s wildest dreams or nightmares couldn’t have foretold…
If nothing else, Vavien is a brilliant example of dysfunctional families. Whether family members have seemingly happy and peaceful existences or are literally at each other’s throats, sometimes, just sometimes, they never quite get round to understanding one another. You can co-habit the same house for years and actually have no idea who you married to begin with or who your offspring actually is. Sevilay adores Celal to the point of worship and has no idea, nor could she ever imagine that her beloved husband would try and kill her. She is a good girl who does as she is told, so when her father (who we never meet but only hear on the phone) instructs her to hide the money and not tell Celal she does faithfully, but not out of a lack of trust for Celal. The same goes for Celal’s relationship with his son. Poor Mesut is never sure why his father approves of him or scolds him (and the two moods seem to come in rather unpredictable swings). As for Celal and his “wild and passionate” affair (that is in fact a one-sided obsession on his part) no one who knows him could believe him capable of such emotion. So, in fact, every man is an island. Miserable message, yes? Not really. While The Taylan Brothers (I’m not being facetious; their surname is Taylan, they are brothers and that’s what they call themselves!) make no bones about the utter lack of communication between family members, subtle elements of comedy pertaining to everyday life are slipped in, making the whole film that little bit more real. And don’t forget, the fact that you are not communicating doesn’t necessarily mean you have a sad relationship. In the end, as long as everyone gets what they want out of the whole affair somehow, who cares whether you know what the other person is thinking? That’s what Vavien argues anyway. Watch the film and see what you think…

A VERY DARK COMEDY INDEED : "LIFE DURING WARTIME"

This is another one I had serious misgivings about. Well, I had misgivings about it from the beginning actually. People who saw it before told me repeatedly and with utter conviction that the film was the most boring thing they had ever seen. “Nothing happens” they told me with a certain amount of glee “good luck with that one”. I may have enjoyed the film purely out of spite but no in all honesty, it’s a good film. It’s subtle. It’s a little too close to real life for comfort. It isn’t entirely pleasant in the topics it chooses. All in all, I can see why my colleagues called it “pointless”. For me, it is full of delicate touches and dark humor – some of it truly priceless stuff.

Families. You can’t live with them and you can’t live without them. And relationships – who gets those? Life During Wartime is the story of a family. Trish is now separated from her husband Bill – a pedophile who is now in prison. She is getting ready to marry her new lover who she hopes will both make her happy and be a role model for the boys. Bill, her eldest, is off at university although he is the most traumatized by the whole event. Then there is Timmy, (who thinks his father is dead, as do the rest of the neighbors) who is preparing for his Bar Mitzvah in the middle of all this madness. Chloe, the youngest, is almost completely pickled in medication so she seems OK. Then there is Trish’s sister, Joy, bringing herself and her troubles to visit. Her husband Allen has… Problems… Then there is Helen, their other sister, who is “a writer” and who has cut all communication with the family – however Joy will search her out too… Between Timmy trying to understand whether his father is dead or alive, not to mention the exact meaning of the word “pedophile” and Joy trying to put the ghosts of her past to rest, many questions concerning forgiving, forgetting, life, sex and relationships will emerge. With mixed results.

Now , on reading the synopsis, I can quite understand if you have your doubts. I’ll address those possible doubts first. No, we are in no way made to sympathize with Bill the pedophile. He does figure in the film but the film leaves us in no doubt that what he has done is disgusting and horrible, the consequences this has is in fact kind of the point. And no, there are no “details” (the lack of details in general is in fact one of the main themes of the film).

Now for the film itself. Well, I liked the idea of dark comedy about sex. I mean, when you combine the words “sex” and “comedy” it shouldn’t necessarily equal “American Pie” (I hate the American Pie series by the way and I have been unlucky enough to be forced to watch quite a few for professional reasons so I DO know what I’m talking about). There can be a dark side to sex and dark comedy is thus born. As for including something as shocking as pedophilia (and some other stuff but I don’t want to give the plot twists away) well, one of the best ways of defeating something like that is to laugh. Maybe not “forgive and forget” as the film claims but accept and move on. But forgiveness and forgetting are discussed at length in the movie. My “comic” highlights are Trish (the multiple Emmy and Golden Globe award and nomination bedecked Allison Janney I personally remember her from JUNO but she seems to have obtained fame in a US series called The West Wing) and her interaction with her son Timmy (Dylan Riley Snyder – who should go very far indeed if this performance is anything to go by) and her new boyfriend Harvey (Michael Lerner – Oscar ® nominee for his part in Barton Fink). Joy (Shirly Henderson who I saw in “Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself” and absolutely LOVED) is the more serious half of the film but she also had her moments. Oh and there is a “remix” of “Hava nageela” (if I misspelt that please correct me) towards the end that I personally found priceless…

Yes the film is about forgiving and forgetting, yes as the director Todd Solondz says it is a “dark comedy about sex”. But the theme of the film is I think, above and beyond anything, is that if you look closely enough, you can find something truly touching and funny in the darkest corners… That’s what it made me think of anyway…