Well folks, the pickings are still slim out there. Here in Wellington, level 1 pretty much means business as usual, but the distributors are based in Auckland, and they’re stuck with limited American production.
Covid-19 is pretty bad everywhere else, so what better way to start than with a picture starring the immortal Charlize Theron playing a person who can never die of Covid-19, or anything else for that matter. The Old Guard imagines a world in which a select few immortals form a secret band of do-gooders fight evil wherever it might raise its ugly head. They are responsible for saving the world from things that never happened because of them (which of course means the film can take great liberty by picturing things that didn’t happen but sure could have). It’s a bit violent, but it’s very well-choreographed violence. Charlize’s character, Andy, is actually Andromache of Scythia, and she carries her 5000 years well, especially considering her close personal friend Achilles killed her husband Hector (but that’s not in the film). Her tight band of mercenaries don’t let immortality bore them. They are as enthusiastic about sex (particularly the two who met in the Crusades) as they are about violence. The critics weren’t over the moon about this one, and it is definitely set up for sequels, but I liked the close-up hand cam shots and the way Charlize (one of the producers) has put a new spin on superheroes in the modern world using ancient history. The Old Guard, currently playing on Netflix.
In the cinemas is a lovely French film called La Vie Scolaire (released as School Life in New Zealand). School Life is described as a French teen comedy drama film from 2019 to distinguish it from School Life, an Irish documentary film from 2016. Call me shallow, but I have never seen so many good-looking actors in one film. It is set in St Denis (where Les Miserables Not The Musical was also set) and features actors I have never heard of: Zita Hanrot, Mousa Mansaly, Alban Ivanov, Liam Pierrot, and Soufianne Guerrab, a list of names that reflects the ethnic make-up of St Denis. It is about the arrival of a new vice principal at a low-decile school full of unmotivated students and teachers. The new principal sees the potential in these kids, and is frustrated by the hurdles they face. It makes you want to go and hug a teacher. I do not know why we tolerate people in really important jobs getting paid so little relative to others doing similar jobs, but then I’m a well-known pinko liberal communist. This is a gritty little film full of hope, with (for me) a slightly puzzling ending. School Life, currently playing in Lighthouse Cinemas.
Finally, I highly recommend Vice. I avoided this film for years (well, two years — it’s from 2018), not because it’s about vice (I wish) but because it’s about one of the most boring people (Dick Cheney) ever to occupy high office, (the vice presidency of the United States). Turns out Dick was trickier than Tricky Dick Nixon. Played by the shape-shifting Christian Bale, who put on about 100 pounds for this role, Cheney seems to have been up to no good right under the eyes of Bush the Second who didn’t seem to notice much, or care, or maybe understand (remember when we all thought George W was the worst president ever? How we pine for those days now!). Amy Adams is the superstar of this film though, playing Mrs Cheney. Both will stop at nothing in their ascent (honestly, I don’t know how they resisted assassinating George to assume the presidency). When the producers could not figure out some parts of the Cheneys’ story, they improvised with Shakespeare, fake endings, and fourth wall-breaking. The end credits contain a scene in which a focus group is heatedly discussing the film we are watching, essentially reflecting the audience’s discussion as they leave the theatre. My audience however did not resort to fisticuffs like the American focus group did. The film frames Cheney’s life as a Shakespearian drama (or trauma) and offers an insight into events which, as evil goes, now seem almost innocent. Vice, currently playing on Netflix.