WFTPOTA, The Beguiled and Dunkirk

I was amazed how boring was the story of War for the Planet of the Apes. I know it made complete sense at the end, but it was a gruelling couple of hours to get there, unlike it's two predecessors. The heavy handed references to Apocalypse Now were an embarrassing comparison to that classic movie. The two major features that this film got right were the CGI (the technological advances have given the apes amazing characters) and the music by Michael Giacchino.

A movie from Sofia Coppola is usually a nice surprise, and The Beguiled is no different. A melodrama set during the American Civil War is confined to the claustrophobic setting of a ladies seminary in the wilds of Virginia. In fact this could easily have been a play, the set is so small. The director has taken the novel by Thomas P Cullinan and turned it into a highly charged drama. What else would it be when an injured Union soldier (a witty casting of Colin Farrell) is taken in by the half dozen females stranded? in their big house. It is a delight to see how the story pans out, the twists and turns ramp up towards the end. Not only are the leads played by Nicole Kidman and Kirsten Dunst pitch perfect, but the younger cast are equally terrific. All down to the director's touch. The cinematography, costumes and lighting make this wonderful to look at, but it always needed a good screenplay, and this is what we got.

I'm not sure how Christopher Nolan persuaded Warner Brothers to stump up a big budget for a movie about a British retreat. Not an American in sight. I guess it was because he concentrated on the disaster and survival aspects of an epic war movie. His choice of telling three particular stories (the soldier, the small boat and a Spitfire pilot) and then, typically,  messing about with the editing and timescale, to give the audience the sense of the prevailing chaos, danger and heroism that combine to attack our minds. This is a film short on dialogue, but that is exactly what you would expect if you had been there. The action says it all and tiny unscripted events tell a much bigger story.

There had been some criticism of the lack of due paid to the French holding off a German land attack. But the one short scene at the beginning is enough to say it all. The choice of some heavyweight actors (Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy (now a Nolan regular)  and Kenneth Branagh) give some old time bravado. Then there is the music by Hans Zimmer. That is enough to ramp up the tension on it's own. Or as Nolan puts it "increasing intensity". He certainly gave us that.