Not difficult to guess which one of these three very different movies was my favourite by far. The story may be pretty preposterous, but Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is such a sweet movie. And it is extremely well written by Simon Beaufoy of The Full Monty and Slumdog Millionaire fame. The cast is fabulous, Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt obviously love their parts, and the whole film is elevated by a stunningly comic performance from Kristin Scott Thomas. Lasse Halstrom does not have a lot to do but point the camera at some terrific locations. OK, It is all pretty bizare, but if you just suspend reality for a couple of hours, this is a pure joy.
I was , as usual, in two minds about whether to go to see another comic book movie. But the reviews were so unanimously good, that I could hardly avoid Avengers Assemble. And as usual, I found the action scenes all pretty tedious. But I have to say there are some reasonable scenes when we actually have some dialogue. And this is thanks to Joss Whedon who co-wrote and directed (see posting on Cabin in the Woods). This is one director to watch.
What can I say about Silent House. Technically a tour de force for us movie fans, as directors Chris Kentis and Laura Lau follow their tense thriller Open Water with another original idea, this time a film done in one take with one camera. Actually there were a couple of opportunities for cuts, so a slight cop out here. But what we have is a missed opportunity for something that could have been great. Instead we have a story that made absolutely no sense. Now I don't mind something surreal that keeps you guessing (think Shutter Island) but this time it seems the directors are just laughing at the audience when we finally find out what it was all about. Elizabeth Olsen is superb, though the repetitiveness of her reactions to danger do wear a bit thin. But this is not her fault. As she creeps around the dark, shuttered house you just want to scream "open a window and let some bloody light in".
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