The Worst Person In The World, The Phantom Of The Open and Ambulance

 

At one moment the "heroine" of this film thinks she might be The Worst Person In The World. "I feel like I'm playing a supporting role in my own life". Sometimes you want to give her a good shake. Directed and co-written by Joachim Trier, at last we have an intelligent and moving portrait of a young woman  looking for love in the 21st century "where an entire generation can seem so aimless and indecisive". Renate Reinsve is outstanding as Julie who is bright enough that she could be anything she wants to be. (I thought of Strindberg's Miss Julie?). But there is something in her psyche that makes her into a butterfly. Sometimes you just want to give her a good shake. 

The best scene of the 12 chapters plus prologue and epilogue in the movie is when Julie leaves her partners event and walking home in the dark, gate crashes a big wedding party. Some chapters are stronger than others but they make a wonderful whole. Not sure we needed a narrator at odd times, but I did like the epilogue, too neat in some ways but I thought truthful to Julie's journey.

This was a Norwegian film where the subtitles were never a problem despite the vast amount of great dialogue, Renate actually won best actress and Cannes and was nominated for the BAFTA.  At the Oscars it was nominated for Best International Film and Best Original Screenplay.

I was thankful that The Phantom Of The Open was so much more than a film about golf. It worked much better as a family drama. Mark Rylance gave his role as shipyard crane operator Maurice Flitcroft too much subtlety and depth, but then he would. Sally Hawkins was wonderful as his long suffering wife and was Oscar worthy. Then there was Jake Davies who I thought gave an excellent sympathetic performance as the eldest, successful son. 

Well directed by Craig Roberts, the screenplay was terrific. It was written by Simon Farnaby (well known in this house for his role as the trouserless MP in Ghosts). He also played a Scandavian professional in a ridiculous wig. As did Rhys Ifans as the tournament director.  It was all great fun.

As Ambulance was not. For one thing Michael Bay's film was far too long. Basically a one trick pony that needed daft repetitive scenes to fill out the running time. All the jerky camera work and excruciating soundtrack made my head hurt. There is one shot early on there the camera whizzes round and round the two leads for no apparent reason, only that very late on a sort of reprise. There were odd instances of a witty script trying to claw it's way out from the mayhem. I'm not a big fan of where the two leads, Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya_Abdul-Mateen_II  (Yes) are crooks. Far better was Eiza Gonzalez as the paramedic. 

Amongst that dreadful soundtrack came two superiors songs - Sailing by Christopher Cross (a big favourite of Alison's) and California Dreamin' by Bobby Womac. I guess they just couldn't face using the brilliant original by The Mamas and The Papas.