08/08/2014 The Film Review

Rory McIlroy. We were happy latest on the US PGA championship. That is

at 6:30pm. Now it is time for the film review.

review on BBC News. To take us through the releases is Jason

Solomons. First up we will be looking at mad men at the movies as

Christina Hendricks plays a grieving mother in the US drama temp `` God's

Pocket. Then we will be looking at Patagonia through the eyes of a

12`year`old girl. Who is the girl taking an unhealthy interest in her

health? And finally the mighty Gerard Depardieu gives a mighty

performance in the thinly veiled Dominic Strauss Kahn sex case in

welcome to New York. The world 's best`known Belgian apparently, he

has gone there to avoid certain tax problems. God's Pocket. It is a

fictional place conjured up in a novel. I think it is opposed to be a

working class corner of Philadelphia. You live there and you

cannot leave, everyone is either a gangster or a drunk or both.

Everyone keeps the secrets away from the police, it rules itself. It is

well created by the director John Slattery, some people will know him

from madmen in which he plays Roger Sterling, his secretary is played by

Christina Hendricks who here gives her best performance so far in a

major movie. Here she plays a grieving mother who suspects that

the death of her son in a workplace was something else other than what

has in reported `` has been. What I has in reported `` has been. What I

did is nothing to do with you, you have to make sure everything is all

right Saturday and then you get your money. Johnny, John. Don't look at

me like that, Jack. What are you talking about? Don't look at me like

that. You get a flavour that that it is very brown and orange. It is,

lots of interiors. Eddie Marsden, a British actor, playing an

undertaker. It becomes a bit farcical. Philip Seymour Hoffman in

one of his final performance, a lot of his final films, all claiming

they were his last. There is not a power law of death that hangs over

it, but you have too enjoyed it. `` there is not a sense of death.

Richard Jenkins plays a journalist. He is drunk at the bar and manages

to sleep with everyone because he is a local celebrity. I am not sure the

film builds up entirely satisfactory to all sorts of things, but there is

a very great atmosphere that pervades, I could not take my eyes

off it. Christina Hendricks is fantastic. It is Elmore Leonard

territory, scuzzy people would not very nice lives who do not very nice

things. A lot of meat in the fridge rated trucks. A bit of Rocky. They

are low lives, but I did enjoy it. It is US indie at its best. The film

that really intrigues me is the next choice which is Wakolda. It is an

absolutely special film. It has lived on in my nightmares ever since

I saw it. It is through the eyes of a 12`year`old girl. A German man

with an evil moustache takes interest in her. He says he can help

out with growth hormones. Who is this man? Why does he speak German,

why are there so many German`speaking people in this

neighbourhood? It is a true almost story, a mix of fact and fiction,

what happened in the 1960s when many fugitives from Nazi Germany were

helped through South America. I do not want to give anything away, who

this man might be, but it becomes quite obvious and Mossad are quite

interested in him. There are just enough clues and when you open up

this man's notebooks, there is horror inside. You have not given it

away entirely, but this is about 15 years after the war. The Nazis were

not all decrypted men then, some of them were still in their prime. ``

decrepit. The ideology was not dead either, especially in

German`speaking Patagonia. It looks like the Black Forest, mountains and

chalets, Eichmann has recently been caught in the manhunt. He has been

taken back to Israel, plenty of Nazis on the run at that time. I

thought this was terrific, it robs with threat and mystery. It is

confusing, seeing it through the eyes of a 12`year`old girl who has

no idea. It is not the boys from Brazil. It is not that, there is a

bit of that in there. I thought it was very exciting. It is about

confusion and agenda. Welcome to New York, starring Gerard Depardieu who

is not entirely popular in France because of his decision to claim

Belgian citizenship. He is not, but wherever he lives or goes, he is one

of the finest actors of the last 40 years, 170 odd movies. When he came

on the scene in the 1970s, he was this huge, life force that ran

through all these things. He is back on that sort of form here, playing a

thinly veiled version of Dominic Strauss Kahn, the head of the World

Bank. The film starts with a disclaimer saying none of this is

true, but it may remind you of a case that took over world headlines.

There are moments when they drop stock footage in from the trial. The

first half of this film, the first half hour, it is an all night long

Porgy, that is quite as relating and sexy and then it becomes

dehumanising and empty. `` or grams `` sex party. What are you doing?

What are you doing? I am putting you under arrest for the moment sir. I

am Detective Sergeant David from the police department. You will be here

until the NYPD comes, they want to talk to you. This is an fair and

unnecessary. It is very necessary. Can I use your bathroom first remark

`` can I use your bathroom? I have diplomatic immunity. Can you prove

that? It is on my passport. It was not on the passport that he showed

us. In another passport. I want you to call the French consulate. When

NYPD arrives, they will take you and when you get the chance to call, you

can call them. Can you take off the handcuffs, they hurt me. They are

not built for comfort, sir. The arrogance of power. LAUGHTER

It is the arrogance of power. I mention the sex scenes where he is

wasting champagne, he is suddenly clapped into this system again where

he is degraded and debased and he does not understand it at all.

Totally unrepentant. Do you know who I am? They do know who he is. It is

about the arrogance of power, human foibles, wealth, degrading

behaviour, disgusting behaviour. It is all in there, it is directed by

the man who did the driller killer and the fable of New York, it is

kind of odious. We could not possibly show him letting it all

hang out, there is a lot of it, he is a man landslide when he is

undressed. He gets undressed to be frisked and searched as well. It is

very well disguised. Three cracking films. We had a quiet period with

the World Cup, now some good stuff. Do you really like this film?

Inbetweeners two. It has already been out. It has broken box office

records for the biggest UK comedy to open at UK box office. It is funny.

It is a guilty pleasure, there are to jokes, banter. It is about mates

growing up. `` cc jokes. We have nailed it here. All the gross out

comedy is, it is actually really sweet. The four of them played

really well together. There are some comedy genius moments, one in a

water park I will never forget. I can just imagine, I have not seen

they have 20 B in between. I these franchise? There is the point

guys are 28, 30. We will not get them going into college. I suspect

the box office figures may persuade them back in. It sounds terrific

first summer evening. The DVD is the double, I have some friends who

hated it, others loved it. Jesse Eisenberg gives a fantastic

performance. He plays his own double gang. One cannot get the photocopier

to work and the other is brilliant. It is created by a character in the

IT crowd. I like the retro world that he conjures. It is considered

and artistic. It is impressive. People build it as a hilarious

comedy, it is not that. It is quite tiring on the brain. You can see why

people become irritated by it. The story is meant to be irritating. It

is irritating, people trapped in their own world. Jesse Eisenberg is

wonderful, you can always tell which one he is, even though they look

exactly the same. The way the camera is placed, I thought it was very

well directed. Thank you very much. A quick reminder before we go that

you will find more films and reviews on all our previous shows