:00:22. > :00:27.Hello and welcome to the Film Review. To take us through this
:00:28. > :00:33.week's cinema releases, Mark Kermode. It's a monster week. One of
:00:34. > :00:41.the release is out this week is Godzilla, the new version. We have A
:00:42. > :00:49.Touch of Sin, a controversial Chinese film from Zhangke Jia. And
:00:50. > :00:54.we have The Two Faces of January, from the Patricia Highsmith novel. I
:00:55. > :00:57.think Godzilla is a good thing. A good thing, but we did have the
:00:58. > :01:02.version from the late 90s which was terrible. This was directed by
:01:03. > :01:06.Gareth Edwards who made Monsters, a low`budget film, it cost way less
:01:07. > :01:10.than a million, he shot it himself, did all the special effect in his
:01:11. > :01:15.soul, in his bedroom. On the strength of that he got the gig to
:01:16. > :01:22.relaunch Godzilla. This owes a great depth to the original from 1954, the
:01:23. > :01:26.original Japanese version which was tied back to worries about nuclear
:01:27. > :01:30.energy and atomic testing. So we begin with a montage of atomic tests
:01:31. > :01:34.in the 1950s, which it turns out weren't tests, they were to do with
:01:35. > :01:38.attempting to destroy something which we see fleetingly. We then
:01:39. > :01:43.fast forward to a power plant which is struck by a natural disaster,
:01:44. > :01:52.which seems to have overtones of Fukushima. We have full function?
:01:53. > :02:04.Yes, we have. But perhaps we should draw it down to be safe. Take us
:02:05. > :02:14.off`line. Do it, now. Attention all. Sandler, Sandra.
:02:15. > :02:25.Were turning back, let's go! Oh, God! Are you there? There's been a
:02:26. > :02:33.breach. We're heading back to the containment cell. Listen to me, you
:02:34. > :02:36.need to get out of there. There's nothing natural about the disaster
:02:37. > :02:40.at all. We know this is going to be a creature feature. However, for the
:02:41. > :02:43.first hour of the movie it is judicious with its uses of
:02:44. > :02:47.spectacular displays. There is spectacle in the first hour but it's
:02:48. > :02:51.interested in developing the characters. We then fast forward
:02:52. > :02:54.again, we get big young son of that couple, he goes looking for his
:02:55. > :02:59.father in Japan, who is convinced the government are hiding something,
:03:00. > :03:03.which, of course, they are, but not what he expected. What I liked by
:03:04. > :03:07.the film is this is made by someone who has a great respect for the
:03:08. > :03:13.Japanese original. He also has a contempt for the version in the
:03:14. > :03:17.1990s. The film ties it back to radiation but in a slightly
:03:18. > :03:20.different way. It's also made by someone who clearly has a Clive
:03:21. > :03:25.Barker kind of affection for the creatures. There is a real love of
:03:26. > :03:28.the monsters in this. If you know anything about Godzilla anyway, the
:03:29. > :03:32.whole thing about scourge or Sega is an interesting part of the
:03:33. > :03:35.subsequent films. In this case they've gone out of their way to
:03:36. > :03:40.make even the massive figure of Godzilla, and when you fully see him
:03:41. > :03:45.in the second hour of the film, it's really, really big! It is also a
:03:46. > :03:48.sympathetic creature, a creature in which they have worked to make him a
:03:49. > :03:55.proper character. I would suggest you see it on the biggest, loudest
:03:56. > :03:59.screen available because necessarily in that third act, character does
:04:00. > :04:03.fall by the wayside as far as the human characters are concerned. I'm
:04:04. > :04:09.thinking of the movie poster being updated. Godzilla, it's really,
:04:10. > :04:13.really big, Mark Kermode. If you are going to make a Godzilla movie you
:04:14. > :04:16.need to have spectacle. But what Gareth Edwards brings, ie he
:04:17. > :04:20.understands you have to develop character and story first. Otherwise
:04:21. > :04:29.it's just CGI, it's just transformers. This is most closer to
:04:30. > :04:35.Pacific Rim. I liked that very much. A Touch of Sin, a very interesting
:04:36. > :04:41.look at China. The director has taken four stories from the Japanese
:04:42. > :04:45.equivalent of Twitter. Sorry, Chinese equivalent. The four stories
:04:46. > :04:50.of violence which seem to be born out of social unrest. If you take it
:04:51. > :04:58.as a state of the nation depiction of China, it is a very dyspeptic
:04:59. > :05:00.picture in which there is consumerist corruption everywhere,
:05:01. > :05:04.people are out for themselves, people commit terrible, murderous
:05:05. > :05:07.acts, either because they are driven to vengeance by the circumstances
:05:08. > :05:12.they find themselves in. One plot is a woman who's put in a terrible
:05:13. > :05:17.situation in a hostess bar. Another is the man who is enraged by fact
:05:18. > :05:21.that a privately owned mine is not putting any wealth back into the
:05:22. > :05:28.community. It tells the story in a way which is infected by genre.
:05:29. > :05:33.Whereas in the past, the director's works have been neorealist
:05:34. > :05:38.depictions of social ills. This basically has explosions of blood
:05:39. > :05:45.and violence that people would prefer to as martial arts movies or
:05:46. > :05:48.perhaps westerns. Or Tarantino? Whenever you say Tarantino it means
:05:49. > :05:53.sort of stripped of meaning. What is impressive about A Touch of Sin is
:05:54. > :05:56.that there is violence, previous fans worried about the direction the
:05:57. > :06:00.director was taking, but it all means something, it's tied into an
:06:01. > :06:07.underlying social malaise. I thought it was a fairly affecting film. And
:06:08. > :06:11.quite a brave film. The Chinese authorities have sat on allowing it
:06:12. > :06:15.to be released. The director was fading the terrible thing is because
:06:16. > :06:21.it hasn't been released properly in China, there are pirate copies. It
:06:22. > :06:27.won the screen play at Cannes film last year. The Two Faces of January.
:06:28. > :06:34.Greene it's an adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel. The
:06:35. > :06:37.directorial debut of Hossein Amini. As an American tour guide in
:06:38. > :06:41.Greece, he meets up with a very glamorous couple. You think in the
:06:42. > :06:45.beginning he is trying to get into their inner circle in order to get
:06:46. > :06:51.something from them, whether it be money or just advancement or perhaps
:06:52. > :06:57.it is something darker than that. You want to share some oysters? B he
:06:58. > :07:05.says it's a bad idea to eat shellfish here. The Greeks have been
:07:06. > :07:09.doing it for thousands of years. Eat shellfish from some dirty New York
:07:10. > :07:14.kitchen but not from the sea here, where it's caught right in front of
:07:15. > :07:18.your eyes. We can't go back to the States because of Chester's business
:07:19. > :07:26.interests. I'm sure that Rydal doesn't want to hear about your own
:07:27. > :07:28.situation. What is she saying? Don't rise to it. Millar let's hear what's
:07:29. > :07:47.on his mind. again. Or what? Viggo Mortensen,
:07:48. > :07:51.doing some of the most sinister smoking ever. You can see it's an
:07:52. > :07:56.old`fashioned kind of movie. It's drawn from an old`fashioned sort of
:07:57. > :08:00.text. Very fine performances, very eye`catching. Not just the beautiful
:08:01. > :08:04.scenery but you are looking at the faces of the characters, all
:08:05. > :08:07.wonderfully dressed, fabulous sunglasses and hats. To some extent
:08:08. > :08:12.it's a little bit surface, it doesn't have the depth of the
:08:13. > :08:17.talented Mr Ripley, you can see the comparison there. But it is well
:08:18. > :08:22.done. At the time you are watching it, you are worried about
:08:23. > :08:27.everybody's motives, are they being fired by lust for money or each
:08:28. > :08:31.other? Then it's about descent into your own personal, hellish chaos.
:08:32. > :08:34.It's very well handled and stylish. It is very old`fashioned, but in a
:08:35. > :08:41.good way. I don't think it has the lasting depth of Talented Mr Ripley.
:08:42. > :08:45.Your best is Frank. Frank is wonderful, it's inspired by the
:08:46. > :08:49.shape of Frank Sidebottom's head, but it owes more to the stories of
:08:50. > :08:54.Captain beef Park and Daniel Johnston. It's an extraordinary
:08:55. > :08:59.movie that manages to be tragicomic and bittersweet. It starts in an
:09:00. > :09:04.absurdist mode and then becomes gently more tragic and moving. Many
:09:05. > :09:09.people I know who seen it cried. Why, because Michael Fassbender is
:09:10. > :09:13.wearing a hat? Millar because they don't get to see Michael
:09:14. > :09:22.Fassbender's face! No, because it's a tragic story. Your DVD is one I
:09:23. > :09:25.would have difficulty pronouncing. Princess Mononoke. `year`old
:09:26. > :09:31.Godzilla from Japan, then we went to China, now go back to Japan. It is
:09:32. > :09:38.now available on Blu`ray. The Wind Rises has just come out in cinemas
:09:39. > :09:43.here. We've all been told it is Hayao Miyazaki 's last film. People
:09:44. > :09:47.who love his movies are hoping there will be more, perhaps there will. In
:09:48. > :09:53.the meantime, if you've seen The Wind Rises in the cinema, go back
:09:54. > :09:58.and look at something like Princess Mononoke, it is wonderful. He is an
:09:59. > :10:03.extraordinary, visionary film`maker. They do work for young and old
:10:04. > :10:06.alike. The Wind Rises is kind of an older audience, but Princess
:10:07. > :10:10.Mononoke is one of those films anyone can watch. There is darkness
:10:11. > :10:16.in it, a certain degree of violence and blood`letting, but it is a
:10:17. > :10:20.proper story for all ages. A quick reminder that you will find more
:10:21. > :10:27.film news and reviews from Mark on his BBC blog. That is it for this
:10:28. > :10:46.week. Thank you for watching and goodbye.
:10:47. > :10:51.country. Temperatures climbing up to 23 today, and we will improve on
:10:52. > :10:55.that in the next day or so. The weekend is looking very warm. The
:10:56. > :10:58.sun is getting very strong. Planning any barbecues or walks in the Park
:10:59. > :10:59.this weekend, be careful, the son is very