Hogwarts latest lacks dimension

Jul 12 2007 Mike Davies reviews the latest cinema releases., Birmingham Post

• HARRY POTTER AND THE
  ORDER OF THE PHOENIX * * *
  Cert 12A, 139 mins

At just under 800 pages, it was never going to be easy to compress JK Rowling's fifth and somewhat stodgy Potter novel into a manageable screenplay without sacrificing huge chunks of the narrative.

Thus incoming director David Yates and stop-gap writer Michael Rosenberg have filleted out all but the elements essential to illustrating Harry's conflicts with both those who refuse to admit Voldemort (a chillingly monstrous Ralph Fiennes) has returned and with all the inner struggles, confusions and the sense of anger and alienation that go with the transition from adolescence to young manhood.

To its credit, in dispensing with the lighter moments, it underlines the gathering darkness announced at the end of Goblet of Fire with Cedric's death and adopts a graver tone.

However, more than its longer running predecessors, it also relies extensively on the audience filling in the gaps.

The absence of Quidditch is no great loss, but unfortunately it does also excise the strained relationship between Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Ron (Rupert Grint) which, in turn, seriously lessens the latter's contribution to the film and, to some extent, undermines the sense of steadfast friendship that has been the series' bedrock.

Indeed, despite showing signs of growing rebellion, even Hermione (Emily Watson) feels somehow diminished here.

But then the introduction of yet more characters inevitably means many roles, both regulars and new, are reduced to mere cameos.

Some, such as Maggie Smith's Prof McGonagall, are simple reminders of the Hogwarts fabric while others, like newcomer Nymphadora Tonks (Natalia Tena), a member of the titular secret order, are just establishing sketches.

Disappointingly, even the intriguingly weird Luna Lovegood (captured to perfection by Evanna Lynch), receives insufficient back story and dimension.

At least Helena Bonham Carter makes the cackling most of her few moments as the mad, sadistic Bellatrix Lestrange, the Death Eater cousin of Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) responsible for the fate of Neville Longbottom's parents.

Other than Harry, the one character to be afforded substantial screen time is Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton, fantastic) who embodies the rigidly ordered institionalism in conflict with the pragmatic individualism Potter represents.

The theme's announced from the start when, Harry having been taunted by bullying cousin Dudley, the pair are attacked in a subway tunnel by a couple of rogue Dementors.

It's Harry's use of a spell to drive them off that leads to him being hauled up in front of the Ministry of Magic by the panicky Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy) in an attempt to expel him.

And from there to the subsequent coup at Hogwarts as Umbridge, a small vision in deceptively cosy pink, is installed as the new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher, proceeding to issue a series of increasingly prohibitive edicts designed to restrict personal freedoms before finally usurping Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) as Headmaster.

It's in response to her actions that, clearly echoing Lindsay Anderson's If, Harry undertakes his covert teaching of Hogwarts' underground Resistance movement.

But again, so much, like the vicious punishment Umbridge inflicts on Harry and the mind-control lessons with Snape (Alan Rickman) that provide him with an unexpectedly unfavourable image of his father, is reduced to shorthand, giving the film the impression of a series of snapshots and highlights rather than a sustained dramatic narrative. As a result, it crucially fails to hit the emotional nerve.

It's certainly well acted and, while lacking the sense of the spectacular evident in the entries by Cuaron and Newell, it's visually impressive. Especially so in the IMAX's 3D version of the Hall of Prophecy showdown.

But, just as the book was the saga's hardest slog with its sluggish pacing and exposition heavy set up for the final chapters, so the film is the most disappointing of the adaptations, required but not especially essential viewing.

>> Mike Davies interviews Daniel Radcliffe

• MOLIERE * * *
  Cert 12A, 121 mins, Subtitled

That'll be Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, France's greatest playwright, then; a master of comedy and author of such works as Le Misanthrope and Tartuffe.

Breathe easy, though, this isn't some dry literary biopic, more a Gallic answer to Shakespeare In Love.

Seizing on the fact that in 1644, following a stint in debtor's prison when his theatre company went bust, a yet to be famous Moliere dropped out of sight for a 13 years, the film amusingly imagines what he might have been up to and where he found inspiration for his subsequent triumphs.

In director Laurent Tirard version of history, Moliere (Romain Durais) has his debts settled in return for agreeing to teach wealthy merchant Jourdain (Fabrice Luchini) how to act so that he can perform the play he's written for Celimene (Ludivine Sagnier), the titled widow with whom he's foolishly besotted.

There's just two minor problems. Self-deluded Jourdain can't act, and he's already married. So, to conceal his true purpose for being at the house, Moliere's passed off as Tartuffe, a visiting priest. A profession for which Jourdain's ravishing Italian wife Elmire (Laura Morante) has little time or patience. Inevitably, the pair of them are soon secret lovers.

Meanwhile, well connected but cash-strapped aristocrat Dorante (Edouard Baer) has persuaded Jourdain that, acting as go between to deliver expensive presents, he can bend Celimene's inclinations in his favour.

In reality, he's passing the gifts off as his own and, playing on his dupe's desperation for a title and with a keen eye on his fortune, has talked him into agreeing a match between his dimwitted son and Jourdain's eldest daughter, Henriette (Fanny Valette). She, however, is in love with her music tutor; a commoner.

And so the scene's set for Moliere to expose Dorante's duplicity, help Henriette to a happy ending and open his employer's eyes to the woman he's neglected, even if it costs him his own happiness.

All of which unfolds in flashback as, back in 1658 and fed up with churning out comedies, Moliere tries to come up with a tragedy for his troupe's next royal command performance while also visiting a figure from the past.

Cleverly feeding off the comedic sensibilities of Moliere's own writings, it muses on creative inspiration while delivering a witty, repartee-laden farce about vanity, greed and the battle of the sexes wrapped around a bittersweet tale of doomed love.

There's some serious themes, but thankfully fun is top of Tirard's agenda and the cast are in fine comedic fettle with French heartthrob Durais (looking not unlike a younger Daniel Day Lewis) making it all look effortless while Luchini brilliantly plays the deluded buffoon yet still manages to wring sympathy when he's confronted with the fool's he's made of himself.

And it doesn't really matter whether you know your Moliere from your Marlowe or your Manilow, this is far more than just some date movie for French literature students.

• LES PETITES VACANCES * * *
  Cert PG, 90 mins, Subtitled

Accompanying her two grandchildren, Marine (Adele Csech) and Thomas (Lucas Franchi) to see their divorced father for Easter, when they arrive sixtysomething ex-teacher Danielle (Bernadette Lafont) is annoyed to find her son-in-law has sent his new girlfriend to say he's delayed on business.

So, rather than take the kids back home, she bundles them off on an impromptu holiday in the French Alps. However, lying about arrangements, she circumvents any attempt by the increasingly concerned adolescent Marine to talk to her parents and eventually disposes of the mobile phone so they can't be contacted.

Like many road movies, writer/director Olivier Peyon's debut is about escape with the elderly Danielle, prone to fainting fits and possibly on the edge of a breakdown, seeking some vague independence and plagued by a feeling of lack of purpose to her life.

Veteran French New Wave actress Lafont is magnificent in subtly capturing Danielle's quiet inner turmoil and growing panic, imbuing the film with both gentle whimsy and a subtle sense of unease.

• TEN CANOES * * *
  Cert 15, 91 mins, Subtitled

Though directed by the Dutch born Rolf de Heer and featuring an English voice-over by David Gulpilil, former child star of Walkabout, this is the first film to be made entirely in the Aboriginal language.

Set in the Northern Territory prior to the arrival of the whites, it follows ten Aborigines as they set off on the annual hunt for goose eggs, a task that will require them to first make the canoes they'll need to navigate the swamps.

Like a typical group of blokes, their conversation tends to centre around farting, sex and the women back home. However, the leader, Minygululu, is aware that his younger brother, Dayindi (Gulpilil's son Jamie), fancies the youngest of his own three wives.

So, as the journey progresses he embarks on a lengthy and at times cryptic story from the ancient days that mirrors their own situation (Gulipilil again playing the lustful brother), spelling out its transgressive nature and tragic consequences that involve mistaken identity, abduction, murder and ritual tribal payback.

"Once upon a time, in a land far, far away," begins Gulpilil jokingly, before setting the scene as the film unfolds as a story within a story within a story, both fascinating anthropological study, cautionary shaggy dog tale and, as Minygululu constantly leaves his audience waiting for the next chapter, a celebration of oral storytelling itself.

Shooting the hunting expedition shot in striking monochrome and the story flashbacks in vibrant earthy colour, de Heer keeps a firm hand on his three narrative levels, amusing with the bawdy humour, educating with Aboriginal customs and lifestyle and intriguing with the suspense of what may happen.

It requires an effort to enter into the film's experience, but the rewards are worth it.

• LILA SAYS * * *
  Cert 18 90 mins, Subtitled

Finally surfacing after three years, Ziad Doueiri's film is actually due for DVD release within days, but it's well worth seizing this brief opportunity to catch it on a big screen, if only to fully appreciate young Emma Thompson lookalike Vahina Giocante's intoxicating smile.

She's the titular Lila, the blonde orphaned tomboy who lives with her mad aunt in a low rent French suburb where tensions between Christians and Muslims are accentuated post 9/11.

Encountering, Chimo (Mohammed Khouas), a young Arab with ambitions to become a writer, she fascinates him by describing her features, then offers to give him a flash.

Over the days a relationship develops, she beguiling him with stories of a colourful past and teasing him by talking dirty about her sex life.

Uncertain how he's supposed to respond, emotionally or physically, Chimo also keeps the tentative romance from his racist, misogynist friends, standing by while they crudely come on to Lila.

When one of them realises what's going on, the stage is set for the film's harrowing third act violation and a revelation that gives a heartbreakingly different perspective on Lila's brassy behaviour.

Narrated in flashback by Chimo, it's underdeveloped and at times broadly drawn, but it's also a moving bittersweet love story with a thoughtful message and Giocante is a star in the making.