March Bloodstones: Rita O’Grady, Lisa Hopkins and Barbara Caste in Made in Dagenham

I never reviewed Made in Dagenham. I got a screener copy of it one literally one day after I wrapped up my 2010 Year-End Awards, which was a shame because it would have featured in more than a few of the categories. The movie is a simply produced biopic covering the fight for sex-equality in England, and which such a garishly “feminist” evidence of courageous women are obvious, but the good thing about Made in Dagenham is that despite it’s faults and its very prosaic plot it’s a whole lot more fun than you’d expect it to be.

Made in Dagenham reminds me most of movies like The Women or Stage Door - not because it’s a slice of classic life, but because in its wide foray of females I almost don’t want to single out any one of them as best in show. Almost. I’m both surprised and heartened that despite picking up zero awards’ tractions Rosamund Pike was being so constantly fêted as a potential spoiler in the supporting actress race way back when. To say that the role is paper thin might be a little too harsh. The thing is, the role manages to be paper thin and hopelessly predictable at the same time but Rosamund sells it. She’s always so good opposite fellow actresses (perfect opposite Keira and Carey) and truth be told – one of my favourite moments of the film is the throwaway moment in the car when Lisa and Rita both band together to bring down a chauvinistic teacher at their sons’ school. It reads as a bit insular that this “small” act is indicative of their female bravery...but whatever.

Not that Sally isn’t good herself, I was no big fan of her in Happy-Go-Lucky but she’s so charismatic here constantly besting the material she’s given. She’s sort of brilliant opposite everyone in her sedateness, in contrast to Miranda who finds her brilliance by being explosive. My appreciation for Miranda flip-flops. She seems to be having too much fun playing Barbara that sometimes you can just see her being over-the-top for its very own sake. She knows when to rein it in, though. What Barbara does for the cause is no small feat, and that moment where she has her way with her boorish assistants is brilliant.

I figure, my backhand compliments make it seem as if the trio are good despite overreaching issues in Made in Dagenham...and they are. The film has its issues, but it’s so sensible and confident I can’t help but forgive its simplicity. And then, these women are so infectious in their coruageousness, more often than not surprising you with their characterisations. How can I resist?
      
previously: Shoshanna and Bridget von Hammersmark in Inglourious Basterds; Francine Evans in New York/New York; Deanie Loomis in Splendor in the Grass; Helen and Margaret Schlegel in Howards End
      
Were you a fan of Made in Dagenham?

Encore Awards (2010 in Review): Forgotten Characters (Finale)

This was the first real feature I ever had on this blog, and it’s sort of my favourite so I think it’s fitting that I include it as the first of my miscellaneous categories to kick things off in remembering 2010 in film. As it stands I’ve seen just below 70 films, and it looks like I’ll be unable to get a look at some elusive ones before I unveil my awards – which is unfortunate, but not disastrous. I’ll persevere nonetheless.

            

I don’t think I’ve ever really cared to explicitly define what qualifies as a forgotten character. In the actual series I’ve covered performances like Ethan Hawke in Training Day – who was forgotten, even though he’s the film’s protagonist and I was tempted to include actors like Lucas Black – who was a necessity in Get Low, in a strong supporting role, but who’s been forgotten almost everyone or Matt Damon in True Grit, who’s not quite exceptional but has gotten almost no recognition for his stoic LeBoeuf. But, ideally, a forgotten character is one of those characters coasting on the sidelines of the narrative, and in their thankless roles become forgotten when the film succeeds. They’re sometimes necessary as the impetus for certain plot-points but because they’ve been written in such a way they never get to be more than a flat character (on paper at least). Some actors can make that work for themselves, though. So, my official Encore Awards begin with a miscellaneous category.

THE NOMINEES

Sally Hawkins in Never Let Me Go (as Miss Lucy)

 

In a way Hawkins’ natural cadence seems all wrong for the very serious Miss Lucy, but it’s to her credit that the entire arc at Hailsham seems to depend on her performance. There’s something self-effacing about her without being coy, all the while managing to be that sort of perfect teacher that every child hopes for. She understands enough to play Lucy as a projection of Cathy’s memory, without making her too saccharine, though. (Highlight: Conversation with Cathy.)

Rashida Jones in The Social Network (as Marylin Delpy)

After the credits roll (well, the first time) I couldn’t stop thinking about Jones’ Marylin The thing is I’ve always liked Jones, but I’m not being biased when I think of all the little ticks she imbues in a character that’s barely there on the page. She’s able to show Marylin having that slight star struck response to Zuckerberg but still managing to maintain her professionalism, even if you get the sense that she’s sort of contented in being a little silly at times. (Highlight: Her blink-and-you’ll-miss-it laughter during Eduardo’s chicken scenario.)

Anna Kendrick in Scott Pilgrim vs the World (as Stacy Pilgrim)

 

Like everything about Scott Pilgrim vs the World, I was unprepared to be as wholly charmed by Kendrick as I was. Even if she seems too aged to be playing Cera’s younger sister her vocal tics and annoying traits – that aren’t so annoying – are just a few parts of the small things that work so well in this movie. She has a firm grip on the character, even if it is sort of the perpetually gossip-y teen that still feels like something fresh. (Highlight: “I’m literally about to leave!”)

Max Minghella in The Social Network (as Divya Narendra)

I like Max Minghella a whole lot, even though I’ve only seen him in one other film. Everyone seems enamoured (rightfully so, I suppose) with Armie “porn star name” Hammer’s performance but I’m even more impressed with Minghella’s work if only because I find him funniest and most sincere. He’s sort of annoying without ever really being annoying, in fact he’s even likeable sometimes. And Hammer sort of loses me when he imbues the Winklevoss’ with those vaguely unlikeable traits unnecessarily, the script is already least infatuated with them. He’s actually trying to make Divya interesting, if not amiable. (Highlight: Tripping over his feet in horror when he sees that The Facebook has gone live.)

Michelle Williams in Shutter Island (as Dolores Chanal)

 

I’m not certain how much this qualifies because this seems a slight bit more than a small character, but when you really think about it Williams really doesn’t have much of a role. She’s playing a memory, and unlike Mal in Inception even if she does provide the climax of the tale she’s not as constant. But she completely sells it given one of the strongest performances I’ve seen her. (Highlight: The revelation, of course.)

FINALISTS: Tammy Blanchard in Rabbit Hole; Yaya DaCosta in The Kids Are All Right; Viola Davis in Eat Pray Love; Crispin Glover in Alice in Wonderland; Cillian Murphy in Inception

SEMI-FINALISTS: Michael Gambon in The King’s Speech; Artie Hammer in The Social Network; Cherry Jones in Mother & Child; Johnny Simons in Scott Pilgrim vs the World; Mae Whitman in Scott Pilgrim vs the World

        

So, we begin 2010 in Review in Encore’s World, of the top 5 ultimate forgotten who made the biggest impression on you? Williams’ haunting wife? Kendrick’s droning sister? Or the lone male nominee, Minghella? Which forgotten character of 2010 do you wish would get some love?

Never Let Me Go

Last year when I heard that the (allegedly) seminal novel Never Let Me Go was being adapted to film I was torn whether or not I should read it first. Generally, the trend is to always read the novel first because the book will never be a complete adaptation, but that’s the very reason that – where I can help it – I always ignore the literary version of any work until after I’ve seen the film. And yet, when the credits rolled for Never Let Me Go I couldn’t help but feel that I’d only been given a fraction of the story. I had that palpable of something – not quite disappointment, but dissatisfaction... Our story is set at Hailsham, a school, we know there’s something amiss from the way the children walk around almost as automatons – and it’s not because they’re “British”. We soon realise that the entire student population are clones of real people, the clones exist to provide body parts to their originals – and after a few operations they eventually die, before reaching middle age. Cloning is the sort of thing that’s become a bit too blasé to root a story, overexposure to the topic is probably the reason. The theme of cloning soon becomes secondary to a love triangle. Ruth, we discern immediately is not someone to root for – her child version has unusually quick eyes and a gait evocative of Briony Tallis. Kathy is our heroine, a seemingly pleasant girl who takes a liking to the school misfit Tommy. The two seem like a fine pair, until one day she happens upon Tommy and Ruth in an embrace...and we flash forward a decade or so later and the story continues.

There was a bad taste in my mouth for a good deal of the film’s second half, I’m not sure if Ishiguro’s novel or Alex Garland’s adaptation is to blame but to balance the already tired cloning premise against the increasingly tawdry love triangle deprives the film of all the poignancy that the actors keep trying to inject into it. And what’s exasperating is that the film has all the makings of being a good one. The costume designs are way less ornate and much more sensible that you’d anticipate, the art direction is inspired, its beautifully shot and the acting is fine...but all those parts does not a good film make. Garland, and director Mark Romanek, to their credit, frames the film beautifully (almost a bit too meticulously at times, truth be told). The three acts unfold fluidly – from Hailsham, to the cottages where the trio are in a sort of limbo in between adulthood and childhood and the final act where everything comes to a close. The unfortunate thing about his framing technique, though, is we end up seeing the film so distinctly as three acts and not one whole. The first act is fair, the second act is lovely and the third act is a disappointment. And the thing is, as good as the second act it epitomises the film’s fatal flaw – Ruth.

I sort of hate how the performances of the trio have become judged, Carey has been given the highest laurels by critics, the blogosphere has given their confidence to Garfield – but for me Keira Knightley emerges as the strongest of the trio, and it’s unfortunate that her performance won’t be able to go very far because she’s saddled with a character that’s so narrowly constricted it’s difficult to watch at times, even if she’s giving the film’s best performance. The film is already suffering from having a pedestrian love-story triangle and having Ruth as the impetus that prevents the affiliation between Tommy and Kathy from thriving. Thus, those last twenty minutes from the film where Ruth is expelled and Tommy and Kathy continue their journey feels violently flat. I’m all for a movie having us guessing until the end, but the “resolution” that the film reaches feels forced and makes so many of more interesting of the plot-points of the second act redundant. One of the film’s strongest sequences occurs as the gang accompanies the gang to a downtown location to seek out the woman who may be her original, the resulting revelation of whether or not the woman is Ruth’s original is handled beautifully – but in retrospect it all seems for naught because the issues raised from the confrontation are never addressed again.

There’s no denying that Never Let Me Go is a movie with promise, and there’s no doubt that something will pique your interest about it. Sally Hawkins, with about fifteen minutes of screen time, carves a multifaceted character that I kept hoping would reappear, the chemistry among the lead trio is splendid even if I’m not altogether convinced of the Carey/Andrew dynamic...but potential doesn’t make a good film. Technically superb, but maddeningly hollow (like another much feted 2010 entry) Never Let Me Go would have benefited from a more innovative script.

C+ (B-?)