There's nothing dark lurking in these shadows

Tim Burtons latest directing project “Dark Shadows” (2012) seems to have failed to win over viewers. This is due to two reasons: firstly, people seem to be getting tired of seeing Johnny Depp in Tim Burton films and secondly, avid viewers of the television series from the 1970s that the film is based on, are disappointed in Burtons’ lighthearted take on the supposedly dark tale. Nevertheless with a star studded cast and Burton being in his cinematographic comfort zone surely the film can’t all be that bad?

So here’s the basic plot: Johnny Depp plays Baranabas Collins, the son of a wealthy family who move from England to America to make their fortune. The Collins family set up a small fishing village called Collinsport in Maine where they also build the family home, Collinwood. Barnabas initiates a relationship with the enchanting maid Angelique (Eva Green) who unfortunately turns out to be a witch.  Baranabas falls in love with another woman, Josette. Angelique, in a jealous rage, puts a curse on the Collins family that turns Baranabas into a vampire, imprisons him in a coffin and forces him to live with losing his true love, Josette, for all eternity. A century passes, it's 1972, the Collins family has lost their power in Collinsport and Angelique is now running the town. 

There are some strange characters now residing in Collinswood: Michelle Pfeiffer plays Elizabeth Collins Stoddard who is having trouble maintaining her grip on the family, Chloë Mortez plays her daughter Carolyn Stoddard, and Helena Boham Carter plays the resident psychiatrist Dr. Julia Hoffman.  There are some other characters, but all in all the family is dysfunctional and ‘quirky’. Meanwhile some construction workers accidently stumble on Baranabas’ coffin and free him. On his return to Collinwood, Barnabas is on a mission to return the Collin’s family business to its former glory whilst trying to bring down Angelique. Depp, Pfeiffer, Green and Boham-Carter do a fantastic job playing their assigned characters, but I wouldn’t have expected anything different, and Chloë Mortez does a questionable portrayal of a 1970s teenager who seems to be constantly stoned without smoking anything.  Yet it is clear why Burton choose these high profile actors, as without them the film would have probably flopped completely.

The plot is weak, in no way ‘dark’, and falls down some obvious pitfalls that have led the film to receive only two or three stars on review sites. The narrative does, sort of, start off bleak and mysterious like the television series; there’s tragedy, death, murder, black magic and the viewer feels Baranabas’ pain as his world crumbles around him. However once the story moves into 1972, the serious tone projected in the television series is forgotten and the film becomes lighthearted with the viewer being subjected to hearing script lines that are silly and moronic, written by John August and Seth Grahame-Smith.  

The change to the light hearted tone could be due to Grahame-Smith not wanting “Dark Shadows” to compete with the other ridiculous vampire film released this year, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”. Safe to say the witty lines, mainly used in the trailer, are spread thinly over the course of the film.  Another pitfall is the use of the very obvious choice of 1970s tracks in the soundtrack mixed with a score composed by the Grammy Award winning, Danny Elfman, who took inspiration from the original television score, and 1970s jukebox classics. The outcome is an omnipresent cheesy mash-up that contradicts the dark vampire tale of blood thirsty love and revenge. The songs chosen are songs that are too obvious and even an appearance from Alice Cooper doesn’t seem to add any vibes to the film, apart from begging the question: when will this film end?

Nevertheless, the main reason “Dark Shadows” fails to make any impressions is because it is not memorable. Overall, it is a boring film and followers of Tim Burton’s work will not see anything new. I myself, am usually a fan of Tim Burton’s directing exploits but even for Burton standards “Dark Shadows”, I’m sorry to say, fails to deliver. So, in the words spoken by Johnny Depp in the film: “I’m terribly sorry, you cannot imagine how thirsty I am”, well, I’m thirsty for Tim Burton to sink his teeth into something fresh that will astonish me. However with the announcement of a production of “Beetlejuice 2” on the cards, it seems Burton is going back to his roots and proves that he is not ready to leave his comfort zone, just yet. 

Julie Delpy's “2 days in New York” (2012)

Julie Delpy’s quirky and incredibly French alter ego, Marion, invites an audience to New York City to spend another two hectic days with her and her wacky relatives in her new film “2 Days in New York” (2012). This film is the sequel to “2 Days in Paris” (2007) starring Julie Delpy and Adam Goldberg.  Julie Delpy not only stars in both films but also directed and wrote the scripts; and it is safe to say that Delpy does not write your average rom-com. After experiencing “2 Days in Paris” I knew that the two-day madness in New York I was going to witness after pressing that play button, was going to be full of witty lines, French banter and awkward real life scenarios.

Even if you haven’t seen the prequel, the plot of “2 days in New York” is fairly easy to follow. The audience is invited into Marion’s apartment in New York where she is now living with her son from ex-boyfriend Jack, Lulu, her new boyfriend, Mingus (played by Chris Rock), and his daughter from a previous marriage, Willow. Into this full house, Marion invites her father and sister over from Paris to spend a few days together.  

The screws begin to loosen as soon as Marion’s father lands in New York and he gets detained for four hours after trying to smuggle in thirty pounds of sausage. In addition, Marion’s sister Rose, is now dating Marion’s ex-boyfriend Manu, and has brought him on this holiday without thinking of the consequences. Marion describes Rose to Mingus as an ‘ex-nympho,’ and Mingus is subjected to Rose’s charms as she struts around the house naked within seconds of meeting him.  Obviously with an unconventional family like this, problems soon arise, and the tension between Marion and Mingus grows as he becomes more frustrated with the frankness of Marion’s family. The film contains: open conversations about sex, an art show about fading relationships, Marion selling her soul and a few Thai massages to try and relax everyone.

Delpy is a great storyteller, mainly because she focuses on two themes that the audience can relate to: love and family relationships.  In “2 Days in Paris” the viewer meets her parents for the first time and Marion speaks about the success of her two-year relationship with Jack but she has problems committing. Jack describes Marion in Paris like a hamster, 'collecting men like nuts'. 

In “2 days in New York” the audience can see the development of Marion’s character, who is now thirty-eight, and in a more mature relationship with Mingus, possibly inspired by her parents’ many years of marriage. In New York the audience sees more of a glimpse of the troubles of family life, as Marion is dealing with the death of her mother.  Moreover, anyone who has grown up in an international family with different languages and cultures will relate to the perfect, although sometimes clichéd, representations that Delpy has written in.  

Delpy’s films work because they run at the pace of life and awkward conversations take place over the most mundane tasks, like making a cup of coffee or picking up breakfast.  Julie Delpy proves that a film does not always need to contain epic, action sequences with special effects or scary dragons as she states, that sometimes, “life is way harder to handle than any dragon.” “2 Days in New York” definitely confirms this statement, and is just as action packed with doses of explosive reality as any Hollywood action movie. 

*note: I originally wrote this article for an online publication but as it has been taken down there I decided to post here, so apologies if you have already read it! 

Still (only) a Young Adult

LETS GET BACK TO THIS BLOGGING BUSINESS.

“You don’t know shit about being an adult.”

- Diablo Cody

But who ever fully learns how to be an adult?

Being in the same position as thousands of other graduates in this current job climate definitely takes its toll. Especially being on the receiving end of not-so-constructive, bordering on ridiculous, criticism such as: dressed too casual, dressed too smart, looked too serious, and the personal favorite, ‘too ambitious.' Thus my self worth has taking a brutal bashing over these past months. Thankfully, cinema offers an escape and most of the films I raved about last month have hit the big screens.  YES! However I haven't had the chance to see any of them yet (dammit).

One person that I hadn’t heard from recently was Diablo Cody, the writer of the Oscar winning “Juno” in 2010. I thought; ‘she writes films about young teen/ adolescent women who are having massive life issues in quirky and funny ways- why not watch some of her stuff to lift me out of my slump. So I decided to watch Cody’s film “Young Adult” (2011), directed by Jason Reitman – and it really did make me feel so much better, lift my mood and make me think: ‘thank god my life isn’t like Charlize Theron’s character.'

“Young Adult” (2011) is about Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron), a woman in her late 30s and in the mist of a mid life crisis. She is recently divorced and unable to make it as a famous writer. She is currently a ghostwriter for a series of Young Adult fiction, a job which she has held for a couple of years. At the beginning, Mavis appears to be a person who, although complains a lot, is living the life that she has always wanted. She is living in the big city- in this case Minneapolis, which compared to the little town Mavis comes from, is the big city; she has no attachments like a 9-5 job, or a husband; and a beautiful modern apartment.

Being a ghostwriter for a series of Young Adult literature, Mavis is used to writing in a particular style that is marketed for ages between twelve and eighteen. This particular readership group can usually relate to the protagonist within YA (Young Adult) novels, who also tends to be within this age bracket. The genre focuses on a range of themes such as identity, sexuality, drug and substance abuse, bullying, and family troubles. Essentially they are coming of age stories, about youth rebellion and finding 'ones self', the transition from troubled teenager to affluent adult.  Cody's “Young Adult” film embodies all those themes but the protagonist is not within the above age bracket, she doesn't go through any real transition at all, and there are definitely no life lessons learnt throughout the film.

Mavis doesn’t fully realize until the end of the film that she might be unhappy and a bit mentally unstable.  Her daily routine comprises of her waking up, writing a couple of lines or staring at a blank page, playing the WII, and eating her way through a nutritious array of ready meals. Her life is thrust back into gear as she receives a picture of her ex-high school boyfriend, Buddy Slades, newborn baby, and she decides to pack her bags and head back home to her old small town of Mercurary, Minnesota, to try and win Buddy back, despite the fact that he has just become a father and is happily married.

There are several clues that indicate that Mavis may not be emotionally stable- okay, okay so throughout the whole film the viewer is waiting for Mavis to have her mental breakdown. It’s a good breakdown- in the sense that it provides good entertainment value: its awkward, upsetting, yet funny and just plain embarrassing, which brings me back to my point- thank God my life is better than Charlize Therons character.

Marvis is stuck in the past, unable to see beyond the bounds of her high school years when she was in her prime. She cannot understand why her popularity is wearing thin. Her inability to move forward is highlighted in several ways: she constantly replays the same song that Buddy gave to her on a mix tape years before, ‘the concept’ by Teenage Fanclub, she listens in to teenagers giving advice about relationships, she wears hello kitty t-shirts, ignores all of the responsibilities an adult should have and finally whats the strongest clue that she is mentally instable? She persistently watches episodes of the Kardashians.

If the viewer is looking for a film with some form of conclusion, a finale, a happy-ending then “Young Adult” (2011) is…not the film. The whole film is stuck in a time zone and many/ almost all of the characters don’t make any progress in their lives. As per usual Charlize Theron creates a great character that the viewer will love to hate. The film delivers funny witty lines written by Cody and in conclusion is watchable but probably not the most memorable film you will watch in your life. 

*note: since writing this entry I'm officially out of the rat race to find a permanent job. So many people to thank! Thus my woes may officially be over...for now anyway.