Friday Five: 'World' Films on My Sofa

Recently one of the television channels here has been showing a series of 'World Movies'. While we cannot explore the world in person, we can make do with viewing it through a screen and visiting destinations in our imaginations instead of aeroplanes. 

5 'World' Films I have seen recently:

1. 127 Hours (2011, UK/ USA) - the premise is very simple; a young man goes off hiking by himself in Utah and falls into a canyon, trapping his arm. With no one else around, he must attempt to free himself, or die there of starvation and exposure. As with many of these boys-own adventures, the central character seems arrogant and unlikable, although there is a suggestion that he learns humility through his ordeal. James Franco plays Aron Ralson (on whose auto-biography the film is based) with decreasing levels of bombast as the film progresses. Of course, having to spend so much time in one person's company could be challenging, but director and co-writer, Danny Boyle (co-written with Simon Beaufoy), include several flashbacks and hallucinogenic montages to maintain interest. And the soundtrack (original music by A.R. Rahman) is great. Described by Boyle as 'an action movie about a guy who can't move', the film was nominated for six Academy Awards including best picture, and best actor for Franco.
2. Black Sea (2015, UK/ Russia/ USA) - Once again the plot is fairly straight-forward. 'In order to make good with his former employers, a submarine captain (played by Jude Law) takes a job with a shadowy backer to search the depths of the Black Sea for a submarine rumoured to be loaded with gold.' Half of the crew are Russian and divisions soon open up between 'us' and 'them'. It contains all the cliches one would expect with a bunch of testosterone-fuelled men trapped in a hostile environment, exploration sequences of deep sea diving and salvage retrieval, and the standard disaster tropes of scuttled and sinking submarines. Jude Law relishes his role as captain-not-always-in-charge, and there are some solid performances from the rest of the cast (including Michael Smiley, Ben Mendelsohn, Tobias Menzies, David Threlfall and   Bobby Schofield). Director Kevin MacDonald (of The Last King of Scotland and State of Play fame) ratchets up the tension and raises the film from the depths to become a treatise on the nature of greed and obsession. 
3. Hanna (2011, USA/ UK/ Germany) - The fantastic cast of this action drama makes it more than just another teen-takes-on-the-world picture. A sixteen-year-old girl (-played by Saoirse Ronan) is raised by her father (Eric Bana) to be the perfect assassin (cue scenes of physical prowess and manual dexterity in snowy surroundings). She is then dispatched on a mission across Europe, tracked by a ruthless intelligence agent (Cate Blanchett) and her henchmen and -women (Tom Hollander; Jessica Barden; Michelle Docherty; Olivia Williams; Jason Flemyng). The stock scenes of interrogation; chase in a container park; spookiness of a disused theme park and a house in the woods are all given fresh direction by Joe Wright. Theme of the grimmer versions of fairytales are explored as children emerge into adulthood, and the score by The Chemical Brothers adds panache. Well-paced with energy and reflection moments; it's like a Bourne film but with a kid.

4. The Lunchbox (2013, India/ France/ Germany/ USA/ Canada) - This is a gentle tale and a cinematic window to a way of life in India. Ila (Nimrat Kaur as seen in Homeland and Wayward Pines) is an unhappy housewife who makes the lunches for her husband and packs them into his tiffin carrier, to be delivered by the Dabbawalas (lunchbox service) of Mumbai. A mix-up leads to the lunch being inadvertently delivered to Saajan Fernandes, a lonely widower close to retirement (Irrfan Khan, probably most recognised to Western audiences as the police inspector in Slumdog Millionaire). The two communicate through notes in the lunchbox and they open up to new possibilities beyond their narrow lives. Director Ritesh Batra (The Sense of an Ending) uses precisely-framed shots and a rich soundscape to communicate claustrophobia and loneliness in one of the busiest cities in the world. It is an outstandingly intimate portrayal of two people without physical indulgence.  
5. L'Odyssée (2016, France/ Belgium) - Jacques-Yves Costeau changed the way we see the world, especially the parts that are underwater, literally by co-developing the aqua-lung. Jérome Salle co-wrote the screenplay and directs with a vivid colour palette, keen to show us the wonders of marine life and the importance of protecting it. The narrative is a little glib and basic (he also wrote The Tourist and it's better than that, for what it's worth), as we follow the journey (or, in fact, odyssey) of the great explorer, innovator, scientist, photographer, filmmaker and researcher (played by Lambert Wilson: The Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions; The Hollow Crown) who initially seeks to conquer but later learns to conserve. The stunning scenery is interspersed with character drama between father and son - Philippe Cousteau played by Pierre Niney - and husband and wife - Simone Cousteau played by Audrey Tautou. It's rather lush and incredibly French; comme il faut.