Review : 'The Royal Tenenbaums' (2001)

I saw this at my local cinema when it was released and it instantly became a favourite of mine. I wasn't sure of what to expect when I viewed it, the trailer painted it as more of a screwball comedy than it actually is. As a new teenage cinephile (the worst kind) I was blown away by Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums. Its look, its story and its retro soundtrack as well as the slightly styalised performances from the awesome cast all served to put the film instantly in to my top 10 list where it has remained now for almost a decade.

Dry as dust and at once hilarious and heart-rending, The Royal Tenenbaums succeeds as the perfect example of a comedy-drama. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson have never acted better as troubled former friends, both now lost in grief/addiction.

I have a relatively masculine taste in cinema but I'm still just a girl so I'm a sucker for a happy ending. The film has quite a bleak tone and perhaps unrealistically everything ends happily, but I believe it completely and wouldn't have it any other way. Sometimes things do end well and these characters are so tortured in the cases of the Tenenbaum children and so obnoxious in the case of their father, Royal (played to perfection by Gene Hackman) that they deserve a pleasant resolution.

Favourite scenes include Royal and Chas' face-off in a toy cupboard, Royal being removed from his 'death bed' and the incredibly moving scene where Margot and Richie admit their feelings to 2 of the most stunning songs ever written.

I love Wes Anderson's work but this is far and away my favourite of his films. The closest he's come to bettering The Royal Tenenbaums in my opinion is The Darjeeling Limited (which shares not only tone but also much of the cast...plus Adrian Brody, which always makes things awesome), another touching, unlikely family story.

I've met a lot of people who can't understand why I love The Royal Tenenbaums quite so much, or at all in some cases. And I'm hard pressed to explain exactly why either...maybe it's just a film I saw at the right age in the right frame of mind. Or maybe it's a masterpiece. Whatever the reason, it almost makes me forgive Owen Wilson for You, Me and Dupree. If You, Me and Dupree was a person, I'd knee him square in the nuts.

Review : 'Never Let Me Go' (2010)

When I saw the posters for Never Let Me Go I made a vom-face, expecting a Notebook-style schmultz-fest, wasting the talents of Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan...and starring Keira Knightley (I know, Knightley-bashing, how original). I decided to view it due to it being recommended by someone who said the acting was "excellent", and I love Mulligan and Garfield.


The Notebook this ain't.


Never Let Me Go is a dystopian human tale (based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro - yes, I did have to Google who wrote it) of cloned humans, born only to donate organs once they reach adulthood. In the alternative world presented to us in the film, humans are expected to live past 100 and cancer is something that is no longer an issue. This is at the cost of the clones, who are human in all but their purpose in life and who know they will die after their first couple of donations, maybe making it as far as 4 donations. 


The love story (our 3 leads are in a triangle of sorts...Wiki it if you want to know more, I never fill reviews with plot, I don;t have the patience to type it all out coz I'm so selfish) set against the backdrop of the strangely-sci-fi backdrop in not-too-long-ago-Britain makes for fascinating, heart-breaking viewing. The film deals with both death and love in a way that is completely believable. Director (Googles....) Mark Romanek never for a minute makes you doubt the unlikely premise and the film's muted colours and isolated feel add to the bleakness that is quietly there throughout (not so quietly there as the film nears its climax). 

I'm wary of calling Never Let Me Go depressing. Sad, yes, but not depressing. The characters are not depressed, they've known their fate since childhood and barely resist it. This was one of my only problems with the film (excuse the spoilers) - Kathy, Ruth and Tommy never make an attempt to escape (perhaps they physically can't, I dunno, maybe I didn't watch closely enough, might have been texting or something). As I've said already, these are clones of human beings with human emotions and I can't quite get past the fact that survival instinct didn't kick in. It added to the bleakness that there really is no way out for these guys, that they are destined to grow weaker as more of their organs are taken until they die long before they're 30.


The performances were what made me see the film and they're flawless. I was kind of looking forward to a good old Knightley slag-off, but her vaguely drama-queen character (which I think was purposeful) contrasted well with slighly-oddball Garfield and calm, collected Mulligan. Andrew Garfield's final breakdown was pretty heart-breaking and I shed some Sooz-tears, maybe even had to do a little nose wipe. 


I also have to give a big thumbs up to the score. Eerily low-key, sparingly-used and oddly hopeful, it was pretty perfect. The song the film takes its title from was also moving when used. 

I've seen a few parallels being drawn between Never Let Me Go and The Island, but this is a far superior film and to be honest the films were vastly different. I see where the similarities can be seen but this is not a thriller, we must accept what is going to happen to Tommy, Kathy and Ruth just as they do in order to 'enjoy' it. 

So...Never Let Me Go is a touching, non-mawkish film which although not a walk in the park is far easier to watch than The Notebook. Did I mention I hate The Notebook?