Sophie's Choice, Catfish, Becoming Jane

#1 - SOPHIE'S CHOICE

Stars - Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Peter MacNicol

Director - Alan J. Pakula

Memorable Quote - "Don't you see? We are dying."

Review - Sadly, this is going to be a review of the particular DVD that I watched rather then the film itself. Why? Because, on a film with large swathes of dialogue in Polish and German, there were no subtitles available at all. Since I do not speak either of those languages, it became quite hard to follow and almost boring at times, though I did of course manage to get the general gist of what was going on. What I understood, I liked: the "present day" scenes reminded me of Cabaret's gleeful but dangerous love triangle, and you cannot help but feel a certain empathy for Stingo (although that is a fairly ridiculous name). Streep is a fantastic actress throughout, really becoming the role, and that is why this film is so respected; I would, however, highly recommend checking before watching that your copy holds those precious translations that you will most certainly need. 3/5

#2 - CATFISH

Stars - Ariel Schulman, Yaniv Schulman

Director - Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

Memorable Quote - "There are those people who are catfish in life."

Review - Catfish is one of those movies that lead you to question your own moral stance on their content. For example, since the woman they unveiled as a sad, lonely creature inventing multiple identities also happened to lead one of the protagonists on and potentially break his heart, is it alright for them to exploit her in their film? Does that even matter if the film is, as many postulate, a hoax? Most of the interest in Catfish seems to centre around these two questions, but I'll say this for it: it keeps you on the edge of your seat, waiting for it to develop into some kind of terrifying teen thriller, and you can feel palpable tension as the three filmmakers arrive to meet 'Megan' for the first time. The fact that it does not develop into that thriller could be a little disappointing, but the feeling is soon replaced by the uncomfortable pity for a woman who lives her life through internet personas. Real or not real? Right or not right? Maybe those questions are too hard for a mere film reviewer to answer, so I'll finish with simply a rating. 3/5

#3 - BECOMING JANE

Stars - Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Laurence Fox, Julie Walters, James Cromwell, Maggie Smith 

Director - Julian Jarrold

Memorable Quote - 'What value will there ever be in life, if we are not together?'

Review - I actually had to check my archives multiple times in disbelief that I have not yet reviewed this movie; I've seen it enough times - I caught it at the cinema when it first came out and since then I never miss a chance to catch James McAvoy in that green velvet jacket. So many of the nuances of the film owe everything to Austen's works, in part out of necessity since not an awful lot is really known about her life; but those nuances are captured perfectly, and make the film a delight to any fan of Austen or of period drama in general. McAvoy smoulders as the arrogant gentleman who turns out to be a Mr Darcy type after all, while Hathaway's performance as the strong-spirited Jane is beautiful. Fox meanwhile provides the perfect unwanted fiance (though to be perfectly honest I don't see why she couldn't just marry him and live in happiness with a husband she could at least regard a great friend). The cast list is flawless all the way down, the dialogue sparkles, the costumes and locations inspire. All in all one of the best period dramas out there. 5/5

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Theatre Special: The Recruiting Officer

THE RECRUITING OFFICER - DONMAR WAREHOUSE

Stars - Tobias Menzies, Mackenzie Crook, Mark Gatiss, Rachael Stirling, Nicholas Burns, Nancy Carroll

Director - Josie Rourke

Memorable Quote - "Unless we could make ourselves some pleasure amidst the pain, no mortal man would be able to bear it."

Review - This showing of George Farquhar's excellent play ends tomorrow (14th April 2012) so I would suggest you've probably run out of time to go see it - and if you have not seen it, you have missed out. A thoroughly entertaining piece to start with, great use is made of the Donmar's layout in intricate choreography between each scene, placing the players around the stage, in the wings, and on small balconies on the second level. A group of five musicians accompany the play throughout with rousing choruses of 'Over the Hills and Far Away' along with other songs to capture the mood of particular scenes, each of them also taking turns to play all of the smaller parts in various different costumes and accents.

Mackenzie Crook, though playing a relatively small part for his star status, manages to conquer the stage completely during his scenes. As the gypsy fortune-teller he is hilarious, pitching his expression and tone perfectly to get the most laughs out of each line. Similarly laugh-a-minute is Mark Gatiss, virtually unrecognisable in heavily powdered and rouged face and long wig. Playing the French-hating Francophile Captain Brazen, m'dear, he captures the audience from his first appearance, throwing his hat at a member of the front row (in our case, a customer who was rather rudely reading his programme rather than watching the performance - to the joy of everyone else). In the end though you cannot help but root for the central character, Captain Plume, in his efforts to win the lady he loves - Sylvia.

Though the whole is filled with laughs, tricks, and musical gaiety, the ending holds a subtle twist. The comedy conclusion plays out as expected: the right men marry the right women, any misdemeanours are forgiven and forgotten, and the recruiting officers manage to recruit enough men to satisfy their superiors. All is well - but the band's final performance of 'Over the Hills and Far Away' sees one put down their instruments and march off to war after each verse. Finally only one remains, a lone voice now sounding very unsure of himself, and at last he too departs - a sloppy salute, a march that has no drum to beat time for it, and a sob at leaving home remind us that the subject of the play is the recruitment of untrained men to a life of glory that does not in actuality await them. The inherent tragedy of the situation then comes back to us: these men will die in battle or drown, or else come back disfigured or so forth - and the merriment they cause in the port is their only respite from a life of danger.

Laughter, sadness, good acting, good music, and audience interaction - the ingredients of a great play. From me, a resounding 5/5.