Orphan Black (Season One)

Orphan Black (2013).

cool poster, but doesn't look like the actress?

In the interest of celebrating the premier of season two of Orphan Black, I thought I would do a review on the first season of this show!

"Sarah Manning, a British orphan now living in America, witnesses the suicide of a woman named Beth, who looks exactly like her. Assuming Beth's identity brings Sarah a new apartment, a nice boyfriend, and trouble that includes a deadly conspiracy."

Sarah Manning, queen of perfect faces

Okay, let's get to it, shall we? I fucking love this programme. Like, I want to climb to the top of the Empire State Building, rip off all my clothes and declare my undying love for this show at the top of my lungs (preferably holding Tatiana Maslany in my arms and swatting away the planes that try and bring me down).
The premise of this show I'm going to leave unspoiled because watching it all unfold is pretty satisfying, even though I did know a lot about the show before watching it, objectively, I think it would have been pretty awesome if I hadn't known what happens at the end of the first episode, so I will not rob you guys of that experience. Although you'll probably guess it within the first half of the episode/after watching a trailer for the show what the, for a lack of better words, "twist" is. I put "twist" in inverted commas not because I'm being sarcastic and trying to diminish the impact of the reveal, but because it's not something that's thrown onto the audience with a "HAHA, betcha didn't see that coming!" and is more slowly teased out and allows the audience to semi figure it out themselves before confirming suspicions. I will simply say that it allows actress Tatiana Maslany to assume a fair few different characters, and I cannot tell you the number of times I've forgotten that it's one actress that is playing all these very different characters. I've watched interviews with Tatiana Maslany and the rest of the cast and thought to myself, "wait, where are the other- oh wait." Each character is individual and unique, with different accents and speech patterns and mannerisms and ARGH SHE IS PHENOMENAL.

the editing is pretty damn fantastic as well.

Now, unlike Rookie Blue (a t.v show I reviewed on The Pop Culture Cynic), Orphan Black is all about the long run. In Rookie Blue, conflicts and story lines are introduced and resolved within the episode, whereas in Orphan Black, it's introduces (lots) of conflicts and (lots) of story lines (you've got the overarching one that's the "big picture" and you've got various sub-plots and then the sub-sub-plots), and they are examined slowly, allowing them to play out what feels like naturally. They're not rushed and they play out nicely and also go into the consequences of the reactions of the characters, which, in turn, allows for a chain-reaction of stories and of course these are carried over lots of episodes.

Sarah is a pretty well rounded character. There are points that I agree with her actions and there are times where I'm shaking my laptop going "NO?!" and wondering what the hell has gotten into her head - but at all times I am rooting for her. Within the first three seconds on screen she swears in front of a child and steals a dead womans bag - the audience know straight away what kind of character she is. But as the episode unfolds, she becomes a very sympathetic character very quickly, which means that she is simultaneously the awesome badass but also the (somewhat naive at times) vulnerable character that means we can grow attached and begin our journey into getting really invested in this show.

one soccer-mom to rule them all

I think that the character development is very well written as well. There were characters that were introduced that I didn't like to begin with, but as I got through a few more episodes, climbed up my ladder of character ranking. Like Alison Hendrix for example, an uptight suburban soccer-mom. When we are first introduced to her, I didn't warm to her very much at all, she seemed like not a lot of fun and was a very negative force on the story lines. But, as time went on and we got to know Alison better, she quickly became one of my favourite characters. She has some of the wittiest lines and most moving scenes of the show. Plus, she's totally nuts - what's not to love? A quick youtube search for the trailer of season one of Orphan Black will probably lead you to think that it's a really dark drama - and at points, it is! But there is a lot of humour in the show. Like I just said, Alison (eventually) becomes one of the funnier characters, but I think that most of the comedy is derived from three main points - Sarah's foster brother Felix / scenes featuring Cosima Niehaus, the stoner/hippie scientist /  scenes where Sarah interacts with any of her look-a-likes, but most specifically Alison.

you have so many different hairstyles in a ten episode season

Let's start with Felix, shall we? No? Well fuck you, it's my blog.
Like I just said, Felix is Sarah's foster brother and acts as her main confidant. He gets all the juicy details and everything that Sarah thinks about and her feelings and such and acts as the middleman between Sarah and the audience - the audience gets the information we need to understand what's going on through him without it feeling like information is just being fed to us point blank. He also acts as the voice of reason, calling Sarah out on her crazy plans. But he's much more than just a vessel through which we receive essential info, he's very much a character in his own right. Sassy, snarky and not willing to take anyone's bullshit, he's a very loveable character who infuses much needed comedic relief when the show gets a bit too heavy. Starts off as the standard sidekick-type, but does eventually come into his own.

Next up Cosima.

light of my life

Cosima is one of my favourite characters. She is quirky and funny and also brings a lightness to the show when it gets a bit dark. But she is also a contributing factor to the darkness in the show - she deals with a lot of science-y type things and introduces the audience to some of the more sinister aspects that the programme wants the audience to consider instead of getting swept up solely with Sarah's storyline. But she is also a bit of a relaxing factor. Alison is crazy and Sarah has so much going on, it's a nice break to have a scene or two with a character who isn't running about like a headless chicken. I can't quite put my finger on what it is that draws me to Cosima, she's just ... really cool. I can't explain it, but that's it, she's just incredibly cool. She's the type of person I would really want to be friends with. But I think she might be a bit too smart to be my buddy. No offence friends of mine, you're just the right level of dumb for me.
She also made me want to get a nose piercing and dreadlocks, but both of those would have been a dreadful, dreadful decision. But nonetheless, all I want in life is to be her. I've gone off on a tangent. Cosima, similarly to Sarah, has her moments where I'm pressing my face against the screen shouting "What are you doing?!" in reference to her actions because they are dumb. Cosima, you are smart, but you can make some very dumb choices. But that's half the fun I guess - having flawed characters! If every character made the right decision all the time and everything went to plan and no-one fucked up, then it was be awfully boring. I wouldn't care. There would be no tension whatsoever because I know that everything is going to be okay. But that's not the case with Orphan Black. It's not afraid to hurt its characters. I mean really torture its characters. And thus tension is introduced. If something bad happens, I don't automatically know they're going to be okay, because they might not be.

I don't want to harp on too long about the characters of the show though, they are characters you will discover when you watch the programme, because trust me, you're going to watch it. I may have to climb through your computer screen and tape your eyes open a la Clockwork Orange, but damn it you will watch it and love it.

I think that the first episode is solid, but I wouldn't say that it hooks you right in. I think that, like many television series, that in the first episode the show is still finding its feet, but it finds itself very quickly and is standing tall by the end of the second episode, ready to go full steam ahead from the third episode onwards.

Tatiana Maslany is definitely the hidden gem that has broken out in this programme. Without her, it would be an average thriller t.v show, but she brings it to another level that is just an absolute joy to watch. I'm glad that I've not seen her in something prior to watching Orphan Black because I sometimes feel that recognising an actor can detract from the viewing experience because I'm too busy thinking about where else I've seen them - but at the same time, I'm absolutely amazed I've not seen her before. But worry not dear readers, her talents have not gone unnoticed. She has been launched into award nominations with big names like Clare Danes and Juliaana Margulies - and beat them. She has triumphed with a slew of awards under her belt and it's clear why.

you go girl.

I have rambled nonsensically enough at you, so final words: Go. Watch. Orphan. Black.

There's only ten episodes in the first season, you can power through that quickly enough and join me watching season two in no time at all!

I apologise as well, my upload schedule has been very erratic, but I'll figure something out non-existent readers - until next time!

The Next Three Days (Contains Spoilers)

The Next Three Days (2010).

uh dude, there's ... something on your head?

WARNING, SPOILERS BELOW.

"Out of the blue, businesswoman Lara is arrested and convicted of murder, her teacher husband John the only one who believes her innocence. When appeals are exhausted, Lara becomes suicidal, and as their son is suffering, John decides to break her out."

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this film. There were some parts that I guess I liked and there were some parts that I really, really did not like. Some of the bigger things that I really didn't like is a pretty big spoiler, so in the interest of being spoiler-free, I've put up a spoiler warning above.

I watched this film because I was home at the weekend visiting my old and ageing parents and this is the kind of film that they like to watch. It had been recorded onto the planner, so with a stomach full of Chinese food, I settled into the couch to let the standard thriller-y-ness wash over me. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this is an American remake of a 2008 French film called 'Anything For Her', which I will probably watch at some point.

So now we have Russell Crowe and Elisabeth Banks, being all married and lovey-dovey and such. After a dinner with John's (Crowe) brother, the couple return back to their (not so) humble abode, and proceed with the lovemaking - they needed to shove a quick sex session in before the police break in the next morning and arrest Lara (Banks) as she holds her jacket with the blood stain of her murdered boss! Proceed montage of legal-things. This is a movie of montages. Legal montage/visiting Lara in prison montage/preparing to break Lara out of prison montage. Oh, yeah, because that's the basis of the plot apparently - having had the legal systems fail him, John decides that he has to take matters into his own hands and break Lara out of prison (without asking her about it or running stuff by her or anything okay cool).  

also Liam Neeson turns up?

So yeah, having exhausted the various pleas and paperwork he can file to have his wife, who swears didn't kill her boss, released from prison, the final verdict is delivered. Sentenced to life, she has been found guilty. Feeling at a loss, he does some research (in the form of a montage, who would have guessed) and met up author Damon Pennington (Neeson), who successfully escaped from prison. Damon then gives out a bunch of statistics and advice to help John achieve his goal. I realise at this point I've simply been narrating what happens in the film, but the thing is, is that this film is so ridiculous that it's difficult for me not to just explain everything that happens and just go, "right, RIGHT?!" 

But that's not good reviewing. Fine. I'll review and be critical, is that what you want?! What do you think this is, a film review blog?! ... Point taken. 

also Olivia Wilde is in this? what?

Olivia Wildes character is bewildering to say the least. She's in about three scenes, each lasting about a minute each and she's only in the film to act as a temptation for John (woah, hot lady alert showing interest, is John gonna cheat on his wife with her?!) and to add to the tension at the end of the film when John leaves his son in her care and when he comes back to pick him up (mid break-out), he's not where he thought he would be - DUN DUN DUN.

My main kind of weirdness with this film though is when Lara gets arrested. It's highly implied that she didn't commit the murder - it's the whole, victim is wrongly accused for crime so that's why the audience is rooting for her husband to succeed in breaking her out! Then about halfway through the film, in a conversation with John, Lara says, "You didn't even ask if I did it." and then John is all, "Because I know you didn't do it." to which Lara is like, "Well then, you'd be wrong." then leaves, all dramatic like. So, she just confessed to the murder. Now I'm no longer rooting for the escape to go well. There's been barely any screen time with Lara, so I've not exactly bonded with her as a character enough to look past this issue and still be all, yeah! break out of prison! No. All that's happened now is that I'm kind of rooting against/not bothered if they get caught because she's a murderer. She's in prison serving time for a murder she committed. But then, at the end, the detectives involved with the original investigation of the murder return to the scene (three years later) and the audience is then shown a scenario in which Lara did not commit the murder and this all hinges on a button being at the crime scene (the scenario in question alludes to the argument Lara presented in court). The detective looks around and sees that the button may have gone down a drain and lifts it up and looks. Nothing is there. He leaves. But then, once the drain falls back into place it loosens an object that was stuck in a crevice - the button! So wait, she didn't do it? That's grand and all and I guess Lara might have said she did it to spite John (because John is a rather peculiar character), but John doesn't know that. As far as John knows, he's knowingly breaking a murderer out of jail? Morals! Also, the button was still in that drain after three years? Three years worth of rain and snow and hail and stuff didn't wash it away? That drain was never lifted by anyone for any reason in those three years that would've meant the button would've been dislodged and washed away? 

also this happens?

 My other issue with the film is when John is breaking Lara out of prison, it's really weird. Like, when she sees him, she clearly only holds some kind of contempt for him. He then emotionally manipulates her into breaking out and then forces some kisses on her and it's all just kinda icky feeling. Also, when Damon Pennington is talking to John earlier in the film, he stresses that if they aren't out of the country within 35 minutes, they're screwed. And yet a whole hour after having broken out, they manage to escape. Also the scene in the gif above was so fuckin' weird. John decides to head straight for the airport, leaving their son behind because they don't have enough time, so Lara (who attempted suicide earlier in the film) straight up opens the door and tries to kill herself. John grabs her jacket just in time and then the car is spinning around and they nearly get crushed by a lorry and the car comes screeching to a halt. The two then sit outside on the ground for a minute. Then they hold hands for a bit. Then they get in the car without saying a word. Neither of them acknowledging anything that has happened thus far. John doesn't bring up the fact that she confessed to the murder (although he does previously tell her he doesn't believe her. (On what grounds though, the evidence is overwhelming AND SHE CONFESSED?)), Lara not saying anything about having to pick up their son, neither of them mentioning the fact she just tried to kill herself. Okay.

interesting wallpaper design

Also, the tone of this film is a little off-centred. I think the opening conversation is meant to be funny or something, I'm not sure. There was meant to be a serious scene where John gets mugged but I laughed (oops) but I think altogether the word to sum up the tone is grey. Just kinda grey. John also gets way too comfortable with the notion of killing people way too quickly. Exacting revenge on the men who mugged him, he manages to kill some people, burn down a house with people he knew were inside and dump a body. Then he beats up some people and I think shoots someone when he's breaking Lara out, I'm not entirely sure. 

To not completely shit over this film, it did have its good points too (sort of). The break out sequence was done quite nicely and I felt the tension that Paul Haggis was going for. I did get somewhat caught up in the dramatics of it all and found myself allowing the film to make it's various mistakes and turning a blind eye to gaping plot holes here and there. Also the scenes with the kid, Luke, were always pretty sweet and I did feel really sorry for him throughout the film - his mother goes to jail when he's very young (ends up getting bullied at school because of it), his father becomes distant and obsessed with this project of breaking Lara out to the point that he sells all their furniture, the house, everything in order to fund things like new passports/plane tickets/driving license etc, he ends up spending a lot of time at his grandparents house because his father can't seem to find the time to care for him and so on and so forth. 

I think there has to be specific conditions you have to be under to watch this film. I think it needs to be a saturday night after a very, very long week. I think you need to be filled to the brim with Chinese food (or takeaway food of your choosing) and I think you need to be half dozing whilst watching it. It's not a horrible film. It's mediocre, a quick google of the title will lead you to this conclusion. Again, much like 'Kill Your Darlings' it's pretty damn meh. 

Jumanji.

Woah, no post on a Tuesday?! You guys must have been an inconsolable wreck. Hush now, it's okay! I've merely decided to experiment a little with my upload days as Tuesday's weren't working out for me due to my current schedule. It's okay though, you'll still receive one post a week of my delicious reviewing! Speaking of which, will we get to that now? Inspired by Ben's most recent post on his blog The Pop Culture Cynic (a blog I write for too which you guys should totally check out cough cough click click), I have decided to dedicate this weeks post to one of my personal favourite films.

Jumanji (1995).

do you smell that? that's the scent of nostalgia.

When two kids find and play a magical board game, they release a man trapped for decades in it and a host of dangers that can only be stopped by finishing the game.

This movie came out the same year that I was born ('95, represent!), so I can't really remember how old I was when I first watched it. I'm going to find it difficult to talk about this film objectively because I just love it so damn much, but I'll try.

still gives me chills.

I remember talking to someone not that long about this film, I was absolutely flabbergasted that she hadn't watched it when she was a kid. She then when on to tell me that she had tried to watch it when she was younger but it was way too intense for her young little mind to handle. But that's what I loved! Everything that can go wrong in this film, goes wrong. There's giant killer spiders and monkeys and stampedes and weird 'day of the triffids'-esque plants and argh i love it.

not to mention this scary motherfucker.

Personally, I think this film is a perfect mix of everything. It sets up the characters back stories nicely so I actually become attached to them so when things start getting tense (which is pretty regular), I'm on the edge of my seat, beads of sweat dripping off my forehead. It mixes together a good formula of tense/funny and sweet. The children in this film are parentless, so throughout the course of the film, Robin Williams' character, Alan Parrish, and Bonnie Hunts character, Sarah Whittle, become parental figures to the children, which lends itself to quite a few sweet scenes. You know, when people aren't being turned into monkey-things and men aren't being hunted down ruthlessly at gun-point, it can actually be a kind of sweet film. Sort of. 

uhhh, yeah, okay. point taken.

Cute moments aside, let's get down to the nitty gritty, the action, the real meat of the film to get your teeth into - when they start playing the game. Let me tell you, to this day, when young Alan starts to get sucked into the game and the bats are attacking Sarah, my heart is hammering against my chest. Sure, the special effects are questionable at times, but try and show me someone who didn't lose their mind during that stampede scene and I will show you a liar. When I hear the dramatic music start and Alan pull the game out of the brick wall at the beginning of the film, urgh. Perfect. The music is absolutely on point throughout the entire film anyway.

I was thinking about the point that I initially became interested in film, because I have loved films for as long as I can remember and I remember with crystal clarity the feeling I got when I realised I would be able to study film. Like, for some reason I hadn't considered studying film for the longest time and then, with the chorus of a thousand angels and a blinding light, I had the epiphany - the epiphany that I could actually study film, as a real degree. I could study how to make films and write films and look at films critically and films. Anyway, I've gone off in a tangent, where was I? Ah, yes, the point where I became interested in film. I was able to trace back my interest in film to this movie. As soon as the gang are together (Alan, Sarah, Judy and Pete), that's when the film is at its high point. Everything is set up perfectly to get all those characters in the positions they need to be but as soon as they're all together, the film really hits its stride. 

you sneaky, genius, conniving bastard.

A quick google of this title will show you an abundance of below par reviews (I'm looking at you, metacritc, 39%, seriously?), but don't let them fool you, my opinion is clearly better. I would definitely recommend this film for all to watch - as a shameless nostalgia trip for those who watched it in their childhood like I did, as a way to catch up on a missed film-watching opportunity if you didn't get the chance to watch it, and as a general fun watch if it's a friday night and those plans that you were totally buzzing for fell through, because that's what this film is. It is fun. It's a great edge of your seat, wild ride and leaves you wanting to fist pump the air when the characters overcome the many, many, many obstacles that the board game creates. 

Right, I shall wrap it up there. Less of a review, more of a shameless nostalgia-fest wherein I was allowed to be self-indulgent. Proper reviews return next week. 

Hopefully I shall see you all then!

Kill Your Darlings.

Kill Your Darlings. (2013)

again with the two faces.

Oh boy. Where to start?

The film is quite the mess. 

"A murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs."

There's something a little off-beat about this beat generation film - ba-dun-dun-chh! Okay, terrible puns aside though, this was a very peculiar film to say the least. It felt like a very specific film, that director John Krokidas knew precisely what kind of film he wanted to make - and then failed entirely. I could see what he was aiming for, the troubled artists smoking endless arrays of cigarettes, inhaling and injecting any drugs they can get their hands on, franticly typing away at typewriters trying to churn out "something beautiful" whilst one of these soundtracks play in the background - upbeat jazz, soulful blues or weirdly out of place modern music. Want to know how it turned out? Exactly as it sounds, pretentious as fuck.

please just ... stop. talking. forever.

There are exactly 0.5 likeable characters in this film. I say 0.5 because Radcliffes character of Alan Ginsberg is probably the least detestable character - hell, he even has some moments where I wasn't actively rooting against him! But the rest of the characters are pretty damned unlikeable. Like DeHaan's portrayal of Lucien Carr. Every time he opened his mouth I wanted to roll my eyes and sigh and infinite sigh. Like, okay, I get that he is meant to be a great thinker and an unstoppable creative force and a deep soul of touching poetry and manic genius and oh my god can he speak one sentence that doesn't sound like he is reciting it from a random instagram picture with an "inspiring" hashtag.

The first half of the film came off like a mad scramble to get the characters to where they needed to be. All guns a-blazin', the characters were wafted in front of the audiences faces, giving us the briefest taste of who they were, before squeezing them into the boxes in which they would reside for the rest of the film, desperately trying to give off the illusion of development. Everything happens so quickly that it definitely felt rushed. It is eager to get started with the drug taking and rhythmic typing of typewriters and booze and sex; to begin pulling in and out of focus of distressed looking apartments with peeling wallpaper. Not that there is anything wrong with this look, it's just that it's everything we've already seen before. Also, a great tension of the film that could've turned out to be an interesting twist was given away in the first shot of the film. Sure, it works in some cases, a film shows its hand straight off the bat and the audience is left yearning to know how it all happened, but this film certainly didn't pull it off. The murder is treated as a distant after-thought, as the film dedicates itself to a display of male bravado and discovery of sexuality.

this is the pace of the start of the film

Style is definitely prioritised over substance. Which kind of pays off because,at the very least, it looks good. Despite the manic pacing of the first act of the film, there are numerous sequences that prove that it can demonstrate its ability to put together a nicely shot, nicely paced, nicely edited scene. Aesthetically, it is enjoyable, but for a feature film, that isn't enough. Fans of the film will be overwhelmed with the choice of pretty looking screen shots when they inevitably take to creating fan-posters, shipping-gifsets etc. and posting them on tumblr. 

The acting isn't awful. It was interesting to see Radcliffe post-Potter as I think this is the first film I've watched where is isn't the magical boy wizard and I think he (kind of) manages to hold his own. I didn't hate his character, so that's saying something, I guess. I'd seen DeHaan once before in the 2012 sci-fi thriller 'Chronicle' and I thought he wasn't bad. He seems to be appearing is a lot more films at an increasing rate, so I expect to see him more in the future, but in this film, I wasn't sold. I'm not sure if it's the fault of the direction and the script that DeHaan received in order to play his character or the way that DeHaan chose to play Lucien, but good lord, I really did not like his character in the slightest.

I don't really have much to say about this film. It's pretty solidly 'meh'.

you said it sista.

Look, I'm not going to actively advise you to avoid this film. It's watchable - for the most part. Stick it on in the background whilst you do something significantly more important, like clipping your toenails or possibly painting a self portrait. Just be sure to leave it on silent though, cause the pretentiousness does get a bit much at some points.

Blue is the Warmest Color.

Blue is the Warmest Color. (2013)

I watched 'Blue is the Warmest Color', a while ago. I wrote a quick review about it on a blog that I've now privatised. It was only a short review because I had paired it up with a few other films and I wanted to go into a bit more depth about it. I'll probably do the same with those other films too, but anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. It was two in the morning when I watched this film because I was having trouble sleeping and I'd wanted to watch it for a while. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this film is three hours long. So when it got to four in the morning with no signs of wrapping up, I paused the film and watched the remaining hour the next day. So yeah, moral of the story, if you're going to watch this film, make sure you've got the time!

"Adele's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself, finds herself."

Oh boy is this a slow burner. Like, painstakingly slow, my god. It's not particularly plot driven, it's much more about the characters and their lives and how their lives change and evolve over time. Mainly riding the bus and eating spaghetti.

that's 78% of the film right there.

Blue is the Warmest Color has been described as the film that took the Cannes Film Festival by storm. The film is the first to have the Palme d’Or awarded to both the director, Abdellatif Kechiche and lead actresses (Adele Exarchopoulos, whose character is of the same name - the girl eating the spaghetti - and Lea Seydoux who portrays the blue-haired Emma) making both actresses the only women (apart from director Jane Campion) to have ever won the prestigious award; and it's not difficult to see why. I read on various articles and heard in various interviews with the actresses only read the script once, the rest of the dialogue was improvised based on what they knew about the scene. Also, real life footage of Adele was used (like riding the bus and eating dinner and stuff, hence why the main characters name was changed from Clementine to Adele because people would call her by her real name in these clips).  Because of these very specific filming techniques, it did feel like I was watching real people rather than actresses acting. As a result of this, I was extremely invested in these characters lives. The film spans a huge period of time, so we as the audience get the chance to watch these characters grow - as individuals who are still finding themselves and as a couple as they try and find their feet.

There was a lot about this film that I was able to connect to on a personal level, and I would hope that everyone would be able to, regardless that this is a story about two girls falling in love it's ultimately a coming of age story, something that everyone can relate to. The dramatics of high-school - the struggle to maintain friendships with people who don't understand you; the want to grow out with the confines of those people and the high-school institution; the initial excitement when you meet someone new and different and interesting. Something that film did excellently was making me feel things for the characters, which is something I often feel a lot of films fail to do for me. I will watch a film and something will happen to the characters and I simply won't care. But in Blue is the Warmest Color, I cared. I wanted to stand up for her against her friends, I wanted to comfort her when everything goes wrong. Don't get me wrong, these characters aren't perfect, not by a long shot. These characters are extremely flawed, which creates another layer of human realism. Adele makes mistakes, as does Emma. As does every character in this film. The two leading characters involve themselves in arguments in which neither is right, but both are too stubborn to admit.

hahaha, our story is going to break your heart!

It also helps that it's actresses that i've never seen before, so that definitely helped me get involved in the story. If it were people like Keira Knightly and Amanda Seyfried, I would be highly aware that they were acting - not to insult their acting abilities, just that in this type of film, I would be very aware.

I feel like anyone who has already seen this film is waiting for me to mention the somewhat infamous sex scene, lasting a whopping seven minutes and is just as graphic as all the reviewers have lead you to believe. The scene lasting as long as it does is somewhat unnecessary, coming off more as 'straight guy's fantasy of two chicks having sex', and less the passion-filled climax (for a lack of better words) as it might have been intended.

desire to dye hair blue ... rising ... riiiiising

Another thing I wanted to mention was the fact that this film is an adaptation of a graphic novel by the same title. After I watched the film, I immediately went online an bought a copy of the graphic novel for myself (and it really didn't disappoint). The fidelity of the film is arguable, the bulk of the main structure is still in place, but to be honest, it's a pretty independent piece of art. The actresses breathe a different light to the characters and the overall tone of the film, I would say, differs greatly than that of the novel, written and drawn by Julie Maroh. There are quite a few events that take place in the novel that aren't featured in the film and I do wonder why they made that decision, because the novel is absolutely beautiful (I would highly, highly recommend reading it). But similarly, the film was equally, but differently, excellent. It did dishearten me greatly to read that the actresses had such a horrible time during filming - an article which i'll link to here (clickity click.) But despite their awful filming experience, it all paid off because what happened was that at the end of it all, they created a wonderful film. Not to talk it up too much, of course this film does have it's flaws that I will nitpick at. There are points that the dialogue seems unnatural, there's a scene towards the end of the film that feels totally out of place and it is perhaps a bit too long than is totally necessary. But saying that, for the most part, the dialogue feels real, the characters feel like real people and there are some scenes in particular that I thought were outstanding (especially the one in the garden with the cinema screen in the background - not spoilery, just so that those who have seen it know which one i'm talking about).

Would recommend for those with a lot of patience, enjoy character development, are a sucker for sexy french accents and want their hearts ripped out!

Until next week, non-existent readers!

Well hello there.

As you may have gathered from the title, this is yet another film review blog written by a film student that'll get swept up amongst the various other thousands of film reviewers that are probably more worthy of your time.
Let's get introductions out the way -


Who are you?
My name is Rhona, I am a second year film student at university and I will be your host.

seen above, me! kinda.

I've opted to use a drawing someone did as me to represent myself because all real life pictures of me are either one (or a combination) of the following:

1. I'm pulling a stupid face.
2. I'm drunk.
3. I still had long hair and braces.

Trust me, no-one wants to see any of those.

Why did you make this blog?

A combination of a few things (I like lists, does that show?).

1. I am a film student (as previously mentioned), therefore I watch a lot of films and subsequently have a lot of opinions on them. 
2. I'm an aspiring writer - although I want to focus on fiction, this blog will encourage me to write more, which is always handy.
3. This blog will also allow me to hone my skills in looking and writing about films in a critical manner (gosh, doesn't that sound like a barrel of laughs?) so hopefully my essays for university won't be quite as shitty.
4. I had a blog prior to this but it was all jumbled up with posts about different things, like my life, my time at university, music reviews etc. and I wanted something that was solely film oriented. 

I disagree with all of your opinions.

Something which you are entitled to, just bear in mind that everything I write will be a product of my own opinion. If you feel particularly strongly about anything that I've written (in the future, seeing as I've not written an actual review yet), go blog about it.

So do you have like a schedule or some specific films you're going to talk about?

I'll aim to post once a week, but seeing at this is still on its babylegs, i'll see what days and stuff feel right to post on. As far as content goes, it's just whatever film I've recently watched or feel like talking about. Deal with it. 

I like the stuff that you write about, can I find you anywhere else?

Why thank you! Of course you like my stuff, my opinion is clearly better than yours and I am a flawless writer. Duh. 

Other places that you can view my writing includes a blog run by a friend of mine (Ben, picture below). I recently did a collaboration talking about the Oscars and I hope to be posting over on his blog once a week as well, so if you need another fix of my sweet sweet, nourishing reviews, head on over to The Pop Culture Cynic (mmhmm, clickable linky goodness).

and here's my good buddy Ben- AAAARRGH. 

I think I've covered all my bases fairly well, don't you? Glad you agree. Even if you didn't agree, it's too late, I've taken your disagreement as an agreement. Hush.

I'll see you lot soon, but that's all for now folks!