Review: Sleeping Beauty (2011)

* * * Director: Julia Leigh
Starring: Emily Browning

My first thought after watching Julia Leigh's Sleeping Beauty: "... What?" My first thought after sleeping on it and allowing it a little time to sink in: "No, seriously: what?" Loosely based on Yasunari Kawabata's The House of Sleeping Beauties, Sleeping Beauty is the kind of uncompromising and challenging film that people who hate art house fare use as justification for hating art house fare, and that people who love it use as justification for loving it. Where you fall on the spectrum will probably determine how much you admire this film, which I imagine will continue to be an incredibly polarizing piece of work for years to come.

Review: Senna

* * *
Director: Asif Kapadia

It's a measure of how good a sports themed movie is when it can hold the interest of someone who has absolutely no interest in the sport itself. Asif Kapadia's documentary Senna, about the late Forumla One driver Ayrton Senna, is one of those films. Making use of home videos, interview footage, and sports cast footage, Senna is a film that will speak to racing fans and non-racing fans alike.

Friday's Top 5... Diane Keaton Performances

#5: Something's Gotta Give

The film itself is a bit flawed, but Diane Keaton's performance is winning, brave, and just generally perfect. When Keaton and co-star Jack Nicholson have their late in the film showdown, in which she tells him that she's heartbroken, it's difficult not to feel your own heart breaking for her, too.

Canadian Film Review: A Dangerous Method (2012)

* * *
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen

It was probably inevitable that David Cronenberg would one day make a movie about Sigmund Freud, given his career-long preoccupation with the psychosexual. What wasn't inevitable was how tame that movie would be when he finally made it - well, tame for a movie where one of the central relationships centres on sadomasochism. Elegantly mounted but somewhat lacking in spirit, A Dangerous Method is a fine film, but ultimately minor Cronenberg.

Review: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2012)

* * *
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt, Amr Waked, Kristin Scott Thomas

A film with a title like Salmon Fishing in the Yemen might sound like a story with limited appeal, but it's actually a delightful surprise, a film with plenty of heart and no shortage of charm. A political/romantic comedy that finds just the right balance between comedy and drama, and between political satire and realistically drawn characters, this is a definite hit in the somewhat hit-and-miss career of director Lasse Hallstrom.