Very rarely does a film so bleak, so prone to trample over its characters until they might not come back up, manage to avoid the usual melodrama and clichés we have come to expect and instead stay an honest, unflinching and powerful glimpse of two individuals, one too hard and the other too soft for the world, just trying to make it through the day. Peter Mullan gives one of the year’s most destructive and powerful performances as Joseph, a widower who spends his time drinking, picking fights and experiencing bouts of anger that tends to come crashing down into paralyzing moments of regret. We understand he wants better for himself and could use a bit of redemption but it isn’t an easy thing to achieve. However, he does find some solace in Hannah played by Olivia Colman who also gives one of the year’s most devastating performances as a thrift store owner and born again Christian. Joseph feels drawn to her glow and the sort of warmth he has been looking for. Sadly she isn’t who she seems because behind her smile is immense pain for she lives with an abusive husband who beats her. Hannah had hoped religion could be her savior but when that didn’t work she turned to alcohol. At times Hannah and Joseph can seem total opposites but yet exactly the same. As we watch their relationship develop there are brief moments of hope and even a few laughs, but for me even they are incredibly emotional and at times almost moved me to tears. Considine’s exploration into violence and rage is so gut wrenching and brutally honest that when good things happen you are glad but also very cautious because moods could change without warning and this fine line they walk is hard to watch.

At the center of it all is Joseph’s anger which comes from a place many films rarely explore unless the main character is a villain, and maybe under other circumstances or a different life he would be. But here he is just your “Average Joe” whose fury isn’t brought on by some terrible event or the result of any wrong doing, it is just his nature. He was born with a fire inside. It caused him to be mean and abusive to his wife, it causes him to rough up kids at a pub, and throw a rock through the front window of a shop. The best Joseph can do is try to control this rage and when it gets the best of him, like in the film’s opening when in a fit he kicks his dog’s ribs in, he shows what little kindness he can by carrying it home, being by its side as it dies and then burying it in the back yard. In any other film is would be impossible to expect the audience to forgive such an act, but Considine understands that. You see he isn’t asking for forgiveness but just hoping to reach an understanding with the viewer. As terrible as Joseph’s actions may be at the time the idea that it is his nature, something he can’t control which is destroying him, and the fact that he tries his best to do good evens out the scales just enough for us to have faith in him.

The most important of these attempts to adjust comes with helping Hannah who he tries to protect even though everything about him says otherwise. This leads to the film’s most shocking moment in which he discovers a truth about her, and perhaps about himself and every human, that rattles him to the core. This truth being that even the most glowing and kind of people are capable of unthinkable violence and rage. Now this might seem to be a totally bleak assessment on life, and maybe it is, but Considine doesn’t allow it to prevail without putting up a fight. Instead he tries to make us and Joseph realize that the best you can do is battle through it all and although you will not always find redemption at least maybe a bit of peace and happiness can be earned, which might mean sacrificing yourself.

I really have to hand it to Paddy Considine who most know from his acting in such films as “Deadman’s Shoes” or “In America”. For this to be his first feature is quite impressive. He shows a level of maturity and confidence you would only expect from a veteran director. This could have easily become a preachy or overly stylized independent film that drowned in its own melodramatic miserablism but instead Considine wasn’t afraid to be dark, gritty and realistic and stay true to his characters, caring for them and their emotions in a way that didn’t feel artificial, and making a real connection with the audience. To say it is an easy watch would be a lie but its profoundness in its exploration of violence and anger along with two of the year’s best performances make it a must watch and one of my favorite films of the year.

I noticed that Lisa had posted a quick review about this, but I saw it recently and have been wanting to review it because it was something I connected with and really wanted to share my opinion.

I honestly cannot think of another film I have seen this year that I found as charming and heartfelt as ‘Beginners’ which stars Ewan McGregor as Oliver, a middle aged man who has just lost his father Hal to lung cancer. Oliver reveals to us, through narration, that after the death of his mother a few years back his father came out, having been gay throughout the 40 plus years of his marriage. Oliver’s life following his father’s passing is a lonely one that often leads to him talking to Arthur, his father’s dog. One night at a party he meets a beautiful actress named Anna. The two hit it off quickly and the rest of the film follows the development of their relationship, set among flashbacks of Oliver’s parents and his father’s new life as a gay man in the years before his death. Through these memories we get a better understanding, as to why Oliver has been alone, and why his time with Anna may be short lived; he has had 4 relationships in the past, but left them all. The result is a film about being open and honest, and finding love and happiness through from it.

This idea of being honest was difficult for Oliver because of his parents. Their hollow marriage cast a shadow on his view of love. Wanting to avoid what they had created, this constant uncertainty and sadness caused him to think love was doomed and so he would break relationships off in fear of what he thought was their inevitable conclusion.

Luckily Oliver is able to find inspiration in his father who was able to be open and honest in the final months of his life. Through the memories of Hal, Oliver is able to take those steps towards true joy. One reason being that when he found out his father was gay it finally dawned on him why his parents’ marriage seemed so empty. It wasn’t genuine and so not a good example of how things really are. Which brings up another important theme, that being change and starting over.

The title ‘Beginners’ refers to both Oliver and Hal being at the beginning of their new respective lives. Anna points out towards the end of the film, after reading a funny but sweet personal ad Hal had made, that Oliver’s father “Didn’t give up”. Even facing death, in his 70’s, Hal wanted to be happy and be himself by embracing his sexuality. It is in remembering these moments, seeing how happy his father was, that Oliver is able to look forward in a positive light, with a new perspective on love and an understanding of why his mother was always so sad. Oliver too has a new beginning and like Hal can now be open and embrace his love for Anna.

What held this whole story together for me were the characters, and more importantly the chemistry between them. I felt the dynamic between Anna and Oliver, the feelings and time they shared was incredibly sweet. Upon first seeing him Anna instantly recognized Oliver’s sadness. She too felt alone, having spent most of the past few years going from one hotel room to another. It is the sort of relationship in which the one thing that makes the love between them so poignant is that they can save each other, filling the voids in each other’s hearts. This makes it harder to watch as Oliver’s misconceptions on love cause a divide between them. At the beginner Oliver worries, like he did in his previous relationships, where this one is heading. He fears Anna will become his mother, unhappy and bitter. But when Oliver does change, and get her back, the result is an incredibly sweet ending.

All of this is done with a collection of small, genuine and heartfelt moments that build upon one another to form something much greater. On top of that were three wonderful performances. Christopher Plummer was so lovable as Hal, and clearly had a lot of fun with the character. Melanie Laurent was mesmerizing and sweet, she is so beautiful and easy to fall for. Ewan McGregor was also fantastic, and the real stand out here, carrying a great deal of pain adding depth to his performance in a way I’ve rarely seen him do. The structure and visual devices also worked incredibly well, helping to give it a unique feel. I really loved the use of photographs, montages to the 50’s and how it handled the history of the gay rights movement. The music was also lovely and fit the tone perfectly. It is a score that I’ve listened to a few times since watching the film.

Honestly, it had me smiling from start to finish. It just had this emotional resonance that clicked for me in a way that can hardly be explained. I ended up watching it two nights in a row just because I loved it so much the first time and I just wanted to watch the characters again soon after. It saddens me that so few people seemed to have seen it. I can easily say that ‘Beginners’ is a charming, smart, funny, sentimental and quirky film, one of my new favorites and I loved every single moment of it.

‘Hugo’ is not only an old fashion and heartfelt adventure with enough whimsy and fun for all ages; but also a love letter to cinema, by one of this generation’s masters, and a plea to support film preservation.

Most of the credit for the its success has to be given to Martin Scorsese, who in an attempt to tell the story about the value of art and the dream like and important nature of films, managed to not only capture the magic of moving pictures but in doing so make one just as magical and beautiful as those he admires. The story follows a young boy named Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield). He lives among the gears and machinery within the walls of a grand train station in Paris where he keeps the clocks in working order. He is alone in this task and spends most of his free time trying to fix an automaton that his father found rusting away in a museum, and attempted to fix before he tragically died in a fire. With his father dead he was sent to work in the station with his uncle, a drunk who has gone missing leaving Hugo to live alone, stealing food from the shops to survive and avoid the orphanage. One morning Hugo gets in trouble with the owner, George Melies (Ben Kingsley), of a toy shop located within the station. Hugo had been stealing small trinkets for parts so he could use them in fixing the automaton, which he believes contains a message left to him by his father. The shop’s owner forces Hugo to hand over the stolen trinkets along with a notebook detailing the machine he was trying to fix. Oddly his drawings cause Melies to get emotional and he takes it. In an attempt to get it back, Hugo ends up getting help from the shop owner’s goddaughter, Isabelle (Chloe Moretzs), who is a lover of books and desperate for some kind of adventure. Together they try to unravel the mystery behind her godfather’s reaction to the notebook and the automaton’s message. It is a slow moving, but richly detailed journey that leads to them discovering George Melies’s sad past, which has important ties to the history of film.

Scorsese’s love for cinema is front and center here. Hugo’s loneliness mirrors his own. Scorsese suffered from asthma growing up and wasn’t allowed to play with other children. Like Hugo, Scorsese looked to machines and cameras to occupy his time, turning to art and film to express himself. Hugo’s automaton, a machine like a camera, which played a key part in Melies’s life, only works with a heart shaped key. It is no coincidence that the heart, love and a sense of wonder are the key to creating art and opening one’s imagination. Scorsese, perhaps more than most directors around today, understands the importance of film, especially for younger audiences and in a way this definitely seems like an attempt to get children to appreciate the medium as much as he did years ago.

My favorite aspect of the ‘Hugo’ would be the world created. It is fleshed out fairly well, with many supporting characters given a good deal of attention. The most important being the station inspector played by Sacha Baron Cohen who when he isn’t out trying to catch potential orphans, is trying to woo a beautiful florist, played by Emily Mortimer. It reminded me of ‘Amelie’ in a way, which I guess also had a lot to do with the tone and setting.

The stuff about Melies is incredible and as informative as it is disheartening. The man was one of the early pioneers of films. One of the first to truly understand its capabilities to enchant the audience with dream like settings. Learning the history of his career, how after making over 500 films he was forced to destroy most of them and his old sets when the popularity of his work dropped after the Great War, is tragic. Luckily for us some of his films survived, like “A Trip to the Moon” which is a highly recognizable and frequently referenced short.

The direction, the long shots in particular, are breathtaking. The opening is one of the year’s best and most spectacular scenes. It is arguably Scorsese’s most beautiful film. The fantastical portrayal of Paris is enhanced by 3D that is utilized better than anything I have seen. The use of depth, especially in scenes towards the end in which some of Melies films are recreated in flashbacks is stunning. For once it doesn’t feel like a gimmick. The score is also beautiful and luckily not overwhelming. It is one that is there but not noticeable because it fits the atmosphere of the story so well. Honestly, everything about ‘Hugo’ feels like one complete and perfect work of art, created with a great deal of passion. The only complaint I’ve really heard is that it is too slow at times. Personally I highly disagree with this. Even at its slowest points it is still totally mesmerizing because this isn’t just a love letter to film, or just a historical depiction of the life of one of its most important innovators, it is also a heartfelt story. It earns its emotions and nothing fells forced, and it does this by taking its time, to flesh out its characters and plot.

Lastly, the performances all around are wonderful. Butterfield gives Hugo a great deal of emotion and depth, as well as the level of maturity needed for the character. Ben Kingsley is absolutely magnificent as George Melies. He makes him a clearly sad man, with a long history that troubles him deeply. Chloe Moretz is also great, doing a surprisingly good English accent, and makes the character easily loveable and fun. Even Sacha Baron Cohen, who toned it down, brings his character to life in an almost classically funny way.

Overall to say I loved the film would not do my feelings for it justice. It is so exceptionally crafted, so fun and smart, and most of all it captivated me like few other films have in recent years. It truly is a magical experience, a must see and one of Scorsese’s best.