Lexi Cinema London

Mon, Mar 28th, 11:00 only

In this touching documentary, Thomas Balmès (THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE PAPUANS, WAITING FOR JESUS) follows the lives of four babies for 400 days, tracking their journeys from birth to toddlerhood. Scarce dialogue and the absence of narration leave the film’s visual brilliance to take the limelight. BABIES is a striking display of observational documentary at its purest. We witness the first cries and triumphant first steps of Balmès’ subjects in Namibia, Mongolia, San Francisco and Tokyo. Despite the great differences in the environments in which these babies are brought up, this heart-warming portrait of young minds exploring and adapting to their surroundings poignantly highlights the universality of human curiosity and resilience in the early stages of the journey of life.

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• Babies: The Movie (psychologytoday.com)

From Feb 18th;  Lexi Film Club on Weds, Feb 23rd, following the 19:30 screening

“People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day.”

So begins Charles Portis’ book, True Grit, in the voice of 13 year old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld).  Young Mattie vows “an eye for an eye” after the murder of her father by low-down skunk Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin).   She hires the meanest rattlesnake of a US Marshall she can find, one Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), to act as the agent of her vengeance.  Cogburn in turn recruits similarly perfidious LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) to help, but their plans to ditch the girl and claim the reward go awry as blood-thirsty Mattie sticks closer than a burr over classic Western terrain, leading – of course – to wild and lawless Choctaw country…

Therein you get the flavour of the piece – part homage, part parody. But by all accounts this is the Coen brothers showing respect for a change:  respect for the venerable Western; respect for the cult book on which the film is based; respect even, perhaps, for their own mature film making skills.  Whereas so many Coen bros films are distinguished by their tang of cynicism, True Grit radiates affection as it chortles at its own enjoyment of the genre.  Boasting a literate script and glorious cinematography, the greatest triumph is the performances.  Hailee Steinfeld is a modern American Gothic as blood-thirsty Mattie, and Jeff Bridges brings a nastiness to the role that the Duke in the 1969 original would’ve envied.  So, sidle on over to the bar for a shot of red eye, kick those boots off, and hunker down for more fun than a possum shoot!

OSCAR UP-DATES:  Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Jeff Bridges), Best Supporting Actress (Hailee Steinfeld), Best Adapted Screenplay, + 4 nominations in technical categories

From 11th Feb

A tragedy for our times, informed by wisdom and surprising wit, too.

Eight months after the tragic death of their young son, splintering couple Becca (Nicole Kidman) and Howie Corbett (Aaron Eckhart) are struggling with how to move on from such an event.  The responses of each are very different: Becca has a compulsion to get to know the driver of car which hit their son, while Howie would preserve their home as a shrine to the moment when they last held their son.  Life seems like a spiralling descent into the madness of Alice’s Wonderland.

Adapted from David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer award-winning play about the need to give shape and meaning to a senseless experience, this is the first production from Kidman’s own production company.  She says of her reasons for wanting to make this project: “I hope this film pulsates with life because it’s two people dealing with death but choosing life, if that makes sense, or trying to choose life. That’s fascinating to me.”  A deeply emotive film from start to finish, Kidman does a superb job playing the aggrieved mother, while Dianne Wiest and Tammy Blanchard deliver first-rate performances as her direct relatives.  It is a shining showcase for Kidman’s talent, allowing her to break through the reserve that is so often the top note of her performances, and she is expected to be nominated for the an Oscar for it.  Eckhart delivers a solid performance as the bereaved father but his character has less scope than Kidman’s.

OSCAR UP-DATE:   Nicole Kidman nominated for Best Actress award in Rabbit Hole.