SALTBURN : Tuesday 21st November 2023

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'SALTBURN' at my local independent movie theatre this week, and this psychological thriller drama film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Emerald Fennell in her second feature film outing following the highly acclaimed 'Promising Young Woman' in 2020 which reaped 116 award wins and another 193 nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit. This film saw its World Premiere showcasing at the Telluride Film Festival in late August and was released in the US, the UK and here in Australia last week having so far generated mostly favourable reviews and grossed US$1.7M at the Box Office. 

The films open up in 2006 with a collar, tie and blazer wearing Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) walking across the quad at Oxford University and into his ground floor dormitory as a first year freshman. He is looked upon with some disdain by many of the other jeans and T-shirt wearing students, some of which mildly abuse his attire. On his first night over dinner in the packed refectory he struggles to find a place to sit, and ends up opposite another equally displaced student Michael Gavey (Ewan Mitchell) who introduces himself as another 'Nigel Nofriends'. Oliver observes Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), a charming, handsome, popular and clearly very well off student, who is attending Oxford with his American cousin, Farleigh Start (Archie Madekwe), and who happens to be attending the same college. 

One day just before the summer break of 2007 Oliver lends Felix his bicycle so Felix can attend a class to which he is already running ten minutes late, as Felix's own bicycle has a punctured wheel. Felix is extremely grateful. As a result of this gesture, the two become fast friends and is invited into Felix's and Farleigh's inner circle of friends, which sees Oliver turn his back on Michael. Oliver becomes increasingly obsessed with Felix. Oliver tells Felix he is an only child with an alcoholic mother and a drug dependent father, and grew up in Prescot, near Liverpool. One day he announces that his father has suddenly died. Oliver's story garners Felix's sympathy, and so he invites Oliver to spend the summer with him and Farleigh at Saltburn, his wealthy family's sprawling estate in the country. Oliver accepts, albeit reluctantly at first.

Oliver arrives at Saltburn where he is greeted by the Butler of the house, Duncan (Paul Rhys), and after a whistle stop tour of the household Felix introduces him to his father, Sir James (Richard E. Grant), his mother, Lady Elspeth (Rosamund Pike), and his sister, Venetia (Alison Oliver). Also at Saltburn is 'Poor Dear' Pamela (Carey Mulligan), Elspeth's friend, whom the family believes has now outstayed her welcome and actively encourage her to leave when she reveals that she has rented a new flat. Despite the family's initial eccentricities and over indulgent living standards, Oliver clearly relishes his time at Saltburn. Oliver begins lying to curry favour with the family so they can grow even more fond of him, firstly implying to Elspeth that Pamela made up her bizarre, tragic stories for the attention it brought her. Later in the summer, the family learns that Pamela has died, though Elspeth in nonplussed by the news.

Late one evening Oliver secretly watches Felix masterbating while taking a bath in their shared bathroom to which their bedrooms both adjoin. After Felix has brushed his teeth and bid his friend goodnight, Oliver drinks the last of the draining water from the bathtub and licks the plughole clean. Another night, he sees Venetia outside his bedroom window wearing a see through night gown. He performs oral sex on Venetia despite it being her time of the month to which Oliver retorts that its just as well he's a vampire. Farleigh observes this from his bedroom window overlooking the gardens. Farleigh tells Felix who is upset with Oliver, since a former friend of Felix's had also slept with Venetia last summer. Oliver convinces him that Farleigh was lying and that he was only comforting the moody Venetia, who he claims is interested in him. Later, Oliver overhears an argument between Felix and Farleigh over the latter milking Sir James' for financial support for his university studies. On another occasion during a party with a karaoke machine, Farleigh retaliates by tricking Oliver into performing the Pet Shop Boys song 'Rent' (whose lyrics mirror Oliver's current situation at Saltburn) to everyone. Later that night, Oliver threatens Farleigh and initiates a sexual encounter. The next morning, Farleigh is asked to leave Saltburn when he is said to have attempted to sell rare ceramic antique plates from Sir James' collection to Sotheby's. 

With Oliver's birthday approaching Elspeth and Sir James plan a fancy dress party for two hundred or so guests to celebrate. On the morning of his birthday Felix surprises Oliver with a road trip. Upon nearing their destination Oliver panics when Felix tells him that they are going to see his mother in Prescot in an attempt to mend their fractured relationship. However, it is revealed that Oliver's family lives in the upper-middle-class suburbs, his father is alive and very well, both his parents are kind and not substance abusers, and he is not an only child and in fact has two sisters. Felix is mortified by Oliver's deception, telling him to leave after the party that evening, while Oliver states that he only lied so Felix would be his friend. That evening, the party commences at Saltburn with numerous guests in attendance, including Farleigh, who threatens Oliver. Inside Saltburn's maze, Oliver attempts to reconcile with Felix, but Felix outright rejects him. The next morning, Felix is found dead in the maze.

Oliver and the Catton family mourn Felix's death, but Elspeth and Sir James try to put a brave face on the matter. Sir James cuts Farleigh off from his financial support, saying that he will not inform the Police but that is the last thing he will do for him, and forces him to leave Saltburn for good when Oliver suggests that Farleigh doing lines of coke at the party last night contributed to Felix's death. After Felix's funeral, Oliver privately breaks down as he strips down and penetrates Felix's newly dug gravesite in the driving rain. When Elspeth demands Oliver stay at Saltburn, Venetia later confronts him when Oliver barges in on her while she is taking a bath. It dawns on her that he has successfully latched himself onto her family and that Felix's death was a result. Venetia is found dead the following morning having apparently slashed her wrists in the bathtub, leaving Elspeth and Sir James in further despair. Fearing that Elspeth is growing too attached to him and becoming suspicious of his insistence on staying, Sir James opens his cheque book and asks Oliver how much does he want to leave Saltburn. Oliver responds that he can't leave Elspeth while she needs him most, but Sir James is insistent, and Oliver leaves having agreed a price. 

A number of years later and Oliver reads about the recent death of Sir James in the newspaper. Sometime shortly afterwards and Oliver is sat in a cafe typing away at his laptop when Elspeth walks in to buy a takeaway coffee. They are both surprised to see each other and Elspeth comments to Oliver how grown up he is and how pleasing it is to see him again. Oliver gives his condolences to Elspeth over the passing of her husband to which she responds that he never really recovered following the death of Felix and Venetia. She urges him to return with her her to Saltburn. 

Soon afterwards and Elspeth becomes fatally ill. On her deathbed, looking very proud of himself, Oliver reveals that he was responsible for all the tragic events that have fallen upon Saltburn having orchestrated his initial meeting with Felix, Oliver then murdered him by poisoning the bottle of Champagne that he drank from that night in the maze. He also subtly manipulated Venetia into killing herself by placing razor blades on the side of her bath, and sent the email that resulted in Farleigh's fast exit from Saltburn. Finally, he planned his encounter with Elspeth in the cafe, with flashbacks revealing that she subsequently left all of her financial assets to Oliver, including ownership of Saltburn. Oliver then kills Elspeth by forcefully removing her life support tube. Having now taken over the Saltburn estate and the Catton fortune and seemingly dismissed the Butler, maids and footmen, Oliver dances naked around the house to 'Murder on the Dancefloor' by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. 

'Saltburn' is a slow-burn thriller about those born with not one but two silver spoons firmly planted in their mouths, and those hangers-on who aspire to such dizzy heights and those even fewer who make it - by fair means or in this case by foul. Writer and Director Emerald Fennell has here delivered us a film of modern day British aristocracy that is conflicted by the out-of-touch staid and overly quirky mannerisms of the parents versus the next generation keen to mark its place in the world, and on that note Richard E. Grant, Rosamund Pike, Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan are all expertly cast in their roles of old school versus new school. The very black and often bleak humour is rendered with a deft touch that if you blink you'll surly miss some of the zingers that come hurtling by. Barry Keoghan gives a fearless performance in every respect from the mild mannered unassuming student we first meet at Oxford University to the cold calculating murderer we see at the end who relishes in his ill gotten gains - one for the ages for sure. 

'Saltburn' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

GRAN TURISMO : Monday 14th August 2023.

I saw the M Rated 'GRAN TURISMO' at my local multiplex earlier this week, and this American biographical sports film is Directed by Neill Blomkamp whose prior feature film credits take in his debut with the acclaimed 'District 9' in 2009, then 'Elysium' in 2013, 'Chappie' in 2015 and 'Demonic' in 2021. This film is based on the PlayStation Studios video game series of the same name, and inspired by the true story of Jann Mardenborough, a teenage Gran Turismo player aspiring to be a race car driver. Originally slated for a wide cinema release last week, this has been reduced to a limited release due to the SAG-AFTRA strike before its release proper from the 25th of this month. The film has garnered mixed critical acclaim and has so far grossed close to US$11M. 

The film opens in the home of the Mardenborough's in Cardiff, Wales with Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) a compulsive obsessive late teenager over his Gran Turismo simulated racing game for which he is a self-confessed expert having spent literally thousands of hours perfecting his skills and constructing and deconstructing his on-line vehicles to his specifications in order to eek out the necessary speed and handling advantages over his on-line opponents. On this particular day he receives a parcel in the post containing a brand new steering wheel which will help him take his gaming skills to the next level. Jann's brother Coby (Daniel Puig) berates him for having to save up his hard earned cash from his part-time job as a shop assistant for months, in order to buy the steering wheel, but Jann responds that it only took him one month of his wage. Jann and Coby's parents are Steve Mardenborough (Djimon Housou) a former professional football player who played for Cardiff City Football Club and his mother Lesley (Geri Halliwell), who berate Jann for spending all of his waking hours playing his game rather than getting a real job or going on to university.

In the meantime, Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) a marketing executive for Nissan is in Tokyo pitching a plan to Nissan's Board for an opportunity for the world's best Gran Turismo driver to become a real race car driver, and progress through the ranks of the GT Academy to win a spot on Team Nissan and drive in race competitions globally, and in the process open up Nissan to potentially millions of car buying customers. When the Board give the thumbs up for the competition to go ahead, on the one proviso that it is absolutely safe to do so, Danny sets about calling all of his Chief Engineer contacts who will effectively mentor and monitor the group of ten hopefuls in the GT Academy and whittle those ten down to one outright winner who will progress. The last name on Danny's list after a whole bunch of rejections is Jack Salter (David Harbour), a former race car driver who could have been a world champion were it not for a crash in the 24 hour Le Mans race after which he lost his nerve. 

After sneaking out one night with Coby to go and see Jann's would be girlfriend Audrey (Maeve Courtier-Lilley) and taking their Dad's car without his permission, they get side swiped by another car driven by a group of teenagers on their way home. Both cars are pulled over the Police, and while the officer is questioning the driver of the other vehicle, Jann decides to push the peddle to the metal and drive off at speed with the Police car giving chase. Jann's driving skills manage to evade them being caught, but with a broken wing mirror and the side panels needing a paint job, Dad is waiting outside when they pull up outside their home. As penance, Dad insists that Jann join him at his work at a rail yard, given that Jann seems to have little motivation to find a real job and only has his sights set on a pipe dream of racing cars.

And so Jann is selected to compete in a Gran Turismo race at his local gaming arcade because he clocked the fastest time, and so leaving the rail yard and rebelling against his Dad he arrives just in the nick of time to take his seat at the console. Needless to say Jann wins the race and his place on the GT Academy, located at Silverstone Race Circuit, in Northamptonshire, England. There he is joined by nine other hopefuls and are introduced to Danny, Jack (recently recruited from his Chief Engineer role at Capa Racing) and executive members of Nissan.

And so Jack puts the hopefuls through their paces which involves physical exercises to strengthen their bodies to be able to withstand extreme G-forces and speeds, their mental dexterity to make split second decisions while driving at those extreme speeds, and of course time spent behind the wheel of the cars they may one day be racing. Over the course of six weeks they are put through their paces, with Jack and Danny ultimately reducing the number from ten down to five, with the top five having to race each other in a sudden death competition with the winner taking all. And so in 2011, Jann became the third and youngest winner of the GT Academy competition, beating out 90,000 other entrants, and has his sights set on a career as a professional race car driver.

The next day, Jann is on a private Leer Jet with Danny and Jack heading off to Vienna to take part in his inaugural race. There are five races left in the season and Jann must land in the top four in one race to be granted his FIA licence to be able to drive at the top level. In his first race Jann was a back marker, in his second he ranked 17th, in his third race he came 12th and in his fourth he did not finish and crashed out. However, in his fifth race he finished fourth and so was granted his FIA licence. 

And so the next season takes us to various race circuits around Europe where Jann is always in competition with the very opinionated and aggressively competitive Nicholas Capa (Josha Stradowski) who firmly believes that a simulator driver will never stand on the winners podium, and that they are not real race car drivers. As the season progresses, the action takes us to Germany's Nurburgring race track. With the race in full swing and Jann catching Capa, his Nissan GT-R Nismo caught air and cartwheeled end over end several times through the fence into spectators, leaving one spectator dead. Jann is rushed to hospital in a helicopter while his parents watch on from their home in Cardiff in disbelief. Jann eventually comes round in a hospital bed with Danny and Jack on hand. He asks what happened, and Jack explains, and then responds with 'was anyone hurt', to which Jack responds with one spectator died. Jann is mortified. It takes Jann a while to reconcile the events of that horror crash, but later on while driving around the Nurburgring with Jack behind the wheel of a Porsche he first recounts his own experience at the Le Mans 24 hour race years earlier and teases Jann with the words 'don't let the crash define who you are - how you respond to it will'. He then tells Jann to finish his lap, on the empty track, which he does. 

His final fixture of the season was to be the 24 hour Le Mans race. In the lead up everything is good, and Jann has made a good recovery, but during the early stages of the race he is closing in on a car when it veers out of control, off the track, into the tyre wall and bursts into flames. Jann is visibly shaken by the event which occurred directly in front of him and which he then caught in his rear view and wing mirrors, which brought back memories of his horrific accident. He slows down dramatically giving up his place as seventh and falling back to fifteenth in a crisis of confidence, with Jack and Danny beside themselves in the pit lane. Jack then plays Jann his favourite Kenny G and Enya songs, which he uses to relax and compose himself prior to a race, on the team radio which brings Jann back to the here and now. Fairly quickly with his mind back on the task in hand, Jann begins to recover his lost ground rising through the rankings and ultimately battling it out for third place with Nicholas Capa and just inching ahead of his arch rival as they cross the chequered flag in a photo finish, with Jann being declared in third place and a podium finish. 

'Gran Turismo' is an entertaining sports drama biopic that has emotion, excitement, exhilaration and energy that elevates it above many of the other video game adaptations that we have seen in recent times. The production values and clever use of graphics are top notch, and the racing sequences (of which there are plenty to satisfy any petrolhead) are expertly crafted from both inside, outside and above the cars. The performances from Harbour, Bloom and Madekwe are all on point and the Direction from Neill Blomkamp all help to create an underdog racing story, that if a little generic in its formula, has enough under the bonnet to maintain your interest for its 135 minute run time. This film won't be for everyone, but if fast cars racing around closed circuits is your thing, then this movie is for you. 

'Gran Turismo' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

VOYAGERS : Wednesday 21st April 2021.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'VOYAGERS' at my local multiplex last week. This American Sci-Fi drama is Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Neil Burger whose prior film making credits take in 2002's 'Interview with the Assassin', 2006's 'The Illusionist', 2011's 'Limitless', 2014's 'Divergent' and 2017's remake of the acclaimed French film 'The Intouchables' with 'The Upside'. Originally slated for a release at the end of November 2020, the film was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was released earlier this month. The film cost US$29M to produce, has so far recouped US$3.5M and has garnered mixed critical reviews so far.

The film opens up in 2063 and we are told that the future of planet Earth is doomed due to the ravages of climate change, drought, and disease. The only alternative for any hope of humankind surviving is to find a planet capable of sustaining life as we know it, and lo and behold, one such planet does exist. The problem is that it will take eighty-six years to get there. So, the powers that be, breed a crew of brilliant cadets who will live in sterile conditions from the moment they are born by artificial means, and will not know of life outside the confines of the purpose built space station they inhabit until such time as they are old enough to launch for that far away planet. The aim is that when they board the ship, they will in time procreate during their long journey into deep space with the intention that their grandchildren will start over on the distant planet. Enter Richard (Colin Farrell) a scientist, who up to now has played a pivotal role in the upbringing of the cadets from their very earliest days and wants to join them on their mission, even though he knows it is a one way ticket and he will not live long enough to see the journey through. He persuades the mission commander to let him go, meaning that they will be able to bring the launch date forward from seven years hence to four years. And so the thirty or so young children with Richard take off leaving our humble blue planet behind. 

And so as the months turn into years, we fast forward ten years into their eighty-six year journey and the cadets are now young adults. There is Christopher (Tye Sheridan), chief medical officer Sela (Lily-Rose Depp) and Zac (Fionn Whitehead) amongst others. The crew busy themselves by making repairs, growing their own food, keeping fit, and studying and they all appear to get along with one another in a state of peaceful harmony. Of course part of their daily routine is eating together in the mess hall, which includes sipping back a shot of 'blue' which they have been told is for their general health. In reality it is designed to suppress emotions, urges, jealousy and anger. Christopher and Zac begin to question what the blue is really for and what is contained therein. Some further digging reveals the truth, and so they decide to stop drinking it and convince some of the others to do likewise. 

Within a few days a sensory awakening occurs in each one which leads them to take risks including to wrestle in the gym, to touch a member of the opposite sex and to run down the narrow corridors of the ship (all of which were previously against the rules and strictly forbidden). Then one day there's a problem with the comms link which means that Richard has to venture outside the ship on a spacewalk to rectify the issue. He elects for Zac to go with him, but in preparing to suit up Zac starts coming onto Sela. Sela backs away none too pleased with Zac's advances just as Richard enters the airlock. A scuffle ensues and Zac flees into the ship. In his place Richard chooses Christopher to accompany him. While on their space walk tethered to the main body of the ship, with all the crew closely monitoring their every move, a black mass suddenly appears from nowhere, engulfs Richard and sends him reeling backwards into the dark void of space, albeit still tethered. Christopher pulls him in and once back inside the ship he is attended to quickly by Sela. He is badly burned to his hand, arm, neck and face and subsequently dies on the table. Zac claims that the black mass was an alien, and that Richard and/or Christopher possibly brought it onto the ship with them, inside their bodies.

With Richard no more, a new Chief Officer needs to be appointed. Zac puts his hand up straight away but Phoebe (Chante Adams) who is the one that can be relied upon as the straight-talking no nonsense voice of reason follows the rules and states that an election needs to be held. And so the crew all vote and Christopher is declared the winner and the new Chief Officer, much to Zac's surprise and consternation. And so the rebellious Zac starts to tell his ardent followers to ignore their designated duties and responsibilities and basically do as they please. At the same time he spreads increasing paranoia about the presence of the alien aboard the ship, which is only heightened from time to time when mysterious creaks, groans, rattles and unexplained sounds emanate around the ship. And, all the while he is undermining Christopher's attempts to exert his authority and instil a sense of order. When a fire breaks out on the ship all of the comms go down and the surveillance footage is destroyed. It's repairable, but will take time and every crew member is deployed round the clock to bring the ship back up to fully functioning order. 

Meanwhile, Christopher has retrieved the archived footage of the incident outside the ship that cost Richard his life. From it he learns that Zac and his offsider Kal (Archie Madekwe) sent a powerful electrical surge to Richard's suit, and this is what killed him and not some trumped up story about an alien. Christopher reveals this truth to the gathered crew in the mess hall and needless to say Christopher and Zac's relationship comes to a head when Zac announces that he is taking over the reins as the self appointed Chief Officer because Christopher has no clue. 

Zac encourages those that want to follow him can, and so all but five choose to go with Zac. What ensues is an all out race for supremacy with Zac gaining the upper hand at every turn it seems. He finds a stash of weapons concealed in a secret room that are meant for the third generation and so arms his followers to the teeth, while Christopher and Sela have nothing more than a scalpel with which to defend themselves. 

On the run now and fearful for their lives with very few places to hide, Christopher and Sela make the best of a bad situation while Zac is now mightily pissed off and baying for blood. The pair run down the corridors with Zac following closely behind, firmly bolting closed every door behind them, until they run out of doors and come to the airlock. Christopher and Sela suit up, secure themselves as best they are able, and open the airlock door, just as Zac on the other side blasts open the remaining door to the room. He is immediately sucked out but manages to cling on to Christopher as the two battle it out for the upper hand. Christopher who has the protection of a space suit loses his grip on Zac who is wearing nothing but a T-shirt and track pants and is fighting against the freezing temperatures of deep space. Christopher is sucked out and disappears from view. Sela meanwhile launches herself feet first directly at Zac who is caught off guard and is propelled into deep space never to be seen again. She clings on to the airlock door and steadies herself as Christopher comes back into view.

And so with Zac gone, his followers down their weapons and some sense of normalcy is restored. Sela is voted as the new Chief Officer and she seems to be more capable than the previous two. We then fast forward down through the years and see that Sela and Christopher give birth to a son, who grows up with a whole bunch of other youngsters on board. In time, the space ship is seen to be descending on to its destination planet with aged second generation crew and younger third generation crew peering out of the window as the Earth like planet below comes into view.  

With nods to 'Lord of the Flies' and 'Passengers' this nurture versus nature space romp in which the testosterone goes off the scale while the female crew are there seemingly only to provide eye candy, certainly looks the part, has some solid enough set pieces, and the Direction is deftly handled by film maker Burger. The YA Actors and the characters they portray are all largely one dimensional, aside from the three principle leads in Whitehead, Sheridan and Depp who prop up the rest of the cast and carry the film on their slender shoulders. This is predictable territory albeit reasonably well realised, it plods along for a goodly while without much really going on apart from a few cross words and a gnashing of teeth, and when the end comes there's nothing new to see here that we haven't seen countless times before.

'Voyagers' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-