The Sun

Emperor Hirohito (Issei Ogata) prepares to go out of his palace and underground bunker for an official photoshoot with American photographers in The Sun. It is a telling event on the day he has to concede defeat to a patronising and confused General MacArthur and renounces his status as a God before once again ruling over his people as a constitutional monarch.

CHRIS: It falls often to the person who organises the ticketing for a festival to sneak one of their own secret passions in there, and hope people don't notice or go along hoping for the best. Such was the case with The Sun, the latest offering from Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov (Russian Ark) is the last in his trilogy of twentieth-century dictators, and centres on Emperor Hirohito of Japan in the last days of World War II. Despite the chequered production of the film - it is directed by a Russian, set in Japan and filmed in Japanese and English, financed by countries as diverse as Switzerland and Italy - it is an unmistakably Russian film; slow, graceful and ultimately a profound experience. Approaching it without a predilection for this type of cinema could, however, be hard going, is that what you found Scott?

SCOTT: Parts of this film were great, such as the 'what the?' dream sequence, the trip through the apocalyptic ruins of Tokyo and the atmosphere evoked in the dark rooms of the underground bunker. Too bad then that the film was quite boring. Maybe it was intentional, but I found myself nodding off watching the continual ennui of the Emperor's life. I hold to the belief that it is possible to show a person's life as boring onscreen, without in turn boring the audience. Boredom is not the greatest of all cinematic evils, but it does limit the enjoyment to be derived from a film. Even if this languid pace is characteristic of Russian cinema, that does not mean that it is excusable in my book.

CHRIS: Well, I'm going to commit that sin you mentioned and say that I think it was intentional that it was not so much boring, but very languid and I think very precise in depicting what it set out to show us. There are films that are boring through a turgid script and shoddy filmmaking (Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers particularly) and then there are films like this one that have an incredible sense of pace, reflecting I think the life of Hirohito himself, and a sort of grandeur that refuses to be drawn in to traditional storytelling. The use of fade throughs where you would ordinarily see a simple cut I think is a telling reminder that Sokurov is a director and DoP who is prepared to push techincal boundaries in pursuit of meaning. It is particularly in the colouring of the film where this comes to the fore: the interior shots are very dull and dark, particularly at the end, whereas the post-war Tokyo outside is almost too bright to look at, bleached of any vibrant or conventional colour - the director employed a similar technique in Mother and Son and the other films of this trilogy. It is against this techincal precision that we see the character of Hirohito, brought vividly to life by Issei Ogata, occupying our screen for the best part of the film, and surely you'd agree Scott he's a very engaging characterisation?

SCOTT: I don't believe anyone would question Issei Ogata's ability as an actor, as he completely embodies the character of Hirohito. Rather my major reservation is how the character is utilised to make the same points again and again. About fifteen minutes into the film many of the major themes have already been expressed: the Emperor acts like a child, his is dissociated from reality, the Emperor lives in a world of trivialities etc. For the rest of the duration of the film Sokurov makes these same points, more and more unsubtley. It felt like a one-note movie to me. Coupled with the slow pace, I didn't feel it warrented the running time of nearly two hours. The structure may also be to blame: by only focusing on one day in the life of Hirohito there are long periods where nothing much really happens. Certain scenes are highly commendable, such as the photoshoot outside the palace, the dinner scene, and also the Emperor's interreaction with his wife. As a whole it just didn't hold up for me. Not to mention some of the horrible accents displayed by the American soldiers.

CHRIS: Yes, those Russian/American extras were a little off, weren't they... To be honest Scott, I think we might just have taken different views on every decision Sokurov made the film: for example, the decision to focus only on one day of the life of Hirohito I think was a most excellent one. Instead of presenting us with a sweeping biopic, we get a very precise film about the day that changed this man's life. It seems to me that this film is offering us a snapshot of the man, an intimate portrait of him on one day of his life, and perhaps that's what we're supposed to take away from it? The director has proven he can take on an epic scope in Russian Ark and everything in this film is so deliberate and calculated that I find it hard to believe that he would be making the same points over and over. I can more than appreciate that this film is going to have its detractors, but to me The Sun was a very interesting and accomplished film, if nothing particularly extraordinary, that humanises an important figure of the twentieth century. How much you get out of it I daresay will have to do with your patience more than anything else.

SCOTT: Patience may be a virtue, but no amount of patience was going to make The Sun riveting for me. I found Hirohito not interesting enough to warrant the screen time, at least as he was portrayed by Sokurov throughout the film. Just like the washed-out look of the exterior shots, the film seemed bland and tedious. It was also utterly pretentious, and only on a few occasions did the film qualify for the high praise that it seemed to think it deserved. This truly is elitist cinema. Maybe if you're really interested in Sokurov as a director, or are a Hirohito buff, then the film can be consistantly enjoyable. Otherwise you will more than likely find it slow, long and ultimately unrewarding.

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CHRIS:

The Grönholm Method

Some of the competitors in The Grönholm Method competing against each other for a job in a mysterious corporation in Madrid, while anti-globalisation protests take hold outside. The film shows their cutthroat competiton as they eliminate each person until only one remains to take the job. But who will it be, and will they want it?

SCOTT: Not everyone will enjoy El Método, translated as The Grönholm Method. It follows the implementation of an interesting new job selection procedure, of which the movie derives its name, and follows the aspiring candidates in a small group of rooms in the Dekia corporation. Outside riotors are protesting against the very culture these men and women in suits represent. The singular setting, the lack of conventional 'action scenes', and the ambiguous ending may leave certain viewers dissappointed. For me though, this has been the standout of the Sydney Film Festival. The acting is perfect, especially Eduard Fernández, Nawja Nimri and Eduardo Noriega as the three major leads. The simplicity of the setting is perfectly apt for the witty banter and often electric dialogue that comes to sum up corporate culture.

CHRIS: Funnily enough, it was the setting that irked me the most about the film Scott! We know that this film has its origins in a Spanish-language stage play, and I think the problem here is the director hasn't done enough to open it out and thus make the film more compelling to an audience. I take the point that the setting becomes almost symbolic to what the character's are going through, but I found it a bit too stagey at various points in the film. I'm actually a bit of a purist about this sort of thing: if you're going to make a stage play into a film, then you need to give it a huge overhaul to make it work (Amadeus) or else it can flounder and strike a false note with an audience (Closer). On the other hand, I was equally irritated by a most ridiculous opening sequence with it's virtuosic - and essentially meaningless - split screens.

SCOTT: I agree that the opening was somewhat irritating, but it was an attempt by the director to make the film less 'stagey', something we can both agree came off as a bit flat. Maybe a few extra wide shots of rioters attacking stuff would have made the film less stagey for you Chris, but I don't think it was necessary. It would have been extraneous to the human drama occuring in the selection rooms. I think we can agree that the script and characters were very well thought-out, and I personally never found the premise at all boring or uninteresting. The ambiguity of the film I also thought was a strong point - what is the position these candidates are trying for? what does the company do? Not only did this give a universality to the whole situation, it also focused the film strongly on the main themes such as morality and ethics in human nature and in the buisness environment. My only minor quibble was that the anti-corporate message was a bit obvious at times.

CHRIS: Well you say the fact that we didn't know anything about the company added universality, but I think it detracted from the film. What position could possibly be so good as to have these people in the hideous competition that they are in? And why would any of them want to work for this company anyway once it had put them through the competition? I did like the idea of the corporate 'Big Brother' theory, but in the end I didn't really buy the idea they were so cutthroat about it all. That said, the acting was very convincing; you've highlighted that of the three leads as being particularly praiseworthy, but I think there was no weak link in the cast - to the extent that the secretary character, given about three lines of dialogue in the film, came off excellently. I thought it fizzled a bit though when the more dynamic members of the group left the room, and the last interaction between the two final contestants veers sharply towards schlocky romance. Ironically though, despite your championing of the setting Scott, I think that the final shot (which leaves the confines of the building) was far and away the most interesting of the film and lent itself to many different interpretations: for example I'm not so sure the film was as anti-corporate as it seems.

SCOTT: I agree that the last shot of the film does present the negative after effects of the rioting, yet I think the eventual winner's decision to return back up the elevator is equally telling of the filmmaker's message. The world of the Dekia Corporation is completely cut off from the world outside, and the ambiguity of its purpose emphasises the frivolity of such corporate endeavours. The final shot does leave one wondering and questioning long after the film has finished, something that not many films are capable of doing. In fact all the way through the film I found myself considering several ideas I normally don't associate with sitting in the cinema. I am also a sucker for hypothetical philosophical discussions such as the questions put to the candidates here. I was also impressed by the clever use of English and French in the film, which again added an interesting flavour. Although the premise seems simple at first, The Grönholm Method is an intricate, thought-provoking film.

CHRIS: I would agree with those adjectives in moderation I think: I saw the film in the end as a remarkably verbose and engaging version of "Big Brother", but with the same shortcomings as that television show. I didn't believe that these characters were the people they pretended to be, and thus the human engagement was a bit missing for me. And as for any sort of philosophical undercurrent, perhaps in the faux-chardonnay-sipping style but to be honest the 'ideas' they were throwing around seemed to be a bit akin to the sort of horrible daytime TV platitudes rather than any sort of thought-provoking drama. Even the script didn't take most of the questions seriously I don't think, treating them more as an opportunity for some funny lines (albeit some very amusing moments) and drama. And much like "Big Brother", I felt nothing for any of the characters despite their fine acting - the last three particularly. The elevator music throughout the film also grated eventually; I never thought I'd hear Nino Rota arranged that way. In the end, The Grönholm Method is a fine piece of ensemble acting caught in a film whose techincal precision and interest perhaps belongs on a stage more than on screen.

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SCOTT:

Little Miss Sunshine

The dysfunctional family in Little Miss Sunshine (Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, Steve Carell, Paul Dano and Toni Collete) who take to the road heading to California and a beauty pagaent for their young daughter Olive, a slightly deluded and chubby seven year old, coached by her unorthodox grandfather. She goes on to do battle with the airbrushed Californian beauties, but only after a sidesplitting road trip.

CHRIS: We opened our account at the Sydney Film Festival with the American comedy Little Miss Sunshine, mainly on the strength of a cast including Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear and Steve Carell. It's a tenderly made film, with echoes of all sorts of past great American films, from the National Lampoon series all the way to recent efforts like The Squid and the Whale. However, this film really struck a chord with me, much more so than those other films.

SCOTT: In the gaudy surreal setting of the State Theatre Little Miss Sunshine proved to be an interesting, quirky experience. The film, whilst often hilariously funny, did have its limitations. The characters seemed unneccessarily outlandish, none more so than the crackpot, pornography-and-drug-addicted Grandpa, played by the great Alan Arkin. I also felt the opening was somewhat contrived, forcing this family together into a Kombi van for no other reason than it serviced the plot of the movie. A certain reality was forsaken in the pursuit of laughs.

CHRIS: The grandpa was great wasn't he... I had no problem with the quirks really, it seemed to me that they were each believeable as characters in their own right, and I was ready to go along with them in that ridiculous car. Perhaps the film was supposed to be more whimisical and less realistic? Some of the jokes I agree were a bit overdone, but no matter how many times they had to push and jump into that car it still would have cracked me up. More seriously, I thought the film had some important points about growing up and all that guff: it covered a lot of thematic ground without necessarily beating the audience about the head. Steve Carell was particularly good in this capacity as the suidical, gay uncle.

SCOTT: Yeah Steve Carell was good in what was really a dramatic role, as opposed to his 'acting' in the semi-trailer smash-up that was The 40 Year Old Virgin. The teenage son Dwayne, played by Paul Dano, did irritate me at times. How many teenagers have you met who take a vow of silence because of Nietzche, because they want to get into the airforce, only to then find out anticlimatically that they are colourblind? You can just see the writer sitting around, having a stream of consciousness along the lines of: 'Hmmmm.....I think we need a teenage son....with teenage angst.......because teenagers have angst.....but I need to make him quirky.......hey I did a thesis on Nietzche and Proust at college......how can I work that in.... Luckily (or unluckily) it meant Paul Dano didn't really have to act at all for most of the film, up until the trademark outburst on the side of the road. Surely you don't agree Chris?

CHRIS: I thought the Paul Dano character was definately the weakest in the film, and particularly the moment when he discovered his colour-blindness was the worst handled I thought. The Nietzschean vow of silence had me in stiches, but I'll give it to you it was unconvincing perhaps when approached from a logical point of view. To be honest Scott, whatever you can say about the characterisations, I think the script hangs together with some genuinely witty moments, gentle and unobstrusive camera work that really complemented the style of the film. I haven't laughed this much in the cinema for a long while (full credit to Kinnear and Collette who provide career highlight performances, not to mention the young actress playing Olive) and I think if you're willing to be taken into the film as I was, there is so much more to enjoy in Little Miss Sunshine than your average American indie offering.

SCOTT: I agree that it is mostly an enjoyable film, but I still have minor reservations when I look back at it as a whole. Perhaps my expectations are too high for what is an unassuming, fun little picture. The end is particularly hilarious and cringe-worthy. I also having nothing but praise for the fantastic music throughout, if only major Hollywood films took as much effort to create a distinctive style and feel. Overall I was pleasantly satisfied with Little Miss Sunshine.

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