Thank You For Smoking

CHRIS: "Michael Jordan plays ball. Charles Manson kills people. I talk." So says Nick Naylor, bizarrely the hero of the new film Thank You For Smoking, directed by Jason Reitman (son to Ivan Ghostbusters Reitman, though don't mention it too much). And what a brave and hilarious decision it was to make a film in which we're actively asked to sympathise with a man who makes his living telling people how great cigarettes are - chief spokesman for Big Tobacco. But the lines come thick and fast, and this is satire of the highest order, right up there with Wag the Dog for spot-on satire. Like that film, there are times when the film soars, but it is a victim also of its cracker pacing at the start in that it begins to drag in the middle. Luckily for this film, the cynicism and wit returns for the ending (the lack thereof being what soured the Levinson film) and it goes out on a very high note. The performances are uniformly excellent, and it is a very pleasurable film experience.

Chris: Four stars.

Full review to follow...

Embers (Sydney Theatre Company)

Annie Byron as one of the ensemble cast in the very Australian story of Embers. A piece of documentary theatre telling the story of the bushfires that changed the region of northern Victoria forever, the play is a coproduction between the Sydney Theatre Company and HotHouse Theatre, based in Albury-Wodonga.

CHRIS: Review coming soon!

Sophie Scholl - The Last Days

Sophie Scholl (Julia Jentsch) and her brother Hans (Fabian Hinrichs) are led away from the campus of their Munich university after being caught distributing anti-Nazi leaflets telling the truth about the seige of Stalingrad. Sophie's interrogation - for the first time reconstructed from the Stasi files - by Robert Mohr (Gerald Alexander Held) and her poignant defiance form the basis of the film that follows.

CHRIS: This film, which we saw as part of the German Film Festival, has happily got a commercial release in Australia. And it is very deserving of such exposure: the emotionally devastating film was one of the best films of the year. I'm always perversely interested in death penalty films, and although this one gives away the conclusion in its title, it's an admirably muted and restrained film. It's a pity that we saw it too long ago to provide a full review, but several moments have stuck with me: Sophie (the extraordinarily good Julia Jentsch) throwing their pamphlets down the atrium of the University; her taking on the Nazi prosecutor towards the end of the film; the final moments of the film; and the wonderfully emotional photo montage that accompanies the closing credits. It was such a pity in my mind that a few moments were ruined by an intrusive soundtrack (though I know Scott disagrees with me on all but one occasion), and there was one moment of spectacularly bad subtitle placing. On the whole though, this is an excellent film that comes highly recommended.

CHRIS: