A Dangerous Method; The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel; Young Adult; Hunky Dory
"Experiences like this, however painful, are necessary..." With his hermetically sealed adaptation of Don DeLillo's Cosmopolis merrily – and deliberately – baffling R-Patz fans in cinemas, David Cronenberg's similarly stagey, talky psycho-drama A Dangerous Method (2011, LionsGate, 15) presents itself for further analysis from the (dis)comfort of the home-viewing couch. Based on Christopher Hampton's play, significantly entitled The Talking Cure, this dramatises the birth of psychoanalysis as a tense three-way relationship between Freud, Jung and patient-turned-lover Sabina Spielrein, whose contortive hysterics fire the attentions of both doctors.
Lacking the visceral punch of Crash, the sensuality of Eastern Promises, or the passion of A History of Violence, A Dangerous Method offers a strangely cerebral view of sexuality – cold, clinical, and notably (perversely?) lacking in eroticism. With heavyweights Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender matching each other in the battle for theoretical supremacy, it would be easy for Keira Knightley to become the weak link in the dramatic chain. Yet the fact that her jaw-jutting (and clearly heavily researched) performance strikes such a jarring actorly note reflects more upon Cronenberg's direction than on Knightley, who seems to be giving the film-maker exactly what he wants. Indeed, like Cosmopolis, it appears that – like it or loathe it – A Dangerous Method is the auteurist film Cronenberg wanted it to be, give or take a few financial restraints that result in some hokey but forgivable CGI scene-setting. As such, it sits within the canon of later-period works such as Spider in which his attention seems to have shifted from the more physical pleasures of the body to the loftier reaches of the intellect – perhaps bypassing the heart en route.
The opposite is true of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011, Fox, 12), which goes straight for the heartstrings with surprisingly rewarding results. Despite the manifold opportunities for knuckle-chewing cultural tourism, John Madden's film of Deborah Moggach's novel (via screenwriter Ol Parker) deftly sidesteps such potential pitfalls, as a group of mismatched Brits opt to spend their financially downsized retirements abroad. Judi Dench is in rip-roaring form as a widow embracing the possibilities of a new life, Tom Wilkinson underplays beautifully as a company man finally facing up to long-buried responsibilities, and Maggie Smith is... well, Maggie Smith. Meanwhile, rising star Dev Patel more than holds his own against such stalwart presences as Bill Nighy and Celia Imrie, reminding us that this deserves so much more than the "Saga cinema" label lazily slapped on it by its detractors.
Having followed up the Oscar-winning Juno with the sorely underrated horror satire Jennifer's Body, screenwriter Diablo Cody reunites with director Jason Reitman for Young Adult (2011, Paramount, 12), in which a writer of formulaic teen fiction returns to her hometown in a desperate bid to reclaim her high-school sweetheart by destroying his apparently happy marriage. Charlize Theron is impressively cracked as the former queen bee who brags about escaping her Minnesota roots, but whose adolescent ways betray a fatal inability to outgrow her schooldays – even when everyone around her has clearly moved on. Astringent, melancholic, and occasionally a little bit tragic, this pulls off the complex trick of presenting a deeply unsympathetic anti-heroine whose mid-life misery drives the self-destructive plot; hats off, then, to Patton Oswalt, who performs his mediating role as the bullied "hate crime guy" to a tee, thus allowing Theron to be as every bit as unlikable as she likes.
Plaudits, too, to director Marc Evans, whose Hunky Dory (2011, Entertainment One, 12) turns a high-school musical into a cause for celebration. Set in Swansea in the summer of 1976, this follows the coming-of-age fortunes of a group of youngsters putting on a rock-opera reboot of The Tempest, replete with some authentically impressive versions of period pop hits. Imagine (if you can) Glee without the saccharine and with added social grit and you're in the right ballpark. As for Evans, he gets the best out of a very impressive young cast, all of whom graduate with honours.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jun/24/mark-kermode-cronenberg-dvd-round-up
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