Hereditary - 2018 film review

Hereditary was the first film to be written and directed by Ari Aster. He followed up with Midsommar, which I found slow-moving but very striking. The same can be said about his debut. It's over two hours long, and it's not without flaws, but it packs a punch - several punches, in fact. And like Midsommar, it's clearly superior to your average horror film. Aster is an ambitious writer and director, and aiming high brings rewards.

The film begins in the aftermath of the death of Ellen, a matriarch who clearly exerted a profound and questionable influence over her daughter Annie (Toni Collette). Annie is a miniaturist, and her work gives Aster the opportunity for a number of haunting visual effects. She's married to Steve, a part played with great restraint by Gabriel Byrne. Steve is a psychiatrist, but the film doesn't give us much confidence in his professional skills. The couple have two children, 16 year old Peter and the rather weird 13 year old Ellen, who was devoted to her grandmother.

An incident occurs which is so shocking that I'm reluctant to give a spoiler, although this does inhibit my discussion of the film. Suffice to say that Aster's presentation of grief is compelling. Annie is befriended by an older woman called Joan (Ann Dowd, who was equally excellent in a very different role in the remake of Rebecca) and gets involved in the murky world of seances. 

Midsommar is a film that repays more than one viewing and the same is true of Hereditary. I didn't 'get' everything about either film first time around. Maybe that's my fault, a sign of lazy viewing, but I prefer to think that it's a tribute to Aster's skill and the depth of his vision as a storyteller. The endings of both films are, in some respects, over the top, but that's permissible in a horror film, and Aster is interested in something more important than cheap thrills. This is another haunting movie and I'll be interested to watch it again.

 

 

Defence of the Realm - 1986 film review

I missed Defence of the Realm on its original release, just over 30 years ago, and I've only just caught up with it. The film is a conspiracy thriller, well-written and acted, with a truly excellent cast. As I've mentioned before, I'm very interested in the art of structuring a thriller - the sort of thing that Lee Child does with apparently effortless ease - and the narrative here is enticingly contrived.

The action begins with two young tearaways, about whom we know nothing, being pursued in their (perhaps stolen) car. It seems they are about to be apprehended when the action switches to a classic newspaper "sting". A journalist is tipped off that a leading Labour MP is to be found in compromising circumstances rather reminiscent of the Profumo Scandal. The MP (played by Ian Bannen) resigns, and that seems to be that.

But the focus then switches to a team of investigative journalists. Hard-drinking Denholm Elliott plays Bayliss, an old chum of the MP; also working on the story is Mullen (Gabriel Byrne) who suspects that there's something fishy about the MP's exposure. His suspicions become more acute when Bayliss is found dead. Is it possible that he has been silenced? If so, by whom, and why?

Although the conspiracy deals with issues current in the mid-80s, this film is much less dated than one might expect. This is because the story, even in its more routine phases, benefits from very convincing performances, especially from everyone involved at the paper - including Fulton McKay, Frederick Treves, and Bill Paterson. Greta Scacchi also plays a key part in the unravelling of the mystery, and the dramatic conclusion. A fast-moving thriller, not exactly original, but well done.

Quirke - BBC One - TV review

Quirke, which began with the first of three episodes tonight, has an impeccable pedigree. The original books about the character, an Irish forensic pathologist working in the Fifties, are written by Man Booker prize winner John Banville (using the name Benjamin Black.) The screenplay came from Andrew Davies, one of the most notable writers of television scripts of the past forty years. And the cast, led by Gabriel Byrne as Quirke, was very strong, and included Michael Gambon.

Even so, on a wet Bank Holiday Sunday, Quirke wasn't exactly feelgood viewing. In fact, it made noirish old Hinterland (the fourth and last episode of which was excellent, by the way) look like sun-soaked Death in Paradise. The depressing mood didn't just come from the story, a grim affair about child trafficking. It was reinforced by the background music and, most of all, by the relentlessly dark lighting. All very gloomy.

But was it good television? Well, the story was based on Christine Falls, the first Black book, and one I enjoyed reading. I'm not sure how easy it would have been to follow for anyone who hadn't read the book. The pace seemed rather uneven, with quite a lot of action near the end, when the scene shifted from Ireland to Boston in the US, after some rather sluggish and borderline dull periods. The quality of those involved in producing this show guaranteed that I paid attention, but I think I'll reserve judgment on its success for another week.

There's been a lot of debate about Banville's attitude to crime fiction. His comments have been interpreted as being rather disrespectful towards genre fiction, although you can argue that he's right to be sceptical about the very idea of genre. There was a famous debate which I witnessed at Harrogate a few years ago where he crossed swords with Reginald Hill, and didn't win too many friends in the audience. Reg wasn't impressed, either, I think it's fair to say. But I was lucky enough to be commissioned to interview Banville for Mystery Scene, a few years ago, and in the course of two long telephone conversations, I found him engaging (after a rather guarded start) and not at all dismissive of crime stories. Yes, his tastes run to Simenon and the Americans rather than Christie and Sayers (and Hill, I suppose) but this is simply a matter of personal preference. The fact is, he's a gifted writer, and crime fiction can only gain if the world's finest novelists try their hand at it. My interview with him, by the way, is to be found on my website, in the articles section here. Lots of other stuff there, incidentally!