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The Lookout

I’ve been trying to look back at films I’ve missed this year, and I believe the Lookout is a fantastic way to start. What a film – it combines a thriller with a real human element about it, and the execution of the script is perfect. There are one or two flaws in it, but there are hardly noticeable in this fantastically written, directed and acted movie.

The movie begins with a scene where Chris Pratt (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is driving along with his girlfriend and a couple of friends of his, and they get into an accident after some reckless driving. He sustains an injury – a brain injury, we’re not told exactly what it is, but its something that makes him incapable of keeping track of things. We are fast forwarded to 4 years after the accident, and life has changed dramatically for him – he attends a centre dedicated to those who have suffered the same injury, he sees a therapist, he works as a janitor in a bank, and he now lives with a blind man, Lewis (played by Jeff Daniels to perfection). His family now treats him differently – though with the same love – just that he fails to realise this. He’s unhappy, and one day he meets Gary Spargo (played by Matthew Goode), and befriends him. He stumbles upon a plot by Gary and his friends to rob a bank, and he joins in on it, only to pull out of it later.

It sounds like an extremely simple storyline, but what works for me in this movie is the complexity of the characters. We have an hour or so dedicated to building up what Chris used to have, what he does now and how it differs. We empathise with him, and although he tries so hard to make it better for himself, ultimately, what he did in the past will always haunt him forever.

The role of Chris is acted out perfectly by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He plays the character at the right note – he shows anger when he needs to, and his facial expression while reflecting on his past – is acted wonderfully. He paints a portrait of a man here who’s still carrying his past with him, and allowing it to bring him down. What the movie does so well is not to say that he should put that behind him, but rather, accept that it’s a part of him. I think, at this moment, his performance is almost equivalent to that of Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson. Superb.

The rest of the cast does fantastically here – Jeff Daniels as Lewis is not just another wise man – he’s obnoxious, and he may not at times be the perfect role model, but he’s nevertheless a father figure to Chris. Anyone else might have played his role like a lecturing fool, but Daniels creates just more than that type of character here. Matthew Goode also executes his role as the villain to perfection. He has this certain chill and untrustworthy look about him.

If I have to point out any flaws, it’ll probably be how one or two things in the movie happen a bit too conveniently for me, but that shouldn’t really dampen the fact that Scott Frank (who wrote and directed this movie) has created something wonderful here.

The Lookout is not about just a bank heist, but more about the characters that surround it. The script requires a perfect execution from the actors and actresses to pull it off, and boy, don’t the actors and actresses here do a fantastic job.

Rating: 4.2/5

Written by Kevin Lau

Ratatouille

Labeling an animation as Pixar has the same effect as Scarlett Johansson in lingerie on a DVD cover – it makes it an instant must see. But far from being just another feel good comedy rolled off the production line, Ratatouille takes a fresh idea, garnished with humour, and executes it beautifully.

Remy, a rat who is particular about his food, works as a sweet conceit, and coupled with Linguine, a cack-handed garbage boy, form a culinary dream team. The main course of such a story must of course be the laughter, and this was not lacking; indeed it was cleverly constructed, well paced and managed to stay out of les toilettes. Villain and food critic Anton Ego (Peter O’Toole) brought out elements darkness and drama to strike a fine balance. The characters may have been a little extreme; Ego, a little too melodramatic, Skinner (Ian Holm), a little too schizoid, Linguine, a little too clumsy. But there was one character which could not be overdone, a homicidal maniac of a sous-chef Collette, whose violent tendencies worked wonders in the already perilous kitchen environment.

Given its Pixar watermark, Ratatouille has very little to say about love, at least in the romantic sense. It does, however, speak volumes about passion, pursuing dreams, and savouring every mouthful of life’s experiences, so to speak. And whilst the other themes of family ties and corporate greed fall rather flat, the resonant love of food and its concomitant joie de vivre keep the characters, and myself, going along quite nicely.

Visually, I was thunderstruck by the progress animation has made. Ratatouille shows that colour and detail are now at the director’s whim, to commanded exquisitely onto a digital canvas. I have never imagined that an animation could hold such a filmic quality, with admittedly cartoonish characters brought to life by all one might expect of modern live action cinema . The elegant use of depth of field and racked focus gave a Lost in Translation look to a rat in Paris, and the light and shadows painted a piece de resistance.

Ratatouille is thoroughly enjoyable, and, for an animation, earns from me two rather unusual allocades; it is both wonderously cinematic and delightfully non-retarded. Grab your date and go!

Rating: 4.0/5

Written by Christopher See