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FILM Rory Kiberd Tom Lordan Michael McDermott Sha
ne O’Reilly illustration: Dermot Flynn Marriage Story Director: Noah Baumbach Talent: Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver. Laura Dern, Alan Alda, Ray Liotta Release: 15 November “I realized, I never really come alive by myself. I was just feeding his aliveness.” – Nicole (Scarlet Johansson) reflects on a divorce from Charlie (Adam Driver) in Noah Baumbach’s most substantial work yet. We open on married couple, Nicole and Charlie Barber, enumerating everything they love about each other over a montage of daily domestic moments. But this is no twee romance story, for they are on the cusp of getting divorced. They’ve written this cutesy list at the behest of a mediator helping them initiate divorce proceedings. Charlie Barber is a meticulous stage director running a theatre company in New York, where Nicole is the leading actor in many productions. Still, she has become tired of always playing second fiddle to Charlie’s unwavering ambitions. Initially, they decide to keep things amicable, seemingly happy to keep things split down the middle. That’s until Nicole takes their son Henry back to LA, and starts shooting a pilot. Charlie has always put off the idea of returning to LA, and now it’s going to be a major sticking point in their divorce. Already accomplished actors, both Driver and Johansson do their best work here. Driver plays Charlie as finicky and self-absorbed, but ultimately kind-hearted and respectful. He is very likely a proxy for Baumbach. Admittedly, the film probably favours the male perspective, or at least renders Charlie’s perspective more sympathetic, his plight seeming more soulful. That said, any tendentiousness is hardly intentional, with strong efforts made to understand the complexity of Nicole’s predicament too. Flirting with being more aggressive and assertive, Nicole is haunted by her ambivalence. In one staggering scene, we see Johansson giving clipped responses, smiling thinly at Charlie before leaving the room and breaking down, no longer able to maintain this pretence of coldness. Both characters are flawed, but are essentially good people, and what they are about to go through is going to bring out the worst in them. Meeting Gorbachev Director: Werner Herzog Release: 8 November The idea of a well meaning Russian president who was pushing for communist reform and nuclear disarmament might seem like fiction to a certain generation, but once upon a time he actually existed. Born to a poor farming family, Gorbachev would scale the political ladder of the Communist party to become the General Secretary and then President of the Soviet Union, all the while promoting his preferences for anti-stalinist reforms, with an eventual lean towards social democracy. A man with an eye on the long game, he favoured a close relationship with Reagan’s America and a unity with Europe, a vision he called the ‘Common European Home.’ His stance on political transparency and economic restructuring aligned with his dogged stance on the abandonment of nuclear weaponry heralded not only the reunification of Germany but also put an end to the Cold War. Werner Herzog, with his unmistakable thick German accent and that peculiar way he has of carefully pronouncing English words, plays not only narrator here but also interviewer. Sitting across from him, Gorbachev looks his years but is crystal clear when rewinding back time and scrutinising the political machine. Both talk amicably back and forth, each occasionally fiddling with their in-ear translators and Herzog allows brief lulls in conversation for the 88-year-old to process and answer. Gorbachev is forthright and honest, often taking his time, often leaning in when stressing a point. It’s an engaging set-up. We are under no illusions here; Herzog deeply admires the man and hence the questions are mannered and safe in their prodding. There are a few golden nuggets of information to do with Gorbachev’s wife, Margaret Thatcher, the Reykjavík Summit and the full story behind his unfortunately short tenure as president, with Yeltsin waiting in the wings. But as curious as Herzog always is, it’s a pity he never throws Putin’s name into the ring. Regardless, Meeting Gorbachev is a fascinating and humanising portrayal of a pivotal figure in world history. SOR A Dog Called Money Director: Seamus Murphy Talent: PJ Harvey Release: 22 November Part travelogue, part studio-album documentary, A Dog Called Money is a hybrid piece of cinema. The award-winning Irish photographer Seamus Murphy travels widely for his work, recording his experiences wherever he goes. The British musician PJ Harvey is a close friend, and she joins him on one such trip, travelling between Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington D.C. Her experience leads to an album, The Hope Six Demolition Project, with lyrics and conceptual motifs drawn directly from moments the two shared. Harvey, as artistically adventurous as she is musically ambitious, wants to do something new, so she arranges for her album to be recorded in an installation at the Somerset House in London. The public watch through one-way mirrors as Harvey and her band-members get to work, and Murphy documents the process from inside. The film is an intuitive exchange between memory and art. We oscillate between the studio and the pair travelling, with Harvey acting as the bridge, her songs weaving between shots of the events that inspired her and the music’s live recording. Sometimes she reads aloud notes she made while travelling, spoken phrases that are closer to poetry than diary entries. Harvey is an excellent protagonist for such a unique project. Her slight frame, expressive face and raw musical talent provide a stable current throughout, steering the narrative through diverse situations with ease. And yet, many of the film’s most powerful moments come without Harvey present, drawn together by Murphy’s forensic eye for local colour. In one scene a swaying circle of 30-40 Afghani men breathe in controlled rhythm, the hoarseness of their exhalations and inhalations forming a strange but compelling chorus. Is it a religious ceremony? A musical performance? The facts are left tantalisingly mysterious. An enjoyable lyrical voyage, and required viewing for fans of Harvey. TL Dazzling work also comes from the supporting players. Baumbach is fantastic with an ensemble cast. Laura Dern is sublime as an acquisitive lawyer, like a praying mantis. Alan Alda is hilarious as a rumpled, honest-to-goodness lawyer that is idealistic enough to believe in the truth as the guiding light in divorce cases - “You remind me of me after my second divorce,” he says paternally to Charlie. Despite the subject matter sounding glum on paper, this film is funnier than most comedies. There isn’t a scene that doesn’t fizzle, but the humour feels embedded in real tangible world, unlike some of Baumbach’s more airless work. And just like in real life, some of the funniest moments come in the wake of real heartbreak. The comedy/drama ratio is so perfectly calibrated that this film never becomes a drag, even when it’s charting some very raw emotional terrain - one particular confrontation between the couple becomes gut-wrenchingly caustic. The suspense here isn’t about whether they will get back together or not, but rather whether they’ll be able to retain the goodwill and affection they still feel for each other while under the auspices of their grasping, viper lawyers. We are rooting for a relationship that’s already over to win the day, hoping to see glimmers of what made this relationship work. This is Baumbach’s most substantial work yet; he is his generation’s Woody Allen. He was always a talented comedy writer, but like Allen with Annie Hall, Marriage Story marks a turning point, which sees him move beyond mere self-referential navel-gazing to something deeper. Though Baumbach is drawing from his own divorce to Jennifer Jason Leigh, he succeeds in making this universal while remaining true to the specificity of the characters he clearly loves. RK 76