#Bookvsfilmclub update: Take note before you go to sleep...

The current #bookvsfilmclub story is Before I Go to Sleep, based on the thrilling debut novel from SJ Watson and starring Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman and Mark Strong.

 

The film arrives in cinemas on 5th September. For more information on how to get involved, check out Novelicious or follow @bookvsfilmclub on Twitter.

DVD review - The Way Back

My latest DVD rental sees a long line of incredible actors break out of a war prison and walk home... not that great you might think until you realise they will have to walk for weeks before reaching civilisation and through uninhabitable lands of snow, wind and desert. Oh and they're low on food and water. The film, inspired supposedly by a true story, stars Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess, Mark Strong and Saoirse Ronan and sees them on an epic walk for survival.

Janusz (Sturgess) has just arrived at the Siberian gulag after being falsely accused of being a spy. His wife has been tortured into confessing all and he knows only he can forgive her. So, not long after he arrives he manages to enlist a few people to help him escape and join him on the long walk back.

Cinematically, the film is staggering as they walk through blizzards, forests, lakes, deserts and everything in between. The acting is great, if a little bizarre with all the eastern European accents (except for Ed Harris - who I envisage rather comically just flat-out refusing to do any accent but his own). It's a long arduous film, to reflect their journey as the group gets smaller and smaller.

I imagine this film would have been much more epic on the big screen, as the shots of landscapes are simply breath-taking (akin to those of Lord of the Rings though far more harsh than picturesque).

The real let-down is the final scene which is so overly sentimental it just didn't fit with the rest of the film. Other than that, worth a watch if you like the slightly depressing.

3/5 FOBLES

Review - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Based on the book by John Le Carré and directed by Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the story of a mole in MI6 during the Cold War. Veteran George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is forced out of retirement to investigate and uncover the mole and takes Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch) as his assistant, forcing him to spy on his own kind - something which does not sit too well with Guillam.

With a mind-blowingly brilliant cast including Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Mark Strong and Ciarán Hinds, this film was always going to be brilliant. It is, I would say, a perfect film.  The cast are flawless, the dialogue captivating and brilliantly executed, the plot is complex and clever, the score is dark and subtle, the locations are stunning and the era is depicted with incredible accuracy from the visual outfits, hairstyles and cars to the mannerisms and attitudes regarding sexism in the workplace. (Colin Firth, rather amusingly, actually rings his bike bell to perve on the new girl in the office).

In its perfection, however, lies a problem. It's almost TOO good. You don't have a loud moment in the cinema to pick up your popcorn and eat. It's such a quiet film, there is never an appropriate moment to make a noise. You hear every cough, every sneeze, every shuffle in a chair. And there is so much talking you cannot let your mind wander for a second for fear of missing a vital piece of information. So who is the mole in MI6? It doesn't really matter. If you are waiting for the big dramatic reveal, you may just find yourself disappointed. This is not that sort of film. It isn't about leading up to the ending. It IS the lead-up to the ending. So don't watch it waiting for it to get good. Every second of it is good, and enjoy each one as it takes place.


4/5 FOBLES