Posts Tagged ‘Kim Cattrall’

The Ghost Writer

Director: Roman Polanski

Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Ewan McGregor, Timothy Hutton, Jim Belushi, Olivia Williams, Tom Wilkinson, Morgane Polanski

Polanski’s dark and almost claustrophobic thriller The Ghost Writer adapted from the novel by Robert Harris author of Enigma and Pompeii is an absolute gem reminiscent of his earlier classics like Bitter Moon, Chinatown and the Oscar winning film The Pianist.

Dark and claustrophobic

Balancing a great script with tight directing and creepy use of  stark isolated locations, Polanski keeps the viewer of the Ghost Writer on the edge of their seat.

Highly versatile and underrated Ewan McGregor is wonderfully human as the title character and Olivia Williams shines as the ousted Prime Minister‘s Adam Lang’s wife Ruth with a witty, dark and altogether complex performance which gives tremendous weight to the concept of behind every powerful man lies an equally powerful woman. Pierce Brosnan takes the part of Adam Lang, the Prime Minister with a combination of his charm, ego and slight menace which brought him acclaim in his recent more memorable films Matador and Remember Me.

What is truly thrilling is Polanski’s homage to Alfred Hitchcock making a political and social thriller without compromising on the story and the intricacies of the characters, whilst retaining the claustrophobic atmosphere of a once powerful leader being forced into a lavish exile. Sounds Familiar? As I returned from watching this stunning thriller, Polanski was released from house arrest in Gstaad, Switzerland which is an absolute relief, as it would be a tragedy to keep a filmmaker of this calibre under confinement.

Polanski’s distinctly European perspective on the collusion of Britain and America in foreign wars in the Middle East is his greatest asset  highlighting how a Prime Minister can fall from grace and become a virtual outcast is brilliant in his brittle and subversive vision of how corrupting power and influence can become.

Visually The Ghost Writer is sleek, dark and elegant whilst reminding the viewer that decisions of great international magnitude are often made in secluded locations like Cape Cod or St Andrews far away from the distant nations which will be affected by those choices. For to give the story, location or plot away would be ludicrous, suffice to say… see The Ghost Writer and relish in a masterful director’s return to form with a cinematic homage to the political thriller crackling with suspense, wit and utterly thought-provoking down to the shattering final sequence.

Carrie and the Big Apple

It was inevitable that the hit HBO television series, Sex and the City, about the adventures of four young and hip New York women based on the book by Candace Bushnell, be turned into a slick and stylish big screen adaptation. The sensational series, which originally aired from 1998 to 2004, was a weekly dose of risqué 30-minute episodes consisting of the sexual and social tribulations of four single New York career girls, which become the benchmark for all that, was chic, stylish and witty.

Sarah Jessica Parker’s fame was secured when she brought to life the lead character of New York columnist, Carrie Bradshaw’s trials and musings on love, life and looking for the eternally elusive Mr. Right. Instead, she found herself with Mr. Big while her friends were also grappling with the feminine challenges of balancing successful careers, hot relationships and a fabulous social life, set in the ever-inspiring backdrop of New York’s affluent Manhattan, that densely populated and exclusive enclave of high-fashion, infidelity and just sheer opulence.

Sex, a basic human right, as essential as food and survival coupled with the City, the phenomenal urbanization of the planet’s economically active cool trendsetters, as symbolized by the deliciously incandescent and scrumptious Big Apple, the city that never sleeps. The series, intelligently written and punctuated with scandalous scenes of outrageous nudity, gorgeous clothes and designer living, was a sure-fire success and defined a generation of style. Secured in this witty and lavish tradition, the film version of Sex and the City is a fashionable fable of the four far from virginal forty-year old women, with the original actresses reprising their roles as Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda, who not only take on New York City, but the Mexican Riviera, Malibu and Beverly Hills, as they all in turn battle with the challenges of managing relationships with men, impending marriages, maternity and maintaining a wardrobe from the essential Manolo Blahnik shoes to Prada purses and fabulous outfits by Dior, Vivienne Westwood and Gucci.

With Patricia Field, the costume designer of the equally spectacular The Devil Wears Prada, responsible for the outfits, Sex and the City is a slightly over-long, but nevertheless fashion-frenzied feast of style, femininity and refreshingly raunchy, air-brushed film version of the fabulous four, written and directed with strong literary and filmic references by Michael Patrick King, elevating it above the average barrage of chic-flicks, that have hatched from Hollywood in the past decade.

So, will men enjoy it? Yes, I think the quality of the film coupled with its sophisticated tales of urban relationships set in one of the world’s richest city, will certainly appeal to anyone with a mature sensibility. All I can hope for is a film version of the male equivalent, the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning series, Entourage, about a band of thespian brothers attempting to make it make big in Hollywood.

For the price of a movie ticket and a couple of hours, Sex and the City will indulgently transfer you to a world of sophistication, desire and elegance, that most people only aspire to and merely wish for, while whetting your appetite for luscious bodies and the slick designer clothes that cover them.

Sex and the City 2

Besides the hype, the clothes and the glamour, Sex and the City 2 is a Feminist Film about the rights of Minorities all over the world from Connecticut to the Middle East and equally important the right to a freedom of expression…

The Fab Foursome set free in the Desert

As for Sex and the City 2 being a Feminist film… definitely… there is a rather comic scene when the foursome from Manhattan are riding camels in the Arabian desert. This signifies the power of woman owning the screen in an expansive horizon and inverts any traditional stereotypical images of men riding across blazing deserts as seen in Hidalgo and Lawrence of Arabia, there is a pun in the film, discreet but hilarious!!!

Rights of Minorities.

When a film starts off with a gay wedding in Connecticut and ends with the veiled women of Abu Dhabi assisting Carrie and friends, you cannot ignore the director making light of serious issues and more importantly the rights of minorities from gay men and women who are not allowed to marry in 45 states in the US to women under strict religious rule in the 7 emirate states of the UAE. From Liza Minelli doing a number at the gay marriage of the year, swans and all, to Samantha Jones, barelegged and voluptuous being hounded in the Souk by a mob of Angry Arab men… Sex and the City 2, despite its veneer of glamour is making some significant and controversial statements about the rights of minorities and those frequently persecuted, not to mention that the allure of wealth is always as temporary and illusive as that of fame. That moment on the red carpet with Samantha Jones and Miley Cyrus is priceless!!!

Sex and City 2 emphasizes the variety of human relationships and how society should not govern those relationships for all are as unique and complex as the individuals which comprise them. What works for some, does not work for others. Most relationships make up the diversity of 21st century society, so lets respect the individuality of all to enjoy an equal and free society.

In between the telling issues, the jokes and the diluted sex scenes compared to the first film, there are of course the fashions. Patricia Field costume designer outdoes her talents with some great creations particularly Samantha Jones gold and silver creation at the premier and Miranda’s revealing cocktail dress in the opening sequence.

Sex and the City 2 is for the liberated, the free and more importantly the open minded who love to enjoy the essence of being fabulous whether in New York or Abu Dhabi, Omaha or Bloemfontein, Sao Paulo or Barcelona. The winning point on this sequel, though difficult to achieve is the witty dialogue which is to the point, smart and sophisticated. Lets hope Michael Patrick King can get the girls together for a third installment to make up a delicious and fantastic Trilogy set in even more exotic cities like Cape Town, Hong Kong or Paris.