Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/269668
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 MARCH 2014 THIS WEEK 34 St James Cavalier Valletta Tel. 21 223200 The Butler (12) 20:45 Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom (12) 15:00 Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 The Lego Movie 3D (U) 10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00, 21:15 Cloudy with a Chance of Meat- balls 2 (U) 10:00, 12:05, 14:10, 16:15 12 Years a Slave (15) 18:20, 21:10 RoboCop (12A) 10:30, 13:20, 15:55, 18:35, 21:10 Philomena (12A) 16:15, 18:20, 20:50 August: Osage County (15) 10:30, 13:45, 16:15, 18:45, 21:15 The Monuments Men (12A) 10:30, 13:30, 16:00, 18:25, 20:50 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 That Awkward Moment (15) 14:20, 16:30, 18:40, 21:10, 23:15 All is Lost (12A) 14:05, 16:20, 18:50, 21:15, 23:30 The Wolf of Wall Street (18) 14:05, 17:40, 21:15 The Monuments Men (12A) 14:00, 16:20, 18:45, 21:15, 23:45 Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (12A) 14:05, 16:30, 18:45, 21:05, 23:20 Lone Survivor (15) 14:30, 18:15, 21:10, 23:45 The Hobbit : The Desolation of Smaug in 2D (12A) 14:25, 18:00, 21:10 Captain Phillips (12A) 14:25, 18:00, 20:50, 23:30 American Hustle (15) 14:30, 18:05, 20:50, 23:35 Robocop (12A) 14:20, 18:10, 20:55, 23:25 Mandela – Long Walk to Freedom (12A) 14:20, 18:10, 21:05 Her (15) 14:20, 18:10, 20:45, 23:20 Frozen (2D) (U) 14:00, 16:20, 18:40, 20:55, 23:10 Delivery Man (12A) 14:10, 18:35 I, Frankenstein 2D (12A) 16:30, 21:00, 23:10 The LEGO Movie (3D) (U) 14:10, 16:25, 18:45, 21:00, 23:15 12 Years a Slave (15) 14:30, 18:00, 20:45, 23:30 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 Lone Survivor (15) 10:30, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:05 The Lego Movie 3D (U) 10:35, 13:35, 15:45, 17:45, 20:40 RoboCop (12A) 10:35, 13:35, 16:05, 18:35, 21:10 The Monuments Men (12A) 10:40, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 The Secret life of Walter Mitty (PG) 10:45, 13:40, 16:05, 18:35, 20:55 The Counselor (18) 10:50, 13:45, 16:10, 18:35, 21:05 Frozen (U) 10:55, 14:00, 16:20, 18:40, 20:55 TALES of survival are a Holly- wood favourite. You don't have to look too far for proof of this, either. Last year's Life of Pi – de- tailing the existential journey of a boy stranded in the ocean with a vicious tiger – was an Academy Awards favourite last year; as space-bound nail-biter Gravity is this year around (how success- ful the Sandra Bullock/George Clooney vehicle inevitably turns out to be will be revealed to us to- morrow morning). And as even the success of mis- ery-porn epic 12 Years a Slave proves, audiences tend to gobble these things up with glee. The 'trend' is arguably near-ancient (Robinson Crusoe anyone? To go back even further: The Odys- sey?). What's at the root of the obsession, I wonder? Just a basic attraction to adventure? Or is it all about the appeal of watching people who are in trouble attempt to squirm out of a tight spot? Whatever the reasons behind the enduring popularity of the genre, its most recent example at the cinema certainly doesn't pan- der to audience expectation or ac- cessibility. Operating on a pinprick of a minimalist idea, director J.C. Chandor's All is Lost leaves Rob- ert Redford's unnamed protago- nist moored in the Indian Ocean and… that's it. No really: the film's only character wakes up to find that a submerged shipping container has ripped through his boat's hull, and that it's f looding fast. With nary any knowledge about why the man is on the boat in the first place, the film them proceeds to detail the subsequent eight days in excruciating, dialogue- free detail. In fact, we are never even let in on why, exactly, the man was on that particular trip in the first place. Save for an enigmatic slice of narration in the film's opening frame, we get absolutely nothing on the character's biography and no sense of his motivations. Against the haunting image of the blood red culprit-shipping container in twilight, Redford matter-of-factly addresses an un- specified recipient. "I'm sorry. I know that means lit- tle at this point, but I am. I tried. I think you would all agree that I tried. To be true, to be strong, to be kind, to love, to be right, but I wasn't. All is lost." Save for a few desperate cries and expletives, that's the only time we hear the protagonist's voice throughout the entire dura- tion of the 106-minute film. This gaping void is the first, and argua- bly largest, challenge of this cine- matic endurance test. But it's also, arguably, its greatest strength. By refusing to furnish us with any character background, what we end up observing is a psycho- logical and social cipher: as far as we're concerned, he's not really a human being at this point – more of a poorly-equipped animal. This reduces our ability to sympathise with him to the barest, most im- mediate level, which has its ups and downs. It's trying on your pa- tience to observe someone whose social make-up you have no idea about amble around on a boat for the better part of two hours. But if you stick with it, what you'll get in the end is an admirably assured, vivid depiction of a man quite lit- erally weathered by nature. Redford, of course, has to take the lion's share of the credit for his efforts here. At 77, not only is the veteran actor a cosmetically impressive sight… the signs of age on his face – comparatively im- peccable as they may be – work to tell a story of their own. But the quietly simmering performance is not to be sniffed at. The consist- ency with which Redford presents his character's doomed fate is the real kicker here. Never once descending into sentimentality or succumbing to histrionics, he ekes out pity without openly ask- ing for it. If anything, a case could be made for the performance being too subdued, perhaps – for Redford and Chandor ultimately present- ing what is some sort of Platonic ideal of stoic determination. The film's overall quietness is key, however, and this even ap- plies to the surrounding natural landscape that, necessarily, suf- fuses the entire film. Scored to a sneakily moving soundtrack by Alexander Ebert (of the folk-pop outfit Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros), the seascape is a creature that could just as eas- ily have been filmed by Terrence Malick as Chandor. Often cruel but unfailingly beautiful too, it emphasises the protagonist's fra- gility throughout, and becomes a truly hypnotic presence as the film homes in on its final act, with Chandor's camera allowing itself to venture just below its surface. Perhaps this is a film whose longeurs will live more richly in the memory than they would be enjoyed as you watch the film for the very first time, but Chandor's effort is commendable for the sheer commitment to its mini- mal, central idea. In an age of fast jump-cuts and YouTube-friendly moments, it's refreshing – even humbling – to see a filmmaker execute a simple, evocative idea from start to finish. FILM IN CINEMAS TODAY By Teodor Reljic The old man and the sea ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ CRUISE LINER ★ ★ ★ ★ SHIP-SHAPE ★ ★ ★ ON A BOAT ★ ★ CAPSIZED ★ SHIPWRECKED This week's picks ADVENTURE THE MONUMENTS MEN Based on the true stor y of the greatest treasure hunt in histor y, The Monuments Men tells the tale of an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue ar tistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett. DRAMA HER Theodore Twombly makes his living writing touching, personal letters for other people. Hear tbroken after the end of a long relationship, he becomes intrigued with a new, advanced operating system. Upon initiating it, he is delighted to meet 'Samantha', a bright, female voice, who is insightful, sensitive and surprisingly funny. As her needs and desires grow, in tandem with his own, their friendship deepens into an eventual love for each other. Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson and Amy Adams. ANIMATION THE LEGO MOVIE This stor y follows Emmet, an ordinar y, rules-following, per fectly average LEGO mini-figure who is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinar y person and the key to saving the world. He is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant, a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously underprepared. Starring: Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman and Liam Neeson. ALL IS LOST (12) ★ ★ ★ ★ Robert Redford plays the sole – and unnamed – character in J.C. Chandor's lost-at-sea thriller