Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/618165
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 20 DECEMBER 2015 42 This Week 42 This Week IN CINEMAS TODAY St James Cavalier Valletta Tel. 21 223200 Bolshoi Ballet in Cinema – The Nutcracker 16:00 Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D (PG) 10:35, 14:30, 18:00, 21:00 By the Sea (15) 16:00, 18:35, 21:15 The Good Dinosaur (U) 10:20, 13:45, 16:10, 18:30 Spectre (12) 10:30, 14:30, 18:00, 21:00 Bridge of Spies (12) 20:50 Hunger Games Mockingjay Pt 2 (12) 10:25, 14:30, 18:00, 21:00 Christmas with the Coopers (12) 10:30, 13:40, 16:00, 18:25, 20:55 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D (PG) 11:00, 14:00, 14:30, 17:00, 18:00, 20:00, 20:55, 23:00 Spectre (12) 11:05, 14:25, 17:50, 21:05, 23:35 By the Sea (15) 14:30, 18:00, 20:55 Crimson Peak (15) 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15 Hotel Transylvania 2 (U) 14:00, 16:00, 18:00 Christmas with the Coopers (12) 11:30, 14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:05 Victor Frankenstein (15) 14:00, 16:25, 18:45, 21:10 Crimson Peak (15) 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15 Strange Magic (U) 11:30, 14:10, 16:30, 18:40 Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt 2 (12) 11:15, 14:20, 18:00, 20:55 The Good Dinosaur (U) 11:45, 14:05, 16:30, 18:50, 21:15 Bridge of Spies (12) 14:30, 18:00, 20:50, 23:40 Burnt (15) 14:05, 16:20, 18:35, 20:45 Black Mass (18) 20:50, 23:25 Maestro Mastrini – Live piano concert (PG) 16:00 The Vatican Museums 19:00 (3D), 21:00, 23:00 (3D) Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D (PG) 11:00, 14:00, 18:00, 21:00 Spectre (12) 11:00, 14:00, 18:00, 21:00 Christmas with the Coopers (12) 10:45, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 20:55 Victor Frankenstein (15) 10:40, 13:25, 15:50, 18:15, 21:00 By the Sea (15) 13:30, 18:00, 21:00 The Good Dinosaur (PG) 10:50, 13:20, 15:45, 18:10, 20:30 (3D) Strange Magic (U) 10:30, 13:35, 15:50 Bridge of Spies (12) 18:00, 21:00 By the Sea (15) 10:35, 13:30, 18:00, 21:00 FINALLY, the blockbuster event we've all been waiting for has hit local cinemas. No, I am obvi- ously not referring to The Force Awakens, the latest instalment in a fairly obscure franchise that should be in screens by the time this review hits print. The film in question is, of course, By the Sea, the Angelina Jolie-directed epic that was oh-so-famously shot in Gozo back in April 2014. Either way, the eternal question - is it worth watching? First off, a clarification. Despite various authorities' insistence By the Sea is very much not a blockbuster, whichever way one slices the term. In actual fact it is an intimate drama of the kind mainly associated with the Euro- pean film industry, if one bank- rolled by Hollywood's premiere power couple. Set sometime in the 1970s, it tells the story of Vanessa (Jolie) and her author husband Roland (Pitt) who set out to the French Riviera on a holiday. The cou- ple's relationship is on the rocks and Roland is going through a bad case of writer's block, so the two hope an extended stay in a luxury hotel by the Mediterra- nean would serve as a tonic for both problems. Predictably the plan immediately goes awry. Ro- land fails to write a single word and instead spends his days get- ting drunk, while Vanessa sticks to antidepressants and misery. And that's the film's first act in a nutshell, really - two of the most beautiful and successful people on the face on the planet endur- ing a most miserable Gozitan - sorry, French - holiday. Things brighten up somewhat in the second act with the intro- duction of Lea (Mélanie Laurent) and François (Melvil Poupaud), a freshly married couple on their honeymoon. The two lovebirds are installed in the room next to Vanessa and Roland's, and unwittingly end up as a catalyst for the mending of the older couple's relationship as Vanessa discovers a peephole through which she could spy on their all too energetic lovemaking. Soon enough Roland also discovers the peephole, leading to evening sessions of mutual observation leading to the eventual thawing the older couple's all too icy re- lationship. The idea of voyeurism as cou- ples' therapy of sorts is admit- tedly intriguing, but unfortu- nately Jolie fails to do anything worthy of note with it. Her di- rection appears to be far more focused on the protagonists' misery, be it Roland's alcohol- ism or Vanessa's various states of ennui-ridden repose. There are some germs of compelling ideas in the characterisation, but very little else - Roland's failure to write lacks in tension, since it involves neither financial (the couple appears to be well off to spend multiple weeks on holiday with zero money problems) nor deadline (why is he even bother- ing to write in the first place?) is- sues. Vanessa is just as potential- ly interesting, since she revealed to be a dancer who currently does very little moving. But her characterisation amounts to lit- tle more than that - and there's only so many shots of Jolie in impeccable clothing and careful cheekbone-enhancing makeup (never mind Pitt in a half-open shirt, drink in one hand and cigarette in the other) one can take before it all gets intensely tedious. Proceedings get more interest- ing with the peeping, with se- quences lending the film a sin- ister, at times even Giallo-esque edge as Vanessa struggles with her sexual desires and what ap- pears to be utter disdain towards her husband. Such elements lead to hopes for the third act taking an unexpected twist, perhaps going full-on Dario Argento and concluding with a crescendo of misogyny and cheerfully gro- tesque violence. But, alas, this is not the case. What the viewer instead gets is an explanation to the couple's malaise so trite and simplistic it verges on the offen- sive, before an inevitable happy ending and a realisation it was all a waste of 122 minutes of the viewers' lives. One also has to add Mgarr ix- Xini makes a poor double for the French Riviera - even if the Gozitan environs are beauti- fully shot, with cinematogra- pher Christian Berger perfectly capturing the late spring/early summer atmosphere. In a way it makes for a great advertisement for the place, even if tourists might end up distressed by the lack of charming French cafe. As for the locals, well, the location's less than a couple of hours away. So don't bother with By the Sea and visit Malta's sister island in- stead. By Marco Attard High-brow misery gone sour in Gozo ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ PACIFIC OCEAN ★ ★ ★ ★ ATLANTIC OCEAN ★ ★ ★ MEDITERRANEAN SEA ★ ★ CASPIAN SEA ★ CHADWICK LAKES FILM The Miseries of the Hollywood Power Couple: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt try to make the best of what appears to be a dreadful Gozitan holiday BY THE SEA (15) ★ ★