Sea Fever

Quite by accident as I was reading Reddit, I found:

Sea Fever (2019).

We meet Siobhán (Hermione Corfield), a young marine biologist working on her doctorate. As a part of the doctorate studies she has to go on a field trip on the ocean, including a scuba dive. The problem is her personality. There are introverts, there are those who are anti-social and then there is Siobhán. She doesn't even want to eat birthday cake with her colleagues, she's that withdrawn.

A husband and wife team, Gerard and Freya own and run a fishing boat and have agreed to take Siobhán along for a fee they badly need since times are tough and they are broke. They owe their crew unpaid wages, so any money is welcome. In their financial desperation, they sail to an exclusion zone knowing there won't be any other fishing boats in the area. This is where things take a turn for not only the worse, but for the catastrophic.

Sea Fever is a the second Irish horror movie I know I've seen. It's directed by Neasa Hardiman, a veteran director, and I think it shows. Making a movie in a cramped trawler isn't easy, studio or not, but she makes it work.

Story wise, Sea Fever isn't all that special, a seasoned horror fan will have seen it all before in some variety, but the sum of the parts works well. There are a couple of minor issues though. First off, they make a big deal about how Siobhán dislikes company but that goes away pretty easily and is never an issue again, so why even include it? The worst part is when things go wrong. The hull of the boat is affected and a greenish-blue slime is leaking through. What does Siobhán do? She pokes it with her naked finger... A marine biologist should know how many things in the ocean are poisonous, and if it can leak through treated wood, you shouldn't poke it with your finger!

The cast is excellent, absolutely no complaints there, and I was engrossed enough to not even remember if there was any music, so that is actually a good thing. I loved the overall atmosphere on the cramped trawler out on the gray ocean, having a sense of claustrophobia on the open sea is a pretty cool concept. The special effects are good, quite up to par, and the science is faulty, but what horror movie doesn't have shaky science?

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes, Sea Fever is a competent horror movie throughout. I'd say it works best for those who only watch horror casually since it will feel fresh to them, or to horror fans who want to watch it all. I found this movie from a Lovecraft subreddit, and sure I can see why that connection fits, but it's Cthulhu light at best. Sea Fever combines elements of Alien, The Thing and a few other isolation horror sources in a way that produces a film worth watching. Not a masterpiece but absolutely good enough.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

Sleuth

During a discussion about Michael Caine, a friend recommended:

Sleuth (1972),

so that is what I watched.

Andrew Wyke (Laurence Olivier), a rich and celebrated author of murder mysteries (think Agatha Christie) invites Milo Tindle (Michael Caine) to his country manor for a chat. Turns out that Milo is having a relationship with Andrew's wife, Marguerite. Andrew isn't opposed to this affair as he has a girlfriend of his own, but he is concerned that Milo isn't rich, and can't afford Marguerite's expensive lifestyle. The last thing Andrew wants is for Marguerite to come back once he's finally rid of her. Andrew has a plan, and this plan is dangerous.

Sleuth is directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz who amongst many works co-wrote and co-directed Cleopatra (1963). This was his last film as he was both ill and suffered an accident on set confining him to a wheelchair.

Wyke's expansive manor is the sole set of Sleuth and it is a magnificent setting. The large old manor is filled with not only games of all sorts but also automata that move and make noise. Personally I wouldn't stay a day in a house filled with those soulless staring horrors, but I'm not an eccentric author.

The core of Sleuth are Olivier and Caine. Caine was the third choice for the role and was ecstatic to play against the great Olivier. When they met Caine asked how he was supposed to address Olivier. He answered: "Well, I am the Lord Olivier and you are Mr. Michael Caine. Of course, that's only for the first time you address me. After that I am Larry, and you are Mike."

Later on after an emotional scene Olivier told Caine "I thought I had an assistant, Michael. I see I have a partner." Caine said this was the greatest compliment he had gotten as an actor. High praise indeed.

I am doing my damnedest to avoid spoilers but it is hard. The dialogue is superb, and both Olivier and Caine are perfect. In fact, I can't say anything about the score as the only music I even noticed was when Olivier plays “Anything Goes” at full volume. This is how engrossed I got.

So, do I recommended this movie? Absolutely! Sleuth is an amazing movie from beginning to end. I do need to point out that it is 168 minutes and you have to pay attention throughout. If you are screwing around on your phone you're going to miss everything, but it so worth it. I wanted to watch a really good movie and I wasn't the least bit disappointed. Sleuth is a bizarre masterpiece worth every second of your time, but do try to watch it without looking it up. This movie doesn't deserve any spoilers.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

Two Richard's and a Roger.

Quite by chance I saw a movie clip with Roger Moore, Richard Harris and Richard Burton, so I sat down and watched:

The Wild Geese (1978).

A wealthy banker hires an unscrupulous mercenary, Colonel Faulkner (Burton) to put together a team in order to rescue Julius Limbani, the president of an unnamed African country. There has been a coup and Limbani is being held by the new dictator. Faulkner gets in touch with his old friends Captain Janders (Harris) and Lieutenant Fynn (Moore) and together they assemble a team of veterans who although highly experienced are a bit long in the tooth.

A simple synopsis, but to avoid spoilers I'll keep that short. The Wild Geese is a bit over two hours long, so I'm sure you can guess things don't go entirely smoothly for the mercenaries. We do spend a lot of time on the setup, the planning and the execution, but that only eats up half the run time.

I have no technical complaints, it is a very nicely put together film, although it has the typical over-powered grenades that fling bodies around like rag dolls. There is an odd part where they plan to hit the compound where Limbani is held at predawn, but the raid happens when the sun is high. My other and bigger complaint is the scene on the bridge. In a nutshell, the mercenaries are attacked while crossing a bridge and instead of getting off the bridge they just stand there, something experienced soldiers wouldn't do. Then as the team becomes separated as the bridge is out of order, they shout plans as where to meet up again, but there is no water! The river bed is completely dry and it would have taken them ten minutes tops to cross. Very silly and some frustratingly bad writing in an otherwise good movie.

It is the actors that are the biggest draw here. Burton, Harris and Moore in one movie is a real treat. Burton especially is showing his age, but he still has his old steel here, which goes a long way to sell the character. Moore, who was in the middle of his Bond career adds the charm and Harris the heart. A really good trio and apparently they all worked well together. Moore did request fewer lines when acting with the two others and explained the request with: "You don't seriously expect me to act against these guys?"

The rest of the actors are good, again no complaints although everyone else is overshadowed by the trio, even though a few are given quite a lot of screen time.

Still trying to avoid spoilers, I feel I should point out that this is not a fun movie. It is very grim at times even though the soundtrack is trying to sound upbeat with an almost comedic tone. Being a movie about mercenaries it is also pretty bloody, but it doesn't wallow in gore in any way. It is a kind of classy brutality if that makes sense.

Beyond what you see on screen it is also almost miraculous that they managed to keep both Harris and Burton sober during the shoot. Both were heavy, and I do mean heavy drinkers, but they stayed sober the entire time with the help of copious amounts of soda and jumping around. According to IMDB Harris told Burton: “"Whenever you feel like a drink, do like I do, jump up and down." For the rest of the production, both men were seen daily in all sorts of unlikely situations hopping like kangaroos”.

So, do I recommend this movie? Absolutely. The Wild Geese is one of those movies that is grim and violent, but it is also really good. It's not a feel good adventure but a lesson in how cold and brutal the world can be and why being a mercenary is not a fun job. The movie does telegraph some things that happen if you're paying attention, but it is done very well.

That 's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!