Dec 31st
Life of Pi*** (PG)                         
(Odeon Colchester)

A zookeeper's son relates his fantastic story of survival when shipwrecked with only a handful of the animals, in particular a savage Bengal tiger.
Successfully translated version of an "unfilmable" novel, thanks to Ang Lee's sympathetic characterisation of both animals and humans through some excellent CGI (experience garnered from The Hulk) and also making excellent use of 3-D. The climactic alternative narrative for the story leaves readers (and filmgoers) with the potential way out for a "rational" explanation, which makes the film just as moving. A good thoughtful way to round off 2012.

d: Ang Lee
s: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Rafe Spall, Adil Hussain, Tabu, Shravanthi Sainath, Gerard Depardieu

Dec 30th
Night of the Comet*  

(US 1984)            

The sight of a rare comet lays waste to most of population of Los Angeles, and a handful of survivors try to make the most of it against an emerging army of zombies.
The title has bigger sci-fi pretensions than it delivers in what is actually quite a nifty teenage satire with its fair share of surprises, working quite well within a low budget and capturing a lot of the 80s fashions of the time.

Written and Directed by: Thom Eberhardt.
Producers: Andrew Lane, Wayne Crawford.
Starring: Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran, Sharon Farrell, Mary Moronov, Geoffrey Lewis.
Photography: Arthur Albert.
Music: David Richard Campbell.

Preceded by:
I'm British But...**
(GB 1989. 29m.; Timely ethnic documentary - then as now - about Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi children essentially raised as British citizens. The director's playful musical style eventually pushed her on to bigger things, just as important as this film.; w, d: Gurinder Chadha.)

Dec 29th
Tetro*

(US/Argentina/Spa/Ita 2009)

American Zoetrope/Tornasol Films/BIM. 127m. ws. bw/colour

A self-exiled writer in Buenos Aires is visited by his younger brother as they unravel the family's shady past...
The director back to some of his old form; an absorbing if rather ponderous family drama with vague echoes of The Godfather about it, often visually quite striking.

Written, Produced and Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola.
Starring: Vinent Gallo, Alden Ehrenreich, Maribel Verdu, Klaus Maria Brandauer (underused), Carmen Maura.
Photography: Mihai Malaimare Jr.
Music: Osvaldo Golijov.

Dec 28th
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff***              

(GB 2010)

Celebration of one of Technicolor's greatest exponents, working on some marvellous films from early years in the silent days right up to his death in 2009.
A fascinating delve for film buffs, with many illustrious Hollywood names impressed enough by Cardiff's reputation to be interviewed, and quite revealing in some of their stories (and Cardiff's) too, on classics such as The African Queen, The Vikings, and many others - even if some of the film clips give the endings away for the uninitiated.

Producers: Craig McCall, Richard McGill.
Director: Craig McCall.
Featuring Jack Cardiff, Martin Scorsese, Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, John Mills, Richard Fleischer, Charlton Heston, and others.
Photography: Various.
Music: Mark Sayer-Wade.
Editing: Dan Roberts.

Dec 26th 
The Girl**          

(South Africa/Ger TVM 2012)       

Warner Bros GmBH/Moonlighting/BBC/HBO. 90m.

Alfred Hitchcock casts unknown Tippi Hedren as his new star of The Birds and gradually obsesses over her, to the point of sexual harassment.
Speculative in some of its details (particularly over Hitch's inner demons) this uncomfortable behind-the-scenes melodrama - topical in the light of recent celebrity abuse revelations - is quite well reconstructed and performed, although slipping into Hitchcock pastiche half way through (especially of Vertigo), and largely fails to recapture Hitchcock's sense of humour.

Written by: Gwyneth Hughes, based on the book "Spellbound by Beauty: Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies" by Donald Spoto.
Producer: Amanda Jenks.
Director: Julian Jarrold.
Starring: Sienna Miller, Toby Jones, Imelda Staunton, Conrad Kemp, Penelope Wilton.
Photography: John Pardoe.
Music: Philip Miller.
Production Design: Darryl Hammer.

Dec 22nd
Roy Keane: As I See It    

(GB TVM 2002)

Interviews with colleagues and cameras accompanying one of Manchester United's most forthright and passionate of footballers, who tries to downplay his aggressiveness off the field in what is generally a blandly celebratory football documentary mainly of interest to United fans - covering Keane's eventful career from the early '90s until 2002, and interesting to look back after his subsequent successes and failures as a manager.

Producers: Steven E. Bram, Paul Doyle Jnr, Bob Potter.
Directors: Paul Doyle Jnr, Bob Potter.
Featuring Roy Keane, Alex Ferguson, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Bryan Robson, Alan Hansen.
Editing: Dan Yeomans.

Dec 18th
Love and Other Impossible Pursuits*         
aka: The Other Woman

(US 2009)

A law graduate struggles to cope with the loss of her young baby as well as her obnoxious stepson.
Heavy-going but absorbing soap opera, shot sympathetically in middle class Manhattan, with the star trying to hold back her usual tendency for weepiness.

Written and Directed by: Don Roos, from the novel by Ayelet Waldman.
Producers: Marc Platt, Carol Cuddy.
Starring: Natalie Portman, Scott Cohen, Charlie Tahan, Lisa Kudrow, Lauren Amrbose, Debra Monk, Michael Cristofer.
Photography: Steve Yedlin.
Music: John Swihart.

Dec 15th
Le Rayon Vert*
(The Green Ray)                      
            
(Fra 1986)

A single woman finds her original holiday plans scuppered and spends the remaining weeks in various locations searching for love, happiness and the green ray of sunlight that will herald them.
Fifth in Rohmer's series of "Comedies and Proverbs", boringly plotted although the central performance is engaging, shot in natural sound with largely improvisational dialogue, with the belated ending worth the wait.

Written by: Eric Rohmer, Marie Riviere.
Producer: Margaret Menegoz.
Sarring: Marie Riviere, and others.
Photography: Sophie Maintigneux.
Music: Jean-Louis Valero.

Dec 10th
Carry on Abroad                     
(GB 1972)


Rank. 88m.

Brits on holiday spend a long weekend of disasters at the unfinished hotel in Els Bels.
Staple Carry On mixture of broad 70s fashions and broader jokes, held together once again only by the zest and enthusiasm of the performers.

Written by: Talbot Rothwell.
Producer: Peter Rogers.
Director: Gerald Thomas.
Starring: Sidney James, Joan Sims, Barbara Windsor, Kenneth Williams, Bernard Bresslaw, Derek Francis, Kenneth Connor, June Whitfield, Charles Hawtrey, Peter Butterworth, Hattie Jacques.
Photography: Alan Hume.
Music: Eric Rogers.