Suite Française - Movie Review

Who's In It?

Michelle Williams, Kristin Scott Thomas, Margot Robbie and Matthias Schoenaerts

What's It About? 

After France's surrender to the Germans, a German officer is moved into wealthy Madame Angellier and her step-daughter's house. The madame refuses to even look at the officer, while Lucille (step-daughter) falls in love with him.

Any Good? 

One thing I didn't expect to see from Suite Francaise was the Nazis to be portrayed as just soldiers and not monsters - kind of goes against every film/game/history lesson I've ever been in - it makes the movie stand out in the rip-off Romeus and Juliet (INCLUDING Shakespeare's) genre that is romance.

The film opens with a scene where Madame Angellier and Lucille are collecting rent from tenants on their land, Madame Angellier is cruel and bleeds the farmers dry(the usual), then out of NOWHERE a German bombing party hits the road full of Parisian migrants that the pair are travelling on - it was so sudden that I just looked at Ally like "what the?..".

Putin was a Nazi?

The random bombing kind of set the scene for the film - a lot of the usual romance crap with occasional breaks for pretty heavy stuff like manhunts and executions - but for some reason it seemed to fit well into the story. 

A lot of the romantic sections are odd too, like going from being disgusted with neighbours cavorting with the Nazis and then doing it yourself immediately- I get the feeling a lot of the book was cut out of the film.

While a lot better than the usual romantic crap myself and Ally masochistically put ourselves through, Suite Francais was actually not bad. While predominantly a romance movie, it does a 180 around three quarters of the way through and becomes a suspenseful murder/people smuggling film, and all the better for it. I'd certainly watch it for the Nazi scenes, or even just for their beautiful Hugo Boss uniforms.

Also, much like the Irish and Scottish, the French share their beloved England's accent, like all nationalities did pre-2000.

We'd be remiss not to include a link to the back story of Author Irène Némirovsky, read her stunning story and how these Novellas came to be HERE. 

Rating:     

If I Stay - Movie Review

Warning - DON'T watch the full trailers, they spoil EVERYTHING!

Who's in it?

Chloë Grace Moretz, Jamie Blackley, Joshua Leonard and Mireille Enos

What's it about?

On a snowy day trip to her grandparents, Mia Hall and her family are involved in a serious car crash which leaves Mia's 'soul' wandering the hospital and her memories trying to find a reason to wake up from the coma she was left in.

Disregard the cruel comment from USA Today

Any Good?

For the first 10-20 minutes you'll be convinced this is just The Lovely Bones mixed with a bad teen romance novel, but stick around and you get some truly great scenes.

I went to see this with my good friend (and music journalist) Ally, and one thing we could agree on was that it was pretty generic until certain parts - namely the Grandfather scenes. We both were dry-eyed most of the film until that incredibly well acted character comes on screen, then the flood gates let loose and she bawwled, while I gurned like Lt. Aldo Raine - totally manly.

                               

                           Yep, just like this

Aside from the totally BAWLsome grandfather, the rest of the characters in the film really grow on you. Chloë Grace Moretz does her part dutifully - that's about all I can really say there. Her boyfriend Adam (Blackley) however, is something pretty special. Listening to him just sounds like generic boyband douche boyfriend, but if you watch his face you'll see some incredible acting just from facial expressions alone - quite odd yet impressive. Mia's best friend Kim also has a scene with the most natural looking emotion I've ever seen - you'll know it when you see it, it's unmissable.

While it may look like just another teen romance, there are some truly brilliant scenes that are both beautiful and heart-wrenching. One point I brought up to Ally is that Adam's band is hyped up to be The Sex Pistols but when they play it's The Kooks - all the way to Adam basically becoming Jack Johnson. Seriously though, if you feel bored by it, just hang on - If I Stay has some pretty lofty high points as opposed to it's mainly just average bulk.

                                

 Rating: