david k frampton

Welcome to the final Criteria of the year. The American was one of those films that drew you in tight and never let go, it took about 5mins to become convinced that George Clooney could play a troubled hitman. The simmering tension throughout the film never let up..it looked beautiful and reminded me in tone of
Limits Of Control. This one was a (****). I then saw Hiroshima at the Brighton Cnecity film festival. This Uruguayan feature was a hipsters eye view of the city and served as pretty much a pop promo for the directors own band, that said there was charm in it’s off-beat weirdness and our protagonist cycling around Montevideo allowing us to get a real gloat at the capital was a profound pleasure. I swung between slotting into it’s groove and not caring (**). Monsters followed, literally that night. I got caught in it’s gentle romantic weight with an apocalyptic invasion backdrop, it never played out as you expected and was a vital entry into the history of invasion movies. I didn’t so much feel it as sense it , like a rush of beauty and imagination without the heart…but still a real treat (****). Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawntreader, was equal parts inspiring, mystical, wooden, jaw-dropping and cheesy. But it was a lot of fun, and had a lively turn by Will Poulter who really helped turn the scenes and had the perhaps the most important sub-plot in the film tapping into the Christian mythos.  The sea-serpent was worth the price of entry (***). My final film of the year was The Wayback, this film was capable of great sadness, sweeping beauty, gorgeous location work and a series of very convincing leads. There’s something gutwrenching about watch a group of 6 men/ women walk across hostile terrain and I’m sure there are cliches to fall into here, but I never felt that with this film at every step I felt it was imaginitively staged, creating images and moments of real impact and beauty. (****).