REVIEWS Return REVIEWED BY MARK ADAMS


The subject of a soldier returning home and find- ing they had to adjust to life has been tackled on- screen many times before, but writer-director Liza Johnson’s subtle and simply told film offers a fresh look at just how difficult it is to adjust to everyday life, with Linda Cardellini impressive as a woman back from military service. Return has perfect indie credentials — the cast


also includes Michael Shannon and John Slattery — and, while perhaps lacking the drama and depth to really break out, it could well appeal to niche distributors and international broadcasters. Johnson, whose background is in visual arts,


has crafted a story which eschews the usual dra- matic cues of the ‘soldier back home’ story — there are no moments of anger or shrill emotion; no dwelling on traumatic flashbacks to the war and no violence as a reaction to a heightened psychological crisis. When Kelli (Cardellini) arrives back from active


duty into the welcoming arms of her husband Mike (Shannon) and young daughters, things appear at ease. She is happy to be home, loves her husband, likes being with her friends again and welcomes the chance to be with her children. She has no war stories to tell — she worked in supplies — and saw no dead bodies, yet she still cannot adjust to home life. Quite simply, she wants things to be as it was


before she left. But people around her have subtly moved on and she cannot quite adjust to the ‘nor- mal’ life. She quits her humdrum factory job, dab- bles in redecorating the house and is mortified to discover her husband is having an affair with a woman who works for a car dealership.


Michel Petrucciani REVIEWED BY JONATHAN ROMNEY


It is always a labour of love to make a jazz film, a jazz documentary even more so — especially when the musician subject is no longer around to pro- mote it. But the labour pays off beautifully in Michel Petrucciani, Michael Radford’s fond and informative portrait of the phenomenal jazz pian- ist, who died in 1999. Petrucciani’s life is a story of exuberant triumph over challenge, and of the pleasures and prices of living life to the full. The film takes a four-square but effective docu-


mentary approach, stitching together archive foot- age with interviews, and features enough of Petrucciani’s performances to make this a must for jazz buffs, whether or not they are fans of the sub- ject himself (major jazz names interviewed include Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano and John Aber- crombie). This will be a difficult sell theatrically outside jazz-loving France, where it is released in September, but its DVD prospects should be brisk. The film represents a confident return to non-


fiction for UK director Radford, best known for 1984 and Italian-language hit Il Postino, but who was a documentarist throughout the 1970s. Here, Radford takes an unshowy and intensely sympa- thetic rather than reverent approach to the life of Petrucciani, who was born in 1962 in Montpelier, France, with the condition osteogenesis imper-


DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT


US. 2011. 97mins Director-screenplay Liza Johnson Production companies 2.1 Films/True Enough Productions, Meredith Vieira Productions International sales Rezo, www.rezofilms.com North American sales Cinetic Media, www.cineticmedia.com Producers Noah Harlan, Ben Howe, Liza Johnson Executive producers Abigail Disney, Meredith Vieira, Amy Rapp Cinematography Anne Etheridge Editor Paul Zucker Production designer Inbal Weinberg Music T Griffin Main cast Linda Cardellini, Michael Shannon, John Slattery, Talia Balsam, Paul Sparks, Bonnie Swencionis, Emma Rayne Lyle, Louisa Krause


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Kelli drinks too much with friends after walk-


ing out on her husband and her car is stopped by the police. As part of her DUI charge, she has to attend a therapy session, where she meets Bud (John Slattery from Mad Men), eventually sleep- ing with him. Matters come to a head when she is told she is to be redeployed. Cardellini (from roles on TV in Freaks And


Geeks and ER, and on film in the Scooby Doo fran- chise) is terrific as Kelli, appearing in virtually every scene and generating a real sense of warmth and affection but also a slight unease and distrust in those around her. She is the real centre of the film, and carries the project with intelli- gence and compassion, in a similar way Michelle Monaghan carried the drama Trucker.


Shannon puts in an equally impressive turn as


her husband, a loving family man who has simply moved on in his life ever so slightly. His sheer presence and subtle performance bolsters Cardel- lini’s performance, making what on screen is quite a minor role seem more substantial. Slattery arrives midway through the film, but makes a real impact as the charming man who offers Kelli emotional support — and little romance — for a few short hours. This story of a woman returning from war is


both thoughtful and gently powerful. It might well lack any real dramatic flourishes, but Cardel- lini’s terrific performance demands attention, and the film marks Johnson as a new talent in inde- pendent US cinema.


OUT OF COMPETITION, SPECIAL SCREENING


Fr-Ger-Ita. 2011. 102mins Director Michael Radford Production companies Les Films d’Ici, Liaison Films, Looks Films, Partner Media Investment International sales Wild Bunch, www.wildbunch. biz Producers Serge Lalou, Annick Colomes, Bruce Marks, Gunnar Dedio, Martina Haubrich, Andrea Stucovitz Cinematography Sophie Maintigneux Editor Yves Deschamps Cast Michel Petrucciani


fecta, sometimes known as ‘brittle bone disease’. As an adult, Petrucciani grew to only three feet,


while his fragility meant he often broke his bones and his extremely energetic playing style was a constant physical risk. The son of a jazz-guitarist father, Petrucciani fell in love with piano after see- ing Duke Ellington on TV at the age of four. Rap- idly becoming a prodigy, he played his first


n 18 Screen International at the Cannes Film Festival May 16, 2011


professional concert with trumpeter Clark Terry at the age of 13 — though some friends are quick to debunk the myth about the gig being an entirely impromptu marvel. The pianist visited California, where he was


befriended by saxophonist and mystic Charles Lloyd. A phenomenal transatlantic career followed, with Petrucciani becoming the first non-French artist signed to legendary label Blue Note. Success also brought the opportunity to indulge himself, and much of the 1980s, it seems, was spent in a wild rush of Champagne, cocaine and partying. Petrucciani, we discover, was irresistible to


women and, one former consort claims, was as talented between the sheets as he was on the keys. In interviews filmed at various stages in his life, Petrucciani is candid about his hedonistic ten- dency to overdo things — a penchant which, friends suggest, contributed to his early death. This portrait is anything but reverent about the pianist — we learn from his ex-wives and girl- friends that he had a habit of leaving one abruptly to take up with another, and associates reveal, albeit sketchily, that he had a callous side. But what emerges, not least from footage of the


man himself, is that Petrucciani was a hugely char- ismatic and ebullient character. Most importantly, we get insights into his blindingly rapid and inven- tive playing; and hugely pleasurable footage of Petrucciani solo, or in tandem with greats such as Lloyd and Stéphane Grappelli will make the unini- tiated want to go out and discover the music.


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