FILM: RE VIEWS


HEADHUNTERS DAMSELS IN DISTRESS


Sporadically laugh-out-loud funny and offering the occasional polished pearl of wisdom, Damsels In Distress is a whimsical breeze of a film that doesn’t ruffle too many feathers. It’s the fourth film from director Whit Stillman, a filmmaker infatuated with upper-class US WASPs - a breed dubbed the ‘urban haute bourgeoisie’ in his 1990 film Metropolitan. Stillman doesn’t stray far from familiar terrain with Damsels: a frothy comedy set on


the Seven Oaks US college campus. Here, new student Lily (Analeigh Tipton) falls in with a trio of über-well-groomed girls who are single-handedly attempting to save the campus from dumb jocks and student depression. Leading them is the buttoned-up Violet (Greta Gerwig), armed with her own singular world view. Together, this unusual quartet charter matters of the heart (and head) in their search for love and enlightenment. Films like Legally Blonde have explored similar college-based comedy before, but


Damsels is more interested in Woody Allen-style witticisms than frisky female empowerment. It’s an odd experiment in off-kilter characters and relaxed plotting. At first irritating – Gerwig talks in a monotone drawl that sometimes has one searching for subtitles, while pal Megalyn Echikunwoke trips over a truly horrendous British accent – Stillman’s film is a jumbled confectionary that will turn some off within minutes. However, get past the kooky performances and the super-dry screenplay packs in some


sardonic nod-winks. Echikunwoke’s awful accent is, in the end, revealed as a joke, while Violet’s increasingly crackpot schemes to ‘spread the love’ culminate in a gigglesome encounter with a bar of soap. Nothing’s off limits here, with a running gag about anal sex getting the biggest laughs, and a closing musical number that’s pure sunshine. A deadpan curio, Damsels exists in its own little bubble of weirdness – much like its lead quartet. JW Out: 27 April


THIS MUST BE THE PLACE


Sean Penn is known for embracing challenging roles, and he’s almost unrecognisable in this latest outing. This Must Be The Place is the debut English language feature from Italian writer and director Paolo Sorrentino (Il Divo). It concerns itself with Cheyenne (Penn), a washed-up, gothic rock star – a cross between Ozzy Osbourne and Robert Smith – who spends idle days in his mansion in Ireland. His life lacks meaning, but he’s shaken when news reaches him that his father – whom he hasn’t spoken with in 30


years – is on his deathbed. He returns to New York, and after his father’s death, is drawn into a mission to track down the Nazi officer who tormented his father during his time in Auschwitz. The hunt takes him into the American wilderness – Michigan, New Mexico and Utah – where he encounters a variety of similarly troubled souls – most wrestling with their own demons and sense of displacement.


This may all sound like a turgid and plodding cinema experience, but the tone is decidedly bleakly comic and oddball throughout. Sorrentino channels the spirit of the


Coen Brothers and David Lynch, and adds his own dash of Italian surrealism and morbid humour. Does it work? Well, there are some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments, and Penn’s performance, with his strangulated vocals and preening persona, make the entire creation watchable throughout. It also boasts some great cinematography – particularly when the action moves to the wide-screen vistas of the US. On the downside, it’s also wildly indulgent and pretentious in places. Cameos from the likes of David Byrne (playing himself), add little to the piece – and smack more of director who just wanted to include one of his heroes within his work. An intriguing, bemusing and semi-successful offering, which is just about rescued by Penn’s notable performance. Cult status is assured. DH


Out: 6 April 22 WWW.OUTMAG.CO.UK


With The Girl In The Dragon Tattoo kick-starting a surge in interest in Scandinavian crime fiction, it was only a matter of time before Norway’s Jo Nesbø found one of his books making the leap to the big screen. Headhunters tells of Roger Brown, a corporate recruitment specialist who supplements his income with some after-hours art theft. He feels compelled to do so. Short in stature but tall in vanity, he fears his stunning wife may look elsewhere for love unless he can keep up mortgage payments on their fabulous jet- set lifestyle. Then the dashingly handsome Clas Greve, an acclaimed businessman, turns up in Brown’s life. Both have something that the other is determined to get. Brown can get Greve a coveted CEO position at a top tech company, while Greve has a lost masterpiece that Brown wishes to steal. Headhunters is a bold and original tale. For a


start, Brown is far from being your average protagonist. As played by Aksel Hennie, he’s a priggish dork who masks a mass of insecurities behind a faux alpha-male exterior. He likes to believe he’s a master of his own destiny, and so when he finds himself running scared his cool façade quickly evaporates. Director Morten Tyldum has constructed a stylish


and sophisticated game of cat and mouse that weaves layers of intrigue in its first half, before exploding into a bombastic chase movie in its second. Fatally, the plot itself plays fast and loose with credibility, and the story takes some jaw-droppingly implausible twists. High drama spills over into camp melodrama, which in turn give rise to some moments of dark humour. However, despite these failings, Headhunters remains thrillingly entertaining throughout. DH Out: 6 April


REVIEWS: JOSH WINNING AND DAVID HUDSON


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