REVIEWS Jackie Reviewed by Mark Adams


Rambling road trip film Jackie is a real honest-to-goodness charmer as a pair of Dutch twin sisters head off to the wide open spaces of New Mexico to spend less-than-quality time with their surrogate mother Jackie, a woman they have never met but are forced to deal with when she is hospitalised. The premise may sound lightweight but the film is beautifully performed, warm and funny, and looks terrific and certainly deserves to find distribution. The twins are wonderfully played by real-life sisters Car-


Midnight’s Children Reviewed by Allan Hunter


Salman Rushdie’s epic novel of lives “handcuffed to history” emerges on screen as a sprawling, picaresque yarn that downplays the magic realist sensibility of the book in favour of a languid, tenderly felt soap opera exploring great expec- tations, broken hearts and the healing power of love. Direc- tor Deepa Mehta’s respectful approach to the material may meander and simplify, but it gradually gains in emotional power, building into a moving account of a man whose expe- riences mirror the growing pains of an independent India. The enduring reputation of Rushdie’s novel and the warm


accessibility of the adaptation should result in Midnight’s Children emerging as a prestige, middlebrow arthouse attraction. First published in 1981, the book has gained the status of a modern classic that offers a love letter to India with all its flaws and failings, hopes and longings. It seems entirely appropriate that Rushdie provides the


wry, sometimes rueful narration that is lightly spread over a gorgeous-looking film that stretches from Kashmir and Agra in the 1940s to Karachi, Dacca and then New Delhi in the 1970s. His narration is used sparingly enough not to seem an intrusive literary device. The film’s focus lies on Saleem (Bhadha), one of the chil-


dren born on the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very moment India declares its independence from Great Brit- ain. In order to understand that life, the narrative stretches back to the romance of Saleem’s grandparents. When Saleem Sinai is eventually born in Bombay, a nurse swaps him with Shiva (Siddharth), the offspring of a wealthy couple. Their lives and fates remain intertwined through personal heart- ache and political events that shape India and Pakistan during years of conflict, civil war, corruption and division. Historical events of the 30 years between independence


and the downfall of prime minister Indira Gandhi are given enough prominence to be informative but it is clear that Mehta’s heart is drawn more towards the heart-tugging emotions of Saleem’s journey than the bigger picture. The ‘Midnight Children’ of India have been born with a


magical gift and Saleem has the telepathic power to conjure all of the children born on the stroke of midnight into his pres- ence. He can hear their voices, including that of Shiva who becomes a feared figure in the military and Parvati (Saran) who helps Saleem return to India after exile in Pakistan. The film constantly returns to tales of family and forgive-


ness, fraught relationships between fathers and sons, mis- understandings, secrets, lies, deceptions, confessions and the hope of redemption through a future generation. Midnight’s Children may not please all the fans of the


‘unfilmable’ book but there is enough heart and soul in Mehta’s adaptation to attract a wide audience.


n 14 Screen International at Toronto September 9, 2012 GALA


Can-UK. 2012. 148mins DirectorDeepa Mehta Production companies Hamilton-Mehta Midnight Productions,Number 9 Films International sales FilmNationEntertainment, www.wearefilmnation.com ProducerDavid Hamilton Co-producersElizabeth Karlsen, StephenWoolley Screenplay Salman Rushdie, based on his novel Cinematography Giles Nuttgens Editor Colin Monie Production designerDilip Mehta MusicNitin Sawhney Main cast Satya Bhabha, Shahana Goswami, Rajat Kapoor, Seema Biswas, Shriya Saran, Charles Dance, Siddharth


ice and Jelka van Houten, while Oscar-winner Holly Hunter has a fine old time playing the weathered oddball Jackie, a woman who has little time for the intrusion in her life but who comes to appreciate the sisters’ assistance. Hunter’s presence should help sales, while the van Houten sisters have their own star quality, with their innate rapport helping paper over the rather soft dramatic set-up. Directed with warmth by Antoinette Beumer (sister of


actress Famke Janssen and director of Dutch hit The Happy Housewife starring Carice van Houten), the film — which could have benefited from a smarter and more evocative title — succeeds as a genial road-trip with some nice snappy dia- logue, and while the story is unfocused at times it ends with a smart and oddly satisfying twist. Twin sisters Sofie (Carice van Houten) and Daan (Jelka


van Houten) barely see each other in Amsterdam. Dark- haired Sofie is busy with her career, while ditzy blonde Daan and her husband Joost (Spitzenberger) are planning chil- dren. They have never met their mother Jackie as she was a surrogate for their gay fathers, but out of the blue they get a call from the US saying a woman has badly injured her leg and the only family the hospital could find was via a photo- graph of the twin girls as babies. Daan manages to convince Sofie they should go the US to help the woman. And so begins their oddball road trip. With a damaged leg


and ruptured eardrum, Jackie is unable to fly and so Sofie and Daan grudgingly agree to drive her to the rehabilitation centre, and head off along the back roads of New Mexico. Carice van Houten is excellent as the prim and rather bit-


ter Sofie and is nicely contrasted by a warmer performance by her sister Jelka, whose character develops more as the film draws on. Holly Hunter’s character is initially remote and unfriendly, but comes to appreciate the attentions of the twins, who switch between Dutch and English with ease. An unexpected twist towards the end gives the film a


nicely judged emotional highpoint, and despite a tone that is perhaps too gentle at times and lacking a real dramatic arc, Jackie succeeds as a rather enjoyable and big-hearted film that is never less than watchable.


CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA


Neth. 2012. 90mins Director Antoinette Beumer Production company Eyeworks Film &Drama, InspirePictures International sales Media LunaNew Films, www.medialuna.biz Producers Hans deWeers, Maarten Swart, Reinout Oerlemans, Sim van Veen Executive producer Ronald vanWechem Screenplay Marnie Blok, Karen van HolstPellekaan CinematographyDanny Elsen Editor Marc Bechtold Production designers Minka Mooren, Bryce Perrin MusicWiegel Meirmans Snitker Main cast Carice van Houten, Jelka van Houten, Holly Hunter, Howe Gelb, MaryWoods, ChadE Brown, Jeroen Spitzenberger


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