The films A Good Year and Candy have three things in common -- 1) released in 2006; 2) not blockbusters 3) Abbie Cornish. Both movies are worthwhile, depending on your temperament.
Ridley Scott, director of big films like Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Thelma & Louise (1991), American Gangster (2007) and so on, adopts Peter Mayle's 2004 novel A Good Year with an eye on gorgeous French countryside and contrasts between a rushed lifestyle in modern London and a quirkier, more laid back one in Provence.
Russell Crowe, Marion Cotillard (pictured above), and the entire supporting cast are quite good. Ms. Cotillard is, in fact, superb by her mere presence. The only real violence in this movie is of the financial variety, back in The City, the London equivalent of Wall Street. A Good Year is more a droll, good-hearted male fantasy than a so-called chick flick, at least to me. The French village scenes are exactly right on, and did I mention Marion Cotillard?
Neil Armfield's Candy, by contrast, is a tragic-sad film that is also beautifully shot and features excellent performances by Abbie Cornish (pictured above), Heath Ledger and Geoffrey Rush. It's based on Luke Davies' Candy (1997) / Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction (1998) and joins a precious handful of memorable addiction films. As for Abbie Cornish, she physically glows like Scarlett Johansson.
Today's Rune: Gateway.
4 comments:
I swear dude you are making me feel like I just don't get out enough.
So there are still some Ledger movies out there.
Hi Eric, you are so right on regarding Candy. Beautiful and painful and totally well done. Havent seen "A Good Year" yet. Hey WM-most of the movies I see are on cable or PPV. Easier than treking to the Star and dropping $50.00 on the whole she-bang.
Ridley Scott is like, a hero...Numb3rs, Kingdom of Heaven, Numb3rs :)
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