The Wolf Of Wall Street

Image Source: Wikipedia

Written By: Luke Mythen

Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Companies: Red Granite Pictures, Appian Way Productions and Sikelia Productions
Director: Martin Scorsese
Producers: Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Riza Aziz, Joey McFarland and Emma Tillinger Koskoff
Scriptwriter: Terence Winter
Main Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jon Bernthal, Jon Favreau and Jean Dujardin
Released: December 25 2013 (US) and January 17 2014 (UK)
Running Time: 180 Minutes
Certificate: 18

It was a bitter and cold evening when I was asked to see a new movie, and not just any movie, but The Wolf Of Wall Street, the new, highly anticipated film from Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island, 2010; The Departed, 2006). I had seen the trailers, which did entice me a little; however, the running time of almost three hours slightly diminished my enthusiasm. Still, I did go and see it, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.

The film is a true story about a young stock broker named Jordan Belfort, which covers his life and times, from his early days on the stock market to becoming one of the most powerful men in New York. The film angles its point of view from Jordan, played wonderfully by the ever-growing talent that is Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic, 1997). This has struck controversy, which I will get onto a little later.

This film follows the narrative pattern that you would find in a Scorsese movie: for example, as is the case with many of his other films set in New York City, the lead protagonist is ultimately the victim of his own power, and therefore he usually loses everything by the end of the film. That's the case here too, but that doesn't reduce the entertainment provided, which explains the five Oscar nominations for this motion picture.

The opening scene of the film tells you everything you need to know about what to expect over the next three hours. It opens with our main character Jordan Belfort snorting cocaine off a young model, and the film continues in the same vein, in all honesty. The story does take many twists and turns along the way, which I expected with a long run-time. The strange thing for me was that everything in this film is about excess; from the money to the drugs to the girls, it is all about wanting more and more, and yet I never found myself hating or disliking the character like I thought I would when I had seen the trailers. This man is everything that I despise about rich self-centred people, but I still wanted things to work out well for him when I was watching the film. Maybe this is because he isn’t born into wealth and has to work his way to success, albeit illegally.

To be honest, I’m not sure whether it was DiCaprio’s performance or the directing by Scorsese, but I was interested in what was going to happen next to these characters. Jonah Hill is passable in this film; I’m not his biggest fan (I personally don’t understand all the fuss around him being funny, since most of his jokes revolve around his weight), but he is bearable in this movie. Margot Robbie plays Jordan's second wife, and she plays the role well, but you don’t miss her when she is off-screen like you do with DiCaprio.

When this film was released, the critics slammed it for glorifying the life of a criminal who made his money by cheating other people out of theirs, and then spending it all on cars, boats, houses, booze, drugs and hookers. I understand where the criticism comes from, as this movie really does glorify the whole thing, but within the context of the movie, it works. If you are disgusted by these kind of people who exist and are the reason why the economy collapsed, then don’t waste your time viewing this film. It is meant to be a comedy drama that, at times, makes light of everything Jordan Belfort did, but there are also points in the film which are very serious, such as the moment when Jordan hits his first wife Naomi. This is been edited to make the moment even more sinister, and is shot to make it as dramatic as possible.

In actual fact, my main issue with this movie is that, as is the case with many long films, it feels like it lasts thirty minutes too long. I enjoyed myself for two and a half hours, but then my body was telling me that I've seen enough. That's not to say that the final half-hour is poor, but the movie as a whole could have been shortened and the overall story wouldn't have suffered as a result.

“My name is Jordan Belfort; the year I turned 26, I made 49 million dollars! Which really p---ed me off because it was three shy of a million a week.” This line in the trailer really does sum up Jordan Belfort, who after losing everything is now a rehabilitee, and a lecturer on how to become a good sales pitcher. That’s the one thing the movie does get across well about Jordan: his main passion is sales, and this skill is seen in abundance from the beginning.

To conclude, The Wolf Of Wall Street is brilliant at what it aims to do, which is to glorify the life of a rich criminal (perhaps to maximise the impact it has on Jordan when he loses everything), and the performance from DiCaprio is Oscar-worthy; however, the running time does let it down by the end.

Overall Rating: 8/10 – Very Good

Birdman (Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)

Image Source: Wikipedia
(Copyright: Fox Searchlight Pictures, the
film publisher or graphic artist.)

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Distributors: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Production Companies: Regency Enterprises and Worldview Entertainment
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Producers: Alejandro González Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan and James W. Skotchdopole
Scriptwriters: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo
Main Cast: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone and Naomi Watts
Released: August 27 2014 (Venice), October 17 2014 (US) and January 1 2015 (UK)
Running Time: 119 Minutes
Certificate: 15

If you had seen the trailers, Birdman, released in the US in late 2014 but being released as one of the first big movies of 2015 in the UK, may not be the film that you were expecting; however, the story that it does provide is engaging enough that it should satisfy moviegoers.

Birdman sees Michael Keaton play washed-up Hollywood actor Riggan Thomson, whose previous fame had been derived from Riggan playing the role of (yes!) Birdman in a superhero franchise years earlier; however, his only goal now is to re-launch his flagging career through the art of theatre. His personal pet project, a Broadway three-nighter of Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” which he is writing, directing and starring in, is viewed as his last chance to show that his versatility and body of work lie beyond the realms of Birdman, a task made more difficult by the frequent criticism within Riggan’s mind (and sometimes in his line of sight) by the Birdman character.

As distracting as these cutting comments are, though, the greater troubles for Riggan come from his fellow cast members, including method actor Mike Shiner (played by Edward Norton), who causes a variety of problems in previews yet manages to become the most-talked actor of the production; Riggan’s girlfriend Laura (Andrea Riseborough), whose presence is made more awkward by that of Riggan’s ex-wife Sylvia (Amy Ryan); and his daughter Sam (Emma Stone), whose drug habits and growing relationship with Mike disappoint and devastate Riggan on both a personal and professional level.

As if Riggan’s woes weren’t unbearable enough, he learns that well-renowned New York film critic Tabitha Dickinson (Lindsay Duncan) plans to give his show a savage review regardless of its quality on the night, her explanation being that an inexperienced theatre actor like him should not be sullying the reputation of Broadway with his attempt at a production. After much soul-searching, from personal turmoil to acts of near-professional suicide, Riggan decides that the only way to solve his problems is to end the final night of the show’s run with a bang – but can the high risk truly justify the potential rewards?

The plot-line sounds dramatic and at times heart-wrenching, and there are a number of very dramatic scenes; however, Birdman is actually a black comedy which manages to deliver humorous quips and visuals throughout much of the story, including moments of graphic violence and even during an attempt by Mike to make a sex scene with Lesley (Naomi Watts) more realistic by trying to convince her that they should have sex for real due to him being erect (which is made more comical by Mike’s subsequent relationship with Sam).

That being said, the true story of Birdman is one of a failed actor’s last chance to be a somebody, or else risk being forgotten altogether. It is a tale that I am sure many former thespians can relate to; the difference here is that Riggan’s world is crumbling around him at the same time, which clearly affects him, yet his sole intention is to make his final performance on-stage be impactful enough that it would make up for all of his problems.

The tale is made more plausible because of the acting of all involved. Indeed, all involved deliver strong performances, especially Michael Keaton whose portrayal of Riggan in the last-chance saloon of entertainment whilst surrounded by a dysfunctional personal life is utterly believable; many have said that Keaton’s work here is a career performance. Special mention must also go to Edward Norton, who is both a figure of admiration and hatred at various if not simultaneous points, and who could not be more convincing as an actor who thinks on the spot about what lines and actions would be most effective – even with a capacity crowd looking on.

I would be more remiss not to make note of the actual production of Birdman. Emmanuel Lubezki, cinematographer, stated that the movie was filmed (in and around the St. James Theatre in New York City) to try and look like one continuous shot, and it is; although scenes clearly change, and day turns into night before our very eyes and vice versa, to the naked eye the entire movie comes across as one very long scene. It’s an effective tactic which takes some getting used to at first but feels natural as the movie progresses, and is actually logical when you consider that during the average person’s day, what they see really is a long-running scene rather than a series of mini-scenes. That being said, I could not watch many films in their entirety in this way – it’s a hard adjustment when you next come to watch something which does have traditional cutaways – but it works very well here.

There is much to like here, but I did find some elements confusing. Riggan’s previous and current relationships are hard to follow, including a sudden announcement which later proved to be false that Riggan would be a father; the Birdman tie-in, as stated, is prevalent enough yet on the whole insignificant that it may have misled those who watched the film expecting a superhero plot-line; and while I won’t spoil the ending, I can say that some aspects of the conclusion are somewhat odd and even contradictory.

Overall, though, Birdman is definitely worthy of one’s time and captures one’s interest throughout, with you almost begging Riggan to overcome the mounting odds come the final performance of his production. Certain arcs of the story are confusing (perhaps because of the use of one continuous shot which may have eliminated what could have been explanatory scenes) and it may require more than one viewing to truly understand it, but it delivers a unique cinematic experience and plenty of strong performances to ensure that, whilst it is not in the same vein as the superhero franchises which I originally believed it would be akin to, Birdman is a thoroughly engaging movie whereby its most identifiable elements position it to stand as its own as a one-of-a-kind production.

Overall Rating: 8.5/10 – Excellent