My Week with Marilyn

As far as classic actresses go, there’s probably none more iconic than Marilyn Monroe. Audrey Hepburn maybe, but as a brunette I’m probably a little biased. Damn those gentlemen and their preference for blondes!

Anyway, Michelle Williams is currently bringing the famous blonde bombshell to life in a new film directed by Simon Curtis, My Week With Marilyn. And therein lies the danger with icons, bad impersonation and caricature are always lurking. So is it a performance worth the best actress Oscar buzz?

The film is supposedly based on a true story, taken from the memoirs of a young film enthusiast, Colin Clark. It’s 1957, and he’s a gopher working on the ‘The Princess and the Showgirl’, a light comedy starring Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe….. but not all is well. There’s tension on the set, and Colin strikes up an unlikely friendship with the unpredictable actress when her behavior threatens to derail the production.

There’s a lot to like about this film, the performances of a great ensemble cast especially. Michelle Williams is radiant as the troubled star, and so much like the original you forget sometimes who is actually on screen. She brings the fragility, the incredible charisma, the voice, the humour, the sensuality. Everything you love about Marilyn is there, and not laid on too thick which could be tempting with such a personality. A lot of what you get to know about Marilyn’s character is told through William’s eyes. Kenneth Branagh puts his best foot forward as the frustrated Olivier, but sometimes leans towards more of a hammy performance. However I couldn’t decide whether this was a positive or negative of the performance! He certainly is having fun; you can tell the actors are relishing the chance to play such notable members of their craft. Judi Dench, as always, is elegant and commanding as a veteran actress, and gives extra heart to the story.

Eddie Redmayne is freckly and charming as the young Clark enamored by the actress, and he seems to exude wide eyed wonder. The look of the film mirrors this; it’s all sun tinted English autumns and naivety. There are times when Curtis’ direction is beautiful and evocative, especially in the intimate scenes between Colin and Marilyn. There are times too, when the film becomes a bit bogged down in the story and direction. Emma Watson as a costume assistant isn’t given anything to do and the script plays like a fluffy letter written by a Monroe fan. I was more entertained in a comedic sense than I thought I would be, I suppose I was expecting something darker. More of an in depth investigation into the troubled life of a conflicted woman or a heart wrenching romance, but that’s not what you get. It’s lighter, funnier, more sparkly.

The film does hint at darker things to follow mainly through Williams’ performance, you’re aware of seeing a woman self-destruct. We know where this behavior leads, to Marilyn’s untimely death a few years later, but it’s not dealt with fully in this film. I suppose it wasn’t the purpose, and that’s not a bad thing.

3 and a half stars.

Hugo

Firstly, sorry for the break in transmission. My excuse is that I had no internet. Seriously, in this day and age. But let’s put that aside and start over for a new year!

Secondly, there’s no doubt Martin Scorsese is a master director, more often associated with gritty and violent films about the lives of gangsters and taxi drivers and Robert De Niro and less with lighter options (not counting that musical with Liza Minelli…… we’ll leave that alone).

In Hugo however, Scorsese has channeled all his heart and soul into a family friendly love letter to the early magical days of film making. It’s a move that may have been strange to fans of The Departed, particularly when early trailers were revealed to look a bit on the soppy side, but the resulting film is beautiful, nostalgic, moving and thrillingly entertaining.

We open in 1930’s Paris, as a young boy living behind the walls of a train station winds the clocks and steals parts to fix a mysterious machine he has been left by an absent father. This is young Hugo Cabret, played with much warmth and maturity by Asa Butterfield, and as we follow him through the beautifully recreated Parisian winter we meet a colourful cast of characters each somehow connected through the hub of the station; namely Sacha Baron Cohen as the orphan hating Inspector, Ben Kingsley as the prickly toy shop owner and Chloe Grace Moretz as his adventurous goddaughter. Across the board these performances are great, equal parts humourous and touching. The young Moretz injects so much wonder into the eyes of her character Isabelle that it’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement of it all and Ben Kingsley was unlucky to miss out on a supporting Oscar nod (robbed I say!). Jude Law and Helen McCrory also pop up in smaller roles, fleshing out a classy ensemble.

The world these characters live in is peppered with the hint of the magical; Scorsese ups the colour saturation and the whimsy – especially when the film flashes back into the earlier life and career of a particular character (I’ll try not to spoil too much). It’s fairly breathtaking, and directed with a genuine love for the subject.

Hugo is probably more a film for adults than children, although there is enough adventure and hijinks here to keep the smaller ones entertained. I’m not saying they won’t enjoy the multi layered story and incredible visuals, it’s just that I think the trailers are a bit misleading - It’s not an ‘action figure’ kind of movie and can get a bit bogged down between the big set pieces. Essentially, it’s one boy’s emotional story of discovery.

However….If you, like me, love the following things: Paris in the 1930’s, old films, steam trains, tiny Daschund dogs and great movies…. then Hugo is a must see.

Also, we should probably be friends.

Four and a half out of five.