DVD OF THE WEEK

THE GHOST WRITER ****
Dir: Roman Polanski. Starring: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams.

In No Country For Old Men a deputy says to Tommy Lee Jones: 'It's a mess, ain't it Sheriff?” Tommy Lee replies: 'If it ain't, it'll do till the mess gets here.” That's rather how I feel about The Ghost Writer. It's a decent enough thriller but, if it ain't, it'll do till a decent thriller gets here.
The story has McGregor playing a minor writer hired to ‘ghost' the memoirs of a British prime minister (Brosnan), clearly based on Tony Blair. The assignment is a little mysterious since the previous writer working on the book died under possibly suspicious circumstances. So Ewan finds himself holed up with the PM and his controlling wife (Williams – fantastic) as he tries to assemble the book and as the possibility rises that the politician will be charged with war crimes over an illegal invasion.
As Ewan becomes concerned about the circumstances of his predecessor's death the film becomes a slow-burning thriller, Polanski in full Hitchcock mode and every shadow harbouring menace. All very effective and this is a smart and enjoyable ride (no explosions or car chases - not that sort of film). It's only when you remember that Polanski made Chinatown, a truly great thriller, that this slips more into perspective. But it'll do nicely for now.

Machete (***) springs from a spoof trailer that was part of the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double bill Grindhouse. And this would happily fit as a third episode of that film, Danny Trejo starring in the ultimate Mexican exploitation revenge flick. No over-the-top silliness is left unexplored and there are roles for the likes of Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Cheech, Steven Seagal (as a Mexican!), Lindsay Lohan, Don Johnson and – unlikely though it sounds – Robert De Niro. Plot: they killed his family and set him up! (It hardly matters.) Just be assured that there is a mass of imaginative violence and general insanity while genre tropes are merrily honoured or subverted.

Due Date (***) pushes a predictable buddy comedy formula to its extreme limits. The set-up is the same as so many previous such flicks: Robert Downey Jr (uptight anally-retentive type) through a series of accidents is unable to cross the country in time for his wife to give birth. Enter chaotic bum Zack Galifianakis who offers him a ride. So the two of them embark on a road trip. What distinguishes this from older films is the new millennium's brand of nasty comedy, a meanness about the humour which seems a sign of these modern times. Some will see this as refreshingly unsentimental and hard-edged; some will find it a little spiteful. I thought it was pretty good.

Boogie Woogie (**) is set in the heart of the bitchy London art scene. It's one of those loosely structured ensemble pieces where the various ironies are laid on with a thick palette knife and the dialogue is full of ‘cutting' humour. An impressive and eclectic cast of Americans and Brits, including Danny Huston, Heather Graham, Gillian Anderson, Alan Cummings, Christopher Lee, circle each other like cultural sharks in search of money and fame, and ultimately nothing much is revealed aside from the obvious no-brainer that the London art scene is really bitchy. Which is pretty much where we came in.
Everyone loves a good wholesome Kiwi movie.

But Wound (**) is emphatically not that. The cover promises incest, revenge, death, mind control and sadism, and it claims to be 'one of the most depraved, controversial and boundary-pushing NZ films ever”. So it ain't exactly Second-Hand Wedding. In the early 80s director David Blythe made the exuberant schlock horror Death Warmed Up and he hasn't lost the taste for lurid over-the-top exploitation fare. What results is a weird plot-lite low-budget psychodrama with undercurrents of B&D and bursts of transgressive sex and gore. It's nutso stuff and makes little sense but it does feature sensitive organs being lopped off with scissors. Possibly not for everybody.