The Savages

Sometimes everything about life can seem overwhelmingly suffocating. Thats precisely what the brother and sister duo played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney find themselves in when they get a call saying that their father has started scribbling on the walls with his own shit. Dysfunctional personal lives slowly get dragged into a bigger, dysfunctional family situation. Funny in most parts, 'The Savages' is 2 hours well spent. Thanks certainly to the fantastic P S Hoffman and very capable Laura Linney (who usually grates with her acting - or is it just her consistent choice of roles?).

Rating: * * * +

The Nanny Diaries

Annie (Scarlett Johansson) graduates and runs to a job interview at Goldman Sachs. But sadly the job she lands is that of a nanny in Manhattan. Through Nanny the viewer is given a slice of life in the East Side. Alicia Keys plays Annie's friend who is a poor NYU student but strangely walks around in designer wear. Even if 20% of this film is true then God help the East Side. It has the most virulent form of the human virus breeding there. A well taken film but a tad hollow to hold any interest.

Rating: * +

Jindabyne

When does someone really die? When life departs from their body or when the living realize that they are gone? These questions come to mind when watching this film from Ray Lawrence.

Four friends on a weekend fishing trip discover a body of an aboriginal woman floating on the river. They choose to continue with the trip and report the body only after they have had their fun. This sends shock waves through the lives of the involved men especially Stewart (Gabriel Byrne). His wife Claire (Laura Linney) finds it hard to digest what her husband has done. Racial and familial tensions start to run high in this taunt drama which has you hooked but does not reel you in.

Rating: * * +

Breach

As the tagline states: inspired by the true story of the greatest breach in US history. Seemed interesting at the outset, but all that we get is an insipid spy movie. A fairly impotent script that tells the story, but with less than half the intensity of the documentary that I had seen on the subject.

Rating: * +

The Squid and the Whale

A story of divorce and its aftermath set in New York. Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels) is an unmitigated asshole writer on the decline. His wife Joan (Laura Linney) who has issues of her own decides to finally leave him. The splinters of their separation hit their two teenage sons with unnerving accuracy. The boys (Owen Kline, Jesse Eisenberg) struggle to grapple with their shattered world. They act out but their cries are muted when compared to the parents. Brilliant performance all round that leave you wondering if they were acting or if a hidden camera was lurking in a disintegrated household.

Rating: * * +