Bullhead/Rundskop (2011) - Roskam's tragic macho crime drama debut

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Belgian Movie of the Year

Matthias Schoenaerts resembles a bull himself, bared here on the poster for Michaël R. Roskam's Bullhead

When a policeman is killed, who was investigating the hormone mafia of Belgium, it has a snowballing effect for an unhealthy muscle-beast of a man, who was disabled in his childhood.

Bullhead is written and directed by feature-debuting Michaël R. Roskam (The Drop (2014)) based on the actual 1995 murder of livestock inspector Karel Van Noppen. The film thematically wrestles with the essence of masculinity in a macho world and does so with technically impressive consistence.
Matthias Schoenaerts (Girl/Meisje (2002)) creeps completely into his self-destructive, traumatized character here. Luckily the film has humor and a lively pace, because the story is very dark and oppressive.
I think Bullhead may be a bit overrated, or perhaps it is just that I can't identify with its blunted protagonist and the film therefore seems somewhat distant for me. Still this is a strong and different kind of film that's recommendable for anyone up for such a treat.

Related post:

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Matthias Schoenaerts talks about the film here

Cost: Estimated 2 mil. €, or approximately 2.36 mil. $
Box office: Reportedly approximately 5.4 mil. $
= Some uncertainty, but likely a minor flop
[Bullhead premiered 2 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 128 minutes. Shooting took place in Belgium. The film opened #60 to a 32k $ in 7 theaters in North America, where it peaked in 34 theaters and grossed 151k $ (2.8 % of the total gross). The film made almost all of its money in its native Belgium, reportedly 4.3 mil. € or approximately 5.07 mil. $ (93.9 %) in rentals. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to the same level as this review. The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, which it lost to Asghar Farhadi's great A Separation. It won 2 AFI Fest Awards, was nominated for a César Award (France's Oscar), won 4 out of 9 Magritte Awards (Belgium's Oscar) and several other awards and honors. Roskam returned with American crime drama The Drop (2014). Bullhead is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Bullhead?

Rust and Bone/De Rouille et d'Os (2012) - Cotillard gives another awe-inspiring performance

♥♥♥♥

 

A sensual, strong poster for Jacques Audiard's Rust and Bone

 

A crude single father arrives to a coastal city in France with his son and gets a job as a bouncer in a nightclub, where he meets a beautiful woman in distress, who later loses both of her legs in an Orca accident.

Co-writer-director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet/Un Prophète (2009)) continues his style of telling different stories about underclass people we otherwise rarely meet on the big screen, and he once again strikes with a very corporeal tale with a couple of scenes of ugly violence. SPOILER - One of them involves the father and his son, and I found it very hard not to lose all sympathy for the gorilla-like man (played intensely by Matthias Schoenaerts (The Danish Girl (2015))) here. Moreover, Schoenaerts yells the little, crying boy in the head, and I couldn't help but wonder how (or if) they shot that in an ethically defensible way. (I have since read that Audiard deemed this the film's hardest scene to shoot and that the boy knew he would be yelled at but still started crying for real, which is what is now in the film.)

Schoenaerts has a primitive intensity, but it is Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose/La Môme (2007)) who is the center of the film, and she is absolutely stunning, completely melted together with her character and deeply moving in certain scenes, SPOILER especially those in which she overcomes her handicap.

Audiard co-wrote Rust and Bone with Thomas Bidegain (Dheepan (2015)), based on a same-titled 2005 short story by Craig Davidson (The Fighter (2008)). It is a raw film presented without much sugar; it goes for the jugular and should especially be seen for Cotillard's hypnotizing performance.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 15.4 €, equal to approximately 20 mil. $

Box office: 25.7 mil. $

= Big flop

[Rust and Bone premiered May 17 (Cannes) and runs 123 minutes. Cotillard is an animal activist and fiercely against marine parks. Still she spend a week preparing for her role in a marine park, whereas Schoenaerts practised MMA and gained weight. The film came together as a co-production of no less than 17 companies and institutions. Filming took place in 8 weeks in France and Belgium from October - November 2011. The film opened #56 in 2 theaters to a 27k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked in 168 theaters and grossed 2 mil. $ (7.8 % of the total gross), the film's second biggest market. Its biggest market by far was its native France with 14.5 mil. $ (56.4 %). The 3rd biggest was Germany with 1.5 mil. $ (5.8 %). The film lost the Palm d'Or to Michael Haneke's Amour. It was nominated for 2 Golden Globes, 9 Césars (France's Oscar, winning 4) and numerous other awards. Roger Ebert added the film to his Great Films list. Rust and Bone is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Rust and Bone?

Far from the Madding Crowd (2015) - Vinterberg's plush but grating English adaptation

♥♥♥

A romantically swooning poster for Thomas Vinterberg's Far from the Madding Crowd

Far from the Madding Crowd is the fourth adaptation of Thomas Hardy's (Jude the Obscure (1895)) 1874 novel of the same name. It is written by David Nicholls (Great Expectations (2012)) and directed by Danish master filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration/Festen (1998)).

Bathsheba is an attractive, eligible woman in 1870s England, where she inherits a farm and throws herself eagerly into attending it. She becomes courted by three very different men and has trouble finding the right one.

The film has a fine cast led by the enchanting Carey Mulligan (An Education (2009)) and Matthias Schoenaerts (Bullhead (2011)). Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon (2008)) is great in the film's most touching part as Mr. Boldwood, and Tom Sturridge (On the Road (2012)) makes a strong characterization of the loutish soldier.
There are neat costumes (by Janet Patterson (The Piano (1993))) and lovely countryside locales. - The film is shot on location in the part of England, where the story is actually set.

The details:

Far from the Madding Crowd is, in Vinterberg's hands here, a melodrama that has replaced, in its audiences, the heartache that usually accompanies the genre with knuckle-clenching frustration. This stems from Mulligan's character, SPOILER who has the answer to all of her problems literally right in front of her from the first shots of the film onwards, but simply can't seem to wrap her head around to seeing him. This is fatally annoying for the film, which also seems to drag out, though its story is mostly pretty predictable.
Fine performances, production values and respectability doesn't make a great film, if it feels as long as Far from the Madding Crowd, essentially because it spends its nearly two hours running time before it gives us what we want.
It is solid and meticulously made, but not exactly artistic. It does not become the film to break Vinterberg's not too formidable history of English-language movies (It's All About Love (2003) and Dear Wendy (2004) precedes it) that have not yet been good per se. He is soon releasing his second film this year, the Danish-language The Collective/Kollektivet (2015).

Related review:

Thomas Vinterberg: The Hunt/Jagten (2012) - Vinterberg's strongest film since 1998 is a reversed Celebration  
Dear Wendy (2004) - Vinterberg and Von Trier's unpopular, gun-themed mega-flop 

Watch the trailer here, - with the song Let No Man Steal Thy Thyme sung by Carey Mulligan and Michael Sheen

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 18.5 mil. $ and counting
= Uncertainty
[Without the film's budget released, it is impossible to know if Far from the Madding Crowd is close to breaking even yet. - But I think it has far to go yet, and probably will end up a minor flop. It has made 8.3 mil. $ (45 % of the total gross) in North America and a handsome 7.3 mil. $ in the UK (39 %).]

What do you think of Far from the Madding Crowd?
How does it compare to the novel and the earlier screen versions, if you have read or seen any of these?