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November 7, 2010A Matter of Life and Death (1946) ****1/2Directed by Michael Powell & Emeric PressburgerMy tweet:A Matter of Life and Death (1946)- Beautiful and bizarre one of a kind look at law, love and England as only Powell/Press. can. ****1/2 of 5 Never Let Me Go (2010) ****Directed by Mark RomanekMy tweet:Never Let Me! Go (2010)- Logan's Run meets Jane Austin... powerful, wonderfully acted philosophical cautionary tale. **** out of 5Other thoughts:Both Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger shared writing, directing and producing credits for a wonderfully rich little oddity that was titled Stairway to Heaven when released in the United States due to the end of World War II and the reluctance of using the word "death" in the titles of films of the time. One wonders who wrote what and who directed what, but the fact that these two notorious collaborators split and shared the duties makes sense considering the fact that the movie is directly about at least two separate ideas completely. This is a love story, but it's also a philosophical condemnation of England, America and war itself. One won't find many films more romantic; however, one also won't find many films that deserve the label of propaganda more than A Matter of Life and Death.Fifty-four years later, Mark Romanek directs Never Let! Me Go which is a similarly genre-defying romance/philosophica! l medita tion on what makes someone human. A major difference between the two, however, is that A Matter of Life and Death is a fantasy while Never Let Me Go is science-fiction. Granted, Never Let Me Go has much more in common visually with Sense and Sensibility and Atonement than it does with Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Still, it looks at a world rooted in our own reality where scientific advances have (if you'll allow me to use the word) forwarded society into one where the stakes of life and death have changed completely. As such, the ethical ramifications of these "advancements" are naturally and automatically judged by us outsiders living before these disturbingly feasible breakthroughs.In A Matter of Life and Death, the suave and talented David Niven plays Peter Carter, a British military pilot who is about to jump without a parachute from a burning plane. He radios a young American woman named June, and without ever seeing each other in real life, the two! fall deeply in love under the assumption that Peter will not survive beyond their conversation. Of course, Peter does survive and encounters June in real life. This causes a huge ruckus in heaven considering that Peter was in fact supposed to be accounted among the dead instead of the living. An angel who was formerly a soldier in the French Revolution called Conductor 71 (Marius Goring) appears to Peter and tells him that he must be accompanied to heaven at once, but Peter, now in love with June, wants to spend his time on earth to be with the one he loves.In heaven, a trial is set to see whether or not Peter can prove his true love for June and whether or not this love is sufficient to allow his death to be postponed. Meanwhile, on earth, Peter is told to see a psychiatrist named Dr. Frank Reeves, played by The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp's Roger Livesey, in order to deal with the hallucinations caused by Conductor 71's apparitions. Dr. Reeves believes that Peter mus! t go through with the trail in order to be cured of these visi! ons.Ulti mately, the trial in heaven moves forward. The prosecuting attorney is a Bostoner from the time of the American Revolution named Abraham Farley, played by Raymond Massey, who has a deep seated and obviously arcane hatred of all things British. The arguments in the trail touch upon life, death, love, hate and which of these ultimately makes us human. The outcome greatly impacts the future of the love relationship between Peter and June, and perhaps also gives everyone a bit more insight into the existential meaning of the world we live in today.Never Let Me Go, on the other hand, has a much more somber and grim atmosphere blanketing the drama of a love story that flowers within existences that only have utilitarian value according to the outside world. The inside world starts out within the walls of an odd boarding school in England which requires its students above all to be good at sports as well as work toward producing some art which can supposedly be displayed at some ga! llery in town.An awkward boy named Tommy captures the attention of a serious and astute young girl named Kathy who is best friends with a more outgoing and insecure alpha girl named Ruth. Tommy, not very good at either sports or art class, has become very frustrated, often leading to brutally embarrassing emotional tantrums. Kathy perhaps understands the difficulty Tommy has coping with the life chosen for everyone in the school. Once Kathy gravitates towards Tommy, Ruth decides that she will go after Tommy instead of being alone. Kathy catches Ruth kissing Tommy. All of this happens when the kids are around 11 years-old.Fast forward about eight years later. Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Ruth (Kiera Knightly) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield) begin the predetermined stage of their lives in the outside world, living in a house with some other young adults who have been there for a year. Ruth and Tommy are still a couple, leaving Kathy deeply frustrated by the fact that she's very much i! n love with someone who is with another girl.The group of frie! nds trav els to the city for a peculiar and ultimately naive mission, clinging to a hope which might change their destinies forever. Without giving away important mysteries within the plot, I'll simply say that the rest of the movie deals with some really difficult journeys. The love triangle between the three play out as they all grow into their late twenties, and some of them continue on a quest to earn the right to control their futures. In doing so, they learn the cruelty of fate and how it inevitably leads to unspeakably difficult losses, no matter who you are.With exception, both films are filled with fantastic performances. Niven and Kim Hunter as June are both really wonderful in A Matter of Life and Death, and Roger Livesey has quickly become one of my very favorite actors after only seeing him in two films. The supporting performances in this film are excellent as well. Visually, Powell and Pressburger provide an absolutely satisfying feast, utilizing gorgeous technicolor w! hen on earth and switching to rich black and white when in heaven. In this way, the movie plays out like the photographic negative of The Wizard of Oz. The speechifying in the final act up in heaven has a few moments that don't ring true, and the film in general is slightly unfocused. By the end, so many grand themes are explored that we almost disconnect completely with the love story that's at the center of everything. That being said, A Matter of Life and Death is so beautifully original and complex that I could easily see it continuing to reward the viewer with subsequent viewings.Carey Mulligan gives what I think is her best performance in Never Let Me Go. Her character is buttoned up and profoundly frustrated, and Mulligan brings to life a young woman that's guarded and icy without ever coming across vacant and vapid. She doesn't employ her signature facial ticks as much this time around, which is wise considering that her character is as far from bubbly as a characte! r can get. Andrew Garfield, who has been hit or miss in other ! films, h olds his own in what is easily the showiest role in the film. He's allowed to break down completely in one of the final scenes of the film and the result is a poignant and disturbing climax that's hoisted up almost entirely on Garfield's shoulders. Kiera Knightly, on the other hand, doesn't give her character the nuance needed to make Ruth fully realized. She's certainly beautiful to look at, but her characterization comes across shallow and annoying.The questions asked in Never Let Me Go are disturbing mostly because the possibility of this very dystopia actually reaching fruition is not that difficult to imagine. In a world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, it's not too far of a stretch to think about how some people might look at other people as less than they are. Even without the science fiction elements, there are certainly ways that people can treat others as objects instead of as people. This can occur in legislation as well, especially when dealing ! with issues of poverty or immigration. The outsider often is relegated to a value below that of the insider.Some have criticized Never Let Me Go as being too languid in its pacing to stay engaging. As science fiction films go, this one is admittedly more intellectually stimulating than visually or aurally. Still, it's a haunting, fascinating meditation that requires patience by its viewers. If the viewer is willing to meet the film halfway, it's a rewarding movie in many ways.As a philosophy major in college, I don't really find cursory, non-academic philosophical explorations all that interesting on their own. Thankfully, both A Matter of Life and Death and Never Let Me Go wrap these meditations in neat, well-made packages. A Matter of Life and Death is a visual masterpiece, and Never Let Me Go really hits home with its exploration of existential meaninglessness. As fantasy and science-fiction films go, these two broke the mold completely.
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