Scene 2011

The American

Dreadfully pretentious George Clooney vehicle, directed by Anton Corbijn. Apparently they've been looking at arty thrillers from the 70s and decided they would have a go, too. Clooney always seems miscast when he's in anything but a romcom and that's the case here. He's joined by what look like a couple of Vogue models playing, as they do, contract killers. It's attempt to be cool is embarrassing especially when compared to the kind of films (Bertolucci's The Conformist and Melville's Le Samurai spring to mind) that it seeks to emulate.

Confessions

Tetsuya Nakashima's follow-up to the terrific Memories of Matsuko is in the same class as that film and offers another example of creative storytelling. A young child is found dead and the killers are soon revealed. The story rests on their fate which is determined by the child's mother, who is also the schoolteacher of the killers. This is no routine violent revenge movie, though. It's cleverly structured, beautifully shot and, like 'Matsuko', packs an emotional punch barely softened by some very dark humour.

Monsters



An ironic title that may have backfired if the US box office take is anything to go by. This was hardly bolstered by the the outrage of monster fanboys, raving at the relative lack of the eponymous creatures. Skip this and prepare instead for a slow paced road movie-cum arty romance, with tentacled menace lurking in the background. There's also a political allgory going on, signposted by the warning Homeland Security notices. I have to admit it kind of lost me along the way. The (real-life) couple failed to sustain interest but there are many other elements to admire. The casting of locals is inspired, even if due to financial imperatives, and lends the south American setting tremendous authenticity. The miniscule budget (£500k) is frequently belied both visually and aurally, so take a bow Gareth Edwards who both wrote, directed and created the SFX. Despite rave notices from Roger Ebert and Salon.com, the film is currently rated at only 6.3 on IMDB, and while that site is never the most reliable of indicators, this is still something of a shock.