The Ides of March (Entertainment One): Adapted from Beau Williams’ stage play Farragut North, the basic story is a cocktail loosely inspired by the skulduggery of recent US presidential primaries. It focuses on a young, ambitious strategist (Ryan Gosling) who is assisting his campaign boss (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in getting an inspirational Democratic candidate (George Clooney) elected. With the Republican field bare, the primary takes on extra significance, especially when a rival campaign manager (Paul Giamatti), a journalist (Marisa Tomei) and an intern (Evan Rachel Wood) start to pose ethical and moral dilemmas. With a script credited to Williams, Clooney and Grant Heslov, it seems to be a deliberate attempt to apply the weary but wise tone of classic 1970s cinema to recent times. Clooney’s approach as director draws on the best work of Alan Pakula and Sidney Lumet, with moral ambiguity, composed framing and a considered use of long takes all adding to the atmosphere. [Read our full review here] [Buy on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon UK]
Contagion (Warner Home Video): Director Steven Soderbergh’s latest is an all-star disaster movie that follows a global killer virus – think Traffic, only with disease. When Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns from a Hong Kong business trip to suburban Minneapolis, her husband (Matt Damon) is alarmed when she falls ill. When the virus spreads, the response team at the Center for Disease Control (Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet and Jennifer Ehle) and the World Health Organization (Marion Cotillard) have to stop it spreading, whilst a Bay Area blogger Jude Law keeps ahead of the news media. Managing to avoid most horror/sci-fi clichés, Soderbergh channels to spirit of 1970s films like Earthquake, whilst updating it for out similarly bleak age. The script by Scott Z Burns is alarmingly plausible, drawing on the recent SAARS scare, whilst Soderbergh handles the global locations with such an assured touch, most people probably won’t notice. [Buy on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon UK]
Anonymous (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): The very idea of Roland Emmerich making a movie about the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays is enough to spark laughter, but the end result is a handsomely staged period piece. The premise revolves around Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (Rhys Ifans) and the conceit that he not only wrote the plays of Shakespeare, but did so as part of an elaborate political conspiracy involving Elizabeth I (Vanessa Redgrave), playwright Ben Jonson (Sebastian Armesto) and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (Sebastian Reid). The blizzard of stories that accompanied its cinema release centred around the authorship question and Sony Pictures staged a deeply misguided marketing campaign, baiting those upset with the premise. Not that it worked as early audiences seemed to have more problems with the ambitious jigsaw puzzle script, which cleverly mirrors the themes of Shakespeare’s plays. [Read our full review here] [Buy on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon UK]
ALSO OUT
American Evil (Metrodome Distribution) [Blu-ray / Normal] Columbus Circle (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal] Deviation (Revolver Entertainment) [Blu-ray / Normal] Dinosaur Jr: Live at 9:30 Club – In the Hands of the Fans (Wienerworld) [Blu-ray / Normal] Dracula Prince of Darkness (StudioCanal) [Blu-ray / with DVD – Double Play] Game of Thrones: Series 1 (Warner Home Video/HBO) [Blu-ray / Normal] Immortals (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal] LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace (20th Century Fox Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / Normal] Nurse Jackie: Season 3 (Lionsgate UK) [Blu-ray / Normal] Sket (Revolver Entertainment) [Blu-ray / Normal] The Rum Diary (EV) [Blu-ray / Normal] Tomboy (Peccadillo Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal] Urban Explorers (Anchor Bay Entertainment UK) [Blu-ray / Normal]
This Means War (20th Century Fox): Two CIA operatives (Chris Pine and Tom Hardy) wage an ‘epic battle’ against one another after they both fall in love with the same woman (Reese Witherspoon). Directed by McG. [Nationwide / 12A]
Wanderlust (Universal): Comedy about a married couple (Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston) who try to escape the trappings of modern society by joining a free-wheeling commune. Directed by David Wain, it co-stars Justin Theroux, Ken Marino, Malin Akerman and Lauren Ambrose. [Nationwide / 15]
Project X (Warner Bros.): Comedy about 3 teenagers who throw a birthday party to make a name for themselves, but as the night progresses, things spiral out of control. Directed by Nima Nourizadeh, it stars Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper and Jonathan Daniel Brown. [Nationwide / 18]
Hunky Dory (E1 Films): Drama about the trials and tribulations of an idealistic drama teacher (Minnie Driver) as she tries to put on the end of year show. Directed by Marc Evans, it co-stars Aneurin Barnard and George Mackay. [Nationwide]
ALSO OUT
Michael (Artificial Eye): Acclaimed Austrian drama loosely inspired by the Fritzl case. Directed by Markus Schleinzer, it stars Michael Fuith, Christine Kain, Gisella Salcher, Ursula Strauss and Victor Tremmel. [Key cities / 18]
Carancho (Axiom Films): Argentinian crime drama about an ambulance chasing lawyer (Ricardo Darín) and a doctor (Martina Gusman) he meets. Directed by Pablo Trapero. [Key cities / 15]
Asperger syndrome, also known as Asperger’s syndrome or Asperger disorder, is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development. Although not required for diagnosis, physical clumsiness and atypical use of language are frequently reported.
Autism and Asperger syndrome are both part of a range of related developmental disorders known as autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). They begin in childhood and persist through adulthood.
ASD can cause a wide range of symptoms, which are grouped into three broad categories, described below.
Problems and difficulties with social interaction, such as a lack of understanding and awareness of other people’s emotions and feelings.
Impaired language and communication skills, such as delayed language development and an inability to start conversations or take part in them properly.
Unusual patterns of thought and physical behaviour. This includes making repetitive physical movements, such as hand tapping or twisting. The child develops set routines of behaviour, which can upset the child if the routines are broken.
It is fair enough to criticise the film (and I would echo some of those criticisms) but was there something revealing in the more negative reviews?
Many seemed to focus on the central character’s condition as “annoying”, which could have been reflective of a lack of understanding and tolerance regarding the condition of autism and Asperger’s.
He makes the claim that it may have played a key role in the shaping of Hollywood:
I think it not impossible that Asberger’s syndrome helped make the movie business.
The symptoms of the developmental disorder include early precocity, a great ability to maintain masses of information, a lack of ability to mix with groups in age-appropriate ways, ignorance of or indifference to social norms, high intelligence, and difficulty with transitions, married to a preternatural ability to concentrate on the minutia of the task at hand.
This sounds to me like a job description for a movie director.
He goes on to say:
Let me also note that Asberger’s syndrome has it’s highest prevalence among Ashkenazi Jews and their descendants. For those who have not been paying attention, this group constitutes, and has constituted since its earliest days, the bulk of America’s movie directors and studio heads.
Mamet goes on to note that many prominent Jewish directors share this Eastern European lineage, from Joseph Von Sternberg right through to Steven Spielberg.
In 1999, just a few months after Kubrick’s death, Spielberg gave a lengthy and fascinating interview about his friend, in which he talked about his mastery of technique:
“Nobody could shoot a movie better than Stanley Kubrick in history”
In a comment on a blog about Kubrick’s Napolean project, for which he conducted industrial amounts of research but never actually made, someone says the key may lie in his films:
“The best evidence for Kubrick being an Asperger is not perfectionism,it is the recurring themes of his films.
Aspies see themselves, or think the world sees them as robots, computers, or aliens. In A.I. Artificial Intelligence, the main character is a robot who thinks he is human. HAL, in 2001 is also a piece of artificial intelligence, a human-like computer. The definition of “A Clockwork Orange” in the first page of the book “a clockwork orange-meaning that he has the appearance of an organism but is in fact only a clockwork toy”
His preference for enormous numbers of repeated takes might also indicate something: a simple line by Scatman Crothers in The Shining (1980) was reputedly shot 148 times, a record for the most takes of a single scene.
Asberger’s was the subject of Adam (2009), a drama about a young man (Hugh Dancy) and his relationship with his new neighbour (Rose Byrne), which won the Alfred P. Sloan prize at the Sundance festival – an award that acknowledges films that focus on science and technology.
Given that scientists in are usually the most sane and rational people whose discoveries and inventions have helped save countless lives, it begs the question as to why this notion persists.
The irony is even richer if we accept Mamet’s theory about Hollywood’s founders – a system created by people who may have had Asberger’s, actually perpetuates the stigma surrounding it.
David Fincher – like Kubrick, a meticulous director of rare talent – has recently been attracted to projects with two lead characters who appear to show traces of Asberger’s and autism.
Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) is another computer hacker with limited social skills, but her character is arguably a key reason why the book caught on in the way that it did.
Not only does it reverse the gender stereotype seen so often in Hollywood – e.g. man saves ‘the damsel in distress’ – but it possibly reflects a generation of women not only comfortable with computers, but capable of using them as a tool to fight their various battles.
In the same way that Zuckerberg uses his coding skills to outwit the entitled Winklevoss twins, Salander utilises her hacking skills to get revenge on various sleazy and sexist men.
Let’s not forget that the original title of Steig Larrson’s novel was “Men Who Hate Women” and that the female protagonist was partly inspired by the author witnessing the gang rape of a girl, which led to his lifelong hatred of violent abuse against women.
Her position as an outsider is thus cemented by her endurance of abuse as well as her distant personality – the fact that her character has resonated so strongly in pop culture, surely suggests something about the sexism and intolerance that is still prevalent in the modern world.
Q4: You’ve made films where improbable things look realistic. Did you ever consider making a superhero movie or fantasy, where things are bit more difficult to make believable?
Fincher: I was asked if I might be interested in the first Spider-Man, and I went in and told them what I might be interested in doing, and they hated it. No, I’m not interested in doing “A Superhero”. The thing I liked about Spider-Man was I liked the idea of a teenager, the notion of this moment in time when you’re so vulnerable yet completely invulnerable. But I wasn’t interested in the genesis, I just couldn’t shoot somebody being bitten by a radioactive spider – just couldn’t sleep knowing I’d done that. [audience laughs]
But if you think about it, The Social Network is a kind of superhero movie where geeky outsiders (like Peter Parker or the X-Men) use their special talents to create something bigger than themselves – its just in this case its a website that connects millions of people rather than a symbolic crimefighter.
Like Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin falling out over Facebook, Spiderman creators Lee and Steve Ditko had some disagreement over the character who would become famous – essentially, Lee did the writing whilst Ditko did the drawing.
People I discussed The Social Network with seemed divided about the central character: older viewers perceived him as a jerk who betrayed his friends, whilst younger one saw him as a hero for sticking it to the privileged Harvard elite and building a website that has become a huge part of their lives.
In fact, the film works as a brilliant metaphor for Hollywood itself – brilliant Jewish upstarts defy the East coast establishment (represented by the Winklevoss twins) to find their nirvana on the West Coast (Silicon Valley).
The photo the Zuckerberg character he keeps refreshing is that of a former girlfriend played by Rooney Mara, the very same actress who plays Lisbeth Salander, reinforcing the connection between the films.
He is best known for his work on autism, including his early theory that autism involves degrees of “mind-blindness” (or delays in the development of theory of mind); and his later theory that autism is an extreme form of the “male brain”, which involved a re-conceptualisation of typical psychological sex differences in terms of empathizing–systemizing theory.
Here he is giving a lecture in Stockholm:
In a recent interview with the broswer he was asked about books and films he’d recommend.
The central character is famous in Germany for being – as the title might suggest – one of those real-life enigmas who has inspired endless debate.
He appeared in a Nuremberg village in 1828 with no language, he was taken in by the local doctor who tried to help assimilate him to normal society.
Part of the fascination with central character and Herzog’s film are the underlying questions it throws up, but Baron-Cohen thinks it is significant for other reasons:
Kaspar Hauser might be the first well-documented case of autism in literature, or even in history.
Some people wonder whether autism is just a modern phenomenon, but here we have a very early account. The film (and the original book) raises very similar issues to those raised in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and shares a main character who is somehow detached from humanity.
Like The Curious Incident, Kaspar Hauser also suffered neglect and abuse (of a different kind – he was reportedly chained up and isolated for the first 17 years of his life), so this by no means represents autism.
Indeed, it could be more similar to the case of Genie, a so-called feral child who was also reared in isolation and never properly developed language or social skills.
It taps into the same fascination that anthropologists have with other cultures, but in this case it is a fascination with someone who is not part of any culture.
There’s a sort of mirroring that goes on, because the character is so detached he is observing other people. Some people with Asperger syndrome describe themselves as feeling as though they came from another planet: they watch human interaction and they don’t quite understand it. They don’t feel that they can participate in it.
Baron-Cohen has hit on something here about autism and the power of cinema.
It is a medium which presents us with an immersive ‘second reality’ on screen and that rare chance to escape from our sense of self (as long as the film isn’t really bad).
‘Escapism’ is often used as a derogatory term for disposable entertainment, but surely any film that achieves a sense of escape from ourselves is successful on some level.
For people suffering from a sense that they can’t participate in ‘normal society’ (which by they way, isn’t so normal these days), it may come as a welcome relief.
The spectrum of autism – of which Asberger’s is a part – is something that the mainstream media and general public finds hard to grapple with.
Perhaps because the stereotypes perpetuated and recycled through the media, only increase the social taboo, prevent discussion and increase the sense of isolation.
But it is heartening to know that one of the UK’s leading experts finds something of real value in a Herzog movie.
The German auteur has carved out a unique career in both features and documentaries, and Kaspar Hauser was his international breakthrough – it is ironic that a film about isolation should connect internationally.
Perhaps the recent spate of films dealing with autism can have a similar connection, not just with people who have the condition but with the wider public too.
Asberger’s and autism is much more than the ‘annoying kid’ in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close or Dustin Hoffman’s autistic savant in Rain Main (1988).
It may be embedded in the very DNA of Hollywood and some cinemas greatest filmmakers.