Pianist, The
*****
Brilliant film directed by Roman Polanski about the absolutely appalling treatment of Jews in Poland during the Second World War.  Adrien Brody plays the central character Wladyslaw Szpilman, a superb pianist.  The early part of the film shows how his family’s rights and possessions are stripped away one by one under the German occupation.  Szpilman narrowly avoids a gas chamber train which takes the rest of his family yet ends up in a brutal concentration camp along with the other few surviving Jews.  The film continues with his miraculous escape and desperate battle to survive the rest of the war in hiding with very little food.  The Germans throughout the film are portrayed as sadistic, brutal bullies and murderers with just one exception.  Although we are all aware of the atrocities suffered by the Jews during the War, The Pianist is still an incredibly powerful and moving film.  Brody is superb in the central performance of this true story – Szpilman lived to 90 years old and was one of the very few survivors of this appalling atrocity.  I would urge anyone reading this to see this brilliant film.
Released – 2003
Seen by me:  5.10.04 (with Naomi)

Pollock
***1/2
Interesting arty biography of Jackson Pollock, the highly influential abstract painter who introduced the concept of “action painting”. 

Pollock the film effectively shows the development of the artist including his moment of greatest inspiration when he mistakenly drips paint onto his canvas and realises that it is still art.  Much less salubriously it also shows us Pollock the man, a selfish and insensitive alcoholic. 

Pollock includes very fine performances by the consistently good Ed Harris in the lead role and Marcia Gay Harden as Lee Krasner, Pollock’s long-suffering partner who puts her own promising art career on hold to help his mercurial talents develop and be realised.  Harris was nominated for an Oscar for his performance and Harden went one better and deservedly won an Academy Award.

Pollock is also directed by Harris who should be congratulated for portraying such an honest and unsentimental account of this most difficult of artists.  It is an informative and thought provoking film, albeit one which is quite horrible and ugly at times, and is well worth seeing.
Released:  2002
Seen by me:  7.1.07  (with Naomi)

Poseidon Adventure
****1/2
Classic early 70s disaster movie which cased a trend culminating in The Towering Inferno.  A luxury cruise-liner turns over after a freak wave with the survivors having to get to the bottom of the boat to escape.  A small group lead by a maverick preacher (Gene Hackman) take a different route to the others and this film is their treacherous escape story. 
Although detractors say that the characters are wooden and one-dimensional, they are memorable from Hackman’s preacher to Ernest Borgnine’s very patronising know-all and Red Buttons’ shy yet determined young man.  What is most shocking is the number of deaths – not just the other passengers but also several of the preacher’s breakaway group graphically due during the escape attempt.  It’s a real case of will (s)he or won’t (s)he be there at the end of the film...
The Poseidon Adventure is a superb period-piece disaster movie.  Well worth seeing or revisiting.
Released:  1972
Seen by me:  28.5.06 (with Naomi)