Top 10 Ralph Fiennes Performances

Today Ralph Fiennes is one of Britain’s preeminent acting talents, and a household name. However, like all great actors, there was a time when he was unknown and still searching for his breakthrough performance. In honour of The Grand Budapest Hotel, his latest film, we’re taking a look back to the start of his career, and the notable performances that brought him to stardom.

Schindler’s list (1993)

Originally Fiennes dreamed of becoming a painter and began studying at Chelsea College of Art and Design. Soon, however, he found his passion in acting, and quickly transferred to London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Here he was taught through Shakespearean theatre, and after graduation in 1987, he performed on live stage for several years. Although he made his first film appearance as a lead Actor in 1992’s Wuthering Heights, his performance in Schindler’s List elevated him to star status. In this role, Fiennes played the chillingly cold Nazi officer Amon Goeth, and for his performance, he was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of best actor in a supporting role, and also won the BAFTA in the same category.

Quiz Show (1994)

Springboarding off his performance in Schindler’s list, Fiennes partnered up with actor-director Robert Redford for the 1994 Academy Awards best picture nominee Quiz Show. In it, Fiennes stars as a fictional version of Charles Van Doren, a quiz show contestant who captivated America in the 1950s by winning week after week. The only problem? Van Doren was being fed the answers the whole time, and when a disgruntled losing contestant reveals the truth, their scheme, along with America’s illusion, came tumbling down—fast.

The English Patient (1996)

Fiennes returned to the Oscar spotlight in 1996, this time leading another Academy Award best picture winner, The English Patient. Fiennes plays an archaeologist during WWII who has been badly burned in a plane crash and is struggling for his life in a French hospital. As the plot turns, and Fiennes’ past is revealed in a series of flash backs, a dangerous love affair quickly unravels. For his performance, Fiennes was nominated by the Academy again, this time in the category of best actor in a leading role.

Red Dragon (2002)

In 2002, Fiennes returned to the villain role to mark another chapter in the story of Hannibal Lector. For Red Dragon, Fiennes donned a fearsome back tattoo and took on the alter ego of the Red Dragon—a serial killing schizophrenic heavily influenced by the work of Lector.

The constant Gardener (2005)

Like a chameleon changing colours, Ralph Fiennes transformed from villain to hero once again, showing his incredible dramatic range in The Constant Gardener. In a film nominated for 4 Academy Awards, Fiennes plays Justin Quayle, a British diplomat living in Kenya searching for the truth behind his wife’s murder. Although he believes her death to be the result of an affair, he soon finds the truth to be much more lethal.

Harry Potter (2005-2011)

Using his previous stints in Schindler’s List and Red Dragon as an audition, Fiennes next transformed himself into perhaps the most notorious villain in young adult literature—Lord Voldemort. As the dark lord, Fiennes brought to life a character feared by both wizards and muggles. On screen, his transformation from the love grieving Justin Quayle in The Constant Gardener to the reptilian Voldemort is truly remarkable, both in physical appearance and performance

The Reader (2008)

Since the end of World War II, many films have used Nazi Germany as subject material, but very few, if any, have told the story from this angle. When a teenage Michael Berg is befriended by a woman (Kate Winslet) nearly twice his age, their friendship quickly turns physical. The affair burns out bright and quick, but nearly a decade later, the two have a chance meeting where Michael Berg discovers that Hannah, the only woman he has ever loved, was once a Nazi guard at Auschwitz. As an older Berg, Fiennes attempts to come to terms with the woman he once loved, and tries to make penance on her behalf.

The Duchess (2008)

Teaming up with Kiera Knightly, Ralph Fiennes put on a wholly convincing performance as The Duke in The Duchess. As the menacing husband of Georgiana (Kiera Knightly), Ralph Fiennes seems to reflect the tranquil nature of his surroundings. When his wife fails to produce a male child however, Fiennes puts on a brutally real performance, slowly abusing his wife both emotionally and physically. Balancing off this performance by Fiennes, the film peels back the surface layers of Victorian era culture, and exposes the sexist precedents of the time.

The Hurt Locker (2009)

In 2009, Fiennes teamed up with Kathryn Bigelow to provide a brilliant cameo in the best picture winning film The Hurt Locker. As Jeremy Renner and his partner make their way across the Iraq desert, they come across Ralph Fiennes and his squad of hardnosed mercenaries. Wearing a headscarf and flak jacket, Fiennes turns out a memorable performance, and gives perhaps the best recitation of the line “Sniper!” on film.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

In the new Wes Anderson film, Fiennes plays Gustave, a legendary Eastern European Concierge during the 1930s. As fictional locations, murders, and Futura typeface pile on in typical Wes Anderson fashion, Fiennes grounds the cast and centres the film. With Wes Anderson directing at the top of his game and utilizing a star-studded cast that includes Jude Law, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, and Willem Dafoe—just to name a few—The Grand Budapest Hotel is one of the most anticipated films of the year.

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL IS RELEASED IN UK CINEMAS ON 7 March 2014

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2011 Gareth Evans introduce cinephiles to the action packed brutal world of The Raid , 2014 it's time to embrace the adrenaline as it's time to return to that world in The Raid 2 watch new UK TV Spot.

The new spot delivers 31 seconds of intensity, action, pain and excitement as well as the critics quotes to put our minds at ease that The Raid will deliver that suckerpunch of excitement we expect to see in the follow up movie. Most of all after it's world premier at Sundance Film Festival some critics are going as far as saying its action film of 2014 a powerful statement to make even if we're not even quarter of the way through 2014 yet!


Last week whilst we where on Film Festival duty an Australian trailer for The Raid 2 was released online which backs up those critics comments and why we're so stoked to see this next month!


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DVD Review - Metro Manila (2013)

Genre:
Crime, Drama
Distribution:
Independent
Rating: 15
DVD Release Date:
10th March 2014 (UK)
Director:
Sean Ellis
Cast:
Jake Macapagal, Althea Vega, John Arcilla
Buy:Metro Manila [DVD] or Metro Manila [Blu-ray] [Amazon]

Coming after Thomas Clay’s Soi Cowboy (2008), Peter Strickland’s Katalin Varga (2009), and the more recent films of Gareth Edwards (Monsters, 2010) and Gareth Evans (The Raid, 2011), Sean Ellis continues the trend of British filmmakers plying their trade abroad with the Philippines set crime thriller Metro Manila.

Opening on the impoverished rice fields of the north we are introduced to Oscar, Mai, and their two daughters at a point in their lives where there is no option left for them but to sell their rice at a price so low they cannot afford the seed for next year’s crop. With nothing left for them to stay for the family decides to leave this life behind them and they head off to the bustling mega city of Manila.

Once there opportunities seem to fall into their laps as Oscar quickly finds the family a place to live and gains employment as a labourer. But, rather predictably, things aren’t anywhere near as good as they seem as Oscar finishes his first full day of labour to find his payment is a meagre amount of food and some bottled water. To make things worse, he returns home to find his family on the street having been forced to leave their home. The realisation that he was conned out of their life savings by an unscrupulous fake landlord soon hit home. With no money left, the naïve family is left with no choice but to move into a shack in the city’s slums.

In archetypal fashion, the female protagonist, Mai, is given the opportunity to help out her family by all-but prostituting herself at a seedy go-go bar. The scenes involving her work there are often too brief and underdeveloped to the extent that the only way to describe them is as objectifying. Ellis tries to defend this objectification by stating the rather obvious point that this is the reality for people like Mai. Now, this statement would be fair enough if he gave the character the screen time needed to explore her plight in a thoughtful and critical way but instead, and in deep contrast to the way Ellis wanted it to be depicted, her situation feels more like an aside for the glorification of female nudity.

Mai’s story is marginalised by the crime thriller story arch that emerges when Oscar finds a job as a security guard at an armoured transport company. But it isn’t just her story that is marginalised at this point. The socially conscious and realistic depictions of the ways in which corruption and exploitation strain the lives of this poor family’s existence get lost in the action when Ellis decides to focus all his attention on the action inherent in the thriller genre. He also moves his films theme away from exploitation and corruption and focuses on Oscar’s desperation. Convention takes over and the film begins its slow spiral toward an uninspired and inevitable ending.

But what riles me most about Metro Manila isn’t the decision to shift the focus of the story away from its social realism beginnings to a more conventional thriller narrative, as I thought it would be. It is the way that the film, by the director’s own admission, dilutes the reality of a life lived in poverty. This dilution is at its most prominent in the depiction of the go-go dancers’ world. Their reality isn’t as light as Ellis would lead us to believe because, as the director states in attempted defence of his representation, the reality is that these girls are prostitutes. He even goes as far as admitting that he diluted their reality to cater to audience expectations. Ultimately, everything fascinating this film initially had to offer is lost in an attempt to progress the plot.

★★½☆☆

Shane James

Film Review - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Genre:
Comedy, Drama
Distributor:
Fox Searchlight
Rating: 15
Release Date:
7th March 2014 (UK)
Director:
Wes Anderson
Cast:
Tony Revolori, Ralph Fiennes, Adrien Brody, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe
A writer does not find their story, instead the story finds its writer. A fresh concept for Wes Anderson's new film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, but ultimately his most ambitious.

The complex structure starts off with a young girl opening up a novel – in the cemetery where its author is buried- named after the eponymous hotel. Cut to 1985, where the acclaimed writer, played by Tom Wilkinson, recalls his stay within the hotel of the film/novel in 1968. Now performed by Jude Law, the nameless writer meets and dines with the establishment owner, Mr. Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham), who shares his personal memories of being a lobby boy during the hotel's heyday before Communism led to its demise. Cue 1932, Moustafa's tale conjures up a pink mansion, nestled within the snow-capped hills of the fictional European country of Zubrowka. From there, a young Moustafa- known as Zero (newcomer Tony Revolori)- is trained under the efficient and titular concierge, Gustave (Ralph Fiennes). With an admiration of the very elderly and wealthy Madame D (Tilda Swinton), her sudden and curious death (murder?) and bequeathing of the priceless painting, Boy With Apple, snowballs into a caper consisting of heists, screwball set-pieces, prison breaks and shootouts.

Immense in its staging, the film packages all of Anderson's recognisable directorial flourishes on a remarkable scale. Although part of Anderson's recognition comes from the use of meticulous framing devices and distinctive colour schemes being combined with lead characters who are in some way fractured or grieving, it is obvious that the intricate design of the fictional doll-house setting of 1930s Zubrowka totally engulfs these characters and any sense of their development. With the intense pink and red colour scheme of the hotel itself, alongside layered and skilful choreography throughout, the huge cast of characters can't help but become mere paper-thin caricatures, within an extraordinarily detailed picture-book fantasy. Although many detractors of Anderson would argue this has been standard practice throughout the director's career, he actually uses this to his advantage. Unlike previous works within his writing and directing canon, Anderson abandons his particular motif of opening a book to a cast of characters, opting to focus on the process of how they are found. It's this idea which makes the moments within the hotel's decaying walls in 1968 particularly interesting and thoughtful. The dinner which the nameless writer and older Zero share injects the film with the appropriate thematic weight which could have gone un-noticed within the melee of the 30s set action. With the idea of how memories and recollections can dissolve with the passage of time, Anderson's typical use of nostalgia looms over the film. Within the walls of this once fine hotel there are now only ceiling cracks and scattered memories.

This section of the film allows Anderson to get away with being caught up in constructing lavish set-pieces, rather than actually developing his characters. Made up of a humongous cast of regulars and new faces alike, what ultimately separates them from each other is brief screen-time and an amusing mannerism. Ralph Fiennes's performance of Gustave may be entertaining with his equally eloquent and filthy world view, however, his character holds no sense of memorable depth when compared to Anderson's previous creations, such as Max Fisher (Rushmore) or Steve Zissou (The Life Aquatic). Yet, this is why the film could be Anderson's most ambitious work. Though a tad slight, the madcap qualities of the characters make for charming creations. A scene in which all concierges from adjoining Grand Hotels assemble to save Zero and Gustave is not only humorous in its presentation of hospitality being an institution, but one of the film's most memorable uses of screwball comedy with an ensemble cast (helped by Bill Murray and other Anderson veterans making an appearance). Combined with the fast pacing and tone of the overall story, the excessive quaintness and imaginative presentation does make moments of melancholy surprisingly effective. With the murmer and slight reminders of the war behind all the action, it brings a chilling sobriety into the story. Although Anderson has always created worlds which are not of our own – Zubrowka is no exception – he handles the barbaric nature of war by saying nothing about it, only showing the destruction it left behind.
Within the amusement of the re-counting of these memories, the barbaric notion of war does introduce a thoughtfully heartfelt sensibility. Like an old shoebox filled with various mementoes, Anderson uses this relic of a hotel hotel to establish how certain surprises within an individual's lifetime can go un-noticed. It's only with the recollection of conflict on a much grander scale that you understand the senseless grief and bitter life-lessons that it could bestow on somebody as apparently insignificant as a lobby-boy.

Similar to the old ruin of the Grand Budapest, Anderson's eighth feature may not be completely perfect at first glance. However, the tales buried within it unveil a timeless joy, completely enthralling you before dragging you back into reality.

★★★☆☆

David Darley

DVD Review - The Patience Stone (2013)

Genre:
Drama, War, World Cinema
Distributor:
Axiom Films
Rating:15
Director:
Atiq Rahimi
Cast:
Golshifteh Farahani, Hamid Djavadan, Hassina Burgan
Buy:The Patience Stone [DVD]

Adapted from director Atiq Rahimi’s own novel from a screenplay he co-wrote with frequent Buñuel collaborator Jean-Claude Carrière, The Patience Stone is a beguiling film, in every sense of the word, which unfortunately cannot shake its literary origins. The story is deceptively simple. In an unnamed city, presumably in Afghanistan, during an unspecified conflict, an unnamed woman tends to her unnamed husband who lies comatose in his bed with a bullet wound in his neck. At first the woman feels lost without him and clings desperately to the hope that he will wake up but gradually – and with the idea of the patience stone of the title planted firmly in her mind – she uses her husband’s vegetative state to unburden her mind and speak freely to him for the first time, revealing her innermost secrets and desires. It is quite clear that he represents the oppressive patriarchy and she the oppressed everywoman searching for emancipation but with the setting being within the context of war it becomes unclear whether or not the film truly is about breaking free from patriarchy or if it is more about the destructive nature of war. The line “Those who don’t know how to make love, make war,” spoken midway through inclines us toward the later and takes away some of the force the film could have had. As it stands, the politics feel generalised and too artificial to fully convince.

★★★☆☆

Shane James

Blu-ray Review - Gravity (2013)

Genre:
Sci-fi, Drama
Distributor:
Warner Bros Pictures
BD Release Date:
3rd March 2014 (UK)
Rating: 12
Director:
Alfonso Cuarón
Cast:
Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
Buy Gravity: DVD[ + UV Copy] or Blu-ray [+ UV Copy]

What is there to be said about Gravity that hasn’t been said before? It’s one of the few films to live up to the hype, and it’s really the film that single handily saved the film industry’s enforcement of 3D to make more loot. Having seen the film in both 3D and the traditional 2D, it has to be said that the 2D version lacks the visceral experience of the 3D version; however it’s such a perfectly constructed film that it’s still an awe-inspiring watch on the second viewing.

The film starts with an unbroken single shot of Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Lieutenant Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) working on the Hubble telescope. It’s one of, if not the best, shots of 2013 and it’s technically so mind-blowing you will literally watch it in awe. The film’s plot is as simply as you can possibly get - high-speed space junk hits the Hubble telescopes and the spaceship they took up there. It’s completely destroyed, and the two astronauts become stuck floating in space. They need to get to the International Space Station but everything that could wrong does. All they have is Kowalski’s thruster pack to get them to their destination.

It’s full of very long takes and due to the subject matter, some of the scenes are partly fake and filled with special effects, however it remains a total game changer. In its entirety the film has about 150 shots, which is very rare for a $100,000,000 film; the average amount is around 5000 for a normal Hollywood film. The special effects are also the most believable since Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and it’s similarly best seen on the biggest screen possible.

Sandra Bullock has never been better and hopefully, like Matthew McConaughey, it will be the catalyst for a new chapter in her career by choosing more interesting and diverse roles than she had previously. Clooney is charming as ever, but the film rests on Bullock’s performance: for a good majority of the film, it is just her isolated in space and dealing with every obstacle herself. It’s also worth noting Ed Harris’ voice cameo as mission control - an obvious homage to Ron Howard’s best film Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff in which Ed Harris played a similar role.

Now onto the director Alfonso Cuarón; he has managed to redeem himself after the controversial and atrocious Autism Speaks video he did in 2009. Autism Speaks is a fake pro-autism organization, which has sadly infiltrated parts of Hollywood. They are, in reality, a group that considers Autism a disease when it’s a social disorder. They are trying to find a cure for something that is incurable but part of the person’s identity.

Cuarón last directorial effort was Children of Men back in 2006 which one of the best films of the last 20 years, and like Gravity, it is filled with long takes. It’s more of a sci-fi film because of its dystopian story. Cuarón has said Gravity isn’t science fiction but a “drama about a women in space”.

Gravity was very much the film of 2013 due to its technical achievement and fantastic minimalistic story, along with the two 2 outstanding performances from Clooney and Bullock. There could be a pretentious comparison to the work of Robert Bresson because of his minimalistic approach to filmmaking, but it’s very slight. The blu-ray includes a very insightful documentary on the making of the film, in which much of the technical side is explained – and for this, it is essential viewing for any budding filmmakers.

★★★★★

Ian Schultz

DVD Review - For Those In Peril (2013)

Genre:
Drama
Distributor:
Soda Pictures
Rating: 18
DVD Release Date:
3rd March 2014 (UK)
Director:
Paul Wright
Cast:
George McKay, Nichola Burley, Katie Dickie, Michael Smiley
Buy: For Those In Peril [DVD]
British cinema has long since been known for its realist aesthetic with directors such as Ken Loach (Kes, Raining Stones, and Ladybird, Ladybird) and Mike Leigh (Life Is Sweet, Naked, and Secrets & Lies) working at the forefront of our national cinema within a social realist idiom. In more recent years, with Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher and Andrea Arnold’s more recent Fish Tank springing to mind, the traditional realist mode as changed context and become more poetic in its form. And now we have Paul Wright, whose debut feature For Those in Peril uses local folklore to transcend the boundaries of realist cinema and imbue his story with a sense of magic.

The film concerns itself with the guilt and need for redemption that take their toll on Aaron (George Mackay), the lone survivor of a fishing accident that claimed the lives of several young men including his own brother. With the local townsfolk of the remote Scottish fishing community in which he resides either blaming him or resenting him for being the only one to return, and with his only solace coming from his mother (played by the excellent Kate Dickie) and his dead brother’s girlfriend Jane (Nichola Burley), Aaron retreats into his own world. With the conviction that his brother is still alive and after taking literally the fable his mother used to tell him as a child, he sets out to rescue his brother from the belly of the monster at the bottom of the sea.

My initial reaction when I watched the film was that the use of folklore to lift the film into the realms of magical realism was, as other critics have been eager to point out, a major misjudgement that diverts our attention away from the films compassionate and intense psychological core. But upon reflection the real problem isn’t anything to do with the films magical elements but more to do with the 18 certificate given to the film, because this film does work as a children’s fable, albeit a dark one, that should be made available for a younger audience. For while the film still has its problems, namely the credibility of the townsfolk’s resentment of Aaron, the film is an ambitious debut that deserves to sit alongside Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher, Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank, Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant, and Ken Loach’s Sweet Sixteen as a children’s film that has fallen foul of the BBFC’s rating system.

★★★☆☆

Shane James