Reviews

Imagine the most depressing winter you will never experience: grey instead of white, no snow fights and certainly no wonderlands. This is the Finland as portrayed by 'Frozen Land'. This film follows a bunch of people whose lives are oddly linked to each others' with results beyond anyone's nightmares. Yes, most characters are flawed in the way that only celluloid characters can - completely annoying and frustrating to watch, yet for some reason you wish for their luck to turn.

With some randomly placed humour and a cast that groups together Finland's somewhat mainstream faces, Frozen Land offers a glimpse of the Finnish mentality that despite its depressing downward spirals manages to restore some faith in humanity. More so than Kaurismäki, to say the least.

An audience hit at the 2007 Raindance Film Festival, 'In Search of a Midnight Kiss' is a skilled feature about a bunch of twenty-somethings (and a few past the 3-0 mark) coming to grips with the transition from college to 'real world' - with careers instead of random jobs, responsibilities instead of morning afters. Not only are there no security blankets anymore, but it's also a disillusioning period where life's stinky surprises hit the hardest. Only the ones with no brain cells, heavy medication or great friends will survive.

Shot in monochrome, the viewer is treated to stunning details of Los Angeles from angels cameras rarely visit - tube tunnels and abandoned theatres. It's the LA that is lived in, not just put on display for tourists and TV shows. The film isn't afraid of letting the camera stop and stare at the city's many corners and characters for longer than usual, making the backdrop at least as important as the soundtrack.

The allure of this small-scale film undeniably is the banter between the two leads. However, it's not that we desperately wish for their romance to blossom - it's the fact that whilst walking and talking all night, the two give away glimpses and clues about how life has messed them up.

Instead of providing closure, the film is sprinkled with moments of mundane madness. Those moments may not solve anything, but they sure give the much-needed pat on the back when everything else sucks. And the same could be same about the film itself.

Waitress

'Waitress' is essentially a story about a young mother-to-be writing a letter of apology to her unborn baby. Set in a Southern town, it centres around a diner where pies are not only made fresh and in abundance, but treated as objects of worship. With their small and unfulfilled lives, three of the kooky waitresses share a sisterly friendship and act as each other's lifeline when unwanted babies and other such misfortunes come knocking. Making pies helps, too.

Those familiar with Keri Russell's work on 'Felicity' will find the voice-over, knowing looks and self-awareness something of a flashback, but will here be positively surprised by her character's lack of wallowing and indecision. Instead, Jenna is frank, fearless and fun; she knows she's stuck in a life whose prospects are soul-destroying; and she's kind but never a people-pleaser. She deals with her pregnancy and the subsequent romance with her doctor in the most charmingly confused way possible. The secondary characters are equally well-written, each characterised by the choices made and dead-ends that have resulted. However, 'Waitress' is one of the most entertaining and hilarious cinematic adventures out there.

Though carrying something of an indie, small-scale film rep, it boasts a top-notch cast list: Russell is a revelation, Jeremy Sisto fantastic as a sleaze ball allergic to women with brains, Andy Griffith exactly as endearing and spot-on as you'd expect, Cheryl Hines superb as the outrageous tell-you-like-it-is best friend with a boob complex, and the writer-director Adrienne Shelly as the other best friend with a bad complexion. From the dialogue to the sub-plots, from the score to the overall pace, the film is very solid throughout. It might have easily won a number of awards had it chosen to emphasise the sadness and played up its smallness. But it's more classic Hollywood than anything else. Indeed, it doesn't defy conventions in any way – rather, 'Waitress' reminds us of the reasons most of us secretly wish Hollywood wasn't so much about TMZ, retouchers and lawyers.

There is no point in denying that it all feels terribly sweet and wholesome at times. Luckily, though, the film never apologises for its positivity – nor does it ever get sickening or fluffy. It's simply an utter joy of a story told well.