Director - Spencer Susser
Mum dies in a car crash, dad finds it hard to leave the sofa and TJ (Devin Brochu) their teen son is getting into all sorts of post-traumatic trouble. So far so American indie drama. Then Joseph Gordon-Levitt turns up as the title character. It's almost as if he’s stepped out of a totally different movie. Hesher is a potty-mouthed delinquent. You know this as he has long hair and looks perma-stoned. The whole thing never really gels. Levitt tries his best to act like he imagines those sort of people are, but comes across as a total caricature. Could have been good, Brochu is a real find, but the film just doesn’t work. Best avoided.
Director - David Fincher
How the social media phenomenon of the noughties came to be. Despite the subject matter being about as exciting as the that time your dad got into an dispute with his neighbour about the shared driveway, this actually works. It helps that Aaron Sorkin was on script duties, and Fincher has seems to have dropped his flashier visuals of yore and adopted a more mature visual style. Perfect Sunday afternoon drama.
Director - Chris Morris
Black comedy about a hapless group of Islamic extremists determined to make their mark for Allah. Shouldn’t work, but does so by not reverting to caricature, and making the main characters into human beings instead. Very good.
