Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#26 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Apr 22, 2011 12:10 pm

Nothing wrote:Yep, Atonement was trash, the low-point being the inappropriate and messy sequence shot on the beach, designed entirely to show off.
I would have to disagree with that, and would quote my thoughts on that sequence from the thread on the film, which I would still stand by:
I find it a wonderful joke that the DVD has been advertised here as a perfect gift for Valentine's day! I agree with the above comment that it seems an anti-romance, one in which the romantic lead characters remain only cyphers with any insight that is offered into them being only superficial. I really liked the way that the main issue becomes one of whether cannibalisation of life for creativity is acceptable. Is the death of a couple of people the price worth paying in order to kickstart your writing career? I find the war material in the film fascinating as it feels it is there both for the spectacle (of Briony falling into the writer's trap of getting too involved in researching her subject and piling in masses of detail about Robbie's environment to perhaps distract from the way she has very little to say about Robbie himself. The technically impressive but emotionally shallow virtuoso tracking shot seems a perfect filmic expression of this), but one of the other points it is making is comparing Briony's sacrifice of Cecilia and Robbie to her overactive imagination to the way deaths in war are considered justifiable in order to achieve a greater goal. That the setting is the retreat from Dunkirk adds an even greater sense of lives being wasted for no real gain as the most romantic war of the 20th century is stripped of the romanticism of making a great sacrifice and being cut down while storming the beaches of Normandy on D-Day etc.
Knightley is also perfect in a role which involves her simply looking pretty and acting within a limited range (Never Let Me Go is the only other film I've seen so far which plays to her strengths). And having said the above in defence of Atonement, I should say that I haven't seen any of Joe Wright's other films, so I'm not really in a position to attribute the success of Atonement to his skills or just the quality of his source material.

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FerdinandGriffon
Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2008 11:16 am

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#27 Post by FerdinandGriffon » Mon Apr 25, 2011 1:28 pm

Wanted to add to the praise for this. It has its rough patches (the dull and stilted prologue, a few overlong slapping matches) but is so clever, joyous, and jazzy that I couldn't help but beam through most of it's running time. Anyone thrilled by the exceptional editing and rhythm of Atonement's first section will go nuts for Hanna, and those bored by the earlier film's latter half will find none of its pretension or melodrama here. The devil is in the details, as one of the film's adorably ridiculous thugs says, and Wright must have sold his soul to make them all so thrilling and delightful. Hanna is a set-piece film, a sort of Coen brothers carnival turned up to eleven, and each new location or character comes with its own surprises and dimensions. Cate Blanchett gives an exceptionally weird performance, revealing a brilliant comic sensibility I hadn't seen in her before. Bana and Ronan didn't thrill as much, but the supporting cast is extraordinary, from Hollander's Hans Beckert-esque goon waddling through Morocco's docks to Olivia William's hilariously pretentious-progressive mother. The music is often great, and the cinematography is both flashy and effective. The art-house aesthetics that everyone is buzzing about are certainly present, but they're better reconciled with the action genre and less derivative than other recent attempts at genre smooshing like The American. Losey's Modesty Blaise came to mind, though Wright's film is certainly better. Oh, and Teal and Orange is miraculously not an issue.

The really interesting thing for me, and something I've seen no mention of anywhere on the internet, is how the film plays with Freud's theories of development and with recent Freudian readings of the Grimms' fairy tales.
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I noticed that something funny was going on subtextually during the scene in which Hanna and her new friend share a hypersexualized kiss while the other girl's brother voyeuristically eavesdrops. The inexplicable maternal inflections to Blanchett's lines were the next tip-off, and when Hanna shoots her in the mouth of the carnival wolf (a vagina in the Freud-Grimm readings of "Little Red Riding Hood"), then expels her out of its other end in the film's final shot, I knew something very strange was going on. Bana's relative irrelevance in the last two-thirds of the story also has something to do with it.
I can't say for sure what I think is happening, I'd have to see the film again and Brush up on my Sigmund, but maybe some people here want to help tease this out?

I will say that between this, Shutter Island, and Inception, it would seem that we're living in a golden age of intelligent, modernist Hollywood blockbusters.

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Brian C
I hate to be That Pedantic Guy but...
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:58 am
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Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#28 Post by Brian C » Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:33 pm

FerdinandGriffon wrote:... Olivia William's hilariously pretentious-progressive mother.
This isn't the first time I've read something like this, but I didn't pick up much of a comic edge to Williams's role here. In fact, I thought she came across as reasonably sympathetic. I didn't think that she believed any of Hanna's stories for a second, but was nonetheless impressed by her obvious intelligence and ability. Furthermore, I thought there was some subtext that she took to Hanna because Hanna was so unlike her own daughter, who she may have been a little disappointed by. Although I can't put my finger on what exactly got me thinking along those lines.

But anyway ... I didn't get "hilariously pretentious-progressive" much at all.

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FerdinandGriffon
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Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#29 Post by FerdinandGriffon » Mon Apr 25, 2011 11:05 pm

Brian C wrote:But anyway ... I didn't get "hilariously pretentious-progressive" much at all.
She's sympathetic, human etc. But her dialogue is certainly partially intended as satire: "I find the city so stifling..." and so on and so on. One of the film's main subjects is parenting, but none of the adult characters seems to represent an ideal parental figure; as "progressive" as Williams professes to be, she seems as clueless as everyone else as to what's actually going on with Hanna. This is not to say that her approach doesn't have merits, just that it's as incomplete as Bana's, Blanchett's or her own husband's. Notice that Hanna's empowering final moment is that of killing off her last possible parental figure.
Last edited by FerdinandGriffon on Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Brian C
I hate to be That Pedantic Guy but...
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Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#30 Post by Brian C » Mon Apr 25, 2011 11:36 pm

That was satire? Right over my head. Lots of people don't like the city, etc.

I guess my reading was just the opposite of yours. I thought she could tell that something was very odd about Hanna (Jason Flemyng's character, who I honestly barely remember, seemed far more oblivious to the weirdness of the whole thing IMO), but at what point was she supposed to act differently than she did? I suppose we expect movie characters to sense that the teenage girl they encounter is a deadly assassin that's being hunted by a murderous rogue government group, but realistically, what kind of clue was she supposed to have?

karmajuice
Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:02 am

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#31 Post by karmajuice » Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:50 am

I'll also join the chorus. I tragically missed the first few minutes, something I hate to do as it throws off the rhythm of the entire film, but the film remained strong in spite of this setback and before long it had me transfixed. I'd contribute to the praise of the film, but mostly I'd be repeating everyone else: the sophisticated mise-en-scene, the intelligence of the sound design, the score, etc.

I definitely liked the fairy tale dimension of the film, something which was present throughout but never overplayed. It's incorporated so deeply into the film and its modern setting that for the most part it manifests primarily in the tone of the film. Only occasionally does it take on more obvious manifestations, like the "witch is dead" postcard, the forest setting, and the theme park finale. The result is a film which feels both contemporary and archetypal -- like the reinvention of the fairy tale rather than a clumsy allusion (the way I tend to regard the use of Pinocchio in AI). It also situates the improbabilities of the action genre in a framework which accepts improbability with open arms, making such flights of fancy organic and meaningful. I'm also fascinated by the implications of FerdinandGriffon's reading, although I'm afraid I can't contribute much to what he said.

While I wouldn't argue that the plot is pretty thin, I don't see it as much of a problem. We get only a vague idea of why Hanna exists and what happened in the past, really no more of an understanding than Hanna herself has. In fact, I would have preferred it if they cut a few of the perfunctory explanations they provided, which do little to help the plot and which weaken the film's more enigmatic qualities.

My primary criticism is that the film's technical prowess feels uneven, with some shots or even whole scenes getting phoned in. This particularly stood out in some of the action scenes: while many made excellent use of cohesive editing and long take choreography, others felt more rushed and jumbled. They surpassed most flurried action movies we see nowadays, but by comparison they looked weak and incoherent. Mostly these sprung up toward the end of the film. I actually really liked the most disorienting scene, her escaping from the underground facility, which deliberately plays upon this confusion to place us into an incomprehensible, fractured, frantic landscape.

Also, while I agree that Hanna is less derivative, I don't think for a moment that The American is trying to emulate an action film.
I loved the establishing shot in the sequence where the family that Hanna befriends is being questioned and everyone is set up in an individual shipping container staged like a diorama. That would have been a throwaway shot in most films.
God, yes! Absolutely stunning. I don't have much to add, but it bears repeating.

I'd just like to mention that I've long been interested in the idea of an arthouse action film, as Domino called it earlier. I suppose the idea first occurred to me when I watched films like Franju's Judex and Lang's Ministry of Fear, which transform the traits of dime-store pulp into poetry and atmosphere. I thought, why couldn't the same be done with other undervalued genres? It seemed to me that the action genre was a rich strain which remained largely unexplored, at least in this context. One could draft a script with a plot like any action movie; the plot is beside the point. But one shapes the story to permit for an exploration of the genre, writing in settings and circumstances ideal for compelling set pieces. Granted, plenty of films already have this in mind, but they seldom if ever push the boundaries and explore the pure visual/aural potential of the material that the action genre provides. Think something almost avant-garde in its singularity, but which doesn't seem out of place in its context, like the funhouse in The Lady from Shanghai.
Hanna is the first film I've seen to try anything like this. Plenty of action movies have their moments and their beauty, but one almost never sees self-consciously artistic approaches to the material except in the form of parody. Hanna maintains these unique qualities throughout its running time, marries them to the unexpectedly appropriate style of fairy tales, and builds a film which derives its power and tone from those qualities unique to the action film. It does this with more restraint than I would (which suits the film, though it leaves whole reservoirs of potential untapped). It's also deeply invested in its characters and, to a lesser extent, its story. Still, it strikes me as an execution of the same principle I had in mind, and I think it excels at what it's trying to do.

One question, though: As I said, I missed the beginning of the film, so I was wondering about something. At the end of the film Hanna sees a deer in the wolf tunnel in the theme park. It seemed likely that deer appearances book-ended the film, with one at the very beginning. After all, she's living in a forest and there's mention later of her having killed a deer. Is my assumption correct? I appreciate anyone who can give me some insight into what I missed.

inneyp
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 2:10 pm

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#32 Post by inneyp » Thu Apr 28, 2011 5:03 am

I appreciate anyone who can give me some insight into what I missed.
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At the beginning of the film Hanna spots a deer and shoots it with an arrow. The deer runs and she chases it until it falls, at which point she takes a gun, points it and says "I just missed your heart" which as you saw is repeated with Cate Blanchett at the end.
I thought this was a fun movie, perfectly done. It's greatest strength was maintaing tonal balance. It knew what it was, which was pretty impressive considering it was something unprecedented.

karmajuice
Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:02 am

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#33 Post by karmajuice » Thu Apr 28, 2011 5:14 am

Thank you very much! See how important it is to arrive on time? I'll have to leave home earlier next time, or have the presence of mind to not pass the street I need to turn on.

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eerik
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:53 pm
Location: Estonia

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#34 Post by eerik » Sun Jun 26, 2011 7:39 am

Quite good looking steelbook, released on 29th August in the UK.
  • Feature Commentary with Joe Wright
  • Alternate ending
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Adapt or die
  • Central Intelligence Allegory
  • The Wide World of Hanna
  • Chemical Reaction
  • Hanna Promo
  • Anatomy of a Scene: The Escape from Camp G

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manicsounds
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
Location: Tokyo, Japan

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#35 Post by manicsounds » Sun Sep 04, 2011 9:22 pm

The disc's presentation is very good, but the bonus features are just short fluff pieces. Nothing too deep. I haven't listened to the commentary yet, but the bonus adds up to about only 40 minutes. The Chemical Brothers talk for only a few minutes, and over the phone! Not even a direct interview. And the "Anatomy of a scene" was way way too short. I always thought those "Anatomy of a scene" features should be LONGER than the actual scene.

MidwestPride
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2011 10:36 pm

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#36 Post by MidwestPride » Sat Nov 19, 2011 10:41 pm

FerdinandGriffon wrote:The really interesting thing for me, and something I've seen no mention of anywhere on the internet, is how the film plays with Freud's theories of development and with recent Freudian readings of the Grimms' fairy tales.
SpoilerShow
I noticed that something funny was going on subtextually during the scene in which Hanna and her new friend share a hypersexualized kiss while the other girl's brother voyeuristically eavesdrops. The inexplicable maternal inflections to Blanchett's lines were the next tip-off, and when Hanna shoots her in the mouth of the carnival wolf (a vagina in the Freud-Grimm readings of "Little Red Riding Hood"), then expels her out of its other end in the film's final shot, I knew something very strange was going on. Bana's relative irrelevance in the last two-thirds of the story also has something to do with it.
I can't say for sure what I think is happening, I'd have to see the film again and Brush up on my Sigmund, but maybe some people here want to help tease this out?

I will say that between this, Shutter Island, and Inception, it would seem that we're living in a golden age of intelligent, modernist Hollywood blockbusters.
Hmm. That's an interesting way of thinking about through the Freudian-Grimm analysis. Care to expand on this like you promised?

I have the home entertainment disc, and through interviews and commentary the kiss between Hanna and Sophie wasn't meant to be anything more than a platonic kiss. Nothing sexual was meant to be implied in that scene.

win04017
Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2011 12:19 pm

Re: Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

#37 Post by win04017 » Sat Jan 14, 2012 4:14 pm

Just caught this on Blu-ray and will echo all the praise for it in terms of Ronan's performance, the camera work, score, etc. After finishing the film I noticed the commentary and flipped to the one-take subway scene and was pleased to hear Joe Wright describing the process of shooting it. Basically it boiled down to having to shoot it in one take (probably pre-empting the inevitable "show off" criticisms) due to lack of time to set up multiple shots, etc. Just an amazing shot in a great film. I would recommend the commentary for the most part, but would caution anyone seriously considering listening to it that Joe Wright has a serious problem with injecting "uh" and "um" into every freaking sentence.


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