The Trip (TV Series) (2010– )

Director: Michael Winterbottom
Features: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon

Steve is asked to review restaurants for the UK's Observer and is joined on a working road trip by his friend who fills in at the last minute when Coogan's romantic relationship falls apart. This was the premise for the first season where they visits places in North of England. In the second season they are visiting Italy, from Liguria to Capri, following the footsteps of the great Romantic poets.

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon plays fictionalized versions of themselves by exaggerating aspects of their real selves with some fictional inner turmoil added in. In the first season Steve Coogan's falling relationship with his girlfriend, who was supposed to be in the trip with him, was the overarching theme. In the second season focus on a personal level is more on Rob with him being involved in a fling with a girl they meet during the trip and also trying out an audition for a role in a Michael Mann film, which makes Steve slightly jealous of him. He is supposed to play the role of an Italian mob accountant which brings out all the impersonations based on Godfather from both of them.

Both the seasons were edited to bring out films of them and my first experience of 'The Trip' was through the film with the same name out of the first season. I saw the TV episodes after that and haven't yet seen the film made out of the second season and I guess I will catch up on it after a while only. I thought the first film was better than the first season's TV episodes with the personal story of Steve coming across better with a very powerful ending which conveys his loneliness. On TV it felt a bit inconsistent with each episode dedicating what felt to be a premeditated time for Steve's troubles. This kind of feel was less for the second season and so I don't think there will be much difference between the film and TV season. The two seasons comprises of six episodes each.

What you get with 'The Trip' is two friends who wants to make it seem as if they can't stand each other and are jealous of each other in some sort of way. Steve Coogan is of course the more successful of the two but he holds resentment for being not that successful in his film career. He looks down upon Rob Brydon' material and is on the whole quite condescending to him. There are plenty of references and impersonations all of which you might not be able to get. The most recurring ones are Michael Caine, latter years Al Pacino, Brando from Godfather and other usual suspects from Britain like Sean Connery, Jimmy Saville, Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore etc. It is a very unconventional comedy that is quintessentially British, also playing up their modern relationship with America which is essentially a combination of condescension and inferiority complex. It is great watch and I am also a fan of Michael Winterbottom, which I don't know whether is a precondition to love the show. Along with 'The Trip, my favorite works of his are '24 Hour Party People' and 'The Killer Inside Me'. 

Rating: 4/5

                                                                       

24 Hour Party People (2002)

Director: Michael Winterbottom
Writer:    Frank Cottrell Boyce
Cast:       Steve Coogan, Lennie James, John Thomson

In 1976, Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan) sets up Factory Records and brings Manchester's music to the world.

Tony Wilson was a news reporter for Granada television and the film begins with the punk rock era of late 70s and moves through the 1980s into the 'Madchester' scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The bands that are covered are Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column and the Happy Mondays. Tony Wilson breaks the fourth wall with the audience throughout the film as an exposition technique but it is done with so much wit that you don't mind it one bit. At one point he goes that 'I am being post modern before it became fashionable'.  He explains to us that it is not about him but the artists and other recording people. But it is really about him who can be summed up by the only contract he had with the artists written in his own blood which essentially said that the artists are in full control and they can choose to fuck off whenever they want.

In his own words he wanted his epitaph to read: 'Here lies Tony Wilson who never sold out...err...because he never had anything to sell'. The expensive club 'Hacienda' he started took some time to get popular but even when it got popular it struggled to make money due to the fact that people who turned up were more interested to get their hands on Ecstasy and not the alcohols they were selling legally.

The film is based on a combination of rumors, real events, urban legends and imaginations of script writer. Both the Hacienda and Factory Records were closed down in the late 90s. 24 Hour Party People is one of the best film on music scene. It stands out because it does not focus much on the artists but more on people behind it and does not have a cliched cathartic moment. Everything is done in a matter of fact way. Good Vibrations is another such film.

Rating: 5/5

The Killer Inside Me (2010)

Director: Michael WInterbottom
Writers:  John Curran, Jim Thompson (novel)
Cast:       Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba

A West Texas deputy sheriff is slowly unmasked as a psychotic serial killer in this adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel by the same name.

Filmmakers have been trying to adapt the novel to the screen since the 1950s. Stanley Kubrick, whose 'The Killing' was adapted from a Jim Thompson novel, considered 'The Killer Inside Me' to be one of the most disturbing book he has read. In the 80s Tom Cruise was attached to the project and in the 90s Quentin Tarantino was trying to get it made with Brad Pitt attached to it. In the 2000s it was the turn of Andrew Dominik with him  trying to get Leonardo DiCaprio to take the role of Lou Ford. He then decided to go on to make the terrific 'Assassination of Jesse James' and the project fell into the hands of Michael Winterbottom. 

In a way it is good that Lou Ford is not played by a big star. In the film audience should be revolted by the idea that they have some sympathy towards Lou Ford and having a big star would have made it less disturbing. He is a repulsive character from the get go and is excellently played by Casey Affleck. There is not much motive for the killings that he commits and it is the people who are suspecting him attaching motives to it. He is using these as an excuse to do his killing. Jessica Alba getting beaten to pulp would be one of the most disturbing scenes that you will ever see and the crew were even avoiding eye-contact with her when she was wearing the makeup for that scene. Lou was sexually abused as a child and in one scene he is shown taking bible from the shelf which was sitting next to a Freud  book (no coincidence). In it he discovers nude photos of the housekeeper/babysitter from his youth who strongly resembles Joyce (Jessica Alba). He reminisces that he was made to spank the babysitter who was also having a relationship with his dad. These incidents from his childhood have shaped his character and it influenced the relationships with Joyce and Amy (Kate Hudson), with the sadomasochistic nature of it. In the first half of the film it works as a normal crime film where you are keeping on guessing about the motives and by the latter half you get a sense that it is striving to be much more and to be fair from the title of the film it should be obvious. 

It might not be for everyone and it received mixed reviews during its release with many complaining about violence towards women and misogyny. The character being a deeply disturbed individual doesn't mean that filmmakers are trying to promote it. The fact that despite all this, if you are still sympathetic towards the character, then well that exactly is the point. It is complex.

Rating: 5/5
  

The Look of Love (2013)

Director: Michael Winterbottom
Writer:   Matt Greenhalgh
Cast:     Steve Coogan, Stephen Fry, Imogen Poots
A look at the life of London porn baron turned property millionaire Paul Raymond. Film will release in March in UK.

9 Songs (2004)

Director: Micahel Winterbottom
Writer:    Michael WInterbottom
Cast:      Kieran O'Brien, Margo Stilley
In London, England, love blooms between an American college student, named Lisa, and a British glaciologist , named Matt, where over the next few months in between attending rock concerts, two lovers have intense sexual encounters.

The title of the film refers to the 9 songs that are shown in the film.

Rating: 2/5

The Trip (2010)

Director: Michael Winterbottom
Stars:     Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon
Steve Coogan has been asked by the Observer to tour the country's finest restaurants, but after his girlfriend backs out on him he must take his best friend and source of eternal aggravation, Rob Brydon.

Its really great.

Rating: 4.5/5