Hidden Figures

Unsurprisingly, the #OscarsSoWhite controversy from last year’s award ceremony has had a significant impact within Hollywood. The Oscars’ shocking lack of diversity appears to have been redressed somewhat this year, and leading this is Hidden Figures which has been nominated for several awards, including Best Picture.

Hidden Figures tells the little-known story of the African-American women who worked at NASA during the 1960s as “computers” – that is, undertaking all the complex calculations which helped to put the first American into space. In a working environment dominated by men, being a woman at NASA was a tough job, let alone being a black woman having to struggle with not only intricate mathematics and sexism, but also deeply-embedded racism. The film follows the stories of three real-life geniuses: Katherine Johnson (who is still alive today at 98, and played by Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (played by Janelle Monáe). All the characters proved to be pioneers in their respective careers and, although each is given a sketch of a backstory outside their working lives, it is Katherine Johnson who is the centre of the film.

Katherine Johnson, it is no exaggeration to say, was fundamental to John Glenn becoming the first American to orbit the Earth, dealing with very difficult maths in an age when computers had about as much power as Tamagotchi. A successful Russian launch of a man into space increases the pressure on NASA to follow suit, and Katherine is moved to the Space Task Group to help with their work, under the supervision of Al Harrison, played engagingly by Kevin Costner. Meanwhile, Dorothy Vaughn is trying for promotion to supervisor level – a role she already does but for which she is not recognised – and Mary Jackson is attempting to become NASA’s first female engineer. 

These individual stories have a common thread in the shape of race relations and American civil rights, and the science and broader issues of equality are nicely intertwined in the script. Although some scenes do sacrifice believability for theatricality (a barnstorming monologue by Katherine decrying the fact that her white male colleagues refuse to use the same coffee pot as her is pleasing to watch but rather unrealistic), the general message of women doing it for themselves and the slow movement towards racial equality in the US is a feel-good one. 

There are plenty of comedic moments throughout, and the performances are impressive across the board. Octavia Spencer, perhaps best-known for her work in the equally moving race-relations story The Help, shines with warmth and humour, as does Janelle Monáe, taking her fight to become a NASA engineer all the way to the courts. The experiences of these three women are all underscored and shaped by the staggering levels of inequality: a motif in the film sees Katherine having to run halfway across the NASA campus to use toilets designated for black employees, as there are none in her new Space Task Group offices. The forty minute round-trip doesn’t go unnoticed by Kevin Costner’s character, who literally smashes down the “colored bathroom” sign before observing “Here at NASA, we all pee the same colour”. Although his actions are motivated by a desire for productivity, rather than any concerns for civil rights, the moment is still a rousing one. One can’t help thinking that more than a touch of artistic licence has been exercised here, but the warmth of the film as a whole does a lot to soften the less believable moments. 

The casual (and, often, highly intentional) racism on display in Hidden Figures is most apparent in the character of Paul Stafford (played by The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons), a colleague of Katherine’s with a refusal to believe that a woman (let alone a black woman) could out-perform him on the number-crunching front. Kirsten Dunst, too, plays a woman imbued with a degree of prejudice that she wishes to ignore: a powerful encounter with Dorothy Vaughn in the now unsegregated ladies toilet does much to dispel that impression. The discrimination experienced by the three central characters may, at times, seem to have been written into the screenplay for dramatic effect. Unhappily, however, it is probably a wholly-accurate portrayal of what black men and women suffered in even the most elevated of jobs in 1960s America. 

Hidden Figures combines themes of science, complex maths, race, and sexism into an engaging and likeable film. It is, perhaps, a little unsubtle and superficial at times, but the characters (and their real-life counterparts) tell a story of importance and triumph, without ever losing sight of what makes a good film. Assured direction from Theodore Melfi, combined with a screenplay which balances wit with message, creates a film which is deserving of its Oscar nominations. It does more than merely put to bed the demons of #OscarsSoWhite. 

Clapperboard Rating: * * * *

T2 Trainspotting

This review was first published by The Student Pocket Guide

It was a monologue which thousands of teenagers could recite, word-for-word, and which thousands more had displayed proudly on their bedroom walls. The “Choose Life” speech came, of course, from Trainspotting, a film which, with its anarchic and shocking approach to Cool Britannia, came to define the 1990s. Culturally, the impact of Danny Boyle’s film was huge, and it appears frequently in critics’ polls of the best of British cinema. 

The announcement, then, that Boyle et al. were returning to the much-loved antiheroes of Trainspotting was greeted with a mix of excitement and trepidation. The original film holds so much power that a sequel threatened to be a cynical financial exercise, rather than a deserving return to stories which needed to be told. Fortunately, T2 Trainspotting complements the first film, broadening its themes and offering fans a welcome chance to re-engage with characters who, in amongst the extremes and devastation of drug-use, were likeable and relatable to audiences.

Set 20 years after the events of the original, T2 is a film about memory. We join a middle-aged Renton (Ewan McGregor) pounding a treadmill to the beat of a hallmark Danny Boyle soundtrack, evoking the famous shoplifting chase scene from the 1996 film. Although fuller in the face, McGregor has aged remarkably little in two decades, as has Simon/Sick Boy (played by Jonny Lee Miller) who – sporting bleach-blonde hair – is now running a blackmail enterprise involving prostitutes and video tapes. Despite their physical appearances, their lives are worn-out and drifting, obsessed with memories of the past and, in Sick Boy’s case, a sense of betrayal. 

Equally imbued with a dark sense of the past is Robert Carlyle’s monstrous (and rather theatrical) Begbie, now at liberty after escaping prison and determined to track down Renton in search of revenge. Add the loveable but tragic Spud (played by Ewen Bremner) and the dysfunctional quartet of drug-addled, ageing Scots is complete. John Hodge’s screenplay (adapted from the novel by Irvine Welsh) is as energetic and bold as the original, and interweaves images and themes from the first film in a very effective way. It also adds new layers of emotion which is powerfully conveyed by the cast.

The cinematography is, naturally, more polished, but retains a playfulness and confidence in constructing a world in which reality can be bent and lives destroyed, whether under the influence of drugs or not. Frantic freeze-frame moments, inventive movement of the camera and a distinctive visual flare coalesce to create a film which, if not as ferocious as the original, certainly packs a punch. Never afraid to let a whole host of bodily fluids splatter across the screen, Boyle creates moments of repulsion, but manages to balance these with sequences of intense emotion. The performances, too, are remarkably assure, especially given the 20 years or so since the actors last engaged with their characters. 

One of the most affecting of these performance is given by Bremner as Spud, who seemingly kicked the heroin habit only for it to crawl its way back into his life. Early on in the film, Renton’s reunion with Spud saves the latter’s life, and paves the way for Spud to reflect on events in the past and look to a precarious (and dangerous) rebuilding of old friendships. At the suggestion of Veronika (Sick Boy/Simon’s enigmatic “business partner”, and nicely played by Anjela Nedyalkova) Spud takes to writing down stories from the past on sheets of yellow paper which come to adorn his flat. A cathartic exercise and a visual representation of their past youth, this also acts as an important plot point, leading to a denouement which slides into the realms of a horror film. Then again, the 1996 film certainly packed a horror-infused punch. 

All of the laughs (there are plenty of funny moments, especially an impromptu duet performed by Renton and Simon), violence, and feelings of sadness, desolation and defiance are underscored by a sense of nostalgia and memory. Middle age has crept up on the gang and, perhaps not unreasonably, none had expected to ever reach it. A longing for the past can not only be found in the themes of Hodge’s script, but also in the cinema audience itself, to whom Trainspotting is a defining and momentous film. Not only are the characters in T2 forever looking back to the past: so too are we. At one point, Simon quips to Renton, “you’re a tourist in your own youth”. He could also be speaking to those who hold such fond memories of Trainspotting, to those whose lives were so far-removed from the wild addicts portrayed on screen but who, conversely, felt intensely familiar. 

T2 is not quite as good as Trainspotting. Then again, it was never going to capture the brilliant ingenuity and vitality of the original film which became something of a cultural zeitgeist for the 1990s. It is however, a worthy and sensitively-made film which is moving, frenetic, intense, funny, and often sad. In an age when “Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin can openers” has been replaced with “Choose Instagram”, it speaks to its audience with sincerity, but never forgets what made Trainspotting such a wonder of cinema. 

Clapperboard Rating: * * * *