★★★★★

Five Stars

I remember where I was when I first heard alt-J’s debut album, An Awesome Wave, from beginning to end. It was on a routine journey home from London, and as the train passed through the ever-extending suburbs, I got a glimpse into the lighted windows of row upon row of tall terraced houses that back onto the track. The train flitted past a flick-book of anonymous lives, random people living their evening hours, unaware that their movements were captured by fast-moving passers-by, and the music: intense, intimate, fleeting, seemed to fit perfectly.

Alt-J’s fragmented lyrics possessed a kind of modest, commonplace focus, which, when held in impenetrable poetry and shrouded in their signature developing electric folk-rock riffs, imbued the normal with a slightly twisted sense of the surreal. Take the opening lines of ‘Fitzpleasure’ as an example – the song begins, “Tralala, in your snatch fits pleasure, broom-shaped pleasure, / Deep greedy and Googling every corner.” Just like the private worlds viewed from a fast moving train, recognisable images are conjured, but they’re held just out of reach of full comprehension.

Perhaps this was a formula that helped alt-J to create a hugely successful mercury award-winning first album: isolating and reshaping the familiar into something new and distinctive, distanced from its contemporaries. Even the band themselves adhered to this pattern of cloaking normality with artistry, the four camera-shy members obscured for the most part by the Δ symbol of their anti-brand. Whether such an achievement could be sustained in the midst of an industry that seems to have both an insatiable thirst for individuality and a tendency to drain it dry, it remained to be seen.

Two and a half years on and we have our answer. This Is All Yours, a thirteen track LP replete with the same unmistakable craftsmanship and intrigue has arrived, its integrity intact. A similar poetic ambiguity pervades lead-singer Joe Newman’s lyrics, but this time around, there’s a shift in focus from inside the windows to outside, as the songs take on a larger field of vision. The music videos for the singles already released are testament to this. Gone are the dimly-lit domestic scenes of that unforgettable Breezeblocks video, replaced by broad-sweeping landscapes in lead track ‘Hunger of the Pine’: 

From the distorted blurry vocals in the background of ‘Intro’ to the hypnotic harmonies at the peak of ‘The Gospel of John Hurt’, words and music are inseparable in the overall effect. That the lines “The idea of life without company fell suddenly / It crashed through the ceiling on me/ And pinned me to the pine’ are set almost disconcertingly to a single acoustic guitar, returning to the soft, gently bouncing chorus line “Are you a pusher or are you a puller?” only makes track 11, ‘Pusher’ darker for the tense contrast.

Other highpoints include ‘Every Other Freckle’ with its dense, rhythmic layers that rise and fall with unfailing energy, and ‘Choice Kingdom’, a compelling requiem that subverts ‘Rule Brittania’ into an echo of something long lost.

And then, of course, there’s ‘Bloodflood pt.II’, the penultimate track on the album and a sequel to the song of the same name on An Awesome Wave. Not only does it allow for the enjoyable task of spotting consistencies – musical and lyrical threads of continuity between two very differently directed albums – it is also a really powerful song in its own right.

Whilst in this track lyrics from ‘Fitzpleasure’ and ‘Bloodflood’ are taken verbatim and reframed in a new simpler and more controlled style, one element in particular on This Is All Yours marks a noticeable shift away from ongoing narrative of An Awesome Wave. And no, it’s not the unexpected appearance of Miley Cyrus in the wings of ‘Hunger of the Pine’…

The other pre-released single, ‘Left Hand Free’, is clearly the anomaly of the album. Although not a bad song, per se, it feels uncomfortably empty in comparison to the other tracks. The reason behind its incongruous inclusion, as a Guardian interview reveals, is that the band were urged by their American label to produce something more accessible that could be marketed at a ‘hit’. If nothing else, it demonstrates the bands versatility in being able to churn out an undeniably catchy tune on demand.

Moreover, the fact that evidence of the commercial pressures and influences of the industry is confined to one song out of thirteen, is proof of alt-J’s resilience to the temptations and pitfalls of early success. They have conquered the notorious challenge of following a well-received debut with an equally accomplished second album, one that tries neither to tread the exact same path nor to experiment too far or reinvent too drastically.

If we are to compare the two, as everyone inevitably will, This Is All Yours feels lighter than its predecessor, the songs less saturated and insistent. As the title would imply, they passively offer themselves to the listener; their tightly interwoven melodies trickling with an ease that could unfairly be mistaken for complacency or weakness. On the contrary, however, this is an album in which less can most definitely be said to be much, much more.

★★★★☆

Four Stars

When someone in Hollywood dies young, it can be tempting to write a paean of love to them simply because of their early death. Whether they were quite as incredible as people claim to remember, or have perhaps had some of their less saintly qualities buried under tributes and commiserations, the fact remains that often, such praise can be unjustified. For Philip Seymour Hoffman, posthumous star of A Most Wanted Man, this is decidedly not the case.

The film follows an illegal Chechen immigrant, Issa, who arrives in a post-9/11 Hamburg that is determined not to allow the same mistakes to reoccur that saw the architects of that attack live and plot unhindered in the city. As Issa sets red lights flashing all over the CIA and German police’s watch lists, the young human rights lawyer who takes on Issa’s case (Rachel McAdams) has no choice but to rely on a banker (Willem Dafoe) entrusted with Issa’s father’s ill-gotten Cold War millions and an aging, disgraced German intelligence agent, Günther.

Which brings us back to Hoffman. Hugely prolific, the actor tended towards characters who were generally insecure, closeted, perverted, alcoholic, cynical or, on occasion, evil. Boogie Nights, Magnolia, MI3, Happiness, Almost Famous all are perfect examples. Drawn to outcasts and misanthropes, Hoffman was not a cool actor, not a superstar. In this sense, he was perfect for the role of Günther. A tubby, wry, shabby-looking European, gruff but not humourless, Günther shares numerous scenes with his CIA counterpart, Martha, who is ice-cold and composed, perfectly groomed and masterfully flattering. The two could not be more dissimilar. Hoffman brings the character to life as a man with frustrations, with friendships and working relationships, and with a worldview that is neither as cynical as the American’s nor as idealistic as the lawyer’s. He is a heavy-drinking realpolitik guy, moral but also menacing when needed, in charge without appearing to be so. Hoffman’s Günther is the glue that brings all the other characters together in a film that is essentially half character study, half geopolitical statement. It would not be hyperbolic to say that elements of the way he moves and breathes in this film echo the later acting of Marlon Brando.

As for the film itself, the obvious comparison to be made is with 2011’s brilliant Le Carré adaptation Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. A Most Wanted Man is far less complicated to follow, and whilst Tinker Tailor was a showcase for British acting talent, this is a more international affair.  The change of setting from Cold War to War on Terror is one that gives the film its edge, allowing it, ultimately, to criticise the heavy-handed tactics used by the USA and to highlight the human rights abuses of extraordinary rendition and imprisonment without trial. Morality is here measured in delightfully subtle shades of grey. In addition to this, we still get all the traditional spy movie tropes: entrapment, blackmail, meetings in seedy bars and informants.

Sometimes, it seems as though the realism of the espionage can detract from the film’s entertainment value. Le Carré was a spy in Hamburg in the 60s, and one has to take his word on what spying is really like (it must be boring; after all, when was the last time you saw a gunfight in the street between men in suits using futuristic gadgets and driving Aston Martins?) but through the film’s two-hour runtime there are perhaps two scenes in which a character moves at more than a steady walk, nor is a single gunshot fired in the whole movie. That said, those who have read the book will remember the sensational final sequence, which will justify every second of the rest of the film to those with any doubts left.

A quiet, slow-burning and thought-provoking film, A Most Wanted Man represents the final bow of one of the finest actors of his generation, and that alone would be justification enough for existence and success. As it happens, it is also a telling commentary on the global conflict of the 21^st century, the impact on those caught up in it, and the sacrifices made in the name of the greater good. Every now and then a film is made that makes you feel guilty if you don’t sit and think for a few minutes as the credits roll; A Most Wanted Man is one of those films.