The Time Machine

The Time Machine

The Time Machine

Cast: Guy Pearce, Jeremy Irons, Orlando Jones, Samantha Mumba, Mark Addy, Phyllida Law, Sienna Guillory

Alexander Hartdegen (Pearce) is a shy, dedicated scientist living in 1899 New York City. Obsessed with the idea of time travel, he teaches at Columbia University as a professor of "Applied Mechanics and Engineering" and gets into trouble for his radical theories. One day, on his way to the park to meet his girlfriend Emma, he becomes distracted by a motor car beside the park gates. He puts himself in immediate good graces with the driver who, while refueling, forgot to activate the parking brake – something Alexander does quickly when it threatens to get out of control. While walking in the park with Emma (Guillory), Alex proposes to her. The romantic moment is short-lived; a robber emerges from nearby bushes and holds a gun on them. Alexander gives him all the money he has, but the robber also wants Emma's ring; both Alexander and Emma refuse to give it up. During the struggle that follows, the gun goes off and Emma is fatally wounded, dying in Alexander's arms....

Copying Beethoven

Copying Beethoven: Diane Kruger

Copying Beethoven

Cast: Diane Kruger, Ed Harris, Matthew Goode, Phyllida Law, Ralph Riach

Classical music aficionado or no, it's tough not to be moved by the soaring notes of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The work stands as both a defining highpoint in the composer's career and a dynamic and beguiling legacy of its era. An imaginative exploration of Beethoven's life in his final days working on the Ninth, Copying Beethoven draws inspiration from the music itself. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, the film is both thrilling and romantic.

It is 1824. The composer, played brilliantly by Ed Harris, is racing to finish his new symphony. However, it has been years since his last success and he is plagued by deafness, loneliness and personal trauma. A copyist is urgently needed to help the composer finish in time for the scheduled first performance - otherwise the orchestra will have no music to play. Insightful young conservatory student and aspiring composer Anna Holtz (Diane Kruger) is recommended for the position. The mercurial Beethoven is skeptical that a woman might become involved in his masterpiece but slowly comes to trust in Anna's assistance and in the end becomes quite fond of her.

By the time the piece is performed - a moment in history captured in an exquisitely moving shot from Anna's perspective, as she sits on the orchestra floor helping the deaf Beethoven to keep time - her presence in his life is an absolute necessity. Her deep understanding of his work is such that she even corrects mistakes he has made, while her passionate personality opens a door into his proud, private world.

Harris is no stranger to bringing iconic, larger-than-life figures to the screen; his lead performance in Pollock was a masterful exploration of a tormented but talented artist. He channels a similar esprit here: his Beethoven is ribald and volatile, vulnerable and, ultimately, endearing. He is matched in intensity and skill by Kruger, who makes the young Anna both an enraptured apprentice and a paragon of willful female independence and ambition. These two characters break down barrier after barrier, and the result is a harmonious wonder.