Secretary (2002)

Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) comes from a troubled family and struggles with self-harm problems. She begins a new job working as a secretary for lawyer E. Edward Grey (James Spader), and begins an extreme relationship with him that’s based on discipline and control. This becomes an unlikely love story. 

It’s not for the prudish or the easily startled, but there’s a touching drama contained within this deliberately disturbing and very black comedy. Gyllenhaal is so expressive that she perfectly evokes her transformation from suffering victim to the liberated master of her own destiny. A slightly surreal, absurd aspect enhances the film rather than making it less believable. 

Adapted from a short story by Mary Gaitskill, Secretary covers themes that most films won't go near. It does so with wit and charm, so it doesn’t feel exploitative – even when exploitation is part of the subject matter.

Wall Street (1987)

There’s something not quite right about Oliver Stone’s stock-market thriller. Michael Douglas is actually fairly compelling as the corrupt Gordon Gecko and his much-discussed “Greed is good” speech remains an iconic bit of cinema. But Charlie Sheen is woeful as the young upstart who initially wants to be Gecko and ultimately wants to ruin him. Can Charlie Sheen act? Seemingly charmless, humourless and lacking emotional range, he’s almost exactly the same here as he was in Platoon. He simply does not convince and it's unclear whether or not you are meant to be on his side.

Daryl Hannah is oddly underwritten as Sheen’s interior-designer girlfriend. James Spader isn’t given enough of a role, either. He would have been a better choice for the main part. But the script is slightly clichéd all round.

The best things about the film are Martin Sheen, the on-screen and real-life father of Charlie, and the New York skylines and scenery. Terence Stamp is OK, but – absurdly – he’s made to say “mate” and “bloke” to accentuate his Englishness.

There’s a good film in there somewhere, but Oliver Stone – as usual, intent on making a Big Statement – cannot tease it out.

Pretty in Pink (1986)

John Hughes teen drama. The plot is simple: poor girl dates rich boy while social prejudice threatens to tear them apart. Molly Ringwald acts with her lower lip and is a curious mixture of mature and immature. She has three interesting relationships – with her depressed father (Harry Dean Stanton), with her supportive colleague at the Tracks record shop (Annie Potts) and with her nerdy friend “Duckie” who’s in love with her (Jon Cryer). The big flaw is that her central relationship – with preppy, well-off Blane (Andrew McCarthy) – just doesn’t convince. It’s not clear what, if anything, they have in common and this forms a vacuum at the centre of the film. And when they do finally end up together, the film seems to betray its own instincts. Weren’t we supposed to be rooting for Duckie, with his goofy underdog charm? In fact, the ending we see was reshot because the “truer” ending – in which she did wind up with the far more appealing Duckie – wasn’t popular with audiences. That commercial decision was the wrong choice aesthetically and means that the plot and motivations fail to ring true.

The soundtrack is omnipresent and brilliantly of its time (The Smiths, New Order, Psychedelic Furs), but that’s not enough to save the film. Having heard this raved about as a cult classic, I was very disappointed to finally see it.