A House in Jerusalem

 

Enticing feature set in Jerusalem produced by Wellington Films

Directed by Muayad Alayan, this is a telling and delicate tale about how the past is always with us no matter how far we run from it

Young Rebecca, with her father, relocate to Jerusalem following the tragic death of her mother in a car crash that she survived. Their move into an old family home in the Valley of the Ghosts which becomes the setting for mysterious events and a friendship between Rebecca and Rasha, a young Palestinian only she can see. Following the template of young females becoming more of themselves by delving into mysterious gardens and households, this tale slowly becomes a ghost story being lived in now.

As the friendship grows, is Rasha a figment of Rebecca's imagination and the film makes a statement upon how grief is processed as the two young girls are binded by tragedy. Poignant and delicately handled in its production, A House in Jerusalem is a film for today but about yesterday and the days ahead.

Rebecca seeks solace in the ghostly apparition of Rasha, partly because they have a shared language or understanding, as she struggles to learn Hebrew in her new school. The friendship grows due to a fear of authority - for Rasha it is the police, for Rebecca the military - but never her father who is vulnerable and grieving himself throughout and traversing the single parent wasteland he finds himself in. 

Featuring performances by veteran stalwart Johnny Harris as the father, Michael, and featuring the up and coming Miley Locke as Rebecca, this is a talent to watch out for in future years. Showing maturity beyond her years in moments such as dishing up a plate for her departed mother at dinner time and listening to voicemail to hear her voice, Locke channels such as Ivana Baquero from Pan's Labyrinth (2006).

On limited release from May, this film is an enticing enterprise with a great premise that will help viewers understand the notions of racism and how it takes hold upon those who allow it to manifest in society - similar to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - a young protagonist interacts with someone from a different faith to better appreciate their background and become a better person themselves

A House in Jerusalem is produced by Wellington Films and released by Peccadillo Pictures from 31st May 

In Camera - Film Review

Released on 13th September by Conic Films, highly intriguing British film by Naqqash Khalid starring Nabhaan Rizwan

In Camera follows the path of a young actor, Aden, portrayed by Nabhaan Rizwan caught in a cycle of nightmarish auditions and rejections across the industry. Directed by Naqqash Khalid, the film has won awards at Dinard and Thessaloniki film festivals and was nominated for two British Independent Film Awards.

Aden shares a flat with his long-time flatmate Bo, a junior doctor and a new roommate, Conrad (Amir El-Masry), who is a fashion influencer.

The film is attempting to make a statement on actors especially minority actors and the difficulties they have in breaking through to be taken seriously as actors in general and not on the periphery of situations and productions.

At times, Kafkaesque in the sense that our lead actor is lost in the vacuum of endless repeatable auditions and the notion that his ambition is being lost amidst the surreal nature of this all - this is a film full of ideas that is attempting to make semblance of it.

Over time as Aden struggles to gain work in the creative industry, he takes on a freelance role portraying the son of a grieving set of parents, taking on the guise of a white son for a middle-class family. Following this incident, when he feels more real and human, Aden slowly becomes jealous of Conrad's ability to gain what he wants by manipulating people and moments to his advantage and by being perhaps a more acceptable brown face - clean shaven, smartly dressed, clear English diction.

Taking inspiration from Conrad's Instagram feed, Aden morphs into the roommate, almost fooling Bo that he is him, adopting his mannerisms and image to play a new role in a single white female homage per se. Aden gains greater work by becoming less a deliberate actor and more an accidental person in the acting world. 

There is an interesting sub-plot involving Aiden's room-mate Bo, portrayed by Rory Fleck-Byrne, a junior doctor who is constantly hounded/harassed by a vending machine and the grind of his work load is taking over him. One set piece shows him being dunked by the blood on him by lives lost supposedly, he cannot stop the blood flowing and feels useless. He admits to drowning in the blood and this statement on the pressures junior doctors feel relevant and real. His story is a political statement, whereas the minority actor looking for recognition is the plot A strand. Roles are reversed seemingly for these protagonists. 

A revealing portrait of the male psyche struggling to adapt to the social media landscape, the pressures males find themselves under in this society - to look good, and be better than they are - in contrast to others who have it easy in comparison. Image is everything but what to do when your face just does not fit. 

For this reviewer though, In Camera is a film with a lot of ideas  and succeeds in wanting to say everything on its mind. It also cements the promise of Nabhaan Rizwan; a chameleon type actor who himself is doing away with pigeon-holing and type casting in his own career having recently starred as Dionydus in the recent Netflix series, Kaos opposite Jeff Goldblum and Janet McTeer. Rizwan is a highly talented actor who will grow into greater and bigger things.

Released by Conic Films.

All My Friends Hate Me - DVD review

 

Released on DVD via BFI on 29th August

This original movie from writing partnership Tom Palmer and Tom Stourton, is set about a weekend from hell for the lead character Pete (Stourton).

Pete is ready to celebrate his birthday with his old university friends, who invite him to a country house for the weekend. Upon arrival, Pete is alone though other cars are around. He sits alone awaiting their arrival, when they have invited a feral stranger from the local pub. As the weekend unfurls, old truths rise to the surface and Pete fears he is being persecuted and picked on.

Directed by Andrew Gaynord, who along with the writing tandem, has cut his teeth on the Channel 4 sitcom Stath Lets Flats, the film shares the DNA of cringe comedy and social anxiety with that BAFTA winning series.

Pete and his friends are all aspirational and would be fair to categorise them as middle-to-upper class, working in the public sector and yet able to have fun in each other's circles. Yet the introduction of Harry (Dustin Demri-Burns who is brilliant) opens up old wounds about Pete's personal demeanour and makes him very much the posh twat he tries not to be. Pete has recently done some work in a refugee camp in Africa, and now turning 30 he is ready to settle down with his long-term girlfriend Sophie who is working class and very much the chalk to his privileged cheese.

Throughout the film, Pete is an embodiment of a man who finds any situation awkward and ultimately makes that engagement more awkward than it needs to be, overthinking matters too much and questions everything asked of him by his friends. Sometimes you can be yourself the most in front of those who have seen you at your best and worst; in this weekend Pete is struggling to find a sure footing when his hang ups and esteemed nature comes to the fore too often.

A mixture of part social comedy, country house horror the film delicately walks the fine line of making the viewer as uneasy as Pete is, you come away not enjoying yourself but that is the point the film is trying to be made. So often we as a society are trying to be perfect and enjoy life that sometimes any action's consequence is forgotten about for the zest of exciement.

Credit should go to Stourton who takes on the role of Pete with aplomb and showcases an emotional thrust by the film's conclusion when he finally breaks down and ably supported by the ensemble especially Burns who relishes the role of provocative Harry. 

All My Friends Hate Me is a socially awkward comedy that is very much of this social media driven, image first culture we are living in nowadays; it is the sort of cringe inducing comedy the British are especially adept at

All My Friends Hate Me is out on Blu-Ray/DVD from the BFI now

Extras on the disc include and audio commentary by Gaynord, Palmer and Stourton. A Q&A with journalist Leigh Singer, 7mins of deleted scenes, a short film by the trio The Soho Diaries from 2013 and a gallery.

My thanks to BFI for the review opportunity.

No Time To Die

The final entry in the Daniel Craig era of playing 007 came and went in November of 2021 after much fanfare and delay in release due to a pandemic that even MI6's finest could not contain.

Much was expected of the film with it being Craig's last foray in the tuxedo with us wondering would he be sipping on a martini by movie's end and how would they cope with the end of this window.

After finally getting to watch the film on Amazon Prime following the purchase by the global firm of the MGM catalogue, me and my wife tucked in on a Friday night after our six-month old went to bed and pressed play. For me it was as enjoyable a film watching experience I can recall in recent times, a joy of cinema going and a pleasure to watch capable film-makers marshal the telling of a story in homage and respect to a movie icon.

Icons are those rare beings, they stay with us no matter, they live on even when we pass, and the character James Bond has gone through six different iterations from the birth in 1962 under Sean Connery to the present date. We have known for some time this would be Craig's last performance as Iain Fleming's creation, and it does not disappoint.

A gripping pre-credits sequence focusing on Madeleine's youth where her mother is killed by a masked intruder to her home in Norway, then we are thrust into a romantic getaway for Madeleine and Bond in Italy which is quickly disrupted by Spectre with the ghosts of Bond's past - Vespa specifically - looming over him.

This leads to a dissolution of their relationship and a parting at a train station, we are then thrust five years into the future. Bond is living in Jamaica - a nod to where Iain Fleming wrote his character - he is essentially off the grid and retired from his job, when he is approached by an old friend, Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) of the CIA who asks him to do a favour in Cuba. Therefore, the globe-trotting so familiar to a Bond film commences. Bond drops into Havana, where he meets Paloma (Ana de Armas - spellbinding in a brief 15 minute role), to take down a Spectre meeting. A great set piece follows culminating in a sinking at sea that Bond evades.

This leads Bond to return to London and meet M (Ralph Fiennes), who re-assigns him but without his moniker due to his retirement. This is the first of many permutations to make the viewer aware of the changes to Bond is having to endure be they an ever-changing world or the culmination of ageing as father time does not wait for anyone.

Throughout the film, you get the sense of Bond's ageing from how it takes him that little bit longer to recover from explosions he seems disorientated after a bomb explodes at a cemetery, with him struggling to regain his balance and equilibrium. Certain situations you get the sense of him struggling to comprehend and process the predicament such as a sinking ship, yet this is Bond we know he will triumph.

The climax of the film is so well handled as it portrays Bond as not merely an immortal icon but a man like all of us, fallible to mistakes, guilty of being overconfident and yet sentimental when love comes into the room.

No Time To Die is a fine send off to the Daniel Craig era, a self-reflexive work not just on his five films but the Bond oeuvre as a whole with a positive message to the importance of legacy and family heralded by the final song 'We Have All The Time in the World' by Louis Armstrong, originally performed in George Lazenby's solo outing On Her Majesty's Secret Service. You have to make time for family no matter what your job, even a world-saving spy needs a break from time to time.

No Time To Die is available to view on Amazon Prime. But I wish I saw it in the cinema.

Ali & Ava

The fourth feature from writer-director Clio Barnard has finished principal photography.

Ali & Ava is the fourth feature by Clio Barnard (Dark River, The Selfish Giant, The Arbor) starring Adeel Akhtar (Four Lions) and Claire Rushbrook (Secret and Lies)

Produced by long-term partner Tracy O'Riordan of Moonspun Films; the film is financed by BBC Films, BFI and Screen Yorkshire, with Altitude handing world sales and UK/Irish distribution. Principal photography and shooting recently took place on location in Bradford.

AVA (Rushbrook) is a devoted mother and from an Irish-Catholic background in a predominantly white Bradford estate; a teaching assistant who fills her time looking after others and listening to country and folk music, masking an abusive marriage with her ex-husband.

ALI (Akhtar) is a charismatic son, brother, boss and landlord, a music fan and book lover he is devoted to his family and Asian community in Bradford. Still living in an estranged marriage, he hides the estrangement from wider family, and carries on the charade because he is still in love with her.

Both lonely for different reasons, Ava and Ali find each other and sparks fly despite fears about the coupling within their respective family and communities.

Producer O'Riordan says of the film;

'It was wonderful to be back in Bradford shooting Clio’s fourth feature; a love story, based on people we have met whilst making our previous films there. Inspired by Fassbinder’s ‘Fear Eats the Soul’, ALI & AVA is a film about fear and courage, loneliness and belonging, time and love’.

The critical acclaim given and the funding bodies behind this project bodes well for a film that follows in the footsteps of unlikely love pairing - think Harold and Maude, Last Tango in Halifax, Kelly + Victor - hopefully this will have as much to say about love in general as it does about the fraught racial tensions within the Yorkshire borders.

ALI & AVA will be released in cinemas later in 2020.

My thanks to Emfoundation for the review opportunity.

Pond Life

Directed by Bill Buckhurst and written by Richard Cameron based on his own stage play; POND LIFE tells the story of a summer tale in 1994 in the North of England as teenagers have a summer of fun as life begins to take hold.

Trevor sits at Decoy Ponds awaiting the presence of the legendary carp, Nessie. Trevor is the adult of the group a man in his early 20s but with no room at his home, needs to make a life decision. He is surrounded by younger children, Pogo the enigmatic young girl who records audio as she takes walks; Trevor's sister Cassie is kissing Maurice and Malcolm is also in love with Cassie, as he imagines transporting himself telepathically into her bedroom and learning the words to Wet Wet Wet's dominating hit single 'Love Is All Around'

Buckhurst shoots the film with a rose-tinted view, this is a beautiful summer with no rain, the only pain being behind closed doors as familial struggles are common place.

Yet, for a setting where the socio-cultural climate is changing as this mining town comes to terms with its new status without the landmark pit industry about, families struggle to make ends meat and end up down the local working man's club most nights to play bingo and win the meat raffle.

These little moments and observations elevate this film above the normal, helped in no part to the excellent acting turns by the young cast mostly Esme Creed-Miles as Pogo and Angus Imrie as Malcolm; these stunning turns of youth disorientated by the growing world around them as they combat love and loss.

Richard Hawley composes a sumptuous soundtrack to couple the film's summer tinge; and this viewer was left with a warm feeling that exceeded expectations.

POND LIFE is out now in selected cinemas.

The Levelling

The stunning debut feature from writer-director Hope Dickson Leach reaches DVD and Blu-ray on 17th July from Peccadillo Pictures.

Against the backdrops of floods that have ravaged her family home, Clover (Ellie Kendrick - Game of Thrones) returns to the family home to confront her estranged father, Aubrey (David Troughton - The Archers).  Upon return, a tragic event sparks conflict and regrets among the family as father and daughter attempt to repair old wounds within their troubled relationship.

Shot with a keen eye by director Leach whose camera does not appear to be intruding upon Clover in unusual surroundings confronting the harsh realities of life and the decisions that have led to this point.  At times the camera may have an almost documentary feel lending it a neo-realist feel but the combination of charismatic performances by the two leads and the delicately handled family drama rises it above the level of documentary subject matter.

The title of the film may be construed as prescient and a double meaning of both a term referring to a piece of land where the family home resides but also the death of her brother can perhaps lead to a plateauing of their relationship with an understanding and appreciation of each other.

A film at times feels part dream, part social realist document on the post-austerity Britain and a statement on the fragility of family dichotomies and relationships, Kendrick breaks out from the ensemble of Game of Thrones to mark herself out as a talent to watch, matched by the experience of Troughton.

The Levelling is out on DVD/Blu-ray from Peccadillo Pictures on 17th July

Trailer Trash: My Cousin Rachel

In a segment I have not done for some time, I am looking at a newly released trailer and wondering what can we expect.

My Cousin Rachel is based on the classic novel by Daphne Du Maurier, whose work - The Birds, Rebecca - has been subjected to cinematic adaptations by the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock previously. This second cinematic adaptation (previously made in 1952 starring Richard Burton and Olivia de Havilland) is directed by Roger Michell and stars Rachel Weisz and Sam Claflin (Me Before You).

The trailer begins with word that 'she is here' meaning Rachel has landed in Plymouth to visit her cousin Philip. The novel is about an estate that Philip is heir to, but Rachel feels she has a right to as being married to the owner of the estate Ambrose, whilst being eloped in Italy.

Ambrose has passed away and Rachel has come to gain what is hers, Philip is the heir and she bends to his whim, but a connection grows between the two; a kinship that is not as illicit as the title nor trailer makes out as they are not blood relatives and merely related by law.

The film is shot from Philip's point of view and sees Claflin struggling with his emotions towards a woman who only has her own interests at heart.

Whilst Weisz has been able to play this sort of spinster evil woman before her role is one painted by the eyes of Claflin who seemingly goes through the ringer from independent man to fool in love.  Weisz is reunited with the director of Enduring Love and Michell has always been able to generate good chemistry between leads (Notting Hill), ensemble (the under-rated Morning Glory) and odd partnerships (Venus/The Mother). Whilst it has his familiar tropes of love unrequited with a certain streak of National Trust promotional material the trailer shows a tip of the hat to the Gothic tradition of British film-making from the 1950s/60s.

My Cousin Rachel is out on 9th June this summer from Fox Searchlight

Spaceship

Released on Friday 19th May from Trinity Media, this is writer/director Alex Taylor debut feature length feature , and it is a work of independent spirit coupled with an unflagging desire to make a film of a unique voice and identity that is rarely seen in British cinema.

Taylor speaks of how he has made a film about teenagers by teenagers, encountering young people and giving them the platform to make a movie based on their own stories with them forming the narrative flow and thrust without pandering or patronising their role in society.

Using improvisation, Taylor follows his young cast and this enables him to tell a film that is in their own language engaging in several social groups from goths to punks to those who hang out in the YMCA.

Lucidia is a teenage cyber-goth, who fakes her own alien abduction, forcing her father Gabriel to search for her in a kaleidoscopic world of parallel universes, black holes and unicorns.

Enthused with the power of youth, bristling with colour and energy, Spaceship is unlike anything you have ever seen before nor probably see again. Touching on how teenagers search for a sense of belonging in an ever-changing, frustrating world this touches on the boundaries of fact and fiction, control and chaos, normality and hallucinatory.

Featuring a strong ensemble cast, wonderful sound design and a soundtrack featuring Appaloosa, Best Coast and East India Youth, Spaceship could well be one of the most unsung films of 2017

Spaceship is released on 19th May from Trinity Media
@spaceshipfilm on Twitter

The Theory of Everything by Bridget Jones

Based upon the memoir by Jane Hawking Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen Hawking, this film directed by James Marsh (Man on Wire, Shadow Dancer), tells the story of Dr. Hawking from postgraduate at Cambridge 1963 upto the awarding of a CBE by the Queen nearly 30 years later.

This is a lot of years past his supposed expiration date when upon the initial prognosis of the motor neurone disease in 1964 leading to his crippling physical disability, the doctor gave him a maximum of two years left in life.

The willingness of Jane (Felicity Jones) to provide emotional support led to Hawking completing his thesis on black holes as well as the creation of three children.

This film hangs upon the powerhouse central performance by Eddie Redmayne, who in channeling the best Method style of Daniel Day-Lewis, gives a performance where you see him morph into the Hawking we more commonly recognise. Redmayne is rightly being lauded for this role which shows amazing range and ability from someone so young, his hat is firmly in the ring with Michael Keaton for Best Actor at the Oscars and Baftas.

Whilst the film is more keen on the love story it nevertheless wraps up all of Hawking's theories into pigeon English for this reviewer to understand helped by Marsh's visual tick of incorporating circles or whirls - a spinning staircase, cream in a coffee and the wheels of Hawking's wheelchair - as well as when Hawking preaches his theory to his peers and his friend, Brian (Harry Lloyd) speaks it over a pint in a pub.

Being the female side of the Hawking clamour of celebrity, you see through Jane's eyes the slow dissolution of the marriage as well as her growing affection for Jonathan Hellyer Jones, a winning performance by Charlie Cox (last seen in Hello Carter) who plays it with smiles, when if a male story would paint him as a villain. However, when in opposition to a man in a wheelchair as a handsome gentleman, the contrasts scream to the audience.

Yet this ethical quandary of romance, affairs and relationships leaves a somewhat uneasy feeling in the mouth, as we are well aware that the couple do not end up together it is odd to make a love story where the coupling has ended; this is not a fault of the filmmakers who have made a good fist of making a film with the material at hand, yet much like Foxcatcher when the ending is already known to the audience it is hard to not feel as subdued as Jane Wilde was when writing this memoir.

All in all The Theory of Everything is a pleasing film that tells the story of one of Britain's greatest minds and firmly embodies the notion that behind every great man is a good (albeit surprised) woman. The reason I mention another literary icon in Helen Fielding's creation is that the female authorial voice is clearly apparent, the ability to love above every obstacle is something Ms. Jones would aspire to.  Is it any wonder to notice the presence of the same production company as Bridget Jones' Diary are behind this winning production - Working Title.

Electricity

 

After having reviewed the trailer, it was my pleasure to watch and review this new British film Electricity by director Bryn Higgins, and featuring a star making performance by former super model Agyness Deyn.

Deyn plays Lily, a small town girl who works on the seafront arcade but suffers from epilepsy, which causes her to have severe blackouts. She is a popular girl and friendly with the police constable who takes her home after her most recent episode.  The story moves to London, when Lily gains advice that her absent brother, Mikey, is alive and well in the Big Smoke. The pair were close when younger before they were split up and put into care.As Lily steps off the train at Kings Cross, she is full of that same ambition, and then promptly mugged and beaten up. 

Obviously in this day and age it is easier for Lily to go to London than it was for those angry young men of the kitchen sink, but what she finds is a scary world full of people as afflicted as her due to social constraints (homelessness) or sexual identity, the relationship with a lesbian is delicately portrayed when it could have been titilating.

The reason the tone is so thoughtful is the restrained direction of Higgins who saves his visual flair for Lily's internal attacks when we get the floating and hallucinogenic point of view camerawork; yet the most credit goes to Deyn who gives a performance not only of unexpected surprise but fulfilled potential.

Having quit the runway for the filmic red carpet, Deyn has appeared in several British flicks like Pusher, here the opportunity to bite her teeth into a role of real substance instead of objectified women in roles of lap dancer or prostitute.

Deyn herself is a working class girl from Rossendale, Lancashire who made good, so her connection to Lily is apparent and it is refreshing to see a beautiful woman portray herself and her character in such unflattering positions, such as when Lily has an episode and has urinated herself.  The little trait of always having clean underwear in her bag in case is a credit to her research in preparation for the role.

The film is built around Deyn's performance and it is a shame that the adapted screenplay by Joe Fisher based on the novel by Ray Robinson did not have the belief the performance warranted, not helped by those same characters conflicted by sexual identity, the lesbian who lets her live with her free of charge. This is London right?

Yet go see Deyn in a very convincing performance, one this writer hopes gains award attention in the new year,  and to think Deyn has had no formal acting training. In the words of Noel Gallagher, another Northerner like Deyn, 'She's Electric'

Electricity is out in Friday 12th December on a limited release from Soda Pictures.

Anthony Wilcox Interview

HELLO CARTER is in cinemas 5 December and on DVD & Digital 8 December

 

In anticipation of the release today of Hello Carter, I was granted the opportunity to interview the director Anthony Wilcox (@wilcoxant) who was more than happy to talk about his debut feature length movie:

 

What was the genesis of Hello Carter, and is Carter based on yourself personally?
It started life as a short film. Although the story of the feature is quite different, the central character and tone remained the same. There probably are elements of me in Carter inadvertently but I never set out to do that. I wanted an unconventional lead character, someone who's aspirations for the end of the story would probably only be the starting point for a more conventional movie 'hero'.

You made quite a leap from short films to a debut feature as both writer and director. Was that always the intention or was the time just right?
I've worked on feature films for a long time as an assistant director so the thought of directing in that form never felt overwhelming. I made three short films as a writer/director before this.

The influence that jumped out to me was Scorsese's 'After Hours', why does that film resonate with you?
I watched After Hours when I was about 16 and remember immediately thinking I'd never seen london depicted in a film that way. How we represented the city was really important from the outset.

 

Any other filmic influences to take note of? in my review I say Charlie Cox channels Hugh Grant but this is far removed from the Curtis universe of perfect Britain in 'Notting Hill'?
I looked at British and American films mainly. I was interested in the aesthetic of ‘London' films like Naked and Wonderland but wanted to try a story with a splash of magical realism. More like we're perhaps more used to seeing in American indies like 500 Days of Summer or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, things like that.

Did you always want to film in London on the streets? How long was the shoot?
We shot for 5 weeks. Yes, I very much wanted this to be a Londoner’s view of London, rather than a movie view of the city. So we tried to keep the journeys and locations as real as possible.

What was Paul Schneider like to have on set? Coming from Hollywood to a British independent debut feature might have been a fish out of water experience?
Paul has such an enthusiasm and passion for filmmaking that he's a gift to have around. He'll know every single person's name on the crew within 24 hours plus he’ll care and be interested in what they contribute to the film. His energy kept us going. I'd worked with him on Bright Star when I was an AD so we knew each other and how British independent crews work was no surprise to him.

How much do you value your relationship with DoP Andrew Dunn?
As highly as it's possible to. He's not only brilliant at understanding how his work can enhance and develop story but he's such a calming influence on set too. For me, as a first time director, to collaborate with someone of his skill and experience was invaluable.

How did Michael Winterbottom get involved?
I first worked for Revolution films on 24 Hour Party People a long, long time ago when I was a 3rd AD. Since then I’ve worked on 8 or 9 films with Michael and his producer Andrew Eaton in various roles. They’re always keen for people they work with to make their own films so were very supportive with this. They were never involved in a hands-on way but I always had them and their wisdom to call on when it was required.

Are you pleased by the general positive response to the film? What is next?
I’m probably someone that will never be pleased by their own work! I’ve learnt a tremendous amount through the experience of Hello Carter and can’t wait to use that experience when shooting the next film. I’ve been writing and developing a script with the BFI which is an ensemble piece - about a group of British people in a European holiday resort for a wedding. We aim to shoot next year.

HELLO CARTER is in cinemas 5 December and on DVD & Digital 8 December

Hello Carter

 

HELLO CARTER is in cinemas 5 December and on DVD & Digital 8 December

Hello Carter, is the debut feature of writer/director Anthony Wilcox, this independent London set production tells the tale of Carter (played by Charlie Cox) who wants to get back in touch with his ex-girlfriend Kelly (Annabelle Wallis), an American who he split up with sometime a year previously.  Carter attempts to get her phone number from various avenues, and as luck would have it he bumps into her brother Aaron (Paul Schneider) on the tube. 

However, a night out with each other leads to all sort of problematic situations involving illegitimate children, possible romantic connections with a receptionist at a job interview Jenny (Jodie Whitaker) and eventual realisation of the life's journey.

Filmed with a crispness and lightness of tone not often seen in London set films (lighness in contrast to the grey drabness of Carter's wardrobe and surroundings) which usually inhabit a gritty urban milieu, the spirit of this film is meant to be one of economic charm. From the genuine nature of Cox's Carter and his belief to get a job, to the winning combination of neat dialogue and the subtle injection of panache with Aaron into the fray - the film does not falter with its conviction of making a passable attempt at doing a one night in London nightmare film.

Influences on the film range from Martin Scorsese's After Hours to A Fish Called Wanda with the idiot American attempting to take centre stage.  Cox channels his best Hugh Grant from Four Weddings and a Funeral, a bumbling leading man who is beguiling and put upon yet comes out of it smiling. He is matched by Whitaker's Jenny, a tireless worker who may just be the person he is looking for.

However, it may well be Schneider who gets the plaudits as Aaron the B-list American actor who is all gruff and the sheer force of nature that forces the nights events to take hold.  Schneider a veteran of David Gordon Green films reminds us here of the talent he clearly has at his disposal, and his casting is a victory for Wilcox and his production team.

Yet for all this tale of impossible love together, the film is also about aspirations of the characters. Aspirations to be better than they are when we meet them; a better job, a better father, a better life in general.  The reason this film may well connect with audiences, in spite of the West London locale, is that like all good comedies before it in the vein of Wilder and Sturges, it shows us characters who have hope above all.  

Executive Produced by Michael Winterbottom, and produced by Julian Bird, the cinematography is by Andrew Dunn (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) whose crispness helps in the condensed running time and decisive nature of the film, in stark contrast to the unsure being of Carter.

Making the leap from short films to this his debut feature, Wilcox promises to be a talent to watch out for. One that has an ear for good dialogue and for the way life appears to his characters, his collaboration with his production crew is worth mentioning as a credit to getting good work out of tight constraints.

Hello Carter is out on limited release this Friday and to download from Monday from Revolution Films, it is a small gem of a movie that will be worth your attention; engaging, direct and proof that there is talent in the British independent film industry.

HELLO CARTER is in cinemas 5 December and on DVD & Digital 8 December