Working in the customer service industry as I do can be somewhat frustrating - the customers are always right they say, even when they are wrong; is the oldest adage in the world, but come on you cannot come to a bar and complain that the beer is too gassy as one customer did the other weekend. That customer was female which made the complaint both depressing and mortifying at the same time. Have a wine dear next time.
Yet the other galling thing is having to work with people of very different generations. You are aware that the generational gap is getting larger, and the gaps more apparent than before. When I was growing up, my parents were very aware of who was Top of the Pops mainly due to there only being four channels and the more mainstream artists being more clear cut.
Nowadays, tastes and genres change from week to week rather than year to year as it did in the mid 1990s with Britpop. How long did Britpop last for, it seemed since the release of Oasis' second album (What's The Story) Morning Glory? until the release of their disappointing third album, Be Here Now.
Yet I worry about the youth of today and what they are actually taught in their schools. Apart from the necessary times table and algebra which is rendered redundant by the time they leave school for the final time. The lack of mental arithmetic ability is bewildering in the youth, I continue to watch darts not because I think they are great sportsmen, but the numbers game is playing in my head.
Yesterday, I went for lunch at Langan's Brasserie in London, this restaurant was once owned by Michael Caine. When I told my staff members of this fact, two of them were mute to that nugget of knowledge - the pair of them both under 20 did not know who Sir Michael Caine, one of our finest actors ever who has starred in Zulu, Alfie, The Italian Job and most recently as Batman's butler, Alfred.
This incident reminded me of the time another girl years ago had never heard of Bob Dylan, if Mr.Dylan had kept his birth name of Robert Zimmermann I could understand this oversight, but my God one of the greatest wordsmiths and musicians of the 20th century has been forgotten about by a new generation. Even I am up to date and able to tell the difference between Labrinth and Tinie Tempah, although I still get Ant and Dec mixed up.
Later that same night the bewilderment rained down, when we watched BBC Sports Personality of the Year, and the vignette for Seb Coe was playing with his IOC colleague The Princess Royal appeared on screen to speak laudly of Lord Coe. The other worker on this evening said, 'She looks like the Queen'.
I replied, 'That's the Queen's daughter'.
'The Queen has a daughter!'
It quickly came apparent that all of the staff did not know that our Queen of 60 years had been rather busy in the bedroom and had children other than Charles. They did not even know that she had four children in total, and then the really good question was, 'So who was Diana's Mum?'
So members of the viral generation, thought Diana was born into the royal family, I had to remind them that Diana married into royalty much like Catherine Middleton has done. Hence why it is called a Cinderella story/romance/plot device.
The fact about the Queen's motherhood was reinforced today when two more members did not know again about her four children, and they could not name either Andrew or Edward when prompted. Apparently, the lineage of our Queen is not taught in our schools, as is nothing of our domestic history post World War II. Millions of children are not learning about rationing, the Suez canal crisis, the troubles in Northern Ireland and the Falklands.
More and more of these incidents and accidents, the hints and allegations (sorry I've started quoting Paul Simon's 'You Can Call Me Al' - the beauty of stream of consciousness), will become more and more often so longs as children of this viral mE generation get their head out of the phones and into some more books.
Now if only they did not keep shutting down the libraries we used to know.
Showing posts with label blog criticism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog criticism. Show all posts
Monday, 17 December 2012
Thursday, 7 June 2012
ill Manors
Plan B the maverick singer and songwriter is born and bred in East London. He is a proud Londoner, loves his city and the people in it. Yet Ben Drew (his real name) can be thought of now as a renaissance man; a man of many trades. He sings, acts (is about to star opposite Ray Winstone in the forthcoming Sweeney remake), produces his own music and now is a writer and director also.
Drew has written and directed ill Manors, a film set in and around his East End neighbourhood with a whole host of shady characters. The film is just over 90 minutes long, but it uses a convincing labyrinthe plot where all the characters intersect and collide together. At times the film can be very funny with its off the cuff remarks about authority and politics, or from the sharp angle of character themselves. But Drew is not afraid to paint his characters in dark tones, at times the film is quite horrific in what some characters do - the prime example being when our hero Aaron (Riz Ahmed - Four Lions) and Ed (Ed Skrein) use a prostitute who they believe to have nicked Ed's mobile and use her to pay off his debt by sleeping with kebab shop owners.
Throughout this scene when the grubbiness of these late night kebab shops seeps off the screen, Aaron refuses to want to be any part of it. Yet he has to remain by Ed's side like some lackey. Aaron is the moral core of the film, a man with ambition to be true and get a career away from drugs and gangs of his youth. We first meet Aaron as he meets Ed getting out from a night in prison, Ed sits there listening to people arguing (Drew's first funny scene is showing a verbal argument between a white man and a black man without showing them - instead focusing on their footwear as representative of who they are. White trainers for the caucasian, and huge colourful trainers for the black youth), and from the outset Drew is attempting to do something different with the story.
Often he will focus on a character who you think will be the main character, but suddenly they are dispatched with by means of narrative or intervention by the soon to be character. Yet Aaron remains for us to be the moral authority, by constantly doing the right thing. In contrast to the sheer lack of authority figures visible in the piece, you need one character (like Spike Lee's character Mook in his own Do The Right Thing) to stand up for what is right.
Drew also does the soundtrack for the film, giving himself the chance to narrate as his alter ego, Plan B, gives his political slant on the action happening. Plan B is very critical of the government and blaming them for the children of the nation being lost. The film was being made during last summer and then the riots of Tottenham burst into the national consciousness in August, Plan B released his protest song 'ill Manors' and this vein of anger and resentment has grown into this message film.
The idea of a singer doing a film can sometimes be awful, but Drew has been keen to use popular film influences as a signifier, and they are not bad ones - Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction - are both films that showed you a harsher side of the perceived reality of city life. Whereas Scorsese used hyper-violence on occasion, and Tarantino had the benefit of plot devices. Aaron flexes his muscles in front of a mirror with a gun a la De Niro.
The best thing to say about the film is that people will probably have low expectations going in to it, meaning that people will be pleasantly surprised by the funny, creative and refreshing film that is on the screen. Helped by a fine performance by Riz Ahmed as Aaron, that should increase his profile definitely - hence why the poster has Aaron front and centre; the cinematography feels fresh, the music is good as expected. Expectations may be low, but it is good to see Ben Drew/Plan B stick to his guns and come out with such a gratifying and pleasing film.
ill Manors is released by Revolver Entertainment and is out now.
Drew has written and directed ill Manors, a film set in and around his East End neighbourhood with a whole host of shady characters. The film is just over 90 minutes long, but it uses a convincing labyrinthe plot where all the characters intersect and collide together. At times the film can be very funny with its off the cuff remarks about authority and politics, or from the sharp angle of character themselves. But Drew is not afraid to paint his characters in dark tones, at times the film is quite horrific in what some characters do - the prime example being when our hero Aaron (Riz Ahmed - Four Lions) and Ed (Ed Skrein) use a prostitute who they believe to have nicked Ed's mobile and use her to pay off his debt by sleeping with kebab shop owners.
Throughout this scene when the grubbiness of these late night kebab shops seeps off the screen, Aaron refuses to want to be any part of it. Yet he has to remain by Ed's side like some lackey. Aaron is the moral core of the film, a man with ambition to be true and get a career away from drugs and gangs of his youth. We first meet Aaron as he meets Ed getting out from a night in prison, Ed sits there listening to people arguing (Drew's first funny scene is showing a verbal argument between a white man and a black man without showing them - instead focusing on their footwear as representative of who they are. White trainers for the caucasian, and huge colourful trainers for the black youth), and from the outset Drew is attempting to do something different with the story.
Often he will focus on a character who you think will be the main character, but suddenly they are dispatched with by means of narrative or intervention by the soon to be character. Yet Aaron remains for us to be the moral authority, by constantly doing the right thing. In contrast to the sheer lack of authority figures visible in the piece, you need one character (like Spike Lee's character Mook in his own Do The Right Thing) to stand up for what is right.
Drew also does the soundtrack for the film, giving himself the chance to narrate as his alter ego, Plan B, gives his political slant on the action happening. Plan B is very critical of the government and blaming them for the children of the nation being lost. The film was being made during last summer and then the riots of Tottenham burst into the national consciousness in August, Plan B released his protest song 'ill Manors' and this vein of anger and resentment has grown into this message film.
The idea of a singer doing a film can sometimes be awful, but Drew has been keen to use popular film influences as a signifier, and they are not bad ones - Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction - are both films that showed you a harsher side of the perceived reality of city life. Whereas Scorsese used hyper-violence on occasion, and Tarantino had the benefit of plot devices. Aaron flexes his muscles in front of a mirror with a gun a la De Niro.
The best thing to say about the film is that people will probably have low expectations going in to it, meaning that people will be pleasantly surprised by the funny, creative and refreshing film that is on the screen. Helped by a fine performance by Riz Ahmed as Aaron, that should increase his profile definitely - hence why the poster has Aaron front and centre; the cinematography feels fresh, the music is good as expected. Expectations may be low, but it is good to see Ben Drew/Plan B stick to his guns and come out with such a gratifying and pleasing film.
ill Manors is released by Revolver Entertainment and is out now.
Sunday, 29 April 2012
The Iron Lady
When it came to the Oscars this year, there were two women up for Best Actress in roles where they impersonated famous female icons of the 20th century. Meryl Streep (who won) portrayed Margaret Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who was as polarising a cultural and social figure during her tenure, more so than her successors Blair and Cameron. Michelle Williams, played Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn, the sultry screen siren of Hollywood during the 1950s and 60s. It was a surprise that Streep (who has won two Oscars previously) beat out Williams who failed one her third nomination, as Hollywood usually salute their own history and the passing over of a Monroe imitation came as a shock as the Best Picture was awarded to The Artist a film about the silent era of the silver screen.
The Iron Lady is released on DVD tomorrow (Monday 30th April) and so many will get a chance to examine Streep's dead on impersonation and portrayal of Maggie, she is helped by a sterling turn by Jim Broadbent as her esteemable husband, Denis.
The film is not your typical biopic, and does not follow the generic structure of a biopic movie. Usually you follow the star/idol from humble beginnings through to success via questions of loyalty and trouble to the height of acclaim to the eventual fall from grace ending with a triumphant return and comeback. Much like the life of Elvis but set to film.
Recently biopics specifically Ray (Ray Charles) and Walk the Line (Johnny Cash) used the narrative structure of focusing on the height of those gentleman's success over a 10 year period and only focusing on their earlier life in short flashbacks upon incidents that caused them to be the conflicted characters they became.
The Iron Lady's script by acclaimed author, Abi Morgan, takes the route of meeting the former PM in an elderly state, retired from public life, battling dementia and having visions of her dead husband roaming around the house, which worries her daughter Carol (Olivia Coleman).
The script then goes into the flashback format of the biopic genre, we meet Margaret Roberts - the grocer's daughter - who after an initial loss in a by-election becomes a MP at an early age. Then comes the promotion and a place in the Conservative government and eventual rise to leader of the party before her election as leader of the country in 1979.
The script by Morgan covers all the major talking points of her leadership - Falklands, coal mine disputes, poll tax riots, the Brighton bombing in 1982 - yet it does not do this chronological order instead it uses Margaret's wilting memory and identity as an excuse to skip from one event to the other; so we get the triumph of the Falklands in 1982, happening here after the coal mine riots and social clashes in Brixton and Toxteth which actually occured in 1983. The triumph of the Falklands leads to a business boom in Britain and wonderful international relations with America and a darling of the media.
In actuality, Thatcher was always fighting and always up against it from unions, voters, media and even people in her party which led to the eventual leadership race with Geoffrey Howe (Anthony Head) and Michael Heseltine (Richard E. Grant), a race that actually crosses out the winner and future PM John Major.
The script whilst aiming to be something more akin to Peter Morgan's The Queen which starred Helen Mirren, is somewhat slapdash and attempts to be something greater than it is, and unfortunately does a disservice to the legend of Mrs.Thatcher, a woman who was always on her own in a fight and yet was strict enough to stand by her convictions and beliefs. The direction by Phylidia Lloyd offers nothing in terms of visual panache, although the focusing on hands as a motif of recollection and remembering is a nice touch.
We seem to get a depiction of a famous leader who always had to fight but was shaped more by the events she had to govern over rather than putting her footprint down on her people; although the compassion and companionship between Margaret and Denis is never in doubt thanks to the wonderful performances by Streep and Broadbent.
The Iron Lady is out on DVD from Monday 30th April from Pathe Home Entertainment
The Iron Lady is released on DVD tomorrow (Monday 30th April) and so many will get a chance to examine Streep's dead on impersonation and portrayal of Maggie, she is helped by a sterling turn by Jim Broadbent as her esteemable husband, Denis.
The film is not your typical biopic, and does not follow the generic structure of a biopic movie. Usually you follow the star/idol from humble beginnings through to success via questions of loyalty and trouble to the height of acclaim to the eventual fall from grace ending with a triumphant return and comeback. Much like the life of Elvis but set to film.
Recently biopics specifically Ray (Ray Charles) and Walk the Line (Johnny Cash) used the narrative structure of focusing on the height of those gentleman's success over a 10 year period and only focusing on their earlier life in short flashbacks upon incidents that caused them to be the conflicted characters they became.
The Iron Lady's script by acclaimed author, Abi Morgan, takes the route of meeting the former PM in an elderly state, retired from public life, battling dementia and having visions of her dead husband roaming around the house, which worries her daughter Carol (Olivia Coleman).
The script then goes into the flashback format of the biopic genre, we meet Margaret Roberts - the grocer's daughter - who after an initial loss in a by-election becomes a MP at an early age. Then comes the promotion and a place in the Conservative government and eventual rise to leader of the party before her election as leader of the country in 1979.
The script by Morgan covers all the major talking points of her leadership - Falklands, coal mine disputes, poll tax riots, the Brighton bombing in 1982 - yet it does not do this chronological order instead it uses Margaret's wilting memory and identity as an excuse to skip from one event to the other; so we get the triumph of the Falklands in 1982, happening here after the coal mine riots and social clashes in Brixton and Toxteth which actually occured in 1983. The triumph of the Falklands leads to a business boom in Britain and wonderful international relations with America and a darling of the media.
In actuality, Thatcher was always fighting and always up against it from unions, voters, media and even people in her party which led to the eventual leadership race with Geoffrey Howe (Anthony Head) and Michael Heseltine (Richard E. Grant), a race that actually crosses out the winner and future PM John Major.
The script whilst aiming to be something more akin to Peter Morgan's The Queen which starred Helen Mirren, is somewhat slapdash and attempts to be something greater than it is, and unfortunately does a disservice to the legend of Mrs.Thatcher, a woman who was always on her own in a fight and yet was strict enough to stand by her convictions and beliefs. The direction by Phylidia Lloyd offers nothing in terms of visual panache, although the focusing on hands as a motif of recollection and remembering is a nice touch.
We seem to get a depiction of a famous leader who always had to fight but was shaped more by the events she had to govern over rather than putting her footprint down on her people; although the compassion and companionship between Margaret and Denis is never in doubt thanks to the wonderful performances by Streep and Broadbent.
The Iron Lady is out on DVD from Monday 30th April from Pathe Home Entertainment
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Midnight in Paris
Woody Allen's Oscar nominated movie comes out on DVD for the pleasure of Home Entertainment purposes.
Allen's love affair with Europe which has brought us such commerical work as Match Point and Vicky Cristina Barcelona, continues with his biggest and most profitable film to date.
Midnight in Paris stars Owen Wilson as Gil, a former screenwriter on holiday in Paris with his fiancee Inez (Rachel McAdams). Gil is attempting to write his first time novel, and is seeking inspiration on the streets of Paris with its endless reams of culture and sophistication. A spanner in the works appears in the form of intellectual Paul (Michael Sheen), a former college crush, who is meant to be a superior of Gil.
One night after wine-tasting, Inez, Paul and his fiancee Carol go dancing. Gil passes over the invitation, and goes strolling the streets. When he gets lost, he sits and hears a church bell strike Midnight. A car appears and in it is Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll), who takes him to a party where he encounters Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston and Alison Pill).
Gil has a better night with historical figures than the present day people he is on holiday with - he is in opposition to Inez's Republican parents due to his democratic, Hollywood beliefs - Gil's novel centres around a man who runs a nostalgia shop. This stream of nostalgia flows through the film as figures from literature (Gertrude Stein), art (Picasso and Dali) and music (Cole Porter) co-exist in Gil's fantasies.
Problems arise when Gil has a connection with Adriana (Marion Cotillard), a muse for Picasso, as they slowly begin to fall in love Gil begins questioning his commitment to Inez and whether they are in love. There is a funny scene between Gil and Dali (Adrien Brody), who will not stop comparing a man to a rhinoceros in terms of love.
Allen does a wonderful job of making Gil a believable fantasist. Although he is blind to his fiancee falling in love with her college crush, Gil has happened upon a world away from the mundanity and pseudo-intellectual falsity of Paul. Whilst Paul is all book smarts and academica; Gil is a street smart and fittingly is an embodiment of never judging a book by its cover.
As an Allen surrogate, Wilson has this ease and charm about him. In Frat Pack movies, which made his name it came across as a laissez-faire influence; but his laidback nature here compensates Allen's easy flow of narrative and plot.
Allen is helped by a wonderful original score by Stephane Wrembel, a jazzy Parisian score that chimes throughout the film like a long lost cousin of the score in The Third Man, another European movie.
My own criticism would be that Allen has concentrated so much on Gil and the historical figures; that he has failed to paint fully rounded characters in the real world especially the women such as Inez, who although beautiful as Rachel McAdams is, she comes across as a women who wants to control Gil rather than co-exist with him. You also wonder how their paths ever crossed in the first place, as she is so fixated with herself - a shame considering how well he wrote Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson in 'Vicky..'
Midnight in Paris is out on DVD now from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
My thanks to ThinkJam movies for the check disc.
Allen's love affair with Europe which has brought us such commerical work as Match Point and Vicky Cristina Barcelona, continues with his biggest and most profitable film to date.
Midnight in Paris stars Owen Wilson as Gil, a former screenwriter on holiday in Paris with his fiancee Inez (Rachel McAdams). Gil is attempting to write his first time novel, and is seeking inspiration on the streets of Paris with its endless reams of culture and sophistication. A spanner in the works appears in the form of intellectual Paul (Michael Sheen), a former college crush, who is meant to be a superior of Gil.
One night after wine-tasting, Inez, Paul and his fiancee Carol go dancing. Gil passes over the invitation, and goes strolling the streets. When he gets lost, he sits and hears a church bell strike Midnight. A car appears and in it is Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll), who takes him to a party where he encounters Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston and Alison Pill).
Gil has a better night with historical figures than the present day people he is on holiday with - he is in opposition to Inez's Republican parents due to his democratic, Hollywood beliefs - Gil's novel centres around a man who runs a nostalgia shop. This stream of nostalgia flows through the film as figures from literature (Gertrude Stein), art (Picasso and Dali) and music (Cole Porter) co-exist in Gil's fantasies.
Problems arise when Gil has a connection with Adriana (Marion Cotillard), a muse for Picasso, as they slowly begin to fall in love Gil begins questioning his commitment to Inez and whether they are in love. There is a funny scene between Gil and Dali (Adrien Brody), who will not stop comparing a man to a rhinoceros in terms of love.
Allen does a wonderful job of making Gil a believable fantasist. Although he is blind to his fiancee falling in love with her college crush, Gil has happened upon a world away from the mundanity and pseudo-intellectual falsity of Paul. Whilst Paul is all book smarts and academica; Gil is a street smart and fittingly is an embodiment of never judging a book by its cover.
As an Allen surrogate, Wilson has this ease and charm about him. In Frat Pack movies, which made his name it came across as a laissez-faire influence; but his laidback nature here compensates Allen's easy flow of narrative and plot.
Allen is helped by a wonderful original score by Stephane Wrembel, a jazzy Parisian score that chimes throughout the film like a long lost cousin of the score in The Third Man, another European movie.
My own criticism would be that Allen has concentrated so much on Gil and the historical figures; that he has failed to paint fully rounded characters in the real world especially the women such as Inez, who although beautiful as Rachel McAdams is, she comes across as a women who wants to control Gil rather than co-exist with him. You also wonder how their paths ever crossed in the first place, as she is so fixated with herself - a shame considering how well he wrote Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson in 'Vicky..'
Midnight in Paris is out on DVD now from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
My thanks to ThinkJam movies for the check disc.
Friday, 28 October 2011
Holy Rollers DVD review
Holy Rollers is one of those rare conundrums, a film that aims to shoot high with ambition but unfortunately relied upon the critical acclaim of another film before it saw the light of day.
Following the critical reception for The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010) which told the story of the forming of Facebook and Mark Zuckerburg, along with the Oscar nominated performance of Jesse Eisenberg, these trailers for a Jewish film started to appear.
Holy Rollers tells the story of Sam Gold (Eisenberg), a fair to middling loyal Jewish man who is about to wed in an arranged marriage set up by his parents. To earn some extra cash, Sam becomes a drug smuggler led by community rival Yosef Zimmerman (Justin Bartha - The Hangover) which unfortunately has tie-ins to an Israeli drug cartel.
As with most easy money films, the pluses are exaggerated but unfortunately the net becomes tighter and tighter with mistakes starting to happen. Can Sam set himself straight and return to the Orthodoxy before too late.
Kevin Asch directs his feature debut and he handles it very well, boasting some credible performances and a real zest in its directional flair coupled with a killer soundtrack, along with some great location shots of New York, giving the film a real sense of place and feel for the Jewish environment. Asch also handles the material seriously, all the more credible considering it is a true story.
Holy Rollers is out now on DVD from Crabtree Films at all good stockists. The DVD features a director's commentary with Kevin Asch; trailers; deleted scenes and an exclusive UK interview with Jesse Eisenberg.
Watch the trailer here.
Following the critical reception for The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010) which told the story of the forming of Facebook and Mark Zuckerburg, along with the Oscar nominated performance of Jesse Eisenberg, these trailers for a Jewish film started to appear.
Holy Rollers tells the story of Sam Gold (Eisenberg), a fair to middling loyal Jewish man who is about to wed in an arranged marriage set up by his parents. To earn some extra cash, Sam becomes a drug smuggler led by community rival Yosef Zimmerman (Justin Bartha - The Hangover) which unfortunately has tie-ins to an Israeli drug cartel.
As with most easy money films, the pluses are exaggerated but unfortunately the net becomes tighter and tighter with mistakes starting to happen. Can Sam set himself straight and return to the Orthodoxy before too late.
Kevin Asch directs his feature debut and he handles it very well, boasting some credible performances and a real zest in its directional flair coupled with a killer soundtrack, along with some great location shots of New York, giving the film a real sense of place and feel for the Jewish environment. Asch also handles the material seriously, all the more credible considering it is a true story.
Holy Rollers is out now on DVD from Crabtree Films at all good stockists. The DVD features a director's commentary with Kevin Asch; trailers; deleted scenes and an exclusive UK interview with Jesse Eisenberg.
Watch the trailer here.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
The Yellow Sea
Starring and directed by the same two behind the success of The Chaser, Kim Yun-seok is reunited with Na Hong-jin for The Yellow Sea, a film that featured as part of the Un Certain Regard in Cannes this year.
The film follows the story of Gu-nam (Ha Jung-woo), a Korean living in Yaniban, China who loses his job after being crushed by gambling debts. We first meet him losing another game of mah-jong, but he ends up sleeping odd hours and being threatened by debt collectors. We see him working hard as a cabbie, earning money but he cannot resist the urge of immediate cash of mah-jong. He loses more money and ends up being beaten up also.
One day he meets a hitman Myun-ga (Yun-seok) and Gu-nam agrees to cross the Yellow sea (by train - allowing for some beautiful landscape photography) to kill a businessman in Seoul, in turn the hitman will help pay off his debt. Gu-nam also hopes to be reunited with his estranged wife, who left for Seoul in search of work six monts ago and has not contacted him.
Gu-nam tracks down the target and just as he is about to make his move, his target is murdered in front of him and he gets framed for the murder. Soon the police are on his tail and the man who did the crime is hoping to eliminate both Gu-nam and Myun-ga.
The film is moodily shot and darkly photographed, you get a real sense of the nocturnal air of Seoul - the dinginess, the squalor of the city as Gu-nam attempts to clear his name. A stranger in his own homeland almost, Gu-nam plays the immigrant rather well, giving him an animalistic quality the role deserves.
Shot enthusiastically and acted impeccably the film fails in its execution only by giving us too much of a good thing; the film has a very simple noir storyline but unfortunately it goes on for nearly 30-40 minutes too long. It should have a punchy feel, and yet you feel you are being punched too much and if not punched then stabbed. A lot of the violence takes place clearly for the sake of violence and also because this is a crime movie.
Yet for that fault, the film remains a roller coaster ride with enough action to maintain interest and a chase sequence to rival anything that comes out of Hollywood.
The Yellow Sea is a Bounty Films release in association with Eureka Entertainment Ltd. and will be released in the UK on Friday 21st October.
The film follows the story of Gu-nam (Ha Jung-woo), a Korean living in Yaniban, China who loses his job after being crushed by gambling debts. We first meet him losing another game of mah-jong, but he ends up sleeping odd hours and being threatened by debt collectors. We see him working hard as a cabbie, earning money but he cannot resist the urge of immediate cash of mah-jong. He loses more money and ends up being beaten up also.
One day he meets a hitman Myun-ga (Yun-seok) and Gu-nam agrees to cross the Yellow sea (by train - allowing for some beautiful landscape photography) to kill a businessman in Seoul, in turn the hitman will help pay off his debt. Gu-nam also hopes to be reunited with his estranged wife, who left for Seoul in search of work six monts ago and has not contacted him.
Gu-nam tracks down the target and just as he is about to make his move, his target is murdered in front of him and he gets framed for the murder. Soon the police are on his tail and the man who did the crime is hoping to eliminate both Gu-nam and Myun-ga.
The film is moodily shot and darkly photographed, you get a real sense of the nocturnal air of Seoul - the dinginess, the squalor of the city as Gu-nam attempts to clear his name. A stranger in his own homeland almost, Gu-nam plays the immigrant rather well, giving him an animalistic quality the role deserves.
Shot enthusiastically and acted impeccably the film fails in its execution only by giving us too much of a good thing; the film has a very simple noir storyline but unfortunately it goes on for nearly 30-40 minutes too long. It should have a punchy feel, and yet you feel you are being punched too much and if not punched then stabbed. A lot of the violence takes place clearly for the sake of violence and also because this is a crime movie.
Yet for that fault, the film remains a roller coaster ride with enough action to maintain interest and a chase sequence to rival anything that comes out of Hollywood.
The Yellow Sea is a Bounty Films release in association with Eureka Entertainment Ltd. and will be released in the UK on Friday 21st October.
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Weekend (Andrew Haigh, UK, 2010)
Renowned editor of Gladiator, Haigh breaks out with his feature debut that tells the romantic coupling of a young gay couple in surburban Nottingham, Russell (Tom Cullen) is a little bit down at a friend's party and having said he would go home stops in a gay bar on the way home hoping to boost his esteem, there he indulges in a one-night stand with Glen (Chris New), a would be artist who is extremely more self-confident than the less introverted Russell.
Russell wakes up and makes coffee, and in a clever bit of editing and directing, we do not know if it is Glen (the guy he had his eye on) or the unfortunate hobbit we last saw Russell talking to whilst Glen watched. From there, Russell and Glen start talking about life, work, the size of each other's penis. Russell leaves for his work as a lifeguard, Glen meets him after his shift finishes and they talk some more. Glen asks if Russell is out to his parents, from this we learn that Russell is an orphan, and that the friends he was with at the start of the film is Jamie his life-long friend who is supportive of his lifestyle.
Russell wakes up and makes coffee, and in a clever bit of editing and directing, we do not know if it is Glen (the guy he had his eye on) or the unfortunate hobbit we last saw Russell talking to whilst Glen watched. From there, Russell and Glen start talking about life, work, the size of each other's penis. Russell leaves for his work as a lifeguard, Glen meets him after his shift finishes and they talk some more. Glen asks if Russell is out to his parents, from this we learn that Russell is an orphan, and that the friends he was with at the start of the film is Jamie his life-long friend who is supportive of his lifestyle.
They then engage in some lovemaking on the sofa, Glen invites Russell to a party that evening - a bon voyage party as Glen is leaving for Oregon to study conceptual art. The inevitability of his leaving and the time constraints thrust upon the characters by the film's title means that the constriction of time allows a full blossoming of the relationship to take hold of you.
Unlike other gay films, the film does not over-do the explicitness of the film's overt sexuality, here you have two men coming to terms with their sexuality and the difficulty after having come out; at times you forget that it is two gay men talking but instead two people conversing about the difficulty of their relationship and feelings. This is a credit to the openness of the performances by the two leads Cullen and New, who embue a sense of naturalism into the roles, Cullen all full of guilt and confusion, whilst New handles the extrovert Glen well, never making him over-the-top when he could easily have been in your face.
Russell is the more romantic of the two, and yet this never becomes oversentimental even when they have their 'Notting Hill' moment at the end when the full exploration of the relationship reaches its crescendo.
Haigh's use of the tower block as a character is also important using some great landscape shots of the city at nighttime, and the naturalistic feel of the film flows fluidly throughout in pace with the freedom of the performances that elevate another boy-meets-boy film to the echelon of worthwhile movie in its own right. There are some lovely shots such as when the camera is fixed on the pair whilst they talk on the tram on the way home on Saturday night, the camera holds and lets the two hold our attention whilst the tram is moving - that is a great element of faith and trust in the two leading men for a small film and from a first-time helmer such as Haigh.
Hopefully this film finds a far wider ranging audience, one that it deserves and needs to see it for all its worth.
The film is distributed by Peccadillo Pictures and is to be released in the UK on 4th November 2011.
www.weekend-film.com
http://www.peccapics.com/
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Bal (Honey) - DVD review
From Drakes Avenues Pictures comes the DVD release of the 2010 Golden Bear Award winner at the Berlin Film Festival, Bal is the last in the Yusuf trilogy by Semih Kaplanoglu. The writer-director is one of the most revered contemporary film-makers currently working in Turkey, second to Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
The film is set in the isolated part of Northeast Turkey, Yusuf has just started primary school and is learning to read and write. His father Yakup is a honey-gatherer, a risky trade which involves climbing up ropes into the tops of trees where the beehives are. The forests that Yusuf goes to see are full of mystery and wonder, they are shot with this wonderful feel of the light receding from the frame but you know the child is safe with his father nearby.
Yusuf suffers from the social affliction of being tongue-tied and stammer's when at school, yet the strong bond between father and son allows Yusuf to feel at ease and communicate most easily when addressing him.
The fear and ridicule of his paralysis is only heightened when Yakup must travel faraway to a forest in a mountainous area, from which he does not return and days pass forever. Yusuf eventually summons up the courage to go and search for his father himself.
Following in the footsteps of similar European films dealing with missing/returning fathers, The Return from Russia comes to mind, this film forms the last part (yet in reverse order) of Kaplanoglu's Yusuf trilogy serving as the grounding for the lead character as we see him in his infancy. The lead performance from the young actor, Bora Atlas is startling in its strength.
Whilst the film is certainly meditative in its narrative progression, and shot beautifully in the wonderful rarely photographed regions, calling to mind the reflective personal projects of Andrei Tarkovsky - you do get a sense that the slowburn nature of the film did need a kick at some point.
However, this along with this year's earlier Men on the Bridge and the forthcoming Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, from Ceylan (featuring in the 2011 LFF).
The film is released from Verve Pictures on DVD for £10.89RRP and is rated PG, the extras include a trailer.
My thanks to Rabbit Publicity for the disc.
The film is set in the isolated part of Northeast Turkey, Yusuf has just started primary school and is learning to read and write. His father Yakup is a honey-gatherer, a risky trade which involves climbing up ropes into the tops of trees where the beehives are. The forests that Yusuf goes to see are full of mystery and wonder, they are shot with this wonderful feel of the light receding from the frame but you know the child is safe with his father nearby.
Yusuf suffers from the social affliction of being tongue-tied and stammer's when at school, yet the strong bond between father and son allows Yusuf to feel at ease and communicate most easily when addressing him.
The fear and ridicule of his paralysis is only heightened when Yakup must travel faraway to a forest in a mountainous area, from which he does not return and days pass forever. Yusuf eventually summons up the courage to go and search for his father himself.
Following in the footsteps of similar European films dealing with missing/returning fathers, The Return from Russia comes to mind, this film forms the last part (yet in reverse order) of Kaplanoglu's Yusuf trilogy serving as the grounding for the lead character as we see him in his infancy. The lead performance from the young actor, Bora Atlas is startling in its strength.
Whilst the film is certainly meditative in its narrative progression, and shot beautifully in the wonderful rarely photographed regions, calling to mind the reflective personal projects of Andrei Tarkovsky - you do get a sense that the slowburn nature of the film did need a kick at some point.
However, this along with this year's earlier Men on the Bridge and the forthcoming Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, from Ceylan (featuring in the 2011 LFF).
The film is released from Verve Pictures on DVD for £10.89RRP and is rated PG, the extras include a trailer.
My thanks to Rabbit Publicity for the disc.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Guilty of Romance
From the acclaimed director of Cold Fish, Sion Sono comes his final part of his supposed 'hate' trilogy Guilty of Romance (Koi No Tsumi) which garnered further acclaim at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Comprising of two storylines - a detective investigating the grisly murder of a lone woman; with that of Izumi (Megumi Kagurazaka), a wife of a famous romantic novelist whose marriage is devoid of romance. To bolster here confidence she takes up a job as a naked model faking sex for a camera; which ultimately leads to prostitution whilst maintaining the facade of a domesticated, monotonous housewife at home to her unbeknownst husband.
The plot can be considered a lift of Luis Bunuel's Belle de Jour, but Sono makes clear to put on his own distinctive trademark on to the subject matter. Sono's background before breaking into film was in poetry, and you can see from his characterisation that he does love his characters - giving them the opportunity for introspection, in terms of writing journals, giving them the opportunity to discover themselves even when they do not know what they might find.
His sharp detail for set design and lavish use of colour coupled with the dynamic use of classical music to evoke heightened sense of mood in the characters are all apparent - but on this occasion he does not forget that the film starts with a graphic act of violence. Sono is perhaps making a statement of the parallel between the guilty acts of violence and romance, mentioning how the film follows damaged individuals, but still human beings who deserve love all the same.
In a still stilted society like Japan, that maintains a prudeness and shyness surrounding the sexual orientation of many of its population; it is nonetheless refreshing to see a director be bold enough in terms of following his convictions and the blending of genres (film noir, mystery, melodrama) that utilise his authorial motifs of vivid colour and graphic imagery to its maximum potential, and gaining career best performances from his leading ladies especially Kagurazaka, in the belle de jour role.
Guilty of Romance is release by Eureka! Entertainment on Friday 30th September on limited release in the UK
http://www.eurekavideo.co.uk/
Comprising of two storylines - a detective investigating the grisly murder of a lone woman; with that of Izumi (Megumi Kagurazaka), a wife of a famous romantic novelist whose marriage is devoid of romance. To bolster here confidence she takes up a job as a naked model faking sex for a camera; which ultimately leads to prostitution whilst maintaining the facade of a domesticated, monotonous housewife at home to her unbeknownst husband.
The plot can be considered a lift of Luis Bunuel's Belle de Jour, but Sono makes clear to put on his own distinctive trademark on to the subject matter. Sono's background before breaking into film was in poetry, and you can see from his characterisation that he does love his characters - giving them the opportunity for introspection, in terms of writing journals, giving them the opportunity to discover themselves even when they do not know what they might find.
His sharp detail for set design and lavish use of colour coupled with the dynamic use of classical music to evoke heightened sense of mood in the characters are all apparent - but on this occasion he does not forget that the film starts with a graphic act of violence. Sono is perhaps making a statement of the parallel between the guilty acts of violence and romance, mentioning how the film follows damaged individuals, but still human beings who deserve love all the same.
In a still stilted society like Japan, that maintains a prudeness and shyness surrounding the sexual orientation of many of its population; it is nonetheless refreshing to see a director be bold enough in terms of following his convictions and the blending of genres (film noir, mystery, melodrama) that utilise his authorial motifs of vivid colour and graphic imagery to its maximum potential, and gaining career best performances from his leading ladies especially Kagurazaka, in the belle de jour role.
Guilty of Romance is release by Eureka! Entertainment on Friday 30th September on limited release in the UK
http://www.eurekavideo.co.uk/
Monday, 19 September 2011
The 55th London Film Festival Preview
It is that time of year again and the official run up to the Academy Awards starts in earnest. Think of the Awards season, as a long marathon, someone shoots the gun at Leicester Square on October 12th, with a water station situated on October 27th, with the chequered flag in Los Angeles in late February.
My memories of the various LFF's I have attended are always being able to see George Clooney's newest film, be it Up in the Air, Good Night and Good Luck, Fantastic Mr.Fox; he returns again this year with two more films one serious, one comedy. The serious one is when he is in political mode and is the American Express Gala, The Ides of March, which he directs and co-scripts (with Grant Heslov). Clooney also stars as democratic Presidental hopeful Morris, with a new spokesman Myers (Ryan Gosling), the film is wordy and focuses on backroom shenanigans. The comic role is Clooney in Alexander Payne's new film The Descendants, based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, based in Hawaii - Clooney plays a father who has re-examine his past to embrace his new future. The combination of Payne with Clooney playing one of his misanthropic male leads is tantalising.
Clooney's role as festival star is being fought over by our own Rachel Weisz who stars in both the opening and closing gala films. The former is 360 by Fernando Meirelles (they have worked together on The Constant Gardener) and this film focuses on how different levels of society and their sexual relationships can transgress sexual boundaries. The star-studded cast puts it in the same boat as Babel but a cast that includes Jude Law, Weisz, Anthony Hopkins and Ben Foster means that this may escape the fatal banality of that bloated vessel.
The closing film is the return of Terence Davies to fictional cinema (following his epic documentary on his hometown Liverpool's visual history) nice time adapting Terence Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea, set in 1950s London still suffering from the aftermath of World War II. Weisz is joined by two of our better thespians, Tom Hiddleston (Thor) and the great Simon Russell Beale.
Other Galas screenings allow first time views in Britain for new films from Nanni Moretti (We Have A Pope), Ralph Fiennes' directorial debut (Coriolanus), David Cronenberg (A Dangerous Method), Steve McQueen (Shame - which just won Michael Fassbender a Best Actor award at Venice), Michael Winterbottom (Trishna) and Madonna (W.E.)
Also to be screened are the exciting We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lynne Ramsey, starring Tilda Swinton in an Oscar worthy performance. There are also screenings of films by such erstwhile talents like Richard Linklater, Roman Polanski, Todd Solodnz, Bruno Dumont, Takashi Miike. New documentary features are prominent from Frederick Wiseman, Jonathon Demme, Werner Herzog and Nick Broomfield, who goes in search of an interview with Sarah Palin in 'You Betcha!'
As ever it is not just about new Hollywood and auteurs from across the globe being given exposure, new British cinema is celebrated. And this is a vital platform for these young filmmakers as often these films will fail to be released in this country, an unfortunate statement but alas one of fact - Richard Jobson returns with The Somnambulists (focusing on soldiers returning from Iraq) and Dexter Fletcher's debut feature Wild Bill look like highlights.
A favourite strand of the LFF programme is the Treasure of the Archives series; this year we have Cry Danger, a crackerjack film noir from Robert Parrish; a restored The Caine Mutiny starring Humphrey Bogart; Roberto Rossellini's The Machine that Kills Bad People from 1952 and a colour feature from Kenji Mizoguchi Shin-Heike Monogatari (Tales of the Taira Clan) from 1955.
As ever I suggest you seek out something different, be it a French film in the French Revolutions strand or one of the always good short cuts and animation. You would be spoilt for choice if you are a cineaste or suffer from cinephilia like myself; but you certainly would be hard pressed not to find something to your liking.
Public booking opens on September 26th, by person or phone or online.
Phone 020 7928 3232 (9.30am-8.30pm daily), Online visit www.bfi.org.uk/lff or go to the counter at the BFI Southbank up to and during the festival.
It promises to be a brilliant experience as always, and it never fails to disappoint.
My memories of the various LFF's I have attended are always being able to see George Clooney's newest film, be it Up in the Air, Good Night and Good Luck, Fantastic Mr.Fox; he returns again this year with two more films one serious, one comedy. The serious one is when he is in political mode and is the American Express Gala, The Ides of March, which he directs and co-scripts (with Grant Heslov). Clooney also stars as democratic Presidental hopeful Morris, with a new spokesman Myers (Ryan Gosling), the film is wordy and focuses on backroom shenanigans. The comic role is Clooney in Alexander Payne's new film The Descendants, based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, based in Hawaii - Clooney plays a father who has re-examine his past to embrace his new future. The combination of Payne with Clooney playing one of his misanthropic male leads is tantalising.
Clooney's role as festival star is being fought over by our own Rachel Weisz who stars in both the opening and closing gala films. The former is 360 by Fernando Meirelles (they have worked together on The Constant Gardener) and this film focuses on how different levels of society and their sexual relationships can transgress sexual boundaries. The star-studded cast puts it in the same boat as Babel but a cast that includes Jude Law, Weisz, Anthony Hopkins and Ben Foster means that this may escape the fatal banality of that bloated vessel.
The closing film is the return of Terence Davies to fictional cinema (following his epic documentary on his hometown Liverpool's visual history) nice time adapting Terence Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea, set in 1950s London still suffering from the aftermath of World War II. Weisz is joined by two of our better thespians, Tom Hiddleston (Thor) and the great Simon Russell Beale.
Other Galas screenings allow first time views in Britain for new films from Nanni Moretti (We Have A Pope), Ralph Fiennes' directorial debut (Coriolanus), David Cronenberg (A Dangerous Method), Steve McQueen (Shame - which just won Michael Fassbender a Best Actor award at Venice), Michael Winterbottom (Trishna) and Madonna (W.E.)
Also to be screened are the exciting We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lynne Ramsey, starring Tilda Swinton in an Oscar worthy performance. There are also screenings of films by such erstwhile talents like Richard Linklater, Roman Polanski, Todd Solodnz, Bruno Dumont, Takashi Miike. New documentary features are prominent from Frederick Wiseman, Jonathon Demme, Werner Herzog and Nick Broomfield, who goes in search of an interview with Sarah Palin in 'You Betcha!'
As ever it is not just about new Hollywood and auteurs from across the globe being given exposure, new British cinema is celebrated. And this is a vital platform for these young filmmakers as often these films will fail to be released in this country, an unfortunate statement but alas one of fact - Richard Jobson returns with The Somnambulists (focusing on soldiers returning from Iraq) and Dexter Fletcher's debut feature Wild Bill look like highlights.
A favourite strand of the LFF programme is the Treasure of the Archives series; this year we have Cry Danger, a crackerjack film noir from Robert Parrish; a restored The Caine Mutiny starring Humphrey Bogart; Roberto Rossellini's The Machine that Kills Bad People from 1952 and a colour feature from Kenji Mizoguchi Shin-Heike Monogatari (Tales of the Taira Clan) from 1955.
As ever I suggest you seek out something different, be it a French film in the French Revolutions strand or one of the always good short cuts and animation. You would be spoilt for choice if you are a cineaste or suffer from cinephilia like myself; but you certainly would be hard pressed not to find something to your liking.
Public booking opens on September 26th, by person or phone or online.
Phone 020 7928 3232 (9.30am-8.30pm daily), Online visit www.bfi.org.uk/lff or go to the counter at the BFI Southbank up to and during the festival.
It promises to be a brilliant experience as always, and it never fails to disappoint.
Monday, 18 July 2011
Gilda
Gilda is Rita Hayworth. Rita Hayworth is Gilda.
You can imagine that resembling the actual tagline when the film was first released in 1946. Primarily created as a vehicle for Hayworth, following the end of the Second World War in the previous summer.
However, the film does not start with Gilda, it starts with the chance meeting between Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford), a down and out gambler and Ballin Mundson (George Macready), a crooked German casino owner, on the docks of Buenos Aires where Ballin saves Johnny from a robbery attempt. Farrell is then employed by Ballin in his casino and business is very good until Ballin leaves on holiday and leaves Johnny in charge.
After agreeing that gambling and women are not a good mix, Ballin comes back married to a beautiful sensuous wife named Gilda (Hayworth). It soon becomes clear that Johnny and Gilda know each other and were an item before something led to a break up and Johnny ending up in Argentina.
Much has been made of the psychological and Freudian undercurrent taking place in the film - the constant referral of Ballin's little friend (an actual knife that erects from the bottom of his walking cane) and how he now has Johnny as his new little friend. The Freudian interpretation is that Ballin is actually a closeted homosexual, but an impotent one who in Johnny sees a younger version of himself - but virile and powerful. After Ballin and Gilda return, it never becomes clear if they have consumated their union, yet Johnny most like can do. Hence forth, we have an unusual love triangle taking place prompting jealousy and bitterness, ending with fatal results.
The new digital print does brilliant justice to Rudolph Mate's luscious black and white cinematography, and whilst a lot is focused on the luminous Hayworth, Charles Vidor does create some brilliant shots of film noir such as when Johnny and Ballin watch Gilda go up the prominent staircase - Johnny is in the light, whilst Ballin is in permanent silhouette, it is a shot of sheer beauty and yet terror at the same time.
Hayworth practically glows throughout the entire film, the first time we see her she throws her head back with a full head of hair getting ready for a night out - and yet the full object of desire not just for Johnny but any returning GI Joe from the war; she is beautiful, strong and made desirable by the fact that no man in the picture can truly attain her. It is also helped by the presence of Hayworth's memorable performances of on 'Put the Blame on Mame' with arm length gloves and 'Amado Mio' (dubbed by Anita Ellis).
The script by Marion Parsonnet does whip along beautifully, yet I feel it does suffer somewhat by the third act troubles once a major player in proceedings is killed off, the narrative seems to get lost in its own labyrinthe and the not knowing if Johnny and Gilda will be reunited, and the comic relief of Uncle Pio (Steven Geray), who mocks Johnny as a peasant, is much missed.
Hayworth who is the centre of attention, is helped by Ford then a young buck who plays Johnny as a chancer but also with a fierce vulnerability at how Gilda treated him previously, making him wary of returning to her affections again.
Nevertheless, this is one of the more memorable film noir movies of the post WW2 eras and highly deserving of a re-release on the big screen, and can be seen at the BFI from Friday 22 July for an extended two-week period, as well as Filmhouse Edinburgh and Irish Film Insitute in Dublin.
http://www.parkcircus.com/
www.bfi.org.uk/southbank
You can imagine that resembling the actual tagline when the film was first released in 1946. Primarily created as a vehicle for Hayworth, following the end of the Second World War in the previous summer.
However, the film does not start with Gilda, it starts with the chance meeting between Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford), a down and out gambler and Ballin Mundson (George Macready), a crooked German casino owner, on the docks of Buenos Aires where Ballin saves Johnny from a robbery attempt. Farrell is then employed by Ballin in his casino and business is very good until Ballin leaves on holiday and leaves Johnny in charge.
After agreeing that gambling and women are not a good mix, Ballin comes back married to a beautiful sensuous wife named Gilda (Hayworth). It soon becomes clear that Johnny and Gilda know each other and were an item before something led to a break up and Johnny ending up in Argentina.
Much has been made of the psychological and Freudian undercurrent taking place in the film - the constant referral of Ballin's little friend (an actual knife that erects from the bottom of his walking cane) and how he now has Johnny as his new little friend. The Freudian interpretation is that Ballin is actually a closeted homosexual, but an impotent one who in Johnny sees a younger version of himself - but virile and powerful. After Ballin and Gilda return, it never becomes clear if they have consumated their union, yet Johnny most like can do. Hence forth, we have an unusual love triangle taking place prompting jealousy and bitterness, ending with fatal results.
The new digital print does brilliant justice to Rudolph Mate's luscious black and white cinematography, and whilst a lot is focused on the luminous Hayworth, Charles Vidor does create some brilliant shots of film noir such as when Johnny and Ballin watch Gilda go up the prominent staircase - Johnny is in the light, whilst Ballin is in permanent silhouette, it is a shot of sheer beauty and yet terror at the same time.
Hayworth practically glows throughout the entire film, the first time we see her she throws her head back with a full head of hair getting ready for a night out - and yet the full object of desire not just for Johnny but any returning GI Joe from the war; she is beautiful, strong and made desirable by the fact that no man in the picture can truly attain her. It is also helped by the presence of Hayworth's memorable performances of on 'Put the Blame on Mame' with arm length gloves and 'Amado Mio' (dubbed by Anita Ellis).
The script by Marion Parsonnet does whip along beautifully, yet I feel it does suffer somewhat by the third act troubles once a major player in proceedings is killed off, the narrative seems to get lost in its own labyrinthe and the not knowing if Johnny and Gilda will be reunited, and the comic relief of Uncle Pio (Steven Geray), who mocks Johnny as a peasant, is much missed.
Hayworth who is the centre of attention, is helped by Ford then a young buck who plays Johnny as a chancer but also with a fierce vulnerability at how Gilda treated him previously, making him wary of returning to her affections again.
Nevertheless, this is one of the more memorable film noir movies of the post WW2 eras and highly deserving of a re-release on the big screen, and can be seen at the BFI from Friday 22 July for an extended two-week period, as well as Filmhouse Edinburgh and Irish Film Insitute in Dublin.
http://www.parkcircus.com/
www.bfi.org.uk/southbank
Friday, 8 July 2011
Sawako Decides (Ishii Yuya, Japan, 2010)
Directing his first 35mm cinematic release, Ishii Yuya has constructed an offbeat and satirical minefield of a film that cleverly contrasts big city urban life with small time village life, in a script he also wrote.
In the lead as Kimura Sawako, he has Mitsushima Hikari, playing with wide-eyed abandonment and herself as unusual as the people she encounters. Having left her home town after seeing her father, Tadao (Shiga Kotaro) kissing another woman, when she was near the end of teenage years; she fled for Tokyo and took in a job at a toy company that remains unfulfilling after a number of years.
Kimura is also in a relationship with a deluded simpleton, Arai Kenichi (Endo Masashi) who thinks of himself as an enviromentalist and free-thinker, but who easily gives into temptation when running off with the villlage bike Tomomi (Suzuki Natsumi). In a clever elliptical plot strand, Arai has a daughter, who he would like to take Kimura as her 'new' mother; but because of Arai's wandering libido the daughter suffers much like Kimura did with her father when she was younger.
Upon her return to the village, Tadao is in bed facing death from cirrhosis; Kimura takes over the day-to-day running of the clam packing business and employs unusual business practices to gain the trust and enthuse the workforce. Tadao's sudden rise from death's door to berate Kimura's life and choices leads her to believe that in spite of his weaknesses she will end up marrying Arai not in part due to his attractiveness, but due to the kinship between herself and the daughter, Kayoko.
Along with the mediocre romance there are other narrative plotpoints helped by uniquely rounded background characters. Unlike other Japanese (and other Far Eastern films) that sentimentalise the working classes; here you have a film with a moral centre and a clear display of female empowerment.
The film is satirical in its depiction of the big business and small business; in big business the boss is as much a child as the children he deems suitable to play with his toys; yet he remains firmly on his own in a bubble. Whilst the small rural community fare better together working in unison for a common goal.
As for Kimura, there is never any doubt that she is making all the decisions on her own, in spite of parental advice, it is clear she is enamoured with Arai and in spite of his mediocrity he is the best chance she has at a happy marriage. And her empowerment bolsters the workforce gaining results in the profit margin and net profits. The film may be subversive in its delight of depicting such offbeat characters, but the bottom line remains the net reward for the charactes ambitions.
After a slow start to the film that only takes off after she leaves the populated Tokyo, the film does create a bold vision of urban life in spite of some less than perfect cinematography, however, seek it out for a unique slice of Japanese life in the sticks.
In the lead as Kimura Sawako, he has Mitsushima Hikari, playing with wide-eyed abandonment and herself as unusual as the people she encounters. Having left her home town after seeing her father, Tadao (Shiga Kotaro) kissing another woman, when she was near the end of teenage years; she fled for Tokyo and took in a job at a toy company that remains unfulfilling after a number of years.
Kimura is also in a relationship with a deluded simpleton, Arai Kenichi (Endo Masashi) who thinks of himself as an enviromentalist and free-thinker, but who easily gives into temptation when running off with the villlage bike Tomomi (Suzuki Natsumi). In a clever elliptical plot strand, Arai has a daughter, who he would like to take Kimura as her 'new' mother; but because of Arai's wandering libido the daughter suffers much like Kimura did with her father when she was younger.
Upon her return to the village, Tadao is in bed facing death from cirrhosis; Kimura takes over the day-to-day running of the clam packing business and employs unusual business practices to gain the trust and enthuse the workforce. Tadao's sudden rise from death's door to berate Kimura's life and choices leads her to believe that in spite of his weaknesses she will end up marrying Arai not in part due to his attractiveness, but due to the kinship between herself and the daughter, Kayoko.
Along with the mediocre romance there are other narrative plotpoints helped by uniquely rounded background characters. Unlike other Japanese (and other Far Eastern films) that sentimentalise the working classes; here you have a film with a moral centre and a clear display of female empowerment.
The film is satirical in its depiction of the big business and small business; in big business the boss is as much a child as the children he deems suitable to play with his toys; yet he remains firmly on his own in a bubble. Whilst the small rural community fare better together working in unison for a common goal.
As for Kimura, there is never any doubt that she is making all the decisions on her own, in spite of parental advice, it is clear she is enamoured with Arai and in spite of his mediocrity he is the best chance she has at a happy marriage. And her empowerment bolsters the workforce gaining results in the profit margin and net profits. The film may be subversive in its delight of depicting such offbeat characters, but the bottom line remains the net reward for the charactes ambitions.
After a slow start to the film that only takes off after she leaves the populated Tokyo, the film does create a bold vision of urban life in spite of some less than perfect cinematography, however, seek it out for a unique slice of Japanese life in the sticks.
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Norwegian Wood DVD review
Starring Rinko Kikuchi and Kenichi Matsuyama as the lovelorn Naoko and Watanabe from Haruki Marukami's eponymous novel is a slow burner of a film about depressed youths with radical sensibilites but within a classical template of melodrama. Whilst the film is brilliantly conceived and shot by a technically gifted cast and crew, providing a real shot in the arm for Japanese cinema, the problem with adapting a famous modern novel to the screen with a ready made audience in place, will ultimately leave fans of Marukami's novel wondering what went wrong.
Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) and Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi) cannot let go of the past and instead allow it to define themselves and their future. Their mutual passion is part of their malaise rather than an escape. Watanabe’s other love interest, Midori (Kiko Mizuhara), could be the answer to his problems but he’s so tied to the past he treats her interest with caution.
Lee Ping-bin brings a real sensuality to the films cinematography, however the blue tinge used for sex scenes and the frigidness of other scenes seem to distance the audience from proceedings. Leaving the actors to wander through some scenes; one sex scene early on in the film serves no dramatic purpose other than to show them having sex.
A musical score supplied by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead deviates from swooning mood pieces to orchestral pieces with full blown guitars - the score works well as a means to explain the differing feelings of euphoria and anguish between these angst-riddled characters.
Performed with sterling diligence by the the young actors, the most notable is the performance from Rink Kikuchi as Naoko - heartbroken and vunerable.
In the end, the film whilst faithful to the book becomes a victim of its own stylisation and imagery - a matter of style over substance, but is that a problem of the adaptation or the fault of the source material; a book deemed unadaptable for the silver screen. We have the adaptation, but die-hard fans may be unimpressed, whilst this is a shot in the arm for Japanese cinema in that they know they can make this sort of film now.
Norwegian Wood is released on DVD from Soda Pictures on 4th July 2011
Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) and Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi) cannot let go of the past and instead allow it to define themselves and their future. Their mutual passion is part of their malaise rather than an escape. Watanabe’s other love interest, Midori (Kiko Mizuhara), could be the answer to his problems but he’s so tied to the past he treats her interest with caution.
Lee Ping-bin brings a real sensuality to the films cinematography, however the blue tinge used for sex scenes and the frigidness of other scenes seem to distance the audience from proceedings. Leaving the actors to wander through some scenes; one sex scene early on in the film serves no dramatic purpose other than to show them having sex.
A musical score supplied by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead deviates from swooning mood pieces to orchestral pieces with full blown guitars - the score works well as a means to explain the differing feelings of euphoria and anguish between these angst-riddled characters.
Performed with sterling diligence by the the young actors, the most notable is the performance from Rink Kikuchi as Naoko - heartbroken and vunerable.
In the end, the film whilst faithful to the book becomes a victim of its own stylisation and imagery - a matter of style over substance, but is that a problem of the adaptation or the fault of the source material; a book deemed unadaptable for the silver screen. We have the adaptation, but die-hard fans may be unimpressed, whilst this is a shot in the arm for Japanese cinema in that they know they can make this sort of film now.
Norwegian Wood is released on DVD from Soda Pictures on 4th July 2011
Sunday, 26 June 2011
Ghosted - DVD review
Directed by Craig Viveiros, in his first feature production as writer and director, Ghosted is a hard hitting prison set drama featuring an array of British male acting talent.
Jack (John Lynch) is a model prisoner and wants to remain anonymous and keep his nose clean, however, on the anniversary of his son's death Jack is dealt a tragic blow when his wife ends their marriage. Amongst the prison mayhem, is young Paul (Martin Compston) who is riding with the psychotic 'Baron' Clay (Craig Parkinson). Feeling parental after losing his son, Jack decides to take Paul under his wing and save him from a life of damage that will happen if Paul stays with Baron.
A tough uncompromising portrayal of prison life featuring some fine performances from a strong ensemble. Compston, who first came to attention in Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen has always had a great presence and is slowly growing into a very mature adult performer. Whilst Parkinson (last seen in Brighton Rock) has a real swaggering menace to him, talking softly with the ability to switch quickly with a look or word.
Whilst the performances are gripping and expected from the cast; the dialogue at times does seem a bit contrived in places - perhaps that is the fault of the generic conventions of prison films. Good guys look soft in prison compared to the pure evilness of the bad guys, who are in prison for a reason.
This is not to do Viveiros a total disservice; the photography is a winner picking up all the burden of prison life on the prisoner's faces and the fight scenes do lend themselves a real viscerality in their brutal rendering.
However, with all prison films the ending comes far too soon where we are left with no answers to some questions left hanging in the air.
Ghosted is out in cinemas now and released on DVD on Monday 27th June by Revolver Entertainment for £12.99RRP
Click here for the trailer.
Follow the film at Facebook here
Follow Aim Publicity on twitter @AimPublicity and Revolver Entertainment @Revolveruk
Jack (John Lynch) is a model prisoner and wants to remain anonymous and keep his nose clean, however, on the anniversary of his son's death Jack is dealt a tragic blow when his wife ends their marriage. Amongst the prison mayhem, is young Paul (Martin Compston) who is riding with the psychotic 'Baron' Clay (Craig Parkinson). Feeling parental after losing his son, Jack decides to take Paul under his wing and save him from a life of damage that will happen if Paul stays with Baron.
A tough uncompromising portrayal of prison life featuring some fine performances from a strong ensemble. Compston, who first came to attention in Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen has always had a great presence and is slowly growing into a very mature adult performer. Whilst Parkinson (last seen in Brighton Rock) has a real swaggering menace to him, talking softly with the ability to switch quickly with a look or word.
Whilst the performances are gripping and expected from the cast; the dialogue at times does seem a bit contrived in places - perhaps that is the fault of the generic conventions of prison films. Good guys look soft in prison compared to the pure evilness of the bad guys, who are in prison for a reason.
This is not to do Viveiros a total disservice; the photography is a winner picking up all the burden of prison life on the prisoner's faces and the fight scenes do lend themselves a real viscerality in their brutal rendering.
However, with all prison films the ending comes far too soon where we are left with no answers to some questions left hanging in the air.
Ghosted is out in cinemas now and released on DVD on Monday 27th June by Revolver Entertainment for £12.99RRP
Click here for the trailer.
Follow the film at Facebook here
Follow Aim Publicity on twitter @AimPublicity and Revolver Entertainment @Revolveruk
Monday, 20 June 2011
Faccia a Faccia (Face to Face) - DVD review
The western genre is full of law and order versus chaos and violence; stand offs between two men who hold opposing virtues in equal measure and consider their respective cause as worthy enough to fight for. In most cases, the sheriff who wants to uphold the sanctity of peace and goodwill in his far flung town, and the six-shooter who wants to get everything he wants through violence at any cost to human life.
This exciting new re-released Spaghetti western flips the ideas of law and order, right and wrong, order and chaos and the identity of the good guy in westerns on its head.
Faccia a Faccia, is directed by Sergio Sollima (The Big Gundown) and tells the story of a retiring professor Brad Fletcher (Gian Maria Volante) who due to his poor health moves west for warmer climate. As soon as he arrives, he is taken hostage by the bandit Bennett (Tomas Milian) and has to live with the gang.
After initial reluctance, he finds a calling amongst his fellow criminal cohorts, taking to crime and thuggery with ease. This leads to Fletcher overthrowing Bennett and initiating a crueller system of leadership instead, so in essence a standoff between two villains forms the central relationship and conflict of this film; the generic modification being that the more evil villain of the two was once a learned man.
I can see initial similarity to John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, where James Stewart's character Rance Stoddard when also moving west from the east attempts to incorporate his learned skills of knowledge upon the illiterate townsfolk with limited success.
Much like Fletcher, Stoddard is assaulted by Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin) on his first night in town and as John Wayne's Tom Doniphon explains to Stoddard - you have to fight fire with fire, and as much as Stoddard wants Valance put behind bars, violence is the only solution to a mind like Valance. And so the famous conclusion with the realisation, and the memorable, 'when the myth becomes fact, print the myth' holds greater sway as Stoddard is now an elected Senator on the back of his feat of being said man.
The new print format on this DVD release from Eureka! entertainment features stunning cinematography in glorious Techniscope and a thrilling orchestral score from the renowned Ennio Morricone.
The pictures and the framing of the action in this Texas landscape is helped by the ruthless and convincing performances by the esteemed cast. Spaghetti westerns (western genre pictures produced in Italy) were made famous by Sergio Leone's Dollars (1964-66) trilogy featuring Clint Eastwood in the mid-1960s and this production made in 1967 is symptomatic of those thrilling films, retaining the same zest for excitement and thrill seeking.
Not to do a discredit this picture, it does convincingly portray a picture what the cruelty and ruthless west must have been like - the dynamic relationship between the learned Fletcher and outlaw Bennett, and how cleverly the educated man from the east attempts to takeover the man of the west, can be interpreted as a comment on imperialism which coming from a European viewpoint is both tantalising and alternatively creative.
However, as the western genre lives on mythologising men to epic status above their station as sheep herders and cattle ranchers; so this authentic slice of stylish 1960s Italian cinema, this film is ripe for reappraisal and should be allowed to create its own myths.
The DVD contains the original Italian audio with new English subtitles, and new Technicolour print; US and Italian theatrical trailers; an interview with director Sergio Sollima, a lavish 16 page booklet containing a new essay by spaghetti western expert Howard Hughes.
Available from Eureka! on Monday 20th June on both Blu-Ray and DVD
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Putty Hill - review
Matt Porterfield's breakthrough Sundance fested award winner gets a UK release with a limited run at the ICA.
Following the death of a young man, his family and friends congregate in Baltimore, Maryland to commemorate his passing at his funeral as is the custom. Using handheld techniques, we follow these late teenagers and young adults as they go about there day to day lives as is the custom of documentary realism narratives. However, then the fourth wall is broken seemingly, when an off-camera presence makes himself known by asking the youth in the frame questions about his life, the funeral and the boy, Cody, who passed away.
The interviewer is in the same vein as Nick Broomfield would be, provocative in his questioning and leading with his meaning. Unlike Broomfield though who would inject himself into the frame whenever possible, on this occasion the interviewer remains off-camera and serves merely as a therapist for the people he talks to. It allows these young people, who are constantly put in their place by society and hierarchial structures of family dynamics, to speak for themselves.
The interviews are never confrontational or antagonistic, Porterfield is making a subtle reference and political comment about these people. Sometimes they just want to talk, and if they are afforded the time to talk and shown due respect they can speak freely, openly and with suprisingly clear clarity. Unlike the usual fame hungry people so often thrust before the camera in other documentary films and programmes. The need to communicate face to face in this age of instant messaging and contact has never been more prevalent.
Credit for these to camera dialogues should go to Porterfield and his co-writer Jordan Mintzer (who also produced) as they give these young people proper things to say allowing them to be intelligent yet with under the surface complexities waiting to burst out; the performances from the young cast go hand in hand with the effectiveness.
When there are not interviews on screen we are given some beautiful photography by Jeremy Saulnier, especially the woodland of the Baltimore area portraying a stillness in the surrounding Maryland state, lets not forget this is a funeral movie after all - the chill and still of funerals are portrayed with great humanity and subtlety. This is helped by the sound design as evidenced by the paintball scene that opens the film, the hum and bang of paintballs impacting on tree bark, metal and flesh gives us a sonic spectrum for the mind and eyes.
Following in the footsteps of Cold Weather, Catfish and the obvious debt of the influential works of Gus Van Sant, especially Elephant, the combination of naturalistic performances and documentary realism genre are woven together to creditable effect. It tells you so much in an interview, yet a look can say so much, a film that never gives its full hand away; but there is no danger of it bluffing, this is the real deal.
If you can get to the ICA in the next two weeks, you shall not be disappointed.
Following the death of a young man, his family and friends congregate in Baltimore, Maryland to commemorate his passing at his funeral as is the custom. Using handheld techniques, we follow these late teenagers and young adults as they go about there day to day lives as is the custom of documentary realism narratives. However, then the fourth wall is broken seemingly, when an off-camera presence makes himself known by asking the youth in the frame questions about his life, the funeral and the boy, Cody, who passed away.
The interviewer is in the same vein as Nick Broomfield would be, provocative in his questioning and leading with his meaning. Unlike Broomfield though who would inject himself into the frame whenever possible, on this occasion the interviewer remains off-camera and serves merely as a therapist for the people he talks to. It allows these young people, who are constantly put in their place by society and hierarchial structures of family dynamics, to speak for themselves.
The interviews are never confrontational or antagonistic, Porterfield is making a subtle reference and political comment about these people. Sometimes they just want to talk, and if they are afforded the time to talk and shown due respect they can speak freely, openly and with suprisingly clear clarity. Unlike the usual fame hungry people so often thrust before the camera in other documentary films and programmes. The need to communicate face to face in this age of instant messaging and contact has never been more prevalent.
Credit for these to camera dialogues should go to Porterfield and his co-writer Jordan Mintzer (who also produced) as they give these young people proper things to say allowing them to be intelligent yet with under the surface complexities waiting to burst out; the performances from the young cast go hand in hand with the effectiveness.
When there are not interviews on screen we are given some beautiful photography by Jeremy Saulnier, especially the woodland of the Baltimore area portraying a stillness in the surrounding Maryland state, lets not forget this is a funeral movie after all - the chill and still of funerals are portrayed with great humanity and subtlety. This is helped by the sound design as evidenced by the paintball scene that opens the film, the hum and bang of paintballs impacting on tree bark, metal and flesh gives us a sonic spectrum for the mind and eyes.
Following in the footsteps of Cold Weather, Catfish and the obvious debt of the influential works of Gus Van Sant, especially Elephant, the combination of naturalistic performances and documentary realism genre are woven together to creditable effect. It tells you so much in an interview, yet a look can say so much, a film that never gives its full hand away; but there is no danger of it bluffing, this is the real deal.
If you can get to the ICA in the next two weeks, you shall not be disappointed.
Floodtide (1949) - DVD review
Much like the other recent Park Circus film release, The Brothers, this film directed by Frederick Wilson (The Quiller Memorandum) depicts young adults with high aspirations and intentions beyond their normal social circle.
In this instance, David Shields (Gordon Jackson) wishes to leave the farm that he lives on with his father and head for the shipyards of Glasgow and earn his keep as a shipbuilder. David has a flair for the designing of these huge structures and after attending night schools, he grabs the attention of the boss, Anstruther (played by Jack Lambert) who decides to send him to a technical college, where he passes in style.
Added to the mix, is David's growing affection for Anstruther's daughter, Mary (Rona Anderson) a woman of privilege who wants David to forget his down at heel roots and leave behind his good friend, Tim Brogan (James Logan) who shows David who to let his hair down. One amazing sequence is when David and Tim go out on the town to a dancehall, and you see a scrum of people you think fleeing the scene of a major accident when in actuality they are dancing in perfect choreography to the show band playing on the stage. Like the films great location camerawork, this scene is shows you something that is definitely of its time but also the swell of community spirit that occured in Scotland during the post World War 2 years.
David's panache and willingness to stand out from the crowd can mark him as a cinematic forerunner of Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness in The Man in the White Suit) and Arthur Seaton (Albert Finney in Saturday Night, Sunday Morning); two other aspirational young men who had ideas above their station and come into trouble for doing so.
Whilst the former may well be in the same satirical vein of most Ealing Studios production, David certainly appears closer to Arthur and his 'angry young men' contemporaries played with relish by Tom Courtenary and Richard Harris, that helped make their distinguished careers.
Shot on location in the streets of Glasgow and Clydeside featuring sweeping magasterial shots of the historic shipyards. but of cultural significance and historical merit as these shipyards are now not used and lie dormant in this modern age.
Acted with great skill by the consumate cast, which includes the Dad's Army veteran John Laurie, this fine film released on DVD for the first time is not just a time capsule to a forgotten world, but a different way of life. The film concludes on a heath with a romantic clinch which marks it as an equal to The Brothers in terms of melodrama, but on this instance the melodrama takes a back seat to depict a young man with aspiration and the thrilling ride to succeed.
Released on 20th June, Floodtide is available for the first time on DVD from Park Circus films (http://www.parkcircus.com/) for £15.99RRP, with extras consisting of an image gallery.
In this instance, David Shields (Gordon Jackson) wishes to leave the farm that he lives on with his father and head for the shipyards of Glasgow and earn his keep as a shipbuilder. David has a flair for the designing of these huge structures and after attending night schools, he grabs the attention of the boss, Anstruther (played by Jack Lambert) who decides to send him to a technical college, where he passes in style.
Added to the mix, is David's growing affection for Anstruther's daughter, Mary (Rona Anderson) a woman of privilege who wants David to forget his down at heel roots and leave behind his good friend, Tim Brogan (James Logan) who shows David who to let his hair down. One amazing sequence is when David and Tim go out on the town to a dancehall, and you see a scrum of people you think fleeing the scene of a major accident when in actuality they are dancing in perfect choreography to the show band playing on the stage. Like the films great location camerawork, this scene is shows you something that is definitely of its time but also the swell of community spirit that occured in Scotland during the post World War 2 years.
David's panache and willingness to stand out from the crowd can mark him as a cinematic forerunner of Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness in The Man in the White Suit) and Arthur Seaton (Albert Finney in Saturday Night, Sunday Morning); two other aspirational young men who had ideas above their station and come into trouble for doing so.
Whilst the former may well be in the same satirical vein of most Ealing Studios production, David certainly appears closer to Arthur and his 'angry young men' contemporaries played with relish by Tom Courtenary and Richard Harris, that helped make their distinguished careers.
Shot on location in the streets of Glasgow and Clydeside featuring sweeping magasterial shots of the historic shipyards. but of cultural significance and historical merit as these shipyards are now not used and lie dormant in this modern age.
Acted with great skill by the consumate cast, which includes the Dad's Army veteran John Laurie, this fine film released on DVD for the first time is not just a time capsule to a forgotten world, but a different way of life. The film concludes on a heath with a romantic clinch which marks it as an equal to The Brothers in terms of melodrama, but on this instance the melodrama takes a back seat to depict a young man with aspiration and the thrilling ride to succeed.
Released on 20th June, Floodtide is available for the first time on DVD from Park Circus films (http://www.parkcircus.com/) for £15.99RRP, with extras consisting of an image gallery.
West is West - DVD review
Follow here for a link to interview with the director Andy De EmmonyThe long anticipated and hoped for sequel of the 1999 box office success 'East is East' is released by Icon Home Entertainment on 20th June.
The film with the wish of Aybu Khan-Din is written not so much as a sequel but as a stand-alone film in its own right, and for the most part it proves a successful follow-up to the film that won a Bafta for Outstanding British Film. The cast return en masse (although Jimi Mistry fans will feel slightly short changed).
The original film was ground breaking in that it brought subject matter previously unheralded to the big screen; inter-racial marriage set against the backdrop of 1970s working class Salford,Manchester with all its contexts of class and social status. The idea of a white woman marrying a Pakistani and the hatred that such things may incite were addressed, but the violence is reserved for the cold hand of George Khan (Om Puri) who beats up his wife in the back office of their chip shop. Whilst played and marketed for laughs, the original did have its darker moments.
'West is West' focuses on Sajid (Aqib Khan - in his first role), the youngest son, who is rebellious playing truant from school and avoiding bullies who berate him as a 'Paki' thus causing worries about his identiy and reluctance to accept his mixed heritage and hating his father. The need for discipline and restraint in the young tearaway leads George to take him to his homeland in Pakistan to the family home he abandoned 30 years previously to marry Ella (Linda Bassett).
Mostly played for laughs, but asking genuine questions about identity and belonging not just to your race but your family home; the film has these major questions but has a lovely parallel narrative surrounding Nemar (the middle son) and his quest for a wife. This narrative garners the most laughs as the bride he chooses proves to be more than meets the eye. Sajid and George's narrative journeys are directed with a humility and subtlety which is with thanks to the direction of Andy de Emmony, who has a long track record in television drama, and this comes to the fore in his feature length debut effort.
Beautifully shot by Peter Robinson, again making Pakistan (though the film was shot in Indian Punjab for insurance purposes) look as beautiful as Chris Menges did for 'Slumdog' and it is this debt to that Oscar winning film that gives this film not a rose-tinted view of the world, but a serious enough tone to go in balance with the humour that comes from Sajid's escapades as a hermit attempts to teach him lessons about life by stating the obvious and making the youngster discover it for himself.
Great performances by all concerned, most notably Aqid Khan who with no training instills Sajid with a bit of Malcolm McDowell mixed with Alex Turner, giving poetry to such profanity he sometimes spouts and Ila Arun, as Basheera Khan, the first wife who shows the vulnerability of her husband's abandonment in her aged face; though talking only Punjab she instills the character with such grandeur and poise it is striking and the scene with her and the second Mrs. Khan are startling.
Khan-Din (and the producer, Leslie Unwin) gets the wish of having the film stand on its own, and though it might not garner the same box office and clamour as its predecessor did it still deserves credit for being a work of supreme technical accomplishment and maturity. A straight drama with comedic appeal in this day and age of hook and gimmicks.
There may be a third film to complete the trifecta, possibly following Sajid's attempts to get married himself - maybe this will be played for laughs; but as long as this cast remains the same, there remains the key to its ever growing appeal.
Distributed by Icon Home Productions this Monday for £17.99RRP on both DVD and Blu-Ray
I Am Number Four - DVD review
Based upon the novel by Pittacus Lore, produced by Michael Bay and directed by accomplished young film-maker, D.J. Caruso, this big budget film blasts onto the screens this month with a lot of expectation and hype that this may be the new franchise in Hollywood.
Alex Pettyfer, is Number Four, one of the Nine from an alien world, Lorian, who have abandoned their home world and arrived on Earth to hide from the Mogdolorians who are looking to kill the Nine. As they hold powers or 'legacies' which combined can create great power. In a prologue, we see Number Three being murdered, from there we are hurtled to Florida where Number Four is enjoying the beach and somersaulting on a jetski. After discovering number three's death and being labelled a 'freak' by a girl he likes, it is the decision of his warrior-protector Henri (Timothy Olyphant) to leave town and put the Mogs off of their scent.
They land in Paradise, Ohio and are met by thunderstorms; at one point John (his new name) remarks how the town should be called Ironic. Henri pleads for invisibility but quickly John makes enemies out of the jerk jock; befriends the conspiracy believer, Sam and gets rose tinted eyes over an outsider girl who dabbles in photographer, Sarah (Dianna Agron, head cheerleader Quinn from 'Glee'). But the Mogs are quickly on his heels; dressed menacingly like angels of death in long black trenchcoats and painted in tribal tattoos, these are evil so and so's, and as well as extra-terrestrial weaponary they also have huge monstrous beasts to also do their bidding.
Caruso has territory with big action scenes, and this is his first blockbuster following a step up from his last two films. Disturbia (a Rear Window) for the 21st century with Shia Laboeuf imprisoned in his own home playing part-time detective was a thriller with genuine scares, he then did the under-rated and low profile Eagle Eye which borrowed another Hitchock genre, this time North by Northwest with Labeouf going cross country to clear his name with the help of a rampant computer who was his eye in the sky.
Whereas, these were accomplished productions, acted well and shot quickly, on this occasion there is no opportunity to rip off Hitchcock and instead bow at the altar of Michael Bay. Bay with his thirst for destruction on the screen, is afforded that in the climax of the film with the special effects bonanza in the high school and football field; grenades, lasers, fireballs and a monster mash in the showers.
Before the monster mash, Caruso does try to establish a sympathy for the characters working on the dynamic of their relationships, elevating the romantic elements of the storyline to prominence and letting the death of a paternal figure have echoes when it does happen, not rushing into it. The credit for this should fall at the script written by three talented writers, two of them are Alfred Gough and Miles Millar - two names you might not recognise, but might be familiar with their most famous creation Smallville, the early years of Superman which followed Clark Kent at a high school, not too dissimilar to Paradise, Ohio.
Whilst a good television show in its day combining the quality of Dawson's Creek with the X-Files freak of the week fix; the show sometimes fell in on itself when it had to rush the climatic fight with Clark Kent hiding his powers from the ordinary people. There the constrictions of an hour prime time to fill was the fault, here though in spite of the near two hour running time, some of the same problems pop up again.
The climax does have a feel of putting all of its eggs in one basket, is this indicative of cinema at the moment or can we blame Bay. Everything is given to sell the mandatory sequel, with lessons learned, a new character named in Teresa Palmer's brief but explosive cameo, her place in the next film is assured with her soon to be iconic look in leathers and aviators, even a good punchline, 'Red Bull is for pussies'.
All in all there is a lot to be excited about - characters that are engaging, funny dialogue and a lot of action set in the real world whilst mixing it with other-world mythology, a reluctant hero who is only just beginning to understand the consequences of his actions.
Hopefully, the film will garner the greater plaudits and audience it so richly deserved (but did not attract) on its initial release. This is harmless action stuff with something for all the family - romance, action, special effects, aliens, drama with the surrogate father-son relationship between Four and Henri. The sequel may be forthcoming, but if it is not, check this out before the film gets forgotten about.
I Am Number Four is released on 20 June on both Blu-ray and DVD, but if you are an extras junkie, make you sure you fork out for the Blu-ray version which has tons more extras than the DVD equivalent.
Alex Pettyfer, is Number Four, one of the Nine from an alien world, Lorian, who have abandoned their home world and arrived on Earth to hide from the Mogdolorians who are looking to kill the Nine. As they hold powers or 'legacies' which combined can create great power. In a prologue, we see Number Three being murdered, from there we are hurtled to Florida where Number Four is enjoying the beach and somersaulting on a jetski. After discovering number three's death and being labelled a 'freak' by a girl he likes, it is the decision of his warrior-protector Henri (Timothy Olyphant) to leave town and put the Mogs off of their scent.
They land in Paradise, Ohio and are met by thunderstorms; at one point John (his new name) remarks how the town should be called Ironic. Henri pleads for invisibility but quickly John makes enemies out of the jerk jock; befriends the conspiracy believer, Sam and gets rose tinted eyes over an outsider girl who dabbles in photographer, Sarah (Dianna Agron, head cheerleader Quinn from 'Glee'). But the Mogs are quickly on his heels; dressed menacingly like angels of death in long black trenchcoats and painted in tribal tattoos, these are evil so and so's, and as well as extra-terrestrial weaponary they also have huge monstrous beasts to also do their bidding.
Caruso has territory with big action scenes, and this is his first blockbuster following a step up from his last two films. Disturbia (a Rear Window) for the 21st century with Shia Laboeuf imprisoned in his own home playing part-time detective was a thriller with genuine scares, he then did the under-rated and low profile Eagle Eye which borrowed another Hitchock genre, this time North by Northwest with Labeouf going cross country to clear his name with the help of a rampant computer who was his eye in the sky.
Whereas, these were accomplished productions, acted well and shot quickly, on this occasion there is no opportunity to rip off Hitchcock and instead bow at the altar of Michael Bay. Bay with his thirst for destruction on the screen, is afforded that in the climax of the film with the special effects bonanza in the high school and football field; grenades, lasers, fireballs and a monster mash in the showers.
Before the monster mash, Caruso does try to establish a sympathy for the characters working on the dynamic of their relationships, elevating the romantic elements of the storyline to prominence and letting the death of a paternal figure have echoes when it does happen, not rushing into it. The credit for this should fall at the script written by three talented writers, two of them are Alfred Gough and Miles Millar - two names you might not recognise, but might be familiar with their most famous creation Smallville, the early years of Superman which followed Clark Kent at a high school, not too dissimilar to Paradise, Ohio.
Whilst a good television show in its day combining the quality of Dawson's Creek with the X-Files freak of the week fix; the show sometimes fell in on itself when it had to rush the climatic fight with Clark Kent hiding his powers from the ordinary people. There the constrictions of an hour prime time to fill was the fault, here though in spite of the near two hour running time, some of the same problems pop up again.
The climax does have a feel of putting all of its eggs in one basket, is this indicative of cinema at the moment or can we blame Bay. Everything is given to sell the mandatory sequel, with lessons learned, a new character named in Teresa Palmer's brief but explosive cameo, her place in the next film is assured with her soon to be iconic look in leathers and aviators, even a good punchline, 'Red Bull is for pussies'.
All in all there is a lot to be excited about - characters that are engaging, funny dialogue and a lot of action set in the real world whilst mixing it with other-world mythology, a reluctant hero who is only just beginning to understand the consequences of his actions.
Hopefully, the film will garner the greater plaudits and audience it so richly deserved (but did not attract) on its initial release. This is harmless action stuff with something for all the family - romance, action, special effects, aliens, drama with the surrogate father-son relationship between Four and Henri. The sequel may be forthcoming, but if it is not, check this out before the film gets forgotten about.
I Am Number Four is released on 20 June on both Blu-ray and DVD, but if you are an extras junkie, make you sure you fork out for the Blu-ray version which has tons more extras than the DVD equivalent.
Monday, 13 June 2011
Eccentricities of a Blonde Haired Girl - DVD review
The 102 year old film-maker de Oliveira, so often making films that push the limits of cinema occupancy, has seemingly found a spring in his ageing feet.
Adapting a short story from Portugal's most famous 19th Century author Eca de Queiroz, and in so adapting a short story has given it a fleeting 64 minute running time contemplating young love and the curve ball it can throw you at the end.
Utilising the device of having Macario (Ricardo Trepa) recite the story of the events that have happened in the previous few months , to a female passenger on a train as he exiles himself from Lisbon, allows the flashback to have its place and be the truth and reality de Oliveira strives for.
The flashback is broken up only when Macario feels it necessary (unusually his travelling companion finds it hard to look at him seemingly), to elaborate as to why he fell head over heels with Luisa (Catarina Wallenstein, in her first lead role), a girl on the other side of the street from his office veranda - and only ask for her hand in marriage once he has his own finances in order (considering he is an accountant you think he would have).
This is a film of its time, with characters mentioning the economic climate and Macario referring to himself as 'poor as a bank'.
The pacing of the film is coupled with the effective editing of a skyline from day to night and vice versa to connote the changing of time and Macario's recollection of the story.
While it can be admired that old-fashioned romantic notions are attempting to be introduced into this 21st century, the yearning for formality and chivalry will inevitably come back and bite you on the behind - and when it comes to beautiful women in film, the men are usually suckers (like Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity or Jack Lemmon in The Apartment) for a girl with nice hair and who will flash a smile, even if the ulterior motive is under the surface.
The twist at the end can be construed as abrupt, but in the twists of life and love nowadays it is more ideal to think of it as appropriate. It is certainly appropriate to marvel at the determination of de Oliveira to still be making films that are attentive to detail and distinguished in its execution.
Eccentricities... is distributed by New Wave Films (http://www.newwavefilms.co.uk/) and is available for £15.99RRP on DVD and is certified U. It is released on Monday 13th June.
Adapting a short story from Portugal's most famous 19th Century author Eca de Queiroz, and in so adapting a short story has given it a fleeting 64 minute running time contemplating young love and the curve ball it can throw you at the end.
Utilising the device of having Macario (Ricardo Trepa) recite the story of the events that have happened in the previous few months , to a female passenger on a train as he exiles himself from Lisbon, allows the flashback to have its place and be the truth and reality de Oliveira strives for.
The flashback is broken up only when Macario feels it necessary (unusually his travelling companion finds it hard to look at him seemingly), to elaborate as to why he fell head over heels with Luisa (Catarina Wallenstein, in her first lead role), a girl on the other side of the street from his office veranda - and only ask for her hand in marriage once he has his own finances in order (considering he is an accountant you think he would have).
This is a film of its time, with characters mentioning the economic climate and Macario referring to himself as 'poor as a bank'.
The pacing of the film is coupled with the effective editing of a skyline from day to night and vice versa to connote the changing of time and Macario's recollection of the story.
While it can be admired that old-fashioned romantic notions are attempting to be introduced into this 21st century, the yearning for formality and chivalry will inevitably come back and bite you on the behind - and when it comes to beautiful women in film, the men are usually suckers (like Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity or Jack Lemmon in The Apartment) for a girl with nice hair and who will flash a smile, even if the ulterior motive is under the surface.
The twist at the end can be construed as abrupt, but in the twists of life and love nowadays it is more ideal to think of it as appropriate. It is certainly appropriate to marvel at the determination of de Oliveira to still be making films that are attentive to detail and distinguished in its execution.
Eccentricities... is distributed by New Wave Films (http://www.newwavefilms.co.uk/) and is available for £15.99RRP on DVD and is certified U. It is released on Monday 13th June.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)