The Shepherd and The Bear

Beautiful documentary on a dying occupation on the French-Spanish Border

Yves, is the elderly eponymous hero of the story. An ageing shepherd in the hills of the Pyrenees who is in the twilight of his career and life - the two are hand in hand. His life has been one of simplicity, but now being upended by an old foe. It could read like an old west narrative, and yet this is more of a tale of mortality. As it seems the bear of the title could very well be the death of him and his occupation.

This is a clash of order and chaos; the shepherds are the order of the land whilst the bears are the chaos - unabashed, unregulated. Yves and his community are pining for help amidst the clouds.

The clash of the old with the new; shepherds have their means of working the landscape whilst the introduction of an old method which was removed and now returned brings hardship to a traditional method. Coupled with an ageing work-force with little or no apprentices following in their footsteps, the younger generations having moved to urban landscapes. 

Yet for all the wide shots of misty mountains, sun-kissed hills and verdant forests, perhaps the most telling image is a close-up of the weathered lines on Yves’ face. They say every picture tells a story and you can see in the weathered face of Yves as he looks into another fire, the light upon his face shows the years worked and how the last embers of his being and belonging.

Visually arresting and ravishing in the cinematography by director Max Keegan and Clement Beauvois; they capture the natural world in all its beauty. This coupled with a delicate score by Amine Bouhafa evokes the passing of time mixed with an appraisal of tradition and community.

The Shepherd and The Bear is out from Conic Film on limited release from 6th February.

My thanks to them for the review opportunity.

In Camera - Film Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Released by Conic Films.

Slow - Film Review

This Lithuanian-Swedish joint production tells of a blossoming relationship between a man and a woman, who attempt to find a level of acceptable intimacy when the man reveals himself to be asexual - not attracted to anybody/anyone sexually. The film won World Cinema Directing Award at Sundance 2023.

Dovydas (Kestutis Cicenas) is a sign language interpreter - in his world - his language is sacroscant, his interpretation cannot be challenged as that is the universally accepted language for those fluent in it. He is restricted by these dogmatic ways, it is his way and he cannot be swayed by it.

Elena (Greta Grineviciute) is a dancer, a world where everything is open to interpretation and is objective from one person to the next. Dovydas s is a world of subjectivity it is what it is.

A two-hander for the majority of the film, the director has expressed she entrusted the two leads fully to find the truth within the the two protagonists and their stories.

Shot like many a small film, medium close-ups like a Ken Loach film for example, this film is an intimate film - one where the pace is deliberate and rewards the audience to stick with the narrative, and this is helped by the warm lead performances.

There is an intimate intensity to the scenes that is handled delicately and maturely with a subject that is alien to many an audience, yet in this age of people being more pronounced with their sexual behaviour and types of identity, this is a film that asks questions from Elena's position while respecting Dovydas' at the same time.

Film history is littered with famous love stories - Jack and Rose, Rick and Ilsa - yet they all had the clinch at the film's conclusion to state that finality, however, the two partnerships mentioned are apart at the end. Sometimes in film, love means not being with the one you want to be with most and in life, finding that common ground through exploration and togetherness.

The balance between soft and strong coupled with a very good soundtrack by Irya Gmeyer and Martin Hederos give credence to the film's plot and narrative.

Released by Conic Films, who are in a rich vein of form at the moment with their niche independent releases, Slow is another winning film that will garner attention due to the off-beat subject matter but will win acclaim due to its realistic portrayal of such matter.  A film that does not have an agenda about identity politics and instead is more about love and how to find it and keep hold of it.