Broken Lines

Sallie Aprahamiam directs her debut feature, Broken Lines is an emotional journey of loyalty and love set against the multi-cultural diversity of London's growing suburbia.

The film is co-written by cast members Doraly Rosa and Dan Fredenburgh and is a romantic tragedy that accentuates the very best in contemporary British cinema and seeks to answer an ultimate truth: to whom do we owe loyalty and why?

After the sudden death of his father, a newly-engaged Jewish man, Jake (Dan Fredenburgh) plunges into a charged love affair with an attached young waitress B (Doraly Rosa). Both are searching for happiness and don’t want to give up on their life long dreams, but are trapped by their existing responsibilities to the lives they have already created.

Co-starring Paul Bettany and Olivia Williams - two fine actors who do not take the leading roles and instead take the supporting characters who are portraits of what the lead pair may become - the film is acted wonderfully most especially by Bettany who as Chester, B's boyfriend, plays the crippled ex-fighter with this mixture of charm and trauma.  Demasculinised by his paralysis, his behaviour has led to B willing to indulge in an affair.  Williams plays Jake's uptight fiancee, Zoe, who although cold does not play her totally inhuman.

Whilst it is noble of Bettany-Williams to give the film some notable cache by having their names above the title, their roles are peripheral and not central to that of Fredenburgh and Rosa, who although they wrote the screenplay, do give the impression that they do not totally know the characters they have created with Jake being too self-absorbed to get our sympathy and Zoe, not fully formed to warrant our resentment.  Also the semantics of calling Rosa's character B (as in plan B for his life) is a little bit sloppy and fails to give her a full identity apart from a letter.

Worryingly, this film was made in 2008 and received a screening at the London Film Festival the same year, before a limited release in 2011 and now this DVD release before the start of 2012.

Whilst Aprahamiam whose previous TV credits include Teachers and This Life, shows herself more than competent with her eye of London, thanks in part to the work of DP Jean-Louis Bompoint - the film is actually a work of 2008, there is a lot of colour and visual flair, which looks odd compared to a lot of London-based films of the post recession.  Compare this film with its bright moments to that of the duller pallete of Dexter Fletcher's Wild Bill, whereas that film wears its morbidity on its sleeve, in Broken Lines the darker content is all underneath.

Leaving the film as one which is flawed but nevertheless admirable thanks in part to the resounding success of Bettany's performance.

Broken Lines is released on DVD on Monday 5th December by Axiom Films

In A Better World

In spite of other competing more notable films, Biutiful for instance, In A Better World won the 2011 Best Foreign Language Film at this years Academy Awards surprising many people.

The film now gets its English release, from Axiom Films, and it is a compelling picture full of ideas and theories about violence and pacifism.

Anton (Mikael Persbrandt) works for Medecins Sans Frontieres in a war-torn country of Africa, where he regularly treats pregnant women who are mutilated by a warlord who bets on the sex of the foetus before birth.  When said warlord himself becomes injured, should the good doctor treat a man who has killed a woman he could not save.  Such moral dilemmas abound in this film. 

Our good doctor is currently separated from his beautiful wife, Marianne (Trine Dyrholm) yet remains close to his children.  His youngest, Elias (Markus Rygaard) is being bullied at school and only finds refuge through the friendship of the new boy, Christian (William Johnk Nielsen) who confronts and stands up to the bully.

Anton then encounters a local ruffian who slaps him in front of the children.  His passivity to the attack, and his argument that if he fights back he is but merely the equal of this lout, serves notice to the children.  And yet here is where the films message becomes hazy - violence begets violence, and the case is made clear by young Christian's actions where the innocent get injured.

However, for all the moral quandry and minefield of social troubles, the film remains a brilliantly acted film by a sterling cast who although spending a lot of the time in humdrum poses do exhibit a warmth when required.  Susanne Bier constructs a telling observation of the slowly decaying nuclear family - all of the characters are touched by abandonment, divorce and/or death, and yet Bier has a track record in deconstructing family relationships - After The Wedding (2006), Brothers (2004)

The cinematography by Morten Soborg of both the harsh desert in Africa and the lush countryside of suburbia in Denmark is shot expertly and gives a real stillness to proceedings in contrast to the many questions abounding on screen. 

Given greater credence following the tragic events in the neighbouring Scandanavian country of Norway, In A Better World shows that violence may well get results but ultimately it is the last resort when communication breaks down, or violence is a sign of weakness of the socially inept.

The original title of the film Haeven may look like Heaven, but is in fact 'Revenge', the filmmakers cleverly chose a better English-language title - as the sheer optimism of its title means an audience familiar with Bier's oeuvre will guarantee an arthouse audience.

Cold Weather - DVD review

The detective genre is turned on its head in this hip, independent feature from mumblecore veteran Aaron Katz, in this his third feature.

Doug (Cris Lankenau) has returned to his hometown of Portland, Oregon after dropping out of his forensics degree in Chicago and moved back in with his sister Gail (Trieste Kelly Dunn), having split with his girlfriend Rachel (Robyn Rikoon).

After meandering around town and attempting to connect with his sister, Doug takes on a job in an ice factory - moving bags of ice from one side of the room to another seemingly. At work he befriends Carlos (Raul Castillo), a part-time DJ, and they share some good times together along with Gail. Then Rachel turns up unexpectedly with some business to attend to. Carlos and Rachel then go out together until one night they are meant to meet, and she does not turn up...

Like any American independent feature, there has to be a gimmick or a hook and for the first half of this film you do wonder in which direction this film is going. It follows four twenty-somethings going about their mundane lives, hanging out, sharing stories, liking or disliking Star Trek and then the possibility of a romantic arrangement (to the shagrin of the male lead) throws this narrative off course and offers something different.

Rachel's no show for a date with Carlos leads him to believe that she might have been kidnapped, and so it makes sense as to why Doug and Carlos have been spending a lot of time talking about Sherlock Holmes; the two amateur sleuths are living vicariously through the words and influence of Arthur Conan Doyle.
All of a sudden the missing girl is not the macguffin, but the suitcase that has inside of it some explicit photographs that the Cowboy (named because of his choice of hat attire) has to blackmail her. The two men are helped by Gail in their sleuthing. This leads to some funny scenes especially when they check into a hotel room, and then check out again, the audience know that the motel clerk (played by producer Ben Stambler) is thinking Doug and Carlos are gay, and Doug does not help when he says, 'I like Room 34, i had a good experience in it once'.

The laidback nature of Lankenau's performance may become frustrating and his reluctance to help Carlos in his detective work does make you wonder why does he want to be a detective if he does not want to do the legwork. But once they get a clue regarding baseball statistics, the ball is rolling and they are on the scent.
Whilst these detectives may be far removed from the kinetic madness of Benedict Cumberbatch's current Sherlock portrayal, the cleverness and delight of the film is that the detective plotline is itself nothing but a macguffin.
Katz depicts with the rebirth - not of a new career - but of a sibling relationship as Doug and Gail grow closer and stronger together working out the clues that lie within the mystery.
The title of Cold Weather can refer to the climate of Oregon itself and Doug's new job at the ice factory, but perhaps it refers to a climate of familial relationships and how given factors of distance and lack of time together siblings can lose contact and grow cold to one another.

The ending which finds brother and sister working in perfect harmony is very much intimate and exuding warmth - this is thanks to the direction of Katz who gives us glimpses of clues, mentions of a brighter youth in dialogue ('they are all mixtapes you made for me'), discreet body movements and glances all part of a bigger mystery, but with a naturalism indicative of the great ensemble.

Katz, who also wrote the screenplay and edited the film, has a bright future should this cult hit in America find the audience on this side of the pond. Here is hoping he can rise up to the next level in terms of budget and scale; it certainly seems like he has the integrity and ability to do so.
Cold Weather is released on 23rd May by Axiom Films is certified 15 and £15.99(RRP). The bonus features include an audio commentary by Aaron Katz along with producers Brendan McFadden and Stambler; an alternate ending (which was rightly culled) and a brilliant live performance of the end credits score by compose Keegan Dewitt, a life long friend of Katz - a score that is both eccentric, eclectic and thrilling.