The Kingdom - DVD review

Following his outlandish outbursts at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and the prevailing awards for Kirsten Dunst, it seems almost fitting that Lars Von Trier cannot escape our conscious.  His most original television work The Kingdom (Riget) is released on Monday 4th July by Second Sight Films for the first time in DVD format, in a four disc set in their original broadcast version.

Based in the labyrinthe hospital and primarily the neurosurgical ward of Copenhagen's Rigshospitalet; the televison drama follows the buzz word chief of staff; a Swedish surgeon who bemoans the fact that in Denmark doctors and patients must share the same lift.  As the show progresses, staff and patients encounter more and more weird phenomena both physically and supernaturally, whilst two dishwashers with Down's syndrome discuss the proceedings like a modern day Greek chorus.

A few years back, Von Trier, probably the most overtly criticised director of this age, was labelled anti-American for his depiction of small town America in Dogville; after viewing The Kingdom it can be seen that Von Trier is indebted to strands of both American film and television from the late 1980s and early 1990s.  Influences ranging from Hill Street Blues, Homocide, St.Elsewhere, ER, Twin Peaks and most of the David Lynch oeuvre are all apparent in this production.

The oft-kilter angled camerawork is deliberate in disrupting the viewers equilibrium and hence makes it easier to catch the viewer off balance with the shock tactics.  Images are displayed in sepia tones, giving you a feel of a bygone age or a feel of a documentary programme.

The show was initially done in a four part series in 1994, with a later sequel in 1997, with the hope of a third part to complete the trilogy but unfortunately deaths to several key cast members especially Ernst-Hugo Järegård (who played Stig Helmer) in 1998 and the subsequent deaths of Kirsten Rolffes (Mrs Drusse) and Morten Rotne Leffers (one of the dishwashers) put those ideas on ice.  In America, the show was released as a 4 1/2 hour long film which makes the whole experience both gripping and compelling.  This DVD should not be confused with Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital which was both lamentable and labourious when broadcast in 2004, featuring a giant anteater (as you do).

The first episode does take a while to get going, as the office politics involving the high profile Helmer versus the staff who are combating him at every turn, make you feel like you are watching just another hospital drama, but the introduction of the deluded Mrs. Drusse soon starts things up and the supernatural occurences.  Von Trier (along with co-director Morten Arnfred) do not go out of their way to scare, instead the sinister edge and feel are indicative to building up suspense and save set pieces for the final episodes with powerful sequences featuring gory surgical procedures, a neurosurgeon being impregnated by a ghost, black market dealings for organs and an ambulance that appears day and night.

At times very scary and full of gore; at other times blackly comic in its humour - this DVD will be worth watching for aficionados and new fans, allowing the televisual work to be worthy of comparison to Von Trier's more illustrious and renowned cinematic work.

The special features include a portrait of Von Trier, a behind the scenes featurette, commericals directed by Von Trier and special commentaries.  With a running time of 537 minutes with English subtitles, available at £39.99RRP from Second Sight Films.

My thanks to Aim Publicity for the chance to review this title, follow them on twitter @AimPublicity

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.

Two In The Wave - DVD review

Emmauel Laurent's insightful documentary charts the rise of French cinema's two brightest stars Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard as they gave fresh impetus to their nation's cinema in the form of the Nouvelle Vague, or the New Wave to give it it's English translation.

Starting in 1959 with the Cannes premiere of Les Quatre Cents Coups (The 400 Blows), Truffaut's triumphant debut feature, the film shows how Godard responded in kind with Breathless (1960); how the two men were shaped by their cinema going youth, how their journalistic freedom at Cahiers du Cinema in Paris helped define them as filmmakers and then slowly how their friendship disintergrated without it being resolved before Truffaut's premature death in 1984.

The film uses a voiceover by Antoine de Baecque - a prolific cultural historian - who lends a sense of gravitas and appreciation to proceedings, he is helped by the use of film extracts from both Godard and Truffaut, archive interviews and perhaps most perplexingly, a young actress turning pages of vintage magazines as the voiceover tells us what she is looking at.

This is where the documentary falls short; with such a distinctive subject matter and with a brilliant conflict of interests between the urbane Truffaut and rebellious Godard taking place there were surely stories aplenty to share here. For instance, this is the first time I realised the backstory to the triumphant 400 Blows screening was that Truffaut, being critical of the Festival in his famous magazine the year before, had been banned from Cannes so making his film premiere sweet revenge. This type of information was not taught us at film school, it was a common belief that Godard, Truffaut, Chabrol, Rohmer et al, all just picked up a camera and went guerilla like Godard did for Breathless.

However, looking back on these films you get the sense that Truffaut had a sense about what he was doing with 400 Blows and the way it was shot gives it that one foot in the authentic cinema, and one foot in the new wave owing to the depicition of youth - a polished rebellion if you will.

Whilst the documentary may serve as reliant in academic circles and film classes seeking background information on such established directors, much like that actress (Isild Le Bosco) turning the pages of archives, there is a whole lot more to be learnt from reading books, especially Richard Brody's Godard biography Everything is Cinema (2008) and for Truffaut seek out the Interviews with Hitchcock (1954).

Two in the Wave is released by New Wave Films on DVD and Blu-Ray and is out now.

What did Mourinho expect?

Jose Mourinho, has a problem. He has a problem with many things. He has a problem with referees. He has a problem with being second fiddle to Barcelona. He has a problem being second to Pep Guardiola.  He has no such problem with languages; fluent in five languages means he knows how to get his point across.

His moaning before the first leg about psyching out Barcelona and the need of physicality to disrupt their passing flow anticpated an all out attack from Madrid.  However, Mourinho did an about face and went all defensive employing a three man midfield to sit back and soak up pressure, also asking the front three of Ronaldo, Ozil and Di Maria to defend also, and instead of dictating the forward momentum, ask them to work only on the counter attack.

Ronaldo voiced his displeasure, Ozil came off at half time and Di Maria was ineffective; curious that considering they scored 6 goals at Valencia four days before, Benzema was only on the bench.

Coupled with the negative formation and tactics, Mourinho was asking for trouble when he brought up referring standards across Europe and his history of having a man sent off in four consecutive matches against the Catalan giants.  Pepe's reckless tackle led to him becoming the fifth. 

The suggestion before the game was that a Portugese official would have been appointed, now I do not know why UEFA would even let that story leak because appointed a countryman of Mourinho's would never occur to suffer the wrath of a biased view.  So the German, Wolfgang Stark was appropriate, though I did find it funny having a German going in to try and administer calm between two warring nations.  But both sets of players attempts to influence, Madrid upon Daniel Alves and Barcelona upon Pepe meant that the chance of impartiality was a long way away and put a bad taste in the mouth.

So what do UEFA do in appointing for the second leg but Franck de Bleeckere of Belgium; highly respected but the man who sent off Thiago Motta for Inter Milan at the Nou Camp at this stage last year, ultimately Motta's dismissal did not affect the result as Inter won the Champions Leauge.  Will lightning strike twice? Probably not as Barcelona hold a two nil advantage, whilst Madrid have Pepe and Sergio Ramos suspended.

But after his dismissal from the bench last week and being expelled from the touchline for the second leg, Mourinho has lost his power to influence but the appointment of the Belgian is a deliberate slap across the face from the European governing body.  I always think when you have two teams from the same country, maybe the solution should be a referee from that nation who has done these games before.  But Mourinho should not have expected any favours, Tuesday night should be a procession for Barcelona as they head to Wembley's final on 28th May.

Louise-Michel DVD review

The directors of the cult French classi Aaltra, return with a tale in tribute to a French anarchist that gives the film its name. Louise-Michel tells the tale of a laid off factory worker who takes her redundancy pay to hire an assassin to kill the boss who fired her; in doing so she hires an inept security guard with fantasist dreams of guns, this happen stance leads to many misunderstandings but a black humour mixed with memorable sight gags.

Louise (Yolande Moreau) is an ex-con who is laid off by the toy factory, and who after her colleagues pool the 20.000euros together convinces them to knock off the boss. After losing contact with her initial choice, she happens across Michel (Bouli Lanners), who proudly carries his gun and seems perfect but his ineptitude leads him to sub-contract the job to inexperienced gunmen, leading to hilarious results.

In this current global recession, where money is of the essence you sympathise with the female workers at the factory, but you cannot feel morally conflicted about their subversive decision to seek justice. (Oddly, this film was released one week after the crisis at Lehman Brothers in its homeland; but has had to wait two years for a UK release.)

The cult classic Aaltra had the premise of two wheelchair users trailing across Belgium to seek vengeance on the manufacturers whose machinery led to their disability, this sight gag of two wheelchairs on the road led to many a sight gag. And the directing pair repeat this trick on numerous occasions; such as when they the two leads first meet and he tries to find his home in the caravan park, a simple task leads to a maze of wondering where he is going; and when he attempts target practice but mistakenly shoots a cow to uproarious effect.

Much like their previous work, the film soon descends into a cross-European odyessey as the answer to Louise's question of who sacked her becomes ever longer. This movement of characters from town to next town is a bit of a shame, as any film reliant on gunplay and assassins should be geographically restricted to the town where the action initialises, it is a generic convention a la In Bruges, unless it has the geopolitical spectrum of The Bourne Trilogy or the leisure of expense that James Bond has.

What does not get mentioned in the reviews upon its theatrical release is the question of gender in the two leading roles, and how they have both transgressed from the gender they were born as - whilst alluded to earlier in the film, it does not get spoken about until near the film's conclusion and then washed over somewhat, as the directors seek laughs.

The directors perhaps did not realise they had a convincing drama about sexuality, disability and moral fortitude in their hands. The pursuit of laughs sometimes goes down a dead end, such as the poor in taste sight gag of an ill chosen hitman, who shows of a scale demonstration of the Twin Towers. Just as in poor taste, was Michel utilising his terminally ill cancer-stricken cousin, in attempting to bump off said boss. After this, the film's laughs are harder to come by as they tried too hard to get a laugh.

Whilst the film fails to deliver on the moral quandries it poses, it does deliver on sheer inventiveness and absurd behaviour by less than perfect characters. The surreal nature of the film may lend Benoit and Kervern another cult following.

The DVD features a nice set of deleted scenes, theatrical trailer and stills gallery; somewhat good set of extras for a foreign title.

The film is released by Axiom Films on DVD on Monday 25th April for £15.99RRP

Spurs European Adventure

Follow this link guys, to read my thoughts on how Spurs should get back to the big time next season

http://soccer-magazine.com/soccer-news/blogs/jamie-garwood/spurs-thanks-for-the-good-times-more-please/

CERTIFIED COPY

Palme D'Or winning director Abbas Kiarostami, returns to film with 'Certified Copy' a film that is set over one day in Tuscany and follows the chance meeting of a respected English author, James Miller (played by opera singer, William Shimell) and a gallery owner (Juliette Binoche), who remains unnamed.  After being mistaken for a married couple, the woman insists they keep up the pretence.  However, soon enough it appears there is more to the relationship than we first thought.

Kiarostami has always had this theme of truth and fiction running through his work, look at his script for 'Close Up' and 'Ten', where the question regarding reality and its display are questioned by him as well as the audience.  And here he plays on that scheme and winks at his own work, Miller's book he is promoting is about art and the lecture he gives to accompany the promotion, is judging the value of original works versus copies.  In his speech Miller mentions the title of his book, which some critics have deemed controversial, he apologies blaming the editors who require controversial titles to sell more books. Is Kiarostami having a dig at people who do not get his slowburn works in comparison to other auteurs who have found favour? The auteur should be commended for never deviating from his career's work, his work can be thought of more as art than cinema, is there a difference between the two, or is that another discussion he wants us to engage in.

Himself lifting a premise not too dissimilar from Richard Linklater's 'Before Sunset' but on this occasion you do not know if this is a married couple playing a game to stimulate a failing marriage, or a couple who have just met - the audience have to stick with the film and make a judgment for themselves, and at the end still not sure if it is true or false.

Binoche illuminates the screen as always and Shimell has a real presence on the screen in his first major feature film role, his work in another form of the media giving credence to his role.  Kiarostami loves to mix in different medias to his work; an English opera singer plays an English author, a French actress plays a gallery owner in Italy.  In one sentence I have mentioned opera, literature, film and art.  Kiarostami makes no excuses for his love of all culture, and this attempt to tick all the boxes may smack of reaching too far by others, on this occasion he gets the balance just right.

The film is well acted and tightly scripted, expertly directed. The opening monologue by Shimell is a great opening, you have him giving a lecture but more often than not the camera is on his audience and a young boy trying to get Binoche's attention. So in fact you get a speech of no relevance, with some tidbits but there is a lot going on; you get the results if you pay attention.  Patience is a profitable virtue with Kiarostami's films.

Recommended viewing for all people who eat up European auteur cinema (yes I know the director is from Iran) but this work owes a huge debt to the legacy of Antonioni and Bergman.  Kiarostami carries the torch those two have left behind.

Available from Artificial Eye on Blu-Ray (£19.99) and DVD (£15.99) from January 17th 2011

LA SIGNORA DI TUTTI

Max Ophuls one and only foray into Italian cinema during his European exodus from his homeland Germany following the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, brings us a film that fits nicely into his oeurve, but not necessarily one of his best work.

Ophuls is famed for his melodramatic work, involving female characters whom are downtrodden by society and are not blessed because their beauty is seemingly a curse and not a gift. 

Isa Miranda, plays the role of a star (in the part that made her a star) pressed to revisit the entire history of her lovers to the present moment through an inexorable web of flashbacks... brought on by the anaesthetic following a failed suicide attempt. From the record revolving on a turntable in the picture's opening moments, Ophuls sets into motion one of those roundelays with fate that he alone could pull off with such eminent elegance.  The film made in 1934, is startling in its use of flashback and differing fade in techniques are ahead of its time, we are fed different flashbacks and are granted a greater understanding of her desperate mishaps in love, starting with the unfortunate suicide of a teacher who loved her as a student up to all the men in her life from admirers to publicists to managers all hustling and bustling wishing for the best for her - whilst missing out on the fact that she is a person, not an object.

This serves as a contradictory point of Ophuls oeurve; he was a great admirer and lover of women, yet the films he made in Hollywood, for example, Letter from an Unknown Woman and The Reckless Moment clearly objectify women in the sense. The BFI issued 'Letter' earlier this year, the sheer melodrama whilst indicative of the 'Now Voyager' era, nevertheless the objectificaton of Joan Fontaine's character is very harsh and judgmental.  Isa Miranda's character is no different, attempting suicide to thrust the narrative into its flashback structure.  The film may argue it is a critique of a grande dame's narcissicm, but would any narcissist take their own life over the joy of seeing one's self again in the mirror.

The filmmaking contains strong thriller elements for psychological suspense and good use of offscreen sound, which would bode well for his Hollywood career, but the female(s) in his films although endangered, are supplied with memorable roles in the European pantheon.

The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present La signora di tutti [Everybody's Lady], the stunningly beautiful '30s masterpiece by famed auteur Max Ophuls (Letter from an Unknown Woman, The Reckless Moment, La ronde, The Earrings of Madame de..., Lola Montès) starring the legendary Italian actress Isa Miranda. Released for the first time on DVD in the UK on 29 November 2010.