Out on DVD from Momentum Pictures, directed by Dutch director Klaartje Quirijns, Inside Out is a documentary about one of the most visionary and influential photographers of the late 20th century, fellow Nederlander Anton Corbijn.
Corbijn's name is one of those rare artists whose name is known the world over across many cultural forms - art, photography, cinema, music and video. Corbijn came to prominence in the late 1970s for his photography work with Joy Division and most importantly, the fatal Ian Curtis. Corbijn's shots of them on a snow covered bridge in Manchester helped the band migrate across the atlantic before the untimely suicide of Curtis in 1980. Corbijn's first feature-length film in 2007 would be Control, the story of Ian Curtis and Joy Division.
Corbijn's inspiring work would continue through the 1980s with his seminal work for U2 (the War album in 1982) and Depeche Mode in 1987 culminating with his work with Kurt Cobain and Nirvana in the early 1990s. One fact I was unaware of was that he directed the video for Nirvana's Heart Shaped Box.
Corbijn remains the go to guy for album covers and sleeve photography, as the film shows him interacting with Arcade Fire and the most recent collaboration between Metallica and Lou Reed.
Director Quirijns does not force the glamour of these rock superstars down our throat, Bono is first seen hiding behind a blacked out passenger window of a car; but what is paramount is that all these superstars treat him as an equal because his style has helped them become the stars they are.
Yet Quirijns makes clear that Corbijn is at times a loner, and through his love of music he found a place in the world - he learnt English from listening to albums, yet he is drawn to these lost souls (Curtis, Cobain) as he is one himself. One startling moment comes when Corbijn is lying in his Dutch apartment, his amplifier is broken so he cannot listen to any music, he is lost without his music.
The director cleverly shoots the film with Corbijn never centre of the frame, he is just off centre mostly as if he is a subject in his own work.
We meet his colleagues and work associates who worry for his stamina, his workaholic ethic is putting a lot of strain on him - gallery exhibitions, meetings, album shoots, film direction - how can one man sustain himself for this level of quality. Perhaps the need to be globally accepted and regarded comes from the lack of love he got from his father, something we are alluded to when Corbijn goes to meet his mother who tells him she did not love his father.
Insightful, entertaining and eye-opening to a world of glamour and celebrity, Inside Out is a telling document on one of the world's most revered artists whose work will be remembered for many years.
Anton Corbijn: Inside Out is released on DVD from Momentum Pictures on Monday 17th September at £12.99RRP featuring scene select with English subtitles.
Showing posts with label Momentum pictures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Momentum pictures. Show all posts
Sunday, 16 September 2012
Saturday, 12 May 2012
Shame
Steve McQueen's critically applauded and culturally polarising film Shame that was released in the UK in January of this year, receives a DVD release this coming Monday (14th May).
Starring Michael Fassbender (in all his glory) as Brandon, a seemingly straight-laced young man who works in a healthy office environment yet harbours a dark addiction of sex-related stimulation. His laptop is full of porn, he masturbates at work and numerous times a day. He has unprotected sex with women he meets in bars, and never sees them again. Brandon is a sex addict.
Brandon is happy with his life, he has a routine. He works hard at work, to fund his addiction and his lust for sex. Yet he lacks a certain amount of intimacy with his day-to-day contacts due to his still exterior, yet inside he is awash with shame from his behaviour. Hence the title of the film.
Brandon's routine and level of comfort is turned upside down when his sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) comes to visit. They are the only siblings from an Irish family, yet Sissy does not know of Brandon's addiction/problem and she feels compelled to help him or cement their relationship as stronger than it should be.
There is a real commitment by the two actors in their roles; Fassbender showed potential in McQueen's film debut Hunger, yet he goes further here with this performance; he appears in every scene of the film, and the arc of the character with its fair bit of dips and troughs must have been emotionally exhausting for the actor. It is a credit to the performer, that a really nasty piece of work is turned into a sympathetic character by the film's end.
Mulligan is the opposite of Fassbender; her character is extrovert and keeps a lot out there; whilst Brandon is an introvert until he becomes involved with a sexual act. Yet for such a small-ish role, she sparkles on screen and has a highlight when singing a stripped down version of 'New York, New York' which allows Brandon to have a moment of reflection and even well up at the sight of his sister singing.
A telling piece of the film is when Brandon attempts a date with Marianne (Nicole Behaire) from his office, there is a connection and chemistry between the two. And when they attempt to have intercourse, where they feel the moment and Brandon attempts tenderness he is unable to fulfil the act. The timidity and recklessness of the character is amplified when he then calls a hooker, and screws her in the window of his multi-story apartment. Brandon is in control with the hooker, whilst with someone he could care for he is not and so unable to commit.
Brandon's journey gets worse and it comes to a head when Sissy needs his help and he is unable to. By journey's end he is at the end of a dock and starts crying, the last scene revolves around a chance encounter with a girl Brandon saw at the film's beginning. These two scenes that bookend the film are intriguing; the first one shows Brandon as a sexual predator as simple eye-flirting becomes more for him, and less for her. The concluding scene has a certain sense of ambiguity to it, does Brandon smirk his Mona Lisa smile at the thought of being able to have sex with this woman finally, or the sight of her wearing a wedding ring mean his words to his sister about his boss feel hollow now.
Shame is a film that feels longer than it is, thanks in part to the installation pace of the work, the compelling hold the performances have on you and the message of the film will stay with you; and it is brave to film something about an addiction that is prevalent in this day and age of immediacy and emotional highs.
Shame is out on DVD from Momentum Pictures and Film4 on Monday
Starring Michael Fassbender (in all his glory) as Brandon, a seemingly straight-laced young man who works in a healthy office environment yet harbours a dark addiction of sex-related stimulation. His laptop is full of porn, he masturbates at work and numerous times a day. He has unprotected sex with women he meets in bars, and never sees them again. Brandon is a sex addict.
Brandon is happy with his life, he has a routine. He works hard at work, to fund his addiction and his lust for sex. Yet he lacks a certain amount of intimacy with his day-to-day contacts due to his still exterior, yet inside he is awash with shame from his behaviour. Hence the title of the film.
Brandon's routine and level of comfort is turned upside down when his sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) comes to visit. They are the only siblings from an Irish family, yet Sissy does not know of Brandon's addiction/problem and she feels compelled to help him or cement their relationship as stronger than it should be.
There is a real commitment by the two actors in their roles; Fassbender showed potential in McQueen's film debut Hunger, yet he goes further here with this performance; he appears in every scene of the film, and the arc of the character with its fair bit of dips and troughs must have been emotionally exhausting for the actor. It is a credit to the performer, that a really nasty piece of work is turned into a sympathetic character by the film's end.
Mulligan is the opposite of Fassbender; her character is extrovert and keeps a lot out there; whilst Brandon is an introvert until he becomes involved with a sexual act. Yet for such a small-ish role, she sparkles on screen and has a highlight when singing a stripped down version of 'New York, New York' which allows Brandon to have a moment of reflection and even well up at the sight of his sister singing.
A telling piece of the film is when Brandon attempts a date with Marianne (Nicole Behaire) from his office, there is a connection and chemistry between the two. And when they attempt to have intercourse, where they feel the moment and Brandon attempts tenderness he is unable to fulfil the act. The timidity and recklessness of the character is amplified when he then calls a hooker, and screws her in the window of his multi-story apartment. Brandon is in control with the hooker, whilst with someone he could care for he is not and so unable to commit.
Brandon's journey gets worse and it comes to a head when Sissy needs his help and he is unable to. By journey's end he is at the end of a dock and starts crying, the last scene revolves around a chance encounter with a girl Brandon saw at the film's beginning. These two scenes that bookend the film are intriguing; the first one shows Brandon as a sexual predator as simple eye-flirting becomes more for him, and less for her. The concluding scene has a certain sense of ambiguity to it, does Brandon smirk his Mona Lisa smile at the thought of being able to have sex with this woman finally, or the sight of her wearing a wedding ring mean his words to his sister about his boss feel hollow now.
Shame is a film that feels longer than it is, thanks in part to the installation pace of the work, the compelling hold the performances have on you and the message of the film will stay with you; and it is brave to film something about an addiction that is prevalent in this day and age of immediacy and emotional highs.
Shame is out on DVD from Momentum Pictures and Film4 on Monday
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Justice (DVD review)
Starring Nicolas Cage, January Jones and Guy Pearce, Justice is released on DVD by PremierPR on Monday 26th March
Directed by Roger Donaldson (No Way Out, Thirteen Days), Justice tells the story of Will Gerrard (Cage), an inner city high school teacher who is married to a beautiful musician wife, Laura (Jones), they live the perfect life until their world is shattered when Laura is violently attacked and left for dead.
Searching for answers and vengeance, Will is approached by a mysterious man, Simon (Pearce) who promises him justice without the need for an unwanted trial. Simon says they can do away with the killer, and all Will has to do is do a favour for this vigilante group in return at some point in the future.
Whilst Will agrees to the proposal, he soon realises that even justice must come at a price.
This is Cage's umpteenth movie in less than two years and whilst he still has that silver screen allure and magnetism you can see that part of him is definitely phoning it in - which is a shame as the possibility of doing a decent thriller with this solid supporting cast and director who has covered this ground previously has been missed.
At times the tension is never cranked up, and some of the set pieces have not been handled effectively. Tellingly, a producer of the film was Tobey Maguire, you can maybe see Maguire playing opposite Jones and being manipulated by someone older than him like Pearce - but here you have to get over the fact of Cage being married to Mrs. Don Draper from Mad Men (a big leap in itself), and Cage sporting another silly piece of facial hair to distract you from his receding hairline.
Justice is out on 26th March on DVD (£17.99) and Blu-Ray (£19.99) from Momentum Pictures.
Directed by Roger Donaldson (No Way Out, Thirteen Days), Justice tells the story of Will Gerrard (Cage), an inner city high school teacher who is married to a beautiful musician wife, Laura (Jones), they live the perfect life until their world is shattered when Laura is violently attacked and left for dead.
Searching for answers and vengeance, Will is approached by a mysterious man, Simon (Pearce) who promises him justice without the need for an unwanted trial. Simon says they can do away with the killer, and all Will has to do is do a favour for this vigilante group in return at some point in the future.
Whilst Will agrees to the proposal, he soon realises that even justice must come at a price.
This is Cage's umpteenth movie in less than two years and whilst he still has that silver screen allure and magnetism you can see that part of him is definitely phoning it in - which is a shame as the possibility of doing a decent thriller with this solid supporting cast and director who has covered this ground previously has been missed.
At times the tension is never cranked up, and some of the set pieces have not been handled effectively. Tellingly, a producer of the film was Tobey Maguire, you can maybe see Maguire playing opposite Jones and being manipulated by someone older than him like Pearce - but here you have to get over the fact of Cage being married to Mrs. Don Draper from Mad Men (a big leap in itself), and Cage sporting another silly piece of facial hair to distract you from his receding hairline.
Justice is out on 26th March on DVD (£17.99) and Blu-Ray (£19.99) from Momentum Pictures.
Monday, 6 June 2011
The Mechanic - Review
Jason Statham returns on DVD with another action film with lots of violence, lots of shooting, lots of gun and not a lot of dialogue or theoretical expansion of the geo-political spectrum of arms trafficking. No, this is a Statham film, he is the good guy who shoots the bad guy(s) ad nauseum.
Statham, is the Mechanic, Arthur Bishop (a remake of the 1971 original starring Charles Bronson) an agency assassin who handles and eliminates targets with ruthless aggression and emotional detachment. He is mentored by Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland), who treats Arthur as more of a son than the disappointment of his actual blood son, Steve (Ben Foster).
After completing his most recent target in Mexico, Arthur returns and finds that his new target is Harry. After meeting his boss, played with atypical malevolence by Tony Goldwyn, who confirms that Harry is the next target due to some embezzling of company funds; Arthur takes it upon himself to seek out why Harry has been set up.
This sort of narrative structure and plot points are by the by on occasion, and once Steve arrives wanting to learn the tricks of Arthur's trade and make his father proud of him. Foster, for so long a bit part player and excellent in The Messengers (with Woody Harrelson), is himself not the most handsome or as muscle bound as Statham, luckily though he can deliver a line - something Statham unfortunately cannot.
But you do not buy or pay a ticket for a Statham actioner for him to talk, you pay for him to kick butt. He has worked very hard on his career, making familiar and generic actioners with homophobic tendencies and a regrettable body count. You could even say that the film is misogynistic, as the only woman in the film is a prostitute who is paid by Arthur, a prostitute who does not even know his name. Cleverly, she asks him for his name and in his rich thick cockney accent, Statham replies, 'Aaar-fur'. She replies, 'No, you look more like a David or a Brad. I will see you around Brad.' Statham smiles that Bruce Willis smile like he does after he says 'Yippee-kayee'.
Statham is the model 21st century actor, he is an amalgamation of other actors - Willis, Stallone, Caine and Bronson - and in this day and age, in this global culture of various cultural icons; Statham is the actor that is both nostalgic, making you yearn for glories and pictures of old - with an embracing of the new and violent world we live in. Statham and Foster put so many bullets into some goon at the end, you think is there much purpose to that or is it just how things are handled; and then there is the cod slow-mo at the end to hark back to the epitaph of Bonnie and Clyde, that started this whole slow-mo gunplay.
Watching The Mechanic on DVD is a better way to watch it, I would have been disappointed to pay to see this film at the cinema as the ending is a little bit cod but it ends with Statham jumping into a new car and driving off into the sunset to his next role of similarity.
Much like that other B-movie star, Randolph Scott, a star who was eclipsed by contemporaries like John Wayne and Henry Fonda; Statham is like that Scott character - an outlaw who does his business in a city or town, and then leaves to pop up in another city or town playing the same role.
Yet the reason a film like this, with its $40m budget, is produced and with technical sheen is because Statham is a DVD icon - guys love to buy the films, watch it with a beer and a smile as those memories of Rambo and Commando reappear on the brain.
Is it worth reviewing a Statham film, when you know what you are going to get. This is not his best film, that remains Chaos; but this is a worthy second thanks in part to the continual growth and aura of Statham on film and the excellent support of Foster.
The Mechanic is released on Monday 6th June by Momentum Pictures and is available at £15.99(DVD) and £19.99(RRP), check out the website http://www.themechanicmovie.co.uk/ for more details on the title.
Statham, is the Mechanic, Arthur Bishop (a remake of the 1971 original starring Charles Bronson) an agency assassin who handles and eliminates targets with ruthless aggression and emotional detachment. He is mentored by Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland), who treats Arthur as more of a son than the disappointment of his actual blood son, Steve (Ben Foster).
After completing his most recent target in Mexico, Arthur returns and finds that his new target is Harry. After meeting his boss, played with atypical malevolence by Tony Goldwyn, who confirms that Harry is the next target due to some embezzling of company funds; Arthur takes it upon himself to seek out why Harry has been set up.
This sort of narrative structure and plot points are by the by on occasion, and once Steve arrives wanting to learn the tricks of Arthur's trade and make his father proud of him. Foster, for so long a bit part player and excellent in The Messengers (with Woody Harrelson), is himself not the most handsome or as muscle bound as Statham, luckily though he can deliver a line - something Statham unfortunately cannot.
But you do not buy or pay a ticket for a Statham actioner for him to talk, you pay for him to kick butt. He has worked very hard on his career, making familiar and generic actioners with homophobic tendencies and a regrettable body count. You could even say that the film is misogynistic, as the only woman in the film is a prostitute who is paid by Arthur, a prostitute who does not even know his name. Cleverly, she asks him for his name and in his rich thick cockney accent, Statham replies, 'Aaar-fur'. She replies, 'No, you look more like a David or a Brad. I will see you around Brad.' Statham smiles that Bruce Willis smile like he does after he says 'Yippee-kayee'.
Statham is the model 21st century actor, he is an amalgamation of other actors - Willis, Stallone, Caine and Bronson - and in this day and age, in this global culture of various cultural icons; Statham is the actor that is both nostalgic, making you yearn for glories and pictures of old - with an embracing of the new and violent world we live in. Statham and Foster put so many bullets into some goon at the end, you think is there much purpose to that or is it just how things are handled; and then there is the cod slow-mo at the end to hark back to the epitaph of Bonnie and Clyde, that started this whole slow-mo gunplay.
Watching The Mechanic on DVD is a better way to watch it, I would have been disappointed to pay to see this film at the cinema as the ending is a little bit cod but it ends with Statham jumping into a new car and driving off into the sunset to his next role of similarity.
Much like that other B-movie star, Randolph Scott, a star who was eclipsed by contemporaries like John Wayne and Henry Fonda; Statham is like that Scott character - an outlaw who does his business in a city or town, and then leaves to pop up in another city or town playing the same role.
Yet the reason a film like this, with its $40m budget, is produced and with technical sheen is because Statham is a DVD icon - guys love to buy the films, watch it with a beer and a smile as those memories of Rambo and Commando reappear on the brain.
Is it worth reviewing a Statham film, when you know what you are going to get. This is not his best film, that remains Chaos; but this is a worthy second thanks in part to the continual growth and aura of Statham on film and the excellent support of Foster.
The Mechanic is released on Monday 6th June by Momentum Pictures and is available at £15.99(DVD) and £19.99(RRP), check out the website http://www.themechanicmovie.co.uk/ for more details on the title.
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Agnosia - DVD review
Following hot on the heels of the theatrical release of Julia's Eyes in cinemas last week, Momentum Pictures release another film from the producers of Pan's Labyrinth, Agnosia is another Spanish thriller which made its UK debut at the London Spanish Film Festival.
Directed by another Guillermo Del Toro protege Eugenio Mira, and written by Antonio Trashorras (who also collaborated with Del Toro on The Devil's Backbone) the film tells the story of a young Joana Prats who after an accident suffers from a neurological illness, agnosia, that affects her perception.
As a doctor explains, we normally have a filter that reduces all the stimuli into senses of sounds and sights, in Joana's case she cannot interpret the stimuli she receives, leaving her in this perplexed state - she knows you are there but is not necessarily deaf or blind.
After the death of her father, Joana becomes victim of a sinister plan; whilst two men fight for her affection the true love of her man will become crucial; Carles (Noriega), her father's right hand man who seeks his industrial secret and Vicent (Felix Gomez) an impulsive servant who falls in love with Joana whilst working at the mansion. Does Joana find the strength to seek out the truth, as the tagline suggests perception is not reality.
The film is blessed by the Spanish tradition of film-making influenced by the work of Victor Erice in the rich period detail of the baroque setting of the film, and the work of Del Toro's fantasy work specifically Pan's Labyrinth in terms of the visual richness and fantasy elements - the narrative themes it shares are that of a vulnerable young girl in distress, to be saved by a downtrodden young man as she escapes into a fantasy world of which neither she nor loved ones can grasp, and how love can be a mistake or mistaken for something else.
Often in Spanish/Latin film (even in the work of Almodovar) there is an ulterior motive to someone's affection for an individual; in this instance we are aware of someone's sinister motives, and it is the young girl who finds out too late to her cost; another genre convention where for certain characters they find out too late.
The specific details of familial relationships and the fractured household in which they belong reminded me of the seminal Latin American film Like Water for Chocolate and the weight of magical realism that exudes over the film is apparent.
Starring Martina Gedeck (The Lives of Others) and Eduardo Noriega (Open Your Eyes), along with the impressive Barbara Goenaga as the suffering Joana. The film is elegant and entertaining to a certain degree, the film just falls short of matching the Hispanic heights of Del Toro's work, even though the best of young Spanish cinema on display here finds that particular national cinema is in good spirits.
Agnosia is released by Momentum Pictures on 30 May on DVD for £12.99 and contains special features aplenty.
Directed by another Guillermo Del Toro protege Eugenio Mira, and written by Antonio Trashorras (who also collaborated with Del Toro on The Devil's Backbone) the film tells the story of a young Joana Prats who after an accident suffers from a neurological illness, agnosia, that affects her perception.
As a doctor explains, we normally have a filter that reduces all the stimuli into senses of sounds and sights, in Joana's case she cannot interpret the stimuli she receives, leaving her in this perplexed state - she knows you are there but is not necessarily deaf or blind.
After the death of her father, Joana becomes victim of a sinister plan; whilst two men fight for her affection the true love of her man will become crucial; Carles (Noriega), her father's right hand man who seeks his industrial secret and Vicent (Felix Gomez) an impulsive servant who falls in love with Joana whilst working at the mansion. Does Joana find the strength to seek out the truth, as the tagline suggests perception is not reality.
The film is blessed by the Spanish tradition of film-making influenced by the work of Victor Erice in the rich period detail of the baroque setting of the film, and the work of Del Toro's fantasy work specifically Pan's Labyrinth in terms of the visual richness and fantasy elements - the narrative themes it shares are that of a vulnerable young girl in distress, to be saved by a downtrodden young man as she escapes into a fantasy world of which neither she nor loved ones can grasp, and how love can be a mistake or mistaken for something else.
Often in Spanish/Latin film (even in the work of Almodovar) there is an ulterior motive to someone's affection for an individual; in this instance we are aware of someone's sinister motives, and it is the young girl who finds out too late to her cost; another genre convention where for certain characters they find out too late.
The specific details of familial relationships and the fractured household in which they belong reminded me of the seminal Latin American film Like Water for Chocolate and the weight of magical realism that exudes over the film is apparent.
Starring Martina Gedeck (The Lives of Others) and Eduardo Noriega (Open Your Eyes), along with the impressive Barbara Goenaga as the suffering Joana. The film is elegant and entertaining to a certain degree, the film just falls short of matching the Hispanic heights of Del Toro's work, even though the best of young Spanish cinema on display here finds that particular national cinema is in good spirits.
Agnosia is released by Momentum Pictures on 30 May on DVD for £12.99 and contains special features aplenty.
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