Paradise Is Burning

 

Swedish Debut Festival Award Winner released 30th August in UK/Ireland

Winner of the BFI/LFF Sutherland Award for best debut feature at the 2023 London Film Festival, this debut by Mika Gustafson is highly touted and expectation is high for its release from Conic Films on 30th August.

Following a storyline, that is tried and tested, we follow three young Swedish girls who are trying to navigate a summer without parental guidance as a mother is absent from their lives.

We follow the girls get into scrapes and fights, steal food from supermarkets and play truant from school. Their lives are so entwinned that one doing something has a direct impact upon the other two, for instance the middle sister, Mira (12) gets into a fight, prompting the eldest, Laura (16) to intervene forgetting to put in her forged signatory letter in the relevant pigeonhole. This leads to a phone call from Social Services wanting to come and visit their house leading to some desperation from the eldest to make sure they and Steffi (7) do no lose their home.

An embracing film about sisterhood and the power of summer, how that affects your mood shifting from joy to despair, Gustafson has crafted a film of quiet craft featuring three amateur actresses (Bianca Delbravo, Dilvin Asaad, Safira Mossberg) who all conveying unexpexted performances beyond their young years.

Filmed with a real clarity, eliciting those fine performances from that trio of youngsters this is a film of real power and modesty. Filmed during the summer, it is a marriage of a coming-of-age film with that memory of a memorable summer; it calls to mind such films as My Summer of Love yet the parallel to Regan's UK feature Scrapper is so striking.

The children have to learn quickly that with glory there is pain, with unity there is loneliness and with youth there is the fear of growing up, when society can come crashing down on you exponentially rapidly. 

Gustafson cleverly mixes the elements of humour and tragedy - a powerful marriage in Swedish cinema from Bergman to Roy Andersson - with a deftness even mixing different photographic styles from quiet poetic moments to the rave-filled vibrancy of all night parties.

Also a winner of Best Director and Screenwriting at the Venezia 2023 Festival; Paradise is Burning is a film of immense promise from a young filmmaker with a unique voice and vision to share with the world. 

Paradise is Burning is released from Conic Films on 30th August

Sorcery

 

Feature length film from Christopher Murray

Based upon actual 19th century witchcraft trials in Chile, Sorcery features a stunning lead performance from Valentina Veliz Caileo, a young girl using the title of the film to avenge her father's brutal death.

A wonderful premise of a film featuring enigmatic mystery and a key lead performance from a young adult, there is so much potential for this film to succeed and yet it fails to land unfortunately.

The use of landscape as a mystery to itself does not evoke the required atmosphere - long moments of quiet elicit feelings of monotony instead of haunting. 

When the trailer was issued of this title, it was sold as a forebearer and successor to Pan's Labyrinth - a mythical parable where a young girl must overcome the adversity of the German settlers amidst the Chilean landscape maintaining the truth to herself in her quest to avenge her father's passing. And yet when the moments of action come not as a shock to the system but a welcome change from moments of stillness that instead of offering moments of resonance instead make for an unwanted plodding to proceedings. 

Imagine all the council meeting scenes of Killers of the Flower Moon for an hour and a half, when a lot is said and not much done, and you would rather return to the threat and menace put upon the indigenous people to help thrust the momentum of the narrative which stagnates and treads water when it should be flourishing.

The intention is there but it just fails to match expectations of the trailer, and that is a shame as there are so many elements to make a great statement here on the Chilean spirit. However, the end product is lacking that one element of the spell to be magical.

Sorcery is distributed by Sovereign Distribution and on limited release from Friday 14th June

A House in Jerusalem

 

Enticing feature set in Jerusalem produced by Wellington Films

Directed by Muayad Alayan, this is a telling and delicate tale about how the past is always with us no matter how far we run from it

Young Rebecca, with her father, relocate to Jerusalem following the tragic death of her mother in a car crash that she survived. Their move into an old family home in the Valley of the Ghosts which becomes the setting for mysterious events and a friendship between Rebecca and Rasha, a young Palestinian only she can see. Following the template of young females becoming more of themselves by delving into mysterious gardens and households, this tale slowly becomes a ghost story being lived in now.

As the friendship grows, is Rasha a figment of Rebecca's imagination and the film makes a statement upon how grief is processed as the two young girls are binded by tragedy. Poignant and delicately handled in its production, A House in Jerusalem is a film for today but about yesterday and the days ahead.

Rebecca seeks solace in the ghostly apparition of Rasha, partly because they have a shared language or understanding, as she struggles to learn Hebrew in her new school. The friendship grows due to a fear of authority - for Rasha it is the police, for Rebecca the military - but never her father who is vulnerable and grieving himself throughout and traversing the single parent wasteland he finds himself in. 

Featuring performances by veteran stalwart Johnny Harris as the father, Michael, and featuring the up and coming Miley Locke as Rebecca, this is a talent to watch out for in future years. Showing maturity beyond her years in moments such as dishing up a plate for her departed mother at dinner time and listening to voicemail to hear her voice, Locke channels such as Ivana Baquero from Pan's Labyrinth (2006).

On limited release from May, this film is an enticing enterprise with a great premise that will help viewers understand the notions of racism and how it takes hold upon those who allow it to manifest in society - similar to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - a young protagonist interacts with someone from a different faith to better appreciate their background and become a better person themselves

A House in Jerusalem is produced by Wellington Films and released by Peccadillo Pictures from 31st May 

Nezouh

 

Double winner at 2023 Venice Film Festival released 

Written and directed by Soudade Kaadan, it tells the story of a family wanting to stay put in their house in war torn Damascus, rather than flee as refugees. While devastation and danger surround them, love and idealism keep them grounded and safe, even as a bomb hits them directly and their roof comes crumbling down. As they are held captive by their situation, they somehow find personal freedom.

Shot by celebrated cinematographer Hélène Louvart (La Chimera, Happy as Lazzaro, The Lost Daughter), the film contains a magical realism in its look and feel, that suspends reality while also never shying away from the atrocities that surround them. Co-cinematographer Burak Kanbir contributes to the authentic sense of time, place and space.

The film is in Arabic and stars Syrian actors Samer Al Masri and Kinda Alloush, alongside newcomers Hala Zein and Nizar Alani.

Kaadan says of the film and of her own experience: “It is only after the bombing started in our neighbourhood in Damascus that I left the house with my sister. Damascene society was conservative, even in liberal families. With the new wave of displacement, it became normal (for the first time) to see young Damascene women living alone and separating from their families. Myself, and many of my friends, started to make decisions we would never make before. Now, sadly, there is no more society, something new has occurred.” 

Kaadan’s filmography includes feature documentary Obscure (CPH:Dox 2017), narrative feature The Day I Lost My Shadow (Lion of the Future award for Best Debut at Venice Film Festival 2018) and short film Aziza (Sundance Grand Jury prize 2019).

She adds: “The word ‘nezouh’ means in Arabic the displacement of souls, water and people; it is the displacement of light and darkness. NEZOUH tries to talk about this inevitable invasion of light and hope in the midst of this chaos.”

Filmed in a style reminiscent of documentary and hand-held cinema, the film is a celebration of life and valuing that which you hold dear within that life; in this instance the father (Samir Al Masri) will not vacate his home despite the bombing, he is too proud of the legacy he has created in his home as Zeina says, 'my father is ready for anything, except leaving'

The film tellingly, in the magical realism mentioned previously, acts as it is upon a different spectral form, the clever device of the bombing essentially breaks down the wall for the characters - by expanding their space more story is available and the world is now open to them.

Incorporating styles such as Kiarostami who consistently balances that line between fact and fiction and the eccentric work of Roy Andersson, the Swedish absurdist, there is always life in dull moments of existence; this is a film that tells so much about the human condition.

Screenings can be found here

NEZOUH is out from Modern Films on limited release from 3rd May around the country

Natatorium

 

This new Icelandic thriller from debut feature director Helena Stefansdottir is one of the tensest films viewed in the last few years - blending influences from a range of sub-genres (haunted house; familial drama; psychological thriller) with directorial flourishes from Bergman, and Lars Von Trier. Family dynamism creates a hotpot of emotion that lends itself to film treatments.

The story revolves around a young girl who visits her grandparents in a town whilst she auditions for a drama group nearby. From the outset, her arrival prompts a family reunion of sorts as her parents attend to see her and old wounds and secrets are revealed amidst this troubled situation.

Similar to the Pinter play The Homecoming the insertion of innocence or returning figure disrupts the status quo. Another film this viewer was reminded of was Thomas Vinterberg’s classic Festen (1995) which was part of the Dogme movement with compatriot Trier. That film similarly revolved around a family gathering where a dark secret is slowly revealed prompting paranoia and scrutiny resulting in an explosion of feelings that have been long hidden within people.

The strengths of Natatorium stem from the production design and the claustrophobic environment of the mise-en-scene with little details expressing larger notions exponentially; this along with the single location that entraps the characters cut off from the world - a key trope and strength of 21st century genre pictures Ex-Machina (2014) and The Menu (2022)- with the protagonists all trapped seemingly (one character, Kalli, the uncle is very much bedridden) in one place and strive to move and yet are anchored by this position due to the pull of family.

As well as the dysfuntional family element, there is the use of an indoor pool with water that serves as the device for rebirth and baptism, therefore, the connotations of religion and mystery are apparent adding to the enigmatic quality of the film in general. There is a repeating trend in the film for people seeking to purify themselves by holding their breathe under the water as a rite of passage as well as a physical endeavour of strength and control. 

The film does have that thread running through also with Elin Petersdottir’s matriarch Arora, attempting to illicit some sort of strangehold of control over her family no matter the cost; this has resulted in the children having addiction issues of their own which is laid out within the narrative.

Dark and brooding in equal measure but filmed with a quiet panache that is not overbearing, this is a film about the troubles of being a woman and the juxtapositions of beauty and ugliness and light with dark, and how darkness evades upon innocence.

Featuring a strong lead performance by youngster Ilmur Maria Arnarsdottir as Lilja and veteran Petersdottir as Arora, the matriarch of the family who cannot let go of her grip upon those she has born.

Technically astute due to cinematography and editing all firing on high cylinders of performance, Natatorium is a chilling tale that will garner attention due to the nature with which it presents its delicate subject matter.

Natatorium premieres at the Rotterdam Film Festival in the festival's Bright Future Category from 28th January.

Parachute - Raindance Review

Debut directorial feature by Brittany Snow 

Brittany Snow, American female actress who starred in Pitch Perfect won the Audience Award at SXSW for her directorial debut, Parachute. An original film about addiction and self-abuse.

Riley (Courtney Eaton - Yellowjackets) is a well to do young woman, who we first meet when leaving rehab for her bulimia and addiction to Instagram. She does not like the woman she sees when comparing herself to every girl on social media, when to the naked eye she is a young and attractive woman. At a party shortly after her release, she meets Ethan (Thomas Mann) who is genuine and kind to her plight providing support for her.

And yet Riley's demons will not abate and she cannot stop looking at social media and comparing herself. She wards off good intentions of her remaining friends, yet finds a job in a murder-mystery dinner theatre where her aspirations of writing may come to fruition.

Riley has inherited her good fortune, the huge apartment and yet cannot shake off the entitled streak within her. She believes that she will be a great writer and will be beautiful to any bachelor, yet the film makes the comment that for all her attempts to avoid the lure of social media it is unavoidable and therefore her suffering will persist and dismissing Ethan's genuine feelings for someone she feels she is entitled to.

Halfway through the film you hope this is a nice love story between Riley and Ethan in the wonderful setting of New York, yet the demons return and we have to endure some hard watches for Eaton to depict some genuine dark moments. The script co-written by Snow with Becca Gleason about her own battles, is a personal project for her and she admits she knew how to shoot the film from storyboards to production. The interweaving of intimate shots of the two leads as their courtship grows is a nice touch, but by the end it becomes the focus of lost moments than forever love.

Helped by some great casting and support by known names, Joel McHale as Ethan's alcoholic father who he cannot help, Dave Bautista as Riley's new employer and Gina Rodriguez as Dr. Akerman, Riley's therapist.

Special mention also to the soundtrack and original score by Keegan DeWitt (check out his work on 2010 film Cold Weather) who weaves a great atmosphere here, along with Kristen Correll's cinematography.

Parachute was screened at the 2023 Raindance Film Festival. Hopefully it obtains a distribution deal in the near future.

Typist Artist Pirate King

 

New Carol Morley film based upon Audrey Amiss released by Modern Films on Friday 27th October 2023

Carol Morley is one of Britain's most creative film-makers and yet she remains for the most part unknown to the mainstream film watching public. From her debut feature, she has navigated a career of unique features building upon real life stories, autobiographical content and the role of women in modern society. This is not a filmmaker looking to the past to explain the now, this is the here and now, best to understand it as best you could.

Her influence for the new feature is the similarly unknown avant-garde artist, Audrey Amiss (Monica Dolan) whose diaries inspired Morley's film. Incorporating the tropes of the road trip genre as Amiss seeks recognition for her career, she convinces her psychiatric nurse Sandra Panza (Kelly Macdonald) to escort her back to where it all began with many a diversion in place.

Amiss documented her experience of the world and how she saw it through the prism of her own self-proclaimed lunacy; this is a road trip between an eccentric and a reluctant chauffeur.

What is so pleasing about the this film - apart from obviously passing the Bechel Test - is that you get two top notch performances at the helm of the film. Dolan, so often the ensemble player and erstwhile supporter, is given free rein to go for glory and she sinks her teeth into the role of Amiss with aplomb and relish. From the outset, she plays her as a firebrand and rebel and yet one who has been misunderstood for much of her adult life and artistic career.

The partnership of Dolan and Macdonald is key to the film's success and how it will translate to the mainstream, how refreshing to see a film led by two females and in Macdonald returning from Hollywood, willing to play second fiddle to Dolan's lead. The medium shot set-up of the two head on as they drive on their road trip is indicative of this partnership in a moving vehicle, the fondness for the two initially frosty is slowly one where warmth grows similar to that of Jimmy and the Duke in Midnight Run. 

NB (I as a male writer realises this is stupid to write and compare this to an all-male bond when the ultimate companion to this film would be Thelma and Louise surely, where both women's roles alter from the film's beginning and find themselves upon the journey.)

As they drive around, the everyday people they encounter become conduits or people from her past who Amiss use to vent her frustrations with her misgivings and incidents. The constant conflict and unease Amiss creates could be unnerving were it not for the performance of Dolan who incorporates equal rage and equal vulnerability.

The story untangles as more about Audrey's past culminating in the admission that she suffered a major fall when she was 19 leading to her mental health issues and the estrangement between her and her sister Dorothy (Gina McKee) who is the ultimate goal of the journey.

Interspersed with pictures/drawings from Amiss' extensive archive and featuring music she would have wholeheartedly approved of upon the soundtrack, this is a call to arms of a film questioning roles of female artists in general and the biases we may have towards those with mental health issues, everyone is capable of something and that the support they receive is what matters. 

A winning formula with strains of British film-making history from the absurdity of Audrey hitting upon an Anglo-Saxon v Viking re-enactment which smacks of Monty Python to the influence of Ken Russell in the melding of an artist's life with dramatisation, this is a film shot with a softness and a kindness to the crippling nature of mental health, Morley should be applauded for this film that is sympathetic and energetic to a character she is quite fond of.

This is a film that should be commended and enjoyed by a wider audience.

TYPIST ARTIST PIRATE KING is released in UK/Ireland cinemas on Friday 27th October.

OUR RIVER...OUR SKY

 Out Friday 20th October on limited release, a new film by Maysoon Pachachi

Distributed by Tull Stories and produced by the BFI and the National Lottery, Pachachi is a Baghdad born, British raised female director who has returned to her roots to create an intertwining narrative about the individuals who live within the cloud that pervades them in Baghdad in the days leading up to the death of former leader Saddam Hussein.

This is a period of deep transition for the whole region as the rule of Saddam is coming to an end, the various characters we encounter are going through changes themselves and others are still seeking answers for solace amidst the surrounding madness.

The veritable lead Sara (Darina Al Joundi) is the well meaning woman who pervades everybody and she is mostly worried for the future of her daughter Reema (Zainab Joda), for instance how is she going to get to school if the driver has been shot and she gets asked questions is she Sunni or Shia, Sara's response is, 'You are Iraqi'.

Shot beautifully by Jonathan Bloom in actual locations, the film is a wonderful and stirring embodiment of the human spirit. The power with which these characters have to go about their every day business is commendable as bombs go off so unexpectedly and without warning. 

However, the notion of an intertwining story was perhaps not the best means to tell this story. If the film had focused solely on Sara and her family with the periphery characters intruding upon her life may have served the story better. The film is an achievement in being made and yet it could have been so far-reaching and universal if the script was a bit tighter.

It reminded this viewer of a film called Heights (2005) by Chris Terrio, a 24 hour film set in New York again when five characters lives collide and remember that film failed to nail the drama despite having good actors at its disposal. In this instance, the film was unable to nail the message despite the drama and performance being present.

Released by Tull Stories, the film is memorable for existing and yet the final image of the film following news of Saddam's death is one of less of optimism but the fact that the cloud that they live under may never totally rescind - the pessimism is there for all to see. And following recent atrocities in a not too distant location from Baghdad in the last few weeks, we are no nearer to peace in the Middle East which makes this film all the more poignant.

OUR RIVER...OUR SKY is out on limited release in UK/Ireland from 20th October

My thanks to AR-PR for the review link.

OINK - Fragments Festival

 

OINK, the first stop motion animation film made in the Netherlands

The first animated film to win the Golden Calf (Netherlands Oscars) in 2022, tells the story of a young girl Babs who is granted the birthday present of a pig by her eccentric grandfather. Based upon the book Revenge of Oink by Tosca Menten and directed by Mascha Helberstad.

Following in illustrious footsteps of Aardman and Burton, the animation says as much about human life as any live-action depiction could do. Acerbically satirical yet endearing towards the human relationships it depicts there is so much to admire in the production here.

Babs at the film's beginning is a sort of vegan who bemoans the meat industry, and yet when she is bestowed the gift of Oink it is love at first sight for her. 

Entertaining for all the family (with some scenes that may be unsuitable for young ones), this is a wonderful film that translates across many languages about belonging and responsibility.

OINK is part of the Fragments Festival at Genesis Cinema this weekend, screening at 10.45am 

www.twitter.com/FragmentsFest

My thanks to them for the screening link

BALLYWALTER

Brand new Northern Irish film written by Prassana Puwanarajah , starring Seana Kerslake and Patrick Kielty.

Located in Northern Ireland, Ballywater tells the story of a young woman who has returned to her hometown of Ballywalter after a relative failure of making it work in London. She finds herself a bit arrested in her development while the rest of her family and life has progressed without her; her sister is expecting a new baby and she is struggling to keep down part-time work in cafes. This has led to her landing a job driving a taxi to make regular income. 

During this role, she happens upon a regular fare of Shane (Kielty in his first acting role) a man being driven to a stand-up comedy workshop as he embarks upon a new chapter in his life. The film is the bond these two forge together during their regular cab journeys to and from Belfast back to the eponymous town.

While the first half of the film is firmly Eileen's story, an unfortunate accident leads to her spending more time with Shane through consequence and we get to learn more about Shane's backstory and history, from his separation from his wife to his seeking for solace in comedy.

The film is a wonder to watch helmed by two great lead performances that anchor the film that could easily waiver if not for them and the sure-hand direction by first time director Puwanarajah with a well observed script from Belfast writer Stacey Gregg. A film of fleeting moments and those people who come into your life and just as quickly, leaving an indelible impression upon you and the rawness with which it addresses the character's emotions especially in Shane's final stand-up routine where he opens up about his depression. This is derivative of the film's low production budget which if it had a larger scale might have come across as pompous, yet the close-ups utilised help garner a strong emotional connection to the film.

The film is beautifully shot, depicting Northern Ireland not through a rose-tinted lense but proudly displaying the greyness of it all. Yet the actors embody their two lead roles with great relish with Kielty (enjoying a purple patch in his career as he is now host of The Late Late Show in Ireland) is quite the revelation delivering all the dramatic notes when required on point.

The employment of an ending reminiscent of Lost in Translation, says as much about the film's influences and its hope to appeal to an audience that is cine-literate and it is not a bad film to borrow film with this relationship that can go no further than being platonic yet it finds both leads embarking on second chances.

The confident direction by a new director married with two strong lead performances means this is a film that will reward the viewer in spades; its a low key wonder of a film that should be cherished.

Ballywalter is out on limited release in UK/Ireland from 22nd September

PARIS MEMORIES

The new film from Alice Winocour is out from Picturehouse Entertainment on August 4th

Paris Memories is a film that is at once still and about being alive, living but coping with death, Winocour's new film follows Mia (Virginie Efira) our lead protagonist who is present for an atrocious act of barbarity when seeking refuge from a torrential downpour in a Parisian bistro. Her beau has had to return to work and she is alone when the attack happens, she hides under a table holding an African man’s hand they remain safe and are connected by this moment.

For Winocour this was a personal film as she states; 'My brother was at the Bataclan on November 13th. While he was hiding, I stayed in contact with him by text for part of the night. The film was inspired by my own memories of the trauma and by the account my brother gave in the days after the attack. I experienced for myself how events are deconstructed, and often reconstructed, by memory.” 

The Bataclan attacks occured in 2015 and much like the July 7th attacks in London, they are a constant reminder that a threat is around the corner but from the ashes of tragedy the power of healing and resilience can come to the fore.

An admired linguist who is renowned for her professionalism and a sort of rebel or outsider due to her riding a motorbike, she seeks solace following the event. Three months later, Mia is still unable to get her life back in order only remembering fleeting moments of the night, she attempts to investigate her memories to return to happiness. She attends therapy groups at the location as survivors tell their stories and yet she is met in opposition by one lady who accuses her of locking the bathroom door saving herself while others died.

Winocour is a director who engages with the milieu and mise-en-scene of the film, having her characters become one with the location and the location a part of the story. Tellingly the first shot we see post-siege is that of a Paris landmark with cars circling the monument, life goes on for everybody else in the major city yet for those who had to endure the attack the feeling of moving on is one that fills them with dread. A guilt of surviving while others were lost, she learns to cope through the struggle of daily work as anxiety grips her existence.

Winocour and Efira (as the focal point) have created a drama of quiet intensity and introspection about confronting the build up of overwhelming emotion that comes with witnessing a seismic event of tragedy; the film takes care to show that there is beauty in the world (a baby's cry) and yet there are those that will kill innocents willingly.

Yet Efira capably shows envy in her eyes at those who go about their business and how anything from the lighting of candles on a cake can illicit memories of the night. As Winocour mentions in press notes, she was more interested in the traces the attack left on the victims than attempting to explain the attack itself.

Efira deservedly won Best Actress at the 2022 Cesar Awards (French Oscars) for this performance is an actress who usually plays women who are unravelled or provoked (Verhoeven's Benedetta), her she plays Mia as a tightly wrought ball until the emotion finally comes to the surface. The empathy of her work here coupled with natural charm is a primer to the success of the film and how her every-person quality endears her to the viewership as she becomes a sort of detective in her quest for answers as she pieces together the fragments of her memory from that horrific evening.

Shot beautifully by Stephane Fontaine (A Prophet), the film is a message of hope in a sometimes mad world. Photograhed for the majority in medium and close up so that the intensity of the performance never waivers from the viewer and that comes from the quiet brilliance of Virginie Efira. This coupled with the same team of regular collaborators such as Julien Lacheray (Editor) and Pascaline Chavanne (Costume Design), this is a film of maturity and importance.

Paris Memories is the first time Winocour has filmed in her capital city and Paris itself becomes a character within the film wearing its scars for all to see while its inhabitants attempt to make sense of their position in the tragedy.

The recurring trope of hands touching and the need for connection amongst these souls, almost ghosts, is paramount and in Winocour's sympathetic and delicate handling the film touchingly attempts to make sense of the upheaval thrust upon Mia, Thomas and the others.

A film that is both resonant and emotional, touching and clear that there is hope within the world.

Paris Memories is out on 4th August in cinemas nationwide.

Descendant (2022)

DESCENDANT 

Streaming now on Netflix

Directed by Margaret Brown, whom directed The Great Silence about the Deepwater Horizon and the falllout of that disaster. Here Brown shows another tragic disaster this time focusing on the long known history of a sunken slave ship off the coast of Mobile, Alabama called the Clotilda.

The film is about the attempts to find the remains of a slave ship, supposedly set on fire by slave masters as the transportation of slaves from one country to another had been abolished in 1805 but slavery was still occurring within the United States up to the Civil War

Brown directs with such assuredness and command of the material and resources at her disposal helped by folklorist Kern Jackson, Professor at the University of South Alabama.

The film delicately weaves the narrative about how important it is for the direct descendants of the people who were brought to the Americas from Africa, eventually settling in Africatown, to know the truth about their story, which has been passed down from generation to generation as a story of resilience and survival, providing hope to the generations that follow. This is indicative of the African-American experience claiming their story and their freedom may have come at a price, but their history remains theirs alone.

Featuring readings from Zora Neale Hurston's Barracoon: The Story of the Last Black Cargo, a memoir from a survivor of the ship, read by people who ferment within the narrative. Brown makes sure that the message of legacy and folklore is passed down from person to person, this coupled with VHS recordings of survivors harkens back to a by-gone era. 

Yet there is hope amidst the systemic racism pervaded upon the survivors by the Timothy Meaher family and their surviving family from attempting to wrong foot historians and divers from the true location of the wreckage, to the allowing of huge industrial plants to be built in and around Africatown making the residents unfortunately victims of pollution and environmental danger by way of lead and mills being ever present since their creation, not to mention the destruction to the surrounding water of the gulf region.

From these troubles and the stigmatism of reparations by way a means of accountability to some souls, the message of rising up and reclaiming the narrative is indicative by the end; the ability to curate the story in a new found Heritage house bodes well for the future. 

A dark chapter in the slave history of America is finally rising up from the depths, providing hope to those legacies now and for those descendants now. This powerful tale of storytelling has made this film a frontrunner for the Best Documentary Feature at next years Academy Awards, and it is hard to argue.

DESCENDANT is available to stream now on Netflix.

Ali & Ava

The fourth feature from writer-director Clio Barnard has finished principal photography.

Ali & Ava is the fourth feature by Clio Barnard (Dark River, The Selfish Giant, The Arbor) starring Adeel Akhtar (Four Lions) and Claire Rushbrook (Secret and Lies)

Produced by long-term partner Tracy O'Riordan of Moonspun Films; the film is financed by BBC Films, BFI and Screen Yorkshire, with Altitude handing world sales and UK/Irish distribution. Principal photography and shooting recently took place on location in Bradford.

AVA (Rushbrook) is a devoted mother and from an Irish-Catholic background in a predominantly white Bradford estate; a teaching assistant who fills her time looking after others and listening to country and folk music, masking an abusive marriage with her ex-husband.

ALI (Akhtar) is a charismatic son, brother, boss and landlord, a music fan and book lover he is devoted to his family and Asian community in Bradford. Still living in an estranged marriage, he hides the estrangement from wider family, and carries on the charade because he is still in love with her.

Both lonely for different reasons, Ava and Ali find each other and sparks fly despite fears about the coupling within their respective family and communities.

Producer O'Riordan says of the film;

'It was wonderful to be back in Bradford shooting Clio’s fourth feature; a love story, based on people we have met whilst making our previous films there. Inspired by Fassbinder’s ‘Fear Eats the Soul’, ALI & AVA is a film about fear and courage, loneliness and belonging, time and love’.

The critical acclaim given and the funding bodies behind this project bodes well for a film that follows in the footsteps of unlikely love pairing - think Harold and Maude, Last Tango in Halifax, Kelly + Victor - hopefully this will have as much to say about love in general as it does about the fraught racial tensions within the Yorkshire borders.

ALI & AVA will be released in cinemas later in 2020.

My thanks to Emfoundation for the review opportunity.

Pond Life

Directed by Bill Buckhurst and written by Richard Cameron based on his own stage play; POND LIFE tells the story of a summer tale in 1994 in the North of England as teenagers have a summer of fun as life begins to take hold.

Trevor sits at Decoy Ponds awaiting the presence of the legendary carp, Nessie. Trevor is the adult of the group a man in his early 20s but with no room at his home, needs to make a life decision. He is surrounded by younger children, Pogo the enigmatic young girl who records audio as she takes walks; Trevor's sister Cassie is kissing Maurice and Malcolm is also in love with Cassie, as he imagines transporting himself telepathically into her bedroom and learning the words to Wet Wet Wet's dominating hit single 'Love Is All Around'

Buckhurst shoots the film with a rose-tinted view, this is a beautiful summer with no rain, the only pain being behind closed doors as familial struggles are common place.

Yet, for a setting where the socio-cultural climate is changing as this mining town comes to terms with its new status without the landmark pit industry about, families struggle to make ends meat and end up down the local working man's club most nights to play bingo and win the meat raffle.

These little moments and observations elevate this film above the normal, helped in no part to the excellent acting turns by the young cast mostly Esme Creed-Miles as Pogo and Angus Imrie as Malcolm; these stunning turns of youth disorientated by the growing world around them as they combat love and loss.

Richard Hawley composes a sumptuous soundtrack to couple the film's summer tinge; and this viewer was left with a warm feeling that exceeded expectations.

POND LIFE is out now in selected cinemas.

Lucky

Directed by character actor John Carroll Lynch in his directorial debut, Lucky stars Harry Dean Stanton in the final role of his career before his death in late last year.

Lucky is a combative and cantankerous 90 year old atheist, who has out-smoked and out-lived his contemporaries and lives a happy life going from the coffee shop in the morning where he does his crossword to a bar at night where he listens to the same old stories.

'Lucky' is surrounded by equally memorable and quirky characters who admire his longevity; yet a brief fall leads Lucky on an unlikely journey of self-discovery and enlightenment towards self-exploration; these characters from David Lynch (in a rare acting role) and Tom Skerritt act like ghost of acting past from Stanton's career.

Carroll Lynch has worked with various luminaries of the cinema world from the Coen Brothers to Martin Scorsese to Clint Eastwood - and he embues the film with an unbusy camera, allowing the performer Stanton to be front and centre in an understated manner.

In another year, Stanton's performance would be lauded by awards and showered with praise on a farewell tour; however, his passing gives the film the polish it deserves as a film that stands as the lasting memory to his esteemed career.

Stanton's recognisable face acts like a blank canvas to which he exudes the story of a life lived to the full, its own special effect for which Carroll Lynch can craft a story worth telling, one lucky enough to stay with you thanks in no small part to the wonderous performance of Stanton.

Lucky is out from Eureka Entertainment on Friday 14th September at selected cinemas.

https://www.luckyfilm.co.uk/?campaign=VuelioPressRelease030718

Under The Tree

Released from Eureka Entertainment, Under The Tree is a tale about how relationships can break down quickly in today's society.

Directed by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson, Under The Tree is a dark surburban tale that tells the story of a man accused of adultery and forced to move in with his parents. Whilst a custody battle ensues for the daughter, the male Alti (Steinhor Hroar Steinthorsson) is sucked into a dispute between his parents and neighbours surrounding a prominent tree that puts his parents deck in a permanent shadow.

The Icelandic-language film was first premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was Iceland's entry into the 2018 Oscars in the Foreign Language category.

In recent years, European cinema has become this bastion of minor events becoming of greater importance to individuals; as world events become more and more importance on a socio-political scale. This takes a misanthropic approach to the relationships between people and especially neighbours.  In cinema much like life, you cannot get to choose your neighbours; and this film explains how you avoid people in this age of continual communication.

From the outset, there is an ominous air pervading the film; from a father who seeks pleasure in online porn to credit sequence that takes place in a shooting gallery with an eerie violin score playing underneath.

Cleverly, the film juxtaposes this bleakness of tonality by having all the narrative take place over a sun-drenched Icelandic summer full of sunshine and warmth; the characterisation is clear the dispute ferments long brewing resentment within neighbours coupled with a simmering jealousy between generations.

Shot with assured confidence and helped with great naturalistic performances by a unified cast in the majority of hand-held medium close ups, Under The Tree is a clever film full of enrichment and reward that packs an emotional punch.

Under The Tree is out from Eureka Entertainment on 10th August.
My thanks to them for the review opportunity.

The Islands and the Whales

Scottish documentarian Mike Day's film about the Faroe Islands tells an evocative tale about the connection between the islanders and the need to live off the sea around them; the whales are a source of nourishment as well as income and livelihood.

Yet in recent years this relationship is coming under strain due to a depletion in numbers of whales being caught but the toxicity of the whales putting the well-being of the islanders at risk due to the high poisonous levels within them.

The film has brilliant access to the community showing how closely connected to the sea and to nature the people are embedded in terms of tradition, and how the news of toxicity is putting a conflict into many people especially in mind for the children and future generations.

The film has some wonderful landscape cinematography which coupled with an amenable eye on the community makes for a brilliant combination. It has been a labour of love for director Day, who has taken 5 years of covering the native Faroese to making this winning documentary.

Mike Day - Director

It reminded me of another film in the same vein Village at the End of the World (Sarah Gavron, Denmark/UK, 2012) which also showed the relationship between a village reliant upon the sea but the sea that bites back.  A tale for our times in light of recent news about the polluting of our worldwide seaways, and how we have to take greater care of our world and its creatures.

There is a special screening with Q&A taking place at Picturehouse Central with Mike Day and Channel 4's Jon Snow on March 29th in readiness for the cinematic release.

THE ISLANDS AND THE WHALES is released in UK cinemas on 29th March
http://theislandsandthewhales.com/screenings