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Friday, 30 April 2010
Thursday, 29 April 2010
This week UK film releases
Erasing David (D)
Housefull
Revanche (15) (D)
The Last Song (PG)
Valhalla Rising (15)
Iron Man 2 (12A) (D)
Gentlemen Broncos (12A) (D)
The Disappearance Of Alice Creed (18) (D)
Cleo From 5 To 7 (R/I)
The Milk Of Sorrow (12A)(D)
24 City (U) (D)
A Boy Called Dad (15) (D)
A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT PRIVACY, SURVEILLANCE AND THE DATABASE STATE
David Bond lives in one of the most intrusive surveillance states in the world. He decides to find out how much private companies and the government know about him by putting himself under surveillance and attempting to disappear, a decision that changes his life forever. Leaving his pregnant wife and young child behind, he is tracked across the database state on a chilling journey that forces him to contemplate the meaning of privacy and the loss of it.
Distributor: Picturehouse Cinemas
Venue: Gate Notting Hill, Picturehouse Stratford, Ritzy & Nationwide
Trailer: http://erasingdavid.com/trailer/
David Bond lives in one of the most intrusive surveillance states in the world. He decides to find out how much private companies and the government know about him by putting himself under surveillance and attempting to disappear, a decision that changes his life forever. Leaving his pregnant wife and young child behind, he is tracked across the database state on a chilling journey that forces him to contemplate the meaning of privacy and the loss of it.
Distributor: Picturehouse Cinemas
Venue: Gate Notting Hill, Picturehouse Stratford, Ritzy & Nationwide
Trailer: http://erasingdavid.com/trailer/
Housefull
A Bollywood rom-com, Housefull tells of Aarush, the world’s unluckiest man who becomes convinced his fortunes will change if he can find true love. But as one deception follows another a hilarious comedy of errors is set in motion. The vibrant mood and upbeat tone of this life enhancing tale is
sure to prove infectious.
Distributor: Eros
Venue: CineWorlds Ilford, Shaftesbury Ave., Odeon Greenwich, Vue Acton & Nationwide
sure to prove infectious.
Distributor: Eros
Venue: CineWorlds Ilford, Shaftesbury Ave., Odeon Greenwich, Vue Acton & Nationwide
Revanche (15) (D)
Director/writer: Götz Spielmann
Cast: Johannes Krisch, Ursula Strauss, Andreas Lust, Irina Potapenko, Hannes Thanheiser, Hanno Pöschl
A nature scene. Late summer. A small lake in the woods. No people. Silence.
Not far away, a newly built house inhabited by a couple: Robert (Andreas Lust) and Susanne (Ursula Strauss). They live an ordinary life like so many other people.
Meanwhile in Vienna. Nightlife, red light district, the world of prostitution. Here money rules. Most people have jobs that barely let them scrape by. Like Alex and Tamara (Johannes Krisch and Irina Potapenko). She is a prostitute from Ukraine; he, the boss’ errand boy. They are lovers, but they have to keep it a secret.
Employees aren’t allowed to get romantically involved. They want to escape this life, but they need money. Alex devises a plan to rob a bank in a little village out in the countryside. Tamara wants to come along, and he reluctantly agrees. Everything is going exactly as planned until a policeman happens to walk up: Robert. He fires a few shots at the getaway car as it speeds off and hits the young woman.
Overcome with despair, Alex leaves the body behind in a forest clearing. He lies low at his grandfather’s desolate farm at the edge of the woods. Silent and withdrawn, Alex begins the task of chopping firewood for the approaching winter. He is consumed with pain, grief, and the hate he harbors for the man responsible for Tamara’s death. A lake in the woods is where Robert finds comfort alone. He tries to sort out what happened. Alex begins to observe Robert, the policeman, spy on him, follow him as he goes about his daily routine. Then he meets Susanne, the policeman’s wife. The lives of all these people will change as a result of Tamara’s death – more radically than they suspect.
Soon autumn will come, just like every year.
Distributor: Artificial Eye
Venue: Curzon Renoir & selected Key Cities
Website: http://www.artificial-eye.com/film.php?cinema=revanche&trailer
Cast: Johannes Krisch, Ursula Strauss, Andreas Lust, Irina Potapenko, Hannes Thanheiser, Hanno Pöschl
A nature scene. Late summer. A small lake in the woods. No people. Silence.
Not far away, a newly built house inhabited by a couple: Robert (Andreas Lust) and Susanne (Ursula Strauss). They live an ordinary life like so many other people.
Meanwhile in Vienna. Nightlife, red light district, the world of prostitution. Here money rules. Most people have jobs that barely let them scrape by. Like Alex and Tamara (Johannes Krisch and Irina Potapenko). She is a prostitute from Ukraine; he, the boss’ errand boy. They are lovers, but they have to keep it a secret.
Employees aren’t allowed to get romantically involved. They want to escape this life, but they need money. Alex devises a plan to rob a bank in a little village out in the countryside. Tamara wants to come along, and he reluctantly agrees. Everything is going exactly as planned until a policeman happens to walk up: Robert. He fires a few shots at the getaway car as it speeds off and hits the young woman.
Overcome with despair, Alex leaves the body behind in a forest clearing. He lies low at his grandfather’s desolate farm at the edge of the woods. Silent and withdrawn, Alex begins the task of chopping firewood for the approaching winter. He is consumed with pain, grief, and the hate he harbors for the man responsible for Tamara’s death. A lake in the woods is where Robert finds comfort alone. He tries to sort out what happened. Alex begins to observe Robert, the policeman, spy on him, follow him as he goes about his daily routine. Then he meets Susanne, the policeman’s wife. The lives of all these people will change as a result of Tamara’s death – more radically than they suspect.
Soon autumn will come, just like every year.
Distributor: Artificial Eye
Venue: Curzon Renoir & selected Key Cities
Website: http://www.artificial-eye.com/film.php?cinema=revanche&trailer
The Last Song (PG)
Another film based on a Nicholas Sparks’ novel – like Dear John – The Last Song stars Greg Kinnear as a father estranged from his teenage daughter, who tries to reconnect with her over one summer spent in a small Southern town through their mutual love of music. As the daughter here is played by Disney singing sensation Miley Cyrus (above with Liam Hemsworth) that’s not a bad plan, in a film
unlikely to leave a dry eye in the house.
Distributor: Walt Disney
Venue: Empire Leicester Square & Nationwide
Website: www.thelastsongmovie.co.uk
unlikely to leave a dry eye in the house.
Distributor: Walt Disney
Venue: Empire Leicester Square & Nationwide
Website: www.thelastsongmovie.co.uk
Valhalla Rising (15)
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Jamie Sives, Gary Lewis, Ewan Stewart, Alexander Morton
1000 AD, for years, One Eye, a mute warrior of supernatural strength, has been held prisoner by the Norse chieftain Barde. Aided by Are, a boy slave, One Eye slays his captor and together he and Are escape, beginning a journey into the heart of darkness. On their flight, One Eye and Are board a Viking vessel, but the ship is soon engulfed by an endless fog that clears only as the crew sights an unknown land. As the new world reveals its secrets and the Vikings confront their terrible and bloody fate, One Eye discovers his true self. IMDb
Distributor: Vertigo Films
Venue: Apollo Piccadilly Circus, Ritzy & Key Cites
Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Jamie Sives, Gary Lewis, Ewan Stewart, Alexander Morton
1000 AD, for years, One Eye, a mute warrior of supernatural strength, has been held prisoner by the Norse chieftain Barde. Aided by Are, a boy slave, One Eye slays his captor and together he and Are escape, beginning a journey into the heart of darkness. On their flight, One Eye and Are board a Viking vessel, but the ship is soon engulfed by an endless fog that clears only as the crew sights an unknown land. As the new world reveals its secrets and the Vikings confront their terrible and bloody fate, One Eye discovers his true self. IMDb
Distributor: Vertigo Films
Venue: Apollo Piccadilly Circus, Ritzy & Key Cites
Iron Man 2 (12A) (D)
When Robert Downey Jr. first appeared as Tony Stark a couple of years ago a screen icon was born, and now Iron Man 2 is upon us with another adventure for the resourceful billionaire inventor. Of course since his genius has been demonstrated more than one government is keen to get hold of this groundbreaking technology he has developed for his superhero alter ego, but he is reluctant to share it for fear of it falling into the wrong hands. This is only one of his problems though, as a deadly new foe (Mickey Rourke) arrives on his horizon and Stark suddenly realises that his best may not be good enough. Gwyneth Paltrow returns as Tony’s loyal assistant Pepper Potts, and Don Cheadle joins the cast in the role of his friend Rhodey, in a thrilling tale that signals the beginning of the summer blockbuster season.
Distributor: Paramount
Venue: Odeon Leicester Square & Nationwide (Previews 29 Apl)
Website: http://ironmanmovie.marvel.com/intl/uk
Distributor: Paramount
Venue: Odeon Leicester Square & Nationwide (Previews 29 Apl)
Website: http://ironmanmovie.marvel.com/intl/uk
Gentlemen Broncos (12A) (D)
A young man’s dream of becoming a science fiction writer are threatened in Gentlemen Broncos, when the story he has submitted to a competition is stolen by his pretentious hero, a famous author experiencing writer’s block. The latest from the pleasingly twisted imagination of Napoleon Dynamite writer-director Jared Hess, the film features Michael Angarano as the nerdy would-be writer Benjamin, and Flight of the Conchords star Jemaine Clement as his idol turned nemesis Ronald Chevalier.
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Venue: Ritzy & selected Key Cities
Website: www.gentlemenbroncosmovie.co.uk
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Venue: Ritzy & selected Key Cities
Website: www.gentlemenbroncosmovie.co.uk
The Disappearance Of Alice Creed (18) (D)
Two men – one on his twenties, the other nearer forty, both intensely focused on the task at hand – line the inside of a transit van with plastic. Shopping, they buy a drill, a mattress and other supplies. In a small flat they assemble a bed for the mattress and staple foam insulation and board the walls and windows of a bedroom. Then, their meticulous preparations complete, they kidnap a young woman.
Distributor: CinemaNX Distribution
Venue: Vue West End & Nationwide
Website and trailer: http://www.alicecreed.com/#/home/
Distributor: CinemaNX Distribution
Venue: Vue West End & Nationwide
Website and trailer: http://www.alicecreed.com/#/home/
Cleo From 5 To 7 (R/I)
Director: Agnès Varda
Cast: Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller, Michel Legrand
France-Italy 1961 | 90 min | Cert PG
A highlight of that extraordinary outpouring of energetic, innovative and imaginatively fertile films that emerged from France in the early 60s, Agnès Varda's second feature is an enduring classic.
From a deceptively simple narrative - pop singer Cléo (Corinne Marchand) whiles away two hours in the cafés, shops, streets and parks of Paris as she awaits results of recent medical tests - Varda creates both a vivid documentary-style portrait of a superbly vibrant city and an engrossing, profoundly resonant study of an attractive, successful young woman whose fashionably stylish façade barely conceals a preoccupation with private doubts, desires and anxieties. Despite Varda’s seductively light touch - which allows both for a lovely Legrand song (‘Sans toi’) and for a parodic short starring Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina - her bold control of pace and mood also ensures that the film is, in its own subtle way, deeply moving. - Geoff Andrew (BFI)
Distributor: bfi Distribution
Venue: BFI Southbank & Key Cities
Trailer: http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_around_the_uk/film_releases/cleo_from_5_to_7
Cast: Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller, Michel Legrand
France-Italy 1961 | 90 min | Cert PG
A highlight of that extraordinary outpouring of energetic, innovative and imaginatively fertile films that emerged from France in the early 60s, Agnès Varda's second feature is an enduring classic.
From a deceptively simple narrative - pop singer Cléo (Corinne Marchand) whiles away two hours in the cafés, shops, streets and parks of Paris as she awaits results of recent medical tests - Varda creates both a vivid documentary-style portrait of a superbly vibrant city and an engrossing, profoundly resonant study of an attractive, successful young woman whose fashionably stylish façade barely conceals a preoccupation with private doubts, desires and anxieties. Despite Varda’s seductively light touch - which allows both for a lovely Legrand song (‘Sans toi’) and for a parodic short starring Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina - her bold control of pace and mood also ensures that the film is, in its own subtle way, deeply moving. - Geoff Andrew (BFI)
Distributor: bfi Distribution
Venue: BFI Southbank & Key Cities
Trailer: http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_around_the_uk/film_releases/cleo_from_5_to_7
The Milk Of Sorrow (12A)(D)
Director: Claudia Llosa
Following Peru’s war on terrorism, Fausta’s relatives believe she suffers from The Milk of Sorrow, a condition transmitted by her Mother, who was violated and mistreated during the country’s upheaval. The war has ended but Fausta lives to be constantly reminded of her condition of fear. The sudden death of her mother forces Fausta to confront these fears and question the peculiar measures her mother took to protect her daughter from a similar fate. The Milk of Sorrow is the story of a search for re-awakening and a journey from fear to freedom.
Distributor: Dogwoof
Venue: Odeon Panton Street & selected Key Cities
Website: http://dogwoof.com/featured/the-milk-of-sorrow-screenings-dates/
Following Peru’s war on terrorism, Fausta’s relatives believe she suffers from The Milk of Sorrow, a condition transmitted by her Mother, who was violated and mistreated during the country’s upheaval. The war has ended but Fausta lives to be constantly reminded of her condition of fear. The sudden death of her mother forces Fausta to confront these fears and question the peculiar measures her mother took to protect her daughter from a similar fate. The Milk of Sorrow is the story of a search for re-awakening and a journey from fear to freedom.
Distributor: Dogwoof
Venue: Odeon Panton Street & selected Key Cities
Website: http://dogwoof.com/featured/the-milk-of-sorrow-screenings-dates/
24 City (U) (D)
Director: Jia Zhang Ke
Starring: Joan Chen, Lu Liping, Zhao Tao, Chen Jianbin
Interviewees: He Xikun, Wang Zhiren, Guan Fengjiu, Hou Lijun, Zhao Gang
Cast: Jiang Shanshan, Chen Rui, Zhai Yongming, Yang Mengyue, Liu Xiangquan, Luo Gonghe
China/Japan2008 / 107 minutes / HD / Certificate: tbc
Jia Zhang Ke, widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading filmmakers, follows up his previous STILL LIFE with this seamless mixture of fiction and documentary.
Shot in Chengdu before the earthquake, 24 CITY chronicles the dramatic fall of a State-owned munitions factory and its conversion into a luxury high-rise apartment complex. In a film both artfully composed and rich in offbeat details, Jia weaves together the stories of three generations of factory workers into a fascinating oral history of China over the last 50 years, and a meditation on the great physical and psychological changes transforming the country. The history of one factory and its workers becomes a microcosm for the entire history of China over the same period from the huge sacrifices and personal upheavals of the early post-revolutionary years to the alienation of today’s comparitive prosperity.
The line between documentary and fiction blurs as interviews with real workers and ex-workers are intercut with acted stories and actual vignettes of people affected by the closure of the factory and the construction of the apartment block 24 CITY.
Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival
Distributor: New Wave Films
Venue: ICA Cinema & Key Cities
Website and trailer: http://www.newwavefilms.co.uk/view-film-detail.html?viewListing=MzE=&cat=1
Starring: Joan Chen, Lu Liping, Zhao Tao, Chen Jianbin
Interviewees: He Xikun, Wang Zhiren, Guan Fengjiu, Hou Lijun, Zhao Gang
Cast: Jiang Shanshan, Chen Rui, Zhai Yongming, Yang Mengyue, Liu Xiangquan, Luo Gonghe
China/Japan2008 / 107 minutes / HD / Certificate: tbc
Jia Zhang Ke, widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading filmmakers, follows up his previous STILL LIFE with this seamless mixture of fiction and documentary.
Shot in Chengdu before the earthquake, 24 CITY chronicles the dramatic fall of a State-owned munitions factory and its conversion into a luxury high-rise apartment complex. In a film both artfully composed and rich in offbeat details, Jia weaves together the stories of three generations of factory workers into a fascinating oral history of China over the last 50 years, and a meditation on the great physical and psychological changes transforming the country. The history of one factory and its workers becomes a microcosm for the entire history of China over the same period from the huge sacrifices and personal upheavals of the early post-revolutionary years to the alienation of today’s comparitive prosperity.
The line between documentary and fiction blurs as interviews with real workers and ex-workers are intercut with acted stories and actual vignettes of people affected by the closure of the factory and the construction of the apartment block 24 CITY.
Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival
Distributor: New Wave Films
Venue: ICA Cinema & Key Cities
Website and trailer: http://www.newwavefilms.co.uk/view-film-detail.html?viewListing=MzE=&cat=1
A Boy Called Dad (15) (D)
All I ever wanted was a dad. Instead I got a son.
When he becomes a father at the tender age of 14, Robbie’s life quickly spirals out of control. Feeling angry and neglected by his own dad, he kick-starts a series of events that will catapult him at great speed into adulthood.
Newcomer Kyle Ward gives a wonderfully assured and impressively mature central performance that belies his young age. Some charming scenes with his dad (played to perfection by Ian Hart) bring warmth and humour to this deeply moving and ultimately uplifting drama.
'A Boy Called Dad' is directed by double BAFTA winner Brian Percival and written by BAFTA winner Julie Rutterford.
‘A Boy Called Dad’ is the first of a slate of high quality, low budget feature films from producers Michael Knowles and Stacey Murray of Made Up North Productions
Distributor: Kaleidoscope Entertainment
Venue: Apollo Piccadilly Circus, Vue Shepherds Bush & Key Cities
Website and trailer: http://www.aboycalleddad.com/
When he becomes a father at the tender age of 14, Robbie’s life quickly spirals out of control. Feeling angry and neglected by his own dad, he kick-starts a series of events that will catapult him at great speed into adulthood.
Newcomer Kyle Ward gives a wonderfully assured and impressively mature central performance that belies his young age. Some charming scenes with his dad (played to perfection by Ian Hart) bring warmth and humour to this deeply moving and ultimately uplifting drama.
'A Boy Called Dad' is directed by double BAFTA winner Brian Percival and written by BAFTA winner Julie Rutterford.
‘A Boy Called Dad’ is the first of a slate of high quality, low budget feature films from producers Michael Knowles and Stacey Murray of Made Up North Productions
Distributor: Kaleidoscope Entertainment
Venue: Apollo Piccadilly Circus, Vue Shepherds Bush & Key Cities
Website and trailer: http://www.aboycalleddad.com/
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Whale Rider
Once upon a time there was a little girl who had a dream: she wanted to be an actor. One day, some people came to her school and asked her funny questions, such as if she was a swimmer, if she could swim with her eyes open, and so on. The girl, Keisha Castle-Hughes, was cast and delivered a stunning performance as Paikea, the heroin of Whale Rider. Keisha's career as an actor was launched. It is a pity we don't see much of her in some of the films she has been in since then: Am I guilty of failing to notice her participation in other films since then?
Whale Rider, when I first saw in 2002, cast an spell on me. That spell is still with me, it did not only survive a second viewing of the film, but was reinforced by it (I picked up a DVD for only £3 at HMV Hull). I regard it as one of the great films of the past decade: tender and yet not sentimental, funny without being a comedy, casting an eye on Maori society without being a documentary, depicting a conflict between tradition and modernity without moralizing. Critics called it spellbinding when it was released in 2002, I agree with that comment.
The heroin of the film, 11 year old Paikea (Keisha Castle-Hughes), is the grand daughter of Koro, a Maori chief, the last descendant of a long line of chiefs which can be traced to the mythical Paikea - who came to New Zealand riding a whale. She, as being the first born, should have been destined to be the next leader of Koro's people. Yet, because she is a girl, Koro rejects her, in spite of his paternal love for her. The legend of the mythical Paikea cast an spell on her, and she is determined to repeat his legendary feast, against the odds of her grandfather rejection and herself being a girl. Yet, she succeeds after rescuing a stranded pod of beached whales by riding their leader, as her mythical ancestor once did. I was encouraging her to do so. It is that kind of film.
It is a poetical and beautifully shot film, I strongly recommend it if you haven't seen it yet. Keisha Castle-Hughes gave a formidable performance in this film, and I hope she has done well in her successive movies.
Whale Rider, when I first saw in 2002, cast an spell on me. That spell is still with me, it did not only survive a second viewing of the film, but was reinforced by it (I picked up a DVD for only £3 at HMV Hull). I regard it as one of the great films of the past decade: tender and yet not sentimental, funny without being a comedy, casting an eye on Maori society without being a documentary, depicting a conflict between tradition and modernity without moralizing. Critics called it spellbinding when it was released in 2002, I agree with that comment.
The heroin of the film, 11 year old Paikea (Keisha Castle-Hughes), is the grand daughter of Koro, a Maori chief, the last descendant of a long line of chiefs which can be traced to the mythical Paikea - who came to New Zealand riding a whale. She, as being the first born, should have been destined to be the next leader of Koro's people. Yet, because she is a girl, Koro rejects her, in spite of his paternal love for her. The legend of the mythical Paikea cast an spell on her, and she is determined to repeat his legendary feast, against the odds of her grandfather rejection and herself being a girl. Yet, she succeeds after rescuing a stranded pod of beached whales by riding their leader, as her mythical ancestor once did. I was encouraging her to do so. It is that kind of film.
It is a poetical and beautifully shot film, I strongly recommend it if you haven't seen it yet. Keisha Castle-Hughes gave a formidable performance in this film, and I hope she has done well in her successive movies.
Monday, 26 April 2010
Teddy Chan will be attending the Terracotta Film Festival 2010
TEDDY CHEN TO ATTEND TERRACOTTA FESTIVAL 2010
Fresh from his haul of seven awards at this year’s Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Film and Best Director, Teddy Chen, director of BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS, will be attending Terracotta Festival 2010 where his film will close the festival.
“We are absolutely thrilled to have Teddy come over – not just to support our festival, but for him to witness first hand how far his film has traveled and see the British reaction to BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS, and to personally introduce it to the British public” said Joey Leung, one of the festival organisers.
“It’s also a great chance for the director and audiences to connect directly in the Q&A session after the film too”.
The documentary DEVELOPMENT HELL will also be shown at Terracotta Festival 2010. The turbulent ten year production process for Chen (who has been nicknamed ‘unluckiest director in Hong Kong’ after set backs which included SARS epidemics and a death and in the production team) is examined in this documentary with interviews with the producers, including Peter Chan (WARLORDS) and Andre Morgan, the producer of Bruce Lee’s GAME OF DEATH.
Chen’s previous films included the action blockbusters PURPLE STORM, DOWNTOWN TORPEDOES and Jackie Chan’s THE ACCIDENTAL SPY.
The annual Terracotta Festival at the Prince Charles Cinema, London, will once again show the latest films from Asia.
Opening with Jackie Chans’ latest film (his 99th!!!), the anti-war film LITTLE BIG SOLDIER and closing with Teddy Chen’s star ensemble action film BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS, and in between there is something to suit everyones tastes:
- Late night Thai horrors
- Documentaries on Christopher Doyle and yakuza cinema
- Japanese anime SUMMER WARS (from THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME director, Mamoru Hosoda)
- plus Japanese themed cosplay party featuring live Japanese bands
- Action adventure K:20 (starring Takeshi Kaneshiro)
- Hong Kong thriller VENGEANCE (Johnny Hallydays much anticipated collaboration with Johnnie To)
- Crazy Japanese punk film – FISH STORY (‘Can a punk rock song save Earth from a meteorite?!!!’)
- International Festival favourites like COW (starring Huang Bo) and ACCIDENT (starring Louis Koo)
- The final installment of 20th Century Boys 3 shown for the first time in UK cinemas
- Q&As with directors
- Ticket holders get discounts in selected bars and restaurants in Chinatown during the festival
Attending the festival will be:
- Teddy Chen, director of Bodyguards and Assassins, fresh from winning 7 awards at the Hong Kong Film Festival
- Yves Montmayeur (director IN THE MOOD FOR DOYLE and YAKUZA EIGA)
- Xavier Jamaux (soundtrack composer for ACCIDENT)
- Gabriel Roberto (soundtrack composer for various Far East films including DREAM HOME by Pang Ho Cheung)
Most of these films won’t get a release in the UK cinemas and nearly all are UK or EUROPEAN PREMIERES.
Tickets normally £7.50 – BUT.. those wearing an Official T-shirt are eligible for tickets at £6.00 per film (a great price for watching a film in the West End!).
JACKIE CHAN TO RECEIVE TERRACOTTA FESTIVAL AWARD
Terracotta Festival organisers announced via SCREEN POWER: THE JACKIE CHAN MAGAZINE that Jackie Chan is to receive the Terracotta Festival Peace Award.
"Jackie is an on screen legend; off the screen he has made a significant contribution to charitable work through his Jackie Chan Foundation as well as his work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador" organisers said. "It is for this work as well as his strong anti-war statement in his latest film LITTLE BIG SOLDIER that we would like to honour and highlight Jackie's work."
The award is a one-off cast glass piece designed and created by festival organiser, Linh La.
For further information and trailers visit: www.terracottafestival.com
Sunday, 25 April 2010
Funny Games
No, I had not watched Haneke's Funny Games before. And, yes, I think that it is not so much a feature film as a cinematic essay on feature films, audiences' complicity and the commodification of violence in contemporary cinema. As such, it works as a feature film, but also as a running meta-commentary on the feature film.
I am not going to write any more, as much has been said, and written, about this film
I am not going to write any more, as much has been said, and written, about this film
Friday, 23 April 2010
This week UK film releases
Wednesday 21 April
It's A Wonderful Afterlife (12A) (D)
Dir: Gurinder Chadha UK 2010 100 mins Cert 12A
Cast: Shabana Azmi, Sally Hawkins, Zoë Wanamaker, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Ellie Jeffreys, Shaheen Khan, Goldy Notay, Hershel Joshi, Dip Chudgar, Dev Chudgar
A blackly comic view of maternal pride gone awry, It’s A Wonderful Afterlife tells of a mother’s efforts to secure the perfect partner for her daughter. Snubs and slights to Mrs Sethi’s beloved child are repaid with a poisoned portion of curry, but the spirits of her victims are unable to move on until their killer dies. So they resolve to help Mrs Sethi find her daughter’s Mr Right.
Website: http://www.itsawonderfulafterlife.com
Distributor: Icon
Venue: Vue West End & Nationwide (Previews Vue Star City, Birmingham 14 Apl)
Date Night (15) (D)
Claire and Phil Foster (Tina Fey and Steve Carell) are a typical suburban couple whose lives – including their weekly date nights of dinner and a movie – have become routine. To reignite the marital spark, they visit a trendy Manhattan bistro where a case of mistaken identity turns their evening into the ultimate date night-gone-awry. But as Claire and Phil take their unexpected walk on the wild side, they begin to remember what
Website: www.datenightmovie.co.uk
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Venue: Vue West End & Nationwide
Friday 23rd April
Cherrybomb (15) (D)
Distributor: Blue Dolphin
Venue: Empire Leicester Square & Key Cities
La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet (PG) (D)
Dir: Frederick Wiseman USA/France 2010 159 mins Cert PG
Offering a spellbinding look behind the scenes of the Paris Opera Ballet, director Frederick Wiseman’s film La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet takes us through the preparation and in some cases presentation of seven different ballets. Delving deep behind the scenes of the company, its members and showing precisely how it functions, the film holds an appeal wider than those who already love the art form it celebrates, and may well convert those as yet unfamiliar with the majesty and grace of ballet performed by some of its biggest stars.
Website: http://www.sodapictures.com/cinema/139/
Distributor: Soda Pictures
Venue: Curzons Mayfair, Richmond, Wimbledon, P’House Greenwich & Key Cities
Dance With Me (15) (D)
Dir: Sasha C Damjanovski UK 2008 82 mins Cert 15
Cast: Joanne Murdoch Adam Napier
Alice and Neil should be having the perfect holiday in their summer house in the country, she working with her dancers in the conservatory and he sipping on his tea by the lake, watching the amazing sky. Except it's not really a holiday, Neil is on a year's leave from work, pending further tests in his mysterious condition, and Alice, well she has her own problems.
There is no doubt of their love for one another, as there is no doubt of their commitment, yet, why are things so difficult? How does a simple question turn into a witty verbal joust and delivers no answers? Are Ali and Neil stuck? Will they simply learn to live with their situation, or is there, perhaps, a way out of it?
Website: http://www.dancewithmethemovie.co.uk/
Trailer: http://www.dancewithmethemovie.co.uk/trailer.html
Distributor: Orev
Venue: Apollo Piccadilly Circus & Key Cities
Centurion (15) (D)
An elite Roman legion is sent to wipe out the tribe of unruly Picts who occupy northern Britain in Neil Marshall’s Centurion, but find themselves on the receiving end of a brutal defeat. Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender) must lead his surviving troops to safety while also attempting to rescue his captured general in a blood spattered tale of courage, guile and honour.
Website: www.pathe.co.uk
Distributor: Warner Bros/Pathe
Venue: Nationwide
Life During Wartime (15) (D)
Director: Todd Solondz USA 2009 98 mins Cert 15
Cast: Shirley Henderson, Ciarán Hinds, Allison Janney, Micheal Lerner, Chris Marquette, Rich Pecci, Charlotte Rampling, Paul Reubens, Ally Sheedy, Dylan Riley Snyder, Renée Taylor, Michael Knenneth Williams.
Anyone who saw Todd Solondz’s 1998 film Happiness may well wonder what became of some of the characters he introduced in that mordant tale. Life During Wartime offers some kind of answer, as it reconnects with many of them – each played by actors different from the earlier film – in another characteristically thought provoking ensemble tale that refflects a bleak but absorbing view of the human condition.
Website: http://www.artificial-eye.com/film.php?cinema=lifeduringwartime&plugs&qt=true&wm=true
Distributor: Artificial Eye
Venue: Curzon Soho, The Gate, Renoir, Ritzy & Key Cities
Dogtooth (18) (D)
Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos Greece 2010 96 mins Cert 18
Cast: Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia, Christos Passalis, Mary Tsoni, Anna Kalaitzidou.
Dogtooth is a darkly humorous insight into a bonkers and surreal world of parental control gone mad. A mother and father so desperate to preserve their children’s innocence create a self styled utopia within their secluded compound walls. Completely shut off from the outside world the now grown up children have their own vocabulary and believe cats to be man eating predators. When their father decides to invite a woman in to service his son’s sexual urges the domestic balance is irrevocably disturbed. It is only a matter of time before the walls of their superficially constructed world of childhood innocence and fantasy come tumbling down.
Website: www.vervepics.com/dogtooth
Distributor: Verve Pictures
Venue: Gate, Odeon Covent Garden, Renoir, Ritzy & Key Cities
The Sky Crawlers (15) (D)
Distributor: Manga Entertainment
Venue: ICA Cinema (Previews BFI Southbank 16 Apl)
The Joneses (15) (D)
A film that nearly sums up the consumerist society we live in, The Joneses is a satire that takes everyday reality to recognisable extremes. Newcomers to a peaceful suburb, Steve (David Duchovny) and Kate (Demi Moore) Jones and their children Jenn (Amber Heard) and Mick (Ben Hollingsworth) are soon the envy of their neighbours, and are not shy of sharing with them the secrets of the American dream they appear to be living to the full. But not everything is being revealed by this family who seem to have it all.
Website: http://www.thejoneses-themovie.co.uk/
Distributor: E1 Entertainment
Venue: Empire Leicester Square & Nationwide
Agora (12A) (D)
Dir: Alejandro Amenábar Spain 127 mins Cert 12A
Cast: Rachel Weisz, Max Minghella
A historical drama set in Roman Egypt, concerning a slave who turns to the rising tide of Christianity in the hopes of pursuing freedom while also falling in love with his master, the famous female philosophy professor and atheist Hypatia of Alexandria.
Distributor: Paramount
Venue: Nationwide
Extract (15) (D)
Director/writer: Mike Judge USA 92 mins Cert 15
Cast: Jason Bateman Mila Kunis Kristen Wiig Ben Affleck
Joel, the owner of an extract manufacturing plant, constantly finds himself in precarious situations that steadily worsen by the minute. First, his soon-to-be floor manager acquires a serious injury in a machine malfunctioning accident that subsequently endangers the wellbeing of his company. Second, his personal life doesn't fair much better when he takes the advice of his bartending friend Dean during a drug-induced brainstorming session on how to test his wife's faithfulness. Finally, compounding these catastrophes is new employee Cindy, who happens to be a scam artist intent on milking the company for all its worth. Now, Joel must attempt to piece his company and his marriage back together all while trying to figure out what he's really after in life. IMDb
Distributor: Paramount
Venue: Nationwide
The Calling (15) (D)
Dir: Jan Dunn UK 2009 107 mins Cert 15
Cast: Brenda Blethyn, Emily Beecham, Susannah York, Rita Tushingham, Pauline McLynn, Joanna Scanlan, Susannah Harker, Harriet Thorpe, Amanda Donohoe and Corin Redgrave.
Joanna is about to graduate from University with her whole life set up for her but she has decided to face up to a truth she has been avoiding her whole life. Since she was small, she has had the desire to become a Nun. She is set on joining a closed order of Benedictines. Her best friend cannot believe it, her boyfriend is devastated and her mother feels it’s just a phase. The only encouragement she gets is from the family’s religious housekeeper, Consuela When she finally gets to the convent, the liberalism of a politically active Novice Sister, Ignatious and a bunch of women with border-line mental illness, including a psychotic Mother Superior an alcoholic football fan in charge of the vineyard, an over-pious floor mopper, Sister Hilda to name a few at first makes her wonder if she’s following the right path after all but as she gets to know the Sisters and the enormous community bond they all share and the spiritual love that connects them she starts to see glimpses of her own spiritual fulfilment. Several weeks into her vocation she discovers something in herself which brings a whole new series of secrets out into the open until eventually the bond she has with Sister Ignatious dictates and assists in her destiny.
Website: http://www.guerilla-films.com/title.asp?FilmID=52
Distributor: Guerilla Films
Venue: Gate Notting Hill, Picturehouse Greenwich & Key Cities
Vote Afghanistan! (n/c) (D)
Dir: Havana Marking Documentary UK 2009 87 mins
"AFGHAN STAR" tells the story of an Afghan Pop Idol TV series in which people from across the country compete for a cash prize and record deal. 2000 people audition, including three brave young women. The viewers vote for their favourite singers by text message and for many this is their first encounter with democracy. This timely film follows the dramatic stories of four young contestants as they compete but it takes a terrifying turn as one young woman dances on stage, threatening her own safety and the future of the show itself. In Afghanistan you risk your life to sing.
Website: http://www.roastbeeftv.com/news.asp
Distributor: Channel 4 International
Venue: ICA Cinema
Melancholia, Andi Engel and Artificial Eye
Leafing last night through an old Sight & Sound magazine (Autumn 1989)I found throughout the series of improvement works done in my flat, I came across to a film that Andi Engel (a German expatriate, one of the founders of Artificial Eye) made in 1989, with support from the British Film Institute. It seems to have been a reflection on the ideology of the 60s and 70s, when violence was seen as a legitimate means of achieving political or moral ends. It charts the story of a German expatriate living in London, and the murder of a former Chilean torturer visiting England.
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Highlights of Glimmer, Hull 8th International Short Film Festival.
I never realized that Taiwan was so active in the arms trade, producing so many types of war planes, all of them having one feature in common: they are made in paper by an ordinary old pensioner. I, as a child, immensely enjoyed building and playing with paper planes (I ‘won’ school detentions because of it), but this man left me miles standing behind, as this beautiful short, Zao Ji Ren (The Plane Maker), by young Taiwanese film maker Yan-ni Wang shows.
We were treated by the festival director, Laurence Boyce, and his team (one sugar and milk in my coffee, please, ‘office boy’ Espen Jensen), in the inaugural session of Glimmer, Hull 8th International Short Film Festival (gosh, this is such a mouthful!) with a selection of wonderful shorts such as the poetic Poste Restante by Polish director Marcel Lozinski, charting the birth, death and rebirth of the many letters sent through the Polish postal system to non-existent recipients or addresses, a tale about the cyclical nature of life. A beautifully filmed documentary, with tight cinematography.
An humorous treat that had me smiling and laughing was Julian Barratt’s and Dan Jemmett’s Curtains , following the downward spiralling path of an old puppeteer, leading to the final curtains of his life after having worked for fifty years with his wood dolls, in a series of hilarious scenes. A little jewel of a film.
The surrealist and dreamy The Bikes that Failed their Inspections, produced in 8 mm film stock by Onlyfilm, the company founded by Callum Hale Thomson. One of Callum’s striking features, apart of the quality of his films, is that he is only fourteen years old. His younger sister has recently joined the company. A little gift from a talent to watch out for.
Bob Geldof read Larkin’s The Old Fools in this inventive 2002 short by Ruth Lingford, screened by Hull Film in the festival as part of Larkin 25, the celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of his death. Larkin, while not having been a native of Hull, spent many years of his life until his death in the city, where he was the Librarian of the University of Hull.
I also had the chance to watch again that marvellous little short, Luke Snellin’s Mixtape, having been shown by Reel Cinemas, if I remember rightly, as part of Virgin Media shorts (correct me, please, if I am wrong).
An excellent inaugural session of the festival.
City of War reviewed
Director/writer: Florian Gallenberger
France/China/Germany 129 mins 129 mins Cert 15
DVD release date: 3rd May 2010
Cast: Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Brühl, Steve Buscemi, Anne Consigny.
Both Florian Gallenberger’s City of War, the Story of John Rabe, and Lu Chuan’s City of Life and Death, deal with the rape of Nanking by the Japanese military during December 1937, when an estimated 300,000 people were systematically massacred by the Imperial Army after the remaining Chinese nationalist troops had fled, the city being the capital of China at that time. I understand that the extent of that atrocity has not been fully acknowledged by the Japanese government up to this day. Indeed, Florian Gallenberger had problems in casting Japanese actors for the film, as many rejected the offer outright as being ‘off limits’. Those who finally agreed to appear did on the grounds that it was an aspect of their national history they had to come to terms with.
City of War charts the story of John Rabe, a German industrialist based for over two decades as head of Siemens Nanking, a good Nazi and an admirer of the Führer, Adolf Hitler; who ended his life in complete obscurity in Germany as he was ostracized by the Nazi hierarchy for ‘having cooperated with the Chinese’. His crime? Having participated, and led, the International Protection Zone established in Nanking by Europeans and Americans, thanks to which an estimated 200,00-250,000 of its inhabitants survived the Japanese brutal and indiscriminate slaughter. Further more, the Allies refused to include him in their programme of de-Nazification after WW2, his diaries laying in obscurity for decades. Ulrich Tukur played the part of John Rabe with a mouth watering stunning brilliance, charting the complexities, humanity and nuances of the character facing deep personal and moral dilemmas in literally life and death situations.
Both films are also controversial not only in Japan, but also in China, as both depict Japanese officers having serious misgivings about the actions of the army, and their own actions, in the events depicted. I understand that Lu Chuan has received death threats within China, although that may not be the case of Florian Gallenberger as he is not Chinese.
For the Japanese hierarchy at the time, modernity was seen as a no-hold barred warfare, a need to win and exert their superiority on the Chinese at any cost. The attack on Nanking did not follow the usual military tactic of besieging a city until it falls, as one of the generals assumed, but took the form of a direct assault because the Emperor wanted a ‘modern warfare’. Modernity became a war crime.
John Rabe, the good Nazi, immensely proud of his work of 27 years for Siemens in Nanking, a paternalistic European who looks down on, and treat, his subordinates as children, ultimately goes out of his way to open the gates of the factory to his desperate workers seeking sanctuary when the Japanese began their aerial bombardment of the city, swiftly followed by their triumphant ground attack. We follow his actions during that December of 1937, as piles of corpses on top of piles of corpses line not only the streets of Nanking, but are also literally piled on the doorsteps of the Protection Zone, courtesy of the Japanese military. His humanity not only prevails over his ideology, but ultimately fractures it, although at no moment he does openly admit it.
Steve Buscemi goes through the motions of playing the part of Dr Robert Wilson, an American surgeon working at the time in Nanking, his performance being ’cartoonish’, reminiscent of Ghost World (his part was badly written in the script: stereotyped); while the French actress Anne Consigny is splendid as the head mistress of the girls school.
However, don’t be fooled in thinking that City of War is a moralistic dry and tedious film: it is not. It is an utterly gripping story narrated with vigour and panache, a story that holds its strength and rhythm throughout, entertaining until its last frame. It has nothing to envy to blockbusters and war epics in its special effects and action sequences. The film has been criticized for attempting to ape Hollywood movies, although I fail to follow the logic of such comments. However, I thought that the ‘feel good’ character of the last scene somehow spoils the overall feel of the film, although its cathartic effect will undoubtedly be welcomed by many viewers after its graphic depictions of so many atrocities. Grainy black and white documentary footage from that time is unconvingcingly woven into the fabric of the film, the integration feels overwrought and forced. The use of the musical score is very conventional and annoying.
City of War explores the frailties and complexities of an era, shades of grey involving matters of life and death, of survival, the moral dilemmas faced – and that includes those of some of the Japanese military, by people in a daily basis. It highlights the mould breaking humanity of one man, John Rabe; a figure of, to some extent, similar stature to that of Oskar Schindler. The film is not only an homage to people such as Rabe, who were able to carry out great humanist deeds because they had the power, however little it may have turned out to be under the sustained assault of the brutality of ideology, and the means to do; but also it should be seen as an homage to the many uncountable anonymous people who did as much as they could in their small ways to alleviate the impact of that insane brutality. However, I doubt that City of War will put John Rabe on the same level to that of Oskar Schindler in the international conscience, simply because Hollywoood got in there first with Spielberg’s Schindler List. Oskar Schindler was a swindler who used the Nazis for his own ends, his humanity prevailing, while Rabe was a man who believed in the Nazis.
The disc also contains an excellent documentary on the making of the film, with interviews to its director and writer, Florian Gallinberger (winner of an Oscar for Best Short film in 2001), to Ulrich Tukur, Anne Consigny, and other members of the cast and crew. The trabsfer of the film onot DVD is excellent.
France/China/Germany 129 mins 129 mins Cert 15
DVD release date: 3rd May 2010
Cast: Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Brühl, Steve Buscemi, Anne Consigny.
Both Florian Gallenberger’s City of War, the Story of John Rabe, and Lu Chuan’s City of Life and Death, deal with the rape of Nanking by the Japanese military during December 1937, when an estimated 300,000 people were systematically massacred by the Imperial Army after the remaining Chinese nationalist troops had fled, the city being the capital of China at that time. I understand that the extent of that atrocity has not been fully acknowledged by the Japanese government up to this day. Indeed, Florian Gallenberger had problems in casting Japanese actors for the film, as many rejected the offer outright as being ‘off limits’. Those who finally agreed to appear did on the grounds that it was an aspect of their national history they had to come to terms with.
City of War charts the story of John Rabe, a German industrialist based for over two decades as head of Siemens Nanking, a good Nazi and an admirer of the Führer, Adolf Hitler; who ended his life in complete obscurity in Germany as he was ostracized by the Nazi hierarchy for ‘having cooperated with the Chinese’. His crime? Having participated, and led, the International Protection Zone established in Nanking by Europeans and Americans, thanks to which an estimated 200,00-250,000 of its inhabitants survived the Japanese brutal and indiscriminate slaughter. Further more, the Allies refused to include him in their programme of de-Nazification after WW2, his diaries laying in obscurity for decades. Ulrich Tukur played the part of John Rabe with a mouth watering stunning brilliance, charting the complexities, humanity and nuances of the character facing deep personal and moral dilemmas in literally life and death situations.
Both films are also controversial not only in Japan, but also in China, as both depict Japanese officers having serious misgivings about the actions of the army, and their own actions, in the events depicted. I understand that Lu Chuan has received death threats within China, although that may not be the case of Florian Gallenberger as he is not Chinese.
For the Japanese hierarchy at the time, modernity was seen as a no-hold barred warfare, a need to win and exert their superiority on the Chinese at any cost. The attack on Nanking did not follow the usual military tactic of besieging a city until it falls, as one of the generals assumed, but took the form of a direct assault because the Emperor wanted a ‘modern warfare’. Modernity became a war crime.
John Rabe, the good Nazi, immensely proud of his work of 27 years for Siemens in Nanking, a paternalistic European who looks down on, and treat, his subordinates as children, ultimately goes out of his way to open the gates of the factory to his desperate workers seeking sanctuary when the Japanese began their aerial bombardment of the city, swiftly followed by their triumphant ground attack. We follow his actions during that December of 1937, as piles of corpses on top of piles of corpses line not only the streets of Nanking, but are also literally piled on the doorsteps of the Protection Zone, courtesy of the Japanese military. His humanity not only prevails over his ideology, but ultimately fractures it, although at no moment he does openly admit it.
Steve Buscemi goes through the motions of playing the part of Dr Robert Wilson, an American surgeon working at the time in Nanking, his performance being ’cartoonish’, reminiscent of Ghost World (his part was badly written in the script: stereotyped); while the French actress Anne Consigny is splendid as the head mistress of the girls school.
However, don’t be fooled in thinking that City of War is a moralistic dry and tedious film: it is not. It is an utterly gripping story narrated with vigour and panache, a story that holds its strength and rhythm throughout, entertaining until its last frame. It has nothing to envy to blockbusters and war epics in its special effects and action sequences. The film has been criticized for attempting to ape Hollywood movies, although I fail to follow the logic of such comments. However, I thought that the ‘feel good’ character of the last scene somehow spoils the overall feel of the film, although its cathartic effect will undoubtedly be welcomed by many viewers after its graphic depictions of so many atrocities. Grainy black and white documentary footage from that time is unconvingcingly woven into the fabric of the film, the integration feels overwrought and forced. The use of the musical score is very conventional and annoying.
City of War explores the frailties and complexities of an era, shades of grey involving matters of life and death, of survival, the moral dilemmas faced – and that includes those of some of the Japanese military, by people in a daily basis. It highlights the mould breaking humanity of one man, John Rabe; a figure of, to some extent, similar stature to that of Oskar Schindler. The film is not only an homage to people such as Rabe, who were able to carry out great humanist deeds because they had the power, however little it may have turned out to be under the sustained assault of the brutality of ideology, and the means to do; but also it should be seen as an homage to the many uncountable anonymous people who did as much as they could in their small ways to alleviate the impact of that insane brutality. However, I doubt that City of War will put John Rabe on the same level to that of Oskar Schindler in the international conscience, simply because Hollywoood got in there first with Spielberg’s Schindler List. Oskar Schindler was a swindler who used the Nazis for his own ends, his humanity prevailing, while Rabe was a man who believed in the Nazis.
The disc also contains an excellent documentary on the making of the film, with interviews to its director and writer, Florian Gallinberger (winner of an Oscar for Best Short film in 2001), to Ulrich Tukur, Anne Consigny, and other members of the cast and crew. The trabsfer of the film onot DVD is excellent.
Still Walking reviewed
Director:
Hirokazu Kore-eda Japan 2008
114 mins Cert U
Cast: Hiroshi Abe, Yui Natsukawa, You
Distributor: New Wave Films
Still Walking should have had a notice at the end along these lines:
“No feelings were hurt during the making of this film”.
Feelings, more precisely, family feelings and family ties are indeed the subject of Still Walking.
The opening scene, shot in a bus, introduces us directly into both this central theme and the subtleties of a family put under the microscope of the director and writer Hirokazu Kore-eda. The story line seems to be, at first, quite simple, and not entirely original: a long weekend family reunion, the parents being an elderly couple living in a crumbling house, a former clinic, located on a hill in the seaside. We are constantly reminded not only of the fact that Japan is an island, but also that families are island sin the sea of society, with shots of the sea ever present in the background. The father is a retired local doctor who uses his former treatment and consultation room as a den to retire from the waves of family life.
The apparent tranquillity of this family, epitomized in a lengthy kitchen take of mother and daughter peeling vegetables for the big family lunch, is soon disturbed by deep and stormy ripples coming from the ghost of the elder son who is not there, who cannot be there, as he died years earlier in an unspecified accident, its circumstances remaining unexplained. Usually hidden passions and resentments are awoken, tempers flare, the surface of this sea is no longer gently undulating.
However, calm returns, the calm that comes after the big waves, the last scene being of the old couple climbing back to their house, in a beautifully framed shot, after their farewell to their only surviving son – a gentle giant of a man in constant danger of banging his head in doorways - and his family.
The cinematography is impeccable, its tempo and rhythm reinforcing the nuances of the story telling. Still Walking is indeed a valuable contribution to that tradition in Japanese cinema of closely observed family and human relationships, beautifully shot and acted.
Saturday, 17 April 2010
What would have been the end of "Casablanca" if...
What would have been the end of Casablanca if the Lisbon plane had been grounded?
The freedom of the sky
How long will be until the first novel or film comes out based on the days (weeks, months?) that the skies of Europe were free of planes? When bird song could be heard in the South of London? What shape will they take? Romantic, disaster, utopian, dystopian, post-cataclysm, hopeful?
The Icelandic volcanic eruption clearly shows the fragility of our modern world. Gaia's warning?
The Icelandic volcanic eruption clearly shows the fragility of our modern world. Gaia's warning?
Friday, 16 April 2010
The Time that Remains, The Wild Grass, City of War
Some very interesting new theatrical and DVD releases.
THE TIME THAT REMAINS
Written and Directed by Elia Suleiman
Cast: Saleh Bakri, Elia Suleiman
Palestine/France/Belgium/Italy/UK/2009/109 min
In Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles
Official Selection – CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 2009
UK release date May 28 2010
Distributor: New Wave Films
The third part of a trilogy from the internationally acclaimed director (Chronicle of a Disappearance, Divine Intervention), The Time That Remains was the key political film at last year’s Cannes film festival – a beautiful, unique and deeply personal depiction of Palestine in the 60 years since 1948 as seen by Suleiman and his parents.
“The Time That Remains is a semi-autobiographical film in four episodes, about a family, my family, from 1948 until recent times. The film is inspired by my father’s private diaries, starting from when he was a resistance fighter in 1948, and by my mother’s letters to family members who were forced to leave the country. Combined with my intimate memories of them and with them, the film attempts to portray the daily life of those Palestinians who remained and were labelled “Israeli-Arabs”, living as a minority in their own homeland.” – Elia Suleiman
In Cannes, Suleiman’s film was seen by some film critics as the possible winner of the Palme d’Or and the film was also one of the highlights of last year’s London Film Festival.
The Time That Remains covers the story of Palestinian dispossession and displacement over 60 years. It is the director’s most ambitious work yet. It begins in 1948 on the day that the director’s hometown of Nazareth is officially surrendered to the Israeli army and interweaves the personal and the political in brilliant and blackly comic vignettes with Suleiman playing himself as a silent Keatonesque deadpan observer. The resulting film is a heart-breaking testament to his parents, a reminder of history, and a poignant, subversively funny delight.
“I don’t think it is a film you have to understand but one you have to feel.” – Elia Suleiman (from an interview)
WILD GRASS (Les Herbes Folles)
A film by Alain Resnais
Lifetime Achievement Award Alain Resnais Cannes Film Festival 2009
Official Selection New York Film Festival 2009
Cast: Sabine Azéma, André Dussollier, Anne Consigny, Emmanuelle Devos, Mathieu Amalric, Edoaurd Baer.
France 2009 / 104 minutes / Certificate: tbc
UK release date: 18th June 2010
Distributor: New Wave Films
Alain Resnais’ latest film premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and was widely recognised as being one of the most enjoyable and audacious films in the festival.
Adapted from a novel, L’Incident by the French author Christian Gailly, the film playfully examines the complications that ensue from the discovery by Georges (André Dussollier) of Marguerite’s (Sabine Azéma) stolen purse. This opens up the possibility for both Georges and Marguerite of rushing into the irrational, of just following their impulses where ever they may lead, with no heed to the consequences, that eventually leads to the much-discussed surprise ending.
This multi-layered story of the desire to hold off age, of self-doubt, of the sheer oddity of life, is told by a sometimes unreliable off-screen narrator, (Edouard Baer), and is filled with playful touches and great humour, with terrific cinematography by Eric Gaultier, and just-right performances from Resnais regulars Dussollier and Azéma, plus those actors new to his films, Emmanuelle Devos and Mathieu Amalric.
CITY OF WAR: THE STORY OF JOHN RABE
DVD UKrelease date: 3rd May 2010
Running Time: 129 mins
Distributor: Metrodome Group
Cast: Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Brühl, Steve Buscemi, Anne Consigny.
A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.
The film picked up over seven German Film Awards nominations, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Tukur) and Best Supporting Actor (for Buscemi, one of the few times that a Lola nomination has been given to a non-German citizen).
It won for Best Film, Best Actor and Best Production Design. Lead actor Ulrich Tukur also won the 2009 Bavarian Film Awards for Best Actor.
CITY OF WAR: THE STORY OF JOHN RABE is the winner of the Audience Award at the 2009 German Film Festival.
I just hope that any of these films will be shown at Hull Screen.
THE TIME THAT REMAINS
Written and Directed by Elia Suleiman
Cast: Saleh Bakri, Elia Suleiman
Palestine/France/Belgium/Italy/UK/2009/109 min
In Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles
Official Selection – CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 2009
UK release date May 28 2010
Distributor: New Wave Films
The third part of a trilogy from the internationally acclaimed director (Chronicle of a Disappearance, Divine Intervention), The Time That Remains was the key political film at last year’s Cannes film festival – a beautiful, unique and deeply personal depiction of Palestine in the 60 years since 1948 as seen by Suleiman and his parents.
“The Time That Remains is a semi-autobiographical film in four episodes, about a family, my family, from 1948 until recent times. The film is inspired by my father’s private diaries, starting from when he was a resistance fighter in 1948, and by my mother’s letters to family members who were forced to leave the country. Combined with my intimate memories of them and with them, the film attempts to portray the daily life of those Palestinians who remained and were labelled “Israeli-Arabs”, living as a minority in their own homeland.” – Elia Suleiman
In Cannes, Suleiman’s film was seen by some film critics as the possible winner of the Palme d’Or and the film was also one of the highlights of last year’s London Film Festival.
The Time That Remains covers the story of Palestinian dispossession and displacement over 60 years. It is the director’s most ambitious work yet. It begins in 1948 on the day that the director’s hometown of Nazareth is officially surrendered to the Israeli army and interweaves the personal and the political in brilliant and blackly comic vignettes with Suleiman playing himself as a silent Keatonesque deadpan observer. The resulting film is a heart-breaking testament to his parents, a reminder of history, and a poignant, subversively funny delight.
“I don’t think it is a film you have to understand but one you have to feel.” – Elia Suleiman (from an interview)
WILD GRASS (Les Herbes Folles)
A film by Alain Resnais
Lifetime Achievement Award Alain Resnais Cannes Film Festival 2009
Official Selection New York Film Festival 2009
Cast: Sabine Azéma, André Dussollier, Anne Consigny, Emmanuelle Devos, Mathieu Amalric, Edoaurd Baer.
France 2009 / 104 minutes / Certificate: tbc
UK release date: 18th June 2010
Distributor: New Wave Films
Alain Resnais’ latest film premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and was widely recognised as being one of the most enjoyable and audacious films in the festival.
Adapted from a novel, L’Incident by the French author Christian Gailly, the film playfully examines the complications that ensue from the discovery by Georges (André Dussollier) of Marguerite’s (Sabine Azéma) stolen purse. This opens up the possibility for both Georges and Marguerite of rushing into the irrational, of just following their impulses where ever they may lead, with no heed to the consequences, that eventually leads to the much-discussed surprise ending.
This multi-layered story of the desire to hold off age, of self-doubt, of the sheer oddity of life, is told by a sometimes unreliable off-screen narrator, (Edouard Baer), and is filled with playful touches and great humour, with terrific cinematography by Eric Gaultier, and just-right performances from Resnais regulars Dussollier and Azéma, plus those actors new to his films, Emmanuelle Devos and Mathieu Amalric.
CITY OF WAR: THE STORY OF JOHN RABE
Running Time: 129 mins
Distributor: Metrodome Group
Cast: Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Brühl, Steve Buscemi, Anne Consigny.
A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.
The film picked up over seven German Film Awards nominations, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Tukur) and Best Supporting Actor (for Buscemi, one of the few times that a Lola nomination has been given to a non-German citizen).
It won for Best Film, Best Actor and Best Production Design. Lead actor Ulrich Tukur also won the 2009 Bavarian Film Awards for Best Actor.
CITY OF WAR: THE STORY OF JOHN RABE is the winner of the Audience Award at the 2009 German Film Festival.
I just hope that any of these films will be shown at Hull Screen.
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
This week UK film releases
Films released on April 14
Dear John (12A) (D)
There’s a real emotional poignancy to Dear John, the story of a former special forces soldier (Channing Tatum) who falls for the lovely Savannah (Amanda Seyfried) only to find the relationships strained when he reenlists after the tragedy of 9/11. Adapted from the novel by Nicholas Sparks, author of the similarly tear stained The Notebook, the film is sensitively directed by Lasse Hallstrom.
Website: www.dearjohn-movie.co.uk
Distributor: Paramount/Momentum
Venue: Odeon Leicester Square & Nationwide
Cemetery Junction (15) (D)
Taking its title from an area in Ricky Gervais’ native Reading, Cemetery Junction is a coming-of-age tale that follows the adventures of three pals convinced their home town is a dead end place to be escaped from.
Freddie (Christian Cooke), Bruce (Tom Hughes) and Snork (Jack Doolan) are childhood friends whose loyalties are tested by the challenges of adulthood. Setting the story in the 1970s Gervais and his writer-director partner Stephen Merchant strike a fine balance between comedy and poignant drama in a story that will have echoes far beyond its Home Counties location.
Website: www.cemeteryjunction.co.uk
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Venue: Nationwide
Dir Andrew Bujalski, US 2009, 100 mins, 35mm
After successful exclusive runs at the ICA for his first two films, Funny Ha Ha and Mutual Appreciation, director Andrew Bujalski returns with his latest low-key gem. Bujalski charts a network of ties and tensions – between twin sisters, their friends and co-workers – with emotional precision, letting the story simply follow the characters’ feelings.
A nicely alert visual style complements the subtle shades of comedy and drama, making this Bujalski’s most complete package so far. ICA
Distributor: ICA Cinema
Venue: ICA Cinema
Films released on April 16
Repo Men (18) (D)
A film of the tricky economic times we find ourselves living in, Repo Men takes things a stage further by imagining high-tec, artificial organ transplants that are the subject of repossession when patients fall behind on their payments. Jude Law (above right with Forest Whitaker) plays Remy, one of the men charged with retrieving these body parts, who finds himself on the run when over burdened by the cost of the new heart beating in his chest. Grim, gripping and grisly action is guaranteed.
Website: www.repomenthemovie.co.uk
Distributor: Universal
Venue: Vue West End & Nationwide
Paathshaala
In the Hindi movie Paathshaala a new English teacher starts work in a suburban Mumbai school. Rahul Prakash Udyavar (Shahid Kapoor) can see that all is not well there, and further inspection reveals the corrupt activities of the school manager, who demands payment from the families of attending pupils. An issue driven drama that casts a light into areas of Indian life some would prefer remained dark, this is a sobering and powerful film.
Distributor: Eros(Do not look at their website)
City Of Life And Death (15) (D)
Lu Chuan's film about the notorious 'Rape of Nanking' - as Nanjing was known in the west at the time - is first and foremost a corrective to the several earlier attempts to dramatise the Japanese'army devastation of the city and slaughter of some 200,000 of its residents. Sight&Sound, May 2010
Website: http://www.cityoflifeanddeath.co.uk/
Distributor: High Fliers Films
Venue: Curzon Mayfair, Gate & City Screen sites Countrywide
The Ghost (15)
Adapted from the novel by Robert Harris, The Ghost (above) follows the efforts of a ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) to understand the motivations of a recently retired prime minister (Pierce Brosnan) who has secrets that would more safely be left undisturbed.
Beautifully crafted by director Roman Polanski, this is a classy thriller of ideas as much as actions, and a high quality cast that also includes Olivia Williams, Kim Cattrall and Tom Wilkinson.
Website: www.theghostmovie.co.uk
Distributor: Optimum Releasing Venue: Odeon Leicester Square, Tricycle Kilburn & Nationwide
Boogie Woogie (15)
Distributor: Vertigo Films
Venue: Apollo Piccadilly Circus, Coronet Notting Hill & Key Cities
Crying With Laughter (D)
Stephen McCole is on the publicity circuit right now, generating buzz and interest for the upcoming release of his latest film ‘Crying with Laughter’. Stephen plays Joey Frisk, a stand up comedian, whose life is spiralling out of control during the biggest week of his career. Stephen went above and beyond the call of duty in his preparations for the role, his dedication has paid off with a star making and utterly compelling performance.
Website: http://cry.britfilms.tv/
Distributor: Britfilms Distn.
Venue: Apollo Piccadilly & Key Cities
The Manchurian Candidate (12A) (D) (R/I)
First released in 1962, John Frankenheimer’s The Manchurian Candidate remains a powerful and haunting thriller.
It’s the tale of a group of soldiers captured during the Korean War and brainwashed by their Communist foe. They don’t know of it of course, it’s only when one of them, Ben Marco (Frank Sinatra) begins having nightmares that he suspects anything is wrong. But as he seeks out a former comrade now set on a glittering political career, he realises the full implication of their half forgotten incarceration.
Website: www.parkcircus.com
My review: http://cinema-architecture.blogspot.com/2010/03/manchurian-candidate.html
Distributor: Park Circus
Venue: BFI Southbank & Key Cities
The Market (D)
Writer/director BEN HOPKINS
Cast: TAYANÇ AYAYDIN, GENCO ERKAL, ŞENAY AYDIN
Mihram is an inventive small-time trader in a provincial town in Eastern Turkey. He has many ideas for good business deals, but never enough capital to realise them. But one day the hospital supply truck is robbed and in desperation the local GP hires Mihram to find medicine on the black market. Finally, Mihram sees an opportunity to make a life-changing deal, but to do so he will have to gamble with the community’s money. If he loses, he will be an outcast. If he wins, he will have a good start-up business. But he hasn’t reckoned with two things – the local mafia, and the inscrutable rules of the marketplace.
A German – Kazakh – British – Turkish co-production
Website: http://www.market-thefilm.com/
Distributor: The Works International
Venue: BFI Southbank & Rich Mix
Bananas!* (D)
There are times when it is true stories that really take you aback, and one such is recounted in Bananas!*, the story of a legal case being mounted against American based Dole Food Company by a group of 12 Nicaraguan banana plantation workers. The issue is the use of pesticides banned in the US but used by Dole in their Central American operation and, if the case is won, it will have profound consequences for other major players in the US economy.
Website: www.bananasthemovie.com
Distributor: Dogwoof
Venue: ICA Cinema & Key Cities
Give Me Your Hand (D)
Screenings:
London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival - 20/03/10, 27/03/10
Shortwave Cinema Bermondsey - 16/04/10 - 22/04/10
Cine Lumiere, Kensington - 16/04/10 - 21/04/10
Twin brothers Quentin and Antoine escape from their father’s bakery to attend the funeral of the mother they never knew. As they hitchhike towards Barcelona, old grudges between the two teenagers resurface. Antoine resents the friendships that his brother makes on the road, while sensitive Quentin is frustrated by his brother’s jealous and possessive behaviour. Increasingly hostile, Antoine cruelly ditches Quentin but he soon realises that he can’t make it to Spain without his brother by his side.
A tense yet haunting account of brotherly love and independence, ‘Give Me Your Hand’ is Pascal-Alex Vincent’s first feature film, after numerous acclaimed shorts - his short ‘Baby Shark’ won the Palme d’Or Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival. Inspired by various cult road movies from the 70s, ‘Give Me Your Hand’ is a wistful debut from one of France’s most promising young directors.
Website: http://www.peccapics.com/View/id,208
Distributor: Peccadillo Pictures
Venue: Cine Lumiere, Shortwave Cinema & Key Cities
The Heavy (18)
The Heavy tells the story of two brothers; one (Gary Stretch) a henchman for a successful, yet shady businessman (Stephen Rea), the other (Adrian Paul) with ambitions to be Prime Minister.
Presented with an opportunity to take a long considered revenge against his estranged family (Christopher Lee, Jean Marsh), while being hunted by a psychotic police detective (Vinnie Jones), our conflicted anti-hero must come to terms with the fact that, sometimes, getting out means getting even. As the story unfolds, the protagonists find themselves drawn into a web of lies and deceit, from which no-one will escape unscathed.
Website: http://www.theheavymovie.com/
Distributor: Parkland Pictures
Venue: Key Cities (Previews fm 13 Apl)
Dear John (12A) (D)
Website: www.dearjohn-movie.co.uk
Distributor: Paramount/Momentum
Venue: Odeon Leicester Square & Nationwide
Cemetery Junction (15) (D)
Freddie (Christian Cooke), Bruce (Tom Hughes) and Snork (Jack Doolan) are childhood friends whose loyalties are tested by the challenges of adulthood. Setting the story in the 1970s Gervais and his writer-director partner Stephen Merchant strike a fine balance between comedy and poignant drama in a story that will have echoes far beyond its Home Counties location.
Website: www.cemeteryjunction.co.uk
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Venue: Nationwide
Beeswax
Dir Andrew Bujalski, US 2009, 100 mins, 35mm
After successful exclusive runs at the ICA for his first two films, Funny Ha Ha and Mutual Appreciation, director Andrew Bujalski returns with his latest low-key gem. Bujalski charts a network of ties and tensions – between twin sisters, their friends and co-workers – with emotional precision, letting the story simply follow the characters’ feelings.
A nicely alert visual style complements the subtle shades of comedy and drama, making this Bujalski’s most complete package so far. ICA
Distributor: ICA Cinema
Venue: ICA Cinema
Films released on April 16
Repo Men (18) (D)
Website: www.repomenthemovie.co.uk
Distributor: Universal
Venue: Vue West End & Nationwide
Paathshaala
Distributor: Eros(Do not look at their website)
City Of Life And Death (15) (D)
Lu Chuan's film about the notorious 'Rape of Nanking' - as Nanjing was known in the west at the time - is first and foremost a corrective to the several earlier attempts to dramatise the Japanese'army devastation of the city and slaughter of some 200,000 of its residents. Sight&Sound, May 2010
Website: http://www.cityoflifeanddeath.co.uk/
Distributor: High Fliers Films
Venue: Curzon Mayfair, Gate & City Screen sites Countrywide
The Ghost (15)
Beautifully crafted by director Roman Polanski, this is a classy thriller of ideas as much as actions, and a high quality cast that also includes Olivia Williams, Kim Cattrall and Tom Wilkinson.
Website: www.theghostmovie.co.uk
Distributor: Optimum Releasing Venue: Odeon Leicester Square, Tricycle Kilburn & Nationwide
Boogie Woogie (15)
Distributor: Vertigo Films
Venue: Apollo Piccadilly Circus, Coronet Notting Hill & Key Cities
Crying With Laughter (D)
Stephen McCole is on the publicity circuit right now, generating buzz and interest for the upcoming release of his latest film ‘Crying with Laughter’. Stephen plays Joey Frisk, a stand up comedian, whose life is spiralling out of control during the biggest week of his career. Stephen went above and beyond the call of duty in his preparations for the role, his dedication has paid off with a star making and utterly compelling performance.
Website: http://cry.britfilms.tv/
Distributor: Britfilms Distn.
Venue: Apollo Piccadilly & Key Cities
The Manchurian Candidate (12A) (D) (R/I)
It’s the tale of a group of soldiers captured during the Korean War and brainwashed by their Communist foe. They don’t know of it of course, it’s only when one of them, Ben Marco (Frank Sinatra) begins having nightmares that he suspects anything is wrong. But as he seeks out a former comrade now set on a glittering political career, he realises the full implication of their half forgotten incarceration.
Website: www.parkcircus.com
My review: http://cinema-architecture.blogspot.com/2010/03/manchurian-candidate.html
Distributor: Park Circus
Venue: BFI Southbank & Key Cities
The Market (D)
Cast: TAYANÇ AYAYDIN, GENCO ERKAL, ŞENAY AYDIN
Mihram is an inventive small-time trader in a provincial town in Eastern Turkey. He has many ideas for good business deals, but never enough capital to realise them. But one day the hospital supply truck is robbed and in desperation the local GP hires Mihram to find medicine on the black market. Finally, Mihram sees an opportunity to make a life-changing deal, but to do so he will have to gamble with the community’s money. If he loses, he will be an outcast. If he wins, he will have a good start-up business. But he hasn’t reckoned with two things – the local mafia, and the inscrutable rules of the marketplace.
A German – Kazakh – British – Turkish co-production
Website: http://www.market-thefilm.com/
Distributor: The Works International
Venue: BFI Southbank & Rich Mix
Bananas!* (D)
Website: www.bananasthemovie.com
Distributor: Dogwoof
Venue: ICA Cinema & Key Cities
Give Me Your Hand (D)
London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival - 20/03/10, 27/03/10
Shortwave Cinema Bermondsey - 16/04/10 - 22/04/10
Cine Lumiere, Kensington - 16/04/10 - 21/04/10
Twin brothers Quentin and Antoine escape from their father’s bakery to attend the funeral of the mother they never knew. As they hitchhike towards Barcelona, old grudges between the two teenagers resurface. Antoine resents the friendships that his brother makes on the road, while sensitive Quentin is frustrated by his brother’s jealous and possessive behaviour. Increasingly hostile, Antoine cruelly ditches Quentin but he soon realises that he can’t make it to Spain without his brother by his side.
A tense yet haunting account of brotherly love and independence, ‘Give Me Your Hand’ is Pascal-Alex Vincent’s first feature film, after numerous acclaimed shorts - his short ‘Baby Shark’ won the Palme d’Or Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival. Inspired by various cult road movies from the 70s, ‘Give Me Your Hand’ is a wistful debut from one of France’s most promising young directors.
Website: http://www.peccapics.com/View/id,208
Distributor: Peccadillo Pictures
Venue: Cine Lumiere, Shortwave Cinema & Key Cities
The Heavy (18)
The Heavy tells the story of two brothers; one (Gary Stretch) a henchman for a successful, yet shady businessman (Stephen Rea), the other (Adrian Paul) with ambitions to be Prime Minister.
Presented with an opportunity to take a long considered revenge against his estranged family (Christopher Lee, Jean Marsh), while being hunted by a psychotic police detective (Vinnie Jones), our conflicted anti-hero must come to terms with the fact that, sometimes, getting out means getting even. As the story unfolds, the protagonists find themselves drawn into a web of lies and deceit, from which no-one will escape unscathed.
Website: http://www.theheavymovie.com/
Distributor: Parkland Pictures
Venue: Key Cities (Previews fm 13 Apl)
Sunday, 11 April 2010
This week UK film releases
From 9 April
I Am Love (15)
British Oscar winner Tilda Swinton is superb in I Am Love, playing a Russian born wife of a wealthy Milanese businessman whose life appears perfect.
But this loyal spouse and loving mother finds her world turned upside down when she falls passionately in love with a business associate of her adult son, in a turbulent drama directed by Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino.
Website: http://www.metrodomegroup.com/content.asp?id=23232&action=cinema
No Greater Love
Michael Whyte’s documentary No Greater Love offers a fascinating look into the enclosed community of The Discalced Order of Carmelite Nuns at the monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Notting Hill.
This order rejects materialism and many aspects of modern life, and as Whyte’s unblinking camera focuses on a year in their lives we gain a unique insight into an existence dominated by prayer, humility and contemplation.
Website: http://www.nogreaterlove.co.uk
The Infidel (15)
The Infidel, scripted by comedian and writer David Baddiel, offers another take on religion. Omid Djalili plays Mahmud, a Muslim who is shocked to learn that prior to his adoption as a baby he was born a Jew.
Trying hard to remain loyal to his existing faith while learning some more about his original one, this set up offers a rich seam of comedy that the cast sensitively mine.
The West Wing’s Richard Schi ff plays Mahmud’s guide to the ways of Judaism in a warm tale that emphasises our human bonds rather than pointing up superficial differences.
Website: http://www.infidelmovie.com
Shelter (15)
Faith and fact clash head on in the suspenseful Shelter, with the excellent Julianne Moore (below) playing a scientist who has spent her whole career denying and disproving the phenomenon of multiple personality disorder.
But when she meets a patient referred to her by her doctor father she nds her views shaken and the safety of her family put at risk by this enigmatic man (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) in a high concept thriller that cranks up the tension as it builds to a riveting climax.
Website: http://www.shelter-movie.co.uk
British Oscar winner Tilda Swinton is superb in I Am Love, playing a Russian born wife of a wealthy Milanese businessman whose life appears perfect.
But this loyal spouse and loving mother finds her world turned upside down when she falls passionately in love with a business associate of her adult son, in a turbulent drama directed by Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino.
Website: http://www.metrodomegroup.com/content.asp?id=23232&action=cinema
Michael Whyte’s documentary No Greater Love offers a fascinating look into the enclosed community of The Discalced Order of Carmelite Nuns at the monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Notting Hill.
This order rejects materialism and many aspects of modern life, and as Whyte’s unblinking camera focuses on a year in their lives we gain a unique insight into an existence dominated by prayer, humility and contemplation.
Website: http://www.nogreaterlove.co.uk
The Infidel, scripted by comedian and writer David Baddiel, offers another take on religion. Omid Djalili plays Mahmud, a Muslim who is shocked to learn that prior to his adoption as a baby he was born a Jew.
Trying hard to remain loyal to his existing faith while learning some more about his original one, this set up offers a rich seam of comedy that the cast sensitively mine.
The West Wing’s Richard Schi ff plays Mahmud’s guide to the ways of Judaism in a warm tale that emphasises our human bonds rather than pointing up superficial differences.
Website: http://www.infidelmovie.com
Faith and fact clash head on in the suspenseful Shelter, with the excellent Julianne Moore (below) playing a scientist who has spent her whole career denying and disproving the phenomenon of multiple personality disorder.
But when she meets a patient referred to her by her doctor father she nds her views shaken and the safety of her family put at risk by this enigmatic man (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) in a high concept thriller that cranks up the tension as it builds to a riveting climax.
Website: http://www.shelter-movie.co.uk
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Gutter King reviewed
This film deals with the exploitation of troubled and vulnerable teenagers by shady characters for commercial gain in illicit back street bare knuckle fights: the youngsters end up as money making beaten up meat, still with an uncertain future. It is told partly in a voice-over by its protagonist, Will, a troubled and homeless teenager, as he is picked up from a juvenile correctional centre and housed by an older man driving a flashy car.
Bob owns a gym and makes money from promoting no-hold-barred bare knuckle fights in derelict warehouses, back street car parks, and places like that. There is a constant jockeying for position between Will and a sulking Paul, another boy in the house, also involved in street fights. A neat triangle is formed with the girl next door, Bebe (which actually means baby in Spanish), whom Paul described out of malice as “white trash”.
The mistake of the director/writer is that he is trying to make some serious points about teen exploitation in what ultimately comes out as a fight movie. The background story with Bebe just feels too clumsy and not very credible – feel free to reach for the remote and fast forward to the next fight or fall asleep until the sweet words are over, no-one is going to blame you! The fight themselves are brilliantly shot, the adrenalin freely flowing in large quantities, a very agile camera following the fights at close rank, the editing taut. I guess that these scenes would be very scary in 3D, indeed!
Gutter King is an attempt to explore some of the nooks and crannies of American inner cities underbelly to limited success. The film feels to be far too long, although it is not. It has far too many unnecessary scenes. A tighter screenplay could have worked wonders for it. It would have been a much effective movie if it had focused on one of the stories rather than uneasily switching from one to the other, with the result that neither is properly developed. The liaison with Bebe is particularly weak. The sexual motivations of the older man, Bob, is hinted at, but then that thread is left hanging out in the air.
There are very few films these days that are technically awful, Gutther King is not one of those as it has been competently shot and put together, it is visually arresting, the sound track is quite lively and mood setting, the camerawork is playful and agile, the sense of place (Orlando, Florida) is acute, and the editing is fast when the adrenalin needs to be pumped. The young actors are convincing.
Director/writer Keith Alan Morris USA 2010 96 mins Cert 15
Cast: Zeb Crown, Casey Clark, Erica Ramirez, Blake Logan.
DVD Release date: 26th April 2010
DVD RRP: £12.99
Distributor: Metrodome Distribution Ltd.
Website:
http://www.metrodomegroup.com/content.asp?id=24991&action=dvd
Image copyright the Metrodome Group
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
The Bridge reviewed
A sleepy German village during the last stages of World War II abruptly awakes to the harsh and brutal realities of the conflict when the front moves onto their doorsteps, leading the local Nazi party boss, a SS colonel, to enlist into the army all boys from the local school over the age of 16, including those recently resettled after having been displaced from bombed out cities. The Werhmacht is, by this time, reduced to recruit young boys – mostly from the Hitler Youth Movement, and old men to keep the war effort going, as the convincingly pitiful state of the men retreating from the advancing Americans shows in convoy after convoy passing through the village, and the bridge that the school boys have been ordered to defend at all cost.
The boys are openly and cynically used as dead meat to allow for the remains of the German army, its generals and the party bosses to escape, hiding behind by then empty slogans about duty, the defence of the Führer and the fatherland. The trouble is that the youngsters, having been indoctrinated from an early age, still believed in all that, and paid dearly for it, whilst the adults cynically abandoned them so that they could flee, desperately trying to burn all traces of their crimes, their allegiance to Hitler having already been thrown away. The disintegration of a society is ugly, there is no doubt about it, and this film shows it in all its bestiality.
Extra tension is introduced into the battle scenes as doubts surfaces in some of the young defenders, mirroring those of the adults, and rifts appear between them which conspire against their chances of survival. Emotional interest is intertwined in the form of a romance between Albert, the protagonist, and Elfie (a very convincing Franka Potente), the daughter of the family where he was resettled, providing a sense of relief after all the despair of war.
The resistance in the bridge, for all its bravery and blood letting, the special effects of the battle scenes being convincing without being overbearing, ultimately was no more than a mosquito bite onto the flanks of the powerful American army - and the generals who sent the boys to their deaths knew that, as it is seen by the end of the film when, after an apparent withdrawal from their positions after having suffered heavy casualties during the battle, the Americans return in huge numbers and overpowering military hardware.
Attention has been taken to period details such as the clothing, hair styles, attitudes, and military hardware depicted in the film, although I have doubts about the uniform of the so-called SS colonel, Walter’s father, who greeted the party of displaced city people at the beginning of the movie: that uniform was not that of a SS officer, but rather that of a brown shirt, a different branch of Nazi Germany military and paramilitary units.
The acting of the main characters, particularly the young actors, is self-assured and restrained, passions being awaken when the story required it. However, I found the secondary characters to be stereotyped and cartoon-like and, consequently, not very believable; particularly the part of Walter’s father, one of the boy, a man who is the local party boss and universally detested in the village who shows his real self and moral cowardice when the Americans overran the village.The musical score was competently done, and what it was to be expected from most films. However, it is the kind of score that I find particularly unhelpful precisely because it is trying to be helpful as it hints on how the action will develop, distracting from the actors’ abilities to do so.
This breathless and dramatically gripping story shows that those who had most to gain during the Nazi years were, obviously, the first to flee, using kids as cannon fodder to cover for their escape, and it is convincingly filmed to its bitter end.
Dir: Wolfgang Panzer Germany 2008 100 mins Cert 15
Cast: François Goeske, Franka Potente, Lars Steinhöfel, Robert Höller, Florian Heppert, Daniel Axt, Toni Deutsch, Alexander Becht, Paula Schramm, Michael Lott.
DVD Release date: 5th April 2010
DVD RRP: £15.99
Metrodome Group website: http://www.metrodomegroup.com/
Image copyright The Metrodome Group.
Monday, 5 April 2010
Peppermint Candy DVD reviewed
A powerful South Korean drama which reminded me of TS Eliot’s poetry (the Quartet) as it deals with the beginning and the end of a man’s life; where the beginning is also the end, and the end is the beginning. With most films I want to see the end of it, with Peppermint Candy I was dying to see how it begins, yet, when I reached that scene I found out that the the end was foretold. Very intriguing, indeed.
It is an intensely gripping story which begins with the end of Kim’s life, the protagonist, under the wheels of a passing train after falling foul of a riverside picnic near his home town, where he has returned, lonely and in disgrace, after having run out of prospects for his life; and it ends with a picnic on the same spot on the riverbank with the same people, 20 years earlier, when they all were much younger and their future was open and bright, with the same railway tracks on the background. What makes Peppermint Candy so powerful is that the last scene of the film, depicting the beginning of Kim's journey, becomes very moving as he foretells his own ending on that same spot 20 years later, of what was to come. Hence the associations I made with the poetry of TS Eliot. This is a story of a man who goes back to the place where his adult life began, just to find out that the beginning had slipped away from between his fingers. In this respect, the film parts away from TS Eliot.
Trains are a powerful presence, even a protagonist, throughout the length of the film – it begins indeed with a shot taken from what at first seems to the driver’s cab, but it turns out to having been filmed from the last carriage of the train, the footage being rolled backwards. The same device is used to separate the chapters as we progressively learn about Kim’s life story as the narrative rolls backwards. In every episode either we hear or see trains or railway tracks, a strong reminder of the linear structure of the film.
His story is a pitiful one, a tale of a man’s degradation not out of malice or evil, but out of moral and emotional weakness. We learn about the failure of his business ventures; about his betrayal to his wife, child and, even, to his dog; about his life as a brutal plain clothes cop (all trying to outdo each other in their cruelty); about his betrayal of Yumin, the woman he loved as a young man; about the photographic camera returned to him by her as a reminder of their past liaison; about his life as an army conscript, a wimp who kills a young woman, an university student, out of panic; we learn about the peppermint candy which links his past and his present as he reminisces by Yumin’s death bed the bitter sweet candy she used to send him when he was in the army, to his considerable embarrassment; and finally we learn about that initial riverside picnic, about a flower, about a tear.
The train leitmotif powerfully and inexorably drives the narrative forwards, and backwards. Peppermint Candy is ultimately a film about fate and atonement. When a lived life is gone, is gone.
An intensely engaging drama, impeccably photographed, which asks questions to which I have no answers. An extraordinary film, undoubtedly one of the great films of the past decade.
1st May 2010: I was so impressed by this film that I neglected adding some notes on the DVD itself. Overall image quality, keeping the original aspect ratio, is good. There is also an enlightening documentary on the making of the film, with interviews to Chang-dong Lee and the actors. A trailer completes the package. As expected, the DVD can be played either on 5.1 or 2.0 sound setting.
Director/writer: Chang-dong Lee South Korea 2000 130 mins Cert TBC
Cast:Yeo-jin Kim, Kyung-gu Sol, So-ri Moon
DVD Release Date: April 26th, 2010
DVD Specifications:5.1 Surround Sound, Anamorphic Widescreen transfer, Removable Subtitles, NTSC Release
DVD Bonus Features:47 Minute 'Making of', Theatrical Trailer, Trailers of other Third Window releases
Third Window Films website:
http://thirdwindowfilms.com/films/peppermint-candy
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vj75LL2q-g
All images copyright the producers and Third Window Films.
It is an intensely gripping story which begins with the end of Kim’s life, the protagonist, under the wheels of a passing train after falling foul of a riverside picnic near his home town, where he has returned, lonely and in disgrace, after having run out of prospects for his life; and it ends with a picnic on the same spot on the riverbank with the same people, 20 years earlier, when they all were much younger and their future was open and bright, with the same railway tracks on the background. What makes Peppermint Candy so powerful is that the last scene of the film, depicting the beginning of Kim's journey, becomes very moving as he foretells his own ending on that same spot 20 years later, of what was to come. Hence the associations I made with the poetry of TS Eliot. This is a story of a man who goes back to the place where his adult life began, just to find out that the beginning had slipped away from between his fingers. In this respect, the film parts away from TS Eliot.
Trains are a powerful presence, even a protagonist, throughout the length of the film – it begins indeed with a shot taken from what at first seems to the driver’s cab, but it turns out to having been filmed from the last carriage of the train, the footage being rolled backwards. The same device is used to separate the chapters as we progressively learn about Kim’s life story as the narrative rolls backwards. In every episode either we hear or see trains or railway tracks, a strong reminder of the linear structure of the film.
His story is a pitiful one, a tale of a man’s degradation not out of malice or evil, but out of moral and emotional weakness. We learn about the failure of his business ventures; about his betrayal to his wife, child and, even, to his dog; about his life as a brutal plain clothes cop (all trying to outdo each other in their cruelty); about his betrayal of Yumin, the woman he loved as a young man; about the photographic camera returned to him by her as a reminder of their past liaison; about his life as an army conscript, a wimp who kills a young woman, an university student, out of panic; we learn about the peppermint candy which links his past and his present as he reminisces by Yumin’s death bed the bitter sweet candy she used to send him when he was in the army, to his considerable embarrassment; and finally we learn about that initial riverside picnic, about a flower, about a tear.
The train leitmotif powerfully and inexorably drives the narrative forwards, and backwards. Peppermint Candy is ultimately a film about fate and atonement. When a lived life is gone, is gone.
An intensely engaging drama, impeccably photographed, which asks questions to which I have no answers. An extraordinary film, undoubtedly one of the great films of the past decade.
1st May 2010: I was so impressed by this film that I neglected adding some notes on the DVD itself. Overall image quality, keeping the original aspect ratio, is good. There is also an enlightening documentary on the making of the film, with interviews to Chang-dong Lee and the actors. A trailer completes the package. As expected, the DVD can be played either on 5.1 or 2.0 sound setting.
Director/writer: Chang-dong Lee South Korea 2000 130 mins Cert TBC
Cast:Yeo-jin Kim, Kyung-gu Sol, So-ri Moon
DVD Release Date: April 26th, 2010
DVD Specifications:5.1 Surround Sound, Anamorphic Widescreen transfer, Removable Subtitles, NTSC Release
DVD Bonus Features:47 Minute 'Making of', Theatrical Trailer, Trailers of other Third Window releases
Third Window Films website:
http://thirdwindowfilms.com/films/peppermint-candy
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vj75LL2q-g
All images copyright the producers and Third Window Films.
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