tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55758967716245415642024-02-19T11:35:42.683+00:00me-on-scenesReviews of films you need to see. Now.ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-48987214576607035222013-12-15T18:51:00.000+00:002013-12-15T18:51:08.536+00:00Teeth (2007, dir. Michell Lichtenstein) review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf3WE4vbioHwE3r8arhZeCjzEwaShNT7u2hrW_c6QNMCiw98vc6rF1xiEJHDT9OZEEbNeEYGh4Rx3kEdiZa3_gPwqTOtSjQZSGqvkwt43G3AJLx7p6mEVmiZtKreya3dXkRMU2yzMm9gXW/s1600/teeth2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf3WE4vbioHwE3r8arhZeCjzEwaShNT7u2hrW_c6QNMCiw98vc6rF1xiEJHDT9OZEEbNeEYGh4Rx3kEdiZa3_gPwqTOtSjQZSGqvkwt43G3AJLx7p6mEVmiZtKreya3dXkRMU2yzMm9gXW/s400/teeth2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In a modest house, lying in the shadow of two large smoke stacks, a young woman grows teeth in her vagina. Writer/director Michell Lichtenstein forges a fast, fun horror film with some bite, but struggles to add any penetrating insight to the issues it opens up. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiinYOyiEt_tMJSJ30gHUEQHxfpgC9hAxHS53HUrCQW98Agybik69Jg60DY-D4feUEjcyskKQrBKo9VybWnyW7W0AMzWqt_9vqo9LWdE-VfGAk-xfUwsPUdRZ1GySbM_l6J7blL5-Wcj5lo/s1600/BmYE3VjkNn7azqtuuL43eClio1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiinYOyiEt_tMJSJ30gHUEQHxfpgC9hAxHS53HUrCQW98Agybik69Jg60DY-D4feUEjcyskKQrBKo9VybWnyW7W0AMzWqt_9vqo9LWdE-VfGAk-xfUwsPUdRZ1GySbM_l6J7blL5-Wcj5lo/s400/BmYE3VjkNn7azqtuuL43eClio1_1280.jpg" width="300" /></a>Dawn (Jess Weixler) belongs to a Christian group which preaches sexual abstinence before marriage at high school. Unknown to the world, she has a physiological condition called vagina dentata. Most days she is harassed and ridiculed by the pot-smoking pupils who fail to see the point in not having sex. Dawn’s new boyfriend also doubts his commitment to celibacy. </div>
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Teeth never goes all the way and shows us the titular fangs, but we see the effects. Dawn’s troubled brother gets his finger sliced in the paddling pool when they’re children. It’s not long before someone loses some fingers and, if you don’t wish to see a severed penis, you may want to cross your legs and look away. </div>
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Lichenstein constructs a situation which demands we see some promised toothy action, even though Dawn has vowed to remain chaste. Problematically, this requires Dawn to be violated for the film to get its way.</div>
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There aren’t many men in Dawn’s life who don’t have an unhealthy attitude to sex. An unethical gynaecologist seems perfectly happy to vigorously examine her without another woman present. Dawn’s brother noisily bangs his girlfriend while the family sit and listen. And at school, she befriends one boy, then another, who exploit her. Lichenstein mines some uncomfortable and blackly comic scenes from this.</div>
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Teeth juggles tension and humour, with mildly successful digs at Young Christians, corporate pollution and youth culture. It is solidly directed and very well played even when the story is running out of steam. It seems lazy writing to make Dawn so fervent about sex and sin when her own sexual organs are so demonic. But what sits most uncomfortably is when Dawn allows herself to have sex with someone she doesn’t want to in order to deliver a forced emasculation. The place that Dawn finds herself by the end of the film seems a betrayal of the character.</div>
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The local power-plant and it’s smoke-stacks sit proudly in every exterior shot of the house, belching out greasy, black smoke, as though to suggest a cause for events. In truth, the cause is more prosaic. Someone wanted to make a film about a toothed vagina and, while not without some bloody pleasures and slippery horror, failed to make it all quite hang together.</div>
ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-70995446498031893812013-12-07T00:42:00.004+00:002013-12-07T18:44:15.201+00:00Attack on Titan (進撃の巨人 Shingeki no Kyojin) television review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Attack on Titan</i> is an animated television series adapted from a popular Japanese comic. It’s a thoroughly unhealthy mash-up of <i>Game of Thrones</i>, <i>Full Metal Jacket</i>, <i>Night of the Living Dead</i>, <i>Spiderman</i> and <i>Jack and the Beanstalk</i>. It has a terrifying disregard for the lives of its characters. It features unexpected twists, death, destruction and dizzyingly choreographed action sequences. And it has one of the catchiest, most bombastic, title sequences you’ll ever see.</div>
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In a land of castles and feudalism, all citizens live within a heavily walled city. The thick wall keeps out the ‘Titans’, 15 metre, naked, sexless, gormless freaks who live to chase and eat humans. The majority of the Titans have a European/American appearance. It’s not hard to see <i>Attack on Titan</i> as a metaphor for “bland” Western culture invading Japan.</div>
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One sunny day, a new titan appears. At 100 metres, he stands higher than the wall. When he rudely breaches it, the city finds it’s streets overrun with mindless titans, scooping up and devouring the population.</div>
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The military’s response to the apocalypse is to rally an army of swordsmen equipped with “3D Maneuver Gear”. They have the ability to fire cables which spear nearby buildings, allowing them to swing up high enough to deliver a killing blow to the Titan’s neck. It sounds fun, looks impressive, but felling a Titan is difficult. Many soldiers die in the process, every fight infused with grim urgency. </div>
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Twists and revelations soon pile-up, changing the war entirely. Despite an eventful story and crazy ideas, viewers will find their pleasure curtailed by pacing issues. While some of the story zips along, on a dime it will turn a corner into lengthy internal monologue, killing the tension. The animation veers between highly detailed energy and simple static images. These mark the points that the production team found their time and budget stretched. At its best, the imagination on display is frightening and beautiful.</div>
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Character design is strong, with Eren Yaeger, Mikasa Ackerman and Levi particularly worth looking out for. In fact Eren and Mikasa (the main characters) have a back-story so complex and compelling, there’s enough material for several spin-offs. It’s their recruitment into the corps which initially drives the story, but a large supporting cast features several brilliant personalities who zing off the screen.</div>
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<i>Attack on Titan</i> is a surprising, nail-biting and only occasionally frustrating show. It skews the well-trodden zombie format into something on a far grander scale. It ratchets up the melodrama to equally dizzying heights and represents a high point for serial television animation.</div>
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<a href="http://www.crunchyroll.com/attack-on-titan" target="_blank">Watch Attack on Titan At Crunchyroll</a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-45585760335823634742013-11-26T23:51:00.001+00:002013-12-07T18:44:58.734+00:00House of Whipcord review (1974, dir. Pete Walker)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sounds like a bit of cheeky, kinky titillation, doesn't it? A film about modern, fun-loving, women who are rounded up, sent to a correctional facility and then whipped for being ever-so naughty. </div>
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<i>House of Whipcord</i> isn’t even a bit fun or carefree, though. Rather than finding themselves in a grand, camp, gothic dungeon, our heroines are interned in a bare, cold institution on a rainy moor. They are stripped of clothes and jewellery, force to wear a sackcloth and forbidden to talk by the impressively dour women who watch over all.</div>
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The governess and wardens are living their dream. And their dream is of an England when the penalty for waywardness was swift and severe. Girls committing insurrection find themselves on the end of the lash. The damage inflicted is ugly and shocking. If the girl still refuses to mend her ways then she finds herself sentenced to death by hanging. A cruel and unjust affair which tips the mood of the film into a very dark and claustrophobic place.</div>
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The girls are sentenced by one of only two men to be found in this matriarchy. A doddering old judge guided by the venomous whispers of the chief matron. Then there is the matron’s son, Mark E. Desade (I know! You don't need me explain it, you're clever enough). He goes to parties, finds progressive, liberated young ladies and seduces them with his cold, handsome, charms. Shortly after they find themselves in the <i>House of Whipcord</i>.</div>
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Plenty of ‘women in prison’ film tropes of are here, but realised in brutal ways. A humiliating stripping, an evil lesbian warden and a precarious escape. Pete Walker is fascinating exploitation director with no agenda other than to "create a bit of mischief", as he puts it. Here he directs with confidence, inky black humour, chilling detachment and little flair. </div>
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The performances range from weak to hammy but are always fascinating and eccentric. The dark interiors and cloudy exteriors offer little in the way of hope or light and the film paints a terrifying picture of what the world would look like if rabid conservatives got their way with the penal system.</div>
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<i>House of Whipcord</i> is a cautionary tale of the older generation’s fear of young, successful, sexually-free women and the rampant misogyny and hypocrisy which will follow.</div>
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ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-8364876966341400792013-06-06T12:05:00.003+01:002013-12-07T18:43:53.876+00:00Aguirre, Wrath of God (restored version) review<div style="text-align: justify;">
You step off the dilapidated coach, warm trade-winds kicking at the fedora you haggled for at the village market, and into your “resplendent” holiday villa-complex. Then you discover the brochure hadn’t been entirely truthful. You were promised El Dorado, the Mysterious City of Gold, and instead you got El Dorado, the feeble and short-lived BBC soap-opera. What you thought was a weather-beaten sign pointing a road to a quaint, abandoned pueblo turned out to be a village of sadistic, godless cannibals. </div>
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Welcome to the jungle! Or, more accurately, the land around Machu Picchu, where Aguirre, Wrath of God was shot on stolen cameras and a wing and a prayer. Director Werner Herzog corralled a cast and crew of 450 people to make a terrifying trip down eroded Inca steps, the film’s opening shot. Fighting vertigo and extreme rain, the filmmakers managed to transport people, animals and equipment into a hostile rainforest to film a sloppy, uneven cinematic classic. </div>
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Based on the little knowledge Herzog had of real-life adventurer Lope de Aguirre, the film traces the journey of a band of Spanish conquistadors travelling down the Amazon in search of the fabled riches of El Dorado. While searching, their infighting and ill-preparedness threatens to undo all of them.</div>
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Something is awry in Aguirre. The pacing of is erratic, the performances uneven and the characterisation inconsistent. Yet it is a unique and compelling film. The brooding hulk of Klaus Kinski gives us an arresting and unpredictable soul who stubbornly believes he is right when all falls to pieces around him. Everyone, even Kinski, play second fiddle to the land that hates them so. It is primordial and awesomely beautiful and the camera lingers long enough to make you love and fear it in equal measure.</div>
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Its hard to work out if some of the actors have been told to act bored and unhappy or whether they really just don’t want to be miles from anywhere with a film crew and a metric ton of tropical diseases. Either way Aguirre is a awash with disinterested faces and muddled motives. The film fails to give us a cohesive narrative, thanks to Herzog’s insistence on turning up in the jungle and constructing a film on the fly. Look again though and you realise it doesn’t matter. Aguirre is a glorious mess, a fascinating, filthy jumble of thwarted ambition, angry nature and godless devils who strike indiscriminately from the trees. Its not just the local “savages” who threaten the “good’ Christians looking for El Dorado either. The making of the film is just as tumultuous, with Kinski turning up ready for a full jungle experience then demanding a hotel away from everyone else when faced with insects, humidity and rain. In his time on set he raged and sulked and demanded that crew be fired for looking at him wrong. Herzog even threatened to put a bullet in his head when Kinski was prepared to leave the film on a boat. After that he was a more subdued presence on set.</div>
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Aguirre is by not an easy film to watch. It gives us extras who stare at the camera, scenes that go on too long, and then on further to nowhere. Kinski seems to be in a different film to the other actors, such is the gap between his performance and thiers. Herzog throws incongruous moments of slapstick comedy into the mix too. The bizarre lasts words of a speared man or the horse that stares inscrutably back at the disintegrating raft it has just been pushed off. Its hard not to marvel at the hubris of the greedy conquistadors facing deadly currents and mounting insanity. Aguirre is a beautiful, repellent masterpiece and proof that Herzog is a director of boldness and ambition.</div>
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Aguirre, Wrath of God has been restored and opens a season of Werner Herzog’s films at the BFI in London on 7th June</div>
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Trailer: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJDuicFyJPg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJDuicFyJPg</a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-52021040761175999412012-11-07T18:43:00.003+00:002012-11-07T18:43:37.800+00:00'Uncut!' A BFI Season of Banned and Censored Films - preview<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's a curious facet of the human psychological condition that we actively seek to do what we're told explicitly not to. As either a child or adult we're all familiar with exchange's such as this:<br /><br />"DO NOT touch that!" <br />"Why not, mum?" <br />"Because you'll get hurt. And because I said so!" <br />"But it's just a rock?" <br />"Yes, but it's covered in excrement, broken glass, venomous-spiders and diseases." <br />"Hmm... OK, mum" <br /><br />then later: <br /><br />"Look at you! You touched the rock didn't you?!" <br />[sheepishly] "Yes!" <br /><br />And now, as a an intelligent, free-thinking adult, you can experience exactly what the British Board of Film Classification has told you not to touch! The BBFC is 100 years old this year and the British Film Institute is scrutinizing the scrutinizers. <br /><br />You’ve witnessed enough bland, anodyne cinema in your life and now you hanker after something else. You want to be challenged, you want to be shocked and you want to be titillated in weird, new ways. And why wouldn't you? Quite frankly you'd like to push some boundaries and have some fun. <div>
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<br />The BFi has heard your cries and programmed a season of films just for you. And to top it off they are hosting a debate on the role of the BBFC as Britain's chief censors and arbiters of what is permissible. All of the films have been banned or partially censored within the last century and all of them are, for whatever reason, viewable now with most of those offending elements reinstated. Times have moved on and while you can argue that the acceptance of sex, violence and unusualness on show here demonstrates a slide into moral vacuity, you could equally contest that it shows that we are all more accepting of challenging material. Yes there is plenty which is, quite rightly, taboo but there are also some things that should not have been banned at all and, in the cold light of day, pose no threat to modern society. <br /><br />Here's a short preview of some of the delights on offer: <br /><br /><b>Crash</b> (1996, dir. David Cronenberg) <br />Famously banned by Westminster council on the grounds that the film was "bordering on obscenity", "liable to lead to copycat action" and guilty of depicting women in a "sexually humiliating way", Crash now looks remarkably restrained and quite un-erotic today. It remains an excellent study of sexual fetish and a mind unable to find the satisfaction it craves despite pushing itself further towards destruction. It features strong performances and just the right level of icily detached direction. <br /><br /><b>The Evil Dead</b> (1982, dir. Sam Raimi) <br />The vertiginous, funny, roller-coaster-speed spills and thrills of Raimi's horror classic were only relatively recently available uncut in the UK. Originally The Evil Dead received an 'X' certificate with numerous excisions. Once again, on a recent viewing of this seminal work, it is easy to see why it might have offended but most of the gore and horror is undercut by a keen and vicious streak of black humour. </div>
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<br /><b>Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom</b> (1984, dir. Steven Spielberg) <br />The "not as awesome of powerful as Raiders, but still watchable" action/adventure prequel suffered at the scissor-like hands of editors when the BBFC requested the removal of a scene in order to secure a more universal PG rating. It was the removal of a man's heart through his rib-cage by the particularly strong hand of the film's villain which proved problematic. Recent releases have seen the scene restored.<br /><br /><b>This is England</b> (2006, dir. Shane Meadows) <br />On release, This is England earned itself an 18 certificate from the BBFC for racist language and violence. Director Meadows insisted that 15 would have been a fairer limit for it, allowing it to be seen by a secondary school audience who would have empathised with the issues presented. This Is England also serves as a valuable history lesson as well as cautionary tale. To think that the film condones racism in any way would be missing the point by a considerable margin. Yes, the naturalistic performances and stark beauty of the film intensify the emotions and impact but I can only think that a 15 year old would have benefitted from seeing the effects of racism on "real" people and communities.<br /><br />The next 2 films are released on BFI DVD on November 5th 2012 <br /><br /><b>Sick: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist </b>(1997, dir. Kirby Dick) <br />A tough documentary to stomach for two reasons. The first is for the graphic depictions of the pain that Bob inflicts on himself: Needles, hammers and nails are used to derive sexual gratification. The second reason for uneasy viewing, is the realisation that Bob is trying to control the pain he feels from the cystic-fibrosis which is slowly killing him. Bob's humanity and intelligence shine through even as his wife dominates and sexually tortures him to the bitter end. </div>
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<br /><b>Maîtresse</b> (1975, dir. Barbet Schroeder) <br />Receiving a ban on initial release in the UK for it's graphic scenes of bondage and sado-masochism, Maîtresse still has the power to induce winces when the pain-giving starts. The love story between Gerard Depardieu's thief and the dominatrix (Bulle Ogier), whose house he invades, is convincing and complex. It looks great too, and the fetish fashions on display give it a curiously modern feel too.<br /><br />Here's a full list of what's on in the season. Why not book yourself a ticket to something they never wanted you to see! <div>
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<a href="https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=0FD6977C-1805-425A-86FC-5BDC50F6CFCC" target="_blank">Uncut schedule at the BFI</a></div>
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ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-83183382463184338962012-10-11T14:31:00.001+01:002013-12-09T00:35:10.948+00:00Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (Long men fei jia) review (2011, dir Hark Tsui)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm no fan of the 3D film. Something about having my eyes covered in any way while engaged with a medium that is at least 50% visual doesn't sit well. Then there is the fact that film is three-dimensional already (time is a dimension) so the name is incorrect. And lets not forget what 3D is: It's not 3D. It's several layers of flat planes which 'appear' to be differing distances in relation to the viewer. All that clever compositing effects work by the film-makers is undone by the fact that your attention is drawn right back to the fact that 'dinosaur-A' really isn't part of 'landscape-B' and the whole thing is a figment of some computer's central processor.</div>
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Having made that point I'm going to recommend you see a martial-arts epic in the wuxia tradition called <i>Flying Swords of Dragon Gate</i>. In 3D.</div>
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From a bravura, vertiginous, fly-through the masts and rigging of a ship-yard to an epic, and quite brilliant, fight to the death within a whirling sandstorm, the 3D process is here given a vigorous workout. <i>FSODG</i> is not an intelligent film, but any ounce of brain-power it had was spent solely on figuring exciting ways to use 3D to bombard the viewer with arrows, spears, fists, head and beauty.</div>
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The plot side of things goes something like this: various factions in a strife-riven China take refuge in an inn built not far from "The Dragon Gate". Viscous agents of the East and West Bureaus, brave knights who spend their life on the road, tattooed barbarians, sell-swords and flesh-eating inn-keepers all converge as the sand-storm of a lifetime engulfs them. With the revelation that the city buried under the Dragon Gate will at last be revealed by the shifting sands and disgorge its bounty of gold for the victors, the story is given some urgency.</div>
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There are subplots of love lost, mistaken identity, Machiavellian intrigue and sexual politics, but none are developed with any of the rigidity they deserve to be. Plot points come and go, sometimes serving only to provide an occasional titter, but more often than not to segue into an extravagantly choreographed fight. Provided you are happy with unclear motivations, unlikely twists and unstable characterisation you won't find anything to trouble you here.</div>
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Star power is provided by Jet Li, on enthusiastic form, and acclaimed director Hark Tsui. All of the cast are fun to watch though, especially Xun Zhou as a lady knight and Kun Chen as both a supremely nasty leader and in a parallel role as a bumbling servant. Also worthy of mention are the powerful and fun special effects, wrangled by the effects team who worked on <i>Avatar</i>. The aforementioned flying battle in the heart of a whirlwind of sand is a particularly exciting moment, a sort of violent <i>Wizard of Oz</i> dream sequence, which thrills and surprises in equal measure. All staple wuxia elements are here, from floating heroes, knights duty bound to help the weak and the pitting of lower classes against an evil and rich elite.</div>
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<i>FSODG</i> is a great, nonsensical fun. A rip-roaring flight of fantasy that plays fast and loose with physics, history and logic, and never fails to deliver on its promise of spectacle, action and adventure. And as a showcase for 3D it fulfills its purpose by throwing everything at the screen, including a rather ornate, gold kitchen sink. A prefect metaphor for the fact that stereoscopy can't help your story but only provide the shallow thrills that are its sole stock-in-trade.</div>
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<i>FLYING SWORDS OF DRAGONS GATE is out in cinemas on 19th October and on 3D DVD and Blu-Ray on the 29thof October 2012.</i></div>
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ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-8973886149144426072012-07-23T23:29:00.000+01:002012-07-23T23:40:56.347+01:00The 10 Funniest Moments in Film: part 2<i><a href="http://me-on-scenes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/10-funniest-moments-in-film-part-1.html" target="_blank">Part 1 here</a></i><br />
<b>6. "I'm terrified beyond capacity for rational thought" in <i>Ghostbusters</i></b><br />
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<b>Dr. Peter Venkman:</b> Ray has gone bye-bye, Egon... what've you got left?<br />
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<b>Dr. Egon Spengler:</b> Sorry, Venkman, I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought. </div>
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Why is this funny? You shouldn't analyse comedy, of course, but the humour comes from the fact that he still has enough rational thought to construct a complex statement even though he says he's terrified. It's a very pleasant spoof of any character who's ever been unrealistically rooted to the spot with fear in every horror film you've seen.<br />
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<b>7. "Print is Dead" in <i>Ghostbusters</i></b><br />
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<b>Janine Melnitz: </b>You're very handy, I can tell. I bet you like to read a lot, too. <br />
<b>Dr. Egon Spengler:</b> Print is dead. <br />
<b>Janine Melnitz:</b> Oh, that's very fascinating to me. I read a lot myself. Some people think I'm too intellectual but I think it's a fabulous way to spend your spare time. I also play raquetball. Do you have any hobbies? <br />
<b>Dr. Egon Spengler:</b> I collect spores, molds, and fungus. <br />
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<i>Ghostbusters</i>! Twice! Well, it is one of the best comedy films every made. OK, print wasn't dead back in '84, but it is now! And it's funny for both those reasons. Why? Because it makes me laugh, that is why.</div>
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<b>8. "Suck my Tits?" in <i>This Is England</i></b></div>
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<b>Smell: </b>You're dead sensitive.<br />
Are you all right?<br />
Are you sure?<br />
Do you want me to kiss you again?<br />
Do you wanna suck my tits?<br />
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Wholly inappropriate, uncomfortable and weird, When <i>Smell</i> asks <i>Shaun</i> quite casually if he'd like to suck her tits the only sensible reaction is to laugh. And then be violently sick.</div>
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<b>9. Biggus Dickus in <i>Life of Brian</i></b><br />
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<b>Pontius Pilate:</b> So, yaw fatha was a Woman? Who was he? <br />
<b>Brian:</b> He was a Centurion, in the Jerusalem Garrisons. <br />
<b>Pontius Pilate:</b> Weally? What was his name? <br />
<b>Brian:</b> 'Naughtius Maximus'. <br />
[the Centurion laughs] <br />
<b>Pontius Pilate:</b> Centuwion, do we have anyone of that name in the gawwison? <br />
<b>Centurion:</b> Well, no, sir. <br />
<b>Pontius Pilate:</b> Well, you sound vewy sure. Have you checked? <br />
<b>Centurion:</b> Well, no, sir. Umm, I think it's a joke, sir... like, uh, 'Sillius Soddus' or... 'Biggus Dickus', sir. <br />
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As I said in <a href="http://me-on-scenes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/10-funniest-moments-in-film-part-1.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a>, nothing is funnier than watching people trying not to laugh. Nothing!<br />
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<b>10. Bank Robbery in<i> Take the Money and Run</i></b><br />
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<b>Bank Teller #1:</b> Does this look like "gub" or "gun"? <br />
<b>Bank Teller #2:</b> Gun. See? But what does "abt" mean? <br />
<b>Virgil:</b> It's "act". A-C-T. Act natural. Please put fifty thousand dollars into this bag and act natural. <br />
<b>Bank Teller #1:</b> Oh, I see. This is a holdup? </div>
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Take The Money And Run is probably my favourite comedy film ever, but I chose this sequence (among many hilarious ones) to show it off.</div>ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-68451649495521908152012-06-07T01:08:00.000+01:002012-10-15T10:56:51.758+01:00Prometheus review (2012, dir. Ridley Scott)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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(Contain mild spoilers)<br />
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<i>Prometheus</i> isn't a horror film. It is a summer blockbuster with ideas above its station. It is a film of awe and mystery punctuated by occasional bouts of terror and action. If you want any indicator to its ambitions, the first scene is nothing less than the creation of life on Earth.<br />
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A series of ancients artefacts strewn across the globe all hold a pictogram inspired by visiting celestial beings. It is Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and her boyfriend, Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) who first put the pieces of the puzzle together. It is a star-map to a particular point in space; an invitation to meet another race. A team of scientists are assembled via funding from the powerful Weyland-Yutani corporation. The film wastes no screen-time setting up the logistics of such a trip and the team are soon en-route to the planet LV-223.<br />
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Landing fortuitously close to the only building on this barren rock, the team embark on their exploration. What they find there points to the origins of the human-race. Things fall apart when alternative agendas are revealed by the accompanying robot, David (Michael Fassbender) and the Weyland-Yutani representative, Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLfGklvOIyXgO85FyKVDLF6ZzZJcfrcNJdsl1Aivd1akvXsqN0zpZRduBNroQdpeYU9_7-by8p6WozgZqeTEDaNMp68RoJYZXk8eE4ighpg5GMK8FBqqbUa6Ziv01iqfni17mh5YXVN97g/s1600/Prometheus-movie-review-Ridley-Scott.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLfGklvOIyXgO85FyKVDLF6ZzZJcfrcNJdsl1Aivd1akvXsqN0zpZRduBNroQdpeYU9_7-by8p6WozgZqeTEDaNMp68RoJYZXk8eE4ighpg5GMK8FBqqbUa6Ziv01iqfni17mh5YXVN97g/s400/Prometheus-movie-review-Ridley-Scott.jpg" width="400" /></a><i>Prometheus</i> is a beautiful film. Shots of the space-ship cascading through the atmosphere of the planet and an opening montage of landscapes from a young-Earth spring to mind. There are also strange moments when the cinematographer's attention seems to have been diverted and exterior scenes resemble a quarry location from a 70s episode of Doctor Who.<br />
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One needs to pay attention in this film. On the planet events unfold rapidly and the seeming innocuous disturbance of a chamber has complex ramifications later on. There is a clearly a deeper mystery at the heart of the film but creaky dialogue and occasional moments of flat-out silliness threaten to overwhelm them. Musings are made on the nature of life and death with a Christian perspective shoe-horned in when the script needs to feel like it is still edgy and relevant. With such big notions at stake the locking of all the action to one small location makes it all feel strangely parochial.<br />
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<i>Prometheus</i> is a good film which is only a few scenes and a couple of script redrafts away from being a great one. Stronger characterisation and better dialogue would certainly have helped. Some characters are sketched vaguely, making it hard to care for them. The film has several influences. Most notably the HP Lovecraft novella <i>At The Mountains of Madness</i> (which could have been a film in its own right had Guillermo Del Toro received funding) in which man discovers the own hideous nature of his creation and the malevolence of those creators. The powerful opening recalls <i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i> in its scope and ambition. In terms of ideas <i>Prometheus</i> is every bit as important as <i>2001</i> or <i>Solaris</i>. I can't think of any science-fiction film which has attempted to weigh in on such lofty matters since those films, with any degree of seriousness.<br />
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Performances are uniformly strong with Fassbender and Rapace providing stand out moments, stoically carrying on through the sillier moments. In the end this is a science-fiction film which has been forced to accept summer blockbuster stylings. We should be glad that a mass-market film is attempting depth with its ideas and philosophical-musings but somewhere in its gestation something prevented it shining as bright as a new star.<br />
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REALLY BIG SPOILERS - DON"T READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT:<br />
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Some questions to ponder:<br />
Why do worms appear in our heroes footsteps? They seem to mutate pretty rapidly into the proto-face-hugger/snake creature. Do Meredith's eyes glow like a Bladerunner replicant when she is talking to David? Is she a robot as well? Is this why she pronounces "father" so strangely? What were the Engineers running from? Why is this ship different from the one on LV-426? Was the woken engineer angry because he met a life-form created by the people his race made? Why did the Engineer at the start willingly kill himself? Why did the engineers visit early Earth civilisations? Why are they hostile? Or did we get that wrong?<br />
Hmm...ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-7796360436306983682012-05-01T00:01:00.000+01:002012-07-23T23:30:56.419+01:00The 10 Funniest Moments in Film: part 1<b>1. Breaking the fourth-wall in <i>Trading Places</i></b><br />
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<b>Billy Ray:</b> No thanks, guys, I already had breakfast this morning.<br />
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<b>Mortimer Duke:</b> This is not a "meal", Valentine. We are here to TRY to explain to you what is we do here.</div>
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<b>Randolph Duke:</b> We are 'commodities brokers', William. Now, what are commodities? Commodities are agricultural products... like coffee that you had for breakfast... wheat, which is used to make bread... pork bellies, which is used to make bacon, which you might find in a 'bacon and lettuce and tomato' sandwich. <br />
[Billy Ray turns and gives a long look at the camera] <br />
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<b>2. Tallywacker in <i>Porky's</i></b><br />
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<b>Balbricker:</b> Now, Mr. Carter. I know this is completely unorthodox. But I think this is the only way to find that boy. Now, that penis had a mole on it. I'd recognize that penis anywhere. In spite of the juvenile snickers of some, this is a serious matter. That seducer and despoiler must be stopped; he's extremely dangerous. And, Mr. Carter, I'm certain that everyone in this room knows who that is. He's a contemptible little pervert who...</div>
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<b>3. Pure disdain in <i>This Is Spinal Tap</i></b></div>
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<b>Tommy Pischedda:</b> You know what the title of that book should be? "Yes, I Can If Frank Sinatra Says It's OK". 'Cause Frank calls the shots for all of those guys. Did you get to the part yet where uh... Sammy is coming out of the Copa... it's about 3 o'clock in the morning and, uh, he sees Frank? Frank's walking down Broadway by himself...</div>
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[Nigel raises the limo partition]<br />
Fuckin' limeys.<br />
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<b>4. Shatner in video-screen in <i>Airplane II: The Sequel</i></b><br />
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<b>Buck Murdock[on view-screen]:</b> Why the hell aren't I notified about these things!</div>
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<b>5. Courage in the face of adversity in<i> Carry On... Up The Khyber</i></b><br />
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<b>Lady Joan Ruff-Diamond:</b> [brushing off a collapsed ceiling] Oh dear! I seem to have got a little plastered! </div>
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<i><a href="http://me-on-scenes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-10-funniest-moments-in-film-part-2.html" target="_blank">to be continued</a></i></div>ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-28006901438516232822012-04-16T13:51:00.000+01:002012-04-16T13:51:16.055+01:00Marley (2012, dir. Kevin MacDonald)<br />
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Reggae, and Bob Marley, were always off
my radar. So far off my radar, I was in danger of flying planes into
them. (My metaphorical and wholly imaginary job as an air-traffic
controller was in jeopardy). Despite this I found myself fascinated
and excited by <i>Marley.</i> At times it drew me close to tears. (I
didn't of course, actually cry. In fact had I cried I would still
probably say that “I didn't of course, cry”).</div>
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Bob Nesta Marley was only 36 years old
when he died and what <i>Marley,</i> the film, does best is to cover
the staggering amount he achieved in that time. He was born to a
slightly caddish and elusive white Jamaican Royal Marine and a black
Jamaican mother. Bullied in his early years, as a his mixed race boy
in Jamaica, Bob's didn't have an easy start. But he turned this
around in later life and blossomed into a handsome and charismatic
young man with a profound talent for music.</div>
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<i>Marley</i> is notably reverential to
Bob but does on occasion, portray him or those around him in a
negative light. Director MacDonald's mission to interview as many
people as he possibly could was always going to lead to some
interesting revelations. Interviewees hint that the head of Island
Records, Chris Blackwell (known to some as “Whitewell”), was
exploiting Bob by not paying him properly, for example. Yet Blackwell
also turns up, happy to discuss his part in the legend.<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Bob's own children portray him as an
unreliable and often absent father. One rather bleak anecdote tells
how he would race his children on the beach, winning and laughing
riotously, not even slowing to let them catch up. A devotee of
Rastafarianism and a committed hedonist, Bob seems to have lived a
happier life than the rest of his immediate family, possibly because
he cared more about football and womanising than anything else.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This exhaustive documentary captures
some astounding moments, such as the shooting of Bob and his retinue
by gunmen at his studios at 56 Hope Road, assuming he was a supporter
of the current Jamaican prime-minister. With gunshot wounds to the
chest and arm, he still honoured his commitment to a concert two days
later. Another moment recalls Bob on stage with leaders of the two
warring factions in Jamaica. Forcing them to hold hands, he united
political enemies and brought hope to thousands with a message of
peace.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Bob's effortless charm and love of life
make the closing chapters harder to bear. They detail his battle with
the disease afflicting “the white-man part of his body”: cancer.
Positive to the last, Bob ends his days in a slow decline, smiling
and joking with friends.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKfwz3Ktzg3T_Z7i1bauQ2AH4SHFAlRxd8H3YmtQvxV_Ri8-i7vtVJ4NVlUDq5jBlc2o1tntnUu6ByBf6Rn3tP156ZWexZxTgjv6x3W0Tp10ZCCtg6FsEXQ_Cra1ABqs9uxT0Tq_xJKw8H/s1600/bob_football.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKfwz3Ktzg3T_Z7i1bauQ2AH4SHFAlRxd8H3YmtQvxV_Ri8-i7vtVJ4NVlUDq5jBlc2o1tntnUu6ByBf6Rn3tP156ZWexZxTgjv6x3W0Tp10ZCCtg6FsEXQ_Cra1ABqs9uxT0Tq_xJKw8H/s320/bob_football.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Kevin MacDonald's film captures a whole
life and if you know little or nothing of Bob Marley this will be
rectified by the end. As a documentary it may be lacking style but it
is always interesting, often highly emotional and might just change
the way in which you view the legend, and the real man behind it.
There was more to Bob than is found here but its doubtful so much
will ever be assembled again in one place.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The closing credits feature a host of
Bob's fans from around the world celebrating his music. Curiously
these are the only moments in the documentary which ring a little
contrived and hollow.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>Marley</i> is released in cinemas
and on-demand on April 20<sup>th</sup> 2012.</div>ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-22620326907632415842012-04-16T00:34:00.000+01:002012-04-23T00:09:42.063+01:00Break review (2009, dir. Matthias Olof Eich)<i>Break</i> is a
German horror film masquerading as an American film. Shot in English,
and using American cars and newspapers, it was actually made in Bavaria with a
German cast and crew. The film follows four young women on a trip
into the Canadian rockies to escape the humdrum and, for Sarah, to
recover from the upsetting end of a relationship.<br />
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia1XlyNuPiuXIK8-cQhvnq5kLxyObScQlGcfdw6mrfQoBWFxNP5X3vvFWpc1TfrSAJNWrvbeiszNT_HKeSkB_WRglybQG-53yHIbNMXe00HjdEC1QbYXDvkM1Tk9ZuWi85bNqJugZXMZCc/s1600/intro1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="break girls" border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia1XlyNuPiuXIK8-cQhvnq5kLxyObScQlGcfdw6mrfQoBWFxNP5X3vvFWpc1TfrSAJNWrvbeiszNT_HKeSkB_WRglybQG-53yHIbNMXe00HjdEC1QbYXDvkM1Tk9ZuWi85bNqJugZXMZCc/s400/intro1.jpg" title="Break 2009 girls" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A pleasant holiday
of hiking, photography, skinny-dipping and confessionals is curtailed
by the discovery of a pair of bloodied feet dangling from a tree.
Intestines found nearby hint that bad things are “afoot”!
<i>Deliverance, Wong Turn </i>and<i>
The Hills Have Eyes </i>all spring
to mind as obvious influences when the local rednecks turn nasty and
hunt the girls mercilessly. What follows is a nasty chase through the
woods and streams as they try to avoid sexual-abuse, stabbing,
harpooning and shooting.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Performances are
lively and earnest without being entirely convincing and direction is
confident and restrained without being memorable. The girls at least
look like they could be friends. The landscapes are undeniably
beautiful and sumptuously photographed, providing a beautiful
backdrop from which to juxtapose the unfolding horror.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>Break</i> ends
satisfyingly for those who endured the frequent blood-letting and
“unstoppable killer” cliches. It brings nothing new to the genre
but what remains is watchable and grim, if terrorised women and
mentally-ill yokels be your thing!<br />
<br />
BREAK is released on DVD in the UK April 16, 2012. The trailer can be seen <a href="https://vimeo.com/37949205" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-86655146731818779372012-03-27T12:22:00.001+01:002012-04-16T00:46:01.493+01:00Jo Nesbo's Headhunters (Hodejegerne) review (2012, dir. Morten Tyldum)Comfortably replete with <a href="http://www.jarlsberg.com/" target="_blank">Jarlsberg Cheese</a>, <a href="http://www.vikingfjord.com/" target="_blank">Vikingfjord Vodka</a> and some wonderful <a href="http://www.signejohansen.com/" target="_blank">Scandinavian pastries</a> you could be forgiven for thinking I'd forgotten I was here to review a film. But this was just the very genial introduction to a new Norwegian film hitting UK shores in April.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHcHeAXyrgyC3ZYBjg_pjTEpsEtchLpAVbwvXav_J7zyRjm5bCA4llJXvECLsDGTFAdqMXbrEXN09k4jd_MyhZa-TUubHmU3qiwDd2BDZVHM226XDEu0Ch6VpJLST4OJ88RHjZPK0DSiL6/s1600/Headhunters_GQ_30Sep11_642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHcHeAXyrgyC3ZYBjg_pjTEpsEtchLpAVbwvXav_J7zyRjm5bCA4llJXvECLsDGTFAdqMXbrEXN09k4jd_MyhZa-TUubHmU3qiwDd2BDZVHM226XDEu0Ch6VpJLST4OJ88RHjZPK0DSiL6/s400/Headhunters_GQ_30Sep11_642.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
I settled, satisfied, into my seat for what I expected from the trailer to be a straightforward, nuts and bolts thriller but Headhunters is much more than that. It is a surprising and hilariously tricksy film with a darkly comic and quite sadistic inner-core. <br />
<br />
Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie) has all the trappings of a respectable businessman, complete with smart car, suits, wife and house. His snappy moves have earned him a role as a man for head-hunting the best corporate talent. Only his diminutive stature provides any level of self-doubt. However, his life is a minutely assembled and shock-proofed lie, as it transpires his fortune is amassed almost entirely from art-theft. <br />
<br />
At a party he is introduced to the suave Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, known to US/UK audiences from Game of Thrones). Roger spots an opportunity to end his criminal career with the biggest theft of all, the valuable Ruebens painting at Clas's apartment. His accomplice, Ove, will sneak the painting out of the country and onto the black market. <br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm9L91DqCK_L5a6bwDt-6p6nClgZMQnZ7HndmDFL5zzavd099BRlQXlygoRaUI7uISBABZdQ4XT0cIlHpjFHackPkLa9pMMp9vnMUykOUdtIHoXG9zhXp3BZdXfC_XWnP5u-DuwrIUsBD_/s1600/headhunters600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm9L91DqCK_L5a6bwDt-6p6nClgZMQnZ7HndmDFL5zzavd099BRlQXlygoRaUI7uISBABZdQ4XT0cIlHpjFHackPkLa9pMMp9vnMUykOUdtIHoXG9zhXp3BZdXfC_XWnP5u-DuwrIUsBD_/s400/headhunters600.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
On executing the plan things go disastrously awry. What appeared to be a simple art heist leads to questions about Roger's wife's fidelity. Then the story becomes a chase across the Norwegian country-side as Roger evades a relentless assassin. As he runs, the tension, set-pieces and improbability escalate. Traps and schemes become ever more inventive and no one can be trusted. Headhunters evolves into something wild and unpredictable. Escapades involving skewered dogs, errant tractors, a large amount of faecal matter and flying cars are some of the obstacles added to the delirious brew. <br />
<br />
Headhunters won't set the world alight in terms of acting, direction or artistry but for 98 minutes you will laugh, wince and tremble as our hero, Roger, is wrung through the wringer and then wrung again through an ever more twisted set of wringers, each wringer more cruel and twisted than the last. A tense, hilarious and evil viewing experience which will keep you guessing. <br />
<br />
<i>Headhunters is released in the UK and Ireland on April 6th. Find the trailer <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I2tfe_nRuA" target="_blank">here</a>.</i>ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-64507003171196451682012-03-12T10:55:00.003+00:002012-03-12T11:28:13.697+00:00A Horrible Way To Die review (2010, dir. Adam Wingard)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRtz0LtjNqxwDCAmmYHTnPn1PAtDQHNiC5pgI21CKm1FAm8NH7Z6v2HshLk0dh-FMvcJ64p6LVQ742pgPwh_hXe8x2leHOoux-KIHOQzSR6dOMYWE6KdhbUkhILMs12Ct9z8EphReevua/s1600/AHWTD8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRtz0LtjNqxwDCAmmYHTnPn1PAtDQHNiC5pgI21CKm1FAm8NH7Z6v2HshLk0dh-FMvcJ64p6LVQ742pgPwh_hXe8x2leHOoux-KIHOQzSR6dOMYWE6KdhbUkhILMs12Ct9z8EphReevua/s400/AHWTD8.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Adam Wingard's 2010 film stands as an impressive achievement. Intense performances; a restrained and understated script and a twisted, thrilling tale. But undermining all of this, a few creative decisions threaten to derail the film entirely. Does what remains withstand this onslaught? Is the powerful substance more than the alienating style?<br />
<br />
Set in Midwestern America the film is a taut horror/thriller concerning a recovering alcoholic coming to terms with a past relationship which was not what it seemed. At an alcoholic support-group, Sarah (Amy Seimetz) meets fellow troubled-soul Kevin (Joe Swanberg) who asks for a date. Meanwhile her ex-boyfriend, serial-killer Garrick (A J Bowen), has violently absconded from gaol and is making a viscera-strewn path back home.<br />
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<br />
Sarah's relationship and drinking are going well and it appears she has turned her life around. Then her past collides with her present in a wholly unexpected way. What follows presents us with a unique and daring twist on the serial killer genre. Past and present are melded without confusion as we observe first hand how Sarah and Garrick once shared a loving relationship.<br />
<br />
And all of this would make for a simply-told, solid film were it not for the directorial style. Shot entirely with a constantly swaying, hand-held camera, even the most motion-sick resistant will find themselves challenged not to succumb to giddy nausea. The lens never looks like it is more than a few centimetres from the actors faces. The depth of field is so shallow background detail is lost in a blurred haze. Establishing shots are few, landscapes are non-existent and no opportunity is missed to de-focus or pan away from the action. This is a great shame because such a self-conscious attempt at disorientating the viewer detracts from the naturalistic performances.<br />
<br />
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<br />
If you think you can maintain your concentration through these distancing techniques then A Horrible Way To Die is an un-sensationalist story with a shocking twist. Just don't expect to walk away without a certain amount of vertigo.<br />
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<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Released on <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Horrible-Way-To-Die-DVD/dp/B005Z1K3HE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331548705&sr=8-1" target="_blank">DVD</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Horrible-Way-To-Die-Blu-ray/dp/B005Z1K3LA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1331548705&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Blu-ray</a> in the UK on March 19th.</i></div>ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-17334331835510412322012-02-05T23:33:00.000+00:002012-02-07T18:46:09.423+00:00The Woman in Black review (2012, dir. James Watkins)<span style="font-family: inherit;">Daniel
Radcliffe bears the weight of </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">The Woman in Black</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> almost solely
on his shoulders. Despite being a recent
alumnus of Hogwarts it's perhaps too large a burden. The
central portion of the film has
Radcliffe (as lawyer, Arthur Kipps) alone in a
dilapidated house of hell. There is little to
do but observe and react. When he's required to interact,
with the formidable supporting cast, his weaknesses are more
apparent. Not least that he looks just a smidgen too young to be a
recently bereaved father and a trained lawyer.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKcC4dFJtsdEIwtess-ebHbqrFbMHGxzFUJsKWwzDe60UDktNUXCmUK_EhPwUIra9IUK3MMb4WZpNe6SG320pYdrf4AdI3_mARtkI0SEgzLE3Au1DNH4aF7x-pUah1DZYIq0CZWIXadGV-/s1600/00001609.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKcC4dFJtsdEIwtess-ebHbqrFbMHGxzFUJsKWwzDe60UDktNUXCmUK_EhPwUIra9IUK3MMb4WZpNe6SG320pYdrf4AdI3_mARtkI0SEgzLE3Au1DNH4aF7x-pUah1DZYIq0CZWIXadGV-/s320/00001609.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dispatched
to settle the affairs of a recently deceased woman, Kipps arrives in
a quaint but markedly
rude village in the heart of the Victorian countryside
where, beneath its chocolate-box
veneer, dark undercurrents flow swiftly. No one wants to talk,.
Kipps is warned to stay away, and
the children are confined to
their homes.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A high
rate of infant mortality stalks the frightened streets and hushed
voices speak of a vengeful spirit
connected to the property of the dead woman. An apparition of a
black-clad woman is said to lead youngsters away to their death.
Nearby an abandoned house casts a deathly
shadow over the place. The house lies across a narrow, sodden
causeway precariously crossing the marsh. The path is covered cut off
by the tide for several hours a day, effectively trapping visitors
there should they visit at the wrong time.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
only friendly face in the village belongs to Daily (A sombre Ciaran
Hinds) father grieving over the loss of his boy. Daily drives Kipps
across the marsh to the house but doesn't hold with any of this
“superstition nonsense”. As a lone voice of reason and science in
the village he is severely outnumbered.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Writer
Jane Goldman has treated the original novel by Suan Hill as a
template, maintaining the bones of the plot and the
sense of dread. <i>The Woman in Black</i> is most effective when
Kipps is alone in the house,
sorting through paperwork. As he works
he starts to hear noises, see things in his periphery. Something is
with him. Tension is carefully built as he investigates. One sequence
calls to mind the 1963 film <i>The
Haunting</i>,
when. A reverberating,
bassy thumping emanates from behind a locked door, ramping up the
tension. And the house itself could be a
twin of Hill House from that film.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaUuA3ZgmVpZwsuxyZOHHK-dhy-zQDJwc_0QLZDLgKqdhlihlYw-FNsxH7PiKkWdVcbaR97utAJ6_Fc7_FvlKVVrdi06CiQtORHUY2XgVx2ODBcFH-RvkBEf_OGfe_9VOuBmj99WE85DWs/s1600/WIB1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaUuA3ZgmVpZwsuxyZOHHK-dhy-zQDJwc_0QLZDLgKqdhlihlYw-FNsxH7PiKkWdVcbaR97utAJ6_Fc7_FvlKVVrdi06CiQtORHUY2XgVx2ODBcFH-RvkBEf_OGfe_9VOuBmj99WE85DWs/s320/WIB1.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">Director
James Watkins (director of “Broken Britain” parable <i>Eden Lake</i>
and writer of the curious <i>My Little Eye</i>) paces the scares in
well-timed ebbs and flows, maintaining a strong sense of foreboding.
An accomplished cast bring a touch of class to a tale with little
ambition other than to creep under the
skin of the audience. A few well-worn tropes serve to distance the
seasoned film-viewer: wind-up toys springing to clock-sprung
life of their own accord; gaudy,
glassy-eyed Victorian
dolls observing all, and words etched in blood spewed
across the walls. There is a small nod to the debate about the
supernatural versus enlightenment but it is soon abandoned when the
source of the terror is revealed.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The good
news is that The Woman in Black does what a film under the Hammer
productions banner is expected to. It provides a roller-coaster of
thrills and jumps, some cheesy and some downright scary, while
remaining largely free of computer generated imagery. The finale is a
little wrought and sentimental, though not enough to derail what has
gone before. There are moments of silliness and some straining of
credibility in the effort to scare the audience. But, give in to it,
leave your cynicism at home, and the hairs on the back of your neck
will stand proud. You'll laugh with relief that you survived the next
big “BOO!” and grab the hand of your partner. Isn't that what you
want from a horror film?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">UK general
release: February 10th</span></div>ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-71133739939231179352012-01-21T15:49:00.000+00:002012-01-22T00:31:16.125+00:00The Haunting review (1963, dir. Robert Wise)I pray the poor soul chancing upon this despair-smirched scrawl forgives the quality of my record. It has been four nights since last I slept. Frequent opium use has afforded little respite to my fractured sanity. I write in scarlet ink with only the flesh-coloured light of a gibbous moon. When my eyes do close I see only the vague outline of the ‘thing’. Its writhing torso accompanied by mournful ululations and discordant gibbering.<br />
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<img height="267" src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/haunting_1963_04.jpg" width="400" /><br />
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My tale starts with an invitation. A simple letter on the morning mat of an ordinary day. To sojourn in the notorious Hill House. A house born bad. I smirked and discarded the wretched thing there and then. But my old friend Dr Markway was dogged. “An experiment of tremendous important to science,” he persisted. “Vital to the disproval of parapsychological disturbances.”<br />
I humoured him. “I’ll go. But do not expect results. Stuff and nonsense!”<br />
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A couple of days later and I ground my Plymouth Fury up the gravel drive. Hill House filled the windscreen, squatting vilely ahead. On entering I greeted Markway and the other lab-rats. I was shown to a grand room and I unpacked before we reconvened for dinner. Luke was brash and cynical, not unlike a gameshow host. Theodora was haughty and mocking in contrast to Eleanor whose demeanour was timid and mouselike. A more diverse group I could not have imagined. Markway knew what he was doing.<br />
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<a href="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/haunting-bloom-harris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/haunting-bloom-harris.jpg" /></a>Now I am required to still my own hand in order to drive the ink over the page. It vibrates from memory of a primal horror witnessed over those next few nights. The booming reverberations, the gnarled forms, the mutilatedscreams. Onslaughts on reason combined in a fetid rash of terror. I saw, or thought I saw, things that were not meant to be.<br />
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And the locus of these events was Eleanor herself. Harried and hunted by a beckoning entity. I collapsed to my knees, shrieking that I could take no more. Without shame I fled, screaming as a babe, to leave the others to what fate had deigned for them.<br />
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I heard no more til many years later I learned of a cinematographic reconstruction of the ‘events’. Summoning courage from an untapped seam within, I inserted the ‘DVD’ into my digital-video display construct. My part in proceedings had, perhaps understandably, been excised. And I am convinced some of the events have been reduced in tone and intensity. Nevertheless the film was subtle, refined and rollickingly exciting. The director has employed a devilishly inventive mise-en-scène to suggest much almost without showing anything. A host of perspective tricks and vertiginous moves accentuate the fear. What remains is one of the scariest psychological horror films available to man. See it, if you be brave, and make up your own mind! And please do not confuse with the bastard remake of latter years!<br />
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I must go now. The electricity has been switched back on.ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-81490671808736455452012-01-03T13:37:00.000+00:002012-02-03T21:59:05.845+00:00The Notorious Bettie Page“I never thought it was shameful. It felt normal. It’s just that it was much better than pounding a typewriter eight hours a day.”<br />
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<img src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/main_img.jpg" /><br />
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Thwack! Ow! Thwack! Ow! Thwack…! Ooh…! I’m really hammering the hell out of my keyboard. Hmm, that reminds me of something…<br />
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Bettie Mae Page made the most sordid of acts fun and wholesome. With her capacious smile and twinkling eyes, you believed she was relishing paddling the hell out of another woman’s bottom. Equally comfortable dressed in black lingerie while gagged and tied, her lolling stare challenged the viewer to find anything wrong with the image. Pornography focused on the male gaze is notoriously humour-free and po-faced; Bettie Page brought a sense of cheeky fun, dispelling the notion that she wasn’t enjoying herself too. Or possibly she saw it for how silly it all was. Sporting a distinctive, and much imitated, short fringe and jet-black hair, Bettie was renowned for glamour modelling and fetish photographs of bondage, whipping, spanking and domination during the 1950s. Bettie was also a devout Christian.<br />
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<a href="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bettiepage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bettiepage.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a>Finding success first in a fledgling Playboy magazine as Miss January 1955, Bettie’s iconic Christmas picture characterised her lack of inhibition. This image came in the middle of Bettie’s heyday as a sadomasochistic model for the brother and sister team Irving and Paula Klaw. Paula took the bulk of these images, and Irving sold them through mail order to fetish fans. Avoiding censorship by not actually featuring any pornographic or nude material, Klaw’s images featured titillating and cheesy scenes of restraint and punishment.<br />
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The FBI destroyed Klaw’s business on grounds of deviancy, using him as an example to deter others. By the turn of the 60s, Bettie’s modelling career ended and as she started attending regular Bible classes she withdrew from show business. Treatment for acute schizophrenia followed. After attacking a landlady, she was sentenced to a prison term of eight years. She didn’t know it herself, but the 80s marked an era of revival for Bettie Page with books, comics and films resurfacing to be avariciously consumed by new fans fascinated by her natural ease in front of the camera.<br />
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As Bettie-mania intensified and she learned of her new-found fame, she never allowed herself to be photographed or interviewed, preferring to be remembered as she was in the 50s. In a rare interview by the magazine that made her famous, Bettie stated that modelling had been preferable to pounding a typewriter every day. Her death from heart attack in 2008 came after years hiding from the spotlight. Her headstone reads ‘Queen of Pin-Ups’.<br />
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<a href="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bettie-page-fishnet-stockings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bettie-page-fishnet-stockings.jpg" /></a></div>
The Notorious Bettie Page (2005), is a curiously restrained and empty affair (no pun intended. No, make that pun intended). With the more intimate feel of a made-for-television biography and treating almost everyone as essentially innocent, it resembles Bettie’s own world view. Even a sexual assault in her college life does little to dampen her spirt. Gretchen Mol sparkles as she consumes herself with the character. The trouble is there is no flesh on the Bettie myth. Despite the film’s mission statement to tell you all about Bettie, she remains as elusive as she did in her years of hiding. And with no explanation for why she spent years playing at being tied and abused, the film portrays her as a naïve airhead. Even her later born-again Christianity is given little dissection and she becomes a catalyst for events without motive or reason. Director Mary Harron brings little visual flair aside from the innate detail of the period costumes, sets and monochrome photography.<br />
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The great interest of the film lies in the examination of 50s attitudes to pornography in the US and how they stand up compared to today. It’s obvious we’ve travelled a long road for ill or not. The longevity of Bettie’s appeal represents nostalgia not for a time before overt filth and depravity, but a desire to return to when it was (allegedly) more innocent and fun. The idiosyncratic twinkle in Bettie’s eye, unique styling and faux-naughty grin are all symbols of this golden age of good, honest, healthy perversity.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7JboJ5HOuoeJ9aZ3M1SuLQwA4UdTcd5GUcCvnJel2r4m6J2yob-qrmbZfrPDypA6m9gPinfI3bfToiTf2nKhyphenhyphenm9Mm3QcjBMTXzhv37t19AMQm0fSS4hVeveMrCZR2T4Dk4FtTNHj0a-eJ/s1600/tumblr_lt9tgmKZtT1qjxhi1o1_400.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7JboJ5HOuoeJ9aZ3M1SuLQwA4UdTcd5GUcCvnJel2r4m6J2yob-qrmbZfrPDypA6m9gPinfI3bfToiTf2nKhyphenhyphenm9Mm3QcjBMTXzhv37t19AMQm0fSS4hVeveMrCZR2T4Dk4FtTNHj0a-eJ/s320/tumblr_lt9tgmKZtT1qjxhi1o1_400.jpg" /></a>ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-4218470199177347022011-12-21T13:08:00.001+00:002011-12-28T00:01:47.919+00:00My 10 Favourite Films of 2011<span style="font-family: inherit;">In no particular order:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Tree of Life </b>(dir. Terrence Malik)</span><br />
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Cinema, in part, is life writ large. Terrence Malik's masterpiece is life writ bloody humungous. Like an over-inflated sense of one's own awsomeness. Soft and tender, like the downy hairs on a frowning woman's face and floatily sensual like a helium-engorged silver cats head. Try and find it silly and pretentious and it will turn around and groggily hug the very softest membranes of your inner organs. Literally all of life is here, and it's a gossamer fist slid through a star-filled tube of gas. Why wouldn't you love it? It loves you.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>A Separation </b>(di<span style="font-family: inherit;">r. </span><span style="color: black;">Asghar Farhadi)</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr7nE_8y_x0ruXrUyX9iIPnv29LBASWi8ngB838jlUesB5rR-u0sXUeDqiHkm63iky0ieRZDcswOUqf6iAJp1BAHqTR_hai-wIxOusCmZ-4dJY2YIglNOpcK0n8k3vUw37fV4fHZvS4Y1t/s1600/8615-3006.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr7nE_8y_x0ruXrUyX9iIPnv29LBASWi8ngB838jlUesB5rR-u0sXUeDqiHkm63iky0ieRZDcswOUqf6iAJp1BAHqTR_hai-wIxOusCmZ-4dJY2YIglNOpcK0n8k3vUw37fV4fHZvS4Y1t/s1600/8615-3006.gif" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This isn't bad, trite, ill-observed, weak, emotionless, with nothing to say about people, Iran, the middle classes, working classes or </span>religion<span style="font-family: inherit;">. In fact it's the opposite. I hope my tone is </span>conveying<span style="font-family: inherit;"> how good it is. Ha-ha. Now I'm grabbing you by the lapels and saying how wonderfully acted it is. Ha-ha. Now I'm shaking you. Perhaps you should see it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy </b>(dir. </span>Tomas Alfredson)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6RlB3N22xp-iL1-9qR1zK6al_4AHXLMxqbbe89KxnCTKViZb061-4AxY8rux_xiaiBRFlDrgawrdl61rAmGpnO433M37mhByIivpZ7uND5Erh6EEdiRfF2uTVgGO7XtcFV3399FxV7pcy/s1600/kenneth460.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6RlB3N22xp-iL1-9qR1zK6al_4AHXLMxqbbe89KxnCTKViZb061-4AxY8rux_xiaiBRFlDrgawrdl61rAmGpnO433M37mhByIivpZ7uND5Erh6EEdiRfF2uTVgGO7XtcFV3399FxV7pcy/s400/kenneth460.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A fuggy, hand-rolled mix of elegant wallaper, age-aware-agents and </span>unspoken<span style="font-family: inherit;"> irrelevant malice. Like breaking into an apartment </span>untouched<span style="font-family: inherit;"> since the 70s to be told 'things are changing' by a group of </span>immaculately<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>dressed<span style="font-family: inherit;">, highly </span>intelligent<span style="font-family: inherit;">, very sad, betrayed ghosts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Of Gods & Men</b> (dir. </span>Xavier Beauvois)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ_C0DyZt2kkpTjuLAwmtd8u9H553V3OEU1qpLvFTJY466bKTii-JBm0gy9_Bcx7pNr-X-jCyigMxQyJ0RXoFKToQxquLUclQxu_Peh-nD2XSv3C-5HbfqhSCAtwSCb-D9uSGOkoD15AIA/s1600/3493-2993.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ_C0DyZt2kkpTjuLAwmtd8u9H553V3OEU1qpLvFTJY466bKTii-JBm0gy9_Bcx7pNr-X-jCyigMxQyJ0RXoFKToQxquLUclQxu_Peh-nD2XSv3C-5HbfqhSCAtwSCb-D9uSGOkoD15AIA/s1600/3493-2993.gif" /></a></div>
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Tremendous trapped trappists. This film is so much more than those 3, awesomely unimaginative words. Elegiac, haunting, loving and spiritual in a way that has nothing to do with those simpering, essential-oil burning, kaftan-wearing freaks who infect the very earth we walk on. The best use of music in a film this year.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>True Grit </b>(dir. </span>Ethan Coen<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">, </span>Joel Coen)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUU0-wzhdcWtUpBHxIUsqi6S8VQTd3aQmA-W0I-fRAPPr74UKIYz8Zn8Z4-RnZtzWS6auKzMwd6TWVpV5rNyMN0RJQm-goMebw37dVpNOG11Z_1XkYefdZX-v3iV4rw9MUYh9JFtWrg-Ie/s1600/5326229133_2599cfc257_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUU0-wzhdcWtUpBHxIUsqi6S8VQTd3aQmA-W0I-fRAPPr74UKIYz8Zn8Z4-RnZtzWS6auKzMwd6TWVpV5rNyMN0RJQm-goMebw37dVpNOG11Z_1XkYefdZX-v3iV4rw9MUYh9JFtWrg-Ie/s400/5326229133_2599cfc257_z.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">At this stage, the Coen Brothers don't care what you think. They just want to make a movie. As if by accident this one chimes with you. They complete you. A Western.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Submarine </b>(dir. </span>Richard Ayoade)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ORPiCsjtsQg3ETcNW5M5Vb3CsQLi5qOKFyFyq43V0sUj36gZ8ylwSpCf0IfjSrlCa4J31FDStxx1OZytO_NJ-mbu0K_pASCAxXYqwaSy6pvyiKoH2XjTVw05PVFeeArIlX7MXKL_rqxE/s1600/article-1298637592942-0D5874C4000005DC-547913_568x576.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ORPiCsjtsQg3ETcNW5M5Vb3CsQLi5qOKFyFyq43V0sUj36gZ8ylwSpCf0IfjSrlCa4J31FDStxx1OZytO_NJ-mbu0K_pASCAxXYqwaSy6pvyiKoH2XjTVw05PVFeeArIlX7MXKL_rqxE/s400/article-1298637592942-0D5874C4000005DC-547913_568x576.jpg" width="393" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">To a one-time insufferable, self-obsessed young adult whose belief that they are the centre of the universe over-rides their concern for others, I can jive with this joint. Its funny, different, confused and lovingly done. The film in my head is happy to include a reference to this film in a script that doesn't even fucking exist yet!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Green Lantern </b>(dir. </span>Martin Campbell)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibbsRMCAC_rFXLjWE6RGkY3yQ1k4yTxz_DOkl00Gq-GKBS2xePjatKCDxwwse0fYhPnAIB0Hc0lJJb0awICHqqZn3ZnI5W0TN3eiParrNzSTAO3zd0UxgHBey8-QS5dopPEiiOwt-kk8sv/s1600/jim+dale+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibbsRMCAC_rFXLjWE6RGkY3yQ1k4yTxz_DOkl00Gq-GKBS2xePjatKCDxwwse0fYhPnAIB0Hc0lJJb0awICHqqZn3ZnI5W0TN3eiParrNzSTAO3zd0UxgHBey8-QS5dopPEiiOwt-kk8sv/s320/jim+dale+01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A comic-book movie that acts and behaves like a comic-book movie. Funny, thrilling wish-fulfilment fantasy which speaks to anyone who </span>ever<span style="font-family: inherit;"> just wished a purple chap would turn up and say "You are </span>special<span style="font-family: inherit;">. I'm making you a super-hero". Just think! You would want that!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Black Swan </b>(dir. </span>Darren Aronofsky)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOIY-WA-j_X3gQsKVbibHn46aSVg-XPGWRLv1Jlb5ggJ_bbHQ1UWCN-RdoTrAD_M0qeg2gONQnY2-BrsaXYBSQ2BC1hhYLzoRTxCkSWOFAHoJ8soTAYJgS4NTjdLeynKjbbexg6Nn_HZnd/s1600/186047.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOIY-WA-j_X3gQsKVbibHn46aSVg-XPGWRLv1Jlb5ggJ_bbHQ1UWCN-RdoTrAD_M0qeg2gONQnY2-BrsaXYBSQ2BC1hhYLzoRTxCkSWOFAHoJ8soTAYJgS4NTjdLeynKjbbexg6Nn_HZnd/s1600/186047.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you're making a psychodrama, make sure you add a healthy, talking-apes-worth of psycho with that drama. What would happen if you took random snippets of everything written on Linkedin and then diffused them with a common-or-garden hand-spray onto a film about losing </span>oneself<span style="font-family: inherit;">. Then make it </span>more-so<span style="font-family: inherit;">. With an unhappy frown. And a mirror made crack'd with a sprinkle of mental. Dressed as a prettier version of a duck.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Senna </b>(dir. </span>Asif Kapadia)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi26aPHvhF-aftWFf1BSMQvxeFrAAinYSirAuoI9NHOVuTreMHmkmSYbOkU17d0acWiQypCYm7XEChaNz9k-gayu_nd1MCg553wcQ71TPe5KAvenEMNUiWckcFpLEBlIUcTnKJ5T_ASwTp7/s1600/joan+sims+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi26aPHvhF-aftWFf1BSMQvxeFrAAinYSirAuoI9NHOVuTreMHmkmSYbOkU17d0acWiQypCYm7XEChaNz9k-gayu_nd1MCg553wcQ71TPe5KAvenEMNUiWckcFpLEBlIUcTnKJ5T_ASwTp7/s320/joan+sims+01.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Formula 1's greatest driver. If you like people who are far more talented than you will ever be in your miserable, fetid, bed-sitted life, you will like this. If you don't, you will like this. If you like Formula 1 then a petrol-fumed icing has just been applied liberally to what you call "my cake".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">and finally a bit of TV derived from film...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>This is England '88</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp-aa4SXxNciXIsMqrqwo7qe7lFPJrOSKN0E_jqbNE5V9CsbQ1WC8vmenADs0cGnS6ry5K_KobaL9ljkVUMjN_Y19f1Npq4qzc3ZIU3hcvHuObcd62BvCRTFXxWjemqjMbD17AgGnva5tv/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-12-15+at+12_35_45.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp-aa4SXxNciXIsMqrqwo7qe7lFPJrOSKN0E_jqbNE5V9CsbQ1WC8vmenADs0cGnS6ry5K_KobaL9ljkVUMjN_Y19f1Npq4qzc3ZIU3hcvHuObcd62BvCRTFXxWjemqjMbD17AgGnva5tv/s400/Screen+shot+2011-12-15+at+12_35_45.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Just like the film of the same name minus the 88 and This Is England 86, this is a drama with characters in. And by characters I mean real people on your vid-</span>screen<span style="font-family: inherit;">. And like in real life almost </span>everyone<span style="font-family: inherit;"> is, at heart, </span>benevolent<span style="font-family: inherit;">, funny, thinking, breathing, sweating, copulating and being. Every line is delivered like words spoken from a mouth, every image make mundanity achingly pretty. T</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">he best drama on a TV. </span>ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-77548433080389241062011-12-01T23:21:00.001+00:002012-02-03T23:47:29.488+00:00After Hours review (1985, dir. Martin Scorsese)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyT8WvfcY6ZxJwtdH-eOPyOdBbVFSWaOF-PerAspgkMlJY_F_FMHoqI7B12o9vP02PLqBDmzVDCaVUct3rKH51t8kF5yFiDx-RF7RS6zMQflYR8q9xSTIP-hy8rXzXiN11xFyUHMh_OQxC/s1600/after-hours-bagel.png"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyT8WvfcY6ZxJwtdH-eOPyOdBbVFSWaOF-PerAspgkMlJY_F_FMHoqI7B12o9vP02PLqBDmzVDCaVUct3rKH51t8kF5yFiDx-RF7RS6zMQflYR8q9xSTIP-hy8rXzXiN11xFyUHMh_OQxC/s400/after-hours-bagel.png" /></a><br /><br />When did you last find yourself trapped somewhere on a night out? A tragic victim to fate when a potential encounter turned out to be something else or a wrong turn led to unheralded possibilities? I’ve more than once found myself wandering rain-washed streets long after the last train has rattled down the tracks of circumstance. I’ve no doubt neon signs reflected in pools of oily rain-water were involved too.<br /><br />And that’s why I love After Hours.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgucqiwmr6IUC42GQoAkXjp99dxZKfUol4oJUTjfiBwNPCBZTNqWefc9FoSpn6JsfIhKTDgFQiOPR39NI_uRMEXPPrNZYiAbs9Jg_celd2tu2qpnOCRxIV61RCX6Y6Q1pb-5FrcMv7TQEVI/s1600/after-hours-arquette.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgucqiwmr6IUC42GQoAkXjp99dxZKfUol4oJUTjfiBwNPCBZTNqWefc9FoSpn6JsfIhKTDgFQiOPR39NI_uRMEXPPrNZYiAbs9Jg_celd2tu2qpnOCRxIV61RCX6Y6Q1pb-5FrcMv7TQEVI/s400/after-hours-arquette.jpg" /></a><br /><br />A twisted, tormented trip through the dark streets of down-town Manhattan awaits Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) reminding us that hell can often be found on earth. The bare bones of this modern fable bring to mind Dante’s epic poem ‘Inferno’. Every time Paul escapes from one circle of tortured souls, he seems only to fall into another. Compounding his agony are characters who resurface only at the worst times to hound him and push him further into the depths. Franz Kafka is frequently referenced by the screenplay – in the book Paul reads, and in some of the dialogue which is lifted in whole sentences from Kafka’s writing. Writer Joseph Minion draws parallels with the anguish in the face of absurdity which characterizes Kafka’s stories.<br /><br />After Hours can also be read as an emulation of Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. A simple object, a ‘plaster-of-paris cream-cheese-bagel paperweight’ in this case, stands in for the White Rabbit, leading the protagonist down The Rabbit Hole into a dreamscape menagerie of weird creatures. Those who seem at first to be friends turn on the merest whim, while even an innocent request can be misconstrued by a paranoid brain. After Hours is New York. A collection of differing – dare I say ‘kooky’? – types thrown together in a confined space, rubbing up against each other with often explosive results.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/afterhours2a.jpg" /><br /><br />It takes place over the space of a single night. Paul tries to pick up Marcy (Rosanna Arquette) in a coffee bar. Taking her number, his libido forces him to call right away on the pretence of collecting one of her roommate’s paperweights. He calls her and, after a strained conversation, travels to Soho in a taxi, losing all his money through the cab window. Paul is ensnared, unable to return home without a fare, frustratedly unable to progress his relationship with Marcy (has he misread the signals? Is she deeply scarred physically and emotionally?) and at the mercy of fate.<br /><br />After Hours features some of my favourite US actors, including a perky turn from Terri Garr, a benevolent John Heard, a giddy Catherine O’Hara, stoner comedians Cheech & Chong and a hysterically disturbed turn from Rosanna Arquette. Other familiar faces turn up as bondage artistes, criminal low lives, punk clubbers and misunderstood gay men. Vertiginous camera moves and nervy acting from Griffin Dunne help propel a fast-paced narrative.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkLm_i7qFmzbPbVD33gZ_JK6Tw7SADLiPqXXFM3mncz77890nq40He63r0mnvqChIZm5ObizDWGSOr31ejhB1Lk5yteVHRFYFuhz58zrjRp51qsong4VUqFpyfP7Nc0oeZVuQEqZqOaZrq/s1600/after-hours-bondage.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkLm_i7qFmzbPbVD33gZ_JK6Tw7SADLiPqXXFM3mncz77890nq40He63r0mnvqChIZm5ObizDWGSOr31ejhB1Lk5yteVHRFYFuhz58zrjRp51qsong4VUqFpyfP7Nc0oeZVuQEqZqOaZrq/s400/after-hours-bondage.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Watch After Hours in conjunction with King of Comedy as an exploration of Scorsese’s black comedy oeuvre. Stylistically this certainly feels like the same New York as Taxi Driver. Or show the film to someone as a historical lesson on what a night out was like before the ubiquity of cash machines and mobile phones. For anyone who remembers those ‘dark ages’ it will strike chord and possibly make one yearn for a time when it was possible to be truly alone in a city.ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-58076038937538852572011-11-23T15:17:00.001+00:002011-11-24T15:39:52.144+00:00Grindhouse Trailer Classics 3 review (DVD, 2011)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4RGRl4kgaFiuO12Wrqb8UFHvoMzbyLebElTK8FZiyDkf0nkF1O7grUughK9-aPbAtAoyEONEkPw3BS_xXyo3ZQNHemLzb_dNd0vLc58uSz_0jFae3XT6e9ORB035F1-Xa7AOnA_6GDg0c/s1600/blackmamawhitemama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4RGRl4kgaFiuO12Wrqb8UFHvoMzbyLebElTK8FZiyDkf0nkF1O7grUughK9-aPbAtAoyEONEkPw3BS_xXyo3ZQNHemLzb_dNd0vLc58uSz_0jFae3XT6e9ORB035F1-Xa7AOnA_6GDg0c/s400/blackmamawhitemama.jpg" width="260" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">If
you weren't lucky enough to frequent a certain type of picture-house
of the 60s, 70s and early 80s, you've lost your chance to experience
the true Grindhouse effect in all its filthy glory.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
next best thing is the <i>Grindhouse Trailer Classics</i> collection!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7_UorChTqLmaY9ZKyeq78eG5YSY_7lQbcAw2jOaGKMAtvdyKgLIIUyslkwrEw6eT6KWUH4Xic_ngI5cLBuXtbkX0D-VDk7ylRwjNRdOJOR8FIM_vfp1MUjvDudSilf9bbWwTR0r5hmjwJ/s1600/superchick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7_UorChTqLmaY9ZKyeq78eG5YSY_7lQbcAw2jOaGKMAtvdyKgLIIUyslkwrEw6eT6KWUH4Xic_ngI5cLBuXtbkX0D-VDk7ylRwjNRdOJOR8FIM_vfp1MUjvDudSilf9bbWwTR0r5hmjwJ/s400/superchick.jpg" width="270" /></span></a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This
feature-length collection of cinematic previews has it all - nudity,
ninjas, violence, sexual deviancy, samurai, sadism, exploitation,
drug-use and cult favourite, John Saxon! As you'd expect (perhaps
even demand), dirt, scratches and clicks blight the video and audio,
enhancing the sense of decay and depravity. The colours are as garish
and vibrant as they ever were. And the majority are voiced by the
instantly recognisable basso profundo of Paul Frees.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Leading
your clammy, shaking hand in to this wonderful, lost world is critic
and cult-film expert Kim Newman. A gloriously enthusiastic and
informed voice in the obscure and esoteric, even Newman is a neophyte
to some of the weirdness here. Additionally, his passionate
explanation of Grindhouse can be found in the extras section of the
disc to help define the experience for the uninitiated.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8dOKktAV64J5OPJCl5f_eQ6U55LuLsA8yroYHUhyphenhyphenMzVeAQYZjiduEMN-pOUC3zMPaAalt-bskQBjHGIFvLa-qWcHzf70z4aQoWZ5PzjDQuW4-8ZFrGhrEprg4hAdG_aXce516cQIPwxU3/s1600/dobermangang.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8dOKktAV64J5OPJCl5f_eQ6U55LuLsA8yroYHUhyphenhyphenMzVeAQYZjiduEMN-pOUC3zMPaAalt-bskQBjHGIFvLa-qWcHzf70z4aQoWZ5PzjDQuW4-8ZFrGhrEprg4hAdG_aXce516cQIPwxU3/s400/dobermangang.jpg" width="271" /></span></a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Nucleus
Films have curated a museum of the very strangest previews you will
perhaps ever see. To find fault with these trailers on grounds of
quality or content would seem a little churlish. These films are no
less valid for not being “art-house” or “worthy”. In a lot of
these trailers many you'll find a subversive aesthetic missing from
most contemporary cinema. In an age when film-makers were pushing
boundaries of acceptability, a cinema of fun and excess grew and
flourished.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I
find an amateurish but passionate film more interesting than a
technically perfect, safe piece. What isn't exciting about beautiful
<i>Cannibal Girls</i> pick-axing victims to the sound of bells ringing to
warn patrons of excessive destruction and eroticism? You'd peek
wouldn't you? <i>Superchick</i> may be something of a male fantasy, but
isn't an ass-kicking woman more invigorating than a passive,
screaming victim? Aren't budgetary constraints the mother of
invention? Dogs trained to rob banks? I fear some of these trailers
may be superior to the films they are selling!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBChlTHFH1ego4axSk57AaEO9N7lNmbeNsrIe3DDR8fYmgcwd1kdB_b8E6pmWtZKtBm0hGG7lUriqWEKCQk3KVfj7MauES2aY8AN9ODM5oVtiZSlg8lSCVe55e124Q-9YpcrXBVgvdMfwZ/s1600/deadlychinadoll.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBChlTHFH1ego4axSk57AaEO9N7lNmbeNsrIe3DDR8fYmgcwd1kdB_b8E6pmWtZKtBm0hGG7lUriqWEKCQk3KVfj7MauES2aY8AN9ODM5oVtiZSlg8lSCVe55e124Q-9YpcrXBVgvdMfwZ/s400/deadlychinadoll.jpg" width="270" /></span></a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Admittedly
there are some troublesome trailers here for modern sensibilities. A
film about the first black CIA recruit tackles racial politics of the
time whilst still portraying other black characters as hoods and
pimps. <i>Nazi Love Camp 27</i> risks treating the holocaust as sexual
fantasy, though seems to have an admirable budget compared to other
films here. And rape seems to be a recurrent narrative device, always
used as a prime motivator for revenge and violence on the
perpetrator. Whether this in any way excuses its use is up to the
viewer.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Grindhouse
Trailer Classics 3</i> is <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grindhouse-Trailer-Classics-3-DVD/dp/B00666UF16/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322148441&sr=8-1" target="_blank">released on December 5<sup>th</sup></a> through
Nucleus Films. Personal favourites include <i>Linda</i> (possession, nudity,
crazy make-up and crabs!), <i>Black Mama/White Mama</i> (inter-racial
revenge violence meted out by some of the feistiest women you'll ever
meet) and the very curious <i>The Doberman Gang</i>. This extensive and
impressive assortment achieves the original intent: to titillate and
excite the viewer into seeking out the full feature. Treat yourself
to a trip back in celluloid time to a cinema filled to bursting with
degradation, sleaze, deviancy and excess. I guarantee there are
things here you simply won't experience anywhere else. And that can't
be a bad thing.</span></div>
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</div>ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-9370357725976353202011-10-19T10:33:00.000+01:002011-10-19T10:33:36.764+01:00The Spanish Prisoner review (1997, dir. David Mamet)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #252324; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"></span><br />
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Steve Martin? In a serious role? It works. That all-too-coiffured white hair, which has never not been white, is really rather austere anyway.</div>
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<img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-11328" height="224" src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/01PDVD_012.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 960px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Steve Martin in The Spanish Prisoner (1997)" width="400" /></div>
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David Mamet’s <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Spanish Prisoner</em> (1997) isn’t Hitchcockian, but I’ve mentioned Hitchcock now, and as you can see I haven’t edited it out. You can see where one might make such a comparison: it features an innocent man in over his head thanks to the machinations of people far more insidious than himself. There’s much in the way of confusion, obfuscation and dastardly plots lying in wait for him too as he uncovers the machinery behind the curtain.</div>
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You won’t find swishes of Hitchcock’s bravura visual style here, or his knack for keeping things moving at a steady but heart-tickling speed. Our territory here is most assuredly Mamet-ian. David Mamet prefers the theatre with all its rhythms and artificiality intact. The characters here speak exactly as real people don’t. And the plot moves steadily and deliberately.</div>
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This isn’t why you’re going to watch <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Spanish Prisoner</em>, though. You’re here for the twists, the turns, the twisty-turns and the smarty-pants dialogue. What you thought was going to happen happens, then it doesn’t, then it does again and then that sequence repeats but backwards. <img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-11329" height="426" src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Spanish_Prisoner__The_1997.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 960px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="The Spanish Prisoner (1997) movie poster" width="300" />Not all of the revelations will be entirely unexpected, or even convincingly revealed, but the creaky bits are obviously homage to thrillers from another era, so you can forgive it that.</div>
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Joe (Campbell Scott) is the inventor of a process. Something very valuable which has to be hidden away. It doesn’t matter what it is and we never find out anyway. What’s important is that people want it and are prepared to go to mind-bending lengths to get it.</div>
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Scott turns in an everyman performance and that’s fine; it’s what’s needed. Rebecca Pidgeon is maddeningly perky and amateurish but it suits her character, and anyway, she’s married to the director, so that’s fine too. Ricky Jay is here because he’s a seasoned Mamet actor and Mamet has to have him in his films. It’s a law of nature. Ben Gazarra is typically charismatic and inscrutable. And Steve Martin is playing out of type, which is good because he’s really rather adept at throwing his acting chops around. I can’t understand why he doesn’t take more of these roles.</div>
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I can’t tell you more; I really can’t. I don’t want to spoil the surprises on offer. Pay rapt attention, though. Every object is imbued with implication, every glance can be interpreted two or more ways and every word drips with meaning. And all will be referred to later on in some form of satisfying pay-off. You’ll need to concentrate and at the end you can give yourself a hearty pat on the back for doing so.</div>
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<em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Spanish Prisoner is available on DVD, though out of print, so some copies can fetch a high price.</em></div>ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-44589862741644081412011-10-10T17:31:00.000+01:002011-10-10T17:32:58.605+01:00Red, White & Blue review (2010, dir. Simon Rumley)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #252324; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"></span><br />
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Sitting in a darkened room with 15 people, my toes were so curled I could almost kick my kneecaps. Across the room I saw winces, hands across eyes and heads fully turned from the screen. “Oh my…” breathed the woman behind and I wondered who would pass out. They stoically clung on with me, though. We made it through.</div>
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<img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-11336" height="300" src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/redwhitebluea.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 960px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Film Poster" width="400" /></div>
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The second half of Simon Rumley’s <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Red, White & Blue</em> kicks your punished psyche into some pretty deep, dark holes. Thankfully your trust is earned with the fascinating drama of the first half. Erica (Amanda Fuller) vacuums by day and vamps by night. In a new bar every night she picks up men with ease, never sleeping with the same one twice. Anyone who gets too close is shunned.</div>
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Franki (Marc Senter) is in a band, possibly on the verge of success. They practise rock music in a garage until it’s time for Franki to donate blood to his sick mother. Some of the most heart-rending scenes are between Franki and his mother. That he loves her and wants to help her is never in question.</div>
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Nate (Noah Taylor) lives in the same boarding house as Erica. A confessed torturer of animals and CIA operative (or fantasist), Nate tries to break down Erica’s barriers by declaring everything to her. Their initially faltering relationship is frustrated by her indifference. When they do form a bond we witness a profound change in Erica. Cutting up the photo album of her sexual conquests, she finally comes to Nate’s room. They lie together and he makes a crazy suggestion…</div>
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<img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-11338" height="400" src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/redwhiteblue-5a.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 960px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Amanda Fuller in Red, White & Blue" width="300" />Rumley uses a short sequence from one of my favourite films, <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://me-on-scenes.blogspot.com/2011/08/carnival-of-souls-review-1962-dir-herk.html">Carnival of Souls</a></em>, to signify a turning point. “I’ll never come back,” says Mary. After this moment, none of the characters is able to return to where they were. Then Franki receives terrible news. Something severe enough to change his life, and potentially those of family and friends.</div>
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Subsequently there is a rapid descent into one of the very lowest levels of hell, the slow-burn opening giving way to an incendiary denouement. <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Red, White & Blue</em> is not torture porn. Nor is it gory, sensationalist or cheap. What begins to feel like <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Dead Man’s Shoes</em> by Shane Meadows or even <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Death Wish</em> by Michael Winner soon turns into a revenge drama of a different colour. With grim finality it goes beyond revenge into territory occupied by Takashi Miike’s <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Audition</em>. Most violence is implied. Like the shower scene in <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Psycho</em>, our eyes see far less than our brains think they saw. Electrifying cuts and distorted bursts of music heighten the anxiety.</div>
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Rumley’s film is most certainly a multi-headed beast, uneasily mixing human drama with staggeringly bold nastiness. The sound-design is especially impressive as are the editing and performances. Special mention goes to Sally Jackson as Franki’s mother for a tender, human portrayal of a very ill woman, as well as Amanda Fuller, who makes troubled Erica brave and then vulnerable but never insipid or weak.</div>
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Be warned: this film will shock. Yet it’s not your standard horror/revenge fare. Its messages are open to discussion (what is revealed by Nate pushing past the US flags outside Franki’s house? Are the CIA involved in torture? Why does the boy’s mother accept Erica?) but <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Red, White & Blue</em> has a human heart and is just as beautiful, conflicted and unpredictable as any of us.</div>
ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-58181912594310989802011-08-31T00:41:00.000+01:002011-08-31T00:41:04.484+01:00Carnival of Souls review (1962, dir. Herk Harvey)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #252324; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Where do zombies come from? West African and Haitian folklore might be somewhere to start, but I was thinking of the Hollywood zombie, the shambling wretches whose genesis was first witnessed in George Romero’s seminal <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Night of the Living Dead</em>. They owe a debt, or at least an offering of brains, to Herk Harvey and his only feature length film, <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Carnival of Souls</em>.</div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-10017" height="300" src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/carnival3a.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 960px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Carnival of Souls" width="400" /></div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Caked in sodden silt and muddy water, Mary crawls from a river, escaping a car plunged from the bridge above. Staggering dazedly away she appears unable to believe she lived through the accident. Restarting her life, she flees town to find new work as a church organist. Lodging in Salt Lake City, she succumbs to strange ‘episodes’; fading out of existence, invisible to the townsfolk, as all sound drains away. When she eventually slips back into reality, it is obvious something has altered her. Mary has also developed an unhealthy fascination with an abandoned seaside pavilion nearby.</div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Then a strange man appears at a distance, watching. He is gaunt and pale with black circles around his eyes. Here we witness our first glimpse of the look Romero would appropriate for his zombies. ‘The Man’ is a malignant presence, unseen by others and hounding Mary when she is at her most vulnerable.</div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-10019" height="429" src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/carnival1a.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 960px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Carnival of Souls" width="300" />More of these haunted entities rise from the ground and the water, pursuing her. As these uncanny forces block her every move, she is driven mad and cornered inside the pavilion itself where she learns her fate.</div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Carnival of Souls</em> is an undeniably unsettling influence in the history of horror on film but it is far from perfect. There are some shocking instances of amateur acting and ham-fisted scripting. Witness the toe-curling, self-conscious way the local workers stop their work on cue and listen to Mary’s organ playing. Or the heavy-handed irony of the church warden telling Mary she needs to play with more soul.</div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Then there are performances that add texture to a simple tale. Mr Linden from the neighbouring apartment watches Mary with a voyeuristic gaze. His predatory intrusion represents a real world threat to Mary. Linden contrasts awkwardly with the plainly moralistic folk elsewhere in town. Hiligloss is adequately haughty and haunted as the heroine and carries the film well.</div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">There are flashes of directorial brilliance, such as the transposing of the car dashboard with the knobs on the church organ, or the ghoulish reflection of The Man in the car window at night, a great example of special-effects done on a small budget. And the unforgettable climax with its dancing ghouls pirouetting before the camera. Harvey’s creative talent was possibly nurtured on German Expressionist cinema, as there are touches of <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Nosferatu’s</em> Count Orlock in the long shadows cast by The Man as he enters the church.</div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">And no appraisal of <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Carnival of Souls</em> would be complete without mention of the arresting score, composed almost entirely of organ music and played by Gene Moore which accentuates the horror by being unnervingly oppressive.<img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-10021" height="380" src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/carnival2a.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 960px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="The Man" width="300" /></div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In the end, <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Carnival of Souls</em> plays like a short story from a Creepy or Eerie comic-magazine from the 1950s, complete with obligatory O. Henry twist ending. It is at once unforgettably haunting and almost laughably simplistic in its outlook. Yet in this tale the seeds were sown of a cinematic heritage that survives to this day, the modern zombie.</div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Unfortunately Harvey never made another feature length film and after its release, <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Carnival of Souls</em>lapsed into obscurity. Rediscovered in the 80s and playing late at night on TV, it found new audiences and continues to this day to exert a freakish power over the viewer.</div>ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-12252066598904419112011-08-13T23:18:00.002+01:002011-08-13T23:22:47.872+01:00Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me review (1992, dir. David Lynch)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #252324; line-height: 24px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Reviled by many critics and ignored by audiences, <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me</em> (1992) has unjustly slipped under many film fans’ radars. Dig below the surface, scrape away years of dirt, and you’ll reveal a rich and multifaceted cinematic gem.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-9661" height="273" src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/twinpeaks4a.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 960px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Fire Walk with Me" width="400" /></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Sitting down to watch <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">TPFWWM </em>again, I am reminded of two things. First: it is one of David Lynch’s finest films as a director, and second: it is one of the greatest horror films ever made, despite the fact it has never been categorised as such and you’ll never find it in the horror section of your local online video download store-hub.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Serving as a prequel to <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Twin Peaks</em>, the TV series, <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">TPFWWM </em>tells one story that operates on two distinct levels. The film assembles the facts behind the last seven days of Laura Palmer’s life, a high school prom queen played with tortured fatalism by Sheryl Lee. Key to understanding Laura is the revelation of the sexual abuse she suffers at the hands of the mysterious “Bob”.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMWZXa6jeCtmQiENPHV09ZG_5cRQxAtii0jKzU1SlhCYWkKEcoIufaTXmvfn-JmwAvhLlgP_wmDt9tRm-S_6Hk9S3zlnyJnE3xC48BzmmQPTjZHZCWk-jCyNsrilWHa0Wr9bBKrvxlJ20_/s1600/imgres.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMWZXa6jeCtmQiENPHV09ZG_5cRQxAtii0jKzU1SlhCYWkKEcoIufaTXmvfn-JmwAvhLlgP_wmDt9tRm-S_6Hk9S3zlnyJnE3xC48BzmmQPTjZHZCWk-jCyNsrilWHa0Wr9bBKrvxlJ20_/s400/imgres.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Overlaid like an acetate cartoon-cell on top of the very everyday town of Twin Peaks, is the supernatural world of The Black Lodge. This is a place outside of conventional space and time whose inhabitants sometimes leave to live in a small room above a convenience store. These entities exist to inflict pain on humankind, the suffering represented by the creamed corn they consume with each soul. They release one of their own, Bob, to possess someone close to Laura with the intention of corrupting her and condemning her to torment in The Black Lodge. An equally valid counter-interpretation is that this is only in the mind of the actual perpetrator of these acts.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Our film opens on a TV screen displaying static. An axe thuds abruptly into the TV as sparks fly and a woman screams. This violently demonstrates that Twin Peaks the TV show is in the Past. Dead. Finished.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In the FBI’s Philadelphia headquarters, David Bowie’s Agent Jeffries appears for a few minutes, after 2 years missing in the field. Jeffries points accusingly at Cooper (a clue to his eventual fate) and proceeds to explain to the assembled agents of his imprisonment in The Black Lodge and the creatures he met there. Jeffries attended one of their meetings to decide the fate of Laura Palmer at the cost of his soul. His tale told, he promptly disappears again.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgufIvxLWTL-2NMp6GS41_6UIUwVWsUjEbLtpsqYFOUSodNcsCKCDSP7P3kNyGt5xAH9fFsMIq3yK9z0V11p3XCG3A1W2-FQz-A8egqOGEFfs_gJ3U7cbEmimrtmCDzwodfrq_7eLr_oFR_/s1600/firewalk6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgufIvxLWTL-2NMp6GS41_6UIUwVWsUjEbLtpsqYFOUSodNcsCKCDSP7P3kNyGt5xAH9fFsMIq3yK9z0V11p3XCG3A1W2-FQz-A8egqOGEFfs_gJ3U7cbEmimrtmCDzwodfrq_7eLr_oFR_/s400/firewalk6.jpg" width="400" /></a>Meanwhile, in an unfriendly town which appears to be the emotional opposite of Twin Peaks, Agent Chet Desmond, played by Chris Issac, accompanied by Agent Sam Stanley (Kiefer Sutherland channelling Stan Laurel) investigate the murder of Theresa Banks. As Desmond closes in on the otherworldly fate of girls claimed by Bob, he too disappears without trace.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">There are several scenes in <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">TPFWWM </em>which are instantly cinematic, unique and bold enough to distance the film from its broadcast heritage. The 10-minute “Pink Room” sequence takes place in a sleazy bar, almost all sound drowned out by pounding, rhythmic music. We can nearly discern snippets of dialogue but the overall effect is exactly the same as trying to hold a drunken, dreamy conversation in a noisy bar or club. The result is hypnotic, unsettling and ultimately leads to one of Laura’s redemptive acts as she saves her friend from a similar fate to her own. (Later DVD releases have subtitles come up at this point, but I know that the original European cinema print has no subtitles and the atmosphere it conjures is all the better for not having them.)</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In another powerful scene we encounter Bob in Laura’s bedroom. The intrusion is so unexpected and visceral that we cannot still our hearts from leaping when it comes. <img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-9666" height="360" src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/twinpeaks5a.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 960px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Laura Palmer" width="300" />Maybe it’s because we don’t expect the standard jumps and scares of a standard horror film here, that we are so taken aback by this.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Lynch has always been a great and unique sound designer. The eerie and omnipresent industrial rumble over <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Eraserhead </em>springs to mind, or the noise the cadaver makes when moved early on in<em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">TPFWWM</em>. When Laura and her father are accosted by a one-armed man on the road into town, his insane screeching and the revving of the car engine combine to drown out the words in a deafening overload of hate and anger.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Yes, you may gain slightly more satisfaction from<em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">TPFWWM </em>if you’ve seen <em style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Twin Peaks </em>the series, and for fans of the television show most of the major players do appear in cameos, but as a stand-alone film concerning abuse, incest, loss of identity and the downwards spiral of a confused high-school girl, it is brave and fearless. As a fable about possession and evil inflicted by spirits from another world, an inter-dimensional war between gods centring on a small town and a supernatural horror, it is also triumphant. A game of two halves certainly, but both will chill, disturb and unnerve you more than most so-called horror films out there.</span></div>ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-83500851089875289892011-07-26T23:16:00.001+01:002012-02-07T21:29:27.883+00:00The Prisoner review(I know it's not a film, but you should still see it!)<br />
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Beautiful, sartorially elegant, thought-provoking, decades ahead of its time, fun and exciting;The Prisoner deserves its position as one of the most influential television dramas ever.<br />
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The bombastic opening sequence is a short-film in its own right. From out of thunderous clouds our hero (we never know his true name) slips his Lotus 7 effortlessly through the swinging streets of 60s London. Eyes set defiantly on the vividly-hued horizon, he never remarks on how little traffic there was in those days; probably because he has far weightier matters on his mind.<br />
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Parking near Parliament, he rushes through dimly lit corridors of power to his superiors. Our hero is almost certainly employed in espionage. Slamming his fist down on the desk with enough force to smash a cup he holds aloft his letter of resignation and storms out.<br />
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Again we coo over the slender lines of the Lotus as he drives home, unaware of the following black hearse. Gathering his things in the flat, he is oblivious to a stream of gas shot through the keyhole. The towering edifice of London melts away as he falls to the floor.<br />
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He wakes in his flat. No! Not his flat. A replica of it located in…The Village.<br />
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There are many people in The Village, all known by a number. No one can leave without the say of Number 1. We never meet Number 1 as he relays all orders through Number 2. And Number 2 is never the same man. Our man is Number 6, inheriting the number from the poor soul“released”before him. Number 6 spends his time resisting integration, constantly looking for escape or ways to confound the management. Number 1 wants to know is why he resigned, a fact Number 6 wishes to keep to himself, as is his human right. Keeping up?<br />
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<a href="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/prisoner2a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/prisoner2a.jpg" /></a>Even if you’ve never seen The Prisoner you are probably familiar with some of its powerful iconography. Here production design is as important as story. There’s the setting; Portmerion, a 1920s folly on a grand scale, full of winding alleys and faux-Mediterranean architecture. Then there are the straw-boaters, multi-colour umbrellas, school blazers and penny-farthings that lend the place its unique charm. And there is ‘Rover’, a featureless, globular white entity, taller than a man and with a mind of its own. Rover lives under the sea, rising from the depths to envelope escapees before either dumping them rudely back in The Village or killing them.<br />
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Seventeen episodes comprise the entire set, so it won’t take days of your life to watch the lot. Stand out episodes include A, B & C (where Number 6’s dreams are probed by Number 2 only to have Number 6 turn the tables in a startling cat-and-mouse gambit), Many Happy Returns(where Number 6 wakes to find The Village deserted, allowing him to build a raft, make it to London and confront old colleagues), Hammer Into Anvil (my personal favourite, in which Number 6 takes down the current Number 2 in a deviously vicious manner), The Girl Who Was Death (a bizarre episode where Number 6 relates a strangely prescient James Bond-style fairy story to some Village residents) and the last episode; a two-parter in which Number 2 makes one last effort to break Number 6 before we lead into the final, mind-bending hour and the reveal (or not!) of Number 1.<br />
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Intrigued? I have barely scraped the surface of the joys to be wrung from this show. Even the creators of Lost admit that a lot of their series was cribbed from The Prisoner. The Beatles were certainly big fans too, so if you like it you’ll be in illustrious company. The available high-definition Blu-Ray set is of excellent clarity and highly recommended.<br />
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In this age of ubiquitous surveillance, The Prisoner presents a chilling vision of where society is heading. It is also tremendously lively, witty and surreal in equal measures. It was conceived, largely written by and starred Patrick McGoohan, a self-confessed rebel with a personal concern for individuality and freedom. Comparison to other works is difficult but the 1964 series Danger Man (also with Patrick McGoohan) almost serves as an unofficial prequel to The Prisoner. Oh, and forget about the useless 2009 television remake with Ian McKellan. It’s an ill-judged stain on the boots of the 60s original.ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5575896771624541564.post-89711948581772328542011-06-16T11:42:00.000+01:002012-02-07T21:29:10.637+00:00Possession review (1981, dir. Andrzej Zulawski)It’s seldom a film lunges forward, grabs you roughly by the collar, throws you up against a wall screaming dementedly in your face for nearly two hours. What is Possession? And why will it leave you sprawled and dripping with fetid ooze on your now-desecrated sofa? What happens here to leave you exhausted, razed and slightly closer to the dark and howling abyss of insanity than you were before?<br />
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Anna (Isabelle Adjani) and Mark (Sam Neill) bicker and push against each other in their Berlin apartment, as the marriage disintegrates. Symbols of separation are seen in the omnipresent Berlin Wall, frequently seen from their apartment window. Anna ends an affair with Heinrich and begins another. With angry silence from Anna and no leads to uncover her new mystery lover, Mark collapses in a prolonged and bitter, sweaty mess. On regaining his composure (though not necessarily his sanity) he sets out to find Anna’s illicit partner. Questioning the similarly unhinged Heinrich only leads to a beating, while a private detective hired to trail her disappears altogether.<br />
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Compounding the queasy puzzle, Anna returns periodically to the flat in various states of anger, anxiety, depression and mania. The blue dress she wears looks more stained and sweat-soaked each time, her hair matted with filth.<br />
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Before you think this mystery is the crux of the film, we learn the truth early on and the revelation savagely spins the film around from domestic drama to horror. Anna is in the thrall of a bloody, mucky, tentacled beast she makes love to and kills for. This monstrosity represents the breakdown of the relationship. It is what comes between Anna and Mark but it can’t be defined, is never seen in full, always skulking in shadow and staring malevolently.<br />
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Similar themes are explored in Lars Von Trier’sAntichrist, and as a study of failing relationships, madness and body-horror it is hard not to see a direct influence. Possession also recalls the work of H. P. Lovecraft, a writer who explored the intrusion of disturbing, tentacled monsters into everyday life and the consequences on the sanity of anyone witnessing them.<br />
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<a href="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/possession.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.arbuturian.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/possession.png" /></a>The performances in Possession are brave, edgy and quite theatrical, the whole cast going over the top with glee. The stand-out performance undoubtedly comes from Adjani in her subway miscarriage scene. Walking through the underground station, groceries in hand, Anna starts giggling and grimacing, her eyes bulging crazily. With escalating hysteria her laughs explode into full-blown screams as her body writhes and contorts. The groceries spray across the tiles and she disfigures her face while blood and milk flow from under her dress and across the floor.<br />
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An equally macabre scene sees Anna and Mark cutting their bodies with an electric meat carver. Such is the mental anguish of their emotional separation, even slicing their necks and arms provokes no reaction as the blood flows.<br />
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Towards the end, as pieces unravel, the story takes oblique twists and turns. The son’s school teacher appears as a doppelgänger of Anna, raising questions of identity. Heinrich’s mother turns out to know more about what is going on than it seems. This will require multiple viewings to be understood.<br />
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Possession has only recently been scooped up and slopped in a quivering mass onto DVD in the UK after its incorrect labelling as a video-nasty in the ’80s. Watch the film and you realise it eludes genre classification altogether. The horror aspects are brief and often comical, and the creature itself, while disgusting, is only glimpsed briefly. Possession‘s over-riding theme is the portrayal of the banally traumatic process of divorce. Zulawski drew heavily on his own experiences to reach deep into his soul and spew forth the bitter and rank contents into this film. It’s about the grinding down of a relationship between people descending into derangement which ultimately results in their own loss of identity. I have an unashamed and rather dirty love for Possession and I only hope you search whatever dank corners you need to find a copy for yourself.ghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460258907626519130noreply@blogger.com0