Ariel

(Aki Kaurismaki/1988/Finland)

The second instalment of the Proletariat trilogy after Shadows in Paradise and we are again foisted into the bleak existence of characters who seem stone facedly resigned to their downtrodden and ascetic lives. Taisto watches as the rural coal mine he works for is demolished and as his father does away with himself. He then launches himself towards Helsinki and a chapter of misadventures and romance with single mum Irmeli. Kaurismakis dark humour at their woes masks tenderness and affection for them and the concise, minimal dialogue lets the pictures do all the talking. Another wonderful look at how the basic human instinct to survive and love and be loved and fashion a better life than what the world has to offer shines bright and true.

(4/5)

24x36: A Movie About Movie Posters

(Kevin Burke/2016/USA)

A documentary tracing the history of movie poster art which races through the early years and very quickly focuses on the modern day phenomenon of Mondo Art. It’s still an interesting and informative watch, providing a base point for further research for anyone interested, but personally I expected to see a lot more history. The initial birth of movie posters is dealt with briefly before a cursory mention of the likes of Reynold Brown and Albert Kaliss and their distinctive 1950’s and 60’s artwork. Too quickly talk moves onto the 70’s and 80’s and focuses on how iconic the poster art became in relation to movies like Apocalypse Now, E.T., Jaws and so forth. Bob Peak, John Alvin and Roger Kastel are all given their due as progenitors of an art form that became so integral to the film industry that they were often involved with the producers and directors directly. The decline of commissioned paintings by the early 90’s to be replaced by star portrait type posters that lacked creativity or imagination is blamed on the advance of graphic image tools, the rise of celebrity and increasing control actors have over their image as commodity. This allowed the traditional movie art of previous years to become fetishised and led to the creation of Mondo Art in the early 2000’s. It takes all of 30-40 minutes to get to this point and the next 50 minutes looks at the present day industry around artists making their own pieces for films, often unlicensed, to feed a geeky audience who collect the artworks similar to comics or toy collectors. The recognition within the film industry that these artworks garner a lot of attention and sales is slowly creeping in and the possibility of a resurgence in commissioned artworks for movie posters is increasing. It’s a good, enlightening film but I would have liked to have seen a lot more of the origins and early years of movie poster art.

(3/5)

The Queen

(Stephen Frears/2006/UK)

One would assume by the title that this is a biopic but the film concentrates on the period just before and following the death of Princess Diana. I am married to someone fascinated by all things royal family so have an offhand knowledge of this stuff as a result. It’s a crucial period of time as the response and change in attitude of the royal family to their relationship with both the British public and the media was to change them forever. The death of Diana was the turning point of it all. An interesting and engaging film, it’s not afraid to be funny at times with superb performances from Helen Mirren as The Queen and Michael Sheen as Tony Blair. It captures the mood of the time of what was a major, traumatic and very public passing of someone beloved across the globe without being maudlin. Frears direction is on point and objective with only one, fictionalised scene allowing a toe dip into sentimentality but with a humanising motive that allows it to work and be believable. If you’re into the subject matter it’s definitely worth the watch, if not the calibre of people involved shouldn’t be dismissed.

(3/5)

The Goob

(Guy Myhill/2015/UK)

The Goob is 16 and lives with his mum and her bullying boyfriend Gene on a pumpkin farm in rural Norfolk. He lacks direction and struggles to find purpose or meaning in the hum drum comings and goings around him. The summer season begins and an influx of migrant workers brings life, colour and romantic adventure but this is not like most other British coming of age dramas, the setting and pacing of plot has a dreamlike quality to it. The Goob looks permanently dislocated and reflects that universal teenage bewilderment at the stupidity of the “real” world. It feels more like a cross between Midwest America due to the car racing scenes and continental Europe with the summer heat and grasslands than rural England. The film succeeds due not only to perfectly capturing the sense of heat and swelter of a good summer but also due to the intensity of performance from Sean Harris and Liam Walpole with excellent supporting cast too. This is Myhill’s first feature length and puts him in the one to watch category.

(3.5/5)

Goodfellas

(Martin Scorsese/1990/USA)

I know people who don’t rate this flick for various reasons; taste is a strange thing at times and each to their own but personally I consider it near perfect. It’s one of those films that can be enjoyed again and again and again and it’s immensely quotable too. It is a culmination of Scorsese’s earlier style and a move towards a more commercial and traditional narrative structure and it hits all the marks. Liotta, De Niro and Pesci are on fire. The perfect mix of a great script, great actors and a great director, Scorsese’s edgy auteur leanings mesh with Hollywood big budget pomp in a glorious rock 'n' roll tale of gangsters without ever shying away from the grim realities of that life. The scene where Tommy’s mother, played by Scorsese’s own mum, makes a meal for him, Henry and Jimmy is played with such naturalness and lightheartedness, all while we are aware of the horror in the trunk of their car, is a master stroke. You can see that kind of natural chatting resurface as a more considered device in Tarantino’s movies. Also the voice over technique, while not original, is done so well its influence is evident down the line in films like The Shawshank Redemption, Trainspotting, Memento and Fight Club. In the context of Scorsese’s career it was a point where everything came together and is probably his best film albeit not my favourite of his (that would have to be Mean Streets).

(4.5/5)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

(Gareth Edwards/2016/USA)

The first of Disney’s off shoot films in the Star Wars universe and it’s a decent effort doing exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a Star Wars story about how the death star plans used in Episode IV: A New Hope are obtained by the rebel forces. There is no introductory scrawl which is only right as it’s not part of the main series and should be seen as distinct and separate. Essentially a war movie and quite dark in tone to the canonical films, the main characters are developed enough to bring you along but this film suffers from trying too hard to set up its pieces and ultimately from being overlong. We essentially know the motivations and narrative arcs before the outset. None of these characters appear elsewhere in Star Wars movies mmmkay, let’s just think about that for a minute. A good trimming would have reduced the viewing time to a manageable and satisfying 90 minutes but instead so much time is spent getting to the final playout that a feeling of wanting it all to wrap up takes over. Outside of these draw backs though it works well as a companion piece to the Star Wars films and answers a long asked question of episode IV.

(3/5)

Little Otik

(Jan Svankmajer/2000/Czech Republic)

Svankmajer applies his surrealistic animation to this modern retelling of a Czech folktale about a childless couple who take a tree stump as a substitute offspring which then comes alive with an insatiable appetite. Little Otik’s not so little hunger brings conflict to the marriage and leads to several disappearances in the locality before something has to finally be done. It’s slightly overlong at the two hour mark but darkly comic and enthrallingly bizarre enough to keep you giggling and agog. It works as a weird and wonderful antidote to the usual mainstream cinema and even typical art house fare to be honest.

(4/5)

Calamari Union

(Aki Kaurismaki/1985/Finland)

A fantastically absurd odyssey of fourteen Franks and one Pekka making their way across Helsinki to the mythical district of Eira. Rock n Roll abounds and the gang are cool and cutting, delivering aphorisms to beat the band. Surreal, uncompromising and fun, this is an auteur setting out his stall.

(3.5/5)

Le Havre

(Aki Kaurismaki/2011/France)

After 5 years of silence Aki Kaurismaki returned to tackle what I believe will prove to be one of the greatest scandals, tragedies and blots against humanity of these times - refugees. Kaurismaki is unmistakable in his cast of characters and settings - the deadbeats and lowly paid, the downward echelons of society, living in the back streets of a dirty harbour town. This is where we find kindness and love and understanding in abundance and given freely by folk who have little else. Little else but their society built on all the things society is supposed to be and living in the context of a colder, distant, global society with little regard to the needs and wants of individual men and women. Cut through with a lot more humor and color than usual this a fine return from the Fin. Essential viewing really.

(4/5)

Philomena

(Stephen Frears/2013/UK)

Not many films make me cry, this did. Maybe it’s the relevance with recent revelations in Ireland but the poignancy and pathos achieved strikes home. Coogan and Dench deliver powerhouse performances, retrained and hammy enough to bring you in and leave you open for the inevitable. I’m skirting around spoiling a well known story but it’s that good. A true story, very affecting and only a skim of the surface of the tragedies of the laundries in this country.

(4/5)

Rec3: Genesis

(Paco Plaza/2012/Spain)

This third instalment in the Spanish found footage series sets up the plot in the usual way but cleverly and thankfully dispenses with the handheld camera for the play out. There are some great funny bits with “Sponge John” and the religion versus evil theme is nicely done too. It’s a decent gore fest with a risible romantic finale.

(2.5/5)

Willow Creek

(Bobcat Goldthwait/2013/USA)

Oh look another Blair Witch inspired flick which does a good job of showing us very little for over an hour to build to 15 minutes in a tent when all the but the most virgin of viewers will actually flinch at anything that happens onscreen. The one shocking, split second image at the end works but it’s too little too late. Not wholly worthless in that there’s some nice forestry going on (no, seriously, I really like the outdoors). Oh and that proposal scene, totes awks and cringe dude. Police Academy Bobcat, who’d a thunk it?

(2/5)

Shadows In Paradise

(Aki Kaurismaki/1986/Finland)

Kaurismaki starts refining his tropes in this one. Two people at the bottom rung of society’s ladder but aspiring for more meet and don’t exactly gel but there is something. Their erratic lives clash and swell and separate but there is still something. And they go for it. This is a lovely, brilliant film. There’s detailed shots of bin collections, there’s rock n roll and blues (of course there is this is Aki Kaurismaki) and there’s Helsinki in all its grimy 80’s glory. One of my favourite films not just by him but ever. There’s hope no matter how hopeless the now is. Absolutely essential viewing.

(5/5)

Passengers

(Morten Tydlum/2016/USA)

A Trojan horse of a film; rubbish rom-com dressed up as sci-fi. It’s visually lavish but soulless and at best a pathetic Hollywood justification for creepy, stalker like behaviour by men.

(1/5)

Crime and Punishment

(Aki Kaurismaki/1983/Finland)

A reworking of the novel set in Helsinki. Rahikainen is a slaughter house worker who takes a day off and breaks into a flat and kills a rich old man. It’s premeditated like in the book. He’s seen by Eava but then it splits away from the books plot. She becomes embroiled in his moral dilemmas and eventually emotionally involved with him too. The mood is perfect, seedy, low key and angsty complimented perfectly by the early 80’s backdrop of Helsinki. There’s a hopelessness which proposes “what difference does it make?” Being his first feature length Kaurismaki hasn’t developed his characteristic black humor yet so we are on maximum strength bleakness. Recommended if you like wallowing in existential anxiety.

(4/5)

Silent House

(Chris Kentis/2011/USA)

Wrong from the opening shot - the camera should stay overhead and the only reason it changes angle is because it’s an Olsen gal and we need to see her. Wrong. This carries through the entire dreary movie.

(0.5/5)

Hadwin’s Judgement

(Sasha Snow/2015/Canada)

This is one of the most important films of the 21^st century. It elicits the error of mankind’s divergence from connecting with and respecting the natural world. Its focus on one man’s awakening and reaction to the devastation of human industry is a lesson to each and every one of us. Think of it as the real world telling of Twin Peaks' major concerns.

(4/5)

Ikarie XB-1

(Jindřich Polák/1963/Czechoslovakia)

Ikarie XB-1 is space exploration with quaint expectations of dinner dances and social occasions going hand in hand with the science of just about everything. Lots of feathery focus on crew interactions but the narrative that plays out is really good – infiltration of the ship from outside by the unknown. Also the condemnation of the 20^th century juxtaposed with the piano playing of Honeggar is a great moment. The film ends with such optimism, albeit cut through with a critique of communism (or modern society as it was), that it’s refreshing watching it now. There is a shot of an infant which one might suspect as being an inspiration for Kubrick’s 2001 space baby.

(3/5)

The Yellow Sea

(Na Hong-jin/2010/Korea)

At almost two and a half hours this is a long haul but it works as it is broken into four parts that become increasingly fast paced and violent. Showing a man at low ebb, with gambling debts and an estranged wife and daughter living with his mother, who agrees to do a hit to clear his debt, the first part is slow, real and bleak. It’s hard to sympathize with Gu-nam, the taxi driving main character, as it's pretty obvious the fissures in his life are of his own making. 

His trip to Korea shows the reality for many today in that area of the world but once he’s in Korea the social commentary begins to become secondary to the growing action and bloodletting and the plot begins to burst at the seams in places. It all descends into a “WTF?” ending with some brilliant observational points along the way. A lot of reviews complain of confusion with the story but it’s all there if you dig into it.

(3/5)

Drug War

(Johnnie To/2012/China)

There are no preliminaries here; it’s straight into a drug mule bust and the midst of a police operation against trafficking. A whole host of characters begin to appear who you get used to on the hoof rather than see develop in the usual sense. Early on there are lots of tense scenes and then the action begins to escalate and escalate, culminating in an absolute blood fest shoot ‘em up. It’s no frills action too, no fancy footwork, which brings home the grueling reality of it all – no one wins. Have to say I loved this, it doesn’t tax the brain, just get swept up in the wave of it and leave the moralizing and analysis until afterwards on the walk home.

(4/5)

Dragon

(Peter Chan/2011/China)

A vicious thug turns away from violence and crime to try and settle into a peaceful life. He becomes a family man and retains a handy talent for using a mystical energy called QI. But can people ever really change? Of course they can and they can use forces once evil in the defense of good too. Combining excellent performances with good action and mixing philosophical and moral musings into the story this movie hits the mark. Some lovely camera work in there too.

(3/5)

John Carter

(Andrew Stanton/2012/USA)

Brilliantly ludicrous sci-fi where an American Civil War veteran is transposed from the 19th century to an alternate dimension Mars where he suddenly finds himself adept at jumping, sword fighting and astronomy. Turn off your brain and soak up the thrills.

(2.5/5)

Blind

(Eskil Vogt/2014/Norway)

Ingrid, a writer who has lost her sight, retreats to her apartment and immerses herself in the stories she creates for fictional characters in her head. Slowly she loses touch with her real life and transposes indiscretions and paranoid fantasies onto her husband. This is a well crafted story, elegantly told and a genuine inquiry on the sensory displacement of the blind. Sound is all important and the overall effect of the continuous auditory narrative of muffled traffic, house creaks, breathes and ambient cacophony is to put the viewer directly into the world of someone with impaired vision. Touch also is demonstrated as key, although maybe not to the same degree, with scenes of Ingrid pressing herself against a glass window, stroking fabric with her fingers and describing walls with her hand. The culmination of the tension between Ingrid’s fantasies and her real life is an excellent moment of meta-narrative when the husband in her head begins to question her thought processes and paranoia as if he were her real husband presenting her with the truth.

(3/5)

Lawless

(John Hillcoat/2012/USA)

Given how good Nick Cave’s screenplay for Proposition was the sight of his name on the screenwriting credit for Lawless raised expectations. Unfortunately the film falls quite a bit short of those expectations, in the main due to an inability to decide what to show and what not. In attempting to tell too much it ends up losing focus and impairing an otherwise well made film. The setting is 1930’s prohibition time Virginia and the Bondurant brothers have established themselves as bootleggers. A special deputy is brought in to deal with them and other bootlegging gangs, his particular method being to request a cut in return for a blind eye. The Bondurants refuse, there are reprisals, they expand operations with the help of a big city gang and a couple of love interests develop before it all culminates in a slightly ludicrous showdown. But it all seems to stutter along rather than glide with any degree of continuity. Montages exacerbate a sense of boxes being ticked. Outside of these flaws are some decent performances from Chastain, Hardy and Pearce along with a great ambience of that time and setting. It should work better than it does but what it lacks is air for the story to breathe. There’s no need for a lot of the sub plotting and overall it’s a disappointing venture.

(2/5)

Beyond The Black Rainbow

(Panos Cosmatos/2010/Canada)

A young girl, Elena, seems to be the subject of an experiment or therapy of some sort. It becomes apparent she has psychic abilities and is being heavily sedated by the quite frankly sinister looking and behaving Dr. Barry Nyle. All this is taking place in a facility called Arboria which is revealed to be a remnant of some 60’s cult in psychological therapy. This film is mesmerising with huge swathes of colour and music complimenting the pace of the unfolding events. It becomes trancelike at times and is open to interpretation, deliberately so the mind can wander as the eye gorges on the aesthetics. Cosmatos is clearly paying homage to a lineage of sci-fi here. I can see THX1138, early John Carpenter horror, Space Odyssey and a raft of 70’s and 80’s influences. But it raises itself above simple homage and shapes itself with dollops of traditional action which take it out of the trance. It’s a lovely film which allows space for stoned meandering but hits enough plot points and closes the story in such a way as to be satisfying. Even the clip after the end credits harkens back to old b-movie style horror.

(4/5)

Interstellar

(Christopher Nolan/2014/USA)

The world is fucked, crops are dying, the predicted environmental cataclysm is happening and mankind is trying to figure a way out. Luckily there’s a big wormhole that just appeared near Saturn that leads to a galaxy with potentially habitable planets. 12 missions have been sent through to try and find one suitable for mass exodus from earth whilst scientists try and figure out how to accommodate that mass exodus by solving new wormhole space travel physics. 

From the midst of that premise springs the story of Murphy and her dad and how their two narrative arcs intertwine and collide and bounce and diverge and in the doings of it explore the prospect of extinction and the grasping at hope and the exploration of other galaxies and black holes and event horizons and the temporal fabric of the universe. The science might be completely barmy but the inherent logic of this film is sound and you believe it and it reels you in and Nolan is a master at plucking the epic strands of emotion that he unfurls and weaves into it. Not a lot of films make me cry but this one does; tears of hope that our miserable god-awful species can drag itself up out of the shit heap it’s in and do some genuine evolving.

(4/5)

The Double Life of Veronique

(Krzysztof Kieslowski/1991/Poland, France & Norway)

The very best films, in my opinion, ask questions without answering them or present ideas without comment and simply allow the viewer to explore some aspect of thought for themselves. The Double Life of Veronique is a masterful example of this type of film wherein Kieslowski attempts to capture a sense of the mystical that can occur in life. In attempting that the film itself becomes a mystical experience, to watch, to pore over, to open up to and allow to pull you along a curious thread through the universal mind. A chance intersection of two women’s lives conjures up the notion of doppelgangers and lives being lived in some spiritually connected but physically separated way. Like an extension of his earlier movie Blind Chance, which explored how life might pan out if we could rerun certain events and make different choices (itself a variation on Kurosawa’s Rashomon - the same tale told from three viewpoints), Veronique introduces the image of the puppeteer suggesting that we are not in control of our own destinies and are living out one of a myriad of narratives. Chance, coincidence, intuition and a sense of otherworldliness combine to enmesh the viewer in this spiritual pondering aided in no small way by the mesmerising performance of Irene Jacob and the cinematography of Slawomir Idziak. It’s the ambience of exposure in every scene that lifts the entire film. Incredibly unique and affecting, one of Kieslowski’s best and a must watch.

(5/5)

Jimmy’s Hall

(Ken Loach/2014/UK)

A tale of revolutionary ideas in rural Ireland, rejected by the status quo in the guise of the Church and the consequences for those involved therein. Unrequited love is thrown into the mix for good measure. I’m not really sure what this film is trying to convey to be honest. Overall it’s a bit facetious, dialogue heavy at times and has a clunky feel good ending, “We’ll remember ya Jimmy!”. Not Loach’s finest hour by a long shot.

(1.5/5)

Romantics Anonymous

 (Jean-Pierre Ameris/2010/Belgium & France)

A love story hinged around the shyness of the two main characters that’s not at all flippant and genuinely touching in its portrayal of the condition. Its sincerity is due no doubt to the fact that both the director and the female lead, Isabelle Carre, have admitted to suffering from debilitating shyness themselves. By turns funny, romantic and heartfelt it’s the first film I’ve seen Benoit Poelvoorde in since Man Bites Dog! With natural scenery the realism shines through and adds to the authenticity of the performances and the story. Love and chocolate – very French, very Belgian, a great mix. 

(3.5/5)

Locke

(Steven Knight/2013/UK)

I don’t know did Steven Knight lose some drunken bet in the pub one night where he had to draw from a hatful of bizarre film ideas but Locke could definitely have been conjured up in such a scenario. An engineer preparing for one of the biggest concrete pours in the history of construction sites (that may be an exaggeration but it is a fucking huge delivery of concrete by all accounts) gets called away at the last minute and has to drive from London to Wales whilst fielding a barrage of phone calls from the site, his wife and someone in Wales along the way. The entire film takes place in the car in one continuous scene. It sounds mental but it works and Hardy delivers in spades on the demands of such a production. A huge performance, almost as big as the concrete pour, pulls you in and grips you for an hour and a half. His character is a man who's honest, principled and true to is word and that character carries through every narrative speed bump. He not only struggles with pressures from his present conundrum but with psychological pressures from his past.

The finer details of delivering concrete to a site never seemed so important. One of the first things I learned in college was that often the simplest ideas work best: one camera, one actor, one shot – great idea for a short but a brave and gutsy move to commit that to a full length movie. There are cuts and multiple camera angles but it's an entire film  in a car. Uncompromising in its experiment Locke pays off and is well worth a watch. 

(3.5/5)