A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

(Ana Lily Amirpour/2014/USA)

I loved every minute of this, a Persian language film shot entirely in California and a great debut from Amirpour. Set in fictional Iranian back water Bad City she mashes up spaghetti western vibes with modern day vampirism. Shot in black and white, because it’s cooler, we follow Ashram as he works for a wealthy family by day and takes care of his heroin addicted father by night. We also see the titular girl as she wanders the streets at night. The two meet and some kind of crazy love blossoms in this hip, genre bending, Tarantino does Persepolis flick. The skate scene is one of the coolest things I’ve seen on screen in a long time.

(4/5)

West

(Christian Schwochow/2013/Germany)

A middling drama about a single mother who defects to West Berlin in the 70’s with her son and gets detained in refugee accommodation and subjected to questioning about her sons father who is suspected of being a spy. Interesting to note the conditions of detainment compared to today’s refugee camps and hard to sympathise with those in the film given the relative luxury. A good performance in the main role by Jördis Triebel but even though the story hits the right notes about their plight, the eventual theme of not judging a book by its cover washes out into the final scenes with a somewhat weak sentimentality rather than a resonant emotional twang. Not a bad film but nothing extraordinary either.

(2.5/5)

Mother

(Bong Joon Ho/2009/South Korea)

Do-joon is a slow witted young man, mollycoddled by his mother who tries to guide him to a good life and to behave well. He is impetuous, silly and prone to anger when called out for being dim. When a girl is murdered locally the police lazily peg the crime on him and get him to sign a confession which sends his mother on a mission to unravel the mystery of the murder herself and free her son who has been framed. Bong Joon Ho is playful with the mood throughout this at times dark crime thriller and as a result it becomes deceptive and capable of twisting the narrative to surprise the viewer. Subtlety layered, this film creates ripples of thought that carry on for a time after viewing. I am still wondering why the mother is dancing in the field? Bong Joon Ho is one of my favourite modern directors and has proven himself across a range of genres; he is always telling a good story so Mother is a recommended watch.

(3.5/5)

Weekend

(Andrew Haigh/2011/UK)

Following a weekend long romantic tryst between Glen and Russell as they connect on a level that both recognise as life changing and which forces them to reconsider their respective trajectories. Costing £120,000 to make it sidesteps any limitations of that budget by keeping things simple in terms of settings but creating a warmth and intimacy that pervades the movie and carries the increasingly intense dialogue between the two leads. It’s a lovely, accomplished piece of work that resonates emotionally without ever being twee or schmaltzy.

(4/5)

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

(Tom Stoppard/1990/UK)

Stoppard’s screen adaptation of his own play focusing on the two minor and interchangeable character’s from Hamlet. It is a theatrical riff on Beckett’s Godot with many similar aspects and themes. The two lead’s dialogue often focuses on confusion at who they are and what they are doing and there is a sense of waiting for the inevitable conclusion of the piece. It’s darkly comic with shades of existential querying and a great mash up for fans of Hamlet and Beckett, or just theatre in general. Stoppard transitions the play to screen effortlessly. The tennis scene is hilarious and the device of the “play within the play” is given extra layers and deepened and played with brilliantly. Oldman and Roth are great too in roles far and away from their usual.

(3.5/5)

Ex-Drummer

(Koen Mortier/2007/Belgium)

Deliberately, provocatively repulsive, it’s as if Koen Mortier wants you to react against this film. On the surface it seems like a depraved attack on audience sensibilities but there’s more at play if you can sit it out. Based on a novel by controversial Belgian author Herman Brusselmans Ex Drummer tells the story of 3 odd balls that have formed a band called The Feminists and consider themselves handicapped. They are without a drummer and ask famous writer and the film’s narrator Dries to join them; mistakenly thinking he is an ex-drummer. He accepts motivated by cynicism and mockery of the three involved and the possibility of material for a new book. The singer is a violent misogynist with a stammer, the bassist has a paralyzed arm and a warped oedipal complex and the guitarist is a half deaf junkie and domestic abuser; pond life at the lowest ebb of society’s tide. Through a mish mash of cinematic tricks (the entire introduction section is shown with the film running backwards and the guitarist is often shown upside down to everybody else for example) and an assortment of grotesque secondary characters Ex Drummer reels you in before clobbering you. It is an explicit descent into the lower echelons of deprivation for the amusement of Dries and by default the viewer. The violence and depravity of the characters within the film can be taken as a reaction to that or equally as an indictment of those same characters. That’s the provocation, which premise is true in the mind of the viewer? I’m never really sure if films like this work, it involves a balancing act that requires a bit of subtlety; another Belgian film, Man Bites Dog, does it brilliantly but subtlety is not a word that applies to Ex Drummer. It is a sustained assault in an attempt to question the audience, in order to question society, to follow a thought process to its logical end. If people like the ones in the film who live their lives and go from birth to death with the same ups and downs and emotions and needs and wants as us all, are really as stupid and ugly as Dries claims then wouldn’t they end up much as the films characters do - In a bloody, messy quagmire of their own fateful making? Ex Drummer is laced with black humour and has an infectious soundtrack created for the film by a handful of Belgian punk bands. It’s abrasive, energetic, addictive viewing but it’s also repellent. Press play and ask yourself do you really want to keep watching?

(3.5/5)

Gladiator

(Ridley Scott/2001/USA)

Scott tackles ancient Rome and delivers an upgrade of older historical epics that Hollywood once had a penchant for back in the late 50’s and early 60’s. Gladiator is fictionalised but rooted in historical fact; most of the characters are real but the story is a daydream of sorts, a big budget, action packed daydream with revenge at its heart. Russell Crowe is great as the grizzled fighter with a grudge working his way from the bottom rung of pit fighting all the way to the glorious fanfare of the Coliseum in Rome where he gets his audience with the Emperor. If you grew up with and enjoyed Charlton Heston’s Ben Hur and Kirk Douglas’ Spartacus then Gladiator should tick a few boxes. It inspired a new wave of interest in Greek and Roman tales in both TV and film in the years that followed due to its success but it is essentially a gum chewing Hollywood summer blockbuster.

(3/5)

Junkyard

(Hisko Husling/2012/Netherlands)

An animated short about a man who gets stabbed protecting his girlfriend from a mugger and experiences a series of flashbacks to his childhood which reveal a twist of fate and touch on themes such as poverty and drug use. The background scenery is excellently hand painted and has a surreal quality but reflects an urban murk. The original soundtrack is affecting with visceral ambient sound intrusions. It’s worth spending 20 minutes to watch it and it’s available on vimeo here:

Junkyard by Hisko Husling

(3.5/5)

Altman

(Ron Mann/2014/USA)

An enlightening biography of the fiercely independent American director Robert Altman, this documentary doesn’t get bogged down in interpreting or analyzing the films themselves and concentrates on his methodologies and the story of his personal life. There are lovely contributions from the many and varied actors he worked with and supported throughout his career and the love for him shines through. His family’s remembrances and the home movie excerpts add to the veracity and poignancy of the project. It does a very good job of representing the life’s work of this maverick film maker and added a lot more titles to my “to watch” list.

(3/5)

The Keep

(Michael Mann/1983/USA)

An atmospheric, gothic horror that takes place during World War II, The Keep is a deviation from Michael Mann’s usual style and a film he has since disowned due to studio interference and editing. It says a lot that it doesn’t have a video or DVD release, so the only way you’ll see it is on one of its rare TV screenings (Film4 have shown it twice in the last year or so if you’re interested). Although a commercial flop on release it has over time gathered a bit of cult appreciation. It is certainly flawed due to the studio enforced edits, some of the story sequencing doesn’t quite make sense, but it has a quality and tone that surpasses these flaws and makes it something beguiling to watch. The story is of a Nazi soldier division securing a pass in the Romanian mountains by occupying an old keep outside a village in the pass. The soldiers unlock an ancient evil within the keep and a struggle ensues involving the demonic force, the Nazis, the villagers, an elderly historian and his daughter and another strange man who arrives on a mission known only to him. There’s a lot of backlighting, mystical mists and a superb soundtrack from Tangerine Dream. The effects are obviously quite dated but it has lost none of its essence or mood even after being savaged in the editing room and that is testament to Mann as a film maker. To be honest I don’t think I’ve seen another film quite like it so if you get the chance watch it.

(3.5/5)

The Enigma of Kasper Hauser

(Werner Herzog/1974/West Germany)

Herzog uses the story of a mysterious young man appearing in early 19th century Nuremburg to metaphysically riff on themes of society, religion and the nature of experience and existence. The entire film is a vehicle for his then recently discovered lead Bruno Schleinstein, a self taught baroque street busker who had a deprived upbringing and absolutely no acting experience. The real Kasper Hauser is widely believed to have been a charlatan who claimed to have lived to 17 years old in a  cellar before being found wandering the streets with a letter proposing that a cavalry captain take him in and train him. Finding the truth of the real Kapser's origins became a prolonged investigation and saw him taken in by the civic authorities and housed and educated by a succession of families. An existence that probably would not have been afforded him if the mystery did not exist. But Herzog dispenses with the factual history and investigation and presents Kasper Hauser's story as true. This allows Bruno S to inhabit the role and use his own life and existence as a well spring for re-imagining Kasper Hauser as a reality. It's an incredible film which centers around the performance by Bruno but also has Herzog's trademark eccentricities built into it. There is an air of mysticism about it from the very start. The opening sequence of shots before the scrolling text linger long in the mind afterwards for example. Characters such as the town clerk who records every event of significance are a delight and enhance the element of surrealism of the story at hand. Coming after Aguirre, The Wrath of God it acts as a bridge between the examination of the dark heart of man of that film and the outright mysticism of Heart of Glass which was his next feature.

(4/5)

The Selfish Giant

(Clio Barnard/2013/UK)

Set in Bradford and following two hard nosed kids from a council estate, Arbor and Swifty, as they bunk off school and try their hand at collecting scrap for a local merchant, The Selfish Giant is atmospheric and gritty all at once. There are lingering cut aways on sheep in fog filled fields, humming electricity pylons and dusky skies that evoke a near mystical sense of the environment around the deadbeat lives of the characters. There is minimal soundtrack, it's mostly ambient noise. The sound of those suburban industrial areas, the scraps of wasteland with the hum of factories and pylons ever present is captured perfectly. The story itself is unflinching in it's portrayal of these kids who see no opportunity in school and throw two fingers to the world to pave their own way. The eventual tragedy and emotional turmoil of that decision hits hard but the film ends beautifully albeit cut through with sadness. I loved every minute of it, beautifully shot, acted and edited. I'll be looking forward to seeing Clio Barnards next feature, Dark River.

(4/5)

Flash Gordon

(Mike Hodges/1980/USA)

One of my earliest cinematic memories is going to see this film with my cousin Rob, 50p admission of a Sunday afternoon in the old Regina Cinema on Patrick St in Waterford. After the initial slightly scary (to a 1980’s six year old) Dr Zarkov and the stormy rocket launch and kidnap scene it’s straight into a cavalcade of colour and pomp. It’s all high octane camp and capers. If you watch the old 1930’s TV series of Flash Gordon the costumes and style of this film aren’t that far off but the jokey, playing it for laughs script could be mistaken for sniggering. Then again when you are reducing a serialised adventure story to 90 minutes there has to be some flexibility in narrative and style. This version of Flash Gordon maintains a good balance of irreverence and genuine action adventure and to my six year old brain it was epic. Everything from baddies with eye popping death scenes to Flash on the sky bike with a thumping, building theme tune from Queen - it had me entranced and thrilled. Maybe it’s rose tinted glasses but I still think it’s a great film that takes the stageyness of the TV series with the adventure and thrills of the comic and produces a big budget b-movie of sorts. It’s a science fiction mutant that would rather hang out backstage with the phantom of the opera than in Jabba’s Palace on Tatooine. You might think while watching it that you probably shouldn’t like it as much as you do but it’s too much fun not to. And Brian Blessed is a delight as Prince Vultan of the Hawkmen.

(3.5/5)

Ice Cold in Alex

(J. Lee Thompson/1958/UK)

Four army medical staff are separated from the main convoy during an evacuation to Alexandria behind British lines in the North African desert conflict of World War II. Their solo run across the desert to reach safety involves a series of dangerous episodes which make for two hours of war drama dripping in sweat and tension. Shot on location in Libya the heat and effort onscreen is real and makes for a film that comes very close to the actual experience of desert warfare. Naturalistic sounds rather than the usual orchestral score heighten the tension and sense of place. Both screen and audio combine in an ambient realism that enhances the unfolding drama. You can pretty much taste the cold beers in the final scene.

(3.5/5)

The Terminator

(James Cameron/1984/USA)

Your name’s Sarah Connors and a lot of Sarah Connors are getting murdered in the city where you live which is worrying and then you find out it’s because there’s a fecking massive cyborg from the future killing all the Sarah Connors to change the future and he’s armed to the teeth, indestructible and followed around everywhere by an ominous but groovy synth theme tune. Time travel, a kick ass cyborg, a relentless movie long chase scene, explosions, action and that Brad Friedel soundtrack make this an absolute classic. It’s a perfect example of a Hollywood blockbuster genre flick.

(4.5/5)

War Horse

(Stephen Spielberg/2011/USA)

Originally a children’s book told from the point of view of a horse sold to the British army during World War I, this film understandably introduces more conventional narratives for human characters to blend with the story of the horse. It is closer in spirit to the theatrical adaptation of the book than the book itself I’d hazard. A pastoral feeling permeates the movie and Spielberg creates a highly emotive story and sense of place. Lighting, music and sets all combine to give an operatic or theatrical feel throughout. The relationship between Albert and Joey is slowly built up to be used further on to pluck the heart strings. War Horse is not short of style and feeling but it can’t help being a bit of a ham fisted story. The action onscreen becomes less and less believable as the film goes on, no doubt more suited to the high drama of a live stage setting than the cinema. But even with this concession the story on screen is a bit flat. There are only so many orchestral cues, telling you how to feel, you can take before it all gets a bit numb. I’ll also admit this isn’t my usual viewing fare or would ever be a first choice. But it was a great film to sit and watch with my kids as they immediately engaged with the plight of the horse and it gave me ample opportunity to lament the horrors of war to them and impart some history not just of the war but of ploughing methods from a hundred years ago!

(2/5)

Gloria

(Sebastián Lelio/2013/Chile)

Gloria, divorced and in her 50’s, enjoys an independent life, working, trying to keep in touch with her kids and occasionally going out to a club for socialising. She meets an older man and develops a relationship with him which will change how she feels about who she is and her place in life. This is an intimate, warm portrayal of someone living the best way she can and managing all the ups and downs that come with it. Gloria is quirky and fun and open to experience, she shows us that life is there for the taking at all times. A lovely, funny and heart warming film.

(3.5/5)

Northern Soul

(Elaine Constantine/2012/UK)

This is a film about friendship, the beginning, the middle, the end and the rebirth of friendship and it wears the coat of the Northern Soul scene in 1970’s England to tell its story. The first half hour or so is excellent. Constantine perfectly relates the excitement of being young and discovering something that makes more sense to you than anything else in your life. The music, the clothes, the gritty northern working class life is all present and correct. The gradual immersion in the “scene” is very good. The story it goes on to tell of two lads with shared love of the music and dreams of it being their path from rags to riches is solid, well told and never lags. Well worth a watch.

(3/5)

Bladerunner 2049

(Denis Villeneuve/2017/USA)

Producing a sequel to a cultural lodestone like Bladerunner is a brave thing to do no matter what the result and Denis Villeneuve has to be given his due; he has made a film as immersive, visually stunning and emotive as Ridley Scott’s 1982 opus. Bladerunner 2049 looks incredible and recreates and expands the dystopian future aesthetic with plenty of rain, neon and smog clouded cityscapes. The original was hailed as a meshing of noir thriller with futuristic sci-fi and created a wave of influence still felt today as well as a template for a myriad of imitations. It was crucial that a sequel get the feeling right and it does and the soundtrack is a huge part of the reason the visuals have such an impact too. Each sweeping shot of flying cars making their way through the giant ad screens and towering urban sprawl is enhanced with booming flourishes of synthesisers and Vangelis-esque refrains. If all you wanted to do was sit and spend some time in the world of Bladerunner, soaking up an environment that has long been a part of our cultural consciousness then a large part of Bladerunner 2049’s 160 minutes will keep you happy.

However a story has to be told and unfortunately this is where the sequel wobbles a bit. The story stretches thin over its near three hours and raises questions that disrupt the viewing experience. For example, and these are spoilers, Wallace has all the info K has so why wait for K to crack the case instead of joining the dots himself and getting to Deckard first? How can Luv walk into the depths of a cop shop and kill people, twice, without any detection or resulting furore? Why is natural reproduction of replicants better than industrial production for Wallace? Once they have evolved to reproduce they become an independent species and would surely begin to demand freedom and refuse to be in thrall to a corporate entity? After being suspended from duty K hands in his badge and gun but why not his fully armed cop car? After two and three quarter hours are we to nod acceptingly at the glib assumption that Wallace will quietly believe that Deckard and his top administrative assassin have perished in an accident? That’s just a few of the big ones, there was no drop out of internal logic in the original, there were questions for sure but those were central to the ideas within the story and not exterior to them. There are also parts of Bladerunner 2049 which are unnecessary; the biggest one personally is the scene with Gaff which again raises too many questions (Why hasn’t Wallace got to him? Why is his account of his friendship with Deckard at odds with the first movie?). It also seems to be no more than a cack handed easter egg with its origami sheep. We could also do without the cringe inducing sex scene between K and his hologram girlfriend Joi, using a call girl for surrogate physical contact. It’s just mind numbingly awful and even though it could be argued that it shows the depth of feeling between K and Joi I think that’s already established through the quality of acting from Gosling and Ana de Armas. I already believed the connection was there, it didn’t need some hokey trans-digital sex to get the point across. I’d go so far as to ask is there any need for Joi at all? She is no more than an appropriation of the theme of Spike Jonze's Her and a weak mirror of the Deckard/Rachel dynamic in the first Bladerunner. The underground, revolutionary replicants also seem superfluous and are a glaringly obvious device to launch a sequel. They serve no real purpose within the plot of this movie, the information they impart and the actions they carry out are not exclusive to their existence.

But let’s not be too negative, as a fan of the original there’s a compulsion to be hyper critical but there’s more to like here than dislike. Gosling is perfectly cast and carries off the introverted replicant with aplomb. Harrison Ford, in what could be considered an extended cameo, nails the aged Deckard, maybe even more so than he did the younger Deckard all those years ago. Jared Leto is Jared Leto, wearisome, laboured and just why with the eyes? But the main winner here is the look, sound and overall feel of the film. It’s an absolutely stunning cinematic experience. In summary Bladerunner 2049 succeeds in creating afresh the sci-fi noir world of the original but it needed a script editor to shorten its run time and tighten up the narrative. It doesn’t surpass Bladerunner, which effortlessly blended aesthetic and story, but it is a beautiful, at times mesmerizing and very respectable sequel.

(3/5)

Alien: Covenant

(Ridley Scott/2017/USA)

The second of Ridley Scott’s prequels to the Alien series following on from 2012’s Prometheus, Alien: Covenant returns to more familiar territory with a crew on a large spaceship responding to a signal on a strange planet and getting eviscerated by the evil incarnate that is the Xenomorph Alien we‘ve come to know and love. Many people felt let down by Prometheus, I wasn’t one of them, but it did exactly what it set out to do and stands as a lyrical starting point to the entire franchise. Covenant attempts to blend that lyricism into the well established deep space horror genre and in the main it succeeds. There’s a plucky female hero, squirm inducing bodily eruptions, face huggers, fights involving industrial machinery and it’s over but it’s not over twists to the end. All the tropes established in the original movies are here but with little kinks as Scott riffs on familiar routines. For example instead of chest bursting baby aliens they come out through the spine or there’s the Xenomorph tail sliding from the shadows into the midst of a sex scene. Some may find this rehashing tedious but if the general reaction to Prometheus was negative due to it not playing to expectations Scott can hardly be blamed for at least trying to satisfy those expectations in a playful way this time round. I think at this stage of milking the cow the cream is long gone and it’s down to personal taste whether you want to drink the milk or not. But back to the lyricism, it’s not just typical Alien suspense and action here. Scott is establishing a creation myth and he uses passages of dialogue to touch on classical reference points like Ozymandis, Wagner’s Ring Cycle and so on. This creates a mood suited to the scale of what’s going on. The original series was episodic but these prequels work as a unified sequence. In David, the rogue android whose sentience has catapulted him into a genocidal superiority complex, we have an evolving villain that binds the prequels with his story arc. So, is Alien: Covenant as good as Alien or Aliens? No. Is it as good as or better than the third and fourth instalments? Yes. Is it worthy of being a prequel to such a classic movie franchise? Definitely and I for one can’t wait to see the next chapter of the story.

(3/5)

Quadrophenia

(Franc Roddam/1979/UK)

Jimmy Cooper is a Mod in 1960’s London and his passion for scooters, mod music and amphetamines help him escape the drudgery of his suburban home and office mail boy job. We see him fighting with Rockers, taking pills, chatting up a girl he likes called Steph and getting up to other mischief. The Mods rivalry with the Rockers culminates in a weekend in Brighton where the two gangs clash and riot. The fallout from this is his arrest, getting thrown out of home and then losing his job. As things unravel Jimmy tries to escape his disillusionment by taking more and more pills and revisiting Brighton alone. Finally, Ace Face, an uber Mod of sorts, is revealed to be not very Mod at all. This forces Jimmy to realise the Mod scene isn’t an answer to his disenchantment with the world and he discards his adolescent rebellion in a symbolic and dramatic closing shot. Phil Daniels nails the teenage angst and hormonal kick back against adulthood throughout. Roddam’s refusal to use The Who’s soundtrack exclusively and turn this into a musical á la Tommy is important and a large part of the reason the film works. Instead he combines elements of the kitchen sink drama style with a documentary feel to make a visceral, gritty coming of age film that has achieved cult status. It goes beyond being a sensationalist look at youth culture and manages to capture something of the essence of growing up.

(3.5/5)

Blackthorn

(Mateo Gil/2011/Spain)

Sam Shepard plays a fictional Butch Cassidy who has survived into the late 1920’s and lives in Bolivia, raising horses. On learning of the death of Etta Place, the woman who accompanied The Sundance Kid and himself to South America years ago, he resolves to sell up and return to America to visit her son, who is his son. His plans are interrupted by a Spaniard on the run from a posse chasing him for stealing money from a wealthy mine owner. Cassidy gets embroiled with helping him out before discovering he has been lied to. The film finishes out with Cassidy exacting vengeance for the lie and heading across the mountains to freedom leaving the gate wide open for a Blackthorn 2. Some of this movie works really well, Shepard is great as the wizened, hard as nails ex-outlaw and the fantasy of him surviving is told convincingly. The scenery of Bolivia is beautiful and absorbing. Mateo Gil has developed a good premise and has a brilliant setting but he fails to generate any real tension within the arc of the story. The film consistently feels like it is playing out well rehearsed steps and there is no space for surprises. It is a pleasant 90 minutes of western whimsy but no more than that.

(2.5/5)

Thérèse Desqueyroux

(Claude Miller/2012/France)

Thérèse is from a wealthy family and is married into another wealthy family to expand and grow the business of both. The marriage of convenience becomes a spiritual trap in which she devolves into a distant being devoid of interest in her husband and his family with a persistent thousand yard stare. Her involvement in her sister in laws affair sparks brief fantasies of escape and a desire for a more intellectual existence. However her actual attempt at escaping her situation goes awry and she is disgraced within the family and without, leading to depression and physical decline. Her husband releases her from the constraint of the marriage and she begins a new chapter of life in Paris, free at last. It would be a mistake to think this an existential film, instead of exercising free will or activating any philosophical challenge to her plight Thérèse mopes throughout. She also displays a staggering lack of empathy for her own child, an innocent in the whole affair. I found her to be a spoilt brat of sorts, incapable of confronting the society she finds herself trapped in and resorting to sulkiness as a result. Maybe I’m missing the point; it is a period piece and an example of the social mores and failings of a previous era. That said I found it hard to sympathise with Tatou’s rather one dimensional portrayal. Her husband, a self absorbed boor, is played brilliantly by Gilles Lellouche however. The film is shot beautifully with many moments akin to paintings frozen onscreen. François Mauriac’s novel of the same name begins in the middle and uses flashbacks and inner monologues to show past events before moving towards the finish. Miller’s film rearranges the sequence to a linear start, middle and end which works fine. It’s an engaging and gentle film but intensely dreary at points and struggles to impart a message. Thérèse gains her freedom through no machination of her own but by the compassion of the man that represents all that she is trying to escape. So what is it saying? If you wait(sulk) long enough your unhappy situation will sort itself out? I don’t know. After such an illustrious career it was unfortunate that this was to be Miller’s last film.

(2/5)

The Goat

(Buster Keaton/1921/USA)

The hapless Keaton gets mistaken for a serious criminal and ends up with people avoiding him like the plague and then with one, two and three cops in chase. Amongst the high jinks he manages to meet and woo a girl whose dad turns out to be the police chief and one of his pursuers. He pulls off an ingenious escape from her apartment building and carries her off to the rolling credits. Whilst it has all the hallmarks of Keaton’s wit and visual gags along with some lovely close ups of the intimidating Joe Roberts, it doesn’t quite flow as easily as others of his shorts. It is essentially a series of chase scenes, containing some fantastic stunts but with a feeling of episodic set ups rather than a continuing narrative. A small complaint however as it is hilarious and the amount of misdirection employed is breath taking.

(3/5)

Older Than Ireland

(Alex Fegan/2015/Ireland)

Taking a sample of Irish centenarians and building interviews around a set of core questions relating to landmarks throughout life such as childhood, marriage, kids, bereavement this documentary excels in teasing out the characters on screen and hitting notes by turn comic, joyful, maudlin and poignant. There is no catchall message about how to survive to such an age or what the secret to life is; indeed the responses to the question about the meaning of life don’t look any different to the responses it might generate in people of any age! The settings of the interviews in the homes of each participant show just how much of a cross section of Irish life is on display also. It’s an insightful and witty documentary and whilst one or two interviewees imply that they might be tired of still being around it imparts a joie de vivre and sense of living life while you have it.

(3.5/5)

Requiem for a Dream

(Darren Aronofsky/2000/USA)

The cinematic style of Requiem for a Dream felt very familiar as I watched and then it hit me in one shot, a low angle close up of Ellen Burstyn with blue sky backdrop, the heat of the summer palpable, the dialogue delivered in such a way that Rumblefish sprang to mind. A similar style permeates both films, the use of soundtrack, montage shots and time lapse sequences to imply time passing, lots of close ups and dialogue enveloping everything as if delivered in a closet. I’m not saying it’s a clear copy of styles but there’s a cross over for sure, a shared feel to both films. As an adaptation of Hubert Selby Jr this is always going to be an edgy exercise, I haven’t read the book so can’t compare the two but the script was written in collaboration with Selby Jr so everything on screen is assumed to be author approved. The film is an excellent treatise on addiction. Aronofsky uses editing to pace scenes and relay the physical state of the characters, quick jittery cuts mean they’re high on uppers, slower cuts with woozy soundtracks indicates opiates and more deliberate and focused editing and dialogue scenes relate soberness. The four seasons are used to break the film into chapters, each one creeping further into addiction and degradation. The only misstep for me is the relatively sharp transition from casual drug use to full blown dependency. Personally I thought the descent could have been slower. As a result as the end approaches and the editing becomes more manic, building to a cinematic climax that reflects the nadir point for each character onscreen, the pathos of the closing scenes of the results of their vices seems a little contrived. A little bit of style over substance then but still an incredibly accomplished film that packs a gut punch. The original score by The Kronos Quartet is a treat too.

(3.5/5)

The Day After Tomorrow

(Roland Emmerich/2004/USA)

This is pure, CGI laden bubblegum for the eyes. Disaster movies are a genre that can happily pass a couple of hours with excitement, escapades and harmless entertainment. I’ve been watching them since I was a kid, Towering Inferno being an early viewing experience, and still enjoy switching off the brain and getting stuck into these kinds of films. It’s a good set up with Dennis Quaid being the very serious scientist who reckons a catastrophic global environmental event is on the way. No one listens obviously until it’s too late. His son is in NYC on a school trip and takes refuge in the national library. Cue the epic journey of dad to save son. There is silliness in some scenes with wolves and the eye of the storm freezing stuff but Emmerich doesn’t really care for scientific realism, he’s doling out thrills and he does it fairly well.

(2.5/5)

Kes

(Ken Loach/1969/UK)

Towards the end of the book The Shepherd’s Life by James Rebanks he points out that an increasing disconnect between rural communities and traditional agricultural skills is leading to over reliance on modern industrial methods of sustenance and employment and possible vulnerability in the future if those methods and systems collapse. Basically if you live in the hills and the only food you can get is from the local supermarket if anything happens to compromise that you have nothing to fall back on. The farming skills and work that made these places inhabitable in the first place are being lost. In some small way Ken Loach’s film Kes touches on the flip side of this, that of returning to traditional modes of living as an escape from the trials of modern industrial living. It depicts school boy Billy Casper as he finds, nurses and begins to train a kestrel that he discovers on farmland close to his council house in the northern town of Barnsley. This discovery and interest gives him a niche in the world which is his and his alone, away from his daily life of uninspired schooling, poor living standards and the expectations and inevitability of his future working down the mines like his older brother Jud. His outlook brightens in tandem with his falconry skills, he even receives praise at school. The idea is simple - passion and interest in one aspect of life will spread and benefit other aspects. Opportunity will follow if interests and skills are nurtured. Whilst it’s not an overtly political film it definitely contains a coded attack on the failings of the state in these communities, particularly in terms of education. But it is more directly an example of a harsh coming of age, the stark realisation of the brutality of the world, in this case represented by Jud, a small minded, uncaring brother who lashes out at the only thing Billy holds dear over a petty mistake. Jud is a product of his environment and ultimately he is the future version of Billy but when the film ends we have to believe that Billy has seen an escape route from the world he finds himself in. The local dialect used throughout lends realness and that’s what Kes is, gritty realism of life in a poor working class area laid bare. It is an absolutely essential film and one that elicits a dollop of universal emotional resonance from the details of a locality and its way of life. As an adaptation of A Kestrel for a Knave, the book by Barry Hines, it succeeds in putting every page of it on screen.

(5/5)

This Is England

(Shane Meadows/2006/UK)

An autobiographical account of Meadows time as a skinhead and his flirtation with the right wing nationalist movement in Britain in the early 80’s, This Is England combines flawless attention to detail in setting and costume, great characterisation and music to tell a story full of humour, pathos and darkness. It’s a rites of passage tale with an incredible performance by the young Thomas Turgoose. Meadows excels at capturing the mood of the time, he is a director, similar to Ozu, who can communicate a sense of place effortlessly in a simple cutaway. Without any concession to moralising we are very effectively shown how the emotions of loss and disaffection can be harnessed and used to promote ideologies of hatred. It works as a cult youth flick and a warning to future generations simultaneously. His use of Turgoose, an unknown non-actor at that point, and portrayal of a generation of British working class bear a lot of similarities to Ken Loach’s Kes. Also the promo poster is lifted straight from Quadrophenia, another great cult youth movie.

(4/5)

Trainspotting

(Danny Boyle/1996/UK)

Following the travails of a handful of Edinburgh heroin addicts through the eyes of one Mark Renton, Trainspotting patches together episodes from Irvine Welsh’s non-linear book of the same name. This is loud, brash and unapologetic. Chastised in certain quarters for glorifying heroin use the film connected with a young audience not because it glorifies but because it’s honest and doesn’t patronize. Locating it in Edinburgh was clever by Welsh as it undercut the typical image of it being more cultural and upper class than Glasgow, a city more readily associated in people’s minds with junkies. Drug use and addiction happens everywhere. Boyle utilizes a hip parade of cool songs to further ingratiate with the yoof and it works. Albeit an at times horrific core subject it doesn’t sidestep showing the bleakness but delivers it with a wash of cathartic humour. It also ends on a high (sorry, I’ll get my coat) with a positive message full of hope and Zenish joy in the mundane.

(4/5)

Pusher

(Nicolas Winding Refn/1996/Denmark)

The first of Winding Refn's trilogy based in and around Copenhagen looking at characters embroiled in the drug scene. Frank, played brilliantly by Kim Bodnia, is a hapless low level heroin dealer who over reaches and gets himself into debt and all sorts of trouble. The spiral of events, shown over the course of a week, as the universe conspires against him increasingly ratchets up the tension. Refn uses fast paced editing, rough dialogue and music to cinematicly face off with the viewer, it’s a brash film, challenging you like one of the characters might if confronted. He also used hand held cameras throughout which give the film a documentary feeling and the lighting is consistently naturalistic and unadulterated giving realism to the entire thing. It is a dark, at times funny but unglorified look at gangsters in a European city. As time and options run out for Frank it keeps you glued no matter how unsympathetic you are to the character himself.

(3.5/5)

Legend

(Brian Helgeland/2015/France)

A depiction of the Kray Twins, Ronnie and Reggie, tracing their story from small to big time London gangsters, this film doesn’t really add anything to a well known tale or tease out the characters to any extent. There are a couple of reasons for this but the main one is the fact it’s all related via voiceover from Reggie’s girlfriend and eventual wife, Rose, played by Emily Browning. Placing the viewer in the mind of Rose only allows a straight recounting of events and her voiceover does not delve into motivations or reasons for the quirks and psychotic kinks of the brothers in question. As a result it’s not a very insightful film but the centrepiece and one thing that keeps you engaged is Tom Hardy’s dual performance as both Ronnie and Reggie. It is amazing how he deploys the quiet, suave yet latently aggressive charm of Reggie and plays off the more overt, unstable and wilfully violent Ronnie. He even manages to physically transform himself for each twin, Reggie being leaner and more clean cut than the buff and boorish Ronnie. Browning is also excellent as the misfortunate Rose. Legend is worth watching for Hardy and Browning's acting alone.

(2.5/5)