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)