tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27176101141462086722024-02-18T23:04:34.281-08:00Cinema ReviewsBryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-22973062655028599972023-06-15T09:50:00.004-07:002023-06-15T09:50:46.176-07:00The Night is Short, Walk on Girl (2017)<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitxK9oBTnCH3RtHGUw3hvmGYD3bjZ_2llgqXUHm2YkPEPEolZCJqdVaBfpJ0pF8b4ggYLlkxM3AJC_MRHSBiv3F2500fH1R0oZOGFrvaQhMm3nv-z3yqWYrQRxpq_SQUiGTknSfbbtMAyjFv4HZJyMDTQuWhKHRmmz-8RqiipnaGesCP3Q4gbsnIk1mA/s804/MV5BZGU0Mjc1ZTctZDdmYi00YzU0LWI4MjctMDM3Y2VjMzkzYmNiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjM4NTM5NDY@._V1_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="804" data-original-width="550" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitxK9oBTnCH3RtHGUw3hvmGYD3bjZ_2llgqXUHm2YkPEPEolZCJqdVaBfpJ0pF8b4ggYLlkxM3AJC_MRHSBiv3F2500fH1R0oZOGFrvaQhMm3nv-z3yqWYrQRxpq_SQUiGTknSfbbtMAyjFv4HZJyMDTQuWhKHRmmz-8RqiipnaGesCP3Q4gbsnIk1mA/s400/MV5BZGU0Mjc1ZTctZDdmYi00YzU0LWI4MjctMDM3Y2VjMzkzYmNiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjM4NTM5NDY@._V1_.jpg"/></a></div>
<p>For the film itself I will say this, the pared back design is nonetheless effective and arresting, the episodic storytelling is so non-stop and manic it's impossible to get bored with the on-screen action, and the music is deliciously whimsical, adding to the general air of ebullience, romance and playfulness that underpins this feature length anime.</p>
<p>The only critique I could level at this film is the rather superficial nature of the characters and narrative; there are no great psychological insights into anyone on screen and the story is more or less frivolous - despite the rapidity and convolution of it's twists and turns.</p>
<p>Now, don't read past this point unless you want a window into my harried psyche and existential frustrations, when my mind refuses to shut the fuck up at 1.30am Australian time during a working week. This is not for my Letterboxd friends, this is simply for me. However, Those with morbid curiosity may proceed.</p>
<p>A large part of why this film captured me (Even if I suspect I diluted a great deal of its impact by breaking it up into piecemeal viewings in between my ever demanding ESL work) is that the graceful, sweet exuberant lead character, Otome, reminded me of a female Chinese friend of mine who I've more or less fallen head over heels in love with over the past week.</p>
<p>Objectively plain, a tad scattered and ditzy, and possessing qualities that would often make her a pain in the arse as a girlfriend (For example, giving her boyfriend the silent treatment for two days or more as punishment for forgetting something she mentioned to him - even though she herself often suffers from lapses of memory), to me, presently, she is the most beautiful person on earth.</p>
<p>Every time I am with her her soul speaks to me. The unfettered joyfulness of her Life Path 3 spirit stretches out from her and suffuses me in a warm aura of hope and wonder. She is surprising, spontaneous, unexpected and almost completely fearless in her attitude towards life and people. She will approach anyone to ask a question (And in fact her friends often prompt her to when they're feeling reluctant) and find out something new about the world. She will impulsively leap into the splits at the Botanical Gardens, heedless of anyone watching or the fear of duck shit muddying her pants. She will join me in St. Kilda, even though we'd already cancelled the event due to bad weather, because quote "the sun had come out in the CBD!" I've never been happier to stand in such charged (for me at least) close proximity to another human being, sheltering beneath an umbrella as rain pelted the face of iconic Luna Park's clown face entry, wishing wildly I could draw her closer to me but not daring to ruin so rewarding a friendship. Due to her charmed life and luck, the rain stopped, affording us a long walk north along the beach, where I got to find out more about her life and how her mind works. Despite several hours of conversation, she still remains largely a mystery to me, both simple, straightforward and yet somehow unknowable. The truth of her lies in her spirit, not necessarily in her words.</p>
<p>Alas, she has a long term boyfriend back in China, and although uncertainty lies in whether they will remain together (His family is pushing for an American visa) P is a dedicated girl, a good soul (And a steadfast Year of the Ox person), and I doubt she would betray his trust for me. Even though at this point, moving into my forties, I no longer suffer from such illusions of "honour" providing rewards or solace in the never-ending drudgery of creation. It is not honour but a fear of losing her forever that prevents me from telling her my feelings. And I would have to hit this girl over the head with a brick to get the level of my passions across. I even dared to brush hair away from her face, to openly tell her I'd always found her "cute and beautiful"; both of which she either ignored or dismissed the real significance of.</p>
<p>In John Cleese and Robyn Skinner's book, "Life and How to Survive It", the two men go into how most "average relationships" work. Generally, people fall in love with each other because they see qualities in the other person that they themselves lack. In P, it is the exuberance and happiness of her soul that I desire and lack within myself. For P...at present she probably just thinks I'm funny, a nice person to talk to and learn new English words from.</p>
<p>But basically, like the Vietnamese Life Path 3 woman I mentioned moons ago, I feel more alive and more connected to life when I'm around P. I feel closer to the long distant memory of happiness and hope I used to experience before I hit my twenties. She just feels good to have near you.</p>
<p>What I want is to have her lean back into my body as we lie together on my couch, watching <i>The Shape of Water</i> (Which I was impressed she suggested we watch when with a fellow friend) or <i>Wall-E</i>, holding her snugly into me while lightly kissing her neck. I want to tell her:</p>
<p>"I have fallen in love with you, P. I have fallen in love with the energy of your spirit and the kindness of your soul. Every moment I am with you - though I am filled with frustration and pain at not being able to claim you - I want nothing more than to cherish you, and surround you with love till the end of our days, or for however long we are meant to be together. I want to explore life with you and share the wold's experiences with you; because without the ability to share these things with you, they are merely grey and tuneless distractions in the every growing cacophony of existence. But when I can share them with you, when I can see them reflected in your eyes, they come alive with a vibrancy I can barely express without breaking up. I want to share everything with you. All the best parts of me, my hopes, my happiness and dreams, I wish to gift to you, because I only want the best for you, in all things. I want to love and protect you and let you cry and share your feelings with me. And when I need to break I want to break in your arms. I love the tenacity and mischief of your beautiful spirit and I want nothing more on this earth than to claim you and love you, utterly and completely and without apologies."</p>
<p>What of course I will end up doing is saying goodbye without ceremony via text message or during a friendly catch-up. She leaves for China next week, will be gone for the entire month of July and by the time she returns in August some development between her and her boyfriend will have ultimately sealed her fate, and I will most likely have moved to a different part of Melbourne or accepted (with resignation) a move to do ESL work in Thailand - due to Melbourne's ridiculous rental market. That is the dull reality of existence for me, the Year of the Dog person whose fate is always to make sacrifices for others, while my own heart and talents remain undeveloped. Fuck the Chinese zodiac, man.</p>
<p>I am unconcerned with P finding this message. There is no chance she's a Letterboxd user and the likelihood of any of MY LB contacts having a direct (or even passing) relationship with her are slim to none. I merely write this to expunge myself of my feelings, to provide some record of my ever thwarted love life to then wryly or bitterly smile at some months or years down the track - laughing at how I used to feel, how my feelings have changed (once again) or ruminating on how it all went sour.</p>
<p>But presently P is one of the healthier relationships I have in my life, and I have to work hard not to sabotage a good friendship with my need and desire. I fear I will self destruct something beautiful and I really don't want to. But it's hard when your heart aches for a meaningful connection and someone wonderful is standing right in front you.</p>
<p>They say love is meant to be patient and kind, but I truly wonder now whether I'll ever find a P who is free to share their life with me.</p> Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-15235554713583453042022-07-28T01:44:00.002-07:002022-07-28T01:44:51.979-07:00"Revenge of the Gweilo" (2016) - In case Letterboxd takes my review down<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLxeodfhkayWxiep-dNHvsQdxElwdT1A3VtOoCQlmerSRpEwjedLrruH9aSvuQPFnxDgdM7XND_TIVQfhfjHOHlpi1yBIBuKjf1gqcQrftVAECTqYNtJ73Z3ydzf9QbmkVv0fgQfdbL-rHTeIvcoqrPvLwO9W_jpPCTnSQgCmlWP1U-dyIuryq4gDszQ/s1500/gweilo1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLxeodfhkayWxiep-dNHvsQdxElwdT1A3VtOoCQlmerSRpEwjedLrruH9aSvuQPFnxDgdM7XND_TIVQfhfjHOHlpi1yBIBuKjf1gqcQrftVAECTqYNtJ73Z3ydzf9QbmkVv0fgQfdbL-rHTeIvcoqrPvLwO9W_jpPCTnSQgCmlWP1U-dyIuryq4gDszQ/s320/gweilo1.jpg"/></a></div>
<p>When someone is witnessing the birth of a new kind of cinema, words fail. When an auteur arrives who truly eclipses all who have come before him, no superlative adjective seems apt. In the eons to come, when “Cassavetes” devolves into a cheap by-word for glorified home movies, when “Tarantino” is reduced to an ugly slur for violent podiatrists, and “Kubrick” is crudely scrawled above glory holes to invite multiple takes, there will be one director left standing, one name that will stay carry greatness. That man’s name…is “Nathan Hill”.</p>
<p>Who is this God who has graced us mere mortals with his presence? What wunderkind of cinema now walks among us, reshaping everything we thought we knew about movies?</p>
<p>So many of us have blithely come to accept that film audio needs an atmosphere track in the mix, to kiss over environmental sounds recorded in the dialogue. Not Nathan Hill. So many cinematographers have blindly capitulated to dynamic lighting that creates contrast, highlights and visual interest. Not so, Nathan Hill. Every shot in this film is adequately or blandly lit. The effect is mind blowing. You’ll scratch your head, wondering, “Why has no one thought of this before?” Not since Welles has a film maker forced me to reconsider everything I took for granted about film technique.</p>
<p>Consider the protagonist of an action film. Hill has, and broken new ground by doing so. Many might consider that an action star should have charisma, physical fitness and an intense knowledge of and background in martial arts. Jet Li is a former world champion. Schwarzenegger is a Mr. Universe winner. Nathan Hill has taken karate lessons. There is a lesson here and that lesson is, “less is more”. I’m sorry, James Cameron, but you were wrong. We all were, about everything.</p>
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<p>When watching Hill in action, many might come away with the perception of a delusional narcissist with the gaze of a serial killer and the sexual magnetism of Toby from the U.S. version of The Office crossed with a sack of potatoes. But those viewers have failed to see the greatness in every flat footed step that this dad bodied Adonis occupies the screen with. Nathan Hill is the new zenith of action stardom and we should all be thankful to have him. Iko Uwais? Sure, he’s fine if you’re into exposed shin bones. Tony Jaa? Great, let’s all break our elbows for the sake of entertainment. Nathan Hill delivers a head blow to a Sumo that could cripple a throw pillow. This is the new standard by which all filmed martial arts will be measured.</p>
<p>What is profoundly evident in this revolutionised cinema is Hill’s love for Asian women. His passion and respect for them is palpable. Where lesser film makers might have chosen actresses based on talent, ability to emote or skill with dialogue, Hill crams the screen with alternatively wooden or over acting women whose merits consist of physical beauty and how sexy they look in latex outfits. Watching Asian actresses garble English dialogue with the oddly stressed intonation you’d expect of Short Round attending a lower tier EAL class was one of the most empowering things I’ve seen for Actresses of Colour. They were not dehumanised, objectified or made to look like fools; Hill has raised these women to the level of steamy, Oriental Goddesses occupying a Rice King’s wet dream. They almost occupy the same Olympus-like playing field that Hill inhabits. Almost.</p>
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<p>This kino prodigy can’t help but overhaul notions of plot and narrative either. Not for a moment was I ever confused as to what was happening or where the story was going. The odd diversions like Hill’s angry conversation with his attractive, bewildered next-door neighbour - who is never addressed again - or the strange middlemen who dance with black women, were never confounding. They all feed into Hill’s overall aesthetic, and that is: have you noticed that Nathan Hill is on screen? Everything else is secondary. And when Hill and his dead wife’s sister unexpectedly carve up a dead villain in a bath tub, in what is presumably meant to be viewed as a bad-ass, cathartic act of revenge, but comes across like the masturbatory fantasies of Ed Gein; I was not disturbed, I was dazzled by the filmmaker’s audacity and invention. This film is never dull. Not in the part where a “grief-stricken” Hill talks to his Dad via Skype, not in the bits where the overacting Asian crimeboss berates her underlings. Not even in the long stretches where we stare at Hill’s back while he looks across the city - allowing us to really take in the authentic, third world stitching of the scorpion emblem on the Drive jacket Hill purchased for the shoot. (The allusions between Ryan Gosling’s character in the aforementioned film and Hill’s own plain, rodent-faced protagonist are so subtle as to be invisible. Only the keenest of cinema watchers will pick up on the references) The propulsive pace of this film is like being strapped into a motorised wheelchair. It will force your body to react in ways you never expected. Despite myself, I yawned.</p>
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<p>I am truly gobsmacked that this treasure of cinema is not spoken about in the same breathless tones as Citizen Kane, The Godfather or Parasite. The only other rare gem I know to compare Gweilo to is Gramps Goes to College. Why has Hill; this important figure of cinematic excellence, gone virtually unrecognised and unnoticed by the wider film community? Why is he not spoken about here on Letterboxd with the same reverence as Scorsese or Lynch? Where are the dissertations and essays breaking down the complex nuances and revolutionary techniques employed across Hill’s oeuvre? Think of any great name in cinema, and Hill will trump them. Wong Kar-Wai, Kurosawa, Chan Wook Park? Assclowns. Spielberg? A fairground carny who occasionally craps out the odd Holocaust winner. Paul Thomas Anderson? A grandiose, weepy Grandmother obsessed with nutters. Hill doesn’t just merely make films about men like Daniel Plainview; he is Daniel Plainview! Nathan Hill is the third revelation! He has bedded and discarded more dead Asian prostitutes in barrels of acid than women you’ll ever have the courage to approach in your lifetimes! This man is an Uber Alpha, natural born dominant who wipes his arse with beta cuck “arthouse” film makers like Aronofsky or Winding Refn. He eats upstarts like Tarkovsky for breakfast. He uses Hitchcock and Coppola as throw rugs in his living room. He kicked Fincher in the dick and Fincher had a little cry about it. Hill puts out his cigarettes on Ridley Scott’s face. He told Nolan that “No one likes a smart cunt”, and then also kicked him in the dick.</p>
<p>Nathan Hill is nothing short of a living cinematic deity, and if there is any message to take away from Revenge of the Gweilo - and many philistines might argue for its value purely as jerk off material for an ill guided fantasist - it’s this: Hill is here, Hill has arrived; All hail to the King!</p>
Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-40902152775244141862015-10-04T22:24:00.000-07:002015-10-04T22:24:28.858-07:00Heart of Glass - transparently mesmerising<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipVSZu2QMZ4HaPZQ_mj2ejJBQP7o3RoizAKGaP3y3QNMm4W3UBh4VxhOaWhtcHqDHTSiyIoFqU1UoJRRgnnIVRhh7G2ZGzURbi9K8qpEjtsAlKPHlKUMJ9wjOh461ndX2zwnT9Xeug4sIJ/s1600/glass1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipVSZu2QMZ4HaPZQ_mj2ejJBQP7o3RoizAKGaP3y3QNMm4W3UBh4VxhOaWhtcHqDHTSiyIoFqU1UoJRRgnnIVRhh7G2ZGzURbi9K8qpEjtsAlKPHlKUMJ9wjOh461ndX2zwnT9Xeug4sIJ/s400/glass1.jpg" /></a></div>
<p>Werner Herzog personally hypnotized every actor in this film before each take, with the exceptions of the prophesier and glass blowers. Apparently many of the cast were non actors and while hypnotized Herzog would feed them their lines for the scene before rolling. What appears on screen then is a mass of haunted looking actors, some remote, others looking like they may fall asleep. Every action and gesture is this film is loose, dream-like, uncensored and surprising.</p>
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<p>There are few directors who are able to depict nature with such power, mystery and danger as Herzog. Even the art of glass blowing becomes a kind of magic before his lens.</p>
<p>I essentially understand nothing of what this film is "about" but Herzog at his best always transports me to different worlds, to the brink of madness or revelation or human beings striving for the impossible. My favorites so far are <i>The Enigma of Kasper Hauser</i>, this, <i>Woyzeck</i> and <i>Fitzcarraldo</i>. Like Harmony Korine, Herzog has the ability to show me something I've never seen before, and for that I am eternally grateful for his films.</p>
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Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-9508268600638018562015-10-04T20:30:00.000-07:002015-10-04T20:57:50.554-07:00Reality - Burning Rubber<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY3ZHxvgTMMXhc6M3yC7feAdku8aYO8o_wduOYXYtvhTda_Fo_43x-iRzFOoJXkuanbpfruop12LlVHZhD24cr4IU_vn9pvz9rP8Ejr4dGorXLtWs8aXVg0aJOjijTWzh3QNzKN82RFG5p/s1600/reality1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY3ZHxvgTMMXhc6M3yC7feAdku8aYO8o_wduOYXYtvhTda_Fo_43x-iRzFOoJXkuanbpfruop12LlVHZhD24cr4IU_vn9pvz9rP8Ejr4dGorXLtWs8aXVg0aJOjijTWzh3QNzKN82RFG5p/s400/reality1.jpg" /></a></div>
<p>I'll preface this review by saying I wasn't a fan of Quentin Dupieux's <i>Rubber</i> back in 2010, I thought it abused a high concept (The impossibly sentient tire who just as inexplicably kills people) by acknowledging the fourth wall and having a gang of spectators observe and comment on the tire from afar. I felt the latter was unnecessary dressing and that the central concept was engaging and absurd enough to sustain a film on it's own. The observers actually took away from my pleasure of seeing a simple horror trope playfully skewed.</p>
<p>Both <i>Wrong</i> (2012) and <i>Wrong Cops</i> (2013) escaped my attention, I didn't even know the director had followed up Rubber until I found out about this latest effort from a film site I frequent.</p>
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<p>Thankfully, in <i>Reality</i> the central conceit <i><b>is</b></i> acknowledging the fourth wall and playing around with cinematic conventions, so their inclusion works for rather than against the film.</p>
<p>I was initially frustrated by Dupieux's reluctance to settle on a story thread: is our tale about Jon Heder in a rat suit possessed by delusions of eczema, or the little girl who spies a mysterious blue video tape in the disemboweled entrails of a hog, or the aspiring film director (Jason played by Alain Chabat) charged with recording an Oscar-winning scream to secure funding for his feature film? Dupieux does finally settle on the third thread as our main line of inquiry, but not before confusing the little girl story by calling her "Reality" and having her as the subject of a film being screened for the producer who has promised Jason film funding.</p>
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<p>Once you realize that the film is a deliberate play on confusing reality, dreams and cinema, you simply relax and enjoy how skillfully Dupieux surprises and plays with these various levels. At one point Jason calls the Producer of his film during an earlier meeting between the Producer...and himself. The earlier Jason tells the Producer to assure later Jason that he is simply having a nightmare and will wake up soon. In another section Reality is sitting before the Principal for attempting to play the tape at school. The Principal asks for the tape and Reality threatens to tell everyone the Principal dresses as a woman and drives around in an army jeep - but she couldn't possibly know this, because this was a dream the Principal had. She only featured in the dream, she couldn't possibly have been there for real, right?</p>
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<p>Nothing is properly explained or tied up by the film's elliptical end but this, like <i>Holy Motors</i>, is one of those rare surrealist/absurdist films where the ride is so enjoyable you don't really mind if it doesn't make sense.</p>
<p>It loses a few points for being a little bit full of itself and not being particularly profound or insightful.</p>
Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-54460547086741078782015-10-04T20:15:00.000-07:002015-10-04T20:15:35.147-07:00I Come with the Rain - bit of a wash out despite beautiful ambition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibyz5LwMmNDxn52SQWB4Q29jLB3eXmxkeGHm7lqioqt_amvh6iEJdZ7L5LIz8jvsgjwdkT0mvT8zDUQX1nyUxCf8f4it0y72kkzXIKiUkw6NecH9apUNVFIHLv3yq8Cy5bPf6r78_BTpY5/s1600/rain1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibyz5LwMmNDxn52SQWB4Q29jLB3eXmxkeGHm7lqioqt_amvh6iEJdZ7L5LIz8jvsgjwdkT0mvT8zDUQX1nyUxCf8f4it0y72kkzXIKiUkw6NecH9apUNVFIHLv3yq8Cy5bPf6r78_BTpY5/s400/rain1.jpg" /></a></div>
<p>Despite a reviewer on Letterboxd suggesting this film fails due to an overuse of style by the director (Tran Anh Hung), I disagree, his typically sensual style and lush, saturated color scheme works well, its simply that this film tries to do too much with it's narrative, symbolism and philosophical questions.</p>
<p>Hung wants us to invest in a story where not only do we have an ex-cop perusing a missing son (Said ex-cop related too much to the serial killer he pursued, becoming "contaminated" in the process), a ruthless crime boss with a sincere and consuming love for his drug addict girlfriend, but we also have to suspend disbelief for a man who can absorb the wounds and illnesses of others and recover from them (and who later becomes a literal Christ figure). Even accepting a potential audience in people like me who adore watching weird cinema and are prepared to take faithful leaps into new territory, this is a lot to demand of an audience for one film, especially one that by and large adopts a naturalistic tone. The Cop becoming killer aspect alone would be subject enough for one film, never mind the miraculous aspect of the healer he's charged with finding.</p>
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<p>The Cop's descent into madness comes across as forced and out of place and is hindered by the uninvolving Josh Hartnett (Who I've never rated and can't think of one performance where he's "wowed" me). The actress who plays the crime boss's lover is also a bit weak, you just don't care when she experiences trauma, she doesn't draw you in to empathize with her.</p>
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<p>When in the final third of the film Hung attempts to get us to buy into Biblical stories recreated by our leads, it just feels like too much of stretch. It almost works but doesn't quite gel, which is a shame because the level of ambition here is admirable and I will always a praise a film maker trying to show us something different.</p>
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<p>It's difficult to work out who this film was aimed at, presumably with an American lead, the detective tracking down missing persons plot and the Asian actors speaking English (often jarringly), Hung and the producers were looking for some kind of crossover appeal and mainstream success. But when you throw a "relating to serial killers" theme and Colonel Kurtz-esque figure into the mix, along with the healer and biblical references, you immediately alienate anyone who wont sit through anything weirder than <i>Gone Girl</i>. The violence is extreme (I.e. beating a homeless man to death with his dead dog) but no more so than the majority of Asian crime cinema.</p>
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<p>Ultimately this film is about the beauty of human suffering (Said as much by the serial killer, a solid and typically creepy Elias Koteas), that we all suffer despite our various stations and their is profound humanity and complexity behind our suffering. Pity the film handles this statement rather clumsily.</p>
Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-88700164830087547342015-10-04T19:40:00.000-07:002015-10-04T19:40:17.914-07:00As the Gods Will - Miike back in fine form!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYakia9wshyy24nocde1f2P8kRKQmJ6jOhw4CG2KWCPvbp-bM5c8gPQTBJvlKtcNvQeS9sUAFVTqs6nqQzJRmdaYpymp0DMLFkFWVpSGRAiQTin5k0MTrMetx0Brne9Fiw9CcJcqiH81NA/s1600/gods1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYakia9wshyy24nocde1f2P8kRKQmJ6jOhw4CG2KWCPvbp-bM5c8gPQTBJvlKtcNvQeS9sUAFVTqs6nqQzJRmdaYpymp0DMLFkFWVpSGRAiQTin5k0MTrMetx0Brne9Fiw9CcJcqiH81NA/s400/gods1.jpg" /></a></div>
<p><i>"As private parts to the Gods are we, they play with us for their sport"</i>. Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett , Blackadder 2.</p>
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<p>This got a pretty meager rating on IMDB (6.5) but to my mind it's Miike at his best: imaginative, disturbing, darkly comic, brutal, unusual and deeply philosophic. If you're looking for gore and weirdness, this is up there with <i>Ichi</i> and <i>Gozu</i>. It's kind of like <i>Battle Royale</i> with deities. A stunning return to form for Miike after the rather dull and tepid <i>13 Assassins</i>. It also features the best and most consistent use of CGI in any of his films.</p>
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Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-26632182880174130742015-10-04T18:39:00.000-07:002015-10-04T18:39:20.500-07:00Strange Colors fail to mix<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY4F5la27g0w-bEyzJw9FRKbb_owbsyDfLc_QQFwnKY4QYMfDJjUMrUNWF5_PtF9pAHTKME3EgLLh6QpPtFevBTAfY-JfNwRdBRgfGS1wPuXLWs0o63dc239yXXGnD2f5qL2ul4niG-ZmC/s1600/color4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY4F5la27g0w-bEyzJw9FRKbb_owbsyDfLc_QQFwnKY4QYMfDJjUMrUNWF5_PtF9pAHTKME3EgLLh6QpPtFevBTAfY-JfNwRdBRgfGS1wPuXLWs0o63dc239yXXGnD2f5qL2ul4niG-ZmC/s400/color4.jpg" /></a></div>
<p><i>The Strange Colors of your Body's Tears</i> is a truly beautiful film whose unfortunate use of aggressive stylizing ultimately distances you from being engaged with the story. Don't misunderstand me, the constant close-ups of eyes (which elicit a paranoiac response in the viewer) and oblique action combined with the detailed soundtrack keep you constantly on edge - it's an unnerving experience throughout that attacks the nervous system - but these devices don't make you care about the lead much less remain interested in what's happened to his absent wife.</p>
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<p>That the film's narrative doesn't coalesce until the last half hour makes following this particular plot point very tedious indeed. Much of the film is taken up with experimental images and editing, and there are quite a few story deviations (From the mysterious old woman upstairs, the detectives recounting of an earlier case) before we pick up the threads of the wife's disappearance. They are fun but ultimately distracting.</p>
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<p>As pure execution of style, in terms of photography, framing, color, set design, lighting and editing, the film could well be peerless. This is a dizzying and intoxicating visual feast, it's simply that much of it doesn't serve the story. The film's look, editing and sound design is quite obviously a homage to 70's Giallo horror films and fittingly an atmosphere of dread, of something lurking nearby is palpable throughout.</p>
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<p>The film ultimately seems to be about a resident who develops some sort of fear/fixation with period blood on a young girl he meets in childhood, which leads into sadomasochistic exploits with women and ultimately murder. One of the women he exploits apparently becomes a killer herself. At least that's what I took away from the film's bizarre conclusion.</p>Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-13360587806610569642015-10-04T18:13:00.001-07:002015-10-04T18:41:09.093-07:00Existence is futile and frequently hilarious
<p>Winner of Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, <i>A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence</i> is a very funny and refreshing film, with an extremely dry, black absurdist sensibility pervading throughout. The "Pigeon" could refer to the first sequence of the film, where an impatient wife watches her husband inspect a Natural museum exhibit featuring a pigeon, or the story a girl tells her Teacher for a school presentation. It could also refer to the general meaningless of life presented in the film: a pigeon sat on a branch reflecting on existence; So what? Does it matter? Did the pigeon learn anything? Has that act changed anything?</p>
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<p>The film is constructed from a series of seemingly disconnected vignettes, always one continuous shot, always static (Bar one barely detectable dolly in the Charles XII sequence), nearly always with underplayed actions.</p>
<p>At the fore philosophically is the ridiculous absurdity and senselessness that often pervades life: a man dies from a heart attack attempting to remove a wine cork, a young man is inappropriately touched by his dance teacher yet no-one else in the class intervenes, a Sea Captain is continuously too early for a meeting in a restaurant. The sequences themselves never add up to anything, but combined give rise to a palpable sense of absurdity and feeling of pointlessness in all human endeavor.</p>
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<p>Another brilliant device is the recurring phone conversations composed of simply establishing that each party is "feeling fine" and "Well, I'm glad you're feeling fine". One elderly business man with a gun is seemingly interrupted mid-suicide to take this inconsequential call.</p>
<p>Wisely, the film maker gives us a few recurring characters to follow from scene to scene, allowing for a sense of continuity and character development absent from similar vignette films (For example the brilliant but flawed "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life"). Our two "leads", as such, appear to be the double act of Sam and Jonathon, two dour faced middle aged Swedes who attempt to hawk novelty gag items (For example their vampire teeth with "extra long fangs", the "classic" laugh bag and "a new item that have a lot of faith in, the 'Uncle one tooth'", a ridiculous latex mask - you hear this uninspired sales pitch a number of time throughout the film). Jonathon, with his high-pitched, swallowed nasal voice is the sensitive "cry-baby" to Sam's brusque, business mined bully, and just like any friendship, they fight, split and by the film's end are re-united - largely because Sam becomes lonely.</p>
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<p>The casting for this film is excellent and paramount, characters are largely established by clothes and stance, maximum impact for their relatively brief time on screen. A lot of care appears to have been taken in composing bodies in each frame, arranging their posture to establish interesting shapes and characters. The color scheme is also brilliant; muted, desaturated pastels reminiscent of Stasi offices during the time of the GDR to my eye. They reflect the bleakness of the film and characters.</p>
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<p>Man's savagery is also explored in the last quarter, with a chimp regularly electrocuted in a seemingly senseless science experiment while the technician has that familiar "Well, I'm glad you're fine" phone conversation nearby. We then see African slaves being loaded into an enormous revolving cylinder perforated with gramophone horns. The cylinder is then lit from below, the slaves inside walk the cylinder to escape the heat and the revolving chamber produces beautiful music enjoyed by a crowd of rich geriatrics nearby. We then learn this is possibly a traumatic dream experienced by Jonathon (Only it "feels like it happened" to his mind), who asks Sam and the receptionist of the building he occupies: "Is it right using people only for your own pleasure?" Much like anyone attempting to challenge the status quo, or attempting to ask important questions, he is told that it's an inappropriate discussion for the middle of the night and that "some people have to work tomorrow morning" Any question that could upset the natural order is pushed aside, ignored.</p>
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<p>If I had one complaint it's that the mid-way sequence inside a modern Cafe where the historical figure of Charles XII appears, is so elaborate and filled with action, that the remaining static film suffers from the change of tempo. I would have structured this sequence as a climax. Overall the film makes me hungry to seek out director, Roy Andersson's other work.</p>
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Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-89593464279699422762015-07-18T23:28:00.000-07:002015-10-04T21:50:55.155-07:00The Dance of Reality - Welcome back Jodorowsky!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLGre_PZmahdVClZMGx3-EP-P-HdjTCDI7y67hnqMeN0bPIEf8kmuZ2pH7_rNekc9ntY9NIgoActvwmcoDFZ38kScyAUS93A-YFsChrYGpfqFt3B9tGp29pDsG1b2M-p2OZUMwfGNOyn3H/s1600/main.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLGre_PZmahdVClZMGx3-EP-P-HdjTCDI7y67hnqMeN0bPIEf8kmuZ2pH7_rNekc9ntY9NIgoActvwmcoDFZ38kScyAUS93A-YFsChrYGpfqFt3B9tGp29pDsG1b2M-p2OZUMwfGNOyn3H/s320/main.jpg" /></a>
<p>Welcome back to cinema, Alejandro Jodorowsky.</p>
<p>Financed largely through crowdfunding, this is the realization of one of Jodorowsky's autobiographical novels "La Danza de la Realidad". I haven't read the source material (Was only available in Spanish back when I was reading Jodorowsky's novels) so I don't know how the film compares, but I have read both "The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky" and "Psychomagic" - the latter detailing the therapeutic technique he developed combining psychology, shamanism with a focus on active symbolic acts.</p>
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<p>The film begins with ruminations on the scourge/blessing of money, and then young Jodorowsky and his tyrant Father at the circus, in scenes which appear to open the film with a flourish of spectacle, and remind the world where we left off with Jodorowsky (In this case <i>Sante Sangre</i>, which these scenes visually resemble. I wont count <i>The Rainbow Thief</i>, his actual last film, because I doubt even he would). It creates a sense of continuity with his film making and doesn't feel self indulgent.</p>
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<p>What could have been self indulgent, especially for an autobiographical film, is the device of Alejandro (as himself) appearing in the film, relating to and often directly manipulating his younger self. Thankfully Jodorowsky is simply too inventive for this to occur; he keeps his appearances brief and his comments add another layer of poetry to the film. He even interjects at one point to place a gun in his Father's hands, possibly suggesting his recognition of shared violent impulses with his Father or to remind us that this film is Jodorowsky's therapeutic act upon Jaime, Alejandro is guiding this therapeutic journey.</p>
<p>It must be said here that Brontis Jodorowksy's (Alejandro's son) performance as Jaime is excellent, an explosive force of anger, frustration, self-loathing and sensitivity. His passion onscreen is palpable and the level of expression in his body and movement is impressive.</p>
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<p>Twenty-three years on the bench have not dulled Jodorowsky's film making one bit. I challenge you to find another modern film maker who fills his films with the sheer force of life that is on display here.</p>
<p>Invention, spectacle, spiritualism, violence and passion are the hallmarks of Jodorowsky film making, however violence and spiritualism take a back seat here, and the relationships between Father, Son and Mother take precedence. It really is a story of redemption and therapy for Jaime Jodorowsky.</p>
<p>So what's new film technique wise here for Alejandro? Well, in the 70's and 80's he didn't have access to computer generated imagery - but before you go fretting about an excess of lazy CGI, ala Lucas, know that it used sparingly and for dazzling effect. It's not the greatest CGI in the world but is used to create a huge wave and hundreds of flapping fish attacked by seagulls on Chilean shores. In opening scenes young Alejandro throws a rock into the sea and is admonished by a figure representing the tarot image of The Queen of Cups: "You silly boy, one stone can kill all the fish in the sea", which it does for spectacular impact.</p>
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<p>Steadicam shots now punctuate this film, whereas static or dolly shots were his preference in the 70's. There are also a few helicopter shots, a resource Jodorowsky presumably didn't have access to before.</p>
<p>The bold color schemes and art direction are back, use of masks and elaborate costuming, as well as the inclusion of amputees and other marginalized figures like transsexuals and little people.</p>
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<p>The potentially annoying device of Alejandro's Mother singing all her dialogue was actually a joy throughout, and heightened the passion and melodrama. A mere Brechtian device (I.e. designed to take you out of the performance to focus your thought on the text or meaning) no doubt borrowed from Jodorowksy's theater days, but here feels fresh and surprising.</p>
<p>Inventions like this permeate the film: another sequence features Jaime rolling stockings over two upturned mannequin legs on a tabletop, becoming aroused and then launching into the implied image of intercourse with a woman on her back. This is effortless visual invention, evocative and filled with the virility that is another hallmark of Jodorowsky's film making.</p>
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<p>But his sensitivity is also on display here: the haunting look of young Jodorowsky in the blonde wig tying him to his Grandfather (Who his Mother believes he is a reincarnation of), Jodorowsky cradling his younger self and stopping him from throwing himself off a rock into the sea, even the moment of tenderness from the despot towards his ailing horse moves us with its unexpected gentleness.</p>
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<p>There is so much crammed into this film experience that I can't possibly hope to do it justice here. Jodorowsky films have always been the most filling, satisfying cinematic meals and I pray we'll get a few more before he leaves us - much like he does at the the film's conclusion, bending out of sight behind the figure of death on a boat which recedes from view.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJbHmlLY5fvJr-PEY1pfip7KMaMWw9ms6SHkg_ieJLMZS1njXchzFl_H29oi_GLRdRAhYNisviNs5oNSxF5Dsqu3htWYfLVLNqFcEEXuNprs3bx82g82JRE7ka0afp2WogUFlHetAAUl4o/s1600/death.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJbHmlLY5fvJr-PEY1pfip7KMaMWw9ms6SHkg_ieJLMZS1njXchzFl_H29oi_GLRdRAhYNisviNs5oNSxF5Dsqu3htWYfLVLNqFcEEXuNprs3bx82g82JRE7ka0afp2WogUFlHetAAUl4o/s200/death.jpg" /></a></div>Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-39483138184951777732015-06-19T07:57:00.000-07:002015-06-19T08:07:40.547-07:00Interstellar - "Honey, I shrunk the astronauts"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibF5YLH4_dWzxDeTFIzDWsjpGFPx95B6AMM0GWH2YY7eGYGjECJ1fCVLOfe47O1OvX4QnedkH4EsAd-Xa1BOo9NCzMHXOntdh1yJwva9VixkF5CDLJw8SmKpKZS0WsoFtORLNR7Bbhoye9/s1600/Interstellar_trailer3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibF5YLH4_dWzxDeTFIzDWsjpGFPx95B6AMM0GWH2YY7eGYGjECJ1fCVLOfe47O1OvX4QnedkH4EsAd-Xa1BOo9NCzMHXOntdh1yJwva9VixkF5CDLJw8SmKpKZS0WsoFtORLNR7Bbhoye9/s400/Interstellar_trailer3.jpg" /></a></div>
<p>Essentially, from what I can remember of this film, I loved the build towards the flight, I even enjoyed the space travel itself (the beautiful sequence going into the black hole) and the futility and wasted years on the first two planets (I guess I liked how after all that effort and technological development, their readings couldn't tell them the planet was essentially a large wave machine - speaks volumes about the fragility of human endeavor and our over reliance on technology)</p>
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<p>I loved Matt Damon's dark character and what his characters action's reflected about human nature and the will to survive. I liked how we saw Murph age decades in what were hours for Mcconaughey and the desperation to get back to his daughter.</p>
<p>The film lost me as soon as Mcconaughey got chucked into the black hole and we got treated to a version of "Honey, I shrunk the astronaut":p Seriously, Mcconaughey floating behind an enormous book case inside an alien-made tesseract and then literally using a book cover to Morse code Murph? Look out citizens it's Nolan's "2001 meets Playschool"! Why is it when any Science Fiction film has humanity meet a superior alien race, we have to communicate though a patronizingly simplistic medium? (See "Contact" - the single most disappointing climax to a film ever) I've always felt it was just plain laziness on the film maker's part; not being able to come up with a mind bending communication tool that would link human and alien races together. At least give us something with a bit more panache than the equivalent of a duplo set:p</p>
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<p>Nolan, this mawkish device ruined an otherwise enjoyable film.</p>Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-30622742556983172862015-06-19T07:51:00.000-07:002015-06-19T08:05:46.209-07:00Bird Man - Best Picture, my arse...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOTRNEdg-UjqUy9XXPsOyJz9vrpHVgpuHryze9pfcUhwl30o8IfyPbEUnqY1-Vm6ram6GAmHdoWAiKVBMABqVl-EriskCo5__X7OouCuTyDyGbp_o4g4rCaSCCpSF1NCZSk3O9sCEEu73j/s1600/cropped-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOTRNEdg-UjqUy9XXPsOyJz9vrpHVgpuHryze9pfcUhwl30o8IfyPbEUnqY1-Vm6ram6GAmHdoWAiKVBMABqVl-EriskCo5__X7OouCuTyDyGbp_o4g4rCaSCCpSF1NCZSk3O9sCEEu73j/s400/cropped-4.jpg" /></a></div>
<p>An overly pretentious, hipster/comic nerd pandering, supposed satire/self-adulation for the acting world piece of shit that is all sound, fury, cool and no substance.</p>
<p>The device of one continuous take is completely unnecessary. It may add to the stage performance quality of the acting and story by providing us with a sense of real time but otherwise there's no reason to frame the film like this. The sometimes live jazz music accompaniment is fitting for the tone and pacing of the film, but again otherwise unnecessary. It's experimentation for the sake of experimentation.</p>
<p>The performances are strong across the board, and the technical craft on display is impressive, but the essential message and world we're investing in is hollow, desperate and flaky...essentially the world of acting. I've lived it so I can say that.</p>
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<p>"This place is horrible. It smells like balls" pretty much sums up the tone of the film and the way I felt about it. Does a film about a hack Action star; a self-absorbed ass with delusions of super powers, desperate to prove he's important to the exclusion of his ex-wife, daughter's and every one else's happiness, REALLY deserve "Best Picture"? In my opinion, no. This is Hollywood self-aggrandizing itself, a community terrified of it's own obsolescence in light of independent crowd-sourced film making, viewers increasingly watching films on portable devices (The opening song at the 2015 Oscars with Jack Black ranting about "screens from our jeans" confirms as much for me) and the diminishing returns for Hollywood due to piracy. It strikes me even the Hollywood acting community are worried they may not have an industry for much longer - how else to explain the ascension of this witless film about an actor fixated on his fading cultural relevance? These people seem desperate for ANYTHING that proves they're still important. Just like "Sunset Boulevard" (Another one about fading fame) Hollywood loves rewarding films ABOUT Hollywood.</p>
<p>For the record "Sunset Boulevard" is an arguably better film.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzlAgvC4mEVTr_1USyt8HP9a4VenZcHhjkpeft-CVof6St4lcb38FBn8oB9uW0ZgV0J4KF09Dqz9DkJjqPNd8TWjNelkzxeFybf2tmnI7I9qqE603ZX11CAFicdOtpCzLKsCX-KliVkMmU/s1600/url.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzlAgvC4mEVTr_1USyt8HP9a4VenZcHhjkpeft-CVof6St4lcb38FBn8oB9uW0ZgV0J4KF09Dqz9DkJjqPNd8TWjNelkzxeFybf2tmnI7I9qqE603ZX11CAFicdOtpCzLKsCX-KliVkMmU/s640/url.jpg" /></a></div>Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-42437253433951549762015-06-19T06:02:00.000-07:002015-06-19T06:02:36.579-07:00Motivational Growth - Inspiring First Feature<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1IBJKlfyGurkenTY6m0ncupzrQIoodOPfJvN5m17Yjf5fJartdW-Smke6H5x1591cWcJHJYp8BWOVZ7yaCUs-XPWcELuvpCQl_AE9MKOOOX4ZYUyYgoR71VTBC_kaUm4yRaBKI0iGNGvj/s1600/1280x720-scr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1IBJKlfyGurkenTY6m0ncupzrQIoodOPfJvN5m17Yjf5fJartdW-Smke6H5x1591cWcJHJYp8BWOVZ7yaCUs-XPWcELuvpCQl_AE9MKOOOX4ZYUyYgoR71VTBC_kaUm4yRaBKI0iGNGvj/s320/1280x720-scr.jpg" /></a></div>
<p>This should make for an interesting review; I met the director Don Thacker at Crypticon Seattle 2015 and talked to him at length, so while I overall loved this film, I have to tread carefully caus this guy knows me and could track me down:)</p>
<p>First off, for a debut feature film "Motivational Growth" is outstanding. I agree with other critics that there is nothing to make apologies for here, i.e. "in spite of technical shortcomings" - there are no technical shortcomings, the level of craft and skill on display here is formidable. This isn't a good film for a debut feature, it's good film full stop.</p>
<p>There are multiple things here to like: from the brilliant, grimy art direction on the amazing set, the level of execution in terms of jib moves, time lapse and composition, the invention and poetry of the script (From Ian's brilliant conversations to camera, The Mold's beautiful language and Ox's constant "shut up". In person, Thacker has the energy of Tarantino, but his dialogue here feels more like the Coen Brothers or Tom Stoppard), the amazing performances across the board (Adrian Giovanni gives an assured, wired and intense performance, Jeffrey Comb's voice as The Mold is outstanding, and I loved Box and the freaky Plasmoday guy), the great design and puppetry of The Mold itself - a welcome break from our overly CGI'ed times - to beautifully surreal sequences like Ian sucking from a fungal tit on the wall and suspended horizontally. Thacker wants to entertain, surprise and make an impact and he does so brilliantly.</p>
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<p>Although wildly diverse and well executed, for me the programs on the television were perhaps the weakest element of the film. I simply didn't feel they were as funny as they could have been, nor the satire as lacerating as these kind of zombifying, soul crushing programs warrant. I just feel this has been done better before in other films.</p>
<p>Ian also emerges in these programs as fantasy/hallucinations, with the television (Or "Kent") accusing Ian of betrayal and that the TV "looked after him" long before (The Mold?) In the overall context of the film it's unclear whether "Kent" is a separate character, perhaps a rival to The Mold for Ian's allegiance? Or is "Kent", who often uses the same language as The Mold, merely an extension of The Mold? This ambiguity is merely distracting rather than being an engaging mystery within the film.</p>
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<p>The 8-bit music, while fitting the period (The film is set in the early 90's) and the aesthetic of the Imagos production company, is occasionally jarring with the action on screen.</p>
<p>My only other complaint is the ending of the film, in terms of leaving the viewer with a feeling of satisfaction, and with the level of artistic innovation (camera move and craft wise) dropping off near this point.</p>
<p>While it is hinted at at various stages during the film that Ian is dead (Or at the very least "someone" has died), I was disinterested in the possibility that the entire film was one long hallucination/after life experience as Ian's dead body is consumed/transformed by mold, so I had dismissed that prospect early on. For most of the film my mind had been blown by the originality (Such as Ian talking to camera; which I haven't seen before in a Horror film) on display, so an ending with Ian dead and engaging with his dream girl only as a hallucination, left me feeling a bit cheated.</p>
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<p>It has to be said, however, that the ending is very confusing and open ended. After being cocooned in a very Mold-like form (Juxtaposed with a great monologue from The Mold about how Man has always been the victim of death and decay), the film appears to restart from the point of Ian waking up after his fall in the bathroom, with Ian resuming his unkempt, filthy state on the couch at the start of the film. So is Ian dead or isn't he, and did he ever undergo his "motivational growth" from The Mold?</p>
<p>It's also possible that I simply didn't get the film in it's entirety. Thankfully the film, mixing elements of "Brazil", "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Fight Club", is such an enjoyable ride that it will warrant repeat viewings in the future. And maybe at last I will "get" it:)</p>
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Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-42821641638828323732015-06-19T05:23:00.000-07:002015-06-19T06:03:23.601-07:00Human Centipede 3 - What a grotesque delight...
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<p>I know I'm a sick man but this is a stunning return to form for Tom Six after the patently nasty Human Centipede 2. From start to finish this is overblown, hilarious, transgressive fun (The same sense of fun and ridiculousness that made the 1st Film such a treat) You know you're in for one hell of a ride when in the first five minutes Dieter Laser has already fingered and hurled abuse at poor Bree Olsen, who he blithely refers to as "Tits" or "Office Slut" alternatively.</p>
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<p>This film is one long animal scream of racism, misogyny, testosterone, stereotypes, sadism and violence and I for one found it very cathartic and refreshing (In the same way I found the "Jackass" films refreshing; these films come along to clear the nastiness and repressed anger from your pipes) With Laser's UTTERLY over the top performance and Lawrence R Harvey's natural British accent occasionally coming through - and that fact that ANYONE would let a lunatic like Bill Boss get away with what he does - makes the ability to take this film seriously a challenge. Having been liberated from taking the film seriously, we are free to enjoy every hysterical transgression on display, from the "hot water boarding" to the castration scene (To Laser eating said testicles later) to the dream (?) sequence of Laser being raped in a puncture wound on his kidneys. It's repugnant joy from start to finish.</p>
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<p>Some of the dialogue is just distastefully beautiful: "I need my ballsack drained before lunch!" Laser spits at Olsen, "Even the corpse of a spastic would turn you down!" he howls at Harvey before having sex with the brutalized, comatose body of Olsen in the Prison Hospital. My only complaint is Laser is so over the top that it's often hard to understand the dialogue through his ranting.</p>
<p>With the film's closing shot of a naked Laser literally screaming into a megaphone atop a Prison watch tower, while the American National Anthem plays over the soundtrack, the film ultimately won it's way into my heart.</p>
Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-28877586115735910722015-04-20T09:13:00.000-07:002015-04-20T09:23:58.214-07:00The King of Pigs: 'cold bodies tumbling together'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGcbh4uGllEPs2ATIdGnkkOySfTGmG4W5Q3dw28WjdFvMdys0BwlwrxJn8Oq6s1Gkj3oXDJxfNpyzw1Y1xuLUPGftKwGaoMMZRtAlW9p2WX5erXLLCC8YC9OdWRWuaJe46Cwqhc1qw9dqR/s1600/king_of_pigs_2011-1024x449.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGcbh4uGllEPs2ATIdGnkkOySfTGmG4W5Q3dw28WjdFvMdys0BwlwrxJn8Oq6s1Gkj3oXDJxfNpyzw1Y1xuLUPGftKwGaoMMZRtAlW9p2WX5erXLLCC8YC9OdWRWuaJe46Cwqhc1qw9dqR/s400/king_of_pigs_2011-1024x449.jpg" /></a></div>
<p>Wow...for anyone who has ever been bullied in their life this is going to resonate with full force, like a savage beating itself. The first half will alternatively fill you with anger, outrage or sad recognition, and drag you reluctantly back to High School where all the old wounds you'd hoped had scabbed over will be torn open afresh. The old cliques, power struggles and ridiculous hierarchies of Secondary Education come into view, along with the victims and betrayals for self preservation. Ultimately everyone learns their place in the pecking order, and even those who fight back (like the new student Chan Young) soon learn submission in order to survive. All except (seemingly, in the beginning) the student Chul-Yi (The eponymous King of Pigs).</p>
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<p>The opening scene of the film deals with the scars of victim hood and impotent rage. Kyung-Min has strangled his wife after the failure of his business venture. Just like during his teenage years, the 'cry baby' weeps uncontrollably in the shower - a man with the emotional maturity of a teenager; locked in this stage by his tormentors and his experiences. He sees the ghostly figure of Chul in the abandoned house where he, Chul and Jong-Suk used to meet as teens. Chul describes the distinction between Dogs and Pigs in this world; Dogs are the entitled, the wealthy who mange to "live a good life without doing much" and Pigs are the poor, the "losers" who Dogs feed off, whether this is their hard work or their suffering.</p>
<p>The first half of the film deals with the three leads (Chul, Kyung-Min and Jong-Suk) and asserts that the only way to win the respect of your tormentors is to become an even bigger monster than them. The futility of this assertion and the sad ends it leads to are punctuated at the film's end; everyone suffers, no body wins (at least no-one poor), nothing changes.</p>
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<p>But the film's scope is much broader than the savage realities of high school, in the second half it surprisingly opens to attack the very nature of life itself - life for the dis-empowered, the disenfranchised and those on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder. Jong-Suk catches his sister stealing a walkman; she wants to learn to use it so she can remain part of popular culture, the elite and not get left behind in her poor family's lifestyle. Though her needs are materialistic she acknowledges where her life is potentially headed and vows to avoid it at all costs. From this point on we are presented with multiple characters acknowledging their impoverished reality and how desperate/helpless they are to escape it. The Mother of Chul is a prostitute in a karaoke bar run by Kyung-Min's father. She squats outside on the phone to her sister, asking why her life is so terrible, desperate for the 'happy' life that will seemingly always be denied her.</p>
<p>Even Chul, who devises a plan to get back at their tormentors by committing suicide at the school, making it impossible for the 'dogs' to ever remember School as a 'happy' memory, ultimately caves in, asking Kyung-Min to alert the teachers when he stands on top of the ledge. Chul wants to change his ways, not fight back at his oppressors, ignore them and live a 'happy life'. Chul is ultimately betrayed by Jong-Suk who pushes him off the ledge, unable to accept the King of Pigs abdicating the throne to sabotage their great revenge on the 'Dogs'</p>
<p>It's possible the film didn't need to explore the wider society surrounding the leads; it arguably would have been a much tighter and more impactful experience just focusing on the three boys and the revenge-suicide and betrayal. I for one found that in the second half my reasoning kicked in and started arguing "Yes, but this is relentlessly bleak and life ISN'T like that; happiness, however fleeting, can be found in messages and conversations from friends and loved ones, small successes, personal achievements" Now granted, I come from a reasonably comfortable, middle-class existence so I don't know what the experience of life is like for people from a lower socioeconomic background, but the relentless bleakness and suffering presented in the second half strains credulity; even poor kids can simply have fun in each others company, even amongst the darker moments there is light.</p>
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<p>I would argue this is the weakness of the film, it's blanket bleakness; it's strength lies paradoxically in how relentlessly it pursues it's societal targets; it grips the inequalities of existence by the throat and refuses to let go until the bitter end.</p>
<p>There are two really poignant moments at the film's conclusion, one before and then after Kyung-Min's suicide from the same school building Chul fell from. When Kyung-Min confronts Jong-Suk with the knowledge he saw Jong-Suk push Chul, Jong-Suk strangles him and accuses him of trying to betray their great revenge. Kyung-Min simply smiles and says "Jerk. So what became different?" Immediately Jong-Suk releases him; Chul's death ultimately changed nothing, the 'Dogs' are still on top and life continues, nothing changes (This is one of the major themes of the film, 'helplessness'). The second moment involves Jong-Suk crying over the phone to the wife he earlier abused for unfounded suspicions of infidelity; she asks him "Where are you?" and he lifts his face in horror, the camera pulls back to an aerial shot: he is in 'that place called the world', the scariest place of all, where the cold 'bodies tumble together'.</p>
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<p>Ultimately the film left me feeling shattered and truly terrified. My blood was pumping madly through the first half and then my body was clenched through the second half. Painful, sobering, somehow rewarding viewing - if only for being a film that doesn't make you feel like an idiot for those times inside your head which aren't hallmark moments; where you question existence and the necessity to carry on.</p>
<p>The only thing I strongly objected to was the talking ghost cat. No thanks, devil cat took me out of the film:p</p>Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-11681990888061429022015-03-01T23:14:00.000-08:002015-03-01T23:21:01.832-08:00The Raid 2: Gruesomely Satisfying<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhtybp4GjcpUQSB8n8eH6r5u4vAwJx0H_z0tdZgKCcMh3ReQQm5BX_BRlmXH8E4ghTu7oX00U8nY4p0Zt3l0xi4RhHfQlatiGxylMrJmI9Rx37qpA1jg7Zd3T4DxfMyvqvZKx3PSilgf5/s1600/the_raid_2_berandal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhtybp4GjcpUQSB8n8eH6r5u4vAwJx0H_z0tdZgKCcMh3ReQQm5BX_BRlmXH8E4ghTu7oX00U8nY4p0Zt3l0xi4RhHfQlatiGxylMrJmI9Rx37qpA1jg7Zd3T4DxfMyvqvZKx3PSilgf5/s400/the_raid_2_berandal.jpg" /></a></div>
<p>Believe the hype. This is pretty amazing action wise.</p>
<p>My passion for action films remains in my teenage years when I tried to expose myself to as many Jackie Chan, Tsui Hark, Jet Li and John Woo films as possible. I have fond memories of Armour of God 2, The Once Upon a Time in China series, The Killer and Hard Boiled. All were excellent but, by and large, I've moved on from martial arts films. I just don't feel the need to seek them out anymore.</p>
<p>Having said that, every now and then I'll grab an action film to satiate my blood lust and watch the kinetic ballet on display. The Raid 2 does not disappoint.</p>
<p>If I had one complaint it's that the story and concept of this film isn't as original as the first: a police raid on a block of units run by criminals was fresh and inventive for the action genre (Or at least I can't think of too many) Berandal follows the more conventional Japanese Yakuza film, with gang rivalries and machinations for power over territories, with the returning lead Rama thrown into the mix as an undercover cop trying to ensnare them all.</p>
<p>The actors, it has to be said, are universally solid. I sometimes felt that perhaps they had been studying the performances of Yakuza films a little too much, but there is no showy or over the top acting present.</p>
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<p>The sheer brutality and bloodletting on display here is quite impressive. Shoulders are blown apart by pump action shotguns, faces caved in by baseball bats, claw hammers wrenched from people's necks. When the action sequences are on, it's a free for all, but with the same grit and realism of the first film.</p>
<p>We love this shit, people. Human beings crave violence and gore. It's the same impulse which drives the love of sports, the same impulse that drew us to the Colosseum. The sooner we admit to that the easier it may be one day to accept our sexual impulses and not treat sexuality with the level of ridiculous shame and awkwardness that is prevalent today. The fact that violence in the human psyche IS more easily embraced than sexuality is a prime reason for our lack of advancement as a species.</p>
<p>In nearly every way this film steps up the action from the first film; in terms of framing the action and in execution there is much more ambition here. The build up to another signature close quarters fight scene in a prison toilet is fantastic, with a slow push in on the door as a barrage of inmates outside swarm against it, trying to reach the waiting Rama within. There is clearly a section where digital morphing has been used to link shots that start outside a car, move through it and then back onto the road again (ala "Irreversible"). And yes, Hammer Girl (Julie Estelle) is a great new addition, her sequence in a train carriage with double handed hammer play being gruesomely awesome.</p>
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<p>One thing though, why is director Gareth Evans so obsessed with killing off his most iconic characters? Hammer Girl and Baseball Bat Man both get finished off, and he brings back MadDog (Yayan Ruhian, admittedly in a different role - but that wasn't obvious to me; it was still MadDog but with unruly bum hair as far as I was could tell) only to kill him off as well. I didn't think MadDog had been conclusively finished off in the first film, and if you are going to bring him back, wouldn't it have been more interesting to have him fight for Uco's Father (Following Uco's efforts to kill him in a night club) and then later confront Rama again? Anyway, as it is MadDog is brought back, made to look sympathetic in a scene with his estranged wife and then killed off a few minutes later, with little or no impact on the story. It's pretty obvious Evans just wanted to bring the actor back to play.</p>
<p>Another thing Evans seems set on doing is making the characters more human and sympathetic, we have the MadDog/Wife scene and a lengthier scene (compared to the first film) of Rama saying goodbye to his wife before going undercover. Not to mention Uco's torment after he murders his Father and the undercover cop gone rouge who saves Rama's life. Is this a reaction to comments about the first film's brutality and thin characterizations? An attempt to beef up the characters with conflict and torn allegiances? Or maybe to leaven, justify or contrast the brutal violence? In any case Evans seems at pains to give the story more substance this time around.</p>
<p>It's an interesting touch, but in the end, do we really care? I think most fans of the series just want to see the carnage and amazing martial arts, and there's no taking the edge off hammer time, no matter how you might try to soften the blows.</p>
<p>I for one enjoyed The Raid 2, possibly even more than the original. It is what it is; brutality and excess, brilliant choreography and some great stylistic touches from Evans. It is certainly better than most action fare out there and infinitely better than anything the laboring Fast and Furious franchise can cough up.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvnEfCKddhdoUj72sf1YIe7baNn28M1gWjOTf7jtzwMfSY7c3cbmueQexYYDRbvwyxpY1bvV-hZKpILV512VS-3qClZARihmPTSWuSZyupq8Rfjc2Luu33YrNtToQ7nFhOaYEMb7QYR0ok/s1600/The-Raid-2-Berandal-Hammer-Girl-Julie-Estelle-and-Baseball-Bat-Man-Very-Tri-Yulisman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvnEfCKddhdoUj72sf1YIe7baNn28M1gWjOTf7jtzwMfSY7c3cbmueQexYYDRbvwyxpY1bvV-hZKpILV512VS-3qClZARihmPTSWuSZyupq8Rfjc2Luu33YrNtToQ7nFhOaYEMb7QYR0ok/s400/The-Raid-2-Berandal-Hammer-Girl-Julie-Estelle-and-Baseball-Bat-Man-Very-Tri-Yulisman.jpg" /></a></div>Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-90925596205219918442015-02-28T19:00:00.000-08:002015-02-28T19:00:11.009-08:00Fifty Shades of Extreme Disappointment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLEtoccciZdxHtUbyRmktudFWtOicTp5_cenOQtzUnLQOeNiftvEj7-wCilBfmQ2qEiNKAhc7ve97-hlfsn1KcUwI3gjbV7x72pRmbM-60MnYyvxEQPGMtHVWbDBdWoXSSxlxRbprMf70S/s1600/635566902168940659-FiftyShadesOfGrey-SoundtrackCover-RGB.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLEtoccciZdxHtUbyRmktudFWtOicTp5_cenOQtzUnLQOeNiftvEj7-wCilBfmQ2qEiNKAhc7ve97-hlfsn1KcUwI3gjbV7x72pRmbM-60MnYyvxEQPGMtHVWbDBdWoXSSxlxRbprMf70S/s320/635566902168940659-FiftyShadesOfGrey-SoundtrackCover-RGB.jpeg" /></a></div>
<p>Let's give some quick context to this: a) I watched a Chinese online version, so the sex scenes were heavily edited and chopped up which may have affected my enjoyment b) I actually enjoyed the book (despite some of the mawkish dialogue e.g. "laters, baby", <i>shudder</i>) and really found the character of Grey compelling c) I found Ana to be a rather capricious and uninteresting mainstream figure d) I would have killed to play Christian Grey myself.</p>
<p>Now, why doesn't this film work?</p>
<p>Let's start with the source material; my theory on why the film has been roundly critically panned (and more importantly by women, it's hitherto chief audience) is that what was safe to enjoy as a fantasy and purely in the headspace of millions of housewives has now been made flesh, made real, and the reality is Grey, in person, is kind of scary and distasteful.</p>
<p>Does any woman truly want to give over all her personal power to a rich, stiff arsehole? In the book and film even Ana didn't.</p>
<p>Also, BDSM has always been a marginalized, fringe culture, a proclivity best enjoyed in private, so when you're trying to marry that with a Twilight-esque romance craving audience, it will always jar. You're trying to marry sexual violence with mainstream viewing; on page, as fantasy, maybe acceptable, realized on film, awkward and unsettling.</p>
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<p>The film has done well at the box office, but I imagine this has more to do with the existing fan base and people's anxiety and gravitational pull towards sex.</p>
<p>Now, the director: Sam Taylor Johnson, apparently one of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_British_Artists">Young British Artists</a> (Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst et al.), famous for a serious of photographs ("Crying Men") of high-profile actors in tears (Laurence Fishburne, Robin Williams, Benicio Del Toro etc). She also produced one of the most dry and uninspired sequences in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0492962/">"Destricted"</a> (2006), <i>Death Valley</i> where a guy has a wank and cums in the middle of the desert.</p>
<p>Where is the sense of playfulness or experimentation here? Did author E.L. James's reputed heavy handedness in this film kill that as well? Johnson shoots this in the most rudimentary, kitchen-sink fashion imaginable. It reeks of Twilight blandness. Why did she not play with more extreme close-ups of the principal character's lips and eyes; the book relies on these details to create the heat between the characters; Grey's subtle smiles and blazing eyes observed by Ana - there was so much leeway here for Johnson to experiment with editing and amp up the tension between them.</p>
<p>As it is, there is very little sexual tension on display here, and, as observed by other reviewers, seemingly no chemistry between the stars.</p>
<p>Performance wise, Dakota Johnson makes for a remarkable Ana, like Elijah Wood before her with Frodo, she manages to realize the reader's (Or at least this readers) impressions of Ana, while still keeping her performance alive. The lip biting is never mannered or affected which it could have been. For me at least Ana had stepped off the page and I even liked and sympathized with her more than I did in the book.</p>
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<p>But Grey. Alas, Jamie Dornan just didn't pull off the Grey I imagined. As I prefaced, I'm jealous of the cat, but I also don't envy his position: this is not an easy assignment. Not only does he have to pull off reader's expectations of the character, he has to be impossibly handsome (Dornan is hot, but he doesn't 'embody' sexiness), cold, icy, mercurial, tortured, smooth and debonair, but above all Grey must have a kind of calculating, animal intensity that leaves you breathless. Dornan just never has that animal force you'd expect of this character, not even burning or bristling underneath the surface. He also isn't scary, just kind of doe-eyed and stiff. Dornan also seems uncomfortable with the trappings of power and control (Granted Grey is meant to be struggling with this as he falls in love with Ana, but Dornan portrays this struggle flatly), he just doesn't seemed to come from this entitled, efficient world.</p>
<p>This part would have been perfect for actors like Sean Penn, Ed Harris or Ralph Fiennes (And yes I realize they're all way too old:p), intense actors who have that innate 'animalistic' sense to them, who can portray characters with complex interiors and are comfortable with power, enjoying power and displaying power on screen. Dornan isn't powerful, he doesn't make you WANT to give over power to him.</p>
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<p>However, as I continued watching, what I noticed he is very good at is humanising and attempting to make likable this potentially shady and repulsive character. Dornan grounds and attempts to make a charming romantic lead out of twisted, child-abused CEO who enjoys torturing women. As I said before, no easy assignment for an actor.</p>
<p>Despite the eroticism and Twilight-esque romantic leanings of the book, I always felt that Fifty Shades was primarily a character study of Grey and Ana's compatible and conflicting traits. This is what I was hoping to see on a screen, a scorching whirlwind of passion, love and conflict between two characters. This is a largely dull and tepid affair. The leads don't ignite and the entire film just falls short of any expectations.</p>
<p>Ultimately Gilbert Gottfried's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkLqAlIETkA">reading</a> of the book remains infinitely sexier;)</p>
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Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-72304546349602713142015-02-28T17:39:00.000-08:002015-02-28T19:23:18.932-08:00Jupiter Ascending? Stop Wachowskis, I want to get off...
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<p>A beautiful failure? I felt that way about Cloud Atlas but not this:p</p>
<p>(I will preface this by saying I had a really shitty experience at the cinema before going in to watch this and I'm certain that colored my viewing)</p>
<p>To be honest, and I realize this is total conjecture, but I just don't think the Wachowski's hearts were in this. They may even be still hurting from the failure of Cloud Atlas.</p>
<p>The production design and look of this film is fantastic, but Andy and Lana have always had a gift for making beautiful images on screen, even as far back as "Bound". The problem here is it's just a convoluted, often confusing muddle - both in terms of story and tone. It took me a while just to work out who were all the different parties involved, who they were working for and what they were after. I understand that this is a stab at a potential franchise, which goes some way to explaining why characters like Doona Bae's are introduced and then promptly ditched, and the inexplicable and jarring scenes of the "Brazil"-inspired bureaucratic nightmare - we are being introduced to worlds we will no doubt be revisiting in the sequels. To me however that's bad storytelling - only introduce what's important for THIS film, not the films that may follow. </p>
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<p>On the note of the red tape scenes, I did get a thrill out of seeing director Terry Gilliam play a small and vivid part (and the "Brazil" reference to "27B-6":D). He protests to not being an actor but he's always an interesting and manic energy on screen.</p>
<p>The action scenes are uninspired and tedious. The seven minute chase sequence from 'Grey' aliens just stops the film from moving forward and quite frankly bored me. And I'm sorry but jet-powered shoes are dumb, just dumb. (I liked them in "Guardians of the Galaxy", which suited the irreverent, Buck Rogers tone of that film but here they are clumsy)</p>
<p>Eddie Redmayne is genuinely creepy and unsettling in his role, although the ashen voice is occasionally annoying and the Wachowski's should have pulled him up on his explosive shouting choice (Nearly everyone in the cinema groaned) Seriously though, what the fuck does everyone see in Channing Tatum? Even the bloody Coen Brothers are using this git in their next film! Am I the only one that sees the wooden, emotionless void that is this jumped-up himbo? He was 'there' in "21 Jump Street" and Danny McBride's sex toy in "This is The End" - why does anyone care? (I haven't seen the Jump Street sequel or Foxcatcher) He's a jock who got lucky; it wouldn't surprise me if Hollywood grew him from a skin scraping of Chris Klein.</p>
<p>Mila Kunis is the sole grace of the leads, she is a genuinely warm, solid and engaging presence (Yes, this film made me hot for her, I'll admit it) as Jupiter and a good choice for the central character. Her acting can't hold a flame, however, to Sean Bean who manages to outact everyone else who features in this film in the few scenes he's in. Seriously, I'm worried when complex, real and interesting old guard actors like Bean, Oldman etc. eventually die, who the hell will we be left with? Tatum and Chris Hemsworth? Jezuz, paint the walls with my fucking brains now:p</p>
<p>Sorry, I'm getting off topic now. To sum up: Jupiter Ascending falls flat.</p>
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Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-21897992181859651482015-02-28T17:23:00.000-08:002015-02-28T17:39:38.537-08:00The Monuments Men. Meh.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<p>There's no questioning the quality production of this film and the star pull. As usual Cate Blanchett is excellent and Clooney and Damon both solid. Murray does his Murray thing, but seeing as everyone seems to be crawling up Bill Murray's arse these days I will refrain from doing so. The problem with this film is one of tone; it has to be light and whimsical for the comedy to work (It's not terribly funny at that) but still give reverence for the realities of war. As such death and senseless loss are treated with sentiment rather than with impact or consequences that push the story forwards.</p>
<p>It never really strikes a tone that engages. It's not a gritty, ugly action fest like The Dirty Dozen, nor a drama like Guns of Navarone - there is no drama (Let's clarify: edge of your seat drama) You never really feel a sense of danger in this film and that's where it falls short, there's very little tension and it remains flat throughout; a crime especially for a film of this running length.</p>
Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-38934749040935590722011-05-04T05:13:00.001-07:002014-07-04T07:51:47.531-07:00Red Hill - A sloppy cinematic outing (2011)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Dear, oh dear...<br />
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Where do I begin? This film, from the producers of <b>Wolf Creek</b>, with at least aspirations to mirror the arid, unsettling atmosphere of <b>The Proposition</b> (Itself a highly flawed picture), falls short of either engaging the viewer in it's revenge story or living up to the Western genre it aspires to be.<br />
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The concept is simple and promising; Constable Shane Cooper (True Blood's <i>Ryan Kwanten</i>) moves to the rural town of red Hill, hoping to provide a less stressful environment for his pregnant wife. When a convicted murderer, Jimmy Conway,(<i>Tommy Lewis</i>) escapes from prison, bent on killing every member of the local Police Force, Cooper becomes embroiled in the crossfire between Conway and Sargent Bill (<i>Steve Bisley</i>). Conway was convicted of murdering his wife, but as many cluey viewers will already have guessed by the time Conway emerges, he is an innocent man framed by Bisley's character.<br />
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This should have been enough for a compelling revenge movie, with the airless, tension-packed atmosphere of say, <b>No Country for Old men</b>, where we follow two men bent on each other's destruction. Writer-director <b>Patrick Hughes</b> delivers some nice moments, (Conway, like <b>Wolf Creek's</b> Mick Taylor, is an instantly iconic figure; an Aboriginal cowboy whose face is half obscured with deep burn scars. Hughes shoots this stony-faced avenger like a force of nature, with an almost supernatural ability to sense his opponents - witness the scene where he takes out a sniper on a roof, without even having acknowledged his presence with a turn of the head) but none of them are nearly as assured or as well shot as the afore mentioned Coen brother's set pieces.<br />
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There are some very clumsy elements in this film (In one scene a character is shot side on through the shoulders? Is Hughes trying show something different with the violence; frankly it's neither darkly amusing nor arresting); the incorporation of a rogue panther stalking Red Hill is laughable and does not serve the plot in any way. Yes, it probably does mirror Jimmy as the rogue element stalking the town but how does it move the story forward? There is a terrible scene where Conway stands coolly in front of an opponent who is apparently so anxious to see him dead that despite firing at him from point-blank range he misses Conway entirely. I did not believe this moment for a second; even an amateur shooter (As indeed the character was) could not have failed to have at least hit him once given the distance suggested by the camera placement. Also, why does Conway possess a psychic ability to sniff out his opponents and hit them with supernatural accuracy in some scenes, yet he can't hit Steve Bisley's character in plain sight in front of a car in another? For me such moments just take you out of the film and cause you to stop investing in the action.<br />
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The dialogue is sometimes so laughably B-grade that you pray there's a real moment coming along soon. Such prayers go unanswered as everybody pretty much says whats happening on the surface without ever trying to conceal their intentions and ramp up the tension. In fact the dialogue; which is reasonable at the beginning of the film - take Bisley's unfeeling interrogation of Kwanten's reason's for moving to Red Hill - is superseded by the clumsy action by the second half of the film. <br />
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Kwanten is passable, his plain features mirroring a equally plain and uninvolving character. <br />
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There was such a missed opportunity with this film. In the hands of a better director, who might have added complexity to the central characters and shaped the action with more style and assurance, this could have been really involving. Instead, it's popcorn fodder for undemanding audiences.Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-3078365590597618932011-04-19T06:31:00.000-07:002011-04-20T01:52:52.973-07:00PAUL - Frost & Pegg, I'd kiss you right now!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvvxDYQNE4a__69dPmb9VZns2U4CUh-mPahxuJQhpP1klQgOk-pYZyR1KKdcMKWWQJTeXbubmQ2ycCnXKowQ4F8sC5hYp00dmZ4K7ZHYFjrSh1dLUN2kG0EZNgdIOZXzeIx0MRzWhjBNvf/s1600/paul_movie_poster1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvvxDYQNE4a__69dPmb9VZns2U4CUh-mPahxuJQhpP1klQgOk-pYZyR1KKdcMKWWQJTeXbubmQ2ycCnXKowQ4F8sC5hYp00dmZ4K7ZHYFjrSh1dLUN2kG0EZNgdIOZXzeIx0MRzWhjBNvf/s320/paul_movie_poster1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I have literally just got back from the cinema after watching <b>Paul</b> (2011), the new Sci-Fi comedy from the team behind <b>Hot Fuzz</b> and <b>Shaun of the Dead</b>. Stars of those afore mentioned films, <i>Simon Pegg</i> and <i>Nick Frost</i>, were on writing duties for this one, and despite the change of setting to America (And the lack of Director <i>Edgar Wright</i>, who co-wrote Fuzz and Shaun with Pegg, and directed both), their charm and englo-centricity still shines through.<br />
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I want to say ahead of time this film absolutely rocked my world, and cheered me up immeasurably. It was so much fun; a joy to watch; I felt like I was sitting down to watch a film with old friends in it.<br />
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Frost and Pegg play Sci-Fi fans/nerds Clive Gollings and Graeme Willy respectively. They are on holiday in America, where, after a visit to ComicCon, they take a road trip in an RV visiting UFO hot spots of America. While on route at night, a car crashes in front of them and when inspecting the wreck, they find it's driver, Paul (Voiced by <i>Seth Rogen</i>), an alien (Moulded on the popular <a href="#greys">'Grey'</a> species) who has just escaped from Area 51 and is attempting to to get to a certain national monument (Which I wont spoil for those familiar with <b>Close Encounters of a Third Kind</b>) to be picked by the mother ship. <br />
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Clive and Graeme agree to help Paul in his journey, unaware they are being pursued by a team of FBI agents (Jason Bateman, Bill Hader and Joe Lo Trugilo) Along the way they are forced to kidnap a staunch Christian woman, Ruth, with a deformed eye (Kirsten Wiig), who becomes Graeme's love interest. <br />
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I don't want to say much else about the film's proceedings as I'd rather you discover them for yourselves, suffice to say their are endless pleasant surprises and great lines (Ie in a scene where Ruth's crazed religious Father is vying for road space with an equally crazed Bill Hader, in pursuit of the escaping RV: Father: "I'm on a misson from God!"; "Tell him you failed!" cries Bill Hader, before promptly shooting the Father in the shoulder - <i>don't fret, he lives!</i>)<br />
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Paul is a great character; (Seth Rogen in top form) a sarcastic, easy-going stoner alien who dispenses wisdom to a jealous Clive and rattled Ruth, as freely as he adopts invisibility or brings dead birds to life for a snack. The CGI work on his character is great; he literally is just another part of the film, convincing and solid without being distracting or just for the sake of eye-candy.<br />
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A recent Empire review complained that there wasn't enough conflict between Clive and Graeme's character's at the start of the film - ala Fuzz and Shuan, where their character traits rubbed against each other - but they're missing the point: Clive and Graeme are meant to be good friends, simpatico, a strong bond BEFORE Paul enters their lives, it's then their secret rivalries come to the fore - i.e Clive's jealousy at Graeme seeming to always be the first to discover or experience something, first Babylon 5 and then Paul himself. Also the scenes where it's just Clive and Graeme on their own are so brief (ComicCon and few scenes on the road)that it really is a petty complaint. <br />
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A more valid complaint from my perspective is the overuse of swearing in the film; Kirsten Wiig's character Ruth gets released from her Christian values when Paul shows her his lifetime's knowledge via telepathy; having no moral compass to fall back on she decides, among other things, to swear her head off. While the device is amusing the first couple of times as she is an tragically ineffective swearer: "Fuck-a-roo, that was the best titty-farting sleep I have ever had"; after a while it just starts to grate and feel unnecessary. The fact that other characters like Jason Bateman's icy-cool agent have to start employing this device;"Motherfuckin' tittysuckin' two-balled bitch!" when he runs out of bullets in a scene; is doubly unwelcome and unfunny.<br />
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I suppose another complaint you could direct at the film is it's depiction of Christians as one dimensional, gun-totting, bible-thumping idiots in an all out war against Darwinism. It's a fair complaint, but I admire Frost and Pegg for at least taking a side and voicing their opinion, when they could have played it safe. Although it has to be said (And here I agree with Empire) they could have satirized the nerd-dom of ComicCon with a little more bite; they're brave when it comes to mocking Christianity but not their little fan base. <br />
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Overall though, there is so much heart, warmth, good humor and good film making to <b>Paul</b> that these are just minor complaints. Director <i>Greg Mottola</i> (Unlike Edgar Wright) does not impose his presence with attention-seeking devices, he keeps the shots simple allowing the charm of the performances to work their magic; only ramping things up in the thrilling chase scene involving a house explosion. Frost and Pegg are, as usual, brilliant - Frost perhaps getting a little bit lazy and studied at times - but they take more a back seat in this one and let their American co-stars have more of a presence.<br />
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I loved this film, it made my night; and to that enormous throng of peons waiting to see the latest mind-numbing installment of the <b>Fast & Furious</b> franchise, shame on you, you SO missed out on a great experience. <br />
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<div id="greys"><b>Reference:</b><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greys">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greys</a></div>Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-70166901922934146282011-04-15T07:30:00.000-07:002015-05-27T08:44:49.951-07:00The Fall - Languid artifice till an emotionally grueling end<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0D4wffzQgJ0hhVi2rWLg25_d5M3P-x-F73XkxUVSVHSI3aXPf8YVxWy5jPPak8-2dzlMADL4AYL2KB0UyPcHb9DlIDeWlJTj8-sv5ai-qU28Ir4_H2PzMMx66W-WtMW-cQvK5_-wAIddN/s1600/thefall2006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0D4wffzQgJ0hhVi2rWLg25_d5M3P-x-F73XkxUVSVHSI3aXPf8YVxWy5jPPak8-2dzlMADL4AYL2KB0UyPcHb9DlIDeWlJTj8-sv5ai-qU28Ir4_H2PzMMx66W-WtMW-cQvK5_-wAIddN/s320/thefall2006.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>The Fall</b> <i>(2006)</i> is sadly a film which only becomes engaging and emotionally satisfying in it's last quarter.<br />
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<b>Tarsem (Singh)</b>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mononymous_person">mononymous</a> director of this film, is the man responsible for the poorly scripted, acted but lavishly beautiful <b>The Cell</b> starring <i>Jennifer Lopez</i> and <i>Vincent D'Onofrio</i>. <br />
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Like that film, <b>The Fall</b> is also elaborately designed; with a gorgeous primary color scheme for the Bandit characters, and clever visual invention; such as the moment when a betraying Preist's face dissolves into a desert landscape with land marks arranged to mirror his features exactly. One feels however that not nearly as much effort and thought went into the design of <b>The Fall</b> as compared to the <b>The Cell</b>, where nearly every moment inside the killers head was filled with dazzling imagery; near bursting at the seams with 'wow' moments, whether macabre or beautiful.<br />
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"Perhaps more effort was put into the story; the drama", you ask? Yes, perhaps, but sadly the first two quarters of the film feature rather dull and mawkish moments between a the young protagonist and a stunt man, and a really tepid telling of a story.<br />
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The plot deals with a young Romanian girl and an American stunt man, both recovering in a 1920's Los Angeles hospital, from falls they suffered. The girl, Alexandria (<i>Catinca Untaru</i>), has a broken arm from a fall in an orange orchard, and the man, Roy Walker (<i>Lee Pace</i>) has lost the use of his legs. The details of Roy's fall are pertinent to both the story and his mental state:on the set of the film in question, Roy lost his girlfriend to the lead actor, and in attempting to perform a stunt where he would jump from a railway bridge onto a horse, both he and horse end up in the river (In a stunning sepia-tinged opening scene played in slow motion, but unfortunately uses Ludwig van Beethoven's <i>'Symphony N° 7 in a Major OP.92</i> - which I cannot listen to now without thinking of the end of <i>Gaspar Noe's</i> <b>Irreversible</b>) In the hospital he and Alexandria form an unlikely friendship, where in exchange for a story: five disparate bandits in search of revenge on a corrupt provincial governor; Roy, deeply depressed, convinces Alexandria to steal a fatal dose of morphine for him.<br />
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It is this negotiation, which forms the main thrust of the movie, which lets everything down. The tale Roy tells starts out promisingly enough: imagined sequences, seen in Alexandria's mind, where people from the real world become characters in the story (With even Roy as the principal Black bandit). All five bandits, including a fictionalized Charles Darwin (<i>Leo Bill</i>), are properly motivated against the governor, banished from the kingdom to an island. They escape, and a mystic who emerges from the bowels of a burning tree joins them in their quest (A great scene). Disappointingly, from that point on, the tale descends into slow moving sequences with no tension (The bandits go here, they go there, capture a nun, no-one makes any great attempt to stop them, we are left in no doubt they will succeed...), and self-conscious, stylized acting from Lee Pace in the romantic moments which I found off-putting, rather than I assume the intended humorous, self-aware effect. These story sequences could have had the whimsy, fun and adventure of <b>Terry Gilliam's</b> much more successful, (Forget the critics or the box office - the film is great) <b>The Adventures of Baron Münchhausen</b>, instead the bandits lack any special attributes which might make them interesting, and the tale is dull.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6j_j8VWeasXaeAZbHOlKu09v2XuCU65CrK78wIeO5uGSr8FvycA6jyp-c-CXrKQKWa7zj0UjXZTQvGpXZuW22ArUoC83HjyeGTBJ6Cxj3p2qldYxb95c1JwGC-pRvOpxx0Ppp1H8RIEqD/s1600/thefall3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6j_j8VWeasXaeAZbHOlKu09v2XuCU65CrK78wIeO5uGSr8FvycA6jyp-c-CXrKQKWa7zj0UjXZTQvGpXZuW22ArUoC83HjyeGTBJ6Cxj3p2qldYxb95c1JwGC-pRvOpxx0Ppp1H8RIEqD/s320/thefall3.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The interactions between Roy and Alexandria are the second weakest link in this section: the debut appearance of Catinca Untaru does not endear; her constant interruptions over Lee Pace ensure these scenes looks improvised (Which I'm certain they were, the intention probably being to make them seem more natural; as children do interrupt people - well fine, but it's also bloody annoying when they do that! Which is precisely the effect achieved by this device), unpolished and un-engaging. Because of this there are no dynamics in their scenes together, no followable progression in the tightening of their relationship; they don't grow closer so much as keep yammering at each other. <br />
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All of this however, can be largely forgiven for the extremely satisfying - but grueling - last quarter of the film. Roy flips out after his attempted suicide is thwarted by morphine pills Alexandria got from a nieghbouring patient - evidently the Doctors were giving the man placebos - so Alexandria steals into the dispensary to obtain more pills for Roy (Unaware at all times that he wants to kill himself). She falls, and here <b>Tarsem's</b> skills finally come to the fore: instead of Alexandria hitting the floor, Roy as the masked bandit falls to the floor, missing a leg, a false leg falls after him and shatters on the ground. We then cut to several vignettes of Roy as masked bandit, Roy as a gladiator, Roy as a knight, all having their legs dismembered. The sequence represents the presumably unconscious Alexandria, tumbling through her own mind, her imagination and memories overlapping to form associations between real life and the story; her Father's death and their house burning down; her fall from the orange tree. As clunky as some of the ideas sound, the sequence is genuinely distressing, especially in contrast to the very light-hearted first two thirds of the film. Tension, and thus our interest, finally enter the film. We are even treated to some dark stop motion animation as Alexandria imagines the Doctor's operating on her her fractured skull, and she hears Roy being chastised by the Medical staff for his abuse of her trust. This is the kind of visual detail and audio layering that made <b>The Cell</b> so engaging. <br />
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When Alexandria awakes, Roy is by her side, and through his subsequent abuse of the continuing story, she must finally confront the distressed mind that has been lurking behind Roy's outward shows of friendship. Roy is drunk, and as he continues the story, he starts killing off all the bandits in increasingly distressing ways, and despite Alexandria's plees for him to stop Roy continues, before finally his character, the Black Bandit, is the only one left to confront the governor. The scene is disturbing because we know and understand why Roy is acting like this; a heart broken man, depressed and fixated with death; but we are also aware that Alexandria does not understand, and for Roy to be exposing her to this very adult and dark behavior appalls us. We worry for her and while concerned for Roy, morally we demand him to stop torturing this poor child. It is this kind of tension and complexity that is lacking in almost every other frame of the film. <br />
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After having the Black Bandit brutally beaten up by the governor, and the character essentially give up on trying to fight back, Roy nearly has him drowned. In doing so he breaks all of Alexandria's childhood illusions of honor and justice, and indeed, her impressions of Roy himself. Again, it is this traumatizing of Alexandria, and exposure to adult concepts entirely inappropriate to her age - from an adult who should know better - which deeply moves and conflicts us as viewers. Finally Roy listens to Alexandria's pleas to let the Black Bandit live, and in doing so he decides to live as well, redeeming himself. <br />
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Almost all of the tepid, elaborate puffery from earlier is worth having sat through for this scene, and I wish more films could have as many complex ideas, moral quandaries and emotions as there are in this scene. It is deeply satisfying as an audience member.<br />
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Overall, a beautiful film, but not as beautiful as <b>The Cell</b>; a great ending but a shallow first two-thirds. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit7xCAne6CzYXrU7IUz2xFUl6IXI9gaK0xy-fUpE6XOmqWSIOEUZCBJ_rD5gpRGOuKjp0pySAFnzXr-QEVmbUFO0kGbNi6JRuxBnwcFAQmh-j0stmsZ3M8m3sMRK5TKOTZyD3LGDQqwQ9_/s1600/the-fall-a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="252" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit7xCAne6CzYXrU7IUz2xFUl6IXI9gaK0xy-fUpE6XOmqWSIOEUZCBJ_rD5gpRGOuKjp0pySAFnzXr-QEVmbUFO0kGbNi6JRuxBnwcFAQmh-j0stmsZ3M8m3sMRK5TKOTZyD3LGDQqwQ9_/s320/the-fall-a.jpg" /></a></div>Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-9762865035341663952011-04-11T10:03:00.000-07:002011-04-20T02:02:32.146-07:00Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole - Exceptionally beautiful but not a classic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm2Zi9vQc3nOfXh17dYCCF49Ph1A5fWttFAl1uI39F9x4lmfGUQB0a9yftAe78Em3HbLR-qYFgCrvL_gF7x_gK5jh_viD6P4OtKTIpXmcVolyEtiWsuKT82YngUdZ8zOoZKwOn56f91IXI/s1600/legend_of_the_guardians_40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="136" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm2Zi9vQc3nOfXh17dYCCF49Ph1A5fWttFAl1uI39F9x4lmfGUQB0a9yftAe78Em3HbLR-qYFgCrvL_gF7x_gK5jh_viD6P4OtKTIpXmcVolyEtiWsuKT82YngUdZ8zOoZKwOn56f91IXI/s320/legend_of_the_guardians_40.jpg" /></a></div><br />
You can certainly say one thing for director <i>Zack Snyder</i>, he knows how to create beautiful images. There is not one second of this film (<b>Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole</b> (<i>2010</i>)where you don't marvel at the qualities of the light (Especially that glorious earthy, amber dusk light that permeates the film), the clarity of each individual feather bristling on the title characters, the epic panoramas surrounding the owls in flight, the hellish red glare of a hungry Tasmanian devil on a forest floor, the quality of the movement in the animation; it all lovingly kisses your vision.<br />
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The only visual trick overused by Snyder is his insistence on <a href="#reference">speed ramping</a> ("ramping", is a process whereby the capture frame rate of the camera changes over time. For example, if in the course of 10 seconds of capture, the capture frame rate is adjusted from 60 frames per second to 24 frames per second, when played back at the standard film rate of 24 frames per second, a unique time-manipulation effect is achieved"), and it's often disorientating effect on the battle scenes at the end of the film. Personally I would like to <i>see</i> the action <i>Animal Logic's</i> (The Company responsible for <b>Happy Feet</b>) team has clearly spent so much time animating.<br />
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<i>Guardians</i> is a story of sibling rivalry, betrayal and faith set against the back drop of an ancient feud between legendary rival owl tribes, the evil Pure Ones and the heroic Guardians. Owl brothers Soren and Klud (Voiced by <i>Jim Sturgess</i> and <i>Ryan Kwanten</i> [Of vampire series 'True Blood' fame] respectively) stray from the nest trying to out fly each other, only to be captured by members of the Pure Ones, a tribe of Owls who 'moon blink' their captives into mindless drones to collect magical metal that affects the gizzards or 'souls' or owls, incapacitating them. Soren and an Elf Owl called Gylfie (<i>Emily Barclay</i> - who played that hideous hyena in the overrated <b>Suburban Mayhem</b>; a far cry from her diminutive, endearing character here) join forces to escape, but Klud ultimately sides with the Pure Ones, under the leadership of Metalbeak (Played by an vocally unrecognizable <i>Joel Edgerton</i> - in the sense that you wont recognize either his voice or what type of accent he's meant to be using - what the heck is it; English, Australian, American?)<br />
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Soren seeks out the help of the Guardians, an owl tribe described to him by his Father and whose heroic tales have always inspired him. In the course of doing so he learns that battle is not as glamorous as the stories led him to believe, but that honor and self belief can be.<br />
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It's hard to say exactly why this film doesn't quite reach 'Classic' status. I was absolutely rapt for the first three quarters of the film; was involved in the sweet partnership of Soren and Gylfie; but when more characters were into the mix (Annoying unnecessary comic relief in the form of Digger (<i>David Wenham</i>) and Twilight (<i>Anthony Lapaglia</i>), and after the Guardians were located, the film lost it's tension, and the manner in which a fellow Gaurdian betrays the tribe is not satisfactorily played out for the dramatic impact it could have had. Metalbeak is also a pretty passive villain; initiating plans behind the scenes yes, but largely just skulking about in the foreground looking dark and mysterious, emerging only to fight in the battle between the Guardians and the Pure Ones at the end of the film. It must be said of that fight that despite the swords and knives and armory strapped to the owls the conflict is lackluster - not because of a lack of gore; understandable given this is a children's film - but because of uninspired staging and Snyder's obscuring speed ramping.<br />
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Again, the Australian landscape and it's fauna look amazing, and it was great to see so many Australian actors voicing the characters; among them <i>Bill Hunter, Hugo Weaving, Geoffrey Rush, Angus Sampson</i> and <i>Abie Cornish</i> - though why they felt it necessary to include English accents and actors (<i>Helen Mirren, Miriam Margolyes</i>) as well is beyond me; international appeal, then why not American accents Ala 'Chicken Run'?<br />
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Soren as the title character is a bit of a wet blanket, but his enthusiasm and goodness is endearing. I might be expecting too much from an animated children's film, but I was just so swept away by the first three quarters of the film that to descend into such a tried-and-tested battle scenario just seemed a waste of the good will generated by the start. It is a very unusual, eccentric (Owls in Armour), even occasionally dark children's film, and as such it would have to been nice to see the film makers push that uniqueness even further, into a less conventional story line.<br />
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Overall spectacular visuals, great first three quarters but lacking in a satisfying dramatic high point or conclusion.<br />
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<div id="reference"><b>Reference</b><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_ramping#speed_ramping"><b>(1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_ramping#speed_ramping</b></a></div>Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2717610114146208672.post-7280633846801607072010-11-05T07:05:00.000-07:002011-04-20T02:05:06.031-07:00Gaspar Noe's "Enter the Void" - Brilliant, but too bloody long!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxsDm32RJxtfOjws9rXX4yX-okBQvMI0Qh4Iu0R9g2845Je9n49GYVVJ_QT7SkoibR_y8yeiqt-xmOogUc9RmGmHpKk3rH3nsn4NYQJuME6yNlbhx9fJuRcInK9uolkJNxkKeNyr8sHrgh/s1600/Enter-The-Void-2009-DvdRip-Xvid-Noir-749x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxsDm32RJxtfOjws9rXX4yX-okBQvMI0Qh4Iu0R9g2845Je9n49GYVVJ_QT7SkoibR_y8yeiqt-xmOogUc9RmGmHpKk3rH3nsn4NYQJuME6yNlbhx9fJuRcInK9uolkJNxkKeNyr8sHrgh/s320/Enter-The-Void-2009-DvdRip-Xvid-Noir-749x1024.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The two main feelings I left with after seeing <i>Gaspar Noe's</i> <b>Enter the Void</b> last night at a screening at the Canberra International Film Festival (One of a few across the country as the film is getting no general Australian Release), were A) I had seen something amazing and B) It was so tortuously self-indulgent and long that at times I wanted to shake my fist at the screen in anguish.<br />
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The film <i>IS</i> a technical marvel, taking a use of CGI started by <i>David Fincher</i> in <b>Panic Room</b> (And obviously in Noe's own <b>Irreversible</b>) to expand the limits of where a camera can move through space to their absolute limit, so that we literally see through the eyes of the main character Oscar (<i>Nathaniel Brown</i>) without any compromises such as avoiding mirrors, looking through spy holes, smoking a crack pipe, blinking, or his own hands passing over his face. Later, with the camera as the eyes of Oscar's disembodied spirit we float effortlessly over the rooftops of buildings and through physical matter such as buildings, walls and rooms (A great shot in this vein happens just after Oscar's murder where friend Alex (<i>Cyril Roy</i>) tussles with Police and exits from frame, and seconds later we are whisked over a building following the sound of Alex's voice and chase him down an alleyway in an overhead shot as he runs from the scene - the sense of momentum and movement in this shot is just breath taking) We dive into bullet wounds, drains, urns, lights and emerge from similar objects as though they are physically linked by unseen tunnels (Or spaces of mottled strobing); we sink into the back of people's heads and observe things through their eyes, as well as passing through interior spaces of their bodies; we even change from wide lenses to fish-eye lenses without a single cut, in fact there is NO cut in this film, a marvel in itself; any blackness is created by moving into low light and Oscar's blinking or closing of eyes.<br />
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The camera is also enabled to switch rapidly through time - in the latter half of the film where Oscar's spirit reviews his memories - where we switch seamlessly between bath times in the past for Oscar, his sister Linda (<i>Paz de la Huerta</i>) and their Mother (Disappearing below the water line), to more recent times where older Oscar bathes with older Linda (Reappearing above the water line). This device allows for beautiful Freudian moments (i.e. unconscious connections made in the mind) such as when we switch back and forth between Oscar's POV in an affair with an older woman, Suzy (<i>Sara Stockbridge</i>) reaching for her naked breasts, and Oscar's POV as a baby's, reaching for his Mother's breasts.<br />
Another stand out moment for this device, although used for dramatic impact and not in a Fruedian sense (And If you're still awake for it, that is), is near the end of the film when Oscar's spirit rides with Linda and his friend Alex in a taxi headed for a Japanese Love Hotel, and Linda, inexplicably and contrary to the tone of the scene, screams into Alex's face and we spin round as a truck collides with the front of the vehicle - we are now looking at a scene in the past through young Oscar's eyes, as he stares at the mangled, bloody reclining faces of his dead parents, killed in a head-on collision (Noe replays this accident several times throughout the movie, lingering on the mangled corpses; obviously signposting it as an important memory in Oscar's recollections, but probably more so to shock and rattle the viewer. It is a misguided effort however, for as a result of Noe's own excesses with <b>Irreversible's</b> violent rape scene and in this climate post <b>Hostel</b> films, what really is left in terms of the viler aspects of human nature and tragedy for filmmakers to expose on film and still hope for a reaction? Overuse has meant I simply find this apparently transgressive device tedious) <br />
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CGI is additionally used to augment the colors of every scene, so that the film is literally one pulsing, lurid, neon splash of light - stand out moments of these include the blazing, kinetic opening titles (Starting from the use of<i> Irreversible's</i> primary colored titles on black and end credit music [Which I thought was a bit on the nose: 'Oh, hey everyone, this sequence is a direct continuation from my last film', but anyway...] and cutting straight into Neon-sign like signatures for actors and production crew); Oscar and Linda's visit to some sort of ornamental shop where everything glows with phosphorescent greens, blues, yellows, oranges and pinks; the exterior facade and pole dancing floor of the <i>Sex, Money, Power</i> Nightclub where Linda works as stripper; and the lights of the Police and Emergency Vans after Oscar is shot. You can see how <i>Marc Caro's</i> (Who co-directed <b>Delicatessen</b> & <b>The City of Lost Children</b> with <i>Jean-Pierre Jeunet</i>) art direction really lifted this film's look to another level. <br />
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A fourth use of CGI is to ornament the film with incredible imagined images, such as the amazing hallucinations Oscar experiences after smoking DMT (The chemical released from the pineal gland moments before death, as is explained to Oscar by Alex in an early scene), where his view of the room he and Linda shares becomes overlaid with CGI images of strange splintering, undulating formations like DNA strands or geometric weed; again neon-colored and with electricity cycling along their stems. Additionally Noe uses ornamentation on the buildings behind the Love Hotel late in the film, getting them to pulse and undulate and defy perspective in unnatural ways. Another great moment is when Oscar returns to his body at the scene of his murder, and in a reverse of the shot that accompanied his death the first time around, moving up into the light; we pull back from his body into some kind of undulating, visceral tunnel, where the light should be, gradually having our view of Oscar's body obscured by the bends in the writhing tunnel. A great visual and thematic moment is when we glide through the various rooms of the Love Hotel where various Japanese people are copulating, CGI adding streams of incandescent, spectral light from their sex organs, and sending similar light across their bodies. Here Noe of course is suggesting the power and mystery of the sexual act. CGI also creates the buzzing, mottled, faded papyrus-like colored spaces of strobing we encounter when Oscar's spirit zooms into various household or street lights - which also seem to contain the splintering geometric hallucinations from earlier; but heavily obscured and difficult to focus on. I can only assume that these spaces are meant to represent apertures to heaven or possibly purgatory, as this is the first space Oscar finds after leaving his body, disappearing into the light fixture in the roof of the toilet he is is shot in. When we leave them, perhaps this is Oscar's spirit deciding not to move on from the physical world - a decision it debates several times over through the use of this device during the film.<br />
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But this incredible technical mastery aside, the biggest problem with the film is that Gaspar believes his plot and actors are more engaging than they actually are; call it a moral judgment, but dense drug users breezing around the streets of Tokyo, alternating between a comatose delivery of dialogue or histrionic, unsympathetic caterwauling, are not the kind of people I wish to spend much time with - but of course I realize a lot of people will.<br />
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I've already given you snippets, but I should probably now address the story line. Oscar and Linda, brother and Sister, live together in Tokyo, following the death of the parents years earlier. Linda works as a dancer at a local strip joint and Oscar is a drug dealer. After taking smoking some DMT and talking to his friend Alex about the Tibetan book of living and dying, Oscar is betrayed by a customer, Victor, and Japanese Police shoot him in the toilet of a bar. His spirit leaves his body and flies over the city, observing the fallout of his death on the lives of his sister and friends.<br />
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There is very little in the way of plot from this point on, just a series of either past events, Oscar's memories, present day events and arresting visual moments as Oscar's spirit journeys over Tokyo city.<br />
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Some devices employed by Noe simply suffer from overuse - and I mean OVERuse - the down shot flying through buildings which link us to events and characters across the city is great the first four times we see it, but soon wears out it's welcome. Disappearing into the lights into fields of strobing is very arresting the first few times it's used, but become tedious once we enter them again...and again. Having the scenes we witness start to strobe and shudder in a fish-eye perspective is quite startling the first two times we see it - but loses any impact (And tries the patience) with repeated use. The biggest problem is that none of the above devices seem to add any further level of meaning to the story, or even to push the story forward - they seem almost like eye candy for the sake of it or flashy band aids to synch two scenes together. It is, quite simply, lazy film making - especially for the amount of work the tech crew would've put into rendering them.<br />
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Even the device of moving to different time frames and places, loses it's impact from overuse. After a certain point - let's say about an 1 hour and bit in, when Oscar is deeper into his memory recall of past experiences - you just stop caring and switch off. The film becomes more of a endurance test, waiting with grit teeth for something interesting to come on again, or hopefully, for the film to end.<br />
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I should be fairer in many respects, as this was an experimental film, with little to no scripted dialogue and detailed descriptions of what would happen. Noe was probably trying out a lot of stuff simply to see if it <i>would</i> work, but the fact remains he didn't have to include the failed sequences (If he even recognized them as flawed, that is), or ALL of the sequences, as so much on screen is unnecessary; from Linda's unsympathetic wailing when Victor comes to apologize for setting Oscar up, to Alex's weeks on the street after Oscar's death (I'm sorry, the guy's a moron and I just don't care), - Perhaps Noe is suggesting that the reality of people grieving is LOONG, tedious and exhausting, and obviously this is a valid point - but this observation doesn't make for a very engaging film. Perhaps Noe, the irreligious, nihilist provocateur such as he is, doesn't really care if this is the result. I certainly hope he cares, as his statement from promotional material seems to imply <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1191111/trivia?tr=tr1201905">here</a><br />
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<b>Enter the Void</b> was an amazing, irritating experience; my first film festival experience; and as stunning as some of it's visual moments are, it is a flawed, lazy film and as such I couldn't embrace the experience wholeheartedly.Bryan Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258981052758877213noreply@blogger.com0