Had no time during May to write anything about the films I saw, which is a shame as I now only have a fleeting sentence for the films below. Much prefer getting something down straight away. Alas, beginning work on my dissertation, as well as taking on two extremely exciting projects had my hands well and truly full.
I'll most likely speak much more about the two projects in the coming months, but one is working with the incredible documentary We Are Poets with their theatrical release, to enable at least a fraction of what it has the capability to achieve with respect to engaging young people through cinema.
The second project is in many ways completely different but similar in the way it uses film to engage the unengaged and help communities come together. An increasing trend throughout the country, seeing communities coming together, challenging a forced hegemony of profit-for-profit's sake big business. A youth-work based charity in the Great Horton region of Bradford are restoring a cinema that has been out of use for some fifty years. The cinema will be primarily focused on serving the immediately surrounding area and will engage the community to provide them a community cinema space that suits their needs.
In addition, we at Minicine have really got our arses in gear and announced the next four months of screenings. Two SUPERB documentaries that I have seen at the Bradford International Film Festival over the last couple of years are playing, as well as a charming coming of age film called Le Herisson (tickets open now for the 28th June) and finally, an Iranian film about the struggles of musicians to practise their art in Tehran. Two more films will soon be announced, that add further depth and variety to the programme.
I’ve just stuck a quick comment in for each film, and they are as always, listed in order of preference. Nothing comprehensive and they’re all comments with a month’s reflection. Taking nothing away from Le Havre, it must have been quite a non-remarkable month for film as I was very surprised that a film I thought was merely 'quite good' has ended up topping the list. Nothing struck me this month. Yet looking at the bottom, I did see what is possibly the worst ever film I've witnessed.
The rolling list of new films seen this year is looking particularly mainstream cinema heavy, but that still needs all the films I saw at the Bradford International Film Festival. That post will be going up soon and a vast majority of films I saw there were better than the films below
Le Havre - 2011
There is something about it that is just the right amount of off-kilter; a mesmerising surreal quality that pulls you in. Never too out there, but a deft touch of stylisation. This helps provide a really sweet story.
Planet Terror - 2007
Full of itself yes, but its love for the scene it is mimicking is fully evident. Scenes of absolute repulsion and inventive use of a gun/peg leg make it tremendous schlock.
Close Up - 1990
Loved what it was about. The meta-quality of so much Iranian cinema is almost unparallelled and thoroughly engrossing, but through all the admiration of what it was doing, what it was about and what it all means, it didn’t quite click with me in a way that many other similar films have.
World’s Greatest Dad - 2009
Grim, almost unbearable even, but an absurdly believable crafting of character.
Marley - 2012Insightful and a joy to watch, but its key to success was building on the ethereal quality of Marley’s myth, while still offering glimpses of mortality
Gone Baby Gone - 2007
I do have a soft spot for mid-level Hollywood thrillers, especially if they are even slightly infused with a neo-noir sentiment.
Dark Water - 2005
To its credit, this American remake had a better emphasis on character than the Japanese one, which seemed to more try and benefit from the j-horror tag.
Nostalgia for the Light - 2010
Quite a messy mashup. Could have been three interesting short films on completely different subjects, but was mashed into one in a far from seamless manner.
This Must Be the Place - 2011
The Well Digger's Daughter - 2011
The most nauseating, nostalgically conservative drivel I’ve seen on film. Where men are MEN and women are women. Oh how lucky this well digger’s daughter is to have the noble boy next door deem her worthy of his attention. I hated this film, couldn’t stay in the screen for more than an hour and it’s the first film of the year that I have truly disliked.
New releases seen this month
Marley
This Must Be the Place
Ongoing list of new films seen this year
The Avengers
The Hunger Games
Surviving Life (Theory and Practice)
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Shame
The Descendants
Le Havre
Mirror Mirror
War Horse
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Journey 2: the Mysterious Island
Marley
Woman in Black
Dangerous Method
The Pirates.
This Must Be the Place
Bel Ami
Star Wars Episode 1
Okay so I'm a little behind, but here are the films I saw in April; well some of them at least. April was largely taken up by two things: shit loads of MA work with deadlines every week throughout the month, and the final third of the month being dominated - when not essay writing/presentation preparing - by the Bradford International Film Festival. Rather than merge the films seen at the festival into the rest of my April films I will have a separate list going up of all BIFF films seen, in the usual crass manner of ranking them in order of preference. So all the films below were either watched in the context of MA work (presentation on exploitation cinema for instance), or in a family context. I'm pretty sure it's clear which is which. For instance, no, I didn't watch Coffy with my five Year old son. Nor did I use Mirror Mirror to illustrate uses of screen realism for an MA module.
As usual, it's pretty straight up opinion and impressions, mostly taken from my initial Tweets after watching the film. I haven’t really bothered with names of the filmmakers involved, nor have given much in lines of a standard synopsis. What I have done this month though, is provided a link from each film to their IMDB profile where you can find all that jazz.
Films watched for the first time this month (in order of preference)
Avengers - 2012
Blockbuster filmmaking par excellence - See my Culture Vultures family post for my gushing initial response - Families Assemble
Coffy - 1973
A head blown clean off and female nudity in the first minute sets the bar for this film. Appealing to a wide, young audience by being wonderfully exploitative, but being packed with subversive subtext. This is black and it's proud, as well as being feminist and proud. A regular working class, street savvy nurse seeking to exact revenge upon the drug and prostitution trade that she holds responsible for the death of her sister. Of course 'the white man' is behind it all, but that doesn’t stop the film being critical of the assisting, greedy black presence holding the people back.
Sweet Sweetback’s Badassss Song - 1971
#3TweetReview Perfect example of a text that sparked a movement. Unlike all that followed it (exploited its appeal) this isn’t aesthetically exploitative. It’s much closer to a more traditional art film. Not only critical of the ‘white man’, but Sweetback receives little assistance from senior black figures (corrupted by the white devil I'd imagine) yet he does from his brothers on the street.
Mirror Mirror - 2012
#3TweetReview: Best family film this year, possibly even last year [in hindsight, nowhere near as good as Tangled or Puss in Boots]. Subverting gender-power structures, revolt and rebellion glorious visuals and plenty'a chuckles all make a complete package. Especially like small touches, such as blunt allegory that sees a part-fictional, half-true 'evil monster' created and manipulated by authorities to keep proles scared and 'in their place' (i.e. War on terror)
Cannibal Man (La semana del asesino) - 1973
#3TweetReview Billed as exploitative schlock in a way that gets it to a wide audience, but is wildly critical of Franco-dictated uber-masculinity causing serious psychological repression, resulting here in a pretty gruesome killing spree. Issues of class raised subtly by depictions of the landscape (shacks Vs high-rise modernity), and blatantly: "police listen to the rich only"
Meet the Feebles - 1989
A conscious and quite relentless attack on taste and accepted boundaries. Specific lines of dialogue purposefully address the way that certain social circles deem some things as 'quality' and therefore acceptable, and some things as 'trash' so therefore not acceptable
Films rewatched this month, so therefor not included in the preference ranking above
No One Knows About Persian Cats - 2009
Rewatched in the context of writing an essay for my Screen Realism MA module regarding this film's blending of the real and the fictional. Might get round to posting the essay at some point, it received a mark of 83 so I think it's worth reading. The film will be playing at Mnicine in a few months so will post the essay then-ish.
New releases seen this month
The Avengers
Mirror Mirror
Ongoing list of films this year
The Avengers
The Hunger Games
Surviving Life (Theory and Practice)
War Horse
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Shame
The Descendents
Mirror Mirror
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Journey 2: the Mysterious Island
Woman in Black
Dangerous Method
The Pirates.
Bel Ami
Star Wars Episode 1
