Films: February 2012

Even more slap-dash than last month, because I've been even more crazy-hectic-busy. As with last month, the films are in order of preference, starting with my film of the month at the top. New cinematic releases are in red, and there's only something written on it if I wrote it pretty much immediately after watching. There's none of that synopsis palava, nor is there very much information like who made it, pithy introductions, etc. If I do manage to do this every month though, it should give a clear picture of my cinematic preferences over the long term.

Punctuation and spelling is likely to be far from polished - so you're warned.

p.s. Yes it was a Herzog heavy month, as I will be writing a pretty hefty essay on realism in the films of Werner Herzog for my Screen Realism MA module.

The Enigma of Kasper Hauser - Werner Herzog
The Enigma of Kasper Hauser #3TweetReview - Herzog on top form, second only to Aguirre (one of my favourite ever films). Clearly embodying.....Herzog's preoccupation with the pre-modern Vs modern. A witty and convincing attack on modernity and 'civil' society, with its rules...that vary from curious to rediculous. Hauser sees through the absurdity of these strictures and social controls. Captivating filmmaking

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning - Karel Reisz
Got me wondering, how much of this movement's success wasn't down to working people feeling that they were being represented, but adversely, due to the exoticisation of an Other that had previously been hidden to the 'better off' beorgoisie. Either way is testament to the verisimilitude

Assassination of Richard Nixon - Niels Mueller
More of the system grinding you down. Not following Finney's advice from Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, he did 'let the bastards grind him down'.

Cathy Come Home - Ken Loach
Decades on and most of the issues are still issues. The film has a clear and understandable Marxist, dialectic stance, as people are not to blame, the system is what grinds them down. The people are portrayed as united, fighting a seemingly unstoppable, unsympathetic and relentless system

Kanal - Andrzej Wajda
Uses allegory of the sewers to depict the claustrophoblc atmosphere of the Polish resistance under Nazi occupation, while simultanously using this as allegory for soviety control of artists.

The White Diamond - Werner Herzog
How does Herzog find such a fascinating film in the testing of an air balloon? Once again this was much more about the individuals than the subject matter. Illustrates the act of achieving something to beat personal demon.

Encounters at the End of the World - Werner Herzog
More interesting than simply showing antarctica, it really investigates the people willing and wanting to live there. Herzog celebrates their eccentricities while showcasing the natural beauty of the region that has brought those people there.

North by Northwest - Alfred Hitchcock
During an era of cold war, the regular Joe can be completely sucked into a life that he has done nothing to seek out. - Don't really know what happened due to horrendous viewing conditions and couldn't hear the majority of the dialogue.

Hohokam - Frank V. Ross
Lot-fi filmmaking, utilising very raw characters. Oozing with sincerity and a naturalism that makes these characters thoroughly engaging. Successfully shows a convincing and sweet relationship that - like people - isn't simple and easy to define, but full of beautiful complexities.

Journey 2: the Mysterious Island - Brad Peyton
See Culture Vulture for a joint review between my five year old and myself. http://theculturevulture.co.uk/blog/reviews/journey-2-the-mysterious-island-a-family-review/

Fata Morgana - Werner Herzog
Mesmarising imagery. Perfectly paced rhythm, plus Herzog still manages to draw character from the slightest, and least likely places

Woman in Black - James Watkins
Enjoyable exercise in suspense.

Dangerous Method - David Cronenberg
Covered some fascinating ideas regarding the suppressions of civil society, including the place of sex in this. Yes it is the most clear suppressions, but isn't the sole suppressor in 'civil' society. Shame the film had to to deal with these issues of suppression/freedom from the stilted, formed way of thinking, but is set within a very straight forward affair nareative.

Good Hair - Jeff Stilson
Good Hair made a really piognant point that transcends the hair of African American women. Working people, pandering to the credit fuelled.....consumerism narrative, spend heaps of money on lidicrous, true-self-suppressing materialistic shite, thus contributing to current turmoil

Even Dwarfs Started Small - Werner Herzog
It's more than just the big 'fuck you' that it seems to be. Packed with visceral mischief and mayhem. A fitting film to define Herzog from a very early age in his filmmaking life

Blitz - Elliot Lester
Didn't get to the end. Bit tired, could never be bothered finishing it. Had no major problem with it, was just far from inspired to watch the rest.

Panic - Henry Bromwell
Forgettable

Star Wars Episode 1

Cinematic releases this month

Journey 2: the Mysterious Island
Woman in Black

Dangerous Method
Star Wars Episode 1

Cinematic releases so far this year (note Shame and Surviving Life have swapped positions now, after a month's reflection)

Surviving Life (Theory and Practice)

Shame
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
The Descendents
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Journey 2: the Mysterious Island

Woman in Black

Dangerous Method
Star Wars Episode 1

Films: January 2012

Films I’ve seen this month, in order of favour. A few comments after some of them if I made them at the time. No structured, in-depth attempt to do a proper review, or giving plot summaries, who made it and all that jazz. Just straight up opinion. Order probably constantly changes, but this is it as I put this post up.

Sans Soliel
Chris Marker's Sans Soleil #3tweetReview A moving image poetry-diary. Somebody's curious memories, or at least thoughts, of another culture..A personal position allowing for an exoticised 'other' while simultaneously stripping away any mythology. The poetry of the banal is thus invoked. Celebrating tradition, yet with no conservative criticism of the contemporary says much about the central theme of time.

Sex Lies and Videotape
This film has retained its poignancy regarding what it has to say about the difficulty to connect; that this derives from the innate conformity of civil society and the suppressions that this brings. It might be that seeing it as part of the day course at the National Media Museum really helped to create a sense of event, and galvanised my attention.

Inglorious Basterds
Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds #3TweetReview: excellent one on ones/dialogue with original and interesting character design. All historic films are revisionist; why not go the whole hog. It seems to champion the importance of internal struggle and dissidence relatively independent of external foreign intervention. Apt considering recent trend during 'Arab Spring'

Shame
Basic narrative structure of an addiction spiral and commentary on why, in contemporary society, people revert to such vices in order to exact control. Having said that, directorial flare is top quality, especially with respect to the long takes and screen composition therein. Wouldn’t have half its punch though without the powerhouse performances.

Lay Down Tracks
Believably earnest depictions of various slices of unrepresented America. Similar themes of constantly being on the move, of being defined by what you do, of being comfortable with your life. Dislocation of sound and image served to imbue a poetic rhythm, which was aided by some of the most unpretentious, sage like, commentary on their own lives, which had an enchanting working class matter of factness.

Surviving Life (Theory and Practice)
Straight forward oedipus plot. But so straight forward that it’s part of its charm. Very self reflexive and really funny in parts. Possibly more style than substance, but at least the narrative was very tight and everything fit perfectly in place.

The Descendents
Not spectacular or showy, but that’s precisely why I like it. Really solid filmmaking, easily accessible, but ambiguous enough to have some real depth. I hope it wins the 2012 Oscar for best picture.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Sheer exhilaration. Nail biting, breath stopping, hand over the mouth and the lot. Politics were neither questionable, nor subversive. Though telling that the title’s significance was that they had been detached from their government. 2 Brits and 2 American alliance is interesting. Russian cop/general portrayal of Russian characters was fun and humanising, rather than caricature.

The Good the Bad and the Weird
The Good, the Bad and the Weird #3tweetReview Style over substance but in the best possible way. Great character definition, very well structured/paced. The independence angle felt a complete afterthought (just because it was in the original) but didn't at all matter. It's loadsa fun and reminded me of watching the Saturday night ITV movie (Indiana Jones, Crocodile Dundee et al) when I was younger. (Bit long)

Standard Operating Procedure
Watched in the context of our Screen Realism module so I made a particular point of noting its approach; its depiction of what Morris’ angle was. It was telling that the women were the most prominent. Were they happier to come forward? Or were they selected? Good balance of attacking the viewer as someone who is sitting in their little liberal bubble and don’t grasp the whole thing. Also had some deft touches on questioning what is presented, whilst seeming to say that this is the truth. Is this a contradiction or is it clever?

Scratch
Lets just say I’ve been listening to Qbert and Mix Master Mike ever since.

Level 5

Chris Marker's Level 5 is an interesting use of combining narrative and documentary, taking two fascinating ideas: the - often evicted from history - mass suicides in Okinawa during WW2, and the interesting 1990s pre-occupation with the net and with videogames as a communicative medium. But I cannot help but think that the two ideas aren't quite married as well as they could have been.

C.R.A.Z.Y - This month’s Minicine feature
Jean-Marc Valee's C.R.A.Z.Y (2005) #3tweet review Frustrating viewing, but in an essential way that enables the viewer to come some way towards recognising how difficult a time Zac had hiding his real self from the world. A universal issue that is amplified through the guise of a paternally administered conservatism, coupled with the conservatism of Christianity. The boy just has nobody to turn to at all

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Fincher's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo #3tweetreview Slicker, tighter and more intense than the already perfectly solid Swedish version..It seems to better tie up the various, yet inter-related themes of politics, religion and relationships in the context of changing technological and socio-cultural landscapes.i.e. the relationship with information economies and changing gender roles with respect to power - Don’t like the speaking in English, but just with Swedish accents thing.

Who is Bozo Texino
Picture a graffiti artist right now. Bet he doesn’t look like one of these. Confused overall message - not just due to its non-linearity, I just don’t know what it was getting at in a way that I think more successful documentaries (including non-linear) would, but it was a fabulous creation of a world in which to live with these ‘hobos’.

Armour of God
Jackie Chan's Armour of God #3tweetReview The film is really held up by two amazing action set pieces. A chase scene in the middle and the final showdown, which includes the special technique of the double-tits-punch. The rest of it was a little underwhelming, though entertainment was maintained through the hilarious dubbing and a bit of the old slapstick (released 1987)

Capturing the Friedmans

Fish Kill Flea

Standard in documentary form, but showed an interesting counterpoint to the eponymous US mall. Obvious yet valid criticism on multinational domination, making such places redundant

Yeast
Characters ridiculously annoying; dreadful friends and people. Very real with respect to people doing dumb shit but don't know why they’re doing it. Like you're trying to push people away. Shaky camera a bit much. Not sure its admirable point of disconnectedness warrants the film but nice to see this other side of slacker life. Very female.

Second Watch

Moon
Duncan Jones' Moon #2TweetReview (2nd view): At the forefront of a current trend of low-fi science fiction. A perfect examination of the....essence of humanity via both the sentient and non-sentient character (or characters - hmmm :S). Sam Rockwell pulling off quite a tricky job

Recap of the order of cinematic releases

Shame
Surviving Life (Theory and Practice)
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
The Descendents
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Previews for Yorkshire based film festivals

It has been a hell of a long time since I've posted in here. As I said in a previous post, I am writing in so many different places at the minute, there's little point me posting here. But I will link to some of the other work I've been doing.

Let's start with previews of the many film fetivals Yorkshire folk are being treated to in November

Leeds International Film Festival - For Film&Festivals

Aesthetica Short Film Festival (York) - For The Culturevulture

Bradford Animation Festival - For The Culturevulture

There's plenty more around and coming, plus check out what I've been up to over at Minicine

Sound it Out - read the below and help this film get to its audience

The following is an extract from my Film & Festivals Magazine coverage of the British Federation of Film Societies' annual conference for community cinemas. You can read the whole coverage when it is published on their website or in the next issue, but I thought it important to get down what I have to say about this sublime film whilst its admirable IndieGoGo campaign is still live.

Sound it Out was the first film of the weekend I managed to see. What an appropriate film it is for a weekend dedicated to independent enterprise; to doing something that you are really passionate about, for that very sake, making it financially viable and then infecting others with your passion.

Written and directed by Jeanie Finlay, the documentary traces the daily life of an independent record store in Stockton called Sound it Out Records; the last record store on Teesside. As well as seeing life within the store from the perspective of the proprietors Tom and David, Finlay’s camera also enters the households and record collections of numerous faithful patrons of the shop. From the Mákina (sort of happy hardcore sounding) DJ and MC, to the metal loving duo sporting their war jackets full of badges (nice to hear the reggae-metal act Skindred get a mention and a bit of air time). The most interesting and likeable character in the film is Shane, who has a surely unrivalled love for Status Quo and wishes to be buried with his vinyl – literally to have his vinyl melted down and turned into a coffin. Amongst these were various other characters, all of whom were genuine people, perfectly contented in their enduring and infectious passion for both music and collecting.

It would have been all too simple to play the moral-but-doomed crusade card, easily instilling the viewer with an emptiness, as they feel the inevitability of this shop's demise. Yet although this obvious subject is broached, the film far from does this. In a much more admirable move, it successfully conveys the strength of independent retail. For instance, David had previously worked at Zavvi, which was ruthlessly abandoned by neoliberal conglomerate capitalism, whereas Sound it Out Records is clearly still standing, and is thus a perfect example of how social capitalism (free market principles, minus the unnecessary greed) can work. This seemed an apt comparison to the passion in community cinema, and the likelihood that these hubs of dedication will survive much longer than the current soullessness of the multiplex.

The film’s production in the first place is a success story for independence, having raised the majority of its budget via crowd sourcing specialists IndieGoGo. The next step is to continue this process by raising money for the distribution side. If you’ve liked what you have read here, and want to ensure it plays near you, then click here to go and donate to their campaign

Also, don't forget to check it out when it plays at Leeds International Film Festival next month.

Been busy elsewhere

This will go up as the header text, but thought it worth posting as well.

The initial aims of this blog have been pushed aside over the last few months. Between being given the platform at Hopelies.com to write in-depth analytical articles, contributing to Film&Festivals Magazine, running Minicine and starting my MA, this space (and its 9 followers) has been neglected. It will now mainly be used as a hub, to link to other places.

Donnie Yen vehicle Flash Point (Wilson Yip, 2007)

MINI REVIEW

Hong Kong action film. There's a cop, he has a partner undercover in a Vietnamses gang. He gets rumbled and there's a bit of fighting to be had about it.

There are few fight sequences as good as the whole final scene. But leading up to that it could have done with having a little more going on (car chase and on foot chase a little underwhelming). Wasn't particularly sophisticated, but at least it brought up many issues: corrupt police, immigration/diaspora communities and over-zealous, violence-consumed police officers, but made no sincere effort to try and deal with any of them. Short film, good fun.

Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (Written and directed by Jessica Oreck 2009)

MINI REVIEW

A documentary on the Japanese people's fascination with insects.

It was quite experimental and poetic in bits, which gave it a wonderfully spellbinding feel. It is fascinating how ingrained and mainstream the activity of collecting bugs is in Japanese life. The film shows many demographics in awe of the many kinds of creepies and crawlies. From professors that have devoted their life to collecting, to children playing bug-catcher PS2 games or beetle-battle arcade games where the player loads his own personalised beetle into the battle.

The film was really getting at the way the insect's proximity to nature makes an increasingly industrialised Japan find them so therapeutic, functioning as a link to the past.

This was particularly aided by the poetic voiceover, giving examples and telling stories from history and myth.