Arizona Dream.

Described as a surrealist comedy drama this early outing for both Johnny Depp and Vincent Gallo is a 'vision of the world that does not correspond to the weary write by numbers formulas of standard screenplays'[1]. Certainly more European than American Arizona Dream (1993) was filmed in 1991 released all over Europe in 1993 where it was highly regarded eventually becoming a cult film in France, but did not get a theatrical release in the USA until September 1994 and in the UK in June 1995, even a decent  DVD release never came about until much later. Watching this film you can't help but question why was there a delay in releasing this intriguing movie?

 

The wonderful Lili Taylor with a young looking Johnny Depp.

Directed and written by filmmaker Emir Kusturica. Although he has twice won the Palme d'Or at Cannes his is a name I was not familiar with but I must admit I was very impressed with my first experience of the Serbian director. Surrealistic is certainly the correct description for a film in which you’re never sure quite what's going to happen next! Depp plays Axel Blackmar whose dream about an Eskimo, who catches a rare halibut, gets rescued by his dog and finally gets the fish back to his family, opens the preceding's. Both the dog and the halibut make further appearances in the movie as our story unfolds.

 

Vincent Gallo and Faye Dunaway.

Axel earns his living tagging fish in New York City and it’s there he is approached by his cousin Paul Leger (Gallo best known for his roles in Buffalo 66 in 1998 and The Brown Bunny in 2003) to travel back to Arizona to be the best man at his Uncle Leo’s wedding (a truly great role for comedian Jerry Lewis whose ‘made up’ Eskimo language is one of the movies highlight's) to a much younger woman. Paul, who thinks of him self as a great ladies man, dreams of being an actor while Leo Sweetie dreams of selling enough Cadillac’s piled on top of one another to reach the moon. Leo talks Axel into becoming a salesman with the eventual aim of him taking over the management of his car sales business. While attempting to sell Cadillac’s Axel meets two women Elaine (Faye Dunaway) who dreams of building a flying machine and her stepdaughter Grace Stalker (Lili Taylor, who also played opposite Depp in 2009’s Public Enemies and was the first to be cast in this movie) who dreams of killing herself and being reincarnated as a turtle.

 

The comedic Jerry Lewis.

I think you may gleam from my brief description that Kusturica's beautifully evocative movie is not your standard main steam cinematic fodder but something slightly of the wall; well ok it's a long way of the wall! Ten years in the planning/writing stage it took a year to shoot during which time the director had a nervous breakdown! First cut was 4 hours that was finally reduced to around 140 minutes for release. In an interview Depp said all the actors morphed into the character that they were playing and that the script was adjusted and altered as the filming progressed also additional scenes were added. The director's work reminds me of Fellini, a man who also has his own unique way of working, and does not sound an easy man to work with, although it is said that after some initial problems he got on very well with his lead star. An unusual but very diverting piece of movie making and one I would highly recommend.

....and playing us out tonight.....

---

[1] Chicago Sun-Times Review January 1995

Kumiko the Treasure Hunter.

A young woman in a bright red coat walks along an empty beach with a map in hand. She enters what looks like a cave and unearths a videotape. Returning to her flat joined by her pet rabbit Bunzo she pops the tape in her video player and at the beginning it tells her that the Coen Brothers 1996 film Fargo, is a true story and that the events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred.

 

"now where is Fargo?"

"it can't be far know"

Written and directed by the Zellner Brothers, Nathan and David, their third feature film together, Kumiko the Treasure Hunter (2014) is based around an urban legend surrounding the death in November 2001 of a Tokyo office worker Takako Konishi who was reported in the media to have died of hypothermia close to Detroit Lakes Minnesota, where she was attempting to locate the suitcase fall of ransom money buried in the snow by Steve Buscemi’s character Carl Showalter.  In Zellner’s movie the 29-year-old Kumiko leaves her job and travels to the ‘New World’ in search of the buried treasure. We follow her from her home in Tokyo to the snowy wastes of Minnesota meeting various quirky characters on the journey.  

 

"do you know marge Gunderson?"

A fine atmospherical sound track by the quaintly named Octopus Project and some great cinematography by Sean Porter underline a great performance from Rinko Kikuchi, who you may remember from Babel (2006), Norwegian Wood (2010) and 47 Ronin (2013), as Kumiko who is portrayed as a lonely and unhappy young woman who hates her office bound job where her lazy boss takes advantage of her. Filmed entirely on location around Tokyo and Minneapolis Minnesota USA the rather oddly mystical and touching movie is a great joy to watch with a story that slowly evolves and a main character you can’t help but empathise with.  A movie for more enlightened film lover.

"she's not gonna find my treasure" 

Suffragette.

Another fact based story, this time one which has been constructed around the woman’s suffrage movement in Britain in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. The movie includes some real life characters, Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) leader of the movement and Emily Davison (Natalie Press) a militant suffragette who was jailed on nine occasions and force-fed 49 times both written in along side some very convincing fictitious characters.   Written by Abi Morgan who was also responsible for screenplay for Brick Lane (2007) co writer on the Steve McQueen directed movie Shame (2011) and created and wrote the six-part British TV drama Series River that stars Stellan Skarsgard and Nicola Walker. Directed by Sarah Gavron, who won a Best Director award for Brick Lane, Suffragette (2015) was selected to open the 2015 BFI London Film Festival.

 

The protest goes on (the London Premiere) 

The brave women that Morgan's story was based upon. 

As I have already said Morgan’s story is based around real life facts that emanates from the decision of Emmeline Pankhurst to concentrate on deeds and not just words, an edict that went a long way to radicalise woman of all classes encouraging them to participate in actions of social unrest and acts of destruction.  At the centre of the narrative is Maud Watts, played by Carey Mulligan in award winning mode, who has worked in the same laundry since a very young child, a married woman with a small child of her own. We witness Maud accidentally getting mixed up with a window-breaking riot in Oxford Street London. This single incident leads her deeper into the movement and the effect it has on her and her family life.

 

'Deeds not Words' 

Although most people will be familiar with the woman’s movement and its battle to allow female voting rights the movie really does concentrate the mind on how difficult and hard it was to win what should have been a basic right for all women over the age of eighteen. It’s still incomprehensible to believe that it took until 1928 for woman to get parity in the UK with men over their voting rights. Just one more example of how hard it is to go against the establishment and their paid lackeys. The film is difficult to watch at times not because of what you see on the screen but because of the story it’s portraying, an unbelievable mix of sadness, hardship and dedication. The cast also includes Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw and Anne-Marie Duff.

Arrested by the Establishments Lackeys. 

‘71.

Its Belfast Northern Ireland, its 1971 and ‘The Troubles’ are at their peak.  Part religious rivalry and part political where generally the Protestants want to remain part of the United Kingdom and the Catholics are looking for independence from British rule.  The main participants on the republican side are the Official IRA and a younger splinter group the Provisional IRA; on the loyalist side are the UVF and UDA. We also have Royal Ulster Constabulary who tend to support the loyalists and the British Army who are there to represent the Unite Kingdom.  At the same time the British establishments ‘legalised killing squad’ The Military Reaction Force, are hard at work with their indiscriminate bombings and killings, employing double agents working from both sides of the paramilitary divide.

 

The Troubles. 

Into this violently explosive situation are sent young rookie soldiers with very little experience of real life let alone of what is extensively a bloody civil war where even children and women are part of the on going conflict. ’71 (2014) tells the story of one such rookie, Gary Hook who shortly after arriving in Belfast is sent out on a mission to protect the RUC’s dirty work and during a riot gets separated from his unit along with another young soldier who gets shot and killed. Hook, abandoned to his own devises unequipped to tell friend from foe and unable to find his way back through the hostile streets to his base, begins to grasp the intricacies of the struggle.    

 

The inexperienced rookie solider. 

Written by Gregory Burke, who is best known for his theatrical play Black Watch and directed by Frenchman Yann Demange, whose debut feature film this is, the movie stars Jack O’Connell in the lead role. O’Connell is a an actor who gets better with every new film for example Tower Block (2012) and the award winning prison drama Starred Up (2013) are two movies to sample if your not familiar with his work. This latest rather gripping and intriguing movie, that up front has a basic ‘lets get home through enemy territory’ narrative, but goes a lot further and give’s us a glimpse in to the underhandedness of the British Government. Its certainly hold’s up its head along side other interesting drama’s that have involved Irelands recent troubles including Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008) and Shadow Dancer (2012).