Away.

 

As normal with my visit to Edinburgh to catch some of the movies showing at its 2016 International Film Festival I make a point of supporting films made in the UK. The three British movies I’ve seen this year have two things in common. Firstly they all have one-word titles and secondly and far more importantly all have been disappointing. 

Probable safe to say that director David Blair is best known for his work on TV Series like Accused (2010-2012), The Street (2006-2009) right back the very well received The Lakes in 1997. But his latest feature film I’m afraid is not up to the standard of these or many of the other TV series he has been involved with. First time feature film script writer Roger Hadfield has written a story that to my mind has no real depth and does hold your attention for what seems like a never ending 110 minutes.

Starring Timothy Spall and one of movie rambles favourite actresses Juno Temple as a couple of self-indulgent people who strike up a relationship in the northern coastal resort of Blackpool. Following the death of his wife, Joseph (Spall) heads to the coastal town to commit suicide. Meanwhile Ria (Temple) also travels to Blackpool with a holdall full of drugs that’s she has stolen from her abusive boyfriend Dex (Matt Ryan) to sell to Angie (Susan Lynch) a middle-aged drug dealer who as a ‘thing’ for young addicts. Also in this mix is Ria’s care home buddy Kaz (Hayley Squires). Dex comes after Ria, will he get his drugs back? Does Ria find solace in her relationship with the depressed widower or is she looking for a surrogate father figure? Will Joseph commit suicide? You can answer these questions for yourself when the film gets its UK release on the 7^th October 2016.

Horns.

A strange movie, one that is not sure if it's a fantasy, a horror or a comedy film but one I would personally describe as a love story masquerading as a horror story.  Horns (2012) stars Daniel Radcliffe as Ig Perrish a DJ in a New Hampshire town who is suspected of raping and killing his girlfriend but although the townsfolk and the media believe his is guilty it has never been proved. After a night of heavy drinking during which he urinates on his dead girlfriends memorial Perrish wakes up to find he has grown a pair of horns as well as inheriting the power of the devil! Strangers as well as close family members and friends approach him and confess their sins in a most explicit manner and seek permission to commit various other rather dodgy, normally sexual, deeds. It's from this action that the comedy flows, which to be fair is very funny at times. But Ig soon realises that with this power he could find the real culprit and clear his name.

 

The always provocative Juno Temple.

Adapted by Keith Bunin the script is based on a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Stephan King's son Joe Hill, which itself incorporates elements of contemporary fantasy, crime and Gothic fiction and a book that Bunin admitted was a difficult story to adapt. Directed by Frenchman Alexandre Aja, who was responsible for the 2003 slasher movie Haute Tension, it consists of a very good ensemble cast, which it needed to persuade us that the narrative is not complete and utter nonsense and to a great extent they succeed. One of Movie Rambles favourite young actresses Juno Temple plays Merrin Williams the murdered girlfriend and it is the romance between the two leads that give’s the film it's heart. The late Anthony Minghella's son Max[1] plays Ig's best friend who he has known from their earliest school days,.  Although very well acted by Radcliffe I can never quite believe that he has left Hogwarts? The use of real snakes was a bit freaky!  An inventive movie presenting something different, which is always commendable in the days of bland mainstream cinema.

Daniel Radcliffe with his horns!

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[1] You may remember Max Minghella had a part in the dreadful The Social Network (2010) and also appeared in the George Clooney directed political drama The Ides Of March (2011)

Sin City – A Dame to Die For.

Sin City is the title for a series of neo-noir comics by Frank Miller[1]. The first story originally appeared in "Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special" (April, 1991), and continued in Dark Horse Presents #51–62 from May 1991 to June 1992, under the title of Sin City and serialized in thirteen parts. Several other stories of variable lengths have followed. The intertwining stories, with frequently recurring characters, take place in Basin City.

Can Hartigan still protect Nancy - even though he's dead?

The first movie adaptation of Sin City was released in April 2005 based on the first, third, and fourth books in Miller's original comic series. An extra included on the DVD release explains how Miller was reluctant to release the film rights, but Roger Rodrigues, a long time fan of Millers graphic novels, talked the author into doing just that by shooting “The Customer Is Always Right”, which in fact ended up as the opening sequence in the first film. It was also this sequence that was used to recruit Willis and some of the other major stars to appear in the movie. 

Can Ava Lord become the femme fatale of femme fatale's? 

The sequel, Sin City: A Dame To Kill For was released in August 2014. One of the smaller plots of the film is based on the short story "Just Another Saturday Night", which is collected in Booze, Broads, & Bullets, the sixth book in the comic series. Two original stories ("The Long Bad Night" and "Nancy's Last Dance") were created exclusively for the film written by Miller.

Can Marv or Dwight save the day?

Both films were co-directed by Robert Rodriguez [2] and Frank Miller, and star an ensemble cast including returning cast members Mickey Rourke as tough guy Marv, Jessica Alba as Nancy Callahan, Rosario Dawson as Gail the overlord of the women that run the red light district known as Old Town, Bruce Willis reprises his role as the only good cop in Basin City John Hartigan, Jaime King appears as both Goldie and her twin sister Wendy, and Powers Boothe is the most powerful man in Basin City the rich and corrupt politician Senator Roark . Newcomers to the series include Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Eva Green, Ray Liotta, Lady Gaga, Julia Garner, and the wonderful Juno Temple.

 

Can there ever be a better looking working girl than Sally?

Again we have a rather unique looking movie, not quite as unique as it was ten years ago but still unique. We are presented with wonderful graphic noir atmospherics, the steamy black and white footage where red is the colour of dresses and cars and of course at times blood, the brilliantly spoken pulp narrative as if you were being read a bed time story by the king of pulp novels himself Mickey Spillane. In fact it does at times remind you of Spillane’s disgust for women, especially through Eva Greens character Ava Lord where one minute she is placed on a pedestal and the next thrown in the gutter – go back a century or two and she would have been burnt as a witch.  All this along with the ‘writing style’ gives you no doubt that it has been successfully lifted from the pages of a comic book – no wonder Miller agreed to release the film rights, know he can see what was originally in his mind eye in all its dazzling spender up on the big screen. Sexy, violent and humorous Sin City 2, just like its predecessor, is a joyous piece of nonsense that must be seen – but remember, “Never lose control. Never let the monster out”. Goodbye suckers I’m off to Kadies!!

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[1] Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American writer, artist, and film director best known for his dark comic book stories and graphic novels such as Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300. He also directed the film version of The Spirit, shared directing duties with Robert Rodriguez on Sin City, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and produced the film 300. He is also known for creating the comic book character Elektra.

[2]  Robert Anthony Rodríguez (born June 20, 1968)[3] is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in Mexico and his native Texas. He has directed successful and groundbreaking film sagas such as the Mexico Trilogy, From Dusk till Dawn, Sin City, Planet Terror, and Machete. He is a friend and frequent collaborator of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. In December 2013, Rodriguez launched his own cable TV channel, El Rey.

Afternoon Delight.

A film about modern married life – American style - you know the type, wife has regular visits to the shrink because she deems her sex life a dead loss, husband would rather spend time with ‘the boys’ then with his wife – plus one small child and a social circle of rich middle class ‘know it all’s’.

 

Kathryn Hahn.

So how will Rachel and Jeff spice up their sex life? Doctor Lenore’s (Jane Lynch) therapy sessions are not working, mainly because she has more hang-ups than her paying customers! The answers obvious, no not Internet porn, a trip to a local strip/pole dancing establishment recommended by a couple from the middle class social circle referred to earlier. After a few drinks Jeff pays for a private booth session for his wife with one of the ‘dancers’ a rather attractive young lady called McKenna (played by a very sexy Juno Temple) although Rachel does seem to get quite excited by the attention lavished on her it does nothing to improve her expected night of passion with her husband! Meeting McKenna out side the confines of the sex club she discovers that she lives out of the back of a car and when its towed away she does what ever caring citizen would do – invites her to come live in her spare room and share her home with her family becoming a live in nanny to her child. Is not before long that Rachel realises that McKenna is a sex worker, which means that she sells favours to gentlemen that can afford to pay for her time. Mine you having Juno Temple living in your spare room can’t be all bad - sex worker or not! The two women develop a relationship with Rachel accompanying McKenna, as an observer of course, when she visits one of her regulars. Gradually Rachel sex life improves, but does she live “happily ever after” well your just have to watch the movie to find that out?

 

What have you got in your spare room? 

A private session with Juno Temple.

Director Jill Soloway, who made her name writing for the hit TV series Six Foot Under, received the Directing award (United States Drama) at the 2013 Sundance Film festival for Afternoon Delight (2013). And strangely a delight it really is especially for an American comedy/drama? The film has two main pluses; Soloway writing is full of dark humour that happens to be really funny and the cast is exceptional. Kathryn Hahn who plays Rachel is for me a natural comedic talent whose very screen presence increases your viewing pleasure and the remainder of the ensemble cast are excellent each and every one adding to the films humour. A movie that goes a long way to prove that all middle class Americans are in need of psychotherapy?

Magic Magic.

Director:	Sebastian Silva
Country:	Chilean, USA
Year:	2013
Running Time:	97 mins
Principle Cast:	Juno Temple	Alicia
	Michael Cera	Brink
	Emily Browning	Sarah
	Catalina Sandino	Barbara
	Agustin Silva	Agustin

The main reason for seeing this film was  that Juno Temple was its star and after last years brilliant performance as Dottie Smith along side Matthew McConaughey in Killer Joe (2012) I was really looking forward to seeing her again in this European Premiere. But this time I was disappointed; to cut the crap this was the worst film I have seen for a quite a long time! 

The poster summed up the film 'dark and dreary'

It supposedly tells the story of a teenage girl Alicia (Juno) who arrives in Chile to go on holiday with her cousin Sarah and three of Sarah’s friends. It's the first time that this naive young girl has been out side the USA. She quickly realises that the trip is a big mistake when her cousin has to go back home to retake an exam and she's left to fit into a alien world with three people she obviously does not get on with, Sarah's boyfriend Agustin, his sister Barbara who makes it very clear that she has no time for Alicia and last but not least a nut case who calls himself Brink (played by the dreadful Michael Cera). Sarah eventually rejoins the group but by this time the paranoia that has befallen Alicia has descended to the depths of madness, having fixations and imagining all sorts of strange things: even South American witchcraft proves to be no help!

The first sixty minutes of the strangely perverse movie has very little cohesion and really did not make a lot of sense, with the second half descending into what can only be described as mumbo jumbo. The Director of Photography seemed to favour dark rather than light which really did not help the viewer grasp Sebastian Silva's story. Some viewers at the Film House screening found the film rather funny but the humour certainly went over my head. A better title would have been ‘Five go Mad in Chile’ (with apologies to Enid Blyton). 

Lovelace.

Truth is certainly stranger than fiction in this biopic about Linda Susan Boreman, or as the world knows her porn star Linda Lovelace, the woman who is attributed with kick starting the American adult film industry with the high earning porn film Deep Throat (1972). Deep Throat was about a sexually frustrated woman played by 'Lovelace' who finds it imposable to achieve an orgasm. When she visits a sex therapist it's discovered that her clitoris is located in her throat! I'll leave the rest to your imagination; although the 61-minute film was intended to be a sex comedy the great majority of it audience weren't there for the laughs!

 

Amada Seyfried and Linda Lovelace.

Linda with her husband Chuck Traynor.

Jointly directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffery Friedman, a pair better known for documentaries than feature films, Lovelace (2013) is a gripping portrait of a young women and the 1970’s porn industry in America. It tells Linda’s story in two ways. I think the viewer must except that it is probable not the whole truth and nothing but the truth but once you get that out of the way there' s nothing stopping you from excepting Linda's general plight at the hands of her husband, manager and pimp, the sleazy Chuck Traynor (Peter Sarsgaad) as told in the second part of the film after she had rejected the skin trade, remarried as Linda Marchiano and after a polygraph, wrote her memoirs as a sort of liberating exercise revealing how she was beaten, raped and abused by the men involved in this money making business. The first version of the story at the beginning of the movie is a far more romantic account that for me was not really necessary showing how Linda eagerly entered the door to the sex industry being held open by the every encouraging Traynor.

 

Not everyone was happy about the release of Deep Throat!

A splendid cast lead by Amanda Seyfried as the naive young women exploited for money who eventually becomes a campaigner against the lucrative sex industry and a feminist campaigner against all types of domestic abuse even the mental abuse she was subjected to by her staunchly Catholic mother (an unrecognisable Sharon Stone) This is what the film is really trying emphasise, the abuse of woman, admittedly this is the 'rough' end but no less demeaning, as critic Peter Bradshaw pointed out in his review when he compares the treatment of ‘Lovelace’ with that of Tippi Hedren by Hitchcock or Joe DiMaggio's abuse against his wife Marilyn Monroe.