I have watched 17 films over a ten-day period at Edinburgh’s
66th International Film Festival located at three different venues,
Cineworld, Fountain Park, Filmhouse, Lothian Road and Cameo, Home Street. As usual I have tried to support British
films and to that end I have seen 7. The one worth a special mention is Flying Blind, and the others of merit
are Day of Flowers, Shadow Dancer and Small Creatures. The other ten movies have been from 10 different
countries including Rose (Poland)
which for me was certainly one of the highlights of world cinema, the others
being A Woman’s Revenge (Portugal) Dragon (China) Jackpot (Norway) Life without
Principle (Hong Kong) and the USA black comedy God Bless America.
I have produced
short notes on each of the films in the form of a diary as I did in 2010, which
will hopefully encourage you to seek out and see some of them when on general
release. I would hope that my local
cinema, the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, will feature some of the better
films. Where possible I have attached some photographs, although there were not
the photo opportunities that I had previously.
Please feel free to post your comments.
Thursday 21st
June 2012.
Michael Powell Award Competition World Premiere.
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Pusher
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Director:
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Luis Prieto
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Country:
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UK
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Year:
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2012
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Running Time:
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86 mins
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Principle Cast:
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Richard Coyle
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Frank
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Agyness Deyn
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Flo
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Bronson Webb
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Tony
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Mem Ferda
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Haken
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Zlatko Buric
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Milo
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Frank a mid level London dealer finds him
self in big trouble when a drug deal with a powerful Serbian drug lord, Milo,
goes disastrously wrong. This is the English language remake of the first of Nicolas
Winding Refn’s Danish Pusher Trilogy.
Refn, who has had a great deal of success recently with Bronson (2008) and the brilliant Drive (2011), is also the Executive Producer of the remake.
Directed by Madrid born Luis Prieto it’s setting has been moved from Copenhagen
to Stoke Newington North London but strangely the role of Milo is played by
same actor (Zlatko Buric) that played the part in all three of the original
trilogy!
With an atmospheric and rousing original
score by Orbital the movie is in your face and loud, very loud at times. This
every day story of the hardships involved in the dubious career of a drug
dealer is communicated over seven consecutive days. But I’m afraid it has
nothing new or innovative to offer, we have seen it all before. But what we do
get is a solid lead performance from Coyle, some great ‘shuddering’ camera work
that adds to the excitement. An acceptable film but a little too much style
over substance. One thing it has done is encourage me to track down and watch
the original. The director and some members of the cast were in attendance at
the premiere for a Q&A following its screening.
Friday 22nd June
2012.
International Competition International Premier.
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Sleepless Night (Jammot deuneun bam)
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Director:
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Jang Kun-jae
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Country:
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South Korea
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Year:
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2012
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Running Time:
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65 mins
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Principle Cast:
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Kim Soo-hyun
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Kim Joo-ryoung
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| Director Jang Kun-jae at the Q&A for his film Sleepless night. |
Director Jang Kun-jae and producer Kim Woo-ri,
who we also found out were husband and wife, introduced the film by saying how
pleased they were that it was being shown at the festival and thanked a rather
small audience for coming to see it. Their movie is a serious and thoughtful
study of a young married couple in their early thirties and the everyday
problems that that face. Problems that many young people face globally like how
to pay the bills and when is the right time to start a family?
This is a genuine art house movie that will not appeal to
the general multiplex public but one that’s both authentic and intimate with a
story that slowly unfolds like a book. Our visiting husband and wife team
admitted that this was a very personnel project for them as it reflected their
own experiences and incidentally the experiences of the on screen couple which
was obvious by the sensitive way that the two protagonists portrayed their
roles.
Shot in narrow screen aspect to add to the movies intimacy
and providing a minimal musical soundtrack preferring to offer the viewer
natural sounds, Jang gives us a film where nothing really happens but it’s a
beautifully observed study of the closeness of a loving married couple, very
affecting, very meaningful.
Saturday 23rd June
2012.
Michael Powell Award Competition World Premiere.
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Life Just Is
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Director:
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Alex Barrett
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Country:
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UK
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Year:
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2012
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Running Time:
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102 mins
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Principle Cast:
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Paul Nicholls
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Bobby
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Jayne Wisner
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Jay
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Will DeMeo
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David
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Jack Gordon
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Pete
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Fiona Ryan
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Claire
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Nathaniel Martello-White
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Tom
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Director Alex Barrett’s debut feature
film is the story of five university graduates in their early twenties who
spend a lot of time discussing love death and the meaning of life. They also
appear to be having problems excepting the rigors of adult life. The worst
offender is Pete who spends all his time in his sleeping attire and trying to
decide if he believes in God or not. Then there’s Tom who thinks he is being
stalked by a bearded terrorist and can’t make up his mind if he wants a sexual
relationship with ex-art student Clair. David who acts like a surrogate mother
to all the other’s including Jay who is in a relationship with an older IT guy
who everyone seems to dislike because he’s got a responsible position in life
and he is slightly older then the others who appear to work in jobs they don’t
enjoy.
The producer Tom Stuart, three of the
cast and the director made them selves available for a Q&A. Alex Barrett
explained that it had started exploring the idea for the film when he left
university in 2005 and became interested in his own peer group, which he
referred to as the Y generation, and its place in todays society as opposed to
drink and drugs culture of the previous generation which is strange because he
also informed us that his starting point was films of the sixties, can’t be the
ones I’ve watched.
Pete seems to be the central focus point
of the film and giving it a reason to ask a lot of deeply religious questions
making this piece of work rather pious?
The female members were not convincing, the dialog was at times
amateurish and like Pusher (2012), the
film was divided and conveyed in seven daily episodes, which does nothing to
add to the continuity of the narrative. The only musical soundtrack was either
the music the characters were listening too or they actually sung themselves. Privately
financed, this anti dramatic film had a micro budget.
I’m sorry to say I have no empathy for
any of the characters except possibly Jay’s boyfriend Bobby and I left the
screening thinking that these people should get off their moaning backsides and
do something worthwhile? Certainly not a highlight of my festival.
International Competition UK Premier.
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A Woman’s Revenge (A Vinganca de uma
Mulher)
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Director:
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Rita Azevedo Gomes
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Country:
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Portugal
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Year:
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2011
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Running Time:
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100 mins
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Principle Cast:
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Rita Durao
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Countess of Sierra Leone
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Fernando Rodrigues
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Roberto
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Joao Pedro Benard
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The Guide/Narrator
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This Portuguese film was a highlight,
not at first I must admit, but by the final credits I’d fallen in love with
Rita Azevedo Gomes’s artistic treat. Adapting a short story by 19th century French
writer Barbey d'Aurevilly, Gomes’s screenplay tells of a decadent womanizing
dandy Roberto, who on his return from foreign lands is in search of excitement,
something that’s he finds ever harder to achieve. Eventually he finds himself
drawn to a mysteriously beautiful prostitute whom he discovers is the Countess
of Sierra Leone a missing noble woman. She has run away and has deliberately
taken up a life of depravity in order to punish her cold, brutal
aristocratic husband for murdering her lover.
To be honest this movie did take a little while to get
into but my patience was rewarded. It’s a very theatrical film, resembling a
stage play but the visuals, the responsibility of director of photography
Acacio de Almeida and production designer Pedro Sa are so beautifully done it
resembled a painting at times. The director told us that this classical 19th
century based period drama followed the original literate text with some
additions including the use of a narrator who appears with his notes and guides
us on occasions! The totally convincing Rita Durao who plays the Countess, an
actress that resembles a young Isabella Rossellini, complements this very fine,
but sad, movie experience.
‘The life we own
is nothing more than a dream’.
Directors Showcase UK Premiere.
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The Rest of the World (Le reste du monde)
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Director:
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Damien Odoul
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Country:
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France
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Year:
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2012
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Running Time:
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81 mins
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Principle Cast:
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Marie-Eve Nadeau
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Eve
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Judith Morrisseau
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Judith
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Aurelie Mestres
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Aurelie
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Jean-Louis Coulloch
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Gilles
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Mathieu Amairic
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Paul
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Emmanuelle Beart
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Katia
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When it comes to middle class
dysfunctional family drama the French normally would put everyone else in the
shade. Originally produced for French television, something you would never
know from watching it on the big screen, this is the story of three sisters.
Eve, who finds out she’s pregnant after her boyfriend commits suicide, Judith,
who becomes obsessed when its hinted at a family dinner party that she may not
share the same biological father as her other two sisters and the the youngest
sibling, the flighty, punkish Aurelie.
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| Marie-Eve Nadeau |
It’s the dinner party that brings this
drama to life. Its where we meet Paul, a man obsessed with his food intact who
also has problems with his bladder, and Katia, a once beautiful women who
relies on alcohol to get her through the day and is about marry the sisters
father. It’s these two characters, played by the versatile actor Mathieu
Amairic and the wonderful Emmanuelle Beart that raises this film above the
mediocre. A lightweight drama with a slightly muddled ending which to describe would
be a plot spoiler, not the best of this genre.
Sunday 24th June 2012.
Directors Showcase UK Premiere.
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Dragon (Wu xia) (also known as Swordsmen)
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Director:
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Peter Chan
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Country:
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China
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Year:
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2012
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Running Time:
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114 mins
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Principle Cast:
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Takeshi Kaneshiro
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Xu Bai-jiu
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Wel Tang
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Aju
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Donnie Yen
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Lin Jin-xi
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Its 1917 we are in a remote southwestern
Chinese village where we find paper maker Liu Jin-Xi living with his wife Ayu
and two sons. Two bandits walk into the general store and attempt a robbery,
quickly overpowering the elderly storeowner and his wife. Liu Jin-Xi happens to
be in the store at the same time as the robbery. At first he is seen hiding
from the two villains; suddenly he attacks and after a long battle kills both
of the vicious criminals. Detective Xu Bai-Jiu is then tasked to investigate
the general store robbery. His attention begins to focuses on Liu Jin-Xi, as he
suspects that this seemingly ordinary paper maker and calm family man is concealing
a secret past.
I could not recommend this film more
strongly, not only to fans of wuxia (a broad genre of Chinese fiction relating
to martial artists and their adventures) but to fans of a good detective yarn,
because although we do get some exceptional set pieces, choreographed by Donnie
Yen himself, it’s the investigatory work that frames this special film. This is
one of the best films of my festival to date with its powerfully relayed story,
its cinematography by Yui-Fai lai and Jake Pollock. In fact it’s a visual delight
that includes illustrating the effects on internal organs following violent
confrontations and Xu minds eye view reenactments of the fight scenes.
Hopefully this innovative martial arts film will get a general release so
everyone can share my enthusiasm for this remarkable Chinese movie.
Michael Powell Award Competition World Premiere.
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Flying Blind
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Director:
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Katarzyna Klimkiewicz
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Country:
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UK
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Year:
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2012
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Running Time:
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93 mins
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Principle Cast:
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Helen McCory
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Frankie
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Najib Oudghiri
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Kahil
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Kenneth Cranham
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Victor
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Tristan Gemmill
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Robert
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Described in an interview ‘as a thinking persons film’ by its star
Helen McCory this current and contemporary film tells a post 9/11 love story
about Frankie, a eminent scientist working for Aerospace in Bristol designing
special planes for the military, who embarks on a passionate affair with a
young French Algerian student only to discover he may not be what he seems.
This is a movie where carnal obsessions outweigh
a women’s common sense or do they, a sort of Ae Fond Kiss (2004) set in the Aerospace industry. It’s a story where
the director Katarzyna Klimkiewicz, a graduate of the Polish Film School,
expects her audience to make up their own minds i.e. are the developing fears
of our main female character the same as our own? In fact it works because it
does make you question your own prejudices and also raises the question of who
let whom down, did Kahil let Frankie down or was it Frankie who let Kahil down?
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| Najib Oudghiri with Producer Alison Stirling. |
A clever film that seems to go way
beyond its micro budget (£300,000) part financed by BBC Films and Bristol City
Council whose only stipulation was that it was filmed in Bristol. What we end with is a UK movie that has a
distinct European feel helped by scenes that have been carefully worked out and
by having a Polish DoP. Surprisingly the film was only finished 6 days before
this screening: it did not show! A cracking story that very well done with
sensitive performances from its main stars, the very experienced Helen McCory
and relative newcomer Najib Oudghiri , certainly deserving of a
general release.
Night Moves UK
Premiere.
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Jackpot (Arme Riddere)
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Director:
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Magnus Martins
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Country:
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Norway
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Year:
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2011
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Running Time:
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90 mins
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Principle Cast:
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Kyrre Hellum
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Osker Svendson
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Henrik Mestad
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Solar
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Marie Blokhus
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Gina
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Mads Ousdal
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Thor Eggen
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Andreas Cappelen
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Dan Treschow
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Arthur Berning
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Billy Utomjordet
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| The boys check the football results. |
This is the second time a story by Jo
Nesbo has been made into a film. The first was Headhunters (2011).
Director Magnus Martins was handed a
story that Nesbo had written with the sole intention of it being turned into a
film. Martins has been quoted as saying ‘it
was a very cool premise and a very cool plot, The characters are great and obviously
with it being a Jo Nesbo story there is a lot of humour’ which goes a long
way to sum up the film. Martins worked on the screenplay and has now turned it
into a hilarious black comedy. The film starts with Oscar Svendson being
questioned by a detective who is interested in finding out how Oscar came to be
in a sex shop lying face down in a pool of blood with a shotgun in his hand, a
large dead women lying prostrate on top of him and surrounded by dead bodies. Svendson’s
explanation involves three dangerous ex-cons who all work in a plastic
Christmas tree factory who win 1.7 million kroner gambling on the football
results.
This energetic movie is laugh out loud
funny as was reinforced by the amount of hilarity that was generated at its UK
premiere. A very Coenesque film that brings to mind the brilliance of film’s
like Blood Simple (1984) and Fargo (1996) add in Johnny Too at his
best and you got some idea of how the film works. As with other Scandinavian
films and TV series the acting is totally credible and the entire ensemble cast
are a credit to Martins adding kudos to an already exceptional and enjoyable
piece of work. Although Kyrre Hellum does deserves a special mention for his
under played performance of Oscar Svendson. This film is due for general
release in UK cinemas on the 10th August 2012, don’t miss it!!!
Monday 25th June
2012.
International Competition European Premiere.
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One. Two. One (Yek. Do. Yek)
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Director:
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Mania Akbari
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Country:
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Iran
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Year:
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2011
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Running Time:
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79 mins
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Principle Cast:
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Neda Amiri
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Payam Dehkordi
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Hassan Majooni
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Ashkan Mehri
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Bahareh Rahnama
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| Mania Akbari explains her film. |
As far as I can gather the narrative for
this film is thus: Ava and her boyfriend are in a car accident that happened
when they avoided running down an old man. Both passengers are apparently
unharmed, but Ava ends up in hospital. In another scene we encounter a man in
prison and with his arm in plaster. The
arm is apparently symbolic as it is alleged he has thrown acid into the face of
Ava. In Iran the legal system allows retribution in a case like this so if a
man throws acid into a women’s face that same women can throw acid in the mans
face. But in this case Ava has declined payback. The story is told only by
either people speaking on mobile phones or faces talking to each other but the
aspect never changes from a close up of head and shoulders which does give a
rigid and dry approach to story telling, i.e. I had a job staying awake.
Why did I choose such a difficult film? Difficult
in the sense that the film was not easy to understand or follow. My choose was
governed by previous experience of Iranian movies like A Separation (2011) or Its
Winter (2006) or the work of Abbas Kiarostami, Tickets (2005) and Certified
Copy (2010) but this time it was not what I expected. The lovely, talkative
Mania Akbari, who was at the Cameo for her films premiere, explained that her movie
was about facial expression, in her opinion the deepest form of humanity. With
the help of two translators she warned in her introduction that the viewer was to
have patience and explained that in Iran only women’s faces are seen which
means that they reflect their lives through their facial expression with the
remainder of the body showing no expression when even at times they have their
hands covered. It’s left to peripheral sounds to indicate where and what’s
happening around the characters. Also there is movement around our talking
heads, which Mania said meant that life went on. She continued to explain that
she sees’ her film as cooperative project between herself and the audience.
The film is obviously very important to
Mania Akbari as she spent three months of rehearsal time, before
shooting began, getting the detail just right with the dialog having to sound
natural. Except for Ava all the principal cast were professionals. I’m sure
that many people really appreciate this style of film, including Mark Cousins
who was sitting in front of me, but it left me a little cold. Can’t help but
wonder what the Robert Burns Cinema’s Film Club would make of this one.
Michael Powell Award Competition World Premiere.
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Day of the Flowers
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Director:
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John Roberts
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Country:
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UK
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Year:
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2012
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Running Time:
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100 mins
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Principle Cast:
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Eva Birthistle
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Rose
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Charity Wakefield
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Allie
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Carlos Acosta
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Tomas
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Bryan Dick
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Conway
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Christopher Simpson
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Ernesto
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Two young, strong-willed Glaswegian sisters
Rose a left-wing activist, and Allie a fashion icon, steal their fathers ashes
during his funeral wake much to the obvious displeasure of their stepmother. The
reason for this is to take them to Cuba where it is said that their parents
were at their happiest, helping and supporting Cuba’s socialist revolution. When
they arrive in a hot and chaotic Havana accompanied by Rose’s kilted friend and
colleague Conway, they promptly get the ashes confiscated by the local police.
Many misadventures follow including meeting two local Cuban men, one they can
trust and one they can’t.
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| Christopher Simpson and Cuban ballet star Carlos Acosta. |
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| Screenwriter Eirene Houston. |
The tag line for this film probably sums
up its narrative ‘some travel light,
others carry excess baggage’. The story centers mainly around Rose who
certainly carries a lot of emotional baggage where as her sister carries a lot
of physical baggage including an electric toaster! (Your just have to see the
film for this to be explained) Based loosely on her own experiences its written
by screenwriter Eirene Houston who explained that the two sisters are based on
of her own split personality and wrote the story because of her love of road
movies. John Roberts’s film is the first UK film to be made in Cuba for some
years and uses a lot of local crew and extras but the most famous Cuban
national to appear in the film was Carlos Acosta a Cuban ballet dancer who has
danced with many companies including English National Ballet. The DoP, who was
also in attendance at the film premiere, said that his job was made easier by
the beautifully natural backgrounds found in that country. Eirene script for
this independent film took nearly three years to complete before filming could
start, the only real problem that was encountered during the shoot was the
Cuban weather, which was exceptional hot and wet. Although the film does deal
with ‘cross-cultural misunderstandings and lost illusions’
it should not be taken to seriously, Carla’s
Song (1996) it’s not, but I would recommend this film for its wonderful
entertainment value.
Tuesday 26th June
2012.
Directors Showcase UK Premiere.
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Isn’t Anyone Alive? (Ikiteru mono inai no
ka)
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Director:
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Gakuryu Ishii
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Country:
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Japan
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Year:
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2011
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Running Time:
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113 mins
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Principle Cast:
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Shoto Sometani
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Keisuke
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Rin Takanashi
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Ryoko
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Konatsu Tanaka
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Miki
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Kiyohiko Shibukawa
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Koyuichi
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Jun Murakami
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Yama
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Adapted from a play by Shiro Maeda it
tells the story of a virus that is set to wipe out mankind starting at a
Japanese University Hospital Campus where we meet some ill-fated characters
including students discussing urban myths, others are preparing and rehearsing
a song and dance routine for a wedding, an estranged brother visits his sister,
a mother searches for her son, a strange female patient wonders about and two
young men, one called Dr Fish because of his love of fish, who have just
escaped death in a train crash. Each one of these people, along with the rest
of mankind, is about to die. Slowly and tediously each one does just that with
a wee speech and a final word managing to completely leave this viewer without
the slightest emotive feelings for any of the characters!
This is the first Japanese film that has
ever disappointed me. Described as a farcical comedy and a film that is meant
to explore the ordinariness of issues of life and death. Well I can assure you
that it failed on both counts although some of the audience found it funny but
others walked out part way through so obviously it was a film that was never
going to please everyone. Only in the concluding scene where we witnessed the ultimate
end do we get any real feeling of pathos. Great idea, badly executed.
Wednesdy 27th June
2012.
Michael Powell Award Competition World Premiere.
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Small Creatures (aka Nowhere Fast)
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Director:
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Martin Wallace
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Country:
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UK
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Year:
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2012
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Running Time:
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87 mins
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Principle Cast:
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Michael Coventry
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Coggie
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Paul Bamford
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Macca
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Tom Pauline
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Ste
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Terri Reddin
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Coggie’s sister
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Jack Rigby
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Dave
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Martin Wallace’s debut feature film is
the story of three 14-year-old lads who live on an estate in Liverpool who are
at a time in their lives when they’re most vulnerable to outside influences and
peer pressure. Coggie is basically a nice lad, a dreamer who escapes from these
pressures to the tranquility of a small piece of woodland close to his home. Macca
a big softhearted lad that generally does what Coggie tells him to do. Ste is
the charismatic one but a volatile and sadistic bully who comes from a
dysfunctional family and is more than capable of leading the others astray. It’s
when Stu gets out of control one evening that, as the films tag line so
eloquently puts it ‘Jealousy and violence explode when three, fourteen-year-old boys can no
longer conceal the cracks in their friendship’.
 |
| Martin Wallace, Tom Pauline and Jonathan Murray. |
At last, a gritty urban UK film about
the forgotten masses by a director who obviously cares about his subject’s and
their environment. Both Martin Wallace and a grown up Tom Pauline were in
attendance at the films World Premiere at the Cameo for the after screening Q&A.
Which incidentally was presided over by Dr Jonathan Murray who was at the
Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre to introduce a screening of Bill Forsyth’s Local
Hero (1983) in February 2012.
The film was shoot in the summer of 2009
but the editing took Wallace, who also wrote and produced the film, a further
two years. He explained that the film is based on his own experiences and went
on to say that most teenagers make mistakes and the film try’s to explain the
temptations of why this happens. The idea was to place the viewer into Coggie’s
situation, broadening out the story to show more than just three scally’s living
on a council scheme. Also attempting to balance the hard narrative with the
poetic imaginary and I must say Wallace does this very successfully moving the
film one step beyond normal social reality movies. Deliberately filmed on the
Sefton Estate in Liverpool because it does not replicate the normal run down
estates we see in other films of this type, the director wanted to show that its
not always the fault of their environment that young lads to get into trouble. For
a young inexperienced cast, who would have had problems focusing for long
periods, we get remarkable performances especially from Michael Coventry who
plays Coggie.
For a very low budget film (£50,000) it
has a real sense of atmosphere and the night lighting is particularly good. Reference
points would be Truffaut’s The 400 Blows
(1959), Peter Mullan’s Neds (2010)
and Ratcatcher Lynne Ramsay’s 1999
debut film.
What I particularly liked about this
story was the way it showed the characters in a sympathetic light not supportive
of their actions but trying to understand why youngsters do what they do and the
other point I would like to make is that there was no violence for violence
sake and Richard Mott’s camerawork did not linger on any of the aggressive
incidents. An important debut film that
certainly has meaning, Mr. Wallace is a director we need to keep an eye out for.
Thursday 28th June
2012.
Directors Showcase UK Premiere.
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Life without Principle (Dyut meng gam)
|
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Director:
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Johnnie To
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Country:
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Hong Kong
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Year:
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2011
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Running Time:
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107 mins
|
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Principle Cast:
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Denise Ho
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Teresa
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Ching Wan Lau
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Panther
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Rithie Jen
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Inspector Cheung
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Myolie Wu
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Connie
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The mans back to his best after my
disappointment with Sparrow
(2008), Johnnie To is a master at bringing a
complex thriller to life. Set against today’s economic crisis involving the
Greek Euro bail out package and during a few volatile days of global financial
upheaval in Hong Kong. This cleverly manipulated story is an examination of
varying forms of human greed, part written by frequent collaborator Wai Ka-Fai,
it interweaves between three characters all with their own particular problems,
a police detective inspector investigating a loan sharks murder, a female
investment manager under extreme pressure from her Boss to sell high risk
investments to inappropriate customers and a loyal low level gangster who
attempts to help out a failed financial scheme while trying to raise money to
get a brother criminal out on bail.
The acting is totally convincing with To
Hung Mo’s cinematography highlighting the colour’s, culture and frantic chaos
that is Hong Kong and it has a great sense of humor that provides backbone for
this movie. Johnnie To, who is also the producer, analyses todays’ financial
turmoil and provides us with a movie that not only gives us perceptiveness on
the modern worlds problems but a totally high-class piece of entertaining Far Eastern
cinema to boot.
New Perspectives UK Premiere.
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Rose (Roza)
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Director:
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Wojciech Smarzowski
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Country:
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Poland
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Year:
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2011
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Running Time:
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94 mins
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Principle Cast:
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Marcin Dorocinski
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Tadeusz
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Agata Kulesza
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Rose
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Kinga Preis
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Amelia
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Jacek Braciak
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Wladex
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Malwina Buss
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Jadwiga
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| Roza finds some comfort. |
Wojciech Smarzowski latest big screen offering is the
story of Róża Kwiatkowska a Masurian women who in the summer of 1945 is visited
by Tadeusz Mazur an ex officer of the Polish Resistance Movement and a veteran
of the Warsaw uprising where, unable to intercede, he watches the rape and
murder of his wife Ann. Tadeusz informs Róża that he witnessed her husbands
death and has brought back his last effects, a wedding ring and an old photo of
Róża with her husband. Although mistrustful of her visitor she allows him to
clear a minefield on her farmhouse property so that potatoes can be sown.
Tadeusz decides to stay to protect her from the regular attacks and rapes by
marauding Russian soldiers and desperate Poles. Slowly respect is built between
the couple that eventually leads to a deeper relationship.
Because this is an unpublicised period in Poland’s
history I will give you a little background to what is at the very heart of the
film. Masuria is a region in former German East Prussia, which became part of
Poland as a result of the Potsdam Agreement after World War 11. Róża is
regarded a German by the new Polish authorities and to allow her to stay on her
farm she will have to enter a nationality verification procedure other wise she
will face expulsion to Germany along with many other Masurian’s who incidentally
nearly all speak Polish.
This period in our resent history demonstrates
man’s capability of inhuman cruelty to each other and Smarzowski’s film shows how, under certain circumstances, men of all races and religions
can become beasts capable of rape and murder. The brutality
shown in this film is not always easy to stomach because quite simply the main
two protagonists carry their parts so convincingly the gritty realism of these
peoples lives does seem unquestionable genuine. But from adversary does come’s an
unusual and tender love story between two people that really have nothing to
loose other than each other. This is world cinema at its very best.
Friday 29th June
2012.
Michael Powell Award Competition World Premiere.
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Berberian Sound Studio
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Director:
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Peter Strickland
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Country:
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UK
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Year:
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2012
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Running Time:
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92 mins
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Principle Cast:
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Toby Jones
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Gilderoy
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Cosimo Fusco
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Francesco
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Antonio Mancino
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Santini
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Fatma Mohamed
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Salvatore Li Causi
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| Peter Strickland takes the mike. |
Chris Fujiwara described Peter Strickland’s
second film, his first was the award winning Katalin Varga (2009), as a cinephilic
meditation on cinema or as I would put it a film about the making of a
film. A British sound technician (Toby Jones who gives a remarkable performance)
travels from his home in Box Hill Kent, where he lives with his mother, to
Italy in the 1970’s to work on the sound effects for a gruesome horror film,
The Equestrian Vortex. Not familiar with the working practices of the ego
driven Italian producer or the womanizing director, Gilderoy seems like a fish
out of water from day uno. Unable to reclaim his travel expences from the cash
strapped venture and gradually becoming ever more despairing of the movies
subject matter, the whole working experience becomes literally a total
nightmare.
This is a very nostalgic film about a
world before digital recording devices and strips bare the mechanics of the old
horror analogue film studios that would commandeer all sorts of every day items
to make some very gruesome noises, including an array of garden produce like
melons, cabbages and radishes! Strickland’s loving portrayal of the era
reflects the mood and tone of the horror movies of Lucio Fulci and Dario
Argento. I enjoyed this strangely diverting film especially the beautiful
reproduction of a period recording studio (or is the Three Mile Recording
Studio in London still like this?) and the very complementary electronic
soundtrack that adds to the unsettling atmospherics of the film, but I’m afraid
it lost me completely towards the end when the director takes us a little to
far into paranoia that has beset Gilderoy.
Saturday 30th June
2012.
Directors Showcase European Premiere.
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God Bless America
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Director:
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Bobcat Goldthwait
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Country:
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USA
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Year:
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2011
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Running Time:
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105 mins
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Principle Cast:
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Joel Murray
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Frank Murdoch
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Tara Lynne Barr
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Roxy Harmon
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Melinda Page Hamilton
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Alison
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Mackenzie Brooke Smith
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Ava
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Rich McDonald
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Brad
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This movie is the ideal wet dream for
those of us who crave retribution for a swift and yes violent solution to the
idiocy of today’s contemporary shallow media culture.
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| Frank and Roxy put America to rights. |
Imagine you’re in your favourite local
cinema watching a film you have really been looking forward too and in troop a
group of teenagers who sit two rows behind you and when the film starts commence
to loudly consume popcorn, talk on there mobile phones and slurp coca cola, you
ask them politely to shut so as not to spoil your enjoyment of the film and
what you get back is a tirade of obscenities. So to solve this problem you and
your partner get to your feet, draw your revolvers and blast these rude and
inconsiderate persons to kingdom come ensuring that these particular teenagers
will not spoil the viewing pleasure of any one else in the future.
Imagine attending the grand final of Britain’s got Talent or The X Factor, you make your way to the
stage, take out your AK-47 from its shiny silver case and commence to shoot the
complete panel of judges, including an extra round into the obnoxious Simon
Cowell, the front rows of the baying brain dead audience members and some of
the more loathsome talent on display.
In this splendid and hilarious black
comedy middle aged Frank Murdock and his young assistant Roxy Harmon do just
that and more besides, including killing a man that double parks, eradicating
some zealous rightwing religious bigots who are protesting against gays and
permanently removing a neo-fascist TV presenter. Frank is a man who is
divorced, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has just lost his job, a
man who feels he has nothing more to loose and contemplates suicide. But things
change for Frank when he meets Roxy who is happy to join him on a mission to
right the wrongs of modern day American society in their own particular way.
Directed and written by Bobcat
Goldthwait, an American actor and comedian, this guilty pleasure, where your
find your empathy will be with two vicious but very lovable killers, is a
tremendously enjoyable satire with an underlying serious massage, an indictment
of modern American fame/media culture and the blatant cruelty that runs in
conjunction with its philosophy. Highly recommended for those of a certain age
and disposition.
Michael Powell Award Competition World Premiere.
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Shadow Dancer
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Director:
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James March
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Country:
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UK/Ireland
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Year:
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2012
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Running Time:
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102 mins
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Principle Cast:
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Clive Owen
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Mac
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Andrea Riseborough
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Colette McVeigh
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Aidan Gillen
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Gerry
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Gillian Anderson
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Kate Fletcher
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Domhnall Gleeson
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Conner
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David Wilmot
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Kevin Mulville
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Brid Brennan
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Ma McVeigh
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The script for this highly stylish
political thriller is written by Tom Bradby based on his novel of the same
name. The story starts in Belfast in 1973 when we share with the McVeigh family
the accidental death of their young son in a crossfire incident. The action then
moves to London twenty years later were the young boys grown up sister Colette
McVeigh is on a IRA bombing mission that goes wrong. Unable to make her escape
she is lifted by the British Secret Service in the guise of Mac who threatens her
with jail in the UK, which means she we have very restricted access to her
young son, if she does not become an IRA informant and spy on her own family.
But as the story progresses we realise that things are not as they seem for
either our MI5 agent or his latest Republican mole.
James Marches edge of your seat psychological drama is set at the time of the Northern Irish peace process and its plot
driven narrative benefits greatly from Bradby’s insider knowledge gained when
he spent a three-year period in Belfast working as ITV’s official Ireland
correspondent. The Michael Powell Award
for Best Performance in a British Feature Film went jointly to Andrea
Riseborough for her role as Colette and Brin Brennan as Ma and both are very well
deserved. A gripping and thrilling slice of modern history that is due for a
general UK release on the 24th August 2012.
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| The curtains close on another Edinburgh Film Festival. |
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