Reviews

Chinese punks – who knew? Yet thanks to this documentary by Australian filmmaker Shaun Jefford, we get a glimpse into their nascent underground scene, on the eve of Beijing's 2008 Olympics.

Filmed with appropriate graininess and supplemented with bootleg gig footage, Jefford has found a diverse and fascinating movement. Primarily exploring the lives of two bands, MiSanDao (self-proclaimed "Chinese skinheads") and Demerit, the difficulties they face in trying to do what they love are highlighted. The government censor lyrics (stymieing album launches), the bands give up on money (most jobs requiring twelve-hour-days), and their families are unwilling to support them. Yet with the nightclub D-22 as their base, punk is what they do.

More searching questions might have been asked. The appropriation of the "skinhead" tag by MiSanDao is not addressed until towards the end of the film (to reassure the audience that the band are not neo-Nazis, after they are shown playing a German skinhead festival!) The cultural analysis of Michael Pettis, the American founder of D-22, is the only critical voice throughout the film (albeit learned) and language also seems to have been a barrier.

But the music provides its own justification and thankfully Jefford has made it the main event. This is China as never before seen – you'll just be grateful for a look inside. Spike, Demerit's singer, proudly claims "we live punk ... we are punk", and arguably rebellious punk-rock has never been more needed than in modern China. You'll think about music in a new light.

Cambridge Film Festival Daily

THE WILDEST DREAM tells the story of George Mallory's lifelong obsession with conquering the summit of Everest, culminating with his doomed third expedition in 1924 and the suggestion that he was indeed first to the top. With a stellar cast of voices including Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes and the late Natasha Richardson, the film blends the personal accounts of relatives, re-enactments, testimonies of historians, black-and-white films and photographs from Mallory's life and the correspondence between him and his wife. This creates a compelling piece that is part history, part mountaineering adventure and part love story. The atmospheric cinematography is a work of art (and an achievement in its own right given the challenging terrain), with vistas of the billowing clouds and snowcapped peaks below Everest, and the 'prodigious white fang' (as Mallory describes it) of the mountain itself. Mallory is brought to life with a poignancy that reveals the man behind the myth, whether as a tiny figure perched on a glacial rockface with the stars glittering above, or in his letter to his daughter where he describes himself as a 'greedy daddy' for craving cake and tea parties. Running parallel to this story is the modern-day expedition led by Conrad Anker, one of the mountaineers who found Mallory's body a decade ago. In his attempts to recreate Mallory's last expedition, additional angles emerge, providing insights into the psychology and dangers of climbing at high altitudes (particularly in 1924-style hobnail boots and gaberdine jackets). This is a compelling portrait of a man who proves that – as he says through the voice of Ralph Fiennes – 'there's no dream that mustn't be dared', even if the journey to the top is a one- way ticket.

Cambridge Film Festival Daily

In this day of mass-participatory media it is in some ways inevitable that a film potentially destined for general release would be made incorporating a significant chunk of such material.

You may ask why has George Lucas been singled out for this film's subject? As the film explains, the number of homages, remixes and re-workings by the public of Star Wars is far greater for this work than any other film ever made. Furthermore Lucas has courted controversy through the mass marketing of his product and the slightly dictatorial way older versions of the film have been more or less obliterated. So any analysis of the subject of the art and business of film, rights ownership and its effects on its fans cannot pick a better subject.

In terms of the normal movie goer Alexandre O. Philppe's film provides plenty of laughs and is fascinating to watch. Barely pausing for breath, the film is a visual and auditory onslaught, with a barrage of sound bites and clips from the original material and its many derived manifestations. Producer Anna Higgs - interviewed after the showing - explained that contributions were invited on one of the many Star Wars forums on the Internet. Sifting through the mountain of material that arrived in response was a huge undertaking, and in showing the pick of the crop we the viewer are given an insight into the massive fandom that surrounds these films.

While for most people just watching a movie is enough, serious fans will purchase (sometimes compulsively) associated movie merchandise and involve themselves to varying degrees in paying tribute to the film and its mythos. If you have ever wondered what kind of person will spend three days walking around in a sweaty storm-trooper outfit at Dragon*Con in Atlanta. Or set themselves on fire in order to recreate a scene from a film then this film offers an insight into that world.

A large amount of the discussion in the film is about the differences between the original theatrical release of Star Wars and its subsequent remastering and updating which angered many fans not least as the original film was essentially removed from circulation at the same time. As digital technology empowers audience creativity, the democratisation of media seems to be at odds with filmmakers who want to retain absolute control and ownership of their work. However, despite its title this film is not about simply Lucas bashing. It is pointed out that Lucas has made footage and sound freely available to people who want to play with it.

It is possible to see a similar issue between the behaviour of obsessed film fans and people with strong religious beliefs. While religious texts have been used as an excuse for inhumanity and war. One wonders whether George himself lies awake at night puzzling at how his simple sci-fi story has led to such an amazing cultural legacy even if that legacy includes such things as Ewok yiff. 4 out of 5

Cambridge Film Festival Daily

The first day on a new job can be a struggle at the best of times but for trainee prison guard Juan Olivier (an excellent Alberto Ammann) it turns out to be a complete nightmare. Eager to make a good first impression, he turns up a day early for a guided tour of the facility. He soon gets a closer look than expected after his colleagues are forced to abandon him in the titular cell during the onset of a full-scale riot. Thinking on his feet, he dumps his visitor's pass into the toilet and poses as an inmate in hope he will be able to survive until the SWAT team arrives. The ruse works. But when his quick thinking attracts the attention of prickly prison daddy Malamadre (Luis Tosar) it's clear he is one wrong decision away from being shanked in the neck with a sharpened spoon.

It's a simple set-up, but while never straying far from the genre blueprint, director Daniel Monzan packs in enough twists and turns to keep the tension mounting. There's a nod to domestic politics in a subplot involving ETA terrorists but the focus is chiefly on the battle of wits between Juan, Malamadre and the corrupt prison officials attempting a cover up job as they each try to manipulate the situation to their advantage.

As tough and mean as a lifer in solitary, CELL 211 is a morally ambiguous tale in which it's impossible to separate the innocent from the guilty regardless of which side of the bars they are on. 5 out of 5

Cambridge Film Festival Daily

Every so often, you watch a film so strikingly different from anything else you have seen recently it can be quite a challenge to decipher your own reaction to it. YOU, THE LIVING, the most recent feature-length work by Roy Andersson, is one such film.

A multitude of individuals all loosely connected in some fashion, jumping between scenes in their lives - some tragic, many incredibly comedic - are the subject of YOU, THE LIVING. Incredibly funny in places, the tone of the humour varies across the film, from the simple humour of a man in a zimmer frame dragging his dog along behind him to the more absurdist. Chief among them a builder's dream where he is sentenced to death, by judges drinking steins of beer, for destroying valuable antique china in a predictably ill-fated attempt at the old trick of pulling the table-cloth from under a huge dining table. Despite the differing lives portrayed, all are part of the distinctly framed world that they inhabit.

'Framed' is really the right word here. Andersson's camera is static, shots are immaculately set and none of the individuals receive close ups or anything more intimate than the medium range shots which comprise most of the film. The indescribably drab sets almost bathe in a greenish-blue hue, as if reflecting the misery and zombie-like appearance of those under its harsh glow.

The straight-faced, deadpan humour of YOU, THE LIVING is really quite distinctive. An excellent film definitely not mistaken for any other. 5 out of 5

Cambridge Film Festival Daily

A bleeding child is bound and dumped into a murky underground pool as a huge bomb stands unexploded in the courtyard of an isolated orphanage. So starts Guillermo Del Toro's 2001 supernatural thriller THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE, a chilling ghost story set against the background of the Spanish Civil war showing as part of the Film Festival's Del Toro Season. We follow young Carlos (Fernando Tielve), a new arrival at this supposed sanctuary who unwittingly discovers that there is something very dark at the heart of his new home.

Displaying Del Toro's idiosyncratic panache for combining the fantastical with the historical, THE DEVILS BACKBONE is one of his most accomplished works. He elegantly builds an unsettling atmosphere choosing creeping, cadaverous dread over startling shocks or explicit gore. The film never rushes itself, spending plenty of time developing well drawn and convincingly human characters, making it more believably effective when it unveils its more nightmarish horror elements.

The mostly young cast is exceptional but the true stand out is Eduardo Noriega's Jacinto, a brilliantly composed portrait of brutal masculinity carrying a blemished moral compass. He is a disturbing precursor for the even more overtly sociopathic captain Vidal in Del Toro's follow up film PANS LABYRINTH.

There are a few minor plot irritations at work during the film, especially regarding some very irrational character behaviour regarding a pile of burning petrol cans. However these are minor flaws in an otherwise outstanding Gothic thriller bathed in the pounding desert heat. 5 out of 5

Cambridge Film Festival Daily

TRUE LEGEND marks the first Chinese made film to take advantage of 3D technology as well as returning Yuen Woo-Ping to the director's chair for the first time in fourteen years. Unfortunately it seems that the legendary action choreographer has failed to utilise the new technology with any sense of skill and has also lost his way somewhat in the plot department.

The film follows Vincent Zhao as Beggar Su, a fabled folk hero in China and creator of the legendary Drunken Fist style. After his father is killed by his brother-in-law, Su goes into hiding where he is trained by an unconventional Wushu master. It's a bog standard kung fu murder/revenge plot that's been done a million times before but now with the novelty of teeth grindingly bad 3D. The new technology – only used in selected scenes - is jarring and in no way immersive, adding a strong argument to the negative effect 3D can have on a film.

However, as messy as the 3D is, it is not as detracting as the final third of the film. After concluding the revenge plot, it suddenly shifts into a completely new narrative regarding western imperialism's encroachment on Chinese culture. It's an untidy mixture of Jet Li's Fearless with Jackie Chan's Drunken Master with an all too brief cameo by the late David Carradine.

Ultimately TRUE LEGEND is a disorganised film that poorly uses every martial arts cliché in the book. A couple of decent action sequences aside, there is little to recommend, even to the most avid kung fu fan. 3 out of 5

Cambridge Film Festival Daily

The archaeological, action/adventure genre has become increasingly formulaic under Hollywood guidance since its rise to popularity. Conventions inspired by the Indiana Jones films have been adhered to for almost twenty years, with any exceptions failing to break into mainstream Hollywood cinema. However, similarly to his previous work of science-fiction innovation, THE FIFTH ELEMENT, Luc Besson has once again stamped his own authorship onto a popular Hollywood genre.

Unfortunately, whilst the film may be innovative in some respects, it closely upholds many tired stereotypes and immature comedy devices that feel beneath such an esteemed director. One particular scene in which the blundering, Jacques-Clouseau-style police inspector is defecated on really encapsulates the low level to which Besson stoops for comedy at various points in this film. Occasionally descending into unforgivable absurdity, THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF ADÈLE BLANC-SEC is most definitely a flawed work.

However, with the exception of the aforementioned scenes, this is certainly an enjoyable and very amusing film. Visually, the film is as impressive as any other Besson delivering a triumph of colour and light, framing his shots with beautiful precision and delicacy. Most impressively however is Louise Bourgoin's strength as Besson's Adèle, helping retain much of its intended offbeat charm. The film is essentially entrusted to her and, fortunately, she manages to balance the many aspects of her talented yet vulnerable heroine with particular skill.

Despite a variety of shortcomings, THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF ADÈLE BLANC-SEC is a pleasing and enjoyable film, and certainly rivals Besson's previous works. 4 out of 5

Cambridge Film Festival Daily

"We navigate", Capt. Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) instructs his new recruit on the Casualty Notification Team, Sgt. Will Montgomery (Ben Foster). But how does a shattered man begin to negotiate the grief of strangers, when he can barely fathom his own?

Oren Moverman's penetrating debut employs bare-bones camera-work and a subdued colour palette, putting the focus on the dialogue. Co-written by Moverman, the script is by turns singularly intimate and universal, compounded by stirring lead performances. A decorated soldier returning home from Iraq to convalesce from IED incurred shrapnel wounds, Will realises that the final three months of his tour will be the hardest. With the strategic aim of being the first to deliver the news, the two men come to rely on each other, eventually letting their emotions surface in an intensely moving relationship.

Stone is possessed of a wry, often unsavoury humour which assists in masking his own insecurities and handling the job at hand with the intended clinical etiquette. Will struggles to maintain a similar detachment, seeking comfort in recently widowed Olivia (Samantha Morton), who describes having lost her husband to a war which consumed him with 'rage and fear'. This resonates in Will's search for purpose and connection, and deliverance from the memories that haunt him. At times the articulation of emotion is unbearably raw, yet Moverman leaves us to draw our own conclusions - more is said about the casualties of war in Will's piercing, broken stare than in any regurgitated army spiel. 5 out of 5

Cambridge Film Festival Daily

If Abel Ferrara's DRILLER KILLER and Larry Cohen's THE STUFF were dropped inside a Magimix and the resulting concoction seasoned with a dusting of tongue-in-cheek humour it'd likely end up looking something like Mathieu Peteul and Cesar Ducasse's DARK SOULS.

The film opens with a teenage girl named Johanna (Johanna Gustavsson) jogging alone through the woods. She barely has time to build up a sweat before a sinister figure dressed in orange overalls wrestles her to the ground and bores a hole into the side of her head with an electric drill. Later, moments after she returns home, her father Morten (Morten Ruda) receives a phone call from the police pronouncing her dead. His joking and laughing is soon turned to shock when she starts vomiting up thick black bile.

It turns out she is the first victim of a bizarre wave of attacks involving a mysterious black liquid which transforms otherwise healthy individuals into mindless, rotting zombies. As his daughter slowly loses control of her bodily functions and her skin begins to blacken and decay, a distraught Morten takes it upon himself to go track down those responsible.

Fans of Chris Morris' JAM will no doubt find plenty of laughs in the ludicrousness of Morten's situation as Johanna slowly becomes his pet zombie but the film is also at times a sensitive portrait of fatherly devotion. And when Morten is shown watching old Super 8 family films with his daughter's limp, rotten body propped beside him it's difficult to know whether to laugh or cry.

Lazy clichés such as the slasher movie's 'last woman standing' rule are subverted: our hero is not a nubile teenager but a bewildered, overweight father looking for the man who drilled his daughter, leaving her zombified. References to horror classics are skillful and witty, for example the homeless oil diver's expositional monologue which mirrors Quint's famous speech in JAWS. Winner of Best Horror at the Manhattan and Swansea film festivals, DARK SOULS brings slick thrills and oil spills without resorting to easy scares. 5 out of 5

Cambridge Film Festival Daily

FAREWELL is an elegant depiction of Cold War espionage based on true events that proved catalytic to the demise of the Soviet Union. Pierre Froment (Guillame Canet), a French businessman who is 'above suspicion' due to his amateur status, is compelled to deliver high level intelligence from reckless, disillusioned KGB veteran Sergei Grigoriev (Emir Kusturica) to Reagan's cabinet via François Mitterrand, thereby crippling Soviet intelligence.

Whilst Froment and Grigoriev convincingly resemble weary bureaucrats, scenes in the White House lack credibility - perhaps an attempt at satire by Carion, they are nevertheless rendered redundant by the sombre refinement of the film. Cultural boundaries between East and West deliver brief comic reprieve, and signal the imminent disintegration of an already stagnant regime.

Suffused with nostalgia, we observe Brezhnev-era Moscow cast in the lurid yellow light of street-lamps, or bleached white by lens flare, with an effortless attention to detail - Muscovites stand in endless queues on street corners as Soviet vehicles roam empty boulevards flanked by Socialist realist statues. Subterranean scenes add a noir aesthetic, reflecting the shades of deception throughout - in the words of Grigoriev; "I live in lies and solitude".

Kusturica gives a shatteringly affecting performance, conveying Grigoriev's wistful patriotism and hope for his son's future with a rare eloquence. Carion creates real suspense and accommodates subtle plot twists, but there are no cheap thrills here- the film defies the brash conventions of its genre. Understated, fluid camera-work and dedicated performances deliver a film of classic style and depth. 5 out of 5

Cambridge Film Festival Daily

In 2002 Gaspar Noe gave the world IRREVERSIBLE, surely one of the most disquieting films ever made, earning himself an instant reputation as a misanthropist with a desire to distress. In relative terms, ENTER THE VOID is remarkably restrained. There's constant drug huffing, (unfulfilled) incestuous desire, unsettling childs' screams following a violent car crash and relentless sexual encounters including an excessively creative money shot, but the film is first and foremost a lovingly-crafted visual spectacle.

The neon landscapes of Tokyo are a pleasure to behold, as are the exhilarating opening credits. For the first half an hour dialogue is languidly droll, and lead character Oscar's ongoing muttered monologue quite brilliantly conveys the struggle to reason and argue with oneself whilst the worse for wear. Oscar's untimely death follows, but the narrative continues to be focused through his hallucinatory and solipsistic visions. The story jumps from early childhood to kaleidoscopic 3D images to the film's other players in varying degrees of ecstasy and strife. Long intervals of white light or pitch black convey the uneasy limbo that Oscar, the other characters and the audience have entered. The sum of all these parts makes for a disjointed yet distinctive experience. ENTER THE VOID falls into the 'difficult but interesting' category; I wouldn't exactly recommend it or choose to watch it again, but it's a daring and unparallelled film that confirms Noe as a dysfunctional maverick of film. 5 out of 5

Cambridge Film Festival Daily