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Reviews
Therapy Through Lucid Dreaming (2018)
Audience Choice
This short film won a well deserved audience choice award at the Plymouth Rebel Film Festival 2019, and was a delight. Focusing in on a modern domestic setting at the start, the camera then transports us seamlessly into a dream world, a la Mary Poppins. But it's done with a fun dig at pill-popping culture, which induced belly laughs from the audience in Plymouth. Rachel, our protagonist, is looking for a peaceful place which will rid her of her insecurities. However, after using chemistry to arrive at her dream world, what she later discovers is only herself. And that's the best thing she could have found.
I expect more excellent work to come from this budding director/screenwriter/producer. I would have rated this 10/10, were it not for some unnecessary crudity in the opening sequence that neither drove the narrative, nor seemed otherwise consistent with the tone of this joyous piece.
RK
Jurassic Predator (2018)
Let's Do the Monster Mash
Warning: this is NOT a horror film. Instead, it's a huge send-up of, well, maddening things about life in 2018, and oh, monster movies too.
The thespians in it seem to have had a blast tracking down the eponymous resurrected T-Rex,all the while while engaging the play-within-a-play theme, performing to non-existent audiences, being served unpronounceable coffee, and hiding their modesty with items found on a clothesline.
Do not expect realistic frights - that is not what Andrew Jones is about. He's got a sense of humour bordering on Almodovar, Hitchcock and Ian Fleming. Moreover, in this film, he has managed to recruit as an actor the veteran rock musician Lee Mark Jones, whose acting bristled with energy and delight, and who also, with his band, provided some slick numbers for the soundtrack.
There were actually some cunning POV shots from the dinosaur's perspective, and some crisp cinematography, completely unexpected from such a small crew.
But things get so tongue-in-cheek by the end that you are rooting for the dinosaur to survive, rise up, and use its strength to tackle what we really fear: council tax, cold callers, people who bilk on their debts to you.
An absurdist delight. 7/10.
National Theatre Live: Julius Caesar (2018)
A Truly Lean and Hungry Look
Nicholas Hytner's contemporary take on ancient Rome's political elite is sparsely set. Props and scenery are largely absent, costumes are in subdued colours, and scene changes are carried out in the dark, quickly and inconspicuously. This serves to focus attention on the text, and the emotions and interaction between characters, characters who look like they could have walked right off a street outside.
Hytner isn't very interested in dissecting Roman historical details in this interpretation, but in something more universal - the nature of political leadership, on how the masses can and do perceive politicians, and on how the masses can so easily be manipulated.
We start off, before scene one, with a loud, heavy metal band, playing to bopping, beer-drinking audience members standing around the stage. At first this appeared to be a kind of warm-up act, until during the rock music commotion, a man appeared with a track suit top that said "Mark Antony" on the back, and spoke to the crowd. Oh no, we thought, is this noise is part of the play, do we have to put up with this repetitive, blaring electronic throbbing throughout this production? Fortunately, no. However, after our screen went blank shortly afterwards (we were told because of technical problems) we then, in our cinema, landed up in the middle of Act I Scene II, just before Cassius describes pulling a nearly drowning Caesar out of the water. Hence I can't tell you how the warm-up act actually segued into Scene I, the famous Beware the Ides of March scene. But this rock 'n roll prelude set a tone: there were frequent loud electronic sound effects throughout the performance, which tested the abilities of the actors to project their voices and their diction above the noise and rabble. All passed.
In fact, all actors navigated the 16th century dialogue with nuance, humour, and received thespian pronunciation. This was even though some of the actors, such as Wendy Kweh, from Singapore, (as Calpurnia) come from a background where learning the fluent speaking of English dialogue from 1599 isn't part of the background culture.
What of the characterizations? Hytner took the surprising decision to cast a woman as Cassius, but it worked. Michelle Fairley was outstanding in this role, and projected a truly lean and hungry look, but Adjoa Andoh nearly stole a few scenes from her, with her amusing swagger and mannerisms. David Calder emitted Caesar's arrogance from within a somewhat crumpled lounge suit, and made the man seem much more like one of those talking political figureheads seen on the nightly news. Of course later we see that this is not the whole of the man. David Morrissey was a Mark Antony of a seemingly naive fan-club sort at first, yet who blossoms into one who manipulates a crowd through flawless word magic and innuendo. Ben Whishaw's Brutus was scholarly and measured in approach, but ultimately misguided by his education.
The entire interpretation works well as a mirror to our own era, where politicians' personalities play on world stages, civil unrest is bubbling away, the elite try to keep the masses in the dark from unraveling what is really going on, and where there are dark and abrupt political scene changes . Shakespeare tells of a deep state in Rome before Christ. This is the aspect that Hytner chooses to focus on and dress in contemporary clothes.
The Toymaker (2017)
Intriguing Romp
Is there such a genre as horror comedy? Skeptically, I watched this prequel, expecting nothing other than a B-movie using the well-worn horror trope of killer dolls. Think about it: killer dolls. A ridiculous concept, and yet people manage to be terrified by the idea. Accordingly, the film starts in a completely serious manner, slowly building suspense, while sticking to a basic plot line. Particularly fascinating is the simultaneously intense, yet laid-back, interrogation technique used by Erick Hayden's Nazi. Despite some superb set locations (notably, the toy shop), as the action moves on, you then start to register a few anachronisms and style "fails". You get a little annoyed and find yourself thinking that it could have been more true to the 1940's period if this, or if that. By the time the enigmatic toymaker character makes his appearance, you can't believe how a particular make-up disaster occurred and want the scene to look more realistic. You resent being distracted from believing in the doll's powers - and thus you have been ensnared in a rather mischievous, Hitchcock-like manner. Eventually when Hayden's Nazi officer gets his comeuppance, you are delivered into the realms of Laurel and Hardy. By the atmospheric final scene, shot at a railway station, Lee Bane's deadpanned final line completely convulsed me. I realized I had been well and truly fooled. Genius. More please.
Johnny Guitar (1954)
Absolutely Stunning
The frontier town of Red Butte has its history changed forever when an outsider rides through. Then with big sky landscapes, cowboys, a saloon, miners, a town marshal, sharpshooters, and a lynch mob, do we have a classic Western? You might think so, but there's just one thing: it's women who are calling the shots in Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar.
As boss of her own saloon bar, Joan Crawford stuns as Vienna, delivering her lines like silver bullets, flanked by the enigmatic Sterling Hayden as outsider Johnny Guitar, and Mercedes McCambridge as the intense and twisted small-town grandee, Emma Small. In lesser roles, Ben Cooper channels Cagney as Turkey, Ernest Borgnine is rotten Bart, and Scott Brady is Dancing Kid.
In this seriously underrated 1954 film, we are in the familiar territory of hero versus villain. But instead of the hero wearing a white Stetson hat, we have the hero in a white dress, and the villain in a black one. That is not mere casual experimentation with gender roles. In this genre-changing narrative, the action is wholly driven by two women whose sheer force of will power compels the men to follow their lead. Both Vienna and Emma are supremely competent businesswomen, equestrians, gunslingers, and confident public speakers - so much so that the men ultimately daren't cross them - unless goaded by the other woman.
As well as treating us to an iconic Arizona landscape and cracking dialogue, this Western confounds expectations in other ways too. For a start, its production company, Republic Pictures, had director Ray as investing co-producer, so he wasn't beholden to a big mogul unwilling to bankroll character development and visual symbolism. For Ray had had a tutor in playwright Thornton Wilder, whose influence can surely be felt - characters are stripped so bare as to reveal their unique, but basic, human predicament. Ray had also studied under Frank Lloyd Wright, and that influence is revealed in spacious and geometrically composed camera frames. But our real focus of attention is how and why mature and experienced cattlemen and townsmen, just being ordinary men, neither fey nor effeminate, would let themselves be out manoeuvred by a brave female's resolve. The men's acquiescence seems entirely due to female strength of personality appearing as a direct response to circumstance, and as such, the acquiescence does not carry with it a sense of weakness or being emasculated. It's a level playing field we are seeing - and this from a male director in the 1950s.
It's hugely moving to see any character who, in the face of death, calmly decides to withdraw her cash from the bank to pay her loyal men their wages, in case she's murdered. It's surprising, too, when that character undermines a shoot-out by using as armamentarium a command to help with breakfast. It's risky, it's funny, it's empowering, it's non-violent. It is fundamentally female, and contrasts sharply with stereotypically masculine, power-seeking provocation to violence.
The resolution and dramatic balance achieved at the end results from how adults contain their passions, male and female. A firecracker of a film.
Last Fisherman (2017)
A Whole Heritage in a Man
One man. One village. One traditional Cornish trade. One Austrian visitor. In Last Fisherman, these subjects intertwine in a beautifully sensitive living portrait. Malcolm Baker, 70, has been fishing in Cawsand, Cornwall, for 55 years. He repairs the woodwork of his rowing boats, makes his own crab pots, maintains the engine on his fishing boat, closely observes the weather, tides, and sea, and grows vegetables. This doesn't bring in much in terms of income, but instead it brings an abundance of life satisfaction.
Eventually though, with the advent of industrialized fishing, and with rising house prices in his picturesque village, several generations of locals have been unable to take up the boating or fishing trades. Malcolm becomes the last in Cawsand with traditional seafaring skills, and holds not only a lifetime of personally gained knowledge, but also everything that has been passed down to him from his forebears. It all looks grim until Austrian landlubber, Leo Kaserer, arrives in the village simply in order to experience a completely different lifestyle. Six years later, Leo, a social worker, has become part of local life, learning Malcolm's skills from the man himself, and helping to pass them on to a new generation, not just to local youngsters, but to ones from other countries too.
The slow pace of life in Cawsand is reflected in the unhurried and painterly cinematography by first-time director James Stier. Coupled with a poignant soundtrack that includes the local Cornish male voice choir, and poetry read by Roy Chamberlain, this film is a testament to everyone who lives life according to what their soul tells them, regardless of the difficulty, and for whom self-sufficiency, rather than dependence on technology, is a way of life. ------RK
Go with Le Flo (2014)
A German M. Hulot, as directed by Fellini - or maybe Truffaut
If you love European cinema, you'll find this a gem. In "Go with le Flo", we have a hapless hero, Florian, who has one German and one French parent. He's grown up German, but is enthralled by French romanticism - and would secretly rather be French. So when he falls into the presence of a French film star - literally - he is overcome with emotion. And his profession? Salami salesman. That is to say, he owns a French delicatessen in Berlin called "Le Flo". We've also already discovered that he is much more sensitive when differentiating between types of salami than he is when reacting to the emotions of others.
Florian's M. Hulot-type encounters are full of slapstick and visual humour, within which are various references to well-loved films by Truffaut, Fellini, Jeunet, and others. However, you might be surprised to learn that this is not a European production. American screenwriter, director, and musician Michael Glover presents us with fine cinematography, and a script lurching between German and French, highlighting his love of Europe and European culture, in what is a light, but classy, attempt at the play-within-a -play trope. It's not without a few human truths, either, served up to you with a little brotchen, salami, and Roquefort.
Manchester by the Sea (2016)
It's a Man Thing
Men are, by convention, less adept in dealing with their emotions than women, partly due to the school of thought that upholds it is unmanly to express feelings. The subject of this film concerns the consequences of this traditional view, set in a traditional community. In the opening scenes, we see Lee Chandler, the protagonist, as a reserved and inscrutable apartment caretaker, who appears to have more to him than a track record as a handyman. Tenants are put off by his aloofness and just can't relate to him. You want to know what is going on inside his head. Later on, you realize the distant manner is just about held together and ready to explode into violence. When you walk out of the cinema and know why this is, it is somewhat disturbing. That's the main takeaway, and it's a man thing.
The film could have been better with a little more work on the script and character development. For instance, near the beginning of the film, a person says "you mean THE Lee Chandler?" So, Lee is famous – but why? Is it because of his (former) career, or because of what has happened to him? His previous life, successful and happy it seems, needs more explication, so that we can understand better how circumstances have changed him. I assumed at first that Lee was a famous ice hockey player, but there was no further reference to his old career. Lee is also more well spoken than you would expect from a career handyman, until the point when the F words start to erupt.
Lee's teenage nephew is also strangely inscrutable in the opposite way. When his father dies prematurely, Patrick behaves as though nothing has happened, carries on as if life is a party, and picaresque entertainment ensues. Again, it's a man thing.
As for female character development, it wasn't that plausible that so many of the women were hitting on men, including a 16-year-old who yells "F me!" to a character, (when her own mother is in a nearby room!), a stranger who sits next to Lee and deliberately spills her drink on him so she can start a conversation with him, and yet another woman, a near stranger to Lee, who is said to have possessive feelings for him, but who then turns to her daughter to seek help in conversing with him. A predatory character would surely have had a conversational repertoire? In a sense, these poorly drawn females just seemed to reflect a fantasy that women now don't need to check first-off impulsive behaviour that expresses lust. If the scriptwriter was trying to say that these female characters were emotionally better off than Lee and Patrick because they allowed their feelings to take over and didn't repress them like Lee did, then that is just as immature a way to behave as repressing everything.
There was also a disturbing aspect to the character of Lee's ex- sister-in-law's new man. He is outwardly Christian, yet inwardly very masculine and controlling. Somehow there is an implication that his inadequacies were because of his Christianity rather than because of the human condition. I've noticed a little meme of Christian-bashing in films lately (I'd cite Spotlight here too, which, although of course based on a horrific true story, the number of abusers seemed exaggerated on examination, and the only gentlemanly hero of the film was the non-Christian, the Boston Globe publisher). I do not attend church myself – so, just sayin'.
The film didn't lack fine acting – Michelle Williams delivered an incredibly moving scene, and I'd also like to mention Josh Hamilton, who did a fine cameo as the lawyer. As for Affleck, he just deadpanned through most of the film, but that is what the script called for.
The score was marred by being cheesy in places, with instantly recognizable classics played, volume up. However, the opening vocals were atmospheric, and the choice of "I'm Beginning to See the Light" was a nice touch.
Cinematography was crisp, and portrayed the beauty of the coastal community along the north coast of Massachusetts well. The film was nearly a travel brochure for the area. In addition to that, it was refreshing to see no chain stores in sight, but instead several towns still getting by, based on small businesses and local traditions, as if out of Lake Wobegone Days. The colonial style architecture was pleasing, the harbours full of various family boats, the skies clear enough to see the stars at night brightly. Yes, this is an America where a strong sense of community still exists outside of the large cities and their metal-and-glass, high-rise corporatocracy. Think Naragansett Bay in Rhode Island (in Moonrise Kingdom), Punxsutawney (in Groundhog Day), Glencoe, Minnesota (in God's Country), Paterson (Paterson), Manchester by the Sea....experience these while you still can....
Doctor Strange (2016)
Required Viewing for Medics
If films based on comic book characters are new to you, and you aren't quite sure what to expect with Doctor Strange, don't worry. Besides the fine acting of Benedict Cumberbatch, who is at the top of his game here, the viewer is treated to fun, quantum-leap style physics, and amazing, cutting-edge CGI that actually makes you think. Magic, of course, is what drives it, in the form of slide rings and ancient formulae. But that isn't why you should watch this. It's really a character study of how a man reacts to a life-changing event. The event is a problem in modern guise, but its solution is ancient.
There are some excellent performances from supporting members of the cast – Chiwetel Ejiofor in particular, and also Tilda Swinton, who always manages to surprise, and Benedict Wong. But the main focus is on Cumberbatch's arrogant, controlling surgeon – who hasn't met at least one doctor like this?