Pelican Blood (2010)

Director:

Karl Golden

Writer:

Cris Cole (screenplay)

Release Date:

2010 (New Zealand)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A love story set in the world of obsessive birdwatchers.

Plot Keywords:

Bird In Title | Birdwatching | Breasts | Female Frontal Nudity | Topless Female Nudity

Cast

Oona Chaplin	...	Linda
Emma Booth	...	Stevie
Arthur Darvill	...	Cameron
Harry Treadaway	...	Nikko
Christopher Fulford	...	DC Thomas
George Newton	...	Eddie - Poacher
Emma Clifford	...	Elaine
John Hollingworth	...	Owen Whittle
Justine Francesca Glenton	...	Hannah
Eden Watson	...	Young Stevie
John McDonnell	...	Business man in lift
Ali Craig	...	Bish
Babatunde Aleshe	...	Craig
David Ross Elliott	...	Roger
Joseph Arkley	...	Gary Cooper
Daniel Hawksford	...	Mike

Directed by
Karl Golden

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Cris Cole		screenplay

Produced by
Robert Bernstein	....	producer
Matt Delargy	....	co-producer
Christopher Figg	....	executive producer
Mark Foligno	....	co-producer
Hugo Grumbar	....	executive producer
Jane Hooks	....	line producer
John McDonnell	....	producer
Steve Milne	....	co-producer
Douglas Rae	....	producer
James Saynor	....	co-producer
Deepak Sikka	....	co-producer
Nicola Stean	....	assistant development producer
Robert Whitehouse	....	executive producer
Mark Woolley	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Niall Byrne

Cinematography by
Darran Tiernan

Film Editing by
Martin Brinkler

Casting by
Gail Stevens

Production Design by
Richard Bullock

Art Direction by
Rosie Jones

Costume Design by
Camille Benda

Makeup Department
Vikki Lawson	....	makeup designer
Zoey Stones	....	makeup supervisor

Production Management
Kayleigh Cruickshank	....	unit manager
Daniel Gulliver	....	production manager
Alistair Hopkins	....	post-production supervisor
Nina Khan	....	post-production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lucy Egerton	....	second assistant director
Andy Hodgson	....	third assistant director
Terence Madden	....	second assistant director
Nickie Sault	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Joe Barcham	....	standby props: dailies
Polly Benson	....	assistant art director
Andrew Brand	....	props
Alex Giles	....	carpenter
Jim Mate	....	property master
Ruth Parker	....	assistant art director
Rose Pomeroy	....	scenic artist
Dean Spicksley	....	props dresser

Sound Department
Merlin Bonning	....	sound assistant
Jamie Caple	....	dialogue editor
Simon Epstein	....	foley editor
Lee James	....	boom operator
Marc Lawes	....	sound effects editor
Mitch Low	....	production sound mixer
Billy Mahoney	....	dubbing mixer
Claire Mahoney	....	foley artist
Adam Powell	....	assistant dubbing mixer
Nigel Squibbs	....	adr mixer
Chris Sturmer	....	dolby sound consultant
Jason Swanscott	....	foley artist

Visual Effects by
Simon Kilroe	....	lead compositor: vfx
Lewis Saunders	....	compositor
Shanaullah Umerji	....	visual effects producer

Stunts
Neil Finnighan	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
David Ashby	....	grip
Si Bell	....	second camera loader
Freddie Bonfanti	....	electrician (as Federico Bonfanti)
Andrew Bradley	....	camera trainee
Daniel Edwards	....	focus puller: 2nd Unit
Jermaine Edwards	....	camera trainee
Jamie Hicks	....	camera operator: 2nd unit
Kirstin McMahon	....	first assistant camera
Danny Mendieta	....	second assistant camera
Dean Rogers	....	still photographer
Susanna Wyatt	....	still photographer

Casting Department
Colin Jones	....	casting associate

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Orla Smyth	....	costume assistant: dailies
Rachel Vallance	....	costume supervisor
Emma Vickers	....	costume assistant
Laura Venables	....	costume supervisor: london (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Mike Andrews	....	digital film technician
Anya Dillon	....	first assistant editor
Tim Drewett	....	digital film technician
Des Murray	....	on-line editor
Katy Piggott	....	digital intermediate technician
Gareth Spensley	....	senior colorist
Gemma Townsend	....	digital intermediate technician

Music Department
Alison Butters	....	music clearance
Liz Gallacher	....	music supervisor

Transportation Department
Abigail Atkinson	....	runner driver
Abbie Brandon	....	runner driver
Richard Brooks	....	unit driver
Ian Malcolm	....	unit driver

Other crew
Harvey Ascott	....	floor runner: dailies
Mark Birmingham	....	production accountant
Sara Curran	....	legal services
Rachel Dargavel	....	researcher
San Davey	....	script supervisor
Sophie Falkner	....	production staff
Anna Green-Armytage	....	assistant to Robert Bernstein and Douglas Rae
Chris Harris	....	additional stills
Louise Knight	....	production coordinator
Al Mackay	....	location scout: london (as Alastair Mackay)
Russell Noon	....	assistant coordinator
Billy Pegg	....	location manager
Bobby Prince	....	location scout
Tanya Ruby	....	assistant accountant
James Waddingham	....	rushes runner
Daniel Wiernicki	....	floor runner
Gareth Lewis	....	floor runner: dailies (uncredited)

Production Companies

• EM Media
• Ecosse Films
• Icon Entertainment International
• Molinare Studio

Distributors

• Film1 (2011) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
• Icon Film Distribution (2012) (Australia) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Arion Facilities  telecine dailies
• Audiolink Radio Communications  walkie talkies
• Cutting Edge Group  music services
• Film Finances  completion guarantor
• PS-PostScript  post-production script
• Take 2 Film Services  camera equipment provided by

Also Known As:

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Filming Locations:

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

EM Media

Quotes:

Nikko:I once went out with a girl and we're both going to kill ourselves. Turned out one of us wasn't serious.

Teenflick formula does difficult subject - rather well

Pelican Blood is a small budget indie film that most certainly will not be to everyone's taste. It will require an exceedingly open mind to get involved with (rather than repelled by) the story, which concerns two teenagers that met on a suicide website – probably something like 'slashmywrists.com.' Its sexually charged, unpredictable plot, and unravelling, testosterone-fuelled emotion, will give you a drug induced high as it rips your heart to shreds and offers you a few pieces for keepsakes.

This film is fast and funky and deadly serious, and massively flawed, yet just about succeeds in its difficult central premise. There is none of the arty at-a-distance feel of Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides. There's no chance of treating it as an aesthetic exercise, intangible and distanced from any sense of close reality. Pelican Blood's protagonists are full-blooded, off-centre youngsters that are in a compulsive love affair, both with each other and the idea of their own eventual extinction. If you have ever been caught in a relationship that you know is 'wrong' for you both but equally inescapable, you will have an idea of the obsessive love tantalisingly portrayed. If you were in their place, you can imagine feeling the same. A punchy soundtrack and attractive, highly competent young actors help to make Pelican Blood unsettling yet compulsive viewing.

Nikko survived a recent suicide attempt and narrowly avoided being sectioned. "I once went out with a girl and we were both going to kill ourselves. Turns out one of us wasn't serious," he declares at the beginning of the movie. He used to self-harm, but gave it up by promising himself suicide - which 'sounds better, more real.' He doesn't take medication as it 'turns him into a zombie.' He can't bear the thought of going back in the loony bin – barely repressed tears convince us of his sincerity. Nikko's not 'nuts' – he just doesn't want to live. Nothing against life - just that, "If life doesn't work out for you then going through the motions is the biggest tragedy." He is a geek. His only outlet is birdwatching. Something he also does very seriously. Each sighting noted down with meticulous detail. When he gets to 500, he's promised himself the big treat. And he's at 498.

Stevie is a girl that any red-blooded man could fall in love with at 500 paces. It is only later that we discover that she is bi-polar and also suicidally fixated. (Which maybe helps explain why she's attracted to a no-hoper like Nikko.) Stevie's an extreme animal rights activist. Throwing protest paint-bombs from high buildings and with no safety rail gets her high. Nikko's pals call her 'the bipolar whack-job.' (She calls his ornithology mates something even less repeatable.) His idea of a date is (quite unsurprisingly) going to a bird sanctuary. She almost has to beg him for a kiss (but he does eventually put his hand down her pants as she holds the binoculars). Stevie really couldn't care less about spotting birds - but she will happily go ballistic to thrash someone they catch stealing eggs. When Nikko and Stevie have sex, they enjoy 'suicide games' for afters. Sharp blades or helium. They're in love and the chemistry is electric.

Pelican Blood is a fast and queasy affair bolstered by a good soundtrack and predictable (if none the less effective) montage and other standard teenflick formulae. Their love affair escalates from deep romance dance-y music to sombre black rock; and descending half tones to ratchet up the sentimental bonding while macho talk from Nikko's mates keeps the cheesiness at bay. This is a constantly unsteady balancing act and veers dangerously into becoming clichéd. I also found I couldn't quite hit ecstatic heights at seeing honey buzzard (number 499), even when its devotee is leaping through fields in slo-mo and a poetic voice-over extols the wonders of this rare flying biped. Needless to say, accidents will happen and things do not go smoothly for ill-fated lovers. It's not exactly Virginia Woolf and The Hours, but is the pain of illness any the less real if he's a buckle short of a straightjacket? The ending has a beautiful bitter-sweet twist and rescues the film from the seemingly inescapable nose-dive into a black hole. Too weird to be called a romcom, it will need some clever marketing to find packed cinemas.

If you think this film isn't going to work out for you, it probably won't and you should avoid it. But if you can handle sailing into unknown waters with a stellar young cast and a fearless director, go for it. And don't worry about the title – you can look that up afterwards.

ps an excellent soundtrack by the way. I hope they release it.