therealgoatee Reviews

Chunky Monkey (2001)

Intriguing but not as interesting or offensive as it sets out to be

[4/10 · 4 January 2004]

David Threlfall is suitably menacing as a psychotic loner who, stuck with the murdered body of his local curry house, has nothing to do but prepare for his regular sexual encounter with a tub of Ben And Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream and a local am-dram actress with a passing resemblance to Julie Andrews. His evening is ruined when a succession of visitors invite themselves in.

What follows is described by the tagline as containing "moments of inoffensive material". The language is strong, the violence is graphic, the sexual content is unseen but highly dubious. Many people will take exception to the depiction of Jesus Christ as a strapping black man with a huge Afro hairdo, who sits benignly through all the various shenanigans, smiling or laughing quietly to himself. Some people may even be offended by the suggestion that Julie Andrews (in her Sound Of Music novice nun role) is the object of a bizarre sexual fetish.

No matter. The film is not, it turns out, as offensive as it tries to be. In particular, the violence fails to shock because we are expecting it throughout. Of course, we know something that the other characters don't, namely, that Donald is a homicidal maniac.

The film is shot on DV and its limitations are clear; the lighting is patchy and the colour balance is inconsistent.

I really wanted to like this film. Its premise is excellent and it has obviously been assembled with more care than the average British independent film. There are a couple of nice touches and special effects that are slightly unexpected in a film of this genre. However, it is only funny in patches rather than humorous throughout and it is difficult to see where much of the budget has been spent. It is also claustrophobic, most of the action situated in only one room. If it had been a play, the critics would have raved; as a film, Chunky Monkey looks set to be overlooked.

The Surprise Party (2001)

Pretty good within its severely limited budget

[5/10 · 21 November 2003]

First things first: this film was obviously made for a tiny fraction of the budget most Hollywood films get. Sometimes there are errors. The colour balance wobbles and every now and again you can spot the shadows or reflections of members of the crew.

It's also mostly an unknown cast. Colin Ferguson is the nearest thing the show has to a star but is probably to be remembered mostly for his turn in the ill-fated US version of Coupling.

Finally, the film is in danger of veering towards vanity-project territory, with Garrett Rice not only nabbing writer, producer and director credits, but also playing in the band that provides the songs.

Fortunately, none of that really matters - it's a charming, if rather lightweight, story that neatly transposes many of the usual chick-flick conventions.

It's also (perhaps a little surprisingly) really quite funny. Some characters are there "just for laughs" - our hero's geeky housemate, for example - but unlike certain other films of the genre, they don't start to irritate after about five seconds of screen time.

But ultimately, it works because it's believable and the performances are honest: you can see and sympathise with our hero's anger at his betrayal, then his frustration at the realisation that he still wants the girl. It's an uncomplicated, undemanding film but an entertaining one.

Club Le Monde (2002)

High-quality independent film that deserves great success

[9/10 · 14 August 2002]

Club Le Monde is a very rare film indeed: a completely independent British film with the quality, charm and good-humour to deserve massive commercial success. Whether it achieves this remains to be seen, but it certainly should.

Set in a seedy nightclub in 1993, the film follows a large ensemble cast as they spend the night drinking, dancing, trying to have sex, taking drugs and piercing parts of their bodies. What could have been a confusing melee of characters - some of whom appear and disappear within a few minutes - is, in fact, an easy-to-follow and downright hilarious story of a bunch of strangers simply having a good time.

Such is the quality of the script that the whole experience of watching Club Le Monde feels much like a night out in a club in its own right. Things start slowly; people come and go; things start to heat up; you start to recognise some of the people around the place; and by the end, the audience is left feeling exhausted, that they've had an exciting, if relatively harmless and meaningless, time.

Simon Rumley has enjoyed enormous critical, if not commercial, success in his films to date. This one leaves his previous work far behind, inasmuch as it is a fully-rounded masterwork from someone who truly seems to understand his peers and the English language.

The Truth Game (2001)

A tense, gruesomely fascinating ensemble piece

[7/10 · 6 March 2002]

The Truth Game, the middle film in Simon Rumley's trilogy about young Londoners at the turn of the Millennium, was in fact the final one to be written and, in places, it seems as though this could be a problem. Rather like Tarantino's Jackie Brown, Rumley's third film as writer is an odd mixture of greater maturity but less care. It has neither the originality of Strong Language (= Pulp Fiction) nor the pace of Club Le Monde (Reservoir Dogs) but nonetheless remains an exceptional piece of writing and an interesting, occasionally hilarious film.

The premise is laughably simple - six friends meet up for dinner and, despite being best mates, all lie to each other - but it is the execution that is fascinating: the camera is, in best docu-soap tradition, an unflinching fly-on-the-wall that ensures that the audience as aware of every lie and every unfaithfulness each of the characters commits.

It is fair to say that the characters are pretty unlikable but, like an episode of Eastenders, that is part of the grim fascination. Everyone has cheated on everyone else and they all suspect it - the tension is palpable from the opening scene onwards. Indeed, it is safe to say that "fascinating", rather than "fun" or "enjoyable", is the best way of describing the experience of watching this film.

Rumley's expert scripting (which, like Strong Language, seems quasi-autobiographical) is not quite matched by his directing which, whilst mostly good, falters in a couple of places. However, being an enclosed, ensemble-piece, the film is made or broken on the quality of the performances. In all but one case, these are excellent: intense yet natural.

It's not Rumley's best but as a companion to his other films, The Truth Game is indispensable.

Strong Language (2000)

A brave experiment that works brilliantly

[8/10 · 13 March 2000]

Strong Language is one of those films that sounds like an awful idea on paper: a little-known, independent British film, made on a tiny budget with a virtually unknown cast. On top of that, there is no real plot (although there is a continuous story - more about that in a moment) and the actors are, for the most part, working from a script that they themselves helped to write in extensive improvisation sessions. The film is also perhaps unique in having seventeen cast members, none of whom ever meet up on screen.

The basic principle is simple: the characters, all young Londoners from a variety of backgrounds, speak to the audience, Talking Heads-style, about issues that affect them: music, alcohol, drugs, sex, and even some politics. Some of the comments are funny, some absolutely hilarious, and a few are even quite profound.

As in real life, there is a broad cross-section of society represented, and if sometimes the characters seem a little stereotyped, then this is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps the audience identify with - or laugh at - some of their more outrageous suggestions. There is a supermarket shelf stacker, a fetish model, a teacher, and a young lady who is "far too busy to work". The audience finds itself alternately roaring with laughter at some of the unbelievable points of view put forward, or nodding in sympathy. Some of the characters are racist, some are sexist, some are fascist. Strong Language means exactly that: it has not done its job if it does not shock as much as it amuses.

As the film progresses, we discover that there is order to this apparently random collection of anecdotes. A single central story starts to emerge from the most mysterious of the characters, around which the others continue to discuss their various issues. And in the last three minutes of the film we discover something else about all of the characters, which I won't spoil for you here.

Writer/producer/director Simon Rumley clearly has a gift for words on a par with, say, Quentin Tarantino; and in a sense, there is a distinct similarity in directorial style as well. But Tarantino is equally happy letting hard action tell the story, while Rumley, possibly because of budget constraints, has had to rely on words alone. Fortunately, it works brilliantly, although it is a lot more effective watching it in a cinema or with a group of friends than on your own.

Overall, I rate this film highly, and would not hesitate to recommend it. Here is proof, as if it were needed, that it is not always the worst films that fail to find a decent distribution deal.