There's always something more affecting about a story set above a wintery snowline, and though this drama in itself is not really anything special, the effort from Nick Nolte is. "Wade" is the local sheriff who is held in disdain by just about everyone from his disparaging ex-wife (Mary Beth Hurt) to his brute of a father (James Coburn). Then he hears of a fatal hunting accident and decides to investigate. Finally with some purpose, he begins to suspect that this wasn't just a simple slip on the ice incident, but that there are more nefarious plans afoot that could affect everyone living in this small community. As his self-imposed pressure mounts, we realise that he is only just on the right side of sane and is really struggling to keep it that way. Initially his investigations are derided but that just seems to galvanise him further, and drive him nearer to the edge. Might he be right about the conspiracy? Well that's not so important as the really potent effort from Nolte as a man dealing with a backstory from hell, a family who are at best indifferent to his plight, and an increasingly toxic professional reality that gradually sees him reduced to nothing - an angry and despairing nothing. It's all about obsession, and about the dangers to the mind and body when that is unfettered. Coburn features menacingly, if sparingly, and Sissy Spacek also works well as the concerned but wary "Margie". It has something of the sins of the father about it, and sees this actor give what is, for me anyway, his career best performance. It's at times quite a depressing and bleak film, but no worse for that.
Reviews
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Vagabond
(1985)
Vagabond
15 May 2024
Sandrine Bonnaire delivers really quite well in this observational drama of a young, rootless, girl who roams the countryside living from hand to mouth. Now we start with "Mona" dead in a ditch - so there's little jeopardy, but that also serves a useful frame of reference to this depiction of her last fortnight or so of life. It's presented episodically as she encounters a goat-herder, squats with a pot-smoker for a few days, falls in love with an handsome Tunisian grape-picker and my own favourite - manages to get quite well oiled with a curmudgeonly old lady who simply needed to let her hair down. Each day brings her something new and the flashback style of storytelling allows us to reset a little between her adventures. Each time she, and we, feel maybe there is sense that hope isn't far away as she plays a game of Russian Roulette with her daily life. Some people are sympathetic, some downright hostile and it's all of these characteristics that contribute well to this punchy portrait of a strong woman who has no idea what she wants, nor what she doesn't want either. Does she clamour for peace, quiet, security? Does she thrive better on the unpredicable? One of my favourite Varda films - it's freedom and openness of visuals and spirit is compellingly augmented by Bonnaire and a cast of engaging character actors some you might like and some you probably won't. To what extent this is an accurate representation of rural life and small village mentality is also a question we are left to assess for ourselves and it all makes for a drama that works on several levels.
Young Ones
(2014)
Bad Land: Road to Fury
15 May 2024
No pun intended, but this is a really dry drama that assembles a decent enough cast but struggles with a really thin story. Climate change has played havoc with the water supply and so a sort of bartering arrangement has evolved between those who control the piped distribution and those who need to drink! Farmer "Ernest" (Michael Shannon) and his family are still trying to make a go of things amongst an environment of extortion and banditry - but he has one advantage. A machine that can do much of the manual work for them and one that proves useful when it comes to trading for water. Daughter "Mary" (Elle Fanning) has a boyfriend "Clem" (Nicholas Hoult) whom her father neither likes nor trusts, and when an accident occurs on a trip the two men take into the mountains, the young son "Jerome" (Kodi Smit-McPhee) gradually begins to smell a rat. With "Clem" now married to his sister, though, it is tough for "Jerome" to take his revenge. It's all perfectly adequate this in a sort of "Mad Max" light fashion, but there is little by way of characterisation and neither Hoult nor Smit-McPhee have very much to work with as the glaring sun and environmental challenges ram home much more of the message here the any of the writing does. It's adequately enough produced and edited but is really little better than afternoon television fodder that you'll quickly forget - even if you were in it.
Loveless
(2017)
Loveless
15 May 2024
"Zhenya" (Maryana Spivak) and husband "Boris" (Aleksey Rozin) are in the final throes off their divorce proceedings and boy, can't that come soon enough. Their relationship has become the epitome of toxicity and is seriously stressing out their son "Alyosha" (Matvey Novikov). Not only must he share their small flat with them, but he must also listen to their increasingly caustic conversations that frequently concern him and his custody. I'm not sure his self-obsessed parents realise that he can hear every word and indeed it's probably forty-eight hours before either of them realise that they haven't seen him for a while. They try his friends - of whom he has few, his school and trawl the neighbourhood. All to no avail so the police are called in and the search becomes more urgent. Has he just fled to get some loving affection and attention from his warring parents or is something more sinister afoot? What is curious to start with here is that this couple could ever have loved each other in the first place. He's about as selfish as it's possible to be and she, well she's a pretty ghastly piece of work - a chip off the old block when we meet her equally odious mother (Natalya Potapova). The film doesn't conclude in any traditional sense but the photography in an abandoned building towards the end (part one) offers us quite an allegorical look at that which was once functional and even good is now rotting away through neglect and indifference. The part two of the end takes us forwards a few years and without providing us with answers, does make some suggestions that seem to fit complementarily with the whole bleakness of this analysis of human nature at it's most introspectively angry and egotistical. The acting from the two principles is taut and plausible and the effective depiction of negative energy is potent throughout - even when they need to work together. Aptly titled, then again maybe not entirely?
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger
15 May 2024
Using some rarely seen interview footage of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and very, very, few industry talking heads, this is a fitting tribute to two men who trail-blazed British cinema in the 1940s and truly inspired the presenter - Martin Scorsese. His pieces to camera are sparingly interspersed into his narration of the astonishingly bold and creative aspiration of these film-makers who made a range of films ranging from lightly comedic romances through the dark times of WWII and their more propagandist elements, to full blown theatrical adaptations using great artistes like Moira Shearer, Robert Helpmann, Robert Sounseville, Ludmilla Tcherina and the usually present Anton Walbrook. In partnership with the additional, often inspired, vision of regular cinematographers like Jack Cardiff and Christopher Challis they used colour, shade, light and most importantly (I think) music to augment some stirring characterisations and potent stories that tackled a plethora of topics that resonated strongly with audiences hitherto unexposed to the sheer grandeur of the experience on the screen before them. The documentary is composed so as to leave virtually all of the heavy lifting to the pair themselves. Scorsese gently, but enthusiastically and insightfully, guides us through their careers without spending much time on their personal lives or other distractions, and that allows us to savour the variety of the Archer's productions, the delicacy of their writing - especially from David Niven, Roger Livesey and Kim Hunter in "A Matter of Life and Death" (1946), and leaves us with a sympathetically and critically crafted appraisal of two cinema geniuses. It's a chronology of sorts, but not just of film making - it tells us a little about the evolving attitudes and tastes of the audiences too.
REC
(2007)
(Rec)
15 May 2024
"Ángela" (Manuela Velasco) is a pushy television reporter who is with her cameraman "Pablo" (Pablo Rosso) doing a feature about some local hunky firemen. When they are called to an emergency, they accompany the crews but upon arrival the find themselves subject to a terrifying lock-in as the raging fire proves not to be their most imminent danger. It seems that there is also something afoot that is hungry, and that hunger breeds more hunger... It's filmed from the perspective of the camera and has a lot of "Blair Witch" (1999) to it - and that's where I lost interest. The intensity of the photography in the dark and winding corridors of this expansive apartment block works quite well for about ten minutes, thereafter the hysterical acting, constant screaming and overdoses of ketchup just made me think that they hadn't the budget or the imagination to make something different or memorable. If Velasco's plan was to make the audience dislike her character intensely then she hit the nail on the head and if I'd been one of the fire crew trying to save lives amidst her increasingly annoying histrionics, I'd have happily sacrificed her to their tormentors. It doesn't hang about, but even at just eighty minutes I was weary of it's repetition. Not for me, sorry.
Shallow Grave
(1994)
Shallow Grave
15 May 2024
Three flatmates are having some fun recruiting a fourth to share their spacious Glasgow apartment. "Juliet" (Kerry Fox) is a doctor; "Alex" (Ewan McGregor) is a tabloid journalist and finally "David" (Christopher Eccleston) is an accountant. Despite their differences this trio quite effectively rub along together. It's the doc who first meets the enigmatic "Hugo" (Keith Allen) who convinces the gang - thanks largely to his large wad of cash - that he is their perfect fit. He disappears into his room and after a few days of radio silence, they have to break down the door for a vision of him dead on a bed with a suitcase full of loot underneath it! Should they call the police or should they do a bit of DIY body disposal and keep it all? That's the premiss as they take the latter route and find themselves amidst a series of increasingly perilous scenarios that will change them and their relationship for ever. Yes, it's totally far-fetched but the characters work well together as the simplicity of their ideal becomes compromised in a sea of mistrust, greed and kitchen knives. It's the understated Miller who steals this for me, and there's a fun contribution from Colin McCredie as their would be sharer "Cameron" and Ken Stott's policeman "McCall" who has a pretty quirky approach to policing. There are a few plot holes but they don't really matter as this amiably comedic assessment of human nature races along entertainingly for ninety minutes.
The Odyssey
(2016)
L'odysée
15 May 2024
Lambert Wilson is the innovative underwater explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau in this rather unremarkable depiction of his life and career. He is married to Simone (Audrey Tautou) but has a bit of a wandering eye so they become maritally estranged, even though they continue to live and workout on their converted WWII minesweeper "Calypso". Needless to say, this puts some strain on the rest of the family, not least upon his relationship with his publicity magnet, heart-throb, eldest Philippe (Pierre Niney). The latter man's character is used as a barometer a little here to measure the actions of his father. The exploration activities must face stark realities. Money is needed to buy the 1½ tons of fuel the ship needs each trip, and that's before wages and other costs associated with their more scientific endeavours have to be paid. This leads to Cousteau becoming more of a businessman with almost corporate responsibilities. It's those activities that see a split between father and son that lasts until a trip to the Antarctic that sees a well documented tragedy hit the family. For the most part this is a soap opera of a film with nowhere near enough focus on what made the man famous in the first place. There is some underwater photography to liven things up, and a sequence with an expanding group of sharks that's quite menacingly filmed, but there's not really enough of that to compensate for the listless melodrama that's played out. The camera does love Niney and Tautou, and Wilson is competent enough in what is essentially a light-weight and slightly adulatory tale of a man who was clearly much more interesting, flawed and charismatic than we see here.
Happiness
(1965)
Le bonheur
14 May 2024
Ha! Talk about having your cake and eating it! "François" (Jean-Claude Drouot) is happily married to "Thérèse" (Claire Drouot) and living in a small apartment with their two children "Pierrot" and "Gisou". They are a loving couple and seem perfectly content with life. Then "François" is despatched to do some work away from home and when calling his boss from the post office encounters "Émilie" (Marie-France Boyer) with whom he swaps a smile. That's just the beginning as the two chat a little, flirt a little and then... Now he isn't a bad man in any malevolent sense, he genuinely loves his wife and makes it clear to his new friend that she will always take priority - a situation that "Émilie" appears to be quite willing to accept - albeit reservedly. Thing is, on a family picnic he decides that it's only fair that his wife know the truth. On the face of it, at least that's an half way honest thing to do but, well you'll have to watch and see. There's something unnervingly inconclusive about this film. Nobody is inherently bad or evil or even deliberately thoughtless, yet he is possibly one of the most selfish people I've ever seen (benignly) portrayed in cinema. He genuinely thinks his cherry-picking, almost like a job-share, arrangement will satisfy these women. That because they are enough (for now, presumably) for him that they will be content to share him! It's tightly cast with a sufficient minimum of dialogue to augment a story that is surprisingly thought-provoking to watch. Maybe a little over-scored but well worth eighty minutes before a denouement that might make you want to look your own partner in the eye! Or maybe into a mirror...?
Tombs of the Blind Dead
(1972)
Tombs of the Blind Dead
14 May 2024
It's fair to say that "Virginia" (María Elena Arpón) isn't the sharpest tool in the box when she gets fed up with the flirting of her travelling companions "Roger" (César Burner) and "Betty" (Lone Fleming) and abandons their slowly moving Portuguese train in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately, she stumbles upon what looks like a ruined monastery and having built a pretty impressive fire from a few twigs, settles down in her sleeping bag for a good night's sleep. No chance. Barely have her eyes closed than things are going bump in the night. The bodies of the condemned Knights Templar buried on the site resurrect themselves and are are thirsty! Feeling a little guilty next day, her two friends try to trace her movements but are ill-equipped for what they find - especially when their horses take flight. Soon the police, some local smugglers and a comically staged cat-fight provide a little entertainment as these wraith like versions of Richard the Lionheart continue to wreak havoc... It's actually quite fun, this film. By no means can it be called good and the acting (and writing) is pretty woeful, but it does make use of it's creepy monastic surroundings quite well, with loads of creaking and dimly lit passageways. There's some fun to be had in a mannequin factory (they don't react too well to fire) too, and there's loads of hysterical screaming - from both sexes. It's way too long with far too much padding, but it's still quite an entertaining horror that can make you laugh.
The Almond and the Seahorse
(2022)
The Almond and the Seahorse
14 May 2024
Celyn Jones takes the plaudits here with an engaging and considered performance as the amiable "Joe". Married to "Sarah" (Rebel Wilson), he is suffering from a regressive form of amnesia that might soon ensure he has no idea who she is. Though caring, she is struggling with this traumatic and frustratingly repetitive existence and using their doctor "Falmer" (Meera Syal) as a sort of conduit, we meet other people whose relationships and lives are being eroded by similar forms of cerebral wasting away. Apparently the film's title comes from two parts of the brain that are similarly shaped and that deal with memory - and for a while this is quite a poignant look at how people must deal with such an intangible illness. Those affected don't miss what they never had, so increasingly it's those around them who must reconcile themselves to lives where they have to learn play a different part to the one they signed up for. Aside from the quite touching effort from Jones, though, the rest of this is really poorly written and prone to too many tangents. The sexualising of the relationship between "Sarah" and "Toni" (Charlotte Gainsbourg) who's long term partner, a skilful cellist, has been admitted for observation suggest some need for diversion and hope amidst the relatives, but quickly fizzles out bringing nothing at all to the story. The cynical and aloof characterisation of "Falmer" - who may, or may not, have issues of her own, is so devoid of sympathy that I found her very difficult to believe. There are some thought-provoking threads to consider here, but Wilson isn't really a very compelling actor to watch. The whole thing relies too much on the use of prop cigarettes and upon our own, innate, attitudes of compassion and appreciation of the frustrations rather then using the characters to depict them. It skates on far too thin ice most of the time, and is really quite disappointing.
The Quiet American
(2002)
The Quiet American
13 May 2024
Veteran journalist "Fowler" (Sir Michael Caine) is coming to the end of his time in Vietnam. Despite the fact that French colonial influence is waning and the Americans are desperate to stop the Communist insurgents, his employers just don't think he needs to be on-site to file his dwindling number of reports. He has a local interest in "Phuong" (Do The Hai Yen) though, and wants to stay put while he organises a divorce from his British wife. To keep his bosses at bay, he organises a trip up country to interview the powerful "General Thé" (Huang Hai) to get the lowdown on what is really happening in the countryside. Coincidentally, he also happens upon the newly arrived "Pyle" (Brendan Fraser) who has come to doctor the increasing number of wounded as this conflict erupts. It does seem a little odd that this man wants to follow "Fowler" on his perilous mission and soon a twist in the tail emerges that uncovers a complicated operation involving the CIA with nobody quite whom they appear to be. The story is told in continuous flashback, so we do know what happens at the end before we get there - though not the cause. What's interesting is trying to find out just how involved, complicit even, the Briton was in that denouement. Some of it was filmed on location which added to the authentic look of the film and there's quite a decent chemistry between an on-form Sir Michael and the usually pretty wooden Fraser as the two men see their friendship gradually disappear in a well paced rear view mirror of mistrust and duplicity.
The Life of Emile Zola
(1937)
The Life of Emile Zola
13 May 2024
Emile Zola liked nothing better than an opportunity to cause a bit of scandal and over the years that made him a wealthy man, but earned him the enmity of pretty much all of the Establishment. France was still finding it's political feet with the second empire giving way to the third republic, the Germans were across the border heavily armed and the French military under considerable pressure to keep their country safe. It was this last point that led to the infamous "Dreyfus" affair. The High Command essentially framing a young officer (Joseph Schildkraut) for treason and banishing him to the aptly named Devil's Island. There's some disquiet about this process in Paris and Zola (Paul Muni) decides that only he has the profile (and the wit) to make some accusations that will see him in court defending a libel action whilst giving him a well publicised platform to criticise the army's behaviour. The busy courtroom drama that ensues serves well to illustrate the difficulties in fighting for the truth when the state and the generals have no interest in perpetuating this story. It's also at this stage that the film is at its most entertainingly combative. Donald Crisp is quite effective as his defence solicitor and the assemblage of familiar faces on the unformed side - notably Louis Calhern, show us just how devious and malevolent these people can be when they are turned upon. It's a bit verbose at times, but then it is about a writer, and the ending is all a bit rushed. It's not really a story about the life of this acclaimed author, it's more a critique on the trial and on the state of France justice. I could have done with a little more about what made him tick but William Dieterle chose the more dramatic and straightforward path. That's a pity, but Muni and the sparingly used Schildkraut both deliver well.
Nightlife
(1976)
Nightlife
12 May 2024
Remember those screen-savers you used to get that were seen on the television to help soothe and calm people or to to help them nod off to sleep? Well this example of some gorgeous underwater photography could readily accomplish that too. Some of these organisms could also easily inspire the most fantastic designs for the sci-fi genre too as we see a myriad of creatures that exist beneath the waves off the Irish coast. The colours, shapes and movement of these animals is nicely captured without the aid of any commentary, and the clever use of classical themes complements the peaceful and the more menacing, the comical and the threatening and it's quite a fascinating ten minutes to watch.
The Morning Spider
(1976)
The Morning Spider
12 May 2024
A spider is just trying to go about it's sticky business in the undergrowth but nothing is going to plan. It's web is completely useless at catching flies, the other insects just giggle at it and it can't even get a decent night's sleep for the noise of the cicadas and the caterpillar taking off it's shoes - one at time. Indeed this is not a very menacing beastie at all and the chances of it ever getting a meal of any sort are highly dubious! Until - well let's just say it has a stroke of genius, or does it? Might romance suppress it's appetite for a while? It reminded me a little of one of the early 1970s editions of "Dr. Who" replete with (annoyingly) synthesised soundtrack and plastic foliage but it's quite creatively crafted as the poor creature does exemplify the theory of if at first you don't succeed. It's too long and just a little repetitive but has shades of a silent film to it that I quite enjoyed and the conclusion takes quite a poignant pop at human indifference to nature quite effectively.
The Absent-Minded Waiter
(1977)
The Absent-Minded Waiter
12 May 2024
A couple arrive at a fine dining establishment and specifically ask for the table serviced by "Steven" (Steve Martin). This man can barely hold his pencil up the right way and the ensuing service is shambolic at best. Not unreasonably, she (Teri Garr) isn't very impressed with her husband (Buck Henry) for suggesting this place but he's clearly got a plan - and it could be the gift that keeps on giving. We had a slew of compendium sketch shows in the UK in the 1970s and this would have fitted easily within one of them, only not at what seemed quite a long seven minutes. It's just too ridiculous on just about every level, and isn't really very funny either. Not really for me, sorry.
Éxtasis
(1996)
Éxtasis
12 May 2024
"Rober" (Javier Bardem), "Ona" (Leire Berrocal) and "Max" (Daniel Guzmán) are restless and need a change. How to fund their ambitions? Well that's when they start robbing their family businesses until an incident sees the latter man with an hole in his foot and doing some prison time. It's there that they hit on the idea of fleeing his estranged father. "Daniel" (Federico Luppi) is a successful theatre director and hasn't seen his son since the boy was nine. "Rober" is to pinch his friend's identity and see if he can't dupe the man. What becomes clear is that the older man is all too willing to set aside any scepticism and embrace his new "son" and that is rather where the wheels came off for me. The jovial elements of the drama dried up and the thing became a rather meanderingly cynical story that didn't really seem to root very much in reality. When his son starts sleeping with his girlfriend "Lola" (Silvia Munt) I began to lose interest as it sort of stumbled along to a contrived denouement that didn't really make too much sense. Was "Daniel" just a lonely man looking for the joys of a son, or was he really the most stupid of men? It has it's moments - all in the first fifteen minutes, and perhaps there's a moral about leopards and spots, but it's all just a bit too far-fetched and disappointing. Pity.
The Party
(I) (2017)
The Party
12 May 2024
Yikes, if you thought Abigail had a noxious party, just be glad you didn't get an invitation to this one! "Janet" (Dame Kristen Scott Thomas) receives a call telling her of an important ministerial promotion in the government and some of her friends are coming round to congratulate her. Meantime, her husband (Timothy Spall) is sitting listlessly in a chair supping some wine. As the plaudits fly around the room, he casually makes an announcement that rather rains on his wife's parade. This, however, is just the start of the evening's woes as it turns out that just about everyone has some kind of secret to keep and tempers are about to flare! Spall's "Bill" is probably the most impactful of the characters. Though he actually says very little, he still manages to set the cat amongst these dysfunctional pigeons with aplomb. Thereafter, it's not the most plausible of scenarios - if only because few of these characters would ever be friends in a real scenario. Bruno Ganz delivers some ridiculous one-liners decrying just about everything the West has to offer and Cillian Murphy seems to spend most of his time looking for a flat surface. It's all perfectly toxic, but woefully undercooked and seems more contrived to force animus than to be a remotely realistic gathering of people who share the same friend - even if she is a politician. It's short and sweet, but has too much of the stage play about it and leaves too much of the story outside.
The Green Knight
(2022)
The Green Knight
12 May 2024
Callum Adams is the easy on the eye adventurer at the court of his uncle, the legendary King Arthur. He needs a quest, though. He's restless and wanders the seemingly pretty lawless countryside getting into scrapes as he goes. Then at a banquet, an huge and mysterious knight arrives and dares someone to cut off his head! "Gawain" steps up to the plate only to discover, well you know the myth. It's a story of courage and faith, and had this had a bit more of a budget then it might have delivered a little better. As it is, though, what we really get is a rather meandering collection of loosely connected single-camera cinematography peppered with very little dialogue, some rather wooden acting and a few feebly choreographed combat scenes. It does look quite authentic though, and is rescued to an extent by some intensity from the last ten minutes but it's still quite a long watch for not much action.
Small Body
(2021)
Small Body
12 May 2024
At the start of the 20th century, the young "Agata" (Celeste Cescutti) has a difficult pregnancy that results in the birth of a child that doesn't survive long enough to be baptised. She'd distraught. Not just that she has lost her daughter, but that her child has lost it's chance of eternal peace in Heaven. Then she hears of a remote church far to the north where it is rumoured that they can resurrect the dead for just long enough to perform the ceremony. With her baby in a box and the clothes on her back, she sets off alone and ill provisioned for the trek. Along the way she encounters "Lynx" (Ondina Quadri) who offers to guide her but who is really just part of a lawless band of bandits who decide she'd be useful as a wet nurse! Luckily, they too are set upon and both are freed to continue their journey as the winter closes in and conditions become physically and psychologically desperate. Needless to say, there's not a great deal of trust between these two women but to survive they need to co-operate and maybe there's a chance of salvation for everyone. This is quite a touching story of superstition, certainly, but it also demonstrates the lengths to which a mother will go for her child - even when it lives no more. Cescutti works well delivering that determined and vulnerable role and both her and Quadri take this simple story from auteur Laura Samani and imbue it with quite powerful characterisations. There's not a great deal of dialogue but what there is, partnered with Fredrika Stahl's score, offers us a quest of near biblical proportions that is well worth a watch.
Dramarama
(2020)
Dramarama
12 May 2024
Whilst the premiss of this is nothing remotely new, the acting from these youngsters is actually quite engaging at times. It's their last day before all heading off for their new lives in colleges across the United States, so they get together for a Victorian-inspired murder mystery evening. Things are interrupted when their pizza delivery boy turns out to be "JD" (Zak Henri) who fancies himself as a bit of a wise-cracking Lothario and is rather scathing of their entertainment. Before he leaves, he invites his friend "Gene" (Nick Pugliese) to a party later and that sows the seed for the ensuing, predictable, dissent amongst the group who now proceed to fall out then in again with a teenage regularity. Though the elephant in the room is never actually addressed, it's pretty clear as the conversation develops that none of the gang have ever dated - and with sexual tension (and friction) increasing we sense that there is something that "Gene" is gagging to tell his friends, but he just can't bring himself to. The drama is the usual mix of temperamental and hormonal stuff, but it's surprisingly effective at throwing you back to when you were a teenager (especially if your sexuality didn't quite conform to "norms") and at how decisions on life and love are being made by folk really nowhere near mature enough to handle or understand them. On first look it's not going to amount to much (and "Oscar" (Nico Greetham) just reminded me of the annoying "Kurt" from "Glee"), but the individual efforts do work quite well once we get going. Think "Cluedo" only there's no need to weapons, just tongues and secrets.
Pili
(I) (2017)
Pili
12 May 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Bello Rashid is the eponymous lady who sees an opportunity to take over the local kiosk in her small Tanzanian town. Thing is, she has HIV, no money and two young children who she is desperate to see educated and cared for. Going into business for herself could be the best way to achieve that, and so she approaches the local co-op for a loan whilst she tries to persuade "Mahera" (Nkwabi Elias Ng'angasmala" who owns the shop to let her rent it from him. A combination of events now seem to conspire against her as she must juggle her own medical needs with the needs of her family and her aspirations in a world where everyone is in a similar boat. "Pili" is no stranger to difficulty and at times her character elicits sympathy - especially with the rather odious "Mahera" but at other times she comes across as unrealistically self-centred. More generically, it does offer us a look at life in a community where HIV is rife and where the use of protection is scorned by ignorance and stigma. It's that latter point that is especially well made here. What people will do to avoid shame, especially in a tightly knit and gossip-prone society. The film is all just too lacklustre, though, and whilst I did sympathise with "Pili" and her plight, I didn't especially like her rather weekly depicted character. The acting is all just a little bit flat and this film relies too heavily on the audience's own sense of pity and/or disgust rather than deliver us a story that we can engage more fully with. It's watchable enough, but disappointing.
The Brand New Testament
(2015)
The Brand New Testament
12 May 2024
Next time you are asked to name some famous Belgians, you can add God to the list. He (Benoît Poelvoorde) is a bit of a slob though and lives with his long-suffering wife (Yolanda Moreau) and daughter "Ea" (Pili Groyne). Their son "JC" has moved out and despite his mother's longings, they've lost touch. Now this deity loves nothing more than to cause misery to both mankind and his family, and this irks young "Ea" into doing something about it. She uses his computer to send a message to everyone on earth telling them how long they have left to live - in the hope that is will completely ruin her father's credibility. Not content with that, she decides to recruit half a dozen modern day apostles to change his philosophy a little. To that end she climbs into their washing machine (that's their physical conduit to earth) and sets about recruiting her new friends. Her encounter with the vagrant "Victor" (Marco Lorenzini) makes for a good start as she encounters the whole gamut of society from rich to poor, happy and healthy to anything but, and it turns out that she has quite a decent amount of her own humanity to dispense as the comedy gathers pace and delivers really quiet well. It is satire at it's irreverent best offering a personification of God that could hardly be more different from that put forward by the church, and the surreal nature of some of the characterisations is really quite funny. A glowing fish that just wants to return to the sea; Catherine Deneuve finds new love in a seriously unlikely place; there's some walking on water and when her dad comes after her, well there are some frustrations for him too as he realises that he has no superpowers down amongst the great unwashed. Star of the film? Well that has to be "Kevin" (Gaspard Pauwels) whose message telling him he has 60-odd years left to go encourages him to do just about anything reckless and stupid fearlessly - boy is he in for a shock. Groyne delivers well here as does Thomas Gunzig's writing and whilst it's not exactly sacrilegious, it does ridicule nicely people's psychological dependency on the existence of and belief in an higher power. It's whimsical not spiritual.
The White Ribbon
(2009)
The White Ribbon
12 May 2024
Warning: Spoilers
It all starts when the local doctor (Rainer Bock) is knocked from his horse by some wire carefully strung between two trees. Incapacitated and sent to the (not so) nearby hospital, his is just the start of some fairly brutal mishaps that befall this small rural community as Europe drifts towards the start of the Great War. It's a sort of feudal existence for this community were everything stems from the baron (Ulrich Tukur). When his young son is violently assaulted, tensions run high in the village and as more atrocities emerge they all start to turn on each other and suspicions run high. It might be, though, that the children of the pastor might hold the key. That's what the narrator, and rather naive teacher (Christian Friedl) eventually concludes, but as he investigates as surreptitiously as he can, we find a great deal more going on amidst a village of child molesting, cruelty, adultery and basically anything that could easily contribute to the negative mindset of those carrying out these acts of pretty calculated wickedness. Each of the villagers has their moment in the cinematic sun as we are taken, almost door to door, on a tour of their foibles and peccadilloes. It delivers quite a potent look at the almost, sometimes literal, incestuous nature of country life where people live in fear of losing their patronage and their survival depends on the harvest - and that depends on a God who is represented by Burghart Klaußner's enigmatically characterised pastor. This is a conflicted man more concerned with a status quo than necessarily with the truth. There is mystery here, but that rather fades into the background of quite a disturbing character study that is puzzling and intriguing.
Good Enough: A Modern Musical
12 May 2024
"Jamal" (Jay Towns) is the upcoming basketball player who arranges an hook up on the internet. He is surprised to find that it's college television anchorman "Trevor" (Trey Mendlik) who turns up. That doesn't put them off, and indeed they meet more than once as the latter man begins to fall in love and the former has to come to terms with his own identity. Can they make a go of it? Well jeopardy wasn't high on the writer's list of priorities with this predictably turbulent tale of finding your feet, but it's a little more engaging than your run of the mill gay drama. That's maybe because the supporting characters are a bit stronger. France Jean-Baptiste and Beka both work quite well as the mothers as does Pete Berwick as the layabout and rather odious father of "Trevor" who manages to mix his racism and homophobia in quite a toxically entertaining fashion. It's peppered with some decent enough songs that help it showcase some of the issues faced by young people coming out, and by those dealing with unhappy marriages, drugs, yes all that usual melodrama stuff - but again, it sort of works better than you might expect. It's essentially a project for the stage, though, I think. Cinema doesn't really do it any favours as the audio mix is pretty dire as is the voice dubbing for the songs. In many ways it's no worse than the over-hyped "Theatre Camp" (2023) and won't scare you away. It's aptly named.
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