footballmonk Reviews

Awaydays (2009)

Disappointing

[4/10 · 2 August 2009]

Having read Kevin Sampson's thoughtful novel the screen version is something of a disappointment. Characterisation and motivation are largely over-looked in favour of scenes of adrenaline-charged violence. The clothing and style of the era are meticulously created for "The pack" (the hooligan group that Carty joins) but you have to question why the people they fight are generally older less fashionably dressed groups. The pack also emerge from every fight with barely an injury. The music itself is good but often misused - is Joy Division's delicately mournful "The Eternal" really an appropriate soundtrack to a group of bovver boys snarling their way down the street? Shane Meadows "This is England" offers a far superior vision of the period.

Obcan Havel (2008)

A fascinating cinema verite-style portrait

[9/10 · 2 August 2009]

Vaclav Havel confirms his status as one of the most likable men to ever win office in this intriguing film, made over nearly a decade. It's a measure of the man that he's prepared to be so open (joking about his hopes to lose the election, complaining about American food) and shows the contrast with most of today's micro-managed spin-friendly gravy train riders. Many of his meetings take place in smoke and alcohol filled rooms, further marking him as a politician of the old school. The action centres not so much on political decision making (the president is largely a ceremonial position) but more the niceties of diplomacy, both foreign and working with a prime minister he despised. There are plenty of laughs to be had as well as poignant episodes such as the death of his first wife, which is sensitively handled. One of the most illuminating political films of the 21st century.

Family Nest (1979)

Bleak early Tarr film

[11 April 2006]

Bela Tarr's first full length film is a bleak indictment of communist housing policy; A young couple and their daughter are forced to live with the husband's family in a tiny flat in which tempers frequently flare. The close camera work and grainy documentary style capture the claustrophobia and indignity of life at close quarters with those you don't like; the father-in-law is a malevolent Iago-esquire figure, forever whispering conspiracies to his son. The couple are desperate to leave, but, as their meetings with the government officials show, there is no prospect of escape for years to come; This is despite many usable flats standing empty, unused for bureaucratic reasons.. We learn more of the characters as the second half of the film effectively becomes a series of monologues, which further convey what a bleak place 1970's Hungary was.