Tuesday, January 21, 2014

The Pleasure Dome 21st Jan 2014 - Katalin Varga/Don't Talk To Strange Men/The Big Easy

Here's a trial attempt to write 500 words per week on whatever movie or movies I've seen this week, not everything I've seen and not the movies that get highlighted in my monthly diaries, just some films that inspired me to write more than a couple of unintelligible lines. Emboldened by the writings of Graham Greene who wrote something similar every week for several years for a newspaper, the reviews of which were collected in book form under the title The Pleasure Dome. The idea is to become a better writer. But then that's always the idea.




To quote a fellow reviewer, Katalin Varga is a bleak and beautiful film. Just the way I like them, too. Written and directed by English filmmaker Peter Strickland, funded from his own bank account and filmed in Romania with Romanian actors speaking Romanian. Technically this could be another fine film for inclusion in the much-vaunted Romanian New Wave.

It's a slow telling of a woman's quest for revenge nine years after she was raped but it's really not the rape revenge film you're thinking of. Not least because you don't see the rape and the revenge is not sweet or bloody. You do see, however, plenty of atmospheric shots of the countryside, close-ups on troubled faces, meaning conveyed with a nod or a slight movement and plenty of interesting back story inferred rather than explained explicitly.

Newcomer Hilda Peter as the eponymous protagonist carries the entire film on her delicate shoulders but it should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Strickland's followup, Berberian Sound Studio, that the careful use of sound effects and score is the main star of the film, serving to subtly drive proceedings and create an air of foreboding around each moments.

Don’t Talk To Strange Men is essentially a British public service announcement for young girls of the 60s, and a warning for their parents, originally released as the B-movie to Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. It doubles as a very good thriller produced on the outskirts of the social realist movement of the time. The idea of seducing young girls anonymously and the frank look at the effect it can have on previously sensible teenagers is one that is as relevant today as it was in the 1960s but modern cinema could never play things quite so subtly. Director Pat Jackson benefits from a really tight script, on the nose performances and impressive cinematography from Jack Cardiff, to produce an all round gem of a film forgotten in time.

The Big Easy was Jim McBride's followup to his Richard Gere starring reimagining of Godard's Bout de Souffle and boy does it fly in the face of expectations. A New Orleans set neo-noir should be hot, sweaty, sordid and a little bit mystical, essentially everything that Alan Parker's Angel Heart would be the following year but with this Dennis Quaid starrer you're left with a wise-cracking buffoon whose occasional Cajun accent is suspect at best and the only thing hot and sweaty is the chemistry between the sheets he shares with Ellen Barkin and a movie which aims for light hearted entertainment at all the wrong moments. Otherwise it's a very ordinary story of heroin and crooked cops that telegraphs its ultimate villains from the opening scene, one that could have been set in any major American city such is the magnolia nature of proceedings. It will surprise nobody I’m sure to note that Hollywood took note and made sure that Jim McBride didn’t have much of a directorial career after this.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Top 5: 2013 Albums of the Year

Five great albums could easily have been ten. Some of my favourite new albums from 2013:


5. Heart Attack by Man Overboard

Possibly out of place on this otherwise indie-pop list, the third studio album from defenders of pop punk is more than an enjoyable walk down memory lane, their brand of pop-punk/emo is an energetic combination of everything and everyone I ever loved in my late teens but somehow fresh and new and exciting at the same time. Heart Attack demonstrates the sounds of a band who have toured non-stop and matured exponentially as they went.



4. Say Hi To The Band by Stagecoach

The first and, sadly, last album from the indie poppers. Their usual spiky, raucous sound toned down on several wonderful tracks imbued with real melancholy. The standout track for me has to be "A New Hand" and the kind chaps even outdid themselves by allowing me to use the song in my now aborted feature film directorial debut.



3. No Blues by Los Campesinos!

A rather lovely surprise, this fifth album from my favourite Welsh indie popsters is a triumphant return to form after the almost unlistenable self indulgent misery of Hello Sadness. I'd all but given up on them but No Blues is filled with fabulousness and more than its fair share of sporting metaphors. LC4LYF!



2. Love Makes Monsters by My First Tooth

Beautiful. Just beautiful. AND incredibly lovely people. AND have the distinction of playing one of the most memorable gigs of my life during 2013. The horny old goat dude on a Camden sound desk tried his hardest to ruin the sound for the five of us present but My First Tooth rode through it and made flying to England worthwhile.



1. Balancing by The October Game

The album I listened the most this year is an incredible collection of pop songs performed by some of the most talented musicians I've had the pleasure to spend time with. Drifting from pop to post-rock with catchy choruses, eccentric lyrics, heartfelt sentiment and atmospheric nods towards folklore this is an album of different ideas and styles, almost like a greatest hits compilation rather than an album led by one definite concept. Yes, I admit a little bias BUT that doesn't change the fact that I have happily listened to this on repeat for 14 hours.


Thursday, January 2, 2014

2013 So Far (Sep - Dec) Top 5 2013 Releases

The final part of my assessment of the final four months of 2013 is the one most people care about I guess, the best movies released this year. Kind of irrelevant with the year end list coming up but I've seen a massive 65 of them and these are the best 5:

5. Rush - Dir. Ron Howard

4. Frances Ha - Dir. Noah Baumbach


3. August: Osage County - Dir. John Wells


2. Blue Caprice - Dir. Alexandre Moors

1. Gravity - Dir. Alfonso Cuarón


Full list of 2013 movies seen Sep - Dec: Kick-Ass 2, World War Z, Oxyana, Monster's University, The Bling Ring, Burton & Taylor, The Hangover Part III, This is the End, A Single Shot, Rewind This!, Privacy Setting, After Earth, Dead in Tombstone, An Accidental Soldier, The Internship, Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Ass Backwards, Paradise, Man of Steel, White House Down, All is Bright, Crystal Fairy, Some Girl(s), Violet & Daisy, Gravity, Despicable Me 2, Turbo, This is Martin Bonner, Riddick, Earthbound, Blue Caprice, The To-Do List, We're The Millers, McCanick, Mystery Road, The East, The World's End, 2 Guns, The Wolverine, How I Live Now, The Kings of Summer, Elysium, Frances Ha, Prisoners, Machete Kills, Big Sur, A Case of You, The Last Days on Mars, Kilimanjaro, Mood Indigo, Runner Runner, Out of the Furnace, Blue Jasmine, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, The Spectacular Now, Don Jon, Fruitvale Station, Much Ado About Nothing, August: Osage County, Escape Plan, Rush, American Hustle, Computer Chess, Burma

2013 So Far (Sep - Dec) Bottom 5 2013 Releases

My roundup of the third segment of 2013 continues with a look at the worst the year has offered me so far.  Having seen a scandalous 65 releases from 2013 the field was quite competitive, here are the five films I've enjoyed the least:

5. How I Live Now - Dir. Kevin Macdonald
4. Runner Runner - Dir. Brad Furman

3. Turbo - Dir. David Soren

2. Ass Backwards - Dir. Chris Nelson

1. The Hangover Part III - Dir. Todd Phillips

Full list of 2013 movies seen Sep - Dec: Kick-Ass 2, World War Z, Oxyana, Monster's University, The Bling Ring, Burton & Taylor, The Hangover Part III, This is the End, A Single Shot, Rewind This!, Privacy Setting, After Earth, Dead in Tombstone, An Accidental Soldier, The Internship, Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Ass Backwards, Paradise, Man of Steel, White House Down, All is Bright, Crystal Fairy, Some Girl(s), Violet & Daisy, Gravity, Despicable Me 2, Turbo, This is Martin Bonner, Riddick, Earthbound, Blue Caprice, The To-Do List, We're The Millers, McCanick, Mystery Road, The East, The World's End, 2 Guns, The Wolverine, How I Live Now, The Kings of Summer, Elysium, Frances Ha, Prisoners, Machete Kills, Big Sur, A Case of You, The Last Days on Mars, Kilimanjaro, Mood Indigo, Runner Runner, Out of the Furnace, Blue Jasmine, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, The Spectacular Now, Don Jon, Fruitvale Station, Much Ado About Nothing, August: Osage County, Escape Plan, Rush, American Hustle, Computer Chess, Burma

2013 So Far (Sep - Dec) Top 10 Pre-2013 Catchup

Today is marked by three quick recommendation posts, wrapping up the third segment of the year in cinema.

First up, of the 208 films released prior to 2013 seen for the first time during this four month period these are the 10 I enjoyed the most and all come very highly recommended. I've been a lucky boy.

10. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) Dir. Joseph Sargent

9. Electra Glide in Blue (1973) Dir. James William Guercio

8. Nashville (1975) Dir. Robert Altman

7. F for Fake (1973) Dir. Orson Welles

6. Monte Walsh (1970) Dir. William A. Fraker

5. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) Dir. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

4. For a Few Dollars More (1965) Dir. Sergio Leone

3. Black Narcissus (1947) Dir. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

2. Blow Out (1981) Dir. Brian De Palma

1. Army of Shadows (1969) Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Movie Diary #18: December 2013


Happy New Year! Here's to excellent 2014's for all. And good luck to American's who finally have something approaching a worthwhile medical system.

The last month of 2013, a relatively slow one in terms of movie watching, I had a burning urge to take part in the December Challenge, to plough through 100 hundred films without pausing for breath but resisted in favour of having a life. Rare around these parts I'm sure you'll have noticed.

Here's the last post before a full recap. I've got a Top 15 new releases as well as a Bottom 15 new releases. December saw my YTD total reach 150 thanks to viewing a 18 further films from 2013, target reached. A total worthy of assessing, a top fifteen is certainly more worthy if you've seen 150 films than if you've seen 30, therefore my list is the definitive one for the entire planet. Obviously.

72 movies seen in December also took me to 901 YTD, whilst I would have liked to (and it looked certainly possible at one point) reach 1000 films seen in the year it simply was not to be. Taking that number and deducting 2013 releases and the 98 rewatches (10 in December, the month of the happy revisit to childhood past) leaves me with 653 films to choose from for Top 15 pre-2013 discoveries list.

I have a total of 10 recommendations for you film lovers this month, 2 terrible pieces of shit, 5 excellently produced gems and 3 masterpieces. Dig in.

Dire
Runner Runner (2013) Dir. Brad Furman
Runner Runner is the kind of BAD film that would have gone straight to bargain basement DVD if not for the names Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake above the title. Brad Furman's direction is at best 'by the numbers' obvious and at worst the laziest and dullest "thriller" I've ever seen but what really sets Runner Runner apart from the rest is the shocking attempt at storytelling made by screenwriters Koppelman and Levein. None of it makes any sense, whole swathes of "plot" are painfully absurd and really stupid exposition happens at every opportunity. 
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013) Dir. Cody Cameron, Kris Pearn
John Frances Daly can ruin anything he puts his hand to. The first Cloudy was a blast of bizarre, an offbeat comic animation that took me by surprise and brought may a smile and many a catchphrase to my life. This unnecessary sequel is a mess of hack writing (not surprising with the sheer number of writers credits really) and by the numbers storytelling, unique and interesting characters have been butchered and Mr T was not invited back. I wish I could forget this even existed.

Excellent
A Matter of Life and Death (1946) Dir. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
The opening of this work of genius by Mr Powell and Mr Pressburger had me gasping with cinephile pleasure such was the skill and imagination brought to my screen. David Niven and Kim Hunter falling in love over the radio as the pilot prepares to die is, quite incredibly given its content, one of the most joyous scenes I've ever witnessed. The pair of directors never cease finding new ways to amaze, whether it's the enormous stairway to heaven or Marius Goring's breaking of the fourth wall, the flitting between glorious technicolour and the beautiful tradition of black & white or even essentially pre-empting the death scene of T.E. Lawrence as photographed by David Lean.
White Reindeer (2013) Dir. Zach Clark
Anna Margaret Hollyman's performance as the damaged housewife is as impressive as Cate Blanchett's Blue Jasmine, although it's not glamorous or flashy; she spends an inordinate amount of time sitting on or bent over toilets looking very much worn out for example. Her portrait of a broken woman is fascinating, heartbreaking and extremely funny and much more subtle than most scenery chewing award nominees, that she won't get any attention from The Academy says much more about their failure as an organisation than her acting ability.
Terry Pratchett's Hogfather (2006) Dir. Vadim Jean
It's Christmas, so it's time to watch The Hogfather once more. So faithful to Terry Pratchett's delightfully funny novel, this 3+ hour adaptation is a modern Christmas classic that discusses the nature of belief and is full of wonderful performances. You don't need to be a fan of the books to enjoy this film so why haven't you seen it already?
Home Alone (1990) Dir. Chris Columbus
Our annual visit to the McCallister household took place at a sold out cinematic screening full of adults. Who knew that would happen when this slapstick kids movie came out in 1990? Most people have a few movies from their childhood that they remember fondly but Home Alone just has that special something that keeps the kids coming back for more twenty three years later. Pesci and Stern as the nefarious Wet Bandits are both sufficiently villainous and wonderfully silly, doing great work, especially as they essentially have to carry the drama of the entire film whilst the child actor that defined a generation ran around having a great time.
Supporting Characters (2013) Dir. Daniel Schechter
Alex Karpovsky and Tarik Lowe are fabulous as a couple of friends who work together editing a movie, there's a really honest friend vibe working between them that carries the entire film, making it the entertaining and pleasing piece that it is. On second watch it still holds together nicely, the humour remains and the denouement still affecting. It's no The Colour Wheel but it's a truly fine example of the current movement in low-fi American indie cinema. Will place high in my year end Top 15.

Masterpiece
Fantastic Mr Fox (2009) Dir. Wes Anderson
The most Wes Anderson of any Wes Anderson film, The Fantastic Mr Fox is the work of a quirky genius who has found the 100% right material for themselves. Charming, funny, with wicked dialogue combined with beautiful and sometimes breathtaking cinematography, this is everything I could want in contemporary American cinema. Has rewarded and will continue to reward repeat viewings.
Blade Runner (1982) Dir. Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott with more than a little help from his wonderfully talented and put upon production team achieved a visionary masterpiece that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Citizen Kane. In some ways it is the ultimate film noir with its existential narrative, expressionistic lighting, the neon and the smoke, a conflicted protagonist and a charismatic antagonist that you can't help but root for, it's funny and intelligent and even the mesmerising and crazy performance of Rutger Hauer seems to recall quite a lot of James Cagney.
The Wicker Man (1973) Dir. Robin Hardy
Christopher Lee plays his role to perfection, a learned man, joyous and open minded, yet still has a playful menace about him that  again pays off wonderfully come the end. Whilst Edward Woodward captures the straight laced lunacy of his character with remarkable skill and the very real sense of horror that you take away from The Wicker Man comes not from blood, gore, suspense or loud music but from a closeup of his face as you listen to his voice, truly acting at its finest.

That's it. Comment or tweet if you like. But save your powder for the lists that are about to come.