RPIFF: Kill List (2011)

Welcome to the first blablahblahgay review from the Revelation Perth International Film Festival. 11pm is a ridiculous time to start watching a movie for me. Back when I was 16 you'd find me and my friend Owen wandering the dangerous streets of Stevenage waiting for the late night showing of whatever terrible movie we'd decided to see that weekend but now I can't remember the last time I was awake at 11pm let alone settling down to watch a film.

As already mentioned this week Kill List is Ben Wheatley's second film, following up the fantastic Down Terrace (reviewed recently here on blahblahblahgay,) with another piece of great cinema that highlights his maturing as a storyteller and growth as a film maker. This film is an enigma, it's difficult to categorise; for Ben Wheatley, genres are simply a guide, he lets his films go wherever they need to ignoring conventions and disregarding cliche. What starts out as a kitchen sink drama moves in to hitman territory quite quickly before evolving in to a serious what the fuck ending filled with mysticism and gore.

Jay is a former hitman, retired after he screwed up a previous job in Kiev (this fact pops up quite a bit throughout but is never explained) and living with his ex-Swedish military wife, Shel, in suburban England. The couple are broke and the wife, who subtly dominates the relationship, is pressuring him to go back to work. His former partner Gal (on orders from Shel) offers another job, killing 3 people, and Jay, reluctant at first, agrees.

What ensues is a mysterious journey focusing on the psychological changes in Jay and Gal, punctuated with gore filled scenes and a never ceasing increase in the nameless, shapeless dread that permeates the film. With an ending you know the less about the better before seeing.

It seems to be a major advertising point so I'm not spoiling anything here but the ending is truly horrifying, not in a modern torture porn way or in a lets make use of really loud noises to make you jump way but in a truly psychologically challenging manner. You may watch this film or hear about some of the violence contained within and think me crazy but Ben Wheatley makes very subtle movies and this mind-bending finale borders on ambiguous, there is blood and there is gore and there are shocking realisations but that all takes a back seat to the psychological study of the man. Not to mention trying to piece together exactly what the ending means.

At 2am I was thinking about this movie, all the way home we were trying to understand what happened, neither of us could actually state with 100% confidence what the ending was about. This is a film that not only deserves a second viewing but may need one so you can divorce yourself from the WTF factor and piece together the puzzle. Because hints are left throughout, religious undertones, a sigil carved in to the back of a mirror, victims happy to die, repeated requests for Jay to wake up, dead animals left in their garden, what are the red herrings and what is the explanation? You may even be watching again and again to clarify your own thoughts and you will be thoroughly entertained every time I'm sure.

At times this is a funny movie, with the comedy taken from the human interaction, not from the violence like some other movies. At other times it's deeply unsettling, the use of sound really helping to increase the tension; using strings and whistles, moans and backwards played speech and even the moments of silence to ratchet things up step by step. But mainly this movie is enjoyable as a fantastically well crafted film that utilises the handheld camera aesthetic to it's full claustrophobic best to unsettle before unleashing an ending that will impact on your daily life for weeks to come. Guaranteed.

Well that's a departure for blahblahblahgay. Anyone else seen this yet? I'd love to get some other opinions, leave some blah below. Next up Charlie Casanova.

Down Terrace (2009)

Recently Custard over at Frontroomcinema listed the 5 best films set in Brighton and in the discussion this movie came up. Then a few days later Bonjour Tristesse actually reviewed the film. Now I had never heard of it, as i'm sure most people haven't, but i'm partial to a bit of British gangster movie now and then - Gangster No. 1, Sexy Beast, Anything with Ray Winstone calling people slags that kind of thing - and thought it would be crazy not to watch it.

Written and directed by newcomer Ben Wheatley, Down Terrace is a different kind of British Gangster Movie. Featuring a cast of unknowns and Spaced favourites Julia Deakin and Michael Smiley.



I love all of these images for different reasons. Whoever designed the art for this movie deserves to get paid more than a tiny indie flick can afford. They all play to different genres and all feel like good representations of the film. Top left will probably only make sense after you've seen the film but when I found it during my research I couldn't help but laugh. Top right, this half imitation of Warhol in yellow, possibly the worst of the 4 but I like the feeling it gives about the characters, everyone looks a bit confused and fed up. Bottom right, a slick almost 60's era poster, similar in part to the fad they had in the late 90's of breaking up the images (see The Limey) and then bottom left, I feel like it has to be for an international audience, using the Union Jack in that way and then the tagline "it's all about to kick off" reminiscent of the football thug movies that have had a resurgance of late, guaranteed to hook a certain audience to the point that they may as well have advertised it using Danny Dyer.



It's a great trailer that really doesn't emphasise the humour enough I think. It's arty, concentrating on the verite and kitchen sink drama aspect of the production as opposed to the gangster storyline. This is interesting to me as based on the international poster I thought there would've been a different trailer, one filled with violence. Still you can't complain when a distribution company doesn't lie about the content of a film.

Synopsis? I thought you'd never ask. Bill and Karl are father and son, gangsters who narrowly escape jail after a court appearance and the film centres on the paranoia of their investigation in to who the grass is amongst their associates.

Pretty standard stuff for a criminal underworld plot but this film is different in many ways. Down Terrace focuses on the internal workings of the central characters as they go about their daily lives with this burden hanging over them. It's filled with great comedy moments from the very start and it's scarily believable.

The comedy may not be to everyone's liking. I'm a recent emmigrant from England so these characters are the kind of people I know, people I saw everyday and a lot of the humour is related to the realism for me and could easily go over people's heads. For those of you not from England who watch this, I assure you people really do behave this way.

The hitman who takes his toddler to a hit because he couldn't find a babysitter at short notice however is a slice of comedy gold that may never have come up in everyday life in the UK. Said hitman, Pringle, is extremely funny to watch and his facial expressions alone are priceless.

Not to say that this movie makes light of it's dark material, killing for these characters carries a huge amount of baggage, both before and after. The verite style of direction adds some real gravity to proceedings, the ensemble cast performance is reminiscent of the great work of Mike Leigh and whilst Poor Cow by Ken Loach springs to mind i'm unsure whether that is because of the gangster singalong in the breakfast room complete with double bass and violin or simply because he pioneered the kitchen sink realism that this movie uses to excellent effect.

The performances are all round pitch perfect, you instinctively warm to Julia Deakin's matriarch, Maggie, in a role that might draw comparisons to Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom, but it is the performance of film debutant Robert Hill that characterises everything this movie is about; thoughtful, melancholy, rejecting of modern society (or in the films case modern attitudes towards cinema) with a tension and violence bubbling under the surface at all times. This is no Ray Winstone style performance but it works just as powerfully and not once does anyone utter the word slag. I have just finished reading Patricia Highsmith's Talented Mr Ripley and she expertly created a simmering tension and expectation of violence yet when the violence actually happens it is dealt with quickly and matter of factly and Down Terrace is very similar in this respect.

It's funny, it's violent, it moves at a rate of knots unknown for a kitchen sink verite piece and it's very very well made. I instantly wanted to tell everyone just how good this movie was and then watch it with them. Watch it.

I can't let this review finish without a mention for David Schaal, recently seen as the extremely funny father of Jay in The Inbetweeners and putting in another great performance here.

If you like the sound of the movie from my review and actually watch it, let me know. If you don't agree with me, let me know. Film is an art form and art is open to interpretation in any number of ways. The discussion of art and individual interpretation is encouraged around here. And if you enjoy the movie head down to your local independent movie store and buy it, it's only through us actually paying for films that these film makers will get to work again. At least in an ideal world that will be the case. I'm looking at you Uwe Boll.

Down Terrace (2009) DivX - icefilms.info