Dead Dicks (CA) (site)
Groundhog Day is one of those excellent, one-of-a-kind films that exists in a little genre all it's own, and it tells it's story of a man trapped in a time loop until he can figure out the key to the exit very well. There is no time or necessity for any remake, and while I wouldnt suggest something so draconian as forbidding any feet to step even near to it's hallowed ground, there had better be a good story and concept behind any attempt to try.
Dead Dicks steps up to that challenge, moving the cage from a city to an apartment, and swapping romance for horror. The Dick of the title is Richie, who is actually a bit of a dick, Does he have mental problems that require him to completely lean on his sister for every single facet of his existence, or is he just a lazy arse? The film does not attempt to answer. We do know he has ended up dead, and for whatever reason, he wakes up again in the same apartment, in a fresh body as if nothing had happened. Eventually roping in his little sister after having a few other deaths through various inventive means, they try to figure out what is going on.
Like I said, it needs to be good to make the grade and.. it just doesn't work. The storyline is full of holes, unexplored avenues and unresolved quesions: why does he keep killing himself? Why wasn't the oft-mentioned threat of police involvement never realised? What about the bit about each copy being a degredation of the last? Was the neighbour just there as a plot device so he could figure the way out? Dead Dicks was mildly entertaining but lacking, and for a horror film it was light on both gore and scary bits and the story plodded on without vigor despite dealing with some theoretically gory subject matter and the potential of some serious relationship drama. The acting was.. okay, the two main parts did well enough with what they were given, but the storyline was patchy and the clumsy ending felt forced and unsatisfying. I'm all for low-budget films that punch above their weight but you could have added a couple of million to the budget and it wouldn't have solved this film's problems. 5/10
Ghost Tropic (BE) (review)
One of the things I had to learn when I started doing these marathon film sessions is the ability to reset the brain, especially as you come out of one film and into another. This is especially true when the pacing and feel of the previous and next films are so different. It's unfair to judge the second one harshly if it is slow moving and medititive if you have just got out of a high-octane thriller or a brain-dead comedy.
I was pretty sure that Ghost Tropic would fall into the former category; a slow-moving film with long, lingering shots and an expectation on the viewer in those moments - which can last a long time - to analyze the lines on the actor's faces as they stare back at you, and try and read their mind. Khadija is a cleaning lady living a humble existence as she sees out the last of her working years doing the night-time cleaning at a fancy shopping mall. Falling asleep on the last train home, and with no relatives available or disposable income to correct her course, she sets off through the near-empty streets back to her little flat.
The premise is to frame a parable of the kindness of stranegers, and the director succeeds in never ramming down our throats the universally accepted idiom that you should always look to help others in need. In fact, Khadija's effect on the nightcrawlers she meets is often neutral or ends in failure; the point I guess is that she tried the best she could when she could have just walked by.
I kind of enjoyed the ride, but I was struggling to reset my mind to the degree required to fully enjoy the little, tiny touches sprinkled throughout; even at 2pm my eyes were getting heavy halfway through, such was the lullaby-effect of the gentle pacing. If you do see it, either make sure you are alert, or be prepared to be woken up by the cinema staff much as Khadija was at the end of the line. 6/10
Sheep Hero (NL) (review)
Stijn, a sturdy, straight-talking 40-something shepherd has been tending his cattle in the traditional ways across the Netherland countryside for as long as he could stand. Now with a wife and two young sons taking an interest, this is the worst time for the current governments to cut farming subsidies yet again and leave their livelihood cut even closer to the bone.
Sheep Hero I think initially set out as a documentary of a dying profession, before the director realised it was actually about to witness an actual dying out in front of the camera, as Stijn comes foul firstly of the political changes seem hell bent on sweeping out the old ways, and then of the increasingly intolerant city-type neighbours who arent used to having their borders munched and their roads crapped on as he moves his sheep through their town between the fields. As the walls move in, Stijn and his family try ever more desperate ways to make ends meet and keep their way of life going.
It's a beautiful film celebrating the persistence of the family and as a dog owner brought more than a few big smiles as their expanding team of collies regularly stole the scenes. Ultimately though it is a bittersweet telling of those who lose out as things change and old ways are forced out in the name of bigger demands and tighter margins. 8/10
Sheep Hero also had a couple of Short Films with the theme of cattle:
Diary of Cattle (IND)
A short, simple film but hard hitting with barely a word spoken. A herd of cows graze on an Indonesian landfill site. The camera watches as they root for moulding vegetation and whatever else they can find in the several feet deep mess of human detritis. They end up eating just about anything and happily chew away on plastic bags and old shoes, prompting a sense of shame not to mention questions over what sort of state their digestive systems are in, and what sort of reaping humanity takes when these sown seeds are slaughtered and put on the dinner table. 7/10
Tony and the Bull (GB)
To end on a happier note, Tony lives in a run down old farmhouse in the south of England. Quite often, he's joined by his friend, Scrunch the fully grown bull, who tony reared from a calf after his mother died. The film is a unique and lovely account of a crazy relationship that despite the fact Scrunch can barely fit inside the rooms, manages to work just fine for the both of them. 8/10
Extra Ordinary (IE) (review)
I found myself with a bit of extra time to kill until the next film and saw this had only been on for ten minutes, so I whipped out my pass and scurried in. I'm glad I did.
The film is a comedy horror set in 90's Ireland and has more than a dash of the Father Ted's about it; and I'm not just saying that because because of all the accents. Rose is a paranormal investigator turned driving instructor, being pestered by Martin to sort out an exorcism of his late wife, a constant pain in his side during life and death. They both cross swords with the local rock star Christian Winter who is pinning his hopes on reviving his failing career on mastery of the occult, using a virgin sacrifice to bring back his lucky streak.
Extra Ordinary is a lot of fun; much more funny than gory and with a lot of sharp Irish wit, I'm very glad I took a punt. 8/10
Family Romance, LLC (JP) (wiki)
My final film of the night was the latest in a long line of Werner Herzog films, although beyond seeing his name in the opening credit's you'd be hard-pushed to tell it was from him. His Germanic drawling narration was conspicuously absent and he let the subjects do the talking.
His subject matter has recently been covered in Sue Perkins admirable Japan series on the BBC, where people in Japan can hire out people to act as stand-ins for relationships in their lives that they lack, have lost, or maybe want to re-live in the hope of steering a better outcome. Family Romance, LLC is one such business, or at least that is what the film is trying to portray.
You see, from the outset, Family Romance LLC (the film) portrays itself as a documentary with these very real businesses as it's subject matter, and you can be forgiven for thinking that the various characters being portrayed are real Japanese people and 'real' actors being hired to fill a void, but is it? Herzog is being clever to blur the lines of what is real and what isn't to make the audience as deceived as the punters by having actors playing both sides - or is he? It's pretty difficult to tell and some viewers may feel a little deceived, although a quick google afterwards quickly sorts things out.
As with the Sue Perkins program, there is no 'look at these crazy Japanese doing this, isn't it good|bad' aspect. Lack of narration allows the characters to explore the morality easier, but they come to the same conclusion. The practice of employing stand-ins is very much a function of the detachment in modern Japanese society and has a mixture of good and bad points, it's up to the viewer to decide whether it's a healthy thing to do or not. 7/10
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