Dancer in the Dark (DK) (wiki)
Left field singer and occasional actress Bjork lends both her body and her unique approach to songwriting in this avant-garde approach to a film musical directed by Lars von Trier. Selma is a machine worker in the 50's American countryside. A childlike, coy Czech immigrant with a young wayward son, managing as best she can with a small family of sorts looking out for her. Local police officer Bill is her landlord and one day temptation gets the better of him and he takes Selma's savings to make up the shortfall in his own, setting Selma off on a disastrous path on which her childlike state of mind can exert no control. When it all becomes too much, her mind searches the sounds around her for music and she loses herself in daydream, usually in the form of the people around her turning to dance.
Initially, Dancer in the dark bothered me because of the avant-garde style of wobbly handheld cameras and improvised lines (the number of times someone said a line and the other guy said '..what?!' was almost funny), not to mention Bjork's accent wildly fluctuating between icelandic and cockney, but at its core there is a heartfelt story with some odd but admirable music numbers in among the odd characters and strange, wildly fluctuating tones to the whole thing. Not a film I could love, but I grew to appreciate more as the whole became apparent. 6/10
Yorkshire Short Film Competition
A collection of winning films from the various Yorkshire short film competitions.
The Strangers' Case - the Shakespearean play Sir Thomas More is adapted and updated for a Yorkshire pub full of ruffians complaining all about those immigrants stinking up the place. You get the jist of what they are trying to say but the dialogue is as penetrable as Shakespeare gets. 7/10
Seagulls - A sweet mini-documentary about the Seagulls paint store in Leeds, a community store that employs ex-offenders to give a second chance. Their mosaics are all over the city. 7.5/10
Contenders - an unusual tale set after the climate tipping point has passed, and a gate to an alternate universe has opened to those brave enough to make the journey. It was an interesting angle on the idea of personal sacrifice for the greater good but not that well executed. 6/10
Resolution - a young girl recites emotionally charged spoken word about her absent father and her abusive stepfather, and the hardships growing up in a broken home. 7.5/10
Eyeless in Parkway - a messy scribbled animation of a uneventful bus journey. 5/10
The Waiting Room - the strangling hold of agarophobia is told through the cyclical life of a young introverted woman, trying desperately to take that train journey and meet people like she once did. 7.5/10
The Work Continues - the volunteers at Meanwood Valley Urban Farm talk about the place as a connecting social hub, what it means to them and their own personal stories. It was nice but it didn't really progress much and could have been shorter. 7/10
Alice 404 - the alluring draw of a teenagers mobile phone is explored from the inside as Alice rebuffs the anxious calls from concerned friends and family. 7.5/10
70 Years Young - Dave started bodybuilding in the 70's and is still going now. In his own words: make the most of the time you've got. 7/10
Standing in the Rain - a culture shock for both sides unfolds as Slung Low, a Leeds theatre group moves into Holbeck working men's club, in the middle of a deprived area of Leeds. With unease at the arrangement coming from both camps, and the new gaffer quickly having to learn how to pull a pint, the two sides must work out how their uneven pieces fit together for both their futures. 8/10
Carmine Street Guitars (US) (site)
There used to be a music shop in Leeds some years ago, just down from The Light. I would pass it many times as the years rolled by and the film festivals came and went. Custom was rare, but they always had a welcoming scene complete with a grand piano for people to tinkle on, and I pressed my nose up against their windows more than once, wishing I had the talent and confidence to pick up one of those shiny instruments and play. Sadly it disappeared after a long innings, as these things tend to do.
I recalled the old music store when watching this documentary about the titular guitar shop in the centre of New York. Aging rock guitarist Rick - deft constructor of bespoke guitars from salvaged wood - and his young prodigy Cindy share the work with Rick's mother answering the phones and dusting. It's a quiet, old-fashioned work life that is just about hanging on.
Rick's shop however shows little sign of struggle; a bevvy of customers of varying levels of fame come along, lavish praises whilst trying out the wares and serenade the viewer with their skills. And that's basically the film. It's not got a lot to say, because there isn't much to say; this is a gentle and pleasant slice of the lives of those making a living in an increasingly rare and therefore precious way. The only slight annoyance was the staged feel to the film, as if it was a fiction dressed as a documentary. 7.5/10
There used to be a music shop in Leeds some years ago, just down from The Light. I would pass it many times as the years rolled by and the film festivals came and went. Custom was rare, but they always had a welcoming scene complete with a grand piano for people to tinkle on, and I pressed my nose up against their windows more than once, wishing I had the talent and confidence to pick up one of those shiny instruments and play. Sadly it disappeared after a long innings, as these things tend to do.
I recalled the old music store when watching this documentary about the titular guitar shop in the centre of New York. Aging rock guitarist Rick - deft constructor of bespoke guitars from salvaged wood - and his young prodigy Cindy share the work with Rick's mother answering the phones and dusting. It's a quiet, old-fashioned work life that is just about hanging on.
Rick's shop however shows little sign of struggle; a bevvy of customers of varying levels of fame come along, lavish praises whilst trying out the wares and serenade the viewer with their skills. And that's basically the film. It's not got a lot to say, because there isn't much to say; this is a gentle and pleasant slice of the lives of those making a living in an increasingly rare and therefore precious way. The only slight annoyance was the staged feel to the film, as if it was a fiction dressed as a documentary. 7.5/10
Talking About Trees (FR) (review)
The military coup acted upon Sudan in the late 80's was responsible for a crackdown on the lives and consequently the cultural output of the country. Films, both making and showing were banned and the cinemas and film studios gutted. Only empty, partially demolished shells remain.
Enter a quad of aging film buffs, headed by once-director Ibrahim Shaddad and his friend Suleiman Ibrahim, who have become dissatisfied with merely sneaking around the country putting on secret screenings of their old films and whatever else they can find, and instead want to lead the way in reviving Sudanese cinema proper.
I guess the intention of the film was for a celebratory revival but alas, it is a tale more of hardened conservatism, the point of the oppressive attitude towards filmmaking lost in time but still holding sway through a mixture of tradition and fear of reprisal from those lurking in the shadows, through which these four nobles show their years of wisdom, showing warm humour and patience in place of anger and frustration. It is a fascinating window into a lost and largely overlooked culture cut down in it's formative years and struggling to resurface, it's slender green shoots nursed by the oldest of hands. 7.5/10
The military coup acted upon Sudan in the late 80's was responsible for a crackdown on the lives and consequently the cultural output of the country. Films, both making and showing were banned and the cinemas and film studios gutted. Only empty, partially demolished shells remain.
Enter a quad of aging film buffs, headed by once-director Ibrahim Shaddad and his friend Suleiman Ibrahim, who have become dissatisfied with merely sneaking around the country putting on secret screenings of their old films and whatever else they can find, and instead want to lead the way in reviving Sudanese cinema proper.
I guess the intention of the film was for a celebratory revival but alas, it is a tale more of hardened conservatism, the point of the oppressive attitude towards filmmaking lost in time but still holding sway through a mixture of tradition and fear of reprisal from those lurking in the shadows, through which these four nobles show their years of wisdom, showing warm humour and patience in place of anger and frustration. It is a fascinating window into a lost and largely overlooked culture cut down in it's formative years and struggling to resurface, it's slender green shoots nursed by the oldest of hands. 7.5/10
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