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
Leeds Film Festival 2019 - Day 1
So then!
Last time I did this was a couple of years ago and, I know, I know. Nobody likes to see a blog go stagnant and die. Again. All I can say is, kids are hard. But as the firstborn is about to hit five years old and start the second half of his first decade - and that has just flown by - I find myself for the first time able to look at the festivals again with a little more flexibility. The missus has kindly given me some days off with which to do as I will. Naturally, this means I pound my eyeballs with films until they cannae take no more.
In 2014, I was just leaving work with a big stack of tickets to begin another crazy film marathon before our December baby was due, and right on that moment, the phone rang. Ms. Plants was in labour and things were starting early. Didn't he know I had spent good money on the next few weeks on literally dozens of film tickets. So began a lean few years - festival-wise - where I'd only see a couple of films per year.
*tiny violin plays in background*
I'm over it. No, really. I've scheduled a talk with him for his 18th where we will calmly discuss repayment and interest terms.
Luce (US) (wiki)
In these days of increasing racial tensions state-side, its unsurprising that there are films coming out of the country that try to tussle with some of the subject matter to some degree or other. It is a subject of many dimensions and unfortunately, still persists the world over. America being one particularly volatile region. Luce injects an additional ingredient into the mix with the story of an Eritrean child soldier, adopted by an affluent white American couple and, after several difficult years of counseling, Luce appears to be a model student; loved by his family, friends and teachers alike and about to graduate with high honors.
But just as all seems to be going so well, Harriet, one of Luce's most challenging teachers suspects all is not what it seems after Luce submits a paper to her extolling the virtues of a extremist historical figure and she starts to investigate. What follows is a tense drama where Harriet, Luce's parents, and everyone who touches his life get dragged into a game of smoke and mirrors, where no character comes out cleanly. Rights are questioned and boundaries are overstepped in the name of doing the right thing and finding out the constantly elusive truth.
Luce rewards the observant viewer, handing over complicated characters in ambiguous situations with just enough clues to make figuring out what you see versus what you are told a satisfying experience. No character is good or bad, just the unraveling of a comfortable life and the complicated undercurrents that have been almost hidden. There was a little bit of clunky dialog every now and again, but a solid start to the festival. 8/10
Fire will Come (ES) (wiki)
Middle-aged loner Amador has just been released from jail, after partially serving sentence for starting a major fire that nearly burned down a village in the densely forested hills of Galicia. Quiet to the point of shifty, he ambles his way back along the winding country roads, seemingly trying to start over as if nothing has happened. Naturally, his slight but weather-hardened mother takes him in without question, and they try, with little initial success, to return to something normal.
He's been away but as you may expect the locals are wary of his presence. Still aloof and a loner, he slowly tries to make small steps towards re-integration, but as the title suggests, the lack of success leads to frustration and history will surely repeat.
Fire will come works somewhat if you accept it's dreamlike meander through its own runtime; concentrating less on story and more on the beautiful scenes of the remote, high altitude lives where few live and nature still holds most of the cards. It is almost incidental that Amador is seen with his old dog running or tripping through the undergrowth trying to catch one of his cows.
In the end, the film will ask more questions than it answers; presenting the viewer with essentially the same situation as what happened off-screen but with few clues as to whether he did it this time, or in fact in the first place. I enjoyed the beauty but would have liked to be less frustrated at the man and the ambiguity at the end; leaving things open to interpretation is good, so long as you have some clues to debate the guilt or otherwise of the protagonists. In this respect it was trying to do a similar thing to Luce, but didn't succeed as well. 6/10
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (US) (review)
I saw this one only because of the timing, partly because I am not a cool person and didn't revel in the idea of watching cool people for ninety minutes, but also because Jazz isn't my favorite form of music. However, I have in the past been pleasantly surprised by the documentary format and it's ability to make things interesting, even when I don't find it so.
So things are with Miles Davis, the legendary American jazz and blues musician who, during his fifty or so years of work beginning in the clubs of downtown New York and progressing through the ages touching and sometimes kickstarting the various related styles of funk, drum and bass and others, through a process of rigorous self-analysis and reinvention in response to stimulus, sometimes external and others from his own internal demons, not least the recurring spectre of drugs.
This documentary is a bitter-sweet account of the life of a man who, as with many who have contributed to the artistry of humanity are often self-destructive towards themselves and their relationships with their most loved others. Miles Davis was never someone who I could appreciate musically in the same way as some of the talking heads who sometimes held him up as a messianic figure (although there were some pleasant pieces within the film I recognised and enjoyed), I could see the impact the man had on the broader history of music and culture thanks to this film. 7.5/10
A Dog Called Money (UK/IR) (review)
In a switcheroo of my expectations compared to the Miles Davis film, I was really looking forward to A Dog Called Money. It's premise was attractive; Singer-songwriter PJ Harvey, in a quest to come up with unique subject matter for her next album, tours the world looking for the downtrodden; often in middle-eastern countries but also in the more downtrodden states of America. Along for the ride is photographer Seamus Murphy to chronicle the process. Then, structurally, the film alternates between clips of them visiting representative people of the area, often in a religious setting, and observing how they cope with their odds, or sometimes joining in with their music, and the resulting jam sessions where lyrically and musically the inspirations are explored and performed as an art installation in a publicly viewable studio.
There is some commendation for what is being done here; it's always a good thing for the plight of others not so well off to be highlighted so people feel compelled to do something about it, or at least banish complacency; maintain an understanding that not all is right in the world and things need to change. However I felt somewhat underwhelmed by the somewhat mechanical churning of the stages of the film; PJ looks on solemnly at the destitute people, reads a composition of words and feelings, then cut back to the jam session where music of mixed quality is produced. There wasn't much in the way of variation in this to keep an increasingly tired plant awake as he sat on his comfy cinema sofa and although I'd give the album a go for some of the songs, this wasn't quite the film I was hoping to see. 6/10
Last time I did this was a couple of years ago and, I know, I know. Nobody likes to see a blog go stagnant and die. Again. All I can say is, kids are hard. But as the firstborn is about to hit five years old and start the second half of his first decade - and that has just flown by - I find myself for the first time able to look at the festivals again with a little more flexibility. The missus has kindly given me some days off with which to do as I will. Naturally, this means I pound my eyeballs with films until they cannae take no more.
In 2014, I was just leaving work with a big stack of tickets to begin another crazy film marathon before our December baby was due, and right on that moment, the phone rang. Ms. Plants was in labour and things were starting early. Didn't he know I had spent good money on the next few weeks on literally dozens of film tickets. So began a lean few years - festival-wise - where I'd only see a couple of films per year.
*tiny violin plays in background*
I'm over it. No, really. I've scheduled a talk with him for his 18th where we will calmly discuss repayment and interest terms.
Luce (US) (wiki)
In these days of increasing racial tensions state-side, its unsurprising that there are films coming out of the country that try to tussle with some of the subject matter to some degree or other. It is a subject of many dimensions and unfortunately, still persists the world over. America being one particularly volatile region. Luce injects an additional ingredient into the mix with the story of an Eritrean child soldier, adopted by an affluent white American couple and, after several difficult years of counseling, Luce appears to be a model student; loved by his family, friends and teachers alike and about to graduate with high honors.
But just as all seems to be going so well, Harriet, one of Luce's most challenging teachers suspects all is not what it seems after Luce submits a paper to her extolling the virtues of a extremist historical figure and she starts to investigate. What follows is a tense drama where Harriet, Luce's parents, and everyone who touches his life get dragged into a game of smoke and mirrors, where no character comes out cleanly. Rights are questioned and boundaries are overstepped in the name of doing the right thing and finding out the constantly elusive truth.
Luce rewards the observant viewer, handing over complicated characters in ambiguous situations with just enough clues to make figuring out what you see versus what you are told a satisfying experience. No character is good or bad, just the unraveling of a comfortable life and the complicated undercurrents that have been almost hidden. There was a little bit of clunky dialog every now and again, but a solid start to the festival. 8/10
Fire will Come (ES) (wiki)
Middle-aged loner Amador has just been released from jail, after partially serving sentence for starting a major fire that nearly burned down a village in the densely forested hills of Galicia. Quiet to the point of shifty, he ambles his way back along the winding country roads, seemingly trying to start over as if nothing has happened. Naturally, his slight but weather-hardened mother takes him in without question, and they try, with little initial success, to return to something normal.
He's been away but as you may expect the locals are wary of his presence. Still aloof and a loner, he slowly tries to make small steps towards re-integration, but as the title suggests, the lack of success leads to frustration and history will surely repeat.
Fire will come works somewhat if you accept it's dreamlike meander through its own runtime; concentrating less on story and more on the beautiful scenes of the remote, high altitude lives where few live and nature still holds most of the cards. It is almost incidental that Amador is seen with his old dog running or tripping through the undergrowth trying to catch one of his cows.
In the end, the film will ask more questions than it answers; presenting the viewer with essentially the same situation as what happened off-screen but with few clues as to whether he did it this time, or in fact in the first place. I enjoyed the beauty but would have liked to be less frustrated at the man and the ambiguity at the end; leaving things open to interpretation is good, so long as you have some clues to debate the guilt or otherwise of the protagonists. In this respect it was trying to do a similar thing to Luce, but didn't succeed as well. 6/10
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (US) (review)
I saw this one only because of the timing, partly because I am not a cool person and didn't revel in the idea of watching cool people for ninety minutes, but also because Jazz isn't my favorite form of music. However, I have in the past been pleasantly surprised by the documentary format and it's ability to make things interesting, even when I don't find it so.
So things are with Miles Davis, the legendary American jazz and blues musician who, during his fifty or so years of work beginning in the clubs of downtown New York and progressing through the ages touching and sometimes kickstarting the various related styles of funk, drum and bass and others, through a process of rigorous self-analysis and reinvention in response to stimulus, sometimes external and others from his own internal demons, not least the recurring spectre of drugs.
This documentary is a bitter-sweet account of the life of a man who, as with many who have contributed to the artistry of humanity are often self-destructive towards themselves and their relationships with their most loved others. Miles Davis was never someone who I could appreciate musically in the same way as some of the talking heads who sometimes held him up as a messianic figure (although there were some pleasant pieces within the film I recognised and enjoyed), I could see the impact the man had on the broader history of music and culture thanks to this film. 7.5/10
A Dog Called Money (UK/IR) (review)
In a switcheroo of my expectations compared to the Miles Davis film, I was really looking forward to A Dog Called Money. It's premise was attractive; Singer-songwriter PJ Harvey, in a quest to come up with unique subject matter for her next album, tours the world looking for the downtrodden; often in middle-eastern countries but also in the more downtrodden states of America. Along for the ride is photographer Seamus Murphy to chronicle the process. Then, structurally, the film alternates between clips of them visiting representative people of the area, often in a religious setting, and observing how they cope with their odds, or sometimes joining in with their music, and the resulting jam sessions where lyrically and musically the inspirations are explored and performed as an art installation in a publicly viewable studio.
There is some commendation for what is being done here; it's always a good thing for the plight of others not so well off to be highlighted so people feel compelled to do something about it, or at least banish complacency; maintain an understanding that not all is right in the world and things need to change. However I felt somewhat underwhelmed by the somewhat mechanical churning of the stages of the film; PJ looks on solemnly at the destitute people, reads a composition of words and feelings, then cut back to the jam session where music of mixed quality is produced. There wasn't much in the way of variation in this to keep an increasingly tired plant awake as he sat on his comfy cinema sofa and although I'd give the album a go for some of the songs, this wasn't quite the film I was hoping to see. 6/10
Even the question wasn't right
On this blog, I rarely venture into the realm of politics, but these days the political charge being felt both in the UK and around the world is so much greater. One point in particular that has been grinding my gears is the subject of 'Brexit'.
Now - cards on the table - I voted to stay in the EU, and I still believe that's the better place to be. Yes, we get some stuffy rules to deal with and extra standards to work to, and - as any self respecting bigot will tell you - all those pesky foreigns coming over here andtaking doing our jobs, but overall I think it's a good thing that the world was becoming more as one. However, I saw the result and close call though it was, the country as a whole voted to get the hell out, so here we are.
So great news then: 'we' can 'take back control' and 'give the NHS lots more cash' and do all that crap we were sold and we heard parrotted up and down the country from idiots in vox pops.
But recent developments in the Brexit soap opera have caused me to realise something - of all the things we were mis-sold about the whole sorry thing, the actual question being asked at the ballot box was the most significant in it's wrongness.
What we were asked:
'Do you want the UK to exit from the European Union'?
But what we were effectively being asked was:
'Do you want the UK to get a full and accurate idea about what leaving the EU would mean'?
Because at the point the question was being asked, we didn't have a bloody clue - both the people entering the ballot box and those arguing for or against - and we aren't that much more informed today. Different people interpreted the prospect of going our own way differently - that it would mean anything from returning to some imagined idyll from the 1950's to somehow ejecting all foreigners and stopping new ones coming in (despite there being an employment demand for them so basically nope), to surviving and prospering on our own because we did alright in 'the old days', to being sold on the idea that we could take some imagined lump of money - currently being sent to the EU with no return on investment - and somehow turn it into hospitals and nurses and schools and reopened libraries and shops and factories. Yes, there will be some sound economic benefits to business, (assuming we can get a good enough deal) but if you asked the layman on the street what these benefits would be, you'd be hard-pressed to get more than a vague answer derived from the manifestation of these dreams.
So asking the leave/no leave question was the incorrect thing to do at that point. Problem was, you need a simple, pointed question to get the voting juices flowing and the actual question that needed asking wasn't pointy enough, so the other one was put in front of the public instead.
Amidst the political chaos and the new schism that cuts across parties and communities giving us one more thing to fight over, we are slowly starting to get some ideas of what Brexit will actually mean. Don't ask me as it's still not agreed upon and distilled down to the point where a political novice such as myself can understand it, but when it is - and the public at large can ingest it - that is when we need to be asked. Because at that point - and ONLY at that point, can we make a decision based on the deal put in front of us rather than a load of dog-whistle lead stories.
Recently, Vince Cable ('me and my cable') has reiterated the Lib Dem's position that they will offer a second referendum at the point when the Brexit deal is agreed, linking nicely with the abort button offered by the EU commission right up until the end. Although I don't think Vince's party is equipped for government, in principle I agree we should be given the choice at that point.
But I think their PR people aren't communicating to the public the most compelling reason for it - that asking us if we want to leave won't actually be a second referendum - it'll be the first time we can give an answer based on reason and fact as much as - or if not more so than - emotion.
Regardless of whether you share my position on leave/remain, we can surely all agree we should be asked a question with such far-reaching consequences after we have our hands on the full picture, not before.
Now - cards on the table - I voted to stay in the EU, and I still believe that's the better place to be. Yes, we get some stuffy rules to deal with and extra standards to work to, and - as any self respecting bigot will tell you - all those pesky foreigns coming over here and
So great news then: 'we' can 'take back control' and 'give the NHS lots more cash' and do all that crap we were sold and we heard parrotted up and down the country from idiots in vox pops.
But recent developments in the Brexit soap opera have caused me to realise something - of all the things we were mis-sold about the whole sorry thing, the actual question being asked at the ballot box was the most significant in it's wrongness.
What we were asked:
'Do you want the UK to exit from the European Union'?
But what we were effectively being asked was:
'Do you want the UK to get a full and accurate idea about what leaving the EU would mean'?
Because at the point the question was being asked, we didn't have a bloody clue - both the people entering the ballot box and those arguing for or against - and we aren't that much more informed today. Different people interpreted the prospect of going our own way differently - that it would mean anything from returning to some imagined idyll from the 1950's to somehow ejecting all foreigners and stopping new ones coming in (despite there being an employment demand for them so basically nope), to surviving and prospering on our own because we did alright in 'the old days', to being sold on the idea that we could take some imagined lump of money - currently being sent to the EU with no return on investment - and somehow turn it into hospitals and nurses and schools and reopened libraries and shops and factories. Yes, there will be some sound economic benefits to business, (assuming we can get a good enough deal) but if you asked the layman on the street what these benefits would be, you'd be hard-pressed to get more than a vague answer derived from the manifestation of these dreams.
So asking the leave/no leave question was the incorrect thing to do at that point. Problem was, you need a simple, pointed question to get the voting juices flowing and the actual question that needed asking wasn't pointy enough, so the other one was put in front of the public instead.
Amidst the political chaos and the new schism that cuts across parties and communities giving us one more thing to fight over, we are slowly starting to get some ideas of what Brexit will actually mean. Don't ask me as it's still not agreed upon and distilled down to the point where a political novice such as myself can understand it, but when it is - and the public at large can ingest it - that is when we need to be asked. Because at that point - and ONLY at that point, can we make a decision based on the deal put in front of us rather than a load of dog-whistle lead stories.
Recently, Vince Cable ('me and my cable') has reiterated the Lib Dem's position that they will offer a second referendum at the point when the Brexit deal is agreed, linking nicely with the abort button offered by the EU commission right up until the end. Although I don't think Vince's party is equipped for government, in principle I agree we should be given the choice at that point.
But I think their PR people aren't communicating to the public the most compelling reason for it - that asking us if we want to leave won't actually be a second referendum - it'll be the first time we can give an answer based on reason and fact as much as - or if not more so than - emotion.
Regardless of whether you share my position on leave/remain, we can surely all agree we should be asked a question with such far-reaching consequences after we have our hands on the full picture, not before.
Leeds Film Festival 2016 Day 2
Lady Macbeth (UK) (review)
The often re-imagined story of Macbeth is played out once more, specifically deriving from the Russian novel 'Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District'; the location moves to a 19th Century farmhouse in the English countryside; a little past it's best but better than the middle class can manage at the time. In it, Katherine bounces around the walls, feeling alternate emotions of fear from the new husband that was forced upon her, and boredom at the cloying restrictions he places on her ample free time.
Boredom leads to curiosity and exploration, and one of the young labourers manages to take her eye, a welcome grubby change to the starched and uncomfortable dresses she is forced to wear. The fierceness of the passion leads to desperation as this new freedom is threatened by her icy new relatives, and this in turn progresses to the spillage of blood.
Moody and dark, although not without a mischievous humour, the film succeeds in keeping you interested as the stakes are raised and Katherine turns to increasingly desperate measures to hold onto that which she values. New parents be warned - it wasn't easy to watch at all in the last segment, but it was well made, well acted and more than a little challenging. 7/10
A United Kingdom (UK) (wiki)
My last film and the festival was only just getting started, oh well. Due to go on a wider release than many of it's festival counterparts around Christmas time, A United Kingdom is a biopic of the [then, and unfortunately still now, controversial] relationship between quiet jazz loving Ruth Williams and Seretse Khama, the prince and soon to be ruler of Bechuanaland - what would eventually become Botswana.
A chance meeting at a party brings the two together just after the Second World War, the prince studying in London by the hand of his father, who hoped a well-funded education in a first world nation would produce a wise ruler in waiting. He hadn't banked on his son coming back with a marriage proposal - to a white woman, no less - a woman representing the oppression suffered by his people and those of the neighbouring countries in both the past and present. It went without saying that similar sentiments were expressed on the other side, and their relationship had to endure much before even considering the implications of marrying a prince and moving to the other side of the world in the hope of making it work and being accepted.
It's fair to say that us English didn't help; the UK government at the time stood in their way at every turn, forbidding the marriage and nearly wrecking their chances of ever making it work, and the casting of Jack Davenport as the slimy, holier-than-thou face of Great British Ingrained Racism (aka the cultural government representative to Bechuanaland) was simultaneously over the top and perfect for the job of building up the bile with every sentence he utters and then, eventually (without giving away any spoilers) seeing him eat his stupid words.
There are some superficial comparisons to 12 Years a Slave, and though in terms of importance, I would rate that film higher than this one, the tone here is a little lighter and the bad times are a little easier to sit through; consequently the film is more enjoyable. It's a good story (based on the actual events of the time), told well with some safe, predictable story elements. You won't be surprised by the ending (they make the marriage work and eventually are accepted) but you will enjoy getting there. 8/10
The often re-imagined story of Macbeth is played out once more, specifically deriving from the Russian novel 'Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District'; the location moves to a 19th Century farmhouse in the English countryside; a little past it's best but better than the middle class can manage at the time. In it, Katherine bounces around the walls, feeling alternate emotions of fear from the new husband that was forced upon her, and boredom at the cloying restrictions he places on her ample free time.
Boredom leads to curiosity and exploration, and one of the young labourers manages to take her eye, a welcome grubby change to the starched and uncomfortable dresses she is forced to wear. The fierceness of the passion leads to desperation as this new freedom is threatened by her icy new relatives, and this in turn progresses to the spillage of blood.
Moody and dark, although not without a mischievous humour, the film succeeds in keeping you interested as the stakes are raised and Katherine turns to increasingly desperate measures to hold onto that which she values. New parents be warned - it wasn't easy to watch at all in the last segment, but it was well made, well acted and more than a little challenging. 7/10
A United Kingdom (UK) (wiki)
My last film and the festival was only just getting started, oh well. Due to go on a wider release than many of it's festival counterparts around Christmas time, A United Kingdom is a biopic of the [then, and unfortunately still now, controversial] relationship between quiet jazz loving Ruth Williams and Seretse Khama, the prince and soon to be ruler of Bechuanaland - what would eventually become Botswana.
A chance meeting at a party brings the two together just after the Second World War, the prince studying in London by the hand of his father, who hoped a well-funded education in a first world nation would produce a wise ruler in waiting. He hadn't banked on his son coming back with a marriage proposal - to a white woman, no less - a woman representing the oppression suffered by his people and those of the neighbouring countries in both the past and present. It went without saying that similar sentiments were expressed on the other side, and their relationship had to endure much before even considering the implications of marrying a prince and moving to the other side of the world in the hope of making it work and being accepted.
It's fair to say that us English didn't help; the UK government at the time stood in their way at every turn, forbidding the marriage and nearly wrecking their chances of ever making it work, and the casting of Jack Davenport as the slimy, holier-than-thou face of Great British Ingrained Racism (aka the cultural government representative to Bechuanaland) was simultaneously over the top and perfect for the job of building up the bile with every sentence he utters and then, eventually (without giving away any spoilers) seeing him eat his stupid words.
There are some superficial comparisons to 12 Years a Slave, and though in terms of importance, I would rate that film higher than this one, the tone here is a little lighter and the bad times are a little easier to sit through; consequently the film is more enjoyable. It's a good story (based on the actual events of the time), told well with some safe, predictable story elements. You won't be surprised by the ending (they make the marriage work and eventually are accepted) but you will enjoy getting there. 8/10
You Had One Job, America
That was to not elect a sexist, racist, anti-semitic self-confessed sexual assault artist; bankruptcy aficionado and Useful Idiot to the Putin regime.
Hillary wasn't without her faults, but seriously, was she worse than that?
I don't say this lightly: Jesus Fucking Christ.
Hillary wasn't without her faults, but seriously, was she worse than that?
I don't say this lightly: Jesus Fucking Christ.
Leeds Film Festival 2016 Day 1
It's the Leeds Film Festival yet again, and as is the case these days, my pickings are slim and based around a limited free time available. Ms. Plants has kindly taken off to her parents for a day so I can Indulge a little bit, and what better date than the festivals' now-familiar Animation Day.
Belladonna of Sadness (Jpn) (wiki)
This dated anime has been restored, digitized and is about to be released on DVD for the first time. Based on the book La Sorcieré, it re-imagines the struggles of Joan of Arc against a tyrant king and a very phallic devil, who comes to her aid as she is abused and abandoned by the other villagers and even her husband, whose descent into uselessness comes with all too little pressure. Sensing a soul that is more resistant to his charms than usual, the devil offers power and revenge in return for her body and soul, and a place at his side to rule over the world. With enough pressure, he knows that anyone can be tempted.
1973 is a long time ago, and I suspect director Eiichi Yamamoto's budget for such a psychedelic and downright erotic animated film may well have been curtailed somewhat. Mix that with the minimalist tendencies of the time to animate, the audience is forgiven for needing a little time to adjust to the largely static scenes. Don't get me wrong, there is some beautiful (and provocative) imagery here, but on our modern-day diet of fluid animation and big budgets, I'm not surprised at the scoffing and shaking of heads I noticed from some of the other theatergoers on leaving.
Once you do, and accept the storytelling style, it is actually quite an enjoyable, even coherent film that I was glad I got to see. The art style is much more European than east-Asian, the static watercolour drawings playing out like scrolling tapestry pages from a book, and and save for the dialogue (they don't even attempt lip-sync) you wouldn't think it came from Japan, and the script explores enough of the world it creates to not feel like all show and no substance, although quite how close it is to the novel I have yet to find out. In short, go (it's being released in a few places as well as at Leeds to mark it's overdue release) but reset your expectations before you do. 6/10
Father and Daughter (Bel) - Michaël Dudok de Wit, the director of The Red Turtle, also made this film which was shown with gushing praise by LIFF director Chris Fell, who said that Isao Takahata, the Studio Ghibli director who brought de Wit's creation to the big screen considered it to be 'the best animated short film of the 21st century so far'. While I would not go that far, it was cute and sweet and had a few feels as lonesome daughter awaits the return of her missing father, her life passing all too quickly while she watches and waits. 7.5/10
The Red Turtle (Jpn/Bel) (official site)
Out of the blue, a new Studio Ghibli film appears! Kind of, anyway. The first co-production with a non-Japanese studio (in this case, Belgium-based ), The Red Turtle is the fruits of the efforts between director Michaël Dudok de Wit and the passion of aging Ghibli director Isao Takahata, who upon seeing de Wits' earlier works, felt compelled to help him bring a larger work to a bigger audience.
It's a dialogue-free story of a shipwrecked man who by stroke of luck washes up on an island. Food and fresh water are plentiful, but his determination to leave sets him on a losing streak; each time a flimsy raft is created and he sets sail for land proper, he is attacked by a large, red turtle and with increasing despair has to swim ashore through the fragments of broken hull. When he spots the turtle coming ashore he takes the opportunity for revenge, an action which changes his outlook on the island forever.
From the red-tinged Ghibli logo, you can tell this is going to be a little different to what we normally see from the studio. The art style, while typically Ghibli-realistic, is more pastel and muted, and the character faces are far more European in style, reflecting the work of de Wit rather than Takahata or Miyazaki. This is no bad thing. The quality is as high as anything the studio has produced, and blends hand-drawn and computer generated elements very nicely. For a character spending much of the film alone creating rafts, it moves along with entertaining pace and rarely feels to be dragging. I did feel occasionally trapped between the realistic and fantasy aspects of the film as if sometimes they didn't quite sit perfectly with each other in the same picture, but mostly I was entertained and charmed and surprised myself by the feels I had at the end. 8/10
Cameraperson (US) (wiki)
Dirctor Kirsten Johnson has done her fair share of documentary filmmaking, most notably with Michael Moore in Faranheit 9/11 but also a raft of other films you are unlikely to have head of. Many have their place either in the US or the Middle East, covering injustice and war, with a particular theme on what the victims of the atrocities in question did afterward. This film, she describes as 'a memoir' of her film-making career, and is in total a selection of roughly-shot out-takes from the cutting room floor from the last 20 or so years of her career.
It has a 'behind the scenes' look about it, offering clips taken randomly from a roulette of her films, some of which are quite benign and ordinary and probably have some unsaid emotional value to the director, whereas others are given just enough context so you know that what you are seeing is pretty heavy stuff. The ratio of the former to the latter is enough to maintain interest, and it was like watching an overview of several documentaries together for those who don't have the time to spend on them all. Family life made this an appealing prospect. 7/10
A Silent Voice (Jpn) (wiki)
A final anime for the evening is a surprisingly touching story of school bullying and the aftermath as both protagonist and victim grow out of their childhood selves and reflect on their actions. Shōko is a quiet, deaf girl moving to a new area and school, while carefree Shōya has the lay of the land, knows his position high up on the classroom pecking order, and is increasingly bored and restless with school life. Sensing the growing disquiet about the special provisions paid to this new interloper, he gives into the temptations of teasing increasingly meted on the poor girl, to help pass the time. Boundaries are pushed and teasing becomes outright abuse, until Shōko finally leaves. As the teachers look for a source of the trouble and the clique of classmates turn on each other, Shōya becomes scapegoat, and is himself ostracized.
Filled with remorse, and suffering several miserable years in high school, he eventually bumps back into Shōko and attempts to make amends, but a life unaccustomed to considering the feelings of others presents many challenges.
Beautifully animated, though more stylized for my liking (and very occasionally falling into the fanservice trap) it handles both the wide subject of bullying from both viewpoints and the treatment of deaf people as human beings rather well and with satisfying depth. In particular I found the inclusion of realistic sign language gestures by the characters to be novel for animation and also the amount of time spent ensuring the gestures were detailed and accurate as well really good. Strangely, I found that relatively small detail one of the things that elevated the film above a sludge of identikit anime melodramas.
The only thing letting down A Silent Voice was it's stodgy attempts to resolve the story in the final third, where the gang of characters - all hating or liking or just hanging out with each other - had to work things out and purge the guilt. It may have been down to the Japanese culture of excessive apologetic and a desire not to offend, but they took their bloody time saying sorry time after time. Chopping out ten minutes or so would have tidied it up nicely and stopped it feeling bloated. 7.5/10
Belladonna of Sadness (Jpn) (wiki)
This dated anime has been restored, digitized and is about to be released on DVD for the first time. Based on the book La Sorcieré, it re-imagines the struggles of Joan of Arc against a tyrant king and a very phallic devil, who comes to her aid as she is abused and abandoned by the other villagers and even her husband, whose descent into uselessness comes with all too little pressure. Sensing a soul that is more resistant to his charms than usual, the devil offers power and revenge in return for her body and soul, and a place at his side to rule over the world. With enough pressure, he knows that anyone can be tempted.
1973 is a long time ago, and I suspect director Eiichi Yamamoto's budget for such a psychedelic and downright erotic animated film may well have been curtailed somewhat. Mix that with the minimalist tendencies of the time to animate, the audience is forgiven for needing a little time to adjust to the largely static scenes. Don't get me wrong, there is some beautiful (and provocative) imagery here, but on our modern-day diet of fluid animation and big budgets, I'm not surprised at the scoffing and shaking of heads I noticed from some of the other theatergoers on leaving.
Once you do, and accept the storytelling style, it is actually quite an enjoyable, even coherent film that I was glad I got to see. The art style is much more European than east-Asian, the static watercolour drawings playing out like scrolling tapestry pages from a book, and and save for the dialogue (they don't even attempt lip-sync) you wouldn't think it came from Japan, and the script explores enough of the world it creates to not feel like all show and no substance, although quite how close it is to the novel I have yet to find out. In short, go (it's being released in a few places as well as at Leeds to mark it's overdue release) but reset your expectations before you do. 6/10
Father and Daughter (Bel) - Michaël Dudok de Wit, the director of The Red Turtle, also made this film which was shown with gushing praise by LIFF director Chris Fell, who said that Isao Takahata, the Studio Ghibli director who brought de Wit's creation to the big screen considered it to be 'the best animated short film of the 21st century so far'. While I would not go that far, it was cute and sweet and had a few feels as lonesome daughter awaits the return of her missing father, her life passing all too quickly while she watches and waits. 7.5/10
The Red Turtle (Jpn/Bel) (official site)
Out of the blue, a new Studio Ghibli film appears! Kind of, anyway. The first co-production with a non-Japanese studio (in this case, Belgium-based ), The Red Turtle is the fruits of the efforts between director Michaël Dudok de Wit and the passion of aging Ghibli director Isao Takahata, who upon seeing de Wits' earlier works, felt compelled to help him bring a larger work to a bigger audience.
It's a dialogue-free story of a shipwrecked man who by stroke of luck washes up on an island. Food and fresh water are plentiful, but his determination to leave sets him on a losing streak; each time a flimsy raft is created and he sets sail for land proper, he is attacked by a large, red turtle and with increasing despair has to swim ashore through the fragments of broken hull. When he spots the turtle coming ashore he takes the opportunity for revenge, an action which changes his outlook on the island forever.
From the red-tinged Ghibli logo, you can tell this is going to be a little different to what we normally see from the studio. The art style, while typically Ghibli-realistic, is more pastel and muted, and the character faces are far more European in style, reflecting the work of de Wit rather than Takahata or Miyazaki. This is no bad thing. The quality is as high as anything the studio has produced, and blends hand-drawn and computer generated elements very nicely. For a character spending much of the film alone creating rafts, it moves along with entertaining pace and rarely feels to be dragging. I did feel occasionally trapped between the realistic and fantasy aspects of the film as if sometimes they didn't quite sit perfectly with each other in the same picture, but mostly I was entertained and charmed and surprised myself by the feels I had at the end. 8/10
Cameraperson (US) (wiki)
Dirctor Kirsten Johnson has done her fair share of documentary filmmaking, most notably with Michael Moore in Faranheit 9/11 but also a raft of other films you are unlikely to have head of. Many have their place either in the US or the Middle East, covering injustice and war, with a particular theme on what the victims of the atrocities in question did afterward. This film, she describes as 'a memoir' of her film-making career, and is in total a selection of roughly-shot out-takes from the cutting room floor from the last 20 or so years of her career.
It has a 'behind the scenes' look about it, offering clips taken randomly from a roulette of her films, some of which are quite benign and ordinary and probably have some unsaid emotional value to the director, whereas others are given just enough context so you know that what you are seeing is pretty heavy stuff. The ratio of the former to the latter is enough to maintain interest, and it was like watching an overview of several documentaries together for those who don't have the time to spend on them all. Family life made this an appealing prospect. 7/10
A Silent Voice (Jpn) (wiki)
A final anime for the evening is a surprisingly touching story of school bullying and the aftermath as both protagonist and victim grow out of their childhood selves and reflect on their actions. Shōko is a quiet, deaf girl moving to a new area and school, while carefree Shōya has the lay of the land, knows his position high up on the classroom pecking order, and is increasingly bored and restless with school life. Sensing the growing disquiet about the special provisions paid to this new interloper, he gives into the temptations of teasing increasingly meted on the poor girl, to help pass the time. Boundaries are pushed and teasing becomes outright abuse, until Shōko finally leaves. As the teachers look for a source of the trouble and the clique of classmates turn on each other, Shōya becomes scapegoat, and is himself ostracized.
Filled with remorse, and suffering several miserable years in high school, he eventually bumps back into Shōko and attempts to make amends, but a life unaccustomed to considering the feelings of others presents many challenges.
Beautifully animated, though more stylized for my liking (and very occasionally falling into the fanservice trap) it handles both the wide subject of bullying from both viewpoints and the treatment of deaf people as human beings rather well and with satisfying depth. In particular I found the inclusion of realistic sign language gestures by the characters to be novel for animation and also the amount of time spent ensuring the gestures were detailed and accurate as well really good. Strangely, I found that relatively small detail one of the things that elevated the film above a sludge of identikit anime melodramas.
The only thing letting down A Silent Voice was it's stodgy attempts to resolve the story in the final third, where the gang of characters - all hating or liking or just hanging out with each other - had to work things out and purge the guilt. It may have been down to the Japanese culture of excessive apologetic and a desire not to offend, but they took their bloody time saying sorry time after time. Chopping out ten minutes or so would have tidied it up nicely and stopped it feeling bloated. 7.5/10
Still Here
Yes, I'm still here. Blah blah children blah no time blah.
The G Man is just coming up to his second birthday, while The D Man is just hitting seven months. Both are adorable, although D has found the resonant frequency of my ear drums and uses it to great effect when he needs to get our attention, which is all the time he is not asleep. Fortunately, he sleeps.
The first six months of a childs' life are the most demanding, and mercifully, we are coming out of that period now. We're getting little smiles (adorbz, I believe is the interweb term) and laughter and he is sitting up nicely now with only the occasional topple. A horizontal perspective rather than just looking up at the fizz of the person currently giving attention or the light shade is one of the major steps to the wider world.
Such a perspective allows him to see his big bro coming, which is just as well as his love for his brother is.. heavy handed at the moment. The hugs come just a bit too close to choking the poor little sausage and so we always have to be there before giggling turns to cries.
Both have their own demands of our time but the pressure is abating. The podge that I had gathered this past year is now slowly being jogged back off again thanks to a little bit of exercise time in the mornings while they snore the wallpaper off the walls, which is just as well as I'm up for the Edinburgh Marathon next year - after missing out on London for the second time and having to skip York lest I did myself an injury waddling around. Ms. Plants herself has managed to get onto the fat fighters regime to lose '3 stone by the end of the year' (of which 1 stone has already gone), so the challenge is on.
Unsurprisingly, the festival circuit had to somehow survive with only minimal attention but I have managed to see the odd film at Leeds this year, which I will get around to talking about soon. No plantpots again, obviously as there are more awards than films. Maybe next year it can come back.
The G Man is just coming up to his second birthday, while The D Man is just hitting seven months. Both are adorable, although D has found the resonant frequency of my ear drums and uses it to great effect when he needs to get our attention, which is all the time he is not asleep. Fortunately, he sleeps.
The first six months of a childs' life are the most demanding, and mercifully, we are coming out of that period now. We're getting little smiles (adorbz, I believe is the interweb term) and laughter and he is sitting up nicely now with only the occasional topple. A horizontal perspective rather than just looking up at the fizz of the person currently giving attention or the light shade is one of the major steps to the wider world.
Such a perspective allows him to see his big bro coming, which is just as well as his love for his brother is.. heavy handed at the moment. The hugs come just a bit too close to choking the poor little sausage and so we always have to be there before giggling turns to cries.
Both have their own demands of our time but the pressure is abating. The podge that I had gathered this past year is now slowly being jogged back off again thanks to a little bit of exercise time in the mornings while they snore the wallpaper off the walls, which is just as well as I'm up for the Edinburgh Marathon next year - after missing out on London for the second time and having to skip York lest I did myself an injury waddling around. Ms. Plants herself has managed to get onto the fat fighters regime to lose '3 stone by the end of the year' (of which 1 stone has already gone), so the challenge is on.
Unsurprisingly, the festival circuit had to somehow survive with only minimal attention but I have managed to see the odd film at Leeds this year, which I will get around to talking about soon. No plantpots again, obviously as there are more awards than films. Maybe next year it can come back.
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