Faulty Projector Podcast #1: Genre Film

It's been a while! I've been out of the film journalism game for some time and have completely neglected this blog (an attempt to turn this blog into comic book reviews failed to re-ignite my enthusiasm for criticism), but my long-time friend Dennis Routledge-Tizzard has invited me to co-host a new podcast with him named after his movie blog Faulty Projector.

I'll update here with the new episodes. They are just on YouTube at the moment, though hopefully at some point we'll find a simple way to make them more conveniently accessible.

This episode is nominally on the topic "Why Isn't Genre Film Take More Seriously?" though I'm not certain we get around to really discussing that even though the episode massively overran. But we've got the first one in the can anyway and we'll fine-tune what we do as we go along.

I have another couple of movie-related and non-movie-related creative projects in development which I hope to share in the near future. In the meantime, any feedback on this podcast would be appreciated.

'World War Z', 'This is the End', 'A Field in England' and 'Frances Ha': review round-up

Before I get to the reviews, I should (for once) make an effort to plug the Live at the Essoldo Cinema Podcast - the latest episode of which saw Toby and I joined by our friend Craig Ennis and director Ben Wheatley, to discuss his upcoming film 'A Field in England' (reviewed below). You can download that conversation here. Whilst you're there, check out earlier episodes of "The Essoldo", which launched earlier this year from the ashes of Splendor Cinema.

So... reviews:

'World War Z' - Dir. Marc Forster (12A)

I can only put the relatively kind reception this film has received from critics down to severely diminished expectations. It is profoundly terrible, but maybe not in the car crash fashion everybody had been primed to expect. Shot back in the summer of 2011, and subjected to numerous script changes and re-shoots since then, 'World War Z' was shaping up to be a disaster of notorious proportions: this generation's 'Waterworld' or 'Ishtar'. And it isn't that - at all. In fact, as I write, it's number one at the international box office and, whilst it's apparently still got a way from being profitable for Paramount, not any sort of box office disaster story. But it is completely and utterly rubbish - a film genuinely without redeeming qualities of any sort.

Terrible CGI (it's all helicopter shots of unconvincing computer-generated crowds, flocking through various big cities), non-existent action scenes (the climax involves a nap, a monologue, some meningitis, a can of Pepsi and interminable scenes of staring at a fairly docile zombie), thinly drawn characters (what is Brad Pitt's vital, most-necessary-man-on-Earth UN job supposed to be anyway?), gaping holes in internal logic (zombies that can topple city walls and push over buses, but can't get past a pile of office desks?), dubious politics (peaceful cohabitation between Jews and Muslims in Jerusalem attracts the zombies!), the worst-written child characters ever ("I'm scared!", "I need my blanket!"), plot threads that go, literally, nowhere ("my family aren't safe!!!"... um, well they seem OK) and... I could go on.

It's bad. It's a waste of your time. Writing any more about it would constitute a waste of my time.

'This is the End' - Dir. Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg (15)

I've written here before, probably numerous times, that it's very difficult to review all-out comedies (as opposed to comedy-dramas), in that whether or not the film succeeds ultimately comes down to one question: "did it make you laugh"? Comedy is probably the most hit and miss genre out there, when you think about it, because there's usually nothing else going on but a string of gags and, if they don't work for you, there's usually nothing else there that's going to keep you entertained. In fact, being in a room full of people laughing at stuff you (at best) don't think is funny or (at worst) think is utterly moronic can be an alienating and irritating experience. Luckily, for me at least, 'This is the End' made me laugh more often than not.

It's got all the hallmarks of the sort of US dude-comedy that I don't usually like: every gag is more or less based around a bunch of slacker, man-child "bros" talking about sex, chicks, drugs and booze - with ample comic millage taken from taboo subjects, such as rape and masturbation - and, aside from a brief cameo from Emily Watson, there aren't any female characters whatsoever to break up the sausage-fest. Yet there is a real warmth to the central male friendships between (co-writer and director) Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Craig Robinson and Jonah Hill - all playing exaggerated versions of themselves. It's big, it's silly, it's broad - but the novelty of seeing these stars playing with their screen personas, talking trash about each other's movies and sometimes (in the case of Michael Cera) knowingly going against type, is often really fun.

'A Field in England' - Dir. Ben Wheatley (15)

This bizarre, sometimes unfathomable, mix of pitch black humour and sleep-disturbing horror won't be a surprise to fans of Ben Wheatley's other films - or at least to those who've seen the equally macabre 'Kill List'. Set during the English Civil War, 'A Field in England' follows a group of deserters as they flee a battlefield, stumble upon some magic mushrooms and become embroiled in an unsettling, occult treasure hunt, whilst ostensibly looking for the nearest pub. The performances, from the likes of Reese Shearsmith and Wheatley regular Michael Smiley, are enjoyably exaggerated and thespy, the sound design is magnificent and Laurie Rose's black and white cinematography yields wonders that belie the film's tiny budget - facts that all combine to create a unique sensory experience.

'Frances Ha' - Dir. Noah Baumbach (15)

Noah Baumbach films have a way of reaching directly, perhaps uncomfortably, into my heart and brain in a way that makes me feel as if they've been made especially for me. If 'The Squid and the Whale' seems to speak directly to my late-teens and young adulthood, then 'Frances Ha' absolutely nails that feeling of post-graduate aimlessness I share with many of my peers... I can only speculate that 'Greenberg' represents some future mid-life crisis!

Co-written by Baumbach and luminescent star Greta Gerwig, the film depicts Frances as she drifts between temporary, low-wage jobs, flits between various apartments and generally struggles to belong in the world of adulthood that she is nominally now considered part of. A wannabe dancer who looks destined to fall short of being quite good enough to really make it, this is the story of a wide-eyed kid who is gradually coming to the realisation that they might not get to be an astronaut and may have to accept being just another normal person. But that's OK. Baumbach and Gerwig deliver this timely and sobering message with a lightness of touch and touching humour that stops it from being in any way bleak: Frances maybe a bit of a fuck-up, but she's a loveable fuck-up and one I can certainly relate to.

This isn't simply one of the best films I've seen this year but, personally, it's the rare kind of film I can see making a lasting impression on my life in the way very few films can lay claim. Usually, at the very best, films find ways to challenge or perhaps just effectively articulate how you feel about the world. But, for me, films like 'The Squid and the Whale' and 'Frances Ha' seem to bring into sharp focus truths about myself that actually help me better understand the world I live in and my own place in it. That's possibly just me, but - in any case - that's a rare thing for a film to do.

'Sightseers', 'Amour': review round-up, plus Special Ben Wheatley Interview Podcast!

Quick update with a couple of short reviews, but first I wanted to flag up the fact that the latest Splendor Cinema podcast is an interview with 'Sightseers' and 'Kill List' director Ben Wheatley. iTunes subscribers can get that now, whilst it will take a few days before it's uploaded to sound cloud (and streamable from this blog).

The interview was recorded during a Q+A I conducted with Wheatley following a rare screening of his debut feature 'Down Terrace' at Brighton's new cinema Duke's @ Komedia. It was the first such event hosted at the new venue and I was honoured to be able to host it. During the Q+A, the director talks about all three of his already released features as well as next year's 'A Field in England' and a few others besides.

Anyway. Reviews.

'Sightseers' - Dir. Ben Wheatley (15)
The pitch-black humour of this British comedy - about a resolutely ordinary, working-class couple on a caravanning holiday around Yorkshire who become serial killers - will come as no surprise to those familiar with the directors other films. 'Sightseers' finds Wheatley's by now traditional mix of the mundane and the ultra-violent, all with a low-key, sardonic sensibility. It's a film in which people's heads are staved in with visceral, cover-your-eyes detail only for the perpetrators to bemoan that their ghastly crime has "ruined the tram museum" for them now. Other gems in a smart and quotable screenplay include "he's a pig in clothes, Chris" and "he's not a human being, he's a Daily Mail reader"! It's a terrifically funny hour and a half that should build a lasting following over the years to come, in no small part due to the performances of co-writers Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, who create a memorable screen duo.

Like the two Ben Wheatley films that preceded it, 'Sightseers' could appear cold, cynical and nihilistic to some. However, the unease the director makes you feel at each killing, quickly making you question each knee-jerk laugh, shows to my mind a sort of humanism that elevates the material even further. The characters themselves maybe glib about killing and dismissive of their victims, but Wheatley's handling of each act is certain to have you torn awkwardly between horror and laughter - with no act of violence seeming to lack consequence (on friends and loved ones, if not the happy murderers).

'Amour' - Dir. Michael Haneke (12A)
Michael Haneke's previous Palme d'Or winning film film, 'The White Ribbon', was one of my favourites of that year. And though his follow-up also snagged that prestigious prize, 'Amour' is not in the same weight class - either in the way it's been made or in terms of narrative. It's a smaller film with a more intimate feel and a subject matter that - whilst huge in that it deeply effects each and every one of us - feels much more personal. As such the movie is fittingly filmed around one location - several rooms of a nice Parisian apartment - and features only a half-dozen actors, focussing for the most part around only two: an elderly couple hauntingly played by Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva.

It's an accomplished film, perhaps slightly over long, but boasting terrific lead performances and painting a very complex and non-judgemental picture of both a terminally ill woman wishing to die and her distraught, occasionally rash husband - who, in one tough scene, is driven so angry by her refusal to take food that he strikes her frail and immobile body. Yet this is overall a story about love, or rather which seems to redefine love or at least view it through a different lens. It's the final days of a couple who, it seems safe to assume, have lead happy and successful lives together, and yet we focus on a man caring for his sick wife and dealing with uncaring nurses and unwanted visitors (including the couple's demanding daughter, played by Isabelle Huppert). Haneke seems to be saying this is what love is, that everything else is perhaps the build up to this the greatest test of affection and, in a sense, romance.

It's a film called love in which, at least as far as I can recall, nobody says "I love you" or shows anything like passion. But 'Amour' is unmistakably a love story. Even if it's a troubling and depressing one without a solitary shred of hope! A terrific film, and an important one, but the scope and technical prowess of Haneke's previous instant classic (perhaps unfairly) casts an inescapable shadow over this more modest endeavour.

Splendor Cinema Podcast #98: Nanni Moretti

Jon and I haven't posted a "Pantheon" podcast for a little while, but we've timed the latest one - on Italian director Nanni Moretti - quite nicely. After all, Moretti was president of the jury in Cannes this year, where he just helped award the Palme d'Or to Michael Haneke's 'Amour'. The comedy director's most recent film 'We Have A Pope' played in competition at last year's festival, but Moretti won the top prize himself in 2001 with his uncharacteristically straight drama 'The Son's Room'. Another of his films which found an audience outside of Italy was 2006's 'The Caiman' - a look at the scandal-filled political career of Silvio Berlusconi.

Those three are varying degrees of brilliant, and probably represent his most polished work to date, but my personal favourites are his two most nakedly auto-biographical: 1993's joyously whimsical 'Caro diario' and 1998's tender and ambitious 'Aprile' (also to some extent about Berlusconi). Both are episodic and very light for the most part, but seem to best represent what Moretti is all about; He plays himself in both films, ever the self-aware, cinema-obsessed, germaphobic, left-wing intellectual, though less twitchy than Woody Allen.



On the podcast we gloss over some of his earlier films, of the late-70s and 80s. In the case of the former that's down to the fact that they're (for me at least) incredibly difficult, requiring a degree of very specific contemporary Italian cultural knowledge to get the jokes and the political jibes. There are still some very funny moments but the dialogue is very quick and super-intellectual, which doesn't lend itself particularly well to sub-titled viewing. I think the relative calm of his more laid-back and urbane later stuff might be a key reason why it works better for me. In the case of his middle period - the 1980s - those are the only of his films I haven't yet managed to see. Though that's certainly something I'm going to remedy.

In any case, the Moretti Pantheon is available now to iTunes subscribers and can also be streamed in an embedded media player here.

The Pantheon series sees us look back at the entire career (or as much of it as we can get through) of a great auteur and assess the relative merits of their work, stating our favourites. Along the way we point out key themes and preoccupations of that filmmaker and try to give some sort of context as we take a chronological walk through filmography.

Splendor Cinema Podcast: 90th Episode and Facebook Page

Apologies for the overall lack of posts of late. A mixture of post-Berlinale film review burnout, my girlfriend being at home in the day over the last week, and the release of the Mass Effect 3 video game have seen me spending less time at my computer of late. With that in mind I thought I'd use the creation of a Splendor Cinema podcast Facebook page as a way to get something quick and easy up on my blog today!

So yes, please go ahead and "like" that if you're a fan of the Splendor Cinema podcast, or out of an altruistic desire to spread the word around, if you're so inclined. For those that aren't listeners, the podcast began at the start of 2010 and is hosted by Jon Barrenechea and I. We recorded our 90th episode the other day - a "show about nothing" in which we loosely discussed stuff we'd recently seen. It's basically just a semi-regular chance to hear a cinema manager and wannabe journalist talk about movies, the industry, award shows, and occasionally an inside angle on distribution. Over the past year guests have included Mark Kermode, 'Kill List' director Ben Wheatley, and several of our close cinephile friends.

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes HERE.

Mark Kermode on latest Splendor Cinema podcast!

BBC Radio 5's Dr. Mark Kermode - the UK's most beloved film critic - dropped into the projection booth at the Duke of York's cinema earlier this week to make an appearance on the Splendor Cinema podcast.

We was in Brighton to promote his latest book - the in equal parts hilarious and infuriating The Good, the Bad and the Multiplex - and kindly chatted with Jon and I on the latest show which you can stream here or download from iTunes (which should have happened automatically if you subscribe to the show).

'Kill List' Podcast with Ben Wheatley

'Kill List' and 'Down Terrace' director Ben Wheatley came into the projection booth of the Duke of York's yesterday to chat with Jon and I on the latest Splendor Cinema Podcast. Our 64th episode sees us talk to Brighton-based filmmaker about his upcoming horror film, before drifting off into random chatter about 'Planet of the Apes' on Blu-ray.

That podcast is available now to subscribers on iTunes, whilst it'll also soon be available in the embedded player on this blog's podcast page. My review of 'Kill List', which is released next Friday (September 2nd), will be up at What Culture some time in the week.

Also, on an unrelated note, I've just published a huge "top 30 games" feature on What Culture about the lovely SEGA Dreamcast. The near 10,000 word beast of an article can be read here.

WIN A YEARS PICTUREHOUSE MEMBERSHIP with the Woody Allen Pantheon Podcast

The other day Jon and I recorded our latest "Pantheon" Splendor Cinema podcast which focussed on the work of Woody Allen. In it we talk about our favourite Woody Allen films. You can dowload it from iTunes or stream it on the Picturehouse website.

It is well worth listening to as there is a competition this week, where you could win a years Picturehouse membership for two people worth £55 (which includes six free tickets). Listen to the podcast and e-mail your answer to our question to splendorcinema@gmail.com with "Woody Allen" as the subject.

November's Flick's Flicks, plus Halloween Splendor Podcast

November's episode of Flick's Flicks is now online. In it I preview the upcoming films and events for Picturehouse cinemas, which for the next month includes 'Chico & Rita', 'Let Me In', 'Another Year' and 'My Afternoons With Marguerite'. This is my penultimate episode as guest host standing in for Felicity, who returns for January's show (which I'm told will have a brand new look for the new year).



Also, Jon and I recorded our 38th Splendor Cinema podcast the other night, whilst working through a Zombie All-nighter at the Duke of York's cinema. We were joined by special guests (and Duke's co-workers) Adam Whitehall, Toby King and Craig Lakin Ennis as we chatted about favourite horror movies. The podcast should be at it's usual homes on the Picturehouse website and on iTunes within the next couple of days.

Check back later this week for my belated review of indie comedy 'Cyrus' and of current release 'The Kids Are All Right'. You can also read my review of today's 'Predators' Blu-ray release over at Obsessed With Film.

Latest Splendor Podcast covers 'The Social Network'...

It's been over a week now since my last post. In fact October has been the least productive month for this blog since it began earlier this year (with just three film reviews up this month down from almost fifty in September). But that is not to say that I haven't been busy. For one thing Jon and I recorded our 36th Splendor Cinema Podcast, talking about 'The Social Network'. (Since that recording Jon has now actually seen and reviewed the film on his own blog.) Expect us to talk about the film again (in brief) in our next episode.

I've also been busy writing the last bits of programme copy for Brighton's CineCity Film Festival - and I promise that festival, hosted by the Duke of York's cinema - has a cracking line-up, so look out for that.

I also interviewed Darren Aronofsky, Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis about my favourite film of the year so far: 'Black Swan'. That series of interviews is under embargo until the film's UK release date early next year and will be posted over at Obsessed With Film.

I haven't been able to see very many films this month as I've sought more shifts at my day job (at the Duke's), but I should be able to review gritty, British drama 'The Arbor' before the week is through. So come back for that before the week is out.

Just a quick Venice update...

Writing from the Venice press room in the Lidocasino, just to say that I haven't had very much time (at least not with an internet connection) in order to update the blog along with my other (paying) commitments. I'm planning on writing some more in-depth stuff on my Venetian adventure when I touch down back in Blighty. Probably more about my travels, as well as about the films. I'm also going to do my own awards for the festival. Which should be fun.

Whilst I've been away Jon and I have recorded two Splendor Podcasts (one of which is online now) and the latest Flick's Flicks has also been put online:



Anyhow, here is an easy summary of everything I've written elsewhere (so far):

Black Swan
Showtime
Legend of the Fist: the Return of Chen Zhen
Norwegian Wood
Happy Few
Miral
La pecora nera
Somewhere
Ovsyanki (Silent Souls)
Reign of Assassins
La passione
Potiche
Meek's Cutoff
Post Mortem
Essential Killing
Di Renjie zhi Tongtian diguo (Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame)
I'm Still Here - Press conference
The Ditch

I have also contributed three fairly long-winded run-downs to the Picturehouse Blog:

First post
Second post
Third post

More Venice Adventures!

Ok! Little pushed for time, so here is a little update.

I posted a summary of the films so far on the Picturehouse Blog, as well as impressions of 'Showtime', 'Legend of the Fist: the Return of Chen Zhen' and my short, instant reaction to 'Black Swan', at Obsessed with Film. Jon and I also recorded a new podcast, which will be up soon (I hope).

Full reviews of 'Black Swan' and 'Miral' will be up later, along with summaries of 'Norwegian Wood' and 'Happy Few'. So check back later!

All moved in: Back to work...

As I said a week ago, I haven't updated very much recently due to moving house - though thankfully not as literally as in the 'Gold Rush' (which I re-watched the other day for an upcoming Chaplin podcast... and that is synergy). But now that is all behind me and I will be returning to my more frequent updates.

A lot has happened since I last wrote anything here. Firstly, I am due to get a regular guest slot on Brighton's Radio Reverb, reviewing films. I am having a meeting with the host of a breakfast show tomorrow to see what I can offer and what format my slot will take. Secondly, the UK Film Council has been dissolved by the Tory government. Jon has written a typically excellent piece on his Splendor Cinema blog, but you should also read this 2007 Guardian article by Alex Cox to get a really spot on account of the council and its failings during its decade of operation. Thirdly, Jon and I recorded a podcast all about the films of Stanley Kubrick as part of our "Pantheon" series chronicling great directors and it should be up on iTunes and the Picturehouse website very soon.

And whilst I am still yet to see 'Toy Story 3' or 'Leaving' (which is playing at the Duke's until Thursday), I have had the opportunity to watch Joon-ho Bong's 'Mother', a brilliant South Korean thriller which is released in the UK in late-August (20th?) across Picturehouse cinemas (the same week as the excellent looking French animation 'The Illusionist'). I will review that film, and record a podcast on it, closer to the time of release.



I have also just watched the first Nicaraguan film made in over 20 years: 'La Yuma' - which I believe will be playing at this year's Cinecity Brighton Film Festival (and for which I hope to write the programme copy). The story of a spirited young female boxer trying to get by in a tough Managua neighborhood, I will review 'La Yuma' closer to the festival which comes to the Duke of York's in a few months time. Last year's festival included advance screenings of 'A Prophet', 'Ponyo', 'Dogtooth', 'Micmacs', 'The Road', 'Humpday' and 'Limits of Control' (among others) so keep an eye out for the programme when it is available.



Last night I watched a 2004 Herzog documentary called 'The White Diamond', which was typically bizarre and mesmerising. In it you can see all the ingredients of Herzog's philosophy of 'Ecstatic Truth' as he follows another dangerous obsessive: this time an English scientist determined to fly his airship over the forest canopy of the Guyana rainforest - a man haunted by the senseless and violent death of a colleague during a similar expedition ten years prior for which he feels responsible. Quite moving and very absurd, 'The White Diamond' is a must see documentary for anyone who enjoyed 'Grizzly Man', 'Encounters at the End of the World' or 'My Best Fiend'.



Anyway, that is all for today. Expect reviews of 'Toy Story 3' and 'Leaving' later this week (probably Thursday and Friday respectively). Until then: listen to the most recent podcasts and check out my last episode of 'Flick's Flicks' if you haven't already done so.

Thoughts on Michael Mann: "Pantheon" podcast coming next week...

Update: This podcast is up now on the Picturehouse website and should be on iTunes shortly.


Last month Jon and I recorded our first episode in our long-planned "Pantheon Series" of Splendor Podcasts. The last one was about the life and work of Akira Kurosawa, a filmmaker we are both big fans of. However the upcoming show (being recorded tomorrow) is about Michael Mann, Jon's favourite living filmmaker and one I have always been (at best) indifferent towards.

In an effort to educate me and to prepare me for this upcoming episode of the podcast, Jon lent me a stack of Mann DVDs and, over the last few weeks, I have watched every one of his films (most of them for the first time). Now, to get myself in the right headspace for the show, here is a brief summary of my thoughts on the Chicago born director.



From 'Manhunter' in 1986 to 'Public Enemies' last year, Michael Mann has famously focused on male professionals. Men who are the best at what they do and who are committed to their chosen field, usually at the expense of personal relationships. His films are technically cutting edge and meticulously researched. His films, with the exception of 'The Last of the Mohicans' and 'The Keep', always take place in cities which he shoots and lights beautifully. He is "romantic about urban landscapes" (to quote Mann in the splendid Tachen book on his work), often shooting magnificent aerial views and staging many intense scenes on rooftops.

The skyscraper is to Michael Mann what Western landscapes were to John Ford and both men share another trait: a preoccupation with the American experience (on making a living, controlling your own destiny in the face of intimidation and corruption). Like Ford, Mann is a self-described humanist, his work often looking at people from the bottom of society citing their lack of privilege and opportunity in American capitalism for their criminality (see James Caan's character in 'Thief' or Tom Cruise's villain in 'Collateral').



'Heat', 'Manhunter', 'Collateral' and 'Public Enemies' (and perhaps to some extent 'The Insider' and 'Ali') also deal with the idea of opposites. The criminal and the cop, the serial killer and the FBI agent, the proactive assassin and the cabbie reluctant to leave his comfort zone, even Malcom X and Martin Luther King. These men are often working in direct opposition to each other, but are also usually mirror images. Another unifying theme is the Mann canon (Mannon?) is that female characters are often happy to live in lavish houses paid for by their partners (often morally grey) work, yet they are generally unsupportive of their men when they encounter their inevitable moment of crisis. This ambivalence towards female characters is not too dissimilar to the work of Kurosawa, Ford or Kubrick (who Mann greatly admires and cites as an influence).

Perhaps because of the uber-masculine vibe and this lack of focus on good female characters (Marion Cotillard in 'Public Enemies' is an exception) I find that Mann is totally ineffective at directing love scenes. The mood lighting and the cheesy soft-rock music combine with my total lack of interest in what is taking place during such scenes. Whereas Mann is second to none when scenes concern gun play (stressing realism) or a meeting between two central characters (often sitting in a restaurant). Often the sound effects are louder than the dialogue and I know I am not alone in finding films like 'Miami Vice' and 'Public Enemies' hard to follow for this reason. This could support claims that Mann is primarily a visual stylist. Claims he himself rejects insisting that his visual choices are made to support the story and the characters.



'The Insider' (probably my favourite Mann film) is interesting in that it is the only one of his films in which the characters are non-violent. Al Pacino is a tv news journalist and Russell Crowe (in a much better performance than in 'Robin Hood') is a tobacco industry insider and a scientist. Yet the film opens with Pacino's character blindfolded and at gunpoint, Christopher Plummer's interviewer is later shown angrily threatening a man with a sub-machine gun, whilst Crowe's scientist responds to a potential home invasion by reaching for one of his (many) firearms (later he will subtly threaten to murder the tobacco company lawyers). This interests me because, even in a non-violent film about essentially non-violent men, Mann associates the capacity for violence with masculinity and self-worth. Jaimie Foxx's character is similarly non-violent (a cab driver) at the start of 'Collateral', yet the narrative forces him into violence through which he is able to "grow a pair" (in the American vernacular). Ultimately this side of Michael Mann makes me uneasy.

I could not say that I like Michael Mann's films. At least not all of them and none of them unequivocally. My favourites? Probably 'Heat', (as mentioned) 'The Insider' and 'Thief'. 'Collateral' is flawed in the writing but maybe his most purely fun feature. I only dislike 'Ali' and 'Public Enemies'. Both make great use of period detail and contain good performances (from Will Smith and Marion Cotillard respectively), but neither have depth, simply telling the story as we know it and adding nothing in terms of insight. But even then I would never call them bad films. I have certainly (thanks to Jon's insistence and enthusiasm) come to appreciate and respect the films of Michael Mann far more over the past few weeks and would never question his status as an auteur.



Discuss. Or at least we will tomorrow and you can hear the resulting podcast next week! Here are Jon's own thoughts on the subject.

Review 'Hierro': An unoriginal Spanish thriller with some nice moments...

Here is a quick update to say that my review of the new Spanish thriller 'Hierro' (from the producers behind 'The Orphanage') is released today and my full review is up on Obsessed with Film.

I haven't been posting much at OWF for a few weeks (since a site re-design). But my review of 'Greenberg' was recently re-located to there and so I figure, why not? Many thousands more people read OWF than read this blog! So it would be a little silly not to post up there when I can. Anyway, go there and read my review after watching the trailer above.

Expect a Splendor podcast for 'Hierro' and 'Please Give' (which I plan on seeing later next week) in the next week. Jon is currently in Holland looking at how cinema exhibition is run over there, so expect a few words on that too...

'Hierro' is released today (18th June 2010) and can be seen at Brighton's Duke of York's cinema.

The first of the "Pantheon series"...

A new Splendor Cinema podcast is up (episode 17), both at Picturehouse and on iTunes. This week Jon and I talk about the life and work of Akira Kurosawa (as mentioned in my previous Kurosawa post) to celebrate his centenary year, as inspired by this month's Sight and Sound magazine.

We give our individual "top 5" Kurosawa movies and discuss stuff from across the legendary director's career. It's an extra long one too (about 42 minutes) so be sure to listen if you're a fan of Japanese cinema or just Samurai.

This podcast is the first in our long planned "Pantheon series" in which we will do a number of one-off specials about "great" directors and ask the question "do they belong on the Pantheon?" We have plenty more planned so watch this space (or subscribe on iTunes).

My top five Kurosawa films (you may not have seen)...

This year is Kurosawa's centenary (he posthumously turned 100 back in March). Sight and Sound magazine have celebrated with a really great series of Kurosawa features in their July issue. Really great is the fact that they have re-printed interviews with the man himself, which are amazing to read (at least if your a bit obsessive about his life and work as I am).

I have decided to follow their lead and post clips for a "Top Five Kurosawa Films You Haven't Seen". I was tempted just to do my own "top five" list, but that would be a bit boring as it would include films everyone knows about. The likes of 'Yojimbo', 'Seven Samurai', 'The Hidden Fortress', 'Rashomon', 'Ran' and 'Ikiru' have been excluded from my thinking for this list. Instead, here are five of his films that everyone should seek out if they have the time and the interest:

'High & Low' (1963)
Based on an Ed McBain crime novel, 'High & Low' stars Toshiro Mifune in one of his greatest performances. Here is a really crazy American trailer which tries to sell this slow and talky movie as if it's a piece of Hitchcock:

'Drunken Angel' (1948)
A really overlooked gem. Two years before 'Rashomon' made everyone take notice in Europe, Kurosawa made this amazing film which also marked Kurosawa's first collaboration with Mifune (who steals the show from the equally brilliant Takashi Shimura). A really good, grimy look at post-war Japan and as political as Kurosawa ever got. The final scenes are among the most intense I have ever seen.

'Red Beard' (1965)
This slow, three hour 19th century medical epic was Kurosawa's final film with Mifune. Never a more humanistic movie did Kurosawa make.

'I Live in Fear' (1955)
Again, stars Toshiro Mifune. This time playing a man twice his actual age. The story is great: it concerns a man who dreams of moving his family to Brazil to escape the impending atomic holocaust he fears is coming to Japan. The paranoia and the exasperation of Mifune's old man are priceless. The film also marks the last score by Fumio Hayasaka, as he died of tuberculosis shortly after completing the score. It also has some great alternative titles in the west: 'Record of a Living Being' and 'What the Birds Knew'. Kurosawa would return to this atom bomb paranoia with a short section in 1990's 'Dreams'. I can't find a video clip so here is that mournful score, stained with tragedy:


'Dreams' (1990)
Curiously the only Kurosawa film to be available to stream from X-Box Live, 'Dreams' was part produced by Steven Speilberg (in a similar manner to how Coppola and Lucas helped finance 'Kagemusha' in 1980) and has visual effects from ILM. The film is a series of shorts which represent Kurosawa's own dreams. I'm not going to lie: some of them are a bit rubbish and much of the dialogue is terrible. But the whole film is visually splendid. Below is the entire "Crows" chapter, which stars Martin Scorcese as Vincent Van Gogh. The way Kurosawa turns Van Gogh's paintings into live action is breathtaking.


Also, if you want to get into Kurosawa (or if you are a bit of a fan already) you could do worse than to read his own book Something Like an Autobiography (which tells Kurosawa's life story up to the making of 'Rashomon' in 1950) or Donald Richie's brilliant The Films of Akira Kurosawa. The Richie book is an essential: detailed academic essays on every single one of his films. What a great book!

Finally, if you're hungry for even more Kurosawa then check out a short post I did, back in May, on his films being remade. Also, look out (or listen out) for the next Splendor podcast, which will take the form of a Kurosawa love-in.

Many new Splendor Cinema podcasts...

It's been a rollercoaster ride for fans of the Splendor Cinema podcast in recent months. The names has been changed more than once and it has moved home a fair few times to boot. Now things have (hopefully) settled down and we (Jon Barrenechea and I) are back in the very capable (and reliable) hands of Eurogamer's Mr. Craig Munroe. We are back up on iTunes and also available on the Picturehouse website.

A lot of new shows have been uploaded lately, covering a range of topics. We have discussed 'Sex & the City 2' and 'Date Night', the 'Cini Estelli' fundraising project and Alex Cox's 'Walker', upcoming movies and much, much more!

I'll have direct links to all those podcasts on this blog when I have them, as usual.

Also, everyone owes it to themselves to read Jon's really great piece on piracy and the future of cinema distribution.

'The Girl on the Train' review: Téchiné's latest fails to satisfy...

‘The Girl on the Train’, a new film directed and co-written by the multi-award-winning André Téchiné, is very much a film of two halves. Apparently loosely based on a real-life event infamous in its native France and set within the context of a wave of anti-Semitic hate crimes, the film follows a young girl named Jeanne who one day tears her clothes, cuts herself and draws swastikas on her body, before claiming to the authorities that some youths attacked her whilst she rode a train. She adds to the recent concern about racist attacks by claiming that she was singled out because she was carrying the business card of a Jewish lawyer, also suggesting that crowds of people on the train saw the incident and did nothing to intervene. The media quickly buy into this lie and run with the story sparking popular outrage across France. Soon Jeanne’s mother is taking calls from the nation’s President expressing his sympathies for the attack. The second half of the film deals with Jeanne telling the lie and its aftermath (much of which is based on reality), whilst the first half is Téchiné’s attempt to understand why she told this lie and deals with the (highly fictionalized) events leading up to it.

If Téchiné is considered one of France’s most significant post-New Wave filmmakers, then it is only fitting that the film does not come without names of top acting pedigree also. The Belgian actress Émilie Dequenne (who won the ‘Best Actress’ prize at Cannes in 1999) heads up a well-respected cast as she plays the titular girl, Jeanne. Her troubled and well-meaning mother, Louise, is played by the Academy Award nominated Catherine Deneuve (a frequent Téchiné collaborator), whilst the Jewish lawyer and hate crime activist, Samuel Bleistein, is played by Michel Blanc (a star of Téchiné’s last film, ‘The Witnesses’). Finally, a rising star, Nicolas Duvauchelle (who was also in last year’s Claire Denis film, ‘White Material’), plays Jeanne’s streetwise boyfriend Franck. It is their love affair which dominates the film’s first half and attempts to go some way to explaining Jeanne’s later actions.



The cast do an able job with the material they are given, however the film feels strangely like a low-budget television drama. There are some nice shots and many scenes (notably those in the sunshine) are pleasantly lit, but it is paced far too slowly and outstays its welcome fairly quickly. There are whole scenes which seem to serve no obvious purpose in advancing Jeanne’s story. For instance, there is a sub-plot (involving a bickering divorced couple who later sleep together and then finally reconcile) which could easily have been excised from the film entirely. When I first saw the film I was unaware of the “true story” element and (not having read a synopsis) did not know that Jeanne was going to stage a racially motivated hate crime by beating herself up. The fact that when she did it came as a huge surprise to me (and seemed to alter the tone of the film so completely) I think counts against the film, as the first half which leads up to the event and is supposed to provide some sort of character motivation and simply fails to do so. I am still none the wiser about Jeanne's motivations.

We are left asking questions, such as: did she do it for attention? But we could have asked those questions had the film only depicted the “true story” events. Téchiné sheds no light on this extraordinary lie and its consequences. He depicts Jeanne watching a holocaust documentary and weeping. He also shows that she has seen the news reports of the previous (genuine) hate crimes against Jewish people. But neither of these moments really add up to pretending you've been persecuted. Perhaps Téchiné is suggesting that she feels marginalised and suspects that the only way she can get her voice heard is by capitalising on this media event. We are left intrigued to find out more about the real-life case, but not especially thrilled by or satisfied with Téchiné’s film.

'The Girl on the Train' is out in the UK now on a limited release, including one showing at Brighton's Duke of York's Picturehouse on July 20th. The film is rated '15' by the BBFC. Jon and I covered it in the latest Splendor Podcast also.

'The Happiest Girl in the World' review: Outstanding Romanian comedy...

Once in a while a film comes along that really surprises you. Completely knocks you back. Fifteen minutes into Radu Jude’s ‘The Happiest Girl in the World’ I came to the realisation I was watching such a film. Romanian cinema has been experiencing something of a critical golden age over the last decade, with the so-called New Wave climaxing in 2007 when Cristian Mungiu’s ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days’ won the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Anyone who watches Jude’s film will find themselves assured that the good times are not yet over for the former Soviet state’s film industry.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am fond of tightly made little films which focus on a small number of characters and have almost no “plot” in the conventional sense. ‘The Happiest Girl in the World’ is another film in this fine tradition, with relatively little going on in the plot department. A young girl called Delia has won a competition by collecting the labels from a fruit drinks bottle and is entitled to a brand new car, as well as a starring role in an advertisement for the drink. To collect her prize and to film the commercial, Delia and her parents travel to Bucharest from the countryside. We witness the final leg of their car journey into the capital and then we stick with Delia as she gets her make-up done and films take after take of the inane advertisement. Arguing with her parents between takes about what to do with the car (they want to sell it in order to start a hotel business, whereas she wants to keep it do drive around with her friends) the girl is forced to repeat for the cameras (and with increasing irony) that she is the titular “luckiest, happiest girl in the world”.



What we see is a protracted (fantastically acted) family feud, as she argues with her mother, then her father, then the pair of them and so on, until the day is ending, the light is fading and the poor, exasperated commercial director is left trying desperately to coax an adequate performance out of her. Meanwhile, a representative of the drinks company takes exception to every detail of the ad, from the girls speaking, to the amount of juice she drinks in a single take, to the amount of water sprayed onto the bottle by the prop man in order to make it look refreshing (at one point he suggests adding cola to the bottle to make it look better on film). These two parts of the film combine to give us something which is equal parts a poignant (and often quietly funny) family drama about a grumpy modern teenager and her old fashioned parents and a detailed and fascinating insight into the world of making commercials (and by extension filmmaking in general), with every aspect of that world shown in great detail. Apparently Jude was himself a director of commercials and it is clear he knows that world inside and out.

There are so many interesting strands in this film that it is almost impossible to keep track of them all. It is an observational comedy about the gap between generations. It’s also a story about the clash between the new capitalist ideology which prizes personal possessions and consumption over the common good represented by the parents who remember the communist years more vividly and see a comfortable lifestyle as more appealing than a shiny car. You could read it as simply a story of country attitudes coming to the big city, or of the cruelty of the media industry using people and treating them badly (as the commercial makers constantly talk about Delia's physical imperfections whilst she is within earshot).



It is also a film which provoked an incredibly visceral response from me whilst I sat watching it. I felt like I wanted to shout at the girl for being so selfish and giving her folks such a hard time. I wanted her dad to be able to get her signature and sell the car before the day’s conclusion. At times I was gripped with suspense uncommon in this sort of quiet, low-key film as I genuinely worried about what decision the girl would make. But the biggest strength of all is that I wasn’t led to feel that way particularly (or at least I don’t feel as though I was, which is just as good). I can just as easily imagine people wanting the girl to keep her car and I can see people thinking badly of her parents for pushing her into selling it for them (and at one point threatening to disown her entirely and leave the city without her - which come to think of it does sound unreasonable).

Basically, ‘The Happiest Girl in the World’ is one of the most remarkable and surprising films of the last year and I will be very, very surprised if it isn’t in my top ten come January 2011. Go and see it if you can find it playing somewhere.

'The Happiest Girl in the World' is rated '15' by the BBFC and is out today (28th May 2010) in the UK in selected cinemas nationwide (or probably just in London). Jon and I talked about it in the last podcast too!