Author: Alex Cole

Investigating the ways in which film has shaped our perception of the world; Edward Ross combines two of the twentieth century’s greatest art forms, cinema and graphic novel to present an entertaining and exciting (although occasionally preachy) journey into the impact and influence of cinema in shaping our lives and perceptions.

Advertised as a journey through ‘the history of cinema’, Filmish is less of chronological journey than a discussion of key aspects of film theory. Likely presenting nothing new to the film theorist; for the more casual film and comic lover Edward Ross presents a friendly and free-flowing introduction into the world of cinema theory. Written in a friendly style that combines conversational prose with exiting and interesting images, Filmish is very easy to read without losing out on content. Ross’s interesting choice to place himself at the scene of the crime with illustrations of himself imposed in movie scenes transforms dense academic material into a cinematic journey that is both enjoyable and thought provoking.

Heavily critical of what Ross describes as the ‘patriarchal’ world of cinema, Ross’s work can sometimes feel like a re-education detracting from lightness of the book and whilst the message is important and Ross accurately describes the failures and bigotry of the cinematic world Ross’s work itself can come across as slightly oppressive. Nonetheless, overall, this book is highly appealing and incredibly entertaining. I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in film theory and honestly, any film lover would fail to read Filmish and come away without a new appreciation for the power and impact of film.

An original ideal and a great piece of non-fiction; Filmish is published by self-made hero and ground breaking in its style.

Following the story of Frans Afman; Hollywood Banker tells the story of how a middling Dutch bank became the most important financiers of independent cinema propelled by the genius of one man whose hobby became his career.

From start to finish this is a personal tale. Directed by Rozyman Afman, daughter of the films subject, Hollywood Banker tracks her fathers career in Hollywood  finance from beginning to end. With stunning pace, creative choice of locations, a measured mixture of interviews, exerts,and movie footage Hollywood Banker hold your interest from start to finish. Whilst some may read the blurb and wonder how on earth a film about a financier, whose life couldn’t be further from The Wolf on Wall Street, could be at all interesting (myself included), five minutes of this film will change your mind. Where many documentaries reach a plateau about half way through and struggle to recreate their early intensity until the very end, Hollywood Banker holds its pace throughout. Not only is this a great documentary, but it has a riveting subject matter and left me genuinely curious to learn more.

This is an aspect of Hollywood that people rarely see, and is a story of a time passed, when independent  cinema was at its strength and could truly compete with big budget blockbusters. Hollywood Banker is a brilliant documentary and is a must watch for film buffs everywhere. What begins as a personal journey for the director becomes a brilliantly interesting subject and I would thoroughly recommend this documentary to anyone.

As a town is devastated by a terrible mining accident, Little Accidents follows a number of residents as they battle with guilt, secrets and the strength of truth. The life of a small boy (Jacob Lofland), the lonely wife of a mining executive (Elizabeth Banks) and the lone survivor (Boyd Holbrook) are forced together as the death of a teenage boy brings further strife to this already crushed town.

Director and writer Sara Colangelo really tries to bring home the desperation and depression of the accident and the events that follow. With a truly talented cast, this indie hit could have been something great, but Colangelo seemingly directs it to its grave as the actors are often so dour that it’s hard to attach yourself. There are moments when you can see into the characters, but they’re only glimpses and rarely do we get to see past the accident into the people and it was hard to support any character except for the boy Owen Briggs, whose antithesis of innocence and guilt was portrayed magnificently by Lofland.

On top of this dour approach, Little Accidents suffered from a break in narrative in the middle of the film. It’s easy to see that this was adapted from Colangelo’s 2010 short of the same name and I think she struggled to expand the story to an hour forty five. The characters took too long to resolve what seemed obvious from the beginning, with constant back and forth that was neither relatable nor understandable and then resolved almost instantly. This being said, when the conflict of lone survivor Amos (Holbrook) was finally resolved we were treated to a brilliantly emotional end where Lofland once again excels himself as the truth is finally revealed.

With a fantastic start and fantastic finish, Little Accidents is bleak throughout, but despite some spectacularly understated moments of true drama and devastation, this tale of chaos loses itself in the middle, ruining what could be an otherwise great film.

With everything from Ice Cream to social Change; A Dream Preferred follows the Taharka Bros ice Cream company as they battle for the success of their crowdfunding campaign and challenge stereotypes of young black business owners in Baltimore.

Directors Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing have taken us behind the scenes of this campaign with a combination of interviews and storytelling intertwined with some beautiful shots of downtown Baltimore. It’s a really heartfelt piece with bags of enthusiasm from those involved and is clearly a project of love for Ewing and Grady. Luckily it avoids the pitfall of simply becoming an ad campaign and is beautiful portrait of the people and the message and not simply a discussion of economics and success.

Whilst incredibly well-paced, avoiding both boredom and repetition, I frankly think this film could have done with an extra 5 minutes. I felt let down with the sudden and unexpected conclusion, giving little insight into what happened at the close of the campaign, other than a short scene of the new van cruising the streets of Baltimore. After getting too ingrained in the lives of these people in such a short space of time, it would have been nice to see the fruits of their labour long term instead of the sudden celebration and abrupt end.

A Dream Preferred is a fantastic short and a great documentary. If you’ve got 20 minutes to spare I thoroughly recommend watching it!

Follow the link to see A Dream Preferred on online, or see below!

https://vimeo.com/127608534

Boasting the tagline, friendship, ‘comedy’ and basketball Summer Night is a short film about average college kids doing average things.

There’s a semblance of a story line with a supposed interview in the offing by an unlikable and in my opinion, unfunny, comedian as well as a lost friend; but this short is largely just guys hanging out. It could in many ways be seen as an interesting look into modern American friendship and the bond between them, but unfortunately it was ruined by bland and uninteresting characters. Coming in at only 36 minutes long, though I remained forever hopeful of a twist or some action, nothing happened and the film remained slow throughout.

I commend the director Kent Juliff for his vivid portrayal of normal people and normal life and I don’t think you’ll see better camera work anywhere. The directorship and cinematography were truly mesmerising and some of the shots were incredible but I’d just wished there was some content to go along with it.

Overall, this is a beautifully sweet piece and I’m certain it brought the team who made it immense joy and pride and I can see why. Unfortunately, as an outsider I found it a little uninteresting. Others may disagree.

If you’d like to judge for yourself, Summer Night can be found here: Summer Night