Author: BRWC

Honey Boy: The BRWC Review. By Nick Boyd.

“Honey Boy,” based on actor Shia LaBeouf’s childhood, is a powerful coming-of-age look at living on the margins as a child actor with an emotionally abusive yet loving father.  In flashbacks to 1995, LaBeouf plays James, a version of his father, and Noah Jupe (in a remarkable performance) plays his 12-year-old son Otis.  Father and son (the mother is out of the picture) are living in a run-down motel in southern California as Otis, through his small parts in TV roles, is able to financially provide for the two of them, although it is a constant struggle. 

James is a very harsh and demanding father, at times resentful to be dependent on his son for support.  While James proclaims that he has been sober for four years, he regularly attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and always seems on the verge of relapsing.  LaBeouf, with horn-rimmed glasses, long hair, and sloppy appearance, certainly looks the part, and this adds to the realism of the picture.

Young Otis, looking for guidance in his life, is able to find it in the Big Brother program in which he is enrolled.  That is where he meets Tom, someone that he looks up to.  Otis wants to go to a baseball game with Tom, but before doing so James invites him over for a barbecue to find out more about him.  As James senses that Tom seems to be getting too close to his son, that does not sit well with him and he reacts negatively. 

Then when James is not around, Otis turns to a young sex worker for warmth and comfort that his father is unable to provide.  The relationship of sorts they form is not exploitative and is in a way touching as this young woman is able to provide the comfort that Otis craves.

We get the sense through all the hours he has to put in for roles that do not amount to much and the living conditions he finds himself in that Otis has a compromised early adolescence, lacking any real joy or sense of fun.  

Scenes of the film taking place in 2005 feature Otis as an action movie star (played by Lucas Hedges), who is clearly battling internal demons.  We see him in his apartment downing a large quantity of alcohol and then in a later scene he gets into a car crash, having been under the influence.  This causes him to be arrested and placed in a mandated treatment facility.  He does not believe that he should be there and makes this known to his counselor, played by Laura San Giacomo. 

As a calming, understanding presence, Dr. Moreno slowly gets Otis to reveal the pain and hurt within.  Hedges is quite effective at showing all that he has had to deal with over the years, both in highly emotional as well as quieter scenes.  His character is able to evolve and eventually find some catharsis.

This very raw, personal movie is LaBeouf’s therapeutic attempt at healing his tumultuous father son relationship.  It is not an easy watch, but the deeply felt performances and the insights it provides, make it an experience worth having.

By Naseem Ally. ‘Malou’ is a short film inspired by true events. It follows a young, passionate dancer by the name of Malou, who is absolutely tenacious in fighting for her dream of performing on the stage.

After years of going through hoops of turmoil and rejection, fate would have it that an opportunity would present itself to her, resulting in an unexpected revelation.

Malou, played by Romina Kuper is reserved and seen as someone pretty much out of place. She’s an outsider. This is none more evident than in the first few scenes of the film, where she is clearly met with some hostility. As she makes her way through the dance school hallways, a fellow student makes the comment ‘what is she doing here?’

Stephan Frohlich, the director of photography for this film, has made a strong input on the aesthetics.

Malou opens with scattering strobe lights that shine on a dancer as they perform. The hues from the lights are vivid and dramatic, setting the tone for the rest of the film.

This scene slowly fades out to reveal a young Malou being amazed by the dancer’s grace on the television. As this is a 15-minute film, there’s not really much of an emphasis on seeing the young Malou growing up to where she is presently in the film, which is a shame.

However, this is done in an ingenious way as she runs down a number of hallways and doors, leading to the main entrance for her dance school with the camera focusing on a grown-up Malou. A signal that she has arrived.

It was a great way to approach the sequencing of the film, considering the time constraints.

Throughout Malou, there’s a good use of natural lighting. The large and well-lit windows play into this vision of ‘grandeur’ as she walks through this very prestigious dance school. Malou is clearly battling through the intimidation but seems to stick to her guns as she’s determined to make a point at this school.

You could say, Malou is the ‘B-Rabbit’ of the dance world. ‘Do you know what it’s like to prove yourself every day?’.

Malou’s score is beautiful, and this is cemented right at the beginning of the film. It opens with some very piercing strums of the violin that really creates a unique atmosphere. It’s almost haunting.

Not quite in the same manner as ‘Joker’, but it’s very good, and works in this particular circumstance. There’s a lot of classical influence in the film and it goes with the overall theme of Malou.

Going back to my earlier point of the use of natural lighting, the same can be said for the sound too. Outside the school campus, there’s a moment where Malou goes to reflect and is surrounded by a wonderful ambience of birds chirping and leaves gently rustling in the wind.

Malou more or less follows the similar themes of hardship in the pursuit of excellence in the dance world, as we’ve seen in many similar films over the years, so it isn’t anything groundbreaking.

But what it does have going for itself is a tactile and simple approach to the genre, that keeps you drawn into the story.

There are no sudden flash mob sequences after Malou pulls a fast one on her harsh dance tutor, who apparently has ‘a stick up his ar*e’ as mentioned by one of the instructors in the film.

But instead, it’s the world that has been created from the visual and audio work, and the straight forward dialogue that will keep your interest enough, to engage in this film.

By Naseem Ally. ‘Serious Tingz’ is a micro-short film from director Abdou Cisse that paints a picture of his personal experience of growing up in South London, where it’s somewhat expected for young men to follow the rite of passage of wearing the iconic ‘screwface’. This film goes underneath the surface of masculinity and questions ‘what is a smile worth?’

I had the fortune of being able to see the BIFA nominated film at a screening in Shoreditch held in collaboration with The Beats By Dr Dre Residency and Stormzy’s Penguin Publishing imprint #Merky Books, where Abdou Cisse himself, was present as part of a Q and A session.

Serious Tingz has a total running time of three minutes and in that time, the film displays a vast array of characters all reflecting the power struggle that youth face in inner-city London, when it comes to having to maintain the ‘screwface’ pose on a daily basis.

In the Q and A session, Abdou mentioned that he wanted to make the film authentic by casting people that were actually living in South London estates and could relate to the premise, rather than putting out an open casting call.

I think this was a great choice for the film and it makes it really believable. In all honesty, it would probably be quite hard to randomly pull someone off the street and instruct them to put on a performance like that. Especially for someone who may have never even been in similar circumstances, of growing up in a scarce, competitive socio-economic environment where you’re pretty much forced to put up a front, for the sake of your own livelihood. Even if you don’t want to.

It’s better to cast someone who’s actually lived and breathed the lifestyle, than trying to force or manipulate a performance out of them, which is so often the case with child actors. However, of course, there are some exceptions – case in point being Zain Al Rafeea’s great display in the lead role of ‘Zain’ in the Cannes winning ‘Capernaum’.

What I appreciated about Serious Tingz is that these aren’t actors – they’re real people – who are ‘acting’ by circumstance, not by choice. I’d love to see more work of this ilk, instead of the arguably fabricated performances in shows like ‘Top Boy’. It’s a drama. I understand – Drake, don’t come for my ‘headtop’.

After watching this, I couldn’t picture Cisse yelling cut, and then the guys on set saying to each other, ‘Yo fam, you wanna go for a cheeky Nando’s? – Nah bruv, I can’t, I gotta go do some shopping with the missus’.

Maybe, after giving each other daps, they’d head their separate ways before catching themselves putting on another screwface – only 10 minutes after wrapping filming on their way home. One of the only places they can let their guard down – perhaps.

Imagine.

Growing up in environments like the one seen in Serious Tingz shows it’s not hard to see why there are cases of PTSD among inner-city youth, as day to day life on a council estate is like living in your very own battlefield.

Abdou Cisse took the right approach towards casting. Props should also go to Nico Jouvel and Andre Black, credited as casting directors for the film.

Serious Tingz is aesthetically pleasing. There’s a great montage of sped up photos and what seems like a video shot on a phone of someone freestyle rapping out of a car window, which gives the film a raw and gritty feel that you’d get from ‘homemade’ videos. For those familiar with the ‘Lord Of The Mics’ DVDs, it would definitely give you some nostalgia. Who remembers this classic?

One of the photos in the montage, a group photo, reminded me of the ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ album artwork by Kendrick Lamar. I don’t personally know if Abdou Cisse was also inspired by this, but regardless, the monochrome technique works perfectly for this film. It’s minimalistic but captures so much at the same time.

The best shot in the film hands down was the rotating shot, looking up at a flight of stairs in a block of flats. Having the cast dispersed across the different floors was nicely done.

Again, similarly to the casting for this film, the crew that worked on the visual side did a fantastic job; James, Korrie, Zainab and Birame, all played their part and it shows in this film.

There’s great sound in here too. The echos that fade out as the camera transitions to the next scene gives off an eerie vibe and a sense of anticipation that something could ‘kick-off’. In the words of Phil Collins, ‘I can feel it coming in the air tonight‘.

It creates a feeling that some hostility would ensue if your ‘screwface’ was not up to scratch.

It’s quite hard to find a fault in this project. In terms of all the fundamentals you’d expect from a film, it ticks all the boxes. Great story, cast, lighting, sound and editing.

Perhaps, one obvious drawback of Serious Tingz is its running time. I’m sure Abdou Cisse specifically intended to tell this story in a concise manner and to be fair to him, it works.

However, personally, I would have been interested to see how Cisse could have expanded on this premise, on a much longer running time.

Perhaps, it could focus on a central protagonist that has the conflict of managing the ‘screwface’ in a number of different situations. Is there an underlying cause, apart from the one in the film, to put on a screwface?

Could it be an accumulation of microaggressions they receive on a daily basis, that is the root cause of them having to do this?

The water cooler conversations at work, the comments at school about ‘being disruptive’ in the class? the clutching of handbags on the tube? the double-takes from police officers as they drive by.

These sort of scenarios are very relatable and I believe can tie into what was being portrayed in this film. I feel that Abdou Cisse has limited himself and could have taken this project to the next level if he had shown how these young men are affected outside, as well as inside the ‘ends’.

A perfect example is the TV show ‘Atlanta‘. I could definitely see them titling an episode ‘screwface’ with a very compelling storyline.

The genius of ‘Atlanta’ is that it has the right blend of ‘hood’ and ‘corporate’ worlds that show the fine line of what it’s like to live in a challenging environment, whilst maintaining a degree of integrity ‘in a society’ (cheesy ‘Joker’ pun – I know) that wants to discredit your abilities due to being surrounded in circumstances that are somewhat, out of your control.

In other words, these are the cards you’re dealt with and now we want to see how you pull yourself out of that. Will you fold, call or raise?

Don’t get me wrong, there’s space for shows and films like Top Boy and Serious Tingz, but it feels like it puts a cap on what they can do as creatives.

I’m not oblivious to the factors that come into play, such as what gets commissioned by studios and producers, but going forward – say five years from now – I’d be interested to see if creatives from the U.K will put themselves in a position to say in pitch meetings ”yeah we can do this, but we can ALSO do this, and THEN SOME!”

I’d be over the moon if the U.K could have its own interpretation of a TV show like Atlanta. A Frankenstein mash-up of Top Boy and The I.T. Crowd – who knows?

Speaking of Atlanta, FX, bring on season 3 because I want to see some Serious Tingz!

By Matt Keay. Following on from the critical success of his debut feature ‘Kaili Blues’, emerging auteur Bi Gan builds on both the central themes of memory and loss prevalent in his filmmaking, and the technical prowess which wowed audiences of his first film.

‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night’ follows Luo Hongwu, a broken, emotionally destitute transient man (Jue Huang), as he travels around Kaili, a southeastern mainline Chinese city, searching in vain for a woman (Wei Tang) that even he admits he can barely recall, but who holds a significance that gnaws at his damaged psyche. Why he is looking for her is anyone’s guess, but the beauty of Luo’s perambulations is worth the ticket price alone.

Much of ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night’ is vague and elusive, capturing perfectly the feeling of waking up from a dream and not being able to exactly remember what you dreamt about. As oneiric and transitory as the film is, though, Bi Gan’s direction is assured and light of touch, (even if his script, such as it is, is a little on the heavy-handed side), and the world in which he gently forces the audience to experience is ripe for interpretation. The real joy, however, of this film is the cinematography.

Every frame of this wonderful picture is worthy of adoration, and the directors of photography (of which there are three – Yao Hung-I, David Chizallet, and Jinsong Dong) deserve incalculable credit for their jaw dropping work. The final shot of the film is a fifty-nine minute unbroken take in which Luo moves through numerous enigmatic environments; a bravura achievement which improves in spades on the forty-one minute handheld take in ‘Kaili Blues’.

In addition, real life cinema-goers are expected to don 3D glasses at the point that Luo does, heightening the dreamlike aesthetic, and furthering the dazzling, woozy disorientation of the previous hour and a quarter.

Bi Gan has made no secret of his adoration for the work of Andrei Tarkovsky, (having, like most of us, watched ‘Stalker’ in college), and it would appear that imitation, as they say, is the highest form of flattery. The marriage of fluidity and poise when it comes to the camerawork, the deadpan poetic dialogue; ’Long Day’s Journey Into Night’, and ‘Kaili Blues’, evoke the very best of Tarkovsky’s oeuvre.

One of the opening scenes quietly surveys an overgrown train yard with deft precison, bringing to mind in many ways the dilapidated locales of The Zone. Bi Gan is clearly a talent to keep an eye on. He’s a cinephile who taught himself how to tell stories through cinema, and it is clear his star is on the rise. Viewed in its state merely as an audio/visual poem, ’Long Day’s Journey Into Night’ is a worthy and valuable endeavour, but primarily it is a film best ‘experienced’, rather than enjoyed.

Marvel at its beauty, ponder on its meaning, but don’t go looking for answers. It’s out in cinemas on December 27th.