Author: BRWC

Power Alley: Review. By Simon Thompson.

Writer/director Lillah Halla’s Power Alley is a rapid and punchy feature debut that, while being impressively shot and edited, ultimately falls short when it comes to its narrative structure. While Power Alley is a movie with a lot to say about the socio-political situation for gay people in Brazil, the movie’s relatively short run time of roughly an 1 hour and 30 odd minutes doesn’t leave it much time to do it. 

The plot of Power Alley, focuses on Sofia (Ayomi Domenica Dias), a 17 year old, prodigiously talented, volleyball player who is close to realising her dream of gaining an athletic scholarship so that she can attend university. This is put in jeopardy, however when Sofia, although identifying as gay like most of her teammates, suddenly finds herself pregnant as a result of a brief fling with a boy. She decides to have the pregnancy aborted so as to realise her athletic dreams, and undergoes the dangerous journey of trying to get an abortion in Brazil, a country with incredibly strict laws around the procedure.

The positives of Power Alley are the fact that Halla is a very skilled technical filmmaker, whose use of a vibrant cinematography scheme and striking close up in some of the movies’ most dramatic scenes demonstrates real talent behind the camera. Ayomi Domenica Dias’s performance as Sofia, is another highlight, with her understated portrayal, imbued with a subtle stoicism (given the character’s situation), that never spills into over-dramatic Lifetime movie territory, being another feather in this film’s cap. 

Where Power Alley suffers however, is within its narrative structure. Caught halfway between being an underdog sports story and a coming of age social realist drama the movie never quite commits to either one, leaving the supporting cast of Sofia’s volleyball teammates feeling underdeveloped as a result. The movie’s b-plot, centring around the volleyball team trying to win a trophy, constantly diverts focus away from the pregnancy a-plot that frankly is far more narratively compelling. The c-plot, involving a group of religious fundamentalist types within Sofia’s neighbourhood who disapprove of homosexuality, further adds to the lack of focus that the movie suffers from.

While Power Alley is a brave, well directed, and commendable piece of filmmaking centred around  highly topical subjects it’s unfocused script becomes more and more frustrating to contend with as the movie goes on. Power Alley is a film which very much could have done with at least an extra 45 minutes so as to allow Halla and co-writer María Elena Morán more time to flesh out the supporting cast and specific aspects of the plot. 

Dog: Review. By Simon Thompson.

Writer/director Ben Tan’s short film Dog, is a high contrast black and white assault on the senses in the vein of movies such as La Haine or Man Bites Dog. If were to describe Dog in the most lift pitch way possible, I would say that it’s the end result of what would happen if Richard Linklater were born in Paris instead of Houston and made a movie as a part of the cinema du look movement. 

The plot of Dog follows Summer (Alexis Felix), a 19 year old girl forced by her mother to take her blind younger sister Lex (Nastasia Koulich) to a rave with her. When the pair decide to take a break from the rave and get some fresh air, a guy clearly drugged out of his mind, starts flirting with Lex and the night ends up going in an increasingly sinister direction. 

Tan uses an intimate and claustrophobic shooting style, to place the audience into the world of his characters more effectively, again in a very similar way to La Haine but also Jim Jarmusch’s Down By Law and Luc Besson’s Subway. What Dog also has in common with those movies is that it places societal outsiders at the forefront of the action, which when combined with Tan’s compact cinematography, creates a potent visual effect. 

The acting in Dog is befittingly naturalistic and understated, with the performances of the two leads Alexis Fleck and Nastasia Koulich, in particular, being completely believable in their roles as a pair of siblings. In the wrong hands this short could have turned into a pathetically memable after school PSHE special, but thanks to Tan’s sparse script the characters depicted act and feel like real teenagers on a night out. 

Dog is an excellent short film which at a tight 13 minutes is absolutely worth watching. In a world where filmmakers have seemingly forgotten the lesson of less is more, it’s absolutely refreshing to watch something which tells a complete story in a very short amount of time.  If you’re a fan of Jim Jarmusch’s early work, Francis Ford Coppola’s Rumble Fish or cinema du look movies you will more likely than not find Tan’s short to be a more than enjoyable viewing experience.

Freewaka: Review. By Simon Thompson.

Writer/director Aislinn Clarke’s Freewaka is a movie which starts off with a highly promising first act, but despite a carefully crafted atmosphere and a genuine sense of menace, doesn’t quite stick the landing in the way that you would hope. This is a shame because there is a lot to enjoy about Freewaka, and the way that Clarke balances Irish history and folklore with the horror genre. 

Freewaka, tells the story of Shoo (Clare Monnelly), a nurse from the city who, after the death of her mother, is tasked with taking care of an elderly woman named Peig in a foreboding remote rural village. Peig (Bríd Ní Neachtain), is a traumatised recluse owing to her time being interred in a Magdelene laundry. Peig’s own personal demons put Shoo into the position of being forced to confront her own experiences at the hands of her own fanatically religious mother. 

Clarke’s use of a claustrophobic shooting style, naturalistic cinematography, juxtaposed with the constant creepy and surreal imagery creates a tense and weary atmosphere which doesn’t subside as the narrative rolls on. While there are definite conventional style scares in Freewaka, the worst horror at the heart of the movie is the generational trauma, which, without going too far into spoiler territory is the common thread that unites the two main characters. 

The biggest string in the film’s bow however, is in its sound design, as the use of mostly diegetic sound fully immerses the audience into the events unfolding. The creaks, chimes, but also the quiet of the film’s setting, expertly creates a sense of mis-direction which makes the big set piece moments which happen later on all the more effective. 

Both Bríd Ní Neachtain’s and Clare Monnelly’s performances are excellent, with the pair bringing a sense of believability to their respective roles and having a strong chemistry with one another, to the extent that you couldn’t imagine anybody else playing these characters instead. Their arc of transforming from a bickering odd couple into sharing a deep bond is done in an extremely convincing  way and doesn’t feel tacked on for the sake of plot convenience.

While Freewaka is a beautifully shot and well-acted movie, it really could have benefitted from a slightly longer run time – as the second and third acts feel comparatively rushed when measured up against the first. Still if you like rural horror in the vein of movies such as The Wicker Man or Hereditary, Freewaka is well worth a watch.

Time Travel Is Dangerous: Review. By Simon Thompson.

Writer/director Chris Reading’s Time Travel Is Dangerous is a classic example of having a decent premise and a capable cast, yet still not being able to hit the mark due to a tired format and style of humour. This, thanks to a script by both Reading and co-writers Anna Elizabeth Shakespeare and Hillary Shakespeare, apes British comedy classics such as Spaced, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Time Bandits, The Cornetto Trilogy, and The Office, without any of the wit or the originality of any of them. 

The plot of Time Travel Is Dangerous centres around two friends named Ruth (Ruth Syratt) and Megan (Megan Stevenson), who run a vintage shop in Muswell Hill. The pair stumble across a time machine by accident, and decide to use it to raid the past for items to stock in their shop, creating chaos within the space-time continuum in the process. 

The main issues with Time Travel Is Dangerous boil down to its writing. Reading and his co-writers Elizabeth and Hillary Shakespeare’s script, mainly uses an irritating format of both mockumentary and cringe humour that in a post The Office and Peep Show British comedy landscape has been completely overdone by lesser writing talents, to the extent that it is now incredibly irritating to watch. 

What makes this all the more frustrating is that there is plenty of comedic talent within the cast, such as Stephen Fry (who plays the role of the narrator), Johnny Vegas, Jane Horrocks, and Mark Heap – all of whom deserve far better than the script that they were given. 

The performances by Ruth Syratt and Megan Stevenson, in their respective roles, to their credit, are both passable, especially when you consider that this is the first movie for both of them and that despite being surrounded by an experienced and highly capable supporting cast they aren’t completely out of place within it. 

Credit is due where credit is due, however when, it comes to the visuals, as Reading does an adequate job of capturing that Terry Gilliam/Jim Henson retro 80s fantasy aesthetic when it comes to a section of time and space Ruth visits towards the end of the movie, as well as  achieving a similar effect within the various periods that the characters visit. 

Overall Time Travel Is Dangerous, despite a few visual flourishes here and there, is an unfunny, trite, and dull affair which didn’t even come close to meeting my personal two laughs minimum criteria for a comedy. If you’re in the market for a British comedy, I’d strongly recommend that you give this one a miss and spend your evening watching Hot Fuzz or Four Lions instead.