Author: BRWC

Thursday’s Speaker is about Rodrigo (Del Zamora), a longhaired Lothario who despite his love for tequila and wine, is a key speaker at the local AA meetings. He keeps everyone inspired, especially the ladies, while cheekily necking bottles behind their backs.

The entire film focuses on Rodrigo’s story. He works begrudgingly as a used car salesman, sneaking cigarettes in the office and steering away customers at hope to save them the trouble. When old flame, April (Ashley Ledbetter) and her son Sam (Andrew Shea), return to the city with a huge and life-changing secret, his life is provided with new meaning, some parts more easier to deal with than others.

Aspects of the film reminded me of Choke, particularly Rodrigo’s addiction to the comfort he sought and provided at the AA meetings. Unfortunately, the acting did not deliver to bring this film up to the same level as Clark Gregg masterpiece. At times it seemed a little like high school performing, particularly during the dramatic mother-son scenes from Ledbetter and Shea. There were awkward pauses, wooden emotions and a lack of flowing dialogue.

However, what this film was lacking in style was made up for in other areas. The content was enjoyable and while the acting wasn’t A grade, it was enough to make for an entertaining watch. Particularly Zamora’s cheeky chappy performance, which came through well on screen. The story was simple, yet fun and provided various insights into the themes of alcoholism, love, family and coming of age. All in all a pleasant little comedy with a genuine warmth to it.

Welcome to Leith is a documentary masterpiece, telling the story of an attempted white supremacist takeover of quiet rural town, Leith, in North Dakota.

Makers Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K. Walker present the information and various conflicts of law and threat in a way that makes Welcome to Leith an encapsulating and thrilling watch.

The movie itself tells the story of Craig Cobb, a psychotic and notorious white supremacist, who in recent years attempted to take over the small town of Leith and convert it into a planned community for some of the most prolific and dangerous far right racists in the US.

Information is presented to the viewer in real time, which makes the experience that bit more tense as we are thrown into the disputes between Cobb and his trusty sidekick, Kynan Dutton, and the local residents who do not give up on battling to get rid of the new dwellers. Concurrently, we are shown the various issues presented to the local law enforcement, who struggle with the decisions on how to deal with the increasingly tense situation.

Nichols and Walker have really conducted some exclusive and fascinating research, with interviews ranging from Ryan Lens from the Intelligence Project to Alex Linder, member of the VNN. This backs up the story well, solidifying the facts and as always, presenting the supremacists as the small minded and idiotic group that they are.

There’s not much bad to say about Welcome to Leith. It’s a fascinating story, one that could be made into a film script, backed up with in-depth interviews and original film footage. A compelling watch and not one to be missed.

Generation Right has been appropriately released shortly after the recent elections, to take a look at how Thatcherism has resulted in where we are today both politically and socially.

The documentary itself offers up no new information, juxtaposing clips of Thatcher’s speech upon entering Downing Street with footage of rioters and poverty-stricken city dwellers. Various university lecturers, journalists and MPs are interviewed, discussing the class and social divide that was an outcome of Thatcher’s greed and capitalism.

Despite the lack of originality in content, director Michelle Coomber provides an entirely new perspective by contextualising the history of Thatcherism to today’s issues. Specific modern day media focuses are flipped on the head through Coomber’s explanations and insights. An example is the look at low cost housing, which explains how the so called “Broken Britain” is a result of the dismantling of state housing in the 80s as well as wide spread unemployment, which led to severe heroine problems in both rural and urban areas.

While there is awareness to this background information, Coomber presents the history in a step-by-step way, resulting in a crystal clear conclusion as to how modern day conservatism has and will continue to build barriers between social and economical classes. Definitely worth a watch.