Author: BRWC

All the fun of the fair… well no not really. A slasher set in a theme park immediately grabbed my attention. Sure it’s been done before but empty theme parks are just creepy. It also must have grabbed the attention of others too due to its $40,000 budget being raised on Kickstarter, and throw Doug Bradley into the mix and it sounds like a winner. Unfortunately, a good idea and some impressive acting talent doesn’t always make for a good movie, did we learn nothing from Waterworld.

The movie suffers on pretty much all counts as the script is appalling, there’s very little direction of which to speak of and the whole thing feels as poorly executed as Troll 2 but nowhere near as entertaining. The performances leave a lot to be desired too as there’s no character development and everyone’s just along for the ride. It’s actually not far from a shitty theme park ride in its execution, from the outside it looks amazing and you cant wait to get on, then you get on, strap in and it’s all over in a flash and aside from a cheap thrill you’re left wondering if it was worth it.

So this movie isn’t great, hell it isn’t even good but there’s one very simple thing that needs to be taken into account… I don’t care. I love crappy horror movies that are poorly put together. I love the ridiculous gore, actresses who were only cast for their impressive *ahem* lung capacity, and bad guys that just won’t die. All the ridiculous clichés are on display here, sex, partying,lots of slashy weaponry, cheerleaders and jocks, masked killers and a high profile actor who deserves better but does a great job with what they’ve got. It’s shit but I did gain a new favourite insult “Ya dented can!”. It’s a cheap thrill that isn’t gonna be launching any new franchises but makes you smile.

4/10

Sci-fi found footage film as document of craaaazzzzeeee space mission.

I’ll be up front. I’m tired of found footage films. It was a trend that started off as a bit frustrating. The form seems to exist mostly for uninspired horrors using the same jump scares and reveals as Blair Witch did fifteen years ago. Then a slew of similar themed haunted house films came out to dwindling effect. Now found footage is becoming more “mock-umentary” with filmmakers framing the footage around professional looking talking heads.

Europa Report plays out like an after-the-fact documentary about a mission of discover to one of Jupiter’s moons. As is usually the way with these set ups the mission goes from “wow look at us floating through space isn’t it amazing?” to “oh no each of us keeps dying in a series of unfortunate, improbable and sometimes idiotic events”. Some reviewers have found the films mix of thrills, mystery and drama to be down right entertaining. I did not. The cast of unfortunates never inspire or grip. Perhaps this has something to do with CCTV look of footage? Maybe my brain is too reliant on pretty images to make me care about a camera, I doubt it though. I quickly lost interest of what these people were doing and why they were doing other than because they can.

The mix of cameras used eventually becomes tiring as we switch from in-built helmet cameras to on-board computers. Sometimes the quality looks desperately cinematic as if the director wishes for a moment that he could break out the bonds of his self imposed formula. The actors do okay with what they’re given. A lot of dialogue in which they have to sound concerned or say they can’t get to something. It’s a thriller in space you can pretty much write in your head and you’re nearly there.

A lot of time and effort obviously went into making Europa Report which is unfortunate because it’s a film that completely fails to interest from the start and by the end you may even forget how it started.

If someone you’d never met were to tell you today that they had kidnapped a child, was threatening their safety and that that child’s life was in your hands, how would you react? You would probably think them mad. Then say this person began infiltrating your life, offering career success and dating your friend. What then? A Public Ransom, a film made by brwc’s very own Pablo, asks this question of a very particular kind of person. The kind of person with nothing but care for himself. More precisely, Steven.

Steven (Carlyle Edwards) is a self-interested, amoral writer, who when out walking finds a missing poster written in a child’s scrawl. From this, he begins to develop his next story and decides to call the number. What he is confronted with is a meeting with Bryant (Goodloe Bryon), a fellow writer and supposed, coldly self-proclaimed kidnapper. Steven brushes this off as some kind of prank, but as Bryant intrudes in his life further and further, including his friend Renee (Helen Bonaparte), how much does Steven truly believe this to be fake, and how much of him doesn’t want to?

Visually, D’Stair and DOP Paul VanBrocklin have a real understanding of the art that is black and white composition. This isn’t merely a last minute choice or something budgetary, but a real aesthetic with specific location choices and camera placement that pays off with some gorgeous shots. The static camera and long takes are reminiscent of Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, but instead of showing us the oppressive life of a Belgian house wife, we are shown an episode of Steven’s life as objectively and callously as he seems to interact with those around him.

Steven as the main focus of the film is slightly problematic for me. He isn’t just callous in action but appealing and charismatic, and I understand that we are supposed to dislike Steven, but he’s so easily disliked. He comes across as smug and irritating with no growth or expansion. We know him to be a lying cock from the get go and we then sit through these tedious phone calls that constantly reaffirm that he is, in fact, a total twat. I feel this is, at least in part, down to Edwards’ performance.

While a very good actor, and he is certainly successful in getting across what is necessary for the film, he is miscast something fierce. Steven has to be the glue to hold the whole thing up. Due to the style of the film we should want to follow him and hear what he has to say. The only reason for Steven’s disbelief of Bryant would be if this film were grounded in reality, and the theatrical delivery of every line throws this belief out the window. As Bresson would have said, he is acting and not being, and as such demystifies any naturalism that may have been present, making a slow burning film tedious.

As for the dialogue, there is too much swinging from inconsequential to amazingly well written. For the most part, the unimportant chat is attempting to add the naturalism and realistic tone the film is striving for, but because of Edwards’ theatrical performance style and the slow nature of the film, it just feels jarring. The great dialogue, however, should be performed on the stage. In fact, if most of this dialogue, as well as Edwards, were in a play I would be applauding. When filmed in a living room, however, it comes across and contrived and false. While the back and forth style is very well put together with some excellent turn of phrase, it feels in opposition to the naturalism A Public Ransom seems to aim for.

Similarly, we shoot from the long takes and extended dialogue to a music fuelled montage, creating a real disparity in the pace. The general plot of the film is a great idea, on paper. I would very much like to read the short story on which A Public Ransom is based as it has the feeling of a Raymond Chandler short. It seems there is so much more going on in Steven’s mind that we are either expected to guess or was just never there in the first place.

A Public Ransom is interesting, visually remarkable, yet disjointed. With clashing elements of the theatrical and the natural, all aspects alone are fantastic, but put in conjunction with one another they become cacophonic. In spite of all this, an important thing to note here is that this is a vision. This isn’t a film made by committee or by focus group screenings. This is a testament to the empowerment of the independent film maker and their ideas as well as the democratisation of film as a medium.

The choice to allow the film online for free is a bold one, and I commend the film makers very much. See what you think and find where to watch A Public Ransom here :

http://apublicransom.wordpress.com/

At large, the Australian cinema we are used to being exposed to is one of three things: brutal, funny or beautiful, often coupled with a touch of white colonial guilt. Kim Mordaunt’s latest directorial achievement The Rocket, 2014’s Australian Oscar offering, contains a little of each.

Ahlo (Sitthiphon Disamoe), a bright young boy believed to be cursed, and his family live in rural village in Laos. When a corporation plans to build a dam that would flood the village, they are relocated and their whole world is thrown into chaos. While finding a new home and making new friends in a country burdened by war, heritage and industrialisation, Ahlo finds the opportunity to prove himself at the annual rocket festival.

Disamoe gives a stellar performance, delivering a truly heart-warming portrayal of Ahlo’s struggles. The other stand out was Sumrit Warin as Ahlo’s stiff-upper-lipped father, although every performance within is worthy of note.

Something that will catch some by surprise was how straight forward the storytelling is, yet maintaining an art-house thoughtfulness. The Rocket is full of sumptuous imagery, a powerful score and a sense of harsh reality. Yet, you may expect to come along with this a complicated and experimental cinematic language. What The Rocket shows is that these two are not always mutually exclusive, and strikes the perfect balance between a mainstream approach to film making and an independent approach to ideas.

This balance comes across in all aspects of the films language, swinging from the score to James Brown’s Get On The Good Foot, from the luminous colours of their lives and the greyness of concrete globalisation and, most of all, in Ahlo’s story. Ahlo’s travel through Laos shows him all of these aspects of the countries history and tradition as well as the lifelessness and quasi-facisim of global capitalism.

Through all this, however, this is never at the forefront. The drive is always on Alho and his friends and family; their sorrows, joys and in betweens. An unexploded bomb isn’t just a monolith of destruction and a scar on Laos’ history, but a tool by which Ahlo can grow as a human being and come to realisations about himself. Despite this becoming a problem in some of the films more saccharine moments, it will certainly make The Rocket more appealing to a wider audience. For a film dealing with such relevant issues, this is no bad thing.

The largest bone to picked with the film is in it’s approach to the issues of globalisation, taking a more black and white stance. This is a popular opinion, especially with those on the political left, and is undeniably an issue, but it seems to be a knee-jerk reaction to a problem perceived as happening too fast to stop and think about. Difficult questions need asked like “are all traditions worth preservation?”. This film does portray some traditions as dark or anachronistic, but you will be left in no doubt of the evils of globalisation, which may not be the best thing.

At it’s heart, The Rocket is a film about displacement and loss: a lost home, a group of lost souls, and a countries lost identity.

In 1964, Jacques Demy enters ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’ into the Cannes Film Festival, it goes on to win the Palme D’Or and become one of the most beautiful musicals of all time.

50 years on and the film is getting a lovely 2 disc anniversary release in celebration of its achievements. The DVD boasts a whole load of interviews and a wonderful documentary about Jacques Demy himself.

I got the chance to watch the film yesterday evening and I did so without really knowing what I was in for. At first my sank when the film began and the cast starting singing… Fuck! A musical!! I didn’t know anything about this movie and now because I have a job to do I have to watch a musical, in French no less, so not only is it colourful and cheery but I can’t understand a word. Cut forward to the moment the credits roll and I am welling up with tears as my inner romantic whimpers “but they were meant for each other”.

It’s now a full day later and I’m back to my entirely manly self, Grrr! So here’s why you should watch this movie even if you only do so once. This movie is gorgeous, the costumes, sets and bright colours abound make is something hard not to watch. Yes, the dialogue is completely sung and hell how they did that so well with rather realistic dialogue is quite an achievement, through singing arguments, declarations of love of matter of fact tales of war it’s all done in great melodic fashion. There’s some truly moving scenes in there too whether it be moments where the characters break the fourth wall and look directly into the camera in resignation of what’s to come, a sort of ‘we both know what’s coming don’t we’ kind of look. The final scene shows the great storytelling prowess of Jacques Demy as what could have been a very over the top romantic scene that makes the audience cheer is played out with skill, the words are irrelevant because it’s all about what the characters aren’t saying that breaks your heart.

So this is the story of a young love and not your fluffy movie kind of love, but real love, doomed love. Some loves aren’t destined to happen and we all have these at some point in our lives. Love is always affected by things out of our control, things we can’t see until the bubble bursts.

8/10