Author: Esme Betamax

“A young woman’s insecurities manifest as a job interview goes awry.”

Writer Anthony Garland pulls no punches as the director of this unnerving short film, Ophelia. The mood he creates, tense from the outset, will keep audiences rapt. It is not clear in which direction this story will lead, thus capturing the essence of pre-interview nerves. I couldn’t help conjuring up Daisy’s interview in Spaced, though for all its surrealism, Ophelia is so much darker. Visually, it is on a par with Richard Ayoade’s The Double, and it is clear, not least through the names of the characters (Grumpy, Sneezy & Doc), Garland has a sense of humour. Nevertheless, he is willing to tackle strong themes unflinchingly.

I am confident Ophelia will be well received at film festivals, and hopefully Anthony Garland will follow up with a feature. With Black Mirror in mind, Charlie Brooker ought to keep an eye on this one.

See also:

Steven Shainberg’s Secretary (2002)

Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (2010)

From IMDb.

Greetings again from the darkness. The best short films somehow find a way to connect with viewers and make us care about the story and character(s) – in just a few minutes and usually on a very limited budget. The first film from director (and writer) Anthony Garland expertly establishes atmosphere and tone, creates conflict and develops a character we care about … all in less than 8 minutes.

Garland seizes on one of the biggest emotional stressors for many people … the job interview. The opening scene has a well-dressed Ali Mueller slowly making her way through a dilapidated building while ominous music cues us that we are about to watch a horror film. This horror is psychological in nature and plays to the power of the mind, and the internal battles we fight when plopped into a stressful situation. Ms. Mueller faces a tribunal committee of interviewers (named in the credits as Grumpy, Sneezy, Doc) played by familiar actors whose faces you’ll likely recognize (Mary Pat Gleason, Larry Cedar, Allen Blumenfeld).

The film has a dream-like feel and often we aren’t sure what’s real. However, there are certain segments that are clear manifestations of Ms. Mueller’s insecurities and fears. There is a Black Swan nod with her younger self in the mirror, and a razor blade used to remove any doubt that her outward confidence often fails versus her internal struggles.

It’s a nifty little look at how we seek to control our fears and doubts, and fits nicely with Ophelia’s line from Hamlet: “O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown”.

“When a mysterious girl falls into the sights of a violent stalker, she is left with only one means of survival.”

Super is a horror short from New Zealand based Little Dragon Pictures. An Official Selection at Screamfest Horror Film Festival 2015. Super is less than four minutes long, but it is filled with enough narrative to stand alongside a Ray Bradbury short story.

When a teenaged goth girl, skinny and pale, alone in a secluded industrial patch of land, is approached by a gruff middle-aged bloke with that entitled ‘Cheer up love’ swagger, any number of terrible scenarios will fly through the viewer’s mind. We know the characters and their stories right away.

The mood created by director Matt Inns is tense and the camerawork is skilfully executed. I usually avoid horror, but this one is up my street, as it will be for for fans of Black Sheep (2006) and Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers (2012). It won’t give you nightmares. Promise.

Watch Super here

When a mysterious girl falls into the sights of a violent stalker, she is left with only one means of survival.

Official Selection Screamfest Horror Film Festival 2015
Official Selection Dead by Dawn 2015
Official Selection A Night of Horror International Film Festival 2015
Official Selection Crypticon Seattle 2015
Official Selection Dragon Con Independent Film Festival 2015
Official Selection Sacramento Horror Film Festival 2015
Official Selection Eerie Horror Film Festival 2015
Official Selection FilmQuest 2014

Written & Directed by Matt Inns
Produced by Matt Inns & Steven Woller
Director of Photography, Ash McKenzie
Music Composed by Nick Reid

Starring Maggie Watts & Nathan Kennedy

Little Dragon Pictures/Crypt TV

https://www.facebook.com/littledragon…
https://www.facebook.com/CryptTV/?fre…

Cosmos is the final film from Polish director Andrzej Żuławski, who died just after its premiere. This surreal metaphysical thriller is based on the novel Kosmos by Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz. It follows the character Witold and his friend Fuchs, finding themselves in a state of unemployment and failure, travelling to a secluded country guest house so that Witold can study up in an attempt to pass at least one exam.

A series of omens and volatile interactions with the family at the guest house immediately send the pair off course.

Jonathan Genet as Witold: tall and skeletal, passionately channels Richard E Grant’s Withnail. Wide-eyed monologues spat at his sidekick. Fans of Withnail & I should not pass this one up. However, as with that British cult classic, Cosmos will not be to everyone’s taste. The cinematic territory Cosmos inhabits ranges from Withnail & I to the work of Pedro Almodóvar. Initially the characters look as though they would be at home in an Almodóvar feature, aided by the bad soap opera atmosphere he often creates (see Dark Habits; I’m So Excited). Cosmos could almost be held in good company with recent oddball successes Frank and The Lobster, marrying dark humour with the surreal, but it struggles to meet their standard.

Through Cosmos Andrzej Żuławski, known for horror films, displayed his ability to leave the audience unsettled. This is achieved in chaotic scenes brimming with symbolism crossed with an incongruous soundtrack – music featuring inconsistently and often in opposition to the apparent mood of the scene. Disorder and paranoia are complemented by farce: Sabine Azéma (Private Fears in Public Places) is a treat, injecting necessary comedy into proceedings. However, this is not enough. Comic turns raise a smile, not a laugh, and though unsettling, there is little really sinister about the omens dotted throughout. Some scenes are so packed with symbolism, in both the set and the action that it suggests a second viewing would be more enjoyable than the first. I’ll give this one a couple of years before returning to it, though I will definitely seek out the book.

Żuławski had the opportunity to pull Cosmos further in two directions: comedy and horror, each reinforcing the other. The middle ground is an unfortunate place for this film to fall.

Coalville Gold is directed by Ross Bolidai.

“Once a hardened criminal, Stevie finds redemption and fame in bare knuckle boxing. When he breaks his hand, loses the love of his life, and is challenged to a rematch against a far more experienced boxer, he has only his family and himself to lead him to victory.”

You would expect a film about bare knuckle boxing to be painful, and it is. But it’s not the boxing that had me wincing, it’s the forced personal drama between bouts. Oof. The training (cf Rocky, 1976) and fighting sequences are beautifully filmed and it is easy to see why people take part in these events.

An all too brief account of a post-mining town, industrial decay all around, full of lads with nothing better to do. 

The focus is on Stevie Gold, a 24 year old giant toddler-man with tattoos and a near-constant grin. I bet he was a big baby when he was born. I bet he was 14lbs. More wincing.

I recommend Coalville Gold as a pre-feature short to play at a screening of The Fighter (2010).

https://vimeo.com/158171375

Ming of Harlem, Phillip Warnell’s debut feature documentary is the story of a Bengal tiger, raised by Antoine Yates in a 21st floor apartment.

The story itself could take 5 minutes to tell but Warnell knows that the audience needs to be immersed, as much as is possible, in the surroundings: the community; the apartment building. Warnell wants the viewer to really understand this environment. The direction allows the film to breathe. It hints at the story, then teases it out via news footage and police radio recordings. This supports the commentary from Yates as he tours the neighbourhood, describing how it was to live there. The hallways of the apartment building are institutional to say the least. Lingering views of the corridors foster the feeling of claustrophobia.

There are lengthy silent shots, though it is never really silent in a busy inner-city environment. This creates space into which questions tumble. Questions about ethics and boundaries, hypocrisy and social norms. Questions about architecture, urban planning and mental health.

“Why did you have these animals?” asks a reporter

“Love” Yates replies

“Explain that to us” she responds

“About love?” he asks

Halfway through the film the slow pace becomes too much. The tedium of it all – a trapped tiger with not enough room to roam. The obvious response is that this animal should be in the wild. Yates’ response to this is “Unfortunately, there’s no real wild.” Man is responsible for destroying so much natural habitat. People are hypocrites when they keep some animals captive and not others. He truly believes that Ming was safer, for himself and the general public, kept in the apartment.

A 21st floor apartment is not a good zoo, but then what is a good zoo? Is there such a thing? Yates is telling us that one way or another we need to question where to draw the line. Warnell has a broader agenda. He wants the viewer to think about how people live, stacked up in dense urban areas. Sure, these apartments are not suitable for tigers, but how suitable are they for us? He allows Yates to put it to us: “Even people themselves are not free.”