Author: Joel Fisher

I think I had a date with someone like Arifa once. Just once. Arifa (Shermin Hassan) wears her heart on her sleeve and she has no filter when it comes to telling people exactly what she thinks of them.

She also has a lot on her mind as well, she worries about her mental health, she worries that she has never met the right man who loves her as much as she loves them and her father, Hameed (Jeff Mirza) is illegally selling tobacco. Then one day she meets a mysterious man called Ric (Luca Pusceddu) who says that he runs a professional gaming business, however she isn’t really sure she can trust him.

Arifa is the story of a young woman living in London and getting to an age in her life where she thinks she should have everything sorted. Everybody in her life has different advice to give her as far as what she needs to do to be happy but Arifa decides that she is fine the way that she is and that everybody else should just deal with it.

As the film follows Arifa it shows a comedic, dramatic and sometimes emotional story that I’m sure most people will identify with. If you don’t know or have never met somebody like Arifa then you probably are like her and should probably look at the way you treat other people.

However, although Arifa is a blunt and stubborn character, it’s to her credit that Hassan is able to find the humanity in Arifa and puts that into her performance. Hassan fleshes out Arifa into a relatable and three-dimensional character, even when at times the audience may not entirely agree with her behaviour.

Arifa is also a story about personal growth and self-awareness and Sadia Saeed’s script is often funny, honest and sprinkled with an undertone of what it’s like to live as a brown skinned woman in the 21^st century. The casual racism that undoubtedly comes from Saeed’s first hand experience, is often treated with humour but it also gives a very realistic look at how people whose skin colour is anything but white are treated today.

From casual conversations assuming things about Arifa to profiling somebody because of the colour of their skin, Saeed’s script reminds the audience of how easily people can jump to the wrong conclusions because of what they read in the media, again fleshing out the reflection of modern-day London.

Arifa is a funny, relatable and naturalistic look into a young woman’s life and the hidden pressures in a person’s life who most would just judge on first impressions. Most films would just portray Arifa’s abrupt and obnoxious behaviour for laughs, but the film is all the better for portraying a real person with hopes for the future and the audience will leave Arifa feeling hopeful as well.

Elpida (Stella Fyrogeni) is a middle-aged woman trapped in a loveless marriage who has just been diagnosed with the menopause. Her husband, Costas (Andreas Vasileiou) pays little attention to her and when he does it’s because she has done something that he thinks is wrong.

He ignores her requests to improve her life and whenever she goes away from him for too long, Costas tightens the grip on Elpida, making her feel alone, isolated and oppressed. Elpida’s mind is full of fantasies and that is how she copes with her situation, her fantasies are filled with passion, hope and sometimes disturbing thoughts. However, as the film goes on the audience start to question which of Elpida’s fantasies are real and which are not.

Pause is a Greek film that studies the mind of a lonely, repressed woman who feels that all hope is lost. Throughout the course of the film the audience watches alongside Elpida’s experiences as they start to sympathise with her and perhaps even wish that some of her fantasies were indeed real. Although not showing a typical example of domestic abuse, the film does give an account of a couple where the love has gone and Costas’ domineering nature rules over his wife.

Besides Elpida’s fantasies, her only respite from her husband is through her friend, Eleftheria (Popi Avraam) whose approach to life is somewhat different than Elpida’s and she helps her to have some fun from time to time. However, Elpida’s fantasies become all too much and as her fantasies start to become more frequent, the audience start to question her reality and indeed her sanity.

The film takes the audience through Elpida’s state of mind quite closely and the cast all do an excellent job to show exactly how close Elpida may be to cracking under the pressure. Fyrogeni puts in an excellent performance as the put-upon housewife who longs for something better and Vasileiou equally gives a strong performance as the cantankerous and supremely selfish Costas.

PAUSE by Tonia Mishiali (Cyprus, Greece) from european film promotion on Vimeo.

Through its slow and deliberate pacing, the film gradually increases Elpida’s fantasies and due to the clever direction and editing it builds up its audience only to knock them back down again. This not only gives the audience an idea of Elpida’s mindset but helps them understand just how she is feeling at any given moment. Other films try to give a more empowering and hopeful message to women like Elpida but Pause takes a different route, carefully guiding its audience down avenues they may have not been expecting, leaving them with more questions than answers by the end.

Ultimately though, this makes the film better because it is able to talk to a wider audience and not just those who could relate to her experiences so closely. Pause is not a comfortable watch but perhaps the way it lets the audience into Elpida’s mind it may make some more empathetic towards someone whose experiences may be so far removed from their own.

Little Did You Know, The Confessions Of David McGillivray: Book Review

The life of a film critic is one of excitement, danger and passion. At least that’s what they told me when I first became interested in writing reviews. Luckily, horror icon David McGillivray’s autobiography ‘Little Did You Know – The Confessions of David McGillivray’ tells the reader that with the right attitude and the right opportunities, your life can be anything you make of it.

McGillivray gives a very personal and meticulously detailed account of his life from very different standpoints. Some of them focus on his work while others tell of his friends, family and the relationships he’d rather not have.

Little Did You Know is also not just an allusion to the genre of seventies soft porn, something which he ventured into with ‘I’m Not Feeling Myself Tonight’, but is also a very fitting title as McGillivray’s autobiography very much reads in that way – a confession.

David McGillivray talks about the many different things he has done with his life, from writing film reviews, screenplays, acting in Edinburgh and even a little drug dealing on the side. His self-deprecating, dry wit never comes across as self-congratulatory and pompous as it might from others with bigger egos, but instead is quite the opposite as he talks about his life in a very matter of fact kind of way.

McGillivray’s accounts are often funny, deeply personal and occasionally punctuated with moments of bold honesty. A kind of honesty which never appear to be written to sensationalise his life, but rather his ‘confessions’ just seem to be the things that have been on his mind for a very long time. Thankfully, now that he has been given the opportunity to write it all down, hopefully he can finally feel at ease with them, an approach for an autobiography that is admirable.

For those expecting a tell-all tale of the debauched side of London’s hidden underground of sex, drugs and rock and roll then they may find themselves disappointed as McGillivray tells his story as he lived it and with very little flourish or exaggeration.

It may seem glamorous and racy when seen from afar, but as David McGillivray may suggest, life is just a series of successes and failures that just so happen to occur between the things that matter.

Also, having taken advice myself from McGillivray’s book, if he were to personally ask me what I thought of his autobiography then I would only have one thing to say. I loved it. You can quote me on that too (as long as you get my name right).

The Wake of Light is an emotional romantic drama that focusses on Mary (Rome Brooks), a woman who lives a simple life with her father, Stanley (William Lige Morton) who she’s been looking after ever since he had a stroke when she was little.

Then one day Mary meets Cole (Matt Bush) and after an awkward first conversation they start growing closer, eventually leading Mary to think about the future they could have together. However, the turmoil she faces over the prospect of leaving her father could be too much for her to bear.

With the film being an indie drama, some audiences may not expect to find much depth in such a simple story. However, the film touches upon a lot of issues around responsibility, love and doing what’s right, even if it means leaving loved ones behind. Thanks to the script, Bush brings out Cole’s nervous energy and turns him into a likeable and believable character, making it a refreshing change to see a romantic lead that doesn’t always do and say the right things, but isn’t forced to be clumsy and awkward for comedic effect either.

Also, Brooks manages to channel Mary’s outlook on life in a realistic way, as she mulls over what she wishes for in life but also struggles with the reality of her responsibilities. Together the couple work well, and the quiet, thoughtful charm of the direction gives the audience an insight into their blossoming relationship to which I’m sure many can relate.

However, with every good side of a relationship there comes a bad and the film doesn’t shy away from the harder dramatic moments which makes the film all the more interesting.

Beautifully shot and paying homage in part to What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, The Wake of Light may not be the most original storyline but it’s all about the journey on which the film takes its audience and not the destination. The pacing may have been better if there were perhaps weren’t as many shots of the leads staring into the distance looking for answers, but the tone is just right and the ending will lift the hearts of the audience. The Wake of Light certainly shows promise for its cast and writer/director and judging by how well thought out the script and characters were, I’m sure there will be more interesting stories that they can tell.