film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Author: Joel Fisher

  • Love Is Love Is Love: The BRWC Review

    Love Is Love Is Love: The BRWC Review

    Love Is Love Is Love: The BRWC Review

    Eleanor Coppola, wife of revered directed Francis Ford Coppola has had a long career as a documentary maker herself, chronicling the films behind the scenes that her husband has made over the years. However, as of late Mrs. Coppola decided that the time was right to get into directing feature films.

    Paris Can Wait was an original idea that served as a light and pleasant film to watch over a Sunday afternoon as the audience watched the sights of Paris and felt good about themselves and all was well. Coppola’s next venture is a trilogy, an anthology of three short films called Love is Love is Love which is about three sets of people and the different relationships that they have.

    In Two for Dinner, Joanne (Joanne Whalley) and Jack (Chris Messina) are a married couple who are having trouble being in the same place at the same time due to Jack’s constant work on film sets. They find the time to go out for a date, but it’s over a video call but nonetheless they get dressed up and find a fancy restaurant each and try to make things work.

    In Sailing Lesson, John (Marshall Bell) and Diana (Kathy Baker) are friends that are so comfortable with each other that John feels that he can complain to Diana about why he doesn’t have a girlfriend. The reasons start to become increasingly obvious, but so does Diana’s love for John although the only one that doesn’t realise it is him.

    And finally in Late Lunch, Caroline (Maya Kazan) brings her mother’s friends together including Anne (Rosanna Arquette), Mary Kay (Rita Wilson) and Nancy (Cybill Shepherd) as they reminisce and reflect after Caroline’s mother has died.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcv7azHeli0

    However, besides the set up for these stories, there seems to be something missing from all of them. It seems that by the time they’ve seemed to get going then they finish. The story between John and Diana is sweet and endearing and probably has the most weight to it but it doesn’t last too long. The story between Joanne and Jack is similarly charming and they have great chemistry, but it sadly ends predictably leaving the audience wondering whether it’s supposed to be funny or bittersweet.

    Finally, the meeting of Late Lunch feels like being invited over to a relative that you barely know and watching as they all have a better time than you. Love is Love is Love is a light, Sunday afternoon type movie and maybe that’s what Eleanor Coppola is going for. However, audiences may be disappointed as they may have been anticipating more.

  • The Drummer: Review

    The Drummer: Review

    Mark Walker (Danny Glover) is a civil rights lawyer who focuses on veterans returning from the war in Iraq. Mark knows that his better days are behind him, but he still fights the good fight and knows the unfortunate truth that war is inevitable and that history repeats itself.

    He has two clients that he’s working with; Darien Cooper (Sam Underwood) who has been suffering with severe PTSD since he returned from his tour of duty and Cori (Prema Cruz), a veteran who has gone AWOL ever since she was raped by a senior officer. The Drummer tells their story alongside Mark’s own troubles with his ill health and fading memory.

    Directed by Eric Werthman and co-written by Jessica Gohlke, The Drummer is an emotional and powerful story that is all too often repeated, but should never be left untold. With stories such as A Few Good Men, Welcome Home and The Best Years of Our Lives, The Drummer is another story of veterans cast aside when they were no longer needed.

    Danny Glover proves once again that he is a charming and commanding screen presence and puts in a great performance. Walker is as a man overwhelmed by the weight of responsibility, and Glover’s performance gives the audience the feeling that no matter what, he will always do what is right.

    Sam Underwood and Prema Cruz similarly put in good performances, with both of their stories dealt with sensitively and with respect, never feeling like their involvement is anything but reflecting what happens when veterans are cast aside.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEsqSLv9D7s

    The Story starts out as what could be talking to its audience about the issues they may not know about. However, it soon turns into something that feels more grounded as the lawyer and ex-soldiers are faced with impossible situations.

    The Drummer is still as relevant now as it ever was and the consequences of war seemingly never change, although there are times when it can be dealt with differently. The Drummer never preaches to its audience, nor demonises an organisation to unrealistic levels. Instead, it leaves its audience with a stark reminder of what the brave men and women who go to war have to endure when they return.

  • Dead & Beautiful: Review

    Dead & Beautiful: Review

    Lulu (Aviis Zhong), Mason (Gijs Blom), Bin-Ray (Philip Juan), Anastasia (Anna Marchenko) and Alexander (Yen Tsao) are the heirs to the thrones of the biggest fortunes in Taiwan. They spend their days and nights just like any other rich, young and beautiful people do and they really don’t know the real world.

    Their lives are full of excess and their young minds are filled with what ever desires they can imagine. Then one day they are invited to join a ritual, and when they wake up, they soon realise that they’ve all grown fangs and believe that they’ve been turned into vampires.

    Dead & Beautiful is a teenage horror written and directed by David Verbeek which takes some of the familiar traditions of vampire stories and mixes it with more modern interpretations. As the group all get used to their new lives, it starts to feel very much like the old ones. Anastasia can still do the same social media things that she’s always done and as they hide themselves away from the sun, they start to consider what they could do with their newfound powers.

    This leads to a divide between the group as some realise the extent of what they could do and others embrace the darkness which eventually leads them down a dark path. Whatever happens they realise that they have been changed forever.

    The trouble with Dead & Beautiful is that although it does try to tell a tale about the rich elite, using vampirism as a metaphor for their lives where they have such unlimited resources, it barely scratches beneath the surface. This leads to the film only reflecting the character’s empty existence merely by showing their dead and empty existences.

    This also leads to an ending of sorts that feels unfinished and overly long considering the barely 100-minute running time.

    Also, there is a twist some way into the film, but it’s not all that impressive when it’s revealed and doesn’t help to conclude the story. For those who like their vampires to glitter then you may enjoy Dead & Beautiful. Otherwise you may just say fangs, but no fangs.

  • The Old Ways: Review

    The Old Ways: Review

    Cristina (Brigette Kali Canales) grew up in a small Mexican village and has vivid memories of the time her mother was possessed by a demon. Now all grown up, Cristina returns home but unfortunately the same people that incarcerated her mother have found her too and believe that she has fallen to the same fate.

    Imprisoning Cristina, they begin with her exorcism and at first Cristina doesn’t seem all that concerned. After all, her job is to go to the places that people tell her that she can’t go, so she sees it all as a big misunderstanding. However, when Cristina starts to experience things and the treatment to eradicate the devil inside her get more intense, Cristina realises that they’re serious and that there may be no way out.

    The Old Ways is a horror movie for exorcism fans, but set in Mexico rather than the familiar setting of the Catholic Church. Latin is replaced by mystical incantations and the crucifixes are replaced by buckets of blood.

    However, although The Old Ways seems to want to play on people’s ideas of what an exorcism really is and what they’ve come to believe, it feels as if the story may be more important than the horror – at least to the filmmakers.

    Starting off with a jump scare, The Old Ways may lead its audience to believe that what they are about to see will be a typical exorcist-type horror movie. The problem is though that once the initial scene is over and Cristine starts to realise the depths of her situation, it’s just taken a bit long to get going.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzanbaFpSXg

    Seeing as Cristina is in a familiar setting to her and that she has her relative, Miranda (Andrea Cortés) to keep her company, she doesn’t seem all that concerned and neither do the audience which causes an issue. If they were to believe that her predicament was life threatening and that the film was meant to scare, then perhaps it should have continued this pace.

    However, the story is diverted far too often by the main characters talking in a room seemingly as if nothing has happened between the light moments of horror. The finale may please horror fans and the twist is genuinely surprising, but The Old Ways tries to do something new and fails to scare.

  • Patchwork: Raindance 21 Review

    Patchwork: Raindance 21 Review

    Chara (Angelika Papoulia) is the mother to a beautiful girl and happily married to Andreas (Andreas C. Tselopos), but she has regrets. She works at a local school and she feels that children should have been the one thing that changed her life and gave her everything that she ever wanted – but it hasn’t.

    Instead, Chara spends all day and night in a constant state of crisis over who she wanted to be, who she became and whether what she wanted in life has really made her happy. Then one day she sees Melina (Joy Rieger) a troubled teenager who’s having problems at home with her mother and she decides that if she can’t be happy with herself then helping Melina will at least put on a happier path.

    However, whatever Chara tries she starts to realise that the choices that she’s made in life may be the things she will have to live with.

    Patchwork is a film from Cyprus about motherhood, regrets and the existential crisis of having gone too far to turn back. It’s often said that a woman will be fulfilled if she were to get married and have a child. Antiquated thoughts such as that have forced many women into lives that they didn’t want and were often due to other people’s decisions.

    However, Chara is different as on the one hand her mind tells her that she’s got everything she’s ever wanted, but on the other hand she still isn’t fulfilled. Papoulia’s performance perfectly reflects this and as the film follows her from beginning to end, the audience is drawn in to how she must be feeling just by looking at her face.

    Patchwork is also a beautifully shot film that sets a slow pace, but it only helps to bring the audience closer and whether you are a mother going through what she must be feeling or not, it’s hard not to empathise. The only problem is that Patchwork never seems to go deep enough to explain these feelings and Chara seemingly just accepts her state of mind rather than confronting it.

    This leads to frustration and heart-break as the audience realises that she may never be the same again.