film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Author: Joel Fisher

  • The Body Fights Back: Review

    The Body Fights Back: Review

    All over the world there are many people that suffer from eating disorders and body dysmorphias which inform them about how they think they should look. The media perpetuates certain myths about body image and society gets the idea that to have the ideal body, look attractive and to be successful and happy, then you have to look a certain way.

    The Body Fights Back is a documentary that takes many different accounts of men and women and talks about how they feel about their own bodies, how their eating or dysmorphic disorders have changed them and what they think about how the world at large. A world that only emphasises the way that people judge them for their bodies.

    The documentary looks at many different walks of life. Such as women who have struggled through weight gain and had to lose it because of medical reasons to women who battle anorexia and even those who have learned to love their own bodies. The Body Fights Back shows that we come in all shapes and sizes.

    There are experts from different areas such as physical and mental health that also give their opinions on how eating disorders and body positivity can come about and how it can really change people to love the skin that you’re in. There are disabled women, black women, gay women and the documentary shows that you can’t judge a book by its cover. There’s even some discussion on the way men are pressured to look a certain way which ranges from physical fitness to extreme body building.

    The Body Fights Back bills itself as an insight into different people facing similar experiences with battling their bodies, but there seems to be more of a focus on how this affects women rather than men. This may be a reflection on how the media and society judges women more harshly than men on their appearance, but it would have been good to see some men who have battled with weight gain and disorders like anorexia. This would help to show that body image is not just a female issue.

    Almost all of the experts are men as well, which gives the impression that they have a better insight into how the female body and mind works. There’s also one person who’s introduced, but after a few scenes, disappears entirely and his views about body image and the media seem to be at odds with what the rest of the documentary is trying to say.

    The Body Fight Back may be good for those who are feeling low and want to reassure themselves that they are beautiful and they are absolutely right to do so. However, for those looking for a deep insight into how the world treats people by the way that they look and how to change that, then they may want to find something that goes beneath the surface.

  • Fear Street Part 2: 1978 – Review

    Fear Street Part 2: 1978 – Review

    Previously on Fear Street Part 1: 1994, Deena (Kiana Madeira) and her brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) became the only survivors of the terrible events which led them to being trapped in a shopping mall and forced to fight off the supernatural forces hellbent on killing them. Now, after having to save Deena’s girlfriend, Sam (Olivia Scott Welch) from the possession of the witch, they go to see an isolated woman (Gillian Jacobs) who has isolated herself after the traumatic events that killed her sister in 1978. Believing that the witch which possessed Sam is connected, Deena and Josh go to hear what she has to say.

    Fear Street Part 2: 1978 is the sequel (prequel?) to Netflix’s horror trilogy based on the books by R. L. Stine. This time after evoking the Nineties slasher subgenre, Fear Street goes back to the origins of the slasher movie, hoping to remind its audience of such things as Friday the 13th and Halloween.

    Ziggy Berman (Sadie Sink) has always been considered the weird kid and the rest of Camp Nightwing treat her differently, to the point that when we meet Ziggy, she’s running for her life only to be strung up and tortured by the other campers. However, there’s plenty of other campers ripe for the killing, so when Ziggy and the ones in the camp that she considers friends uncover a satanic ritual site, it once again unleashes the powers of the witch which possesses another innocent victim and lets them loose on the campers.

    As with what happened in Part 1, Part 2 tries to evoke a certain era of cinema and the beginnings of the slasher movie seem to be a good place to go. It’s unfortunate then that perhaps due to the budget, Part 2 never really feels like 1978 apart from a few costumes and a soundtrack which sporadically drops in a classic Seventies track. Although often the songs are put in because they sound cool rather than making sense to the scene.

    This time joined by Zak Olkewicz on screenwriting duties, director Leigh Janiak is consistent with her work, but Part 2 comes across as less of a homage to well loved classics and more of a hazy recollection of a subgenre of horror.

    The cast all play their parts well and with Sadie Sink in the lead it will no doubt keep Stranger Things firmly in the minds of the viewers. There are also some twists at the end; some that audiences may like and others which they may see coming from a mile away, but as with the first part, the promise of what’s to come may entice them to finish the trilogy.

    Let’s just hope that Fear Street Part 3: 1666 is less like The Village and more like The Witchfinder General.

  • Love Type D: Review

    Love Type D: Review

    Frankie (Maeve Dermody) is unlucky in love, she’s been dumped in every relationship she’s ever had and the last straw comes when her boyfriend, Thomas (Oliver Farnworth) sends his brother, Wilbur (Rory Stroud) to a restaurant to dump her on his behalf. Distraught by this latest rejection, Frankie decides enough is enough and she’s determined to turn her luck around.

    Soon Frankie starts to learn about a new company which can genetically prove whether she’s more likely to be dumped or not and she’s spreading the news to her co-workers who all take the test. Determined never to be dumped again they all hatch a plan, with Frankie’s final goal to win Thomas back once again.

    Love Type D is a quirky British romantic comedy written and directed by Sasha Collington. Setting the scene in a non-descript English town, Love Type D plays out as a typical romantic comedy, the only thing being that the film seems to be more of an anti-romcom.

    Frankie sets about trying to sort her life out, so it seems to be a story about self-discovery and learning to accept yourself. However, as the film goes further, Frankie’s behaviour becomes more erratic and so the audience may start to realise why she gets dumped so much in the first place. Although thankfully Dermody’s performance is warm and likeable enough that the audience may still find themselves on her side.

    The other aspect of this non-rom-com is that the male lead is not Frankie’s ex, but rather his brother, Wilbur and the scenes between Frankie and Wilbur are light and funny with Stroud also giving a good performance of a budding boy genius. However, there’s a certain suspension of disbelief that’s needed to watch Love Type D and unless you’re fully onboard with the concept, then the twist may be all too predictable.

    There are also a couple of jokes about halfway through that try to be quirky, but just come across as bizarre and tonally wrong.

    Saying all that though, Love Type D is a light and breezy comedy about finding love and looking at ourselves to discover the answer. A quintessentially English film with a modern twist and a great sense of humour.

  • Marathon: Review

    Marathon: Review

    There are marathons run all over the world and part of the fun is that almost anybody can take part regardless of their level of fitness. There are the elite athletes who have competed in the Olympics, then there are those who see themselves as elite athletes and want to train in order to prove to themselves (and others) that they’re just as good. Then there are people who see training for a marathon as an opportunity to raise money for charity and usually end up wearing a silly costume while doing it.

    Marathon is a mockumentary that follows a group of wannabe marathon runners as they prepare for the biggest challenge of their lives. There’s Ryan O’Brian (Andrew Hansen), an aspiring elite athlete who finds this opportunity to show the world what he’s made of – and raise money for charity.

    Jenna Kowalski (Natalie Sullivan) a woman who wants to break the world record marathon time for running in a fruit costume. Abby Dozier (Anais Thomassian) is a new mum who finds the marathon as a chance to reconnect with her body after having given birth and then there’s Shareef Washington (Tavius Cortez), a black man who just can’t understand why the police are so eager to chase him while he’s simply running.

    Emilou Paunch (Kimia Behpoornia) would have taken part, but after realising how long a marathon actually is, she did the sensible thing and backed out.

    Taking its inspiration from mockumentaries such as This is Spinal Tap and Best in Show, Marathon shows a wide variety of characters who are all working towards the same goal – well mostly. What starts out as what could be two dimensional characters, their stories all gradually unfold and before the end the audience would have no doubt picked their favourite.

    There’s a lot of material that comes from watching people to train for a marathon and writer/directors Anthony Guidubaldi and Keith Strausbaugh have clearly found a lot and sprinkle their characters with unique little aspects which will surprise audiences and make them laugh out loud. All the cast are great and fit their roles very well which may also make audiences wonder how versatile they could be in other roles.

    Marathon may very well remind its audience of more established comedies, but this one has legs.

  • Fear Street Part 1: 1994 – Review

    Fear Street Part 1: 1994 – Review

    Fear Street Part 1: 1994 is the first part of a new trilogy taken from R. L. Stine’s series of books of the same name. Given a cinematic style and put on Netflix, it aims to lovingly recreate horror movies from certain eras, as well as subverting some tropes along the way.

    Fans of the genre and those who grew up with films such as Scream, I know What you Did Last Summer and Urban Legend will immediately be familiar with what Fear Street: Part 1 is going for. Although thankfully it hit its audience over the heads to tell them about the decade – besides the soundtrack that is.

    Instead, Fear Street is a solid horror movie that may stand up by itself and gives its audience exactly what they were expecting with a few twists along the way.

    Deena (Kiana Madeira) is one of those troubled teens that you see in those kind of slasher movies where she’s a diversion from the identity of the real killer. She lives with her brother, Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) and is very confident about who she is, including when it comes to her sexuality. Samantha (Olivia Scott Welch) is the typical all American teenage cheerleader, her boyfriend is a local football star and she’s seen as one of the popular girls. The thing is that after her and Deena get close, Samantha starts to question her own sexuality, not only that but Samantha goes to a rival school and cheers for the other team – quite literally.

    Then one night after a big game, Samantha ends up in hospital after an accident and Deena’s heart follows her there as well. However, when the girls are chased by a serial killer considered to have died after attacking somebody a few days before, they realise that something may not be quite right. They try to convince the local authorities, but as often happens in these kinds of films, nobody believes them. So, after Simon (Fred Hechinger) and Kate (Julia Rehwald) get involved, they formulate a plan to survive the night being chased by the town’s supernatural forces.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clZK2PqLWpI

    Fear Street Part 1: 1994 may very well give its audience exactly what they may be expecting, but that may be its strongest and weakest point. Besides all the gore and the occasional swear, Fear Street may have been able to play to a younger audience instead of those adults who are nostalgic for this era of horror. Because of the ways things were back then, slashers of the Nineties which in turn were inspired by slashers of the 80’s all felt like a cheap formulaic thrill and Fear Street is no different.

    There’s plenty of blood and guts for horror fans, an easy set up to bring a group of teens together and there’s even a chance for some sexy teen situations. If it didn’t knowingly go for a pastiche of horror movies from nearly 30 years ago then it could have easily been written off. However, the thing that may grip the audience is the connection to the other movies which is teased at the end. So, we’ll have to see how Part 2: 1978 and Part 3: 1666 play out.