film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Author: Thomas White

  • Tatev: Review

    Tatev: Review

    By Thomas White. 

    Following the death of her father, a young woman, Tatev (Sona Burnham), ties up loose ends in her current life before planning to return to her native Armenia for the funeral. The film depicts the difficulties of navigating bureaucracy and bereavement in a foreign country, while about to embark on a new chapter in her life. 

    It is not without its faults, most of which are down to a lack of technical refinement and narrative flow. Visually it is attractively composed. Numerous shots of the countryside sit alongside the more urban landscapes and we get a sense of an integrated, ordinary and fairly nondescript suburban environment. 

    Writer, director and cinematographer Tomas Gold chooses to film in stark monochrome with a lilting, high contrast exposure. However, as pleasant as the scenery is to look at, the shots often linger far too long. It’s a distraction, one which could easily cause the audience to lose interest. Whether these shots were held for too long, or if there were simply too many of them, on too many occasions it held back the story, making it feel stagnant when it would have been enough just to keep the narrative moving along. 

    Another downside to this languorous choice of cinematography was that it did very little to indicate or enhance any particular mood or tone. Had there been a clearer sense of rhythm to the camerawork it would perhaps have communicated its intentions more successfully. 

    It was these moments in particular which benefited from the accompanying soundtrack, an ambient score which played underneath from time to time, in addition to the natural sounds of the wind and rustling leaves. With such a sparse script it helped to create a reflective and even regretful atmosphere, echoing Tatev’s despondency and mourning for her recently departed father. 

    https://vimeo.com/388029068

    The music could in fact, I felt, have been used even more frequently. It would have given an effective emotional bed on which the story could have rested. One other technical gripe, which was less easy to overlook, had to do with the dialogue track itself, which was considerably lower in sound level to the rest of the soundtrack and score. As there was considerably little speech anyway it seemed like an oversight which could and should have been easily rectified. 

    Mournful and elegiac, Tatev is a sensitive portrait of introspection and melancholy. Admirably presented though ultimately flawed by its confused and inconsistent technical elements. 

  • Hurt By Paradise: Review

    Hurt By Paradise: Review

    Hurt By Paradise: Review. By Thomas White. 

    Single mother Celeste Blackwood and her soulmate Stella Mansell are two friends living in London, each pursuing their respective artistic careers as a poet and actress. Over time their dreams become ever more elusive. 

    Writer/director Greta Bellamacina’s feature debut shows a warm spirit and has, at its core, a lot of heart. However, it is let down in a number of ways. For example, in the rather signposted expositional moments where the various relationship dynamics between Celeste and her family and friends are explored, these scenes often appear stagey and forced, suffering from clunky acting and stodgy dialogue. In doing so it reduces them to basic character stereotypes, simply servicing the plot, as opposed to more fully-rounded individuals whose lives we are genuinely interested in following.

    The scenes which work best are the ones which play on the film’s more humorous moments, well observed comic situations based around awkwardness and absurdity, with desperation and discomfort providing the comedy in a satisfyingly deadpan, toe-curling manner. Her meeting with a publishing agent; Stella’s acting audition; a disastrous restaurant date etc. It’s the well observed subtle mannerisms and nuance which make the comedy work. 

    Bellamacina herself plays Celeste, the single mother with aspirations of having her poetry published, and who I felt could have shown a bit more grit and determination in her precarious hand to mouth lifestyle. 

    More appealing was her somewhat put-upon friend Stella, played by Sadie Brown, who brought credibility to the character, making her very likeable and easy to watch. A happy-go-lucky extrovert, there was no side to her, and it was through this openness that we got to see her sensitive side, which was quite delightful. 

    Indeed, perhaps the most tender of the narrative’s numerous romantic dealings was the unseen online relationship between Stella and her ‘mystery man’ at the other end of her upgraded ‘serious wi-fi connection’ (a running gag mirroring their wireless courtship). Their involvement, developed and nurtured over time and distance, holds the same amount of feeling, hope and excitement as any real life romance would have, with a poignant touch of desperation as well. 

    Similarly the best performances come out during the scenes of cringe-worthy dry comedy previously mentioned. A single look, a glance or a well timed pause, these these things rang true more than an overwritten or poorly delivered line. Bellamacina paces these scenes with more confidence and naturalism, which is where her real strength clearly lies, creating embarrassing situations we can all relate to.

    Sadly the rest of the film has a tendency to dip in between these moments, which are few and far between. The overall tone feels noncommittal, not quite managing to integrate the comedy with straight drama. Frustratingly it leaves us hanging somewhere in the middle. 

  • Lucid: Review

    Lucid: Review

    By Thomas White. 

    Zel, a lonely introverted young man, is offered the chance to overcome his social anxiety through lucid dreaming. A simple plot holding sufficient psychological interest for the makings of an engaging thriller, being a curious subject, and one less commonly associated with the genre. 

    Director Adam Morse, in his debut feature, creates an effective and appropriate sense of sleep depravation (satisfyingly ironic, since the feeling is brought on by Zel’s sleeping), with the waking and dream states merging into one. There is little if no distinction between night and day. The nocturnal lighting of the streets and artificially lit interiors is disorientating. You get the sense of being trapped inside a world of permanent semi-consciousness, an after-dark existence in stasis. 

    It is let down, however, on a number of levels. The story is played out by a cast consisting of fairly standard one-dimensional characters, each derivative and stereotyped versions of their various roles and functions; shy loner, abusive boss, aloof showgirl. This was as much down to the writing as the performances, they could have done with a bit more fleshing out. 

    What might also have helped was to have some distinction between the realtime world and the dream states, bringing some dynamism to the overall pace which was, for the most part, fairly flat. Although understandably this could have been a conscious and creative choice, to blur the lines between wake and sleep. 

    What cannot be so easily overlooked was the decision to shoot with such a dimly lit visual aesthetic. Bordering on gloomy (not in a good way) the darkness was extreme and just made things difficult to see and follow the action. The story became equally laborious, losing its initial intrigue from a general sense of apathy. 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8pvkRCem_E

    Billy Zane, one of the two ‘name actors’ attached to the project, elevates the scenes he is in playing Elliot, the neighbour who teaches Zel the concept of lucid dreaming. Sadie Frost, who plays Zel’s mother, has rather less to do, appearing in only one scene. It would have been nice to see more of her character. 

    Laurie Calvert gives a believable but rather flat performance as Zel, which made it hard to relate or warm to him. The character who I felt most held the story together, and propelled Zel’s personal journey, was his co-worker Kat, played by Sophie Kennedy Clark, a character with a kind-heart and genuine sense of empathy and friendship. She was a figure of normalcy in the chaotic nightlife filled with toxic characters, providing some grounding for the plot and, in the end, Zel himself, as they start to form a relationship. 

  • Oleander: Review

    Oleander: Review

    By Thomas White. 

    Oleander is the story of a precocious teenager and her rebellion against the religious principles of her Christian abstinence program. 

    Narrated by voiceover we witness her acting out, her resistance manifested by flaunting her sexual promiscuity and showing disregard for any form of authority, although it is never made clear why she does not simply stop attending these meetings. Instead she writes a popular social media blog recounting her narcissistic exploits. 

    However, angsty teenage behaviour aside, we do feel an empathy for the character. Emily Robinson plays the role with honesty and a free-spirited nature which is hard not to warm to. Presented with her outlook, seeing the other characters from her viewpoint, we naturally gravitate towards taking her side, regardless of her naïve attitude. 

    Peri Gilpin brings solemnity to her performance as the evangelistic mediator of the group meetings, her own neediness and desperation straining out behind an overly beseeching facade. 

    This is only increased by the presence of a camerawoman, played by Jennifer LaFleur, who is simultaneously filming the meetings for a promotional documentary. She, we are told via Oleander’s voiceover, does not conform to the faith but operates as a neutral party. Although we follow the story principally through Oleander’s eyes, it is this outsider to whom we can look for an unbiased viewpoint as events unfold. Professional to a fault, her ultimate service is to that of the director, carrying out the job ruthlessly and by any means necessary, whatever the emotional cost. 

    These two opposing endeavours, the holy righteous documentary and the irreverent online posts, are equally about self-promotion. Both represent the same thing, the sense of having some sort of control over life’s insecurities. 

    https://vimeo.com/381253052/7f0f5cfc8c

    Religion and media are the driving themes, incorporating with them trust, betrayal, sex, power, ego, and other complexities normally associated with them. By using two of the most powerful organisations and mediums used to influence society, director Kate Hackett has a rich emotional palette with which to tell a simple but effective, clever and unexpected story. 

    What we initially take at face value turns into a deeper, manipulative plot, a deception we allow ourselves to accept readily, much in the same way as those seeking an established construct to which to devoutly conform. 

    Without giving too much away, Hackett plays just as much with the audience’s mind as she does with Oleander’s distorted emergence by the film’s unpredicted conclusion, a fate dictated by those with the practical skills and tools to influence minds. It pulls at the emotional heartstrings, doing a cut and paste job of our preconceived ideas of formal narrative emphasis and human understanding, leading to a satisfying payoff. 

  • Hogwood: Review

    Hogwood: Review

    By Thomas White. 

    Hogwood is an unflinching documentary which uncovers the shocking conditions under which animals are subjected to in the factory pig farming industry. We follow activists and campaigners from the animal welfare group Viva! as they go undercover to investigate one such facility in particular, the somewhat quaintly named Hogwood farm. 

    Presenting and narrating the film is Jerome Flynn, best known for his roles in the BBC series Ripper Street and HBO’s Game of Thrones. Having a celebrity attached to any independent project is a practical and often necessary requirement in order to secure funding and backing.

    Hard-hitting films like this can, however, run the risk of shifting the focus away from the urgency of their message and distract the audience by involving a media personality with their own personal agenda. This is not the case with Flynn. A vegetarian since the age of 18 and patron of the Vegetarian Society, as well as joining animal rights organisation PETA, he is clearly a passionate and legit advocate for the cause. He speaks with a respectful balance of urgency and appeal, suitably objective but not emotionally detached. 

    Juliet Gellatley, an animal rights activist and the founder of Viva!, is our guide through the narrative, explaining with measured fervour each stage of the organisation’s fight to expose well known but hidden truths in an industry devoid of compassion towards the animals it produces on a mass scale. Her emotion is palpable, at times clearly struggling to temper her frustration and anger as she delivers the facts and findings in a truthful, non-divisive way.

    Gellatley’s commendable determination and hands-on approach are a credit to the film’s acclaim. She shows qualities not always communicated as successfully in similar formats. 

    As well as those involved at Viva! are a host of other interviewees, ranging from doctors, farmers and medics, all experts in their respective fields, each offering intelligent and clear analyses explaining the topics raised. Equally included are representatives from the large agricultural corporations in question, each with their own share of substantiating data and official statements. 

    Director Tony Wardle’s film covers and explores each argument as best it can in its short running time, being understandably brief on some issues which could have been interesting to get deeper into, for example the more legally grey areas and standards and practices further down the production line. 

    Hogwood is a tough watch which pulls no punches. Viva!’s discoveries show horrific evidence of extreme animal cruelty, mistreatment and untreated disease, as well as particularly distressing scenes which highlight the inordinate suffering the pigs endure. There is an undeniable shock factor, a tried and tested controversial tactic, though justified in this case and difficult to avoid in order to drive home the film’s message in such a powerful way.