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  • The Sunlit Night: Another Review

    The Sunlit Night: Another Review

    The Sunlit Night: Another Review – Frances (Jenny Slate) is an artist, her sister, Gaby (Elise Kibler) is getting married and coincidentally her parents are separating. Jenny feels stuck in a rut as her family all seem to have significant changes in their lives and she has nothing.

    Then an opportunity comes her way to move to Norway to be an apprentice to a renowned artist called Nils (Fridtjov Såheim) who’s at a low ebb of his career. However, when Frances gets there, she realises that life in a foreign country that seems so idyllic and peaceful may be far more challenging than she originally thought.

    The Sunlit Night is a gentle indie comedy drama directed by David Wnendt and written by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight from her original novel. This is the kind of movie that feels like a warm bath, a nice glass of wine and a well-rested sleep.

    There’s absolutely nothing wrong with any of those, but for anybody that may want something with a bit more substance then they may want to look elsewhere. Sunlit Night is a view of a far-away land through the lens of rose-tinted glasses, perhaps even a love letter to a place that’s so different from the chaotic New York lifestyle.

    Characters such as Haldor (Zach Galifianakis) the American Viking and Olyana (Gillian Anderson) do nothing to add to the plot with the latter’s attempt at a Scandinavian accent sticking out like a sore thumb. However, The Sunlit Night is pleasant enough to watch and will pass the time even though it feels like some sequences have been shortened to further the plot.

    The Sunlit Night may be perfect for this time of year as well as you can just watch it without having to pay too much attention to it as you’ll most likely know what’s going to happen.

    Whilst that may sound like damning with feint praise, The Sunlit Night has just as much of a right to exist as anything else and if it’s aiming to be a movie that fits a certain mood then it succeeds. Although at times it might have been nice if it was more memorable.

  • Tokyo Home Stay Massacre: Review

    Tokyo Home Stay Massacre: Review

    Three American students; John (Alex Derycz), Sarah (Diana G.) and Spencer (Will Harrell) are spending some time in Japan. To get themselves immersed in the culture, they’re staying with a traditional Japanese family and really getting to know the feel of what an ordinary Japanese family is like. However, little do they realise but the family are all a little unhinged and as the tourists venture out of the bedrooms at night, the family strike.

    Tokyo Home Stay Massacre is a Japanese horror movie with an entirely Japanese cast besides its three American protagonists. It also manages to give its presumably Western audience a full array of Japanese pop culture references which fans of J-horror, anime and even some of the seedier side of Japanese culture will understand.

    However, the problem is that although some movies use non-English speaking characters without subtitles to add a sense of tension, Tokyo Home Stay Massacre doesn’t have any which could lead to some confusion as the actions of the characters aren’t enough.

    As mentioned earlier there are many references to Japanese culture and without the use of subtitles it makes sense that none of the references would be subtle. The problem is that without the subtitles, a non-Japanese speaking audience wouldn’t know whether the movie is poking fun at an American audience’s knowledge of Japanese culture or whether it’s pandering to them by throwing so much of it at the screen.

    Saying that though, by the final act the subtitles don’t really matter that much as it descends into a mess of ultra-violence which again references many aspects of Japanese pop culture, but doesn’t really add anything to the plot.

    It would have been nice to know what was going on by this point and why anybody is doing anything, but it seems that the filmmakers don’t think the audience will care as they got this far.

    The acting is also not that great, particularly Derycz who’s not so much chewing the scenery rather than punching holes in it to see if it looks better. It doesn’t. Tokyo Home Stay Massacre may be fun for those who want to spot references to Japanese pop culture, but with so much confusion, it may just leave the audience feeling frustrated.

  • Freaky: The BRWC Review

    Freaky: The BRWC Review

    Career second acts are a rarity in Hollywood, with studios seldomly allowing marquee actors the opportunity to explore outside their comfort zone (Matthew McConaughey and Adam Sandler are a few recent examples). That fact hasn’t stopped former comedic heavyweight Vince Vaughn from discovering a new career path. Whether he’s a bruiting action star (Brawl in Cell Block 99) or an insular drug-dealer (Arkansas), Vaughn has comfortably discovered new manors to express his assured acting chops. Now teaming with Happy Death Day writer/director Christopher Landon in Freaky, Vaughn finds himself channeling a teenage girl in an uproarious horror-comedy crowd-pleaser.

    Freaky follows Millie (Kathryn Newton), an introverted teen stuck in a malaise after her father’s death. If high school life couldn’t be complicated enough, the Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn) begins to re-surface, attacking Millie during a dark night. What should have been a clear-cut kill becomes far stranger when the Butcher and Millie switch bodies, with Millie inhabiting the consciousness of the large serial killer. Millie now must reverse the switch before nightfall, or less she will be stuck in the Butcher’s body forever.

    As someone who couldn’t jive with Landon’s previous efforts (The Happy Death Day films were spirited but couldn’t overcome their wonky tonality), I am delighted to see the writer/director follow through with his conceptual ingenuity. Now working in the confines of an R-rating, Landon leans into the gleefully gory machinations of the slasher genre, dreaming up a bevy of creative kills that leave viewers in a state of shock and awe. His usage of practical effects and unsettling score cues further sell each death, with Landon also understanding the shameless appeal of killing off inherently unlikable characters (a certain scene with a saw is gloriously over-the-top). He playfully harkens to the genre’s adored staples (the opening is a clever ode to Scream) while also paving his own pathway through the film’s distinct horror-comedy blend.

    The oft-kilter premise generates a perfect canvas for its well-suited cast. Kathryn Newton offers one of her best performances to date, portraying Millie’s insecurities with emotional authenticity. Her role could’ve easily felt like an archetype cliche, but it’s Newton’s ability that imbues the character’s persona with dimension that truly elevates it. Let’s be honest though, this is Vince Vaughn’s film and he steals every frame of it. Vaughn’s signature fast-talking delivery is tailor-made for the energized personality of a teenage girl, selling the role reversal without dipping into the cartoon-y territory. I credit him for not approaching this role with a mawkish attitude, with his performance excelling due to the genuine sincerity behind it.

    Landon’s effort also improves on the superficial emotionality of his previous films. Where Happy Death Day rang hollow with a greeting card message, Landon utilizes his high-concept premise to slyly observe our innate difficulty to express ourselves in our own skin. I don’t want to oversell its impact (some of Landon’s dialogue still feels overly-speechified), but the writer/director deserves credit for ensuring a level of attachment with his material.

    Blending its genre elements to create a satisfying horror/comedy concoction, Christopher Landon’s Freaky registers as an inspired iteration of the slasher genre.

    Freaky is now playing in theaters, with a VOD release scheduled for early 2021.

  • Mikkelsen, Johnson, Krasinski: Weekly Round Up

    Mikkelsen, Johnson, Krasinski: Weekly Round Up

    Okay, so once again I’m going to attempt to avoid putting my own personal bias into my coverage of this story, but apparently, after letting Johnny Deep go from the Fantastic Beasts franchise, in a move that caused some controversy in and of itself, Warner Bros. studios are now looking to recast the role Depp would have played – Grindelwald – with a new actor. And this week we learned that Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen is currently in talks to be that actor.

    Mikkelsen is no stranger to playing villains, of course. Alongside turns as James Bond baddie Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, the actor is perhaps best known for his portrayal of psychotic psychiatrist cannibal, Doctor Hannibal Lecter, is the absolutely excellent TV show Hannibal. No doubt this news will come as a pleasant surprise for many fans of the franchise.

    Once again, I’d like to reiterate that I’m not going to let my own bias impact my coverage of this particular story, but I will say this; DON’T DO IT MADS! DON’T DO IT! YOU’RE BETTER THAN THIS! PLEASE! JUST DO HANNIBAL SEASON 4 INSTEAD!

    Anyway, um… yeah.

    Jeff Nichols quite quickly made a name for himself as an interesting director of original and exciting indie films with his output, including films such as the excellent Michael Shannon starring drama Take Shelter, the brilliant Matthew McConaughey starring Mud, and the superb but underseen 80s throwback Midnight Special, but his last film was way back in 2016.

    Having sat the last four years out (who could blame him, right?) Nichols is set to return to the screen and make a start on his first franchise film after working solely on his own original content.

    Don’t worry though, the director hasn’t gone all superhero on us, instead Nichols will be working on a spin-off to the hugely success A Quiet Place, and, presumably, A Quiet Place Part II. Of course, Part II was original slated for release in March of this year, but due to the ongoing Coronavirus crisis, the film has had its release date pushed back to 2021, almost an entire year later.

    Way back during March when the film was original scheduled for release, director of both Quite Place movies, John Krasinski (who also stars in the films alongside his wife, Emily Blunt) was quoted as saying he had a concept in line for a third entry to the series. Now, it is currently not yet known whether the concept Krasinski was referring to is the same one Nichols has come on board to direct, or whether the Nichols project is an entirely new film set within the same universe.

    It’s worth noting, I think, that the film is being referred to as a spin-off and not simply a sequel, suggesting that we may be about to explore the A Quiet Place Cinematic Universe. It makes sense, considering the films premise involves a post-apocalyptic world in which humans are stalked by killer aliens with super-hearing. I can’t imagine it would be too difficult to leap across the country – or even the world – and explore what someone else was up to during that time.

    Speaking of horror movie spin-offs, do you guys remember The Scorpion King?

    Well, for those of you who don’t; The Scorpion King was a character first introduced in the God awful The Mummy Returns (a sequel to the totally fantastic pure classic that is The Mummy) as that film’s main foe. The character was ultimately taken out by everyone’s favorite hero, Brendan Fraser, but that didn’t stop him from being revived in five of his own spin-off movies.

    But, perhaps what the character is best known for is being Dwayne Johnsons feature film acting debut. Johnson returned to play the role in the first spin-off before stepping down from the franchise to pursue other things. Over the course of the next four movies the character has been played by three different actors: Michael Copon, Victor Webster, and Zach McGowan. Now, that should really tell you everything you need to know about the quality of those films.

    Despite his distance from the franchise, Johnson is now reportedly working with Universal to reboot the character. His Seven Bucks Productions is partnering with the studio, and they are currently looking for yet another actor to take on the role. Now, although there is very little known at this point, we do know that the film will be set in “modern times” and that the script is being written by Jonathan Herman, who wrote the Oscar nominated screenplay for Straight Outta Compton, and who is also working with Universal on their upcoming Scarface reboot.

    This one is weird. Part of it sounds good, part of it sounds bad, none of it sound great, but most of it sounds so bad it’s brilliant. I’d be interested to see if Johnson does decide to appear in some other role, and Herman’s involvement suggests at least a certain level of quality. I guess we’ll have to wait and say.

  • Geoff Ryan: Interview

    Geoff Ryan: Interview

    Blood From Stone is the new movie from director Geoff Ryan. A very different kind of vampire movie that you wouldn’t normally expect these days as it has no glittery teenage heartthrobs and no highly stylised action set pieces set to early 2000’s European techno. Instead, Blood From Stone is set in a city that never sleeps which is perfect for vampires because there’s always another victim. Also, Blood From Stone doesn’t really feel like a vampire film at all, but rather a drama which just happens to include vampires in its cast.

    I got the chance to talk with writer/director Geoff Ryan about Blood From Stone, his influences from vampire movies and his own family life and even what parts of himself that he put into his characters.

    So firstly, the big question. Why choose vampires as characters to tell your story?

    A quote I’d read in an old book stated, “Every historical change creates its own mythology” and this inspired me to rewrite an old script of mine and use the vampire lore as a way to explore the idea how the myths of an old era devolve and become corrupted as a new era emerges. The vampires in this film came of age in an era where they were basically gods who could do as they pleased but as modern society arose, they have been forced into the shadows and now struggle to find purpose and place in a world that has diminished their power.

    I’d also had a vampire story lodged in my brain for a long time but with the excess of vampire films and shows over the years I didn’t feel I was bringing anything really unique to the genre. Then, a few years back my last grandparent passed away. My grandfather had basically given up on living decades before and yet outlived all the others made me ponder the idea of living beyond the will to live. He was a man stuck in the past felt left behind by modern progress clinging to a time when “America was great” (foreshadowing a current political movement).

    I felt the vampire story I’d had percolating fit nicely as a metaphor for this and some other issues I wanted to explore. Where my last film, Fray, was a very literal story, this time I wanted to make a film that was less literal and more symbolically about deeper themes. I wanted to create something that people could enjoy on a surface level as just a weird (and hopefully fun) vampire movie, but also dive deeper into the themes within it if they wanted.

    What obstacle did you come up against when making a vampire film that didn’t rely on the cliches of film franchises such as Twilight and other action orientated movies?

    This is why it took me so long to ever finish the script for this film. Decades really. For a while there it seemed like every other day a new vampire movie would come out from Twilight to True Blood and so many others. Originally, I’d been thinking of doing a satire but then What We Do In The Shadows came out and it’s basically the best possible vampire satire ever so I scrapped that idea. Let the Right One In is my personal favorite and really took the lore in a brilliantly new and thoughtful direction. So, for a long time I didn’t think I had anything worthwhile to bring to the genre. And, it’s not that my take is wholly unique or original, I just tried to make it in a way that hadn’t been done yet.

    Creatively I was more inspired by films I was loved in my early years like Kalifornia, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Natural Born Killers, and so many of those late 80’s and early 90’s films that seemed to straddle multiple genres fusing rich characters and thoughtful themes with brash brutality used in a way which was intentionally jarring. They used violence not for thrills like a slasher film but as part of the exploration of humanity’s duality. When describing this film to others over the years I would often say “It’s like Natural Born Killers meets Leaving Las Vegas, but with vampires”. So, while I did adhere to some of the vampire lore, I was less concerned with that then just trying to tell a story that audiences, whether they liked it or not, would walk away from feeling like they’d gotten a unique experience and hopefully inspire some conversations.

    How does your own family compare to the vampire family in Blood From Stone?

    I already mentioned above that my grandfather was a loose inspiration for the male lead. That said, personality-wise he was a very different person than Jure. Fortunately, my family is not like the one in this film. The only area there is a strong overlap is my sister, who is a few years older, has her life in order much better than I do, and I’ve always been the weird one whose life is a wreck and I’m sure I’ve worried them with some of my less-than-rational life choices. But I’ve actually got a very wholesome, humble and sweet family.

    What was it like shooting in Las Vegas? Do you have much experience of the city?

    Vegas was awesome to film in. The people there were wonderful to work with and for such a small budget production we were able to accomplish so much more than I’d imagined we would. Some of the scenes in this film realistically should have cost more than our entire budget but we were able to gain access to so many locations for filming just by getting to know the people that run the places and being genuine and courteous. I highly recommend it to any filmmakers looking for great locations and talent no matter your budget.

    As for why Vegas? Before the film I’d only been there twice in my life. Initially I’d wanted to film in Laughlin, NV, a little casino town on the border of Arizona (and we did film a few days there) where I had filmed a commercial years ago but it was much harder to get some of our key locations there. The river in Laughlin was a key aspect to the narrative, if not literally, it was symbolically for me, so that’s why it never directly states the story takes place in Vegas but is just left as a nondescript casino town in Nevada. Of course, some of the landmarks in the film are obviously Las Vegas.

    To me, it was important to be in a casino town because I felt it worked both as a place where a vampire would live (open 24 hours, lots of drifters, etc) and because it’s the most extreme symbol of predatory capitalism and I’d hoped the brief images of gamblers sitting at slot machines would show audiences the symbolic aspect of the vampires in the narrative as a metaphor for a system that extracts wealth (our life force in modern society) without remorse. It’s also a fun location for imagery and added a lot to the overall vibe of the movie so really happy we were able to film there. Plus, the local acting talent in Vegas is top-notch.

    Jure has a hard time controlling his behaviour, has there ever been a time in your life where you’ve been told or had to tell somebody that their behaviour is a little too much?

    There’s a lot of myself in Jure. Not literally… I’ve never killed someone nor do I have the same addiction issues. But I do have my own vices and personal issues for sure. For me, it’s not necessarily the controlling behavior (though, I’m a film director, so that’s probably a trait I have) but more the sense of being an outsider and being solitary.

    I think all of us have control issues we cope with in varying ways. So, yes, I’ve definitely had a fair share of conflicts with controlling types, and I’ve been that controlling person many times as well. It’s all about balance and that’s what I tried to express in the end of the film: Darya wants to be nothing like Jure but he tries to show her that for her to attain what she wants in life she needs to be willing to take control sometimes. He does it in his own terrible way, but that is how he tried to show her that being a little bit like him could benefit her.  For all of us, there is that quest for balance where we don’t want to be monsters but being a saint historically leads to poverty and persecution, so somewhere in the middle seems an ideal to strive for.

    What’s your favourite vampire or other monster movie?

    Favorite vampire film is “Let The Right One In” and monster movie is “The Host”. Both are great films because they are great human stories and the “genre” is secondary. They could just as easily have the supernatural element stripped from them and still be amazing movies.

    Where did you draw your inspiration from in the relationship and family dynamic in Blood From Stone?

    I loosely based the family in the story after Elizabeth Báthory and her family, but very loosely. Ironically, I found out after casting her that Gabriella Toth (Darya) grew up a short drive from the Bathory Castle in Hungary.

    But then I wanted to take this monstrous folklore and humanize it. In an early draft of the screenplay I’d had a phone call between Jure and his mother that was a lot of fun. Typical worried mom conversation with Jure regressing back into his bratty childhood self while also sugar-coating his own actions trying to make himself seem like the good guy. It was cut pretty early on just because, while it was cute, I didn’t want to bring in a character that would have no importance for the rest of the film and preferred to leave the mother figure as a more mythical presence in their lives.

    I definitely put a lot of my own perspective of myself into the Jure character as this guy who goes against the grain within his family but is still loved even if he’s not always understood or does the right thing. And, I envisioned the family having a very Matriarchal dynamic where the men would go off and do their pillaging while the women ran the affairs of state and home. The women are the ones who hold it all together while the men go off and have fun. Thus, the line from Viktoria about “I won’t let you go out like dad did” signifying a sort of recklessness in their father that Jure has grown up with too.

    Who would you like to work with the most in the movie industry?

    I’m very fortunate to have already worked with one of the most talented people in our industry and hope to one day be able to collaborate with him again. Cinematographer Jarin Blaschke and I grew up together and he shot most of my projects over the years including my prior feature, Fray. Much of what I know about cinematography and visual language comes from working and talking with him over the years.  Beyond that, he’s just been a wonderful friend and inspiration who continues to support and challenge me as an artist. We’d talked about him shooting this film but with his career really taking off it was just not possible (he was filming The Lighthouse at the time) so that’s how I ended up deciding to shoot this one myself.

    As for others in the industry, I’m not going to pretend like celebrity culture isn’t a huge aspect of our industry and that having name talent attached to a film isn’t a large factor in a film’s ability to reach audiences, but I truly enjoy working with other “unknown” talents. To be able to find someone like Vanja Kapetanovic or Gabriella Toth in an audition and see them tackle a project like this is so rewarding. Hopefully their exposure from this film will help them continue to shine as artists in other’s films. There are so many people out there with so much talent that haven’t been given a chance to shine and I love being able to find those people and give them that opportunity in my own small way. So, while there are lots of established people in the industry I’d love to work with, I also hope to continue working with talent from all walks of life.

    Do you prefer to work as a writer or a director?

    I definitely prefer directing. Writing for me is a fun process and I love the isolation and disappearing into a world of my own making, but the collaborative and social aspect of directing is truly a joy. My personal directing style is less a dictator and more a facilitator. Being able to bring in amazing talent, empower them to explore, and see where our abilities and ideas take us is the best part of the process.

    What are you doing next?

    Good question! I’m not sure. I just wrapped filming a movie in Texas that’s in limbo for post-production at the moment. Lots of behind-the-scenes drama I won’t bore you here with but it’s been a challenge like none other and I have no idea what it’s fate will be.

    Beyond that, as a small-time filmmaker, much of it rests on how Blood From Stone performs.  As writer William Deresiewicz once wrote: “Artists are made by their audiences” so if this film finds an audience that will open up opportunities for my next film. If it doesn’t, it’s gonna be years of saving up whatever I can to make another. The new one I’m developing is relatively small in cinematic scope but narratively my most ambitious yet. Really seeking a way to bridge the gap between making a challenging art film and riveting audience pleaser. Not sure I’ve gotten there yet but going to keep trying.