Category: REVIEWS

By Alex Purnell. A slow-burning, medium-length film, Day Release (FREIGANG) is silently deafening, telling the story of a young single mother out on day release from prison, it reeks of melancholy as the world seemingly crumbles around our protagonist as we watch, unable to intervene. Kathi (Anna Suk) leaves the confounds of her cell only to find her 3-year old son Christopher (Christopher Legedza) being neglected by her mother, locked in a room to watch TV while his grandmother sleeps. Upon finding out, Kathi takes her son out for the day, with expectations to meet the toddler’s father.

The devastating reality of Day Release is Kathi’s inability to work any of her issues out, due to her limited time. A myriad of unsolvable problems piling upon the single mother keep manifesting, leading to a catastrophic, tear-jerking crescendo where nothing but a single obstacle is fixed, and all is still in turmoil.

This has a lot to do with actor Anna Suk’s award-winning performance as Kathi, seemingly always on the brink of breaking down, but staying resilient for the sake of her son.

Day Release is quiet. Only exploding in sound during key parts that flow throughout the film. This is true not only with sound but in regards to its visuals and camera, everything feels stationary, like a moment in time, and as the clock slowly ticks down on Kathi’s free day, we as the audience are constantly made aware that for Kathi the world will and has moved on while she is locked up. Even out of prison, we sympathise with Kathi’s social-economic crisis as she is a prisoner to her own poverty.

The grey-overtones of the film supplement the bleak theme of Day Release, the dulled colour palette seemingly representing a dreary winters day radiates the energy of the drama, purposely slow and saturated.

Though, Day Release does seemingly overstay its welcome. With a daring length of 34 minutes, its sluggish pace feels more appropriate for a feature-length film, though its plot fits perfectly within a short-film scale causing Day Release to feel like a somewhat cumbersome viewing. 

Despite this, this German indie-flick has a great amount of weight to it, a full-on assault of heartache, its a long, internal scream of a woman who has been left out in the cold.

Transfert: Review – A period WWII French short film with elements of Sci-Fi, that has wonderful attention to detail convincingly transporting you to another time, yet with a disappointingly ambiguous plot, poor script development, and unclear intention. 

An aging Nazi soldier has selected a Jewish prisoner from a concentration camp, to travel back in time using a time-travelling chair, in order to retrieve a device that has the power to “change the outcome of the war”. This last part was unclear to me; I couldn’t understand if the Nazi really did want to destroy the device, as he says, or utilize it.

He seems to be on some sort of path of redemption, as we see him coughing blood as he says: “being on the threshold of death makes you see things differently” (as if the prisoner would not understand that).  However, his character arc is not clear. He expresses that the device, if used, could destroy everything “we” have worked to achieve… who is “we”? He and the prisoner, or he and the Nazi Party?

Perhaps he is a spy within the Nazi Party, but I just feel the script has not been thought out well enough. I don’t feel invested in the stakes because I don’t know what this device actually does, and who its’ destruction will aid. 

Furthermore, the film ends on a very unclear note. I appreciate that short films do not have the time privilege to develop and intricate plot, but they should, at least, leave the audience with a message or learning. I gained nothing in this department. 

I did, however, thoroughly enjoy the animation at the beginning of the film with the atmospheric sound design and menacing score. The fight choreography was also very cool and well performed. Moreover, the attention to detail in costume, prop, and set design was exceptional, particularly in that this is a period piece. I also found the special affects applied to the time machine to be very convincing. 

In conclusion, Transfert is clearly of a high level of filmmaking, but is let down fundamentally by the script. Perhaps if watched in its’ original language this may not be the case, but this was my take through watching the English subtitled version. Spanish subtitles are also available. 

Michelle (Alex Essoe) is newly married and having concerns over having a baby with her husband, Robert (Kris Siddiqi). Then one day she meets Linda (Precious Chong) who is one of those very friendly, but slightly overbearing people everyone meets and can’t find it in your heart to reject.

As Michelle and Linda get talking, Michelle does her very best to try and let Linda know that she’s busy, but before she knows it Michelle is back at Linda’s place and having cocktails. Even though in the back of her mind Michelle knows that there’s something not quite right about Linda.

Homewrecker is a horror comedy directed by Zach Gayne and written with its stars, Alex Essoe and Precious Chong. As the story goes along it seems that Michelle was right about her instincts and things escalate rapidly as Linda becomes frustrated with the differences between them. Particularly because Michelle and Linda are from different generations. However, as more is revealed Michelle starts to realise that they have far more in common than she realised.

Smartly written and well played by its two female leads, Homewrecker is the kind of horror comedy that speaks to a current audience, but also pokes fun at both generations as Linda has a hard time letting go of her heyday in the early Nineties. Chong plays Linda with a little hint of there being something not quite right behind the eyes and keeps it up throughout as Michelle fights for survival.

The connection between Essoe and Chong is strong as well, so right from when they first meet to when they seemingly bond over a board game, the audience fully believes in their relationship, however twisted it may be.

The levels of physical violence between the pair never holds back, especially when Michelle has to fend off Linda’s sledgehammer with anything that she can get her hands on.

There’s even an impromptu Lisa Loeb karaoke performance which only heightens Linda’s madness and may be one of the funniest moments in the film. Homewrecker is a laugh out loud horror comedy that gives an audience everything they may want from the genre.

Netflix has manufactured an impressive assembly line of content, churning out a melody of original material on a weekly basis. Considering their vast library, the platform’s unheralded international films rarely get the attention they deserve, with projects like Atlantics and The Platform ranking among Netflix’s most accomplished endeavors. While the same can’t be said for their latest international project Lost Bullet (or Balle Perdue), this French-made actioner still packs a jolt of kinetic thrills despite its straight-forward approach.

Lost Bullet follows Lino (Alban Lenoir), a skilled driver serving time for a heist gone wrong. After task force leader Charas (Ramzy Bedia) decides to utilize Lino’s mechanical know-how for his team, Charas is murdered, with a pair of dirty cops framing the crimes on Lino’s hands. Lino finds himself on the run trying to prove his innocence.

Throttled forward with a lean-and-mean pace, director Guillaume Pierret constructs an assured debut working inside the low-rent actioner framework. Ordinary action beats are elevated by Pierret’s creative mindset, with the director implementing audacious, crowd-pleasing stunt work with reckless abandon. Whether Lino’s driving a burning car or fighting off a foe with shotgun swordplay, Pierret’s slick handheld camerawork frenetically highlights each hard-hitting frame, while Andre Duziezuk’s pulsating, synth-inspired score further accents each set piece.

Instead of cheekily wearing genre influences on its sleeve (a cross between the machismo freneticism of Fast and Furious with the small-scale realism of Drive), Lost Bullet sincerely executes its familiar narrative trappings. Pierret’s script clearly understands the genre it’s operating in, self-awarely building a narrative that keeps the action moving while sprinkling in some welcomed plot change-ups. Star Alban Lenoir helps in elevating his archetype actioner role, while Nicolas Duvachelle makes for a delightful mustache-twirling villain as a double-crossing cop.

While I admire the film’s comfortably simplistic design, it does severely limit Lost Bullet’s ceiling. Pierret’s script feels like it’s missing a first act, stalling in its attempts to develop intriguing character dynamics. It all seems fairly barebones, which would be more forgivable if the film didn’t lean into deeper dramatic aspirations (the death of Charas is suppose to have a lingering effect on Lindo, an arc that’s largely brushed over until the closing frames).

It may not reinvent the standard action formula, but Lost Bullet’s relentless pursuit of genre thrills offers a satisfactory low-rent diversion.

Back in the 2010s, Young Adult novel adaptations riddled big-screen marketplaces, with studios placing their bets on the next trendy franchise. Instead of creating the Twilight or Harry Potter, failed endeavors such as The Host and Mortal Instruments exemplified the challenge in establishing a zeitgeist property, released amidst a flurry of franchise-starters that also crashed upon entry. After a languid journey to the big screen, Disney has dumped their latest YA port Artemis Fowl onto their streaming service Disney+, a deservingly unceremonious release for the latest lackluster YA adaptation. 

Based on Eoin Colfer’s novel series, Artemis Fowl follows Artemis (Ferdia Shaw) a young prodigy learning the relic-collecting family craft from his distant father (Colin Farrell). When his father is kidnapped, Artemis discovers a new world of magic creatures, including an eager fairy soldier Holly Short (Lara McDonnell), and a dwarf who doesn’t fit in with his much-smaller counterparts Mulch Diggum (Josh Gad). These three outcasts must work together to save the day. 

Artemis Fowl may not be an outright disaster, mainly thanks to Kenneth Branagh’s zippy and generally competent direction, but its joyless pursuit of slick thrills robs the endeavor of any unique pleasures. Sandwiching the series’ first two works into one briskly paced film (88 minutes before credits), screenwriters Conor McPherson and Hamish McColl are assigned the impossible task of constructing the franchise’s first act in a limited number of frames.  

Even considering those restrictions, a barebones screenplay wastes the creative playground Eoin Colfer’s words created. The narrative leans heavily on fantasy lore to do the leg work in establishing its different factions, doing little on its own accord to personify each unique race. Before any impactful world-building is even accomplished, McPherson and McColl’s script whisks audiences along without creating a genuine reason to invest.

With little to work with, Artemis Fowl places substantial weight on its cast to liven up the proceedings. Character actors Judi Dench and Josh Gad are up for the task (Gad dedicates himself fully to his goofy role as a misplaced dwarf), but the young stars rarely feel comfortable onscreen. Ferdia Shaw’s flat performance as Artemis rarely captures the character’s quick-witted intellect, while Lara McDonnell is given nothing to do aside from being a chipper presence as Holly. Veteran stalwarts Colin Farrell and Nonso Anozie are left dully watching from the sidelines, with no one involved appearing to have much fun with the material. 

It’s hard to blame anyone on screen, as they are stuck in a sinking ship from the start. Ignoring the novel’s meditations on morality (Artemis’ journey from mean-spirited brat to finding a sense of good is completely ignored), the Disney production instead focuses on checking boxes to appease family audiences. This clinical approach is devoid of heart and inventive spark, with both being necessary ingredients in creating a new franchise.  

Closing with a cliffhanger that will leave most shrugging, Artemis Fowl’s creatively-bankrupt delivery wastes the potential Eoin Colfer’s work has on the screen.