Savvas D. Michael’s second feature, Red Devil is an interesting and surreal watch. The opening sequence see’s our leads Oscar and Ella Knight talking to Oscar’s dementia suffering mother. Her far right rhetoric and Edina Monsoon inspired memory loss conversation is an indication to the sort of grizzly characters the rest of the film has in store.
We then follow Ella (Fernanda Diniz) and Oscar (Jack Turner), who turn out to be erotic vigilantes, on a quest to rid their town of a mysterious drug called Red Devil (roll credits).
The cinematography and colour-tone are similar to a Mighty Boost episode, lots of over saturation and chromakey layers that give Savvas’ Britain a multi-dimensional feel. As Ela and Oscar go around having sex whilst killing drug dealers, we follow a secondary plot of a Red Devil addict named Riley.
Jamie Crew’s performance as this character is flawless. Riley’s drug addiction is like something out of Trainspotting with a touch of Heath Ledger’s Joker. He contorts his whole body from face to feet and reels in pain when he is not taking the drug. An amazing performance which should see him win some best actor awards on the Indie circuit, I hope.
Red Devil
Another side character we follow is Hugo, played fantastically by established British actor Ian Reddington (Highlander, The Sisters Brothers, Coronation Street). Hugo is a lonely drug dealer who loved to have a long chat with his clients before sending them on their way with their chosen high. I could have watched a separate short with this Hugo.
The film is a bit weird at points and its visuals may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s an interesting take on a side of Britain that is often portrayed as grey and gritty. Oh, and Stephen Berkoff is in this too – wowzers!
This is huge; so, so huge. Director Drew Bierut’s Things They Say is a sideways look at a modern day phenomenon that has been part of the public consciousness ever since the election of Donald Trump – FAKE NEWS.
You’ve never seen anything like this
before, folks. Nothing like it. A film about a gossip website under threat from
the lying fake news media, THE REAL FAKE NEWS MEDIA, as well as an alt-right
conspiracy group and a restaurant who changes its menu because of a rumour
about olive oil causing impotency.
The script of this short film – and we love films that are short – written by Brando Topp, works efficiently and confidently to introduce all its different plot elements and resolve them all in way that ties them all together well.
In it’s FIFTEEN MINUTES running time (fifteen minutes, that’s not so short) it’s able to cover a lot. It has a broad reach with some of its material, but it’s focused and in its storytelling. The script is well-constructed, every element gets the right amount of screen time, nothing feels like dead weight.
Where other films of its type – social satires – can feel stagy and lack an integrity and attention to detail to make the film feel real, Things They Say had a tone and sensibility where it comes off as authentic as it’s possible to be. On these counts, Things They Say wins and wins bigly.
It’s not so funny, though, not as funny in the quirky Greta Gerwig-style it is clearly aiming for. It also doesn’t go as far with its targets as much as it could do, or do anything that you wouldn’t have seen coming. All that does take away from the film, that there’s nothing that really sticks in the memory about it.
What’s more, given the opportunities it has to pick its subject matter apart, it doesn’t really do anything with it. SAD.
Things They Say is a mixed bag: there are some good things in there and it’s technically very sound, but in not tackling its subject matter too deeply it ends up feeling throwaway and forgettable.
As Kris Kringle (Bryan Brendle) prepares to retire as Santa and pass on the reins to his son Nick (Bill Hader), the stress of his future role begins to get to him. When his sister Noelle (Anna Kendrick) suggests that he take a weekend off, Nick abandons his job completely. Noelle faces the world outside the North Pole for the first time when she follows him to try to convince him to return to work. Meanwhile, their ill-prepared cousin Gabriel (Billy Eichner) steps up and prepares to turn Santa’s workshop into an online delivery service.
It seems like now is the time of year that we will be getting a whole plethora of Christmas/holiday related movies, and for me, that is certainly no issue. With the recent release of the delightfully fun Paul Feig film Last Christmas, comes yet another holiday film titled Noelle, written and directed by Marc Lawrence.
This was something I was genuinely concerned about before watching this movie – Lawrence’s involvement. He has directed such movies as the Miss Congeniality series, Two Weeks Notice, and Did You Hear About The Morgans?; a list of films that are just not my cup of tea for numerous reasons. Noelle is additionally a Disney+ original film, and that was also a concern, as a large portion of these streaming service exclusive movies can turn out to be quite bad.
While Noelle is most definitely not going to reinjuvinate the Christmas genre of films, it is surprisingly a picture with quite a bit of heart, a couple of good laughs, and an amazing message that will not only resonate with the children that watch it, but the adults as well.
Anna Kendrick has been an actress that has consistently been in movies that I have been pleasently surprised by, and Noelle is one that I can add to that list. Ever since I saw her in the Pitch Perfect franchise, as well as last year’s excellent A Simple Favor, I have taken notice of how great Kendrick is as an actress and she is also a terrific singer. In this movie, she portrays Kris Kringle’s energetic, joyous daughter that loves to spread the Christmas spirit around to everybody around her, and she is an incredibly lovable character.
Although her character development does not get explored too much, she still manages to be a character that we genuinely do root for all the way to the closing frames. Noelle’s brother Nick is a funny addition to the cast as well, with Hader showing yet again how strong he is as a comedic actor. Whenever he was on screen, it was hard not to just smile and have fun at Bill Hader dressing up as Santa Claus. What is there not to love about that?
Of course, Noelle does have quite a few issues, such as its script. There really is nothing extremely interesting going on in this movie whatsoever. It was not really an investing story, but moreso of a fun and charming one that was enjoyable to watch. Most of the story can be highly predictable, and it can be easy to see where certain plot points will go early on. Plus, the humor in the film is a mixed bag. It can be quite funny at times, but at certain moments, it can get dry and repetitive. But that does not prevent this from being a good viewing experience.
The aspect of this movie that impressed me the most was its moral of the story – that Christmas is about spreading love and joy to all, and not just receiving presents, but also giving them out. Yes, this message has been said time and time again in movies and in real life, but Noelle manages to tell it in an effective and emotionally strong way that will bring holiday cheer to its viewers.
Noelle‘s fun and likeable leads in Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader, plus its charming and heartwarming message gratefully save it from being a lump of coal.
Having a portrait taken feels like a thing of the past. Going off to a studio with your family or siblings in an uncomfortable dress, or colour-coordinated outfits, and told to smile. It was later to be used as a gift to grandparents, as well as a record that this was a happy family. That was my experience in the 80s. Now that we’re living in an age of phone cameras, everyone appears to be a photographer, but not many people take portraits of each other, the type to frame or put on a wall. Ones that we can look at and treasure; or that are not lost in virtual storage or someone’s phone.
Egyptian-born Tawfik Elgazzar arrived in Australia at the age of 23. In 2011 while waiting for work, he brainstormed with friends and out of that emerged a community photography project he named Flash Hub. Loving the eclectic community of people surrounding him in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Newtown (population 15,000), Tawfik installed a silver-starry curtain and lamp in front of the Newtown neighbourhood community centre as a way of documenting his neighbourhood. There each week he started photographing willing passers-by.
Genuinely interested in people and their life stories, while feeling a strong sense of belonging in his new community, Tawfik set out with the unassuming question: What brings joy to people – is it family, friends, or something else ? Smiling is an act that people are wired to respond to and whether we like it or not, most of the time it has the benefit of being a happiness booster as our natural response is often to smile back. Tawfik knew this and needed it. His gift worked both ways.
He developed relationships with people and participants received their photograph, which they treasured. Some participants had to combat their negative feelings about being photographed – I’m too ugly for this – but realised that they could turn this into a positive experience.
British/Australian Writer/Director/Producer Harriet McKern’s film explores the nature of portraiture, individuality, and cultural diversity, as Tawfik and his subjects discover what it feels like to be really looked at. Incorporating stories from participants, as well as Tawfik at work, McKern has managed to create a deceptively simple and aesthetically beautiful film about an exchange of giving. One which both Tawfik and his subjects treasured.
Harriet McKern is currently developing projects as an independent director working in drama and documentary. Have a look at her films here: https://www.harrietmckern.com/films
SMILE has been selected at film festivals around the world including the inaugural MONOCHROME FILM FESTIVAL, which as the name suggests, is a short film festival showcasing some of the best monochrome works from around the world.
Thursday November 14 at the Whirled Cinema in Brixton (London).
Have a look at the whole of Tawfik’s project here.
In 1985 the U.S. centre for disease control reported an 89% increase in new AIDS cases from 1984, the epidemic was so suddenly at a new terrifying height. 1985 is the same year the first films dealing with the horrific disease were filmed and released with the very first being a small low budget film by the name of “Buddies”. There is so much tragedy revolving around this film, the director, Arthur J. Bressan Jr. and one of the leads, Geoff Edholm both died of AIDS within 4 years of the films initial limited release. The rest of the tragedy comes from the film itself.
Buddies follows
the heart-wrenching tale of Robert Willow (Edholm) a 33-year-old AIDS patient
left in a hospital bed to face what was essentially a death sentence. That is
until David Bennett (David Schachter) comes to his lonesome bedside and
proclaims that he is Roberts buddy, a member of a volunteer group sent out to
befriend and ease gay men dying of AIDS. The two initially fail to click before
quickly forming a connection as David begins to learn about the storied and
sombre love life of Roberts past. Time goes by, and the ending gets more and
more apparent to everyone but David leading to devastating and lasting impact.
Realism or naturalism weren’t the goals of this picture, making clear that being gay wasn’t the problem was. Nothing ever quite feels like it’s something anyone would actually do or say. Whether it’s how instantly open the two men are with one another or just the slightly off ways they speak and react to each other, like they know the camera is in the room; the experience is never quite right. Yet the importance of the narrative, and how firmly based its consequences are in reality, elevate everything above the nagging issues. This is a film that could only be created by men on the forefront of death who had seen and were seeing so many men around them die and be vilified for it. Buddies is the ultimate product of its time and is immeasurably powerful as a result.
Two performers are all the movie needs in Edholm and Schachter and despite this being each of their second films they produce some profoundly moving work. Yes at times the fact they are acting is far too apparent, but they each produce moments purely born of copious amounts of raw emotion. From Robert reaction to the writing David brings him from his book about the thinking of groups surrounding AIDS, to David in the closing moments of the film on a payphone teary-eyed, they both shine exactly when they need too, and most importantly, they represent a scared group of people so essential to remember.
It’s hard to put into words how much this film must have meant to Arthur J. Bressan Jr. He made Buddies in 9 days; everything seems as if all the effort was to get the message out there as quickly as possible. To tell people that this is happening and not to be afraid, but to empathise, and call for help from a Regan government refusing even to comment.
This small resurgence the film is having is a silver lining on what is otherwise a sobering project. He made something historical with this film no matter how many people see it, it’s important, and that is quite an achievement.
Despite its flaws, Buddies is an incomparably powerful public service announcement designed to let the world know not to be afraid in the face of a deadly pandemic.
