film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Category: REVIEWS

Here is where you would find our film reviews on BRWC.  We look at on trailers, shorts, indies and mainstream.  We love movies!

  • Joker: Caillou’s Take

    Joker: Caillou’s Take

    Joker Review: Forever alone in a crowd, failed comedian Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) seeks connection as he walks the streets of Gotham City. Arthur wears two masks — the one he paints for his day job as a clown, and the guise he projects in a futile attempt to feel like he’s part of the world around him. Isolated, bullied and disregarded by society, Fleck begins a slow descent into madness as he transforms into the criminal mastermind known as the Joker.

    Ever since a Joker solo film was announced about two years ago, thousands of comic book movie fans were extremely upset at the thought of the film being a reality. People were just not interested in seeing a picture depict the origins of the iconic DC Comics character. A large portion as to why is because a ton of people want the Joker to forever remain a mysterious character; somebody whose origins are completely unknown, thus making him more unnerving and unsettling. A hugely violent man that we will never know what caused him to be that way.

    However, I was highly curious as to see what a standalone origin story film would look like ever since the initial announcement. With a terrific actor in the leading role, great direction, a strong and compelling script, a Joker movie could be absolutely breathtaking and haunting. After it was announced Joaquin Phoenix would be portraying the titular character, I just had a feeling that we were in for something truly special. A performance of the Clown Prince of Crime unlike any we have ever seen to date.

    Let’s get it right out of the way – Joker is one of the greatest comic book films of all time. It is a film that is unnerving, unsettling, and devilishly disturbing right from the opening frames. It is a movie that will make you feel grimy and dirty after watching it, and you will feel like you have to take a shower upon viewing it. Everything about Joker is wickedly riveting, highly frightening, and is quite easily, one of the most uncomfortable films I have ever seen.

    You may think that a motion picture that makes you feel dirty and extremely uncomfortable while watching it is a bad thing, but for me, those are just a few of the reasons why I adored this film. So many comic book films, especially in this day and age, take the safe route and really don’t take many risks. It is completely understandable why. The filmmakers want to ensure that audiences will be thoroughly entertained throughout, and want them to leave with a big smile on their faces.

    Joker is the story of a broken man that becomes scarily unhinged and his slow descent into madness is, simply, frightening. I am so glad we have a comic book movie that takes a bunch of risks and in my opinion, every risk they took paid off immensely.

    One of the greatest elements at play here is the cinematography by Lawrence Sher. Every single shot present is absolutely brimming with details, a sense of unease, and terrifying. We get a ton of wide shots, close-up shots of Arthur and various other characters, and beautiful city scenery which adds up to one of the best looking movies of the whole entire year.

    Much like the cinematography, the original score by Hildur Guðnadóttir is euphoric. This might actually be my favorite score used in a film since Colin Stetson’s haunting sounds for Ari Aster’s Hereditary in 2018. All of the sounds we hear throughout the running time gave me goosebumps, and left me feeling creeped out. When any piece of music is able to convey that strong of an emotion, you know it is great.

    Joaquin Phoenix portrays Arthur Fleck / Joker in the film and he delivers what may be the greatest performance of the year so far. He is a tortured man and he sells every scene that he is in (which is a lot). Watching Arthur on screen is like watching a ticking time bomb. At every moment, you feel as if he could just snap at any given second, and it would not be far fetched for him to do so. It creates for some highly suspenseful sequences that left me exhilarated. This is the Joker that I have always wanted to see on screen. The Joker that feels like the most dangerous man in Gotham City.

    Joker is a highly devastating, deeply disturbing, and devilishly twisted story of a tortured man that excels in every level, especially Joaquin Phoenix’s masterful performance.

  • The Waiter: Review

    The Waiter: Review

    By Matt Keay.

    Renos (Aris Servetalis) is a quiet, reserved, lonely professional waiter in Athens. He spends his days at work, subserviently tending to the patrons of the restaurant he has been employed at for many years.

    His nights, an ordered routine of uniform, washing, ironing and preparing for another day at work. He sees his neighbours in the apartment block he calls home infrequently, and even then it almost seems a surprise to him that they even exist.

    One night, a man he doesn’t recognise (named ‘The Blond’, played by Yannis Stankoglou) lets himself into the apartment opposite Renos’, which until then had been occupied by a man called Milan. Renos thinks it strange when ‘The Blond’ claims that he is feeding Milan’s cat while he is away on a trip. He thinks it even stranger when he finds Milan dead in the dumpster outside the building.

    What follows is essentially a Greek weird-wave neo-noir, which wasn’t a sub-genre I thought I needed, but writer/director Steve Krikris’ first feature is an assured and carefully manufactured debut, brimming with potential. The meticulous ways in which shots are composed mirrors Renos’ sensibilities very effectively.

    The tale is as old as cinema itself; a man whose orderly life is disrupted by a fateful decision, and there is nothing new, narratively speaking, about ‘The Waiter’. However, Krikris’ measured direction and DP Giorgos Karvelas’ claustrophobic cinematography elevate the simple tale to in many ways a breathless peek into the ramifications of a bored man secretly happy he’s finally feeling something.

    The character types in this observational study are already well established in cinematic history, but the performances from the central performances are altogether so mysterious and surprising, that the narrative, coupled with the inherent griminess of almost every environment in the film, results in a entirely seductive and enlightening stab at a genre so well-tread its heels are worn to the skin.

    A scene about a third of the way through involves Renos being served a meat-heavy meal of osso bucco and beef bourguignon by The Blond’ perfectly encapsulates the atmosphere Krikris crafts. It is uncomfortable, grim, and hard to swallow. Renos, however, endures it, and acquiesces somewhat happily to ‘The Blond’s requests. He is a man who is desperate for something new, something different, something exciting. 

    ‘The Waiter’ is neither new or different, but Krikris’ talent is exciting. If this film is anything to go by, we should be keeping an eye on his progress.

  • Beanpole: BRWC LFF Review

    Beanpole: BRWC LFF Review

    By Fergus Henderson. Russia’s national cinema is paradoxically infamous for both its chilly austerity and its wild expressivity. When it comes to making solemn cinematic allegories for its spiritual state, Russia sometimes seem unmatched. Recent examples like Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Loveless and Kirill Serebrennikov’s The Student have levelled extraordinary yet thematically apposite critiques of the country’s spiritual destitution, both reducing brave viewers to emotional wrecks.

    Enter newcomer Kantemir Balagov, whose second feature Beanpole adopts the same allegorical approach to comment on his country’s past (and so present). The big difference here is that the aforementioned filmmakers are in their 50s. Balagov is only 28 years old. That his second film at 28 is Russia’s Oscar submission is incredible. But does his film live up to the hype?

    The answer is elusive. The story is set in the ravaged remains of post-war Leningrad, a city where all the dogs have been eaten and people are jumping in front of trams. Young veteran Iya (eponymous Beanpole, played by Viktoria Miroshnichenko) is working as a nurse. She suffers from bouts of PTSD-induced temporary paralysis, a disorder that, in the first of many cruelly drawn out scenes, causes her to smother her friend Masha’s son. What follows is hard to define, except to say that it follows an escalating emotional (il) logic as Masha (Vasilisa Perelygina) demands that Iya mother her next child. 

    Balagov sets this psychodrama against the tumult of a country in absolute turmoil, and thus is able to justifiably suggest (if not fully realise) larger spiritual and political themes. These themes emerge as images and motifs of dialogue that Balagov seems to have glommed onto, motifs of birth after death, mercy and violence, purpose from chaos. 

    As the film progresses, however, one starts to feel as if trying to parse what Balagov is saying is actually a fool’s errand. Beanpole is a film of non-verbal action, peopled with characters so enigmatic as to verge on the oblique. Whilst Balagov appears keen to present us with a Big Statement Film, the film he would be more passionate about making is gnashing to emerge, and that film is somewhat at odds with the historical and worthy one he appears obliged to have made.  

    In its best moments, Beanpole lets itself go completely wild. At its best it is indulging in the sexual psychodrama that churns quietly below the surface. The disturbing, confusing relationship between Iya and Masha contains echoes of the parasitic co-dependency and sublimated lust of Persona’s Alma and Elisabet. Masha’s ferocity as she rampages through the film’s latter half provides a thrilling counterpoint to Iya’s inscrutability. Both are mannered, weird performances. If only Balagov could trust himself enough to drop the pretences towards naturalism and embrace this broiling freakiness. It’s this freakiness that seems to be the true heart of the film, and yet it’s sadly stifled. One feels as if this might be due to the expectations of someone involved in the film’s production. 

    Balagov’s main strength is also his biggest weakness, which is the audacity and risk taking of his youth. This is vigorous, formally bold film making, the kind a younger artist might make in the process of trying to cement their identity and reputation. There are many moments where his close-range camera and the extremity of emotion are like fireworks on the screen. There are, unfortunately, many moments where this approach becomes winsome and arbitrary.

    Likewise, the more lurid and sexually violent elements of the film are captured with showboating cinematography- involving itself too much in the onscreen brutality to be either detached or bearing witness. It eventually begins to feel, at best, insensitively pretentious and, at worst, like Balagov creepily indulging in lowbrow instincts he would never admit to. In a film whose sensitivity is developed enough for a scene of silent euthanasia to be a stand out, there is little to justify such nasty elements.

    Without a doubt Beanpole is a lovingly crafted, well put together film. Everyone involved has poured big energy into this weird, sad film, and it is an enlivened and enervating thing. It is filled with bold image making and left-field thinking that is always wonderful to look at. Perelygina and Miroshnichenko provide some of the most muscular, intense performances of recent memory.

    If Beanpole doesn’t meet its own lofty goals, it is because those goals are not fully realised. If Balagov can refine his more brutal and left-field instincts, and learn a little more discipline and humility, he very well make a film to place among his country’s hefty canon. 

  • Liam Gallagher: As It Was – The BRWC Review

    Liam Gallagher: As It Was – The BRWC Review

    By Naseem Ally. Manchester 2017. ’30 years on the yard’ – the words uttered from Oasis’s most infamous brother, Liam Gallagher.

    ‘Liam Gallagher: As It Was‘ is an intimate tell-all story of Liam’s career, post the Oasis breakup in 2009. Their breakup was part of a number of disputes over the years, that eventually erupted to a row backstage at a concert they were scheduled to perform in Paris.

    Throughout the film it’s scattered with questions from an interviewer behind the camera, asking Liam about his thoughts on the breakup and where his mindset was post-Oasis. It makes for a fascinating premise, as you get to hear directly from the man himself instead of the typical ‘behind the music’ format where record execs, music insiders and those who ‘knew him from up the road’ chime in on what they believe to be fact.

    The style of filming works. To me at least, it is reminiscent of the documentary ‘Tyson’ that premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. In it, Mike Tyson is interviewed by filmmaker James Toback, who gets Mike to reflect on his career post-retirement.

    For those of you are who fans of video podcasts, I’d recommend watching Mike’s HotBoxin’ Podcast where he interviews a number of cool guests.

    I’d personally love to see him interviewing Liam. Could you imagine that? Mike Tyson and Liam Gallagher in the same room. They’d get on like a house on fire. Isn’t that right Mario?

    Anyway back to Liam.

    In typical fashion, he drops some absolute gems with his Mancunian charm and swagger.

    A few quotables come to mind. He professes about being glad he’s ‘staying alive, not being a f*cking casualty’. ‘I don’t think it’s gonna happen, lads, I’m gonna stick it out’.

    Effortlessly cool. The parkas. The shades. What more could you ask for?

    Liam is backed by a supporting cast of his inner circle in this film. His ‘other’ brother Paul, mum Peggy, sons Lennon and Gene, daughter Molly, former bandmate and drummer ‘Bonehead’ and his manager/girlfriend Debbie.

    Liam is the heartbeat of this film and it’s interesting to see how his turbulent career, has influenced the people in his life closest to him as well as his international fan base.

    There’s great cinematography in this film and it does a brilliant job of making you feel like your on stage alongside him, absorbing all the adrenaline of performing hit after hit.

    I appreciated the variety of footage included in this film. Everything from the inner workings behind the scenes, to the fan footage from some particularly eye-raising moments in his career thus far. One being the Paris fiasco and the other, his impromptu acoustic performance in an Irish bar that went viral.

    This film paints the picture of Liam the man, with all of his trials and tribulations laid out bare. The drone shots of his Manchester neighbourhood as he visits his Mum, being ‘off his coconut’ in Parma, Italy during a dark period for the frontman, all the way to being a dad.

    Essentially, it’s showing us what makes Liam, Liam.

    As you’d come to expect from a film on arguably one of the greatest lead singers of all time, not just in rock and roll, the score in this film is fitting.

    There’s not much in terms of songs from Oasis for obvious reasons, but viewers do get a closer look to the penning of some his best work with Beady Eye. During some of the most sombre moments in the film, the subtle keys of the piano and strums of the guitar work beautifully. An example of this is when Liam’s questioned on his take of the events that occurred in the Manchester Arena in 2017.

    For someone like Liam having had such a lengthy career to date, there must have been a huge archive of footage to pick from, and with this film, it goes all out. There’s a nice blend of escapades with the press, travels and encounters with fans which made for some great looking transitions and cutaways.

    What surprised me, especially, was the warm reception he received in Argentina.

    I don’t know of any Englishman that would receive that kind of love and admiration from the Argentinians considering the history between the two countries, but it just goes to show the stature of the man. Surely, we’ve got to give Maradona a break and embrace him with open arms – anyone?

    If your not a fan of Liam or Oasis, then, I don’t know what to say to you – Liam would maybe have some harsher words. But, if your a music fan in general or just interested, then you could find some value in it if you also have the patience to stick it out, as this film is a slow burn.

    There are an overwhelming amount of stories on Liam, that it would’ve been too much to add in this film. Many fans would’ve loved to be a fly on the wall during the cuts in the editing room, and see what had been left out as Liam’s got tales for days. This though is a great addition to the Oasis: Supersonic documentary.

    I just hope in the future, if there ever is a biopic on Liam or Oasis that it follows a similar method to this film, of painting the whole picture of everyone involved rather than glossing over things. Not the standard routine of; struggling to make ends meet, performing open mics, getting signed, touring, booze, drugs, women, rehab, then make a massive comeback – end of the movie, cliches that we’re so used to seeing in music biopics.

    ‘Liam Gallagher: As It Was‘ is a refreshing portrait of a musical icon told in a manner that is not just flattering to the artist in question, but an honest assessment of their life thus far. Going back to the earlier comparison of the film ‘Tyson’, Liam Gallagher speaks with the same openness and vulnerability, that this film could have had so much more to uncover, but of course, it wouldn’t be feasible.

    In a similar style to Mike, it would be great if Liam did a tell-all account of his life in the form an autobiography.

    I can picture it now – #1 Best Seller on Amazon – Liam Gallagher: Because Maybe…

  • The Beach Bum: The BRWC Review

    The Beach Bum: The BRWC Review

    Character studies can make for spectacular films. They are a versatile basis for any filmmaker looking to develop depth in the story they are setting out to tell. From there such films can go anywhere, and, if done correctly, they may become evocative and mesmerising as they paint new ways to see the world.

    Harmony Korine’s The Beach Bum is a character study, and it does none of that. However, its central character, Moondog (Matthew McConaughey), makes for an almost irresistible character to analyse, and even if everything is a bit much, it’s one hell of a ride. 

    Moondog, in his own words, has to “get low to get high”. He likes to slum it on the streets, and as long as he’s got a can of Blue Ribbon (which is shamelessly promoted throughout) and a joint with him, he’s having a good time, and that’s all he wants to do in life. Yet, he is so much more than just the titular ‘beach bum’. Moondog is a published poet, slowly writing another book at the behest of his slimy agent Lewis (Jonah Hill) and his wealthy wife Minnie (Isla Fisher). Joined by more eccentric members of society along the way, Moondog escapes what little responsibility he has to live his dream and to do so without compromise, and this is a strong parallel to the movie itself. 

    Korine goes at this film knowing exactly what he wants to do, and even though what he is trying to do is insane, he still sticks to its rigorously. At no point does this film feign genuine emotional depth or attempt to impart influential wisdom, but I don’t think Korine was trying to do that. At the end of the day, The Beach Bum plays just like you think it would, wild and free, with zero effort to be anything it’s not.

    I respect this film as a whole for being that way; it knows precisely what it is and wholly embraces the lack of logic and etiquette that saturates its narrative. In going this way, we might not get the most exciting story, but we do get a fully realised performance from a totally immersed Matthew McConaughey who was born to star as Moondog. 

    His performance is hilarious and unwavering. McConaughey simply is Moondog, as if he always has been, it is quite remarkable. Moondog’s adventure has plenty of glaring plot holes that ensure none of what occurs could ever translate into real life. However, he has a clear, if simple, worldview, nonetheless. He sees life as a game, and he doesn’t understand why he’s the only one playing, he doesn’t care either. He is the very essence of freedom and is impervious to anything breaking his spirit as he puffs along the road to nowhere.

    The all-star cast around him don’t have nearly as much to sink their teeth into, but all come across as if they were having loads of fun filming this utterly mental experience. How could you not? For better or for worse the film is fun, illogical, lacking insight and vulgar, but fun. 

    The Beach Bum may completely lack competent storytelling, but the antics of Mattew McConaughey’s Moondog still make for an intriguing character study. It’s a shame Korine didn’t look to do more with Moondog as an individual who refuses to conform in a judgemental world and the consequences of that; there may well have been a compelling story in that concept. At least we had a good time, right?