Category: REVIEWS

Qiao (Tao Zhao) and her boyfriend, Bin (Fan Liao) are a couple at the head of a small criminal gang. Inherited after the former leader dies, Bin and Qiao set about to keep things going and also keep their relationship as strong as it ever was before. However, Qiao is no shy and retiring wallflower and is well aware as to what she is getting into and so the power couple try to maintain their business and manage the violence that gets thrown in their direction, particularly when it is directed towards Bin.

Then one night, a violent gang attack gets out of hand and in the name of love, Qiao’s actions send them both to prison. Five years pass and on Qiao’s release she starts to realise that getting things back to the way they were before will not be as easy as she expected.

Ash is Purest White talks about the dynamics between two people in what seems to be a solid relationship, the expectations that men put upon women and what happens after everything goes wrong. Qiao and Bin’s relationship is never seen as some kind of Bonnie and Clyde, love conquers all passage to happiness but instead starts out by showing them as equal partners in a criminal world.

However, as Qiao is released from prison her eyes are opened, as are the audience’s, and through the many interactions she has with the men she meets while trying to find Bin, it puts a lens up to the world and a realistic portrayal of the expectations that men put upon women because of the presumed entitlement they may feel as the stronger sex.

Qiao’s encounters never feel forced or clichéd but are all too real and recognisable, the difference being that Qiao is no fool and whereas other films may expect her experiences to play out differently, here she is very aware of how the world is for a woman and she expertly works her way around it to get to where she wants.

Zhao’s performance is impressive. Displaying a strong, determined attitude that always stays realistic, Zhao’s character arc shows her just as any other woman, not overly strong or athletic nor glamorous and feisty. Qiao is just who she is and through Zhao’s performance the audience understands exactly what Qiao has had to endure and why she is sick of being treated as second best.

A satisfying story of love, loss and retribution, Ash is Purest White is not in any way comparable to its Western counterparts and feels more nuanced and unexpected for that reason. The audience is never led to believe certain things about the characters but is instead given a realistic portrayal of China in the 21^st Century and how gender roles can mean so much for some and so little for others.

Don’t expect a dramatic Hollywood style ending either or a ‘love is all you need’ message either. Ash is Purest White intends to show how much Qiao is willing to go through in the name of love and although the film is never shocking or all that surprising in terms of what happens to her, there are bound to be many who view it who will be able to relate to her story.  

By Fergus Henderson. In Lydia Rui’s short film ‘This Perfect Day’, a young person enters a music shop for unclear reasons while their girlfriend waits in a car outside. The atmosphere in the car is fraught and nervous, and their girlfriend cryptically reminds them that they’ve come to the shop for a reason. Rui’s camera is tight and intimate, and for a while we have no idea what is going to happen, only feeling the tension of the situation.

Rui, as it turns out, was Beyoncé’s videographer during her 2013/14 international tour, and has only recently begun to branch out into narrative film work. Watching this short reveals Rui’s instinctive feel for her character’s inner world, and the power of selectively-chosen close ups. You have to imagine that the whirlwind of bodies and passions and scheduling that constitutes the machinery of a superstar’s tour was a lifetime’s worth of education in this regard.

Rui toys with the viewer for the bulk of the short, teasing us with the possibility that the protagonist (Jules, played by Michelle Keating) might be there to rob the shop. The claustrophobia of these moments is communicated through glances between Jules and the shop owner John (Lee Mason). 

The camera flits between them, pushing in tighter, ramping up an intimacy that remains elusive. Is this merely the closeness between a thief and their target? Does John suspect them? Recognise them? They tell John they can’t afford a guitar, and just when we think Rui is taking us in one direction, Jules asks to play one, and the tone begins once more to shift. The camera starts to close the distance between Jules and John.

I won’t give away what happens next, but suffice to say that Rui’s bracingly tactile and sensitive camera work succeeds in surprising ways in bringing us deep into the psychology of the situation she has created. It is not at all removed or embellished, operating within an emotional reality often only signalled to (or altogether lacking) in films. 

That she does this so swiftly is genuinely impressive. Kudos also to Keating and Mason, who play it guarded and furtive, both understanding that small gestures say more than large ones.

On her website Rui describes her transnational background (Chinese Australian) as allowing her an “empathetic eye”, and ‘This Perfect Day’ reflects a much needed sense of understanding and care for people in difficult situations. This short has secured her a spot at the prestigious Tribeca film festival. Her career is on the up. I look forward to whatever narrative she will explore next.

By Naseem Ally. ‘Capernaum’ translated in Arabic as chaos, is the perfect word to title this film. However, don’t get this misconstrued as a film that is all over the place and has no sense of direction with the plot. Frankly, it’s quite the opposite.  

This film is beautiful in showing it’s ‘chaos’ and it has the credentials to back it up.  Capernaum won the Cannes Jury Prize award for the best film at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.  Directed by the Lebanese actress Nadine Labaki, she has shone a light on the chaos, that poverty stricken street children face on a day to day basis. 

Everything from child abuse, illegal immigration and simply looking for the next meal to it.  I mean, this film puts everything into perspective and makes our first world problems seem so trivial.  Capernaum follows a 12 year old boy named Zain played by the incredible Zain Al Rafeea.  

Mind you, he is not a trained actor whatsoever. He was formerly a Syrian refugee.  Nadine went for a neorealism approach and used real people living in the streets of Beirut, Lebanon.  Zain, a tough and streetwise kid, who after running away from his parents decides to take them to court.  Pay particular attention to this, as it’s also linked to a key incident involving his sister that will unravel later in the film.  

What’s his reason for wanting to take his parents to court you ask?  Being born. 

The sheer disdain Zain develops for them in the film, will take you aback as an audience member and you will be able to see why he feels this way, being born in a world of poverty, abuse and essentially chaos.  Starting with his struggle of being in a large family, living in a confined space in the shanty-towns of Beirut, having to resort to selling beetroot juice on the streets to help feed his family.  

As far as his parents are concerned, school isn’t even in the question.  We see glimpses of Zain looking for escapism living in this chaotic world, trying to actually live out a childhood instead of almost essentially being the man of the house at the tender age of 12.  From the opening shots, we are introduced to Zain and his friends playing in abandoned buildings, puffing smoke rings and running a muck with makeshift toy guns made from slabs of wood and plastic bottles.  

It’s as if they’re living vicariously through the action movie stars they’ve seen on the TV, having the time of their lives making millions. Instead, it’s far from it for Zain.  During his escape from his family, he attempts to play house with a new mother figure he encounters over his various solo trips in Beirut, where he meets Tigest.  An Ethiopian single mother who is living in Beirut illegally and is depending on a dodgy bloke named Aspro, to forge identification for her.  A cleaner by night, we see her having to balance between working to make enough money to raise her son and his new found brother, in the form of Zain, whilst also having to avoid being caught by the authorities.  

At this point Zain really comes into his element and matures even further than he already has, and starts to take on the mantle of an older brother for a baby he hardly knows.  There’s a funny moment when Zain is asked why him and his ‘brother’ look so different from each other.  It involves his mother’s pregnancy and her fondness for coffee.  I mean this kid is something else! – he’s wise beyond his years and is literally fighting tooth and nail to look after himself and this baby.  From fighting off advances from shady figures looking to have their way, walking for miles towards refugee camps attempting to get to Europe, to making a killing selling Tramadol shots in water bottles.  I was thinking to myself this kid could give Al Pacino’s ‘Tony Montana’ a run for his money, with the amount of cash he was bringing in.  

Speaking of Al Pacino, if Zain Al-Rafeea further pursues his brand new acting career, his future looks very bright and this performance puts him in good company.  Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and the like better make way for this kid.   At this point, I wouldn’t put it past him to have the potential to follow in the similar footsteps of a young Leonardo DiCaprio.  His earliest performances in ‘What’s Eating Gilbert’ and ‘The Basketball Diaries’ come to mind.  Zain’s whole journey over the duration of the film is superb, and he’s really carried it on his shoulders.  He’s only twelve years old. Twelve!  

However the surrogate mother to Zain, Tigest, played by Yordanos Shiferaw also did a magnificent job, and really played off him extremely well during their interactions.  To think the majority of the cast aren’t trained actors. WOW.  Please pay special attention to the baby in this film, Yonas, played by Boluwatife Treasure Bankole.   If there ever was an Oscar award for best baby in a motion picture, he would be the first to win no doubt!  

The way he bounces off Zain in the film, is almost too good to be true. You have to see it to believe it.  I don’t know how Nadine was able to able to direct and pull this performance out of them.  

Especially a baby, can you imagine… 

‘Okay, I know your a baby, but I’m going to really need you to get into the scene and make your crying believable…AND…ACTION!’  

Fantastic casting. At times Capernaum was difficult to watch, due to what felt like excessive scenes of abuse and quote unquote ‘poverty porn’. However, I think Nadine has intentionally tried to hammer home the abuse, neglect and poverty that faces many children around the world, as part of their daily lives.  It’s an uncomfortable reality to accept due to the high standard quality of life we are used to, but I think generally she has captured this really well.  

What more can I say…

Capernaum – Cannes Jury Prize Winner?

Yes, go and watch it – it’s brilliant!

A long awaited cinematic portrayal of media tycoon and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his contemporaries directed by Paolo Sorrentino (The Young Pope, Oscar winner The Great Beauty) and initially released in Italy in two parts last year, Loro has been given a makeover and a fresh cut for its international release, out in the UK on the 19^thof April.

Set in the mid to late 2000s, Loro at first portrays a variety of businessmen and politicians all desperately attempting to ingratiate themselves with Silvio Berlusconi (Toni Servillo). In the second part, it suddenly switches gear to focus on the billionaire himself and his private life.

The word Loro is an Italian pronoun to describe ‘them’ and, in this case, it is also intended as a play on words; l’oro (same pronunciation) literally translates as ‘the gold’, aptly titled for a movie that’s a depiction of abundance, debauchery, greed and ambition to strike gold at all costs.

Sorrentino has chosen to depict a crucial time in Berlusconi’s life, where his legendary parties at his villa in Sardinia and his separation from his long suffering wife made headlines nationally as well as internationally, and gave birth to the now infamous ‘bunga bunga’ parties, an expression now used to reference ‘an orgy involving powerful leaders’.  

But Loro is also a fascinating interpretation of what has driven Berlusconi to such feverish success, that desperate need to constantly underline his accomplishments and his status of an undisputedly powerful and virile man. Tellingly, despite his wealth and power, a remarkable scene shows the elderly tycoon on the phone trying to sell an apartment that’s never been built, to prove himself that he’s still got the touch of the narcissistic, self made salesman and entrepreneur, that skill and blind determination that had bewitched investors and voters alike.

Loro’s first act opens with a character called Sergio Morra (Riccardo Scamarcio), a determined businessman from Puglia who bribes local politicians and lures them with his army of young escorts to get his way, ready to do anything to ingratiate himself to the billionaire politician. And this opening scene sets the tone for what’s to come, as the film is constantly dotted by wild, drug fuelled parties within extravagant and luxurious settings and stunning, half naked women orbiting around power mad, greedy and corrupt men.

Often an uncomfortable watch as women are used to manipulate and obtain favours, yet Sorrentino’s irony comes through beautifully when a young girl turns down the most powerful man because his breath reminds her of her grandfather. The tycoon’s beatific smile appears to temporary dampen and shows an old man trying to fight back to stay in the spotlight, to be loved by everyone, with his touching yet pathetic efforts to win back the wife who’s about to leave him.

As it was originally shot and devised as two separate movies, this new condensed version still feels like two films in one, where the switch from one chapter to the next happens so suddenly, it makes it hard to see it as one film altogether. 

I struggled to follow its plot and its unrealistic dialogues, despite brilliant performances by Toni Servillo and Elena Sofia Ricci as Veronica Lario. It felt as though the overall structure and narrative has been lost in this edit. And yet, despite a variety of negative reviews, there’s something quite appealing about Sorrentino’s latest film.  

Loro, in its 145 min cut, is out in cinemas across the UK this Friday.