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!

  • Fishbowl California: Review

    Fishbowl California: Review

    Writer-director Michael A MacRae’s debut feature is immediately reminiscent of a lot of recent TV dram-coms, mining comedy from the aspects of modernity that are either ludicrous or are ludicrously becoming standard. Think Netflix’s Love. Or Netflix’s Flaked. Or Netflix’s Master of None. You get the point.

    Most of this comedy comes from Steve Olson’s lead, Rodney, the stereotype of millennial slacker. It is occasionally amusing but more often it is obvious – astounded by the price of coffee, Rodney leaves a café in a huff, forgetting his laptop he had brought with him to use the free wifi. Yes, coffee is expensive and it is not uncommon to see people on their laptops in a coffee house, but attempting to generate laughs from this fact conjures the image of a nervous observation comic playing an empty room. Rodney is presented as an everyman, but that’s not what he is. He has no job, no ambition to get one. He is lazy, rude, and to use that horrible adjective seemingly reserved for my generation, he is entitled. Rodney is essentially Chip from Flaked, but without the alcohol addiction that makes us care. And that is the first problem with Fishbowl California – we are never given a reason to be interested in this character.

    Just as Rodney’s life is about to hit rock bottom, he meets June, played by Katherine Cortez. Recently widowed, June waits grumpily for her life to end, living alone with only an occasional phone call or visit from her busy daughter Olivia (Jenna Willis). As the second act kicks in, MacRae’s film begins to lean on the tropes of the mismatched comedy duo: bitter, drunk old woman paired with the youth yet to realise his full potential. Cortez’s performance is one of the film’s few redeeming aspects, but the script never takes a step away from cliché. Whilst Rodney and June inevitably bond and improve each other’s lives, you might be forgiven for pining after the emotional heights of The Untouchables, or the visual joy of Pixar’s Up. 

    MacRae’s feature is uncertain in almost every scene. With a well-intentioned, heart-warming plot presumably aimed at an older generation, it insists on appealing to the drifter mentality of late twenty-somethings. It isn’t quite grounded in reality, not enough to be mumblecore, but it isn’t sweet or funny enough to be entertaining to a wide audience. And MacRae doesn’t seem sure of his message. In all likelihood, he is trying to point out the value in friendship and joy when life seems to be at its hardest. Jonathan Levine covered similar ground in his 2011 movie 50/50, albeit with better actors, stronger comedy and a romantic sublot far more delicate than the one in Fishbowl California. All MacRae succeeds in doing is reminding us how Kate Flannery’s talent was wasted in The Office (as it is again here), as well as portraying the residents of California as self-centred and mean.

  • Zama: The BRWC Review

    Zama: The BRWC Review

    Lucrecia Martel’s first film in nine years is a wonderfully weird, dreamlike voyage, but one that never really goes anywhere. Based on the novel by Antonio di Benedetto, it is in some ways a period drama. The costumes, wigs, hats and all would suggest a sincere portrayal of an 18th century Spanish colony. However, the story is founded on a comedy that surrounds its main character, who sits waiting, desperate to leave his current situation but is seemingly powerless against it, unable to accept the impotence of his role.

    Don Diego de Zama (Daniel Gimenez Cacho) is a Spanish magistrate who has been placed in a small colony on the backwaters of Paraguay. He has been separated from his wife and children, and is desperate to be transferred to another post. He sits and he waits for the King to reply to his letter, granting him admission to move, but it never comes, and there is the feeling of inevitability that this is where he will stay. His ineffectual approach to going about his business reinforces the sinking feeling that he will never be able to persuade the king to take notice of his pleas. He is trapped in some kind of dystopian purgatory, where nothing seems to get anywhere, including him. His so-called meetings are amateur, his flirtations with a noblewoman are rebuffed, and his many requests and letters all fail to gain a reply. He is ineffectual, and his younger business protégée seems to gain more respect from his peers and more female attention, to Zama’s great annoyance.

    He wanders around aimlessly, stagnant and isolated. In the opening scene, he stands on the shore, head held high, in a pose that suggests total power and confidence. He stares out to sea, regal, but suddenly he realises that no one is there to admire him, and suddenly even the sea begins to seem ridiculous, the waves plopping pathetically at his feet. He then lies behind a bush, thinking he cannot be seen by a group of naked women bathing in mud, but when they do spot him, rather than being afraid, they ridicule and chase him up the beach. This amounts in yet another undermining of his power and presence.

    There is something in every scene that counteracts his attempts to be important. Whether that be the repetitive sound of creaking wood whilst he tries woo his love interest, or a stray llama wandering into a supposedly important appointment. The film begins moving somewhat when Zama decides to track down a notorious criminal, finally gaining the vague sense of purpose that he has been longing for, after being in limbo for so long, even if there is the inevitable feeling that he may not succeed in this mission either.

    The end of the film is like emerging from a deeply intoxicating dream. We’re aware that time has passed, but we have no idea how much. It’s particularly surreal, so some might find it a little inaccessible, but once you let go of the need to understand everything, it is a beautiful film to watch. You will emerge knowing that you have seen something deeply moving and powerful, without really knowing why, which is sometimes what makes something wonderful.

  • Review: Hangman

    Review: Hangman

    Much like the game that inspires its name, Hangman is filled with blank spaces; but unlike the game, it’s not a puzzle worth solving.

    Veteran policeman Ray Archer (Al Pacino) and former colleague and criminal profiler Will Ruiney (Karl Urban) are tasked with chasing down a serial killer hellbent on completing a game of hangman one victim at time. Screaming give me my payslip this film is poorly cast, and stinks of a lack of effort. Brittany Snow plays the archetypal truth is power journalist who follows their investigation throughout but struggles to find any kind of depth or interest in her character. Al Pacino plays Al Pacino as he wades his way to the end of his career and Urban just seems to be…there.

    Using all of their forensic and profiling knowledge coupled with Pacino’s street smarts, you’d think they could solve the crime easily; Yet they seem to completely ignore the letters carved into the victims chest as if they’re there for the lols of it. For a film called hangman, the Hangman aspect appears to be strangely underused and often irrelevant. Hangman is like taking a test you know all the answers to but being forced to watch someone else struggle. The characters plod through the clues as you wait for them to come to the obvious conclusion and what could be a good TV movie doesn’t even live up to that.

    From moment one I struggled through Hangman; and despite it taking the best ideas from Se7en and The Bone Collector it comes nowhere near their level and is a horribly disappointing film. Even for the biggest Pacino fans, this is a film where burying your head in the sand and pretending it doesn’t exist is actually a good idea.

  • Review: Mansfield 66/67

    Review: Mansfield 66/67

    Mansfield 66/67 is a film documenting the life and untimely death of actress, starlet and Hollywood legend Jayne Mansfield from directors P. David Ebersole & Todd Hughes and made in association with students at Leeds Beckett university.

    It follows her story from her childhood and her first steps in show-business through her relationships and troubled personal life and her association with infamous satanist Anton LaVey through archive footage and a series of wonderfully varied talking heads from the likes of legendary director John Waters and others who either knew Mansfield personally or were inspired by/fascinated with her.

    However, Ebersole & Hughes has originally planned to tell this story in narrative from as is clearly apparent from the hybrid documentary/biopic format they have attempted here. Intercut with more ‘standard’ documentary elements are interpretive dance numbers and scenes with actors portraying Mansfield and LaVey. To be honest I found these elements a little confusing and distracting as well as the graphic/animated sequences and original soundtrack featuring songs with lyrics based on the story.

    Mansfield 66/67
    Mansfield 66/67

    Overall it is a creative melting pot that didn’t quite come together as a cohesive film for me but is an interesting story non-the-less.

    2.5/5

  • Trophy Boy: Review

    Trophy Boy: Review

    James is a young, handsome narcissist and socialite, living the dream, going to glamorous parties and swanning around with the New York elite. He has ‘made it’, or so it would seem to his thousands of followers on Instagram. When he is dumped out of the blue by his wealthy older boyfriend, he comes crashing back down to earth, and the landing is painful. In the cold harsh light of day, it dawns on him that without the extravagant lifestyle that his Internet presence would imply, he doesn’t have much left. This short film documents the demise of a man who seemingly has it all, in 12 brilliant minutes.

    Emrhys Cooper, who also directed the film, plays James, oozing hedonism and vanity perfectly for the role. His best friend is Andy, played by Anthony Johnston, a kind hearted man who also struggles with excess in his fast paced lifestyle. He is the only true friend that James has, amongst his hundreds of thousands of virtual ones.

    But of course, this goes completely unnoticed by James, who is so wrapped up in himself that he fails to really see what goes on around him. A particularly amusing and eye-opening scene shows Andy opening up to James about his addiction problems, but the confession goes completely over his friends’ head. He is still scouring the Internet, trying desperately to find the next party to go to. These things are all familiar to us in the modern world, and this is like a cautionary tale of when things go too far.

    The film, starting with the abrupt termination of a relationship, is a perfect descent into despair, and the subsequent 12 minutes have more emotion packed in than can sometimes be hoped from a full-length feature film. It is a barefaced portrayal of the way we can make our lives look so glamorous and fulfilled through this new phenomenon of social media, when really, behind closed doors, we are lonely, afraid, aimless, insecure, and desperate for the approval of people we don’t even know. In this day and age, a film like this hits right where it hurts, as we are all guilty of embellishing our day-to-day lives, and getting a little kick out of getting approval from our online friends.

    Filmed in New York, Trophy Boy looks good, the writing is great, and it gets straight to the heart of the corruption that is rife in this modern world, especially the ways in which we deceive ourselves and others into thinking that we’re someone that we’re not. I would highly recommend it!