Category: REVIEWS

By Last Caress.

“Can’t trust anyone these days…”

Amy (Rhiannon Jones) has just been shopping. As she reaches her vehicle in the supermarket car park she’s met by a suited, affable and ruddy-cheeked stranger who eventually identifies himself as Max (Iain Cash). Why’s he waiting by her car? Well, Max explains that, as he was walking past on his way to work, he spied a nefarious gang of young’uns loitering around Amy’s car and it behoved him to do the decent thing and shoo them away before waiting diligently for the owner of the vehicle just in case the nefarious young’uns returned. Aww! There are still some nice people in the world, after all! It’s just that… look, here’s the thing: Max didn’t know he’d be waiting by the car for quite as long as he was and he’s now running late for an important meeting at his company’s office in the nearby industrial estate and, if it’s not too much of an imposition, a lift to his workplace would be hugely appreciated. Max has done Amy a commendable solid; will she do one back?

Trust, a seven-minute short filmed mostly on location in Platt Bridge, Wigan, written by relative newcomer David Stokes and co-directed by Stokes and by Iain Cash (The Last British Execution) is about exactly that: Trust. Should Amy take the friendly Max at his word? If he’s done what he’s said he has, that’s a really good and decent thing he’s done. But does she trust that he really did it? Does she trust that he still works on that industrial estate? Amy was under the impression that place was long closed. On the other hand, he’s just a briefcase-wielding suit-and-tie guy. Harmless. Or is he? Well, maybe he is, yes; not everybody’s a monster, you know… oh, what’s Amy to do? What would YOU do?

The picture is anchored by Rhiannon Jones as Amy, who gives a slightly distracted performance which ultimately works in favour of a woman unsure of what to do next, and by co-director Iain Cash who also stars as Max, playing him on purpose a tiny bit too disarmingly and over-demonstratively, keeping us off-balance and in suspense as to his intentions. It could go either way. Able support comes from local newcomers Gary Hogan and the excellent Jules Horsfield.

If you get an opportunity to see Trust, it’s a short, taut guessing game, well worth seven minutes of anybody’s time, and comes recommended. Keep up with how you can see it via the movie’s Facebook page HERE or via its Twitter feed HERE.

In the wake of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Jackie takes us down a path of grief and trauma as Jacqueline Kennedy (Natalie Portman) tries to regain her faith, bury her husband and protect her family.

Caked in dark undertones, Portman delivers a mesmerising performance as Jackie Kennedy, delivering such curiosity and ferocity that it is almost impossible to understand the real motivation of her character. Neither can we understand ultimate aim of anything we see in Jackie. The political intrigue is deep, allowing each audience member to determine and mould their own motivation around both the characters and the events.

Portman is supported by a array of fantastic supporting actors and actresses which makes Jackie even more impressive in it’s intricacies. Unfortunately, none of the spectacular acting makes up for a slow and trudging plotline.  With such a small number of events and little to go on, Jackie builds itself on performance and expression, but it certainly doesn’t stop it being a tad…boring.

The direction is good with a great mixture of  documentary shots and  brilliant cinematography bringing the 60s to life creating a picturesque and natural world. There’s a little bit of an overuse of strings  which kills the musical score for me, but otherwise it’s a very well built picture.

Ultimately, Jackie is a mix of brilliance and over indulgence. Jackie was built for Oscar noms, but doesn’t have enough to hold itself as a truly great film. Jackie is fantastic for lovers of biopics and The Kennedy’s, but I  don’t think it’ll win over a mainstream audience.

By Patrick King.

Directed by NYU film student Lewie Kloster and animated by his younger brother Noah, Legal Smuggling is a neat short film that illustrates an improvised monologue by the filmmaker Christine Choy about an adventure she had while trying to buy herself cheap cigarettes at a New York duty free shop. The story is narrated by Choy and animated with sketches, cutouts, construction paper, and minimalist drawings that wonderfully illustrate Choy’s narration. The handmade feel of the illustrations seems as off-the-cuff as the story, but something like this was naturally meticulously planned ahead of time.

Choy teaches filmmaking at NYU, which is no doubt how Kloster met her. She’s quite a character, and packs a lot of information, overt and implied, into a four-minute story.

So, for the story: after some calculations, Choy comes to the somewhat amazing conclusion that it’s actually cheaper to buy her cigarettes from a duty free shop. And that includes a cheap round-trip ticket to Canada. She loads up with seven cartons of her favorite brand, but her adventure turns into misadventure when she’s forced to take the flight to Canada that she purchased. On her way back to the U.S., she learns that she can only bring one carton of cigarettes with her into the country. And so she comes up with a scheme to import the rest of her six cartons. It’s a gamble, and maybe a big one, but Choy says, “Being an artist, I always gamble.” Indeed.

I left this brief experience with an intense curiosity about Lewie Kloster and Christine Choy and I’m very interested in following their careers, as well as that of the young animator Noah Kloster.

Go to Vimeo to see the teaser trailer for Legal Smuggling with Christine Choy

Little Tommy’s been having bad dreams, but babysitter Megan can’t have expected what was coming next.

The Sitter is a short horror story brought to us by new to the scene director Edward Harvey. Trying to avoid the ‘jumpscare‘ horror genre, you can see that The Sitter is trying to bring us mystery and intrigue, but unfortunately it suffers from some unconvincing action, and to be honest some poor fake blood. I try not to be critical of films made by new directors and clearly starring new actors, but The Sitter just doesn’t work. It’s a bit bland and really just not very scary.

The face made by young actor Noah Leggott (Tommy) at the end of the film meant to distress and upset the viewer should not have been the shot they chose. I’m critical of the director here for using that take, not young actor Leggott who puts in an otherwise solid performance. Both Chloe Oxley and Katie Louise McMillan give poor delivery throughout and it’s all a little wooden.

All of that could be forgiven if The Sitter scared you at all, but the reactions of Megan are just so strange and unconvincing. In truth the whole piece is just flat. For me, The Sitter didn’t work, but never one to dump on a independent production please watch and judge for yourself!

The trailer is below.