Category: REVIEWS

By James Connors.

First things first, I feel I should get something off my chest.

I didn’t think Finding Nemo was the greatest Disney film of all time. I’m sorry. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, I promise you – I did, but I don’t think I felt the same way about it as the rest of the known world. That’s not to say a re-watch might not fix this, especially in light of seeing the musical version at Disney World (which was quite delightful), but as it stands it fell short of a fair amount of Pixar and Disney’s post-2000 output for me.

So, with that in mind, I wasn’t sure what to think of the mere existence of “Finding Dory”. I appreciate that they didn’t produce another sequel to a film I outright disliked – I’m looking at you “Cars” – but Disney have always been on shaky grounds with it’s followup films, many of which ended up on the Straight to Video racks in years past with only Toy Story seemingly immune from worry.

“Finding Dory” revolves around the title character’s sudden realisation that she’s been separated from her family, the reasons why sadly lost due to her short term memory problems, and her attempt to link vague recollections together in order to reunite with them. With Marlin and Nemo from the original movie to guide her in her quest, Dory’s journey brings her back to old friends, as well as new ones.

Despite the opening act bringing a bit too much deja vu for my liking, mainly through the shoehorning of some original characters and another ‘Finding’ plot that could’ve been a bit too much of a retread, the movie picks up pretty quickly and begins to take on an identity of its own. New characters in the forms of Hank the Octopus (Ed O’Neill), Destiny the Whale (Kaitlin Olson), and Bailey the Dolphin (Ty Burrell) expand on the already impressive voice cast, and prove to be worthwhile additions to the story, while the pairing of Nemo with Marlin provides a fun b-story to intertwine with Dory’s before her sole character trait becomes a bit tiring.

Brief flashbacks to baby Dory are scattered throughout as things come back to her, and there’s no question that they’ve created one of the cutest characters ever in this iteration. Naturally, the character design and animation are of the high quality we expect from Disney, and the pacing moves quick enough to tell a full story in barely over 90 minutes runtime. Changing the main character’s perspective to Dory also helps set this film apart from the original, and opens up the possibility of expanding the series further without treading the same water.

It’s also worth noting that the usual short that plays before the feature presentation, “Piper”, is a wonderful blend of stunning animation and emotional storytelling that truly shows off Pixar at their best.

“Finding Dory” has proven in a year of dismal sequel failures that you can take existing properties and make something worthwhile from it. Let’s hope they keep on this path of interspersing their original works with high quality expansions of their beloved film base.

Do you believe you can right your wrong doings? This is possibly the premise for the stylish debut feature film from Hungarian writer-director Balazs Juszt. THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY is set in the world of Roman Catholicism, from Massachusetts to Rome. Previously a director of music videos and commercials, Juszt was inspired by G.K.Chesterton’s novel of the same name, written in 1908, but set in a different context. He managed to cast the fittest priest and ex-nun possible… Ana Ularu and Francois Arnaud (Both from The Borgias).

Surrounded in his rectory by statues of the Virgin Mary, Father Smith (François Arnaud), between pushups, the parish, confession and omelettes, is full of self-doubt and erotic dreams. Clad in a combination of priest and rebel, Smith is an ex tough-kid and prison priest. He seems to be ready for anything but what he is currently doing and his world is suddenly enlivened by gangsters, desire (in the form of Ana Ularu) and arson. Despite appearing to want to get out of the catholic confines, Smith instead ends up in spiritual rehabilitation. (You’d think that if priests were being disciplined then it might be time to cut them loose!)

He makes it to the salubrious world of Vatican City – a state with its own rules. Charles (Jordi Mollà), the only person who knows how far Smith has come, exploits this knowledge, and leads him into some underground detective work, promising an audience with the pope and a personal pardon.

For this to seem a critical choice, we have to believe that Smith has done some pretty extreme things… So begins his search for Sunday, the pseudonym for the leader of the over-educated Latin-tagging anarchists.

This film is a rollercoaster ride full of twists that are for the most part unbelievable, as is the nature of this supernatural thriller. I feel forced to give you a cliché alert. Between the S&M, the crosses and the whores, it’s not hard to be three steps ahead of the story. Switching between dream and reality as well as skipping from 1942 wartime to the present, the film is a confusing tale, yet kudos must be given to the editors (Gyula Istvan Mozes & Danny Rafic) for bringing it all together.

The Girl King tells the story of Sweden’s 17th Century ‘Virgin-Queen’. Queen since the age of 6, Kristina has been raised as a man so she’d be fit to rule. On her 18th birthday and her true ascension, Kristina embarks on a short but progressive rule as she fights for French modernisation whilst battling with her own religion and sexuality.

Queen Kristina’s thrity year rule in an infamous one. Leading to her eventual abdication and residence at The Vatican, flouting her strict Lutheran upbringing throughout her reign. Mila Karismaki’s film is undoubtedly an interesting portrayal of this infamous Queens life. Yet, for me, it’s overall finish doesnn’t equal the interest of the Queen herself. Skipping almost instantly from her time living with her grief ridden mother, who still insisted Kristina kiss her father’s putrifying corpse two years after his death, we’re taken immediately to Kristina’s ascension twelve years later.

Whilst the film tried to build on Kristina’s motivation and her exploration of self. The sudden rebellion during her ascension seems odd and difficult to understand without context.

We know very little of her upbrining since being removed from her mother’s care and Kristina’s opposition to marriage, her sexuality and love affair with lady in waiting Countess Ebba Sparse (Sarah Gadon) aren’t explained or understood except for reference to her being ‘ariased as a King’. There’s such an incredible focus on Kritina’s love affair that it’s clear that Karismaki sees Kristina as a beacon for dicussing sexuality. Whilst this is an incredible discussion and a great aspect of this characters life, Karismaki would have been better either to focus entirely on this point or more evenly spread it throughout. It dominates her other traits and becomes so much of a focus later on that we lose sight of all the other intricacies. This ultimately makes he eventual conversion to Catholicsm confusing as we’ve seen so little of her religious growth.

Malin Buska gives a good performance, winning awards in Montreal. However, overall, I feel the piece has very much a silver screen vibe and was a dissapointment. It didn’t hit the heights of expectation or possibility created by it’s source material.

Unfortunately, I’d say this is one to miss. But, if you’re still interested, the trailer is below.

By Monica Foster.

Created in under 48 hours, Tom Bailey’s Circadian Rhythms (2015) explores the nature of illness and biological disorders that are beyond people’s initial control and comprehension. The emphasis on the corporal and the spiritual is introduced at the beginning of the film with a wide and establishing shot of an empty field with a celestial aura as James’ body suddenly becomes the focus of the shot.  For an unknown and mysterious reason not known by his family, he is compelled to run at night each day almost compulsively. James’ nightly escapades inevitably cause a breach within his family structure; his mother tries to help him, doctors prescribe him medication which he does not take, everything seems futile in the search for a reasonable explanation.

James does not want to cease running because by doing this, it is understood that he reaches a level of transcendence or ethereal quality beyond human understanding which is propelled by the break of his circadian rhythm each night. The feeling that he achieves by doing this, the temporary uplifting of the self, makes him want to do it over again to the point where he even remarks that he could give up ten years of his life or more just to exhaust his body and mind in order to feel that earthly transcendence.

The opening title shot of Circadian Rhythms is another reference to the bodily and the organism, particularly in what alien matter resides in James himself and the dichotomy relation of static and active movement of what is being examined.

The anguish of the film is that James is not aware of what is really wrong with him. His parents think that he’s having “episodes” assuming it is a mental disorder, and he himself engages in the act because it is spiritually uplifting but little does he know that what lays in him will slowly cause him to decay; every time he runs he reaches a state of ecstasy that will cost him his health. Bastian Keb’s uncanny and sorrow inducing score touches upon the viewer’s sympathy toward James and his unknowing of the consequences that he will endure for only a short stay at the Elysium Fields.