Revelation Film Festival 2020 - Wrap up (plus podcast summary)

 

Right, that was a fun four days. I'm going to run through the nine films I saw with some brief notes and a rating on each. Here goes.

My Rembrandt 

This documentary is a bit of a love letter to Rembrandt with the makings of a controversy bubbling underneath. The director, Oeke Hoogendijk, introduces us to Jan Six (pictured left) and his possible new discovery of a hitherto unknown Rembrandt. The story flicks around various eccentric collectors and it all looks fantastic but the film could have been a bit more focussed on the central issue - namely the veracity of the 'new' painting. For more on this film, see the longer review here.

Desert One 

This documentary, by esteemed filmmaker Barbara Kopple, tells the story of the failed attempt to rescue American hostages from the U.S. embassy in Tehran after the Iranian revolution in 1979. There are some good moments here (notably interviews with U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his Vice-President, Walter Mondale) and the animation is pretty good. The issues I had are more to do with the way Kopple glorifies the cock-up and vilifies almost anyone not in a U.S. forces uniform. It also got fairly boring, which should have been easy to avoid with such a gripping real life tale.

iHuman 

There's a lot to recommend in this doco about the future of AI. It starts with Jürgen Schmidhuber, an absolute bellend who is supposed to be the 'father of modern AI' and jumps about to other talking head geniuses expounding on the possibilities of where the world is heading. Some highlights (?) include the Chinese cities that use massive levels of surveillance and Project Maven, Google's hush-hush military connection. The visual effects are brilliant, as is the moment when a data analyst talks about managing our lives in the 'post-privacy age'.

The Trouble with Being Born 

This is the film that was booed in Berlin and banned in Melbourne but I struggled to find why people would be so agitated by it. It's the story of an android built to replace a lost daughter, and the film leaves so much out that it's almost anti-exposition. It has some scenes that are slightly questionable (suggestive posing, erotic moaning) but these are handled in a sensitive, even otherworldly way. It's a film choc-filled with grief and loneliness, sewn together with mysterious time shifts and odd people and places. It's how I imagine Spielberg's AI would have turned out were it any good. 

Atlantis 

Well, this was a hard slog. Ukraine have won a war with Russia but things are still bleak, and this film revels in the misery, in theme AND form. Most of the shots are locked off wides with vehicles or people appearing in the foreground and then departing. Some of these feel like they go on for north of ten minutes, but surely that can't be. I wonder if it's the film I've seen with the fewest cuts. It reminded me of Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, but that film had more style and humour and it took me along with it. This one seemed to challenge the viewer to enjoy it. There's one scene of a mortician reporting on a corpse that was mind-numbing. Strangely, I'm glad I saw Atlantis.

Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan 

This is a great documentary on the life of legendary Pogue's singer/songwriter, Shane MacGowan. As more of an appreciator than a fan, I wasn't really super-psyched to see it, but it's one of the best of its kind. It's edited like a fairground ride with found footage, film from MacGowan's youth, TV spots, live gigs, even clips of old films (I noticed James Mason in Odd Man Out in there) and different styles of animation. Director Julian Temple is very much at home with this stuff. MacGowan is just past 60 but he's seen better days and, sure, it's a cautionary tale of the effects of booze and drugs but it also celebrates MacGowan and his Irish heritage. For the 'few rounds', he's joined by his wife Victoria, Pogue's biographer, Ann Scanlon, Johnny Depp and former Sinn Fin President, Gerry Adams. 

The Jump ★★★½

Here's a well-tuned doco about a Lithuanian sailor in the Soviet fishing fleet and his attempt to defect one day in November 1970. The film's success is primarily down to the central character of Simas Kudirka - he's an extremely watchable old geezer, who has clearly been through a lot of shit, yet still manages to be positive. The director, Giedre Kickyte, has balanced his film well (a lesson to Desert One) by finding nuance in all parties, even the KGB interrogator. For a more detailed write-up, check this out.

[Here's where I ran into trouble patching in the star ratings, hence the change in style☺]

Collective ★★★★

What an excellent film. A nightclub fire in Bucharest kicks off a spiral of deceit and malignant corruption. We begin by hearing that, though the number of immediate deaths was terrible, many other young people died in the days and weeks following, due to bacteria filled hospitals. The way the dominoes fall here is astounding and the structure is just as good as the story. It plays out like a 70s political thriller from Alan J. Pakula. The film switches focus around half way through, from a no-nonsense journalist to the new Minister for Health and both these guys find the levels of ingrained villainy disheartening. Their final moments on screen are proper kicks in the bread basket. Highly recommended.

Archive ★★★★

Going in not knowing too much about this film was a good idea. It's pretty much a two-hander, an AI designer and his prototype, alone in a high security facility. The themes of grief, loss & loneliness aren't too heavy handed and hints of a war, maybe intergalactic (?), keep things obtuse. A kind of deadline from the corporation for the AI fella (Theo James) lends a degree of peril to proceedings. I don't want to say too much here, only that there are rubbings of Metropolis, Ghost in the Shell, Moon and a Nicole Kidman film that would be a giveaway if I mentioned it. First time director Gavin Rothery nails this one. Catch it if you get a chance.

A FEW SPOILERS IN PODCAST!

The Jump

This was the 7th film I saw at Revelation and it's a pretty amazing story. I reckon it shows Desert One how to take a balanced view of a historical event (but more of that later). The plan is to do a summary blog and pod of the festival in the coming days but for now, here's a full size review of The Jump.

The story of Simas Kudirka plays out like a made for TV, cold war potboiler and would be hard to believe if it wasn’t historical fact. In November 1970, Kudirka, a Lithuanian sailor on a Soviet fishing boat, jumped onto a U.S. Coast Guard vessel while crew members of the two ships were conducting high level fishing discussions. Claiming asylum, Kudirka was initially hidden by the American crew, until orders came to hand him back to the Soviets. And this is only the beginning of the story. After Simas is returned to his vessel, his fate unknown to the West, word gets out and protests spark up throughout the U.S. These are led by the Lithuanian-American diaspora, who maintain that the U.S. doesn’t turn away refugees, and that they, in fact, may have breached international law in doing so with Kudirka. U.S. Presidents, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford make appearances in archive footage and Henry Kissinger is actually interviewed for the film. Some of the most affecting segments are the statements given by the crew of the Coast Guard ship, especially the captain, who has had to live with his decision to follow those questionable orders.

The film reconstructs the ‘jump’ in a novel way, by having 85 year old Kudirka retrace his steps on the actual ship involved, the USCGC Vigilant. He’s a charming, sincere man and his fearlessness and determination to be treated fairly shine through all the political machinations. He mentions that when he decided to defect, he had no thoughts about his family, his friends, any repercussions, just that he had to get away. It’s a salient point that, by sheer coincidence, a member of his family proves instrumental in gaining his eventual freedom from the gulags.

The Jump has relevance today, as it shows the ideal of an American society that is morally sound in principle, one that allows the freedom to protest, the existence of many strands of activism and the framework to accept refugees. The director, Giedre Zickyte, balances his politics well, showing that Kudirka’s desperate need was not necessarily to get to the U.S., but to get away from the U.S.S.R. There’s one significant sequence that shows a TV news report of Kudirka raising the U.S. flag at his apartment in New York. The news voice-over announces that he does this every day, yet an old friend he ‘meets’ on the street intimates that they only did that for the cameras. Mirroring this, Kudirka is later seen raising a Lithuanian flag back in his home country after noting that the U.S. is “beautiful, but it’s not for me.” Later, we see a simple scene that neatly encapsulates the film. Kudirka watches the actual TV film of his life, The Defection of Simas Kudirka, and half-complains, through teary eyes, that it’s “so American in style”.

See also:

Martin Ritt's The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965) is fantastically bleak (and based on a John le Carre novel - RIP). And it might be fun to check out the dramatised version of Kudirka's story, with Alan Arkin in the lead, The Defection of Simas Kudirka (1978), directed by David Lowell Rich. I haven't seen it but I'm guessing it's bobbins.

[This review was also published on the Film Ink website - https://www.filmink.com.au/reviews/the-jump/]

My Rembrandt

This is one of six films I've seen so far at the Revelation Film Festival; four Thursday and two today, Friday. Yesterday was a hard slog, with the quality fluctuating between films but I'd say this was (just) the pick of them. I'm planning on a summary for the rest of the films I see (some animation tomorrow and three more films on Sunday). Anyway, carry on.

My Rembrandt is a fascinating documentary about the first discovery of a painting from the Dutch master in decades. The director, Oeke Hoogendijk, has form in this field. Her films The New Rijksmuseum and Marten & Oopjen: Portrait of a Marriage deal with Dutch art in general, the latter film delving deeper into one thread from My Rembrandt. And here’s where the film suffers – the central storyline involving art dealer Jan Six and his ‘new’ find is shunted to the margins at times, the film showing us the admittedly beautiful Scottish landholding of the Duke of Buccleuch or the glitzy world of American collector, Thomas Kaplan. The aforementioned Marten & Oopjen paintings are also clearly additions from another film, as is the wrangle between the Louvre and the Rijksmuseum over their purchase. These deviations add colour to the story and flesh out the world of Rembrandt devotees but they’re just that – deviations.

Jan Six is a descendant of another Jan Six, subject of one of Rembrandt’s most famous works. Flicking through a Christies catalogue, he happens upon a painting that states it is from the ‘circle’ of Rembrandt (i.e. from one of his disciples). Six realises that this is too good to be an inspired work and gambles on the purchase. The following attempts to have ‘Portrait of a Young Gentleman’ authenticated, and thus validate Six himself, make up the body of the film. Six comes across as a man trying to prove to his father, and the art world perhaps, that he is not just the scion of an important, respected family. His scenes with Six senior are really the meat of the film. They’re full of tenderness, yet also irritation and a kind of child-like quest for endorsement.

The film begins with two fellow dealers visiting Six and being shown a Rembrandt that is probably not all it seems to be. The decision is made to restore this work and it is handed over to an expert. This set-up is neatly paid off at the end of the film where the expert is revealed to be the father of a dealer who accuses Six of nefarious goings-on relating to the purchase of ‘Portrait of a Young Gentleman’. Another expert, Ernst Van de Wetering, who had previously verified the discovery as a legitimate Rembrandt, is also caught up in the intrigue. Six and Van de Wetering appear on Dutch TV talk shows and eventually become irreparably estranged. This angle of losing a mentor, perhaps another father figure, is not explored as thoroughly as it could have been, and it feels like an opportunity missed. 

Hoogendijk has made a gorgeous film with an array of funny, immensely watchable characters. The close-ups of the artworks alone are worth the ticket price. It’s just a shame the story drifted away occasionally and wasn’t more focussed on Six and his efforts to prove himself.

See also:

Look, there are plenty of films about art but, hands up, I haven't liked that many, or seen enough of them. So my picks would be Banksy's Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) and Mike Leigh's Mr. Turner (2014). These two are great.

[This review was also published on the Film Ink website - https://www.filmink.com.au/reviews/my-rembrandt/]

Revelation Film Festival 2020 - Preview (plus podcast interview with Richard Sowada)

The 23rd Revelation Film Festival runs from Thursday 10th to Sunday 13th Dec and there are some tasty looking films on offer. They mostly screen at the Luna in Leederville with some down in Freo at Luna on SX, and a couple at the Windsor in Nedlands. The Backlot in West Perth and Johnny Ma Studios in Maylands have a few things on the Saturday. The complete schedule can been found on the Revelation website (link above).

I'm filling my card with some interesting looking features and docos, as well as an outing to the (FREE) Family Animation Explosion!, which is on at 10:30 every morning of the fest. It should be mentioned that all screenings are COVID restricted this year, so it's going to be a case of 'first in, first served'.

It has taken me a fecking long time to choose which ones to see, but that's part of the fun of something like this. There are really too many to talk about here but especially notable films include locally (WA) produced, An Ideal Host and a 1969 Mexican film, Night of the Bloody Apes (Friday double bill), the controversial, The Trouble with Being Born (pulled from the Melbourne International Film Festival), another local film, The Xrossing, and Atlantis from the Ukraine. 

There are a bunch of great looking documentaries too: Collective, Desert One, My Rembrandt and The Jump could all be peaches. Throw in the numerous shorts on offer and there's a wealth of goodies to get your peepers on.

Listen below for a pod interview with festival director, Richard Sowada.

Listen to "Revelation Film Festival 2020" on Spreaker.

Misbehaviour

In this dismal year of pandemic lockdowns and social polarisation it's a nice surprise when something catches you off guard. In this case, that thing is the film Misbehaviour. I wasn't sure what to expect, I only knew who was in it and that it was set at the Miss World contest of 1970. This is one of those recent historical dramas that the Brits do so well - I'm thinking of little gems like Brassed Off or Made in Dagenham or Pride. They seem to have a knack of telling these important stories with a light, almost flippant touch, without leaning too far into the mawkishness that often blights their US counterparts. I think Misbehaviour would sit comfortably on the '20th Century, British-set, historical drama' shelf. If shelves were a going concern these days.

The film actually covers a lot of ground. Let me briefly explain the story. The Miss World contest of 1970 was the touch paper for the nascent Women's Liberation Movement in England. The film focuses on women on both sides of this event - namely Keira Knightley's character, Sally Alexander and Gugu-Mbatha Raw's Miss Grenada, Jennifer Hosten. They bring exactly the right amount of anger and pride to the roles (and Knightley can still crack a solid scowl). Aside from the two leads there are quite a few notable performances, Jessie Buckley, Keely Hawes, Greg Kinnear and Lesley Manville all have fun with their roles, though I'm not sure we needed so much screen time for Kinnear's Bob Hope. 

When I said earlier that the film covers a lot of ground, try these on: sexism, racism, the UK class system, generational changes in parenting, corruption, early #MeToo, and politics (specifically South African apartheid). Amazingly, it doesn't seem like too much to cram in, and it usually would do. Most of those themes are just brushed upon. One interesting angle - the film actually seems to suggest that the result of the contest was fiddled due to a judge with a 'conflict of interests'. Further research only vaguely backs this up. There is one moment where Mbatha-Raw and Knightley meet after all the flour has hit the fan and, though unlikely, it has a quiet power to it. It's the point in the film where an ever so slight justification for the contest is put forward, Mbatha-Raw telling Knightley that young black girls may see her as a role model and hinting that non-white women can't afford the luxury of women's liberation. It's the key scene in the film.

A pair of marriages on the periphery of the story are well handled in that the wives (Keely Hawes's Julia Morley and Lesley Manville's Dolores Hope) appear to hold many of the cards over their spouses. The film shows them to be sensible and mature, with a calm wisdom - completely opposed to their husbands. It probably helped that Eric Morley and Bob Hope were such a couple of bell-ends. The pace of the film is quite zippy, with no real flat spots and only one or two 'woohoo' moments that felt a little naff - who would've thought making flyers could be so much fun? There's a scene near the end where Knightley and her old-fashioned mum have a bit of a thaw that brought a minor lumpage to my throat. And the reveals of the real life women of the story is a neat way to end the film. All in all, Misbehaviour is an unexpected treat. 

See also:

On a similar theme, Nigel Cole's Made in Dagenham (2010) and one of the best Black Mirror episodes, and starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, San Junipero (2016).

In the Name of the Land

 

It's not every day you have the chance to see a film about French farmers, in fact, the last I can remember was probably Manon des Sources from 1986 - though, after miniscule research, it seems there have been a few docos recently; Modern Life (2008) and After Winter, Spring (2015). In the Name of the Land starts with a hopeful father to son transition of the family farm, Les Grands Bois, and slowly, but perhaps predictably, descends into creeping ruination. 

Guillame Canet plays Pierre Jarjeau and he's almost unrecognisable for most of the film, as he's been balded up to appear older. Once you get past this prosthetic (?) his performance is pretty gripping. Veerle Baetens is his wife Claire, dealing with the shit going on around her with a calming power, She's great in this, as is Rufus, that old stalwart of Jeunet and Caro films past, as the arsehole father, Jacques, who is the real villain of the piece for my money.

The film was directed and co-written by Edouard Bergeon, and it's based on the life of his family. It must have been a gut-wrenching process to make this, considering the bleak outcome, but I guess it brought a catharsis of sorts. There are moments of happiness and fun times but these are ultimately overshadowed by the climax, and the sting at the start of the credits about French farmers is kind of difficult to believe.

In the Name of the Land is an important film that deals with universal issues and it certainly packs a punch. Advance screenings start Friday 20th Nov at Luna Leederville. 

See also:

For two more films set in the French countryside, you can't go wrong with Jean de Florette and its sequel (see above) Manon des Sources (strangely, both 1986) directed by Claude Berri. They're fantastic films.

Summerland

Summerland is a romantic drama from Jessica Swale set on the English coast during World War 2. Gemma Arterton plays a cantankerous young writer, who investigates myths and superstitions. A young lad is billeted to stay at her cottage during the blitz (unbeknownst to her) and herein begins the drama. The central phenomenon in the film is a commonly occurring sighting known as the Fata Morgana, a kind of mirage where people have claimed to have seen castles, cities, all sorts of junk, usually from a coastline. Arterton's character, Alice, is looking into these mirages when Frank, un-irritatingly played by Lucas Bond, comes to stay. The title refers to the pagan idea of the afterlife - The Summerland. Alice's scientific, logical approach to life chafes slightly against Frank's childish beliefs but the film doesn't make any grand statements. Rather it seems to suggest that seeing things (or believing things) is a personal choice and this needn't interfere with other strands of life.

One of these other 'strands' is developed through flashbacks to Alice's relationship with Vera, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw. War era, interracial, lesbian love isn't really a well-mined trope for this kind of film, so it was refreshing to watch, especially in the hands of Arterton and Mbatha-Raw. The narrative pay-off in the 40s (and the 70s, where the film actually starts) is a bit of a stretch but it did provoke some audible gasps in the Raine Square cinema crowd. 

There are nice touches throughout the film, from the performances of the leads, as well as Tom Courtenay (actually running in one scene - the fecker's 83!) to Laurie Rose's cinematography of the famous Dover coastline. It has a nicely rustic, English countryside charm, perfect for the opening of the British Film Festival.

Summerland starts at The Luna Leederville, Palace Raine Square, Luna on SX and The Windsor from Nov 11th. Check out the British Film Festival site for details.

See also:

A very different, though still bucolic, role for Gemma Arterton, try Stephen Frears's Tamara Drewe (2010) and re: mystery castles, you can't go past Hayao Miyazaki's Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986).

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

This is the sequel to the original Borat film from 2006, devised by and starring Sacha Baron Cohen. It's streaming on Amazon Prime Video as there were some issues getting it out in cinemas before the US election, mainly due to closed theatres - in the US and around the world.

I won't say much here, only that it's great fun to see this character again, with his stupid voice and gangly physical comedy. Maria Bakalova as Tutar, Borat's daughter, is a find. She's game for the same kind of awkward, uncomfortable scenes that Cohen revels in. There are key moments throughout, involving knowns (Giuliani) and unknowns (Jeanise Jones) but sometimes it's the small touches that come off the best. How Borat and Tutar respond to a bag that covers a dress may be my favourite part of the film.

See also:

Of course, the original Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006), directed by Larry Charles, and another very funny Cohen creation, Bruno (2009), again directed by Larry Charles.

SPOILERS IN POD!!!

Listen to "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" on Spreaker.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

 

Caught this classic at the Girls' School Cinema in East Perth recently and I'd forgotten how good it was. It's a touch under 3 hours but even sitting on a weird beanbag thing, trying to make the most of the bottomless popcorn (I don't even really like popcorn but it was part of the prize), didn't detract from the fun of Sergio Leone's madness. Like most spaghetti westerns, this was filmed with the actors speaking their own languages - Spanish, Italian and English - with voice actors dubbing over in post. Apparently, even the three leads had to do their own dubbing as the whole film was shot without sound. 

Speaking of the leads, the film starts in reverse -  Eli Wallach, as Tuco, is introduced first, then Lee Van Cleef, as Sentenza (or Angel Eyes), and finally Clint Eastwood, as Blondie (or The Man With No Name); so The Ugly, the Bad and the Good. Van Cleef gives good nasty and Eastwood is laconically funny but Wallach is the star for my money. He has all the best lines and gets a few meaty emotional scenes (see his meeting with his padre brother) that the other guys don't really have. His double act with Eastwood's unruffled straight man is the highlight of a film littered with them.

There are loads of iconic set pieces - Tuco saved from the noose by Blondie in a recurring scam; Tuco and his gang trying to creep up on Blondie while an army marches noisily through town, until it stops; Blondie's desert march; meeting Sentenza in the prison camp; the bridge sequence; and the final Mexican stand-off in the cemetery. The story is constructed with crosses and double crosses and it flows superbly. Much of this is down to Ennio Morricone's legendary score and Leone's penchant for close-ups, though the amoral tone of the film is a big plus too. And I didn't expect to be laughing so much - it might be the funniest western I've seen.

See also:

Though I don't think it's essential to see these prior to TGTBATU, but why not Leone's two preceding 'dollars' films - A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965). Both star Eastwood, Van Cleef joined the second one. Even better is the original of Fistful, Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961).

Honest Thief

Liam Neeson has had quite an interesting career, hasn't he? The bloke's nearly 70 and in the last 12 years, he's peppered his CV with (mostly) meathead action fare. Yet early on he drifted more towards worthy or political dramas. Consider these disparate titles: The Mission, The Commuter, A Prayer for the Dying, A Walk Among the Tombstones, Schindler's List, The Grey, Rob Roy, Taken, Michael Collins, Taken 2. I could go on. If Matthew McConaughey has had his 'McConaissance', what do we call Neeson's latter-day path? A Neetrogression? Nah. Neeterioration? Hmmm. Maybe a simple Neescent? Let's go with that. [Copyright Oct 2020]. The thing is, he's a fine actor and a really likeable screen presence. So what's with all the dreck?

The above reads kind of like I'm trying to fill a word count. This is possibly due to the puddle that is Honest Thief. When I say puddle, I guess I mean it's shallow enough to be annoying but not so deep that your day would be ruined. Unstrangle that metaphucker! The premise of this film goes that a bank robber meets a woman and after a year, decides to turn himself in to the law and give back his loot. So far, so stretched. The wrinkle is that a jawbone of an FBI agent sees an angle here and tries to keep the dosh and cry crank re: Neeson. But Liam and his wounded expression are having none of that shit. "I will find you. And I will [cliché redacted]"

Here's a poser - why is this film here now? It was probably made on a mid-level budget (can't be more than $30 million?) with only Neeson and maybe Jai Courtney getting big bucks. Throw in some explosions, some car crashes. This would have been a straight to video boiler in the old days - now it's competing at the top of the box office. Is it purely the Covid desert landscape? It appears that in the top ten worldwide box office so far this year, only ONE film, Tenet, was released after March. A concern for cinema's future?

See also:

Arguably, the best thing Neeson has done is a cameo on Warwick Davis, Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais's, Life's Too Short (TV 2011), but Neil Jordan's Michael Collins (1996) was a good example of his talent.

Baby Done

Baby Done is a film I had my suspicions about going in but it actually surprised me with its odd Kiwi charm and no little humour. This is a maternity comedy/drama from New Zealand, directed by Curtis Vowell (only one other feature to his name) and written by Sophie Henderson (who has a similarly light CV as a writer). But Henderson specifically has to take the bulk of the credit here for splashing a bit of life into this genre and dealing out some great lines and set-ups. The leads, Rose Matafeo and Matthew Lewis (Auckland is a long way from Hogwarts), bounce off each other perfectly well, each having a few golden moments to shine. The tension comes from the fact that Zoe (Matafeo) doesn't really want a baby and would prefer to go to Canada for the International Tree Climbing Championship (yep, apparently it's a thing), yet Tim (Lewis) is super chuffed and ready to settle down.

The low key feel to the film is a strong point. If I mention piss, vomit, attempted threesome shagging and a preggophile who's into plaster casting you may be forgiven for thinking this is a gross-out comedy but it rides those events with style and wit. The end of the threesome sequence, for example, has Zoe and her friend arguing about the environmental impact of having a baby. And the preggophile character, Brian, played by Nic Sampson, isn't strictly played for weirdness value, though he has some of the best (awkward) laughs. There's also a show-stopping gag near the end that I won't spoil, but it almost brought the house down at the screening I attended.

The supporting cast play it as straight as an arrow, with special mention for Rachel House as a deadpan school principal, and the host of the antenatal class (whose name I sadly can't track down). The presence of Taika Waititi as an executive producer shouldn't be understated. It's as though the Kiwis are riding a kind of Taika wave at the moment, similar to the influence Ricky Gervais had on English comedy a few years back. And this is a positive in my book.

See also:

Difficult to choose as I'm a bit out of my element but maybe Jason Reitman's Juno (2007) about another reluctant mother-to-be and Taika Waititi's Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) for a similar feel.

David Fincher Top Ten

With Fincher's first feature in 6 years, Mank, due soon, I figured I'd do a top ten of his other films. Conveniently, he's only made ten features, on top of dozens of music 'videos', as well as some TV and a few shorts. But lets focus on the films.

10. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Where to start? Well, let me say that Benjy is the only Fincher film I hated. Full of heart-felt whimsy attempting depth, it misses just about every mark. This is trite bollocks with very little to raise it, save from the unimpeachable Cate Blanchett. Take her out of it and you're left with a certified steamer.






9. The Game (1997)

Not a bad film, and made with some late 90s panache, but it just didn't elevate for me. Not much wrong with the cast, Douglas and Penn are usually watchable at worst. There are the requisite reversals and rug-pulls but maybe that's part of the problem - too much of this malarkey?





8. Alien³ (1992)

I don't remember the minutiae of this film but I  recall it being bloody grim and quite dull, even with sharpy tooth, dribbly face popping up in odd places. The cast is packed with British gems like Charles Dance, Pete Postlethwaite and Paul McGann and Weaver is top bins as usual but this might be the weakest of the Alien series.

7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Not a bad stab at adapting the Stieg Larsson novel, with Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig playing the two leads, Salander and Blomkvist. This is mostly on a par with the Swedish version of two years previous but Fincher's style nudges it just above for me. Craig is generally underrated as an actor and the supporting cast is fine but it's Mara who drives the film. She's oddly magnetic but also hard to warm to in this role, which creates a pretty memorable balance.

6. Panic Room (2002)

A nicely paced, home invasion thriller full of Finchery touches and well pitched performances from Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart and Forest Whitaker. I reckon I haven't seen this since release but I remember it being pretty nerve-jangling fun.

5. The Social Network (2010)

A film that used Jesse Eisenberg's inherent unlikeability to good effect, this gets in the top five due to Fincher's (and writer Aaron Sorkin's) alchemy of making a dull reality into a sparkling Shakespearean twat-bastard-fest.

4. Se7en (1995)

Fincher's second feature (and the second to use a weird number thing in the title), this was his 'name on the map' turn. Pitt was a bit raw but Freeman and Spacey brought the gravitas to this delicately assembled scunge-pit of a film. Aside from Delicatessen, I can't remember a BROWNER film. Or a more unsettling one.*

*These are both good things in my book.

3. Gone Girl (2014)

This film jumps genres like it's scanning the dial for Jim Maxwell. It takes a stab at thriller, black comedy, satire, even echoing number 2 in this list at times (see below). Fincher seems so assured with Gone Girl, like he's completely comfortable with its ultimate destination. Career-best turns from Affleck and Pike, with top notch support in Kim Dickens and Tyler Perry as well as a creeping sense of dread, make this a superbly landed piece of cinema.

2. Zodiac (2007)

Zodiac is the film that took on Iron Man, Hulk and Mysterio and left them floundering. Immensely watchable, mostly accurate account of the Zodiac serial killer case in California in the 60s and 70s. Fincher pretty much found his opus here and his detailed camerawork, suspenseful editing and control of pace and performance make this one of the best films of the 2000s so far. A flipping belter this.

1. Fight Club (1999)

A South African fella named Shane called me over at the pram repair warehouse and said, "Bru, you have to see this new Brad Pitt film, Fight Club!" I think I dismissed him with an eyebrow and a scoffing, "Pitt". But how wrong I was. This is a deliciously anarchic, bonkers, anti-capitalism tract with a lovely pre-21st century twist and visuals to lick dry. Ending on a Pixies song just popped an allergy free cherry* on top.

*I'm actually allergic to cherries.

The Translators

Got along to an advance screening of The Translators at the Luna in Leederville a few nights ago. It's a mystery set in the world of literary publishing and the story takes a little getting the old bonce around. Broadly, a group of nine translators are seconded to a high security bunker to translate the third book in a massively popular series, Daedalus, written by the reclusive Oscar Brach (strangely subtitled as 'Bach'). Pretty soon, it's found that 10 pages have somehow been smuggled out to the Internet, setting off a series of events that land the publisher Eric Angstrom, among others, in shtuck. 

Angstrom is played by the hawk-nosed yet serpentine, Lambert Wilson, who has a swathe of shite films to his credit (Babylon A.D., anyone?). This is the best film I've seen him in, but I'm certainly not a Wilson completist, so there must be other passable works. Some of the translators are reasonably well known, especially in their home 'markets'. Olga Kurylenko plays the Russian; Ricardo Scamarcio, the Italian; Sidse Babett Knudsen, the Dane and Eduardo Noriega, the Spaniard. Alex Lawther, who was in an especially downbeat Dark Mirror episode plays the English translator, and he's ok but I didn't take to him, not sure why.

The whodunit aspect of the film soon becomes a 'howdunit', as the films twists and wriggles its way through several plot crevices, all the while attempting to keep the audience on their toes and in their seats at the same time. All this is fairly well handled by director, Regis Roinsard in only his second feature, but it didn't have the same style, or at least humour, as something like Rian Johnson's Knives Out or even those old Poirot films from the 70s. There are more things going on than I was probably aware of, for example, the significance of the Proust novel as a kind of money shot, or the apparent focus on one character, to deflect attention, perhaps?

The Translators has a lot going on and there are some tense moments sprinkled throughout. A mini-heist scene lifts the pace around the halfway mark and there's a clever Mexican standoff where different languages are utilised for extrication. Ultimately though, I was left a bit underdone by this film. Maybe it was trying to be a bit too clever, maybe some of the cast weren't quite right or possibly some parts were underwritten. It's not a bad film but as Ween once said, I can't put my finger on it.

See also:

For similar captivity themes, try the German film, The Experiment (2001) directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, and for more translation, albeit the Alien kind, check out Denis Villeneuve's brilliant, Arrival (2016).

SPOILERS IN (short) POD!!

Listen to "The Translators" on Spreaker.

The New Mutants

After more than two years of postponed release dates, The New Mutants finally arrives in cinemas. Re-shoots, schedule clashes with other films, Disney's purchase of 20th Century Fox and covid-related cinema closures all contributed to the limbo the film found itself in. So was the wait worth it? I'd say sure. It's no world beater but it has a neatly contained story with some creepy elements (mainly down to the work of DOP, Peter Deming, whose first feature was Evil Dead 2) and nicely pitched performances. Let's have a roll call of these younglings, then. The first credit (though not the protagonist) is Maisie Williams as Rahne Sinclair [WOLFSBANE]. Anya Taylor-Joy plays Illyana Rasputin [MAGIK]. The real lead is Blu Hunt, who plays Danielle Moonstar [MIRAGE]. Charlie Heaton plays Sam Guthrie [CANNONBALL] and Henry Zaga plays Roberto da Costa [SUNSPOT]. And aside from Alice Braga as their doctor/monitor, that's about it for the cast. They all bounce off each other well and Taylor-Joy is better here than I've seen her before but Hunt in the lead is a little damp, not quite up to the energy level of the others.

The New Mutants is basically a haunted house thriller where the ghosts are mutation related, therefore explicable yet very dangerous. There's a clear through-line which follows Moonstar and her need to overcome a pretty bloody intransigent obstacle (keep an ear out for her narration at the start and an eye on her necklace thereafter). Other thematic pincushions of keeping control, sticking together and choosing the correct side of your character to 'feed' are ritually pricked. And it seems like they made Braga's doctor the daughter of a vet, just so she could spew forth some strangled analogies about baby rattlesnakes and some such.

There is a honking great foreshadowing of a character watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer at one point. Ooooh, hang on! Does this mean...? Yep, there may be some wolf-girl-on-bear-girl action at some stage. In fact, this relationship is quite sweet, if you can get past the bestiality aspect, and I'm sure you can. Each of the five have a moment to shine where their backstories are winkled out. Rasputin's story is bleak shit and serves up the scariest manifestations, partly thanks to Marilyn Manson's voice work. Speaking of Rasputin, there's a long shot near the end of the film where the five mutants walk off camera and Taylor-Joy lingers, taking her time to get out of frame. I wonder if she's trying an old Steve McQueen trick here, a way of hogging a fraction more screen time.

It seems with Disney's acquisition of Fox, there won't be any more of these new mutant films, at least not with the cast or 'creatives', namely director and co-writer Josh Boone and co-writer Knate Lee. Shame if so, as this was a happy surprise. A 'Marvel' film with a whiff of paranoid grunge horror to it. They don't come along every day.


See also:

For a similar setting, there aren't many, actually ANY, better films than One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) directed by Milos Forman. The British TV series, Misfits (2009-2013), created by Howard Overman, has an echo of young folk discovering their 'specialties'.