Film Shapes

Lamb is a foggy creepshow about a farming couple in the Icelandic foothills who happen upon a 'gift' from nature in the form of a child, and....well, urm, let's continue. Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snær Guðnason star as Maria and Ingvar, the childless couple, and their routine has them miserably plodding along with the farm chores in this oddly treeless and rocky land. As dull as this might sound, it's actually a quietly fascinating start to the film, which may be down to the oft-mentioned 'otherworldly' landscape. Icelandic folk must be well pissed off with everyone going on about their topography.  The opening is a slow tracking shot through a snow-swept exterior, via a herd of tiny horses. We end up in a barn full of frightened sheep (I guess they're always frightened) with the hint of something off screen - the eyes of the sheep are a clever way to suggest this. Later, as Maria and Ingvar are birthing lambs, an 'arrival' puts their gobs well into s...

Well, film made it through 2021, mostly intact. There were more cinema closures around the world but a couple of delayed films from 2020 were finally released, though there's still a bit of a lag for others. A gall bladder removal in February meant no trips to the cinema for that month, but I managed to get to the big screen 68 times in all. So from a total of 125 films watched this year (112 first time viewings), here are the top ten films I saw in 2021.  [Click on the titles for links to full reviews for all but number 10] 10. The Wicker Man (1973) This is the Edward Woodward original from the 70s, not the Cage remake (though I'm keeping an open mind to that one). I shamefully hadn't seen this and I'm sorry I left it so long. It's a clever, moody, very bloody odd look at the perils of faith and conversely, curiosity. Christopher Lee is imperious, Britt Ekland stunning - her seduction of Woodward FROM A DIFFERENT ROOM has to be seen to be believed. A real cult cla...

Can an idea be killed? Can you erase or transform folkloric mythology? Star Wars and organised religion would hope not but it seems Goran Stolevski might think otherwise. You Won't Be Alone is the debut feature of this Macedonian/Aussie filmmaker (he's also got Of an Age doing the festival circuits at the moment - it took out the top prize at WA's own Cinefest Oz recently). The film is set in Macedonia in the 19th century and, as you might expect, it's pretty bleak, especially for women. It starts with a mother and baby getting an unexpected visit from Old Maid Maria, a scarred witch who is after blood. The mother cuts a deal which gives the child 16 years grace before she is to be taken so, in the words of the mother, "you won't be alone." In an attempt to trick the witch, the child is hidden in a cave until the inevitable day when she is claimed. Henceforth, the child grown, Nevena (Sara Klimoska) becomes a kind of trainee witch to Maria (Anamaria Mar...

What's this then? Modern horror, I guess. Or just another addition to the relatively recent spate of animal-titled films: The Lobster , The Crow , The Whale , Pig , Lamb , First Cow , Black Dog , Red Dog ,  Dog Man ,  Monkey Man ,  Wolf Man , Cuckoo , Cocaine Bear , and Hundreds of Beavers . Whatever the reason for its existence, this Stephen King adaptation is a curious beast. Osgood Perkins (son of old Norman Bates himself, Anthony Perkins) writes and directs here. He also has a pretty funny cameo. The story starts with a bloke in a pilot's uniform (Adam Scott) trying to sell a windup drumming monkey toy (DON'T CALL IT A TOY!!). A bloody event occurs, not for the last time in the movie. Cut to 1999 where we meet Hal Shelburn and his twin, Bill (both played by Christian Convery), who live with their mother, Lois (an in-form Tatiana Maslany). The pilot of the opening scene is the dad/hubby who has done a runner, leaving the cursed monkey for the lads to find (though, to b...

Ridley Scott's latest film, following the underrated The Last Duel and the rated House of Gucci,  is a biography of Napoleon Bonaparte (probably no need for the surname). It traces his rise, post Madame Guillotine, through Robespierre's Reign of Terror, to his sweeping victories in battle and finally, to his exile. All the while, his romance with Josephine (Vanessa Kirby) frames the narrative. It's basically a grand historical rom-com, if you find yourself as tickled by the ripe dialogue as I was. Joaquin Phoenix plays the general with his usual weird panache and his delivery of some of these crackers is top fun. He tells an English foreign minister, "You think you're so good just because you have boats!" And to Josephine he proclaims that, "Destiny has brought me to this lamb chop."  Phoenix is on his regular top form but Kirby is brilliant as the enigmatic widow who allows herself to be wooed by the little guy. She puts her expressive eyes to good...

One of my two trips to the cinema while back in Australia, I saw this at Cinema Paradiso in Northbridge (where once upon a time I used to get the odd free entry courtesy of the Pig Strangler). It seems to have retained its indie charm though not its old price listings - $17 for a ticket and $4.50 for a choc bomb! Welcome to Perth. Argo is Benna Fleck's 3rd directorial effort and he seems to be growing into a pretty solid film-maker. He must have done his research regarding pacing (helps to have a good editor) and atmosphere. I've never really been a fan of his acting or presence on screen but he obviously knows how to get a performance from actors. In fact, I think he's a better actor when he's directing himself (or maybe he's just getting older and more familiar). The cast is fine all round, especially the relatively less well-known group on the periphery of the crisis. Their performances lend a pseudo-documentary feel to the whole thing, especially in counte...