Jonás Cuarón’s début is an exciting, charming and genuinely touching coming-of-age movie that defies conventional generic boundaries. The son of Alfonso, Cuarón Jr. draws on many notions from his father’s work and indeed the broader context of recent Mexican cinema; a cross generational relationship, the trials of puberty and the fleeting moments that shape young lives, so intense and affecting at the time yet painfully short-lived. But here they are shaped into an experimental and fresh piece of work that resembles the exotic child from a union between La Jetée and Y Tu Mamá También. A documentary spliced with coming-of-age drama composed entirely of still photographs edited into a narrative that spans a year in the lives of Molly (Eireann Harper), a 21 year old American travelling through Mexico, and Diego (Diego Cataño), a typically and perpetually horny 14 year old – naïve, romantic and troubled by a persistent ingrowing toenail.
Continue Reading "Año Uña (Year of the Nail) Review"...
Never having been a huge fan of the original Sellers Pink Panther show - aside from the great cartoon opening with ‘that’ car - it’s tough to make a call on this, the sequel to the 2006 version. But given Martin’s uncanny ability to stick to any shabby comedy going, I’m a bit sceptical. Maybe it’s one for the kids…
Judge for yourself in the trailer below the break
Continue Reading "Steve Martin does French again in a trailer for PINK PANTHER 2"...
The 7th Discovering Latin America Film Festival kicks off in November promising excitement, passion and unrivalled vitality. Anyone who’s seen recent examples of Latin American cinema that have made it to our shores will know that whatever you’re expecting, you’re probably wrong - and therein lies the pleasure. Showcasing the best in shorts, features and documentaries from across Latin America between 27th November and 7th December, this year’s festival is screening at a variety of great venues in central London; the ICA, Tate Modern and Ritzy amongst others. The schedule opens with Chilean director Andrés Wood’s The Good Life (La Buena Vida) on the 27th.
All the details you could want can be found at the official website here.
Steven Sheil’s new feature, Mum & Dad, wears its many influences proudly and mostly gets away with it; largely because the social milieu in which Sheil sets his torture porn-inflected debut draws on some peculiarly British cultural reference points. After the briefest of set-ups we’re planted straight onto the set of the Saw movies, by way of Hostel and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with a brief detour into Seven territory. Only, Mum & Dad is populated by a soap cast. Living in a Coronation Street house. Next to Heathrow airport.
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1234 is perhaps the nicest film I’ve seen for years, a gentle, modest, airy Brit flick centering on a budding musician. Stevie (Ian Bonar) is a bespectacled young guy who spends his days in the durge of a London call centre and his spare time dreaming of success on the indie music scene. Alongside his drummer friend Neil (Mathew Baynton), the duo recruit the more experienced, but slightly gruff guitarist Billy (Kieron Bew) and his arty bassist friend Emily (Lyndsey Marshal) to complete the line-up of their new band, 1234. As they punt out demos to record labels and work their way round the grubby gig circuit, personal and musical challenges arise, and shifts in the band dynamic threaten the whole enterprise.
Continue Reading "London Film Festival Review: 1234"...
Tonight sees the first episode of Guardian writer turned film-maker Charlie Brooker’s British zombie mini series, Dead Set. Showing on E4 over five consecutive nights, the show takes the familiar siege set-up of previous zombie movies and stages it in TV’s Big Brother house, replete with contestants and of course brimming with cameras. A zombified version of presenter Davina McCall is said to be a highlight.
Aiming for a tone similar to An American Werewolf in London, and promising not to skimp on the gore, Dead Set sounds like the real deal. Describing the show as “unashamed populist schlock” Brooker (best known for writing Nathan Barley) is keen to acknowledge the debts to what is, after all, a saturated genre, whilst proclaiming this as the first of its kind to be broadcast on UK TV. How far down the satire route the show goes is unconfirmed, but given E4’s teen audience and Brooker’s own comments I wouldn’t expect a Romero social commentary.
The project has been in gestation since 2004, so whilst the reality show format is still in fairly rude health, there’s undoubtedly now an increased level of cynicism around the dubious nature of the housemates and the subsequent ‘celebrity’ status they achieve. This could play into Dead Set’s hands rather nicely – I for one am drooling (blood obviously) at the prospect of seeing the assorted fame-hungry housemates disemboweled in the name of entertainment by zombies with an altogether different hunger. What more fitting revenge for years of tabloid baiting drudgery could there possibly be?
Mike Figgis’ (Internal Affairs, Leaving Las Vegas, Timecode) latest film was commissioned by Gumball 3000, the burgeoning ‘lifestyle and entertainment company’ behind the Gumball Rally. But don’t worry because as you’d expect from a 21st century Figgis work, this isn’t by any stretch a grooming promotional piece. Rather, it continues the director’s fascination with digital cinema (from 2000’s Timecode onwards) and the diverse possibilities the technology throws up; an exploratory film built around the Gumball event.
A trans-European, 3000 mile road trip for a bootful of assorted trustifarians and moneyed celebrities, The Gumball Rally has garnered its fair share of press coverage since its inception in 1999. When approached by Gumball 3000, Figgis has admitted being less than ecstatic at the prospect of a straight documentary on the rally. But when a second offer came in to simply make a film that in some way involved the rally, he decided it could be a project worth pursuing. What resulted is a single camera digitally shot genre mash-up, which encompasses everything from conventional documentary, through mockumentary and video diary, to pure fiction.
Continue Reading "London Film Festival Review: Love Live Long"...
***UPDATE***
I have just been informed that the release date has moved back to the 20th Oct.
Rejoice, because Monday finally sees the uncut UK DVD release of Wes Craven’s seminal The Last House On The Left. Previously available in the UK only in various edited versions, and banned outright between 1984 and 2002, the BBFC have at last seen sense and granted the film an 18 certificate with all previous cuts waived.
In addition, and rather excitingly, Metrodome have uncovered a further 5 minutes and 27 seconds of previously unseen footage. And just to clarify, this isn’t the outtakes and dailies available on previous discs across the world (though these are included too), but all new ‘recently discovered’ footage that hasn’t appeared on any other DVD release before. A world first, the scenes are silent and mostly consist of extended and more explicit footage of Mari, Phyllis and Sadie performing sexual acts on each other.
Continue Reading "The Last House On The Left finally UNCUT in the UK, plus world exclusive new footage!"...
Thai martial arts flick, and much mulled-over Twitch favourite, Chocolate is coming to ‘selected’ cinemas in the UK on the 24th October. Realistically this will be a handful of art house theatres in London and, if we’re lucky, a smattering elsewhere. The female led action from the director of Ong Bak (Prachya Pinkaew) is also coming to our lovely island courtesy of Cine Asia on DVD and Blu-Ray from the 3rd November.
Special features on the DVD will include: Breaking The Mould featurette; Step By Step featurette; A Star Is Born featurette; Fighting Talent featurette; The Stars Of Chocolate featurette; Real Fighters featurette; Deleted Scenes; Outtakes and Highlights; Training Workshop; Power Moves (Easter Eggs); TV spots; Trailer Gallery.
Neil Thompson’s Clubbed is the epitome of what’s wrong with British cinema today. A post Guy Ritchie, Shane Meadows wannabe, with neither the soul, imagination or insight of either director. Danny (Mel Raido) is a down-trodden factory worker in an un-named midlands town (in reality it was filmed in Birmingham) during the 80s whom we first meet at the gates of a prison as a voice over asks the rhetorical question of what it’s like to spend 12 years behind bars. Cue flashback. Danny’s life is crap; his estranged wife thinks he’s a loser, he’s beaten up by the local thugs (whilst his daughters watch) and he’s in a dead-end job. Just when things couldn’t get much worse, amiable doorman and sometime boxer, Louis (Colin Salmon) comes to the rescue. Offering a host of helpful tips on how to fight and then avoid actually fighting (apparently read The Art of War for more info…) he takes Danny under his wing, aided by fellow bouncers Rob and Sparky. Danny starts to regain some self respect and things are looking up, just in time for flaky, unhinged Sparky (Scot Williams) to ruin the party for everyone.
Continue Reading "Raindance Film Festival Review: Clubbed"...
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Risa Morimoto’s feature documentary attempts to examine the truth behind the notorious kamikaze (divine wind) pilots who sacrificed their lives in the final months of Japan’s involvement in World War 2. Through interviews with surviving Tokkotai (the Japanese name for these Special Attack Units) and the US naval servicemen from one of the sunken battleships, the USS Drexler, Wings of Defeat is a fresh take on a little understood part of military history.
Continue Reading "Raindance Film Festival Review: Wings of Defeat"...
At first Flick feels like a role call of British TV actors - Michelle Ryan, Liz Smith, Mark Benton, John Woodvine are all here. Then, joy of joys, no less than Bonnie Parker herself - Faye Dunaway – appears as a one armed detective from Memphis. First time director David Howard and producer Rik Hall have done an admirable job in uniting a wonderfully characterful cast to populate their trippy, nostalgic, comic book horror.
Continue Reading "Raindance Film Festival Review: Flick"...
November 1st sees the welcome return of Film4 Frightfest’s annual Halloween event in London. Purveyors of all that is good and bloody in the world of horror, this year has a great line-up including the much talked about My Name Is Bruce and the wince-inducing parasite flick, Splinter. In addition, you can expect a world premiere, surprise screening and a Halloween quiz. What’s not to love?
The bloody fun is taking place at the ICA and tickets are available now.
Further details can be found here, and you can see the full line-up below the break.
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There’s a line of text in the closing moments of Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah (Gomorra in Italian) that states the Camorra crime families depicted in the film have contributed funds to the rebuilding of the twin towers in New York. This revelation alone provokes a greater emotional response than anything in the preceding two hours of criminal activities.
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Su-chang Kong’s The Guard Post gets a UK DVD release from Cine Asia on the 13th October. A gory mystery/shocker/war movie hybrid from Korea, the film centres on the discovery of a more than slightly distressing massacre at a border guard post:
When communications with a secret guard post situated on the North-South Korean border unexpectedly fall silent, an army platoon headed by a military investigator is dispatched overnight to re-establish contact with their fellow soldiers, one of whom is the son of the army’s Chief of Staff. On arrival at GP506 they discover the aftermath of a gruesome bloodbath and one lonely survivor who they hope can provide the answer to the mystery behind the massacre. Shocked by the horror of the event and eager to cover up the incident, the top brass at Army HQ order the incineration of the guard post and the destruction of any evidence relating the incident. With just hours to go before the order is due to be executed, the investigative team finds itself in a race against time to uncover the truth, which they believe must be hidden somewhere within the remote outpost and its maze of underground tunnels. But the countdown to dawn proves to be the least of their concerns when it becomes apparent that the deadly effects of the terror lurking within the guard post have only just begin.
Special Features include: The Briefing Room (behind the scenes); The Barracks (set design); Guard Post Head Office (special effects and make-up); storyboards; trailer gallery.
A pleasingly not-safe-for-work trailer can be found below the break.
Continue Reading "The Guard Post (aka GP506) UK Region 2 DVD: New Trailer"...
