At the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the programme is categorised into strands that celebrate and showcase different aspects of cinema, and each year a nation is focussed on which highlights the ‘international’ part of EIFF. In 2015, Mexico is the country in the limelight and Gabriel Ripstein’s debut film ‘600 Miles’, or millas in Spanish, is in the line-up, following its successful trip to the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. The crime drama unfolds within the arms trafficking underworld as friends Carson (Harrison Thomas) and Arnulfo (Kristyan Ferrer) smuggle weaponry from Arizona across the border to Arnulfo’s Mexican drug cartel family in an SUV. Unbeknownst to them, ATF agent Hank Harris (Tim Roth) is tracking them closely and when their paths inevitably cross, a vicious encounter leads to an unlikely road trip, simmering with threat and nerve-shredding tension.
Continue reading “DVD review: 600 Miles (600 Millas)”Author: Garry Arnot
Top 5 Ryan Gosling Performances
From his breakthrough appearance in Nicholas Sparks’ weepie The Notebook to his brutal turn in ultra-violent thriller Only God Forgives, Ryan Gosling has an eclectic back-catalogue that divides audiences and keeps us guessing what he’ll do next. After his foray into directorial work on Lost River, he has turned to comedy in Oscar nominated financial satire The Big Short and detective buddy movie The Nice Guys which hits UK cinemas this month. In the run-up to its release, we count down his five best performances to date.
Trailer: Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
Directed by: Akiva Schaffer & Jorma Taccone
Starring: Andy Samberg, Imogen Poots, Sarah Silverman
Release date: August 2016
DVD review: The Big Short
After the burst of the housing bubble led to a global financial crisis in 2007-2008, the last person you would expect to make a film about it would be Adam McKay, the goofball director known for his work on The Other Guys and the Anchorman movies. However, the comedy filmmaker has applied his mischievous directorial style to The Big Short, a biographical drama based on Michael Lewis’ book of the same name, based around four men who saw the collapse happening before anyone else. Boasting one of the most star-studded casts in years including Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell and Brad Pitt, a stocks-and-shares saga is sold as an energetic jest-fest.
DVD review: Creed
A decade has passed since the last film in the legendary ‘Rocky’ franchise, but now the Italian Stallion is back in ‘Creed’. Thankfully, Sylvester Stallone is reprising his role in just a trainer capacity and isn’t returning to the squared circle himself. The series spin-off centres around Adonis “Donnie” Johnson (Michael B. Jordan), the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed, the fighter who went toe-to-toe with Rocky in the first two films back in the late seventies. The project is written and directed by Ryan Coogler, who made his filmmaking breakthrough with Fruitvale Station in 2013, and follows Donnie as he pursues a career in boxing but struggles with the pressure of his father’s legacy.
DVD review: Room
Adapted from Emma Donoghue’s bestselling novel of the same name, filmmaker Lenny Abrahamson directs abduction drama ‘Room’. Brie Larson stars as Joy Newsome, a young woman held captive with her son Jack (Jacob Tremblay), and who has been imprisoned in a garden shed for seven years. With a skylight providing her only glimmer of light, she is malnourished and depressed. The narrative picks up the story on Jack’s fifth birthday as Joy, or ‘Ma’ as he calls her, decides that he is grown up enough to find out the truth about why they live in ‘room’, what has happened to her and why they desperately need to escape their evil captor (Sean Bridgers), whom they refer to as ‘Old Nick’.
Despite the horrifically morbid subject matter, there is always enough light to balance out the dark due to the clever narration and camera work which presents the small world they inhabit through Jack’s naive outlook and innocent perspective. The pace starts off slow and steady, as we, the audience, adapt to Joy and Jack’s very limited routine, and it is this careful character development and emotioneering that makes it all the more breathtaking when they take matters into their own hands. The amazing events around halfway through briefly suggest that the plot has peaked too soon, but themes are switched and the film moves in a new direction which explores both the aftermath of Joy’s trauma and Jack’s awe of his new experiences and discoveries.
For too long, Brie Larson has been mostly restricted to supporting roles but now she has the material she deserves and gives a superbly judged, emotionally charged performance in what appears to be a very challenging part to play. Also putting in an extremely mature turn is nine-year-old Jacob Tremblay, who is utterly phenomenal as Jack. The type of performance he displays is not dissimilar to that of Onata Aprile who stole the show in ‘What Maisie Knew’ a couple of years ago, which looked at divorce through the eyes of the child caught in the crossfire. The mother-and-son bond Larson and Tremblay conjure up is always believable and brings about genuinely moving scenes between the two.
We are just a short while into the year and already there is a frontrunner for the best film of 2016. ‘Room’ can be a harrowing watch at times but is powerful, essential cinema, and boasts two magnificent performances that are worthy of all the praise they will no doubt receive. Lenny Abrahamson takes a complex and controversial story and handles it sensitively, creating a remarkably rewarding film in the process. As far as I am concerned, there is no room for improvement.
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DVD review: The Hateful Eight
Quentin Tarantino claimed in an interview recently that he would like to be considered a Western film director and that you really need to make three for that to happen. In his second foray into the genre, following on from Spaghetti-themed slavery shoot-em-up ‘Django Unchained’, he presents ‘The Hateful Eight’; a mystery story set shortly after the American Civil War which unfolds mostly in just one room. The cast includes a selection of regular collaborators, with Samuel L. Jackson starring as bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren. When en route to local town Red Rock with three deceased outlaws in tow, he encounters John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth (Kurt Russell) and hitches a ride on his stagecoach. Before long, a blizzard strikes and they’re forced to take refuge at a haberdashery where they meet a host of unsavoury characters played by the likes of Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Bruce Dern. Shot in Ultra Panavision 70mm film and with a score by veteran composer Ennio Morricone, the classic Western elements are combined with Tarantino’s signature style in a concoction of wit, spit and bloody bits.
In typical fashion, the narrative is divided into ‘chapters’ which are separated by title cards but the story struggles to come into its own until the third. The opening two serve to establish the setting and get the ball rolling but the dialogue isn’t quite as sharp as we’ve come to expect from Tarantino. Maybe the period in which the film is set limits the screenplay as there’s less room for tangents and no opportunity to pepper conversations with pop culture references. The script this time feels more direct and purposeful, and drives the plot forward, which some might argue is a good thing.
When the titular eight finally come together in the cabin, like the Reservoir Dogs of the Wild West, the brewing tension and entertainment value are noticeably heightened. Because of the length of time spent in one environment, elements of theatre develop and the wider picture cleverly lends itself to this technique. Around this time, the linear structure is toyed with, Tarantino himself featuring as the narrator to add fuel to the flames of the mystery that engulfs the haberdashery. This excellent sense of playfulness and creativity provide the film with its highlights, including a gruesome flashback sequence. As the secret unravels, the running time threatens to outstay its welcome and eventually intelligence makes way for an exaggerated blood-soaked finale.
As Tarantino movies go, ‘The Hateful Eight’ has all of the attributes, good and bad, that we’ve come to associate with the accomplished yet controversial filmmaker. In his confident, self-indulgent creation, he establishes a firmer stronghold on the genre he has borrowed so much from throughout his career. While the story itself is full of villains, it represents the step forward needed for the wannabe hero of neo-Western cinema.
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DVD review: Black Mountain Poets
Indie writer and director Jamie Adams rounds off what is referred to as his ‘modern romance trilogy’ with ‘Black Mountain Poets’; a mistaken identity comedy of errors. His improvisational trio of movies began in the music industry with Benny & Jolene before tackling the festive period in A Wonderful Christmas Time. Concluding on a slightly darker note in the poetic, yet wacky world of wordsmiths, we meet con-artist sisters Lisa (Alice Lowe) and Claire (Dolly Wells) as they commit the latest in their series of petty crimes and are forced to go on-the run. To keep a low profile from the pursuing authorities, they grasp at an unexpected opportunity to assume the identities of another set of sisters, who happen to be well respected bards expected at a camping trip with their creative crowd of poetry enthusiasts. Can they keep up the pretence for an entire weekend of writing and recitals, or will they be unmasked as the fraudsters they are?
The narrative is thematically deeper and darker than the other films Jamie Adams has made, and I think this is because the fun is poked at older characters with less time left to make a mess of their lives. Lisa and Claire live their lives with little direction and although there are still laughs, there is an underlying sadness that goes along with them. The Allen-esque struggling artist idea toyed with in Richard, the brooding man that comes between the sisters played by Downton Abbey’s Tom Cullen. The improvised script is playful but razor sharp as the cringe-inducing scenarios are executed naturally, avoiding the staged awkwardness that can plague comedies of the same ilk. Lowe and Wells excel in their co-leading roles, as their alter-egos enjoy screen time with one other, lampooning not just each other but everyone around them. Excellent support comes from Rosa Robson as Richard’s on-off snooty girlfriend Louise and Richard Ellis is hilarious as possibly the most Welsh man alive, Gareth Jones.
Filmed in just five days, ‘Black Mountain Poets’ is low-budget brilliance. The ‘modern romance trilogy’ has matured and gives an assured and interesting finale which has all the attributes of the predecessors and more to boot. It is tightly written and intimate yet the story unfolds on the wide and wonderful landscape of Wales’ black mountains. Despite the bizarre predicaments Jamie Adams’ characters find themselves in, they offer up a brutally amusing yet entirely relatable and down-to-earth representation of the highs and lows, or in this case the peaks and valleys, of life as a British adult who should really be settling down by now, but doesn’t quite know how.
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DVD review: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
A decade has passed since the last lightsaber battle on the silver screen, and the anticipation around the latest instalment of the franchise has been rife. ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ is the seventh episode so takes place approximately 30 years after ‘The Return of the Jedi’, revisiting the characters of the original trilogy as well as introducing a host of new faces. British rising star John Boyega stars as Finn, a stormtrooper who rebels against his master Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) to assist captured fighter pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) escape from the clutches of the dark side. Following this, Finn meets Rey (Daisy Ridley), a scavenger on the planet Jakku and together along with Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), they join forces to track down the missing Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and overturn the First Order.
Straight from the iconic opening titles, there is an air of nostalgia that is ever-present in director J.J. Abram’s foray to a galaxy far, far away, and John William’s recognisable score is used to good effect in key moments which hark back to previous incarnations. The plot has a familiar structure and retreads themes of inner conflict and ‘good versus evil’, but still feels fresh in its rejuvenation. The team of writers superbly handle the combination of using old and new characters, the story never feeling cluttered or convoluted despite there being so much going on between the grandiose action sequences and the more intimate dialogue driven duels.
A lot of pressure lies on the young shoulders of Boyega and Ridley to deliver their in their pivotal central roles, and I am pleased to say that they do. Finn, or FN-2187 to give him his stormtrooper title, is far from the stereotypical hero. He has his flaws but has a good heart and Boyega captures this depth well. Daisy Ridley is equally excellent, Ren carrying the torch for the trend of strong female characters in film. Harrison Ford brings playfulness and exuberance to proceedings, Han Solo and Chewy working well with the youngsters and recreating the team dynamic on the Millennium Falcon first established back in ‘A New Hope’. There’s an abundance of solid turns from the cast including Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson among others, each making the most of their given opportunities but Adam Driver stood out in particular in his complexly villainous portrayal of Kylo Ren, his performance putting him up there with my favourite cinema baddies of the year.
‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ lives up to the almighty hype and does enough to tick the boxes for fanboys as well as welcoming a generation of new fans along for the ride. The sentimentality might be a tad indulgent for some, but it wasn’t overdone and looks forward to the future as much as it looks back into the past. J.J. Abrams has revitalised the classic series for the 21st century, directing with bravery and skill, and with respect for the enormity of the task at hand. The force is strong with this one.
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