Black Swan

Black Swan
Starring: Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Mila Kunis
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Rating: 5 (out of 5)


Summary: Ballerina Nina (Portman) seems destined to be part of the company rather than the lead. But when Prima Ballerina Beth Mcintyre (Winona Ryder) retires, Nina is identified as her natural replacement for the new production of Swan Lake. However, new dancer Lily (Kunis) is seen as the ideal Black Swan and a twisted rivalry and friendship begins...

Black Swan is a masterpiece. Pure and simple. Aronofsky, who has again and again shown himself to be a good director, has taken a step up to the level of genius auteur. As with his previous films such as The Wrestler and Requiem for a Dream he deals with themes such as obsessive impulse and masochistic behaviour but this time fuses them into an Argento inspired, bombastic ballet body horror.

Fantastically whilst Aronofsky stamps his artistic authority all over the place, he is still able to allow the actors to develop and flourish in the atmosphere he has created. In particular former Star Wars Princess and paedo baiting assassin Natalie Portman gives an performance as Nina that quietly but intensely screams awards. As she explores her body and reaches the limits of psychological endurance, Portman's naive and fragile physicality is put on display for the camera in nearly every frame. It's a fearless and brave portrayal that deserves the plaudits.

However, the supporting performances from luminaries such as the long forgotten Barbara Hershey, Vincent Cassel as the sexed up director of Swan Lake, ex teen Queen Winona Ryder (with a slight nod to her own under fulfilled career) and even Family Guy's Meg Mila Kunis are up there competing with Portman in every frame they share. Hershey especially plays unhinged Mother with a scary glee and jealousy in her eyes.

As Nina's mind (and body) begins to unravel before our eyes, Black Swan enters a paranoid, half whispered nightmare of a world which has nods to Polanski's Rosemary's Baby in the way that it leaves the audience with an almost sickening feeling of dread and Nina with no sense of her own reality. As the pace quickens and each ballerina's twists and turns are held lovingly by Aronofsky's eye, the film culminates into a dizzying and thrilling final 20 minutes that is all at once outlandish, OTT and utterly captivating from beginning to end.

Everything about Black Swan works. The pacing is perfect, all the performances hit the right note and Aronofsky has created a film which will be regarded as a classic for a long time to come. This really is a director at the very top of his game in almost every respect. As with his previous films there are horrific elements that will leave your average Royal Opera House goer spitting out their expensive red, but as a film about the degradation of a human being in their pursuit of perfection it manages to achieve that with a staggering arrogance and swagger.

UK Release: 21st January 2011
US: Currently on a limited run in major cities before wide expansion

Catfish

Catfish
Starring: Yaniv Schulman, Megan Faccio, Ariel Schulman
Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Rating: 4 (out of 5)

Summary: In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel's brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives...

To reveal too much about Catfish would be to its detriment. It's a film where nothing is what it seems, where reality and fiction blend seamlessly and where your knowledge level is better off being at zilch. But if you do watch Catfish on a double bill with The Social Network, you'll see the actions and consequences of building the biggest social networking phenomenon of all time - because if the former was Facebook Frankenstein then the latter is certainly the monster unleashed and creating havoc.

Starting off as a documentary about an up and coming New York photographer and his online relationship with a painting child prodigy as she reproduces his photos in oils, the film takes a number of dark twists, turns and becomes so much more as the documented story unfolds. Equally creepy as it is depressingly sad, it's as if someone took the lyrics of Phil Oakley's seminal eighties classic "Together in Electric Dreams", made Radiohead do a cover and then managed to create a coherent narrative out of the resulting musical abortion.

Comparisons can, and have, been made with "Capturing the Friedmans", another documentary where the dark truth, revealed quite unwittingly, was more riveting that the initial purpose of the piece. With Catfish, the hand held camera also studies the mundane reality of modern everyday life such as constant keyboard tapping and phone conversations but manages to keep up when the truth becomes something out of the ordinary. Most importantly it's able to make it as riveting as any Hollywood drama and create a world where nothing and nobody is as they seem - whether that be online or face to face. Believe me this is a real achievement in the expanding faux documentary genre.

But despite it's occasional flourishes, Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman have been at pains to convince audiences that this is not a fake; perhaps keeping that idea of blurred reality going beyond it's release date. Personally, I'm undecided. There are moments where everything about the story seems so fantastically convenient and melodramatic - but still engaging - that the cynic in you feels duped. For instance the final 20 minutes at the home of Megan Faccio or the unnerving quality of the spooky desolate farmhouse. But most importantly none of the characters on screen feel directed or false at any point.

Perhaps it's as the old saying goes "there's nowt queer as folk", and the gallery of unusual and detached individuals that crop up in Catfish live up to that old adage in a heartbreakingly real and riveting way.

OUT 17th December

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
Starring: Per Christian Ellefsen, Onni Tommila, Peeter Jakobi
Director: Jalmari Helander
Rating: 3 (out of 5)

Summary: In the depths of the Korvanturi Mountains, 486 metres deep, lies the closest guarded secret of Christmas. The time has come to dig it up! This Christmas everyone will believe in Santa Claus...

Rare Exports is one of those films that defies a simple conversational description. It's unlike any Christmas film you've seen before and most likely will again, and leaves you slightly befuddled. I mean, what can you say about a film that includes a chase scene between a 10 year old holding on to helicopter and 200 naked octogenarians?

Something that is obvious amongst all the snowbound mayhem is Exports subversive and successful depiction of the Santa Claus mythology. Depicting him as a child hoarding demon buried deep within an almost fairytale mountain, the screenwriters aren't slaves to Santa convention and even add a late in the game twist that reinvigours the film in the last half hour. The "rules" surrounding this back story mean the film makers can add quirky touches, such as radiators and the stolen hairdryers of the local ladies being used to thaw out the bearded anti-hero, giving the audience appropriate and timely laughs amongst the fearful hushed whispers of the villagers on screen.

Also adding gravitas to proceedings are the cast of child actors, especially Onni Tommila as Santa fearing Pietari. They all give fantastic, comically sweet turns as industrious heroes and sobbing victims alike. Taking arms, disobeying the rules and coming of age in a hostile environment, they're the resourceful, brave kids you remember from the films of yesteryear.

When striped to the core and exposed, at it's very heart its the tale of childhood innocence winning out over the adult cynicism - just as every Christmas movie should be - but this central theme is unable to develop fully under the weight of the unusual pacing, changes in tone and the director's inability to settle on a theme and stick. To use a Christmas metaphor (it is December after all) the chaos of what's up on screen is akin to receiving a Michael McIntyre DVD for a present - not as funny and clever as it thinks it is or needs to be.

There are also no stand out, stocking dropping moments. Of course its unusual, strange and twisted but it's lack of subtlety from beginning to end, coupled with a number of undercooked central characters - usually the adults - mean that you never really feel anything above the occasional smirk and mild interest in how the story will pan out for those involved.

Rare by name, rare by nature. Exports is a mish mash of horror, comedy, adventure, coming of age tale and Christmas flick that's enthused with a typical Scandinavian dark quirkiness but ultimately fails to wrap them into a anything other than a wannabe cult movie package.

OUT 3rd December

brilliantlove

brilliantlove
Starring: Liam Browne, Nancy Trotter Landry
Director: Ashley Horner
Rating: 1 (out of five)

Summary: Manchester is a novice photographer, Noon, a shy taxidermist. Over a sweltering summer, Manchester documents their love affair, creating wonderfully charged, erotic images. Then he gets discovered - and the art world closes in on their idyll. Can this intimate, carnal relationship survive public exposure?

Where to start with brilliantlove? Likened to Michael Winterbottom's 9 Songs with less Franz Ferdinand - which could only be a good thing - the story of a neurotic taxidermist and her ice pop dildo loving photographer boyfriend spends more time tucking on cocks than the heartstrings.

In all fairness, Director Ashley Horner doesn't have much to work with and he does manage to create interesting, dreamlike, summertime images out of the remnants of a turgid script which tries to comment on the exploitative nature of the art world but instead creates caricatures as readily as a Blackpool Pier cartoonist. Main protagonists Noon (Trotter Landry) and Manchester (Browne) for instance are naive to the point of extreme irritation - spending their days finding dead animals to stuff and indulging in self obsession and onanism. They vaguely sit halfway between 1970's hippie cliches and modern day East London fashion zombies and are doubling frustrating as that sounds.

Holding the film together are the much vaunted sex scenes and they are of an extremely strong nature - with the human body and all the fluids therein shown in all their effervescent glory. But the babbling nonsense spoken by Noon and Manchester whilst indulging themselves means they never touch the erotic nature of the body or even get close to showing "brilliantlove", in fact any point trying to be made about the true nature of love is simply an after thought.

By the time Manchester's innocent "art" is hijacked by filthy rich, cold capitalists - in the guise of pornographers if you were struggling to keep up with the labyrinthine metaphors - the couple's reckless abandonment becomes sexually stranger and even more irritatingly surreal. Although for all the masturbating over each other, catching frogs in buckets and taking of mind bending drugs in wooded areas, it all seems rather cliched and pedestrian, which is another problem with Sean Conway's lightweight script which wants to be controversial for controversials sake.

Brilliantlove is nominated for a Raindance Award at the British Independent Film Awards and good luck to it, because in a category that awards films "made against the odds", Director Ashley Horner certainly deserves it. I don't believe the point with brilliantlove was to side with the obvious villains of the piece but you wouldn't mind if Noon and Manchester were taught a tough lesson about life and love, and taught it quite aggressively. Maybe a few times. Via a Peeping Tom style tripod fitted with dildos.

OUT November 12

LFF Screening - Howl

Howl
Starring: James Franco, David Strathairn, John Hamm
Director: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
Rating: 3 and a half (out of 5)

Summary: San Francisco 1957, and the obscenity trial of poet Allan Ginsberg's Howl - a masterpiece of the American beatnik counter culture - is in full swing. As the trial unfolds, we see the poetry brought to life via animation and Ginsberg's own performances...

A film which attempts an audacious mixture of animation, courtroom drama and biopic, Howl can be dizzying a lot of the time but it's able to convey the raw power and emotion of Ginsberg's poetry and it's effects on 1950's America seamlessly and with humour, beauty and pathos in spades.

As the film recreates Ginsberg's performances from backstreet beatnik bars to his candid autobiographical audio interviews from the era, it takes a captivating and idiosyncratic performance from James Franco to provide a lynchpin for a narrative that on occasion takes obscure but beautifully produced flights of fancy. In each rage filled poem recital Franco fantastically recreates Ginsberg's voice but also his movements, his poetic gestures and gait to the waiting hordes of horn-rimmed glasses, bottles of scrumpy and black suited introspective beatniks. Whilst to many this may seem simply an impression, and many at the screening who knew Ginsberg praised this, Franco is also able to show a tender streak during depictions of Ginsberg's sexual shyness and awakening. As an actor, he has come of age over the past few years and the real movie star potential, which has been seen in small glimpses before, is now coming to fruition.

As the poetry unfolds, animation – inspired by Eric Drooker's illustrations from a collaboration with Ginsberg in 1992 - blazes across the screen and brings the verbose descriptions of “angel-headed hipsters” leading a sexual, cultural and drug induced revolution to life. Apparently these vivid, colourful and LSD inspired pieces were produced “on the cheap” in Thailand, give the animators a raise because they depict the work expertly, not being too literal but leaving everything open to interpretation – like good art should.

Where the film falls down is director's Epstein and Friedman's inability to bring the same creativity to the stuffiness of the courtroom and the reenactment of obscenity trials that brought Ginsberg's work into the conscious of more people than your usual counter culture poet could have dreamed of. That bastion of 1950's Americana, Mad Men's John Hamm, plays the council for the defence with his usual lantern jawed strength and bland charm, whilst the prosecution led by David Strathairn gives a certain experience and wry comedic timing but smacks of lazy casting. The courtroom occasionally lights up, for example when stiff “literary expert” Mary Louise Parker as Gail Potter gives her two minute cameo but unfortunately it leaves you wanting more surprise witnesses who are just as exciting - and sadly they're never forthcoming.

Despite Ginsberg and Howl being as alien a concept to me as an early night and a cup of cocoa is to a beatnik, it's frank but imaginative depiction of his work and Franco's performance are mesmerising. At many points in the film I found myself closing my eyes but not down to tiredness, rather the dream like quality of the animation and the need to let this new discovery wash over me. If you're a newcomer to this world then Howl is thoroughly recommended as your first step on the ladder to a world of bespectacled black suits and sexual revolution.

Viva Le Phallus!

Release Date TBC

Mary and Max

Mary and Max
Starring: Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Humphries, Eric Bana
Director: Adam Elliot
Rating: 4 (out of 5)

Summary: Set in the mid 1970's, Mary Dinkle is a lonely, 8 year old, only child to an alcoholic Mother and a distracted Father. One day she randomly finds a name in the New York phone book and writes a letter to Max Horowitz - a fellow chocolate loving, loner. So starts a 20 year pen pal relationship between the two...

Australian cinema usually has the danger of falling into two categories: an “offbeat” comedy (see Muriels Wedding, Priscilla Queen of the Desert , Strictly Ballroom and even Crocodile Dundee) or something which uses the desolate landscape to fantastic effect (see Max Max, Wolf Creek,Picnic at Hanging Rock and even Crocodile Dundee again). Mary and Max takes these two facets of the antipodean film industry and fashions them into a beautiful, heartfelt and emotional claymation movie. Mary and Max may be a tough sell to the mainstream cinema going audience but it's well worth the critical adulation it is receiving.

Despite the dark twists and turns taken by Mary and Max – dealing with unrequited love, suicide, self help groups, bullying and a 15 certificate in the UK – there are life lessons in there which transcend geography and age boundaries. Because of this there have been comparison's with Harold and Maude but this film is less preoccupied with morbidity and it's humour (what would expect with Dame Edna herself Barry Humphries narrating) is more in the toilet category than the subtle.

However, rather than being a criticism this actually works for the world director Adam Elliot has created. Filled with brilliantly eccentric characters and one in which the day to day problems of a lonely 8 year old are just as important as those of an Asberger's suffering middle aged man.

Vocally, Philip Seymour Hoffman is on fantastically world weary form as Max. Each syllable he types seeming as tired and heavy as the body he is pulling around. Toni Collette as older Mary is both giddily happy and sad but underused, even when the film begins to turn as dark as the chocolate they both love so much. The real standout is young unknown Bethany Whitmore as young Mary, dealing with the death of her father and constantly being put upon by those around her, she is tragically sweet and innocent.

Clay animation is not something that is seen very often on the big screen, it's usually confined to the odd Wallace and Gromit feature at Christmas or Tony Hart's desk. It can seem twee and perhaps too childlike to deal with bigger existential issues in more than just a passing subtlety but Mary and Max hits them head on like nihilistic Play Doe. In the final third it begins to lose its way as it revels in darker territory without the laughs of the first half, but it's unlike many things you'll see this year and convinces as much as any live action feature on similar subjects.

LFF Screening - Let Me In

Let Me In
Starring: Chloe Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Richard Jenkins
Director: Matt Reeves
Rating: 3 (out of 5)

Summary: In a remake of the flawless Swedish original "Let The Right One In", "Let Me In" tells the story of Owen (Smit-McPhee), bullied at school and friendless whose life takes a turn for the better when Abby (Moretz) moves in next door. Their friendship builds into something more when Owen gradually discovers the terrifying and bloody truth...

Let The Right One In was such a beautifully shot and haunting movie that an American remake does come with a certain critical baggage; European snobbishness citing the fact that those imbecilic American's should learn how to read subtitles before getting their Hollywood sanitiser factories to repackage films.

This time around the setting is 1980's America meaning it all seems so familiar even if you weren't living in Genericville, USA at the time. Reeves plays upon this pop culture familiarity by drawing on themes that Spielberg would have been pushing back in the days of Boy George: the break up of the family,the resulting disenfranchised youth, the father like figure of Reagan on the flickering 20 inch colour TV and even a homage to Close Encounters during Richard Jenkins first kill at a rail crossing. At times this can bring some humorous, nostalgic moments but as is the problem with the increased focus on horror convention, it doesn't quite fit with the central theme of friendship and loyalty.

The decision to not stray too far from the original structure can sometimes fill you with a sense of deja vu and both young leads work amicably with what they are given – The Road's Smit-McPhee in particular building on his burgeoning reputation – but they rarely move beyond imitations of the previous, young cast. As remakes go, cinematographer Greig Fraser and director Matt Reeves seem to have taken the Gus Van Sant “if it ain't broke” Psycho route. Pacing and mise en scene taking their cue from the first with much of the frame lit with the same orange hues of street lamps, saturated white of the snow and vibrant red of blood as it's Swedish counterpart.

In fact the vibrant blood red is something which Reeves seems to be particularly enamoured with as he shows severed necks, gaping open wounds and acid coated faces with bloody glee. This preoccupation with making the subtle horror of the original the main focus this time around works on occasion – fleshing out Abbie's (Moretz) “Father” (Jenkins) character for example with a remorseful, slasher-lite back story – but most of the time creates problems with the dynamic between the two young leads, eventually overawing their slow burning journey from timid friends to life companions with blood and sweat but a severe lack of tears.

Despite the many millions no doubt ploughed into this remake, it struggles to keep the childlike charm of the original but does add more in the way of horror and humour. Some will find that appealing but when the original was almost pitch perfect, this is a clash of movie culture in which no one wins.

LFF Opening Night - Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley
Director: Mark Romanek
Rating: 4 (out of 5)

Summary: As children, Ruth, Kathy and Tommy, spend their childhood at a seemingly idyllic English boarding school. As they grow into young adults, they find that they have to come to terms with the strength of the love they feel for each other, while preparing themselves for the haunting reality that awaits them...

Putting together a trio of rising British talent, two of which have had mainstream success and one of which is about to, Never Let Me Go takes their fresh faces and places them into a tale about life, death and the complication that is love whilst also adding a touch of almost Orwellian science fiction.

Despite the nature of the narrative, Never Let Me Go manages to not get bogged down in the murky ethics of the morbid tale its telling. Rather it revels in the personal journeys of Ruth, Kathy and Tommy as they bear their souls to each other – despite the assertion by the powers that be that they have no souls to begin with.

Attempting to describe the beauty of the piece is difficult to do without spoiling it in the process, but needless to say that despite director Mark Romanek's tendency to be heavy handed with his metaphorical screen representations, he has put together a film which is poignant and above all fragile. Managing to make simple interactions between the leads and people around them sinister, tinged with sadness but without being manipulative – which was an issue with a film such as My Sister's Keeper for example.

This fragility is embodied by all three leads but especially in Carey Mulligan's performance. An Education showed off her ability to play doe eyed innocence with ease but Never Let Me Go adds a world weariness and weight which her porcelain features belie. Andrew Garfield, has the capacity to play tormented with such ease and affability that it borders on the sociopathic and Keira Knightly, perhaps wishing to show young upstart Mulligan that she is also an Oscar nominated actress, is competent enough as the jealous best friend and lover to earn her “and” in the credits. However unfortunately for her, the character is underwritten and her motivations remain unexplored.

The child actors portraying these three leads are also fantastically cast. Yes, they certainly look like them but their performances are more than simply extensions of the adult performers. They add traits that are hard to shake off and they will stay with you throughout the film. It's not often that Casting Directors are praised but they should be here.

Never Let Me Go blends elements of horror, science fiction and romance perfectly. There are occasional plot holes that are unexplained but you forgive that when you're so involved in the story between the three leads unfolding before you. There is a real team effort on display which should translate into deserved awards come next year.

The Social Network

The Social Network
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer
Director: David Fincher
Rating: 5 (out of 5)

Summary: Mark Zuckerberg, student of Harvard University and computer genius, creates the worldwide phenomenon Facebook from the comfort of his dorm room at Harvard University. As the site grows in popularity Mark finds himself in two separate lawsuits. It seems even with 500 million virtual friends you can still have enemies...

Laggards may scoff at this film about Facebook, the current cultural phenomenon at the peak of its networking power, but the tale of it's genesis from the dorm rooms of Harvard to the bedrooms of every man, woman and child in the western world is as old as the carrier pigeon. So old that screenwriter Aaron Sorkin has been at pains to point out that it's themes of betrayal, jealousy and friendship could have been written by Shakespeare or Chayefsky. This may sound like Sorkin starting to believe his own golden award enriched hype but there's an element of truth in his deserved self-aggrandising.

Director David Fincher, sometimes prone to brilliant and artistic flights of fancy in films such as Fight Club, plays a steady hand here by letting Sorkin's quick fire script roll off the tongues of the leads and push the narrative with every sardonic quip and computer jargon soliloquy. It really is a testament to the mutually beneficial partnership between director and screenwriter that when The Social Network moves it's attention from computer screen to litigation room via three separate testimonies and perspectives like a Ritalin starved 14 year old, it is still able to hold your attention throughout. Of course there are the odd Fincher touches and themes, the exclusive frat party which is shot like one of Tyler Durden's wet dreams and his constant penchant for dark, autumnal, desk lamp lighting for example, but really this is an Aaron Sorkin film with the auteur Fincher providing a beautifully lit blank screen for typing.

Facebook itself plays a relative backseat in proceedings, Sorkin all too aware that placing the website front and centre would be as interesting as accepting Farmville invites every two minutes. Instead the website's creator Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) is the focus of attention. His inability to be included in the hierarchy of the American higher education system, be that via the exclusive rowing clubs or romantically with female classmates, the catalyst for the ironic creation of this all inclusive behemoth.

Eisenberg's portrayal of Zuckerberg as a computer genius outsider with borderline Asbergers is engagingly restrained , neurotic and amusing in equal measure. Each million he makes and each friend request he accepts taking him further away from any semblance of real life and real friends. There are also stand out performances from Andrew Garfield as the frustrated friend, exascerbated admirer and co-worker Eduardo Saverin and Justin Timberlake as Napster creator Sean Parker. Timberlake especially enjoying the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of Zuckerberg's genius with Iago like arsehole zeal and cowardice.

The Social Network is an almost perfect film that packages the early 21^st century version of the American Dream in a simple and engaging morality tale. Zuckerberg's rise from dorm room Bill Gates to owner of a $25 billion company playing like an out of control monster movie. It's Alive!

Interview - Simon Rumley

Red, White and Blue is a hard hitting, psycho-sexual tale from British director Simon Rumley which has played to packed houses across the US and the UK at various film festivals and consequently garnered rave reviews from many a critic with its unflinching take on life. It's currently on a limited theatrical release in the States and I sat down with the director to discuss the casting process, the problems within the UK film industry and the beautiful city of Austin, Texas:

For the first hour I wondered where it was going. It had been deemed a horror movie and even though the experiences of the protagonists were horrific, it didn't adhere to horror convention. Then the final 40 minutes blew me away. How difficult was it to get the pacing just right in a film like this?

Once I read the script then the film usually just follows but we were certainly aware that it was a film of two halves. In fact we described it as Larry Clark meets Wes Craven and in the context of my last three films – which were very much Richard Linklater or Eric Rohmer in style – the second half is more like a genre film. So there are things in terms of editing, camera work and music...

The score was fantastic by the way...

The composer Richard (Chester, who also composed Rumley's previous movies) and I have worked together four times now and he's always an integral part of my films, but getting back to your original question, the camera literally doesn't move for the first hour. In fact I think the first time it moves is when Erica (Amanda Fuller) is being abducted in the country bar. The camera is being pushed forward by Noah Taylor's character in the second half so that's one way the pacing is affected – it's a very sparse film up until that point.

Amanda Fuller is again a real stand out in this film. She gives an incredibly vulnerable performance, did she audition for the role or was she in mind from the start?

I spoke to three actresses, some known, that were intrigued by the script but in the end said no. So we tried casting in Austin, Texas when we were there but in the end we did an open casting in LA. We had about 50 people read for the part but Amanda was the only one that from the first time we saw her do her stuff it was obvious from the movement in her face and the emotion conveyed even in the audition that she was the one for the role.

As I said she really puts herself out there. Physically its tough, she wears no make up for instance...

She was amazing. A fantastic actress, a lovely, instinctive person – which not all actors are. But she understood the role and the character. She really connected with her. Amanda had watched my previous film (The Living and The Dead) so she trusted me and the cinematographer Milton Kam and was an intelligent person to work with.

Was Noah Taylor the person you always wanted for the role of Nate?

He was the first person we actually cast. We made a list of names of who we wanted for the role and he was one of the top ones and I was really keen to work with him. I mean he's won the Australian version of the Baftas five times! But he's open to working to a tight schedule. I got in contact with his agent and asked if Noah could read the script in the next two days before I head to Austin and if he liked it could he meet with me a few days after that and then could he make a decision quickly. The agent said yes to all of it!

He wanted to make sure it wasn't going to be another Hostel or Saw in terms of gratuitous violence. I assured him it wouldn't be and he came on board. It was fantastic for me because I've been watching him since the age of 16 in films like the year my voice broke and always wanted to work with him.


Why did you choose Austin as the location for Red,White and Blue? It's got a big film fraternity down there...

A few reasons really. One being that my last few films have all been made in the UK and unless you want to make some kind of gangster movie or a period drama it doesn't seem there's a lot else out there. At the moment there's nothing original coming out of the place. Also, England isn't seen as a world class film playing nation. So if you're doing an indie film at the best of times it's difficult. I think for an English film to work you need to get distribution in the UK and then they have to do a good job marketing it and then there's word of mouth – there are constant hurdles. You're relying on distributors who don't get behind your films.

So I wanted to go to America because it's where you need to go if you have any ambition to make films frankly. At least you know if its American it has more chance of getting out there.

I picked Austin specifically because my last film The Living and The Dead played at Fantastic Fest a couple of years ago and went down well. I stayed with Carrie and Tim League and when you get on the circuit you tend to see the same people at the same events so we all made friends pretty quickly. At some point I said to Tim “If I come to Austin to shoot a film would you help me out?” He replied “Yeah, but I'm not going to give you any money but i'll do anything else.” When you talk about the Austin film community Tim's a lynch pin. I knew if I had him behind me then he could sort out a lot of things in a way that someone who had just stepped off the plane from England couldn't. He was invaluable. For instance he used his cinema website to source a car from the locals for a specific character.

It sounds like an Austin community effort...

It really was. Everyone is really friendly. It's kinda the lost bastion of hippydom but in a positive way. Austin is between Hippy and Punk. People are creative and they're doing it because they like it rather than they want to be successful. Money isn't an issue, folk hang out and dig creativity. It's a lovely place in that respect. There aren't many places like that in the world anymore.


Red,White and Blue is currently on a limited release in across the US and is also available On Demand from IFC Midnight films.

Interview - Robin Mcleavy

Robin Mcleavy is currently the toast of the horror circuit with her breakthrough performance in Australian horror The Loved Ones. She plays unhinged, torture loving Lola – the schoolgirl you don't want to say no too. Unhinged and sexy all in one, I managed to get 10 minutes with her to discuss nailing penises and the best way to approach a love scene with your Dad...

I loved it. Watched it on a sunny Sunday afternoon in my flat and it scared the shit out of me – especially your performance. You’re probably getting lots of plaudits for what you’ve done with the role...

It was one of those roles that’s so much fun to play. Lola is such a great character that I had a great time working on it.

How did you get the part? Did you have to audition?

Yeah, I originally auditioned for the part of Mia (Goth sister of one of Lola’s victims) and then they asked me to come back in and read for Lola, which I was really happy about because I really related...hold up...not related...

You better keep that to yourself. You don’t want to tell people that!

I don’t want to be typecast!

You didn’t go all “method” did you?

(laughs) I definitely did not go method! I was terrified and thought to myself “if I go method on this I would need to be institutionalised”. I did read a book called “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” by Neurologist Oliver Sacks and he described all his patient's mental disabilities in a really poetic way rather than clinically. It really was great source for me to draw from. He describes his patients feeling dangerously well when entering a period of violent instability. They feel colourful and ecstatic...

That comes across in the film with the use of vibrant colours in Lola’s room, the bright pinks for example...

Yeah, I really wanted to give Lola a sense of fun instead of making it...you know - too horrific.

It’s usually the case that characters like Lola have been pushed over the edge, bullied at school and suddenly just snap but you don’t really see her in that environment and that’s what I liked about her – she’s never been told “No” she’s not the victim...

Well certainly not by her father, who’s given her everything her heart has ever desired - including young, male victims. But I would have loved to have seen more of Lola’s school life, you know how someone like that would function in that environment is interesting.

I would loved to have seen her dropped into Mean Girls, you are slightly like an unhinged Lindsey Lohan, which is pretty much what Lindsey Lohan is most of the time anyway, but in the fictional sense...

Yeah! (laughs)

You mentioned briefly the relationship with her father (played by John Brompton) how did you two go about getting the right mix between perverted and loving father?

We spent time together trying to figure out what their dynamic was and how much they would touch and that was the key. We never touch in the movie except for just before we start torturing Brent. We wanted to keep a distance because the feelings we had for each other were taboo. It was a very strange process attempting to get the knowingness and tension between them.

The scene when you demand Brent urinates otherwise you'll put a nail through his penis, I was on the edge of my seat clutching my testicles. Luckily my other half didn't walk in otherwise I would have to have done some explaining...

(laughs) I know! My boyfriend was very disturbed by it and he looked at me very differently – it was weird for a few hours.

How do you think it will play overseas? Because it's not so Australian that it would be inaccessible to other countries

Horror always has the ability, especially comedy horror, to transcend national boundaries. There's a formula that fans can relate to and the dialogue is quite sparse in The Loved Ones. Also, I wouldn't say it was a quintessentially Australian film either and the characters – apart from Lola – are extremely down to earth and just regular teenagers.

There seems to be a real appetite for Australian film at the moment, especially horror, do you think Australia lends itself to this genre?

Definitely, its just the fact that we're quite isolated and that comes across in our films. The characters are in the middle of nowhere and against the elements. Lola and Brent obviously live out of town and there is definitely the sense that if you run, you don't know where you'll be running to.

The Loved Ones is out in the UK in October and it's native Australia in November.

London Film Festival Screening: The American

The American
Starring: George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten
Director: Anton Corbijn
Rating: 2 and a half (out of 5)

Summary: An American assassin (Clooney) finds himself holed up in the Italian countryside after his previous assignment in Sweden ends abruptly and violently. Tempted out for a final small assignment by his usual contact, he finds that a hit man can never truly leave his old life without sacrifice...

The American will be a tough sell to a mainstream audience, the morose mood premeating each scene and the languid Italian afternoon tone of Corbijn's direction slowing the film to a snails pace; excitement is few and far between. Imagine Leon the Professional cleaning his window box on a Sunday afternoon and you've pretty much got where the film stands amongst the pantheon of spy thrillers.

Clooney, looking more like Cary Grant with each film that passes, manages to look great in a number of fine cut Italian suits and Prada knitwear but his gloomy and self pitying character Jack (or his alias Edward) stands out like a sore thumb in back water Italy. Whether it's sitting in restaurants, in cafes, picnicking by a beautiful stream and frequently visiting brothels, for someone so paranoid he really is awfully trusting. At least Cary had the good sense to wear sunglasses.

As the film unfolds, Clooney questions his own existence, wakes up in the middle of the night in cold sweats, falls in love with the hooker with the heart of gold and suspects everyone as being a potentially Swedish hitman. As a cold bastard with pangs for a normal life, Clooney really pulls it off, the pain of one too many taken lives etched all over his face - even if he is having a well earned espresso whilst wallowing.

Director Anton Corbijn, ex music video director extraordinaire and the vision behind Joy Division biopic Control, decides to take time off from his rock 'n' roll sensibilities to show as much dramatic tension on screen as a Daniel O' Donnell production. This isn't so much of a problem when surveying the beautiful surroundings like a postcard but when he attempts to imitate The Third Man by filming the dangerous cobbled, back streets it's as blunt in it's execution as attempting assassination with a butter knife. Corbijn's mishandling of the piece is a big problem with The American - It's too Hollywood, it's too slick and for most of the film it's simply chocolate box paranoia.

Over the course of 105 minutes The American becomes an indifferent watch. It has no heart and to coin a cliche (which this film revels in by the way, kindly old Italian priests?) it has no soul. I've heard of a slow burner but this never even lights.

The American is showing as part of the "Film on the Square" season at the London Film Festival
It is on general release in the UK from 26th November

Winter's Bone

Winter's Bone
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Lauren Sweetser
Director: Debra Granik
Rating:4 (out of 5)

Summary: 17 year old Ree Dolly looks after her house bound Mother and siblings whilst attempting to locate her drug dealing Father - who has put up their home as collateral for his bail and unless he turns up at trial in a week they will lose the property...

It seems appropriate that at a time of seized property and increased squalor, Winter's Bone is released - a film that shows the darker side of the American dream, one of an increasing hard drug culture and the ever changing landscape of the old west.

Set in the isolated Ozark Mountains, director Debra Granik uses the setting to great effect. It's windswept, barren and destitute. Full of burnt out buildings and burnt out people, its ripe for horror conventions but Granik, a newcomer by industry standards, shows a world with rules and a code of honour that is not be broken. Sure, this may manifest itself in violent ways but it is not violence for violence sake rather to protect the status quo.

Ree's (Jennifer Lawrence) journey to find her father is constantly hampered by various characters attempting to uphold this code. Going from house to house, she waits for answers and when they're not forthcoming she's handed a hot drink or cash and told to be on her way. But her devotion to her Mother and siblings is such that even though it inevitably means violence against her, she keeps on trying. This dichotomy between the code and doing what's right is at the centre of this film and watching it unfold is tough but extremely rewarding viewing.

Without a strong central lead the film would have fallen apart and Jennifer Lawrence delivers in spades. Showing the same homely courageousness of an early Jodie Foster performance, she is the heart and soul of the piece. There has been Oscar hype about this breakthrough performance for the past few months and it is certainly justified. Like Calamity Jane in a Larry Clark movie, she's mentally fragile, selfless and tough as nails all at the same time.

Plaudits must also go to stalwart character actor John Hawkes as Uncle Teardrop. Personifying the moral and immoral battle at the centre of the film, he's a violent man who uses cocaine like chewing tobacco but still wants to help Ree resolve her problem and exact revenge on those who have caused the situation for her. Hawkes has been in many features over the past 20 years but never got recognition for his talents, hopefully this will finally see that happen for him.

As the film enters the final 15 minutes, it begins to take a turn into horror territory as the truth is finally uncovered. However, this isn't enough to take you out of the story and it in fact shows the limits of Ree's character. Again, Jennifer Lawrence delivers the goods and holds your attention whilst Director Debra Granik doesn't shy away from the tense reality of the situation.

Winter's Bone may not play at the multiplex for too long but its worth your time and money. As one young woman's personal journey its fantastic and as a story about family, selfless acts and standing up for those you love it's even better.

To be a Pilgrim...

Scott Pilgrim vs The World
Starring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Edgar Wright
Rating: 4 (out of 5)

Summary: 22 year old, school girl dating, bass playing Scott Pilgrim falls in love with the mysterious and alluring Ramona Flowers. Unfortunately for him however she has seven evil exes who he must do battle with in order to win her heart...

Edgar Wright's distinctive crash bang visceral style meets it's ideological and visual soul partner with the adaptation of graphic novelettes Scott Pilgrim. They compliment each other perfectly as Wright takes his cue from the computer game visuals of many a Street Fighter and Donkey Kong, with 1ups and coins aplenty, and fills the screen with easily accessible comedy and romance.

Let's get this straight though, if you think Scott Pilgrim will be the film that makes the cult mainstream you would be wrong, it plays to the geek crowd like William Shatner fan dancing in a storm trooper outfit and doesn't compromise it's outsider sensibilities to be easily digestible fodder for the masses. Just like those who worship the pixilated ground Super Mario walks on, Michael Cera as Scott isn't witty, physically strong or verbose but is a daydreamer forever living in his own id and taking a physical and mental pounding because of his love for Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) - who herself is the pinnacle of the anti-heroine.

The supporting cast is a who's who of up and coming Hollywood talent. Recently Oscar-nominated Anna Kendrick as Scott's sister is the stand out. After my initial reservations about her in the Twilight series, she is starting to be cast in films that really show her undoubted talent. Kieran Culkin as Scott's gay housemate Wallace reaches the nadir of snippy sarcasm which was bearing fruit as early as Igby Goes Down and shaggy ginger drummer Kim (Alison Pill) is as scary as any ex whilst aggressively smashing away.

Where Scott Pilgrim vs The World really earns its full health bar and invincible stars though are the hyperactive fight scenes. Filled with a rich, sugar enthused vein of pop rocking explosions and kung fu, each fight has its own distinctive style and fighter powers. Superman Brandon Routh as Vegan rocker and ex number four Todd Ingram especially revels in the pantomime villainy of the occasion whilst Edgar Wright punctuates each face off with all the "Zaps" and "Pows" of a nostalgic Adam West giving the occasion its grounding in the hyper real.

Scott Pilgrim vs The World is fun. Fun with a capital F. This is how you should approach comic book adaptations, with a real love and understanding of the original. Edgar Wright has taken the source material and rolled in it like a pig in the pop proverbial and provided a wet dream inducing mega film for the socially awkward gamer in all of us.

OUT NOW

Please not another guys...

The Other Guys
Starring: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Samuel L Jackson, Dwayne Johnson
Director: Adam Mckay
Rating: 2 and a half (out of 5)

Summary: Infamous NYPD Detectives Danson (Dwayne Johnson) and Highsmith (Jackson) are the best in the force and the toast of city. After their unusual, unfortunate deaths in the line of duty, not so infamous Detectives Gamble (Ferrell) and Hoitz (Wahlberg) decide to take up the mantle of hero cops and stop simply being nobodies. Or The Other Guys...

Starting with a high speed chase through the streets of New York and continuing the high octance action spills and thrills over the course of the first 10 minutes, The Other Guys sets out its stall early on with the knowing banter between unlikely comedy duo Jackson and Johnson. In fact, killing them off so soon into the film, like a bad punchline to a killer set up, means the film struggles to hit that momentum again over the course of the ensuing 100 minutes - as Ferrell and Wahlberg struggle to generate an ounce of the same chemistry.

Which is a shame because at the heart of The Other Guys is an old fashioned mismatched buddy cop comedy that could have been so much more. With its intimidating ensemble cast which includes an underused Steve Coogan, Michael Keaton as a ball busting Captain and Eva Mendes as Ferrell's glamorous wife - and the subject of an increasingly unfunny and repetitive joke - everything was set for one of those "laugh out loud a minute" films that the bus advertising and TV spots promise so often.

Unfortunately this isn't so much laugh out loud a minute more nod off a minute as the jokes become lamer, the action more tired and the nonsensical plot stretched to a "huh?" breaking point. Director Adam McKay managed to capture the hearts, minds and collective funny bones of a generation with Anchorman and he has struggled in three Ferrell celluloid collaborations since then to repeat the trick. They obviously enjoy working together, their numerous shorts on Funny or Die testify to this, but it's time to end this partnership. The magic has gone and I don't think it will return.

Compare it to an abusive, co dependent relationship. McKay feeds Ferrell's habit at the expense of our viewing pleasure. Allowing him to ad lib on countless occasions to the detriment of character development because, yes even in a comedy, you need to have some kind of connection with the audience. At least being likeable would have been a start. As the ad libs become more and more obscure, to the point of pop culture surrealism, I laughed less and less and so did everyone else.

A vanity project with no heart, if Anchorman was lightning in a bottle then The Other Guys is shit in a test tube.

Low morale with Miral

Miral
Starring: Freida Pinto, Hiam Abbass, Alexander Siddig, Willem Dafoe
Director: Julian Schnabel
Rating: 3 (out of 5)

Summary: On her way to work, Hind Husseini (Hiam Abbass) comes across 55 orphan children wandering in the street. Unwilling to walk away, she takes them home to give them food and shelter . Within six months, those 55 have grown to almost 2000, and Hind transforms her family's house into the Dar Al-Tifl Al-Arabi Institute...

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly director Julian Schnabel makes a rare misfire with Miral, although visually the story is arresting and the acting bound to gain plaudits come awards season, politically the film has an agenda which doesn't sit well with the overarching theme of education being the key component of cultural harmony.

Hiam Abbass's Yoda like performance as Jind Husseini, imparting wisdom and safety to her ever increasing number of lost school children, holds the film together for the first 40 minutes. Her mission to educate in extremely trying historical and political circumstances is so feel good and inspirational that it manages to make Willem Dafoe seem cuddly. The story, slow burning and compelling, begins to take a turn for the worse when the conflict becomes more aggressive and the politics of both sides become more ingrained in the minds of the young people who struggle to understand the strength of the violence around them.

Schnabel shoots the film with all the care and attention the subject matter deserves, showing the beauty of the region and the people whilst also not pulling away from the full horror that they are faced with daily - Israeli soldiers and tanks violently breaking up a makeshift street English class being a scene that beautifully plays out - but unfortunately he is let down by an adaptation that eventually falls under the weight of its own convoluted narrative structure and is unsure in which direction to take the story.

This lack of focus is evident in the character development of Miral, played by the ever radiant Frieda Pinto. Even though her political activism and the resulting mental and physical brutality is told in detail, her background and family life is rushed through quickly and not afforded the same care. The story of her Mother is undercooked, with her being in prison one minute and then marrying and cheating on her new husband the next. Also the choices of her Father to keep certain facts and truths from her is again played out almost begrudgingly.

As proceedings move away from the school and into the murky world of politics, Miral makes all the wrong choices, picks the wrong allies and despite the films assertion that education is key to disarming fanaticism, Schnabel doesn't appear to have the same idea - spending most of his time creating a thriller that doesn't sit well with the stirring opening half. Of course, as the reality of the political situation moves through the decades there are bound to be shifts in tone but Hiam Abbass's performance is so pitch perfect that moving her to second fiddle is a misstep.

The Israeli conflict contains so many tragic and uplifting personal stories that it's a shame that Miral starts off as riveting, low key stuff and then turns into political grand standing for the final reel. Colours are certainly tied to masts by those involved and the final scenes of broken agreements and two faced politicians leaves a bad taste in the mouth of a film which, just like the bureaucrats, promised so much but most of the time fails to deliver.

OUT 3rd December