children of men

this isn't like my previous movie reviews, this one was done for my A level media course in summer 2oo7. to say the least i'm rather proud of it. without further explanation (because it's a large document in itself) here's what i wrote.

Modern Dystopian Films Seem to Have Moved Away from Their Cult Status and Now Occupy a Place in the Mainstream. Discuss with Reference to Children of Men

Introduction

Dystopian film, the sub-genre of sci-fi, has featured in films since the beginning of the 20th century. Dystopians are typically characterised by their bleak vision of the future, either through totalitarianistic states, post-apocalyptic events, or even a change in society that has alienated people that, in contrast to our civilisation, makes them inhumane. The number of dystopian films has grown each decade, along with their popularity. This may be because advancements in special effects has made it easier to create locations and technology seen in films, or even because fear has grown in our society due to the varied development of media texts. Despite their negative storylines, less than appealing visions of the future, and non-Hollywood endings, their appeal is still growing. In recent years they have moved away from their ‘cult’ status and into mainstream cinema. ‘Children of Men’ is a good example of a new age dystopian. Through it’s filming techniques, attention to detail, relevance to our current political climate, social commentary and it’s modestly hopeful ending, it has become a film which can be watched by a larger and more accessible audience than it’s predecessors

Social Commentary

One of the main reasons dystopians exist is any text is to convey a message to the receiving audience. Dystopian novels were written because the author has observed, or believed they have observed an injustice or unbalanced social responsibility in the system, a problem that they believe will escalate into a catastrophe that would change our futures for the worst. ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ by Margaret Atwood was a protest of equal rights in 1980’s America, a male dominated society that could one day revoke all the rights they were forced to give to women. George Orwell’s ‘1984’ was a novel against Stalinist communism and the looming threat of totalitarianism Russia. ‘A Clockwork Orange’ by Anthony Burgess was focused on the growing violent youth gangs forming in the 60’s, separated into Mods and Rockers, put placing it in a not-too-distant future with split becoming greater so that most groups only consist of a few members.

Dystopian films are usually made for the same reasons as the novels they are adapted from. Films, however, focus more on the elements that affect the modern audience. By decade dystopians have followed a trend. In the 1950’s and 60’s the threat of the cold war and totalitarianistic governments was hanging over the US and Western Europe. ‘On the beach’ (1959, Stanley Kramer) was a film about the last days of man after a nuclear war. ‘Fahrenheit 451’ (1966, Francois Truffaut) was a film where reading was banned and a fascist state controlled all. In the 70’s the fear of environmental degradation and over population inspired films such as ‘Soylent Green’ (1973, Richard Fleischer) and ‘Silent Running’ (1972, Douglas Trumbull). The 80’s was a technological fear, with ‘Terminator’ (1984, James Cameron) and Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott) being the most notable. Interestingly the 90’s lacked dystopian films. This may suggest the stability of the 90’s, or even a social disregard or political apathy. However, it’s important to note that not all dystopian films followed these decade trends. These films not only played on the audiences heightened fear, but also tried to make people realise the real threat that our civilisation may be heading towards.

Çuaron also does this in ‘Children of Men’, taking the current moral panics in the nation, and using them to create a meaningful film which explains, in a much more visual way than any other media text, the threats our society is moving into. Çuaron includes messages of violent youths, racism, patriotism, religion, governmental subterfuge and Islamic terrorism. In the film two youths kill the leader of their own renegade group to cause a re-shuffle of power. When one of the bikers is accidentally killed by Theo, his friend vows to take revenge on him. Near the end of ‘Children of Men’ the biker has the chance to deliver retribution to Theo, but before he does he calmly and coldly shoots an innocent man in the head. The way he swaggers, hums a tune and calmly turns his head so he can see the damage the bullet will do to the mans brain suggests at the inbred violence in this youth. Analysis of the biker suggests a lot about the current violence bred into our youths and society. When you take into account the approximate age of the biker, around early twenties, and the date when infertility occurred world wide, this youth was born in the first decade of the new millennium. Most personality traits originate from childhood. The biker was born when violent crime is on the rise and violence in the media is commonplace, this suggests a lot about our current society and out apathy for suffering and pain.

Man’s fear of the afterlife tends to manifest when somebody close to us dies, or when our own demise is near. With all of humanities extinction certain within the next century a lot of new cults and religious sects have appeared. Clive Owen’s character, Theo, and Michael Caine’s, Jasper, briefly discuss a couple of well known religious cults. One such cult sit on their knees for a month and the other flagellate themselves, both groups begging for mercy from god for the crimes of mankind. The desperateness and selfishness of humans and their fear of death has made create new religions and sects to find a way to save themselves, when most of them had no care or belief in religion before.

At the start of the film the coffee shop Theo had only just left explodes, killing almost everybody inside. When Theo travels with Jasper to his secluded house they discuss the bombing incident. Jasper’s belief is that the government plants the bombs themselves, using the excuse of terrorism to drag the spotlight away from their mis-endeavours. With the July 7th bombing only a year behind at the time of the films release, it’s questions the credibility and trust we place in our infallible government. Could our own government be involved in similar actions, or is it really terrorists?

The government supports racism, with civilians told to report anybody they believe not to be British Nationals. Immigrants or refugees, known in the film as ‘fugees’, and rounded up to be placed in camps. With constant panic over the amount of immigrants living in England and the numbers increasing every year it’s not surprising that a large portion of the film focuses on ‘fugees’. Çuaron takes the British opinion of ‘fugees’ one step further then it currently is, with the army and police having little compassion for them, the way they’re collected in cages on street sides, waiting to be sent to camps. It’s not hard to believe the UK travelling down this road.

Although all this extra information adds little to the plot of the film, it gives it depth, prevents it from being a two dimensional world solely focused on the plot. It allows the audience to analyse our own society within the film.

Reality

Dystopians have always held the reputation of ‘cult’, either because of their unpleasant endings, alternative plots, lack of media coverage or simply because they are purposefully aimed at a narrow margin audience. One of the major reasons for their lack of popularity is the realism portrayed in the film. THX 1138 (1971, George Lucas) is a film that has almost no basis on the reality of our society. Set in an underground city where humans are given numbers instead of names, made to consume tranquilisers as part of their diet, robotic masturbation systems are used for sexual release and people are told to buy pointless items to keep industry running. THX 1138 is a film that is focused more on symbolism rather than plot or reality.

Unlike most dystopians where there are only one or two explanations as to why the world has changed drastically from our own, Çuaron has more then one explanation. Although infertility plays a large role in the downfall of humanity, it’s not the only event to happen, we learn that Theo and his ex-wife, Julian, attended large protests against the Iraq War when they were young. A nuclear bomb was detonated in Africa, floods of immigrants have fled from their own war torn countries to England, only to be rounded up and sent to concentration camps, racism is promoted by the government and there is speculation whether terrorist bombs in London are planned by extremists, or by the government themselves and a pandemic in 2010 (a current hot topic with the growing fear of avian flu) has destroyed a large part of the worlds population.

Using all these aspects of political, military, environmental and social downfall, Çuaron creates richly detailed and solid world, its attention to detail makes it a lot more frighteningly realistic. Its references to the Iraq war and the terrorist exploits of Muslim fanatics immediately give us something to relate to. It seems that even if the infertility problem didn’t occur it wouldn’t make much difference to the state of the world, a thought shared by Theo in a discussion with Jasper,

‘The whole world went to shit even before the baby crisis for fucks sake’

The use of well-known locations such as Regent Street also helps the audience relate to the film. By making the well known street look run down and full of black rubbish bags, we can see how low the country is sinking if one of the cleanest and most famous streets in London is full of filth.

Çuaron’s choice in camera angles and filming style greatly affects the realism of the film. Referring back to THX 1138, George Lucas’ use of camera style, stable long shots and cold lighting creates a distanced feeling between the audience and the film. Children of Men is filmed completely with hand held camera’s, every shot shakes and Çuaron tries to keep the shots at eye level. One scene where Theo watches his friend die whilst hiding in the forest is shot from a long distance. We see the shot from about the same distance as Theo does. Relating to the film is easier for the audience because Çuaron has almost lent us the use of eyes, instead of a camera. In the war town street of the ‘fugee’ camp we run along behind Theo, we hide in rubble as bullets thud into the wall behind. We feel like we are experiencing what the characters are living through. The mixture of events, filming style and location helps the audience relate to the film, and the hopeful ending is less likely to effect people in a negative way once they’ve left the cinema.

Psychology of Audience/Happy Endings

Hollywood is famous for it’s happy endings, a tradition that dystopians classically ignore. ‘1984’ (1984, Michael Radford), ‘Eraser Head’ (1977, David Lynch) and ‘Brazil’ (1985, Terry Gilliam) are all examples of negative films. In fact, Terry Gilliam’s ‘Brazil’ had such a negative ending the studio feared they wouldn’t make a profit and re-edited the film to create the infamous ‘Happily Ever After’ version. Other dystopians decided to use the negative end format, but much more subtly, for example, in Soylent Green Charleton Heston’s character manages to tell his superior officer, along with a church full of homeless people the secret behind Soylent Green. However, the audience already knows that without Soylent Green, the food supplies wouldn’t be able to support the population. Despite the hope of the character, dramatic irony means that the audience understands the earth has reached such a state that it can never heal or repair fully. Humanity is nearing its end.

As discussed, directors usually end dystopians on a sad or despairing action. This is a moral challenge to the audience. Dystopians question our lifestyles, social aspects or even political apathy and the depravity that may spawn from them if we continue in our current habits. If the characters experience a positive ending, the entire impact of the film would be destabilised. A negative ending gives the audience ‘food for thought’ when they leave the cinema. We question our society, are we doing enough to prevent a situation like this, morally, politically and industrially? The seminal question which begins all of these being, ‘could this really happen to us?’

A dystopians effect on the audience is greatly increased by the relevance of the character to modern society, if they share our morals and ideologies. In Equilibrium the hero, John Preston believes people should be allowed access to their emotions. Although eh understands the pain and problems that emotions can inflict on people, he believes them to be well worth it. Dupont, however, believes the opposite. Without emotions people are joined in unity, war is forgotten and peace reins supreme, albeit at a costly price. Although both sides of the argument have valid points today’s audience would almost unanimously flock to the Hero’s point of view. We believe being emotionless would remove what makes us human.

Another reason that dystopians have never been in the mainstream is because of audience denial. When we watch these films and we see the events currently surrounding our society and how they have created these nightmarish worlds, we don’t like it. People don’t like the thought that we’re destroying our children’s future. It’s similar when the news is broadcasting information about a murder or rape, we deny the thought that it could happen to us, it’s something that only happens to other people. This is belief is shared when people watch a dystopian film, we deny the idea that the events could ever possibly happen to us, and the easiest way to reinforce this is to ignore the film, or hate it.


Genres

In the last decade cinema has become more varied. With Holly Wood drying out of original ideas many more independent and foreign films are entering the cinema. With their increase in popularity Holly Wood has also begun to experiment, not just with stories, but with directors as well. As Holly Wood in the 60’s began to hand cameras over to newer and younger directors and a new wave of cinema began, Holly Wood is beginning to hand cameras, and budgets, to independent directors. Çuaron Çuaron, with only a few films underneath his belt, and one of them being a Mexican

One of the current experiments occurring in cinema is the amalgamation of clichéd genres, comedy with horror, action with drama; directors are constantly playing with traditional genres. A modern example is Shaun Of The Dead. Shaun of the Dead used the plot of a typical zombie film, defend and wait for rescue, and then mixed in the romantic comedy genre.

This crossover of genres could also be another explanation as to why Children of Men and other modern dystopians have moved into the mainstream. At a quick glance the last big three dystopians are; ‘The Matrix’, ‘V for Vendetta’ and Children of Men. Each of these films used a genre crossing technique. The Matrix and V for Vendetta crossed over sci-fi dystopian with action. The blend of technological, social and environmental events surrounding the past of these worlds, along with their ‘high-octane’ action made them hugely popular at the box office. They also had a large effect on the way people looked at technology and their government. When the matrix was released people began to question reality, and whether AI was, and is, a good idea, and how far we should let it evolve. After v for vendetta was released newspapers began to compare events in the film to what is happening in our current society. With several newspapers warning Tony Blair to be careful!

Children of Men, although having several action sequences, is focused on the traditional British drama. This is one of the reasons why Çuaron was able to create a world much richer and deeper than either of the Wachowski Brother’s films. By giving the film time to focus on characters relationships and their emotions, we have a better understanding why they do what they do. Çuaron’s ability to create a more detailed and believable world than most previous dystopians using a mixture of techniques and genres has made it more accessible to a larger audience that it’s predecessors. We have dramatic scenes where Theo and Jasper are sitting and discussing their situations in life, in typical dramatical dialogue. However, near the end of the film we are thrown into scenes that could of come from Saving Private Ryan.

Conclusion

As the above evidence suggests there is no single reason why dystopian films have grown in popularity in the last few decades. It has been a mixture of technique, social and moral panic, plotline and relevance to our modern society. These elements have moved dystopians out of their old niche and into a larger audience. The problem is, if there are more dystopians being released, will they lose their edge and effect on people, and most important, the whole point of their creation?

that nutjob in the specsaver ad

has anyone else watched that new specsavers ad where the daft, if milfy, mum accidentally sets her turkey alight instead of the pudding? very clever add i suppose but with one major problem with it, and that is, why would she be serving the pudding before the turkey anyway?

my answer, she's a fucking fruit loop. just think she had no problem placing those other christmassy foods on the table, plus locating the brandy and match, so there can't be much wrong with her eyes. she's a loony. we don't see anyone else in the advert, plus there's a decided lack of general christmassy jollities in the background, which suggests to me she's on her own. my belief is that her whole family died in a freak accident of some kind, let's say drive by shooting, which caused her to drop a few mental pounds. result, insane old lady on her own christmas day wandering about the house with a turkey on fire.

mad cow

that spice girls add

i have to say i do enjoy that new spice girl advert for tesco. not that i like the spice girls what so ever. working in a dvd and record store means we get that sort of shite pumped through the speakers day in day out in order to promote our chart cds. if not the spice girls than high school musical soundtrack (my brain has recently turned to mush thanks to that fucking album). no i like it because of it's subtle analysis of the individual spice girls just before their regrouping, i think it sheds light on why they've got back together.

the advert starts off with that sticky, wobbly hipped one sauntering into tesco, as if somehow shopping in the supermarket would account for a sexy gait. first thing she does is go up to the dude in store and he suggests ipods, basically ignoring who she is becuase this mans obviously got common sense and realises he could easily squash 500 out of those lanky leather clad hips no problem. of course it's not just the wobbly one in the store, all five of them are. the curly haired union jack one, the stupid fringe one who failed at being a punk if i remember her first post-spice girl song correctly, the busty one who married someone famous then it all cocked up, and the other one.

as to the reason to why the spice girls have been stuck back together in order the insult the ears of the general public... wobbly arse has tons of cash, as we see from her buying ipods for her 'girlfriends'. in her case it's for the fame, expressed as such when she pretends to pose on a television in her fly glasses (by which i don't mean wickidy wickidy wack kind of fly, more the eyes of the pesky insect). she's doing it for fame darrrling, as a solo artist we all saw, and heard, how shite her music is, so by getting back with the other ones means she can't be singled out for being crap. the other four are much more simple, they're skint. whilst 'she who can disappear by turning sideways' buys ipods the other four have had to raid their kids piggy banks in order to buy over sized cardigans each worth about a fiver, crap toys and novelty gifts for their 'girlfriends'. afterall, why else would the other four be shopping in tesco if they had tons of cash? they'd be in harrods buying the identical items for an extra 150 quid a pop.

nice one tesco, increasing sales through getting the spice girls to flaunt your wares, and at the same time mocking all five of them. i likes it

peter greenaway's 'the cook, the thief, his wife and her lover'

wow, really and truly wow. an astonishing film. i just finished watching it at about 2am, i've never seen anything quite like it before. true it did have a few similarities in style to some of my other favourite directors, namely terry gilliam and jeunet & caro, but this, a really unique film. i happen to be a fan of michael gambon which is one of the reasons why i watched this film, that and i always saw it sitting in hmv begging to be bought, i just never got round to buying it until now, and i'm glad i have.

right the basic outline. the four people mentioned in the title sum up the main characters, everyone else is minor in contrast to them. the cook in question is called richard borscht, the head chef and owner of an extremely posh and respectable restaurant. the thief is the main baddy who you will come to hate within five minutes of seeing him on screen, all typical inhibitions of a typical human being missing from him. his wife is helen mirren, known as georgina or 'georgie' in the film. a woman who you can only really feel pity for throughout. her lover is michael, a book shop owner who eats in the same restaurant every night.

a quick side note, i hate characters with the same christian name as me, when they're names are talked within films it has a strange effect on me, it makes me oddly uncomfortable. anyway that's got nowt to do with the film.

the mise-en-scene. this is where the similarity with the two directors comes from; a strong use of lighting, mainly in this film green and red, vast over sized locations, i wouldn't go so far as to say it makes it look studio because that would be comparing it to the fucking dreadful 'john carpenters dracula', a mise-en-scene so tacky looking it rendered the film un-watchable to me. there's also a hefty use of steam and smoke in the film. whenever the film wanders outside, which isn't often since most of the film takes place in the restaurant and kitchen, steam flows down the streets, along with rags from construction material, plastic trash and general bric-a-brac. and of course the kitchen is full of steaming and smoking pots and pans. the overall feeling you get from the film is one of two, either a dystopic near distant future, or a uchronian where the financial gap between poor and ultra-rich has increased drastically. the look of the vehicles and even the clothing (which is suprisingly designed by jean paul gautier , which suggest this film had a larger budget than i thought) leans more to the the latter. although in fairness this film could be said to be set in an undetermined time frame.

clothing. since it was designed by an internationally famous fashion designer i feel it's only fair to mention it. first off there was a little trick greenaway used which at first i didn't catch onto. the two main characters, helen mirren who plays georgie and michael gambon, spicar wear expensive clothing which is affected by the light more than any other character. what i mean by this is that whilst in the restaurant where everything is coated in a red light their clothes are of course red. their clothes are actually white but the light itself changes the colour. when they move into the kitchen the clothes instead become green, outside blue and in one short scene in a hospital, yellow.the thing is you can see their clothes haven't actually changed colour because of the light, but in fact each time they change from location to location they're redressed in the correct colour clothes. a clever idea which does serve a purpose, if you're prepared to read into it.

whenever they are in the restaurant the clothes are primarily black and red. black, the colour of death and darkness, which is in-fact discussed by 'the cook' later in the film when he explains he prices food according to colour and chemical attributes. red, the colour of passion and anger. michael gambon's character is a fantastically angry character, always arguing with his associates or verbally and physically attacking his wife and diners. black, well that becomes more apparent later on. but also the red denotes passion as that's where the love affair between 'the wife' and 'her lover' begins, on the restaurant floor. green, according to colour theory, is the colour of envy. it's also the colour of health, greed and in some cultures, the colour of evil. but mainly in this film it's used for jealousy. i won't explain, the film makes that apparent.

the lighting in the film is awesome as well. there are tons of shadows thrown into corners of faces, rooms etc. with the other shades of colour majorly taken up by the location. lighting on faces on the close ups typically comes from the ground up, revealing all the shades and highlights on the face, the most notable case of this is when michael gambon gets 'slightly' ticked off with his wife. the camera work is intriguing as well. when going from room to room the camera always pans across, fading through the walls to allow it to progress into the next area. also whenever we go from new day to new day (it takes place over a week) the camera usually starts in the kitchen where we see the food being prepared, pans right across it and then into the restaurant where it finally finishes on 'the thiefs' table. the camera work throughout is stable and usually from a distance, which is why we gain such a vast scale of the locations.

'the cook...' is certainly a violent film, it's not constant but you're always expecting it to come out of nowhere, if that makes any sense. it's certainly got nudity in it as well, then again what did you expect from helen mirren? she somehow manages to spend about half the film in the nuddy despite most of it being in a restaurant. if you're not into gore or anything remotely shocking i wouldn't suggest this film to you, the two torture scenes in the film are certainly grotesque in their execution.

acting. damn good throughout, you can see 'the lover' thinks 'the thief' a fool from the way he responds to him through smiles and straight-to-the-point sentences. michael gambon certainly enjoys his role as complete bastard and plays it with relish, you can see how much he is enjoying himself. despite being completely nasty and truly despicable he still doesn't beat 'bill' in 'dancer in the dark' as biggest film cunt, he comes close though. but this is mainly because being a git seems to be intrisinc to michael gambon's character, whereas bill does it all of a sudden in a one time chance, plus the situation surrounding the event helps to increase the level of bastardness. there's a great sound bite in the film where helen mirren is inbetween laughing, crying and ranting like a lunatic, one of the best such 'laughs' in a film, it really did freak me out.

the dialogue is great as well. since it's all set in a eating establishment most of the conversation is focused around food, with the candid talks 'the thief' has about 'his wife' being disgusting without actually having to use any extremely rude words, context is enough. the romantic drivvle between 'the wife' and 'her lover' is always enjoyable. never talking about romance in a typical way, but more comparing it to other things, such as watching a film.

it's safe to say this is a unique film which won't suit everyone's pallet (excuse the pun), but if you're willing to give it a try, you will enjoy it.

lee chang dong's 'oasis'

after coming back from skorea i was given a trilogy of dvds from my seoul friend. i'd never heard of the director before but my friend said he's really good, and since she has a great taste in films (by which i snobbishly mean she likes the same as me) i trusted her taste. she was going to grab me a copy of the new park woo-chan film as well but sadly it was sold out, not a suprise since his films are amazing. so upon arriving back in beijing i'd thought i would write up a review on the first of the three, oasis.

first off i loved the filming style, it reminded me of the typical gritty brit film. look at most famous english films and you'll notice they're filmed in run down looking area's, the characters rarely have any decent clothing, just cheap stuff they've bought. the houses they live in look natural, messy and trinkets over tables or shelves, cans or bottles laying about. it's good to see this filming style is being used in other countries films. so straight from the start i liked the style of the film.

it also has a brilliantly realised pessimistic over view of humanity. by which i mean that in the film there is an undercurrent that nobody is willing to help anyone unless they can get something in return, and abusing somebodies trust or money is typical. in this light the main character is a noble person, he helps people without wanting anything in return, in fact he does an incredibly noble dead for his brother that comes out suddenly in the film. it's not surrounded with suspense or or build up, a character suddenly says it and it passes you by, until you think about it you don't remember to say 'bloody hell'!

although i don't usually write up the plotline i want to for this film because i liked it so much. it was sweet in a peculiar way, yet has a grim view of life in general.

the main character (find name) has been in prison for 2 and a half years due to a hit and run accident when he run over a worker without seeing him. on the day of release he's stuck in seoul in the middle of winter, very little money and wearing a hawaiian shirt and thin blue trousers. he wanders the streets, borrowing cigarettes off people and trying to find somewhere where he can eat some tofu. eventually he gets arrested again because he goes to a restaurant to eat without any money, trusting his brother to come and pay for him, despite him not knowing where he's moved too or even his phone number. his brother swings by the police station to collect him and take him back home. none of the family are happy to see him as they believe he only causes trouble.

one of the brothers, who in my eyes is a complete bastard, gets him a job as a delivery boy, a job he manages to lose almost as soon as he gets it when he takes the bike out for a midnight spin and crashes it. on the second day of his release he goes to find the son of the man he accidentally killed to say hello and bring him a fruit hamper, an odd thing to do but you realise soon on that he hasn't got all his marbles. as he arrives at their house they're moving out to somewhere new. so as he goes upstairs he finds their house empty except for a disabled woman in her late twenties. before you actually see her you see a white dove flying about the living room (some beautifully CG rendering at this point). it flaps about exploring the room before nestling down by the door. suddenly the door opens and the dove flies off, turning into a gleam of light reflected by a mirror, it was a mirage. this sort of thing happens several times and is probably one of the reasons behind the name 'oasis', a belief that when in the desert you imagine something that isn't there. as the main character enters the room he finds the disabled girl sitting on the floor playing with the mirror. he tries to make contact with her when suddenly the son of the murdered man and the wife come back upstairs. they kick him out of the house.

the couple are leaving the house and leaving the poor disabled woman there. you find out their plot is to get better accommodation by abusing the sister's disability. they take the nice house and leave her there in the apartment on her own, helped by the neighbours they pay 200 000 won to each month (about 100 quid). when they find out a housing inspector is coming to their house in order to see if the disabled woman is actually there they bring her round for the day so they don't get in trouble. like i said before, everyone abuses everyone else. the main character finds the disabled woman interesting and so comes back to her a different day, bringing her flowers, the neighbour sees him and takes them in for him. he leaves.

now knowing where the keys are to get in the flat he comes back another day to see her again. and he attempts to rape her (he already has a previous conviction for attempted rape). she tries to fight and instead collapses. he panics and wakes her up with cold water than runs away. yet again you see another sign of abusing trust. the neighbour is using the disabled woman's place to conduct an affair with a policeman. after the girl has to listen to them rutting on the floor outside her bedroom she grabs the card the main character left behind and rings him in the middle of the night. despite being disabled she actually is pretty lucid, she just finds it hard to speak. she rings him up to ask him a question and asks him to come round the next day.

he comes round and she asks why he brought her flowers. thus starts the beginning of their friendship. during the day he helps clean the house, wash her clothes, sings to her, basically keeps her entertained. the previous attempt at rape basically forgotten, he won't do it again and she trusts him. like i said he's the only real character who is willing to help for nothing in return. in the end he takes her out of the house, he tries to take her to a restaurant but the waitress kicks them out with an excuse. this is where some of my favourite scenes come in. whilst their both on the tube the disabled girl sees a couple sitting together. the guy talking to his girlfriend while she gently taps his head with an empty bottle, he says something cheeky and she smacks him round the head with it. all of a sudden the camera pans away to the main character and we see the disabled girl rise off the seat in the background. her face is no longer distorted, she can stand properly and her hands are no longer clenched, she is, as much as i don't like describing it as such, normal. she looks at him and he smiles back, all of a sudden she whacks him round the head with a plastic bottle. we flick back to reality to find it's an image she was playing her head. this happens a couple of times in the story, and each time you see it you wish it was true, that she wasn't disabled and that they could be so close with each other.

this is what i mean about the pessimistic sweetness in the film. all those little joys in life we take for granted are out of reach for the poor girl and yet she knows she won't be able to do them she doesn't feel bad, instead she laughs at it.

the end of the film is saddening, i spent the whole time sitting in front of the screen, the thoughts stop it, don't let this happen, running through my head. after their date in seoul he takes her back to the house. as he's about to leave she grabs his arm and asks him not to go, and then asks him to sleep with her. we know at this point that they are both completely in love with each other. as they are making love in her bedroom her brother and the wife come round, it turns out it's her birthday and they've brought a cake. as they come in and open the bedroom door they see both of them in the bed and freak out, believing that the main character is raping her. they call the police and he's taken away. whilst in the police station the husbands wife takes over the voice of the disabled girl, not letting her telling the truth. problem is she's so overcome by stress she can't cope and can't speak. in other example of abusing trust or money the brother tells the main characters family he's ready to take a settlement instead of sending the guy to prison because apparently 'his sister would never find solace in his conviction in her state'. yet again he his abusing his sister to gets something he wants. it doesn't happen however and the main character gets arrested. however whilst he is praying with a pastor he breaks out and flees into seoul, chased by the police. he makes his way over to the girls house and instead of knocking on the door to see her he brings a saw and starts to cut down a tree outside her place. a leafless tree with twigs that leave shadow in the girls room that she is always afraid of. as he finishes cutting off the branches he falls off the tree and is arrested.

in the final scene we see the disabled girl on the floor of her apartment, cleaning it, actually like she's gained more ability over her body. whilst she is doing this we hear the main character reading out a letter he sent her from prison. they are both waiting for each other for when he finally comes out of prison. yet again that pessimistic sweetness shines through.

ok that was a bit long but i want you too see why exactly i like this film

ok acting, amazing is the simple word. the main character exerts throughout the flim a slightly warped persona, from the way he walks, talks, constantly sniffs and wipes his nose, even to the way he reacts to people. even his smile is pinned down to someone without all their marbles. the disabled girl herself is also an amazing actress. throughout the film she has her face screwed and distorted, eyes constantly darting about, limbs cramped into painful angles, wrists folded and fingers half closed, half sticking up. she snorts and talks with effort. it's only when she enters her 'oasis' and acts like a 'normal' person did i realise it was actually just acting, she's that good.

i haven't watched the other two films yet but i hope they are as good as this one, i'll be a happy bunny if they are.

lars von trier's 'dancer in the dark'

first off, as effeminate as this may sound, this film actually made me cry. that makes a total of two, the other being the beautiful grave of the fireflies (review for that one coming soon once i can get it back off a blasted german friend).

the genre concept for the film i love. lars von trier took the classic american musical and made something more of it. as a general rule i hate musicals, they're pulp for the masses, good for easy watching which occasionally come up with some stonking songs (you're the one that i want, ooh ooh ooh), but on the whole, pointless. this is the only musical i have ever seen which has purposeq to it, a truly engaging story and songs which have a meaning to the overall story, rather than bumping up the length of the flick and giving some rather camp guys the chance to spin on the spot.

a bit of info about the director might be in order i think, and a special thank you elyn for this information, i never heard about any of this before you. lars von trier is one director of several which make up a group called, from memory, Dogma. they have a strict sort of conduct to the way their films are made. camerawork is handheld throughout, acting is normally done on the first take, all locations and scenery have to be real, no studio shite (the fact lars von trier filmed it in Sweden despite that it's supposed to be set in Washington state doesn't count =p) and usually props aren't brought, they're usually on set, although i'm not sure about that one. dancer in the dark is one of the most famous dogma films, although i think that's mainly due to being bjorks debut film. i can only hope she makes some more considering her acting skill (in fact she won best female performance at cannes). but since seeing this i'm on the look out for other dogma directors.

right the intro, odd but pleasant. a mixture of obtuse shapes, warm colours and easy listening music, the sort of tune you'd only take a tertiary interest in normally. really the three minute intro is the sort of thing i'd like to wake up to on the TV in the morning. not quite sure what it's purpose is to the film, but maybe a second watch now i've seen the whole sad film might clarify it for me.

camera work: intriguing to say the least. two different films types were used in the film, depending on the situation. i don't yet know the real difference between digibeta, DV etc. but it has the feel that relatively cheap cameras were used. the camera type used for the majority of the film was the sort used by documentaries (typically used because they are fairly cheap considering the amount of film used up in such a recording style). so in bjorks character (selma) daily life is filmed with docu camera, giving it an edge of realism. the camera shakes and zoom is occasionally which is used, in my opinion, expertly, rather than the shivery zoomy innie-outie style used in the dire american drama 24. but when selma delves into her own world and the musical scenes kick in the camera drastically changes. the camera is tripodded or on a crane and doesn't pan or zoom, each shot is static. instead fairly swift editing is used to change from angle to angle, scene to scene.

editing: it changes throughout, for the first part of the film (before the shit hits the fan so to speak) the editing style is fast paced. you're taken from scene to scene rapidly, jumping form work place at the factory, to a night scene, to a shot in somebodies house, to daytime in a forest, it's continuous. the purpose of which is for lars von trier to encapsulate as much basic information as possible about the characters, their situations, background etc. the further the film progresses the slower the editing is and there's less sudden changes from scene to scene. within the first 30 minutes of this 2 hour and 20 minute film we know where bjork works, that's she's practically in poverty, she's losing her sight, the situation between her landlords (well, they basically are), and the first suspicions we have about bill.

i want to take a minute out here to say something very important. bill is the biggest and nastiest cunt i have ever seen in a film.

i think that smoothly (ha!) moves us into characters: i think bjork was a fantastic choice as selma, at the start of the film i had doubts about bjorks acting ability, it seemed a bit shakey at first, like she didn't really know what to do in front of the camera. very quickly though i started to understand her character and realised exactly why she was acting the way she was. and by the end of the film... a superb performance is all i can say. in fact all of the characters gave a great performance, there's nobody really that i can complain about. geoff was a great and slightly creepy character, but with an honest heart of gold. bill is...well i've already said that. selma's best friend was great, easy to anger but she realises the wrong she's doing and tries to reconcile things. selma's son is a character we don't see or hear much from, despite the fact he's the reason as to why the events in the film happen. even right at the finale (sorry, second to last song :). makes sense if you've seen it) you don't see him. which does open up the question, is selma's friend telling the truth? most of the characters are fully rounded and believable characters (although i have my doubts about the cruelty of bill) which adds to the reaslim of the story, it's not just the problems selma is going through, but other people as well.

halfway through the film the story changes from hopeful optimism to near crushing fatalism. despite the fact everything seems to be going wrong in selma's life she always has a smile on her face, she smiles through it because she has such hope for her son. but by the seminal climax, which is about half way through the film the perspective changes. although there are still chances of hope they get swiped away almost immediately by a complication, a person, or even a lie designed to protect somebody. after the seminal climax one of the most striking songs in the film begins, a song where selma is able to adjust the way she feels, the only way that reconciliation can occur. when the characters admit their mistakes, apologise and think in a logical light, it was my favourite song in the film by far, well except the very final one. admittedly the final song wins in potency, it was the point that the tears really started rolling.

it could be said in the film there is a lot of pity piled on selma, but i don't agree with that. i think really people help her as much as possible, not because of her illness, but because the simple beauty of her soul makes people want to help her. she never takes advantage of anyone's kindness.

a few niggling things in the film. first off bjork's accent. it's odd to say the least. she seems to jump from a east european accent to an almost RP pronunciation and even an essex twang of not pronouncing her 't's. although that seems to sort itself out through the film, that or i was adjusting myself to her voice. the other one being the song by the train tracks, which i thought was oddly cruel. when geoff realises selma can't see properly anymore a new song starts, one where geoff tries to tell her she hasn't seen enough in life, and where bjork argues there's nothing more left to see. since geoff is deeply in love with her it seems odd he should mock her in such a way, even though of course the musical is only in her head.

there's a sentence in the film which stuck in my head, a simple one that isn't announced with any particular enforcement. 'in musicals' nothing bad ever happens'. this is of course the twist in lars von triers film. everything bad does happen, but as the songs in 'normal' musicals are fluffies to the overall happiness of the production, really they are the only escape in 'dancer in the dark' from the pessimistic view of selma's life.

i urge you to watch this film, it's not really famous and not for all tastes (particularly if you're not a bjork fan since she wrote the songs) but it's potency on the audience is strong and really does evoke emotions in you, better than any major hollywood film. a film that is essential watching in my opinion and so deserves to go in my category of 'masterpieces'.

hopefully coming soon, grave of the fireflies, another feel good movie of sorrow and pessimism

mark mylod's 'the big white'

i found this film sitting in a bargain bin in a wall mart here in shenyang. i didn't know what it would be like since it was only priced at 3 and a half kuai (about 26p) but it did have robin williams in it. i'm not as such a robin william's fan but lately he's been cropping up in alternative comedies (take note here of danny devito's brilliant and crude film 'death to smoochy') instead of the typical mainstream pulp (RV is a good example of this). and after seeing him play serious roles such as 'insomnia'. 'patch adams' and '24 hour photo' it's good to see he's not just a mediocre comedy actor, but also has real acting talent. so after seeing it included robin williams i thought i would give it a shot.

the blurb on the back of the dvd case doesn't give you much information about the film. all it says is that a broke travel agent is finds a dead body and uses it for financial purposes and at the same time two nasty people are also after it. this is a good thing since it meant i was totally thrown off by the beginning of the film.

since it's set in alaska the predominate colour in this film is of course white, from the snow covered land and mountains of the local town, to the bleak and lifeless insurance building one of the characters works in. although not as such a subtle reference to say, bitterness or heartlessness of the characters or even insanity as it was used in 'insomnia' it's more just for the fact it's set in alaska.

the opening of the film is sublime looking. vast mountain ranges covered in powdered snow, all pristine and white. as the camera pans over an ice covered road we see a woman in pyjamas and slippers running through the snow. instantly i thought to myself 'ah, that's where the body comes from', which looks even more likely when the woman collapses on the road side. instead it's not, she is picked up by the local sherrif and turns out later on to be robin william's wife in the film. in fact the corpse is presented in a much more novel way. after this beautifully shot scene we see the local dumpster by a lit up sign. people come and go in their cars and dump their refuse in it before driving off. the last shot in the montage features a birds eye view of the dumpster. a car drives up to it and two men get out and run to the boot. as you can already imagine they're dumping a body in the dumpster. as they chuck it in and the lid of the bin closes it's the end of that scene.

i could write out the plot but that would be pointless, so instead i'll focus from a media perspective. first off, the camera. although not exactly original in the film it's a film which doesn't need to be, or at least that's how i feel. sadly the director at some points decided that since it was an alternative film it needed to have some alternative camera work. as such we are 'treated' to two shots which are shot from foot level where the camera races along, jumping and jaunting about. it doesn't as such fit in with the rest of the film, and is slightly jarring. there's not much more to say about the camera because as i stated before, it's not entirely original.

now, idea for plot. i liked it. it wasn't something that needed heavy explanation since it all goes through at a steady pace and doesn't tax you too much. although i enjoy storylines that challenge me or make me think things over, with a comedy i would much rather be able to sit down and understand my way through it. and the big white does this, and yet still is able to be alternative in it's story line. one thing i like and which is pretty rare to find in an american film is that their are several things which are left open, never explained and which i know would annoy several people i know. a few examples of this would be whether or not robin william's wife overcomes her mental illness, also if her illness is real or she's making it up, why the guy was murdered by the two men, who the two 'hitmen's' boss really is and also where woody harrelson's character (raymond) has been for the last five years.

now one thing i would like to say is how much i liked the two hitmen. in most comedies when you get the hitmen characters they are always bumbling idiots. these two characters boarder on the edge, but pull it back and keep it sensible. in fact there is a very quick discussion between the two guys which is spoken in honesty about how it felt to kill the man, to which it's answered 'i don't want to talk about it'. in most films a moral or mental discussion like that would of been ignored. the two hitmen would of killed before but yet still simply be idiots. even when they hunt down robin williams they manage to do it by their own accord, rather then overhearing something or stumbling along. one thing that really touched me in the film is when you see the two guys attend the funeral of a character they accidentally murdered, and at which they are both actually sad, instead of a godfather respect sort of vibe. even when the hitman accidentally shots this character he screams out 'oh god no' and cries (this is despite the fact this guy just tried to murder them!). this is one of the selling points of the film to me. the dialogue between these two characters and their form of acting works well and adds a sense of realism to their characters which is missing in most other comedies (i would to add the jewish and black mobsters that collect [find characters real name] from his house, it's too ridiculous to be taken seriously).

to sum up this film is a good comedy if you don't mind it black, with a bit of gore (not to much mind, just a small scene) and some tourettes swearing in it which is thankfully never played over the top

gaspar noe's 'irreversible'

now to begin with i would like to mention a friend told me about this film and he said that there's a great scene in an alleyway where you see a couple shag from start to finish. he was almost right, if you count an anal rape scene as a 'great shag'. but i'll get to that later.

first off i want to mention how impressive i thought the movie was from an editing perspective. most of the scenes are shot in a single sweep, although at some points you can tell that digital post production was used when an actor may of cocked up half way through a 12 minute scene. the free flowing feel to the construction is certainly impressive and it almost puts the 11 minute battle field scene in cuaron's 'children of men' to shame in respects to choreography. as to the structure of the film, if you've seen momento then you'd understand how this movie plays.

i have a feeling many people seeing irreversible would say something along the lines 'they've used the same idea as momento', when interestingly it's actually the other way round. momento was a hollywood film using french cinematic techniques and genres; by this i mean the noir genre and a non linear plot line. this plot structure was first used in american cinema properly by tarantino in pulp fiction, where the story doesn't simply progress from start to end, but jumps about from one part to another. well momento and irreversible took it one step further and flipped the whole film round. the major difference between momento and irreversible though is that noe didn't want to make the film too accessible to the public. in momento when one scene ends it finishes on the start of the previous scene. in irrevesible it stops at exactly when the previous scene started, which at times means you have to sit there and think 'now is this the same scene or the next one?'

now from structure to camera work. simply put, it's insane. the first three of four minutes has the audience watching the camera spin round and round, rolling and looping through an alleyway. in fact for the first half of the film this is pretty much how the camera operates. it was a technique specifically chosen by noe to create nausea in the audience, think of that running scene in blair witch and you'll know what i mean. later on in the film the camera starts to stabilise in conjunction with the plot. unlike most films where the climax is obviously at the end noe has it right at the start, a scene so violent and perverse it verges on exploitation. although thats not to say its the worst scene, thats about 40 minutes in.

the camera works in reaction to the events on scene, the more sane and less disturbing it becomes, the more the cameraman starts to level out shots. after watching the whole film it's easy to see why noe reversed the plot line. by the end of the film the sweet and realistic conversation between marcus and his girlfriend alex helps the audience forget about the barbaric events. well, up until the point where marcus jokes to alex 'i want to fuck you in the arse', then all the imagery comes flooding back.

if this film was flimed linear then i think there would of been even more walk outs from cannes then there was (200 our of 2400 people). nausea in the film as i've already discussed was used through insane camera work, the events on screens and even one more aspect, one which i thought would of actually been banned. for the first 30 minutes of the film noe uses a sound frequency which is often heard during earthquakes, it also is a sound that makes people fill nauseous. the only other example of such a sound being used in a film that i know of was resident evil. marilyn manson was the sound man for the film, and he used brown noise throughout the film, along with low frequency soundwaves to make the audience feel a big 'queasy'.

in essence i wouldn't say this film was for the kids, or any normal movie goer. you need to be in the right mind frame for this film, sadistic would be the best explanation. if you want to see exactly how far you can blur the line between pornography, exploitation and necessary on screen events then is the right sort of film. as i said in my last blog, i've watched it once before but i never ever ever will again. that's not to say i don't respect the film.

it's a masterpiece, of the marquis de sade variety, but a masterpiece still.

taratino's 'death proof'

very first post on a site i'll no doubt rarely update, but i'll have a go anyway.

currently i'm in china, on a teaching course. as such at night i have a fair amount of free time, and dvds are cheap here. i've been in my placement in north china for about 2 and a half weeks now and i've already bought 14 films for less then it would cost to buy one film back in the UK. the latest film i watched was taratino's new film 'death proof'. sadly the dvd didn't include tarantino's and rodriguez's films, but you can blame those evil weinstein brothers for that, they decided the concept of having two films one after the other was too difficult for the average public consumer, but enough about those two bastards, onto the film.

death proof in essence, is a definite tarantino film, and he's back up to standards ever since the two part farce that was kill bill. it has all the typical signs of a taratino flick; organic dialogue which doesn't develop the plot, but instead develops the characters, plenty of racist terminology, incredibly violent...violence, information about old american films and the back side of movies, retro looking locations in backwater america and of course references to his previous films.

a few of them to mention is the cigarettes 'red apples' probably most prominent in a poster in the first kill bill film, the made up fast food joint big kahuna burger (first used i think in pulp fiction), and even the kill bill whistle, you knows the one :)

admittedly reading the blurb on the dvd i was expecting it to be from stuntman mike's perspective and how a girl gang beat the shit out of him and he gets revenge, i was wrong. it's the opposite way round

the structure of the film is slightly odd to be honest, the best way to look at the film is to split it into two pieces. the first half concerns itself with the construction of stuntman mike's character. although saying that the most important information is only discovered at the end of the first half, via a very unbelievable policeman. though really i suppose you could say that's another taratino cliche, a pointless or ineffectual police presence when they occasionally feature in his films.

anyway back to the first half. as always the characters are developed through the dialogue, rather then some films where actions or events define them. the actions in death proof occur later on in the film, with the dialogue acting as a reason or even excuse for the occasional ghoulish violence. the main cast are females, all young, attractive and quite happy to show off a bit skin (one of the first shots in the film is off jungle julia's arse. all the females are sassy and in control of their lives and events, and most of the male characters (very few of them) are pricks. are friend stuntman mike seems ok at the beginning of the film, just a bit of a creepy old man with a lot of stories under his belt. in fact the sudden change in him does take you by suprise, specifically when you've got the wrong end of the stick. i won't mention much more other than one scene in the first half will make you cringe and shudder, i know it did to me and i'm usually ok with screen violence.

the second half of the film is almost identical in it's structure to the first film, lots of dialogue between the females, and then lots of action. yet again i won't detail to much otherwise i'll completely ruin the film.

right onto the visible aspects of the film. tarantino used some interesting ideas, things that pretty much only he can get away with. to keep in the spirit of 1950's american 'grindhouse films' he has pretty much completely ignored continuity. there's scenes where you know it doesn't completely fit with the previous one, with giveaways such as arm placement, cigarettes, even the way a character is facing. since these sort of films were shown in B movie cinemas there are occasional drop outs of colour and sound. some scenes either jolt and repeat a second of the footage twice. one of my favourite aspects is the cigarrete burns. you can see them as massive black marks on the top right side, and at some parts of the film either the end or beginning of a scene will be jumped and at one point the whole film drops out as the projectionist takes to long to load the next reel. in some parts of the film you'll get strolling lines across the screen as if the film has been damaged. all in all the visual editing and post production does give it the feel of being a really cheap grubby B movie

as for entertaining, i'm not so sure. several times i found myself checking my phone to see what the time was, other times looking around the room etc. at other points i was ignoring everything around me. i don't taratino has managed to create a flowing film, it can be quite hit and miss.

right that's enough from me, look out for my next review, irreverisble, a film i shall never ever ever watch again