K11 Reviews

London to Brighton (2006)

Lock Stock and Gaping Production Holes

[3/10 · 9 August 2007]

Having grown up in Brighton and then watched its development into a home of the stars I was intrigued to see what the critically acclaimed "London to Brighton" had to offer.

Elements of the story are interesting, but I hate to say it, having even a scant knowledge of the place, the plot and production was just wrong wrong wrong!

The writer seemed intent on writing a South London white trash classic. Despite the best efforts of Graham Greene to sound an alarm 60 years ago to the true nature of Brighton, the writer of this film seemed content to depict it as a sleepy whole night's journey (it's only an hour from Victoria) where someone who knows where to get "business" can spend the day snoozing on a couch with no fear of molestation, especially not from those ruffians from London (despite fact that the Brighton flat exterior scenes where clearly filmed in the uniquely brown bricked setting of London).

The acting was superb and I never doubted the performance of any of the leads, or even the direction, my problems are with the plot and production. It's just if you're going to call the thing London to Brighton I would have suggested some research on part 2 of your title, I was even a little doubtful of the first part.

I was left feeling that the writer had written a film for the sake of it. I was wondering what he'd written it for? I felt it was a middle class orgy of how unpleasant the working class can be.

Distracting flaws: **POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOLLOW** If you wanted someone to bring someone to you in 24 hours, would you really inflict a potentially fatal leg wound?

Very anal but: They jump on a slam door train and we see a shot of a replacement more modern sliding door Thameslink (*stoat alert - they don't actually run from Victoria) making its way down the line.

Why, if they were coming from the station would they arrive on the bus from Roedean?

If you were on the run wouldn't you turn your phone off if not throw it away? Instead it's left in the flat for someone to answer and give precise directions of where they are. We're not even sure what the relatives do... oh yeah it's Brighton.. no one has to do anything there!

As mentioned before, anyone who's been to London would know that Kelly's relative's flat was clearly in London, and couldn't have been anywhere else!

It seemed a very Dickensian ending that the young girl who "shouldn't be there" gets enough cash to make it to Devon. Where as the "Tart with the Heart" leaves Devon and goes back to London to go back on the game... "Well that's all she'd know isn't it!" ;->

Very disappointing but indicative of too much cash going to the wrong people for poorly realised ideas.

Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002)

I want to kill myself

[3/10 · 8 January 2006]

So we start with the "hilarious" premise that the obnoxious smartarse Wilbur (he doesn't really get any better) is continually trying to kill himself. All too quickly we have to divorce ourselves from any semblance of reality. Why has Wilbur not been sectioned? Why does he have a brother called Harbour? (it clicked when I saw that nearly every name related to the production was Danish that it might have been laziness on the writer's part). Without spoiling the plot takes a dramatic turn which should have touched me but is just not handled well enough for me to care.

I have no axe to grind with the actors: Shirley Henderson and Adrian Rawlins manage to evince some empathy although Rawlins clearly struggles with the Glaswegian accent. Jamie Sives plays the very unsympathetic title character unsympathetically (incredible for a character who is supposed to be suicidal!). Julia Davis gives us a 2D purely comic tactless nurse that would work well in a sketch show but no a film of this nature.

The reassuring thing about a film like this is that it reminds me how good most of the films I see are.

Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)

Reflective of Coffee and Cigarettes?

[6/10 · 5 January 2006]

A film which veers from the highly entertaining and stimulating ("Jack shows his Tesla Coil", "Delirium") to the embarrassingly poor ("No Problem"). This film gives the impression that Jim Jarmusch might have put it together in a bit of a (caffeine and nicotine?) rush and put it out without any reflection. Being a set of vignettes I was able to last to the end of any sketch I didn't like in the knowledge that next one promised something even if occasionally it didn't deliver. The highlights featured some unlikely but successful combinations as the RZA and the GZA with Bill Murray and Roberto Benigni with Steven Wright (how's that for contrast?). Other sketches featuring Cate Blanchett as cousins and Steve Coogan with Alfred Molina could have done with editing. The sketches "No Problem" and "Champagne" should have been consigned to the ashtray!

A bit of fun, don't allocate too much time for it. A companion for when the conversation over Gaulois and Lavazza runs dry.

Magnolia (1999)

Great idea, great acting, shame about the music

[6/10 · 29 August 2004]

A masterpiece of an idea which is superbly acted by a top level cast. Would have given it an eight but it lost points on two counts: The atmosphere is somewhat ruined by an over reliance on a puzzling choice of music and the ending tends towards the cheesy (although the biblical rain is superb). Could have been slightly shorter (maybe 15 minutes) as there seemed to be a few directionless pauses in the plot. I generally enjoyed it but I don't think I'd bother seeing it again. I loved the 'What do kids know' quiz: so highbrow it made University Challenge look like Wheel of Fortune.

Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (2002)

A must for any democrat (with a small 'l')

[7/10 · 3 April 2004]

Described by IndyMedia (who gave a talk at the event where I saw this) as a 'blockbuster', it summarises the many downright dodgy events in the US 2000 Election. Basing its arguments on hard facts rather than opinion (Fox News and the Daily Mail are you listening?) it illustrates the ruthlessness of the Republican disregard for democracy and state law as well as the complete lack of impartiality on the part of those running the legislature. It also shows how the Democrats damaged their campaign by going for selective recounts rather than a properly democratic complete hand recount. For anyone who dismisses it as Democrat propaganda, they should read 'democrat' - it doesn't make anyone look good. Living in a country where the principle of accuracy over speed in elections is under threat - I see this film as a warning.

Dark Water (2002)

Truly Chilling

[8/10 · 23 August 2003]

As with the Ring (which still for me is a superior film) this film takes a while to get going but then proceeds to chill and scare at will. The choice of setting, the cinematography and the performance of the two leads are first class. The director's ability to spring the unexpected, and create iconic sinister little girls is a mark of genius (although The girl in the yellow mac owes more than a little to the red mac of Nic Roeg's 'Don't Look Now'). More Japanese horror please!

Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry (2000)

Entertaining, gripping, thought provoking

[10/10 · 24 November 2002]

The film, set in 1999, is a version of a novel from the seventies about a young man from Hammersmith's London Irish Community, Christy Malry who decides to live his life according to the principles of double entry bookkeeping. For every debit he exacts a credit or recompense. This starts as means to avenge dismissive or rude workmates but evolves into being against society, the more credit owed to him the more extreme his means become. This is against a backdrop of news of America and Britain bombing Iraq. Eventually Christy starts making the news.

In a parallel plot we see the life of the monk, Pacioli who invented double entry bookkeeping in renaissance Italy (we are witnessing the birth of capitalism as we know it) and his dealings with his patrons and Leonardo Da Vinci. It illustrates the death of the old system of religious patronage and new system where everything (including loyalty) has a price.

This is an unusual, intensely gripping story, superbly acted by the entire cast, although Nick Moran as Christy and Shirley-Anne Field as his cancer-ridden mother deserve a particular mention. The unsettling atmosphere is supplied through the superb direction of Paul Tickell and an evocative score by Luke Haines.

A world-beating independent film to go and see. Ten out of ten.

Read My Lips (2001)

A well writen and complex film which contains superb acting

[9/10 · 29 June 2002]

Vincent Cassel plays the part of Paul, an ex-con assigned to an office job where he meets Carla, a secretary who is ‘quite deaf', when she has her hearing aids in ‘very deaf‘ when not (played by Emmanuelle Devos). Together they help each other to develop as people.

What was particularly interesting about this film was the complexity of the characters – not fitting into obvious stereotypes. Paul appears uneasy in the office environment, is it that he's just not cut out for work? This belief is dispelled when he gets a job in a bar and shines.

The film has a certain amorality which I find refreshing and showed how easy is to act criminally, even if we think it is harmless or justified.

Finally, it is a film full of great ‘moments' both touching and humorous. One is when Carla is babysitting and is trying to comfort a screaming baby. She continues to cuddle it – but takes her hearing aids out for her own comfort.

Pollock (2000)

A Great Biopic

[7/10 · 15 June 2002]

Fascinating biopic: A well-weighted script and fine acting (especially the leads). Particularly interesting in that it didn't try to deify Pollock, he is depicted as the talented, but troubled, artist that he was.

Also interesting in the way that it actually shows him creating his art rather than the paintings appearing incidentally.

I too winced every time he went near a car!!!

Flirt (1995)

An interesting idea badly executed

[9 June 2002]

The idea of transporting a story and telling it in three continents is an intriguing one. What we have in Flirt is a weak New York story which verges on the ridiculous when transported to Berlin and Tokyo, particularly when it comes to handgun ownership.

The similarities are unsubtle and contrived, and you feel the actors, who do well in this, are fighting a very stilted script.

Maybe if Hal Hartley had spent more time exploring the differences in how the story would play in different cultures and less time making ‘high quality titillation' (his own description) then it might have made it a better viewing experience.

Boredom (1998)

Disappointing but worth seeing

[5/10 · 4 June 2002]

In this psychological farce we see the demise of philosophy tutor Martin (Charles Berling) who embarks on a sexually charged foray with the young and rubenesque Cecilia (Sophie Guillaume).

Berling does ‘obsessive' with great zeal and gives us enough of an insight into the sane Martin to maintain some sympathy with him later in the film. Guillaume is a likeable if not slightly difficult to understand character. We understand that she enjoys sexual pleasure and right from the start reveals an awareness of her effect on the older men with whom she has relationships but she continues to tolerate unquestioningly the excesses of Martin's behaviour long after we feel she would have ceased. Arielle Dombasle plays the increasingly likeable character of Martin's wife, a less and less willing confidante, and a woman concerned to protect her new-life

For a film based on sexual obsession, the sex depicted is quite unrealistic and verges on the comic at times.

A bit long, but not ‘ennuyant' and for me, was a bit disappointing.

This Filthy Earth (2001)

A rural tale, guaranteed to make you feel bewildered, isolated and unclean

[7/10 · 13 January 2002]

An uncompromising film, which depicts a harsh rural environment in the north of England with an uncomfortable candour. As suggested by the title, the film conveys a constant sense of ingrained griminess along with the isolation of the environment, the constant exposure to the cycle of life and death of the protagonists and their vulnerability to the whim of nature.

For this is a world reminiscent of medieval times where superstition abounds and the viewer becomes a hostage to this.

I witnessed a number of people walk out of this film, mainly due the seemingly impenetrable society featured and I must admit to having questioned my own judgment of having gone to see it near the beginning. However after a number of events in the film the viewer acclimatises to this dirty, brutal world with its crazed inhabitants and their peculiar dialect and ways.

As a rule, the intriguing story moves at a good pace and the characters are well developed. Rebecca R Palmer shines as the lead part of Francine, a woman you feel has been born into the wrong environment. Another intriguing character is that of Jesus Christ (Peter-Hugo Daly), an alcoholic idiot savant who becomes increasingly savant as the other characters descend further into madness.

Occasional moments of Super 8 and time lapse photography lend fantastic elements to the film, but it's mainly steeped in harsh reality.

As I said, it took some getting into but for the majority of it I thoroughly enjoyed this. If you want to see a film like you've never seen before and like it to make you feel altered when you leave the cinema please go and see this. If you want to see a film about a rural idyll and don't like a film to make you feel uncomfortable then give it a wide berth, or wait until it's on TV.