o_cubitt Reviews

The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009)

Laughably Bad Predictable Offensive Kidnap Caper

[1/10 · 10 May 2010]

note: I've just left the cinema - some of my quotes won't be verbatim but are close:

Poor Gemma Arterton plays the part of Alice Creed. Alice (like her kidnappers Victor and Danny) is given no back story or character; instead the three roles serve only to try and develop some sort of tense plot.

Gemma is stripped in the first ten minutes - pointlessly so - perhaps the filmmakers hoped to titillate - instead they offend. Then she has to pee into a plastic bottle this is one of a series of gratuitous humiliating moments which although i'm sure would be argued as essential are unsettling to watch because the film is not clever enough to get away with them.

Whole plot points hinge on fecal matter. Danny trying to hide the fact he's let off a gunshot pretends he is taking a long time in the bathroom because he is having a poo - to which Victor responds something like "I can't smell anything" Danny's reply "My sh*t don't smell".

Danny and Victor's relationship as another plot curveball is laughable, the audience giggled at lines such as "let's just you and me get away, order room service and f*ck for 3 days"

The ending is a joke - again the audience laughed. Gemma looks pretty awful in it but does the best with the dialogue she's given - most of it involving lines such as "If you loved me Danny why would you kidnap me"; the two male leads stink. This film is being incorrectly marketed at the UK audiences and an above average British thriller. It isn't - it is an unintelligent offensive and unsettling for the wrong reasons. AVOID

Death of a Cyclist (1955)

Psychological Thriller Exposes Society

[9/10 · 10 June 2009]

Bardem's 'Death of a Cyclist' sees illicit lovers choose not to help the dead cyclist in question nor admit to their guilt. Forced to share this murderous secret their love affair turns torrid. Rafa the self penned 'Critic' of Spain archly ignites the touchpaper that sees the couple forcing themselves into making a decision about whether or not to live with the secret. They then both make their fateful decisions...

Although much has been made of the ending, and that the ending is not something he agreed to, however it seems to offer hope for a society that at the time had been torn apart and in part corrupted by a violence and self aggrandisement. Juan's actions in the third act also hint at a goodness at the heart of the wormy apple.

One for those who liked Malle's 'Lift to the Scaffold' and 'Double Indemnity'.

Southland Tales (2006)

Dude Where's My Car Meets Surf Nazi's Must Die, Genius or Dire Mess?

[1/10 · 18 December 2007]

Southland Tales plays like the nightmarish counterpart to Dude Wears My Car - linked by Sean William Scott it similarly dabbles in Apocalyptic scenarios, other dimensions, memory loss and seemingly share many of the 'sci-fi' costumes from DWMC.

It is clear after several minutes that we are witnessing some incredibly personal vision from Kelly, every performance is nuanced in a way that is impossible to understand - in the hands of another director such as Lynch the overly dramatic tongue-in-cheek delivery might have worked in the context and world that he creates - indeed many of the actors and characters here seem pulled from the world of Lynch but then dumped in sub Troma nonsense reminiscent of but not as fun as 'Surf Nazis Must Die'.

Whatever the intentions of Kelly - whether or not this is deeply satirical or a comment on the current state of World/North American Social politics doesn't matter - the characters are literally laughable - the politics naive and at every moment ill conceived. Kelly wields ideas with brutish self-involvement. Conspiracy theories, love affairs, racial tensions, the lasting affects of war on soldiers and civil unrest the very things that seem to be what Kelly is looking to explore and understand yet they are rendered in a manner that can only be described as hammy - any potential for us to empathise or understand any of the characters is destroyed by Kelly's direction.

The Marxists have a laughably bad understanding of politics, their violence is (intentionally ?) comic and we cannot believe that they believe in what they are doing.

The Rock appears ridiculous. Gellar is unconvincing and irritating. USIDent a particularly unsuccessful and uninteresting 'Big Brother' run by people sporting cheap-as-chips see-thru anoraks (i'm sure there's a point to them).

The saving grace in this film is Sean William Scott. He seems to still be in DWMC - confused and on the trail of what the hell is going on - we share in his confusion and his performance seems spot on - eternally questioning everyone's ( and perhaps even Kelly's) actions.

I could be wrong but unless I have missed something huge - some hint at how one is meant to read this film - this film simply disappoints. Southland Tales is a bizarre and terrible example of contemporary film-making. There should be a message on the end of every copy of Donnie Darko "Do Not Feel Obliged to See Southland Tales".

Now we have to wait until the next Richard Kelly type director comes along to save us from Kelly himself.

A New Life (2002)

Extraordinary Visceral and well formed, Grandrieux's 'La Vie Nouvelle'

[10/10 · 1 January 2005]

Grandrieux's 'la Vie Nouvelle' explores one man's obsession and fall into a base and instinctive human. With extraordinary visual flair Grandrieux introduces us to an un-named war torn Eastern European city where Zachary Knighton's soldier on leave falls for a 'dancer' in a sleazy club.

With sparse dialogue and complex narrative we understand the complexities of the soldier's feelings, his love of his closest friend and the simplicity of morals in a city razed to concrete. Grandrieux approach to his camera work and sound design forces you to become involved in the characters, he brings us close to their emotional point of view never allowing us too far back form the action. Indeed at times we are so intimately close to the characters' mindset that it can be hard to not turn away in horror.

indeed, whilst this film is in some ways 'another European art-house film...' it could also be classified as a film in the horror genre, the final sequence involving the soldier's friends is shocking and violent.

This is an important film from a director with plenty to say and who is clearly bold enough to say it differently and with considerable force.

see this film

Innocence (II) (2004)

Exquisite Metaphorical Transcendent Film making

[10/10 · 7 November 2004]

Innocence is an extraordinary film that explores its theme with such determined rigor one cannot help but be compelled and shocked by every moment. Innocence explores the period in girls' lives before they lose their Innocence and start adulthood. The mysterious school to which we are introduced through Tarkovskyesque images of flowing water becomes a dark and at times haunting manifestation of both the young girls' enforced Innocence as well as the setting for the film's mystery narrative in which we find ourselves desperate to see through the schools wooded grounds to some kind of epiphany.

Part of the success of Innocence is that it is able to confuse the viewer and forces the audience to confront their own ideas of Innocence and how we as adults should view images of Innocence. Images of the young girls at play should be easier to watch but this is an adult film with a predominately adult audience and the darkness of the films own geography plays with ones ideas of Innocence and the loss of it.

Extraordinary images, extraordinary performances, a great film.