Archive for the ‘Film reviews’ Category
Trance
From the current issue of Clash.
There’s been so much hype around Danny Boyle’s work as artistic director at the Olympics opening ceremony that his cinematic career almost seems like an afterthought. Trance reiterates part of what established his reputation in the first place: ambitious, large scale British filmmaking with an emotional centre and stunning cinematography courtesy of Anthony Dod Mantle.
The plot itself doesn’t sound particularly inspiring. James McAvoy plays Simon, a fine art auctioneer who strikes a deal with a criminal gang (headed unsurprisingly by Vincent Cassel) to arrange a theft of a valuable painting at a high profile auction. It doesn’t quite go according to plan as Simon is knocked out, leaving him unable to explain the subsequent disappearance of the painting. A hypnotherapist (Rosario Dawson) is enlisted to solve the puzzle.
Thanks largely to the screenplay by regular Boyle collaborator Joe Hodge and sci-fi specialist Joe Ahearne, Trance rises above its hackneyed premise. Perceptions of characters constantly shift and twist, ideas of good and bad become so blurred as to become irrelevant and the use of hypnotherapy becomes the focal point behind the film’s intelligence rather than a simple cliché. Simply, Trance finds Boyle once again in enviable form.
Know The Score features
Know The Score is a small piece in each Clash film section which looks at soundtracks and scores. Here are some of my contributions from the last year.
BEBERIAN SOUND STUDIO
Composed before the tragic, premature death of Trish Keenan, Broadcast’s score fluctuates in style throughout its thirty-nine ominous extracts as it ranges from sinister traditional English folk to gloomy minimalist electronica. James Cargill’s deployment of terrified screeches and disconcerting dialogue ensure that this is a soundtrack album that very much takes the listener back to the atmosphere of the film. The result is a nightmarish aural trip for harrowed souls.
THE LAST EMPEROR
Twenty-five years ago the unlikely team of Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne and Cong Su triumphed over regular challengers Morricone and Williams to win the Oscar for Best Original Score. Sakamoto combines influences from epic soundtracks and traditional Chinese music to create a modern classical score which has been regularly imitated ever since. Byrne’s work is complimentary to Sakamoto’s, albeit more restrained and rhythmically orientated, while Cong Su’s sole contribution fits seamlessly.
PARIS, TEXAS
Inspired by Blind Willie Johnson’s Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground, Ry Cooder’s soundtrack to Paris, Texas is a triumph; his sparse and soulful acoustic blues instrumentals perfectly complement the desert desolation depicted in Wim Wenders’ equally meditative movie. Compared to the sprawling length of the film, the soundtrack seems minimal (eight of the thirty-three minute running time is devoted to dialogue), yet it’s perfectly succinct. Harry Dean Stanton’s Spanish vocals on Canción Mixteca prove to be a heartbreaking highlight.
GREMLINS
From the synthesised ragtime main theme, as playful and unsettling as the critters themselves, to Gizmo’s cutesy song, Jerry Goldsmith’s score to Gremlins is full of clever, endearing moments which contribute greatly to the manic black comedy on show. Existing songs are skilfully utilised too, notably Darlene Love’s Phil Spector-produced Christmas which sets the initial tone, and the scratched interruption of Johnny Mathis’s Do You Hear What I Hear? which signifies the chaos to come.
GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI
The rarer of two soundtrack albums released to accompany Jim Jarmusch’s hitman / mafia film is RZA’s debut score which was originally only released in Japan. Almost entirely instrumental, the emphasis is on laidback lo-fi hip-hop which flows from minimal soundscapes to sleazy funk to beefier beats, all the while maintaining a subliminal head-noddin’ vibe and an innate understanding of cinematic atmospherics. While this remains very much a cult choice, RZA’s work on Kill Bill earned widespread praise.
ROSEMARY’S BABY
A regular collaborator with Roman Polanski, Polish composer Krzysztof Komeda is best known for his score to Rosemary’s Baby. Provoking fear through innocence, this simple lullaby would be a comforting night song if not for Mia Farrow’s melancholically phrased vocals and the ominous chimes that lurk in the background. Although The Coven’s sinister chanting and unsettling atonal whistles menace, the score often veers towards Komeda’s background in jazz. Less than a year after the film’s release, Komeda died at the age of thirty-seven.
Shell
From the current issue of Clash.
Soundtracked by little more than the blustery winds of the Scottish highlands and the rumble of a passing truck, Scott Graham’s debut film is set in an isolated petrol station staffed solely by teenager Shell (Chloe Pirrie) and her world-weary father Pete. The hurt of Pete’s past and Shell’s desire for a more fulfilling future forces an awkward rift between the pair which ensures that something has to change.
Featuring sumptuous photography of what must be one of Scotland’s more isolated areas and an emotionally economic performance from Pirrie, Shell is a master class of small scale drama.
Broken
From the current issue of Clash.
Young misfit Skunk lives in a cul-de-sac of dysfunction. From her liberal middle-class home she observers her neighbours: the Oswalds, a trio of teenager tearaways lead by a brutish father; and the Buckleys, a withdrawn older couple devoted to their troubled son. When Skunk witnesses a violent clash between the two families, the quiet suburban close becomes an unorthodox war zone.
Broken strives to represent a microcosm of British society, so it will come as no surprise that the situation is endlessly more complicated than it first appears – regardless of the outcome, each family’s actions are driven by self-protectionism. Its attempts to subvert such stereotypes, however, are undermined by such predictability.
Newcomer Eloise Laurence excels as Skunk – a bundle of eccentricity who exudes uncertainty at the unpredictable world around her as she edges towards adulthood – while the experience of Tim Roth and Cillian Murphy anchors the film in reality. Yet for all of the film’s leftfield charm and mostly effective humour, it doesn’t quite reach its potential. The sheer number of key characters is problematic as few of their stories are explored in the detail required, and the clash between quirkiness and a desire to deliver a devastating emotional punch jars.
Stoker
From the current issue of Clash.
After the success of the Vengeance Trilogy (Oldboy et al) and other oddball odysseys such as I’m A Cyborg, But That’s OK, Park Chan-wook has delivered his first English-language film with Stoker. Drifting between the psychological horrors of the 70s and an unsettling family drama undercut with sexual tension, Stoker finds the South Korean director reprising his ability to capture a classy, distinctive aesthetic vision full of strange (and occasionally bewildering) symbolism that builds an effective atmosphere alongside a typically engaging Clint Mansell score.
Yet Stoker’s narrative – dark tensions between India (Mia Wasikowska) and her mother (Nicole Kidman) after the death of her father and the return of her uncle (Matthew Goode) – fails to convince. Whereas Park Chan-Wook generally contributed to the screenplays of his previous films, Stoker is penned by solely by Prison Break actor Wentworth Miller who fails to establish the consistent character motivation needed to create the suspense that such a creepy, morose concept demands. The situation isn’t helped by Goode’s performance: he excels at effortless charm but fails to convince as the deliver of twisted intent. Listed on the 2010 blacklist of best unproduced screenplays and clearly indebted to Hitchcock, Stoker nonetheless falls short of its potential.
