Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Russell Brand: Scandalous

Tuesday 29th September 2009

Russell Brand scores again in another hilariously cheeky live performance. After the infamous scandal of Brand and Jonathan Ross’ hit on Andrew Sachs last year, it seems the world wind of media coverage it received has channelled into a great source of comedic material for his latest stand-up tour.

Typical to Brand’s self-proclaimed narcissism, he bases Scandalous on the constant drama his career has endured this past year and delves headfirst into the Sachs scandal to reveal his side of the story. Armed with a list of death threats and people’s comments from the Times Online, Brand sends the crowd into cascades of laughter as he reads out suggestions for his punishment that include being put on the Sex Offenders Registry and being sent to Afghanistan to ‘meet real men’.

Brand also touches on his stint as the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards host, and treats the crowd to a condensed performance of the original script he intended for the award show before scrapping it due to too many offensive jokes. With another list on hand, this time of emails from American viewers, Brand is berated and told to stay out of the States and go back home.

Although the British comedian receives much flak for ‘unacceptable’ and ‘offensive’ behaviour, it seems that Russell Brand and trouble are set to go hand in hand for the foreseeable future; but it’s clear that the more criticism he receives, the more material he has, which in turn means a lot more of Brand’s priceless comedy for us to look forward to.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

President Evo

Tuesday 29th September 2009

Dir. Rodrigo Vasquez

A passionate documentary that follows the revolutionary plight of Amerindian coca farmer, Evo Morales, as he wins the 2005 Bolivian Presidential campaign and endeavours to liberate the country’s indigenous people.

With 80% of Bolivians being of indigenous descent, Evo Morales’ Presidential victory marks a well-waited change for poor Amerindians; but white landowners in Bolivia’s prosperous region, Santa Cruz, do not share the same optimism and go about creating an opposing political party in an attempt to stop Morales’ revolution to make a socialist Bolivia.

Filmed in 4 parts, the documentary accounts both parties’ views in the wake of Morale’s election and the lengths they go to, to achieve autonomy.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

This Very Instant

Tuesday 29th September 2009

Dir. Manuel Huerga

A rhythmic documentary that follows Academy Award winning Uruguayan musician Jorge Drexler on a 7-concert tour around Barcelona. Known for infusing traditional Uruguayan music with ‘bossa nova’ and electronic compositions, Drexler captivates audiences as he performs onstage with various pedals at his feet, each emitting sounds recorded from the streets of Spain.

Filmed predominantly in sultry black and white, the documentary gives insight into the inspired mind of this acclaimed South American singer as he performs impromptu with street artists, invites a processional band to play with him live, and performs songs written in his dressing room 10 seconds before arriving onstage.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

The Gift of Pachamama

Tuesday 29th September 2009

Dir. Toshifumi Matsushita

Set in Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, home of the world’s largest salt lake, this anthropological drama centres on a small family of indigenous Andean people who harvest and deliver natural salt to neighbouring towns by means of traditional llama caravans.

When Kunturi’s grandmother falls sick, the young boy must join his father in the 3-month journey across southwestern Bolivia to deliver the produce; and as the pair passes through each town with their flock of llamas in tow, Kunturi progressively learns about love, life and death along the way.

With references to the transition between traditionalism and modernity, the film offers insight into how these indigenous people live, whose culture is still strongly linked to traditional ideologies and customs.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

Não Por Acaso

Monday 14th September 2009

Dir. Philippe Barcinski

An emotional drama set in Brazil chronicling the lives of two floundering men whose loved-ones are killed in a fatal car accident.

Recluse traffic analyst, Ênio, must reunite with his estranged daughter who turns up at his front doorstep after his ex-wife is killed in the collision; while pool-table craftsman, Pedro, attempts to overcome his lover’s death by starting a relationship with her tenant.

Despite the slow start, the film humanly depicts two contrasting personalities and the ways in which they must adjust to their new lives.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

Meet The Prick

Tuesday 29th September 2009

Dir. Ilya Ruppeldt

A documentary focusing on Tame Iti, a native Tuhoe from the indigenous Maori tribe in New Zealand who wears an ancient skin adornment that visually represents Maori genealogy and cultural identity.

Working with Te Hauora Tuhoe (Tuhoe Health), Tame Iti encourages the survival of his ancestral culture in both present and future generations by spurning the ideology of capitalist governments and advocating Tuhoe propaganda. But despite his political defiance and menacing appearance, which Tame Iti admits is often mistaken for gang-related tattoos, the Tuhoe’s beliefs lie with those of the Maori – a utopian socialist society where resources are shared and people united.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

All the Years of Trying: An Ode to Patrik Fitzgerald

Tuesday 29th September 2009

Dir. Dom Shaw

An examination of the rise of singer/songwriter Patrik Fitzgerald who heavily influenced the British punk-rock scene in 1977.

Interviews with fellow artists, music journalists and fans chronicle Fitzgerald’s steady emergence within the movement by way of his relatable lyrics and simple use of acoustic guitar. The documentary is highlighted with inter-cuts of live performances such as ‘Bingo Crowd’ and ‘Tonight’ from past to present, and ends with a selection of covers of his most loved songs by various rock poets and bands.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

25 Kilates

Tuesday 29th September 2009

Dir. Patxi Amezcua

A Spanish crime film that focuses on dirty dealers and the corrupt police who serve them.

When a money-hungry swindler becomes entangled in his web of scams he turns to daughter, Kay, for help with a double-cross to acquire €400,000; but when he gets caught midway it’s up to Kay and a little help from a stranger to come up with a plan to rescue her father before they both get killed.

With crooked cops and clever hustles, 25 Kilates is like watching a British crime film with subtitles.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

Monday, October 19, 2009

A Necessary Death

Friday 25th September 2009

Dir. Daniel Stamm

This ‘documentary about a documentary’-style feature follows film student Gilbert Toma who bases his final-year thesis on suicide. With ex-girlfriend Valencia and buddy Michael, Gilbert embarks on finding and filming an individual in the preparatory stages of ending their life. When Matt comes along, a sufferer of an inoperable brain tumour, Gilbert finds his leading man, but as the project ensues and Gilbert becomes ever immersed in his controversial film, the line between creativity and morality begins to fade.

With compelling performances that provoke a rollercoaster of emotions, this gem is not to be missed.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

Monday, October 12, 2009

Rogue

Thursday 24th September 2009

Dir. Greg McLean

Following the success of Ozzie horror Wolf Creek, Greg McLean delivers another thrill ride set in the outback.

When American travel journalist, Pete McKell (Michael Vartan), arrives Down Under for a wildlife river cruise in the Northern Territory, things seem set for a placid sightsee around Aboriginal Australia; but when a flare is spotted a few miles from the boat, tour-guide Kate Ryan (Radha Mitchell) heads off-course to investigate, only to lead her boat of unsuspecting tourists into the territory of a hungry 7 ½ metre crocodile.

With spectacular shots of Australia’s stunning wildlife, seamless special effects and genuine performances, Rogue gives more bite than your average B-movie.

Extras: The making of Rogue, audio commentary, special effects, music & location featurettes, ‘The Real Rogue’ mini documentary.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

From Page To Screen: Philip K. Dick’s ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ Transformation into Ridley Scott’s Onscreen Cult Hit ‘Blade Runner’

Thursday 1st October 2009


With the steady supply of films inspired by and adapted from books emerging in Hollywood, it’s noteworthy to look back at cult hits that have claimed victory in the arduous task of successfully adapting a novel onto the silver screen without spoiling the beauty of its once literary form.

One such success is Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi noir Blade Runner, which despite less-than-flattering reviews upon release, has only matured with age and is now viewed as an influential building block for science fiction films we know and love today.

However, in spite of the film’s success, the origin of Scott’s cult remains a mystery to the masses. Unbeknown to many outside the sci-fi community, it was not the Aliens director that envisaged the Nexus-6, futuristic squalor and the infamous Blade Runner, but was in fact science fiction visionary Philip K. Dick, literary author of other cinematic successes like Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly and Minority Report, who conceived such revolutionary concepts two decades before the release of the film.

Philip K. Dick’s 1968 book, laboriously titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? spawn themes of post-nuclear apocalyptic Earth, organic androids and robotic infiltration. Yet, Dick’s book delves into the themes in a darker and more meditative approach, evoking hollow-felt despair within each turn of the page – concepts that are indisputably lost, or rather stripped of, in the ‘80s Hollywood adaptation.


In Blade Runner’s famous and most memorable opening sequence we see Los Angeles 2019 in all its futuristic light and glory – heavily ‘Japanized’ and thriving in over-populated claustrophobia. This greatly contrasts with Dick’s desolate planet-Earth, which rots in an aftermath of radioactive dust after a nuclear world war. Scott’s intention was to create a ‘future-medieval’ city with the concept of an ‘overloaded’ Asian city, yet this juxtaposes Dick’s idea of Earth having been transformed into an uninhabitable wasteland where the human population is down to mere thousands and animal-life is near extinction; with most people having emigrated to an off-world settlement in Mars, renamed New America. Although Scott plays with this premise using references in larger-than-life digital billboards throughout the city, Dick’s analysis of human behaviour in which social status, epitomised with the ultimate status symbol of owning a live animal, plays an important factor in spite of the steady decay of mankind on Earth itself.

Another interesting concept explored in the book is the idea of the ‘mood organ’ – a device used to induce human emotions with varying dial settings. The concept questions how wide the gap is between humans and androids (Replicants) with the ability to manipulate and schedule emotions at the touch of a button. Blade Runner does not include the ‘mood organ’ within the film, but instead preludes to the debate of what it means to be human by questioning whether killing, or ‘retiring’, a Replicant is as equally devoid of empathy as Replicants are perceived to be.


The most fascinating idea in Dick’s book is the concept of ‘Mercerism’, the prominent religious movement that ‘blends the concept of a life-death-rebirth deity with the values of unity and empathy’ amongst the Earth’s inhabitants. The premise is that each lasting member of Earth can unite as one via an electronic ‘empathy box’ in an attempt to ease the suffocating feeling of isolation. ‘This religion provides a means by which the isolated populations can interact, and promotes needed unification.’ With themes of spiritual faith and hope for mankind, Dick challenges the existence of religion by revealing that ‘Mercerism’ may very well be an artificial construct, which is exposed by the Replicants at the end of the book. Perhaps too complex and heavy a subject for Hollywood to tackle, Blade Runner does not attempt to adapt this into its cinematic counterpart, but does include a node to the book’s fans by placing an ‘empathy box’ in John Isidore’s apartment.

While Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is captivatingly written with desolate themes of suffocating loneliness and psychological unrest, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner’s success as a sci-fi noir remains a Hollywood classic with loose references to one of literature’s best celebrated science fiction novels.

PUBLISHED IN SCENE 360

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Pandorum

Monday 28th September 2009

Dir. Christian Alvart
Rating: *

Four years after Christian Alvart’s success with critically acclaimed thriller ‘Antibodies’, the German director returns with another psychological thriller – this time set in space.

In the distant future two astronauts awaken from a hyper-sleep chamber aboard a dark and seemingly desolate ship with no memory of their whereabouts, identity or mission. With a beginning shrouded in mystery, things seem set for a mystifying thrill-ride in space, with unexpected twists and turns to be revealed along the way; but rather than a dark, psychological thriller, Pandorum is just another underachieving, uninspired space-set sci-fi B-movie which lacks originality, that throws in a horde of questionable monsters for good measure.

When Corporal Bower (Ben Foster) and Lieutenant Payton (Dennis Quaid) discover they are locked in their connecting unit with failing power and no communication to their fellow passengers, they decide to venture further into the main vessel of the spacecraft via a dark ventilation system in order to access the ship’s reactor, reset it and hopefully fully restore all power before the entire spacecraft shuts down for good. But as Bower tracks through the maze-like corridors, guided by Payton via a radio transmitter who remains in the connecting unit, he stumbles upon an army of pale-skinned and grossly disfigured tribal looking humanoids intent on hunting and killing anyone who crosses their paths. Yet all is not lost as Bowers, along with leather-clad scientist Nadia (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Resident Evil’s Mila Jovavich) and token Martial artist/agricultural specialist Manh set out to restore the ship together and ultimately save the day. Hurrah!

Hardly a unique premise – killer monsters aboard a deserted spacecraft, yet the psychological gem of the film, which is worth any real attention, is the concept of Pandorum, a psychosis brought on from the claustrophobia of the ship and the isolation of deep space. This psychosomatic notion is the one thing that could have saved such a dud film; but alas, the concept is half-heartedly and haphazardly explored only to be realised in Payton’s anti-climatic revelation towards the close of the picture.

Not to be highly anticipated, if only to witness Quaid as he sinks further into bad movie morass, Pandorum offers little more than disgruntlement as yet another dire film is released for our viewing displeasure.

PUBLISHED IN SCREEN JABBER