Anticipation is Building: THE TREE OF LIFE

New flick by Terrence Malick... this looks epic. Just look at the cinematography!

Raising Awareness: CLEAN, SHAVEN (1993)

Another very underrated and under seen film, again, I think, only available through the Criterion Collection. A disturbing and stirring film chronicling a paranoid schizophrenic's search for his daughter. The use of strange audio and visual effects is an incredibly effective tool, creating an uneasy atmosphere and an uncompromising experience of a film.

I couldn't find a trailer, so I have embedded an interesting, non-spoilery clip.

Raising Awareness: WHITE DOG (1982)

I just saw this very little known film after receiving the Criterion Collection release (I think, the only one available). A powerful, thought provoking film about corruption of the mind and the stupidity of racial prejudice. Worth the watch if you can find it!

Trash Humpers (2010) - Movie Review

Harmony Korine was the man behind the script for one of the most controversial films of the 90's, "Kids", and one of the strangest of the 90's "Gummo". He's a talk show personality to behold; his Letterman interviews are hilarious and he himself is a very funny man. Now, my relationship with his films; I thought "Kids" was pretty brilliant, a bleak film about teenage sexuality, pulling no punches whatsoever. I thought "Gummo" was interesting, but some scenes interrupted the flow of the film and seemed to be trying too hard. "Julien donkey-boy", his Dogme 95 film, from what I've seen is insane and brilliant, Werner Herzog drinks cough medicine from a slipper. I have yet to see "Mister Lonely" but it looks slightly interesting. Now, "Trash Humpers". I have been anticipating this film for a long, long time. It looked like a creepy, nightmarish film with a clear sense of humour. Ever since I saw the longer trailer I've wanted to see it, and I finally got to.

This film was infuriating and annoying to say the least. I wanted to love it before seeing it, but at a certain point I gave up hope. The film, shot on VHS in the age old "found-footage" style (it plays like a film found in the bin behind a shopping centre), follows four elderly people (actually younger people in masks) who roam streets, car parks, garages, houses etc. vandalising and violating everything in their path, and committing some ever more serious crimes along the way. If you haven't heard of this film before now, looking at the title, I know what you want to ask... yes... they hump bins. I don't know why, but it's funny. It's one of the few things in the film which worked.

Now, onto the reasons it was infuriating and annoying... for the most part, the film is silly, juvenile and... just plain bad (the monologue about what life would be like without a head was notably pathetic, as was the boy in the suit demonstrating how to murder a doll), but every now and again, Korine will insert a scene or image or event which has a genuine sense of creepiness or, sometimes, comedy. For one, the final few moments, where the female "humper" enters a home and takes a baby in the middle of the night, walking it down the middle of the road singing a creepy lullaby. That scene had an authentic nightmarish quality to it, and will stick in my head for quite some time. A film like this, a series of vignettes, can be judged separately, but as a whole, it's pretty stupid.

I think it was Korine's objective to divide his audience. Making a film like this, he has to expect a huge divide. He has stated that any reaction to the film is the right one, and that he can see why some people have been so verbal about their hate for the film.

My final thoughts: A mostly idiotic, juvenile, repetitive and childish film, with some slight merit in it's occasional injection of nightmarish humour or plain old atmospheric creepiness, overall though, a huge, annoying disappointment from Harmony Korine.

Enter the Void (2009) - Movie Review

Gaspar Noé, the man behind "Irreversible" and "I Stand Alone", was in my opinion one of the most inventive and innovative forces in recent cinema; his films opened doors no other films dare or can. With "I Stand Alone" he gave us a stark, harsh window into the life of a French butcher, and with "Irreversible" (a film I have already reviewed on this blog), he gave us one of the most effectively disturbing masterworks in cinematic history. Knowing my fandom, you can imagine how eagerly I was awaiting his newest film, "Enter the Void"; a film which polarised audiences at Cannes, causing incredibly mixed reviews. The more I heard about the film itself, the more I was fascinated by it. It was easily, without a shadow of a doubt, my most anticipated film of 2009 and 2010 (not knowing anything about release date). The teasers, trailers and opening credits which were released online fascinated me even more. It looked sensational. With the film in limited release, I searched for a screening near me. Turned out the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle had two screenings lined up... I caught the second; here are my (hopefully) organised thoughts.

"Enter the Void" is a full-on sensory-numbing experience right from the first frame. The opening credits are even enough to cause an epileptic seizure. Noe has always been known for unconventional titles and credits (Irreversible's titles were the credits backwards and the credits consisted of just a title card reading "Le temps detruit tout" (Time destroys everything), but these, his titles for "Enter the Void" are his most innovative yet and no doubt one of my favourite opening title sequences ever. There are two distinctively different halves to the opening credit sequence. The first; a fast paced assortment of strobe-powered credits accompanied by an uneasy whirring sound, and the second, what can only be described as an assault on the eyes and ears... only seeing it would do it justice! But first, it feels like it's my duty to issue an epilepsy warning; if you suffer from epilepsy, don't bother trying.

After the opening sequence, comes a real time 20 minute or so long section where we meet the main character, Oscar and his sister, Linda... over the course of the section, she leaves, he takes DMT, trips and gets a phone call from his friend Victor, asking him to bring his share of a drug haul to "The Void", a bar (with more psychedelic decor than is needed on a DMT trip, I might add). The police bust in, he flees to the bathroom and is shot. From then on, the film descends into a state of exuberant beauty, whizzing melancholic energy and pure visual inventiveness.

After the screening I caught, it took around two or three days to fully process what I saw. My initial reaction was one of complete awe and shock. Whether you like him or not; there is no denying that Noe has a definite and clear vision and he shows us some things we would never see anywhere else (in the case of this film, things we wouldn't see unless we were a gynaecologist with a pinhole camera; not to sound crass). My initial reaction was also definitely positive, but alas, I was blinded by the experience to see certain obvious flaws... it may have been said before but the film is slightly overlong, this thought only cropped up once or twice during the viewing of the film, mostly during the extended sequences of Oscar's travelling spirit going through buildings; although this isn't to say the beautiful model-work and cinematography didn't keep my attention, it completely did. Let's just say, in the way of visual and technical innovation, for me, this beats "Avatar", no question. That's pretty much it in the way of criticisms and problems I had with the film.

What Gaspar Noe has created here is another testament to how easy it is to polarise an audience. Some will be completely taken in by the film, and yet some will feel detached... and this is definitely a film you cannot enjoy in a detached state. You have to prepare to be absorbed by the experience; and prepare to have certain boundaries challenged. I adored this film; it's also probably my favourite of the year up to now.

The White Ribbon [Das Weisse Band] (2009) - Film Review

Michael Haneke is the director responsible for such disturbing masterworks as "Funny Games", "The Seventh Continent" and "Cache" (Hidden)... This, I think, is what will be his most respected and celebrated effort yet, for as much as I adore "Funny Games" for its borderline obnoxious jabs at the audience for expecting a more graphically violent and disgusting torture-porn film, and him delivering a more psychologically torturing and effective experience, and as much as I love "The Seventh Continent" for delivering one of the most emotionally harrowing experiences I have ever seen on screen and "Cache" for not fearing to not answer every question asked, this, "The White Ribbon", is a masterpiece... and I don't use the term all that often.

Never before, even in Haneke's previous films, has a certain line, or the slightest allusion to an event been as shattering or powerful, and never before has the smallest amount of violence (and I'm talking the level of a punch) been so effective. It's a masterful effort through and through.

I, along with a few other critics, believe this to be Haneke's attempt to show us the roots and reasons that may be behind Naziism. The film is set on the eve of WWI in a small German village, where evermore strange, violent and horrific acts are taking place. Throughout the course of the film we are given certain clues as to who it could be, and some possible motivation behind it. But the questions are left directly unanswered, and we are forced to make up our own minds about the events.

This film could be by all means a perfect one. Michael Haneke plays us like an orchestra, makes us wince, cringe and ultimately ponder on what actually took place. Not only is it Haneke's best, it may even be the best film of 2009.

Irréversible (2002) - Movie Review

"Irreversible" is a film almost too intense to handle in one sitting. Yes, it is, at certain points, very explicitly sexual. Yes, it is, at certain points, sickeningly violent. But is it a morally abrupt film? Hell no.

"Irreversible" opens with the end credits and almost seamlessly works backward through the horrific night it is set on. The film is so masterfully shot and edited, that the camerawork is as hypnotising as it is nauseating. It gets gradually less frantic as the film goes on, but the first 20 or 30 minutes are shot as though we are on the brutal comedown of a huge drug binge or we are on the verge of fainting.

People have criticised Gaspar Noe for many things; most superficially, his incredibly graphic and unflinching depiction of rape in this film. For the uninitiated, the rape scene is around 8 or 9 minutes long... it's too much. It's completely and utterly repulsive. We, as a whole audience, want to turn away, we don't want to see as much as we do see. But violence needs to repulse us to be effective, and I'll be damned if it doesn't effect anyone on at least some level. He has also been criticised of being homophobic... oh no, not at all. Some character's may be, but not the director nor the film.

"Irreversible" is a staggering, gritty and real film... but it's necessary. We need films like this to wake up an audience from thinking violence is easy to watch. I would completely understand if someone wouldn't want to see this film, and rightly so; but for those who think they could stomach it, it's definitely not exploitative or done for shock value. It's an amazing film, with an emotional scope larger than anticipated, and the aforementioned scene (plus another infamous scene involving a fire extinguisher) have artistic and psychological merit.

This film gives us the scourge and scum of humanity, and doesn't dress it up or placate us.