Imperium

Title: Imperium

Director: Daniel Ragussis

Released: 2016

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Toni Collette, Tracy Letts, Devin Druid, Pawel Szajda, Nestor Carbonell, Sam Trammell

Plot: FBI agent Nate Foster (Radcliffe) is sent undercover as a neo-Nazi when it is suspected that a white supremacist group is plotting an attack.

Review: I’m not sure if its just me but I’m sure that the career paths of both Daniel Radcliffe and Elijah Wood if put side by side would pretty much match up with both coming to the attention of the general movie going public through blockbusters before moving into more indie productions and arguably producing some of the best work of their respective careers with Elijah Wood giving us the likes of “Grand Piano” and “Maniac” after the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy while Daniel Radcliffe only continues to make the Harry Potter years seem like a distant memory as he’s matured as an actor let alone showing the same kind of ballsy role picking with films like this and “Swiss Army Man” that helped Joseph Gordon Levitt become such a darling of the indie scene.

Of course when you think of Neo-Nazi’s I’m sure that Radcliffe’s name would be way down the list of potential actors but then that was one of the main things which drew me to this film, after all this is a the kind of role which has become synonymous with the performances given by the likes of Edward Norton and Russell Crowe as well as perhaps to a lesser extent Ryan Gosling. Yet somehow Radcliffe pulls off the role playing up the lack of believability to extraordinary effect.

Based on the career of former undercover FBI agent Michael German who wrote the script with director Daniel Raguissis who makes his feature debut with this film. German over the course of his career spent time undercover with both supremacists and right-wing militants which brings some legitimacy to the always dubious “Based on real events” title card the film opens with.

When Radcliffe’s FBI agent Foster is introduced during the arrest of a terrorist suspect were he is pushed to the background of the arrest while his superiors claim the credit for his work. At the same time Foster is shown as being something of an intellectual loner as he spends his evenings drinking expensive wine, listening to Brahm’s and sharing his meals with a book. However this seemingly makes him the perfect candidate for going undercover it would seem in the eyes of Agent Zamparo (Collette) who is investigating the involvement of white supremacist groups in the theft of caesium-137 which could be turned into a dirty bomb. The fact that Foster is such an unlikely candidate for undercover work, let alone to imitate a neo-nazi is seemingly what makes him perfect for such an operation seeing how many members of these organisations share a similar upbringing as Foster.

This idea that people’s direction in life being affected by their life experiences really plays an under lying theme throughout the film, before being highlighted again at the closing. At the same time the film equally suffers from going through the usual motions of these kinds of movies as we get the initial introduction to the hotheaded agitators while the elder figure making all the big claims turns out to be far from the person they claim to be. We do however get some interesting moments scattered throughout which do bring some unique aspects to the story such as a gathering being held in a quiet suberban neighbourhood hosted by white collar family man Gerry (Trammell) were the guest all seem like regular upstanding members of society despite the fact that one of the wives has brought Swastika topped cupcakes reminding the audience that not all supremacist look the same.

The character of Gerry is another cliché aspect to the story in which we get the Neo-Nazi who can justify his love of Jewish conductors or black music and its the kind of character who turns up time and time again and perhaps its down to the enjoyable performance given by Trammell that it wasn’t such an eye rolling cliché moment here. Gerry though provides for Foster one of the few seeming safe harbours when surrounded by members of the various groups threatening to reveal his true identity, while their shared interests and similar personalities make for a genuine friendship which leaves you wondering if he’s getting too involved with the people he’s supposed to be investigating.

Crafting a tightly plotted story there is little hanging around with the plot while the tension is kept high throughout as doubt is constantly being cast on the different aspects of his story. While Radcliffe might not seem like the most intimidating actor, here it really works to his advantage with the path they choose to take with his character so that you never get the feeling of implausibility like we got when Elijah Wood tried to play a football hooligan in the dire “Green Street”.

On the downside the final act feels kind of forced and rushed and really could have done with having more time to breathe than the sudden introduction of new conspirators to the plot, while Foster rushes around to defuse a dirty bomb plot. While it does have some tense moments such as trying to pass off fake chemicals, it just all needs more time to develop especially when the journey to this point has been so great its frustrating to see such a rushed climax.

A fantastic indie thriller that approaches the Neo Nazi material in perhaps a more subtle way than the superior “American History X” or “Romper Stomper” but this is still a great indie thriller well worth checking out.

GirlHouse

Title: Girl House

Director: Trevor Matthews
Released: 2014
Starring: Ali Corbrin, Adam DiMarco, Slaine, Alyson Bath, Elysia Rotaru, Chasty Ballesteros, Alice Hunter, Wesley MacInnes, Erin Agostino, Nicole Arianna Fox, Zuleyka Silver, James Thomas

Plot: In need of money to pay for her college tuition Kylie (Corbrin) agrees to be a cam girl for “GirlHouse” a site which streams from a Big Brother style mansion. Things take a murderous turn however when the girls find themselves being targeted by obsessed fan Loverboy (Slaine)

Review: The debut film from director Trevor Matthews, who here attempts to update the sorority house slashers of the 80’s by giving it a dose of porno chic which would be great if this wasn’t at the same time another vanilla horror movie and in doing so essentially shoots its concept in the foot from the beginning despite seemingly aiming to give us a sexed up version of “Halloween Resurrection”.

Opening to our killer Loverboy as a pudgy child being taunted into showing his penis to a couple of girls who soon drive him into his first murderous rage by making fun of him with him getting his revenge on one of the girls coming soon after. For a first murder its surprisingly well thought out with Loverboy (we never do find out his real name) first knocking the ring leader off her bike and then making it look like she accidently fall off the bridge. Flash forward several years later and Loverboy has only gotten worse with his insecurities and arguably more pudgy than he was as a child, while working as an IT technician obsessed with cam girls in particular the girls of “GirlHouse” while hanging out in his basement with his real life sex doll. Its an interesting attempt to explain why our killer is the way he is and also helps justify the catalyst for his murderous rampage when he believes the girls are also mocking him.

Our lead girl Kylie is unsurprisingly the homely girl who cares only about helping her mother (I love the fact that she appears to have been adopted by Asian parents) pay the bills and fund her studies and see’s being a Cam girl as the way to do it. Now no doubt you’ve been drawn in by the who Cam girl angle expecting this to be an onslaught of boobs and softcore sex but outside of a couple of the cast this movie is surprisingly light on both with the setting essentially being more of a hook here to what is a pretty generic slasher movie and for the first hour nothing really happens apart from some slap and tickle teasing for the audience and Kylie getting involved with the harmless Ben (DiMarco) who of course only now notices Kylie now she’s a cam girl despite claiming of being enamoured with her as a child, it still comes off as an unbelievable relationship especially when he is shown as more of the friend than a boyfriend let alone the fact he has no qualms about her making money as a cam girl. A fact made only the more suprising when the film opens up to that famous quote from Ted Bundy on death row, were he blamed pornography as the trigger for his crimes, you’d expect to see him trying to save her from this life. That being said the film can never seem to decide where it stands on this issue, seeing how it glorifies the lifestyle of the girls working on the site, yet seems to be implying that Loverboy’s actions are the result of his cam girl obsessions and not because he is a just a wackjob who  had his penis laughed at as a child.

The cast are all passible enough while largely forgotable as they seem mainly to have been cast on their looks and ability to fill a criteria (blonde, lesbian Asian) than anything deeper while their characters are essentially so shallow they all end up being interchangeable slasher fodder anyway. True Corbin makes for a likable female lead if here comes off perhaps too vanilla for such a role (surprising considering her extended nude scene in “American Reunion), making her playing a cam girl as believable as Piper Perabo playing sex siren Violet in “Coyote Ugly”. Yes she is happy to take her clothes off and flash some side boob or her ass but there is never any real heat or sexiness to these scenes that you would expect from someone trying to make a living from this field.

Once we get to final half hour we finally get the promised rampage of Loverboy, the reasons for which are unclear as he shows Kylie a picture of himself and receives some nice complements from her, only for the same picture to show up on the girl’s pin board with the mocking tagline “Stud of the Year” attached to it. It’s hard to believe that Kylie did this and all the other girls speak kindly of him when his name is brought up making it only beg the question further as to who posted this? Needless to say when Loverboy see’s this he hacks the “GirlHouse” system before heading off to engage in a whole different kind of hacking. Why he chooses to use the head of his sex doll as a mask (complete with Cher fright wig) as disguise is equally unclear.

While the plot might feel like a reworking of “Halloween Resurrection” when it comes to the kills we get here you can’t help but feel that Matthews is in some way trying to remake “The Toolbox Murders” a theory only seemingly further reinforced by some of the posters which show Loverboy with a similar balaclava favouring style. Still the kills that Loverboy pulls off all revolve around what he can pull out of his toolbox it seems, with a couple of kills mixing things up as he uses things the girls have in their rooms. Interestingly though when it comes to the girls he seems more eager to maim or disfigure them than to kill them outright, with one of the girls being slashed up before being left disfigured a situation she surprisingly chooses to resolve by suffocating herself to death in a throwback to David Fincher’s pride murder in “Se7en”.

While the kills are for the most part original enough to hold your interest the characters lack the depth for you to really feel attached to any of the girls or anything that's really happening with the kills like the later "Friday the 13th" films being more of a draw here, but seeing how you have an hour of plodding plotting to get though first and despite the softcore nudity and occasional sex scene its way too drawn out to the film finding its stride to make it rewatchable even as a throwaway slasher though by the same reasons no doubt making this the new favourite of teenage boys everywhere.

Elwood's Essentials #14 - Donnie Darko

Title: Donnie Darko

Director:  Richard Kelly
Released: 2001
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary McDonnell, Katharine Ross, Patrick Swayze, Noah Wyle, Holmes Osborne, Daveigh Chase, James Dubal, Beth Grant, Seth Rogen, Patience Cleveland, Jolene Purdy

Plot: Donnie Darko (Gyllenhaal) a complex teenager prones to bouts of sleep walking finds himself being given a prophetic warning by a mysterious figure called Frank in a demonic bunny costume that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds.

Review: Unquestionably a key film in my personal film education as this is one of those films where I can still remember everything about that screening while at the same time putting it in a very exclusive club. More so few films have inspired these kinds of memories while Richard Kelly is still the only director to have two films like this. At the same time by the time this film had finished after that original screening I wanted to rush out and instantly discuss it with someone while perhaps knowing back then that this film was hardly the easiest premise to sell people on. Still originally destined for a direct to video release it was saved by Drew Barrymore’s production company “Flower Films” who enabled the film to have a theatrical release. However despite the film now having a large cult following it was initially a flop in the states only to find its audience in the UK much like Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs”. 

Despite being his debut film Kelly directs this film with a truely unique vision for the story he wants to tell while at the same time finding a perfect leading man for his psychologically complex hero in Jake Gyllenhaal who like his sister Maggie here appearing as Donnie’s sister Elizabeth was still an unknown at this point and through this film managed to finally find his breakout role. Infact looking at the cast while many have gone on to more mainstream roles at this point Patrick Swayze was probably the best known name on the cast, alongside Noah Wyle and Drew Barrymore but despite this there is really no member of the cast who doesn’t deliver on their characters

Donnie meanwhile is far from your traditional type of hero, which I guess is only fitting as this is anything but a traditional type of story. Here though Donnie is seen as having various issues in his life which his parents are attempting to resolve by sending him to counselling while at school he is seen as something of an oddball, not popular enough to be one of the cool kids yet not so unhip to be at the bottom of the social order which is no doubt one of the many reasons this film spoke to me back on that original screening. Throughout the film the closest Donnie gets to a friend are his two bumbling sidekick-of-sorts Ronald and Sean but the person who has the closest bond to him is his girlfriend Gretchen (Malone) who herself comes with her own set of issues having moved to town with her mother to escape her violent stepfather.

While Donnie and Gretchen’s relationship is a key part of the film it somehow never overshadows the main meat of the story which see’s Donnie exploring the principles and theories of time travel as he tries to figure out the mystery of Frank and the increasingly strange visions he finds himself beginning to suffer especially when his initial meeting with Frank saves him from being crushed under a stray jet engine which mysteriously crashes through his bedroom ceiling. At the same time though Kelly knows when to use Donnie and Gretchen’s relationship and when to push it to the background as he crafts a truly believable relationship between their characters while ensuring because of this groundwork that he lays that the final twist is suitably devastating.

While Donnie’s journey is one which is as gripping as it confusing, its one which is only made the more enjoyable by the catalogue of interesting characters he encounters over the course of the film from his effortless cool English teacher (Barrymore) whose class on Graham Greene’s short story “The Destructors” frequently seems to overshadow so many events of the film. Equally memorable is Patrick Swayze’s motivational speaker Jim Cunningham whose life philosophy based around life’s issues being categorised as being a result of love or fear is memorably torn apart by Donnie in the school assembly from hell.  Each of these supporting characters bringing their own small element to the story while never feeling like they are being included as a way to tie the story together.

The other key aspect of the film is unquestionably the soundtrack with the opening bike ride to Echo and the Bunnymen’s “The Killing Moon” perfectly setting the tone of the film, while at the same time now ensuring that its nigh impossible to think of anything else when you hear the song in much the same that “Stuck In The Middle” will thanks to Tarantino always bring back memories of “Reservoir Dogs” ear slicing sequence. Elsewhere Kelly manages equal success with his use of Tear for Fears “Head over Heels” and The Church’s “Under The Milky Way” while Gary Jules stripped down version of Tears for Fears “Mad World” hauntingly frames the final montage.

Unquestionably this is a truly unique debut film not only with its premise but also for its genre hoping antics as Kelly sees no issue in combining elements of time travel, surreal imagery and comedy alongside pop culture musing such as how a Smurf orgy would play out and somehow he manages to make it work. Yes this is certainly a strange and at time confusing journey which we are taken on, but at the same time it is an engrossing film and one which only continues to reward with repeat viewings.  At the same time the success of the film would see the film being given a director’s cut which ultimately serves to provide what I felt to be a dumbed down version of the film as additional footage only served to explain away more of the mystery which made the film so memorable to begin with, while Kelly changing out music for his original choices ironically fail to have the same impact as his original choices.

As important a film now as it was when it was released this film really has lost nothing despite being ever more of a cult favourite especially with pages of theories available online as we continue to try and figure out what exactly its all about (try pausing the film on Grandma Death's diary pages) while a misguided attempt to continue the story with "S. Darko" only further highlight just how key Richard Kelly was to making this world work, while his follow up "Southland Tales" continues to divide audiences even now. The real mystery though is why Kelly has still been unable to get his forth film made, especially when the likes of Eli Roth and M.Night Shyamalan can seemingly find funding for any half baked idea they can attach a hook to, making us only the more hungry to see where Kelly takes us next when he does return.

Moon

Title:  Moon

Director:  Duncan Jones
Released:  2009
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Dominique McElligott, Kaya Scodelario, Benedict Wong, Matt Berry, Malcolm Stewart

Plot: In 2035 an alternative fuel helium-3 has solved the oil crisis, while the automated facility setup to mine this fuel source on the Moon is watched over by a lone astronaut Sam Bell (Rockwell) who is currently coming to the end of his three year work contract when he begins to suspect that everything might not be as it seems.

 

Review:  The feature debut of director Duncan Jones, who it seems is  another director who will despite receiving a large amount of critical acclaim for this films to date, still never seems to be a name that makes anyone one’s top 5 lists with his films no doubt being better known than the man himself. Jones is also another director who like Spike Jonze and David Fincher before him also comes from a background in commercials and as a result brings with him for this debut a very visual driven film while also one which recalls the blue collar sci-fi movies such as Silent Runnings, Dark Star and Alien which it would seem were all a clear inspiration for this film.

Sam is every bit the blue collar astronaut who has worked his long stint at the facility alone with only the base computer GERTY (Spacey) for company he longs to return to Earth to see his wife Tess (McElligott) who he receives the occasional recorded message from, with any live feed having long since been disabled due to communication issues on the base. Despite the isolation Sam is generally happy in his work, finding distractions around the base such as his model making and talking to his plants when not required to do the occasional bit of manual labour. However things might not be exactly what they seem Sam soon discovers thanks to a world shattering discovery.

Okay to really get into this film there are going to be some spoilers throughout this review so in case you haven’t seen this film already I will urge you now to check it out and then come back to read to read the rest as while this film largely rests on a twist, its one which opens the door to a much larger aspect of the film much like the discovery of the hatch in “Martyrs”. So please consider yourself warned as spoilers lie ahead.

Its during what would appear to be a routine repair that Sam suddenly makes a startling discovery as finding a crash rover he is surprised to find that the astronaut driver is himself. What follows is where the film really gets interesting as Sam is faced with working with his exact double to discover what is happening on the base, while at the same time knowing that a supposed rescue party could also equally be a clean-up crew from the company. At the same time Sam is faced with the knowledge that he is a clone in an endless cycle while the real Sam is back on Earth, let alone the three year work contract is nothing but a cover used by the company so that clone will voluntary disintegrate themselves under the guise of being sent home, while another clone is awoken to take their place.

The twist here is certainly being a surprising one it’s also one which adds a whole new level to the film as the two clones are forced to work together to figure out their situation and the secret behind what is happening at the base. At the same time while they might be clones their personalities are wildly different with the senior Sam being quite mellow and laid back in his attitude, while the new Sam is quick to angry and frequently aggressive which it would seem that the original Sam was prior to finding an inner peace during his work contract as further hinted at in one of the recordings from his wife on Earth. It really only makes it the more surprising that Rockwell didn’t get an Oscar nod for his performance which is yet another standout to rival his scene stealing role in “The Way Way Back”. Here though he manages to top it by giving us two sides to the same character let alone the fact he’s acting with himself. Equally enjoyable is Kevin Spacey’s performance as the HAL-like Gerty who despite giving the impression of another cold and emotionless machine shows a surprisingly high amount of emotion despite only ever speaking in monotone. Sam’s relationship with Gerty is a confusing one as it’s never explained why he is so loyal to Sam and frequently willing to break company guidelines to help him when its fully expected that such a machine would be free of any kind of emotion. Its a point which is also frustratingly never explained here.

Despite the fact that I’ve no doubt made this sound way more complex than it is, this is surprisingly a straightforward yet undeniably stylish film, which is only made the more impressive by the fact that Jones shot the film on a budget of a mere $5 million which the end result certainly rivals that of a more mainstream production, with Jones using his background to full potential here it would seem as he crafts a complete world on limited sets of sterile whites with the occasional burst of personalisation that Sam has chosen to add and the result unquestionably makes this an immerse film to watch as you find yourself pulled into this isolated world.

A stunning and intelligent debut this film really marked out Jones as a talent to watch and a promise which he

followed up with the equally enjoyable “Source Code” though it remains to be seen at the time of writing if he can bring the same visionary direction to the fantasy world with his forthcoming adaption of “World of Warcraft”. That being said this is an impressive debut and one which manages to dance around the usual sci-fi cliché’s to present a believable vision of the future in what Jones has hinted at being the first film of a proposed trilogy making it only the more tantalising to see where he would take the story next.

Eggshells

Title: Eggshells

Director: Tobe Hooper

Released: 1969

Starring: Ron Barnhart, Pamela Craig, Allen Danziger, Sharon Danziger, Mahlon Foreman, Kim Henkel, Amy Lester, David Noll, Jim Schulman

Plot: Free flowing and highly experimental film following a group of hippies living in a house.

 

Review: If you’re like myself you’ve probably been drawn in by Tobe Hooper being in the director’s chair with this film marking his feature length directorial debut after previously directing the short film “The Heisters”. Here four years prior to his breakout and arguably best known film “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. Here though he opts for something far more experimental tone and one more closer to the films of Jean-Luc Godard than anything resembling the legacy of horror films he has become better known for. Shot on a paltry budget of $40,000 this is if anything a curiosity to say the least let alone an early forerunner to the “Mumblecore” genre.

Chances are if you’ve seen this film it would have been via the film festival circuit were it often turns up as a fun curiosity, while personally I caught it at MUBI which serves as a Netflix / online cinétique for the more cinematic adventurous movie watcher. But so low regard the film is held in it, that it recently also turned up with “The Heisters” as a bonus feature on the recent blu-ray release for “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2” an indignity not seen since “The Boondock Saints” showed up as a bonus feature for the documentary “Overnight” which focused on the self-destructive atmosphere surrounding that film.

The film itself wasn’t a huge success back when it was released and would have possibly marked the end of Hooper’s directing career had it not been down to a midnight screening of George Romero’s genre defining classic “Night of the Living Dead” that he would find the inspiration to craft his own budget horror with “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. Watching this film now it serves as a kind of time capsule to the period it was made, while at the same time falling to same pitfalls most experimental films are prone to in that they tend to be made for film makers rather than a traditional audience.

Shot from an observational standpoint the film features no discernible characters or plot, but rather a collection of scenes strung together, as one scene see’s a hippie couple sharing a bath, another sees another two characters discussing whether the house is haunted. Then we have sequences such as the guy in the basement, which after finding a sword by the toilet proceeds to engage in a swordfight with himself. It’s a scene frequently discussed for the editing technique used, much like the occasional bursts of psychedelia which not only bring to mind the ending of “2001: A Space Odyssey” but also further serving as a stamp for of the period.

Written by both Hooper and Kim Henkel who would later team up again for “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, Henkel also turns up here as a crazed hippie in a shed who frenziedly writes what he thinks on his typewriter making me wonder if this was how they came up with this film. More so when Hooper appears to be making it up as he goes it would seem to be the only explanation for the scene in which a paper airplane takes an extended flight before crashing into the house and turning into a fireball as it hits the ground before one of the bewildered hippies.

This film would be ultimately the last Hippie movie that Hooper would make as he instead moved to throwing the hippies to chainsaw welding crazies with the film which followed. Ultimately though this film was kind of a chore to get through, mainly because of the lack of plotting and interesting characters, let alone the fact that I had the feeling throughout that it was one which was designed to be enjoyed with the kind of illicit substances which don’t exactly fit in with my straight edge lifestyle. Still if anything it proves even early on in his career that Hooper was a cinephile as he pays homage to his inspirations here, though this is best viewed as a curiosity at best and really one for the completists only.

Dead Hooker In A Trunk

Title: Dead Hooker In A Trunk

Director: Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska

Released: 2009

Starring: Rikki Gagne, Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska, C.J. Wallis, Loyd Bateman, Farley M. Gagne, Tasha Moth, Carlos Gallardo, John Tench

Plot: Four friends The badass (Sylvia Soska), her sister the geek (Jen Soska) and their friends the junkie (Gagne) and the goody two shoes (Walis) find their world thrown into chaos when they discover the body of a dead hooker (Moth) in their trunk. Soon their plans to dispose of the body suffer further complications when they soon find themselves targeted by chainsaw welding triads, a cowboy pimp and a brutal serial killer as it seems that the troubles for the group are only just beginning.

Review: While the Soska sisters might now be best known for “American Mary” and their most recent film “See No Evil 2” but this rough and ready debut still makes for an intriguing watch, let alone another reminder of what a pair of hungry film makers can produce even with the most limited of resources. Infact had it not been for their less than stellar film school withdrawing their funding for their final short film then the twins might not have set out to make their own project, which it would seem is as much a fuck you to their former film school as it is their embodiment of the love for genre cinema.

Shot on a budget of $2500, with half the budget being used for effects the girls really faced an uphill struggle from the beginning for anyone whose attempted to venture into the world of film making will tell you that it can easily turn into an expensive venture. Still with a copy of Robert Rodriguez’s “Rebel without a Film Crew” to guide them they managed against all odds to get the film made. True the results might be grimy in quality let alone in content but it’s hard to deny that the film has that spark of raw talent that was only further highlighted once the Twins were given a proper budget for the films which followed, while they pay tribute to Rodriguez’s influence by casting the star of his debut “El Mariachi” Carlos Gallardo who here makes a fun cameo as God.

An eclectic mixture of characters make up the group followed here with each living up to their name, while the fun is seeing how this grisly misadventure changes them over the course of the film, which thanks to the sisters and their love of gruesome effects ensures that it’s both a physical as well as mental change. Each of these characters tend to live by their namesake which frustratingly is largely as far things mainly go in terms of characterisation with Sylvia handling most of the heavy lifting in terms of acting, especially when it comes to the action scenes were her character truly lives up to her name and something made only the more impressive when you consider that the girls here do all their own stunt work….alongside writing, directing producing and acting in the film. This multi-tasking due to budget limitation would equally stretch to Walis who was handling a large amount of the technical aspects of the film only to be brought in for the role of the goody two shoes after the original actor dropped out after the first two days of filming, leading to hasty re-writes and a sex change for Walis’s character who’d originally been female aswell and which I can’t help would have added to what I assume started as a throwback to the girl gang films of the 70’s.

The plotting feels much like the characterisation largely minimalistic as set pieces are strung together with the minimal amount of plot development, which does leave the film at time feeling like it is floundering over what way to take the plot next. However the strength of the set pieces such as a brutal triad attack and badass’s brawl with a cowboy pimp (complete with lasso and horse) do go a large away to covering for such flaws as when the film works it’s a lot of fun and only makes you wish that the sisters had a larger shooting budget. Still what it might lack in plot direction it certainly makes up for in inventiveness as geek loses an eye leading her to create a makeshift gaffa tape patch to cover the now empty socket while junkie loses an arm both injuries which would be serious to any regular character but here seems to be more of an inconvenience to these girls. There is also an attempt at working in a romance angle between goody two shoes and geek but for the most part it came of kind of flat, due to no real chemistry between Jen and Walis combined with it being pushed to the background in favour of another gory sequence.

While the budget might have been limited, the gore effects are still pretty effective not to mention ambitious as seen with the chainsaw attack sequence let alone the disembowelled drug dealer whose insides are being gleefully teased by a triad. Needless to say when it comes to gore the twins don’t like to hold back as surfaces and characters faces are frequently covered in huge gushes of blood and gore, while such sequences are shot with such high energy and gleeful voyeurism that perhaps at times it does feel perhaps alittle OTT.

True this might be a zero budget film, but unlike so many debuts from aspiring those aspiring film makers who shun film school and pumps their fees into their debut film, this film has an element of polish to it, while managing to sidestep the usual pitfalls which tend to befall these films and while it might not be perfect it’s nice to see how they used the film as a learning experience for their superior “American Mary. At the same time its neo-grindhouse charm makes this a fun movie to watch with like-minded friends and an open non-judgemental mind set.

Man of Tai Chi

Title: Man of Tai Chi

Director: Keanu Reeves

Released: 2013

Starring: Tiger Hu Chen, Keanu Reeves, Karen Mok, Hai Yu, Qing Ye, Simon Yam, Iko Uwais

Plot: Tiger Chen (Chen) a Tai Chi student who despite his master’s concerns uses his training to compete in martial arts tournaments. However when the temple where he trains is threatened with demolition, he finds himself fighting for money in an underground fight club run by the mysterious Donaka (Reeves).

Review: I don’t think when Keanu Reeves announced that he was making his first foray into directing that it would be a foreign language martial arts movie but here he does just that with a decidedly less is more approach, while to an extent creating a showcase the talents of his friend and martial arts trainer Tiger Hu Chen.
 

Reportedly based events in Chen’s life even if the facts surrounding such claims are limited to say the least, here Reeves keeps things decidedly simple with a more is less attitude as he builds around spectacular fight scenes provided courtesy of the legendry action director Yeun Woo-Ping while keeping a strong focus on the action rather than trying to pad things out with unneeded drama.

Similar in many ways to the original idea for “Ring of Steel” in that it is a story of the corrupting power of money, fame and success; as while setting out with an honest and pure goal of saving his temple, the success Tiger achieves fighting in these underground contest and the rewards that they bring soon causes him to lose track of the reason he is fighting to begin with, while at the same time having the interesting effect of making his fighting style increasingly more violent and brutal the further into this world he is drawn.

While the film follows the usual fighting tournament format with Tiger facing a seemingly endless line of opponents, each with their own unique fighting style including “The Raid” leading man Iko Uwais as it leads to the inevitable showdown with Donaka. What makes it so different is the setup for each fight, which is not the usual ring surrounded by rich invited guests cheering and sipping Champaign but often just a plain room while Donaka watches on from behind mirror glass panels or via the large TV screen in his office and essentially gives the idea that the sole reason that Donaka is doing any of this is solely so that he can have the his own live action version of “Mortal Kombat”. An idea only further reinforced by the announcement to “Fight” and even the command to “Finish Him” popping up and usually followed by a black mask wearing Donaka doing the honours when his fighters inevitably bottle it when given such a command, seemingly only happy to beat their opponent to a bloody pulp but not finish the job.

Donaka though is a fascinating if at time slightly cardboard villain and one suits Reeve’s eternally laid back style, while it is an interesting change of pace to see Reeve playing a villain again, with “The Watcher” being the only other occasion that he has played anything other than a variation on his usual good guy role. Still here his chilled out style only adds to his character who maintains a zen like cool through to the end were he seems to be taking notes from the Nicolas Cage school of acting including the bear trap grin which bizarrely make an appearance while he’s having the holy hell beaten out of him by Tiger. Its unclear though if Reeve’s took on this role to further the budget or because he genuinely felt like playing the bad guy for a change of pace. Despite being nowhere near the level of Tiger Chan, their relationship off screen as Reeve’s martial arts trainer ensure that the end fight scene still works well with

While the film might have worked well as just a straightforward tournament movie, the film also follows the feisty Hong Kong Police officer Sun-Jin Shi (Mok) who is currently trying to investigate Donaka only to find her undercover fighters keep getting discovered and disposed off before we can arrest him while her refusal to give up on the case makes only further makes her the ire of Superintendent Wong (Yam). Mok’s character here makes for an interesting sub-plot and helps to fill in the background for Donaka even if her link to Tiger just remain frustratingly underused and only really comes together out of convenience to the plot rather than the major plot line it should have been when Tiger agrees to become a mole for Shi’s investigation after the true reality of his situation becomes apparent.

Unquestionably though the real selling point are the frequently inventive fight scenes which are every bit the intended showcase of Tiger Chen’s obvious talent, while the range of styles on offer only help to keep things interesting especially when Chen starts letting his darker side take over more and more. At the same time Reeves manages to pull out several surprising fight locations including one ring which not only comes with a groovy blacklight theme but also has a surprise strobe light effect which kicks in when the fight starts to tip in Chen’s favour, though honestly this experiment kind of failed as while it looks pretty, the movement of the actors only comes off erratic when put under the strobe. Despite this slight misstep Reeve shows a clear love of the genre especially with the involvement of Yeun Woo-Ping’s much sort after skills as an action director only further helping this film stand out from the numerous questionable entries that the DTV market has seen a recent influx of with the film unquestionably being a vast improvement over the likes of “Tekken” and the frustratingly hit and miss “Ninja”.

While this might not be high art film making it’s still an incredibly enjoyable film and one which raises plenty of questions as to where Reeve’s will go for his next film especially when a large part of me would more than happily see him give us more of the same, much like Tiger Chan who while he might not currently at the time of writing have anything on his release slate is certainly a talent worth following.

Don Jon

Title: Don Jon
Director: Joseph Gordon-Levit
Released: 2013
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levit, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Glenne Headly, Brie Larson, Rob Brown, Jeremy Luke, Channing Tatum, Anne Hathaway

Plot: Jon (Gordon-Levit) a modern day Don Juan, ruled by his material possessions as well as his lust for casual sex and porn, only to soon find his life thrown into turmoil by his new relationship with the feisty Barbara (Johansson) .



Review: Not content with making the successful transfer from indie favourite to the Hollywood mainstream, Joseph Gordon-Levit extends his range here to include directing as he appears both side of the camera with his "Jersey Shore" esq tale. It's an interesting change of pace for JGL, while at the same time not so surprising when you consider some of the varied  roles he has undertaken previously, from a gay rent boy in “Mysterious Skin” to a high school private eye in “Brick”, he has continued to surprise with the roles he has been able to pull off while needless to say approaching all of them with a fearless attitude as anyone who has seen “Mysterious Skin” can certainly attest to. Here though he goes into Guido mode as Jon, as he engages in an endless cycle of working out, casual sex, cleaning his apartment and nightly rounds of what could almost be seen as a highly choreographed routine of porn watching before finishing out his week by attending confession to cleanse himself of his numerous sins.

Porn of course is the main subject of interest here, as Jon certainly loves his porn even openly admitting to preferring it over sex with one of his many real life partners. Needless to say these nocturnal activities don’t sit too well with Barbara, which leads to the surprising main meat of the film as Jon attempts to break away from his porn addiction. Of course if you’re now taken by surprise by that last part you would certainly be experiencing the same feeling I had while I was watching this film, as honestly the last thing I was expecting here was a study on how pornography has warped men’s expectations of sex. A subject certainly given some thought here, as Jon bemoans how his real life partners are unable to compare to his porn fantasies, their flaws being reeled off in almost a checklist. Of course such commentary on society and its porn obsessions, I’m still unable to tell if it’s a subject close to JGL or if he is just using working the subject into the film due to it currently being such a hot topic.

Jon trying to find redemption from his porn obsession forms the meat of the second half of the film, which is also the weakest part, as Jon soon meets Ester (Moore) through his night school classes, who might be what he has been looking for all this time, while together they engage in their own mutual and highly unorthodox form of therapy to try and cure each other’s issues, which generally involves smoking pot and having sex in Ester’s car. Sadly which I’m sure that JGL intended for these scenes to have some form of emotional resonance with the audience, who instead suddenly find themselves jerked to the polar opposite of the film they were watching in the first half, which ultimately proves to be detrimental to the film as a whole.

Ultimately though it is hard to classify exactly what this is trying to be classed as, with most critics seeming to be mark it as a modern romantic movie and one which aims to shy away from the more textbook fairy tale ending kind of romantic movie. JGL certainly has the experience with this films be it via “500 Days of Summer” or perhaps to a lesser extend “10 Things I Hate About You”, so it wouldn’t be overly surprising that he would choose to make a similar sort of film for his debut. Still this doesn’t truly describe the film for while the film certainly sees Jon trying to deal with two very different relationships, only the first half could be seen as trying to break this mould, especially when JGL includes a mock trailer for one of the kind of movies he is trying not to make, while also clearly making use of his little black book of celebrity fans, as Anne Hathaway and Channing Tatum camp up the romantic leads.

Such confusion over what sort of film he is trying to make alongside the polar opposite halves to this film only makes it something of a shame especially when the first half shows such potential with JGL perfectly embodying the Guido stereotypes, which have become so familiar to those of us who may have caught an episode of “Jersey Shore”. You know while flicking through the channels looking for the Discovery channel and of course not intentionally watching it for the sleazy cheap thrill it provides…but I digress as JGL here if anything only continues to prove himself every bit the human chameleon as he perfectly embodies another role. This of course is more than just dressing hip and speaking with a Bronx accent, as he even manages to include even the smaller details of the culture such as striping down to his vest when eating dinner with his family, while his ear for dialogue is none the better than these moments, as Jon has to contend with a father (Danza) more obsessed with watching the game than the lives of his children and a mother who puts most interrogators to shame with her constant stream of questioning.

Equally strong is the supporting cast which JGL assembles here, from a pitch perfect Scarlett Johansson who gives one of her best performances since “Ghost World” with a classy trashy attitude to boot as she refuses to be just another conquest for Jon, teasing him relentlessly and could at one point potentially be the one to make him settle down if it wasn’t for her adverse reaction to his porn watching habits.  Julianne Moore is equally watchable and brings a suitable amount of emotion to her more powerful scenes as she reveals that she is dealing with the loss of both her son and husband.

Despite JGL once again confirming that he is still one of the most interesting actors currently working today, he however appears less comfortable behind the camera, with a disappointing second half striving to show redemption only proving detrimental to the overall film with its sudden mood shift. This is not to say that there aren’t still sparks of potential and flashy cinematography throughout, its just more of a stumble than a memorable debut.

Hobo With A Shotgun

Title: Hobo With A Shotgun

Director: Jason Eisener
Released: 2011
Starring: Rutger Hauer, Molly Dunsworth, Brian Downey, Gregory Smith, Nick Bateman, Pasha Ebrahimi, Jeremy Akerman, Peter Simas

Plot: A nameless Hobo (Hauer) arrives in Hope Town via a freight train box car with plans of buying a lawnmower and to start a new life for himself. However when he soon discovers that Hope Town has long since decended into lawless chaos, with the locals now referring to it as “Scum Town” while being ruled by the ruthless crime lord “The Drake” (Downey). Now arming himself with a pump action shotgun the Hobo sets out to dish out his own brand of vigilante justice.

Review: It’s true I might be alittle behind the bandwagon for this one, seeing how it was greeted with much excitement upon its release as it marked the start of the second wave of Neo-grindhouse movies being released in the wake of “Grindhouse”, a film I’ve already commented on numerous times previously due to its distribution being screwed up by the Weinstein’s figuring that British audiences (and pretty much everywhere outside of the states) were too dumb to get the format and split it into its individual films, rather than give us the true experience. Still it the legacy of the film and the Neo-Grindhouse genre it kick startednnot only gave us the trailer which spawned “Machette” aswell as “Machette Kills”, but also gave the world the first glimpse of this film as it appeared as one of the fake trailers on some prints of “Grindhouse”.

Right from the start director Eisener who makes his feature directorial debut here clearly likes to wear his influences on his sleeve, which in this case would seem to be largely gained from the OTT style of Troma Studios while mixing it up with the splatter and social satire style of Paul Verhoeven, all of which is clear from the opening scenes, which includes a barbwire decapitation and fountains of blood while the crime ridden streets of the streets of scum town seem to have been transplanted from Verhoeven’s classic “Robocop”. Still even the briefest of looks at the trailer alone highlights that like his inspirations, Eisener is not the sort of director who does anything subtly making the Neo-Grindhouse genre the perfect playground for his style, especially as its audience come expecting violence and splatter and here Eisener delivers both in spades.

Still there is thankfully a brain behind the splatter (if a delightfully sleazy one) as while he has certainly crafted one of the more splatter heavy films of recent years, Eisener still bothers to craft a half decent tale before getting distracted with unleashing carnage. On the downside his approaches to the material is with so excitable and frenzied, it can feel at times like you’re watching the product of a kid with ADD while on a sugar binge. At the same time he frequently stumbles when faced with the slower paced sequences as seen during the more tender moments between the hobo and aspiring school teacher turned prostitute Abby (Dunsworth) who despite seemingly having nothing in common, the Hobo recognises her innocence despite the world around them which continually threatens to corrupt her innocence.

Unsurprisingly the film is far from the deepest of viewing experiences with Eisener having a good eye for characterisation as he crafts some truly memorable characters, who are truly brought to life here with some great casting choices, with Hauer as the nameless hobo full of pure grit and snarl while Downey makes a perfect counter as the ruthless and sadistic Drake, whose love of showmanship and theatrics makes him the perfect centre piece in the collection of villainy and scum that Eisener has filled the streets of Scum town with. Oh and what a collection of scumbags it is, for like “The Toxic Crusader” these streets lined with the likes of the paedophile Santa and the director making bum fights style movies, all of which soon find themselves soon enough on the business end of the hobo’s shotgun as he sets about cleaning up the town and with such a black and white devide behind good and evil, there is no real moral questions raised regarding the hobos methods. Even more so when The Drake responds to the Hobo’s actions by carring out a mass hobo genocide in one of the films splatter centrepieces. Sadly he does miss a trick by underusing “The Plague” a pair of hired gun and full blown psycho’s hired by The Drake, who also dress like the medieval version of Daft Punk. However they are only introduced in the final quarter, leaving kind of disappointed that they are not used more, especially when they are such a unique and fun creation and generally hoping that Eisener finds some way of reusing them.

While most of the film is generally a care free exploitation throw back with Eisener generally flipping the bird to the censors and mainstream Hollywood, there are however a few moments were I felt the film perhaps overstepped the mark perhaps slightly too much and these were in the few scenes which saw children being openly threatened, while a school bus of kids being incinerated by a flame thrower to the strains of Disco Inferno just comes off as tasteless, even if it does makes a suitable setup for the death of one character whose soul we seeing being metaphorically dragged to hell in the same burning school bus.

As always the case with any film junkie who uses their expansive film knowledge in their film making the need to draw comparisons between them and Tarantino seems almost inevitable like Adam Green, but here Eisener seems only concerned with using the films which influenced this film as a reference point for his shooting style especially as he shoots the film in saturated and shifted colours rather than trying to reimagine scenes from the films he draws inspiration from. The soundtrack itself is also a throwback while also baffling including Lisa Lougheed’s “Run With Us” which let’s not forget was memorably also used on the 80’s childhood favourite “The Racoons” yet surprisingly it works rather well here.

A frequently grimy and hyperactive debut feature, but a noteworthy addition to the Neo-grindhouse genre, while were Eisener will go next is till unclear but providing he can dial back his over brimming enthusiasm slightly he could certainly be an interesting director to follow, especially if this debut is anything to go off.

Rewind This!

Title: Rewind This!

Director: Josh Johnson
Released: 2013
Starring: Atom Egoyan, Jason Eisener, Frank Henenlotter, Charles Brand, Cassandra Petersen, Mamoru Oshii, Shôko Nakahara

Plot: Charting the cultural and historical impact of VHS, as it changed the way films were not only made but distributed, while at the same time also meeting the fanboys who ensure that the legacy of the format continues to live on. 

 

Review: Previously as part of my review for “Xtro 2: TheSecond Encounter” I talked about my love of old school video shops, which sadly are non-existent here in the UK outside of Blockbuster who continue to fight on, despite pressure from the online rental brands like Lovefilm and Netflix who constantly threaten to take them over. These old school shops, as especially true in the case of my own local “The Video Bug” would rarely get rid of any tapes and instead just build more bookcases or stack them up to the ceiling, in turn providing a wonderland of colourful cases and frequently graphic covers and film stills, which I would spend hours just looking through these covers and imaging the delights which they contained within. Needless to say VHS like Vinyl has always had the kind of presence and strange allure that DVD or Blu-ray has never quite been able to replicate and it’s a love for this now defunct format that this debut documentary from Director Johnson sets out to explore.  

Needless to say this is not going to be a documentary which is for everyone especially as it’s essentially a VHS fans wet dream, providing not only tantising clips of forgotten cult classics like Leslie Nielsen’s “Bad Golf Made Easier”, “Street Trash”, “Black Devil Doll From Hell”, “Crime Hunter” and Bubba Smith’s workout video “Bubba Until It Hurts” to name but a few of the wealth of titles featured here. Like  “Not Quite Hollywood” and “American Grindhouse” this is also a documentary fuelled by the wealth of footage it offers and the untapped enthusiasm from the diverse range of interview subjects from directors like Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case), Mamoru Oshii (Ghost In The Shell) and owner of Full Moon Features and cult cinema legend Charles Brand through to personalities like Cassandra Petersen (Better known as Late Night Horror hostess Elvira) and actress Shôko Nakahara (Visitor Q) who openly sites VHS copies of Jennifer Connelly movies as being the inspiration for her becoming an actress. Elsewhere the film is also rounded out by colourful interviews with collectors and bloggers who are often eager to share their favourite tapes from their collections as part of a subtle game of collector one upmanship.

These interview subjects are of course just really a taste, as to list everyone featured would no doubt add an extra page onto this review. The range of subjects though only continued to surprise me as the documentary went on, while certainly hitting a high with the inclusion of the always deliriously enthusiastic Frank Henenlotter who as always is on fine form here, as he proves himself not only a devoted fan but also a great source of insights while also providing many of my favourite moments as he disregards criterion covers as “Boring”, while citing the cover of “The House of Whipcord” as an example of a good cover. Still lets not forget though that he also gave the world the wonderful talking case for “Frankenhooker” which screamed “Want A Date” when you pressed the button on the case, something fondly remembered by several of the interviewees despite none of them including Henenlotter having a copy with a working button, no doubt due to them being burnt out by over enthusiastic film fans years earlier.

Despite Johnson clearly trying to ensure as diverse range of subjects are featured as possible, I couldn’t help but notice the absence of Quentin Tarantino who I felt would have been an obvious choice, especially with his video store background let alone his well-documented love for the films of the VHS era. At the same time critics such as Brad Jones (The Cinema Snob) and Noah Antwiler (The Spoony Experiment), let alone UK critics like Mark Kermode or my own film critic hero Kim Newman though he does include another of my heroes Tom Mes. While it is understandable that to stop the documentary spiralling off into a five hour film by trying to include everyone’s view point there has to be a limit, but despite this Tarantino’s absence is still left a puzzling one.   

Ignoring the traditional and preferred use of voice over to provide a framework, Johnson instead makes the bold choice of allowing his interviewees tell the story of VHS, with their individual stories coming together and frequently complementing each other to provide a rich history for the format, especially with Johnson looking at it from seemingly every conceivable angle, with even a brief look at how VHS took porn out of the XXX theatres by providing the discreet alternative for its clientele while in turn blowing the business into the multi-million dollar industry it has become today.

While this might be a nostalgic look back, Johnson still ends the film looking positivly towards the future as enthusiasts continue hold movie nights celebrating the forgotten films still only available on VHS. It is during this portion of the documentary that we also meet the force of nature which is David “The Rock” Nelson the rabidly independent film maker still shooting on video making ultra-low budget monster movies, earning him the reputation of being the modern day Ed Wood as he cranks out such colourfully titled shorts like “The Devil Ant” and “Dracula vs. Sodom Insane”. A truly unique personality to say the least, his appearance might be a little too much for some viewers and thankfully Johnson doesn’t allow his appearance to overshadow the rest of the documentary or run to the point of irritation, much like so many of the bigger personalities featured here who only come off the stronger thanks to Johnson maintain a strong focus on what’s important to the story he is telling and what is just fan boy over enthusiasm.

Despite being an obvious love letter to VHS, the documentary still remains accessible to the uninitiated who might be curious about what the fuss is all about, while at the same time providing enough insight into the phenomena that there is still plenty of interest to those like myself who still fondly hold onto their VHS, when most folks have already sent theirs to the great landfill in the sky, meaning that numerous titles which never got transferred to DVD could potentially have disappeared for ever, making the role of collectors only all the more vital as the documentary further serves to highlight as archivist Caroline Frick soberly points out while worrying highlighting the potential risk of lost titles should these tapes be left to deteriorate.

True the appeal of this documentary might be limited, but for cult cinema fans and converted VHS enthusiasts I can’t recommend this film enough, as its worthy of a place in your collection, while no doubt giving you a new host of titles to hunt down, which for myself is always the sign of a good movie documentary and while it might not be the most high profile release of the year it is none the less essential and well worth hunting down.

Debuts Blogathon: Basketcase

 

It’s safe to say that there are few directors who embrace the sleazy side of cinema as much as Frank Henenlotter, who while not the main prolific of directors, with only six films to his credit, since unleashing this debut film in 1982 he has retained his exploitation cinema inspired style throughout, while other directors such as those who came through the Roger Corman film school such Joe Dante, John Landis and James Cameron moved onto making more mainstream movies and moving away from their exploitation cinema beginnings, Henenlotter has remained true to his grimey 42^nd street inspired roots, even continuing his passion for exploitation cinema through “Something Weird Video” where he has been instrumental in rescuing numerous titles from being destroyed including “Bloodthirsty Butchers” and  the truly random “The Curious Dr. Humpp” aswell as this debut film from Henenlotter himself.

Opening with what could almost be described as a video postcard of New York’s 42^nd street (true not one that anyone would want to receive) as cinema marquee’s advertise kung fu movies and sleaze as the softly spoken and awkward Duane (Kevin Van Hentenryck) wanders down the neon lit sidewalk carrying a larger wicker basket. Unsurprisingly everyone wants to know what’s in the basket, from the cackling street walkers to the residents of the seedy hotel were Duane decides to stay. Unknown to them all though is that this wicker basket is home to Duane’s monstrous twin brother Belial, who is deeply resentful at being surgically separated from his brother, so much so that the two brothers are now on a mission of revenge to kill the doctors who separated them.

Henenlotter’s vision of New York has always been one caked in grime and sleaze which he established with this debut, were the residents are either sleazy or just plain oddballs. Even Duane’s love intrest Sharon (Terri Susan Smith) seems to not be quite all there, especially when she frequently talks so breathlessly and wide eyed. Still this film establishes a lot of Henenlotter’s favourite themes including bodily mutation, over the top violence aswell as his now trademark scuzzy sense of humour to craft a unique film to say the least but one which wears its exploitation colours proudly, with Henenlotter himself classifying his films as exploitation films rather than Horror films.  Here he crafts a tale full of sleaze, gore and sheer randomness yet one which also surprisingly has quite a few touching moments aswell such as the boys’s aunt reading them “The Tempest”, while despite Belial only being able to communicate telepathically with his brother the two share a clear bond for each other, even if it might seem that Duane is being led by his monstrous brothers lust for revenge, the rage at being detached from each other being clear for them both. Still despite these tender moments the tone throughout is decidedly schizophrenic, especially when Belial starts to demonstrate a serious jealously streak, which soon sees him soon setting off to pursue his own perverse pleasures including one scene which managed to offend even the crew to the point where they walked off the production, something that would also happen again on Henenlotter’s next film “Brain Damage”.  

Warped tastes aside this film remains a master class in low budget film making with a measly budget of $35,000 a fact only further highlighted by the roll of cash Duane carries with him actually being the films budget, while Henenlotter’s crew was so small he actually make up most of the names listed on the credits, to make it seem like a bigger crew than he actually had. Still despite the lack of budget the film has still dated well, with the stop motion effects used to animate Belial having a real charm to them which CGI just doesn’t have. Equally not hampered is the healthy gore quota on hand here, as we get a head pushed into a drawer of surgical equipment and bloody maulings amongst the bloody delights aswell as some gooey looking surgical scenes as we see in one flashback the two brothers being separated. Still despite Belial’s murderous tendancies, he is still a restrained killer and only kills for revenge and the only time he breaks from this is in a fit of jealousy towards the end of the film, almost as if Henenlotter was keen to show that while he might look like a monster he processes none of the usual monster psychology, though at the same time he is unquestionably a pervert as seen in several of the more questionable scenes, were Belial decides to explore the world outside of his basket.

More focused than some of his later films, the film has a quick pace and outside of some truly questionable acting there is a lot to enjoy here, especially at this point Henenlotter is still not as caught up in his themes as he becomes in his later films which frequently seem to be more about shocking the audience than crafting an intelligible story as his last film “Bad Biology” only serves to highlight. Still for anyone looking for a starting point for Henenlotter’s film this is certainly a gentle entry point and for many this remains the favourite of his six films, so much so that it would spawn two sequels despite the ending of this film being pretty final, but then like any good exploitation movie, if there is a chance to make money there is always a way.

Thanks to Chris at Terry Malloy's Pigeon Coop and Mark at Three Rows Back for letting me a part of their blogathon, so why not check them out and see the rest of the blogathon posts.

Elwood's Essentials #6: Garden State

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title: Garden State

Director: Zach Braff
Released: 2004
Starring: Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm, Jean Smart, Armando Riesco, Jackie Hoffman, Method Man, Alex Burns, Jim Parsons, Michael Weston

Plot: Andrew (Braff) is currently working as a semi-successful actor in LA, while largely numb to his surroundings thanks to a life lived on mood stabilisers and antidepressants thanks to a childhood diagnosis by his psychologist father (Holm). Now returning to his hometown of New Jersey to attend his mothers funeral he decides to take a break from his meds and see what life is like off them, while at the same time meeting pathological liar Sam (Portman), who soon joins Andrew as he tries to discover a life without meds

(What no trailer? Blame the studio for not allowing the UK Streaming rights)

 

Review:  Released at the height of Braff's popularity while he was still appearing in “Scrubs”, it is actually a pretty surprising film, seeing how it’s an indie comedy dealing with its lead character taking a break from his life lived on prescription drugs, which is far from the sort of fodder that we have come to expect from directorial debuts being made by well known actors, something which always gets the alarm bells ringing, much less when they open to lead characters being caught in the turmoil of a plane falling out of the sky, while they stare directly into the camera, seemingly numb to the chaos erupting around him. Somehow Braff not only manages to make it work, but also manages to tell a touching story without feeling the need to go all preachy on the subject of prescription drugs and the state of our medicated nation.

Braff while better known for his comedy talents, actually gets to show a more serious side to his acting abilities while he still manages to include numerous humorous moments throughout, but this is largely from natural humour than aiming for laugh out loud funny. Equally Braff has a great ear for dialogue as he drives the film with Andrew interactions with friends from his hometown, rather than visual flair even though it is equally hard to deny that it still a stunningly shot film without noticeably trying, with shots like Andrew riding around on his Motorcycle with sidecar or having leg humped by a seeing eye dog becoming instantly memorable.

Equally memorable are the various characters Andrew encounters, such as former best friend Mark (Sarsgaard) who now works as a grave digger, while also running a number of side-line businesses from desert storm trading cards and exploiting the the refund policy of the local supermarket through to selling the Jewellery of the same people he’s burying. Equally prominent is the character of Sam, who not only comes with her own set of issues being a pathological liar, but she is equally a life loving free spirit and much more than just a quirky love intrest, especially considering how downplayed any feelings they have for each other are downplayed until close the end were Braff finally relents, but until then both of the characters clearly feel something for each other, its just neither no how to express it, no doubt at the result of people viewing them for their issues rather than the person behind them.  Portman is notably great in this role as she not only gives one of her strongest performances in years but also brings such a carefree sense of fun to the character, that is hard to not like her infectious enthusiasm or even her more childlike moments such as the one seem during a bathtub confessional she holds with Andrew, when a lesser actress might have overplayed them or made them overly smaltzy.

With the cast on awhole Braff really hit pay dirt with, seeing how upon the films release none (with perhaps the exception of Portman) were especially well known and have since gone onto bigger and better things, which pretty amusing to see so many well-known actors appearing in what is essentially a very low budget film. Infact it was only during the re-watching of this film for this review that I noticed Jim Parson’s (Sheldon from The Big Bang Therory) cameo as a Klingon speaking knight. This luck also carried over to the soundtrack, which Braff not only compiled but also used it to introduce the world to “The Shins” who supply the more memorable parts of the soundtrack including my personal favourite “New Slang”.

In a perfect world Zach Braff would be noted amongst the greats of indie cinema but it has taken him almost ten years to follow this film up with his kickstarter funded “Wish I Was Here” which is due to be released next year were it will finally answer if this film was just a lucky fluke. This is not to say that he hasn’t been directing in the meantime, seeing how he has notched up several episodes of “Scrubs” aswell as music videos for the likes of Gavin DeGraw and Joshua Radin but what I really want to see is more feature work from him, but until then it remains an interesting curiosity on his C.V and one I would love to see him build on, while hopfully capturing the charm of this debut.