Devon and Cornwall Film

Plymouth-based family drama If I Wish Really Hard production stills

D+CFilm — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:41:30 +0000

If I Wish Really Hard, Izzie Arandia-Richards’ new film has finished shooting in Plymouth, and we’ve managed to pick up some of the production stills.

Written and produced by Izzie and directed by award-winning director Matt Richards, If I Wish Really Hard tells the story of eight-year-old Molly, an only child of a Pakistani father and British mother, as she watches her parents’ marriage disintegrate and her mum embark on a romantic relationship with another man.

In a disturbing dream Molly fantasises with killing mum’s lover to put an end to the extramarital affair, subconsciously wishing that putting mum’s lover out of the picture will bring things back to normal in her family.

Editing is set to start on Tuesday, September 7, with the premiere taking place on Friday, October 22 during Two Short Nights, the short film festival at the Exeter Phoenix.

The film was funded through the Exeter Phoenix Digital Shorts schemes, with supported from Exeter Phoenix, Devon County Council, Denham Productions, Pelham Puppets and Plymouth College of Art.

The digital shorts scheme, which is offered to Devon residents only, has been running since 2001 and has helped more than 50 short films get made.

Check out more about If I Wish Really Hard on the Facebook page.

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Third CINE film screening and networking event in Exeter

D+CFilm — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:33:37 +0000

The third CINE film screening and networking event organised by Cottage Industry Films for D+CFilm is taking place this Saturday (that’s September 4, fact fans).

Running from 2pm to 5.30pm in the Black Box at the Exeter Phoenix Digital Media Centre, the shindig boasts some of the finest flicks from around the region, as well as informal Q&As with the filmmakers and the chance for people to swap business cards and share a pint.

This time round, there’ll be a chance to see Tom Austin’s short film, Man-Cub; a teaser trailer for Ben Barfoot’s acclaimed short, FUSE; a teaser trailer for Ashley Wing’s sci-fi short, Fracture; Darren Jones’ new short, Ramble; calls for composers and vfx compositing artists; and much more.

All proceeds will go directly to your friendly neighbourhood D+CFilm (hey, that’s us!), helping to support and promote filmmakers in the region.

So don’t miss out – get along on Saturday to see what you’ve been missing. Check out the CINE site for more details.

(If you have a film you would like to screen at CINE or you’d like to do a short talk, email cine@cottageindustryfilms.co.uk with a brief synopsis (up to 50 words) of the film/project, along with any other relevant information, including a still from the film – films can be of any genre, but no longer than 15 minutes.)

(image: Q&A at CINE 2)

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New film Mort-gage behind-the-scenes exhibition at Exeter Picturehouse

D+CFilm — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:25:44 +0000

Following on from the success of last year’s Uncomfortable, award-winning Devon filmmakers David Salas and Benjamin Borley are holding an exhibition at Exeter’s Picturehouse cinema to promote their new film Mort-gage, which will premiere at the Two Short Nights festival on Friday, October 22.

The film, which was made with a bursary from Exeter Phoenix, tells the story of a journalist who tracks down and confronts a former terrorist.

Starring Kevin Horsham and Nick Myles and shot by internationally acclaimed cinematographer Robin Whenary, Mort-gage has been described as be the filmmakers’ most ambitious work to date.

The exhibition, which documents the progress of the project from its initial conception to the completed film, runs from to Friday, September 3.

Check out some of the films which accompany the exhibition, and there is also a Facebook page for the film and for the exhibition.

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Of Odysseus and neurotic men…

Nick Ingram — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:43:39 +0000

The majestic German film director Fritz Lang in Le Mepris (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963) gives a very curt analysis of the character of Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey: ‘I think it’s stupid to change the character of Ulysses. He isn’t a modern neurotic. He’s a simple cunning man.’

Through this analysis Lang takes us straight to the heart of the modern dilemma, that duality that has always existed with our culture. The separation between the human who thinks to much and never acts, and the human who trusts his own instincts and just acts. Of course, Odysseus, is a man who trusts his own instincts and just acts, while the modern neurotic would just sit there and procrastinate. And procrastinate they most certainly do.

I think I’ve had enough of neurotic’s over the past few weeks. You reach a point where you can’t take anymore of another bore ranting at the unfairness of the world, or listening to people who are so bound up in their own ego that they just can’t reach a decision about what they want to do with their own life. Here they are though on the screen week in week out, and although a few tend to be female, a lot more are male, and this is the problem. Its here that we find the spilt between Odysseus and the modern neurotic to be most acute.

These are men who have lost the will act, and Odysseus has the will to act. Because the modern neurotic has lost the will to act, it is quite obvious that he has been cut off from his own masculinity. Odysseus with his will to act without procrastinating holds on to his masculinity and his place in the world, while the modern neurotic has lost his masculinity as well as having no place in the world. It is because of this that they can only sit there and rant at the world wishing that they were more like Odysseus.

Take for instance the film Greenberg (Noah Baumbach, 2010) This film tells the tale of Rodger Greenberg (Ben Stiller), a man who is trying to recapture the essence of his youth and realises that he will never achieve this. At the age of 40 he is still living in the past tense rather then in the present.

It is as if Greenberg has been denied the rituals that in Odysseus’s society, or even his own society, would have allowed Greenberg entry into manhood. Instead he is left in a limbo unable to act, unable to do anything, other then let the weight of the past hold him down. It is the wish for this past that makes him neurotic and keeps him from entering a masculine adult hood – he is procrastinating and cannot make the choice he needs to make.

Where does this kind of neurosis come from? Men such as Greenberg do not just slip into existence overnight. Some kind of pressure in their environment must have created them. Could this be the effects of feminist discourse taking its shape, particularly in the shape of neurotic men who have been not allowed entry in to adulthood because certain rituals were removed from society?

Or could it be the case that modern society does not need anymore the instinctual Odysseus? On the other hand it could be the case that ideas are masculinity are going through a period of reformatting, and the neurotic is just an interim figure on the way to the new form? The fact is the neurotic man exist and we are going to have to live with them on the screen or otherwise regardless of how society created them.

The neurotic man has not always existed on the screen. Hollywood has over the years given us Odysseus rather then the modern neurotic, especially in the form of John Wayne. Characters that are the direct opposites to Rodger Greenberg. In films such as Fort Apache (John Ford, 1948), Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959), True Grit (Henry Hathaway, 1969), and The Cowboys (Mark Rydell,1972), Wayne plays the kind of character that does not have time to think or even procrastinate.

These tough and hardy characters normally have the trickster cunning of Odysseus formed from hard toil in the frontier landscape that created them. They have normally been through the ritualistic process that the neurotic has not received, and always seem to be comfortable within their masculinity. There is no question of how one should act in any given situation, because their own instincts dictate how they should act. After all like Odysseus, if John Wayne’s character spends time thinking about any given action, they most likely would end up dead – you have to act or die, there is no time to defer a decision.

Maybe this is the true essence of the neurotic compared to Odysseus. The fact that within modern suburban culture Odysseus, and John Wayne, is not needed. The environment has shifted and the building of the suburban environment has given rise to the Rodger Greenberg’s of this world.

You could argue that neurotic man is also a obsolete man. He has no function beyond the fact that he is trapped within and cannot make a choice about his life. Because of this he is trapped in a perpetual childhood that will never let him become an adult and connect to his masculinity. Suburbia ad society holds him down and, may well finally destroy him – unless he can find a way out.

This process can be seen at work in the television series Mad Men (Matthew Weiner, 2007.) Don Draper (Jon Hamm) was once a soldier. He was an Odysseus, a man who live by his wits and instinct. Only now we find him trapped in suburbia, dragging his feet about the kid of life he wants to lead, and while married to a beautiful wife, he has a number of affairs. It is, as if he, is trying to prove that he has not been castrated by modern suburban living.

On top of this he is not who he claims to be – Don Draper does not exist – he is a man living a lie. And it is his inability to remove himself from all of this that makes him a true neurotic man. He just sits in his situation unable to find his way out. He finds he cannot act. The modern world does not allow him to be Odysseus. Instead it has removed his masculinity and castrated him. Eventually he will be destroyed, exposed as a fraud, and that will be the end of him.

What would happen to Don Draper once he is exposed? Would we find him 20 years time acting in very much the same fashion as Boris Yelnikoff (Larry David) in Whatever Works (Woody Allen, 2010), just sat there railing at the world?

Boris for one is the kind of neurotic that is quite distinctly different from that of Rodger Greenberg. Greenberg is quiet, not very well connected to the world, for him everything is internal. But Boris is strident. He yells at the world. He rants and raves and insults everybody he comes across. He is most surely not an Odysseus or John Wayne. His impotence and castration has lead him to hate every one and everything. For him the world does not think. He is an angry man just being angry for the sake of being angry, because he has been disconnected from his masculinity.

His neurosis leads him to attempt to commit suicide twice, and both times he fails. He is incapable of ending his continued rant against a society, that has not given him the right to be, to exist, to be human, and to be a male. And it would seem that there is no quick fix for this condition of modern manhood. Rodger Greenberg, Don Draper, and Boris Yelnikoff are what they are, and that is representations of modern neurotic man, castrated and denied there masculinity by the culture they are born in to.

In the end you can only agree with Firtz Lang that it’s stupid to change the character of Ulysses for it only leads to a group of men who are incapable of making decisions – only to become angry and incredibly sad.

I’m fed up with neurotics – in the end there has to be a better way to live then just through the use of the neurosis, the inability to make your own decisions. Its just that we have to go and find it. It’s out there somewhere. Somewhere beyond suburbia and neurotic man himself. I’m off to have a look.

(image: Ben Stiller as Roger Greenberg)

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Sex, Leins & Videotape #53. Paignton film critic Tom Leins reviews Hot Tub Time Machine, When You’re Strange, Lymelife and Down Terrace

Tom Leins — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:05:15 +0000

Sex, Leins & Videotape #53. Paignton film critic Tom Leins investigates this week’s strangest DVD releases.

With a deliriously stupid title, and a heroically idiotic cast, Hot Tub Time Machine (MGM/20th Century Fox) succeeds where so many gross-out comedies have failed in recent years – by providing genuine moments of hilarity and a surprisingly propulsive plot. The movie follows the exploits of a group of best friends who have become jaded with their staid adult lives, and yearn to inject some excitement into their dull routines. In a bid to recapture the excitement of their youth, jilted Adam (John Cusack), downtrodden Nick (Craig Robinson), booze-fiend Lou (Rob Corddry) and Adam’s geeky nephew Jacob (Clark Duke) head to Kodiak Valley, the ski resort that rocked their world as horny teenagers. Unfortunately for them, Kodiak Valley has seen better days, and the once happening party town now looks as worn-out as they feel.

Improbably enough, their trip down memory lane takes an all-too-literal turn when they take the plunge in a malfunctioning hot tub time machine that sends them back to 1986. But do they dare mess with the past in their quest for juvenile hedonism? Hell yeah! Although John Cusack is the only genuine household name in the movie, the supporting cast all do sterling work, particularly Rob Corddry who delivers a brilliantly manic performance as incorrigible party animal Lou. There are even neat cameos from 80s icon Chevy Chase and the reliably odd Crispin Glover. Hot Tub Time Machine isn’t just the funniest comedy of the year so far, it’s also the best movie about time travel since Back To The Future. It’s time to get wet, and go wild!

Considering the glut of documentaries on the likes of The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, The Doors have seemingly been given short shrift by film-makers over the years – with only Oliver Stone’s much-maligned biopic ever seeing the light of day. When You’re Strange (Universal/IndiVision) attempts to re-dress the balance, and cult filmmaker Tom DiCillo (Johnny Suede, Living In Oblivion) offers a convincing depiction of the band’s off-kilter charms. Essentially a patchwork quilt of found-footage, glued together by a mellifluous voice-over courtesy of Hollywood hipster Johnny Depp, When You’re Strange blends notorious rumours and surprising facts to largely engaging effect.

At just 85 minutes in length, When You’re Strange is a lithe, snake-hipped film, rather than a fat, bloated excuse for a documentary, and whilst it may feel slight compared to Martin Scorsese’s epic Dylan documentary No Direction Home, it offers a compulsive overview of The Doors’ memorably intense career. Although it doesn’t really seek to examine what made the Lizard King tick – preferring to let you draw your own conclusions – When You’re Strange is quirky and absorbing throughout. Hardcore Doors fans may find the unremarkable narrative content slightly underwhelming, but the rare footage is gloriously hypnotic and well worth the price of admission.

Set in the late 1970s, Lymelife (Network) witnesses a suburban family in crisis through the eyes of geeky teenager Scott (Rory Culkin). More comfortable with his Star Wars toys than with his peers, Scott develops an overwhelming crush on girl-next-door Adrianna (Emma Roberts). Meanwhile, Adrianna’s eccentric deer-hunting father loses his job after contracting brain-wasting Lyme’s disease from a tic. Whilst he numbs his suffering smoking pot in the basement, his wife Melissa (Cynthia Nixon) is busy getting frisky with Alec Baldwin’s charming real estate tycoon, who also happens to be Scott’s father. Inevitably, their tangled lives collide, and everyone’s dark secrets come tumbling out.

Crammed with quirky, well-observed details and delightfully awkward scenes, Lymelife probes similar territory to The Ice Storm, and anyone with an appetite for sex in the suburbs will find plenty to enjoy here. Interestingly, Rory Culkin’s older brother Kieran actually stars as his brother here too – a hard-as-nails soldier keen to protect his long-suffering sibling from neighbourhood bullies. Anyone familiar with Alec Baldwin’s rib-tickling turn in 30 Rock might be disappointed by his subdued demeanour in Lymelife, but his unexpectedly serious turn reflects the film’s uneven mix of drama and black comedy. A good film, but not the great film you sense it could have been with a slightly lighter touch.

The kitchen-sink drama and the gangster movie may seem like unlikely bedfellows, but the two distinct genres collide in Down Terrace (Metrodome), the critically acclaimed directorial debut by TV director Ben Wheatley, whose previous credits include Modern Toss and Ideal. The film follows the exploits of a low-rent gangster family in Brighton whose hoodlum empire came close to crumbling before they wriggled off the hook. Hell-bent on finding the snitch who landed them in hot water, amiable Dad Bill (Robert Hill) and irrational son Karl (Robin Hill, also the movie’s co-writer) scrutinise their array of dodgy acquaintances, and make their increasingly violent feelings known.

After a deceptively slow start, Down Terrace gathers momentum as the sly narrative takes hold, and the chemistry between the cast (Robert Hill and Robin Hill are real-life father and son) elevates the film above aimless criminal whimsy. Down Terrace is undoubtedly an acquired taste – and very far-removed from most British gangster movies – but it is genuinely unusual and offers an intriguing glimpse at a promising filmmaking double-act. Quirky stuff.

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Extras wanted in Holcombe, South Devon tonight! (Thursday, August 26)

D+CFilm — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:06:06 +0000

Filmmakers in South Devon are looking for extras for a scene to be shot in Holcombe, near Teignmouth, South Devon, tonight (Thursday, August 26).

The film, Weekend Dads, is about the relationship between a father and son who only really see each other weekends, and the scene being filmed is a meeting of the ‘weekend dads’ and men aged from 25 to 60 are needed as the other dads.

If you’re interested, you need to get to Holcombe Village Hall tonight (Thursday, August 26) at 7pm in casual dress and be ready to start from the off.

For more information, contact Naomi Walmsley on naomiwalmsley@hotmail.co.uk or 07841 020 021.

(image: Holcombe, South Devon)

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Moving movies: travelling 3-D cinema comes to Hayle

D+CFilm — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:58:38 +0000

A 3-D cinema-on-wheels pays its first visit to England over the bank holiday weekend – in Hayle!

The Screen Machine, a state-of-the-art 80-seater cinema, will be entertaining the people of Hayle at Commercial Road car park from Thursday, August 26 until Monday, August 30.

The premier screening will be current number one blockbuster Toy Story 3 (in 3-D) on Thursday at 8.30pm.

All five screenings of Toy Story 3 (in-3D) are sold out as well as a 10am Saturday Morning Pictures programme for younger ones. Other blockbusters are being shown over the five-day event with tickets for all screenings in high demand.

The Screen Machine was invited to Hayle by Hayle Social Enterprise Trust. The event is aid of a groundbreaking project to develop a permanent digital cinema for Hayle, attached to a heritage centre, community space and cafe, the Hayle Pioneerium.

As befits a community project, there’ll also be films by local filmmakers, including a film about the Pioneerium project to help build awareness and support and further demonstrate the versatility and accessibility a modern digital, multi-media cinema can offer.

And like any good cinema-going experience, there’ll be much more to see than the movie, including a hospitality tent full of local food and drink, and entertainment courtesy of Hayle Town Band and other musicians. There will also be an exhibition about the project.

Bob Amos, Hayle councillor and Chair of Hayle Social Enterprise Trust told D+CFilm: “The response from the community has been fantastic. Everyone is so enthusiastic about bringing a cinema back to Hayle, and it’s clear that there is a need for a really good, social space in the town.

“We sold out of tickets for many of the showings really quickly, but even if you haven’t managed to get a ticket for the Screen Machine, come along anyway – there’ll be a great atmosphere.”

If you are interested in helping out at the event or would like to find out more, contact event manager Harry Blakeley on 07917202677 or Bob Amos on 07896 216144, or email info@haylepioneerium.co.uk

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A hand-picked selection of retro reviews: Brit-flicks

Tom Leins — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:43:53 +0000

Paignton film critic Tom Leins dips into his review archives for a hand-picked selection of retro reviews! This week: Brit-flicks.

Bronson (Vertigo Films) is the thrilling true story of Michael ‘Charles Bronson’ Peterson, the armed robber and bare-knuckle fighter whose violent jailhouse behaviour has seen him spend a staggering 34 years behind bars. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (the man behind Pusher, Bleeder and more recently Valhalla Rising), Bronson is a hyper-stylized excursion into Charles Bronson’s unhinged headspace.

Tom Hardy (hugely impressive in 2009’s engrossing gangster drama The Take) is in incendiary form as the protagonist, and behaves like the demented ring-master of his own blood-splattered circus! Gripping and horrifying in equal measure, Bronson is vicious, amoral and utterly reprehensible – but thoroughly compelling throughout. A cross between Chopper and 24 Hour Party People, Bronson is a surreal, hyper-violent treat. Although the art-house style will undoubtedly leave some viewers cold, Bronson is an anarchic cocktail of brutality and chaos that packs a fearsome cinematic punch.

Shot in just 25 days, The Escapist (Vertigo Films) is an impressively tense thriller from first time director Rupert Wyatt. Wyatt secured funding for the project after agreeing to cast Brian Cox in a rare leading role, and the decision pays off, with an impressively world-weary performance from the veteran actor. Cox stars as imprisoned Frank Perry, a lifer who is content to keep his head down and serve his time without causing a fuss. However, when he receives news of his beloved daughter’s drug overdose, Perry enlists a motley crew of fellow convicts to help him enact a daring escape plan. However, the crew, which includes muscle-bound safe-cracker Lenny Drake (Joseph Fiennes) and nonchalant prison ‘chemist’ Viv Batista (Seu Jorge), doesn’t reckon on the interference of Rizza (Damian Lewis), the mincing prison predator who rules the cellblock.

Thankfully influenced by moody TV shows like Prison Break and Oz rather than cheerful home-grown material like Porridge (!), The Escapist is a surprisingly existential escape movie that favours brains over brawn. Not that there aren’t moments of chilling violence – there are – and the whole movie coalesces into a vivid, absorbing end product. The Escapist may not rank alongside the likes of The Shawshank Redemption and Cool Hand Luke, but it is a superbly realised debut feature that perfectly captures the danger, claustrophobia and stunted possibilities of prison life. Compelling stuff.

To some horror fans, the idea of a well-trodden rural rampage slasher movie could seem too quaint for comfort. Impressively, James Watkins’ stomach-churning debut movie Eden Lake (Optimum) redresses the balance with a savagely contemporary foray into the age-old sub-genre. In fact, Eden Lake’s trump-card isn’t its grab-bag of bloodstained horror traits, it’s its artful manipulation of modern fears regarding feral children with no moral boundaries… The narrative sees Steve (Michael Fassbender) whisk his girlfriend Jenny (Kelly Reilly) away to an idyllic woodland retreat before the developers move in. However, he doesn’t reckon on a posse of juvenile delinquents who have strayed onto the same patch. A minor confrontation spirals out of control, and the duo are forced to fight for their lives in time-honoured fashion.

Staggering in both its brutality and its plausibility, Eden Lake is a harrowing survival movie that will haunt you for days after viewing it. With a succession of gut-wrenching set-pieces that will make horror fans question their own blood-lust, Eden Lake is a post-modern horror movie splattered with 70s horror quirks. Furthermore, the cast is uniformly excellent, with the radiant Kelly Reilly clearly on her way to bigger things. It may plumb new depths of horror and depravity, but Eden Lake is much more than just a gore-soaked shock-fest. By welding modern-day fears onto a visceral survival movie template, James Watkins has made one of the most disturbing horror movies of recent years. Are you brave enough to go down to the woods today?

After years in the wilderness, British horror movies surged back to prominence in recent years, with inventive titles such as Eden Lake (see above) and Donkey Punch leading the charge. The latest movie to slide off the Brit-horror conveyor belt is Hush (Optimum), a tense low-budget thriller produced by Warp Films. The film follows a young couple – Zakes and Beth – who find themselves sucked into an increasingly disturbing cat and mouse game by a sadistic trucker with a penchant for human prey. After a sluggish start, first-time director Mark Tonderai stomps on the accelerator and drags you into his shadowy Northern netherworld for all manner of nastiness. Rain-lashed Northern motorways, bleak service stations and deserted haulage yards are all exploited for their nerve-shredding potential, and the tightly-cranked tension is handled with grisly flair.

Cheap and cheerless, Ten Dead Men (BritFilmsTV), is a knuckleheaded revenge thriller that revels in its own brutality. Tortured, shot and left for dead, pill-popping hit-man Ryan tracks down and kills the 10 criminals responsible for the murder of his girlfriend. Shot on a shoestring budget, Ten Dead Men feels like the blueprint for a better movie, and the indiscriminate violence only partially conceals the movie’s budgetary deficits. Still, what it lacks in Hollywood pyrotechnics it makes up for in grim-faced determination, and the more extensive fight sequences boast a bone-crunching charge sorely lacking in other areas of the film. Ultimately, too many amateurs spoil the broth, and the tell-tale low budget undermines the film’s brutal charge. Give these guys a budget and they’d be truly dangerous; in the meantime Ten Dead Men is nothing more than a bizarre glimpse at the underbelly of British cinema.

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Sex, Leins & Videotape #52. Paignton film critic Tom Leins reviews Centurion, Largo Winch, Invisible Target and The Killing Machine.

Tom Leins — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 22:05:42 +0000

Sex, Leins & Videotape #52. Paignton film critic Tom Leins unveils a brutal selection of violent delights!

Directed by Neil Marshall, the cult British director behind Dog Soldiers and The Descent, Centurion (Pathe) is an action-packed adventure movie that follows the exploits of an intrepid band of Roman soldiers in AD117 Scotland.

Despite conquering mainland Europe, the Roman Empire’s progress has ground to a halt in Northern Britain, and their massed ranks have been decimated by the savage guerrilla tactics of a tribe known as the Picts. Quintus (Michael Fassbender) is the sole survivor of a violent Pictish raid that wiped out his comrades, and after escaping from his tormentors he joins forces with General Virilus (Dominic West). Virilus and his fearsome Ninth Legion embark on a fresh quest to eradicate the Picts once and for all, but they are swiftly ambushed and Virilus is captured by the vicious Picts – leaving Quintus to lead the men to safety. With bloodthirsty warrior-woman Etain (Olga Kurylenko) hot on their trail, there will be blood – and lots of it!

A big improvement on the uninspired/uninspiring Mad Max ‘tribute movie’ that was Doomsday, Centurion proves that Neil Marshall is still a force to be reckoned with when taken out of his claustrophobic horror comfort zone. Centurion’s visceral blood-loss reflects Marshall’s gruesome horror background, and the energetic chase narrative ensures that the pace never slackens. Trampling similar cinematic ground to the likes of Apocalypto and 300 – but with Marshall’s by-now traditional home-grown twist – Centurion makes for genuinely exciting viewing. Furthermore, it’s so violent that it actually makes 300 seem lily-livered in comparison! Compelling stuff.

Inspired by the comic book series of the same name, Largo Winch (Optimum) is a globe-trotting espionage caper in the vein of the James Bond and Jason Bourne movies. Plucked from a Bosnian orphanage by a benevolent tycoon, young Largo turns his back on his father’s business exploits and concentrates on carving himself a life of carefree adventure. When his estranged father is slain by a mystery assassin, Largo is thrust into the spotlight, and forced to wrestle control of the Winch corporation, and prevent it from falling into the hands of its corporate rivals – managed by a notorious international weapons dealer. However, the transition from South American jail cell to Hong Kong boardroom is an awkward one, and Largo is viewed with scepticism by his father’s colleagues.

As the plot thickens and the body-count rises, Largo is forced to rely on his street-smarts to unravel the conspiracy that threatens to destroy all of his father’s hard work. Despite a surprising turn from Kristin Scott Thomas as an icy company executive, the movie doesn’t dwell on boardroom shenanigans, and instead finds Largo brutalising thugs in a variety of exotic locations! Indeed, if the idea of an enigmatic tough guy brutalising shifty villains in far-flung locations sounds like your cup of tea, then Largo Winch offers plenty to enjoy. Despite taking its cinematic inspiration from the aggressive James Bond movies of recent years, in my opinion Largo Winch is actually far better than the nonsensical Quantum of Solace. All in all, Largo Winch is a slick, energetic thriller that successfully muscles its way into the overcrowded action movie marketplace.

Invisible Target (Cine Asia) is an epic Hong Kong crime movie about a trio of mismatched cops who are forced to team up in order to bring down a merciless criminal gang lead by Tien Yeng Seng (Wu Jing). Chan Chun (Nicholas Tse) is tormented by his fiancée’s death during the gang’s hijacking of an armoured car year’s earlier, whilst rookie cop Wai King Ho (Jackie Chan’s son Jaycee Chan) is haunted by the disappearance of his older brother – an undercover cop who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. In contrast, their erstwhile colleague Carson Fong (Shawn Yue) is a renegade cop who likes kicking ass and taking names! Whilst the predictable narrative feels disappointingly old-school, the explosive action sequences are top-notch throughout. There are even an assortment of high-octane free-running sequences that help to drag the genre kicking and screaming into the modern era.

Director Benny Chan is one of Hong Kong’s most prolific action directors, but unfortunately his enthusiasm results in an abundance of ideas and an exhausting two-hour-plus run-time. Indeed, after an enjoyably propulsive first half, Invisible Target starts to slump during the overwrought mid-section, and the movie looks like it’s going to run out of steam, before Chan pulls it back from the brink. The well-worn ‘corrupt cop conspiracy’ narrative prevents Invisible Target from attaining classic Hong Kong action movie status, but the regular jolts of brutal mayhem ensure that there is plenty to enjoy along the way. Interesting stuff.

Before being catapulted back to the mainstream with this summer’s action spectacular The Expendables, Dolph Lundgren has killed time directing and starring in a string of increasingly violent revenge movies. His latest offering is the emphatically titled Dolph Lundgren Is The Killing Machine (Anchor Bay)! Neither subtle nor particularly sophisticated, The Killing Machine does exactly what it says on the box. Lundgren stars as Edward Genn, an investment banker, who leads a double-life as a Russian assassin codenamed Icarus. When his cover is blown after a botched mission in Hong Kong, Edward is forced to embrace his dark past in order to protect his terrified family.

If a wheezing old codger like Charles Bronson could go on churning out trigger-happy revenge movies long past his prime, why can’t an awesome physical specimen like Dolph?! Dolph’s one-time contemporaries Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme have made far worse movies in recent years, and Dolph is arguably far more terrifying than both of them put together. Big chunks of The Killing Machine are cheap and clumsy – especially compared to recent Dolph flick Missionary Man – but it boosts its prospects with unexpected moments of comedy, like when Dolph mutilates a man’s face on his weight bench in front of his traumatised daughter! Dodgy but entertaining.

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Exclusive first look at trailer for Ashley Wing’s sci-fi short Fracture

D+CFilm — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 10:38:14 +0000

Here’s something tres exciting for you guys on a gloomy Saturday morning. D+CFilm has exclusive dibs (by way of YouTube) on the first trailer for Fracture, Ashley Wing’s long gestating sci-fi short.

Regular readers will know the Paignton filmmaker is the guy behind Hard Day’s Knight, Poppies, and Between The Lines, but Fracture is his most ambitious project yet. Blates.

The plot focuses on a small mining base on the unforgiving surface of a distant world. Its small crew have known loneliness, love and betrayal in their time there, and in such a claustrophobic environment, secrets can’t stay hidden forever.

Crikey, sounds a bit like the D+CFilm office.

Ash told D+CFilm: “It’s been 24 months and we felt it was time to piece something together – show people what we have been working towards.

“I’m pleased with the results and I hope people start getting as excited about the project as we are.

“Sebastian Regert is our vfx supervisor – he’s been leading this project for the last 18 months. Needless to say I think he’s done an amazing job.

“Siddhartha Barnhoorn composed the soundtrack for Fracture and its trailer. I’ve known Sid for a few years now and we have a great working relationship and I consider him a good friend. When I take any project on Siddhartha is always my first choice without question.

“The project has been a labour of love. It’s an experience I’ll remember and one I’ve learned so much from. I can’t wait to get it out there.”

Stay tuned to D+CFilm for more about Ashley Wing’s Fracture over the coming weeks.

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Gearing up for this year’s Board Shorts surf-film festival

D+CFilm — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:31:48 +0000

Board Shorts, Cornwall Film Festival’s celebration of perspectives on surf culture in film, video, photography, paint, picture craft, and kitchen sink, is back again this year.

This year’s event ‘kicks off’, like dude, at 2pm, featuring screenings of filmmakers’ work throughout the afternoon, as well as an exhibition of surf art, photos, vintage boards and a surf jumble too.

As night falls, maaaaan, a special selection of short films from Cornwall and across the globe will compete for the title of Best of Board Shorts, awarded by a celebrity judging panel.

From 7pm there will be live music from Neil Halstead, The Tinners Ceilidh Band plus DJs Sir Vinyl of the Fattest until proper late.

Here’s, like, the full so-called ‘schedule’, bro. Hang ten, yeah?

14:00: Site opens, access for camping.

14:00-18:00: Art & Vintage surf exhibit, Skinners Bar & Catering – Sennen Barn

14:00-18:00: Surf Jumble and board swap – Gwenver Barn

14:30-18:00: Screenings in back room cinema – Sennen Barn

14:30: Musica Surfica by Mick Sowry (Winner, New York surf film festival)

15:15: Tom’s creation Plantation by Cyrus Sutton

15:50: The Surfer by Dominic Coleman (Recommended by The surf screen)

17:10: Under the Sun by Cyrus Sutton (Emmy award winner)

18:30 – 19:30: Neil Halstead – Gwenver Barn

19:30 – 20:30: Board Shorts films in competition, presented by Christiaan Bailey – Sennen Barn

20:30 – 21:00: Raffle and award for ‘Best of Board Shorts’- Sennen Barn

21:00 – 23:00: Tinners Ceilidh Band – Gwenver Barn

23:00 – 02:00: Sir Vinyl of the Fattest (DJ)- Sennen Barn

Board Shorts is on September 25 at Brea Vean Surf House, near Land’s End Aerodrome, just off the A30 towards Land’s End on the way to St Just. Basically, you’d better check Google Maps before you leave the house.

Tickets are a snip at £15 from the Hall For Cornwall website. Dude.

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North Devon Movie Bus featured in the Guardian

D+CFilm — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:30:36 +0000

D+CFilm has been setting the news agenda again. Puh, as per bloody usual, eh folks?!

Remember we mentioned the Movie Bus waaaaay back in May? Well, the Guardian has just posted an article about it on their website. It coulda been in the actual newspaper too for all we know. Who reads newspapers these days? Clue: nobody.

Anyhoo, let’s give our cut’n'paste finger a little exercise. The bus was one of seven built by the Ministry of Technology in 1967 to tour around the country’s factories showcasing modern British production techniques.

Inside is a titchy cinema complete with 22 swanky red seats facing a screen that fills the back wall. Kinda like the Apollo in Paignton.

The other six buses ended up on the scrapheap, as far as anyone knows, and this one almost did too. Bus owner Ollie Halls rescued it and paid for the restoration himself with the help of a £2,000 grant from the Transport Trust.

The project to show local archive footage was largely funded by a £40,000 grant from the UK Film Council lottery fund, distributed by South West Screen.

Financial help also came from the North Devon festival and the Museum, Libraries & Archives Council.

From next week, a grant from the sustainable development fund of North Devon Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty will allow the bus’s cinema to run on solar power. Hey, the sun always shines on TV…

The Movie Bus is in Ifracombe on August 20, Braunton on August 23 and Croyde on August 25. The Guardian site has a pretty nifty little video to go with the story. Click here immediately to watch it. The footage is courtesy of South West Film and TV Archive apparently. We’re guessing they’re not responsible for the rubbish Smart adverts at the beginning, though. What the… ?!

For more details, hurry over to the Movie Bus website. Room for one more on top? Ding ding! Tickets please. It’s the Movie Bus. Where does it stop? Watch for the sign of the lollipop. Etc.

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Andrew Oxley and David Williams return with Sundays documentary (news)

D+CFilm — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:38:51 +0000

Do you remember Andrew Oxley and David Williams’ Making The Difference, shortlisted for last year’s Virgin Media Shorts awards?

D+Cineastes will recall that the documentary featured people discussing their love of tea and was one of the 12 finalists selected from 2,000.

Anyway, that’s OLD NEWS, MAAAAAN because the filmmaking duo have entered this year’s compo with their new film Sundays.

Fans of fey indie bands from the early-Nineties should look away now, though – the short is ackertually about the weekly day of rest, and is once again backed by the bods from Exeter Phoenix.

Andrew Oxley is an independent filmmaker based in Exeter. He has collaborated with David Williams on a number of short documentaries celebrating notions of Englishness.

David told D+CFilm: “We don’t, of course, for one minute think we’ll be lucky enough to get shortlisted again, but we thought why not?”

Judges this year include actress Thandie Newton (who grew up in Penzance, doncha know), directors Mike Newell and Zowie Bow… erm, Duncan Jones, and film critic James King.

One lucky winner will walk away with £30k to make their next film; a People’s Choice winner will get thousands of pounds worth of film kit; and all 12 finalists will have their work shown in 214 cinemas nationwide, TV On Demand, mobile phones, and internet telly.

The awards will be presented at a swanky ceremony in London in October. Hooray!

Check out Sundays on the Virgin Media Shorts website.

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Sex, Leins & Videotape #51. Paignton film critic Tom Leins reviews Whip It, The Joneses, Storm and Perrier’s Bounty.

Tom Leins — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:50:36 +0000

Sex, Leins & Videotape #51. Paignton film critic Tom Leins puts this week’s most intriguing DVD releases through their paces.

Drew Barrymore’s acting career may have spiralled into rom-com hell, but Whip It (Lionsgate) - her directorial debut – is refreshingly offbeat, and suggests that the reformed hell-raiser has a rich and varied career waiting for her on the other side of the camera if she ever gets bored of acting. The movie follows Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) a quirky indie-loving misfit who reluctantly follows her domineering mother around the regional beauty queen circuit, in a bid to keep her happy. However, Bliss’s increasingly conflicted world is turned upside down when she stumbles across a local female roller-derby league and its unique version of female empowerment. Welcomed into the fold by the players, Bliss soon discovers that she has a knack for the surprisingly brutal game, and her involvement quickly boosts the fading prospects of the Hurl Scouts.

In classic sports movie style, the Hurl Scouts are on a collision course with arch-rivals the Holy Rollers – captained by Iron Maven (Juliette Lewis) – and Bliss is thrust towards the roller rink spotlight. But will she manage to snatch victory away from Iron Maven and her cronies, or will her stubborn mother (Marcia Gay Harden) wrestle her back to the beauty pageant circuit? Half quirky sports drama, half coming-of-age yarn, Whip It is a genuinely unusual movie, full of great characterisation and dryly amusing dialogue. Although Ellen Page isn’t as droll as she was in Juno, she provides an engaging focal point, and the female-heavy cast – including Kirsten Wiig, stunt-woman Zoe Bell and Barrymore herself – keeps things interesting. Enjoyable stuff.

Directed by first-time filmmaker Derrick Borte, The Joneses (E1 Entertainment) is a smart, well-judged satire about consumer culture. After moving into a well-to-do neighbourhood, upwardly mobile family the Joneses waste no time in winning over their new neighbours, all of whom are seduced by the glamorous new arrivals and their enviable accoutrements. However, The Joneses seem too good to be true, and indeed they are – they are not ‘normal’ family, they have been hired by a marketing company to push high-end products to wealthy consumers. Despite making good progress with their neighbours, their misfit personalities soon become clear and sexual tension and sales figure-derived rivalries threaten to rip the ‘perfect’ family unit apart.

If you can imagine The Truman Show re-tweaked to focus on consumer culture rather than reality TV then you are some way to understanding The Joneses intriguing premise. A resurgent David Duchovny (channelling Californication’s laconic Hank Moody rather than the X-Files dour Fox Mulder) steals the show, and gives the film both its heartbeat and its conscience. Demi Moore delivers her most relevant performance in years as ‘Mum’ Kate, and Amber Heard and Ben Hollingsworth are great as the kids who have it all. There’s even room for the ever-reliable Gary Cole who provides entertaining support as envious next door neighbour Larry. The ending may be unfortunately trite, but director Derrick Borte’s sly, engaging concept wins out, and The Joneses has more than enough smart moments to justify the asking price.

Directed by Hans-Christian Schmid, Storm (Soda) is an aggressively contemporary courtroom drama that focuses on the war crimes trial of a notorious Serbian warlord. New Zealand-born actress Kerry Fox (Shallow Grave) stars as Hannah Maynard, a prosecutor at The Hague, who is handed the controversial case at short notice, only to see it crumble as the pressure-cooker environment leads a young Bosnian witness to take his own life when doubts about the veracity of his evidence begin to surface. Maynard is dropped in at the deep end and forced to unearth some fresh evidence to prevent General Goran Duric from wriggling off the hook.

Maynard’s quest for information sees her dragged into a diplomatic nightmare, and it isn’t long before threats against her and her sources escalate into violence. Any viewers well-schooled in flashy US legal dramas may find Storm to be disappointingly dour, but its bland exterior conceals a fierce political thriller, packed with enough menace to keep you on your toes. Kerry Fox excels as the hard-nosed prosecutor and reminds audiences of her talents ahead of her appearance in next year’s Intruders (the new thriller from Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, director of 28 Weeks Later). With solid support from Stephen Dillane (44 Inch Chest) and Anamaria Marinca (4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days) Storm is an accomplished drama that asks probing questions about personal and political integrity.

Despite a top-drawer cast numbering Cillian Murphy, Jim Broadbent and Brendan Gleeson, Perrier’s Bounty (Optimum) is a lukewarm Irish gangster movie that offers little that Guy Ritchie didn’t do better a decade earlier. Michael (Cillian Murphy) owes money to notorious Dublin mobster Darren Perrier (Brendan Gleeson), and when he fails to cough up the cash, Perrier demands that Michael pays with broken bones. However, before Perrier’s goons can take baseball bat to Michael’s precious limbs, his best friend Brenda (Jodie Whittaker) shoots one of the hired thugs dead, setting in motion a violent chain of events that sees the whole of the Dublin underworld on their trail. Their escape is complicated further by the presence of Jim (Jim Broadbent), Michael’s eccentric father – who is convinced that he will die the next time he goes to sleep!

There’s a hip soundtrack courtesy of Irish soundtrack king-pin David Holmes (Out of Sight, Ocean’s Eleven), but not even that can paper over the frustrating narrative cracks. Anyone with an appetite for unreconstructed underworld capers will enjoy the mixture of witty quips and brutal violence, but Perrier’s Bounty lacks the fluidity of the genre’s better-known offerings. Factor in a curious Big Lebowski-esque voice over – courtesy of the Grim Reaper – and you have a movie dangerously in thrall to its influences without the inspiration to take things to the next level. Approach with caution.

Iranian cinema may not be the hottest ticket in town, but No One Knows About Persian Cats (Network) makes a persuasive case for film fans to take a closer look. Inspired by real events, the movie follows the fortunes of Negar and Ashkan, a pair of ambitious musicians who have been invited to perform a gig in London. However, this is easier said than done, and the intrepid duo must recruit a backing band, acquire fake passports and secure the paperwork needed for safe passage to the UK. Desperate to achieve their big break Negar and Ashkan team up with irrepressible bootlegger Nader, who promises to help them make a break for the UK.

Less like a movie, and more like a series of vivid snapshots, No One Knows About Persian Cats is reminiscent of 80s art-house flick Downtown ‘81, which followed artist Jean-Michel Basquiat as he trawled New York’s No-Wave art-rock scene, checking out obscure bands. No stone in Iran’s illegal underground music scene is left unturned, and we are treated to rap, metal, indie and blues as our two guides try to piece together a potent band to take on tour. Some of the quasi-music video sequences feel slightly cheesy, but they still manage to give a real flavour of Tehran. It won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but No One Knows About Persian Cats has bags of personality, and it is easy to see how it scooped the Special Jury Prize at Cannes. Interesting stuff.

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A hand-picked selection of retro reviews: World Cinema

Tom Leins — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:38:17 +0000

Paignton film critic Tom Leins dips into his review archives for a hand-picked selection of retro reviews! This week: World Cinema.

Timecrimes (Optimum) is a cryptic, low-budget chiller about a middle-aged Spaniard who gets tormented by a bandaged freak at his rural holiday home.

Interestingly, rather than falling back on well-worn slasher movie clichés, Timecrimes boldly grasps at a more unusual narrative, flipping a brazen sci-fi plot device into the melting pot. What it lacks in tension it makes up for in subdued menace, and the grotesque, bandage-clad figure at the movies twisted heart is an intriguing villain.

The persistent rumour that David Cronenberg hopes to get his grubby, gore-soaked hands on it for a Hollywood remake hints at the movie’s charms, and although it disappears up its own arse during the final third, we are left with a memorably strange slice of straight-to-DVD freakiness. Although the prospect of a Spanish arthouse sci-fi movie won’t excite everyone, Timecrimes is a disquieting mood-piece well worthy of attention. [If Timecrimes has piqued your interest, make sure you check out Christopher Smith’s Triangle too, and see the unmistakable debt of gratitude that the British director owes to Timecrimes!)

A distinctly chillier proposition is Far North (Soda Pictures), a taut psychological thriller shot on location in Svalbard, Norway – the northernmost settlement in the world. Saiva (Michelle Yeoh) and Anja (Michelle Krusiec) live a nomadic existence, venturing further and further into the blistering, post-apocalyptic Arctic wastelands to escape from the vicious soldiers who have trampled society into the ground. When they discover dishevelled vagabond Loki (Sean Bean), stranded in the snow they nurse him back to health, and allow him to join them on their journey.

However, Loki’s presence injects a palpable erotic charge into the women’s lives, triggering a turn of events that risks tearing them apart… The haunting landscapes add to the creeping unease, and as the slow-burning mood-piece trudges towards its disturbing conclusion you are in no doubt that you have just witnessed a singular talent at work. Inevitably, Far North will prove too subdued for the popcorn-munching masses, but its bleak, intrepid vision of society on the brink is a rare spectacle to behold.

After turning out arguably the worst movie of his long and illustrious career with the wretched Cassandra’s Dream, elderly New Yorker Woody Allen is back on solid ground with Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Optimum). Part wine-soaked tribute to Catalan culture, part bed-hopping romp, Vicky Cristina Barcelona sees a mismatched pair of friends (Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall) fall for Javier Bardem’s rugged charms on an extended vacation in Spain.

Their uneasy sexual alliance is thrown even further into turmoil when his volatile ex-wife (a gloriously demented Penelope Cruz) insinuates herself into their lives. The breezy pace and smouldering sexual tension turn a lightweight piece of froth into a surprisingly enjoyable little movie. While the overbearing voice-over and damp-squib ending will test your patience, there are enough neat moments to ensure that Woody Allen’s ‘randy old man’ credentials are still firmly intact.

It’s time to stifle those yawns, and pretend to enjoy another critically acclaimed social-realist drama from France… The Class (Artificial Eye) is based on Francois Begaudeau’s semi-autobiographical novel ‘Entre Les Murs’, and sees the author step in front of the camera to play a thinly veiled version of himself. Firm-but-fair Francois is a well-liked teacher who finds himself in an awkward situation when the traditional classroom boundaries begin to erode in front of his very eyes. As a succession of aggressive teenagers start to question his values and teaching methods, Francois finds himself on a collision class with his malcontent pupils. Although the movie’s authenticity is beyond doubt, the slow pace and ponderous less-is-more dynamic will dissuade easily distracted viewers from getting sucked into its nuanced world. Nevertheless, The Class is a tense, compelling drama that offers a thought-provoking perspective on the French immigrant experience.

As any self-respecting horror fan will attest, the visceral new strain of horror movies being churned out in France are among the most brutal, unrelenting horror movies currently being produced anywhere in the world. Hot on the heels of Switchblade Romance, Frontier(s) et al comes Martyrs (Optimum).

Pascal Laugier’s harrowing meditation on violence and suffering may have been a blood-soaked success on the festival circuit, but frankly, its charms are lost on me. It begins impressively enough, recalling a nasty 70s revenge flick given a post-modern makeover. Unfortunately, its slick, stylish poise evaporates halfway through leaving us with a queasy, amoral husk of a movie. Laugier (the man behind the forthcoming Hellraiser remake) clearly has ideas above his station, but his grotesque attempts at profundity are sorely misjudged, and the movie collapses in on itself. Contrary to tabloid opinion, Martyrs biggest sin isn’t that it is so provocatively unpleasant, it’s that it is so boring…

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