Katalin Varga DVD released 22 Feb 2010

Peter Strickland’s mesmerising, timeless revenge thriller is a stunningly original debut and one that will surely garner an appreciative DVD audience.

The British auteur has meshed an intelligent and humanist work with a relentless, story structure filled with memorable, taut scenes. When at times it seems as if the narrative is about to veer off course, it always comes straight back with a precise, distilled form of suspense. It is by no means a ‘thrill-ride’ of a movie – it is after all a film with it’s roots in the art-house - but the intensity of the journey is gripping and stands up favourably to repeated viewings. The cinematography is at once impressive; beautifully capturing the dreamy pathways and surreal shadows that lie in wait in the Eastern European landscape of the Carpathians.

The film deals with crime; the nature of crime, the nature of revenge and, of course, punishment. In essence, it’s a Dostoyevskian folk-tale set in the Romanian countryside; a curious world where horse drawn carts mingle with mobile phones. It is also a profoundly sad piece, a study of how frail and fickle human relationships are and how men regularly mistreat and abuse women with depressing predictability.

Our protagonist (a strong, commanding performance from Hilda Péter)had been raped by two men in the past. This brutal incident results in a child, who Katalin brings up with her husband as their own. When the truth (which she has been hiding for ten years) comes to her husband’s attention he casts her out, unwilling or unable to cope with the facts of his son’s parentage. Katalin vows revenge on the rapists and, taking her only son in her old-fashioned wagon, she sets off down the road to find them and...to kill them.

It is a challenging film – one that challenges our idea of justice and right and wrong. Father figures switch places, police officers are unknowable and friends appear as enemies. In many ways a bleak film; then, implying as it does that in the end personal morality (no matter how twisted) is better than none at all, but a powerful film never the less and, ultimately, an enormously satisfying one.

My Top Films of 2009! another list.

Yeah I know. Another list. Fuckin' Joy. Does anyone actually give a shit what ANYONE thinks anymore? Well anyway. Hold onto yo hats, folks. Here we go! It's my favourite films of the year.


1)Let the Right One In -
Cold. Supernatural sort of love story. The Anti-Twilight? Dunno, but beautiful, moving and original. My film of the year.

2)The White Ribbon -
Superlative exercise in unease from master of disquiet Haneke. Village of the Damned meets Downfall.

3)Fish Tank -
Proof that British social-realist cinema is alive and in good hands with Andrea Arnold's second feature after Red Road. Impressive debut from Katie Jarvis in gritty Essex drama from Ken Loach's natural heir.

4)Katalin Varga -
Romanian set revenge drama from another talented Brit Peter Strickland. Tightly scripted, pacey and powerful.

5)District 9 -
The South African Sci Fi movie of the year (er, usually so many to choose from!) Fuckin' Prawns.

6) Antichrist -
Grim discourse on the nature of marriage. Featuring genitial abuse and er, a talking fox. Dig deep enough under Von Trier's weirdo nods and winks and the shock factor and you're left with a though provoking dreamlike movie.

7)Paranormal Activity -
People seemed to enjoy knocking this a bit... it's not boring - that's tension! Does what it should - with shades of The Exorcist and Blair Witch. Nice to see a well made supernatural film which isn't for children or muppets anyway.

8)Star Trek -
Blockbuster that reespects the francise and enhances it. To my mind better than any of the previous Trek movies. A lot of fun.

9) Drag Me To Hell -
Sam Raimi does what he's best at, doing the horror/comedy thing. Less slapstick that Evil Dead trilogy but still pretty cartoonish. Also a deliciously twisted ending that was hilarious in it's audacity. Another great horror movie !

10) The Hurt Locker -
I'm not normally big on war movies but I couldn't ignore this Iraq drama . Scary, intense. Looks beyond the macho grimness of the soldier life. It'll probably clean up at the Oscars next year... Jeremy Renner will become a huge star .

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Me and Orson Welles - Released 4 Dec

Effortlessly imagining the heady world of 1930s New York theatre, Richard Linklaker’s (Dazed and Confused, School of Rock) follow up to the disappointing Fast Food Nation, is an engaging and smartly scripted coming of age trip through the drama of life on the stage.

Teen song and dance man Zac Efron (High School Musical, 17 Again) is undoubtedly the main draw as a young actor who gets his dream break with Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre Company. In just one week, Efron’s green but determined Richard Samuels goes from star-struck wannabe to Broadway debuting Shakespearian actor. Along the way he finds romance with an older, sophisticated theatre assistant (Claire Danes) and painfully witnesses at first hand the mysteries of Welles’ genius and artistic temperament.

First of all Efron is fine – likeable and lively as the wide-eyed innocent, he brings a vitality to the role that his young fans will surely appreciate. Not exactly a stretch of a character for him, but one that he plays to good effect. And of course, his hair and teeth look great.

The film is, however, all about the magic of Orson Welles and the storming performance of newcomer Christian McKay, who manages to capture Welles’ every nuance and tick with alarming accuracy. From the first bellowed boom of the famous Wellsian tones McKay announces his arrival on screen as a major talent. His Orson is fantastic; funny, erudite, charismatic, manic and hugely intelligent. In short, the movie is worth going to see on the strength of this performance/impression alone.
Strong support from a cast including Brits Eddie Marsden (so good in Mike Leigh’s recent Happy Go Lucky) and Ben Chaplin (The Thin Red Line) lends an extra bit of class to an already high quality production but in truth this is McKay’s – and Orson’s – show. The story is lightweight stuff and the style and tone will not win any awards for originality. What sets it apart is McKay’s extraordinary portrayal. Once again Orson is the star of the show, which is, of course, the only way he would have had it.

Rob Monk

Haneke's The White Ribbon - released 13 November

The White Ribbon
dir Michael Haneke
released 13 November

The gifted and controversial Haneke follows up his American remake of Funny Games with this Palme D’Or grabbing psychological thriller. Revealing dark questions of the human condition very much characteristic of the filmmaker’s probing intellect, The White Ribbon is a creepily disturbing psychodrama that effortlessly plays on societies’ fears of abusive authority and hidden evil.

Shot entirely in black and white; all expressionist shadows and brooding menace, the film follows the strange events and apparent accidents that trouble a rural school and farming community in 1913 North Germany. A narrator, (identified later as the young schoolmaster), links the events in the film with Germany’s history in the first half of the 20th century and although not overtly pointed out, it is the rise of fascism that Haneke is concerned with here.

The village is one big cess-pit of fear and paranoia - of abusers and the abused and of hate born of ignorance and out of control authority. A laugh-riot it most certainly is not. But a more high minded and emotionally challenging movie will not be delivered this year. Grueling, intense and displaying steely eyed focus, The White Ribbon marks a high point for modern European cinema.

Rob Monk

Birdwatchers - Out Now

Birdwatchers
Dir: Marco Bechis
Released 18 Sept

A thoughtful and well observed story of culture clash in rural Brazil, Birdwatchers is at times haunting and sad, capturing rare images of a stunning and beautiful land. The traditional way of life of the indigenous Guarani-Kaiowa people of Mato Grosso do Sul is pushed to the forefront, revealing a proud race constantly under threat from the modern world. The film is the story of their ability (and struggle) to adapt accordingly, while staying true to the beliefs of their elders.

Unfortunately, a somewhat disjointed and disorientating narrative does not fully do the tribespeople or their plight complete justice. The plot jumps around too quickly in an effort to personalise the political statement of the piece. The burgeoning love affair between trainee shaman Osvaldo and farmer’s daughter Maria and the flirtations between ‘The Scarecrow’ (recruited by the landowners to watch the tribe) and the local women could have both received more screen time. Instead their stories are left to dwindle disappointingly away. Similarly, the emotional impact of a second suicide within the tribe feels curiously dampened by the amount of ground that is being covered.

However, there are many powerful scenes that resound in what is essentially a serious political film. The opening scene of bird-watching tourists floating down the river, expressing surprised delight at the ‘natives’ who jump up and down shaking spears and bows as they go by is great. Shortly afterwards we see these same ‘natives’ in modern dress getting paid for their acting work.

The political and social landscape of Guarani-Kaiowa is deeply imprinted on the movie and theirs is a story richly deserving of attention. It is a shame that at times it feels as though a traditional documentary may have worked better. That said, the film is a moving and humbling account of a battle that has and is being fought all around the globe.

Robert Monk