Film Review: Maps to the Stars (18) (Canada/U.S.A./Germany/France 2014) (Director: David Cronenberg), The Cameo Cinema Screen One, Edinburgh, Saturday 27.09.2014 19:30

Some reviewers have called this a satire, I don't know if I would quite agree with that, though do feel this is a biting fictionalised expose of 'Hollywood''s ways of being. 

Julianne Moore is great as the lead desperate-needy actress verging towards the end of her career. Olivia Williams & John Cusack play a cold-couple with a secret they must keep hidden below the surface, and an insufferable, just out of rehab, young brat child-star for a son. Mia Wasikowska plays the most complex character who weedles her way into the 'Hollywood' set, then becoming the assistant to Julianne Moore. Mia's secret's are hinted at on her scarred body, the rest I have to leave the film to reveal. 

There are some fantastic scenes, where all surface is very pleasant, though it is clear to see that the main characters being focused upon, hold nothing but venomous contempt for each other. There are some wonderfully off the leash scenes where the actors are portraying more extreme elements than they would usually dare allow themselves to, such as Julianne Moore on the crapper with trapped constipated wind leaking out. 

I don't feel there was any point to the film, beyond showing 'Hollywood' in not only a superficial light, though also in a way that shows it as being utterly-self-consumed, vacuous and bilious. Maybe not the most original of ideas, though this the most unvarnished I have seen a presentation of 'Hollywood'. I feel the film doesn't need a purpose or point beyond this.

It is quite a riot of a film, that also presents 'Hollywood' in a way that we can actually imagine it being. I found this to be a very enjoyable film, though it is hard to say exactly why. I also suspect it has more depth than able to pick-up upon on first viewing. It certainly sticks in my thoughts...

Rating: 09/10.     

Film Review: 20,000 Days On Earth (15) (U.K. 2014) (Directors: Ian Forsyth & Jane Pollard), The Cameo Cinema Screen One, Edinburgh, Wednesday 17.09.2014 19:00

Many of you will now be aware that this is the documentary about that most revered of Aussies, Nick Cave. All that is seen in the film, apart from the footage of 'im and 'is band playing live, has a high degree of artifice to it. I am not daft enough to expect that music documentaries are entirely factual, though this is unusual in that there is no attempt to hide to hide the fakery. It all felt a tad too contrived for my tastes.  

I had pondered how to do this review. I suspect it will be most straightforward if I say that I did enjoy the film, though I did have issues with it. I particularly enjoyed the sections which had Nick talking about processes of thinking and creativity; I enjoy how he uses language and how he 'puts things'. I also greatly enjoyed the parts where Nick is conversing with his band-mate/compadre, Mr Warren Ellis. Warren has a presence I warm to and find endearing. I enjoyed the sections where Nick (& Warren) were discussing Nina Simone, though this is because I'm a Nina nut. I liked when Nick was reflecting on his earlier career, and found the detail he gave intriguing. I had wished there had been more of this, though also understand he finds it hard to recollect from these earlier times. 

I did not like the passages where he picks-up in his car and has short periods of reflection with Ray Winstone, Blixa Bargeld & Kylie Minogue. I did not feel these added anything, and were just a bit of fluff distracting from the more important elements. I felt there was too much focus upon the latest album and it's music to the detriment of his great previous work.

I felt it odd that there was a complete editing out of the Nick Cave 'story' of one Polly Jean Harvey. Nick had once referred to her as his muse (the break-up of their relationship is the basis to the entire 'The Boatman Calls' Album). Though now he does not like that term, as he feels it does not do justice to his wife, Suzie. 

The was another section where he was speaking with a psychoanalyst (who he has never met before or since). A part of this section which I found particularly revealing is that he states that he himself does not believe in god. The god type figure who he devised for his songwriting is purely a device. It was only days later I realised that this greatly annoyed me, as an element of his songs I greatly liked was the preacher-style fire-&-brimstone-stuff (a la 'Red Right Hand'). Sadly for me, if he does not mean this stuff, if it is all a performance, then I don't know if I can relate to it as I did. I'll have to wait and see, though I do think that there is an argument to say, if he does not mean it, then it is just another version of pop; which is the last thing I ever would have expected to have said about Nick Cave.

Finally, I do wish to make clear, the film does not inform of much. There are the occasional nugget or the odd insight slipping through the artifice, which again I think is entirely apt. This is entirely as it should be. I don't like it when a music documentary removes a performers mystique, and this certainly does not do that. The film also has several moments which are very funny. 

Rating: 07/10.             

Live Performance Review: Nidiot: Performed by Jon Richardson, Saturday 13.09.2014 20:00 The Edinburgh Playhouse, Edinburgh

This is the third time I have seen Jon perform, the first time was during the Fringe festival in August 2010 when he was performing in the tiny Pleasance Courtyard Above venue. At that point I had seen him as a guest on Have I Got News For You and thought I would like to check out more of what he had to say. I have always enjoyed the passion of his despair with careless aspects of the modern world and can identify with elements of his fears and pernicketyness.   

This is clearly a step-up in venue size from the Fringe venues I have seen him in, and a lot of his audience will now be drawn from '8 out of 10 Cats' fans. 

I had to intervene with a couple of girls sat next to me who were carrying on their conversation after the performance began, and I was not surprised by the amount of people I couldn't help but be distracted by still having their dumb phones on. Part of the reason I was not surprised is that Jon is fairly mainstream in terms of my tastes in comedy. 

I was impressed by how he has been able to go from doing 1 hour Fringe shows to proper 2 hour shows and not have it drag or feel repetitive. The show was very engaging, inventive and frank. It felt heartening to hear so many people give a positive reaction to someone's 'obsessive-compulsive' neuroses. It almost is enough to suggest that these peccadilloes are more common than those afflicted with them may think.

I find it very difficult to write about some comedy for some reason, and there is no point in me describing what he discussed. It is fair to say I laughed heartily and very much enjoyed the show. I am not sure if I would go again as I am trying to scale back, though at the same time the show was thoroughly enjoyable.  

Rating: 09/10.