Film Review: The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears (18) (Belgium/France/Luxembourg 2014) (Directors: Helene Cattet & Bruno Forzani) (French with English Subtitles),  The Cameo Cinema Screen Three, Edinburgh, Saturday 12.04.2014, 22:40

This is the second film by these directors, the first being 'Amer' (2009). Amer was quite abstract, though it was easy to detect the clear influence from giallo (70's Italian Horror Genre) and the films of David Lynch. Regrettably the plot was utterly impenetrable, even outdoing Lynch in this regard.

The new film was not as impenetrable though you had to pay attention to be able to have a sense as to what was going on. The film is a thriller that has a husband return from a business trip to his apartment to find his wife missing. The neighbors in the gorgeous art nouveau apartment block become suspicious and suspected. From there the tale descends into a labyrinth of post-modern horror and sustained threat.

Visually the film is sumptuous changing between saturated colour and ingenious use of split screen to high resolution blurred movement black and white. In terms of sound the film builds in a crescendo of noises that feel as though they invade the psyche.

This was a considerable step up from 'Amer'. I found it to be daring and engaging.

Rating: 08/10.          

Film Review: A Story Of Children and Film (PG) (U.K. 2013) (Director: Mark Cousins) (English, Japanese, Russian, Swedish, Polish, Czech and Persian with English Subtitles),  The Filmhouse Cinema Screen Two, Edinburgh, Monday 07.0.2014, 18:15

This is a documentary film that explores on a global scale how children have been represented on film within differing cultures and times in history. I was not sold on this beforehand as have often found the portrayal of children in films to be mawkish and overly-sentimental.

Early on the narration told you that the film focuses on films where children have been the central characters, I suspect that this made a difference in the films being considered and assisted with avoiding the overtly saccharine. I was very impressed by the breadth of film cultures covered many of which would probably be fairly obscure to a British viewer. I would consider myself to be a bit of a film geek, though for me there was hardly anything that was recognisable to me.

I would say the film was interesting and assisted to give an idea of what may be seen as universal across cultures as to how childhood has been portrayed over the years, as well as aspects particular to certain cultures. In no way was the film startling or revelatory, and it feels impossible to consider this a great watch. Though as well as being interesting, I would also say that the film has a strong element of endearing charm, and it felt to be an enjoyable and satisfying watch.

Rating: 07/10.

Due to the films release, many of the films covered within the documentary are going to be getting shown in the U.K., many for the first time. Te documentary was interesting enough that I have got tickets for going to see three of these films.        

Film Review: The Raid 2 (18) (Indonesia 2014) (Director: Gareth Evans) (Indonesian with English Subtitles),  The Cameo Cinema Screen One, Edinburgh, Sunday 06.04.2014, 11:00

This was a free preview screening I was able to attend, the film is not released until the 11th of April 2014.

Anyone who has see the first of 'The Raid' (2011) films will know that it revolves around displays of a martial art that is particular to Indonesia called pencak silat. This is a particularly flexible, brutal and kinetic form of combat. In the first film the action was an unremitting onslaught which left you feeling kinda breathless. 

In this new film, everything is on a grander scale; the complexity of the fighting, the environments used, the story being conveyed and the running time (2 & 1/2 Hours approx). Due to this there is more sustainable pacing and scenes of dialogue giving more depth to what is being depicted. 

There are two scenes in particular which stand out for me and these are the attack by 'Hammer Girl' on the underground train and the grand battle that takes place in a kitchen. I would not wish to say more, except to say that I was on various occasions left with a sense of 'how the hell did they manage that?'.

In terms of the action genre, The Raid' films are like a breath of fresh air. They also do not shy away from appropriately showing the horrific consequences of violence. I tend to view the action genre as its own particular thing. I see action films as hard to compare to other forms. Though in terms of action you cannot get better than this. 

Rating: 10/10. 

        

Film Review: The Robber (15) (Germany/Austria 2010) (Director: Benjamin Heisenberg) (German with English Subtitles),  The Filmhouse Cinema Screen One, Edinburgh, Sunday 23.03.2014, 15:55

This is the third film the Filmhouse have become the U.K. distributor for, and the first of these I had wanted to see. This is based on events from the 1980's concerning a criminal who was nicknamed 'Pump-Gun Ronnie' after his weapon of choice and use of a Ronald Reagan mask. The main elements to the criminal was that he would hold up banks and was also an athlete who ran marathons. Due to his athleticism he was able to evade capture for some time. When people around him began to twig-on he was able to explain he was not doing it for the money, though could not explain why. 

There is no understanding of his actions reached within the film, though that is often the way in life. The film is well constructed, paced and edited. The story is conveyed in an engaging manner and all of the acting serves the story well. It is quite a visceral visual experience, though I would still struggle to recommend. 

Rating: 06/10.       

Film Review: Salvo (12A) (Italy/France 2013) (Directors: Fabio Grassadonia & Antonio Piazza) (Italian with English Subtitles),  The Filmhouse Cinema Screen One, Edinburgh, Saturday 22.03.2014, 13:30

This is a film that starts with the attempted assassination of a Mafia hit-man. It then goes on to show his developing revenge and the unexplained assistance he gives to what appears to be the 'disabled' sister of the man who tried to assassinate the hit-man.

At 1 hour and 44 minutes the film felt to drag and overall it felt to be a bit on the slow side. The actress who played the part of the person who hit hit-man assists was impressive, though I would not recommend the film for this element.

Nothing of note...

Rating: 03/10.     

Film Review: Under The Skin (15) (U.K. 2013) (Director: Johnathan Glazer), The Cameo Cinema Screen Two, Edinburgh, Wednesday 19.03.2014, 25:30

This is the film where Scarlett Johansson plays an unnamed alien interacting with locals in Glasgow & exploring the West Coast of Scotland. 

The film has passages that are striking in terms of its sound and visuals. It is a subtle film which benefits from concentration. I would say there are sections which are quite interpretive, other sections which appear quite clear, and further sections which feel beyond understanding and which work solely in an aesthetic way. I would say that the film concerns themes of consumption, assimilation, development of emotion and compassion. 

I feel it adds nothing to know that some of the interactions with locals were 'for real', with their consent being got afterwards to enable use in the film. I found myself recognizing parts of the setting as have lived in Glasgow for periods, and I don't know if this took me 'out of' being able to see the environment as alien, and how the environment it is set in would have added to such a sense for those who don't know Glasgow as well as I do.      

There have been reviews claiming this to be a masterpiece and other reviews have been damming. I don't sit at either extreme. I feel the films pacing is a bit slow in parts and none of the film feels to be a revelation. I feel this was an intriguing film which may well reward further viewings, though I don't feel it would be fair to think of this as flawless. 

Rating: 07/10. 

Film Review: Nymph()maniac (18) (Denmark/Germany/France/Belgium/U.K. 2014) (Director: Lars Von Trier), The Cameo Cinema Screen Two, Edinburgh, Vol. I Friday 28.02.2014 21:10 Vol. II Saturday 01.03.2014, 20:45

This film revolves around a character called Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) who at the beginning of the film is lying bloodied and bruised in an alleyway where she is found by the kindly Selligman (Stellan Skarsgard). Selligman takes Joe home to allow her to rest and recuperate, and Joe begins to regale him with her life story. Joe's story is a graphic recounting of her nymphomania (refusing to term herself as sex addict) and it soon becomes apparent that Selligman is a virgin who can only equate what she is talking about with the likes of fly-fishing and the laws of geometry and numeracy.       

The film work of Lars Von Trier I think to be very hit-and-miss. There are only two of his previous films that I rate: 'The Idiots' (1998) & 'Antichrist' (2009). Sadly this does not add to the pluses. I found Vol. I boring and extremely tedious, and Vol. II little better. I found the character of Joe's recounting of her sexual life to thankfully not be titillating, though regrettably I also found this to be indulgent, insensitive to who she was speaking with and really dull. None of the recounting I found to be presented in an interesting way. It never tries to give any sense as to why Joe felt compelled to behave in the way she did. There are also scenes that are recounted and shown such as Joe's father shitting the bed while in the process of dying, where I was left thinking that Lars was solely pushing buttons by this, as this certainly appeared to add nothing to understanding Joe. 

Vol. II felt to be marginally better than Vol. I, though this was probably due to my by this point expecting tedium. At the end of Vol. II Joe is about to go to sleep having found a friend in Selligman, and Selligman going to his room to do similar, when the film suddenly enters lazy and angering stereotype. Sadly not even this felt interesting. It felt as though Lars had lost interest in stimulating by this this point and had fallen back upon the sort-of shear predictability that you would get from an ignorant 'hollywood' director. Lars, Shame on you. 

Even to consider how the title is advertised using the empty brackets in place of the 'o', as this is suggestive of the female genitalia, strikes me as quite juvenile and not the sort of thing I would expect of an artist. The poster is also childishly misleading, showing a myriad of actors with 'cum-faces' on, when the majority of these characters never engage in intimate acts within the film. 

I cannot recommend this to anyone. Don't waste your hard-earned pennies. 

In terms of rating, I did think should I at least give it one out of ten. Though then I had to consider, 'what for?'. If I were to give any points it would be a reflection upon previous work by Lars and that is not acceptable, so sadly Lars get's the first 00/00 of the year. Tut Tut. Not even Uma Thurman's single scene (the best thing in the film) could save this one from the ignominy of the double zero. 

Rating: 00/00.