CONTINENTAL: A FILM WITHOUT GUNS

Continental: A Film Without Guns (2007) dir. Stephane Lafleur
Starring:Fanny Mallette, Réal Bossé, Marie-Ginette Guay, Gilbert Sicotte

*1/2

“Continental: A Film Without Guns” set a new benchmark for cinematic despair. It’s an inexplicable title to begin with – as obtuse as the characters in the film. There certainly are no guns, that's about the only thing the film gets right.

In the opening a sullen middle age man is driving home on a transit bus. He’s suddenly drawn to something outside. He gets off the bus in the middle nowhere and proceeds to walk into the bush. Days later his wife Lucette files a missing person’s report and spends the rest of the movie anxiously waiting for his return. Concurrent with Lucette’s inactivity is the life of Louis, an insurance salesman cold calling residents in the area about his life insurance plan. He wanders around dopey and depressed in his grade b Best Western style hotel room. The receptionist in the hotel room is equally depressed, she lives alone, without a boyfriend and spends most of her days wallowing in inactive self-pity. Lastly, there's Marcel, a divorced elderly man, who runs a pawn shop. He is uncomfortable with his growing age and his one desire is to get surgery on his gums, but without a dental plan he takes up video poker to score his big win.

That’s about all that happens. There’s nary a blip of hope or an ounce of humour. Lafleur manages to make Louis’ experimentation in a threesome with a hotel neighbour a depressing scene. Instead there's concerted attempt to create meaning from nothing.

At least Lafleur is consistent. He shoots the film with a selfconscious detached visual style complimenting the vacant emotions of the characters. He rarely changes camera angles off the four leads, always keep a fare distance from the scene and flattens the cinematography to portrait style framing.

Why even discuss this film? Well, "Continental, A Film Without Guns" was showered with Awards in Canada – Best Canadian First Feature Film at the Toronto International Film Festival, numerous Jutra wins (the best Quebec cinema), including Best Film as well as numerous Genie Award nominations. Obviously the film’s creative minimalism moved audiences, enough to garner this praise, unfortunately, at the expense of frustrating unsatisfactory visual tedium. Or perhaps I just completely missed the boat.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN BLU-RAY

No Country For Old Men (2007) dir. Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson

****

New to Blu-Ray is a Special Edition of "No Country For Old Men", the Coen Bros classic and multi-award winner. It comes in a 2-Disc set (actually billed as 3-discs, but the third one is the digital copy), featuring "five hours of new material. I think the digital version counts in the five hours, but the special feature to treasure is the lengthy publicity tour timeline which shows us a number of interviews conducted by the Coens, and the stars during its theatrical release and Oscar season hoopla. We get to see everything from Ben Lyons, Charlie Rose, Creative Screenwriting Magazine, The Treatment with Elvis Mitchell and most interesting a Q&A between Spike Jonze and the film's key creative collaborators including DOP Roger Deakins. So do you need another copy of "No Country For Old Men"? For Coen junkies, yes, it's worth it. Here's my second review below:

“No Country For Old Men’s” masterfulness lies in its sparse depiction of two men fueled by greed to find a lost satchel of money – a head to head battle with a dozen or more corpses left in their wake. But despite all the praise, “No Country For Old Men” frustrates me in almost equal measure by its unnecessarily obtuse ending that on second viewing feels even less satisfying.

Tommy Lee Jones narrates the film like an omniscient observer of the events about to take place (like Sam Elliot in “The Big Lebowski” or Moses the Clockman in “Hudsucker Proxy”). He’s a sheriff with a wealth of knowledge and experience about the violent nature of man. His opening speech describes a teenage boy he sent to the electric chair without any second thoughts. The boy was made of pure evil –the Michael Myers type of evil that has no rational thought, emotion, or sanity.

Our hero is Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) who, while hunting in the desert, accidentally discovers a dope deal gone wrong – a half dozen dead bodies as well as a dead dog. Left over is the classic briefcase full of money - $2 million worth – enough for Moss and his shy wife, Carla (Kelly MacDonald) to retire. Moss is an intelligent character established by showing the details of his thought-process. He knows someone will eventually come looking for the money. And so, like a great chess player he calculates several moves ahead of his adversaries. But for most of the film, he doesn’t know who’s pursuing him – just a relentless force of nature – echoing footsteps in a hall, or a vacant voice on the phone.

This force of nature is the evil Jones describes to us at the beginning. The Bubonic Plague with legs - Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). The Michael Myers (“Halloween”) comparison is appropriate not only in his actions, but also how he is shot by the Coens. He is slow, methodical and literally impossible to kill. His weapon of choice is an oxygen tank and a silenced shotgun.

Like “Fargo” the Coens leave style and cleverness on the cutting room floor and tell the story with a sparse cinematic technique. The performances and characters lead the story. Josh Brolin has never been better – and to think the brothers didn’t want Brolin for the role. It took an audition tape directed by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez to convince them to let Brolin in the door. And now, I couldn’t imagine anyone else in that role. Oscar-winner Javier Bardem’s showcase scene is his confrontation with a gas station attendant. The rhythm of dialogue is off-putting and tense. Bardem sets a new bar for sadistic maniacs. Move over Hannibal Lector – you’ve been trumped.

Three quarters of the film is a quid pro quo chase through Texas and into Mexico. Like the detailed mechanics of the events in “Blood Simple” the Coens craft a series of masterful sequences of predator and prey. The piece-de-résistance of sequences – which should win the Coen’s their first directing Oscar - is a scene which starts with a hotel room confrontation between Moss and Anton and ends out on the street amid a hail of bullets and blood.

But after achieving greatness for three quarters, after a key death the film slowly peters out with little action or drama that significantly affects the story. The film turns into Tommy Lee Jones’ story at the end, which still frustrates me. Though the voiceover in the film is Jones’ he is virtually inactive and doesn’t affect the plot or events in the story. The book is an anti-climax, and so is the film. The Coens, on one of the DVD featurettes, describe to us, with verve this fact. But recognizing this fact doesn’t make it any more satisfying or great. And I still hate the cut to black at the end of the film. Oh well. Enjoy.

MARLEY AND ME

Marley and Me (2008) dir. David Frankel
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson, Eric Dane, Kathleen Turner

***

“Marley and Me”, with maximum mainstream accessibility, manages to encapsulate the joys and pains of family through the life cycle of man’s best friend. A sharply written, cliché-free script from high profile screenwriters, Don Roos and Scott Frank, elevate the material above a mere dog-picture.

Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston play John and Jennifer Grogan, a pair of journalists living in Florida, opposite personalities, John the laidback procrastinator, Jennifer the type-A meticulous planner , yet lifelong partners destined to be together through thick and thin. In order to fill the gap meant for a baby, John gets a dog to start off their family. And why not the good old American dog – the golden lab. Marley, named after Bob Marley, is a terror from day one – chewing everything in sight, jumping on visitors, humping their legs, running off into traffic etc etc.

As time flies by Jennifer and John eventually get pregnant, thus changing their lives even more. The farther along into real life the more they realize they have to give up some of their dreams and aspirations – the inevitable compromise that comes with adult responsility. John’s dreams and desires to be a New York newspaper man like his single bachelor friend takes a backseat; Jennifer decides to become a stay-at-home mom thus sacrificing her career for the family. The consistency throughout their lives is Marley, who continues to get into trouble and make their lives hell. At one point John and Jennifer consider giving Marley away, a crucial compromise they are unwilling to make. In this moment they realize giving up on Marley is like giving up on one’s family – that important element of their lives which they had put ahead of everything.

In traditional animal pictures the humans are usually the secondary to the cute furry stars. We’ve seen too many inadequately drawn characters, essentially cardboard sieves designed to fill the space in between the scenes of dog rambuntctiousness. The first act feels like this. Frankel uses the first 30 mins to establish the puppy-cuteness we all need to see in a dog picture.

But then the human characters take over from the dog with surprising grace. Jennifer and John experience all the difficult moments suburban middle-class white Americans face. Marital discourse, family planning problems, the difficulties raising children, career anxiety and the financial pressures that go along with a big family. “Marley and Me” comes across as familiar but not predictable.

Expecting that the film will encompass the life of Marley, we know that we may have face Marley’s death. I won’t say what happens at the end but it’s a surprisingly emotional climax giving great perspective to the relationship of dog and man.

“Marley and Me” is available on DVD from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN

Never Say, Never Again (1983) dir. Irvin Kerschner
Starring: Sean Connery, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Kim Basinger, Barbara Carrera

***

“Never Say, Never Again” is one of the few Bond anomalies in the history of the franchise - the result of one of the legendary legal disputes in cinema history. The short story goes like this, before Harry Salzman purchased the rights to the Fleming novels, which ultimately became the 22-film, 47-year-old franchise, in 1956 Kevin McClory co-wrote an original screenplay with Ian Fleming based on the Bond character. The film eventually got made by the Salzman/Broccoli team (aka EON Productions) as “Thunderball”, however Salzman only purchased the rights to the Fleming novels, and thus “Thunderball” and it’s remake rights remained property of McClory.

This is how Orion Pictures and Warner Bros Distribution could have made their own Bond movie outside of the familiar franchise creators. While most of the Bondisms are retained in the film, the only aspects missing are the distinct title sequence, the POV pistol introduction and John Barry’s familiar music theme. But what coup and a slap in the face for the EON team to have Sean Connery, the original and most popular James Bond return to his signature role 12 years after he made his last film and vowed, ‘never to make another Bond film.’ This makes the title (coined by Connery’s wife, in response to his declaration) of this anomaly Bond film so appropriate.

And even more embarrassing is the fact that the filmmaking team of Jack Schwartzman (father to Jason, husband to Talia Shire) and Irvin “Empire Strikes Back” Kerschner managed to make this film one of the better Bond films of them all.

The opening features Connery conducting a training test to evaluate his physical abilities as a spy. After all, it’s many years after his heyday as a Cold War spy. His age has shown and he’s sent by M (Edward Fox) to a spa resort. There he finds trouble in femme fatal Fatima Blush (Barbara Carrera) doing some nefarious spy work for an evil international businessman.

Meanwhile MI6 and the CIA has just discovered that two of their ICBMs have been launched somewhere into the ocean and stolen. Time to activate 007. And thus, out of retirement comes the Sean Connery Bond. His leads track him back to Blush and a slimy international tycoon with the perfect badguy name, Maximillian Largo (Brandauer). To get Largo Bond swoons his blonde girlfriend Domino (Kim Basinger), exploiting his jealousy and rage.

In comparison to the John Glen/Roger Moore 80's-era Bond, heavy on comic book action and gadgets, “Never Say Never Again” feels like the 60’s Bond. Apart from the opening gunfight scene it takes an hour and twenty minutes before the second act set piece, a well-staged motorcycle chase through Monte Carlo. Instead we get the awesome star power of Connery bedding women and outsmarting his opponents with panache. Twelve years later Connery picks up and embodies the character like his well-fitted tuxedo. Even stripped down shirtless, Connery’s manly hairy chest makes Roger Moore look like the runt of the litter.

The film is also aided by Kerschner’s humanist direction, once again showing his chops working with actors, like he did with “Empire Strikes Back”. Klaus Maria Brandauer’s sophisticated and maniacal Maximillian Largo is arguably one of the top three Bond villains (I’d put Gert Fröbe and Christopher Lee up there too). Kerschner admits on the DVD commentary that his stagy underwater layer finale was rushed and never properly lit, but before then his wonderfully conceived video game battle of “Domination” which involves a head to head battle for countries of the world with electrically charged joysticks is a great scene.

“Never Say Never Again”  successfully held it’s own against the EON production of “Octopussy” in 1983 ($55million vs $67million) and in critics’ circles handily trumped Broccoli version. Ironically through various conglomerate buyouts “Never Say Never Again” is now under the same distribution envelope as the EON films. Even then, the temp Bond titles with a numerical digit (ie. "Quantum of Solace" was Bond 22) doesn’t include this last Connery film in the oeuvre. Maybe it’s time to bring Connery out of retirement and hire a real director to remake "Thunderball" again to show them how it’s done.

"Never Say Never Again" is available on DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

A BLUE FONT EDDIE MURPHY POSTER!

Victory! The trailer and poster for the new Eddie Murphy kids comedy IMAGINE THAT has been released by the Paramount publicity team.

I was shocked to see the poster was in BLUE font, instead of the customary RED which I politely ranted about in a posting last year. See below

Someone's catching on. Cudos Paramount!




OPEN LETTER TO HOLLYWOOD: No More Red Font Eddie Murphy Posters
Original posting: June 26, 2008

Dear Hollywood Marketing Execs:

I was driving the streets of Toronto yesterday, and drove past a bus with a giant banner advertising “Meet Dave” - a new family comedy with Eddie Murphy. As we all know Eddie Murphy’s late career work (save the “Dreamgirls" blip) has been either milking "Shrek" for Dreamworks, or starring in kid-friendly family pictures such as this.

The “Meet Dave” banner, which is probably being plastered in every major city in Canada and the U.S., features the big mug of Mr. Murphy over top of the title in bold red font against a white background. Just change the title and the expression on Eddie's face and you have the poster for every other kid flick he’s made since “The Nutty Professor”.

For some reason this annoys me to no end.

Of course, the distributor who markets the film (in the case of "Meet Dave", 20th Century Fox) wants grab it’s audience by whatever means necessary and pull them into the theatre. One of their tactics is to have the poster or other promotional material quickly identify with or remind its audience of other successful films of the same genre. That's why the "National Treasure" posters vaguely resembles the "The Mummy" posters. But with these Eddie Murphy films, the lack of creativity is simply ridiculous.

Let's look at these some of these posters side by side:

I am not the audience for “Meet Dave”, so why am I so bothered? Perhaps it’s the uncreativity of the marketing department, which charge large amounts of money against the production to create the worst example of template marketing. It’s also a shameful reminder of the dreck that Eddie Murphy is making his living on these days – but as evidenced by his work in “Dreamgirls” he can still act.

If these six films weren’t overkill enough, they're branding Ice Cube's family films the same way:

I have no problem with these films which I’m sure bring much laughter to six-year olds but out of respect for Mr. Murphy and everyone else that isn't six, change your marketing campaign. At the very least, change the colour of the font. Please.

Thank you for your attention,

Alan Bacchus

SHADOW OF A DOUBT

Shadow of a Doubt (1943) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Joseph Cotton, Teresa Wright, Macdonald Carey, Hume Cronyn

****

New to DVD this week is John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt" (see review below). Another even better film about doubt is "Shadow of a Doubt", a mid-career Alfred Hitchcock classic about a small town teenage girl's discovery of her Uncle's heinous past of crime and corruption.

I’ve always thought Hitchcock’s B&W films were his best, and this early Hollywood crime mystery is certainly one of my favourites. “Shadow of a Doubt” fits in the Hitchcock oeuvre as one his small scale ventures, like “Psycho” or “Lifeboat”, or “The Lady Vanishes”.

In the quaint Californian town of Santa Rosa lives the Newton family – mother Emma, father Joseph, two young kids Ann and Roger and their teenage daughter Charlie (Teresa Wright). Charlie is named after Emma’s brother Uncle Charlie with whom the younger Charlie seems to have a special connection. When we meet Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton), he's a shifty citydweller wanted by the police for some unidentified nefarious activity. On the run he decides to escape to Santa Rosa for a surprise visit to the Newtons'.

Immediately the young Charlie is smitten with her handsome and big city exotic Uncle who arrives with lavish gifts. But as she attempts to get to know him, her prying questions are met with diverting white lies. Uncle Charlie can’t pull the wool over young Charlie’s eyes as she quickly reads through his deceptions. She thinks nothing of it, other than humble privacy, until two investigators come snooping around the town looking for a wanted murderer. With this ‘shadow of doubt’ in her mind, her idealized love for Uncle Charlie comes crashing down, especially when she finds herself the next target for his violent nature.

Uncle Charlie is one of Joseph Cotton’s great performances. Cotton is perfectly cast according to his likeable warm qualities he established in his two Welles performances ("Citizen Kane" and the "Magnificent Ambersons"). And so, even when Uncle Charlie is at his worst the ‘shadow of doubt’ that he is innocent always remains. We barely get to know Uncle Charlie’s motivations, only partially revealed in Cotton’s great dinner table speech – an angry rant which reveals his latent misogynistic disgust of widowers. It suggests a complex backstory of pain which corrupted a once optimistic and gentle man.

Of course, it’s never all-too serious in a Hitchcock picture. His trademark black wit is provided by the wonderful performance of Hume Cronyn as Herbie Hawkins, the crime novel enthusiast who banters with father Newton about the best ways to bump someone off and get away with it.

It’s one of Hitch’s pulpiest films as well. The actors express themselves with exaggerated performances. Cotton’s mysterious shiftiness, Patricia Collinge’s nave matriarch and Teresa Wright’s dramatic emotional shifting hit home the story beats as forcefully as Hitch has ever had them hit.

But the larger-than-life performances aid in Hitchcock’s theme of suburban Americana. Much is made of investor Graham’s subterfuge as a journalist doing a story on ‘the typical American family.’ Uncle Charlie represents the poisonous influence of big city crime into the wholesomeness of young Charlie's utopia. Of course, the film was made during WWII, and before the suburban post-war sprawl which we would see in the 50’s. So, in many ways, this story is a decade ahead of its time.

Hitchcock’s daughter Patricia has said “Shadow of a Doubt” was her father’s favourite film. It’s definitely one of his most complete. We all know he is a master of the dramatic set piece, and indeed there are some great individual scenes, but the strength  is an underlying tension which is sustained throughout the entire film and the emotional destruction we witness of young Charlie’s idyllic and sheltered optimism of the typical American family. Enjoy.

DOUBT

Doubt (2008) dir. John Patrick Shanley
Starring; Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis

***1/2

Meryl Streep was robbed from a second Best Actress Oscar for what was arguably the absolute best performance of the year. Oh well. Streep anchor’s John Patrick Shanley’s adaptation of his own Pulitzer Prize winning play - a battle of wills and words between a nun and a priest over a charge of sexual abuse. Like the Alfred Hitchcock film discussed above the internal conflict of doubt in creates the external fireworks dramatized here by four great intense performances.

It’s 1963 in a Bronx Catholic School, and the film opens with Father Flynn’s inspiring sermon about the fear which has come about since President Kennedy’s assassination. Flynn is a respected liberal mentor to his kids, especially young Donald (Joseph Foster), who is picked on for being the only black kid in school. Meryl Streep’s Sister Aloysius Beauvier is a ‘dragon-lady’ of a nun, who, as principal, rules with steely eye coldness and intimidation. Flynn’s progressive ways seem a threat to Aloyious’s traditional ways of discipline.

When a young teacher, Sister James (Amy Adams) comes to Aloysius with accusations of ‘questionable behaviour’ against Flynn, it becomes an opportunity for the nun to combat her rival. With very little evidence Aloysius becomes judge, jury and executioner and attacks Flynn with such brutal force. It becomes a stand off, like a Western duel of wills to see justice prevail.

Shanley’s story is perhaps too light in content to fill an entire feature film. In fact, “Doubt” feels like a two-act story, without a third act to take it to a true cinematic level. But within these parameters words act like daggers and Shanley forms two characters with astonishing depth and subtext.

For most of the film Streep is so deliciously nasty and brutal she is the personification of evil. Shanley is constantly questioning his characters' morals and ethics. Is Aloysius doing the right thing? She suspects Flynn of this heinous crime and serves to protect Donald from harm. But is she? Does she have the right to use unilateral authority in her accusations? Shanley is constantly making us question, or “doubt”, the motivations of his characters.

Hoffman’s Father Flynn is equally as intriguing. He’s set up as a courageous libertarian, delivering inspiring sermons and standing up for the mistreated. But knowing that he could be a child abuser causes us to “doubt” his sincerity. Even the question of what is best for the child reveals an uncertain answer. The phenomenal scene featuring Viola Davis as Donald’s mother adds even more complex layers to the situation. Her reaction to Aloysius’ accusations are not as one might think.

Important to all the reactions and motivations of the characters is the timeframe. “Doubt” is a different film set in the 60’s than the 00’s. Bitter racial and gender differences cloud the differences between right and wrong. And so everything in “Doubt” is a shade of grey.

As mentioned, if anything, Shanley doesn't quite elevate his words beyond the stage and into high cinema. Not even Roger Deakins, the great cinematographer, who lenses the film, nor composer Howard Shore who scores the film helps. It results in a rudimentary visual and auditory palette.

But Jack Nicholson reportedly once said he'd do a film if it had three good scenes and no bad scenes. "Doubt" is anchored by three great scenes - one scene with Viola Davis and Meryl Streep and two scenes with Hoffman and Streep. It seems to be a conscious decision to distill out the background in order to zero in on these three scenes performed of great thespian force. Enjoy.

"Doubt" is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD from Buena Vista Studios Home Entertainment

WINGED MIGRATION

Winged Migration (2001) dir. Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud, Michel Debats
Documentary

****

Spring is here and for those north of the equator it means the return of various species of birds to their summer homes. In my case it’s the Canada Geese who have been roaming the golf courses and grocery store parking lots already. To celebrate this time, why not have a look back at one of the most phenomenal achievements in documentary cinema – the Oscar-nominated “Winged Migration”.

Four years in the making a trio of French directors achieved what, on paper or in a pitch, would sound like the impossible. Show the migration patterns of birds in their natural habitat, in flight, across every conceivable natural environment. The technical achievements are astounding but with some clever editing a beautiful and often touching story with characters creep through what could have been a mere nature show.

We quickly learn that every year hundreds of species of birds fly across thousands of kilometres from north to south and back to very specific places they call home guided by a unique geo-navigational system in their bodies. We get to see geese, eagles, cranes, swans, in flight, or in the case of penguins, on the ground, from some of the most astonishing viewpoints ever imagined. Filmmakers use ultralight gliders, boats, balloons, almost every conceivable transportation vehicle to get their cameras inches away from the birds, and thus the audience in flight with these creatures. Even on the ground, the cameras seem invisible to the birds. In the opening sequence we watch a camera track across the ground inches in front of a small bird in an astonishingly detailed close-up. We are so used to seeing birds and other animals in nature programs shot with long telephoto lenses, in "Winged Migration" the wide-angle close-ups combined with its crisp 35mm photography allow us to see the detail in every feather.

The fascinating making-of documentary on the new Blu-Ray (as well as the old DVD edition) looks behind the curtain to how it was all done. And it certainly wasn't cinema verite. We watch the early process of the filmmakers to birth their winged characters and imprint the filmmakers' likenesses into their memories thus allowing them be natural and comfortable with the cameras. And so, in many ways the filmmakers became mother-figures to the birds, following them where they chose to go. A year later, once the birds matured, filming could being,  a process which often took months to get one shot and mere seconds of screentime.

The production may have been an exercise in patience, but the final film is not. While it might seem like just a lot of birds flying around every scene is filled with beauty, humour and strangely, suspense and adventure. Individual scenes are crafted by the filmmakers capturing the challenges and strange rituals in their characters' lives. The red-hooded crane provides what seems like an elegant choreographed dance sequence, the Canada geese are given a fun scene to play in the desert next to an abandoned jeep, and at one point some of the birds are made the subject of target practice by an evil game hunter.

Since the film was made in France, there’s a distinct Francais-whimsical tone. The opening theme is especially peculiar - a Frenchman singing a song about birds like something from a children’s TV show. And the narration is read by a heavily accented Philip Labreau. The filmmakers could easily have disguised its nationality with a Morgan Freeman-type actor doing the voiceover and used a Melissa Etheridge song for it's theme, but the film remains distinctly French, and all it's Euro-peculiarities.

"Winged Migration" is available on Blu-Ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

VINYAN

Vinyan (2008) dir. Fabrice du Welz
Starring: Emmanuel Beart, Rufus Sewell

***

What would you do if your child had drowned in the Ocean but you received scant evidence that he was kidnapped and alive somewhere in the Burmese jungle? This is the conundrum faced by Fabrice Du Welz’s characters in this frightening Southeast Asian 'Heart of Darkness' tale.

Paul and Jeanne Belman (Rufus Sewell and Emmanuel Beart) have just been through unimaginable pain and suffering. Their young boy died six months ago in a Tsunami-related drowning accident aboard a boat in Thailand. Because of Paul’s philanthropic work they remained in Thailand. During a corporate presentation Jeanne catches site of what appears to be their child in a grainy video. Despite more evidence against the possibility of her son being alive Jeanne is convinced he was kidnapped.

And so begins the arduous journey to find their son. The Belmans spend all their money bribing local prostitution brokers and riverboat guides to bring them into the remote and dangerous jungles of Thailand and Burma. As their money is depleted and the roadblocks pile up Paul’s doubt resurfaces. Jeanne and Paul’s relationship breaks, but not before they’ve passed the point of no return and are forced to face their demons and own personal responsibility with their predicament.

Du Welz’s film would make a good companion piece to Francis Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” or Werner Herzog’s “Aguirre, Wrath of God”. Like these two great films “Vinyan” dramatizes a lengthy psychologically challenging journey into exotic, uncharted lands by boat. All three films explore the effects of the environment and the mystical nature of its native population against the intrusion of the white man into their world.

Labeling “Vinyan” as a ‘horror film’ would be a misidentification. Although there are some scares, the suspense comes from the intensity of the challenges the couple is presented with. Du Welz drops his characters into some of the most harrowing weather and terrain they could be exposed to. There’s one of shot of Rufus Sewell sitting on a rock being pummeled by massive globules of heavy rain. No rain machine could match the authenticity of this real world effect. By the end these physical and emotional beatdowns becomes truly exhausting.

Du Welz employs Benoit Debie who was Gasper Noe’s cinematographer on “Irreversible”. Like Noe’s film Du Welz bombards our eyes and ears with an assaulting visual and sound design. The opening scene is a series of abstract, out of focus water bubbles rising and falling across the frame with an all-encompassing wall of ambient noise blasting through the theatre speakers. The sound mixer cranked the levels to 11 in numerous sequences – so much so I had to plug my ears for relief. It's a warning sign to the audience to prepare for the painful ride.

Du Welz doesn’t give his characters or us relief from their journey. There's a point in the film when we realize whether the Belmans find their child or not ceases to matter. The real dilemma is articulated subtly in the marvelous fire lighting ceremony scene. When Jeanne refuses to participate in the healing ritual she unknowingly seals her and her husband’s fate.

Rufus Sewell and Emmanuel Beart physically and emotionally pour all their emotions onto the screen in two supremely remarkable performances. “Vinyan” is a difficult and challenging visceral cinematic experience. Enjoy.

"Vinyan" is available on DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Z.P.G. ZERO POPULATION GROWTH

Z.P.G. Zero Population Growth (1971) dir. Michael Campus
Starring: Oliver Reed, Geraldine Chaplin, Diane Cilento and Don Borden

**1/2

Guest Review By Greg Klymkiw

There is a particular and peculiar brand of bleakness that no decade before or since the 1970s managed to bring to the big screen in the genre of dystopian science fiction. Alfonso Cuaron’s “Children of Men” (2006) comes very close and it’s perhaps the best contemporary example of a film that creates a world so mired in hopelessness that simple acts of humanity, while seeming to be extraordinarily noble, also feel utterly and resolutely futile. Cuaron’s picture also feels like a perfect companion piece to Michael Campus’s “Z.P.G.”, a forgotten (albeit flawed) minor gem from 1971 that has managed to sneak its way onto the DVD shelves via Legend Films ongoing series of neglected Paramount Pictures releases.

The major difference between the two (aside from obvious production value and budget) is that the central issue of population control in one is by decree whereas in the other, it is due to the forces of nature. In “Z.P.G.”, a world as polluted and ruled by martial law as in Cuaron’s film, people do want to have children, but are outlawed by Big Brother against doing so to keep the ever-increasing world numbers down.

The central characters Russ and Carol McNeil (Oliver Reed and Geraldine Chaplin respectively) are a childless couple working as performers in a live museum installation piece devoted to presenting typical domestic situations from the past. They work opposite another couple, George and Edna Borden (Don Gordon and Diane Cilento). The scenarios these two couples engage in for the edification of museum goers reflect a past that was the swinging late-60s and as such, they present a tale of wife swapping which is meant to be as titillating as it is a morality play.

Both couples are childless, but within the world of Z.P.G., all couples are allowed to “adopt” cyber children. These are not the almost-human Haley Joel Osments of Spielberg’s “A.I.”, but are creepy, mannequin-like dolls. The Bordens are perfectly content with their doll-child, but the McNeils are unable to succumb to the status quo and are not only childless, but sans the aforementioned creepy doll-child. When the McNeils decide to have a real baby in secret, they risk their lives. Eerie scenes of pod-like citizens ratting out families with real babies have a strange power to disturb, but nothing is more disturbing in this movie than when the McNeils inadvertently let the Bordens in on their secret and the childless couple demands private face time with the real child.

Critics who dismiss it on the basis of the picture’s obvious script contrivances and the low budget production value have unfairly maligned “Z.P.G.”. It’s not a perfect picture by any means, but it also has a strange, obsessive quality. The stolid performances of both Oliver Reed and Geraldine Chaplin are just the right pitch for their characters and Diane Cilento’s truly insane performance as the “Mrs. Perfect” side of the equation gets weirder and creepier as the movie progresses.

Director Michael Campus is an odd duck. His output has been almost non-existent since this film was made in 1972, yet he did direct two of the coolest blaxpoitation pictures of the 70s, “The Mack” and “The Education of Sonny Carson”. He’s no hack and obviously has both talent and taste.

The screenplay for “Z.P.G.” is often annoyingly full of convenient devices to keep the story moving, but for every one of these devices, the screenplay has a gem to match it in terms of downright kick-ass sci-fi cleverness and creepiness. Co-writers Frank DeFelita and Max Ehrlich were certainly no slouches as genre hacks. Separately and together they are responsible for such solid genre material as “Audrey Rose” and “The Entity” and the totally oddball George C. Scott directed incest potboiler “The Savage is Loose”.

At the end of the day, this feels like a movie that was made with compromises – not the sorts that are studio imposed, but rather, the kinds that are forced by an incredibly low budget. In spite of this, there is both a charm and effectiveness to the use of retro models and glass paintings and cold interiors to reflect the world of the movie.

“Z.P.G.” is a movie I have always wanted to see. It eluded me back in 1972 as it played for only one week at a strange little independent grindhouse on the opposite side of the city I grew up in. I’m glad I finally got the chance. It’s not great sci-fi, but it’s certainly both solid and thought provoking and like a lot of retro sci-fi it has a lot more similarities to our modern world than differences. This is especially cool.

“Z.P.G.” is currently available on the Legend Films DVD label devoted to a variety of Paramount Pictures releases that Paramount had no interest in distributing themselves.

INTERVIEW WITH ANVIL!

One of the more fascinating documentaries about success and the dedication of artists to their work is Sacha Gervasi’s “Anvil!! The Story of Anvil”, a Sundance hit from 2008 which get its Canadian theatrical release this weekend. (Read my review HERE) Anvil was one of the most promising heavy metal bands of the early 80’s, who, not for lack of dedication, never made it big. And now, 30 years later, in a surprisingly profound and emotional documentary we get see Anvil, now in their 50’s, still grinding it out looking to make it big.

I got a chance to talk to Steve “Lips” Kudlow, the driving force of the band who waxes with honesty and frankness.

DFD: I loved the film both as a fan of documentaries and heavy metal. How did the director Sacha Gervasi contact you about the doc? I heard he was a roadie with you back in the day and then he went off and became a successful Hollywood screenwriter? (NOTE: Gervasi went on to write screenplays for 'The Terminal' and 'The Big Tease')

Lips: Even before Sacha did actually contact me we were at a festival in Italy and we met up with a couple of guys in a band, Candlemass. And they reminded us about meeting me on Carnaby Street in England. And at that moment I started thinking about Sacha yet again because we were with Sacha in 1982 walking on Carnaby Street buying leather jackets. We had become quite good friends back then. And then he went off to do other things in his life, finish school, do all the things that everybody does. He’s a very unique individual, very outgoing, very generous type of person, really good guy. He went off to do his stuff and we didn’t hear from him for 20 years. When I got back from the festival, after talking about him there in Italy, interestingly he emails me. I’m like, ‘what’? I looked at the email and I’m going ‘I don’t believe it, it’s Sacha!’ So I wrote him back, ‘ I thought you either died, or became a lawyer.’ He laughed because in his life, yeah, he went to law school and he almost died of an overdose. He always makes fun of that. Then he invites me down to L.A. and I show him that I’ve continued on for a good 20 years that I’ve recorded all these CDs and kept alive in the music business and continued to believe in my eventual success, or living my success or my dream. I think that’s what he most admired.

DFD: Did he contact you to reconnect, or did he have an idea for a film?

Lips: No, it’s just ‘I wanna see my friend’. At the festival in Italy those other bands were commending us for the length of time we were doing it, and how much work we’ve done, how many records we’ve put out, talking to us in an admirable way. Then, Sacha started saying ‘yeah, look at the history, man. You guys are a legend and you don’t even realize it.’ And we were going, ‘huh?’ We were just doing what we were doing - doing it our entire lives. Making music, getting it out there to our fans didn’t feel like quite success after all these years in a certain sense. But the guy’s going, ‘I’m gonna make a movie about you’. And I’m going, ‘what? Okay.’ I flipped out, man. Started realizing, ‘wow, so the 30 years that I’ve just spent doing this is gonna get known on a really big massive level. I’m gonna be very famous. It’s gonna be my big big opportunity. My ship has finally come in.’

DFD: That’s amazing. So it’s been 30 years. Was there ever a time when you guys actually quit?

Lips: No. And there was never any reason to, you know. You learn to love it so much. You live to go out and play. It never comes to mind, you could never live without it. It’s sort of like, a mental addiction.

DFD: Arguably heavy metal has the most loyal fans in the music business. What do you think makes the fans so passionate about the music?

Lips: Because it’s a release. Because it’s escapism. Because it’s something to believe in. It s a philosophy. It’s a form of religion. But then music and religion... it’s hard to separate. Like a universal language. Music usually appears from the subconconscious. Musicians don’t even know where it comes from. If God was gonna communicate with mankind, it would be on that level.

DFD: What drew you guys to metal, when you started getting into music and learning to play?

Lips: At a very young age, my father brought a guitar home. I was immediately intrigued with it. I had already been listening to the Beatles for a couple of years. By the time I was ten, he brought the guitar home and the first thing I learned how to play was ‘Satisfaction’ by the Rolling Stones, 'Secret Agent Man' by Johnny Rivers, the Batman theme, things like that. Basically the birth of the electric guitar and the renaissance of that I was fortunate to have been born at that time during. Being born in the 50s, by the time I was four I had already been aware of Elvis Presley. So I have somewhat of an understanding of the pre-Beatle era. But to actually have been part of the era and bought records as they came out, as opposed to finding out about it 30 years later, I think,  gives me a special ability than someone who hasn’t.

DFD: How did you discover metal, or your sound, your style?

Lips: Everything came from the same place. By 1967/68 Jimi Hendrix came out and we started learning about distortion of the guitar. These are the first inklings of what it was all about. So ever since that time, I was looking for those sounds. I was immediately gravitating to Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Grand Funk, Cactus, Foghat, Humble Pie. It's interesting how people find it so fascinating to watch a rock band or a metal band or whatever and think about what they go through to make the music and what it takes to get their music known, it’s a real phenomenon.

DFD: When you first saw the Documentary and saw all the praise you were getting from Slash, Lemmy, Lars Ulrich. How did that make you feel?

Lips: I felt very proud, of course. But understand that these people had made themselves known to us many years ago. They were fans many years ago and in fact, the full circle is very beautiful, because, in fact I’m fans of there’s. But that’s the way it generally works, as it did with me and like it did with my predecessors, and those before me and those who will ever come after me. I sat in a hotel room in Birmingham England in 1983 on a Motörhead tour with Lemmy. And I was flipping out because I couldn’t believe that I was 24 years old and I was sitting in a room with a 34 year old rock star that everybody in the whole world knows. I was freaking out, I couldn’t believe it. I was telling him how much I admired him, and he turned to me and said <Lips doing a great impression of Lemmy here>, “one day some other bloke will be saying the same thing to you” There was something very profound about that, because you know as it turns out, yes, that did happen a number of times.

DFD: Were you surprised how you looked or sounded, or acted on camera?

Lips: Those are moments in my life. How did I act? I acted as I always do, myself. So it doesn’t bother me. No. It’s all good man.

DFD: And sounds like your family really have supported you over your entire career. One of the most powerful moments in the film is when you get the money from your sister to record your album. How important was that to you?

Lipps: That was very very explosive. Actually fantastic. It’s wonderful to have a sister like that. It’s awesome. She really comes to bat for me. She always has you know. Everyone else in the family thinks we’re both nuts, but whatever. We’re the middle kids, you know what I mean?

DFD: Going back to what Lemmy said at the very beginning. He said, “you guys probably weren’t at the right place at the right time.”

Lipps: That is the truth. Randomness, fame and to attain it is random. It’s like going into Las Vegas and betting. Quite frankly you’d have a better chance of winning in Las Vegas than actually making it big, And the facts speak louder than words in the way that only about .001% of bands that exist ever make it anywhere. I mean that’s the real truth. There’s literally thousands of bands, never mind the millions of guys in those bands, that never get anywhere. So what this movie depicts speaks for the vast majority. This is what it takes man. If you’re gonna buy someone’s independent record, this is the kinda shit they gotta go through for you to have that record.

DFD: Now the documentary’s out, what are you guys up to? How has this become springboard for you?

Lipps: In every possible way. This is the biggest promotional campaign ever to exist for a rock and roll band. A movie that is so enthralling and emotionally charged, there’s so many different levels. It makes non-actors into actors. Some people don’t think that there’s such a thing as a real Anvil, and that I’m an actor. Everybody involved did it for the same reason that the band did, for the cause. Everybody took a chance, particularly the director, Sacha, and the photographer, Chris Soos. These guys really took the big risks. You know, it’s not sold to a big conglomerate, it’s not put out into theatres by Paramount Pictures or whatever. It’s an independent film that built it’s own momentum on it’s own story. It’s about a story that took 30 years to put to a screen. For that to happen, it’s really quite fascinating when you stop and think about the miracle of what was created here. The odds are with you the longer you progress and the longer you continue, the better chance the opportunities will hit you. If you quit, it will certainly never ever happen. The longer you stay with it, the greater the chance a screenwriter will come along and make a movie about you. Or the kid you met when he was 15 grows up to be a screenwriter. It doesn’t matter what your destiny is as long as you know where you wanna go. So my destiny was not to make it when I was 25, mine was to make it when I turned 53. Beautiful. That’s fine, I can live with it. I’m not bitter. I wouldn’t change a thing.

ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL

Anvil: The Story of Anvil (2009) dir. Sacha Gervasi
Documentary

***1/2

Heavy Metal is perhaps the most fascinating of music genres to explore on film. Like the horror genre in cinema, metalheads are unquestionably the most rabid fans of their own music. Certifiably uncool, unsophisticated, but immersive and a way of life for its fans. This is what drives Steve 'Lips' Kudlow and Robb Reiner, the two longstanding members of the Canadian-based has-been 80’s band Anvil. Charting the career dive of the once great band through 30 years of dingy rock'n'roll horror stories culminates in a remarkably poignant commentary on the dedication of artists to their art.

Gervasi is careful to open up with a group of Metal heavyweights, Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Slash, Slayer's Tom Araya, Motörhead's Lemmy singing the praises of Anvil and their influence on the great metal movement of the 80’s. We learn about their legendary performance at a 1984 Tokyo Concert to 60,000 kids, the height of their career. But while Bon Jovi, Whitesnake and other bands grew to become superstars, the boys from Anvil somehow got left behind, for reasons which Lemmy assumes is that they just weren’t at the right place at the right time.

Gervasi cuts sharply to present day when we see the two leaders of the group Robb and Lips squeaking out a living in labour intensive working class jobs while still grinding it out trying to make it big decades later. Overtop of their aged faces is their unaltered 80’s style of feathered long hair and concert t’s. If they weren’t so hardworking, honest and dedicated to their passion it would be pathetic.

“Anvil” plays like a real live version of Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler”, at heart a character study of passionate artists left behind by their fellow contemporaries, but who kept working despite going lower and lower down on the industry radar.

And like Randy the Ram we so desperately want to see Robb and Lips succeed and cash in their hard work. Were teased with the possibility as in the opening they embark on a European tour spearheaded by a Czech fan whom they’ve never met. Sadly the promises made of sold out arenas turn into embrarassing basement shows for audiences of as little as a dozen. And when they return home, they're smacked with a healthy dose of reality as Lips goes back to making deliveries to pay the bills.

In the last few years we’ve seen “Metal: A Headbangers Journey”, “Heavy Metal in Baghdad”, and “Global Metal”, all exploring the reach and personal influence of the music on various people. “Anvil” might just be the best of the bunch. Gervasi’s adherence to traditional fly-on-the-wall filmmaking as opposed to narration-heavy storytelling allows the audience to soak in the emotions of the characters and situations without being told what’s happening.

The internal and external conflicts which arise from Robb and Lips’ struggle for fame and acceptance are boldly exposed on screen with no inhibition – a testament to the trust Gervasi earns from the band. 30 years later with the success of the film at Sundance, SXSW and now it's theatrical release Anvil has finally made it. And it couldn't have happened to better, more honest and down to earth guys.

ADVENTURELAND

Adventureland (2009) dir, Greg Mottola
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg, Bill Hader, Kristin Wiig

**1/2

As for nostalgic coming-of-age films “Adventureland” sits above the pretentious ‘Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist’ and below the joyously rambunctious ‘Superbad’ and way below the true classics ‘Dazed and Confused’ and ‘American Graffiti.’ Perhaps it isn’t fair to compare these films, but with such similar and familiar territory it's inevitable. 

Jesse Eisenberg plays awkward geek Columbia student James Brennon, anticipating his summer trip to Europe to soak up all the romance and sophistication he desires. But when his parents tell him they’re short on cash and he’s forced to work at the local Pittsburgh amusement park his life comes crashing down. The overachieving James watches the slacker carny characters with an air of intellectual superiority. But when he meets another brooding teenager, Em (Kristin Stewart) who seems as disaffected by her job as is he, he’s instantly smitten. They start hanging out and soon become a couple.

Little does James know that Em is friends-with-benefits with the arrogant and passive aggressive theme park hunk Mike (Ryan Reynolds). With another hotter gal tempting James, his choices become more difficult. Oh the complications of youth. As Em and James get closer, the bigger Em’s lie gets. And the bigger the lie, the sadder the break-up when the truth comes to light. 

Bill Hader and Kristin Wiig – comic relief for rent du jour – play the pathetic gung-ho managers of the park. Their appearances are staggered at specific points throughout the film like those stand-up comedians warming up a crowd before it gets dull. The fact is despite the trailer marketing “Adventureland” is barely a comedy. 

The film is set in the 80’s, for no particularly reason except, because likely it was based on writer Mottola’s personal experiences. Other than the hip anti-pop period music, the film is invisible to the era.

Kristin Stewart’s character is a wet blanket most of the time – barely smiling even when she’s at the height of her romantic bliss with James. We can only sense her self-loathing for cheating with Mike. If we truly sympathized with Em’s predicament we would understand Em’s demeanour. Unfortunately the dosmetic squabbles with her parents, which appear to be the basis of her discontent, never really link up with her actions.

As our hero, Jesse Eisenberg comes off an obvious second-tier Michael Cera – copping his shy awkward geek-chic cuteness. At first this was distracting, knowing the film was directed by Cera’s “Superbad” director Greg Mottola, but gradually as the film moves along Eisenberg respectfully earns the role for himself. And thus, despite the familiarity, "Adventureland" managed to wriggle under my skin.

Adventureland | Movie Trailers

NAKED

Naked (1993) dir. Mike Leigh
Starring: David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, Gina McKee

**1/2

Guest review by Blair Stewart

A international breakthrough for Mike Leigh, David Thewlis and British kitchen-sink drama, "Naked" took home the Best Director and Best Actor Prizes at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival with a bleak journey into London's lower-class depths.

Johnny (David Thewlis) is an embittered creation that steps out of the pages of a Malcolm Lowry screed as we join his stifling presence in post-Thatcher Britain. Stealing a car after drunk alley sex becomes a rape, Johnny flees Manchester for the big city to reunite with his ex, Louise (Lesley Sharp). After spurring Louise and seducing her skid row roommate Sophie (Katrin Cartlidge), Johnny stalks the back streets with a prophecy of doom and seeks release through pleasure and/or pain. He passes through encounters with various characters living on the fringe while the depraved landlord of Louise's flat lurks in the peripheral of the story.

Sharp witted and depressive, an idealist on a nihilistic jag, Johnny is the most memorable character either Thewlis or Leigh have been involved in during their careers. Leigh has even said it’s the great tragedy of Thewlis's career that he hasn't found a role on par with "Naked".

Suffering from headaches and mood swings, Johnny makes acquaintances with a lost Tourettic drifter played with relish by a young Ewen Bremner and a night-watchman Brian (Peter Wight) loafing through an steel and glass complex containing 'empty space'. Enjoy the following exchange between Johnny and Brian:

Johnny: And what is it what goes on in this post-modern gas chamber?
Brian: Nothing. It's empty.
Johnny: So what is it you guard, then?
Brian: Space.
Johnny: You're guarding space? That's stupid, isn't it? Because someone could break in there and steal all the fuckin' space and you wouldn't know it's gone, would you?
Brian: Good point.

Johnny wanders off in pursuit of various women for comfort before the skies darken, and after searching for it, is beaten up twice by toughs. Meanwhile Jeremy the landlord skulks into Louise's flat and ruthlessly exploits Sophie before many of the characters come crashing back home.

Although made by a former theatre/TV director and having a protagonist spot-on for an existential novella which might have hindered it in other hands, "Naked’s” success on the screen is due to the confidence of the actors’ time spent on improvisation and rehearsal before filming. Also benefiting the film is Dick Pope's lighting, capturing the zombified pale faces of Londoners in winter and the grey concrete of their uncompromising city. And of course, as mentioned, David Thewlis is excellent as that loud cock-eyed man you have likely avoided looking at on the subway while he's stared intensely at you.

I hadn't seen "Naked" in ten years, which I had loved on my first viewing, but after watching it again certain issues, arise. First, Jeremy is a lousy antagonist whose bouffant hair and tantrums I interpreted as commentary about the class disparity between his acceptable upper-class sadism and Johnny's invisible working-class instability. In hindsight Jeremy doesn’t come across so much as a privileged, systemic monster, but as an unruly, spoild child.

Another problem is the overwrought nature of the characters, the actors and script playing up the emptiness of their lives, the armageddon of a generation saying "fuck it" and the creators trying too hard to capture that voice. There is nothing wrong with a film engaging the company of unpleasant humans, but after hearing many of Johnny's rants the movie often slips from truth into pretension.

These issues aside, "Naked" is worth seeing for the early 90's urban decay, the chemistry between the actors and the push it gave Mike Leigh towards the likes of the great "Topsy-Turvy" and "Secrets and Lies". And if you would like to spend the night with one of God's angry children, give Travis Bickle a pass and eavesdrop on this lone British madman.