2016 movies

THE DAUGHTER (Australia 2015) ***

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the_daughter.jpgTHE DAUGHTER (Australia 2015) ***
Directed by Simon Stone

Starring: Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, Anna Torv

Review by Gilbert Seah

Based on the Henrik Ibsen’s 2-act play ‘The Wild Duck’, THE DAUGHTER is Simon Stone’s gut wrenching drama adapted to a small loving town in Australia. It stars Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush who plays an evil father with a fondness for younger women and with no redeeming qualities. About to be re-married, his son (Paul Schneider) visits, only to open dark skeletons in the closet. This leads to things getting from bad to worse, leading to a suicide.

The film was shot in New South Wales, in an area of abandoned factories and logging forests in a soft light, like what would be expected in Denmark. Written also by Stone, the film is a compelling watch despite its over serious content that might turn out to intense for certain audiences. The play is simplified a bit, with the removal of a few characters but with no reduction in the drama.

Rush is always a pleasure to watch, even in the role of a much displaced character.

THE DAUGHTER is Stone’s first film, a little difficult to watch because of its content and a bit slow moving, made slower with a lot of slow option sequences.

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OUR KIND OF TRAITOR (UK/France 2016) ***

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our_kind_of_traitor.jpgOUR KIND OF TRAITOR (UK/France 2016) ***

Directed by Susanna White

Starring: Carlos Acosta, Radivoje Bukvic, Stellan Skarsgård, Naomie Harris, Ewan McGregor

Review by Gilbert Seah

The new John Le Carre film scripted by Hossein Amini is a spy thriller quite different from what audiences have seen in the past. The main character is now an academic, Perry Makepeace, played by Ewan McGregor. McGregor appears in more relaxed Mode compared to Richard Burton, Alec Guinness or Gary Oldman in THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD and SOLDIER, TAILOR, TINKER, SPY respectively. This is not necessarily a bad thing as White’s treatment of Le Carre’s material has a more feminine – more human touch. This is a huge contrast to the last major Le Carre film adaptation by Tomas Alfredson, the chilling and excellent SOLDIER, TAILOR, TINKER SPY.

The story here is simple and much more straight forward compared to the extremely hard to follow SOLDIER, TAILER, TINKER, SPY. After Perry is offered a tennis game by Russian mafioso, Dima (Stellan Skarsgard), he is ‘recruited’ by him to help him and his family defect. A sort of mixed STRANGERS ON A TRAIN and TORN CURTAIN Hitchcockian story, White’s film plays well blending the cold blooded spy game with a more human aspect. With this main plot, the story weaves in some choice bits of political debate.

Director White is quick to point out that it is not only the Russian mob that are the bad guys in the movie. There is also something very nasty within the British Intelligence as there is in every character in the story. Even Perry is a philandering husband and not one to make his long suffering wife, Gail (Naomie Harris) happy as she is one to point out the faults of her partner. But surprisingly, both Perry and Gail have a change of heart to protect Dima at all costs. In the process their marriage is saved.
As in a Le Carre story, fans will not be disappointed with the plot twists, swift cold blooded killings, car chases and exotic locations, in this case Marrakech, the Alps and the cities of London and Moscow. The film has the look of the spy thrillers of the 60’s and 70’s. But the Carre story is updated with modern technology such as the downloading of key information (bank account numbers) into a usb memory stick.

The humour is also slick. When asked by Perry the reason he was picked, Dima’s reply was that he was the only one left in the restaurant. But a good pick Perry is. A lot of the humour is also derived from Dima’s behaviour – how he changes from kindness shown to his family to cold brutality.

The film contains a few outstanding performances that make the movie. Among them are Stellan Skarsgard’s flamboyant and hyper ex-Russian mafioso Dima and Damian Lewis’ Hector who starts off following British red tape and ends up fighting against it. Jeremy Northam (PRIEST, THE WINSLOW BOY) has a cameo as Aubrey Longriegg, a treacherous British politician.

OUR KIND OF TRAITOR is a milder but still entertaining Le Carre thriller.

 

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Movie Review: THE WITNESS (USA 2016) ***1/2

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the_witness.jpg
THE WITNESS (USA 2016) ***1/2
Directed by James Solomon

Starring: William Genovese, Shannon Beeby, Kitty Genovese

Review by Gilbert Seah

THE WITNESS, is a documentary about the 38 witnesses of the 1964 stabbing of Kitty Genovese. But it turns out that they all did nothing. Or so it seems. Could it be true that Americans are that soulless? The film goes on to probe how it is impossible for that many people to see everything and do nothing. As the film progresses, THE WITNESS covers many other stories. Though the stories are quite different, they are all linked to the stabbing. But the real story that stands out is the one of Bill Genovese, Kitty’s brother who is in almost every frame of the film.

The details of the case: Kitty was a bar waitress in Kew Gardens, Queens who was randomly stabbed by a stranger named Winston Moseley—who later told police he was just looking for a woman to kill—then raped and robbed by him after he returned to finish the job. The New York Times later reported that 38 witnesses heard and even saw some part of the attack but didn’t call police and failed to intervene or even call attention to it.

Solomon’s film is absorbing for many reasons. The most important of these is Bill’s fixation on finding the truth about his sister’s murder. Bill will not stop. He investigates the New York Times reporter, ironically nicknamed Honest Abe who twisted the story to make it one that made news around the whole country. The fact of 38 witnesses doing nothing became a sociology study in many colleges. Bill also goes through a checklist of all the witnesses and questions each of those who are still alive. He goes so far as to ask to speak with Winston Mosley, his sitter’s killer, now serving sentence. When Mosley declined to meet Bill, Bill met his son. This meeting (which does no appear to be a re-enactment) is the film’s tensest segment. Initially, Mosley’s son, who is a reverend appears detached and unhelpful. When he finally confesses how he also suffered, especially at school with kids calling him the murderer’s son, Bill and the audience begin to feel for him.

But he film finally looks at Bill. When will Bill give up and accept the facts and move on? The investigation also reveals Kitty’s character. It is also revealed that she is gay. Bill interviews some of her lesbian friends as well.

Solomon’s film is intriguing in that it goes many different directions just as Bill’s life has taken him. Bill has also lost two legs while serving in the marines during the Vietnam war.

In the end, it is up to the audience to determine what Bill has gained from his intensive search. And in the process, learn from the film a few valuable lessons in life.

 

 

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Movie Review: THE NEON DEMON (Denmark/France/USA 2016) ***

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the_neon_demon.jpgTHE NEON DEMON (Denmark/France/USA 2016) ***
Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

Starring: Elle Fanning, Christina Hendricks, Keanu Reeves

Review by Gilbert Seah

The much anticipated film at Cannes that caused quite the sensation, Nicolas Winding Refn’s THE NEON DEMON will not disappoint in terms of gore and surrealism. Refn has already proven himself a director to watch, with remarkable features like his PUSHER trilogy, DRIVE and ONLY GOD FORGIVES.

While his earlier 5 films displayed speed and ultra-violence, THE NEON DEMON reveals a different side of Refn. THE NEON DEMON is an extremely slower paced film, full of pauses that allow the audience to sit back and figure what is actually going on. And most of the time, it is still hard to figure out what is going on.

But one must hand it to Refn that as slow paced as this film is – it is far from boring. The film for one, is meticulously shot with glittery lighting that mesmerizes as much as confuses. His images of the characters often blend one into another, like the corpse that looks like the heroine in the film, for the purpose of the lady making love to it imagining the corpse to be the girl she did not succeed in sleeping with.
The film shows Refn’s interpretation of the pretentious L.A. fashion industry. A young and aspiring model called Jesse (Elle Fanning) has just moved to Los Angeles. She is an orphan, very beautiful and impresses everyone she meets with her beauty. She meets make up artist Ruby and two of her rather nasty model friends Sarah and Gigi at a surrealistic dimly lit party. The rest of the plot is immaterial except to show that models will do everything to stay ahead.

Refn’s films seldom contain pleasant characters. There are none in THE NEON DEMON. Who initially appears a kindly soul, Ruby turns out to be another mean person with the ulterior motive of using Jesse for sexual satisfaction. And when Ruby cannot get what she wants, she turns incredibly vicious. Refn does to shy away from gore and violence. Where there is insufficient of these in the story, he more than makes it up in the dream sequences. Jesse has a nightmare of her motel manager (Keanu Reeves in nasty mode) inserting a knife down her throat only to be awakened by him banging at her door wanting to rape her. This unpleasant character is not crucial to the story of Jesse, but is there just for added unpleasantness. But the prized unpleasant segment is the one with necrophilia on full display.

Ref does not seem to care what audiences think of his work. With that attitude, Refn can come up with a few mighty fine films – the best of these being his PUSHER trilogy, which are all cutting edge, exciting and relevant. THE NEON DEMON is his most surreal film, reality turning into a nightmare with models morphing into flesh eating vampires in a world lit by neon and fluorescent lights where the sun seldom shines. Needless to say, THE NEON DEMON is not a film for everyone, but it is not without its merits, strange as they may come.

 

 

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Movie Review: KHOYA (Canada/India 2016) ***

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khoya.jpgKHOYA (Canada/India 2016) ***
Directed by Sami Khan

Stars: Rupak Ginn, Ravi Khanvilkar, Stephen McHattie

Read Interview with the Director

Review by Gilbert Seah

Sami Khan’s first feature is an occasionally impressive piece about a man in search of his identity.

The man is Roger Moreau (Rupak Ginn), a Canadian from a small town in Ontario, who when the film opens is on his way to the airport (as seen in the Airport Road sign on Toronto’s 401 Highway). This is how intimate Khan’s film gets, as evident in other scenes as well. Roger is travelling to India in search for his adoptive parents.

The event is initiated when Roger’s adopted mother unexpectedly dies. Roger loses his last tie to his Canadian upbringing and identity. But his arrival in India is not what he expected. The crowded and hot streets of Mumbai compared to what he is used in Canada are more than he bargained for.

Director Khan’s film works when he shows what Mumbai and Madha Pradesh in the rural heartland of India are like. Just as Roger is struck down with culture shock, the audiences is however, able to enjoy the vast differences in culture from the comfort of their theatre seats. India is poor, hot, dirty and poor. But the natural beauty is unmistakably stunning. Khan’s segment where Roger soaks his feet in the huge river (see photo inset) is extremely striking.

The film contains a few scenes set in Canada. One is in the garage where Roger works where Canadian actor Stephen McHattie has a cameo. Another is his meeting with a Chinese lady with whom Roger confides his secrets. These segments are uncomfortably told in flashbacks at awkward points in the film.

Roger Moreau is played by American actor Rupak Ginn who is in almost very frame of the film. Ginn, who has appeared in Hollywood films like FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS and Mira Nair’s THE NAMESAKE is barely able to carry the film on his own. Fortunately, Khan uses India as the main actor in KHOYA.

Khan’s film is actually two films in one. The first is the story of India and her poetic beauty. The other is the mystery of Roger’s family. Though given the run around at the start, Roger’s persistence eventually pays off. He learns the truth and he unexpectedly finds something more than he expected (what this is will not be revealed in the review).

KOHOYA is more a lyrical film than a mystery of a family identity. Though not perfect in it execution, KHOYA is still a worthy tribute of a young director who deserves more works in the future. Khan is currently working on a documentary on four Cuban baseball players.

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
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Movie Review: #UNITED WE WIN. Directed by Henrik Friis

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MOVIE POSTER#UNITED WE WIN, UK

Played at the May 2016 FEEDBACK Film Festival

 

MOVIE REVIEW:

Half dangerous, hald brave and wholly compelling, #UnitedWeWin, directed by Henrik Fiirs, is a documentary turned passionate love letter about the issues surrounding war-torn Iraq. Fiirs and a handful of other early twenty-somethings’ set out to the country with limited assistance from Global Security, to make a film about the middle eastern conflict, after a traumatic video witnessed by the director propelled him to act. The forty minute partial gorilla shooting endeavor is an interesting approach to cinematic filmmaking.

 

#UnitedWeWin has much to be commended on. The director, Fiirs, is a natural born leader, with charisma, charm and a clear thirst to make a social and political difference in the world around him. There is daring, drive and determination in his work, and it is no small feat to arrange a film crew and create a film, halfway around the world, not accounting for age, cost and resources.

 

However, there is a fine line between bravery and foolishness and Fiirs’ piece is not without heavy scrutiny. The film undeniably lacks focus and direction. Bold, emotive, larger-than-life statements litter the piece, such as “what is happening here is evil” and “we all know this isn’t right”. And yet, the social, political, religious and economic issues fueling the Middle-Eastern conflicts are never discussed. As such, the filmmaker glosses over the reason the fuel the film in the first place. The film has the feeling of a director looking for the answer, when he has no idea what the question is.

 

As a result, the goal of the film appears far too abstract and the stakes far too outrageously dangerous to be bought by the audience as a form of consciously planned, well thought-out activism. The film has no clear vision, no clear villains, no clear answers, no focused purpose and, most terrifying to the audience, no sense that the filmmaker and the team really understand how much danger they have put themselves in while making it.



Moving towards the film’s natural style creates some other notes for discussion. The continuity of the piece is rather shady, with whole days of the trip cut out and unaccounted for, and a series of unanswered cliff hangers. There is one scene that focuses on the team touching down in the Middle East and the transportation they arranged to pick them up from the airport is not there. The next major scene shows the team three days later, with no explanation of how the previous situation rectified itself. One section of the film, shot in a refugee camp, was very stylistically shot and edited- a choice that was not consistent with the rest of the film. The team clearly had the skills and the means to produce a film, but they did not produce a film with clear meaning.

 

Fiirs is a young, idealistic filmmaker, producing a heartfelt piece that displays empathy to the struggles of a population he clearly cares deeply for. On that note, he must be commended. He has a strong moral code, strong ideals and passionate desire to tell a story. But his cinematic journey did not hold up a mirror to the crisis in the Middle East, as much as it did hold up a mirror to young filmmakers’ everywhere, asking them to thoroughly understand that questions they are asking, before they risk their lives in finding the answers.

 

by Kierston Drier
Founder of The Bathroom Stall Project
Consultant at TheKayWorks.com
Freelance Film and Television
www.thekayworks.com

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:

Movie Review: 1Minute Nature. Directed by Stefanie Visjager & Katinka Baehr

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MOVIE POSTER1Minute Nature

Played at the May 2016 FEEDBACK Film Festival

MOVIE REVIEW:

In a world where words paint wonderful pictures, 1 Minute Nature follows three children as they individually recount memories from the world around them. Animated based on the story each child narrates, 1 Minute Nature is a creative reimagining of the natural world told through the eyes of a child. Both immersive and engaging, and wonderfully whimsical, each story contains cartoon animations elements moving within a real life background.

Each story narrated story recounts a child’s single isolated memory of an interaction with the world around them, but the visual spectacle is meant to shape both the children, and the viewers’ perceptions of the natural world and they way they interact with it. With the animated moving cartoon images overlaid against a stationary real-life background, there is a charming element of fantasy to the piece that is both engaging and delightful. Our three stories capture the tales of first encounters of underwater exploration, favorite animals and even school-age romance, each one weaving a wonderful portrait of childhood experiences with beautiful images.

Short, entertaining, charming and occasionally laughably honest, these three stories offer a break from the everyday world and invite us into a world of color, creativity, imagination and wonder.

by Kierston Drier
Founder of The Bathroom Stall Project
Consultant at TheKayWorks.com
Freelance Film and Television
www.thekayworks.com

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:

Movie Review: LIKE A STAR. Directed by Daniele Bonarini

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MOVIE POSTERLIKE A STAR, 10min, Italy, Documentary/Comedy

Played at the May 2016 FEEDBACK Film Festival

Read interview with the director

MOVIE REVIEW:

Like A Star, directed by Daniele Bonarini, follows a special needs actor on his journey from Italy to Texas to receive an award for his recent role in a film. A classic fish-out-of-water story of a European exploring the exociticism of the deep southern United States, this tale is as heartwarming as it is humorous.

 

Within the span of a modest 10 minutes, Like A Star follows a our Hero on a journey that is very much one in a lifetime. From the plane take off in Italy, to landing in Texas, to the discoveries of Cowboy boots, 10-gallon hats, American steaks, Famous sites and culminating with his Award ceremony.. Our hero takes on the world with a sense of childlike wonderment blended with the bravery of an adult jumping into a pool for the first time.

 

Deeply moving with it’s tale, Like A Star’s beauty is that is breaks down the boundaries of otherness that often surround people of special needs from the rest of the world. It tells a story about a human being with the very human wish that bridges together people of all kinds- the wish to be recognized.

 

by Kierston Drier
Founder of The Bathroom Stall Project
Consultant at TheKayWorks.com
Freelance Film and Television
www.thekayworks.com

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:

Movie Review: CHAMPION. Directed by Andrés Passoni

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champion_movie_posterCHAMPION was the winner of best film at May 2016 FEEDBACK Short Documentary Film Festival.

Directed by Andrés Passoni

Genres: Documentary | Short

Read Interview with the Director

MOVIE REVIEW:

Astonishingly beautiful and stunningly shot, Champion follows the world of competitive Racing Dogs in Argentina. Shot with a focus on the animals (not their owners) the film utilizes silence, space and spectacular imagery, downplaying the natural noise and eliminating all scripted dialogue. A powerful stylistic choice that pulls the viewer’s focus to the real story of the racers. Instead of the money or bets of the people owning dogs, we focus on the dogs themselves.

One may imagine that Passoni’s film is an exercise in Voyeurism, as it emphasis lies in the spectacle of the race without any blatant insight into the mind of the racer. Conversely, it can be said that Champion does the exact opposite – showing the mind of the racing dog by focusing on the event as a dog might see it- a flurry of color, the garble of indistinguishable human noise and a pulsating energy of a run waiting to happen. Andreas Passoni defines the luminous visual aspects with respect to a lifelong appreciation for the aesthetics, “All my life I felt attracted by image and sound.”

As a filmmaker, Passoni’s Instincts for the visual spectacle of cinema are seamless and lush, both riveting and gorgeous. In regards to a short that can propel the audience into emotion via image alone- Passoni is ahead of the pack.

by Kierston Drier
Founder of The Bathroom Stall Project
Consultant at TheKayWorks.com
Freelance Film and Television
www.thekayworks.com

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:

Movie Review: NOW YOU SEE ME 2

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now_you_see_me_2NOW YOU SEE ME 2 (USA 2016) ***
Directed by Jon M. Chu

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Lizzy Caplan, Dave Franco, Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman

Review by Gilbert Seah

NOW YOU SEE ME 2, the sequel to the unexpected hit NOW YOU SEE ME has the same 4 horsemen return for another round of magic trickery to astound audiences, whether they love magic or not.

Except for Lizzy Caplan taking over the female role from Isla Fisher, most of the original cast returns. Jesse Eisenberg plays the main role of Daniel “Danny” Atlas, the group leader followed by Woody Harrelson as Chase, Dave Franco as Jack Wilder, Caplan as Lula and Mark Ruffalo as the FBI mole. There are two sets of bad guys here. One is the FBI – a favourite target organization hated by (most) Americans and non-Americas alike. The other is Walter Mabry (Daniel Radcliffe) an unethical magnate that the Horsemen want to expose for unethical tactics, together with his father, Arthur Tresslr (Michael Caine).

Performances are key to a movie like this. It is not surprising for the filmmakers to assemble such an an impressive cast, all of whom inject sufficient seriousness and energy into the venture. But Radcliffe (HARRY POTTER) looks ill at ease at playing a bad guy as does Michael Caine.

The magic tricks performed in the film are especially outlandish. The are also performed really quickly with the solutions provided ever quicker. When the horsemen first appear again in public, they chose the most famous venues in London such as Trafalgar Square. The tricks include making rain disappear and people transported by plane. But the trickery is explained with the solution often so simple. The disappearing rain is accomplished through rain machines and strobe lights.

The best trick on display involves the horsemen forced to flee from their enemy. They leap off a rooftop through a chute and land up in China. If this act appears impossible, the revelation of how this occurs illustrates the power of imagination in a script that writer Ed Solomon constantly impresses. Though the film runs more than 2 hours, it is too long even though one hardly feels it.

Just as magic often uses doubles, the script cleverly adds a component of Merritt’s evil twin brother, again played by Harrelson, hamming it out the best he can in two different roles.

The business aspect of the film? NOW YOU SEE ME 2 hopes to pull in some big bucks for the flailing Lionsgate, the studio responsible for HUNGER GAMES and the TWILIGHT films, now in dire need of a big hit after the shares took a plunge last earnings session after a drop in quarterly revenue. But the bottom line is that this film provides just more of the same tricks – nothing more, nothing less. The first film was a surprise hit taking the box-office by storm. Lionsgate has lumped a larger amount of $90 million into the sequel, a sort of ‘we need a hit regardless of expense’. The film is up against stiff competition with WARCRAFT and CONJURING 2 both opening this same weekend. Looks like Lionsgate needs some magic on its own.