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Film Review: THE SHACK (USA 2017)

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The Shack (2017).jpgDirector: Stuart Hazeldine
Writers: John Fusco (screenplay), Andrew Lanham (screenplay)
Stars: Sam Worthington, Octavia Spencer, Tim McGraw

Review by Gilbert Seah

THE SHACK is a faith movie that loses the ‘Christianity’ label but whose theme would probably include the Christian faith. God appears in many forms, as male papa (Graham Greene), female papa (Octavia Spencer) or Jesus (Avivi Alush) or Sarayu Sumire Matsubara.

Though the Christian God’s name is absent, many of the teachings of Christ are present in one form or another. In the film, God appears in the film as a trinity, though the trinity is not in the form of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost but in the form of papa, Jesus and Sarayu. The preaching of forgiveness, very important in Christianity is also emphasized in the story.

The film opens with a young boy, MacKenzie as he witnesses his father abusing his mother and then giving him a beating after he tells on him at church. The abuse obviously flows into the boy’s adult life. The film forwards to the present where the boy is now a grown man, (Sam Worthington), married with two children. Christianity loves to test the faith of its believers and in this case, the patience of the audience as well.

After his young daughter is murdered during a family camping trip, Mack Phillips spirals into a deep depression causing him to question his innermost beliefs. Facing a crisis of faith, he receives a mysterious letter urging him to the shack where the crime occurred, deep in the Oregon wilderness. Despite his doubts, Mack goes there and encounters an enigmatic trio of strangers led by a woman named Papa. Through this meeting, Mack finds important truths that will transform his understanding of his tragedy and change his life forever.

Director Hazeldine’s straight forward storytelling technique leaves nothing to the imagination. Apart from a few dreamlike sequences, the story unfolds in chronological fashion with hardly a flashback The film is more interesting (though this is not saying much) in the first 15 minutes or so, because there are incidents happening. After, when redemption is the order of the day, the film just ponders along ponderously.

There are no special performances in the film. Worthington appears to be faith blindly walking though his role The same goes for the rather well-known name cast that includes Radha Mitchell, Octavia Spencer and Graham Greene. I have never seen Spencer in such a painful performance, forcing laughter too many times as in this film.

The film is suitable for a family audience. There is no foul language. Even the child beating scene is done without any violence and the reason for Missy’s appearance is mentioned in a ‘too polite’ manner.

An overlong faith movie running at 132 minutes which is as slow and tedious as it tests your faith and patience, see THE SHACK only if you absolutely MUST.
The film end with an equal tedious song “Keep Your Eyes on Me” by Faith Hill and actor Tim McGraw.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL0yUbSS5Eg

 
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Film Review: AFTER THE STORM (Japan 2016) ***1/2

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AFTER THE STORM.jpgDirector: Hirokazu Koreeda
Writers: Hirokazu Koreeda (original story), Hirokazu Koreeda (screenplay)
Stars: Hiroshi Abe, Yôko Maki, Satomi Kobayashi

Review by Gilbert Seah

 I was totally amazed with the first Hirokazu Kore-eda film I had seen called AFTER LIFE in 2003, which I considered a minor masterpiece. The British magazine did a 5-page article on him and the film hoping the publicity would get the then undistributed film distribution. It did. Kore-eda followed AFTER LIFE with a few other films, most notable being the Cannes Palme d’Or winner in 2013 LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON – again an excellent film.

AFTER THE STORM is not Kore-da at his best but at his mildest filmmaking. Don’t expect the drama of LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON or the imagination of AFTER LIFE. Yet AFTER THE STORM is not without its pleasures. On the surface it is a simple film, a kind look at a loser. Ryota (Hiroshi Abe) is a failed writer, a third-rate detective, and a hardened gambler. As the film’s title seems to suggest, the salient moments of his life have already passed before the beginning of the story. He won an important literary award when he was young, but his promising career vanished into thin air. Now, his father has died and his wife has left him. What he makes as a private detective, he loses on gambling and can barely pay his child support. After the death of his father, his aging mother Yoshiko (Kilin Kiki) and his ex-wife Kyoko (Yoko Maki) seem to be moving on with their lives. Renewing contact with his initially distrusting family, Ryota struggles to take back control of his existence and to find a place in the life of his young son, Shingo (Taiyo Yoshizawa). Ryoto seems resigned to his position on the sidelines of the boy’s life. But Ryota works with another young man, his private-eye assistant, who fills in the position of his absent son.

The audience is left to judge Ryoto. Ryoto is a man, not without vices, but still honest man despite dishonest doings. And he is still a handsome man, besides his age, able to attract the opposite sex, as in the old classmate he meets at the beginning of the film.

Thefilm’s climax takes place one night when a typhoon strikes. The broken family is forced to spend the night together at Ryota’s mother’s home. The ensuing interaction that is both bittersweet and tender forms the film’s highlight. “I never want to grow up to be like you.”, the son says. “I will always love them. They are my family.” The father says at one point. These are the sensitivities always prevalent in Kore-eda’s films that make them memorable. Great performances here come not only from Abe but from Kirin Kiki as Ryota’s mother, who is so funny she steals every scene she is in. And as in all Kore-eda’s films, there are a lot of scenes of trains. Kore-eda has said that this film is based on his personal experience of the death of his parents.

Also interesting is the observation of the ex-couple’s arguments. Ryota argues with his ex-wife over seeing his son and child support. In this film, typical of Japanese films, there is argument with reasoning without any shouting or display of cheap theatrics that are common to European and American films.

There is a beautiful shot of a delicious braised pork brewing stew at one point in the film when Yoshiko tells her son: “A stew needs time for the flavours to sink in; so do people.” The same applies in AFTER THE STORM – patience is needed for the audience to savour the pleasures of Kore-eda’s film.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwJcIoFuhto

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Film Review: GET OUT (USA 2017) ****

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get_out.jpgDirector: Jordan Peele
Writer: Jordan Peele
Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener

Review by Gilbert Seah

Imagine a horror version of GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER with a director trained in comedy with an act at Second City, Chicago, and the result is the priceless horror comedy GET OUT that opens this weekend and the most fun at the movies so far this year.

Now that Chris Washington (British Daniel Kaluuya, SICARIO, JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN) and his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway upstate with Missy (Catherine Keener) and Dean (Bradley Whitford). At first, Chris reads the family’s overly accommodating behaviour as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter’s interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he could have never imagined.

First of all, there is the weird as hell maid, Georgina (Betty Gabriel) who has the uncanny ability to cry while laughing at the same time. Then there is the assortment of guests that show up, apparently for an annual event, all of whom treat Chris with the greets oddity. The best inspired character is the blind owner of an art gallery, Jim Hudson (Stephen Root).

Things take a turn for the worse when Missy hypnotizes Chris to strop smoking. Chis finds himself stuck in a void whenever Missy stirs tea in a tea cup, which is actually one of the scariest scenes in a horror movie this year – credit to director Jordan Peel.

Director Peel appears to figure that if he directs very act set-up to perfection, then the combination of all these acts would make a perfect movie. The tactic actually works. Each horror set up is devised with the greatest of both creepiness and campiness that delight the audience, judging from the laughter and scares of the audience at the promo screening.
Every actor performs his or her part to almost perfection. Peel appears to be able to elicit excellent performances from all. Catherine Keener is again a pleasure to watch, and I have never seen her in a bad film. She has the knack of picking the best films.

There are a few forgivable flaws in the script, which is also written by Peel. One is the careless placement of the red box, discovered by Chris revealing all of the family’s past victims. The box should have been kept under lock and key. The other is Dean performing the operation before the victim is wheeled into the operating room.

But the film is deliciously wicked, from the camp humour to the suspense to the sexual innuendo and racial connotations. The film is also brave enough to attempt a horror film in which a black man is the victim with a racial setting. (Director Jordan Peel is black.)

My favourite camp horror is Dario Argento’s OPERA. GET OUT marks a close second. Low budget but high in hilarity and entertainment. Highly recommended!

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRfnevzM9kQ

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Film Review: SHADOWS OF PARADISE

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shadows_of_paradise.jpgDirector: Sebastian Lange
Writer: Sebastian Lange

Review by Gilbert Seah

SHADOWS OF PARADISE is a not-your-usual documentary about Transcendental Meditation. It answers the question how do TM’s adherents continue when a spiritual luminary dies.

With intimate access to two of Transcendental Meditation’s new leaders – iconic filmmaker David Lynch and dedicated disciple Bobby Roth – director Sebastian Lange documents the Movement’s metamorphosis following the passing of its founder, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Having himself grown up within the Movement, director Sebastian Lange approaches his subject through an introspective and essayistic lens, seeking to reconcile TM’s present-day incarnation with the teachings and practices that have shaped his worldview. The film documents the star-studded galas hosted by Lynch’s Manhattan-based foundation to a perilous cliffside cave in Madhya Pradesh.

Word of warning: The inspiration of the teachings propaganda-d in this film originated from Guru Dev. Guru Dev lived in a distant cave, north of India and dismissed normal life for meditation. So, this film might not be for everyone. In fact many will likely laugh at the film’s teachings, so if you are not with open mind, it is best to skip reading this review as well as the film – no insult to the person involved. Even if one is of open mind, there is a lot to take and believe in this film. Before reading this review, please bear in mind that this reviewer is no proponent of transcendental meditation (TM). This reviewer is a nonbeliever of TM, but will try to have an open mind in reviewing the film and in the examination of the subject.

Director David Lynch is a champion of the cause of TM. He has made MULHOLLAND DRIVE, a film critically acclaimed as one of the greatest films of all time. It is a film that is as weird as it is brilliant and covers multiple layers of consciousness. But I wonder now if Lynch has not lost some of his marbles. His hairstyle in the film – a streaked white coiffe does not help his looks either. Other celebrities involved whose presence are seen on screen include Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Lynch has a special ‘Lynch Foundation’ that collects money and donations for the cause.
Director Lange is quick to point out that TM is neither a religion, cult, government or industry. But he fails to define what TM really is.

For a film that champions TM, there is little about what TM actually is. It is only near the end of the film when the audiences sees a practical illustration of TM as executed by both Roth and Lynch. The director of the film Sebastian Lange is also a believer. His goal, which forms the climax of the film is to understand TM as well. His quest is to search for this remote cave that both Maharashi and Guru Dev spent years in. But it is reputed that the cave is swamped with bees and many who have ventured there have ended up in hospital.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/184505918
 
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Film Review: DEPARTURE (DEPART) (UK/France 2015)

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departure.jpgDirector: Andrew Steggall
Writer: Andrew Steggall
Stars: Juliet Stevenson, Alex Lawther, Phénix Brossard

Review by Gilbert Seah

 The reason for the bilingual title is that the film is shot in South France and in both French and English, though English is the main order of the day.

DEPARTURE tells the simple story that in reality could have layers making it more complex. Beatrice (Juliet Stevenson) is going through a marital crisis and she has brought her son – Elliot to help her pack up their idyllic summer home in the south of France. The two hardly do any packing but wander around the market in the village. Elliot is of the age of puberty. He sees a local lad swimming in the reservoir and smoking a cigarette and decides he has to get to know this boy better – nudge, nudge, wink, wink, know what I mean?

This lad is rural Clement (Phénix Brossard) all macho and a complete opposite in character and physique from Elliot. It is hard to believe that he has no clue the reason of Elliot’s fondness for him. What happens after makes the rest of the film. Whether the film succeeds depends on director Steggall whether he can invoke enough interest from the audience or maybe bring some twist to the plot.

Steggall does however, create a believable idyllic atmosphere of a rural French village – with English outsiders treated politely as income generating tourists for the French peasants. There is little hostility, at least, and none that needs to be built up or included into the story. Steggall tells his tale directly with few distractions.

Some films have little going on in appearance. DEPARTURE is one of those films. But to be fair to the writer and director of DEPARTURE, there could be more than meets the eye – if the audiences were to read between the lines (or see between the images). But there is quite a lot of inane dialogue – lines that make no sense being there. One sample occurs in the beginning of the film when Elliot asks his mother about a photograph he finds: “Who is this man in the boat with dad?” he asked. “I don’t know,” she replies. Another lengthy conversation takes place between the boy and a cafe owner about poetry, acting and plays – which has little impact on the plot, exempt to maybe establish (not very credibly) that the boy is a gifted writer.

Elliot, the boy is not the perfect model of a son. Elliot, the wannabe poet (his talent is questionable) is described as a cliche by Clement. Elliot acts like a spoiled little princess half the time, who wants his mother dead so that he can have a sex life. He is indifferent to his dad’s visit. He masturbates with a carrot from the fridge and dumps the soiled vegetable in the bin, which his mother discovers.

DEPARTURE is extremely slow moving. After 30 minutes of the film’s running time, nothing much happens – except the boy has seen another boy and the mother and son is still in the French village.

It is good to see Juliet Stevenson (famous after her role opposite the late Alan Rickman in TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY) on the screen after a long absence, though she does not get to do that much. Alex Lawther who plays Elliot has played big roles in the past, like the young Alan Turing in THE IMITATION GAME and the math film X + Y

DEPARTURE has gone on to win a few awards already at minor film festivals. But it is slow haul which will test the patience of many a viewer. The film is available DVD / VOD on March 7th in the U.S. and Canada via Wolfe Video.

Trailer: https://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2016/feb/02/departure-watch-an-exclusive-trailer-for-the-new-british-drama-video

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Film Review: I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO (USA/Fr/Belg/Switz 2016) ***1/2

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iamnotyournego.jpgDirector: Raoul Peck
Writer: James Baldwin
Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, James Baldwin, Dick Cavett

Review by Gilbert Seah

The title of this new documentary immediately implies a film that would rock the boat in the topic of racism. It also implies an era when the ’n’ word was widely used before deemed inappropriate. The opening credits are done in black and white to emphasize the film’s seriousness.

I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, by Raoul Peck attempts to reveal that the ‘negro’ thought understood by most Americans is in fact a stereotyped misunderstood one The doc is based on the unfinished book by James Baldwin (narrated by Samuel L.Jackson) and looks at the impressions made by 3 murdered negroes – Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. The three black men were killed roughly three years apart. As informed by the voiceover, these are three different men, each of whom have done so much for the people who have betrayed them.

The premise of the film is to tell the history of the black men as seen from the eyes of Medgar, Malcolm and Martin Luther as purported by a book that is to be written by James Baldwin. The book never got past 30 pages, due to Baldwin’s death. The film illustrates what happened and which truths have been revealed. The film gives the feel that director Peck wants his film to be as controversial as possible, hopefully to stir discussion on the topic of racism.

Peck spends screen time mourning the deaths of the three – with voiceover relating the details. He also mentions through Baldwin, that the Americans do not know what to do with the black population while the ‘nigger’ has never been happy in his place, just trying to survive in America. John Wayne and George Washington were the typical white men as perceived by a black person. Often he sees the piles of black men pile up. When the black stands up, he attacks the power structure of the entire world.

The film offers many arguments illustrated with many archive stills. The most interesting revelation of the film is the argument between King and Malcolm X – showing the two different approaches of dealing with black racism. The doc also includes rare clips of ‘negro’ old movies (WAY OUT, A RAISIN IN THE SUN, THE DEFIANT ONES, all with Sidney Poitier who appears in all the controversial movies) which were acceptable then but considered unacceptable now. Also shown are unforgettable scenes like one on on a bus with the segregation of black and white seating at the back and front of the bus respectively.

The film ends up successfully criticizing America from the black man’s point of view. It also riles up emotions of the black man with appropriate examples given. The film ends with the footage of the Rodney King beaten by white police – still a very disturbing scene to watch.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year (with long line-ups), garnering praises together with other racial-themed films like MOONLIGHT, LOVING and A UNITED KINGDOM. The film has been nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNUYdgIyaPM

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Film Review: LOGAN (USA 2017) ***

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logan.jpgDirector: James Mangold
Writers: Michael Green (screenplay), Scott Frank (screenplay)
Stars: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen

Review by Gilbert Seah

 
For those unfamiliar with the Marvel comic universe – LOGAN is the name of the Wolverine mutant in the X-MEN series. He has been played by actor Hugh Jackson in the past as well as in this latest edition, which is supposed to be his last. To put everyone in line with the Wolverine Universe, LOGAN is intended to be the tenth installment in the X-Men film series, as well as the third and final Wolverine solo film following X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and The Wolverine (2013).

Director James Mangold has made a slew of movies, but I fir
st noticed his film COP LAND which dealt with an ageing sheriff played by Sylvester Stallone, forced out of his complacency to do what is right. The premise of LOGAN is quite the same. Wolverine (Jackman) just wants to be left alone – drinking and driving his car for hire, until he encounters mutants running away from a government control experiment gone haywire.

The setting of the story is the near future with Wolverine. dealing with his age and ailment. His abilities are not what they once were”. So, a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X aka Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) with an albino mutant called Caliban (Steven Mercahnt) in a hideout on the Mexican border. (Caliban is named after Prospero’s slave, the ugly monster of the island he is shipwrecked in, in Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST). His attempts to hide from the world and his legacy, however, are up-ended when a young mutant, Laura (Dane Keen) arrives, being pursued by dark force. The first fight arrives a late 45 minutes into the film.

As in the Marvel action films, the fight scenes have to be awesome. The ones here meet the standard, being violent enough with head rolling off and sharp blade slicing up bodies. The editing is quick, but the scenes held long enough for the audience to figure out what is happening.

The script, partly written by Mangold together with Scott Frank and Michael Green, shows occasional bouts of brilliance. At one point in the film, Logan discovers X-MEN comic books in Aurora’s bag. Reading them, he finds that the Eden place that they are going to is described in the comic book as well as certain past events. The film here takes an eerie look, with a chilly feel similar to what could be felt in David Lynch’s MULHOLLAND DRIVE. The story also pays a clever nod to the classic western SHANE that appears on the television. Logan, Charles and Laura on their journey to find Eden, encounter a family, just as the stranger SHANE does in the film, and their encounter affects the destiny of the family who like the movie SHANE, is being hustled out of the land by mercenary gunmen. The script does not shy away from senseless killings, which is a good thing. A lot of innocent people die in this movie.

LOGAN costs a whopping 127 million to make. It is a handsomely mounted production with impressive special effects and great fight choreography. It should make is money back based on the fact that the film is quite good. Only thing is that much publicity is required to let the world be aware that this is actually another X-MEN movie despite the words “X-MEN” missing from the innocently chosen title.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Div0iP65aZo

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Film Review: FIST FIGHT

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fist_fight.jpgDirector: Richie Keen
Writers: Van Robichaux (screenplay), Evan Susser (screenplay)
Stars: Ice Cube, Charlie Day, Tracy Morgan

Review by Gilbert Seah

As the title suggests, the climax and the soul purpose of the film is the FIST FIGHT that will happen at three o’clock after school at the school parking lot between the film’s two lead characters.

This is a pretty thin premise for a full length feature, so a running time of 90 minutes is not surprising. The goal of the script is to keep the audience attentive for the rest of the movie before the FIST FIGHT.

The beginning of the film sets up the incidents leading to the provocation of the challenge of the fight. This takes 15 minutes or so. It all boils down to a silly excuse of one teacher, Andy Campbell (Charles Day) telling on his fellow teacher, Ron Strickland (Ice Cube) as one of the two will be fired by the principal (Dean Norris).
Strickland challenges him to a fight after school in the parking lot. The news goes viral, in this modern day and age. The actual fight also takes a full 15 minutes. To director Keen’s credit, the fight choreography is well executed with a solid blend of excitement and hilarity.

The script by by Van Robichaux and Evan Susser introduces an assortment of weird characters to the comedy mayhem. Some work and some don’t. Miss Monet (played by Christina Hendricks, who has been voted before as America’s sexiest woman), the sexy drama teacher who has the hots for Strickland is one that works. She brings spice and unpredictability to the proceedings and her gait and mannerisms are priceless. Jillian Bell as the meth taking Councelor Holly who is constantly on the look-out for sex with her students is also funny.The principal’s (Dean Norris) role could have been funnier. A lesson could be taken from another adult school comedy STRANGERS WITH CANDY’s principal, who is the funniest bumbling idiot ever.

The film takes a while to land on its feet. Charles Day, playing the protagonist Andy Campbell is all over the place, partly due to the script. For the audience to root for him, he is given too many ‘vices’ for his character to be liked. For example, he is deemed a coward and snitch. To escape the fight, he plans to plant drugs on Strickland.

Ice Cube, has prove his mettle in comedy in the past, particularly in the JUMP STREET movies, and proves himself a better lead than Day.

It is hard to figure the film’s target audience. The language is quite foul with lots of swearing and references to sex and drug use. I am assuming the filmmakers take their audience to be partying teens in or just out of the school system. As one characters says in the film, “The best place to buy drugs is in an American high school.” School kids know more than adults give them credit for.

As the saying goes, if one does not have ones hopes up too high, one will not end up disappointed. I chose the screening of FIST FIGHT over A GREAT WALL as the last thing I would want to see is a pretentious movie about a glorified white man in China directed by Zhang Yimou who has turned exciting martial-art movies into boring pretty pictures (HERO). At least, FIST FIGHT is unpretentious. Crass though it may be, I got what is expected – silly, raunchy and adulterated entertainment.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aIzXYo6VCE

_________

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Film Review: A UNITED KINGDOM (UK 2016) ***1/2

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a_united_kingdom.jpgDirector: Amma Asante
Writer: Guy Hibbert (screenplay)
Stars: David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, Jack Davenport

Review by Gilbert Seah

Director Amma Asante follows up her successful British period piece BELLE with another of the same, but this time pitting Britain against Africa.

A UNITED KINDOM begins humbly as a love story between two young lovers who first meet in 1947 in a jazz club. The trouble is that one is coloured and the other white. The coloured one happens to be a prince, first in line to the throne of Bechuanaland (today’s Botswana). He keeps this from her and so does director Asante of the film’s main plot. This is the biopic of Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo), the former African royal who courted controversy with his interracial marriage to Englishwoman Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike) and later led his nation to independence from the British Empire as the first president of Botswana.
One trouble about scripts of period films is that the writers often forget that certain words or common phrases were never used in the past. An example is the word mother f***er, which cannot be used say, in a film set in the 70’s. In the case of Guy Hibbert’s script, an address in Parliament had the speaker use the phrase, ‘most importantly’ a term which was never used before the year 2000.

The 50’s atmosphere of Victorian London and the village atmosphere of African Bechuanaland are both beautifully created and shot by cinematography Sam McCurdy. London is often shot in grey while Bechuanaland in bright colours. There are also gorgeous shots of galloping giraffes and deer on the Botswana plains as seen from an airplane.

At one point in the film, I was wondering (and I am sure many in the audience would as well) what is so special about Khama, the prince – why is he so needed and what he can do to provide his people with a better life. The answer to this question is revealed – to Hibbert’s credit in Khama’s well-written and delivered crowd rousing speech the reason he should remain in line to the throne and how his vision is for Bechuanaland is to be the first to end black/white segregation in Africa.

The film is aided by the impressive performances of its two leads David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike, bringing to life one of the great forbidden romances of the 20th century. Oyelowo has proven his acting mettle as Martin Luther King Jr. in SELMA and in A UNITED KINGDOM, he delivers a royal performance fit for a King.

Director Asant and scriptwriter Hibbert are careful in building up the film’s momentum. The film also rallies the audience’s anger at Britain’s injustice done against them both and against Bechuanaland. Though the film is clearly anti-British, the anti-British feel is lightened by the fact that the British public eventually supported Khama.

A UNITED KINGDOM ends up a satisfying biopic turned political drama. A more ambitious project for director Asante than BELLE, this film proves her successful and ready for another super period film.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX5vI4osR50

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Film Review: DANCER (UK/Russia/Ukraine/USA 2106) ****

festreviews 2017 movies, movie, Movie Review, Uncategorized , , , ,

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival: http://www.wildsound.ca

dancer.jpgDirector: Steven Cantor
Stars: Jade Hale-Christofi, Sergei Polunin

Review by Gilbert Seah

 In the opening scene of DANCER, 22-year old Sergei Polunin, acclaimed as ‘the most naturally gifted male ballet dancer of his generation’ downs a test tube of liquid and says that it gives him so much energy that he does not remember the performance. DANCER tells the story of the bad boy of ballet, the now 37-year old Sergei Polunin who astounded the world with his outrageous antics. But though the film starts off this way, director Cantor shows the reasons and circumstances leading to this state of affairs eventually revealing that Polunin is not really such a bad boy after all. Though this undermines the dramatization of Cantor’s project, DANCER is still a captivating documentary that also reveals the insides of the ballet world – one that is unknown to most people.

DANCER tells the life story of Sergei from a boy at the age of 6 to the present as a young man at the age of 37. As Sergei loved to film, director Cantor is fortunate to have lots of archive footage of the dancer, showing him progress as a talent from age 6 to 8 to 10 to 12 to 13 and so on. It is fascinating to see the boy, pushed on by his parents leaving him as a teen alone in a new world at the Royal Academy of Ballet in London. He could not speak a word of English. Sergei does now, obviously, and with a London accent.

It is in London hat the bad boys antics began to show. Sergei misses his rehearsals and eventually quits the Royal Ballet. Soon, no other British company would touch the man, knowing his reputation. Sergei moves back to Russia and drops from star to TV personality. But a video “Take me to Chruch” that he worked with David LaChapelle turned viral with 15 million viewers making Sergei Polunin a household name. The film includes the famous video, though many, including myself had already seen it. Still, it is good to watch again, Sergei’s incredible performance.

“The need for excellence of each performance” is the reason given for Sergei’s antics. He wants his freedom and is restricted by his talent s well as what his company wants him to do. But the film show that it is his parents’ divorce that broke him. There is no purpose in excelling after this point.

Noticeably missing in this documentary is Sergei’s personal life. No mention is there anywhere of a girlfriend (or boyfriend for that matter). Surely, a man with such a good physique and gorgeous looks would have a healthy sex life.

To Canter’s credit, he has assembled a good variety of talking heads. The best insight to Sergei’s personality is provided by his Royal Ballet Academy friends. One says: “Many do not realize that Sergei is only 22 years old.” A moving and realistic segment has Sergei filmed dancing naked in the snow, showing him acting as a teen.

DANCER, one of the best documentaries released so far this year is a film for everyone, besides those interested in dance. The film shows life, mistakes made and mistakes corrected as it logs Sergei’s rise to stardom, his fall and rise again. The message of the film can be learnt in observing the life of this very gifted artist.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ZNodT9kcM

_________

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month:http://www.wildsoundfestival.com