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gilbert seah

TIFF Cinematheque Presents: INDEPENDENT WOMEN: Films of Ida Lupino

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ida lupino.jpg

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Film Review: THE DARK TOWER (USA 2017) ***

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the dark tower.jpgThe last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain, has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter O’Dim, also known as the Man in Black, determined to prevent him from toppling the Dark Tower, which holds the universe together. With the fate of the worlds at stake, good and evil will collide in the ultimate battle as only Roland can defend the Tower from the Man in Black.

Director: Nikolaj Arcel
Writers: Akiva Goldsman (screenplay), Jeff Pinkner (screenplay)
Stars: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor

Review by Gilbert Seah

 The film’s story from ‘imdb’ goes this way: The last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain, has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter O’Dim, also known as the Man in Black, determined to prevent him from toppling the Dark Tower, which holds the universe together. With the fate of the worlds at stake, good and evil will collide in the ultimate battle as only Roland can defend the Tower from the Man in Black.

The film has been reported to have gone through $6 million in reshoots and production troubles. Though based on 8 volumes of a series by author Stephen king, the story sounds absolutely terrible. But surprisingly the film is not all that bad.

The main difference is the introduction of Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor), an 11-year-old adventure seeker who discovers clues about another dimension called Mid-World. The story now become more credible, because the audience can identify with a human being or a boy at that. No one believes him, least of all his mother and her new husband who have arranged for him to attend a psychological retreat. His dreams on being chased by ‘skin’ people’ are realized when the skin people (recognized by him) show up at his home to take him to the retreat, This results in an exciting chase on the rooftops. Upon following the mystery, he is spirited away to Mid-World where he encounters a Gunslinger, Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), who is on a quest to reach the “Dark Tower” that resides in End-World and reach the nexus point between time and space that he hopes will save all existence from extinction. But with various monsters and a vicious sorcerer named Walter o’Dim (Matthew McConaughey), the Man in Black hot on their trail, the unlikely duo find that their quest may be difficult to complete.

The film deserves to be commended for its continuity. When Jake throws his shoe through the portal as a test, his shoe is shown after he enters it. He is also shown in need for water and food after entering the new land.

McConaughey makes a creepy and evil enough villain without having to overdo it. While Elba seems wooden in his role, it is sort of expected for a gunslinger not to emit any emotions. Taylor as the kid is an excellent find (though his British accent is detectable in some parts), putting the much needed human feeling into the film.

The film is noticeable violent down to details like chards of glass pulled out from a hand and realities like the death of close ones. The special effects are primarily used for the action sequences though the film’s most interesting parts are the parts on earth involving Jake in school and at home.

The film successfully combines several genres like horror, sci-fi, western and fantasy.

The ultimate question is how well the film does at the box-office as THE DARK TOWER is expected to be one of many films to come. At a production cost of $60 million, which is modest in comparison to futuristic films, THE DARK TOWER should at least make a decent profit.

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

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
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Film Review: DETROIT (USA 2017) ****

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detroit.jpgAmidst the chaos of the Detroit Rebellion, with the city under curfew and as the Michigan National Guard patrolled the streets, three young African American men were murdered at the Algiers Motel.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Writer: Mark Boal
Stars: John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, Algee Smith

Kathryn Bigelow also known as that rare female action director has never failed to impress. Her breakout movie NEAR DARK was a genre bending vampire western only because she could not get funds to make a western which was the reason vampires were brought in. She beat her ex-husband James Cameron for the Oscar for Best Picture THE HURT LOCKER over AVATAR and many of her box-office flops (BLUE STEEL, STRANGE DAYS) have been hailed as minor classics. Now, audiences will see Bigelow, a white female make an angry pro- black riot movie.

DETROIT is a period police crime drama based on the Algiers Motel incident during Detroit’s 1967 12th Street Riot. The film was released to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the event. The film begins with a brief history of riots as depicted by drawings before settling on the raiding of an after hours booze can, where the Blacks were arrested and hustled into police vans in the open. Director Bigelow convinces that these angry incidents are sufficient to incite the riots that lasted quite the few days including the incident at the Algiers Motel.

The film benefits from very strong performances, the best of these from 24-year old white British actor Will Poulter. Poulter who has proven his acting mettle in films like SON OF RAMBOW, THE REVENANT and THE MAZE RUNNER is outstanding as the racist angry cop that is guaranteed to anger audiences. John Boyega as the security guard is equally effective and Anthony Mackie is convincing as the soldier caught in the crossfire.

The end credits are quick to inform that the incidents depicted in the film are concocted and are of course, not fully true. But what an angry story writer Mark Boal has given his audiences. And masterfully executed by Bigelow, as if an African American directed the entire project.

Though good a movie as DETROIT is, some African Americans will complain that this film was made by a white or that the two lead actors John Boyega and Will Poulter are British. The same went with the straight rendering of the gay story PHILADELPHIA with a straight director and straight actors. Audiences should be just glad that these stories that need be told are told, no matter who tells them. But Smith’s character of Larry who refuses to sing in his group, believing that he should provide music for white folk to dance is not totally convincing. One flaw that does stand out is the cardboard (both black and white characters), either all bad or all good.

Still , Bigelow achieves her aim in creating one angry and absorbing movie, out of incidents based on true events. She must be commended for eliciting great performances from all her cast including the relative unknowns (particularly the two white girls beaten up at the Motel) s well as the effective creation of the60’s era complete with music by James Newton Howard.

DETROIT is the third successful collaboration between Bigelow and Mark Boal who also wrote and produced the film, after THE HURT LOCKER and ZERO DARK THIRTY. More to come from these two, hopefully.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVCk0YVm3ao

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
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Film Review: BRIGSBY BEAR (USA 2017)

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

BRIGSBY BEARAfter being freed from the kidnappers he thought were his parents, a man sets out to make a movie of the only TV show he has ever known.

Director: Dave McCary
Writers: Kevin Costello, Kyle Mooney
Stars: Mark Hamill, Claire Danes, Kyle Mooney

Review by Gilbert Seah

Who is BRIGSBY BEAR? The name indicated a TV cartoon show for kids. That is exactly what Brigsby Bear is, but why has no one heard of this bear? The answer is that Brigsby Bear is a children’s show character totally concocted and made by kidnapper parents to keep the child occupied.

When the film opens, we seen the now adult still kidnapped James Pope (Kyle Mooney) watching an episode of Brigsby Bear on television through VCR cassette tapes. James is shown having dinner with his parents, Ted (STAR WARS’ Mark Hamill) and April (Jane Adams) who practice odd rituals. It is soon revealed that James Pope was kidnapped from a hospital as a baby and since childhood all the way to adulthood has known nothing about the world except Brigsby Bear, a children’s show character fabricated by his kidnapper parents. One day, James is rescued and brought out into the real world where he learns that Brigsby Bear is not a real children’s show. Confused and baffled by these turn of events, James sets out to make a Brigsby Bear movie to show the world what he has learned.

The main flaw of the film is the film’s credibility. The credibility factor is sacrificed for the film’s charm. Director McCary goes all out to show that there is no badness in every character of his story. The kidnappers are revealed to be good hearted people whose only sin is wanting to love their own child. They even admit to knowing their abduction of James being wrong, yet they are desperate to love. For all the trouble that James creates in the environment around him, everyone is forgiving from his family (his sister initially shown as an independent no-nonsense sibling; his doting parents) to all his new friends. Everyone also aids James to make his Brigsby film. The title of his finished film, comically called “BRIGSBY BEAR, the film my friend help me make” tells the whole story.

It is difficult to figure out the intentions of BRIGSBY BEAR. Perhaps the message is that there is goodness in everyone, even if you have kidnapped a baby and kept it for your own for a full twenty years.

The most enjoyable bits of the film are the BRIGSBY BEAR episodes. The cartoon bear costume and his adventures saving the world from the evil Sunsnatcher are nothing short of hilarious – with lots of corniness thrown in for good measure. The special effects are crayon drawn but colourful enough.

BRIGSBY BEAR proves that corny can be funny! The good intentioned film over emphasizes the point of how good intentions triumphs over evil. The film ends up entertaining enough if one can stomach the over saccharine sweetness.

Small indie films like this one and previous successes like NAPOLEON DYNAMITE featuring geeky protagonists have a niche audience which somehow do reasonably well at the box-office. The well-intentioned BRIGSBY BEAR should do likewise.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFUvQi2TVOE

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
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Film Review: SUNDOWNERS

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

SUNDOWNERSIt’s not the destination wedding that matters, but the journey the hapless videographers have trying to capture it.

Director: Pavan Moondi
Writer: Pavan Moondi
Stars: Phil Hanley, Luke Lalonde, Tim Heidecker

Review by Gilbert Seah
 
SUNDOWNERS follows two young males Alex Hopper (Phil Hanley) and Justin Brown (Luke Lalonde) as they travel to a Mexican resort as videographers to shoot a wedding.

It is a case of everything that could possibly go wrong does, and in the worse possible way. Their trip is already doomed from the start when their boss gives them the incorrect flight information This is followed by incorrect hotel information. It does not help that Justin is recruited as Alex’s photographer and really knows nothing about the camera. When they finally meet members of the wedding family, they find more trouble afoot. The bridegroom has just lost his job and gone bankrupt, with the bride, who appears to be all over him, unaware f the situation. They meet the best man, who is of questionably character though appearing friendly enough. The father urns out gay and hits upon Alex. All the high jinx sounds ripe for crazy and laugh-out loud humour but surprisingly the film is only mildly funny.

For a film with a cast of stand-ups, the laughs are surprisingly few and far between. The film plays like an uncomfortable comedy where the comedy is supposed to come from the misfortunes of the lead characters. A similar example is THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS where a couple lands in New York City and everything goes wrong. Incident after incident work against the couple but as the audience wants the couple to do well, it is hard to laugh at the mishaps. The same goes for the two landing in Mexico where one thing after another do not go as planned.

If one observes the dialogue at many points in the movie, many of the lines can be put together in a stand-up comedy routine. But somehow put in the situation of the film’s plot, they do not come across as funny at all. This is surprising considering that many of the cast and director are real life standup comics. They should be aware of how critical timing is. An example is the horror comedy GET OUT by a director who is a stand up comic. GET OUT was unexpectedly funny, primarily out of timing and camera set ups.

The film benefits from the two lead actors Luke Lalonde and Phil Hanley. They are spirited, good looking, likeable and emit good chemistry. They appear to be people fun to be with which means audiences feel comfortable with their characters.

The film is set in Mexico. The film’s hotel setting looks like any one of the all-inclusive resorts that I have visited in Mexico. But the credits indicate the film being shot in Columbia.

Moondi gives the impression that he is out to get cheap laughs at every opportunity. An example is evident in the scene where the couple rides a cab and the camera focus on a row of bobbing dog heads laid out on the dashboard. Another has them sitting on the steps of a hotel waiting fro a cab when Mexicans walk behind them laughing as if the stand ups are provided by laughter to get the humour going.

SUNDOWNERS should and could have been funnier!

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
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Film Review: ATOMIC BLONDE (USA 2017) ***

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

atomic blonde.jpgAn undercover MI6 agent is sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and recover a missing list of double agents.

Director: David Leitch
Writers: Kurt Johnstad (screenplay), Antony Johnston (based on the Oni Press graphic novel series “The Coldest City” written by)
Stars: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman

Review by Gilbert Seah

 Advertised as a female James Bond film with Charlize Theron as a top ass-kicking M16 spy, ATOMIC BLONDE tries its best to assume a British setting though Theron and most of the cast speak with an unchanged American accent. Who really cares, as the film delivers senseless action with dazzling visual and choreographed fight scenes courtesy of director David Leitch in his first solo directorial debut, himself a stunt coordinator and stuntman for stars like Brad Pitt and Matt Damon.

The film is written by Kurt Johnstad, based on Antony Johnston and Sam Hart’s 2012 graphic novel The Coldest City, published by Oni Press. The film opens with a commentary of how the cold war has ended in 1989 flowing the collapse of the Berlin Wall and then goes on to say that the film is not about this subject. The film is about the cold war revolving the good guys, the British M16 and the Americans in this case trying to retrieve a list of double agents that if fallen into the wrong hands would…..It does not really matter as Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock says. The point is that top level female spy, Lorraine Broughton (Theron) has been assigned to aid fellow spy and wild card David Percival (James McAvoy) with this mission. As it turns out Percival has supposedly got the list from Spyglass, a Starsi agent (Eddie Marsan) and he is to be escorted out of Berlin. Not so easy, as every Russian and German spy is also out to get the list.

With the film setting in the 80’s, one can expect a solid 80’s soundtrack. And the film has a great one at that, and not surprising as the music is by Tyler Bates who has put together similar memorable soundtracks for films like GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 1 and 2 and the two John Wick Films. The song are also appropriately chosen to fit the plot for example with Depeche Mode’s ‘Behind the Wheel’ during the defection segment and Queen’s ‘Under Pressure’ at the film’s climax.

The film’s excellent cast includes McAvoy (SPLIT), always good in portraying crazies. Eddie Marsan who plays Spyglass steals the show with a dead serious performance amidst the over-the-top action. German veteran actress Barbara Sukowa has a cameo as the coroner who delivers a key line: “In Germany, we do not make little mistakes.”

The film’s best action sequence lasts a full 10 minutes as Lorraine fights off multiple attackers in ultra-violent hand-to-hand combat on a staircase while protecting Spyglass. If this is not enough, an exciting car chase follows right after where villains in cars appear out of nowhere to chse the two. Director Leitch dishes sexiness to the limit with same sex scenes between Lorraine and a French spy (Sofia Boutella).

The plot of ATOMIC BLONDE is quite difficult to follow and there is no use trying as the plot is pointless. The story’s twist in the end of who is the double agent makes little sense either. But cold war spy films in the 70’s were often difficult to follow. ATOMIC BLONDE delivers dazzling senseless action, that is the point of the film and that it succeeds.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI7HVnZlleo

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
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THE 2017 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL SEPT 7 -17, 2017

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

by Gilbert Seah
 
The 2017 version of TIFF will be held from the 7th to the 17th of September from Thursday to Sunday that will mark another 11 days of marathon film watching. The first press conference was held this morning (July 25th) with announcements of the first batch of films to be screened.

This site will provide you updates to the festival (so keep checking) as well as capsuled reviews of selected from the festival starting as early as three weeks before the festival actually begins. Capsule reviews will be provided as this reviewer watches the films up to the very last Sunday. This reviewer usually reviews around 80 films each year at TIFF.

Announced are 14 Galas and 33 Special Presentations, of which are 25 World Premieres, eight International Premieres, six North American Premieres and eight Canadian Premieres.
Festival-goers from around the world can anticipate a remarkable lineup of extraordinary stories, voices and cinematic visions from emerging talent and some of our favourite masters.

The announcements were made by TIFF CEO Piers Handling and TIFF Artistic Director Cameron Bailey. One of the key questions asked by the press concerned the travel ban from the U.S. They responded with the information that TIFF has special staff to deal with filmmakers and their travel arrangements with embassies and government bodies.

THE MOVIES:

GALAS 2017
Breathe Andy Serkis, United Kingdom
World Premiere

The Catcher Was A Spy Ben Lewin, USA
World Premiere

*Closing Night Film*
C’est la vie! Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano, France
World Premiere

Darkest Hour Joe Wright, United Kingdom
Canadian Premiere
Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool Paul McGuigan, United Kingdom
Canadian Premiere

Kings Deniz Gamze Ergüven, France/Belgium
World Premiere

Long Time Running Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, Canada
World Premiere

Mary Shelley Haifaa Al Mansour, Ireland/United Kingdom/Luxembourg/USA
World Premiere

The Mountain Between Us Hany Abu-Assad, USA
World Premiere

Mudbound Dee Rees, USA
International Premiere

Stronger David Gordon Green, USA
World Premiere

Untitled Bryan Cranston/Kevin Hart Film Neil Burger, USA
World Premiere

The Wife Björn Runge, United Kingdom/Sweden
World Premiere

Woman Walks Ahead Susanna White, USA
World Premiere

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS 2017

Battle of the Sexes Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton, USA
International Premiere

BPM (Beats Per Minute) Robin Campillo, France
North American Premiere

The Brawler Anurag Kashyap, India
World Premiere

The Breadwinner Nora Twomey, Canada/Ireland/Luxembourg
World Premiere

Call Me By Your Name Luca Guadagnino, Italy/France
Canadian Premiere

Catch the Wind Gaël Morel, France
International Premiere

The Children Act Richard Eyre, United Kingdom
World Premiere

The Current War Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, USA
World Premiere

Disobedience Sebastián Lelio, United Kingdom
World Premiere

Downsizing Alexander Payne, USA
Canadian Premiere

A Fantastic Woman Sebastián Lelio, Chile
Canadian Premiere

First They Killed My Father Angelina Jolie, Cambodia
Canadian Premiere

The Guardians Xavier Beauvois, France
World Premiere

Hostiles Scott Cooper, USA
International Premiere

The Hungry Bornila Chatterjee, India
World Premiere

I, Tonya Craig Gillespie, USA
World Premiere

*Special Presentations Opening Film*
Lady Bird Greta Gerwig, USA
International Premiere

mother! Darren Aronofsky, USA
North American Premiere

Novitiate Maggie Betts, USA
International Premiere

Omerta Hansal Mehta, India
World Premiere

Plonger Mélanie Laurent, France
World Premiere

The Price of Success Teddy Lussi-Modeste, France
International Premiere

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women Angela Robinson, USA
World Premiere

The Rider Chloé Zhao, USA
Canadian Premiere

A Season in France Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, France
World Premiere

The Shape of Water Guillermo del Toro, USA
Canadian Premiere

*Special Presentations Closing Film*
Sheikh Jackson Amr Salama, Egypt
World Premiere

The Square Ruben Östlund, Sweden
North American Premiere

Submergence Wim Wenders, France/Germany/Spain
World Premiere

Suburbicon George Clooney, USA
North American Premiere

Thelma Joachim Trier, Norway/Sweden/France/Denmark
International Premiere

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Martin McDonagh, USA
North American Premiere

Victoria and Abdul Stephen Frears, United Kingdom
North American Premiere

 

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
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FILM REVIEW: PHOENIX FORGOTTEN (USA 2017)

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

PHOENIX FORGOTTEN.jpg20 years after three teenagers disappeared in the wake of mysterious lights appearing above Phoenix, Arizona, unseen footage from that night has been discovered, chronicling the final hours of their fateful expedition.

Director: Justin Barber
Writers: T.S. Nowlin, Justin Barber
Stars: Florence Hartigan, Luke Spencer Roberts, Chelsea Lopez

Review by Gilbert Seah

PHOENIX FORGOTTEN arrives with the hype that it comes from not only the same producers as the blockbuster hits 300 and THE MARTIAN but also with Ridley Scott’s name attached to the producer credits. Of course this might not mean much, but at least one can be assured that at least the concept of the film must have been worth something.

Which it does, judging from the film’s opening scene that provides the film some promise. From the point of view of a home made video, the audience sees a jittery framework of footage of a family birthday party for young Sophie, bespectacled and looking all puzzled while everyone else talks to the camera.

The something weird occurs. The roof of the house is almost taken down by what seems to be low hovering UFO’s apparently caught on the video camera as well. Voiceover on the footage claims that this was the last time a picture was taken of the family all together. A good quirky start for a movie that then moves to the present time.

The film takes its cue from the spring of 1997 when several residents of Phoenix, Arizona claimed to have witnessed mysterious lights in the sky. This phenomenon, which became known as “The Phoenix Lights,” remains the most famous UFO sighting in American history.

The film’s premise continues that on July 23, 1997, three high school student filmmakers went missing while camping in the desert outside Phoenix. The purpose of their trip was to document their investigation into the Phoenix Lights. They were never seen again. Twenty years later, Sophie (Florence Hartigan), a documentary filmmaker and younger sibling of one of the missing, returns to Phoenix to delve into the their disappearances and the emotional trauma left on those that knew them. Sophie being a documentarist is the excuse of the found footage style for story telling, But it is hard to believe later on in the film, that the three are continuing their filming when they are running for dear life.

The problem of this movie is that one can guess that the three are going to be abducted and the found footage would indicate that. This results in a very dull middle section of the film.

The found footage horror sci-fi flick has the same look and feel as THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and inevitably PHOENIX FORGOTTEN will be compared to that film.

For one the found footage technique has been used already not once too often and always in this kind of low budget film. So, the novelty is gone and director Barber might as well do this horror story in the conventional way. No real advantage can be seen in having the film done in the found footage way, except to give the audience a sense of false authenticity of the proceedings.

PHOENIX FORGOTTEN is now available on iTunes! It will hit VOD and DVD/Blu-Ray on August 1st. Clearly not the best film of the year but it is available quite cheap for all that it is worth.

Trailer: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/15d5b8398300bde2?projector=1

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

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Film Review: IN THE CORNER OF THE WORLD (Japan 2016) ****

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

IN THE CORNER OF THE WORLD.jpgSet in Hiroshima during World War II, an eighteen-year-old girl gets married and now has to prepare food for her family despite the rationing and lack of supplies.

Director: Sunao Katabuchi
Writers: Sunao Katabuchi, Fumiyo Kono (manga) |
Stars: Non, Megumi Han, Yoshimasa Hosoya
Review by Gilbert Seah

 This animated feature from studio MAPPA is a rare treat. It is seldom that North Americans get to see a Japanese anime that is not violent manga and not from Studio Ghibli. That is not to say that Studio Ghibli stuff is bad but variety is the spice of life as they say. Based on the award-winning Japanese manga by Fumiyo Kouno, IN THE CORNER OF THE WORLD is written and directed by Sunao Katabuchi and produced by GENCO and Japanese animation studio MAPPA.

Bolstered by emotionally resonant storytelling, as is evident from the very first frame and exquisite hand-drawn animation, this acclaimed animated feature recently won the coveted Animation of the Year award at this year’s 40th Japan Academy and the Jury Prize at ANNECY 2017.

Director Katabuchi opens his tale in 1933 setting the stage for his coming-of-age story of a girl called Suzu affected by the War setting. The subject is said to be a daydreamer, which gives the film chance for fantasy and imagination.

Though the characters do not move as fluidly as in American animation, the background of many segments look something out of a water colour paining – especially the buildings, rocks, forests and mountains.

The film centres of Suzu, first seen as a little girl in school who loves to draw. The title of the film refers to place where Suzu first meets her further husband. The marriage is an arranged one and she moves from Hiroshima to Kure to live with her husband and his family. She does the chores but much more once World War II begins. Suzu experiences the horrors of World War II including the dropping of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

World War II is seen from the view of Suzu and her family and husband’s family. There are no combat scenes but the effects of the war are still as devastating. Families are always in danger from bombings and the daily routines involve constant running to the bomb shelters. Suzu loses her niece and a part of her body due to one of the bombings and director Katabichi does not shy away from showing the horrors of war. The dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima where Suzu’s family lives also occurs during the film’s climax. Katabuchi does not judge the Americans for the catastrophe neither does he mention their collaboration with Germany.

An arranged marriage is always full of ‘ifs’. The one here, laid out bare for Suzu’s point of view is similarly one full of both fear and anticipation. Suzu leaves her home she is used to to live with her new husband and his family. The wedding is a small one with lots of unfamiliarities. But Suzu is finally comforted when her husband eventually shows her affection on the wedding night – in the film’s most enchanting sequences.

IN THE CORNER OF THE WORLD ends up an empowering coming-of-age tale set against the backdrop of World War II, while parading the resilience and triumph of the human spirit.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8FIdhofagA

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

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Film Review: OUTRAGE (USA 1950) ***

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outrage.jpgA young woman who has just become engaged has her life completely shattered when she is raped while on her way home from work.

Director: Ida Lupino
Writers: Collier Young (written for the screen by), Malvin Wald (written for the screen by)
Stars: Mala Powers, Tod Andrews, Robert Clarke

 Though dated as the film may seem, OUTRAGE was controversial at the time of release being only the second film dealing with the subject of rape – thigh the word was never used and the rape implied and never spoken of in detail. The first film was JOHNNY BELINDA that earned Jane Wyman the Best Actress Oscar.

OUTRAGE deals with a single young lady, Ann (Mala Powers) about to be married. But when she is raped one night by a man with a scar on his neck, Anne leaves home, totally traumatized and unable to function properly in a social setting. She meets a sympathetic Rev. Bruce Ferguson (Tod Andrews) who helps her recover. At a party, she almost kills a man who make advances towards her, she imagining him to be her attacker.

Lupino’s film clearly has a strong feminine presence as observed in many scenes, the story and characters. Ann’s office is made up of a larger female than male staff. The males often perform more tedious tasks compared to the females, perhaps Lupino’s preferred take on an alternative universe. For example, Ann’s male colleague neighbour is given the arduous monotonous job of stamping a pile of pages, one after another non-stop. Ann’s father is a Geometry teacher, bogged down by a boring teaching job teaching what is widely well known as a boring subject – Mathematics, and down to an even more boring branch of it, Geometry. Ann’s mother is the more sympathetic one and shown to be the stronger of the two parents n terms of making in impact on Ann’s happiness.

Lupino, who co-wrote the script with two other writers is a simple enough story that traces the traumatic effects of a night assault on an innocent young woman, how her life is affected by it, and how she slowly but finally recovers with the help of kind human beings. No mention of the details of the assault are given, the nastiness just put aside, leaving the audience to imagine the worst, as observed by Ann’s after-attack behaviour.

Lupino builds up suspense and audience anticipation whenever she can. The scar of the coffee seller is shown on camera close-up early in the film, implying the man to be of questionable character. He is later revealed to be Ann’s attacker. Ann agrees to work late one night, which prompts the audience to fear for her.
Ann’s after assault behaviour is drastically different undergoing changes such as visions of her attacker, denial of her engagement and paranoia that everyone around her is looking at her and judging her. This is drastic behavioural change that almost results in Ann killing a man at a party who has made advances towards her. Lupino shows the aftermath of a sexual assault in all its fury and unpleasantness.

OUTRAGE ends with the attacker getting caught as informed casually to Anne, though nothing is shown of the incident.

OUTRAGE is an ok film, solid for its time, but a bit dated considering how films have progressed since with censorship now relaxed.

OUTRAGE will be screened on August 24th at the Bell Lightbox in its 35mm archive print as part of the TIFF Cinematheque Retrospective on Ida Lupino entitled INDEPENDENT WOMEN that runs from August 4, 2017. Watch for the Lupino article that will include capsule reviews of selected films from this retrospective.

Film Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBzfd0yqFY4

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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