Monday 18 March 2024

Wilfred Buck - WORLD PREMIERE review

 

World Premiere scheduled for 18th March at the CPH:DOX Copenhagen International Documentary

Written and directed by Lisa Jackson, known for her ground-breaking cross-genre work, Wilfred Buck is a hybrid feature documentary that follows the extraordinary life story of the eponymous charismatic and irreverent Cree Elder, who overcame a harrowing history of displacement, racism and addiction by reclaiming ancestral star knowledge and ceremony.

The film serves as a rich mix of nostalgia and heritage as we navigate the indigenous communities across the American north. Cree is seen as a respected gentleman, who espouses a wealth of his knowledge upon those who wish to learn with a smile on his face and his effusive spirit radiating to all who encounter him.

Adapted from his freewheeling memoir I Have Lived Four Lives, a beat poet’s insider view of colonization that took Buck from the land to the streets to the stars, the film blends verité, archive and stylized re-enactments to reveal what it means to heal and reconnect with Indigenous knowledge that is as relevant today as ever.

The technique utilised is a mixture of documentary footage but also the knitting of library footage from the archives of Native Americans through televisual history to tell the stories Cree spoke of in his memoir. He speaks how a large group of people so built upon a foundation of community are now dispersed across the states with sun dances and rituals taking place all over the country.

Cree travels the country and we follow him as he drives the highways, he is an expressive talker but not a loud one. He talks with authority and assuredness combined with a passion and a somewhat yearning for what life could have been; yet this seeing new generations of people growing up gives him a push to improve their lives and learn from his mistakes.

You always find with documentaries or ask yourself a question as to why is this being produced, what lesson can be learnt from this viewing experience. The notion or hypothesis should be that the layman or blank canvas of a viewer can witness a story being told and you come out with a greater understanding of the subject at hand with a balanced argument. Wilfred Buck has had to overcome struggles and obstacles from societal circumstances which affected his own mind and being; yet those circumstances are not the reason he finds himself in despair, he recognises his own failings and being complicit in hitting rock bottom.

Beautiful camerawork around meteorites and rock formation along with space constellations that firmly the establishment and belief that we are all stars and in one with the universe. This melts into the work Buck does giving planetary lectures and inspiration through a greater understanding of our place in the universe.

Wilfred Buck premieres at the CPH:DOX festival on Monday 18th March

My thanks to AR Publicity for the review opportunity.

Thursday 14 March 2024

On the Run - Max Luther

 


Second book of Alex Drayce released 14th March by Canelo

Set in Las Vegas, Alex Drayce is a private bodyguard looking after wealthy businessmen under threat of assassination.

He is given the opportunity for quick cash aiding Carlos Garcia with finding his daughter. Yet what is meant to be a simple task spirals out of control.

Soon Alex is on the run with a bloodthirsty gang and the Las Vegas police force after him.

A rip-roaring thriller that does not ease up on pace and narrative. Graphic in detail and with a lot of language but necessary to the plot, not entirely to my liking personally speaking.

Read in a few sittings and easy to delve back into now and then.

Canelo granted me access to this book on NetGalley for my review.



Monday 4 March 2024

Bridges to Burn - Marion Todd

 


Brand new thriller in continuing series by Scottish author Marion Todd

Todd has crafted a thrilling series of novels based around her hometown residency of St. Andrews, based around the central character of DI Clare Mackay, who with her trusted team of police officers solve the crimes that fall on their tranquil doorsteps month-to-month.

Embracing the ethos of write what you know by placing the action in her hometown, Todd mixes a wealth of local knowledge with meticulous police research and a smidgen of admiration for Midsomer Murders. After eight books surely people should stay away from this town yet we as a reader keep returning for more and more of the same.

This book revolves around quite sensitive content as it starts with the suicide of a young female teenager and then the murder of a former local councilman who may or may not have taken bribes when in the position of local authority to get planning permission approved. 

As always two inextricably linked cases are somehow entwinned and Mackay must navigate the two cases along with a DCI who she does not get along with and a very green Family Liaison Officer who she rubs up the wrong way.

This reader has been with Todd every step of the way and has thoroughly enjoyed the growth of not only Mackay as a character but Todd as an assured plotter of narrative. Her strength is remaining in control of the multiple plates she has spinning, at the start of the book the sensitive nature of the teenage suicide is linked to porn websites which is a bit unsettling but then the councilman's murder helps crank up the tension and narrative thrust. 

Any worries that was being endured where thrust asunder with the breakneck pace of the final quarter of the book being both rip-roaring and thoroughly enjoyable. 

Another pleasing aspect of this book was the matriarchal role Mackay has slowly grown into since her debut in See Them Run in 2019. In five years a lot can happen yet the responsibility you have to those you work with remains and the relationship Mackay has with Chris on the eve of his wedding is such a well-handled notion of friendship and respect.

She also has the confidence to bring up old cases and returning periphery characters such as the journalist from In Plain Sight  (2020) which feels neither nostalgic or ill-judged; this is a writer at the top of her powers.

For fans old and new, this is a book I shall be recommending to crime readers. As I have previously stated Ms. Todd deserves a wider audience for her books. 

BRIDGES TO BURN is out on 7th March from Canelo Crime, whom I thank for the approval on NetGalley for.

Thursday 29 February 2024

Footballhead - Overthinking Everything


New album from Chicago five piece via Tiny Engines

Hailing from Chicago and helmed by singer/songwriter Ryan Nolen, they are a band that sound like the child of those emo renowned bands Blink 182 and Jimmy Eat World. Those bands while loud and brash, as they grew into maturity became accomplished composers of songs that spoke to the masses as well as the marginalised from which their popularity flourished.

Overthinking Everything is that same sort of beginnings of something, a band with a strong unified sound that would not be out of place on the MTV cycle in the late 1990s before the Y2K scare crippled us. 

Short bursts of adrenaline and energy abound from opener 'Rug' and follow up 'Snowball'. The message is clear these are guys who dream of days by the beach but driving along them rather than sunbathing they may well be cruising. 




As with all young male adults these are people searching for meaning, but most importantly using the conduit of guitar rock music to be heard. Nolen grew up in Western Chicago suburbs before relocating to Palm Springs, California in his teen years. He is assisted by Adam Siska, Liam Burns, snow ellet and Robbie Kuntz to make the sound bigger.

The thing to remember about Blink's music is that they were a pop band with earworm hooks and riffs coupled with an unquenchable desire to succeed, Nolen shares some of that freedom and enthusiasm on this short running half hour album that contains a lucky thirteen nuggets.

Full of bombast and ambition, small tales of struggles and hopes, this feels like the start of the journey and a band to watch out for on the festival circuit this summer where the word of mouth will follow.

Overthinking Everything is out from Tiny Engines on Friday 1st March

Monday 26 February 2024

Memory - Film Review

Directed by Michel Franco, Memory is a searing film giving insight into two souls who have had a huge array of trauma amongst their lives and are dealing day-to-day with the ramifications of the actions by others.

At the start of the film, we first encounter Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) at an AA meeting. She is a recovering alcoholic of 13 years and she has brought her daughter to the meeting for the first time, at the meeting Sylvia is being served platitudes from other people recovering from crippling addiction.

Shortly after, she attends a high school reunion with her sister, Olivia (Merritt Weaver). Feeling uncomfortable and wanting to go home, she heads for the elevated train where she is followed by Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) who then spends the night outside her home. The next morning Sylvia phones her support sponsor to pick him up.

A few days later they make contact and Saul does not remember following Sylvia home due to his short term memory problems relating to addiction. Saul requires day to day care while his brother and family work, Sylvia is a nurse at an adult day care facility and is asked by Saul's family to look after him.

From there, a kinship between the two and the comfort they feel in each other's company blossoms into an intimate relationship as time passes. Sylvia has long felt unsafe around men, this is due to being abused by her father from a young age, she resents her mother for supporting the father's behaviour and this led to Sylvia's alcoholic dependency.

Therein, lies part of the problem with the film, while it has two stellar lead performances from an outstanding Sarsgaard and always excellent Chastain who elicits the right level of vulnerability; the film does not hold your attention in terms of its low-key production design and overall bleak cinematography. 

Case in point the big scene where Sylvia’s mum - the frightening Jessica Harper - and family confront her in Olivia’s home, the scene is blocked quite awkwardly with Mum’s back to the camera, like a confrontation in a theatre production it feels like the scene was shot hastily and without much care or perhaps the fractured haphazard approach is reflective of the breaking of memory amongst the lead characters.

The milieu and mise-en-scene displayed is very middle of the road and grey from the costumes of the characters, to the non-descript homes they live in, this is a New York set film but apart from key points like the elevated train this could be set in any American city which is part of the film's intention.

There are big points being raised in the film, ideas about addiction and how it grips the person and their families, the way the people who experience sexual assault and/or abuse are victimised further by people not believing their story to the warm solace hurt people find in each other. 


The film has a slow cinema feel where an explosion of action or sound - in this case a hum of Procol Harem's 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' for the second or third time - jolts the viewer back to regain their attention. This is partly down to the performances of the other actors who are merely peripherals on the edges of the main leads, and the slow build of deep underlying emotion that never comes to the surface. Instead, our leads part and then are brought back together by the film's conclusion for an embrace that ends with that song again.

All in all, this is a film that has big intentions but is subdued in the execution and overall conclusion leaves the viewer wanting more than what was given despite the brilliant dual lead performances.


Wednesday 31 January 2024

Peeping Tom


Released by StudioCanal Michael Powell's derided upon release but now lauded 1960 masterpiece is issued with a new 4K restoration release.

Starring Bohm and a plethora of British acting talent from the late 1950s, this is a rich and lush film ripe for the technical upgrades a restoration will provide.

His tale of voyeurism and a sympathetic serial killer, the film was released the same year as Powell's countryman Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, a film that shares similar DNA and has had a shared revisionism to them both.

Carl Boehm elicits such a depth of vulnerability to the killer Mark, his aloofness and foreign-ness playing into the hands of the viewer. A criticism that would be aimed at Anthony Perkins' performance, the appeal of finding something within somebody evil made it seem unseemly for filmgoers, but the 1960s was a dawn of a new era of film-making with colour everywhere and new horizons abounding.

Having watched the film years ago, one forgot that the mother of Helen (Anna Massey), the girl downstairs who Mark takes a shine to, is in fact blind therefore she cannot be a victim of Mark. It is such a clever narrative idea in terms of character growth, development and a layer of intrigue for all.

As ever with Powell, there is a richness in the cinematography and the detail of production polish is paramount to the film being so well admired by all comers especially Martin Scorsese.

Powell does wonderful tricks with editing, sound design and a use of location - he borrows from Hitchcock in terms of building up tension such as with Moira Shearer's death where he constant moving puts us on edge as Mark hovers around her creating a murder scene without her knowing.

Peeping Tom is out on Blu-Ray/DVD from StudiocanalUK. Special features include an essay by Sir Christopher Frayling, a featurette Restoring Peeping Tom, intro by Scorsese, interview with Thelma Schoonmaker (2007), Powell's wife and an audio commentary by Ian Christie.

Monday 29 January 2024

Natatorium

 


This new Icelandic thriller from debut feature director Helena Stefansdottir is one of the tensest films viewed in the last few years - blending influences from a range of sub-genres (haunted house; familial drama; psychological thriller) with directorial flourishes from Bergman, and Lars Von Trier. Family dynamism creates a hotpot of emotion that lends itself to film treatments.

The story revolves around a young girl who visits her grandparents in a town whilst she auditions for a drama group nearby. From the outset, her arrival prompts a family reunion of sorts as her parents attend to see her and old wounds and secrets are revealed amidst this troubled situation.

Similar to the Pinter play The Homecoming the insertion of innocence or returning figure disrupts the status quo. Another film this viewer was reminded of was Thomas Vinterberg’s classic Festen (1995) which was part of the Dogme movement with compatriot Trier. That film similarly revolved around a family gathering where a dark secret is slowly revealed prompting paranoia and scrutiny resulting in an explosion of feelings that have been long hidden within people.


The strengths of Natatorium stem from the production design and the claustrophobic environment of the mise-en-scene with little details expressing larger notions exponentially; this along with the single location that entraps the characters cut off from the world - a key trope and strength of 21st century genre pictures Ex-Machina (2014) and The Menu (2022)- with the protagonists all trapped seemingly (one character, Kalli, the uncle is very much bedridden) in one place and strive to move and yet are anchored by this position due to the pull of family.

As well as the dysfuntional family element, there is the use of an indoor pool with water that serves as the device for rebirth and baptism, therefore, the connotations of religion and mystery are apparent adding to the enigmatic quality of the film in general. There is a repeating trend in the film for people seeking to purify themselves by holding their breathe under the water as a rite of passage as well as a physical endeavour of strength and control. 



The film does have that thread running through also with Elin Petersdottir’s matriarch Arora, attempting to illicit some sort of strangehold of control over her family no matter the cost; this has resulted in the children having addiction issues of their own which is laid out within the narrative.

Dark and brooding in equal measure but filmed with a quiet panache that is not overbearing, this is a film about the troubles of being a woman and the juxtapositions of beauty and ugliness and light with dark, and how darkness evades upon innocence.

Featuring a strong lead performance by youngster Ilmur Maria Arnarsdottir as Lilja and veteran Petersdottir as Arora, the matriarch of the family who cannot let go of her grip upon those she has born.

Technically astute due to cinematography and editing all firing on high cylinders of performance, Natatorium is a chilling tale that will garner attention due to the nature with which it presents its delicate subject matter.

Natatorium premieres at the Rotterdam Film Festival in the festival's Bright Future Category from 28th January.