Sunday 13 October 2013

Filth - Cinema Review

Filth couldn't be more true to its name, there is depravity in the very pores of this film but if that doesn't turn you away you'll find a brutally brilliant drama that will knock as much out of you as it does its characters. Based on Irvine Welsh's 1998 novel, the film is a shameless comedy and unflinching character drama that focuses on a man named Bruce Robertson, a thoroughly corrupt detective who appears to be pulling the strings on his colleagues in the run up to a potential promotion.

The film naturally has a twisted sense of humour and the overall atmosphere is undoubtedly the work of the man behind Trainspotting. That said, there is a sophistication present which comes in the form of Bruce's wife Carole who, whilst corrupt in her own way, seems to live in a noir-style fantasy world that couldn't be further from the grimy Scottish streets we see Bruce and his colleagues patrol. Slowly the film becomes less about the promotion and more about Bruce's mental state as he grapples with drug addictions, sexual frustrations and his own tragic past coming back to haunt him.

Filth is loaded with depth for the characters and for all its eccentricities it portrays a cast of painfully real, complex and damaged people. James McAvoy is potent as the protagonist Bruce and the film is almost worth seeing for his performance alone. Thankfully his role is flanked by some other excellent actors, effective pacing and very strong writing. I'll admit i've not read the book so perhaps some flaws in the translation are lost on me but Filth gripped me almost immediately and whilst undeniably hard to watch in places, stop watching i absolutely could not.

To delve much deeper is to spoil the best of what Filth has to offer so i'll simply finish on a recommendation and state that this sordid feast of a film is far more than its shallow appearance would suggest.


Unconscious Hallucinations Wrenched From Temporary Night Death - 13th October 2012

A crippling cold blizzard forces me and Laura to take shelter in an ice cave of sorts. We need to get two blank CDs and burn something onto them. Our progress is hindered by a long corridor of gun turrets and by the time we've dealt with them (we had rocket launchers y'see) we were nearly frozen to death. I tell Laura to stay back and i run down the long corridor as it splits into several others and soon becomes a maze.

Thankfully i soon find a room in the cave filled with turned off computers and several secondary school students staring at the black screens. I start asking them individually if they have any blank CDs i could buy and whilst there begin flicking a few large red switches which turn all the computers on, much to the amazement of the students. I go to sit down at one of the desks, hoping i can find another way of transferring the thing (it might have been film rushes, can't quite remember) when some chubby, oblivious guy steals my seat and starts chatting to his friend next to him.

I state that i had already taken this seat and he carries on talking as if i'm invisible. I tell him to shut up for a second because i'm in a rush and i shove him out of the seat. He responds with a lukewarm "you shut up." and knocks me and the seat to the floor.
Increasingly frustrated i sprint back down the corridors (i know, that's the most unbelievable part of this whole thing) and thankfully find Laura still there but clearly freezing to death. I try to explain what happened in about three seconds resulting in a mess of speech that may or may not have made sense. I say to Laura, who seems quietly pissed off at my failing, to go back and she nods in agreement. She returns to the entrance of the cave which is now a river and gets in a rowing boat before slowly rowing out of sight.

Suddenly a grizzly bear in its own boat speeds past Laura and violently beaches itself on the shore or the ice cave. Concluding that a large brown bear (regardless of boating expertise) could be dangerous i hurry back to the computer room. Along the way Stephen Merchant is setting up shop and trying to attract customers. I ask if he has any blank CDs and he says yes so i go round to the back of his stall and he awkwardly admits he hasn't.

Continuing down the hall Stephen Merchant the merchant calls back to me and i see the grizzly bear has somehow got stuck on top of a wooden guillotine thing (between the roof of it and the blade, so balanced on top of the blade). Some other people appear from somewhere and ask if i'm going to help the bear. I say no it could be dangerous and a short man ignores me and helps the bear down anyway. Remembering something i may have read somewhere that you shouldn't run from a bear, i reluctantly trek through the maze with these two randomers and a grizzly bear. It is awkward.

We finally reach the computer room and i call to the entire room if anyone has any blank CDs, stating i can pay for them. The students are unsettled by the presence of the bear and i try to lighten the mood by joking "He's not here for intimidation" or something similar, and the students chuckle. A girl just in front of us turns around slightly and says she has some blank CDs. I thank her excessively and she retrieves them from her bag, whilst the bear stands on it's hind legs for some reason. The rest is faded and gone forever i'm afraid.

Monday 7 October 2013

How I Live Now - Cinema Review

How I Live Now is an odd cocktail of genres, appearing initially almost like a comedy before gradually taking on romantic elements and finally diving into harsh apocalyptic drama. This might make the film sound indecisive but all the close character-focused set up empowers the second half of the film by giving us real characters we've come to know thrown into a world we very much don't.

At first i was all prepared to hate this film.
The protagonist is a prickly, insecure teenager called Daisy who winds up reluctantly and resentfully at her cousin's home in the English countryside after living with her also much resented father in New York. At first it's a fish out of water scenario and Daisy seethes and despises everyone around her. It isn't until ripped country bumpkin Eddie enters the scene that her interest is piqued and she slowly warms to the family.

So far so moody teenager in unfamiliar twee rural lifestyle, but then hints of disruption elsewhere in the world begin filtering into the story. Starting with vague sugarcoated tv and radio reports moving onto sudden weather abnormalities. The real world creeps into Daisy's new life and it becomes apparent that this is what she left New York to try and avoid. The foreboding circumstances help Daisy and Eddie grow closer and the film handles this relationship very naturally, giving it time to grow and subside where needed. They feel like two real and unique people who each have something to offer the other.

You almost forget that they're cousins and that this is kind of weird...
Unfortunately the film doesn't get to explore this further before becoming an end of the world drama and separating the lovers but perhaps this best reflects love's fleeting brilliance before the world notices and stamps out the flame. The boot, in this instance, comes in the form of a military enforced evacuation due to nuclear terrorism spreading to England. The characters are forcefully torn apart and Daisy returns to the dead-eyed soul we saw at the start of the film. This girl has only love to live for and this fuels her escape with her youngest cousin to try and find their way back to Eddie and the farm.

This brings in days of harsh survival, trekking through the woods overcoming real dangers and their own internal doubts. The film is now miles away from where it started and it's debatable whether this embodies a great journey or confused schizophrenia. The film ends up drawing similarities with films like The Road and Children Of Men which personally ticks all my boxes but i fear for many the oppressive dark realism might be too depressing.

Things get fucked up basically...
Despite this the film recaptures some of its magic towards the end with a finale that blends the two halves of the film quite well, being both ambiguous in some areas and giving closure in others. The main change is in the protagonist Daisy who becomes stronger as the need arises for all her surviving family. Saoirse Ronan delivers some intensely powerful acting throughout and the film's editing and score compliment this extremely well.

Ultimately i enjoyed the film but it does feel as though it tries to do too much. In places this creates a truly unique setting and story whilst in others it feels like a schizophrenic combination of other films. That said if you enjoy apocalypse films or just want something intense and character driven i would still highly recommend it.

Tuesday 1 October 2013

Steve Graduates

Graduayurhh...Graduaeurhh...I need sleep, i legitimately cannot function before midday and this level of presentability this early is a ridiculous demand. I luckily grabbed a lucozade before heading out, hopefully i'll have a chance to down it before the ceremony. We enter a building primarily used for swimming and gyming so i'm already out of place. I'm separated from my mum and nan and pointed towards a set of stairs. Having to switch to an independent thinking mindset i cleverly deduce i must ascend the steps in order to progress.

Next i enter a large sports hall flanked with different graduate related boards and backdrops. I fetch my gown and assorted toffery at which point someone mercifully shows me how the hell i'm meant to wear it. It feels like a dressing gown suspended in the process of falling off, which isn't good for anyone's nerves. I waft (as this is the only way one can move in these things) into an area dubbed photographs and i eventually reunite with mum and nan.

Another long wait commences as we queue approaching the photographers. I watch the other graduates preen and prepare themselves in front of the mirrors so vainly supplied. I don't personally feel the need to even adjust my makeshift plate hat, i'm already well aware how ludicrous i look. The day is not about me however it's about mum and nan feeling proud or some such sentiment i can't understand. I glance at my chubby mug in the mirror. I look like a flesh coloured ball pit trapped in a tornado of curtains. I'm lead into the shooting space.

"OK hold this like this" she hands me a plastic baton with a ribbon on it...is this supposed to be my degree? "Now stand there like that and turn your head over to here, then raise your arm up here, look towards there, raise one leg, spin on the axis of your ankle, shift your spinal column sixty degrees to the left, tickle yourself, squint emphatically and salute the back of your neck...now relax" I'm a deformed mannequin, a pointless puppet devoid of all personality, but i suppose that's what these photos are all about.

She takes several shots since apparently i'm not smiling despite trying to contort my face into that most unsustainable of positions. I end up with two photos, one looking like i'd just applied for the grim reaper's job and another with a maniacal forced smile reaching up for my loftily poised eyebrows. That will have to do i guess, i've got plenty of photos where i look like a serial killer, what's one more?

I finally leave the sports hall and begin the long conspicuous trek towards the corn exchange where the actual ceremony embarks on it's forebodingly dull voyage into inanity. Despite being amongst hundreds of similar walking fabric cocktails i feel self-concious in this get-up and try to hurry as much as possible to the destination. Mother however justifiably wants some photos so i position myself on the grass somewhere between the empty beer cans and the seagulls and struggle to smile into the sun once more.

After only getting lost once we find the place and i'm directed to a separate entrance again.
A staff member glimpses at my ticket and enlightens me with the knowledge i should look for my seat number N8 amongst the lettered rows in front of me. Some awkward shuffling past people ensues until i sit down with a weighty thud and realise said people are my coursemates. The placement is fortunate as i find myself next to the only person with arguably more disdain for these types of things than me. We discuss how cultish we all seem and consider the possibility of indoctrination from the giant screen looming over us.

There's a brass band in the corner playing some bloated ceremonial number. I can't see my relatives amongst the sizeable crowd of guests behind us. I'm pleasantly surprised and caught off guard by a coursemate asking about my latest book. Another asks me what it's about and all i manage to splutter forth is "a guy turns to stone...it's quite surreal" Who wouldn't be sold on a winning pitch like that? Suddenly the screen bursts into life and a promotional video with the soundtrack of a sci-fi epic blares statistics and achievements at us. I question the pointlessness in promoting a university to people who have just left it.

Sitting through the minutes of university history does nothing to aid my already losing battle against slumber. The coursemate next to me points out the patronising leaflets we've been given "graduate your career" You'll have to clean out the cobwebs and mothballs first. The screen eventually ceases its assault and someone explains in detail how to act appropriately during the ceremony.

The brass band starts up again as we're ordered to awkwardly stand and a group of middle-aged to elderly men and women (presumably related to the university) take to the stage and begin a slog of speeches that even my nan said was tedious. I entertain the notion that this is a centuries old ceremony steeped in tradition that i should be honoured or at least respectful to be a part of, but in actuality it's the most pompous display i think i've ever seen and coming from someone who studied theatre in college, that's saying something.

The whole thing feels so divorced from reality, from the real world i've been in for the past few months. The world of struggling to find a job, feeling like a failure and mournfully eating my own body weight in ice cream. They claim that something out of something students from this university go onto high paying jobs of some large amount of money and i can't take a word of it seriously as my neighbour tells me of a week he's just spent with a film company collecting cups and playing public bouncer on their film shoot. The power of having a degree.

After what feels like an eternity the name calling and hand shaking part of the procedure takes place. A lot of graduates garner prominent whooping and cheers from the crowd whereas i decide to just keep clapping consistently throughout rather than for intermittent bursts at each person. The boredom is temporarily lifted as our turn on the stage arrives. There are at least two cameras projecting us onto the overhead screen and i glance up at it as i'm summoned. The vice-chancellor of something thanks me and gives me a sweaty handshake then before i know it i'm back in my seat stapling my eyelids open.

The names are systematically checked off and after some agonisingly dull "special awards" we finally leave the building and i stand underneath some scaffolding wondering what all the fuss was about. It was nice to see my coursemates again, perhaps because it may be the last time i see many of them. Now i just have to walk all the way back to the leisure centre to give the robes back and then perhaps i can at last drink that neglected lucozade. I start to get a headache.