AS IF just BEING A TEENAGER WASN'T HARD ENOUGH... "SIXTEEN"

I love the “first feature” section of the London Film Festival. Getting “into” film remains as tough as ever but at least this gives a very important outlet for those on that all important first rung of the ladder as it were. Of course since it is everyone’s first feature though, it makes picking a bit of an exciting prospect. You literally cannot guess what you’re going to actually end up with. These were my thoughts when I picked Sixteen. I’m not quite sure what exactly made me pick it. That it was set in modern day London was, bizarrely, definitely one thing (modern day London is a bit of an obsession with me at the moment. Strange that it has only hit now seeing as I have been living here for two years now). But the fact that it was about something that we don’t hear much about, namely Congolese child soldiers, was definitely another. Sixteen examines what we might call the “happily ever after”…

You see Jumah has achieved what a lot of people in his situation only hope and pray for. Once a Congolese child soldier, he has been adopted and now lives in the UK with his adopted mother. They are not exactly living in the lap of luxury but Jumah does not complain – he has known worse. And he has all the classic problems of a sixteen year old. Stress, exams, girls, grades… But on top of that he also has severe anger management issues and what is almost certainly PTSD. And the two later topics make it a tad bit harder for him to relate to people, raging hormones aside.  He doesn’t have massive dreams of becoming very rich; what he wants to do is to become a barber and live a quiet life. However, a chance encounter means that completely out of the blue, Jumah is pitched head-first towards something that eerily resembles his earlier, violence-filled life. Can he manage to not spoil his second chance? Or is there really no escaping his dark past?

First of all, genrewise, credit where it is due. Director Rob Brown provides a wonderful update to that very typical British genre the kitchen-sink drama. Well, it’s not quite “kitchen sink”. But then again, it is as close as you can get in this century – if you see what I mean. The film is set on a council estate, the protagonists are a single parent family, and violence pervades the present, the past and very probably the future. The future looks bleak, the options are not numerous (not least due to the fact that Jumah has been kicked out of several schools until he wound up in this one) and to top it all, Jumah has the rather working class dream of becoming a barber. Not that I’m belittling barbers or people who want to become them. But I’m just making the point that it fits a certain genre particularly well.

So, Brown takes this classic British genre and just… Sets it in Britain today. Which makes perfect sense really. Because London is one of those great metropolises (or metropoli ? I mean, is that the plural?) where you can literally meet people from all over the world. Every kind of person you can possibly imagine comes here to try their luck and you do hear the most incredible stories when you least expect them. Thus, this particular “angry young man” (another staple from the gritty kitchen sink genre) is a Congolese ex-child soldier.   This could very well have been the story of a young man coming out of prison and trying to go “on the straight and narrow” (but of course his ex-gang don’t let him go that easily etc, etc). Instead, it is a rather sad story of violence being violence all over the world and how hard one has to work to truly leave one’s past behind and move on.

I especially loved how truly close to life the situations depicted in the film and the reactions of the characters often were. Jumah is desperately trying to negotiate his way out of a very tricky situation. He is desperately trying to make friends but deep down, he knows that everything he has been through has made him a lot more mature than them. He really wants a “normal” relationship with his girlfriend but teenage angst aside, he finds it harder than most to show his true feelings. Therefore, he doesn’t always make sense, he is frustrating, not only to his mother but to us the viewers as well, but more importantly perhaps, I don’t think you could have made him any more realistic if you tried.

This one is by no means “easy viewing” but it is definitely worth it. If nothing else, it is a very realistic portrait of a slice of life in 21^st century London. And that in itself is definitely worth something. 

ESSIE AT THE BFI!

Not in any official capacity you understand. (If anyone from the BFI is reading this and you happen to be hiring however...). I'm "raiding" the London Film Festival. And I can't wait to tell you about it. 

Anyone who knows the first thing about me, knows what my schedule is like. In a word, more often than not these days it’s like nothing on earth. It’s so hectic and so changable I often don’t know what my schedule is like until the day before, I gave up on weekly planners LONG ago. So went my selection of films I wanted to watch at the London Film Festival. The combination of my rather eccentric work hours, my budget and  my incredibly eclectic tastes produced the combo of films that I will be writing to you about this week - and for several weeks to come. I hope you enjoy them - because I am LOVING every minute. 

Oh, oh and scroll down a bit... Look! Trailers! See, since both of these films aren't out on DVD yet to the best of my knowledge, I have hunted down the trailers for your delectation. This has the potential of becoming a "thing" on this blog... The only negative "thing" is, they are a tad bit lopsided. I have thrown up my hands in defeat on that one. If anyone knows how to fix it, please mention it in a comment. Oh and you're going to have  to squint a bit for the subtitles on Exhibits, especially if you're at a time of life where, shall we say, you need reading glasses (sorry Mom). I thought about taking it out all together, but I think it still gives you a good feel of the film, so it stayed. Stop the pounding heart does not have subtitles (thankfully), so you should be ok with that one. 

happy viewing folks and have a great week!

Essie

BECAUSE REAL LIFE IS STRANGER THAN THE DREAMS OF ANY ARTIST... "EXHIBITS OR STORIES FROM THE CASTLE"

Ok. So I just explained how totally random my selection of films look to the untrained eye. There is, however, a certain something that ties them together, although I couldn’t quite tell you what it was. My… What? Outlook? Personality? Spirit? I’m not sure. You’re going to have to fill in the blanks. But I think that this air of chaos that actually has a connecting thread is a very fitting connection to my first film. This film, to be precise. Exhibits seemingly is about a pretty random collection of people. We are talking real life here, so it actually doesn’t get stranger or more random than this. And yet… There is something… You might say I’m romanticising. You might say it’s largely the fact that for this or that reason (illness or old age) they are not quite “corpus mentis”. I’d say you’d need to watch this beautiful gem of a documentary and make your own decision on the matter – as it presents a LOT to think about…

The Castle is a home for the elderly in Stupova, Slovakia. But aside from the elderly, it also houses people with mental illnesses and those with nowhere else left to go. Director Paolo Korec takes a closer look at some of the amazing and touching life stories living together, higgledy piggledy under the same roof. There is a once celebrated doctor of law, an ex-thief, an old soldier and an old man who actually has nothing wrong with him – but his wife needs constant care you see, so he just moved in. What was he to do? Go on without her?

I am a little sensitive about the treatment of the aged. In life generally, but in cinema especially. I’m not quite sure why, but it probably has a lot to do with the fact that I was largely raised by my grandmother whose health is rather frail these days (she is 90 years old). This is why I was intrigued to see how this eccentric group of characters would be treated by this film. There is nothing like a babbling old dear for comic relief after all.  I think it is largely due to the fact that the director Korec is also an older gentleman that there is a great air of affection and respect to the film. Humour – especially absurd humour – is abundant but very well placed. And you can easily glide through Exhibits without thinking about much… Or can you?

Because the moment you start dissecting the film, you realise that there are many sombre lessons to actually take away from it. I was touched by all the stories in varying ways, but the one that hit me the hardest was Classic (he now calls himself that) the lawyer. He was an actual lawyer you understand; a scholar of some fame and author of three text books in various areas of law. We do not learn how he came to be a permanent resident in Stupova. But there are still echoes of his previous life in his actions there. He has a planner in which he makes his weekly schedule, although it must be said, it now looks pretty different from what it once must have looked like… A lot of his day is now taken up by music, he is a great fan of a Slovakian pop- star (whose name I forgot to make a note of) and sneaks into the common room after dark to watch her DVDs and likes to sing along to her songs on his cd player. In the q &a after the film, this story in particular came up in the discussions. Korec pointed out that this story had touched him as well and remarked how important it is to remember that the line between sanity and insanity is very thin indeed. I wonder if Classic himself remembers when and how he crossed it? Ages are not discussed that much in the Castle, but I put Classic in his late 40s or early 50s at the most. If ever there were a reminder that you never know what’s round the corner for you, this story is it…  

So the film takes us from one “exhibit” to the next, each told with clarity and honesty. No punches are pulled about life in the Castle. It is not the lap of luxury but it could be so much worse. The doctors and nurses are pleasant. There is good food and good company. And since a very large number of the residents have actually reverted to their childhoods (with the ironic exception of Classic who, is one of the younger residents but I saw as closer to a teenager),  “the rest”, does not really matter… I don’t know about you, but I found it spooky yet strangely comforting. They have lost pretty much everything, but much like children, they have stopped focusing on the bigger picture and are delighted or made distraught by the smaller things in life… I don’t know… Don’t you find the idea of people of all walks of life united “at the end of it all”, like happy children comforting in a way? And don’t you think it’s rather silly to wait right until the very end to start making the little things in life if not your main priority, one of your priorities?

Oh yes. Exhibits looks like a humble, unassuming little 80 minute number about an old people’s home. Trust me, there is a LOT more to it than that… 

TO LIVE OR TO "STOP THE POUNDING HEART" ?

Ok, as you may have guessed, my new “thing” is documentaries and all things even vaguely documentary. Not surprising is it really, considering my semi-obsession with “based on true life”. This is, to the best of my understanding, not quite a documentary. The characters in them play “different versions of themselves”. So basically we’re talking real characters in scripted situations, and that must have been quite a feat to accomplish but anyhow. This is, apparently, the last film in the “Texas trilogy” by director Roberto Minervini. All I’m saying to you is, I really need to find the other two films…

Filmed in a documentary style with quite minimal dialogue, much less anything in the way of guidance and explanation from the director, Stop the Pounding Heart paints a portrait of life in rural Huston, Texas. We see life from the point of view of two very different families. The Carlsons are goat farmers. They are deeply religious and all of the children are home-schooled. Sarah – or Sar – one of the older sisters is a dutiful daughter who takes care of her siblings and obeys her parents but burning deep in her is a rebellious side. This rebellious side that gets next to no “outings”, as it were but it definitely manifests itself. And one of the occasions this happens the clearest is after an encounter with her less puritan neighbour Colby Trichelle. The Trichelles are as religious as the average southern Texan, don’t get me wrong, but they are worlds apart from the Carlsons. Shooting, bull-riding and generally having a good time is what the boisterous Trichelle boys are all about. Now, the Carlson family is against “dating” as a general principal. But the fact that Sarah has been raised as a good Christian who is expected to marry a good Christian like her makes the union positively dangerous. Thus Sarah must do her best to conceal her feelings from everyone, including Colby… This may prove easier said than done…

Now this one definitely is for those of you who can actually sit through a minimalist film without fidgeting. Exhibits is a different kettle of fish all together, as the inhabitants are more than willing to share their stories and explain (and re-explain) every detail ad-nauseam. The Carlsons and the Trichelles, however, just get on with life. But if you can actually sit through it, the rewards are truly great. Our main protagonist is Sarah, Colby and his family are present but their role is largely that of contrasting their behaviour with that of the Carlsons. The one we really get to know is Sarah who is agonising, torn between her faith and the questions that keep bubbling up in her mind, the feelings that tug at her heart… It is a beautiful tale of faith in the modern world, the barriers it comes up against and the ways it copes – or tries to cope… Because the central question actually remains unanswered at the end of Stop the Pounding heart… Or does it? Much like real life, there are no clear cut answers. You are going to have to take the data and make what you will of it.

I thought Stop the Pounding Heart was one of the most touching depictions of angst and emotion that I have ever seen. Sarah is in her late teens at most (all we know is that she is over 14) but she is already struggling with so many questions in life… Faith… Love… Metaphysics… Well sure, metaphysics come into it even though Sarah doesn’t quite call it that as, although we do not know what she is exactly thinking, she is clearly and desperately trying to understand why her faith is telling her to do this or that and why, if this is indeed the “right” thing to do, it makes her so unhappy… Her sisters for the most part do not understand. They have vague plans of moving far away from home one day (not least, one supposes, because they do not even get to go to school so most of their lives is actually spent in the same house) but they all “hope to get married” but – strangely perhaps, but perhaps not so strangely – aren’t necessarily talking about “finding true love”. Thus we can well imagine Sarah is also struggling with love and its effects on her – as it is not really encouraged in her rather traditional family. That’s one heck of a lot of questions. Questions that some of the greatest minds have failed to answer… 

Stop the pounding heart can be hard work. I am not going to lie. But once you get used to the rather non-verbal style (and the southern Texan accent by the way) the rewards are truly great.  I say go get it. The film actually got an applause at the end at the showing I attented. Considering the room was half empty and there was no q & as (and thus no one to hear the applause except ourselves) this is saying something methinks… 

ESSIE SPEAKS OF DEEP PICTURES

Well hey there. I'm trying to put a name to the "theme" of the two posts for this week. I'm failing.

See, it doesn't initially seem so but they do have a lot in common. Firstly, they are truly beautiful. The photography, the imagery is exquisite. They are, in a word, beautiful. Albeit in their own very distinct styles. See, the thing is, I think in a strange kind of way we forget that cinema is about the visual side of things. We more often than not get sucked up into the story telling part of it, and forget about the pictures. These two are good reminders of that side of procedings.

But they aren't just pretty faces these two. Oh no. They are a good deal more than that. In fact you're going to have to dig pretty deep under those pretty faces to get the whole story with these two. Because, as you know, I'm all for a bit of simple amusement... That said, cinema should ultimately also make us sit down and think. It should do this and be pretty at the same time, ideally. Seems like a tall order? Here are two pieces that have the brief spot on...

happy viewing,
Essie

FAMILY LIFE - BUT NOT QUITE HOW YOU KNOW... "DISTANT VOICES STILL LIVES"

I know. I know. This is NOT by any way shape or form what I would define as popular family evening entertainment. It is some film studies students scurrying for the hills, much less anyone who just wants a quiet evening and nothing more… That said, here in the UK, the film was recently aired on the BBC. Well, it makes sense really, it is a crystal clear and very emotionally invested picture of what life in the ‘40s and ‘50s was like in the UK. It’s sheer nostalgia value alone would bring in viewers, this I can clearly see (although I am not completely up to date with the ratings for that evening. I don’t want to give a wrong impression or anything). But I reckon this film has more of a universal appeal that one may first think. Let me try and explain.

Distant Voices Still Lives is actually the second (if I’m not much mistaken) film in an autobiographical trilogy by the director Terence Davies. Now, I find it rather hard to describe in the sense of a classic “storyline” – because it sort of has a storyline, but it doesn’t. The film is told in what is almost definitely a series of flashbacks. But the thing is, it isn’t necessarily a linear story. It is more a sense of what it was like to be a member of that family. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that it is less of a “film” and more of a moving, talking photo album. We move from snapshot to snapshot and give a good, long, hard look at each one. The snapshots, needless to say, are very well chosen, beautifully composed and, beneath their appearance of chaos, highly organised. We learn about the despotic father, the meek and mild mother, the three siblings, their relationships with each other and with their various partners later on… Family friends and neighbours come and go…  Do you know what it is like? It's  like sitting around with your siblings or cousins and reminiscing about old days; jumping around from memory to memory, backwards and forwards in time with only the loosest of threads connecting them… That’s exactly what this film is like…

Now, from a cinematic point of view, there are certain dangers to making a film like this. It is, simply put, extremely personal. Some may argue a little too personal. It may well end up meaning absolutely nothing to anyone who wasn’t a member of that family. See, but I’m not so sure this is the case. Davies has, in fact, achieved something that is quite hard to, both cinematically and in real life.

See, this film is largely about family. It is about one family in particular of course, but it gives us countless avenues in which we can consider our own family – hence the universal nature of the story, but I digress. The odd thing about family is that, you know, just to make things run a bit smoother in the outside world, we tend to pretend thing s are a lot better than they actually are. I mean, fair dues, some families are founded on total love and mutual respect through and through and through. There are no skeletons in the closet or “game face” that comes off when all the guests go home. But mostly… To some extent… Call me a bit of a pessimist but I am a firm believer that a LOT of keeping up appearances goes on. And you know the funny thing about that? When you try to strip back the camouflage and explain what it’s really like, it’s actually quite difficult to accurately explain. You have the stock words, stuff like love, hate, anger, but it’s all mixed up in those complicated bonds that form a family – for better or for worse. You try to give examples, try to boil it down to one event or the other, but the thing is it never, never is just one event, is it? It’s just multiple events over the years that bleed into each other and make things just… I dunno, complicated…

Davies does a fantastic job of telling his family story. You have to get past the fact that it is very, very non-linear though and kinda go with the visual beauty of the piece and the emotions that are so very, very clearly depicted. It’ll probably get you thinking about your own family… Regardless of whether you grew up in the UK in the ‘40s… 

YOU'RE SAFE UNDER "THE SHELTERING SKY" - BUT HOW LONG CAN YOU HIDE FOR?

Thank God for unexpectedly long bursts of free time. I had been waiting for one of those for quite a while. This is one to be taken in your stride folks. It’s a two hour – ten minute monster with some heavy duty messages about the human condition very cleverly mixed in. I am told the book is even better – and having read a few excerpts online I will probably be heading to my nearest Waterstones asap to get my grubby little paws on a copy, but in the meanwhile, this will do more than fine. Ok, it’s not exactly “easy watching” but hey, not everything in life is. Right?

Our protagonists are Port (John Malkovich ) and Kit (Debra Winger) Moresby. They are two artists from New York who have lost well… Everything that matters. Namely their love for each other and their love of life. Port, a composer, hasn’t composed a thing in years and Kit’s fame as a writer stems from one play she wrote a number of years ago and that got mixed reviews anyway. So they do what most people with too much money do. They decide to go on a journey in the hope of finding the “selves” they once lost. Kit is a more conventional soul but she lets herself be convinced by Port to travel to North Africa and the desert. Kit does not like the desert. In fact she is positively terrified of it. Port however, throws himself into desert life with gusto… The real question remains however, is what they are looking for really in the desert? In fact, is it anywhere they can physically go and “seek it out” of? Aaah, if only life were really that simple…

One must always be cautious when it comes to the film adaptations of books. History – and the internet – overflows with tales of writers positively enraged by the film adaptations of their books. Now, I’m not quite sure what Paul Bowles made of this fellow. But personally, I would find it hard to complain. Bertolucci’s stunning, and by stunning I mean, let me re-re-iterate that, STUNNING photography and the kind of acting that got Malkovich and Winger nominated for and made them winners of quillions of awards come together to form a piece of art you would have to actually be made of stone not to appreciate. It is one of those rare films you could literally stop at any random point and have a brilliant potential poster right there.

That said, I must say I do agree with some of the criticism as well. Maybe not completely, but in part. A lot of people who wrote bad reviews for this film criticised it for being too obscure, and that anyone who hadn’t read the book would struggle to understand what it is truly about. Now, I can’t comment on that part. I also have to admit, however, that even for someone who likes hunting down obscure meanings and symbolism in films, this is a tricky one. Then again, I wouldn’t say that all meaning is completely lost. I mean, for example, let’s take a quote from the film (and book as it happens) and let’s go for the one that gives the film its name. I cannot find it written verbatim at the moment – and I really want to get my reviews up online asap – so I’m going to have to paraphrase. Namely, Port says that the sky shelters us from what lies beyond it. When Kit asks what that may be, Port answers that he is not sure, but it’s probably just darkness and night… Now, you don’t need to have a degree in social sciences to figure out what particular part of the human condition this refers to.

Unfortunately, not everything in the film is this clear. Then again, it is rather a beautiful film all in all; there are multiple layers of delicately structured meaning, foreshadowing and… The desert. The desert with all its infinity… And whether this sense of infinity scares us like it does Kit or pushes us to leap into the heart of it and explore like Port… I am confident this film will provide you with something to ponder on…