AND SOMETIMES IT'S JUST THAT SIMPLE... WELCOME TO "SIN CITY"

Ooh, ooh ooh! Look, another historic moment. I HAVE FINALLY WATCHED SIN CITY. I have been banging on about this for years. How I  didn’t get round to it before is virtually incomprehensible – even to me, and I’m usually quite good at figuring out why I haven’t done things. This was the last film remaining that Quentin Tarantino (yes him again, if you’re not a fan, deal with it) is vaguely associated with from a directoral (is this a word? Mom?) stance that I hadn’t seen yet. Now I have. The world can rest in peace – as it were. The film is of course technically a film by Robert Rodriguez who is apparently a great friend of Quentin Tarantino’s. Quentin Tarantino is a guest director here along with Frank Miller (the writer of the comics the film was adapted from) who is cited as director. Now, fair warning. You know Rodriguez. You know Tarantino. Yes there is violence. Yes there are classic “old school” movie genres running through a very, very strange terrain. Yes, the films are very much “boys toys” as it were, what with the imagery and that. Now, as you also know, I lap this stuff up by the bucketful and ask for seconds. Incomprehensibly to me, some people do not. If you are one of those people I fail to comprehend, you can easily pass on Sin City. I won’t blame you. I’ll just be sad you’re missing a brilliant film.

Welcome to Sin City. The name alone holds a clue. I said to look out for “old school” ladies and gents, and the “school” we’re in this round is film noir. A world where the dames are beautiful and deadly, the guys are either hardened good guys with one foot in the underworld or dastardly villains. It is night time, it is cold and we roam the even colder streets, trying to get to know the inhabitants of the city. We have a scary giant who is looking to avenge the only woman who ever showed him affection. We have a cop who puts his entire reputation on the line to save a little girl from a paedophile. We have a hit man after his next buck. And of course, we have a vigilante cop. All these characters come together in the “sewage pit” known as Sin City in a tale as dark as the night itself…

Before you say anything, trust me, there are more reasons than one for this film to have become so popular. I am at a tiny bit of a loss as to interpreting them in conjunction with their original “manuscripts” i.e. the comics. Of course I won’t even get started on the actual images themselves as Sin City’s images have become pretty iconic in their own right. Suffice it to say that the mood of the film very much matches the style of the images. It is very, very much like a comic book “come to life” as it were. So there you go. If you like comic books, that alone should spur you on. That and the rather marvellous way all the seemingly disparate stories come together. I promise you, you will NOT see that one coming.

But then of course there is the film noir side of things. Now, I’m not quite sure what the general opinion is of film noir. I have a sneaking suspicion it is regarded as rather passé. And it is true that simple binaries of black and white, good and bad are rather outdated these days. Understandably so, we have come to terms with the fact that the world is more of a “grey” place then black and white and this is reflected in everything, be it our entertainment or our politics. But I don’t know. There is – go on, admit it – a part in all of us which, when left unchecked, paints the world in those two colours. Really “evil” baddies that can be destroyed by the “good guy”. A good guy with some token “black” in him – this is Sin City after all, you can never completely escape the evil in the air – but whose heart is basically set on doing the right thing. Go on. You like it. Admit it to yourself if not to me. And go and watch the darned movie already. You have half a hundred reasons at least by now… 

ESSIE SPEAKS OF HER FAVORITE FILM EVER : "PULP FICTION"

I have made a momentous discovery. I have discovered my favourite film. As someone so engaged in films of all kinds, I am hard pressed to pick one. It will always be a close contest. I will always rattle off a couple in close succession, as opposed to one single one. But if you press me for a single one, I am now sure this is IT. Now, you guys know I don’t really write that much about the big classics. I like talking about the “hot” stuff out there along with the ones you may have missed along the way. But come on. This is my favourite film. I have a sneaking feeling it always has been. I want to gush about it for a second. And who knows, maybe I can somehow convince you Tarantino-haters out there (and I really don’t know what to do with you guys but anyhow) to give this a spin. I have a feeling you guys have the impression that all Tarantino films are just jumped-up slasher flicks, you know, with the emphasis on the blood as opposed to any actual content. You are SO WRONG. Ok, let’s get right to it.

There is no one single story here. Actually, there are three. Two of these stories revolve around the gang boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). See, Mr Wallace likes his sports. He likes to watch, for example, a good boxing match. He is also a betting man – and like the rest of us, he likes to win his bets. But he has an advantage over the rest of us in that field. See if, for example, he feels unsure how things will go, he can take precautions. Like taking Butch (Bruce Willis), a good pro boxer who is a tad bit past his prime for example, and explain to him if he should win or lose and at which round. Butch gets paid handsomely for his trouble, and Mr Wallace is happy. If Butch does not comply however, Mr Wallace is not amused. And I think we all know by now that an unamused gang boss is never a good thing. Then there are his two right hand men – Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield ( Samuel L. Jackson). They do things gang bosses do not condescend to tire themselves with. You know, extortion, debt collecting, murder and the like. But Vincent  especially is a little nervous of late  - he has an extra job you see. He has to take Mr Wallace’s dashing young wife (Uma Thurman) out to dinner while Mr Wallace is not in town. He must show her a good time, not offend her in any way, yet not cross any boundaries. I.e., he is on VERY thin ice indeed until the dinner date is up. And then there are two small time robbers. Pumpkin and Honey Bunny. They are planning their last couple of hits before they retire to some exotic location together. And they hit on an idea – why not rob a restaurant? And how do all these people come together you say? You will have to watch the film and see. But trust me when I say, regardless of what you’re thinking the answer is… You’re probably wrong…

Now, take these three stories. Cut them all into a few large chunks and jumble them up. And tell them in completely non-linear order with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Welcome to Pulp Fiction. As you can well imagine, in the wrong hands the formula is an unqualified disaster. But these, you see, are not the wrong hands. The puzzle is constructed in such a way that, although between Mr Tarantino’s penchant for surprises and the way the story is told you have no way of knowing what “comes next” until the last minute, it is, at the same time, clearly done so that you don’t actually have to research the film online later to clearly understand what is going on . On a side note, some people see this “incomprehensible” quality as a major asset – I don’t get it quite honestly. A film is something you should be able to understand as you watch it. Or a bit later, when you think about it. It shouldn’t take research. But at the same time, especially if you watch a lot of films, you want to be surprised. You want to not be able to tell what is coming next. I can categorically promise you that in this film, be it in terms of plot twists or actual pieces of the plot, you will rarely know what is coming next. This is one of the things I truly love about this film. 

The other thing I like about the film – and all of Tarantino’s films as it happens – is his own particularly dark brand of humour. This is what puts a twist on this little number too. Because, by Tarantino’s own admission, the three basic plot lines that are interwoven are as old as the hills. That is precisely the point. You take a classic and you put your own twist on it. How far you can twist it largely depends on your personal talent. I think you see where I’m going with this…

I mean yes, there is blood – people die. But newsflash – it’s a gangster flick.  If nobody died and there was no blood, you’d complain about it being unrealistic. This is something for you cats who want something both truly entertaining and truly original as entertainment.          Just take the plunge man. There is a reason every single person on the planet calls this film a classic. Time you found out why. 

MY FUNNY VALENTINE : "MOONRISE KINGDOM"

Don’t get me wrong, I have never had anything but respect for Wes Anderson. It grew even more when I saw his rendition of Fantastic Mr. Fox. I mean, wow. Seriously, wow. That was something. But this… This is just… I am not known for being caught short for words but I am actually having trouble describing this film. It is categorically the sweetest film I have ever seen with the best examples of absurd comedy and caricatures that I have ever seen. You can neither get “into” the film and be swept away by it nor can you help sympathizing completely with the characters and getting caught up in it emotionally. I mean, I kid you not, this film bends time it’s that exciting. And yet you’re always an outsider looking in – and you feel it very clearly. How does this come about? Let me try and explain as best I can…

Sam Shatusky and Susy Bishop are lovers. There seems to be nothing wrong with this statement in itself. The thing is, they are 12. Ok, you may say, a bit young, but still, nothing wrong. The thing is though, neither Sam nor Susy are exactly your average 12 year-olds. They are both, in their own ways, problem children. To the point that their families, friends (well, acquaintances anyway) and their teachers alike are unsure what to do with them. Sam and Susy however, being problematic yet not stupid, come up with a simple solution. Elope, find a place to live, start a new life together far, far away. Which again would be completely fine if they were not 12. As they are 12, however, once our lovers elope, the entire population of the small town they live in comes out in force to look for them.  In the process, of course, quite a few dirty secrets start to see the light of day… It turns out, in fact that our “normal” little town may not be quite as normal as they make themselves out to be.

One thing here is absolutely certain. Anderson has captured the absolute essence of “awkwardness”. This is not some “cutie” story of young romance, people. It talks of being out of place, sticking out, of being alone. It talks of being surrounded by people who never quite understand.  It does this in absurd looking ways sometimes, but the emotions the situations end up conveying clearly, very clearly, leap in straight from real life.

As I said, Anderson uses every trick in the book, every technical gimmick possible to make us feel like “spectators”. But this works brilliant with this particular story, because this is exactly how Susy and Sam feel. Spectators. Outsiders. Not allowed to join in and not sure why. Like I said, you would have to be made of stone not to know exactly what Anderson is talking about here. He has literally taken the emotions out of the emotional field and slapped them onto a screen. And this, boys and girls, does not happen that often.

And I mean. What a cast. Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Bill Muray, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swindon are all superb. But Kara Hayword who plays Susy and Jared Gilman who plays Sam, who happen to be completely novice actors also definitely deserve a mention. I will risk sounding like a complete old hack and say it is that “raw” quality to their acting that makes them stand out, as opposed to the confidence exuded by some child-stars that makes them seem just that tiny bit unrealistic no matter how good they are. Not only do they work absolutely brilliantly together, but they succeed completely in realistically “being” their characters. I have a feeling they will go far.

This is not a film for the ex-cheerleaders and football jocks among us. This is a film about how it felt to be, well, all the rest of us. On the outside. I am confident you will love this film. Please, please don’t miss it. 

SURROGATES

Ok, animation, children’s classics, and fantasy – all this is fine for me. Sci-fi? Not a big fan. I’m not quite sure why, I am the right generation to like sci-fi. Possibly, because I was brought up on a steady diet of books and stories. I’ve never really liked machines or computers (though God knows I use them often enough). I would feel no great loss if they vanished tomorrow – except perhaps to write my blog… That is why; getting me to like – I mean REALLY like a sci-fi flick is no mean feat. No sir. I was vaguely curious about Surrogates and had a few hours free at work and that is the only reason I picked it up in the first place. I reckoned it was a police drama of sorts, had to have action in it being a Hollywood film with Bruce Willis in it and thus would probably pass the time… Well, it did pass the time, I’ll give it that, but it did a whole lot more in the meantime…

Surrogates is set in a rather eerily realistic (to my mind) future. In this future, technology has advanced to such a degree that people no longer need to leave their homes. Ever. They live their lives “by proxy” using robotic surrogates that can be controlled with the mind. These surrogates are, as you can imagine, completely customizable and physically perfect, you can be absolutely anybody you want to be… Crime rates are absolutely nil, in fact there hasn’t been a murder in quite a few years when suddenly a man and a woman and their surrogates are destroyed by a very sophisticated weapon. Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) is the FBI agent who must investigate this. The prime suspects are a renegade group of people who live without surrogates under the leadership of a man called The Prophet… But when Greer’s own surrogate is destroyed in a chase another challenge presents itself. If he wants to solve these seemingly impossible murders he must accomplish the unthinkable… He must leave his house. For real…

The technology itself may not exist yet but we are not as far from the Surrogates as you might imagine. This is, after all, a mere caricature of the internet. We all have customizable online personas (and they are completely customizable – hence the many child-filters against people who, shall we say, are not as well meaning as we are in chat rooms. I mean look at the newest development on this topic here) and do in fact have complete online “lives”. To the point that there is an actual website (www.suicidemachine.org) that helps one commit “online suicide” – removing one from all the social networking sites completely and forever. That may sound like a nightmare scenario for most of us but it actually might be quite liberating if you think about it… For those who are slightly older, well first of all, the sci-fi element does not get in the way of the police-drama section. It is undoubtedly there, but not “hard to follow”. In fact I am, to be honest, almost completely computer illiterate and yet could follow the ins and outs of the plot with ease. And Bruce Willis isn’t half bad either =)