RAW: Film
RAW: Exit Through The Gift Shop (A Banksy Film)
Jun 16th
Reviewed By Lucy Campbell
Exit.. traces Thierry Guetta, an eccentric French self made filmmaker, stumbling upon the clandestine world of street art. His fascination with the danger and grey legality of the artist’s world turns into a recorded journey as Guetta slowly becomes invaluable to them; his willingness, enthusiasm and daredevil attitude are reciprocated with permission for him to film them. Guetta records stacks of unwatched tapes as street art gradually receives recognition in the art community, spearheaded by the enigma of British artist Banksy.
The film really begins when Guetta forms a friendship with Banksy, which leads to a series of misadventures and Guetta’s own fame and fortune as he becomes “Mr Brainwash” and hoodwinks the art world in a flurry of LA hype to become one of the biggest street artists to never really exist. Banksy has gone about cutting down thousands of hours of Guetta’s meandering, loose home video work into a succinct, hilarious and fascinating documentary of the accidental hero.
Guetta is the real star of the film; his eagerness and complete faith, eccentricities and innocent desire to be one of the gang is charming in an odd, compelling way. Exit.. is one for everybody with a sense of humour and a desire to know how stencils get to the tops of buildings.
Kryztoff Rating 4K
Lucy Campbell
RAW: Film – Lou
Jun 15th
In desperate straits, a young mother of three (Emily Barclay) takes in her former husband’s father and Alzheimer sufferer, Doyle (John Hurt), over Christmas. Oldest daughter, Lou (Lily Bell-Tindley), yearning for her absent father, develops a strange relationship with him where he believes her to be his long departed wife and Lou plays along with the fantasy, using her bond with Doyle against her mother.
At one level this is an engaging story of three people each looking for rocks of dependence in their lives. Hurt does an excellent job and Bell-Tindley, stunningly beautiful, gives a terrific debut performance. However, at deeper levels the story has inconsistencies that fail it. For a family on the bread line they possess a large LCD TV and the three children seem to have an endless collection of clothes. The oft used images of sugar cane burning lacked relevance, never seemed to apply the cane adjoining this family’s property and in any case Christmas is not cane harvesting time. Further, it is not clear over what time the changing relationships evolve as late in the film the Christmas tree is still in view.
While the cinematography is passable, there seemed lost opportunities to film in some terrific country that sugar cane parts of the world present.
Lou is not without merits but lacks the cogency and vision to acclaim it great.
Kryztoff Rating 3.5K
RAW: Film – Mother and Child
Jun 15th
Three women’s lives are intertwined though none has met the other. A 50 year old woman, Karen (Annette Bening), her daughter, Elizabeth (Naomi Watts) given up for adoption at birth and Lucy (Kerry Washington) looking to adopt find their lives merging in surprising ways. Rodrigo Garcia has written and directed a superb film made by stunning performances not only by the three main female leads but also by Samuel L. Jackson, S. Epatha Merkerson and Jimmy Smits.
This is about the psychological profiles that come from abandonment, abandoning and yearning and how those profiles change as circumstances change. These are hard and damaged women, removed from the happy nuclear family, looking for release from their emotional straight-jackets and sometimes doing whatever it takes to get there, including acting recklessly.
These performances and subject matter will no doubt resonate more with women (of all ages) than men but they too will have cause to reflect on their lives and parental relationships and enjoy this film immensely. Watts, Bening and Washington craft their roles on screen in compelling ways that mix both empathy and antipathy allowing us to view the yin and yang of their lives, where one’s gain can be another’s loss.
Mother and Child is a strong contender for film of the year.
Kryztoff Rating 4.5K
RAW: Film – Fish Tank – 4K
Jun 8th
Angry Mia (Katie Jarvis) lives in a nasty, soul destroying British housing estate. She has dysfunctional relationships with everybody from her family to girls her own age. At 15, she faces dilemmas over whether to pursue her dancing or go to a special school desired by her mother but for the moment rage is mostly all that consumes her. All that changes however when her mother (Kierston Wareing) brings home Connor (Michael Fassbender) who promises to inject some love into the home.
This is a highly confronting film where the boundaries of property and person disappear in ways that becoming ever more problematic as the movie progresses. The language is coarse and the cinematography often contributes to the sense of dissonance. Jarvis gives a magnificent performance, mixing both anger and determination to get what she wants. Fassbender’s Prince Charming is totally convincing even though there are persistent worries as to the appropriateness of his relationship with Mia.
The last 15 minutes is deeply unsettling and is as uncomfortable to view at times as say scenes from last year’s Samson & Delilah. The juxtaposition of homely desires – the family picnic, tidy rooms, generosity to all – against the moral vacuity that all the players embrace keeps one engrossed.
Rated as the best British film of the year, Fish Tank is a must see (if you can stomach it.)
Kryztoff Rating 4K
Raw: Sex and the City 2
Jun 1st
Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha. Those four girls. Their individual style. Yes, the second Sex and the City film is here!
The movie, which premiered in Adelaide last Friday, will see women of all ages unite for a feast of fun, fashion and friendship. It doesn’t matter about the story line, gee, all most women care about is the outfits the girls wear. It’s really just about escapism, and two hours worth of it.
But as for the storyline? Well, it’s nothing groundbreaking. In fact, you could take a snooze and upon waking still get the gist of what’s going on. The film picks up two years on from the first Sex and the City film. Carrie and Big are falling into a rut, Charlotte’s daughter is experiencing the ‘terrible twos’, Miranda is struggling with her job and Samantha is beginning to experience the effects of menopause. The four girls need to get away and, by way of coincidence, Samantha snares the girls an all expenses trip to Abu Dhabi. It is in Abu Dhabi that the majority of the film is based.
Of course costume designer and stylist Patricia Field brings the goods with the fashion. Outfits are changed in seemingly every scene reminding us just how fun fashion should be. And truthfully, it really is the fashion that is the highlight of the film.
Let’s be honest, most girls are going to see the film regardless of the reviews. I just hope they don’t make a Sex and the City 3.
2.5/5
Nightmare on Elm Street
May 18th
Freddy Krueger is back in a remake of the hugely successful Nightmare on Elm Street that first hit screens in 1984. All the clichés of a horror flick are still here where we see each of the main characters slowly knocked off. In fact the entire premise of the film appears to be waiting for and finally witnessing each character’s untimely yet predictable death as it becomes near impossible to stay awake continuously. For a select unfortunate bunch of teens, Freddy targets them in their sleep so when they finally drift off into oblivion, their dreams become a nightmare as Freddy uses those infamous garden shear fingers to slice and dice each victim.
The film doesn’t break any barriers, or attempt to try anything different. It is your standard slasher film where one has the occasional desire to have a bit of a laugh when the plot gets a little ridiculous. In fact the remake is pretty much identical to the original including the dark secret the parents are keeping from their children with the exception that Freddy has gone from being a child murderer to a child molester, which is disturbing and just seems a bit misplaced in the general tone of the film.
The original was successful because it made such a significant impact on the horror genre but this film makes no such impact. Though it’s entertaining and plays with suspense so your nerves are on edge, you’d think after 26 years we could expect just a little bit more.
Kryztoff Rating 2.5K
RAW – Robin Hood
May 16th
If you are looking for a modern retelling of the traditional Robin Hood, this Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe hype is not it. Indeed, it avoids the whole usual story by placing it before the legend even begins. And far from Robin being the wisecracking friend of the poor in their battles with the rich, Crowe is his usual surly, introspective self who eventually sides with what is meant to his enemy. After that, who cares much what Rusty’s accent sounded like, to me it seemed very authentic Russell Crowe.
Cate Blanchett does well as Maid Marion as does Mark Strong as the evil Godfrey and Max von Sydow stars as Sir Walter Loxley. The battle scenes are fair with the film bookended with the major battles, the former better than the latter which seemed a 12th century homage to Saving Private Ryan. However, the direction based on a string of one second snippets of guys copping it is as boring as it is visually hard to follow.
As for the story, well at least it got marks for content if not twists and turns. However, Robin’s form reversal from peasant to statesman and the amazing time it took to get from Nottingham to Dover as the French crossed the channel only served to undermine the credibility that such a Robin Hood persona no doubt was trying to create.
In the same vein as Sherlock Holmes over Christmas, recreating characters is fine but when it all seems at its end to be for the purpose of creating new sequel possibilities perhaps directors like Scott are selling his audiences short.
Kryztoff Rating – 3K
RAW – Film – Accidents Happen
Apr 26th
As the opening narration points out, accidents happen and what matters is how we deal with them. Here, the Conway household has been torn apart by a car accident that left a daughter /sister dead and a son/brother in a vegetative state. Eight years on and little has been resolved. Son, Billy (Harrison Gilbertson) takes on all the blame for this and an array of other accidents that go sadly wrong as his mother, Gloria, (Geena Davis) sees her life’s hopes fade. Their neighbours, the Posts, also get caught up in the turmoil to their own significant loss.
Davis dominates the screen in a performance that reminds you of Joanna Lumley. Gilbertson, an excellent young talent, does admirably as the co-star and comparisons to Leonardo DiCaprio at the same age are warranted. Ben Nott’s cinematography is imaginative and appropriate and helps lift what may otherwise be drab suburban house scenes.
Director Andrew Lancaster and writer Brian Carbee deal with the material through both melodrama and acerbic wit. This dual theme approach is both risky but also surprisingly common in Australian family mess-up films of recent years (eg Black Balloon.) Providing audiences with a safe way to endure domestic misery may boost bums on seats but the price is always that the emotional lows and the highs fall short on their impact.
Just why this very Australian film needed to be set in the US is beyond me but otherwise this is fine entertainment.
Kryztoff Rating 3.5K
RAW: Film – Harry Brown – 4K
Apr 23rd
It’s so refreshing to see a veteran star embrace their age.
Michael Caine is admirable in the role of ex-serviceman Harry Brown, a senior citizen living in The Estate: a haven for thugs and drugs. After his wife passes away, and close friend Leonard Attwell is murdered, Harry takes matters into his own hands when he realises the police, including D.I. Alice Frampton (Emily Mortimer) and D.S. Terry Hicock (Charlie Creed-Miles), are unable to help…
Harry Brown is perceived to be a ‘vigilante pensioner’, however there is more to the character. Perhaps the catalyst for Harry’s actions is the death of his friend, but it is clear that he is acting in the best interests of the community living in The Estate.
Frampton: It’s not Northern Ireland Harry.
Harry Brown: No it’s not. Those people were fighting for something; for a cause. To them out there, this is just entertainment.
Fresh director Daniel Barber (The Tonto Woman) paints a realistic picture of The Estate, gritty and unsafe. Hand-held cameras are used to great effect at the start of the film, where instability and unpredictability are quickly established as the norm. Combined with a well-written screenplay by Gary Young, this film engages throughout.
Caine is supported by a great UK cast, including a meek Emily Mortimer, a paranoid David Bradley and an aggressive Ben Drew.
You’ll never underestimate an old man again…
Kryztoff Rating: 4K
For more film reviews from Kryztoff, click here.
RAW: Film – Beneath Hill 60 – 5K
Apr 16th
This Australian film tells the previously untold true tale of Aussie tunnel experts, led by Capt Oliver Woodward (Brendan Cowell), chosen to create and detonate bombs under no man’s land to German positions in order to advance the Allied cause. Their ultimate target, Hill 60 in Belgium, a German stronghold, is the scourge of advancing troops. When and how to detonate is the key to maximise the damage but against them are atrocious conditions and the Germans’ own attempt at closing the mine down (if they can find it.)
Directed by Jeremy Sims and written by David Roach, this is a gripping drama superbly scripted and acted. The claustrophobia of not only the tunnels but also the trenches themselves, the ever present danger and constant pounding on both the land and the minds of the soldiers and the importance of silence underground amongst all the mayhem are all brilliantly executed. The staples of WWI Australian dramas are all there, ordinary men from all over brought together, young and old fighting side by side, idiot generals and basic heroics are as well dealt with here as in Peter Weir’s Gallipoli.
Depicting action below the ground was a new twist and the closing church scene was as chilling and moving a representation of the lingering horrors of war as any.
We can sit through things like Pacific to see us represented as likeable yokels in US stories or we can watch our own productions – about us, for us. Like the aforementioned Gallipoli and following on from the recent and excellent Kokoda, Beneath Hill 60 is a valuable Australian film that deserves recognition in the Australian consciousness long beyond its running season.
Kryztoff Rating: 5K
See more of Kryztoff‘s film reviews here.