No. 23 (2021) BLACK BOX (BOITE NOIRE) Perth; French Film Festival March 25th.

 

Film No. 23 (2021)  March. 25th.  3:45 PM  Cinema 5 LUNA,  Leederville. 

"There is more to this than meets the eye" (Promotional slogan to colour the poster of Boite Noire).

This thriller by French writer/director Yann Gozlan, is the sort of rollicking ride that will inevitably be snapped up by a U.S. studio and turned into a slick but inferior remake with half the originality for twice the production price. So make no mistake, Boite Noire has every quality that grips its audience in a tense state of anticipation. Noire never slips into cliche. The outcome, while not a complete surprise, has a couple of twists that gives a satisfaction level often not served up to an audience in recent times. So, we all know what a Black Box is, yes? We all know about big business and the temptation for corruption if reputation is questioned? This is not new to story telling. The relevance, in Boite Noire, of that corruption comes when a plane hits the side of a mountain. But it is never as straight forward as this. The final twists are simple but surprising. With a couple of young stars in Sebastien Pauderoux and Lou de Laage helping to keep us tightly belted to our seats. Gozlan has created a wonderful, tense, thrilling film. I'm sure he'll be rewarded further when Hollywood pays for his creative brilliance. 10GUMS.              

   

No. 21 (2021) NIGHT SHIFTS (Police) Alliance French Film Festival. March 12th.

 

Film No. 21 (2021)  March. 12th.  4:10 PM  PALACE Cinema 4,  Raine Square,  Perth City. 

"The smell of death. Soap won't help. When I get home, I undress in the corridor and count to sixty, so I don't bring this shit home"(Astride talks about clearing his mind and body after attending a particularly horrifying domestic incident).

For me, Police is a drama with potential that never pulls it off. Whether that is because there are too many un-answered questions about plot and script, or simply that the drama fizzles rather than pops, I'm not quite sure. Maybe through reflection via this blog, I'll uncover the answers.

Put simply, we spend the better part of 24 hours with Virginie (Virginie Efira), Aristide (Omar Sy) and Erik (Gregory Gadebios), Paris police officers, all with loneliness issues. These are brought to our attention in chapter form in parallel time frames from different POV's early in the film. Our main characters opt to take overtime and transport a political prisoner to the airport for deportation. The political prisoner Tohirov (Payman Maadi) is a mystery in every way. The method Anne Fontaine (The Innocents) used to elicit compassion for Tohirov is clunky and further reason for the limp ending.

It becomes obvious, during the drive with Tohirov in tow, that our cops are feeling compromised. Are they transporting this man they know so little about to a certain death? Do they play God here? The cast is great. Efira's beauty emphasised in close-ups along with Sy and Gadebios' fragile personas' all set in the claustrophobic confines of a car meandering through the streets of Paris has us intrigued at all times. It's why I so badly wanted this little potboiler to be really good, it just isn't.  7GUMS.

           

No. 19 (2021) LOVE, IT WAS NOT (Ahava Zat Lo Hayta) Perth; Jewish Film Festival March 3rd.

 

Film No. 19 (2020)  March. 3rd.  2:30 PM  Cinema 5  LUNA,  Leederville. 

How can a woman be smiling in a concentration camp uniform? (The question posed by a fellow prisoner many years since the war as questions were asked about her loyalty).

In 2016 young Israeli Film maker Maya Sarfaty won the best documentary award for The Most Beautiful Woman at the U.S. Student Academy Awards. At 32 minutes, the film fitted into the short film category. In 2019 Maya completed a feature length version of this intriguing story. For Maya, the story has always been a fascination and her technique of using cut out effigies pasted onto well used photographs of the bleak Auschwitz terrain, woven between eye-witness accounts, makes for an intriguing feature.

The story is simple, but the complexities of love between an SS soldier and a Jewish girl beginning in 1942 in the confines of Auschwitz was real. A young officer of the SS, Franz Wunsch was on duty when the first female prisoners arrived at the notorious death-camp. Eye-witness accounts say he had a keen eye for Helena Citron from the beginning. Helena became ill with typhus and was hours away from being ushered into showers which certainly meant death. Franz nursed her to good health. What now?

The jigsaw of how the relationship unfolded is told mostly by those who were there. Some of those on camera owe their lives to Helena. Wunsch often pulled Helena's friends from death lines. Some of the revelations are surprising. Helena is either a saint or a traitor. Did she ever clearly show her hand when it came to her true feelings for Wunsch?     

Finally there is the trial, 30 years later, of Wunsch in Vienna for war crimes. Helena is summoned to give testimony as a witness. How is she viewed by those interviewed after she gives evidence? Is it at the trial we find out what her real emotions were in those dark days in the bleakest place so far described in human existence? Helena has divided opinion through time. This film never tries to influence viewers' and it tells a good story imaginatively. If you've never heard of Wunsch or more importantly the outcome of his trial, don't do any research if you are keen to see the film. 9GUMS.

          

     

       

No. 20 (2021) JUDAS AND THE BLACK MASSIAH. March 10th.

 

Film No. 20 (2021)  March. 10th.  6:00 PM  PALACE Cinema 3,  Raine Square,  Perth City. 

"Their aim is to show hatred and inspire terror"(The words of FBI chief J.Edgar Hoover; expressing his views on why the Black Panther movement must be extinguished).

With all that continues to be wrong in our world when it comes to race relations here is a film worth seeing to remind us how the fight for equality must continue. And while Fred Hampton was not perhaps The Black Messiah, Shaka King (Director and co-writer) depicts, he was a significant figure, and this story is one well worth telling.

The story of Fred Hampton's death during a violent raid on an apartment in 1969 was the subject of an enquiry which showed law enforcement to be deficient and cruel. The lead up to this raid revolved around this Chicago "Messiah" and his head of security, Bill O'Neal, a petty criminal who turned Judas to avoid prison for his misdemeanours. Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield play the leads, and their combined talents spark this film to the level of audience consciousness it deserves.

Martin Sheen may have created the most unnerving J. Edgar Hoover of all considering the cinema depictions gone before. FBI sleaze Roy Mitchell is greasy and creepy, another feather in Jesse Plemmon's cap. Deborah Johnson creates a powerful legitimacy as Hampton's lover, Dominique. There has been criticism about the age differences between the real characters (late teens, early twenties) and the cast, particularly in the case of Hampton who died as a twenty-one year old. The stunning performances buried those criticisms for me.

The thing about J and the B.M. is the simplicity with which this intriguing story is told. There are no tricks. The flashback's (O'Neal interviews) are short, essential and effective. It's what Scorsese has been bringing to cinema for years and this has some of those hallmarks. King's only other writer/director feature, Newlyweeds (2013), was low budget and heartfelt. A few Oscar recognitions in the coming months is surely going to bring his profile to the fore. Judas and the Black Messiah should be seen by many. 11GUMS.          

    

   

No. 18 (2021) THE SHEPHERD. (A Pasztor) February 27th.

 

Film No. 18 (2020)  Feb. 27th.  4:30 PM  Cinema 5  LUNA,  Leederville. 

I was down in the forest. I found a boy. He had such an innocent look. Like death was the only right choice for him. (The Shepherd talks of one of his experiences in the woods and fields near his home).

The Shepherd is not to be recommended as essential viewing. Such a warning should be placed on the opening titles. That is unless someone says that they would like to see a film which effectively and brutally depicts the sorts of trauma the Jews suffered during WWII. Then it may be that you will be in the perfect position to recommend The Shepherd. 

The Shepherd is a Hungarian film about war and the brutality war pressed upon people. No race bore a greater brunt than the Jews, so The Shepherd serves up a story based on truth, about why war is futile. Another cinematic contribution to impress upon people that we must never forget this lesson.

Szekely B. Miklos plays our shepherd and hero. The earthy life he leads in rural Hungary is evident and the introductory 20 minutes filmed in no more that 3 takes leaves us in no doubt about the dank world he lives in. He's not alone, there is gunfire close by, he and his sheep move into the woods and nearby pastures. He has a greater role to play  on behalf of his fellow human being. His woods and fields are cut through by a road the Nazis use to transport their mainly Jewish cargo on route to a death camp. The shepherd is brave and cares little for his own safety. His acts of bravery make him the hero he deserves to be in our eyes. 

This is not a film to be trifled with. It is brutal, terrifying, exhausting but at the same time brilliant. Only see it if you know you need to be reminded once again of that futility theme I discussed earlier. You have been warned. 10GUMS.

         

  

No. 17 (2021) I CARE A LOT. February 26th.

 

Film No. 17 (2021)  Feb. 26th.  7:40 PM   AMAZON PRIME,       Mt. Hawthorn, West Australia. 

"I will grab your dick and balls and I will rip them clean off. You get that?" (Marla threatens the son of one of those she cares for. One of those she has placed in a care home, while selling off property, goods and chattels not rightfully hers to sell).

Meeting the character Marla Grayson, so brilliantly played by Rosamund Pike (2021 Golden Globe winner), in the opening scenes of I Care A Lot, the phrase "she's a piece of work" came to mind. She's definitely that, and Pike's depiction of Marla will have you enthralled for two hours, and the outcome won't be everything you expect.

Perhaps in our modern, electronic administration gone mad world, the lowest form of low is the fraudster of the old and vulnerable. Meet Marla. She is precisely that, a fraudster in spades, detestable in every way, from her precise hair style to smug smile as judge Lomax (Isiah Whitlock Jr) rules in her favour once more. 

So how does this despicable, piece of work, fall on her sword? Enter Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest) and Roman Lumyov (Peter Dinklage) as the bite Marla takes that may be more than she can chew. I say might because the rivers run deep in the forms of Jennifer and Roman hence Marla and her partner Fran (Eiza Gonzalez) may have a problem or two on their hands!

British born J Blakeson writes and directs well. The well reviewed, The Disappearance of Alice Creed was his breakout feature with T.V. mini series Gunpowder, his major directing showcase. He has the ability to engross an audience from the opening scene. Ten years ago he was tagged by Variety as one of 10 directors to watch. A good writer working his magic through efficient direction attracts production money. I Care A Lot will attract more attention for J Blakeson, no doubt. 10GUMS.