Showing at the
Revelation Film Festival 3rd – 13th
July Perth
If you are in Perth and are a cinephile like me, you
will already know that the Revelation Film Festival is the place to be between
the 3rd and the 13th July. So many films and not enough
time, that is my chant for the ten days.
However, I’m catching a few of them where I can, so
here’s my thoughts on some of the films I’ve seen so far. Most are still
playing, so seek them out on the
program timetable.
You can purchase tickets HERE and since each film only has a
limited few dates, I suggest you pre-purchase or buy a Festival Membership or multiple entry pass that will give you
access to all the films. I’m assured there are films you will want to see.
Time Lapse ✪✪✪✪✪
THOUGHTS
Those of you who follow my reviews regularly (and if you
don’t, you really should) will know that I rarely give five out of five to a
film. I reserve that score for films that are different, and deliver perfectly
to their intended audience. I’ve given Time Lapse the ultimate score not because its
perfectly filmed or acted or will win Academy Awards but because
its just the best mind bender of a film that I’ve seen in ages. Think Cabin In
The Woods, Triangle, Donny Darko (and if you haven’t seen those, immediately rent them).
It has the same, low-budget feel but, like those films, what it does have is a story that will knock you
from here to tomorrow (which is exactly what’s kind of going on in the story-line).
Having just written a time slip genre book, (Back Again) I take my
hat off to Bradley King, first time director and co-writer, along with co-writer and producer, BP Cooper. It's beautifully imagined, a tight script, and they work wonders with a small set and small budget. Time slip is one of the
toughest genres to pull off and they've done it remarkably well. Can King and Cooper please be brought in to write and direct some of the big Hollywood blockbusters we endure where the scriptwriters haven't a clue how to create suspense? I loved it so
much that I’m hoping to catch it again at the Festival next weekend.
It’s on again this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. DO NOT MISS IT!
It’s on again this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. DO NOT MISS IT!
STUDIO BLURB
When their neighbour vanishes,
three twenty-something roommates - Callie (Daniella Panabaker), Finn (Matt
O’Leary) and Jasper (George Finn) – enter his apartment. Inside they find
dozens of photos of themselves taped to the walls. But this is not the home of
a peeping tom, and the trio rapidly discover that the strange neighbour has
invented a mysterious machine that takes pictures 24hrs into the future. What
they decide to do with the images and the future that they reveal becomes
increasingly dangerous as the ramifications of their knowledge and their
actions rapidly escalates, spiralling out of control.
With its
ensemble cast and tightly constructed narrative Time Lapse offers a
claustrophobic study of a variety of forms of human selfishness and greed. In
part narrative playing out like a cross between the work of Philip K Dick and
Stephen King, but this is an original genre work. Writer and first-time feature
director Bradley King has delivered a unique genre film, while the cast deliver
calm performances that help to build up the increasingly uncanny atmosphere.
DØD SNØ 2
AKA ½ DEAD SNOW: REV VS DEAD ✪✪✪✪½
THOUGHTS
Okay, this was this week’s Saturday night B grade horror
flick for the festival. It started at 10:30pm and we left the cinema at 1am by
the time the feature and the short film before it had ended.
I took the Walking Dead mad teenager to see
this little Nazi zombie number. I thought it would be a good mother-son bonding
time together. Yes, this is a legitimate thing to do for a film-mad, film
critic mum. Everyone else, it might be a little too much for your kids. Mine
are specially raised to appreciate this sort of art.
We loved it and so did the audience, so much so that it received a round of
enthusiastic applause at the credits. Although the son did say that they ruined
zombies, because these ones just hacked people to death and according to him
they need to eat people to death. (No emails on what a bad mum I am, okay. He
knows hacking and eating people to death is not appropriate behaviour.) Now I
want to see the first one Dead Snow. This was the one and only screening of this at the
festival, so you’ve missed out, but come along to next week’s horror films.
Next week it’s THE TEXAS
CHAINSAW MASSACRE and WILLOW
CREEK as the late night features. I really recommend you go along
to one or both. It’s quite an experience. I’ll be there at both for sure.
STUDIO BLURB
Beginning at the very moment the first movie ended, Dod Sno 2
see’s more of the same mayhem that made its predecessor so much grisly
entertainment. Of course, this time the gore, violence and general insanity is
turned-up to eleven! Dod Sno 2 sees the legion of resurrected Nazi
zombies as they head for their new target. But the rotting squad of Nazis
haven’t reckoned on the abilities of the Zombie Squad and the addition
of a few new twists to the genre - what follows is destruction and annihilation
and bucket loads of blood, guts and gore, as the zombies and their opponents
square off in the Norwegian countryside.
“Most
horror gives you a few remarkable set-pieces. This is ALL set-piece, and
maintaining that level of entertainment without turning into monotonous garbage
is quite a feat. This isn’t a roller coaster; it’s a bullet train.” – Film
Threat
The
Congress ✪✪✪½
THOUGHTS
It’s a pretty fascinating idea and not too
inconceivable. Jumping into a world of animation half way through was
interesting, although it didn’t work as well as I think the director was
hoping. However, it is one of those experimental films that I admire, and I can
say I still enjoyed it. Robin Wright is absolutely stunning in her portrayal of
herself.
STUDIO BLURB
The Congress follows actress Robin Wright playing herself, who,
faced with a dwindling acting career, elects to give-up her actress self to the
studio. The studio then scan every inch of her body and every expression she
can muster, so that she can live forever in whatever movies they choose to
make, all she has to do is give up her identity as an actress. But times change
and all decisions have ramifications.
What follows is the kind of mind-bending speculative science fiction
that opens up endless utopian possibilities and limitless dystopian nightmares.
With a visually stunning and deeply psychedelic palette The Congress explores
virtual reality, transforming-chemistry, the collapse of identity, copyright,
the function of performance, the hallucinatory nature of reality and the
deconstruction of time itself. In The Congress Folman has created a visually
stunning, profound movie. With a cast
that includes Harvey Keitel and Paul Giamatti, this is an exceptional work.
Finding
Vivian Maier ✪✪✪½
THOUGHTS
I love documentaries. This one will impress you with the
photographs taken by Vivian Maier. Now that I’ve seen this, I really would love
to see an exhibition of her work. It goes to show you that the world is filled
with incredible, talented people that you will never know about unless this happens. Everyone has a
story. Fortunately, the filmmakers realized that and documented the journey of
discovering this extraordinarily, talented, and mysterious woman.
STUDIO BLURB
When she died, Chicago nanny Vivian Maier left behind
boxes of coats, hats, old clothes and 100,000 photographic negatives. Chanced
upon by John Maloof, when he purchased a box of negatives at an auction, and
following as he slowly archives the incredible photographs, organises an
exhibition of the work and tries to get it recognised by the art world.
Meanwhile a far larger mystery needs to be uncovered, and Maloof finds himself
wondering about the life of the mysterious photographer and what possessed her
to take so many photographs...
Under The
Skin ✪✪✪✪
THOUGHTS
You will either love Under The Skin or hate it. It was
chosen as the opening night film for the Revelation Film Festival for this very
reason. It took ten years to bring to the screen, and Scarlett Johansson actually
adlibbed many of the scenes in the care where she was picking up men (amazing
that she wasn’t recognized. The hubby didn’t love it and wondered what the heck
they thought they were doing on the film. He just felt like quite a few people
that it didn’t really tell the story that could have been there.
However, I did enjoy it and found it utterly mesmerising,
with beautiful cinematography. A few people I spoke to felt the same as me, and
there were others who varied from hating it to meh. So I think it is one to see
if you are a film fan to understand what all the fuss is about and join in the
debate.
STUDIO BLURB
In Under The Skin Scarlett Johansson plays Laura – an alien who has
taken on the form of a beautiful woman in order to lure men to their deaths
with the promise of sex. Adapted from the book of the same name by Michael
Faber, the film stunned audiences when it screened at Venice Film Festival.
Many of the scenes where Johansson's character picks up men were
unscripted conversations with non-actors, filmed with hidden cameras. Director
Jonathan Glazer – whose previous feature credits include the excellent Sexy
Beast and Birth – crafts a visually stunning science fiction film that, as the
movie progresses, transforms Scotland into an alien world. Complete with a
haunting soundtrack by Mica Levi, Under the Skin is a remarkable, bold and
sensuous science fiction movie that examines gender, sexuality and what it
means to be human. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw rated the movie 5/5,
describing it as “visually stunning and deeply disturbing: very freaky, very
scary and very erotic. “
Locke ✪✪✪✪
Opens in
Australia: 19th June 2014
USA: 25th April UK: 8th April 2014
Other Countries: Release Information
Perth: Luna Palace Cinemas
OUR THOUGHTS
I saw this
as part of the launch of the Perth Revelation Film Festival 2014. Great pick,
guys. I take my beanie off (it’s cold in Perth at the moment) to filmmakers and
scriptwriters who can create such a dramatic piece that is filmed entirely in
the cabin of a car with one lead actor driving the entire film. He only
interacts with the cast via his phone. Tom Hardy plays Ivan Locke, a man whose
life spins out of control during a two-hour drive to London.
How can the filmmakers make such a great cinematic
experience with such a constrained focus and minimal budget and filming time?
The script, my friends, the script. Plus a top notch actor and a fine director.
Hundreds of millions they spend on these rubbish sci-fi flicks we’ve endured
this last year (all except Edge of Tomorrow, my fave) and all they needed was a
good script. Producers of Transcendence and After Earth, go see Locke and
learn. Please learn.
STUDIO BLURB
Ivan Locke (Hardy) has worked
diligently to craft the life he has envisioned, dedicating himself to the job
that he loves and the family he adores. On the eve of the biggest challenge of
his career, Ivan receives a phone call that sets in motion a series of events
that will unravel his family, job, and soul. All taking place over the course
of one absolutely riveting car ride, LOCKE is an exploration of how one
decision can lead to the complete collapse of a life. Directed by acclaimed
filmmaker Steven Knight (EASTERN PROMISES, DIRTY PRETTY THINGS) and driven by
an unforgettable performance by Tom Hardy, LOCKE is a thrillingly unique
cinematic experience of a man fighting to salvage all that is important to
him.(C) a24
STILL FOR ME TO SEE & SUGGESTIONS FOR YOU
Cold in July
When Richard (Six Feet Under and Dexter’s Michael C Hall) Dane kills
a burglar the locale police inform him that he’s killed a wanted, dangerous
man. It appears to be an open-and-shut case and Dane returns to his daily life.
But then he meats the dead man’s father, the angry, vengeful Ben Russel (the
always excellent Sam Shepard), and then things really start sliding out of
control…
Based on the novel by cult author Joe R. Lansdale, Cold
In July is a rare thriller that throws the audience deep into contemporary film
noir movie set in rural Texas. With a cast that includes an excellent turn from
Don Johnson, as well as Hall and Shepard, multi award winning director Jim
Mickle (whose credits include We Are What We Are and Stake Land) turns in a powerful
crime drama that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats till the final
credits roll.
Joe
Official selection: Venice Film Festival
Official selection: Toronto Fim Festival
In a small southern town, fifteen-year-old Gary is looking for work
to support his family. Trying to avoid his violent and abusive alcoholic
father, the youth slowly forms a friendship with Joe, the local agricultural
employer - an ex-con with a chequered past whose personal demons are
continually threatening him. As the hardboiled southern gothic narrative
develops and events start to escalate, slowly spiralling out of control, what
happens may offer all a chance of redemption or ruin.
Directed by David Gordon Green (whose credits include direction on
the pitch-perfect George Washington and producer credits on Revelation
favourite Shotgun Stories) this film is a gritty and dark tale that is driven
by both its atmosphere and powerful characters and marks a return to his
southern roots for the director. The cast offer standout performances with Tye
Sheridan winning an acting award at Venice for his portrayal of the Gary, while
Nicolas Cage’s Joe is a brooding, powerful turn that plays to the actor’s
undoubted strengths.
Adapted from the classic novel by hardboiled southern author
Larry Brown - whose literary style has been compared to the likes of Cormac
McCarthy, Harry Crews, William Faulkner and Charles Bukowski – Green is
faithful to the strength and vision of Brown’s writing, while simultaneously
allowing his own signature strengths to play throughout the movie.
To
Be Takai
George Takei first entered the
public imagination playing Sulu in the cult TV series Star Trek, a role
reprised in subsequent movies, and which alone would have guaranteed him a
significant place in the pop cultural pantheon. But George Takei’s career has
extended far beyond the bridge of the legendary star ship Enterprise, taking in
numerous popular television shows, films and theatrical productions, as well as
regular appearances on Howard Stern’s radio show. He has also garnered millions
of online followers thanks to his Facebook posts that move from the wryly
humorous to the camp to the political. Perhaps most importantly Takei has
become an outspoken activist for same sex marriage and equality.
Director Jennifer M. Kroot – whose previous feature, the
excellent It Came From Kuchar, documentary screened at Revelation - has gained
exceptional access to Takei’s life, and she follows the actor and his spouse
through numerous public appearances and speeches as well as their home life.
What emerges through these sequences – and interviews with the Takeis as well
as Star Trek cast members (including Leonard Nimoy, Nicholle Nichols, Walter
Koenig and a very - perhaps unintentionally - funny William Shatner), alongside
family members, friends and activists - is a portrait of a man deeply committed
to equality and social justice.
VLADMASTER
VIEWMASTER EXPERIENCE
As part of
Revelation’s celebration of the analogue, a Perth Premiere for Vladmaster’s
wonderful View-Master reels!
Duration: 50mins
Vladmasters are
lovingly handmade View-Master reels. As the audience sit their viewmasters in
hand a soundtrack starts. This simultaneous audio soundtrack accompanies the 3D
stereoscopic slides, the audience clicking-on the viewers as the soundtrack
demands. What unfolds is a magical and visionary form of storytelling as the
audience enter a world of unusual, eclectic and wryly humorous tales, where the
music, narration, sound effects and dings that let the audience know when to
advance each image or change discs. Vladmasters are both a totally new form of
public entertainment yet also familiar from everybody’s childhood -
Vladmasters are a joy to experience.
Having
Vladmaster events across the world – from venues ranging from cinemas,
galleries, art centres and festivals – Vladmasters create a unique form of
expanded cinema performance...and very clever.
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