Sunday, May 31, 2009

Review: The Survivor

The Survivor
Dir. David Hemmings
Year: 1981
Aus Rating: M
Running Time: 80mins

Anyone who saw the wonderful documentary from last year Not Quite Hollywood would have become well used to the name Antony I Ginnane. A film producer who revolutionised the Australian film industry in the late 1970s with his large slate of genre films. They were sometimes very good (Patrick from 1978) and sometimes they were very bad (Harlequin from 1980). Thankfully, The Survivor errs more onto the side of positive with it's atmospheric tale of an airplane pilot who survives a crash that kills everybody else on board. It was directed by the British David Hemmings who had appeared as an actor in many of these type of films, including vampire flick Thirst.

Starring Robert Powell (an American actor who also starred in the aforementioned Harlequin) as said pilot and Jenny Agutta as a psychic who looks as if she came out of a Jane Campion movie about a uptight school teacher who, at nights, becomes a posh prostitute. It revolves around the lengths Powell's Pilot Keller goes to to remember what happened on that fateful night - in the Adelaide suburbs, apparently - and the lengths the spirits of the dead will go to to punish those responsible. Also featured in a surreal regard is legendary American actor Joseph Cotton, in his final role, as a Priest. Yes, the man who was in Citizen Kane was also in a shlocky Aussie horror flick, if you can believe it.


The central premise holds a lot of promise, and when focusing on the scary elements the film works a treat. A scene in a cemetery proves particularly fright-filled and the big centrepiece of the movie, the airplane crash, is an excellently put together set-piece that would surely continue to rank as one of the best examples of its kind. The use of the hollowed out and destroyed airplane craft adds an incredible amount of atmosphere to the proceedings, too. Especially in this day and age, the sight of these giant engines laying broken on the ground is ominous, and a scene later in the film inside a hangar is a well-done pyrotechnic display. The film's production design received a deserved AFI nomination.

There's also no denying that the film looks a million bucks (in actual fact, it's budget was just over $1mil and it was the most expensive Australian film ever made at the time.) Nominated cinematography by future Oscar-winner John Seale is simply gorgeous. There is such great use of lighting and the way the action is played around the charred chunks of airplane wreckage really is something. I'd hazard a guess and say it still ranks as some of his finest work, even when including titles like The Talented Mr Ripley, The English Patient and Witness in the equation. I also liked the music score by Brian May, whose music here is very much in the same vein as a lot of these early '80s Aussie horror flicks, but here it is much more in tone with the film as it has been in others.


There are problems though, naturally. The final act begins to descend into a confusing muddle with apparent twists being disclosed, yet done so with no context. Despite all the well-done individual scenes they sometimes don't form a cohesive whole, with a struggle going on between the more subtly supernatural elements and the more bombastic horror. And while I enjoyed the performance by Powell - a much better performance than the one in Harlequin that's for sure - the work by Agutter is overblown and feels like it came out of a completely different movie altogether.

Anybody wanting to learn anything about Australian cinema must made through films like The Survivor. They may not hold the prestige of a My Brilliant Career or Gallipoli, but they are an important part nonetheless. And, as these movies go, you could do far worse (trust me, I have). B-

Friday, May 29, 2009

Black + White Friday: Reds



Let us welcome back "Black + White Friday". It proved to be one of the most popular features here at Stale Popcorn when I started it last year. As you obviously would have noted I stopped doing it towards the end of last year, mainly because my working/home situation meant I just did not have the time, but I have decided to resurrect it (I started it roughly around this time last year, anyway) because it's so fun. Some of my favourites from season one were Birth, Chicago, The Others, Showgirls and Moulin Rouge! Three of those star Nicole Kidman, which we quickly realised looks ravishing in black and white. Today we learn the same goes for Diane Keaton.


It's Warren Beatty? What's not to like? He certainly looks far more fetching in his tuxedo than he does in his ratty, muddy clothes later in the movie. Soak it up while it lasts because he spends a lot of the three-hour run time in those ratty clothes.


Funnily, the first thing I thought of when I did this screencap was a horror movie. Something like Jacques Tourneur's I Walked with a Zombie or Robert Wise's The Haunting. And, let's be honest, there are worse things I could be reminded of.


This was actually the moment that made me want to do a screencap entry on Reds. It's just so beautifully done with the white shirt front and the light on Diane Keaton's face. This movie really did frame Keaton well, didn't it? There are so many close-ups of her face where it feels as if Vittorio Storaro was entranced by her. And we all know Beatty was at the time, too.


I just really like the framing on this moment. Seems so overflowing with romanticism, don't you think?


Well, duh. The moment I saw this moment I was like "that's another screencap". It really is somethin' else, isn't it?


Again, the way Diane Keaton is filmed in this movie is just gorgeous. Even down to the placement of the hat seems so spot on precise to get the right about of shadow onto her face as we try and figure out what she's thinking. And also trying to not let Jack Nicholson's character see into them too much.


Another shot that was begging to be used. Vittorio Storaro is a master, I swear. Reminds me I need to use Dick Tracy for this feature, too. That'd be interesting to say the least considering how incredibly dependent that movie is on colour. Not that Reds isn't either, mind you. There were many bits that I would've loved to use, but simply did not look as luscious in black and white. Epics have almost always been filmed in colour for a reason. I do wonder what something like DW Griffith's Intolerance would have been like in colour. Or, better yet, let's not give Hollywood any bright ideas. Eep.


I just really loved this scene and this particular moment with the light fixture. Plus, more Warren can't help, right? Even if he is wearing that hat.


I'm surprised this looks like it does since the scenes in question are so full of bright yellows and oranges that I thought it would look bad. It does not.


Hey look, Diane Keaton has lines around her eyes! Shocking, I know. Almost unfathomable in today's film landscape, isn't it? In fact, despite framing and photographing Keaton gorgeously throughout the whole movie, I was surprised by how normal she looked through the whole thing. Not glamourous, nor uglified. Perhaps that's why I thought she was best-in-show, there was something so natural about her in Reds.

What did you think of Reds or the black and white? Speak up if you like in the comments.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Review: State of Play

State of Play
Dir. Kevin Macdonald
Year: 2009
Aus Rating: M
Running Time: 127mins

Anybody who remembers the 2006 awards season will remember my general loathing of Kevin Macdonald's The Last King of Scotland. So going into his latest feature (he started his film career with documentaries such as the brilliant One Day in September) I was wary. Was this, yet another political thriller, going to be yet another bombastic nauseating experience? Thankfully not and I ended up being pleasantly surprised as the film is an at-times quite exciting and intriguing journalistic movie. It has delusions of being a love-letter to the proud days of newspaper journalism, but thankfully the movie itself hasn't succumbed to modern mainstreams tricks and silliness to tell its tale.

Not having seen the British mini-series from which State of Play is adapted, I was not aware of the many twists and turns that I figured the tale was sure to have. Despite a final act botch-up involving the character of Robin Wright-Penn Macdonald mostly succeeds in making a no-fuss movie. More for adults - there is copious amounts of dialogue and the "thriller" elements are decidedly brief and un-flashy - it features good performances out of Ben Affleck as a scandalous senator and Russell Crowe as the journalist friend out to solve the story. Helen Mirren adds fire as Crowe's editor and Jason Bateman arrives in fourth gear as a sleazy PR agent. It is, however, Rachel McAdams that comes out best from the film and it's just a shame she doesn't have more to do because it was nice to reminded of her talent.


State of Play isn't reinventing the wheel, but it does succeed in being a well-made drama/thriller that doesn't always use the easy options (doesn't always, but sometimes does). It wastes throwaway story-lines, that were obviously more prevalent in the British extended TV series, and the actors involved in them (that would be Wright-Penn and Jeff Daniels), but it provides enough fire to make for a rousing piece of movie entertainment. B

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Review: Samson & Delilah

Samson & Delilah
Dir. Warwick Thornton
Year: 2009
Aus Rating: MA15+
Running Time: 97mins

The tagline of Warwick Thornton's starling debut feature Samson & Delilah is "True Love" and true love, as they say, is hard work. Being an Australian film you can probably already tell that this story isn't going to be easy, but some the harrowing moments that Thornton puts on screen seem to bring new definition to the phrase "doing it tough". However, the true wonder of this movie is that in spite of the hardships and the troubles that plague these two achingly beautiful characters is that there is indeed true love and it shines brightly.

Samson & Delilah, no connection at all to the biblical tale, has quickly become the buzz title of the Australian film industry and with just cause. It premiered at the Bigpond Adelaide Film Festival only two months ago and has become a word-of-mouth sensation, and just recently was selected for the Un Certain Regard sidebar at Cannes. It really isn't hard at all to see why.


Beginning in a remote outback community, Delilah (Marisa Gibson) lives with her Nana (Gibson's real life Nana Mitjili Gibson) making a small living from selling authentic dot paintings, which unbeknown to them get sold for thousands of dollars in the city. Samson (Rowan MacNamara) lives nearby and has nothing to do except sniff petrol cans and roll around in a wheelchair. Once Nana dies these two souls, seemingly destined for one another from the outset, set off on a road trip that goes from bad to worse to tragic to near-catastrophic. But while this could easily be taken as not being an "easy" film to watch, there is just such authentic humanity and beauty in it, particularly the closing passages, that it will continue to swim through your mind for days and weeks on end. It still swirls around in my mind and I saw it a month ago!

The film works on so many levels. Is it simple a love story? Is it a tragedy about drug addiction? Is it a realistic portrayal of Aboriginal life? Is it a cautionary tale to everyone about their conceptions of people or is it an indictment on this country's treatment of Aboriginal people? It's all of these and more. It's a letter from Thornton to his audience. He wants us to think and feel. He wants us to breathe the same air as these characters and he achieves this with amazing sense of place. Cinematography by Thornton is gorgeous and the simple yet stark production design by Daran Fulham is really great at identifying a strong sense of place.


There are scenes in this movie that will, truly and honestly, break your heart. Watch as Delilah tries to sell a dot painting to the white cafe patrons or as she delicately holds a desperate Samson. The performances are quite astonished, particularly that of Marissa Gibson. She barely speaks after the first few scenes - McNamara on the other hand had only one word of dialogue for the entire film if I remember correctly - but evokes so much. Their world is one of silence and yet we can understand so much about it, and that's an incredibly testament to Thornton and his filmmaking partners.

Samson & Delilah is a great piece of filmmaking and one that you will not forget in a hurry and one can only hope that Australians - and, if they get the chance, international - audiences take a chance on it. A