BUNUEL IN THE LABYRINTH OF THE TURTLES
This delightful animation feature from Spain’s Salvador Simo is a real gem! Simo uses traditional 2D hand-drawn animation in telling the true story of great surrealist filmmaker Luis Bunuel at the time when he was struggling to raise money for his second film. He began his collaboration with Salvador Dali with UN CHIEN ANDALOU in 1929 while their first feature L’AGE D’OR made in 1930 shocked the world and left him penniless without anyone willing to back his forthcoming projects.
A broken Bunuel leaves Parisian life behind for Spain where his loyal friend, the sculptor Ramon Acin promises that if his lottery ticket wins, he will finance Bunuel’s next project. And as fate would have it, Acin wins and soon enough Bunuel along with Acin and a small film crew arrives at the remote part of Las Hurdas, ready to make his documentary LAS HURDAS: LAND WITHOUT BREAD…
It is a superb film beautifully designed with cleverly edited scenes from Bunuel’s childhood at the time when he was a pupil at a Jesuit school in Zaragoza long before he rejected religion and became an atheist. Simo also uses black and white excerpts from Bunuel’s films to great effect which highlight the style of his filmmaking. A joyous and deeply moving experience! (BFI Player)
CLEMENCY
I first saw Alfre Woodward’s remarkable performance at last year’s London Film Festival and now on a second viewing, it is evident why there was so much uproar at this year’s Oscars, where black actors and films like this along with NO MERCY were totally ignored.
Woodward delivers a brave, vanity free performance as prison warden Bernadine Williams. She is an unbending, almost unforgiving warden who always works by the book and is unwilling to show flexibility or show any emotion even when a death row execution she conducts goes horrible wrong…
Writer/director Chinonye Chukwu’s, assured, intelligent film relies heavily on character and her action unfolds gradually and most effectively devoid of any sentimentality. It is bleak and harrowing but also cathartic! (Curzon Home Cinema)
SCOOB!
This likable animation feature is a prequel to Scooby-Doo’s adventures with his inseparable friend Shaggy. One day on Venice Beach, California a homeless and very hungry puppy steals a whole gyro from the “Alexander” taverna, while a lonesome boy is playing in the sand. When the police come to arrest the dog, Shaggy claims to be his owner and instantly names him Scooby. During their first Halloween, the devoted friends join forces with Fred, Velma and Daphne in order to solve the mystery behind a haunted house- their first case before they become the famous Mystery Inc. They are celebrated Supernatural Mystery Solvers until they discover a sinister plot to bring the ghost dog Cerberus back from Hades…
The opening and the Greek references are fun but once the action enters the superhero stratosphere with a grand villain followed by “mechanical morons”-but without the wit of THE MINIONS- it loses some of its impact. (Premium Video On Demand)
COME AS YOU ARE
The inspirational true story of three young men with disabilities that hit the road for a journey of sex discovery was first made into a film in Belgium in 2011 with the title HASTA LA VISTA. In this American remake the story is relatively the same – the Spanish destination for the Belgians is now switched for a brothel in Montreal for the Americans. The disabled men hire a van with a female driver, who also acts as a nurse, and soon hit the road as far away from their overprotective parents as possible.
It is a decent remake sensitively told, combining comedy with drama in equal measure. The performances are strong with a fine contribution from the striking Gabourey Sidibe, as their no-nonsense driver. (PVOD)
CZECKMATE: IN SEARCH OF JIRI MENZEL
A marathon of a documentary over seven hours long from Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, who examines the rise of the Czech New Wave in the early sixties despite the country’s political status quo and subsequent occupation from the Russians in 1968.
This compelling film puts special emphasis on Jiri Menzel, the celebrated filmmaker of CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS, made in 1966, who talks with honesty about his life and work. Many of his FAMU film school contemporaries including Milos Forman, Ivan Passer and Vera Chytilova also make a special contribution talking and analysing in depth those turbulent times and their inspiration for their projects. “The New Wave is the ability to laugh at ourselves during difficult times” as one describes.
It is genuinely educational and truly inspiring! (Blu-ray from Second Run)
GHOSTS OF WAR
This is only the second film written and directed by Eric Bress following THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT back in 2004. He is also the writer of a couple of FINAL DESTINATION efforts, so it is fair to say that his projects are geared towards supernatural horror.
The time is World War II and the place France under Nazi occupation. Five American soldiers are assigned to hold a French Chateau, which they soon start to believe is haunted…
There have been a few horror movies lately set during the Nazis like OVERLORD and OUTPOST, so this seems to be another routine horror, until Bress utterly out of the blue takes a different direction. Intriguing and unpredictable with a bizarre cameo from Billy Zane. (VOD from Vertigo)
Also out this week:
GOOD MANNERS: A compelling film from Brazil thanks to the luminous presence of Isabel Zuaa, as Clara, a lonely nurse, who finds employment as a nanny at a heavily pregnant woman’s residence. Marco Dutra opens his intriguing film like a domestic drama, heavy on atmosphere and suspense until he changes gear to a totally different dimension. It is the kind of film that you need to see without reading too much about it! (MUBI)
PIRANHAS: I first saw this powerful mafia thriller at last October’s London Film Festival and on a second viewing I found the story of teenage gangs in Naples even more gripping. 15-year-old Nicola is a charismatic but naïve teenager, who mixes with the wrong crowd and begins to sell drugs in a desperate attempt to make “easy” money…An intense, highly energetic drama based on the book by Roberto Saviano, the writer of GOMORRAH and superbly directed by Claudio Giovannesi. (iTunes, Amazon, Sky, Virgin, Google & Chili)
LITIGANTE: Colombian director Franco Lolli tells a powerful story of a single mother struggling at work as a high-flying lawyer confronted with a corruption scandal, as well as at home following her mother’s diagnosis with cancer…Lolli has recruited his own mother and cousin in the leading roles and his urgent, authentic style of filmmaking is blessed with two natural and very believable performances. (Curzon Home Cinema)
George Savvides