ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES

US, 2005, 105 minutes, Colour.
James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Steve Buscemi, Bobby Cannavale, Mandy Moore, Mary Louise Parker, Ada Turturro, Christopher Walken, Barbara Sukowa, Elaine Stritch, Eddie Izzard.
Directed by John Turturro.

In the 1970s, Dennis Potter created a series for British television where the characters used popular songs to express their inner thoughts and feelings: Pennies from Heaven. He followed it up with the celebrated The Singing Detective. This was something new: a way of telling old stories eliciting from the cast different kinds of performance, eliciting from the audience their connections to the songs sung by the characters. It was a musical shortcut to empathy and understanding.

Hollywood made their versions of Pennies from Heaven (1981 with Steve Martin) and The Singing Detective (2004 with Robert Downey Jr). Woody Allen used the technique with Everyone says I Love You. Alain Resnais did it with Not on the Lips. The Spanish made The Other Side of the Bed. This style is not to everyone’s taste, especially those who prefer more realistic films.

Now John Turturro has done it with the producing help of his friends, the Coen Brothers. He began it, he notes, while the Coens were filming Barton Fink in which he played a writer. He thought that while he acted he should type something real. The opening scenes of Romance and Cigarettes are what he wrote. He wanted to overcome some of the criticisms of the fantasy aspects of this genre by making his characters down-to-earth types from Jersey (and music-loving audiences need to be warned that a lot of the dialogue – especially from Kate Winslett – is very much down-and-dirty earthy).

For most of the time, it is take it or leave it treatment of a marriage, philandering husband, odd daughters and a band, revenge. The leave-it option is at times very strong! However, it does get serious (and moral) in the last twenty minutes, including a short but effective confessional sequence.

It has a motley cast. James Gandolfini transcends the Sopranos as the builder who gets entangled with a seductive redhead with a provincial British accent, Kate Winslett. His wife is played by Susan Sarandon very affectingly (although she is in fact fifteen years older than Gandolfini). Steve Buscemi is low-key funny as a sex-focussed fellow worker on the building site and Elaine Stritch has a scene-stealing moment as Gandolfini’s mother. Then there is Christopher Walken as Cousin Bo being Walken – only more so!!

The title reminds us that life is both sweet and tar-tasting.

1.The impact of the film as drama, musical, blend of both?

2.The tradition of Dennis Potter’s Pennies from Heaven, The Singing Detective? The American interpretation of this genre? Characters, songs, situations?

3.The characters and their music, such songs as ‘Lonely is a Man without Love’ for Nick, ‘Take a Piece of My Heart’ for Kitty …?

4.Audiences accepting the musical genre, allowing for the suspension of disbelief?

5.The strong cast, their previous films and screen persona?

6.The ordinary story of Brooklyn, a couple, age, their children, fidelity and infidelity, memories, hate and love, violence, the building up of family, the other woman, illness, the mother-in-law, cousins? Hospitals, doctors? The workplace? The church? Reconciliation, repentance and forgiveness?

7.Nick and his age, the long marriage, the expectations of the marriage, at work, talking with Angelo and the frank sex talk? At home, meals, his daughters, their reactions to him? Tula and seeing her in the car, starting the relationship with her, his lies to Kitty, pretence? With the family, their attacking him? The discussions about circumcision, the visit to the hospital, his mother coming and reprimanding him? The church? Breaking off the relationship, Tula’s reaction, his illness, the cancer, in hospital? Being honest with Kitty? The reconciliation, their love for each other? His death? His nightmares and Kitty’s old lover appearing?

8.Kitty, the long marriage, her memories, her first husband and his death, appearing in dreams? Love for Nick, falling out of love with him? Her daughters, their music in the backyard? Her reaction to Nick’s relationship? The discussions with Gracie? Baby and her engagement? Her opposition? Going to the church, her song, the organist and his help? Going to see Tula in the shop, their discussions? Cousin Bo and his visit, going to confront Tula? Her listening to Nick, breaking off his relationship, the reconciliation, the visit in hospital, frightening him with the knife and their language? Her regrets?

9.The girls, Rosebud and her being passive? Constance and her music, aggressive? Baby and her singing? Fryburg and his presence, the sexual relationship with Baby, his vanity, his singing, the engagement? His relationship with his mother?

10.Fryburg and Gracie, family, singing? The engagement? His friends?

11.Tula, English, her language, attitudes towards sexuality, at work and her comments on selling lingerie, with Nick, her songs, the Underwater song, the meeting with Kitty in the shop? The break?

12.Cousin Bo, Christopher Walken’s style, singing and dancing? The Elvis fan? The stories of the past, visualising them, the clash with his girlfriend? The songs and dances, the sexual discussions?

13.The church, the choir, Gracie in the choir, the organist? Kitty and her singing with the choir?

14.Nick, his going to church, the confession after many years? His expressions of repentance and getting his life in order? The organist and talking with him? The song from the priest, the altar boys, the song focusing on confession and forgiveness?

15.Nick’s mother, her visit to the hospital, her tough attitudes?

16.The karaoke style of the songs and the cast singing with the originals? The title and Nick’s comments about love and cigarettes as being unlimited in one’s life?

NO THROUGH ROAD

Australia, 2008, 85 minutes, Colour.
James Helm, George Chevdsov.
Directed by Sam Barrett.

No Through Road takes place from evening to morning. It focuses on a photographer, Richard (James Helm) who goes home to his luxury house? Hearing a noise, he finds a young woman, Sam, hiding in his closet. What follows is a living nightmare. Three men in a pickup truck outside want to speak with the girl. They grow more menacing as the evening goes on. Richard tries to use his wits but has a background of being fearful, especially at the time of the death of his policeman father and his ineffectiveness in helping to save his father. He calls a family friend, a former policeman, who falls foul of the group and is killed.

As the night wears on, the sense of menace becomes stronger as does the violence. Ultimately, there are some scenes of torture (in the vein of Hostel) which seem to dwell on the torture for its own visual sake and for thrills for the audience. However, unlike Hostel, the film has a sufficient psychological and realistic grounding in the plot to explain why it happens.

The film moves into a final vindictive mode, Richard overcoming all adversaries and destroying his enemies. There are some plot twists, especially with the young woman as a drug addict who had been raped by the gang a year earlier and had met the chief rapist, who had come out of prison, and killed him in the park – hence her not wanting to call the police.

The film is technically very well made, has some plausibility, works in the genre of menace and revenge – but, for many audiences, will be marred by some of the bloodthirstiness and the brutality of some of its sequences.

1.A thriller which shocks, the tradition of the slasher film, the torture film, vengeance film?

2.The Australian city, the serene opening on the beach, the highways, the parks, the suburban streets, the house, the interiors? Authentic feel?

3.The atmosphere, the score? Evening, the beach, people relaxing on the beach, Richard taking photos? The background of the football match and the fans, the television, the radio, the night game? The long night?

4.The title, the street where Richard lived, the symbolism for the thriller? The experience?

5.The sequences of torture, the plot credibility? The visuals? How much to be presented? Relishing these sequences?

6.The introduction to Richard on the beach, the photos, not being interested in the football, the yobbos in the car? His house, inherited, his wealth, the drink, reading? His father being a policeman? The background of his father’s death?

7.The girl in the house, his reactions, the police? Calling his friend, his friend’s death? The thugs, their taunts? Hiding, going into action, his ingenuity, using the radio speakers and the music, his friend in the mirror taunting him, his being caught, tortured, vindication at the end, proving himself? Violence and brutality?

8.Sam, being in the house, her fear, hiding, the addict, not wanting the police, staying in the house, her wounds, the mystery, Richard’s reaction?

9.The group arriving, louts, the discussions about the football, waiting for Eddie? Wanting Sam? The taunts, the brutality? The leader and his ugliness? The rape issue? The truth, Eddie in prison, getting out, their coming to wreak vengeance?

10.Richard’s friend, watching TV, the football, his deaf wife, coming over, talking to the louts, confronting them, the sudden attack, his being killed? His body in the van? The reappearance in the mirror and his challenging Richard?

11.The thugs, the blood, taunting Robert, the capture of Richard and Sam, getting into the house?

12.The escape, the back fence? Using the blaring music? The neighbour coming over and the lout threatening?

13.Chas, his violence, the rape, Richard and the sword, slashing Chas? The return, imprisoning Richard, tying him to the chair, torturing him? The neighbour coming, helping, Richard and his wits, killing Chas?

14.The leader of the group, in the house, out of the house, his manner? Taunting Robert? Going to find Eddie, finding the body, the return? Richard and the car, his being run over?

15.Sam, her fear, the escape, taken? Her killing Eddie? The flashbacks? Robert and the assault, in the room with him, Robert killing her? Richard killing Robert?

16.The long night, audiences identifying with the predicament, identifying with Richard, being repelled by the events and behaviour?

THE FOURTH MAN

Serbia, 2007, 104 minutes, Colour.
Nikoa Kojo, Marija Karan.
Directed by Dejan Zecevic.

The Fourth Man is an effective thriller with political overtones, especially for the Balkans in the 1990s.

It is a film about amnesia, very much in the vein of Robert Ludlum conspiracy novels as well as the Bourne films with Matt Damon. However, the central character is not a dashing film star like Matt Damon. He is an ordinary man, an official of the state, a paid assassin.

The film opens with the central character in coma, having been shot. He is visited by his colonel. He is also visited by a seemingly sympathetic police officer. He believes the police officer rather than his colonel and, on release from hospital, tries to work out who he was and what had happened to him. This involves his dead wife and teenage son who were killed when he was wounded. He also discovers that he has a girlfriend, and had been unfaithful to his wife.

The drama of the film involves the policeman, guiding the assassin to wreak vengeance on corrupt businessmen, drug lords, politicians. Eventually, however, with the confrontation with the colonel and his killing him – and finding that he was not the manipulator, the focus falls back on the policeman who is clearing the way to become a power in Serbia. The film has several twists, especially in a video which shows the execution of Bosnian prisoners, a massacre that the central character had carried out on the orders of the colonel. The photographer was the policeman. There is a final confrontation – and a rather unhappy, if cynical ending.

While the film stands as a fine thriller of amnesia and self-discovery, it is also a comment on the political changes in Serbia during the 1990s and the examination of conscience that has to go on in the aftermath.

1.An entertaining thriller? Amnesia, assassins? A Serbian perspective?

2.Belgrade as a city, the wealthy sections, the ordinary suburbs? The wintry season? The score and the mood?

3.Audience familiarity with the Bourne films, The Bourne Identity? The contrast with a non-glamorous central character?

4.The screenplay and its ingenuity, the clues, the twists, the central character in a coma, loss of memory, flashes of memory? The colonel and his visit? The policeman and his visit? Which of them was telling the truth? The set-ups? The killing of the businessmen? The drug story? The encounter with Theodora, the increase of memories? The build-up to the confrontation? Remembering everything? The irony that there was no plot, that the colonel was wanting to save him, the policeman and his ambitions for power? Saving Theodora, the final fight, his killing himself? The cynical ending with the policeman in power?

5.The portrait of the central character: the opening, the blurred vision, his regaining his sight, hearing, wanting a cigarette? The nature of amnesia? His age, build, blank? The colonel, the information? The doctors’ warning about the information upsetting their patient? The role of the government and doing government work? The policeman, his explanation of the investigation and its being closed down? His going home, not having any memories, the indication that the killers were searching for something in the house? His being controlled, brainwashed? The bar, the whisky, having beer? Meeting Theodora, their clash? The truth about his relationship with her, going home with her, his betrayal of his wife? The photos of his wife and son, their deaths? The business chief, his history, taking over as driver, abducting him, confronting him, shooting him in the woods? The drug dealer and the policeman’s story about his daughter, the pig farmer, his henchmen, in the house, the cocaine, killing him? His being wounded and Theodora looking after him? His going into the headquarters, the colonel concerned, putting a tail on him, the chase and his evading him on the roads, in the Underground? The set-up with the politician, the talk, the politician’s son and his toy, the plastic bag over the head, his escape and killing the politician?

6.The colonel, the discussions, the role of the military, the headquarters, the computers? The central character finding the information on the computers? His pursuer? The finale, seeing the video, the war crimes, the motivation, the discussions about the war and madness with the colonel, the colonel getting the cigarettes and his being shot?

7.The policeman, always present, his story, plausibilities, audience sympathy for him, the revelation that this was a façade, the set-up, getting rid of all his enemies and rivals, photographing the massacre, the video and its destruction, his power?

8.Theodora, at the bar, the relationship with her? The friendly neighbour and her concern? Her role in helping Theodora escape?

9.The video, the massacre, audience surprise? The memories of his wife and son? The son’s addiction? The wife and her desperation, wanting to leave? Taking the gun, her death? Her son’s death? His shooting himself but not dying?

10.The confrontation with the policeman, the troops and the snipers, the window, pushing the policeman out, coming downstairs, Theodora’s escape, his shooting himself?

11.The pessimistic and cynical ending with the policeman in power?

12.A combination of thriller, conspiracy theories, the history of the Balkans in the 90s?

CITY OF EMBER

US, 2008, 94 minutes, Colour.
Saoirse Ronan, Harry Treadaway, Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Martin Landau, Mary Kaye Place, Liz Smith, Toby Jones.
Directed by Gil Kenan.

Where or what is the city of Ember? It is a city from a fantasy novel by Je.oanne Deprau, a city under the earth built to last 200 years to protect survivors from a dying world. The 200 years are now up and the inhabitants of Ember have lost the knowledge of how they are to live on. Ember is running down and collapsing.

This is the stuff of science fantasy and futuristic tales. It seems to be aimed at the younger audience but adults fond of this genre may well enjoy it.

The sets are immediately striking – and the whole city was built on a wharf in Belfast that saw the building of the Titanic (the real one, not James Cameron’s!). There is the town square, the mayor’s palatial offices, dingy houses and half empty shops, a greenhouse for vegetables and the vast pipeworks and the generator which keeps the city going but is breaking down more frequently. There is always something for the eye in the film.

Children are the heroes of City of Ember, two teenagers, one a girl who is a messenger (phones have long disappeared), the other a pipeworks technician. Together, they are able to discover what is happening and solve the mysteries and search for safety and a future. This takes them into vast realms under the city, a river and a waterway and a climb to the surface.

The film-makers have assembled an impressive cast. Saoirse Ronan (from Atonement and Death Defying Acts) is a strong-minded messenger. Harry Treadaway is the technician. And there are quite a few adult stars including Bill Murray doing his thing as a seemingly nice and patriotic mayor, Toby Jones as his fawning assistant, Tim Robbins as an eccentric scientist, father of the hero, and Martin Landau as an ancient worker who is narcoleptic. Add in British Liz Smith, Marianne Jean-Baptiste? and Mackenzie Crook and you have a quality cast list.

There are plenty of themes for those who like to work on the interpretation of this kind of fantasy, themes of light and darkness, themes of authority and freedom, themes of fear and hope as well as forces for good and forces for evil.

Caroline Thompson (Edward Scissorhands) wrote the screenplay. Director Gil Kenan made the fine animated story Monster House and shows again his flair for exciting the imagination.

1.A fantasy for a younger audience? For adults? Futuristic fantasy?

2.The imagination of the film? A crumbling world? Adventure? The musical score?

3.The prologue, Earth and the destruction, the elders meeting, the builders, the box, setting the time for two hundred years, wanting to save the human race?

4.The passing on of the inheritance, the mayors, the sudden death, the loss of continuity, the loss of the box, Ember and its collapsing?

5.Ember and its look, the town square, the streets, homes, the Gathering Hall, the interiors, the greenhouse, the messenger centre, the Harrow home and the inventions, the pipe house, the generator, the corridors, the stores, the caverns, the whole world of ember? The special effects for the monster insects? Fantasy and imagination?

6.Bill Murray as the mayor, his style, speeches, complacency, the anthems and oaths? Assignment Day and the young people getting their jobs? His paternal manner? His assistant? Living in luxury, fat, becoming villainous, the Song Day and his speech? His escape, Luper? The monster devouring him?

7.His assistant, the yes man, fickle? Taking in Lina?

8.Loris Harrow and his story, a good father, Doon, his birthday, the gift, his son’s disappointment in him? At home, his inventions, his voice on the phone message, his past, wanting to escape, fear, wanting to save his son, the investigators and his giving hints for his son to escape? The rock with the message about safety and the New World and his receiving it?

9.Lina, at home, with Poppy, with her grandmother, late for Assignment Day, her friend? The job, exchanging with Doon? Wanting to be a messenger? Running with the messages, going to the green house, her friendship with Clary? Her grandmother and the box, the puzzle? The words and their being in pieces, putting together the jigsaw? The Perspex pieces and the mayor having one? The blackouts, going to live with Mrs Murdo? The message to the mayor, about the food? Her report, Snode and his reaction? Her escape, collaboration with Doon, getting Poppy? The Singing Day? Doon and the search, finding the store, the monster? The box and the information, putting the words together? The box and the attempt to escape?

10.Doon, his relationship with his father, his hopes, wanting to fix the generator, swapping with Lina, his work with Sul, talking with him, exploring, finding Luper, the store rooms, his interest in the box, friendship with Lina, the build-up to the escape? His father helping him to escape? Getting the keys from Sul? The boat, the water, the climb to the world?

11.Sul, a character, his age, just doing his job, falling asleep, the end and his saving the day?

12.Clary, the greenhouse, the vegetables, Lina and her friendship, knowing Linda’s father, the story of his attempted escape? The story that he was drowned? Her helping cover for Lina in the escape?

13.The images of collapse, the blackouts, the generator, the roofs falling in, people hungry – a Doomsday scenario?

14.The Song Day, people in the square, patriotic, the fresh water, their hopes? The mayor’s running away?

15.The climb to Earth, Lina and Poppy, Doon, into the darkness? The boat ride, the dangers? The miracle of the sunrise?

16.A fable about Earth, doom and destruction, the human spirit, moving from darkness to light? Heroics?

THE HOUSE BUNNY

US, 2008, 97 minutes, Colour.
Anna Faris, Colin Hanks, Emma Stone, Kat Dennings, Rumer Willis, Beverly D' Angelo, Christopher Mc Donald, Hugh Hefner.
Directed by Fred Wolf.

Who would have thought? In 2008 a PG rated story about Bunnies and the Playboy mansion, with an appearance by Hugh Hefner himself (looking old and only semi-lecherous)? But, this is partly what this light, breezy and cheerful comedy is about.

Anna Faris showed that she has a talent for cleverly portraying dumb blonde types on screen in such films as the Scary Movie series. This time she is a neglected orphan, Shelley, who is mysteriously transformed (something like the conglomerated mix-up of familiar fairy tales that Shelley recounts) into a Bunny living at Hefner’s mansion. The mansion and behaviour portrayed here seems audience-friendly-sanitised. When ousted from the mansion, and with no credentials or work talents, and no education (her vocabulary is seriously limited), she arrives like an innocent Crocodile Dundee, or any of those naive heroes and heroines of city comedies, in Los Angeles, trying to find somewhere to stay.

She ingenuously turns up at a college, spurned by the rich and intelligent, depended on by the sorority outcasts, wanting to be the house mother – and, of course, she transforms them into glamorous starlets, finds a decent man to fall in love with, defeats the mean girls and their cohorts, blends her extravert talents and charms with some study and innate shrewdness and shows that it is best to be one’s true self with inner beauty and that being the November centrefold is not a be-all and end-all of life. And who could quibble with that?

1.A good-natured film? The history of Playboy, Hugh Hefner, the Playboy Mansion, the bunnies, the centrefolds? Into the 21st century?

2.The mansion itself, lavish? The university, the sororities, the campus?

3.The range of songs and the musical score?

4.The film’s attitude towards the bunnies, initially, Shelley, the parties, the mansion, Shelley and the makeover of the university students? Change and success? Shelley and her relationship with Oliver, the blunt talk, the failure? Going back to being natural and normal and doing good? The critique of the bunny philosophy?

5.Shelley and the orphanage, her history, everyone else adopted, the medication and her change, glamour, the glow, the photos, going to the mansion, living there? Marvin and his friendship, the other girls? The parties? Her birthday party and the dancing? Her ambition to be the November centrefold? The letter, her being ousted, Marvin and the cat? Her disappointment?

6.Shelley as good-natured, thinking well of the other bunnies, the dumb blonde, her lack of education, her poor vocabulary, her feminine wiles, but nice, her voice memory and the deep voice, wanting to do good, liking everybody?

7.Shelley as homeless, in the car, cleaning her teeth? The reaction of the police? In prison, her talking with the prostitutes? The campus, the sorority, the elegant ladies and Mrs Hagstrom? Their nastiness but using the word ‘nice’? Her going to the Zeta House, by accident? Her talking with Natalie and the girls? Her wanting to be house mother? Their accepting her after suspicions? Her activities? Helping Natalie? The car wash and the boys coming to look? The makeover and her enjoying changing the girls? The attitude of the girls? Setting up the booth, the posing for the calendars? The Aztec party and the sacrifice of the virgin? The popularity? Meeting Oliver, his notice about the elderly? Her going to the home, teaching everyone to dance? Her going out with Oliver, the sexy talk, his reaction? Her going to studies, classes, learning, her file cards and his being put off? The girls’ rebelling against her? The phone call from Hugh Hefner, fulfilment of ambitions, her return? The photo shoot? Her leaving, Natalie finding her, going back to the meeting, her speech, the pledges? The reconciliation with Oliver? Her being natural and not being a bunny?

8.The girls at Zeta? Natalie, intelligent, her hopes, gawky, wanting to meet Colby? Eating with her mouth full? Changing? The meeting with Colby, his wanting her to be normal? Joanne and the brace, attracted to the jogging man, her running, the brace coming off? Mona and her piercings, her anti-objectification of women? The change, her doing research? The girl with the deep voice, so many years at college, her blunt flirtation? The pregnant girl and her singing? The short girl? Lily and her being afraid, hiding, mobile phones? English?

9.Mrs Hagstrom and her taunts? The rival collage, the head girl and her snobbery, her assistant? Playing tricks, sending out rejects to the girls? Behaviour like Mean Girls?

10.The dean, the situation of the house, getting the pledges, his sympathy, running the meeting?

11.Shelley and her decision, her speech, getting the thirty pledges, the Mean Girls’ assistant coming over?

12.Popular comedy, simple, silly, sexy – and the message of being oneself?

FLICK

UK, 2008, 95 minutes, Colour.
Hugh O’ Conor, Faye Dunaway, Liz Smith, Julia Foster, Terence Rigby, Mark Benton, Michelle Ryan, Richard Hawley, John Woodvine, Hayley Angel Wardle.
Directed by David Howard.

If you told somebody that you were going to see a zombie film, a black rock ‘n roll comedy with Faye Dunaway, you might be not surprised that people would doubt you were telling the truth. However, this is the case with Flick.

First-time director David Howard (who made some documentaries as well as portraits of film stars) has a fertile imagination. He invented this zombie story and wrote it, relying on the influence of Roger Corman and the B-budget features of the 50s and 60s – and using a visual style that featured in Corman’s Edgar Allen Poe adaptations, especially in use of colour. He was also influenced by more recent directors, especially those who were interested in graphic novels and comics. He employs some sequences in the film which are the panels of the comics themselves.

The film is a revenge film more than a zombie film. Hugh O’ Conor plays a young man in 1960, ridiculed by most people, a good dancer who loves rock ‘n roll and simply wants to dance with Sal at the local dance. However, the bullies come on to him and he branches out with his flick-knife. His nickname is Flick. When he tries to escape in a car with Sal, he crashes into the river and is drowned.

Forty years later, the car is recovered and he appears – zombie-like. He is bent on revenge on those who tormented him in the past.

Enter Faye Dunaway as an American detective brought in to work on the case with local officer, Mark Benton. They visit Johnny’s mother, played in her usual ditzy style by Liz Smith. The main villain is played by Terence Rigby and the older Sal is Julia Foster.

It emerges that Johnny is influenced by music, especially that played by the pirate radio and its deejay, Rockabilly (Richard Hawley who wrote original songs for the film). With the two police continuing their investigations and following through with the main villain, Creeper Martin, they encounter dangers themselves. However, the intrepid Faye Dunaway pursues the zombie unto the end.

Despite what might sound rather stupid, this is an intelligently written film, capitalising on a knowledge of films and genres. The acting is particularly good. The visual style is full of flair. Which will make the film something of a cult classic for the future.

1.The first film of the director? His visual flair? Narrative imagination? Horror imagination?

2.The film as a homage to those of the 60s, the times, the style, the music, dance? Social concerns and situations? In the United Kingdom?

3.A homage to the 60s films, B-budget, Roger Corman’s films, visually, colour, angles, compositions? The homage to the graphic novels and the use of the comic strips in the film?

4.The musical score, of the period, the new rock ‘n roll songs? Their being played throughout the film? The pirate radio? The deejay and his comments? The fact that Johnny could wreak revenge only when the music was playing?

5.The title, flick-knives, Johnny’s nickname, his use of his knife in the 60s, in his revenge?

6.The film as a zombie film, different, not utilising so much of the conventions of the genre? A revenge film? Police investigation?

7.The 60s and the introduction to Johnny, his wanting to dance with Sal, his shyness, stammer? The bouncers, the boss, letting him in? The dancing? The music? The clash with the bullies? Their laughing at him? The fight, slashing? Sal in the car, the detour, the crash? The newspapers highlighting the massacre?

8.The 21st century: the Welsh landscapes, the industrial city, the water, the night? The ugliness? The suburban streets? The Palace? Dingy rooms?

9.The car, its discovery, Johnny as the Living Dead, the confrontation with the guard, killing him? The music playing?

10.RockaBilly, on the pirate radio station, the literal ship? The voice-over, talking about the events of the past, playing the music, McKenzie? interrupting him and his reaction?

11.Johnny in the car, driving, going to his mother, her age, glad to see him, not exactly with it, her appearance, hair? His room, her wanting him to eat? The visit of the priest and his concern? Talking with his mother, the outings? His character, her character? Mc Kenzie’s visit and her being vague?

12.Going to the bouncer and his wife, their being in bed, the record shop, playing of the disc, their arguments, going to the shop, their deaths?

13.Creeper and his past, at home, his strict discipline with Sandra, his treatment of Sal, brutish? The Halloween party?

14.Johnny, going to the dance, their assuming that his appearance was a costume? Meeting Sandra? Skills in dancing? The upset, the killings?

15.Mc Kenzie and her partner, his role as the local police, in himself, his skill in investigation, not putting on the protective jacket? His death?

16.Mc Kenzie, Faye Dunaway, coming from Memphis, the Elvis story of when she was young, her injury to her arm, the artificial arm, her experience, going to the United Kingdom, partnering the police, her skills? In the dingy room? Going to the different sites? Going to Creeper and his family? Her vest, not being killed? The confrontation with RockaBilly? With Johnny’s mother?

17.Johnny, his shooting at the police? Mc Kenzie and her music theory, going to RockaBilly?

18.The confrontation between Mc Kenzie and Johnny? Creeper’s death?

19.Sal and Sandra, the confrontation with Johnny, Sal and her kindness, his wanting to die with a kiss, her loving support? His dying happy?

20.The intelligent and entertaining use of the genres – and going beyond them?

THE GHOST TRAIN

UK, 1941, 84 minutes, Black and white.
Arthur Askey, Richard Murdoch, Kathleen Harrison, Raymond Huntly, Lyndon Travers.
Directed by Walter Forde.

The Ghost Train was a popular story about a railway station and a haunting. Adapted by prolific film writer and director Val Guest, it was adapted for the World War Two situation and Nazi sympathisers using a train as if it were the ghost train.

The film was a star vehicle for Arthur Askey, a radio personality, with his sidekick Richard Murdoch. This was Askey’s third film. Five foot two, with a somewhat abrasive personality, he dominates the film – and is something of an acquired taste. However, he represents a certain style of British comedy, especially in the number of films he made in the first part of the 1940s. Veterans like Kathleen Harrison and Raymond Huntly appear in support.

1.A popular British film of 1941? The background of World War Two? An Arthur Askey vehicle? Richard Murdoch as his sidekick?

2.The Cornwall setting, the studio sets, the train, the railway station? The musical score? Arthur Askey’s song and dance?

3.Arthur Askey, as a comedian, wisecracks, impersonations, song and dance routines? His carefree attitude, walking through all situations? Rubbing people up the wrong way?

4.The train, the passengers, Askey and his getting his hat and stopping the train, the group missing the connection to Truro? The reaction to Tommy Gander, the guards and their wanting to fine him for stopping the train?

5.The people getting off the train, at the station? The stationmaster and his telling the story about the ghost train? The historical background, the visualisation, the group and the train crashing from the bridge into the river?

6.The Winthrops, Jacquie as the heroine? Her cousin and his bad temper? Teddy Deacon and his interventions – and his emerging as a government official at the end? Doctor Sterling and his brandy? Miss Bourne and her parrot? Her drinking the brandy? Edna and Herbert and their wanting to get to Truro for their wedding? The film’s quick delineation of character and characteristics?

7.The rain, the guard wanting to get the people away from the station? Their determination to stay? Tommy Gander and his performance to keep them all occupied and happy? Their negative reactions?

8.Price as a rival? Suspicious? Julia Price and her histrionic telling of the ghost train story, saying she wanted to see it? Price unmasked as a Nazi sympathiser?

9.The train, the people involved, the stationmaster? Smuggling arms from Cornwall into England? The war effort and the Fifth Column?

10.A film of its time? Dated? Entertaining elements?

CURSE OF THE CRIMSON ALTAR

UK, 1968, 89 minutes, Colour.
Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, Mark Eden, Barbara Steele, Michael Gough, Virginia Wetherell, Rupert Davies.
Directed by Vernon Sewell.

Curse of the Crimson Altar plays Boris Karloff against Christopher Lee. This makes the film worth seeing. As a drama, it is rather low-key in terms of the horror element. However, there are some ludicrous witchcraft sequences at the beginning and inserted during the film. Barbara Steele, who appeared in many such films, is the leading witch. Michael Gough as a role as a demented butler.

The film is a mixture of the good and the bad. Boris Karloff was to make Targets with Peter Bogdanovich immediately after this and only a few more films. Christopher Lee, however, continued to make films for the next forty years.

The film is interesting insofar as Boris Karloff seems sinister, a professor interested in witchcraft, sitting in a wheelchair. Christopher Lee seems the goodhearted and dapper English lord of the manor. However, Karloff turns out to be the goodie and Christopher Lee the baddie.

1.Audiences enjoying this kind of British drama horror film? The prevalence of this kind of film in the late 60s and early 70s? In retrospect?

2.The mansion, the interiors? The secret passages? The village and its normality? The countryside and the roads? A seeming air of realism? The atmospheric score?

3.The title, the crimson altar, the opening witchcraft sequence? Lavinia Morley and Peter Manning, signing away his soul? The various members of the Witches’ Sabbath, their headdress – and the later explanations of the rituals? The recurring of these scenes? In Robert Manning’s dreams? The background of the 17th century, Lavinia Morley as a witch, her being condemned? The Mannings as part of the group who condemned her? The documents?

4.Peter Manning, caught up in the witchcraft, signing his soul away, his death? Robert Manning, his brother, his work in antiques? The package from Peter? His suspicions, his decision to visit the village, the phone call with Morley? His arrival, meeting with Morley, Morley and his courtesy? Finding the party (and the exaggerated portrayal of a decadent 60s party?)?

5.Morley, Lavinia Morley the witch as part of the family? Eve as his niece? Eve and her welcome, the discussions? The relationship between Robert and Eve? Enlisting her help, her investigations, going to the vicar?

6.Morley, Christopher Lee’s style, the epitome of good manners? The discussions with Professor Marshe? His trying to help? The final revelation of his madness, going into the rooms, searching for documents? The repetition of the witches’ ceremony, Eve’s death, Manning’s death? His being interrupted? His standing on the roof, his burning to death?

7.Professor Marshe, Boris Karloff and his being sinister (and Robert Manning making a joke about the house like one where Boris Karloff would appear)? His chauffeur? His manner of speaking, the brandy, his disdain for Manning’s taste? His expertise, the discussions, his always being present? At the Festival of the Witches’ Burning? The chauffeur and his being mute, shooting the birds, Manning feeling that he was trying to kill him? The irony of the revelation that the professor was genuine, his saving Morley and Eve?

8.Lavinia, the story of witchcraft, popular from the 17th century? The festival and the village going through the ritual of her burning?

9.Elder, the sinister butler, his warnings? His searching the room? Witchcraft, his death?

10.The vicar, his being helpful, the information about witchcraft and Lavinia?

11.The film with its elements of witchcraft and horror – but rather an ordinary drama of investigation, a suave villain and a sinister character who turned out to be good?

MOUTH TO MOUTH

UK/Germany, 2004, 104 minutes, Colour.
Eric Thal, Ellen Page, Natasha Wightman, August Diehl, Maxwell McCabe? -Lokos, Beatrice Brown.
Directed by Alison Murray.

Mouth to Mouth is a small-budget film. It is autobiographical, the experience of the writer-director, Alison Murray, in moving into a commune of rebels. The rebels have a social agenda, protest, live in common. However, it soon appears that leadership in such groups is in danger of becoming leadership of a sect imposing personal rules and whims.

Eric Thal is the charismatic leader of the group who moves into a dictatorship. Ellen Page is the young girl who represents the writer-director. August Diehl is a German member of the group.

The film has European settings as the group moves around France, into Paris, into Portugal.

The film shows the brutality of life in such a group when the leadership goes authoritarian. It also shows the power of brainwashing. The various sequences, including dances, represent the attitudes of the different characters.

Ellen Page was to move to a higher profile with an Oscar nomination for Juno (which meant that this film received distribution after her success). August Diehl also moved into some significant German films including The Ninth Day and The Counterfeiters.

1.The director’s experience? Autobiographical? The assessment and reassessment of her life?

2.The small budget, rough and ready visual style, hand-held camera, natural light, performances, improvisation, members of the public performing?

3.A reflection of the times, rebellion, protest, opting out, communes, the sect?

4.The title and its way of life?

5.The cast, strengths, later careers?

6.The portrait of Sherry, her age, family, a rebel, the clashes with her mother, middle-class, wanting more? SPARKS (Street People Armed with Knowledge)? Searching for them, finding them, her being welcomed? Harry and his personality, influence? The other members of the group, Nancy, Mad Axe, Tiger? Harry and his leadership? The lifestyle, the need for money, begging in the Paris streets? The rules, chastity? The festival and the dance manifestations? Rose arriving and clashing with her daughter? Persuading her to come home, falling out again? Sherry leaving? Travelling through Europe, finding the group in Portugal? Finding that her mother had changed, was part of the commune? Harry and his behaviour, his punishing people who disobeyed the rules, Nancy wanting to escape, her confession, Sherry and her substituting herself for Mad Axe, going into the pit, Nancy’s asthmatic death, her escape with Mad Axe?

7.Sherry’s point of view, the audience sharing it, the attraction of the group, the repelling aspects? Ideology? Reality?

8.Harry in himself, as leader, his relationship with Sherry, with the others, becoming harsher, the issue of sex, punishing Sherry and accusing her of seduction? His putting people in the pit? His dominance over Rose?

9.Nancy, her motivation, wanting freedom, Mad Axe?

10.Tiger, more sinister, menacing Sherry?

11.Rose, her arrival, middle-class background, changing, shaving her head, spying and reporting to Harry?

12.The festival, the dance and the manifestation of character – choreographed psychodrama?

13.The film touching the nerve of alienated youth and offering alternates? A critique of the alternates?

ROCKNROLLA

UK, 2008, 114 minutes, Colour.
Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Mark Strong, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Karel Roden, Toby Kebbell, Jimi Mistry, Geoff Bell, Matt King, Jeremy Piven, Chris Bridges, Gemma Arterton.
Directed by Guy Ritchie.

Guy Richie's name has become synonymous with with tough British gangster movies: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch and Revolver. The flavour of the month a decade ago, he has not been the flavour for many a month or year since. Accused of repetition, lack of imagination, the substitution of visual flair for style, he is targeted by British critics. However, this kind of thing is what he does best and this is as good an example of his film-making as any.

This time he also has a more upmarket cast. Tom Wilkinson plays a gangster chief, full of his own pretentions, imagining that he is cleverer and more powerful than he really is. Mark Strong is effective as his chief adviser. They get themselves into complicated deals with Russians with their new money, each side depending on the other to get permits to build a sports stadium. Jimi Mistry is the less than upright lawyer who usually makes things work.

But there are other players as well. There is the local gang, led by Gerard Butler, who also fancy themselves as smarter than they think. They are being used by a classy accountant for the Russians (Thandie Newton) to hold up the money couriers, stealing the Russian cash payments en route to the gangsters. The Russian entrepreneur has a good luck painting which he lends to the Brits – but it is stolen by the boss's spoilt, addict-musician adopted son. The father puts pressure on two American club owners who work with the son to find him and the painting.

There is all that intrigue, complications, double-dealing to follow and for all the threads to be untangled. Since there is a key element foreshadowed but unexpected, then the climax is not quite as we might have imagined.

Rocknrolla is probably the second best Ritchie thriller, after Lock, Stock...

1.Guy Ritchie and his gangster films? The downmarket thugs, the upmarket gangsters? Gangsters in London? Eastern Europeans?

2.The London settings, a gritty city, the haunts of the gangsters, the pubs, the bars, the clubs? Homes? The wealthy? The world of rock music? The money deals, the public interest in sporting structures? A contemporary tone?

3.The title, the bosses and the thugs, rock ‘n roll, the score, the range of songs?

4.The various stories, different characters, their interlinking and intercutting?

5.The overview of the informer, putting people in prison, exercising power, the law and the final revelation of who the traitor was?

6.Lenny, Tom Wilkinson’s style, appearance, manner, speech? His wealth, debts to him? Archie as his right-hand man, lieutenant? Style? Uri and the deals with the Russians? Money owed, money robbed? His son Johnny, the memories of the past, his sending him to boarding school? Johnny and his rock ‘n roll friends? Archie and the standover tactics to find Johnny? Uri and his painting, giving it to Lenny for good luck, its being stolen? The minor thugs, One Two, Mumbles and the others? The confrontation with Lenny, Uri breaking his legs? Archie and the truth? Lenny’s death? The portrait of a gangster and his presumptions?

7.One Two, Mumbles, Handsome Bob? The Wild Bunch? Their owing money to Lenny? Being thieves? The members of the wider group? The various types, their meetings and discussions? Meeting Stella, flirting with One Two, the deal, the set-up to rob Uri? One Two and Stella and their relationships? The second robbery attempt? The relationship with Johnny? Handsome Bob and his flirting? The dance, the effect on One Two, the friends taunting him?

8.Archie, a strong personality, the second-in-charge, his years in prison, an arranger, standing over? The way that Lenny treated him? Finding Johnny, getting the rock ‘n Roll managers to help? His place in the flashbacks about Johnny’s life? Relationship with One Two and the gang? The discovery of the truth, killing Lenny? His future? Reconciliation with Johnny?

9.Stella as accountant, the law, her social status, her company? Her flirting with One Two, the party, dancing? Using him? Watching the robberies? Setting up the second robbery? The discovery, Uri’s threats?

10.Bertie, the law, shady, the plans for building, the money-changing, pressures on local politics, helping Lenny – and then refusing?

11.Johnny, his background, adopted, at home with Lenny, going to boarding school, his misbehaviour, the deals, his love for music? Drugs, Gothic look, the band, his stealing the painting? The managers? Archie searching for him? The dangers and threats? Johnny and the painting? Archie and his friendship? Johnny and his cleaning up?

12.Uri and the Russian thugs, issues of money, deals, buildings, the eastern European background? Their being robbed? Stella and her being threatened? The thugs and the threats to the Wild Bunch? Uri and Lenny, the painting, the guns, the violence, breaking Lenny’s legs? The final shootout?

13.The Wild Bunch, the search for the snitch, the group of lowlifes and their behaviour?

14.The film made with flair, style, the world of gangsters, the build-up and the final shootout?