POI E

New Zealand, 2016, 92 minutes, Colour.
Patea Maori Club.
Directed by Te Arepa Kahi.

This pleasant documentary is something of a New Zealand home movie, very appealing for New Zealanders and those in the know, enjoyable for those not in the know for whom it can be entertaining or just be of passing interest.

There was a great deal of video camera work being done in New Zealand in the early 1980s and a lot of it is very evident here. And there is a lot of talking head material in 2015 when this film was shot – and some enjoyment in seeing some of the people being interviewed in the early 1980s and the older incarnation and in the present.

It should be said that this is not just a New Zealand story but a very Maori story.

The title refers to a popular song, developed by a strong entertainment personality, Dalvanius Prime, Poi E. it is a blend of traditional Maori music with the popular styles of the 1980s. Dalvanius composed it with an elderly lady, Ngoi Prehairangi, blind, much admired in the community, using the lyrics. It soon became quite a hit in New Zealand, though many of those involved in watching its composition were not particularly enthralled. However, tapes were made, a director was persuaded to make a video and Prime travelled around to various clubs and gymnasiums with the song, with its eventually finding its way onto New Zealand radio and New Zealand television. It has become something of an unofficial national anthem.

It was a hit.

So, while the film traces the origins and development of the song, with quite a number of performances, there is excitement when Prime and his group are invited to the UK and appear on the television program, Blue Peter. And this leads to their being included in a Royal Gala performance in the presence of the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Anne.

Dalvanius Prime died in 2002, so his presence in the film is through the many video clips and television clips, a big man, genial, intense with his ambitions, encouraging Maori people in the use of their language, rediscovering it or developing it, with music and with pride.

The song was written in the town of Patea, North island, West Coast, near Hastings. Initially, the song was sung by the locals and this developed into the Patea Maori Club, men and women, in traditional dress and paint, the women swaying and playing with their poi, the balls on thread, who toured with the song.

The memories have been preserved, the singers, a dancer with the Michael Jackson-like moves, the television shows, the performances. And the oldies have the chance to think back, to reminisce enjoyably, and pay tribute to Dalvanius Prime.

SPIRIT OF THE GAME

Australia, 2016, 108 minutes, Colour.
Aaron Jabukenko, Ken Sarbo, Grant Piro, Mark Mitchell, Denise Roberts, Marina Prior.
Directed by J. D. Scott.

It should be noted immediately that this is a ‘Faith Film’. Audiences who appreciate Faith Films will find it much to their liking. Those who are wary of Faith Films will probably remain wary.

The story of the film is based on actual events, focusing on the Australian basketball team for the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956.

The film opens in Idaho in the early 1950s, portrayed almost as ideal America in the calmness and prosperity of the Eisenhower era. DeLyle? Condie (Aaron Jabukenko) is what one might call a regular fellow, conscientious, a student, a basketball player, devout, comfortable in using faith and prayer language with his parents. He is to be engaged, goes off to Salt Lake City for studies and is disappointed when his fiancee breaks off the engagement and does not give him a reason.

The Church of Latter Day Saints has not been mentioned explicitly up to this point but audiences may have intuitions that this is the faith base for the family. DeLyle? opts to go to Australia for two years of missionary work. Since the writer-director was born in Dandenong in Melbourne, it seems fair game that he can present the Australians of the 1950s as rather down-to-earth, slamming doors on the visitors, their being pelted with tomatoes by kids, and the screenplay having the missionaries repelled by Vegemite.

On arrival, the missionaries find that their regime is fairly strict, that in some sense they are a closed community except when they try their door-knocking outreach. On arrival, Condie is invited to participate in a basketball match, much to the ire of the President and his wife (Mark Mitchell and Denise Roberts). There is quite some discussion, familiar to religious communities about contact with the world and yet this contact being a possibility for evangelisation.

After some interventions, especially by Condie’s father with the elders in Salt Lake City, permission is given for the Mormon Elders to form a team and, at the invitation of Ken Watson (Grant Piro in a very persuasive performance), considered the father of Australian basketball, they begin to coach the rather hopeless Australian team.

It is here that the film picks up a great deal of excitement for most audiences, even for non-faith audiences, as the team show their skills, play a team of prisoners at Bendigo prison, and are challenged by the French Olympic team whose coach is certainly a very bad and angry sport. The climax of the film is a rematch against the French who play with no holds barred against the earnest Mormon Yankees. Whatever the hostility initially towards the Mormons, religion-wise, the crowd (and the cinema audience) are enthusiastically and vocally supportive of the American team.

This is the kind of film that is called inspirational and could contribute a lot to a changing image of Mormons and their beliefs, their mission. The director does have a missionary background, some time in PNG as well as in the Solomon Islands and has made a number of religious features and documentaries.

But, even with reservations, it is not hard to be caught up in the spirit of the game.

1. A true story? The piece of Australiana? Americana?

2. A sports story, a faith story, inspiration story? A Mormon story?

3. Idaho, the 1950s, homes, the town, sport, Salt Lake City and the University? The Mormon headquarters? The musical score?

4. Melbourne, the 1950s, the suburbs, streets, homes, the Mormon headquarters, the Bendigo prison? The warehouse for the basketball match? The Olympic Games settings? The look of the period, the feel? The television excerpts?

5. The American spirit, sport, sport and religion, the mission and sport as a contact with people?

6. The Australian jokes, the attitudes of the people towards religion, their behaviour, the Vegemite jokes? The Australian public as anti-Mormon, wary? Attitudes towards the United States? The World War II history? The collaboration in basketball, the play, supporting the underdogs, admiring the spirit, the violent behaviour of the French, the loud and vocal applause?

7. The comedy family, De Lyle, his age, the boy in the 1950s, American, nice, his proposal, excitement, the joy with his parents, the religious background, faith and prayer? The fiancee, her breaking of the engagement, no reason, the effect? His becoming listless? At the University? The possibilities for sport? His decision to go on mission?

8. The Mormons in Australia, the Elders, the partners, their accommodation, the president and his wife, strict, proper, doors slammed, kids throwing tomatoes? Possibility for depression – but yet persistence?

9. De Lyle and his arrival, his partner on the boat, invited to the basketball match, participating, his skills? Ken Watson observing him? Their meeting the young wife? Watson’s interest, the president forbidding the play? His new partner, proper? Visiting the house, meeting the wife again, her young brother, the husband and his antagonism after play, the boy and throwing the baskets? Opening up of possibilities for contact?

10. The idea of evangelisation through sport, the contacts, not being isolated, not inward focused, scenes of argument with the president, the president saying no, his stern wife? Mr Condie writing to Salt Lake City Elders? The change of heart and the reasons? Letting the Australian Mormons know?

11. Selecting the team, the skills, their practices? Discussions with Ken Watson, the coach? The coaching, the poor Australian players? The details of training? The invitation to play at the prison, enjoying it, the young man asking help from Condie’s partner?

12. The atmosphere of the Olympics, television, the spirit?

13. The French team, the playing, the coach and his hard attitude, the players? The win, close, the superiority of the Yankee Mormons?

14. The issue of the re-match? Setting the terms? In public? The crowds, the brutal play of the French, the reactions of the coach? The remnant of the Yankees, the injuries? Losing but slightly? The French leaving? The audience and the applause?

15. Further information about the program and its continuance into the 1960s? The Yankee Mormons beating the Olympic teams except the Russians?

16. Sport and spirit?

17. The nature of mission, contact with people in the culture?

MISS REPRESENTATION

US, 2010, 85 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsome, Kimberlee Acquiro.

This is a strong documentary film about women, women’s issues, men’s issues with women, and, from the title, the media representations or misrepresentations of women.

The director and her team were keen to make this film, especially because at the end, the director gave birth to a daughter – and was concerned about her life in a chauvinist world with crass misrepresentations of women.

The theme of the film is familiar but it is an interesting 90 minutes with a wide range of images, many of them quite disturbing, even disgusting the strong point is made.

Along with the images, there is great concern, even crusade about the representation of women. it is very much a documentary of talking heads, with a great number of women, and several men contributing. There are many very articulate women advocates from a range of organisations. There are several American women who stood for politics – and, in the light of later years and Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the US presidency, strong opinions from Hillary Clinton as well as footage of her campaign in the 2008 presidential election. There are also quite a number of talking heads from the arts, some with great prestige like Geena Davis, and Jane Fonda, drawing on their experience of film and television as well as their social concerns.

Their comments and the juxtaposition of the talking heads with so many images has a cumulative effect, especially with the crass objectifying of women, sexuality, nudity, sexual violence. And, once again, there is a concern for the impact on children and the sexualisation of children at younger and younger ages.

While there are many similar films on this theme, this is a useful 90 minutes to visualise and dramatise the key issues.

THE LAST GREAT WILDERNESS

UK, 2002, 95 minutes, Colour.
Alistair Mackenzie, Jonny Phillips, Ewan Stewart, David Hayman, Victoria Smurfit.
Directed by David Mackenzie.

Shot with digital camera (which makes the bleak Scottish highlands even bleaker), this is an experimental film that tries the patience of the audience. Two young men, one on the run, the other wanting to burn down the house of the pop star who stole his wife, find themselves out of petrol and stuck in the oddest of psychological retreats run with questionable pseudo therapies. It all looks as if they made it up (or failed to make it up) as they went along. It is difficult to work out the characters' emotions. Huge plot leaps occur without explanation.
The film received a lot of derogatory reviews, but bloggers decided to look at it serious and comic blend with touches of horror and were in favour of it.

Director David Mackenzie went on to quite a significant career with a range of films which included Asylum, Hallam Foe, Starred Up.


1. The impact of the film? Characters, plot, confusion? Serious and comic? Bizarre?

2. The subsequent work of the director and this film seem to seen in hindsight?

3. The Scottish landscapes, evocation, the edge, the title and the wilderness? The range of songs? The musical score?

4. The craziness of the plot, of the characters, of the lodge in the middle of the wilderness, those undergoing therapy?

5. Charlie, his motivation, vengeance, attacking the celebrity, the song about his wife and its being played? Going into action, the encounter? The car, running out of petrol, going to the Lodge, the encounters, the people in the lodge, the therapies?

6. The gigolo, pursuit, fears of castration? Encountering Charlie, travelling with him?

7. The lodge, the cult, the leaders, the paranoid, the young mother, the priest and abuse…, The couple managing the cult? The woman, her dying, the wake?

8. The hit men, their pursuit of this target? Charlie killing them? The gamekeeper, shooting? The role of Clare and her concern?

9. A portrait of dysfunctional people, comic touches, bizarre touches, the trampoline, the pursuit in the fields, the deaths, the brutality of the ending?

THE LAST KISS

US, 2006, 104 minutes, Colour.
Zack Braff, Jacinda Barrett, Casey Affleck, Rachel Billson, Michael Weston, Eric Christian Olsen, Marley Shelton, Harold Ramis, Blythe Danner, Tom Wilkinson.
Directed by Tony Goldwyn.

One way of beginning a review of The Last Kiss (an adaptation and remake of an Italian film of the same name, directed by Gabriele Muccino, 2001) is to note the archly critical comments by older reviewers. They were clearly impatient with the main characters who are all nearing thirty and are experiencing pre-midlife crises. The implication is that they should not be so irritatingly immature. While that may be a worthy cause to pursue, it is not particularly realistic. Each generation has to make its own mistakes.

Which is what The Last Kiss is about.

Zach Braff, who has impressed TV fans with Scrubs and film fans with Garden State, is the focal character. Scared of marriage but seemingly devoted in commitment to his girlfriend (Jacinda Barrett), he discovers that she is pregnant. His best friends are not that much help. One (Casey Affleck) is a nice man whose wife, tired with their new baby, is driving him mad; another is a serial womaniser (Eric Christian Olsen); the other is a sad sack (Michael Weston) who (desperately) won’t accept the break-up with his girlfriend. The latter’s solution is to go on a caravan trek to Tierra del Fuego with the friend-about-town.

The pregnancy has a deeper effect on our hero than he realises and when a college student (Rachel Bilson) flirts with him and is prepared to go all the way, he… Well, that would spoil the ending and the resolution.

In the background, his girlfriend’s parents are having a crisis of their own after thirty years of marriage (Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson).

The effect of a presumed affair has a devastating effect on the pregnant girlfriend. She feels so deeply betrayed that it seems that there could be no possibility of forgiveness or reconciliation. What can an offender do to atone?

Actually, answers to these questions are offered. One hopes that this makes an impact on audiences who are the same age as the protagonists and creates a little more understanding and tolerance from those who have been through these crises and now observe from a point of detachment and superiority.

1. Romantic comedy? With serious undertones? For 20 and 30 somethings?

2. The American locations, the American city? A remake of an Italian film?

3. Title, Jenna’s explanation about the death of her grandmother? Themes of love, commitment, marriage, children?

4. Michael and Jenna, their age, living together, the pregnancy? His work, the office, his friends? Her writing her dissertation? The parents, the pressure? Michael and his doubts?

5. Michael going to the wedding, the encounter with Kim, confiding in her about himself and Jenna? The response, flirting? Michael and his being faithful to Jenna? Kim giving him her information? His visit, the party?

6. Michael deceiving Jenna, using Chris as his cover? Chris’s reaction, his own personal crises and breakup? Michael and not telling the truth?

7. Michael and Kim at the party, the kiss, going to her room? Michael and his sense of guilt, remaining faithful?

8. Izzy, pining for his former girlfriend? The funeral?

9. Kenny, the womanising? Their support for Michael?

10. The death, the gathering, Michael being found out? Chris remaining silent?

11. Jenna, the confrontation, the knife, ousting him?

12. Michael going to Kim, the sexual encounter, his leading, her having the keys? His reaction? Her reaction?

13. Stephen, his relationship with his wife, problems? His talking to Michael, urging him to tell the truth? His telling the truth about each of the encounters with Kim, Jenna and her anger?

14. Michael, ousted, keeping vigil, the days, friends giving him drinks, Stephen proud that he had told the truth?

15. The days going past, Jenna and beginning to relent, talking, her explanation of the kiss? Opening the door?

INTRUDERS/ SHUT IN

US, 2015, 90 minutes, Colour.
Beth Riesgraf, Rory Culkin, Jack Kesy, Timothy T. Mc Kinney, Joshua Mickel, Martin Starr, Leticia Jimenez.
Directed by Adam Schindler.

Intruders is a film about thieves coming into a house to steal money and then terrorising the young woman in the house. It was given an alternate title, Shut In, which transfers the focus of attention to the woman herself. She is agoraphobic. When her invalid brother dies, it is expected that she will actually go to the funeral but she cannot bring herself to go and so she is at home when the thieves come.

There is quite some brutality in the treatment of the woman – but, there are further twists to the plot in which the intruders themselves become victims.

There are complications about her past, about treatment by her father, about a series of killings, where the family trapped those guilty of perversions and killed them and put them in a freezer. The house is equipped with all kind of mirrors, traps, receding steps, which gives the woman an advantage over the thieves.

And another further complication is the young man who has brought her meals for a year, has refused to accept her money, but has told a friend about the money – and he comes and shares in the entrapment.

This is one of those terror films, with a touch of the ugly and brutality, but achieves quite well what it set out to do.

1. Title, the emphasis on the thugs and their moving into the house, the mission? The alternate title and the focus on Anna and her agoraphobia?

2. The confined space, the interiors of the house, the variety of rooms, upstairs, downstairs, secret passages, mechanisms for confinement? An eerie atmosphere? The musical score?

3. The introduction to Anna, timid, within the house, looking out, Conrad looking strange, sitting outside? The background story, his cancer, and her caring for him? The tension between them? His death?

4. The visit of the solicitor, the documents, Anna unwilling to sign them? Her return later, coming into the house, and with the knife, her leaving peacefully?

5. Anna, her agoraphobia, the decision to go to the funeral, changing to a black dress, unable to leave? The phone calls from Charlotte urging her to go?

6. Dan, his regular visits for the year, bringing the food, sharing with Anna? Her offer of the money, his refusal?

7. Anna sitting alone, the intruders coming in, thinking she was not there, coming for the money? The information coming from Dan, his friendship with the younger brother?
8. The personalities of the intruders, J. P. And his leadership, apprehensive, yet tough? Perry, unscrupulous about violence? His treatment of Anna, killing of the bird? The younger brother, admiring his older brother, coming along, friendship with Dan, reluctant about violence?

9. The drama of Anna being able to elude them, the various hiding places, her upper hand, trapping them in the basement, the staircase receding, locked in? The encounter with the younger brother, upstairs, the scissors and her killing him, taking the body downstairs? The reaction of the other two?

10. The confrontation with Perry, his violent urges, wanting the money, the search the house, Anna hitting him, his trying to throttle her, the blood, his death?

11. J.P., wanting to get out, the reaction to the deaths, his younger brother? The gun? Getting through the door, and her leading him on, the bedroom?

12. Dan, his arrival, partly complicit, his explanation of the funeral and the mourners, Anna not trusting him, pushing him into the basement, dislocating his knee, Perry putting it back, his being stranded in the basement? Getting out? Knocking on the trapdoor when the solicitor was present? Anna explaining his presence?

13. Anne, the surveillance, the microphone, the camera, the mirror?

14. The explanation of what it happened, her father’s abuse of her, her compliance, the role of her brother? Killing the father? Trapping perverts, wanting them to confess, killing them, the noose in the basement, the bodies in the freezer? Anna saying they deserve death, saving their victims, wanting them to apologise?

15. JP, his saying he was sorry, laughing, his getting out, the struggle with Anna, the gun, his death? Then watching, J. P. Threatening him?

16. The deaths, Anna able to go outside, not fearing the external world – for future?

CHILDREN OF THE DUST

US, 1995, 180 minutes, Colour.
Sidney Poitier, Michael Moriarty, Joanna going, Billy Wirth, Regina Taylor, Jim Caviezel, Farah Fawcett, Hart Bochner Robert Guillaume, Shirley Knight, Grace Zabriskie.
Directed by David Greene.

Children of the Dust is a 1990s television miniseries. It is a post-Civil War story, focusing on the American Indians, their being overcome by the military, the allotment of lands, supervision by agencies, movements towards rebellion and self-assertion. it is also a story about American Blacks in the aftermath of freedom from slavery. It is a story about white families from the American South and issues of racism, the Ku Klux Klan, lynchings and violence.

The length of the film enables it to have a great deal of attention given to the various plotlines. What binds it all together is the presence of Sidney Poitier, in his mid-to-late 60s, portraying a gunslinger who has parents who are Indian as well as black. He is shown negotiating with the Indians, dismayed at a military massacre, rescuing the son of the chief and enabling this boy to grow up in an Indian agency but with opportunities for progress in the white world. Later, he is asked to accompany a group of black settlers in a land race so that they can find land and to build their town, Freedom. It is in this context that we see the activities, lynchings and castrations, by the Klan.

The first part of the film shows the Indian agent, sympathetically played by Michael Moriarty, and his subdued wife, Farah Fawcett, from Baltimore, who defines the west as oppressive. There are two children who grew up with the Indian boy, the sympathetic Rachel who is in love with him and the bigoted Dexter who is against him. The Indian is played by Billy Wirth and the brother and sister by Joanne Going and Jim Caviezal.

The film shows the progress in the 1880s and 1890s, the building up of towns – and the children of wealthy white families who were ambitious for the towns but also resentful against the Blacks, racist, and using the Ku Klux Klan.

There are some interesting subordinate characters, a sympathetic Regina Taylor is the woman who teaches the gunslinger to read, Shirley Knight as the manager of the white household presided over by Hart Bochner.

The film is directed by David Greene who made many films and television movies and also Godspell.

1. A post Civil War story? The Indians, their lands, the agencies? The freedom for the slaves? The role of the military? Rabid racism in the South, the Ku Klux Klan? The land rides and land claims? Progress towards the end of the 19th century? A 19th-century American story?

2. The film presented as a miniseries, the various lines of plot? The title and its reference?

3. The locations, the West, the Indian agency? The town of Guthrie? The homes, the town and its growth, business buildings, mansions, the opera house? The Indian reservation land? The land race and claims? The building of the town of Freedom? The mountains, the finale, the cave? The musical score?

4. The focus on Gypsy Smith, Sidney Poitier in his late 60s? Part Indian, part black? His career as a gunslinger, the memories of his past, his marriage, the death of his wife and son? Friend of the Indians, a friend of the chief? Going to interpret with the chief, the guns, the massacre, his saving the boy, taking him to the Maxwells? In the barn with the boy, leaving and going on his work? Time passing? The Negroes and the request for him to accompany those on the land run, his refusal, listening to the negotiations, the bigotry, his shooting? The information from Rose and her background? Going to the group, preparing for the run, the encounter with Drusilla, the attraction, his learning to read from her? The run itself, the ride, the dangers, the Negroes and their land claims, the town of Freedom? Building it up? Gypsy becoming the sheriff? The incident with the boys and the young white girl, the father brutalising her, charging the boys with rape? Gypsy saving them, hiding them? The attack by the men, the burning of the town, the boys lynched? The Ku Klux Klan, the disguise, the members under the sheets? Gypsy being shot, castrated? The effect on him, silent and morose, recovering, hard with Drusilla, her wanting to help? His going for vengeance? The man with the Indian girl, capturing him, the threat of hanging, getting the information? The confrontation with the sheriff and shooting? His resting with Drusilla, a lying by his side? His saving Corby and Rachel? In the cave, his decision about his death?

5. Maxwell, his work as an agent, in the West, his wife, who coming from Baltimore, finding the West too difficult, the wind, no trees? Her racist and bigoted outbursts? Her children, the story of the wife killing herself and her children? The growing despair, hanging herself, Rachel finding her?

6. The Indian boy at the Maxwells, the name of Corby, at the table, Rachel and her fondness for him, Dexter and his hostility? In the barn, the bed, Gypsy helping him? Growing up, his place in the white world, the possibilities for his career, going to study in the East? His love for Rachel? His father’s release, his decision to go with his father? Riding with the Indians, with his horse that he tamed? His not being welcome in white society, even Maxwell thinking it not appropriate?

7. Dexter, the thief, his job, teaming up with Hornbeck, his being his yes-man? His racism? Attitude towards Rachel, spurning of Corby? Part of the Klan? In the final confrontation tween Hornbeck and Rachel? Her later telling the story of his lonely death?

8. Maxwell as the agent, his wife, the children, kind, taking Corby in, yet the difficulty in accepting him for Rachel later, his freeing the captured Indians, going to the cave to plead with Rachel?

9. Rachel, as a little girl, sharing with Corby, relationship with her mother? Hopes, love for Corby, his leaving? Her going to St Louis? Education, fashion? Her return, meeting with Hornbeck, his desire for her as his wife? Prospects? With Corby, the relationship, the sexual encounter, the dirt on her dress? Pregnant? The wedding? Her life, the formalities, place in society, the regime by aunt Bertha? Getting the key, the locked cupboard, finding Hornbeck’s Ku Klux Klan sheets? His beating her? The confrontation in the barn, her having the gun, the shot, killing Hornbeck? The escape?

10. Hornbeck, his ambitions, his memories of the Civil War and the deaths of his parents, anti-Negro? Ambitions, wealth, the trophy wife, his thugs, the Klan, castrating Gypsy? Exposed, in the barn, his death?

11. Whites in the Southern West? The results of the war, freedom? The Blacks, deaths, lynching? Society not accepting mixed race?

12. The men of the West, the whites, the sheriff, the gunfighters?

13. The Blacks, freedom, the meetings, the plan for the land run, Gypsy and Drusilla? The town of Freedom?

14. The cave, the military, Maxwell pleading, Gypsy coming out and being shot? The cannon fired at the cave and Corby’s death?

15. Rachel and Drusilla and their visiting the cemetery at the end?

ANG TATAY KONG NANOY

Philippines, 1978, 116 minutes, Colour.
Dolphy, Nino Muhlach, Phillip Salvador, Marisa Delgado.
Directed by Lino Brocka.

Lino Brocka was one of the most significant directors from the Philippines in the 20th century. While he had experience overseas, especially in belonging to a fundamentalist religious group, but also in contact with his Catholic roots, he made a big impression at the Cannes film Festival in 1976 with his story of Manila slums, Insiang. This film followed soon after.

Brocka was a gay man and gay themes pervade so many of his films, especially his portrait of the Macho Dancers, prostitution and the male clients.

At the centre of this film is a transvestite man, played by heterosexual comedian Dolphy, who runs a beauty parlour, goes out on the town in dresses with his friends. His ward comes to visit him, telling him that he has a young child and asking him to act as a parent figure. He does and becomes very attached to the child. He also changes some of his more campy behaviour.

Eventually, the mother of the boy who had abandoned him and taken up as a nightclub hostess, then marrying a rich man and becoming widow, comes to claim him. The boy is reluctant to go, his father/mother urging him to be with his mother. The boy runs away and returns back home to the beauty salon.

There is a great deal of humanity in this film, taking us into the slum areas of the city as well as into part of the gay community.

1. The title, the focus on Nanoy? Themes?

2. The work of Lino Brocka, his status in the Philippines film industry? In the 1970s? His vision of Manila, of poverty in the city, of families? Sexuality, relationships, transvestites, status and public opinion in the 1970s?

3. Manila, Coring’s world, out, transvestite, the group, in society, social activities, clashes, homes, the beauty salon? The musical score?

4. Coring and performance, coming home, removing the wig and make up, his lonely life, his camp manner, work in the beauty salon, the friends, there effeminate behaviour, the clients, a world in itself?

5. Dennis, Coring’s ward, arriving with his son, the relationship with Coring, having the meal, joining the Navy, his request, the effect on the baby, on Coring?

6. Coring, responsibility, details of home life, of care, the meals, the male world, the boy adapting, love interaction, going to school, with the mothers, his standing up as being the boy’s mother and father?

7. The different reactions of his friends, life and carry on?

8. Years passing, the boy, age, playing in the streets, discipline?

9. Dennis’s return, his life in the Navy, the bond with his son, gratitude to Coring, the news about the boy’s mother?

10. The mother, her work in the night club, hostess, abandoning the boy, marrying the rich man, widow, being wealthy, her wanting her son, the approach to Coring, the visit to the salon, making a deal with Coring?

11. Coring, his reaction, disappointment, thinking the change would be better for the boy, his being abrupt with him, the mystery of his stand-off attitude? Packing?

12. Nanoy, aware about his mother, his father, the bond with Coring, going to the new home, the wealthy style, the issue of discipline? Upsetting his mother? Running away, returning to Coring, the bond between them?

13. The mother, accepting of the situation?

14. Lino Brocka and early films, family, the nuclear family, the different single-parent family, the gay family, love and hope?

BLOOD OF MY BLOOD/ SANGUE DEL MIO SANGUE

Italy, 2015, 106 minutes, Colour.
Roberto Herlitzka, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Alba Rohrmacher, Lidiya Lieberman, Federica Fracassi, Fausto Russo Alessi.
Directed by Marco Bellocchio.

Italian Dir, Marco Bellocchio, has had a long career, since the 1960s. His films have covered a wide range of Italian stories, including politics and, sometimes, the Catholic Church. These include his film about the abduction and killing of older Moro, Buongiorno, Notte, and his story of the Vatican and questions of canonisations in L’Ora? della Religione.

There are two parts in this story, the first takes place in the 17th century, in Inquisition story, the trial of a young man who is alleged to have had an affair with a priest who has killed himself. The brother of the priest arrives for the court case, meets the Inquisitors as well is the nuns of the convent of the accused. He stays in lodgings with two sisters – with sexual consequences.

The Inquisitors are very severe, the nun standing up to them, being found guilty and being walled-up.

This takes place in the town of Bobbio, which is the setting for the second story, a 21st-century story. A wealthy Russian man is interested in buying the premises of the old convent from a reclusive count and becomes involved with agents organising the sale. The film shows contemporary Italian society, aspects of greed and deceit, and violence.

The film focuses on the man himself, his way of life in secrecy, is coming out into the open, his collapse, his encounters, his death.

There is very little apparent connection between the two stories.

However, there is a vindication of the nun when the wall is shown to be broken down and she walks out, still young and live despite her imprisonment.

1. Two Italian stories, the juxtaposition, into cutting, the effect?

2. The director, his long career, Italian issues? Continued focus on religion and the Catholic Church?

3. The Bobbio setting, 17th century, the cloister, the interiors, corridors and cells, the court, the Chapel? The story of interiors? The 21st century city, modern, the old prison, the hotel?

4. The musical score, the range of choirs, the songs and atmosphere?

5. Rico, his arrival at the convent, his point of view? His life, his grieving mother, his brother the priest, the affair with Benedetta? Accusations of Satanism and witchcraft? The role of the Inquisition? The explanation of the tests, water and fire? The nuns, sinister atmosphere, yet the young choir? The scenes in the garden? Benedetta, age, the affair, defiant, the torture, the hearing of her case, the interactions with Federico? The condemnation, her being walled up?

6. Federico, attending, with the Inquisitor? With Benedetta, defiance? At home with two sisters, sexually starved, the effect of the interactions with him, the bedroom scenes?

7. The 17th-century story resuming, the visit of the cardinal, the chaplain, the rituals, the distribution of communion, Benedetta walled up, her feet and the mess, the face? The blindfold of the workers, beating down the wall? Her emerging naked, beautiful, a free spirit? The officials on the floor, dead?

8. The 21st century, the tax inspector and the Russian millionaire, fraud, planning to buy the prison, turned it into a resort? Issues of money? The scenes of the hotel, the agent and his deals, his having been in prison?

9. The prison, inside, the visitors, the guardian of the count?

10. The counts wife, a complaint about his disappearance?

11. The count, dressing, old, going out, meeting with the buyer, the discussions, the bargain? His hold over him? The tax man, planning bargains, disappointed? The Russian?

12. The old man, watching people, the receptionist at the hotel, the young lovers, going up the steps, his collapse and death?

13. Each story in itself, the city of Bobbio in common? But the links with the stories?

OPERATION AVALANCHE

US, 2016, 94 minutes, Colour.
Matt Johnson, Owen Williams, Josh Bowles, Andrew Appelle.
Directed by Matt Johnson.

Operation Avalanche is an enjoyably jokey film, capitalising on American propensities for conspiracy theories.

The film was written and directed by Matt Johnson along with his friend, Owen Williams, the two responsible for the small-budget, satiric Canadian film on film-making, The Dirties.

The film takes back to the 1960s, with two very earnest young men completing their college degrees, going to work for the CIA. It is the post-Kennedy era. In fact, the film uses a great deal of actual footage on JFK, NASA, incorporating it neatly into the film. The film also capitalises on aspects of the documentary genre, with handheld camera and the suggestion that the action is caught immediately as it happens.

The two men decide to infiltrate NASA because of the possibility of there being a mole feeding information to the Russians. There is a paranoid atmosphere, even suggesting that Stanley Kubrick be investigated because of Dr Strangelove. And they learn of cinema techniques to use watching the filming of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

With Kennedys ambition of the United States reaching the moon, the two young men offer the possibilities for faking a moon landing (later the theme of the thriller Capricorn One) and there is a great detail of how they go about this, successes and failures, involvement of other persons.

There is also satire on those in charge, on potential moles, but getting very serious when the family of one of the partners is threatened. There is a final pursuit in the desert, a serious touch on the result of conspiracy shenanigans.

All in all, the film is very amusing, especially for outsiders who are critical of Americans and the preposterous background of faking a moon landing to save America’s reputation in case of failure.


1. An entertainment? A perspective on the US? The CIA, NASA, government? A jokey film?

2. Conspiracy theories, audience beliefs, the credibility?

3. The filmmakers, creative, writing, performing, Canadian background?

4. The usage of film footage, on JFK, from television, NASA? Incorporated into the film?

5. The documentary genre, the handheld camera, the footage, situations, the film stock, editing?

6. The introduction to the characters, Matt, Owen and Andy, background, Kennedys inspiration, recruited from college, the CIA?

7. At work, the CIA? The idea about the mole? Kennedy’s focus on the moon, the images of Soviet rivalry, 1969 as the target? To make a documentary? The appeal to the authorities? Disguised as filmmakers, searching at them all, travelling across the US to Huston?

8. The personalities, Matt, upfront, boisterous, full of ideas, out there, brash, breaking through? The contrast with and, collaborator, fitting in, following, his wife and family? Andy and his filming?

9. The CIA, the alleged investigation of Stanley Kubrick? The background Dr Strangelove? The making of 2001, the visit to the United Kingdom, Matt with Kubrick, learning about front projection?

10. The basic idea, the attempt about the moon landing, the gear, the spacesuit, choosing landscapes for moonscape’s? The experience, Owen, his leaps along the surface of the moon? Filming in the dark with lights? Showing the footage to the authorities?

11. The reaction of the authorities, persuasion, the plan, the targeted 1969, the phone call saying that they could not land in 69, the plan to insert the footage as authentic?

12. The supervisor, in charge, the reactions? Owen discovering there was no permission, his anger, hitting Matt?

13. The development of the project, going to the UK, two Kubrick and the filming of 2001? The moonscape’s, the Rock, seemingly authentic?

14. The issue of the mole, listening in on the phone, the suspect, his death?

15. 1969, going to the moon, the footage of Armstrong and Alden? The walk on the moon?

16. Matt upset, the authorities forbidding him, ransacking his house? Owen being hanged? Matt bearing the film, to commute up, Andy filming everything, the chase through the desert?

17. The continued pursuit?

18. The film as a clever piece of enjoyment on the part of the makers – but with more to offer about America, espionage, the CIA, NASA, conspiracies?