GFF 2014 Review: The Dance of Reality (La danza de la realidad)

Genre:
World Cinema, Biography, Drama
Distributor:
Pathe International
Rating: 15
Release Date:
23rd February 2014 (UK,Glasgow Film Festival)
Director:
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Stars:
Brontis Jodorowsky, Pamela Florence, Jeremías Herskovits,Alejandro Jodorowky
Reviewing a film like Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Dance of Reality (La Danza de la Realidad) is a tricky thing. Rarely do films achieve such a level of mind-boggling skill, flaunting an incredible fusion of art and entertainment like nothing you’ve ever seen. The legendary director’s first film in 23 years is an account of his childhood in 1930’s Chile, focusing on his troubled relationship with his father. At the Glasgow Film Festival Q & A with Brontis Jodorowsky (Alejandro’s son and lead actor in The Dance of Reality) the film’s reconciliatory purposes were made clear.

Here Jodorowsky considers his entire youth, reimagining various important events and circumstance. The meticulously executed fantastical elements can at times seem intense, distancing the viewer from the actual story of the film. However, Jodorowsky’s unrelenting surrealism ultimately proves so literal it just seems impenetrable and that makes it all the more appreciable. Jodorowsky’s mother’s unfulfilled desire to be an opera singer is here addressed by having her sing all her lines. The half-finished quality to dreams and memories is here represented by all inconsequential characters’ wearing expressionless masks. Unresolved relations with his father are perhaps the most extensively addressed as it is Jaime (Brontis Jodorowsky) who is sent on a journey of self-exploration. This series of bizarre happenstance, set against a backdrop of political disorder and communist uprising, is an honest open letter to Jodorowsky’s estranged father.

The village of Tocopilla is exotic and farcical with a host of colourful characters, each new character appearing to paint another detail onto the intricate portrait of Jodorowsky’s youth. Most obvious in all this is that even in a break of almost a quarter century, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s wit and visual capability have not been dulled. These images and tales- in the end- only add up to one perspective, but with such accomplished cohesiveness The Dance of Reality feels like a hundred gorgeous vignettes of a fascinating world.  It would be a mistake for me to take characters or events and attempt to explore their relevance to the narrative of the film and, more importantly, Jodorowsky’s life. Instead I’ll urge you to see and experience it for yourself.

The journey to Jodorowsky’s past unveils a bizarre and utterly entrancing tale of philosophical coming-of-age. The vibrant atmosphere of “Python”-esque tom-foolery mixed with beautiful visuals and often blunt social critique makes Jodorowsky’s latest a welcome return.

★★★★★

Scott Clark

'Come To Me' Scarlett Johansson Goes On The Prowl In Full UK Trailer For Under The Skin

Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises Gets A UK Cinema Release Date

 After months of speculation on when Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises will finally arrive in the UK.Today via their Twitter account StudioCanal put British anime fans minds at rest , the anime maestro's Swansong will arrive in UK cinemas on 9th May.

Here's the  the tweet which also gives you a chance to win a steelbook edition of one of the many classic Studio Ghibli blurays they have on offer...

Hayao Miyazaki’s new masterpiece THE WIND RISES to hit UK cinemas on May 9! RT to #win one of these in preparation.. pic.twitter.com/AfL8cgIi5K

— STUDIOCANAL UK (@StudioCanalUK) February 7, 2014

It's been a long frustrating year for fans even critics here in UK since it's release in Japan Summer 2013 it's made it's  way slowly around the world's film festival circuit surprisingly not London Film Festival. Now the date has been set for the arrival of the film  we can finally look forward to some vintage Studio Ghibli most of all

The Wind Rises is inspired by Miyazaki's own personal dreams, the film centres around Jiro a young man inspired to become a aeronautical engineer. The Wind Rises is  the epic tale of love, perseverance, and the challenges of living and making choices in a turbulent world.The film is set in the first half of the 20th Century and will chronicle major events of his life from falling in love right upto Japan entering World War 2 a pivotal event in Jiro's career.

If you missed the  trailer here's another chance to watch it...

Post by The Wind Rises.

The Wind Rises will more likely be released in UK dubbed with Joseph Gordon-Levitt lending his voice to play adult Jiro along with Emily Blunt, Elijah Wood, Many Patinkin, Stanley Tucci, Martin Short, William H Macy even Werner Herzog all lend their voices to the film. Anime fans mark 9th May in your diaries however if you can't wait that long, This Sunday 9th February you can catch the UK premier at Glasgow Youth Film Festival (click on link to book/more info).
source: Yahoo UK

Edinburgh And Fribourg Film Festivals To Celebrate 2014 Festivals With Iranian Retrospectives

Fribourg International Film Festival (FIFF) and Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) are pleased to announce their collaboration on an ambitious retrospective called The History of Iranian Cinema by Its Creators.

FIFF will launch the retrospective programme at their 28th edition, for which 14 major Iranian directors have named 27 titles, from 1933 to 2006. The 14 directors who have taken part are: Mania Akbari, Kaveh Bakhtiari, Bahram Beyzaie, Asghar Farhadi, Sepideh Farsi, Mahmoud Ghaffari, Bahman Ghobadi, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Shahram Mokri, Amir Naderi, Jafar Panahi, Shirin Neshat, Rafi Pitts and Mohammad Rasoulof. Some of them will attend Fribourg to present their choices.

Iran’s cinema is one of the richest in the world, but the view of Iranian cinema available to worldwide audiences has been subject to numerous restrictions, which have obscured the continuity of Iranian filmmaking before and after the 1979 revolution. That continuity is the concern of this major retrospective, for which leading contemporary Iranian directors have been contacted to choose and introduce the key works of Iranian film history.

The complete list of titles to be screened will be revealed at FIFF’s line-up press conference on 12th March 2014. The Cinemathèque Suisse (National Film Archives) will also, simultaneously with FIFF, screen part of this historical event.

EIFF will continue the programme in their 68th edition in June 2014, introducing further retrospective selections by contemporary Iranian filmmakers, together with new works.

FIFF’s Artistic Director Thierry Jobin said, “The idea of this programme was born not out of any political motivation, but out of a deep frustration. Year after year, we are impressed by Iranian movies without getting the full picture. This unique retrospective will, no doubt, confirm some of our common understandings of Iranian cinema. But it will also offer many amazing rediscoveries and, through powerful movies, a better understanding of Iran and of its culture. I would like to thank all the filmmakers for their confidence.“

Chris Fujiwara, Artistic Director of EIFF, said, “The series promises a powerful re-writing of film history through the recovery and re-affirmation of neglected connections. Film festivals have a great responsibility to the past heritage and the current and future understanding of cinema, and I consider this programme a step toward fulfilling that responsibility.”

The 28th edition of FIFF runs from 29 March to 5 April 2014. The 68th EIFF runs from 18 to 29 June 2014.

Classic Hollywood To Get Spotlight At 2014 Glasgow Film Festival

After enjoying its most successful year ever in 2013, Glasgow Film Festival is delighted to announce some very special developments along with the programme strands for the tenth annual festival.

Opening in 2005 with 68 films over ten days, GFF has grown into the third-biggest film festival in the UK, with over 39,000 admissions to 368 events at the 2013 Festival, fifty-seven UK premiere screenings and seven world premieres, and guests including major names like Joss Whedon, John C Reilly, Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan.

2014 is also a significant anniversary for Glasgow Film Theatre, the art deco cinema in which the Festival originated and which remains its headquarters. The Cosmo, which was only the second purpose-built arthouse cinema in the UK, opened its doors seventy five years ago in 1939, undergoing a makeover and reopening as Glasgow Film Theatre forty years ago in 1974. The full 2014 programme, which will include a number of anniversary celebrations, will be revealed on Tuesday 21 January 2014.

NEW PROGRAMME STRANDS FOR 2014

1939: Hooray for Hollywood!

As well as birthing The Cosmo, 1939 was also a very significant year for Hollywood cinema, widely regarded as Hollywood’s greatest year ever. 365 films were released, 80 million tickets a week were sold, and the Best Picture award nominees at the 1939 Oscars were Gone With The Wind, Stagecoach, Wuthering Heights, Dark Victory, Love Affair, Goodbye Mr Chips, Ninotchka, Mr Smith Goes To Washington, Of Mice and Men, and The Wizard of Oz. Rather than celebrating the achievement of an individual actor in the popular retrospective programme strand, this year GFF will be screening all of those films, beginning with a palette-whettening advance screening of Gone With The Wind at GFT in December, and bringing a touch of Old Hollywood glamour to a Glasgow winter.

CineChile

The Festival’s country focus this year is on Chile, where filmmaking has recently been energised by two large international successes, No (starring Gael Garcia Bernal) and Gloria (for which Paulina Garcia won Best Actress at the 2013 Berlin Film Festival). GFFis delighted to be able to draw attention to the breadth of excellent, innovative work coming from the skinniest of countries.

Pop-Up Cinema

GFF’s audience-focused programmes are designed to bring cinema to the whole city, with boutique screenings and cinematic experiences in a huge variety of unusual locations. At GFF13, audiences went underground to watch The Warriors in the bowels of the Glasgow Subway system, witnessed Jaws and Dead Calm from the cargo hold of the Tall Ship Glenlee, encountered the silent classic The Passion of Joan of Arc, with live soprano soundtrack, in the vaulted surroundings of Glasgow Cathedral, and donned Stetsons for a barn dance and screening of Calamity Jane at the Grand Ole Opry, Glasgow’s long-running country and western saloon. This year, there will be a themed pop-up event on every night of the Festival apart from the opening and closing galas, taking in more venues across the city than ever before. Selected events will be announced in December 2013.

COMPLETE LIST OF PROGRAMME STRANDS AT GFF14

·     1939: Hooray For Hollywood! All the Best Picture Oscar nominees from Hollywood’s Greatest Year.

·     Best of British Brand new films and much-loved classics from all over the UK.

·     CineChile  Recent releases from a country bursting with exciting new cinema talent. INCLUDES The Illiterate (Las Analfabetas), Crystal Fairy, The Quispe Sisters (Las Ninas Quispe), The Summer of Flying Fish (El Verano de los Peces Voladores), Things the Way They Are (La Cosas Como Son), Violet Went to Heaven (Violeta Se Fue a los Cielos)

·     Crossing the Line Open your mind to experimental and artist films from Glasgow and across the world. 2014’s programme will include the world premiere of Happy and Glorious, a new film commission by upcoming video artist and recent Jarman Award nominee, Rachel Maclean, the winner of GFF13’s prestigious Margaret Tait Award.

·     Eurovisions Romcoms from Romania, Swedish sci fi or noir from the Netherlands? Could be, as we take a gander at the best new cinema from the continent.

·     FrightFest The horror institution takes over Screen 1 at GFT for the final weekend of the Festival for back-to-back screenings and an advance wallow in the gore of the finest, freakiest new horror movies.

·     Gala The big ones. Gala screenings, red carpet events and premieres. Are you ready for your closeup?

·     Game Cats Go Miaow! As computer games now regularly beat the biggest Hollywood box office takings, is video set to kill the movie star too?  Ace gamer Robert Florence, best known from BBC comedy sketch show Burnistoun, is back with irreverent events, screenings and probably a house party to celebrate the rise of the pixel.

·     Glasgow Music and Film Festival An inspired programme of live music events, features and rockumentaries celebrating the special relationships between film and music, co-curated with The Arches.

·     Glasgow Short Film Festival (13-16 February 2014) Scotland’s leading short film showcase returns for four days of screenings, events and parties dedicated to emerging film talent here and around the globe.  Four awards are up for grabs, including the prestigious Bill Douglas Award for International Short Film, and this year's programme includes a focus on emerging Irish talent, avant-garde 16mm films from Japan, explorations of sound and cinema and much more. www.glasgowfilm.org/gsff 

·     Glasgow Youth Film Festival (2-12 February 2014) Showcasing the best contemporary international cinema for and by young people alongside workshops, masterclasses, competitions and special events. Our Youth Film Festival is the only festival of its kind in Europe to be curated and programmed entirely by 15-17 year olds, with films representing issues faced by young people alongside events and workshops for those thinking about getting into the movie business. www.glasgowfilm.org/gyff

·     Great Scots A celebration of native talent and local heroes with screenings of the best new productions from Scottish filmmakers and Scottish production companies.

·     It’s a Wonderful World Globetrotting without a passport – brilliant titles from all over the world.

·     Kapow! Biff! Bang! Kapow! Comic book legend and Fox creative consultant Mark Millar, creator of Kick-Ass, is back to curate our strand dedicated to cult movies and the rise of the superhero.

·     Out of the Past Classic movies in peak condition back on the big screen, where they come alive all over again.

·     Pop Up Cinema and Special Events Cinema experiences in strange and unusual locations, and distinguished guests in conversation.

·     Stranger than Fiction An exceptional selection of the best new documentary releases.

Allan Hunter, Co-Director of Glasgow Film Festival:‘The Festival has grown and developed in ways that we couldn't have imagined in 2005. It has been nurtured and sustained by the enthusiasm and passionate dedication of audiences from near and far who have come to regard Glasgow as their Festival and an event they can trust to bring them the best cinematic experiences, the most accessible guests and the most affordable prices. We take the bond of trust with our audiences very seriously and look forward to presenting them with a 2014 programme that matches their expectations of what a Film Festival should be and how a special anniversary should be celebrated.’

As ever expect Cinehouse to cover this festival with it been our local festival and if you enjoyed this years festival 2014 will be something special with it been 10th Anniversary as well as the 75th for the festival's main and grandest venue GFT.

Update 29th November 2013
The festival's official trailer trailer has been check it out below

TIFF 2013 Review - Almost Human

Rating:
18
Release Date:
10,11,13th September 2013(TIFF)
Director:
Joe Begos
Cast:
Graham Skipper, Vanessa Leigh, Josh Ethier

The main problem with Almost Human is that its poster is almost cooler and more grabbing than the film itself. The feel of the film exudes a kind of B-movie charm and cult excellence that has crept its way into vogue over the past decade, thanks to a general boredom with the shiny glaze Hollywood seems to trail over any horror/sci-fi project it touches. Ignore the professional allure of the marketing, scrape away any preconceived notions and there’s still enjoyment to be had.

Joe Begos and his team are obviously passionate about their project and the genre it occupies, their love gushes, as do the 70’s references until Almost Human feels like a high school ode to the work of John Carpenter. The story of an abductee returned to convert the people of a small sleepy town is canon to say the least. Seth (Graham Skipper), who watched his friend get abducted,  thinks something is up when townsfolk turn up murdered and goes on the hunt for his possibly half-alien friend. The cult feel isn’t just spawning from a sci-fi narrative, but in effects conception and sound too. The retro vibe of the film is appreciable and charming at points, but overall its execution is lazy. For a film set in the 70’s there are a few glaring errors that could either rupture your investment in the vibe or strike a point for the charming lunacy of the underdog horror film.

Almost Human seems to spend all of its 80 minute run-time dodging between an impressive, original, low-budget, first-time feature to dopey indie flick lacking in the IQ dept. For every stupid line of dialogue or woeful bit of acting there’s a contrasting sequence of genius effects and zany queasiness.  Make no mistake; the most proficient parts of the film are its highly bogging effects which have the accomplished Cronenberg ability to turn your stomach.

Even for all its faults, the general direction of Almost Human proves a last point that Joe Begos is a young director to look out for. The many low points are in return awarded with moments of humour and well-shot violence that leave the viewer unsure as to whether they just saw something awfully good or just plain bad.

A bizarre venture into 70’s and 80’s sci-fi horror that can bore with its lowest points, but thrill with its best, Almost Human is for the most part dismissible. Bad acting, awful dialogue, and dodgy narrative are at points unburdened with impressive effects, well-edited action, and terrific direction.

★★☆☆☆

Scott Clark

TIFF 2013 Review - Cannibal (Caníbal)

Rating:
15
Release Date:
6,7,14th September 2013 (TIFF)
Director:
Manuel Martín Cuenca
Cast:
Antonio de la Torre, María Alfonsa Rosso, Olimpia Melinte

Considering its title, it may be hard to accept that Manuel Martin Cuenca’s Cannibal was one of the most subtle and endearing features at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

The first twenty minutes are a stunning Noir-esque example of raw grotesque violence in coordination with stunning visuals, subtle but powerful. These scenes, like all scenes of macabre nature in the film, are done in such tasteful ways they remove the surface layer of cheap shock and cut straight to the heart of an often sickening but sad affair. After this opening the film constantly battles with its own particular style, wanting to maintain its tame direction whilst maximising the brutality of its core themes. Basically sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, and when it doesn’t it can start to get dull.

Cuenca’s latest feature is, like the rest of his films, seeped in Spanish culture, though here in a very different way. The powerful colour palette and mad energy found so abundantly in other Spanish features are here transmuted to a much more sedate affair in the story of how a respected Granada tailor’s murderous intent draws him into the life of a young woman whose sister he murdered. The pace is slower, the narrative a little barer, characters are rarely above-board; instead the feature operates like a Hitchcock thriller wrapped beautifully in the charming monotony of a Granada tailor’s life. The focus here is rarely the grotesque devices of actual cannibalism, and more the realistic portrayal of the lonely perpetrator.

Like Norman Bates and Mark Lewis, Carlos is a man leading a perfectly “normal” life bar the one bizarre feature that has made him film-worthy. Antonio De La Torre gives a masterful account of Cannibal’s deranged bachelor; his performance oozes unstrained charisma and confidence whilst maintaining the shadowy nature of a hunter. though undeniably a formidable force, Carlos is lacking in the conventional behaviours we tie to all screen killers, what I mean by that is that we never once see the rage and terror of a murderer boil to the surface in a Patrick Bateman rush of violence. Cuenca keeps all the cards flush against his chest, allowing slight flurries of movement that peak our interest, but overall there’s nothing flashy about Carlos’ behaviour.   This is another important point in Cannibal, the tragic portrayal of Carlos as a man, victim to his own murderous intent. This intent sees him kill not for thrill, but habit.

After the stunning introductory murder, Cannibal strolls even deeper into the realm of – dare I say – the mundane, focusing far too much of its run time on surplus scenery which, though pretty, falls in its ability to successfully hook.  Still, a magnetic lead performance, great supporting cast, and some incredibly tasteful macabre leave the film in a fairly laudable stead.

★★★☆☆

Scott Clark