Aussie Zombies To Spanish Zombies - Film4 Frightfest Unveil Their 10th Anniversary 2015 Glasgow Line-up

Kicking off with a special screening on Thurs 26 Feb and hosting eleven films on Fri Feb 27 and Sat 28 Feb, the UK’s favourite horror fantasy festival celebrates ten ‘gore-ious’ years at its second home at the Glasgow Film Festival with an all-exclusive slate of the freshest new horror films around.

The shocktacular line-up starts on Thurs 26 Feb in sumptuous Hammer-style with the UK premiere of the Edgar Allan Poe based ELIZA GRAVES featuring an all-star Hollywood cast, including Kate Beckinsale, Ben Kingsley, Jim Sturgess and Michael Caine.

Friday’s fearsome line-up kicks off with the European premiere of THE ATTICUS INSTITUTE, the paranormal activity shockumentary of the year, written and directed by Chris Sparling, who wrote ‘Buried’. This is followed by the World Premiere of THE HOARDER, starring an on-form Mischa Barton who uncovers the worst horrors in the dank depths of a storage unit facility. Next up is the riotous WYRMWOOD, the zombie black comedy full of catastrophic carnage and over-the-top 88, a glorious, gory and fast-paced homage to cult exploitation revenge thrillers. This is the World Premiere for April Mullen’s most graphic film to date, starring American Mary herself, Katharine Isabelle. Rounding off the evening in terrifying style is the European Premiere of THE ASYLUM (BACKMASK) – in which Marcus Nispel, director of ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ and ‘Friday The 13th’ remakes. takes us through a rampant landscape of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll possession.

splatter. From Australian brothers Kiah and Tristan Roache-Turner, it’s the deadpan bloodbath everybody is talking about. The 9pm slot goes to

Getting the Saturday programme off to a nerve-jangling start is the UK premiere of the much anticipated and very disturbing CLOWN, produced by Eli Roth. This is followed by FrightFest’s popular retrospective slot which this year is Mario Bava’s BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, one of the most influential genre movies of all time. Next up is the World Premiere of THE WOODS MOVIE – a behind-the-scenes exclusive reveal to everything you ever needed to know about how ‘The Blair Witch Project’ was produced, shot and marketed to become a groundbreaking blockbusting classic. This has been directed, edited and scripted by Russell Gomm, who is a long-serving member of the FrightFest TV crew.

Saturday evening unfolds in gut-wrenching style. Mo Hayder is one of Britain’s most acclaimed crime authors, but it took the Flemish Film Industry to turn her bestseller THE TREATMENT into a smash Euro success and FrightFest is pleased to present the UK Premiere of this harrowing serial killer thriller. This is followed by a real treat…FrightFest unleashed the Spanish sensation [REC] onto unsuspecting audiences in Glasgow 2008 and the organisers are delighted to host the UK Premiere of Jaume Balagueró’s [REC]: APOCALYPSE, the shattering visceral conclusion to the global horror phenomenon. And to end the FrightFest carnival of carnage is the UK premiere of the creepy, brain-freezing THERE ARE MONSTERS, an instant cult classic and one of the scariest ‘under the radar’ movies of the year.

Alan Jones, co-director, said today: "It’s been a decade of the decayed. The Glasgow Film Festival has been an instrumental part of FrightFest’s ever-increasing success story in becoming the UK’s leading horror fantasy brand and we wanted to do something extra special to celebrate our prestigious tenth milestone. So it was important to us to showcase a whole range of brand new titles, many of which will not have entered the genre conscious yet, and have never been seen on UK shores before. Because our Scottish audiences have always admired FrightFest for its cutting edge quirkiness, and our 2015 line-up reflects that approach to the horror hilt".

With special guests, surprises on screen and off, new short films showcase surprises and the festival’s unique community feeling, FrightFest at GFF has now become a must-attend occasion on the horror fantasy fan's calendar.

The festival’s guest line-up will be announced shortly,

To book tickets:
+44 (0)141 332 6535 / boxoffice@glasgowfilm.org / www.glasgowfilm.org/festival

Please note that FrightFest passes go on sale Thurs 22 from 10am. Price: £70. This covers all films on 27 & 28 Feb only.
Tickets for ‘Eliza Graves’ and the Fri/Sat films will go on sale Mon 26 Jan from 10am. Prices: £9, £7 (concession).

Check out the specially made 2015 Film 4 Frightfest Glasgow Showreel

THURSDAY 26 FEBRUARY – GFT Screen 2

21:00 ELIZA GRAVES (UK Premiere)

Synopsis: When young Doctor Edward Newgate (Jim Sturgess) arrives at Stonehearst Asylum in search of an apprenticeship he is warmly welcomed by superintendent Doctor Lamb (Ben Kingsley). At first, intrigued by Lamb’s modern methods of treating the insane, a series of events and warnings from the stunningly beautiful Eliza Graves (Kate Beckinsale) lead him to make a shocking discovery. It’s a revelation that exposes Lamb’s medical utopia and pushes Edward to the limits of his conscience. Nobody is who or what they appear to be. Based on the Edgar Allan Poe story ‘The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether’.

Director: Brad Anderson Screenwriter: Joe Gangemi 112 mins USA 2014
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Ben Kingsley, Jim Sturgess, Michael Caine

FRIDAY 27 FEBRUARY – GFT Screen 1



13:00: THE ATTICUS INSTITUTE (European Premiere)

Synopsis: Dr. Henry West (William Mapother) founded The Atticus Institute in the 1970s to study telekinesis, clairvoyance E.S.P. and other unexplained psi-related phenomena. Thousands of subjects were tested using scientific methods many of whom showed abilities defying explanation by known physical laws. But just after West published the promising results of their research work, the small facility was mysteriously shut down in November 1976 by a concerned US Government. The reason? They met Judith Winstead (Rya Kihlstedt) whose supernatural abilities tested far beyond anything ever before witnessed.

Director: Chris Sparling Writer: Chris Sparling 92 mins USA 2015
Cast: William Mapother, Rya Kihlstedt, Rob Kerkovich

16:00 THE HOARDER (World Premiere)
Synopsis: When Ella (Mischa Barton) discovers her Wall Street banker boyfriend is renting a secret storage unit, she suspects he’s using it to hide an affair. Enlisting the help of her best friend Molly (Emily Atack) she breaks into the facility only to discover something more terrifying instead. Now trapped in a darkened building with a group of neurotic strangers who start disappearing one by one, Ella soon uncovers even worse horror in the dank depths. Her life or death battle to escape eternal enslavement is about to begin….

Director: Matt Winn Screenwriters: James Handel, Matt Winn, Chris Denne 84 mins UK 2015
Cast: Mischa Barton, Robert Knepper, Charlotte Salt

18:30 WYRMWOOD (UK Premiere)

Synopsis: A post-apocalyptic zombie invasion, caused by a wayward comet, turns personal for Barry, an Oz mechanic (Jay Gallagher) when his sister Brooke (Bianca Bradey) is abducted by a sinister team of gas-masked soldiers for flesh-eating experiments by a mad scientist. Sporting MAD MAX-style designs, a glorious sense of humour, energetic execution, new and outrageous zombie lore and KC and the Sunshine Band, this super-fresh spin on a favourite genre is a raucous riot of black comedy, catastrophic carnage and over-the-top splatter.

Director: Kiah Roache-Turner Screenwriters: Kiah Roache-Turner, Tristan Roache-Turner
98 mins Australia 2014
Cast: Jay Gallagher, Bianca Bradey, Leon Burchill

21:00 88 (World Premiere)

Synopsis: Gwen (Katharine Isabelle) arrives disheveled at a mysterious roadside diner. But who is she really because she has no idea where she is or how she got there in such an anguished state. Split between two timelines, Gwen gets taken on a violence-fuelled journey into death and destruction and becomes the most wanted woman in Tennessee seeking out the person responsible for her lover's murder.

Director: April Mullen Screenwriters: Tom Doiron, April Mullen 88 mins Canada 2015
Cast: Katharine Isabelle, Christopher Lloyd, Michael Ironside

23:15 THE ASYLUM (BACKMASK) (European Premiere)

Synopsis: Six teens throw a party in a rundown building and find a vintage record. Talk turns to ‘backmasking’ - subliminal messages recorded onto a music groove heard only when the track is played backwards – and they play the vinyl for a giggle. Soon a seemingly malevolent entity has infiltrated the group, wreaking havoc. However the spirit is actually trying to convey a message and the real source of horror is something - or someone - much closer to home.

Director: Marcus Nispel Screenwriters, Marcus Nispel, Kirsten Elms 90 mins USA 2015
Cast: Stephen Lang, Brett Dier, Brittany Curran

SATURDAY 28 FEBRUARY – GFT Screen 1



11.00 CLOWN (UK Premiere)

Synopsis: When the entertainer hired for his son’s sixth birthday party is a no-show, doting father Kent dons a clown outfit himself. But after the festivities, he finds he can’t take it off – the bulbous nose is stuck to his face, the frizzy wig glued to his hair and the make-up permanently etched on his features. Too late he learns the costume is the skin of an ancient demon and his family must race to break the curse before the transformation into a homicidal killer with outsize shoes is complete.

Director: John Watts Screenwriters: Christopher D. Ford, John Watts 102 mins USA / Canada 2014
Cast: Peter Stormare, Eli Roth, Laura Allen

13:30 BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (Retrospective Premiere)

Synopsis: Six models at Contessa Cristina Como’s chic Rome fashion house are tortured and violently murdered by a ghost-like masked psychopath for a telltale diary containing incriminating scandal. A chiller way ahead of its time and considered the main evolutionary starting point for the entire giallo genre that would inspire Dario Argento, this key masterpiece of menace is presented here in all its restored glory.

Director: Mario Bava Screenwriters: Mario Bava, Giuseppe Barilla, Marcello Fondato 88 mins Italy 1964 (Subtitled)
Cast: Cameron Mitchell, Eva Bartok, Lea Lander

16:00 THE WOODS MOVIE (World Premiere)
Synopsis: In October 1997, a group of filmmakers ventured into the Maryland woods to produce a low budget independent horror movie. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT would become a global phenomenon and began the ‘found footage’ genre that remains a potent force today. Now for the first time you can see how that record-breaking groundbreaker came into being. From never-before-seen recordings of pre-production meetings, audition tapes and test footage to the actual shooting, first preview screenings and marketing at the Sundance Film Festival, all the key personnel guide you through the discussions and decisions that minted a shock sensation classic.

Director: Russell Gomm Screenwriter: Russell Gomm 84 mins USA 2015
Cast: Edward Sanchez, Daniel Myrick, Gregg Hale

18:30 THE TREATMENT/DE BEHANDELING (UK Premiere)

Synopsis: Nordic Noir turns frighteningly Flemish in Belgium’s top-grossing film of 2014 based on the serial-killer chiller by acclaimed British author Mo Hayder. Inspector Nick Cafmeyer (Geert Van Rampelberg) is haunted by the unsolved disappearance of his younger brother. A known sex offender was questioned but quickly released who now takes fiendish pleasure in tormenting Nick. Now another similar case comes to disturbing light involving a missing juvenile and Nick’s real nightmare begins…

Director: Hans Herbots Screenwriters: Mo Hayder, Carl Joos 125 mins Belgium 2014 (Subtitled)
Cast: Geert Van Rampelberg, Ina Geerts, Johan van Assche

21:30 [REC]: APOCALYPSE (UK Premiere)

Synopsis: Picking up the intense action immediately after [REC] 2 - expanding on the mythos from all three predecessors, plus referencing cult genre classics - TV reporter Ángela Vidal (Manuela Velasco) is extracted from the cursed apartment building and taken to a high-security quarantine facility aboard an oil tanker. There, in the bowels of the dark and desolate ship, Dr. Ricarte (Héctor Colomé) is experimenting with the infectious virus to find a cure before another living dead outbreak occurs.

Director: Jaume Balagueró Screenwriters: Jaume Balagueró and Manu Diez Spain 2014 96 mins
Cast: Manuela Velasco, Paco Manzenado, Héctor Colomé

23:30 THERE ARE MONSTERS (UK Premiere)
Synopsis: Monsters are taking over the world, slowly, quietly and efficiently, but you won’t see them coming until it’s far too late! Four film students embark on a road trip to obtain promotional interviews for their college. However en route they witness a series of odd events, strange behaviour, shocking actions and what seems to be surplus of twins. Their well-ordered universe literally changes before their camera lenses uncovering a terrifying secret lurking just under the seemingly calm urban landscape.

Director: Jay Dahl Screenwriter: Jay Dahl Canada 2014 96 mins
Cast: Matthew Amyotte, Jason Daley, Michael Ray Fox

Berlinale 2015 - Watch The Trailer For Opening Gala Nobody Wants The Night Starring Juliet Binoche

2015 Cinehouse And The People's Movies are hoping to spread our wings internationally and next week we will at Sundance Film Festival.In February we also hope to attend Berlin for the first time and today we get our first look at the trailer for the opening film Nobody Wants The Night.

Starring Juliette Binoche, Gabriel Byrne and Rinko Kukuchi, Nobody Wants The Night is set in 1908 a true story that accounts of an upper class womanJosephine (Binoche) who braves the dangerous Artic conditions. She is however the wife of celebrated adventurer Robert Peary however she's not only woman braving the elements Allaka (Kikuchi)  pregnant  to meet her lover and father of her child who happens to be same man Josephine is heading to. After an event  both women as they attempt to survive the most hospitable conditions on Earth.



It's refreshing to see Survival tales from a woman as epic adventures usually one taken by a man, it's also a slight unusual twist on romance too. Fantastic cast and certain to get a good festival run  then a UK distribution, which you could see someone like Artificial Eye, Soda Pictures, Studiocanal picking this film up.

Nobody Wants The Night is directed by Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet filmed in Norway and Tnerife, Spain.,Berlin Film Festival opens 5th February.

source:Twitch

Silent Classics To Strictly Luhrmann: 2015 Glasgow Film Festival Announces First Events

 Paul Merton paying live tribute to Buster Keaton. British Sea Power taking the O2 ABC back to its former cinematic history. Atmospheric new scorings of classic silent movies, a festival of internet cat videos, and a glitter-strewn homage to Baz Luhrmann in the grandiose surroundings of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.... sounds like February in Glasgow.

Glasgow Film Festival is delighted to announce that tickets are now available for the first six events from its 2015 programme. The festival has grown a reputation for unique screenings in unusual venues – pop-up cinema events that bring the film into 3D. Previous events include a mystery potholing expedition to watch The Descent in a cavern under Central Station, screenings of Jaws and Peter Pan on board Glasgow’s Tall Ship, and Tron screened in a mocked-up 1980s video game arcade.

In their 2015 programme, GFF will return to Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery for a very special live dance show and screening of Strictly Ballroom, and also take over the atmospheric, Gothic surroundings of Pollokshaws Burgh Hall, as composer Irene Buckley premieres a brand new soundtrack to 1928 classic The Fall of the House of Usher on the Hall’s original Wurlitzer Cinema Organ. Comedy legend Paul Merton and award-winning silent film pianist Neil Brand have teamed up to pay tribute to another legend, Buster Keaton, with a hilarious live show. GFF is delighted to host the Scottish premiere of British Sea Power’s hugely acclaimed film/live score project From The Sea To The Land Beyond. The band headline a night of supercool audio/visual treats, celebrating the O2 ABC’s origins as one of Glasgow’s oldest cinemas. The phenomenal French bassist Renaud Garcia-Fons and his live band create an Eastern-Western fusion score to Lotte Reiniger’s magical 1926 animation The Adventures of Prince Achmed, while GFF brings Walker Art Center’s famous Internet Cat Video Festival (purretty much does what it says on the tin) to the UK with a premiere at GoMA

Co-Director of Glasgow Film Festival,  Allan Hunter said:“Our special events are a large part of what makes Glasgow Film Festival distinctive: people love to experience cinema in new ways, and we’re lucky to have such a wealth of exciting venues available in the city. This is only the tip of the iceberg, too: we’re going to announce a different pop-up event for every night of the festival at our programme launch in January. The programming team have really let their imaginations run riot this year, so we think audiences will be pretty excited by what’s in store.”

Strictly Ballroom at Kelvin-Groove!
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
Friday 20 February | 18.30 – 22.00 | £12/£10 | Tickets available from GFT Box Office

“Well of course, you can dance any steps you like! But that doesn’t mean you’ll...WIN!”

Following the success of 2014’s Monster Mash costume party and screening of Young Frankenstein, Glasgow Film Festival brings the glitz to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum’s grand hall. As part of GFF’s Strewth! programme strand celebrating new and classic Australian cinema, audiences are encouraged to get their (Tina) sparkles on for a night of ritzy Aussie camp, wonderful dance and heart-thumping rhythm. Baz Luhrmann’s breakthrough feature, and the first of his Red Curtain Trilogy, Strictly Ballroom takes a tongue in cheek look inside the pressure-cooker world of competitive ballroom dancing, gleaming with fake tans and very real moves. The event combines a great film with a sequin-studded spectacular, as reigning Scottish Ballroom and Latin Dance Champions Tibor Poc and Hilary Mouat take to the floor ahead of the screening. And remember, a bit of musicality, please!

Part of the Strewth! strand celebrating Australian cinema

A Night at the Regal: Lost Map, Joe McAlinden, British Sea Power
O2 ABC
Thursday 19 February, 18.00 (doors) | £16/£14.50 | Tickets available from O2 ABC

In May 1896, Glasgow’s ABC venue (then an ice-rink called Hubner’s Palace) was site of the first-ever public film screening in the city. It opened as a fully-fledged cinema in 1929, under the name The ABC Regal, as one of the most prominent picture-houses in town. It has since become one of Glasgow’s biggest and most exciting music venues.

The festival will take over the O2 ABC for one night, as a joint venture between the new Cinema City and Sound & Vision programme strands, celebrating the venue’s history with film and music. Lost Map Records artists eagleowl and Monoganon investigate the relationship between sound and the moving image; Jarman Award nominees Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, directors of the recent Nick Cave documentary 20,000 Days on Earth (winner: Directing Award, Sundance Film Festival 2014/ BIFA 2014 Best Newcomer winners) bring a live performance of their new film EDIT, live scored by Joe McAlinden (formerly of the band Superstar). Headlining the event are those pioneers of the esoteric rock soundscape, British Sea Power, who will perform the Scottish premiere of their hugely acclaimed live score created around Penny Woolcock’s powerful documentary From the Sea to the Land Beyond, with screening. This perfect synchronicity of film and music, sound and vision, has won awards and acclaim at rare screenings since its 2012 premiere at Sheffield Doc Fest; GFF is delighted to bring it to Scotland. Part of the Cinema City and Sound & Vision strands.

The Fall of the House of Usher: a silent classic with live organ score
Pollokshaws Burgh Hall
Sunday 22 February | 20.00 - 22.00 | £12/£10 | Tickets available from GFT Box Office

“Some silent films hold you outside: You admire them, but are aware of them as a phenomenon. With The Fall of the House of Usher, I barely stirred. A tone, an atmosphere, was created that actually worked...less a fiction than the realization of some phantasmagoric alternative reality.” – Roger Ebert

Based on Edgar Allan Poe’s jet-black short story, this 1928 film by French silent master Jean Epstein is the first true Gothic horror and an iconic visual masterpiece exploring the beauty and tension of life, love, and death. An ethereal new live score by composer Irene Buckley, featuring organ, electronics and live vocals, will be performed using the original Wurlitzer Cinema Organ in the historic, appropriate setting of Pollokshaws Burgh Hall to immerse the audience in a compelling meditation on the macabre. Buckley created the live soprano soundtrack to The Passion of Joan of Arc, which Glasgow Film Festival screened inside Glasgow Cathedral in 2013; the festival is delighted to welcome her back.Part of the Special Events strand

Buster Keaton Night with Paul Merton and Neil Brand
In partnership with Fruitmarket Nights: Classic Silent Movies
Old Fruitmarket
Monday 23 February, 19.30 | £14 (£12); £5 for under-26s | Tickets available from Glasgow Concert Halls and GFT Box Office

Paul Merton might never have become a comedian were it not for the influence of Buster Keaton: fabulous clown, unbelievably dauntless stunt man, matchless player/director. Merton and renowned silent film pianist Neil Brand are two of the most engaging and knowledgeable silent comedy buffs around, and together they present a fantastic evening of classic comedy, fascinating insights and facts and live music to celebrate one of the greatest funny men of all time.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed
In partnership with Fruitmarket Nights: Classic Silent Movies
Old Fruitmarket
Sunday 1 March, 18.30 | £14 (£12); £5 for under-26s | Tickets available from Glasgow Concert Halls and GFT Box Office

Lotte Reiniger’s classic silent film The Adventures of Prince Achmed inspires a remarkable East-West fusion from the phenomenal French bass player Renaud Garcia-Fons. Reiniger’s gorgeous silhouette animation tells stories from Arabian Nights, a world full of enchantments and danger, wizards, flying horses, evil genies, princes and princesses. Garcia-Fons and his live band draw on the musical traditions of the Mediterranean, taking sounds and ideas from Spain, Turkey, Morocco and Southern France, fusing them into an amazing new crossover score led by his own astounding playing. This event is suitable for all the family, but a special treat for lovers of silent film, fantasy, and brilliant world jazz. Part of the Sound & Vision and Modern Families strands

Cat Video Festival
GoMA
Saturday 21 & Sunday 22 February, 13.00­–16.00| FREE (advance booking on EventBrite)

GoMA and Glasgow Film Festival are delighted to present the UK premiere of the Internet Cat Video Festival, brainchild of the prestigious Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. As the first offline, social celebration of online cat videos, the Internet Cat Video Festival has proved to be a massive hit with audiences of all ages, and is now coming to Scotland following its roaring (or should that be purring?) success across the pond. The festival is a free live event, featuring a programme specially curated by Will Braden, creator of the Henri Le Chat Noir videos and recipient of the first Golden Kitty (People’s Choice) Award. Accompanied with some extra feline-themed activities, the videos in the programme range from clips dating back to 1901, to brilliant animations and shorts featuring some more familiar feline faces, and everything in-between. Part of the Modern Families strand

The eleventh annual Glasgow Film Festival will run from 18 February until 1 March and as ever  Cinehouse  will do their best to be there. The full programme will be launched on the evening of Wednesday 21 January and will be online from Thursday 22 January, we hope to be at that launch so stay tuned for those details. The tickets will be  on sale from Monday 26 of January at 10am. Passes for FrightFest go on sale from 10am on Thursday 22 January.

Early Bird tickets, which offer vouchers for bundles of discounted tickets, and an opportunity to book tickets early on Friday 23 January, are available now until 4 January, priced at 10 films for £50, 20 films for £90 and 40 films for £160. See www.glasgowfilm.org/festival/earlybirdfor full information.

source:Thepeoplesmovies

Film Review - Art of Darkness (2014) - Raindance Film Festival

LFF 2014 - London Film Festival Cinehouse Highlights

Film Review - Like Sunday, Like Rain (2014, Raindance Film Festival)

Genre:
Music, Drama
Rating: 12A
Screening Status:
UK Premiere
UK Release Date:
TBC
Director:
Frank Whaley
Cast:
Leighton Meester, Julian Shatkin, Billy Joel Armstrong, Debra Messing

After breaking up with her boyfriend and losing her job and home, a desperate Eleanor (Leighton Meester) lies convincingly to land a job as a nanny to a gifted 13-year-old boy named Reggie (Julian Shatkin).  

Eleanor is in her mid 20’s and at a loss, she doesn’t know what to do with herself and takes the nanny job as a stopgap before she figures out her next move.  On first impressions Reggie is a total brat, a spoilt rich kid who isn’t in touch with reality.  However as Reggie and Eleanor’s friendship develops, you see how he is able to help her overcome her break up with musician Dennis (Billy Joe Armstrong, yes the guy from Green Day) and support her, whilst she struggles to deal with her wayward family and her dying father.

Relative unknown Julian Shatkin plays the role of Reggie with remarkable maturity and intelligence for someone of his age.  There is undeniably chemistry between himself and Meester, which for a 20-day shooting schedule, shows the strength of them both as actors. 

Leighton Meester is rather tremendous as Eleanor and if we didn’t know it already, the role shows that she is capable of being much more than Blair Waldorf. Though still on the Upper West Side, we see a different side of her and she plays the role with true class and sincerity.

The big question that everyone will be asking is “can Billy Joe Armstrong act?”  And the answer is, “yes, erm kind of”. Admittedly he is playing a broke, greasy musician type, so all he had to do was learn to act poor, but he definitely didn’t embarrass himself in the process.  Apparently he was really nervous about being in the movie and kept forgetting his lines, which is kinda sweet.  Debra Messing (Will and Grace) is also rather formidable as Reggie’s emotionless mother.

Despite Billy Joel’s acting, no Green Day is featured in the movie, but there is lots of music provided by Reggie’s cello and a score composed by British musician Ed Harcourt. Music also plays a large part in the bonding and discussion of Reggie and Eleanor throughout the movie.

Director/writer Frank Whaley is an actor and probably most recognizable as being Brett in Pulp Fiction, the man who gets ceremoniously killed in the infamous Ezekiel 25:17 scene, he was also in 90’s classics Field of Dreams and The Doors.  This is the fourth film Whaley has directed/written in a 15 year period since 1999’s Joe The King and he is still consistently working as an actor, most recently in bit parts on TV shows Gotham and The Blacklist. 

We were lucky that Whaley was at the screening and he gave a short Q&A after the film. Whaley talked about first meeting Meester, and her really connecting to the role and being very open to him about her upbringing (which has famously been reported on). It seemed that the role really spoke to Meester on a personal level and Whaley instantly wanted her for the role, even though a better-known actress was available.

Whaley also talked about how Harold and Maude was an influence in making the film, in an unlikely friendship with an age gap.  And, yes we know that Meester isn’t 80, but there is a timeless quality to the film, that is reminiscent of the 70’s classic.

This is a consistently good film with a charming plot. It’s intriguing to see the friendship of Eleanor and Reggie play out, the influence they have on each other and the journey both of them take throughout the timeframe of the movie.  I’m not sure what plans there are for a cinema release, however I urge you to seek it out and enjoy it.

Michael Madsen to attend European premiere of THE NINTH CLOUD at RDFF

THE NINTH CLOUD, Jane Spencer’s dark, philosophical drama, will receive its European Premiere at this year’s Raindance Film festival, on Monday 29 September (8.50pm) at the Vue Piccadilly. The film’s stars will be attending, including Michael Madsen and Leo Gregory. Director Jane Spencer and producer Julia Verdin will also be attending and all will be giving a Q+A after the screening.

Set in 90s London, THE NINTH CLOUD tells the story of Zena (Megan Maczko), who, trying to escape the grief of her family being killed in a plane crash, becomes infatuated with fellow American Bob (Michael Madsen), an enigmatic but failed poet and writer, who has taken up residency in a Hackney squat. Searching for hope through Bob’s artistic visions, whilst clinging on to her fragile grasp of reality, Zena collides and colludes with an array of desperados, angst-ridden IT girls and debauched failed artists. Two men in particular zero in on her: Brett, a narcissistic socialite (Leo Gregory), and Jonny, a drink-drowning musician searching for a way to re-surface (Jean Hughes Anglade). But it is to the unattainable Bob that Zena is mystically drawn to – as if only he holds the answer to the meaning of her life...

Jane Spencer’s tragi-comedy takes us on a journey through the underbelly of 90s London where loss, love and the meaning of existence are given a uniquely surreal twist.

She comments: “The film is about a group of people from all walks of life, trying to find hope in a world full of darkness and tragedy. Zena is a dreamer, who, against all circumstance, is trying to make something good happen in the world - even at a very high personal cost. I grew up watching films from the 1960's 'free cinema' movements and idolised the work of Lindsay Anderson, Tony Richardson, John Schlesinger, and also the philosophical films of that time; the French films of Truffaut, and especially Jacques Rivette. I suppose THE NINTH CLOUD is a 'homage' to those films, in a way”
.
Producer Julia Verdin adds: “One of the things that attracted me to this project is that it is a film about escapism. All of the character is their different ways are trying to escape from reality and living in worlds that they have created for themselves and so blocked from moving forward by their own perceptions which i think is something that audiences will identify with.

The screening will take place at The Vue Piccadilly at 8.50pm on Monday 29 September. There is a second screening, also at the Vue Piccadilly, on Tues 30 at 4pm.


Tickets can be bought from: www.myvue.com/Raindance

TIFF 2014 - Astron 6's The Editor Starring Udo Kier 'Edits' Itself A Trailer

EIFF 2014 Review : Honeymoon (2014)

Genre:
Horror
Distributor:
Arrow Films
Rating: 15
Screened:
27,28 June 2014 (EIFF)
12th September 2014 (UK Cinema)
Running Time:
87 Minutes
Director:
Leigh Jeniak
Cast:
Rose Leslie, Harry Treadaway, Ben Huber, Hanna Brown
For the most part, Leigh Janiak’s debut feature is a romantic melodrama in which its newlywed couple grapple with the overwhelming concept of what marriage really is.  It’s not long before things begin to go wrong; thin slivers of doubt creep in and the whole film’s central relationship seems hopelessly stranded on the shores of an isolated lake retreat. Of course none of this means anything unless we care, and thanks to the fantastic pacing of the mystery and the intimate portrayal of the couple, we are very much drawn into the atmosphere of romance way before any kind of horror catches our attention.

Even then, the horror of Honeymoon is creeping and quiet, lies and secrets pervade an initially honest portrayal of love. Janiak’s genius is in her ability to juggle the possible effects and sources of this doubt and anxiety. You’re never sure who’s flipped their lid since both of the sickeningly sweet lovers shows signs of stress. Bea (Rose Leslie) seems to feel the strain of marriage first, slipping into schizophrenia, whilst Paul’s attempts to hold things together reveal an uncomfortable and desperate love for his wife. Both are dangerous to some extent but neither see the real crunch coming. Maybe that’s why the last act seems to lose grip on that tension: the answer will never be as interesting as the mystery. The actual reveal is pretty well done, but still feels like a lesser answer to a far more intriguing set of questions. If the film had stayed on the straight and narrow, maintained a more psychological slant, then this would have maintained its air of disturbia right up until the bitter end.

In the end Honeymoon proves itself a despairingly pessimistic essay on the alienating effects of marriage. Janiak executes her horror drama with impressive gusto, orchestrating the collapse of this marriage with tension and terror. Placid camera work, startling night-time sequences, and two fantastic lead performances make this an incredibly uncomfortable yet totally impressive feature debut.

★★★★
Scott Clark

EIFF 2014 Film Review : Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case (2013)

Genre:
Documentary
Rating: 15
Running Time:
87 minutes
Screened:
24, 27th June 2014 (EIFF)
Director:
Andreas Johnsen
Cast:
Andreas Johnsen, Ai Weiwei
Last year I was lucky enough to catch the tale-end of a Toronto exhibit of Ai Weiwei’s work. It was the first time I’d laid eyes on the renowned Chinese artist’s stuff but even then you can see the acidic commentary on the Chinese government clean off the bat.  Andreas Johnsen’s insightful documentary proves an educational look at the inspirational man behind the work, but most of all a disturbing glimpse into what fuels his message.

From the beginning of The Fake Case, Weiwei is a picture of composure: dignified, friendly, wise, considerate, a family man. It is unsettling then to learn of his incarceration at the hands of a totalitarian government who kept him isolated for 80 days in a blank room with 3 guards, then released him unceremoniously to continue persecuting him. The intended message is clear: no one fucks with the Chinese government.

Yet, Weiwei does.

Struggling against the titanic force of a 1984 caricature, a party so villainous it’s a real life version of Orwell’s dystopian nightmare, Weiwei remains zen and considerate, even mischievous, finding a few opportunities to stand defiant in front of his persecutors. Johnsen’s camera shows much of the enigmatic artist, his family, his life post-prison, the ominous control the government still exerts on Weiwei and his supporters, but the overwhelming amount of support he garners from the world and his fellow countrymen alike. The sounds of the Hong Kong cityscape play loud and ominous through distressing segments of the film, most notably during a display of Weiwei’s work at the end of the film.

This is a film that has to be seen, not simply as a fantastic account of Weiwei and his methods, but as a frankly terrifying look at the corruption inherent in an empire and the potential turning of a tide against it.

★★★★☆
Scott Clark