Principal photography is now underway on
Joanna Hogg’s third writing/directing project, following the critically acclaimed and award-winning
Unrelated and Archipelago. Known as Hogg’s “London
Project”, the as-yet-untitled film will shoot in West London and
surrounding areas for six weeks. Presented by BFI, BBC Films and Rooks
Nest Entertainment, the film is produced by
Gayle Griffiths (My Brother the Devil, Archipelago) for Wild Horses Film Company Limited.
Cast in the lead roles are artists
Viv Albertine and Liam Gillick. A British
singer-songwriter, Albertine is the ex-guitarist of all-female punk
group, The Slits; Gillick is a British conceptual artist and former
Turner Prize nominee. The supporting cast includes previous Hogg
collaborator Tom Hiddleston (Thor, War Horse), who made his acting debut in
Unrelated and went on to star in Archipelago.
Hogg’s debut feature
Unrelated won the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize at the
2007 London Film Festival in addition to the Guardian Best Film Award
and won Hogg the Evening Standard’s Best Newcomer Award. Both
Unrelated and Archipelago, released last year, garnered
outstanding critical acclaim upon their UK releases, with the latter
film resulting in Martin Scorsese heralding Hogg as a “uniquely
gifted filmmaker”.
Hogg comments: “I
continue to be fascinated by the blurred line between the comic and the
horrendous - but depicting this in an ordinary, everyday context which
is closer to home, and therefore
more terrifying.”
The creative team behind the film includes previous collaborators: Director of Photography
Ed Rutherford and Editor Helle le Favre both worked on Archipelago and Production Designer
Stéphane Collonge worked on both previous features.
Artificial Eye is already on board as UK distributor and talks are ongoing with international sales agents.
We love to spoil you at Cinehouse and The People's Movies with competitions and tomorrow a horror that's been living up to it's hype Sinister will be released in UK&Ireland. When great films come out we love to celebrate a great film by giving away some great prizes and our kind friends at Momentum Pictures have given us a poster for one lucky reader and as a extra bonus the winner will also receive a limited edition film bag to carry those spare trousers & underwear after you check Sinister out!
"The producer of “Insidious” and “Paranormal Activity” delivers a
chilling horror like no other with a movie that is being hotly tipped as
the most effective edge-of-your-seat cinematic experience of the year"
Desperately in need of a best seller to revive his
struggling career, true crime writer Ellison (Ethan Hawke), moves his
family to the scene of his most recent story; the unsolved, gruesome
murder of a loving, happy suburban family. Shunned by the local community and strained by his obligations to his
family, the discovery of a batch of home movies in the attic offers
Ellison shocking proof to the crime he is investigating. Ellison notices
the same unidentified figure appearing in each of the 8mm films,
leaving him convinced that all the incidents are linked by a truly
bizarre connection. As his investigations uncover the terrifying truth
he starts to lose his grip on reality and it soon becomes clear that he
is placing his own family in harm’s way.
Sinister (Momentum Pictures) is out at UK cinemas on Friday 5th October. Read Our Review
To enter this competition please answer this simple question:
Q.Director Scott Derrickson directed whose Exorcism ?
a.The Exorsism of Emily Jane
b.The Exorcism Of Emily Rose
c.The Exorcism Of Emily Blunt
Send Your Answer, Name, Address, Postcode and 2+8-5= to winatcinehouseuk@gmail.com, header your email as 'Sinister' , Deadline is Sunday 21st October 2012
Sinister is released in UK& Irish cinemas from the 5th of October and you can find out more on both Facebook and via their twitter: @Sinister_UK.
Terms and conditions
This prize is non transferable.
No cash alternatives apply.
UK & Irish entries only
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The competition is not opened to employees, family, friends of The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse,Momentum Picturesemployees
This competition is promoted on behalf of Momentum Pictures
If this prize becomes unavailable we have the right to offer an alternative prize instead.
The Prize is a signed Robert Cargill poster and limited edition Sinister bag
To enter this competition you must send in your answer, name, address only, 2+8-5= Deadline October 21ST, 2012 (2359hrs)
Will only accept entries sent to the correct email (winatcinehouseuk@gmail.com), any other entry via any other email will be void.
label your email 'sinister'
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By sending your entry for this competition you are confirming you have read and agreed to these Terms & Conditions.
The Landlord is a film set in a divided America. On one side stands a group of rich, prejudiced WASPs. On the other side, African-Americans, militant and poor, are engaged in a struggle for their cultural soul. But the story told does not concern their battle. Instead The Landlord tells the story of Elgar Enders (Beau Bridges), the very definition of bumbling Caucasian idiocy, who manages to stumble right into the middle of this cultural conflict.
Elgar Enders is a rich young man, not the self-made kind of rich, but the inherited kind of rich. Hailing from a palatial manor situated amidst extensive parkland, Elgar was not just born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but also has a golden fork up his nose and a platinum knife up his arse. His story begins with him buying an apartment block in Park Slope, a horrifically poor neighbourhood, with the aim of turning it into a luxury home. His plans however are somewhat derailed by a number of black tenants resolutely living in his building.
Coming as he does from the very heights of US society, Elgar would be an easy character to demonise. However he actually turns out to be fairly sweet, if exasperating, very much a 30-year old child. His initial expectation, that the tenants of his new property will just be able to leave and find new places to live, is not evidence of callousness but of naiveté. This innocent nature similarly prompts him to actually execute his landlord duties, despite his general incompetence. As the film progresses, we find him rejecting the prejudiced WASP culture he was born into and forming genuinely close relationships with apartment granddame Marge (Pearl Bailey) and dancer Lanie (Marki Bey). He also makes mistakes, most particularly with the sexually powerful, but married, Fanny (Diana Sands). But as being an idiot is as far as Elgar’s faults run, he proves to be an eminently likeable main character.
Or well, the audience should find him likeable. Elgar is actually treated fairly badly by most of his tenants, mocked by Fanny’s husband Copee (Lou Gossett) and loathed by the silent Professor Duboise (Melvin Stewart). This however doesn’t make them the baddies, but rather underscores how complicated racial politics were then (and maybe still are). Elgar is a good person, no doubt, but he is also a perfect representative of all the evils of his class: rich, white, and possessing a clumsy social arrogance that presumes he can belong in a space the militant black culture has claimed as their own. So you might feel bad for him, but it’s also easy to understand why people might dislike him on sight, especially when we are properly introduced to Elgar’s family.
Still, don’t let all this talk of nuanced racial politics put you off the film. Director/editor Hal Ashby has a sharp, satirical approach to his material and spreads the mockery liberally. There is a fantastic sequence midway through The Landlord where Elgar’s mother Joyce (Lee Grant), a woman filled to the brim with rich, fruity snobbery, gets blattered with the jovial Marge. Indeed, I remember squeaking with joy throughout Joyce’s drunken slurring (Grant proves very able at acting drunk). This proves to be just one moment of slightly wacky humour amongst many in The Landlord, and though the film is not without its notes of tragedy, it does not forget the importance of showing a good time.
So that is The Landlord: a farcical meander through the minefield of 1970s racial politics. But despite its unconventional path, it nonetheless manages to not be blown to bits. It doesn’t fall into the trap of The Help, by having a white person provide agency for the civil rights movement. Indeed, our white hero is kept out of that fight altogether. He and Lanie and Marge remain in neutral middle ground, though they are not there as a result of making some statement. It simply seems to be the place where such nice and largely inoffensive individuals belong.
There’s a well known rule of gangster films that once someone decides to call it quits they will inevitably get pulled in for one last job, indeed that is how we are introduced to A Road Stained Crimson, but, for Tetsuhiko Nono’s film this is a rare concession to convention. His Japanese gangster tale has far loftier ambitions than to be connected to anything as drab as convention.
Our wannabe retiree is Ken; is a laid back motorbike mechanic keen to turn his back on his more brutal sideline carear, that is until his boss catches wind of his plans and attempts to reel him in for one last job with a visit from the psychotic and unpredictable Akira. There are sub-plots and unexamined stories along the way like the death of Ken’s father at young age which seems to have shaped our protagonist but is never spelt out for us. Yoko, an elder colleague has more than a colleagues interest in the brooding Ken, again there is only a hint of a clue as to why while her relationship with the local (Colombo style) detective seems to have more to it than face value suggests with both seemingly connected to Ken’s life from a very young age. A stonily silent teen shares Kens burning anger and is soon taken under his wing as the two take to the road in an attempt to bide some time before the inevitable explosive conclusion. On route the two share the surrogate father-son relationship they were both denied as the pressures of hit-man duties start to ease and Ken, for the first time, looks content.
Specifics are secondary here, Nono’s focus lies far more in injecting the worn genre with a tone unfamiliar to the countless gangster films of years gone by. Wearing his garage rock credentials on his sleeve, the soundtrack by Japanese band Snakes on the Beach creates an all-together more considered atmosphere to the guys and guns blueprint, going further to include footage of the bands gig which Ken attends. Far from being the only touch of lightness on show, the music is joined by a host of directing, editing and camera techniques adding an element of art house to the genre. Stills, slow motion, jumpy handheld cameras and flashbacks are all used extensively alongside brilliant cinematography and some beautifully crafted shots.
Sadly the directing styles only mask the script which never quite reaches the highs it occasionally promises. While the lightness of touch used by Nono is new to the genre, sadly the same can not be said for other elements, particularly in the form of the loose-cannon Akira or the dialogue which, while sparingly used, plays second fiddle to the Mallick-isms on show of plants and sunsets which go some way in covering the scripts flaws. It would be too harsh to describe Nono’s debut feature as style over substance as there are a number of promising signs pointing to a strong career, one that starts, however, on a bit of a subdued note.
The break up of communism and the Eastern bloc is a theme often found centre stage in European cinema, being such a recent and seismic shift in the continents history and culture. The 2003 film Goodbye Lenin imagined a life interrupted by a coma that spans the change from communist rule of East Germany and into the free world of modern Germany all unbeknown to the sufferer. It is this straddling of two very different philosophies that new Slovenian film The State of Shock echoes most closely.
Starting in 1986 and communist rule Yugoslavia we meet our protagonist Peter, a factory metal-worker, and his wife Marica on the eve of Labourer’s Day. Their humble yet happy lives come to a halt when, at the Labourer Day ceremony Peter is awarded the Worker of the Year award complete with the promise of a new apartment as well as the respect of his community. All this proves too much for Peter to take and he swiftly falls into the titular state of shock.
Taken to a mental institution there he stays for 10 years, oblivious to the family visits as much as the passing years. Marica decides to re-marry and it is the thought of this union with his best friend Jovo which shakes Peter’s subconscious awakening him from his catatonic state and propelling him out on to the dramatically changed streets of Slovenia.
No longer under Yugoslav rule, the newly established state is all new to our comatose comrade, confronted by a world that looks familiar but undeniably altered where his old street no longer exists and neither does his country as he knew it. His beloved Balkan state now shimmers with the material world of capitalism while his, now former, wife is shacked up with what he thought was his best friend and taken the children with her. It’s Peter’s acclimatisation to these changes, both personal and national that form the crux of the film.
Trying to adapt to his new position as lodger in his ex’s marital home brings its own complications but writer/director Andrej Kosak’s focus is on the broader scale changes in ‘Pero’s homeland. Acting almost as a requiem to a lost ideal, State of Shock highlights the flaws and absurdity of a modern consumerist society. Through Peter’s fresh perspective we are allowed to sympathise with his perplexity at our established culture – why is there a need for shelves of screwdriver options, or three television sets and two cars - while his distrust of banks and outrage at incessant beurocracy are poignantly relevant in these mistrusting times.
This tale of a lost humanity serves as stark warning about where we are heading with Peter’s ending speech delivered as a message directly to the viewer, one portrayed in 1996 but still relevant today. This, no doubt, is Kosak’s aim – a pertinent take on modern society full of characters with heart and strong performances and told with enough humour to keep it fresh.
A tale of robbery, suspense, torment, kidnap and murder; with Confine, director and writer Tobias Tobell has managed to conjure up that most elusive and miraculous of things; a genuinely torturous horror movie. Following an horrendous car crash, former model Pippa (Daisy Lowe) has been reduced to a gibbering, neurotic shut-in, limping around her flat and communicating only via telephone or Skype. Facially disfigured by the accident, she never ventures from the safe confines of her living space, preferring to remain locked-away, dealing art in order to raise money for various charitable causes; the many hundreds of magazines that populate her bedroom, are a constant reminder of the life she has known and lost. Pippa’s life of seclusion comes to an end courtesy of Kayleigh (Eliza Bennett) and Henry (Alfie Allen), a couple of criminals involved in a nearby jewellery heist, who make Pippa a prisoner in her own home, before brutally turning on each other.
Confine attempts to generate a sense of discomfort, of visceral, verbal horror by placing its emphasis on the uneasy, potentially deadly relationship which is struck up between Pippa and Kayleigh. An unknown quantity, Kayleigh veers dangerously between perniciously cute, and sadistically violent. The result is a movie which may well have been superb, if it weren’t so incomprehensibly written or woodenly acted.
As she wobbles around the screen, wheezing into paper bags and muttering garbled nonsense, Daisy Lowe looks every inch a model pretending to be an actor pretending to be a model. At 5 foot 4 in heels and 8 stone wet-through, Eliza Bennett may well be the least physically intimidating villain imaginable. So ghastly is the double-act performed by Daisy Lowe and Eliza Bennett, it very quickly becomes difficult to watch. Protracted moments of supposedly-threatening dialogue, become toe-curlingly embarrassing, as the women bicker like a couple of siblings fighting over the last Turkey Drummer.
With so much of the film focusing so intently on the knife-edge relationship between Pippa and Kayleigh , there’s simply nowhere for its actors to hide; or its audience for that matter.
Hammer productions: The great British production company proudly
flaunting one of the most impressive CV’s in the history of cinema, but also
guilty of more than a few woeful endeavors got it pretty spot-on in their 1960
Brit-Noir Hell is a City. Adapted
from the Maurice Procter book and written and directed by Val Guest , Hell is a City marked one of Hammer’s
deviations from horror during the 60’s, a move meant to widen revenue in a trying
time against the American market. Thankfully, the film is a solid stand-alone that
does a great job at internalizing the Noir genre to a murky industrial
Manchester.
The film follows Harry Martineau (Stanley Baker), a tough, dedicated, but
world-weary police inspector with a troubled home life. When Don Starling (John
Crawford) escapes from prison Harry heads to Manchester to head him off,
expecting the jewel thief and murderer to attempt to pick up the jewels he
stashed before getting arrested. In order to make good his escape, Starling needs
money so plans the robbery of a local bookmaker (Donald Pleasence), but the heist
goes wrong and all of a sudden Starling’s escape spirals into a mess of murder
and blackmail with Martineau hot on his trail.
In the
typical Noir fashion, things don’t really go as planned, and the film’s
narrative feeds off a sense of disorder and mishaps. Martineau’s home life is
plagued by his failing marriage, so he stays out, wandering the dimly lit
streets like a true Noir hero. The dialogue is snappy and charming, the action
is, for the time, brutal, most interestingly is how the noir framework fits onto
the British scene, certainly a quainter and more sullied setting than the
war-torn streets of San Fran or New York. The dark horizon of Manchester,
punctuated by factory vents and smoke,
makes an ideal setting, pushing the whole events of the film into some
context, making the events seems small and insignificant (dare we say commonplace)
in the face of the vast mechanical city.
Stanley
Baker and John Crawford are on top form as disillusioned copper and desperate
thief respectively. One can’t help but find a slight Heat undertone to their relationship, especially from Martineau who
seems to use his job as a means of keeping his personal issues at bay. Crawford
captures the brutal nature of a genuine bad ‘un, usually found in the annals of
50’s and 60’s detective films, the likes of which rarely find screen-time
nowadays.
The action
has a swift pace, the plot is intriguing if sometimes convoluted with
characters, and the roof-top finale gives a fantastic last indicator of how
ahead of the curve this film actually is, even if it is a little short. The
last poignant scenes really reinstate the sense of noir that seems to dissipate
half way through the film; exploring the lonely nature of the dedicated cop.
Special
features consist only of an alternate ending that does little for the film.
This particular ending sees Harry and his wife make up and leaves the film on a
significantly more hopeful note than the one chosen. The more uplifting ending,
at risk of sounding like a cynic, unravels the grimy and almost perpetual feeling
of entrapment in, not just Manchester, but life for Martineau.
A fantastic example of sturdy British “cops and robbers” fun, Hell is a City garnered two BAFTA
nominations for Best Screenplay and Most Promising Newcomer for Billie Whitelaw.
It’s a highly recommendable Brit-Noir, with some stellar talent, which fans of
Film Noir and British thriller will really enjoy.
It's been a fan awards favourite at every festival its played at since it's premier at this Year's Sundance Film Festival and this January The Sessions will arrive in UK and Fox Searchlight have sent us the first UK trailer for your enjoyment.
Starring Martha Marcy May Marlene's John Hawkes as journalist / poet Mark O'Brien who is paralysed by Polio and at the age of 38 still a virgin.Mark is determined to loose his virginity with the help of his therapist (Moon Bloodgood) and local priest (William H Macy) he hires sex surrogate Cheryl (Helen Hunt) to do the deed.
When you read the outline of the film's plot it sounds like it's going to be another Friends With Benefits type film which is totally untrue. The Sessions (formerly called Surrogate) is more poignant , a lot more intelligent as well as funny film which has some fantastic performances from its two leads. Hawkes who has really excelled himself in independent films such as Winter's Bone which should see him nominated many times in the awards season especially The Oscars, only matter of time he'll get a breakout film, though that film could be The Sessions!
The Sessions is due for release in UK&Ireland on 18th January 2013, however it will make it's UK premier at BFI 56th London Film Festival on 16th October, don't surprised if it picks up awards in London too.
We've also been sent this fantastic watercolour style poster which really capture the ambience of the film as well as the films independent film roots. Embrace it as it's got some American critics jealous as its far superior to the American version!
When Killer Joe arrived in UK&Irish cinemas it left some cinephiles feeling finger licking good for some of the colonel's favourite recipe and in November you will be able to bring home a box that's a DVD or Bluray box of the film.In Killer Joe Matthew McConaughey delivers what many are calling a career-best performance in this violent and darkly comic neo-noir thriller that marks a blistering return to form for “The Exorcist” and “The French Connection” director William Friedkin.
When small-time drug dealer Chris Smith finds himself seriously in debt to his supplier, he hatches a plan to have his estranged mother killed in order to claim the $50,000 life insurance due to be paid to his younger sister, Dottie. To do the job, he hires Killer Joe Cooper, a creepy, corrupt and crazy Dallas cop who Chris is informed moonlights as a professional hit man. Unable to pay Joe’s fee upfront, Chris agrees to provide a “retainer” in the form of Dottie, with whom Joe has immediately become besotted. However, following the murder of his mother, Chris’ plan begins to unravel in a series of unexpected twists involving the interference of his father’s new wife, Sharla, and the development of an unlikely bond between Joe and Dottie.
As pure, unadulterated entertainment Friedkin’s second collaboration with writer Tracy Letts (following 2006’s “Bug”) has it all – steamy sexuality, shocking violence, a compelling storyline, lashings of black humour and, most of all, a killer cast of actors all at the top of their game. McConaughey effectively shakes off his rom-com shackles once and for all, while Juno Temple delivers a scene-stealing performance in a movie likely to leave viewers both exhilarated and shaken at the same time.
Killer Joe is due out in UK&Ireland on November 5th, starring Emile Hirsh, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church and Gina Gershon.
Pre-Order/Buy Killer Joe On: DVD / Blu-ray
As curses go, the hex foisted upon young Serbian women Zoritsa would, at first glance, appear to be relatively minor. From a long line of moustached women, Zoritsa is the first to be born without even the merest hint of growth. But Zoritsa’s fortuitous hairlessness comes at a heavy cost; her prospective suitors have a habit of dropping dead.
Returning to her village after an absence of some 20 years in an attempt to break the curse on the much revered Day of the Dead; Zoritsa attracts the attention of sceptic policeman Mane, as well as pitchfork-wielding locals with a score to settle.
It’s no easy task to blend horror with moments of comedy. For every Shaun of the Dead there’s a Severance, for every Evil Dead there’s an Army of Darkness. Thankfully, Radoslav Pavkovic and Christina Hadjicharalambous’s movie is one of the more enjoyable offerings from this particular mix of genres.
Loveless Zoritsa plays out like a strange, modern-day fairy tale, with a charming visual style that owes a debt to the Universal horror films of the 30’s and 40’s. Zoritsa’s secluded Balkan village appears to be just that; a strangely antiquated little township that’s been spirited in from a time gone by.
There are no prizes for guessing how the relationship between Zoritsa and Mane will resolve itself, and perhaps the moments of comedy never quite elevate themselves above just strangely charming; but for a film which is as strangely charming as this, with its baying, incompetent villagers, its botched satanic rituals and its bizarre coven of wailing, moustachioed women; it’s not a particularly big problem.
Pre-Order/Buy Killer Joe On: 
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