Master Of Expressionism - F.W Murnau

F.W Murnau along with Fritz Lang were THE German Expressionist filmmakers of the 1920s. Murnau made such films as Nosferatu, Faust and later in the United States Sunrise. His films often at considered some of the finest ever made.

Murnau was born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe in 1888. Not surprisingly he started in theatre but he was also a devout student of art history and literature. Murnau joined the airforce and survived 8 crashes. He was interned in Switzerland but he actually won an award for a play he staged in interment camp. It’s commonly believed Murnau was gay and his first true love was killed during World War 1 and this had a serious psychological impact on the young Murnau.

After the war finishes he quickly starts a film company with Conrad Veidt (Cesare in Cabinet of Dr. Caligari). They made quite a few films together but sadly not uncommon with silent films almost all of those are lost and most sadly their version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It was an unauthorized adaptation but no legal action was taken unlike the case of Nosferatu.

During the first half of the 1920s he could average about 3 films a year. The earliest surviving film of Murnau’s is Journey into the Night and the surviving prints were only found this year. The first film of his which is widely available in Schloß Vogelöd that is rather spooky chamber drama with mystery elements. Murnau followed it with Marizza (only a fragment remains) and The Burning Spoil, which Eric Rohmer assisted in its restoration, but there is no home video release sadly.

Nosferatu is unarguably his most well known film and possibly his masterpiece, even though the case has been made for the later Sunrise. The production of Nosferatu is almost as interesting as the film itself; so much so a largely fictionalised take on it was made as Shadow of the Vampire. It’s the only and one film made by Prana film that was created by Enrico Dieckmann and occultist Albin Grau who was also a member of Fraternitas Saturni, a magical order in German.

Prana film was meant to specialize in occult theme films but due to the lawsuit that Bram Stoker’s wife filed due to the unauthorized adaption of Dracula it went bankrupt. Nosferatu in many ways is not a Murnau film because it was very much Albin Grau’s baby. The idea of doing a vampire film came out of his war experience of hearing a Serbian farmer telling him how his father was a vampire.

Nosferatu came out to relatively lukewarm reviews. The French surrealists really loved the film so much so that in one of André Breton’s books he recites a dream he had of a neck tie that became the likeness of Nosferatu and the intertitle “We he crossed the bridge, the phantom came to greet him” inspired him greatly. Nosferatu has probably inspired more people than any other silent film from everyone from Werner Herzog with his wonderful re-imagining to Abel Ferrara’s vampire film The Addiction.

The film was basically pulled from circulation due to Bram Stoker’s widow suing the filmmakers for the unauthorized adapted of his husband’s novel and won. The filmmakers were forced burn all the negatives but luckily one got all the way to the United States. The many prints over the years were made from this single negative even though they vary in many lengths. The film could have easily been lost like many of Murnau’s other films and has since become one of the most consistently screened silent films.

Phantom was Murnau’s follow up to Nosferatu, which is a very dreamy film that is about a young man who becomes obsessed with this girl and will do anything to find her again. It was considered lost for many years but it was found and restored and eventually came out on dvd by Eureka. Muranu’s next key film is The Last Laugh that is one of his chamber dramas and interestingly enough has barely any intertitles and no intertitles that are dialogue. It was a big success and he was able to Tartuffe and Faust both were made with a much larger budget.

Faust is obviously the old German tale of Faust who sells his soul to the devil. Faust is a special effects spectacular in the vein of Metropolis due to its scale at times. Universum Film AG put Faust into production and until Metropolis the year after was it’s biggest budget film. It’s by far his 2nd most widely seen German silent after Nosferatu. It’s remains one of the finest adaptations of Faust to date and is still a truly stunning film to watch today.

Murnau was already shooting his next film Sunrise in the United States for 20th Century Fox when Faust premiered in Germany. Many critics consider Sunrise his crowning achievement it’s a German expressionist film by a Hollywood Studio and is a beautiful love story. It would later win the “Unique and Artistic Production” at the first Academy Awards which was kind of like the equivalent to best film today. He continued making more films in America till he died tragically of complications because of a car crash. It was a week before his final film Tabu.

Murnau to this day remains one of the most innovative directors in the history of film. Nosferatu and Sunrise will be what he is remembered for but there are plenty of other great German expressionist films he made in the 20s. We can all hope some of his lost films get found some day. Eureka under their masters of Cinema imprint has released the majority of his available German and American films including a beautifully restored blu-ray of his Gothic masterpiece Nosferatu.

Ian Schultz

Nosferatu is now available in a new fully restored version available Monday 25th November on [Blu-ray]and [DVD]. Read our recent cinema release review.

Review - Blue Is The Warmest Colour (La vie d'Adèle)

Genre:
Drama, World Cinema, Arthouse
Rating:
18
Distributor:
Artificial Eye Film
Release Date:
22nd November 2013 (UK)
Director:
Abdellatif Kechiche
Cast:
Léa Seydoux, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechiouche
Blue in the Warmest Colour was the winner of the Palme D’Or with a jury headed by Steven Spielberg. It’s been universally acclaimed since it’s premiere at Cannes but it’s a very problematic film for many reasons. Abdellatif Kechiche directed the film but the two lead actresses Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux have heavily criticised his techniques and refuse to every work with him again.

The film’s story is ridiculously simple considering it’s 3 hour running time. The story is a coming age story of Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos) who is coming to terms with her own sexuality, she realises she is attracted to women but tries to fit it. She has sex with boys but spots a blue haired girl with another girl and instantly is attracted to her. One night she goes to a gay bar with gay male friend but she wanders off to a Lesbian bar and she meets the blue haired girl Emma (Léa Seydoux) again and they become friends. Emma is currently in a relationship but she soon becomes involved with Adèle. They seem very much in love but as usual with love it’s up and down.

Blue in the Warmest Colour has attracted much controversy for it’s 10 minute + graphic sex scene. The scene in many ways deserves controversy because it’s gratuitous to the extreme and was clearly shot to get the pervy director off. It’s not really very shocking except for the fact it just goes on and on, it’s the sex scene equivalent of the famous fight scene in They Live! The film climaxes with an equally gratuitous scene in a restaurant and every scene in the film is overly long for no good reason except for titillation.

The film’s length however is much more problematic because it’s an extremely simple love story. It’s one minute shy of 3 hours and it’s a story that could be told easily in 2 hours if not shorter. The story follows like 2 years in the lives of the girls but remember Stanley Kubrick told the story of dawn of man to the dawning of a new species in under 2 and a half hours in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Abdellatif Kechiche desperately needs an editor cause from all accounts this has been a criticism of his previous film but I can’t comment cause I haven’t seem them.

It’s not without two fantastic performances from Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux who will both became big international stars in coming years. They seem so natural and at ease in their performances it’s not hard to believe them to be love with one another. They were awarded for the first time ever the Palme D’Or for their performances with they shared with the director.

The film looks to be an art house smash this year but the audience for the screening I went to at the Leeds Film Festival was utterly bizarre. The cinema was full of lesbians, straight couples and inept film nerds so the audience for the film is quite wide ranging. I can only assume it’s going to become a date movie cause it’s deemed “the sexiest film ever made” in one ludicrous review and some straight couples want to try out one of the “moves” on their significant other.

Overall it’s not the raw, powerful, sexy, intense film that the critics are saying it is. The film however is a very fine drama, which nobody would care about if it weren’t for the fact it’s about young lesbians, has 2 great performance, won the Palme D’or and has this controversy. It’s worth seeing but it does not live up to the hype it has gathered since its premiere in the French Riviera.

★★★½☆

Ian Schultz

Blu-Ray Review - Streets Of Fire (1984)

Genre:
Action, Crime
Distributor:
Second Sight
Release Date:
18th November 2013 (UK)
Director:
Walter Hill
Cast:
Michael Paré, Diane Lane, Rick Moranis, Willem Dafoe
Buy:
Streets of Fire [Blu-ray]

Streets of Fire is directed by Walter Hill and is one of the most absurdly 80s films ever made. It was described as “ a rock n’ roll fantasy” in it’s marketing and I guess it is. It’s kind of like The Wanderers but as a dumb 80s action film with horrible musical numbers and none of the substance of The Wanderers. It was a mega flop but has grown to have a cult fan base so much an unofficial sequel was made.

The whole thing is set in this 80s drenched future that is partly 1950s which gives it an interesting aesthetic. The plot is basically this singer Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) gets kidnapped by the Bombers gang lead by Raven Shaddock (Willem Dafoe) and Tom Cody (Michael Paré) must rescue her. The musical numbers are wretchedly 80s that start and bookmark the film that really ruins the good comic book aesthetic of the rest of the film.

Walter Hill is a very fine director who made films like The Warriors, The Driver, Southern Comfort among others. Streets of Fire is certainly one of his lesser films and owes a lot to his previous film The Warriors. It lacks what made that film so good was your cared about the The Warriors gang and wanted them to get back to Coney Island but in this the performance by Michael Paré lacks any real humanity. The film however features a fun campy performance by Willem Dafoe as the main villain and a amusing cameo from the lead singer of seminal L.A punk band Fear Lee Ving as one of Dafoe’s main cronies.

Streets of Fire is perfectly watchable but Walter Hill has made numerous better films but it has a strange 80s charm at times which saves it from being a total disaster. It’s clear to see why it bombed though because it’s simply not that good and to off kilter at times for a mainstream audience. It was suppose to start a franchise but naturally that didn’t happen until recently with the unauthorized sequel with Paré reprising his role. Second Sight as usual has pull out all the stops with the bonus features including a feature length doc and the original EPK.

★★★☆☆

Ian Schultz

Blu-Ray Review - Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)

Genre:
Sci-fi, horror, cult
Release Date:
18th November 2013 (UK)
Distributor:
Arrow
Director:
Philip Kaufman
Cast:
Donald Sutherland, Leonord Nimoy, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Mccarthy,
Buy:
[Blu-ray] or [Blu-ray SteelBook]

Philip Kaufman unwitting started the trend of remaking classic horror films with his 1978 reimagining of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It started this trend because it was actually really good and similar remakes followed like The Thing and The Fly. Body Snatchers started life as a novel by Jack Finney and have been adapted 4 times to the silver screen. It was first made in 1956 by Don Siegel and remains the best, the aforementioned 1978 one, the underrated Abel Ferrara take in the early 90s and more the recently the version with Nicole Kidman but let’s try to forget that one.

The film’s protagonist in this take is Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) a San Franciscan heath inspector who hears from a friend Elizabeth (Brooke Adams) that her boyfriend is acting strange around her. Matthew gets his friend in touch with Dr. Kibner (Leonard Nimoy) a psychiatrist. At the same time two of his friends discovered a body that resembles one of them Jack (Jeff Goldblum) that appears to be browing. They call Matt to have a look at it and if he can help

Matt comes down to examine it and heads back to see Elizabeth and finds a pod person version of her growing. Matt gets the real Elizabeth to safety and contacts the police but soon realizes they are pod people. The invasion has started and Matt and his friends can’t fall asleep or they will become pod people as well.

Kaufman’s take is very much of its time it’s set in a post-Watergate world. It has that great 70s paranoia feel and you know from the extremely creepy opening scene something is amidst. This is refined with the inclusion of Robert Duvall’s unsettling cameo as a priest in a playground. It also includes fantastic cinematography from Michael Chapman who also shot Taxi Driver.

It’s one of the finest film remakes of its kind with only The Thing or The Fly surpassing it in quality. Kaufman is a very versatile director who has director stuff like The Wanderers and The Right Stuff and casts the film impeccably. Sutherland feel adds some gravitas to his role, which is rare in the genre. The film also features a cameo by the original film’s lead actor Kevin McCarthy which begs the question is it a remake or sequel.

The blu-ray Arrow has complied is packed to the gills with material; the real highlight is the roundtable discussion with Kim Newman, Ben Wheatley and Norman J. Warren who discuss the film at quite length. The disc also includes a really pretentious interview with Kaufman’s biographer Annette Insdorf along with an interview about Jack Finney from Jack Seabrook and some featurettes from the American MGM blu-ray and a director’s commentary.

★★★★☆

Ian Schultz

Review - In Fear

Genre:
Thriller, Horror, Indie
Distributor:
Studiocanal UK
Rating:
15
Release Date:
15th November 2013 (UK)
Director:
Jeremy Lovering
Cast:
alice englert, Ian de caestecker, Allen leech


The most terrifying thing to man or woman after lonilness is fear itself, it may help us to make rational thoughts to deliver positivity however Fear itself has 2 sides. There is an psychological effect which can fester terror and in Jeremy Lovering's In Fear that fear is delivered in it's simplest most effective form , well almost

In Fear is the feature directorial debut for veteran tv director Jeremy Lovering starring British upstarts Ian De Caestacker (Agents of S.h.i.e.l.d) and Alice Englert (Ginger And Rosa).They play Tom and Lucy a young couple in the early days of their relationship and heading to a music festival somewhere in Ireland.On the way to the festival venue Tom surprises Lucy by booking a night's stay at a near by country house hotel. Reluctantly Lucy agrees to go and enroute to that hotel the pair follow the signs frustration takes over when they seem to be going round in circles  terror takes over when darkness falls the penny drops when the couple believe someone is playing tricks on them.

In Fear is a lesson on how to deliver the maximum effect on screen ith the minimalist of resources. We dive head first into our primal fears as if we are experiencing the emotions Tom and Lucy are experiencing. Things do seem to work largely thanks to improv skills of our young leads who are drip fed snippets of what lay ahead for them help making their fear, genuinely convincing.

As the roads tart to encroach our young couple, tensions rise paranoia strikes as things go missing making things intense most of all claustrophobic.As Tom and Lucy are pushed to their limits the fabric of their relationship disintegrate, mysterious Max (Allen Leech) appears this is when In Fear unravels.

The last third of the film becomes cliched, outlandish even very predictable which is a crying shame as De Caestecker and Englert deliver strong raw performance.. In Fear may not deliver anything remotely new  in plot what it does do is deliver a film full of atmosphere, tension  spoiled by a frustrating ending.

★★★☆☆

Paul Devine

Review - John Pilger's Utopia

Genre:
Documentary
Rating:
12A
Release Date:
15th November 2013 (UK)
Director:
John Pilger
Watch Utopia:
cinema listing here
Film Official Website:
Enter here

In new documentary Utopia, the Australian journalist John Pilger sets out to examine the suffering felt by his native country’s indigenous population, a problem caused by the British Empire’s colonisation of Australia.

Pilger’s film is a noble attempt to highlight the poverty and awful living conditions felt by the Aboriginal people, an issue that most of the world - and Australia’s European descendants – remain blissfully unaware of. This is made evident when Pilger interviews individuals whilst they are celebrating Australia Day, enquiring as to what the original population should take away from the country’s national day. Each interviewee shows incredible ignorance of the subject, stating that the Aboriginal’s want to live that way – in shacks with no running water or functioning toilet. Pilger also conducts interviews with members – past and present – of Australia’s government whose job it was to protect these people, and failed. Footage of Aboriginal living conditions today compared with that filmed several decades ago seems to show that nothing has changed at all.

In Utopia, Pilger firmly asserts that for such a wealthy country, Australia’s indigenous people should not be living this way; and that, this vast land was in fact never for the taking in the first place. These are issues that everyone should know about, but with a long running time combined with a slow, ponderous pace, the film may not appeal to the audiences that need to be informed.

UTOPIA is in cinemas from 15 November with a Nationwide Q&A with John Pilger on Monday 18 November at Picturehouse Cinemas. Available on DVD 2 December

★★★☆☆

Sophie Stephenson

Top American History Dramas (Parkland Feature)

PARKLAND is a historical drama recounting the chaotic events that occurred in the Parkland hospital and elsewhere in Dallas following John F. Kennedy’s assassination. In anticipation of the release of the new movie, we are taking a look at the top American historical drama films in cinema.

LINCOLN (2013)

Directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln is a historical drama that follows the final four months of Lincoln’s life, primarily focusing on his efforts to have the thirteenth amendment to the United States Constitution passed by the House of Representatives. The film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards winning Best Achieving in Production Design and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role.

Argo (2012)

This nail biting thriller follows a CIA agent as he instigates an undercover mission to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1980. The film is based on the CIA operative Tony Mendez’s book The Master of Disguise and The Great Escape by Joshuah Bearman. Argo received widespread acclaim and seven Academy Award nominations and won three, for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Picture. The film also won five Golden Globe Award nominations, winning Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director.

The Patriot (2000)

The Patriot is an American historical war film depicting the story of an American, widowed, father of seven as he is swept into the American Revolutionary War when his family threatened by the British. The protagonist, Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson), is a composite character based on four real American Revolutionary War heroes. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards and became a classic American film.

Apollo 13 (1995)

The incredibly journey of Americas’ third Moon landing aboard Apollo 13 is portrayed through this docudrama film directed by Ron Howard, starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton. Surviving an on-board explosion which deprives the spacecraft of most of its oxygen supply and electric power, forcing an abort mission and struggling to get home, the film is packed with non-stop suspense. Apollo 13 received critical acclaim and was nominated for nine Academy Awards, winning two. The film grossed over $335 million worldwide during its theatrical release and is an American classic.

PARKLAND (2013)

One of the most shocking moments in TV history, and a major event in the history of the United States and the wider world, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy set in motion events that would change lives, and the world, forever. The new film Parkland retraces the actions of some of the lesser-known players on that fateful day in 1963 – the staff of the Parkland Hospital, some of the bystanders, and members of the FBI and Secret Service. A must-see, delving into the details of the people behind the scenes, Parkland is the latest film to show an important drama in US history.

PARKLAND is released in the UK on November 22nd.

Darknet Webseries Launches Online With Vincenzo Natali Episode

Adapted from Japanese series Tori Hada Darknet has launched it's episode directed by Cube,Splice director Vicenzo Natali. Described as an bitsize nightmare journies into urban horror. 'Darknet offers snippets of people's lives being interrupted by vivid instances of unexpected violence or shocking strangeness. Shot in a visceral style that cranks up the creep factor, viewers become part of Darknet, a mysterious network of disturbing imagery and stories that exist just under the surface of our ordered and safe society.'

The series will run it's full episodes exclusively via newly relaunched Canadian channel Superchannel as well as Darknet website. A total of six episodes will be aired with the first episode starring David Hewlett and Michelle Alexander whose lives become intertwined with Darknet a website where people can submit strange tales of intrigue and murder.


Source: QuietEarth

Wes Anderson's New Castello Cavalcanti Short Honours Fellini

As the world awaits the arrival of Hotel Budapest, Wes Anderson treats us all with a 8 minute short Castello Cavalcanti.Comissioned by Italian fashion house Prada the short film time warps us back to 1955 and stars Jason Schwartzman who plays an American racing car driver. Whilst out with his cars driving through the Italian countryside during that years Molte Miglia when he crashes his car into a water fountain in a small rural town when a turn of events turn his troules into something he never expected.

Castello Cavalcanti is aesthetically what you expect from Wes Anderson film, quirky, vibrant as well as a chance for Anderson to pay homage to his cinematic heroes. Federico Fellini is honoured in this film with the Fellini's Amarcord the biggest source of inspiration, even the film's title is homage to one of Anderson's heroes Brazilian director Alberto Cavalcanti.

This not fashion film the closest  you'll see Prada in Castello Cavalcanti is probably the labels on the clothes the cast wore when this as shot, but this is one luxury item from the house of Prada everyone can afford to enjoy. This no ordinary film, it's an Wes Anderson short film, need I say more?

Film Review: How To Survive A Plague

Genre:
Documentary
Release Date:
8th November 2013 (UK, Cinema)
DVD (tbc)
Rating:
PG
Director:
David France

How to Survive a Plague is a film that was only released in UK cinemas last weekend, but which won a number of awards during last year’s film festival circuit; including the Boston Society of Film Critics best documentary, as well as winning in the same category at the Gotham Awards. It was also nominated for an Academy Award.

The documentary – directed by David France, and written by France, T. Woody Richman and Tyler Walker – provides an overview of the AIDS epidemic in New York City during the 80s, as both the casualties and the heinous reputation of its sufferers grew to extreme heights. As NYC Mayor of the time Ed Koch did little to act on the sweeping infection, activist groups such as ACT-UP (Aids Coalition to Unleash Power) and TAG (Treatment Action Group), led a powerful campaign in order to gain access to medication that was currently being denied to AIDS victims. Their movement also sought to alter perceptions of New York’s LGBT community, whose identity was, and still is, inherently linked to the spread of the virus.

France’s How to Survive a Plague is a work that should be applauded for bringing to our attention a struggle that was so intensively ignored during its time – a period not too long ago, where sick people were turned away from hospitals due to the stigma attached to their illness, and politicians and presidents recoiled in fear and disgust. Praise should also be given to the activist groups featured here, for the ceaseless filming and documenting of their meetings and campaigns; without which this production would not have been possible, and the struggle of this marginalised group would have remained unknown to its audiences. What France’s film ultimately achieves is in showing how meaningful change can occur when people are willing to stand up to their oppressors - there is a revolutionary spirit on display here which often feels lost in the current Twitter-age.

How to Survive a Plague is an affecting snapshot of a period of history, which remains relevant due to the comparable problems posed to others in similar situations today – albeit most likely on a different continent. A must see for non-fiction fans.

★★★★☆

Sophie Stephenson