Mubi Selects - Friday 13th March 2015

Something for the Weekend? The weekend is now upon us as many cinephiles worldwide head to their local cinema to watch the latest releases. However sometimes you just want to get the weekend papers and have a lazy weekend watch something on the box or online and our new weekly section we may just have your answer.

In our new weekly post 'Mubi Selects' we've teamed with MUBI the purveyors of great cinema online curating a great selection of cult, classic, independent, and award-winning movies. It's an international community discovering wonderful intelligent thought provoking films MUBI is your passport to those great films.

MUBI unleash great new films every week and in our MUBI Selects we'll deliver a taster with our weekly picks of what's playing and help you enjoy that lazy weekend you desire...

Hiroshima Mon Amour

Alain Resnais a cornerstone of French New Wave cinema with his landmark 1959  starring Emmanuelle Riva Eiji Okada star as a French woman and Japanese man  engage in a brief, intense affair set in post war  Hiroshima, Japan Their impels the couple  to exorcise their own scarred memories of love and suffering. A beautiful, slow paced film ideal for that lazy Sunday afternoon

Planet Terror

If your looking for that nonsensical brainless escapism Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror will do the trick. Zombies, gore and hot girl's with machine gun leg Planet Terror will deliver that B-Movie exploitation with a capital B. Thanks to a nerve escaping accident thanks to a remote U.S military turning those effected by the gas into flesh eating zombies

Deathproof

If your going to watch Planet Terror you have to watch Deathproof. This an continuation second part of Grindhouse Project this time Quentin Tarrantino in the director's chair with a homage the car action exploitation films of the 1960s and 1970s. Like many Tarrantino films the platform for comeback performances, this time Kurt Russell when a DJ offers  an opportunity for her friends to unwind but when night fall heads turn,

Chico&Rita

When it comes to adult and animation it can be a hard sell but over the years there's been a number of great animations that prove animation is for all and Chico & Rita is one of those films. Fernando Trueba's film captures magic and sounds of Cuba, a melancholic, vibrant journey of a young piano player with big dreams who falls in love with a beautiful singer Rita, a love story set during the pre-Cuban revolution.

Undertow

David Gordon Green maybe unfortunately maybe known by mainstream film fans for his  certain Stoner comedy, however there was a life in independent film. In 2004 Undertow starring Jamie Bell in a gritty Southern gothic noir-ish film based around a family untouched by time. When the arrival of their violent greedy uncle arrives on the scene a tragic event forces the brothers go on the run with the uncle on the pursuit.


For a price of a coffee from one of those chains what better way to enjoy the weekend and every day great films at MUBI? click below to get more info on the other fantastic films on offer...

DVD Review - Child is Waiting (1963)

Genre:
Drama
Distributor:
Simply Media
DVD Release Date:
16th March 2015 (UK)
Rating: PG
Director:
John Cassavetes
Cast:
Burt Lancaster, Judy Garland, Gena Rowlands, Steven Hill, Paul Stewart,
Buy:A Child Is Waiting [DVD]
John Cassavetes is considered by many to be the father of American Independent cinema; he isn’t in my opinion, as Roger Corman and Sam Fuller predate him, amongst many others. He is however a pioneer in the fact he made these rich, character based dramas that he wrote, directed and put his own money into them. He had a couple years in the early ‘60s before he made his groundbreaking Faces where he almost became a studio director with films like Too Late Blues and A Child in Waiting.

The noted director Stanley Kramer produced A Child is Waiting and they butted heads over the final cut. Despite the post-production turmoil, Cassavetes (who disowned the film), admitted it wasn’t too bad, just a bit overly sentimental for his own taste. It’s a fascinating film for many reasons. Firstly, as a historical depiction of disability on screen, uncommonly (even shamefully today), most of the disabled children are played by actual disabled children which is in tune with Cassavetes’ realistic, improv style.

Judy Garland and Burt Lancaster star in the film, and both gives some of their finest performances in their respective, extraordinary film careers. Lancaster plays the head of the school, Dr. Matthew Clark, and clashes with Garland’s Jean Hansen over his strict teaching methods. Hanson also becomes emotionally involved with one of the kids who Clark considers to be one of their big failures, and they battle over how to education him. Lancaster brings the physicality that he always did due to his background in the circus. Garland also really shows off her acting chops, something that was rarely on display in other films she did.

A Child is Waiting deserves to be re-analysed as one of Cassavetes’ finest films and of his two “Hollywood” films it’s certainly his best, despite obviously being toned down from Cassavetes’ original intentions. Cassavetes had an extremely forward thinking take on the material, stating in the book Cassavetes on Cassavetes, “My film said that retarded children could be anywhere, any time, and that the problem is that we're a bunch of dopes, that it's our problem more than the kids. The point of the original picture that we made was that there was no fault, that there was nothing wrong with these children except that their mentality was lower." The finished film, which Kramer edited, had a bent that was more of it’s time, basically saying the kids are better off in the institute than in the main population.

★★★★
Ian Schultz

DVD Review - He Walked By Night (1948)

Genre:
Film Noir
Distributor:
Simply Home Entertainment
Rating: PG
Director:
Alfred L. Werker, Anthony Mann
Cast: Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts, Whit Bissell, Jack Webb
Release: 16th March 2015
Buy: He Walked By Night [DVD]
He Walked by Night is a fairly standard procedural noir fare but has enough style to move it up a level. It was directed by Alfred L. Werker even though Anthony Mann finished the film. It’s very loosely inspired by the real life Erwin "Machine-Gun" Walker who committed a similar strings of crimes as depicted in the finished film.

Richard Basehart plays the killer Roy Morgan, who in the beginning shoots and kills a police officer. This is after the police officer questions him because he is acting suspicious outside an electronics store. The rest of the film is basically the police trying to find this mystery man.

The film’s big set piece is it’s climax, in an L.A storm drainage system. It’s very similar to the climactic scene in Carol Reed’s masterpiece The Third Man and begs the question, did Graham Greene or Carol Reed see He Walked by Night? It’s very possible. The film’s director of photography was John Alton, who also shot one of the textbook examples of classic noir The Big Combo and numerous others; his use of light and shadow is partly what brings He Walked by Night up from being a fairly standard film to a solid one.

I would certainly not say He Walked by Night would be the best starting point for a budding fan of noir; there are dozens you should see before. Despite my reservations it has a strong lead performance by Basehart who plays a psychopathic killer very well. Overall, the film has a brutal nihilism that many of the best noirs do, but due to the standard of storytelling it misses it’s mark in becoming a classic.

★★★1/2

Ian Schultz

DVD Review - Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me (2012)

Genre:
Documentary
Distributor:
UMC
Rating: TBA
Director:
Drew DeNicola, Olivia Mori
Release: 2nd March 2015
Buy: Nothing Can Hurt Me [DVD]
Nothing Can Hurt Me is a documentary of the cult band Big Star from Memphis, Tennessee. They bridged the gap between The Velvet Underground and what would later become punk rock, and more specifically the power pop and paisley underground that would come in it’s wake. It was the brainchild of two songwriters, Alex Chilton and Chris Bell.

The documentary, like the band’s fame, is a bit too late for it’s own good. The film really started filming around the time of Alex Chilton’s death and Chris Bell has been dead since the late ‘70s. Chilton also was notoriously cagey about speaking about his time in Big Star, and when him and Jody Stephens reformed the band, he admitted it was for the money many times. The film’s crucial flaw is that there is no on video interview with Chilton - there are audio interviews and some archive stuff but that’s all. Chilton, after all, wrote most of the band’s enduring songs.

It however does successfully tell the story of the band, and to some extent gets into the heads of the two songwriters, not from the outside but through the people who knew them. It’s very much a musos doc as oppose to a biography of the band; there is a lot of talk about the album’s production. I’m a massive fan of Big Star but, for the most part, couldn’t care less about the production techniques they used. This can also be said of anyone when they talk about the plus and minuses of album’s production.

Sadly there is very little footage of the band, mostly just silent footage of them in the studio. It’s a fascinating story of a band that nearly made it, but due to so many different factors didn’t quite make get there. What a different world we would live in if Big Star were as big as one of their contemporaries like Led Zeppelin. It’s very well made given the limitations they had, but if you're looking for a deeply insightful documentary into the minds of the bands’ songwriters you may come out of it disappointed.


★★★1/2

Ian Schultz

Social Media Unveils It's 'dark side' In The Horror Short Alexia

If your under a certain age and own a smart phone your life probably evolves around social media especially Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc... If you know what Facebook is and have a profile if you ever thought what would happen to that profile after you die? It seems in Argentina  it's a bit of an phenomenon a sadistically sinister one of following profiles after death and in Andres Borghi's short film Alexia all will be unveiled.

After the death of his girlfriend Alexia follows a young man dealing with the repercussions of keeping her social profile runnng. As he attempts sever his part of everything it looks like things aren't as easy as he first thought.

enjoy!



Source:Twitchfilm

DVD Review - Swimming to Cambodia (1987)

Genre:
Comedy, Drama
Distributor:
Simply Media
Release Date:
16th March 2015 (uk)
Rating; 18
Director:
Jonathan Demme
Cast:
Spalding Gray, Sam Waterston, Ira Wheeler
Buy:Swimming To Cambodia [DVD]
Jonathan Demme, like so many directors of his generation, came through the Roger Corman film school. After “graduating” he struggled throughout the later 70s, making stuff like Last Embrace which he has expressed disappointment with. However, he had a chance to come back with the more idiosyncratic Melvin and Howard which was a big critical success, and made him a director to look out for.

The 80s is really where the case can be made that Demme was one of the finest directors around at the time. He would make great comedies like Something Wild, and Married to the Mob. Simultaneously, he made performance films like the classic Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense. His fame, of course, reached it’s height with the release of The Silence of the Lambs, yet since then it’s been very hit and miss, with, for the most part, more misses than hits. He made the awful remake of The Manchurian Candidate, and vowed to only make documentaries and small-scale dramas from then on.

One of the early performance films he made was Swimming to Cambodia. Demme has made many performance films over the years and this one is probably the most similar to Stop Making Sense in style. It’s however not a music film, but a filmed monologue by actor Spalding Gray, talking about his experiences making the film The Killing Fields.

Gray only acted in a few films (and only a few worth seeing) in his career including a couple of pornos! His real love was doing these surreal monologues about his life experiences, often at the off-Broadway venue the Performance Garage in New York City. Swimming to Cambodia was filmed there and was the first of 5 theatrically filmed versions of his monologues.

Demme and his great cinematographer John Bailey film it like a normal film. It’s expertly lit; there is background of a sea, which is to symbolize the South China Sea. Spalding only has two props, which are two maps he points to at different times during the proceedings. Spalding tells the extraordinary story of how he got the part, the filming and the his relationship with his girlfriend (who later became his wife) and everything in-between.

It’s almost plays like Louis Malle’s My Dinner with Andre, which despite being a narrative film is basically a conversation. Funnily enough Demme’s new film, A Master Builder reunites the stars from that film.Grey is a captivating speaker, and very funny and frank about his experiences before, during and after the filming. It does now have a level of melancholy because Gray years later would commit suicide after years of suffering with mental and physical illnesses. It’s an 80s cult oddity that seems to be have been forgotten and should be rediscovered and cherished.

★★★★
Ian Schultz

BFI Unleash A Stunning New UK trailer For Upcoming Blade Runner:The Final Cut

You may say to yourself "Again?!!!" but to true film fans will relish a  rare chance to see Ridley Scott's 1982 sci-fi Masterpiece Blade Runner on the big screen again, watch new trailer.

After numerous special editions for the home release and fans of the cult film argue which one is the best, we have to say the best is to relive the enjoyment of the big screen. BFI are bringing the film back to UK cinemas for a limited release and if your of a certain age group (like myself) either too young or weren't born so we see this as a rare chance.

So what version version will we watch? BFI are distributing Blade Runner:The Final Cut the version approved by director Ridley Scott, here's what he said about this version...

“The Final Cut is my definitive version of BLADE RUNNER, and I’m thrilled that audiences will have the opportunity to enjoy it in the way I intended – on the big screen. This new trailer captures the essence of the film and I hope will inspire a new generation to see BLADE RUNNER when it is re-released across the UK on 3 April.”



Graced with extraordinary sets, ground-breaking special effects, stunning costumes and photography, Blade Runner: The Final Cut brilliantly evokes a dystopian vision of the future. Breathtaking city vistas, rain-drenched neon-lit streets and gloomy interiors combine with Vangelis’ sweeping, sensual score to conjure an oppressive futuristic Los Angeles, a dark and dehumanising landscape where the sun no longer shines.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut will make an limited UK cinema release from 3rd April, check BFI website for a list of cinema who will show the film.

Short Sighted Cinema Presents: TRANSFORM - A night of documentary and live stories. Hackney Attic, 25th March.

A selection of short documentaries and autobiographies that lead into metamorphic journeys of discovery and transformation. Secrets are shared and identities challenged in this evening of short film and live storytelling, followed by open-mic revelations.

Want to tell a story? We’re looking for storytellers to take part in the launch event of a new series of film & spoken word collaborations, looking at stories on screen and off. Got a story about ‘transformations’ (whatever your take on that is!) – get in touch at info@shortsightedcinema.com.


Featuring:
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JACOB M. BIRD - Camilla Mathis
A documentary profile on Jacob M. Bird aka Dinah Lux.

THICK SKIN - Despina Christodoulou
Thick Skin offers an insight in to the life of Ben, a Mexican wrestler and entertainer, which sheds light on the unusual and intense activity of body suspension.

THE LADY OF LAMBETH - Tom Sweetland
A character driven documentary explores themes of disability and old age through the eyes of Ann Parnell-McGarry, a former theatre director and opera dancer. Now aged 75, she is slowly coming to terms with her life in a wheelchair, but even her inability to walk hasn’t stopped her being an extraordinarily active pensioner.

Details:
Doors: 7.30PM
Venue: Hackney Picturehouse Attic, 270 Mare St E8
Tickets: £5
Age: 16+
Station: Hackney Central / London Fields
Link: http://bit.ly/1B8KXta

Film Review - White Bird in a Blizzard (2014)

Genre:
Drama, Mystery
Distributor:
Altitude Film Entertainment
Release Date:
6th March 2015 (UK Cinema)
16th March 2015 (UK DVD)
Rating: 15
Director:
Greg Araki
Cast:
Shailene Woodley, eva green, Christopher Meloni, Thomas Jane, Gabourey Sidibe, shiloh fernandez, Angela Bassett
Buy:White Bird In A Blizzard [DVD]
Gregg Araki is a director who I have a love it/hate it thing with. He started out being one of the founders of “New Queer Cinema” of the ‘90s, making these bisexual teen comedies that have great soundtracks full of shoegaze goodness, with a slightly trippy nature. However his greatest flaw was always the film’s ending, they always seemed rushed or haphazard.

Things changed when he made the out and out masterpiece Mysterious Skin starring a very young Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It was strange, surreal, daring, and finally had an ending that was totally satisfying. He followed it up with the more conventional Smiley, and the enjoyable but deeply flawed attempt to get back to his earlier films Kaboom. This brings us up to his latest film White Bird in a Blizzard.

White Bird in a Blizzard is by far the closest in tone to his undisputed masterpiece Mysterious Skin. Both are mysteries based on novels, which might be why both films have a satisfying beginning, middle and end. It’s about a teenage girl Katrina Connors (Shailene Woodley) whose “perfect” suburban housewife mother, simply disappears one day and is never seen again. The rest of the film is her coming of age and dealing with the disappearance.

The tone of the film is a mixture of Sirkian melodrama and David Lynch strangeness. The lead performance by Shailene Woodley is attempting to channel Winona Ryder circa Heathers, but as my girlfriend said it was more shoegaze Lindsay Lohan which is not necessarily a problem. Eva Green goes full Mommie Dearest as the mother and is one of the best performances she has ever given. To add to the Lynchian connection, Sheryl Lee plays the father’s new girlfriend and it took me two viewings to recognize her.

I have to admit I had pretty much given up on Gregg Araki after Kaboom, coming to the conclusion he will never get back to the filmmaking of Mysterious Skin. I was pleasantly surprised with what he did with White Bird in a Blizzard. It has a twist you won’t see coming from a mile away, and an absolutely fantastic 80s soundtrack full of New Order, Cocteau Twin, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Psychedelic Furs, Echo & the Bunnymen and The Cure among many others.

★★★★
Ian Schultz

Hate Crime Director Releases Statement On His Films UK ban

James Cullen Bressack, director of HATE CRIME, which has been banned in the UK, said today:

"As a Jewish man, and a victim of anti -Semitic hate, I made a horror film that depicts the very thing that haunts my dreams. As an artist I wanted to tell a story to remind us that we live in a dangerous world; a world where racial violence is on the rise.

It saddens me to learn that censorship is still alive and well. As a critic and journalist, you should at least see the film you are criticizing and do your research to learn that the filmmaker is Jewish. However I have to admit that I do appreciate the press."

He added: "As a fan of Simon Thompson's work and the Huffington Post, I'm disappointed he didn't see my movie."

TheHorrorShow.TV's Jack Bowyer revealed that the Video On Demand service and Nerdly Presents will be potentially platforming other Bressack titles.

He commented: "Like James, we are disappointed not to be able to bring Hate Crime to the UK, as planned. However, we are pleased to announce that we are in the process of submitting some of James's other films to the BBFC, so that we can bring this distinctive and important filmmaker's voice to UK horror fans, along with other exciting titles under our partnership with Nerdly Presents."

THE BBFC announced last week HATE CRIME, the first release in a new joint VOD venture between geek blog Nerdly.co.uk and TheHorrorShow.TV - has officially been banned in the UK. It is one of only four horror movies officially refused classification by the BBFC since 2009, the others being Grotesque, The Bunny Game and The Human Centipede 2, later released with nearly 3 minutes of cuts.

HATE CRIME tells the story of a Jewish family, having just arrived in a new neighbourhood, who are recording their youngest son's birthday celebrations on video when their home is suddenly invaded by a bunch of crystal-meth-crazed neo-Nazi lunatics.

Whilst not everyone may enjoy or feel comfortable with the content of Hate Crime we do believe in everyone's right to decide for themselves. It furthers the argument how 'liberal' are BBFC really are when certain films fins themselves banned from UK you question why? We believe in everyone's right to political, religious view as well as sexual orientation but if religious, political views have effected the reason's for banning Hate Crime then the decision to ban the film is wrong. No one has a right  to use their views to influence a decision.