NZIFF Reviews - The Deadly Ponies Gang, The East and Magic, Magic

NZIFF Reviews - The Deadly Ponies Gang, The East and Magic, Magic

With the final days of the festival dawning in Auckland, you could be forgiven for thinking the films have run out of steam.
Well, you'd be wrong - and there are some real beauties lined up waiting in the wings as we head towards closing night.

One of those is local doco / mockumentary, The Deadly Ponies Gang, a real blast of Kiwi fresh air.

Centring on best buddies Clint and Dwayne, who live in the fringes of West Auckland and who get around on horses (cos they're quick-er than cars as one remarks), it's the best ode to bromance I've seen in years.
Decking out their horses with bling and rolling like wannabe gangsters in places, Clint philosophizes and drops his way of life through the screen and a captive audience.

Director Zoe Mcintosh borders on parody with this duo but just manages to keep it on the right side of extremely humourous and totally heartfelt. The thing is that Clint and Dwayne are such larger than life characters, whether they're chasing chickens to tag or putting together a trophy with a glue gun to woo a potential girlfriend, they're pure cinema doco gold.
Add into the mix, a young kid Kody who's desperately trying to get into the gang (and who pimps his horse with a cardboard cut out car) and you've got all walks of life here.

When Clint announces that he's going to do a fundraiser to help his mate Dwayne get some teeth, it's perfectly in keeping with what's gone on before. Larrikins and proud Westies they may be, but they're nothing short of compelling doco subjects.

Zoe's film proffers up such belly laughs as we probe into their psyche but it's never anything more than a heartfelt salute to the colourful characters which inhabit the outer edges of Auckland - it's a riotous time at the movies and I really hope it gets a run after the festival, because there's a warmth and humanity in The Deadly Ponies Gang which is contagious and touching.

Plus, it's got teeth. Literally.

The East sees indie darling Brit Marling re-teaming with director Zal Batmanglij, with whom she did The Sound of My Voice.

Marling plays an undercover investigator working for a security firm, who infiltrates an eco-terrorist group, The East, who have a way of exacting vengeance on those they believe who've wronged others. From a company who they believe has been poisoning the water, to a more personal revenge quest, The East is believed to be a real threat. Head of the group is Alexander Skarsgaard's Benji, who's trying to keep the group focussed on their overall goal; but when Ellen Page's scratchy Izzy goes off track, things start to go a little haywire.

The early set up and premise is intriguing enough, and is slickly put together but when Marling's investigator reveals to one of the group she's undercover, the flaws start to show and the highly implausible starts to distractingly set in. It's a shame because The East is a polished piece, with another impressive performance from Marling; the ethical discussions and subtexts are interesting but the forcing you to suspend your disbelief one time too many takes you out of the thriller's overall feeling. Exec-produced by Ridley Scott and Tony Scott should give some indication of how upmarket this thriller's gone, but overall, while The East has a slickly engaging start, it soon unfortunately loses its way and becomes generic eco-terrorist thriller with little surprises left to reveal.

Chilean thriller Magic, Magic may have an impressive cast (Juno Temple and Michael Cera) but its overall feeling is one of muddled mayhem and a mystery which doesn't proffer any solution or clues to hang onto.

Temple plays Alicia, a young woman, who ends up on a rural retreat with a group of people she doesn't know when her cousin is forced to head away from the group. A lack of sleep after the flight to Chile means that Alicia's already disorientated and after prolonged exposure to the sound of squawking birds and Michael Cera's slightly off beat Brink, she loses the plot quite effectively.

As madness and psychosis sets into this nightmarish potboiler, the film loses its grip on what exactly is going on - offering up no idea as to why Alicia's descended so violently at the end and why voodoo's needed, it feels as if the film is being obtuse simply for the sake of it, rather than adding to the claustrophobic feel of mystery.

Don't forget as well - extra sessions of some of the NZFF films have been added in to the schedule for Auckland. Head to nzff.co.nz for more details.

Only God Forgives: Movie Review

Only God Forgives: Movie Review

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Yayaying Rhatha Phongam, Vithaya Pansringarm
Director: Nicholas Winding Refn

Ryan Gosling reteams with his Drive director for this new film set in the seedy underworld of Bangkok.

Pretty boy Gosling plays a fairly ugly role, as he's Julian, a drug smuggler on the scene who masks his secondary business with a Thai boxing club. But his life's thrown into turmoil when his younger brother murders an underage prostitute.

Because that's when his mother Crystal comes to town - and orders Julian to get vengeance for her, which sets him on a collision course with Vithaya Pansringarm's cop lord, Chang.

Only God Forgives is a detached, emotionless experience and one which is also polarising.

Gosling's pretty dead behind the eyes and emotionally blank as Julian and it's hard to really empathise with him as the pressure starts to mount; particularly because there's no real connection to his family's plight due to the repugnant nature of all of them. Most disgusting is Kristin Scott Thomas' towering bullying turn as a mother who pours forth such bile from her mouth that you'll be stunned into submission. When Julian tells her that his brother raped and then murdered an underage girl, her reaction is simply one of "She probably deserved it."

It's shocking in some ways and that's probably what Winding Refn set out to do as the neon-soaked, red lit and blood soaked series of scenes play out. Occasionally bordering on the surreal and almost Lynchian, scenes are artfully set up and beautifully executed but with a minimum of impact thanks to the soulless characters which inhabit the world within.

Vithaya Pansringarm's Chang is a menacing character, thanks largely in part to the calm and silence in which he carries out his role as the angel of death and bringer of retribution. Wielding a samurai sword and executing justice in a very traditional and honoured way, he's quite the character, prone as he is to cutting people's hands off or using skewers to extract the information he needs and then dishing out a karaoke number at the end of it all.

Talking of the violence of the piece, there's been much made of the ultra-violence on display, but to be frank, I wasn't particularly shocked by it. Granted, it's vicious and brutal in parts (Julian is taken down in a boxing ring by Chang in a series of precise blows) but it's because of the real lack of connection to the characters, that you curiously don't feel a thing as their fates and vengeance catch up to them.


There's no dispute that Winding Refn's created a hyper-stylised and ultra stylish piece of film-making with slow sweeping shots down long corridors bathed in reds and neons and an impressive soundtrack which showcases the swish of the sword and punctuates the surreal visions which plague Julian.

But if he'd spent a little more time deviating away from the artsy extremes of the cinematic form and concentrated a little more on developing the shades of grey of the main protagonists of the piece, he'd have created something which was stunning.

As it is Only God Forgives lives in a pit of ugliness, and proves to be a frustrating cinematic experience. Divisive and polarising, it's destined to be a staple of film class discussions and could potentially see many cinema goers expecting a repeat of Drive's slickness alienated and stunned.

Rating:

Now You See Me: Movie Review

Now You See Me: Movie Review

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Marc Ruffalo, Melanie Laurent
Director: Louis Leterrier

Magic - it's all in the misdirection, right?

In this new heist / caper / magic, Jesse Eisenberg, Dave Franco, Woody Harrelson and Isla Fisher star as a quartet of magicians aka The Four Horsemen - J Daniel Atlas (a cardsman), Jack, (a pick-pocket) Merritt (a mentalist) and Henley (another escapologist), who, having worked individually are brought together by a mysterious benefactor to pull off some of their biggest ever tricks after a year of planning.

But the group attracts the attention of the FBI's Dylan Rhodes (a wonderfully rugged Mark Ruffalo) after they apparently rob a bank in Paris and give the money to their audience during a show in Las Vegas.

Rhodes teams up with an interpol agent Alma Dray (Inglorious Basterds' Melanie Laurent) and a debunker of magic Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) to try and track the Horsemen down and stop them.

And so begins a taut game of cat and mouse....

Now You See Me is a slick, flashy, crowd-pleasing affair.

With swirling cameras looping around all the actors and the action all the time, you may get a little dizzy and disorientated as the speedy plot plays out. There's hardly any time to catch your breath really as well as the chase begins and there's certainly no time to dwell on some of the plot holes, light characterisation and confusing moments as it speeds to its ever so slightly open ended conclusion. A lack of real explanation as to why the group's taken in by this scheme is missing until the end, giving you open-ended discussion over why they're involved and causing you to feel a little cheated.

Like any magic trick, Now You See Me is a heady mix of quick cuts, sleight of cinematic hand and misdirection. Nothing is of course as it seems and its ending is ludicrous, making a lot of what has already proceeded seem like something mysterious yet empty.

Eisenberg is smug and arrogant as Atlas; Harrelson's smirking and wise-cracking as the Mentalist - and unfortunately Fisher and Franco barely register as characters in this rather crowded cast. They're lost in the confines of the story and the initial brilliant opening scene, introducing us to all of the characters doesn't follow through on its promise. Freeman and Caine have a frisson of conflict as Tressler, the Horsemen's bank roller and Thaddeus the debunker. But it's Ruffalo who emerges as eminently watchable throughout this piece; his FBI agent seems to always be one step behind the action but his dogged determination is catchy and pretty soon, you're on his side, rooting for the capture of the quartet.

And yet, the set pieces and magic moments work well - the Robin Hood razzle dazzle of the Las Vegas / Paris bank heist is eye-catching and smart yet full of slick hokum; and a sequence in New Orleans where Rhodes is close to snagging the group on stage ends with such a riotous conclusion, you can't help but be swept away by it all.

That's the thing with Now You See Me - its mix of magic, heist caper and slick Hollywood swirling cameras is infectious - like any good trick, you're caught up in the moment as it plays out - but the minute you step out of the cinema, you find yourself questioning what you've seen - and while Now You See Me proffers up some entertaining moments throughout its 110 minute run, you're soon left with a hollow after glow and a feeling that you've been tricked. A real case of Now You See Me, Now You Don't on the plot front...

Rating:

NZIFF Review - Romeo and Juliet: A Love Song

NZIFF Review - Romeo and Juliet: A Love Song  

Rock operetta meets the trailer park in this latest ambitious retelling of the tale of Juliet and her Romeo.

Set in Verona caravan park, it's the story of Romeo and erm, Juliet and their star crossed love, a story told a million times before and which has been given a spit and polish for this Kiwi version. The music came first this time around as composers/producers Michael O’Neill and Peter van der Fluit set Shakespeare’s text to music, mixing in styles such as rap, ballad and rock.

Constantly surprising, Tim van Dammen's clearly drawn heavily from his music video directing background and the whole piece comes together with such toe-tapping gusto that it's impossible to deny. With the talent miming to other voices, the occasional misfire with the voice matching/ miming drips through, but all in all, it's an extremely enjoyable affair. Christopher Landon and Derya Parlak play the titular lovers with such aplomb that you can't help but be swept along with the story. Plus, given the fact they don't look out of place by the beach (Summer Bay Shakespeare anyone?) doesn't hinder the proceedings at all. 

The music's fabulous and ramps up the style pretty high in this take on Shakespeare's 400 year old story as the glorious re-versioning plays out. Ambitious and exciting, this Romeo and Juliet is something uniquely different; constantly surprising and always inventive, the operetta has an energy which is hard to ignore. A caravan roof doubles for a balcony and a wood just outside of the camping ground provides some truly memorable scenery as the declarations of love are unveiled.

Shakespeare's text may have been remade repeatedly - but this Kiwi view of it shows off a clever twist on the stuffy text - it's a music video rock operetta with a high dose of energy and directing gusto.



Interview with Romeo and Juliet: A Love Song director Tim van Dammen

Tell us about Romeo and Juliet: A Love Song

The film is a trash-opera adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It is the original text but sung or rapped. Its set in a run down trailer park and Romeo and Juliet are played by a couple of NZ’s top models. I don’t think anyone will have seen anything quite like it before, at least that’s what I was going for...

What was the filming of it like?

It was great! I shot with the same crew I’ve been making music videos with for the last few years, we’re all very close so it went really well. It was like a giant film camp at the beach, we were living much like the characters in the film – even a couple of romances blossomed.

Where did you film it and was it a smooth shoot?

We shot up at Waipu Cove campground, the people up there were very accomodating so the shoot went really well. The locals invited us around to their houses for dinner, they took us shellfish gathering in the weekends and they helped us find nearby locations to film certain scenes. It was a very smooth shoot, the only small hiccup was the lead actress breaking her toe but she didn’t let it stop her.

What’s it like to be here with the film at the New Zealand International Film Festival?

It’s amazing to be able to premiere the film here in NZ and for it to screen at the Civic and at the Embassy, it’s like a dream. I used to volunteer here as an usher so now to have my film here is sort of surreal. I’d like to thank Bill Gosden and the team at the NZIFF for having me, it’s a real honour.

What’s the best reaction you’ve had to a film of yours from an audience member?

I come from and Art School background so I’m used to my work being critiqued and critised, I find it difficult to respond to complements but I do remember after the cast and crew screening a little old lady who had given some money to the project came up afterwards and thanked me, she told me that she was very proud of the film. That was both humbling and a relief. I feel a lot of pressure to do justice to the generosity of people who helped make the film possible. Other than that the best reaction I can hope for from the film is laughter at the start and tears at the end, so far its affected a lot test audiences in this manner but I guess we’ll see what happens at the premiere.

Conversely, what’s been the worst?

Indifference...

What’s next for you?

My team and I have a couple of projects on the go, one is another opera which I’m working on with some of NZ’s top musicians and the other is a story set in 1833 NZ about headhunters but as usual I’m always looking for interesting local scripts.

Q&A with Sean Baker of Starlet

Q&A with Sean Baker of Starlet

Tell us about Starlet

Starlet is my fourth feature film. It explores the unlikely cross-generational friendship between 21 year-old Jane (Dree Hemingway), and the elderly Sadie (Besedka Johnson), two women whose worlds collide in California's San Fernando Valley.

What was the filming of it like? And was it a smooth shoot?

Our budget was 250k which is a tiny budget even in the indie film world.  In an effort to make this film as slick as possible for that budget, we had to employ guerrilla tactics in order to put every dollar up on the screen.  So there was much "run and gun" and some uncomfortable moments... but for the most part, we had a nice small family that worked great together. My dog was the only diva... he demanded his own trailer.. which was my air-conditioned car. 

You have a couple of remarkable lead actresses. Could you tell us a bit how you went about casting the film?

Dree came to us through her manager Allan Mindel, who is known for discovering fresh talent.  I cast her after an hour long video chat session without even having her read for the role.  Her sensibilities, demeanor and physicality sold me.

As far as Besedka goes, I wanted to cast a star from yester year... a "starlet" from another era.  Although we came close, we were having difficulty finding someone for Sadie. We were only 3 to 4 weeks from production and we were beginning to stress.  Shih-Ching Tsou (co-director of TAKE OUT), is one of the executive producers on STARLET went to the local YMCA to work-out.  She texted me from the gym locker room that she thought she found our actress.  Shih-Ching spoke to Besedka and asked her to audition.  Besedka thought she was being scammed at first but agreed to meet.  At her audition, she expressed to us that she lived in LA for most of her life and always dreamed of acting in a film but never had the chance.

What’s the best reaction you’ve had to a film of yours from an audience member?

Good question... A woman in Mar Del Plata, Argentina came up to me after a screening. She asked me how Chris Bergoch (co-screenwwriter) and I were able to write for the role of Sadie, an octogenarian who had much loss in her life. She told me that she had gone through a similar loss and thought we captured the nuances of that character perfectly. I told her that most of the credit goes to Besedka Johnson who understood her character in and out and brought her to life.

Another time, an audience member stood up and said he worked in the California adult film industry. He complimented us by saying that this is the most accurate depiction of the  industry he had ever seen.

Conversely, what’s been the worst?

I heard through the grapevine that one prominent festival programmer felt that the film fails by not showing the long term negative consequences of sex work. To do that would have directly contradicted our attempt to depict these young people as individuals with daily routines, hopes and dreams... not just people defined by their work.

Starlet won the Special Jury Prize at the SXSW Film Festival ; what kind of impact does a reward like that have on your career?

Every prize is a step forward and one more boost to help get the film out to audiences. That particular award was a recognition of Besedka Johnson's performance. She 100% deserved it and I'm so happy for her.

What’s next for you?

One very mainstream black comedy/thriller that Chris Bergoch and I are in the midst of writing. Plus, a couple of indies in which I am currently seeking financing. So hey, if any of your readers want to make a film with me... let's talk!

By the way, we are on Facebook and twitter 

Thanks so much

NZIFF Review - A Field in England

NZIFF Review - A Field in England

Ben Wheatley returns to the New Zealand International Film Festival and puts the WTF squarely into the Incredibly Strange section of the programme.

In his latest, a black and white piece set in the Civil War in England, it's up to you to put together some of the many pieces of this puzzle as they warp out in front of your eyes.

Reece Shearsmith (The League of Gentlemen) stars as Whitehead, a coward avoiding the fighting going on just over the hedges and frustratingly out of sight (robbing us of context). Joined by 3 others, Whitehead falls in with a troop of ne'er-do-wells, who want to get to an inn just over the hill - however, their journey takes a strange turn when they stumble upon O'Neill (Michael Smiley) whose desire to use Whitehead to find something in the field threatens them all.

A Field In England is a trippy piece of civil war psychedelia, mixed in with some of Wheatley's trademark dark humour. It's also frustratingly short on answers and high on puzzles meaning every audience member will have an interpretation of what's going on exactly and while that's fun for debate afterwards, a lack of linear answers may prove a befuddlement too far.

Though it has to be said, Wheatley's style comes shining through once again - with trippy sequences after mushrooms have been digested and psychosis sets in via an electronic soundtrack, it's a visceral thrill to see it unfold even if you're not 100% sure what the hell is going on.

Reece Shearsmith provides some genuinely unsettling moments - and a combined slow mo shot of him stumbling out of a tent after a confrontation with Smiley's O'Neill may be lacking in answers as to what's just gone on following the screaming, but it's not lacking on menace and a general feeling of the disturbed. Some of Wheatley's imagery is haunting and disgusting but always memorable (not always for the best reasons.)

There's some bleak humour here too - a confession of one of the group who's dying centres on his infidelity to his wife and brings some laughs which are unexpected; that's the thing with A Field In England, Wheatley's jumped so far out of any box you may expect after Sightseers and Kill List, that he's to be commended for the fact this film is so damn hard to classify, put in a box and properly review.

Freeze frame shots recall Civil War poses, a soundtrack taking in songs from the time and music add to the setting, and a general feeling of unease and pure dread drip from the screen as the low level plot plays out to its maddening end.

A Field In England is an utterly WTF experience at the New Zealand International Film Festival - and its perplexing nature provides the enigmatic riddle we need to puzzle over for years to come. Some of the best film is the stuff which can't be pigeonholed - and once again, Wheatley's done it; he's committed something unique and audacious to celluloid, something which defies expectations and which provides more questions than it does answers.

 

NZIFF Review - To The Wonder and Frances Ha

NZIFF Review - To The Wonder and Frances Ha

Terrence Malick returns to the New Zealand International Film Festival just a couple of years after the Tree of Life polarised so many.

This time around, rather than taking on the big mysteries of life, he's choosing to concentrate on the nature of love, in To The Wonder with a piece centreing on Ben Affleck and Olga Kurylenko's relationship and how it plays out. It starts off romantically as the duo journey to Europe on a train. With no inclination for explanation, we're thrown into the middle of their relationship and left to observe; Affleck is near mute and Kurylenko's voiceover gives us snapshots of a life, a love and a budding world of dreams. As time goes on though, the romance cools, the pair split amid a visa issue and Affleck falls back for former girlfriend played by Rachel McAdams. However, once again, that dream falters and the original duo reunite. Intertwined with their life and love is a priest played by Javier Bardem whose purpose in life is drifting away from his calling.
Once again, Malick displays a real propensity and skill for a lyrical liquid narrative, blessed with some wonderful imagery which captures the life within our grasp; but for some, the fluidity and lack of real structure may prove a stumbling block as it rambles on to its conclusion. The overall feeling of To The Wonder is more of an experience, a live picture book than a conventional film - a spiritual journey rather than a scripted pathway. An orchestral score soars early on as the trio all search for something - and while Affleck and Kurylenko's characters seem to get the most closure, Bardem's priest is a little neglected and on the outside of the film rather than being more fully embraced. To The Wonder is a film to be seen and discussed but it may not be one whose snapshots of life and love are anything more than fleeting moments of celluloid; haunting definitely but lasting, not entirely.

Frances Ha is Great Gerwig's contribution to hipsterdom. And quite frankly, it feels in places like it tries too hard to be as cool as it wants to. Gerwig is Frances, a dancer in New York, whose bohemian and drifter lifestyle means she moves from flat to flat and life to life after her soulmate Sophie (Sting's daughter) decides she wants to move out to an address she's always wanted to go to. Devastated from the split, Frances finds her life lacks focus and meaning as she moves from one address to another, always trying to get on and always seeking some form of validation from her friends and suffering from a lack of being able to move on in life. Shot in black and white and deliberately going for a certain audience, I personally found Gerwig's Frances and her ilk insufferable and annoying; that's not to say though that Gerwig isn't astoundingly good in the role; this flighty girl is quirky and therefore awkward in places. During a massive run to get cash from an ATM, Frances falls over while dashing back - for no reason other than to emphasise her awkwardness. It's these try hard moments which are peppered throughout which irritate rather than endear. Which is a real shame as there are moments of dialogue and banter which sparkle and shine with naturalness and freshness, fully encapsulating the feckless nature of youth and the nether years when we flounder between no longer being a child but not quite an adult as we make our way through the world. A Christmas jaunt home to Sacramento with family gives Frances some warmth which is lost during other dinner encounters with flatmates and friends thereof, but as a series of snapshots of life in New York, there will be those who utterly adore Frances and her quirkiness; unfortunately, I am not one of them and was left irritated by the shallowness of the film, and the annoying nature of Frances.