NZIFF Review - Much Ado About Nothing, You're Next and The Broken Circle Breakdown

NZIFF Review - Much Ado About Nothing, You're Next and The Broken Circle Breakdown

Joss Whedon's latest, Much Ado About Nothing sees a gathering of the Whedonverse alumni in a take on Shakespeare's play which has lost none of the subtlety and fizz of the Bard's work.

Keeping the actual text in place, and tweaking only some of the minor details, it still focuses on the quarreling relationship of Benedick and Beatrice (played by Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker) and the relationship of Claudio and Hero amid modern times.

Set on a sumptuous estate (Whedon's own) this black and white adaptation is a virtuoso of subtlety and wit. The dialogues between the characters shine with nuances and revel in the language, frolicking in the back and forth of Benedick and Beatrice as well as Nathan Fillion's constable. But there's also some silly visual humour such as when Benedick finds his three friends discussing how Beatrice has fallen for him - those moments of comic capery will delight audiences.

Acker and Denisof are perfectly cast, balancing the moments of lightness and tomfoolery with the seriousness needed by Shakespeare's text; other players circle around them but to be honest, they barely register as highly as this duo. With perhaps the exception of Nathan Fillion.

A Shakespeare to be watched and enjoyed, Much Ado About Nothing is a zesty treat which feels fresh and sparkling as the festival draws to a close in Auckland.

Adam Wingard's You're Next is a gory treat.

It centres on a family who've come together to celebrate the 35th wedding anniversary of their parents in a deserted country mansion. Partners are brought along for the weekend and tensions rise to the surface between brothers and threaten to bubble over.

But those have to go on the back burner when a group wearing animal masks start picking off their victims one by one. The only problem with their Extreme Makeover: Home Invasion plan is that one of them (played by Home and Away's Sharni Vinson) has a talent for fighting back....

You're Next is a delicious treat, delivering fresh and suspenseful thrills on the horror front, before also dishing out some laughs here and there. Overall though, it's a clever and bloody inventive look at the horror, with Wingard eeking out as much tension as he can here and there as the showdown goes on.

Crowd-pleasing and also jump out of your seat jolting are the order of the day - and You're Next delivers on the promise of thrills, twists and suspense. It's one of the freshest films in the Incredibly Strange section this year and it's not to be missed.

Finally, The Broken Circle Breakdown is a terrific and heart breaking look at the demise of a relationship.

Weaving back and forth over the course of a relationship, it follows the story of Veerle Baetens' Elise, a tattoo artist and Johan Helderbergh's Didier, a banjo playing bluegrass artist. As the story begins, their daughter Maybelle has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and their differing viewpoints on life are challenged.

The Broken Circle Breakdown is a great piece of cinema - it's blessed with a great soundtrack and uplifting country bluegrass music which helps anchor the story of these lovers. But it's also the performances of the two leads which linger long after the story moves across different time periods, charting the highs of love and the lows and perils faced when life throws them your way.

Ultimately downbeat, the journey is an incredibly emotional one - moments are shuffled around out of chronological order with glimpses of what's to unfold / what's already happened hinted at and expanded on later in the film. It's a thrilling narrative touch which proves engaging and affecting.

Brand new Sherlock Series 3 trailer is here

Brand new Sherlock Series 3 trailer is here

Following the events of the Reichenbach Falls, there's plenty of discussion whether Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock made it.

Well, the first trailer for Sherlock Series 3 has just dropped.

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman and Mark Gatiss, Sherlock Series 3 will be back on the BBC soon...

Us and The Game Industry: Director Q&A

Us and The Game Industry: Director Q&A

Director: Stephanie Beth

Tell us about Us and the Game Industry. Where did the idea come from

I think it is remarkable how in such a short time the computer has enthralled so many. We are all on a quest as to what these objects (computers) do for us and what we do for them. Together, we are biology and culture.

I could see a chapter opening on Design for video games. My background education  is Fine Art/Cultlural Studies/Anthropology

The documentary affords a rare glimpse into the lives, philosophies, work and play of developers Jenova Chen and team at thatgamecompany. Other developers are: Jason Rohrer, Douglas Wilson (Die Gute Fabrik), Alexander Bruce, and Zach Gage. Vignettes of these and their works interlace a study of the build of the thatgamecompany’s Play Station network game, JOURNEY, a  game that gained stature in the world recently.

When did you begin shooting and did it all go according to plan?

March 2009. All went to plan

Where you a gamer before you began making the film?

No. I am a traditionally raised child in the liberal arts – traditional sports/Arts/culture. I’m not a gamer now

What’s the best reaction you’ve had to one of your films from an audience member?

Giggles last Sunday when Jason Rohrer said, “THE CASTLE DOCTRINE” is a game about home security and defence”

Conversely, what’s been the worst?

There has been no worst. I do pretty sensitive stuff.

What’s next for you?

Marketing US AND THE GAME INDUSTRY. It’s massive fun. It is a world community large project.

Twitter: usandthegameindustry@commondreamer

www.usandthegameindustry.com

NZIFF - What Maisie Knew

NZIFF - What Maisie Knew

Tremendously affecting and utterly engrossing, What Maisie Knew proves to be a truly wonderful NZIFF highlight.

Told from the point of view of Onata Aprile's young Maisie, it's the story of a child, pulled from pillar to post by divorcing parents. She's a rock star Susanne (Julianne Moore) and he's Beale, an art dealer (Steve Coogan) and their continual batting back and forth of Maisie, under proclamations of love is heartbreaking to bear.

When the pair inevitably split up, both get new partners - Beale takes the nanny Margo with him and ends up marrying her and Susanne winds up marrying on a whim to Alexander Skarsgard's Lincoln. But poor Maisie ends up going back and forth, taken in by various promises and let down by all prospective parents but never losing her prospective enthusiasm and hoping for the possibility of love.

When she starts to bond with the laid back Lincoln, a calming influence in her life, Susanne's insecurities come to the fore and things threaten to boil over which could have emotional consequences for Maisie.

What Maisie Knew is one of the finest dramas I've seen all festival.

Haunting and emotionally gripping, the slow burning heart of this film is anchored by a wonderful performance from Onata Aprile's Maisie; a perfect encapsulation of a young soul lost in life already and who never loses optimism. Neglected by her parents, and loved really only by Margo initially, she saves the joy for the nanny and bonds subtly and in a heartfelt manner with Skarsgard's Lincoln. The duo have a wonderful chemistry and the relationship of protector and charge is beautifully played with adorable soul and simple sensitivity by both Skarsgard and Aprile. Underplayed and never exploited, it's a natural relationship which shines in among Coogan and Moore's utter loathsome selfish behaviour.

If anything, What Maisie Knew belongs to Skarsgard and Aprile - and while the story plays out exactly how you may expect, it's only because you're hoping for a perfect resolution for Maisie, a kind of wishful fulfilment which we perhaps seek for the young in our own lives. There's a tremendous poignancy here which proves difficult to ignore.

Utterly affecting and ultimately rewarding, What Maisie Knew is essential viewing at the New Zealand International Film Festival.

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.

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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...

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