Self / Less: Film Review

Self / Less: Film Review

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Ben Kingsley, Natalie Martinez, Matthew Goode, Michelle Dockery
Director: Tarsem Singh

From the director of The Cell and Immortals, comes a sci-fi tinged drama that has a great central premise, but some poor execution.

Ben Kingsley is Damien Hale, a dying New York real estate magnate and estranged father to Claire (Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery), who decides death isn't enough for him and that he wants to do more with his life. So thanks to a shadowy company and a Faustian pact involving shedding his previous body, he discovers there's a way to transfer his consciousness into a newer younger body - and unsurprisingly, he takes that opportunity.

But when he wakes up in a new body (in the form of a perma-scowling Ryan Reynolds) he soon discovers the company and the transfer are not all they appear to be, thanks to flashes and a conspiracy unfolding before him.

Over-long, tonally muddled and betraying its a mind is a great thing to waste premise, Self / Less is just a film that doesn't quite know what it wants to do with itself.

Losing Ben Kingsley after the first 10 minutes is an inevitable narrative necessity, but still doesn't help the film on its way. With his New York accented venal mogul clearly being the best part of it, the film struggles to continue in the wake of his disappearance, setting on a course for mediocrity and predictability rather than exploring the morality of a great premise.

Meshing Flatliners with parts of Quantum Leap may have seemed like a reasonable idea, and to be fair to Singh, the visuals of the locations and the sensory flashbacks soar as ever in one of his films. However, the human element of the drama is undersold by a muted Reynolds who never really seizes on the promise of a second life and it's never fully helped by an apparent complete attitude change from the man who's inhabiting his body.

The problem comes in the script which is predictable as you'd expect and starts to play like a list of things to be ticked off, rather than invested in emotionally as Reynolds' character meets up with his past and former wife and child.

Ultimately, Self / Less becomes a trudge through its Twilight Zone idea rather than an interesting journey - thanks in part to Reynolds and some badly put together scripting, it's a fairly soulless saunter through a great sci-fi premise.

Rating:

The Gallows: Film Review

The Gallows: Film Review

Cast: Reese Mishler, Pfifer Brown, Ryan Shoos, Cassidy Gifford
Director: Travis Cluff, Chris Lofing

The play's the thing in this found footage horror set in a small town school 20 years after a tragedy hit.

During the performance of a Crucible-like play called The Gallows, Charlie, one of the students was accidentally hanged - and now in honour of that anniversary, the play's being put on again. But on the eve of the show, three students from the current production creep into the hall to wreak havoc - however, it looks like a spirit haunting the building has other plans.

To say The Gallows is a feeble attempt at the horror genre is to undersell it.

Some utterly terrible acting from the main cast doesn't help matters; the worst offender being Reese Mishler whose array of acting seems to consist only looking horrified and wide-eyed when things go bump in the night as the phantoms of the opera play up.

But it's the way the story unfolds though its brief 81 minute run time and its characters that really make this revenge tale fall short of what it could do.

The teens are prone to dumb actions, shouting and fumbling around in the dark rather than ever using any of their sensibilities to help them get through. And to make matters worse, the high school stereotypes are something from the 80s with it divided up into jocks and nerds...

The found footage doesn't quite work either with lots of darkness, distortion and convenient lapses of logic dropped in thoughout - inevitably perhaps the directors and writers were using the low battery of the cameras to help provoke some dread, but when they fire up seconds later without any changes, it's clear they're making the rules up as they go along. (Plus, don't even get me started with the way it chops and changes - for a so-called found footage film, the spooky spirit sure does have a way with editing tools).

It's a shame because the premise is one to be mined - there's a neat twist in the middle that comes out of nowhere, and the idea of MacBeth level of superstition striking fear when people mention Charlie's name on stage is a clever updating of the worries actors have.

Things bang, shut and slam closed with the ferocity that you'd expect, but it all feels so piecemeal and uneventfully exciting, that even 81 minutes seems too long - The Gallows clearly wanted to launch a new boogeyman onto the scene with Hangman Charlie, but this sub-par Blair Witch wannabe should have been strung up before it even got started.

Rating:

'71 - NZIFF Review

'71 - NZIFF Review

Thrilling, tense and visceral are perhaps the best ways to describe the drama '71.

Set in Belfast in 1971, a near wordless Jack O'Connell stars as rookie Brit soldier Gary Hook. As the film begins the trainees are being put through their paces, with the importance of team-work being drilled into them.

But recruited to the Belfast lines to help with peace-keeping duty, this squaddie soon sees the reality of team-work thrown out the window when a tense meeting between Catholics and Protestants on one street sees him cut-off from the rest of his squad.

Suddenly forced on the run behind enemy lines on one night, Hook's out of his depth when it comes to surviving what lies ahead - and his troubles, much like Northern Ireland's, are just beginning.

First time director Yann Demange rightly won best director at the 2014 British Independent Film Awards with this gripping take on the survival film. As bombs go off and the shocks hit, Demange knows how to lull you into a sense of dread, let it coil around you and choke you with it.

In among the visceral riot, close camera shots force you into the POV of Hook et al as you try desperately to see what's coming where but are only confronted with the uncertain reality of a sea of seething faces. Equally fuelling this powderkeg is O'Connell, whose near-mute presence forces him into a physicality of a performance that helps convey everything he needs and the internal conflicts.

As he staggers from one moment to the next, picking his way through dense fog and streets littered only with burning cars or petrol bombs, he's a commanding presence, a mix of frightened, vulnerable and determined.

Equally chilling are the politics of the time, as the words "We look after our own in the army" and relying on the kindness of strangers take on new meaning on the bomb-torn Belfast streets as allegiances are struck and betrayals are meted out, never overtly but always with subtlety as the conflict begins to take shape.

A final cat and mouse sequence set in a stairwell is the ultimate noose-tightening as storm clouds gather and the nail-biter heads to its denouement. Tragedy inevitably follows Hook on the streets of Belfast but not once does Demange milk this, preferring to showcase the sickening reality of the impending Troubles rather than linger on it.

'71 is an intense and riveting film, one which takes you into the pulsing heart of conflict and defies you not to succumb to a heart attack as it pursues its devastating conclusion.

The End Of The Tour: NZFF Review

The End Of The Tour: NZFF Review

Prosaic and elegaic, The End Of The Tour centres on the five day conversation between Rolling Stone journalist David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) and writer David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel) back in 1996.

In light of the publication of Wallace's ground-breaking novel Infinite Jest, Lipsky joined Wallace on the last few days of his book tour and got to know the man.

To say little happens in The End Of The Tour is perhaps an understatement, but this essentially extended conversation weaves in some home truths about life itself and Wallace, as well as opening up the writer to those who may not have known his work.

Eisenberg is solid and irritable as Lipsky, a fellow writer and fan of Wallace who's clearly under his thrall before meeting him but whose interest in his subject is tested and who puts him to the test by the five day trip; there's an occasional hint of tension as Lipsky's Rolling Stone boss hounds him to get to the bottom of some rumours, but other than that, it's about the ebbs and flows of conversation, even if Eisenberg makes you forget he's a journo trying to get a headline.

However, it's a softer Segel who's more impressive as Wallace - capturing not only his physical essence with the bandanna and wire rim glasses, but by giving a sensitively drawn portrait of a man clearly troubled by his life and the realisation of his place in it. Moments when Wallace reveals how he'll feel at the end of the tour are devastating, hinting at his fragility before segueing to shots of him dancing in utter released bliss. There are occasional bouts of insecurity and prickliness from Wallace but Segel makes these moments the emotional bombshells they need to be thanks to a subtle performance that roots itself in the man and his words, rather than the mythos and the perception.

Essentially this road movie boils down to just one thing - it's a portrait of a man and it's excellently portrayed in this two-hander.

Director James Ponsoldt, who did the wonderful The Spectacular Now, gets to the heart of this sensitive esoteric piece and zeroes in on the words of the script, rather than the actions. As a result, more is literally said but even more is hinted at and thanks to Segel's stunning turn, Wallace is brought vividly to life.

The End Of The Tour feels like a quieter piece in the New Zealand International Film Festival, but it's more moving than anything I've seen in recent weeks - the vein of Wallace's inherent sadness is blown open at the end of the film, and you can't help but feel Lipsky's tears as if they were your own as he eulogizes his friend at the end.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation: Film Review

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation: Film Review

Cast: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy Renner, Alec Baldwin, Sean Harris, Ving Rhames
Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Your mission - should you choose to accept it - is to allow a fifth film in the nearly 20 year old franchise starring Tom Cruise to force you to part with your hard-earned money.

This time around, with the IMF disavowed and disbanded thanks to Alec Baldwin's puffed up CIA boss getting his way, Ethan Hunt is a man on the run, believing a shadowy group known as The Syndicate is behind their demise.

Teaming up with Simon Pegg's comic relief Benji and trying to work out exactly who femme fatale Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) is working for, Ethan's got his work cut out.

Despite opening with the much-publicised stunt sequence that sees Cruise strapped to the outside of a plane, this latest Mission Impossible is surprisingly muted, preferring to concentrate on old school thrills (a line that was drawn in the sand in 2011's Ghost Protocol) and global set pieces rather than a coherently and fluidly running narrative.

It doesn't help that the head of the Syndicate Solomon Lane, played by Prometheus and 71 star Sean Harris, is a bit of a wet fish with hardly a jot of the menace needed for someone so detrimental to the IMF. Equally Baldwin's character goes too far the other way, decrying at one point that "Ethan Hunt is the manifestation of destiny", a line guaranteed to bring the guffaws and infamy in equal measure.

But when Reacher director McQuarrie concentrates on the group dynamic, it works reasonably well - and the mystery around Ilsa's character sustains a large part of the film, giving us a female lead that's as much about brains as it is beauty. By substantially beefing up Simon Pegg's tech wizz Benji to great dramatic effect, Cruise's Hunt has more of a partner than before. It's a shame to see that the latter part of the film lazily falls back on the comic relief role previously assigned to Pegg, derailing some of the dramatic work done and contributing to the tonal mis-match on display.

However, McQuarrie knows the old school reason for the Mission: Impossible films is in the gadgets and the stunts, and Rogue Nation is impressively mired in the retro touches and real world for its action sequences. From speeding around the streets of Casablanca, a fight at the Vienna Opera to a tense underwater sequence, this is not a film that relies on CGI thrills to pad the way and showcase its stars - if anything, Cruise's relatively sombre take on Hunt this time around is a sign that things are slightly more impossible than perhaps you would normally believe.

Which is why it's a shame that the story doesn't prop up the action perhaps in the way that you'd hope - it's there simply to help us globe trot from one sequence to the next and tonally, the film flips between action, overt comedy and covert caper with terrifying unease.

As a result, the tension in the central mystery just falls over and what emerges in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is a solid entry into the series, but one that never fully thrills as much as it could.

Rating:

Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses: NZFF Review

Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses: NZFF Review

An intelligently compassionate docu-drama, Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses is a troubling pre-cursor to debate over traditions.

There can't be any New Zealander who doesn't have an opinion or hasn't heard of the makutu lifting of Janet Moses in Wainuiomata in 2007 and the sensational exorcism headlines that travelled abroad in the frenzied reporting of this case.

Wainui native and Pakeha director David Stubbs, along with co-producer Thomas Robins, sensitively negotiate and facilitate a debate on the matter with Belief. It starts with a child walking down a boardwalk with their mother and ends some 90 minutes later with you questioning what you'd do in such a situation.

Pulling together facts, interviews and transcripts, it's the tragic story of Janet Moses, a 22 year old woman whom family and friends believed had fallen under a makutu / Maori curse. Pulling together a family hui and deciding to do something about the curse, her whanau settled on a course of action that could only lead to tragedy - by deciding to wash the curse out of her over four days and four nights.

As one relative intones "What happened to her is so sad, it still hurts today and will hurt forever. Maybe her girls will ask us - and we don't have an answer"

Sound and plenty of slow shots play a big part in this moody piece that proves to be tremendously affecting and deeply troubling, while simultaneously passing no judgement whatsoever on what actually transpired. Stubbs isn't interested in exploiting the situation to sensationalist ends, rather more he's concerned in exploring and presenting what went on and getting the issues out into the public domain.

It doesn't make what happens on screen any less troubling, and certainly around the 1hour mark, there's a sequence that's shocking and as haunting as anything I'm likely to see this year thanks to the building dread. But it's only powerful because of the groundwork building up - Stubbs has assembled a house of cards that's so perfectly pitched and so incredibly non-judgmental, that you share an understanding and insight into why the family did it.

A chanting mantra of "Go with peace and love" builds to a rousing crescendo and leaves you utterly devastated as the intense sequences end, and the questions linger on. The recreation scenes leave you shaken and puts you squarely and occasionally uncomfortably, in the action. The story is given space to breathe and opinions are voiced without commentary - there won't be anyone with a heart who's not affected by what's on the screen.

That's the main thing with Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses; despite proffering a rare look behind the headlines, it never fully answers why what happened actually happened preferring to give you a peek into the desperation the close knit family must have felt at what was happening to their own. It's never a mass hysteria, though it's easy to understand why those around them succumbed to the mentality rather than rationally questioning whether it was right to do so.

I think that's the feeling that I was left with Belief; I could understand potentially why this happened, why it ended as it did and why any answers are short in coming. It's not a rational reaction and Stubbs needs to be commended for the way this is brought to life - tremendously affecting, occasionally disturbing but intensely provocative, the debate to be had once this calm and sensitively measured film has concluded can only be a good thing.

Steve McQueen - The Man and Le Mans: NZFF Review

Steve McQueen - The Man and Le Mans: NZFF Review

Pulling together previously unheard interviews and calling on an apparent 1 million feet of footage shot for the Le Mans film, Steve McQueen - The Man and Le Mans is a look at one man's unswerving dedication (and perhaps hubris) to get a film made.

Back in the 60s, Steve McQueen was at the height of his career; but while he lived the Hollywood life, he really had only one true obsession - racing and the speed associated with it.

Setting up his own production company, McQueen's first project after the likes of Bullitt and The Thomas Crown Affair was a film based on the thrill of the motor-racing; he wanted to capture the excitement of Le Mans 24 hour race and incorporate it into the big screen. And because he had the power and relative clout to get it going, he did - even though no script was anywhere to be seen.

Admittedly this was a common practice in the 60s and 70s, and McQueen set about shooting as much footage of the cars as they waited for the script. And they waited, and waited...

Steve McQueen - The Man and Le Mans is a funereal piece in many ways, but also a fascinating examination of a passion project and the follies that come with it.

Using a wealth of footage (well, there was a million feet of it), a ragtag ensemble of talking heads, including Steve's son Chad and various drivers on the flick, and some ponderous staging shots, a lot of which are purely served up for art's sake, it's an intriguing almost clinical look at how a failed project had to come together regardless.

Mournful and melancholy in tone, it really could have done with a bit of an edit and a tightening up of its almost sedentary pace. Despite it being about racing cars, and there being plenty of footage thereof, it's not a film about cars or the speed of the pace or frenzy of making a Hollywood machine to a deadline. Wisely using some smart talking heads with long shots of them staring into the camera builds up an atmosphere of menace and uncertainty for those unfamiliar with the critical reception of Le Mans and the ultimate fate of McQueen after this driving passion project.

Directors Gabriel Clarke and John McKenna may have given us an insight into the troubled production but the film needs an expeditious edit in places to get it into pole position. But if anything, the film gives us more of an insight into the King of Cool, and how his steely nerve was shattered by the project of Le Mans, the fight between directors and lack of script and Charles Manson rearing his head in the piece.

Ultimately, Steve McQueen - The Man and Le Mans is a studious and fascinating film, one that will reward race fans and McQueen buffs in extremis but also one that could have done with a trim and some areas expanding.