Finnish director Aki Kaurism...
Finnish director Aki Kaurism
The Last Great Wilderness
Young Adam's David MacKenzie makes an impressive directorial debut with this low-key but unpredictable thriller about two travellers who stumble across a strange community in the remote Scottish Highlands. It benefits from a nice mix of quirky humour and quiet menace, plus a sprinkling of the supernatural for good measure. Bleak, but still well worth the journey.
Young Adam’s David MacKenzie makes an impressive directorial debut with this low-key but unpredictable thriller about two travellers who stumble across a strange community in the remote Scottish Highlands. It benefits from a nice mix of quirky humour and quiet menace, plus a sprinkling of the supernatural for good measure. Bleak, but still well worth the journey.
Harlequin
The Omen echoes throughout Simon Wincer's camp but sporadically affecting 1980 re-imagining of Rasputin. Here the Mad Monk has been replaced by Robert Powell's mysterious glam-rock psychic healer, who cures the leukaemia-stricken son of venal senator David Hemmings and uses magic to expose the senator's crimes. It's clunky and dated, but Powell's typically messianic performance smoothes over the cracks.
The Omen echoes throughout Simon Wincer’s camp but sporadically affecting 1980 re-imagining of Rasputin. Here the Mad Monk has been replaced by Robert Powell’s mysterious glam-rock psychic healer, who cures the leukaemia-stricken son of venal senator David Hemmings and uses magic to expose the senator’s crimes. It’s clunky and dated, but Powell’s typically messianic performance smoothes over the cracks.
Starry Vaults
Ironically, the musicians who look back on The Old Grey Whistle Test with dewy-eyed nostalgia and the great reverence that they themselves received from the once-whispering but now croaky Bob Harris are the very people whose contributions here are eminently fast-forwardable. By contrast, the artists later appearing on the show as a TV opportunity, pure and simple, are those who make for the most interesting viewing today. The early-'70s section, all long hair, beards and appalling afro perms, blue-eyed soul and singer-songwriters, offers much embarrassment: Loggins and Messina's "The House At Pooh Corner" is so utterly appalling that it becomes a perverse highlight. Even the glittering Roxy Music, the eccentric Kevin Ayers and Roy Harper, and the Moon-era Who would have been better served by superior song selections, should they exist. Things turn the corner with Be Bop Deluxe. The Whistle Test eventually caught up with punk and new wave, and performances by Squeeze, The Adverts, The Style Council and, especially, Patti Smith, the Banshees, The Undertones and The Pogues are genuinely exciting if not essential, meriting its four stars.
Ironically, the musicians who look back on The Old Grey Whistle Test with dewy-eyed nostalgia and the great reverence that they themselves received from the once-whispering but now croaky Bob Harris are the very people whose contributions here are eminently fast-forwardable.
By contrast, the artists later appearing on the show as a TV opportunity, pure and simple, are those who make for the most interesting viewing today.
The early-’70s section, all long hair, beards and appalling afro perms, blue-eyed soul and singer-songwriters, offers much embarrassment: Loggins and Messina’s “The House At Pooh Corner” is so utterly appalling that it becomes a perverse highlight. Even the glittering Roxy Music, the eccentric Kevin Ayers and Roy Harper, and the Moon-era Who would have been better served by superior song selections, should they exist.
Things turn the corner with Be Bop Deluxe. The Whistle Test eventually caught up with punk and new wave, and performances by Squeeze, The Adverts, The Style Council and, especially, Patti Smith, the Banshees, The Undertones and The Pogues are genuinely exciting if not essential, meriting its four stars.
Short Cuts
And if that's not enough Pink Floyd (see left), Live At Pompeii 
is the director's cut of their rather fine 1972 film, featuring such early in-concert favourites as "Careful With That Axe Eugene" and "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun". Heaven knows, Prince's records in recent years have ranged from the simply dire to the downright unlistenable. But he's still a consummate showman, as he proves on Prince Live At The Aladdin Las Vegas 
. Recorded at the end of last year, the show includes his versions of Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" and James Brown's "Pass The Peas". But be warned: it's not a greatest hits show, and you won't find "Purple Rain" et al. The Gospel According To Al Green doesn't include many of his hits either, although "Let's Stay Together" is here. For the rest, the 1984 film finds Green in full-on evangelical mood with prayers and sermons alongside the likes of "Nearer My God To Thee". Alicia Keys?From Start To Stardom 
is an "unofficial" documentary?which means it includes interviews with everyone but Keys herself. Rockin' In The is a bit of a treat, with 22 tracks taken from German TV between 1969 and 1974, including astounding performances from the Grateful Dead (pictured below), Captain Beefheart, Spirit, The Beach Boys and Little Feat. Five years ago, the Pretty Things got back together to give their pioneering, pre-Tommy 'rock opera' SF Sorrow a makeover. SF Sorrow Live At Abbey Road commemorates the event and includes guest appearances from David Gilmour and Arthur Brown. A slew of variable in-concert DVDs this month includes Reef Live , which checks in at a marathon two-and-a-half hours, Stiff Little Fingers In Concert , on which "Suspect Device" sounds as explosive as ever, a riotous Jesus Jones Live At The Marquee and a reformed Mountain, trying a little too desperately to recreate the golden age of the power trio on Sea Of Fire . But for sheer, old-fashioned class, try Memories Of Duke 
, a loving homage to Duke Ellington from 1968.
And if that’s not enough Pink Floyd (see left), Live At Pompeii is the director’s cut of their rather fine 1972 film, featuring such early in-concert favourites as “Careful With That Axe Eugene” and “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun”. Heaven knows, Prince’s records in recent years have ranged from the simply dire to the downright unlistenable. But he’s still a consummate showman, as he proves on Prince Live At The Aladdin Las Vegas . Recorded at the end of last year, the show includes his versions of Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” and James Brown’s “Pass The Peas”. But be warned: it’s not a greatest hits show, and you won’t find “Purple Rain” et al. The Gospel According To Al Green doesn’t include many of his hits either, although “Let’s Stay Together” is here. For the rest, the 1984 film finds Green in full-on evangelical mood with prayers and sermons alongside the likes of “Nearer My God To Thee”. Alicia Keys?From Start To Stardom is an “unofficial” documentary?which means it includes interviews with everyone but Keys herself. Rockin’ In The is a bit of a treat, with 22 tracks taken from German TV between 1969 and 1974, including astounding performances from the Grateful Dead (pictured below), Captain Beefheart, Spirit, The Beach Boys and Little Feat. Five years ago, the Pretty Things got back together to give their pioneering, pre-Tommy ‘rock opera’ SF Sorrow a makeover. SF Sorrow Live At Abbey Road commemorates the event and includes guest appearances from David Gilmour and Arthur Brown. A slew of variable in-concert DVDs this month includes Reef Live , which checks in at a marathon two-and-a-half hours, Stiff Little Fingers In Concert , on which “Suspect Device” sounds as explosive as ever, a riotous Jesus Jones Live At The Marquee and a reformed Mountain, trying a little too desperately to recreate the golden age of the power trio on Sea Of Fire . But for sheer, old-fashioned class, try Memories Of Duke , a loving homage to Duke Ellington from 1968.
Horror Roundup
Camp Crystal Lake reopens 20 years after the tragic death of young Jason Vorhees and no one is safe from the ingenious butchery. There's no hip hockey mask and few cute one-liners?just a catalogue of slaughter and a neat double-twist ending as director Sean Cunningham attempted to replicate the success of John Carpenter's Halloween.
Camp Crystal Lake reopens 20 years after the tragic death of young Jason Vorhees and no one is safe from the ingenious butchery. There’s no hip hockey mask and few cute one-liners?just a catalogue of slaughter and a neat double-twist ending as director Sean Cunningham attempted to replicate the success of John Carpenter’s Halloween.
Partie De Campagne (A Day In The Country)
Generally hailed as Renoir's 'unfinished masterpiece', this sad, lyrical short from 1946 is based on a Guy de Maupassant story. A young girl finds a quasi-romance after wandering off from her picnicking family near the Seine. It's all about Renoir's impressionistic eye for nature and the transience of innocence: a personal, poetic work which now, extended, looks better than ever.
Generally hailed as Renoir’s ‘unfinished masterpiece’, this sad, lyrical short from 1946 is based on a Guy de Maupassant story. A young girl finds a quasi-romance after wandering off from her picnicking family near the Seine. It’s all about Renoir’s impressionistic eye for nature and the transience of innocence: a personal, poetic work which now, extended, looks better than ever.
El Crimen Del Padre Amaro
Buckling under the weight of expectation inherent in all 'New Latin Cinema' (this isn't City Of God), El Crimen still has another deft performance from movement poster-boy Gael Garc...
Buckling under the weight of expectation inherent in all ‘New Latin Cinema’ (this isn’t City Of God), El Crimen still has another deft performance from movement poster-boy Gael Garc
Dirty Pretty Things
The versatile Stephen Frears merits much praise for presenting a side of London life which is usually swept under rugs. Illegal immigrants work demeaning jobs round the clock to stay afloat, and are routinely exploited?right down to their internal organs. The heroic Chiwetel Ejiofor and an arguably miscast Audrey Tautou lead this worthy, intriguing drama with a macabre twist.
The versatile Stephen Frears merits much praise for presenting a side of London life which is usually swept under rugs. Illegal immigrants work demeaning jobs round the clock to stay afloat, and are routinely exploited?right down to their internal organs. The heroic Chiwetel Ejiofor and an arguably miscast Audrey Tautou lead this worthy, intriguing drama with a macabre twist.
Japón
This strange, haunting film follows a middle-aged man who arrives in a remote Mexican village where he plans to commit suicide. Heavily indebted to Tarkovsky, the film strains for arthouse credibility with pretentious religious symbolism and achingly slow pace. Still much of the imagery is arresting, and its glimpses of rural life are raw and underpinned by an earthy comedy.
This strange, haunting film follows a middle-aged man who arrives in a remote Mexican village where he plans to commit suicide. Heavily indebted to Tarkovsky, the film strains for arthouse credibility with pretentious religious symbolism and achingly slow pace. Still much of the imagery is arresting, and its glimpses of rural life are raw and underpinned by an earthy comedy.
The Fisher King
Terry Gilliam's epic 1991 fable has both admirers and detractors: it now seems ambitious, unique and charming. The superb Jeff Bridges is a burned-out DJ who's at first irritated then revitalised by oddball visionary tramp Robin Williams and his hallucinatory Arthurian quests. The latter's hyper-babbling (like the director's flourishes) holds because Bridges is so magnificently solid and believable.
Terry Gilliam’s epic 1991 fable has both admirers and detractors: it now seems ambitious, unique and charming. The superb Jeff Bridges is a burned-out DJ who’s at first irritated then revitalised by oddball visionary tramp Robin Williams and his hallucinatory Arthurian quests. The latter’s hyper-babbling (like the director’s flourishes) holds because Bridges is so magnificently solid and believable.
Igby Goes Down
Burr Steers' debut as writer-director is perhaps a little too self-consciously off-kilter, but the film's humour is satisfyingly sour and the performances of a large ensemble cast are impeccable. Pitched somewhere between the macabre and the merely eccentric, Igby stars a convincingly debauched Kieran Culkin as the film's eponymous rebellious teen. Igby is much troubled by his father's breakdown, a sullen juvenile at odds with a world he wants no part of and indeed wants only to drop out of. Claire Danes and Amanda Peet are excellent as the women he gets involved with, Ryan Phillippe is unbelievably smarmy as Igby's preppy brother and Susan Sarandon enjoys herself immensely as their monstrous mother. But it's Jeff Goldblum you'll remember for a reptilian turn as Igby's godfather in a sensationally creepy performance.
Burr Steers’ debut as writer-director is perhaps a little too self-consciously off-kilter, but the film’s humour is satisfyingly sour and the performances of a large ensemble cast are impeccable. Pitched somewhere between the macabre and the merely eccentric, Igby stars a convincingly debauched Kieran Culkin as the film’s eponymous rebellious teen. Igby is much troubled by his father’s breakdown, a sullen juvenile at odds with a world he wants no part of and indeed wants only to drop out of.
Claire Danes and Amanda Peet are excellent as the women he gets involved with, Ryan Phillippe is unbelievably smarmy as Igby’s preppy brother and Susan Sarandon enjoys herself immensely as their monstrous mother. But it’s Jeff Goldblum you’ll remember for a reptilian turn as Igby’s godfather in a sensationally creepy performance.
2 Fast 2 Furious
This sequel to 2001's The Fast And The Furious delivers the same brand of out-and-out nonsense as the first instalment without ever pausing to miss Vin Diesel or Rob Cohen, the breakthrough star/director combo who went on to deliver the less entertaining XXX. Shaft director John Singleton is on hand to whip up some hip hop flavour. Enjoyably brain-dead tripe.
This sequel to 2001’s The Fast And The Furious delivers the same brand of out-and-out nonsense as the first instalment without ever pausing to miss Vin Diesel or Rob Cohen, the breakthrough star/director combo who went on to deliver the less entertaining XXX. Shaft director John Singleton is on hand to whip up some hip hop flavour. Enjoyably brain-dead tripe.
Mountains Of The Moon
Bob Rafelson's epic that nobody remembers. Beautifully shot and cast with Patrick Bergin as Burton and Iain Glen as Speke in their historical expedition to find the source of the Nile. The former compares wounds with Bernard Hill's Livingstone; the latter's a Victorian publicity hound. The journey is a bit National Geographic, but the hardships register.
Bob Rafelson’s epic that nobody remembers. Beautifully shot and cast with Patrick Bergin as Burton and Iain Glen as Speke in their historical expedition to find the source of the Nile. The former compares wounds with Bernard Hill’s Livingstone; the latter’s a Victorian publicity hound. The journey is a bit National Geographic, but the hardships register.
M
An immaculate digital restoration job, including muffle-free audio, silky silver monochrome and original 'pillarbox' framing, adds an unnerving contemporary kick to Fritz Lang's 1931 masterpiece. Detailing the slavering hunt for bug-eyed child murderer Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre) through a dark and hostile, shadow-filled Berlin, this is the original, if not the best, serial killer flick.
An immaculate digital restoration job, including muffle-free audio, silky silver monochrome and original ‘pillarbox’ framing, adds an unnerving contemporary kick to Fritz Lang’s 1931 masterpiece. Detailing the slavering hunt for bug-eyed child murderer Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre) through a dark and hostile, shadow-filled Berlin, this is the original, if not the best, serial killer flick.
Ulzana’s Raid
Directed by the hugely uncompromising Robert Aldrich, this ferocious post-Wild Bunch western stars Burt Lancaster as a world-weary army scout at odds with callow cavalry officer Bruce Davison on a mission to hunt down the errant Apache chief Ulzana, who with a small band of warriors has broken out of the reservation and are now looting, killing and raping their way across the bleak southwestern territories. Much tampered with by the studio on its original 1972 release and the subject of heated debate about its depiction of the Apaches, the film is in fact both complex and intelligent in its handling of the conflict it describes. Reacting to the saintly portraits of Indian life in films like Little Big Man, Aldrich and his scriptwriter Alan Sharpe are neither idealistic nor patronising, merely harshly realistic and painfully honest in their acknowledgement of the sheer savagery of frontier life, which has brutal parallels with the war America was then waging in Vietnam.
Directed by the hugely uncompromising Robert Aldrich, this ferocious post-Wild Bunch western stars Burt Lancaster as a world-weary army scout at odds with callow cavalry officer Bruce Davison on a mission to hunt down the errant Apache chief Ulzana, who with a small band of warriors has broken out of the reservation and are now looting, killing and raping their way across the bleak southwestern territories.
Much tampered with by the studio on its original 1972 release and the subject of heated debate about its depiction of the Apaches, the film is in fact both complex and intelligent in its handling of the conflict it describes. Reacting to the saintly portraits of Indian life in films like Little Big Man, Aldrich and his scriptwriter Alan Sharpe are neither idealistic nor patronising, merely harshly realistic and painfully honest in their acknowledgement of the sheer savagery of frontier life, which has brutal parallels with the war America was then waging in Vietnam.
Warm Water Under A Red Bridge
From Shohei Imamura?one of several 'legendary Japanese masters' none of us have ever heard of?comes a genuinely surreal fable of a man searching for hidden treasure who finds a complex erotic gush-out with a lonely young woman who's turned on by water. It's often beautiful to look at, though the orgasmic writhing sections are unintentionally hilarious.
From Shohei Imamura?one of several ‘legendary Japanese masters’ none of us have ever heard of?comes a genuinely surreal fable of a man searching for hidden treasure who finds a complex erotic gush-out with a lonely young woman who’s turned on by water. It’s often beautiful to look at, though the orgasmic writhing sections are unintentionally hilarious.
Intacto
Potentially ridiculous premise about a cabal of gamblers who harness the power of, er, luck, is admirably sustained by gutsy turns from Leonardo Sbaraglia as a lucky plane crash survivor mentored by lucky earthquake survivor Eusebio Poncela in order to take revenge on casino owner and lucky holocaus...
Potentially ridiculous premise about a cabal of gamblers who harness the power of, er, luck, is admirably sustained by gutsy turns from Leonardo Sbaraglia as a lucky plane crash survivor mentored by lucky earthquake survivor Eusebio Poncela in order to take revenge on casino owner and lucky holocaust survivor Max Von Sydow. Fractured narrative, arty mise-en-sc
Flight Of The Intruder
Gung-ho navy flyboys Willem Dafoe and Brad Johnson, disillusioned with America's half-hearted prosecution of the war in Vietnam, attempt to hurry the conflict to a conclusion by taking it upon themselves to bomb Hanoi. Hilarious macho nonsense from John Milius at his most demented, in other words.
Gung-ho navy flyboys Willem Dafoe and Brad Johnson, disillusioned with America’s half-hearted prosecution of the war in Vietnam, attempt to hurry the conflict to a conclusion by taking it upon themselves to bomb Hanoi. Hilarious macho nonsense from John Milius at his most demented, in other words.
A Short Film About Killing
One of the most revered of Krzysztof Kieslowski's "10 commandments" series, the late director's determinedly bleak parable investigates a pointless murder and a lawyer's subsequent near-existential defence. Out the same year ('88) as A Short Film About Love, its intensity made the Polish maestro a global name.
One of the most revered of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “10 commandments” series, the late director’s determinedly bleak parable investigates a pointless murder and a lawyer’s subsequent near-existential defence. Out the same year (’88) as A Short Film About Love, its intensity made the Polish maestro a global name.
