Off The Wire: Shutter Island: A Thriller Out Of Time?
Posted on Saturday February 13, 2010, 20:55 by Damon Wise in Off The Wire
 It's been interesting watching the reactions to Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, from the trailer alone. People seem to forget that artists have a fractious relationship with their times, that sometimes their work arrives out of synch with public taste, and that sometimes their art takes chances that even their most loyal followers won't accept. The irony, of course, is that nobody knows this better than Scorsese, who has conducted a personal journey through the film cultures of three very cine-literate countries (Italy and the US, with Britain on its way) and directed a milestone documentary (No Direction Home) about the musician, poet and electric folklorist Bob Dylan, himself no stranger to controversy and public questioning. Along the way, the song remains the same; sometimes a contemporary audience isn't always sitting in the right seats to judge.
So what has Scorsese done to blot his copybook, in the wake of his most successful commercial run since the 70s and early 80s? Well... Continue reading... Comment Now (4 comments)
Back To TopUnder The Radar: Sundance 2010: The Awards
Posted on Sunday January 31, 2010, 16:28 by Damon Wise in Under The Radar
The awards were announced last night at an awards show that saw David Hyde Pierce rapping, and a film considered to be one of the most critically savaged in the competition – Mark Ruffalo's Sympathy For Delicious – getting a special award for its "fearlessness". The top two awards, which last year went to Precious and We Live In Public, surprised no one by going to Restrepo (pictured) and Winter's Bone. Surprisingly, the popular Michelle Wiliams/Ryan Gosling two-hander Blue Valentine went home empty-handed. It was quite a good night for the Brits and the Irish, however. Four Lions failed to explode, but a suprise winner was Lucy Walker, who was actually at the bar when the Audience Award for her inspirational documentary Waste Land was announced. Exec-produced by City Of God director Fernando Meirelles, Waste Land follows Brazilian artist Vik Munez as he puts together his latest art proje... Continue reading... Comment Now (1 comment)
Back To TopUnder The Radar: Sundance 2010: Twelve Mini-Reviews
Posted on Saturday January 30, 2010, 01:00 by Damon Wise in Under The Radar
 ONE FESTIVAL DARLING
I wanted to like the much-hyped Howl (pictured), but though I was dazzled by James Franco's great and very plausible portrayal of Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, I think this experimental docudrama went in a few too many different directions. Primarily, it's an account of the 1957 trial in which San Francisco bookshop owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti was taken to court for publishing and selling obscene material, namely Ginsberg's 1955 poem Howl, a semi-autobiographical tribute to his peers. The courtroom scenes were funny and quite insightful, but the filmmakers chose to weave in three extra elements: a faux 'interview', in which Ginsberg talks to an unseen journalist; a recreation of the poem's first ever public reading in 1955; and, most mystifying of all, some animated sections seeking to replicate the poem's jazzy, freeform imagery. Beat aficionados will find elements to enjoy, but, personally, I think this won't serve the experts and casual viewers may well find them... Continue reading... Comment Now
Back To TopOff The Wire: The Oscar Race: What Upsets Would You Like To See?
Posted on Friday January 29, 2010, 02:11 by Damon Wise in Off The Wire
 Taking a break from the Sundance marathon, I found myself watching the SAG awards telecast on Sunday night, which is actually a much bigger event that I'd ever realised. Quite a few things went through my mind as I watched, one of them being that I really think the Oscar race is taking shape now, and, if you haven't already put your money on Jeff Bridges for Best Actor, I think you should do so now, ditto for Mo'Nique (Precious) and Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds), since they too seem to have a lock on their respective supporting-actor categories. But the thing that surprised me most was the award for Best Ensemble cast; like many others, I'd have bet the farm on Nine, for pedigree alone, so I was actually quite shocked – in a good way – to see the guys from Inglourious Basterds win the day. It proved to me that there are still some upsets possible along the way.
So this got me to thinking about the upsets I'd like to see. For Best Acto... Continue reading... Comment Now (11 comments)
Back To TopUnder The Radar: Sundance 2010: Get Ready For Buried!
Posted on Thursday January 28, 2010, 19:20 by Damon Wise in Under The Radar
 Sundance has a habit of turning up a genuine oddity that either goes supernova or becomes a niche cult item for those who've heard of it. Into the former category I'd put The Blair Witch Project and Donnie Darko; into the latter, I'd put The Machinist, Fido and Primer. The thing about Buried is that I don't know which way it will go: at the screening I attended, director Rodrigo Cortes announced, “It's about a guy in a coffin. You're still here? I said, it's about a guy in a coffin!” He's right. But I think part of the appeal of this film is seeing how it's done. Because, although there is a surprisingly extensive cast list, Buried is a 90-minute movie about a single, solitary man that never once moves away from the situation it's showing.
And that situation is intense; Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds), a contract lorry driver working in Iraq, wakes up to find himself in a wooden box, several feet under the ground. He struggles to get free, but the soil i... Continue reading... Comment Now (3 comments)
Back To TopUnder The Radar: Sundance 2010: Is Cyrus this year's Juno?
Posted on Thursday January 28, 2010, 00:39 by Damon Wise in Under The Radar
 The Duplass brothers, Mark and Jay, first came to Sundance in 2005 with The Puffy Chair, a film that established them as leading lights of the emerging mumblecore scene, an ultra low-budget genre typified by extensive use of hand-held camera, semi-professional acting, lots of improvised action and even more talking, usually between people with relationship issues. With Cyrus they have technically sold out, since this Fox Searchlight production was not only bankrolled by The Man, it also boasts some serious mainstream stars in the central power trio of John C Reilly, Marisa Tomei and Superbad's Jonah Hill. If you've seen Lynn Shelton's rather awesome Humpday – wwhich featured Mark, the younger Duplass brother, in an acting capacity as a straight guy who sets out to make a gay porno movie with his best friend in order to make a “beautiful” art statement – you'll know what to expect. Though perhaps a little more sentimental than Shelton's f... Continue reading... Comment Now
Back To TopUnder The Radar: Sundance 2010: KStew Grows Up
Posted on Wednesday January 27, 2010, 16:57 by Damon Wise in Under The Radar
 Kristen Stewart had two films in Sundance this year, and anyone wondering if the role of Bella has made her more conservative in her choice of roles outside the Twilight franchise might be a bit shocked at how far she's prepared to go. I'll start with Welcome To The Rileys (pictured), in which James Gandolfini plays Doug Riley, a married man whose wife (Melissa Leo) has become a neurotic recluse since the death of their daughter. On a work trip to New Orleans, he stumbles into a strip club where he meets Mallory (Stewart), a grubby, bruised stripper who offers him sex, then freaks out, thinking he's a cop, and asks him to leave. Later, they meet by accident in a coffee bar; Doug takes her back to her sordid home and stays the night. The chance meeting inspires something in Doug, so he calls his wife, tells her he's staying put, and moves in with Mallory to explore a tentative father-daughter friendship.
It sounds kind of sweet, but in actual fact it's really rather dul... Continue reading... Comment Now
Back To TopUnder The Radar: Sundance 2010: The Killer Inside Me causes outrage!
Posted on Monday January 25, 2010, 09:54 by Damon Wise in Under The Radar
 Oh. My. God. This blog was meant to be about The Runaways, in which Kristen Stewart plays Joan Jett and has a lesbian love scene with Dakota Fanning while crossing gender lines and snorting cocaine in a tragic-sweet biopic celebrating the life and times of the 70s all-girl rock band of the same name. That seemed a story enough... until the lights came up on Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me, a surprisingly faithful adaptation of Jim Thompson's 1952 pulp novel in which a smalltown Texas cop becomes embroiled in a series of increasingly psychopathic murders. It began with an amazing retro credits sequence and ended with a woman, shaking with rage, asking why this film was chosen for the festival. In between, Winterbottom's latest provocation made Chris Morris's Four Lions seem quite mild in comparison, creating a compelling study of madness that had the audience gasping and the people behind me wondering aloud (in the way that everybody in Sundance wonders aloud) if ... Continue reading... Comment Now (5 comments)
Back To TopUnder The Radar: Sundance 2010: Four Lions blows everyone away!
Posted on Sunday January 24, 2010, 10:55 by Damon Wise in Under The Radar
It's late at night, so I'll skip Teenage Paparazzo and Howl for now to concentrate on the world premiere of Chris Morris's directing debut, Four Lions, which premiered tonight at the Egyptian theatre. I won't keep you on tenterhooks, I thought it was great; it's a slow burn to start, but I think that once it has bedded in, Four Lions will prove to be one of the most original, provocative and enduring comedies of the early 21st century. I'll admit now that I haven't always been a diehard Morris fan. The Day Today, with its flashes of brilliance, often left me cold, and, to be honest, I'm not sure I ever saw a second of Jam. Brass Eye, though, got my attention, and I must be the only person in the world that loves Nathan Barley. Like, really, really, really loves Nathan Barley. So, in a nutshell, I didn't go in thinking of Morris as the second coming, and I feel comfortable in saying that if you had high hopes for this film, I really don't think you'll be disappointe... Continue reading... Comment Now (8 comments)
Back To TopUnder The Radar: Sundance 2010: Ben Affleck steals the show so far...
Posted on Saturday January 23, 2010, 17:30 by Damon Wise in Under The Radar
 Park City this year is snowier that I've ever seen, making the UK's recent blanket seem very minor indeed. Thankfully, the locals know how to deal with it here, and though the footpaths are pretty treacherous, the roads are clear and the festival got off to a clean start on Thursday night with screenings of Howl, Restrepo and a programme of shorts. Howl I'm seeing later today (Saturday), and Restrepo, a documentary made by a film team embedded in Afghanistan, has had very strong word of mouth for its relatively even-handed portrayal of the US war effort there. Instead, my first day started with a film I can't tell you about, which is a shame as it was the best of the four. Without giving too much away, you'll know about it by Monday, which is when you'll be hearing all about [blank]'s first onscreen [blank] [blank] – unless the Banksy documentary, Exit Through The Gift Shop, really does reveal the anonymous graffiti artist's true identity. Which I doubt, don't you?
The first ... Continue reading... Comment Now (4 comments)
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