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First it was borderline personality,then severe depression, yesterday, she said it was antisocial with schizoid tendency. She’s basically just flipping to random pages of the DSM-5and throwing medications at me. But I have a perfectly healthy brain. It just doesn’t contain feelings. There are films that aren’t much of a story and still leave a certain impression. The same applies to “Thoroughbreds” where two teenage girls, each with a specific personality disorder, come up with a plan to kill someone. The two haven’t seen each other for a long time. An eternity in which much has changed. One grew up in a rich family while the other knew a past in which the killing of her own horse played an important role. But despite the contradictions, the old friendship bond is restored. And before they know it, they are planning a murder together. Strange but true. Although it’s about a murder, it’s actually a funny and comic film. Especially because of the fascinating conversations full of dry, nonchalant humor. Sometimes it seems like the two young girls are totally insensitive people. Which is applicable to one of them. Two tasty actresses. The two main roles are played by two young actresses whose earlier performances I could appreciate. Physically they both look appetizing. Only Anya Taylor-Joy, who takes care of the role of Lily, has a more unique look with those big Bambi eyes. Olivia Cooke, on the other hand, is more the cliché image of the beautiful girl next door who’s slowly changing into a sensual young lady. The type of girl you’ve already met in countless feature films. Maybe that’s why Anya Taylor-Joy appeared in movies like “The Witch“, “Morgan“, “Split” and “Marrowbone“. All of which I enjoyed. Although I was kind of disappointed about “The Witch“. Not because of the acting. I was expecting more of a horror instead of a medieval drama. Dead serious and funny at the same time. Olivia Cooke’s acting was breathtaking and extraordinary in the film “Me and Earl and the dying girl“. A film that’s difficult to surpass. Even though her acting in “The Signal“, “The Quiet Ones” and “Ready player one” (although the emphasis was on the visual part) wasn’t so bad, the quoted film really stands out. But what she shows in “Thoroughbreds” as the apathetic Amanda, can compete with it. This was an enjoyment from start to finish. The way she plays the personality of Amanda is truly magnificent. And even though this film is meant to be deadly serious, her attitude will unintentionally cause comical situations. I bet you didn’t see that one coming. “Thoroughbreds” is such a type of film which is difficult to pin down to a specific genre. Yes, it’s indeed a crime film about two eccentric girls who are brooding on a devilish plan. And yes, unintentionally there’s also that comical approach through the behavior of the two ladies and the way they interact with each other. And wait till you see the unexpected ending which makes it all seem sinister. But if you think about it longer, you’ll agree it’s a logical outcome. “Thoroughbreds” is not exactly an easy movie in terms of genre. It is a fascinating film with the emphasis on the character and psyche of the protagonists. The fact that an intriguing and ingenious twist has been given to it only makes it more interesting. I was fascinated by the conversations. Bizarre. So if you like a well-thought-out story that isn’t simply crafted up, then you should definitely give this film a chance. And besides that, you can also enjoy Anton Yelchin, who unfortunately died in a sad accident, once more. I thought the last film he acted in was “Green Room“. But most of all, it’s the literary jousting that takes place between the two female main characters that made an impression on me. It sometimes seemed like a Shakespearean play that uses fancy words in a subtle dialogue. I never thought a conversation would fascinate me. The wonders of the world are not yet out. My rating 7/10 Links: IMDB More reviews here

(Release Info London schedule; February 28th, 2020, Electric Cinema White City, Television Centre, 101 Wood Ln, White City, London W12 7FR, United Kingdom, 15:00 · 18:00 · 20:45) https://www.electriccinema.co.uk/film/downhill/film-times/all "Downhill" Barely escaping an avalanche during a family ski vacation in 'The Alps', a married couple is thrown into disarray as they're forced to reevaluate their lives and how they feel about each other. It’s the ski vacation of a lifetime for Pete (Will Ferrell) and Billie Stanton (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and their two boys Finn (Julian Grey) and Emerson (Ammon Jacob Ford); a week in 'The Austrian Alps'. With both parents unplugged from their professional careers, 'The Stantons' are, on the surface, ready for seven days of snowy family fun. What's poised to be a delightful week of skiing and togetherness instead becomes a series of awkward and emotionally fraught moments in which Pete and Billie have to be honest with themselves and each other in ways they hadn’t expected. Early in the trip, while having lunch at a mountainside restaurant, Pete and Billie have dramatically different responses to what's, unbeknownst to them, a controlled avalanche that appears frighteningly out of control. Pete’s reaction stuns the family and throws the rest of their vacation and the couple’s marriage into chaos, as Billie reevaluates their relationship and each is forced to wrestle with their own sense of self. How well can two people really know each other? And what happens when one of them does something totally unexpected? As a long-married couple, Billie and Pete know each other inside and out, or so they thought before their trip to 'The Alps'. When disaster strikes, Pete reacts in a way Billie couldn’t have predicted or imagined. These characters, including the children, are digesting the reality of what just happened. As terrifying as the avalanche is, what Pete does is just as terrifying, if not even more so. And it happens so quickly and it’s such a disaster that it’s hard for Billie to actually fully understand what happened. She’s in shock. Pete is also in denial. Unable to accept or understand what he’s done, he tries hard to carry on with the family vacation they’d all hoped for. Pete is pathetic in his own way. When you watch the movie, you’re also kind of sympathetic to him at the same time. He makes the most egregious error he could make, and he’s so sorry, but he’s just too childish to admit it. Otherwise, it could be easy to write off Pete’s actions, abandoning his family in a moment of danger, as wholly unredeemable. Billie is a self-assured, accomplished attorney and devoted wife and mother who suddenly finds herself on unstable emotional ground. There are countless times where the film is able to tell the story just because of her reactions. It's Pete’s regrettable response and resulting shame that make the story so relatable. There are no good guys or bad guys in this movie. Maybe there are good people making bad decisions, but even then, they’re questionable decisions. Billie ultimately feels a great deal of sympathy for her husband because she understands the shame he feels for what he has done. Providing a foible to both the established relationship and emotional tension between Billie and Pete are Zach (Zach Woods) and Rosie (Zoë Chao), a carefree young couple enjoying a free-wheeling exploration of Europe that they document online with the hashtag 'NoAgenda'. The couple ends up in a pivotal role in Billie and Pete’s understanding of the avalanche and it's aftermath. They’re a couple in the euphoric phase of falling in love, where your brain is just marinating in all those love hormones. You’re just so excited and sort of disinclined to pay attention to the limitations in yourself or the other person. Zach works with Pete in real estate, though it’s debatable how close their friendship is. Pete has been following Zach and Rosie’s European adventures online, perhaps with a bit of jealousy and envy, and, unbeknownst to Billie, invites the couple to drop by their hotel for dinner. Pete kind of reels them into their predicament to give him cover. He’s using Zach and Rosie as a smokescreen or a way of blocking the conversation from Billie about what happened during the avalanche. The two couples spend an incredibly squirm-worthy evening together, as Zach and Rosie bear witness to the unbearable tension between Billie and Pete. Having Rosie and Zach observe Billie and Pete’s meltdown is a great device; we can feel the cringing and the awkwardness. It also gives a small nod that these two people, in their own way, are also headed toward an avalanche if they’re not careful, and we get clues about what Rosie wants and what Zach wants as they've private time with Billie and Pete respectively. So, it's important to show, again, the theme of the individual within the whole. Zach also has private conversations with Pete, as Rosie does with Billie, where the younger couple provides perspective for the agonized husband and wife. Pete and Zach have the relationship that so many men have, where you go out expecting to have the time of your life and by the end of the night, you’re crying into your 'Jägermeister'. Zach is a critical component to Pete’s journey. Rosie and Billie have a poignant exchange when the two women unexpectedly cross paths the day after their stressful dinner. She’s almost a stranger to Billie but when they unexpectedly meet on the same ski lift, Rosie says, 'hey, what your husband did was messed up and you've every right to be angry'. Rosie is an outsider looking in at a situation and offering an honest, objective observation. Two other characters that help Billie gain perspective are Charlotte (Miranda Otto), a mysterious and outspoken woman who may or may not work at the hotel where the couple is staying, and Guglielmo (Giulio Berruti), a handsome and passionate ski instructor with whom Billie spends an afternoon on the slopes. Charlotte is the story’s most enigmatic and outrageous character. She's among the first people Pete and Billie meet when they arrive in Austria, and within seconds, she’s sharing tales of her sexual exploits. She feels she’s there to liven up the party and make people loosen up. She’s super confident about herself and doesn’t care about anyone else’s opinions at all. She has a very black and white kind of stance on things. It’s just totally different than an American point of view. She’s definitely a character that has a toe on the ground but is a little larger-than-life and lives her life differently from every other character that we meet in the story. Guglielmo is a guy that's very passionate about what he’s doing. He doesn’t think too much. He just feels a lot. His passion contrasts with Pete’s avoidance, as he helps Billie understand that sometimes we might need to feel rather than think. Billie's interaction with Guglielmo is a spontaneous, surprising relief and a tempting distraction from the anxiety and tension she is experiencing with her husband and her family. You've these characters that flow into the story of Pete and Billie in the right time in this moment in their lives where they’re figuring out if they can go down the hill together. Charlotte and Guglielmo are characters who, especially for Billie, come in at the right time with a message for her. Finn and Emerson are Billie and Pete’s twin sons. The characters have different feelings about skiing. As with Billie and Pete, the avalanche changes the vibe of the boys’ vacation. Finn and Emerson experience the close call alongside their parents and are deeply shaken by Pete’s reaction. They’re not just frightened, but confused as to why he would do that. And in fact, their father becomes a child to them. The version of the film uses the avalanche as a metaphor for the marriage. Billie and Pete can’t move on because they see the things that are happening differently.  The question is, can they sync up in their stories? They mimic life’s unpredictable nature where daily stress or even tragic circumstances can often be accompanied by comedic moments and/or relief. Billie and Pete are thrown off balance in a culture they don’t understand, frustrated by a language they don’t speak, and confused by customs and laws they’re not familiar with. They’re just these tiny, confused human beings. And then a massive, out-of-control avalanche rolls over them. The story shows us that it’s in moments of unexpected stress and imbalance that characters find their true selves and reveal the fissures in their relationships. We've both the woman’s perspective as well as the man’s and examine how this random, yet incredibly significant, incident affects them both as individuals and as a couple. Inevitably, the characters are forced to reevaluate everything they thought to be true. And as a result, the audience is left at the end of the film debating whose side they're on. From the start of "Downhill", there’s a sense of foreboding, even before 'The Stantons' come face to face with an avalanche. That feeling of uncertainty comes from a combination of camerawork, the sight of avalanche-blast cannons on the mountainside and the film’s doom-heralding score. The challenge is to combine humor, melancholy and a distinct regional feel in the music without muddling the composition. Such difficulties can be inspirational because you’re doing something you wouldn’t do instinctively. Sonic warnings also come from avalanche cannons scattered throughout the peaks. Though they appear ominous, they’re designed to blast away accumulated snow, creating intentional slides on empty slopes to diminish the risk of spontaneous avalanches on active ski runs. Anytime you see an actual avalanche on the mountain, that whole mountain range is changed and replaced from the one that's there. It adds a whole other layer of, oh gosh, this scenario that kicks off the emotional journey for this family is actually something that's happening 30 miles down the road. All of those elements adds poignancy that you couldn’t help but feel. For example, Charlotte dresses almost entirely in white, from her fur-trimmed ski suit to her glamorous casual wear. The color plays into other character's’ clothes. There’s a scene with Billie and Pete, sort of a pivotal scene in the hallway, and Billie’s wearing this white scarf. The intention there's to show this impending avalanche of feelings is sort of choking her, to put it bluntly. Another little signature is putting the characters in a white environment even when they’re inside. We've the apartment with the sofa, chair and carpet. That's really to put Billie in the snow even though she’s actually in a physical interior. It’s this thing again of being trapped in a blind environment where you haven’t got depth perception and those kinds of things. It’s just white all around her, so even when she’s inside, she’s still in the snow. The design concept aims to keep Billie and Pete in the eye of the storm, no matter where they're. The theme is that Billie and Pete are still trying to weather this large avalanche. Multiple things happen along the way, but it really is about two people spiraling and trying to figure out how they can navigate their way back to each other. Even when Billie and Pete are safe from avalanche danger, they’re still surrounded by a cold and snowy landscape. The scenery and the landscape are so stunning that people could think that they’re fake. Beyond the starkness of white, the film leanes on a muted palette for Billie and Pete, both in their ski wear and the dark grays and blues that round out their apartment, as a way of expressing the mood of their trip. While the locals take to the slopes in bright, flashy outfits, 'The Stantons' look is a little less lively. The point is that even within the sphere of wonderful enjoyment, 'The Stanton' family seems to be this slightly neutral-toned whole, because maybe they’re not enjoying the holiday as much as everybody else is, and that’s significant for the film. "Downhill" is a distinctly American take on an original story by Swedish director Ruben Östlund. It's inspired by the 2014 'Swedish' film "Force Majeure". It's a classic dinner party kind of question; what would you do if you're faced with this sort of event? How would you react? What appeals about the story is the idea that a person can be viewing their life through a certain lens, and what happens when that lens is taken off, what’s different? And is, in fact, anything different? How can a subtle shift in perspective, if facing an avalanche can be subtle, have such profound emotional effects. It’s a very big crisis, and it’s a big actual event that happens in the film. There’s a long-standing tradition in every art form of taking a work of art that you admire and interpreting it in a different context. It’s the film version of a cover song. You take a movie that you love, that has a very particular  sensibility and showing how you can riff on it. The intention is to take the ideas that the original movie had and explore them in a new context. It's a character-driven ballet between comedy and drama.

(Glasgow Film Festival ● Select event time ● Here are a list of days and times at which this event will take place ● March Sun 06 Screening time 20:20 ● Mon 07.Screening time 15:00) https://glasgowfilm.org/glasgow-film-festival/shows/red-rocket-nc-18 "Red Rocket" "Red Rocket" in a magnetic, live-wire performance. It's a darkly funny, raw, and humane portrait of Mikey Saber (Simon Rex), an uniquely 'American' hustler, and a hometown that barely tolerates him. Mikey Saber is illuminating the hustler’s code, or something akin to it. Maybe it’s an overall philosophy of life. Maybe it’s just a way of explaining his character. Whatever it's, there’s a truth to it. Some people, if there’s a bottle thrown into a crowd, they’re going to get hit in the head with it every time. Other people step in shit and come out smelling like roses and nothing ever happens to them. Mikey’s just one of those guys. He doesn’t think about the future. He doesn’t care about ramifications. Flat broke and scheming, Mikey is back home in his tiny town of Texas City, T after a Los Angeles flame-out, hoping to move back in with his estranged wife Lexi (Bree Elrod) and mother-in-law Lil (Brenda Davis). They shouldn’t let him in, but they do. Mikey’s a man-child, constantly sugarcoating things for his own mental state. He’s feeding his head with positivity because he can’t really face the negative place he's in. It’s literally the only way he can cope. Everything is always somebody else’s fault. You see a lot of 'America' in that. That’s definitely an 'American' characteristic, somebody who's striving for success and it doesn’t matter who’s left trampled on the sidelines. You see it in "There Will Be Blood" and "The Wolf Of Wall Street" too, these ruthless guys who exploit to get to the top. The film uses comedy to a degree to soften Mikey, to show how one could be attracted to him. The central character is a distinctively American figure; a confidence man, an irrepressible optimist and a total grifter. Like snake-oil salesmen and Ponzi schemers, Mikey earns his living as a specific kind of freeloader, feeding off other people’s false hopes and real work; a suitcase pimp. It's a total revelation for the character. Since leaving the adult movie industry herself, Lexi has retreated to their hometown and slipped into drugs, but Mikey’s return sparks in her a mass of conflicting feelings, not all of them negative. She can see through the bullshit and can identify it immediately. But she's also a woman who's very lost and feeling trapped and addicted. Sometimes when you love someone, it can cloud your judgment and you can fall back into bad habits easily. Lexi’s character is crucial to the design of the film. She’s a keyhole into Mikey’s past and also, potentially, an opportunity for his redemption. Forgiveness may be off the table, but there’s a thaw. Still, Texas City doesn’t really know what to do with Mikey, this oddball former resident and washed up pseudo-celebrity riding around town on a borrowed bicycle. He’s un-hirable, unmanageable and largely irredeemable, especially to Lexi’s no-nonsense mother Lil, Significantly, "Red Rocket" is about Mikey’s eventual comeuppance at the hands of a community of women who grow tired of the hustles he believes he’s pulling off at their expense. Leading that charge, and quick to see through him, is Leondria (Judy Hill), a pot-supply kingpin. A dark comedy with a keen attention to the dynamics of sex and power, "Red Rocket" works on it's own terms as a high-wire balancing act and mesmerizing character-driven drama. Intriguingly, though, we sometimes hear snippets of a very different off-screen drama; a careful listener will realize that the film, about a malignant narcissist on the outs, is set during the fateful summer of 2016. "Red Rocket" is a product of bold thinking and even bolder resourcefulness. An exhilarating realm of dark comedy, stylistic ambition, and pure off-the-grid adventurousness. It's a film that turns on a pin from live-wire comedy to quiet poignancy and back again, a movie as big and complex as the character at it's center. Rarely explored on film, much less on TV or in literature, the suitcase pimp is a male hanger-on, often a loosely employed boyfriend or husband, who manages a more popular female porn star, grooming and using her. Their lives are all about exploitation and using the women they’re with. The women make thousands while the men are making hundreds at best. So they've to live off the women, financially. There’s a self-denial, a holier-than-thou attitude, an obliviousness, an ignorance that these guys have. Because that’s how we think the magic happens in life, when you don’t have any expectations and you just go. And that’s what happened with this movie. It’s the full spectrum of our obscene, over-the-top culture, a culture of excess. written by Gregory Mann

Why Hide? (Newcastle Film Festival) A derivative, clichéd and low brow attempt at a comedy horror. This film stole from (the makers might say paid homage to) the original Evil Dead. We got similar jokes to Shaun of the Dead (in this case, a cricket bat is replaced by a 9-iron as a comical weapon) but "Shaun" respected the genre it was poking fun at more. I was also reminded of a lesser known British comedy The Cottage but I can't put my finger on why. A lot also seemed stolen from the Conjuring and Insidious films. I.e. creepy inexplicable set pieces which tended to end in a loud bang. There was also one scene I'm fairly sure was ripped straight from the god-awful Insidious: The Last Key. On a side note, it's also a bit awkward when the director brings his own intoxicated crowd (I assume some of the film's actors and the director's mates) to the film who then woop and laugh loudly at every low brow "joke" while the rest of the audience sit in silence. Oh that guy is camp...ahahahah (always hilarious :/)... oh look at that overweight guy running around in his white pants hahaha.... *sigh*. The effects of the creature weren't bad considering this was a low budget production, but it was never quite clear to me what the creature was or what it could do, which removed any kind of fear for me.

(London Filn Festival, Thursday October 10th 2019, Odeon Tottenham Court Road, Central Cross, 30 Tottenham Court Rd, London W1T 1BX, UK, 18:15 pm) https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=cunningham&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id= "Cunningham" "Cunningham" traces Merce’s artistic evolution over three decades of risk and discovery (1944–1972), from his early years as a struggling dancer in postwar New York to his emergence as one of the world’s most visionary choreographers. The '3D' technology weaves together Merce's philosophies and stories, creating a visceral journey into his innovative work. A breathtaking explosion of dance, music, and never-before-seen archival material, the film is a timely tribute to one of the world’s greatest modern dance artists. During the years 1942-1972, he made his dances against all odds. He was always ready to place himself in unfamiliar situations and find new solutions. Throughout his career he embraced new technologies, from 16mm, television and video to the use of computers, body sensors and motion-capture technology. Cunningham had arrived in the city in 1939 with an invitation to join Graham’s company. In the 1940s, Merce Cunningham, along with John Cage, began a journey that would change the relationship between contemporary dance, music and art. Cunningham proposed the revolutionary idea that dance could exist independent of music, a concept that would dominate his unparalleled career for more than half a century. He popularized the idea of dance as a visual experience and trained some of the greatest dancers of his time, including Paul Taylor, Viola Farber, Douglas Dunn, Charles Moulton, Deborah Hay, Steve Paxton, Ashley Chen and Jonah Bokaer. 'The United States', and New York in particular, was becoming the global center of artistic innovation. 'Abstract Expressionist' painters like Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock, radical composers including Arnold Schoenberg, and Martha Graham’s revolutionary troupe dominated the cultural scene. In 1944, he presented his first solo concert with composer John Cage, who became his frequent collaborator and lifelong romantic partner. Together they explored groundbreaking artistic philosophies, incorporating experiments with chance into their work as a way to free themselves from preconceived ideas. The pair acquired a third creative partner in 1952 when they met the then- emerging artist Robert Rauschenberg at the experimental, arts-focused 'Black Mountain College' in North Carolina. Like Cunningham and Cage, Rauschenberg resisted labels during his lengthy career, but is widely acknowledged as a forerunner in many art movements that developed after 'Abstract Expressionism'. Without a steady source of income, they collected scrap wood off the street and burned it to keep warm in winter. Cunningham rehearsed in his living space and often alone. In 1953, Cunningham launched 'The Merce Cunningham Dance Company' so he could concentrate full-time on his explorations. "Cunningham" includes a treasure trove of archival materials, a visual record of the dancer’s singular talent, Merce alone and with his company, rehearsing, performing, choreographing, and teaching. Often dressed in rehearsal clothes, he and his dancers bend, leap, spin and fall with abandon, combining what he thought were the best elements of classical ballet with the most interesting innovations in modern dance. One of the most memorable is a Rauschenberg-designed pointillist backdrop used for the original presentation of 'Summerspace', a 1958 collaboration. In the 1960s, Andy Warhol, the major figure of New York avant-garde film world, spent quite a bit of time in Merce’s studio. By the early 1970s, Merce began working with film and video himself primarily with filmmaker Charles Atlas. When Carolyn Brown, the last original member of his first company, left in 1972, that, the end of an era. Dance pioneer Merce Cunningham created some of the most iconic, influential work of his generation, incorporating the groundbreaking artistic ideals of mid-century visual arts and music, and redefining his art form. During a lifetime of artistic engagement with such diverse musicians as John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol, Cunningham created a new dance technique and celebrated movement as manifestation of being human and of being alive. After his death in 2009 at the age of 90, many felt uncertain about the future of his legacy and his fearless innovations. The new documentary "Cunningham" guarantees that his work will live on, in a stunning immersive experience that preserves some of his greatest works. Neither a straightforward biopic nor a traditional concert film, "Cunningham" was conceived as a 93-minute art piece that would tell the master’s story through his work. Combining Cunningham’s fascinating life experiences with his landmark artistic achievements, the film forges a delicate balance between facts and metaphors, exposition and poetry. A tribute to the visionary artist’s creative genius in a journey through the first 30 years of his career in New York City, the film traces the evolution of his thought and channels his spirit. Personal photographs, intimate letters, 16mm and 35mm footage, and home movies of performances, rehearsals, tours and gatherings offer the audience a glimpse of the choreographer’s visionary mind, while excerpts of iconic Cunningham works are performed by the last generation of his dancers and reimagined for '3-D' cinema. A '3D' movie about an avant-garde choreographer? We can make documentaries about choreographers or dancers as people, about life of a dance company and so on. But how to make a film that will allow the audience to experience choreographers work? "Cunningham" is based on an iconic photo of Merce’s dancers posing in the Robert Rauschenberg’s pointillist décor of his piece 'Summerspace', which was taken by Robert Rutledge in 1958. Merce staged this photograph himself by dropping Rauschenberg’s canvas on both the wall and the floor so it surrounded the dancers. It becomes that even back in the 1950s, before Merce developed the idea of an event, he had been longing to create immersive environments for his dances. The film is drawn to the genius of Merce Cunningham, the intricacies of his mind; his approaches that he invented making his dances; and his philosophies that he followed living his life and re-defining ideas about being human. His story is an incredible triumph of the human spirit. During the first 30 years of his career, between 1942-1972, he persevered, with great determination and stamina, to make dances against all odds. He was always ready to get outside himself, to place himself in unknown situations, and find new solutions. All this took place in a unique artistic climate, during the 1950s and 1960s in New York, when Cunningham and his collaborators were united by their poverty and ideas and art and life had virtually no separation. Merce’s dances evoke a sense of timelessness, a space in between rational and irrational, intellectual and emotional, immediate and eternal, that truly renews us. '3D' offers interesting opportunities as it articulates the relationship between the dancers in and to the space, awaking a kinesthetic response among the viewers. It also favors uncut choreographed shots, moving camera, and multiple layers of action in relation to the setting, everything that allows working with Merce’s choreography on screen in new ways. Merce and '3D' represent an idea fit, not only because of his use of space but also because of his interest in every technological advancement of his time, from 16mm film to motion capture, and his willingness to adapt and work in unconventional settings/locations, creating over 700 Cunningham Events, I.e. performances comprised of excerpts from different dances adapted for a specific location with the audience following the dancers. Today, '3D' allows for his dream to come true. The film is a 90-minute artwork in itself, which tells Merce’s story through his dances. It's a hybrid, rooted in both imaginary worlds and moving life experiences. A delicate balance between facts and metaphors, exposition and poetry. A single camera approach is used to choreograph the viewer’s eye, highlighting the dimensional relationships among performers and settings, uniquely enabled by '3D' technology. The aspiration has been to develop a unique language, integrating all the elements of the film in a subtle, distinct and poetic way, in Merce’s spirit. Seeing a dance through the lens of a camera changes everything. While viewing a dance on a stage you are free to look anywhere in the space, whereas the camera has to be carefully and strategically placed as it guides the eye within the limits of its perspective. The lens often skews a shape. For instance, it can make an arm look lifted when it should simply be horizontal or it can distort the spacing dramatically. With the true artistic collaboration that we developed, these small details could be worked out seamlessly and we developed a true understanding for one another’s point of view. Film is forever, so there's an enormous amount of pressure for the performers and an enormous responsibility in making the final choices on the takes. But beyond that trigger of emotion is the fact that he and his early collaborators and dancers tell the story, in their own voices, which gives a weight and power to this film that's undeniable. His willingness to break boundaries has been infectious and engendered courage in all of us. You've to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive.

(Release Info London schedule; August 2nd, 2018, Silver City, 19:00) "The Darkest Minds" When Ruby Daly (Lidya Jewett)) woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government rehabilitation camp. She might have survived the mysterious disease that’s killed most of America’s children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse; frightening abilities they cannot control. Now sixteen, Ruby (Amandla Stenberg) is one of the dangerous ones. When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she’s on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her; East River. She joins a group of kids who escaped their own camp. Liam Stewart (Harris Dickinson), their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents. When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living. Ruby has been imprisoned for six years, and ultimately she meets up with a group of kids who are the closest thing to family that she's got. When Ruby escapes from the camp, it’s very free and youthful and happy spirited. The character of Ruby is pretty tough. She's really passionate. She stands her ground.  She knows what she wants. Orange is the color classification for those who developed telepathic abilities. Ruby is classified as an orange and develops the ability to read minds, influence people's actions and thoughts, alter or erase memories, and change the feelings of others. It's a fantastic and critical component in a movie that's about difference and the embracing the championing of difference. Ruby is a kind of the make-or-break decision on this film. She's kind of profound in the way she thinks about things and feels things and she really responded to this material and had the right depth, the right ability to hold some things back and to not kind of give it all up and reveal all of who she's in every frame, which is very important to this movie. The whole movie is a quest for this ‘slip kids’ camp. And for this camp where supposedly kids live free, the character of Clancy Clay (Patrick Gibson) is pretty critical because he runs this utopian kind of what could be a ‘Lord Of The Flies’, ‘Maze Runner’, kid-only civilization or outpost, with order, with kindness, with charisma. There's even the possibility of a love triangle between Clancy, Ruby and Liam. Clancy is also classified as an orange and develops telepathic abilities. The character of Liam led an uprising and is on the run. He’s fiercely protective of this young girl named Zu (Miya Cech), who escaped with him. The character doesn’t talk for ninety-five percent of the movie and that’s not easy. The character of Zu, who we learn, over the course of the movie, has been through real trauma; way more trauma than someone that age should ever have to go through. Blue is the color classification for those who developed telekinetic powers. Liam is classified as a blue and he develops the ability to move objects with his mind. Gold is the color classification for those who developed electrokinetic powers. Zu is classified as a gold and develops the ability to create and control electricity. Travelling on the quest to the slip kids camp with Ruby and Liam is Chubs (Skylan Brooks). Chubs is not only a dimensional and authentic character the way all of our characters are, but he brings a certain levity. He kind of calls it like it's. When he sees something brewing between Ruby and Liam, he’s going to name it even if it makes people uncomfortable. And that you need that levity in a world, and in a film, that has some heavy themes and some intense scenes and sequences. And the tone of the Chubs character is that really, kind of winning, comedic aspect in the midst of this virtual family that’s making their way through the landscape. Green is the color classification for individuals who developed enhanced mental and intellectual powers. Chubs is classified as a Green (telekinetic). Chubs develops heightened problem solving abilities and a photographic memory. Cate (Mandy Moore) is a doctor who tries to help Ruby. She's basically a savior of sorts. Lady Jane (Gwendoline Christie) is a bounty hunter who hunts the children down. She's this kind of road warrior/bounty hunter, traversing the landscape looking for escaped kids, trying to collect a bounty, trying to take them out. She needs to be scary, but the film wants her to be kind of scary and a threat in an interesting and different kind of way.   "The Darkest Minds" is an adaptation of the best-selling book by Alexandra Bracken, the first in a YA trilogy ('The Darkest Minds', 'Never Fade', and 'In The Afterlight'). There’s a reason why there are fans of this particular series of books. They resonate with the characters. They resonate with the message, and they resonate with the concept of it. 'The Darkest Minds' starts in a turbulent America where 98% of the children’s population has died of a mysteries disease, deeming the 2% of the surviving children enemies of the state and forcing them on the run. So it's kind of a journey for all the characters do build in the fact that they have to meet each other, find out what each person does. Then they find that they're a little scared of each other because they don't know if each one of them is going turn them in. And so it becomes their part of their trust each other. Once they trust each other, now they can go out and help each other to try and get to where they need to get in the end. But bad guys are always after them and that's the bad part about it is they never know who's their friend and who's their foe. This movie shows that in the end, that what people see as a liability or a difference is actually a power. The movie is about kids being able to use these powers in order to survive, it’s a lot of action, but it’s also a lot of heart. “The Darkest Minds” hinges on audiences identifying with the character's struggles and being able to see themselves in this nightmare. The film feels like a reality that we live in today and recognize. It’s what makes the powers unique, they contrast with our otherwise normal reality. You should be able to imagine being able to go out right now and see someone doing these amazing things. More than ever in the world we're aware of our own mortality. We live in turbulent times, and as a consequence these dystopian stories have greater relevance to our lives than ever because the potential for it to become a reality is great. And it’s so universal, in that it’s about kids growing up into teenagers and discovering that they they’re different, which people don’t understand, especially adults and the government. So they’re thrown into camps. And the story follows these children becoming young adults and learning to stand up for themselves and protect themselves. The fear of fitting in and the search for acceptance often follows us into adulthood. This story is about a world that's not very different from ours. The majority of the population of children has died. And the kids who are left have developed these mental abilities that are inexplicable. And so, because of these abilities, the adults are afraid of them and they put them into camps. And so, this particular story focuses on this girl who escapes from one of these camps and what happens when she finds a family of her own on the outside. Anyone who's been a teenager can relate to this story. And that's really something we feel that set us apart, that when people see this trailer and when people get to go see the film, they're going to realize, this is a film about now and about something that feels very real and that could happen tomorrow, despite the sort of fantasy and the power element of it. It feels to us much more grounded and real and it takes place tomorrow as opposed to some dystopian future with a new world order. There are number themes that kind of run through the spine of the movie. It’s very much a film about belonging and in that regard, this movie happens to be about kids with some powers, but there’s no one who’s ever lived who hasn’t wrestled with that search for identity. It’s a search that's often at it's most heightened in adolescence, and so that’s the focus of the film. It's ultimately about a small group of kids with powers, super-human powers, that they don’t yet fully understand, who find each other by being collectively on the run from the authorities. And it’s about the way in which they rely on and connect with each other as they search for others like them. It might be dealing with intense themes and events, but the movie is fundamentally really hopeful. It’s hopeful about the possibility of connection and the possibility of acceptance. This movie transcends all ages. It’s not just about being a teenager. Everyone has been in that place when they're not completely comfortable with who they're. It’s about facing the things about you that you aren’t happy with, that you consider a flaw, and being able to grow into this place of being able to embrace those things. Being able to access what makes you unique and use it as a strength. This story follows a character that, in the beginning, is powerless and essentially frightened and ashamed of what she's. And by the end, you watch her grow. You watch her become this empowered strong character being able to do things she never thought she could do. Everyone can identify with that journey. The film connects very strongly to our times, to our political situation, severe and deeply upsetting and awful refugee situations around the world, and that in terms of our media, we’re starting to, connect more with human beings that are seemingly different from us, and recognize that those differences aren’t so great after all. And that we can recognize, the humanity in each other, and what it's to need comfort, to need shelter, to need liberty, It’s very much a landscape that is the natural world that, although it's now devoid of young people, is still beautiful and lush and filled with hope. The whole point of the book is showing the hope of people triumphing through these prejudices and using their abilities and surrogate families and being accepted by others who understand what it takes to be free. "The Darkest Minds" is going to give audiences a hell of a ride. It’s going to be a ride that will be thrilling in that it has action, it has adventure, it has super-visual set pieces, battle scenes, powers being used; all of that. Audiences can also expect a deeply emotional experience with this movie because although it’s filled with spectacle and just cool visceral sequences, at it's core it’s also really about characters looking for where they belong and discovering ultimately that where they belong is with each other.  

(Release Info London schedule, June 25th, 2020, Curzon Home Cinema) https://www.curzonhomecinema.com/film/watch-anthropocene-film-online "Anthropocene: The Human Epoch" A cinematic meditation on humanity’s massive reengineering of the planet, "Anthropocene" is a four years in the making feature documentary film from Jennifer Baichwal. Third in a trilogy that includes "Manufactured Landscapes" (2006) and "Watermark" (2013), the film follows the research of an international body of scientists, 'The Anthropocene Working Group' who, after nearly 10 years of research, are arguing that the evidence shows 'The Holocene Epoch' gave way to 'The Anthropocene Epoch' in the mid-twentieth century, as a result of profound and lasting human changes to 'The Earth'. From concrete seawalls in China that now cover 60% of the mainland coast, to the biggest terrestrial machines ever built in Germany, to psychedelic potash mines in Russia’s 'Ural Mountains', to metal festivals in the closed city of Norilsk, to the devastated 'Great Barrier Reef' in Australia and surreal lithium evaporation ponds in 'The Atacama Desert', the filmmaker has traversed the globe using high-end production values and state of the art camera techniques to document the evidence and experience of human planetary domination. At the intersection of art and science, "Anthropocene" witnesses, in an experiential and non-didactic sense, a critical moment in geological history; bringing a provocative and unforgettable experience of our species breadth and impact. 'Anthropocene' is our current geological epoch, proposed by members of 'The Anthropocene Working Group' and beginning mid-twentieth century, in which humans are the primary cause of permanent planetary change. 'The Anthropocene' is a term widely used to denote the proposed current geological epoch, in which humans are the primary cause of permanent planetary change. The research charts the progression of human influence on 'The Earth’s' system through a variety of markers: the terraforming of land for agriculture, industrialization and urbanization; the extraction of resources and the phenomenon of anthroturbation; sediment displacement, the proliferation of dams and groundwater depletion; the technosphere, consisting of all human-systems and technologies, which now weighs upwards of 30 trillion tons; and human-influenced peak levels of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. At time of writing, 'The Anthropocene' is not a formally defined geological unit within 'The Geological Time Scale'; it must be formally debated and ratified or rejected by 'The International Commission On Stratigraphy', a process that can take decades. Our current period of geological time is widely accepted to be 'The Holocene Epoch', which began some 12,000 years ago as the glaciers of the last ice age receded. We've reached an unprecedented moment in planetary history. Humans now affect 'The Earth' and it's processes more than all other natural forces combined. 'The Anthropocene Project' investigates human influence on the state and future of 'The Earth'. 'The Holocene Epoch' started 11,700 years ago as 'The Glaciers' of the last 'Ice Age' receded. We've left 'The Holocene' and entered a new epoch; 'The Anthropocene'. Humans have become the single most defining force on the planet and that the evidence for this is overwhelming. Terraforming of 'The Earth' through mining, urbanization, industrialization and agriculture; the proliferation of dams and diverting of waterways; 'CO2' and acidification of oceans due to climate change; the pervasive presence around the globe of plastics and other technofossils; unprecedented rates of deforestation and extinction; these human incursions are so massive in scope that they've already entered, and will endure in, geological time. Embracing and developing innovative techniques, the film embarks on an epic journey around the world to every continent save 'Antarctica', to capture the most spectacular evidence of human influence, while taking time to reflect on the deeper meaning of what these profound transformations signify. The result is a collection of experiences that will immerse viewers in the new world of 'The Anthropocene Epoch', delivering a sense of scale, gravity, and impact that both encompasses and moves beyond the scope of conventional screens and prints. It feels like the films keep getting bigger in scope. This is because the urgency around problems we face at a global level demands it. But big picture subjects falls apart without an appropriate balance of scale and detail. Sometimes you need to go up in the sky to convey place, but if you stay up there all the time, you float away from what is meaningful. Humans are not meant to remain at an omniscient level, though we like to contemplate from there and technology allows us to do so. The film tries to intelligently translate one medium into another; which meant in most instances trying to convey scale in time. Hence the eight minute long, single take opening sequence. The vast Eupa factory floor would not have meant as much without the glances up from workers as the dolly passed them, or the person sleeping at his post after everyone left for lunch; the massive resettling of people and cities for 'The Three Gorges Dam' would not have resonated without the woman sewing at the construction site. The biggest lesson is illumination through juxtaposition. The film did not have a lot of information about context; if you needed more than a few words to describe where you're, it isn't going to work. Instead the film puts one place against another to sharpen the focus of both; 'The Buriganga River' next to a pristine 'Lake Ealue' in 'British Columbia'; people taking a sacred bath in 'The Ganges' at 'The Kumbh Mela' next to girls cartwheeling on the beach in California. But here again it's the combination of big picture and particular focus that brought an experiential understanding of context. It's the testimony of Inocencia Gonzales from 'The Cucupá Nation', whose fishing community is decimated as a result of the dry delta, that makes viewers understand that place. "Anthropocene" steps one place back from the other two films in it's premise; that humans change 'The Earth' and it's systems more than all natural processes combined. The film required a global perspective to drive home the fact that we humans, who've really only been up and running in modern civilization for about 10 thousand years, now completely dominate a planet that has been around for 4.5 billion. How do you convey that domination? Here again it's tempting to stay in the realm of the big; the omniscient. The aerial perspective, through helicopter and cineflix or drones, is woven all through the film, and sometimes the only way you experience a place; the phosphate mines in Florida, for example, or the oil refineries in Houston, Texas. But when everything is big or far away and diagrammatic, scale becomes incomprehensible. A timelapse of one small piece of bleaching coral tells the story of anthropogenic ocean acidification, and the tusks of seven thousand elephants, each one carefully weighed and recorded, becomes the way we understand human-directed extinction. The balance of scale and detail is also where we've learned from each other over 13 years of collaboration. This film certainly deploys the big picture, and endeavors sometimes to convey a place in one wide frame. But the film also seeks moments of intimacy, the detail needed to reveal, understand or encourage empathy within context. This is where the ethics of engagement are critical, and go further to say that ethics are the most important dimension of our filmmaking practice. When you go all over the world for your project, it's crucial to try and do so with humility, and an openness to what the context wants to tell you about itself, especially its overlooked margins or ignored corners. The post-1950 period of accelerated industrial development, extraction of natural resources, population growth and globalization, bringing unprecedented increases in forms of human-caused pollution. The measurement of time as it relates to geological phenomena, encompassing the entirety of Earth’s history since it's formation. Our current geologic epoch, which extends to approximately 11.7 thousands years before the twenty-first century, and is the second of two current 'Quaternary Epochs'. A dynamic marriage of lens-based media and cutting-edge technology, "Anthropocene" combines documentary storytelling with responsive gigapixel essays, 360° film, and '3D' modelling to fully immerse audiences in these photographic worlds, revealing what they signify for both the history and future of human civilization, and it's accumulated effect on the planet. The film allows audiences to journey to some of the most imposing, stunning, and remote locations in the world; places they will learn they're connected to, or often accountable for, but would never normally experience. These hot spots encourages exploration of the entire image, give context connecting the photo to the tenets of 'The Anthropocene', and offer gratifying scavenger hunt moments of discovery. Designed to open up a unique and complementary exploration of locations, ideas, and themes, '360°' video and cinematic 'VR' bring the borderless frame to cinema, offering viewers a completely different relationship to the photographic image, where the spatial relationships between objects and people in the images remain intact. The aim is to create experiences that literally take viewers into the realities of 'The Anthropocene'; hard-to-reach, out-of-bounds locations that few people ever get to visit in their lifetime.

I don’t know what you’re fucking saying, I don’t understand. What an impressive film. You won’t get a feeling of excitement or relaxation after watching it. It’ll rather leave a bad taste in your mouth. It was as if the smell of blood, rancid food, vomit, and sweat has nestled itself in my nostrils. I had this annoying, uncomfortable feeling afterward. I’m convinced there are other places in this world where you don’t want to end up and which aren’t good for your health, both physically and psychologically. But the Thai prison Klong Prem seems to me the most damned and inhumane place on our planet. A place where you stop being a person and where you try to survive in any way you can. I’m strongly in favor of setting up an exchange program for prisoners worldwide. In such a way that prisoners from wherever, get the chance to taste the prison climate of these regions. I’m sure many will start realizing how privileged their treatment is in this part of the world. Who knows, maybe even a few will come to their senses. Is there a translator in the house? “A prayer before dawn” feels like a documentary. It’s as if the camera is filming over the shoulders of Billy Moore (Joe Cole) all the time, a Brit who’s a boxer in Thailand and is being arrested for selling drugs. The nightmare in which he’s imprisoned for three years and the daily struggle in this hell hole is the basis for his book that he publishes later on. It’s titled “A prayer before dawn: A nightmare in Thailand“. Don’t expect long dialogues. Or you are someone who understands Thai quite well. That alone would drive me crazy already. The endless whining and shouting of those tattooed, golden-toothed Thai criminals. You have no idea what they are talking about. You can only guess whether they ask a very ordinary question or threat you. Brutal, intense and realistic. The number of films that take place in prisons is almost infinite. But there are none so realistic and painful to behold as “A prayer before dawn“. Even “Brawl in Cell Block 99” doesn’t seem to be so brutal and intense, despite the extremely violent images. Why? Because “Brawl in Cell Block 99” is a fictional story. The story about Billy Moore shows an unambiguous, unvarnished picture of his struggle for survival and his perseverance to maintain himself in this barbaric environment. A story about how an individual has to push his limits both physically and psychically. A black and white portrait with a thin dividing line between life and death. One moment you see how Billy almost kills a fellow prisoner at the request of a corrupt guard. The next moment you see a tender moment between him and the transvestite Fame (Pornchanok Mabklang). A moment to catch your breath after all the brutal violence. Top notch acting. Even from those ex-prisoners. The acting of Joe Cole is extremely convincing. You can simply feel his fury, despair, and fear. Cole’s acting is purely en simply physical as there is practically no dialogue to be heard. A shrill and threatening “Fuck off” is the main thing that comes over his lips. You are witnessing how the accumulated tension and frustration suddenly flares up during confrontations and his Thai boxing. And at the same time, you see Cole fighting against his addiction. The Thai inmates are all amateurs in the field of acting but apparently, a large number of these side characters actually have spent time behind bars. Maybe that’s why it all feels so real. Just go watch this top-notch movie. No, “A prayer before dawn” is no fun to watch and will certainly still haunt you the next days after. If you expect a detailed story, you will certainly be disappointed afterward. The narrative is reasonably straightforward and concise. It’s nothing more than a report of Billy’s stay in this hellish place on earth and his constant fight to get out of it unscathed. But, as I said, this film will certainly stay with you. It’s, as it were, beaten into you. My rating 7/10

Director: Brad Peyton With: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Akerman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan Release Date: Apr 13, 2018 Based on the mid-’80s Bally Midway arcade game that unofficially influenced Disney’s “Wreck-It Ralph,” Brad Peyton “Rampage” doesn’t seem to understand its own appeal. Reuniting disaster driven star Dwayne Johnson with his “San Andreas” director, this brainless big-screen monster-smash movie assumes that audiences want to see the Rock stop three enormous mutant creatures from destroying America. I left the film feeling unsatisfied and confused, the whole film was not consistent through out, at the start it starts of at the ISS (International Space Station) which shows all members being eaten/killed by a huge rat. As the film continues it the shows Davis (Dwayne Johnson) relationship with a gorilla who inhales this gene modifying substances and then goes crazy with a wolf and what i can only think is a crocodile. Rampage is not a film that i would happily say to people go and watch, unless your a huge Dwayne Johnson fan there is no other reason to see this movie. Once again Bred Peyton has failed, with his 2015 'San Andreas' the cast was amazing the actual message of the film has been lost again and the film being over dramatic, The same feeling i felt after watching San Andreas i felt after watching Rampage, it is a shame because i loved the cast, scenery, the characters and graphics in the movies but it just deliver the wow factor.

(Release Info London schedule; March 25th, 2020, Curzon Bloomsbury, The Brunswick Centre, London WC1N 1AW, United Kingdom, 6:00 pm) https://www.curzoncinemas.com/bloomsbury/film-info/the-painted-bird "The Painted Bird" Based on Jerzy Kosiriski novel, "The Painted Bird" is a meticulous 35mm black and white evocation of wild, primitive 'Eastern Europe' at the bloody close of 'World War II'. The film follows the journey of 'The Boy' (Petr Kotlar), entrusted by his persecuted parents to an elderly foster mother (Claudia Vaseková). The old woman soon dies and 'The Boy' is on his own, wandering through the countryside, from village to village, farmhouse to farmhouse. As he struggles for survival, 'The Boy' suffers through extraordinary brutality meted out by the ignorant, superstitious peasants and he witnesses the terrifying violence of the efficient, ruthless soldiers, both 'Russian' and 'German'. In a defining scene, one of the peasants shows 'The Boy' the flight of a captive bird, whom the man has painted and then released back into it's own flock. The bird is immediately ripped apart because it's different from it's fellows. That lesson reinforces all 'The Boy' already knows and will soon know better; difference is fatal. But there are rare moments of compassion. Hans (Stellan Skarsgărd), a 'German' soldier spares 'The Boy, a priest (Harvey Keitel) intervenes on his behalf, and finally 'The Boy' becomes the protégé of Garbos (Julien Sands), a 'Russian' sniper, who's kind to the child, but ruthless with the enemy. And there are signs of love. 'The Boy' is seduced by Ludmilla (Jitka Cvanrarnova), an older girl, finally re-discovering the comfort of intimacy, only to realize that he has been used. When he's miraculously reunited with his weakened father Nicodemus (Petr Varnek) at the end of the war, 'The Boy' is cold and impenetrable, hardened by his ordeal. Yet we can still glimpse something of the old, sensitive 'Boy' (Antonin Masek) behind the eyes of the new. Perhaps there's hope. "The Painted Bird" is a meditation on evil, but also, the opposite, goodness, empathy, love. In their absence, we inevitably turn to those values. When we do have glimpses of good and love in "The Painted Bird", we appreciate their essence and we yearn for more. This is the positive message of the movie, the human longing for good. When 'The Boy' cries: ‘I want to go home!’, we too want to go home, to a safe place of love'. Anything else seems absurd. And to preserve the sense of reality, we've a story order, so that the growth of the child actor mirrors the progression and growth of the central character. The black and white images, the framing, the pacing and the expansive setting of the countryside gives the viewers the emotional room to seriously reflect on the acts of violence that 'The Boy' sees and endures. In several of the most problematic scenes, the boy isn't there at all. The camera views the action in his place and conveys his subjective vision. The goal is to create a series of tableaux that, cumulatively, takes the protagonist on a journey to the very heart of the dark human soul. Each part of the series is a visual clue, a sort of lost fragment of a larger painting, a canvas that draws the protagonist irrevocably toward a final catharsis. It's intended as a kind of gradual peeling away of layers so that, by the end, the viewer has arrived at the very core of the central character, who has discovered a hard-won truth. It’s the story’s spirit of the ballad, it's quiet urgency, the vivid internal world of the central character, 'The Boy', whose nature is beautiful despite the horror around him. It’s also the story of the historical and geographical setting, and the characters 'The Boy' encounters. It’s not always important that we love these characters or mourn their fate. What's important is that we see them and bear witness. Adults have their own pasts, which they're aware of, and at the same time they can imagine a future. But this is not true for a child. The past is an unbelievably shallow body of water, where it’s not possible to swim. And the future cannot be imagined at all. A child, basically, can only think a few days ahead. What will happen in a month is unknowable. Several clinical psychologists have concluded that children, paradoxically, accept difficult reality far more easily than adults do. They take it as it's. And of course, this is the quality that helps children survive by allowing them to believe that the terrible things around them are normal. Something like this happens to the main character, 'The Boy', who's saved but perhaps irrevocably damaged by the very resilience that allowed him to tolerate horror. 'The Boy' is a kind of symbol, a representative of all those hundreds of thousands of children who lived through the war, wandered through ruined Europe, lost their parents and perhaps never saw them again. And it’s just the same now across the entire world wherever military conflict is going on. After reading the original novel 'The Painted Bird', we're shocked by the descriptions of violence and brutality. The conception of violence can be disturbing, but it's not one-dimensional, or even two-dimensional. Violence unveils and frames the essence of humanity. The book was seen as autobiographical, but then, Kosinski was accused of having invented most of the situations, of writing a work of fiction and imagining horrifying situations that he himself never experienced. Kosinski during his lifetime made a mistake when he said that it was his personal autobiography. But to understand why he did it, it's necessary to know his life, his spirit and his thoughts. Whether the book reflects his own experiences or not is completely irrelevant, because the essential element of a work of art is not it's biographical truth, but it's truthfulness. Even movies that make the valid claim 'based on a true story' are not reality. Without imagination, whether deliberate or not, art is impossible. At the end, every Creator arrives at some degree of aestheticization. It's not a literary fiction; the book simply relates the dreadful, deadening facts and the knowledge that all of this really happened, and will happen again. No artwork can deliver such raw reality, that's not it's purpose and it will always fail. But art is capable of treating these stories empathetically, and above all truthfully. A film, unlike a novel, is based not on words but on images and no adaption to film can match what been created in the imagination of the reader. The camera is absolutely uncompromising; it offers the viewpoint of the director and no one else. An adaptation can only be successful if the aesthetic concept of the film, the narrative style and the message of the story re-create for the viewer the emotional and intellectual impact the book would have on it's readers. The film resolutely avoids pathos, and eliminates well-worn clichés, exploitative melodrama and music that attempts to evoke artificial feelings. Absolute quiet can be as stark and more emotionally charged than any music. The 'Cinemascope' is a richly emotive format. No other format can capture, with such accuracy and force, both the beauty and the cruelty playing out on screen. The quality of the digital image still lags behind the tactile properties of the classical negative, most especially because the digital image loses it's rawness. Black-and-white captures the essential truthfulness and urgency of the images. The negative is more authentic, especially for something like “The Painted Bird”, which is in black and white precisely to reinforce the basic narrative line. Filming it in colour would have been a catastrophe. It would have looked entirely unconvincing, fake, commercial. The locality is describes only as a place somewhere in 'Eastern Europe', where a special dialect is spoken. The film is a mixture of all 'Slavic' languages, while 'German' and 'Russian' soldiers speak in their native tongues. The style of storytelling is not verbal, it’s cinematic. There's no interior monologue or explanatory narration. The tempo of the film is set by the pace of a flowing river, unpredictable and continually shifting in it's rhythms. This directorial approach forces the viewer to experience the events unfolding on screen, to essentially live both moments of great emotional tension and moments of resolution. We've to find the key to the door named 'Kosinski’s The Painted Bird'. The film fully awares the controversies surrounding both the authorship and the relationship between Kozinski’s novel and the plot of “The Painted Bird”. "The Painted Bird" wants the audience and the novel’s readers to come away with the same questions. Are psychologists right when they say we will turn towards evil if there's no danger of punishment? Is evil inevitable within a struggle for life itself? What circumstances allow us to betray our principles? The story asks us many unpleasant questions and to struggle, alone, for the answers. We're left in doubt about the purpose and fate of 'Homo Sapiens' as a species and these doubts hurt so much that we've to hang on to anything positive. It's not a war film, nor even a 'Holocaust' film. It's a story of the struggle between darkness and light, good and evil, true faith and organized religion and many other opposites. And this is precisely where the magic lies; only in darkness can we see light. Through confronting evil, we arrive at the unshakeable conviction that good and love must necessarily exist. At least, through the horror is hope.

Directed by the one and only Guillermo Del Toro, and starring Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Doug Jones, Richard Jenkins and Octavia Spencer. The Shape of Water is the story of a mute by the name of Eliza, who works as a janitor in a top secret facility in the 1960’s. Run by Strickland (Shannon), the government are harbouring something extraordinary that Eliza just happens to stumble across whilst cleaning in a certain area, when she realises what this creature is, she soon realises that love isn’t only a thing meant to be shared by two humans. Now this film sweeped up at the oscars, Taking best picture, best score, best production design and also best director. I was worried that this film would’ve been completely overhyped and disappointing to me. I’m so happy to say that I’ve completely eaten those words and this film is so so worthy of the Best Picture award. The Shape of Water is Del Toro’s best work in years. It’s an absolute spectacle to watch, every scene is just so scattered with little things here and there and all around the screen, and the deeper meaning behind the film is just gorgeous. I’ve never felt so emotionally connected to a mute and a monster, who also can’t talk. Acting wise, no surprises here that it’s acted superbly. Sally Hawkins is incredible, if it wasn’t for Francis McDormand, then I think Hawkins would’ve taken best actress, you feel every inch of emotion from her and she doesn’t speak a word throughout. You really feel her pain, or her happiness, or any emotion she’s feeling, and that’s just by facial expressions and hand gestures, and that just blew me away, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that done so well, Sally Hawkins take a bow, it’s an incredible performance. Michael Shannon was my personal standout though, he floored me as Strickland. He’s one of those proper All American, 1960s father figures who constantly needs to be in control, otherwise he gets all pissy and feels insecure in my opinion. Michael Shannon is always brilliant and always delivers, and this is no excuse, he’s fantastic in this, a truly villainous human who’ll stop at nothing to sabotage certain plans. The secondary characters are also really great, Richard Jenkins as Eliza’s friend and neighbour is also a real stand out, doing what he possibly can to help the one person in his life, you can see he loves her, not in the generic romantic way, but in a way that’s almost like family, a true friend, and you can tell he’d be lonelier than ever if he lost her. Octavia Spencer is also brilliant, but again, what isn’t she brilliant in at this point? If you can’t tell by now, I adored The Shape of Water, the pacing is perfect, every scene was fantastic, the meaning behind the film was emotional and I can see it hitting a few people emotionally harder than others. I don’t think this is a film for everyone, I don’t think all scenes are gonna mesh with everyone and I think some people are going to be confused with the visual imagery and possibly offended by certain scenes. But for me, this is a perfect, gorgeous and heartfelt film, and truly is a remarkable love story. I adore The Shape of Water.

There is a fundamental incompatibility. “Zoe” is not just a film about artificial intelligence and the influence it will have on our society. It also shows how artificially our society will be in the future. A world where feelings are reduced to figures and where pharmaceutical concoctions provide a short but intense expression of love. Both with disastrous results. Couples who are madly in love, without any major relationship problems, grow apart very quickly after hearing the final score of “The Machine”. A percentage that indicates how much chance there is that their relationship will succeed. Couples who are about to split up can take advantage of Benysol to experience those feelings of falling in love again. Which in turn leads to the trade of this product in an illegal circuit, as these feelings have an addictive effect. The film “Zoe” was fascinating, intriguing and touching at the same time. A film that kept me busy the days after I saw it. I don’t have that often. A.I. is sexy. “Zoe” is a mixture of “Her” and “Ex Machina“. “Her” was also about the love between a person and a non-human entity. Here it was a computer program that communicated sensually and seductively using the voice of Scarlett Johansson. Just because of the sexy voice I would fall in love with this artificially intelligent creature consisting of program lines. In addition to the development of a relationship test program and pharmaceutical love potions, Cole Ainsley (Ewan “Lo Imposible” McGregor), an engineer and expert in the field of A.I. who works at “Relationist”, managed to construct lifelike androids. Artificially intelligent beings that function autonomously. Just like Ava in “Ex Machina“. Only less futuristic and equipped with all elements such that there is no distinction between them and a human being. Cole himself is divorced and stares every night at his computer screen in search of a possible matching partner. I wonder if his loneliness and lack of female companionship cause his imagination to go in a certain direction, which then manifested itself in the design of these “synthetics”. Because his creations are equipped with a voluptuous bosom. Just like Zoe (Léa Seydoux). Falling in love can be hard sometimes. The film is pretty slow. There are many moments with a distant and preoccupied Zoe or Cole. Zoe tries to fathom her raison d’être and experiences a personality crisis, asking herself who she really is. Cole is caught in his emotions when it’s about Zoe. He’s intuitively attracted to her but his sense of reality about the person Zoe bothers him. Perhaps because of that, you feel there’s a certain kind of distance between these two individuals. An insurmountable obstacle with disastrous consequences for both. The result is a flee in self-pity for the one. And even doubting the meaning of existence for the other. But not only the romantic problems are central here. Also, the interaction of “Synthetics” with their immediate environment and other similar designs is being covered. And the associated well-known phenomenon of a piece of electronics developing a feeling of life and a consciousness is highlighted as well. Some brilliant acting. I thought the two protagonists played a sublime role as opposites. Perhaps some will say there that there was absolutely no chemistry between them. But wasn’t that the point? It shows how love sometimes has to overcome difficult obstacles. And how ultimate love will circumvent all obstacles. In that respect, their acting was perfect. But especially Léa Seydoux fascinates. The way her mood changes, is wonderful to see. One moment she looks like a teenager whose young life is filled with puppy love and therefore she flutters through the scenes. The next moment she’s hurt and looks like a hopelessly lost young woman, full of doubts who plunges into a chaotic love life. It was a pleasant surprise to see Theo James appear in this indie-SF. And to be honest, I found his character more interesting than the one he played in the “Divergent” story. And last but not least, you can also admire Christina Aguilera as a lifelike inflatable doll that entertains lonely fetishists. “Zoe” is an extraordinary film. Well, I really liked “Zoe“. It’s a beautiful film and a bit of a relief after a number of less successful films. But I’m guessing you figured that out already, after reading this long lyrical review. Even though I feared it would be a boring average movie at the beginning. The different story layers fascinated me and kept me riveted to my screen. It’s an extraordinary film pointing out that future relationships with artificial beings will be more complex than the human relationships as we experience them today. Sure enough, I could predict in advance how it would end and what a final picture we would get with Zoe in close-up. But, for once, that didn’t really bother me. My rating 7.5/10 Links: IMDB More reviews here