You may never eat fried chicken again after watching William Friedkin’s opening film of the 2012 Edinburgh International Film Festival. The tone of the film is set straight away as we open on a disgusting looking trailer park in the pouring rain, a desperate and angry man hammers on a trailer to eventually be met by Gina Gershon naked from the waist down. This is a darkly funny film that can be shocking in parts, sad in others and everything feels dirty. Starring a strong ensemble cast with Matthew McConaughey at the centre in a creepy and sometimes scary performance. McConaughey is better than he has ever been as Joe with the rest of the cast also putting in stellar performances; Juno Temple plays the perfect balance of unstable and innocent, Thomas Haden Church and Emile Hirsch are a brilliant double act as dense father and son and Gina Gershon plays a wicked step mother. The plot of the film is a sort of bleak fairy tale about a hateful family trying to solve their money issues. Chris (Hirsch) needs money fast and so goes to his father with a plan to murder Chris’s mother and collect her insurance money. This is where Joe comes in; being a cop who kills people on the side. The one catch is that Joe wants his money up front or a retainer and unfortunately Chris’s sister Dottie (Temple) is Joe’s desired retainer. This film is worth watching for the acting alone, but see Killer Joe for trashy fun, a grotesque family drama that is extremely difficult to watch in parts but trashy fun none the less. Just
I like cats, let’s get that out the way right at the start here. Rent-A-Cat does not disappoint on the cat quota, if cats are your thing then this film is for you. However this film is more than just a feature length viral cat video. Sayoko (Mikako Ichikawa) is the wonderfully quirky lead of the
piece who strongly believes in the power of cats to fill the holes in people’s hearts and by the end of the film so will you. The film is split into four episodes, each focusing on a different lonely person but the overarching story belongs to Sayoko and her search for companionship.
Cats may be everywhere in this film but loneliness is the main theme. An old lady, a business man and an employee at a car rental company all turn to Sayoko and her odd cat rental cart for help. Unfortunately all the cats in the world don’t seem to be able to cure Sayoko’s own loneliness. Sayoko’s is brilliantly played by Ichikawa, instantly likeable and charming the audience connect with her at once.
Unfortunately there are a number of problems with the film that let it down. Though I was charmed from an early point, the episodic structure and deliberate repetition throughout the film began to drag. The film repeats dialogue, metaphors and even structure in each episode of the film, it’s an interesting idea it just didn’t work to great effect other than to make the film feel longer than it actually was. The film has a run time of only 110 minutes yet it feels much longer.
The main character is engaging, it looks great and there are cats everywhere. This film has the potential to be great but unfortunately the structure lets it down.
Nanucation is a series of documentary podcasts which take a closer look at the music you love. This week, Emma Segal presents a probing look at the genre known to some as Chillwave.
an earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit Japan’s east coast. It was the most powerful earthquake to hit Japan since records began and had a devastating effect on the whole country. The tsunami hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant causing a number of nuclear accidents including nuclear meltdowns and the release of nuclear material into the atmosphere. It was the biggest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in the 1980s. This year at the Edinburgh International Film Festival there have been three separate films about the disaster and its aftermath.
The earthquake and tsunami devastated the landscape, we have all seen the images of destruction; boats where houses should be, waste land instead of towns and nuclear power stations crumpled. These images are yet again on show here in the documentaries Nuclear Nation and No Man’s Zone. The difference between the two documentaries is how these images are used. Nuclear Nation focuses on Futaba, one of the affected towns, whose residents can no longer go home and are relocated to a Tokyo suburb to live in an abandoned school due to the radiation. No Man’s Zone follows a documentary crew as they visit the area and shows us the extent of the destruction, ghost towns and towns soon to be demolished.
The success or failure of these documentaries relied not on what images of destruction they showed but on the effect this destruction had on the people of this area. It is Nuclear Nation that triumphs here, by focusing on the town of Futaba and its survivors this film has a real human heart to it. The mayor of Futaba stands out as a man trying to keep his people together, slowly coming to realise that he may never be able to take them home. His anger and frustration at the situation are clear as he reminisces about the town and curses the nuclear power plant for ever being built. The government and the nuclear company promised so much for a small town, subsidy money and well-paid jobs that ultimately mean nothing now that the place is uninhabitable. As numerous interviewees point out if it were just an earthquake and tsunami they could be back in Futaba now rebuilding, it’s the existence of the nuclear plant that stops them from going home.
At its best No Man’s Zone also shows the human side to this disaster with a smattering of interviews from survivors. Unfortunately the interviews are few and far between and instead we focus on the long shots of the new landscape making the film seem baron. This baron feeling is deliberate; it mirrors the baron nature of the wasteland that now exists where there were once towns and farms. The director, Toshi Fujiwara, has said that he was attempting to create a ghost film without it being a horror movie. This is achieved but by dehumanising the situation to such an extent No Man’s Zone lacks the emotional drive that is required. On top of this the narrator sounds cold and monotonous, I believe this is to show the seriousness of the disaster, not that the viewer isn’t already aware of this, but it just adds to the overall effect of dullness. This should be a documentary about people and all that they have lost; family and friends, their homes and their livelihoods. Instead it is about long sweeping shots of destruction and empty towns and countryside, which just isn’t enough.
same situation it is Nuclear Nation that stands out as the better film. Audiences will connect more with the characters of this film rather than the empty shots of No Man’s Zone.
Nanucation is a series of documentary podcasts which take a closer look at the music you love. This week, Simon Vansintjan presents an episode devoted to Athens, Georgia.
Hur kan du inte dubbla modet bra sko att bära stövlar? KRAGSTÖVEL av höga, långa ben alltför krävande, välj sedan och ankelboots som ett måste objekt det. Oavsett om det är platt, högklackade, kan du matcha upp den effekt du vill. Men också uppmärksamma, och höjden på boots råfett kalv lätt märk visuellt, men också för att undvika minfält när du väljer stil, ta en titt på den unga flickan guld hår och ankelboots med skicklighet bar.
Om du och boots är i det långa avsnittet. Sedan kan du välja med en kjol eller klänning bara att överskuggas skinkor, vilket kan förlänga kroppens proportioner, inte ovanstående regel gäller inte när du bär byxor.
Om rundade tå och kängor, tjocka ben ser kortare, om du inte är född med hög vrist fot bred, så försök inte att runda, välj spets- och boots. Tips design, gör benet linje som sträcker sig i längdriktningen för att bygga lång, smal kroppsform från det visuella! Speciellt naken färg pekade högklackade kängor, är helt enkelt en artefakt av gatan skytte, perfekt sträckningsförhållande, och ben färgblandning, som sträcker sig nedåt ben anmärkningsvärt temperament bröllopsklänningar online http://www.brollopsklanningaronline.com/svenska-mode-klassiska-brollopsklanningar-online-pa.html http://blog.balikulitular.com/?p=50
Everybody loves the Muppets, probably. From a very young age Sesame Street teaches you about the alphabet, shapes and counting. This is unknowingly your first induction
into the world of Muppets. The Muppets Show with its mix of humour and sentimentality breathes life into the otherwise stagnant variety show format. Then the various Muppet movies remove these characters from the traditional show and enter them into a variety of roles (I am particularly fond of this aspect – A Muppets Christmas Carol being the first film I ever saw in a cinema). There is something about these puppets that has a lasting appeal, with this year seeing the release of the film ‘The Muppets’ and the recent popularity of the Muppets youtube channel (go check it out if you haven’t already) they don’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. So why do we still love the Muppets? I think I have come up with the answer: Muppets ride bikes.
Bear with me and watch this:
See, wasn’t that amazing? Yes, yes it was. It is a simple little clip that illustrates how the Muppets induce suspension of disbelief. For the few seconds that Kermit rides his bike in The Muppet Movie (1979) he is no longer a puppet he is an actor. Sure you can see the strings in The Muppet Show, the Swedish Chef has actual human hands and a lot of the Muppets only ever appear from behind well placed walls but the Muppets are, more than any other fictional characters, part of our world. It is simple acts like interacting with real people (Elmo testified to US Congress, yes that actually happened), playing musical instruments and most importantly riding bikes that make Kermit and co real. Another distinctly Muppet trait is that throughout appearances there doesn’t seem to be much continuity. On the show it’s friends and co workers, investigative reporters in The Great Muppet Caper and college graduates trying to make it big in The
Muppets Take Manhattan. This lack of continuity allows the Muppets to be actors in various movies and television shows rather than the fictional characters they are.
Another aspect of the films is the complete ineptitude of the Muppet actors when it comes to staying in character. Kermit will regularly break the fourth wall for an apt aside or glance which completely draws the viewer into his world. We are in short watching the movies along with them, somehow by twisting their hand towards the camera the puppeteer turn these puppets into people we can relate to allowing us to disregard cynicism and bathe in the absurd.
These last few weeks I have been soaking up any and all Muppets material I could get my hands on to understand what to expect from the new Muppet film. The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper and The Muppets Take Manhattan are the first three Muppet films and arguably the best indication of what to expect. All three are comedy musicals that star Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo and Miss Piggy aptly supported by a strong cast. So this time round Bret Mckenzie (Flight of The Conchords) takes on the music and the story involves the Muppets reuniting to save Muppet Theatre. Cameos are also a Muppet tradition, and already we are told that the likes of Lady Gaga, Mila Clunas and Billy Crystal are set to cameo. Starring Jason Segal (How I met your Mother, Forgetting Sarah Marshal) who also writes and co-directs the film I am hoping this new film is in pretty safe hands.
Enough gushing over the Muppets from me, I hope you are as excited for the new Muppets film as I am, to help get you into the mood here are my top five Muppet Moments:
Nanucation is a series of documentary podcasts which take a closer look at the music you love. In this first podcast, Emma Segal presents an episode devoted to New York and Andy Warhol”s Factory.
