Showing posts with label film festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label film festival. Show all posts

17 May 2015

Dead by Dawn 2015 Review - Ava's Possessions (2015)

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Genre:
Horror, Sci-fi, Thriller
Distributor: TBC
Screened:
2015 Dead By Dawn (UK)
Release Date: TBC
Rating: 15
Director:
Jordan Galland
Cast:
Carol Kane, Dan Fogler, Jemima Kirke, Lou Taylor Pucci


The exorcism sub-genre has successfully stood its ground time and time again in every mode of the horror genre, so it’s a tough place to make your voice heard. Even then, Jordan Galland’s Ava’s Possessions is an absolute treat, not least because there seems to be a lack of post-exorcism films. Ava (Louisa Krause) is a young and beautiful girl who’s just been exorcised after a month of demon-fuelled mayhem. Agreeing to sign on with a support group for other people like her, Ava sets about atoning for her digressions, coming to terms with her benign other half, and unravelling the mystery of what happened to her.

Once the film starts, Galland quickly gets us on board, mixing his demonic PTS with staunch referencing, vibrant colouring, and a wicked sense of humour. The result is a Day-Glo package of horror goodies that might be camp as Christmas, but still has the balls to bite. Krause makes a splendid lead keeping a tight rein on Ava’s fluctuating personality and dark dark turns. Imagine Linda Blair going full-Cage for a demonic Bad Lieutenant and you’re getting closer to Ava’s Possessions. It’s a truly remarkable experiment in horror.

As with any experiment in horror, there might not be enough spooks and shade to keep genre-racists at bay, Ava’s Possessions is its own beast and doesn’t take kindly to shoehorning. Galland is an obvious fan of horror films, but he has no interest in recreating the gloomy nihilism of classic possession stories. Instead he exploits every facet of his script visually to ensure it’s a magnificent spectacle for any audience: a piece of possession pop art dripping with colour and an awareness of what its audience has seen and wants to see.

Like any great story, the film starts with the pieces scattered and shattered, confusingly, ominously out of reach. Like 13 Sins last year, Dead by Dawn 2015 has its twisting adventure: a moral sink-hole where characters and audience swirl until liberated by the crushing tide of familial secrets and spiritual danger. But the facts of the plot aren’t the only nostalgic endeavours. A fantastic, varied, and magnetic cast of genre regulars, and outright watchables, (William Saddler and Deborah Rush) pins Ava to the board of credibility in a rabid attempt at ensuring our engagement.

Whether or not Galland is a horror fan is totally irrelevant since the genre will only survive in the hands of people who have the audacity to change it, rather than releasing films that, though void of originals, are still really just remakes. Ava’s Possessions is a fresh-faced triumph and one of the most vibrant genre experiences you’ll have this year.

★★★★
Scott Clark



Ava's Possessions (2015) Official Teaser Trailer from Jordan Galland on Vimeo.

6 March 2015

GFF2015 Review - Tales Of The Grim Sleeper (2015)

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Genre:
Documentary
Distributor:
Shear Entertainment
Rating: 15
Screened:
Glasgow Film Festival
Director:
Nick Bromfield
Cast:
Pam Brooks


In 2010 Lonnie Franklin Jr was arrested for the crimes of the so-called ‘Grim Sleeper’, a serial killer active in downtown LA since the early 80’s. His capture came after 25 years of botched investigations and public outcry, his moniker awarded due to the Sleeper’s apparent habit of killing only once every few years. The moniker, like the investigation, is a fallacy and Franklin Jr is now thought to be responsible for well over a hundred disappearances. Nick Broomfield reveals the truth behind the case in his latest documentary Tales of the Grim Sleeper

Broomfield continues to be one of the legends of contemporary documentary filmmaking because he is continually content to throw himself into subject matter that most would find uncomfortable. But he seems so at ease yet never laid back, so sharp in his questioning but never confrontational. His monotonous tones slide their way around fields of venture alien to the vast majority. His work with serial killer Aileen Wuornos picks out the blatant sexism of American justice, but also the total disregard shown for sex workers. Its in Tales of the Grim Sleeper that Broomfield has perhaps provided the best canvas for issues of sexism, race, and class. His is, more than ever, a supporting voice in the plight of those shoehorned into the fringes of society.

At the very least, there is an attempt to highlight sex work as a site of gross cultural apathy, for Broomfield finds himself at the heart of a story as-of-yet shockingly untold. The police have, for years, danced around the concrete facts of the case (A, that there was a serial killer, and B that the public needed to know) so Tales of the Grim Sleeper appears to be the first full account of what has happened. Frankly it’s disturbing, but not surprising, that the white-run LAPD have never given as varied, in-depth, and honest an account as this. Broomfield minimises issues around his own role, as white alien, by minimising the white voices in the film and letting the story play out courtesy of those who have lived it. An unflinching respect for the black community of LA paired with an unspoken disregard for the bureaucracy that permitted a 25 year reign of terror make this an acidic and astute piece of filmmaking.

Between the blatant racism of American police and the homogenized sexism of one of LA’s poorest areas, Broomfield’s latest looks at the perfect storm which enabled the Grim Sleeper to kill unchallenged for a quarter century. Terrifying arresting viewing.

★★★★
Scott Clark


GFF 2015 - Man From Reno (2014)

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Genre:
Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Screened:
Glagow Film Festival
Rating: 15
Director:
Dave Boyle
Cast:
Ayako Fujitani, Pepe Serna, Kazuki Kitamura,

One night, after hitting an unidentified Japanese man with his car, Sherriff Del Moral (Pepe Serna) stumbles on a mysterious case that leads him to San Francisco. There, author Aki Akahori (Ayako Fujitani) has fled Tokyo and after enjoying a brief fling with a mysterious stranger, is thrust into the very same case. Dave Boyle’s Man from Reno keeps threatening to be a dark (at least consistently serious) film pulling on film noir inspirations and pulp paperback detective stories, but it never quite gets there.

The humour is off, sometimes far too dry, others far too silly, considering the story, but then, there’s another issue. The story, in attempts to achieve the kind of ludicrous twisting narrative of the noir thriller, loses itself too many times. It delves in deeper and deeper but doesn’t manage to drag us with any great zeal. Though, one of the most interesting things about Man from Reno is its array of zany multinational characters who, though sometimes jarring, are often enjoyable. Unfortunately its array of strange characters are left in a pile somewhere out of sight, its story hopelessly convoluted and confused by too many characters and not enough intrigue. There is some success in Kazuki Kitamura’s portrayal of a handsome stranger and Serna’s wily old cop, but even when those two characters eventually meet, it’s unfortunately underwhelming.

The humour along with the mix of genre templates is surprisingly uninvolving. The darker streaks work best when married with a significant amount of mystery, but the humour inevitably sinks the boat. Del Moral’s investigation really pulls you in, but is thrown overboard by a middling and distracted story of author melodrama. This is a mixed pot that’s trying far too hard to achieve a type of story usually marked by shameless nonchalance.

Moments of gorgeous noir cinematography are few and far between in the glorified melodrama of Man from Reno. Viewers will be split by which side of the plot they enjoy more, but as a whole this isnt quite there.

★★★
Scott Clark