Review: Mind The Gap

When I first saw the title of this documentary, I thought I had already seen this.

But it seemed I was getting confused with this and the Oscar nominated 2018 film documentary Minding The Gap, which is about how three strangers create a bond through their live of skateboarding.

Instead, we see stories from certain individuals about the slow downfall of democracy and ever-widening gap in the class system in certain countries from the western world.

Helped by the topical nature of the feature, it was an interesting watch. It covers thoughts that many people have including myself about how democracy has been lost in translation and evolved more into populism. It was interesting seeing points of view from other countries and how even some of them have intertwined with other countries.

With the added expert analysis thrown in during each segment, it did add a bit of depth to the feature which kept me engaged. It certainly enlightened me on events that I remember being in the news and only knowing a small amount of the situations within those countries.

So from an educational perspective, it was quite rewarding. I also felt they put their point across well and some of the footage really helped with the interviews. But having that structure does limit its style and therefore made it more like a TV programme then something made for the cinema.

Rating: 7/10

Review: 2040

Documentaries about what we need to do to save the planet are certainly becoming more and more common. In 2020, we have already had ones from David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg.

Now, it's Australian actor and director Damon Gameau, who has created a movement of sorts in his native home to create a better way of living for the planet to heal. This has culminated to this informative and well made documentary that is essentially a letter to his young daughter on how the world could look like in 20 years time.

You become aware of the director's intentions early on. So already, you know their heart is in the right place. After that, it's nicely presented documentary of actions you should take to helping the planet and what has already been done. Especially in Australia and South East Asia. 

While some of the information it gives isn't anything new to most people, it's still pleasant enough viewing.

I feel the tone could have come across more as proactive rather than making us believe that everything is going to be o.k.

But even with that minor drawback, it's a nice enough watch and I think kids will get enjoy watching it and there's some animated visuals to accompany the feature. It also will give them a solid understanding of the state our planet is currently in.

Rating: 7/10

Review: One Day In The Life Of Noah Piugattuk

Cultures living in Arctic conditions such as the Inuit's has always fascinated me. From the way they live, to how they hunt for food and how important their traditions are to them.

So hearing that there was a film coming out that would be set in the Inuit area of Canada had me intrigued to check this out.

It was an unexpectedly strange watch. Despite this being a drama feature, it played out more like a documentary. With the long uninterrupted cuts and sense of realism, you could swear that you were watching unscripted real life happening in front of you.

So with it being a drama, we have therefore have actors instead of actual people. The style of acting was frustrating. It might have been due to the director intentionally having no script to work with and I guess the director felt this was the best way to get the best emotions out of the actors.

That somewhat worked thanks to the ending where some archive footage was used, which gave the story a nice emotional pay-off.

The ending certainly made me appreciate some aspects of the film that had already been covered, such as the toughness of communication between the two parties in this true moment in history.

So I think thanks to the ending, this did enough to get a pass from me. The narrative style is certainly not a winnable one for me. It was frustrating to watch as at times as the characters were going round in circles speaking the same conversation. But I came to eventually understand that that's what it probably was like for those two cultures clashing with language barriers and trying to come to sort of agreement.

It's definitely not for everyone. But if you're interested in true stories from this area of the world, it will be an intriguing watch.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Caveat

The beauty about seeing films at a festival is that there are plenty to check out that have no buzz or build-up whatsoever, and you make that discovery for yourself. Therefore, it is then your duty to generate that buzz.

I have felt that for the last few festivals I've been to. Now, this British horror from Irishman Damian McCarthy in is directorial debut may not be the complete package. But there is plenty in here that is worth spreading the word about.

The opening act is pretty chilling, tense and exciting with some inventively executed set-pieces. The way the ground work is laid put me on the edge. I was really liking the mood and production design of the bleak home that most of this film is set in. It would definitely compete with the best Horror house's out there. Plus, there is a prop that if it was in a mainstream horror, it would be produced and sold as an iconic bit of pop culture memorabilia.

But as the film went on, some kinks and missed opportunities were starting to show. The final act in particular was a bit disappointing, weak, unconvincing and lost all the suspense for me. It never had that worthwhile pay off and did bring my enjoyment down a few levels.

The acting was pretty good and each performance made their characters really interesting throughout. So props to Jonathan French, Leila Sykes and Ben Caplan especially.

So despite some disappointing problems with the narrative, there is definitely lots to like. Having some genuinely scary moments shows what a keen eye director Damian McCarthy has and contains great potential. With room for improvement, McCarthy could eventually mold himself into a top horror director.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Kubrick By Kubrick

I'm not sure what's left to be said about Stanley Kubrick as a director. His legacy has been going for over 60 years now and his dedicated fans continue to unravel his projects and looking for more and more theories into his symbolism style.

One thing that Kubrick was known for, was giving very few interviews. So knowing that this documentary was going to consist of a lot of unearthed chats with the man himself felt like a big selling point.

This was a nicely done documentary I felt. It was really interesting hearing Kubrick's thought, ideas and inspirations for each of his features. Mixing it in with interesting pictures of Kubrick as a child and behind the camera, footage from his films and some cool model shots that mixes in all of his back catalogue made it a much more fully fledged film.

Director Gregory Monro and his team have cut together something that is worth watching for Kubrick fans as it further enhances his legacy. I wouldn't recommend for people who yet to have seen a Kubrick film as brushes past the basic as it goes more in-depth. But when you've fully experienced him, this little icing on the cake will be waiting for you.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Andrey Tarkovsky. A Cinema Prayer

I can see why Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky is considered by many as one of the most influential directors in world cinema. But when watching his films, there were not many of his works that I was going nuts for.

Out of his 11 directed films, I have seen 7 of them and while I certainly appreciated the art and craft of all of them, only one stayed with me, and that was Ivan's Childhood.

So I was hoping this documentary might inspire me to check them out again.

With it being directed by his son Andrey, this documentary gives you a great insight into Tarkovsky's life, his childhood, what inspired him with his ideas and how he sees his work amongst other things.

It was great to see how his work evolved with each different project and hearing his thoughts in rare interviews of what he sees art as.

So while I did enjoy watching it as it certainly gave me a great detailed look into how Tarkovsky's thought and lived, I cannot see my views changing of his work. His style of story-telling just doesn't seem to fully work with me. But seeing this well made documentary made me appreciate his contribution to cinema a lot more.

If you're not interested in seeing any Tarkovsky film or don't feel inspired to watch them, then this documentary is great way of at least experiencing the man and giving newcomers to his work a great indicator if his style will suit your taste.

Rating: 7/10

Review: The Arctic Camels

A documentary about two camels living in the Arctic circle should prick the ears of anyone interested in unusual stories.

But this story directed by Karl Emil Rikardsen went down places I was not expecting.

It starts off in a pleasing way. We get introduced to the people, the beautiful Norwegian landscape and the surreal imagery of seeing two camels so far north that they are in the Arctic circle.

But once we get to see the characters intentions for these camels, it explores more subjects that have been a part of human life for thousands of years. Don't worry, there's nothing brutal or tragic despite the previous sentence possibly coming across that way. But there is certainly one scene that could unsettle people depending on their beliefs.

I was seeing a lot of similarities to The Eagle Huntress. The importance of tradition, imagery consisting of vast landscapes and that relationship between man and beast.

I thought this was very pleasant viewing. The people and animals are likable, the imagery is beautiful, seeing different cultures on how they life was really interesting to see and the narrative is solid.

Rating: 7/10

Review: The Trouble With Nature

This was a tricky one to introduce as I'm still trying to work it out.

The film doesn't give much backstory and instead we are dumped straight into a moment that defined an Irish philosopher's life.

The look of the Alps and European wooded areas certainly made it watchable. But a story about a philosopher going out into the field to embrace his own concept, and his having a hard to accept it made it interesting. However, I wasn't sure why.

The ego and ambitions of the lead that was well played by Anthony Langdon gave a nice insight into the thinking of upper-class politicians of that time period. Seeing him attempting to cope with the environment and the culture made it engaging and that nice 'fish out of water' feel of it. But there was still that air of strangeness that I couldn't quite grasp.

The support of Nathalia Acevedo was nice to see as it seemed she was the person that Langdon's character wanted to to be.

All in all, there were enough interesting aspects to this story that saw me give it a pass. I can see me getting into this more and more on multiple viewings. So it will be interesting to see how this film ages.
There is an interesting story in here, the general look is great and the films biggest selling point and the two performances were nicely done.

This is definitely not a film for everyone. But if you give it time and patience, there's something in here to be engaged with.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Relic

Indie horrors are certainly becoming more and more regular on a release schedule, and I'm always up for these types of horrors.

I don't often go nuts for them. But I always appreciate them for being more about the story and the scares being more chilling and disturbing instead of sudden loud noises and make us jump out of our seats.

This Australian release from director Natalie Erika James was a bit of a mixed bag for me. While I got everything it was trying to say, and appreciate some of the clever visual messages. I just didn't feel anything for it.

It's a bit of a slow-burner and it's certainly not your usual horror. It's closer to an emotional drama with dark elements. But I think what made it work in the second half is that it's much more profound and metaphorical than most horrors.

The first half was perfectly fine. The story seemed to be something I had seen before with a few strange moments to make me think. But it was only when certain events took place towards the end of the second act was when I was beginning to find it interesting.

A few set pieces later including a very poignant finale, and I managed to find a lot more substance then I initially expected. The ending will definitely divide the audience. Some will find it ridiculous. But others like myself will find it as a nice way to close off the story.

The performances were pretty good I thought. There's basically just three characters all the way through, they are all developed well and carried the emotional weight of the film. Emily Mortimer utilised her experience, Bella Heathcote continues to showcase her talent and Robyn Nevin was a nice stand out.

It does have similarities to The Babadook or Hereditary where it uses real life situations and manifests them into some sort of horror. You could also compare the style and production design with the aforementioned films. But Relic for me felt comfortably inferior.

I understood the themes it was covering such as loss, both in the forms of grief and alzheimer's. But it never had that strong engagement that similar have done in the recent past.

I can definitely appreciate this feature. It's a promising directorial debut for Natalie Erika James. But I cannot see myself watching this again. There is definitely an audience for this. But others will find it slow and boring. I think it would appeal to fans of David Cronenberg or maybe Ari Aster.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Two Of Us

I have always been very polarising when it comes to watching French films, and it's usually because of the style for me.

It walks a fine line of being quirky enough to make it appealing to a wider audience. But it could just fall into that realm of being too French for its own good, which makes it far too niche for my personal taste.

I was surprised to see how perfectly functional this latest French release was in every aspect.

This film shows how powerful love can be, no matter at what age. What makes the film very watchable and engaging is the two leading performances by Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevalier. They both showed great authenticity in their roles and reacted to relatable situations that I am sure many audience members can relate to.

The story is told to a perfectly satisfactory standard. It moves along at a pleasing pace. The story is told with great affection and tenderness throughout and is shot really well.

There was nothing noticeably bad about the film. But there was not that much that stood out that could make it a must-see. But for a directorial feature debut, this is a pretty strong debut for Filippo Meneghetti.

The film gives you a great insight into a life that doesn't get mentioned enough in any form of media, and that should be the films biggest selling point.

Rating: 7/10

Review: The Sun

The film industry in Iran is becoming more and more noticeable over the last few years. The number of talented film-makers and actors coming from this part of the world shows a bright future for world cinema.

For director Majid Majidi, he has already shown a lot of promise with his back catalogue. As for this latest project, this one uses Iran's tough child labour as a backdrop to a moving drama.

The start sucks you into the story quite well and gives us many memorable character introductions and while the locations is within a third world environment, the brilliant cinematography gives it enough beauty to help enhance the visual story-telling side of the feature.

I was noticing a lot more emotional depth in every aspect as the film went on. The supporting cast are given a lot of nice development that help us discover some other topics the film is trying to cover. The story also covers education as well as Iran and Afghanistan relations, which I felt was executed rather well.

In the final act, we see the film pretty much turn into a tragedy and while the climax did make me feel very sad, it also felt very satisfying. It showed the films message come to an emotional high and it was a clever way of portraying the exploitative nature of child labour within Iran.

It's amazing to think most of the cast were recruited from the streets of Iran. There is so much talent to witness on screen throughout its duration. Rouhollah Zamani shows wonderful emotion as the leading character and authentic childlike sympathy that makes him instantly engaging. I hope this isn't just a one-off feature for him. I also have to give props for the other notable child actors Mani Ghafouri, Seyed Mohammad Mehdi Mousavi Fard, Abolfazi Shirzad and Sharmila Shirzad who showed wonderful maturity in her character.

What I liked about it the most is the many ways you can interpret this story. A long with the aforementioned themes, the way it is shot and edited also makes it feel like a heist or prison-break film. All of this I feel gives it strong rewatchability and make it appealing to a much larger then I would have expected.

I cannot quite get the film to a level of calling it a great film. I'm not quite sure what it lacked to prevent that. But I can safely say that I really liked the film's energy, charm, sincerity and how watchable it was. It never felt afraid to tackle the issues it was raising and so you could feel the confidence in the film-making.

Don't be afraid to check this one out when it becomes available. You'll be surprised how rewarding it is.

Rating: 7/10
 

Review: Monster

A couple of firsts with this particular viewing. This was the first film that I can recall seeing in the traditional Irish language.

Not only that, but this also told the story of a piece of Irish history which I did not know about.

Seeing a film like this in the Irish language just further showed the passion put into this project. Director Tom Sullivan has given a clear message on what he was looking for in this project.

After now experiencing it, I felt it was pretty satisfying viewing. The first act opens up the story nicely. There is some nice character development, the Irish coastal landscape gets your attention from the first minute and there is a pretty tense sequence that puts the rest of the film into motion.

The rest of the film could lose some people purely on its pacing. Almost the rest of the film is all about visual story-telling and effective atmosphere. I will agree it may come across as slow and plodding for some demographics. But for others including myself, I thought that the cinematography and score made it quite atmospheric to keep my investment.

It does end with some thrills, which was nicely done. But a part of me also made me feel it was out of the place in relation to the tone.

The performances by the entirely Irish cast were all pretty good. Donall O'Healai as a lead did a great job of carrying the film. With many moments of the story being told through his face, he added a lot of weight to the film in impressive fashion. Plus, there is a noticeable body transformation by O'Healai that almost went to levels of Christian Bale from The Machinist. I do really hope to see him bigger projects as he deserves to be noticed by a mainstream audience.

Dara Devaney gave real menace in his character and him one of the most memorable aspects of the film. I must finally mention Michael McElhatton, who people will know through Game Of Thrones made the most of his short screen-time.

So all in all, I would say it was a pretty good. I really liked the truth aspect of the story, the look of it, the moody atmosphere it gives off, the Irish locations are beautifully shot and become a character in itself and the performances are all good.

It's just under 90mins and it shows in some of the lack of development with the supporting cast. So I think a bit of depth to the characters could have been this film great instead of good.

But one things for sure, the country of Ireland should be proud of this feature in many ways.

Rating: 7/10