Review: Oh Lucy!

With this film doings its rounds across several film festivals in 2017 and not looking like there will be any general release until next year, I was fortunate enough to check this out before the end of the year at the Leeds International Film Festival.

I knew very little about this going into this screening. But what I did know, was that this was a feature directorial debut for Atsuko Hirayanagi. Also, following in the footsteps of Damien Chazelle, this story was original a short.

It starts out as a strange quirky comedy and I was fearing the gags would not suit well to a Western audience. But the more I absorbed it and gave it a chance, the more endearing the story and the characters were getting.
Then the second half, becomes a fun and surprisingly emotional road-movie that gave this film some depth and enhanced all the performances to a much greater level.

Props to the cast for their work as not only were they great performances, but I felt they all transitioned well when the tone shifted. Shinobu Terajima is brilliant in this. It is a proper fully-fledged character that goes quite a journey. You feel sympathy for her, you laugh with her and even root for her at times, despite some of her decision might sit well in the real world.
Kaho Minami and Koji Yakusho were top supports and had strong noticeable chemistry with Terajima. It was to see a familiar face in the form of Josh Hartnett. I felt he gave the film a nice Western edge to it and I think it helped made the film a bit more accessible as the story moved along.

There isn't much else outside of the story and characters that is worth mentioning. However, it was shot really well, especially in the many evening scenes.

As for the negatives, the story does make sudden and dramatic tangents that felt unexpected and almost out of place. It was like it was trying to expand its themes. But it didn't quite work for me. Those moments do make a bit more sense towards the end. But not completely, and therefore effected my overall views.

So while the story felt a bit strange at first, if you give it a chance, this ends up being a really charming comedy drama with top performances from many well developed characters.

Shinobu Terajima is great throughout and carries the film so well, especially in the second half. Kaho Minami, Josh Hartnett and Koji Yakusho are top supports that made it a surprisingly enjoyable experience.

Some of the comedic moments might not transcend well in general audiences. But I think the charm of the story should win people over enough and become a little gem.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Big Fish & Begonia

While China is slowly becoming the next big market in the film industry regarding box office sales, they are still developing when it comes to making films. Particularly in the animation genre.

Well now, here is my first experience of watching a Chinese animation. Technically, Kung Fu Panda 3 is a Chinese co-production with America. But this particular new release in 100% pure Chinese.

I was going into this pretty cold. All I knew is that it did pretty well in China last year and it has been doing the rounds at various film festivals this year. Now that I've seen it, may I be the first say that China could now be the next player in the animation industry.

My first thoughts whilst watching it was the animation looked very similar to Studio Ghibli. Even the story was starting to fit into what you might expect to come from the highly successful Japanese animation studio. It particularly resembled Spirited Away, one of the very few films that I gave a 10/10 rating.
Thankfully, it did not come off as a re-hash as the pacing of the story felt far off from Studio Ghibli's much gentler speed.
The story was doing enough to make it feel like its own thing. The emotions of the story was executed well and by the end of it, I was pretty satisfied with what they did.

Easily its biggest positive is the animation, both on a design and imagination perspective. It's strong in its detail and has a wonderful use of colour that is pleasing to the eye. That aspect was also helped by its level of world-building. It's vast in its imagination and I felt the over-exposition felt necessary enough to at least introduce us to this world.
Another positive was the characters. They were easy to root for and their design of them looked great both in its detail and its design.

I did have some minor problems with it. The pacing was a bit jumpy at times that for me ruined the flow of the story. I had also small gripes with the main story. There were two romances going on that had me feeling conflicted in which one I'm supporting to care for as the main one.
Also the ending seemed to take forever to get sorted. They lingered on for far too long on certain moments that could have been executed much swifter and that would have kept emotion of the final act moving along at the right pace.

I could be cruel and say this is trying to be too much like a Hayao Miyazaki. But how can that be a bad thing? Also, it has plenty of traditional Chinese imagery that it does enough to make its own product. As well as comparisons to Spirited Away, I also saw a bit of The Little Mermaid and The Last Airbender in this as well.

In the end, I really liked this. I felt it to be moving, inspiring and wonderful in its imagery.
The level of imagination and variety of character designs are as strong as Studio Ghibli's best fantasy features. However, the characters, strength of the story and general pacing was not as high quality. However, the whole experience was highly enjoyable and I was impressed with what came out of this.
If you like Studio Ghibli and similar films, then definitely check this one out. It might need some improvement on the pacing and story-telling. But seeing this shows that China could give us some of the best animations for the next decade.

Rating: 8/10

Review: The Breadwinner

With this film coming from the same company that produced the strangely brilliant 'A Town Called Panic' and the sweet and lovely 'Song Of The Sea', I had fairly high expectations of this.

While it is certainly different in its tone then the other two, the level of enjoyment and strength in its story is still the same. It covers quite a serious subject and yet makes it work as suitable family viewing. It also manages to be educational at the same time. So I can see this type of film being shown in school in the future.

Whilst absorbing the gorgeous animation, the heart-wrenching story is executed so beautifully and makes it effortless with its gentle pacing.
They introduce you to the Afghan landscape really well and the simple understanding how the country lives. It also incorporates native traditions in the animation which was great to see.
There are fantasy moments in a side-story that accompanies the main story which has really nice comedic value that added extra strength in my investment to the central plot. It also reminded me a lot of Kubo And The Two Strings.

There are so many great characters that you can easily root for and wonderfully gutsy protagonist. I also noticed all the voice actors seemed to be all from the films native setting of Afghanistan or at least have roots there.

So while I think the fantasy part looked to be director Nora Twomey strongest suit, the main part of the film is still a very moving and dramatic story that shows life in that part of the world so well that it manages to suitable for family viewing.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Lu Over The Wall

I am always slightly nervous as to what I'm getting myself in for with any Japanese animation that isn't Studio Ghibli.

The style of story-telling in most Japanese would feel so bizarre to a generic Western audience.

But like with anything, if you watch enough, you can gradually be accustomed to their style and fall in love with it. I have had that when discovering Studio Ghibli and have now seen all of their feature films. I have also discovered other major Japanese animations such as Ghost In The Shell, Akira, Paprika, Perfect Blue, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and most recently Your Name.

I have loved almost all of the ones I have mentioned and now I am delving into more and more new releases from this wonderful film-making country.

First and foremost, this particular feature is completely bonkers in both its presentation and pacing. There is dazzling bright colours in its animation that was like watching a living rainbow dance. It moves along at such a speed at times that they quickly covered certain parts of the story in a split second and it takes you a while to understand what just happened.
Even with the film going like a freight train, I thought it was thorough in its detail and sweet and funny in its tone. It explains the history rather well and gives the film great depth and made me further enjoy this world the director has dropped us into.

The story felt like a mix of Ponyo, E.T., Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and even The BFG and My Neighbor Totoro in small doses.

As mentioned, it's pacing is hard to keep up with especially in the final act. It seems to be cramming so much in and wrapping up everything little sub-plot that it loses its heart and soul and prevents me from calling this great.

Despite the craziness, I still managed to enjoy it. I liked the story and the history they gave it. You can see the heart and passion they've put into a sweet and funny story with such striking animation.
There are some cheesy moments. But the way it was delivered still maintains that high level of fun and enjoyment.

It is always a refreshing change to see something like this and I continue to be amazed at the variety of stories and mad animation films that the far East are conjuring up.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Thelma

I don't know enough about Joachim Trier. However, I have enjoyed what I have seen of his work so far. My first experience was Louder Than Bombs which covered very topical subject matters, executed them pretty well and got great performances out of his strong cast.

The other was 'Oslo, August 31st’ which was very good simple and grounded story with some great performances that made it a heart-breaking viewing experience.

With Thelma, it looked like another project that was completely different to the rest. One thing I was enjoying straight away was the concept. It is the type of story that I can definitely get on board with. After that acknowledgement, I was intrigued as to how they would explore this idea. There was some cool imagery with some occasional religious metaphors taking place that I enjoyed seeing.
But as we got towards the end, I could see that there were not going to be much more opportunities left to go an more intriguing path, and before you knew, it was over.

As soon as I understood the concept, I was immediately calling it 'Carrie: The College Years' and its very similar to the 1976 supernatural horror. I saw comparisons to other films like 'Raw' in regards to the coming of age aspects and 'The Neon Demon'.

Most of the performances were fine but not exceptional except for Eili Harboe who plays the central character. Her performance alone I feel is worth the admission. I thought she committed to her character really well, especially from the physical side of her performance. The young Norwegian actor certainly carried the film and made me believe in the concept.

As mentioned before, while it had an interesting concept, for me I felt was never fully explored. They only seemed to scratch the surface. Plus, the weak ending gave me of a disappointing feeling when leaving the screening. I thought the final act was treading over old ground that was covered earlier in the film.

They never seemed to take much risk except in a few scenes including one brutal scene towards the end. But I think the ideas alone makes it enjoyable enough.  I also liked the mysterious score. It worked really well throughout and enhanced the mystery surrounding the story. However, the missed opportunities prevented this from being highly memorable.

A word of warning, this does contain pretty frenetic flashing images that may effect you if you have in the past.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Happy End

While I know there is an audience for Michael Haneke's films, I wouldn't call myself one of them.

I have seen a few of his works in the past such as Benny's Video, Hidden and Amour. But most of the time I can never get into them. I do appreciate the craft of them, but apart from the latter thanks to their strong performances, I just can't give his films the same praise as the critics do.

I'm afraid this is more of the same. It does have a lot of the usual tropes that Haneke has. One that bugs me the most is the lingering shots that to me feel pretty meaningless.
It starts off with some interesting uses of modern technology. It dips into that every so often and does touch on some interesting subjects. But I think the main story at first did not feel that engaging.
It does get better and more intriguing in the second half. Towards the end, I was at peak interest and just when it was bringing me in, the credits rolled unexpectedly. It almost felt as if I was watching a cut of the film that hadn't finished the ending yet.

There were some good performances to speak of. The one I felt the most engaging was 12-year old Fantine Harduin. Her characters story-arch was by far the most interesting and her performance was a big help in making her the most gripping part of the story.
Jean-Louis Trintignant had his moments and great some nice chemistry with Harduin in the few scenes they had together.
It was great to see Isabelle Huppert as she is a terrific actor. While she did not feel much of a stand-out, she did a good enough job to be memorable.
From the minor roles, I liked Franz Rogowski's involvement despite it not being a regular occurrence.

I think the films biggest strength is the usual aspects that I find in other Haneke features, the cinematography and production design. It's shot really well, there's lots of striking imagery and his camera team makes the most of its landscape.
As mentioned before, I did like the use of modern technology and that was portrayed. Annoyingly, the way did the subtitles was done in those scenes was hard to read at times.

I think this just about warrants a pass. There is enough things in here to appreciate whether you get the story or not.
For me, it was hard to pin down the theme and main message. When I read the plot synopsis afterwards, half of it I got but the other I completely did not. Apparently, it's supposed to have the European immigration problem as the backdrop. Only in two, maybe three scenes did it have that, and they only mildly covered it.
I will keep seeking out other Haneke features to see if I can find other an exceptional piece of work other than Amour.

Rating: 7/10

Review: The Killing Of A Sacred Deer

Ever since The Lobster, director Yorgos Lanthimos has been seen as the best thing to happen to independent cinema. He is probably the most original director working today, and there is a crowd for his work that is slowly growing.

He has had other critically successful films in the past such as Dogtooth. But it was The Lobster that saw him breakthrough into a much wider audience.

Now with the foundations laid, a lot of people have been eagerly waiting for his next project. This one sees Colin Farrell return as the lead after his fantastic work in The Lobster.

I must mention that when you go into a Lathimos film now, you expect strange and absurd storylines, but also meaning to them. He makes films that are designed to challenge you, and this definitely fits the bill.
This is being billed as a psychological horror, I saw more of a slow-burning thriller from this. It is definitely psychological and it made me really tense and feeling that I should have a shower straight after seeing this.

It's more about its absurd nature then anything else. You could almost see it as a fairy tale. While the content I was seeing on screen might not have made much logical sense, it still remained strangely captivating.

I had a feeling throughout that something was always not quite right, and this absurd story gets dark, had moments of comedy that managed to work and it will probably be the most unique film of this year.

I had a big change of heart during the film when it came to the performances. The delivery of the dialogue by everyone is done in a purposeful deadpan fashion. It was hard for me to get into it. But thankfully, a lot of the performances managed to convert me enough to get on board with it.
Colin Farrell I think has upped his game in this one from The Lobster. He was simply terrific in this one. While he is seen as a Hollywood A-lister, I still don't think he gets the credit he deserves. Just check out his performance in Saving Mr. Banks and tell me he doesn't deserve at least an Oscar nomination?

I think I've said in the past that I rarely go nuts for Nicole Kidman. But I thought she did a good job in this one. I must mention she shows her body off a lot in this one, and she's still got quite a impressive physique for someone who recently turned 50.

While I wasn't drawn too much to his deadpan style of delivery, I still think Barry Keoghan was great and committed to the cause. He has an impressive year with his work in this and Dunkirk now in his CV. I will be excited to see what he does next.

It was great to finally see Raffey Cassidy back in a big project. I remember her being great in ‘Tomorrowland: A World Beyond’ a few years ago and I'm so happy that Lanthimos put her talent to good use.
Despite playing a pivotal role in one scene, I had no idea until afterwards that Alicia Silverstone was in this. She certainly has changed a lot since her Clueless and Batman & Robin days.

As briefly mentioned before, I had a few problems with the film. I wasn't totally into a lot of the deadpan tone, both from a verbal and a physical standpoint. For the most part, it felt alienating to me and I struggled to feel strongly invested with what was going on.

There were also moments where the score romped along at moments that felt unnecessary to do so. I'm not sure if the point was to unsettle you. If it did, then it didn't quite work for me. It did at times when I did feel the tension. But sadly no on the whole.

My favourite part however was the cinematography. I was enjoying the long tracking shots they were doing at certain moments. The movement reminded me of The Shining. But what made it different, was the change of elevation to where the camera was which was exciting to watch.

So in conclusion, while it might not be as strong in its content as The Lobster, there's plenty of interesting and well executed aspects that makes it as good as Lanthimos' predecessor. I liked the performances, the way it was the shot, its general look and even though it is an odd story in its tone, but it managed to keep me interested to gripped as to how it was going to end up.

I must mention that this is definitely not for general or mainstream audiences. If you still feel intrigued to check this out, then maybe check watch The Lobster first as I feel that is more approachable of the two. If you enjoyed it, then I would recommend giving this a go.

Rating: 7/10