CKGT Reviews

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LFF52-21

Tahaan
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2008 at 09:24:22 AM

The final night of the London Film Festival was spent watching a delightfully sweet Indian film set in Kashmir. There was an ominous undertone all the way through this film, but the script and dialogue kept the mood pretty upbeat, even in the darker moments.

It wasn't exactly "challenging" and "genre-defining", it was a simple, straightforward tale of a child who went to find his donkey. Hints of Satajit Ray and The Boy with the Red Balloon, but nothing too heavy. The photography was lovely, and I really, really enjoyed the soundtrack. The film perhaps represents what Mark Cousins would call "Closed Romantic Realism", but I don't think it was any the worse for that.

The plot and the dialogue was a little hammed up; so it depends whether you can get into that mood. I found the playful, jokey atmosphere really easy to get into, and had a great big grin across my face for most of the film.

Much of the film was shot on location in Kashmir, which is particularly impressive. It's not going to make it into my primary recommendations, but if you want to get a (slightly sanitised, presumably) view of what it's like growing up in Kashmir when your donkey gets sold, you'll definitely like the film.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Mitamfa, Alberto

LFF52-20

The Market
Review by charlie on Oct 30 2008 at 09:12:04 AM

Fantastic Turkish film about a wheeler-dealer in Eastern Turkey. Extremely funny, and with an acute political edge (but it doesn't really wear its colours on its sleeve). Most of all I'd recommend it for the comedy, rather than the social commentary. The plot involves the main character's scheme to buy cheap meds over the border in Azerbaijan with the help of his irrascible uncle. Ties with Louise Michel for the funniest film at the festival.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Mitamfa

LFF52-19

Lion's Den
Review by charlie on Oct 30 2008 at 09:08:58 AM

Riveting, and harrowing, Argentinean film about a woman who is jailed when she is pregant. She bears the child in prison, and raises it in prison. It's really very good. I'm ashamed to say that it had never really occurred to me that this happened, so I found it very eye-opening. Particularly brilliant performance from the lead.

CKGT Attendees: Ben, Chuckles, Mitamfa

LFF52-18

London Calling (Shorts)
Review by charlie on Oct 28 2008 at 11:49:28 AM

Selection of shorts from London film-makers. I'm sorry to say that I didn't like any of these. Ed said that many of them were technically brilliant, but for me there was always something wrong with them, particularly the scripts, which usually seemed amateurish and annoying.

I think it's good that this stuff is getting funding, but I don't want to watch it, I'm afraid. Next year I'll steer clear of British-only entries.

CKGT attendees: Charlie, Ed.

LFF52-17

Three Monkeys
Review by charlie on Oct 27 2008 at 11:20:28 AM

Good old Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The Turkish bleak-meister in interesting form. I've seen his "Climates" and "Distant" before, both of which were very good, and very, very bleak. This time he's taken on a script which nominally follows a crime cover-up story, so is almost structured as a thriller. But he retains the washed out look, claustrophobic sound design, and pitiless shot length that characterised his early work.

So it's a really interesting mix of melodrama and muted regret. A very interesting mix. Highly recommended.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Mitamfa, Tom

LFF52-16

The Witch of the West is Dead
Review by charlie on Oct 27 2008 at 11:17:21 AM

Delightful Japanese film about an adolescent girl sent to stay with her grandmother in the countryside. Very, very beautiful, and touching. I'm only a little ashamed to say that I cried through most of the film.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Mitamfa, Matt, Alex A.

LFF52-15

Nucingen Haus
Review by charlie on Oct 26 2008 at 10:09:30 AM

Raul Ruiz, apparently one of the most prolific film directors currently alive, directs this micro-budget homage to B-movie gothic period horrors.

Set and filmed in a massive colonial house in Ruiz' native Chile (although apparently he was in self-imposed exile for much of his career), the film revolves around a writer who wins the house through gambling with the owner. It's basically a ghost story, and is pretty insane. I actually found it too confusing, really. A lot of items in the script seemed to demand some kind of effects, but obviously there was no budget for that.

All in all, an interesting film to watch, but I didn't exactly enjoy it. Goes in the same bucket as Routine Holiday.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Mitamfa, Rob, Cecilia

LFF52-14

Waltz with Bashir
Review by charlie on Oct 26 2008 at 10:05:15 AM

Animated documentary about the first Israel Lebanon war. This shot straight in to number one in my primary recommendations of films at the film festival. It's quite simply amazing. Everyone should see this when it comes out. Beautiful, eye-opening, shocking.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Mitamfa

LFF52-13

Wendy and Lucy
Review by charlie on Oct 26 2008 at 10:02:57 AM

Wendy is travelling to Alaska with her dog Lucy to look for work. Sad and touching. Michelle Williams plays the insecure, slightly child-like main character, and man alive, she's really good. Absolutely brilliant performance.

Film-maker was saying afterwards how the film was inspired from hearing right-wing politicians demand that people pull themselves up by their bootstraps. She wanted to make the point of how difficult that would really be.

Anyway, great performance from Michelle Williams, focussed script. Lovely film really.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Mitamfa

LFF52-12

Eldorado
Review by charlie on Oct 24 2008 at 08:49:34 AM

This was in a double bill with Il Divo, and like that film, was by a film-maker whose work I'd previously seen at the London Film Festival, and quickly become obsessed with.

So, Bouli Lanners is the director of Eldorado (he also starred in Louise Michel, which I saw a couple of days ago), and he's a god of similar proportions to Paolo Sorrentino. The scope of Eldorado is quite focussed, it's a road movie about two fairly hapless Belgians (although one quite a bit more hapless than the other), and features various quirky set-pieces. It's very funny, although becomes quite bleak as the film goes on. Lanners was a painter before he was a film-maker, and the style and composition of the shots are fantastic.

Bouli Lanners is awesome.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Mitamfa, Alberto, Vicky, Caroline

LFF52-11

Il Divo
Review by charlie on Oct 24 2008 at 08:37:11 AM

Paolo Sorrentino is my current favourite European film director. I first saw The Family Friend at the LFF two years ago, and watched The Consequences of Love not long afterwards. I've been eagerly waiting for his next film, and in this he's taken a bit of a change in direction. The film is about Giulio Andreotti, the Italian President for many (interrupted) years in the 80s. I didn't know anything about the history, which was probably a bit of a disability, as this wasn't really a biopic, and it rushed through the explanations. However, it was absolutely fantastic. Andreotti was accused many times of mafia connections, and although none of the charges stuck (he was twice found guilty, but both times the appeals were upheld), most commentators seem to think he was pretty guilty. The film dances around this slightly, never making a direct accusation, but, for instance, the editing and style of the introduction of the characters is obviously inspired by the gangster film genre.

Anyway, as usual for a Sorrentino flick, the style is the main thing you go for, and this film's got it, man. I'm beginning to think that Sorrentino is going to be one of the most important film-makers around at the moment.

CKGT Attendees: Just Chuckles

LFF52-10

Delta
Review by charlie on Oct 23 2008 at 10:24:57 AM

This was absolutely incredible. Hungarian film about a brother and sister who build a house together in the Danube Delta.

I won't mention exactly what happened, but it was jaw-droppingly beautiful, and wonderfully paced. Probably my favourite film so far.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Mitamfa, Ben

LFF52-9

Louise-Michel
Review by charlie on Oct 22 2008 at 08:55:36 AM

Fantastic anarcho-socialist Belgian farce. Massively recommended. Sacked factory workers club together to assassinate their ex-boss. Funniest film of the festival so far. It also starred Bouli Lanners, the painter-turned-director who I love.

Also, the director was completely wasted in the Q&A afterwards, which made it doubly entertaining. Everyone will enjoy this film.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Fabio, Alex

LFF52-8

Routine Holiday
Review by charlie on Oct 22 2008 at 08:53:53 AM

Man alive, this was taxing. Group of characters live in the same apartment building, they do, and say, pretty much nothing. Think a Chinese Waiting for Godot, but the director keeps coming out to whisper "you're an idiot" in your ear. Anyway, it was pretty funny in places, and I'm sure this was a deliberate choice of the director, but man, it was hard work.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Ben

LFF52-7

Shock Tactics (Shorts)
Review by charlie on Oct 22 2008 at 08:51:59 AM

Selection of shorts, mostly horror. Only two of them particularly recommended, but I'll try to avoid revealing the reveal in each case.

There are Monsters
There's a girl standing in the garden when a yuppie couple are preparing for a dinner party. Simple, fairly well-executed (although deliberately shaky camera work was a bit distracting) idea.

Advantage
Drunk couple end up necking on a tennis court. Bad things happen. Again, nice idea, nothing too cliched.

September
Brilliant, my main recommendation. Marvin works at a motorway service station and sees some mystical Finns.

Awkward
Nice idea, but not very well scripted. Dinner party conversation gets stilted by a visitor. If the script had kept up the promise of the opening 30 seconds, it would have been awesome, but it was difficult not to be a bit disappointed.

Deconfliction
Chris Highland is an interesting guy. Bit of a gun nut, and almost obsessed with the cold war. Getting gender reassignment surgery.

Konvex-T
Style and idea were brilliant - extremely atmosopheric lonely, industrial solitary worker story. It really wore its Lynch and Cronenberg influences on its sleeve, though. If it wasn't for the fact that we've seen a lot of the ideas before, it would have been the best thing in the selection.

My Rabbit Hoppy
My second recommendation (after September), home video school project about a boy's pet rabbit. Awesome. Absolutely awesome.

Bitten
You can pretty much see what's going on from the title, assuming you know that it's a horror movie. Great production values, but not very original.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Mitamfa, Tom and Matt

LFF52-6

Laila's Birthday
Review by charlie on Oct 20 2008 at 09:56:31 AM

Palestinian film. It's little Laila's birthday, and her father, who is an ex-judge, and now driving a taxi, has to get home in time for 8. Obviously the day doesn't go very well for him. The structure of the plot is a good one for exploring what it is like to live in occupied territory, particularly the taxi driver motif, as each person he picks up has their own story. Basically, it's great. It's also very short, only about an hour and a quarter, but I don't think it felt like it needed to be longer, the structure worked really well, and the main character was fantastically well acted. Highly recommended.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Mitamfa, Pete, and a hungover Rachel

LFF52-5

Animation Panorama
Review by charlie on Oct 20 2008 at 09:48:45 AM

The animation panorama is always one of the best things at the festival. No disappointment this year.

7 More Minutes
Plasticine animation featuring four characters on a beach after a train accident. Slow and dreamy.

A Child's Metaphysics
Simple line animations in the style of doodling featuring representations of children thinking. Sounds strange, but it's superb.

Berni's Doll
Man alive, this was bleak. But also funny. French computer generated animation of a lonely man in a consumerist society. He gets a doll. Brilliant stuff.

Chainsaw
Fantastic Australian animation. The style seemed to be the stark plain colours of animation using a computerised paint program, but I may be wrong. Plot was fantastic, starts as a ridiculously over-the-top safety video for chainsaws, and then shoots off on various tangents about bull-fighting, before returning to explore the back story of the characters in the safety video. Very good.

Elephants
Mr. and Mrs. Grey live in Grey Town with their daughter Fay. Turns out they have an infestation of elephants. It's brilliant. Live action, with animated elephants. Watch this without smiling and you have no heart.

Fantaisie in Bubble Wrap
Brilliantly simple idea executed perfectly. I won't spoil it by describing it.

In the Woods
Rapid-fire image assault accompanied by political soundbites from the Bush years. I didn't discern an actual structure or political stance, but I don't think I was meant to. It was more of a piece documenting how the language was used, with particular attention, in the visuals, on the Israeli wall.

Last Time in Clerkenwell
Basically a music video, and a brilliant one. The Legion of Birds are invading London.

Rabbit Punch
Norfolk schoolboy makes a new friend. The friend is a bit of a psycho. Style was really interesting for this one, as some of the backgrounds looked like watercolours. Not sure how the animator did it, but it looked amazing.

Refrains
Slightly confusing, but nonetheless beautiful Polish animation done in a sort of pointilist style.

This Way Up
Absolute genius. Two undertakers have to pick up the body and transport it to the grave. They encounter obstacles.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Mitamfa

LFF52-4

The Class
Review by charlie on Oct 19 2008 at 11:19:41 AM

Story is of one year of a class in an inner city school in Paris. Quasi fictional, in that the actual story of the class isn't true, but the cast is made up of pupils at an actual school who improvised much of the material.

Really, really good. Maybe it sounds like it doesn't work on paper, but it really does. It's great.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Mitamfa

LFF52-3

Ramchand Pakistani
Review by charlie on Oct 19 2008 at 11:16:05 AM

Pakistani film about a small family from the untouchable Dalit caste. Ramchand, the little boy wanders over the border into Pakistan when India / Pakistan tensions are just at their highest (2002), and is duly arrested and sent to prison, as is his father.

Extraordinary, and all the more extraordinary, as it's apparently completely true. I found my credulity strained at times that a system in a democracy would send clearly innocent children to jail as spies, but apparently it actually happened.

Film is in two stories: the mother waiting and share-cropping, shows you the realities of their daily life, and the second story shows you the life in prison.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Mitamfa

LFF52-2

The Secret
Review by charlie on Oct 19 2008 at 11:09:28 AM

If you like your films completely demented, you'll LOVE The Secret. Set in Indonesia in unnamed "Seven"-style city; a narcoleptic investigative reporter ends up with a dangerous secret. The actual details of the plot are occasionally conventional, but the genres switch from gritty detective to outlandish J-horror, to political satire to Highlander.

Clearly the best from the Indonesian narcoleptic lady-boy detective political horror. Actually, I was told there were meant to be lady-boys in the film, but I couldn't see any. So maybe there weren't any lady-boys.

CKGT Attendees: Chuckles, Mitamfa

LFF52-1

Flame and Citron
Review by charlie on Oct 19 2008 at 10:30:54 AM

The story of two Danish WW2 resistance fighters. A great start to the Film Festival for me - action packed WW2 drama, but it fairly serious stuff (as it was, apparently true). Fantastically shot, it was kind of in the style of a neo-Noir for much of the film. Featured an incredibly sweaty Mads Mikkelsen, who was very good. And the actor playing Flame is apparently the next big thing in Denmark.

Interestingly this set the theme for the first four films, as they were all true(ish). Apart from The Secret, that wasn't in the least bit true.

CKGT attendees: Ben, Fabio, Tim, Alex, Miranda, Charlie.

LFF51-18

Four Women
Review by charlie on Nov 2 2007 at 11:45:31 AM

Indian film in four chapters, each telling the story of a woman misunderstood, abused or ignored in some way in contemporary India. The chapters are "The Prostitute", "The Virgin", "The Housewife", and "The Spinster", which probably gives you an idea of the recurrent themes.

It's quite short, and none the worse for it, as all it does Kieslowski-style, is tell the stories unsentimentally. Although all of the stories are pretty heart-breaking, actually.

Anyway, beautiful, thoughtful film. It's really grown on me since I saw it.

LFF51-17

Empties
Review by charlie on Nov 2 2007 at 11:42:30 AM

Czech comedy about a teacher who quits his job, and ends up in the bottle return department in a supermarket.

Definitely the funniest film I saw in the festival. The theme is basically about relationships falling apart, starting up, and getting old. Having said all that, the theme's not really relevant, as the film's so goddamn entertaining. The lead (apparently the director's father, and the writer of the script) plays the role absolutely perfectly in all his out-of-touch, dreamy majesty. Highly recommended.

LFF51-16

Persepolis
Review by charlie on Oct 30 2007 at 10:32:45 AM

Animated version of the comic of the same name. The plot is autobiographical and follows the heroine growing up in the late seventies and though the eighties in Iran. So captures the fall of the Shah, and the rise of the Islamic state.

I hadn't read the comic before I saw this, (though I'd been meaning to for a while), so the material was all new to me. Anyway, I thought this was absolutely superb, perfectly structured story, telling a fairly complex narrative. Absolutely brilliant, basically. Go and see it as soon as you can. We saw the original French version, but apparently the director (and author, and subject of the film) has worked with American actors to produce an English language version as well.

LFF51-15

Chaos
Review by charlie on Oct 30 2007 at 10:28:32 AM

Egyptian film centring around police corruption in Cairo. Lots of different story arcs centre around the main bad guy Hatem.

The film is shot to look like a soap opera, basically. But the subject matter is actually pretty brutal and harrowing. It's a really strange sensation, watching it, as the directorial style implies you should be watching a light-hearted jape film, but some of the scenes, especially towards the end are pretty unpleasant. It's a strange mix, and I found it quite distracting. However, the director is apparently unrepentant, and that this is the subversive point of the film, it's framed as an easy watch, but deftly skewers its targets (systemic police corruption, poor educational standards).

So, when I came out of the movie, I was a bit down on it, but after due reflection, I think I was being unfair. It was certainly a really interesting watch though.

LFF51-14

The Mourning Forest
Review by charlie on Oct 29 2007 at 11:22:02 AM

Deeply sad Japanese film in which a senile man and his carer, both of them bereaved (one recently, one long ago, but both still coming to terms with their losses), get lost in a forest. They are both constantly tortured by their grief. The forest looks on, silently.

Not actually that long, but the film is paced quite slowly, I'm afraid, so it does feel a bit longer than it is. It is still really interesting, though, and is wonderfully sombre and reflective.

LFF51-13

Son of Rambow: A Home Movie
Review by charlie on Oct 29 2007 at 11:18:39 AM

Garth "Edgar Wright's mate" Jennings directs a British comedy romp with child stars. Sounds off-putting, doesn't it? Well it's not, it's great. It's British, but in a good way, and the two leads are actually very good.

Plot is two young boys (one a rebel, one a religious goodie-goodie), want to make their own version of First Blood, in Hertfordshire.

Leery as I am of using the word "heart-warming", I would recommend this film to basically anyone, from your pointy-bearded Antonioni-loving elitist snob to your less discerning Adam Sandler lover. Well, I thought it was funny, anyway.

LFF51-12

Frozen
Review by charlie on Oct 29 2007 at 11:11:21 AM

Best film so far. Indian film set in Ladakh (northeast of India, bordering China, in the Himalayas). Beautiful black and white photography, great script, flawless acting. It's the story of a small family in the freezing mountains, desperately trying to eke out a living, when the army sets up camp next door.

Just perfect, basically. I can't imagine anyone not liking this film.

LFF51-11

Rescue Dawn
Review by charlie on Oct 29 2007 at 11:06:28 AM

It's Werner "Fitzcarraldo" Herzog, and Christian "American Psycho" Bale, together with Steve "Happy Texas" Zahn, together at last!

It's a remake of Herzog's earlier reconstruction documentary "Little Dieter Needs to Fly". Following the fortunes of a pilot shot down in Vietnam during the conflict. It's not up to the visionary insanity of Herzog's best fiction work. But that still leaves it head and shoulders above most stuff. Top notch acting, but the most points go to the jungle's looks and performance. Herzog again shows his obsession with the uncaring cruelty and murderousness of nature, the theme he keeps returning to.

Great stuff. Highly recommended.

LFF51-10

You, the Living
Review by charlie on Oct 25 2007 at 03:21:32 PM

The bleakest Swedish comedy you're ever likely to see. Which puts it fairly high in the running for bleakest comedy you'll ever see from any country.

Everyone in town is lonely, and spends all their time fighting with their lovers, or else being abandoned by them. It's kind of a nihilistic Wes Anderson film. Really interesting, but it felt like there was potential for more gags, personally. However, the gags they did have were great. And it both entertained me, and made me deeply depressed and unhappy, which presumably was the director's aim. Well done that man.

LFF51-9

Alexandra
Review by charlie on Oct 25 2007 at 03:17:53 PM

The latest from Alexandr Sokurov. An indomitable Russian grandmother travels from St. Petersburg to Chechnya, to visit her grandson who is fighting there.

Really, really, really good. Not much happens, as you'd pretty much expect from Sokurov. But seriously, it's awesome. Like One Hundred Nails, it carries its fairly profound themes very lightly, and is both thought-provoking and easy to watch. Probably the best film of the festival so far (followed closely by One Hundred Nails).

LFF51-8

The Last Mistress
Review by charlie on Oct 25 2007 at 03:15:14 PM

Steamy French bodice-ripping costume drama. Set about 30 years after de Laclos' Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the plot revolves around a grandmother (presumably who was a de Laclos-style schemer in her youth) deciding whether to let the priapically-named Ryno marry her grandmother. Ryne has been conducting a fairly torrid affair for the last ten years with a particularly spicy Spanish vixen (played brilliantly by Asia Argento, Dario Argento's daughter).

Has some amazingly arresting images and scenes, costumes are incredible (and I say that as someone who doesn't usually notice such things). And has a LOT of ruftie. The two leads are both fairly androgynous, and the whole thing gets fairly biological at points. Marvellous stuff. Not your average costume drama, as Jonathan Romney described it. It's no "Ridicule", as it's more about passion than scheming, but it's still very good.

LFF51-7

Asphalt
Review by charlie on Oct 23 2007 at 10:13:59 AM

A late silent film from the Weimar Ufa studio. Cop is seduced by sexy grifter. Fantastic shots of pre-war Berlin at the beginning, and dark moody expressionist-style shots towards the overwrought climax. Great stuff. More evidence that the Germans were really the masters of the arty end of silent cinema.

LFF51-6

Who Are You?
Review by charlie on Oct 22 2007 at 10:15:53 AM

Selection of Short Films.

I love short films. A mostly great selection in this one. Rol saw these as well, and our opinions varied on one film.

Inseparable: Stylish short about man with twin. Simple story, but really nicely told.

Family Reunion: This was the one we disagreed on. It's a story of a girl living in New York, who returns to Iceland for her grandfather's birthday, agonising over whether to come out to her parents. I thought it was charming, Rol thought it was a bit twee.

Screening: Yikes. A bereaved mother of a tube bombing victim plucks up the courage to brave the trans-atlantic journey back to the UK (for the remembrance a year later). Sounds all right, doesn't it? Well it wasn't, it was awful. Soppy, condescending, overly directed. Looked expensive, as well. I reckon they could have made about twenty "Family Reunions" for every one of these.

The Lonely Lights. The Color of Lemons: It's like a Wes Anderson short (a lot like a Wes Anderson short, actually). It's a collection of childhood and adolescent memories. If you like whimsical, you'll love this. Luckily, I really love whimsical. I could watch this over and over again.

Slippin': Adolescent boy in Hackney doesn't quite fit in with his group. Simple story, really well told. I don't really have any idea what it's like to grow up as a black youth in Hackney, so I can't comment on the verisimilitude, but the performances seemed pretty much perfect to me. Great, nicely observed film.

I am Bob: Bob Geldof accidentally ends up in a random pub with no money and a driver. Really funny, check it out on youtube if it's there (it's probably not, though). My only gripe is that the director stood up at the end to say "I'm really sorry about the lighting in that last scene, everybody, I'm going to shoot the editor". Which struck me as a bit drama queeny.

LFF51-5

The Last Lear
Review by charlie on Oct 22 2007 at 09:53:02 AM

A young Indian director convinces a retired Shakespearean actor out of retirement for one last film. It goes wrong.

I saw this with Rol, and we were slightly split over this one. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, who is apparently a massive Bollywood star (he was there for the screening, and the crowd were going MENTAL - he does have amazing stage presence, I can see why he attracts such adulation).

I think most people would find something to enjoy here. The "irascible old man vs. young thruster" dynamic works well between the two male leads. The framing part of the narrative is told through three women, though - the wife, the co-star, and the nurse (we were trying to work out if this was meant to be a sort of Cordelia, Goneril and Regan parallel, but we couldn't make it fit), which I found an interesting way of telling the story.

I had a few reservations with the direction, though (there was a bit of a tendency to have a fairly melodramatic orchestral backing to any bits of Shakespeare, which I found distracting), and the discovery of what "went wrong" on set, and the resolution at the end both jarred with me quite badly. Rol, however, felt that the goods definitely outweighed the bads. Definitely worth watching though, we were both agreed on that.

LFF51-4

Desert Dream
Review by charlie on Oct 22 2007 at 09:38:55 AM

This film is set on the edge of the Gobi desert, as it encroaches on the verdant Steppes. A Mongolian man lives with his wife and daughter in a yurt, and every day, valiantly goes out to the sand, and tries to plant trees in order to prevent the desertification. It's a pretty hopeless task, and his wife and daughter leave for Ulan Bator (to get treatment for their daughter's hearing). When they are away, a North Korean couple wander in one night, and end up staying.

Slow and beautiful. Really, really beautiful. There are these amazing panning shots from desert to lustrous rolling hillsides. Really incredible. The director kind of lets the landscape speak for itself; reminded me a lot of Beau Travail. I now feel a lot more educated on life in a yurt as well. And I always love films where someone sets themselves up, hopelessly, against nature.

LFF51-3

International Animation Panorama
Review by charlie on Oct 22 2007 at 09:19:01 AM

The always enjoyable event of the London Film Festival. The films were:

Nothing Happened Today: Simple animation about a woman lying dreaming in bed.

Milk Teeth: Fairly disturbing animation about a boy sneaking out after his sister when she goes to see her boyfriend in a cornfield.

Even In Dreams: French comic animation about a woman who is possibly having an affair.

Madame Tutli-Putli: Simply awesome. Everyone should check this out, it might be on Youtube or the web somewhere. It's a Canadian puppet animation about a woman setting off on a train journey. Dark, gothic, funny. Brilliant, basically.

La Queue de la Souris: French animation. A mouse needs to avoid being eaten by a lion. Funny.

Premier Voyage: French again. Quite sweet animation about a new father travelling with his daughter. Funnier than it sounds.

Marathon: There's a marathon in town, and a bomber. Lots of other things going on as well, including a public lavatory scam. I really enjoyed it.

The Tongue of the Hidden: beautiful animation. Each of the images is made up of Arabic letters, which describe the objects. Apparently it's all the writings of the 13th Century Persian poet Hafez. Highly recommended. Although it's probably best to see it on the big screen. Particularly the peacock.

LFF51-2

One Hundred Nails
Review by charlie on Oct 19 2007 at 10:15:50 AM

A library is vandalised, and the chief suspect is an academic who goes on the run. The themes were fairly heavy (christianity, intellectualism, sacrifice, loneliness), but the film was actually wonderfully light. The depiction of the rural idyll when the academic escapes the university was just charming.

So while the film was overtly Eco-esque in its ideas, the realisation, was brilliantly funny and beautiful. The perfect film, basically. More than highly recommended.

LFF51-1

Valzer
Review by charlie on Oct 19 2007 at 10:12:50 AM

Italian film set in a hotel, mainly following the last day of work for a female employee. The particularly interesting thing about this film was that it was shot as if it was one unending tracking shot (actually, I think they used a few tricks so that it was more than one shot, but it was still an amazing achievement). The "single shot" motif was particularly impressive, as the narrative encompassed flashbacks, which were achieved through a subtle change in lighting.

I'm a big fan of "lots of different plots weaving together" type films. Although this one wasn't exactly the Wandering Rocks, it did hang together really well. Themes particularly focussed on corruption in football, and the world's obsession with fake versions of reality (reality TV shows, models, celebrities). Despite the obsession with football, I still really enjoyed it.

London Film Festival 17

Kabul Express
Review by charlie on Nov 3 2006 at 10:08:01 AM

Synopsis: Bollywood film (but with no singing or dancing - does it count as Bollywood? Well apparently the director thinks so). Two hapless Indian journalists, in October 2001 go to Afghanistan to get a scoop after the invasion. Things don't go according to plan, and they end up getting kidnapped by a Talib.

Charlie's Comment: I was very pleasantly surprised by this film. When I was going in, I was thinking "man, this is going to be gritty and violent, and I think maybe I want something a little lighter". I was thinking this for two reasons: firstly, both my dates had bailed, so I was on my own, and also, it was the last of the Film Festival movies, and I was approaching movie exhaustion. However, I needn't have worried at all, despite the sombre beginning where the second twin towers plane crash is shown, while a voice intones "the war on terror had begun", the film is very light-hearted. In fact, it's essentially a screwball comedy for most of the first part. It brilliantly suckers you in though, and gets more serious as it goes in, but it retains a lot of good gags, which I really enjoyed. Apart from a fairly atrocious performance from the obligatory American female journalist (presumably to get the necessary funding - the film looked pretty expensive), this is fantastic fun. What is fairly astonishing is that it was all shot on location in Afghanistan, and the scenery is really fucking beautiful.

Basically, it's the first time I've seen a "post 9/11" comedy, and it's really worth seeing. The director, Kabir Khan, has only made documentaries on Afghanistan before, so this must have been a real change of approach.

London Film Festival 16

Catch A Fire
Review by charlie on Nov 2 2006 at 10:00:35 AM

Synopsis: True story of Patrick Chamusso, an ANC freedom fighter, and his radicalisation at the hands of the Apartheid regime.

Charlie's Comment: OK, this is a tricky one, so I'll lay out both conflicting sides of my head:
Pro: The story is extremely interesting and powerful, and not one that I was even aware of. I'm grateful to the film for telling me about Patrick Chamusso and Joe Slovo. I really hope this film does well, as the more people that see it, the more likely some of them are to sympathise with the victims of oppression.
Con: I think in the course of making it, and needing the film to be really popular, the film-makers dumbed the film down and polarised the debate. So it's fine as political film, but I don't think it's good art.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think it was a bad film. The acting was good, and the cinematography, especially the shots of the enormous refinery, was very good. I enjoyed it, but I found some of the dialogue and set-pieces a bit jarring in their lack of subtlety, and overall the style of the film was fairly US-style heartstring tugging.

London Film Festival 15

Ten Canoes
Review by charlie on Nov 2 2006 at 09:50:20 AM

Synopsis: Essentially an Aboriginal Australian legend turned into a film, but told through two nested framing narrators.

Charlie's Comment: Fantastic stuff, amazingly alive patient panning shots through the more verdant areas of the Australian outback. I really enjoyed the story and the performances as well, but what really, really made this film was the photography. Definitely worth seeing on the big screen.

London Film Festival 14

The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros
Review by charlie on Nov 1 2006 at 09:43:58 AM

Synopsis: Set in the Philippines, a thirteen year old boy cooks and cleans for his family after his mother's death. He falls in love with a policeman who is set on arresting his criminal family.

Charlie's Comment: Absolutely charming, particularly the performance from the cross-dressing, queeny Maximo as the lead. This film is so warm it might even melt Seffers' icy heart. You should all watch it.

London Film Festival 13

The Family Friend
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2006 at 04:29:06 PM

Synopsis: A grotesque town moneylender becomes obsessed with unobtainable women.

Charlie's Comment: From the director of Consequences of Love. Stylish, sassy, and utterly captivating to look at, with a charming soundtrack by Anthony and the Johnsons. Very bleak sense of humour, but still funny, and very enjoyable, even though there isn't a single likeable character. Highly recommended.

London Film Festival 12

Lunacy
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2006 at 04:26:43 PM

Synopsis: Based on the works of the Marquis de Sade, and involving stop motion animated meat, the story revolves around a man ending up in a lunatic asylum with unconventional methods.

Charlie's Comment: Jan Svankmajer gets full marks for managing to shock my religious sensibilities, even though I thought I didn't have any. Unsurprisingly, story is bonkers, and features a fair amount of sex, and stomach-churning meat animations. Great stuff. But is it art? Yes, it is.

London Film Festival 11

The Yacoubian Building
Review by charlie on Oct 30 2006 at 12:53:59 PM

Synopsis: One big block of flats in Cairo, lots of different people whose lives mix with each other.

Charlie's Comment: Extraordinarily good. Based on the smash-hit bestselling Egyptian novel of the same name, and remaining very faithful to it, this is apparently the most expensive Egyptian film ever made. It's a standard sort of Magnolia / Short Cuts style of interweaving narratives, but honestly, it's really, really good. I can't believe anyone wouldn't enjoy this film. I don't want to spoil any of it by giving away much plot, but this film is a real gem. I beseech you all to see it if you ever get the opportunity.

London Film Festival 10

The Dog Pound
Review by charlie on Oct 30 2006 at 12:48:41 PM

Synopsis: Student in Uruguay sits at home smoking dope and spanking the monkey. He is given a plot of land by his father, so him and his stoner friends build a house.

Charlie's Summary: I was quite drunk at the beginning of this, so it's fair to say that it might be better than I give it credit for. It was a fairly diverting study of passing time in the Uruguayan countryside, so from that perspective it was interesting. I've got to say that the plot didn't really grab me, as I found it aimless without something else (e.g. visuals, direction, dialogue) to recommend it.

London Film Festival 9

WWW: What a Wonderful World
Review by charlie on Oct 30 2006 at 12:45:27 PM

Synopsis: Interweaving stories in contemporary Casablanca: an assassin, a policewoman, a prostitute and others.

Charlie's Comment: Pulp Fiction meets Pedro Amoldovar. The interweaving narrative is expertly drawn, but it's mainly the use of location and the deft mingling of genre. One minute procedural Michael Mann type film before switching to Colourful Magic Realist romantic comedy. It's just brilliant. The Morrocan director Faouzi Bensaïdi is my new hero.

London Film Festival 8

The Go Master
Review by charlie on Oct 26 2006 at 11:58:58 AM

Synopsis: Story of the greatest player of the game Go in the twentieth century. Focussing entirely on his life in Japan before, during and after the Second World War.

Charlie's Comment: Absolutely stunning. I don't know how to play Go, and I know almost nothing about Japanese and Chinese history, but I still really, really enjoyed this film. The lead performance of the tormented, emotionally withdrawn genius is totally convincing (and reminded me a lot of Ogata Issei's portrayal of Hirohito in The Sun: if you've seen The Sun, you'll know this is fairly high praise), the cinematography breathtakingly beautiful, and the script is almost matchless in its combination of a very personal journey for the lead which is again an analogy for the rise and fall of Japan, against the backdrop of which the story is set. Really good stuff.

London Film Festival 7

Close to Home
Review by charlie on Oct 25 2006 at 10:42:26 AM

Synopsis: Two young, female Israeli conscripts into the Israeli Defence Force have to patrol Jerusalem, asking anyone who looks Arabian for their ID and noting it down. It's basically a buddy movie, but with girls, and set in the Israeli army.

Charlie's Comment: Probably my favourite of the films I've seen so far. The film wasn't propaganda, or tub-thumping, as it was much more a movie about friendship than it was an indictment of Israeli occupation. In fact, although one commenter felt it was subversive, I still found it quite balanced (although I can believe that lots of people would disagree with me). But leaving aside the politics, it was both interesting in that I'd never seen a film about contemporary Jerusalem with that perspective, and also it was a very charming friendship tale. Really, really recommended. Apparently Sony have picked this up so might be released in January. Keep your eyes out for it.

London Film Festival 6

Time Froze
Review by charlie on Oct 25 2006 at 10:36:30 AM

Synopsis: A pregnant Iranian woman struggles through frozen conditions across a border, talking to God and to her unborn baby all the time.

Charlie's Comment: The film is technically ambitious, with a non-linear narrative, incredibly inhuman weather conditions and basically only one character on screen almost all the time. It was extremely beautiful, and on this level, at the very least, I really enjoyed it, although it was very harrowing. In terms of the actual plot, I'm still not entirely clear I understood all of it, but I don't think that necessarily matters in this case. Definitely recommended, but not for those with short attention spans.

London Film Festival 5

The Island
Review by charlie on Oct 25 2006 at 10:31:44 AM

Synopsis: Not the Ewan Macgregor / Scarlett Johanssen vehicle, but a meditative portrait of a hermetic, eccentric monk living on a frozen island in Siberia.

Charlie's Comment: Brilliant. Just brilliant. Very Dostoevskian in theme (religion, faith, sin and redemption). And incredibly beautiful. Wonderful classical synthesis of Russian inevitability-style plot, gentle pacing and absolutely fantastic cinematography.

London Film Festival 4

Primo Levi's Journey
Review by charlie on Oct 25 2006 at 10:23:16 AM

Synopsis: Documentary following the circuitous route Primo Levi ended up travelling between Auschwitz and Turin. The catch was that the documentary focussed on the contemporary (contemporary as in 2005) situation in each area Levi passed through.

Charlie's Comment: Very thought-provoking, at least. I found it really interesting, as I didn't know anything about the countries documented (aside from having spent six hours in Bratislava, and having vomited copiously in Munich with Northern Dave). However, the connection to Levi was oblique, as he was almost only mentioned in passing. I wasn't necessarily expecting this. However, the director's defence was that you can't just "re-tell" The Truce, you have to do something else. So a very interesting demonstration of that belief anyway.

London Film Festival 3

International Animation Panorama
Review by charlie on Oct 25 2006 at 10:17:16 AM

Synopsis: Dammit, only one of these this year. Last year there were two. Anyway, here's a lightening fast review of almost all of them (we had to leave early to catch Primo Levi's Journey).

Cosa Raccomanda Lei?: Man learns one phrase in Italian and goes to Italy. Made me laugh anyway.
The Last Circus: Knitted animation revolving around fairy tales and issues such as female puberty, childbirth, abortion and menopause. Really interesting, but could have been shorter, I think.
The Aroma of Tea: Short abstract animation painted with tea. Charming in its own way.
The Runt: Superb stylised animation on animal farming and butchery. I loved it.
Mr. Schwartz, Mr. Hazen and Mr. Horlocker: Fantastically funny animation following a policeman sent to complain about the noise in a bunch of flats. I'll post a YouTube link when there is one.
Adjustment: Combines discussion of the mechanics of animation with musings about break-ups. Not as clever as it thought it was, but really interesting, anyway.
Printed Rainbow: Jaw-droppingly beautiful Indian animation about a lonely old woman and her cat. Highly recommended.
We Believe in Happy Endings: Rubbish cut-up animation depicting people getting drunk and dancing.
Interstella Stella: Ray-traced futuristic fantasy animation. Possibly good, I kept glancing at the time though, as we had to leave.

London Film Festival 2

Invisible Waves
Review by charlie on Oct 25 2006 at 09:57:09 AM

Synopsis: From the director of "Last Life in the Universe". Slow, melancholic tale of a Hong Kong gangster being hung out to dry in Thailand.

Charlie's Comment: Very beautiful in a slow, formal way. Reminded me a lot of Antonioni's films with their themes of alienation and loneliness. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone interested in those type of films. I imagine some could find it frustrating though. Rob said that "Last Life in the Universe" was better, though, so at the very least, it's prompted me to make sure I see that.

London Film Festival 1

The Lives of the Saints
Review by charlie on Oct 25 2006 at 09:52:44 AM

Synopsis: British gangster film set in Tottenham. The bill described it as "a magical realist journey through Tottenham's underworld".

Charlie's Comment: Appalling. I can't understand why it was described as magical realist, except that one strange thing happens, and isn't explained very comprehensively. It was a messy, hopelessly pretentious script that, bizarrely the director and the writer seemed completely unapologetic about. We were all expected them to stand up at the end and say "we're sorry about that, who wants their money back?". Instead of which, they had the temerity to characterise it as "Shakespeare with gangsters". We tried to work out what possible thematic similarity it had to any work by Shakespeare, and the only similarity was that the young lead was called "Othello". There definitely wasn't any correspondence with the themes of self-destructive jealousy in Othello.

Basically, I'm going to make sure I never go to another British film in the London Film Festival again. They've got to have a fairly hefty contingent of British films, and given that they're picking from a smaller group, presumably there's bound to be more chaff than wheat, so I can't see how it's worth the gamble.

Sympathy for the Terrorist

Shalimar the Clown - Salman Rushdie
Review by charlie on Mar 12 2006 at 05:50:21 PM

This book got passed over a bit at the Booker Prize, possibly because Rushdie's cleaned up so comprehensively before. This is the first Salman Rushdie novel I've ever read, so I don't know how this compares with Midnight's Children. However, I thought it was a stupendous novel. It charts the stories of four characters, three of whom are connected by the fourth character, but ultimately it's about Kashmir, and more generally about how conflict breeds conflict across the world. But it's told with such a compassionate voice that it's impossible not to sympathise to at least some extent with the most brutal character in the book. The descriptions of the Kashmiri countryside's beauty turning into a hellish, war-torn landscape are particularly haunting, but all the backgrounds (L.A., London, WWII Europe) are painted with incredible detail. Also, it's very moreish once you get into it, not particularly heavy-going at all. Read it.

London Film Festival 16

Factotum
Review by charlie on Nov 3 2005 at 11:44:20 AM

Synopsis: Matt Dillon IS Charles Bukowski

Charlie's Review: Great stuff. It's an adaptation of Charles Bukowski's pretty-much-autobiographical novel, and it works. It really works, Matt Dillon is particularly convincing as a laid-back, gravel-voiced drunkard whose only passion is writing. Lili Taylor is superb as the dependent drunkard whose life mingles with Bukowski for a while. I really enjoyed it basically. Again, there's not a huge amount to the film, and as a rule I tend to like that in films, and what's there is executed very well. However, the main thing to watch is the main characters' performances. Marisa Tomei was also good too.

Memorable Moments: "Do you mind if I leave now?". Also the shoe scene.

ROSS ADDS: Factotum is indeed well worth a look. Dillon makes a superb Chinaski. The opening pre-title sequence sets the film up perfectly. Good to see the 'Chinaski gets crabs' scene from one of Bukowski's poems added into the mix as well. There's one fucking brilliant pan-back shot with Dillon smoking out of the only window of a factory house after just being forbidden to smoke on the job.

London Film Festival 15

Assorted Shorts (Short and Strange)
Review by charlie on Nov 2 2005 at 11:35:45 AM

Synopsis: Assorted short films, mostly British, but there were three French ones, one American and one Danish one.

Charlie's Review: Superb stuff. A good short film, while a very different experience from full length, is always involving to watch. There were some crackers here, particularly the Danish "Ingrid, Palle, and the Sounds", which reminded me of Roald Dahl at his most macabre, the French "Trouville" which was a very simple idea, but brilliantly executed, and "Badgered" which was a cartoon about a badger, which I can't imagine anyone not loving. Most were humorous even if "darkly" so. The of the two non-humorous ones, I particularly enjoyed "Resurrection", as, although there wasn't much to it, I really enjoyed the way it was put together.

Memorable Moments: Definitely "Badgered", it's great.

London Film Festival 14

The Great Silence
Review by charlie on Nov 1 2005 at 10:58:18 AM

Synopsis: Spaghetti western, set in a snow-bound Utah, revolving around a gang of bounty hunters, and a mute cowboy who's sworn to kill bounty hunters.

Review: Superb western, highly original plot and setting. The film was shot without sound, and with sound dubbed later for each language market, so there's no "original" soundtrack of the film, hence the lip-synching can be a little distracting. However, that's the only criticism of a film I really enjoyed, especially Klaus Kinski's menacing performance as the opportunistic, sadistic bounty hunter. Great plot, good score, good lines, great fight scenes. Shoots straight in to my top ten Westerns of all time.

Memorable moments: Klaus Kinski's eyes glowing with insanity, in the way that only Klaus Kinski's eyes can glow like that.

London Film Festival 13

Little Jerusalem
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2005 at 11:47:56 AM

Synopsis: Story of a Jewish woman struggling with the conflicts of a rational belief in philosophy, her religious background, and her falling in love.

Charlie's Review: I could go on about this film for hours, I was a bit worried that it would be gritty and depressing, but it wasn't, and there was just sooooo much to the film. Densely layered, philsophical, thoughtful, just brilliant, basically. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, so I'm not going to go into detail, I'm just going to say that it was extremely intelligent, and very thought-provoking about a vast range of different issues.

Memorable Scenes: This was more of an ideas movie than one particularly centred on stunning visuals, although there is one plane/helicopter shot of Paris covered in mist that was pretty breathtaking.

London Film Festival 12

Mirrormask
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2005 at 11:41:23 AM

Synopsis: Children's fantasy in which a girl's mother lies dying in the real world, so the girl enters a fantasy world.

Charlie's Review: Although the plot is a little bit hackneyed in the framing device (not a brilliantly original conceit) and the dialogue is a bit wooden, the imagination that went into the film is jaw-dropping. And it's all the more amazing that the film was shot for $4m, which is basically nothing, I only found this out afterwards, and during the film I was thinking "wow, I wonder where they got all the money together for this, it looks expensive". So I was definitely impressed. So for me, I thought the fantasy world was brilliantly thought-out, realised, and shot (actually the style of the filming was particularly good, it was very reminiscent of Caligari and Metropolis, we left before the director answered the "what were your influences" question, but I bet Expressionism featured somewhere).

Memorable Moments: Malcolm and the Bob's rescue of Valentine and Helena from the attack of the darkness, really fantastic.

London Film Festival 11

International Animation 2
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2005 at 11:36:00 AM

Synopsis: More crazy animations from around the world, although a lot of these were British this time.

Charlie's Review: Kenny liked the "Sit there and guard the corridor" animation best. I liked the "Russian soldiers diving board" animation best (I've since found out this is called "Fallen Art"). They were both brilliant though, we were agreed on that.

London Film Festival 10

The Passenger
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2005 at 11:34:10 AM

Synopsis: Another "treasure from the archives". It's a Jack Nicholson movie, directed by Antonioni, made in the 60s, but practically unavailable for the last ten years, I don't know why, but apparently Jack Nicholson owned the print, so he probably couldn't remember where he put it or something.

Charlie's Review: Up there with Blow Up for me. Very different stuff though. Locations are an unnamed Saharan African country, Germany and Spain. As it's Antonioni, it's no surprise that the visuals are incredible, and that the ending defines the whole movie. It's difficult to characterise, it's probably a road movie on balance, but this is still quite a misleading description. Either way, it's great. If you liked an intellectually stimulating film with similar themes to Blow Up or Performance, but not set in London, then see this. Really, really good in fact.

Memorable Scene: "What are you running from?" "Turn your back to the front seat."

London Film Festival 9

Los Olvidados
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2005 at 11:20:25 AM

Synopsis: A "treasures from the archive" special. Bunuel's film of 1950 telling the story of street children in Mexico City. Think City of God, but fifty years ago.

Charlie's Review: This was an incredible film, particularly the standard of the acting from the child leads which was extremely good. Obviously, with Bunuel, you have superb cinematography, and an obssession with dreams, but this was much more realist than Belle de Jour or That Obscure Object of Desire. It is also, interestingly, one of the very few films to be designated a world treasure by UNESCO. See it if you can, I loved it.

Memorable Moments: Pretty much all of it, but particularly Big Eyes' and Pedro's thousand yard stare performances.

London Film Festival 8

Blood Rain
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2005 at 11:16:34 AM

Synopsis: A historical murder mystery set in 1700's China. An increasingly gothic series of murders are carried out on an island whose only industry is the production of paper. Think "The Name of the Rose" but later, and in a different country.

Charlie's Review: This was superb. I'm always a sucker for whodunnits, but this was particularly well-realised, and the absurdly over-the-top murders were fantastic. It was also very interesting as an, albeit fictionalised, and presumably exaggerated, historical study.

Memorable Moments: All the death scenes, also the production design and cinematography was also superb, lush verdant hills, intimidating sea. Very visual film, in fact.

London Film Festival 7

Sisters In Law
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2005 at 11:10:08 AM

Synopsis: Documentary following two female magistrates in Cameroon and their battle to see justice done in some fairly unpleasant cases (one child abuse, and one spousal abuse).

Charlie's Review: I honestly think this is one of those films that everybody would like. I appreciate I'm fairly liberal with my praise for movies, but I would be genuinely surprised if someone came out of this not having liked it. The main characters the film follows are extremely charismatic women who clearly inspire those they work with and for with a genuine enthusiasm for the job, and it's a real pleasure watching them at work. There are some harrowing scenes when they go into the details of the crimes, but the film is ultimately optimistic in its belief in the power of people to enact permanent change in the rules of justice in society.

Memorable Moments: The lead's brilliant cross-examinations of all the accused.

London Film Festival 7

Takeshis'
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2005 at 11:04:05 AM

Synopsis: Beat Takeshi does Being John Malkovich! There's a real life Beat Takeshi the movie star, and there's also a Beat Takeshi who minds a store, and is trying to get work as an actor who nobody will hire.

Charlie's Review: On balance, I don't think I'll be watching this again, it's very heavy on the references to Beat Takeshi's other films, and while the character of both the real-life Takeshi and the fake Takeshi are so unsympathetic as to preclude the film being self-congratulatory, I can't really figure out who would like the film besides really ardent Takeshi fans. The constant dizzying cycle of dream and wake-up sequences are reminiscent of Bunuel, but not in a particularly good way.

Memorable Scenes: There are probably enough of these to save the movie from being actually bad, I think it would make excellent background, particularly some superb beach gun-fighting scenes and absurdist murders. Maybe one to rent or record off the telly.

London Film Festival 6

Spying Cam
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2005 at 10:59:25 AM

Synopsis: Two men, in a room, with nothing but a video camera and a copy of Crime and Punishment to entertain them, try to pass the time in skin-blistering heat.

Charlie's Review: I didn't enjoy this. I suspect that I probably wasn't meant to, as it was supposed to drive home the torture of being forced to do nothing for an extended period of time in uncomfortable conditions. But overall, I found it pretty film-schooly, it seemed very patchy and non-sequiturial, and the graininess of the filming really didn't help. When the men finally emerged from the room, the film definitely improved, and the sense of release was almost palpable, but I really don't think it was worth waiting for.

Memorable Moments: The atmosphere changes completely once both men leave the city, so although it doesn't really save the film, it was still a good bit.

London Film Festival 5

Kekexili: Mountain Patrol
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2005 at 10:55:31 AM

Synopsis: The true story of a bunch of Chinese Tibetan mountain-dwellers banding together to stop poachers, with almost no resources at their disposal, and with thousands of miles of mountain terrain they haven't really got the upper hand.

Charlie's Review: Just incredible. Think Aguirre: Wrath of God but in the Himalayas. The story is based on the report of a Beijing journalist who followed the band around on their mission to catch the poachers. I need time for it to settle in, but this is probably going to shoot in my top twenty list of movies of all time. I think it was all filmed on location, which is pretty incredible for a start. Everything about this movie totally rules.

Memorable Moments: All the landscape shots which really drive home the vastness of the landscape that these people have to cover, in all weather conditions.

London Film Festival 4

International Animation 1
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2005 at 10:50:39 AM

Synopsis: A selection of short animations from around the world.

Charlie's Review: A couple of quite self-obssessed animations, which appeared to be more therapy for the animator rather than individually any good. However, there were some real corkers as well, particularly a ray-traced Chinese animation following a child's dream, complete with sky-fishes and kites.

London Film Festival 3

Ultranova
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2005 at 10:47:30 AM

Synopsis: Follows the lives of a small group of people living depressing lives in Belgium.

Charlie's Review: I thought this was superb. The plot was a very "light touch" story in the manner of Wes Anderson, Jim Jarmusch, Antonioni, Wenders etc. The director was a first-timer, having spent most of his life as a painter. This really came through in the film, it was utterly enchanting visually, with pretty much every scene being a very beautiful tableau. I also really liked the story, it was simple, but very nicely thought out and poignant. I'd definitely buy this movie if it comes out on DVD.

Memorable Moments: Almost every frame was visually stunning, but particularly a sunrise scene from a bridge over a river.

London Film Festival 2

Election
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2005 at 10:42:27 AM

Synopsis: Relatively violent Hong Kong thriller following the internal machinations and in-fighting when a triad comes up for a change in leadership.

Charlie's Review: I enjoyed this. I'm guessing the film was shot on a relatively low budget, but it was very impressive what they managed with the resources. I found it particularly interesting from the point of view of explaining the rituals within Triad society, and it worked really well as a good, old-fashioned gangster movie. Some of the death scenes were particularly good, although I misunderstood the last one, and Kenny had to explain it to me.

Memorable moments: Much of the film follows a physical artefact that needs to be possessed as part of the tradition. The transit of this object is particularly well realised, with a high-energy chases, and side-switching moving geographically from the Chinese countryside all the way through to the Hong Kong metropolis, with a lot of very good fight scenes thrown in.

London Film Festival 1

Quo Vadis, Baby?
Review by charlie on Oct 31 2005 at 10:35:07 AM

It's been a long time since we've had any reviews on the site, so I thought I'd write some very brief reviews of all the films I've been watching at the London Film Festival.

Quo Vadis, Baby?
Synopsis: An Italian neo-Noir with a female lead. Many heavy nods to other films in the expressionist / noir genre, mainly "M", and "Last Tango in Paris".

Charlie's comment: I liked it. Noir tends to be a bit of a misogynist genre, and having this fiercely independent, brilliantly characterised female lead playing a private detective in the Jake Gittes mode (played not by a professional actress, but in fact played by an Italian singer) worked really well. Plot wasn't astoundingly original, but the director (Gabriele Salvatores, of "Mediterraneo" and "Marakech Express" fame) really created something extremely good out what he had to work with.

Memorable Moments: A particularly creepy scene in the nighttime rain in Rome in homage to The Third Man where an ex-client of the detective's appears out of the shadows.

I'm a REAL MAN, look at me, I'm a Man

Firing Guns at stuff
Review by MANT on Jan 18 2005 at 04:41:39 PM

Last week I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to fire a selection of guns at metal targets and some assorted fruit and vegetables. I have only fired a gun once before, and that was when shooting clays, and yet when I saw there was a possibility of letting loose with some real heavy firearms, I just had to have a go. Emily also participated. Chicks with Guns. Cool.

First of was an RP6, which is like a large machine gun. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to fire on full automatic as it's highly illegal, but I lay down and hit 3 out of 7 targets. Quite a large recoil, and a big bang. Not a bad start I thought to myself.

Next was the good ol' trusty AK47. I believe mine was a Chinese version. Anyway, all of a sudden I was Osama bin Laden and I had George W Bush in my sights, sadly I couldn't shoot for shit as it kept riding up in the air, just like in the movies, so Bushy got away.

Moving on to the sniper rifle for the last of the long distance firing, I managed 4 out of 7 targets and also managed to shoot out the wire of one of the targets, leaving it hanging in the air. I naturally pretended that it was intentional, and I was then Clint Eastwood shooting down my partner as he was being hanged in the Wild, Wild West.

9mm, semi-automatic. Think we were 20m away instead of the 100m with the large rifles previously, but really hard to shoot, well to hit anything I mean. Piece of piss to shoot. I was crap at this so hope I don't have to shoot any intruders as I'll miss.

Then it was a gun like the one Danny Glover has in Lethal Weapon. I was a cop weeks from retirement, with the gnarled, alcoholic, widowed cop-with-a-mission-to-stop-all-crime as my new partner, kicking some criminal ass. Sadly I was the cop who had never had to shoot anyone, so didn't hit the target at all.

Magnum .44 - The Ultimate Gun. Bigger than a French stick, and deadlier too. Even more surprisingly I managed to hit 2 of the targets. And Jesus Christ what a massive recoil that has on it. My hand was so bruised the next day it hurt when I changed gear in the car. Emily was much scarier firing this as the recoil made her arm whirl around her head like a deranged windmill, making all the other happy shooting spectators behind flee into the woods.

Now I'm an Israeli special forces guy, shooting Palestinians. That's right, it's Uzi time. Bt far the easiest gun to fire, very light, very accurate (I hit 7/7 targets, and was pretty smug about that), like a hand gun but rifle size.

Finally it was 4 rounds of a pumped action shot gun shooting a massive watermelon and a pumpkin. Boy this was fun, and the melon was tasty too.

So, 8 guns, me, some watermelons, chicks with guns.....does life get any better? I thoroughly recommend to everyone that they fire guns, even if you don't like them, or think they are dangerous, or think they are bad. There is no harm at exploding melons with a shotgun, or firing an AK47 and pretending you're an international terrorist.

If Only it Wasn't for Annie Goddamn Lennox...

The Return of the King, Extended Version
Review by charlie on Dec 27 2004 at 11:57:46 AM

Well, I was never going to dislike this film. I really enjoyed it when we all went to see it at the Odeon a year ago, and out of all of us, I think I coped most easily with the long ending. Incidentally, I think now that with the pacing as it is, the ending is a lot easier to handle, and somehow inevitable. I have to admit that even now, it still feels slightly like they may be trying to fit in too much, but as Peter Jackson says, the main point of the film was to tell Sam and Frodo's stories right to the ends.

The extra scenes aren't quite as obvious as they were in the first two extended versions, and I wish they'd had even more of Saruman and Wormtongue. But the beautiful Miranda Otto, and the hunky Sean-Bean-a-like David Wenham get more screen time, which has to be a good thing.

In fact, the only minus (and it's a much bigger minus than any applying to the earlier two films) is the Christ-awful song "Into the West". It only appears as vocals in the titles, so may be ignorable, but the musical phrase "Dum der dum dum, DUM dum der der duum" keeps popping up in the film. Christ, and the lyrics, "something something something, why do the white gulls call?". For fuck's sake. Utter, utter banality. And to add insult to injury, it won the Best Song Oscar at last year's Academy Awards. Jesus.

Having said that, it's reasonably easy to ignore, and as usual, the visuals are still jaw-dropping, even on the small screen. Particularly the last Boat-Going-Away-Scene, and Minas Tirith, and Minas Morgul. Actually, it's all amazing. It's just that fucking song, it really gets in your head.

Some Kind of Genius

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (by Susanna Clarke)
Review by charlie on Oct 18 2004 at 10:26:51 AM

OK, this is going to be a quick review, as I don't want to give anything away. But I wanted to raise this, as this is probably the most gripping book I've read in a long time. It's a really recent release.

OK, it's about magic, in the nineteenth century, in England. It rules, trust me. My copy's now almost unuseable, as I had to take it with me everywhere I went so I could carry on reading it. It's also funny. And nicely written in that kind of deliberately purple old-fashioned prose that manages still to sound light and cheerful.

Basically, I really was very impressed. Why this book didn't make it to the Booker shortlist, I don't know.

Takes Time...

The Magic Mountain
Review by charlie on Oct 8 2004 at 12:17:30 PM

OK, I think I've got it now. It's taken some time, but I now think that I understand bits of the Magic Mountain. I first read it in the year before university, and it was pretty dense and confusing. I've been browsing through it again, as I got a superb copy for my birthday this year. It's crazy, it makes a lot more sense the second time around, and Thomas Mann specifically says to try reading it again. So it's about the first half of the Twentieth Century. When Settembrini tells Hans Castorp how he must "get used to not getting used to things", although they're in a sanitarium high in the mountains, he's really talking about the sudden change of things at the end of the nineteenth century: industrialisation suddenly meant that architecture and tools now were much bigger, and looked nothing like the way they had done for the last several hundred years, and then, suddenly, in a few decades, everything is changing, science isn't about real things that you can see anymore, art isn't representational, and people are now able to slaughter people on a totally unprecedented scale, and for little reason.

The further I read, the more everything seems to fit together. I finished Mann's Doctor Faustus a couple of months ago, and I'm presuming I'm going to have to wait seven years for an epiphany on that one, but I'm sure it'll be worth the wait.

Magic Mountain cruises to joint equal at the top of the list of "Best Novels Ever".

Precise, Acute, Beautiful

Without Blood - Alessandro Baricco
Review by charlie on Sep 27 2004 at 12:11:24 AM

Alessandro Baricco is an Italian novellist who writes what often gets called magic realism. However, it's probably a misleading compartment, and inevitably leads to arguments about the relative quality of Marquez, Borges etc. and where exactly surrealism fits into the whole thing. So I'd want to classify him as an incredibly visual author. Visual in opposition to the kind of Kundera-esque non-visual post-modernism. Again, I'm shooting myself in the foot by pigeon-holing someone as utterly brilliant as Kundera like this, but this idea of a visual novel, I think, exactly captures why I love everything that Baricco has written (and actually he hasn't written all that much, and this new book is tiny: eighty small, large-type pages, at the bargain price of nine quid, so I'd recommend that people borrow it from me rather than buy it, as it's pretty steep per-page). It is, nonetheless, incredible. I won't go into the story, except to say that the themes are revenge and forgiveness. But it's driven with such an incredible eye, that I just want to go out and start forcing people to read his prose (the translation is brilliant, by the way, so don't be put off). Do you remember that scene in Taxi Driver, where Travis puts an Alka-Seltzer in his glass of water, and then just stares at it, and the camera slowly zooms in from his shoulder right down into the fizzing, chalky bubbles? Or the opening of Blue Velvet, where the camera slowly draws you into a severed ear covered in ants? Or the Sirens scene in Ulysses, where Leopold Bloom is sitting in the bar, trying to ignore the barmaids by fiddling with an elastic band ('Bloom wound a skein round four forkfingers, stretched it, relaxed, and wound it round his troubled double, fourfold, in octave, gyved them fast')? We've all played with an elastic band like this but has any other writer captured the process so precisely, so playfully, and so concisely? This "zooming eye" prose isn't easy to do, although a lot of writers try to do it. But when it does work, gently laid out in words like some kind of cobweb, precise and spare, it's an absolute joy to read. Alessandro Baricco has this gift in spades. I can't recommend his books enough.

A bit of Spain

Puerto Benus
Review by MANT on Sep 20 2004 at 03:15:49 PM

Puerto Benus is a port, and it's in Spain. If you were looking at a map it's on the bottom right I think, kind of right of Malaga and to the left of Marbella, in an area of Spain referred to as "The Costa del Sol".

This is where it gets a little bit strange as although you are in Spain, you don't need to speak Spanish as you won't actually meet anyone Spanish.

Puerto Benus is home to the first Linekers Bar, and what a bar it is. Famously set up by Gary's brother many moons ago, it is now right next to a gentlemen's club where young British girls seem to have lost most of their clothes. Also within this olde port town you will see many people driving up and down the sea front in old red Ferraris and the such like, for which you have to get a pass in order to drive on the sea front. There are also a huge number of very expensive shops here, which seems strange for a grotty part of Spain.

Also present in Puerto Benus are a large number of could be referred to as "Chav's". They are the ones to be found working in Linekers Bar or drinking outside the place. All in all a little weird really. Have a look at the big white boats, perve at some beautiful young women wearing very little indeed, laugh at the old men, speak English loudly, drink some tequila and have a merry old time at one of Spain's most famous and oldest cultural towns, then go to McDonald's on the way home. Holiday weirdness in bucket loads.

Forty-five minutes to an hour on average (departing c.0845)

The journey from Balham [SW12] to Paddington [W2]
Review by seffers on Sep 15 2004 at 05:35:52 PM

Bus, cab, train or tube is the first choice for the London traveller. This review will be concentrating (though not exclusively) on travelling by tube.

The best route is to take the Northern line from Balham, changing to the Victoria line at Stockwell, thence to Oxford Circus where the Bakerloo line finishes the journey to Paddington.

At Balham it's best to go to the back of the train for swift changes between the trains you're taking to Paddington. Often there can be quite a crowd waiting for the last carriage, but the front and middle of the train are usually the fullest when it arrives due to the position of the entrances to the platforms in the stations south of Balham, so getting onto the train shouldn't be a problem.

Standing level with the passageway to the Southbound platform should get you on to the front of the final carriage of the train. Stand on the far side of the carriage for easy exit at Stockwell. Leaning against the plastic partition provides a good reading position and the best view for staring at the pretty girls who are eyeing up the possibility of geting a seat in a deranged manner.

Lots of people will get on at Claphams South, Common and North (on the same side of the train as at Balham). This is particularly the case at Clapham South as the front of the rear carriage is level with the entrance to the platform. The next two stations also have entrances at the very back of the train. Don't forget to plant your feet firmly and have your back or side facing the oncoming hordes of braying Claphamites so you don't have someone backing into your book. Don't be intimidated by an outraged City worker demanding an already packed carriage crush themselves together to let him/her on. He/she is a cunt.

At Stockwell half the people on the train will get out to change to the Victoria line. You will be amongst them, nay, first of them (due to your smart positioning against the door). That is unless when you arrive there is a big crowd of people waiting to get onto the train. That means that the Victoria line is fucked and the driver's not bothered to tell you. Do not get of the train in this case. Carry on to Waterloo (where you take the Bakerloo line to Paddington or (the less recommended route) Jubilee line to Baker Street and the Bakerloo line to Paddington) if you are on the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line or to Elephant & Castle (Bakerloo line) or London Bridge (Jubilee line) if you're on the City branch.

At Stockwell you should be getting out of the train directly in front of the passageway at the back of the platform taking you through to the Victoria line. Go through it and turn left at the end. Walk about 15 yards until you get to the end of the big poster level with the sweet machine and bench. (you will be roughly halfway along the platform. Do not be distracted by the prettiest girls all walking past you to the very end of the platform (where presumably they get onto the naked tickle fight carriage at the back of the train). If you follow them you may have a more pleasant journey but will be further from the correct place at Oxford Circus and will add seconds maybe even minutes to your travelling time.

The Victoria line trains have a bit in the middle where two trains join together. You want the second set set of doors behind this join. Again go to the opposite side of the carriage as lots of people get on and off between Stockwell and Oxford Circus.

At Oxford Circus you should get off the train opposite the tunnel to the Bakerloo line. At this point the prettiness of the girls takes an odd turn. The overall standard definitely drops, but the fittest girls appear to much be much fitter. Some scientists but this down to early onset cabin fever, but no conclusive results have yet been produced.

Emerging from the tunnel onto the Bakerloo line platform, stay more or less where you are. Maybe tuck yourself in next to the sweet machine as lots of idiots walk through and pause around there before deciding which way to walk so causing much ambling congestion and bumping into each other.

The train exits from both sides on the way to Paddington so best lean in a doorway at the end of a carriage for a cooling breeze and less chance of falling over as the skaing Bakerloo line lurches around the track. Beware though the piercing squeal when the train corners, so avoid standing by the window if you have delicate ears.

Arriving at Paddington you should get off the train by the exit. Walk quickly with shoulders flexed to avoid the crush of grade A cretins trying to board the escalator.

Notes:

a) If the Northern line is broken as sometimes happens, particularly if it's raining, the take the overland train to Victoria, join the Victoria underground line and continue to Oxford Circus (see above).

b) If there is a tube strike, the walk from Victoria station to Hyde Park and then through Hyde Park to Paddington is a fine one that takes about 45 minutes at a brisk pace.

"I've bloody got half of these..."

DJ Format Presents A Right Earful Mix Tape Volume 1
Review by Ross on Sep 15 2004 at 10:56:13 AM

DJ Format you may know from his lovely old skool flavoured singles with Abdominal, and subsequent album replete with ace Jurassic 5 collaboration 'We Know Something You Don't Know'. I bought this mixtape of his after leaving my old job with a fistful of Virgin vouchers. It's essentially like a DJ Yoda 'How To Cut and Paste' album without the jokes and Rick Astley excursions. If you've heard the DJ Format album, you'll know what sort of flavours to expect. '91 era style hip hop, The Pharcyde, Black Sheep, Souls Of Mischief etc. Never a bad thing. 'Ya Mouth Stink' by Lord Sear is a gem, two verses of a bloke complaining about someone else's bad breath over a bouncing horn sample. The Ugly Duckling exclusive, 'Almond Rocha', is thankfully more like something off their earlier 'Fresh Mode' EP than the horrible Fatboy Slim-isms that stunk out 'Taste The Secret'.

Songs about the process of writing songs nearly always suck...here's another

Natasha Bedingfield's "These Words" single
Review by Ross on Aug 27 2004 at 06:04:08 PM

There's a track on DJ Format's 'Music For The Mature B-Boy' album called 'The Hit Song', where rapper Abdominal uses the first verse to detail the process that led up to the track being recorded (Basically, DJ Format rings him up while he's at a poker game and asks him if he wouldn't mind recording another hit record with him, as his record label are of the opinion that the album's got a bit too much filler on it, Abdominal agrees) whilst using the word 'hit' as many times as he can. In the second verse he describes the process of writing the lyrics using words that rhyme with 'hit'. In the third verse he just shows off his way with a 'hit'-based metaphor. In the chorus he tells you what he's doing, just in case you don't bother listening to lyrics that closely. It's a funny, clever, effortless sounding record and is the only song about writing a song I can think of that doesn't make me pray for temporary deafness. Or turn the radio off. Whichever's easiest.

Natasha Bedingfield, sister of Daniel Bedingfield, daughter of Mumm-Ra and Hitler Bedingfield, has done her own song about what it's like to write a song, 'These Words', and it stinks like a dead cat up a chimney. It's a record that sounds simultaneously smugly pleased with itself and overeager for you to like it. Only the new Bryan McFadden solo song stops it from having the worst lyrics in recorded history.

It includes the line 'Read some Byron, Shelley and Keats/Recited it over a hip hop beat', which in my darker more paranoid moments I have come to believe was written purely to wind ME up, such is the tin-foil-on-teeth effect it has on my nerves. It's like the head through the boat in 'Jaws'. You know it's coming, but it always gets you. (Well then why are you repeatedly listening to this song, Ross? I'm not, it's everywhere all the time, in shops, on TV, on the radio, squatting in my frontal lobe like a malevolent black toad and I CAN'T ESCAPE IT!!!!) Busted singing 'triple breasted women walk around town..totally naked' I can just about handle, as I believe deep down Busted themselves are a bit embarrased every time they sing that. This 'Keats/hip hop beat' thing though. She as good as arches her eyebrow and goes 'yeah?' after that bit, and it's SHIT!!!!!

What's worse is there are people thinking this wafer thin dreck that sounds like the crumbs off Nelly Furtado's table is actually CLEVER. 'Wow, man, she's writing a song about writing a song. Who'd have thought of that before?' (I'm paraphrasing). Lots of people, and they mostly all sucked. Elton John, 'Your Song'. Awful lyrics. I'm surprised Elton John didn't go into the room Bernie Taupin wrote in and kick seven bells of shit out of him after he handed that one in. Spandau Ballet 'True' "Why do I find it hard to write the next line?" I dunno, cause you're lazy? Come back and sing it when you've thought of a proper one, you dick.

If you're a singer thinking of writing a song about writing a song, I urge you to stop for a second and think about what you're doing. It's a bit self indulgent, isn't it? Come on, you're a creative human being alive and open to the variety that life has to offer. Don't waste it writing about WRITING.

Predictable and utter shit film

"The Village", Directed by M. Night Shaymalayaanyanann
Review by MANT on Aug 26 2004 at 04:21:09 PM

I'll give you a brief summation of this film:

There's a village where lots of people live, they don't go into the woods because it's populated by scarey red monsters who kill people. All red things are bad. The people live very simple lives, no money, no roads, etc etc. There's a blind girl (who can't act blind, they should poke her eyes out next time), Joacquin Phoenix who plays a weirdo, a spastic cripple and some other people too. Blind girl and weirdo fall in love and get married, then spastic cripple who is secretly in love with blind girl stabs weirdo. Weirdo nearly dies. Blind Girls' father sends her into the woods to find a town to get medicine to save the weirdo. (It's at this point where I wanted a spastic cripple to stab me). Blind Girls father is one of 9 "Founding Elders" of the camp, all of whom have lost their wife or husband in a murder in the evil towns. No-one has ever left the village before as it's too dangerous to face the scarey monsters. They all feel safer in the village away from the towns, with their "Understanding" with the monsters.
So, Blind girl sets out to the Town, through the scarey forest, trying to avoid the monsters, to get the weirdo some medicine to stop him dying after the spastic cripple has stabbed him. Now we get a few flashbacks. The spastic cripple was caught and locked up after the stabbing, but he escaped through the floor. The Blind Girls' father tells the blind girl that the monsters don't exist. She's wandering through the forest on her own, and then a monster attacks her in a red suit, who looks like santa, with claws. She foils the bad monster by making it run into a hole, monsters head falls off and it's revealed the monster is actually the spastic cripple. (Spastic cripple had found a scarey monster/santa suit under the floor boards as he escaped after stabbing the weirdo, obviously put it on and then went running into the forest). Blind girl carries on, finds the road she was looking for, follows it, comes to a wall, climbs over it, and then is stopped by a security guard in a Jeep. This is the point where you are suposed to wet yourself with surprise that it is actually 2003 and not the nineteenth century as we were led to believe. Who would have thought it, eh? Needless to say i did. I guessed after about 20 minutes, then thought "No that's too dumb", but then I was right. So obviously I was a bit smug afterwards, but it was so obvious i didn't feel very clever.
The security guard works for a firm called "Walker", the Blind Girls father is called Mr. Walker....more flashbacks to him at a counselling group in the 1970's with all the other "Elders" of the Village, with voicover saying "I'm a professor, I have an idea to get away from this pain...."
Security Guard takes medicine ,gives it to Blind Girl. Blind Girl goes back into the forest, over the wall, doesn't realise what she's missed as she's blind, goes back to weirdo, saves weirdo, spastic cripple is dead. The village then told that spastic cripple was killed by monsters to stop anyone trying to run away from utopia into the western world. Bit at the end about planes not being allowed to fly over the area too.

So that's it really. It's utter crap. So predictable, badly acted, awful script, just complete rubbish. Can't belive M. Knight Rider Shameonyou got paid $12.5 to do this. And it's got Sigourney Weaver in it and no aliens, so more reason to be shit.

Walter Mosley Triumphs Again

Little Scarlet, by Walter Mosley (Novel)
Review by charlie on Aug 24 2004 at 11:44:21 AM

I don't know if any of you guys have heard of Walter Mosley. He writes superb detective stories (although he's also written some science fiction, I think). I've been avidly reading the Easy Rawlins series of detective stories, which follows the eponymous hero through American history (each novel is written at a key point in American Twentieth Century history). Easy Rawlins is a black guy who grew up out of a hard life in New Orleans before moving to LA after fighting in Europe and Africa in the Second World War. The first novel, Devil in a Blue Dress was made into a really good film, which no-one ever talks about, oddly enough. Anyway, I love detective stories, and in and of themselves, they're great, but the best thing about detective stories is pretty much always the background against which they are set, Raymond Chandler wouldn't be nearly so interesting if the steamy, sleazy LA his novels depict wasn't so evocative. And Easy Rawlins ventures into places that Chandler never really mentioned, and Philip Marlowe would have feared to have trod.

I really can't recommend these books enough. Start at the beginning of the series, and read through them all (I think there are six now), they just get better each time. I can't see how Mosley can possibly beat Little Scarlet, but he probably will when the next one comes out.

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