UK Film Network

THE TIMES BFI 53^RD LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 14-29 October 2009

Published by: Tremayne (Potter)

Thursday 29^th October

On the final day of the festival I made my way across to The London Film Theatre along The South Bank to watch the film ‘Leave Her To Heaven’ which prevented me from checking-in on my e-mails concerning the films that had been awarded prizes and the times they would be screened that very same day, however, it meant I got to experience a re-mastered 1940s film classic, which I might otherwise have never seen.  Check end of review for list of prize-winning films.

Leave Her To Heaven

Dir.: John M Stahl/ Scr Jo Swerling/ with Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, Vincent Price/ USA 1945/ 110 min

‘A film seemingly made in a trance and best seen in a state of fever,’ says David Thomson in Biographical Dictionary Of Film.  ‘A fever pitch’, reflects Anthony Lane in an article for the New Yorker, reminiscing over films past in time for a revival in New York.

John M Stahl is well established for pre-sirk, black-and-white romantic melodramas described as ‘women’s pictures’, for example, in Back Street and Imitation of Life, before taking a brave step in to what has been described by Thomson as being ‘self-destructive technicolour emotionalism’.  And it is through the essence of technicolour and the film’s ‘noir’ feel that our attention is constantly held.  Gene Tierney plays a horrid heroine.  Clearly born to have been projected on to three-strip technicolour.  Her lips said to be ‘as red as a witch’s apple!’  Think Snow White, oozing her sweetness from the offset till domination is allowed to take control.  Tierney’s character Ellen is uncaring, utterly fixated, hanging on to ‘a father complex’, which she allows to transfer across to husband Richard, played by Cornel Wilde, while, in comparison, her sister (Jeanne Crain) remains the forever perfect and doting one. ‘There’s nothing wrong with Ellen, she just loves too much’, says her mother convincing Richard, after which Ellen under an act of jealousy witnesses his disabled brother drowning and does not go to his aide.  She then miscarries their unborn child by purposely stumbling down the stairs.  Over-the-top in every sense of the word but really captures the era in which it was shot.

The Academy Film Archive is to thank for the brilliant restoration of Oscar-winning cameraman Leon Shamroy’s rich Technicolour photography, which was financially supported by  The Film Foundation.

The Awards at this year’s festival acknowledged the following films:

The awards this year were awarded to the following films:

Winner of Best Film Award: The Prophet

Winner of The Sutherland Trophy: Ajami

 Winner of Best British Newcomer Award: The Scouting Book for Boys

Winner of Grierson Award: Defamation

THE TIMES BFI 53^RD LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 14-29 October 2009

Published by: Tremayne (Potter)

Monday 26 October

Kicks

Dir.: Lindy Heymann/ Scr Leigh Campbell/ with Kerrie Hayes, Nichola Burley, Jamie Doyle/ UK 2009/ 81

Nicole, played by Kerrie Hayes, is a reserved Liverpudlian teenager, who is somewhat neglected by her parents,with a mother who devotes her no attention due to working nights and a father who has upped and left to start family number two!  Most of her spare time is spent around Anfield and Melwood training grounds, in a desperate bid to see her idol, who come s in the form of midfielder Lee Cassidy (Jamie Doyle).  It is then that she meets wannabe WAG Jasmine (Nichola Burley), from a well off background, with more street cred than she and attention to fashion but it is their obsession for Cassidy which draws them together.  They traipse across the city and its nightly hotspots, daydreaming about Lee and how one day they may be fortunate enough to be on their own with him.  However, when they get to hear of his transfer to Real Madrid, they take it upon themselves to ensure he does not leave the country whatever the price.  ‘One of the Digital Departures Projects which were developed as part of Liverpool’s Tenure as European Capital of Culture.’  Vaguely adapted from an unfulfilled screenplay by Michael Winterbottom collaborator Lawrence Coriat, Lindy Heymann establishes her mark well with Kicks – her feature debut.  A bright and perceptive take on modern celebrity culture.

I met Lindy Heymann (director) and Leigh Campbell (screenwriter) at The Filmmaker Afternoon Tea at The Mayfair Hotel on Monday 26 October when I sat in on an interview that was being conducted by another journalist/filmmaker, where I learnt the two female characters in the film, constrasting in hair colour and personality, had been compared to the director and screenwriter themselves.

THE TIMES BFI 53^RD LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 14-29 October 2009

Published by: Tremayne (Potter)

Wednesday 28 October

Giulia Doesn’t Date At Night (Giulia Non Esce La Sera)

Dir.: Giuseppe Piccioni/ Scr. Giuseppe Piccioni, Federica Pontremoli/ with Valerio Mastandrea, Valeria Golina, Sonia Bergamascol.

Italy 2009/ 106 min

Giuseppe Piccioni was an absolute delight to talk to.  Such a pity that I was pulled away from him at The Filmmaker Afternoon Tea on Wednesday 28 October.  It wasn’t my intention but I was to take part in a group interview in one of the suites upstairs with Glorious 39 director, Stephen Poliakoff.

Filmmaker Giuseppe Piccioni is a ‘hidden gem of Italian cinema.’  His exquisite films have been seen by London Film Festival goers for over a decade.  As with his previous work , for example, Light Of My Eyes and Not Of This World, Giulia Doesn’t Date At Night, at first glance has a simple structure but, as the story is unveiled, you realize it is carefully pieced together, with unpretentious performances.  Not to wish to delve too deeply into the plot – a frustrated writer is close to success when he starts up a relationship with a swimming teacher who carries around a desperately unhappy past.  We must give thanks to Piccioni who, as a filmmaker, tells us a sweet tale where disaster inevitably strikes, with echoes of The Reader in it.  Above all  Giulia Doesn’t Date At Night shows a  great understanding of the way  people behave.  Cinema you will not be able to take your eyes off!

‘Italy’s most original yet still underappreciated talents.’

The Times sponsored BFI 53^rd London Film Festival 2009: 14-29 October

Published by Tremayne (Potter)

Wednesday 28 October

The Disappearance of Alice Creed

Dir-Scr J Blakeson/ with Gemma Arterton, Eddie Marsan, Martin Compston/ UK 2009/ 98 min

The film’s director and screenwriter, J Blakeson, was more than happy to talk to me at The Filmmaker Afternoon Tea on Wednesday 28 October at The Mayfair Hotel.   Now let me share with you what the film is about.

Synopsis

Two men concoct a plan in private to steal a van and purchase tools and material  to set-up in a run down flat.  With an air of awkwardness  it’s clear to see the brutality is serious and not merely mild torture.

They disguise themselves using masks and carry guns on them, as they grab a young woman from a derelict part of town.  She is thrown into the back of their van and driven to a hideout where she is then handcuffed.

As disturbing as the opening scenes of The Disappearance of Alice Creed are, it is from this point that we, as viewers, are led to believe we are about to witness your typical terror movie.

We must, however, take our hats off to J Blakeson, who manages to sustain the unsettling style he set out with. Even after more about the protagonists is revealed, as with their relationships to one another…

Each has their own motive but we’re always unsure as to where we will be led next.

J Blakeson even slips in a spattering of black comedy.  Gemma Arterton, Eddie Marsan and Martin Compston use the film to show off their constant readiness within film acting.

‘An endlessly inventive debut feature.’

‘A committed, claustrophobic three-hander.’

THE TIMES BFI 53^RD LONDON FILM FESTIVAL: 
14-29 October 2009 
Published by: Tremayne (Potter)

Monday 26 October

Ander

Dir-Scr.: Roberto Caston / with Josean Bengoetxea, Christian Esquivel, Mamen Rivera / Spain 2009 / 129 min.

Synopsis

Forty something Ander leads a closed life.  He runs the family farm.  His mother resents the fact that his sister, fourteen years his junior, is getting married before him.

Ander is part of a world where men must behave in a certain way and the women are to be seen and not heard.  But when Ander takes a fall, plans must be put in place for the temporary upkeep of the farm, Jose enters into his life and questions him on how everything has come to be the way it has around him.

This is Roberto Caston’s debut feature, a winner of the CICAE prize for Best Film at Berlin’s Panorama.  He manages to put across a thoughtful perception of a blossoming relationship between two very different characters, against a Basque countryside backdrop.

Josean Bengoetxea purposely downplays his performance of a middle aged man who begins to rethink the meaning of life as Jose becomes a part of it.

Caston is not afraid to show the harsh reality that comes of leading a rural life and has an innate understanding of the different types of community that exist in this muddled contemporary world we live in.

THE TIMES BFI 53^RD LONDON FILM FESTIVAL:

14-29 October 2009

Published by: Tremayne (Potter)

Monday 26 October

Ander

Dir-Scr.: Roberto Caston / with Josean Bengoetxea, Christian Esquivel, Mamen Rivera / Spain 2009 / 129 min.

I was lucky enough to receive a personal invite by its director Roberto Caston to the UK Premiere of the Basque-style Brokeback Mountain. I had spoken to him earlier that day at The Filmmaker Afternoon Tea at The Mayfair Hotel.

Q & A Session held at the end of the film

The director of the film, Roberto Caston, starts by giving a background to the film and how it came about.The Housing & Social Affairs Association commissioned the film, which is a rarity.  He began: “They wanted me to write something which dealt with social integration within the gay community.  And given this opportunity,I decided to make the characters very real by placing them in a rural setting.”

How did you find your actors?

“The casting warranted a good bunch of actors who were believable and spoke fluent Basque, which could have proved difficult.  Luckily Jose (Josean Bengoetxea), who plays Ander, was also The Secretary to Basque Actors and could make a few suggestions, which resulted in a closed Casting.”

“The actress who played Remi was an old friend of mine and a lead in my first short.  I still got her to do a screen test.”

“ As for Christian’s character, it was hard to find a Peruvian actor in Spain but then, I had a friend suggest Christian (Christian  Esquivel) who he’d seen in a T.V. series.”

Christian Esquivel, himself, at this point adds: “For a Latin American, to be given this opportunity was really quite something.  Also experiencing what happens the characters and the intensity that surrounds them.The director devoted a lot of time to each character’s development.”

Roberto Caston, the director, continues to speak about character development, “The actors were taken to a rural cottage, the same as you see shot in the film.”

Why do you think there were distribution issues for the film in Spain?

“Not only is the film concerning a gay relationship, it doesn’t come across in a very humourous way as is often the case with gay characters.

A proportion of the film would, also, have to be subtitled for a Spanish audience, to enable them to follow the scenes spoken in Basque.

I’m not that well known to the commercial circuit but I hope to have distribution in Spain before the year is out.  We will find we experience the same difficulties all over Latin America, as well as Brazil and Argentina.”

How do you see yourself moving forward?

“To continue on a similar vein, not like in ‘Babel’ though but with a few stories which interweave, as ‘without emotion, there’s no cinema.’ “

The Times sponsored BFI 53^rd London Film Festival 2009

Published by Tremayne (Potter)

THE FINAL DAY OF THE FESTIVAL: 29 October 2009

Starsuckers

UK 2009/100 min

A docu-film by director Chris Atkins, who was BAFTA-nominated for his Blair-baiting documentary, Taking Liberties.  

‘Starsuckers probes various aspects of celebrity culture with a scathing wit and sense of mischief, from the pushy parents who seek recognition for their children to the established public figures who use their position to gain political influence. It illustrates how truth has become devalued by the modern news media.’

Chris Atkins made an unexpected appearance yesterday at The Vue Cinema, Leicester Square on the final day of The BFI 53^rd London Film Festival after the 13h00 screening of the film Starsuckers, allowing for a 10-min window where people could ask questions.

1)Where did you get your inspiration from for the film?

“A critique has never been done before on media companies.  I got the inspiration for it about two years ago.

I thought, if you can make someone laugh, you engage them a lot more. That’s why it took two years to make. There’s no central character, so I

invented the personage of God of the Starsuckers, who helps  to create media concepts that are all around us.”

2)On your own Blog it mentions the £5,000 grant you were refused by The UK Film Council.  Your film exposed the media and its spin doctors, how can we believe that this isn’t just another hoax?

“Of course, there’s a circular pattern of cynicism on this subject and this week we’re up against James Cameron film Avatar and Michael Jackson movie – This is it.  You’re rightfully meant to be given a £5,000 grant from The UK Film Council but instead they gave us a £5,000 fuck-off!”

3)What were your reasons for making the film?

“Because these people are conning us out of money and I wanted to expose them for what they really are!”

4)Why is your narrator’s voice American?

“It wouldn’t have worked with my own voice, an Oxbridge graduate, especially when the main media swaggering has come from America, and I wanted to create something that was unique.”

5)The film doesn’t offer any solutions to the problems.  Why is that?

“If you’re not careful you run the risk of being like Live8 where more coverage was devoted to the stars themselves. I believe that all gossip columns should attach the tag ‘probably not true’ to them!”

6)What resources would you recommend to prevent this media juggernaut from catapulting out of control?

“Stop your children from watching T.V. It hasn’t done me any harm.  And stop buying trashy magazines.”

7)For the scene in the shopping centre where you asked parents’ permission to allow their child to take part in an infomercial, explaining what happens to an animal after it has been taken to the slaughterhouse, using a rubber chicken and a toy axe, did many refuse?

“2 out of the 42 we asked.”

8)To reach a television audience how would you have to alter the film?

“It would have to be massively edited, cut down by half and most probably be only shown on More4 after midnight.”

9)Have you noticed any recent changes in the world of the Media?

“Yes, the circulation in magazine sales is dropping.”

The difference with today’s Journalists is that they’re not given time to sift through news, casting aside the bad from the good, with the exception of Private Eye whose information doesn’t go out to press until two weeks later.”

Starsuckers is released on October 30^th by City Screen & Curzon Screen.

THE TIMES BFI 53^RD LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 14-29 October 2009

Published by: Tremayne (Potter)

Saturday 24 October

Don’t Worry About Me

dir.: David Morrissey (his debut feature length film)

London lad David travels up to Liverpool to hunt down the girl from last night’s one night stand.  After he’s told where to go, he finds himself wandering the streets until he comes across a betting shop where a shy and slightly reserved Tina gives him a tip on which dog to place his bet on.  On his win, David invites Tina out for coffee and encourages her to take the rest of the day off work.  She shows him the hot tourist spots but behind those smiling eyes of her’s, lies locked-up pain.

Q & A Session at the end of The World Premiere

David Morrissey gives some background in to the film.

“Don’t Worry About Me is an independent film which I raised the funds for myself.  The film couldn’t have been made without the help of its producer John Maxwell.

It was originally a play called ‘The Pool’ and was written by the two principal actors you saw in the film tonight.”

Did you find it easy to give up your story to a film production company? (directed at principal actors, Helen Elizabeth & James Brough)

“It was originally a 2-man show we took up to Edinburgh, written in rhyming couplets.  It was easy to let go of, having started off as a little play we had made no assumptions about what it might turn in to.”

How did you achieve the look you did in the film?

 “James Wright, the cameraman.  It was also shot on Sony, HD.

Right now, in Liverpool, a modern city is immerging from out of the older part of the city and I wanted the film to reflect that.

What took its time was being granted permission to shoot in different locations but people were most accommodating which lent to itself.”

Were you looking for a project that would be shot in Liverpool?

“Yes, or at least the North West as that’s where my production company is based.”

Can you tell us about the leap from T.V. to film.

“With the film there was no financial help. All of it had to be raised by my own means, which meant constantly doing deals, which, of course, uses up a lot of time.

The advantage I had, however, was there was no executive producer getting in the way of my own creative vision.

I also had to keep within a budget.”

 How did you come to write together? (directed towards Helen Elizabeth & James Brough).

“We both knew each other from Drama School and came up with the story when we were poor.”

 What would you advise any one coming in to the acting profession?

“I would advise those just starting out to watch all of their footage as much as possible as what they think they’re doing, can come across very differently on screen.

You won’t get much rehearsal time in your career but it’s something

I made sure there was enough of in my own film, two weeks in all.”

What transformations did the characters have to go through to make that shift from theatre  in to film? (directed at actors, Helen Elizabeth & James Brough).

“On stage we played for caricatures.  Whereas with David (David Morrissey) he would say to us ‘I can see what you’re thinking.  Change your thoughts.’ ”

James Brough adds: “They are very real, flawed characters. 

David (David Morrissey) helped us to see the good and the bad sides of each character.”

How was breaking in to acting relevant to when you came round to direct?

“The director of ‘One Summer’, my breakthrough movie, gave me a great grounding.  It was from then on I knew I wanted to focus on acting.  I learnt about lenses, set-ups, cameras and, the fact,

that it’s not all about the actors but the whole team.”