Latest Weird Film - Mullholland Drive

Watched Mulholland Drive last night with a bunch of mates, it's pretty much the definition of the weird film so I'm a little surprised that it took us this long to get around to watching it. I first saw it not long after it came out, before the days of imdb and so before I was able to easily research what on earth it was all about. Even these days though it still takes a lot of thought to get what's going on in this apparently non-sensical thriller

You can understand the basic plot fairly easily with a few pointers, but even without that there's a lot to enjoy. At a straight level the film can be seen as a comment on the shallowness of the Hollywood film industry - in which starry-eyed country girl Betty arrives anonymously in Los Angeles eager to see her dreams of stardom fulfilled while director Adam's film is taken out of his control by mobsters and the meek amnesiac actress 'Ruth' hides out from the very same mobsters who are probably out to kill her. Ooh isn't Hollywood nasty.

Of course in reality there's hugely more to it than this. It's a story of love and betrayal in the unforgiving world of the film industry and how an outsider's reaction to that has dire consequences. Part of the joy of the film comes from being confused by what's happening and then trying to put together the various pieces to arrive at a satisfying story. Believe me when I say that there is a coherent story in there, and that even when all the characters appear to become different people towards the end it does actually make sense if you pay attention to the clues. It's all about reality versus fantasy and how terrible events and psychoses in one can deeply affect you in the other.

Oddly enough, despite all the warnings of confusing dialogue, dream sequences, out-of-place scenes and intangible characters, I think it's one of David Lynch's most accessible films. This is probably because if you think about it enough the plot is understandable and linear (sort of), set in the real world and about things we can relate to. Plus there are two glamorous lead characters (that's right lads, two glamorous girls in the lead roles who - get this - get more than a little intimate!) and a number of superb stand-alone scenes such as the "It is all an illusion" scene at 'Club Silencio'. Plus it's the film where Naomi Watts got her break into the acting big leagues, not a surprise really given the range of emotions she's required to portray throughout the film's various realities. From doe-eyed wonder to the terrifying paranoia of jealousy and everything in between she gives an acting masterclass.

And if you're still lost after you've seen it have no fear though, you can always go here for help!

Exam

I saw a trailer for 'Exam' ages ago on the internet and I was pretty interested. I'm not entirely sure when or if it ever got released to cinemas, but I dimly remember seeing its release date on LoveFilm some months ago - on to my list it went, a week ago it arrived in the post. It almost goes without saying what a shame it is that a small budget British production with an interesting idea should pass all the mainstream cinemas by. For those of us who don't live in London (or possibly another major British City) it is pretty much impossible to find anywhere showing films like this. One wonders how much of an audience this film will ever have.

But I digress, for I have not yet told you what kind of a film this is. 'Exam' has a simple premise, 8 candidates for an unknown but extremely desirable job sit an exam. The invigilator provides them verbal instructions at the start of the film. They have 80 minutes to answer the question. They may not spoil their papers or leave the exam room; they may not attempt to communicate with the invigilator or the armed guard. He then starts a clock counting down from 80 minutes and leaves the room, the candidates turn over their exam papers to discover... nothing. A blank page. From there the candidates have to work out what is going on, what the question they have to answer is, and who the other people in the room with them are.

It's a great idea for a mystery story. Sitting exams is something that fills many of us with fear in a way that's more real than many a horror film, the anxiety comes from being able to leave at any time but knowing that to do so will mean disqualification and failure. Thankfully - unlike many a mystery story - by the end the resolution is fairly satisfying. I advise people to check it out.

Just in case you're worried, they don't all simply sit there in silence for 80 minutes scratching their heads.

Salt - insert pun here

As I start to write this review I wonder how common it is that when film producers come up with marketing tools for their releases they have one eye on the potential for punnery that could arise from the film's subject matter. I ponder this after considering how many reviewers of this film have tried to desperately come up with a pun based on something salty. If only Angelina Jolie was older you could say something like "... Jolie is well-preserved for a X-year old actress...", or maybe something about the ending “…leaving me thirsty for more”, or perhaps something even more terrible. Ho hum, the things that go through my mind while I'm killing time at the end of the working day. Madness.

'Salt' is a kind of OK type of film, a film about which I can't really think of anything brilliant to say but at the same time was an entirely reasonable way to spend an evening. Angelina Jolie plays a CIA agent who within the first 10 minutes is on the run from her bosses after being accused by a Russian 'walk-in' of being a Russian spy. She is going to kill the Russian president apparently, even if she doesn't know it yet. This is a film that doesn't take long to get going.

It then rattles along with a reasonable pace, plenty of chases and shooting and Angelina dyeing her hair a new colour. Surely Angelina is the good guy, isn’t she? Maybe, but maybe not – and who will / wont / should / shouldn’t believe her? There are plenty of nice twists and turns and guns and tech and stunts. Salt's world of backward motivations and clandestine agendas takes her eventually to a bunker underneath the White House and the brink of nuclear war – then it kicks off properly. I was pretty sure that the plot didn't hold up at the end after all those twists and shifting goalposts, but a quick post-film deconstruction of Salt's motivations and actions with my housemate proved I was wrong – turns out the writers have created something fairly solid.

As I already said though, there's not a huge amount to write home about here, and I guess that from this point of view it's a little depressing that it's done moderately well in cinemas. But then there wasn't really much out last week. The Runaways comes out next week though, should be good.

Pandorum

I'm not going to spend too long reviewing this, mainly because I felt like I wasted enough time already on Wednesday evening just by watching it. The plot is that in the future the world is over-populated, so a spaceship carrying thousands of people is fung off into space to an Earth-like world to populate it and essentially resettle humanity. Some of the crew wake up early and realise that something is not quite right on the ship. They can't get into the bridge to find out where they are and there are strange creatures knocking about - not what you want really.

I suppose that Pandorum could have been a good film if it there was (a) any attempt to generate suspense, (b) any plot at all and (c) a better director involved. The creatures on the ship are unmasked far too early to generate any kind of tension, every time anything action-based happens the director goes instantly to a shaky running camera and I don't really know what the plot was. Something about the main character having to restart and engine so that Dennis Quaid can get into the bridge?

Admittedly the ending was kind of satisfying, but by the time we got there I didn't care to be honest. If I were you I wouldn't bother.

Ponyo - the magical fish with a face

The sixth instalment of 'weird film night' at my new house this Tuesday had us watching last year's Studio Ghibli animation 'Ponyo'. This was the second Japanese animation in a row for weird film night (last time was 'Akira'), which proves that either Japanese animation is well odd or that we in the west don't really get it.

Ponyo is a story about a fish (with a face) called Ponyo who gets found trapped in a glass by a little boy. As the boy plays with Ponyo and feeds her, Ponyo reveals magical powers and demonstrates the ability to talk. After playing with the boy for ages, she starts to slowly turn into a girl. I guess in one sense this is standard fairy tale stuff, but there's something about Japanese animation that makes everything seem totally otherworldly, which makes the film seem a lot weirder than it would if the same story were told using a Western style.

We watched the version that had been dubbed over with English-speaking actors. There were some big names in there, mainly Liam Neeson and Cate Blanchet as the wizard and goddess of the sea. Tina Fey voices the mother of the young boy who befriends Ponyo, a fantastically comic character who seems like a great mum despite demonstrating some outright dangerous parenting. Something is always lost in the translation though, this is both a bane and a boon for films like Ponyo as deadly serious lines in the original sometimes take on an unintended but welcome comic tone. When Liam Neeson mumbles to himself about having to turn Ponyo back into a fish so that "...the balance of the world is not upset...", it's hard to take him seriously - but maybe that's not the point.

I think that's why I sometimes have a hard time with Japanese animation, I often can't quite get the point they are trying to make. I can never quite work out if they're being deliberately tongue-in-cheek or if a translation / cultural reference that should be deep or serious has gone wrong. In the end I sometimes feel a little lost. This shouldn't detract though from the film's visual experience though, and the fact that at its heart the film is a funny and endearing fairy tale.

"Ponyo like HAM!"