Buried

I turned down the opportunity to go and see the re-released 'Back to the Future' with my mates on Wednesday night in order to make sure I saw 'Buried' before it vanishes out of the cinemas. I reasoned that a film entirely set inside the confines of a coffin would be hugely better viewed inside a massive dark room with surround sound than in my house. Winnersh Showcase have stopped showing it already, so me and 9 other randoms spread ourselves liberally around the Odeon in Bracknell (I snuck into one of the 'Premier' seats - how naughty am I?!) for 90 minutes of buried-alive trauma.

At least trauma was what I was expecting. 'Buried' has been marketed and reviewed as something of a game-changer for thrillers. Being buried alive is many people's worst fear (one of my own too), and you would think that by filming the experience in such an up close and personal way the fear would be more physical and terrifying than ever. I was disappointed that I didn't feel much in the way of fear at all, since the directorial style (always in a box) left me feeling somewhat bored.

Bored is not a word that I like to use lightly when describing a film, but when I look at my watch and then look again later to discover that only 5 minutes have passed, something is wrong. To put it simply, not enough actually happens in the film for it to be interesting. Guy is in a hostage in box, guy has frustrating phone calls while in box, guy wishes he wasn't in box - that's basically it. Ok so at one point there's a snake in his coffin, and at another point he is sent a video of another hostage being shot, but I didn't feel like I was part of the story. Seeing everything from inside the box kind of removed any context from the plot, something that ultimately left me feeling tired and willing the end on.

When the end comes it's no surprise. There is a nice part near the end that hints at a metaphor of the US government and corporations selling out their soldiers and citizens when the going gets tough - but it was too little too late to grab my attention. I was very disappointed.

Made In Dagenham

Ever since I first saw the posters of 'Made in Dagenham' I have been excited. I was first made aware of the film by the poster (rare these days) and was interested immediately - a film with 'Dagenham' in the title! I come from just up the road of Dagenham in nearby Ilford, so anything that is 'Made in Dagenham' had to be exciting. Then I found out what the film was about, the true story of a group of female 'unskilled' workers go on strike for the right to equal pay - and win! It was as if I'd commissioned the British Film Council to make my perfect film!

Trouble is that expectations get too high. The reviews were mixed, some were saying that it was trying to be like 'Full Monty' and failing, others said that it was being a too idealistic and right-on with its portrayal of the women. Thankfully Mark Kermode thought it was great - but then I have a history of disagreeing with him when he likes things. I was nervous.

As the film opens we see the girls of Ford Dagenham laughing and getting on with their jobs. They have a camaraderie and show little or no militant tendency. This is the summer of 1968 though, and with revolution happening over the world it is the most normal thing for them to have a day's stoppage when they are downgraded from semi to un-skilled. Only after management use heavy-handed tactics to scare them into submission does Rita emerge. Respected by the others, she argues for and leads them into an indefinite stoppage. At first all they want is to be re-graded as semi-skilled, soon though the issue widens into equal pay.

It was pointed out in the Guardian that 'Made in Dagenham' follows in a long line of British comedy / drama films set around the economic hardships of layoffs, industrial unrest and a changing world where skilled manufacturing labour is told it is no longer wanted. To name but a few - The Full Monty, Billy Elliot and Calendar girls. But what sets 'Made in Dagenham' apart is that the the characters fight back against the cuts and layoffs - and win! The women in the film recognise the injustice of their situation and stand up to do something about it. Rita is a wonderful character, not once does she spout left-leaning slogans or call anyone comrade, she is simply an ordinary person forced into extraordinary things by circumstance. Rosamund Pike's character tells her about how she read history in Cambridge and was fascinated by the people who make history, she then asks Rita to tell her what it feels like when she does the same. The message is clear: history can be made by normal people just as much as it can by kings and queens.

Making history is not an easy process though. Rita is harassed by her own union wanting to not rock the boat, the Ford bosses screaming that equal pay would destroy profitability (that old lie) and finally her friends and husband who - although trying to support her - struggle to cope with the economic realities of being on strike. The cracks in Rita's marriage and friendships demonstrate the truth of striking and put to bed the myth that it's all about workers being lazy and trying to get time off. It's one of the film's strongest themes.

The film does have a couple of downsides. Mostly that the feminist message is rammed home a little too strongly at times. The moment when one of the girls writes 'equal pay now' or some other slogan on her midriff during a photo shoot for Ford cars is a little odd. And did we really need Rita's husband shooting himself in the foot quite so emphatically by telling her what a paragon he is simply because he's never hit her? "That is as it should be!" she is right to exclaim in response, and though this is the main point of the film it just ends up making him look like a dick.

Thankfully these are very minor faults, and the film faithfully tells a tale of ordinary people struggling through hardships to win something that these days we all accept as a right. It reminds us that almost everything good and progressive in our society is something that someone had to fight tooth and nail to get. From the universal voting rights to women's suffrage to the creation of the NHS to the right to trial by jury, someone had to suffer hardship to get it.

The world is a different place now to what it was in the 1960s, but when Rita stands up in front of the TUC and addresses the dinosaurs of the union movement her question struck a chord with me - when did we in Britain forget how to fight? "Made in Dagenham" is nothing less than inspirational.

Cemetery Junction

If ever there was a case of a film being redeemed by its ending, it is Cemetery Junction. It is very rare that I get through 80 minutes of a film thinking a big fat 'MEH' and at the end find myself with a smile on my face and a glint in my eye - but it happened on Wednesday this week, and I'm here to tell you all about it.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, 'Cemetery Junction' is a film that purports to be about being young and having to grow up in small-town England in the 1970s. So we get to see lots of stuff about what it was like growing up in the 1970s - if you live inside Ricky Gervais' brain of course. Three youngish lads bum around town with starry eyes having a laugh, fighting with the townies and sometimes doing an honest day's work while winding the coppers up and swearing liberally with their parents - you could have a laugh back then of course, not like today. There's Freddie the earnest leader, Bruce the good-looking fighter and Snork the endearing thickie. They still think and act like they're in school, if only someone could come along and teach them that there's more to life than living in Reading and drawing graffiti on billboards! If only someone could open their eyes to the big wide world and give them a reason to get out and spread their wings! If only!

Thank Christ a pretty girl from Freddie's childhood turns up to tell him all about travelling the world. Praise be that her Dad / Freddie's boss is an insufferable career-minded twat who treats his wife like a waitress and crushes the life out of everyone he meets - thus teaching Freddie the importance of getting out of a rut while you can. Without these people to teach him the wisdom of following your dreams while you're young - who knows what might have happened!

For 80 minutes 'Cemetery Junction' is about as close to a sentimental paint-by-numbers coming of age 'drama' as I'm willing to get without turning the DVD off. In fact it's only the comedy (fart jokes, but funny fart jokes - although there is one great line Freddie says about not knocking his Nan's hair cutting "... it's cheap cos of the Parkinsons") that makes it worthwhile. Everything is predictable and conveniently-plotted, every character fulfils a specific and message-delivering role.

That's what I was going to write in this blog until the very last 7:30 minutes of the film. "7:30 minutes is an odd amount of time" - is something you might say. Well is so happens that it's the length of Led Zeppelin's Rain Song, a song which plays out over the final scenes of the movie. A song to which the events of the final scenes of the movie are edited to perfectly match the movements of. A song that I love. A song that melted my stern heart and made me smile. This is what movie making is all about; anyone who can be bothered to get a Led Zeppelin classic and write a story around it is worthy of praise no matter how saccarine sweet that story might appear to be.

So Ricky Gervais might still be a silly smug tit, but he's our silly smug tit - and so I'm going to stand up for him. Good work mate.

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.