Andrea Arnold, 2006
Having seen the superb Fish Tank, I went back and got her other feature film. And it readily stands alongside.
Rather like the Mike Leigh slice-of-life films, it's a harsh emotional landscape of contemporary Britain, realistic, and yet with an almost unbearable tension sustained. Andrea Arnold is a serious talent.
Shot on a bottom of the pile Glaswegian tower block estate, the cow count is predictable.
No cows.
Monday, 22 March 2010
Thursday, 18 March 2010
The Last Detail
Hal Ashby, 1973
The fact that this was directed by Hal Ashby two years after Harold and Maude, and stars Jack Nicholson two years before One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest should get your attention.
It's certainly a serious precursor to Nicholson's role as McMurphy; the same delicious headstrong cockiness and that prominent level of unfocussed intelligence that isn't quite as high as he reckons.
Two soldiers accompany a third across the country to a long stretch in military prison for stealing 40 dollars. It's an allegory about the way the military brutalises its recruits, for the way it brutalises society at large, even at a stretch for the arc of an individual life itself. Our guardians flail around offering us a good time for a short interval, but it's only ever going to have one outcome in the long-term.
As with many Coen brothers pictures, the wide American landscape offers plenty of opportunity for cattle, yet we're left wanting.
No cows.
The fact that this was directed by Hal Ashby two years after Harold and Maude, and stars Jack Nicholson two years before One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest should get your attention.
It's certainly a serious precursor to Nicholson's role as McMurphy; the same delicious headstrong cockiness and that prominent level of unfocussed intelligence that isn't quite as high as he reckons.
Two soldiers accompany a third across the country to a long stretch in military prison for stealing 40 dollars. It's an allegory about the way the military brutalises its recruits, for the way it brutalises society at large, even at a stretch for the arc of an individual life itself. Our guardians flail around offering us a good time for a short interval, but it's only ever going to have one outcome in the long-term.
As with many Coen brothers pictures, the wide American landscape offers plenty of opportunity for cattle, yet we're left wanting.
No cows.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
Karel Reisz, 1960
Another film - like A Taste of Honey, Up The Junction, Kes and The Man In The White Suit - that has me marvelling at smoky mid-century Britain.
'I want a new house, one with a bathroom and everything,' says Doreen.
No cows, but this is definitely the first movie I've seen with moorhens. Not that they appear on screen, but the scene at the end where Arthur explains why he's seeing Doreen clearly has two moorhen chirrups.
No cows.
Another film - like A Taste of Honey, Up The Junction, Kes and The Man In The White Suit - that has me marvelling at smoky mid-century Britain.
'I want a new house, one with a bathroom and everything,' says Doreen.
No cows, but this is definitely the first movie I've seen with moorhens. Not that they appear on screen, but the scene at the end where Arthur explains why he's seeing Doreen clearly has two moorhen chirrups.
No cows.
Monday, 15 March 2010
The Haunting
Robert Wise, 1963
Overplayed acting, bizarre camerawork and exaggerated effects should make this hammy, but actually they work as intended. This is one of the scariest films I've seen in a long time, even allowing for the late at night lights off environment. I physically jumped several times, and had more moments where the hairs on my legs stood up than I can recall. An absolute masterpiece.
And despite being set in a haunted house, they still managed to get a horse in there. Yeah yeah, we've seen loads of horses. Bring on some variety. Even if it's not cows a good goat'd do.
No cows.
Overplayed acting, bizarre camerawork and exaggerated effects should make this hammy, but actually they work as intended. This is one of the scariest films I've seen in a long time, even allowing for the late at night lights off environment. I physically jumped several times, and had more moments where the hairs on my legs stood up than I can recall. An absolute masterpiece.
And despite being set in a haunted house, they still managed to get a horse in there. Yeah yeah, we've seen loads of horses. Bring on some variety. Even if it's not cows a good goat'd do.
No cows.
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Alien Resurrection
Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997
This is a pedigree. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, having done the creepy nightmarish Delicatessen and City of Lost Children, about to embark on the luminous magic of Amelie and A Very Long Engagement.
Written by Joss Whedon, having written Toy Story and just starting to do Buffy. his gang-show approach is in full force, and his deep love of the Alien mythology shines through, with a sustained rich humanity.
And it's in deep space far in the future. Humans only.
No cows.
This is a pedigree. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, having done the creepy nightmarish Delicatessen and City of Lost Children, about to embark on the luminous magic of Amelie and A Very Long Engagement.
Written by Joss Whedon, having written Toy Story and just starting to do Buffy. his gang-show approach is in full force, and his deep love of the Alien mythology shines through, with a sustained rich humanity.
And it's in deep space far in the future. Humans only.
No cows.
Monday, 8 March 2010
The Science of Sleep
Michel Gondry, 2006
Horses are the Stephen Fry of livestock in movies. They're really good and everything, but do they have to be so prevalent?
This brilliant, playful movie - written and directed by the guy who directed Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind and a bunch of Bjork and White Stripes videos - features a horse dressed up as a toy horse. Nice variation, but still, it's the most overexposed animal.
No cows.
Horses are the Stephen Fry of livestock in movies. They're really good and everything, but do they have to be so prevalent?
This brilliant, playful movie - written and directed by the guy who directed Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind and a bunch of Bjork and White Stripes videos - features a horse dressed up as a toy horse. Nice variation, but still, it's the most overexposed animal.
No cows.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
The Road
John Hillcoat, 2009
There is much to recommend this film, a great premise, a continual tension, a look as bleak as the psychological landscape it explores, a superb performance from Viggo Mortensen.
But never work with children and animals, as the actors cliche goes. And not just because they're unpredictable on set, but because they can't fucking act. Dogs barking at people don't look alarmed, they look like a dog trained to bark on cue. Children don't have the requisite emotional experience to carry a film.
In something like The Road, a child needs to exhibit severe trauma. And be emaciated like Viggo, but of course you're not allowed to starve children for weeks before the shoot. So we end up with a plump child whining like he's being told he can't have money for a Wii.
At the start, this movie explains that all livestock is dead. Yet even before they've told us that there's a horse, one of only two animals in the whole movie (the other's an insect). The horse is such an overexposed animal, there's barely a film without one. Come on directors, give the equines a day off for once.
No cows.
There is much to recommend this film, a great premise, a continual tension, a look as bleak as the psychological landscape it explores, a superb performance from Viggo Mortensen.
But never work with children and animals, as the actors cliche goes. And not just because they're unpredictable on set, but because they can't fucking act. Dogs barking at people don't look alarmed, they look like a dog trained to bark on cue. Children don't have the requisite emotional experience to carry a film.
In something like The Road, a child needs to exhibit severe trauma. And be emaciated like Viggo, but of course you're not allowed to starve children for weeks before the shoot. So we end up with a plump child whining like he's being told he can't have money for a Wii.
At the start, this movie explains that all livestock is dead. Yet even before they've told us that there's a horse, one of only two animals in the whole movie (the other's an insect). The horse is such an overexposed animal, there's barely a film without one. Come on directors, give the equines a day off for once.
No cows.
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