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Film: Animal Kingdom
Year of production: 2010
UK Release date: 11th July 2011
Distributor: Optimum
Certificate: 15
Running time: 108 mins
Director: David Michôd
Starring: James Frecheville, Bryce Lindemann, Paul Smits, Jacki Weaver, Joel Edgerton
Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller
Format: DVD
Country of Production: Australia
Language: English
Review by: Rob Markham
Gangster movies. Just when you think they’ve died out, they seem to sprout again like weeds. From classic, noirish Shakespearean stories of betrayal and lust through to the slapstick caricature of more recent British gangster flicks, it seems there are few places left for this genre to go and one wonders if it has run its course. David Michôd’s Animal Kingdom, based on actual events in Melbourne in 1988, offers us a worm’s-eye view of suburban crime, with surprising, and critically acclaimed results.
After the death of his mother from a heroin overdose, Josh goes to live with his Grandmother, Janine, the matriarch of a notorious Melbourne crime family. Josh’s uncles - Pope, Craig and Darren - and family friend Baz take Josh under their wing and he becomes embroiled in their misdeeds.
As armed robbery is on the wane, and the volatile Armed Robbery Squad are increasingly unpredictable and vindictive, the family begins to question the future, and to move into other areas for their income, such as drug dealing and the stock market.
When one of the gang is murdered, paranoia and fear spreads throughout the family, and, as the newcomer, Josh becomes an object of suspicion.
Caught between his family and the law, Josh must learn the basic, animal rules of survival if he is to survive in a world he is not equipped to deal with…
Fear is the overriding theme throughout Animal Kingdom. Every character is touched by it at some point. Whether they are living in it, or causing it in others, fear permeates every scene and every line of dialogue in David Michôd’s masterful tale of crime and family, which is one of the grittiest thrillers in recent years.
Told from the point-of-view of Josh, we are straight away thrown into a world we do not understand, and one in which nothing is what it seems and everything should be suspected and questioned. The opening scene sees Josh, apparently bored, watching Deal Or No Deal on television while his mother lies unconscious next to him. This could easily be a scene of bored youth in a disaffected time, but, within seconds, we learn that his mother has just overdosed on heroin, and seconds later, we find out that she is dead. We learn little of Josh, his background or his upbringing, and are instead thrown, shell-shocked, into the world of the Cody crime family and their oppressive and dangerous matriarch, Janine.
First appearing as a saviour for Josh, we soon learn Janine is as cold and calculating as any figurehead of any crime organization. Underneath her warm smile and demand for kisses in public is the same cold nature that drove Michael Corleone or Tony Soprano, and the behaviour of her sons reflects perfectly what it must have been like to be raised by such a matriarch. Pope is on the run from the police, Craig is heavily into drugs (dealing and using), while Darren, possibly confused about his sexuality, resorts to sitting in the shadows and using marijuana to cope. This is dysfunction at its finest and each actor takes to their role perfectly, showing the volatile nature of crime and the strain it puts on families, especially when it’s all they know.
Michôd does a remarkable job of making sure the tension never lets up throughout by ensuring a constant atmosphere of fear and paranoia that is aided by the superb performances. As Pope, Ben Mendlesohn is terrifying, channeling frustration and anger to painfully restrained levels and creating a sociopath of epic proportions. By turns afraid of his lack of patriarchal power in the family, and angry at almost everything, the character provides one of the most effective screen villains seen for some time. As matriarch, Janine ‘Smurf’ Cody, Jacki Weaver is equally scary, peeling away layers of niceties to reveal a cold and hard crime boss who will do whatever it takes to survive. Added to this, Joel Edgerton, Luke Ford and Sullivan Stapleton as the family/gang members portray testosterone soaked, fearful masculinity to terrific effect, transcending stereotypes and avoiding caricature. In fact, each character, in reference to the title, portrays animal-like behaviour perfectly capturing the essence of their character. Baz is bear-like and strong, Craig like a caged wild cat, Pope is cold, reptilian and untrustworthy, and Janine is the Black Widow, deadly and calculating.
At first glance, it seems that James Frecheville is a little uncomfortable in the central role of Josh, the young cub, but his lack of charisma, intelligence and emotion serves to keep the audience at a distance, ensuring we observe the horrific events unfold rather than become complicit in them. It is through his eyes that we see the world, and we are squarely on his level in terms of our familiarity and comfort with it. When called upon to portray strong emotion, he does an effective job, and the return to his dispassionate look at the end of the film is as horrifying as it is inevitable.
The title reflects the way these characters live, and the laws they operate by in their own world of armed robberies and drug dealing. Favouring interiors and claustrophobia over the open spaces Australia has in abundance, Michôd nevertheless shoots the action like a wildlife documentary, distancing us from the action and the characters, but never flinching from the minutiae. Movements within scenes, especially prevalent in the family home, are deliberate, brimming with restrained energy as each character fights against the perceived imprisonment their life has caused. It’s engrossing to watch, and every time the family is together, the tension is palpable.
Michôd’s use of slow motion seems to be an attempt to wring emotion and gravity out of scenes that are already heavily populated with both, and, at these times, it can feel a little melodramatic, but overall this is a powerful and effective film, superbly acted and written, and one which deserves high standing in the genre. His use of colour, or lack of it, gives the film a look of cold, hard reality, but not one that is instantly recognizable, increasing the gap between the characters and the audience. Likewise, the lack of gangster cliché set-pieces, such as actual armed robbery (glimpsed only in beautifully grainy stills over the opening credits), and the swift but brutally restrained violence adds to the sense that what we are seeing is not something we are supposed to immerse ourselves in or identify with, but something we should observe and learn from.
Strong performances and outstanding direction make Animal Kingdom a must for fans of the genre, but there is more to it than the standard formula. Michôd has crafted an effective look at the destructive nature of crime and the toll it takes on families, showing us a world where basic laws of survival rule and only the strong survive. Taut and gripping, it is a standout entry in a crowded genre and a welcome relief from the usual clichés. RM
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Film: Eccentricities Of A Blonde-haired Girl
Year of production: 2009
UK Release date: 13th June 2011
Distributor: New Wave
Certificate: U
Running time: 64 mins
Director: Manoel de Oliveira
Starring: Ricardo Trepa, Catarina Wallenstein, Diogo Doria, Julia Buisel, Leonor Silveira
Genre: Drama/Romance
Format: DVD
Country of Production: Portugal/Spain/France
Language: Portuguese
Review by: Rob Markham
What would happen if you were to combine a story by one of Portugal’s greatest realist writers, Ęca de Queiroz, with the directing talents of Manoel de Oliveira, one of Portugal’s most celebrated filmmakers, and at 102 years of age, supposedly the oldest active director in the world? In answer to that question is Eccentricities Of A Blonde-haired Girl, an almost short story-like film that reminds us of the importance of the director and technique in storytelling.
On a train from Lisbon to the Algarve, Macário strikes up a conversation with a stranger, desperate to be rid of the story that plagues him.
He describes the moment he fell in love with a stranger while looking out of his office window. Across the street, he sees a beautiful girl with a Chinese fan. The two meet each other’s gaze and Macário falls hopelessly in love with her.
When his uncle refuses to give permission for him to marry the girl, Luísa, Macário embarks on a journey to earn enough money to marry the girl, and his life is thrown into turmoil. He faces unemployment, poverty and humiliation to be with the woman he loves. But is the woman he loves all she appears to be?
Eccentricities Of A Blonde-haired Girl is strange in the fact that nothing really happens. The drama unfolds so slowly and with little ceremony - just as you would expect from an everyman relating a story to a stranger - that it’s difficult to tell whether something monumental has happened to the characters. With a running time of little over an hour, this is hardly noticeable, and throughout we are able to watch a master director utilising the camera to create a slow but emotive film.
De Oliveira’s shots linger on a scene before the characters enter and remain static when they have left, showing the world does not revolve around these two ‘lovers’, and that they are merely characters in a story. His camera barely moves and the static shots create an awkward feel that perfectly mirrors the awkwardness felt by Macário. From the painfully repetitive opening shot of a ticket inspector on a train to the repeated shots of Lisbon in various states of weather and time of day, de Oliveira is unafraid to use the camera to remind us that we are watching characters in real situations, but that they are just characters - and this is just a film.
This has its draw backs. As a piece of cinema, it is not the most exciting thing you are likely to watch, and it will not play with the senses to create atmosphere or tension. Instead, it unfolds leisurely, and rather than building to a climax, the ending just happens. Perhaps this is apt, as it is not a story filled with fireworks and dangerous romance. It is simply a story told reflectively by someone who comes across as a bit of a loser, all things considered.
In terms of character, Macário never really convinces as a romantic; however, this does feel intentional. In actual fact, he comes off as rather creepy, at times. His staring at Luisa through the window, hiding behind a document, or descending the stairs to simply watch her in the shop for which he is an accountant, does not remind us of the typical moves of a Lothario. Rightly so, as Macário is not a romantic hero, he is weak and desperate, unafraid to cry and appear slightly pathetic, and with a lost expression for nearly the entire film.
Luísa, on the other hand, with her fan and her smile, is almost an archetypal femme fatale. She would not be out of place in a film noir, dragging some poor PI into a shady world of manipulation and confidence tricks, such are the unexplored depths of her character. She is the vessel into which Macário pours all his hopes and dreams of the ideal woman, without ever bothering to get to know her. It is one of the least romantic set-ups you’re likely to see. And that’s the point.
The performances all seem highly stylised and work well with the style of filmmaking. Ricardo Trêpa as Macário is suitably innocent and weak for the most part, learning too late, and with some justified anger, that you cannot rush into love blindly. Catarina Wallenstein is equally good as Luisa, her teasing expression and her look of innocence in the face of the facts is convincing and ambiguous. She leaves us feeling a little like Macário: angry, confused, but still with affection.
The short running time means the leisurely pace can be forgiven, and there will be little chance of boredom, but the character’s actions, limited locations, and a very noticeable lack of editing do not make for the most interesting visual experience. But what do you expect from a director at 102 years of age? Aesthetic dynamism is not the goal here. What we’re left with is a short story (it is an adaptation of one after all) that transports us into a theatrical world where love is instantaneous and never quite what it seems. The result is not outstanding, but it will leave you feeling like you’ve witnessed a true filmmaker doing what he does best.
It’s refreshing to see something that doesn’t strive for themes and motifs beyond its reach and instead focuses on simply telling a story. There is little to sink one’s teeth into, but that isn’t the point of the film. With some superbly emotive visual techniques, it is a nice film to watch, but it won’t blow your hair back, or knock your socks off, or do anything other than charm you. RM
Film: The Warrior And The Wolf
Year of production: 2009
UK Release date: 30th May 2011
Distributor: Universal
Certificate: 18
Running time: 101 mins
Director: Zhuangzhuang Tian
Starring: Maggie Q, Jô Odagiri, Tou Chung-hua
Genre: Action/Drama/Fantasy
Format: DVD
Country of Production: China/Hong Kong/Japan/Singapore/USA
Language: Mandarin
Review by: Rob Markham
Glorious landscapes and grandiose battles come as standard with the Chinese epic. From Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon to Hero, we have been dazzled by their beauty. The Warrior And The Wolf is a much more cerebral take on the genre, mixing the scale of the epic, the battles and the politics with an element of the supernatural.
Set during a time of vicious battles between the Imperial Court and various nomadic tribes in the borderlands of China, The Warrior And The Wolf tells the story of Lu, a peaceful shepherd who joins General Zhang’s army.
Initially scared and unwilling to kill, Lu rises through the ranks to become one of the most fearsome warriors in the army, and when General Zhang is taken prisoner by one of the tribes, Lu negotiates his release by trading the son of the tribe’s prince for his General.
When the General is sent home injured, Lu takes command of the army and leads them on the journey home when the snow comes. The heavy snow makes the journey impossible and the army must take shelter in a village occupied by the Harran tribe. The Harran are supposedly cursed, and when a sexual relationship forms between Lu and a beautiful widow, the curse is revealed.
Years later, General Zhang returns to the borderlands to deliver the Imperial Edict detailing the tribe’s surrender. When two of his men shoot at two wolves and are found dead later that night, a hunt ensues…
Initial expectations and the opening captions of The Warrior And The Wolf would seem to suggest that we are entering the realm of the epic. However, if you are expecting this to be in line with Chinese epics such as House Of Flying Daggers and Hero then you will be disappointed. Instead of the grand opulence of these films, The Warrior And The Wolf is a much more thoughtful, emotive film, short on dialogue and relying on camerawork and acting talent to convey meaning and emotion. Where in other, similar films, there would be vast battles, bathed in colour, here the few battles there are seem small in scale compared to the vast landscape on which they are played out, and the palette is very subdued, heavily reliant on autumnal and winter green, brown and white, rather than a rich, theatrical colour-scheme. The star of the show here really is the Chinese landscape. Throughout the film, we are treated to some breathtaking shots of snow covered mountains and the borderlands in spring. There is a very strong contrast between the barren and the vibrant, clearly echoing the sense of isolation the soldiers in the outpost must feel.
The performances are also of a high standard. Jo Odagiri begins suitably innocent and, under the circumstances, does a good job of conveying what it is like to lose one’s humanity through violence, using little more than facial expression and body language. Though she is given little to do, Maggie Q makes the most of a largely thankless role, and Tou Chung-hua is pitch perfect as the battle-weary General.
It’s a shame, then, that with these considerable assets, the film does not offer us much else. It is clear that director Zhuangzhuag Tian is trying to convey a more thoughtful story through his use of internal struggle, which, while played superbly by the cast, never translates into anything truly meaningful over the course of the film. Despite Odagiri’s fine performance, the character of Lu does not fully convince in his journey from peaceful shepherd to warrior, as the transition is given little development in the first act. Flitting back and forth between the past and present, we see some evidence of Lu’s compassion (his bond with a wolf cub), his cowardice (running from a training session in which he must kill a prisoner) and then his transformation proper, with a bloodthirsty rant at prisoners of war later on, but the transition is unconvincing and sorely undersold and, as a result, his place as a respected warrior is never solidified in the mind of the audience.
This problem of underdevelopment is most notable in the relationships in the film, as it would seem character development was ignored in favour of sweeping shots of the landscape and some truly awful FX work. The bond between Lu and the wolf cub is not highlighted with any real significance, despite its importance to later events; the bond between Lu and General Zhang is never allowed to breathe, and their relationship appears devoid of any meaning; and the relationship between Lu and the Harran widow turns from rape into love seemingly overnight. There are important points to be made with each of these relationships; however, the film does not give them the time of day, preferring instead to plod along, confusing and frustrating in equal measure.
There are also issues in terms of storytelling. The use of captions to provide information rather than expositional dialogue can work in the cases of historical epics, but here, especially in one particular instance, they actually work to the film’s detriment. When the army reaches the Harran village, there has been no mention of cursed tribes, and the wolves we have seen up to that point have never provided any real threat or menace, but the caption appears on screen to tell us the rumour of a curse upon the tribe. Had this information been delivered earlier in the proceedings then perhaps it would have been cause to fear the army’s arrival. As it is, when they reach the village, we are given the information we need on the screen, so all sense of tension and any wonder of the supernatural is lost - it feels as though we’re starting all over again in a different film.
There are some very important themes to be found at the heart of this film. The idea that man is little more than a beast, and his actions lead only to de-evolution or death is a strong central premise, but it takes some effort to see this clearly through the landscape Zhuangzhuang has created. By the time the final confrontation occurs, it is obvious what is going to happen, but, by then, it’s difficult to care, as there has been no effort made to bond us with the action and the characters on screen resulting in what should have been a very personal and moving experience feeling superficial and strained.
Not awful by any means, but a difficult film to sit through. The ideas are there, but their execution is handled a little awkwardly. While it’s always nice to see the majestic Chinese landscape in all its glory, it would be nicer to have it populated by fully developed characters and an engaging story to match. RM
Film: 5150 Elm's Way
Year of production: 2009
UK Release date: 30th May 2011
Distributor: Entertainment One
Certificate: 18
Running time: 110 mins
Director: Éric Tessier
Starring: Marc-André Grondin, Normand D'Amour, Sonia Vachon, Mylène St-Sauveur, Élodie Larivière
Genre: Drama/Horror/Thriller
Format: DVD
Country of Production: Canada
Language: French
Review by: Rob Markham
Captivity is a strong central premise in horror cinema. From the extreme gore of films like Hostel and Saw to the intense psychological torment of more thoughtful films such as The Ordeal, it is a path well-trodden in the genre. 5150 Elm’s Way (5150 Rue des Ormes) is a French-Canadian offering of that familiar beast, only choosing to use the brain instead of other, messier, internal organs.
Having just moved to attend film school, Yannicknick rides his bike around his new environment and documents the surroundings with his camera. Taking a ride to the suburbs, he turns down Elm’s Way, but comes off his bike and injures himself. Noticing a taxi parked outside 5150, he asks for a ride and the owner offers to call one for him as he is off duty.
Yannicknick enters the house uninvited to wash the blood off his hands, but hears a disturbing sound from upstairs and goes to investigate. He finds a man with a serious wound screaming for help.
Yannicknick tries to escape, but is forced at gunpoint to stay, and soon finds himself a prisoner of Jacques, a ‘righteous’, psychotic killer, and his dysfunctional family. Jacques has no choice but to keep Yannick prisoner until he can work out what to do with him and the strain soon takes its toll on the family unit.
Jacques offers Yannicknick the chance of freedom, but only if he wins at chess. The only problem is that Jacques is a champion chess player - and unbeaten...
There is a formula that many successful horror films (and in many cases, entire franchises) can follow in the captivity sub-genre: introduction, capture, torture, escape, redemption... It’s been proven to work over and over again, particularly with the advent of the dubiously named ‘torture-porn’ genre. You could be forgiven for thinking 5150 Elm’s Way would follow the same pattern.
It certainly seems that way when we first meet Yannicknick, a fresh-faced film student with a nice girlfriend. The first hints that things are not what they seem are laid out for us in the form of his alcoholic mother and generally disapproving and disappointed father. We follow Yannicknick for a while as he rides around his new neighbourhood, and we are shown just what a moral young man he is when he returns a young girl’s stolen ice-cream from a bully.
Fortunately, we are not made to suffer the usual clichés of the genre, even though when Yannicknick knocks on the door of 5150 Elm’s Way, we know exactly what will happen (the clue is in the title after all).
Instead of the usual green-lit, dirty basements, barred cages and dingy operating theatres, Yannick is imprisoned in an incredibly pleasant family home with pictures on the walls, children’s bedrooms complete with cuddly toys, and a generally comfortable feel to the place. This is starkly contrasted with the actual room of Yannick’s imprisonment, which is barren, with a plain floor, dirty walls, bloodstains and a mattress at one end. It is an effective use of mise-en-s cène and director Eric Tessier piles on the visuals to signify Yannick’s increasingly fragile state of mind. The most effective of which is the growing bloodstain on the wall. There are times when the effects seems a little overwrought (Yannick’s hallucinations, for example), but on the whole, Tessier does a good job in making us feel as confined as Yannick.
The family itself would give any student of psychoanalysis a headache, as we are faced with varying complexities and complex relationships. The father, Jacques, believes he is righteous and kills those he sees as evil. He also robs grave for the bodies of those he considers righteous, in order to complete a secret project (without wanting to spoil anything, it involves his passion for chess). The mother, Maude, is a religious and fragile creature, who is loyal to her husband but sees the wrong in what he does. Michelle has inherited her father’s propensity for murder, but she does not have the ideology that he does. Anne is a young, mute child who cannot disguise her contempt for her father.
There are certainly hints of Freudian themes, and, at one point, there seems to be an attempt at a representation of the Oedipal Complex, where Yannick has Maude believing they can have a life together, away from Jacques. Yannick’s own father issues also make their mark but aren’t given enough real depth for them to be effective. There is certainly enough to keep the most avid critic referring back to Freud and Lacan.
There are, in fact, a few too many issues to deal with in the family unit. So many that the running time cannot possibly give all of them the analysis they deserve. As a result, the family’s woes seem to be slightly superficial. As the film develops, we contend with the increasingly unbalanced Maude, the psychotic Michelle, whose inheritance of her father’s passion for righteousness is seriously misguided, Anne’s sectioning, and, of course, Yannick’s predicament in the room upstairs. This is a brief description of the dynamics. There is more.
Perhaps an attempt to focus on less of the various threads and to concentrate on developing only a few of them would have been more successful in terms of storytelling, but, as the film progresses, the tension does mount to great effect through the confrontations over a chess board between Yannick and Jacques. Chess becomes a shared of obsession and the film almost plays like a chess match itself, building piece by piece until the climax. It is an effective technique, and the performances do it justice.
Unfortunately, there are too many contrivances throughout and by the end it feels forced. The journey of Yannick’s taped plea for help borders on ridiculous to the point where you could be forgiven for thinking there are only three families living in the whole town. The character of Anne and her role in events is not given anywhere near enough development, and her involvement in the tense final scenes does not work as one would have hoped.
There are also some discrepancies; for example, Jacques insistence that the death of someone evil should be painless and quick, yet why does Yannick find a screaming, partially disembowelled man in the house? It also borders dangerously on the absurd, but there are enough positive points that it is well worth a watch.
A decent film, offering some interesting characters and direction. There is nothing particularly new here, but Tessier’s use of visuals and some great performances make for an entertaining thriller. If you’re expecting horror you may be disappointed. This is more of a horrific drama, but the tension is there. Perhaps it could have been more focused, but there is enough here to appeal to those with a penchant for the darker things in life. RM
Film: Red Hill
Year of production: 2010
UK Release date: 30th May 2011
Distributor: Momentum
Certificate: 15
Running time: 95 mins
Director: Patrick Hughes
Starring: Ryan Kwanten, Steve Bisley, Tommy Lewis, Claire van der Boom, Christopher Davis
Genre: Crime/Thriller/Western
Format: DVD
Country of Production: Australia
Language: English
Review by: Rob Markham
Westerns are at home in Australia. The Proposition showed that the wilds of the US were not the only place this genre could work. Red Hill is the latest Australian western and a first time feature for director Patrick Hughes.
Constable Shane Cooper and his pregnant wife move from the city to Red Hill, a small town in the country, after suffering a miscarriage. On his first day, Cooper meets with the sheriff, Old Bill, a hardened policeman with no tolerance for mistakes and a grudge against the modernisation of the town.
As Cooper settles in to his new role, news of an escaped convict, Jimmy Conway, reaches the town. Old Bill assembles a team of armed men and prepares to take on Conway, knowing that he will head for the town of Red Hill to settle old scores.
As Conway storms the town, taking on everyone he meets, it is left to Cooper to learn the reasons for Jimmy’s revenge against the police and thugs of Red Hill, and there is more to it than meets the eye…
Red Hill begins with an eerily effective scene of horses in the country being scared by an unseen and growling presence in the trees at the base of a mountain. The Australian scenery is shot beautifully and the scene sets up the film to good effect. We are then introduced to the characters one by one, first meeting Cooper as he leaves his new home and heads for town and his first day as a Red Hill police officer.
There is plenty to like about the opening scenes. The shift in tone from creepy to menacing to humorous provides a sense of tension, as we are unsure what type of movie we will be watching. The opening would suggest a horror or thriller of sorts, while the sets, scenery and characters suggest a western. We are further thrown off the scent when the news of an escaped convict is followed by scenes of Cooper investigating the slaying of a horse, apparently by a wild animal.
It is only when we see a posse being rounded up and a plan of defence for the town being formulated that we are put squarely into the western genre, furnished with all its clichés. The monstrous sheriff, the moral lawman, and the avenging outlaw, all follow standard genre conventions.
It is unfortunate that the filmmakers did not, at this point, decide to make anything more interesting. What follows is a series of set pieces where Conway is involved in shoot-outs with local law enforcement, and characters (and logic) are abandoned for the sake of the action. Cooper is left out in the wilds to find his way back to town, and Old Bill is absent while his men are being slaughtered.
This wouldn’t be such a bad thing if the set pieces themselves were at least aiming at something other than average fare. Each shootout seems to be a rehash of superior westerns, neither going all-out with the violence, nor restraining it to make a point. Instead the scenes of violence are somewhere in between and end up feeling tediously sanitised.
There is some good use of the Australian countryside, but this seems to be abandoned as we follow Conway’s rampage, which does the film a disservice considering the themes at work. Hughes includes a discussion about how the town is wasting away through lack of old industry and the refusal of residents to accept new income streams. Added to that is the fact that Jimmy Conway is of aboriginal descent and, as the film progresses, there is a sense that Cooper and Conway come to understand one another as the latter’s tortured past is revealed. It seems one of the ultimate goals of the film is to show the harmony of aboriginal and white cultures working in the same landscape, but this landscape is never shown in a light that gives it any meaning beyond its aesthetic qualities. It is a shame because with such a strong message the film could have been so much more. If there had been an attempt to move away from standard genre conventions and clichés then perhaps Red Hill could have been more than the sum of its parts.
There are good points. The central theme of old and new can only be expressed clearly by the contrast between the two leads (Cooper and Old Bill) and both are played well by Ryan Kwanten and Steve Bisley. The former does fresh-faced innocence and promise, the latter does menacing and old-fashioned. Both are great choices and acquit themselves superbly. The supporting cast are also above average.
Praise should also be given to Tommy Lewis for his portrayal of the scarred and vengeful Jimmy Conway. His silent but deadly antagonist is menacing enough to sustain tension at key moments, and there are times when his dead-eyed stare and icy cool are chilling.
Unfortunately, it isn’t enough, as Red Hill is nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is and ends up being an average genre piece. It is not a bad film by any means, but it could have been so much more.
Despite competent direction and good performances, Red Hill doesn’t stand out as anything special in the western genre. However, there are enough moments of promise that director Patrick Hughes could well be one to watch in the future. Until someone else has a go, The Proposition remains the benchmark for the Australian western. RM
Film: Enter The Void
Year of production: 2009
UK Release date: 25th April 2011
Studio: E1
Certificate: 18
Running time: 160 mins
Director: Gaspar Noe
Starring: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy, Olly Alexander, Masato Tanno
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: France/Italy/Germany
Language: English/Japanese
Review by: Rob Markham
Gaspar Noé is not known for subtlety and he is certainly one of the most fearless filmmakers working today. Considering the scale and scope of the beauty, ugliness, shocking violence, and mesmerising camerawork seen in both his feature and short films so far, it begs the question, where else will this director dare to go?
In his Tokyo apartment, Oscar gets high and hallucinates before receiving a phone call from Victor, who asks him to deliver drugs to a bar called The Void. Along with his friend, Alex, Oscar delivers the drugs only to find he has been set up and the police raid the bar. Oscar is shot and killed in the bathroom.
Oscar’s spirit rises from his body and embarks on a journey that sees him visit his past where he relives tragedy, the present and the circumstances that led to his death, and visits his friends and family as they cope with loss and the aftermath of the shooting.
We follow Oscar’s journey and experience with him love, loss, betrayal, birth and death, until he ends up back at the very beginning…
Noé himself has described Enter The Void as a psychedelic melodrama, which is apt, yet this is a film that really does transcend whatever expectations an audience might have based on that description. Noé has created a dense piece that combines his own style with that of others, most notably Kubrick.
Noé leaves us in no doubt that we are truly an inhabitant in the body of Oscar. We follow the living Oscar through his eyes to such an extent that we are even subjected to his blinking. It is a strange experience at first, but the commitment to this particular style is so bold that we soon find ourselves caught up in Oscar’s mind. His hallucinations, while on drugs, are beautifully realised and as close to hypnotic as you are likely to find on film.
It is through this style that Noé is able to convincingly tell us the story of Oscar’s disembodied spirit. For those familiar with Noé’s films, the camerawork used once Oscar is dead and floating over Tokyo will be instantly recognisable. Whilst in Irreversible, and to some degree in Noé’s short film We F**k Alone, the camera was used to disorient the viewer, here it serves a very different purpose. We become the spirit of Oscar and the camera demonstrates the freedom of the spirit, whilst at the same time being almost painfully restrained to the neon cityscape and bound to his sister, Linda.
It is a bold move, and one that could easily turn an audience off, but the calm pace and leisurely pans and swoops make for a rich viewing experience when juxtaposed with the events being witnessed.
These events are, in true Gaspar Noé style, unflinching and daring. There will be lots of talk surrounding such scenes as an ejaculation seen from inside a vagina and a close up of an aborted foetus, but to focus on the ugliness of such crude images would be to forget their place in the overall picture. As a whole, the film shows us life, and the horrors faced by those living in the aftermath of a loss. Such images as the two siblings promising to never leave each other while sitting in an idyllic field contrast with the ugliness, just as the Linda’s intense grief contrasts with the nonplussed expression of her boyfriend. Focusing on a group of foreigners in Tokyo serves to highlight a sense of alienation, but also adds to our involvement, feeling like outsiders ourselves as we swoop over rooftops and barrel along alleyways.
The star of this particular show is Tokyo itself. It’s not a Tokyo that is recognisable, painted as it is in garish neon. Noé decides not to show us the usual markers of busy high streets, prosperous businesses and mirror-like skyscrapers, opting instead for grimy alleys, cramped apartments and strip joints. When we do see a stereotypical Japanese businessman, he is lying on a stage while strippers pamper him. This is not a Tokyo that has been seen anywhere else in cinema, and our submersion in it is wholly dependent on the mise-en-scène working in partnership with the directing style. To Noé’s credit, it works.
The film is let down slightly by the performances. With the exception of Paz de la Huerta, the acting never really convinces throughout. The film is also too long. While this is a symptom of the first-person style, once the constraints of being alive are removed, the pace could have picked up a times. The lack of identifiable or likeable characters also works to its detriment.
These complaints aside, this is a film so rich in imagery, themes, morals (albeit none too subtle) and ideas, that watching it once is not going to be enough. There are too few filmmakers brave enough to attempt projects as ambitious as this. There may be accusations of Noé’s self-indulgence getting in the way of telling a concise story, but as an auteur, he should be praised for pushing the boundaries and testing both what he is able and what he is allowed to do.
Enter The Void has rightly received mixed reviews from critics all over the world. It is a film that will not appeal to everyone, and will probably be loved and loathed in equal measure, though to deny the ingenuity of the director would be a mistake. It is the kind of film that will most likely be viewed again in a few decades time and held up as a masterpiece of cinematic bravado.
The going may be hard, but Enter The Void should be seen by all those who love cinema, if only for the sheer outrageousness of Noé’s ambition and vision. It is, by turns, rich, daring, beautiful and horrific. It is films such as this that are the reason world cinema is so exciting. You may not like this film, but you won’t forget it. RM
Film: Dead Hooker In A Trunk
Year of production: 2009
UK Release date: 23rd May 2011
Distributor: Bounty
Certificate: 18
Running time: 90 mins
Director: Jen Soska & Sylvia Soska
Starring: Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska, Rikki Gagne, C.J. Wallis, John Tench
Genre: Action/Horror/Mystery/Thriller
Format: DVD
Country of Production: Canada
Language: English
Review by: Rob Markham
Dead Hooker In A Trunk. What more needs to be said with a title like that? Revelling in cheap gore, cheap thrills and cheap laughs this offbeat road movie of sorts harks back to the days of American drive-ins where you could be pummeled senseless by images deemed to outrageous for mainstream cinemas.
After a night out, four friends discover a dead hooker in the boot of their car. After the drink and drug-fuelled fun of the night, two of them aren’t sure whether they may be partly responsible for its appearance and so they set out to bury the body in a forest.
As the friends make their way to the burial site, they are faced with the multiple horrors of a serial killer, a maniacal cowboy who seems to want the body, and several gang members hell-bent on causing chaos in the aftermath of a drug deal.
Violence, gore and mayhem ensue and the group has to pull together and put aside their differences if they are to find out what actually happened, and why…
There are several good reasons for the decline of the drive-in horror, and the fall in popularity of ‘grindhouse’ movies. One possible reason is an increasingly permissive cinema. Whatever gory, ghastly, obscene and subversive images could be found in the trashy flicks churned out weekly back then can easily be found in many mainstream horrors, and are readily (and legally) available on DVD today. We are in a more permissive age, one in which films such as Irreversible, Baise-moi, A Serbian Film, Martyrs, etc. are not only screened in cinemas worldwide (albeit not mainstream) but can also be found in DVD rental stores. It is therefore a source of great confusion that films like Dead Hooker In A Trunk continue to be made.
There could be a certain charm to the cheap look, bad effects, terrible acting and writing, and there are times when the film threatens to be fun. The fact that the characters are named Badass, Geek, Junkie and Goodie Two-Shoes suggests a level of self-awareness that seems to be totally lost in every other aspect of the film, as we are treated to a succession of badly conceived set-pieces.
It will be said that the acting is supposed to be so bad, the effects intentionally awful, and the script purposefully devoid of relevance, resonance and rationality, however, with a wealth of truly outstanding, subversive, shocking and relevant horror so readily available, why should anyone in their right mind choose to watch something so unapologetically awful? If it’s gore and fun you’re looking for then there are also a thousand direct-to-DVD offerings to choose from, and this film makes all of them look like The Shining in comparison.
The plot is a nonsense, and the whole film devoid of anything remotely resembling narrative. Four friends find a body in the boot of their car. Reactions to this discovery are mixed, as one throws up, two search the body for drugs and the other tries to inject a sense of foreboding into the scene. There is a feeling that the discovery itself is supposed to be played for comic effect; however, there is nothing funny about the writing, the performances or the look and feel of the scene itself.
From here, we must sit through a drug pick-up that turns bad when gangsters arrive with chainsaws (a la Scarface) and we find out that Badass isn’t so much a badass but a psychopathic killer. A cowboy (who looks frighteningly like Lemmy) turns up, when they finally get round to burying the body, for reasons unknown, and is dispatched like the pointless plot thread that he is, and added to this is the arrival of the serial killer who put the body there in the first place.
When the film decides it’s a serial killer thriller things start to make a little more sense, but by then it’s far too late. The scenes of gore are nowhere near as grotesque as they need to be to justify the overall mood and feel of the piece, and the moments of so-called comedy have all been done better elsewhere. A castration-aftermath scene seems to be there for nothing more than shock value, but we’ve seen it done in mainstream movies (the remake of I Spit On Your Grave for one) to much greater effect. This leaves the question burning in the mind of the viewer: what is the point of it all? It’s not fun, it’s not relevant. There are no thrills and no excitement.
In terms of performance, there are two choices: either the cast have performed a super-human feat of parodying the bad acting of films in the genre to an absolute tee, or they really are that bad. From the evidence on offer, it would seem the latter is the case.
It could all have been so different. It is part road movie, part horror, part serial killer thriller, and the ideas are there. A severed arm is reattached with a needle and thread, a killer is preying on women because of an unfortunate circumcision accident that left him deformed…actually that’s about it for the ideas, but the whole thing could have been fun if it had been shot with a bare minimum of savvy and affection for the genre and films it riffs on.
It is nearly impossible to find anything remotely enjoyable in Dead Hooker In A Trunk. It’s annoying and cheap in almost every respect. In today’s cinematic climate, there is no need to seek cheap thrills from cheap films when there are so many untapped sources for horror worldwide. If that’s all you’re looking for then you can find a wealth of world cinema releases that can give you twice the gore, twice the thrills, twice the laughs, all with better production values and comparatively Oscar-worthy performances. That’s not an exaggeration. RM
Film: Mamma Roma
Year of production: 1962
UK Release date: 25th April 2011
Distributor: Mr Bongo
Certificate: 15
Running time: 106 mins
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Starring: Anna Magnani, Ettore Garofolo, Franco Citti, Silvana Corsini, Luisa Loiano
Genre: Drama
Format: DVD
Country of Production: Italy
Language: Italian
For some, the name of Pier Paolo Pasolini conjures up images from films such as Salo and Oedipus Rex, but his second feature, Mamma Roma, is beautiful, raw and poetic. Full of contradictions and imagery that can be read on many levels, it is a class tragedy that marked the end of Pasolini’s neorealist style.
We first meet Mamma Roma at the wedding of her pimp, ushering three pigs into the hall where the reception is taking place. She sings bawdy songs and cackles like a witch, but she is happy, for it marks the moment she is free to live her life with her son, a life away from prostitution.
Mamma Roma moves her son to Rome from the countryside to set up a market stall and start a new life, but her son, Ettore, is forming some unhealthy attachments to a local promiscuous girl, a group of thieves, and a fence for stolen goods.
In her many efforts to set Ettore on a path that will make him the man she wants him to be, Mamma Roma will stop at nothing, but her actions have tragic consequences…
Pier Paolo Pasolini has never been known for subtlety, as anyone who has seen Pigsty or Salo can testify, and Mamma Roma is no exception. The language is crude and colloquial, the shots of Rome show nothing of the city’s beauty and the characters are all deeply flawed. From the opening reception dinner and the entrance of Mamma Roma, escorting three pigs into the room where the diners are eating, it is clear that we are watching a richly layered film. The entrance of the pigs has significance not just in their presence at this particular wedding reception, but also their representation of Italy. Pasolini adds layers to the scene with close-ups of the bride and groom’s facial expressions throughout, juxtaposing them with the laughter from Mamma Roma and other guests. It gets more complex when we find out that the groom is a pimp, and Mamma Roma has, in that moment, been released from his service. The whole scene, complete with a singing exchange, is by turns funny, tense and uncomfortable, and we’re only five minutes in.
From there, we follow Mamma Roma as she moves with her son to Rome. It is clear that class is high on the agenda, and the characters we follow all occupy the lowest rung. As a former prostitute, it is almost tragic to watch as Mamma Roma tries to force her son to understand the need to climb the social ladder. Her obsession with money and what the people of Rome will be like shows us how low these characters are, for when we arrive in Rome, we find concrete towers and wasteland, but still they feel they are stepping up, away from being ‘hicks’.
Pasolini’s camera treats every scene with reverence, as though the characters inhabited the finest architecture, and operated in the upper echelons of society. His long takes, beautiful tracking shots of Mamma Roma walking her beat, chatting (or in some cases lamenting) with potential clients, show a great deal of respect for the characters, and the actors - the majority of whom were not professionals.
Every scene is shot with more attention than perhaps the situations deserve. Considering the position these characters occupy, you could be forgiven for thinking the director was overdoing things just a little. His use of classical music and the grand shots of the landscape, in particular the concrete jungle with a lone dome (symbol of hope perhaps, or the unattainable) show affection for their predicament, and, ultimately, the tragic consequences of Mamma Roma’s flawed attempts to direct her son are all the more powerful for the imagery used.
For all the artistic qualities of the director and the cinematographer, this is Mamma Roma’s film. Anna Magnani dominates every scene with sheer presence. She plays Mamma Roma as one of the great matriarchs in cinematic history, chewing her dialogue and towering over every other actor, deafening the audience with her maniacal cackle. To Ettore she is a dictator, and despite wanting only to make sure he has everything he could want, she goes too far. She sets up a local businessman for blackmail in order that Ettore can work, she asks a prostitute friend to sleep with her son to take his mind from the local tramp, Bruna, and desperately tries to shield him from her past. As with all tragedies, the past catches up, and Ettore is forced away from her by her actions and her attitude into a life of crime with the people he calls friends. This life ends badly, and the final scene of Mamma Roma being held back from an open window, staring out at the dome, past the concrete blocks, is a powerful moment.
It would be easy for such a presence as Magnani to overpower the film, and even unbalance it, but such is the power of the storytelling, the realism portrayed by the amateur cast, and the handling of the drama by Pasolini, that her presence here brings everything vividly to life.
It is at the ending that we begin to see a little more into the mind of Pasolini, as in a prison hospital we hear an ageing inmate reciting the Divine Comedy to fellow convicts. It is here that perhaps we should ask ourselves which circle of hell we have ended up in, and which ones we have travelled through to get there.
Mamma Roma is relevant, rich and beautiful. Somehow the ugliest of settings is cast in a beautiful light by Pasolini, and as an audience we feel for Mamma Roma and Ettore as they struggle on the bottom rung of society’s ladder. For fans of Pasolini’s later work, it is interesting to see where he started, and to see the difference in the ways he chooses to share his views. Before the forays into depravity, and the anger of his later works, we can see tenderness for those on the bottom. RM
Film: Dobermann
Year of production: 1997
UK Release date: 25th April 2011
Distributor: Second Sight
Certificate: 18
Running time: 99 mins
Director: Jan Kounen
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Tchéky Karyo, Monica Bellucci, Antoine Basler, Dominique Bettenfeld
Genre: Action/Crime/Drama/Thriller
Format: DVD
Country of Production: France
Language: French/English/Spanish
Released back in the late 1990s, Dobermann was an antidote to the bland offerings of the time and a French response to English speaking taboo breakers like Reservoir Dogs and Natural Born Killers. But in this more permissive time, with the advent of a new breed of horror pushing the boundaries of screen violence, and Asian masters of cinema such as Miike showing us just what it’s like to be on the edge of permissiveness, does Dobermann still hold the same power?
During the christening of Yann Le Pentrec, a Doberman scratches on the church door. One of his uncles has brought the baby a gun as a present. When the Doberman enters the church, and the gun goes flying into baby Yann’s pram after a collision, the family discover that he takes to the weapon like it was a new toy. And so Dobermann is born.
Years later, we meet the adult Dobermann and his girl, Nat, robbing an armoured car before going on to meet with the rest of his gang of lunatics and misfits for the heist of the century.
In broad daylight, the gang rob a succession of banks, throwing Paris into chaos. The police are in turmoil, unable to control the situation. Unfortunately, Dobermann’s plan has put him squarely on the radar of psychotic detective Christini, who will stop at nothing to get him.
As Christini closes in on Dobermann and his crew of reprehensible criminals, they find themselves trapped and prepare for a confrontation of epic proportions…
Dobermann is not an easy film to sit through. Apart from the violence, and there is more than enough to make the hardened viewer squirm, the soundtrack pumps with little consideration for the eardrums, and the pace and editing make for a literally breathtaking experience. It is not always pretty; in fact the majority of the film is an ugly mess of violence, loathsome characters and techno. That said, it’s hard not to like the film as a whole, if only for the way the filmmakers have chosen to batter the viewer repeatedly in nearly every scene and make no apologies for doing so. It’s a mesmeric experience, and one you’re not likely to forget, for better or worse.
The robberies that form the crux of the film are nothing especially inventive or daring. There is little spectacle to them when viewed alongside countless other heist movies, but the little touches, such as placing a grenade in the helmet of a pursuing police motorcyclist, make the whole affair seem so outlandish that you can forget the shortcomings. This is not Heat after all.
The characters on offer start at despicable and descend the scale to scum of the earth. There is not one redeeming feature to any of them. Dobermann himself is a violent and nasty criminal who delights in shooting and blowing things up, as well as humiliating the odd victim of his robberies. He isn’t a character that as a viewer we have any real sympathies with. But that’s ok, because as a villain (oh yes, Dobermann is not the villain of this piece) we are given the despicable Detective Christini, a man so utterly foul that he makes Dobermann look like a lovable rogue. After all, any policeman who thinks nothing of throwing a baby across a room or giving it a grenade to play with during an interrogation is going to make anyone sympathise with the criminal he’s chasing.
This is the main problem with the film. For all the flashy photography and breakneck pace, the characters are so impossible to relate to that we are never allowed to view the film as anything other than an excuse for violence. This leaves the whole film feeling like a bit of throwaway fun rather than a subversive experiment in what’s permissible. Unlike, say, Ichi the Killer, which had at its core a statement on the way we view screen violence, Dobermann seems content to throw brutal acts at us and never allows us to get over one before hurling another, without commenting on any of them. This could be Dobermann’s undoing, but the film has enough genuine adrenalin-fuelled fun in its arsenal that anyone looking for 100 minutes of action will not be disappointed.
Cassel is good as the titular lead, but his onscreen charisma has been better displayed in other, superior films. Monica Bellucci isn’t given much to do except look ridiculously gorgeous and shoot things, which she does effortlessly and with considerable style, stealing most scenes she appears in through sheer presence. Tcheky Karyo is creepy and disgusting as Christini and makes for a very believable monster. The rest of the performances are a great deal of fun, but no one stands out as being anything other than walking comic characters (this might even be a compliment as the film is based on a series of comics).
Director Kounen has loaded the frame with enough crazy images to make the eyes bleed. Some are visceral, some are sexual, some are beautiful, but all are loud and searing. The quiet hideout for the gang is contrasted to good effect with the chaotic Paris streets, which are rife with fodder for the array of weaponry on offer. The first shot of adult Dobermann centres on the barrel of his oversized gun and from there his and everyone else’s weapons are almost fetishised throughout. The climactic confrontation between the gang and the police takes place in a club that could easily be Hell. The music is deafening, the imagery gaudy, and the violence extreme. It’s a potent mix that will work for some, but will definitely not be to everyone’s taste.
While it would be easy to dismiss Dobermann as a gratuitous orgy of violence, it is hard not to fall for its charms, such as they are. It is a film that will definitely not appeal to everyone, but one which has retained the shock value that set it apart from an array of Tarantino-style rip-offs, despite some heavy competition over the years. You’ll know whether it’s to your taste before it’s even begun: if the sight of an animated dog urinating on the opening credits doesn’t do it for you then it’s probably best to avoid it. For the rest of us, it’s insane, violent, over-the-top, crass - and a lot of fun. RM
Film: Save The Green Planet
Release date: 21st March 2005
Certificate: 18
Running time: 113 mins
Director: Jang Jun-hwan
Starring: Shin Ha-kyun, Baek Yoon-sik, Hwang Jeong-min
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Thriller
Studio: Tartan
Format: DVD
Country: South Korea
In amongst the seemingly endless list of horrors and gangster films on Tartan Asia Extreme was Save The Green Planet, one of the more extreme releases and unlike anything else released at the time. It’s not the most violent. It isn’t scary. But it is compelling, daring and totally insane.
Byung-gu knows that the planet is danger. Aliens from Andromeda are threatening the Earth, and he has until the next eclipse, only seven days away, to stop the annihilation of mankind.
Together with his girlfriend, Sooni, he kidnaps the CEO of a large corporation, whom he believes to be an alien disguised as a human. But the CEO is not about to give up his secrets lightly and there’s only one way to be sure he’s the right man – torture!
As he attempts to extract information, and arrange an audience with the alien prince, Byung-gu will have to avoid the attentions of an ace detective and the fiendish telepathic powers of the alien.
Can he contact the alien prince in time? Or will his past and the true reasons for his actions stop him from saving the world?
It’s hard to fit Save The Green Planet into any category. It’s part sci-fi, part thriller, part horror. With elements of comedy, police thriller, revenge thriller, noir... the list goes on. The debut feature from writer/director Jang Jun-hwan strives to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen before, and largely succeeds. It’s visually stunning, superbly acted, with some outstanding moments of horror and suspense, with enough pace to leave the viewer exhausted.
With so many elements, and such a stark contrast between them from scene to scene, it can be difficult and sometimes frustrating to watch, but while the transitions aren’t seamless, they are handled with enough confidence by the first time director to keep the audience hooked (if not entirely ready to suspend their disbelief).
The film does fall down at the last hurdle, with the director seeming to become over-awed by his own creation, as he tries, and fails, to provide an ending in keeping with the frenetic insanity that has gone before it. Even though the film holds itself together (admittedly with some difficulty), it’s unable to withstand such blatant grandstanding, and the bombardment of morals and messages throughout the final act does nothing for the emotional core of the film.
Subtlety is not high on Jang’s agenda, and all the themes he wishes to express are laid bare crassly, rather than being portrayed with any sensitivity. It feels, at times, as though the messages have been shoe-horned into the drama, sometimes at the expense of it. Look out for a scene in which three people are killed while standing on a large green circle with the word “innovation” written in large letters in the middle for just one example. It’s a shame, as the film clearly has much to say about the nature of corporations, the sometimes selfish agendas of so-called environmentalists, and the state of working conditions in Korea. While these issues are not entirely lost, they are somewhat drowned out through sheer volume.
Fortunately the film works enough of the time to keep us entertained, and it shows enough promise that Jang is definitely a director to watch closely. The cast is uniformly excellent, in particular the ever-watchable Shin Ha-kyun (JSA, Sympathy For Mr Vengeance) who keeps us emotionally hooked as we learn why Byung-gu has snapped, and about the long road of despair that led him to this point. It is this character’s personal tragedies that shape the course of the film, as it is through these revelations that we begin to understand why Byung-gu is the way he is. Though the list of tragedy is perhaps too long, it is heart-breaking and manages to move without lapsing into melodrama.
The other stand-out performance comes from Paek Yun-shik as the torture victim. When we first meet him, he is drunk and abusive, and for the rest of the film, he is either tied up wearing just his underwear, or a dress. Despite this, and the various other indignities he suffers throughout, Yun-shik manages to give a performance of extraordinary charisma, and the ambiguous nature of the character comes through in every scene, alternating between victim and monster, keeping the audience in the dark as to his true motives. It’s no surprise that the best scenes in the film are when the two central characters share the screen.
With such remarkable performances, and some genuinely moving moments, it is almost sad to see the ridiculously ostentatious ending that comes close to ruining everything that we’ve just watched. Fortunately, there is enough fun, horror, action and suspense on offer that by the time we get there we are able to forgive Jang’s showing off. Just about.
What could have been a truly remarkable and subversive experience instead becomes a barrage of morals, and what was supposed to be a shock twist ending turns out to almost undermine everything that has come before it. Despite this, Save The Green Planet shows enough character, heart, invention and bravery to be worth a look for any fan of Asian cinema. RM
