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Film: Tokyo Godfathers
Release date: 13th September 2004
Certificate: 12
Running time: 88 mins
Director: Satoshi Kon
Starring: Toru Emori, Aya Okamoto, Yoshiaki Umegaki, Shôzô Îzuka, Seizô Katô
Genre: Anime
Studio: Sony
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
In August 2010, the world sadly lost a truly unique talent of the world of anime direction. Though he only has four feature films (Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers and Paprika) and a TV series (Paranoia Agent) to his name, Satoshi Kon’s striking visual sensibilities and unconventional narrative style makes his body of work a real benchmark of the industry – something for anime directors to aim for, and something that is rarely bettered. His penultimate film, Tokyo Godfathers, is a Christmas story with a difference. Unusually for an anime (and especially unusual when compared to Kon’s other work), it is solidly grounded in reality, and can therefore discuss real-world social problems with ease.
Tokyo Godfathers tells the story of three homeless people who find an abandoned baby and decide to find her parents. On the way, the act of caring for the child changes each character in a profound way, and makes them consider what went wrong in their lives.
A truly unusual combination of characters, the group comprises of Gin (Tōru Emori), a grouchy and dishevelled former bicycle shop owner, Hana (Yoshiaki Umegaki), a homeless drag queen, and Miyuki (Aya Okamoto), a teenage runaway.
The story opens on Christmas Eve, where, after a seasonal ‘family’ argument, the group stumble upon a baby girl alone in a pile of rubbish. Hana is only too eager to act as the new child’s mother, but Gin is painfully reminded of his own lost daughter Kiyoko (the same name the group agrees to give the baby girl), and Miyuki of the family she ran away from. Despite the reluctance of Hana to let go of the baby, they all resolve to find Kiyoko’s real parents and return her to them.
Their journey is far from simple, as the only clue they have is a picture of the baby and her parents. Numerous obstacles also come between the group and their goal, and even when they reach their destination, a final twist in the plot thwarts them once more.
Each of the character’s back stories is gradually revealed over the course of their journey. What became of Gin’s family and career? How does a drag queen like Hana end up on the streets? And just why did Miyuku run away?
Their story is utterly enthralling, and the more you find out, the more you become attached to each of the characters. The film also transcends genre, beginning as a social commentary, then becoming a heart-warming family drama, then a road movie, and ending up as a thriller, with a liberal dose of comedy throughout. Your emotions while watching the film are truly stretched to their limit - one moment you’ll be laughing your head off, the next you’ll be struggling to hold back tears.
Undoubtedly the highlight of the film is the well thought-out and complex relationship between this ‘family’ of homeless people. Gin, on the outside, appears gruff, drunken and quick to anger, an embodiment of the stereotypical tramp, but in reality is a caring soul, and deeply regrets the path his life has taken, especially concerning his lost family. Hana is more open about his emotions. He sees the importance of the group sticking together and, at the very least, tolerating each other, but is highly secretive about other aspects of his life such as his past, especially his unrequited love for Gin. Miyuki acts a spoilt brat (an achievement for someone on the streets) and appears, for the most part, to begrudge hanging around with Gin and Hana (calling the former “old man” and the latter “Auntie Bag”), but really she regrets her decision to run away from her family, and looks up to Gin and Hana as parental figures.
The quality of the animation is also extremely high. This is not the overly stylised and fantastical animation of Hayao Miyazaki. Satoshi Kon has made his film world seem solid and real. You can see real emotions running through his characters, you feel every one of their experiences, and even the animated version of the city of Tokyo seems to be bustling with life.
If anything really detracts from the film, it would be a particular sequence in the middle of the film which involves the characters being invited to a gangster’s daughter’s wedding (they save him from being run over by his own car). At the wedding, Gin recognises a man whom he blames for the bad turn his life has taken. Before Gin can act on his ill feelings, the man is killed by an assassin disguised as a waiter, and Miyuki, who is carrying Kiyoko, is kidnapped in the confusion. This scene is quite jarring in its change of tone. We are momentarily plunged into the world of organised crime and politically-motivated contract killers, and it doesn’t fit in with the rest of the story. The scene serves little purpose apart from splitting the characters up and forcing them to find each other again. Rather than driving the narrative, this scene stops it dead.
You could also consider one of the underlying messages of the film as being a detractor. Satoshi Kon famously made his films in a way so that you can interpret the true meaning of them in any way that you wish. It really depends on how you see the story. If taken as a tale of newfound responsibility to an infant changing the lives of three people at the bottom of the social ladder, then the film really does have something to say. However, if you focus on the religious connotations of the film, it can become a little whimsical and preachy, a clumsy reinvention of the nativity story transposed to modern Tokyo.
Tokyo Godfathers can easily be considered the most accessible of Satoshi Kon’s films. It’s not as dark and psychoanalytic as Perfect Blue, not as confusing as Millennium Actress or as downright mad as Paprika. It’s a real story about real people, but told exceptionally well. It really does express the true meaning of family. The characters may not be blood related, but they truly love and truly need each other. They squabble and sulk, they have good times and bad, but they stick together through thick and thin. Out on the streets, their deep friendship is all they have, and with the addition of a baby to look after, their family is completed.
The true joy in watching Tokyo Godfathers lies in the way the story is told, and the in-depth characterisation. Unlike the usual exaggerated, fantastical characters found in many works of anime, Gin, Hana and Miyuki really do feel real, and you’d have to have a heart of stone not to empathise with them as they try and return a baby girl to her parents. SSP
Film: The Guillermo Del Toro Collection
Release date: 12th March 2007
Certificate: 18
Running time: 310 mins
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Starring: Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Marisa Paredes, Eduardo Noriega, Ivana Baquero
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Fantasy/Horror/Mystery/Thriller/War
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD
Country: Mexico/Spain/USA
Guillermo Del Toro is easily one of the most imaginative, original and instantly recognisable directors working today. From his humble beginnings as an independent filmmaker, the Mexican has produced numerous classic films, and in recent years made the move to mainstream Hollywood. Always present in his work is a rich and iconic visual sensibility, relatable and sympathetic monsters and freaks, and frequent references to fairytale, folklore and religion.
Cronos (1994)
When Jesús Gris (Federico Luppi), an elderly antiques dealer, comes into possession of an ancient device in the form of a clockwork beetle, he is unwittingly transformed into a vampire as the device activates and stings him. He becomes more youthful, and far stronger, but develops an overpowering urge to consume blood. He is hunted by a dying millionaire and his nephew (Claudio Brook and Ron Perlman, respectively) for knowledge of the device and its promise of eternal life…
Cronos foreshadows many aspects of Del Toro’s career: it features a clockwork device in the shape of a scarab beetle (both insects and clockwork mechanisms have become instantly recognisable Del Toro visual motifs) and the film also features soon-to become-regular collaborators Federico Luppi and Ron Pearlman (the former would appear in The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth, the latter in the Hellboy films and Blade II).
The film has some undeniably memorable scenes, including Gris’ first experience of a vampire’s need for blood (he laps it off a bathroom floor) and his resurrection in a morgue moments before cremation. The film does, however, tend to drag a little (especially the lengthy prologue and build up to Gris’ initial transformation) – despite only being 94 minutes, it can seem longer.
While it’s very stylistically striking, and has some iconic scenes, Del Toro’s debut is easily the weakest of his Spanish-language films. Several ideas don’t quite work and the story loses its energy on occassions. However, Cronos is a perfectly respectable first film all the same, and Del Toro was just finding his feet after all. Even here you can find evidence of his future brilliance.
Del Toro’s big screen debut sets the tone for the rest of his career – it’s dark, imaginative and fun. After his career began in TV and short film production, Cronos is certainly a daring and exciting big-screen debut.
The Devil’s Backbone (2001)
Far more than the standard ghost story, The Devil’s Backbone is a very tense and extremely emotional experience. It’s effectively atmospheric and creepy (it’s set in a rundown and isolated orphanage during the Spanish Civil War) and the cast all manage to get across the tragedy and horror of the events that unfold.
When young Carlos (Fernando Tielve) arrives at a remote orphanage in the final stages of the Spanish Civil War, it is immediately apparent that all is not well. There is an unexploded bomb stuck in the ground outside, sinister relationships between the orphanage’s staff and children, and the ghost of a young boy wandering the corridors. What dark secrets will Carlos stumble upon?
You have all the standard scares you’d expect in any horror film, but these are contrasted by tensely drawn out scenes - and the ghost itself, Santi (Junio Valverde), is brilliantly realised, managing to evoke the right mix of fear and sympathy from an audience.
The cast all bring a little something extra to their roles, and this helps them become believable characters, from Carlos’ inherent goodness and need to find the truth to the tragically lonely headmistress Carmen (Marisa Paredes), the kind and deeply philosophical Dr Casares (Federico Luppi), the emotionally unstable and threatening caretaker Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega) and the emotionally repressed bully Jaime (Íñigo Garcés).
“What is a ghost? A tragedy condemned to repeat itself time and again? An instant of pain, perhaps. Something dead which still seems to be alive. An emotion suspended in time. Like a blurred photograph. Like an insect trapped in amber.” This opening question urges us to look past what scares us, and conquer our fears. It fits in with Del Toro’s usual ethos - that his monsters are mostly sympathetic creatures, and should not be taken at face value, as simply ‘evil’.
The Devil’s Backbone is well written, well acted and extremely scary. Del Toro makes use of just enough horror clichés whilst adding his own take on the genre. It further cements his position as an extremely original and rewarding director to take an interest in.
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Pan’s Labyrinth is a masterpiece of fairytale storytelling, effortlessly blending the real world with fantasy. Del Toro returned to his roots after a few years in Hollywood, crafting a believable fable full to the brim with emotion.
Set in fascist Spain in 1944, a young girl, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), is sent with her pregnant mother to live in the care of her stepfather Vidal (Sergi López), a captain in General Franco’s military who is fighting guerrilla rebels.
Ofelia loves to read and has a vivid imagination, and she frequently escapes the clutches of her brutal stepfather to explore her new surroundings. One such escapade leads to the discovery an ancient labyrinth within which she meets a mysterious faun who promises her eternal life if she completes three tasks for him…
Pan’s Labyrinth is a film of contrasts – we are shown the horrific brutalities of war one moment and truly beautiful fantasies the next. One minute we see guerrilla rebels being brutally tortured by Vidal, the next Ofelia is being guided down ancient corridors by fairies. We see these worlds through the eyes of Ofelia, through the eyes of an imaginative 12-year-old –the distinctions between fantasy and reality are not yet clearly defined. The director can really go to town with his distinct visual flair in this film – everything is beautifully designed, from the labyrinth itself to the ancient faun, the fairies and the horrifying array of creatures Ofelia has to face.
The cast are of the highest calibre. Ivana Baquero makes Ofelia a believable heroine, full of wonder and imagination, and ultimately guided by her need to do the right thing. Sergi López makes Vidal a truly despicable villain and Maribel Verdú plays Mercedes, Vidal’s housekeeper and secretly a mole for the guerrilla rebels with a dignified defiance. We should, of course, not overlook Doug Jones, an often unsung hero of film. Because of his highly physical acting style and slight frame, he more often than not performs under heavy makeup and/or prosthetics. In Pan’s, Jones plays the Faun and the Pale Man (the grotesque, skinny creature who wears his eyes in his hands in the dinner table scene) – he is responsible for the portrayal of both of the most memorable creatures in the film!
Pan’s Labyrinth is not only visually stunning, but can rely on the strengths of every single cast member to make fantasy believable. The plot is emotionally intense, gripping and tragic, and Javier Nevarrete’s haunting yet beautiful score effortlessly carries and reinforces the story. Guillermo Del Toro continues to prove that not only is he a master of visuals, but of character as well.
Guillermo Del Toro’s films have steadily improved over the years. From a daring but unremarkable debut with Cronos to the chilling and far more entertaining The Devil’s Backbone, and then the pinnacle of his creativity, Pan’s Labyrinth. These films are proof that Guillermo Del Toro has demonstrated more imagination, originality and technical ability in two decades than many Hollywood directors demonstrate in their entire careers. SSP
Film: Fanny & Alexander
Release date: 16th November 2009
Certificate: 15
Running time: 180 mins
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Starring: Pernilla Allwin, Bertil Guve, Börje Ahlstedt, Allan Edwall, Ewa Fröling
Genre: Drama/Fantasy/Mystery
Studio: Palisades Tartan
Format: DVD
Country: Sweden/France/West Germany
Ingmar Bergman’s family epic won numerous awards on release, including Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design at the Academy Awards (though Bergman lost out on the Best Director Oscar for the third time in his career, this time to James L. Brooks). The film is also effectively Bergman’s goodbye to the world of cinema (as other than work in TV, he never directed another major feature).
In Fanny & Alexander, we follow the lives of an aristocratic Swedish family of eccentric actors over the course of two tragic years.
It is Christmas 1907, and we are introduced to the family as they gather to celebrate the festive season. All characters in the family are instantly likeable, and all are facing problems in their lives. There’s the family matriarch, the widowed grandmother Helena (Gun Wållgren), who is coming to terms with the fact that her life has passed her by, that she is old and alone, despite the fact that her former lover, the Jewish merchant Isak (Erland Josephson), still loves her dearly. There’s also Uncle Gustav (Jarl Kulle), a sad old goat seeking the affections of a pretty young servant of the family, Maj (Pernilla Wallgren) and Uncle Carl (Börje Ahlstedt) who’s severely in debt.
The two characters referred to in the title are brother and sister: Alexander (Bertil Guve) is a 10-year-old with an active imagination, and Fanny (Pernilla Allwin) his younger sister. Their lives are changed forever when their father Oscar (Allan Edwall) dies suddenly and their mother Emelie (Ewa Fröling) remarries a tyrannical bishop (Jan Malmsjö). The siblings are torn from their loving family’s embrace and forced to live with Bishop Vergerus’s fanatically zealous family. Both children (but especially Alexander) have to grow up fast and come to terms with their new situation...
Fanny & Alexander is a visually magnificent film. Long shots take in every aspect of the Ekdahl’s beautifully luxurious family mansion, and Isak’s crowded, atmospheric and mysterious antiques shop. The striking contrast between seasons is also shown vividly through the scenery – from the comforting Dickensian winter evenings in a Swedish city to the sharp and crisp spring morning at the Bishop’s country house by a waterfall. This contrast is also evident in the presentation of the families – The Ekdahls are cheerful, warm and loving, and treat their servants as part of the family, whereas the Vergerus family are stern, cold and distant, their servants living in constant fear of the bishop.
In truth, Fanny & Alexander is a film of contrasts – youth and adulthood, life and death, good and evil, religion and atheism, luxury and frugality, kindness and cruelty. It’s a film about a boy approaching puberty who has to come to terms with the death of his father and a complete change in lifestyle and surroundings, in addition to everything else a boy has to face at that age. This is where one of the film’s greatest strengths lies – in the solid central performance of the young Bertil Guve, who sadly did not choose to pursue a career in acting after this, his film debut. He has no trouble in making us believe in Alexander’s plight, and really brings across how Alexander matures throughout the film – a scene where he attempts to stand up to the severe Bishop in defiance is an undeniable highlight.
The film has the feel of a stage production about it (fittingly, as the plot concerns a family of actors) and has the runtime to reflect it – at three hours long, you may need an interval or two! This is not a problem in the scenes directly concerning the exploits of the wacky family, but, at times, the film can drag – there are only so many rambling monologues and literary quotations anyone can take. It’s also hard to take some of the stranger happenings in the plot (admittedly, it’s easier not to take some of the more fantastical events completely literally, that is, unless you believe in Jewish magic!). As already mentioned, it is a film of contrasts, but the contrast between believable family situations and weird religious fantasy can be a little jarring at points.
Bergman’s final big hit is epic in every sense of the word – it’s a beautiful looking film full of sterling character performances and with the big ideas and runtime to match! You might find parts a little dragged out and preachy, and sometimes the fantasy element is taken a little too far, but that should not ruin your enjoyment of this family saga that is full to the brim with heart. SSP
Film: Fellini's Casanova
Release date: 1st May 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 148 mins
Director: Federico Fellini
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Tina Aumont, Cicely Browne
Genre: Drama/Fantasy/Biography
Studio: Mr Bongo
Format: DVD
Country: Italy
Frederico Fellini’s biopic of the infamous womanising Venetian author is a little unusual to say the least. In Fellini’s favourite of his own films, we follow Giacomo Casanova (Donald Sutherland) throughout his life, witnessing his various loveless sexual exploits as he travels across 18th century Europe. Boasting striking visuals and heavy symbolism, it won’t be to everyone’s taste.
The film opens in Venice, where the annual carnival is taking place. After witnessing the festivities, Giacomo Casanova begins his run of sexual adventures. First, in Venice, he puts on a sexual performance with an actress dressed as a nun for the voyeuristic pleasure of a rich noble. Then, after a brief imprisonment for supposedly practicing the dark arts, he escapes to Paris, where he conducts an insane ritual designed to transform an elderly aristocratic woman’s soul into that of a young man’s (predictably, using sex, with the addition of a candle headdress!). Later, after apparently losing his sexual potency (after inevitably catching a venereal disease), he travels to London, where he is fascinated by a giantess, and gets a kick out of watching her being bathed by two dwarves.
Over his life, his sexual encounters become less and less fulfilling, to the extent that in Dresden, a woman rejects his advances and he instead participates in a bizarre orgy with a hunchback and two heavyset women. He lives his final days sad, ridiculed and alone as a librarian at a count’s residence in Bohemia…
The visuals are striking, if a little unusual. Each city Casanova visits is represented in a very theatrical way, by a minimalist set (the ocean is represented by billowing bin liners in one scene, for instance, whilst London is shown as a single cobbled street shrouded in fog).
The costume design is also very impressive, deservedly winning an Academy Award. Each of Casanova’s outfits is extravagant to the extreme. They become less over-the-top throughout the course of the film (in early scenes and flashback sequences, he appears as a strutting and garish peacock, but he gradually becomes more subdued and dapper as he spirals into old age and depression).
Everything about the character of Casanova is designed to make him grotesque – from the horrific hair and makeup (including rolled and bunched hair, and a shaved crown to make the hairline more severe) to his sickening expressions during intercourse and, of course, the very fact that it’s Donald Sutherland playing him (not exactly the most conventionally attractive man). He’s portrayed as largely emotionless – an automaton seeking sexual gratification while avoiding attachment. At no time do we feel anything for his younger self; on the contrary, he is quite repulsive. Only in the final act to we feel any empathy (or is it pity?) for him, when he’s being mocked.
The whole film represents a man’s need to gratify his desires and his inability to connect on any emotional level. No matter where Casanova travels, no matter what he goes through, he will never find happiness, he will never find love. Easily the most poignant scene is a fantastical moment where Casanova falls for a doll-like woman, and, after seducing her, continues to dream of her for the rest of his life. She is, in reality, his ideal woman – she will never resist his advances, and never require him to engage with her on anything more than a physical level. In this moment, the true sadness of Casanova’s character is revealed: he is utterly unable to love a real woman, and has to make do with a mannequin.
Some scenes may appear a little laughable to some, as the acting and characterisation is, at times, very exaggerated. This is still in keeping with the dreamlike, theatrical feel of the film, but it may annoy some viewers.
It’s not the symbolism, exaggeration and flights of fantasy that irritate the most, however. What really grates is the clumsy Italian dubbing of Donald Sutherland on this particular DVD, which distracts to the point of having a detrimental effect on the story!
Despite the heavy-handed dubbing of Sutherland, and the love-it-or-hate-it theatrical visuals and acting, Fellini’s Casanova effectively tells the story (impressive considering the lack of real plot points) of Italy’s most famous libertine. The film’s unusual visuals are effectively simple, and though the film begins emotionally shallow, it becomes quite poignant by the conclusion. SSP
Film: Cargo
Release date: 5th July 2010
Certificate: 12
Running time: 107 mins
Director: Ivan Engler & Ralph Etter
Starring: Anna-Katherina Scwabroh, Martin Rapold, Regula Grauwiller, Yangzom Brauen, Pierre Semmler
Genre: Sci-Fi/Mystery/Thriller/Horror
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Switzerland
Switzerland’s first attempt at sci-fi, and Ivan Engler’s first feature film, Cargo harks back to numerous icons of science fiction cinema – everything from The Thing to The Matrix, and, most notably, Ridley Scott’s Alien. It belongs to that particular breed of dystopian science fiction – where the world is ruined and the human race is living on borrowed time.
The film opens with Dr Laura Portmann (Anna Katharina Schwabroh) joining the crew of The Kassandra, a cargo transportation ship that is set to make a journey to the distant Station 42. Laura intends to make enough money to join her family on the planet Rhea - humanity’s last hope after Earth is left uninhabitable – by 2267. The people of Earth have been forced to flee their home planet and now live aboard cramped space stations rife with disease, famine and fear until they can be resettled.
After boarding the cargo vessel, Dr Portman is briefly introduced to the rest of the crew. There’s the old and grizzled Captain Lacroix (Pierre Semmler), the by-the-book second officer Lindbergh (Regula Grauwiller), a double-act of engineers Vespucci and Prokoff (Michel Finger and Claude-Oliver Rudolph), Yoshida the computer expert (Yangzom Brauen) and the mysterious Decker (Martin Rapold) – the security escort hired after a recent bout of terrorist attacks. All are put into cryo-sleep for the journey. Each crew member is awake for an eight month shift of the journey to maintain the vessel and cargo, and it is during Laura’s shift that strange things begin to happen. There are odd noises on the seemingly deserted ship, and something appears to be moving in the cargo hold. She wakes the Captain and Decker and they investigate.
When Captain Lacroix mysteriously falls to his death while investigating the cargo hold, the rest of the crew are woken to decide on their next move. Suspicions arise about their cargo and their true mission. Both Decker and Lindbergh look like they are hiding something. What is the cargo they are transporting and why? And are the crew really alone on the Kassandra?
Cargo is visually impressive for a film with a reported €4.2 million budget. The very first thing we see is a glittering space station hanging in low orbit of a colossal planet, we then zoom right through a window in the side of the station. Here, we are taken inside, and we feel part of the cramped, squalid conditions of a ‘space refugee camp’. The film is no less impressive when onboard the Kassandra, the corridors are all Ridley Scott-esque industrial piping shrouded in shadow, and the vast cargo hold looms ominously like a mechanical cathedral – you could scarcely get more creepily atmospheric locations.
Despite the visuals and the promising start to the story, Cargo has its problems. The most annoying thing about the film is how it seems to have given into the pressure of audience expectations of a sci-fi film – it’s got the opportunity to be inventive, but is actually not very different to a typical Hollywood film. The crew is made up of all the usual character archetypes you find in every American sci-fi: we have the stiff and regimental officers, the smart-ass engineers and the computer expert of Asian ethnicity. Even the character of Laura is a little too close to Ripley of the Alien series (they both go on a similar character arc, starting fairly meek and quiet, before becoming independent heroines).
The first half of the film builds tension very effectively, and shocking revelations are promised from the start – we desperately want to find out what the crew are transporting and why, and what Decker’s secret agenda is. Unfortunately, when the truth is finally revealed, it’s a bit of an anticlimax, even if it does offer some nice emotional beats. We’ve seen it all before. The plot itself also meanders, and is a little incoherent in the final 20 minutes or so.
Cargo is a competent sci-fi, but it’s nothing special. The first half is effectively tense and engaging, but it loses its way towards the end. Visually stunning considering the budget, but unfortunately, it’s nowhere near original or creative enough to be considered a particularly revolutionary sci-fi film. SSP
Film: Festen
Release date: 13th October 2008
Certificate: 15
Running time: 100 mins
Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Starring: Ulrich Thomsen, Henning Moritzen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Paprika Steen, Birthe Neumann
Genre: Crime/Drama
Studio: Metrodome
Format: DVD
Country: Denmark/Sweden
Festen was the first film released following the Dogme 95 ‘vow of chastity’ – a list of rules for directors to follow when making films. The rules included technical restrictions (cameras to be low quality and handheld, no sound or music to be added in post-production) banning of excessive action, and not allowing the director a credit. The whole Dogme movement aimed to reduce cinema back to its simplest and most beautiful origins.
The film opens with the Klingenfeldt-Hansen family making their way to the family run hotel for the festivities. We are introduced to each family member on their arrival – Helge (Henning Moritzen) is the father, whose 60th the family has gathered to celebrate. His children consist of Christian (Ulrich Thomsen), the quiet and distant eldest son; the volatile and manic Michael (Thomas Bo Larsen), the youngest; and Helene (Paprika Steen), the fiery and confident eldest daughter.
Also mentioned in conversation is the recently deceased youngest daughter, Linda, who committed suicide seemingly without motive, and for whom the family are still mourning. Helene visits her late sister’s room and finds a note. Michael has a violent and sexually charged argument with his wife over misplaced shoes, and Christian is re-acquainted with his childhood sweetheart, Pia (Trine Dyrholm).
The evening celebrations begin normally enough – catching up with the relatives, then a lovely sit-down meal, too much wine and clichéd speeches. Then everything changes when Christian stands to make his speech. He makes a horrifying claim about his father that sends the party into uproar. He is then promptly ejected from the party. We spend the rest of the film searching for the truth – are Christian’s claims true? And why did Linda commit suicide?
Festen shows you dark family drama at its very best. Thanks to Vinterberg’s down-to earth screenplay (which is so natural, it appears improvised at times), we instantly warm to the characters, and can quite easily relate to them and what they are going through.
The film is a truly immersive experience (largely due to the low-grade quality of the film, in compliance with the Dogme 95 rules) – it looks like a home video, and through watching it you really feel like a member of the family (like you’re taking part in the festivities).
Be warned - Festen is by no means a comfortable viewing experience. Emotions run high throughout, and the dark family secrets revealed are truly shocking. Each revelation feels like a punch to the stomach, and just when you think it could never get worse, it does.
High quality acting is on show, both from the veterans (Henning Moritzen has been acting since the ‘50s) and the novices (it was one of Paprika Steen’s first major film roles), and they all bring a little extra something to their characters. Of particular note are the actors who play the siblings – Ulrich Thomsen manages to bring across the tragedy and deep-rooted emotional scarring of Christian; Thomas Bo Larsen gives Michael just the right level of unpredictability and menace, while at the same time showing his unquestionable loyalty to his family; and Paprika Stern is captivating as the strong, independent woman amongst a family of flawed men.
The Dogme 95 rules that Festen follows (at least most of the time) will most definitely divide audiences. Your view of the whole film may entirely hinge on whether you see the vow of chastity as being restrictive or liberating, as overtly pretentious or refreshingly simplistic. Some of the Dogme rules could seem a little silly to some – the cast, in theory at least, have to provide their own costumes (though the Festen crew did allow a cast member who did not own a tuxedo to borrow one), but others achieve interesting effects within the film. For instance, a scene with Michael and his wife in their hotel room required a swooping, high angled shot, and since the Dogme rules prohibited the use of cranes or steadicams, the cameraman attached his camera to the end of a mic boom (which, amusingly, can be briefly seen in a mirror in the room). The film also required cast members themselves to film some scenes (such as the dining room scene, which otherwise would have been too awkward to film in such a confined space).
Whether you’re a lover or a hater of Dogme, Festen will take you on an emotional rollercoaster that engages you to the very end. In an age of big-budget, high concept filmmaking, it makes a nice change to watch a film so stripped down, yet so immensely satisfying. SSP
Film: Howl’s Moving Castle
Release date: 1st January 2007
Certificate: U
Running time: 120 mins
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Chieko Baisho, Takuya Kimura, Tatsuya Gashûin, Akihiro Miwa, Ryûnosuke Kamiki
Genre: Anime
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
Environmentalism, war and peace, pride and corruption, coming of age and redemption – it can only be a fairytale from acclaimed Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki and his animation studio powerhouse Studio Ghibli.
Sophie Hatter (Chieko Baisho) leads an unremarkable and tedious life – a hatter by trade (as well as by name), she spends day after day making piles of fashionable headwear to keep her late father’s business going.
One day, she is rescued from the advances of two soldiers by the mysterious wizard Howl (Takuya Kimura), and is unwittingly caught up in the handsome young wizard’s affairs, as they both escape the minions of the sinister Witch of the Waste (Akihiro Miwa), who is determined to gain Howl’s power for her own.
The Witch pays Sophie a visit at her shop and puts a curse on her – Sophie ages drastically in moments and is unable to tell anyone what has been done to her. So, scared and confused, she flees her home town and ventures forth into the wilderness, finding her way into Howl’s castle – in reality a bizarre walking pile of assorted architecture, landscape features and junk made sentient by a fire demon named Calcifer (Tatsuya Gashûin).
Sophie employs herself as housekeeper, and proceeds to tidy the castle, which has been left in a sorry state by Howl, his young assistant Markl (Ryûnosuke Kamiki) and Calcifer. Howl himself returns home but regularly disappears again without explanation, leaving Sophie and Markl to their own devices. Howl is, in fact, observing a viscous war that has suddenly broken out, and though extremely powerful with his magic powers, is reluctant to join without something concrete to fight for. The fire demon Calcifer has his own plans, too, as he offers to help Sophie escape her curse if she, in turn, will find a way to free him from Howl’s service…
The great thing about Howl’s Moving Castle is that we are given the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of every single frame of animation. Because of the relatively slow pace of the film, we can really take in the quality of every frame of animation – we are given time to simply look when too often in modern cinema are we thrown in at the deep end, and left simply disorientated. The animation moves from stunningly rendered dreamy landscapes to the strikingly weird and captivating movements of the castle itself, and the nightmarishly apocalyptic battlefield panoramas.
Sophie is an extremely likeable heroine. You really feel for what has been done to her, and Chieko Baisho’s ability to portray the character in both her young and old forms is a true testament to her skill as a voice actress.
Howl is far less engaging (at least, at first) – he appears arrogant, selfish and cowardly, and even his boyish charm can’t endear him to you. However, once his back-story is fleshed out, you do feel pity for him. The villains, quite typically for a Miyazaki film, aren’t really very evil, rather they have lost their way and are in need of redemption. The real battle, for all the characters, is within themselves.
Miyazaki’s regular collaborator, Joe Hisaishi scores the film, and the soundtrack is simple yet effective. It is quite staggering how Hisaishi can bring a tear to your eye with a couple of well placed notes. The score sounds a lot like a lullaby, and whilst it may have the power to send young children to sleep, it stirs entirely other emotions in adults – it causes you to reminisce, to remember happier times when the world was so much simpler.
About three quarters of Howl’s Moving Castle is quite simply flawless. The last half hour or so, however, disappoints slightly – losing some of the overall magic. The story, while never completely watertight, is entertaining for most of the film, but drifts into nonsensical in the last act, and the final revelations about Howl’s past are a little underwhelming. The film as a whole is also slightly too long.
True, certain aspects of the plot are also never explained, as we are seemingly meant to take it on face value that Howl transforms into a bird-creature every now and then, but if you embrace the madness, Howl’s Moving Castle is a truly special experience. SSP
