The Fountain – Film Review

The Fountain is one of those films that divided critics very neatly down the middle, and no doubt left the majority of the general public scratching their heads (those that accidentally staggered into a screening of said film).

Darren Aronovsky (of Requiem For a Dream fame) must have thought he had it in the bag back in 2002. Bradd Pitt and Cate Blanchett were both ‘on board’ to make his science fiction/ romance across the ages. He had secured a budget of 70 million U$D and of course, the Pop renegade-turned-cult composer Clint Mansell would undoubtedly bring the music for this extremely moving (and frequently baffling) movie.

Out of all of this, only Clint Mansell remained a constant. Brad went off to film Troy and Cate quickly bowed out also. With out the considerable lure of Pitt, the financiers dropped out, and so it was the film waited patiently (becoming a graphic novel in the meantime) until 2005. The budget was reduced to a sober 35 million U$D, Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz took up the leads and the somewhat difficult film began to take shape.

Being a lover of most things that are far from the beaten track I took to this film purely because it was brave enough to do something different, and also the most visually arresting things I had seen that year. The effects were mercifully non-CG and organic looking. The plot, which dealt with the readiness and acceptance of death was slight but heartfelt, the photography stunningly beautiful.

And the score…

Well, Clint Mansell’s award winning (and oft award nominated) score is truly a thing of beauty. Not being a lover of classical music (yet also be fully aware how rousing an orchestra can be) soundtracks are perhaps my best recourse. There are many themes and motifs in the soundtrack (much like the film itself), and warm piano work stands alongside heartbreaking strings. Don’t be discouraged though, it isn’t all funereal morbidity.

So, if you’re feeling brave and have a nice large screen, turn down the lights, take the phone off the hook and treat yourself to very unusual film.
And don’t forget to soak up every note, chord and progression of the beautifully haunting soundtrack.

No Country For Old Men – Film Review

No Country For Old Men
Dir. The Coen Brothers
Running Time: 122 minutes

Set against the vast open spaces of Texas, and showing a more provincial side of America, No Country For Old Men is modern western based around the basic conceit of a bag of money, belonging to very bad men, found by a not so innocent passer by.

The first thing that really strikes you about the new Coen brothers’ film is the pace. They know what they want to achieve and they will not rush in to it. Don’t be mistaken for thinking this is a slow film, rather the audience is given time to savour the plot as it unfolds and the various solid performances. The Coens even go a step further and decline to use a soundtrack - the audience really is left with the tension of the plot and the isolation of the landscape.

Tommy Lee Jones excels as the Texan Sheriff, steeped in good manners, common sense and a trademark deadpan humour. His performance is perhaps the most moving as he portrays a man coming to terms from retiring from something so much more than a simple job.

Josh Brolin is equally convincing as risk taking but not unsympathetic Vietnam veteran. He carries a large part of the film convincingly and has the charm to get the audience on side.

Javier Bardem seems to be an almost immutable, elemental force as he sweeps calmly through the film as the implacable and unhinged Anton. His usual attire of black is completely in keeping with the carnage he brings with him.

No Country For Old Men is a fine piece of cinema, featuring great performances, that is stately without ever dragging and beautifully melancholic.

9 out of 10

Faith Erin Hicks – Comics Review

Zombies Calling
Faith Erin Hicks
Graphic Novel

There are zombies outside. Real, live, undead zombies. They tried to eat my brain.

Joss is just your typical, everyday Canadian student: brain fried from exams, swamped in student loans and obsessed with England and Zombies in equal measure. OK, maybe she isn’t that typical after all.

Faith Erin Hicks small but perfectly formed graphic novel is a joy to read, tracing the survival of three roommates – Joss, Robyn and Sonnet. Hicks manages to keep the zombies genre fresh with some very cute self referencing, even if it does suffer from a knowingly heavy-handed analogy.

Zombies Calling will appeal to fans of Sean Of The Dead and Buffy, whilst retaining enough parody and observations unique to fighting a zombie infestation in Canada to keep it interesting.

Hicks’ art style is fun, funky, dynamic and deliciously indie, this girl knows how to ink! Her wit is sharp and the story well executed, if a little short. Or perhaps that’s her charm – to leave you wanting more.

A fun graphic novel that manages to lampoon and cherish it’s target subject, whilst delivering some well honed observations on the Canadian education system.

8 /10

Burial - Untrue – Album Review

About four years ago, my good friend Jess turned me on to the sounds of Bonobo, Orbital’s Blue Album and Sakura by Susumu Yokota.

I had the good fortune to bump into Jess again this Christmas; where one again he turned me on to more electronic goodness – this time in the shape of Burial's second album Untrue.

Already sited as the leading proponent of the emerging Dubstep scene, and yet clearly outside of it, Burial is quite unlike anything I have heard for a really long time. Dubstep is born out of Grime and the UK Garage scene, two genre’s I know next to nothing about.

However, from the moment I heard Burial’s second album Untrue I was hooked on the brooding darkness of swirling synths, pared down, syncopated, almost corroded beats and the warped use of forlorn Garage samples. Many tracks feature loops of a simple vocal, distorted many times over so it rarely sounds the same way twice. The bass plays a big part of many tracks as in Drum and Bass, but this is much more sombre territory than the frenetic Jungle-ism of the producers beloved genre.

Burial himself is something of an enigma. He doesn’t play a live set or DJ and rarely gives interviews. Championed by Kode9 of Hyperdub records it seems Burial will be able to lurk in the shadows and produce more of these amazing soundscapes.

The highlights of the album are Archangel, Ghost Hardware, Etched Headplate and the title track, which evoke a melancholy feeling of urban sprawl and decay, washed out by an insistent rain. If there were a soundtrack to travelling south London’s less known streets in the pre-dawn then this is surely it. Unfortunately the later half of the album loses its focus slightly but Untrue is till a rare album that merits attention of those seeking to discover new musical horizons.

An amazingly pared down, unique creation, not without flaws but at the same time incredibly emotive.

8 out of 10

I Am Legend – Film Review

I Am Legend
Director: Francis Lawrence
Running Time: 101 minutes

In the wake of a man-made virus gone awry, humanity turns on itself as the surviving population is rendered into feral, nocturnal cannibals. Military scientist Robert Neville struggles not only for survival, but also for his sanity three years after the fall of mankind.

I Am Legend seems to be a sure-fire bet of a good night out at the cinema. Boasting solid acting talent from Will Smith, a respectable budget, a great locale, CGI baddies and plenty of hype. However, it fails to become more than the sum of its parts.

The film is certainly tense, with a few shocks that will have you flinching, if not jumping in your seat. The production values are predictably high and the camera work, courtesy of Andrew Lesnie (of LOTR and Kong fame), amps up the desolation of a deserted Manhattan and the tense action scenes.

Will Smith is on form as the dedicated scientist Robert Neville, who after three years of isolation is beginning to come apart at the seams. The choice to portray the infected with CGI is, well… OK. They are well realised but the execution of the infected or ‘Dark Seekers’ is a little disappointing. One wonders if a more straight forward approach such as make up and prosthetics could have achieved more.

Legend is also ambitious, it requires the audience spend over half the film with only the fracturing Robert Neville for company. However, given Will Smith’s considerable talent he pulls it off admirably.

The flaw in the film lies in the resolution, and whilst saccharine happy Hollywood endings are invariably trite, Legend definitely loses it’s way in the final act, and at 101 minutes it seems a little short.

All in all I Am Legend is an above average dystopian science fiction film that rests on Will Smith’s shoulders. One feels the writers could have served him better.

7 / 10

Jeff VanderMeer – Book Review

Veniss Underground
Jeff VanderMeer
Paperback

In the distant future, humanity clings to life in chaotic, bickering, walled city-states. Amid the sprawling confusion Nicholas, a failing artist, asks a favour of the mysterious Quin, a reclusive biological engineer who creates sentient species for labour and entertainment. Before long Nicholas’ sister and her ex lover are caught up in Quin’s machinations as well.

Jeff VanderMeer’s first novel was released in 2003 and is staggering for the sheer amount of ideas that literally drip from each chapter. The book contains elements of horror and rarely reads like a traditional science fiction story. Veniss Underground frequently feels like some macabre fantasy (and it is indeed fantastic) where the monsters have been cooked up from DNA splicing, rather than ancient mythology. The outright weird stands alongside the sheer grotesque as this compulsive, unnerving story reveals itself.
The author isn’t afraid of using literary devices in his work either, he switches from first, to second, and finally third person narratives over the course of the book. Each narrative tied to one of the three main characters, whose lives are changed forever by the elusive Quin. Although the main protagonist, Shadrach, isn’t the most arresting characters to grace a page his single-mindedness carries the book to it’s gore slicked conclusion. Shadrach’s quest is as satisfying as it is terrifying, and there is no shortage of danger when he ventures underground for a reckoning.
As with all great novels the main story is littered with details and snippets of a larger world, which is just as well, the scaled down cast of lonely characters lends the book a claustrophobic edge.

A fantastic first novel, markedly different, nightmarishly macabre and superbly executed.

8 /10