Renaissance

French cinema is often synonymous with style, and this visual gem from first time director Christian Volckman is no exception. Shot in stark black and white CGI, Renaissance is less a movie more a living graphic novel.

Set against the gritty backdrop of a future Paris, Renaissance spins a classic noir yarn of rogue cop, missing dame, and sinister organisation. Fusing elements of Blade Runner and Elmore Leonard (influences readily acknowledged by the writer and director), the plot draws us through the dark atmosphere with convoluted twists and reveals. Top this off with an unexpected ending, and you can easily overlook the more cliched moments.

Technically the movie is brilliant. Harsh black and white lends a stark beauty to the future Paris, giving us many visually memorable views of the cityscape. Characters move with grace and fluidity thanks to some exceptionally good motion capture work; especially noticeable in the films many action sequences. Speaking of which, there is a truly classic chase sequence captured through some brilliant camerawork.

The movie has been blessed with an impressive English dub; the likes of Ian Holm, Jonathan Pryce, and (man of the moment) Daniel Craig lending their voices and considerable acting talent to the characters. Despite this, characters do come across a little shallow and stereotypical of the genre. The lack of depth doesn't greatly impinge proceedings, but does keep it firmly in the realm of cool graphic novel rather than stunning noir.

A brief making of and a short from the director round out the dvd. Given the time and technique this took to create, you can't help but feel a little underwhelmed. Stylish, technically accomplished, and visually memorable, this cool piece of sci-fi noir should earn itself a place in your collection.

DVD Round-up

Alas, not all the movies I watch end up on the blog (I know, your shocked and saddened at the revelation), so here is an impromptu round-up of recent reels.

Lucky Number Slevin - A self consciously hip thriller in the mold of 90's post Tarantino. Thankfully the knowingly cool air gives way to a slick, enjoyably tangled noir gangster thriller. Willis, Freeman, and Kingsley are on good form; Hartnett is better as the wrong guy in the wrong place. Nicely topped off with an unexpected sucker punch ending (though the game is given away for those paying attention).

Key Largo - Black and white Bogart and Bacall, but don't go expecting the sizzling Big Sleep dialog. Instead this is a tense showdown of a movie, set within the confines of a hurricane battered hotel. Classic slice of golden age noir; director John Huston's other movies from the era are on my Christmas list.

Ring - Having sat on my "to watch" pile over four years it finally finds it's way into the disc spinner. Sadly the protracted wait blunted the impact to disappointingly non-scary; final scene of the video is still brilliantly unsettling though. It's subsequent influence on Japanese horror is clearly seen in movies and games today.

Appleseed - The CGI remake is miles better than the Saturday cartoon original. Beautiful to look at, with fluid motion captured animation. Some may find it a little harsh compared to traditional techniques, but it suits the hi-tech storyline to a tee. Kick ass soundtrack by the Boom Boom Satellites too.

HellBoy - Solid comic book adaptation by Guillermo del Toro (look out for Pan's Labyrinth in cinemas this month). Ron Perlman is ideally cast as the big red guy, fighting evil in the form of demons and Nazis. Nice turn by Selma Blair as the love interest, and John Hurt lends some English austerity to proceedings.

La Cite des Enfants Perdus - Visually stunning, wonderfully inventive and imaginative slice of Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Retaining the look of Delicatessen, this is a sci-fi fantasy par excellence. Ron Perlman (albiet much younger) and Judith Vittet carry off a beautiful relationship, in a twisted world of stolen dreams.

Heavy Metal - Because sometimes you feel like an adolescent kid in need of blood, aliens, heavy metal music, and cartoon breasts. Cult classic.

"Greetings Professor Falken."

Friday evening and a shock revelation that my housemate -despite her three years of hardened computer geekery studying for a Comp Sci degree- had never seen the classic 1980's computer hacking cum anti-war movie WarGames. Reeling from the impact of this news, I sought to immediately rectify matters with a cunningly crafted Broderick double bill of said cold war era cult flick and fellow eighties high school sick day hi-jinx comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Returning from the nearby wine dispensary with bottle in hand, the trusty LCD was fired up once again for some DVD based escapism.

As always the combination of military procedure and retro terminal font title sequence pulls you in to the timeless slice of movie making known as WarGames. Alas, 30 minutes in and all I've heard is "aww, Matthew Broderick looks so cute" and, in relation to Alley Sheedy "god she has an annoying face, can't they aim the camera away from her?" a claim which I staunchly rebuffed, no doubt fueled by memories of a childhood crush on the actress. Thankfully by the time Lightman (Broderick) has hacked his way into the computer that sounds like a prototype Steven Hawking (is it OK to say that? Probably not...) my fellow audience member has settled down a bit, drawn in by the geekines of the whole thing.

In all seriousness WarGames has aged spectacularly well. Yes the cold war paranoia seems dated, but in the current world climate it is still easy to identify with. Geeks and techies may scoff at the ancient computer technology used throughout the movie, but the depiction of the process of hacking is spot on: the solitary Lightman locked away in his bedroom, late nights probing the system and pouring over reams of print out. It's a far more accurate portrait than more recent efforts (more of which in a later post). High school kid starts nuclear war by playing a game with a military computer is far from a realistic premise, but it's handled so well you can easily suspend your disbelief (if you can't, what the hell are doing watching movies in the first place?).

By far the greatest achievement of the movie is it's seamless switch from high school hacking tale, to anti-war statement. The final scenes in the Norad war room are particularly effective, everybody watching on as the WOPR (man you have to love that name) computer runs through every possible permutation of world war three, before concluding it is a futile endeavour. You may baulk at the idea of a mere machine being able to fathom this in the space of ten minutes, but whilst completely implausible, set against the backdrop of generals and men with fingers poised on the launch button, it makes for a powerful (if somewhat obvious) juxtaposition.

A deserved geek classic, and one my housemate seems glad to have been forced to sit through. Even if you already know that "the only winning move is not to play", it's well worth cracking open the DVD and reacquainting yourself. Unless of course you'd rather play a nice game of chess.

Three Day Weekend (Part 2)

Distracted by my housemate's DS Lite and a copy of Brain Training (damn you Dr. Kawashima!!!), the movie viewing took a temporary back seat. Thankfully, after discovering I have the brain age of a 43 year old (what happened? I used to be so youthfully sharp), more movies seemed the ideal escape.

Set against the backdrop of WWI, A Very Long Engagement is a sweeping romantic tale. Reuniting director Jean-Pierre Jeunet with the elfin beauty of Audrey Tautou, it is an exquisitely shot epic bathed in a vivid and varied palette.

In the rain soaked trenches of the Somme, five men are charged with self-mutilation in a bid to escape the fighting. Sent out into no-mans land to die, one of them is Manech (Gaspard Ulliel) the fiancee of young Mathilde (Tautou). Despite the seeming certainty of his fate, when Mathilde hears the news she refuses to believe he is dead and takes it upon herself to discover what has become of the man she loves. Her determination helps to gradually piece together the complex story of the five abandoned men.

The plot moves at a steady well timed pace, focusing on the hope of Mathilde in the face of the absurdities of war. Moments of breakthrough are tempered with seemingly impossible setbacks, and the emotional impact this has on Mathilde is sympathetically portrayed by Tautou. With support from her Aunt and Uncle (Jeunet stalwart Dominique Pinon in heavily bearded guise) and an enthusiastic postman, she never truly gives up on Manech. And while complex, the story comes together beautifully as we eagerly follow Mathilde step by step on her journey.

The scenes in the trenches are shot with a grim reality and plenty of attention to period detail; arguably some of the movies most visually memorable moments. Lighthearted scenes from Mathilde's detective work seem frivolous by comparison. With one or two nods to the style of Amelie present (which is no bad thing) the movie ultimately carries a far greater emotional impact. Given the build up to it, the resolution does seem a little underwhelming. In this case though, the journey is certainly more important than the destination.

Next up, a piece of groovy sixties cinema set in merry old London.

Obtuse and hard to grasp, Blow-Up was a critically acclaimed piece of cinema upon it's release in '66; though this may have had more to do with it's liberal attitudes toward the depiction of sex and nudity on screen. Thomas (David Hemmings) is a somewhat nihilistic and self-important fashion photographer. Bored with the shallow nature of his work, he has taken to photographing the real lives of people in London. It is during such a voyeuristic episode in a local park, that he may have unknowingly captured something far more sinister on film.

The question of subjective reality is at the core of the movie. Obsessively pouring over the park photographs, Thomas builds an elaborate narrative for himself as he focuses on ever more slight details in the captured images. Did the photographer really witness a murder, or is he seeing more than is really there? The aimlessness and distance of the character certainly indicate he may be responsible for constructing the event in question; wanting something more to his shallow life. The closing scene also lends a degree of weight to that hypothesis.

There is plenty of ambiguity to see things anyway you choose, and perhaps that was the ultimate intention; but you can't escape the feeling you are shut out of any deeper meanings the movie might be trying to convey. Like so many of the photographer's actions in the movie, nothing is ever finished. The detective story ultimately goes nowhere, ideas and themes are hinted at but not really expounded upon, and you are left wondering what is really trying to be said. One to puzzle over on a second viewing perhaps, though a little too inaccessible.

Three Day Weekend (Part 1)

Sometimes things inexplicably come together; like a three day weekend, an HMV DVD sale, and pay day... OK, so pay day is still four days away, and the HMV DVD sale will be present in perpetuity to the end of the universe. But you have to grab these things while you can, right? With cold Tiger in plentiful supply and some home cooked Chinese food, the lights dim low on Friday night and the first of the weekend's (hopefully many) movies plays out across the widesreen.

There is a deeply satisfying feeling upon finding a cult classic from your favourite decade that has so far managed to pass you by. Eighties movies really don't come much more culty than the Emilio Estevez starring (no, no... it's good) Repo Man. Directed by Alan Cox, this is a weird mash-up of angry young punks, car repossession men, CIA agents in mirrored shades, UFO freaks, and a glowing Chevy Malibu '64. How the hell did I miss this movie till now?

So the lowdown on the plot: Otto (Estevez) is a young punk who takes on a job as a repo man after stumbling into Harry Dean Stanton's character Bud. Enlightening him to the ways of the repo man code (something about doing speed and getting into intense situations), things hot up as a $20,000 ransom is offered on the first person to reposes a missing Chevy Malibu '64. This leads a host of parties to look for the... shit, none of this really matters. What does is the amount of detail, and memorable moments of cult cinema crammed in to the film. What are the sinister reasons for every car having a pine tree air freshener in it? Why do products come in plain white packaging with "beer" or "food" written on them? (Maybe that's where Tesco got the idea for their value range...) And just what the hell is in the trunk of that car?!?

Perhaps it all has something to do with the Universal subconscious. Whatever the logic behind it, Repo Man is an undeniably cool slice of cult eighties cinema. Anyone fancy a plate o' shrimp?

Next up is a movie featuring Penelope Cruz (and her breasts).

With shades of Philip K. Dick's novel Ubik, Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) is a delicious Spanish head-fuck of a movie. Inexplicably remade in 2001 as the Tom Cruise vehicle Vanilla Sky (why!?! why remake a brilliant Spanish movie barely 4 years old!?!), it's sad that people are unlikely to be familiar with the original article. If that's the case, do yourself the favour of catching this gripping and inventive movie.

Handsome bloke about town Cesar meets the girl of his dreams, coming in the enchanting shape of Sofia (Cruz), at his birthday party. Despite the fact she is there with his best friend, he wastes no time elbowing in. Sadly he ballses things up after accepting a lift home from his obsessive ex-girlfriend, who promptly crashes the car. Bugger.

Disfigured from the accident, Cesar's life plunges into a delirious mix of dream and reality as he tries to carry on the life he had. Excellent pacing and subtle, powerful performances (especially from Cruz) make this a compelling journey. Sadly the ending doesn't come as the surprise revelation it tries to be, due to some obvious clues left along the way. It remains a satisfying payoff, though a little more ambiguity could have elevated it to the status of a movie to be puzzled over for months to come.