The Girl with all the Gifts Review

The world is currently overrun with zombies, not in the literal sense thank goodness, but the zombies are deeply ingrained in the cultural zeitgeist (yeah that's right; I just pretentiously used the word zeitgeist). With The Walking Dead now in its seventh series and a spin off series in its second, it seems as though rotting corpses are hard to avoid. It's incredible then that the latest zombie flick The Girl with all the Gifts manages to bring something new to the table.

Set in a Britain overrun by infected zombie like creatures called ‘hungries’, the film focuses on Melanie (Sennia Nenua), a young girl who along with a group of other children is kept locked and restrained by some form of military outlet in what we later discover to be a bunker, all watched over by the surly Sgt. Parks (Paddy Considine). Melanie is a sweet girl who is incredibly affectionate towards her teacher Miss Jutineau (Gemma Arterton). The bases resident scientist Dr Caldwell (Glenn Close) believes Melanie might be the key to finding the cure to the infection, because Melanie and the other children are in fact young ‘hungries’ with increased mental capacities.

Zombie films work best when they are used as a mirror to reflect genuine concerns in the contemporary societies that they are made in, Romero’s Night of the Living Dead isn’t just a zombie film it’s a comment on U.S. racism, Dawn of the Dead isn’t just a zombie film it’s really a comment on consumerism, and Colm McCarthy’s The Girl with all the Gifts is much more than just a zombie film. In a world where humans are declining in numbers at a faster rate the young ‘hungries’ that Melanie represents are the future, they’re the next stage in evolution and the real reason that people like Dr Caldwell are afraid of them is because they’re afraid that their time is up and the next generation are there to replace them. It’s also about how children come to terms with what adults say is the gospel, Melanie learns to think for herself as the film goes on, and her defining revelation at the end brings the film a really stark and remarkable conclusion.

Content aside the film should be heralded for its style, though a seasoned director of television it’s hard to believe that this is Colm McCarthy’s first feature film. McCarthy adopts a lot of the style employed by Danny Boyle in 28 Days Later but also brings his own unique take on it. There are some genuinely impressive shots and set pieces that elevate this film far above its budget. There’s also a very intriguing approach taken with the ‘hungries’, the source of infection has come from plants so the design of the infected is intriguingly unfamiliar. The plant based source of infection also provides the city based sequences with a chilling Day of the triffids feel only aided by its London based setting.

Performance wise Colm McCarthy has collected and incredibly strong cast who really deliver. Paddy Considine is great as Sgt Parks, he is surly and distant but is perhaps given the biggest ark of the film in how his feelings change over the course of the film, its only Considine’s subtlety that makes it work. Glenn Close is perhaps the biggest problem with the film, she is maybe the films only living antagonist and despite Close giving it her all she is poorly written and for the most part comes across as Dr Exposition, she is the embodiment of why plot information has to be shared amongst characters otherwise you just have one lumbered with a load of information to impart every 10 minutes or so. Gemma Arterton is utterly delightful as Miss Justineau, she’s no damsel in distress and can more than hold her own alongside Sgt Parks, but there’s a grace and elegance to her that makes Melanie’s infatuation with her seem justified. Then there’s the newcomer Sennia Nenua, this film rises or falls on how good her performance is, and fortunately she’s exceptional. There is this beautiful charm to her that makes her incredibly endearing and watching her innocently discovering the world beyond the bunker is a consistent delight. But Melanie is also part monster and intelligent and calculated, there are moments when you see her munching down on a dead pigeon and a dead cat, but the most horrifying moment of the film is when she protects Sgt Parks and Miss Justineau by beating to death a feral child hungry.

McCarthy has created a really fascinating film, its small but feels much bigger, its old hat but feels completely new, it’s a complete zombie film but also isn’t a zombie film at all, at the end of it all McCarthy might well have made the film with all the gifts. (5 Stars)

Hell or High Water Review

There was a time when Hollywood’s go to film was the western, with so much desert around they were cheap and easy to churn out in large numbers, so easy in fact that they got worst and worst until they seemed to stop making them. Then came the revisionist westerns, and in more recent years the modern western, they might not feature cowboy’s vs Indians, but the modern westerns have a passion for the south with films such as No Country for Old Men and now David McKenzie’s Hell or High Water. The film features Chris Pine and Ben Foster as bank robbing brothers who are hitting banks in an attempt to raise enough money to save their family farm, Jeff Bridges is the Ranger on their tail.

                What’s to obviously exceptional about McKenzie’s film is that it seems like a direct descendant to the westerns of old, a film whose views on the present Texas reflect on how it was formed by the Texas of old. This is most notable in the conversations between Bridges and his part native American partner Alberto, in one moment Alberto lectures Bridges on how the America now doesn’t really belong to those who think it’s being taken away from them because it was never theirs to begin with, it’s the luxury of the modern western that it can have this reflection. There is also brilliant social commentary on how the American frontier of old that Pine and Foster represent is being taken over by corporations and denying them what they feel is rightfully theirs.

                Despite being a native of Northumberland England, McKenzie captures that sense of the south perfectly, it’s a sparse landscape and sleepy Texan towns populated with quaint local Texans, it’s almost beautiful in its lack of beauty. He also directs with a genial sense of pace that allows the contents of the frame to do most of the talking.

                The performances are all exceptional, Ben Foster plays the Joe Pesci type role in the sense that he's the manic liability who though fiercely loyal also feels dangerous to everybody. Jeff Bridges essentially plays Jeff Bridges in a Rangers uniform, but there's something so intensely watchable about Bridges that it's rarely anything other than brilliant to see him up on screen.The real surprise of the cast is the performance of Chris Pine, there’s never been any question that he’s a good actor, but he’s never been given a role with enough flesh on it to sufficiently demonstrate this, fortunately here he can really show off his chops and its really impressive stuff.

                It’s not flawless, as ever with films set in the south it seems to have a very frustrating attitude towards its female characters, there are few given enough screen time to register, and when they do they’re never entirely in a positive light. The set pieces are genuinely very exciting and well-orchestrated, but it often strays into familiarity, and when you start thinking of another film that’s done it better, then the film begins to lose some of its charm.

           Ultimately this is the best western you’ll see at the cinema this year, it feels Cohen-esque but also like a film that could have been better if it was actually in the hands of the Cohen’s, but with a cracking soundtrack and some decent performances this is well worth a watch. (High 4 Stars)

Green Room Review

Jeremy Saulnier knows tension, he knows how to take something that feels well-worn and injects it with something dark, violent, bloody and bloody good. His last feature was the film Blue Ruin which completely reinvigorated the revenge thriller and introduced a fascinating screen presence in the form of Macon Blair. Saulnier now brings us Green Room which features a young punk band who perform a gig at neo-nazi club, they stumble upon something they shouldn’t which leads to a violent stand-off in increasingly violent circumstances.

                The set-up to this film is one that’s been seen before, what’s brilliant about it is the way that Saulnier manages the escalation of the situation. The slow build up to the first moment of shocking on screen violence is incredibly intense; it’s that tension that gives the violence a far more powerful affect. As with Blue Ruin Saulnier has an incredible talent of undercutting genre tropes, he’s able to bring the subject matter down to a more real world aesthetic, there’s no grand plan from the band once they’re trapped in the room, they come up with a new plan every couple of minutes and when they put the plans into practice they consistently fail. The sense of havoc is also felt in those enacting the violence there’s a high sense of pressure and their panic at the situation getting out of hand is just as prevalent.

                Macon Blair returns for his third collaboration with Saulnier, Blair is impressive in a smaller role as a man who clearly feels out of place within the neo-nazi setting, his face is exceptionally expressive and he holds so much confliction between faux-authority and panic. The band all put in decent performances, the most notable of which is Anton Yelchin as the bands guitarist who is essentially the lead of the film, Yelchin shows all the reasons he’ll be sadly missed since his recent death, he’s brilliant at portraying emotionally vulnerable but driven characters. The problem with the band is the chemistry, though individually they seem good they don’t entirely convince you that they’re a band, they come across as just a little too mismatched. Then there is the most interesting piece of casting in the film, the neo-nazi leader played by none other than Sir Patrick Stewart. It’s fascinating casting but his sense of calm and seniority works entirely well, he’s quietly terrifying.

                There’s a lot about this film that might put people off, most notably the violence. Saulnier needs to be lauded for treating genre films with the respect that they deserve, he shows respect to those that have gone before but also offers something completely fresh. Its intense, beautifully shot and well-acted, can’t wait to see what he does next. (5 Stars)

The Witch Review

Horror has been on a pretty good run recently, films such as It Follows, The Babadook, and to a lesser extent, the output from Blumhouse Productions. Following on from them comes the latest horror film Robert Eggers The Witch.

Set in 17^th century New England, Eggers film sees a family of puritans banished from their community seeing them set up their own homestead on the edges of a forest, the likes of which only ever seems to be featured in horror films. Something evil lurks in those woods, when the families youngest child is taken into the woods the family believe it  to have been taken by a wolf, but has events unfold darker forces seem to be playing a hand in matters. Eggers talent shines best in the tone he manages to capture in the film. The historical verisimilitude lent by its period setting is grey and harsh and draws all the necessary connotations of the witch trials and other creations such as The Crucible. More so than the visual aesthetic of the film is the impressiveness of the atmosphere it creates, the sense in every shot that something is lurking outside of the frame borders on oppressive viewing, its a tone that prevents the film, for the most part, from straying into tedium.

The performances are brilliant, Ralph Ineson is impressive as the stoic puritan head of the family, and Kate Dickies is also brilliant as the mother whose performance draws to mind the hysterical mother from Carrie. The children provide able performances; with the films lead Anna Taylor-Joy really shining in a very difficult role. The performances are even more impressive when you take into account that Eggers script calls on them to speak in 17^th century parlance, which though it starts out as a little alienating it settles into a neat rhythm and becomes completely unnoticeable.

There are those who have spoken of this film as a high watermark for recent horror cinema, but that very much depends on what you want from a horror film. Personally what I want from a horror film is to be scared; I want not only to jump but to still be scared weeks later at the thought of what made me jump in the first place. The Witch is many things but it’s not really that scary. Eggers film conjures some interesting images but nothing that’s particularly horrifying or anything that invokes terror. It is perhaps best viewed as an exceptional family drama where the witch herself is merely just providing the atmosphere.

For a debut film, Eggers has gone about creating something technically very impressive. His eye for detail and ability to create an accurate family dynamic is something to aspire to, but ultimately I just want him to scare me more. (High 3 Stars) 

Sing Street Review

Films about starting a band are like starting a band in the real world, the ones that work understand that it’s all about the beautiful struggle of creating rather than the excitement of covering. 2 years ago, Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank showed the emotional beauty of the process of creating music, and this year John Carney shows us in his latest film Sing Street that no one makes this type of film better than him.

Following on from Carney’s Once and Begin Again, which also focused on talented musicians, Sing Street is the story of Dublin teenager Connor forced to move to a rougher school due to his family’s financial situation. Not fitting in at his new school Connor takes solace in music, he sets out to start a band to impress a girl, the only reason anyone has ever started a band ever.

What John Carney seems to understand better than any director is the sheer power of the musical process. In Once music was a force to create love, in Begin Again music was a means of redemption, and in Sing Street music is used as means to discover identity and come of age, as well as winning the girl obviously. What comes through much more here is Carney’s brilliant sense of dead pan comedy, when three of the band go to find “the only black lad in Dublin” to be in their band, their innocence in their nature is charming and hilarious. Carney’s stroke of genius is using complete unknowns as the stars for his film, the fact that the characters are played by Irish lads who are musically talented means that their characters feel completely genuine. Carney is smart enough to know where the film needs weight in performance and provides the film with some excellent supporting performances from the likes of Aiden Gillen, Maria Doyle Kennedy and, most importantly Jack Reynor. Reynor plays Connors older brother Brendan, a pot smoking college burnout his passion and knowledge of music is what spurns Connor on. To a certain extent his Brendan is a little like Philip Seymour Hoffman in Almost Famous spurning on the younger generation with their knowledge, the difference is the weight that Brendan is given towards the end. Where there are lines that make you laugh Brendan’s speech towards the end will completely bowl you over.

This film rises and falls on the music though, and Sing Street absolutely soars with this soundtrack. There are hits from The Clash, The Cure, The Jam, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and many more. What’s brilliant is how these artists continue to change the bands style and their songs, from Duran Duran and their poppy fun, to The Cure helping the band find their “happy-sad”. The original songs provided for the film include the likes of Riddle of the model and the brilliant Drive it like you stole it elevate the film the way an original band are better than a cover band. This might not be a the most original film in the world but its charm and fun and passion for music is what elevates John Carney’s work from others, you’ll be singing Drive it like you stole it for weeks after. (Low 5 Stars)

Hunt for the Wilderpeople Review

New Zealand’s place in cinema history is of a varying level of success. For most audiences when they think of New Zealand and cinema in the same breadth they think of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Poor New Zealand, with an interesting variety of small home grown films the only thing they seem to be remembered for is a film series set in a fantasy world with orcs and dragons. The cinema that’s actually most Kiwi in its make up however are films such as Vincent Ward’s Vigil, Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures, Lee Tamhouri’s Once were warriors, the Bruno Lawrence starring The Quiet Earth and for the more recent viewer, the works of Taika Waititi.

After an impressive directorial start with Eagle vs Shark and Boy, Waititi went on to some semblance of mainstream success with the hilarious What we do in the shadows, Waititi will apply his skills to further mainstream success in the Marvel universe with next year’s Thor: Ragnarok. Before that comes Hunt for the Wilderpeople, a film which features young orphan Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) turn up at his new foster home way out in the bush, the home of the lovable Aunty Bella (Rima Te Wiata) and the curmudgeonly Uncle Hec (Sam Neill). When tragedy strikes Ricky and Hec end up on the run from the authorities deep in the bush.

The greatest strength of Waititi’s film is the incredible balancing act it does of handling the sometimes slapstick comedy with some genuinely touching, mature and emotional moments. In terms of the comedy this is easily the most laugh out loud comedy of the year, and its humour is so wide and varied, from exceptional dead pan laughs such as a pastor’s sermon, to wonderful broad slapstick and mania. There’s not a single character in the film that isn’t a wonder once they’re on screen, and the great pleasure is the number of them that appear. The strongest comedy support comes in the shape of the brilliant New Zealand child authorities officers Paula (Rachel House) and Andy (Oscar Kightley), they’re brilliant as the delusional Kiwi Laurel and Hardy double act, particularly House who nails that hysterical level of self-importance.

What’s also amazing is how Waititi’s vision seems to claim New Zealand back from the version we’ve been sold in The Lord of the Rings, he shows us every aspect of the bush through every season and appears to shoot it in every conceivable way, you do get the aerial shots of tree lined mountains but there’s also dark, sparse, oppressive scenery shots that call to mind the treatment Vincent Ward gave New Zealand in Vigil, in what is essentially a fun comedy this is really impressive.

                Sam Neill is a reliable as any actor in the business and here he manages to deliver one of his best performances to date, the ark of his character from complete beardy curmudgeon to a beardy but empathetic curmudgeon by the end is incredibly subtle and wonderfully played. Then there’s the newcomer Julian Dennison, his role is as difficult a tightrope to walk as Matthew Broderick’s was in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, if Dennison plays it just the wrong side of annoying then the film doesn’t work, fortunately he is a complete and utter delight provoking the biggest laughs and some genuinely affective moments.

                As life moves on after the behemoth that was The Lord of the Rings films, its films like this that New Zealand needs to be known for, funny, charming, touching and just an absolutely cinematic delight. (5 Stars)