In the spirit of fairness, I’d like to point out that Alex caught Albatross at EIFF and, a couple of reservations aside, gave it a largely positive review. I think he’s a much more forgiving soul than I.

In the Making of Featurette (the only extra included in the DVD release outside of the trailer) writer Tamzin Rafn states that growing up in Worthing she became obsessed with David Leland’s Wish You Were Here and Albatross was her version of the film; Emily Lloyd’s acerbic Lynda Mansell excised to make room for Beth, Rafn’s mother’s advice to her rebellious daughter made flesh, counterbalanced by the embodiment of Rafn’s Sherlock Holmes loving, desperate to escape the narrow confines of her hometown self. It’s a comparison which I’d suggest is best not brought to mind, as Albatross has none of Wish you Were Here’s wit and is most certainly lacking in any engaging drama which could stand up to Leland’s highly regarded classic.

MacCormick may have purposely avoided the feel of ‘Brit Grit’ to instead embrace universality, but what he actually managed to achieve wasn’t the emotionally profound piece he strived for but instead a hackneyed 88 minutes that isn’t weighty enough to be considered dramatic, yet lacks the humour which could have allowed it to be enjoyed as a farce. It would however make for a decent game of cliché bingo: marginalised, bookish daughter – check; put upon, blocked writer – check; unappreciated, unaware wife – check; an attractive rebellious teen ready to come shake things up, but who has her own problems despite a ‘don’t give a fuck’ exterior – check; let the affairs, betrayals and revelations commence – Bingo!

That said, Jessica Brown-Findlay does what she can as Emelia Conan Doyle (yes, that Conan Doyle), but her efforts were never going to pay off saddled to this project – OK, that was a cheap shot I admit, but if you call your film Albatross you’re asking for it.

Albatross is released on DVD today.

The next 11 months are going to have to go some way to beat these odd beginnings to 2012!

Directed by Drake Doremus who co-wrote the script along with Ben York Jones, Like Crazy was shot in 22 days on a Canon 7D. The pair based the script on their collective long distance relationship experiences; resulting in the final script being an extremely loose affair with much of the dialogue improvised by Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin. Perhaps that’s my inherent problem with this film?

Initially Like Crazy charts the beginning of Jacob and Anna’s relationship when they’re still loved up and floating on the euphoria of new found love. Yet I felt nothing. They made all the right moves; holding hands, nuzzling and spending a lot of their time in bed but they just didn’t make a believable couple. There was no sense of a click of connection or a spark of passion between the two there for me. At the time of watching I was unaware that the dialogue was improvised, but I did noticed how the stunted conversations were. When you’re in the first flush of love, conversations trip over themselves because you have so much to tell each other about your past, present and maybe, what you hope for the future. This wasn’t the case here, instead there were lots of long pauses which were eventually filled with girlish giggling that just seemed absurd. However, we’re led to believe that their love for each other is so all encompassing that Anna overstays her Summer student visa.

John Guleserian provides some great cinematography within the film, a stand out scene charting their Summer in bed together. Inevitably, Anna’s overstaying means that when she later tries to re-enter the country she’s sent back without getting to see Jacob. It’s then left to him to come to her whilst she sorts out her visa. Which takes time…a lot of time.

Once they’re separated we watch them lead separate lives in different countries. This would probably be a good time for me to come clean. I lived abroad for a year and tried to maintain a relationship. There was a lot of details here I could empathise with; the missed calls that can’t be returned due to time differences, communication slowly deteriorating into text messages because one or both are out and can’t talk properly and the new friends that are made that neither have met so when anecdotes encompass these new people you, frankly, become bored.

What I couldn’t empathise with was the ease with which both Anna and Jacob let each other go. Prior to Anna’s US overstay she’s warned of the ramifications of that action, but she does it anyway. You’d therefore think that when they’re separated it would take a lot for their eyes to be turned by other people? This is far from the case though, they quickly descend in to affairs with others. The ease with which each lies to their friends about their relative relationship status is also confusing. In one scene Anna is chatting up a guy in a bar, she then goes out to ring Jacob, goes back in and carries on from where she left off. To me, it’s completely random. I sat wondering for the last 45 minutes why they just didn’t pack it in? It’s easy. You’re in different countries. It’s not like they would bump in to each to other in the local pub.

By the time Anna had her visa sorted I really didn’t care what they did. I didn’t ever truly believe in their relationship when it was good and the fact each had cheated on the other with relative ease merely confirmed my opinion that the relationship was built on sand in the first place. Moreover, the metaphors played a lot like being hit over the head repeatedly. On the day Anna leaves they take a boat trip. They take up seats on either side of the aisle and look sadface out to sea. When the relationship is pretty much dead, a gift Anna received from Jacob is replaced by the new man she has started to seeing behind his back. There are more examples, many, many more.

Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t an awful film. It’s just not very good either. I do wonder if two more experienced actors would have made a better a job at setting the scene of a great love affair from the beginning? If you want to see genuine love then watch Drive, it contains more emotional passion in a single kiss than the entirity of Like Crazy’s Summer between the sheets. And those two characters don’t even have sex!

Brandon (Michael Fassbender) is a New Yorker who shuns intimacy with women but feeds his desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his wayward younger sister (Carey Mulligan) moves into his apartment stirring memories of their shared painful past, Brandon’s insular life spirals out of control.

McQueen isn’t your typical director and his films aren’t typical films, his background in art seemingly providing a springboard to take a fresh and inventive approach towards filmmaking. With an ICA Futures Award in ’96 and a coveted Turner Prize win in ’99, the talented artist’s (recently appointed CBE) reputation for innovative art seems to have made his switch into the world of cinema a seamless one. Although not as openly experimental as his previous film Hunger (there are no 17 minute long takes here), Shame still shows signs of the director’s’persistence to experiment with his now preferred medium.

The [medium of] film is only 115 years old. If you think about art, painting is 1000s of years old. As long as something works, it works. The form of film is up for grabs as long as it makes sense to the audience. So, it’s a gold mine out there, for film – The Hollywood Interview

There are moments of real flair and beauty in Shame, which contrast beautifully to the film’s general, yet striking, feeling of emptiness. Shame’s only real moment of tenderness comes when Brandon begrudgingly visits a glitzy New York club to see sibling Sissy sing. Her earnest, yet seductive performance of New York, New York (actually performed by Mulligan) is beautifully shot in full frame close up (only disturbed once by an equally moving close-up of Fassbender) adding a real moment of warmth to an otherwise cold and clinical film. Sean Bobbitt’s cinematography is immense throughout, his icy blue palette occasionally punctuated by the sharp, cutting lights of NY city. His camera endlessly roaming the streets, rooms and clubs in which Brandon operates, like a lost soul not quite knowing where to settle. Combined with an ethereal soundtrack, the cinematography only magnifies the bare existence of our protagonist, as he struggles to survive in a life dominated by addiction.

Fresh from his critically acclaimed work with director McQueen on their previous outing Hunger, Michael Fassbender has been quick to increase his impressive portfolio in recent years, working with some of Hollywood’s biggest directors, including Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, David Cronenberg and Ridley Scott. He also found time to fill the mighty shoes of Ian McKellen, as a young Magneto in X-Men First Class and star in Andrea Arnold’s festival favourite Fish Tank. Yet here, back in the hands of the director who first introduced us to the stoic, powerful performances of Fassbender, we once again get to see the actor at his encapsulating best, as he bares all in leading man mode.

As expected, McQueen doesn’t hold back or pull any punches; Shame is a full frontal, exposé of an addiction oft overlooked and underestimated. The director extracts powerful performances from his key players and although often difficult to watch, this gifted artist has created something truly original, something you definitely don’t want to miss.

El Vez

January
2011 kicked off with a look back at the previous year, with the DN 2010 Top Ten, DN 2010 Year in Review and Future Shorts Best of 2010, as well as a look into the year ahead with the Films of 2011. Halfway through January, we got to talk to Noel Paul & Stefan Moore, the combined force known as That Go who directed one of my favourite music videos of the year, Senior, a short film created for Norwegian electronic band Röyksopp.

February
The 2nd month of 2011 turned out to be a packed one for DN with Julian Ross providing coverage of the 40th International Film Festival Rotterdam, as well as director interviews with Andrew S Allen, Matthias Hoegg and Ruben Östlund.

March
With a mix of eclectic films on display, the South by South West festival in Texas has become a regular attraction for DN in recent years. With the 2011 highlights including interviews with directors Jeanie Finlay, Spencer Susser, Tim Plester, Ben Wheatley and Athina Rachel Tsangari.

April
Even though April contained the viewing of two of my favourite feature films of 2011 in Essential Killing and Rubber, the highlight had to be TV on the Radio releasing the full length album music video Nine Types of Light comprising 10 promos and a spoof dojo ad by 11 different directors/teams.

May
The month of May was one ruled by Trolls, Douglas Burgdorff, a marathon running country music legend (Stray Dawg) and a Hobo with a Shotgun.

June
Whilst animators Leo Bridle and Ben Thomas took time out to talk to us about their film Train of Thought and Alex, Matt, and briefly MarBelle, reported from the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the film that managed to get the most attention on DN in June was Richard Phillips’ elegant portrait of Sasha Grey. I wonder why that could be?

July
We took a detailed look at the shortlisted films in this 2011 Rushes Soho Shorts Festival

August
The month of August is always a highlight in the DN year, as our annual takeover of the OFVM Cinema Tent saw us present our favourite short films and music videos to the Reading and Leeds Festival masses.

September
We don’t know why it took us so long, but September saw us launch the WeAreDN Vimeo Channel – now 800+ videos strong and counting. Think of it as a continually updated, DN curated festival.

October
Along with a fantastic article about creating an original score for your film, 7 Tips For Getting a Great Score for Your Film, October, as always, is the month of the London Film Festival.

November
Another Earth, Miranda July on Strangers, a Jean Marc Calvet documentary and music videos from Die Antwoord & Rammstein, made November a pretty bizarre month.

December
There is only one way to complete the year…the essential end of year list.

MarBelle

January
Danni (who we’ve come to miss dearly whilst she’s off making films) jumped us into the year with her coverage of the 8th London Short Film Festival and the tragic loss of Trish Keenan spurred us into creating a collection of our favourite Broadcast promos and performances. We also got to indulge our Metronomy/JUL & MAT addiction and Andrew S. Allen unleashed The Thomas Beale Cipher to puzzle and entertain the world.

February
Hitting our stride now, we looked in on some DN alumni with Stephen Irwin mixing up a batch of Horse Glue, Piers Thompson dropping by to chat about LIN and Ben Briand upping the weirdness with Some Static Started. We also saw one of our favourite animators, Eran Hilleli prove his chops in capturing music performance with his 1981 series of films.

March
As has become tradition, in March I was up to my ears in breakfast burritos, screenings and director chats at SXSW, but there was still lots of non-Austin action on DN. El Vez and I took a trip to the Efterklang Scala gig and London premiere of Vincent Moon’s An Island, Subs gave us her thoughts on Richard Ayoade’s awkward Welsh teen movie Submarine and Buck 65 got his Zombie Delight on.

April
This month we hit the big 200 on the podcast with Revel Fox and just before that Keith Bearden returned to discuss uglying up Kim Catrall for his first feature Meet Monica Velour. The Mahna Mahna song got a funnily dark revamp in Tune for Two, Sizemore and his 48hr team tackled time travel with PRECISION and Alex took us From Paper Cut to Fine Cut on his feature Life Just Is.

May
In May, we fell in love with Blue Valentine on DVD, got excited about slugs in Kurtis Hough’s Mossgrove / Bed of Moss, and peaked at Ben’s Hot Docs festival diary.

June
We saw the ante upped, first for festival titles in Mischa Rozema’s dystopian, totalitarian future Year Zero for OFFF Barcelona 2011 and then for effects package launches in the Magic Bullet Suite 11 powered Plot Device. We hid in an Untitled bunker with Craig Murray from The War of the Worlds, until Eddie O’Keefe let us pretend we were cool and hang with The Ghosts.

July
In July Subs came down with a case of Bad Fever, Claire Edmondson and Broken Social Scene got graphic about body disposal and we flicked through the beautiful pages of Yuki 7 and her crack team of super spies in Looks That Kill.

August
This was a month to rejoice in the independent spirit of film and crowd funding with Koo of nofilmschool launching the Kickstarter campaign for his debut feature Man-child (he slam-dunked a staggering $125,100), Small Town Murder Songs left a lasting impression and Comic Sans had finally had enough, asshole.

September
We love zombies. Shuffling, fast, we don’t care just give us more. So getting a peak at Undying Love and the opportunity to talk to the film’s director Omar Hauksson was braaaainns, I mean great. Bobby Miller finally put TUB in all its strange goodness online and we shared the wondrous experience of seeing Brent Green and team accompany Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then live.

October
Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, a long overdue chat with Kristoffer Borgli and Brian Fairbairn’s Skwerl made for an interesting month of skewed reality watching.

November
In November Neil took his short It’s Natural To Be Afraid to the Kerry Film Festival and brought us along, Mike Ott joined us to chat about his fish out of place feature Littlerock and Azazel Jacobs convinced us he was on the side of the outsider in Terri.

December
It was crowned the overall DN film of the year so how could I not include our review of Martha Marcy May Marlene as a highlight of December. We also got to talk detailed sound design and punk rock filmmaking with Matt Lambert and Tom Haugomat & Bruno Mangyoku’s Tribute to Drive was on a par with the feature itself.

Martha Marcy May Marlene – This is possibly the best films of last year (well we thought so) and El Vez gave it the glowing write up it deserved.

A Year in Movie Trailers – OK this is actually a pick of two posts – The Cinescape & Filmography 2011 & 2011 Movie Trailer Mashup – but not only are they a joy to watch, these three compilations are what should be shown on the first day of every editing course.

How to Lose $2400 in 24 Seconds – Oh the water! Oh the loss! Oh, thank God B&H came to the rescue!

Taxi Driver Suédé par Michel Gondry – Carrying on the “Sweding” tradition from his 2008 feature film Be Kind Rewind, Michel Gondry gives us his playful take on the Scorsese classic Taxi Driver.

10 & 9. Shame – Steve McQueen

10 & 9. Bad Fever – Dustin Guy Defa
Listen to the DN interview with director Dustin Guy Defa.
Read the DN review of Bad Fever.

8. Essential Killing – Jerzy Skolimowski
Read the DN review of Essential Killing.

7. Hesher – Spencer Susser
Listen to the DN interview with directer Spencer Susser.

6. Without – Mark Jackson
Listen to the DN interview with director Mark Jackson.

5. The Skin I Live In – Pedro Almodóvar

4. Another Earth – Mike Cahill
Read the DN review of Another Earth.

3. We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lynne Ramsay

2. Drive – Nicolas Winding Refn
Read the DN review of Drive.

1. Martha Marcy May Marlene – Sean Durkin
Read the DN review of Martha Marcy May Marlene.

10. Sound of My Voice – Zal Batmanglij
This is the first of two very different cult related films to make it on to my list. Brit Marling plays enigmatic and mysterious cult leader Maggie who claims to hail from a near future where civil war has radically altered our way of life. Peter and Lorna infiltrate the group to surreptitiously film a documentary exposing Maggie as the fraud they believe her to be, but the longer they’re exposed to Maggie and her true believers, the wider the gulf between them grows. Sound of My Voice is an intriguing study on the nature of blind faith, how one can be caught up in it and how well it holds up in the face of inconsistencies. Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling (who also co-wrote) have indicated that this is the first part of a trilogy; if the remaining two go ahead I hope they don’t fall into the trap of explaining away the mysteries which made Sound of My Voice so compelling.

9. Hesher – Spencer Susser
We’ve been piling on the praise for the Blue Tongue Films gang here at DN for quite a while now – I’m still to see them misstep – and last year David Michôd came in at a very respectable no 3. in our overall Top Ten of 2010 with Animal Kingdom, but the guy who began our love affair with all things BTF was Spencer Susser with his ‘Wonder Zombie Years’ short I Love Sarah Jane. If that alone wasn’t reason enough for me to get excited about his first feature, then the addition of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the titular Hesher – a metal-booze-fire-loving drifter who serves as uninvited house guest and emotional catharsis for 13-year-old T.J after his mother dies in a car crash, leaving his father in a barely present prescription drug haze, put me into a frenzy of anticipation. The resulting film is an astute study of grief tempered in the fires of recklessness, and frankly I can’t think of a director I’d rather bring us the tale of a fucked up Mary Poppins.

Listen to the DN interview with directer Spencer Susser.

8. Another Earth – Mike Cahill
The fact that Brit Marling makes a second appearance in this list for another film she stars in, co-wrote and produced, highlights her as a force of filmmaking nature I’ll be watching very closely in the coming years. In Mike Cahill’s Another Earth she plays Rhoda, a woman who destroys lives in a moment but finds a way to repair one and perhaps her own a little too. It’s a film about second chances, and the appearance of Earth 2, is a celestial reminder of the diverging paths our every decision can send our lives down.

Read the DN review of Another Earth.

7. Drive – Nicolas Winding Refn
There was no way I was going to get to see Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive oblivious to the mountains of hype hot on its tail, but even after prepping myself with a retrospective play through The Pusher Trilogy, and remembering that this is the same director who jumped styles from Bronson to Valhalla Rising, I still wasn’t prepared for the fever dream of Ryan Gosling’s near-mute driver, risking it all for the love of the girl next door. Refn’s filmmaking is as assured as his lead character’s prowess behind the wheel, and I don’t think any other screen kiss will ever come close to matching the one shared by Gosling and Mulligan here.

Read the DN review of Drive.

6. Green – Sophia Takal
Jealousy may be known as the green eyed monster, but in the hands of Sophia Takal, it’s a monster that lurks in the nearby woods of Genevieve and Sebastian’s sustainable living, intellectual hipster experiment in the country, always threatening, but never quite invading the narrative with its violent tendencies. Takal has said that she wanted to imbue Green with the tone of someone who’s jealous but have the plot remain true to real life. Whenever I recall the experience of watch the film, I’m taken back to the unsettling unease I felt pretty much throughout but thankfully couldn’t point you to a moment when it broils over into yet another lover run amok in the woods, which makes a pleasant change from the norm.

Listen to the DN interview with Sophia Takal & Lawrence Michael Levine.

5. Without – Mark Jackson
If you were to read a little bit too much into this list it may seem that I have an unnatural propensity towards tales of damaged young woman, with only a fingernail’s grip on reality. Perhaps? But it might just be that’s where filmmakers were finding their most compelling stories in 2011. Mark Jackson’s portrayal of Joslyn, damaged by loss, who finds her grip slipping when she takes on the care of an elderly gentleman in a vegatative state, transforms the modern tools of communication into totems of frustration which have a fracturing effect of this isolated young woman.

Listen to the DN interview with director Mark Jackson.

4. Michael – Markus Schleinzer
Markus Schleinzer’s Michael, played with such matter of fact normality by Michael Fuith, is the definition of an unassuming, average guy. He’s good at his job in insurance – a promotion is in the offing – has a mother and sister who care about him, goes on the occasional skiing trip with friends, oh and keeps 10-year-old Wolfgang in a soundproof room locked in his basement unbeknownst to anyone, letting him out once his house role shutters are down. So why would I place the story of a pedophile so high in my top ten? Well, it’s the straight forward depiction of Michael that Schleinzer brings to screen which makes it such an engaging and deeply unsettling watch. In documented cases such as Natascha Kampusch the girl in the cellar or Josef Fritzl, we’re led to believe the perpetrators we’re foaming at the mouth monsters; Michael is all the more disturbing for the fact that these people could easily be your neighbours, your work colleagues or your holiday companions and you’d be none the wiser.

3. Martha Marcy May Marlene – Sean Durkin
Much has been written about Elizabeth Olsen’s convincingly vulnerable performance in Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, and the fluidity of time as we slide back and forth along the two distinct periods of Martha’s cult life timeline. However, for me the most compelling element of the MMMM story is her relationship Sarah Paulson’s Lucy, her older sister. Barely hidden beneath the concerns and worry as to Martha’s whereabouts over the previous two years lies a resentment which, although never stated, could easily have been the fuel to drive Martha into the heart of John Hawkes’ surrogate family.

Read the DN review of Martha Marcy May Marlene.

2. Kill List – Ben Wheatley
The greatest disservice I could do to you and Ben Wheatley’s terror inducing Kill List would be to inadvertently tell you too much about it. Suffice to say, it’s a horror/hit man movie unlike any you’ve seen to date, but shares its genetic makeup with Wheatley’s previous feature Down Terrace. In the broadest of strokes, Kill List is about Jay, a hit man who’s finding it difficult to return to work after the events of a botched job in Kiev. Pressured by his wife Shel, he takes up a new contract with his partner Gal and let’s just say things start messed up and descend from there. Again, don’t read about Kill List or talk to any blabbermouths who’ve seen it, just make sure you watch it and be prepare to be justifiably distressed and impressed in equal measures.

Listen to the DN interview with director Ben Wheatley – I promise it’s 100% spoiler free.

1. Bad Fever – Dustin Guy Defa
When we spoke just after SXSW, director Dustin Guy Defa stated that, “I feel like there’s such an enormous amount of loneliness in the world.” In his debut feature Bad Fever, it feels like Dustin has distilled all that loneliness and infused it into his delicate lead Eddie, played with heartbreaking sincerity by Kentucker Audley. Eddie isn’t the cool misunderstood loner, destined to prove his worth and win through triumphant – he’s lonely, lives with his mother and holds unrealistic dreams of changing his fortunes with a moment in the sun stand up set at the local comedy club. In drifts Irene to his life, this new relationship is going to take more than it gives and is just as fabricated as the prepared conversations and routines he mutters into his tape recorder.

I would love to claim some super natural intuition on my part for discovering Bad Fever, but I have the wonderful Andrew Johnson to thank for his call, “MarBelle, drop whatever you’re doing and come meet the director of one of the best films no one’s talking about.” He wasn’t wrong, and ever since my return from Austin I’ve clutched my screener close to my chest and demanded everyone I come in contact with watch it. I hope you’ll do the same because the lonely need your company more than most.

Listen to the DN interview with director Dustin Guy Defa.
Read the DN review of Bad Fever.

10. The Myth of the American Sleepover – David Robert Mitchell
The following 9 films on my list slipped pretty easily into place, however, the final position in my top ten is one I’ve debated about for some time. Coming down to either Julia Leigh’s Sleeping Beauty, John Michael McDonagh’s The Guard or David Robert Mitchell The Myth of the American Sleepover, I finally plumped for the latter because of the all round warmth and pleasantness spread by Mitchell’s debut feature. Evoking the spirit of the likes of Dazed & Confused, Freaks & Geeks, The Virgin Suicides and the films of John Hughes, The Myth of the American Sleepover is like the smell of freshly baked bread, the feeling of wet grass on bare feet and a hug from a loved one all wrapped into one.

Read the DN review of The Myth of the American Sleepover.

9. Rubber – Quentin Dupieux
All great films, without exception, contain an important element of No Reason! And you know why? Because life itself is filled with No Reason! Why cant we see the air all around us? No Reason! Why are we always thinking? No Reason! Why do some people love sausages and other people hate sausages? No Fucking Reason!

Why do I love Quentin Dupieux’s Rubber? No Reason! Well actually there are a few…it’s fresh, inventive and hugely entertaining.

Read the DN review of Rubber.

8. Essential Killing – Jerzy Skolimowski
With a wordless, bearded Vincent Gallo playing Mohammed, a hunted Afghanistani soldier embroiled in a bloody battle of survival with the US military and the hostile environment he finds himself in, Essential Killing was always destined to be a film that turned a few heads. Feeling like a modern day Rambo with an arthouse twist, Jerzy Skolimowski’s desperate tale of survival, sees DN favourite Gallo put in raw and powerfully physical performance, as good as you’re likely to see all year.

Read the DN review of Essential Killing.

7. Meek’s Cutoff – Kelly Reichardt
With her previous feature films, Old Joy and Wendy & Lucy , director Kelly Reichardt’s understated style saw her recognised as one of the leading directors in the world of independent film. With its unusual visual style, uncommon viewpoint and talented cast, Meek’s Cutoff - Reichardt’s unforgiving tale of the Oregon path – proves once again what a unique talent she truly is.

Read the DN review of Meek’s Cutoff.

6. Another Earth – Mike Cahill
Mike Cahill and Brit Marling’s thought-provoking science-fiction feature show’s that you don’t need big budgets and alien invasions to be a success. Opting for a slower character-driven approach instead of the usual intergalactic wars we’re accustom to seeing at the cinema, Another Earth carries on the sci-fi renaissance kicked off by the likes of Primer and Moon.

Read the DN review of Another Earth.

5. Take Shelter – Jeff Nichols
Michael Shannon’s unnerving performance as the prophetic Curtis LaForche may take centre stage in Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter, but this apocalyptic film is much more than just a one-man show. With uncertainty as to whether the end of the world is actually imminent or just part of Curtis’ unstable mind, at its heart Take Shelter is the emotional account of a tight-knit family struggling to survive day by day. By the end of the film, Nichols’ flair for storytelling and a host of convincing performances have you begging for the apocalypse to rain down.

Read the DN review of Take Shelter.

4. The Skin I Live In – Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar was always one of those directors I felt I should love, but if I’m totally honest I rarely found myself connecting with, that was until The Skin I Live In. Described by the Spanish director as “a horror story without screams or frights”, Almodóvar’s eighteenth film sees him take  Thierry Jonquet’s novel Tarantula and turns it into a tale reminiscent of a modern day Frankenstein. The Skin I Live In builds slowly and eerily throughout its near two hour duration, with each reveal in the plot unveiling a sickening new twist in what might be Almodóvar’s most engrossing film to date.

3. Hesher – Spencer Susser
To say that here on DN we’re fans of Spencer Susser’s apocalyptic short I Love Sarah Jane would probably be one of the biggest understatements you could make. In fact, on the few occasions I’ve been asked, it’s always the first title to spring to mind whenever the question “what’s your favourite short film?” arises. However, transferring the talents showcased in the short format to feature length isn’t always a successful process. Thankfully, Susser packaged all the raw energy and originality showcased in his explosive short and injected it into his first feature Hesher, the story of a young boy grieving his mother and his unorthodox relationship with a tattooed loner.

Listen to the DN interview with directer Spencer Susser.

2. Small Town Murder Songs – Ed Gass-Donnelly
I don’t think there are many better feelings as a film-lover than discovering a film you knew nothing about; for me, that film this year was Ed Gass-Donnelly’s Small Town Murder Songs. Seemingly coming out of nowhere, with no festival hype surrounding it (well none that I was aware of anyway), Gass-Donnelly’s second feature combines luminous cinematography, a celestial soundtrack and a stand-out lead performance with breathtaking effect.

Read the DN review of Small Town Murder Songs.

1. Martha Marcy May Marlene – Sean Durkin
“Do you ever have that feeling where you can’t tell if something is a memory or if it’s something you dreamed?” The dizzying effect of Sean Durkin’s debut feature Martha Marcy May Marlene as it slips between past and present, memory and reality with consummate ease, feels like you’re witnessing something unequivocally special. Its storyline seizes you and doesn’t let you slip from its suffocating grasp throughout, constantly surprising and always thrilling, this is the work of a young filmmaker determined to showcase his talent and tell his story (Durkin also wrote MMMM).

Watching John Hawkes sing to Elizabeth Olsen in the trailer still gives me goosebumps now.

Read the DN review of Martha Marcy May Marlene.

Finally, special mention has to go to Shane Meadows for lighting up the small screen once again this year. This is England ’88 was equal to anything I saw on the big screen and once again restored my faith in British TV for a short period. Managing to make me cry like a grown woman at a Take That concert, whilst simultaneously reaching for my iPhone to listen to The Smiths, The Cure and Wendy Rene and digging my Fred Perry collection out of the wardrobe, This is England ’88 was worthy of my entire TV license.

Jeff Malmberg the director of Marwencol (my top film of 2010) introduced Sound It Out at the sold out world premiere in Austin. It’s shown at over 50 festivals to date, in over 20 countries, had a theatrical release in the UK and is about to release in a further two countries. This isn’t a self-congratulation fest, just a reminder, for me at the end of 2011 of what a jam-packed and unexpected, crazy year it’s been. It’s not bad for my micro-budget, ramshackle DIY film made originally as a side project. It’s confirmed my belief that it’s really worth pursuing projects you believe in and putting something out there. Not everyone will like it, but those that do are more than worth it. I’m so thank full for the support I’ve had, not least from DN and the 437 people that crowd funded the making and distribution of the film.

Anyway…

As a consequence of all this I’ve never been to more film festivals or cinemas but ironically never watched fewer films. The films I’ve wanted to see have invariably been on at the same time as my screenings – the ‘films that got away’ which I’m desperate to see included; Bombay Beach, The Interrupters, Beats Rhymes and Life, Hell and Back Again, Page One: Inside the New York Times, Give Up Tomorrow, We Need to Talk About Kevin
and Margaret.

So here is my top ten of the films that stayed with me in 2011, made an impact and looking back into the depths of a dense year still shine brightly. I have *slightly* broken the DN rules [MarBelle: Tut!] by including two art films that were only available to view in galleries but they are long form and both are brilliant, in fact so good I made one my film of the year.

10. Troll Hunter – André Øvredal
Trrrrrrroooooooollllll!

Read the DN review of Troll Hunter.

9. You’ve Been Trumped – Anthony Baxter
In 2010 I took part in The Edinburgh Pitch – pitching my film Orionto a panel of international commissioners. One of my fellow pitchers was Anthony Baxter with his feature documentary You’ve been Trumped.

The film tells the story of how American Millionaire Donald Trump ran rough shod over local resident’s wishes, in order to build a luxury golf course in a remote area of Scotland. The course is sited in a spot of exceptional natural beauty in Baxter’s hometown of Montrose. Trump is shown to bully local residents and quite literally bulldozes his way into their lives. Baxter documents it all including the protests, his own arrest and alleged corruption at Government level. It’s a classic David and Goliath tale that has been taking the festival circuit by storm picking up armfuls of awards and the unflattering portrayal has been credited with dislodging Trump’s presidential campaign. The film has certainly had international impact.

Back to Edinburgh 2010. Every commissioner on the panel turned this project down saying that the story had already been told (there had been a BBC special about the golf course development) therefore it wouldn’t be commissioned. Baxter continued on without funding and then crowd-funded his premiere at Hotdocs 2011. It’s confirmation for me of the film truism ‘nobody knows anything’. It was clear that there was a film there and a ready audience. Baxter has proved that and then some.

8. The Posters Came from the Walls – Nicolas Abrahams & Jeremy Deller
Another film about the relationship between a band and their fans, this time Depeche Mode fans “I am no-one without listening to music”, “We are Depeche-ist. Like Communist, like Fascist”.

Revel in ‘The day of Dave’, marching band versions of DM songs and how behind the Berlin wall it felt like DM emerged – “like the posters had come from the walls”. Ongoing wrangles with the record company mean that this won’t be on general release any time soon but look out for it – I saw it at a special screening in Brighton, part of Music Doc 11.

7. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never – Jon M. Chu
I’m not a fan of Beiber’s music but this justifiably has a place in my top 10 as the film is just so good. JB’s rag to riches ascent at the speed of lightening is a cracking tale. The combination of ambitious management, undeniable talent and a boy on the brink of adulthood trying to figure out who he is a heady mix. The concert footage is thrilling but what makes the film are the fans. Girl, after girl, after girl not much younger than JB heartbreakingly disclose why he is the one for them.

As a side note, I’ve seen some intense snobbery come out when it comes to this film. It was programmed at SheffDocFest this year by Hussain Churrimbhoy. There was much disdain expressed by some of the ‘social change’ programmers and foundations. I don’t understand why the story of this YouTube star who has become the biggest cultural phenomenon of his generation isn’t worthy of exploration – Because a subject is popular doesn’t mean that it isn’t worthy of serious examination while it’s happening, rather than with the respectability of time and nostalgia.

6. The Arbor – Clio Barnard
Another film that successfully straddles both documentary and fiction. Actors lip sync to documentary memories to tell the story of Andrea Dunbar, the playwright behind The Arbor and Rita Sue and Bob Too. It’s a disarming watch and plays like a punch to the guts. It jumped out of the cramped airplane screen I watched it on and had me sobbing into my pillow.

Read the DN review of The Arbor.

5. Weekend – Andrew Haigh
The most romantic film I saw this year shot in my adopted hometown of Nottingham. Nottingham has never looked so real/lovely and there is a great line about the “ugly gallery” for NG dwellers. I met the team behind the film at SXSW and waited with anticipation to see the film, hoping it would live up to the great reviews (“Is this the best gay film ever?”) and my hopes after following the release. It did. Innovatively shot using documentary techniques, long takes and no coverage to cut to. The film is romantic, heartfelt and bittersweet.

4. The Clock – Christian Marclay
If you haven’t, go and see this if you can. Shown in Nottingham as part of The British Art Show The Clock is a 24-hour artwork that collates what must be every clock ever shown onscreen in a film, ever. They are then inter-cut and interwoven at exactly the time that is showing onscreen. So if it’s 1.04 pm the clock on screen will say the same and the scene will invariably be someone having lunch. More than simply a gimmick, Marclay creates unexpected narratives that are addictive and stay with you long after the “wow” factor. I visited twice for an hour each time, I wished I been able to see it all. Just brilliant.

3. The Skin I Live In – Pedro Almodovar
Bonkers brilliance from Mr Almodovar. I can’t say much about this with out revealing huge spoilers but it had passion, great characters and a story that veered on the right side of hysterical. Huge, great close ups of faces, massive nudes – it looks amazing. A friend came out of the screening stating “it was the worst thing he’d ever seen” but I loved it. Almodovar is a continually bold filmmaker and I’d always take something bold over something tasteful or indifferent.

2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives – Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Uncle Boonmee is on death’s door and he invites ghosts from his past to join the dinner table and walk with the living. A contemporary, Thai ghost story that beautifully and poetically explores mortality, folklore, memory and the tiger in the undergrowth.

Read the DN review of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.

1. 5,000 Feet is the Best – Omer Fast
I visited Dublin for the first time this year showing SIO at The After Dark Festival. Wandering around the city on a rain sodden day I visited Dublin Contemporary staged in a rabbit warren of tiny, spartan rooms in a disused hospital. One room was a former lecture theatre showing a 60-minute film on a loop. I sat down without knowing what I was going to watch but stayed for the full hour absorbed by the film onscreen.

The film fuses fact, fiction, fantasy, close up aerial photography and documentary testimony to tell the impact and PTSD of one man, a remote drone operator based in the US with his target trained on Afghanistan; executing remotely, the near misses and the civilian deaths. An actor, in reconstructed interview scenes recalls repeatedly the symptoms of PTSD he denies having and documentary voiceover from the actual drone operator is juxtaposed with aerial images of the places he fired upon, the families he left and the bright lights of Las Vegas.

When I left I discovered I had been watching 5,000 Feet is the Best by Berlin based Israeli artist Omer Fast. This is a pattern I have repeated in galleries over the years. Watched a great film to discover it’s a work by Fast – The Casting and Nostalgia amongst others. His work is consistently haunting, thought provoking and reaches parts that many films made for cinema fail to. My fudged description doesn’t come close to doing it justice but do seek Omer Fast out.

View a sample from the film in the Online Preview section of Fast’s GB Agency page.

10. Tangled – Nathan Greno & Byron Howard
I know I had a Princessy film in my top 10 last year in the form of The Princess and the Frog and I don’t know if the reason I enjoy them so much is because I’m surrounded by boys. Whatever the reason I’m not ashamed to admit that I really did think this film was good, although out of the two The Princess and the Frog wins hands down.

9. The Fighter – David O. Russell
I saw this at the start of the year and remember really liking it, not least because Mark Wahlberg is in it as boxer Micky Ward. Christian Bale plays Micky’s volatile older brother and puts in a superb performance. This is a story of family and perseverance and is based on a true story, and I do love me a film based on a true tale.

Read the DN review of The Fighter.

8. Cold Weather – Aaron Katz
Yay, Mumblecore – c’mon I had to have at least one in this list! Cold Weather revolves around the disappearance of Doug’s ex-girlfriend and his efforts along with his sister Gail and new friend, Carlos, to find her. Things actually happen in this film and move along quite quickly so it’s maybe a good introduction to the movement for those not so familiar.

Listen to the DN interview with director Aaron Katz.

7. Littlerock – Mike Ott
A truly beautiful film shot on a handheld camera in a tiny Californian town – Atsuko and her brother Rintaro arrive in Littlerock together. Rintaro can speak a little English but when he leaves Atsuko is left to communicate as best she can. This is a story of Atsuko’s love of a rundown place and how relationships can form and develop despite obvious barriers.

Listen to the DN interview with director Mike Ott.

6. Without – Mark Jackson
I was so tired when MarBelle told me we had to watch Without and it’s a credit to it that I didn’t fall asleep. It was weird – not so weird that it alienates the viewer but intriguing weird if that makes sense? A girl arrives to take care of an old man in a near-vegetative state whilst his family take a break. She’s totally isolated – they live in the middle of nowhere and there is no phone signal or internet. Without explores her struggle with the monotony of it all. My description doesn’t do it justice – you need to see it for yourself and I need to rewatch it as soon as possible.

Listen to the DN interview with director Mark Jackson.

5. Bridesmaids – Paul Feig
Hilarious. If you haven’t seen this yet do yourself a favour and watch it, it WILL make you laugh, even if you’re not a girl. My future flashed before my eyes when Rita describes her three boys as ‘cute, but when they reach that age. Disgusting, they smell, they are sticky, they say things that are horrible. Everything is covered in semen’. Yuck.

4. Drive – Nicolas Winding Refn
I napped through Drive the first time around and kept waking up really confused wondering why the ugly guy out of Sons of Anarchy was in it. On second viewing I can see why I was so confused; it’s a surreal 80s montage of violence. And it’s also brilliant.

Read the DN review of Drive.

3. Another Earth – Mike Cahill
Rhoda fucks up. Badly. She finds a way to make amends, kind of, but she goes too far and in the end I was just willing her to confess all. The underlying constant throughout what happens is Earth 2, another Earth that Rhoda has put her hope in. Fantastic film that got a big ooooooooo at the end.

Read the DN review of Another Earth.

2. Martha Marcy May Marlene – Sean Durkin
Exploring the relationship between a girl and her sister, this film is interesting in the way that the viewer can never really separate fiction from fact. Martha has escaped a cult and although we glean insights into what cult life was like for her through flashbacks, the main focus is on her efforts to return to some sort of normality and how this, in turn, affects her sister and her brother-in-law.

Read the DN review of Martha Marcy May Marlene.

1. We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lynne Ramsay
I’ve been waiting for a Ramsay film for years. I got over my disappointment that she stopped working on The Lovely Bones although she would have made that film a WHOLE lot better, and overdosed on trailers to get me through the months until …Kevin got released. I was one of the last of my friends to see it because it kept selling out at my local Picturehouse and I was close to tears when they didn’t come back raving about it. I think that it’s an amazing film and one that totally does Lionel Shriver’s book justice. Beautifully shot and thought provoking, the girl has not disappointed – I just hope I don’t have to wait another eight years for her next film.

10. Sound It Out – Jeanie Finlay
So much heart, so much great music and a valuable social document. This crowd-funded film is a wonderful story of a dying breed and a celebration of the joy and compulsion of collecting.

Listen to the DN interview with director Jeanie Finlay.

9. True Grit – Coen Brothers
Life at the top of the Hollywood food chain seems to suit the Brothers Coen, this remake far exceeds the original. Gripping, classy, classic Western. First rate studio filmmaking.

8. Treacle Jr. – Jamie Thraves
Low budget, simple story, the return of Jamie Thraves is masterful, refreshing British cinema and features exquisite performances from Aidan Gillen and Tom Fisher in the lead roles.

7. Hugo – Martin Scorsese
Scorsese’s love letter to cinema is a technical marvel and deeply heartfelt tale of childhood, movies, stories, the past and family. It’s a truly wondrous experience and the best use of 3D to date.

6. Essential Killing – Jerzy Skolimowski
Vincent Gallo is an escaped terrorist prisoner on the run in the wilderness doing whatever he can to survive in this near silent, primal film that subverts and challenges to the core.

Read the DN review of Essential Killing.

5. Tyrannosaur – Paddy Considine
The directorial debut of Paddy Considine is a visceral and gut wrenching tale featuring two incredible performances from Olivia Colman and Peter Mullan and the a phenomenal use of the cinematic power of the close up.

Read the DN review of Tyrannosaur.

4. Super 8 – J.J. Abrams
How all summer blockbusters should be. J.J. Abrams channels Spielberg but comes away with a slice of brilliance all his own.

3. A Separation – Asghar Farhadi
Devastating family and social drama from Iran. Haunting and morally complex. Incredibly written and performed.

2. 13 Assassins – Takashi Miike
This samurai movie by Takashi Miike is a stylish and gripping tale of old values and bygone moralities. A fantastic story beautifully told, a breath of fresh air. I love samurai movies and this is a classic of the genre.

1. Drive – Nicolas Winding Refn
Nicolas Winding Refn’s sleek slice of LA pulp is cool, brutal, intense and thanks to Ryan Gosling’s performance, carved out one of the most memorable screen characters for an age. An absolutely phenomenal movie.

Read the DN review of Drive.

Having said all that, this is the first time I’ve compiled one of my own, so cue childlike excitement along with a few glaring regrets over films I didn’t manage to see (Drive: I know – I’ve let you down, I’ve let Ryan Gosling down, but most of all I’ve let myself down; and The Artist: technically not released yet, but still – I could’ve done better), and a couple of awkward oddities that deserve a mention despite failing, for one reason or another, to squeeze into my ten (Animal Kingdom: would’ve been way up there, but thanks to early festival screenings Team DN Top Ten 2010 beat me to it; and Submarine: it won’t go down as one of the greats, but has nonetheless set a crucial precedent for British film in the stylish idiosyncrasy stakes).

Regrets, oddities and excitement aside, these are my top ten films of 2011…

10. Pina – Wim Wenders
It doesn’t trumpet the unexpected arthouse wonders of 3D in the same way that Cave of Forgotten Dreams manages to, but the mesmerising mix of dance and documentary that Wenders weaves is gracefully hypnotic and absolutely unique. It had me googling Bausch and dance and Sadlers Wells for hours afterward.

9. The Tree of Life – Terrence Malick
The number one on everybody’s lips at the moment, it seems. I missed the cinema release and only caught it in humble home HD, which may explain why I wasn’t truly blown away. There’s no denying it’s quite a piece of work though – deep, abstract, beautiful and complex. It has a sense of the forced magnum opus about it, but because Malick is Malick it doesn’t land very wide of that mark.

Read the DN review of The Tree of Life.

8. Tomboy – Céline Sciamma
A powerful evocation of childhood and the endless hazy summers that go with it, Sciamma’s follow-up to Water Lilies ripples with prepubescent echoes of Boys Don’t Cry, but is handled with such a delicate touch and an eye for detail that it almost lulls you into being ten again.

Read the DN review of Tomboy.

7. Jack Goes Boating – Philip Seymour Hoffman
All the depth and crackling dialogue of a brilliant play, adapted splendidly for cinema – both behind and in front of the camera – by Philip Seymour Hoffman in his directorial debut. This is a tight four-hander that maintains its focus on character and story whilst exploring some interesting visual territory – a simple, honest human drama, no bombast required.

Read the DN review of Jack Goes Boating.

6. Margaret – Kenneth Lonergan
One of the most cynically under-publicised greats of the year – a 150 minute teen odyssey on an epic, operatic scale that meditates comprehensively on grief, youth, life as performance, and the development of the self. Detailed and all-encompassing, almost novelistic in depth and reach, this is a sleeper hit that subtly plays itself out and then lingers in the mind for a long while after.

5. Little White Lies – Guillaume Canet
An ensemble exploration of friendship that offers up a genuine slice of life – the highs as well as the ugly selfish lows. Tender, tragic, funny and most of all very real, this is a detailed and recognisable insight into the ‘middle’ of life (class, age, essence) in all its comfort and directionless confusion.

4. We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lynne Ramsay
A masterpiece of adaptation and film language, this is the dark, brooding brother of Malick’s The Tree of Life – an abstract collage of images that gradually builds to form a complex narrative. Lynne Ramsay uses every tool in the modern cinematic arsenal to create a truly sublime trip from the textual tangle of Lionel Shriver’s source novel.

3. Rabbit Hole – John Cameron Mitchell
John Cameron Mitchell balances the offshoots of the imagination with the harsh realities of parental grief with exquisite care. This is an oddball of a film, but no less brilliant, nor agonisingly true, because of it.

2. Black Swan – Darren Aronofsky
A heady, breathtaking rush of a film that blends all the grit and gristle of The Wrestler with the precise spectacle of ballet and live performance. An experience not to be missed, not least for its heart-pounding finale.

1. Shame – Steve McQueen
A subtle, sophisticated deep-dive into sex, in all its shame and glory. You’ll struggle to find a less gratuitous, and yet utterly unflinching, treatise on carnality in the history of cinema. McQueen choreographs this difficult dance, of so many traditionally polarised elements, with a masterful command of nuance, and in doing so has quietly, unassumingly, created a modern paragon of film.

Surely, there is no better indication of a film’s tension truly gripping its viewer, than when you have to remind yourself to breathe on more than one occasion? Having seen the impressive trailer for Sean Durkin’s debut feature Martha Marcy May Marlene, I was aware of what to expect, but nothing could prepare me for just how captivating and thrilling the director’s first venture into full length filmmaking would be.

Having turned heads at Cannes and Sundance in 2010 with his award winning short Mary Last Seen (which acts somewhat as a precursor to Martha Marcy May Marlene) Durkin was back touring the film festivals again in 2011. This time picking up the Directing Award and a Grand Jury Prize nomination at Sundance, proving that Mary Last Seen was no fluke. However, Durkin was no stranger to film festivals prior to 2010, having taken on producer duties on the critically acclaimed Afterschool (2008), by fellow Borderline Films director Antonio Compos. Having served his time as producer (he also produced on underground hit Two Gates of Sleep), Durkin decided it was time to showcase his directorial credentials with one of the most confident and assured pieces of filmmaking you’re likely to see all year.

Having recently escaped the suffocating, intimidating grips of a Mason-esque cult, we follow Martha (or Marcy May as she was known in the collective), as she struggles to adapt to everyday life without the support of her adopted family. Moving in with her sister Lucy and husband Ted, the estranged Martha is haunted by her experiences and crippled by fear, as she comes to terms with not only her past, but also what her future holds.

“Do you ever have that feeling where you can’t tell if something is a memory or if it’s something you dreamed?”

As Martha’s history with the commune is slowly unraveled on screen, Durkin’s film flows between past and present, memory and reality, with consummate ease. With each reveal, the tension increases as our apprehension heightens and soon we begin to discover that Martha’s paranoia could well be just that. As our knowledge of the cult’s disturbing behaviours increases and we discover Martha may not have quite escaped their grasp, Martha Marcy May Marlene exposes itself as one of the most enthralling thrillers of recent times.

Although her older, more infamous sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley may have held the spotlight in the past with their dominance of the preteen market during the late ’90s and early 2000s, if this performance is anything to go by Elizabeth Olsen may soon become the dominant Olsen sister. As the titular Marcy, her performance is one of great complexity, as this fragile young woman attempts to display an inner strength, when her world is crumbling around her. Calm and serene one moment, then panicked and hysterical the next, Olsen totally convinces as someone struggling to discover her place in the world. Maybe a struggle she is familiar with being the sibling of twin sisters with worldwide fame?

Made up of three directors – Sean Durkin, Antonio Campos & Josh Mond – Borderline Films have recently entered into a partnership with Martha Marcy May Marlene distributor Fox Searchlight, meaning we should be seeing a whole lot more from Durkin and his fabulous filmmaking friends. If Martha Marcy May Marlene and Afterschool are an indication of what’s to come from this talented trio, then Simon Killer and other Borderline productions are bound be to dominating film festivals for years to come.

DN221: Littlerock – Mike Ott – Director Mike Ott joined us to talk about his second feature and a film I’ve been dying to watch ever since catching the trailer online.

Terri – I was really looking forward to seeing how Azazel Jacobs had progressed as a filmmaker since Momma’s Man and was more than happy to see him successfully delve into the world of the outsider in Terri.

Die Antwoord: Fok Julle Naaiers – We’re scared as hell of them, but just can’t resisted their menacing Zef infused hip hop ways.

Kerry Film Festival 2011 – We always like to bring you film festival reports from the filmmaker’s eye view and Neil’s perspective as an ex-festival director was an added bonus. Plus, he scooped a much deserved win too!

Another Earth – Mike Cahill’s low budget debut feature manages to combine thought-provoking science fiction with haunting character driven drama, resulting in one of the stand-out features of the year.

Curtis lives a simple life; he works hard and takes good care of his family, loving wife Samantha and six-year-old daughter Hannah, who is deaf. However, his modest life is soon turned upside down when he’s plagued by crippling, foreboding dreams predicting an impending apocalyptic event. Curtis is then faced with a dilemma; does he listen to these dark premonitions and prepare his family for possible armageddon, facing financial ruin along the way, or are these visions nothing more than the symptoms of mental illness; a family affliction shared by his mother who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in her early thirties.

Like Mike Cahill’s Another Earth, a similarly subtle film featuring commanding performances, Nichols’ Take Shelter is not an easy film to label. Where Another Earth is a character/relationship piece wrapped in a science fiction shell, Take Shelter could easily slip into either a family drama or an apocalyptic tale category. Like Cahill’s movie, where the discovery of “Earth 2” is almost seen as the supporting narrative to its main character-driven story, the possible end of the world scenario facing the characters of Take Shelter is only ever viewed from within the tightknit LaForche family. Nichols’ story of the potential ‘end of days’ isn’t concerned with how or if the world would survive if Curtis’ visions come true, but instead if his family and his mind will survive his possible descent into mental illness.

Where films like 2012, Armageddon and The Day after Tomorrow relied on the believability of their catastrophic scenarios (Mayan predictions coming to pass, meteors destroying Earth or abrupt climate change), Take Shelter relies solely on the credibility of Curtis’ off kilter convictions. Nichols’ film will only succeed if there are some doubts over his premonitions; do you instantly write them off as the ramblings of a mad man or believe he may have been gifted a glimpse into a doomed future? For me it just took one look into the askew stare of Shannon for doubt to set in, could this be the gaze of a man losing his grip on reality, or a man with a devastating insight into things to come.

Shannon’s overwhelming performance is well supported by some equally robust turns by Jessica Chastain (Tree of Life) and Shea Whigham (Shannon’s co-star in Boardwalk Empire), their wavering support and trust in their loved-one only magnifying Curtis’ volatile situation. However, there’s no mistaking that this is Shannon’s time to shine, his performance taking you on a chaotic downward spiral with dizzying effects, the apex being a scene in which he aggressively confronts his doubters at a charity dinner, a scene that sent shivers down my spine and goosebumps up my arms.

There’s a storm coming like nothing you’ve ever seen, and not a one of you is prepared for it!

Take Shelter will leave viewers feeling battered and weather-beaten at the end of its two hour duration and what you take from Nichols’ film will depend largely on what you came looking for. Those looking for an Emmerichian end to civilization may be disappointed, but those searching for something else, something less obvious, might be totally blown away.

Even how you read the final scene (warning: this link contains spoilers) can probably reveal a lot about yourself.

Two years ago, Duncan Jones kicked off the current ‘less is more’ approach with his slow burning tale of isolation in Moon. A year later, Mark Romanek introduced us to the futuristic period drama with his adaptation of acclaimed and beloved Kazuo Ishiguro novel Never Let Me Go. Whilst Jones’ film, featuring a more classifiable aesthetic, was easier to label as science fiction, both films tackled similar themes by examining identity and the notion of self. Continuing this topic by posing the question “What would you say if you met another you?” Mike Cahill’s character driven Another Earth is another film from this limitless genre that relies more on its viewers’ powers of imagination, than its ability to dazzle and daze an audience with visual bombardments.

Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling), a bright young woman accepted into MIT’s astrophysics program, aspires to explore the cosmos. A brilliant composer, John Burroughs (William Mapother), has just reached the pinnacle of his profession and is about to have a second child. On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth, tragedy strikes and the lives of these strangers become irrevocably intertwined.

With a plot featuring a parallel universe, it’s hard to believe there could be questions over whether the film belongs in the science fiction genre or not, but when the appearance of a duplicate planet plays second fiddle to the intense situations of our main characters, questions are bound to be asked. Writer and star Brit Marling and director Mike Cahill have managed to do something quite amazing with their film; create a piece in which they tackle expansive universal theories, whilst also developing a narrative of real intimacy through its study of the shattered lives of Rhoda and John. The juxtaposition of the weight and scale of the situations creates an intriguing proposition on screen, the discovery of ‘Earth 2′ has opened up an immeasurable number of possibilities for the characters of Another Earth, yet the introverted sheltered lives of our two main protagonists seems anything but. It’s the grief and daily struggles of Rhoda and John that Marling’s story orbits. The small developments in their lives which should seem insignificant compared to the revelations of this newly discovered planet are made to appear weighty and momentous; the smaller picture for once overshadowing the bigger one.

With William Mapother previously limited to bit part roles in TV (Lost, Prison Break, Law & Order) and film (World Trade Center, Minority Report, Swordfish, Mission Impossible II) and Brit Marling still carving out her career in the movie industry, both actors seize the chance to sink their teeth into the meaty roles. Both characters offer a lot of scope for our two lead actors to display the whole gamut of emotions as the relationship between Rhoda and John begins to break from their daily routine of grief and introspection, to be replaced with hope and fleeting moments of joy. With her piercing eyes and flowing locks, Marling was made for the big screen and her performance doesn’t betray this assumption. Consistently engrossing throughout, she puts in one of those performances you don’t dare (or want) to take your eyes off, it’s easy to see why she’s now being tipped for bigs things in the future.

At times, the filmmaking choices in Another Earth may appear a little wayward and clumsy, which is to be expected from our fledgling filmmakers, but these brief, wavering misjudgements never stand in the way of what is a truly original piece of filmmaking. Cahill’s film may have the budget and feel of an American independent production, but its heart and ambition reaches far beyond what you would usually expect from a production with a $150,000 shooting budget. Another Earth is a challenging and demanding watch, a film for those concerned with the mysteries of the universe, but don’t come expecting answers, in fact this is a film that may open up more questions than it solves.

2011 has already witnessed; Craig Roberts’ duffelcoated, love-struck Oliver in Submarine, Devin Brochu’s grief-stricken T.J. in Hesher, Alex Shaffer’s troubled wrestling star Kyle in Win Win, Kentucker Audley’s dysfunctional comedian in Bad Fever and Dustin Ingram’s porn star obsessed Tobe in Meet Monica Velour. But what it is about the ostracised and the excluded that filmmakers (and their audiences) find so appealing?

Whether it’s the power these characters have to elicit emotion from an audience or the heart-breaking agony/joy of watching them rise/fall (delete as appropriate), there is something magnetising about these types that keeps pulling the writers and directors back to their worlds.

The latest writer/director team to tackle the story of the high-school loner is Patrick Dewitt and Azazel Jacobs (Momma’s Man), with their film Terri; the tale of a downtrodden, overweight, pyjama-wearing teen. Terri (Jacob Wysocki) doesn’t excel in school, he constantly turns up late for class, doesn’t participate in physical education and generally looks disinterested. His home life isn’t much better, with his parents absent physically and his guardian, uncle James (Creed Bratton), absent mentally, Terri is left pretty much to fend for himself whilst also struggling to care for his unstable uncle and their untidy home. With the help of his overzealous principle Mr Fitzgerald (John C. Reilly) and some burgeoning relationships, Terri tries to find his place in life and starts to discover friendship and romance.

Jacobs’ film saunters along at a leisurely pace, providing a balanced snapshot into the life of its eponymous lead, never aiming for the big reveal or the grandstand finale. Instead, sexual advances are spurned, relationships left undefined and friendships undeveloped. Terri’s life simply carries on with an endless road of possibilities unfurling under his unwieldy gait, an uncertain future on his horizon.

In his first feature film role, Jacob Wysocki as the titular Terri puts in a performance that defies his tender years, as his introverted, cautious character skirts the pigeonholes he so easily could have fallen into. Persecuted by classmates and often misunderstood by his seniors, Wysocki’s portrayal could have all so quickly become one-dimensional and flat. Instead, our lead performer allows the odd, fleeting glimpse into the soul of Terri, adding mystery and depth to his character, ultimately leaving us with the desire to know more.

Terri is the story of an outsider, in a world of outsiders. He may be at the heart of Dewitt’s story, but with a host of other dysfunctionals populating this on-screen world, Terri doesn’t seem so odd or awkward. With a principle who sleeps in his car, a friend who gets fingered in class and a classmate who pulls his hair out and pisses on his trousers, our protagonist’s eccentricities suddenly seem muted and unremarkable when viewed in context. This isn’t a film of cheap laughs, or one overly concerned with sympathy. Our cumbersome hero could have so easily been turned into an object of pity, but instead Dewitt and Jacobs handle his story with great care and consideration, avoiding narrative clichés and shallow stereotypes along the way.

Part One

I’ve been incredibly quiet on DN this year. Apologies for that, but the reason is I have been studying for my doctorate in cinema and writing a feature screenplay. Let’s just say you aren’t the only people I’ve been neglecting. The past week however saw me leave my relative hermit’s existence to see my short It’s Natural To Be Afraid at the Kerry Film Festival in Ireland, the closest it’s shown to home.

We had heard good things about the festival from filmmaker Declan Cassidy who won there when he was attending one of our last Filmstock festivals, and we leapt at the chance to see the film with the audience there. Justin (director and co-producer) has been on tour with the film for much of the year [MarBelle: including an interview stop here at DN], but this was the first chance myself and producer Steve Clarke had to see it with a crowd, and I was itching to see some shorts and talk to some filmmakers, as I have definitely felt out of the loop.

I arrived on Sunday 30th October, grabbed a quick coffee and then headed straight with the others, who had already been there a day to see some short docs. Of the four two really stood out. Challenging Impossibility, a film by Sanjay Rawal and Natabara Rollosson about spiritual weightlifter Sri Chinmoy. I love the way docs can show the amazing lives of real people you have never heard about and it is a wonderful little film. The best of the session though was Guy Natanel’s Scent of Strawberries. Guy is an Israeli filmmaker and his film is the beautiful story of his 62 year old Mother going to film school and inspiring him to do the same; Guy documents the making of her student project for his student project. It’s much more than a student project though, it is a movie portrayal of family, death, age and perceptions and the catharsis of creative realisation. It was a joy to watch and Guy was at the screening, and the warmth of his personality is reflected in the compassion and humanity of his film.

Challenging Impossibility Trailer from Sanjay Rawal on Vimeo.

The second screening featured a selection of shorts from other festivals, Rushes Soho (a fest we didn’t get into) and Nickel, Newfoundland (a fest we won at). The highlights were Jordan Canning’s realisation of a troubled relationship in animated egg form Not Over Easy which was a local Newfoundland delight. From the Rushes selection the only thing that stood out (and I’m not just being bitter) was the German short Hermann directed by Hana Geissendorfer which was a familiar tale of age and unrequited desire anchored by some nice camerawork and a really strong central performance by Dietrich Hollinderbäumer.

After the screening we went out to dinner, us filmmakers few including Guy and Australian filmmaker Kelly Hucker. Kelly’s film Kwik Fix screened later in the week and we missed it but I have subsequently viewed it and can say it’s a surprisingly ambitious graduation film, full of heart and melancholy. Delicately directed and with strong performances.

A good eat, and some good talk. It felt really good to be a filmmaker talking filmmaking at a festival again.

Monday evening was our screening in the international shorts competition. The film looked and sounded amazing, thanks to some real care from the projectionists Paddy and Niall. Other films that stood out in the session for us were Danaan Breathnach’s Friends of the Earth animation A Love Story…In Milk and the strange and compelling Turkish political film Kirmizi Alarm (Red Alert). Craig Pickles’ Nancy, Sid & Sergio, a rock climbing allegory starring Johnny Harris (This is England ’86) had its moments but a weak opening and a dodgy DVD let it down.

A Love Story… In Milk from Catsnake on Vimeo.

Red Alert – Trailer (2011) from Emre Akay on Vimeo.

From our screening we raced to a special outdoor screening of James Whale’s Frankenstein (it was Halloween after all), projected onto the side of a Windmill. We caught the final few minutes which was good and then headed to a local pub where we caught up with newly arrived screenwriter Paul Fraser (A Room For Romeo Brass, Dead Man’s Shoes) who was presenting his directorial debut My Brothers at the festival. We would miss the screening as we flew back the next lunchtime but Paul invited me to see it close the London Irish film festival instead.

And, following some drinks and some lovely conversation and songs with locals and the dedicated festival team, we walked back to our hotel pleased with how our film had played and been received and having seen some decent work and met some great filmmakers.

Part Two

We knew there were awards for the shorts, and that judges such as Paul Greengrass and Cillian Murphy were presiding, but it still took us by great surprise when we were invited back to the festival for the awards ceremony and told if we could make it back it would be worth our while. The festival supported our costs so we had a good feeling and so, with the blessing of my wife I headed back to Kerry, and the town of Tralee, with Steve unable to travel because of his ill father and Justin out in the States representing the film at the brilliant Indie Memphis fest. Sharing the flight was documentary filmmaker Guy, who also had a good feeling.

Picked up, we headed straight to the ceremony where I was reacquainted with the team and some of the filmmakers I’d bid farewell to not four days before. It was also great to see filmmaker Declan Cassidy there as he was the person who alerted us to the festival in the first place. He was at the festival with his latest short The Bouquet, which I sadly missed. The ceremony unfolded with Guy deservedly confirming his win for Best Documentary for Scent Of Strawberries before heading straight back to London to prepare for the premiere of his new film at the Tricycle Cinema on Sunday. Other awards included Best Animation for Anna Fitzsimmons’ The Life, Death & Suffer Story‘ and Best Irish Short for Bulldog which is a subtle and elegant tale of a young bullied boy and his need but inability to share his trauma. Director Steve Earls was there as was animator Pedro Rivero whose film Birdboy (he co-directed with Alberto Vázquez) received a special mention. Pedro gave me a copy of the film and it’s a haunting and beautifully animated socio-political fable. I personally preferred it to the worthy winner.

The final award of the evening for films was for the Grand Prize; Best Short Film and we won it. It was an honour to receive the award in person. We have had some success with this short, this award was our 6th but it was the first we had all seen with an audience together and the first we could accept in person. The fact it was judged by Paul Greengrass also means a lot to us, a sense of validation on a joyous yet difficult and tempestuous journey.

The film screened beautifully again and the large crowd loved it, they got the nuances and I received some really lovely comments from audience members and attendant filmmakers, which was really heartwarming.

The ceremony ended with the Maureen O’Hara award for achievements in cinema by a woman being presented to Fionnula Flanagan (The Guard, The Others) who described our film as “courageous“. It was amazing to be in the presence of Hollywood royalty in the shape of O’Hara (The Quiet Man, Miracle on 34th Street) and was a wonderful end to proceedings.

After the awards I said goodbye to some filmmakers, had dinner and conversation with others, then headed out to a birthday party at the invitation of co-ordinator Mai and her family. Mai is one of those people that make film festivals so special. Her care for visitors is exemplary and it’s married to a will for her pride in the event, her town and her family to be shared. Being from a large Irish family I felt immediately comfortable and was made to feel like one of the family as we celebrated her brother’s 50th birthday. And the following morning it was her mum and another brother who ensured I got to the airport okay.

The whole team, from director Sarah Smyth down are a credit to Tralee and film festivals and made the whole experience, both parts, so easy, rewarding and so much fun. I can’t wait to go back.

Part Three

On arrival back in England I walked the dog with my understanding wife and then we headed into London for the screening of Paul Fraser’s My Brothers. The film closed the first Irish Film Festival London and is an absolute gem of a film. Beautifully made for a first directorial outing, it’s anchored by beautiful photography and three brilliant performances. I heartily recommend it. And here, following a Q&A with Paul and lead actor Timmy Creed was where my Irish odyssey ended. In perfect fashion.

Miranda July is probably as multi-faceted as the courses the School run. In my opinion, she is driven by a need to express herself in any way she desires. She has directed a feature film, You, Me & Everyone We Know with her second, The Future due for release in the next few weeks. She has also written both fiction and a book using material from her former website which ran for a few years.

In light of what she does and her imagination I was very excited to go and see her with my friend MoneyBen (who is a July-phile if ever there was one). We arrived 30 minutes early to an already quite enormous queue. The saving grace was Jarvis Cocker parking his Jag nearby and sauntering to the front of the crowd.

As we entered the hall we were greeted with the most enormous individual who was dressed as the devil. He kindly showed us to our seats and we waited for the sermon to begin. As July hit the stage she started to talk about strangers. So far, so expected. Then she requested that we grab the arm of the nearest stranger and hold on to them and look deep in to their eyes. She then explained how perhaps this stranger might run into us later in life or how our kids may end up marrying each other. Letting go after slightly longer than necessary I expected her to continue her sermon. But she did not.

July had been in to the crowd earlier and obtained objects from three different individuals. Upon the stage was a very small turntable upon which she placed the object and turned on a video camera. The owners then came forward and spoke to her, firstly about their objects and then meandered through their lives. The important thing was the absence of the typical mundane questions asked of strangers; ‘What do you do?’, ‘Where do you live?’ etc.

The first stranger was Australian and had wandered around Europe with an intention to return to Australia one day. His object tweezers, are carried around in his bag and deployed on his stubbly beard so it’s a perfectly straight line. Yes. Mental.

The second stranger was excruciating. By this point the other strangers knew what was coming. Her answers were evasive and when pushed she imparted that she hadn’t spoken to her family for two years. Why? We’ll never know, they had had an argument. It was evident she was not comfortable on stage and equally July was uncomfortable having strayed in to territory which was making her stranger squirm. Her object was Palmers Cocoa Butter Lip Balm. Chocolate flavour.

The last stranger was the most uplifting story of all. A man who was carrying a card that his daughter had made him to celebrate his 60th birthday. She had purchased tickets to a month’s worth of sermons in which Miranda July fell. He had been with his wife for forty years (which prompted applause) and marriage was easy. It’s when you hear stories like that you hope that maybe the future is full of loveliness.

After each stranger had spoken July auctioned the objects along with a signed certificate setting out how the new owner had obtained it with the signatures of July, the former owner and the new owner. The bidding became a bit frenzied. Put it this way, would you pay one hundred and fifty quid for some manky beardy tweezers? But the best part of the auction was the lady who purchased the birthday card. It was clear that both father and daughter were a bit sad to see it go. So the lady who won gave it back to them.

And then we all put our heads in between our knees and closed our eyes while Miranda explained how the funds the auction had raised would have once been a lot of money to her. Perhaps even the difference between making rent and not making rent. And so she asked if there was anyone who really needed the money – really, really – and if so, to put their hands up and she’d hand over the cash. For their own privacy we’d all stay as we were, eyes closed.

And someone put their hand up. I’m not sure who. I’ve told this story to lots of people since and I tend to get met with a cynical look and a sympathetic smile. Especially at work. It’s written all over their faces, ‘Quirky old Subs, believing in humanity‘. But honestly. That morning in Conway Hall I have never been more certain that the person that received that money really needed it.

Miranda July on Strangers from The School of Life on Vimeo.

London may be a city of culture, a city of opportunities, a place where the streets are said to be paved with gold, but on-screen England’s glorious capital has become synonymous with the dark undertones of British Realism. At the centre of Krishnan’s celluloid tale of big smoke life we find two desperate, tortured souls; Frank an ex-soldier struggling to overcome the horrors he witnessed in combat and Lynette a homeless girl aimlessly stumbling through life, bad decision after bad decision. Initially, when the downward spirals of these two wayward characters entwine, it seems like just maybe these kindred spirits were meant to rescue each other from their meaningless lives. However, the positive impact they have on each others’ lives doesn’t last long and soon both are rapidly dragging each other down a path of destruction.

Candese Reid may have won the plaudits at this year’s London Film Festival, with her performance as cocky street kid Lynette being described as “fresh” and “brilliant” by Andy Harries, Chair of the Best British Newcomer jury. However, it’s Marsan with another assured performance that lifts Junkhearts from being just another tale of hardship and despair. Following on from his recent impressive work in The Disappearance of Alice Creed & Happy-Go-Lucky, Marsan is once again electric in this latest role, his precarious demeanour meaning you don’t dare take your eyes off him for a second. Cinematographer Catherine Derry’s camera never strays too far from Marsan’s scarred face and haunted eyes, circling him like a scavenger waiting to pray on his frail existence, the next time he stumbles and falls

Followers of short film may already be familiar with Krishnan’s style, as the director’s memorable short Shadow Scan not only won her a Bafta back in 2001, but introduced her as a talented filmmaker on the British filmmaking scene. Flashes of the flair she displayed in her award winning short can be seen once again in Junkhearts. This may be a gritty, hard-hitting film, but it’s certainly not a case of substance over style. Krishnan’s feature has a certain swagger and confidence about it that feels as if it’s coming from the capable hands of an assured filmmaker, a director eager to master her craft. Ultimately though, the powerful performances and confident filmmaking can’t hide the fact that Junkhearts feels all too familiar. These are well trodden streets and it’s going to need something a bit more innovative to make them feel fresh and exciting once again.

Tell No One – Sometimes work should exist just because it’s fucking awesome, the experimental films of creative studio Tell No One certainly fit that bill.

The London Film Festival – Always a highlight of the year, let alone this month.

SYNDROMES – Director Kristoffer Borgil stopped by for an interview last month, but as fans of his work we were especially looking forward to his collaboration with The Golden Filter.

Drive – Drive is the film and Gosling gives the performance (of the year?) everyone’s been talking about; we were talking about them too.

Tyrannosaur – Being massive Paddy Considine fans it’s great to see the talented actor cutting his teeth in the director seat with his brutal debut….it’s also great to read a post that starts…”Let me preface this review by saying that I’m one of them ones with a lady garden.“

I was unsure of what to expect having only watched the tight lipped trailer. The film tells the story of Lucy (Emily Browning), a university student in Australia who is having a hard time making ends meet. We see her working in a diner and responding to an advert in the student paper on the hunt for more work. Her interview consists of stripping, being inspected for flaws and given the go ahead to work. It transpires that said ‘work’ consists of serving older gentlemen culinary delights whilst scantily clad. This leads to being offered a job as a ‘Sleeping Beauty’; lying in a bed under the influence of extreme sedatives whilst being manhandled by the older gentlemen. There is only one rule (for the clients) – No Penetration.

I’m unsure whether I like this film or not. On the one hand it is visually arresting in so far as all the scenes are shot with Emily Browning glued to the centre of the frame. Other people or objects around her are just that, around her. The film is also extremely slow paced and not a great deal happens. It leaves more questions asked than answered. Why does Lucy not pay her rent when she’s clearly being paid substantial sums of money? Why does she value herself so little that she takes on jobs like these in the first place? However it’s not hard to see why she continues. Like most people, enough is never enough, and she lives beyond her means attaining an increasingly extravagant lifestyle with her ever increasing salary.

I’m not aware of Julia Leigh’s other work but this seems to me to be a commentary on sex work. How it starts seemingly harmlessly enough but quickly degenerates into something more sinister by virtue of someone behind the scenes pushing someone further and further through the attraction of money. The only difference of Sleeping Beauty to existing films in this class is that the normally seedy underworld is a whole lot more refined. Emily Browning is good as Lucy which is lucky as the film is most certainly not script driven. Her performance is cold, which is exactly what Lucy is. She portrays her as both greedy and emotionally bankrupt which offers some explanation as to why she allows herself to behave as she does.

Ultimately, I’m still scratching my head over the film and I think that’s a bad thing. Surely better for a film to provoke a defined reaction of good, bad, disdain or any concrete emotion as opposed to leaving the viewer unsure of exactly what the film wanted to achieve?

Potiche is a farce rather than a rom-com but without the utterly convincing relationship between Catherine Deneuve and everyone’s favourite aeroplane carpet botherer Gérard Depardieu, François Ozon’s Potiche would be a lesser film.

Set in 1977 and adapted from a hit play of that era, Potiche tells the story of Deneuve’s character, the eponymous ‘potiche’ (‘trophy wife’), Suzanne Bujol. Her husband, Robert (Fabrice Luchini) runs the local umbrella factory started by her father and is injured when taken hostage by the militant, downtrodden workforce. Suzanne then takes control of the factory in his absence and confounds everyone’s expectations by proving herself a canny but conscience-driven businesswoman. Depardieu plays Babin, the local ex-union leader mayor, who has a history with Suzanne and a desire for her that has never left him.

It’s easy to see why Depardieu’s character is so besotted with Suzanne. She is filled with a quiet determination. A lifetime of stoic obedience to lesser minds and greater egos hides a shrewd intellect in direct contrast to both her husband’s temper and Babin’s unconcealed passion. The men in her life are outwitted at every turn, blinded both by their chauvinism and by their devotion to Suzanne.

The film throws itself into its time period with precise attention to detail and the visual style of 1970s television film-making. The colours are resplendent and bright and the wardrobe contains a bewildering amount of authentic and outrageous fashion adding a considerable amount to the film’s sense of playfulness.

Potiche’s charm lies not just in the nostalgic aesthetic but in its sense of innocence. There is sexism but it is of a pleasingly old-fashioned type, not the insidious modern sort that’s dressed up in the double-speak of our time. Here, secretaries exist for more than dictation, and a slap on the bottom goes without comment. However in a world where social superiority is based on gender, the men are ineffectual and bafoonish whilst the women are highly capable.

These women aren’t man-haters though. When they take care to protect male egos it’s out of a genuine sensitivity towards the men they love as well as a deliberate manipulation to get their voices heard.

None of this is to suggest that the film is any kind of serious comment on feminist issues. Feminism, like the politics, the clothes and the sets are simply an environment to make Deneuve’s character attractive and plausible. Structurally the film rushes slightly too quickly through a final plot strand, but on the whole this is an enjoyable if inconsequential farce with broadly-drawn characters, a sense of fun and just enough smarts.

Tyrannosaur is the directorial debut of Paddy Considine who you may know from Dead Man’s Shoes, A Room for Romeo Brass, Hot Fuzz or as the guy who ran across Waterloo at the start of The Bourne Ultimatum. Basically if you don’t know who he is you’ve been asleep for around the last 10 years of film, and this review is probably not for you.

I have admired Paddy’s work for a long time and have been looking forward to Tyrannosaur more than is probably acceptable for a normal person. As if divination wanted to make my life even better, I happily stumbled across a screening at the Curzon Soho on its opening night followed by a Q&A with Paddy and one of the leads, Olivia Colman.

Tyrannosaur has its roots in a Bafta winning short called Dog Altogether. The films follow the lives of Joseph (Peter Mullan) and Hannah (Olivia Colman). Joseph lives on a sink estate. His life encompasses gambling, drinking and extreme violence borne out of lifestyle and deep set anger. Hannah is middle class and volunteers at a charity shop. Hannah is a Christian but that is not her lifeblood. I got the impression that she was forgiving and lovely whilst shaded with Christianity. Dog Altogether follows Joseph’s rage and his necessity to find something better. Someone to make him better. He finds Hannah and that is where the short ends. Tyrannosaur explores the relationship that follows their meeting.

From the beginning Tyrannosaur is brutal. Joseph is mindlessly violent due to an internal rage that will always burn within him. This rage manifests itself by lashing out at those closest to him as well as anyone who annoys him. Joseph’s surroundings means that violence begets violence and there are revenge attacks.

Following one such attack he seeks sanctuary in Hannah’s charity shop. Most people would throw a bloodied, rude, old drunk in to the street, but her goodness compels her to talk to him and offer him a cup of tea. He accepts and mellows. But, as is his way, he hurts her by making assumptions about her middle class life that are way off the mark. You realise as the film progresses that Joseph isn’t an inherently bad person. He just won’t let anyone close to him because he believes he’ll ultimately taint anyone in such close proximity. That or he’ll end up with “their shite”. So he tries to steer clear. But in the case of Hannah he can’t, because she is full of goodness and light and she may be his only redemption. But whilst she is full of goodness and light, her life is not.

Let me be clear. The performances are superb. Colman, who is mainly known for her comic roles, more than holds her own against Mullan. Comparisons have been made with Nil by Mouth but the only thing I can see in common is subject matter. I found this film ten times more disturbing than Irreversible as well. I’m not ashamed. I’ll say it. I cried! And not the silent tears of the cinema where they daintily fall over your eyes on to your face. No, no. My chin was wobbling like a good’un. And I’m dead on the inside.

The key to a film like this is to know when things should be seen and when things should be implied. Pia Di Ciaula’s editing is fantastic. The film cuts from scene to scene punchily, sometimes displaying the full savagery of the violence, at other times merely hinting at it, such as using the demolition of a shed as a noisy, dramatic device. None of the violence is gratuitous and there are some truly uplifting moments. It’s the mark of a good filmmaker that his audience goes from shocked silence to laughter within minutes.

Eddie Marsan also stars as Hannah’s husband, James. The ‘Philosophical Ones’ thought him “functional” and not fully explored. I desperately wanted to disagree but then I would have been paying lip service to their ‘talking just loud enough so everyone can hear and know how very clever we are’ tactics. So here I am, playing in to their hands on the internet. James is a loathsome character and to explore how he got to where he was would not have been in keeping with the rest of the film. The pasts of Joseph and Hannah are both hinted at and items are implied but nothing is ever said outright. To have done so with James would have been at odds with this. Moreover, I thought Marsan did an excellent job of portraying him as repellant. I immediately saw him for what he was and it was in his smile. Marsan ably evoked the big, insincere smile of a man who charms the birds off the trees but shouldn’t be trusted.

There is no doubt that this is my film of the year thus far and it will probably remain so. But I leave you with a warning – I walked out emotionally battered.

***Q&A – WARNING – HERE BE SPOILERS***

Immediately after the film Paddy and Olivia took to the stage accompanied by the editor of Empire who would be our compere for the evening. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Paddy as a lot of interviews I had read start with how introverted he is and, more recently, his diagnosis on the Asbergers spectrum. He was extremely open and happy to speak as he found. Olivia was very humble and clearly in Paddy’s awe.

In order for me to faithfully report what went on at the Q&A I have to give you a brief synopsis of the film that isn’t full of smoke and mirrors like the review above. Don’t worry, I’m not going to go into a blow by blow account and you will still need to go and see it for yourself (please, please do).

So Joseph is a horrible old man who has no family and ultimately no friends. He is your atypical old man who spends all day in the pub, gets tanked up, talks to the other men who spend all day in the pub but can’t really call them friends, goes home and usually gets in some sort of fight on the way. Hannah is middle class and seeks to save people with the power of prayer. Her husband is also Christian. But he is (and delicate readers avert your eyes) a total fucking bastard who batters the shit out of her. One day he takes it a step too far and pushes her to make the final leap to leave. She arrives on Joseph’s doorstep for help. In the same way she provided him sanctuary he does so too.

Paddy told us how he showed the original Dog Altogether script to Gary Oldman whilst they were working together around five years ago. When he wrote the script he wrote it with Mullan and Coleman in mind. He met Coleman on the set of Hot Fuzz and knew at the first rehearsal that she was to be his Hannah (which also gives an idea of how long this idea has been kicking about). Following on from the Bafta win there was an assumption that it would get made in to a feature. Paddy wrote the feature script in a week, writing for a few hours a day. £1.5million was secured to make it but then Mullan couldn’t get to set for a year owing to other commitments. So it was put on hold and that is nearly where it stayed when the budget was literally halved. But they cracked on and filmed in four weeks in Glasgow with £750k.

Paddy was also very adamant that he didn’t want to use handheld cameras with their telltale shake, nor did he want any ad-libbing. He wanted the mindset of the crew to be a big, British film – on a shoestring.

Olivia was shocked to be cast owing to her acting CV. She did a little research before the film by way of speaking to employees of Refuge. Her initial question when she read the script was, “Why does she not leave?”. Following her research she realised how hard it is to leave. She was also given written case studies from Refuge of real domestic violence victims. Paddy commented how some reviewers have stated that Tyrannosaur is a bit over the top. Both Paddy and Olivia confirmed that when you read the real life case studies you see that Tyrannosaur is a dip in the ocean of what men can do to their partners. Having just seen the film, the documented reality of such relationships does not bear thinking about.

Owing to the emotional intensity of Tyrannosaur which builds as it progresses Paddy tried to film as much in chronological order as possible. This also helped the actors to focus their performance. Olivia said that Hannah was so beautifully written that she didn’t have to suggest any amendments to Paddy. Both commented that sometimes a ‘method actor’ can be a total ball ache – especially when time and budget is tight. However, Paddy was at pains to affirm that the process was also collaborative when the actors were shooting. The nuances of their movements were as important as them reading the script perfectly.

And finally, another script has been written by Paddy. A ghost story. And it’s “alright”. It has “some good bits” (Paddy Considine, Curzon Soho, 6th October 2011).

“Yay” (Subs, DN, 2011)

Danish director Winding Refn burst onto the movie scene with his hard-hitting tale of a drug deal gone bad bad in 1996′s Pusher. However, in recent years his eclectic style has seen him take on a theatrical retelling of the life of Britain’s most dangerous prisoner with Bronson and the story of a mute Viking slave in the powerful Valhalla Rising. Now with his 8th and possibly most accessible feature to date, Winding Refn’s hard work over the last 15+ years is finally gaining him the recognition he deserves with a Best Director award at this year’s Cannes film festival and Drive gaining critical acclaim from all that see it.

Drive is a fast paced action thriller that focuses on a Hollywood stunt driver, a loner by nature, who moonlights as a getaway driver-for-hire in the criminal underworld. He finds himself a target for some of LA’s most dangerous men after agreeing to aid the ex-con boyfriend of his beautiful neighbor in a job that goes dangerously awry. The only way he can keep her safe and stay alive is to do what he does best: Drive.

At the core of Drive, giving it impetus and adding real nerve-shredding tension is a throbbing score by composer Cliff Martinez. From the opening moments of Winding Refn’s film, as we’re introduced to Gosling’s Driver through a taut chase sequence, the importance of the original music in Drive is clear to see (or hear). If Winding Refn is the brain of Drive and Gosling the face, then the soundtrack is the film’s heart, its beat rising as the Driver’s situation worsens and a feeling of unease sets in. The original music combines with 80s inspired tracks from Kavinsky, Chromatics and Desire to make not only one of the best soundtracks you’re likely to hear all year, but also to form an integral, unforgettable part of the machine that is Drive.

Working in partnership with Martinez’s original score to create the film’s intensity are two powerful performances from lead actors Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan. Combined, they only mutter a couple of dozen short lines throughout the film, however, the extended silences and longing looks between the pair tell us so much more than extended dialogue and back stories ever could. We’ve seen flashes of Gosling’s brilliance in Half Nelson & Blue Valentine and glimpses of Mulligan’s leading-lady potential in An Education & Never Let Me Go, however together their combined on-screen presence seems to spark and ignite the fuse on Winding Refn’s explosive film. The film is at its best when the pair share screen time, their emotions seemingly bubbling under their cool, calm exteriors, never wanting to make the first move and expose their true feelings. However, this is one of those relationships that seems doomed from the start as estranged partners and violent criminals play their parts in keeping the couple separate. Real moments of intimacy only come in situations of dire straits and as the tangled web restricts around them, you’re left wondering if this is a love best left alone.

It’s a crime to think Winding Refn almost didn’t make Drive, in a recent Little White Lies magazine interview the Danish director admitted that the initial meeting didn’t exactly go well. Gosling, the star power behind the film, had taken control of the process of appointing a director to take the reigns of the production and had set his sights on Winding Refn. However, an awkward get-together between the filmmaker and actor, with the director out of it on American flu drugs, meant this powerful collaboration almost never took place. Thankfully, on the drive home the two connected over Winding Refn’s emotional rendition of REO Speedwagon’s Can’t Fight this Feeling, an understanding developed and the outcome of their partnership is one of the the most powerful films to come out of America this year.

Wasp – It’s rare that a short becomes recognised as a classic but Andrea Arnold’s Wasp definitely falls into that category. Thank God it’s finally made it online.

WeAreDN Vimeo Channel – We may not have exactly been swift in the realisation we really ought to have a DN Vimeo channel, but now we have one we’re embracing it with open arms and sharing all our favourite shorts.

Little Boat – I’ve never felt so much for an inanimate object as I did for Nelson Boles’ Little Boat.

American Juggalo – I know I probably say this every month, but Sean Dunne’s intriguing documentary on the Juggalo lifestyle is my favourite short of 2011 so far, even the thought of it puts a ridiculous grin on my face.

Undying Love – Omar Hauksson’s Undying Love is one of the most skilfully accomplished debut shorts we’ve seen and it has zombies. Nuff said!

Bare knuckle boxing may date back almost 300 years, but Palmer’s documentary isn’t too concerned with the sport’s beginnings; instead the filmmaker focuses on a 12 year feud between the Quinn McDonagh and Joyce clans and his embroilment in this bitter rivalry. Palmer’s involvement with the Quinn McDonagh family originated when he was asked to film a family wedding back in the late 90s, however at the party afterwards his camera deviated from its original path as he was drawn into a session of gambling occurring in the car park. It’s here in this gathering of masculinity we’re introduced to the main focus of the film, James, the Quinn McDonagh’s undisputed champion of the bare knuckle fistfight. Like many of the screen boxing heroes of past, James is full of confidence and swagger and despite his eagerness to defend his breed’s (the traveller name for family) honour, he’s all too aware of the brutalities of his chosen sport. Over the next 12 years, we follow James as he squares up and beats down each new contender from the Joyce clan, all the time promising to quit and never fight again.

At first, Palmer’s part in this on-going battle is simply down to his own interest and desire to document the proceedings, his camera skirting around the scattered audience at the fights, bustling for prime position, striving to catch every punch. Before too long though the filmmaker is drawn into the pre-fight rituals of the clans as he’s encouraged to make provocative, taunting videos for the families. The videos feature members of the opposing breeds attempting to goad their enemies once again into battle and although they don’t quite have the lyricism of Muhammad Ali, it’s an engaging and often comical routine to watch.

Engaging is probably the most apt word to describe Knuckle as a whole; shot on various formats of varying quality, its cinematography captures the majority of the key action (unfortunately Palmer does miss out on a couple of fights!), but is nothing spectacular and in no danger of winning any awards in the near future. The edit and post-production is again diligent, presenting the events in a linear fashion, experiencing all the ups and downs along the way, until we reach the film’s dramatic finale. Where Knuckle really succeeds though is with its story and its power to totally absorb and immerse an audience in the world of the travellers and their involvement in the brutal sport of bare knuckle boxing. Often left feeling disgusted and sometimes confused by the action presented on screen, as a viewer you still find yourself sucked into the world you’re witnessing, at times even picking sides and willing your chosen boxer onto success. In Knuckle’s tense conclusion you may even find yourself shouting at the screen, as if you were watching Stallone’s Rocky take on Lundgren’s Drago in Rocky IV, eager for a knockout and a resolution (that never quite comes).

Knuckle somewhat peters out instead of providing the explosive ending you may expect and at the end of Palmer’s intriguing insight into this age-old tradition, you’re actually left hungry for more and eager to find out what happens to James and the rest of the Quinn McDonaghs. Although we may never discover the conclusion of this on-going battle of breeds, with rumours cicrculating of HBO developing a TV series based on Knuckle this surely isn’t the last we’ll see of bare knuckle boxing on our screens in the near future.

On the 27th July I made my way to Black Rat Gallery to see Brent Green’s Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then. The event was hosted by Branchange Film Festival.

I had only heard of Brent from MarBelle and having checked out some animation I took him up on his offer of going to see a screening of Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then. It’s always lovely to go to screenings. It’s also always lovely to get to meet the film maker. This time around Brent went on a little Shoreditch walkaround before entering the gallery to commence the screening. Whilst I had expectations I wasn’t ready for a full on band in the corner of the gallery. The projection started and the sound wasn’t coming from the projector but from Brent sat in the corner. For over an hour he spoke whilst the band swelled with accompanying music.

The film is about a man who meets the love of his life and marries her. But, like life does, it throws a spanner in the works and she becomes terminally ill. He decides to heal her. To heal her is to build a house. The house will continue to be built until she gets better. The film is heartbreaking and impressive in its breath and scale. The house itself was actually built in Brent’s back yard and sprawls around the plot it rests on. To make cash Brent sells the props to galleries all around the world and then travels the world screening his film. (Any gallery owners reading wanting to bring him back to England? Any?)

Words can’t describe how impressive it is that a film can be so amazing with such a small budget. But most importantly, when it finished and I told Brent how moved I had been by it he seemed genuinely shocked at my reaction and humbled by it. A person like that can’t make a bad film. It’s not in their genetic make up.

via Miss Bladder: Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then.

2nd Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then trailer from Brent Green on Vimeo.

An official selection of Cannes Critics Week and winner of the Special Jury Prize at SXSW, THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN SLEEPOVER is a youthful and tender coming-of-age drama from first-time writer/director David Robert Mitchell.

The film follows four young people on the last night of summer – their final night of freedom before the new school year starts. The teenagers cross paths as they explore the suburban wonderland they inhabit in search of love and adventure – chasing first kisses, elusive crushes, popularity and parties – and discover the quiet moments that will later resonate as the best in their youth. – Apple Trailers

With it’s study of teenagers, comparisons to Larry Clark’s Kids seem inevitable, however where Clark’s film grabs its viewers and screams aggressively in their faces, The Myth of the American Sleepover takes its audience politely to one side to whisper in their ears. Adopting a gentle approach, observing characters from afar, Mitchell’s film may feature underage drinking, recreational drug use and the occasional reference to sex, but these are more bi-products than the main ingredient. There is no scandal here; a slap in the face, a make-out maze and a little vodka for breakfast is as risqué as it gets. The world portrayed in The Myth of the American Sleepover is a world without parents, but with these adolescents there seems to be a level of decorum and a limit to their excess. Parties are had and kids stay out all night but these feel like tentative steps towards adulthood instead of the full blown abandonment of childhood.

Featuring some impressive performances from its cast of talented debutants, Mitchell’s decision to feature first time actors and relative unknowns seems to have been an inspired selection. There’s a tenderness and a rawness to the performances on display, as we’re taken on a non-stop tour of teenage emotion. The engagement you feel with characters is immense, when Rob (Marlon Morton) is disappointed after he finally tracks down the girl he’s been searching for all night, you really feel his crushing disappointment. And as Maggie (Claire Sloma) first glimpses her ‘pool guy’ crush at the party, you feel both the thrill of excitement and the grip of shyness radiate from within her. It would have been easy for the performances of Mitchell’s young ensemble to be overblown and exaggerated, but whether through good direction or natural talent, characters feel genuine and well-rounded, increasing the overall appeal of The Myth of the American Sleepover no end.

Adding to the fuzzy flow of nostalgia throughout Mitchell’s film is James Laxton’s hazy cinematography (he was also responsible for Medicine for Melancholy’s sumptuous San Francisco images). Shot on the ever popular Red One, Laxton’s restrained, observing style seems to always stay at just the right distance to make the viewer feel as if they are being allowed a privileged look into the dynamic of this much maligned group. At times, it’s almost as if you’re watching a wildlife documentary, the camera not wanting to interfere with its subjects’ habitat or disturb the delicate mating ritual unfolding in front of its gaze. Water-drenched sequences work particularly well and feel especially vivid; the inviting breeze coming off the swimming hole practically plays across your skin and when the summer rain falls the wet grass seems just an inhale away. Laxton’s photography is complimented by the gentle, well-paced editing of Julio Perez IV, whilst a joyous soundtrack of quirky tracks accompanies the proceedings.

Some may complain that The Myth of the American Sleepover lacks the drama of Kids or the comedy of Dazed & Confused, but Mitchell’s film takes the slightest pinch of these forerunners and mixes them with a large dose of sentimentality to create a genuinely enigmatic film. Where the films of Clark and Linklater seemed to be journeying to a specific goal throughout, Mitchell’s film takes a more meandering approach, casually strolling towards its open ended conclusion. Those who will love The Myth of the American Sleepover are those who can sit back, relax and let the waves of nostalgia roll over them. Mitchell’s film is the feel good hit of the summer, enjoy it now as we don’t know when another one will come along.

The Myth of the American Sleepover Trailer from James Laxton on Vimeo.

Laura (Florencia Colucci) and her father (Gustavo Alonso) settle down in a cottage which seems to be off the beaten track in order to update it since its owner (Abel Tripaldi) will soon put the house on sale. They will spend the night there in order to start the repairs the following morning. Everything seems to go smoothly until Laura hears a sound that comes from outside and gets louder and louder in the upper floor of the house. Wilson goes up to see what’s going on whilst Laura remains downstairs alone waiting for her father to return.

The plot is based on a true story that happened some time ago in a small village in Uruguay. “La Casa Muda” focuses on the last seventy eight minutes, second by second, when Laura intends to leave the house which hides an obscure secret and she hopes to leave unharmed.

For once, the most interesting aspect of this latest scare isn’t its plot, or the fact that it’s ‘based on true events’, instead where Hernández’s debut really captivates is in its production methods. Billed as Real Fear in Real Time, The Silent House is filmed in one continues shot, with no cuts. Shot entirely on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR, Pedro Luque’s camera stalks our protagonist Laura as she timidly creeps around the supposedly empty house, trying to understand what is happening. At first the camera hangs eerily behind her, floating in the distance like a scared child, but as the story develops and we’re plunged into Hernández’s terrifying on-screen universe, the camera bravely ventures forward, sometimes circling Laura, adding to the disorientating feel of the film. The Silent House lives up to its tagline, with no cut-aways from the action and no break from the tension, this is a film that generates Real Fear as the Uruguayan filmmaker has literally made a film you don’t dare take your eyes off for one second.

Unfortunately, as much Hernández’s impresses with flair and technique, he disappoints with nonsensical narrative. Too concerned with providing the inevitable twist at the end of the tale, The Silent House abandons cohesion and instead opts for a conclusion that just doesn’t make sense in the context of the proceeding scenes. It’s a bitter end after a bright beginning. If Hernández’s film was to be judged solely on its ability to unnerve, then it is without a doubt a success. However, taking the film as a whole, it’s hard not to feel a little unsatisfied; a little more attention to the story and we could have witnessed a modern day classic of the horror genre. Instead what we’re left with is an impressive example of how to develop tension and a nice advert for the Canon 5D.

Reading & Leeds 2011 – Being able to screen a selection of your favourite short films at one of the biggest music festival in the UK has always been one of my favourite things about working on DN. Getting to meet some awesome filmmakers at the festival just makes it even more special.

Little Minx: Exquisite Corpse – It’s been a few years since I last saw the Little Minx Exquisite Corpse shorts, so El Vez’s post was a welcome reminder of a perfectly executed idea.

Small Town Murder Songs – At the moment Ed Gass-Donnelly’s powerful feature is a strong contender for my favourite film of the year.

Kickstart Man-child – Koo has done more for indie filmmakers than any other film blogger I can think of; he’s currently 37% funded on the Kickstarter campaign for his debut feature Man-child. You have 22 days left to lend your support (650 people already have), let’s make sure he gets there!

DN213: Craig Murray – Nothing excites us more than discovering a new director with a stack of talent and a clear visual voice. Craig Murray has both in spades.

After his wife falls under the influence of a drug dealer, an everyday guy transforms himself into Crimson Bolt, a superhero with the best intentions, though he lacks for heroic skills (IMDB)

Whether chosen by the hand of God or inspired by a psychotic episode, Rainn Wilson’s Crimson Bolt doesn’t adhere to the usual super hero conventions. His handmade costume is scruffy and ill-fitting, his weapon of choice is an everyday wrench and his catchphrase “Shut up crime!” reveals all we need to know about his powers of thought. This is one costumed crime fighter who often runs away from danger, will attack innocent bystanders without a second’s thought and often curl up into the fetal position and cry like a baby. It’s the Bolt’s penchant for violence and Gunn’s depiction of it that’s most interesting in SUPER, switching from whimpering wimp to callous crusader in the blink of an eye, Wilson’s masked avenger bludgeons all that stand in his way. Like the character he’s created, Gunn certainly doesn’t hold back; the Bolt’s violent attacks are punctuated with comic book flashes and on-screen ‘Ka-pow’s’ juxtaposing the graphic nature of the scenes, as Wilson splits skulls and collapses heads with his trusty wrench. There’s truly nothing admirable about Wilson’s Frank and his Crimson Bolt alter ego, Gunn’s portrayal of his protagonist is raw and uncompromising ensuring this is one super hero you won’t want to be.

Featuring the hand of God, visions in vomit, a horny sidekick (played by Ellen Page), a villainous Kevin Bacon and buckets of blood and gore, SUPER is a film you’re certainly not going to forget anytime soon. Yet, despite offering an unexpected take on a familiar story, Gunn’s film ends up feeling somewhat slight and insignificant. There’s no doubting SUPER should be commended for not glamourising its vigilante action, but with a lack of comedy, an absence of drama and no real tension to talk of, what remains is a film that’s difficult to engage with and impossible to love. A little more entertainment and SUPER could have made great Saturday night viewing, more development in plot and character and it could have become an underground hit, unfortunately Gunn’s film falls somewhere in-between, missing both audiences and probably explaining its limited release.

With its biblical quotes, righteous soundtrack and scenes of baptism, Gass-Donnelly’s film could easily appear to be another tale of forgiveness and redemption. Yet one look into the eyes of Stormare’s Walter and you instantly know this isn’t the case! Behind those suffering eyes you see the truth, internally there is an ongoing battle between Walter’s morals and his instincts and one of them is going to have to lose. The tension builds throughout the film as we see Walter hurtling towards his breaking point and we’re left on tenterhooks as we expect him to explode at any minute. There are no action scenes, no car chases, no gunfights, but Small Town Murder Songs manages to keep you on the edge of your seat bellowing words of caution to Walter throughout its 75 minute duration. One minute you find yourself willing Walter towards the redemption he so desperately seeks, the next you’re urging him to unleash his fury on all who stand in his path.

Going head to head with Stormare to be the dominant force in Small Town Murder Songs is a powerful soundtrack from Canadian rock band Bruce Peninsula. Permeating the film at regular intervals the score is so strong (and also so loud) at times you feel as if you are watching a series of music videos linked together with scenes of small town life strewn in-between. Yet, despite the dominance of the soundtrack, it doesn’t distract from the film’s presence at all, instead the pitch perfect choice of music only adds to the themes and emotions running throughout Small Town Murder Songs.

Developing his style through a series of shorts (Sixty Seconds of Regret being his latest) and an earlier feature (This Beautiful City), Gass-Donnelly’s latest feature showcases the touch of a director becoming increasingly confident in what he creates. The engaging narrative unfolds at a well measured pace, whilst Brendan Steacy’s luminous cinematography leaps off the screen, making the small Ontario town seem eerily beautiful and the film’s action brutally dark. Where Small Town Murder Songs really suceeds though is in its fictional inhabitants of this Mennonite farming community. Whether you want to call it a character driven film or a character study, Gass-Donnelly’s shining talent seems to be in encouraging such vivid performances from his cast you truly begin to engage and react with the story being told.

Due to its plot and lead actor, Small Town Murder Songs was always destined to be compared to the Oscar winning Fargo and whilst this is a comparison it will forever struggle to live up to, Gass-Donnelly’s film still manages to leave a heavy mark of its own in a fiercely saturated market. This haunting and captivating second feature from an emerging director is destined to feature in my top ten films of the year and who knows, if it continues to linger in my headspace much longer it may capture that top spot.

BAFTA nominated as it is, sitting down to Michael Pearce’s Rite, the thought did cross my mind that short film wasn’t in desperate need of another story of an estranged father attempting to connect with his son, but only a couple minutes into it’s 17 minute running time I’d decided if that was the case, it could do without one of the others because Rite certainly deserved to represent the category.

Pearce’s script is sparse on dialogue and the evils of exposition – a simple “You’ve done well for yourselves,” coupled with a nervous meeting, complete with onlooking mother is plenty to clue us into the fact that father and son are strangers, if not the why of the situation. There’s also a subtle progression of sympathy shift away from father Mike; I initially felt sorry for a guy trying, and failing, to make his son’s birthday special, then through Martin Herdman’s at moments violently explosive performance, came to the realisation that my sympathy was misplace and what the likely reason was for the existence of distance between the two.

Rite deservedly took the Long Form win, I couldn’t find any embeddable clips for the film but cinematographer Benjamin Kracun has a clip on his site you can take a look at.

Hermann is 67 years old and lonely. He does have Gloria – but she is only a budgie. Then he meets Jörg. So summarises the plot of Hana Geissendorfer’s Hermann, which (especially when stacked up against its fellow finalists) feels a little thin on the ground storywise and in desperate need of a duration pruning, especially as at 26 minutes it runs the longest of the three, yet provides the least amount of payoff. There was a point where I thought Hermann was going to fully run with the idea of a love saboteur budgie, which could have potentially added to the proceedings, but instead Hermann (and I) just ended up right back where we’d both began.

Do I have to make the obvious metaphor of tensions building like a pressure cooker fit to bust in Ariel Kleimanthe’s submerged submariners short Deeper Than Yesterday? If I did, I could also point out that those tensions ran across both sides of the camera, with Kleimanthe stating that after filming his Victorian College of the Arts graduation short, the crew “didn’t want to talk to me” (Brad Blanks Sundance interview). Luckily for us, these tensions were honed and distilled in to a taut story of men devolving in the ocean depths.

After three months submerged underwater, the men have become savages. Oleg fears that losing perspective may mean losing himself.

Cinematographer Peter Eastgate effectively translates the physical confines of the submarine, without limiting the film’s visual appeal, while Albert Goikhman puts in a fine performance as Oleg, the lone soul concerned with the disconnect between who they were when they set sail and who they may become by the time they return to their families. The men have so lost themselves within the tiny confines of the submarine that when they discover a ‘miracle’ it becomes a regressive, rather than redemptive moment for all except Oleg. Deep Than Yesterday is a powerful piece of filmmaking that taps into the very nature of man when left unchecked.

DEEPER THAN YESTERDAY- trailer from Ariel Kleiman on Vimeo.

Jeff Desom & Hauschka – Film sometimes brings about great creative partnerships, the films of Jeff Desom and Hauschka’s music is definitely a team I’ll be keeping an eye on.

Rushes Soho Shorts Festival – Giving us access to some of the best shorts around, RSSF threw up two of my favourite shorts this year with The Eagleman Stag and Two Laps.

Bad Fever – Good artists copy, great artists steal. Not saying we’re great here at DN, but Sub’s review of SXSW favourite Bad Fever is, so we stole it for our own.

The Tree of Life – Terrence Malick returns with his 5th film in 38 years, splitting audience around the world, the innovative The Tree of Life is as much an experience as it is a film.

DN211: Ten for Grandpa – Doug Karr – Doug Karr probably had the most interesting grandfather in the world, he also created a great film about him that we got to chat about.

Director Calum Macdiarmi’s film Worship heavily bears the fingerprints of his background in both art and advertising, which is no bad thing when it results in images this richly charged. As Macdiarmi states on his website, he’s a director “concerned with the aesthetics of beauty, light, and liquid,” experimenting with “new techniques to create new effects.”. That isn’t to say that Worship is a structureless, free form Jazz session of a film, based on psychotherapist Dr Derry Macdiarmid’s book A Century of Insight, the short explores the concepts of God, dreams and the the collective unconscious. The dreamlike flow of images makes Worship ripe for personal interpretation and identification which may have been a factor in it’s win of the Newcomer award.

If the still wasn’t enough of a warning here’s a heads up that the clip below is NSFW:

Clip from the film WORSHIP by Calum Macdiarmid from Calum Macdiarmid on Vimeo.

I personally found, Billy Lumby’s God View to be my favourite of the not just the Newcomers but possibly of the entire festival. Following estranged father Philip as he makes his way through the streets of Hackney, East London to his daughter’s birthday party, what initially appeared to be an effective framing of our protagonist and the couple below his balcony, is soon revealed to be the predominant ‘God view’ shooting style of the film.

Unlike the floaty, out of body observation of a film such as Enter the Void, Lumby and Director of Photography Brett Turnbull’s actor linked camera rig from Tony Hill, enables the action to remain a tactile presence onscreen despite our unusual vantage point – not dissimilar to Requiem for a Dream’s SnorriCam. Rig removal was performed by students at CG academy Escape Studios, but for the eagled eyed of you out there (sorry pun intended), Lumby includes an ‘Easter Egg’ shot in the final film (and trailer below) which briefly shows the rig in action.

It feels like a strange compliment to pay an actor whose performance is largely silent and witnessed from the top of his head, but Cornell S John nails Philip’s progression from silently scary to deranged. If you only manage to track down a single film from Rushes Soho Shorts this year (which frankly would be pitiful), God View should be it.

god view – trailer from Billy Lumby on Vimeo.

Originally created by London directors Dan Blacker, John Addis and Matt Bowron under the moniker Tactful Cactus for the Reed.co.uk Love Mondays Film competition, Starcrossed is the story of a lonely scientist’s quest to discover the correct equation to allow him to meet the girl of his dreams.

The team shot Starcrossed over two weekends in and around London, then went to ground for a month to create the film’s many animated elements. As a purely visual piece the effects are well integrated, although the story comes off as more than a little muddled. Initially, I thought the girl was metaphoric for a meteor the scientist was attempting to plot and observe, but then the film’s tagline; Romeo and Juliet for the Twitter generation, Starcrossed tells the story of one couple’s quest to see one another, would seem to suggest otherwise, which leaves the overall film feeling a little too whimsical for me.

Starcrossed from Tactful Cactus on Vimeo.

If you happen to be a kick ass filmmaker/photographer working “in media such as video, 8 to 35mm film, 2D and 3D animation, Stop Motion, photography, illustration, painting, screen printing, sculpture, collage, knitting, holograms, and more…”, and are launching a side project as a musician under the guise of Woodkid, who on earth could you trust to create a video to turn heads? Yoann Lemoine of course, being as he’s you and all.

I was thinking of how best to describe the monochrome, heroic fantasy epic that is Iron and the only word that truly fits is audacious. It’s a promo that feels epic in nature yet never overblown. Now we’re in between Game of Thrones series, I think Lemoine should fill the gap by expanding the adventure of Iron into a full video album.

Woodkid – Iron from WOODKID on Vimeo.

Grey backdrop aside, Peter King and David Procter’s (Agenda Collective) promo for new Matador signings Esben and The Witch’s, Marching Song (which caught our eye back in August) is a completely different beast. The duo introduce us to the band by straight cutting from individual head and shoulders shots of the band members, but with them suffering increasingly severe injuries on each go round as they lip sync through the track. It’s an as simple as can be concept – the only ‘flash’ elements being the shadows and lights playing across the band’s faces – but it’s one that’s a captivating match for Marching Song’s bleak melody.

You could be forgiven for thinking that Marching Song holds more than a passing resemblance to The Scaramanga Six Walking Through Houses promo which predates it, but in the comment discussion over on Promo News, King asserts that the band came to him and Procter with the concept after being inspired by a Women’s Aid domestic violence awareness campaign. In fact Paul Morricone, director of The Scaramanga Six promo weighed in to point out that their promo had itself been inspired by a poster campaign about abuse towards bus/rail drivers. I guess a good idea is a good idea.

Esben and the Witch – Marching Song (Official Video) from David Procter on Vimeo.

Greasy spoons, caravan sites, grey skies, terraced backstreets, bordered-up shops, empty seaside towns and their inhabitants…

Researched for over a month and shot on a mix of Canon 5D and 7D cameras with the addition of a 24mm tilt-shift lens, Aoife McArdie’s Rushes Soho Shorts Music Video winner Isles for Little Comets, gives us a warm three minutes of what it’s like to feel at home on this island of ours; “It’s a film about British Idealism and loss.“

The ultimate praise that any promo director can hope to hear is that their images surpassed the original track by turning you around on a song you had little affection for beforehand, and after watching McArdie’s interpretation of Isles (a song I thought average at best) I’ve caught myself humming the tune whilst replaying her images in my head. Damn you McArdie!

Little Comets ‘Isles’ from Aoife McArdle on Vimeo.

Not many people can say they found their true calling in life after watching The Legend of Bagger Vance, and I’m pretty sure only one can claim the film led to a celebrated career as a professional golfer following a motorcycle accident which took his left leg.

To pull directly from the short synopsis of Peter Montgomery’s Manuel de los Santos, the film is ‘a documentary portrait of inspirational golfer Manuel de los Santos‘. Simple and to point right, but unfortunately that’s exactly what can be said about the film itself. Clocking in at a slender 3:48, Montgomery gives us interviews of Santos discussing his lucky discovery of the game post-accident, intercut with 5D footage of him on the range. To be fair there is a beautifully lit, slo-mo Weisscam shot of Santos’ unique swing which builds throughout (the struck tee spinning through the air looks great), but when it finally pays off I felt sure we’d be hit with the Nike swoosh and ‘Just Do It‘ tagline.

Santos was on track to becoming a professional baseball player, having trained from a young age in his native Dominican Republic: Was it difficult to let go of that dream? Was it hard becoming accepted in to the sport as a disabled black man? How did he develop his famous swing with only able bodied trainers couching him? None of these (or any other) questions are raise or answered, which makes Manuel de los Santos not so much a documentary, but more of an EPK in need of a sponsor.

Manuel de los Santos from Peter Montgomery on Vimeo.

Before I say a single word about Benjamin Wigley’s playful documentary about the mysterious, unwrapped objects Nottingham fashion designer Paul Smith has been receiving through the post for the past 20 years in PS Your Mystery Sender, I have to do the honourable blogger declaration and point out that Ben’s been a personal friend for many years and sometime writer here at DN. OK, now that’s out of the way CONGRATS ON THE WIN BEN! *cough* If I could just regain my composure long enough to say that Ben takes what could have been a straight forward ‘show and tell’ piece to camera and weaves in flights of poetic fancy (voiced by Benjamin Zephaniah), alongside surreal reconstructions to add depth to the unsolvable mystery of Smith’s random objects.

Take a listen to our PSYMS interview with Ben.

Here’s the trailer for PS Your Mystery Sender:

PS Your Mystery Sender: Trailer from Benjamin Wigley on Vimeo.

and some exclusive clips Ben let us have:

Created through the Diesel New Voices scheme, I first heard about Orlando von Einsiedel’s Skateistan: To Live and Skate Kabul when Danni returned from the Underwire festival raving about it. As a piece of documentary film Skateistan hits all the right notes of a great documentary, taking something I felt very familiar with (skateboarding), placing it in a new, unfamiliar context (Kabul, Afghanistan), to reveal truths which aren’t immediately apparent. Skateistan is a film which makes me believe that hope will always exist, even in the must unlikely or grim places, plus the lush cinematography of young hijab wearing girls, skating through ravaged streets is a potently positive image that will stay with me for a long time to come.

SKATEISTAN: TO LIVE AND SKATE KABUL from Diesel New Voices on Vimeo.

On 8/8/08 the Russian Air Force commences bombing Georgian villages. People flee to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. The fastest way to get to Tbilisi is via Gori. George Barbakadze’s dramatic short Via Gori is the taut tale of a Russian woman and her young daughter making this dangerous journey out of a country under attack, in a minibus full of Georgian women and children. Tensions increase and nerves become stretched as the bombing nears and our fleeing duo attempt to hide their nationality from their fellow travellers. Goga Devdariani’s cinematography is at its best in the claustrophobic setting of the bus, as we not only get to feel every bump of the bus from the well travelled road and every rattle of the bodywork from each nearby explosion, but every inquiring eye suspiciously monitoring this frightened mother and child.

A ridiculously short extract:

The wedding day should be one of the happiest days of your life, although not every wedding day involves being hit by a car and reincarnated as a cockroach. With his dying breath the groom promises to return to bride, a promise she is never expecting him to fulfil, especially as one of the most hated pests in the world. A mixture of live action and animation (imagine a darker version of Roger Rabbit) Luke Eve’s Cockroach is one part Fluke, one part Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and one part Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (there’s a combination I never thought I’d use!). Taking a cartoon approach with the reincarnated cockroach ensured that not only was Eve’s film not in danger of becoming deadpan, but also allowed Ian Dodman and his team to add character to their lovestruck insect. The result is a likeable character and although his quest might seem ultimately doomed, Charlie the cockroach become a protagonist we can encourage in his mission.

If you do get to see Cockroach anytime soon, make sure you admire the imaginative opening titles from Richard Swan and Liz Ellis, They’re some of the best I’ve seen on a short film in quite a while.

There’s also a documentary looking at the making of Cockroach:

With it’s world premier at this year’s South by Southwest festival, Owen Trevor’s Two Laps is “currently going round the film festival circuit to great acclaim“. Combining vivid cinematography and eccentric comedy, this tale of two friends and their highly competitive annual swim race is a short to be worshipped and admired. With the rare mix of absolute engagement, complete watchability and an utter admiration of craft, I dare anyone not to enjoy this playful short. Aesthetically, Hugh Miller’s cinematography couldn’t help but remind me of Jason Wingrove’s Sea Pool at times, but where that more serious documentary stuck to one visual tone, Trevor’s whimsical short flicks between styles with consummate ease. Shot on multi-formats, 35mm, 16mm, DV Cam and Mini DV, the quirky feel of Two Lap’s appearance perfectly compliments the joviality of the story.

Two Laps was the deserved winner of the International Award at the festival, click on the image below to watch film at www.passionraw.com

A rough version of Two Laps can be found on Vimeo, but it doesn’t have the same vigour as the longer, polished festival version:

Two Laps from Nicole Bou-Samra on Vimeo.