Grange Hill reboots, following in footsteps of Heartbreak High

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Grange Hill reboots, following in footsteps of Heartbreak High

7 May 2023

Another school drama show is making a comeback. British TV series Grange Hill, which was set at a comprehensive school in London, and originally screened between 1978 and 2008, is set to return.

The Grange Hill revival follows the 2022 reboot of Australian high-school drama series Heartbreak High, which, by the way, is returning for a second series later this year.

Unlike Heartbreak High though, the Grange Hill reprise will be a movie, rather than a new TV series. And while few of the cast from the original Heartbreak High show of the 1990’s returned in 2022, the Grange Hill film will feature a number of old faces, according to Welsh actor Sara Sugarman, who portrayed student activist Jessica Samuels, and is directing the movie:

While Sugarman did not confirm whether she would reprise her role, she did tease that the film will “definitely” feature appearances from multiple original cast members. The TV show launched the careers of actors including Todd Carty, who played Peter “Tucker” Jenkins, Susan Tully, who starred as Suzanne Ross, and Lee MacDonald, who played Zammo.

The Eight Mountains by Paolo Cognetti film adaptation

6 May 2023

The Eight Mountains by Paolo Cognetti, film still

Still from The Eight Mountains, directed by Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch.

The Eight Mountains, trailer, is one movie I’m looking forward to seeing, since I couldn’t get enough of Italian author Paolo Cognetti’s 2016 novel of the same name, when I read it. The story traces the lives of two boys, Pietro, and Bruno, from the time they first meet in the Aosta Valley, in the north of Italy, and the decades that follow.

Pietro is a lonely boy living in Milan. With his parents becoming more distant each day, the only thing the family shares is their love for the mountains that surround Italy. While on vacation at the foot of the Aosta Valley, Pietro meets Bruno, an adventurous, spirited local boy. Together they spend many summers exploring the mountains’ meadows and peaks and discover the similarities and differences in their lives, their backgrounds, and their futures. The two boys come to find the true meaning of friendship and camaraderie, even as their divergent paths in life — Bruno’s in the mountains, Pietro’s across the world — test the strength and meaning of their connection.

Made in 2021, filming locations included the Italian Alps, Turin, and Nepal, mostly preserving the authenticity of the story. While the film has a run time of almost two and a half hours, Elissa Suh, writing for Literary Hub, says the adaptation, co-directed by Felix van Groeningen, and Charlotte Vandermeersch, “adheres strictly to both the book’s tone and the author’s intent.”

If you haven’t read the novel, take the time to do so. The Eight Mountains is a whole different world, one where scaling mountains, and wandering through Alpine forests, comes as second nature to those residing within its realm.

Iranian film director Jafar Panahi has travel ban lifted

3 May 2023

Here’s a coincidence, just days after I saw Taxi, also known as Tehran Taxi, a film made in 2015 by Jafar Panahi, news comes through that a travel ban placed on the Iranian filmmaker fourteen years ago has been lifted.

His travel ban was first imposed in 2009, after his attendance at the funeral of a student killed in the Green Revolution. Panahi then attempted to shoot a film using the uprising as a backdrop. The following year, he was given a six-year suspended prison sentence and 20 year ban on travel and film-making for “making propaganda against the system”.

It is said Panahi — who has frequently clashed with the Iranian government — has since left the country, and is in France, where it has been speculated he will be attending this year’s Cannes Film Festival as a juror.

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film, Jafar Panahi

The Galactic Menagerie, a Wes Anderson like Star Wars story

2 May 2023

Earlier this year we saw what might have happened had Star Wars creator George Lucas made 2001: A Space Odyssey. But instead of asking what might have happened had Stanley Kubrick made a Star Wars film, what about imagining Wes Anderson doing so instead?

Well, imagine no more. Sort of. The Galactic Menagerie, is a Star Wars story with all the pastel coloured eccentric whimsy of a Wes Anderson film:

Journey to a galaxy far, far away and experience a unique adventure featuring Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, and other fan favorites. Watch as they navigate the Galactic Menagerie, a universe filled with eccentric creatures, charming droids, and peculiar locations reminiscent of Anderson’s beloved films such as “Moonrise Kingdom” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”

And all the usual Wes Anderson suspects are here as well. Scarlett Johansson stars as Princess Leia, Edward Norton as Han Solo, Bill Murray as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jeff Goldblum as the emperor, Owen Wilson as Darth Vader, and Timothée Chalamet as Luke Skywalker.

The trailer was crafted by Shelby and Caleb Ward of Curious Refuge, using a variety of AI tools. Something like this had to happen sooner or later. I wonder if Anderson’s soon to be released sci-fi feature, Asteroid City, had anything to do with it?

As for the Galactic Menagerie, too bad it’s not an actual film, hey?

Los lobos, AKA The Wolves, by Samuel Kishi film review

30 April 2023

Los lobos, AKA The Wolves, by Samuel Kishi film still

America is the land of hope and glory. According to legend, it’s the place to make a new start in life. And, more importantly perhaps, is also home to Disneyworld. The prospect of visiting the entertainment complex is an enticement Lucia (Martha Reyes Arias) has offered her young school age sons, Max (Maximiliano Nájar Márquez), and Leo (Leonardo Nájar Márquez), as they immigrate to the United States.

Unknown circumstances have forced the family to leave their native Mexico. But Lucia knows the life waiting them on the other side of the border will be anything but the stuff of dreams. She’ll be working long hours in menial jobs, despite being capable of bigger things. They’ll be calling a barely habitable apartment their home. But Lucia hopes the lure of one day going to Disneyworld will help Max and Leo see passed these hardships.

Unable to yet place the boys in a school, Lucia leaves them at home, alone, when she goes to work. Sometimes she does not return until late in the evening. Max and Leo are subject to a number of rules, including never leaving the apartment, unless it is on fire. To pass the long days with only each other for company, the boys retreat into a fantasy realm, and imagine themselves to be Ninja Turtles.

Max and Leo also speculate about their absent father. All they have of him is a photo on an old identity card, from his days as a police officer. What became of him, they don’t know. All Lucia will say is he “went away by lightbulb”. Unsurprisingly, the boys are often transfixed by a broken lightbulb in the apartment, and seemingly will their father to return to their lives through it.

But boredom begins to get the better of Max and Leo. The apartment is too confining. All they have to amuse themselves is an old cassette recorder. Too much is going on around the apartment complex. A group of slightly older boys, who also don’t seem to be at school, play football in the courtyard. Max and Leo yearn to join them. But their desire for companionship comes with unfortunate consequences.

Los lobos (trailer), also known as The Wolves, is partly based on the experiences of Mexican filmmaker Samuel Kishi, who also co-wrote the screenplay. For reasons I cannot fathom though, Kishi’s second feature, made in 2019, seems to have been overlooked by most film-goers. Certainly, no fault lies in the scene framing or cinematography, which is exceptional.

Nor the slow-burning, sometimes evasive, storytelling. We learn little about the life Lucia and her sons had in Mexico, and remain equally in the dark as to their fate come the credit roll, though the aforementioned lightbulb allegory is eloquently resolved. Los lobos is a slice of life gem not to miss.

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film, Martha Reyes Arias, Samuel Kishi

Are you a movie buff, or a Buzzfeed movie buff?

30 April 2023

According to Buzzfeed, if you’ve seen the following fourteen movies, you’re a movie buff:

Alice in Wonderland directed by Tim Burton
Beetlejuice directed by Tim Burton
Burlesque directed by Steve Antin
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial directed by Steven Spielberg
Footloose directed by Herbert Ross (I think they mean the 1984 film)
Heathers directed by Michael Lehmann
Jennifer’s Body directed by Karyn Kusama
Mean Girls directed by Mark Waters
Suicide Squad directed by David Ayer
The Bye Bye Man directed by Stacy Title
The Harry Potter films directed by various
The Perks of Being a Wallflower directed by Stephen Chbosky
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre directed by Tobe Hooper
Up directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson

Methinks a number of movies, one in particular, have been omitted from this list…

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film, humour

A big anniversary, twenty five years of The Big Lebowski

17 April 2023

It’s not being remade, but it is being re-released. Whether you’re ready or not. The Big Lebowski, trailer, the slapstick comedy crime caper by American filmmaking auteurs, Joel and Ethan Coen, is having a special theatrical re-run in some parts of the world this week. The move marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the film’s release in March 1998.

For those who (somehow) missed it earlier, The Big Lebowski follows a couple of chaotic days in the life of easy-going stoner Jeff “the dude” Lebowski (Jeff Bridges).

Debt collectors arrive at his house demanding payment of a loan. They quickly realise they’re at the wrong Jeff Lebowski’s place, and leave. But not before damaging some of the dude’s belongings. Upset, the dude tracks down the other Jeff Lebowski, being the “big” Lebowski (David Huddleston), the debt collectors’ actual target, and demands compensation.

When the big Lebowski refuses, the dude steals a rug from his house. Soon after, the big Lebowski receives a ransom note from someone claiming to have kidnapped his wife. He asks the dude to help him find her. Walter (John Goodman), a friend of the dude, who thinks the kidnapping is a sham, hatches a plan for them to keep the ransom money the big Lebowski gave the dude.

Needless to say, the idea turns out to be terrible. Soon rival gangs, the big Lebowski, and the police, are after the dude, his friends, and the million dollar ransom money.

The Coen Brothers said the idea for The Big Lebowski came partly from the work of American-British author Raymond Chandler. The character of the dude, meanwhile, was reputedly inspired by Jeff Dowd, an American film producer, and political activist. While the film did not fare all that well on release — it garnered mixed reviews, and had a relatively modest box office take — The Big Lebowski gained a cult following in later years.

While fans in America will have the chance to see screenings on Sunday 16 April, and Thursday 20 April 2023, in selected cinemas in the United States, Australian fans will need to be a little more patient. And they may have to be prepared to travel. So far, the only upcoming cinema screening I can find of The Big Lebowski in Australia, is at the Wallis Piccadilly, in the South Australian capital, Adelaide, on Friday 28 July 2023.

Beau Is Afraid, a batshit crazy new film with Joaquin Phoenix

10 April 2023

Beau Is Afraid, trailer, is the latest feature by American screenwriter and filmmaker Ari Aster. If there were only one word to sum up Aster’s work, uncomfortable would surely be it. His 2018 debut, Heredity, a supernatural thriller, about a family whose members become possessed by demons, was described as “harrowing” and “disturbing”.

Midsommar, his second feature made in 2020, portrays a couple who find themselves in the grip of a pagan cult. While Midsommar also unsettled audiences, it didn’t enjoy quite the same critical reception as Heredity. The impact Beau Is Afraid has on audiences remains to be seen, but with a billing as “surrealist black comedy horror”, it seems likely to linger in the minds of viewers long after the screening ends.

Beau Is Afraid, a Kafkaesque nightmare comedy

Beau Wassermann (Joaquin Phoenix) is a jittery middle-aged man, who is burdened with self-doubt. He is the son of a domineering mother, and a father he never knew. When his mother dies suddenly, Beau sets off for his childhood home. But the journey he takes is no ordinary one. It is more of an odyssey, a surreal odyssey. He traverses nightmare like dreamscapes, as a boy and an old man, where he comes face to face with his (plentiful) fears and insecurities along the way.

Interestingly, Beau Is Afraid is based on a short film Aster made in 2011 called Beau. Aster’s short is about a middle-aged man who attempts to visit his mother, but is unable to leave home after his house keys mysteriously vanish. Their disappearance sets in motion a sequence of strange and terrifying events. While Beau featured Billy Mayo, Aster has turned to Joaquin Phoenix to portray the troubled lead in Beau Is Afraid.

Joaquin Phoenix, master of the dark streak

A filmmaker would be hard pressed to find a more talented actor to take on the role of the depraved — albeit outwardly mild-mannered — Beau, than Puerto Rican born American actor Phoenix. His work in Todd Phillips’ 2019 feature, Joker, an origin story about Batman’s long-time nemesis, speaks for itself. But Phoenix’s ability to layer darkness upon the characters he portrays came to the fore in 2005’s Walk the Line, James Mangold’s biopic of late American country singer Johnny Cash.

When it comes to drawing out the dark streak in a person, Phoenix might be in his element though when he is the subject. This was the case in the Casey Affleck made mockumentary I’m Still Here, from 2010. Here Phoenix — in collaboration with Affleck — succeeded in making audiences believe he was giving up his acting career to become a hip hop artist. The ruse had credibility after Phoenix had earlier told television host David Letterman this was his intention.

But it was the candid scenes of Phoenix’s private life, while at home, that possibly left a lasting impression on those who saw I’m Still Here. Without spoiling proceedings too much more for those yet to partake, there was plenty that could not be unseen, nor unheard. From the little we’ve seen of Phoenix’s portrayal of Beau so far, calling it a comedic exaggeration and extension of Phoenix’s portrayal of himself in I’m Still Here, may not be too far off the mark.

Beau Is Afraid by Ari Aster, film poster

Beau Is Afraid is not for the faint of heart

Unless, that is, a three hour foray — yes, that’s right, Beau Is Afraid has a run time of almost three hours — of Kafkaesque proportions, into the mind of a disturbed person, is your thing. Quite possibly though Aster’s third feature may have been longer. During a discussion in June 2020, with the Associated Students Program Board, Aster said he was working on a “nightmare comedy” of four hours duration, that, at the time, was named Disappointment Blvd.

Four hours of Kafkaesque nightmare comedy might have been a bit much though. Three hours seemed like a struggle as it was, especially for Phoenix, with reports that he fainted during filming of a particularly intense scene.

When do we get to see this?

Beau Is Afraid had its world premiere at a surprise screening in New York, on Saturday 1 April 2023, in what was something of an April fool’s joke. Attendees were under the impression they were going to see a director’s cut of Midsommar, until Emma Stone, the event’s MC, informed them otherwise.

Beau Is Afraid meanwhile opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday 20 April 2023.

Daisy Ridley to return in one of three new Star Wars films

8 April 2023

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced three new Star Wars movies at Star Wars Celebration, currently taking place in London. One of the titles will see Daisy Ridley reprise the role of Rey, who featured prominently in episodes seven to nine, in a story that picks up fifteen years after events of The Rise of Skywalker:

The third film to be announced, a project to be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, has been known about for some time, but appears to have been dogged by changes of direction and staff departures. Obaid-Chinoy’s film will take place 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker and feature Daisy Ridley returning in the role of Rey; it will “tell the story of rebuilding the New Jedi Order and the powers that rise to tear it down”.

Sounds a little like post Return of the Jedi storylines that were plotted out in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU) back in the day. Now known as Star Wars Legends, the EU were imaginings of events in the Star Wars stories before, around, and more notably, after episode six.

Most of the main players in the original trilogy (episodes four to six) were part of these post Return of the Jedi EU stories. But episodes seven through nine saw many of them off, so obviously they will be absent. But who knows, maybe not. The Star Wars universe is full of ghosts. Let’s see what happens. And just maybe these new movies will be a little more engaging than the previous three. But again, let’s see what happens.

Sydney Film Festival unveils first twelve films for 2023

5 April 2023

The Sydney Film Festival, now its seventieth year, has announced the first twelve films that will be part of the 2023 program. Afire, trailer, by German filmmaker Christian Petzold, who made the brilliant Barbara in 2012, caught my eye immediately with its storyline, that among other things, includes an out of control bush fire:

Friends Leon (Thomas Schubert) and Felix (Langston Uibel) head to an idyllic seaside holiday home for the summer. They look forward to relaxation, but also must work on their creative projects. Leon will finish the manuscript of his anticipated second novel, while Felix has to complete a photography portfolio. On arrival they find an unexpected guest Nadja (Paula Beer, Undine), whose loud sex with local lifesaver Devid (Enno Trebs) elicits irritation… among other feelings. Soon Leon is smitten with Nadja, and Felix taken with Devid — and the summer holiday is filled with lust, jealousy, competition and creativity. All the while the forest fires, once distant, encroach and grow, leading to a shocking climax.

The full program of the festival will be announced on Wednesday 10 May 2023.

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