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 Shadows off the beaten pathIndies, foreigns, docs and shorts...
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BROKEN BIRD |
THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT |
TRAUMATIKA
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| See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL | Last update 25.Aug.24 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Broken Bird Review by Rich Cline | 
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 dir Joanne Mitchell scr Dominic Brunt prd Mark Pennell, Dragan Ivanovic, Paul Kampf, Holly Levow, Zoe Stewart with Rebecca Calder, Sacharissa Claxton, Jay Taylor, James Fleet, Robyn McHarry, Rupert Procter, Mila Celik, Steven Moore, Jane Booker, Jessica Yemi, Paul Anthony, Joanne Mitchell release UK 30.Aug.24 24/UK 1h36  Is it streaming? |
 Blackly comical attitudes add an offbeat kick to this terrific looking British thriller, which perhaps turns a bit too grim as its plot swirls around very nasty behaviour in a mortuary. The film has a beautiful visual style that captures the moods of characters grappling with big personal issues. Igor Marovic's cinematography is particularly eye-catching, while director Joanne Mitchell keeps even the most outrageous moments grounded in human emotion. Haunted by her tragic past, the quirky and observant Sybil (Calder) takes a job with undertaker Mr Thomas (Fleet). She is also nursing a crush on the museum docent Mark (Taylor). Then Sybil is shaken when their paths cross in an unexpected place. And she develops dark feelings about Mark's girlfriend Tina (McHarry). Meanwhile, police detective Emma (Claxton) is badly rattled by the disappearance of her young son, which she deals with by chugging alcohol and annoying everyone around her. Then when Emma spots Sybil at a poetry reading, she remembers seeing her before. Because of the film's darkly intense tone, Mitchell's more eccentric flourishes have a strong impact. Plot threads are edited in ways that stir in all kinds of chilling details and eerie implications. Both Sybil and Emma have vivid imaginations and memories that play out on screen in often unsettling ways, especially when parallels develop between their narratives. And the story comes together in a genuinely chilling way. Performances match the mix of heightened melodrama and gritty mystery. In a role that is evoked by the title, Calder's steely-eyed turn as Sybil ripples with underlying emotion, which is what Fleet's Mr Thomas connects with, even if he has his own secrets. Claxton's Emma has more clear-cut feelings, dealing with her grief by diving into a situation that might hold some answers for her. Almost everyone on-screen is internally frazzled in some way, so they way they come together is intriguing. After opening with a bit of taxidermy, it probably shouldn't be surprising what happens as this story progresses into a funeral home. At its core, this story is a bleak exploration of mortality through the eyes of someone who can't quite see the line between the living and the dead. And the deranged central plot becomes thoroughly unnerving as it spins through its increasingly nasty situations, culminating in an unhinged, fiery finale.
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Things Will Be Different Review by Rich Cline | 
MUST  SEE
Is it streaming?
|  Skilfully shot in fascinating locations, this intriguing dramatic thriller centres on two likeable siblings who are dealing with past strain in their relationship while embarking on a time-shifting crime. Writer-director Michael Felker cleverly grounds the people and settings in earthy reality, while the wildly imaginative premise deliberately avoids a clear explanation. This effectively puts us right into the story, and it makes each mysterious thing that happens darkly riveting. In a roadside cafe in rural America, Sidney (Dandy) meets her estranged brother Joe (Thompson), who needs her help to hide the loot from a robbery. Armed with rifles, they set off across a cornfield to an isolated farmhouse hideaway. There they have a cryptic set of instructions, adjusting clocks to send them to another time entirely, where they will lay low for two weeks. But returning to the present doesn't go as planned, and they're told they must kill an interloper before they can leave. Then after waiting for months, someone shoots at them. Because the filmmaking is so sure-handed, the lack of explanation about what is happening catches the interest, and it soon becomes clear that Sidney and Joe haven't a clue how all of this works either. So when their expected arrangement goes sideways, they have little choice but to submit to the unseen people (Benson and Bolger) who pull the strings. Even without details, the premise feels eerily solid, so it captures our imagination and propels us ever deeper into a situation that takes several surprising turns. Dandy and Thompson are terrific as the impulsive Sidney and the more level-headed Joe. But then Sidney is preoccupied with worry about her young daughter back home. These are captivating, nuanced characters with a complex push-and-pull relationship. So Sidney keeps coming up with theories, while Joe just goes with the flow, feeling like an idiot for getting stuck in this crazy place. And their growing desperation to get home adds a strong emotional undercurrent that's impossible to resist. While it's unclear how any of this is working, or what any of it means, the bags of cash at the centre give the film a thematic kick as the characters' priorities are challenged in a thoroughly mind-bending way. Essentially, Sidney and Joe are raging against an unseen being that controls their fate, always questioning why this is happening. As the situation develops, the tension becomes seriously unnerving, leading to several heart-in-throat moments and a fiendishly clever ending. Felker is definitely a filmmaker to watch.
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| Traumatika Review by Rich Cline | 
|  dir Pierre Tsigaridis scr-prd Pierre Tsigaridis, Maxime Rancon with Rebekah Kennedy, Emily Goss, Susan Gayle Watts, Ranen Navat, Sean O'Bryan, AJ Bowen, Sean Whalen, Maxime Rancon, Alondra Andrade, Naomi Petit, William Gabriel Greer, Jax Ghorayeb release UK Aug.24 frf 24/US 1h27 Is it streaming?
|  Opening with a caption about childhood trauma, this horror movie submerges the topic in a demonic context full of jolts and grisly surprises, while director Pierre Tsigaridis deploys grubby production design, nutty editing and a super-heightened sound mix to keep us off-balance. So the tension comes from waiting for the next onslaught of hyper-grisliness. Rather than a coherent, involving narrative, this is an utterly bonkers collection of nightmarish scenes. In 2003, amid stories of child abductions in Los Angeles, little Mikey (Navat) calls the police while being chased through a wreck of a house by the deranged Abigail (Kennedy), who kidnapped him. Abigail turns out to be the abused daughter of John (O'Bryan), who one year earlier unleashed a demonic force that spread like a disease, leaving a trail of bodies in its wake. Then two decades later, tabloid TV journalist Jennifer (Watts) interviews Abigail's younger sister Alice (Goss), informing her live on-air that Mikey has just been released from a psychiatric hospital. A 1910 Sinai prologue introduces this demonic relic in a ghastly short scene. Then as the seriously gruesome story progresses, there is one properly awful moment after another, and many are difficult to endure, including multiple gruesome suicides, sexual abuse and more. These things add a pungent intensity to the movie, making it feel urgent and momentous. And there's also a pointed jab at media exploitation of victims. But of course the main point of this movie is to make us squirm, not think. The actors fully dive into the mayhem, remaining deadly serious even when they're covered in blood or black goo while wandering around grotesque, badly under-lit sets. Goss, Kennedy and O'Bryan create vivid characters even if they're written fairly simply. Young Navat has a compelling screen presence as a young boy in jeopardy. And the demon itself is portrayed with astonishing makeup and physicality by producer-writer Rancon. You've got to give the filmmakers credit for so slickly creating so many insanely repulsive moments on-screen while maintaining almost sickening levels of nastiness from start to finish. Their ambition is impressive, as is what they have done with a clearly limited budget. This is full-on gross-out cinema that delights in throwing truly horrible ideas and images at the audience. So perhaps it doesn't matter so much that the story's choppy structure prevents us from engaging with the characters or caring what happens to them.
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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL © 2024 by Rich Cline, Shadows
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