Cambridge Film Festival Review – Gomorrah

While working as a volunteer for the Cambridge Film Festival, I’m trying to see as many films as possible. Everything I see will be reviewed on this blog, along with a short write-up of the outdoor screenings the Festival is running this year.

Gomorrah

Dir. Matteo Garrone (Italy)

135 mins

Screened: Thursday 18th September 2008

 Portrayals of organised crime onscreen have often glamourised gangsters, even as they seek to deliver a moral message. The Sopranos, among others, has recently shown the everyday “work” of the Mafia in a banal and grubby light. But at its heart, the mobsters are the main characters, and we still root for them. There is no such symppathy in Matteo Garrone’s crime drama, adapted from Roberto Saviano’s bestsellling expose of the Camorrah, the main organised crime family of Naples. Taking the form of a series of interconnected stories, it explores the effect of crime on already desperate people.

A young boy living on a warren-like housing estate aspires to join the local gang. A pair of Scarface-obsessed teenagers plan to steal a cache of weapons. A tailor is squeezed by his boss’s orders to work harder for less money. A senior mob figure oversees the dumping of toxic waste in a disused quarry. The last story ingeniously mirrors the way the Camorrah’s activities and the ensuing moral corruption poisons everything it touches.

The film’s deliberately unglamourous and naturalistic style emphasises the squalid nature of the criminal activities portrayed, with long hand-held takes leading us around the locations, which range from cramped apartments to a desolate stretch of beach. Apart from a short scene in Venice, there is hardly anything recognisably “Italian”. This is a trans-European world of open borders and globalised crime, where human life, along with everything else, is judged on a financial basis. The characters caught in the web of the Camorrah are commodities, as much as the dresses turned out in sweatshops to be labelled haute couture, or the peaches gifted by a civilian to a mob boss, who then tips them out of his car to rot by the side of the road.

Ultimately, the bleak conclusions to the individual stories was never in doubt. But I would have liked to travel further up the food chain, and see how government and the police deal with the gangs. (Collusion? Hostility? Resigned tolerance?) Regardless, Gomorrah is a dark but essential drama, part City of God, part The Wire, and all about the way our continent, and our world, lives now.

Casting the White House

My bad habit of reading entertainment blogs when I should be working has finally got the better of me. A post on the Guardian’s film blog about Oliver Stone’s forthcoming biopic of George W. Bush, which will star Josh Brolin as the prez, has now taken up residence in my brain and will not leave.

My first thought: dear God, what are we in for? Stone’s sledgehammer-subtle approach to film-making turns everyone into either a hero or a villain. And somehow I don’t think Dubya will come out as the latter. Stone

says his biopic will be “a fair, true portrait of the man” and will “contain surprises for Bush supporters and his detractors”.

This is absolutely the wrong way to go about it. If you’ve read anything about Bush’s early life, or his current administration, the only way to do it is complete gonzo black comedy. Go for the sickest laughs possible, because what other running joke has a body count in the hundreds of thousands? Stone doesn’t do laughs. All his films are excessively noble and po-faced, with the highest regard held for the office of the President. (See JFK, his paean to the titular president.) If I was doing it, it’d be different. For starters, it would have a tiny budget because I’m not Oliver Stone.

And so to the question from the original blog post that’s been occupying my thoughts — how to cast the Bush administration? Here are my ideas for the senior players in a story so bizarre it had to be true.

George W. Bush – John C. Reilly. Sure, Will Ferrell may bring the goofy expressions, but Reilly has both the goofiness and the narrow-eyed, grown-up frat boy malevolence that  pops to the surface when Dubya is (very) occasionally challenged on something. Chris Cooper also did a very good impression in John Sayles’ Silver City, but he may well come up further down the list.

Dick Cheney – Jon Voigt. Or any other old-ish actor with a line in creepy authority figures. To be honest, Cheney has a kind of sinister non-presence, which could best be replicated with an unknown actor. Whoever plays him though will have to master the growled delivery of “Go fuck yourself” to get the true character across.

Donald Rumsfeld – Chris Cooper or John Doman. Cooper’s experience at playing sinister, violent right-wingers will be obvious to anyone who’s seen American Beauty. Nevertheless, Doman (who plays ruthless senior cop Rawls in The Wire) is a pretty good prospect. Don’t tell me you don’t want to hear Rumsfeld referring to “this beshitted department” or calling a subordinate “a gaping asshole”.

Condoleeza Rice – Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Unfortunately, there’s not as great a range of black female actors as there are old white male actors to choose from, but the top-tier Hollywood set, the Halle Berrys and Thandie Newtons, don’t display the kind of toughness that Rice exudes. My choice would be for the British Jean-Baptiste, most famous for her performance in Mike Leigh’s Secrets and Lies, but doing an American accent in police drama Without A Trace.

Paul Wolfowitz – Steve Buscemi. Picture him sucking on that comb. See it? Suddenly don’t want to eat for a while? No, me neither.

Colin Powell – While Denzel Washington has been stacking up a series of stellar performances, there’s every chance he could act everyone else off the screen, which was in fact the opposite of what Powell did. Forced to go to the U.N. and drum up support for a war he didn’t believe in using fake evidence, he seemed diffident, defeated, compromised – the kind of role Don Cheadle would do great things with.

Tony Blair – Michael Sheen has become the go-to Blair impersonator following stunning turns in The Deal and The Queen. But that only makes him the predictable choice, prompting me to go left-field. David Tennant can do bug-eyed staring, weak, insincere grins, gulping faux-emotional delivery – in short he’s all of Blair’s tics and hang-ups. Add in puppy-dog admiration for Dubya and you’re there. And in the event of a British government spin-off, David Morrissey can reprise his role in The Deal as Gordon Brown. Then, the stage is set for Tennant and Morrissey to sing together in a retread of so-insane-it-was-brilliant musical drama Blackpool.

Any role you can suggest? Saddam Hussein played by the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld? Alberto Gonzales by that guy from Memento? And the all-important consideration – the violence is all there, but how are we going to get some sex into this thing?

Not playing by the rules

Although it happens enough not to be completely out of the ordinary, you don’t really expect to hear of someone young dying. This, for me, was the most shocking thing in hearing about actor Heath Ledger’s death. Scanning the front page of The Guardian, I read down the story and stopped dead on the words “He was 28.” It was a stark, shocking sentence, and I’m sure their are people who aren’t in their early twenties who would feel the same way.

However, the death of someone in my age group is especially sobering, mostly because of the perspective young people have on life and death. The former is something that happens to them, the latter isn’t. Part of being young is knowing that, no matter what you do, you are bulletproof. You take risks, do stupid things, because the thought of dying enters your head rarely, if at all.

That’s why something like this brings me up short. Although there are events more deserving of coverage, such as the blockade of Gaza, Ledger’s death has a certain resonance, simply because we’re about seven years apart in age.

In media coverage of the responses to his death, a similar attitude emerges:

A lot of people are reacting to the man, rather than the actor, especially those in their twenties who are shocked at “one of their own” dying. According to the New York Times, Nicole Vaughan, a 24-year-old law student at New York University, walked to Ledger’s apartment after she heard the news “because of the way our generation is, we sort of feel we’re a part of each other’s lives”.

At the moment, a student from Leeds Met named Gavin Terry is missing. There’s a concerted effort by fellow students to raise awareness to try and find him, with the Facebook group reaching almost 24,000 members. The same kind of connection is felt here: a young person is not meant to vanish, to go before their time. When someone our age dies, it’s often by accident or suicide, reminding the rest of us of the possibility of tragedy, that the ice we skate on is sometime very thin. As Joe Queenan says in his otherwise overly-sentimental tribute to Ledger:

There is no greater tragedy than for a parent to outlive its children, because the old are supposed to exit the stage before the young. This is why Ledger’s death seems not only tragic but morally incorrect. Once again, the universe is not playing by the rules.

Tom Waits for no man (easiest joke ever)

Watching TV last night, I noticed that the BBC has developed an admirable liking for Tom Waits. Some discerning music supervisor had chosen his bar-room blues number “Walk Away” to soundtrack the end credits of Louis Theroux’s horrifying-yet-fascinating documentary about life in San Quentin prison. And immediately afterwards, I was treated to yet more Waits, with “Lullaby” playing over various shots of Mark Warren looking gloomy and intense in a trailer for gruesome serial-killer drama Messiah. Some thoughts:

1) I can’t believe they’re still making Messiah. I can remember being an extra in a scene from the second series years ago, and when I saw the finished product on TV, even at a young age it seemed pretty hokey and borderline-nonsensical. (Edit: Apparently this new series is the fifth. I’m not expecting a masterpiece.)

2) Is there any TV drama that Marc Warren isn’t in these days?

3) Oh yeah – “Walk Away” is on Waits’ 2006 collection Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards, and “Lullaby” is on 2001’s Blood Money. Both albums well worth buying.

Cambridge gets typical mention in the press

…As a home of freaks and weirdos, of course! Grauniad blogger Abby O’Reilly, writing about being accosted by men in the street, gives us a heartwarming story:

Sometimes it’s humorous, not threatening, and the perpetrator elicits a certain amount of pity. Once when sat on a bench in Cambridge a man cycled up next to me, while impressively holding a can of Carling and a cigarette. He sat beside me. “I had to stop darling, you caught my eye.” I felt like I was on the set of some badly-made-for-TV romantic comedy. He then proceeded to tell me how much he liked “big women” and asked if he could take a picture of me using his camera phone. I refused. He had a strong Cambridgeshire accent, and noticing the lilt and intonation of my own Welsh lull continued: “You sound clever for a Welsh girl. People keep telling me I’m a cockney, but I tell ‘em, I’ve never been to Cornwall in my life.”

It’s the riding a bike with a beer can and a cigarette that gets me. Them’s the kind of skills you can only get in my town.

Top Ten Albums of 2007

Yep, if it’s good enough for lazy hack journalists, it’s good enough for me – end-of-year list time ahoy! I thought of doing a best films of 2007 list, but I don’t actually see that many new films per year, and most of the ones that I did were at the Leeds Film Festival, and got reviewed in various entries below. I buy a lot more new albums each year, and frankly 2007 has been a great year for disocvering new things. Of the ten albums on this list, only two (The Shins and Arctic Monkeys) were by bands whose previous albums I owned. So, in order of when I bought them, here are the albums that made my year.

The Shins, Wincing The Night Away

Released: January 29th 2007
Length: 41:42
Label: Transgressive
Producer: James Mercer & Joe Chiccarelli

The latest album from the Albuquerque indie-popsters is at once joyfully simple and rewardingly complex. Bounce-along tracks like “Australia” and “Turn On Me” can be enjoyed as simple pop songs, but repeated listening to the album reveals subtle complexities under the seemingly simple melodies. The lyrics are cryptic but amusing, and the whole thing plays out in a easygoing mood, ending with a bittersweet taste.

Download: Australia, Phantom Limb, Turn On Me

Liam Frost and the Slowdown Family, Show Me How The Spectres Dance

Released: September 11th 2006
Length: 37:29
Label: Lavolta
Producer: Danton Supple

Technically, this actually came out last year, but I only bought it this March and think it definitely deserves more attention. Acoustic singer-songwriter music is ten-a-penny, and not a favourite genre of mine, but Frost and his band play beautifully and create a remarkably cohesive album that almost feels like a sweeping romantic film without pictures. Ranging from big string-assissted numbers to spare acoustic ballads, the album never makes a false step.

Download: She Painted Pictures, Shall We Dance

Klaxons, Myths Of The Near Future

Released: January 29th 2007
Length: 53:43
Label: Universal
Producer: James Ford

This album that ended up on most people’s end-of-year lists, and with good reason. The Mercury Prize-winning debut is a endlessly entertaining psych-rock oddyssey, shifting mood from dark mystery to upbeat pop, and confounding the listener with songwriting that combined genres and styles to great effect. Myths… set a depth charge under a recent slew of uninspiring indie bands, and laid the way clear for more left-field, inventive acts to grab attention.

Download: Two Recievers, Gravity’s Rainbow

!!!, Myth Takes

Released: March 5th 2007
Length: 48:14
Label: Vital
Producer: Justin van der Volgen

More mythology on offer from the unpronounceable New York collective (they’re actually pronounced chk-chk-chk, but actually saying that without sounding like an idiot is a real effort). Their latest album leads the listener through a dizzying array of musical styles. The lyrics follow similar transformation, from sardonic social commentary in the tale of seduction gone wrong “Must Be The Moon”, to complete gibberish in the towering jazz-funk freakout “Bend Over Beethoven”.

Download: All My Heroes Are Weirdos, Must Be The Moon

Arctic Monkeys, Favourite Worst Nightmare Released: April 23rd 2007
Length: 37:34
Label: Domino
Producer: James Ford & Mike Crossey

In a year where several bands struggled with a follow-up to an acclaimed debut, the Monkeys seemed to dash it off almost effortlessly. Their music expanded to fit enlarged expectations, keeping the furious pace and adding extra layers of invention. Similarly, the lyrics refused to dwell exclusively on the sarcastic dissections of modern life featured in the Monkeys’ debut, in some songs transforming into abstract incantations. In parts, funny, ominous and tragic, Favourite Worst Nightmare is a mixed-up album for our confused times.

Download: Teddy Picker, This House Is A Circus

Biffy Clyro, Puzzle

Released: June 4th 2007
Length: 49:47
Label: 14th Floor
Producer: GG Garth & Biffy Clyro

From opener Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies, with its arrhythmic orchestral stabbings and apocalyptic choirs, you know you’re in for something special, and Biffy Clyro do not disappoint. The Scottish rockers take a more melodic approach on this album, but still create bizarre and enticing concoctions. The album veers from hard rock singalongs to gentle acoustic tracks, with a strong thread of mortality running through the lyrics.

Download: Living Is A Problem…, Saturday Superhouse

The Hold Steady, Boys And Girls In America
Released: November 6th 2006
Length: 40:07
Label: Vagrant
Producer: John Agnello

Sounding like a Minneapolis-based Bruce Springsteen, frontman Craig Finn delivers tales of nights out, youthful confusion and broken hearts in The Hold Steady’s brilliantly simple pleasure of a third album. Straight-ahead American rock’n'roll never sounded so good.

Download: Stuck Between Stations, Hot Soft Light

Lucky Soul, The Great Unwanted

Released: April 9th 2007
Length: 51:38
Label: Ruffa Lane
Producer: George Shilling & Andrew Laidlaw

Taking over from The Pipettes as this year’s 60s revivalists, Lucky Soul deliver an album that sounds utterly fresh even as it looks back to the past. Catchy tunes are given extra weight by complex, multi-layered orchestration and the swoonsome vocals of singer Ali Howard. Breezing through the litany of romance, with a diversion into adivce on mixology (“The bitterest cream makes the best cocktail curdle”, according to “Struck Dumb”), the mixture of bopping and ballads is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Download: Add Your Light To Mine Baby, My Brittle Heart

Jack Peñate, Matinee

Released: October 8th 2007
Length: 41:16
Label: Beggars Banquet
Producer: Jim Abbiss

Peñate’s bouncy, ska/skiffle-influenced pop propels the album along in leaps and bounds. It’s cheery, comic, reflective and even includes a shout-out to classic French film Le Grand Meaulnes on “My Yvonne”. In short, it’s a very appealing package.

Download: Spit At Stars, Torn On The Platform, Second, Minute Or Hour

Burial, Untrue

Released: November 4th 2007
Length: 50:28
Label: Hyperdub
Producer: Burial

My interest was piqued by a Guardian interview with enigmatic dubstep producer Burial, who described his anonymity as being “a bit like a rubbish superhero”. His second album, Untrue, is an absorbing soundscape, described in his own words as like “when you come back from being out somewhere … walking home across London late at night, dreamlike, and you’ve still got the music kind of echoing in you, in your bloodstream, but with real life trying to get in the way. I want it to be like a little sanctuary. It’s like that 24-hour stand selling tea on a rainy night, glowing in the dark.” Untrue immerses you in a night-time world of wet concrete and half-remembered tunes from a night out, weaving a spell that won’t be broken until long after the last track fades into silence.

Download: Archangel

Leeds International Film Festival review – Noise

Noise (2007)

Dir. Matthew Saville

108mins

Screened: Friday 16th November, 2007 

My series of film reviews from the 2007 Leeds Film Festival comes to a long-overdue end, with a look at the last film I saw in the festival. Noise is a leftfield Australian film billed in the festival literature as a thriller, although in the end it amounts to something both more and less than the categorisation would suggest.

A young girl walks through a station late at night and gets onto a commuter train. After seeing something out of place, she comes to a horrifying realisation – the train is full of bodies, the scene of a mass shooting. From this shocking opening scene the filmmaker’s attention ripples outward to examine the effect of the murders on a variety of characters, most notably Constable Graham McGahan. Not your average heroic film police officer, we first see McGahan collapsing on an escalator from a fit of tinnitus. Reassigned to “light duty” after his accident, he spends most of the film sitting in a “mobile police station” in a caravan, taking witness statements regarding the discovery of a dead body that may or may not be connected to the shootings.

McGahan is a genuinely funny character to watch, with Brendan Cowell’s low-key performance propelling him through the film without arousing many doubts on the audience’s part about where it’s all going. For the most part, we’re content to watch him goof around in the caravan, drop deadpan witticisms during conversations and strike up a friendship with an autistic kid who or may not hold the key to the whole case.

From this, it should be obvious Noise is not a conventional thriller, with mysteries uncovered and bad guys thwarted. It’s not even a conventional procedural – the detectives investigating the case only appear in a couple of scenes, without many hints as to the progression of the case. The film bears more of resemblance to the Short Cuts/Crash style of filmmaking, showing the interconnected lives of a disparate group of people united only by their geographical proximity.

One aspect of the film that deserves mention is its use of sound and vision, and for this I was grateful that I saw it on an enormous cinema screen with surround sound. McGahan’s tinnitus is suggested to the audience by the most ordinary of sounds being amplified to shockingly loud levels, creating a somewhat alienating soundscape that adds to the tension present throughout the film. There are a few excellent scenes that bring home McGahan’s internal disorder, such as when he turns on every single appliance in his house and hunkers down amid the cacophony in an attempt to drown out the ringing in his ears.

One particularly affecting scene has McGahan’s hearing going completely. We hear everything from his point of view as he crashes around the house in a panic, the sound of the outside world and his girlfriend’s calming words reduced to muffled vibrations. It’s a scene that goes for the emotional jugular, but keeps it low-key, and holds the audience’s belief as we’re trapped with him, terrified by the sudden loss of a vital sense.

The visual composition is similarly striking, with the film’s rather ordinary suburban setting given an unyielding air of menace. Underneath the harsh glare of fluorescent lights, convenience store car parks and commuter belt train stations are turned into dangerous places, all humming with an underlying potential for violence, with furious, crackling energies waiting to be released. If Michael Mann ever made a film set in suburbia, chances are it would look a lot like Noise.

The film contains several brilliantly judged moments of tension and terror. The conversations between McGahan and a hostile member of the public take on a menacing subtext, with potential violence buried just under the surface. There is, however, a certain knowingness to the film’s emotional crescendos which distanced me from them. The scene where Maia Thomas’ witness is confronted by the man she wongly identified in a line-up, only to turn the tables and confront him, is played with a raw intensity by both actors involved. But I found it to be a little too glib and contrived to pack a real emotional punch. This, combined with the insulting suddenness of the non-ending, turns Noise into an intruiging concept, unsuccessfully realised. The sound and and fury are there, but this really is a tale signifying nothing.

(Did I just rip off Shakespeare for a film review on my blog? I guess I did.)