Three films: Red, White and Blue
With some time off work, I've had the chance to check out a few films this week.
'Kidulthood' by Menhaj Huda was shown as part of the Image a Nation film festival, organized by the British Council here in Brussels - what is it with us Brits and pisspoor puns?) After some Kafkaesque problems in obtaining tickets and the surprise revelation that the director would be introducing the movie (great work, publicity people!), we settled down to enjoy the film. Well, enjoy probably isn't the right word for this tale of teenagers in an inner London state school (seems to be set in the Ladbroke Grove/Notting Hill area). There's bullying, suicide, underage sex, drug use and abuse, casual violence, prostitution and a party, all in little more than 24 hours.
Essentially, it's a modern take on the rites of passage movie (a kind of Kids UK, to get all Larry Clark for a moment) with a cool Grime soundtrack (The Streets, Dizzee Rascal, etc - the bit where 'Jus' a rascal' kicks in is particularly cool).
The performances are strong (including Noel Clarke - as Sam - who also wrote the screenplay) and the situations ring true, even if the story follows quite a formulaic path. The Imdb ranking is only 4.6 out of 10, but I would give Kidulthood at least a 7.
What more needs to be said about 'An Inconvenient Truth'? If you are not changing your behaviour now, you are a fool. The material is explosive enough to make even the biggest cynic take note, but hats off to director Davis Guggenheim for keeping the scent of musty lecture halls far from mind.
Having missed 'The Constant Gardener' in the cinema and not having bought into the 'City of God'-is-the-greatest-film-ever hype, I was in an 'impress me' frame of mind when I slotted the DVD into the player. Two hours later I was throughly impressed. So much so that I watched the film again the following day. A gripping story, brilliantly filmed and acted.
'Kidulthood' by Menhaj Huda was shown as part of the Image a Nation film festival, organized by the British Council here in Brussels - what is it with us Brits and pisspoor puns?) After some Kafkaesque problems in obtaining tickets and the surprise revelation that the director would be introducing the movie (great work, publicity people!), we settled down to enjoy the film. Well, enjoy probably isn't the right word for this tale of teenagers in an inner London state school (seems to be set in the Ladbroke Grove/Notting Hill area). There's bullying, suicide, underage sex, drug use and abuse, casual violence, prostitution and a party, all in little more than 24 hours.
Essentially, it's a modern take on the rites of passage movie (a kind of Kids UK, to get all Larry Clark for a moment) with a cool Grime soundtrack (The Streets, Dizzee Rascal, etc - the bit where 'Jus' a rascal' kicks in is particularly cool).
The performances are strong (including Noel Clarke - as Sam - who also wrote the screenplay) and the situations ring true, even if the story follows quite a formulaic path. The Imdb ranking is only 4.6 out of 10, but I would give Kidulthood at least a 7.
What more needs to be said about 'An Inconvenient Truth'? If you are not changing your behaviour now, you are a fool. The material is explosive enough to make even the biggest cynic take note, but hats off to director Davis Guggenheim for keeping the scent of musty lecture halls far from mind.
Having missed 'The Constant Gardener' in the cinema and not having bought into the 'City of God'-is-the-greatest-film-ever hype, I was in an 'impress me' frame of mind when I slotted the DVD into the player. Two hours later I was throughly impressed. So much so that I watched the film again the following day. A gripping story, brilliantly filmed and acted.
posted by Justin Toland at 9:53 pm
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