The Thin White Dude's (Capsule) Reviews - Carol

Directed by: Todd Haynes

Produced by: Elizabeth Karlsen

Stephen Woolley

Christine Vachon

Screenplay by: Phyllis Nagy

Based on: The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith

Starring: Cate Blanchett

Rooney Mara

Sarah Paulson

Kyle Chandler

Jake Lacy

Music by: Carter Burwell

Cinematography by: Edward Lachman

Editing by: Affonso Goncalves

Studio(s): Number 9 Films

Film4 Productions

Killer Films

Distributed by: The Weinstein Company

StudioCanal

Release date(s): May 17, 2015 (Cannes Film Festival)

November 20, 2015 (United States)

November 27, 2015 (United Kingdom)

Running time: 118 minutes

Country(s): United Kingdom

United States

Language: English

Production budget: $11.8 million

Box-office revenue (as of publication): $26.9 million

Today's film up for review is Carol, the critically acclaimed (it stands as MetaCritic's best reviewed film of 2015) romantic drama from Todd Haynes. The film has been much lauded, garnering many accolades, including Best Film/Picture nods at the upcoming BAFTAs and the Golden Globes, but surprisingly it didn't turn up as a nominee in the Academy Awards' list. This struck me as odd for there is also a significant word-of-mouth following surrounding the film, and certainly among the four or five most talked-about films of 2015. Anywho, it is based on the novel The Price Of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, and is set in 1952 in New York City, and follows the story of Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara), a shopgirl and aspiring photographer, who through recommending a present for her daughter develops a relationship and falls in love with an older woman, the eponymous Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett), who is also going through a difficult divorce. Got it? Good!

To start off with the good, both of the central performances are terrific. I have to say this, just to clear the air surrounding it, I consider Rooney Mara to be the lead and Cate Blanchett to be the supporting performer. With that out of the way, I'll deal with them individually. Mara proved with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo her talent, and once again she has shown another layer to her palette with her Therese. There's an element of a coming-of-age story with the character, and from the get-go, with an Audrey Hepburn-esque quality, believably depicts this innocent, almost waifish girl, becoming a confident, independent woman. Equally strong in her own way is Blanchett, whose dexterous and multi-layered performance is a masterclass of portraying someone hiding behind a mask of elegant seductiveness to hide her anxieties and fears. Both performances are committed, emotionally raw and charged with tension, for which both Mara and Blanchett deserve due praise. There are a number of other quality aspects of to the film. Edward Lachman's cinematography is a strong example of visual storytelling. A lot of what we see in the film is witnessed through windows, glass, mirrors, cameras, with the attention to the minute detail in the characters' performance being depicted through these extra layers. As we have already got a layer to work through (the movie screen, by default) and those of the characters, what this does is is objectively hone in on the characters so we notice little things, as though looking at blood samples under a microscope. The film's mise-en-scene also helps contribute to this distinctive visual aesthetic, balancing between being respectful of the period setting but also in evocatively having something to say about the characters and the visages (or lack thereof) they put on in public. Earlier on I mentioned the word 'elegant,' a word which I think describes best the score by Carter Burwell. I like Burwell, but I am notoriously grouchy when it comes to classical film compositions. This certainly wasn't the case here. Burwell's compositions are (I am loth to put it this way) textbook examples on how to develop a given piece for a given scene. Beginning minimally, gradually building up before swelling towards their climax, Burwell's score appropriately parallels the action onscreen. Finally, under Todd Haynes' direction, Carol stays a sure and steady path, telling in a real classy fashion the story of a great romance, whilst also saying what needs to be said in terms of the thematic content. Unlike a lot of other filmmakers, who would let their 'message' overcome their story, Haynes is smart enough play it subtle and simply let the story tell itself, as opposed to hammering home the point ad nausea. This is a confidently made film, and good for Haynes playing it that way.

Now, this is the part where I get negative feedback for not properly going through the film as far as negative criticism. I liked Carol. I would go so far as to say it is a great movie, and there are so many things going for it. Indeed, I think in ten-twenty years time, this is going to be a film with the reputation of a contemporary classic, and it might grow on me as well. However, I did leave the cinema feeling that having seen Blue Is The Warmest Colour a couple of years ago that I personally preferred it to Carol. Why? Well, it's one of those cases of me having to base my conclusions on my own personal preferences as regards aesthetics. Carol aesthetically views it's characters objectively, so you feel slightly removed watching the drama unfold, and as such it feels colder. While I admire and respect the intent behind these aesthetics, it is the complete opposite of what Blue Is The Warmest Colour does, which is to subjectively view the characters from the perspective of protagonist Adele, so there's a great feeling of intimacy and warmth resonating off of the film. This is not an explicit criticism of Carol, but I've got to go with my gut on this one, and I just think Blue Is The Warmest Colour tackles a similar story in a manner I find more personally preferential.

Despite my feelings as regards preferring the aesthetics of Blue Is The Warmest Colour, Carol is still a great movie with a lot going for it. Boasting two terrific central performances from Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett, it also features deft digital cinematography which has a way of adding another layer to the drama, has a balanced and evocative mise-en-scene, an elegant score from Carter Burwell and a sure and steady path carved out by Todd Haynes. Overall, a strong and well-developed piece of work.

The Thin White Dude's Prognosis - 8.7/10

The Thin White Dude's Self-Diagnosis - Alright (keep on rollin', baby, you know what time it is!)

Carol Trailer

The Thin White Dude's Movie Of The Month(s) - September/October/November 2015 - The Death And Resurrection Show

Admittedly, I'm more than slightly biased, being a huge Killing Joke fan. That said, I went in with an open mind, and despite that invested interest in the band, I was amazed at how much I enjoyed The Death And Resurrection Show. It's an extensive chronicle of the history of the band members, their personal philosophies and their work. With a superb musical soundtrack including both Killing Joke's music and Jaz Coleman's own compositions, plus some of the most imaginative use of editing I've seen in a documentary recently, Shaun Pettigrew's film has so much to offer, both for fans of the group and those who have yet to experience them. Really a terrific labour of love.

The Thin White Dude's Prognosis - 9.1/10

Runner-Up: The Lobster - Great oddball, surrealist comedy from writer-director Yorgos Lanthimos, with a unique sense of overall direction and intent, featuring Colin Farrell's best performance to date.

Dishonourable Mention: Everest - For all of the technical prowess, the filmmakers fail to engage us with it's characters or their plight.

Avoid Like The Plague: The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) - Avoid Like The Plague? This is the plague!

The Thin White Dude's (Capsule) Reviews - Black Mass

Directed by: Scott Cooper

Produced by: Scott Cooper

John Lesher

Patrick McCormick

Brian Oliver

Tyler Thompson

Screenplay by: Jez Butterworth

Mark Mallouk

Based on: Black Mass by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neil

Starring: Johnny Depp

Joel Edgerton

Benedict Cumberbatch

Rory Cochrane

Kevin Bacon

Jesse Plemons

Corey Stoll

Peter Sarsgaard

Dakota Johnson

Music by: Junkie XL

Cinematography by: Masanobu Takayanagi

Editing by: David Rosenbloom

Studio(s): Cross Creek Pictures

360 Films

Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures

Release date(s): September 4, 2015 (Venice Film Festival)

September 18, 2015 (United States)

November 25, 2015 (United Kingdom)

Running time: 122 minutes

Country: United States

Language: English

Production budget: $53 million

Box-office revenue (as of publication): $95, 075, 678

Et toi! The second film up for review today is Black Mass, Scott Cooper crime drama biopic which follows the criminal career of Boston's infamous Irish-American criminal James 'Whitey' Bulger, who is played by Johnny Depp. Got it? Good!

To start off with the good, this is Johnny Depp's best performance in quite a long time, certainly since 2011's Rango and his best live-action role since 2007's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street. Of course, the make-up and hair add to the overall look of the role, but Depp believably carries off the physical presence of Bulger. Indeed, between the tone of his voice and his superb elocution, there are times when he is legitimately menacing, which is really something when you think about how charming most of Depp's other onscreen characters are. The film is held up entirely on the power of this performance, for which Depp deserves a lot of praise. Two other aspects of the film are also praiseworthy, namely the cinematography by Masanobu Takayanagi and the musical score by Junkie XL. Takayanagi has brought his smooth, crisp approach to cinematography to Black Mass, giving the picture a distinctive look, a rather interesting look at South Boston. As for the latter, Junkie XL, who has been racking up quite a few films as a composer lately, takes on Black Mass with classical film composition methods, but does them it that little bit differently to add a subconscious feeling that something is off-kilter. The way it interacts with Depp's performance creates some of the best scenes in the film, and warts and all, makes for some good cinema at it's best moments.

Black Mass manages to be a somewhat good film, getting over primarily on the strength of Johnny Depp's performance, but it can't be denied that the film is a bit of a mess, particularly as regards the script. The argument could be made that the dialogue is decent, but that's down to Depp's level of investment in the character, but the direction of the story is absolute hokum. No one else's character in the film is fully developed, a total waste of the ensemble cast, which includes Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Edgerton and Kevin Bacon. The plot itself also comes across as filler around which Depp could give a great performance, but one great performance does not maketh a great movie. I went to see the film with my good friend over at Danland Movies, and I don't think either of us could recall the plot. It was a really bizarre case of filmic amnesia; we almost completely blanked out the film. Scott Cooper does not enough control of this mish-mash story and affects his performance as a director. Perhaps if he wrote the film, as he did his two previous works, the case would have been different, but unfortunately it didn't turn out that way. Alongside The Departed and The Town, this seems small fry.

Black Mass manages to be a somewhat good film primarily on the basis of Johnny Depp's well-rounded and legitimately intimidating performance. Also, the score and the cinematography are strong points. However, it reminds of the case with Rampart, which boasts a superb turn from Woody Harrelson but doesn't have the rest to back it up, and as I said earlier, a great performance does not maketh a great movie. Scott Cooper's direction lacks the assured quality required to deliver the film that status, and the film's story is in no way anything more than a tedious re-hash of themes done better in other films. It's as well it can boast Depp's performance, otherwise it could have been a stinker. As it is, it can get over as a good enough film to be considered at least watchable.

The Thin White Dude's Prognosis - 6.1/10

The Thin White Dude's Self-Diagnosis - Alright

Black Mass Trailer

The Thin White Dude's (Capsule) Reviews - Criminal Activities

Directed by: Jackie Earle Haley

Produced by: Howard Burd

Wayne Allan Rice

Micah Sparks

Screenplay by: Robert Lowell

Starring: John Travolta

Michael Pitt

Dan Stevens

Jackie Earle Haley

Edi Gathegi

Rob Brown

Christopher Abbot

Music by: Keefus Ciancia

Cinematography by: Seamus Tierney

Editing by: Alex Marquex

Studio(s): Capacity Pictures

May Day Movies

NeeNee Productions

Phoenix Rising Motion Pictures

Distributed by: RLJ Entertainment

Image Entertainment

Release date: November 20, 2015 (United States)

Running time: 94 minutes

Country: United States

Language: English

Production budget: $7 million

Box-office revenue (as of publication): $34, 460 

I've decided to bring back the capsule reviews for certain films because frankly my time is getting more and more occupied with other things, and though I'm not able to dedicate as much rhetoric to certain films, I would still like to cover them.

Today's film up for review is Criminal Activities, a crime thriller starring John Travolta, Michael Pitt, Dan Stevens, and also featuring and directed by Jackie Earle Haley. Pitt, Stevens, Rob Brown and Christopher Abbot star as four men who at the funeral of their friend decide to make a risky investment together, which goes tits-up and puts them in the debt of mobster Eddie (Travolta). In order to pay off their debt, Eddie employs them in a job to kidnap Marques (Edi Gathegi), the relative of a rival gangster, to extort off their debt by way of ransom. Got it? Good!

To start off with the good, I'm not sure how Jackie Earle Haley got the directing gig here (maybe a previous director dropped out or they couldn't get one and he was already there as a cast member?), but he delivers a competently made film. Haley understands that the film is ultimately a small-scale morality play, and for the most part the film does not overstep it's bounds as far as genre conventions, which is fine. The film also boasts a couple of solid performances. Michael Pitt's Zach is a suitably intense, bleary-eyed Wall Street yuppie with a coke habit, balanced well in terms of his emotional flip-flopping. Seeing this mad me wonder why Pitt isn't in more high-profile films. Also, you've got Dan Stevens in there as the twitchy and neurotic Noah, delivering a performance that bounces between his character's bumbling attempts at being 'the man with a plan' and the fact that Noah is inherently a nervous wreck. This is Stevens' eight film in three years, and shows another layer the man's versatility. I look forward to seeing him alongside Emma Watson in Bill Condon's Beauty And The Beast. Finally, as far as the technical side of things, it too is also done competently. The film looks decent and the editing is fine.

Criminal Activities has enough things going for it, but it is one of those odd films that despite being made well enough, never really strives to be anything better. Note that the rhetoric I've used includes neutral language such as "competent," "fine" and "decent."It's not negative criticism by any means, but it isn't exactly praise. The work of the screenwriter, the late poet Robert Lowell, who died in 1977, is updated by Haley, but after all of the darkly humorous "average guys get knee deep in shit" plots that we have seen in films since the 1990s, this seems old-hat. Also, it might have passed for a good film if it wasn't for the bungled, overly-convoluted third act, which gets way ahead of itself and attempting to be way too smart with it's twists and turns. I don't want to get overly on the case of John Travolta either, but Eddie is the kind of part that isn't exactly much of a stretch for him. He gets to show up, do between five and ten days tops, with all the low-angle 'hero' shots of the day, get paid and go home. I like Travolta, but it's the kind of thing that could have been done by another actor but they needed a 'name' in the film, and it just seems an awful waste.

Criminal Activities is a competently-made morality play, kept in good direction by Jackie Earle Haley, solid technical qualities and strong performances from Michael Pitt and Dan Stevens. However, competence does not equate to quality, and the film gets too big for it's boots, overly convoluted, and fails to strive to be anything more than decent.

The Thin White Dude's Prognosis - 5.3/10

The Thin White Dude's Self-Diagnosis - Bleh!

Criminal Activities Trailer

The Thin White Dude's Reviews - The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence)

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The Thin White Dude's Reviews - The Lobster

Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos

Produced by: Ceci Dempsey

Ed Guiney

Yorgos Lanthimos

Lee Magiday

Screenplay by: Efthimis Filippou

Yorgos Lanthimos

Starring: Colin Farrell

Rachel Weisz

Jessica Barden

Olivia Colman

Ashley Jensen

Ariane Labed

Angeliki Papoulia

John C. Reilly

Lea Seydoux

Michael Smiley

Ben Whishaw

Cinematography by: Thimios Bakatakis

Editing by: Yorgos Mavropsaridis

Studio(s): Element Pictures

Scarlet Films

Faliro House Productions

Haut et Court

Lemming Film

Distributed by: Feelgood Entertainment (Greece)

Haut et Court (France)

Element Pictures (Ireland)

De Filmfreak (Netherlands)

Picturehouse Entertainment (United Kingdom)

Release date(s): May 15, 2015 (Cannes Film Festival)

September 27, 2015 (New York Film Festival)

October 13, 2015 (BFI London Film Festival)

October 16, 2015 (United Kingdom and Ireland)

October 22, 2015 (Greece)

October 28, 2015 (France)

March 11, 2016 (United States)

Running time: 118 minutes

Country(s): Ireland

United Kingdom

Greece

France

Netherlands

Language(s): English

French

Production budget: €4 million

Box-office revenue (as of publication): $5, 738, 483

This'll probably be my last post for the year of 2015, given the time at hand. That said, I am going to keep reviewing films right up until Oscar night, which will include not only the films released in 2015, but of course my annual Hall Of Fame inductees, finishing off with my 9th Best and Worst of the Year awards. I'll probably end up having to compress down my reviews as far as the words are concerned, given I haven't done as much as normal this year, and that I still have a whole stack worth of stuff to get through. After this review, I'll be looking at The Human Centipede 3 (Full Sequence), Criminal Activities and Black Mass for this particular bracket of films, and then I'll shoot into December, beginning with the sure-to-be awards contender, Todd Hayne's Carol, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. So, for all the latest and greatest as regards the movies, keep your eyes posted!

Today's movie up for review is The Lobster, the latest film from Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos. This is the English-language debut feature for the film and theatre director, whose work includes 2010's Dogtooth, which I remember as being uniquely disturbing atmospherically and quite an interesting film I wouldn't mind seeing again at some point. Since then he has directed one other film, 2011's Alps and co-produced and starred 2010's Attenberg. There's a long road behind the production history of this film. Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou's screenplay was awarded the ARTE International Award as Best CineMart Project for 2013 at the 42nd Rotterdam International Film Festival, and no less than five different countries have invested their capital in this international co-production. It was shot between March 24th and May 9th of last Spring, primarily in Dublin, Ireland, but in various different in and around County Kerry, including Sneem, Dromore Woods and Kenmare. The film has picked up various awards in the international film festival circuit, such as three at the Cannes Film Festival (Jury Prize, Queer Palm - Special Mention and the Palm Dog Award), collecting two gongs at the European Film Awards (Best European Screenwriter and Best Costume Designer), and a bevy of nominations at this year's BIFAs (with Olivia Colman winning one for Best Supporting Actress, bless her!). So, story goes (and believe me when I say you'll understand it better if you see the film) that according to the rules of the City which the film's characters inhabit, if you are single you are taken to a hotel along with other singletons to find a partner within forty-five days and if you fail to do so you are turned into an animal of your choice and are released to fend for yourself into the forest. Whenever his wife leaves him for another man, David (Colin Farrell) with his brother Bob in tow, who was turned into a dog after failing to find a partner, arrives at the hotel to seek out a partner. Got it? Whether you do or don't, good!

Starting off with the good about The Lobster, I have to praise the cast. Don't get me wrong, I know it's an international co-production with an international cast from various national backgrounds, but the casting itself sees every minor character in the film cast perfectly. Most characters in the film are known and defined by characteristics such as Nosebleed Woman, Limping Man and so on and so forth, but even though they could come across as two-dimensional, the actors portraying them are capable and intelligent enough to overcome any potential problems. There are so many standouts it's hard to pick and choose, but I would like to flag up a few; Lea Seydoux, who though being bestowed with a beautifully elliptical facial structure has the hardest expression of calm, ruthless menace about her; Rachel Weisz's Short Sighted Woman, a performance that relies on doing so much with so little in terms of subtlety; Olivia Colman's Hotel Manager, whose voice of reason convinces us of the absolute plausibility of these strange circumstances; Ashley Jensen's eccentric, socially awkward (and funny) Biscuit Woman; Angeliki Papoulia's terrifying Heartless Woman; John C. Reilly's slow but friendly Lisping Man. All of these create a strong framework for the excellent lead performance of Colin Farrell, whose David is the heart of this bizarre world. Far from the confident and intense fast-talker we've come to know, Farrell's David is a soft-spoken thinking man, full of melancholy and existential questions about the world, with so much inside of him that he occasionally stumbles and trips over his own thoughts. Farrell is known for eloquence and rapid-fire delivery, so it's a delight to notice the subtleties he shows here and the restraint he puts on. He has grown a moustache over his handsome features, looks like he's put on the guts of twenty-to-thirty pounds (one of the first things I noticed was how portly he looked, with his paunch rising up and down underneath his shirts). Just the whole way he carries himself, moving as though in a mood of permanent caution and gingerly trepidation, is in keeping with the character. Even when there's borderline meta-moments, such as him half-talking/half-singing Where The Wild Roses Grow, which with anyone else would be embarrassing, it's a touching turn. You never buy him as anything but the character. While I haven't seen much this year, I've seen a decent amount, and Farrell may subtly have the best male lead performance of 2015. Now, enough about the cast, because in order to attract such a cast to a film to work at such a low salary generally you have to have a great script, and the case is no exception here. Similar in nature to the development of the world in Dogtooth, the diegesis constructed around these characters is a work of brilliance. Instead of going for the basil expository nonsense of trying to over-explain things to the audience, it is taken as a given that this is the way things are. Not only does that appeal to different scenarios surrounding the film's surrealist, almost Bunuelian sense of humour, it enables the film use metaphor, under the guise of comedy, to speak about matters of the heart, relationships and how we as human being interact with another. In that vein, the dialogue of the film is lyrical, perky and hilarious. I mean, in what other world would you be able to pull off an exchange about most people choosing dogs as the animal they wish to be turned into ("it is why the world is full of dogs.") and have it be both completely ridiculous and make perfect sense. Speaking of Bunuel, I loved the way the cinematography and editing, the visual aspect of the film, interacting with the aural elements of sound design and music. Although it is at time a very wordy kind of film, there are also extended sequences involving no dialogue with extracts of different musical pieces over the top. This is best exemplified during the film's slow-motion sequences, such as the different 'hunts' that the hotel residents go on for 'loners,' and various exchanges, in which the minutest of facial expressions or lack thereof are captured. They provide for sight gags when juxtaposed with the music and deeper exploration into the characters' nature. Finally, not to put it all on one man's vision, because this is most definitely a collaborative effort, but director Yorgos Lanthimos has delivered a confident work of real artistic integrity. Successfully bringing the theatre of the absurd over to cinema, there no botch-work here, and this is one of those cases where bouldering on ahead works wonders, without all the potential fourth-wall breaking gimmickry that could have been in there to make it 'more watchable'. Balancing between restraint and intent, this is how you make something distinctive, unique and interesting. And a damn fine comedy to boot!

I loved The Lobster. I've seen it twice now and both times it offered up a lot for me to digest and take away from it. That being said, I do also have to say that I don't think the film is a masterpiece. Once again, it has come down to one of those cases of finding some aesthetics troublesome. I agree wholly with what my friend over at Danland Movies said when we saw it about how the first half of the movie is excellent, the second half is slightly inferior, and however slight that may be, it means that the film itself feels unbalanced. Furthermore, at one-hundred and eighteen minutes, it starts to feel like the concept is getting stretched. Any more than two hours would have really been taking the mick and making it incredibly self-indulgent. I think it's a better film than Dogtooth and despite appearances actually has a heart, but Dogtooth was about twenty minutes shorter, and I think a happy medium which would see the film being trimmed by about ten to fifteen minutes would take some of the excess flab out of the film.

The Lobster is denied from being a masterpiece by slight issues of an imbalanced narrative and a running time that could be trimmed a bit. Nevertheless, I found it to be highly enjoyable film. It's a terrifically well-cast film, with every part, right down to the smallest played intelligently, fronted by an excellent standout performance from Colin Farrell as David, in what might well be the best work of his career so far. To attract such a cast, you'd need to have a strong script, which is certainly the case here. I love the way the basil exposition is not over-explained and it is just taken that this is just the way things are in this strange world. It also enables the smart use of metaphor and the genre of comedy to address matters of the heart, relationships and the way people interact with one another. The dialogue too is multi-faceted. Only would a film like this, oh so bizarrely Bunuelian in nature, be able to have some of the scenarios seem both completely outrageous and make common sense within the diegesis. It also features some expressive cinematography and editing, which interacts wonderfully with the sound design and music. Yorgo Lanthimos has made a distinctive, unique and interesting picture, and a damn fine comedy to boot!

The Thin White Dude's Prognosis - 8.8/10

The Thin White Dude's Self-Diagnosis - Bangin'

The Lobster Trailer

The Thin White Dude's Reviews - The Death And Resurrection Show

Directed by: Shaun Pettigrew

Produced by: Shaun Pettigrew

Steve Piper

Written by: Shaun Pettigrew

Starring: Jeremy 'Jaz' Coleman

Martin 'Youth' Glover

Kevin 'Geordie' Walker

'Big' Paul Ferguson

Paul Raven

Music by: Jaz Coleman

Killing Joke

Cinematography by: 'Hobe' Brent Abelson

Shaun Pettigrew

Editing by: Prisca Bouchet

Distributed and Produced by: Coffee Films 

ILC Productions

Release date(s): November 16, 2013 (Finland, Rokumentti Film Festival)

May 2, 2015 (Portugal, IndieLisboa)

September 6, 2015 (France)

October 2, 2015 (United Kingdom, limited)

Running time: 150 minutes

Country(s): New Zealand

United Kingdom

Language: English

Production budget: $500,000 (estimated)

Box-office revenue (as of publication): N/A

Rightio, so I've been busy as usual, but what with a bunch of night shifts being cancelled, I've been able to dedicate a serious chunk of time to things that mean something to me, like writing, working on a number of projects and a hefty amount of films watched to review. Every day this week, I've seen a new(ish) release from 2015, so you can expect reviews for Krampus, Straight Outta Compton, Mortdecai, Brooklyn and The Ridiculous 6 at some point in the near future. I've still got to get through five more (including this one) for the September-October-November bracket, so for all the latest and greatest as regards the movies, keep your eyes posted.

Now, with this one here I had to try my best to not go into it completely biased, given that The Death And Resurrection Show is the long-awaited documentary on the band Killing Joke, who are quite possibly my favourite band in the world ever. I don't like to look at any figures or groups of people with any sort of idolatry, but I'd be amiss in not saying that Killing Joke's music has meant a great deal to me personally. It's one of the few things in my life that I believe as representative of a certain form of truth. Their disgust and anger at the world around them is a reflection of my own, and unlike many whole just bitch and groan they, being astute and learned individuals, legitimately posit solutions to these problems, so that we may jump forward to the ultimate goal of transcendence. Anywho, now that I've got that out of the way, let's talk The Death And Resurrection Show! The film chronicles the long and storied history of the band since it's formation in 1978, and has been in production for over a decade, during which time former bassist and beloved brother Paul Raven passed away in 2007, which was the impetus for the original lineup of Jaz Coleman, Geordie Walker, Youth and Big Paul Ferguson to get back together. Already from there you can tell there's quite a story just in the past decade alone. I've seen them perform three times, once in Dublin and twice in London (because no one ever comes to Belfast!), and believe me the atmosphere is somewhere between dionysian chaos and a collective religious experience. Obviously, I went into the screening at the Queen's Film Theatre with mixed feelings, because the fan in me wanted to sit back and enjoy, but as I do with everything I like to take a step back and look upon it objectively. So, shall we dance?

I reiterate, I tried my best not to be biased. However, I loved The Death And Resurrection Show. Of course, the film sounds excellent, Killing Joke's music being the soundtrack of the proverbial apocalypse. Their musical part in the film plays not as much as a greatest hits, but an in-depth exploration into their oeuvre as we follow them through the years. Jaz Coleman's own compositions (primarily from his Island symphony) act as a sort-of compensation for the film's lack of a traditional film score. I suppose part of the upside of developing an independent documentary on talented musicians (Coleman is a respected classical composer outside of his work with Killing Joke) is that there's a chance they'll be more than willing to contribute their services to the production. Big ups as well to the sound department, whose field recordings and mixing ensures that there is nothing amateurish or sloppy with the way things are handled. Perhaps the thing that is most outstanding from a technical standpoint is the editing by Prisca Bouchet. Between all of the raw material, comprising of video footage shot over a span of nearly thirty years, location pickups in different places around the world and talking-heads segments with the band members and various interviewees, this must have been like putting together an indisputably giant jigsaw puzzle. Not only is it superbly stitched together with a seamless flow, Bouchet uses the tools of the trade to pull some interesting tricks. The archive footage in there is more often than not framed by large black sidebars, which has a subconscious effect putting the band members under a metaphorical microscope. Much is made in the film of the influence of magic and mysticism on The Joke, both in their lives and their work, and what Bouchet does is to take the raw material and distort it, not in a gimmicky sort-of way, but something that fits into the larger whole while replicating the magical rituals and seances performed by the band members. As such, it has quite a hypnotic and illusory effect on the entire film, bending your perception of time and creating a mirror to the state of trance. Editing is oftentimes an effective way of changing the way that we define storytelling in documentary films (just look at Catfish, Senna and The Act Of Killing), but I can't remember ever seeing it used in such an innovative fashion. There is also a subtle grace to the cinematography of the film. The DP's are director Shaun Pettigrew and 'Hobe' Brent Abelson, whose own contributions elevate that of the extensive archival footage. Whereas Youth, Geordie and Big Paul are shot full-face and oftentimes are relaxed, whereas Jaz Coleman is rarely if ever seen full-face and the shot composition surrounding him is highly stylised in the footage recorded for the film. Oftentimes depicted in shadow, from behind, or in close-up just his mouth in part of the frame, it contributes to this idea of the man (and by proxy, the band) as myth. Also, there is some really beautiful raw material from the pickup footage that they have collected from the location shooting. Iceland in particular, with the gorgeous scenery and landscape, looks terrific in this. Finally, director Shaun Pettigrew succeeds at the helm of such a momentous task as curator and compiler of Killing Joke. He ensures that the film works as something with a narrative. Beginning with their roots in Ladbroke Grove, he shows the band as they not only go through various ups and downs over the years, but the different paths that each of them lead in their personal lives. Not only that, he sees that the band members, specifically Jaz Coleman, are able to have time to address and confront things that are important to them, most specifically the philosophical, theological, societal and political questions that lie at the heart of their music. Despite myself for much of this film trying to hold back and look at it objectively, it got to a point in the film where I couldn't help myself, and it successfully managed to draw me in on a deeper level. When I saw the footage of the Jaz, Youth and Geordie at Paul Raven's funeral rekindling with Paul Ferguson, who infamously fell out with Jaz over two decades previously, I did start crying. I mean, they had me earlier, but this highly moving scene pulling me in near enough completely. At two-and-a-half hours, it's no small film by any means, but it is a pertinent one. The Death And Resurrection Show is a masterpiece, not only in it's extensive depiction of and testament to Killing Joke themselves, but also as a piece of narrative documentary filmmaking.

Now, as you can gather, despite my perhaps futile attempts at objectivity, I loved The Death And Resurrection Show. That being said, I do have say that there is one problem with the film which, though it be a masterwork, I found to be quite obvious. What it really boils down to is really a production decision on the theatrically released cut of the film. This is an independent picture with a long, arduous production timeline (I mean, for God's sake, Paul Raven died during the course of it's gestation!), and is being independently distributed, so they're obviously going to want to get as many people to see the film as possible. However, the chronological timeline of the picture comes across as lopsided. There's at most in the film's running time about thirty-to-forty minutes of screen time for the sections in the 2000s, the majority of which is devoted to the death of Raven and the reuniting of the original lineup. For anyone who doesn't know film distribution, once a film runs over three hours, unless it's a tentpole studio blockbuster with a huge mass marketing wing, it starts to limit the amount of screenings one can get for their film. The two-and-a-half hour runtime is just right for going into solid detail of the band's epic history, but under that three-hour threshold that would deny it some screenings, plus many audiences are put off by gluttonous running times on films, myself included (I never stop moaning about action blockbusters being in the two-and-a-half hour region). However, while I'm not asking for Shoah or Satantango, I think that an extra forty to fifty minutes, giving the film a runtime closes to two hundred minutes, perhaps would have been appropriate to make it feel less lopsided and to fully enlighten people on the urgency and pertinence of Killing Joke. I have a feeling that come home media release, The Death And Resurrection Show will either have an extended/Director's cut, or be stuffed full of DVD extras.

So, if you're glossing over the wall of text there in the negatives, don't associate that as being indicative of the film's flaws. In fact, it only has one, in that the film does feel lopsided in the chronological narrative timeline and trimmed for theatrical release. It's not the first instance recently of this happening. Take Joshua Oppenheimer's The Act Of Killing, which as you may know has a special place in my heart and I feel to be the most important documentary of recent times. The theatrical release of that film was one-hundred and twenty-two minutes, whereas the Director's Cut was one-hundred and fifty-nine minutes, so while the theatrical cut is still doubtless a masterpiece, the Director's Cut is the definitive chef d'ouevre, as it were. The same can be said of The Death And Resurrection Show. As it stands, the film is a masterpiece. I tried for objectivity, but Lord knows I failed. The sound of the film, from Killing Joke's wide and varied discography to Jaz Coleman's own classical compositions to the overall mixing and editing quality is of a high standard. The real marvel of the film is the editing by Prisca Bouchet, who takes the staggering amount of raw material and stitches it up, not just into a well-put together chronological narrative, but also plays around with it, and not in a gimmicky way, but a subtle manner, replicating the state of trance associated with the magic and rituals performed by the band members. There is also a strong sense of visual photography, from the stylised talking-head segments with Jaz Coleman to the sometimes beautiful location shooting. Finally, director Shaun Pettigrew stands true, doing right by Killing Joke. He not only delves into the philosophical, socio-political and theological thematic content close to the soul of the band's members, but also constructs a powerful piece of narrative documentary filmmaking. 

The Thin White Dude's Prognosis - 9.1/10

The Thin White Dude's Self-Diagnosis - Bah, humbug! Only joking, Merry Christmas (take it while you can, you might not get it again!)!

The Death And Resurrection Show Trailer