Podcast: Quite Franco My Dear I Don’t Give A Hamm

Mark Davidson, Laura Croft, Steve O’Hara and Dave Wark are joined by special guest Dr. Andy Stothers. He joins them to give his opinion on The Wire, having been challenged by Mark to see if it lives up to the hype. They also discuss Mad Men, and Breaking Bad in a television-centric Just Been Watching section. They go on to talk about some recent film news, their experiences at Glasgow Film Festival, as well as give their opinions on the recently announced changes to this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival. Finally, in the Best Worst Movie section they talk about their experience of watching their favourite bad movie Troll 2 on the big screen.

Among the highlights include the point at which one of us accuses another of racism; Laura is forced to confront the fact James Franco may not be as perfect as she had previously thought; and the gasps of Steve as he gets distracted by the goings on of a certain football game he’s watching in the background:

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Special Features

As a gift to people who read the blog, as oppose to just subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, here’s some stuff on the interweb relating to this month’s podcast:

Submarine trailer:

Troll 2 trailer:

Best Worst Movie Trailer:

Running Order:

Total Duration: 51 Minutes

Just Been Watching
The Wire
Mad Men
Breaking Bad

Film News
Oscars Ceremony
Submarine at Glasgow Film Festival
Edinburgh International Film Festival Changes

Best Worst Movie
Best Worst Movie/Troll 2 double bill on the big screen.

You can contact the podcast at observealot(at)gmail(dot)com

You can also subscribe to the podcast via iTunes:

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/you-can-observe-lot-just-by/id381134908#iTunes

Glasgow FIlm Festival 2011: Round-Up

I’ve already reviewed four of my favourite films of the festival so far, Submarine, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Island, and Oranges and Sunshine.

Here’s a round-up of the five other films I managed to catch over the course of this year’s fest:

Potiche

Opening this year’s festival was Potiche, starring Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu. The film is a bright, breezy affair set in the 1970s.

It exists very much in the tradition of a number of British films in the 1990s, such as Billy Elliot or The Full Monty. This is a version of the 1970s as it would have liked to be remembered, where all the attitudes to gender, equality and so on are depicted with a strange kind of nostalgia.

Potiche is a film it’s difficult not to be charmed by. However, ultimately its humour and style feel as dated as the time period it depicts.

Our Life

Our Life is an italian film that sees Claudio (Elio Germano) struggling to provide for his wife and two sons.

In the tradition of Italian neo-realism, we see Germano give a Palme d’Or winning performance as a foreman under pressure to do whatever it takes to get his building finished on time.

Along the way he gets involved with drug dealers, dodgy property developers, and illegal immigrants as he gets further and further over his head.

The film is captivating and heartfelt. As we go through Claudio’s journey with him, we can’t help but feel both sympathy and frustration at his situation and the choices he makes. A fine, if not spectacular piece.

Archipelago

A film which will appeal to a very limited audience, but one I couldn’t stop thinking about long after it had finished.

The plot sees a family going on holiday to the Isles of Scilly. It soon emerges they have become deeply isolated, and are unable to communicate their feelings to one another.

This is a film that revels in its silence and awkward moments. As such it made deeply uncomfortable viewing, and it took me about thirty minutes to realise the narrative was going to give me very few clues as to who these characters actually were. As such I was forced to carefully watch every detail, piece of dialogue, and movement to find out more about the troubled souls depicted on screen.

The slow pace, lack of answers and lack of drama will not be to everyone’s tastes. In fact about half a dozen people walked out of the screening I attended, and only half of those who remained stayed for the Q&A with director Joanna Hogg. For those willing to put the effort in however, I think it is a film which rewards the viewer the more they are willing to engage with it.

You Instead

Scotland’s own David Mackenzie (Young Adam, Hallam Foe) returns with You Instead, a movie filmed over the four days of last year’s T in the Park.

The plot sees the lead singers of an all-girl rock band, and an all-boy rock band handcuffed together with predictably hilarious/romantic consequences.

Of Mackenzie’s films I’ve only seen Hallam Foe, which both disturbed and intrigued me in equal measure. You Instead is such a light and breezy affair, it’s difficult to believe it’s made by the same director.

Its main purpose seems to be in trying to capture the festival experience, and in many ways it has done precisely that. Fun, fast, and haphazard, but not something you want to think about too much afterwards. As such, my recommendation is that if you want the experience of T in the Park you should probably just get tickets for T in the Park.

Balibo

Set in the 1970s, Balibo tells the story of the Balibo Five: five Australian journalists who were reporting on the crisis emerging in East Timor as the Indonesian army were getting ready to invade.

The film is told from the point of view of Roger East, who goes to East Timor to investigate the fate of the five journalists who are almost certainly dead.

Balibo, quite rightly, has no qualms about showing just how brutal the Indonesian army was as they attempted to take over this small country. Such a depiction asks questions of its audience: why is it we care so much about some genocides, but know little of others?

Balibo, like Oranges and Sunshine, is a very emotive depiction of a real life tale that is uncompromising in its goal of bringing to light some very important issues.

Glasgow Film Festival 2011: Oranges and Sunshine

Ken Loach has become synonymous with the genre of social realism. Essentially these are films with uncompromising depictions of the everyday struggles of everyday people (Sweet Sixteen, My Name is Joe, etc.).

His son, Jim Loach, is following in his father’s footsteps with his first feature, Oranges and Sunshine. Like his father’s films, it is an uncompromising and emotive film about an important issue most people are unaware of.

The film is based on the real-life story of Margaret Humphreys (Emily Watson), a social worker from Nottingham. She is working to support adults who were adopted as children. One evening she is confronted by Charlotte, who claims she was shipped off to Australia as a child to be put into a care home. Left with no record of her parents, she asks Margaret to help her find her mother.

She then finds out one of the members of her support group has a brother, Jack, who was also shipped off to Australia as a child. Margaret visits Australia, and speaks to adults who grew up in the same care home as Jack. She discovers many of them have exactly the same story as Jack and Charlotte. They were all shipped off to Australia with no record of who they were.

Margaret starts investigating how widespread these deportations were and discovers it was common enough that it must have been unofficial government policy in the 1950s and 1960s.

Oranges and Sunshine is a highly emotional film about people who simply want to find out who they are. It completely relies on the power of its story to keep its audience engaged. The cinematography, direction and score all sit quietly against the power and tragedy of what’s happened in these people’s lives.

Emily Watson gives a superb performance as Margaret, a character who is inspiringly committed to finding the identities of so many forgotten children. As she gets more and more involved with these hurt and troubled adults, we see the impact hearing all these stories has on her mental health; the pain of others becoming her own.

It’s difficult to say much more about Oranges and Sunshine other than it’s a film people will be talking about for a while. A film that will leave you emotionally shattered. A film that shows the power of cinema to bring the reality of these kind of real-life tales to a wide audience.

Glasgow Film Festival 2011: Island

In 2005, Michael Bay released a film called The Island. It was about clones. And it was pretty rubbish. So please don’t confuse that with this year’s Island, a film based on a remote Scottish island whose environment is just as harsh as it is strangely enchanting.

The story sees Nikki (Natalie Press) go to a remote Scottish island where she believes her family lives. She soon finds her mother Phyllis (Janet McTeer) and brother Calum (Colin Morgan), but chooses not to reveal her true identity to them.

As she spends time with her brother, it quickly becomes apparent the life her family is living is quite a strange one. Calum’s existence is mixed up with the myths and legends of the island, to the extent we’re not quite sure which he believes to be true, and which are just stories.

Island is a film which uses its setting beautifully to create this strange, insular, almost fantastical place. It is the setting which perfectly sets the tone of the movie, which is likewise strange, insular and almost fantastical.

The myths and stories Calum tells may remind viewers of films like Pan’s Labyrinth or Big Fish which also ask the audience to question how much truth lies in the fantastical tales of their main characters. Although in the case of Island, the tales Calum tells are used because he is incapable of communicating his feelings in any other way.

It is a film which uses silence beautifully. There are few scenes of dialogue between Nikki and her Mum, but much is said. Calum and Nikki may talk a little more, but it is when they are silent they appear to say the most.

Despite this fantastical tone, there is a harsh reality to Island. Nikki is a very angry young woman. This, combined with the harsh environment in which the film is set, brought to mind films like Winter’s Bone or The Road.

Island is a bleak, uncompromising film which tells its audience as little as possible and allows them to fill in the blanks. It is a strange, dark, but ultimately very rewarding film about revenge, family and the state of mind in which we choose to live.

Glasgow Film Festival 2011: Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D

A documentary about some drawings in some caves may not sound like the most entertaining or cinematic of experiences. However, when the drawings in question are the oldest discovered in the world, and when the director is Werner Herzog, you know it may well be worth your interest.

The caves in question are the Chauvet Caves in Southern France. They are considered so important that only a limited number of people have ever had access to them, and Herzog had to seek special permission from the French government to film there. The film itself may be the last time a professional crew is allowed in such a unique place.

As one would expect from a documentary of this nature, the film’s footage of inside the caves is inter-spliced with experts commenting on various features of the cave and its drawings.

Herzog seems to have the strange ability to either attract eccentric people to him, or bring out the idiosyncratic from his interviewees. In short, the people he interviews are quite bizarre. Or at least are presented that way.

Part of what makes them unusual is their almost religious belief in the cave and its drawings. Herzog presents the cave as a kind of cathedral. The music he chooses; the slow way he pans across the paintings for large parts of the film; and the way its believers speak of the space; make the film into a kind of spiritual experience.

It’s hard not to get caught up in the atmosphere Herzog creates. Especially when we consider these drawings are the oldest form of communication we have with our ancestors. Herzog asks us to consider why it is animals that make up the vast majority of the paintings? What was the spiritual significance of these creatures to the generations of people who drew them?

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the 3D in the movie actually does enhance the viewing experience. Very simply, it brings out the contours of the cave, which allows us to see the drawings in a way that wouldn’t be possible without the use of such technology.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D is a very unique and compelling experience. Herzog masterfully brings us into a space full of mystery, wonder and spirituality. A quite remarkable film about a quite remarkable place made by a quite remarkable filmmaker.