Saturday, April 30, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is a 1962 film, based on the short story of the same name. The screenplay, like the short story, was written by Alan Sillitoe. The film was directed by Tony Richardson, one of the new young directors emerging from documentary films, specifically a series of 1950s filmmakers known as the Free Cinema movement.
It tells the story of "a rebellious youth" (played by Tom Courtenay), sentenced to a borstal (boys' reformatory) for robbing a bakery, who rises through the ranks of the institution through his prowess as a long distance runner. During his solitary runs, reveries of his life and times before his incarceration lead him to re-evaluate his privileged status as the Governor's (played by Michael Redgrave) prize runner."
Set in a grim environment of early-1960s Britain and like other films which deal with rebellious youth, it is a story of how the youth chooses to defy authority, in so doing securing his self-esteem (at the probable personal cost of continued confinement). The film places its characters thoroughly in their social milieu. Class consciousness abounds throughout: the "them" and "us" notions which Richardson shows reflect the very basis of British society at the time, so that Redgrave's "proper gentleman" of a Governor is in contrast to many of the young working-class inmates.
Much of the filming took place in and around Claygate, Surrey at Ruxley Towers, a Victorian mock castle built by Lord Foley (hence Ruxton Towers). The building had been used as a NAAFI base in the war, giving it a military atmosphere. The original trumpet theme to the movie was performed by Fred Muscroft (the Scots Guards Principal Cornet at the time).
At times a wrenching character study with no easy answers, Courtenay's performance is a touching portrait of a young man and the journey he takes as he tries to run not only for an unclear future, but from a past he cannot forget.
A film indicative of the working class expressionism that came out of England in the early 1960s, Richardson's films stands alone as a downbeat, but insightful story of one man's struggle to determine who he is.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Saturday, April 09, 2011
The Innocents (1961)
The Innocents is a 1961 British horror film based on the novella The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. The title of the film was taken from William Archibald's stage adaptation of James' novella. Directed and produced by Jack Clayton, with a screenplay by Archibald and Truman Capote for additional dialogue, it stars Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave and Megs Jenkins.
Falling into the subgenre of psychological horror, the film makes use of its lighting, music, and direction for its effect rather than gore and shock factor. Its atmospheric feel was achieved by cinematographer Freddie Francis, who employed deep focus in many scenes, as well as bold, minimal lighting. It was filmed on location at the gothic mansion of Sheffield Park in East Sussex. The film marked the first film role for child actor Pamela Franklin.
Falling into the subgenre of psychological horror, the film makes use of its lighting, music, and direction for its effect rather than gore and shock factor. Its atmospheric feel was achieved by cinematographer Freddie Francis, who employed deep focus in many scenes, as well as bold, minimal lighting. It was filmed on location at the gothic mansion of Sheffield Park in East Sussex. The film marked the first film role for child actor Pamela Franklin.
Jack Clayton wanted this film to be different, not a repeat of the Hammer horror movies, many were running in theaters then. He used different distances between camera and objects, black and white photography by Freddie Francis, a deliberate 45 second start in black with singing followed by the credits (which projectionists thought was an error), and made no revelation of the story to child actors Martin Stephens and Pamela Franklin, deciding to give them the parts of the script without the adult touches that would be revealed later to the viewers and the person of Miss Giddens. With these tangibles, Clayton achieved his goal of a horror film that left the strange events for the viewer to interpret.
The inventive and atmospheric black-and-white CinemaScope by photographer Freddie Francis is as celebrated as the screenplay's Jamesian suggestiveness.
Together Francis and Clayton use graceful cinematic techniques to do more than just illustrate James' novel. While their motif of dropping rose petals too pointedly shouts "symbolism," their use of white doves against the morbid and melancholy goings-on brings to mind the European delicacy of Franju's Eyes Without a Face.
Together Francis and Clayton use graceful cinematic techniques to do more than just illustrate James' novel. While their motif of dropping rose petals too pointedly shouts "symbolism," their use of white doves against the morbid and melancholy goings-on brings to mind the European delicacy of Franju's Eyes Without a Face.
Deborah Kerr's layered portrayal is among the finest in her career. Whether or not Miss Giddens sees real apparitions or is a victim of simply needing a good roll in the four-poster, by not choosing to "play neurotic" Kerr achieves a reality that makes her exactly the right place to anchor our perspective.
Add the remarkable performances by the two children, and we're given a ghost story that stays with us not because of spring-loaded frights, but because of how it plucks our nervous system like a violin string.
Add the remarkable performances by the two children, and we're given a ghost story that stays with us not because of spring-loaded frights, but because of how it plucks our nervous system like a violin string.
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
The Avengers 50th Anniversary event
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of cult TV show The Avengers, The University of Chichester is hosting an event this summer featuring, cast, crew and of course, a host of Avengers-related events.
It takes place over 25th and 26th June, with guests so far confirmed including Honor Blackman (Cathy Gale), Linda Thorson (Tara King), scriptwriter Brian Clemens and director Robert Fuest, plus many more actors, and production people. There's also new and exclusive video contributions from Patrick Macnee, Laurie Johnson and Joanna Lumley.
Diana Rigg? Not mentioned so far…we can hope.
Events for the weekend include everything from BFI-sponsored screenings, memorabilia exhibitions and signings through to a 'craft stage', 'Emma Peel's Lotus Display' and 'The Hellfire Club Saturday Night Party'. Check out the website for everything confirmed so far, with more to come before the mid-summer date.
Tickets are £80 per day or £150 for the weekend ticket, with accommodation available within the university campus, priced from £36 per night.
Bond 23 Location Scouting In South Africa
MI6 revealed today that director Sam Mendes and producer Barbara Broccoli are understood to be in South Africa prepping for production of the 23rd James Bond film.
Former England international cricketer Darren Gough spilled the beans as he sat next to the pair during a first class Virgin flight to Johannesburg earlier today. Gough said that they were travelling to scout locations for the film. Whether their location work is based just in South Africa is unclear. No James Bond actor has filmed scenes in the country before, although it was visited by villains Wint & Kidd in the 1971 "Diamonds Are Forever".
South Africa has been a long-rumoured location for a future 007 adventure, with press reports routinely linking the nation to upcoming movies. At one time, "Casino Royale" (2006) was scheduled to shoot there, but plans switched before cameras rolled.
Monday, April 04, 2011
Sexy Beast (2000)
Sexy Beast is a 2000 British film directed by Jonathan Glazer, starring Ray Winstone, Sir Ben Kingsley and Ian McShane. It was produced by Jeremy Thomas, and was Glazer's debut feature film. He had previously been a director of music videos, such as Rabbit in Your Headlights for British electronica group UNKLE, and commercials for companies such as Guinness and Levi.
The film earned Kingsley an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 2004 the magazine Total Film named Sexy Beast the 15th greatest British film of all time
More than twenty years ago, Ben Kingsley won the Academy Award for his role in Gandhi. With his role as Don Logan in Sexy Beast, Kingsley shatters any leftover notions of a king, gentle, passively resistant Kingsley and cements the fact that he is a damn good actor. He is frightening as Don Logan, a criminal sent to Spain to try to coax another retired criminal out of hiding for one last heist. First, Logan looks menacing. He has a shaved head, beady eyes, and a goatee. Kingsley has an explosive energy as Logan, as if he could kill somebody at any moment without batting an eye. Logan shifts between a raving lunatic and a cold, calculating schemer. He is cruel, intense, and effective both when he is yelling in an unintelligible English accent and coolly trying to convince Gary "Gal" Dove to come back to England.
Dove (Ray Winstone) enjoys his new life. Sexy Beast opens with him lazing by a pool, burning in the Spanish sun. He is content to swim, joke around with his poolboy, and meet his wife and friends for dinner and drinks for the rest of his life. Within a couple minutes, a huge boulder rolls down the hill, barely misses him, and crashes into his pool ruining the tiling. Oh, what a foreshadowing of things to come. Soon, his friends come with the news that Logan is arriving, casting a pall over their idyllic, lazy lives. Logan arrives and proceeds to pester, berate, harass, and intimidate Dove into going back to London. Sexy Beast is at heart a movie about Dove, although Logan steals the show every time he is on screen. Dove, self-admittedly not rich but comfortable, has to decide whether he wants to participate. Returning signifies everything he does not want. He loves the isolation and heat of Spain, in contrast to the dreariness of London. Here, he can do (and does) whatever he wants, which is usually nothing.
The internal struggle never quite emerges, because of Winstone's subdued performance. Dove could just care less at some points in the film. He looks reasonably irked that someone is disturbing him, and does not react substantively until after Logan becomes increasingly perturbed himself. Screenwriters Louis Mellis and David Scinto also never fully flesh this idea out. Sure, everybody is deathly afraid that Logan will go ballistic on them, but what else is driving Dove? The third act of the movie also helps muddle Dove's intentions. The first act is him relaxing, and the second is with Logan in Spain. The third act is a change of pace for everybody, and suffers because of a lack of Kingsley's character.
Sunday, April 03, 2011
Saturday, April 02, 2011
Friday, April 01, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
