Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

This fine collection of short films represents the time that the great Charlie Chaplin spent at the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, a working relationship which started in 1914 and which contributed hugely to Chaplin’s reputation as the silent screen’s greatest star. Now, the BFI release all 16 films on DVD and Blu-ray with a treasure trove of extras, allowing us to look back at this century old work with fresh eyes. The big question is, of course, can he still make us laugh?

If Chaplin’s career arc were represented in three stages, his early shorts in the Keystone comedies represent his slapstick years, where the hilarity of someone falling over never felt so good, and he would go on in the latter part of his career to create comedy features as sophisticated as any before or since. If in doubt, look up his speech about tolerance from The Great Dictator made in 1940, a piece of writing which could be spoken verbatim right now in the 21st century, or just watch Modern Times from 1936 because, if that doesn’t make you howl, perhaps you’re dead inside.

His Essanay films represent Chaplin somewhere between these two, literally and creatively, revealing an artist keen to expand his talent whilst embracing his past, pushing the boundaries of film comedy and developing characters which would serve him well for years to come.

So, in films like his Essanay classics, The Tramp and The Bank, we see both the genius of the slapstick comic timing from the Keystone years as well as the kind of ambition, the interest in storytelling, the more sophisticated use of the camera and the development of characters which would come to exemplify Chaplin’s later features. In particular, the Essanay shorts saw him working with actress Edna Purviance for several years, bringing greater depth to the onscreen portrayal of women in his films.

Chaplin’s tramp appears in many of the shorts here (and would go on to appear on screen up to Modern Times), and it’s this character which also brings out the ability of Chaplin to mix humour and pathos, with success, riches and women always just out of his reach, making the collection both funny and genuinely touching.

The restoration of these 100+ year old films has been lovingly handled and, for the most part, they look amazing, with missing and damaged scenes brought back to glorious life.

As for the extras, including a commentary by Peter Sellers on A Burlesque On Carmen, (yes, that’s right, Peter Sellers talking about Charlie Chaplin – talk about comedy treasure!), there’s as much to enjoy as there are films themselves, making this an essential collection, not only for lovers of comedy, but for lovers of early cinema in general.

As to the question from the start of this review, the answer is a resounding yes. It’s good to know that, as sophisticated as comedy can be, there’s still something joyous about a man with a mop and bucket accidentally walloping people in the face with a wet rag whilst going about his cleaning duties… Wonderful.

 

CHARLIE CHAPLIN – THE ESSANAY COMEDIES / CERT: U / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: CHARLIE CHAPLIN / STARRING: CHARLIE CHAPLIN, EDNA PURVIANCE, CHARLES INSLEE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Upon its release in 1925 E. A. Dupont’s Varieté was an international success. Utilising camera techniques and presenting stylised visuals rarely seen at the time it was a hugely impressive piece of work. Despite loss and damage to much of the original footage, it is now available on Blu-ray from Eureka and it is a film you should immediately add to your shopping list.

The story at the heart of Varieté is one dripping with melodrama and revenge. The only German winner of the Best Actor Oscar (and the very first winner of the award) Emil Jannings delivers a performance of simmering passion as Boss Huller, a trapeze artist whose career has been stunted by injury and bland domesticity. Running a seedy carnival with his wife, a chance of redemption arrives in the form of the mysterious Berta-Marie (De Putti) and he leaves his life of perceived tedium for one more shot at glory. Hungry for fame, a chance meeting with a famous trapeze artist sets Boss on a dangerous path.

A pioneer of the German film industry, and with over seventy films to his credit as writer, director or both, Varieté is without doubt Ewald André Dupont’s career masterpiece. It is a film of silent grandeur and expression with characters that dominate the screen with tragic emotion. Jannings was rarely as engaging as he is as the deluded Boss, a man prepared to abandon his wife and child in pursuit of the life he believes he deserves. Only when that life begins to crumble does he passingly regret the mistakes he’s made.

Told in flashback as the elderly Boss ages in prison, Varieté is an age-old tale of betrayal and failed redemption, but it is the simplicity of the emotive journey the characters embark upon that engages you. The intermittent dialogue cards prove unnecessary as the story beautifully, and tragically unfolds on screen. Intimate moments are perfectly captured as are the wonderfully presented action scenes that are impressive even by today’s standards.

Sadly, there is a still a reluctance for many among modern audiences to explore the world of silent cinema. Stunning effects and perfectly textured images are understandable expectations today, but in many ways can anaesthetise us to the true beauty of cinema. Varieté is an example of how incredible visuals could be created by pure talent and determined belief nearly one hundred years ago, and as such it is a film that deserves a second coming. The Masters Of Cinema Series from Eureka has unearthed, restored and added many great titles to its catalogue but few are worthy of the moniker essential. Varieté is.

VARIETÉ / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: E. A. DUPONT / SCREENPLAY: E. A. DUPONT, LEO BIRINSKI / STARRING: EMIL JANNINGS, LYA DE PUTTI, MALY DELSCHAFT / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

There is a well-used footballing cliché that describes a game of two halves. If there was ever a film where this lazy terminology was most apt, it would be the Pierce Brosnan techno-thriller I.T., a film so easily split right down the middle as to appear created by two entirely different teams who had never conversed on the matter.

Brosnan plays Mike Regan, a man with everything. Arrogant and self-obessesed, Mike owns a private airline and despite having little technical knowledge has come up with an app for the super-rich. Like some kind of the private jet Uber, the app will let his customers know when there is a jet nearby so they don’t have to slum it with the common people. Only there’s a problem: on launch day a glitch appears and the only person who can sort it out is temporary I.T. advisor Ed (Frecheville). Problem apparently solved, Mike invites Ed to run a diagnostic on his smart home, one thing leads to another, and before you know it Ed has hijacked his boss’s home security system. Cue Mike’s life getting seriously messed with.

Although Ed is clearly one microchip short of a circuit board from the beginning, and Mike’s reasons for taking him under his fatherly wing are insubstantial at best, the first half of I.T. is a decent thriller. A little formulaic in parts, the story grips you despite the obvious flaws and even though you develop a pretty good idea early on just where things are headed, you’re looking forward to the journey. The problems arise in the second half when Mike cuts ties with Ed, and the latter embarks on his campaign to ruin the former. Nothing from here on feels at all believable, as the family suffer embarrassment – Mike’s daughter is somehow filmed by Ed “amusing” herself and the footage is spread around her school – and deeply troubling psychological trauma – Mike’s wife Rose (Friel) is given a falsely positive result for a cancer screening.

Further problems exist in the character’s motivations. Mike, while he has his faults, acts towards the boundary-crossing Ed similarly to how any protective husband and father would. Affronted by the rejection, Ed’s reaction is horrendously disproportionate, and removes any initial sympathy you may have had for the character.

Competently directed and decently acted, I.T. just doesn’t have enough depth of story and character development to sustain a ninety-minute movie. Early promise gives way to tedious repetition and a real sense of “couldn’t care less” as the plot meanders towards a finale that is predictably unsatisfying. I.T. is a film to put on last thing at night when you’re just a bit too tired for a full feature. You’ll doze off somewhere in the middle act, not remember it in the morning, and no harm will have been done.

I.T. / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: JOHN MOORE / SCREENPLAY: DAN KAY, WILLIAM WISHER / STARRING: PIERCE BROSNAN, JAMES FRECHVILLE, ANNA FRIEL, MICHAEL NYQVIST / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

What a fitting time this is for Alex Helfrecht and Jörg Tittel’s debut film to arrive. In an age where the actions of a newly-elected president result in the headlines painting what appears to be a prototype-dystopia that grows more vivid with each headline, The White King’s own brand of dystopian storytelling is all too vivid, even if at moments it struggles to find its own voice. The White King opens with an animated title sequence that features a generic, overpopulated metropolis crumble to dust thanks to an onslaught revolution marching over them. It recalls Pink Floyd’s The Wall’s marching hammers, but the same impact isn’t quite there.

Once the titles conclude however, the film itself begins, and ninety minutes later, we’re left with an intimate, sobering look at a film that veers between coming-of-age drama, political thriller, and vague science fiction. The White King avoids collapsing into feeling like a confusing mould of these genres however thanks to its emphasis on character. Our hero, schoolboy Djata, embarks on a rich, rewarding journey of growth as we witness his father, Peter, captured and imprisoned for daring to speak against the totalitarian government, The Homeland, Djata is growing up in.

We see this broken, unsettling world through his eyes. Much is hinted at but rarely resolved. We never know what caused this Orwellian-society to rise. We don’t know what exactly Peter was retaliating against that caused his imprisonment. We don’t even know the fate of Peter, Djata and his mother Hannah as the end credits roll. But does any of that really matter? It’s a testament to Alex and Jörg as filmmakers that they make the lack of a Hollywood-filter work for The White King. In an age where Hunger Games and Marvel emphasise the entertainment factor of dictatorships, The White King stands tall, defiant, and welcoming to the genre. Since when were dictatorships meant to be entertaining anyway?

That defiant stance is another jewel in The White King’s crown, especially in how fearless it is. The film’s story of Djata learning to survive in, and eventually retaliate against, the Homeland ripples with cold yet immersive tension. However, the story exudes natural confidence in its execution of that tension. It knows exactly when to pull you in and push you back. Locations in the film are sparse and barren, that opening sequence being the sole indicator of a metropolis within the world of The White King. That’s no bad thing however, the visuals of The White King serve as another cold, tense weapon in Jörg and Alex’s arsenal.

The vagueness of The White King can’t be underestimated however. Whilst such explanations stated above don’t detract from the film’s overall quality, your own enjoyment of the film could depend on how prepared you are to fill in the gaps The White King leaves for you. And trust us, thereare gaps. The White King carries with it an abstract conclusion that encourages, but not demands, you to continue thinking once the credits have rolled. And what better time to think about what The White King has to say? Bursting at the seams with intriguing concepts of morality, razor-sharp performances from its cast, and pieced together via some precise, sublime directing, The White King is a wonderfully troubled film for a not-so-wonderfully troubled world.

THE WHITE KING / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: ALEX HELFRECHT, JÖRG TITTEL / STARRING: LORENZO ALLCHURCH, JONATHAN PRYCE, OLIVIA WILLIAMS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

As movie legend has it, Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garret and Billy the Kid was taken away from him by a studio frustrated by spiralling production costs and delays and edited down for a release that would bomb at the box office. It wasn’t uncommon for his films to fall prey to studio interference. So for his next film, 1974’s Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia, Peckinpah shot in Mexico on a low budget so that he could keep control of the final film. It didn’t change his fortunes and was another financial failure and critics dismissed it (viciously in some cases). Like many a film, time has been kinder to Garcia and while it has picked up the prerequisite cult following, it’s also managed a serious critical re-evaluation.

 

Teresa is the young daughter of crime boss El Jefe. He’s not happy someone has dishonoured her and the family by getting her pregnant. When she reveals (under duress) the name of her baby’s father it’s Alfredo Garcia. This is a further personal betrayal for the old man and he quickly makes it known anyone who brings him Garcia’s head is in line for a cool $1m reward. Here enters Warren Oates as Bennie, a piano player in a bar with few prospects. He encounters two of the hitmen on the hunt for Garcia and they tip him there’s money in finding Alfredo. The thing is, Bennie knows Garcia is already dead, so it’s just going to be a simple task of finding the body and bringing El Jefe his bounty, right? So begins a twisted road trip that will mean violence for pretty much everyone involved.

 

Garcia is from the period in Peckinpah’s career where the often brutally violent mixed with an elegiac machismo. That’s certainly part of this film, but it’s also a strange, disturbingly beguiling blend of oddball, unhealthy love story and black comedy. Oates, an underrated actor, is outstanding as the seedy, steadily more unhinged Bennie, who’s deranged plan falls apart around him. Garcia remains an entirely unusual film and will not be to all tastes, not least in the still problematic way Peckinpah handles his female characters. For everyone who comes away from it certain it’s a masterpiece (not quite for us, but close), there’ll likely be just as many that are convinced it’s anything but.

 

A word on Arrow’s release for this Blu-ray: it’s truly outstanding stuff and a goldmine for any Peckinpah enthusiast or film lover. There’s the superlative documentary on the director (Sam Peckinpah: Man of Iron) in here amongst other welcome and substantial extras providing context for the film that make this a highly recommended release.

 

BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: SAM PECKINPAH / SCREENPLAY: SAM PECKINPAH, GORDON DAWSON / STARRING: WARREN OATES, ISELA VEGA, ROBERT WEBBER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

Tyler Perry has a reputation for making films that aren’t very good. The Madea movies are scoffed at among cinephiles and you can see why – they’re like a cross-pollination of the latter-day Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy films most people tend to agree aren’t going to win Best Picture anytime soon. That said, despite their questionable quality, there’s something fascinating and entertaining about the Madea movies which ensure they’re never boring, and Boo! A Madea Halloween is no different.

 

The movie sees Perry play a host of characters, including the titular Madea, an elderly woman who flashes her sagging breasts at college kids and allows for them to touch her. Here, our hero is called in to watch a group of teenagers to ensure that they don’t end up at a party, but babysitting rebellious kids turns out to be the least of her problems when all sorts of spooky hocus pocus starts to happen. For nearly two hours, Boo! A Madea Halloween manages to be full of surprises – and that’s a compliment. Peppered with outlandish scenario after outlandish scenario, the effects are more akin to a fever dream than a cinematic experience. If you can imagine Big Momma’s House and Goosebumps mixed into a batch of marijuana-induced brownie mix, then that’s close to the effect of Boo! A Madea Hallloween. We don’t know how anybody could have devised this script sober, but in some bizarre way it works. Throw in some wholesome family values and straight-laced soap opera drama and Boo! turns out to be a strange concoction like no other.

 

Overall, this isn’t going to win Tyler Perry any new fans, but it’s the type of mindless entertainment that hits the spot just nicely after a long day when you want to turn your brain off and immerse yourself in some unabashed stupidity. We’re not sure whether Tyler Perry is an evil genius or the current incarnation of the Antichrist, but if you just roll with him you might find yourself smitten by his charms.

 

BOO! A MADEA HALLOWEEN / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: TYLER PERRY / STARRING: TYLER PERRY, CASSI DAVIS, PATRICE LOVELY / RELEASE DATE: 6TH FEBRUARY

 

Do we really need another horror film full of moronic teens who, for reasons beyond all sanity, bring a whole lot of supernatural malevolent mumbo-jumbo down upon themselves? Jeffrey Hunt clearly believes that to be the case and so we have Satanic, a film so unwittingly confused and pointless as to be unworthy of generating any emotive response.

 

For reasons as baffling as they are boring, four spring-breakers have embarked on a tour of Los Angeles’ supernatural hotspots as opposed to heading to Coachella with the majority of their friends. We say friends, but it’s difficult to imagine four of the most irritating human beings ever to be portrayed on film having any, but we’ll let that go for now. At least they’ll be killed soon, won’t they? Won’t they??

 

After booking a room where someone gorily committed suicide, stalking what they believe is a devil worshipping cult, and picking up a clearly insane waif and stray, the group are having an impromptu party. After some weary pseudo-sexual titillation, their guest goes crazy, spouting prophecies that only end when she slits her own throat. What follows is a spin through various devil inspired clichés before we arrive at a finale as confusing as it is dull.

 

While watching Satanic may make you feel time has ground to a halt, Hunt has thankfully placed an X-Files-style time stamp on the screen, which at least lets you know the world is thankfully still turning. The problem is, nothing at all in Satanic is either original or interesting enough to make the sub-ninety-minute running time pass with any semblance of fun. The characters, especially Justin Chon’s preposterously stereotypical goth Seth who smacks of lazy writing, are too irritating. For a horror film to work the audience must be able to connect in some way with either the protagonist or the antagonist, whether rightly or wrongly. No connection means no interest, and all you’re now doing is hoping that when they finally get their comeuppance it happens in a bloody and entertaining manner. In Satanic, even that morsel of hope is kept from us.

 

In a few months, Satanic will be found occupying the depths of Netflix’s genre recommendations, but do not be fooled. This is not a film worth a moment’s consideration. There are just too many teen supernatural thrillers out there to waste time on the bad ones, and this is a really bad one.

 

SATANIC / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: JEFFREY HUNT / SCREENPLAY: ANTHONY JASWINKSI / STARRING: SARAH HYLAND, STEVEN KRUEGER, JUSTIN CHON / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
 

Naruto Shippuden Box 27 covers the last thirteen episodes of season 15 of the long running anime. It picks up at a point where the characters are in the middle of a great war, and the tone of the episodes reflects that. Naruto Shippuden is dark, but it isn’t gritty. The themes and issues present within the episode always feel like they are treated as they deserve, without the need for the mood to be forced or to be either cheesy, or overly serious.

 

These episodes also have a reflective quality to them. There are several points among the episodes in which characters have long overdue talks about their past, and the Nine-Tails even tells everyone what it thinks of Naruto. Long time fans will particularly appreciate the conversation that Sasuke has with his brother, and the return of a certain character whose identity won’t be spoiled in this review.

 

The episodes move at a good pace, and there is generally a good mixture of action and dialogue amongst them. The only time this balance really fails is when one of the characters explains one of their techniques (or jitsus as they are called in the anime). As appreciated as the explanations are, they do tend to get close to being lectures and this does interrupt the flow somewhat.

 

Another flaw in the pacing of the episodes is the appearance of filler. The filler isn’t bad, it provides backstory to one of the factions and is told well. The characters within the filler all benefit from solid characterisation, and the episodes have the feel of a classic tragedy to them. The problem is that the filler interrupts a battle that previous episodes spent so much time building up to. It is rather jarring when the battle stops in favour of episode after episode of backstory, with no mention of the transition. This filler affects this box in the same way it would have been affected if a handful of episodes had been taken from another season and mixed in with the other episodes present in this collection.

 

Naruto Shippuden Box 27 brings closure to old story lines, and allows previously written off characters a chance to have a final moment in the spotlight. It also sows the seeds of new storylines, with the revelation of a certain character’s identity, and the exploration of how he is connected to the already established cast. Some episodes feel more like an interruption than an addition but they make up for that by being engaging character pieces. Overall the episodes within are good additions to the series and are well worth watching.

 

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN BOX 27 / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: HAYATO DATE / WRITERS: VARIOUS / STARRING: MAILE FLANAGAN, YURI LOWENTHAL, DAVE WITTENBERG, SKIP STELLRECHT / RELEASE DATE: 6TH FEBRUARY

 

There are films that push the boundaries of cinema, forcing you to appraise them as individual art forms, unlike anything you may have seen previously. This could be due to their intentional ambiguity, boundary pushing content or thought-provoking imagery. Other films aspire to be as impactful, filling their runtime with over-stylised scenes demanding attention like a screaming child. We Are The Flesh is the latter, but it so, so desperately wants to be taken seriously.

 

The plot, such as it is, revolves around a pair of siblings stumbling into an abandoned building occupied by a “visionary” troll-like man. Through emotional manipulation and threat, he forces the siblings to indulge in acts of depravity, supposedly with a higher purpose at stake.

 

As an exercise in heightened visuals We Are The Flesh is startling, with director Emiliano Rocha Minter constantly challenging his audience, daring them to turn away from the macabre kaleidoscope of brutality he has put on film. Incest, sexual abuse, insanity and extreme violence all feature as the destructive threesome lurch from one quasi-religious horror to the next, all set against a palette of bloody colours. Minter clearly has an eye for bold expression, as barely a moment passes without something truly “memorable” taking place.

 

The problem is that We Are The Flesh is so pretentiously overbearing in nature, figuratively sniffing its nose at anyone either confused or troubled by the content, before moving on to the next unfathomably ambiguous moment. Nothing at all makes any sense, and filling the time with more and more sexual depravity quickly creates a sense of frustration rather than the shock that you presume is the filmmaker’s intention. In many ways, this all feels like a missed opportunity. Minter has talent, but allowing his film to wander aimlessly towards its conclusion feels overtly arrogant.

 

There are questions to which no answer arrives: is Minter offering comment on the dark shadows that exit at the borders of today’s society? Is he alluding to repressed sexuality we keep hidden in our subconscious? Who knows? And sadly, by the film’s conclusion you are unlikely to care.

 

There is no doubt that if you make it to the end, We Are The Flesh is a film you will remember for a long time, if only in the forlorn hope of making some sense from the barbarism you have witnessed. It is likely Minter’s creation will garner a reputation among dedicated genre audiences, becoming a film spoken about in whispers with many too embarrassed to admit favouring it in fear of being forced to explain exactly what it is they like. If you do choose to watch it, and we can neither recommend you do or don’t, you have our respectful sympathy and admiration – just be prepared for an uncomfortable experience whatever your preference.

 

WE ARE THE FLESH / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: EMILIANO ROCHA MINTER / STARRING: NOE HERNÁNDEZ, MARÍA EVOLI, DIEGO GAMALIEL / RELEASE DATE: 13TH FEBRUARY

 

Legendary producer Roger Corman remains a name truly independent, with an output that would be the envy of most mainstream Hollywood Studios. His productions were the fertile training ground for many of today’s top film-makers, including James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd, who worked on his 1980 cult space classic Battle Beyond The Stars, which also launched the career of the late composer James Horner.

His 1962 production, Tower Of London, has been remastered by Arrow Films. Originally released by United Artists and shot in black and white (according to an interview with Corman on an extra on the Blu-Ray edition, the studio insisted on this because of economic reasons, even though Corman said that the American International productions of the Poe adaptations he had been making were still cheap enough to be released in colour). That said, the black and white does add something to the overall atmosphere of this offering, which takes elements of Shakespeare’s Richard III and transcends them to a gothic horror yarn.

Something bad is afoot in the year of Our Lord, 1483. Who better than Vincent Price in the lead, as the Duke of Gloucester, out to get the throne when his dying brother, King Edward IV, names his brother Clarence as the heir to the throne. Richard is understandably hurt by this development, which he demonstrates by stabbing Edward literally in the back with a dagger bearing the crest of the Woodville family in-laws in a plot to frame them, dumping him in a barrel of water. However, his dark determination doesn’t end there, as he also goes after Edward’s widow’s lady-in-waiting, Mistress Shore, to cajole her into stating the two children of the dead King are illegitimate to ensure he gets the throne for himself….

The Art Director on this film was one Daniel Haller, who later went on to direct the 1979 theatrical pilot of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, one of numerous television-based works he was to do later on in his career. His work here is pretty good and captures the atmosphere, context and essence of the story.

Part of your desire on whether to embrace Tower Of London does boil down to how much you believe horror legend Price in the lead role of Richard. That could be like when you watch Morecambe and Wise doing their comedic variations on classic works in their Christmas specials. Price actually is pretty good in the role and part of the joy of watching this is letting him do his thing, as you are expecting him to do something macabre and horrific based on his work in the likes of The Fly and House Of Wax.

Tower Of London is classic horror hokum at it’s best and well worth a look if you are backtracking on classic Price and Corman.

TOWER OF LONDON / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: ROGER CORMAN / SCREENPLAY: LEO GORDON, F. AMOS POWELL, ROBERT E. KENT / STARRING: VINCENT PRICE, MICHAEL PATE, ROBERT BROWN / RELEASE DATE: 13TH FEBRUARY