Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

British fantasy, Doctor Who aside, doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. Poke around online geek circles and you’ll see a lot of chatter about swanky American productions like Game of Thrones, but not so many of us seem to have been watching Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, a seven-part miniseries from our very own BBC. Which is a shame, as it’s really rather good, and hardly lacking in ambition…

Based on Susanna Clarke’s novel, Strange and Norrell begins in England, 1806 – as the Napoleonic wars rage on, magic, which was widely practiced three hundred years ago, has fallen into disuse. Enter our title characters, the two magicians who will bring magic back to England. The thing is, they can’t always get on. Norrell (Marsan) is a scholar, believing no spell should be performed until dozens of related books have been thoroughly studied, while his pupil Strange (Carvel) just wants to skip straight to the cool stuff. It’s high school chemistry all over again.

Thanks to top performances from the dashing Carvel and the more restrained Marsan, plus a great script from Peter Harness (Doctor Who, Wallander), the shifting power dynamic between the two leads is the heart of the series; it’s a friendship torn apart by Norrell’s conservatism and Strange’s daring, as his willingness to really dabble in the risky stuff allows Strange to rise through the ranks and soon become the Duke of Wellington’s favoured magician.

A wide range of fascinating characters surround these two; there’s the street magician with his odd prophecies, the politician’s wife who goes insane after returning from the dead, the enslaved butler told he’s destined for greatness, and to really muck things up, there’s a fairy on the loose, with a ludicrously large quiff that makes it clear his intentions can’t be good.

It’s an expansive tale, taking place over many years and in many countries, and it’s clearly had good money thrown at it, looking very nice for a BBC production (better even than some of the more ambitious Doctor Who episodes). The first episode’s set piece in the beautiful York Minster sets the tone, but it’s the later Battle of Waterloo sequence that really sticks in the mind; kudos here goes to the very impressive VFX work and to director Toby Haynes (another Who alum).

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is a great achievement for the BBC – a gripping, stylish miniseries, full of weird and wonderful characters, that’s worthy of being ranked alongside Game of Thrones as the best genre television of the year. Now it’s out on DVD and Blu-ray, shut down Netflix for a few hours and give British fantasy the love it deserves.

Extras: BTS Feature / Deleted Scenes / Bloopers

JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR NORRELL / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: TOBY HAYNES / SCREENPLAY: PETER HARNESS / STARRING: EDDIE MARSAN, BERTIE CARVEL, CHARLOTTE RILEY, MARC WARREN / RELEASE DATE: JUNE 29TH

The debut feature from Debbie Tucker Green, Second Coming follows Jax (Marshall) and Mark (Elba), a couple living with their 11-year-old son; Jax has had a history of miscarriages, but has discovered that she is pregnant. This conflicts her, not because of the problems she has faced in the past, but due to the fact that her and her husband have become physically estranged from each other, making the pregnancy inexplicable.

So, the story is primarily centred on this woman caught in a position in which she’s unable to tell to her husband, the tensions that come about as a result of that, and the way in which the family copes through it. Yet, within this low-key drama, there’s a central question about how all this happened, what’s going on between this dysfunctional family, and whether or not it is really possible that this problem can be properly resolved.

The film plays out over the months of pregnancy, and the film juxtaposes these low-key scenes of intimacy and domesticity with some small, strange hallucinatory episodes where Jax enters the bathroom from time to time and starts to experience visions of erupting showers of water; almost as if what she’s experiencing is either some form of baptism or deluge. As it goes on, you begin to question if they are dreams, nightmares, hallucinations, or visions. Also, the film touches on the probabilities of miracles and whether or not they can either become a blessing, a curse or possibly both, despite being an everyday occurrence. Throughout the drama, Jackie becomes resolutely non-communicative on the subject of what she thinks is going on, and she’s continually approached by people that are demanding her to tell them and make them understand even though she doesn’t want to.

In many ways, Second Coming deals and tackles, in a very deep and emotional way, the subjects and themes of interpersonal family tensions, the tensions of pregnancy, disconnected estrangements within a marriage, and how a child deals with the possibilities of another child. On that level, the film is wonderfully natural, very down-to-earth and honest, and the performances are sublime with the highly nuanced Nadine Marshall in particular being both engaging and evasive. Idris Elba also convincingly embodies the disorientating rage his character has as a result of being completely shut out from his partner’s own troubled world, and rising star Francis Lewis does a superb job of communicating young JJ’s personal fears of being both the outsider and the interloper in a chaotic environment. However, the film also has this other element to it that is almost supernatural, and it allows the audience to make up their own mind about what’s happening on screen, if it’s natural or psychological.

To some extent, there are clear echoes of the great works of Mike Leigh and Ken Loach in its approach to honest human drama, and through brilliant direction and an emotionally compelling story, Debbie Tucker Green isn’t afraid of tackling weighty themes and subjects in a raw and honest fashion. Second Coming is a special kind of film, being wonderfully ambiguous, very warm, honest and human, yet almost transcendent and has the power to capture anyone’s imagination.

SECOND COMING / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: DEBBIE TUCKER GREEN / STARRING: NADINE MARSHALL, IDRIS ELBA, KAI FRANCIS LEWIS / RELEASE DATE: JULY 6TH

 

KILL LA KILL – COLLECTOR’S EDITION PART 3 OF 3

From studio Trigger, who brought you the equally bombastic and visually enthralling Gurren Lagann, is the explosive shounen satire Kill la Kill. Its distinctive art style is simultaneously throwback and novel in a series that’s the animated equivalent of ADHD. Put simply, Kazuki Nakashima’s brainchild centres on vagabond high schooler Ryuko Matoi searching for her dad’s killer. Armed with her scissor blade, she comes to Honnouji Academy where the students, led by the dictator-like Satsuki Kiryuin, wear Goku uniforms which grant them abilities and strength.

The third and final entry in the collector’s Blu-ray editions may only contain the last five episodes (plus the OVA), but fortunately it’s the best part of the series. The climactic collection is packed with familial revelations in the violent melodrama of Ryuko’s life. Over the course of her vengeance quest, Ryuko wins the viewer over with aplomb as the figurehead of a motley crew of characters as ridiculous as they are loveable.

Although the series winds up the overblown tropes of shounen (the convoluted action and transformation sequences in particular), it has its pervy cake and eats it. Sure, it frames the outrageous outfits and unflattering transformations as satire, but it’s still there and present like the harem shows relishing echhi it purports to lampoon. It’ll put off plenty of viewers but, taken with a pinch of salt, it’s pretty hilarious just how excessive the creative team take it.

Despite that, Kill la Kill is deceptively clever, offering a skewering look at the darker side of the fashion industry and, if you can look past the gratuitous fan service, body image. It’s inflected with themes of homogenisation and identity, alongside the usual suspects of friendship and perseverance, but you’d be fool to take it completely seriously.

At this stage in the series, Kill la Kill has shed a lot of its goofy skin and sticks to its convictions, morphing into something altogether darker and more unhinged, an apocalyptic and psychedelic tale that doesn’t scrimp on light relief or the imaginatively concealed nudity. It’ll set you back a small fortune, but with the best of the series to hand, plus the OVA and art booklet, you’d be hard pressed not to snaffle it up.

Special Features: Kill la Kill Digest Naked Memories by Aikuro Mikisugi / Clean opening / Clean closing / OVA Episode 25 / 132-page booklet

INFO: KILL LA KILL – COLLECTOR’S EDITION PART 3 OF 3 / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: HIROYUKI IMAISHI / SCREENPLAY: KAZUKI NAKASHIMA / STARRING: AMI KOSHIMIZU, RYOKA YUZUKI, ROMI PARK, YUKARI TAMURA / RELEASE DATE: JUNE 29TH

Jupiter Ascending contains one extremely rare cinematic event; Sean Bean surviving to the end! Spoiler perhaps?

In truth, nothing could be said in this review that would prepare you for the preposterous sci-fi porn that The Wachowski’s have unleashed on an unprepared world. Supercharged dog soldiers (we’ll get to that) and toilet-cleaning royalty populate this shamelessly over-the-top space opera that wants desperately to be The Matrix meets Alice in Wonderland but ends up being something else entirely. Think more Titan A.E. spliced with a little John Carter.

While cleaning houses with her family, Jupiter Jones (Kunis) learns that she is the recurrence (think exact physical reincarnation without the cerebral connection) of intergalactic nobility. As she is the only one who can prevent the Earth becoming part of some huge cosmic industry her life is in mortal danger and she must rely on help from former legionnaire extraordinaire Caine Wise (Tatum), a man who shares DNA with a wolf, to save the population.

Despite the multitude of issues with Jupiter Ascending, including the cosmetically inspired central plot, there is one thing it certainly does not lack and that is ambition. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy has proven without doubt that audiences are prepared to accept fantastical concepts and bizarre characters if they are made to empathise with them, to feel something when they win or lose. With Jupiter Ascending, the overriding feeling you have while watching is that everything is just unfathomably stupid. The characters are so shallow that only a ridiculous amount of overacting (we’re looking at you Eddie Redmayne) or stereotypical brooding (Tatum) can generate even a flicker of interest. As for the dialogue the now infamous “I like dogs” scene will haunt movie highlights shows for years to come and must give poor Mila Kunis nightmares.

The sad thing is that, despite or even because of the stupidity, Jupiter Ascending is actually pretty good fun. Stunning, although at times confusing, visuals give vibrant life to the off-world settings, the spaceships are beautifully designed with indulgent grandeur and there is some interesting originality to be found in the film’s ‘splicing’ theories; although Sean Bean’s Stinger doesn’t seem to benefit too much from his connection with bees. Go with it and this is a film that can be enjoyed for its failings and there can be no argument concerning the bravery of its filmmakers.

Given the spectacular nature of the film this Blu-ray disappointingly only comes with several standard featurettes that offer only a very routine peek behind the curtains of the filmmaking process. Many years ago when a ‘making of’ program would appear on television for Star Wars and the like, it would be filled with industry secrets and insider information. Today, with the abundance of material now available, the extras on a DVD need to offer something new and, apart from several interesting interview pieces with the Wachowski’s, nothing here offers any real insight.

Jupiter Ascending is without doubt the auteur directors most Wizard of Oz influenced film to date with themes of home and belonging to the fore but perhaps these more obvious references are to the film’s detriment. This isn’t a boring film, the ridiculousness of the performances will engage you if nothing else, but it isn’t as good as it could and should have been.

JUPITER ASCENDING / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: ANDY WACHOWSKI, LANA WACHOWSKI / STARRING: CHANNING TATUM, MILA KUNIS, EDDIE REDMAYNE, SEAN BEAN / RELEASE DATE: JUNE 29TH
 

OUT OF THE DARK

Looking forward to an exciting new adventure, Sarah (Julia Stiles) and husband Paul (Scott Speedman) move to Colombia with their young daughter to take over the running of the family’s manufacturing plant from Sarah’s father, Jordan (Stephen Rea). Pretty soon after arriving, they begin to notice some curious goings-on as a gang of partially burned children inconveniently turn up bent on revenge.

Watching Lluís Quílez’s debut feature Out of the Dark quickly becomes a wearily familiar experience. There are so many routine and too-often-used horror tropes scattered throughout the film that it would be more interesting as a game of horror bingo than as a viewing experience. Scarred malevolent children? Check. Sinister and unnecessary dumb waiter? Check. Superstitious locals? BINGO. You get the idea.

There is a nagging feeling that this is a film made by simply connecting genre dots with the hope that the finished image is worth all the effort. Not one thing is either as imaginative or original as the far superior and similarly themed films such as The Orphanage and The Devil’s Backbone (coincidentally both Guillermo del Toro productions), both of which are unsuccessfully tapped for inspiration.

You also begin to wonder while watching what the cast thought of the finished cut. Stiles is an extremely accomplished actress but here is given so little to do as to be almost unnoticeable, until the final act when she gets to scream and run around a bit. Speedman appears to be demonstrating how not to convey emotion, and Rea might as well be walking around with a huge sign in red neon above his head that screams “Bad Guy!”

This leads on to the “big theme”, a hideously blunt eco-message hammered home in the film about the unpleasant consequences of industrialisation leading to a conspiratorially covered up disaster. This storyline becomes evident very early on in Out of the Dark and it seems the filmmakers were presented with a choice; stick with the horror film they had spent time setting up or switch into more thriller-like territory. Sadly it would appear they balked at making any decision and disappointingly for the viewer the film falls into a bland, limbo state somewhere in the middle.

Visually the film looks very stylish, with good camerawork and decent scary child makeup effects, but these minor plusses cannot instil the necessary atmosphere required to raise the film above the distinctly average. Given the number of ghostly children films that exist, entering this sub-genre was always going to be a risk and is one that hasn’t worked out. For an estimated budget of around $10 million and with a strong cast it, would have been reasonable to have expected so much more from Out of the Dark. Sadly for Quílez, he simply hasn’t delivered.

Special Features: Featurette

INFO: OUT OF THE DARK / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: LLUIS QUILEZ / SCREENPLAY: JAVIER GULLON, DAVID PASTOR, ALEX PASTOR / STARRING: JULIA STILES, SCOTT SPEEDMAN, STEPHEN REA, PIXIE DAVIES / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
 
 

OUT OF THE DARK

Looking forward to an exciting new adventure, Sarah (Julia Stiles) and husband Paul (Scott Speedman) move to Colombia with their young daughter to take over the running of the family’s manufacturing plant from Sarah’s father, Jordan (Stephen Rea). Pretty soon after arriving, they begin to notice some curious goings-on as a gang of partially burned children inconveniently turn up bent on revenge.

Watching Lluís Quílez’s debut feature Out of the Dark quickly becomes a wearily familiar experience. There are so many routine and too-often-used horror tropes scattered throughout the film that it would be more interesting as a game of horror bingo than as a viewing experience. Scarred malevolent children? Check. Sinister and unnecessary dumb waiter? Check. Superstitious locals? BINGO. You get the idea.

There is a nagging feeling that this is a film made by simply connecting genre dots with the hope that the finished image is worth all the effort. Not one thing is either as imaginative or original as the far superior and similarly themed films such as The Orphanage and The Devil’s Backbone (coincidentally both Guillermo del Toro productions), both of which are unsuccessfully tapped for inspiration.

You also begin to wonder while watching what the cast thought of the finished cut. Stiles is an extremely accomplished actress but here is given so little to do as to be almost unnoticeable, until the final act when she gets to scream and run around a bit. Speedman appears to be demonstrating how not to convey emotion, and Rea might as well be walking around with a huge sign in red neon above his head that screams “Bad Guy!”

This leads on to the “big theme”, a hideously blunt eco-message hammered home in the film about the unpleasant consequences of industrialisation leading to a conspiratorially covered up disaster. This storyline becomes evident very early on in Out of the Dark and it seems the filmmakers were presented with a choice; stick with the horror film they had spent time setting up or switch into more thriller-like territory. Sadly it would appear they balked at making any decision and disappointingly for the viewer the film falls into a bland, limbo state somewhere in the middle.

Visually the film looks very stylish, with good camerawork and decent scary child makeup effects, but these minor plusses cannot instil the necessary atmosphere required to raise the film above the distinctly average. Given the number of ghostly children films that exist, entering this sub-genre was always going to be a risk and is one that hasn’t worked out. For an estimated budget of around $10 million and with a strong cast it, would have been reasonable to have expected so much more from Out of the Dark. Sadly for Quílez, he simply hasn’t delivered.

Special Features: Featurette

INFO: OUT OF THE DARK / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: LLUIS QUILEZ / SCREENPLAY: JAVIER GULLON, DAVID PASTOR, ALEX PASTOR / STARRING: JULIA STILES, SCOTT SPEEDMAN, STEPHEN REA, PIXIE DAVIES / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
 
 

Albert Serra’s Story of My Death isn’t the longest film you will ever see, but at times it will certainly feel like it. A great deal of intellectual posturing and pontificating could analyse Serra’s doom-laden fable as something to be elevated to a position of artful respect and adoration, a piece of work only truly appreciated by those with the capacity to fully discern and understand what the Catalonian auteur is saying about the mortality of life. In reality, it’s all a bit dull.

Billed as a meeting between an ageing Casanova (Vincenç Altaió) and Dracula (Eliseu Huertas), who actually don’t cross paths until the final scenes, Story of My Death is an atmospheric portrayal of man’s understanding of his own existence in the face of growing old, or so it would have you believe. Ageing lothario Casanova delivers pearls of wisdom to his manservant and a young writer in long, turgid scenes that would question the staying power of the most afflicted insomniac. Monologues of only a few lines are achingly stretched over several minutes (it will feel longer) as Casanova flits between moments of maniacal, unprompted laughter and morbid self-assessment. When Dracula finally does make an entrance (possibly the most low-key entrance the character has ever made as our first glimpse is of him sitting quietly on a riverbank in daylight) some 80 minutes or so in to add a different perspective on the life/death balance, most viewers will have given up, their patience tested beyond reasonable limits.

If it is Serra’s intention to provoke and torment his audience, and his back catalogue including curious biblical drama Birdsong suggests this trait, then he has succeeded. Story of My Death follows no routine genre conventions, actively railing against them at times, as it meanders along a narrative structure that is frustratingly incoherent. Early scenes of dusty parlours and ruffled gentry give way to country life that would appear to be populated by ignorant farmers and desperate maidens unable to resist the charms of either an ageing lothario or the least charismatic vampire ever committed to film.

This is a film that carries itself with weighty pretension, challenging the viewer to decipher its faux-complexity and then laughing mockingly at any failed attempt. There is a confidence in its eccentricity that too quickly becomes arrogant, ignoring any identifiable plot and insisting the viewer fills in the blanks; too often to be done with yawns. The curiosity is that it all feels so deliberate, as if this is exactly the film Serra has set out to make; not for an audience but for the kind of critics and academics for whom this type of filmmaking is to be applauded, it being beyond the comprehension of us normal folk.

Visually beautiful, even interestingly constructed but tediously dull and stupor-inducingly unapproachable. If you choose to watch Story of My Death then don’t say you haven’t been warned.

INFO: STORY OF MY DEATH / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: ALBERT SERRA / STARRING: VINCENÇ ALTAIO, LLUIS SERRAT, ELISEU HUERTAS, NOELIA RODENAS / RELEASE DATE: JUNE 29TH

 

CHAPPiE

Two features on from his sparkling 2009 debut District 9 and Neill Blomkamp is still struggling to properly establish himself as the imaginative, visionary talent promised by his first movie. 2013’s Elysium dissolved into a rather limp by-the-numbers action movie and now CHAPPiE, an exploration of what could happen if artificial intelligence suddenly becomes more than just artificial, never finds its feet due to its dizzyingly uneven tone, ghastly supporting characters and a titular robot who really should have been turned into ornamental ashtrays at the earliest possible opportunity.

Blomkamp returns to the Johannesburg stamping ground brought to life so vividly in District 9. In the near future robot droids are the custodians of law and order, and their developer, scientist Deon Wilson (Dev Patel) has created a form of artificial intelligence which he’s keen to test on one of the droids. But his boss Michelle Bradley (Sigourney Weaver) won’t hear of it and meanwhile rival robot technician Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman, who chooses to play most of his scenes wearing horribly unflattering khaki shorts) is frustrated because his giant enforcement robot Moose (think ED-209 from the original RoboCop) is sitting gathering dust. Deon sneaks off with a recently-decommissioned damaged robot but he’s hi-jacked by a bunch of gangsters and forced to reprogramme the robot (renamed Chappie by one of the gangsters because he’s…a cheeky chappie) into a machine they can use to help them pull off robberies so they can pay off a debt to another gangster. Once reprogrammed, Chappie becomes a terrified, petulant, inquisitive child and, to say the least, a bit of a handful.

Technically CHAPPiE is a hugely-impressive achievement. The robot him/itself is realised not by Motion Capture but largely by Copley acting out the role in a bodysuit before being overlaid with the beautifully-detailed robot animation and once again Blomkamp has brought to the screen a gritty, grimy overpopulated Johannesburg riddled with crime, squalor and decay. The visual aesthetic is impeccable but the film stumbles because it’s just so damned noisy and many of its lead characters are either deeply unlikable or just plain unsympathetic.

CHAPPiE himself is, frankly, an absolute pain in the robotic rear. Blomkamp regular Copley’s physical performance as Chappie is wiry and angular but his vocal performance makes the creature so irritating you’ll want to take a screwdriver (or even a blowtorch) to him as soon as he’s up and about and running around screeching and wailing like a three-year-old drowning in a vat of Sunny Delight. Things get worse once he’s press-ganged into service by a bunch of wild-eyed gangsters played by South African rap collective Die Antwoord – specifically lead singer Watkin Tudor Jones (calling himself Ninja) and ‘band‘ member Yo-landi Visser. To call their performances terrible would be to ennoble them and the film’s soundtrack thunders with the cacophonic din of hardcore rap and metal which, to anyone who likes a nice tune where you can hear the words, is the living definition of purgatory.

So CHAPPiE is pretty much on the backfoot from the outset with a lead character you want to hit over the head with a hammer and baddies who are little more than ranting, unbelievable caricatures. It’s left to Dev Patel to struggle to give the film some emotional balance and Hugh Jackman to chew up the scenery as the sneery Moore who finally gets to play with his MOOSE (as it were) in the film’s final act. And it’s the final act where CHAPPiE finally flies (not literally). The action sequences here are frenetic and adrenalised and surprisingly violent and, extraordinarily, the climax even manages to engender some sympathy for CHAPPiE as his unrechargeable battery begins to run out of power and he and Deon race against time to find another robotic host for his artificial consciousness.

In the final analysis, CHAPPiE isn’t totally crappy but it’s just too scrappy for an audience to be happy with its exploration of the nature of AI and – groan – what it means to be human. Beneath all the noise and fury, which presently signify nothing, there’s probably a mature and thought-provoking story waiting to be told but it’s lost in a welter of bad acting, simplistic moralising and a robot star who makes Futurama’s Bender look like a model of sophistication and contemplative restraint. Enjoy Blomkamps’s stylish direction, the awesome FX and the last fifteen minutes; the rest of the film, like Chappie himself, can cheerfully be consigned to the scrapheap.

Special Features: Eight featurettes / Scene deconstruction / Extended scene / Alternate ending / Photo gallery

INFO: CHAPPiE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: NEILL BLOMKAMP / SCREENPLAY: NEILL BLOMKAMP, TERRI TATCHELL / STARRING: SHARLTO COPLEY, DEV PATEL, HUGH JACKMAN, SIGOURNEY WEAVER / RELEASE DATE: JULY 6TH (BLU-RAY), JULY 13TH (DVD)

 

CHILDREN OF SORROW

There is a great deal to like about Jourdan McClure’s Children of Sorrow and a great deal to be disappointed with. Religious cultism will always be of interest and offers filmmakers real opportunity to create claustrophobic and atmospheric intrigue around a subject we all think we know and yet will never fully understand. McClure almost, almost succeeds but there are sadly just too many plot holes and contrivances to make his film work.

In looking for her missing sister, Ellen (Hannah Levien) becomes involved in what appears to be a small, largely misunderstood religious community, isolated from the world somewhere near the U.S./Mexico border. As the viewer, we are aware from the outset that charismatic leader Simon Leach (Bill Oberst Jr.) is a fraud; a serial killer who establishes these communities for motives never fully explained but seemingly with the sole intent of murdering everyone who attends.

As events turn from the suspicious to the sinister, Ellen discovers more about herself than she ever thought or feared.

The brooding malevolence that is generated in the first half of Children of Sorrow through subtle inferences and a superbly creepy central performance from horror veteran Oberst Jr. develops into a story that becomes increasingly confused as it tries to shock and disturb the audience. Leach has been established as a terrifyingly dangerous fake from the beginning, a man manipulating and deviously influencing his disciples to brainwash them into welcoming what he calls a “transition”. As such, the film could have spent less time further emphasising his mental instability and more on developing the other characters. Set over just 40 days, the changes in personalities feel too dramatic. These are vulnerable people, that is never in doubt, but Ellen, who arrived as a rational woman seeking answers, becomes deeply connected with Leach, forgetting her initial reason for being there altogether. There would seem to be no reason why a longer time period couldn’t have been utilised and this would have allowed the brainwashing process more depth and conviction.

The violence that occurs also feels too easy, as if the filmmakers reached a point where they thought they had the audience on-side and simply flipped a switch, changing the film’s tone from one of grim portent to bloody slasher. One character simply runs away and is forgotten about, while others meet their end screaming yet strangely do not fight back.

As for the direction, this proves both brilliant and hugely irritating. Not billed as a found footage film, the camera feels unsure as everything is filmed by the characters. There is no need to dwell on the flaws in the filming premise, and it’s best just to ignore them and try and go with the film, but there is one question that just refuses to go away: Leach justifies the reason for filming the majority of the scenes but why does he then record the violence? For his own enjoyment perhaps? It’s something that never feels quite right.

All this seems very critical but only because Children of Sorrow promised so much. The cast members who are actually given something to do deliver brilliantly haunting performances, depicting both confusion and hope while ignoring the abuse and manipulation they are victims of. As a film depicting the dangers of fanaticism and cults, Children of Sorrow stands up favourably in comparison to Ti West’s The Sacrament and Mitchell Altieri’s Holy Ghost People. This is a film worth seeking out and one that does offer something different to the sub-genre. It’s just such a shame it doesn’t follow through on such a strong opening and do justice to the performances within.

INFO: CHILDREN OF SORROW / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: JOURDAN MCCLURE / SCREENPLAY: JOURDAN MCCLURE, RYAN FINNERTY / STARRING: BILL OBERST JR., HANNAH LEVIEN, WHITNEY NIELSEN, NICH KAUFFMAN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

WILD TALES

Why limit yourself to telling one story when you can tell six for the price of one? With that mission in mind, director Damián Szifrón has brought together a sextet of brilliant, barmy tales that pack in more invention, laughs and cathartic violence than any number of blockbusters combined.

The hysterically over-the-top anthology of short episodes that comprise Wild Tales feature a collection of diverse characters being pushed to their limits and spectacularly losing control by getting back in touch with their primal urges to survive and thrive by any means necessary. The disparate stories are only linked by their themes, as Szifrón forgets any Pulp Fiction-style interconnectedness and instead offers six completely separate, but totally satisfying dishes of revenge.

In a pre-credits sequence, a model catches a flight only to realise that all of the passengers on board have something in common. Then comes the tale of a waitress who is faced with a moral dilemma when the man responsible for the suicide of her father comes into her restaurant. Next up is the wonderfully violent encounter between a white collar driver who overtakes and abuses a redneck only to find himself stuck with a flat tyre further along the deserted highway. In the fourth story, a demolition expert has a run in with the authorities over a parking ticket, and in the fifth, a wealthy teen commits a hit and run, leaving his father to try and get him out of facing the consequences. Finally, and possibly wildest of all, a bride finds out on her wedding day that her new husband has been having an affair with one of the guests.

Anthologies, with their miniature stories and lack of an overall arc, can be unsatisfying. A subtitled one from Argentina sounds downright daunting. But any misgivings you may have about finding a copy of Wild Tales should be instantly dismissed. Szifrón has made an absolutely wild ride from start to finish and this Oscar nominee is an absolute must-see. Though sharing no characters or locations across stories, Wild Tales provides a surprisingly cohesive experience with its central theme offering a series of people pushed to their limits. It’s an absolute joy to watch them all explode, and best of all, with six short stories, you’re never far away from a vicious punch line or glorious outburst of violence.

With so many stories on offer, the writing is consistently witty, with incredibly well drawn characters set up in a matter of minutes. There are laugh out loud lines delivered by a wonderful cast, all just itching to get to the hysterical OTT payoffs. Obviously, some stories work better than others, but each has their own delicious and unique moments to savour. The opening episode on the plane is still brilliant, despite its laughs being sadly tainted by a recent true life tragedy. Each episode has an acerbic ending that will leave you giggling, even as Szifrón lines up his next surprise. The duel between the two men on the deserted road is one of the funniest scenes of the year so far; brutal, hilarious and continuously inventive. Similarly Wild Tales goes out with one hell of a bang with one of the best wedding receptions ever filmed.

From deep down in all this primal rage, heroes manage to emerge; the bride on her wedding night, the demolitions expert and even both men who fight by the roadside while their lives are in increasing danger. Many of these characters will make you want to cheer, but save the biggest applause for Szifrón whose marshalling of the performances, the music and the cinematography is perfect. Wild Tales may not get ten out of ten for all of its stories, but with its dazzling direction and audacious storytelling, it is clearly the work of an exciting cinematic genius.

Extras include a chat with the director and a short making of that reveal little except how much everyone involved thinks of the mastermind behind all of this madness, director Damián Szifrón.

Special Features: Interview with Damián Szifrón / Making of

INFO: WILD TALES / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: DAMIÁN SZIFRÓN / STARRING: DARIO GRANDINETTI, MARIA MARULL, MONICA VILLA, RITA CORTESE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW