Review Category: Reviews

VIOLET EVERGARDEN: ETERNITY AND THE AUTO MEMORY DOLL

DIRECTOR: HARUKA FUJITA, TAICHI ISHIDATE / SCREENPLAY: TAKAAKI SUZUKI, TATSUHIKO URAHATA / STARRING: YUI ISHIKAWA, MINAKO KOTOBUKI, AOI YUKI / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (NETFLIX)

Set after the events of the series, the Violet Evergarden spin-off film; Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll focuses on the titular Violet who, whilst still serving as a doll (who ghostwrites letters for those who cannot write), is recruited by a royal family to teach their heiress Isabella how to properly act as a noble lady. However, Isabella isn’t your typical royal and, whilst attending a school for well-groomed young woman, slowly becomes attached to Violet and reveals that she is grieving for someone who brings her happiness.

This film is the first work from the incredibly talented Kyoto Animation studio since the tragic events of arson that occurred last year – and it’s rather fitting as, as with the series, Violet Evergarden is truly about moving on after tragedy. Soon after the end of where we left Violet, she still seems to be having a wonderfully positive effect on people hence why she is recruited for this task. When she gets to the school, Isabella firstly takes a dislike to her, but soon sees past Violet’s blunt nature to discover that she is caring and committed to helping people, no matter what the task.

The first half of the story focuses purely on their relationship and how Violet successfully assists Isabella in graduating before her true story comes to light – that she dearly misses her little sister Taylor. That’s when the story skips ahead a few years and then switches focus to Taylor’s side of the story as she uses Violet to reconnect with her sister. As a story, it’s something we’ve seen before and doesn’t offer anything new on that front but what makes Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll stand tall is so much deeper.

From the offset, the animation is absolutely gorgeous – something we have come to expect from KyoAni and it never ceases to amaze us how much attention to detail and beautifully realised world and characters they are capable of creating. It simply is one of the most visually stunning anime films available. Another incredibly strong element is the focus on the characters relationships coupled with some wonderful chemistry brought to life by impeccable voice acting. Yui Ishikawa returns as Violet and her performance is just as strong as when we first fell in love with the character back in early 2018. Her portrayal expertly balances innocence and determination and, even after the events of the main show, still continues to evolve as a character even though this is arguably not her story, but that of Isabella and Taylor. Rounding off the breathtaking presentation of the film is the score – heartbreaking sublime, subtle when necessary and triumph at the perfect moments.

Although the story isn’t the strongest and would have arguably been better suited to two OVA’s or longer special episodes, Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll is a heartwarming continuation in the world of Violet and her job as an Auto Memory Doll – continuing to show that connections and relationships are what make us human and are very important, whether it be with letters or just being there for our loved ones. Gorgeous visuals, incredible performances and great chemistry between the characters – the film shows exactly how talented everyone at KyoAni is and serves as a great entry point for new fans as a few characters from the show appear in minor roles but the story doesn’t overly expect audiences to have seen the series beforehand allowing it to stand on its own if necessary.

KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF EIZOUKEN!

REVIEWED: SEASON 1 (ALL 12 EPISODES) / DIRECTOR: MASAAKI YUASA / PRODUCER: EUNYOUNG CHOI / STARRING: SAIRI ITO, MUTSUMI TAMURA, MISATO MATSUOKA, YUMIRI HANAMORI, KAZUHIKO INOUE / WHERE TO WATCH: CRUNCHYROLL

Anime – a wonderful medium that brings people from all walks of life together. Three High-School girls come together in a bid to realise their dream – to create anime. However, along the way, they encounter many obstacles but find a way to move forward by using the unbeatable creativity of their imagination and willpower in Masaaki Yuasa and Science SARU’s masterful adaptation of Sumito Ōwara’s manga, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

The story follows the adventures of Asakusa, an inspired girl who wants to create wonderfully realised anime worlds, Mizusaki, a girl who is forced into modelling and acting by her parents but really wants to become a character artist in anime, and Kanamori, a wheeling-dealing, money-savvy girl who sees huge business potential in her peer’s dreams (she is also Best Girl – and we won’t have anyone argue with us).

From the opening scene in the first episode and throughout the course of the twelve-episode series, you truly become invested in their journey, passion and imagination. In the first episode alone, Asakusa’s realisation that someone created the stunning animation that she is watching transports her to a world of innovation and creativity – and you as an audience member is whisked along for the ride with the character’s insight and vision brought to life in gorgeous dream-like worlds topped off with human-formed sound effects for that extra layer of inventiveness.

As the series progresses and the trio of talented aspiring animators’ journey encounters obstacles, we learn of their unrivalled passion and dedication to the project resulting in some of the most heart-warming and tear-inducing dramatic scenes that we have ever seen in this medium. The episodes that especially tap into each girls’ tragic, yet personality defining upbringing, seriously had us hooked and utterly invested. Top all of these wonderful things off with arguably the best anime opening song in living memory and you have a winning combination on your hands.

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! isn’t just your standard anime about girls wanting to make a show – it’s a love letter to this incredible form of entertainment and the trials and tribulations that not only amateurs face, but experienced individuals as well. It’s a journey – one that inspires, one that engages and one that shows off the true potential of this art form. Eizouken! is a triumph, a masterpiece – it’s funny, sad, heartwarming and beautiful – and is quintessential viewing for new and old anime fans alike. Absolute perfection.

LAST HOLIDAY (1950)

LAST HOLIDAY (1950) / CERT: U / DIRECTOR: HENRY CASS / SCREENPLAY: J. B. PRIESTLEY / STARRING: ALEC GUINNESS, BEATRICE CAMPBELL, KAY WALSH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

J.B. Priestley’s ability to force his audience to count their blessings is at its sweet and sinister prime in Last Holiday. On the surface, a far simpler concoction than classics like An Inspector Calls or Time and the Conways, it stars Alec Guinness as George Bird, a mild-mannered, even more mild-living salesman, whose accidental misdiagnosis by a tired doctor leads him to think his last days are upon him. He spends his savings at a ‘posh’ hotel where he finds he fits right in with new friends he wouldn’t have had the courage or imagination to approach in the past. His life opens up with job offers and romantic proposals, but only he knows what’s stopping him jumping at all the opportunities.

Sid James as entrepreneur Joe is a delightful mismatch with Guinness, giving a familiar character type a refreshingly different context in a story that champions taking life’s opportunities, not just for yourself but, more importantly, the opportunities to offer kindness to others. While its class politics are dated, the script is ahead of its time in asking us to notice people for who they were and how they behaved to each other, not their background. There are great illustrations not only of how to be on the lookout to assist each other, but how there will always be those who raise their game to take new offers and opportunities life throws them, and those who don’t – that we make our own lives and choices more than a lot of us care to recognise or admit.

The stills gallery won’t change your life, but it’s worth navigating a somewhat iffy sound balance to enjoy the twenty-five-minute interview with cultural historian Matthew Sweet. Priestley’s sense of fate, his expression both of human agency and its limits, is never going to guarantee a happy acceptance both of our agency and its limits mean there’s no guarantee of a happy ending but make Last Holiday’s touching script and gorgeous symbolism a perfect watch right now. See it as a poignant, amusing romance or as a gently sinister reminder about gratitude and awareness, that free will is also a call to arms.

BUTT BOY

DIRECTOR: TYLER CORNACK | SCREENPLAY: TYLER CORNACK, RYAN KOCH | STARRING: ANGELA JONES, TYLER RICE, TYLER CORNACK | RELEASE DATE: MAY 4TH

During a routine prostate exam, bored IT drone Chip (writer and director Tyler Cornack) discovers an unexpected kink that he never knew he had. Not that there’s anything wrong with shoving things up your butthole for kicks, but it kind of depends on what you’re forcing up there. When his wife refuses to play, Chip is forced to look elsewhere for stimulation.

Enter detective Russell Fox (Tyler Rice), who meets and befriends Chip at Alcoholics Anonymous. When Russell is called to investigate a missing child, he begins to suspect that there’s more to Chip’s addictions than meet the eye. You see where this is heading? Yeah, up Chip’s arse, along with the remote control, some missing children and a number of neighbourhood pets. And Russell is determined to get to the bottom of it.

Such body horror is rare outside of the extreme end of Japanese cinema, and so one must applaud the film’s co-writer, director and star for Butt Boy’s bravery. Cornack pulls a whole thriller from out of Chip’s bumhole – and a compelling one, at that. There’s a dry sense of humour to the writing, which otherwise plays the story straight – more film noir than exploitation horror. It looks and sounds great too; one of the sharpest, slickest low-budget genre movies in years. That dedication means the film’s one joke never gets old, and Butt Boy mostly sustains its conceit to the end. And what an end! This film does for sticking things up one’s jacksy what Psycho did for showers and dead mummies.

Like a surprisingly fun rectal exam, Butt Boy is an unexpected treat. Of wit and atmospherics, it has piles. From its bizarre conceit, it derives one of the oddest, most charming genre movies of the year. Not bad for a one-joke body horror flick about a serial killer stuffing live children up his ass.

KINGDOM

REVIEWED: SEASON 2 (ALL EPISODES) | WHERE TO WATCH: NETFLIX

Despite being one of its more low-key releases, Kingdom, was very much a game-changer for Netflix. It was the company’s first South Korean production, and the $1-2 million budget pumped into each episode of the first season proved that the service was as ‘all in’ on producing original foreign content as it is when it comes to its usual, American fare. Based on the webcomic series The Kingdom of the Gods, written by Kim Eun-hee (who also writes the TV adaptation), Kingdom is utterly remarkable for managing to put a genuinely exciting fresh spin on the tired old zombie mythos.

Out of the gate, Kingdom sets itself apart from your Walking Deads and Z Nations and even your Trains to Busan and Seoul Stations, simply by virtue of its medieval (or, more specifically, Joseon Dynasty) setting. The action avoids the genre clichés of soldiers gunning down zombies in a spray of bullets because most of these soldiers are armed with swords.

Perhaps more excitingly, though, Kingdom takes its living dead concept back to ideas rooted in ancient mythology. Drawing upon things like revenant and vampire lore, Kingdom’s zombies are noteable for their apparent need to lie dormant during sunlight hours, meaning that the show provides us with an incredibly interesting dynamic whereby the characters get twelve hours a day to prepare for a twelve-hour zombie onslaught as their castle or stronghold begins a siege, each night.

Quite frankly, the show is a very real contender for the title of ‘greatest zombie television series of all time’. On one hand, you’ve got the show’s political drama following the dynamic between various royals vying for power throughout everything that happens. Completely remove all supernatural elements and this side of the show would be more than enough to sustain a very well-respected prestige drama. But whenever it feels like the bickering over the rightful heir to the throne is getting a bit dry, the show unloads its action set-pieces on you. Expertly directed by Kim Seong-hun throughout Season 1 (and one episode of Season 2), followed by Park In-je for the show’s remainder, the show is a true roller-coaster of a thrill-ride, balancing nail-biting zombie carnage with the sword-based military action of countless samurai movies with a handful of darkly comedic moments that would make Sam Raimi proud.

Season 1 started with a solid pace and continually picked up steam through to the last episode, so it’s something of a shame that the newly released second season feels much more like filler material in comparison. In terms of moving the storyline along, the newest six episodes feel like they should have been compressed into one, serving as last season’s finale or, perhaps, this season’s premiere episode. That said, a third season is still, very much something that we’d welcome so they must have done something right.

THE COMPLEX

After their initial heyday in the 1990s, FMV games (or more commonly known in today’s vernacular, Interactive Films) are back and better than ever. In recent years we have been blessed with such thrilling tales as The Bunker and most recently Late Shift, and now we have the newest game to question your morales in the growing catalogue of Interactive films from Wales Interactive, The Complex.

Directed by young talented British filmmaker Paul Raschid and starring Michelle Mylett, Kate Dickie and Al Weaver, The Complex follows the story of two scientists Amy (Mylett) and Rees (Weaver) as they are trapped in a locked-down lab whilst attempting to save the life of potential bioterrorist Clare (Kim Adis) who has injected herself with advanced nano cell technology. Whilst battling against the moral dilemma of figuring out exactly if Clare is innocent or not, Amy and Rees must also solve if everyone else, including Amy’s close friend Nathalie (Dickie), can truly be trusted.

Choices in games are nothing new, and they aren’t limited to just FMV games. A large number of RPGs like Mass Effect to point and click games such as The Walking Dead have always boasted that “choices matter” – however, most of the time, the player’s choices lead to one of two linear endings with a few differences sprinkled throughout. What makes The Complex stand out against those examples and its immediate peers is that the choices, along with the relationship status tracker, really do matter.

The game, or rather film, has eight possible endings that are affected from the very first scene and seemingly innocent choices in unpressurised situations can have disastrous outcomes. Now, in normal circumstances be it a standard RPG, these are easier hurdles to overcome as they are animated and are usually set in fantasy based scenarios. With The Complex and the fact that it is completely live-action, Raschid and writer Lynn Renee Maxcy had to pay special attention to making sure everything was consistent and the continuity made complete sense – multiple scenes had to be re-shot to even make sure that the backgrounds matched up with previous choices that the players had made. Essentially, the had to make eight films in one – a huge feat to accomplish but one that everyone involved successfully achieved.

The acting and character development was fantastic – Amy and Rees’ relationship especially was solid and achieved what it set out to do – a good job as it was most certainly at the forefront of a majority of the bigger choices. Kate Dickie as the mysterious Nathalie was, as always, top-notch and stole every scene that she was in. Couple that with some superb production design and brilliant directing, it really is the complete package.

Normally in an Interactive film, one or two playthroughs is usually enough for players – however, The Complex really lends itself to have you find and discover every single ending to unlock the full potential of the story and world. Thrilling, engaging and morally challenging – The Complex is up there as one of the best Interactive films available in the market.

RED DWARF: THE PROMISED LAND

RED DWARF: THE PROMISED LAND / WHERE TO WATCH: UKTV DAVE / RELEASE DATE: APRIL 9TH

Never has science fiction worn its concepts and intelligence as lightly as Red Dwarf. On one level, it’s been twelve series of nobodies insulting each other in deep space, eating curry and failing to find sex. But it’s also always been a philosophical petri dish for scientific, theoretical, historical and religious discussion – richly coated in slapstick. On none of these fronts does The Promised Land disappoint.

Fans have always known the cat race was out there: descendants of the pet Third Technician Dave Lister smuggled aboard, for which he was thrown into stasis, surviving the radiation leak that wiped out the rest of the crew while the cats evolved and flew off into the universe searching for their god, ‘Cloister’. But the uninitiated are made just as much at home in Doug Naylor’s script, with every single joke landing as surely for anyone unfamiliar with the ‘Boys from the Dwarf’ as those of us who might have learnt such concepts as DNA and free will through Kryten, the sanitation droid’s best attempts to explain them to Lister, the universe’s last human.

With every plot strand elegantly based on aspects that already exist within personalities and relationships, The Promised Land seems a joy for each actor, and a real rediscovery. There’s a sense of exhilaration and return to form in every scene. Chris Barrie remains astounding as Rimmer, his combination of self-contempt and would-be heroism pathetic and noble as it ever was. His love-hate, or hate-hate, relationship with Lister (Craig Charles) find joyous new avenues, as does Lister’s touching capacity for the best of what it is to be human, along with the grossest. The Cat (Danny John-Jules) is at his sparkling best, in a performance as deep as the character is proudly shallow. There’s similarly excellent comic timing from Kryten (Robert Llewellen), pitch-perfect in his trademark ambivalence and put-upon sarcasm. Holly’s (Norman Lovett) return to the mix completes the sense of homecoming that has nothing to do with whether or not Lister’s followers find their promised land (and you’re getting no spoilers here!).

Fans won’t be disappointed, but nor are they over catered to. Previous adventures never overshadow the current action; this story takes place in its own time and space, with just a little extra fun by association for those who’ll catch the references, and with new allies and enemies you don’t need any back story to enjoy. And the new faces are very much a part of that success. The cats we meet each have funny, clever, and thoughtful traits of their furry ancestors, and each performance is a gem all its own. The sit-com-meets-science recipe holds strong, with gorgeous 1980s/’90s technology jokes sitting comfortably beside allusions to the modern world’s own daftness.

NIGHTS OF CABIRIA (1957)

NIGHTS OF CABIRIA (1957) / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: FEDERICO FELLINI / SCREENPLAY: FEDERICO FELLINI, ENNIO FLAIANO, TULLIO PINELLI / STARRING: GIULIETTA MASINA, FRANÇOIS PÉRIER, FRANCA MARZI, DORIAN GRAY / RELEASE DATE: APRIL 6TH

Cabiria is a happy-go-lucky prostitute who struggles through life with a sharp quip and a jaunty Mambo. When her boyfriend steals her money and pushes her into the sea, she swears off love forever. But then she meets the seemingly kind-hearted Oscar, and despite her better judgement is swept off her feet. When Oscar asks Cabiria to marry him and persuades her to sell up her little house and join him in the city, Cabiria believes she is finally leaving the working girl life behind forever. But will it all work out happily ever after for our charming tart-with-a-heart or is fortune about to take Cabiria down another rocky road?

Anyone who’s seen the Shirley Maclaine musical Sweet Charity, which was filmed 12 years after Nights of Cabiria and is based extremely closely on Cabiria’s screenplay, already knows the answer to that question. What you might not be prepared for is how much darker and unsettling this version of the story is.

Nights of Cabiria is one of Federico Fellini’s most celebrated films, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a terrific confection, and Fellini’s pixie-ish wife Giulietta Masina gives a wonderfully rich, heartbreaking performance as the title character. There are some lovely vignettes in here, too: the night when Cabiria meets a surly matinee idol movie star, accompanies him to a ritzy nightclub and charms the stuck-up patrons with her plucky dance moves; the night when she follows a good Samaritan across the Roman countryside, watching him hand out supplies to the homeless people living in the caves, realising with shock that one of the recipients is an elderly woman she used to walk the streets with; the day when she joins a religious procession and asks the Virgin Mary to change her life, drowning her sorrows when she realises that everything remains the same; the evening when she visits a run-down theatre and is hypnotised by the stage magician, unconsciously showing her vulnerability to the entire audience, inadvertently finding romance when the show is ended. Masina is terrific, and it’s no surprise to learn that she based a lot of her performance on Chaplin’s tragi-comic Little Tramp, most notably during the nightclub scenes, that are suffused with comedy and pathos.

The BFI’s Nights of Cabiria Blu-ray, which is a 4K restoration, is beautiful and not to be missed. It’s a shame the special features are so measly, especially considering the position the movie holds in Fellini’s pantheon of masterworks, but that’s a small price to pay when the main feature is so enchanting. Bellissimo!

THE WHITE SHEIK (1952)

THE WHITE SHEIK (1952) / CERT: U / DIRECTOR: FEDERICO FELLINI / SCREENPLAY: FEDERICO FELLINI, TULLIO PINELLI / STARRING: ALBERTO SORDI, BRUNELLA BOVO, LEOPOLDO TRIESTE / RELEASE DATE: APRIL 6TH

When a stuffy bureaucrat called Ivan brings his wide-eyed – and much younger – wife Wanda to Rome for their honeymoon, his intentions of introducing her to his family and having their union blessed by the Pope don’t go quite according to plan. Wanda is fixated on a romantic photo-comic montage hero called the White Sheik and sneaks out to meet him while Ivan thinks she’s taking a bath. Thanks to an unlikely series of events, Wanda quickly finds herself heading to the beach with the cast and photographer of the comic montage, where she’s suddenly given the role of a kidnapped beauty. As Ivan desperately scours Rome looking for her and comes up with some desperate excuses to explain why his new bride isn’t available to meet his family, the White Sheik lures Wanda onto a boat and turns up his dodgy sub-basement Rudolf Valentino charm. Fortunately for Wanda, she’s already realised that her dreams about the White Sheik are a lot more enchanting than his greasy, overweight reality, but will the White Sheik’s wife believe that once they’ve made it back to the shore? More importantly, how can Wanda ever reconcile with Ivan, who has just been befriended by two charming prostitutes and appears to have taken one of them up on the offer of her services? Will the shame Wanda feels for abandoning her husband lead her to commit suicide in the murky depths of the Tiber, or will they finally reunite in an unlikely happy ending and see their union blessed by the Holy Father? Spin The White Sheik in your Blu-ray player and watch mayhem and slapstick unfold…

The White Sheik was Federico Fellini’s first solo film. It also comes from a story partially written by Blow-Up director Michelangelo Antonioni. For both those reasons, it’s a movie that devotees of both those directors should track down, and it does show occasional hints of the genius Fellini would soon become. A third reason for enduring The White Sheik is to enjoy Giulietta Masina’s too-brief cameo as the happy-go-lucky prostitute Cabiria, a role she would reprise in one of Felini’s very best offerings, Nights of Cabiria. She’s a joy to watch and gives The White Sheik a much-needed boost of fun and energy.

Beyond that, The White Sheik is unfortunately a bit of a chore to sit through. It looks dated, it makes very little narrative sense, and its comedy of manners and occasional attempts at Charlie Chaplin-esque slapstick is largely lost in translation. Having said that, the special feature about Fellini did make us wonder if we missed something and should give it another watch, but then we decided that life’s too short. The White Sheik might be a masterpiece for Fellini fans, but casual viewers may find themselves getting a little bored.

BEYOND THE DOOR (1974)

BEYOND THE DOOR (1974) / CERT: 18 / DIRECTORS: OVIDIO G. ASSONITIS, ROBERT BARRETT / SCREENPLAY: OVIDIO G. ASSONITIS, ANTONIO TROISO, ROBERT BARRETT / STARRING: JULIET MILLS, GABRIELE LAVIA, RICHARD JOHNSON / RELEASE DATE: APRIL 6TH

The Italian Exorcist rip-off subgenre was a brief but bilious period when exploitation producers piled in on demonic possession scripts like gannets on dead fish. Never mind that not one of these tailgaters came close to William Friedkin’s brilliant original, Linda Blair’s gurgling possession routine had created pop culture’s most bizarre copycat recipe: book yourself a soundstage in Madrid, add in a bed, some dry ice, a woman in a nighty and few crucifixes and off you go, Lucio!

Most of these movies were diabolically bad, of course, but this lesser-known effort from Ovidio G. Assonitis (Tentacles, Piranha II) is worth your attention for being at least half of stylishly strange horror that weaves San Francisco evocatively into its fabric, Hitchcock-style. And just for once, the fact it was made half in an Italian studio and half on location the US doesn’t distract. And if you like shameless rip-offs, the other half is a right laugh, too.

English rose Juliet Mills (Hayley’s sister) stars as Jessica, pregnant with her third child and starting to wonder if it isn’t old Satan that’s got her up the duff this time. Her black moods are not helped by not one, but two strange blokes: her spaced-out husband (Italian Gabriele Lavia, rocking the 1970s Donald Sutherland look and afflicted by some atrocious Italian/English post-synching) and the UK’s very own man-about exploitation Richard Johnson as the mysterious Dimitri, who keeps popping up to proclaim “The child must be born!”. This all feels more The Omen than The Exorcist, but once Jessica is ensconced in her boudoir, swearing her head off and vomiting up the green stuff, she’s right on the money.

It’s a shame, really, that the second half of the film is such a blatant Exorcist clone (Warner Bros actually sued), because Assonitis and his cinematographer Roberto D’Ettorre Piazzoli seem more interested in developing the genuinely strange POV of Jessica’s two odd kids, such as a terrifying psychic attack on their bedroom with a full-on lightshow through the floorboards and walls that wouldn’t have shamed Poltergeist.

This 2-disc set from Arrow presents the original cut and a longer ‘export’ version titled The Devil Within Her, which adds more green bile and creative blasphemy. The short contemporary interviews with Mills and Lavia are fun (“she was cute, but a little old to be playing my wife…”) but the real jewel here is a mammoth dissection of the Italian ‘possession’ movie era, featuring interviews with most of its above-grass progenitors.