FILMS ... with Tim Milfull
Lebanon (MA15+)
Director: Samuel Maoz
Rating: 4/5
90-minutes, screening from 2 December
The 1982 war between Israel and Lebanon has already spawned a film about the brutal cost of conflict. Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir – a beautifully crafted feature length animation – told a confrontational story about memory and the way it protects us by pushing down on all that is too horrible to bear.
Now, Samuel Maoz is another Israeli filmmaker who draws on his own experiences of the Lebanon war to make a film. Maoz sets Lebanon almost entirely within the confines of a decrepit tank manned by poorly trained Israeli conscripts.
While some of them know each other, the tank crew certainly have never worked together in combat, and there are early hints at the power struggles to come. When the tank is ordered to guard a road bordering two fields of corn, the tank clatters noisily into position and awaits more orders.
This is when a grizzled paratrooper drops through the manhole and tells the crew that their mission simply will be to cover the paratroopers as they secure a village that has been razed by their air-force. Soon though, it becomes clear that there is much more at stake in the little town, and the lives of all the soldiers are in danger.
This is an impressive effort for debut feature filmmaker, Maoz, especially given the unusual setting. Our only impressions of the outside world come through the sites of the guns, the tiny window that the driver uses, and the manhole. Performances by the four unfortunate actors thrown into the tank are exceptional, as is that offered by Zohar Strauss in the role of paratrooper Gamil.
Lebanon is an intense, claustrophobic, and beautifully crafted film.
A ho, ho, horror look at Xmas
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (M)
Director: Jalmari Helander
Rating: 4/5
83-minutes, screening from 2 December
If you’re well-versed in Christmas mythology, you’ll know that not everything about the silly season is “Happy, happy! Joy, joy!” Remember the old stories about Santa leaving chunks of coal for those naughty children?
Well, it turns out that there’s much more scary stuff where that comes from, especially when you start digging into the recesses of Finnish lore, where Santa wasn’t the jolly fat bloke we’re all familiar with now. Jalmari Helander is another debut film director showing great promise with Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, a film destined to frighten the pants off any kids whose parents are unwise enough to ignore the M-rating.
Set in the wilds of Finland, where the locals herd and slaughter poor Rudolph for economic gain, Rare Exports tells the story of Pietari (Onni Tommila), a little boy in thrall of his older best mate, and deeply respectful of his gruff widower father, Rauno (Jorna Tomilla). When the boys witness some explosions on the top of a nearby mountain, and an entire herd of reindeer is slaughtered overnight, everyone automatically thinks of wolves.
But Pietari has been reading the old books in his attic bedroom, and thinks the dirty, human-shaped footprints in the snow outside his window might be more than wolves.
This short, sweet, deliciously wicked film is old-school fairytale territory at its best. Helander’s characters are believable and entertaining, especially little Onni Tomilla and his real-life father, and Santa and his filthy elves are satisfyingly terrifying.
THE BINGE
Zac shows he can act
Me and Orson Welles (PG) available 2 December through Madman
The Hedgehog (M) now available through Madman Entertainment
I am Love (MA15+) now available through Madman Entertainment
Grace (MA15+) now available through Madman Entertainment
On the evidence of his performance in Me and Orson Welles, apparently teen heartthrob, Zac Ephron actually can act, and this is despite his execrable role in Charlie St Cloud earlier this year.
Ephron plays the precocious seventeen-year-old Richard, who scores a plum role on Orson Welles’s performance of Richard III in New York’s Mercury Theatre in the 1930s. (above) This DVD Extras with this slick production from indie darling, Richard Linklater also feature an interview with one of the original production’s cast, Norman Lloyd.
Across the pond, French director, Mona Achache’s The Hedgehog casts Garance Le Guillermic as eleven-year-old prodigy, Paloma, whose plans to commit suicide on her next birthday are interrupted by a new relationship with her building’s misanthropic concierge, Renée (Josiane Balasko).
As their friendship builds, and Renée succumbs to a sweet, unexpected romance, Paloma has to reconsider her life plans.
In I am Love, Tilda Swinton collaborates once again with writer-director, Luca Guadagnino to make a very traditional Italian film about a wealthy industrialist family adapting to twenty-first century work practices and a new CEO. Behind the scenes, relationships aren’t proceeding as expected, and Swinton’s Emma finds herself wondering about where life might take her. This beautifully shot, exquisitely paced film features some excellent performances.
And finally, in Grace, Paul Solet spins his short film into a debut feature that carries echoes of Rosemary’s Baby, as the pregnant Madeleine (Jordan Ladd) walks away from a dreadful car accident determined to bring her now dead, unborn baby to term. Convinced the foetus is not dead, the birth brings something horrific and unexpected into Madeleine’s life.
