FILM ... with Tim Milfull
Red State (MA15+)
Director: Kevin Smith
Stars: Michael Parks, John Goodman
Rating: 4.5/5
110-minutes, screening from 13 October
New Jersey-based writer-director Kevin Smith has a very solid reputation for slacker comedies like Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy, and the clever and iconoclastic excoriation of Catholicism in Dogma.
Last year, however, he almost ruined everything with a film whose title says it all: Cop Out. With his new film Red State, the director in some ways returns to his form of almost a decade ago, and in many, many other ways moves into new and very exciting territory.
Treading similar ground as Dogma, Red State takes us into the world of extreme fundamentalist Christianity, where the believers relish the thought of the End Times, and have no problem proselytising a message so toxic that even Neo-Nazis regard them as too Far Right.
These fanatics – and Smith doesn’t shy away from the similarity between his froot-loops and those in the reality of the Westboro Baptist Church – regularly picket the funerals of gay people and soldiers who have been killed in action, the latter because they served a government that “permits” homosexuality.
Through a nightmarish turn of events, three overly horny teenagers become tangled up in the affairs of the Five Point Church and its obviously insane pastor, Abin Cooper (Michael Parks).
Within hours, Cooper and his congregation are the focus of a showdown that threatens to outrank the tragedy wrought by David Koresh in Waco, Texas. On the other side of the compound wall outside the church, reluctant ATF agent Joseph Keenan (John Goodman) struggles to control a situation he knows will end in bloodshed.
Smith skilfully manipulates our sympathies in Red State, shifting the focus of the story from one protagonist to the next, and constantly keeping us on the back foot, unnerved and horrified at what is unfolding. If this is the direction he’s heading in from here on in, I’ll be one very satisfied fan.
It’s an Oz feast at this year’s BIFF
BIFF 2011
Screening from 1 to 13 November
Various venues
At the time of writing this, my deadline looms, and the official launch of the Brisbane Film Festival is only hours away. Even though I’m on the programming panel for the festival, I haven’t been allowed to see the actual programme yet; but I think it’s a good idea to let you know that by the time you’re reading this, the festival’s schedule will be online in all its glory.
There’s a lot happening this year across several venues – from screenings at the State Library, Palace Barracks and Centro, and for the last time, at Tribal Theatres, which will finally close its doors for good not long after the festival winds up. There will be 50 Australian premieres at BIFF this year, including David Cronenberg’s controversial film about psychotherapy, A Dangerous Method, starring Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley, and Viggo Mortensen.
Fans of the band, Kings of Leon will be excited to hear that a documentary – Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon – will be screening at the festival, and I’m sure there’ll be some sort of tie-in with their actual performance in Brisbane during November.
And there’s been a lot of talk about Pedro Almodovar’s new film, The Skin I Live In (pictured above), starring one of his long-term collaborators, Antonio Banderas. Some critics have described this as his best film yet, and this will be a perfect closing-night film for the festival.
I’ll have much more to say about the festival in the next issue of The Indie. In the meantime, check out the detailed festival program online (and start buying tickets!) at www.biff.com.au
THE BINGE
Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective screening at GoMA from 7 October to 27 November
Oceans (G) available from 20 October through Hopscotch
The Dead (M) available from 20 October through Hopscotch
Zombie Transfusion (MA15+) now available through Pinnacle Films
There’s a lot happening over the next six or seven weeks in terms of cinema in Brisbane, with BIFF just around the corner, the Japan Film Festival visiting town in early November, the Hola Mexican Film Festival starting in the first week of December, and, courtesy of the Australian Cinematheque at GoMA, almost two months of glorious suspense with their programme, Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective.
Screening every existing film he ever made, and featuring all of the episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents that he actually directed, this is a comprehensive collection of work by one of history’s most prolific directors, and offers cinephiles and fans alike a rare chance to see Hitchcock’s amazing talent on the big screen.
For more details about the retrospective—and some very tempting live events featuring cocktails, nibblies, and live entertainment, visit http://qag.qld.gov.au/cinematheque/current/alfred_hitchcock
Regular readers will be familiar with my penchant for the undead – not vampires, for gawd’s sakes: zombies – so I keep a keen eye out for new productions about the lurchers and ragers. The Dead, directed by Howard and Jonathan Ford takes a new look at the reanimated, setting their story in darkest Africa only hours after a plague has marooned a US flight engineer thousands of miles from home. It's is worth a look.
Not so impressive is Zombie Transfusion by Steven C. Miller, which pitches some witless teenagers against the slavering hordes. Finally, those looking for something calming amidst the undead storms should watch the French documentary, Oceans, which features some simply staggering imagery.
