Road

Directed by Alan Clarke, and broadcast on the BBC in 1987 as part of it’s “Screenplay” series.

Alan Clarke is one of celluloid’s greatest assets. It’s funny because he made a dire amount of theatrical feature films and just over 60 films for television – mainly the BBC and his television work far surpasses his theatrical work even though Scum, The Firm and Made In Britain are all fascinating works that showcase his exquisite talent and masterful directing abilities. You don’t get much better than Road though.

Broadcast on TV in 1987, Road is an adaptation of the famous first play of Jim Cartwright and it shines through unequivocally throughout the 67 minute run time. The characters walk through the streets addressing the camera as if they are on stage but they’re not. In cinema it’s sparsely done but imagine sitting down to watch a serious drama on TV and the characters start talking to you – also good bear in mind this was in 1987, a time in England where the streets were still rife with racism and political opposition among other things.

The musical number that closes this is quite frankly among my favourite musical numbers in the history of celluloid – I say celluloid because it’s hard to say film when it was made for and broadcast first on television.

Regardless, Road is a masterclass of acting and the ever so powerful direction of Clarke. I’m desperate to see everything I can get my hands on by the man now because he’s easily one of my favourite filmmakers of all time.

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Fantastic Planet

Directed by René Laloux and released theatrically in it’s home country of Czechoslovakia in 1973.

Fantastic Planet is a Czechoslavkian animation from the ’70s and is set in a dystopian future where giant blue creatures, called Draags, rule the land while their children use the tiny minuscule humans, called Ohms, as pets.

The animation is incredibly beautiful and the surreal backdrops and landscapes leave you in awe and amazement. It also looks strangely similar to that of a Monty Python sketch. The score is also brilliant – also notable that hip hop producer Madlib has sampled various different sections of the score for his Quasimoto character whose look is based off of the blue Draags from this film.

The only thing that’s relatively bad about this is that the ending feels incredibly rushed and the peace that is eventually restored comes all too quickly, I felt that they could’ve showed us more of how it came to be.

Overall however I think it’s a fantastic animation that is easily better than any Disney or Pixar film to ever grace the box office.

Arirang

Directed, edited, shot, photographed and acted by it’s subject Ki-Duk Kim, Arirang has not yet been released theatrically in it’s home country of South Korea but it was given it’s world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011 and has since been broadcast on Italian television.

The following review does contain some minor spoilers.

In 2008 Ki-duk Kim (director of 3-Iron and Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter… and Spring) finished a movie entitled Dream. During production one of his actresses almost died whilst filming a hanging scene, ever since Kim was traumatized and on top of that he now had writer’s block. After three years of living in exile away from the film industry he decided to pick up a camera again, not only because filmmaking is his one true love but to help him approach, understand and overcome his traumatic experience during the filming of his last film aswell as get back into doing what he loves the most.

But what would he film? For he has no material…?

Instead, Kim decided to aim the camera at himself, delving deep into his own mind to understand his own values. This film is composed mainly of close up shots of Kim speaking back and forth with himself, he speaks on a variety of subjects from his filmography to the near-death experience of the actress on the set of Dream and all the while throughout every word he speaks you can see his thought process wandering, gaining momentum.

The audience follow his train of thought as he follows it himself – he sings the titular traditional song “Arirang” to himself over and over again without letting on it’s meaning or it’s significance, but the beauty of Kim’s work is undoubtedly his ambiguity and this continues that theme.

At two moments in the film there’s a knock at Kim’s door, but each time he opens up there’s no one there. A metaphor, perhaps, for Kim searching for something but being met with just pent up frustration and a lack of understanding. As the film draws to it’s close Kim picks up a gun and starts shooting people… or is he? Is this all a part of his imagination? Are we watching a documentary as we have been led to believe?

As I say, this is labelled as a documentary – but it’s part-documentary and part-drama and it plays out almost like a video diary. Whatever it can be labelled as, Arirang is an incredibly haunting film about a man trapped inside his own head trying to get out and despite how Kim treats his own work and his own mind, he is still a true visionary with a lot more to say.

I was already a huge fan of Ki-Duk Kim’s work prior to seeing this and now I once again eagerly anticipate his next film.

Masters Of Horror: Imprint

Directed by Takashi Miike, Imprint was scheduled to debut on television as part of the “Masters Of Horror” series in January of 2006 but due to it’s graphic and disturbing content it was shelved by the TV station it was supposed to air on (“Showtime”) and was finally released on DVD in September of the same year.

Takashi Miike is easily the bravest horror filmmaker working today. He tackles extremely taboo subjects without hesitation, and Imprint is really no different.

It’s typical for Miike’s work but unlike the poor Gozu, he does it right this time. Imprint really is fucked up beyond belief – typical for Miike. Abortion and incest are the two main topics here and Miike delves into both subjects unequivocally and without hesitation as he usually does.

It’s always a pleasure to watch Miike’s stories unfold and this is no different, some of the decisions in the writing are poor but they are worked out in the long haul albeit not the direction I’d have gone with it. Still, another entertaining gorefest from the master of horror.

Christine

Directed by Alan Clarke for British television and first broadcast as part of the “Screenplay” series in 1987.

Christine is an incredibly bleak and uncompromising portrayal of a day in the life of a teenage drug addict. Our titular character Christine visits her friends and scores them heroin aswell as scoring it herself.

At 52 minutes it’s an incredible feat for the every day viewer to even sit through this, but as a piece of film it stands out above any other drug drama for it’s realism and it’s incredible cinematography. Clarke films his characters from every angle possible and gets in as much as he can while at the same time letting the actors do as much as they can in the little space they’re given.

The humour in the dialogue takes away from the drug use and not once do any of the characters even mention drugs or the drug in question. Reality does kick in however when Christine asks one of her friends “You alright?” over and over again as they delve deeper into their drugged state.

There’s nothing special about these characters and Clarke emphasises that as well as doing absolutely nothing to say that living a life like this is in any way “good”. As a great filmmaker should, he simply presents the facts as they are.

Obviously staged, it’s ridiculous to say that this isn’t an incredible piece of cinema. All in all Clarke has created another brilliant film, and this one is a really stark depiction of drug use that just… stays with you.