craigjap Reviews

Fried Barry (2020)

Fried Barry with extra grease? Yes please!

[9/10 · 20 November 2022]

Fried Barry (2020) With a nod towards Brother from Another Planet, The Borrower and even Bad Boy Bubby, and with a sprinkling of John Waters too this had me laughing out loud frequently as we follow a lowlife junkie's apparent renaissance into a more caring and sharing husband and father in an "outsider looking in" street level take on on the alien possession theme.

South African filmmaker Ryan has enrolled the striking looking Gary Green as the horse-hooked Barry in question, introduced while on a vomit spewing come-down. Green is a visually odd figure who could easily have stepped out of a Richard Kern movie, and in the initial stages of the alien's arrival on earth, using Barry as a vessel to interact and learn how to behave from those around him in a red light area, gets right into the dark streets of Cape Town one evening, just as Kern did back in NYC in the day, albeit less experimentally : this is played strictly for shock AND giggles. But it does also features a decent claustrophobic feeling industrial noise soundtrack.

At times surreal, unsettling and violent , this film has a more than welcome helping of low rent debauchery, violence, and insanity. And at times it's really really funny: you'll see the fastest pregnancy and birth ever, and one hilarious scene where Barry and other inmates "blast" their way out of "The Looney Bin" that Baz finds himself in after being picked up by the cops; then there's the chainsaw fight scene with its amusing gurning and growling which also scores high for quality gore content. Throughout the film, the volcanically-bubbling shape shifting facial and bodily contortions that Barry goes through help establish his "alien" persona, and there is plenty of unsettling behaviour to witness throughout, I'm very pleased to say.

The overdriven colour neon visuals include interesting trippy sequences, and there are Lynchian characters, such as the "boss" alien who seems to be heading the project, as well as Waters' degenerate film extras galore to keep trash film fans happy, with a UFO mothership that keeps appearing to remind us it's not just a usual Saturday night out for GG Allin.

A lot of fun, if you like your films squalid, low rent and OTT , order Fried Barry for a generous helping, with guaranteed extra grease. Yum 🤤

Saint Maud (2019)

Isolation blues

[8/10 · 30 December 2021]

"Forgive my impatience, but I hope you will reveal your plan for me soon. I can't shake the feeling that you must have saved me for something greater than this." Saint Maud (2021) explores what might occur when hardcore religion takes over your perception of the world and how completely detaching from reality can result in calamity (Brexiteers take note 😱)... Katie (played by the immense Morfydd Clark, who manages to switch convincingly between a righteous pious carer and a deeply disturbed promiscuous misanthrope) has a life changing experience while trying to save a dying patient, converting to Roman Catholicism and changing her name to Maud. She goes to work for a private care agency and becomes responsible for Amanda (Jennifer Ehle) a retired hedonistic dancer/ choreographer who is in the latter stages of Lymphoma, needing palliative care. Amanda's carefree and ever-hedonistic attitude, accentuated by her impending death, both fascinate and disgust Maud, who while happily peeping at Amanda entertaining her lesbian lover also feels that God has sent her to "save" Amanda's soul so instructs the girl to leave her alone. Maud, consumed by her religion, further alienates herself from society.

Saint Maud is primarily about the dangers of feeling isolated, and the carnage that can come when an individual's perception of reality becomes dangerously warped. The audience is left guessing at just how far Maud has gone within her own delusion, and this is the underlying theme of much of this film's tense, dark atmosphere.

Indeed, Maud is a deeply disturbed young woman who experiences transcendental spiritual moments regularly and - like all good penance-seeking Roman Catholics - indulges in self-flagellation and self-harm: burns and pins in her shoes show her devotion to God and she looks down on those who partake in the more simplistic pleasures of life. Ironically and disturbingly, Maud spends her free time as an aggressively predatory female, having one-night-stands and sexual contact with random men in the pubs she frequents because she doesn't know an alternative way to connect, returning to her depressing flat consumed by feelings of dirtiness and disgrace.

This is director Rose Glass' first ever feature length film, and it's impressively handled in terms of cinematography, mixing magical realism with almost a documentary feel at times and the impressively dark score also contributes to the feelings of claustrophobia the film generates as the audience gets to know too much disturbing information about the main protagonist. The first two thirds of the film resemble an unsettling Ken Loach style kitchen sink drama, the final third builds logically towards the ultimately aptly scorching ending. I was reminded of the Polanski classic "Repulsion" at times, which is no bad thing ...

Don't Look Up (2021)

Topical and fun

[8/10 · 30 December 2021]

This amused me as it draws many parallels with Covid/ Climate issues: a satire that takes a left wing swipe at the self-absorbed "advocates of freedom" with an apocalyptic comet instead of Covid / Climate disaster. Those of course who deny the approaching comet are of the populist persuasion (Fox news and Meme/ YouTube researchers) screaming support for Merryl Streep as a female Donald Trump, slogan "Don't look up" when the comet starts to appear in the sky: "because they want you to look up to remind you of how they are looking down on you" ( cue big cheers) 🤣🤣🤣. There is also Ariana Grande lampooning those revolting rent an A-List celebs singing at a charity concert and a hybrid Bezos-Zuckerberg clone: a spaced-out wealthy private citizen with so much power (and a private escape spacecraft) that he is able to essentially control government decisions.

Leonard DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence put in great turns as the astronomists who discover the imminent disaster, and with its unveiling the film unnervingly shows a society that doesn't want to listen and prefers to reject science for hearsay and alignment with meaningless political slogans. If you're left of centre you'll enjoy, politically detached and you'll watch it like a car crash: you know you shouldn't, but you can't resist a peek; I'm expecting angry mobs similar to those depicted in the film to picket outside cinemas to denounce it immediately as fake news. Fun.

Bullet Ballet (1998)

No wasted bullets here

[8/10 · 30 December 2021]

Another Japanese film choice last night , by writer/director/ actor Shinya "Tetsuo: The Iron Man". Like that classic , this is also shot in grainy black and white , employing frantic at times camerawork and some montage / animation briefly . It also has a Thirlwell/ Foetus style industrial soundtrack, and again deals with themes of alienation in a mega city.

Bullet Ballet, released in 1998,starts with Goda (played by the main man Shinya Tsukamoto) as a commercials director living in Tokyo who arrives home to find his wife has shot herself - either by accident or intent - with a .38 "chief's special" revolver. Goda suffers a breakdown of sorts and becomes obsessed with getting himself a similar piece. This leads him into contact with various underworld characters and into direct conflict with a gang of so-called street 'teamsters' - Japanese youths who work straight jobs but commit gang crimes at night. It is said that the idea for the film came from an actual street robbery experienced by Tsukamoto and the film mirrors his own very real feeling of complete helplessness as the gang take his money and deliver a beating without a whimper of resistance. This is just the start, and the viewer is introduced to a wide selection of criminal characters and becomes involved in a gang war triggered by the demand for an "honour" shooting to save face by gang boss Idei, played by the convincing Tatsuya Nakamura, who tells his minion to "get on with the shooting" and treat it like a dream... "In dreams you can kill and not get hurt ... Tokyo is one big dream" The gun as a motif throughout the film gives a strong focus on the finality of pulling the trigger rather than just spraying everybody in a blur of flashing muzzles and deep red, and there are several intense " will they or won't they " moments. Kirana Mano stands out as Chisato, a part time sex worker addicted to speed who comes across as a complex and deliberately contradictory person. However, it is the overall the style of the film : dingy back alleys, concrete industrial backdrops and claustrophobic camera shots emphasising the brutal relationships of the main players that is the real standout. This was often my experience of Tokyo at night when I lived there when out and about, in both places I went to and the type of characters encountered. To sum up, "Bullet Ballet" delivers an element of gritty realism to a believable storyline that makes sure not one round in the clip is wasted. Great punk-style movie-making.

The Last Picture Show (1971)

"Scratch beneath the surface"

[9/10 · 30 December 2021]

A classic grim small town film I recently re-watched ... I thought David Lynch must've watched this too ... it included the song 'Blue Velvet' and the classic line 'Don't you look at me!' and is full of secret shenanigans once you 'scratch beneath the surface' ... makes you feel good that you never lived there when growing up , even if they did have a heifer handy when on their lonesome ... moooooooo!

City of the Living Dead (1980)

Atmospheric masterclass

[7/10 · 30 December 2021]

I'm revisiting a few classics, this one from acclaimed director Lucio Fulci, City of the Living Dead, a horror movie that is the first in his Gates of Hell trilogy and one of his four zombie pictures. It features the trademark creeping "atmosphere of dread", a fair amount of violence and gore, a simple (yet complex) plot and some dodgy acting which I happen to enjoy. Evil doings are afoot in the H. P. Lovecraft named small village of Dunwich, and the film opens with priest Father Thomas hanging himself without explanantion in the cemetery. This event is "seen" at a seance by medium Mary (Catriona MacColl), and alongside straight talking journo Peter (Christopher "The Exterminator" George), she realises that the death has indeed opened the Gates of Hell, and that the dead will rise to consume humanity on the fast approaching All Saints Day. Mary incidentally collapsed at the seance and was mistakenly pronounced dead and buried - Peter hearing her cries and pickaxe-ing open her coffin to save her. The duo decide to attempt to stop the upcoming evil event but they have trouble in first finding the village and while they are on their way all manner of unspeakable activities are going down there.

The typical Fulci schema is to have light and dark , dark and darker contrasts throughout and the film's score also adds to the tension (and relief) and the uncomfortable darkness throughout is shrouded in a misty atmosphere and interspersed with intense bouts of bloody violence and gore. These old classics, along with their pre-CGI precursor, are highly inventive in terms of camera angles and suggestion of violence before delivering the coup de grace, and the scenes are memorable , even if the gore is not quite at the standard of modern pictures: bleeding eyes, vomiting entrails, a maggot infestation are some of the treats in store. It also the way in which the film shifts suddenly into bloody and deliberately planned to shock violence: one such scene, involving a drill and a face, is infamous because it still unsettles despite the rudimentary gore by these days' standards.

If judged only on horror atmosphere alone, it would be a masterpiece. However, the film does not quite hit the high bar that Fulci himself has set with other works. The plot is a tad manic and can be busy with too many sub-plots that can dominate and force the focus off the main story. Then we have the at times shoddy acting, which isn't everyone's cup of tea, and the final defeat of evil is far more simplistic than other battles with evil you will see. This said, this is Fulci and I do love the consistency of his work in leaving some sort of artistic impression after the film, be it atmosphere, score, camera angles, imaginative gore, you won't forget this film in a hurry.