Christopher Gans is a criminally underated Director. His film "Brotherhood Of The Wolf" is a modern classic; which blends action, and a bizzare story masterfully. So naturally when I heard that Gans was going to helm the film adaptation of one of the most haunting stories of the past 20 years: the video game Silent Hill.
The movie starts off with relatively standard horror fair of a young girl running away from her family in the middle of the night. As her mother finds her staring above an abyss which turns into what is your first taste of the flawless and amazing cinematography as the abyss turns into a macabre, shattered, burning industrial landscape with a girl at the bottom. So after the girl is recovered by her parents her mother takes it upon herself to take young Sherry to the place which she keeps referencing during her increasingly dangerous sleepwalks: Silent Hill.
Silent Hill in the film is a mining town which was destroyed by an apocalyptic fire years ago. The sequences in Silent Hill are nothing short of breathtaking. Imagine it as like a music video for some really dark sounding Post Rock. The city is covered in a constant rain of ash. But the real horror comes when the air raid sirens sound. When twilight descends upon the city. The creatures made of ash that attack Rose are only surpassed in strangness by the wonderfully done Pyramid Head.
One of the reasons I love this movie so much is because of the very serious undertone to the eary horror plot and superlative cinematography. The survivors of the mining fire, which was caused by the hatred that the townspeople directed towards the girl who would be reincarnated as Sherry years later. The movie is a brilliant analysis of cult behavior with a healthy dose of bloody poetic justice.
Please, even if you don't like horror. Give this one a chance.
5 stars.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
The Duchess
Historical dramas and romances are not generally my cup of tea. As I'm mostly a horror and science fiction fan; bu as of late I have become rather fond of the genre. And one of the major reasons why is a little film called The Duchess starring the always lovely (and talented) Keira Knightley.
The film documents the life of Georgina, the Duchess of Devinshire, in the 19th century. And her highly turbulent and blighted marriage to the Duke of Devinshire. The film portrays the vicious societal treatment of women (even though of immense social status as Georgina has) in a very realistic, and depressing manner. As the Duke continuously robs a young and entirely innocent girl of any and all pleasure she may take from life because of his and English society's massive desire for her to produce a male heir.
The film opens with a gorgeous shot of 19th century England (and the fashions of the day) and very adeptly shows the intelligence and tender heartedness of Georgina before she is shackled to George. From the moment the two are wed, George shows zero interest in his new bride other than for the purposes of producing a male heir. As Georgina increasingly becomes a darling of English political and upper crust society; the Duke maintains his boring and ever distant personality. As is expertly shown in an early scene in the film when Georgina upstages the Duke at a dinner reception for political dignitaries of the English Whig party.
As the relationship between the Duchess and Duke continues to deteriorate, the character Bess is introduced. A woman who is also stricken by the horrors of how 19th Century society treated women. As her children had been separated from her because her husband was living with a mistress. The friendship between the two is actually quite touching. But their relationship yields the one portion of the film that I didn't really care for. The two have an almost lesbian sex scene which I felt was in bad taste and out of place in the film. While there is some proof that the two did engage in such acts, it is still made entirely of conjecture from the letters between the women.
While the movie has absolutely breathtaking cinematography and amazing costuming, which is certainly very pleasant, it is also one of the most truly depressing movies I've seen in the past few years. The pain that the Duke of Devinshire inflicts upon Georgina is truly horrible. This culminates in a rape scene which is highly uncomfortable to watch. The movie doesn't hold any punches, and is acted superbly. It is a must see for anyone into this historical period, anyone who loves amazing clothing, and pretty much just anyone who loves good film.
4.5 out of 5 stars.
The film documents the life of Georgina, the Duchess of Devinshire, in the 19th century. And her highly turbulent and blighted marriage to the Duke of Devinshire. The film portrays the vicious societal treatment of women (even though of immense social status as Georgina has) in a very realistic, and depressing manner. As the Duke continuously robs a young and entirely innocent girl of any and all pleasure she may take from life because of his and English society's massive desire for her to produce a male heir.
The film opens with a gorgeous shot of 19th century England (and the fashions of the day) and very adeptly shows the intelligence and tender heartedness of Georgina before she is shackled to George. From the moment the two are wed, George shows zero interest in his new bride other than for the purposes of producing a male heir. As Georgina increasingly becomes a darling of English political and upper crust society; the Duke maintains his boring and ever distant personality. As is expertly shown in an early scene in the film when Georgina upstages the Duke at a dinner reception for political dignitaries of the English Whig party.
As the relationship between the Duchess and Duke continues to deteriorate, the character Bess is introduced. A woman who is also stricken by the horrors of how 19th Century society treated women. As her children had been separated from her because her husband was living with a mistress. The friendship between the two is actually quite touching. But their relationship yields the one portion of the film that I didn't really care for. The two have an almost lesbian sex scene which I felt was in bad taste and out of place in the film. While there is some proof that the two did engage in such acts, it is still made entirely of conjecture from the letters between the women.
While the movie has absolutely breathtaking cinematography and amazing costuming, which is certainly very pleasant, it is also one of the most truly depressing movies I've seen in the past few years. The pain that the Duke of Devinshire inflicts upon Georgina is truly horrible. This culminates in a rape scene which is highly uncomfortable to watch. The movie doesn't hold any punches, and is acted superbly. It is a must see for anyone into this historical period, anyone who loves amazing clothing, and pretty much just anyone who loves good film.
4.5 out of 5 stars.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Saw Movie Review
Saw is such an interesting film. On two levels. The first being that it gets a horrible reputation of just being a gore fest with no point, no moral, and no redeeming qualities. With tripe such as Hostel clogging the movies nowadays, good horror movies get lost amongst the bad rap that they create for the genre.
There is so much more to Saw than there is to a film like the aforementioned torture porn fest of idiocy Hostel. It starts off similarly to another great horror film "Cube". Two men who, seemingly, have no relation to one another wake up in a filthy bathroom chained to the wall. They then learn that they are breathing in a deadly gas that will kill them. The sheer bizarre nature of watching two people trying to cope with horrible surroundings such as these is compelling. But then as you follow the detectives attempting to capture the "Jigsaw Killer", and you learn about the far from perfect lives that our victims have led up to this point the story comes into greater scope. It's not just about a serial killer randomly choosing victims (aside from the fact that he never kills anyone, who has them do it for him) it's about who chooses what is moral and what is not. Obviously Jigsaw is a madman, and a horrible person. But the people he's pitting against each other aren't exemplary either by any means. It brings into question what the entire fabric of society is held together by. A somewhat artificial sense of morality that will be broken when your life is at stake.
The movie is scary. No doubt. But there is so much more here for those who are willing to see it.
Saw gets 4 stars out fo 5.
There is so much more to Saw than there is to a film like the aforementioned torture porn fest of idiocy Hostel. It starts off similarly to another great horror film "Cube". Two men who, seemingly, have no relation to one another wake up in a filthy bathroom chained to the wall. They then learn that they are breathing in a deadly gas that will kill them. The sheer bizarre nature of watching two people trying to cope with horrible surroundings such as these is compelling. But then as you follow the detectives attempting to capture the "Jigsaw Killer", and you learn about the far from perfect lives that our victims have led up to this point the story comes into greater scope. It's not just about a serial killer randomly choosing victims (aside from the fact that he never kills anyone, who has them do it for him) it's about who chooses what is moral and what is not. Obviously Jigsaw is a madman, and a horrible person. But the people he's pitting against each other aren't exemplary either by any means. It brings into question what the entire fabric of society is held together by. A somewhat artificial sense of morality that will be broken when your life is at stake.
The movie is scary. No doubt. But there is so much more here for those who are willing to see it.
Saw gets 4 stars out fo 5.
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