London East End Film Festival

This years East End Film Festival will be running from June 25th through till July 10th. Currently in its twelfth year, this year promises an eclectic mix of work. Having had a thorough look through the catalog here are my top 5 must see picks from the festival:

1) Love Lace (2013) Dir. Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman

Based on the life of the notorious, Linda Lovelace,  an American pornography actress who starred in the controversial, 1970's feminist porno, Deep Throat. Lovelace soon quit porn altogether and now is part of the anti-pornography movement. With an impressive cast (Sharon Stone, Peter Sarsgaard and Amanda Seyfried) and fascinating plot, I am particular looking forward to this film. Screening on the 10th July at Hackney Picturehouse. You can buy your tickets here. 

2) Shorts Programmes: Family Ties

EEFF has always been a huge supporter on showcasing brilliant shorts and Family Ties looks particularly intriguing due to the universal subject matter that audiences can relate to and also my current obsession, the immensely talented Neil Maskell starring in Driftwood (2012) 

For just £11.60 (adult price) you can see the all the following Family Ties shorts: 

Long Distance Information (2012) Dir. Douglas Hart 8 mins

From Dad to Son (2011) Dir. Nils Knoblich 5 mins

Laura (2013) Dir. Tim Knights 20 mins

Cowboys (2011) Dir.James Alexandrou  18mins

Kingdom of Doug (2013) Dir. Victoria Thaine 15mins

Driftwood (2012) Dir. James Webber 11mins

Mickey & Michaela Buy Their Dad (2013) Dir. Tom George 8 mins

Screening on Sunday 30th June at Hackney Picturehouse. You can buy your ticket here.

3) Satellite Boy (2012) Dir. Catriona McKenzie

Everything about the synopsis to this film excited me so I am going to quote directly from the EEFF website:

"A heartrending tale of family, tradition and survival, Catriona McKenzie’s remarkable debut film sees a young boy being raised in the shadow of an abandoned drive-in cinema in rural Western Australia. Pete (the startlingly promising newcomer Cameron Wallaby) decides to head to the city when the cinema is purchased by a mining company, a journey that ends as a fight for survival in which the skills taught to him by his grandfather (veteran actor David Gulpilil) prove invaluable. Satellite Boy is a film to warm the heart and soothe the soul."

 Screening at the Barbican you can buy your tickets here. 

4) Frances Ha (2012) Dir. Noah Baumbach 

Another indie coming of age tale set in New York based on the twenty something year old Frances, a conversational film which I suspect will not cater to everyone's taste. 

Having watched the trailer to Frances Ha this was going to be an obvious must see for me. It has a certain Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture vibe about it which excited me even more. Woody Allen fans would enjoy this feature. 

Screening on 6th July at Hackney Picturehouse you can buy tickets here. 

5) Extraordinary Stories (2008) Dir. Mariano Llinas

I've saved the best till last. Argentinian Director, Mariano Llinas appears to take the audience on an experimental story telling journey. With three separate plot lines, intriguing characters and the most enticing and interesting voice over I've witnessed in a film trailer, this is truly the most exciting film of the festival.

Highly recommend you watch the trailer here.

Screening at RichMix Cinema, you can buy tickets here. 

A Nos Amours: 'Solaris' (1972) Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky

"I've been in love four or five times. Twice with a woman, once with a man, once with a dog and once with this film" - Will Self introducing screening of 'Solaris' at Curzon Renoir on 13th June 2013

Having already attended two fantastically scrumptious screenings held by A Nos Amours film collective, I was feeling  particularly curious about this one. Being a Tarkovsky virgin and not an avid sci-fi fan (although I adore Brazil), I was unsure whether I'd enjoy Solaris.

 Will Self gave us an enthusiastic, fiercely candid, passionate and highly comical introduction before the screening. He encouraged the audience to have an open mind when viewing the film and leave all our expectation of the usual 'Hollywood' run of the mill cinema at the door.

Solaris is a deeply mystical film at best with not much of a solid plot. Tarkovsky uses the idea of a star solar system being a metaphor of some kind of moral God encouraging the characters to re-consider their beliefs, confront the past, explore the human condition and ideas about love and loss.

The opening of Solaris is absolutely hypnotising in every sense; The audience is introduced to the main protagonist, Kelvin (Donatas Banionis) appearing to be a rather pensive character standing in his garden. There are some stunning shots of his garden, flowing water and lots of greenery while the pace of this opening sets the overall tone of the film.

We learn that Kelvin will be leaving Earth to take a voyage to planet Solaris - Once he arrives on the space ship, Solaris appears to be sending vibrations that trigger up aspects of his sub conscience. His deceased wife, Haris (Natalya Bondarchuk) returns to haunt him, this encourages him to also explore conceptual ideas about existence with two scientists; Snaut and Sartorius.

Just like David Lynch, Tarkovsky succeeds in transporting the audience to a dream like frequency where we can almost touch the walls of his own inner sub conscience. The random images of dogs on the space ship (perhaps not so random..?) to the sequences from Kelvin's past which includes a stunning Russian film score which succeeds in creating a sense of familiarity. We understand, we feel, Kelvin's journey.

The cutaway shots of the moving ocean are truly magnificent. These shots appear to be reflecting human memory, what it lacks in detail, it makes up with the intensity of genuine bold feelings.

Solaris is a perplexing, visual study of the human subconscious, a love story on one hand and a moving film that must be watched with patience and most definitely over and over again to truly understand and relish everything it has to offer.

Hats off to Adam Roberts and Joanna Hogg for forming this wonderful and truly unique film collective which is devoid of pretension and instead, is dedicated to screening rare and often overlooked films in their original print.

A fantastic, mixed crowd of cinephiles, artistic types, industry professionals and lovers of slow cinema, I highly recommend you catch the next screening. Past screenings have included; Frost (Tarkovsky), A Moment of Innocence (Mohsen Makhmalbaf) & La Belle et la Bete (Jean Cocteau).

You can find them on twitter and on facebook.

http://www.anosamours.co.uk/

The Iceman (2012) Dir. Ariel Vromen

Michael Shannon plays Richard Kuklinski in The Iceman, a film heavily based on true events tells the story of  Kuklinski, a part time devoted family man and part time notorious contract killer. 

With an impressive line up of cast (just to name a few; James Franco, Ray Liotta, Stephen Dorff) and an interesting plot, it was hard not to miss The Iceman.  It certainly does deliver a gripping mob/thriller genre driven film. Michael Shannon absolutely leads the way with his blank expressions and deadpan reactions.  

Winona Ryder graces us with her presence and gives a fantastic ( and rather eerie at moments too) performance as Kuklinkski's wife, Deborah. 

There appeared to be one major casting error;  David Schwimmer  from Friends as part of the mob...  I couldn't help laughing hysterically every time he managed to get some airtime. He had retained the same 'puppy dog - lost, bizarre' expression from his character Ross from friends. This expression teamed up with a mustache, long ponytail in a sophisticated gangster film setting didn't help control my laughter. The below screen shot is merely a glimpse and does not do my comments justice.

On a more serious note: The Iceman is nothing spectacular, having said that it does manage to stand on it's own; The violence is believable and well executed (pun intended), Shannon is outstanding in portraying an extremely monstrous character devoid of any gangster glamour that we see in films such as Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction and The Godfather. 

This lack of glamour is what makes The Iceman interesting.

Winona Forever - Top 6 Roles

For any cinephile born in the 70s or 80s, you can guarantee they will all have an unusual kind of love for Winona Ryder. Not a fan of Hollywood and rarely partaking in interviews other than to promote her films, Ryder is the somewhat elusive actress that we adore to adore.

Her emotive eyes on screen are reminiscent to the actresses from the silent movie era and she has a genuine indie charm that always manages to shine through all of her roles. With the release of The Iceman, I thought it was only appropriate to look back at some of her roles:

1) The highly comical, nun obsessed teen, Charlotte Flax in Mermaids (1990) 

2) The fight for the good, Veronica in the edgy high school cult classic (and one of my favourite films of all time) , Heathers (1988)

3)The self obsessed heart-breaker, Nola, in Woody Allen's Celebrity (1998)

                                            

4) The highly intuitive, Susanna Kaysen, in Girl, Interrupted (1999) 

5) The ambitious and brave, Jo March in Little Women (1994)

6) Weird and wonderful teen, Lydia Deetz in Tim Burton's, Beetlejuice (1988)

The Iceman is out in cinema's now and follows the story (inspired heavily by true events) of notorious contract killer, Richard Kulkinski (Michael Shannon) from his early days in the mob until his arrest for killing over one hundred people. Appearing to be a slave to the American Dream, a father and husband, in reality Kulkinski was a ruthless killer whose wife and children had no idea.

Ryder will play Kulkinski's wife.