RARE FILM: Tiny Furniture (2010) Dir. Lena Dunham

Director, Star & Writer, Lena Dunham, is simply a genius and modern day heroine

With big wins at SXSW in 2010, this coming of age, heavily frank, partly autobiographical, indie feature is a charming, hidden gem. Film4 acquired this film in 2012 and it was only released in a handful of cinemas last year. The film grabbed the attention of the key bosses at HBO soon after it's showcase at SXSW, soon after, Dunham was granted a TV deal for her highly acclaimed, award winning series, Girls.

The plot: Recently graduated from college, Aura, returns to her mothers swish apartment, attempts to find a job, runs into old friends and manages to find herself in awkward situations with men. Starring Lena Dunham's real life mother and sister, Tiny Furniture is brutally candid and feels more like a Woody Allen film if he was a girl in his twenties.

Not catering to everyone's taste, Tiny Furniture struts around comically, dancing around with the woes of the white middle class. Post-college yet not quite prepared for the real world, Aura is doing a lot of reflecting. Her actions throughout the film reflects the current generation of twenty, something year old's; The loss of direction in one's career, the overriding sense of entitlement, the intensity of female friendships and the numbness towards sex and relationships. 

Hipster friends, Aura & Charlotte - Gallery sequence

Tiny Furniture is an extremely funny film because it lacks pretense. Aura's melodramatic interactions with her sister and mother to her conversations with hipster, extrovert friend, Charlotte (played by Girls star, Jemima Kirke) is both sincere and very similar to real life interactions with loved ones. It's quite difficult not to warm to the characters with lines such as;

                                                                                                                           

                                    Aura's friend: "..Good to see you too, you look so pretty!"

Aura: "Oh are you serious? I feel like this outfit just screams: I've been living in Ohio for three years, take me back to your gross apartment and have sex with me"

Dunham's refusal to get all dolled up for the camera is one of the strongest aspects to the film, the audience is seeing a completely new representation of a woman on screen. Not only is Dunham curvaceous, she has no hesitation revealing her body throughout the film, standing in her childish pajamas with just her underwear on, it appears she is not only a modern day feminist, she's also highlighting the difficulty of being in your twenties; Not quite ready for adulthood yet desperately trying to understand and mold into it. 

More on Dunham:

Born and raised in New York City to two artists (Carroll Dunham and Laurie Simmons) Dunham attended  Oberlin Liberal Arts College where she graduated in Creative Writing in 2008.

Having always had a passion for making short films, Lena Dunham nabbed best narrative feature at SWSX festival in 2010, her career skyrocketed since then.

NB: If you've fallen in love with Lena Dunham as much as I have, check out  'British Biscuits' - The Delusional Downtown Diva's below: 

AND

Click HERE for a great interview with her in GQ magazine.

The Bling Ring (2013) Dir. Sofia Coppola

Based on real life events, specifically on the Vanity Fair article, The Suspects Wore Louboutins, Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring follows a group of celebrity-obsessed teens that 'burglarized' (I was not aware this  was even a word before seeing the film) celebrity homes. Orlando Bloom, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan , Megan Fox and Audrina Patridge were some of the victims victims?! targets victims. 

Sofia Coppola has always been somewhat sympathetic towards the problems and plights of the privileged. It's certainly an odd and slightly irritating perspective to adopt but none the less an extremely fascinating one which most of us are alien to. We saw this theme boldly in her stunning feature; Somewhere, which follows the aimless life of well known actor, Johnny Marco,  (played by Stephen Dorff) and his young daughter Cleo (played by the immensely talented, Elle Fanning) the film mostly takes place in the iconic luxury hotel, Chateau Marmont and around Los Angeles. 

Coppola herself was born and raised to affluent parents. Her father, Francis Ford Coppola, the great director who created the classic Godfather films, it's no question as to why she takes such an interest into the lives of the privileged and  the issues surrounding them. 

Throughout the film, as the sequences unfold, the robberies and car thefts do not appear to be shocking, the audience is effectively taken along this ride of madness and stealing begins to feel like the norm here. Emma Watson is particular exceptional in her role of Niki. Ice cold, deluded and generally jaded. Using Paris Hilton's actual house for the filming of the burglaries, the film puts the audience right in the heart of excessive celebrity worship. It's certainly a visual feast with the shots of ridiculous amount of shoes, bling and clothes. 

Teens gone wild - Paris Hilton's shoes

The most exquisite sequence is when Rebecca (played by Katie Chang) and Marc (played by Israel Broussard) rob Audrina Patridge's home. The Sofia Coppola stamp was most clearly marked with the stunning long shot of the mansion on the hills, each room lights up as the teens enter rummaging around for goods to steal . The audience adopts a completely detached angle whilst they witness the vulgar act unfold. This was one of the most exceptional sequences in the film.

Coppola approaches The Bling Ring with a rather numb, obsessive compulsive and repetitive angle. These teens are clearly misguided and represent a whole generation infatuated with fame, celebrities, money, Chanel hand bags and facebook profile pictures. Coppola refrains from glamourising this clique or series of circumstances which is one of the major strengths of the film.

The film is jam packed with LA norms and for anyone who has spent time in LA, you will understand these connections and the film will come across as a black comedy. The fact that many people use prescription drugs like Xanax is casually thrown into the film, Hollywood in particular has a reputation for the easy access of prescription drugs. Geographically speaking, celebrities roam around LA and are in close proximity to the average person, they are only a handful of 'cool' night clubs and bars, this appears to encourage the sense of celeb mania. Coppola reflects this ever so casually in the night club scene where the teens are at, both Paris Hilton and Kirsten Dunst both make a cameo. 

Niki (Emma Watson) in the club sequence

Another humorous aspect of the film is Niki's mother home-schooling her children based on the spiritual wisdom / religion, The Secret.  Most of the theory is based on positive thinking and blocking out negative thoughts in order invite good things (yes, actual things) into your life. 

The desire for money, the desire for the perfect body, the desire for status, the desire for designer clothes and even the greed for spiritual / religious enlightenment. At first glance, The Bling Ring may have worked better as a documentary of some sort however, on second glance, the repetitive and robotic nature of the screenplay and general unfolding of this feature is a unique triumph. Coppola has most eloquently summarised the problem with young teens in Hollywood and delivered a polished film with amazing performances and a kitsch soundtrack. 

The destinations of these characters are unknown, Coppola hints towards a metaphoric LA smog, coexisting and interrupting these youngsters, filling them with an quenching thirst for all things celebrity and material based. The audience does tend to sympathise with these teens, especially towards the lead up of their arrest. However, the eerie reality that Coppola has painted of La La Land, overrides this completely. 

FrightFest 2013 : The Line-Up

Our lovely friends at Film4 and founders, Paul McEvoy, Ian Rattray and Alan Jones return with FrightFest Horror Film Festival in August. Currently in it's fourteenth year, the festival takes place in the lavish and huge Empire Cinema in Leicester Square from 22nd August until 26th August. Showcasing 51 films over the course of a long weekend. 

The crowd at FrightFest feels more like an odd, huge family get together than a festival. Strangers enthusiastically speak to each other, it's a safe haven for genuine horror geeks to roam around expressing their passion for this fascinating, fiercely entertaining film genre. 

My top five pics for this year are as follows: 

1) Big Bad Wolves (Dir. Aharon Keshales & Navot Papushado) 2013

A fathers revenge after the  brutual murder on his daughter. 

Organisers of FrightFest have said to expect,

"...a teasingly twisting plot that’s part OLDBOY, part Hitchcock, part Coen Brothers..."







2) Curse of Chucky (Dir. Don Macini) 2013 

The European premiere of Macini's latest, highly popular feature, killer doll, Chucky!

The blue eyed, ginger doll is causing more mayhem and havoc than ever. 














3) V/H/S 2 (Dir. Simon Barrett, Jason Eisener, Gareth Evans, Gregg Hale, Eduardo Sanchez, Timo Tjahjanto & Adam Wingard) 2013

After seeing V/H/S (the first one) at FrightFest last year, I am extremely excited about the follow up.

With a team of seven directors, these short films combined into one appear to be edgier and more slick than ever.








4) We Are What We Are (Dir. Jim Mickle) 2013

Two daughters are forced to deal with the loss of their mother. Instructed by their stern father to partake in an ancestral ritual, this promises to be art house in style and extremely gorey. 

Expect a lot of blood, a lot of cannibalism..



















5) Nosferatu (Dir. F.W. Murnau) 1922

One from the retro stems is Murnau's expressionistic vampire story.

A truly iconic film. A visual treat. 













Other great films include Odd Thomas, I Spit On Your Grave 2,Your Next, The Dead 2: India & Cheap Thrills.

For the complete line-up please click here.