56th BFI London Film Festival

Another year, another London Film Festival I miss due to having to work and being too slow to get round to booking tickets and finding anything I want to see already sold out. But not this year. With greater daytime freedom and more forward planning, I managed to make it to five of the 200+ films on display this year, confounding expectations by going to films from three, count them, continents.

But, as ever, let’s start in Japan. At the grand, old NFT I went to see ‘The Samurai That Night’, a tale of a widower seeking revenge for the hit-and-run killing of his wife five years previous. Nakamura has become a depressive, living in a dream world since his wife’s death, lacking any emotions or drives beyond one thing: vengeance. The killer of his wife, now free, starts to receive daily death threats in lead up to the five year anniversary of the event. Obvious where the threats came from, friends and family try and stop the final showdown before it’s too late.

The Samurai That Night

The film builds nicely, creating a sense of suspense, with a good performance from the lead, Masato Sakai. But, with any film that builds so much towards a finale, it is always tricky to execute an ending suitable for what has come before it. Here, the ending feels a little confused in parts and leaves you guessing as to what the final outcome will be, but in the end, probably does just enough to satisfy, concluding that death is that old metaphor for change.

1960s, high school musical set in Kabukicho, Tokyo…it has to be…it must be…it is Miike Takashi, once again making you wonder what the Hell he is going to do next. With the recent ’13 Assassins’, he proved his ability to work with a larger budget and now returns with the pop music video ‘For Love’s Sake’ (currently winner of the largest number of film titles award). Absolutely perfect Ai loves the downright arsehole Makoto, who saved her when she was younger. Returning the favour, she persuades her endlessly bourgeois parents to pay for his education and thus save him from being sent to a young offenders institute. But, of course, the plan fails; Makoto wanting to prove he is the world’s biggest arsehole at every opportunity.

Cue massive dance routines, horrendously catchy J-Pop songs and a teenage boy beating the shit out of a girl while she sings of her love for him. A script in Miike’s hands can truly become anything, and here again he proves his uniqueness even among Japanese directors. As with many of his films, it’s probably a little too long, a bit bumpy in parts and is at times purely stupid for the sheer joy of it, but proves that despite the high number of films he produces each year they are still of a reasonably high quality.

I’ve never been to Cine Lumiere before – part of the part of the Institut Francais, where clearly everyone is very tall and likes leaving the pubic hair in the urinal – but here the chance was given to actually speak to a real-life Japanese director and receive a long, comprehensive response via an interpreter. 

Miwa Nishikawa introduced her fourth film ‘Dreams for Sale’, where a couple, down on their luck after their restaurant burnt down, try to rebuild their lives as the husband seduces vulnerable women into parting with their money in return for some face-stroking, massage and good old coitous. The more the money flows, the more ambitious they become, seeking more and more money. As you can predict, their greed stretches a step too far, with dire consequences.

Dreams for Sale

The film raises interesting ideas about the concept of truth and deception, with the director wanting to – in her interpreter’s words – ‘explore how people reveal their true selves in times of crisis.’ An all-star cast play out the story, and having been the student of Kore-eda Hirokazu, Nishikawa is clearly a director for the future: a female director that ‘doesn’t necessarily want to make films about women.’

Next we head west to Africa, Senegal to be exact and a film featuring American rapper/poet Saul Williams. Meaning today, ‘Tey’ is Senegalese director Alain Gomis piece about a man that has one day left on this Earth. Having returned from America, Satche wakes surrounded by friends and family before wondering almost aimlessly round the city before returning to his wife and children to end the day.

Being That Williams is an American, and so having no knowledge of any foreign languages, the dialogue is kept to quite a minimum in this one. There is no particular narrative other than that of a man wondering on his last day on Earth, unsure as to what to do and where to go. He bounces from family to groups of friends to women to senior dignitaries to his family home.

Tey

There are some interesting crowd scenes within the cityscape as he moves around, though there is little that is really said nor concluded for me throughout to have any real impact. It is an interesting enough film, but is a little unsatisfying come the end. You can state that this is a film of an introspective look back at a life and places of the past, and it is to an extent, but with little explanation as to context this could be any day in a life on Earth.

North we now go and to that place called London. Tom Shkolnik’s debut ‘The Comedian’ is a film about London and relevant to anyone that has met someone living in the Hackney area. Ed is a call centre worker, not a comedian, that is his evening passion, but something that is not dwelt on too much. With his comedy career still not taking off and his depression at call centre work, he becomes involved in a bisexual love dodecahedron involving a young bartender/artist, his ‘musician’ flatmate and a colleague from the call centre. But all soon crumbles and he is left to look at what is next for himself.

Using close up camerawork and fast editing, ‘The Comedian’ throws you right into the middle of situations, creating a realistic atmosphere lacking in music but high on emotional outbursts and confrontation. Shkolnik’s London is one of unrealised dreams, heavy drinking, mundane work life and confrontation, which works to good effect, featuring various characters and scenarios common in the modern day capital.

The Comedian

‘The Comedian’ is an ironic title, featuring little in the way of actual stand-up routines, focusing more on the day-to-day realities of the many ‘artists’ throughout London, where people are more likely to say what they want to be than what they actually are.

Finally having got round to seeing some of the offerings from the festival – that I can remember anyway – it’s good to see films fresh, rather than having to wait years for them to reach British shores. The five films I went to see were all different but interesting and leave me making sure I will bother to get round to booking tickets next year. 

Slam/Bamboozled

Now, here are two films I remember watching many moons ago, and for some strange reason was compelled to watch again. Of both, I remember slightly unusual techniques and styles, feeling more like home movies than big-budget films. But, neither is particularly big-budget; both controversial in their own way and quite experimental, designed to create emotion more than they are to entertain. Both, therefore, are not great films, but interesting ones nonetheless, perhaps not fully getting their ideas across, but based on good ideas.

Starting with ‘Slam’, we see young Raymond Joshua living in D.C., working as a small-time drug dealer, occasionally writing the odd verse of poetry. Caught in a gang-land shooting, he sees himself arrested and trapped with the choice of going to prison or going to prison on a drug possession charge. Angered and frustrated, he again finds himself trapped in the middle of a gang dispute in prison resulting in him letting out his grievances in the form of poetry in the prison yard.

Slam

If you like, ‘Slam’ is a musical; not so much a film, but a vehicle to showcase the talents of the cast as poets and emcees. Much of the cast are poets and/or rappers appearing in a debut acting role, or one of their few and had a big hand in the writing. Saul Williams plays the lead role, with Sonja Sohn (that ‘dyke cunt’ from ‘The Wire’), Bonz Malone and Beau Sia taking up supporting roles, among others. The acting and story, therefore, are never fully polished, with writer/director Mark Levin known more for his documentaries than feature films.

The story moves on a little too quickly in parts and character motivation is not always fully explored, beyond William’s character. But with the low-budget feel, this has that trapped-in-time quality, feeling isolated from the rest of the world. There is nothing Earth-shattering here, but some interesting social comment and, at times, powerful performances.

Spike Lee’s ‘Bamboozled’ is a satire of modern television and what those watching the ‘idiot box’ have come to expect on the small screen. Damon Wayans plays Pierre Delacroix, a sit-com writer criticised by a ‘more black than black people’ network executive for writing shows that are ‘too white,’ featuring ‘white people with black faces.’ Pushed to deny the existence of a middle-class African-American, Delacroix works to create a show so ‘black’ as to shock America into realising the stereotypes that are portrayed on every day television. Ticking-off every racial stereotype imaginable, he creates ‘Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show’.

Bamboozled

Amazingly, the show is a success, working only to further stereotypes rather than destroy them; leaving Delacroix viewed as a sell-out. Success and fame are predictably the downfall of those involved resulting in tragedy.

‘Bamboozled’ is an interesting film for Lee to have made at the time; rising in his career and choosing to make a film that is quite low on a number of things. To start, the cast is low on out-and-out actors – and you can include Damon Wayans and Jada Pinkett-Smith within that – using rappers and comedians in many roles. It is also a film low on any nice Hollywood gloss and sheen – an effect probably desired considering the subject matter. The one thing it is high on is camera numbers, using numerous handhelds to take shots from various angles, such as audience reactions to a new breed of minstrel show. This creates a claustrophobic and documentary-like feel to the film.

Bamboozled

But being a satire, the film is more about the point it is trying to make; the use of footage from old television and film portrayals of African-Americans throughout and montaged at the end highlighting this. References are made to various moments where art and politics have collided, as well as using real-life figures vocal in such areas.

But ultimately, ‘Bamboozled’ ends up a little messy in final execution. The lack of any real acting talent leaves performances a little wooden, as well as the characters they portray a little too extreme, notably the Mau Mau, led by Mos Def, who feel a little unrealistic despite Mos Def’s usually charismatic onscreen performances. A little too much can be rammed down your throat at times, with all imagery and dialogue geared towards one thing.

Bamboozled

Neither ‘Slam’ nor ‘Bamboozled’ will ever be regarded as great films, nor will they probably be remembered by many. But both are interesting examples of more creative film-making. Big budget effects, state-of-the-art camerawork and even actors are not required, as long as the film is based on a strong idea and purpose. They are portrayals of writers, trapped in different situations as they struggle to overcome stereotypes, relying on the talents of their non-acting casts. Well-executed at times or not, both still offer more than the endless big budget sequels and re-makes that make-up the majority of box office takings. 

Every 14 Days...(13)

The Sound of Waves (Mishima Yukio)

Stumbling about a book shop looking for something to read, I came across the name Mishima Yukio and randomly decided to take a punt on a randomly chosen book of his. ‘The Sound of Waves’ is what I came away with: a tale of first love – probably not the best one to have chosen really.

Humble boy fisherman Shinji starts getting boners over the mysterious Hatsue, the returning daughter of the wealthiest man on the small island of Utajima (‘Song Island’). Eventually meeting her and speaking to her, it’s not long before they are stood naked before each other. But, being that they are young, unmarried and she is the pick of the birds, it’s not long before rumour and gossip spread rife through the community, shaming both their names.

There’s no doubt that Mishima is a good writer, with a nice, flowing style that reads easily, but I’m not really sure what the point of this book is – if it’s that true love shines through, then that’s just a bit shit and gay really. But I’m sure it’s something much more along the lines of the nature of gossip and scandal in a community that revolves around traditional values. ‘The Sound of Waves’ is perhaps not his best work, with ‘The Sea of Fertility’ his most celebrated work, but marks the discovery of a new writer that will undoubtedly make an appearance in the future, despite having committed seppuku forty-two years ago.

Days to read: 15

Days per book: 14.3

You are Nothing (Robert Wringham)

‘If you’ve only ever read one book in your life…I strongly recommend that you keep your mouth shut.’

- Simon Munnery

It’s quite often that a lot of the furore and protest over controversial comedies – such as the will-become-appropriate-later ‘Jerry Springer the Opera’ – is conducted by people that have not actually seen what they are protesting about. What they are saying, therefore, has to be taken with a pinch of salt and filed under ‘words of a bored nutter’. But, what if it’s the other way round, and someone shamelessly praises something that they have never seen?

Enter Robert Wringham and his book ‘You are Nothing’, an account of the Cluub Zarathustra comedy night from 1990s London which featured a heavyweight line-up of Simon Munnery, Stewart Lee (Stew Art Wee), Kevin Eldon, Sally Philips, Richard Thomas, Harry Hill, Roger Mann, Al Murray, Johnny Vegas, Graham Linehan, Peter Baynham, Richard Herring, Julian Barratt, among others. Beyond having seen the unaired Channel 4 pilot on YouTube and that much of Simon Munnery’s material was later used in ‘Attention Scum’ on BBC2, I know little of Cluub Zarathustra. But, with the list of names performing early work that would go on to become huge stars of British comedy and Richard Herring, it’s believable that I would have loved the experimental showcase if I had seen it.

And this is Robert Wringham’s approach: write a book about something you’ve never seen, but assume you would have enjoyed if you had seen it, and try to make the most of sketchy twenty year-old memories of people who were probably drugged-up and/or drunk at the time. Speaking on ‘Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast’ (RHLSTP!), Stewart Lee jokes about the possible validity of the idea, much has he would have questioned the argument of the 50,000 or so Christians who took him to court over ‘Jerry Springer the Opera’. And when reading the book, it’s hard not to have a sense of this is a man writing close to 200 pages in rather a subjective manner about something he never saw.

Though having said that, it is good that an account is being made at a time when all of the performers are still in a position to still have some memory of it, no matter how vague. Given the endless list of television shows, stand-up performances and even films that the bit-part line-up went on to produce, it can only be agreed that Cluub Zarathustra certainly has an important part to play in British comedy history and is worthy of a documented account – even though it is a Go Faster Stripe Book and will probably only be read by a couple of hundred people at most!

A couple of years ago, I posted a comment on the Cluub Zarathustra pilot episode on YouTube. This led to a response from a man identified only as ‘Rob’ to message me asking if I’d ever seen Cluub Zarathustra live. One can only hope that Mr Wringham wasn’t that desperate in his research and that anyone writing any book ever should use every other tool available to them before asking me for my account.

Days to read: 11

Days per book: 14.2

The Motorcycle Diaries (Ernesto Che Guevara)

Watch the film, read the book, feel intellectually superior to you now that I have read the book and you haven’t.

Gap years are great, aren’t they? Gain work experience, go travelling, become an important politic icon of the Twentieth Century. So the film would have you believe, anyway. This is, as stated, more of a travel log of two friends travelling across South America, one of which went on to become a famous Marxist revolutionary. The film plays on events having great significance in shaping Guevara’s change in political ideology along the journey, but that is not the case. While the travels will have undoubtedly had an impact on his future self, he did, of course, go back to University after the travels to finish his course.

Mainly, it is an account of naivety, blagging and having to sleep rough. It should probably have been called ‘The Unicycle Diaries’, as La Poderosa  gave up on them quite early on and much of the journey was spent hitching, flying in the air or sailing by boat. It was probably this fact: travelling on foot, hitching lifts and getting in with locals rather than speeding past on a bike that would have led to a greater impact on Guevara, making the title seem a little ironic in hindsight.

The man he became would happen later: here he is like any other male student, unsure where he is going, in search of adventure and having a laugh. Now for me to write my book: ‘Travelled Round Japan, then I Became a Member of the Green Party’…or something.

Days to read: 10

Days per book: 14.1

Turn My Teeth Up! (Baby Elephant)

New YouTubeness from the wacky fun wagon that is Baby Elephant (Prince Paul, Bernie Worrell and Newkirk). Photo from somewhere along the Regents Canal in London a few years back. No one else had put this up, so I did. I mainly like the ending...