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THRILLER/DRAMA THE WAVE (DIE WELLE) <15) Wain-v.
A slickly produced examination of how fascism can enter everyday life. The Wave is a peer pressure teen drama where much of the heat comes from above, noticeably JUrgen Vogel's high school teacher who wonders what will happen if he instils in the kids a few lessons from the Nazi past. Most of the kids take to the strict dress code. harsher discipline and the group ethic with the worrying rapidity of the proverbial duck to water. Is there something innate in us that makes such leanings inevitable. or is it the lack of anything innate that leads to our being so easily swayed? Writer/director Dennis Gansel (though based on Todd Strasser's novel) doesn't dig too deep. but his well- made youth drama was a hit in Germany and it offers a couple of moments of tension come the denouement.
Gansel has said of the film that: ‘the subject didn't let go of me. The question was: would we still fall for it?‘ but the real strength of his film resides in its savvy exploitation of the theme rather than exploration of it. This is
basically an entertaining, sharply made
teen thriller with a typically solid central performance from German TV and film star Vogler and consistent with The Edukators. Goodbye, Lenin and Sophie Soho/l: The Final Days — all recent attempts by German filmmakers to explore their political past through mainstream narratives. (Tony McKibbin)
I Selected release on Fri 79 Sep. See profile, right.
THRILL
ER THE CHASER (CHUGYEOGJA)
(18) 124min 00
South Korean director and screenwriter Na Hong-jin's festival award winning debut is this year's largest grossing domestic film in its homeland and. unsurprisingly. Leonardo DiCaprio has snapped up the remake rights. Astounding really. considering how mediocre this thriller actually is. Cobbled together from bits of O/dboy, Memories of Murder and The Silence of the Lambs. then polished up with the wax of misogyny and dead prostitutes. The Chaser is wholly unsurprising. Ex-cop Joong-ho (Kim Yun-seok) works as a pimp and is furious that two of his girls have run away while a third Mi-jin (Seo Yeong-hie) says she's too sick to work. He forces the flailing mother to abandon her child and attend to a client. It turns out that the client is brutal serial killer Young-min (Ha Jung-woo. great in Kim Ki-duk's Time). With its erratic pacing and sadistic hero. what starts as an intriguing procedural quickly descends into a tenuous game of cat-and-mouse that is buoyed up by frequent gut-churning violence. (Kaleem Aftab) I Cinewor/d Renfrew Street, Glasgow and selected release from Fri
79 Sep.
MURDER/MYSTERY RIGHTEOUS KILL (15) 100min so
When Robert De Niro and Al Pacino had one scene together in Michael Mann’s Heat, the sense of anticipation of these two legendary New York actors sparking off each other (rather than just being in the same film a la The Godfather: Part II) was enormous. But that was in 1995 — almost thirteen years ago. They’ve lost much kudos since then by following the money to ensure cushy retirements and it will be interesting to see what audiences will make of their new multi-scene match up as New York police detective partners Rooster (Pacino) and Turk (De Niro) in Righteous Kill.
Righteous Kill is a romance dressed up as a cop serial killer movie. De Niro and Pacino stare admiringly at each other throughout this ponderous cop yarn as if they’re celebrating a diamond-wedding anniversary. They constantly bang on about how great the other man is. Turk (who frequently quotes Clint Eastwood’s fictional detective ‘Dirty’ Harry Callaghan) confesses to the murder of a dozen or so criminals who have been set free by the courts. The murders are shown in flashback without showing who pulls the trigger. Could it be that Turk didn’t do it? Is Rooster the real battery batterer? Or is it some other cock(erel) of a cop?
This is the second film out in the next few weeks helmed by Jon Avnett (the underwhelming 88 Minutes is the other one, also starring Pacino), and again his ponderous direction make it difficult to care about anything or anyone. Inside Man screenwriter Russell Gewirtz’s pedestrian work here proves that he may just be a one hit wonder (or that his best work may be behind him). There’s nothing virtuous about Righteous Kill - it’s as predictable as summer rain. (Kaleem Aftab)
I General release from Fri 26 Sep.
Name Dennis Gansel
Born Hanover. Germany. 1973 Background Gansel studied at Munich where he shot a couple of short films. After graduating he went on to make Phantom, a film for television about the Red Army Faction. the self-styled youthful freedom fighters that terrorised Germany for much of the 70s and called into question West Germany‘s status as a Democratic c0untry. He followed it with a youth film in a rather different direction. 2001 '3 Girls on Top was a teen sex comedy that was a huge success in Germany.
What’s he up to now? He is busy having another hit on his hands. The Wave managed 2.5 million admissions in Germany and he is hoping it does well ' internationally. Based on a 1967 experiment by Ron Jones. a teacher in the US. the film explores what happens when a high school teacher in today's Germany instils stern values into his kids and watches as they turn into burgeoning obedient Nazis. What he says about compliance ‘The Nazis were very modern; they used the latest technology - cinema. science. radio — to manipulate the masses. Today they would use MySpace. popular music, Facebook. We wanted to show that there are many ways to create obedience in people. We wanted the clothes to be casual but uniform - white shirts and trainers. The dress sense might seem innocuous; but when someone doesn't dress accordingly. it causes problems.‘ What he says about his filmmaking style ‘In The Wave we wanted it to be very immediate. Though it is isn‘t set anywhere specific. in other ways we wanted to make it very real. We paid a lot of attention to the dialogue the kids use. We wanted to draw the viewer into the youth movie aspect. We used lots of music and close up ands moving carnera.‘
Interesting fact The central character’s teacher wife in The Wave is based on one of Gansel's friends who ‘used to get so stressed and nervous before going into school she would take pills to cope.‘ (Tony McKibbin)
I The Wave is on selected release from Fri 19 Sep. See review, left.
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