www.list.co.uk/film DOCUMENTARY THE SHOCK DOCTRINE (E) 79min (Dogwoof) ●●●●●
country, Russian law enforcement agencies step in to quell the trouble when one of their cops is caught blubbing on screen. Hitching a ride is the police force’s PR director, a young ambitious woman who attempts to exploit the ensuing siege operation by turning it into a reality TV show.
Such a set-up could so easily have toppled the story into a cliché-riddled cringe-fest but happily, with some solid performances, decent dialogue and believable characters on both sides of the law, Newsmakers keeps the action pumping and the outrage flowing to the bitter end. Extras include a trailer and some snippets from other gun- crazy DVDs on the Showbox stable. (Brian Donaldson)
DOCUMENTARY IN THE PIT (E) 84min (Network) ●●●●●
Exploring the thoughts, feelings and labour activity of workers in Mexico City who are employed in building a new second-deck motorway around the capital, Juan Carlos Rulfo’s film manages to give individuality to a handful of Mexico City’s 15 million inhabitants, no matter the anonymity of the work they happen to do. Rulfo is as much interested in their individual philosophies as their functional role. How do they manage to hold on to their souls in a potentially soulless
Not to be confused with Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón’s 2007 short, this second adaptation of Naomi Klein’s chilling book about the evils of modern capitalism is the full-length 2009 documentary co- directed by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross (who recently made his solo feature debut with the Ian Dury biopic Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll). Klein’s indictment argues that the US Government has executed the extremist theories of American economist Milton Friedman, which essentially take advantage of the trauma of war to empire-build, beginning with Pinochet’s Nixon administration-backed military coup of September 11, 1973, and continuing on into Bush Jr’s post-9/11 shock-and-awe invasion of Iraq. Winterbottom and Whitecross (who previously collaborated on the docu-drama The Road to Guantanamo) illustrate Klein’s case with a provocative mix of interviews – with the charismatic author, Friedman, members of various US administrations and CIA spooks – and archive footage. It makes for riveting viewing, but watch it and weep. No extras. (Miles Fielder) CRIME DRAMA NEWSMAKERS (18) 105min (Showbox) ●●●●●
Based on Johnnie To’s 2004 Hong Kong action thriller, this Russian remake (from Swedish director Anders Banke) is an admirable effort. As a bunch of ruthless gangsters go on the rampage across the
environment (where, as Mexican legend has it, for every bridge built, the devil asks for one soul to ensure that it doesn’t collapse)? As we’re privy to the workers’ thoughts, we hear one diminutive figure saying he does a bit of everything work- wise and then later insists all he worries about is work and food. Someone else talks of liking the night more than the day; a third insists ‘you can get used to anything except work. Nobody gets used to work’. Concluding on a beautiful, gliding overhead shot of the work so far done, we may wonder what the human price has been. Extras include making-of featurette. (Tony McKibbin) DRAMA THE ISLAND (PG) 150min (Artificial Eye) ●●●●●
The spirit of Andrei Tarkovsky hovers over Russian cinema maybe more than any other director, perhaps quite aptly for one so given to the spiritual himself. The Island opens with a horrible moment of human weakness. Threatened with imminent death by the Nazis, a young soldier shows where his captain is hiding, and is then forced to shoot him apparently dead so that in return he will be allowed to live. We then cut to a monastery many years later, where the youngster is now an old man, and makes amends by offering miracles: he seems to possess healing powers. Director Pavel Lungin isn’t afraid of some easy plot twists and exaggerated characterisation, but by the end the film has the power of a well-told fable contained by an interesting, concluding paradox. Minimal extras. (Tony McKibbin)
DVD Reviews Film HORROR ROUND-UP
For this issue’s delve into the world of summer horror we’re taking a trip around the globe. Starting in the US with one for real horror aficionados, His Name Was Jason (Stax) ●●●●● is an exhaustive look at the history of everyone’s favourite hockey-masked serial killer, Jason Voorhees, and his life through 12 Friday the 13th films. They manage to track down and interview everyone who has ever played Jason as well as a host of victims, directors and celebrity fans. Spiral (Universal) ●●●●● is actually a dark thriller being marketed as a horror (well it is from director Adam Green who gave us Hatchet and Frozen). It does drag in places but builds up a decent level of suspense as loner Joel Moore befriends Amber Tamblyn. Stag Night (Kaleidoscope) ●●●●● is a fairly generic slasher as stag party revellers are chased through subway tunnels by a group of near Neanderthal madmen while The Graves (Anchor Bay) ●●●●● pretty much typifies straight-to-DVD horror: kinda watchable, kinda crappy, too much CGI blood, wooden acting and a vaguely passable, slightly unintelligible plot about a haunted ghost town. Over the Pacific to Asia, where the title Samurai Zombie (MVM) ●●●●● pretty much sums up the plot, as undead Japanese warriors slice and dice a family, some crooks and a few cops in rural Japan. Blood (MVM) ●●●●● is an adequate vampire movie with a dash of added kung fu. The Grudge keeps on giving in Ju-On: White Ghost & Black Ghost (4 Digital Media), ●●●●● which is actually two one-hour films on one disc. White Ghost is almost laughably bad as ghosts pop up every five minutes to less and less scary effect, but Black Ghost almost redeems things with a few creepy moments. However, Thai anthology Phobia (Icon) ●●●●● is far more entertaining, featuring four sharp, fun, fast-paced ghost stories that all pack a wicked twist.
Back in Europe we have Iceland’s first ever exploitation film, Harpoon: The
Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre (E1) ●●●●● as eco-tourists are carved up by seafaring rednecks. Classic Italian zombie action from the deranged mind of Lucio Fulci with City of the Living Dead (Arrow) ●●●●● (also available on Blu-ray). Then there’s the Spanish/Italian co-production of Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue (Optimum) ●●●●● as the undead chase hippies across the Lake District in this wonderfully vibrant 70s exploitation movie. Which brings us home to the UK, where we end with Resurrecting the Street Walker (Kaleidoscope), ●●●●● a nicely balanced, scarily believable mockumentary about a budding filmmaker and his fanatical attempt to complete a lost horror film he finds in a production company’s basement. (Henry Northmore)
DRAMA/DOCUMENTARY NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT PERSIAN CATS (12) 106min (Network) ●●●●●
Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi (A Time for Drunken Horses, Turtles Can Fly) threw caution to the wind and hung his reputation on the line in the making of this semi- documentary about Tehran’s illegal underground music scene. Musicians Negar and Ashkan are looking for band members and illegal passports to get them to a crucial concert
in London. Their search takes them to the subterranean bunkers, skyscraper rooftops, barns and orchards where musicians break the law to make music. They discover that, despite persecution, many genres are alive
and well but keeping a low profile in modern- day Iran. Will they put the band together before the authorities close in?
Ghobadi’s celebration of Tehran’s much sinned- against alternative music scene is broad, warm- hearted and generous. Filmed on the hoof without a permit with non-actors, some of the scenarios are a little hokey but the music is everything here, and it is phenomenal. The accompanying soundtrack has to be one of the world music albums of the year. Extras include a making- of featurette. (Paul Dale)
22 Jul–5 Aug 2010 THE LIST 57