Cidade de Deus (The City of God)

I tend not to have the patience to watch a whole film in subtitles, but for Cidade de Deus (which translates from Portuguese, the language of the film, as ‘The City of God’) I will make an exception. Set in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Cidade de Deus is the story of the Rio de Janero housing projects decent from relatively idyllic beginning in the 1960’s to a violent, cruel, poverty and crime ridden slum in the 1980’s and is told/narrated by resident and teenager ‘Rocket’ who unlike most of his friend and neighbours has aspirations of been a photographer, not a gangster (or hoodlum). The film is very fast paced and with editing and camera work that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Quentin Tarentino film. For me the best thing about the film is the intertwined story lines which cut back and fourth, allowing you to see how each of the characters is related to the others and history between each event. I also found it interesting when watching a the ‘making of’ documentary which came free on my DVD to find out that many of the cast where not professional actors but genuine residents of Rio de Janeiro’s slums and it is this which helps add real authenticity to the film.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Breakfast at tiffany’s was originally a book written by Truman Capote in 1958 but was adapted for film in 1961 with Audrey Hepburn cast as the main character Holly Golightly, probably the most iconic character she every played. The film is basically a romantic comedy about the romance between Hepburns character and her new next door neighbour ‘Fred’ (he was given this nick name by Holly Golighty as he looks like her brother). The storyline of the film didn’t particularly grab me personally, but what did was the setting of the film – 1960’s New York oozed style and fashion whether it was the 60’s furnishings of Holly’s apartment or the chrome finished bus that Holly’s ex-husband left on I really enjoyed this glimpse of what the world looked like in 1960 (at least what it looked like according to Hollywood). I found it interesting to think that items such as furniture and vehicles from this period can still look stylish nearly 50 years on, where as many of the concrete buildings of the same period don’t.

The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption was originally written as a short story by Stephen King, who is more famous for his horror stories, entitled ‘Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption’. The film, set over 20 years (beginning in 1946) tells the story of a quiet banker Andy Durfresne (played by Tim Robbins) who is sent to the Shawshank prison for the murder of his wife and the man she was having an affair with. Whilst in prison Andy meets Morgan Freeman’s character ‘Red’ (who narrates the story brilliantly) and film is about the friendship that build between them and how Andy learns to survive prison life by using his banking skills to help the guards with their tax and business dealings but all the time quietly wishing for his freedom. I wont give away any more of the plot but I would certainly recommend watching this film if you haven’t already seen it, the casting is perfect and you feel genuine compassion for the key characters, I was almost on the end of my seat for the last 20 minutes hoping for a happy end. The story is intelligent and engrossing and I was surprised to hear that it wasn’t a box office hit when first released.

Fight Club – Ikea Scene

Out of all the scenes in the iconic film ‘Fight Club’ the Ikea scene has to be my favourite. In scene Edward Norton’s character narrates about how he has become obsessed with Ikea furniture but it is the editing or postproduction of the scene that really caught my eye, it is designed to ‘look’ like a page from an Ikea catalogue.

Britain from Above – New TV Series from the BBC

Britain from above is a fantastic new three part series from the BBC presented by Andrew Marr which looks to take a birds-eye view of Britain and the way we live. I saw the first episode on Sunday night and was completely enthralled. The program looked at how the machine of modern Britain works, from the road networks and shipping lanes to fibre-optic internet cables and electricity generation. The program also looked how the little things we each do because so many of us do them have a huge impact (I never realised the chaos that it caused each and every day when Eastenders finishes and millions of households all over the country put the kettle on to make a cup of tea). The numbers that where quoted in the program where mind boggling, but the thing that really made the program (and will not doubt win it lots of awards) where the computer graphics and simulations that where used to show things like taxi routes round London, aircraft flight paths, internet and phone usage, road use at hour and even how busy our shipping lanes are. People always say that they are just one person and as such can have little impact – well this program really showed how all these little impacts really add up and the effect they have. It also gives you an idea of just how close to capacity our country operates. I would well recommend trying to catch the first episode on the BBC I-player and watching the next part on Sunday evening.

Never Cross a Black Cat – Charlatans short films by Poison Pen Films

Never cross a black cat is the latest short music film for The Charlatans by local production studio Poison Pen Films, the music promo arm of the studio Mezzo Films based in Headingley, Leeds. Poison Pen have worked with a lot of big bands recently including The Holloway’s on their video for the song ‘Generator’ and The Pigeon Detectives for ‘I’m not sorry’.

The ‘Never Cross a Black Cat’ films are a take on the superstition that you shouldn’t cross in front of a black cat – except this time it means don’t annoy one. The promos tell the story of an old lady and her black cat, in the first video the lady is gently rocking in her rocking chair, with the black cat at her side, its tail wagging under the rocking leg of the ladies chair – which is fine until they get out of sink and the cat gets its tail caught. The video then zooms in on this ‘innocent’ cat and you see what the cat would like to do to the old lady to get its revenge – and you realise why you shouldn’t cross it. The second video is based on the same idea, except this time the lady is going down some stairs on a stair lift holding a cup of tea.

The stories themselves are fun and I like the way the tension builds and the audience has no idea how the cat will react but it is the wonderful sketchy look of the illustrations and animations – it looks as if illustrated by hand with a black biro. I also really like fuzzy, crackly look of the furious cat when the camera zooms in – it looks just how you feel when something causes you to see red.