Siren FILM MUSIC the
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College Tribune | October 14th 2008
IFI FILM
Hitting the Neapolitan nightmares Plot: The film concerns the Camorro; the Neapolitan mafia concerned only with money, power and blood. Gomorra depicts five interwoven stories concerning those affected by the criminal underworld. Totò is barely a teenager who is drawn to organised crime after being exposed to the perks involved. Similarly, Marco and Ciro thinking themselves invincible, plan to replace Camorra boss. Franco, a corrupt businessman is making a fortune by arranging the disposal of toxic waste on mafiaowned land. Pasquale works as a tailor in a mob-owned fashion business. Don
Paranoid android Plot: Shia LaBeouf reunites with director of Disturbia, D.J Caruso, for his latest race against time thriller. Following the mysterious death of his twin brother, Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf) is acquainted with Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan) who’s son has mysteriously disappeared. Soon, both find themselves framed for terrorism and are threatened to become part of a ruthless mission with unknown intent. Racing against time and FBI agent Moran (Billy Bob Thornton), both characters are drawn into the explosive antics.
GAMORRA ★★★★★
Ciro is reluctantly delivering money to the families of imprisoned Camorro associates. Verdict: Gomorra is hugely engaging; you’ll find yourself drawn into each of the character’s diverse yet troubled stories. It’s a hard-hitting and contemptuous depiction of the organised crime that controls much of Naples. The only fault lies in the film’s two and a half hour run which verges on taxing towards the end but the brutal and vicious portrayal is thoroughly gripping. CATHY BUCKMASTER
EAGLE EYE ★★★★★
Verdict: This film really exploits the fear of technology which ensures a ridiculous plot. Nonetheless, with staggering action sequences the viewer can push aside the plot’s nonsensical twists and allow Hollywood to shove the film’s principle further than reality could allow. Ultimately LaBeouf nails the role of the average guy who gets unintentionally involved in the cogs of domestic intrigue. It’s not the next Bourne Identity, but if it’s cheap thrills you’re looking for, Eagle Eye delivers. HELEN O’SULLIVAN
Writer and star of A Film With Me In It, Mark Doherty, chats to Cathy Buckmaster about drunken cast members who needed lines whispered to them, shooting the ‘madey-uppy’ film in 20 days in Dublin and his lack of career aspirations. “It sounds a bit wanky, but a film only becomes a film, and a living thing, when everybody has added themselves and their particular talent to it, and has made it come alive”. So says Mark Doherty, star of A Film With Me In It. This film is the latest Irish film perched on the horizon full of homegrown talent. With rave reviews already starting to circulate and after making the official selection on the prestigious Toronto film festival, it looks like we finally have another film to be proud of. Mark Doherty not only stars in the film but wrote the script. He further explains the exhilarating feeling of watching your script and characters come to life through the eyes of others. “The experience was exciting and fascinating. A film is very much a collaboration. You start out with a very definite vision and you hear each character talking.” “Then you give the script to the director. Even though you go through everything line by line, scene by scene, and try to communicate your intention with each word, he still will see it in a slightly different way. Then actors come aboard, and they deliver lines however they deliver them.” “Suddenly, the scene you envisaged has changed and developed and grown. So it’s a constantly changing, moving, rolling ball. When the collaboration works, then the whole
becomes greater than any individual contribution.” He exclaims modestly, “The script is a bunch of words, it’s not a film.” The film follows two deadpan but charming friends; a hard on his luck actor, played by the talented Mark Doherty and a dissolute script writer played by the always hilarious Dylan Moran. Unable to escape fate, they become entangled in a web a lies and end up with an impossible number of
I don’t work for ‘the man’ or the corporation but often that means not working at all. The story in the film, though, is madey-uppy! dead bodies on their hands. As an actor himself, Doherty didn’t have to look too far for inspiration he admits. “Well, the situation is close to my own. I have been acting and writing for ages, 16 years in fact, and have been scraping by. It is exciting and liberating and frustrating in equal measures. I don’t work for ‘the man’ or the corporation but often that
means not working at all. The story in the film, though, is madey-uppy!” Doherty jokes. Concerning the Toronto film festival, the actor claims to be “Thrilled, of course. And thrilled to have been invited, and to see the finished product in a theatre with real, live, people! You don’t think about these things when writing, or even shooting.” The film was shot entirely on location in Dublin so an Irish audience are likely to recognise more than one setting. “It is a contained little piece, with a small cast, and limited locations, so it could really have been shot anywhere. It was tough though. We shot the movie in 20 days. Mental. “For me it was a particularly hard time, because I was going home to do rewrites for the next day each evening after a twelve hour shooting day. I still felt some responsibility for every character, and got used to five hours kip a night. But I’m not giving out; you get quite high by pushing yourself farther than you would normally go.” Doherty’s script leaves room for improvisation and director Ian FitzGibbon clearly let them run with it in the film. For this to work, the chemistry between the cast needed to be very strong, so it’s lucky that it really was. Doherty is surrounded by a very strong supporting cast including laugh a minute Dylan Moran and a memo-
FILM RETROSPECTIVE
A satirical gem
Proud, but predictable Plot: Colin Farrell, Edward Norton, John Voight and Noah Emmerich all star in the newest cop drama, Pride and Glory. They are all part of a multigenerational police family in the New York police department. Ray Tierney (Edward Norton) must investigate his own family as his brother in law is involved in a corruption scandal that ended with the deaths of three policemen. He must find out who is responsible for the corruption, even if it means breaking up the department and turning his back on his family. Verdict: Despite the all star cast,
PRIDE AND GLORY ★★★★★ Pride and Glory brings nothing new to the table. Norton is consistently very good but the lacking script almost leaves him with nothing to do. As well as this, we have Colin Farrell who is still clearly unable to pull off an American accent. Pride and Glory is only an average movie, but might be worth the watch if there’s nothing else on. MAXIMILLIAN HARDING
The Hudsucker Proxy is one of the Coen Brothers’ most underappreciated efforts but this bizarre 30’s pastiche comedy deserves to be re-evaluated. The film follows the exploits of Norville Barns (Tim Robbins), a classic Coen idiot. He is promoted from the mailroom to President of Hudsucker Industries by the Machiavellian board of shareholders, led by the late Paul Newman, following the owner’s suicide. The board’s plan is to install an incompetent fool as President to drive down the share price allowing them to buy it outright. This scheme begins to backfire however when Norville’s invention, the hula-hoop, becomes an instant success. As you would expect of a Coen Brothers’ film, it is generally more interested in playful direction and the subversion of older genres, in this case the screwball comedies of Howard Hawks and Frank Capra. Unexpect-
THE HUDSUCKER PROXY
ed elements include the Hudsucker building’s clock possessing some sort of control over the workings of the universe, an aspect which ensures the film’s climax is never predictable. Perhaps the main weakness of the film is Jennifer Jason Leigh’s performance as a journalist intent on revealing Norville as the idiot
puppet but her role calls for too much imitation rather than characterisation. However to get caught up in questioning the roles in a Coen film is to miss the point. The mechanics with which The Hudsucker Proxy combines 1930s movies, Orwell’s 1984 and surrealism whilst maintaining a cohesive plot speaks volumes about the abilities of the brothers. The Hudsucker Proxy was a box office disappointment in its day and consequently ended their relationship with super-producer Joel Silver who had given the Coens the biggest budget of their careers. Their subsequent work demonstrates however that they continue to take risks, well aware of the possibility that their audience may be unresponsive. NICHOLAS BROADSTOCK