The Good Friday Film Festival Part 1

Got a break today and have good friday off. Got up early and started watching a few flicks i had stored on the old hd dvr from hdnet. Don't know how many films I will watch today, but I am on a roll. The first one I watched was the Paul Greengrass film, Bloody Sunday.

BLOODY SUNDAY:
Documentary-style drama showing the events that lead up to the tragic incident on January 30, 1972 in the Northern Ireland town of Derry when a protest march led by civil rights activist Ivan Cooper was fired upon by British troops, killing 13 protesters and wounding 14 more.



I enjoyed the film quite a bit and learned much about that day in history. I found the documentary style a little jarring at first, but once you settle into it, it gets better. I think his last film, United 93 was so unsettling, that I have not wanted to go back and experience it again. And I think that is the point here as well. The violence is very real and happened to real people. Bloody Sunday is one of those movies like United 93 that you may not want to revisit for a while because it reminds you of that violent nature that lies within so many.

THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN:

The life story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years building a 1920 Indian motorcycle -- a bike which helped him set the land-speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967.



I really enjoyed this movie for a number of reasons. It's a family film that leaves a smile on your face and there isn't an evil bone in it's body. Anthony Hopkins was stellar as usual. You totally lose yourself in his portrayal of Munro. His journey from New Zealand to the Utah flats to race his beaten down motorcycle is fun to behold. Munro has a heart condition and really shouldn't be racing, but he defies his doctors and continues his trek because racing is the only love he has in his life. Without his Indian racer bike he may as well have a heart attack and die anyway, so why not in his racer. It is your typical road movie in spots. He meets way too many friendly people that automatically fall for his accent, but thats what makes the film so fun. It made me think of my Grandfather who at one point many years ago sold one of his old Pontiacs to a chap who then turned it into one of those demolition derby cars. He used to get a kick out of seeing his old car compete in those derbys. Its just one of those films that leaves a smile on your face.

DUST DEVIL: THE FINAL CUT

Just started watching Richard Stanley's cult classic, Dust Devil. I saw this a long time ago on VHS back in 91. I was a huge fan of Richard Stanleys. Most of his stuff is not on dvd, until now. Still waiting for Hardware to come out. Love Hardware to death. Dust Devil was his second film, and the cut i originally saw was a studio cut that they took away from him and cut out about 20 mins of backstory. It's an interesting horror film if you can even call it that. This is a 5 disc limited edition dvd that Subversive Cinema put out. It has the Final Cut and Work Print version of Dust Devil, the soundtrack that genius Simon Boswell did, plus 3 documentaries that Stanley has directed through the years on the other 2 discs. Nice.



Dust Devil", a horror story based on the myth of a Namibian serial killer, looks more like a Western. Filmed on location in Africa where the murders allegedly took place, Chelsea Field plays Wendy Robinson, a woman, who under duress of leaving her husband, heads out to the desert to accidentally encounter the Dust Devil (Robert John Burke), a mercy killer who slays depressed women to save them from the dark side. According to locals, the Dust Devil is a demon, enabling Stanley's abiding interest in world folk religions to weigh heavily in on the plot, especially when the town's witch doctor visits the beyond to unlock mysteries, or when the Dust Devil displays a box containing his victims' fingers.

I don't know, maybe its the drawn out nature of the plot, but I still feel the film is a bit underwhelming. And it could be because maybe I'm comparing it to Hardware. The concept is great. It's one of those rare horror westerns, a sub-genre that has yet to reach its full potential... Dust Devil comes close, but not quite.

I'm quite keen someday to see someone make a film about the making of the remake of "The Island of Dr. Moreau" with Brando and Kilmer. You see Stanley is kind of a renegade filmmaker, and he worked the first 3 weeks or so as director on that then got into arguments with Brando and Kilmer. New Line didn't like the dailies so fired him. Problem was they were shooting on a remote Island, and Stanley being the freak he is, never left the island. John Frankenheimer took over directing and Stanley joined a native tribe on the island and supposedly tried to sabotage the entire filming with his new tribal friends. How great would that movie be???