Movie Review - Super 8 (2011)

Super 8, 2011.



Written and Directed by J.J. Abrams.

Starring Kyle Chandler, Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Riley Griffiths, Noah Emmerich and Glynn Turman.





SYNOPSIS:



A group of kids making a film on their ‘Super 8’ camera witness a freight train crash that releases ‘something’, causing the military to shut down their town and setting a series of mysterious disappearances and weird occurrences in motion.





There are always going to be comparisons between the films that influenced Super 8 and the film itself. And its success is really going to be measured on that. Just prior to the release director J.J. Abrams, distributor Paramount, cinema Alamo Drafthouse and AintitCoolNews.com hosted an event screening the following films that were said to have heavily informed and influenced Super 8. They included: Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, The Thing, and Scanners. Now if you’re going to aim for a the kind of film that you want to make when you’re heading down the sci-fi road - aiming to harness the youthful exuberance and bravery of three Hollywood masters Spielberg, Carpenter and Cronenberg, working at the peak of their powers, is commendably ambitious. To come remotely close to affecting your viewers with an experience like watching The Thing or Close Encounters is quite simply – super.



The production design and cinematography aesthetically align themselves with iconic Hollywood films like The Goonies, E.T. and Poltergeist and from the moment the film begins I found myself slipping into an uncontrollable nostalgia. The summer, the bikes, the great detached naïve perspective of youth. Abrams creates an authentic portrait of small-town-working class America of a somewhat broken American family in the late 70s. Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) and his father Jackson (Kyle Chandler) are in a traumatic state in the wake of an accident at the town steel mill that killed Mrs Lamb, mother and wife of the family. This trauma heightens the contrast between Jackson, one of the town deputy’s and Joe the young artist whose relationship is left in the void made by the death in the family. Joel Courtney’s performance as Joe is soulful and heartbreaking but terrifically sweet. His look infuses the baby face of Sean Astin in The Goonies and the great wisdom conveyed in the eyes of Henry Thomas as Elliot in E.T. Since the passing of his mother Joe carries her locket around and he turns to holding it as the only form of comfort in the varying extreme situations that he and the group face. Joel’s acting in the scene after the wreck was so affective that it nearly had me weeping. Kyle Chandler who plays Joe’s dad Jackson is probably best known for his role as Coach Eric Taylor in the great Friday Night Lights television series. Jackson’s tough exterior is immediately examined and given a fragile dimension by Abrams that distances him from the stoicism of his most famous role. I loved the father son dynamic here that’s without (the necessary) maternal figure – and that the two starkly different characters are having to deal with the warmth being out of their lives.



Abrams made all the right choices with casting - filling out the cast with a group of character actors most people will go "oh yeah he was in that movie with um... yeah I've seen him before in that TV show". And the adult characters, while being believable and authentic really take a back seat to a great little bunch of child actors. Normally the golden rule for a director is to NEVER work with animals or children. Abrams must be commended for extracting such deep and multi dimensional performances from the core group of kids. They are the focus of the films and they carry it. Cary (Ryan Lee) the firebug, Preston (Zach Mills), lead actor Martin (Gabriel Basso) and tyrannical amateur director Charles (Riley Griffiths) form an eclectic little group that represent the burgeoning generation of filmmakers influenced by the explosion of B-Grade monster centric films of the period that the film is set. They are all authentic and quirky and in contrast to their adventurous Goonies brethren; yearn to create an adventurous scenario on their friend’s ‘Super 8’ instead of participating in a grand adventure. Some of the best moments in the film for me were watching the kids filming. Watching Charles hilariously utilise his counterparts to realise his vision and use their ingenuity for ‘production value’ was a source of many laughs; I especially enjoyed the last minute rewrites for Martin. And when Charles needed a wife for Martin’s character so we can ‘care’ more about him we’re introduced to the wonderful Alice (Elle Fanning); whose moments acting in the film within Super 8 are the most stunning for Joe, the boys and the audience in alarmingly legitimizing something that is the source for most of the comedy in the film.



Now this great chemistry and authenticity of the characters provide a great foil for the films other dimension - a suspenseful alien/monster thriller. I really don’t want to say too much, as to not spoil the plot but the kids witness the crash of the freight train, what caused it, and that something escaped the wreckage – and have course to investigate. Now saying that, despite the great deal of secrecy that the filmmakers and distributor have been making to conceal the catalyst for the film’s mysterious event and strange goings on, I found that there wasn’t the traditional emphasis on incremental glimpses of the films alien/monster. I wouldn’t say that it is quite as overt as the stunning South Korean Host in terms of showing the monster right up front but I felt that we (the audience) had enough glimpses of the alien visitor that it quenched anyone usually gearing himself or herself for the big reveal.



Super 8 engages your sense memory. There are certain songs, smells of nature in the breeze, the taste of home cooking and films from your childhood that when you’re re-exposed to them – instantly transport you to that moment. I think that the biggest compliment I can give this film is that it elicits the same feelings I get when I watch E.T. Ricky Gervais was onto something when once described Abrams as the next Spielberg – and I think that a late seventies summer where kids are making zombie movies with their friends is indicative of a hat tipping to say thank you for your influence. This is a great Hollywood MOVIE. Go and see it to feel like a kid again, if you love sci-fi and want to see Spielberg’s successor working under the supervision of his mentor and affirming Mr Gervais’ claim.

Blake Howard is a writer/site director/podcaster at the castleco-op.com.



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Kerzel-Town: Director Justin Kerzel talks Snowtown

Director of the outstanding Snowtown - Justin Kerzel - took some time out of his well deserved Cannes-paign to talk to Blake Howard about the experience of his masterpiece...

BH: Snowtown feels like a scientific experiment, it creates/portrays the conditions that a serial killing troupe can exist. How much did the setting and local cast affect what your decisions during the shoot?

JK: This was a film, which needed to be told from the inside out so we were incredibly informed by what the environment and people were telling us it wanted to be. Many ideas came from being there and really observing the pretty unique psychology of the place. Definitely some of those round table conversations about paedophilia in the area came from very real workshops about the subject matter. Sexual abuse is a very passionate and prominent problem in the area and some of those arguments and ideas were really sculpted from people’s real thoughts and ideas.

BH: For me, this film gives Lars von Trier's stunning Dogville (the fictional nightmare commentary of smalltown incestuous human impulse and ignorance). Did you have any directorial or filmic influences in mind when you were filming?

JK: Not really. I didn’t watch many films at all as I really wanted to be not influenced by anything else other than the real community and landscape we were filming in. I guess the way Michael Haneke rarely shows what is causing the violence in his films, where the film is more about how the characters respond and relate to the violence around them is a real inspiration to the structure and psychology in Snowtown. In terms of Australian films I think there is a really strong heritage of muscular dark crime films which goes all the way back to Wake in Fright, Romper Stomper, The Boys and Chopper. I do think there is something very particular about how we portray violence and masculinity on screen. I’m sure these films in some unconscious way affected our approach to Snowtown.

BH: When I think about Henshall's performance - the contrast between his sweetness (in true socio 'psycho'pathic form) towards those he cares and the clinical artistry of his brutality is memorable to say the least. How much did you fashion Daniel's performance and how much did he bring to the character?

JK: To Daniel and I it was really important that the audience understood how this man came to be trusted and let in to this community. Through our research we discovered that John was a bit of an everyman, someone who was very sociable and present within the community. So at the beginning it was important for Dan to find an ease in the community and develop very genuine relationships with the other cast. He spent 10 weeks in the area and started to find the skin of the John character. He put on 10 kg and spent as much time possible with the family especially Lucas and the boys. I didn’t want Dan to read too much about serial killers, it was important that he just be very present and intimate with the other characters and approach the role on a very real and human level.

BH: Where you ever conscious of distancing yourself from the Australian True Crime T.V interpretations that seemingly glamorize serial killers?

JK: Well there had been a couple pretty sensationalist documentaries about the murders, which I thought, were very one-dimensional and more like a body count film. I also didn't want to glamorize the violence like in some true crime TV but instead make it very real and confronting. When I read all the transcripts I was shocked by the brutality and I wanted its horror to be extremely truthful, not distorted but visceral and affecting.

BH: How long do we have to wait for your next film?

JK: Hopefully next year I will be making a film with my brother Jed who did the music with Snowtown. It’s a black comedy and obviously very different from Snowtown.

After Snowtown - my ticket's already bought.

Read Blake's review of Snowtown here.

Blake Howard is a writer/site director/podcaster at the castleco-op.com.

Movie Review - Snowtown (2011)

Snowtown, 2011.

Directed by Justin Kurzel.
Starring Daniel Henshall, Lucas Pittaway and Craig Coyne.


SYNOPSIS:

A drama about the Australian serial killer John Bunting.


For those of you out there sick of the raft of Australian true crime T.V interpretations with poor production value, generic formal style and that perhaps 'glamorize' society's 'underbelly'; Snowtown feels like the necessary headlong plunge into an ice bath that you need to jolt you back to reality.

Snowtown recounts the story of the young, disenfranchised Jamie (Lucas Pittaway) whose introduced to a defensive, protective, charismatic, father figure John Bunting (Daniel Henshall) after a serious trauma. As their relationship grows Jamie suspects that there is something more sinister beneath John's 'good' nature. Jamie's worst fears are confirmed when his impressionable vulnerability and loyalty to John sees him seamlessly become accomplice to one of Australia's most notorious serial killers.

The film is purposefully titled - the context gives this scenario its uniquity. And like a scientific experiment, it creates/portrays the conditions that a serial killing troupe can exist. This adequately contextualises the group without justifying their actions. The filmmakers have skilfully tread the fine line of empathy, sympathy, and total revulsion and disgust. This is helped by exceptionally tangible and subtle performances that make this film a participatory exercise. You at times feel yourself boiling over ready to be a vigilante, then seamlessly flowing into denouncing those feelings because of how they mutate in the film. This film makes the fictional nightmare commentary of smalltown incestuous human impulse and ignorance that Lars von Trier's stunning Dogville illustrates and gives it a real world context.

Snowtown is simultaneously exquisitely shot and exceptionally gritty. Director Justin Kurzel benefits greatly from the decision to shoot on location and using actors predominantly from the region. The opening stanza of the film draws you into the depressing, painfully pale portrait of life in Snowtown suburbia. The devil is in the details; and the real locations, oppressive overcast grey weather, hopeless shop fronts and look of the predominantly local cast allows you to totally immerse yourself into the events that are to unfold. Kurzel, working from Shaun Grant's overwhelmingly necessary script, sculpts utterly virtuosic performances that indelibly tattoo your memory.

Onto the normally totally under-rated sound design of Frank Lipson. Oscar winning director Danny Boyle (whose Shallow Grave gave us some of the most spine tingling sound design in a film)once said "cinema is 70% sound," and the affect of a aural trigger like the sound of a poker machine, or the sounds of a cricket commentary to transport the audience into the moment are amazing and unquantifiable. The minimalist soundtrack is ominous and understated but the opening spartan drumbeat is instantly iconic - even thinking about it as I write this review transports you into the almost trance like receptive mode.

Snowtown is exquisitely performed by everyone involved especially the blank-faced protagonist Jamie (Lucas Pittaway) who was cast after being spotted in the local shopping centre. The director had Pittaway rehearse pretty intensely prior to the shoot - because of the emotional weight the role carries - and it pays off; he delivers a great performance. But for better or worse the performance that will be remembered in this film is Daniel Henshall's virtuosic portrayal of John Bunting. Quite simply he is one of the most fully formed characters (especially under the broad 'antagonist' banner) that I've seen in any film. In a recent and great interview that Kevin Smith had with Red State star, Michael Parks on the Red State of the Union Podcast: Parks speaks of the best bit of direction Smith gave him in the production. Parks says that Smith advised him to "be even sweeter." When I think about Henshall's performance - his sweetness (in true socio 'psycho'pathic form) towards those he cares about contrasted with the clinical artistry of his brutality is memorable to say the least. This film is a fairly harrowing viewing experience (to the credit of all involved) but I would watch it again and again to appreciate Henshall's advertisement for what should be a prolific and fruitful career on the horizon.

This was a great film. Go and put some 'deniro' or 'sheckles' down for this one people - you may be shocked, confronted, and disgusted: but you will NOT be disappointed.

Blake Howard is a writer/site director/podcaster at the castleco-op.com.

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