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The Gathering (2024)
Perfectly executed social drama
The first two reviews absolutely sum up the quality of this engaging drama. There's very little to add - extremely well written, founded on some generational and social issues for relevance, has well paced and focused direction, and outstanding performances across the board - highlighted by the lead, Eva Morgan, astonishly in her debut role. There wasn't one weak or sub-par contribution from any of the cast. Industry stalwarts like Coyle and Brown add acting weight and grounding. Whilst all of the young talent on show here perform their socks off to suggest they have very bright futures indeed. Highly recommended viewing.
Something in the Water (2024)
Smart Stories Require Smart Decisions
Where to start? Okay just a handful of story observations to keep it brief..... ish.
With the ever increasing access of audiences to information it is behoven upon storytellers to ensure that anything that is grounded in a reality (hence why scifi is so entertaining, suspending disbelief at the idea that anything, it seems, is possible) is at least as factually, technically, environmentally, or historically accurate as possible. Research is key, and I would say critical, to keep audiences engaged. The natural world is one we can access readily through documentaries at the least, and the presentation of any number of hugely knowledgeable and well regarded naturalists. Heck, David Attenborough's Blue Planet is a prime example. There is then, zero excuse, to play fast and loose with a storys animal antagonist - in its size, habitats, hunting behaviour, or more importantly distribution. Why do these movies, generally not necessarily in this example, insist in placing GWs (not that this is what it was supposed to be as it ambiguous, but damned big) at the centre of their stories when they shouldn't even be inhabiting the locations. Yes, I get that they are the ultimate representation of our fears but frankly there are plenty of other sharks out there, and more appropriate to this story's location, that I wouldn't want to meet. For any fish out of water story a big shark regardless of type would instil fear - and generate suspense for the viewer. Tigers can get to 15ft or so, Gt Hammerheads to ad much as 20ft - the former known to have killed and consumed humans, the latter big enough to be fatally dangerous to. When was the last shark movie to feature one of them? Answer, never. Even the 2010 film The Reef substituted a Tiger with a GW when the actual story upon which it was loosely based had a commercial fishing vessel's crew facing a stalking Tiger of immense size off Townsville. The propensity for filmmakers to simply default to predictability is what, in part at least, makes for a tedious, generic, and derivative story world - you're already on the way to losing your audience before the first act has even finished. And that doesn't help the proliferation of genre tropes that always seem to collapse into cliche (phone signals, no one knows where we are, impossibly large animal with a dorsal fin preposterously oversized etc etc) . In this instance too the character types were obvious and predictable, albeit with an obvious and frankly on the nose attempt to make it current, diverse, and relevant. Desicisions based on knowledge or foreshadowing were non existant - a comprehensive disregard or ignorance for common sense, acceptable with youngsters or late teens, but just not acceptable for twenty-somethings who should be more worldly wise if for no other reason than their access to knowledge and information. Girls I would suggest particularly are all about safety in numbers. It's something they grow up to appreciate. Less so with the machismo of guys. Why then would you let one person swim off in a direction you dont know actually is landfall, or north, or help?! Especially after you've seen the very 'something' of the title you know is out there, waiting, curious, or just plain stalking you, demolish your dead friend. It's preposterous logic. Until writers can account for their decisions in the story, you can't expect audiences to buy into the decisions of the characters with any degree of credibility. Lose credibity and you lose your audience. Credibility is found is good research, smart story choices, and characters who defer to knowledge, not contrivance, in order to be powerful even when nature is doing everything it can to thwart your efforts to survive.
The Point of No Return (2020)
Write what you know.......
There are far too many examples of writers putting pen to paper on subjects out of their comfort zone and failing to find the necessary 'heart' because they either don't have a real interest in what they're writing about but feel it is 'current' and they should, or they have no idea how to research and find the authenticity that is needed. Added to that producers who haven't a clue on the subject either and are not discerning enough to pull the script apart, and you are doomed to a very particular kind of failure. Of the 'we really didn't care enough' kind. Writers should write what they know, or are confident in researching. Neither occurred in this instance. There are many much more accomplished films, even short ones, than this where the filmmakers found the required passion in the short narratives they were trying to tell. Camera work in this overly long effort too is pointless - cameras express an observation, or a motivation, or something narratively that audiences are supposed to focus on. The use of the camera here was pretty aimless. Something down to both the director and the cinematographer. And the accents?! Well less said here the better. Completely pulled out of the viewing experience from minute one. World War 2 was the setting for so many exciting and mindblowingly brave stories the filmmakers could have chosen any number to tell utilising British actors and their distinctly British accents. Especially if going out to make a film with your mates. But no, they chose to represent Germans in the mid winter of retreat on the Eastern Front, without snow or landscape that was particularly European yet alone with the cold, bleak tones of winter and desolation. One only has to watch Stalingrad to get a real feel of what it was like for the ordinary German soldier. This felt like a story made for the sake of making a movie. Little or no script development, filmmakers without the necessary experience or knowledge to pull off a war-driven movie, a director who doesn't know how to elicit performance or to generate excitement through camera shot choices, and a cast just going through the motions of what they imagined they should be doing. This feels like a film school project Year 1 assignment piece drawn out to feature length. The Director really needs to hone his craft on shorter pieces, and the Screenwriter really should go back to basics and learn how to research properly, and then to tightly structure a purposeful story for a pleasing, focused, and multi-layered audience experience. War films by their very nature are pretty budget hefty affairs. It's impossible to do one any sort of justice on a short film budget or worse. And certainly not without the proper preparation, research, and development. For a job well done check out Sean Ellis's 'Anthropoid' - a story told at least four times cinematically over the decades, and here told well, even as a remake, with flair and a certain eye on narrative intensity, even though the outcome is known to all. And as tight as that was in terms of locations, set pieces are the production's biggest asset. Lessons needed here, are easily found elsewhere.
Shed of the Dead (2019)
Zombedy gold !
Shed of the Dead has a familiar feel to it in some respects, but in others is outrageously different, combining the best of crude 12 yr old boy humour like the Inbetweeners with that endearing 'best buddy' friendship, though frankly much geekier, like Shaun. Laughed out loud at times. What a refreshingly good British comedy ! Sure it pays lots of respect to Shaun of the Dead, but that made me love it more because it didn't try to hide its reverence. Loved it !
Shed of the Dead (2019)
Zombedy gold !
Shed of the Dead has a familiar feel to it in some respects, but in others is outrageously different, combining the best of crude 12 yr old boy humour like the Inbetweeners with that endearing 'best buddy' friendship, though frankly much geekier, like Shaun. Laughed out loud at times. What a refreshingly good British comedy ! Sure it pays lots of respect to Shaun of the Dead, but that made me love it more because it didn't try to hide its reverence. Loved it !