At the movies with Dan Slevin
I’VE been busy over the last few weeks working on New Zealand’s biggest participatory film event,the V 48 Hours.It’s a wonderful celebration of Wellington film talent.
One of the inspirations for 48 Hours is the true story of a group of Mississippi kids who spent six years of weekends and holidays in the 1980s remaking Raiders of the Lost Ark - shot for shot - on home video. The project went from notorious to legendary in 2003 when the kids (now adults) were invited to meet Lucas and Spielberg and their story was even optioned by Paramount.I can’t see that picture getting made now as Spielberg (and J.J. “Star Trek” Abrams) have come up with something that, though partially inspired by the boys’ VHS efforts, goes in a different direction entirely, honouring not just their homemade Raiders but Spielberg’s own E.T. and Close Encounters.
In a small Ohio town in 1979 a bunch of kids are making a zombie flick so they can enter the local Super 8 film competition.During an unauthorised night shoot at the railway station they witness a devastating train crash which unleashes mysterious forces that the Government is desperate to cover up. As the freaked-out citizenry are evacuated so the Air Force can hunt down the whatever-it-is that’s escaped, our heroic kids head back in to the danger zone armed only with curiosity and that child-like sense of right and wrong that Mr. Spielberg used to specialise in.
Most reviewers have mentioned the parallels with E.T. or The Goonies but I think the film that Super 8 most resembles is Close Encounters - that late 70s mixture of naivete and anti-government paranoia as well as a wide screen/lens flare aesthetic that is perfectly captured by cinematographer Larry Fong.
Super 8 is great entertainment. It’s a relatively tight two hours with plenty of thrills and plenty of heart and it shows that big popcorn movies don’t have to have a numeral at the end of the title. What, eh? Oh.
In 2003, promising Hawaiian surfer Bethany Hamilton was attacked by a shark and she lost her left arm. Many people would have been grateful enough to be alive and left it at that but Hamilton battled her way back to the peak of her sport and now there’s a film of her story: Soul Surfer. Hamilton’s faith was obviously very important to her recovery so I can forgive the occasional preachiness.
Finally, two films starring Helen Mirren: Brighton Rock (based on a Graham Greene novel) and The Tempest (based on a play by William Shakespeare).
Mirren is perfectly fine and she is supported by an eclectic cast including Russell Brand who it would appear was asked to turn up in his day clothes and play that public version of himself that most of us are already familiar with.
In Brighton Rock has Andrea Riseborough is Rose, a mousy waitress who unwittingly witnesses (the preamble to) a murder. Killer Pinky (Sam Riley) befriends her - and even marries her - to ensure her silence but his rapidly manifesting psychopathy puts paid to that plan. It’s a tasty thriller, much better for you than the sugary confectionary that gives it its name.