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Year: 2017

Review: Raw

Written by Alasdair Bayman on . Posted in Film.

Viewing cannibalism and cinema, they share a close relationship with one another. Most famously springs to mind Hannibal Lecter and his conniving schemes. Working to unearth humanities darkest side, the consumption of human flesh has mostly served something greater and more meditative than simply shock horror entertainment.

Similarly, in Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death, cannibalism is used as a vice to explore the boundaries in which women faced in 80s consumerist society. Also adopting the use of cannibalism as an allegorical study of humanity is Raw, created by first time feature writer-director Julia Ducournau.

Not only does the film analyse what it means to consume fellow humans, but too works to explore the strangeness of university, the discovery of one’s own sexual identity and the restrictions that our social environments place upon us.

Although this appears a mouthful of thematic elements when listed, Raw deals with such issues in nuanced manner — perfectly merged with the horror elements. Like any great horror genre piece, Ducournau’s first feature film does much more than scare you — it fascinates and seek to be much more than entertainment.

Opening in a longshot of a misty road, iconic of the horror genre, Raw appears to be going in one straight forward direction, like the road itself. Yet, with an abrupt cut, the narrative shifts to Justine (Garance Mariller) who is travelling to veterinary school in Belgium. Her campus is isolated and no traces of society can be found surrounding the university.

Stopping at a road side restaurant with her parents, all Justine gets to eat is a plate of mash potato. Like her parents, she is a vegetarian. Arriving at night, her new environment is obscured by the darkness. After being inaugurated into the veterinary fraternity via glorious red gloop, she proceeds to the final stages of being accepted into this frat group.

Confronted with jars of rabbit liver, she is forced to eat a small piece. Her new life instantly challenges all the ideas to which her parents have created for her. Eating the meat, she proceeds to throw it all up, leading to the appearance of a grotesque rash.

Awaking an inner urge for human flesh, eating this rabbit liver is the start of Justine’s discover of self-pleasure and indulgence. Yet, the boundaries of the fraternity dictate her life. Students are constantly awoken in the middle of the night and are forced into acts of humiliation and mockery of their innocence.

Extending the atmosphere initially felt after arriving at university, Justine’s isolation in the frame extends such an impression of her loneliness. It is only until Justine is reunited with her party animal sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf) at a student party, in one of the decaying sections of the campus, that she starts to open up.

Alexia is at the same university as Justine and is one year ahead, both in terms of education and recreational activities.  Like Mia-Hansen-Løve’s Eden, Ducournau in numerous party scenes creates a visceral experience of youth nightlife. Like the youthfulness reflection of house/ garage music on Félix de Givry’s Paul in Eden, Raw’s diegetic soundtrack reflects the lively vigour of its student setting.

Using The Dø – Despair, Hangover & Ecstasy in one sequence demonstrates the liberation and freedom experienced at university. The aggressiveness of Justine’s cannibalism is expressed through ORTIES – Plus Putes que toutes les Putes. Working in harmony with the demented movement of Justine in her bedroom mirror, this hip-hop song works to emphasis cannibalisms freeing of her female sexuality and inner desires.

Lastly, the orchestra score of Jim Williams harks back to classic horror. Used in one of the film’s best scenes, the music’s emphatic qualities further Laurie Colson production design and lighting. Taking an Argentina and giallo approach, lighting the grey walls of the halls with deep reds alludes towards the iconography of the horror genre. Moreover, it represents Justine submersion into her obsession with human flesh.

As her cannibalistic urge grows, so does her sexual desire for her gay room-mate, Adrian. Similarly, Justine’s bond between her sister also develops. Strengthened in a waxing scene, the best since A 40-Year-Old Virgin, it is chiefly through this pampering that unearths a commonality between the two sisters.

Using the vacuous spaces of the university to her advantage, Ducournau’s eerie corridors and rooms filled with living and dead animals evidently references the nightmarish quality of Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Ducournau doesn’t see her film as a gore fest, and rightly so. With moments of dark comedy, family drama and bildungsroman, the film covers a wide spectrum of genres. Raw has been labelled as a ‘barf fest’ by some audiences and critics alike in the US. One theatre in LA gave out ‘doggie bags’ before some screenings.

This publicity could be seen as a positive in it is mainstream attention towards an independently created film. Yet, it holds a negative impact in my eyes as its ignores the film’s intelligence in being more than just blood and guts.

Ignore the sceptical media coverage and enjoy this fascinating exploration of humanities’ darkest cravings.

4/5

Lift-Off film festival 2017 review: Where The Windmills Are

Written by Eloïse Wright on . Posted in Film.

Where the Windmills Are is set in a small town in Denmark, centring around thirteen going fourteen-year-old Thomas. Shy, different, and a little bit bored, he tries to capture the attention of the dangerous and exciting Vikki. Thomas knows how to make bombs, and with this knowledge befriends Vikki’s boyfriend and their gang who plan to get back at one of their teachers for some petty fight.

The day after the gang blow up the teacher’s bike, they are satisfied to find out that he has taken sick leave and won’t be coming back to teach for a little while.

After the event’s success, Thomas is welcomed into this strange, menacing gang with which he shares no interests and has absolutely nothing in common. The only thing keeping him there is his attraction to Vikki.

From this point on the film was a pain to watch for me, although I could recognise that for a practically entire teenage cast, their acting skills were quite impressive. The problem might have been that the targeted audience was for a lower age than mine, being difficult for me to believe in the plot. There were many sequences during the film that seemed easily solvable and had no need to blow up in such a way.

What the film did was underline how at fourteen, we rarely know how to deal with love, fitting in, or making rational decisions. This follows through as most of Thomas’ decisions are fuelled by either his feelings for Vikki or wanting to fit into the group.

Thomas is introduced to a new world of parties and beer, but this all feels very wrong. He isn’t amidst friends, on the contrary, these kids are always looking for trouble and basically bully him into doing things he doesn’t want to do. During one of these gatherings, it is thought that Thomas and Vikki have a sort of relationship going on behind her boyfriend’s back. As a result, she is hit repeatedly by one of the idiots of the gang, and when Thomas is asked to hit her too, he refuses. For some reason that escapes me, Vikki ends up being mad at Thomas asking him to hit her, which again he adamantly refuses to do. Turning up to school with a black, she lets everyone believe Thomas is the culprit.

Vikki ruined this film for me, and Thomas’ seemingly unrelenting feelings for her through everything didn’t help much in redeeming it. Clearly Vikki has problems, but her actions towards Thomas were unfounded and callous, making it impossible for me to muster up any empathy for Vikki.

What I did enjoy about this film was how it caught the quicksand of bullying on screen, and how difficult it is to come out of. Too often teachers overlook what is going on outside the classroom, and how deeply it affects a person who is growing up and becoming the adult they will be.

We know Thomas will be scarred from this period of his life forever, and what started out as a bit of fun to escape his monotonous life ended up having consequences that are more than skin deep.

Manchester Lift-Off Film Festival 2017- Day 3 Shorts Part 2

Written by Eloïse Wright on . Posted in Film.

This was the last night of the Lift-Off film festival, consisting of shorts made exclusively by local filmmakers to Manchester. Managing to meet a portion of them afterwards at the venue and talk about their creations made the whole experience much more vivid, and the prospect of Lift-Off returning to Manchester next year very exciting.

Soldier Bee

After being victim to an IED (improvised explosive device), Jodie Baxter returns from Afghanistan to her family in the U.K, physically and emotionally damaged. This short succeeds in demonstrating that the cuts made during war are deep, and very rarely heal.

The young woman feels disconnected from the world around her, unable to breach the unfamiliar gap with her husband and feeling hopelessly distant from her adolescent daughter. Soldier Bee is a brutal short, managing to be incredibly well shot yet making the viewer feel constantly anxious and uncomfortable. One scene in particular conveys Jodie’s irrational behaviour, due to having her life now wrecked forever with mentally troubling memories.

Directed by Alex Hardy

Lost in Spring

“When I was six I wanted to be a cook. When I was seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been steadily growing since.”

This quote is shown at the beginning of the short, and resonates throughout as intelligent and shy seven-year-old Rosie is thrown into the lifelong pursuit of purpose.

Her character is built by a mixture of amusing innocence and maturity, a great penguin beanie and red hair. Asked by teacher to prepare a speech to give in front of whole class “What you want to be when you grow up and why”, the short exposes how prematurely the adult world wants children to find their calling. Her speech is hastily made but genuine, finding herself a little out of breath from the stress of wanting to get it over and done with.

After a touching sequence of self-realisation, Rosie tells her class that she wants to be an actress because she can be anybody she wants to be and it makes her smile. Lost in Spring is a very clever and accurate depiction of how little time we have without worrying about what we aspire to be, but also how Rosie navigates her way through first sentiments of self-doubt and assessment of her own talent.

Directed by Fred Leao Prado Wall

The Sedate Escape

A light-hearted, intricately detailed stop-motion of two comrades from WW2 now in a home, planning their escape from what they think is a prisoner’s camp.

In this comedy, the characters resemble clay, details like the phone, food or the clock are all doll house miniatures, giving the illusion that these might be toys coming to life in a completely non-patronising manner. Definitely becoming a little senile with old age, these two gentlemen are lost in their own world that may be their way of escaping the reality of living in an old folks’ home. Overall, The Sedate Escape is a great addition to the stop-motion genre.

Directed by Joe Dearman

Ribbons

An abstract animation of the colours blue and red, representing many things.

Inspired by cultural ribbon dances and ribbon gymnastics, the ribbons flow with the music, and result in the idea of how opposites complete each other. The blue and the red can be seen as male and female coming together, of calm and energy, passion and control, rational and irrational behaviour.

The convergence of opposites brings to mind Les Mains Libres, a collection of poems by French poet Paul Eluard and illustrations by Man Ray, which celebrates the concavities of women and convexities of men coming together to form a perfect chaos.

Directed by Eldritch Knight

Ghosted 

The last short of the festival, Ghosted is a humorous short that encapsulates the themes of love, death and moving on.

We follow Rebecca, maybe in her late twenties or early thirties over dinner at a restaurant take on five dates from online apps, except that her deceased spouse Nigel (played by a wonderful Christien Anholt) haunts each and every one of these attempts at finding companionship. She fails to take these men seriously and through her experiences frames the ridiculousness of how people meet and interact with each other today.

The deceased husband’s ghost will not let her settle, and makes sure that those he deems inadequate have reason to leave. A man across the room seems to be struggling with his own dose of miserable dinner dates too. At the end of a draining evening with quite a desperate contender, Rebecca is quite relieved to be alone, yet it is then that she has the sincerest exchange.

Organically meeting the man across the room, they bond over their ironic inability to connect with anyone they meet over the internet, and sparks seem to fly off the screen. It is on this reassuring note that his deceased wife’s ghost decides to let him give this a chance, and encourages Nigel to do the same.

The ghosts acknowledge no longer needing to be a constant presence haunting them, now at peace with being a memory.

Directed by Neville Pierce

Manchester Lift-Off Film Festival 2017- Day 2 Shorts, Part 2

Written by Eloïse Wright on . Posted in Film.

After a promising first night of the festival, we went back for the second night at Texture in the Northern Quarter. The quality of the shorts on this night was remarkably high, of which five are covered below.

Happy Tuesday (Happy Dinsdag)

Four young women spend the evening together in a flat, with the sole aim of getting intoxicated. This short is so uncomfortable in its excessiveness, it would be a complete write-off it if it was not for its satirical nature.

It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, the classic night where a group of female friends abuse drugs and alcohol to overcome the boredom or stress or their lives. There is a constant waiting for the storyline to pick up in the hope that all this build up won’t just result in another wasted night of regrettable behaviour.

Watching Happy Tuesday became increasingly strenuous as each character delved into the reasons they are not fulfilled — an unwanted pregnancy, a bland love-life or mediocre jobs, all pretty standard first-world problems. This take on a self-indulgent demographic is illustrated quite comically in this satire, as they do not seem to realise they are only filling the loneliness with more of the same.

Directed by Wouter van Couwelaar

Enemies Within (Ennemis Interieurs)

Selim Azzazi impressively demonstrates the control of human emotion with Enemies Within. From the very first second, he keeps the audience with baited breath as a simple citizenship turns into a tense interrogation.

The interrogator shoots questions at a dizzying pace, especially given the weight they seem to carry. After a few questions that our main protagonist answers with ease, the interrogator purposefully throws him off course. “Say we give you French nationality. What can you give us?” and suddenly the air is thick with indignation. It is now clear what is going on, the state’s paranoia surrounding Algerian terrorism seeping through the interrogator’s stance and tone.

Under interrogation, the man goes through different stages of response to the questions and is initially amused at their simplicity, only to end up scoffing at the underlying accusations. The neutrality this man came in with evaporates in front of our eyes as the interrogating goes on.

Changing his approach, the interrogator smooth talks our main protagonist with words of “needing” and “belonging”, he resembles something of a puppet master pulling the strings to get what he wants. The abundance of innuendos is anything but subtle, Azzazi gives us a straightforward, no nonsense short that will leave you doubtful if “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” truly has any meaning.

Enemies Within was by far the most deserving of recognition out of all those on display at this year’s festival for me, as Azzazi flawlessly exposed a raw nerve of the history of France that touches on the consequences of their colonial past.

Directed by Selim Azzazi

Pazzo & Bella 

This wonderful Italian short introduces us to a humorous couple with very real problems.

Pazzo is a middle-aged man in a makeshift wheelchair who owns a small gas station with his attractive, alcoholic wife. Both have buckets of character, with very little prospects. Offered a large sum of money by a local mobster to kill a man, Bella is prepared for anything to break up the monotony of their life, yet it is safe to say that Pazzo is not thrilled by the proposition.

In typical Italian fashion, the pair argue vividly, the scenes seem straight out of a Scorsese production. Bella finally decides to go through with it alone, although it is an act of love as she wants the money to get Pazzo a real wheelchair. The actor playing Pazzo is a pleasure to watch as he conveys a wide range of moods and emotions through dialogue and silence alike. When preventing Bella from committing the crime outright, he explains that as a disabled man pulling the trigger “you’re not a murderer anymore, you’re the story!”.

The last scenes of the short bring warmth to their relationship, as Pazzo gently washes the blood off Bella’s forehead in the bathroom sink, ending on a shot of them watching television together, still in shock from committing murder but content with each-other’s company.

Directed by Marcello Di Noto

Hipopotamy

One of the few animated shorts on at Lift-Off, Hipopotamy is not about people, but about humans. Inspired by the post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin, Piotr Dumala envisioned a story of simple movement and simple characters.

From what I understood, this doesn’t portray a feminist society, it doesn’t even attempt to elude at civilization. Primal instincts and survival as a race are the themes at stake. There seems to be a reference to the futility of war amid humans.

A serene dog passes by overlooking the conflict, showing that even animals are more civilised than them, bringing to mind the quote that “Mankind is truly the cruelest of species”. Stripped of colloquial language that we use today, these humans use dance in order to communicate and signal peace amongst each other, notably when their children are dead and they need to reproduce, apparently following nature’s course.

This was deeply polarizing short, and if you are into symbolism or very left-of-centre creations, this one is for you.

Directed by Piotr Dumala

Relentless

Just six minutes long, this short explores a young woman’s decision between a scholarship or pursuing training to be a boxer.

Quite explicitly emphasising the pressure put on by her single mother, the decision she makes will need to serve them both to eventually end their struggle as Latin-Americans. The scholarship to study medicine at Georgetown University is a prestigious one, and could very well be their ticket to the American Dream. Her mother makes sure to remind her that she shouldn’t question sacrificing her passion for the financial security and future of the family: “You can’t box forever, you should do something better with your life.”

This realistic short explores family dynamics and what the American Dream signifies to different people in their respective situations, and leaves you wishing we could follow the character a little longer.

Directed by Tayanna Todd

Manchester Lift-Off Film Festival 2017- Day 1 Shorts, Part 2

Written by Eloïse Wright on . Posted in Film.

As of March this year, Manchester’s Northern Quarter held the independent film festival of Lift-Off for the first time. Just back from hosting the festival in Seoul, South Korea, the co-founders James Bradley and Ben Pohlman made filmmakers, journalists and students alike feel involved in the the whole event. These are five of the shorts shown the first night at the venue.

The Last Laugh

The Last Laugh, the first short on display at this year’s festival, surrounded three renowned comedians: Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse. The setting is Tommy Cooper’s backstage dressing room, just before the show that would be his last at Her Majesty’s Theatre. In obvious bad health, the camera seems to intrude on Cooper in an intimate moment of self-loathing. Over the next eighteen minutes, two of his comedic counterparts enter his dressing room and a discussion into the intricacies of their profession then ensues.

This fast-paced short does a brilliant job of bringing the three men’s era of comedy back to life, the dialogue much like a comedy sketch itself, immerses the audience entirely. Typically British, the tone is constantly sarcastic and cynical.

Each of the comedians share their jokes, old and new, but this light-hearted atmosphere suddenly turns heavy as they begin to speculate on their purpose and drive to ‘always search for the next laugh’. These men have spent their whole lives working towards getting a laugh louder than the last. But underneath the jokes, there is a constant fear of the next laugh being their last.

Directed by Paul Hendy

The Track

After a night of drinking, a young woman walks aimlessly in search of something she does not yet know she needs. Coming across her deceased grandmother, she assumes she is hallucinating, but does not look too much into the matter and goes along with it. What happens next is an intergenerational conversation of lost ethics and new burdens, comparing the choices these two women at the age of thirty-three had to make.

One of the main topics this short investigates is the luxury of choice. Hee-Kyoung complains of her lack of interest in her partner, that they aren’t ‘in love’. Her grandmother jolts at this, relating to her at the same age during a war, ‘surrounded by hunger and death, love is trivial’.

A stand-out aspect of this short was the cinematography. One scene in particular involved the lead actress dancing, putting her grandmother’s advice into practice. With a new way of expression and a new understanding of what is important, she seems at peace with herself.

Directed by Graham Holford

Faustine 

This short follows a successful young businesswoman over the course of an evening. Within about a minute of film, we learn that she is fluent in at least three languages and holds an important position of power. Nevertheless, she seems to lead a lonely existence at the very top of her field.

What started off with a gripping premise quickly became utterly devoid of meaning. It must be said that the cinematography of Faustine was impeccable throughout. The beautiful shots of Hong-Kong at night underlined the protagonist’s isolated lifestyle.

The most memorable scene occurred at the beginning, involving an interaction between her and an underprivileged young girl selling flowers. Our main character Annika approaches the young girl in a soft, unstartling voice, asking how much the prettiest flower is whilst handing over a thousand-dollar bill. This interaction suggests that Annika also grew up in an impoverished background, wanting to give back to where she came from.

Sadly, the short loses its strength from this point onwards. Going back to a luxurious, empty apartment, the two interactions that follow take place over the phone, both quick and concise. The direction loses itself in the last few sequences which are of Annika roaming around her apartment alone. For such a powerful character, the storyline we witnessed fails to satisfy.

Directed by Jeff Gabriel-Yu

The Wolves Beyond the Timber 

Madeline’s little sister is seriously ill, but they do no not have the funds to keep her under hospital treatment. Her prayers unanswered for too long, Madeline resorts to help anywhere she can find it, even from strangers.

Joining a strange, dangerous cult-like group that call themselves the “Strangers” in order to make quick money, Madeline is initially pushed to her moral limits. The whole story calls upon the question of “means to an end”, as her promise to join the “Strangers” can only work for her if she holds up her end of the deal.

She enters a world of broken people fuelled by drugs, sex and violence, and eventually loses her inhibitions. Why shouldn’t she rob a gas station? Doesn’t her dying sister need the money more than them?

The “Strangers” become Madeline’s new family who help her numb the feeling of being alone and hopeless, instead giving her the illusion of power and freedom. Dark times call for dark actions, and in Madeline’s eyes her sister’s wellbeing could now only come at the expense of her own.

Directed by Brock Keller

Retriever

An illegal Chinese immigrant living on the streets in Korea, subject to terrible racial abuse, Lee Kwang survives by stealing dogs from shelters and selling them to butchers. This short begins with his finding of a golden retriever named Bori that makes the lonely cruel days on the streets a little more bearable.

Lee Kwang is offered a mediocre price for this golden retriever that is apparently “no meat, all fur”. Deciding to keep Bori, he becomes more approachable to passers-by, bringing out their generosity with his “Need money for dog-food” sign. This man, once alone in the world, now has a companion and dare I say a friend.

Personally not one for stories that revolve around animals myself, this short stripped any mawkish or slushy connotations from what one could expect, as the situation at hand has absolutely nothing maudlin about it.

The themes of homelessness and companion, or lack thereof, were impeccably illustrated by director Joo Hwan Kim. Dialogue was equally convincing, through the praise-worthy performances in ‘Retriever’. Lee Kwang’s relationship with Bori comes to a harrowing and emotional end, but what follows is all the more powerful.

The director deserves praise for avoiding what would have be an obvious ending, instead choosing a route that evokes far more realism and empathy than the events proceeding it.

This was my personal highlight of the first night of Lift-Off, and if you must only see one of the night’s selection, I highly recommend taking half an hour to watch this.

Directed by Joo Hwan Kim

Lift-Off Film Festival 2017 Review: Northern Lights

Written by James Gill on . Posted in Film.

Nicholas Connor breathes new life into the young-adult drama genre with his latest film Northern Lights, featuring an unusual realism owed to his young age. There is a light dusting of issues throughout but overall it demonstrates a raw natural filmmaking ability and hints towards a very bright future.

We follow the story of best friends Rob and Emma as they journey through high school towards their GCSE exams. Rob seeks more than friendship, with his feelings for her made clear from the start but a combination of not wanting to ruin what they have and a lack of confidence to ask her out prevent him from acting upon it.

Emma’s little sister Mia easily notices though and relentlessly teases him for it, almost forcing his hand a couple of times. Running parallel to this is Emma’s deeply-rooted anxiety issues initiated by her mother’s death. This severely impacts her ability to enjoy life and it is only in brief moments that she finds true happiness, often with Rob.

For an independent film without the budget to sign well-established actors, I was shocked at the level of performances and versatility shown, most notably the younger actors. Katie Quinn and Rhys Cadman who play the lead characters perfectly capture the high-school romance in a way that just is not seen on the big screen today.

Stares that last a moment too long and both unknowingly liking the other are often exaggerated to allow even the most uninterested to follow. Conner avoids this by making the film his way rather than pandering to the audience, a strategy that consistently leads to films of far greater quality.

Sadly the acting falls short in the form of Emma’s father. The gulf in ability was most apparent during an argument between Emma and him and resulted in the scene lacking the entire emotional power intended. Quinn’s transition from happiness to tears was absolutely phenomenal and exposed the weaknesses in his performance, a crying shame given the high standard set by the fellow cast members.

Dialogue is at the core of the film generating some of the most evocative scenes while also being the source of some of the negative moments. A perfect instance of the former is during the psychiatric’s appointment. Emma is asked to describe how a panic attack feels for her personally and what follows is a harrowingly accurate explanation which leaves both her and the audience with a sense of nervousness.

The slow zoom in of the camera as Emma relaxes and opens up more and more really aids in emphasising the true extent of her anxiety. Where the dialogue falls flat though is in the normal everyday conversations. The pause between one person finishing talking and the next one starting was at times a little too long, resulting in it feeling unnatural. However minor issues such as this one do not detract from the overall viewing experience and can be easily rectified in Connor’s future films.

The emotional intent of most films are clear cut, either making you mostly laugh or cry. It takes something truly special to do both and Connor achieves this effortlessly demonstrating a impressive control of human emotion. With more filmmaking experience and higher budgets the few creases within this film can be ironed out.

Not just that, but the fantastic cinematography and editing present in this film can blossom further throughout his career. The potential to reach Loachian height is not out of reach and at only seventeen years of age, that is a very exciting prospect.

Manchester Lift-Off Film Festival – Day 3 Shorts Part 1

Written by James Gill on . Posted in Film.

Sadly all good things must come to an end, and that includes the wonderful Lift-Off Film Festival. Day Three saw ten shorts and one feature film, five of those shorts will be covered below.

Meat on Bones

On a windy day in coastal Wales, Gwyn, an inexperienced council worker, struggles to climb a steep hill in order to deliver a court-ordered eviction notice to the caravan of Dai, a middle-aged alcoholic. Naturally he doesn’t take kindly to this and in a fit of rage abducts Gwyn and ties him up inside the caravan before knocking him out.

After the red mist clears and Gwyn comes to, our perception of Dai begins to slowly change. He isn’t this angry alcoholic as his initial portrayal suggests, rather a vulnerable and self-destructive man who has lost his home and his family. We watch as the pair unexpectedly grow close, in spite of their violent first meeting.

Meat on Bones is a fantastic example of how a large budget isn’t a requirement for a gripping film. Director Joseph Ollman uses the natural beauty of Wales as his setting for this realist film, including a sequence in a cave which is a fitting metaphor for their individual isolation.

The two actors, Jams Thomas and Matthew Aubrey as Dai and Gywn respectively, give very convincing performances as the leads and create a warmness and empathy uncharacteristic of the situation they present.

Directed by Joseph Ollman

Duke’s Pursuit

Duke’s Pursuit is a revenge thriller set in Iceland. It follows Duke whose deep-set principles lead him to seek revenge against a former colleague. After arriving in Iceland and meeting his guide he travels to the small town where his intended victim is currently living. We follow the unexpected twists and turns Duke’s story takes as nothing goes to plan.

In terms of style this short is reminiscent of the Coen Brother’s with its snappy dialogue and dark humour. The cinematography is also in the same vein with fantastic landscape shots as well as framed interior shots. For a 16 minute short there was a surprising amount of character development from visual and spoken cues. In addition the more subtle cues such as body language made the film have more depth than would usually be present in most of this length.

Directed by Charlie Edwards-Moss and Joe Williams

Ascension

In a post-apocalyptic world, every choice must be carefully evaluated, for one wrong move and your life may very well be over. Therefore the decision to abandon your family to increase your own personal chance of survival is not one that would be easily taken.

Our protagonist, aptly named the Survivor, takes refuge from the hellish environment in his hideout. In the corner of his room lies a radio. It is from this radio that we learn of his identity, of his family, and of his selfish disappearance from the voices of his children calling him, pleading for him to come home. His will is pushed to the limits as he tries to resist risking his life to return.

What is fantastic about Ascension is that we never see the world outside his room, because nothing we would see could ever live up to our own imagination. This allows the viewer to imagine the world in their own way while also keeping the film within budget, in this case a shoestring £220.

The climax to the short plays into the viewers mind once again, leaving the fate of our protagonist open to debate. While this is understandable due to budget constraints I would have liked to see a little more information about the background and fate of the Survivor. I feel this would have led to the audience having a deeper connection with the short, ultimately enjoying it more.

Directed by Rajnish Sharma

Cabby

For most people, a staple part of any night out is the taxi journey there and subsequently the taxi journey back. One is full of excitement for the night that awaits and the other’s outcome is entirely dependant on the how the night pans out. Shot in the perspective of those who drive taxis in Manchester, we learn of their unique experiences, both good and bad.

Cabby is the third and final documentary short at this year’s festival and sits squarely between the two in terms of quality. The film has the good fortune of being shown in the city that it celebrates, which I feel really deepened the audience’s interest. It features multiple interviews from the drivers pieced together with well-shot footage showing various parts of the city. I do think pacing was an issue at certain points throughout the short but for a student film it is a great effort.

Directed by Daniel Watts

Return of the Hat

A flat-cap and a silk scarf rest upon a mannequin in a charity shop. Here they live a peaceful life, watching their favourite VHS films every night when the shop closes. That is, until they are both individually bought. In order to return to their home they must kill their new owner and be donated back to the shop.

Return of the Hat has a very original concept at its core but unfortunately this is where the positives end. A repetitive storyline quickly causes this initial excitement to disappear. The acting does very little to distract the viewer from this with every human character feeling either extremely overemphasised or entirely wooden. When the best performance of the short comes from a flat-cap there is certainly glaring issues.

Directed by Alec Birkbeck

Manchester Lift-Off Film Festival – Day 2 Shorts, Part 1

Written by James Gill on . Posted in Film.

After a fantastic opening to the Lift-Off Film Festival here in Manchester we returned to Texture for Day Two. Eleven more shorts and one feature film were on show in genres ranging from thriller to drama to documentary, six of those shorts will be covered below.

The Botanist

Deep in the mountainous region of Pamir, Tajikistan lives Raimberdi, the focus of this fascinating documentary short. After the fall of the Soviet Union, famine spreads, and inevitably so does war. Raimberdi must learn to survive in his isolated village. Luckily he is both an accomplished botanist and a genius inventor.

Initially their family was very poor, ‘we didn’t even have a goat’ he remarked. But slowly, we learn of the incredible resourcefulness and creativity he employs to improve their day-to-day life. Out of whatever scraps he could find he builds a basic hydroelectric station, and when visitors came to the village, he paid them to build him a small reservoir to make the entire process of generating electricity much more efficient. Whilst all around him burned kerosene lamps, he had electricity.

It is not enough to just have an intriguing subject, the direction and cinematography have to also be of the same calibre. In this respect, the directors Maude and Maxime have really excelled in crafting a well-rounded short. Its narrative was split into several parts, each separated by an animation showing a different plant from the area, accompanied by its latin name. For such a small, and for the purpose of the narrative, irrelevant detail it adds another dimension, one that helps to make The Botanist a standout film in the genre.

Over time Raimberdi has become able to live very comfortably, with luxuries that those around him cannot afford. He can even tell us about Obama’s recent visit to Japan from his own personal radio. Despite all of this, and especially in this unforgiving terrain, community is key. He contributes by teaching at the local school long after his retirement age in order to help the next generation. A shot of him walking to school with his grandson reinforces the truly solitary environment in which he lives. Not one to be disheartened by life, he instead thrives upon its challenges. ‘Sometimes life forces you to do some things’.

Out of all the documentary shorts, this was in my opinion of the highest standard and I heartily recommend it for its portrayal of ingenuity in the face of great adversity.

Directed by Maude Plante-Husaruk and Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis

Found

Director Richard Hughes gives a masterclass in tension with his short, Found. Reminiscent of Denis Villeneuve’s Sicarios, he effortlessly holds the audience on the edge of their seat until the bitter end, with only brief moments of respite.

The plot centres arounds a father whose daughter, when out of his sight for but a few seconds, is kidnapped by a person unknown. For ten years he searches from farm to farm in the hopes of finding her. We open to a fabulously shot sequence of him parking up outside the gates of a farm, checking his map to see if he has been here before, then committing to searching it.

The cinematographic quality escalates further when the camera follows first overhead, then alongside as he travels through the farmer’s corn field towards the house.

Sweaty palms were a sure feature of every audience member as our protagonist reached the house. There were no hints yet that his daughter was in the house or even alive but after just a couple of minutes I was transfixed. While exploring the grounds to the house he finds a vehicle under tarpaulin, the suspense crescendos, reaching almost tangible levels before we learn that this car is the one used in the kidnapping.

Flashbacks often fail to have the desired effect but it was employed very successfully. For the purpose of not spoiling this fantastic short, my description of the plot must end here. However, this is a thriller of the highest order and one that deserves to be watch.

Directed by Richard Hughes

Wanderlust

Set in the heart of an unknown forest, two siblings must navigate their way through the endless wilds, seemingly devoid of any fauna. When night time approaches it’s time to set up camp and they start to search for supplies. As the sister collects firewood she runs into a white horse, and after running back to share this amazing experience with her brother, she finds he has disappeared.

When a short film is illustrating a metaphor, the metaphor itself has to be engaging enough to sustain interest otherwise no matter how well acted or shot it is, the audience will disconnect. I feel Wanderlust fails here but also it fails in the execution.

There is a massive constraint involving time and every moment has to add something or push the narrative forward. Several scenes including the opening where they discuss their mother’s cooking didn’t have an impact large enough for the percentage run-time they occupied.

A cliché that really irked me whilst watching the film is where there are two people and one looks away for a moment, and when they look back the other person has just vanished. It’s lazy writing that breaks the immersion the film is supposed to create.

Directed by Barnaby Boulton

Heathen

Trent’s dad is a renowned anthropologist who spends most of his time on expeditions. When he is back Trent finds it very difficult to get his attention, deciding to complete his own anthropological study on the effects of his towns current drought to try and impress him. However after discovering a darker side to his father, he finds a little dark side within himself.

Heathen is the only film at this year’s festival to break the forth wall, to directly address the audience. Director Siobhan Mulready utilises this technique to emulate the documentaries of those Trent’s father worked with, such as David Attenborough.

Our protagonist is played by Jayden Caulfield who, at just 16 years old, gives a very respectable and versatile performance as Trent, managing to switch from documentary style to the plot driven style confidently.

Directed by Siobhan Mulready

The Cyclops

When a husband and wife divorce, the children often feel the effects most. The Cyclops captures this brilliantly with two brothers each choosing the side of a different parent. A once tight fraternal bond begins to crumble as they place the blame of the failed marriage on the other’s side. Through it all, their mutual love of graffiti hold them together, but for how long can that last.

This social realist film confidently tackles a delicate issue that will surely be familiar to a proportion of those watching. It beautifully details the brief moments the brothers reminisce on the closeness of their past before splintering apart once more. The two actors who play the brothers are sublime, with the intricacies of their complex relationship displayed excellently.

Directed by Hugh Mulhern

A Battling Body

A Battling Body is the shortest short at this year’s festival, at approximately one minute in length. It is a dance routine illustrating the life of those suffering from multiple sclerosis. Initially she dances exquisitely but slowly, limb by limb, she loses the ability to control her body. The piano score that accompanies paints her frustration and sadness in a way she cannot.

My only issue with Laura Ghazal’s absolutely necessary short is that it was not long enough. I feel that had the short been five minutes long, showing a longer initial sequence before exploring in more detail the slow decay her body undergoes, we would be looking at a short worthy of the highest acclaim. Nevertheless this is profoundly beautiful film, one that demands to be seen.

Directed by Laura Ghazal

Festival Preview: Slam Dunk

Written by Katie Shepherd on . Posted in Music.

Slam Dunk is a festival that has grown exponentially over the past ten years, having quickly established itself as one of the country’s biggest, best and most highly anticipated festivals. With the full line-up having now almost entirely been released, 2017 is undoubtedly set to continue Slam Dunk’s winning streak.

The line-up, as always, is a brilliant combination of pop-punk nostalgia and the latest names in alternative music, showcasing some of the greatest bands and musicians in the music scene across all eight stages.

The main stage is packed with headlining acts, beginning the day with Japanese electronicore band, Crossfaith, who are certain to inject the crowd with all the energy they need, ready for rock favourites Deaf Havana and Don Broco. The night wraps up with a special set from Enter Shikari, who will be bringing their 10 year anniversary celebration of ‘Take To The Skies’ to the festival.

In the meantime, pivotal pop-punk band Neck Deep are headlining the Monster Energy Stage, following The Maine, whose sixth studio album was released this month and has already soared in the US Rock charts.

If this wasn’t exciting enough, the Key Club stage and the Signature Stage are hosting bands like Waterparks and With Confidence, who have been inciting noise from all over the alternative music scene over the past year, whilst Frank Iero and The Patience are a band well worth checking out, their raw honesty making them one of my personal favourites on the line up. Combine this with the likes of Tonight Alive, SVPES and Memphis May Fire, and Slam Dunk 2017 is bound to be the perfect way to kick off your summer!

Tickets are extremely reasonably priced, at £44 or £49 with afterparty entry, so are perfect for that post-dissertation celebration — or just because honestly, why not?

While Slam Dunk South tickets have already sold out, tickets for Slam Dunk North, taking place in Leeds city centre, and Slam Dunk Midlands (for those of you going home to somewhere further down south for the summer) are still available.

Tickets can be purchased via Luna Tickets here.

Or, if having seen this line-up you already know that you’re going to struggle to see all the bands you want to see in just one day, you can get yourself a Slam Dunk Mega Ticket, which gives you access to all three dates across the weekend, plus after parties and a limited edition T-Shirt. Mega Tickets are available here.

Review: See No Evil — The Moors Murders

Written by Eloïse Wright on . Posted in Film.

How do you get inside the minds of the horrific Moors Murderers? The two-part television series See No Evil does just that, giving us a chillingly accurate insight into the lives of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley during the time they kidnapped five children aged 10-17, savagely abusing them and burying the remains on the Saddleworth Moors in England between 1963 and 1965. The body of one victim, Keith Bennett, is thought to be up there and remains unfound to this day.

This production was fully backed by the families of the victims, based on extensive research, interviews and of course Hindley’s brother-in-law, David Smith (Matthew McNulty). If not for Smith, the missing children would probably have never been linked back to Brady (Sean Harris) and Hindley (Maxine Peake), each murder pulled off leaving no trail whatsoever.

Only after their confessions and the forensic analysis of the bodies did we find out their recurrent pattern for killing these children. The children were always alone, and always asked to help look for a lost glove of Myra’s. Ian would reportedly then proceed to rape and then strangle the child with a cord or a shoelace. We never see this happen, only through David’s time spent with Ian Brady do we start to see red flags that indicate Ian’s perversion and twisted mind.

In an attempt to include David into their secret, Myra and Ian arrange a live murder for David to witness. This is the only gruesome shot of the two episodes, in haunting red lighting Ian wields an axe fourteen times into his last victim, seventeen-year-old Edward Evans.

Keeping it together somehow, David does as he is told and helps clean up the mess. In the early hours of the morning he finally gets home, a total wreck, to his wife Maureen (Joanne Froggatt), through a mixture of heaving and sobbing from shock, he tells her everything.

Maureen coils at the idea that her own sister (Myra), that she knows so well, could be mentally capable of such things. Nevertheless, at the break of dawn the pair rush to the police station. This experience will destroy their lives forever, and is only the beginning of a painful “concatenation of circumstances”.

Once denounced, the trail of evidence comes together incredibly fast. The discovery of Evans’ body in Brady’s flat along with the axe. Soon followed a suitcase, containing tape recordings and photographs of the sexual abuse of missing ten-year-old Lesley Ann Downey.

The sound is not heard and the photographs are not exposed, mercifully so, the sound of the tape recordings of 10-year-old victim Lesley Ann Downey and the obscene photographs taken of her would have been unnecessary to the depiction of the story. The mere knowledge of their existence is enough and was a card the director did well not to play.

David Smith is initially questioned by the police, as Brady and Hindley attempt to include him in the rape and murder of the children. Public opinion of Smith is that he is the third Moors Murderer, and this will follow him and Maureen for their entire lives.

Finally, Brady and Hindley are charged with three counts of murder and get life sentences. It is only in 1985 that Brady confessed to the killings of sixteen-year-old Pauline Reade and twelve-year-old Keith Bennett, of which only the body of Pauline was found in 1987 on Saddleworth Moor.

Ian Brady remains imprisoned today, in the high-security Ashworth mental hospital since being diagnosed as criminally insane in 1985. Recently, Brady remorselessly explained that his actions were simply in pursuit of the ‘existential experience’ of it all.

Intended for television in 2006 on the 40th anniversary of the pair’s conviction, this was a remarkable effort in bringing this unsettling story into the light once again. A very well cast, tasteful production that I recommend watching to anyone interested in true stories or the psyche of criminals.

Lift-Off Film Festival 2017 Review: Busking Turf Wars

Written by James Gill on . Posted in Film.

Busking Turf Wars was advertised as a traditional documentary surrounding the busking scene in Leeds. Five minutes in and sadly I was very unimpressed. It took me far longer than I would like to admit to realise that this was in fact a mockumentary, with clear influence from shows such as The Office. From that moment on my opinion changed entirely.

Steven Lockmoore is no ordinary busker. He doesn’t just sing to the onlookers, instead giving them an unforgettable experience. In one scene he regaled us with a tale from his past about someone coming up to him during a set. ‘What chord’s that?’ they said. His reply? ‘I don’t do chords mate’. In essence that is Steven Lockmoore. There is no rulebook, and if there was he would have written it anyway. All improvisation, all heart. This sets him apart from the mainstream buskers, and what endears him to the locals of Leeds.

Beneath the surface there are some real issues dealt with during the film. Of love true and love lost. Of friends and of foes. Ultimately though it’s one man’s struggle to get the recognition he deserves. Along the way he faces hardship, like working in a corner store to continue his long hours of busking. Even the greats had to pay rent. Heck even Madonna worked at Dunkin’ Donuts. Chasing your dreams is not easy, but Steven battles on regardless.

Suddenly a challenger enters the arena. Whilst there is no rulebook to busking, there is an unspoken code of conduct. One of the most disrespectful things one busker can do to another is steal his spot. This is what the challenger, who goes by the name Paul, does. However Steven will not give up, he has been busking too hard for too long to let some spineless wannabe take his rightful position. So they solve the dispute in the only way they know how, a busk off. Taking it in turns to play a song, whoever makes the most money wins the rights and ownership of the land. But when Steven’s dad makes a surprise appearance, the battle takes an unexpected turn.

Six months on, with a new haircut and a middle-management position at the store, Steven is a changed man. Sworn off busking, he says his life has changed for the better, that he is happy. That could not be further from the truth and regardless of how much he applies himself to the corner shop nothing can fill the guitar shaped hole in his heart. The old Steven is in there, he just needs to be released from the shackles of society. Then the cameraman informs him that Paul will be at Battle of the Buskers X, the tenth anniversary. Just like that, in a fashion that can only be described as Hulk-like, the shackles are shattered and Steven quits his job. His mind is clear, his goal is set. Win the competition, and more importantly, beat Paul.

After I understood the satirical nature of this film, I was hooked. The script was incredibly well-writtten, with none of the jokes falling flat or feeling forced, which is a problem many mockumentaries face.

Christy Coysh who plays in the leading role was sublime, captivating me about the intricacies of the Leeds busking scene, something that until I watched the film I did not know existed. His performance, coupled with the outstanding direction made this a film of considerable quality. One that I feel has immense replay value.

Live: Mallory Knox

Written by Hannah Brierley on . Posted in Music.

2nd of April at Portsmouth Pyramids

8.5/10

On an average Sunday night in Portsmouth I normally would have said there wasn’t much going on, nor would I have thought I would end up attending possibly one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen.

Mallory Knox were preceded by two opening bands. Indie-rock band Fatherson, who brought the energy and set a high bar for the rest of the evening, certainly outshined the guitar-fronted Lonely The Brave, who disappointed with a mumbled set that was lost in a sea of sound. Credit where it’s due, though, to singer David Jakes, who brought a cup of tea and a kettle with him on stage. Who said rock and roll was dead?

Mallory Knox kicked off their set with gusto, starting with palpable forcefulness with ‘Giving It Up’ from their most recent album. They performed a range of tracks from the last four years of their career that oozed with confidence and coolness, reminding us that they know just how good hits like ‘Beggars’ and ‘Shout at the Moon’ really are. The crowd hung on every word and every lyric, bouncing along with the shredding guitars and rock anthems which reverberated through the venue.

Halfway through the evening, the band paused to have a classy shot before frontman Mikey Chapman delved into current affairs: “There’s always a new fascist crawling out of the crevices — Theresa May and Donald Trump, what the fuck is up with that?!”, he said, lamenting that our generation will have to pick up the pieces previous generations have left behind. This all flowed quite nicely into their next song, ‘Savior’.

The setlist was all very well thought out, moving effortlessly from song to song and consistently striking the right balance between calm and chaos. It was clear to see, though, that Mallory Knox have been on the road for a long time: vocals regularly cracked and big notes were missed. It’s lucky, then, that their passionate and explosive attitude just about made up for this sloppiness.

The encore finished the night with some of their biggest tracks to date, ‘Lighthouse’ and ‘Better Off Without You’, which got the whole crowd up on their feet and losing themselves in the music. This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen Mallory Knox, but this incredible display will be the one that I remember.

Beyonce’s Lemonade: One year on

Written by Charlie Maudsley on . Posted in Music.

You must have been living under a very large rock if you haven’t heard someone talking about Lemonade in the past 12 months. As always, Beyoncé’s sixth and arguably most discussed album to date has garnered her critical and commercial success, so what makes Lemonade any different from her previous musical projects?

 Lemonade’s rollout kickstarted in February last year with the infamous performance of her lead single ‘Formation’ at the 50th Super Bowl halftime show. Beyoncé, supported by her dancers dressed in military Black Panther outfits, was chastised by numerous police forces and news outlets across America, who pioneered the ‘Boycott Beyoncé’ slogan. With lyrics celebrating her African-American heritage and black pride, it’s impossible to deny the lead single’s political edge, especially in the era of the Black Lives Matter movement. Thanks to Queen Bey, the American fast-food chain Red Lobster saw a 33% boost in sales after its reference in ‘Formation,’ reflecting the undeniable influence of both Lemonade and Beyoncé.

Of course, the album’s political message did not conclude with ‘Formation.’ With help from Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé conjured the thunderous anthem ‘Freedom,’ which now acts as the soundtrack for the new Apple Watch advert. After its debut performance at the BET Awards in June last year, it was unmistakeable that Beyoncé had fully immersed herself into America’s political commentary. Accompanied by a voiceover from Martin Luther King Jr. and sporting braids typically associated with African-Americans, Beyoncé ignited a conversation which forced the issues of mistreatment and prejudice against minorities as well as black pride into the public eye.

When discussing Lemonade’s impact, it’s easy to overlook the musicality and production of the album in its entirety. The album’s 12-song track list features a variety of genres including her core sounds of R&B and pop with an urban twist. Nevertheless, by integrating genres of rock and country into the album, Lemonade has sparked a debate amongst music lovers regarding the roots of these sounds, as both stem from the jazz and blues genres typically associated with African-Americans.

It may be surprising to learn that the album’s impact does not only transcend into politics, but also more specifically into education as well. More and more universities across the world are offering courses relating to womanhood, race and politics through the lens of the Lemonade album. The University of Texas recently offered the opportunity for Beyoncé-obsessed students to study the intricacies of black feminism through the medium of her latest album.

It’s no secret that Beyoncé has always left her mark on pop culture after each of her six album releases. The iconic catchphrase “I woke up like this” (2013) joins the likes of “Who run the world? Girls” (2011) and “To the left” (2006) in the long list of iconic Beyoncé references. Of course, Lemonade really is no different. After the visual album’s premiere on HBO, it seemed like everyone was asking the same question; who is Becky with the good hair? Towards the end of ‘Sorry,’ Beyoncé orders her unfaithful lover to “call Becky with the good hair.” This line instantly became an empowering lyric for those who could relate to the emotions surrounding infidelity.

Not only did the album spawn various iconic lyrics and dances, it also provided social media with enough material to use for the remaining year. The likes of James Franco, Ellen DeGeneres and James Corden enjoyed a glass of lemonade after parodying the renowned ‘Hold Up’ music video, which sees Beyoncé flaunting a yellow dress whilst fiercely smashing car windows with a baseball bat.

The impact of Beyoncé’s extraordinary album Lemonade over the past year is undeniable. By delivering a politically controversial message accompanied by great music and dazzling visuals, the megastar created a buzz throughout the world. After all, she’s called Queen Bey for a reason.

Review: A Silent Voice

Written by Andrew Wong on . Posted in Film.

A Silent Voice is a Japanese anime school drama film produced by Kyoto Animation and directed by Naoko Yamada. This film is based on the award-winning manga of the same name, which was written by Yoshitoki Ōima. A Silent Voice is a film about the difficult things people can go through during their school years, with a focus on the aspects of regret, self-worth, redemption and even learning to love.

Most prominently, however, this film has an emphasis on bullying and the various forms it can take, from physical and violent, systematic and unfair, to silent and cruel. This film conveys the lasting effects bullying can have on people as it shows the strain it puts on the characters and how it influences their actions.

Our protagonist is Ishida Shouya who wants to make up for his past sins, as we see him in an immediate flashback where Ishida took the most active role in abusing one of his classmates, Shouko Nishimiya, for being deaf. However, he wasn’t the only one who was involved as you have teachers turning a blind eye and friends who decided to go along with the ‘joke’.

Eventually Ishida does get punished for his actions and it seems as if things would back to the status quo, although it is quite the opposite. Ishida finds himself being rejected by his original group of peers and in turn becomes detached from everyone in the school and becomes known as the outcast.

Ishida’s journey of redemption is met with conflict creating a situation where even though what he did when he was younger and crueller, you do begin to side with him and want to see him succeed to regain his friends and redeem himself. Moreover, Ishida begins to form a close bond with the victim of his bullying, Shouko, to the extent that he even learns sign language.

As expected for an animated movie you can always be certain that the animation will be at a high standard. Accompanied with a surreal soundtrack and an ambient sound design, its hard not to become emotionally invested with the big moments you face with the cast of characters you come to know.

Furthermore, the characters Ishida meets along the way do a great job in developing his character — the more he progresses in his journey of redemption, it becomes clearer and clearer that he’s letting down his own personal barriers that he put up when he was labeled as an outcast. Out of the friends he reconnects with, it’s his new friend Tomohiro that really brings a sense a humour to this film when needed, making him one of the more appealing and charming characters of the film.

Ultimately, A Silent Voice is a coming of age story that fleshes out the complex teenage politics that drive the film’s expansive plot. Yamada makes a point of contrasting the agonising complexity of high school life with the clean simplicity of the moments that really count. It could be seen as a slow burner for some, but for those who enjoy character-driven stories that discuss the minutiae of everyday life, their investment in the film will be worth it.

4/5

First thoughts: Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.

Written by Ben Lomax on . Posted in Music.

BANG.

At the end of the first track on his new album Kendrick Lamar is shot. The follow up ‘DNA.’ sees an animated Kendrick rap aggressively over dramatic vocal samples, reflecting on his life, past to present. It feels like a man spiralling into shock and over the course of the album, dreamy and sublime instrumentals give the impression of that life slipping away.

Trying to separate DAMN. from its predecessor is almost impossible. To Pimp a Butterfly wasn’t just an incredibly diverse and forward-thinking album — it received widespread acclaim almost to the point of instant classic status. According to Metacritic it’s still the best received rap album of recent times, having kicked Kanye West’s epic My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy off the top spot, no mean feat. Gone are the sprawling list of features, monologues and jazzy instrumentation, replaced by a punchier, more stripped-back sound. That’s not to say DAMN. lacks any of the ambition, from reversed hidden messages to left-field collaborations, there’s no sign of reeling too much in just yet.

To Pimp a Butterfly documented Kendrick’s struggles with depression, spurred on by systematic racism in America. Things since have hardly looked up since and he pulls no punches sampling Fox News and even mimicking Trump’s Time magazine cover, giving himself devil horns in the form of a red letter ‘M’ in the album’s cover artwork.

Far from the only nod to a devil, faith seeps into every part of this album, from titles like ‘PRIDE.’, ‘LUST.’ and ‘GOD.’ to a repeated motif of “Who’s gonna pray for me?” Lamar has recently said: “We’re in a time where we exclude one major component out of this whole thing called life: God. Nobody speaks on it because it’s almost in conflict with what’s going on in the world when you talk about politics and government and the system.”

Along with the near-endless references and likenings to Jesus on this album, it’s clear religion is something that’s been weighing heavily on his mind.

If it was hard to look at DAMN. without the context of its predecessor, it may be even harder to separate it from its successor. The video for lead single ‘HUMBLE.’ saw Kendrick sitting at the head of the table in a scene reminiscent of the last supper and with him dying on Good Friday (DAMN.’s release date), it seems more than plausible that he intends to rise again this Sunday. With questions posed like “Wicked or weakness? You decide”, and a closing rewind back to the start, there certainly seem to be a lot of unanswered questions for a complete project.

If the internet rumour-mill is to be believed, and it has a number of convincing arguments, we may hear more from K-Dot very soon. If so, then no doubt a lot more will unravel from this album, already so rich in layers of message and meaning.

Tracks of the week: 10th April

Written by Jacob Bernard-Banton on . Posted in Music.

Harry Styles – ‘Sign of the Times’

It cribs its title from the classic Prince album. It’s been compared to Bowie, Queen and Oasis. So what does Harry Styles’ debut single sound like? Weird; very, very weird. It’s a lurching piano ballad in the same vein as reported fan Father John Misty, albeit smoothed of any kinks and buffered up for radio airplay. The good news is that it doesn’t sound anything like the anodyne, sterile pop he was responsible for with One Direction. What remains is an outrageously overblown, lachrymose quasi-showtune that scores a handsome 9.7 on the Talent Show Over-Emoting Scale.

Enough carping, then; is it any good? The lyrics are searching (“You can’t bribe the door on your way to the sky,” he sighs), in that they’re clearly searching for metaphor or meaning. The melody is fairly well-turned — a mournful if predictable slog that’s heavy on the minor chords — borrowing liberally from crowd-pleasing 70s soft-rock. The kitchen sink might not make an appearance but an obligatory choir does, as well as Styles’ bizarre American inflection on the word “here”. The full verdict? Not as bad as Niall rehashing the Plain White T’s ‘Hey There Delilah’, although not as posturing as Zayn’s strained “alt-R&B” reinvention. Which probably makes it just decent.

Beth Ditto – ‘Fire’

Beth Ditto always seemed to wrestle the spotlight from anyone else that happened to be in her orbit — sometimes from her own Gossip bandmates. It wasn’t just that she was a striking, strutting, proudly plus-size lesbian Southern riot-grrrl. Her voice was as arresting as her stage presence: she had an awesome voice that could strip paint from the walls. Her voice still erupts with soul and punk passion on her newest single, but ‘Fire’ is faintly and strangely underwhelming. Clicking, chugging guitars and an earthy bass grove introduce Ditto’s effortless vocals until its pummelling, churning rhythm kicks in, like a glam-rock stomper with Led Zeppelin oomph. No sooner does it get started that it ends, after some overwrought guitar soloing.

Ditto’s voice is fantastic as ever, though nothing shakes you quite like her goosebump-inducing hollering on the Gossip’s ubiquitous hit ‘Standing in the Way of Control’. It feels as if someone’s told her to keep it down because the Neighbourhood Watch have already threatened to get the police over for noise complaints. In any case, this reviewer would gladly welcome back the Beth Ditto on 2011’s slinky, New Jersey house homage ‘I Wrote the Book’ — if only to soundtrack another wave of voguing. There’s no fire on ‘Fire’; this is Beth Ditto on a low heat, and that’s never what she’s been about.

Gorillaz – ‘Let Me Out’ (feat. Mavis Staples & Pusha T)

The current barometer of anticipation for Gorillaz’s forthcoming album has officially broken. The latest single to be dropped, after the exhilarating quartet of tunes that debuted a fortnight ago, is a brilliantly affecting, short-circuiting slice of electro-rap. On the surface, it might seem like a gruff though bullish state of intent. But, dig deeper and a definite unease emerges: the collision of hefty beats, distorted handclaps and Mavis Staples’ reliably powerful vocals works supremely well in a way that’s less life-affirming than anxious and brooding. Pusha T, experiencing something of a career highpoint at the moment, raps gravely about police brutality: “Tell me that I won’t die at the hands of the police/ Promise me I won’t outlive my nephew and my niece.”

It doesn’t help that Damon Albarn does his usual melancholic mewling before ominous massed vocals and futuristic synths swarm together for an enormously overwhelming coda. It’d be awfully churlish to dismiss ‘Let Me Out’ on the grounds that it doesn’t do what Gorillaz tracks have typically done in the past and set the tone for the summer: everything from 2001’s downcast ‘Clint Eastwood’ to 2010’s ‘Stylo’. After all, a sense of unease is very 2017. And in the end, the track is astounding. Bring on the album!

Desiigner – ‘Up’

If Migos’ masterful ‘Bad and Boujee’ proves anything, it’s that regardless of trap’s shortcomings (a lack of lyrical dexterity and imagination, finessing the art of saying very little besides a load of old bollocks), what cannot be denied is that it is a generous wellspring of unlikely, musically adventurous pop. Desiigner’s ‘Panda’ was such a tune: booming, addictive and brimming with charm. His newest, ‘Up’, is a major disappointment and continues his staggering decline. It has the standard pneumatic, plonking bass but none of the sheer hydraulic heft and entertaining craziness of ‘Panda’.

Auto-Tuned mumbling can sound euphoric and relatable, even philosophical — Future and DJ Khaled are by no means Plato and Aristotle, but their robo-voiced homilies will last forever or, at the very least, until the global appetite for trap diminishes in one fell swoop. Rap doesn’t have to be cerebral to be enjoyable (just look at A$AP Rocky), however there’s only so much guff about getting rich or tearing up the club, decorated with expletives, in a shaky computerised warble over cookie-cutter thumps and cracks one can take. This is garbage, the kind of cartoon-rap that even Lil Yacht would be embarrassed to have his name attached to.

Tinie Tempah – ‘Find Me’ (feat. Jake Bugg)

There could not be a more dispiriting state-of-affairs that hearing a British rapper bravely pronouncing the word “route” in a confidently American accent. The mild French intonation of the original “r’ou-t” sound is eschewed in favour of the harsher, bluntly monosyllabic “rowt”. It’s an ugly, clumsy sound that doesn’t flow well with the rest of Tinie Tempah’s unmistakably British verbal sparring on his new single. Yet, despite that — and indeed, despite the unfailingly irksome figure of Jake Bugg essaying a reedy folkish countermelody — ‘Find Me’ isn’t entirely awful. In actual fact, it is almost good.

Tempah has fallen upon a style firmly nestled in the Wretch 32 Camp of Sub-Gritty London Pop Rap. It works better than last we saw him, trying to convince the world he was the UK’s answer to Drake as he did on ‘Text from Your Ex’ and ‘Chasing Flies’. Does it sound retrograde in the era of grime’s second renaissance? Of course. Does it get the job done? Pretty much, which means dated, thudding beats and Radio 1 aspirations.

The lyrics? Well, Tempah finds time to voice his opinions on the current social and political turmoil of recent times by informing us that 2017 is “more crazy than the Eighties”. Laboured rhyme aside, you can’t really disagree: this is to be the year of Falklands 2.0, what with all the nonsense surrounding Gibraltar. Or maybe it’s just a lacklustre line from a rapper not as clever as he thinks he is. Go figure.

Manchester Lift-Off Film Festival – Day One Shorts, Part One

Written by James Gill on . Posted in Film.

On March 27, the Lift-Off Global Network brought its film festival to Manchester for the first time using the wonderful Texture in Norther Quarter as a venue. The Festival, which has nine other iterations worldwide in cities such as Seoul, Tokyo, Los Angeles and Paris, prides itself on supporting grassroots filmmakers to make it in the film industry. Day one saw 11 short films and one feature length film on display — six of those shorts will be covered below.

Man on Layby 52

Man on Layby 52 was the first documentary short on show at this year’s festival, shining a light onto the life of Charles Ingram. Charles rose to prominence for occupying the titular layby on the A9 in Scotland, one of the countries’ busiest roads, for three years. Directors Ruaridh and Beth captured his stories about losing his business, losing his mother, and his unique way of life.

Based upon the opening few minutes, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this was a strong contender for the Best Short Documentary category at this season’s awards. The introductory ariel footage backed by music transitioned superbly into Charles sharing his tales with the audience. From there however the quality quickly diminished. A lack of direction led the film to become aimless, wandering in search of the next stage of the narrative, which culminated in the immensely disappointing ending. A needless and petty dispute over a girl which left neither side looking favourable — a poor finish to a short with such high initial promise.

Directed by Ruaridh M Turner and Beth Woodruff

Strongboy

Fantasy is an understatement for Keon Hedayati’s Strongboy. It surrounds legendary fighter John L Sullivan as he plunges into madness after rejecting his powers. A messenger of the gods then approaches John, and helps him to regain focus. This short climaxes with a fiery duel between John and another, surrounded by the Masters of the World.

Hedayati is seemingly a jack of all trades in this, his second directorial effort, displaying directing, writing, producing and acting skills. Fortunately he does not buckle under the weight of all these roles, and the result is a remarkably polished short. Perhaps a little too surreal for some, it is an intense assessment of our society, increasingly reliant on technology and losing touch with reality.

Directed by Keon Hedayati

Nan’s Army

Nan’s Army consists of a collection of interviews with several women who lived in Bristol during World War Two. The women went into detail about their lives during the war, the lasting effects it had upon them in the subsequent years, their view on current day wars and a look to the future. The stories are interwoven with animation, differing in style depending on the emotion the story conveys.

Films like this, I feel, are a necessary part of the documentation of war and its effects, but also in its prevention. Hearing first-hand experiences of bombings, evacuations and the fear of death from the mouth of those present is a poignant reminder of an event relegated to the history books. One of the women made an interesting point about how we should be thankful that war occurs far from us in the present day. I would extend that to a deep-rooted apathy for conflict far away, caused by the over-saturation of today’s media from the internet and other technological advances. Any conflict happening beyond our own borders is quickly forgotten, and it is only until an internal conflict arises that we truly begin to feel. This is in essence the message of Nan’s Army, to avoid history repeating itself.

Directed by Lucy Werrett

Hope

An interesting twist on the well-established zombie genre, Hope’s zombies lack the taste for human flesh. Instead they are condemned to wander the Earth for eternity, purposeless. We follow as Karl, our focal zombie, is leered at and attacked several times by the unwelcoming uninfected, eventually being buried alive by a couple of prepubescent female thugs.

Karl’s story does not end there, as he is saved by another zombie, and the two fall in love. We watch as they dance and laugh together in a local park before sitting down on a park bench. It is here that the world, once again, changes. The two girls who buried him alive return and shoot Karl’s girlfriend in the head prompting him, and all of zombie-kind, to seek revenge. Fleshy revenge.

This short took me completely by surprise, ending up as my personal favourite of the shorts programme of night one. Zombie films of late tend to lack originality, fading away after the initial hype disappears. Hope distinguishes itself from the crowd in this respect, a unique premise commandingly executed by director Adam Losurdo.

Clear parallels can be drawn to director Edgar Wright in terms of comedic style with Losurdo emulating his comedy techniques such as the humorous entering and exiting of the frame and the use of music synchronised with on-screen action. The latter is seen towards the end of the film during a brilliantly shot standoff between the girls and Karl. References to Spaghetti Westerns are peppered throughout this scene, from through-the-legs camera angles to the backing soundtrack. Overall this was a fantastic short with immense replay value, a must-watch for all zombie fans.

Directed by Adam A. Losurdo

Body Language Zone

Body Language Zone was by far the most left-field, off-the-wall short on display during day one. It explored, inevitably, human body language in an office environment and was split into four ‘zones’: Body Language Consult, Touching Instructions, Body Language Management and Guaranteed Free Flow. Each zone involved the lead actress completing a dance routine with voice over instruction layered over.

After finishing this short, you will probably be left feeling one of two ways. Either you’ll think ‘Wow, what an incredible depiction of how, with the increase in touchscreen and other electronic devices, the use of using our bodies for communication has disappeared. The exacerbated dance routines by Kim Saarinen humorously serve as a guide to the next generation, who will fail to understand body language as an art.’ Or ‘what the hell was that?’ A short as polarising as this one is sure to have fewer but much more passionate fans, which is evident by the large amount of awards it has won.

Directed by Kim Saarinen

Spaceman

Rupert Madurski is a young man with a dream. To become an astronaut and go into space. Except there is no manned space shuttle program anymore, and hasn’t been for some time. This does not dampen his spirits however, if anything it spurs him on to be the reason they bring back the program. In his mum’s garage we watch as he endures a ‘rigorous’ training regime of lunges and curls, in order to be ready the exact moment NASA requires him. It is for this reason that he, apparently 24 hours a day, dons several dubious looking jumpsuits, as he never knows when his time will come.

After filming his own training video, he somehow manages to convince Lucille, a school teacher, that he is indeed an astronaut in training and to let him speak to her students. Whilst some believe him, most, rightfully, do not. This leads to mockery when he tries to assert his ‘first-hand’ knowledge on a film set he again manages to blag his way into.

Scott Nelson is a revelation in this it seems, his first role of any kind in cinema. It would be a crying shame if this was his last venture into it, and I hope we see more of him soon. The opening scenes where we watch Rupert’s fantasies acted out before soberingly returning back to reality as his mum shouts him were hilarious. One of the more realistic portrayals of human fantasy seen in recent times.

There is a clear influence from Wes Anderson in several parts of the film. The art style of his fantasies, the jumpsuits he wears and fast paced dialogue are all reminiscent of Anderson. Spaceman is a highly original short but at just 18 minutes in length, it is just a little too short.

Directed by Christopher Oliva

Preview: Pint of Science Festival returns to Manchester

Written by Georgie Hines on . Posted in News, Science & Tech.

From the 15th–17th of May, Manchester’s Pint of Science Festival invites all self-proclaimed science lovers to join in conversation with some of the most brilliant scientists our city has to offer — all in the comfort of your local pub with a beer in hand.

The festival, which runs in over 150 cities worldwide, will see each bar or pub involved host a different theme, from Plant Earth to Tech Me Out. Many of the events have welcomed prominent lecturers and the most promising PhD researchers from the University of Manchester to share their expertise to science enthusiasts and novices alike.

Highlights across Manchester will include ‘Whose genome is it anyway?’ at The Klondyke Club in Levenshulme on the 15th May, which will take guests on the journey of a DNA sample from the laboratory to understanding its real life implications.

The 16th is also packed with thought-provoking events in Manchester’s Northern Quarter — we can’t choose between ‘Talk To Me’ at Bakerie, about the challenges of language development in a multilingual society, and ‘Robots – how far can we push them?’ at Terrace, a modern-day perspective on the extremes of artificial intelligence.

The festival was founded in 2013 after two UK-based researchers, Dr Praveen Paul and Dr Michael Motskin, decided that instead of expecting the public to reach out to scientists to learn, they should take their knowledge and expertise to the people.

Dr Praveen said of the festival: “Pint of Science gives us the opportunity to tell the public the story behind the headline and make science and scientists more accessible.

“There is a real buzz when Pint of Science happens and I love that people have the opportunity to find out about the wide range of amazing research and discovery that is happening around them.”

Pint of Science has since gone on to become the largest science festival in the world in just five short years, and the duo recently received an award from former Prime Minister, David Cameron, for their efforts in science communication and engagement.

Other UK cities hosting Pint of Science this year include Birmingham, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London, Nottingham, Portsmouth, and many others.

More information and tickets for any of the Pint of Science Festival events in Manchester can be found here.

Police search for missing University of Manchester student

Written by Hana Jafar on . Posted in News.

A student at the University of Manchester has been reported missing since Saturday the 8th of April.

Tom Nixon (pictured above), 23, a student from Wigan, was last seen in the Clapham area of London around 4.45pm on Saturday the 8th of April. Friends, family and Greater Manchester Police are “very concerned about his wellbeing and whereabouts” according to a source close to the family.

The student is described as white, approximately 5ft 11in tall, of slim build with short brown hair, brown eyes and wears glasses. Thomas was last seen wearing a navy blue lumberjack long sleeved shirt with yellow in the pattern, navy blue jeans.

Tom was supposed to catch a train to Wigan, but did not appear and has not been reachable or heard from since. The family  are encouraging friends and acquaintances to share the information, and for those with any information to contact 101 with the reference number 2556/080417.

According to a close friend who shared the information on social media urging others to do the same, their “main priority right now is finding Tom safe and well”.

The family contacted the charity Missing People, who have set up a page in aid of the search for Tom.

Anxious abroad? You’re not alone

Written by Gemma Sowerby on . Posted in Lifestyle.

It’s safe to say that if you’re doing a year abroad at university people will have repeatedly told you that it will be the ‘best year of your life’. It’s about time we admitted that that’s not always the case. For people living with mental health difficulties, the carefree, happy-go-lucky attitude associated with travelling and living abroad can often be hard to come by.

In a 2016 YouGov survey, more than a quarter of British students (27%) reported having a mental health difficulty. This is important, because it’s very easy to think you’re in this alone, a feeling exacerbated when abroad as you might feel you are ‘burdening’ new friends with your struggles. However, learning both to look after yourself, plan ahead, and build a support group around you are key to enjoying the ‘ups’ of your year abroad despite any potential ‘downs’.

It is possible to have a wonderful year abroad while dealing with the difficult and destabilising effects of your mental health difficulties — I did, and so can you. Here are some tips that really helped me out.

Get organised

A year abroad is a massive upheaval, and while that can be very exciting, it can also induce a lot of stress in anyone, particularly those with anxiety. During my semester studying in France, I got so sick of the endless paperwork and running around after signatures that I felt like hiding under my duvet for a week. However, when I returned in my second semester, I’d organised lots of this in advance — taking several copies of all my personal documents, planning my paperwork deadlines and researching. Needless to say, while French administration is enough to turn even the most zen folk into screaming banshees, it’s a lot easier if you’ve prepped in advance.

Photo: Gemma Sowerby

Prescription planning

As you can’t always send medication abroad, I relied on meeting up with family and friends in order to get my medication — it wasn’t a suitable or dependable method and I went without it a couple of times, as it wasn’t even available in France. I would recommend thoroughly researching whether your prescription is available at your destination, as well as asking your doctor in the UK for a certain amount of medication in advance, if possible. If you’re prepared, then you’ve already succeeded — it will make your time abroad so much easier.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help

Ceridwen, a University of Edinburgh student who studied in Lyon during her year abroad, says: “Anxiety and depression made my YA so much harder to cope with. I’d get anxious about ringing people in French to set up flat viewings, and I found things like setting up a bank account really difficult. Depression also makes leaving the house to do these tasks even harder.”

She recommends seeking advice from your home university well in advance, making sure they are aware of your conditions, and trying to make use of counseling resources before you set sail. I really benefitted from time with a psychologist before my year abroad, so can vouch for how talking to someone about your worries can help more than you’d ever believe. Even just talking to some trusted friends or family members can have a really positive effect: try your best not to keep it bottled up.

Me time

This seems obvious — everyone knows the importance of self-care and the way it can help ease your sadness and low self-esteem. But it shouldn’t be all about escaping your situation and wishing you were somewhere else, which can sometimes happen if you always resort to Skyping family and friends or watching the same films over and over again. It’s important to find ways to combine self-care with learning to love living in a new place: try out a new local restaurant or café every week, go to the cinema and watch the latest foreign masterpiece, or visit the countryside or the coast and take in the whole region (while topping up your tan!)

Photo: Gemma Sowerby

Treat yo’ self!

Despite the difficulties posed by anxiety and depression, Ceridwen still had many highlights, such as “travelling to different places in France and trying new things — like skiing for my first time in the Alps and enjoying how cheap the wine is in France!” I personally loved visiting a new museum or exhibition every weekend in Paris, and spent every Sunday morning treating myself at the Bastille market — fresh fruit and veg at Poundland prices, delicious coffee, fresh bread, and whatever my friends and I fancied for brunch that weekend.

It may seem daunting right now, but if you stay organised and plan ahead, rely on those around you for support when the going gets tough, and remember to look after yourself from time to time, you will certainly have a year to remember — for all the right reasons.

For information on how to organise all of the above, speak to your university’s residence abroad team, and check out the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s website where you can browse up-to-date information on visas, accommodation, laws, and medical and travel advice for hundreds of countries around the world. For the latest advice and up-to-date information from across the globe, follow @FCOtravel on Facebook and Twitter to always be in the know — for me, there’s nothing more reassuring!