The Tasters

 This new film from Italian director Silvio Soldini is a fictionalised account of real events during the Second World War when a small cohort of German women was pressed into service to taste Hitler's food. 

When Rosa Sauer arrives exhausted from besieged Berlin during 1943 to stay with her in-laws, little does she realise she will be whisked to a compound near the Führer's Lion's Den in the countryside. Soon she is seated at a table with six other women and after their initial excitement at being offered rare delicacies, they discover they are actually test subjects: they must eat the dishes and then wait for an hour to ensure that the food is not poisoned. After the initial set-up, I did wonder how the film would maintain its drive for two hours. 

 It does so by introducing an SS officer called Ziegler who sets his stall out as a hard ass and then turns his attentions to Rosa. Thus ensues a queasy courtship which had me declaring, "Oh, No, Rosa". Her husband is declared missing on the Soviet border and she is lonely.... but still. Ziegler, surprise, surprise, is not a nice person, given to threats, intimidation. But still Rosa is attracted. 

With a film like this there can be no happy ending. It's not a rom com, and these are not kind, good-hearted, likeable people. Rosa forms an uneasy alliance with another of the tasters, Elfriede, who seems to be hiding something. And indeed the last act is tense and fraught with dangers. 

The story is true--there were tasters for Hitler, but this film is based on a novel and so must be judged on that rather than historical accuracy. It is well staged and acted. I could have done without the "love" story, but it does raise questions about loyalties and how far people will go in extreme circumstances. 

Trailer 

 The Tasters opens in the UK and Ireland on 13 March.  

The Spin

 This Irish indie road movie (dir Michael Head) starts promisingly enough, as hapless Elvis and Dermot are cornered by their landlady and given a deadline to pay rent on their failing record shop in Omagh. Following the trail of a horde of valuable vinyl, the hit the road and drive down to Cork. 

But once they leave town, the film drags badly, the pair's semi-improvised banter wearing thin. Tara Lynne O'Neill has a few good moments as the voracious landlady and the two leads, Owen Colgan and Brenock O'Connor, have decent chemistry, but the film goes nowhere, despite its penchant for wacky cameos (Kimberly Wyatt with a baffling accent-- Why?). 

In the end, the viewer is left wondering why our patience is being tried on two dimwits who appear to share a brain cell. Instead of whimsy what comes across more is idiocy.  

Trailer

The Spin will be in UK cinemas from 27th February. 
 

Justice for Kali

 Happy New Year to all and sundry. My hopes for this year are that it runs a bit more smoothly than last. It's also a chance to say goodbye to some old favourites, not least Stranger Things, which concludes its five-season run last week. 

SPOILER ALERT 

Like many, I was gripped by the drama with its twists and turns, new characters and at least one old face. Unlike many, I was thrilled to see Kali, she of the supposedly reviled Lost Sister episode of season 2. In the original episode, not only did Eleven discover she was called Jane, she actually met her birth mother and aunt, thereby giving some context to her life. But not only that, she discovered another survivor of the lab experiments in Kali, who helped her discover her powers. I loved this episode and was disappointed when Eleven/Jane simply discarded all of this new info and headed back to grim Hawkins and her toxic father figure, Hopper. 

Kali then vanished from the story until episode 4 of season 5 and, shock horror, she was back in the clutches of the evil scientists, this time led by Dr Kay. Naturally, I assumed she would join forces with her sister Jane and take down the villainous Vecna. Others assumed differently. The internet with rife with theories that Kali was a plant from Vecna or trying to undermine Eleven. Not a problem--everyone has an opinion. 

 But what were the Duffer Brothers playing at? In bringing her back, they said they wanted to give her a chance to shine, blah, blah. Well, if being repeatedly sidelined and victimised is shining, then they succeeded. Kali barely had a chance to do anything and only used her powers of illusion as she escaped the lab. Nobody really acknowledged her except her sister and even worse Hopper was openly hostile to her. I could not understand what her purpose on the show was, unless it was to make Eleven look good by contrast. Such a wasted opportunity. 

And her demise was grotesque--Hopper leaves her wounded as he carries off Eleven, only goes back grudgingly to get her when Eleven asks him to, then appears quite happy to let her get shot so he doesn't have to give away Eleven's hiding place. But he never needed to give away anything. He could have given fake info to at least stall the captors. Previously, Hopper had said he would happily kill Kali if she made a wrong move. Kill her. A young woman who had been repeatedly tortured, as had Eleven. Who saw her comrades excecuted by the military. Who was then held and had her blood drained repeatedly for experiments. 

 Where was the compassion? The empathy? At least some acknowledgement that this person was suffering trauma? Nowhere. Instead, this character, who had been absent for several years, was just served up as some kind of limp sacrifice to create conflict or influence Eleven's journey or some such nonsense. Yeah, thanks for that. Kali deserved better. 

I like to imagine Jane and Kali off somewhere, invisible to the human eye, living a life away from the military, toxic alpha males, mad scientists and the crazed fanbase that never respected there could be two sister survivors of Hawkins Lab.  

A Tooth Fairy Tale

Who doesn't love an animation featuring fairies, goblins and trolls? I was really looking forward to this new film from director Michael Johnson. But, oh, dear. 

Van is an aspiring tooth fairy being tutored by his strangely muscular dad in the ways of harvesting teeth from unsuspecting children. But Van is restless and not really in tune with his magical powers. Plus, he gets his head turned by hot green goblin Gemma when he catches her spiriting away one of his would-be captures. So ensues an action adventure romance thingy. 

So far, so okay. But Johnson and his screenwriters concoct an awful mess involving an annoying troll, some tooth mines, family drama and, most egregious of all, villainous spiders. Why spiders? Who knows? The writers had a cornucopia of mythical beasts to choose from including gremlins, dragons, griffins, leprechauns, werewolves, centaurs, and gorgons. And they went for spiders, including a cackling queen lazily voiced by Fran Drescher, clearly phoning in her performance, as befits the material.  

Some elements of the story work, such as the idea that the feuding tribes can work together to free their offspring and look to a better future. One without spiders, presumably. Utterly baffling. And really not great for educating kids about biodiversity. Plus, Gemma, who is meant to be a brilliant scientific mind, is reduced to a passive love interest who has to be rescued in the rather ridiculous third act. 

Oh, and Michael Johnson et al, about that climax? Most spiders can swim. Please do better.

Trailer  

 A Tooth Fairy Tale is available on digital download from 8th December
 

 

 

Upon Her Lips: Open Secrets

 This collection of five shorts on lesbian themes is a curious beast, wildly variable in tone and quality. 

The first one, CCTV (Iran) feels like a proof of concept, setting up a scenario in which two schoolgirls are summoned from class to explain themselves for an unnamed transgression. It seems like it's going to explore their relationship or perhaps their plan to escape punishment but does neither. 

SHE’S A FRIEND [UNA AMIGA] (Spain) is much longer, depicting a couple arriving for some type of holiday in a cabin and then being interrupted by the brother of one of them. It becomes quite the melodrama but it is never clear why there is such drama in this family. 

 The next two are definitely the best. QUEEN SIZE (France) is very cleverly written and shot, showing two disparate women dragging a mattress across Paris and getting to know each other a best. The two actors have good chemistry and one wants to see what happens once the film ends. 

 A LADY’S RITUAL (Germany) is the longest, at 30 mins, and is an oddity, a costume drama that also has elements of eco-politics that seem more modern. There is quite good use of costume and it has humour, as well. 

 The final film, JOEY’S HEART (New Zealand), I found quite confusing. The opening is a delight as the titular Joey expertly multi-tasks, attending a video call while also, uh, performing other  actions. From there it is a bit downhill, never capturing the earlier vigour. It feels like it jumps around in time as characters appear and disappear from Joey's love life, while she complains about being single. For me it does not go anywhere and it is not clear how it fits in with the theme of open secrets. 

 So, a mixed bag.  

Trailer

Available on various UK and global streaming and digital platforms, including Vimeo PeccadilloPOD and Payhip and Amazon.co.uk. 
 

She's the He

 This teen gender swap comedy from writer-director Siobhan McCarthy is a bit of a Marmite film. High school buddies Ethan and Alex decide to pretend to be trans to visit the girls locker room and from that springs the tale.... 

I didn't find the film all that funny or original. The premise is absurd and the film spends much of its time revelling in Alex's crude sexism and idiotic posturing while then pulling back in the final third to attempt to be tender and sensitive. The big set piece features an arsenal of sanitary products repelling a group of not very convincing jocky guys and Ethan's journey from cis guy to trans woman feels entirely rushed and unconvincing. There are a few witty moments of whimsy and some of the underwritten supporting characters like Forest are more intriguing than the main ones. Nico Carney has some good moments as Alex, but the post-credits out takes are much funnier than anything in the film.  

Trailer

Forgive Us All

This debut feature from dir/writer Jordana Stott is a curious blend of sci-fi, horror and action Western, which delivers some chills and thrills. 

The story is formed of two strands: widow Rory lives with her father-in-law Otto in a remote location where they eke out a living from the land, while constantly imperilled by unseen zombie hordes, frequently heard howling in the woods. Much of the initial scenes featuring these two are largely dialogue-free and composed of long static shots. 

Suddenly we are in a Western, as a horseback rider flees three pursuers into a forest. Gunfire is exchanged and everything is dialled up several notches. Wha??? 

The two strands converge some way down the line and it becomes a bit clearer what is going on, as Noah the horseman is on a deadly mission. His pursuers GMA who are some kind of government enforcers, emerge as the antagonists, rather than the zombies, who barely feature until the last 15 minutes of the film. A bold move, if you are telling people you are making a zombie film!

Stott (and her co-writers) throw a few curveballs into what could be quite a formulaic picture. There is very little backstory given, a few flashbacks hinting at the traumas surrounding Rory and Otto. Nobody explicitly explains who GMA are or what they do. And love doesn't triumph in the end. In fact, I found the ending rather bleak, but that's me. 

Still, there are some strong incentives to watch. Firstly, the cinematography is gorgeous, bathing everything in a caramel glaze and showing off the local scenery to fine advantage. "Ooh," I found myself saying at several moments. Secondly, the actors, led by Lily Sullivan as Rory, turn in fully committed performances, even in the face of some rather silly moments. Every time someone said, "I'll stay here and hold them off," I stifled a guffaw. The action is well handled and the baddy, GMA officer Logan, is truly scary. Solid entertainment. 

Trailer

Forgive Us All will have a DVD & digital release on 13th October.