Kelso Camera Club Exhibit

 Passing through Kelso today I happened upon the Kelso Camera Club annual exhibit, held upstairs at Town Hall. What a lovely array of images! Everything from seascapes to animal portraits and even some urban vistas . 

I was quite taken with one of a cat that looked remarkably like my own late feline and even shared her name. Viewers are invited to choose their top three images and I had a good walk round before I narrowed it down to my own top three from among the 100-plus on show. 

 Kelso Camera Club's exhibit runs through 3 May at Kelso Town Hall. 

BFI Flare: Slow Burn

 Another languid watch, Bearcave is a Greek drama about a couple who are not really together and then for most of the film are very definitely apart. Anneta and Argyro seem to have a secret relationship and when the former announces she is pregnant by her boyfriend, that seems to be that. But as the film unspools from different POVs, it seems Anneta is not happy with her decision. The cinematography is great, with zoom shots of mountains and a cool sequence at a theme park, but it goes on a bit. And I did not really understand Anneta's decisions and her treatment of Argyro. The actor's performance very much made her seem untrustworthy. And there is a very confusing set of events related to pregnancy. Still, I now know about nettle pie. 

Final shorts: Spiders on My Lashline is quite dramatic, as an exotic dancer stumbles into a church and then has flashbacks. There is some kind of revenge plot but I was not clear if it was real or fantasy. Saints is a dreamy Italian film in which two girls share a kiss while preparing for a religious event that involves one of them flying as an angel. Beautifully shot but the finale is underwhelming. Nest also features teens prepping for a ceremony with lots of gossip and chat and a stain on a dress. It felt like a proof of concept film.  

BFI Flare: Thwarted Desires

 The film at this year's festival I have most been looking forward to is Montreal, My Beautiful (writer/dir Xiaodan He), a Canadian drama starring Joan Chen as a Chinese immigrant who pushes at the boundaries of her life as a wife and mother. 

The film starts with a comedic scene of Chen's Feng Xia attending a gyno consultation with her daughter who has to translate her mother's intimate health issues to the male doctor. This sense of comic awkwardness is not repeated during the rest of the film's 117-minute running order, but Feng does have a tense relationship with her daughter who is thoroughly at home in Montreal and chastises her mum for not speaking French. So Feng enrols on a course and through that comes to know a young Cuban immigrant who turns her on to online dating, as you do. We never see this character again. 

Before you know it, Feng is online and pulling a younger woman called Lisa who invites her over for friends with benefits sex. It seems implausible that Feng would be rushed into this state, but the film drops these bombshells and then lingers on tiny details to create extended tableaux, like Feng sitting outside smoking, which she does often, gazing into space. It is a frustrating watch. 

Eventually, we do learn a bit more about Lisa and Feng, but the drama that ensues becomes quite melodramatic and the film did not quite jell for me, as I found it a chilly watch. The daughter largely disappears from the story for long periods, leaving Feng to inhabit a joyless life with her husband, frustrated in his career and life. After a time, I was willing the film to come to some conclusion, but after a fiery confrontation between the spouses, it seemed to peter out into another unresolved ending. Chen is luminous, but the film does not really do her justice. 

Of the shorts I have seen, I will mention Seek No Favor, a messy but ambitious tale of vigilantism and wig thievery set in NYC. Sunday Lunch is a well-done farce concerning a lesbian couple arriving at a family do with secrets to share. Nice Jewish Girl is an Aussie teen drama in which a girl at camp finds a porno mag which unleashes repressed desires. 

Montreal, My Beautiful trailer

BFI Flare: New Adventures

One thing I have noticed so far is the number of films that don't end well, as in don't end clearly or decisively. Perhaps the filmmakers like ambiguity, but it is a bit frustrating for me as a viewer. 

 Low Rider, the much anticipated return of Campbell X, spends most of its running time on the road, as Londonite Quinn seeks out her father in Cape Town. The film is a quest, a road movie and a bit of a search for the authentic self as Quinn falls in with Harley (a wistful Thishiwe Ziqubu), a duck and dive local with a rusty Toyota. 

I enjoyed their rapport but grew frustrated as the film's bumps in the road largely came from bad decisions by Quinn. There was no real sense she wanted to have a spiritual makeover, either, until the last 10 minutes of the film took a sharp left turn and she ended up in some kind of Afrofuturist commune led by a steampunk leader. Most odd and quite jarring. 

The short Notice Me certainly does have a decisive ending as it is a Hackney set rom-com in which a new girl has a meet cute with a hunky barista and then spends most of the film running from any possible happy ending. It is quite fun and great to see some local faces on film, too. 

BFI Flare: Teens on the Run

 Jone, Sometimes (dir Sara Fantova) is a languid drama centring on 20-year-old Jone who is looking after her father and younger sister while also trying to figure out her own life. The film takes place during a week-long festival in Bilbao which allows Jone to get out and meet her friends and also stir up a romance with Olga, who is visiting from Madrid. I liked that it was not a typical coming of age. There is no coming out drama: Jone's friends are totally casual about her desires and encourage her to go after Olga. It never feels like a rom com but rather a well-rounded portrayal of someone caught in the middle of several competing pulls. 

 The short Newbies baffled me. Two young people spend most of its 17-minute running time voiceovering about a single tooth and then wandering around New York and ending up on the subway. I really have no idea what is was supposed to be about, but it looked great, with lots of moody night-time cinematography.  Oh, and Danny Glover pops up. 

 Jone, Sometimes Trailer 

BFI Flare: Transgressions

 How one views Fil Ieropoulos's film Uchronia may well depend on how familiar one is with Arthur Rimbaud and, indeed, how interested one is in the 19th century symbolist poet famed for his provocations. The film invites us to consider our contemporary struggles and interests through the ghost of the resurrected artist as he surveys footage and watches other long dead visionaries alongside us. 

The visuals are engaging and the performances committed, but I felt I was watching a long in-joke, as the entirety of Rimbaud's Un Saison en Enfer was played out on-screen via long, long monologues. Entire scenes could have been scrapped, I felt, and the film would have been better for it. Still, it was amusing to see versions of Emma Goldman and Alan Turing take to the screen and lecture us on our failings. I could well identify with the ghost of Marsha P. Johnson expressing disappointment at today's LGBT community thinking it won the liberation lottery. Ha!

Uchronia Trailer 

The short Rainbow Girls (writer/dir Nana Duffuor) is a delight, as three black trans women raid high end boutiques in SF to get what is theirs. "It don't belong to nobody", claims Angel, pulling a couture dress from her wardrobe, "except some white CEO". Based on true events, the film is quite sympathetic to its desperados, especially Tati who is trying to get herself and her mother out of their car and into some kind of stability. Watching the gang make its escape on an "Ogle" shuttle is quite the tonic. 

Oh, San Francisco! How could it come to this? Never when I lived there back in the day did I imagine such a transgressive city could let itself be thoroughly commandeered by tech bros. Marsha would be so disappointed. And I imagine Rimbaud would also have a few words on the matter. 

Rainbow Girls Trailer 

Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival

 I am in the unusual position of covering two concurrent film festivals, albeit 346 miles apart. Yesterday I attended the first day of BFMAF, which is running through Sunday. This year for the first time the festival is staging relaxed screenings, so I spent much of the day sitting in the town hall under the watchful gaze of Queen Victoria! She was not amused. 

Although I missed the final screening, I did catch the first three, which included Shari Frilot's Black Nations/Queer Nations?, Cece Wyss's All Good Medicine, Jenny Brady's The Glass Booth and Rehana Zeman's Soft Fruit, which were documentaries of various vintages, as well as the highly experimental Q-Loxx and a live performance by Roy Claire Potter. 

Being in the relaxed screening room meant we did not get the Q&As that accompanied the other screenings and Potter's performance was streamed as audio + captions, which I found quite interesting. I actually viewed that one lying on one of the cushions and it gave a different flavour to the experience. 

But I did not detect any real differences in the relaxed screening, although there were options to move around, speak or visit a chill-out space. It's good to have options. 

Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival continues through 22 March.  

 

 

BFI Flare: Five Films for Freedom

 The traditional kick-off for the festival, these shorts from around the globe are available to stream through the 29th of March, offering a taste of the programme. 

The lone UK entry, I Hate Helen, is an amusing take on adolescent jealousy as Priya fixates on Helen, a fellow swimmer and classmate. But when Helen has to help her, Priya is forced to confront the root of her strong feelings. I didn't love the ending, but the film is well made.

Theo, from Brazil, is also a drama about school kids, this time set in 1986 as footie-mad Theo tries to find a way to live out a passion for the beautiful game without declaring a binary gender. There is one outstanding moment when Theo does declare a gender while handing over a piece of candy. Smooth. 

The French film Room 206 is a short doc shadowing Clair as she ("at the moment") prepares for gender-affirming surgery. It seems to take place over one day, but that is not clear. There is a lot of chat about ice cream for some reason. 

 The Mexican doc Rag Dolls also takes place over a day as Rosita and Diana go about their business, navigating the streets of Puebla via wheelchair while giving an idea of how difficult life is for them without family or government support. That their date takes place at KFC is a bit of a surprise but to each her own. 

The Vietnam drama Sweat is a languid two hander as Hung tells his friend Hoang he is leaving to cross the border. They also spend a day together but I did not understand the ending. Beautifully shot but confusing.  

 

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. 

Iron Ladies

 This doc by Daniel Draper casts an eye over the women who stepped up during the 1984-5 miners strike in the UK. Many of them were wives of miners and many attest in the film to the history they had with mining, coming from mining families and growing up in mining communities. 

Women Against Pit Closures is the thing that brought them all together, as local chapters sprang up across the UK once the strike bit. They provided food and clothing and information, stood on the picket lines and, as several of them state, kept the strike going. Some of the most affecting footage is the static shots of the now redundant works in several locations from Kent to Durham.

Unfortunately, although the interviews with the women form the backbone of Draper's film, he really does not do them justice. Each of them has her name shown on screen the first time she appears and then never again. As there are some 15-20 interviewees, it is impossible for a first-time viewer to keep track of who is speaking. Worse, Draper employs a rather quirky camera technique, zooming in for extreme close-ups that are jarring, and letting the camera drift one way or another as someone is speaking. At some point, I thought I must be watching the film in the wrong aspect ratio as a woman spoke with the top of her head, including her eyes, cut off. Utterly bizarre. And it really takes the viewer out of the narrative, such as it is. 

As the film progresses, we see that there is some kind of event being planned for 2024. I think it was a 40th anniversary meet-up but as there is no narration, I had to guess. Speaking at the event, several women affirm that the strike, though unsuccessful for the men, changed their lives. More context would really have helped increase the emphasis of this very flawed but welcome film.  

Trailer 

 Iron Ladies will be in UK cinemas from 10th October 
 

Borderline

A so-called black comedy about a star coming to the attention of a misguided fan who tries to strong-arm her into his world, Borderline sounds a bit like Cecil B. Demented, but unlike John Waters' feel bad film, this one is a bit hit and miss, mostly miss. 

Paul (Ray Nicholson) has his sights set on marrying pop star Sophia and assembles his A team of lunatics to kidnap her from her house and get her to the altar on time. Nicholson's one-note performance, a cheesy manic grin firmly in place, grows irritating over time and the frequent acts of violence take the edge off finding the situation funny. Stabbings, shootings, immolation--writer-director Jimmy Warden seems intent on finding new ways to torment his cast. 

 Samara Weaving does her best as Sophia, an entitled princess entertaining her basketball player date (Jimmie Fails, far too small to be convincing as a baller) sometime in the 90s (shades of Madonna and Dennis Rodman?), but the script does not give her much to do other than pout and wear a bunch of skimpy outfits.  

One bright spark is Alba Baptista (Ava from Warrior Nun!) who arrives far too late to save the film, but whose cheerfully malevolent presence offers its one genuine note of comedy (did I mention it is billed as a comedy thriller? No? Well, there is a reason.). Her duet with Sophia in ridiculous circumstances is an absurdist delight.  

Special mention to Eric Dane whose security guard gets stabbed and shot but maintains a granitey presence, and Jimmie Fails, who looks fetching in a wedding dress. They deserve better material. 

Borderline will be available on Digital Download from 8th September 

Trailer 

 

Noseeums

 When you watch a horror film, you often get a sense of who is going to die. And watching the first act of Noseeums (dir Raven Carter), I had a very definite sense of "Yup. These b__es are going down." 

Ember is a student living somewhere up north who goes on a road trip down to Florida with three fellow students, her roomie Tessa and two party girls, Abby and Lexie. The four seem companionable enough in the car journey, although Abby makes some iffy comments about Ember's changing accent and Lexie and Tessa back her up. 

As the film progresses Abby and Lexie show more and more passive aggressiveness toward Ember and Tessa often does not back her up. Meanwhile Ember has discovered something in the forest and then she starts having disturbing visions... 

The premise is intriguing, a mix of swamp horror, mean girls, a student road trip and.... land rights. The first few spell fun and the last definitely not. 

To be fair, there is very little fun in Noseeums. The acting is pretty poor, the script full of holes and the special effects laughable. There are a few plus points, though. It aims high, asking questions about accountability in the 21st century for evils inflicted in the previous two, in this case African Americans being driven from their land by white folks. 

But there are very few scares, and the titular noseeums, or midges, are not very effective as attackers. Really, the horror is in the entitlement of white people who don't understand accumulated privilege. But the script has the subtlety of a sledgehammer and the most interesting characters, Ember's mother and best friend Jas, get very little screen time. These noseeums are not nearly biting enough. 

In Transit

 Rarely has a film made me as cross on finishing as In Transit (dir Jaclyn Bethany). Billed as a tender queer drama, this quiet indie narrowly focussed on three people starts as a slow burn and builds to.... a slow burn out. 

Lucy (Alex Sarrigeorgiou) and Tom (François Arnaud) live in a small town in Maine, where she is a bartender and he does some kind of work he doesn't like. Ilse (Jennifer Ehle), a midlife-crisis afflicted artist, wanders into Lucy's bar and does a sketch of her. This leads to Lucy modelling for her, unbeknownst to Tom.

So far, so High Art, Carol and many, many other films in which an older woman comes in contact with a younger woman to greater or lesser effect. In Transit spends a lot of time on the sittings Lucy does with Ilse, and Ehle delivers a twitchy, nervy performance, wittering on about her practice while saying very little. Hers is potentially the most interesting character, caught in a crossroads as her marriage is crumbling and her child (only heard in a crackly telephone call) seems uninterested in her. What does she want? And what does she want from Lucy?

Unfortunately, the script (by Sarrigeorgiou, who also produces) does not really do character development. Lucy remains frustratingly blank and passive, while Tom gets one explosive monologue which at least gives us some indication of his wants and needs. The two women, supposedly the film's interest, get nothing of this. The film feels neither queer nor tender. Such a disappointment. 

In Transit has its world premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival on 17 August.  

 

40 Acres

 This low fi Canadian thriller is an unlikely vehicle for Oscar nomine Danielle Deadwyler, who also produces, but here we are. Deadwyler's Hailey Freeman is the matriarch of a family fighting for survival in post-apocalyptic rural Canada where her farm is besieged by aggressive cannibals (yes) who want the family's crops and, uh, spices, and are quite happy to kill for them. 

The cannibal angle really never comes into focus, but for most of the film, the Freemans, a blended family of Hailey, her indigenous husband and four kids, live a martial existence of surveillance, supply runs and a lot of shooting. She also maintains radio contact with a woman called Augusta, who turns out to have a family connection. Eldest son Manny calls Hailey Ma'am and follows orders, until he doesn't.... 

The action sequences are fine, there is definite feel of threat and jeopardy but the family dynamics are poorly sketched. Deadwyler, a fine actress, spends most of the film gritting her teeth and clenching her weapons. One never feels engaged with the characters, to the point where I realised I was not even sure of most of their names. This is partly due to a sound mix that renders most dialogue a vague mumble. 

The themes of family, trust and letting go are clear enough but it is astounding that this is the type of fare being offered to Deadwyler.  

Trailer

 40 Acres will be in UK Cinemas from 1st August and Digital Download from 4th August