Mario Dhingsa's Blog, page 7

#SilverScreenBlack reviews: 'Black Sheep' (2006)

(1hr 22mins, NZ)

Mario's rating: 3/5 (bleats)

The Violence of the Lambs: Experimental sheep develop an insatiable hunger for human mutton.

👍Free-range farming:
The creature effects (by the legendary Weta Workshop) are stunning.
Lovers of horror gore will find the (human) blood and offal here run as freely as in any abattoir.
And the film beautifully captures the finest sheep acting since 'Babe'.

👎Close-range murder:
The plot, drama, humour and characters are like lambs that, with a better bit of husbandry, could have been the proudest sheep in the paddock.

📽️ Favourite scene:
Tucker (Tammy Davis) in the lab, turning from man to sheep, and every genetic variation in between.

🥇 Best quote:
"This isn't science. The sheep are revolting!"

🙁 Best depressing quote:
"I thought you would appreciate efforts to deconstruct the colonialist paternalistic agrarian hierarchy that disenfranchises the tangata whenua and erodes the natural resources of Aotearoa."

⏳ Best lockdown quote:
HENRY: "Are you OK?"
EXPERIENCE: "I'll never be OK ever again."





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#SilverScreenBlack reviews: 'Housebound' (2014)

(1hr 47mins, NZ)

Mario's rating: 4/5 (ankle tags)

Panic Room: Home detention becomes a death sentence when the walls won't stop creaking, and the ghosts won't stop calling.

👍Treasure trove:
An impressive unsung cast, crisp dark humour, and a second half as sensational as anything in 'Aliens' or 'Jurassic Park'.
Favourite character: Amos (played by Glen-Paul Waru), the security guard turned ghostbuster turned detective.

👎Sunshine Grove:
A slow first half builds more irritation than suspense.
And Kylie, the film's anti-hero, starts off just as desperate, dangerous, and disintegrating as 'La Femme Nikita' (1990), but by the end of it all... you'll still dislike Kylie.

📽️ Favourite scene:
The last twenty minutes - the most interesting counselling session you'll ever see.

🥇 Best quote:
"To the restless spirit that lives in this house, what is your business here?"

🙁 Best depressing quote:
"Anyone who says there's no such thing as a bad egg, obviously hasn't worked in social services."

⏳ Best lockdown quote:
"You're both stuck up in that house. Except her sentence doesn't last eight months. It lasts forever."





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#SilverScreenBlack: 'What We Do In The Shadows' (2014)

(1hr 25mins, NZ)

Mario's rating: 4.5/5 (bat fights)

There Will Be Blood: Four vampire housemates cope with love, werewolves, clubbing and murder on the sedate streets of Wellington.

👍 Boogie Wonderland:
Highly entertaining and wonderfully inventive, this documentary about the undead is an absurdly joyfully one... until another victim bleeds to death... and then someone has to clean it up...

👎 Basement blazes:
The plot does slump at times like a half-drained victim.
And for four people with no jobs, how are they paying the rent?

📽️ Favourite scene:
The Unholy Masquerade. Even without the vampires, that happens in Wellington.

🥇 Best quote:
"Some people freak out a bit about the age difference. They think, 'What's this 96-year-old lady doing with a guy four times her age?'"

👔 Best fashion advice:
"We are the bait but we are also the trap... I go for a look which I call dead but delicious."

👨‍👧 Best parenting quote:
"We're werewolves, not swear-wolves."





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#SilverScreenBlack: 'Knives Out' (2019)

(2hrs 10 mins)

5/5 (stage knives)

All You Need Is Will: Disinheritance brings out the worst of a family suspected of murder, but also the very best out of the world's greatest detective (sorry Batman).

👍3ml morphine:
It's as fascinating as 'Inception', as intricate as 'Us', as surprising as 'The Usual Suspects', and as satisfying as 'Death on the Nile'.
Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas are superb, but so is the whole cast. And I mean the WHOLE cast.
The Thrombey family - I've never been so impressed by so many people I didn't like.

👎100ml morphine:
It's well acted, well written, well directed... so, Rian Johnson... what happened with 'The Last Jedi'?

📽️ Favourite scene:
Christopher Plummer dying, and the clarity that overcomes him as he approaches the inevitable.

🥇 Best quote:
"Physical evidence can tell a clear story with a forked tongue."

♟️Best way to play Go:
Harlan: "I don't know how you beat me at this every time."
Marta: "I'm not trying to beat you. I'm creating a beautiful pattern."

⏳ Best lockdown quote:
"But the complexity lies not in the truth, but what you do with the truth once you have it."





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#SilverScreenBlack: 'Hellraiser' (1987)

(1hr 33mins)

Mario's rating: 3/5 (pins and needles)

'Little Shop of Horrors' meets 'Body Heat' meets 'The Thing' meets a Rubik's cube.

👍 Spring in your step:
The practical effects and make-up by Bob Keen, Geoff Portass and crew are stunning, and the influences on 'Event Horizon' are clear to see.
The score by Christopher Young is spell-binding.
And Clare Higgins is riveting to watch, as she tries to stop sinking any further into sin, but can't resist.

👎 Blood on your hands:
The logic of it all doesn't always make sense. Nobody noticed the dead bodies around the house? Or all the rats? Or the half-man, half-strawberry-treacle thing on the top floor? Did anyone ever trust Uncle Frank even when he was alive? And why is almost everyone in this England speaking with an American accent?

📽️ Favourite scene:
Uncle Frank returning from Hell. Piece by piece. Bone by bone. Gristle by gristle.

🥇 Best quote:
KIRSTY: "Oh, my God! Daddy. Daddy!"
FRANK: "No, don't mourn him. He was dead long before we ever touched him."

👨‍👧 Worst parenting quote:
PINHEAD: "Oh, no tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering!"

⏳ Best lockdown quote:
KIRSTY: "This isn't happening!"
FRANK: "I used to tell myself that. Used to try and pretend I was dreaming all the pain. But don't you kid yourself. Some things have to be endured, and that's what makes the pleasures so sweet!"

#SilverScreenBlack: Press Review - 'Keep Mum' (2019)

Short Film Special!
In Competition at the Femme Filmmakers Festival 2020
(28th August - 6th September 2020).
You can find the original review here!

Luana Di Pasquale’s ‘Keep Mum’ is the kind of film that never stops erupting. No matter how many times you watch it, it will always scorch your heart. And when you reach the film’s anguished end, your chest wound won’t be healed, but Di Pasquale will have certainly cauterised it.

‘Keep Mum’ is a blisteringly intense volcano of a film, and for good reason. It charts the first 24 hours after a wife & mother escapes her abusive partner. The title role is played by Nadira Murray, flawlessly cast and phenomenally gifted. Most Hollywood films would end their films where ‘Keep Mum’ begins – at the moment of triumph over the horrors of domestic violence. But ‘Keep Mum’ has so much more to say, because there is much, much more to say. The horror hasn’t stopped. The regret hasn’t stopped. And the guilt hasn’t stopped.

Visually, ‘Keep Mum’ is one of the most beautiful films to come out of 2019. This is an unbelievable achievement given the film’s budget, and all credit must go to Luana Di Pasquale as writer/director, Martine Wolff as director of photography, and Massimiliano Guelfi as editor. The story-telling on screen here is inevitably a sensation, thanks not only to this trio, but also to an extremely talented crew working seamlessly together. The music, the visuals, the emotion, the tension, are all incredible. And Di Pasquale beautifully balances the non-linear arc with a clear narrative (which is not at all as easy as sounds, as the current debate surrounding 2020’s ‘Tenet’ has shown).

A film such as this would be nothing without its main character, and Nadira Murray carries the film with such intensity, it’s as if you’re watching a crucifixion. Her rage can be subtle, her silence can be agony, and her grief can be very real indeed. You never tire of watching Murray’s performance; you only wish you could do more to help her. A special mention must also go to Cameron Murray, Nadira’s on-screen (and off-screen) son. A talented actor in his own right, his scenes are affectionate, unnerving and poignant; and his performance is a vital piece in comprehending the entirety of his mother’s actions.

‘Keep Mum’ is an unforgettable film about a forgotten horror. And that horror can be hiding behind any curtain on any street. Di Pasquale and Murray have lifted that heavy curtain; they have opened that dark door. And having stepped in, you will witness a horror classic.



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#SilverScreenBlack: 'Up Tight' (1968)

(1hr 44 mins)

Mario's rating: 4.5/5 (tips)

The Informer: The murder of Martin Luther King sparks a clash in the civil rights movement; between activism and extremism, between friends and vengeance, between teachers and traitors.

👍 Revolutions:
Sharply written, beautifully directed, and phenomenally acted. Julian Mayfield, Raymond St. Jacques, and Frank Silvera lead an incredible ensemble cast, up there with '12 Angry Men' and 'The Hunt for Red October'.

👎 Regressions:
The pace is a little uneven in the second act.
The film never received the widespread attention and mainstream acclaim it deserves.
And its message of injustice, inequality and impoverishment is painfully accurate in describing 2020.

📽️ Favourite scene:
The balcony hunt - a trapped suspect, a police cordon, and an avalanche of bottles that haven't accidentally slipped.

🥇 Best quote:
"You've got no revolution. A revolution is a plan, not a gun."

🙁 Most depressing quote:
"When you're born black in this country, you're born dead. Don't talk to us about being killed, we know about that. You go and get those bills passed, bills the whites won't obey anyway."

📔 Best writers’ quote:
"Here's something I wrote. If you don't want to read it, you can use it for toilet paper."





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#SilverScreenBlack: 'Long Time Listener, First Time Caller' (2018)

Short Film Special!
In Competition at the Femme Filmmakers Festival 2020
(28th August - 6th September 2020).
You can find the original review here!

Nora Kirkpatrick’s ‘Long Time Listener, First Time Caller’ is a jewel of a film that, like any precious stone, never fails to impress no matter how much you look at it. Despite its budget, it’s magical realism in the strongest and most spell-binding tradition. The film asks eternal questions of love and mortality, and has enough impressive answers in its 17 minutes, than most modern features covering the same ground.

Our heroine here is ‘Nan’, played to perfection by Breeda Wool. Living in rural California, Nan is a housewife whose isolation isn’t just geographical, but suffocatingly emotional too. Alone all day, her imagination and sensuality explode onto the only dance partner she has – a broom. Her situation doesn’t improve when her husband (an excellent Dominic Bogart) returns home. He’s far more concerned with answering quiz show questions than anything she has to say.

Nan’s only friend and companion was her mother-in-law, who has recently departed. But then Nan discovers a call-in radio show. Its DJ is the charismatic Mister Mars, and his unruffled sidekick, Debbie (played superbly by DeMorge Brown and Jen Tullock). Nan calls in. A conversation is spoken. And a fuse is lit…

The film is ethereal and enchanting, and there is a lot to love here. The writing and directing by Kirkpatrick is extremely well done, and it’s no surprise that LTLFTC is already a multiple award winner; with its recent accolades including Best Short Film at the San Diego International, and Sioux City, Film Festivals last year. Any budgetary constraints that Kirkpatrick would have undoubtedly encountered are certainly not evident. Cinematography by Jeff Leeds Cohn, production design by Allesandra Cadman, and original score by Mitchell Yoshida are all finely crafted and first rate. Kirkpatrick has led a very strong team here, right down to the inclusion of singer-songwriter Willy Mason, whose song, ‘Talk Me Down’, wonderfully (and aptly) bookends the film.

But what sets this film truly apart is the acting. Breeda Wool is exceptional in the main role, and without spoiling the story or her subtleties, the breadth she covers is truly inspiring to watch. Wool isn’t just showing you the (self-)repression of Nan. You’re also thrown into the high tide of Nan’s energy and exuberance, which makes it all the more achingly when her husband returns home and everything you’ve seen then steadily disappears back out to sea.

But Wool isn’t alone in shining off the screen. Dominic Bogart, DeMorge Brown, Jen Tullock all hit their marks and so much more. Each transform what could have been one-dimensional characters into something vividly distinctive and surprisingly nuanced. And even though he’s only in two scenes, Sam Carson is one of the best postmen in film history.

LTLFTC is a film that raises as much questions for the viewer, as it does of its own characters. It is an exceptionally beautiful film, visually and emotionally. And it is a film which shows that even in the loneliest of lives and the driest of deserts, where there is love, there will always be magic.



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#SilverScreenBlack: 'Tenet' (2020)

(2hr 30mins)

Mario's rating: 3/5 (free ports)

James Bond Backwards: An agent tries stopping time from running in reverse, because of a future running from a ruined tomorrow.

👍 Time bends:
The score by Ludwig Göransson and Travis Scott is excellent, production values are top notch, and the stunts are sensational while believable. Kenneth Branagh is the best actor on screen - fearsome, fatal, focused and free.

👎 Loose ends:
Character motives and choices, along with certain plot points, aren't always the most original or convincing. The dialogue at times becomes overwhelming exposition. Fight scenes aren't always well-defined. And there's not much of an emotional hook for the protagonist, and ultimately, the audience.

📽️ Favourite scene:
The highway scene: Pulsating from the very start, forwards and back...

🥇 Best quote:
"We live in a twilight world, and there are no friends at dusk."

🙁 Best depressing quote:
"You don't negotiate with a tiger. You admire a tiger, until it turns on you."

⏳ Best lockdown quote:
"One man's probability of death, is another man's possibility for life."





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#SilverScreenBlack: 'Ali's Wedding' (2017)

(1hr 49mins, Aus)

Mario's rating: 4.5/5 (concrete baklavas)

Ali, Fear Eats the Soul: Living up to a wise father is hard, but lying to cover your low grades and love matches is so much more harder.

👍 Temporary marriages:
Heart-warming and hilarious, tense and tragic, the superb ensemble cast make this autobiography as enjoyable as 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'. This time the wedding has to be stopped. Immediately...

👎 Permanent guilt:
Some of the character stereotypes can become a little overbearing.
No one's ever happy driving a purple Porsche.
And I'll never be half the Dad that Don Hany is in this film.

📽️ Favourite scene:
'Saddam: The Musical'. Forget 'Hamilton'.
In real life, this was originally written by Osamah Sami's father, Jaafar, and was three hours long. "Saddam has made us so miserable," Jaafar once said, "now make him let us laugh."
Brace yourself for greatness: Once you see this, there's no going back.

🥇 Best quote:
Ali (as Saddam): "There are no WMDs! I had to fake it... 'til I make it!"

🙁 Best depressing quote:
"We are both trapped by family. There is no escape route. Just duty."

⏳ Best lockdown quote:
"A lie begins in the soul and then travels the world."





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