Presenting short films from independent filmmakers...
Seclusionville, 2010
Written and Directed by Richard J. Moir Starring Omar Alomar and Vanessa Page Director of Photography Pierre Henri Landriau Music composed by The Skidmore College Orchestra and Daniel Veesey
"Lonely widower Benjamin Lance finds comfort when helping an attacked girl off the streets. All seems normal at first, but is Benjamin all he seems?"
Seclusionville was developed by Richard J. Moir as his dissertation project for a degree in Film Studies at London Metropolitan University and will be screened at the Loch Ness Film Festival in September 2010. Richard's previous work include the award-winning shorts The Bathroom (2007, Best Picture, Best Director - Myspace Film Awards) and See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Everything Else (2009, Best Art & Experimental Film - FilmMet Awards). Having recently formed "Big Shave Productions" with a fellow graduate, Richard is currently developing a number of projects including a zombie comedy short with Pierre Landriau and a feature length thriller about an aspiring actor who becomes embroiled in a major bank heist.
Visit Richard's blog here, and check out the Seclusionville page on Facebook and the IMDB.
If you've made a short and would like to feature on the site, please get in touch via email.
Click here to view more short films and public domain features.
This coming week sees the television premiere of This is England '86, a new series from British director Shane Meadows that serves as a sequel to his BAFTA Award-winning semi-autobiographical feature This is England (2006). Financed by Channel 4, the four-part drama picks up three years after the events of the movie and revolves around the character of Lol (Vicky McClure), who is set to marry boyfriend Woody (Joe Gilgun). Meanwhile Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) finishes school and finds himself facing up to the prospect of adulthood amid the bleak economy of mid-80s Thatcher's Britain.
Co-written by Jack Thorne (Skins) and directed by Meadows and Tom Harper (The Scouting Book for Boys), This is England '86 also sees the return of Milky (Andrew Shim), Smell (Rosamund Hanson), Gadget (Andrew Ellis), Meggy (Perry Benson), Banjo (George Newton) and Harvey (Michael Socha), along with former gang leader Combo (Stephen Graham).
Check out the new trailer from Channel 4, along with a special three minute preview of the series...
This is England '86 trailer:
This is England '86 promo:
This is England '86 begins on Tuesday September 7th at 10pm on Channel 4. Visit the official website here.
Gary Collinson presents Five Essential British Film Directors…
With his latest film Inception grossing over $271m to date in North America, director Christopher Nolan has officially overtaken fellow countryman Ridley Scott to become the most financially successful British filmmaker of all time. This is a marvellous achievement when you consider the fact he's made just seven features and banked a hefty $1.156b overall compared to Scott’s cumulative gross of $1.124b from eighteen movies (while The Dark Knight accounts for $533m of Nolan’s figure, debut feature Following grossed just $48k from a limited release).
Nolan currently stands at number fourteen in the list of highest-grossing filmmakers and with much of his career - not to mention a third Batman picture - still to come, it's surely just a matter of time before he breaks into the top ten. But where does he rank in terms of Britain’s best ever directors? Does financial success automatically equate to greatness? Let’s take a look as we present our Five Essential British Film Directors…
5. Danny Boyle
Beginning his career in the early 80s as a BBC TV producer and theatre director, Danny Boyle burst onto the scene in 1995 with Shallow Grave, which became the most successful British film of the year. He further revitalised the flagging British film industry the following year with Trainspotting before trying to crack the US market in 1997 with A Life Less Ordinary. After adapting Alex Garland's novel The Beach in 2000, Boyle would go on to direct 28 Days Later (2002) and Sunshine (2007) (both written by Garland), in addition to the well-received coming-of-age drama Millions (2004). His biggest success however came with his last effort, the critically acclaimed Slumdog Millionaire (2008), which won eight Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.
4. Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott directed his first feature in 1977 with The Duellists before delivering back-to-back sci-fi classics in Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982). Struggling to recapture the form of his early work through-out the 80s and 90s, Scott enjoyed a major career resurgence in 2000 with the historial epic Gladiator and has since enjoyed a string of hits including Hannibal (2001), Black Hawk Down (2001), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), American Gangster (2007) and Robin Hood (2010). Nominated three times for Best Director at the Academy Awards (Thelma & Louise, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down), Scott has earned a reputation for his stylish visuals and innovative techniques and will attempt to reclaim the title of highest-grossing British director when he returns to the Alien franchise for a pair of 3D prequels in 2011 and 2012.
3. David Lean
Honing his filmmaking skills as an editor, David Lean made his directorial debut alongside playwright Noël Coward on the patriotic war film In Which We Serve (1942) before adapting three of Coward’s plays for the silver screen including the classic Brief Encounter (1945), which gave Lean the first of nine Academy Award nominations. He won the Oscar for Best Director on two occasions for epics The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962), along with three Golden Globes (the third coming for the 1965’s Doctor Zhivago). One of only three non-Americans to be honoured by the AFI with their Life Achievement Award, David Lean has been cited as an influence on a host of prominent directors including Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.
2. Christopher Nolan
Making his debut with the self-financed thriller Following (1998), Christopher Nolan gained widespread recognition in 2000 with Memento, earning Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Screenplay and establishing Nolan as hot property in Hollywood. His next move was to collaborate with Oscar-winners Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank for Insomnia (2002) before resurrecting the Batman franchise with 2005's Batman Begins. After directing the period mystery The Prestige (2006) Nolan shattered box office records with The Dark Knight (2008), which is heralded by many as the best superhero film of all-time. Currently earning plaudits for the mind-bending sci-fi thriller Inception (2010), Nolan's future projects include a third Batman movie and reboot of the Superman franchise.
1. Alfred Hitchcock
Nolan may have taken the record for highest total box office and is certainly enjoying a fine run of form but he still has some way to go before he can match the impact and influence of legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. Directing more than fifty features in a career spanning six decades, Hitchcock may have produced some forgettable pictures but he is also responsible for a host of genuine classics that remain among the very finest that cinema has to offer. Early effort The 39 Steps is regarded as one of the greatest British films ever made while his transition to Hollywood produced a string of masterpieces including Rebecca (1940), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Notorious (1946), Rope (1948), Strangers on a Train (1951), Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963).
Honourable Mentions...
Charlie Chaplin Mike Leigh Ken Loach Shane Meadows Carol Reed
Louise-Afzal Faerkel casts her eye over a selection of recent trailers including The Kids Are All Right, Enter the Void and Made in Dagenham...
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
If anyone wanted to insult educated people’s intelligence, the makers of The Kids Are All Right (2010) certainly have. To take an iconic title like that and carbon copy it innocently onto a shameless movie like this is ridiculous.
Some of you may already perceive me as a militant bitch. I won’t lie: I am one. Someone has to be in this godforsaken world. This is one of those times where I am going to choose to be very insulted on behalf of the Western civilisation and generally civilised and cultured people. Deal with it.
Let me start by saying that the plot is perfectly alright. The two kids of a lesbian couple want to find out who their donor father is. But what could be a potentially eye-opening film, is nothing but a mere mockery of the situation.
The first lines the parents utter when their son is about to exit the house is “Come here and give us a hug”. Who says that to their 20-year-old kid? The way the mothers stretch out their arms invitingly is not so much cute and funny as desperate and a laughable attempt from the writers to really show how open and close everyone is with each other. Maybe I am insane (this is going to open up a can of worms….), but does this mean that being a lesbian is all about being in touch with each other and hippie-like? Christ.
Mark Ruffalo’s character could not be more disgustingly predictable. Some dude who’s down with lesbians and donates sperm because it’s “more fun than giving blood”? My ears bleed of revolt.
The plot, although simple, does not have enough meat on it. So add a little twist: the daughter wants more contact with her biological father. Please do not choke on your own vomit at this lousy excuse for a catalyst. It’s like pushing a dead animal forward with your bare hands: it’s pointless and painful.
The main excitement of this movie is the actors. Julianne Moore, Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo do a wonderful job (at least according in the trailer). There’s a wonderful chemistry not only between all three of them, but also the two women. They are a pleasure to watch in everything they do and I am sure they will not disappoint here either.
But the chemistry that erupts between Ruffalo and Moore is a bit implausible. Why on Earth would Moore’s character all of a sudden fall for Ruffalo? Oh yes, that’s right. We’re still pushing the animal further forward.
This motion picture is not a serious attempt at making a true comedy or drama with a twist (being that there’s a lesbian couple as main characters). It is an excuse to use a contemporary and – dare I say – cool trend. Is this an American attempt at saying “Hey – we dig gay women, it’s cool?”.
And the climax arrives in a nick of time at the end of the 2.5 minute trailer, in the most conventional way thinkable. A montage of hugs and tears. All inclusive with lines like “Marriage […] sometimes you just don’t see the other person anymore”. Yikes. My face has never made more involuntary twitches than today.
What a joke.
UK release date: 29th October 2010
ENTER THE VOID
A sister and a brother make a pact to never leave each other. Their parents die and the children enter a world of sex, drugs and crime. Images of strippers, bright neon Las Vegas-like casino signs bursting into the viewers’ eyes like looking directly at the sun, cops, gamblers, psychedelic images penetrate you and keep your attention for a whole 2 minutes.
Enter The Void (2010) is another piece by Gaspar Noé, the enfant terrible and darling angel (impossible, you say?) of critics and fans alike. He infamously directed the cringe-worthy, stomach-churning and fabulous underground rape scene inIrréversible (2002), one of the most talked about films of the century so far. ETV is right up there already. Everyone is looking forward to another masterpiece and so am I.
I was initially taken slightly aback by the use of English, assuming that it would be in French. I am not sure how I feel about the use of language here as it would probably be a lot more convincing in French – but maybe I am wrong? English reminded me of mumblecore and Hamony Korine, which led me to think that this could be a potentially Americanised plot. When foreign directors use English, it cheapens their movie (Nicolas Winding-Refn productions excepted, by all means). This tends to happen when one director is hailed as a genius following the release of their first grand success and is then taken over by some desire to be even more universal as if they did not understand that the original language, in first movie, was part of what people loved about it. Shame. Let’s hope it is not the case here.
Bar the exploding lights and signs that run confusingly, staccato and almost unconsciously throughout the trailer, the movie contains some very thought-out, troubling and deep shots. The points of views are marvellous - none of that glamourous, shiny Hollywood junk you see in every summer blockbuster. It’s strong and stylish, accomplished and gritty. Very European. It brings you a deceitfully harmonious explosion of psychedelic colours and patterns, only to be accompanied by a deep and dark soundtrack. What seems like a calm and controlled environment suddenly morphs into a chaotic confetti-like explosion of dirtiness.
And only then is it that you realise how little you in fact see of the main character’s faces. I am not sure what to make of it, but it is a touch I genuinely enjoyed. It adds intrigue and underlines the mystery and oddity that this movie is.
It’s a movie about promises and grittiness behind the scenes in a big city.
You may have seen it before. But not like this.
UK release date: 24th September 2010
MADE IN DAGENHAM
Good old British working class plot. With a glossy Hollywood look. Film of the year or massive failure? It might sound like I hate Hollywood and all its money, but I really don’t. I’m just tired of seeing the same stuff time and time again. Empty, flat, hollow motion pictures with a lovely surface and nothing more.
I just don’t know where to find the words for the disappointment this trailer has brought to me. Despite being produced by the BBC, this movie looks like absolute boredom. A naïve, willing, possibly entertaining piece of comedy with char. That is it.
But it’s not supposed to be like that. That is surely not the intention?
Made In Dagenham (2010) tells the tale of a group of women in Essex, led by Sally Hawkins, fighting for equal pay in the 1960s. Simple plot, meaning the story could be executed in best contemporary British style (e.g. Billy Elliot (2002), This Is England (2007), and so forth) or straight down-the-line roll-of-the-eyeballs nothingness.
The trailer is disappointing. It contains the entire movie’s big lines, delivers no real drama and is a predictable chick flick. It looks nice and pleasant, but I was expecting something with a bit more oompfh.
I don’t even understand the point of this movie anymore. Other than a potentially nostalgic look back at the era, it is empty. It does not ask anything of the viewer but to have eyes and the ability to understand English. There is not challenge here and certainly no gain unless you’re looking for something easy to fall asleep to. It will obviously look as cute as you could expect, but without actual content, there is no hope.
Made In Dagenham looks as bland as a Cumberland sausage.
If you're a fan of shows such as The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits then you might want to check out a new anthology series that is set to debut online in the coming weeks. The Collector's Room is the brainchild of Reading-based filmmakers Daniel J. Brant and Luke Owen (a name that may be familiar to regulars here at Flickering Myth) and promises to deliver tales of horror, sci-fi and the supernatural bookended by the eponymous “Collector” (James Bartholomew).
After working together on a 45 min zombie horror short entitled The Good, The Bad and The Undead back in 2008, Luke and Daniel began to develop ideas for the show and have since produced two episodes, both of which will premiere at a special screening on Friday September 3rd at the Forbury Hotel, Reading.
"The Last Serenade" (written by Luke Owen and Daniel J. Brant, directed by Daniel J. Brant and starring Kayleigh Lawrence and Chris LeHec) - When Vanessa (Lawrence) buys her boyfriend Joey (LeHec) a guitar for his birthday, neither of them could have foreseen the effect it would have had on their lives. Unbeknownst to them, the guitar is possessed by the soul of its former owner and he has one more thing to do before he plays his last chord.
"Sam" (written by Luke Owen, directed by Kate Hansell and starring Tom Capper, Robin March, Jo Hughes and Gary Richens) - Dave (Capper) wakes up in a hospital bed to find himself under suspicion from Detective Inspector Dobbs (March) of murdering his housemates. His defence is unbelievable‐ he claims an antique ventriloquist’s dummy called Sam is alive and killed them. Unbelievable or not, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction…
The Collector's Room will debut online on September 8th with the launch of the official website www.thecollectorsroom.co.uk, with the first two episodes going online the first week of October and November respectively. Along with the episodes the website will also play host to graphic fiction (The first story, entitled Five Minutes, is drawn and inked by local comic book artist Mark Stroud and tells the story of an obsessive mind and a deadly challenge), audio dramas and behind-the-scenes material.
If you enjoy writing about movies and would like to feature on Flickering Myth, please drop us an email. We're also keen to hear from independent filmmakers; if you'd like to see your film featured on the site or want to get the word out on upcoming projects then please feel free to get in touch.
Presenting short films from independent filmmakers...
This coming week sees the television premiere of 
5. 
4. 
3. 
2. 
1. 
If you're a fan of shows such as 
