Trev Reviews

2020 (II) (2021)

Beautiful

[10/10 · 25 June 2022]

A glorious tone poem rendered more cinematically than some feature films. This is one of those fantastic films that is greater than the sum of its parts. It comprises a voice over and shifting images of a child, and it comes together beautifully. I saw this at the Kingston International Film Festival and the Director spoke about how it started from an image of her child in a window and developed from there. It's a truly lovely piece of fluid filmmaking and holds great promise for what the Director may do next.

Forest 404 (I) (2019 Podcast Series)

First rate radio drama

[10/10 · 27 May 2019]

Fabulous BBC SF radio drama set in a post-catastrophe world where the natural world has disappeared. Pan (Pearl Mackie) has the job of deleting old data from before the mysterious 'rupture' and one day she trips across the sounds of a jungle and is dazzled by these sounds she hasn't words to describe. There then follows a twisty tale of mind wipes, viral contagions and discovery. It is characterised by a really powerful set of soundscapes so listen on your best equipment.

Mister John (2013)

A dreamy and enigmatic character study

[8/10 · 1 December 2013]

A dreamy and enigmatic character study about a man who flies to Singapore to wind up his dead brother's affair but finds himself coming adrift. Gerry (Gillen) is a man whose marriage is heading for the rocks and a visit to his dead brother's family and hostess bar in Singapore brings him into contact with a decadent, ex pat' world that starts to fit him too well.

The film plays somewhere between an Antonioni and the wonderful yet under-rated Peter Bogdanovitch film Saint Jack. The bar scenes while stylised feel truthful and affectionate, and the film has some powerful moments - a scene where a bar girl interview becomes a template for a disintegrating marriage is both original and uncomfortable to watch.

Gillen is cast against type and has really worked his way into the character who loses himself through the simple act of wearing a dead man's clothes and walking in his steps.

I notice one reviewer seems concerned with nudity in the film - there isn't any to speak of, so those seeking titillation look elsewhere.

Frozen (2007)

Ravishing movie from first time crew...a must see

[9/10 · 27 October 2007]

I've just seen this film at the London Film Festival and found it truly astonishing. Shot in winter high up in Ladakh (northern India), this black and white film from a first time director and cinematographer engages the eyes and the mind. The story concerns a family living at high altitude and heavily in debt. The father is old and the daughter a little wild. The army moves in to the area and everything shifts. Against this background a series of events unfold until a tragedy is triggered.

The cinematography is outstanding and the landscape revealed in a fashion I have never seen before. It looks unlike any other film of this region and is the better for it.

The music is an integral part of the experience and wisely sidesteps traditional choices for a contemporary soundtrack. Go see it. If you cannot see it on the big screen try to get a DVD!!!

Angel on My Shoulder (1998)

Painfully beautiful

[10/10 · 7 September 2003]

Saw this documentary at a Film Festival a few years back and have been haunted by it since. I can think of no other film that captures the vitality of an individual so well, and then carries the viewer along as that quality wanes and the person dies. A benchmark documentary about an individual who clearly left a positive mark on her friends.

Princess Mononoke (1997)

A great work of art

[10/10 · 23 October 2001]

I consider this as one of the great movies of the century. The way the story progresses through a series of contradictions (visual and script wise) is worthy of Kurosawa.

It may take some time, but I can imagine this film making its way onto the film studies curricula as an example of how profound and timeless topics can be presented through film (note, "film", not animation).

Hasards ou coïncidences (1998)

An innovative and celebratory look at life

[9/10 · 28 November 1998]

This is a wonderfully fresh portrait of a woman handling grief.

There are many themes at work, but it is the sense of people

being true to their intuition and instinct that holds the fabric

together. Using a a variety of locations around the world, the

lead character (played by Lelouch's wife), DV-cams her way from

country to country, using her training as a dancer to truly

great effect. The film is full of invention and surprise,

beautiful camerawork and extraordinarily all-encompassing sound.

A celebration of the game

The Oyster and the Wind (1997)

A film likely to influence many others

[10/10 · 6 September 1998]

This film takes a simple story and tells it in a layered and time-spliced fashion that is truly unique. A group of sailors arrive at an island. They are there to deliver supplies to the lighthouse and investigate why no radio contact for some time. The place is as deserted and eerie as that in L'Avventura and only yields it's secrets through a series of set pieces weaving timelines in the story together, delivering the events that lead to the current point in time. Characters from different times walk through the same scenes, commenting on each others actions as the drama unfolds on camera.