Tag: Spain

A woman diagnosed with terminal cancer signs up with a corporate programme allegedly aimed at helping people in her situation to humanely end their own lives – premieres in the Critics’ Picks Competition of the 28th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

“Chemo never worked. So I decided to beat the fucker to the punch.” Thus says Gilda (Denise Fraga) at the start of this tale about voluntary euthanasia. Gilda has cancer and a year and a half left to live. She exasperates her husband when he hilariously stumbles into the bathroom as she’s trying to shoot herself in the head, both of them winding up in hospital as a result.

She is determined to kill herself. If she does nothing, the condition will take its course and the end of the process won’t be pleasant. In the hospital, she picks up a leaflet of a company which might provide some help for those considering voluntary euthanasia. So Gildagoes for an interview with Joy Transition International and finds herself facing a panel of three: Isa (Joana Rebeiro), Eva (Sandra Faleiro), and Bruno (Alexander Tuji Nam).… Read the rest

Tags 28th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, 28th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, a living, Alexander Tuji Nam, animal welfare clinic, Assun Planas, aunt, bath, bathroom, bedside, Blessed Virgin Mary, Brazil, buddy system, BVM, cancer, capitalism, Catholic, chemo, company, conformism, corporate culture, corporate executive, corporate gloss, Critics' Picks Competition, death, Denise Fraga, disenchanted, DIY cutting tool, doctor, Dreaming of Lions, eating treats, electrical appliance, euthanasia of animals, exploitation, faces, fall in love, fee, flight attendant, hospital, hospital visit, industry, inevitable, interview panel, Joana Rebeiro, João Nunes Monteiro) obsessed with death, leaflet, lipstick, Mallorca, mask, masks, military, mise-en-scène, mortuary attendant, paired, Paolo Marinou-Blanco, permanent smile, perpetually happy people., PÖFF, PÖFF 2024, PÖFF 2024: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF 28, PÖFF 28: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF: Critics' Picks Competition, Portugal, positive thinking, prayer, profit, put on a happy face, relatives, religion, Sandra Faleiro, satire, scam, security guard, self-help, self-help industry, selling, service to humanity, sex, slit your wrist, Smile, smiling mouth masks, Sodium Pentobarbital, Sonhar com Leões, Spain, split screen, store cupboard, subservience, suicide, suicide attempts, taboos, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2024, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2024: Critics' Picks Competition, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, time left, voluntary euthanasia, warehouse

Movies Documentary Features Live Action

Harder Than The Rock
The Cimarons Story

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date October 4 2024
No Comments on Harder Than The Rock
The Cimarons Story

Harder Than The Rock – The Cimarons Story

Director – Mark Warmington – 2024 – UK – Cert. 12a – 100m

****

The story of Cimarons, the first British reggae band, who were formed in 1967 – out in UK cinemas on Thursday, October 3rd

As teenagers, they came from sun-soaked Jamaica to the UK to be confronted with a climate that was “rain, dull and gray.” In the 1960s, one of the areas that Jamaican immigrants came to in London was Harlesden, in Brent, and it was at Harlesden Methodist Church Youth Club in 1967 where Losely Guichy (guitar), Franklin Dunn (bass), Maurice Ellis (drums), and Carl Levi (organ) first met up and started playing music together, a site today commemorated with a blue plaque. They went through s number of singers over the years, notably Winston Reedy between 1974 and 1983.

By 1968 they were gigging as Cimarons. A performance at Paddington’s Q Club saw an A&R rep from Trojan Records in attendance, which led to a recording contract, their first album appearing in 1974, recorded in part as the Jamaican studio of the legendary Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. Before that, they worked mainly as session musicians, appearing uncredited on numerous singles by black British reggae artists.… Read the rest

Tags 1960s, 1970s, A&R, band, bass, Beatles, Black, blue plaque, Bob Marley, Bobby ‘Dego’ Davis, breakthrough, Brent, British, Carl Levi, Cimarons, cleaning job, COVID, Dennis Bovell, drums, France, Franklin Dunn, funeral, gig, guitar, Harlesden, Harlesden Methodist Church, immigrants, Ireland, Island Records, Jamaica, Japan, John Lennon, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Linda McCartney, London, Losely Guichy, lung cancer, management, Mark Warmington, Matumbi, Maurice Ellis, music, music festivals, Netherlands, oppression by the British, organ, Paddington, pandemic, Paul Bogle, Paul McCartney, performance, Punk Rock, Q Club, recording engineer, recording studio, reggae, royalties, session musicians, Sham 69, singer, slave trade, Spain, state oppression, Steel Pulse, Thailand, The Clash, together, Tony Platt, tour, Trojan Records, UK, Winston Reedy, Youth Club

Movies Animation Features

Dragonkeeper
(Gardiana de Dragones)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date September 25 2024
No Comments on Dragonkeeper
(Gardiana de Dragones)

Dragonkeeper (Gardiana de Dragones)

Director – Li Jianping, Salvador Simó – 2023 – Spain, China – Cert. PG – 98m

****

Faced by powerful forces of empire and a ruthless traitor, a girl must accompany an old dragon to ensure the survival of its egg – out in UK cinemas on Friday, September 27th

Ancient China. As revealed in a voice-over and an ancient, panoramic, wall-hanging scroll, the empire of the humans united with the dragons to successfully defeat necromancy. But then, the Emperor turned on the dragons, hunting them.

A long time after these events have occurred, a hard-nosed trader Master Lan (voice in the English language version: Tony Jayawardena) and his wallas are receiving some goods at a trading post when they stumble upon an abandoned baby girl. One of the wallas notices strange, blue-lit rocks floating near the baby. The group take the girl back across mountain ranges and vast plains to their small town.

Around eight years later, Ping (voice: Mayalinee Griffith) is living in that town, in the care of an old lady Lao Ma (voice: Sarah Lam), and feeding her pet rat Hua Hua (non-dialogue voice: Jonathan David Mellors) who lives in a hole in a storehouse and often goes with her in her jacket or any container or bag she might be carrying.… Read the rest

Tags 3D animation, abandoned baby, ancient China, Andrew Leung, animation, Anthony Howell, Arturo Cardelús, Australian, author, basket of food, Beth Chambers, bets, Bill Bailey, Bill Nighy, cage, captain, Captain of the Guard, Carole Wilkinson, cave, CG, CG animation, China, climb, collapse, computer animation, confidence, cross-country, dragon, dungeon, dying of old age, egg, Emperor, empire, English language version, flight, forces of empire, Honoured Guests, hunt, immortal, immortality, Imperial Court, Imperial Guard, independence, insect, Jacqueline Chan, Jonathan David Mellors, landscape, Li Jianping, longevity, Mayalinee Griffith, mother, mountain ranges, necromancer, necromancy, orphan, Paul McEwan, pearl, pet, power, Qi, rat, rescue, road movie, rooftop, rope, rope bridge, ruthless, Salvador Simo, Sarah Lam, scroll, small town, Spain, survival, telepathy, Tony Jayawardena, trader, trading post, traitor, travel, vast plains, walls, wing

Movies Features Live Action

The Old Man
and the Land

The Old Man and the Land

Director – Nicholas Parish – 2023 – UK – Cert. 15 – 100m

*****

As he works on the land, an aging farmer hears his two adult children argue about the future of the family farm – plays UK cinemas from Friday, September 20th 2024, with previews from Monday, September 16th following its premiere in the Critics’ Picks Competition at the 27th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, where it was the best film out of a superb lot

Movies. You think everything’s been done, then along comes something you’ve never seen before. Or, in this case, seen or heard before.

The Old Man in question is an English farmer (Roger Marten) whose family have worked the land for generations. He’s getting on in years, so won’t be around forever. His wife died a while ago, so he’s now running the farm on his own. He has two children who have long since grown up and left home: a son (voice: Rory Kinnear) and a daughter (voice: Emily Beecham), and the big question is, when he dies, will they take over – or will they get rid of the farm?

In recent years, the UK has produced a number of rural movies that stand in stark contrast to the urban- (often London-) based films produced.… Read the rest

Tags #GFF24, 27th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, 27th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, advice, alcoholic, answering machine, answering message, bereaved, British, brothers and sisters, childhood, children, conversation, countryside, Critics' Picks Competition, documentary, Emily Beecham, English, everyday, family, farmer, fields, Glasgow Film Festival, Glasgow Film Festival 2024, illusion, image and sound, improvisation, inheritance, land, leave message, left home, London, modern world, modernise, mundane, Nicholas Parish, Nico Mensinga, obscenities, parents and children, phone, phone calls, phone turned off, PÖFF, PÖFF 2023, PÖFF 2023: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF 27, PÖFF 27: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF: Critics' Picks Competition, pub, radical, radio drama, roots, Rory Kinnear, running a farm, rural, siblings, sins of the fathers, solitary, Spain, take over, Tallinn, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2023, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2023: Critics' Picks Competition, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, tractor, UK, unsentimental, urban, viable business, visit, workaday, working life

Movies Documentary Features Live Action

Cyborg
a Documentary

Cyborg: a Documentary

Director – Carey Born – 2023 – Germany, Spain, UK – Cert. 12a – 87m

***1/2

Cyborg artist Neil Harbisson, unable to see in colour, has had an antenna implanted in his head to hear colours instead – out in UK cinemas on Friday, September 20th

This opens with a title sequence of weird, psychedelic images of what appears to be moving coloured liquids forming strange, never to be repeated natural patterns. If that implies a striking visual sensibility, that’s deceptive, since this documentary follows a fairly straightforward structure of following people around with cameras and talking to them as it introduces us to cyber artist Neil Harbisson and his artist partner Moon Ribas.

Neil stands out from other people because he has an antenna protruding from the back of his head to dangle in front of his forehead. He was born with the unusual condition of achromatism, which means that he sees not in colour but in monochrome. (Less severe, more common forms of colour blindness include the inability to differentiate between green and red.) This came to light in his childhood when the family got a new colour TV, and he and his sister would watch cartoons.… Read the rest

Tags achromatism, Adam Montandon, adjust, Adolf Hitler, antenna, antenna implant, anti-technology, artist, assassination, Barcelona, beach, Bible, Bill Nelson, brain, campaign, church, colour blindness, colour palette, colour TV, conservative-minded, creation myth, cyborg, dance, dominion over the earth, drilling into the head, earthquake, earthquake warning, eye-borg’, fear, firsts, Frankenstein, frequencies, Genesis, Germany, green and red, H.G. Wells, hardware, head, headaches, headphones, hear colours, hope, hospital, hospital authority, hospital operation, hue, human rights, humanity, ideas, inertia, infra-red, Jean Cocteau, Jesus, light, light waves, Martin Luther King, Mataró, medical ethics, MLK, monochrome, monster, Moon Ribas, musical notes, Neil Harbisson, new senses tradition, new TV, operation, opportunity, painting of speech, palette, perception, permanent sense, possibility, possible, resistance, robot, Sabbath, saturation, save trees, sci-fi, science fiction, see, seeing, sense, senses, sensory, SF, sight, smartphone apps, sound, Spain, sunbathe, technician, technology, the will of God, theatre group, threat, UK, ultraviolet, visible, volume

Movies Animation Features

The King and the Mockingbird
(Le Roi et L’Oiseau)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date August 5 2024
No Comments on The King and the Mockingbird
(Le Roi et L’Oiseau)

The King and the Mockingbird (Le Roi et L’Oiseau)

Director – Paul Grimault – 1980 – France – Cert. U – 83m

UK release date 11/04/2014

*****

Wrinkles (Arrugas)

Director – Ignacio Ferreras – 2011 – Spain – Cert. 15 – 89m

UK release date 18/04/2014

*****

The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu, 風立ちぬ)

Director – Hayao Miyazaki – 2013 – Japan – Cert. PG – 126m

UK release date 09/05/2014

****

This triple review was originally published in Third Way, April 2014.

Animation is all-too often regarded – if not dismissed – as a children’s medium, yet it’s no more (or less) so than live action. Animated features aimed at a grown-up audience are rare. Incredibly, three are released this month.

The first, The King and the Mockingbird (1980), originally released here thirty years ago as The King And Mr. Bird and known equally by its French title Le Roi et L’Oiseau, may contain nothing you wouldn’t want children to see but is actually a remarkable fable about overcoming a totalitarian regime. Considered among the greatest animated films ever made, it’s a major influence on Miyazaki (see below). This labour of love by director/animator Paul Grimault, based on a poetic screenplay by Jacques Prévert (Les Enfants Du Paradis, Marcel Carné, 1945) deals with a despotic king in a towering castle festooned with trap doors which he uses to dispose of anyone and everyone who disagrees with him.… Read the rest

Movies Animation Features

Wrinkles (Arrugas)

Wrinkles (Arrugas)

This triple review was originally published in Third Way, April 2014.

The King and the Mockingbird (Le Roi Et L’Oiseau)

Director – Paul Grimault – 1980 – France – Cert. U – 83m

UK release date 11/04/2014

*****

Wrinkles (Arrugas)

Director – Ignacio Ferreras – 2011 – Spain – Cert. 15 – 89m

UK release date 18/04/2014

*****

The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu, 風立ちぬ)

Director – Hayao Miyazaki – 2013 – Japan – Cert. PG – 126m

UK release date 09/05/2014

****

The first, The King and the Mockingbird (1980), originally released here thirty years ago as The King And Mr. Bird and known equally by its French title Le Roi Et L’Oiseau, may contain nothing you wouldn’t want children to see but is actually a remarkable fable about overcoming a totalitarian regime. Considered among the greatest animated films ever made, it’s a major influence on Miyazaki (see below). This labour of love by director/animator Paul Grimault, based on a poetic screenplay by Jacques Prévert (Les Enfants Du Paradis, Marcel Carné, 1945) deals with a despotic king in a towering castle festooned with trap doors which he uses to dispose of anyone and everyone who disagrees with him.… Read the rest

Movies Animation Features

The Wind Rises
(Kaze Tachinu,
風立ちぬ)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date August 2 2024
No Comments on The Wind Rises
(Kaze Tachinu,
風立ちぬ)

The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu, 風立ちぬ)

This triple review was originally published in Third Way, April 2014.

The King and the Mockingbird (Le Roi Et L’Oiseau)

Director – Paul Grimault – 1980 – France – Cert. U – 83m

UK release date 11/04/2014

*****

Wrinkles (Arrugas)

Director – Ignacio Ferreras – 2011 – Spain – Cert. 15 – 89m

UK release date 18/04/2014

*****

The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu, 風立ちぬ)

Director – Hayao Miyazaki – 2013 – Japan – Cert. PG – 126m

UK release date 09/05/2014

****

Tags 2D animation, aeronautical displays, ageing population, aircraft, aircraft designer, animation, animator, care home, castle, comic, designer, despot, égalité, elderly, fictionalise, flying machines, France, fraternité, Hayao Miyazaki, Ignacio Ferreras, Jacques Prévert, Japan, Joji Horikoshi, king, liberté, liberté égalité fraternité, manga, marriage, Mitsubushi, Mitsubushi Zero, novel, Paco Roca, patients, Paul Grimault, poetic, printed comic, private life, reach for the skies romance, relatives, residents, sanatorium, Second World War, Spain, Studio Ghibli, taboo, talking bird, Tatsuo Hori, TB, terminally ill, test flights, Three Colours, tower, trap doors, war, wartime, World War 2, World War II, World War Two, WW2

Movies Animation Features

Robot Dreams

Robot Dreams

Director – Pablo Berger – 2023 – Spain – Cert. PG – 102m

*****

In need of a companion, Dog builds Robot – but then, disaster strikes – charming, dialogue-free 2D animation is out in UK cinemas Friday, 22nd March following its screenings in the 2023 London Film Festival

It originally played in the 2023 Annecy International Animation Festival.

The 1980s. Brooklyn. The East Village. Bored with endless, cook from frozen macaroni cheese meals from the fridge and channel hopping or playing both parts of computerised table tennis against himself, Dog longs for a companion. To this end, he buys a DIY self-assembly kit from which he builds Robot. For a short period, the pair are inseparable, walking and eating hot dogs together in Central Park, but then disaster strikes after Robot swims in the sea when the pair visit the beach. When it’s time to go home, his battery power is depleted, and he can’t move.

So Dog has to leave incapacitated Robot there. He buys books on robots from the local bookstore to work out how to repair his friend. Alas, on arrival at the beach, he discovers it’s closed since yesterday was the last day of the Summer season.… Read the rest