Tuesday night a team of DCM crew were in attendance for the glitzy BFI Centrepiece Gala Premiere of Inside Llewyn Davis, the Coen Brothers’ hotly anticipated film following the huge success of their last collaboration, True Grit.
The event took place at the Odeon Leicester Square and in attendance were Ethan and Joel Coen, alongside the stars of their film Oscar Isaacs [Drive], John Goodman and our very own Carey Mulligan. The film is a period piece set in New York during a week in the winter of 1961, which follows meagre existence of Llewyn Davis, an embittered folk singer whose life pans out like a lamenting folk song; effectively homeless in the icy confines of New York City, crashing on the couches of those who have not yet tired of his selfish ways, wandering aimlessly by day and playing for a dwindling audience in the Gaslight Bar, a dingy club in Greenwich Village, the centre of the 60s folk scene. Read more
Energetic, confident, assured, charismatic, ambitious, witty, funny. All qualities that Joseph Gordon-Levitt exhibited on stage when introducing his new film Don Jon as part of the Laugh gala in association with Empire on Wednesday evening. Clearly immensely proud to be presenting his debut film as writer-director to the Odeon West End audience, he exuded enthusiasm and charm in his brief but winning introduction.
They are also qualities that can be applied to the film, in which Gordon-Levitt also plays the title role. In his intro he revealed that having graduated from successful child star, he’s always been fascinated by the film-making process and had been considering how he was going to make his debut film for a number of years. Heavily influenced by the films of Hal Ashby (Harold And Maude, The Last Detail) and the legendary Libertine Don Juan, Gordon-Levitt has extended his reputation with a flashy, if imperfect, debut about a New Jersey lothario who has a hidden and unhealthy relationship with pornography. Read more
Director Jonathan Glazer is a man responsible for some of the greatest music videos of all time and his two features to date, Sexy Beast and Birth demonstrate that his formidable talent extends to longer narratives too. With his latest film, Under The Skin, he has undertaken something else entirely. It’s less a narrative and more a sensory experience that contains a host of images that won’t be forgotten any time soon.
What narrative there is follows an alien called Laura, played by Scarlett Johansson with dyed hair and fur coat, who has rather unluckily found herself in Glasgow (of all the places to land). The film documents Laura experiencing the world and interacting with humans for the first time. She drives around in a transit van, visits shopping centres and nightclubs and does scenic coastal and forest walks. For reasons that aren’t explained, or if they were I missed it, she also leads unsuspecting and rather aroused males to their death in a mysterious black liquid that reduces its victims to a chilling husk. There’s also a man on a motorcycle who drives around Scotland interacting with people and locations that Laura has come into contact with. His purpose isn’t clear but it adds to the unsettling and discordant feel of proceedings. From first to last minute, the film successfully conjures, through oppressive sound design and off-kilter visuals an other-worldly and yes, alien atmosphere. I’d say it’s most relatable to the ambience Glazer created in his stunning video for UNKLE’s Rabbit In Your Headlights. Read more
An almost dialogue free account of one man on a boat in bad weather. Not perhaps the most tantalising one line summary but when that one man is screen legend Robert Redford, who delivers a genuinely captivating performance, it elevates the film almost into the realm of must-see.
The set-up is simple. Redford, as we learn from an opening voiceover, has left his family to sail around the globe in his yacht and has run into trouble. His voiceover reveals he’s almost given up hope and is ready to accept his fate. We cut to eight days previously and the yacht has just struck an abandoned shipping container in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Tearing a hole in the boat’s hull, Redford, listed only in the credits as ‘Our Man’, awakes to find his cabin filling with water. Read more
A semi-improvised comedy from one of the creative talents behind the mumblecore movement, set around a craft beer brewery couldn’t be more achingly hip but thankfully Drinking Buddies is superbly cast and surprisingly insightful.
Olivia Wilde plays Kate, a Chicago brewery worker who loves beer and socialising with her colleagues, particularly Jake Johnson’s Luke. Kate is in the relatively early stages of a relationship with the more reserved Chris (Ron Livingson) and Luke has been involved with Jill (Anna Kendrick) for a number of years, however this doesn’t stop either of them indulging flirting at regular opportunities. Read more
It may be most notable for featuring one of James Gandolfini’s last screen performances but this warm, charming film is also one of the most gently rewarding experiences I’ve had in a cinema this year. It’s a perfectly judged romantic comedy from Nicole Holofcener (Lovely And Amazing, Please Give) that I could have happily continued to watch had it been an hour or two longer.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (TV’s Seinfeld, Veep) plays Eva, a forty something, divorced masseuse who meets also-divorced Albert at a party. Their initial meeting is awkward but the two of them are sufficiently interested in each other to go on a first date. The date is a success, the relationship develops and all is going swimmingly until Eva learns that Albert just so happens to be the ex-husband of one of her clients, Marianne (Catherine Keener). Unaware of their burgeoning relationship, Marianne spends much of her massage sessions bad-mouthing her ex-husband. Read more
Set in the world of radical eco-activists, Kelly Reichardt’s latest offering teams up a terrific trio of Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard in what proves to be another impressive addition to a constantly growing collection of strong films from the director.
Plotting to blow up a local dam as an act of political and ethical defiance in the face of growing ecological fears, Josh (Eisenberg), Dena (Fanning) and Harmon (Sarsgaard) are confronted with an unexpected hitch in the plan that brings into question the motivations behind their actions as well as threatening their own personal freedom. Read more
Having played a supporting role in big screen comedies, including Step Brothers, We’re The Millers and Wanderlust, with Afternoon Delight the immensely talented Kathryn Hahn finally gets the chance to show what she can do in a lead role, and she doesn’t disappoint.
Hahn plays Rachel, a housewife and mother who, finding many aspects of her life with her husband Jeff (Josh Radnor) have gone stale, decides to visit a strip club with a group of friends. After a dalliance with lapdancer McKenna (Juno Temple), she engineers a subsequent meeting with her and ends up inviting her to live in the family’s spare room. She wastes little time in inviting McKenna to social engagements and asking her to babysit, whilst trying to lead her away from her life as a stripper and sex worker. Read more
This year’s Palme d’Or winner arrived in London with director Abdellatif Kechiche and young star Adèle Exarchopolous in tow having attracted numerous headlines since its festival bow. Despite wowing the Cannes jury, the film’s graphic sex scenes have split critics and audiences alike, while grumblings surfaced in interviews from both lead actresses about the difficulty of working with Kechiche, to such an extent that they’d never work with him again. Proclaiming that he wanted to cancel the release, Kechiche has evidently been perturbed by this wave of negative press, but the final result is a truly astounding tour-de-force of cinema which deserves as wide an audience as possible.
Loosely based on the 2010 French graphic novel by Julie Maroh, the film covers the period of Adèle’s (Adèle Exarchopoulos) life from her final years at high school into her twenties when she’s pursuing a career as a teacher. After a brief, failed romance with Thomas (Jérémie Laheurte), her life changes when she walks past blue-haired art student Emma (Léa Seydoux), whom she cannot stop thinking about. After visiting a gay bar with a friend, Adèle meets her properly for the first time, and they begin an intense, passionate affair. Clocking in at just under three hours, the film chronicles the ups and downs of their romance, whilst also serving as an in-depth character study, truly immersing the viewer into both women’s lives. Read more
Lucky McKee may sound more like a character from Balamory than a purveyor of cinematic horror but after his brutal last film The Woman shocked audiences with its tale of a feral woman captured and tortured by a successful country lawyer, he joined the likes of Ti West (The Innkeepers) and Adam Wingard (You’re Next) at the forefront of a new horror movement.
McKee’s follow-up may surprise some as although it’s not without horror moments, it is a far more playful and comedic affair, providing a spin on the traditional high school comedy. All the usual tropes are in place, the bitchy cheerleaders, the alpha-male jock, the socially awkward nerds and there’s plenty of slow-motion walking down school corridors. The film opens like a cross between Spring Breakers and Bring It On but McKee and co-director Chris Sivertson introduce supernatural elements with mixed results. Read more
DCM's resident Film Specialist, Tom Linay, reports back to Huffington Post readers from the BFI London Film Festival with a review of Nebraska.
Playing as the Journey Gala at the 57th Annual BFI London Film Festival, in association with American Express, Nebraska is the latest slice of Americana from the brilliant Alexander Payne (The Descendants, Sideways and Election). It may not be vintage Payne but it features a couple of brilliant performances, particularly one from Bruce Dern that deservedly won him the Best Actor prize in Cannes in May. Read more
This year, Digital Cinema Media (DCM) is the proud sponsor of The Hospital Club’s hClub100 Film Category, recognising the most innovative and influential people in the world of British Film.
DCM CEO, Simon Rees, part of the original judging process, helped recognise truly inspirational names in the film and advertising industries for 2013. Read more
