Reviews

Having grown up in the seventies and eighties through a wonderful era of exploitation cinema, I can appreciate this film for what it is.

I am shocked though at the high ratings it has received.

The fire fight on the wharf when the police show up is laughable. The cops and the drug dealers unloading all manner of weapons and hiding behind their cars whilst only seemingly ten to fifteen metres apart. Seriously?

Fans of Blood in, Blood Out, American Me, Animal Factory and Runaway Train should enjoy this film.

What a pity the late Edward Bunker wasn't still around to polish and tighten up the screenplay.

The only thing going for this pretentious film is the premise itself. Two soldiers return home from the French foreign legion and get work in the wrestling world, eventually becoming caught up with gangsters.

As part of the French FIlm Festival in Australia (who compared this with Tarantino and Scorcese) I honestly would have walked out after forty minutes were I not with a friend and seated in the middle of the row.

Raging Bullesque cinematography can't save this dreadful film. Poorly scripted (like a first draft) with characters you don't care about, little action, tension or pacing. Heavy handed direction and way over stylised.

This isn't even a great tribute to wrestling itself.

Avoid at all costs.

A doco on French wrestling in the 60's would have been more entertaining.

Hard to try and beat the earlier review of this by Backseat Director.

Just saw this at MIFF today and found it very absorbing. Whilst it is very sad watching the young women (girls) being exploited the saddest character by far is "scout" Ashley.

From her inability to leave an industry she clearly loathes, to her massive but ultimately empty mansion (complete with two plastic babies) to her revolting cyst. The scene when she "checks up" on the two young Russian models is a real highlight. Cannot believe how ignorant and cold Ashley is in this sequence. Her inability to communicate is astounding (Hey Ash, did it ever occur to you that the girl's are Russian and didn't have English skills?) and I cannot believe she couldn't fork out some of her fat payroll to hire an interpreter.

A must see documentary.

You really do have to tick all the boxes for this film. Start with the screenplay, it almost feels as if you could be reading a great crime/noir novel. Very few screenplays have that type of feel anymore. Lots of conflict and flesh and blood characters. Speaking of which, the actor portraying Jacky does an amazing job in what must have been a very difficult role to play. Apart from the screenplay and acting, the direction and photography is also of a high order. It takes a special script and director to get you to care about the characters and I felt this one long after I'd left the cinema. It packs a real emotional punch.

Without giving too much away, the story revolves around a rural Belgian family who are in the cattle business. They manage to get caught up in the illegal use of hormones in their animals, the drugs supplied by typically nasty underworld figures.

What really makes this film so riveting is the gripping and harrowing back story involving several of the main characters.

I believe this works as a crime film, drama and even part revenge flick. There is also a doomed love story.

I really hope this film gets a wide release as it certainly deserves it. I look forward to more films from this director.

The elements are there for a great story. An elderly woman experiencing the onset of dementia whilst trying to raise her grandson.

I love Korean cinema and was greatly disappointed by this one. The lead actress tries very hard and you do feel much empathy for her. What lets this film down is the pacing and an ending that leaves more questions than answers. Some scenes go on way too long and I believe this film could have been edited. I guess the director was trying to show the effects of the disease by having so many scenes of the old woman looking spacey and vague and wandering about. I just feel the story strands about her son and his friends and the crime they commit was not handled better or sooner.

I enjoyed AWAY FROM HER much better than this and thought that tackled a similar subject in a much more accessible way.

Just saw this at the Sydney Film Festival.

From what I've already read, director Sophie Barthes was inspired to write this by a dream. She is also reportedly tired of comparisons to Kaufman's films. What does she expect? If you crossed Being John Malkovich with Eternal Sunshine and added a sprinkle of Zach Helm's screenplay for Stranger Than Fiction you would probably end up with Cold Souls.

Barthes dream must have been a great one as the concept for the story sucks you right in. Without going too much into the details, it involves a tired and stressed actor (Giamatti) who discovers a 'soul storage' company who specialise in extracting souls.

Giamatti ums and ahs about the procedure before signing his life away, or soul away, as it may be. Needless to say, things don't work out as planned and pretty soon his wife notices his weird behaviour and there are Russians also involved in illegal trafficking of human souls.

Anyone who enjoyed Giamatti in American Splendour and Sideways should enjoy this. Carrying the film virtually on his own, he does a brilliant job as the angst ridden actor in desperate search for his soul. Emily Watson and David Strathairn do well in small support roles. Dina Korzun is also very good as the sad Russian 'mule' who swaps peoples souls for short periods to traffic them to and from the States and Russia. Unfortunately her character is never fully fleshed out which is a real shame and therein lies the problem with the screenplay. Even with Giamatti working his arse off, he ultimately can only do so much with the material. I agree with other viewers who have posted that the story is uneven and Barthes doesn't get the middle or the ending right. It's choppy and not thought out enough.

I found the film entertaining but certainly wasn't moved by it. As mentioned, the idea is a good one but I was somewhat disappointed that Barthes didn't fully explore the themes and make this as interesting as it could have been.

It's a damned fine effort though but she will have to get used to the Kaufman comparisons.

Less is more - My favorite horror/genre film at the Sydney Film In an age of overblown Hollywood CGI wankfests (Terminator Desperation, Transformers etc)and mostly shoddy remakes (My Bloody Valentine)it's nice to see a horror film that makes you think and still entertains whilst delivering the shocks.

Director Bruce McDonald and screenwriter Tony Burgess do a fine job building suspense in this zombie/virus thriller with only a handful of actors, lots of dialogue and a mostly interior setting.

The refreshing change here is that the zombie/virus infection is contacted through the English language rather than by being bitten. Most of film is set inside a small community radio station in a rural Ontario town.

The lead actors need to be commended for making something that not only sounds ridiculous and very limited on paper seem so real and pulse pounding that it might actually be real (especially with the spread worldwide of pig flu).

Although I had trouble working out the ending and what the 'cure' actually was, I was quite buzzed after the screening and the film gets you thinking on many levels.

I only wished I'd seen the film with a friend as I really wanted to discuss it with someone after the credits rolled.

A sad and tragic story about a mining company turning it's back on local Peruvian townspeople.

After their village is contaminated by Mercury from the mine (some of the local people wrongly believe it is silver)and people start dying a blockade and protest starts.

Ultimately the blockade of the mine proves fruitless...or does it? There is so much more to the story than what I have mentioned and everything from the photography, location, acting and story are all first rate.

Heartbreaking and very moving, the resilience of the local people is inspiring whilst the greed of the mining companies will make you want to scream.

Who knows how many mines operate in countries such as Peru. I read a similar story in the Guardian about a year ago about an identical situation involving locals in Peru protesting against a huge plant mining for minerals to make batteries. The town has massive health issues and birth defects etc but has received little compensation from the arrogant mine owners in the US. I gather that the Peruvian government should take much of the blame as well for turning a blind eye to such devastating operations.

It's not just humans at risk from the effects of industrial waste and pollution. Consider the minerals in many mobile phones and laptops currently being mined in parts of Africa, where land clearing is killing off the gorilla population at a frightening rate.

Anyways, back to the film. I highly recommend people seeing this one on the big screen as the mountain backdrops are stunning and show how much these people are tied to the land.