Meeting up with old friends brings back memories of the good ole days, a chance to catch up and congratulate each other and relive old times, and the perfect setting for a rose tinted reunion is a far away cabin in the wilderness , with no distractions and no neighbors to distract or keep a watchful eye. The only problem, having not seen your old school friends for some time there’s no guarantee that everyone still has all their own marbles. Will this weekend in the Alpines be a few beers and burgers or a weekend of psychological meltdowns and digging up buried true feelings?
Director: Mike Leigh Starring: Katrin Cartlidge, Lunda Steadman, Mark Nenton, Andy Serkis. UK. 1h 23m
I do sometimes wonder what it would be like to spend time with Mike Leigh, sometime in the late 80’s early 90’s, is he this hyper thinking character he often portrays in his films, in this case the energetic Hannah (Cartlidge) who, in this femine tour de force is a lady version of Johnny Fletcher (David Thewlis) from Naked, at least with her quick wit and attitude, she’s no much of an awkward asshole.. thankfully!
4 years after Naked (1993) Leigh returns with a less traumatic but equally charming insight into the friendship between Hannah and Annie (Steadman), once best friends at university, the two awkward characters shared their adventures and possibly even a boyfriend at one time.. Annie’s psoriasis held her back. But after a rough start Hannah begins to see the real charm and quality of the girl and their union is one of strength and genuine caring for eachother. The third wheel, Clare (Byers), the original roommate to Hannah is shoon shafted from the apartment for her abrasive nature and the girls move in Ricky (Benton) a husky austic guy who has the hots for Annie, Mark Benton’s portrayal of autism for the time was really outstanding, there’s a lot more understanding of the condition and yet the character, while not entirely accurate as being autism really highlights a person with a mix of mental conditions that we recognize without putting a finger on it.
There has been a breakthrough in modern horror anthologies, from V/H/S (2012)to Southbound (2015), Dark Tapes (2016) to ABC’s of Death (2012), there’s been a highly dedicated sense of the bizarre and foreboding squeezed in alongside a curative surreal and darkly comic backdrop of horror. With Argentina becoming the forefront of genuine wholesome and brilliantly crafted cinema lately from superb freaky titles like Terrified(2017) and Cold Sweat (2010), there’s no wonder that this combination of short dark thrillers sets a new bar in the horror genre.
In a heated conversation between a couple of shabby fellows after a night of debauchery, a poignant line is shouted, the definition of the film title and ethos of what you have spend an hour watching… it goes something along the lines of “meeting someone fucking their brains out and when you get bored you move on”. This dry argument is a key to Penny Woolcock’s vibrantly disturbing drama surrounding the most powerful bouts of writer’s block that Paul might ever have in one lifetime.
Falling in love just might be the easy part in this explosive Nigeria classic, not only do a couple of friends both find the women of their dreams, they manage to lose them due to irrational reactions and lack of attention and empathy.
Frederick Leonard plays an attractive bachelor, who’s hooked up with an old flame and within months of reuniting they are getting married. The love is lost and all goes bad on the wedding night when his new bride wakes up, and before she’s got her faculties together and in a total daze, she’s asking to be paid for her nightly rate! Utterly shocked Frederick realises he’s married ex prostitute, disgusted and pained verbally beats the woman down, leaving her in their hotel suite with some cash, the message is clear, the arrangement is over. At her most vulnerable state her best friend also takes advantage of her and ashamed she moves on with her life.
Director: Adim C Williams Starring. Chioma Chukwuka Akpotha, Frederick Leonard, Chinenye Uba, Sam Obiago, Jennifer Cooper, Praise Gladson, Tracey Edwin, Adim Williams. Nigeria. 4h +.
A wedding can be the most important day of anyone’s life, usually the highly planned and well organised day can be stressful but after years of being happily married it’s worth it, however everything is upside down about this traumatic run up to this less than perfect couples wedding.
The surprising thing about the Wedding Palaver is that it starts with a hurt girlfriend leaving her jealous and over bearing boyfriend played by Frederick Leonard, he’s controlling, rude and doesn’t apologise for belittling his lover when assuming she’s cheating on him when in fact she’s out visiting her cousin, the hurt girl pleads for mercy then realising that he’ll never change, she leaves. Continue reading Wedding Palaver (2020)→
Frederick Leonard stars as a man who has it all, and this puts him in the front running and he’s hit on daily by many beautiful women, but he’s an honourable man and only has eyes for his darling wife Cindy (Adelana).
His overbearing mother is intent on ending his marriage and for him to marry a girl that she chooses, seeing the current union as going against her will and therefore null and void, she spends her waking hours, actively running schemes behind their backs to shroud their marriage in doubt and fear, and doesn’t think twice about telling Cindy that she would like to see her dead… charming! Continue reading My Wife My Life (2020)→
Marriage can be a difficult game to play, even when you are a player.. That seems to be the surreal message of this painful romantic drama.
A married woman (Kadiri) is torn between her average husband and a charming Prince who is willing to turn down another royal and his life in a royal household just to be with her but she just can’t make up her mind. Continue reading Wild Away (2020)→
Director: … Starring.Clems Ohameze, Mike Joseph, Chinyere Nwabueze, Chioma Ifemeludike, Yemsi Obi, Cece Edeme, Golden Black. Nigeria. 1h 56m.
Not often enough, a Nollywood movie will have a poignant message, they are typically littered with high emotional drama, horrible women being taught a lesson and people learning from their mistakes and finding religion, but there are some really big issues facing Africa and I champion any Nollywood movie which takes some timeout from the average thrall and attempts to tackle these issues, especially when they aim to change archaic views and aim to give people a better quality of life and equality, but sadly this cause is such a pivotal part of the plot I can’t go into detail. Continue reading The Fallen (2019)→
There isn’t much to this short Nollywood production, although for some unknown reason one distinct story seems to gets swallowed by another part way through, maybe everything went to hell during the production, or the director has a change of heart, it becomes confusing but results in more hectic drama and heartbreak but sadly doesn’t make a better movie.
The film comes together over the cruel and mindless layabout trying to make some money, constantly scrounging from his friends, the lazy douchebag spends his days laying on a sofa watching TV and promising to pay everyone back when he gets his next big role, because this actor is apparently going places, it’s the markets fault for being so darn dry. When this excuse starts to wear thin he hatches a new devious plan. Using facebook he entices a young woman into the home promising her an acting role but first she has to submit a fee and act out a special sex scene for him, not realising that she’s being prostituted the girl goes ahead, free sex for friend and he gets to watch. Continue reading Vile blackmail (2018)→
Admit One Film Addict 