the inheritors (2007)

a genuine delight, and the surprise of the bradford international film festival for this viewer. former photographer eugenio polgovsky has produced a film that is incredibly slight, yet somehow overwhelmingly cinematic at the same time. the film is largely silent, with only the diagetic sounds of the mexican villagers the film centers on posing as aural interuptions. the sheer fact that the film shies away from modern attraction techniques yet still manages to work incredibly well says a lot.

as a fan of bresson an affinity towards realism was always apparent in my own viewing habits, alas the plight of the "stars" of the inheritors makes the lives of the put upon protagonists of bressons work seem easy going. a fellow viewer commented that he felt as though the film reeked of "poverty porn", whereby the audience would be not only manipulated into feeling a certain specific emotion, but the audience themselves would somehow be in 'cahoots' with the producers of the film and somehow be empowered by watching certain things.

carny (2007)

an interesting little documentary on the role of the "carny" or carnival worker within the modern world of present day america. while maintaining an overtly positive facade of the its subject the film doesnt shy away from the darker side of this line of work (child abandonment, felony implication and three-way relationships are just three of the stranger aspects tackled). i dont know if the film will ever really reach beyond the festival circuit, the structure and tone seemed more at home in the home, via television, with the style being reminiscent of the sort of thing one would expect to be produced by the likes of louis theroux. it was a great film though, with its limited fate being somewhat slightly depressing.

a. effect (2009)

a great little short film, a. effect tells the story of a 30 year old slacker that is trying to find his way as an actor on a college drama course. the real star of the show is his best friend patrick, a young asian guy with a mean travis bickle impression in hes repatoire. a. effect is the second project from former special effects guy mike ott, although based on a. effect it doesnt feel like a film made by someone who would have a deep understanding of the special effects field. the film is very much best summed up by the tag of "american independent film" or more specifically "post-wes anderson american independent film". usually i associate such a comparison as a negative attribute, why bother attempting to imitate wes anderson, he has such a specific style that it makes very little sense, alas a. effect manages to succeed greatly. perhaps the greatest compliment that could possibly be paid towards a short film is with regards to its length. when the credits ran, and patrick outlined his next performance (mark wahlberg's turn in the departed) this viewer was left feeling the need to see that film. i literally didnt want it to end.

OMG/HAHAHA (2007)

when setting out on writing this review i headed the title with the year 2009, assuming that it was a new film. however upon looking at the imdb entry for the film i found that it was actually 2 years old. this is an important note, as it confirms that the film has been as successful as i expected it would have been.

the descriptive term "the facebook generation", one which has been applied to this film, is enough to put me off of any form of anything immediately, alas i figured i would give it a shot. what i was faced with was perhaps the single most self indulgent piece of cinema i have ever had the misfortune to sit through. it was a mess of a film, with the incredibly naff concepts that drive the plot proving tired and contrived, which is kind of ironic considering the nature of the film. throw in a heavy dash of patronisiation and ladies and gentlemen, we have the worst film this writer has seen all year.