Winter's Bone - Analysis (web link)

“The astonishing thing is not that some people steal or that others occasionally go out on strike, but rather that all those who are starving do not steal as a regular practice, and all those who are exploited are not continually out on strike: after centuries of exploitation, why do people still tolerate being humiliated and enslaved, to such a point, indeed, that they actually want humiliation and slavery not only for others but for themselves?”

So wrote the psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich in his book on the psycho-sexual attractions of authoritarianism The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933).  Nowhere is this question more salient than in considering man’s oppression of women. Humanity’s inhumanity to Humanity takes myriad forms.  We are ruled not by a Patriarchal father but by a Kyriarchal lord and the shape of that lord is forever changing.

The dynamic nature of human oppression goes some way to explaining the extent to which women can be complicit in the oppression of other women.  This is a theme that cuts right to the heart of Debra Granik’s cinematic adaptation of Daniel Woodrell’s novel Winter’s Bone (2006).  Set in the Ozark mountains, the film tells the story of a seventeen year-old girl as she navigates the terrifying network of hatreds, fears and obligations that holds together her impoverished rural community.

In the Ozarks of Winter’s Bone, both men and women are trapped within a rigidly defined set of social roles. Notionally patriarchal in structure, these roles oppress men as much as they oppress women because they deprive men of their freedom. This concept is beautifully illustrated in a scene in which Teardrop has decided to help Ree to track down the bones of her father. When driving back home at night, the pair are pulled over by the local sheriff. Rather than seeking to placate the lawman, Teardrop reaches for his rifle and a tense stand-off ensues. The only reason a death does not follow is that the sheriff decides to back down. Teardrop is an intelligent man, he understands more than he lets on, but when another man cuts across his path and decides to interfere in his business, he must act in the way expected of him. In a later scene, the sheriff seeks to explain to Ree that he backed down in order to protect her but it is abundantly clear that Ree thinks him not only a coward but actually un-manly.

Read more here: https://ruthlessculture.com/2010/09/30/winters-bone-2010-its-a-mans-world-thanks-to-women/

'Alien', 'Blade Runner' & 'Inception': Video Essays

I discovered these sci-fi video essays at Film Studies For Free. They are made for educational and critical purposes, using fair use/fair dealing procedures, by the Irish filmmaker, broadcaster, and lecturer Steven Benedict.

They are well edited, wide-ranging, insightful, and a great for source for discussion of the key concepts and themes you will encounter during the course. Please take time to view each one to enhance your knowledge and understanding of the subject.

Analysis of Alien from Steven Benedict on Vimeo.

Analysis of Blade Runner from Steven Benedict on Vimeo.

Analysis of Inception from Steven Benedict on Vimeo.

Guardian: Box Office Analysis UK

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A very useful site/page (from The Guardian) for Section A of the FM2 paper! A link has been added in the Useful Websites/Blogs Label in the right hand column for regular updates.

'Ill Manors' Trailer: Living With Crime

A NEW film about Britain’s underclass by UK rapper Plan B - real name Ben Drew - is set to cause as much controversy as his recent single Ill Manors. The film features pimping, drug abuse, child killing, shooting, gangland bullying, theft and child trafficking, set to music by the rapper.

Read more: http://www.theweek.co.uk/film/46697/plan-bs-new-film-ill-manors-gives-yours-middle-england#ixzz1twqyKhC7

Reggie Yates: Teen Gangs BBCiplayer

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TV presenter and Radio 1 DJ Reggie Yates explores the culture of fear, anger and violence which drives the dangerous world of teenage gangs. 

As a kid growing up on a council estate, government benefits and negative distractions were a huge part of his childhood. Today, Reggie Yates is a successful TV and radio presenter. He has always believed that with enough hard work and determination, teenagers can escape a life of crime and gangs.

Setting off with the belief that: 'Everyone has choices in life and no-one is forced to become a criminal just because they are poor,' Reggie meets people who have been inside some of Britain's notorious teen gangs. He learns what drives them to join the gangs at a young age, and the challenges some of them now face trying to stay on the straight and narrow.

It is a journey that forces him to question his assumptions, and he begins to understand the powerful role their environments can play. 'What I've seen on the streets these last few months has changed the way I feel,' he says.

* Available until 2:59AM Tue, 10 Apr 2012

Harry Brown

How teenagers keep reinventing language

Ex-gang members were used as script advisers on a new British film about girl gangs so that the language would be authentic. How hard is it to write in the way that young people speak to each other?

"The word Sket means ho (whore) basically, someone who sleeps around. Some guys might call girls a ho when they're not actually, they're just trying to tarnish their name."

Antiqu'e, 24 - real name Janet - was one of the script advisers on Sket, a new film about girl gangs which is released next Friday. For the film-makers realism was key, so director Nirpal Bhogal approached a youth project in south London. This is where he met Antiqu'e, who believes getting the language right is vital. If it's dated, young people won't relate to it, she says.

"I got involved because I could bring that vibe to it, because it is a street film," she says. "Some of the language was out of date so we put forward ideas and gave alternatives, slang that we might use now. Like for a gun, you could say a gat but that's quite an old term. Most young people now would say stralley, a tool or a bucky.

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"The knowledge the film people had of the street talk, it's what you might have heard in films like Shank or Kidulthood. They needed to update to the times."

The film Shank was only released last year, which shows how quickly street speak can move on. To add to the complications, every region has its take on slang. While some words and phrases are UK-wide, there is no definitive list of terms that teenagers use.

Read more:

bbc.co.uk/news/magazine

Cannes 2012: Wes Anderson's 'Moonrise Kingdom' to open festival

Director's seventh feature, starring Ed Norton and Bruce Willis, follows a teenager who abandons his scout troupe to run away with his girlfriend

Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom will open the 65th Cannes film festival on 16 May.

The director of The Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore will bring the kook to the Croisette with his seventh feature, which was co-written with Roman Coppola and will screen in the Grand Théâtre Lumière of the Palais des Festivals, the largest Cannes venue. Guests will include Nanni Moretti, the Italian director who is presiding over this year's jury.
"Wes Anderson is one of the rising powers of American cinema, to which he brings a highly personal touch, particularly in Moonrise Kingdom, which once again is a testimony to the creative freedom in which he continues to evolve," said Thierry Frémaux, Cannes' artistic director. "Sensitive and independent, this admirer of Fellini and Renoir is also in his own right a brilliant and inventive film-maker."

Set in the mid-60s, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of Sam, a teenager who abandons his scout troupe to run away with his girlfriend, Suzy. Hot on the pair's trail are the rest of the scouts from Camp Ivanhoe (including scout leader Edward Norton), a commanding police sheriff (Bruce Willis) and Suzy's parents, played by Frances McDormand and Anderson regular Bill Murray. A number of the film's stars are expected to attend the Cannes premiere.

In similar style to last year's festival opener – Woody Allen's 'Midnight in Paris' – Moonrise Kingdom will be released across France on the same day as the Cannes screening. The rest of the Cannes lineup will be officially announced on 19 April, but there has been speculation that new films from David Cronenberg, Paul Thomas Anderson and Michael Haneke will be among the high-profile work at the festival. Cronenberg's Cosmopolis, an adaptation of a Don Delilo novel starring Robert Pattinson, will be looking for a big launch; Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master – in which Philip Seymour Hoffman stars as a the charismatic leader of faith-based organisation – could be set for general release in October; Haneke, winner of the Palme d'Or in 2009 for The White Ribbon, will be looking to extend his run of Cannes success with Love, a drama about two retired music teachers, starring Isabelle Huppert.

The 65th Cannes film festival runs from Wednesday 16 May to Sunday 27 May 2012.

guardian.co.uk, Friday 9 March 2012

Living With Crime: 'Sket' (2011)

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Time Out London Review

Lurid inner-city street gang films are ten a penny these days, but this one from up-and-coming talent Nirpal Bhogal offers a fresh, insightful spin on a tired formula. Kayla (Aimee Kelly) is a fragile 16 year old who’s been torn away from her peers in Newcastle to join her older, wiser sister in London. She’s recruited by a hard-as-nails, all-girl street gang, and it’s not long before she’s furnishing lead-pipe-flavoured justice to a local rapist.

Bhogal cites TV series ‘The Wire’ and film ‘Harry Brown’ as inspirations behind ‘Sket’, and while his film displays the rich, conflicted characters of the former, it thankfully abstains from the crude, isn’t-this-country-going-to-the-knackers-yard speechifying of the latter. His first big tick is awarded for understatement: the dialogue is sparse but engaging, and he’s not afraid to let glances and silences tell the story. Secondly, it’s a film of real substance that shows a timely interest in how and why gangs materialise.

Michael Caine on reluctant vigilante 'Harry Brown'

Read an interview with 'Harry Brown' director Daniel Barber here @ indielondon.co.uk

Living With Crime: 'Harry Brown' (2009)

Harry Brown is a 2009 British action drama film directed by Daniel Barber and starring Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Jack O'Connell, and Liam Cunningham.

The film also features actor and artist Plan B who, with Chase & Status, is also responsible for the film's theme music track "End Credits." Harry Brown had its World Premiere as a "Special Presentation" at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival and was released theatrically in the United Kingdom by Lionsgate UK on 11 November 2009; the film was released in the United States by Samuel Goldwyn Films and Destination Films on 30 April 2010.

The story follows Harry Brown, a widowed Royal Marines veteran, who had served in Northern Ireland, living on an Elephant and Castle housing estate that is rapidly descending into youth crime. Harry fights fire with fire after a friend is murdered.