myDylarama

Cannibal ! The Musical (1996)

Kwet — 2010-10-03T14:30:25Z

Écrit et réalisé par Trey Parker, avec Trey Parker, Ian Hardin, Matt Stone, etc…

Voilà un programme alléchant : Les créateurs de South Park, une histoire de cannibales, tout ça en chanson…Autant dire que les promesses sont grandes, parce que je ne sais pas pour vous, mais la perspective d'un barbu poussant la chansonnette tout en se grillant un bout de cuisse du voisin me réjouit tout particulièrement !
Et dès l'ouverture, on sent bien qu'on va encore pouvoir savourer l'humour de Parker et Stone…

On nous annonce tout d'abord que le document qui va suivre est un document d'époque miraculeusement retrouvé, retraçant l'histoire du procès de Alfred Packer (Trey Parker), dernier rescapé d'une expédition meurtrière dans les Rocky Mountains en 1874. Packer est accusé d'avoir sauvagement assassiné puis dévoré tous ses camarades d'expédition, mais une journaliste, Polly Pry (Toddy Walters), ne croit pas en la culpabilité du doux et (avouons-le) très simple Alfred… Poussée par la recherche du scoop, Polly va interroger l'accusé pendant une pause durant le procès, et s'en suivent des flash back chantants et désopilants, remontant au tout début de l'expédition.

Si vous vous attendez à un film gore, détrompez vous, les scènes sanglantes tiennent plus du gag que du film d'horreur, et on y retrouve l'humour grinçant d'un épisode de South Park, surtout dans la scène de « massacre » final, avec les running gags et les jets de sang presque fluos pour agrémenter le tout. La comédie musicale n'est pas en reste, loin de là. Tous les aspects des « musicals » classiques sont passés à la moulinette, à peine amplifié pour les plus niais, et on peut ainsi admirer Trey Parker fredonnant des chansonnettes expliquant que les oiseaux chantent, que le soleil brille, que c'est une magnifique journée qui s'annonce, bref tout plein de « oulala-comme-tout-le-monde-il-est-gentil-et-beau-c'est-fou » sur une petite musique country… La fameuse chanson qui équivaut à une déclaration d'amour (oui oui, vous savez tous de laquelle je parle, il y en a une dans chaque comédie musicale) est quand à elle adressée… à un cheval ! Tous les personnages sont des clichés vivants, les gentils étant particulièrement souriants et enclins à l'optimisme et à l'appréciation de la beauté de la vie, et les méchants particulièrement hargneux et sadiques, bêtes et… méchants après tout, c'est leur rôle !

Au final, on ne nous propose pas là un grand film, ni un détournement révolutionnaire, mais on rigole bien, on sent le film fait entre amis et on s'amuse autant qu'ils ont dû s'éclater à le faire, et ça c'est le principal… Conseillé pour toute soirée entre potes, avec du pop corn et une bonne bière !

Dir : Trey Parker, 1996

Mum and Dad

Abla Kandalaft — 2010-09-26T09:37:24Z

Mum and Dad - directed by Steven Sheil

Mum, Dad and their offspring, Birdie & Elbie, work at the airport and live off whatever the place throws out; food, cargoes, electronics and transient workers. Enter Lena, a young Polish graduate who has just arrived in Britain and expediently lands a job as a cleaner at the airport to tide her over presumably until she finds something more steady or gives up entirely on recession era Britain altogether. On the job, she befriends teenage girl Birdie and when Lena finds herself stranded at the airport after missing the last bus home, she gratefully accepts Birdie's offer of a cup of tea at hers. And thus for her first taste of a British home, Lena ends up imprisoned in a world of cannibalism, torture and perversity. Bizarrely she is also designated 'Mummy's Girl', and the incongruous moments of affection seem to signal that her only hope of survival is to embrace and become part of the family.

This is Calvaire Ken Loach-style. No one does social realism like the Brits and genre favourite Perry Benson (as Dad) offers a performance just as understated and intense as his efforts in This is England or Somers Town, which offsets and consequently accentuates the extreme, over-the-top rituals the family partakes in as part of their daily routine.

Between uncomfortable scenes of abuse, there are “breather” moments during which Mum, Dad and the kids argue over breakfast in the manner of your average soap. The fact that this average 2.4 kids family's existence outside their sadistic behaviour is given some screen time is the film's main strength. It creates a feeling that somewhere, somehow, Mum and the children (the Dad being constantly perverse and cruel) could potentially be likable but the film soon spirals into much more sordid territory and it becomes clear they are nothing short of insane.

The kidnappings, incestuous abuse, sexual overtones and couple dynamic have prompted some critics to comment on the similarities with the Fred and Rose West case, which confers on the film a very grim real-life feel. However, the mundane character and randomness of some of the scenes infuse a dose of dark humour that can easily get viewers to laugh out loud at the outlandishness of it all. This leads me to the climax of the film. The Christmas party scene presents the viewer with your dullish, bloated, run of the mill Christmas evening in front of the telly, Christmas cracker hats askew, Celebrations strewn across the floor with the odd body, human decoration and torture victim dotting the scene, all enhanced by excellent acting and genuine Christmas spirit on the part of the parents. This scene could become a reference and handy illustration of the Christmas Eve from hell.

Looked at in detail, the film is inconsistent; some of the shots are slightly amateurish and some promising ideas emerge without going anywhere. But on the whole, Mum and Dad is a success in terms of the mood, the awkwardness and the horror of what the director is clearly trying to convey.

Dir: Steven Sheil, 2008

The Cars That Ate Paris (The Cars That Eat People)

Abla Kandalaft — 2010-08-18T08:29:59Z

The Paris in the title is basically Australia's version of Royston Vasey in Peter Weir's uncharacteristically weird ozploitation classic; a small town whose inhabitants cause car accidents to use salvaged valuables and bits of scrap metal as currency. The Parisians fear outsiders nearly as much as they fear the local young people who are running as wild as they can within the confines of the small town. Passers-by, drifters and visitors or either killed or sucked into the Paris community and given an odd job to contribute to the local economy. Such are the fates of brothers George and Arthur. The former dies in the crash while the latter becomes an orderly at the hospital, a job he seems to embrace like it's the most natural thing in the world.
In fact, Arthur just shuffles about like a confused gerbil, seemingly surrendering to whatever fate the Parisians have in store for him. Actor Terry Camilleri is really likable in his portrayal of wide-eyed, endearing Arthur, at times looking so consistently dumbstruck I was surprised he hadn't started drooling half-way through. In fact Arthur is shuttled around like a pawn into various jobs, which he qualifies for by appropriate changes of costume.
The film doesn't really go anywhere and some moments are inexplicably long. However it is best thought of not in terms of storyline, plot or other such devices but as a series of moments and interactions, satirising small town life in a way that is so over the top that nobody could really call it insulting. The film is so decidedly odd that amusing bits seem downright hilarious in context.
The highlight is probably the Paris masquerade ball or dress-up disco night or whatever celebration it is, during which the asylum interns are wheeled out wearing cereal boxes as masks.

Dir: Peter Weir, 1974

Bronson

Abla Kandalaft — 2010-07-18T02:46:19Z

This theme is a chance to look back at what to me was one of the best films of 2009. Director Nicolas Winding Refn's most mainstream effort since the Pusher trilogy is a surrealist portrait of one of Britain's most notorious prisoner, Michael Peterson or as he liked to be called, Charles Bronson, whose miserably comical attempt at robbing a post office in 1974 lands him in prison. Originally meant to serve a seven-year sentence he is still behind bars, and has spent 30 of those 36 years in solitary confinement. So what can be done in the way of drama, tension and entertainment out of three decades of a man in a cell? How to draw the crowds in to watch a Danish director's vision of a man many of them have never heard of? Perhaps surprisingly, the captions on the film's posters, “Britain's most infamous prisoner”, “Britain's longest serving prisoner”, “Britain's most violent man”, served as basic explanations of who this Bronson person actually is to potential audience members, probably wondering why the man on the poster, bar the moustache, looks nothing like the only Charles Bronson they were familiar with and had no idea Britain's prison system was harbouring some bloke who shared his name.

Despite his continuous efforts to make his mark, quite a large number of people -including myself- were still clueless as to who he is, so I will start by congratulating the editing team behind the trailer: a couple of minutes of a massively impressive Tom Hardy, clowns, fights, war paint and make-up all to the beat of the Bet Shop Boy's It's a Sin. You would expect a trailer like that to encapsulate the best bits, but the film is basically an adrenalin-fuelled, beautifully structured 90-minute version of that.

Refn's artistic choice was to stay true to the man himself without using pop psychology. Critics have argued that the film lacks insight into the character and that we are at a loss to understand his true motivations. Petersen was born into a middle-class, run of the mill family, maybe he was bullied at school, witnessed a car crash, had his artistic dreams smashed by a heartless teacher ripping up one of his early doodles or, a favourite on film forums, he was compensating for his small(ish) penis (even though it's Hardy's genitals we get a glimpse of and not Bronson's. To be fair the audience may get this impression from the fact that he had put on a massive amount of weight and thus looked a little disproportionate). Some of his violent impulses were more than probably a result of his incarceration but overall, Refn ploughs through with his choice to focus on Bronson's own words and the way in which he chooses to present himself. Bronson narrates via voice-overs for most of the film and occasionally through a clown-like address, dressed and made up like a cross between the Joker and Freddy Starr (ate my hamster) to an empty auditorium. Refn respectfully grants him the platform for performance and fame he clearly craves and yet manages to avoid over-indulging in sympathy for a sadistic and violent man. Coupling these moments of greatness with bits of him pummelling patients, prisoners and everybody else restores the balance so to speak. Although we are rightly encouraged to condemn the ridiculous sentence he received and although his unwavering sense of self-promotion and creativity at time commands a certain level of respect, he doesn't particularly come out of this a hero.Tom Hardy's performance has been universally praised and rightly so even by the film's detractors. The other performances were more than commendable, especially Matt King's, who I didn't think could be believable as anyone other than Super Hans but he nails the campy boxing coach.

Lest we forget, Bronson the film features one of the best “macabre party scene”, which involves half a dozen patients gyrating to It's a sin in a cordoned-off bit of a room during the local asylum's disco night. I realise I am basically applauding possibly lobotomised patients being ridiculed but it does constitute one of the few moments which hint more explicitly at the ways in which the authorities were complicit in Bronson's cycle of violent behaviour.
Overall, a beautiful film, which presents its protagonist as true to himself as possible and lets the audience make up its mind as to what to think of Charles Bronson the prisoner.

Dir: Nicolas Winding Refn, 2009