Change Your Image
Blakkandekka
Reviews
New York Doll (2005)
'Killer' documentary
Arthur 'Killer' Kane was bass guitarist with the meteorically-careered New York Dolls in the early seventies. Although The Dolls were hugely influential, spurring countless acts to pick up their guitars, you may never have heard of them. A shame, but that shouldn't stop you seeing this hugely enjoyable and moving documentary as it's not really about The Dolls, even though it's a good resume of what they were about: it's actually about Arthur, a damaged but good-natured and enormously likable man.
Superficially his story follows the stereotypical arc of the late twentieth century rock and roll flame-out: celebrity at a young age followed by drink and drug fuelled oblivion. Where it departs from cliché, and its where the movie's heart lies, is that Arthur redeems himself in a way that nobody that knew him could possibly have imagined and finally manages to give balance and shape to his life. As such it has what I can only describe as a uniquely satisfying unhappy ending. See it.
Flushed Away (2006)
It may be digital, but it's still Aardman
Aardman's first foray into CGI rather than Plasticine was reportedly due to the fact that there are a lot of scenes involving water that would have been impossible to animate by hand. I'm not so sure, after all the combination of CGI and miniatures is commonplace in movies today (see X-Men, Superman, anything recent by Peter Jackson) and recent Wallace and Gromit productions have had a CGI element. Digital water might have been easier to add than they're letting on.
The real reason for the move to digital was, I think, firstly that hand animation is extremely expensive with a very long production lead time that makes producers nervous. Secondly it was a test of whether Aardman design and humour (the 'brand', if you like) was strong enough to stand delivery through a variety of media.
Well, the good news is that it is: after a few minutes it's easy to forget that the characters are pixels rather than Plasticine and just bask in the warm glow of this view into Aardman's universe. The voice work is first class throughout, with special mention to Bill Nighy as well as the leads. Although the movie plays with cultural stereotypes the characters are more rounded than many a live action movie and, more importantly, are for the most part undilutedly British.
In the end the plot is of little consequence compared with the jokes and the details, but the movie never drags and has an interesting subtext of the value of social and ecological connectedness.
I did miss the fingerprints though.
The West Wittering Affair (2006)
A pleasant surprise
Saw this in Cambridge last night. Normally the phrase "improvised low-budget British comedy" provokes a little trepidation, but I was very pleasantly surprised by "The West Wittering Affair", probably because of its being improvised by actors rather than professional comedians. Where some mega budget 'comedies' have left me stony faced this unpretentious little film had emotional depth, a genuinely warm heart and a couple of laugh out loud moments, mostly at the expense of the middle class obsession with therapy.
'Low' doesn't quite do justice to the film maker's budget; 'micro' or possibly even 'nano-budget' might cover it. The limited resources are, however, put to good use with the necessarily close, claustrophobic locations adding to the drama while the occasional bit of creative DV camera work is used where necessary. The cast all do well and seem to be having fun throughout. So, you won't see big stars, special effects and sumptuous sets, but you will see a film that may make you feel a little better coming out than you did when you went in.