The Living Wake (15)

Just out on DVD this week is the hilarious and thoughtful The Living Wake. FilmJuice are running a competition, so for your chance to win a copy just click here!

The Living Wake (15) (This review on FilmJuice.com)

The Living Wake is an absurdist comedy of the highest order. K. Roth Binew (Mike O’Connell) is an eccentric with an expiry date. His Doctor has diagnosed him with a mysterious disease, the only known fact of which is the precise moment at which the sufferer will die. Accompanied by his friend and devotee Mills Joquin (Jesse Eisenberg) K. Roth spends his last day making a last ditch search for the meaning of life, and ensuring that once he’s gone he will not be forgotten.

K. Roth is a character of such inventive wit and passion that it’s hard to believe he’s on the verge of death. O’Connell perfectly inhabits the character, embracing every ridiculous implication of his nature. Without such a strong turn The Living Wake would have been a lesser affair, but as it is his performance makes the film a blast. Shunned by his family and desperate for recognition, K. Roth is a character custom-made for young artists to relate to.

Director Sol Tryon clearly drew inspiration from the works of Hal Ashby and Wes Anderson, particularly Harold and Maude and The Royal Tenenbaums. The way Tryon frames a shot is unmistakably reminiscent of the quirky yet matter of fact look that has become a signature of Anderson’s work; but Tryon keeps safely on the right side of the line between style stealing and paying homage.

The story’s whacky reality takes a few minutes to warm to, but once it gets going the film is consistently entertaining. Some of the supporting parts are underdeveloped and cheesy, but this is mostly redeemed by the strength and depth of the central characters.

Jesse Eisenberg brings a quieter brand of comedy to the show, expertly complementing O’Connell’s over the top performance with a less showy but equally effective one. Though sometimes mute, the rest of the time Mills makes no less clever use of the English language than K. Roth does. The script (jointly written by O’Connell and Peter Kline) is alive with wordplay and charm, achieving an impressive balance between its dark themes and surreal jokes.

O’Connell also contributed to the music, collaborating with Carter Little to produce a delightfully peculiar soundtrack interwoven with songs, lending the production a heightened dreamlike quality.

Though undeniably off the wall the film retains a sombre edge, as if lamenting the transience of life without ceasing to beguile its audience (just like K. Roth’s living wake). Tryon has crafted a production that enthralls with gags and mayhem, whilst subtly presenting a bleak and thought provoking worldview.

Camp Hell (15)

This is out in UK cinemas tomorrow (2nd Dec.) It's a poor film but I had fun panning it!

Camp Hell (15) (This review on FilmJuice.com)

If you liked the trailer for Camp Hell, don’t bother to watch the film. Falsely advertised as a fast paced supernatural horror, the story in fact moves at a snail’s pace, and most of the spooky finale is in the trailer anyway (not to mention nearly all of Jesse Eisenberg’s screen time!).

Tommy is a young lad sent to a pseudo-Christian camp where the youth are taught the dangers of sins such as premarital sex and, wait for it... rock music. He is haunted by a demon via nightmares, and when he fails to resist the advances of the alluring Melissa, his sin gives the demon cause to wreak havoc on the camp.

Now there are of course some fanatics in the world following twisted offshoots of Christianity, as there are of many other religions, and perhaps one day a film will be made that accurately and fairly portrays their pitfalls and hypocrisies. But Camp Hell is not it. The Christians here are a confusing mishmash of stereotyped Catholicism, evidenced by the camp being run by a priest, not to mention the characters making the sign of the cross every two minutes... and radical charismatics, whose main crime seems to be irritating people with their cheery songs and perpetual smiles. Writer director George VanBuskirk clearly wasn’t aiming for realism on any level, which is pretty disgraceful when his film claims to portray some of the inner workings of a popular world religion.

One thing the film does have going for it is the controlled and credible performance of Will Denton as Tommy. He very nearly lifts the quality of the production out of the gutter, where it would certainly belong if weren’t also for the accomplished cinematography. Valentina de Angelis however is horrendous as Melissa. To be fair it doesn’t help that her character is there purely as sin inducing eye candy for poor Tommy, but she simply couldn’t be less convincing if her face was made of plastic. Perhaps she has a future as a model.

The music is inappropriate and distracting, so much so that any atmosphere that might have been created is instantly evaporated whenever the score kicks in. The most frustrating thing about Camp Hell though is its ending; not that it doesn’t come soon enough (that too...) but that the conclusion is so bizarrely disconnected from all that has gone before, that any message or intention VanBuskirk may have had is completely lost.

Aside from a couple of entertaining (but irrelevant) half clever references to popular classics like Jurassic Park and Star Wars, Camp Hell is a distinctly lifeless film; boring, pointless and offensive. Save your time and money. Life really is far too short.