Room 237 (15)

This curious documentary about arguably the greatest horror film of all time is out in cinemas today!

Room 237 (15) (This review on FilmJuice.com)

Some films stay with you forever, and ever, and ever.  So reads the cleverly referential tagline for Room 237, a whistle stop tour of nine conspiracy theories surrounding Stanley Kubrick’s horror masterpiece, The Shining.  Many films have been pored over in search of hidden meanings, but apparently none more so than Kubrick’s ode to terror, with interpretations ranging from the bizarre (it’s really about the moon landings!) to the almost believable.

Documentary filmmaker and horror fanatic Rodney Ascher has assembled a film that essentially consists of audio interviews accompanied by visuals from Kubrick’s films.  There is also the occasional filler footage, which is largely unimaginative and borderline amateurish.  This is kept to a minimum however, and Kubrick’s peerless imagery is allowed to speak for itself, making Room 237, more than anything else, a reminder of how breathtaking Kubrick’s cinematography is.

The soundtrack is an array of tributes to 1970s horror music, which works for the film but isn’t quite on topic, as The Shining featured an innovative mix of contemporary classical music and Wendy Carlos’ dread inspiring electronic compositions.  Few of the interviewees are notable, all apparently experts in very obscure fields (hermetic and alchemical traditions for example!), the exception being ABC news correspondent Bill Blakemore, one of the few contributors with anything bordering on plausible to say.

The so called ‘hidden meanings’ are mostly absurd to the point of being comical.  Ascher presents his subject matter with tongue-in-cheek, pokerfaced gravity, helping make the film palatable to a wider audience as a humourous insight into the minds of conspiracy theorists.  One theory stands out as being true however, as The Shining is to an extent a metaphorical allegory of the genocide of the Native Americans.  Throwing a little truth into the mix of madness makes the audience sensitive to the possibility that there might be shreds of truth in the other explorations, helping to keep you engaged and open minded with the thought that Room 237 might not just be a kaleidoscope of rambling nutters.

Die Hard film buffs and Kubrick devotees will get the most out of the film, as it directly appeals to the obsessive mindset of the kind of cineaste who likes nothing more than to slip film quotes into conversation, or to tell you that in Casablanca nobody ever actually says “Play it again, Sam”.  The market for this film isn’t quite that limited however, as conspiracy theories are brain food for some and outlandish entertainment for others.  Ascher’s film cleverly taps both these points of view, making it an amusing curiosity for all.  Even if you can’t swallow the ideas presented there is still fun to be had.  Now why not read this review backwards and find out what it was really about.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (12)

The new documentary from the man who brought you Super Size Me is out on DVD & Blu-ray this Monday 27th February.

(Below is the film's full title below, for sponsorship reasons!)

POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (12)
(This review on FilmJuice.com)

Morgan Spurlock’s latest documentary (brought to you by POM Wonderful...) is an uproarious look at product placement and advertising in the entertainment industries, itself funded by product placement and sponsorships! After a whirlwind introduction to its themes, we see Spurlock pitching the film’s concept to potential sponsors and branding partners. At this point he doesn’t know whether his ingenious idea will work: to reveal the inner workings of film advertising and co-promotion, whilst simultaneously pitching for funds to get the film made! As the poster declared, ‘He’s not selling out, he’s buying in.’

Spurlock’s aim was to raise awareness of the pervasiveness of advertising in the entertainment industries, and to unpack how the world’s biggest blockbusters (cough Avatar cough...) make their billions with the help of sponsors and branding. He more than succeeds, with unexpected facts and revelations galore about marketing. Candid interviews with big name directors from J.J. Abrams to Quentin Tarantino give the film added weight (Avatar producer Jon Landau probably declined to comment).

Anyone who has seen Spurlock’s acclaimed (and infamous) documentary Super Size Me, will be familiar with his breezy and engrossing style of filmmaking. This film builds on that style with even more polish and watchability. In his 2011 television series 50 Documentaries to See Before You Die, Spurlock coined the term ‘gateway documentary’, meaning a documentary so accessible and universal that it serves well as an introduction to the genre. The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is so packed with infectious charm and ironic laughs, that it might just be the greatest gateway doc ever.

As Spurlock signs deal after deal with various sponsors, he soon faces a real conflict between maintaining artistic control (it’s made all too plain that sponsors couldn’t care less about art) and losing that control to the sponsors and branding partners, who use endless contracts to protect themselves against libel. Even though it’s obvious before watching that Spurlock succeeded in getting the film made, it remains fascinating to watch how he explores the line between selling out and buying in.

Particularly eyeopening is the Clockwork Orange-esque method used to vet and refine many Hollywood trailers and T.V. adverts, in order to provoke the most positive audience response possible. Test audiences are monitored by CAT scan machines whilst being shown various edits of unfinished trailers and adverts, with activity in the parts of their brain that elicit emotional responses recorded.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is mind tinglingly insightful, from facts on the deliberately stupefying effects of advertising (because it can’t work on the sceptical or questioning!) to the strange beauty of São Paulo in Brazil, where all outdoor advertising has been banned. If there’s a conclusion, it is that advertising is so pervasive in today’s world that to avoid it you either have to go to sleep, or to São Paolo.

Extras: Workin’ Nine to Five (am): POM Behind-the-Scenes, The Greatest Vacation Destination: Aruba, Deleted Scenes, Delving into the Consumer Unconscious: Extended Scene, The Greatest Commercials You’ll Ever See.

The First Movie (12)

This moving documentary is out on DVD Monday. It's a must see.

The First Movie (12) (This review on FilmJuice.com)

For many film lovers the first film they ever saw holds a special place in their heart. Others have been watching films since before they can remember. Critic turned director Mark Cousins’ 2009 documentary attempts to capture the magic of cinema as experienced for the very first time, in Iraq of all places, thus also showing a side of a topical country that news cameras never cover.

Cousins begins by describing his childhood as an imaginative youngster in Belfast, which like present day Iraq of course had bombs of its own. As a child the time he spent in his local cinema felt more ‘real’ to him than that spent in the everyday world outside of it, and he invites us to once again see through the eyes of a child, considering what might be ‘real’ in the experience of a group of children in the small Iraqi town of Goptapa. Like the rest of the country, Goptapa is a place with a history of unimaginably violent tragedy.

To introduce the townsfolk to the movies Cousins shows a selection of classic short films, followed by Steven Spielberg’s magnificent E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. The kids go berserk, clapping and whooping at the finale! In the narration Cousins puts it that “Never have films about love, solidarity and loneliness heard such cheering.” It’s moving stuff.

Next the children are given little high definition cameras to take away with them, with instructions to shoot stories of their own. Without revealing what they come up with, the results demonstrate real creativity and an inner compulsion towards love rather than hate. Cousins refers to cameras as empathy machines, and anyone who witnesses what he has captured with his camera and the children with theirs, will be hard pressed not to be filled with compassion for the young people of Goptapa, who had no say on the situation which they were born into. The way that their environment has shaped their imaginations is affecting and vivid.

The film explores at a base level what the art of filmmaking can be, and the value that it holds for humanity. Cousins’ gentle style of direction and the delicate edit are the perfect fit to bring these points home. His insights delivered via voiceover periodically give way to magical montages, with music that breathtakingly enriches the images. This highlights not only the effectiveness of moving pictures to portray emotions and experiences, but also the way that sound can transform an image into something entirely new, or a place like Iraq into a children's wonderland.

When all is said and done Cousins doesn’t deny the reality of Iraq’s situation, including footage of his crew being ordered to stop filming by the police. As a snapshot of a rarely seen side of the country combined with a powerful reminder of the near elemental force of stories told with moving pictures, The First Movie is a true triumph.