THE SOUNDTRACK TO THE REVOLUTION
| HOME | ABOUT US |
|---|
| A bit of Tom Jones |
| Exit Through the Gift Shop (AKA The Banksy Movie) |
| CHAPTER ARTS |
Where can we see films like this in South Wales? Well, you won’t go far wrong with Chapter Arts in Canton, Cardiff. With two cinemas they regularly show non-mainstream films and with the newly refurbished bar / restaurant the whole experience is light years ahead of going to a multiplex that sell buckets of popcorn for ten quid a chuck. can you reccomend any independent cinemas? E-mail us and we might give them a plug 'ere |
| Mark Kemode's film review podcast |
The knowledgeable but slightly egotistical and opinionated Mark Kermode discusses the latest film releases with Simon Mayo, who manages to deflate the aforementioned ego with ease. Informative, humorous and addictive. Broadcast on Fridays at 2pm on BBC Radio 5 live – but you can download the podcast here |
FILM REVIEWS
Reviews of films that you might not catch at your local 3D multiplex on Orange Wednesday
*NOTE: This page was only launched in April 2010, so bare with us cos there aint much here yet
1234 is a tale of young love disguised as a film about a young indie band dreaming of making it big – but it might possibly be the other way around. Bespectacled guitarist Stevie (Ian Bonar) together with his mate Neil (Matthew Baynton) attempt to break out of the hum drum existence of working in a call centre by forming a band. First they recruit the slightly older and more experienced Billy (Kieran Bew) and slightly scatty bassist Emily (Lyndsey Marshal) - who moonlights as an artist, making sculptures out of hair and creating maps based on a day following strangers around.
The band rehearse in what appears to be a church hall, play gigs in pubs, lay down a demo and send it off to every record company they can think of – then build up a collection of rejection letters from said record companies.
Stevie falls in love with Emily, who in return likes him back – but she has a boyfriend, so the course of true love is not a straight one.
The film is not a Guy Ritchie movie, not a Huw Grant Movie and not even a Billy Elliot move; it is a tale of people having a laugh and making the most of things while living a mundane life but living in hope. There is no happy ending, but at the end we do get a tantalising glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel, in more ways than one; you are left with a feeling that maybe things do work out but there is enough of a question mark at the end to generate a warm grin as the credits go up.
This is a directorial debut by Giles Borg, who cut his teeth making music videos. The film was actually made back in 2008, with a little bit of help from the wallet of Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien, but is only now getting big screen space due to the New British Cinema Quarterly project.
NBCQ is a scheme that is, in its own words, “Taking the most distinctive and original British feature films and filmmakers from the festival circuit and bringing them to the UK's flagship independent cinemas”. Chapter Arts in Cardiff, presumably, must be a ‘flagship independent cinema’, because this is where we headed to catch the first film to get the NBCQ treatment, 1234.
As part of the NBCQ tours, films are followed by a question and answer session with someone connected with the film. In Cardiff we get the endearing Matthew Baynton, a young and refreshingly honest and down to earth character who gives us a little insight into how the film was made, tales of playing in his own band and a few thoughts on young love.
All in all a thoroughly wholesome and heart warming evening.
The basic plot of A Bit Of Tom Jones is based around the flims idea of a guy buying Tom Jones cock in a pub and spending the rest of the film trying to sell it to rich perverts that collect celebrity body parts. (Which is, of course, not unusual). It is a cross between Twin Town, Satellite City and a Carry On movie. On times the plot is - well - just plain silly, but there are a considerable number of scenes that produce all out belly laughs. Porn cinemas, brothels run by grannys in the middle of a valley terrace, police stations, helicopters and dumper trucks all some how fit into the story.
Featuring everyone’s favourite dirty granny, Margaret John (Gavin and Stacy, High Hopes), Denise Welch (Waterloo Road, Coronation Street), Johnny Owen (Shameless and a fans view of the Cardiff City in the FA Cup) and the legendary Geno Washington, it is a reminder of how much talent is about in Wales at the moment.
The mixture of familiar locations and valley humour make it quite unique and will be of special interest to valleys bods; although anyone with a wicked sense of humour will enjoy
This low budget (£100,00) film made in Tredegar (South Wales) was originally only intended to be shown in Wales, but is now starting to get a handful of screenings of cinemas over the bridge. Funded by local businessmen and with only a handful of prints available, it has been outselling all other films in Merthyr Tydfil’s Vue cinema, including Michael Jackson and Michael Caine’s Harry Brown - and rightly so. This film is too good to be confined and sooner or later it is going to get the publicity it deserves.
“Banksy is a sell out”. So reads the graffiti scrawled across the wall. Is this true? Well, he has certainly progressed from being an unknown street artist to an internationally renowned (all be it still anonymous) street artist that can put on sell out exhibitions, shift books by the shed load and – now – make his own films.
Exit Through the Gift Shop is, on the face of it, a documentary made by Banksy about a guy that tried to make a film about Banksy but messed it up so Banksy made a film about him. There is no point getting too bogged down in the plot because to be honest, it is difficult to tell if it is a genuine documentary or if it is another one of Banksy’s magnificent pranks.
Narrated by Rhys Ifans we are taken on a journey through underground street art with a host of graffiti artists, guerrilla stencil painters and pranksters. Whilst Banksy is the highlight of the film, it is clear he is not alone with numerous creative subversives making an appearance in this roller coaster ride that has you grinning, admiring, and on occasion down right laughing, for 87 minutes.
Whilst this is based in ‘underground’, DIY, street art; many of Banksy’s pranks are clearly not cheap. Some punk with a spray can he is not. We get telephone boxes bent in half, giant spray cans and exhibitions with live elephants painted like flock wall paper. Where the money for all this comes from is never explored. A trip to across the Atlantic to do a bit of graffiti is taken for granted, as if it is the most natural thing in the world.
Most of his antics are clearly beyond the pockets of 99% of street artists, but does that really matter? His blend of satire, art, humour and subversion has simultaneously given the art establishment and street art a kick up the rear end. Art is supposed to be about originality, so we don’t want loads of copy cats, but if it inspires kids to do a bit more than just inane tags on bus stops and brightens up our streets then surely that is no bad thing.
Fair play to him though, despite his global fame he appears to have stuck to his roots. His website declares:
"Banksy does not endorse or profit from
the sale of greeting cards, mugs, tshirts,
photo canvases etc. Banksy is not on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter or Gaydar.
Banksy is not represented by any form
of commercial art gallery. All images are made
available to download for personal
amusement only, thanks".
What impact this thought provoking film will have on movie making is difficult to tell, but at the moment that is not important, all that matters is that it does what all good films should do, entertain, inspire and agitate. If you don’t leave the cinema after seeing this film eying up a bit of blank wall you have no soul.