MOVIEHOOKER’S BEST OF NEW FOREIGN CINEMA PART 3

1: TO KILL A MAN

Although I didn’t quite get what I was expecting, there is no denying that this was one of the best indie world cinema releases of last year. The pace was rather slow and the film is very character driven and mainly focuses on one character.

That character is Jorge – a father of two that is becoming increasingly worried about the gangs who are starting to hang around near his family home. After Jorge gets mugged – his son then tries to get back what was stolen from him, but ends up getting shot in the process…. Which isn’t very nice, is it?

Disgusted by the the lack of help from the local authorities and the lenient sentences handed down by the courts – Jorge makes the decision that if his family is going to be safe then he will have to take matters into his own hands.

The description of the film (on Netflix) fooled me into thinking this was some sort of Chilean version of Dead Man Shoes – so I couldn’t resist. The acting was powerful throughout, although the pace was slow, I was dying to find out what Jorge would become when he snaps.

I do wish that the film was a little longer because I thought there was a lot more they could’ve done with the storyline, but they kept things simple, yet effective.

I was a little underwhelmed when the credits started to roll because I thought it ended very sudden. It was after I had watched it, I couldn’t get it out of my head. It was in there bouncing back and fourth and just wouldn’t leave. So I watched it a second time and enjoyed it even more. This is A slow-burning character driven story that gets inside right your head and under your skin.

The soundtrack for the movie was also an interesting choice and added to the feel of the movie. There would be scenes of Jorge sitting there in his pants playing some nice sounds on the harmonica.,. This is mainly the music for the entire film and I personally enjoyed that, it was definitely a different approach.

2: BIG GAME

This is the new film from Rare Exports writer/director and it looks a lot bigger and badder, and dare I say, weirder than Rare Exports – plus we have Samuel L jackson as the The President Of The United States (come on, that’s a wee bit epic, right?)

So what I gathered from the trailer is that a young kid somehow manages to rescue the president after airforce one gets shot down. I’m pretty sure the Big Game is The President of the USA and he is being hunted, with the kid as his guide and protector.

The trailer I thought was just ok – but I’m such a huge fan of Rare Exports that I’ve been waiting to see what these guys will release next. To be honest, I really couldn’t give a shit, whatever it is, it has my full attention.

3: 6 HOURS

A new disaster movie from Chile, and also the feature-length directorial debut from Chilean filmmaker Diego Ayala.

When a nuclear company announce that one of their reactors has suffered a critical and irreversible breach, the residents of a neighbouring town have just 6 Hours before the reactor goes into full meltdown and all hell breaks loose.

The premise sounds intriguing, very believable, and if done right then we could have a truly terrifying experience coming our way – seriously if that news was announced, what in the name of fuck would you do??

Most of the disaster movies we get are from America. They are predictable, full of mind-blowing and impressive special fx. They have some Hollywood A-lister like John Cusack, Dennis Quaid or Bruce Willis trying to save mankind.

These films cost so much money to make and spend the majority of the cash on special fx which results in poor and predictable scriptwriting, pointless character development, and characters that you wouldn’t mind seeing get swallowed up by Mother Nature.

These films are just eye candy, don’t get me wrong, they do deliver one hell of a cinematic experience, but the scripts are that poor that you could sit there with headphones on listening to Pink Floyd not paying any attention to the dialogue.

Now knowing that this Chilean filmmaker won’t have the budget to contend with Americas disaster movies, I believe that he will replace the special fx with gut wrenching intensity, with believable characters that we will care about.

Really looking forward to this one !!

Thanks for reading, there is so much great stuff coming our way this year and I’ll try my hardest not to miss a thing and keep you all constantly hooked.