Murder ‘Mystery’

Dealing with the unnerving and dangerously disturbing topic of the Stockholm Syndrome, Pedro Almodóvar uses deft humour, rich engaging (as well as flawed) characters and a solid story to concoct one of the more unusual romances in film history. The title of said motion picture is Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, released in 1989 to much fanfare and equally as much controversy. The winner of several festival awards (as well as being lauded as a superb film in Spain), it received an X rating in the United States (equal to that of a hardcore pornography film) – with the MPAA disliking two scenes as well as the crime aspect of the story (which they thought could influence young males to commit kidnapping much like the main character). To paraphrase Almodóvar, he humourously exclaimed that he does not make movies expecting that the entire audience will be psychopaths. In the end, it was this movie that led the MPAA to create the new rating of NC-17, which still exists today, and if given, usually kills a movie’s box office chances much like the X rating.

Considered one of the great films of the Czech New-Wave, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders takes the viewer on an unorthodox nonlinear journey through a bizarre, sensual, dream-like fantasy world where the lead character, Valerie (Jaroslava Schallerová), is just budding into womanhood. Seen through the eyes of the impressionable, pure, and innocent ingenue, we are not sure if what we are seeing is, in fact, reality, or whether it is dream (or perhaps more accurately – nightmare), or projections of what coming into adulthood is like, or some mixture of them all.

If you’re into classic rock music, there may be no better film to watch than Richard Curtis’ 2009 motion picture Pirate Radio (sometimes referred to as The Boat That Rocked), as it provides the viewer with an epic soundtrack as well as a rich retrospective look back at the chaotic era that was the 1960s. Loosely based on a true story, Curtis (who also wrote the screenplay) tells the tale of a group of rogue DJs who anchor in the waters off of Britain (in the North Sea, to be exact), playing rock `n roll music to the masses, much to the chagrin of the classical music loving establishment – wonderfully illustrating the turbulent clashes of chaos found in the 1960s.

The vampire has become over-used in recent years, making the market feel over-saturated. It has become increasingly difficult to find a way to depict something creative and new within the sub-genre, while not departing from all that is intriguing about the creature. One film that expertly pays tribute to ‘creatures of the night’ while concocting a unique and comedic vision is the 2014 mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows.

I recently met up with actor Steve Coulter at CAPE Cornwall; he is perhaps best known for his turn as Reg Monroe in the television series The Walking Dead. Coulter has also worked an impressive five times with horror maestro James Wan (he has been directed by him four times as well as being in one of his productions). He plays the role of Father Gordon in Wan’s The Conjuring and its sequel The Conjuring 2. I reached out to him to get a quote on the filmmaker. Coulter had nothing but praise for the man, stating "James’s skill in directing horror is, first of all, based on his ability as a storyteller. He knows how smart the audience is, particularly the horror film audience. As such a fan of the horror genre, he knows the usual shortcuts that are made, and he doesn’t take them. He knows what REALLY scares people. And he is such a masterful filmmaker that he knows how to craft those scares so that they are truly frightening, not just the usual Hollywood jump scares. He’s also a master at building suspense." Keep an eye open for an upcoming Star Pick with the actor in the very near future.