www.list.co.uk/film HORROR THE MEAT GRINDER (18) 102min (4 Digital Asia) ●●●●●
From Thailand, this aptly named slice of torture porn follows disturbed Buss as she runs her noodle shack while carving up body parts to use as ingredients in her food.
Goemon (Adrien Brody).
There’s the requisite Unfolding in a series of
hacked limbs, skewered heads, cannibalism and enough backstory to make Meat Grinder well worth seeking out. Tiwa Moeithaisong’s consciously arty direction looks good, but all the camera tricks and copious flashbacks offer more confusion than depth. In the lead, Tia
Carrere-lookalike Mai Charoenpura is impressive; her trauma and monstrous vulnerabilities would give Sweeney Todd a run for his money. Extras include a making of documentary and the original Thai trailer. (Stephen Carty)
ROMANCE THE PASSION WITHIN (12) 115min (Momentum) ●●●●●
flashbacks from the lovers’ last day, The Passion Within is a handsomely mounted affair boasting a pair of fine-looking actors and plenty of pretty period detail. But for a tragic tale of obsessive love, it’s a curiously bloodless film. Perhaps it’s a little over-composed by Dutch writer-director Menno Meyjes (screenwriter of The Color Purple, director of Max). And perhaps that’s why this competent but unremarkable film went straight to DVD. No extras. (Miles Fielder) THRILLER CASH AND CURRY (18) 100min (4 Digital Media) ●●●●●
‘You f**k like a boy’: the message smeared in red lipstick across the bedroom mirror of a famous bullfighter. This 1940s Spain set biopic focuses on the tempestous relationship between the lipstick smearer, actress Lupe Sino (Penelope Cruz) and matador ‘Manolete’ Rodriguez Sanchez Triads, Yardies & Onion Bhajees director Sarijit Bains’ attempt to make a multi-cultural Brit mobster flick feels more like when Eastenders occasionally dabbles with the gangster genre. Only less gripping. Unsurprisingly, leads Ameet Chana, Ronny Jhutti and Pooja Shah have all passed through Albert Square before, and while undoubtedly trying hard, they all fail
DVD Reviews Film
to transcend Manish Patel’s weak script.
For what it’s worth the plot involves London lad Raj (Chana) and chums (Shah, Jhutti) and their disastrous attempts to double cross their boss to move up the food chain. Director Bains keeps the limp farce moving, the constant quick-edits and mockney coda feels out-of-date. Ambition has clearly outweighed budget or talent here, plus stunt cameos from members of Steps and Big Brother really doesn’t help. Still there are loads of extras, including a making of doc, feaurettes, trailers and much more. (Stephen Carty)
SILENT/COMEDY THE GOLD RUSH (U) 207min (Park Circus) ●●●●●
Given that The Gold Rush was his most ambitious production, and that it was the film he wanted to be remembered for, it’s unsurprising that Chaplin should have returned to it 17 years after he made it in 1925 to re-edit, score and add narration. Presumably the idea was to rework the silent
classic for the sound age, but comparing the two versions, both of which are included here, the 1942 version sounds overworked, Chaplin’s boisterous narration in particular an irritating distraction from the action. But if Chaplin’s tinkering seems unnecessary that only underscores the perfect conception and realisation of the original. The story of the tramp prospecting for gold in Alaska and falling in love with a beautiful saloon girl (Georgia Hale, swoon) is deceptively simple. Aside from the enormous undertaking of shooting on location and reconstructing the snowy Klondike back in his California studio, Chaplin once again managed the trick of turning real-life tragedy into a wonderfully entertaining farce. Extras: introduction, documentary, photo gallery. (Miles Fielder)
FANTASY GOEMON (15) 124min (Momentum) ●●●●● Imagine if Robin Hood was from Asia, had Batman’s gadgets and jumped around like the Prince of Persia. Then you have Goemon, the titular hero in Kazuaki Kiriya’s Japanese historical-fantasy flick. Returning five years after his manga sci-fi debut Casshern, the writer-director mixes fact, fiction and so much over-styling that you’ll be dizzy by the
David Kittredge’s film may sell itself as Cronenberg meets Lynch, but the comparisons do him no favours.
There are nods to Lost Highway, Inland Empire and Videodrome, but the scoring of the film and the manner in which the characters explain the plot to each other indicate a filmmaker overly concerned with the tale, no matter its meandering quality. It lacks Lynch’s fascination with obscure atmosphere or Cronenberg’s yen for
elaborate ideas. While undeniably referential and reflexive (there’s even a comment on Joel Schumacher’s abysmal 1999 film about the snuff movie industry 8MM), and with a deliberate filmic style, using long lenses and wide angles effectively enough to create basic tension in the shot, it finally misses the creepiness it seems to search out. Pornography: A Thriller is neither conceptually interesting nor distinctive enough in form to hold interest. Minimal extras. (Tony McKibbin)
end credits.
Set in 16th century Japan during the final stages of civil war, Ishikawa Goemon (Yosuke Eguchi) is a legendary ninja-thief who steals from the rich to give to the poor. Everything changes though when he steals a seemingly unimportant box which contains a secret that might tear the country apart. There’s comedy and
depth-providing flashbacks (in monochrome, naturally), but it’s the outlandish visuals you’ll remember. While the 300 style CG landscapes are initially over-powering and excessive (even the grass is digital!), the purposefully hyper-real world looks great. Minimal extras. (Stephen Carty)
THRILLER PORNOGRAPHY: A THRILLER (15`) 113min (Peccadillo) ●●●●●
What happened to famous gay porn star Mark Anton? Did he end up in a snuff film? Another porn actor intent on becoming a movie director investigates.
19–26 Aug 2010 THE LIST 113