For Your Consideration: Films You've Never Heard Of

One of my great passtimes is looking for golden nuggets of forgotten film excellence, basically doing some motion picture scouting for those wanting for new viewing material. When it comes to writing my reviews, and picking a film to run my writing hands over, I much prefer something little heard of, whether it be low budget British grime, indie flick or just plain old forgotten about or mis-sold cult property.

There's something very satisfying about finding a movie that you love, but that nobody else seems to be familiar with, and even more satisfying passing on the message. So with that in mind, here's a shortlist of films I recommend that I've dug up from the gaps between the pavement. Not literally, of course. That would be absurd.

I'm hoping to make this a recurring, though not regular, feature, so keep your eyes open for links and your ear to the ground.

London to Brighton

Short on running time and pound signs, Paul Andrew Williams' compact and modest thriller takes a dreary if unremorseful look at the black holes of British soceity, mainly prostitution and the exploitation of children, and picks out a fairly simple story of a girl and an older girl.

Street walker Kelly (Lorraine Stanley) and twelve year old Joanne (Georgie Groome) are in flight from an unseen, traumatic incident, with the former sprouting a monster of a shiner. Their escape is the train journey of the title. While the pair, who it turns out barely know each other, try to get some money together and gather their wits, they are being hunted down by some unscupulous shady guys. Namely, powerful gangster Stuart Allen (Jason Flemying lookalike Sam Spruell), and Kelly's pimp Derek (Eddie Marsan lookalike Johnny Harris). So while we get to see our heroic pair form a close bond, we also learn more about what has them as quarry, through flashback. It's all rather gritty.

It may not be life affirming, but this modest little piece is a decent story well presented with a matter of fact approach that's not original (the British film industry has been churning such chum out by the gallon of late), but is highly effective. Don't expect Guy Ritchie flash in the pan meets Thelma and Louise, this is a tale that is rooted deeply in reality, as drab and pessimistic as it may be. The twists and turns are left until the finale, and here it's a case of shocks rather than swings. A fairly ambitious effort, there is definitely a resonant effect left behind by the homeliness of the film's heart, the relationship between our heroines. It's a nice, sweet notion which has you hoping for a resolution which involves their survival.

Brick

Less of a sleeper and more of a cult classic is Rian Johnson's Brick, which is perhaps one of the most daringly imaginative and original 'gimmick' features of the 2000's, and one of the most enjoyable on a number of levels.

The gimmick is that it's a Dashiel Hammett style noir-mystery-crime-thriller, complete with dialogue and camera focus, which is set in a 21st century American high school, complete with students playing the parts of weary PI's, drug barons and muscle for hire. Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is the protagonist, a Phillip Marlowe archetype concealing strength and street smart behind a geeky, introvert exterior, who is trying to locate his ex-girlfriend Emily (Emilie De Ravin) after a disturbing phone call, and ends up becoming imbroiled in a narcotics ring run by 'older boy' The Pin (Lukas Haas). Double-crossing and winding, twisting turns commence, filled with an emotional heart.

Because of its vary nature, Brick is never going to appeal to the masses, who will either be confused by its format or baffled by its beautifully written script, full of ironic humour and superlative wordplay. But the real diamond of the flick is just how seamlessly it works, and it very quickly ceasing to entertain by virtue of its hubris, and instead wraps you in by its own virtues. Rian Johnson must have had one hell of a tough ride ever getting such a bizzare creation greenlit by anyone, but he redeems this with something which should not in a million years work, but somehow does. On top of this, we get the joy of seeing Gordon-Levitt graduate from Third Rock child stardom into proper, distinguished film acting. Anyone familiar with Nolanverse will no doubt agree this alone makes Brick worthwhile. The fact it's such a satisfying, stimulating and coveted film is what makes it so damn loved though.

The Wind That
Shakes The Barley

Love him or hate him, Ken Loach is a pillar of British filmmaking, and his filmography from Kes onwards is always a great indicator of its standard in quality. Never one to compromise on his unflinching style, and having absolutely no aspirations towards Hollywood despite its siren calls, his own breed of voyeur style directing will always be the industry, not just a part of it, and its a sign of his ambitions and intent that his most exotic film only takes him across the Irish sea.

Quite a mouthful of a title, The Wind That Shakes the Barley depicts the beginning of the struggles in Ireland, the freedom fighting cause picked up by the little men under the shackles of British occupation, and essentially forming the birth of the IRA and the eventual independence the country gained from the crown. We follow, in far from glamorous rabble rousing and heroic framing, two brothers who play a significant part and provide a rivetting, poignant tale. They are Damien (Cillian Murphy) and Teddy O'Sullivan (Padraic Delaney), the former a young doctor who is scheduled to practice in London, the latter already an established member of a Republican cell. When things kick off, tensions between the British army and the locals boiling over, it starts a slow and palpable march towards full blown battle.

And while we see the rise of the two, along with their fellow fighters (including Liam Cunningham and Laurence Barry), from armed aggressors into figureheads, the film never gets carried away with Braveheart style bravado and hero worship. They are never portrayed as anything other than ordinary folks swayed by principle into a spreading fire of action, and the film never loses touch with it's ultimate sentiment and point, keeping a balanced and neutral moral perspective. That's not to say it isn't moving, but it's the quasi-reality that provides this, not heart string pulling. Murphy and Delaney put on acting masterclasses, with Murphy in particular providing a wonderful arcing character study that is the backbone of the grand story, and an indicator of his extraordinary and underappreciated talents. Gorgeously photgraphed and mounted, showing the genuine beauty of Ireland as a facet for the tale, TWTStB can be described as sweeping but not epic, as stunning but not spectacular, and as emotionally involving but not provocative. The staples of any Ken Loach film, but tied into a far greater vision.

Buffalo Soldiers

Aussie Gregor Jordan's film, which he adapted from Robert O'Connor's book, is one of those films that suffered from it's mishandling, and again is an example of a cult film instead of a generally appreciated one. The reasons were political, namely the film's 'unpatriotic' sentiment and unfavourable attitude towards the US military, quite a clash considering it was initially to be released just after September 11th, 2001. Obscurity beckoned, despite a great cast and intriguing premise.

It's 1989, West Germany, and the Berlin Wall is about to fall. At an American garrison, Ray Elwood (Hollywood enigma Joaquin Phoenix) is bored, morally loose and eager to get his hands on some green. Having used his connections, being that he is adjutant to the base commander Colonel Berman (Ed Harris, playing wonderfully against type), he establishes a drug ring within the GIs, but his life of ill-gotten gains and luxury is put on the wire by the arrival of new enforcer Sergeant Lee (Scott Glenn), and in particular jeoprady is his scheme to sell a shipment of 'lost and found' weapons to local gangsters. But he still finds time to woo his new enemy's daughter, Robyn (Anna Paquin).

Immorality is the name of the game in the seductive Buffalo soldiers, as we have an anti-hero seemingly without a good cause, soldiers more intent on getting high than vigilant, and disciplinarian honchos cast as villains. But that's part of the film's charm, because above all else it's a richly black comedy that mines its humour from subtle character movement and Coen-esque farce. There are no sacred cows here, and clearly Jordan doesn't care a great deal who you root for, which is just as well. While Phoenix revels in a rare charismatic character, Harris has fun as an incompetant officer, and Glenn is menacing and borderline psychotic. It's great to see established names playing with their images, and that alone should sell the film. But there's also a noir-ish double crossing plot and general explosions. It's a highly entertaining and enjoyable flick, if one without moral fibre. Watch out for the stone tankers scene.

Dead Man's Shoes

Although This Is England proved to be a big hitter, and a highly popular effort, the rest of Shane Meadows' modest back catalogue more often than not gets little in the way of widespread interest. Which is a real travesty, because aside from the black mark of the messy and disorganised Once Upon a Time in the Midlands, it provides a selection of top notch, down and dirty excellence.

The pick is this, a sleepy town set rendition of Death Wish. Former squaddie Richard (Paddy Considine, who wrote the script) returns to his deadbeat hometown on a mission. He intends to get even with the local drugdealing thugs, led by Sonny (Gary Stretch), who terrorised his mentally challenged brother Anthony (Toby Kebbell) while he was away. But what starts out as a series of vicious pranks, intending to put the gang on edge, slowly begins to mutate into dark and grisly violence as the unhinged Richard shows his true colours, and in turn we learn the full implications of what happened to incite his blood vengeance.

Starting out as a low key drama, Dead Man's Shoes really earns its points with a disturbing escalation into horror thriller, giving the film's violence a powerful punch as it springs out of almost nowhere. We rarely see Richard when he is going about his mission, rather get to know him through quiet interludes where he reminsces with his brother about better, poignant times. Screen time is shared as we get a very intimate perspective of the bad guys as they fall apart, stricken by fear and very real confusion over the hunt they are now on the brunt of. The climax to this, which includes a brilliantly executed acid trip sequence, is shocking and brutal, but provides the impetus for the film's real conclusion, a far quieter and more foreboding sequence that hammers home the twisted creature that Richard has come. For this, we have Paddy Considine, ever superb but truly magnificent here, intimidating yet unsettling yet sympathetic and very human. Toby Kebbell, in his breakthrough role, and former showman boxer Gary Stretch also impress, as do the non-professionals portraying the gang members. The raw realism, provided by improvisation and subtle reactions, is what gives the film an edge over other, similar films. It's very unoriginal, but its slant really is, and in the long run is a truly memorable film.

Narc

Joe Carnahan's small, taut thriller makes its intent clear from the start, opening with a searing and disturbing drug addled chase which culminates in the killing of a junkie, and in the cross fire the accidental shooting of a pregnant woman. Whatever you might say about the chaotic Smokin Aces, or the blockbuster A-Team adaptation, these few minutes justify the director's status.

The rest of Narc follows the same brutal and unfliching approach, as suspended narcotics detective Nick Tellis (Jason Patric) reluctantly agrees to assist in the cold case investigation of an undercover cop's murder. The only person still determined to keep the case going, bloody mindedly so, is the dead man's partner, rogue ball of fury Henry Oak (Ray Liotta), and the pair form an uneasy partnership as they revisit the case and begin to make breakthroughs that a paint a dark and disturbing picture of what happened one rainy morning.

With claustraphobic camera angles, poorly lit rooms and Cliff Martinez's low rumbling score throughout, Narc builds an ominous atmosphere as it reaches for its rivetting conclusions and horrifying twists. The tempered sense of mutated justice and cruel priorities gives momentum to Oak's tragic quest, one that Tellis is wrapped up in to the point of smothering. The brutality of the world they inhabit is palpable in the walls, with crime scenes sickening places and the Detroit winter blanketing their efforts in a pall of symbolic half-light. Often wasted in inferior roles, Liotta is dynamic as Oak, a virtuosos performance that is his most memorable and worthy since Goodfellas. Patric holds his own, as do the cast of limited screen time supporting characters. While it perhaps goes for a gambit too far in it's sad and ambiguous finale, Narc burns onto your memory it's blistering energy like a dark star. How it is so often ignored is a real mystery.