noonward

Terribly misleading film. From the cover art to the synopsis to the fact that it's a sequel to The Red Spectacles, it's easy to assume that this would be another insane sci-fi weird-out. But no, this film is slow, meticulous, delicate and at times insanely beautiful. How silly I felt when I thought I was watching the wrong movie and had to look up screenshots and other reviews to see if I was or not. It really recalls Takeshi Kitano, predating his work with Sonatine and Hana-Bi. Static shots, emphasis on backgrounds, light on dialogue. Quite a gap in style from its Seijun Suzuki-esque predecessor. The characters mainly have fun on holiday and fall in love to incredible, emotive music. There's nothing too challenging or esoteric, though it's not necessarily exciting or bent on narrative. Just a gorgeous, emotionally resonant piece of work.

No context given. No story to narrate. No elaborate set pieces or character actors. Maybe about 2 lines of dialogue. What else is there? Only the brutal reality of a country's dirty little secret. Many films about touchy political issues are analysed through a character's interpretation of how they think or how a particular story plays out but Clarke plays it out simply: people are dying... never mind the other stuff, death is caused through our own inability to absorb other people's views. The end factor being death is all that really needs to be shown to get the point across. Clarke makes fantastic use of tracking shots, slipping left and right and around to follow a person into their death.

It's provocative and probably the best TV movie ever made. I can't imagine people sitting down at night, tuning into the BBC and wondering what they should think about this mini masterpiece.

This is a strange British film which revolves around a relationship between two characters that alternates between super sweet and super disturbing (one of them has a penchant for asking people at petrol stations if they've heard a specific love song then kills them afterwards). Love and redemption, like a modern Shakespearean tragedy, courses through the film's veins. The repetitive nature of the narrative coalesces into a hypnotic rhythm, riding the pace out sleekly. Though scripted, the film feels spontaneous, exciting and shows subtle natural variation on a theme. The characters attempt to obtain purification, thinking that murder is the only way they can downplay their other more humanly flaws. Powerful, strong film that is refreshingly modest and practical.