Winter Horror-Thon

PART TWO - MISDIRECTION

Time for a little theatricality. And when I saw a little of course I mean as much as the Italian film-makers involved feel is appropriate. It's usually quite a lot. The shadows are dark, the blues are harsh, and the reds flow in gallons. While there's still time for one last look at a film by Michele Soavi it's also time to break away from the previous chapter of this little marathon. Although these are still all going to be murder mystery tales of some description. This time around there's one standard whodunnit and another story in which there's no mystery at all, but is bizarre nonetheless. But first a discussion of style over substance.

HCF Review - Bad Dads

WEST OF SUNSHINE (2017)

West of Sunshine is an independent drama from Australia about deadbeat dads and children who aren’t getting the right sort of attention from their parents. The sort of thing that sadly goes on in real life every day. Unfortunately for the central father and son duo they’re also in the middle of an increasingly dire situation that involves loan sharks and drug deals. Which sadly can also be a real situation. But this soon creates two disparate story threads. Does the whimsical family drama and the gritty gambling debt storyline come together to form a cohesive narrative? It’s more successful than you might think. But there are times in which the style of these two disparate genres begin to clash with one another.

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Review Roundup - Nodnol

TENET (2020)

While Christopher Nolan's films have always faced a certain level of criticism for being too stoic, too emotionally stunted and too clinical, I've never found this to be true. Until now that is. The heart of stories like Interstellar and Inception might have been melodrama but they generally worked despite some obvious missteps. Even the mechanical nature of Dunkirk was effectively utilised in a way that meant a lack of real character was supplanted by a lot of pure suspense. Unfortunately in this case the wrong lessons have been learned and the resulting follow up is a story that puts clockwork and spectacle first and forgets to include anything that generates any pathos at all. 

Scorecard

DECEMBER

FILM OF THE MONTH: Love and Peace ☆☆☆☆