Andy Serkis – AmeliasMagazine

fantasia_film_fest_2011 poster by Donald Caron
Fantasia International Film Festival 2011 poster by Donald Caron.

Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, capsule Canada bills itself as a celebration of all things niche and genre. Our visit during Montreal Festimania coincided with the 15th anniversary of this independent festival, which over the years has grown to become the largest and most influential of its kind in the world. We were lucky enough to be granted a VIP pass allowing us access to any film we liked over our stay, and we decided to see quite a few!

Ironically quite a few of our choices were British films that we’d failed to view over here in the UK, starting with a trio of horror shorts called Little Deaths, based around sexual perversion and gore. My favourite was a tale of domination and manipulation gone wrong: Bitch by Simon Rumley was shot in grainy London greys with a fabulous score to accompany scenes of every day mundanity as they descended into something more sinister.

Burke and Hare body
Burke and Hare follows the lives of two idiotic grave robbers operating in the Edinburgh of the 1820s. Despite the downbeat nature of this true story it was given a successful comedic twist by director John Landis, aided by an impeccable cast that includes Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis of Gollum fame.

Final-destination5-Olivia Castle
It was gone midnight when we attended the world premiere of Final Destination 5 in 3D, introduced by Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, who plays leggy lead character Olivia Castle… I’m sure this appearance was a major boon to the mainly male audience. The film was as utterly daft as its predecessors, but a lot of fun to watch with a hyped up festival crowd.

Phantom of the Opera Fantasia Film festival
One of the Fantasia International Film Festival highlights was a screening of the old black and white version of The Phantom of the Opera, made in 1925. This took place in the Barbican-like Theatre Maisonneuve in the Place des Arts, and was accompanied by a live rendition of the original full orchestral and operatic score. The auditorium was full to the rafters for this oddball story: I had no idea that the whole premise was so damn weird! The poster was designed by Donald Caron, the Montreal artist behind the fabulously kitsch Fantasia festival poster which features a flying horse: I loved them both and had to resist the urge to buy posters for which I have no wall space.

Horny House of Horror bondage
Horny House of Horror deserves a mention for pure over the top Japanese pornographic gore: totally silly and questionable in taste, but I just about managed to sit through the 70 minutes of movie.

Argentina’s Cold Sweat was more of a chore: lacking any kind of coherent plot and drawn out far longer than was necessary. How on earth did the zombies get into the basement? It may be that I have yet to find my horror chops, but I found it hard to spend time watching this movie.

My favourite discovery of Fantasia International Film Festival was a wonderful rom com from Korea called Petty Romance, which followed the awkward relationship between a girl and a boy who get together to write a graphic sex comic that they hope will win them a large amount of money. It was a smart, sweet and funny reminder that the perils of falling in love remain the same everywhere in the world. I recommend that if you get the chance to see Petty Romance you skip along to the cinema pronto.

The Fantasia International Film Festival was supremely good fun and made me hopeful that I get asked to attend more film festivals in the future: there’s nothing like an enthusiastic audience for a niche film to increase the joy of the movie watching experience.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Monday August 22nd, 2011 12:11 pm

Categories ,3D, ,Andy Serkis, ,Bitch, ,Burke and Hare, ,Cold Sweat, ,Donald Caron, ,Fantasia International Film Festival, ,film, ,Final Destination 5, ,Genre, ,Gore, ,Horny House of Horror, ,Horror, ,Indie, ,Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, ,John Landis, ,Little Deaths, ,Montreal, ,Montreal Festimania, ,Olivia Castle, ,Petty Romance, ,Place des Arts, ,Rom Com, ,Short Film, ,Simon Pegg, ,Simon Rumley, ,The Phantom of the Opera, ,Theatre Maisonneuve, ,zombies

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The biopic. It’s a strange bird. When your subject is Ray Charles or Johnny Cash the thing must write itself. The drugs! The women! The soundtrack! But it’s this kind of lazy obviousness that has put me off watching the likes Ray and Walk the Line, perhaps to my discredit. They’re probably as good as everyone says they are. If they’re not? If they’re as hackneyed and clichéd as I expected? Well, at least I can enjoy the music.

With Sex & Drugs & Rock n Roll I couldn’t help myself. I’ve been a long-time admirer of Ian Dury’s work and especially the juxtaposition between his seemingly knockabout lyrics and the tight musicianship of the Blockheads. I caught some of the hype, a couple of Andy Serkis interviews about his preparation for the starring role and that was it. My distaste for the biopic was gently put aside for an evening.

If you’ve seen the poster, you’ll already know that Serkis is magnificent. And if you’ve got any sense you’ll also know and love the music (or be on your way to discover it round about now). Right there are two reasons you should go and see this film. Another is a wonderful opening credit sequence by none other than Sir Peter ‘I’ve done more than just the Sgt Pepper cover, you know’ Blake. But don’t expect to get much else. Fair performances from the rest of the cast and attention to period detail do not raise this biopic from goodness to greatness.

The film is in loose chronological order, with the occasional flashback to a troubled childhood. The story touches upon Dury’s contracting of polio and subsequent disability, his relationship with his father, his unstable family life and a tempestuous time with his bandmates and, of course, the music. It rattles through, giving us the odd bit on how much of a bastard Dury could be, or how he came up with some of his most famous songs. But there’s little depth and no tension to hold it all together. The film opens with Serkis’s Dury saying something along the lines of ‘Never let the truth get in the way of a good story’, but then the film appears to do just that.

This film is clearly a labour of love, a love for both for the music and for Dury himself. But if there’s a good story arc in Dury’s eventful, colourful, lyrical life – a beginning followed by a middle and an end – the writers haven’t found it. For example, Dury’s mate the Sulphate Strangler is introduced grandly, but then does very little and exits the story in a bit of throwaway dialogue. And the relationship between Dury and his son Baxter forms most of the film’s action, but I didn’t get wrapped up in a real story. It’s just a bunch of stuff that happened.

But these are niggles. What you want at the very least from this kind of film is an outstanding central performance and excellent music, both of which Serkis himself gives. He sang Dury’s words so well that I couldn’t keep his face out of my mind when later listening to the original recordings. What you also want is an insight to the real Ian Dury. Despite it not having as good a plot as, say, 24 Hour Party People, it does give you an idea of what sort of man he was.

Despite ticking the essential boxes, the film doesn’t have that extra bit to make me watch the film rather than listen to the records. As far as I’m concerned, the biopic can be rather tricky, but this one deserves to do very well.

Written by Anthony M. Hall

Categories ,24 Hour Party People, ,Andy Serkis, ,Ian Dury, ,Johnny Cash, ,Ray Charles, ,The Blockheads