Review: Prevenge

*¹



Prevenge
Cert: 15 / 87 mins / Dir. Alice Lowe / Trailer



Let's be honest, when the words 'written, directed by and starring..' are followed by only one name, that usually sets off more alarm bells than an earthquake at the Chubb factory. And yet that wasn't the case when I heard of Alice Lowe's feature-project (alas I couldn't schedule a cinema viewing as it was a somewhat low-key release). Quite the opposite, if anything. It was also a good vibe that was borne out in full over 87 minutes of escalating, often eviscerating, existential dread and gore. Because with a film like Prevenge, you'll take all the good vibes you can get…

Lowe plays (and yes, writes and directs) Ruth, a recently bereaved pregnant woman who becomes convinced that her unborn child is urging her to kill. And who can say no to their own baby, right? It's not a random slaughter-spree, and the link between the victims is teased out over the course of the film as Ruth gets closer to the little one's arrival.

Having seen Alice in a (vaguely) similar role in Sightseers (which she co-wrote with Steve Oram), I have to say that this feels very similar and I wonder how much of Wheatley's directorial style has influenced this film. That's not to dilute Lowe's skills as a storyteller, but these are definitely movies you'd keep on the same shelf*².

The film is accompanied by Toydrum's synth-driven soundtrack which brought to mind Giorgio Moroder's score for Scarface*³; growing heavier and more intense with each scene, you know things are only going to end one way.

It's a fascinating study into how repellent you can make a lead character (and not framing them as an anti-hero) without the viewer turning against them. Because Ruth is more difficult to like as the film progresses, yet the narrative angle never turns to one of pity. Just morbid, eyebrow-raising curiosity. The supporting cast are familiar faces from British TV comedy and/or drama, but with the exception of Jo Hartley's midwife and Kayvan Novak, they're in largely one-off appearances due to the nature of the story.

Although this is a comparatively short film (by today's studio standards - 90 mins seems to still be the standard for indies) it's structured almost episodically, as Ruth adopts a slightly different persona for each killing, with recurring anchors of her own flat and the pre-natal midwife's office. This almost makes it feel like Prevenge could have been a series of interconnected web-shorts at one point in its development, with the potential for wider tonal shifts in each sequence.

But all in all, Prevenge is an amazing, near-perfect achievement. Not least because Lowe made it while she was actually pregnant herself. Most parents show their kids photos of the baby-bump in an album. This will be an altogether different conversation…

Sightseers, The Love Witch, Filth.



It is.



It does.



So far, quite possibly.



Hell no, it won't be for everyone.



There isn't.



Level 2: This film's got Alice Lowe in it, and she was in Kill List along with Michael 'The Rogue One Dr. Evazan' Smiley.





*¹ Because I can't really complain about my local cinema not showing enough new movies and complain that I never have time to watch stuff at home, now can I? ^{[ BACK ]}

*² Unless you're one of those insane people who keep all their DVDs and Blu-rays in alphabetical order irrespective of category or genre, just like no video store ever has… ^{[ BACK ]}

*³ The second movie this year to give my that feeling and another nod to Ben Wheatley. ^{[ BACK ]}


DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.

Review: Cuban Fury

Cuban Fury
Cert: 15 / 98 mins / Dir. James Griffiths




Among the opening credits of the movie are the words "based on an original idea by Nick Frost". While I like Frost very much, this movie wouldn't know an original idea if one bit it on the arse. That's strike one. It'd be untrue to say I was disappointed by Cuban Fury as I was expecting it to be rubbish, but I at least expect the film to act like it's interested...

It appears that Mr Frost has examined his buddy's film Run Fatboy Run, and taken it as an Approved Formula For Mainstream Success™, rather than the Warning From History™ that everybody else remembers watching*¹. The producers of Fury have assumed that their entire audience is so au fait with the mechanics of the underdog-romcom that they don't have to bother trying to inject any tension into the screenplay. At all. There's never any doubt that the former salsa dancing champion will become a great salsa dancer again; there's never any serious threat in the romantic stakes from Chris One-Note O'Dowd*²; there's never anything other than the glaring certainty that the former dancing champion and the recreational dancer he's besotted with will be together by the end credits as they're essentially "getting on really well" for the entire film; and there are fewer inevitabilities in this universe than when you book Ian McShane as a supporting character in your comedy, he'll turn up and play Ian McShane. That's strike two.

The best gags are all in that trailer, but if you've seen the trailer, you've seen the film, really. There are several chucklesome moments throughout the movie, largely due to the supporting cast in the shape of Olivia Coleman, Rory Kinnear and Kayvan Novak, but they're really just leaning over the side of a battleship with dinghy paddles. At best, the film is astoundingly average, and it's frequently not even that. For what it's worth, Nick Frost is good as lapsed salsa-star Bruce Garrett, and it's clear he's put the work into perfecting the dancing, but his path to redemption is more of a moving walkway, with minimal dramatic effort required from all concerned. Rashida Jones' part is so chronically underwritten that all she can do is play Female Lead In RomCom™ until a throughly lacklustre finale. It's not even a bad film; it can't even be bothered to do that right.

For a movie with an exercise-pastime as its central conceit, it's ironic that Cuban Fury can be so staggeringly lazy. I was expecting a by-the-numbers romcom, but this film just gives you the start and end numbers and asks you to fill in the rest yourself.

Frost, you're far, far better than this.
That's strike three. Get off my dancefloor.

The trailer is the film.



Nah.



No. And it doesn't set out to achieve that much, either.



Telly.



Yes.



Not of my own volition.



There isn't.

Was the Back To The Future reference a little heavy-handed?
I think it was. Discuss.

*¹ I'm not even going to try and bolster this one. Run Fatboy Run is a fucking lazy film for fucking lazy audiences.
*² Even though O'Dowd usually plays Affable Idiot™, and in Cuban Fury he plays Irritating Idiot™, he's still just Chris O'Dowd™. Feel sorry for Dawn Porter; she's got to live with it. No wonder she keeps sending him off to do films.

DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.