KinoSmith Inc. Film Review - In Real Life

About a year ago I noticed that whenever I looked at a teenage they had an electronic device in their hand that was connected to the internet. The first questions were why don't you leave the device alone? Followed by How can you do your homework while constantly checking Facebook? Then the more important questions. What are your privacy settings?  Do you know the person your talking to on the other end? These are the first points raised by director Beeban Kidron's  in her film InRealLife. Under the voice over is the imagery of a sewer in East London with twisting cable rising out of the water then cutting to cable on the sides on the tunnel wall accompanied by scraping, crackling, crushing, bending and breaking sounds of the cable with an undertone pulse or heartbeat.

Ryan and Ben two teenage boys from East London are the first interviewee's. They are experts internet porn, can rhyme off just about every type of site plus providing intricate details of each sites fetish whith is quite remarkable considering they are both only 15 years old.  They claim that they are not addicted rather its part of their daily routine but they do admit that it's a hard habit to break. Ryan remarks that porn ruins his expectations of real girls. In his mind the right girl is like the one he saw on the internet. He will deal with the regular ones for a time but tell them to go away then its on to the next because they don't measure up to the blonde endowed ones he sees online.

Another interviewee 19 year old Tobin spends 5 hours a day playing Xbox and 2 on You Tube.  However he doesn't think that he is addicted to gaming. He reports that he can stop but sees no reason to.  It's not something that is bad for him. He can see how people want someone to stop doing something bad such as drugs but his gaming is not the same. Even though he flunked out of Oxford and he sees that there are other things he could do but because they are hard he avoids them.

Director Kirdon includes commentary from academics, authors and internet pioneers in the piece. Most of their messages are similar. There is a need to be wary of corporations that are collecting your information, data and personal history on servers that belong to them for commercial purposes. The people behind these sites have hired very smart people to get people to come to the sites and stay on them for as long as possible then if they leave get them back as soon as possible. A key trait is giving incredible response to something posted. It gets the user chasing that response again using the psychology of a dopamine trigger or the thrill of wanting something very fast. The efforts of these companies are very dangerous to teens, as they have not developed any other way to obtain
information, meet people or socialize. They are used to a world with constant noise, beeps, chirps and ringtones. Part of development is the need for solitude, which is not happening for the digital native generation.

Jimmy Wales the founder of Wikipedia added the private company that has your information wants to monazite it. Therefore they monitor what the user does, reads, writes, visits sending out links to get them to point, click and buy. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange added that the Internet is the greatest spy tool ever created.

The most disturbing parts of the piece are an interview with a 15 year old girl named Page that is so addicted to her blackberry that she post status updates upon waking, while she is getting ready to go out then when she arrives at her destination. The first time she lost her phone she considered doing sexual acts to get the money to get it back. The second time when it was stolen on a train she followed the boys that took it to a house and did sexual acts to have it returned. The other is the story of 15 year old Thomas told by his parents. Thomas was bullied over the internet being constantly challenged to fights at school or at home if he did not show up at school. He took his own life in his parents back garden.

Kirdon keeps the cable motif going throughout the production.  She includes tours of two major server hubs, a complex in West London and an office building in Manhattan. There are images of the cable winding its way along in the depths of the Atlantic ocean and a rudimentary explanation of what occurs when the cable meets your provider in the building. The intriguing part is that there are thousands of buildings around the world holding data only 12 matter. Two of which are in New York City including the most important one at 60 Hudson Street where all the big providers including KPN, Deutshe Telekom and Verizon are present. These key hubs have 400 to 500 networks interconnected. Some of the other major hubs are in Los Angeles, Miami, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London and Tokyo.

The film does mention the main Tech players but as they all refused comment for the piece they are mainly mentioned by the Industry observers. Of the group Google and Facebook are singled out by the experts as not being trustworthy questioning their intentions for all of the personal material that they collect. The narrative also includes a comment on the  number of data requests placed by US Security Services to the leading Tech Corporations.

InRealLife is an important project that gives credible examples of the effect that the multitude of devices and the Internet are having on teenagers. The narrative is also correct to point out that kids emulate what they see from adults and many digital immigrants are more addicted to technology than teens.  The key point is to turn the devices off, spend some quality solitary time and connect with people face to face. In some cases Adults may need to step in to find their kids if they are perpetually lost in cyberspace. Director Kirdon has done a credible job presenting the material and it's a film I can recommend.

*** out of 4.

InRealLife | Beeban Kidron | U.K. | 2013 | 85 Minutes.

Tags: Teens, Internet, Data, Privacy, Marketing, Addiction, Bullying, Monazite.

BITS 2013 Film Review - Discopathe

Duane Lewis (Jeremie Earp) is working at a diner in New York in 1976 when three customers enter with a radio that's playing an early disco tune. The sound and the speakers mesmerize Duane. He burns the order he is working on and fired.  Next he heads to the skate park where he meets a young girl who brings him back to her home then out to a popular disco club. He has the same reaction waking up the next day alone and confused with blood on his clothes. He vacates the scene to find the morning paper reporting that the girl he was with the night before was murdered.  He flees New York that morning heading for Montreal.

The story jumps ahead 4 years to Montreal in 1980. The setting is College Sainte-Lucie girls Catholic  boarding school and from the first few scenes it appears that the plot has shifted focus to a new set of characters. However when the deaf and dumb school character is introduced using the name Martin Lopez it's clear that Duane has changed his identity and is using hearing aids to avert his murderous tendencies.  He managed to keep quiet for 4 years but when two young students say behind for some along time to experiment on a long weekend Duane hears their disco 45's and his murderous tendencies return even stronger.

Director Renaud Gautier has created a homage to 70's exploitation, grindhouse fare. It's full of over the top acting especially by the three main police officers in the piece and the frantic pace including lengthy chase scenes on foot shot at a distance that is common for the era. The back story on Duane is a traumatic event in his youth when his father a music aficionado who while fooling around with tape to tape machines, speakers, wires and mixer manages to electrocute himself right in front of young Duane.

The Music is a bevy of 70's staples that is heavy on K.C. and the Sunshine Band. The main song used is Walter Murphy's band Flight 76 that serves as the films theme and appears several other times rung the piece particularly when Duane is torturing a hostage in the basement of St. Lucie. Another tune that works well is I'm a Boogie Man from the aforementioned K.C. and the Sunshine Band.  It's the track that first gets him switched on in New York and serves the story well as boogieman can have two different meanings. The Quebecois song Stop ou Encore is the 45 the private school girls were spinning that sets Duane off again and is the background music to his attack and brutalization of the pair.

The best work on the film goes to the set, prop and wardrobe department. From the first dolly shot along the counter with the authentic mid 70's 7up and Pepsi Cola bottles to the 1980's gas guzzling vehicles the items in the film ring true.

The recreation of the Quebecair gate check in and stewardess outfits brings the viewer back to a bygone era. The set even had a vintage poster announcing the 76' Montreal Olympics and the 70's staple plastic gate airport lounge chairs.

The male characters sport wide collars and ties while the girls at the skate park are adorned with Linda Ronstadt style tanks and shorts to accompany their 4 wheel roller skates.

The ensemble cast filled their roles well. The vision of this piece was camp with a side of horror and a touch of humour. No one performance stood out amongst the group but the cast hits its stride more in the Montreal part of the piece as most are Francophone.

Discopathe is a very specific genre film who's enthusiasts will seek out the material.  It is not meant to be and won't find a mass audience or distribution. It has some good passages and a very different premise. Fans of the era will appreciate Gautier's effort and attention to detail but overall it's too uneven a piece to recommend to a wider audience.

** 1/2 Out of 4.

Discopathe | Renauld Gautier / Marie - Claire  Lalonde | Canada | 81 Minutes.

Tags: Serial Killer, Disco, 1970's, Childhood Trauma, Catholic School, Private School, Crime, Detectives,  Cold Case.

BITS 2013 Film Review - Blood Riders: The Devil Rides with Us

Unusual beginnings to films are rare these days, normally a movie begins with the introduction of the main characters, an event that will shape the rest of the piece or in a non linear narrative a scene from an hour or so into the movie that the story will eventually catch up to in the course of the plot. Blood Riders: The Devil Rides with Us manages to do something different. It starts with a character that is already dead talking to an interviewer in a white cube space between this world and the next. She reflects on her life, how she got here, how her death will affect her family and friends and the fate she hopes befalls the people that killed her.

Two friends Janek (Corey Lof) and Kyle (A.J. Morabito) are out on a Friday night.  They are looking for something different to do to make themselves stand out from being ordinary so they decide to steal a car.  Zoey (Caitlynne Medrek) and Dane (Joel Ballanger) are sitting on a curb on the other side the street watching the event. They go in for a closer look forcing the two friend to retreat eventually stealing a different car with the taunting Zoey and Dane along for the ride. They discover an unexpected surprise in the trunk that sets off a series encounters over a weekend.

Director Lari Teras presents a story that features violence with a slice of humour.  A number of the killings could be classified as accident, impulsive or opportunistic rather than a cold premeditated plan of action. Teras appears to be captivated by the splatter effect using it on the opening title sequence and often on the slayer or bystander as the blood of the latest victim hits them. Teras shooting style is straight ahead and right at the viewer. There are no killings that are heard off camera or seen in the distance. The direction is full on plain acts of violence. Most of the scenes are a two camera tight in crop shot furthering Teras goal to have the audience see everything close up.

The friends' two main combatants in the piece are occultists and neo-Nazis. They stumble across some information that they attempt to use to escape their situation. As part of the deal they are forced to visit white supremacist Gerhard (Will Conlon) to obtain an item. Things don't go as planned at Gerhard's place or when they deliver the item to the occultist complete the deal. The result is two very serious groups dedicated to their cause that now have a score to settle with the quartet.

The soundtrack is well appointed to a weekend killing spree. It's an equal mixture of hard driving rock and punk tracks plus effective instrumental interludes that accompany the ritualistic scenes of the occult.  The TV Freaks song Real Pain runs over the opening credits foreshadowing the upcoming events with the constant refrain of I guess it could get worse as the quartet inspect and eventually settle on a car to steal.

Of the main characters Caitlynne Medrek stand out as Zoey. She's a finisher rather that an instigator. Zoey points out the car that eventually gets the group into trouble. Several of her impulse acts early on in the piece force the troop deeper and deeper down a path of violence and death. She is also the subject of a running gag that at least one person in every new situation the group encounters knows her from the past. Ashley McDonald is notable in the role of Rosie a well traveled occultist that switches sides to join up with our heroes. Chris Feltis is also effective as the Interviewer who chats to several victims after they die then gleefully snaps his fingers sending them to the fires of hell.

Blood Riders is a joyful hour and 10-minute jaunt. The plot has a couple of twists and features a multiple different manners of death to satisfy the horror enthusiast. There is no great theme here but perhaps a message is to be yourself as there is no need to act out of character to be noticed or maybe to repent for your questionable actions in this world because you may be asked about them on your way to the next. The film is a blood splattered weekend adventure that I can recommend.

*** out of 4.

Blood Riders: The Devil Rides with Us | Lari Teras | Canada | 2013| 71 Minutes.

Tags: Peer Pressure, Afterlife, Hitler, Occult, Stealing Cars, White Supremacist, Neo Nazi, Devil Worship.

BITS 2013 Film Review - Evangeline

Evangeline (Kat de Lieva) arrives for her first year of University in the back of a car filled with religious symbols. She enters her dorm room and is directed to her bed by roommate Shannon (Mayumi Yoshida). Her roommates friend Mark (Anthony Shim) is present and pair immediately proceed to break a porcelain angel bowl the only item that Evangeline seems to hold dear. It's also the night of the party put on by the best frat on campus. Despite first being tentative Evangeline jumps right into the festivities being noticed by Mark Konner (Richard Harmon) the head of the frat.

The next morning as most of the campus heads off for a holiday weekend Eva stays mainly because she is still feeling the effects of the night before.  Mark Konner is also on campus and takes her out to his fathers hunting cabin in the woods. However, his intentions towards her are not honourable. He is joined by his two lieutenants who take part in the violent attack. Paralleling the events on campus a middle age teacher know as Mr. K.(David Lewis) roams the quite roads around the woods. He is fastidious, particular and has a pension for picking up young women walking alone at night along the side of the road.

Writer/Director Karen Lam's narrative fails to build tension and comes across rushed. The main character is introduced as timid quiet and reserved then moment later burst out of the bathroom dressed as a punk princess eager to be the life of the party without any context. There is a bit of back story on a younger sister that dying of a terminal disease and reference to a preacher father but these relationships are not well developed.

The highlight of the films are the scenes and imagery in the cube that represents the space between this world and the next. Here we find the spirit of the women killed by the murderous Mr. K. It's also where Eva dwells following the attack by the frat boys. This is also the space where the demonic spirit merges with the protagonist starting her down the path of revenge. The mixing of sharp jarring sounds when Evangeline occupies the cube is jolting and ominous.

The film does feature a pulsating soundtrack to back the action on the screen. The brooding theme that follows Mr K. as he goes about his business in the woods. The understated guitar riff accompanying the initial flashback to Evangeline's sister. The mixing of sounds and tones as the demon first enters Eva's body followed by the long notes on the organ when she strikes for the first time.

The best acted portion of the film occurs after Eva is found by some drifters in the woods. Her personality has changed as she is shellshocked and mute. Kevin Redvers is notable as Billy the PSTD suffering ex solider. Nelson Leis adds to the proceedings as the attempted stalker Uncle Dee.

Evangeline is a revenge film that doesn't take the time to build characters which is necessary for the audience to have a vested interest in their fates. The result is not a strong like or dislike of the players it's instead indifference which is far worse. There are some good elements in the film but not enough to hold the whole project together. Overall it's not a film that I can recommend.

** out of 4.

Evangeline | Karen Lam | 2013 | Canada | 85 Minutes.

Tags: Religion | Spirits | Serial Killer | Torture | Revenge | Redemption | Campus Live.

BITS 2013 Film Review - Thanatomorphose

Thanatomorphose is described in Reverse's French language dictionary as modifications visibles ques la mort provoque sur les organismes. Translated into English: visible changes that death causes on organisms.  In what may be the most disturbing film since David Lynch's Eraserhead or at least since The Human Centipede. Writer/Director Eric Falardeau delivers a complete and extremely close up view of a case of decomposition. The twist is the subject that decomposes is not an orange that you find under the rear seat in your car, bananas that you stumble across in a bag under your bed or even an animal that was hit by a car and discovered in a ditch at the side of the road. The object of this study is a woman who literally rots from the inside out.

The story opens with a young nameless woman wandering around in her apartment naked after having sex with her boyfriend. He soon comes out bedroom in the same state to use the bathroom. It's quickly apparent that this is not a deep relationship. The woman notices a bruise on her right shoulder but thinks nothing of it. The next morning she awakes heads to the shower and looses two fingernails as she prepares for work. Thus begins a daily pattern of waking to new bruises, skin discolouration, weakness and increased pain.

The most curious aspect of the film is the woman's reaction to the changes. She doesn't react alarmed or panicked. She doesn't consider going to the hospital at the early stages of the metamorphosis. Instead she is detached almost observing the changes as a scientist charting the progress of an experiment. Our heroine does display signs early on in the film that she is a person that is very much alone, empty and suffering from low self esteem. Her circle of friend is small, there is no mention of any family, her boyfriend is both neglectful and abusive. She is focused on sex as attempt to feel but above it all she is  about to abandon her one passion in life sculpting.

Cinematographer Benoit Lemire keeps the lens set to a small aperture for the majority of the production.  Every scene in the film takes place in the woman's apartment and for the most part in low light. The lighting scheme fits well with the claustrophobic feeling for the piece. It also helps to make the audience  work to decipher what they really see as the lead character transforms. The darker tones also play well with the hand held camera work that follows the protagonist as she regularly stumbles from the bedroom to the bathroom to discover what has befallen her each day.

Actress Kayden Rose turns in an extraordinary performance in the lead role. It's her first role in a feature film and she is in every frame of the movie. The role is extremely physical as she has to often demonstrate the pain and suffering inflicted on her character throughout the piece. It's a very gutsy performance as she spends a lot of time on camera without any clothing and as she decays the number of prosthesis increase and she is covered in the natural evidence of a rotting organism.

Special makeup effects designer David Scherer who's majority of earlier work has been in shorts and T.V. created some signature work in this film. His endeavour to slowly turn a fit mid 20's woman into an oozing bundle of cells is both hard to watch and mesmerizing at the same time. Every day she's a little more discoloured and she's leaking somewhere new another appendage is now useless and either comes off by itself or is forcibly removed by the owner.

Thanatomorphrose is a riveting, horrifying spectacle that goes beyond the category of a horror genre film. It's the visualization of the link between the emotional and the physical.  The main character is emotionally vacant which her body physically manifests. I'm not going to recommend this film but will instead say go see it but beware that it will stay with you long after you walk out of the theatre.

*** 1/2 out of 4.

Thanatomorphrose | Eric Falardeau | 2012 | Canada | 100 Minutes.

Tags: Horror, Decay, Diseased, Emotionless, Lustful, Transformation, Hopeless, Inevitable, Loneliness, Despair.

Planet In Focus 2013 Film Review - A River Changes Course.

A little girl is chopping sugar cane alone in a remote section of the Northern Cambodian Jungle. She has a small basket that she fills with some small sections of cane and climbs down a steep embankment where she finds her mother also working the land. The pair load up their haul and head back to their thatched hut. A father is perched at the front part of a wooden boat on the Tonle Sap River in Central Cambodia. His teenage son is driving and steering at the back. The pair stop to check and empty their fishing nets. They season and eat a few fish then bring home the rest to sell to market.  In the rice fields outside of Phnom Pen a mother and eldest daughter work the field collecting and tying off bushels of rice. They lament that this years harvest is not good and their buffalos are eating all of the rice.

A River Changes Course follows three families from different parts of Cambodia. All are struggling to maintain a way of life that may not survive beyond the current generation. All seeing that the return on their labour is not producing as much as it did for the generation before. The other factor is the encroachment of modern society and corporations into their lands effecting the natural wildlife and habitat.

Director Kayanee Mam focuses on one member of each family to tell their story. Sav Samourn is the matriarch and main voice for her family. Her very young children have learned to do the work required  to keep the family going. They work out in the fields, hunt for potatoes on their own, go to the watering hole to collect fresh water, are adept with large knives that are very sharp and take care of their infant siblings physical and educational needs.

Sari Math has dropped out of school to fish full time with is father. He has to help the family so his younger siblings can continue to obtain an education. However their catches continue to dwindle as there is less fish in the river. Some of the younger siblings now come out on the boat and start to miss school as they are also helping out with their younger brothers and sisters at home.

The rice fields are not producing a big yield because there has not been enough rain this season. The family has a large dept with the bank forcing Khieu Mok to go to the Phnom Penh to work in the factories. First she has to be trained to use a sewing machine then work for a wage of 60 USD a month with the potential of 100USD for overtime. The day starts with a pass card scan at the entrance of the factory, followed by a full day at a machine ending with a ringing bell and a pat down by security on exit. The workers head home to wash, eat, sleep and prepare for the next day at work.

One of the best exchanges captured in the film is director Mam's interview of 3 factory workers on Khieu Mok block as they do their evening washing. They speak about their villages, why they had to come to the city and their plans to go back home.  Another is Sav Samours account of how she has been sick for the last 10 years. How her body aches, she hardly wants to eat and she is always dizzy. Her smallest child was sick for a while and her husband was so sick he almost died. She traces the cause to either their food as they used to only each what the family produced directly but now they buy food from others or more ominously the water.

A River Changes Course is a minimalist view of a vanishing way of life in Cambodia. The rural population that for generations lived off of the land, worked in the rice fields or fished are facing the reality of having to make drastic changes to survive. They are a segment of the population that are used to working for themselves and not for someone else. As Sav Samourn described it's hard to work for someone else, you're moving forward when you work for yourself but when you work for someone else you have nothing.  A River Changes Course is a film that I can definitely recommend.

*** 1/2 Out of 4.

A River Changes Course | Kalyanee Mam | Cambodia | 2013 | 83 Minutes.

Tags: Child Labour, Cambodian Jungle, Rice Fields, Fishing Hamlet, Deforestation, Development, Education, Sweatshop, Poverty, Survival.

Planet In Focus 2013 Film Review - Gringo Trails

Gringo Trails is a term used in South and Central America for the destinations where foreign tourist normally frequent. Travelers come in three categories, drifters who stumble upon an area alone or possibly with one or two other people and stay for an extended period of time. Backpackers who come in larger groups but are still frugal in their approach and tourists who expect the same standards in foreign countries as at home. The last group are looking for familiar restaurant, bars, shops and services causing construction of these establishments thus changing the authenticity of the location.

The story starts with the tale of Yossi Ghinsberg who heard about a stretch of uncharted Amazon while in Bolivia in 1981 Ghinsberg was looking for the remote, tribal and unusual headed out to explore getting lost in the jungle. He was swept away in one of the worst rainstorm in the history of the area but manage to survive 25 days alone in the jungle near Rurrenabaque before rescue.  He turned his experience into a 1985 book which started a trend of Israelis coming to the area to see if the story was true and try to gain their own taste of the Ghinsberg experience.

Director Pegi Vail presents the development of tourism in many hotspots normally plot into three stages: the initial sprinkling of travellers that discover a spot, which leads to increased popularity amongst backpackers then total saturation.  The narrative touches on the effect on the land, the habitat of the local animals inhabitants. The film also includes antidotal stories from travel book writers, TV hosts and bloggers. Be sure to catch the running gag of backpackers standing around brushing their teeth in the morning sunlight to start their day.

The next point of interest is Salar de Uyuni also in Bolivia, the largest salt desert in the world measuring at 4086 square miles. Inchausai Island first a destination to gather cactus began to see early tourists arrive in the 80's. By 2000 it became a steady destination for small groups of tourist having seen features on Fredo Lazaro Ticoma the first inhabitant in their guidebooks soon after scores of SUV's began to arrived full of travellers creating the usual scene of picnic tables full of visitors, restaurants, information spots, alcohol and garbage. By 2010 the numbers had swelled to 300-400 tourist per day.  Ticoma who used to interact with the early tourist now only serves lunch to the guides as the government runs the island.

The worst example in the piece is Haad Rin Beach on Koh Phangan Island in Thailand. National Geographic staffer Costas Christ tells his story of first going to Koh Phangan Island in 1979 spending a month with a local family at the beach. 10 years later 150 people were on the beach with a small group of bungalows available for accommodation. By 1994 it's a regular traveling stop with tourist from more popular islands coming by for Full Moon parties. New Years eve 1999 saw 15,000 partiers on the beach to welcome in the millennium, a decade later tourists came by express boat and 50,000 revellers were present to mark the start of 2010.

The film includes two examples of locations that followed the right approach. Bhutan opened up to tourism in 1974 but they targeted a specific market.  They looked for older tourist mainly the well to do, retired University professors and Hollywood types who had means had done the party thing in the past therefore more likely to respect their culture and traditions. Tourist are charged $250.00 per day and can be told to leave if they do not respect the country's traditions and rules. The other is Chalalan Lagoon in Bolivia. The guides are well trained explain to tourist what the land, animals and nature means to them, their parents and grandparents generation. They engage in Eco-tourism, Yossi Ghinsberg retuned to Bolivia in 1992 and is working with the group at Chalalan Ecolodge alongside some of the people that were in the search party to save him. He raised money from the U.S. to support their project of community based tourism.

Gringo trails is a fascinating look at modern tourism and the impact of the traveler on the destinations that they visit. It's a unique take as they find as much fault with the locals for not educating the tourists but instead looking to make a quick buck as with the tourist for disrespecting local customs and traditions. A key rule for the host is to set the ground rules early, limit numbers, have a clear plan on what to do with waste and keep a close eye on the effect on wildlife and culture.  A good tip for the traveller when they come across a supposed exotic local with volleyball courts, bars on the beach and restaurant serving western fare is to ask a local what's going on at the island or village next door. Gringo trails is a documentary that I highly recommend.

**** out of 4.

Gringo Trails | Pegi Vail | U.S.A. | Bhutan | Bolivia | Mali | Thailand | 2013| 80 Minutes.

Tags:Yossi Ghinsberg Drifters, Backpackers, Institutionalized Tourist, Eco-Footprints, Eco-tourism, Sustainable development, biodiversity, Bolivia, Bhutan, Thailand.