It’s a fascinating week on Rialto Channel. Nicole Kidman masturbates in The Paper Boy, the FBI fail to notice a filmmaker is documenting the work of one of their informants in T(ERROR) and a rebellious young woman challenges Brazil’s class structure in The Second Mother. Here are the highlights!
It’s a fascinating week on Rialto Channel. Nicole Kidman masturbates in The Paper Boy, the FBI fail to notice a filmmaker is documenting the work of one of their informants in T(ERROR) and a rebellious young woman challenges Brazil’s class structure in The Second Mother. Here are the highlights!
The Second Mother …Monday 21st March, 8.30pm
Brazilian actresses Regina Casé is absolutely gorgeous in this social drama about a woman who works as a maid for a wealthy San Paolo family while relatives raise her daughter in northern Brazil. After a period of estrangement, Jessica (Camila Márdila) rings her mother Val (Casé) and informs her she is coming to San Paolo to stay with her and apply for University. Val, a kind hearted and loving woman who looks after her employers more than she does herself, is thrilled her daughter wants to be part of her life. However the self assured and forthright young woman who turns up, throwing the balance between upstairs and downstairs into chaos, takes her aback.
Funny, charming and yet with a political and social bent, The Second Mother premiered at Sundance Film Festival, where its two female shared the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting. The film's European premiere took place at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award.
The Second Mother is the work of Brazilian film and television director and screenwriter Anna Muylaert, and is a project that took Muylaert 20 years to bring to the big screen. Amazingly after all that time, it only took four weeks to shoot this smart, thought provoking film. Fans of Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo will enjoy.
T(ERROR) …Thursday 24th March, 8.30pm
The first 30 minutes of this film introduces us to 60-something Saeed “Shariff” Torres, a Black revolutionary turned FBI informant who goes into a community to getting close to a potential terrorist, discover what they’re planning, and turn them in. The film began when Shariff told an old friend, filmmaker Lyric R. Cabral that he was an informant, and invited her to follow him on his latest sting. It’s all rather unbelievable. Shariff clearly hasn’t had any training, instead just relies on his likable nature, and worldly experience to get close to these people. Let’s just say he’s more colourful than you’d imagine the FBI to be. The FBI is unaware Cabral is following Shariff as he tries to befriend a young American Muslim who is suspected of being a Taliban supporter, or that Cabral has access to communications between the FBI and Shariff. Cabral catches Shariff’s frustration with the FBI’s pushy instructions and lack of financial payments, but we also learn Shariff believes his work will be what prevents another travesty such as 9/11.
And then a few really interesting things happen in this film that make you seriously question the legitimacy of the FBI’s counterterrorism’s tactics. The first is we are informed of a previous case Shariff worked on, and how precarious the evidence can be when it comes to putting a suspected terrorist in jail for over a decade. As is pointed out in T(ERROR), all it takes is a paid informants conversation with a friend. Secondly, the film reveals why Shariff agreed to became an informant, and no, it wasn’t his dream job. The most fascinating turn in this film I will leave for you to discover for yourself, but it’s brilliant work on behalf of Lyric R. Cabral.
The film was executive produced by Eugene Jarecki Why We Fight and Nick Fraser Man on Wire, and co-directed by David Sutcliffe. It might not seem it at first, but T(ERROR) is an extraordinary documentary that lets the story speak for itself and is a must see for fans of Citizenfour.
The Paper Boy… Saturday 26th March, 8.30pm
At it’s world premiere in Cannes, the critics got themselves into quite a state over Lee Daniel’s (Precious) film The Paper Boy. Filled with sex, swamps and soul music this crime thriller turned sleazy character driven melodrama features an experimental narrative and some stunning performances as a top-notch cast trying to out-act each other.
The film is set in a small town in Florida during the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Nicole Kidman plays prison groupie Charlotte Bless who has fallen in love with a convicted murderer (John Cusack), who she believes to be innocent. She convinces a couple of Miami based journalists, Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey) and Yardley Acheman (David Oyelowo), to investigate his case. Ward’s younger brother Jack (Zac Efron) takes on driving duties, and much to the amusement of the family’s maid (Macy Gray) falls madly for Charlotte.
Daniels pushes the boundaries of taste and storytelling in this film that features a startling masturbation scene between Kidman and Cusack. However Kidman goes even further later in the film by urinating on Zac Efron’s face after he’s stung by a jellyfish – apparently this scene isn’t in Peter Dexter’s novel on which the film is based.
However The Paper Boy should be seen for it’s powerful performances that distract us from the fact Daniel’s narrative dwindles away as his characters pursue their self-destructive desires. You’ll either love of hate this film, but you have to admire Daniels and his cast for their audacity.