If the increasing number of 4th places at the Rio Olympics is starting to get you down, step away for a moment and enjoy some drama of a different sort...
Life Premieres Saturday 20th August, 8.30pm
Robert Pattinson has tried hard to shake off the heartthrob label since he catapulted to fame as moody vampire Edward Cullen in The Twilight Saga. Making a decisive move away from mainstream young adult melodramas, Pattinson has immersed himself in smaller, indie films working with Canadian director David Cronenberg on several films; Map to the Stars and Cosmopolis.
In Life he works with Dutch photographer, music video director and filmmaker Anton Corbijn. Corbijn’s fourth feature film, Life tells the real life story about the relationship between James Dean (Dane DeHaan) and photographer Dennis Stock (Pattinson), who captured that iconic photo of the actor in Times Square. The film is set in 1955 just weeks before East of Eden premiered; a film that turned Dean into an overnight sensation. This drama captures Dean’s hesitancy to lose his anonymity, and his loneliness, as well as the power film studios exerted over their stars.
It’s a moody, slow burner and features an excellent performance by Dane DeHaan who also did a great job playing Lucien Carr in Kill Your Darlings. DeHaan presents us with a complex character filled with outsider angst that contrasts with his ambition. Clearly shot on a budget, but Corbijn still manages to replicate on screen the settings of many of Stock’s iconic photographs.
The Source Family Premieres Thursday 18th August, 8.30pm
This documentary tells the fascinating story of The Source Family, a radical group living a utopian life under the guidance of their spiritual leader Father Yod in California during the 70s.
The film is directed by Jodi Wille and Maria Demopoulous, and is based on the cult-classic book The Source: The Story of Father Yod, Ya Ho Wa 13, and The Source Family written by The Source Family members Isis Aquarian and Electricity Aquarian.
Father Yod makes for great subject matter. Edward Baker was a teenage weightlifting champion who went on to become a decorated World War II solider and martial arts expert known to have killed two people in California with a karate chop to the neck. He became hugely successful, starting up trendy health food and vegetarian restaurants on Sunset Strip (including one called The Source Family) with money earned from bank heists.
Along with his wife Robyn, the two began offering meditation classes, and The Source Family commune grew from there, taking over a large estate that had at one time been the home of the Chandlers Family, founders of the Los Angeles Times. With an interest in eastern spirituality and communal way of life, Father Yod, as he renamed himself, attracted plenty of curious, beautiful young people to his movement, and for a while The Source Family epitomized the counterculture movement.
That was until Father Yod decided he needed more than one wife, marijuana and LSD became part of daily life, modern day medicine was banned, and members began to see through the promises of lasting enlightenment.
Father Yod’s demise is even more wacky, but like everything else in this documentary, it is dealt with in a fair-minded manner. The archive material is impressive thanks to the involvement of so many members of The Source Family participating in the film. It’s even more interesting to see what these hippies are up to now.
Haemoo Premieres Monday 15th August, 8.30pm
Internationally renowned South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho (Snowpiercer), produced and co-wrote this feature film, directed by first-time director Shim Sung-bo.
A tense, high seas adventure, Haemoo screened in the prestigious Gala programme at the Toronto International Film Festival, and went on to become South Korea’s candidate for the best foreign-language film category at the 2015 Oscars. Not bad for a relatively unknown director.
The film is set in the late ‘90s amidst the aftermath of the IMF financial crisis of 1997. Facing financial ruin, Captain Kang (Kim Yoon-seok) is convinced to take on an illegal smuggling job transporting Chino-Korean immigrants from China to Korea. With the help of his five crewmen, Kang manages to get the immigrants on board his fishing vessel, but as sea fog (the translation of Haemoo) rolls in, Kang’s mission turns into a nightmare of epic proportions. The less said the better!
An extraordinary film, Sung-bo manages to throw adventure, romance, action, horror and black comedy at us, and considering the film pretty much takes place on the confines of a fishing vessel is more than competently shot and directed. Something else to bear in mind as Captain Kang spirals towards madness – Haemoo is based on a true event.