ISSUE ONE MARCH 13
THE MAGAZINE FOR CULT & INDIE FILMS
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C O N T
005 - 006
007 - 008
009 -
Oldboy Mysterious Skin
Donnie Darko
E N T S
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011 - 012
013 - 014
Thirteen
Requiem For a Dream
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Mysterious Skin Words by Sean Robinson
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A
n early film for Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mysterious skin deals out taboo subjects at almost every turn. Despite the unflinching and unapologetic look into paedophilia, gay relationships and the sex trade, this film never presents itself as just a twisted ideal. Surprisingly engaging if not somewhat uncomfortable at times, Mysterious skin delivers an emotionally charging and character driven tale that despite encompassing these events, isn’t solely reliant on the shock it’s set to cause. You truly will be brought into this piece of unprecedented film making, and are left, at the very least, with a new found respect for GordonLevitt’s diverse skill on screen.
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OLDBOY
TARTAN ASIA EXTREME Words by Lottie Fox
“Violent and disgusting, yet mesmerizing and poetic. Oldboy is one of the most incredible films South Korea has to offer perhaps even the world.”
O
ldboy is a beautifully disgusting South Korean film, directed by Chan-Wook Park. Revenge, violence and salvation are themes which are heavily explored in this mesmerizing film.
A middle aged man, ‘Oh Dae-Su’ is kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years without any explanation, when he is released he has five days to find his captor. Oldboy is a powerfully poetic film; Oh Dae-Su describes the world as a bigger prison, and at the beginning of the film the audience is presented with the quote ‘Be it a grain of sand or a rock, in water they sink the same’, which is a reflection of the main character not knowing whether he did something big or small in order to be locked up. But my favourite quote which is repeated several times in the film is ‘Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep and you will weep alone’- just beautiful. Oldboy is full of extreme violence and disturbing scenes; even though the plot may sound simple, it is told in such a sophisticated manner and as the story unravels many twists and turns are unleashed on the unsuspecting audience.
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“A thought provoking masterpiece”
Do
onnie Darko
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Words by Lottie Fox
“Drenched in emotion, beauty & surrealism”
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thought provoking masterpiece, Donnie Darko is a superb mix of time-travel, dark humour and a love story. Set in late 1980’s America, it is a pasquinade on high school and suburban life with an added dose of surrealism. Directed by Richard Kelly, Donnie – played by Jake Gyllenhaal – is a seventeen year old boy who suffers from a psychological condition, much like schizophrenia. In a medication-induced daze, we watch Donnie meet Frank, a giant rabbit, who predicts the apocalypse. Frank saves Donnie from a grizzly demise and he has to come to terms with the purpose of his existence and the haunting notion that the world is going to end unless he intervenes. Donnie is lead down a path of terrifying oblivion, filled with doom, therapists and strange – but significant – characters. Donnie Darko concludes in the most beautifully mind-bending way and the last few stunning lines mark the end to a film drenched in emotion, beauty and surrealism;
“I can only hope that the answers will come to me in my sleep. I hope that when the world comes to an end I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will be so much to look forward to.”
It is a film about heroism, sacrifice and the apprehension of everyday life and it leaves itself wide open to interpretation.
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“Heart wrenching and almost unbearable to watch”
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uelled by adolescent energy, ‘Thirteen’ is a harrowing tale of sex, drugs and crime. This coming of age drama, looks straight through the eyes of a thirteen year old girl who is desperate to fit in. The film throws you straight in to the deep end, beginning with a shocking scene of two young girls, Evie ( Nikki Reed ) and Tracy ( Evan Rachel Wood) hitting each other in the face, laughing hysterically, while inhaling pressurized air from a can. Partly biographical, ‘Thirteen’ was co written by director Catherine Hardwicke and Nikki Reed. Reed was just thirteen herself when she wrote the screenplay which is based around her own childhood. Broke Tracy, is ecstatic when she is befriended by the sexy and popular Evie. But she is soon to find out that Evie is an emotional wreck who has
turned to drugs, sex and shoplifting to fill the void. Desperate Tracy drops her good girl image and joins Evie on her exciting, drug fuelled adventure. This hard-hitting drama is a disturbing look into the so called ‘wonder years’ of adolescence – making you ask yourself what is wonderful about it at all. Evie manipulates her way into Tracy’s hard-working,single mother’s home, which doubles as a makeshift hair salon. Tracy and Evie are soon rooting through the customers purses, taking anything they can without a care in the world. The film always seems to be building towards a confrontation, and when it delivers, it is even more dramatic and explosive than anticipated. For what is such a simple plot, the film is never dull – even though throughout, the colour de saturates more and more as Tracy’s world spirals downwards. This is such a subtle touch
Thirteen
to the film, but adds to the despair, and sadness Tracy and her family are feeling which is transferred to the audience. The ending of the film, after the climax and twist has come to light, is so heart wrenching and almost unbearable to watch. Tracey’s mother holds her on the kitchen floor, kissing her slashed wrist - another topic Thirteen delves into, showing the teen taking a blade to her own arm as a realease of all the anger she posseses. Tracey and her mother fall asleep together and the colour is gradually restored, not only in the
film but also in the lives of the characters who have been damaged. Thirteen is a controversial look at the lives of young teens and disturbingly, for some adolescents, it is spot on. Words by Lottie Fox
“Fueled by adolescent energy�
RequiemForaDream
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ronofsky’s emotionally intense, and visually cutting drama, details four Coney islanders’ addictions as their habits relentlessly accelerate out of control and down a masochistic path of destruction. Even the narrative itself creeps upon the entwining lives of the elderly Mrs Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn), her reckless, fiend of a son Harry (Jared Leto), his tragically naïve girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly) and best friend Tyrone, (Marlon Wayans) as they delve into a drug induced world of utopian highs. But along with the highs come the chronic lows, slowly choking their lives to the depths of insanity and human degradation, climaxing into a cinematic assault that makes Trainspotting comparable to a Richard Curtis romcom. The story lends itself to the desperation of Harry and Tyrone’s pursuit of building a drugs empire, that will finally unleash the inner potential they each possess. Believing only circumstance has led them to the lives they lead they soon find that although delusions of grandeur fill their minds, the reality of themselves, as themselves, makes any potential almost laughable, as each pathetic scheme only achieves a heavier use of the substances they crave. Dragged into this almost never-ending cycle,
“a frighteningly effective piece of cinema.”
“makes Trainspotting comparable to a Richard Curtis romcom.” is the beautiful Marion, introduced to drugs by her boyfriend, she watches her own ambition to become a designer, evaporate in a haze of an equally suffocating addiction. The most heart wrenching aspect of these dire tales of addiction is that of Harry’s mother. Sara, having received the news she could appear on her favourite game show, she decides to take the then legal amphetamine diet pills so she can fit into a dress made special by her late husband. Treated by a negligent doctor, her sanity slowly slides away from her. With no one to help, and treated with an increasing lack of respect she finally ends up institutionalised, with almost tortuous consequences. The staggering performances of all involved, most notably Ellen Burstyn, rise this movie above a showcase of sadistic suffering delivered by one’s own hand, into that of a darkly believable peek into the causality and resonating effects of such an existence. Masterfully directing the audience into how the character’s feel, or want to feel, or fear to feel. Couple this with Aronofsky’s execution of a visually powerful style that commands every second, Requiem for a Dream is, without a doubt, a frighteningly effective piece of cinema.
Words by Sean Robinson