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TIFF ’22: The King’s Horseman

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When the Alaafin (King) of Oyo dies, the Elesin Oba (the King’s Horseman, played by Odunlade Adekola) must accompany him to the afterlife. The people have prepared and as Elesin is on his way to fulfil his duty to his King and his people, he spots a woman (Omowunmi Dada) who he decides to marry before he joins the ancestors. This causes a big enough delay that the British, who are also ruling and have heard about what is to take place, are able to get involved, which throws a wrench in the plan.

The film is based on the play Death and the King’s Horseman by Prof. Wole Soyinka which critiques colonialism and westernisation and was written and directed by the late Mr. Biyi Bandele. It deals with the idea of duty- one’s duty to themselves, their people, their land; and while the film has an outcome that many people will clutch their pearls at, it highlights a ‘war’ of ideologies. What happens when two differing ideologies coexist on a land and clash on a specific issue? Who decides which one is ‘right’? Is it whoever was there first, or whoever has the most power? The hypocrisy that politicking tends to have is also exposed here; claiming to care about human life while actively contributing to a war that kills thousands – for example. With this film, Bandele takes the complexities presented in Soyinka’s play and makes them accessible on the screen.

I am so excited that this film premiered at TIFF and will be coming to Netflix in November. It beautifully
puts the Yoruba culture on display, with the language the dressing, the food, the music and the customs; and brings some of Nigeria’s finest together to bring these characters to life. I see this as a revival of our historical education, an oriki (a praise song or poem recited amongst Yoruba speakers) of sorts, that will let us know where we came from, remind us of who we are and will help us hold our heads high in the world, as I think all art should.

The King’s Horseman premiered at TIFF ’22. For more information, click here.

Blank: Hope Beyond the Front Doors

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It’s always nice to getaway… until you can’t get away.

Now available on VOD/Digital, Blank tells the story of Claire (Rachel Shelley), a desperate writer who rents an A.I. operated getaway for some alone time as she finishes her book. Welcomed by her digital host Henry (Wayne Brady), Claire is to be cared for by Rita (Heida Reed), her robotic assistant who has been programmed to meet her every need. Although, after some unexpected malware infiltrates their programming, Rita and Henry put the entire site on lockdown, preventing Rita from leaving until she ‘finishes her book’. As the situation deteriorates and time drags on, Claire becomes increasingly willing to do anything possible to break free from her forced confinement.

Directed by Natalie Kennedy, Blank is an interesting but ultimately misguided exploration of the toll that isolation takes on the soul. Using the style recently re-popularized by shows like Black Mirror, Blank is meant to be a psychological exploration of our over-reliance on technology. What’s more, with an intriguing premise and some good character work, there’s a lot to like about the film, even if it suffers from glitches with its hardware. 

As Claire’s android hostess Rita, Reed walks a line between terror and comfort. With a dead-eyed stare, there is a soullessness about her character that leaves the viewer unsure of her next action or motivation. At the same time, Wayne Brady provides a calming presence as Henry, the home’s digital host. While his comedic timing is left off grid here, Brady has a natural charisma that makes Henry feel safe, even if there’s no way to guarantee such a thing. 

Nevertheless, if there’s a fault to the film, it (somewhat ironically) lies with the writing. Although the film clocks in at under two hours, Blank simply doesn’t have enough meat to the script justify its runtime. Repetitive dialogue and scene development is meant to feel terrifying and endless yet comes across as frustrating to the viewer. (Frankly, there are only so many times that one can hear Rita tell Claire that she looks distress and offer her the chance to lie down.) In fact, in many ways, the film would’ve worked far more effectively as an episode of Mirror, which usually clocks in between 45 minutes to an hour. 

Now, having said this, Blank is clearly using this style of writing intentionally. Although the film appears to be an examination of our reliance on technology, it’s actually an exploration of pandemic life. Trapped inside this delicate ‘retreat’, Claire had initially prepared herself for some time away from others. As days bleed into months, her place of rest becomes a prison. Each day seems exactly like the previous ten, with no particular end in sight. In this way, the repetitive nature of its writing achieves its goal by highlighting the mental health struggles that have been caused by the global pandemic. 

Interestingly, unlike other ‘pandemic films’ that we’ve seen in recent months, Blank isn’t a story about people looking for connections or relationships. (Quite happy in her solitude, Claire seems to have no such reliance on others.) Instead, it’s a film about freedom. Just like the writer’s block that plagues here, Claire is a woman who is desperately looking for freedom of choice. To her, the highest value is to make her own decisions in the face of oppression and terror, both from her digital prison and her past.  In Blank, hope lies in the ability to choose for yourself how you will live, despite the circumstances.

And it’s always out of reach.

It’s conversations about issues such as this that make Blank an intriguing project. What does freedom look like a world of lockdowns? How do we cope when those choices are taken from us? Unfortunately, when it comes to answers about these sorts of things, the film draws a Blank. Instead, we’re left with an endless cycle of repetitiveness onscreen that leaves us distressed. Even if that is the point of the film, unfortunately it just made me want to lie down.

Blank is available on VOD/Digital on Friday, September 22nd, 2022.

TIFF ’22: Things We Learned

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As always, TIFF ’22 was 10 days of madness! Between endless films, meeting new people and interview ops, the ScreenFish Staff (Steve Norton, Seun Olowo-Ake and Jason Thai) had an amazing experience once again enjoying the Fest! While reviews are still coming in, our team sits down in a special episode of the podcast to discuss the things we learned from TIFF this year + hear from some special guests as well!

To hear our interviews during TIFF ’22, check wherever your favourite podcasts are available or click here.

Monster Mondays: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

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By Ben Dower

The United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Centre’s G-Force unit has built two new battle machines using the futuristic technology found in Mecha-King Ghidorah.  One is an aerial combat vehicle called Garuda, and the second is Mechagodzilla.

On Adonoa Island in the Bering Sea, an unfossilized Pteranodon egg is discovered.  As the research team is preparing to take the egg back to Japan, they are attacked by Rodan.  Suddenly Godzilla emerges from the sea and battles Rodan, killing it.  While the monsters are distracted by their fight, the team flees the island with the egg.

Back in Kyoto, scientist Azusa Gojo (Ryoko Sano) is studying the egg.  Mechagodzilla pilot Kazuma Aoki (Masahiro Takashima), who loves Pteranodons, skips out of work to see the egg.  The egg soon hatches, but instead of a Pteranodon, a Baby Godzilla emerges.

Godzilla appears at Yokkaichi and Mechagodzilla is dispatched.  A replacement pilot has to be found last minute for Kazuma, much to the frustration of his co-pilots.  Mechagodzilla battles Godzilla, but is defeated.  Godzilla heads to the Kyoto facility where Baby Godzilla is being kept.  Unable to get to the infant in the basement of the facility, Godzilla heads out to sea.

Psychic Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka) has found that some prehistoric ferns on Baby Godzilla’s egg shell contained some sort of psychic song.  She has a group of girls from an ESP centre sing the song for Baby Godzilla, but it seems to only agitate him.  On Adonoa Island, however, the song has revived Rodan.

A plan is made to use Baby Godzilla to lure Godzilla to a remote island where he can be killed by Mechagodzilla.  As part of the plan, Miki will be needed on Mechagodzilla to locate Godzilla’s secondary brain in his spine.  Miki and Azusa object to the plan, but are overruled.

Azusa gets clearance to travel in the container with Baby Godzilla by helicopter, but the helicopter is suddenly attacked by Rodan.  The container is taken to Chiba by the monster, who then tries to break it open to get Baby Godzilla out.  Mechagodzilla and Garuda are sent, and Rodan is seriously injured.  Before Azusa and Baby Godzilla can be freed from the container, however, Godzilla emerges.

Despite feeling uncomfortable with the plan, Miki helps Mechagodzilla kill Godzilla.  Hearing Godzilla’s cries, Baby Godzilla calls out.  Rodan awakens and sacrifices himself, transferring his remaining energy into Godzilla.  Godzilla revives, super-charged, and destroys Mechagodzilla.  He then collects Baby Godzilla and the two monsters head out to sea.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II is arguably one of the best Godzilla movies of the Heisei series, packed with likable characters, a fun story, great special effects, and a lot of monster action.  It also brings back three classic Toho monsters: Mechagodzilla, Rodan and Minya, here reimagined as the much more grounded Baby Godzilla.

Takao Okawara was given the director’s chair once again, and Wataru Mimura was given the writing duties.  Mimura’s story is fun and engaging, keeping a great balance between the human characters and their monster co-stars, something helped by the inclusion of Baby Godzilla within those more human-oriented scenes.

Akira Ifukube also returns to score his third Heisei Godzilla movie, and he delivers a fatastic soundtrack.  Not only are his classic Godzilla and Rodan themes back, but he also writes brand new themes for Baby Godzilla and Mechagodzilla.  His theme for Mechagodzilla is particularly good, balancing the sense of power and weight of the robot with the wonder such a device should inspire.  Another standout piece is the music for Godzilla’s battle with Rodan on Adonoa island, which alternates beautifully between Godzilla’s theme and Rodan’s theme as the monsters clash.

Mechagodzilla is a truly fantastic update of the character.  Rather than being built by alien invaders this time around, the film takes the more rational route and has Mechagodzilla produced on Earth as an anti-Godzilla weapon.  The idea of using the technology found in Mecha-King Ghidorah is a really good one as it helps explain how this high-tech super-weapon was able to be built in 1994.  Mechagodzilla is less angular than his 1970s counterpart in this film, and moves a lot slower and more robotic, giving a real impression of weight and strength.

Thematically, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II isn’t all that deep.  Though the theme of the film is stated outright by one of the characters rather awkwardly as “life against artificial life”, the movie really seems to be addressing the value of life.  When it is decided that Baby Godzilla will be used as an “asset” to lure Godzilla, Azusa remarks that he is not just an asset, but a living being.  Miki also has reservations about the plan to kill Godzilla, and though she ultimately does what her superiors command, it’s clear she feels great guilt for her role in it.

Toho had Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II dubbed into English in Hong Kong and the film was released to VHS in North America in 1999 by Columbia TriStar Home Video.  This release was an English dubbed full screen version of the film that cut off the end credits, which featured video of Godzilla and Baby Godzilla swimming out to sea.  The film was later released on DVD in 2005 in widescreen with both the English dubbed audio track and the Japanese audio, though the English subtitles provided on the disc are based on the dubbing rather than a proper translation of the Japanese dialogue.  There appears to have been another English dub produced for the film as well, though it doesn’t seem to have been released.

In 2014, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II was released to Blu-ray in a double-feature set with Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla(1994) by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Both films get their own disc, and are presented in widescreen with the original Japanese audio and English dub as audio options.  The full end credits are also preserved this time, though translated into English.  Unfortunately the subtitles are largely based off the dub again.  The DVD and Blu-ray releases appear to still be available.

Carmen – Throwing off repression

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“God isn’t evil. God is very tired, and when we are tired we make big mistakes.”

Carmen, written and directed by Valerie Buhagiar, is a story of both repression and awakening. Some people are silenced, but may have blessings to share if allowed to be heard. When things seem the darkest, it may be that something new will dawn.

In Malta, the tradition has been that when a man becomes a priest, his sister follows him to the rectory to serve as his housekeeper. Carmen (Natascha McElhone) has been doing this since she was sixteen. She has had no real life other than servitude. She is not allowed to find love, or to grow as a person.

When her brother dies, she has nowhere to go. The monsignor offers her only platitudes of a great reward in heaven. (But, of course, she must die first.) The sister of the incoming priest is pushing Carmen out so she can be in charge. She manages to sneak a key to the church, and sleeps there. When one day she is sitting in the confessional, a woman comes in and thinks it is the new priest. Carmen replies with wisdom. Others follow, celebrating the way this new priest handles things, even though he never holds mass.

When Carmen takes some of the church fixtures into the city to pawn, she meets Paulo, a handsome young man who is helpful. Carmen begins to discard her old life (symbolized by a change of clothes). Now she begins to expand her view of what her life can be. But she also is discovering that she has something to share with the world other than keeping her brother happy. She longs to ring the church bell, but that too is restricted to men.

We might be tempted to dismiss this as a relic of a tradition in an isolated situation. But it serves as a reminder of many ways that women have been silenced and oppressed through the years. And the fact that we see Carmen coming to life by doing the forbidden act of hearing confessions is a reminder that the church has culpability in that oppression. For Carmen (and in time, the community) this act exemplifies the importance of being empowered to exercise one’s gifts.

A part of her wisdom is seen in the quotation above. Given her circumstances, she might well have come to view God less than kind. She does not want others to reject God, rather she wants them to understand that perhaps God is just overwhelmed with us all. It’s easier to accept a God who may make a mistake from time to time, than for him to not care about us.

I found it interesting that each step that Carmen takes towards her awakening is preceded by a pigeon leading her someplace. The dove (a cousin to pigeons) has long been a sign of the Spirit. The Spirit, even if not the church, enable those who follow to do God’s work in new and exciting ways.

Carmen is in select theaters and on VOD.

Photos courtesy of Good Deed Entertainment.