Hazel (2012)

Flamboyant, quirky, funny, provoking and original – all of those adjective are a perfect fit for the 2012 short film from Switzerland Hazel. Provoking as it focuses on the same sex attraction of a young boy. It’s a turn of events that absolutely terrifies his mother, who attempts everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) to scare the gay away from her precious child – including sessions with a dreadful child-psychiatrist.

Hazel’s production design is top notch. Bright colors, carefully arranged scenes and great costumes (as if coming straight from a Benetton Kids commercial) result in a vibrant visual theme bursting with energy. The lush visuals and exaggerated characters create an extravagant atmosphere, which sets a tone for the film, while at the same time wrapping it in a humorous layer of caricature similar to that of colorful action comics. Such an approach to cinematography is often seen in the French and Belgium cinema (Toto the Hero is a film that comes to mind), and I was not surprised to see it in a production coming from Switzerland.

The musical score is adeptly applied and features songs such as Miriam Makeba‘s Pata Pata, accompanying the cheerful dance of the young protagonist, and the infamous song Mama, by the former child-singer and actor Heintje Simons (which will please many admirers of the treble voice).

Maxime Mori‘s performance in the role of Hazel is both charming and convincing. The viewer is allowed to peak into his world through his own eyes and many will end up sympathizing with his character and his quest for self-expression and acceptance.

Some scenes in the film aim to shock the viewer, others to provoke laughter and to entertain. But behind the pleasant visuals, one should not miss the drama of a kid who is forbidden to be who he really is.

Hazel (2012)

In short

Flamboyant, quirky, funny, provoking and original.

4.5

OUR REVIEW

Barbie Boy (Short film, 2014)

Writer and director Nick Corporon is a name to watch out for if you enjoy movies that focus on gender issues and sexual orientation. His work is largely crowd-funded and made to professional standards that rival those of corporate productions. At the time of writing, his first full-length feature Retake is about to première at the acclaimed San Francisco LGBT film festival.

Corporon’s 2014 short Barbie Boy is a delight. The eponymous boy is seven year-old Bobby who, as the title suggests, loves playing with his Barbie doll. His parents are tolerant of this quirk but, while his mother is entirely non-judgmental, his dad finds it hard to hide his disapproval. When he tactfully explains to Bobby that dolls are for girls and that he should probably keep his playing with them private, the boy starts asking himself some searching questions.

Filmed, edited and acted to near perfection, Trent Carlton makes a particularly strong début as Bobby.

This film has a special connection for me because I used to play with dolls as a boy too (albeit a couple of years younger than Bobby). My parents also accepted this as natural. It wasn’t until several years later that my grandma told me that my mum used to have an Action Man (GI Joe) when she was a girl!

Barbie Boy’s storyline is straightforward but it packs many issues into its 13 minutes. Gender roles, peer pressure, societal norms and growing up are all addressed in what is nevertheless a light-hearted film. It doesn’t try to make any noble political statement and, in fact, its non-presumptuous presentation is for me its greatest strength. It’s just beautifully observed and brimming with empathy.

The whole film is available to watch on Nick Corporon’s Vimeo channel.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2308491/

Hochhaus (2006)

Nikias Chryssos`s 2006 short film Hochhaus (Tower Block) offers a grim portrayal of an urban jungle in Germany where 12-year-old Daniel and his older brother Patrick have to resort to unconventional methods to earn money. Having raised his younger brother, Patrick feels as if he owns Daniel’s life and treats him with sadistic cruelty.

The young boy is forced to beg or do humiliating acts to amuse his older sibling, and his only salvation is the imaginary world he creates in his mind. It’s a world filled with Cowboys and Indians, in which even the junkie he accidentally meets during one of his begging trips achieves an almost heroic aura to Daniel and can be relied on for friendship.

Despite being a German film, Hockhaus has the characteristic of an art work inspired by Italian Neo-realism. It was shot on location and focuses on oppression and injustice, with the protagonist living in difficult economic and moral conditions. Some of the scenes are rather harsh to watch as the action and the talented acting performances, especially the expressions of the young Paul Preuss as Daniel, evoke a strong range of feelings in the viewer: from sadness to anger, but also from hope to despair at times.

Hochhaus is essentially a Coming-of-Age film as well, having a young character as lead protagonist with a strong emphasis on the effects of his surroundings on his personality. Despite living with his brother, Daniel is lonely – living in isolation. The boy’s parents are missing (it never becomes clear why), and Daniel is obviously in need of mentoring, of a father–figure and a friend. For a while, he creates and lives in an imaginary world in which a random junkie (who desperately needs help himself) becomes a person to look up to.

It’s not a crowd–pleaser, but the poignant and distressing Hochhaus is a film well worth one’s time and attention.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0481541/combined

The Jungle Book (2016)

In 1967, Disney released a dumbed-down animated adaptation of Rudyard Kipling‘s Mowgli books: The Jungle Book. It’s not widely regarded as one of their greatest animated features and, indeed, by today’s standards it looks like the period piece that it is. But it was one of my favourite films as a child and I now realize that it was seminal to my interest in vintage cinema.

Some have suggested that the only reason for its enduring popularity lies in its being Walt Disney’s swansong (he died during post-production). I disagree. While it undoubtedly benefited from Disney’s personal input, having that intangible charm their subsequent animations lack, for me it was the musical score by the Sherman brothers (who also did Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Aristocats and other classics) that made the film outstanding. Even today, most kids in the western world can at least hum the tune of The Bare Necessities and I Wanna Be Like You. I rest my case.

This is the tale of orphaned Indian boy Mowgli, a feral child raised by a pack of wolves. The tiger Shere Khan sniffs out the “man cub” and vows to kill him. The pack decide that the child will have to return to the “man village” both for their safety and his own.

It’s a story that, in one sense, needed dumbing-down. The imagery and underlying message of Kipling’s original books looks imperialistic, if not downright racist, in today’s world. But in deodorizing the politics, Disney threw out some of the darker aspects of the tale: the struggle in the pecking order of the animals and that between the beasts and mankind. He even turned the vultures, terrifying creatures in the Mowgli books, into a caricature of The Beatles. While, obviously, I still love the merry romp that resulted, I was hoping for more from this year’s lavish re-make.

In many ways it delivers. The CGI is amazing with animation so convincing that one really does suspend disbelief and find oneself in a jungle full of talking animals. The production uses this to great effect. It is at times beautifully cute, at others truly scary – perhaps too much so for smaller children.

I should add that, being virtually blind in one eye, I can’t comment on the 3D effect. I can only relay the feedback I overheard from some of the younger members of the audience, and that was mixed – ranging from “F’ing awesome” to “Pretty lame.” I still believe that 3D cinema is an ephemeral gimmick, but then I live in a world of two dimensions.

The voicing and characterization are excellent too. But it was Neel Sethi as Mowgli, the only live-action character in the film, who stood out for me. This must have been a singularly difficult role to play, even for an experienced adult actor, but young Neel handles it so persuasively that you forget that the whole thing is an illusion. He was perfectly cast here, but I get the impression that his talent is far broader. He looks like a star in the making.

I don’t know how well this film will transfer to the TV screen. I recommend catching it at the theater while you have the chance.

Yet, for all its brilliance, this production lacks a certain soul for me. I found the nostalgic references to the songs from the original rather wistful (and not a patch on the 1967 versions). And, stunning though it is, it felt at times like the visual equivalent of Canderel – convincingly sweet, but overly so; artificially so.

I grew up with early CGI pieces like Toy Story and Babe. State-of-the-art then, they look pretty primitive now, but I miss their simplicity. I left the cinema yearning for the technical innocence of yesteryear. I longed for some back-to-basics hand-drawn animation.

On my return home I put on the original 1967 version. I found myself enjoying it even more.

The Jungle Book (2016)

In short

Convincing and impressive CGI re-make of the Disney classic.

5

OUR RATING

Where to Watch

Amazon Video

Amazon DVD

The Newcomers (2000)

The Newcomers is an American family drama telling the story of a 12-year-old boy named Sam Docherty (played by Christopher McCoy) whose family moves from Boston to Vermont in search of a calmer, more wholesome life. Victimized by bullies in Boston, Sam discovers that the small town boys in his new hometown don’t like newcomers, and he has to struggle to win their acceptance and friendship.

The story is not very plausible, for it so eagerly aims to inspire moral values in its audience that it often achieves the opposite result — making positive characters appear overly dorky and insincere. Though the actors have tried their best to overcome this, they haven’t been able to make the stereotypical characters come to life. In some scenes, the acting looks so phony that it becomes irritating. Thank God for the calming musical score which, while overused, fits very well into the traditional Hallmark movie stylistic.

On the positive side, one gets to see nostalgic references to the 80s such as Walkmans and huge computer screens. At one point you can hear Sam announcing that he is going to “Surf the Internet”. Granted, some people may find enjoyment in that memorabilia itself. Another positive is the abundance of heartwarming “boy and his dog” scenes which, while clichéd, one will find hard to dislike.

I found the ending amateurish, featuring wipe and dissolve transactions so obvious it’s as if a kid had edited the film using Windows Movie Maker.

That would not have bothered me as much if the story was less predictable and more engaging. Yet I found myself picking out all the technical imperfections in the film in an effort to make it feel worth my time spent watching it.

The Newcomers is marketed as a family movie and it may indeed fill someone’s lazy Sunday afternoon. But while appropriate for all ages, most ages will find it hard to sit through. And, if you somehow do manage to hold your breath waiting for a surprising plot twist at the end, you’re out of luck as the finale is as trivial, preachy and fake as any I have ever seen in a movie. Do yourself a favor and skip this film all together.

The Newcomers Trailer

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0221431/combined

The Newcomers (2000)

In short

A bullied boy's family moves from Boston to Vermont in search of a calmer, more wholesome life.

0.9

OUR RATING

WHERE TO BUY

AMAZON

Did Michael Knight End the Cold War? (2009)

A co-production of Germany and Czechoslovakia, Did Michael Knight End The Cold War? is an intriguing student’s short film telling the story of Jachym, a young boy obsessed with the hero of the TV series Knight Rider.

The action is set in the last years of the Communist regime and the film’s atmosphere bears a lot of resemblance to films produced in the eastern bloc before 1989, which is likely to evoke nostalgia in some viewers.

The most impressive scenes of the film are the ones focusing on Jachym and his heroic bike stunts. This is due to dramatic camerawork and Indiana Jones themed musical score. The addition of documentary footage helps in setting the film in the proper time frame.

Yet the film’s story loses its appeal after a while. This could have been remedied by a better written ending. As it is, one learns little from Did Michael Knight End The Cold War? regarding the changes that brought democracy to Czechoslovakia as the movie only showcases the adventures/mindset of the main protagonist.

The acting is decent and so are the camerawork and the score. It’s just too bad the storyline isn’t more captivating.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615443/combined

A Boy Called Dad (2009)

After a casual, fumbling encounter with classmate Leanne, 14 year-old Robbie becomes a father. But only in the biological sense: she doesn’t want to know him or him to know the child.

Robbie longs to meet the baby, but does nothing to confront the situation.

Then, in a chance encounter, Robbie meets his own long-estranged father. They bond right away and the scene is set for a great story about adolescence and father/son relationships.

This is a film I’ve seen numerous times, as I use it in social and health education classes with young people around Robbie’s age. I never tire of it, and teenagers love it. Although it has appeal to all ages, the story is pitched at older children – despite the ridiculous 15 classification. (Yes, it contains strong language, but nothing you wouldn’t hear in a typical playground.)

It’s hilarious from the outset (“It’s OK, it’s a safe day.” “What, Monday?”) but this is a comi-tragedy in which Robbie learns that the father he has just begun to love again is a compulsive liar and loser. And when he finally plucks up courage to approach Leanne and meet his infant son, they are disturbed by her older hard-man boyfriend. With no one to turn to, Robbie is left angry and broken. Angry broken adolescents do some weird stuff, but what happens next leaves the audience sharply divided. Well, adult audiences at least.

Robbie snatches his son and runs for the hills.

Some viewers find this unbelievable or just plain silly. Others think it’s a wasted opportunity: writer Julie Rutherford should have developed the story of the relationship between Robbie and his dad. Either way, it’s the death of a potentially good film. But I’ve yet to meet a teenager who feels this way. Deep down, young people know how impulsive and short-sighted they can be in times of stress and panic. Although it’s about half a lifetime ago for me, I still remember what it’s like to be 14 too – and I find the plot perfectly plausible.

The Boy Called Dad Trailer

Whatever one’s reaction, the quality of the acting here is undeniable. I don’t know what became of Kyle Ward, but his début portrayal of Robbie is one of the most convincing and touching I’ve seen. Seasoned character actor Ian Hart (Harry Potter, Finding Neverland) is cast in type for once as the rough ‘n’ ready Scouse father, and his performance is superb. Even the bit parts are acquitted with a finesse that is remarkable for a film made on a £1M budget (barely shoestring by today’s standards).

Those stumped by the abduction aspect must still surely admit that the ending is a work of genius. Without going into detail, this is a rare case of an unsentimental tear-jerker.

The music and songs in the soundtrack fit the theme well. Strong cinematography and editing provide the icing on the cake.

Although I don’t dismiss the views of those who find it fundamentally flawed, I love this film and couldn’t recommend it too highly.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1433514/combined

A Boy Called Dad (2009)

In short

A great story about adolescence and father/son relationships. Though some feel its flawed, the reviewer can't recommend this film more highly.

4.3

OUR SCORE

Where to get

Amazon

James (2015)

Inventively mixing elements of childhood fantasy and real life, Kyle McCauley‘s short film James offers a unique insight into the mind of a young boy dealing with bullies and family issues. The movie impressed with its approach, including commentary on social reality through the use of indirections (metaphors and allegories), and through the usage of well-crafted visual and sound effects.

The special effects reminds one of the American animated TV series Voltron: Defender of the Universe, or more recently Transformers, in 2007. This guarantees an appeal to younger audiences who, while they may not pick on the dramatic layers of meaning the story holds, will enjoy the amazing visuals.

At times, the story leaves the audience confused, as it appears the action is often left open to interpretation. This is especially true regarding the role that James parents play in his life. It is possible that some viewers will disapprove of fantasy as a form of escapism when facing real problems. The best way to decide if you like the film, once having found out about it, is to watch it now.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4287232/combined

Out of the Darkness (1985)

By the 1980s there were kids’ shows on TV on Saturday mornings and the traditional cinema matinée was dead. The Children’s Film Foundation was on the rocks. The unkindest cut must have been that no one really missed it. The quality of television drama aimed at their target audience had risen exponentially during the 70s; the reels of Blytonesque japes that had once drawn pre-teens in droves to the box office now looked tired and formalistic.

If the CFF was to survive, then they had to up their game. In a series of 80s made-for-television films they did just that and, of the ones I’ve seen, Out of the Darkness is by far the best.

I’ve described it elsewhere as possibly the greatest kids’ horror film ever made. I say that in the context of its being a 1985 TV movie, of course: they had neither the funds nor the technology to make The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Given the available resources, though, this is a jolly good show, chaps!

A ghost story set against the stunning backdrop of the Derbyshire Peak District, Out of the Darkness is Stephen King for kids – and seriously spooky.

The Neil family have inherited a run-down cottage near the isolated Derbyshire village of Eyam. Mrs Neil, her children, Mike and Penny along with their friend Tom travel down to check it out. Tom immediately feels a strange connection with the derelict house. Soon he starts hearing disturbing voices, including that of a young boy desperately crying out to him.

That night, Tom sees a boy in the garden. He looks distressed – and why does he have a bell around his neck?

Mike and Penny tease Tom about all this, putting it down to his over-active imagination, until Penny, too, starts having unnerving visions, leaving Mike strangely out on a limb.

It’s only when the proprietors of their guest house tell the children about the plague that hit Eyam and the villagers’ horrific treatment of an 11-year-old boy that it all starts to make chilling sense…

The back-story is a historical fact

All the more creepy is that the back-story is historical fact, making the tale educational to boot.

Technically speaking, this is not a great film. It’s palpably low-budget and only the timelessness of the Derbyshire scenery saves it from looking more dated than it does. The inexperience of the young cast members shows through too, though that somehow adds to the charm of it. None of them aspired to a career in acting (though Gary Halliday [Tom] went on to become a film director). They were just regular kids who, thankfully, had authentic accents. It would have ruined it to have plummy-mouthed drama-school luvvies trying to “sound like wot they do oop north, like,” (a mistake the CFF made in several previous productions.)

The adult performances are all strong, though, and the cinematography exploits the remarkable location to the full.

What makes this gem outstanding for me is the way the story draws in the audience and demands a connection with the characters – Tom in particular, much as he feels connected to the mysterious ghost-boy. It’s hard to define how it manages this, but that’s why it sends such a shiver down the spine when he ends up in paranormal trouble.

I was about 10 when I first saw Out of the Darkness and it was looking rather creaky even then. But that didn’t matter: for me it was an unforgettable experience. Even now, watching it through a critical adult eye, I find it an awesome production. Having discussed it on online forums in my search for a good copy, I have discovered that I am far from the only one who feels that way.

Clip from Out of the Darkness

John Hoyland’s novella The Ivy Garland, on which the story is based, is worth reading too, but see the film first to dodge the spoilers.

I’m sure it won’t work for everyone, but if you like the concept then I strongly recommend you give this film a try.

After years of unavailability, Out of the Darkness is now on sale to European (Region 2) customers as part of an inexpensive CFF box-set called Scary Stories on Amazon UK. North American viewers may have to be more creative in their search.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0272766/combined

Believe (2013)

During the 1950s, Manchester United manager Matt Busby built the club into a top-flight team by nurturing a squad of young talented players. Such was the strength of the bond between them and their manager that they became known as Busby’s Babes.

Tragedy struck in February 1958 on their return home from a European cup match. Their plane crashed on take-off at Zurich airport. Eight of the players were killed, several others were too badly injured to ever play again. Only one, Bobby Charlton, ever made a full return to form, and even he lost all his hair in the months following the disaster.

Busby himself almost died in the crash but, against the odds, recovered to re-build the team. It went on to win the FA and European Cups the following decade under his management. Later knighted, he is widely hailed as the greatest British football manager in the history of the game.

A remarkable story worth a film adaptation

Without doubt, this tragic but remarkable story is worthy of a film adaptation. A sub-standard attempt was made in a 2011 television drama called United, which is best forgotten. Believe, a fictional account of Busby in his twilight years managing an unlikely squad of Mancunian ragamuffins to cup-winning form, is clearly pitched as a worthy tribute to Sir Matt and there is much about the film for me to like.

I mean, I’m a soccer fan. I’m a fan of independent British cinema. I love the city of Manchester and little engages me more than a good Coming-of-Age drama. Despite all that, Believe just doesn’t do it for me.

I warn you now that this review contains spoilers. I normally try to avoid them, but Believe is so predictable that I don’t think telling you what happens will spoil much at all. But if you’d rather watch the film first, then please stop here.

Jack Smith as Georgie Gallagher in Believe (2013)

The plot’s premise is promising. 11-year-old Georgie is a working-class tear-away with a passion and talent for soccer. He’s also academically bright, and his widowed mother thinks sport should take a back-seat to his education. She’s pushing him into trying for a scholarship at a top Manchester private school. Like most posh English schools, their game is rugby. And like most posh English schoolboys, they are snobs. Georgie is picked on for his social background from his first visit there.

But the headmaster is under pressure to enroll boys from less fortunate homes and offers to tutor Georgie personally for the exam. It’s clear that this is going to involve a lot of hard work and will conflict with his ambition to form a seven-a-side football team, train and enter them into a youth cup competition.

That’s what makes this film so darn frustrating. It could have been so good. But instead, cue the stinger: there’s an entrance fee for the cup competition and none of the kids has any money. So Georgie (bless his little cotton socks) snatches a rich-looking old guy’s wallet. The old guy just happens to be Sir Matt Busby, who sets off in hot pursuit.

Of course you’d never guess that he catches up with Georgie playing football in the street… And, seeing the boy’s potential, offers to train and manage their team instead of calling the police.

The irony of the film’s title is that this is one of the most unbelievable pieces of contrived schmaltz ever dramatized. And it only gets worse from there on.

Lifted straight from Billy Elliot

Another thing that annoys me about Believe is its presumption to allude to some truly great British films about young people, as though implying that it’s up there with them. The working-class kid with a frustrated talent who finds it hard to cope on a visit to a posh school is lifted straight from Billy Elliot. The widowed mother and delinquent fatherless child theme (along with the 1980s reggae/Two-Tone soundtrack) was done infinitely better in This is England. Above all, the whole idea is leached without credit from the unassuming 1965 kids’ B-movie Cup Fever: not the greatest picture ever made, but it least it featured Matt Busby in real life.

The biggest problem with the story is the character of Georgie. The whole thing hangs on the audience caring about him and rooting for him. Now, I’m the most forgiving person I know when it comes to kid characters. Where many people found Oskar in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close intensely annoying, I thought he was adorable. The same was true of Evan in August Rush. Hell, I even have a soft-spot for Eleanor H. Porter’s Pollyanna and Nelson Muntz from The Simpsons. But Georgie Gallagher? Well, I’m sorry…

This is a kid who mugs old men in the street. Who steals his struggling mother’s savings (which she had put aside to fund his schooling). Who burgles the house of his own tutor. Who, when it comes to the crunch, turns his back on the team to which he is supposedly devoted because Matt Busby has not revealed his full identity. And what’s his excuse? That people have lied to him – a thief and spineless woos, if you ask me.

When he missed a penalty in the qualifying game, I felt it served the horrible little brat right. And when he scored the winning penalty in the final (never guess that was going to happen, would you?) it left me cold. Frankly, my dear, I couldn’t give a damn.

Credit where it’s due

Credit where it’s due: young Jack Smith tried his best to make Georgie cute enough to tug at the heart-strings and made a strong showing in his acting début. But he had an impossible task for me.

In other performances, Brian Cox is excellent as Sit Matt Busby, but he’s again let down by the schmaltzy script, which sees him drifting off into clichéd monologues about belief being the key to success in sport. I’m sure Sir Matt in real life knew that’s piffle. Belief may play its part, but the key to success is hard work and dedication and in neither of those does little Georgie excel.

Otherwise, the acting is disappointing. I like Natascha McElhone, she’s a good actress, but she was hopelessly miscast as Georgie’s mother. She just doesn’t have a struggling northern mother in her repertoire. And while, as I’ve noted, Jack Smith shows real promise in the key role, the other youngsters were clearly selected for their talents in football rather than acting. Toby Stephens as the headmaster plays the part as a piece of high camp pantomime which I couldn’t work out at all: it’s totally out of kilter with the rest of the film.

Believe won the Best Children’s Film award at the 2013 Zurich Film Festival, but that’s voted for (quite rightly) by kids themselves. I have no doubt that children love this film and don’t deny that they’re the audience it’s aimed at. But I don’t believe there’s such a thing as a good kids’ film. There are good films, and some good films appeal especially to children. A film that relies on its audience’s immaturity to miss the glaring plot-holes, weak acting and poor direction is simply a poor film.

That’s a shame, because I truly wanted to like it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2009606/combined

Believe (2013)

OUR REVIEW

A waste of a good idea. I can hear Sir Matt Busby turning in his grave at this insult of a tribute.

1.5

RATING

Where to watch

On Demand

DVD

The Kitchen Toto (1987)

Written and directed by Harry Hook, Kitchen Toto is a 1987 drama which focuses on particularly turbulent times during the British colonial rule of Kenya and the Kikuyu tribe uprising that sparked the aspirations of independence for the African nation. The film’s covert art and promotional materials are likely to convince potential viewers that the film would feature strong Coming-of-Age motifs. But, alas, even if such intentions were suggested, they were never fully realized.

The storytelling style in Kitchen Toto is likely to appeal to audiences looking for a more fact based, linear narrative. Despite the fact that one gets a pretty good idea of the situation in Kenya during the 1950 Kikuyu uprising, the character development in the film is only superficial. This leaves the viewer in the role of passive observer detached from the character’s turmoil and life choice.

Those same detachments unambiguously affects the performance of the main protagonist – 12-year-old Mwangi (Edwin Mahinda). A child suddenly torn from his family — expected to make adult-like decisions and judgements – is a character that should have grabbed the attention and hearts of the viewer, making one genuinely care. But that chance for a poignant rite-of-passage development gets lost in the mediocre script.

The fact that the film is from 1987 doesn’t justify the stiffness of the actors, despite the fact that similar formal performances are to be found in many British movies from that period. If only the filmmakers had established a more dramatic story development – such as a better emphasis on the relationship between Mwangi and Edward (Ronald Pirie), who is the police chief’s son, the story could have felt much more poignant. Even so, it probably wouldn’t have reached the poignancy level of Mark Herman‘s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which is a great example of how to intrigue and captivate the audience while recalling an important historical event.

On the positive side, the film score does highlight the atmosphere of the film, at least when considering its faux-documentary stylistics. And, while the film is unlikely to move people, one is likely to acquire a new knowledge of that particular period of British history. I will leave it to the reader to decide if that’s enough to justify 96 minutes of one’s time.

John E. Keane: music from The Kitchen Toto

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093354/combined

Before I Wake (2016)

Starring Jacob Tremblay (whose role as Jack in Lenny Abrahamson’s film Room won him the Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer), Before I Wake joins the rather sporadic genre of Coming-of-Age Horror movies. The main reason such films are so sporadic is that the genre rarely allows a young protagonist to undergo a significant psychosocial development involving great conflict and transformation, which it has to do in order to fulfill the genre conventions.

Based on the film’s trailer, I had high expectations of Mike Flanagan‘s film and they were mostly met – even though the original premise (a boy whose dreams come to life) was diluted with clichés at times. The clichés were mostly due to the attempt by the filmmakers to follow the horror flick genre conventions, which makes some scenes oddly familiar (i.e. an orphaned boy adopted by a caring couple who soon discover there is more about him than first meets the eye, jump scenes aiming to surprise and scare …etc.)

While primarily typical for a horror flick, the narrative of Before I Wake features nuances about human nature, mourning and interpersonal relationships that turn the film into a psychological drama. Oddly enough, one can’t help but wish that the horror scenes relied more on steadily increasing tension than jump scares.

The cast delivers good performances and the characters do not suffer from underdevelopment. Jacob Tremblay’s character relies more on appearance than on the dialogue to develop, which works surprisingly well from the very first scenes as one is literally able to sense emotions by watching the facial expressions of the young actor.

Before I Wake features some good suspenseful scenes and a surprising plot twist at the end. These help to set it apart from most horror flicks by providing an explanation and resolution that effectively introduce the Coming-of-Age motifs that, once present, greatly change one’s perception of the film as a whole.

Granted, as with many films featuring fantasy and horror elements, one has to suspend a sense of disbelief to enjoy the film.

Before I Wake Trailer

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3174376/

Before I Wake (2016)

In short

Before I Wake is a rare Coming-of-Age horror movie featuring some good suspenseful scenes and a surprising plot twist at the end.

3

OUR RATING

TheSkyKid.com

TheSKyKid.com

Hazel (2012)

Barbie Boy (Short film, 2014)

Hochhaus (2006)

The Jungle Book (2016)

The Newcomers (2000)

Did Michael Knight End the Cold War? (2009)

A Boy Called Dad (2009)

James (2015)

Out of the Darkness (1985)

Given the available resources, though, this is a jolly good show, chaps!

The back-story is a historical fact

Believe (2013)

A remarkable story worth a film adaptation

Lifted straight from Billy Elliot

Credit where it’s due

The Kitchen Toto (1987)

Before I Wake (2016)