DISTRICT 9
BRYN TILLY reviews his choice as best 2009 movie release ...
“... This is the best science fiction movie in absolutely years, and certainly one of the most exhilarating movie experiences I’ve had in a while. I’ll be the first to admit I’m a bit of a SF geek, so there's plenty to relish. I very much enjoyed the nu-Star Trek movie, the re-booting, as they call it. But I can’t really compare, because District 9 is so unequivocally original, whereas Star Trek, well, most people know the basic elements of that movie like the back of their hands, even if they’re not Trekkies ..."The name Peter Jackson carries the same kind of kudos as the name Quentin Tarantino. The inclusion of it on a movie can make or break it. In the case of Tarantino, it doesn’t necessarily mean the movie will be any good, for example the recent biker flick, Hellride, which Tarantino produced was a piece of crap. But Peter Jackson has yet to put a foot wrong.
District 9, the feature debut of South African ex-pat (lives and works in Canada) Neill Blomkamp, is produced by Jackson and his New Zealand-based company Wingnut Films, however the movie is set and was shot in Blomkamp’s old stomping ground of Johannesburg, or as it’s more commonly called: Joburg.
This is a contemporary science fiction action flick with an emphasis on hardware and squalor, on socio-politics and corporate corruption. This is the extraterrestrial flick for those who won’t be choosing to see Aliens in the Attic, if you get my drift. Check your sensibilities at the door, District 9 spits expletives and blows chunks hard and fast; this is a hardcore action flick that takes no prisoners.
An alien mothership has been left derelict floating above Johannesberg for the last thirty years. It’s original occupants were discovered as helpless malnourished humanoid crustaceans, or “prawns” as the derogatory xenophobic term is coined by racist humans. A large-scale housing project is erected, a compound known as District 9, and the aliens are forced to dwell in a segregated co-existence with humans.
A private corporation, Multi-National United, is keen to evict the aliens, and re-locate them out of the city. Field operative Wikus (Sharlto Copley) is supervising the transition, but he gets a lot more than he bargained for when he discovers the secret agenda of the MNU which involves the alien’s biotechnological weaponry. Basically all hell breaks loose.
This is the best science fiction movie in absolutely years, and certainly one of the most exhilarating movie experiences I’ve had in a while. I’ll be the first to admit I’m a bit of a sf geek, so there is plenty to relish. I very much enjoyed the nu-Star Trek movie, the re-booting, as they call it. But I can’t really compare, because District 9 is so unequivocally original, whereas Star Trek, well, most people know the basic elements of that movie like the back of their hands, even if they’re not Trekkies.
Neill Blomkamp was originally slated to direct Peter Jackson’s big screen adaptation of the popular futuristic combat video game Halo. The budget was going to be around $145 million. A short six-minute “trailer” was created to woo financiers and distributors, but after months of pre-production the project was canned. In the wake, Jackson’s wife and screenwriting collaborator, Fran Walsh suggested turning Blomkamp’s short satirical alien movie Alive in Joberg into a feature. Jackson and Blomkamp were very enthusiastic and the project was immediately greenlit for a budget of only $30 million.
Considering what the finished movie looks like, it’s astonishing what the production team have done with the budget. It looks like something that cost ten times as much. The brilliantly conceived visual style, production design and integrated CGI effects are state of the art. But what adds so
much real weight to the movie, apart from all the photo-realistic digital compositing and pyrotechnics and cleverly weathered hardware, is the excellent screenplay and central performance by Sharlto Copley, co-written with partner Terri Tatchel.
District 9 is a perfect popcorn movie to be seen on the biggest, loudest screen possible, even if it is just your 42-inch home TV. Grab your mates and make a Saturday night of it. You’ll be talking about the movie for days after. This was and always will be my pick for best movie of 2009.
Recent Flick:
Gainsbourg ...
BRYN TILLY reviews his choice as best 2010 movie release ...
Lucien Ginsburg was born the son of Jewish parents, in Paris, France, in 1928, but is best known to the world as the egocentric avant-pop-maestro and agent provocateur Serge Gainsbourg from the late 50s through the 60s and 70s.
And in French graphic novelist, screenwriter and director Joann Sfar’s excellent biopic Gainsbourg actor Eric Elmosnino embraces the celebrated and controversial songwriter and delivers him to perfection.
From his days learning piano from his father and skirting down back cobble-stoned alleys whilst Nazi troops marched by Serge sought attention and mischief. He created an alter-ego, Ugly Face, played on-screen to brilliant effect by Doug Jones, under an elaborate mask that is grotesquely striking, whom would rear his head in and out of Serge’s misadventures, conquests and dilemmas. Ugly Face provided him with both the inspiration and the provocation, the humiliation and the confrontation that would earn him the accolades and the heartache, the fame, glamour and trouble.
Director Joann Sfar has fashioned a wry and playful portrait of Gainsbourg that never wallows, but shows the man as a truly fallible human being, eager to please, loathe to conform, never suffering fools gladly, but always an opportunist, smoking Gitane cigarettes like they’re going out of vogue, and bedding some of the most beautiful and sensual women ever to grace the streets of the City of Lights. Whilst married to highly jealous and suspicious Elizabeth (Deborah Grall) he had a fleeting affair with the elusive and wealthy Juliette Gréco (Anna Mouglalis). Later he flirted and courted Bridget Bardot (Laetitia Casta), wrote her songs, and fell head over heels, but the romance was short-lived.
After two divorces he met the much younger Jane Birkin, an English singer and actress (the late Lucy Gordon) living in Paris. Together they had two children, one of whom is Charlotte Gainsbourg the actress. His last partner was Caroline von Paulus, who went under the stage name of Bambou whom he met at a nightclub when she was 21 and he was 52. She resisted his charms at first, but soon enough fell under his womanising spell. She was with him until his death in 1991.
The movie Gainsbourg doesn’t delve into Serge’s twilight years, preferring instead to fade on images of him still high on life, in a limousine with Bambou, being driven along a beach, having lived a life full of the kinds of highs and lows, most of us can only dream of. But his hard drinking, chain-smoking, and perpetual late nights caught up with him and he was forced to have liver surgery and recuperate. Of course his alter ego would have none of this convalescence.
What makes Gainsbourg so entertaining is the fast pace, the surreal sequences, the superb performances, the tongue-in-cheek tone, and the cult of personality that was Serge Gainsbourg. He may not have looked like the matinee idol he exuded through his sultry, alluring pop songs, but he got his leg over time and time again, much to the frustration and exasperation of those around him.
If you’re a music lover, a Francophile, a pop culture freak, a hedonist, perhaps even a cartoonist, you must see Gainsbourg, it is essential viewing as contrast to this current climate of manufactured bubblegum pop, fabricated fame, and fake plastic beauty. Gainsbourg is the antidote that whispers “I love you … I don’t either,” in your ear, giggles, then pops the champagne, whilst firing up another Gitane.
Film reviewer Bryn Tilly is also a Sydney DJ, scriptwriter and composer - and writes the blogs Horrorphile and Bruno Dante's Cult Projections.To see reviews of what Bryn Tilly regards as the best movies of 2009 click here. To have a laugh and enjoy Bruno Dante's article on the best ever sex scenes in mainstream cinema and independent movies click here. To go one step beyond and check out Bryn's world famous article (it gets over 100,000 viewers per month) on ACTUAL sex performed in mainstream (as in non-porn) cinema / movies click here.
