Hey folks, Harry here... I first heard about TATTOO while talking to a British distributor over some drinks asking about what was coming that he'd seen that hadn't hit the circuit yet... TATTOO was the first title out of his mouth. Apparently it is something really specially disturbing. I'd love to see it, sounds really nasty and gross and fun. Here ya go...
Harry, Moriarty and crew,
Yet more from Brussels for you. To tell you the truth, I'm worried that this festival is going to end and then I am going to have to go back to having an ordinary life again. Mind you, I will need reminding what my apartment looks like...
But anyway two more tonight.
First up :
Tattoo by Robert Schwentke
German horror. Hmm, sounds dodgy. The thing that German cinema is best know for over here is um 'nature' films during the 70's featuring lots of body hair (porn star 'tach on both male and female participants) and lederhosen. Then again that could just be me.
This starts really well and helps get over the memories of those buxom frauleins fairly quickly.
First scene: a road at night. A woman is naked, covered in blood and running down the middle of the road, the camera moves around her and you see that the skin has been removed from her back. One nasty bus crash later I'm sitting there, jaw on floor, going 'what the hell....'. This looks goooooood. Very nice camera work during the ensuing rave bust.
Quick summary : Our hot-shot young hero, who has a liking for rave and pills, has joined the police where he is blackmailed into joining the homicide division by a comissioner with a few secrets of his own. He then gets involved in a case involing muders where all the vitims have had skin removed and enters a dark world of Body Modification, loud music and tattoo trading....
This really is very good. The acting is not bad, the story holds together very well. The majority of the scences are shot almost in monochrome, this is a dark, dirty world, but it feels much more real than is normally portrayed in the movies. The characters are reasonably complex. The ink art is beautiful. A couple of scenes are a little reminiscent of Seven but on the whole it's extremely well put together.
And then there is c as Maya.... Babe does not begin to describe this woman. And not a mustache in sight... She's awesome, not normally a fan of blondes but..... And she can act too! (To get back onto the subject at hand...) She's trying to be a hard cold ice-maiden but there is a hurt and pain in her eyes...
Must...stop...thinking about her.... Finish review....
(One cold shower later)
To sum up, a tight, slick thriller that is not afraid to show blood, guts and burnt bodies but also has the story to back it up. Recommended.
The Gathering by Brian Gilbert
A church is discovered buried under a hill near Glastonbury in the west of England. After some research it seems that it dates back to the first centuary and could well be the church built by Joseph of Aramathia. It contains a large cross, facing away from the chirch surrounded by figures watching the crucifiction. It could be that this was made by somebody who was an eye witness to the event, but who are those stranges watchers? Nearby a young American, played by Christina Ricci, arrives in a small village with no memory of what she is doing there and starts seeing strange people following her....
This starts really well. A good atmosphere, a couple of nice little shocks. Ms. Ricci in a series of tight tops (hey, she's grown up since The Addams Family, it's ok to look at her that way now). A couple of nice little points about faith versus fact. I must admit that I'm a sucker for early Christian history (from a political and historical point of few, not spiritual...) so this is the sort of set-up that I like. The feel is fairly classic, it's not trying to do anything new, but it does what it does quite well. Falls apart a bit at the end when it reverts to standard thriller mode of people hiding from madman with shotgun and the meaning of the film is actually spelled out in simple, one syllable words at the end which sucks, give the audiance some credit please. The acting is good though and Anne Dudley has done a good job on the score.
This one is in the European competion, and while it is quite fun I don't see it going home with anything.
Anyway, that's it for me on this cold Wednesday night, I'm off to build a shrine to Nadeshda at which I will worship every day...
Lonewolf.
