Trailer: Paper Heart

I mentioned in my previous post that I love films which are made by and about the same person, particularly when that person is charming and talented, like Scott Prendergast or Miranda July. Charlyne Yi is another example, and I can’t wait to see her film, Paper Heart, which blurs the line between fiction and reality as a fictionalised account of her real relationship with ace young actor Michael Cera. I loved Michael in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and from what I’ve seen of Charlyne, I think I’ll love her too. They’re such an adorable couple. I haven’t watched a trailer as many times as this since The Science of Sleep, and that turned out to be an all-time favourite of mine, so I have a very good feeling about Paper Heart and hope it will get a UK release not too long after it’s out in America in August.

Review: Kabluey

With the huge success of films like Little Miss Sunshine and Juno, cute and quirky independent cinema is no longer a niche market. This has always been one of my favourite genres, so it’s nice that it’s becoming easier to see such films at the cinema, but I do sometimes wonder why certain examples get such huge praise while others, very similar and equally entertaining, go just as unnoticed as ever. Kabluey is an example of the latter. I’d be surprised if you’ve heard of it, but if cute and quirky is your cup of tea then you might just love it.

Kabluey mixes realism with surrealism – the main characters (played by Scott Prendergast, who also wrote and directed the film, and Lisa Kudrow) have ordinary, quite depressing lives, but the story is sweet and charming and there are many entertaining moments. Everything is a little bit funnier when one of the characters involved is dressed as a cute blue creature who always looks quite glum.  Look out especially for the moment which provokes the line, “Leslie, call the police, we’re being attacked… BY CHEEEESE!”

I think what’s great about Kabluey is its individuality. It does fit into a genre that’s currently popular, but it doesn’t particularly remind me of any other film I’ve seen. The fact that Scott (seen above, inside his blue costume) had complete creative control over the project means that it’s simply his vision and that doesn’t appear to be diluted by the need to please any industry bigwigs. It’s really nice to see someone left to their own devices and I think more creative types should be allowed to do this, as it has worked so well with Kabluey and also with Me and You and Everyone We Know. I’ll definitely be looking out for more of these artistic solo projects in the future.

Kabluey hasn’t actually been released in the UK, but someone has kindly risked a criminal conviction to put it online for our entertainment, here .

Review: Sunshine Cleaning

For their latest project, Little Miss Sunshine’s producers, Peter Saraf and Marc Turtletaub, haven’t strayed too far from what they’re good at. Apart from the same word in their names, Sunshine Cleaning and Little Miss Sunshine also share one cast member, and the two films have a similar tone. Both focus on three generations of one family, including a cute kid and a grandad, who in both cases is played by Alan Arkin. There is even a van at the centre of both stories.

The two sisters who take the lead roles are played by Amy Adams, who I love, and Emily Blunt, who I’m not usually so keen on. Amy was as great as ever as Rose, the older sister whose life has been on a down-turn since her days of being the most popular girl at school, and even Emily created a likeable character as the younger girl, Nora, who lacks direction in her life and is still dealing with the death of her mother, who she can barely remember. Together they start a business cleaning up at crime scenes, which provides us with a few stomach churning sights, but they are balanced out with sweet and funny moments.

Just the other day I was thinking about how I hadn’t seen a really great film in ages (the last was either Milk or Nick and Norah), so I’m pleased to say that I finally found one. Anyone who enjoyed Little Miss Sunshine should definitely see it, as it fills the same function of being cheery but not meaningless. Both of the lead roles are very well performed and I now have much more admiration for Emily as an actress. My only criticism was that it could have been a bit longer as I would have liked to know a little more about what happened next in Rose’s love life.

Trailer: The Ten

Adam Brody and Paul Rudd in one film? I’m there!

News

• The wonderful Swedish director Lukas Moodysson is currently hard at work on his first English-language film, Mammoth, and I was extremely excited to hear that it will star the beautiful and brilliant Gael Garcia Bernal! I could hardly dream up a better pairing so I’m bursting in anticipation to find out more and see the film when it’s finished, although it sadly won’t be out until 2009!

• Now out in Europe is the new film directed by and starring the lovely Julie Delpy, best known for the ace films Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. It’s called 2 Days In Paris and is a bit more of a mainstream comedy of culture clashes, but it still looks good and it seems to be doing quite well as well, so perhaps it will help some more people discover her previous work.

• One of my favourite books of all time is Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, and the TV series of it is considered a classic, so the new film version has a lot to live up to. I’m sure Emma Thompson will rise to the challenge as Lady Marchmain, but I’m less sure of Matthew Goode, who was quite wooden in Chasing Liberty and Imagine Me And You, as the lead character Charles Ryder.

Trailer: Broken English

This looks like a really nice film, but it’s not helping with my extreme desire to meet a beautiful French boy to fall in love with. “I hope you find a penis!” made me LOL quite literally, but really there is no lovelier sound than a French man speaking English.

Trailer: Rocket Science

This looks good! A sweet American indie film about a geeky teenager who gets into the school debating team. Sounds a lot like Thumbsucker but I liked that film so I’m sure I’ll like this one too.

Review: Empire Records

At this rate I’m going to run out of superlatives by the end of the week, because I’ve just discovered yet another favourite film. I can’t believe this film has existed for the last 12 years and no-one thought to make me watch it, when it is so clearly one of the best films of the 90s. I’m not sure anything can oust Clueless as my fave 90s comedy, but it’s definitely up with The Brady Bunch Movie.

I loved all of the characters in this film, especially Lucas, AJ, Eddie, Mark and Gina. Lucas was like Pacey from Dawson’s Creek with a little of Seth from The OC’s humour, so I wonder if either of those characters were inspired by him. AJ was adorably sweet and looked like Kavana did in the 90s, which was a good look (at the time!). Eddie and Mark reminded me extremely of some lovely friends of mine, and Eddie also made me want to watch White Oleander again because Patrick Fugit’s character looks just like him. Gina is played by Renée Zellweger, and while I’m ambivalent about Renée as an adult actress, as a teenage character (although she was actually 26 in 1995) she was exceedingly ace.

Not very much happens in this film – in fact, it’s all set within one day, but it’s the strength of characters and humour which make it brilliant. Personally I prefer films like this, because although a fast-moving, exciting film can be thoroughly enjoyable, I find that a film with great characters and a general good vibe will stick with me and be fun to watch again and again. If a film is just about the plot’s twists and turns, then once you’ve seen it once or twice it’s too predictable and holds no interest. A film like this will never run out, and I am off to buy my copy right away. If you haven’t seen it I suggest you do the same, or just search for it on YouTube because the whole movie is there!