films seen on youtube – filmcentric

Global Cinema 33: Central African Republic – All Are Human (2017)

Published on 12 February 202218 February 2022 by Ewan MLeave a comment

I was hoping to watch a feature from the Central African Republic, but try as I might to track something down online there really has been very little filmmaking in the country. Even this short film I’m featuring today isn’t made by native Central Africans, but it does at least deal with the country and its issues — presumably the ones which have ensured its filmmaking base has never really grown.

Central African Republic (République Centrafricaine)
population 4,666,000 | capital Bangui (623k) | largest cities Bangui, Bimbo (124k), Berbérati (77k), Carnot (45k), Bambari (41k) | area 622,984 km² | religion Christianity (90%, mostly Protestant), Islam (9%) | official language French (français), Sango | major ethnicity Gbaya (33%), Banda (27%), Mandja (13%) | currency Central African CFA franc (FCFA) [XAF] | internet .cf

A landlocked country fitted in between Chad, the Sudans, the Congos and Cameroon, mostly made up of savannahs between the Sahel in the north and an equatorial forest in the south. The origin of its name is fairly self-evident, but in French colonial times, when the present borders were set, it was called Ubangi-Shari (after the two chief rivers of the country). Settlement in the territory currently encompassed by the country, however, stretches back thousands of years to the Neolithic period, and megaliths near Bouar (in the west of the country) indicate habitation dating to the mid-4th millennium BCE. However, despite the country’s poverty (lowest per capita GDP) and development (second lowest after Niger), it is rich in mineral deposits and land. Colonialist interest began with slave trading in the 16th century, and in the 19th century ‘Scramble for Africa’, France seized the area in 1894. Concessions were granted to those stripping the land of its assets, and the brutality of this exploitation led to a reduction to the population by almost half in the 50 years following. The Kongo-Wara rebellion (or ‘war of the hoe handle’) attempted one of the continent’s largest interwar insurrections in 1928, but this was eventually suppressed. Independence leader Barthélemy Boganda was elected to the French National Assembly in 1946 but became disheartened and returned to found MESAN in 1950, which swept territorial elections and as first PM, Boganda declared independence in 1958. His cousin David Dacko took over after Boganda died in a plane crash, and became the first President when France granted full independence on 13 August 1960 (a date still celebrated). Col. Jean-Bédel Bokassa seized power in 1965 and named himself Emperor Bokassa I; France supported Dacko to overthrow him in 1979, but another coup took place in 1981 by Gen. André Kolingba. Struggles have pulled power back and forth in the succeeding years between his supporters and those of Ange-Félix Patassé and subsequent coups have led to a period of civil wars and unrest since 2004. The current President since 2016 is Faustin-Archange Touadéra.

Although there have been films made in the CAR, the country’s poverty and ongoing civil unrest ensure that there hasn’t been much made, and what does exist is largely documentary or short productions. The first film made there appears to have been a French ethnographic short film from 1945, and the first feature-length drama wasn’t until 2003 with La Silence de la forêt (which sadly I haven’t been able to track down).

Zo Kwe Zo (All Are Human, 2017)

The Central African Republic has a French colonial past but it hardly has a tradition of filmmaking like other former French colonies. Partly I imagine this may be down to the legacy of civil wars and violence that is inscribed in the country, and that’s what this short film by some American filmmakers is dealing with and trying to open up a dialogue about. A wave of unrest against the government in 2013 saw a variety of (Muslim) rebel groups coalescing as the Seleka seizing the capital, opposed by Christian militias, the “anti-balaka”. This short film attempts to give the impressions of a few of those players on either side and the trauma they’re dealing with. It’s hardly perfect: there’s not enough time to really eke out the themes, so it ends up seeming fairly simplistic at a narrative level, with a rather rushed denouement between the anti-balaka militiaman and a doctor who has suffered a loss. However, the technical qualities are excellent, with some beautiful cinematography and sound editing. It’s just a pity the script doesn’t quite match it.

CREDITS
Directors/Writers Andrew Ellis and Lindsay Branham; Cinematographer Ellis; Starring Bachir So, Josette Melodie Agouh; Length 21 minutes.
Seen at home (YouTube streaming), Wellington, Friday 14 January 2022.

Global Cinema 18: Belize – Yochi (2017)

Published on 12 September 202021 August 2020 by Ewan MLeave a comment

The problem with the challenge to watch a film from every country around the world is that there are all too many that basically have next to no film industry or even film production, and Belize is certainly one of those countries with a very short list of films. I might have chosen a Hollywood production set there, like The Mosquito Coast, but this short film popped up on a YouTube search, and it was made in Belize for the country, ostensibly to showcase a problem with poaching native birds.

A small Central American country bordering the Caribbean Sea, Mexico and Guatemala, with the lowest population density in the region. The earliest reference to the name is in the late-17th century, in relation to the river, and is possibly derived from the Mayan belix meaning “muddy-watered”. It was one of the areas where the Mayan civilisation first emerged in the 3rd millennium BCE, which continued through to the arrival of Spanish explorers in the 16th century CE, though despite Spanish claims over the territory, it was the British who first settled the country in the 18th century. After repelling Spanish attacks, it was integrated into the British Empire as British Honduras. Self-government was granted in 1964, and the country renamed as Belize in 1973. Full independence was granted on 21 September 1981. The head of state remains the British monarch, with an elected parliament led by a Prime Minister.

Although music and even theatre are part of the cultural life of Belize, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of a local film industry, so very few films have been produced there.

Yochi (2017)

This short film has clearly been made with an interest in drawing attention to the illegal trade in exotic birds, specifically the yellow-headed parrot found in Belize. However, it’s also a story — and at 25 minutes it can’t really be more than a fairly simple one — about two indigenous brothers. The younger brother lives at home and doesn’t speak, while his older brother comes to visit from the city, slipping easily between the local Mayan language and English, as he disburses electronic gifts to mother and brother. So there are a few tensions in play — not speaking vs saying too much, city vs nature, the corruption of money (the brother, it turns out, is loaded down with debt) — and the film has resolutions to these, but even if it’s not surprising, it is very nice to see the lush jungles of Belize, its wildlife, and get a sense of life for some communities there. Plus, if like me you’re trying to watch films from countries around the world, there’s not much for Belize.

CREDITS
Director/Writer Ilana Lapid; Cinematographer Robert Dugan; Starring Kerry Johan Landero, Evan Martinez; Length 25 minutes.
Seen at home (YouTube), London, Tuesday 18 August 2020.

Two French-Tunisian Films about Musicians: Satin rouge (2002) and As I Open My Eyes (2015)

Published on 12 August 202011 September 2020 by Ewan MLeave a comment

For my week of North African films, I have looked at a couple of Egyptian films by Youssef Chahine and an Iranian-Tunisian co-production fusing a spirit of the entire MENA region. Today I have shorter reviews of two films directed by Tunisian women, both which touch on musicians and musical performance, which are central parts of the culture of the country it seems. I think they say plenty about their society, the latter film explicitly so in dealing with the intersection between music and the Arab Spring events of 2011.

Continue reading “Two French-Tunisian Films about Musicians: Satin rouge (2002) and As I Open My Eyes (2015)” →

Global Cinema 13: Bahrain – Dead Sands (2013)

Published on 8 August 202011 August 2020 by Ewan M1 Comment

Bahrain is a small country, though it is a densely-populated one. Sadly, it hasn’t had much of a film industry so there aren’t many films to focus on for my regular feature. That is why I’ve gone to YouTube to find a student production, which has the weaknesses of that kind of output, but also, I think, has an energy to it that I rather like. It doesn’t look great, but it gives a little sense of what perhaps Bahrain is like to live in.

An flat, arid island nation in the Persian Gulf comprising an archipelago of around 40 islands (and some artificial ones), centred on the largest one, Bahrain Island. The name derives from the Arabic for “two seas”, though the island was originally called Awal and until the Middle Ages “Bahrain” referred to larger area of Eastern Arabia (including Kuwait and southern Iraq); the name was also often anglicised as Bahrein until the mid-20th century. It was first settled as the trade centre Dilmun from the 3rd millennium BCE, and later ruled by Assyrians, Babylonians, Achaemenids and Parthians. It was called Tylos by the ancient Greeks, and came under Alexander’s rule for a while. Christianity took hold by the 5th century CE, but converted to Islam in the 7th century, and went through a series of regional dynasties. The Portuguese ruled for much of the 16th century, before the area was taken by the Safavids under Persian rule for a few centuries. The British came in during the 19th century, but revolts started to take place towards the end of that century, continuing sporadically over the ensuing decades. Post-World War II, competing claims by Iran and Britain led to independence on 15 August 1971, and a popular uprising towards the end of the century led to the Emir instituting elections, and the country formally became a Kingdom in 2002. There are some elections but the Prime Minister is appointed by the King, and much of the government is drawn from the Al Khalifa ruling family.

The cinema industry in the country is very small, with a handful of shorts and only about five feature films in its history. The first cinema was established in 1937, and there are around 40-50 screens now.

رمال ميتة Rimal Mayta (Dead Sands, 2013)

I mean, sure, on a certain level this isn’t a great film, but if it looks and feels a little amateurish that’s because it appears to be a student production. It’s also a film made in a country that has, as far as I can tell, no real cinema industry. So if it doesn’t quite hit the polished marks we’re used to, even in a zombie flick — with some fairly unconvincing performances, scene set-ups that almost taunt us with the obviousness of what’s about to happen, and muddy cinematography — that’s because it never had the ability to do so in the first place. Instead, I like to see it as a noble attempt to learn by doing, an undaunted group of student friends banding together to make a movie (the credits roll over the blooper reel) and seeming to have a fair amount of fun with the gore and the effects. It also gives me a sense of what it’s like in Bahrain, which I think is a particular selling point, because how many other films are going to give you that, albeit in some rather indistinguishable malls and movie theatres and dusty outdoor spaces. I admired its willingness to try and make a Bahraini zombie flick.

CREDITS
Director Ameera Al-Qaed أميرة القائد; Writer Ahmed Zayani أحمد الزياني; Cinematographers Al-Qaed and Zayani; Starring Şenay Dincsoy, Miraya Varma, Ahmed Zayani أحمد الزياني; Length 87 minutes.
Seen at home (Amazon streaming), London, Saturday 1 August 2020.

Global Cinema 9: Australia – Starstruck (1982)

Published on 11 July 202028 July 2020 by Ewan MLeave a comment

Australia is of course a huge country, but relatively speaking it’s not so populous. Nevertheless it’s had a long and prosperous cinema, with a number of well-known and highly-regarded directors, not least Gillian Armstrong, who directed the film I’m focusing on in this post. I’m not sure if any one film can sum up Australia, but Starstruck seems to capture something of the spirit of the place, at least in the 1980s.

The sixth-largest country in the world by area is an island large enough to be (most of) its own continent, and as such has huge diversity of environments, from deserts to tropical rainforest, and mountains in the south-east, and most of the population is concentrated on the eastern seaboard. The name comes from the Latin terra australis (“southern land”) used since ancient times for an (at that point hypothetical) southern continent, though “New Holland” (explorer Abel Tasman’s name for it) was largely used until the early-19th century. It has been inhabited by indigenous peoples for around 65,000 years until Dutch explorers “discovered” it in the early-17th century. The British set up camp for the first time there in 1788, to establish a penal colony, with further colonies set up in Tasmania (Van Diemen’s Land) and other areas, though South Australia was never a penal colony. Indigenous populations declined in these years, with a policy of assimilating the Aboriginal population that continued until well into the 20th century. The separate colonies federated on 1 January 1901 and independence from the UK declared, with formal constitutional ties ended in 1942. Ties to the US strengthened and immigration from Asia was allowed from the 1970s onwards. It still maintains the British monarch as head of state, with an elected Prime Minister.

Cinema had its beginnings in Australia with screenings in 1896, and anthropological shorts from 1900, with the first feature in 1906 being The Story of the Kelly Gang (the earliest feature-length narrative film in the world, depending on your definitions). Studios were founded (the earliest in Melbourne) and there was a boom of sorts in the 1910s, followed by a decline in the 1920s. Production continued at an uneven pace, slowing down significantly by the 1960s, though the Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958. From the late-1960s onwards, though, government supported film more and various programmes led to an Australian New Wave, as well as a fringe of “Ozsploitation”. The 1990s saw a further entrenchment into the mainstream and worldwide success for a number of titles. Cinema continues to be made, although with less worldwide success against the huge American productions, though a lot of these are filmed in the country.

Starstruck (1982)

Obviously Gillian Armstrong’s feature debut My Brilliant Career (1979) is justly lauded, and it’s a fine period film, but with the passage of almost 40 years this, her second feature film, seems almost equally period. It’s contemporary, of course, and it gleefully trades on a certain post-punk new wave spirit of restless energy and vertiginous hairstyles, yet alongside it sits the traditional working class Australia still stuck in the 1950s, tut-tutting at the kids and the noise they make. It’s a slender premise to hang a film around — a TV talent show that could make our heroine Jackie (Jo Kennedy) a big star if only she can somehow inveigle her way on — but yet Starstruck achieves it with single-minded vision. The energy of the musical numbers shares a lot with the kind of art pop of, say, Split Enz, which makes sense given the involvement of that band’s leader Tim Finn in the songs here (and, one imagines, some of the performances too). It’s an energy that sustains the film through all of its madcap plotting, that and the interplay between cousins Jackie and 14-year-old Angus (Ross O’Donovan), who it slowly becomes clear are only so determined at pop success because their family disappoints them so regularly — with the exception of the rambunctious Nana (Pat Evison). This is one of the films I had most looked forward to seeing by Gillian Armstrong and it’s inexplicable that it’s not more widely-available, because it’s not just a precious document of an era (the early-80s) but also a delightful film in its own right.

CREDITS
Director Gillian Armstrong; Writer Stephen MacLean; Cinematographer Russell Boyd; Starring Jo Kennedy, Ross O’Donovan, John O’May, Margo Lee, Pat Evison; Length 105 minutes.
Seen at home (YouTube), London, Friday 22 May 2020.

Global Cinema 8: Armenia – Armenian Rhapsody (2012)

Published on 4 July 202028 July 2020 by Ewan MLeave a comment

For all its diminutive size, Armenia has a fairly active film industry, albeit on a smaller scale, perhaps one of the legacies of its Soviet past. Sergei Parajanov was Armenian (albeit born in Georgia) and it has had a number of at least locally well-known filmmakers since. One of my favourite films of recent decades was The Lighthouse (2006) by Maria Saakyan, who sadly died too young at the age of 38. The film I present below isn’t technically Armenian but is a fine introduction to the country, and available on YouTube

Republic of Armenia (Հայաստան)
population 2,957,000 | capital Yerevan (Երևան) (1.1m) | largest cities Yerevan, Gyumri (122k), Vanadzor (86k), Vagharshapat (47k), Abovyan (43k) | area 29,743 km² | religion Christianity (Armenian Apostolic Church) | official language Armenian (հայերէն Hayeren) | major ethnicity Armenians (98%) | currency Dram (֏) [AMD] | internet .am

A mostly mountainous, landlocked country, bordering Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran. The original name Hayk’ (Հայք) traditionally derives from a legendary patriarch who settled in the area of Ararat, but the modern name Hayastan dates back to the Middle Ages, with the Persian suffix -stan. Evidence of human habitation dates back to the Bronze Age (c4000 BCE), including the earliest-dated wine-producing facility. The earliest Armenian geographic entity was established by the Orontid Dynasty (Achaemenid Empire) in the 6th century BCE, and became a kingdom within the Seleucid Empire, then Persian Empire. It went through various dynasties during the Middle Ages, until being conquered by the Mongols, and then divided by the Ottomans. Conflict during and after World War I resulted in the ‘Armenian Genocide’ by Ottoman Turks. Armenia was annexed with its neighbours by the Soviet Union in 1922, becoming its own SSR in 1936, eventually declaring independence on 21 September 1991. There was a conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan, ending in 1994 but resulting in the contested territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. It now has a market economy, led by an elected President and Prime Minister.

Cinema in the country was established by the Soviets in 1923, though there are earlier films with an Armenian subject. The Armenfilm studio was established shortly after in 1924. In modern times, two or three feature films and a number of documentaries are produced each year, with the most notable director being Sergei Parajanov (who worked during the Soviet era, most famously on The Colour of Pomegranates). The most famous international director of Armenian ethnicity is Atom Egoyan (although he was born in Cairo and lives and works in Canada).

Rapsódia Armênia (Armenian Rhapsody aka Հայկական ռապսոդիա, 2012)

This film, which calls itself an “Armenian Rhapsody” isn’t actually Armenian it turns out, but rather a Brazilian film made by a trio of people with Armenian ancestry (or so I’m guessing from their surnames). However, given that I imagine most people don’t know very much about Armenia, it’s a fairly pleasant ride. Images of people flash up over the credits, and we get to see a few of their lives in a bit more detail: a likeable young couple getting married; an old man talking about the pitfalls of Communism in front of a victorious statue; another chap at home talking about the Armenian Genocide (which is officially recognised by Uruguay, he exclaims); and a chap with a glorious moustache he grows in recognition of tradition (for facial hair looms large). It’s not a revelatory work, but a pleasant stroll through various parts of Armenia, and a likeable introduction to the country.

CREDITS
Directors/Writers Cassiana Der Haroutiounian, Cesar Gananian and Gary Gananian; Cinematographers Der Haroutiounian and Gary Gananian; Length 63 minutes.
Seen at home (YouTube), London, Wednesday 1 July 2020.

Ar Condicionado (Air Conditioner, 2020)

Published on 13 June 202012 June 2020 by Ewan MLeave a comment

I’m just following up my Global Cinema piece on Angola with another, more recent, film from that country which was recently given its international premiere online by the We Are One Film Festival, via YouTube, having screened for the first time only earlier this year at the International Rotterdam Film Festival. You don’t see much cinema from the country, for fairly obvious reasons, but I thought it worth representing a more modern take on some of the same issues.

It’s really all about the tone this film, the sort of dreamlike atmosphere that suffuses the world through which Matacedo (José Kiteculo) wanders. He’s some kind of maintenance guy (or concierge, or security perhaps) in a crumbling Luanda apartment block, where air conditioning units have been falling off. He has a problem with his ears, allowing the film to just move into wordless almost surreal sequences at times. In this, the camerawork and sound is crucial, allowing the film to be both heightened and magical while still very much grounded in its class consciousness: there’s a shouty boss who is very insistent that his air conditioning gets fixed, pushing Matacedo and his colleague Zezinha (Filomena Manuel) into action. You get the sense that maybe the air conditioning itself is a symbol of a class divide in a country which has been pulled apart by war until only relatively recently; the crumbling infrastructure is just one way in which society has been stretched and broken by this extended period. But while that all looms in the background, Matacedo is just trying to get by, and his relaxed groove is what the film is ultimately trying to convey, pretty successfully I think.

CREDITS
Director Fradique [Mário Bastos]; Writers Fradique and Ery Claver; Cinematographer Ery Claver; Starring José Kiteculo, Filomena Manuel; Length 72 minutes.
Seen at home (YouTube), London, Thursday 11 2020.

乳房よ永遠なれ Chibusa Yo Eien Nare (The Eternal Breasts, 1955)

Published on 23 April 202022 April 2020 by Ewan MLeave a comment

I went back to YouTube recently to look up this film by Kinuyo Tanaka, the second woman to direct feature films in Japan and herself an acclaimed actor of some renown. I was inspired by the writing of critic Cathy Brennan, who has herself written far longer and better pieces about the actor/director for Another Gaze magazine, and the Screen Queens blog. Sadly, there are few opportunities to watch Tanaka’s films currently, which is surprising given her fame as an actor and the recent interest in women’s filmmaking, but one can dream of proper releases one day I suppose.

I’ve watched a number of mid-20th century Japanese films recently, but I haven’t seen any quite like this film, one of the handful directed by acclaimed actor Kinuyo Tanaka — and perhaps it’s her perspective that makes a telling difference, or that of celebrated screenwriter Sumie Tanaka (no relation), who also wrote most of Mikio Naruse’s greatest works during the same decade. It’s just that I hadn’t seen many films that deal fairly frankly not just with a difficult relationship — in this case young housewife and budding poet Fumiko (played by Yumeji Tsukioka and based on a real figure) being pushed away by her philandering husband — but also with her subsequent breast cancer diagnosis which gives the film its memorable title. It is, ultimately, a weepie of sorts, with a grand melodramatic arc that deals with this woman turning her back on love, before admitting into her life a big city journalist (well, she lives in Hokkaido and the journalist is from Tokyo), as she tries to recover from her mastectomy in a Japanese hospital while still writing poetry. There are big emotions, but also some delicate observation too, and it’s a film that shows plenty of care in its creation, only a few years after Kurosawa made the rather better known cancer drama Ikiru.

CREDITS
Director Kinuyo Tanaka 田中絹代; Writer Sumie Tanaka 田中澄江 (based on the article by Akira Wakatsuki 若月彰, and the poetry collections 乳房喪失 and 花の原型 by Fumiko Nakajo 城ふみ子); Cinematographer Kumenobu Fujioka 藤岡粂信; Starring Yumeji Tsukioka 月丘夢路, Ryoji Hayama 葉山良二, Masayuki Mori 森雅之, Yoko Sugi 杉葉子; Length 109 minutes.
Seen at home (YouTube), London, Sunday 19 April 2020.

Strange Fits of Passion (1999)

Published on 17 April 202016 April 2020 by Ewan MLeave a comment

Usually I do a new release on Fridays, but my theme this week is YouTube movies, and there’s rather a shortage of ‘new’ feature filmmaking (it’s mostly music videos and maybe short films). So here’s another old Australian comedy from the late-1990s, again inspired by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas’s Twitter thread. The director of this effort (she doesn’t appear to have any other non-TV directing credits since) wrote the recent film Ride Like a Girl (2019).

A slight if likeable Australian comedy, which I’d struggle to call a ‘coming of age’ exactly as it features a fully-grown protagonist who is trying to lose her virginity. She works in a Melbourne secondhand bookshop, and the film is very good at demonstrating how wrapped up she is in her own inner world — in so far as the (clearly low) budget allows, we get to see all kinds of imagined reveries featuring her various crushes, as they come along. Like a lot of contemporary Australian films of this nature, it’s comedic up until the point that it’s not really anymore, but instead morphs into an exploration of what’s motivating her. The (unnamed) protagonist played by Michaela Noonan has a sharp and ironic sense of humour, a sort of brusque underlying cynicism which her journey throughout the film starts to erode a little bit, to bring out her inner empathy as the film goes on.

CREDITS
Director/Writer Elise McCredie; Cinematographer Jaems Grant; Starring Michaela Noonan; Length 84 minutes.
Seen at home (YouTube), London, Wednesday 25 March 2020.

Three Films from the 1930s by Mikio Naruse: Wife! Be Like a Rose! (1935), The Road I Travel with You (1936) and Avalanche (1937)

Published on 16 April 202015 April 2020 by Ewan MLeave a comment

There’s a lot of great Japanese cinema of the past and most of the famous names kept up a prodigious output of films, of which only a handful of ‘masterworks’ tend to get any kind of release (at least in the West). The great director Mikio Naruse, for example, has one film in the Criterion collection (1960’s When a Woman Ascends the Stairs) as well as an Eclipse boxset of his four surviving silent films from the early-1930s, but otherwise is only known for a few 1950s films like Sound of the Mountain and Floating Clouds. However, given he made around 3-5 films every year, as you can see on his filmography, there’s a lot to watch and very few places to do so. Luckily, some kind soul has thought to upload a number of them to YouTube, albeit in fairly poor video quality (presumably from VHS rips), of which I’ve already reviewed one film, the biopic Tochuken Kumoemon (1936). I would love to see Naruse’s work on the big screen in a retrospective, but even Kurosawa rarely gets this kind of treatment so I suspect my chance to do so will be a long time coming (if I haven’t missed it already). In the meantime, here are a few of those 1930s sound films.

Continue reading “Three Films from the 1930s by Mikio Naruse: Wife! Be Like a Rose! (1935), The Road I Travel with You (1936) and Avalanche (1937)” →