Four Lions

Originally posted on Taco Cart Productions site.

Posted by Small Paul

Chris Morris has to be one of the most cutting edge British satirists of the last two decades, being responsible for classic media send-ups, The Day Today and Brass Eye, both of which were no strangers to controversy. If you haven’t seen them I urge you to seek them out, be it on DVD or online because I simply don’t have space here to go into how razor sharp and dangerous Morris’s satire is.

After extensive work on TV, Morris then turned his talents to film, culminating in his 2010 offering, Four Lions. If Morris’s previous outings into dark humour were contentious, this movie has a theme no one has dared touch with a ten foot pole before. Four Lions follows the fate of a group of radicalised British Muslims intent on turning themselves into suicide bombers and thus martyrs to their cause. Hardly pure popcorn stuff huh?

Referred to as a ‘jihadist comedy’, this movie has got to be one of the funniest and yet poignant and relevant things I’ve seen in recent years. The central performances of the potential bombers are essential to this film working and the actors don’t fail to deliver. The script and story are pant wettingly hilarious even if I did spend a large part of the time wondering whether I should be laughing at all and watching it through my fingers. Readers Stateside may have heard of the film as it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back at the start of 2010 and while unfortunately it only had a limited theatrical release in the US, it was released over there this month on DVD.

Highly intelligent, extremely well researched and played to perfection, Four Lions has got to be one of my favourite films of recent years and I recommend you grab a copy as soon as you can. But be warned, this isn’t for the faint hearted.

Monsters

Also featured on the Taco Cart Productions site.

Of all the films that I’ve seen recently Monsters surprised me the most. The premise sounds exciting enough: NASA probe that went off into space to investigate signs of life returns to Earth, crash landing in Mexico, bringing with it alien life forms. The aliens spread which leads to the eventual quarantine of northern Mexico, the US builds a huge border wall to keep the aliens out and the military forces of both countries are routinely in action with the new inhabitants, be it in border skirmishes or air strikes in the ‘Infected Zone’. I pressed play and got ready for a thrill fest of explosions and heroics but that isn’t what this film is about at all.

The movie follows Samantha Wynden (Whitney Able), the daughter of a wealthy businessman and Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy), a photographer employed by Samantha’s father. Ordered by Dad to escort Samantha safely back to the America, Kaulder reluctantly heads homeward with his new companion, inevitably forced to do so via the Infected Zone.

A little clumsy in parts, this is nonetheless a fantastic, super-low budget film by debutant British director, Gareth Edwards. I’m not sure of the exact budget, Wikipedia says below $500,000 and the IMDB says approximately $800,000, but whichever way you look at it, that’s a tiny amount of money by today’s standards.

The movie is slow paced, focusing less on the aliens - it’s a bit like Cloverfield in that you don’t see a lot of the monsters, although that’s about where the similarity ends - and more on Kaulder and Samantha and why they find themselves where they are.

Both Able and McNairy give great performances in that even when a scene seems a shade contrived they still come across as genuinely likeable characters. A large portion of the film is shot guerrilla style using people who aren’t professional actors as extras and incidental characters, giving an edgy, more realistic feel. The stunning wilderness of the Infected Zone is shot beautifully and the development of Kaulder and Samantha’s characters make this an intriguing film.

I don’t think Monsters is a movie for everyone but despite it not being anything like I expected, or indeed was in the mood for, I enjoyed it and it stayed with me when it finished. Certainly a recommend, if only so you can make up your own mind.

By Small Paul