Category: Thriller

The Alto Knights

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★The Alto Knights

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Barry Levinson

Written by:  Nicholas Pileggi

Produced by: Irwin Winkler, Barry Levinson, Jason Sosonoff, Charles Winkler, David Winkler

Starring: Robert De Niro, Debra Messing, Cosmo Jarvis, Kathrine Narducci, Michael Rispoli.

‘You can’t have it both ways.  You’re either in, or out.’

Based on true events.

Opening in 1957, The Alto Knights is the story of famed Frank Costello (Robert De Niro) and his childhood friend, Vito Genovese (also Robert De Niro) and the organised crime that rose during the prohibition.

It was illegal to sell alcohol in America, but not to drink it.

Vito and Frank saw a great way to make a lot of money under the table (not unlike the tobacco wars currently raging in Australia, cigarettes not illegal to sell but high tax creating a lucrative black market).

But Vito’s wild, bringing heat from law enforcement when he crosses the line and is charged with a double homicide.

Forced to leave New York and return to Italy, Vito hands the criminal syndicate to his friend, Frank, knowing he can trust him to hand back the leadership when he returns.

Then World War II erupts.

Vito couldn’t return to America for 15 years.

During those 15 years, Frank was able to grow the business quietly, using politics, like creating the ‘Donkey Vote’ and greasing palms.

He’s known as a professional gambler, is respected, donating to charities while politicians, judges clap and Frank bows in honour.

Meanwhile, Vito has made his money in drugs.  He brings the drug racket to America to make his money.  To be Boss again.

But the world has changed.

The Alto Knights is a story about two Bosses with very different styles – Vito fighting to be Boss again by any means, Frank trying to keep his reputation.

The story all told with a tinge of nostalgia as Frank narrates the story over flashbacks introduced with black and white photos used to depict mafia family history, like the reel of an old film the family slowly spirals out of the shadows where business can be done without the attention of the law and into the light for all to see because of a man trying to recapture what he’s been forced to let go; the change, the need to be back on top making him paranoid, unreasonable, unrelenting in both his work and love life.

Meet, Anna Genovese (Katherine Narducci).

‘It’s like he’s marrying himself,’ says Franks wife, Bobbie (Debra Messing).

After calling Bobbie ten times a day when Vito pushes Anna too far in his usual style of taking and doing what he wants, Bobbie exclaims to Frank, ‘She’s a moron, he’s a maniac and you’re on the front page of the newspaper.’

In comparison, Frank and Bobbie live a quiet life with their two dogs described as their children.

But Vito’s disintegrating marriage is splashing onto the business, tarnishing Franks reputation by association.

The foundation of the film is the difference between the two men.  Frank and Vito sitting across a table from one another, one trying to reason, the other wanting to blow everything up.

It’s about the nuances of conversation, the circular talk, the yelling, the calming, the, ‘you’re an idiot’.

I enjoyed the wry humour and subtitles of these interactions between the ‘family’.

But it’s a little like a history lesson, the drama is the swing of the camera around the conversation of two men, talking life and death like they’re talking about roses in the garden.

There’s a calm in the telling making The Alto Knights not so much a gangster film but a reminiscing Boss talking about the old days.

 

The Rule of Jenny Pen

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★The Rule of Jenny Pen

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: James Ashcroft

Based on the Short Story Written by: Owen Marshall

Screenplay Written by: James Ashcroft, Eli Kent

Produced by: Catherine Fitzgerald, Olando Stewart

Starring:  John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush, Nathaniel Lees.

‘Stefan, are you with us?’

An ant crawls across a table as Stefan (Geoffrey Rush) observes.

Stefan folds a tissue to squash the insect, a metaphor for how, working as a judge, he towers over people, how he sees people.

He sits in judgement – a hard stance.

Before suffering a stroke.

Tough, unflinching, Stefan’s admitted into the Royal Pine Mews Care Home.

He meets his fellow resident and roommate, Sonny (Nathaniel Lees).

Previously a famous rugby player for New Zealand, Sonny tries to be friendly with Stefan, but he’s having none of it.  He’ll recover.  Go home.  He just needs time

Enter Dave Crealy (John Lithgow), first introduced as a blue eye watching through the cracked opening of a door, watching as Stefan uses a bottle to pee.

Dave Crealy always has a puppet doll with him, Jenny Pen.

He’s one of the ‘nutters’.

But Dave Crealy is strong.  He uses his strength to bully the other residents.  Each taunt becoming cruel.  Brutal.  An added dimension to the nightmare Stefan finds himself living.

Rehab sees Stefan reaching for a cup, a nurse encouraging him to reach out, to use his fingers while Dave Crealy laughs maniacally in the background watching predators on TV, but really, he’s like the predators, he laughs at his prey, struggling to hold a cup.

There’s a play of perspective as the film is seen from Stefan’s point of view, with Jenny Pen looming large, a silhouette dancing behind a red curtain; a giant to represent fear growing as Dave Crealy dominants the care home.

But I didn’t find the doll particularly scary.  It’s what the doll represents that’s the horror of the film, the loss of control, power; the not being believed.

The main setting of the film is within the care home, shown in a realistic view, that dry tone a backdrop to the performances of heavy hitters, John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush and Nathaniel Lees.

The nightmarish quality of Stefan’s illness is shown with gaps of time, the swing from a neuropsychological test showing what Stefan sees – a clock with all the numbers in order to what the clinician sees, the lateral damage of Stefan’s brain shown in numbers run askew.

The isolation of his illness is amplified by this quietly absorbing battle between the sadistic Dave Crealy and the grumpy, bitter judge slowly losing his faculties living in a world no one sees or pretends not to see so the torture is like a terrible secret hidden in plain sight.

There’s a good story here, based on the short story written by Owen Marshall, with strong performances and thought put into the perspective of the residents to take the audience into that secret world of feeling powerless.

Worth a watch.

 

Companion

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★ Companion

Rated: TBA

Directed by: Drew Hancock

Written by: Drew Hancock

Produced by: Zach Cregger, Raphael Margules, J. D. Lifshitz, Roy Lee

Starring: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén and Rupert Friend.

‘Smile.  Act happy.’

Josh (Jack Quaid) and Iris (Sophie Thatcher) are the perfect couple.

They meet in a grocery store where Josh fumbles his way into Irises heart.

It’s a sweet, meet cute.

‘I just want you to be happy, Josh,’ Iris tells him.

Then the relationship begins to fray.

The love a little needy.

Josh, despondent to Irises attention.

When Josh and Iris drive out to an isolated lake house to spend time with Josh’s friends, Cat (Megan Suri) and her rich Russian boyfriend, Sergey (Rupert Friend) and Eli (Harvey Guillen) with partner Patrick (Lukas Gage), Iris is afraid she’ll embarrass Josh.

Josh tells her to smile, act happy.

She does her best.

The innocent Iris who couldn’t lie, even if she wanted to, is someone to feel sorry for.

Until the doll made to serve turns up covered in someone else’s blood.

There’s twists and turns in Companion, with moments of violence amongst the tongue and cheek; comments like, ‘I know it must be a lot to process.’

Companion feels a little like a Barbie version of, Ex Machina with the subtitles of manipulation replaced with overtones of domestic violence.

Yet the tone of the film is light, holding back on the ridiculous so it’s a watchable film but made more for entertainment than depth.

Or if there was depth, it wasn’t a message that resonated.  Maybe something like, Beware of treating your partner like a doll because they might grow a brain and turn on you.

So, I guess there’s something in that.

 

Speak No Evil

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★1/2Speak No Evil

Rated: MA15+

Written for the Screen and Directed by: James Watkins

Based on the Screenplay by: Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup

Produced by: Jason Blum, Paul Ritchie

Executive Producers: Beatriz Sequeira, Jacob Jarek, Christian Tafdrup

Starring: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Alix West and Dan Hough.

‘I promise you guys, it’s going to be a great weekend.’

You know when you’re in a bad situation and you want to get out.  Do get out.  Only to be pulled back in against your better judgment? But someone continually plays you, pulls those strings so you get burnt, played, burnt again.

Based on the screenplay of Gæsterne, written by Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup, Speak No Evil shows the game, the cat playing with the mouse.

Meet Louise (Mackenzie Davis) and Ben Dalton (Scoot McNairy) with their daughter, Agnes (Alix West).

Ben is newly redundant and a little bored.  Louise fusses over their anxious daughter, Agnes, ‘Use your indoor voice.’

Then there’s Paddy (James McAvoy) cracking beers and getting it on with his young wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi).  Paddy’s forward and fun.

Ciara is lovely and they have a child who’s also awkward, a son, Ant (Dan Hough), who doesn’t speak because of a condition dwarfing his tongue.

The two families get along.

Paddy is a breath of fresh air so after Louise and Ben get home to London and disappointment, they decide it’s not such a bad idea to go to the Western Country to visit their good-time new friends.

The opening scene sets up the film well: a car being driven along a dark isolated road.  The reflection of a child’s face seen in the rearview mirror.  The adults get out of the car, leaving the child, his reflection watching.

It’s that ominous feeling of knowing something isn’t right that continues through-out the film.  The tension keeps building.  But the pacing gets annoying after a while.

It’s a gradual change as Paddy’s mask begins to slip, the sly comments, ‘Don’t put yourself down, that’s my job.’

The more off-colour Paddy becomes, the more precious Louise seems so Ben doesn’t know if they should just relax and get along or get out of there.

It’s a back and forth where the subtle becomes not so subtle to then lean into the unhinged to become so crazy it’s funny.  On purpose.

McAvoy steals the show as the charismatic, unhinged Paddy.

Paddy takes control through his constant manipulation, his presence claustrophobic, to the extent scenes felt empty without him.

But it’s frustrating to watch, that back and forth.  I couldn’t help but groan when the family continued to get sucked in again and again.

It’s a well-made film. I just got annoyed with it.

Monkey Man

GoMovieReview Rating: ★★★★Monkey Man

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Dev Patel

Story by: Dev Patel

Screenplay Written by: Dev Patel and Paul Angunawela and John Collee

Produced by: Dev Patel, Jomon Thomas, Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, Ian Cooper, Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Christine Haebler, Anjay Nagpal

Starring: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Sikandar Kher, Sobhita Dhulipala, Ashwini Kalsekar, Adithi Kalkunte, Makarand Deshpande.

‘It’s time to remember who you are.’

With red font and the stance of a menacing man holding a knife, I was expecting blood in Dev Patel’s directional debut.  And Monkey Man did not disappoint.  There is just the right amount of bloody action here that builds throughout the film.

Also starring, this is a different style to Patel’s previous roles, notably, Lion (2016) and Slumdog Millionaire (2008).

As Monkey Man, he still has those soulful eyes, here to echo the tragedy of his childhood, losing his parents and home during a land grab, a reclaiming of his parents and fellow farmers’ land for spiritual purposes.  But really, for dodgy deeds by a conducted by a corrupt guru backing bent police and the soon to be elected Sovereign Party.

Here, those soulful eyes reflect fire while his hands drip with blood.

The film opens with the legend of Hanuman, told by Monkey Man’s mother (Adithi Kalkunte) when he was a child.

Hanuman was very hungry.

A spell was cast.

He saw a shiny mango up in the sky.

Hanuman flew to grab the mango only to discover it was the sun.

So the Gods punished him.  Took his power.

Then the film cuts to Monkey Man fighting in an underground fight club.  The men wear masks.  Monkey Man wears a gorilla mask, like he’s Hanuman without his power.

The crowd roars, stamping their feet.

The manager (Sharlto Copley) tells him, ‘They fucking hate you.’

But Monkey Man doesn’t care.

If he bleeds, he gets the blood bonus.

And he needs money so he can buy a gun.

And he needs a gun to take revenge.

To get revenge he must get access to those who slaughtered his family to steal their land.

And to get access he needs to get a job at, Kings; a restaurant and club for the rich and powerful where drinks, women and drugs are served without question.

The film is a study in colour, the club drenched in red light, the film set in Mumbai (but filmed in Indonesia); a city that lends a vibrant backdrop to the constant shifting and refocussed camera work.

What stood out was the handheld cam moments, following a dog through the streets, the theft of a purse followed through a dozen hands like a cleverly orchestrated ballet.

Then the flow stops, the soundtrack lifts (fantastic soundtrack!) for a moment, breath held, before the abrupt return to the action where the jolting camera makes the movement feel like desperation.

There’s a lot of thought put into each scene, with a definite beginning, middle and end to the storyline – for me the beginning and end amazing, the transition of Monkey Man in the middle gets lost.  Like a Rocky transformation that jars with the tone of the rest of the film because what comes at the beginning and end feels unique – the transformation felt like a loss of confidence, harking back to what has already been done before.  But I get the necessary transition before the… Revenge.

‘You need to destroy in order to grow, to create space in your life.’

And Monkey Man is definitely a revenge film with the added difference of the legend of Hanuman at the storyline’s foundation.

The Gods took his power and then Monkey Man took it back.

 

Dune: Part Two

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★1/2Dune: Part Two

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve

Based on the Novel by: Frank Herbert

Screenplay Written by: Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts

Produced by: Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Denis Villeneuve, Tanya Lapointe and Patrick McCormick

Executive Producers: Joshua Grode, Jon Spaihts, Thomas Tull, Herbert W. Gains, Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, Kim Herbert, Richard P. Rubinstein and John Harrison.

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux, Souheila Yacoub, Stellan Skarsgård and Javier Bardem.

‘Power over spice is power over all.’

This is the mantra of the Harkonnens and the basis of the political intrigue in the Dune series.

It’s now the year 10,091.

Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh), the daughter of The Emperor (Christopher Walken) creates a voice memo, introducing Dune: Part Two, where the entire House of Atreides have been wiped out over-night. No warning, no survivors.  Except a few.

The Harkonnens now control the harvesting of spice with the ever-present influence of the Bene Gesserit.

The extent of the Bene Gesserits’ power becoming more apparent as the prophecy of the son, known by the Fremens as Lisan al Gaib, gains momentum.

It’s Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) they believe to be the Bene Gesserit’s son, the Mahdi of the Fremen whom they believe will lead them to paradise.

An ideal originally conjured by the Bene Gesserit and encouraged by Paul Atreides’ mother, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) as her pregnancy continues and her daughter grows in her belly.

Paul doesn’t fail in his fulfillment as he adapts to the desert and Fremen way of life with the help of Chani (Zendaya).

Even though he’s an outsider, Chani grows to love him – he’s different to the other outsiders.  He’s sincere.

My initial thought at the end of Dune: Part One of, I hope it doesn’t get cheesy, was unwarranted because despite the glimmers of light between Paul and Chani, this is a dark journey filled with moments like the sucking of water out of the dead and… Almost dead.

The Harkonnens’ are particularly brutal, the young nephew of The Baron (Stellan Skarsgård), Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler), is known by the Bene Gesserit as psychotic but manageable.

It’s a fight for survival as the Fremans sabotage the spice harvesters with the help of Paul, each success building his reputation as the Lisan al Gaib, confirming Stilgar’s (Javier Bardem) faith.  Stilagar gives him his Freman name, Paul Muad’Dib.

The build of belief catches fire, fierce stories spread about Lisan al Gaib, ‘Our resources are limited.’  Paul explains.  ‘Fear is all we have.’

Nothing can live down south without faith.  And now, instead of friends, Paul has followers.

There’s A LOT to unpack here, but at its foundation, Dune: Part Two has a heavy layer of religion and how religion is used to gain power – the ultimate power: to control the harvest of spice.

Parts of the story were glossed over, like the return of Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin).  And it’s easy to get lost in the intricacies of the story and characters, but there is absolutely never a dull moment in this film (editor: Joe Walker).

This is a vastly entertaining journey, ‘you will see the beauty and the horror,’ all in the dance of shadows over rock, the disappearance of a mother’s face into shadow after seeing her son forever changed – there’s black and white film used to portray the stark and evil of the Harkonnens alongside the red desert and solar eclipse (director of photography: Greig Fraser), flying black suits and pit fighters with black horns like insidious devils (costume designer: Jacqueline West).

All to the beat of a thumper that blends the desert and call of the worms with the beat of intrigue and violence in the capital (composer: Hans Zimmer).

This is a brutally entertaining film that lives up to the hype and is absolutely worth seeing on the big screen.

Better than Part One which is a big call because Part One was brilliant (winning six Academy Awards) and I’m guessing everyone will walk out of the cinema asking, when’s the release of Part Three?

 

Force of Nature: The Dry 2

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★1/2

Rated: M

Directed by: Robert Connolly

Produced by: Eric Bana, Robert Connolly, Jodi Matterson, Bruna Papandrea

Based on the novel by: Jane Harper

Screenplay by: Robert Connolly

Starring: Eric Bana, Anna Torv, Deborra-Lee Furness.

‘How one decision, one small mistake, can change everything.’

Robert Connolly returns as director with another adaptation of a Jane Harper novel, Force of Nature.

Instead of the backdrop of The Dry, of drought and fire, Force of Nature is set in a forest with rain and the green of ferns and towering mountain ash, missing persons.  And serial killers.

Alice (Anna Torv) is a missing person under suspicious circumstances.

Federal Agent Aaron Falk (Eric Bana) is called from Alice’s phone but the line is bad.  Amongst the static and dropping signal all he can hear is, ‘they know.’

Called to the Giralang mountain ranges, a search has begun for Alice after she goes missing from an executive work retreat.

Also on the retreat are four other women including the CEO’s wife (Deborra-Lee Furness), all suspects, the story shown in flashbacks as each character is revealed as the mystery pieces Alice’s last moments so different threads slowly tie together as Aaron races to find Alice – missing 30 hours, exposed in the forest with a storm looming.

As Aaron searches for Alice, he’s forced to face his past as he searches for the missing woman, a person he feels responsible for, an informant he’s pushed too far.

His partner, Agent Cooper (Jacqueline McKenzie) feels no guilt, following the appropriate protocols and procedures.  But Aaron knows if you push too hard, that’s when mistakes are made.  He also knows what happens when people go missing in the forest.

Filmed in the Dandenong Ranges, the mystery is deepened using the vast forest as a place where people get lost, where serial killers are known to lurk – the forest is a place where you feel like you’re being watched.  That you’re not alone.

It doesn’t take much for the paranoia to set in.

Force of Nature is a slow burn mystery with weight; the immersion into the puzzle gripping with the plot turning around blind corners so the audience doesn’t know what will happen next.

But for all the film’s promise, the suspense gets lost with each thread that becomes a dead end so that grip in the first half of the film begins to let go.

Force of Nature is well captured, the quiet, the rain, the mood set with some good reveals but the mystery gets lost in the forest of too many red herrings.

So although there’re good performances here, the story gets spread thin so instead of a big reveal there’s many little revelations that lacked punch.

Overall, a well captured, quality crime mystery that’s worth a watch.

 

Saltburn

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.3/5)

Rated: MA15+Saltburn

Directed by: Emerald Fennell

Written by: Emerald Fennell

Produced by: LuckyChap

Director of Photography: Linus Sandgren

Editor: Victoria Boydell

Starring: Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Gran, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, Carey Mulligan.

‘I loved him.  But was I in love with him?’

The chaos of the first day at college sees Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) wandering through the Oxford crowd with his tie and jacket – ‘Hey, cool jacket,’ says a fellow student.  Not in a good way.

Oliver’s a ‘Norman with no mates.’

He spies Felix (Jacob Elordi) through the crowd – happy, popular, beautiful.

Oliver watches him.  It’s creepy, but kinda sweet because he’s so polite about it.  The scholarship boy infatuated.

Felix feels sorry for him.

He invites Oliver to stay with his family at Saltburn for the summer:

‘If you get sick of us, you can leave.  Promise.’

There’s an immediate immersion into the story, irresistible and fun with a dark humour, where college professors care more about who your parents are then if you’ve read the recommended reading list – who reads the St Jame’s Bible the summer before starting college?

The storyline is reminiscent of a modern day, The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) – the studious and brilliant boy trying to get ahead in life infatuated with the charming rich, seemingly unattainable.  The invitation to stay.  The inevitable dead bodies.

But Saltburn is also funny and visceral with vomit and spit and menstrual blood. Not off-putting, not sexy even.  It made the unreality of the setting feel more authentic.

Barry Keoghan as Oliver, is quite frankly, a revelation.

And there’s a perfect balance of characters – writer and director, Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman (2021)– directorial and screenplay debut) drawing everything into the camera so the film edges up to the right side of the absurd, keeping the story more mystery and erotic thriller rather than delving into fantasy because the fantasy is the setting and Oliver’s desire, with no holding back.

Oliver’s willingness to be All, to give all, is weirdly endearing while knowingly manipulative.  The audience’s perception twisted like the storyline.

Fennell uses reflections to see the shadow of self, of Oliver only realised later because the reflection of water and the face in a table surface also looks beautiful, disguising what lies underneath.

The use of shadows to add definition.  Those close shots of Oliver’s eyes looking into another – the damaged younger sister, Venetia Catton (Alison Oliver) and smug family friend, rich because of the Catton’s guilt, so basically part of the family, Farleigh (Archie Madekwe) – hypnotise with the wilfulness of Oli.

And seeing Carey Mulligan as ‘Poor Dear Pamela’ does not disappoint.

Can you tell I liked this movie?

Those dark humorous moments are pure gold, Rosamund Pike as Elspeth Catton (ex-model and mother who can’t stand ugliness), stating, ‘the police keep getting lost in the maze.’ You can imagine the hilarity of the moment because it shouldn’t be funny but it just is.

It’s also the pauses from the characters, the individual nuances in body language that delight, the idiocy of the classic English denial played so well by Richard E. Gran as the patriarch, Sir James Catton.

Each performance is outstanding, the character roles perfectly balanced.

Then the humour edges towards the callous changing the mood as the story turns so there’s another layer under the surface: there’s a fine line between dark humour and callousness like there’s a fine line between love and hate.

Saltburn is inviting, surprising, edgy and a pleasure, like a guilty indulgence, to watch on the big screen.

This is the second powerhouse film from Emerald Fennell and I’m very much looking forward to seeing what comes next.

 

Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★☆ (3.2/5)DRACULA VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: André Øvredal

Screenplay by: Bragi F. Schut, Stefan Ruzowitzky and Zak Olkewicz, based on “The Captain’s Log” from Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Produced by: Brad Fischer, Mike Medavoy, Arnold Messer

Executive Produced by: Matthew Hirsch

Starring: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian.

‘Evil is aboard.  Powerful evil.’

It’s 1897 when merchant ship, The Demeter is seen off the coast of Whitby, England.

The ship’s sails are torn, the hull blackened and like a ghost ship, there are no surviving passengers.

Based on the chapter, The Captain’s Log from the iconic literary novel, Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), this is the tale of the vampire’s voyage from his homeland across the seas to England.

The setting of the film is aboard the ship, where the captain (Liam Cunningham) and his crew, including last minute addition, Clemens (Corey Hawkins), a doctor looking for passage home, find themselves trapped as the horror begins; first the animals are found slaughtered, then the crew of the ship.  And there’s no way to escape.

Director, André Øvredal (Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark (2019), Trollhunter (2010), and a recommendation to watch if you haven’t already, The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)) focusses on Dracula as the monster – his visage more bat than man, with glowing yellow eyes and needlepoint teeth.

There is no sympathy for the monster, from the outset, Dracula is cast as the ‘Devil’s Serpent,’ a killing machine – and when the animals are found ripped apart, the audience is set firmly against the undead as Dracula preys on the living who have no hope and no understanding of what they’re dealing with.

Until the crew discover Anna (Aisling Franciosi), a girl they first believe is a stowaway, but after blood transfusions from Clemens to save her, she becomes the crew’s only way of understanding the evil that is sailing with them.  She’s not the bad luck that has befallen the ship.  She’s a survivor.

There’re clever devices used to ramp-up the tension, firstly those on board trapped as they wait for the sun to set so the film plays out like a slasher formula as Dracula feeds, picking each member off, one by one.

The crew knock on wood to communicate from the bowels of the ship, so there’s this listening out to hear that knock, to hear if someone’s trapped and about to literally be eaten.

It’s dark, raining, the sea throws the ship back and forth and there’s a monster on board: It’s the perfect set-up for a horror movie.

And I really wanted to love this film.  I’m a fan of the Dracula genre, and horror-thrillers, and there’s a good cast here – Liam Cunningham as the captain (you’ll recognise as Davos Seaworth from Game of Thrones) has just the right amount of gravitas and scores well for humanity putting the audience firmly behind well, the humans.  And the soundtrack adds a foreboding atmosphere, building the tension so there’re some good scares (someone sitting behind me yelped on more than one occasion, which was good fun).

There’s something to be said for watching a scary movie in the cinema where the audience is collectively given a jump.

But because it has that slasher formula, the film starts to feel predictable.

 

Cairo Conspiracy

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★ Cario Conspiracy

Directed by: Tarik Saleh

Written by: Tarik Saleh

Produced by: Kristina Åberg and Fredrik Zander

Starring: Tawfeek Barhom, Fares Fares, Mohammad Bakri, Makram J. Khoury, Sherwan Haji, Mehdi Dehbi.

WINNER – BEST SCREENPLAY
Cannes Film Festival 2022

‘Don’t forget where you’re from.’

When Adam (Tawfeek Barhom) is granted a scholarship to study at the Al-Azhar in Cairo, he’s worried his father won’t approve.

But his father, a fisherman who is a strict disciplinarian, says not even a father can stand in the way of God’s will.

Al-Azhar is the centre of power in Sunni Islam, and it is here that Adam arrives to open his world to the teachings of the Qur’an.  Instead the fisherman’s son becomes the centre of a power struggle between the State and religious leaders when the Grand Imam passes away.

Director and writer Tarik Saleh (The Nile Hilton Incident (2017)) states, ‘One of the Egyptian revolutions, the one that brought Field Marshal Sisi to power, was seen as a military coup, although it was actually supported by the people. Once he became President, Sisi, who has ruled Egypt for eight years, decided to confront the Al-Azhar institution directly. His first decision was to visit the University on the Prophet’s birthday. His speech said in essence: “Either you contribute to the problem or you contribute to the solution. We need to fight terrorism, which you have not done so far. There are even books in your institution that promote terrorism and this must stop.”’

What surprised Tarik Saleh as he was writing the script for, Conspiracy in Cairo is that what he had written started to happen in reality.

The conflict between state and religion is the driving narrative of the film when the State decides it will do anything in their power for the replacement of the Grand Imam to be on the side of the president.

Enter State Security Colonel Ibrahim (Fares Fares).

At the behest of his boss, Ibrahim uses the students as informants within the Al-Azhar, known as Angels, to pass back information to influence the decision making in favour of the State’s priorities.

Echoing the implied statement of President Sisi in real-life Egypt, “I am the new leader of Egypt, you had better fall in line”.

And the then Grand Imam, Sheikh el-Tayeb: “I am only the Grand Imam, my only privilege is to give recommendations from the Qur’an. You, Sissi, make the law and I do not interfere with that.” The President wanted the Qur’an to support his proposed laws. The Grand Imam replied that he could not because it is impossible to change the Qur’an.”

What we see in the film is how Adam, once recruited as an Angel, navigates the power struggle while staying hidden from those he’s informing on and also keeping alive by passing information to State Security that, as his predecessor and fellow student, Zizo (Mehdi Dehbi) found out – being a loose end is just as dangerous.

Weaved through-out the delicate yet deadly politics are the teachings of the Qur’an, where, ‘right is right, sin is sin.  God will guide you.’

It’s a quietly menacing film about ‘books that scare tyrants and kings,’ and scholars who quote the words of the Qur’an to find their way to a Truth.

This is a political intrigue set in the modern-day world of Islam in Egypt so the tone is unique as the familiar politics of State seek to control the power of religion, where Adam has to decide if the obstacles put in front of him come from God, or fate or man.

‘This life is but a game.’

It’s a struggle, finding that balance of power between, ‘Two Pharaoh’s in the land,’ because one false step detected by the people of Egypt could very likely lead to civil war.

Conspiracy in Cairo is an absorbing story (there’s a reason the film won Best Screenplay at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival), quietly told, from the cold but honest work of a fisherman working from a small boat on the sea, to panning to a flock of birds drifting between the spires of the Al-Azhar, to the weave of Brothers snaking their way to find and punish any against them.

Thought-provoking, intriguing with moments of beauty – this is a balanced film that gets you thinking.

 

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