| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 08/15/2011 : 17:09:53
Now I've seen my fair share of cinema's Undead and Bloodsuckers. While neither's ever been my fav genre, there are always metaphoric challenges about different aspects of society.
The first time I noticed a real coming-of-age for the genre was with the Swedish Let The Right One In. Its subsequent global popularity, including English-language remake, proved others wanted more from the genre than simplistic adventure infection.
Then film stories seemed to veer off into some melodramatic teeny Twilight that failed to engage me. Though I know I'd have to elbow my way through a gaggle of young girls to escape.
But I digress.
Two films give me hope the genre is re-discovering a more sophisticated means of story telling. And one is still in production, and about which more later.
I've recently seen Strigoi, a film by writer/directer Faye Jackon, who's married to a Romanian and who's long been fascinated with Slavic folk myths.
Released in 2009, it's being distributed here by Eureka, a company I've come to respect. In addition to its brave stance to distribute the Centipede films against more repressive approaches - the company's been re-releasing raft of long-forgotten films in shiny new prints. These include City Girl, an early Murnau silent which provides a visual hint of what the director might have produced had not a car accident claimed his life. Also, some vibrant films by Fritz Lang, Kobayashi's Harakiri and Pigs & Battleships, Imamura's stunning riposte to the UK's "kitchen sink" films of the mid-1960s.
There are zombies in Strigoi - zombies aplenty! But Jackson has gone right back to the way that centuries of folk myths infect the everyday lives of ordinary people. The film is set in a remote farming Romanian village - though everyone speaks English, albeit with accents. Until the return of one of their absent sons, you could be forgiven for thinking we're in a long-ago timeless era. And anyone who's travelled to the tiny village of Siberia or the Scottish Highlands will know just what I mean.
But the guy, Vlad, comes home and we know almost immediately, his search to make his fortune in Italy has come to nothing. And the story takes place against a very contemporary backdrop. At one point we get to see his quick flash-back as a counter server at Macdonalds.
Jackon is skilled at reconciling the values of each era. They constantly inform the local tale of neighbourly land grabs, betrayals, and exploitation. Vlad is almost immediately called to investigate the plight of his possibly-demented gnome-like grandfather, who insists everything that has gone wrong must be the fault of The Russians, or The Communists, or possibly The Priest, or even The Police.
It's the relationships which are the focus of the story. The zombies fit in and out around the mundane tasks of living - drinking and eating.
And, speaking of eating - there are a couple of scenes of people eating food that rival Tom Jones - though for far different reasons!
Which brings me to the forthcoming World War Z, based on the best-selling novel. It's currently being filmed in Glasgow and stars Brad Pitt as the man who must ensure a global plague of zombie-ism can be stopped in its tracks.
The interviews I've read with the book's author convince me that it was created as a political metaphor, and one which I can't wait to see! |
| 1 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| randall |
Posted - 08/21/2011 : 00:53:01
quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
The interviews I've read with the book's author convince me that it was created as a political metaphor, and one which I can't wait to see!
Most zomb pieces are either metaphors or flat-out satires; WORLD WAR Z is a little of both. [The author is Mel Brooks's son and a former SNL writer.]
But you don't have to wait another year and a half. There's a wonderful full-cast audio adaptation, a la WAR OF THE WORLDS, already out, with big stars including Alan Alda and John Turturro. |
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