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Rounding off our London Film Festival coverage are two (and a bit) shorts, all made with the support of Film London.

How Much For My Brother?

Enjoyably obnoxious 10-year-old Oscar (Joseph H. King) is sick of his younger brother Jacob (James Foster) ruining his life. Looking like a future candidate for the Young Conservatives, Oscar’s precocious as anything, and it’s evident that his parents don’t understand the burden he has to put up with as they dismiss his concerns while barely looking away from the TV. So Oscar takes matters into his own hands to rid himself of the six-year-old menace (who is adorable in his sun hat and Che Guevara t-shirt).

So far, so charming and while it does toy with slipping into saccharine the film plays with a darker side too. Writer and director Joe Tucker has created a fun and humorous story about brotherly love that had me double-take twice. Not bad for quarter of an hour’s watching.

Jimmy Will Play

Masooma (Iqra Naz Rizwan) is a cash-strapped single mother whose son Jimmy (Rayaan Ali) desperately wants a new pair of boots ahead of football team trials. It’s a pantomime of a tale, the tropes familiar to anyone watching but the novelty comes from the way Masooma sets out to make money to afford the boots: a scheme that’s played out in an amusing, and wince-inducing montage.

Mawaan Rizwan has made a pleasant film with a strong sense of place, and Masooma evokes real sympathy but really, if Jimmy is so passionate about football, you feel he could make do with less expensive footwear when their meals consist of margarine and sugar.

Rule Number Three

Due to some technical issues, I only managed to see about three minutes of Rule Number Three, which was disappointing because what I did see, I was intrigued by. Nicholas Hoult and Imogen Poots are a couple communicating through their game of Scrabble. The first few minutes were funny and I got cut off at a cliffhanger, so if someone can let me know how the full 11 minutes plays out, that’d be great.

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Curtis (Michael Shannon) is having trouble sleeping. Each night he has terrible nightmares along a similar theme, a storm is coming and bringing with it thick rain which drives people insane. As Curtis sees people he trusts turn again him in his dreams he cuts them from his life in fear of his visions coming true, all the while building an expansive storm shelter in his back garden. His wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain) does her best to support her husband, but is torn between caring for a troubled man and looking after their deaf daughter. The big question is whether Curtis is developing schizophrenia or is foretelling a coming apocalypse…

In many ways this is the dramatic equivalent of Evan Almighty as one man ignores the criticisms of his loved ones in the pursuit of protecting them from a storm he has foretold. The main difference being that Take Shelter is infinitely better in every way.

Shannon is brilliant as Curtis, a man plagued by his dreams, trying to save his family while not letting them know how terrified he is. We can see Curtis’ inner feeling and the mask he hides them behind. Jessica Chastain and Shea Whigham are perfect as his wife and best friend, both willing to help Curtis but ultimately are hurt by his mistrust. Though ably supported by this great cast it is Shannon who has to carry the film, there is not a scene without him in, and he does so fantastically.

Jeff Nichols direction is simple for the most part, his gentle scenes of domestic tension lulled me into a relaxed state, making the violent dreams all the more distressing when they bellowed onto screen. The lulling does get a little out of hand at times as the film takes too long to get to the conclusion the rest of the two hours has been building to. This is a clever, well told story but does not need to be this long to be told in full.

A quality film with a bit too much flab, Take Shelter is an enthralling watch and a great showcase for Michael Shannon.

Take Shelter is released in UK cinemas on 25th November 2011.

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In Last Screening Sylvain (Pascal Cervo) manages a traditional cinema that is soon to close it doors. In a state of extreme denial he continues his job as normal ignoring the fact that the cinema has been sold and he no longer has a job there. In a bizarre turn Sylvain is also a mass murderer, killing female victims and taking a grim souvenir. Before long Sylvain has allowed his murderous streak, and his attempts to keep the cinema open, to overlap, all the while trying to maintain a blossoming romance.

Writer/director Laurent Achard draws direct comparisons with Norman Bates in Hitchcock’s Psycho by including flashbacks back to Sylvain’s abusive childhood at the hands of his mother. A childhood which instilled not just a love for cinema but a lust for blood. Ultimately Achard is commenting on the death of film projectors in cinemas and the digital progression of films, sadly this message gets lost in a grim and surprisingly dull horror.

Last Screening is astonishingly boring for a film lasting just 80 minutes, a real disappointment considering the intriguing synopsis. With an uncharismatic killer taking the lead and a selection of victims we don’t know enough about to care for, it is hard to get involved in proceedings; the whole palaver instead left me cold and on the verge of sleep. This cinematic narcolepsy was not helped by a bounty of shots which may well be aesthetically pleasing, but offered nothing in the way of action or plot progression.

The premise and execution have enough substance to make a decent short film, but are stretched to breaking point as a feature-length production. Tedium in a horror is a crime against the genre.

Last Screening is released in France on 7th December 2011 and isn’t worth a trip on the Eurostar.

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The Help
Combine Emma Stone and Allison Janney and I couldn’t be more excited. Stone is a an aspiring author who decides to tell the story of “the help” from the point of view of African American maids. Lots of social commentary and hopefully some humour too.

The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn
With a script written by Stephen ‘Doctor Who‘ Moffat, Edgar ‘Scott Pilgrim‘ Wright and Joe ‘Attack the Block‘ Cornish, Steven Spielberg in the directors seat and Peter Jackson just hanging around the set, it’s hard not to get a little bit excited about this motion-capture adventure. And yet…

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Giorgos Lanthimos created a lot of buzz with his previous film Dogtooth, in which someone tries to break free from a fictitious environment and break into the real world. In Alps similar fictitious worlds are created and the lead, played by Aggeliki Papoulia, tries to escape into them rather than away from them. The Alps are a bizarre group of individuals offering a very unique service, members of the team can be hired out to fill the place of a deceased loved one for a few hours a week, re-enacting classic scenes from their life.

With such a bizarre concept it is all too easy for a film to feel inauthentic and too odd to settle into. Lanthimos combats this by not burdening the audiences with too much exposition. The theory of the Alps is never really explained, it is up to the audience to figure out what is happening at their own pace. Naturally this meant I spent a lot of time confused and bewildered but I got there in the end.

The Hollywood version of Alps is not hard to imagine, with a new rookie recruit being taken through the process so that we’re all clear on the themes of the film. It is a relief that Lanthimos shies away from this. By not explaining the concept it somehow comes across as more natural and not out of place in the world we live in. As soon as you understand what is happening, you accept it and move on.

On the whole Alps has a wonderfully natural feel that draws you in and the tight running time means the film never lets you go. An unusual beast, Alps is intriguing, comic, moving and brutal. If Charlie Kaufman were to make a Greek film, it would look a lot like this but would be half an hour too long.

Alps has no UK release yet but surely will do soon.

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