Special Mention: Sightseers
Directed by Ben Wheatley
Written by Steve Oram and Alice Lowe
UK, 2012
This bloody, satirical road trip comedy is by no means as great as Terrence Mallick’s Badlands, but it is truly unique, strange, disquieting, and uncomfortably funny. Ben Wheatley is one of the most exciting genre filmmakers working in the industry today and has a talent for coaxing naturalistic, improvisational performances from his actors. Here, Wheatley is working for the first time from someone else’s script. Sightseers was written by TV acting and writing duo Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, with input from Wheatley’s longtime collaborator Amy Jump. In Sightseers, they achieve the relatively rare feat of striking the right balance between sharply observed characterization and jet-black humour. Sightseers was pitched as an unsold TV pilot, which was rejected by every UK broadcaster for being too dark. It isn’t quite horror, but...
Directed by Ben Wheatley
Written by Steve Oram and Alice Lowe
UK, 2012
This bloody, satirical road trip comedy is by no means as great as Terrence Mallick’s Badlands, but it is truly unique, strange, disquieting, and uncomfortably funny. Ben Wheatley is one of the most exciting genre filmmakers working in the industry today and has a talent for coaxing naturalistic, improvisational performances from his actors. Here, Wheatley is working for the first time from someone else’s script. Sightseers was written by TV acting and writing duo Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, with input from Wheatley’s longtime collaborator Amy Jump. In Sightseers, they achieve the relatively rare feat of striking the right balance between sharply observed characterization and jet-black humour. Sightseers was pitched as an unsold TV pilot, which was rejected by every UK broadcaster for being too dark. It isn’t quite horror, but...
- 12/14/2013
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Chicago – I suppose it was only a matter of time before Sebastián Silva delved into the brooding waters of psychodrama. There are countless moments in his previous pictures—from Catalina Saavedra’s piercing Bette Davis stare in “The Maid” to Michael Cera’s hallucinogenic agony in “Crystal Fairy”—that threaten to spiral into horrifying derangement.
How sad that Silva’s meticulously executed, visually stunning “Magic Magic” has been dumped on DVD by the unfeeling hands of Sony, while the director’s inferior “Crystal Fairy” scored a limited theatrical release. Not only is “Magic” an exponentially better film than “Fairy,” it’s also one of the most gripping portraits of a psychological meltdown in recent memory (it would’ve made a fine big screen double bill with Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine”). Relegating any film co-lensed by Christopher Doyle (“In the Mood for Love”) to a small screen premiere is a...
How sad that Silva’s meticulously executed, visually stunning “Magic Magic” has been dumped on DVD by the unfeeling hands of Sony, while the director’s inferior “Crystal Fairy” scored a limited theatrical release. Not only is “Magic” an exponentially better film than “Fairy,” it’s also one of the most gripping portraits of a psychological meltdown in recent memory (it would’ve made a fine big screen double bill with Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine”). Relegating any film co-lensed by Christopher Doyle (“In the Mood for Love”) to a small screen premiere is a...
- 8/15/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Magic Magic
Written by Sebastian Silva
Directed by Sebastian Silva
U.S.A./Chile, 2013
It is always an exciting prospect when new, young actors begin to make serious headway in film or television, proving their worth as performers and whose names cause movie goers’ head to perk at the mention that they are starring in an upcoming project. Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez, to name only two such actors, had already gained certain popularity when they were cast together in Harmony Korine’s tripped out Spring Breakers. Along comes director Sebastian Silva with a peculiar, unexpected thriller entitled Magic Magic and starring a trio of recognizable talent: Juno Temple, Emily Browning and Michael Cera.
Alicia (Juno Temple) has just arrived in Chile to visit her cousin Sarah (Emily Browning) who has lived there for some time already. The plan is to go up to a cottage she, some friends (Michael Cera,...
Written by Sebastian Silva
Directed by Sebastian Silva
U.S.A./Chile, 2013
It is always an exciting prospect when new, young actors begin to make serious headway in film or television, proving their worth as performers and whose names cause movie goers’ head to perk at the mention that they are starring in an upcoming project. Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez, to name only two such actors, had already gained certain popularity when they were cast together in Harmony Korine’s tripped out Spring Breakers. Along comes director Sebastian Silva with a peculiar, unexpected thriller entitled Magic Magic and starring a trio of recognizable talent: Juno Temple, Emily Browning and Michael Cera.
Alicia (Juno Temple) has just arrived in Chile to visit her cousin Sarah (Emily Browning) who has lived there for some time already. The plan is to go up to a cottage she, some friends (Michael Cera,...
- 7/24/2013
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
Magic Magic
Written and directed by Sebastián Silva
Chile/USA, 2013
It’s become something of a cliché to draw links between any claustrophobic discomfort piece and the work of Roman Polanski. Magic Magic not only has the chamber piece qualities of the man’s apartment films and Carnage, but also the island locale and proximity to paralyzing waters of films like Knife in the Water, Cul-de-sac and The Ghost Writer; furthermore, it also shares a blonde protagonist losing her grip on reality à la Repulsion. It’s an easy film to play ‘Spot the Roman’ with, but the comparison is valid and not just superficial checklist-ticking in this case. If, as a whole, it never reaches the same heights of quality as the best of Polanski’s more horror-inclined films, Sebastián Silva’s unnerving and enigmatic thriller has scenes that certainly stand up to worthy association.
Alicia (Juno Temple) arrives...
Written and directed by Sebastián Silva
Chile/USA, 2013
It’s become something of a cliché to draw links between any claustrophobic discomfort piece and the work of Roman Polanski. Magic Magic not only has the chamber piece qualities of the man’s apartment films and Carnage, but also the island locale and proximity to paralyzing waters of films like Knife in the Water, Cul-de-sac and The Ghost Writer; furthermore, it also shares a blonde protagonist losing her grip on reality à la Repulsion. It’s an easy film to play ‘Spot the Roman’ with, but the comparison is valid and not just superficial checklist-ticking in this case. If, as a whole, it never reaches the same heights of quality as the best of Polanski’s more horror-inclined films, Sebastián Silva’s unnerving and enigmatic thriller has scenes that certainly stand up to worthy association.
Alicia (Juno Temple) arrives...
- 6/24/2013
- by Josh Slater-Williams
- SoundOnSight
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