2013 / USA - Canada / 120 minutes
Director: Alexandre Aja
Screenplay: Keith Bunin, based on the novel Horns by Joe Hill
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Max Minghella, Joe Anderson, Juno Temple, Kelli Garner
Genre: horror, dark fantasy, drama
In the small American town of Gideon's Falls, Ignatius "Ig" Perrish (Radcliffe) is accused of the brutal rape and murder of his girlfriend Merrin (Temple). Despite his repeated protestations of innocence, the townspeople are convinced of Ig's guilt. After a night of heavy drinking, Ig wakes up to find two large horns growing out of his head. While people can see the horns they don't appear to really notice them, but they are also compelled to confess to Ig their deepest, darkest secrets. Ig determines to use the power of the horns to help him discover the truth behind Merrin's murder.
The film is an adaptation of the 2010 novel Horns by Joe Hill, and sticks relatively close to the source. The story moves back and forth in time shifting from the present day narrative to Ig and Merrin's youth and the growth of their relationship. Several elements of the film may be too bizarre for some audiences to accept, but I enjoyed it. It's less of a conventional horror movie and more of a darkly satirical religious crime drama. The performances are superb, with Daniel Radcliffe in particular fantastic as the complex, troubled Ig Perrish.
Showing posts with label satire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label satire. Show all posts
Saturday, 8 November 2014
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Pigsty
Year of Release: 1969
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Screenplay: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Starring: Jean-Pierre Leaud, Marco Ferreri, Ugo Tognazzi, Pierre Clementi, Alberto Lionello, Franco Citti, Anne Wiazemsky
This Italian film interweaves two separate storylines. In the first one, set in an unnamed desolate, volcanic landscape, at an unspecified historical period, a young cannibal thug (Clementi) roams around attacking soldiers and with a small band of similar outsiders ravages the country. In the second story, set in 1967 Germany, Julian (Leaud), the son of a hugely wealthy industrialist, is unable to connect with politically-engaged girlfriend Ida (Wizemsky). When Julian inexplicably falls into a coma, he is used as a pawn in a power game between his father (Lionello) and a business rival (Tognazzi).
This film is a bleakly savage satire on human nature and cruelty. Although there is at first glance little to connect the first, almost completely dialogue free historical story to the contemporary one, there are similar themes recurring throughout both. The first deals with the human capacity for cruelty and anarchy, the second connects capitalist business to Nazism (Pasolini was a committed Marxist).
The film is very well-made and full of memorable images, it is also indubitably a work of art, and a powerful and fearsome one at that. However it is so unremittingly bleak, it's hard to imagine many viewers actually enjoying it.
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Screenplay: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Starring: Jean-Pierre Leaud, Marco Ferreri, Ugo Tognazzi, Pierre Clementi, Alberto Lionello, Franco Citti, Anne Wiazemsky
This Italian film interweaves two separate storylines. In the first one, set in an unnamed desolate, volcanic landscape, at an unspecified historical period, a young cannibal thug (Clementi) roams around attacking soldiers and with a small band of similar outsiders ravages the country. In the second story, set in 1967 Germany, Julian (Leaud), the son of a hugely wealthy industrialist, is unable to connect with politically-engaged girlfriend Ida (Wizemsky). When Julian inexplicably falls into a coma, he is used as a pawn in a power game between his father (Lionello) and a business rival (Tognazzi).
This film is a bleakly savage satire on human nature and cruelty. Although there is at first glance little to connect the first, almost completely dialogue free historical story to the contemporary one, there are similar themes recurring throughout both. The first deals with the human capacity for cruelty and anarchy, the second connects capitalist business to Nazism (Pasolini was a committed Marxist).
The film is very well-made and full of memorable images, it is also indubitably a work of art, and a powerful and fearsome one at that. However it is so unremittingly bleak, it's hard to imagine many viewers actually enjoying it.
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