[Reel-Reviews] Kapital (1 star)
Kapital – last night was the world-premiere for Greg Hall/ Steve Martland film commission for Manchester International Festival. Apparently the three “Londoners” (those two and Alex Poots, festival director) cooked up the title in a café in Finsbury Park – and I think that about says it all.
Simon Mellor said in the post-film Q&A that he thought that Manchester was one of the main characters in the piece. And I couldn’t have agreed less. If you’re a Cockney, why come to a strange city and try and make a “Mancunian” film?
My feeling overall was that it could have worked as four short films. Actually, it could have been one short. In fact, I recommend you watch the well-edited one minute trailer approximately 75 times instead of catching the full director’s cut…
It was like watching an art installation film piece in a cinema; it’s certainly no feature film. Nice try MIF, but features budgets tend to have another nought on the end of them. As a result of that, and I suspect also the providence of the director, this really isn’t a film worth seeking out. More Krap-ital than Kapital.
technorati tag: kapital, manchester international festival
posted by LauraHD at 09:51
3 Comments:
Having had the chance to see this film on Saturday I can't disagree with LauraHD more. It's painfully obvious that this woman has no taste in film, for the fact that all of her favourite films are from the last ten to fifteen years, of course aside from It's a Wonderful Life, which she could have picked up from one of the annual Empire magazine's list of what to see before you die.
Obviously a Mancunian with her feathers ruffled I think she would have preferred if Shaun Ryder walked across the screen smacked out of his eyeballs or if there was more Morrissey on the soundtrack.
This film is not pretty, but then it doesn't have to be. The northern angst featured in Ms. Laurahd's review shows so much bitterness that I think it's unfortunate that she is allowed to review anything with such a bias attached to her. This is the film that any young filmmaker could make if given half the chance and with some personal commitment, and as for the adding an extra nought onto the end of the budget to make it better, this comment is so stupid it's almost idiotic. Whatabout Clerks $25,000?, El Mariachi $7,000? Laura, keep your yearly pass to your local odeon and fear not, for Transformers is due out on the 27th of July and there isn't a trace of Mancunian in that, so that should make you feel better.
With traces of Gilliam, Noe, Loach and Sirk, this film is adventurous and uncompromising. It's tough to watch but ultimately an emotional journey that is rewarding and should stay with you for awhile.
9/7/07 08:32
The main problem with Kapital was that the actors were asked to improvise scripts for such poorly conceived characters and so fall flat on their faces.
The father is introduced listening to a bible reading on the radio while painting his toy soldiers in front of a shrine to Thatcher in the Falklands. He then launches into an unprovoked rant about Enoch Powell's biography being out-of-print before sexually assaulting his daughter and then crying over a photo of the girl's dead mother.
Subtle this ain't.
16/7/07 12:41
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25/9/07 23:03
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