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Film and the Arts
Doc Director Megan Mylan Brings Smile Pinki to the World
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Interviews
- Published on Thursday, 11 June 2009 22:26
- Written by Brad Balfour
The story behind the making of 2009's winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary Short -- Smile Pinki --is something of a fairy tale equal to the story within the film. Pinki is a five-year-old girl with a cleft lip/palate from a tiny village in the Mirzapur 
District, India. It's a desperately poor place where no one even realizes a simple operation can repair her disfigurement. Then, a worker from the Smile Train organization who travels throughout India finding kids in need of this operation, gets Pinki to the hospital in Varanasi where she has the free surgery and discovers her smile.
Said Mullaney, "Of the 1,200+ hospitals in 76 of the world's poorest countries that Smile Train works in, this [one in the film] is the busiest! They do more than 3,300 surgeries a year and it's run by a saint of a surgeon. We knew that with this volume we would have a great chance of casting a couple of great kids--and it worked."
So, with the Best Feature Oscar going to Slumdog Millionaire, this short enjoyed the resonate effect of being part of a very South Asian, very international year for filmmaking in the public mind. Now that HBO has started broadcasting the short--and making it available through its many distribution channels-- Smile Pinki continues to make people believe in this fairy tale, and, hopefully others as well.
Q: How did you come together with the Smile Train people?
MM: They came to me.
Q: How did they see your movies?
MM: I think Brian Mullaney and the other founders thought they had a great story that they thought would make a great documentary, so they went looking for someone, "Who do we want to tell the story?" and they really loved [my previous film] Lost Boys of Sudan. So my first reaction, honestly, was "Thanks, but no thanks, I come up with my own story ideas," and I just thought, "Well I don't do PSAs." But then they were a little persistent, and I think part of my job is to be open, as is yours, right? You've got to be open to what people are trying to tell you.
Q: I had a friend who had a cleft palate as a kid.
MM: That's one of the things; clefts weren't on my radar, besides ads you see in the Sunday paper. I thought of it as something cosmetic. But once they sent me some stuff and I started realizing how common it is, how devastating it is beyond its speech and ability to eat, and the tremendous social ostracism. And then, how totally curable it is.
Q: What's great about the organization, is that they've found something where they could have a huge impact, with something that had a clear and unmistakable goal and resolution.
MM: Exactly.
Q: So rather than try to cure all the world's ills with some kind of large organization, they figured this out.
MM: The other key piece for me about their strategy is that they support local doctors. It's wonderful when Americans choose to go abroad, and we should all give our time, but that's not the way you solve problems. You've got to empower the local people. If all of that had not been in place, I probably still would have done it, but the organization intrigued me.
Q: And it was a chance to go to India.
MM: Exactly. I thought it was a good story. It has the natural structure to it, so as a storyteller I thought, "this is a good story." And they had the funding in place, which seriously, that's the worst part of my job. If I never did that ever again, great.
To some degree having to convince people your idea is a good idea is a good filter for people not going off and making every story under the sun, but it's thankless. That's probably the piece the Oscar helped with the most; not convincing people to fund me, but when I open rejection letters or I get a rejection email, I can say to myself, "Okay there was a moment where people said yes." Because it's constant, it's constant.
Q: And you've been making films before this.
MM: I've been making independent documentaries for about 15 years and this is my third or fourth that I've directed, depending on how you count my first film which didn't get much of an audience. This is actually the first short I've done and it's a 40-minute one. The other two were features and one is still in production. But Lost Boys of Sudan... Jon Shenk and I co-directed that.
Q: I loved that movie.
MM: Oh good; I did too. It was such a life experience. Jon actually was one of my DPs on this film.
Q: How do you, as a doc director, separate yourself from the subjects you cover? With Lost Boys... you built relationships that you don't suddenly turn off. And with Smile Pinki, how do you divorce yourself from these little kids?
MM: I don't try to separate myself. It is an odd relationship you have because in some ways it's very much a friendship, especially with the kinds of films I make. If I have a strategy, it's [shooting] vérité so it's finding people who are going through these life-transforming moments.
Q: And you're dealing with younger people.
MM: Exactly. So you're with these people at these transformative moments in their lives and I'm just very clear that I'm a human being first and a filmmaker second. I don't think that those [two things] have to be in conflict. I don't need to film every single moment and I try and be really clear with my subject that if they say stop, I stop.
We always felt with Lost Boys..., those guys were going through such an intense experience, and part of it was having these two filmmakers along for the ride. They didn't know any different that you could come to a new country and not have a filmmaker as part of that experience. And I think, to some degree with Pinki, that might have been [the case] too.
Q: And these kids like Pinki are younger too.
MM: Yeah, she's much younger. Actually, in a lot of ways, even though [the Lost Boys] were Sudanese refugees who spent their whole childhood in a refugee camp, those guys were much more savvy about the ways of the world. Though they had gone through such hardship and experienced genocide as six year olds, they had BBC radio and knew what airplanes were and all of that.
Pinki's village is really the most isolated thing I've ever been in touch with. Neither she nor her father had ever been to town. She had never left that village and he had never been to that city, which, by car was only two hours away, and by their transport, only a few hours away, and here he is, a 27 year old man. And with her mother, one of the really challenging things was communication with them. The language level was tricky.
Q: What dialect do they speak?
MM: They speak Bhojpuri, which is a dialect of Hindi. So my field producer, who's from Delhi didn't even speak it, so we had to work through these layers. She would talk to the social worker--there are very few people who speak both English and Bhojpuri; there are a lot of people who speak Hindi and Bhojpuri, or Hindi and English, but not the whole chain, so you had to go through this.
Actually Dr. Subodh, the surgeon, is one of the few; he grew up in Banaras, but was sort of busy. Yet, often, he'd be translating for us at the same time he was doing the surgery and everything.
Q: It's a good thing that the surgery is relatively basic.
MM: And he does it all the time. So the communication with her family--to try and get that level of trust and explain to them what my mission as a filmmaker was, what my motivation in telling their story was--they had no concept even of what a movie was. Her mother could not wrap her head around the idea that I was a foreigner.
She can sort of understand Hindi, so said to my field producer, "There are people who speak Hindi and that's not what I speak, but I understand," and then she pointed at me and was like, "why is she talking like that?"
We finally realized that she didn't have the concept of a foreigner, that there's a world out there. So how do you find common ground with that? That was a big challenge.
Q: How did people there deal with someone with a cleft palate? How many people in that village had a cleft palate? Was she the only one?
MM: She was the only one. Her village is probably only 75 people; it is quite small. I think that especially with the film, it seems like every other child has a cleft, but it is very common in India because there's so much malnutrition and poverty; the poorer the country the higher the incidence.
Q: Do they have any idea what causes it?
MM: They don't know exactly; Brian [Mullaney] can tell you more, but they know that it's linked to prenatal nutrition and the health of the mother. The less wealthy the mother, the higher the incidence. It's sort of woven in there, and there's a genetic component too.
There's estimated to be a million children in India with clefts, but there are over a billion people in India, so it's still a bit of a needle in a haystack to find these kids. The poorer the mother the more likely and they are very isolated. That's one of the things I like the best, is when there's that big coming-together registration day and these kids are like-- and you can just see in their eyes--"I'm not the only one."
They had never seen anyone who looked like them. All around the world, I've come to learn, there are different superstitions about this [condition] and very much so in India. It's the eclipse or that the mother was cutting vegetables and you're not supposed to do that and the gods have punished you. So this child is born as a punishment to their family and village. That's how they're seen.
Q: Is there anywhere that thinks highly of them?
MM: Not that I've seen. Wouldn't that be great?
Q: Well I've read, that with one group certain cleft children are viewed as a pariah and with other communities they are viewed as a blessing--there were different kinds of cultural responses to this particular condition.
MM: One of the things I hope comes through in the film, and I feel like you see really clearly, is that Pinki's family really prized her. She was very much a loved child even though she had to deal with this ostracism and ridicule from the village and the other kids.
Q: Even though it's a 40-minute long film, how long did you work? How deep in can you get when making a 40 minute movie of a specific organization and act; it must arouse your curiosity so much that you want to cover all of India.
MM: There are endless stories in India, of course. That town where we were filming in, Banaras, is one of the holiest cities in the Hindu religion, so I went into it very similarly as to other things. With Smile Pinki as I did with Lost Boys--as I have with all films I've worked on for other people--it's sort of a gut, organic feeling for what's the story, who's the person going through this intense thing; it's character-driven, I get as close to them as possible for the big moments.
With Smile Pinki the length and the structure was very natural; the journey story. Lost... was a journey story too, but it was about life here and at what point do you say, "Okay... enough." The hard thing with Lost Boys, was to know when to stop, because their lives are still going on, we could have just kept going and going and going.
Q: You had to find a moment.
MM: We could feel there was a point where they plateaued is sort of a negative, but the transitions and the big steps forward got smaller and smaller [as we went along].
Q: Was Pinki easier in that way; did you decide on Pinki because she had the perfect name for it?
MM: Isn't it a great name? The funny thing is Pinki doesn't mean "pink" in Hindi, you know.
Q: Did you give her pink clothes after the film?
MM: Well Sheila [Nevins--president of HBO's documentary division] gave her a bunch of pink clothes when she came to visit; all sorts of adorable pink stuff and I brought her back clothes and stuff.
Q: They were here in New York?
MM: Yeah, they were, it was great. They came for the Oscars.
Q: Did they go to the Oscars--Pinki and her family?
MM: Yeah, it was pretty crazy, I can show you some pictures.
Q: Did you videotape all of that? Come on, you must have documented it.
MM: No...
Q: Are you nuts?
MM: I know. We photographed a lot, but we didn't videotape. I wanted to go through the experience. I know, I know, I'm not a real documentary filmmaker.
Q: The DVD extras!
MM: We have a little bit, and they got a hero's welcome when they went back home. They met with the Prime Minister and all that stuff. It was pretty crazy.
Q: Isn't it weird to have it happen in the same year as Slumdog Millionaire?
MM: Oh, it was very much India's year and I think we benefited a great deal. The film's a huge deal in India, which is bizarre for a short documentary to be like this--every time they would mention Slumdog they'd mention Smile Pinki too. And the day after the Prime Minister congratulated the filmmakers of Slumdog Millionaire they did so with Smile Pinki like in the same breath.
Q: Did you meet the Indian Prime Minister?
MM: Well I haven't gone back , but they did. Pinki, her father and Dr. Subodh--who all came to the Oscars--all met the prime minister and the president. And Pinki, there's these mega Bollywood stars who have signed on now to be part of Smile Train. There's a scholarship for her.
Q: You heard about the Slumdog kids.
MM: Yeah, and she's had just the opposite experience. From what I've read, and I don't know anything first-hand, it sounds like Danny Boyle and those folks tried to do the right thing too. Like we [Americans] can't wrap our head around honor killing or anything like that so you have to try to get into that reality. Not that any poor family wants sell their child, that's a horrible thing, but you have to see it in their reality, not ours, right?
Q: [Having filmmakers come there] must be like having aliens from another planet drop into the middle of their society.
MM: I know, I know. And those kids [from Slumdog] were for sure more savvy than Pinki. Her coming here was just... First I thought, "Oh this is sort of icky. America's weird enough, and you're going to bring her for the Oscars?"
Q: She has no idea! She's never seen a movie. But by now she's seen movies...
MM: Well, no, still, they've only seen the movie that they're in.
Q: Did you guys take them out to some of the parties?
MM: Oh yeah, we actually went to a Slumdog Millionaire party the night before because they were staying at the same Four Seasons.
Q: They must have appreciated the level of stars they were meeting.
MM: Well no, see that's the thing, which is great. I got a translator just for Pinki and her dad, because Dr. Sabodh can speak English and everything, so the translator told me that they met the guy who was the host of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?--Anil Kapoor. He's a huge huge deal, right?
Q: He's like a Robert DeNiro or something.
MM: Right, and so then right after they met, [the translator] turned to Pinki's dad and said, "Did you know who that is?" and he said, "No, but I know that I'm meeting very many important people in America." He had no clue who the guy was.
Q: Do they have electricity?
MM: No, but some nice concrete things have happened for them. The district government has made Pinki's village a model village, and so new housing's gone in with corrugated roofs that can withstand the monsoon, and electrified water pumps, and the roads have been reworked.
So here's this child who was this ostracized scar on the village and now there's a lot of talk about her being blessed and bringing all this good fortune to the village, and it's great. There's been a ton of press coverage in India about her and the whole Oscar thing, and I saw this interview with her mom, the same mom who couldn't wrap her head around me being a foreigner, she said "We've already got our gift, it's not about the prize and America. All of these people who are now celebrating my daughter's success are the same ones who were ridiculing us." And I was like, "You're a good mom!"
With Much Celebration This St. Patrick’s Day, Peaky Blinders' Season 6 Release Date on Netflix Will Be in June
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Features
- Published on Thursday, 17 March 2022 18:54
- Written by Brad Balfour
Report by Brad Balfour
Though the British gangster series "Peaky Blinders" has been airing In the U.K. since Feb. 27 on the BBC, Season 6 is finally heading to Netflix. Starring Irish actor Cillian Murphy, the hit show will launch on June 10th, 2022. This season is set to be the final one, although a film adaptation is in the works which is set to go into production in 2023.
Sadly, this season will air without one crucial character, Aunt Polly, since Helen McRory, the actor who played her, tragically died of cancer last April. Lead actor Murphy, who also co-produced seasons 5 and 6, has said to Variety, the entertainment publication. “This is the culmination of the series that hopefully improves upon the last season and makes the most recent one the richest and deepest one that we possibly can — partially because of all of the pandemic shit happening in the world and, of course, the really sad loss of [Helen]. We are determined to make this a special series and we have been extra committed to working hard. I think the fans will be pleased!”
Murphy continued. “The whole series is really in tribute to her and to honor her. Her presence and her character’s presence are very much still felt in the series, and is very much part of Tommy Shelby’s journey in the season. It’ll be different without her. It simply won’t be the same. I’ve spoken about how phenomenal she was as an actress and person; it’s an enormous loss to the whole acting community — not just for our show. My thoughts are always with [husband] Damian [Lewis] and her kids. I just hope that the show will live up to her memory and our memory of her.”
The multi-award-winning gangster epic was created and written by Steven Knight (“Dirty Pretty Things,” “Eastern Promises” and “Locke”). Sold to more than 180 countries, the series has been widely available internationally on Netflix. Owned and produced by Caryn Mandabach Productions the series is co-produced with Banijay's Tiger Aspect Productions which distributes and represents a range of global ancillary rights for the Peaky Blinders brand.
Founded by Emmy-winning US producer Mandabach, her prolific career includes the creation of iconic titles such as "Roseanne", “Third Rock from the Sun,” “That 70s Show” and “Nurse Jackie.” This independent television production company not only produces and owns the BAFTA winning drama, it also controls the development and licensing of the brand. The company also continues to develop and produce ground-breaking, culturally relevant content that is consistently part of pop culture vernacular.
The show is also known for its dark and dramatic soundtrack which acts as a window into the mind of Murphy’s character Tommy Shelby — a tortured ex-soldier who suffers from PTSD after fighting in the trenches during World War One.
Centered around the Birmingham-born, Irish-descended gangster, the series details his family and their very dubious business practices. Through a complex set of plot developments and complications, the Shelby clan -- ruthlessly led by Tommy -- achieves success well beyond its tawdry working class background -- with many family members and friends dying along the way.
To tie in with the sixth and final season airing now on BBC One, Universal Music Group (UMe) is releasing a blood-red vinyl edition of the official soundtrack to "Peaky Blinders". The three LP set features music and key clips of dialogue from all the show's seasons.
The show has been particularly celebrated for its stylish cinematography and charismatic performances. But it’s all enhanced by the use of contemporary music, with the latest season’s score by the multi–Mercury Award nominated singer/ songwriter Anna Calvi. The soundtrack album also features extracts from original scores created specifically for the show.
Show creator Knight was instrumental in pushing the importance of the music used in the show. As he explained, “The Peaky Blinders story and the music we use are twins, born at the same time. It would be difficult to imagine most of the pivotal moments without the soundtrack. I’m so glad that at last we have been able to put some of the tracks together on one album, to put the atmosphere and swagger and snarl of the show into your headphones and speakers.”
But it’s not just the low tones of Nick Cave’s vocals in the opening theme tune which have become synonymous with the BBC’s hit drama. Alongside the atmospheric opener, all the songs featured in the show have been painstakingly chosen to reflect the feel of the program (its violence, grit, and glamor), and the internal life of its characters. The soundtrack features the haunting rendition of the show's iconic theme song,“Red Right Hand,” by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ plus a version recorded specifically for the show by PJ Harvey which is only available on this soundtrack.
Also exclusively on the album are Jehnny Beth’s “I’m The Man” and Calvi’s Season 5 score, “You’re Not God,” along with Richard Hawley’s rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Ballad of A Thin Man.” The album is completed by songs from Cave himself, Arctic Monkeys, The White Stripes, Royal Blood, The Last Shadow Puppets, Queens of the Stone Age, Black Sabbath, David Bowie, Laura Marling, and Foals among others.
At the same time, Bushmills Irish Whiskey, the world's oldest licensed whiskey distillery, has been designated as the Official Whiskey of the "Peaky Blinders" TV Show, making it the preferred sipper of the notorious Shelby Family. The partnership with Endemol Shine North America (a Banijay company), and the official brand owner and series producer Caryn Mandabach Productions, launches just in time for St. Patrick's Day with an exciting offer for fans to imbibe like the Shelbys and will extend through 2022.
The Shelby Family and Bushmills Irish Whiskey share stories of passion and perseverance in the face of adversity. Bushmills has never wavered from its commitment to crafting great whiskey with a recipe passed down through generations of skilled and devoted whiskey-makers. Made on the wild edges of the north coast of Ireland, Bushmills has stood the test of time for over 400 years, having overcome conflict, fire and famine.
Said Lander Otegui, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Proximo Spirits, "The motivations of the Shelby's are those of family, loyalty and perseverance, which are the same qualities that have put Bushmills at the forefront of whiskey making for hundreds of years. Over the course of our partnership, we are excited to connect with a new, dynamic generation of whiskey drinkers through collaborative content and experiences that speak to the history and heart of our brand."
Throughout the year, Bushmills and Endemol Shine North America (a Banijay company), in collaboration with Caryn Mandabach Productions, will connect with U.S. consumers through an exciting, full-scale promotion featuring co-branded content, a national advertising campaign and live experiential moments.
Bushmills Irish Whiskey is crafted with care and passion at The Old Bushmills Distillery — with more than 400 years of whiskey-making heritage behind every bottle. Passed down through generations, the brand's award-winning triple distilled single malt whiskeys are renowned for their signature smooth taste and famous house style which includes: Bushmills® Original, Bushmills® Red Bush, Bushmills® Black Bush, Bushmills® 10 Year Old Single Malt, Bushmills® 12 Year Old Single Malt, Bushmills® 16 Year Old Single Malt, and Bushmills® 21 Year Old Single Malt.
Learn more atwww.bushmills.com
For those looking to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, toast the day with the Official Whiskey of the "Peaky Blinders" TV Show, and its Shelby Sour cocktail. To kick off the partnership -- running through March 17th -- fans of the whiskey brand and of the show can order a Shelby Sour from a local bar, and Bushmills will cover the cost.
The cocktail recipe, inspired by Shelby, features sweet and fruity flavors, balanced by the smooth, warm finish of Bushmills Original Whiskey.
Said Scott Shillet, Vice President of Licensing at Endemol Shine North America, “What better way to welcome Bushmills as the Official Whiskey of the series than with a free whiskey cocktail for our loyal fans. We're excited to give our extended Shelby family a first taste of the partnership this St. Patrick's Day as they eagerly await the sixth and final season of the hit show."
Go towww.Bushmills.com/Shelbyfor official terms and conditions of the program, the Shelby Sour recipe and an exclusive sneak peek into Bushmills' next release.
Follow @BushmillsUSA on Instagram for more "Peaky Blinders"-inspired St. Patrick's Day activations and experiences.
An Unresolved Murder In West Cork Still Keeps Audiences Intrigued 25 Years Later
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- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Features
- Published on Tuesday, 13 July 2021 13:37
- Written by Brad Balfour
When Sophie Toscan du Plantier was found murdered on December 23rd, 1996, near her holiday home in Drinane, near Schull, County Cork, Ireland, it shocked not only the county but the country.
It had been the first murder in the area in maybe a century or more. This was a very remote area — few immediately knew where her house was. Artists, poets and various artistic types ostensibly came to the region to mix with locals but were viewed with suspicion at best.
Nonetheless, her killing — unusual as it was — intrigued not only folks in the area but the country as a whole. It put a spotlight on the Irish police (the Garda), and their investigative skills — the investigation quickly shifted from the local police to those from Dublin — or the lack thereof. It also forced an examination of Ireland’s criminal court process and ultimately extended itself to the French and France’s legal system as well.
When her body was found by a neighbor. Toscan du Plantier’s head had been staved in by a concrete block (or a huge rock) and her body was left askew not far from her driveway. She was dressed in a nightgown and boots; her body was splayed against a fence. It was left there without forensic protection out in the rain until the coroner arrived 28 hours later. The investigation then pinioned from one questionable interrogation to another.
The 39-year-old had bought the house in this remote region of West Cork after she had visited frequently with friends and family but in December 1996 she traveled there alone for the first time.
Born on July 28th, 1957, Sophie Bouniol had been raised in Paris’s first arrondissement (district) in the apartment where her parents Marguerite and Georges Bouniol still live. She married in 1980 and had a son, Pierre-Louis Bauday-Vignaud, the following year.
Sophie was a producer for French television of documentaries on subjects concerning art and various subcultures. Among her documentary projects was a film about the concept of “the fold” in art and philosophy, titled Il Voit Des Plis Partout (He Sees Folds Everywhere). Directed by Guy Girard, the film was released a year after her murder and was billed as presented by “Sophie Toscan Du Plantier.”
In 1991, she got remarried, this time to the renowned French film producer Daniel Toscan du Plantier and they lived in Paris’s second arrondissement. In 1992, she bought a getaway home in Toormore, County Cork. Sophie visited frequently with friends and family but in December, 1996, she traveled there alone for the first time.
At the time of her murder, she had been separated from her second husband, who, as a prominet producer, brought more attention to the sensational circumstances of her death. A peculiar mix of murder mystery and social commentary pervaded stories of her demise and the subsequent media coverage at the time of the initial investigation. Although this murder happened more than a quarter century ago, it still stirs interest in its central mystery — who killed Sophie Toscan du Plantier?
The investigation out of the Garda’s Dublin headquarters was led by chief inspector Dermot Dwyer who interviewed many of the key participants and eventually became convinced that English journalist Ian Bailey— who had moved to the region several years before the murder and was originally from Manchester — was the prime suspect. Bailey, as a local “blow-in,” at first provided articles from a bird’s eye view of the investigation. Then the focus shifted from him being an investigator to suspect because of several surprising discoveries. He apparently had been seen in the area of the murder at 3 AM on the day of the event. He had scratches on his hands and face and had been under police scrutiny for his violent relationship with his live-in lover.
Bailey eventually was accused of the murder and was tried inabsentiain France where he was convicted. Yet he’s still out free in Ireland because the Irish court didn’t extradite him to France.
This murderous affair is being talked about again because Netflix released at the end of June, Sophie: A Murder in West Cork— a three-part documentary mini-series about this still open-ended crime story. Directed by John Dower and produced by Suzanne Lavery, this telling of the tale both tries to make sense of its convolutions and sorts out the characters involved — the suspect, the witnesses to his behavior, the Garda and Sophie’s survivors — including her only child.
Besides revealing the flaws of the investigation and the quirky nature of the folks living out there in West Cork, the series shows the impact Sophie’s death had on the people who were there in one way or another. It’s a well-made doc and provoked this audience member to ask lots of questions, some of which I wished it had answered.
I wanted to know what happened to the house and Bailey’s relationship with his lover at the time. I would have posed further questions to the son about the effect of his mother’s death. And there’s more.
But, I guess, I will have to turn to West Cork, a non-fiction podcast series reported and hosted by Sam Bungey and Jennifer Forde. The 13-episode series premiered as an Audible original in February 2018, as a binge, and was made freely available widely as a podcast in 2021. A new episode of the series was released this May, 2021, detailing the trial of the main suspect. It is Audible’s most listened-to podcast series of all time, and spent seven consecutive weeks as the site’s number 1 nonfiction best seller. The series became notable again in April 2021 when it was released free to air on the general podcast platforms and went in at number 1 In the Apple podcast charts in several countries.
So thanks to the media, Sophie’s death will not be forgotten. Whether justice will ever be served remains to be seen.
Celebrate Halloween With A Night For Horror Masked By Cinema
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- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Features
- Published on Saturday, 31 October 2020 01:02
- Written by Brad Balfour
Photo by Glenn Hughes
When I recently found a new edition of Irish author Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” it led me back into one of the greatest stories ever told. It’s a classic tome about a legendary character who’s the quintessential embodiment of horror. In fact, Ireland has been a source for characters that have populated many a horror story thanks to Celtic mythology. Whether it be the Samahain Festival when spirits walk the earth or the legend of the selkie — a mermaid-like seducer (as featured in Neil Jordan’s “Ondine”) Ireland has provided its share of horror archetypes.
I love horror, fantasy and sci-fi, so Halloween stirs up a conundrum for me — should I stage my own little horror movie marathon or not? Sometimes I feel compelled to exploit the moment — not being much for trick or treating or costume parties — and look back at the horror films I love or try out new ones for my imagined personal film festival.
Spurred on by an NPR interview with sci-fi author Jeff VanderMeer, I sought out the DVD of the cinematic retelling of his “Annihilation.” As director Alex Garland’s perfect example of the cross between sci-fi and horror, the film creates both a sense of dread and wonder. Audiences are fascinated in the way that an alien appears on earth after a spaceship had crashed into an isolated lighthouse. This small patch of earth is transformed into an otherworldly environment, where sinister doings pervade it all. Natalie Portman and the rest of the cast play the role that most humans do in a horror film — that of passive participants who are buffeted by forces beyond their control.
The intersection of horror and sci-fi also was brilliantly expressed in the first “Alien” film. Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Sigourney Weaver as crew-member Ripley, whose earthbound cargo ship becomes infested with monsters that make their way onto her starship and start killing everyone. She’s no passive player once she realizes she has to defeat the monsters or die.
Actor/director John Krasinski’s recent film, “A Quiet Place” blends the two genres in a unique way. Extraterrestrials appear who shred people because they’re drawn to the noise they make — any noise. Just imagine the constraints such a situation provokes. The film reveals the terrifying lengths a family has to go through in order to stay quiet and stay alive.
Sci-fi and horror pervaded 1987’s “Predator” which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as a commando team leader on a mission to take out rebels in a South American jungle. Suddenly the hunters become the hunted as an alien tracks and tries to kill them all for trophies (which is their skulls and backbones).
If a monster movie is created with a clever touch and designed with a bit of snark then it merits inclusion here. Witness the low-budget rethink of the werewolf myth in “The Howling,” Joe Dante’s ‘80s classic. He re-imagines werewolves as a cult community with the expected frightening results. Maybe the werewolf doesn’t get the props that vampires get but several other films do their best at myth-making this man-into-beast character. These include 1935’s “The Werewolf of London” and 1961’s “Curse of The Werewolf” — which starred Oliver Reed and was produced by Hammer Films — and John Landis’ tragicomic “An American Werewolf in London” which came out in 1985.
That brings me to Hammer — a British film studio which made some of the best genre films during the ‘50s and ‘60s including “The Horror of Dracula” which starred Christopher Lee who performed the most terrifying rendition of The Count ever seen on screen.
Before that studio, there was Universal which established the classics from which everything else emanates. Among their many signature franchises established through the ’30s, it made James Whale’s “Frankenstein” and “Bride of Frankenstein,” the original “Dracula” (with Bela Lugosi) and “The Mummy” (with Boris Karloff).
Roger Corman’s AIP studio churned out a vast array of horror films with many of them starring the regal Vincent Price. He played many a scary character in a slew of re-interpretations of master horror scribe Edgar Allan Poe’s many stories including “The Pit And The Pendulum” and “The Raven.”
When director George Romero set into motion the zombie craze with his groundbreaking B&W low budget hit, “Night of The Living Dead” in 1968, younger horror masters such as Danny Boyle fashioned new benchmarks out of that earlier trope-definer. Witness “28 Days Later,” his reboot of the zombie film establishing new elements to the mythology and this horror sub-genre has spawned countless films and TV variants.
Mexican-born Guillermo del Toro, another new-gen horror-meister, used “The Creature from The Black Lagoon” (a Universal monster classic from the ’50s) as inspiration for his Oscar-winning woman/monster love story, “The Shape of Water.” Del Toro has been doing his best to re-envision fantastic films; his “Pan’s Labyrinth” is a great example of that.
But enough of that. At the core of some of the best horror is the unexplainable, the supernatural, and other stuff that happens without any logic to it. “The Exorcist” is the best example of a supernatural film in cinematic history. No other movie has ever scared me as much, and, though I have watched other classics more than once, I can’t even imagine viewing this film in its entirety again. After I saw it when it first came out, I was so disturbed that I was ready to become a Catholic before it ended.
Besides “The Exorcist,” and, maybe, “The Omen,” no other film dealt with the Devil so powerfully as did Roman Polanski’s artful “Rosemary’s Baby” in which the hubby (played by John Cassavetes) gives his wife (Mia Farrow) to the Devil who impregnates her with his child.
I would also choose touchstones from such directors as Jonathan Demme (“Silence of The Lambs”) Nicholas Roeg (“Don’t Look Now”), Ken Russell (“The Devils”). And of course, there’s the masterful Stanley Kubrick who lent “The Shining” —Stephen King’s tale of demonic possession — his own unique, profound stamp.
King, the prolific master of horror fiction, prompted the making of a formidable array of horror classics from “Carrie” on to the most recent remakes of “It” with its demonic clown Pennywise as the ultimate antagonist. The list of his achievements is formidable and so are the many films he’s responsible for. Other literary stars such as Clive Barker transformed their own books into shock-inducing series; witness his “Hellraiser” films with his torturer from Hell, Pinhead, as an iconic figure.
While King first established his mark as a copious maker of literature (though he also acted in many of the films that sprang from his twisted brain), nobody churned out as many incredible productions as British director Alfred Hitchcock. The portly auteur made two distinctly frightening films — “The Birds” and “Psycho.” Both stylistically came at the genre in two distinctly different ways. The former was shrouded in mystery; the latter addressed madness. And incidentally, Hitchcock made also appearances in the films he created.
The horror genre is notable for the many franchises it has generated. Two classic blood-n-guts slasher flicks — “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Halloween” — set in motion murderous antagonists who have spawned many successful sequels. Given “Halloween’s” success, credit must go to its director/creator John Carpenter who also made the ghostly “The Fog” and a terrifying version of “The Thing,” the ultimate sci-fi/horror remake. In it, Kurt Russell plays a scientist who battles a shape-shifting alien in order to prevent it from escaping out of the Antarctic.
Another film which enjoyed being remade to good effect was Don Siegel’s 1956 classic “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” It also dealt with outer space invaders trying to replace humans with otherworldly replicas. Underlying this film and its subsequent re-thinks (especially Phillip Kaufman’s 1978 version) were larger social issues as viewed through the lens of a sci-fi narrative.
Yet nobody has pushed the limits of horror-as-social-commentary as has director David Cronenberg. His early work — “Shivers,” “Rabid” and “The Brood” — were all masterpieces of body-contorting horror. But of all his brilliant films, “Crash” illuminated a perverse and obsessive psychopathology which was not only tortured but also erotic.
While Cronenberg established an aesthetic outer limits, it has been Jason Blum, whose company Blumhouse re-thinks horror tropes through its many movies. It recently produced Jordan Peele’s groundbreaking and highly praised “Get Out,” which tackled racial issues under the guise of being a horror flick. Its story line revolves around a white cult making sinister use of African Americans’ bodies to extend their own lives. His production house has made dozens of films based on contemporary themes by applying unique conceptual approaches to sometimes worn-out ideas (the supernatural “Ouija”) or by freshly blending genres (as with the mad-killer dystopia of “The Purge” or through the mysterious “Us”).
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what could be a many month-long fest of cinematic contortions. And given the tortures of this year — the plagues, political passions, lies and misdemeanors — there’s enough horror all around.
Maybe it will all end with the results of the vote after November 3rd.
