Regular readers will know I’ve been recommending the films in the Stanley Kubrick season at the Lighthouse for the past few weeks, and that’s set to continue over the next month or so. This week we’ve got his controversial 1971 dystopian sci-fi satire, A Clockwork Orange. The movie caused a stir on its release as it was blamed for a series of copycat crimes in the UK. Made a scapegoat by the tabloids, Kubrick received multiple death threats, and fearing for his family, self-banned the movie from UK and Irish cinemas, a ban that remained until after his death in 1999. As you would expect, the movie is a visual feast, with an outstanding central performance from a young Malcolm McDowell and a script that carries over the distinctive “Droog-speak” of Anthony Burgess’s novel.
It’s a poor week for new releases, with Palo Alto the best of a bad lot. Adapted from a book of short stories by actor James Franco (a member of the cast here), it’s the directorial debut of Francis Ford Coppola’s granddaughter Gia, and focuses on a quartet of troubled teens in Southern California. The script is quite bland and derivative, but Coppola and her young cast make the most of it.
We’re creeping into that part of the movie calendar that’s come to be known as “Awards Season”, and The Judge is a courtroom drama that features a hotly tipped performance from screen legend Robert Duvall. He’s fantastic in a supporting role as a small town judge who finds himself accused of murder and has to be defended by his estranged lawyer son (Robert Downey Jnr), but the movie is otherwise mediocre.
Northern Soul is a hapless UK drama set against the backdrop of the 70s soul movement. The film fails to capture the essence of why Northern Soul was so popular, instead focusing on a dull drug drama. It’s a mess.
You might recall us featuring Sandymount filmmaker Marie Caffrey previously in our print edition. Well Marie got in touch to let us know that following the success of her web series Cuckoo, she’s been invited to pitch her latest project, Saving Paul, at the Marseille webfest on 16th October. Saving Paul tells the story of Paul, who in an effort to restart his life after losing it all, moves back in with his parents in the small town he grew up in but always hated. The pitching session will be held in partnership with TeleFrance Network (Jacques Kluger) and Warner Bros Digital (Lance Sloane), both being in attendance, with the winning pitch receiving an all expenses trip to Los Angeles to further the project. Marseille Webfest is the international festival of webseries offering 2 days of screenings of the best 25 webseries from around the world with many workshop and networking opportunities. The President and creator, Jean-Michel Albert, has initiated a collaboration between this year’s festival and the ’French Tech Weeks’ programme. Fingers crossed!
Here’s the teaser trailer:
By Eric Hillis
Image: Movie of the Week, A Clockwork Orange
