Scream and other distractions

Don't you just hate it  when your local cinema has nothing of interest. So it was I found myself forced to hold boredom at bay by revisiting one old classic horror and the discovery of a well crafted expose of another of histories embarrassing episodes.

Bilibo is a 2009 Australian movie which relates the tale of the invasion of East Timor in 1975 by Indonesian troops. This is the background colour, the events this film explores is the death of the Balibo five. A group of journalists who were captured and killed while reporting on the invasion. The tales is told through the eyes of Roger East an Australian journalist who went to investigate the deaths of the Balibo Five and who ended up dead a day after the Indonesian Invasion.
    Anthony LaPagila who also executive produced the film plays East in a memorable and understated performance. East' s is at first reluctant to become involved in the search of the Five but Jose Romos Horta of the revolutionary front for the independence of East Timor shows East photos of the missing 5 and the search for the truth begins. Interspersed with this search are little vignettes that tell us about the Five, what they were doing there and their commitment towards the task of gathering news. This is a time, when news was gathered on 16mm camera's. When reels of footage had to be delivered by hand. When risks were much higher because of this method of news gathering. The tale is well told in an almost documentary fashion. The events as they unfold are devastating, more so when you realise that these are Australians and the proximity of East Timor to Darwin Australia.  This is a film that asks more questions than answers, most of them directed towards Austalia's government. It does not entertain but the truth seldom is, but it does inform and it draws you in slowly towards its devastating conclusion.

Scream is scream ,I  don't need to tell you the story of this re imagining of the traditional stalk and slash thriller. I find myself  referring to the Scream trilogy as the Scooby Doo slasher collection.The fun in re-visting a film is maybe seeing it in a different light. Scream was a fun horror at the time, my personal favourite of the trilogy is the second episode. But my  main reason to re-watch the first episode was the fact that I had just seen the  scream 4 Poster and as a result hunted down the trailer.
   I found  certain scenes between Billy loomis and Stuart Macher prior to the films concluding big reveal, to have more depth and meaning once you knew the big reveal.
   I look forward to part 4 especially after the disappointing part 3 and eagerly await to see if it is a real case of all bets are off.

My last discovery was a little film with big idea's Franklyn. Some people can juggle tales of reality and the warped fantasies of the mind with aplomb. I point you in the direction of one Mr T Gilliam who regularly visits these mind scapes with films such as Brazil, Time Bandits and of course The Tales of Baron Munchausen. Dark fantasy tales with hints of madness and beauty. Franklyn's budget is low but you wouldn't know it on first viewing. On the surface this film appears to be a tale of parallel worlds but by the films conclusion all makes sense. Though not in a totally  satisfactory manner.

It tells three tales, one of the title character in a city in which religion dominates all. A character who is hunting  his nemesis whilst avoiding the forces of the Church. The other tales take place in the now, our world our plain of existence. The second tale is a young man seeking out lost love, the third tale, concerns an avant garde artist who attempts suicide, and films her attempts as pieces of art. Lastly we have the tale of a father seeking his son in London. This is a frustrating film very hard to like, two of the stories left me feeling why bother, and the fantasy elements are just that, the fantasies of a troubled mind very much in the now trying to make sense of the world. Hats off to the director for achieving the visuals that he did on such tight budget, but the story could have been told in a much linear and simpler and less frustrating manner.