After wildly overestimating the hunger for all things ‘Star Wars’, they were left with crippling debts and more Amidala journals than they knew what to do with. And they weren’t the only victims of The Phantom Menace’s marketing black hole and critical disappointment; ‘Phantom Menace’ merchandising was still flooding Poundland shelves as recently as last year, and a whole bunch of collectors hoarded their ‘Darth Maul’ figures, only to realise they were worth practically nothing on Ebay. The Phantom Menace single-handedly ruined lives and alienated a whole generation of film fans. However, it has been ten years since Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was released into cinemas and changed the face of cinema (rightly or wrongly) forever. In retrospect, it is definitely worthy of a revisit. The dust has settled, the backlash has calmed, and Jar Jar Binks doesn’t seem quite as annoying as he seemed in 1999.

This preview premiered on Friday, 20th November, 1998, and was the most downloaded trailer on the Internet (back when trailers were just about all you could get on the Internet). It also prompted thousands of fans to pay for cinema tickets only to leave before the main feature started. It was the perfect example of aggressive film marketing paying off, and Team Lucas teased just enough to get fanboys wetting themselves, and not enough to indicate that the film just might not live up to their dizzyingly high expectations.

The teaser poster suggested that Episode 1 was the ultimate coming of age movie; Stand by Me meets The Omen; a dark tale about a boy’s journey into the horrors of adulthood. What the poster didn’t indicate was that said journey would be told from the perspective of a nine-year-old who uses the phrase “wizard” too much and his computer-generated posse.

Not only that, but Darth Vader was not even on the horizon and the ultra cool bad guy with the horns from the trailer was only in the film for a total of ten minutes, max.

Never has a film been more a victim of its own hype than Star Wars Episode I. The initial marketing frenzy suggested a film that didn’t exist, and fans were left wondering – what went so very, very wrong?

Perhaps the biggest flaw with Episode I is that the story being told is not cinematically dramatic; there is no sense of what’s at stake and no sense of urgency to the heroes’ quest. The narrative is framed around a blockade of a trade route and the (non-violent) invasion of a planet. However, there are obvious missed opportunities and this definitely wasn’t a space-bound Die Hard. The villains are ineffectual and clumsy, the rescue of the Queen was far too easy (where was the trash monster?), and the final battles are unspectacular. Not to mention the plodding sidetrack to Tatooine and the most tedious sequence thus far; political speeches in the senate.

Star Wars

Lucas stays as far from the darkness of the story as he possibly can, and there is no narrative hook to keep us interested. Who cares if the Queen saves her planet? She ditched it in the first 30 minutes! Why do we want Anakin to become a Jedi? We don’t even know who he is? And the political subplot might pay off later, but it slows the film to a dramatic crawl which it never fully recovers from.

I’m sure the publishers thought they were onto a winner when they came up with an idea for the tweeny journal of Queen Amidala. Supposedly this book even features pictures of each of her different outfits. Yay? This was just another symptom of the underlying issue; you can’t make an uninteresting story, well, interesting – no matter whose perspective you’re telling it from. And Lucas seemed too interested in having his fingers in all the pies and saturating the market, as opposed to telling a thrilling yarn. The tweeny Queen writes awesome things in her awesome journal – is this Star Wars or 90210? And, not to be sexist, but since when did teenage girls show any interest in Star Wars? They certainly didn’t at my school (in Lucas’s defence, at least he was eager to please).

Enough with the bashing! I honestly believe, over time, that The Phantom Menace has blossomed as the best of the prequel trilogy and is a visually exciting and underrated cinematic oddity. Strong words?

Well, the screen isn’t as overbloated as the further instalments (glorified computer games) and the visuals truly have an olde-worlde feel about them. From the lavish costumes to the sweeping landscapes, the attention detail is sublime. John Williams’ score is a refreshing mix of new material and classic themes, and the performances of Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor, whiles not exactly Oscar-worthy, are admirably serious and feel authentic to the Star Wars universe.

The film’s rampant merchandising also ensured that Lucas had to enrich his story with ancillary characters and backstories, allowing viewers to pick up new details with each repeated viewing. The frame is never flat or empty. This also led to a marketing frenzy – the toys that accompanied the film could only get so much mileage out of the six or seven main characters so kids were treated to the delights of ‘Palace Guard Number 1’ and ‘Gragra’, the equivalent of your local corner shop worker. Lucas created a film with the potential for children and adults alike to imagine what else might be going on in this universe. Shameless cash-in or creative genius?

Only time will tell, but I would like to believe the latter statement. No-one spots a money-making scheme better than Lucas, but nobody fills a film with ‘Gragras’ and ‘Palace Guards’ like Lucas either. The universe feels complete, full, and functional.

Ten years later, we can still feel the ramifications of the film’s successes and failures. No film has been marketed to death the way The Phantom Menace was, but no film has attracted the levels of intense media and public interest either. Did it make moviegoers more cynical? Is getting excited about new releases now a worthless endeavour? Probably. But it also led to a revisit of seemingly dead franchises (Indiana Jones, Battlestar Galactica) and marketed itself straight into Poundstretchers and Right Prices (RIP) across the country. It captivated the imagination of children and catapulted cinema directly into the digital age. And it brought us “Jar Jar Sex Candy”.

Now, about that “Jar Jar Sex Candy…” Lucas was criticised for making a French kissing Jar Jar Binks toy, as per this story.

“Shame on you, George Lucas” indeed. This particular toy/sweet/abomination is a true masterpiece – how many other films inspire alien sex toys with edible tongues? I can’t think of any either. For that reason and that reason alone, The Phantom Menace stands out as a trailblazer like no other.

Pinocchio

Pinocchio comes to DVD, for the third time, in a newly remastered two disc special edition to mark the 70th anniversary of the picture.

The film is one of the last of the Disney Classics to come to DVD but one of the first to come to Blu-Ray (which I won’t be reviewing – haven’t made the switch yet). The Disney special editions are formulaic but reliable, offering up films with pristine picture and sound as well as an informative, yet pretty dry, array of extras. Oh, and every one seems to include an insipid music video (AKA abomination) by a ‘tween star’ of one of the film’s classic songs. This time we get ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’ by somebody called Meaghan Jette Martin (who apparently was in Camp Rock – who knew?) The song has to be heard to be believed. Whilst not as painful as ‘Jump 5′ on the Beauty and the Beast DVD, it is still quite offensive, coming across as a hybrid of Cher’s ‘Believe’ and a cheap Poundland interpretation of High School Musical. Anyway…

I would imagine almost everyone is familiar with the story of Pinocchio but what struck me on this most recent viewing was how dark the film is. Few family films give their protagonists such a strong moral dilemma and place them in quite as much mortal danger as Pinocchio. Pinocchio himself has his conscience externalised in the form of Jiminy Cricket, a device that simplifies the story to great effect, highlighting Pinocchio’s plight and making the audience feel even worse when Pinocchio doesn’t listen to it/him/the talking cricket. The film is a coming-of-age production and is as relevant today as it was 70 years ago.

The simplistic moralising is given a dark twist; when Pinocchio lies, his nose grows, but when kids are really bad, they turn into donkeys! Not only are they abducted (in broad daylight) by sinister foxes and dopey cats, but they are then turned into donkeys with no chance of saviour. One of the most frightening moments has to be a crowd of boy-donkeys cowering in a corner, as the threatening shadow of a whip cracks in their direction, surely a moment that warns any children of the dangers of cigarettes and alcohol. Pinocchio barely escapes with his life but we can only imagine what happened to the poor donkeys who got left behind.

The film also exudes a warmth and sentimentality that is typically Disney but also incredibly heartfelt. Geppetto’s blind love for his ‘son’ drives the film and he is rewarded far more than Pinocchio. Jiminy Cricket is an entertaining narrator and the adorable Figaro is one of Disney’s most lifelike felines. The Oscar-winning music also accentuates the innocence and warmth of the fable, nicely used in the simple fire lit DVD menu set in Geppetto’s workshop. If you were a fan before, you’ll still be a fan. If you’ve never seen it, now might be a good time to take a look.

This Disney Platinum Edition presents the film in its original full-screen aspect ratio and the picture quality has been remastered to such an extent that it is almost impossible to believe this film is now 70 years old. Other reviews I’ve read have argued that such dramatic improvements in picture and sound, and the loss of the film’s natural grain, are not presenting the films as they were originally intended to be seen but for animation, I believe the glossier, the better. The older Disney films tend to include a mix of admirers and archived interviews of the filmmakers, making them slightly more dry than the newer documentaries, but also more in-depth.

The audio commentary is conversational and adoring, a must-listen for Disney aficionados. The commentators aren’t afraid to acknowledge the film’s flaws but they also highlight what makes the film so special. This is also covered in the 60 minute documentary on disc two that follows the film’s creation from pre-production to release, including an interesting on-camera interview with Pinocchio’s voice, Dick Jones. The ‘Geppettos – Then and Now’ feature offers a look at today’s toy-makers and seems primed to sell as many Wall-E toys as possible. The DVD also includes the standard games and endless trailers (’Tinker Bell – The Search for the Lost Treasure’ looks particularly abysmal) but the most interesting feature is definitely the deleted scenes section. These lost moments have been recreated from old notes and storyboards, offering a fascinating peek of what could have been, including an alternate ending where it is Geppetto who is in danger of dying, not Pinocchio.

All in all, ‘Pinocchio’ is a predictably solid release and an essential addition to any Disney DVD collection. This is also supposed to be a limited release, though with the recent announcement of a re-release of Disney’s first platinum title, ‘Snow White,’ I’m sure you won’t have to wait long for this to hit DVD or Blu-Ray shelves again.

Milk

1985 saw the release of the 14th official James Bond film, A View to a Kill and marked the swansong of Roger Moore. It was also notable for being the first James Bond film to not premiere in the UK. The film had its charity premiere on May 22nd in San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts. Now, you might be asking what is the relevance of all this, if any? The film premiered in San Francisco as a special thank you to the city for its participation in the making of the blockbuster, but also to gloss over some controversy that threatened the making of the film. The scene that caused the outrage was set in City Hall and involves the film’s villain, Max Zorin (a suitably insane Christopher Walken), shooting an official in his own office. Sound familiar? No? Have I just ruined the movie? Suffice to say, Harvey Milk’s impact was as important then as it is now, almost halting 007 dead in his tracks, and I’m sure he would have been amused by that fact.

Milk follows gay politician Harvey Milk as he records his will and final thoughts on a Dictaphone in the days preceding his assassination. His early efforts as a gay rights activist lead him to a career in politics and after a couple of false starts; he is eventually elected as the first openly gay politician in America. This fact does not go unnoticed by the media and the terrifying singer, Anita Bryant, who fronts an anti-gay organisation and appears solely through (again, terrifying) archive footage. Milk also charts the growth of Harvey’s makeshift family and his relationship with his two lovers, the dependable Scott Smith (James Franco) and the troubled Jack Lira (Diego Luna).

Gus Van Sant’s Milk is perhaps more mainstream than much of the director’s recent output and remains pretty faithful to the structure of the biopic genre. The film lacks the visual personality of My Own Private Idaho but effectively goes for a more realistic style. The end credits compare the faces of the real characters with their acting counterparts, highlighting Van Sant’s attention to detail and Sean Penn’s uncanny transformation into Harvey Milk.

The Oscar buzz surrounding Penn’s performance is entirely justified. Penn completely becomes Harvey Milk, highlighting his strength and vulnerability with charm and determination. We first meet Milk in his late forties so we are thankfully saved from any clichéd coming out segments. What came before doesn’t seem to matter. Milk’s life seems to be kick-started by the arrival of Scott and James Franco offers understated support and a solid performance as Harvey’s rock and the love of his life. He more than holds his own in the shadow of the magnificent Penn. Diego Luna’s theatrical performance quickly grates but he provides an importance glimpse into Milk’s flaws and insecurities. Josh Brolin’s Dan White is the stand-out performance, presenting us with an enigmatic, pitiable, and pathetic human being. Brolin gives White a nervous, almost manic, energy, constricted by the confines of his reputable position in society. The inevitable denouement still manages to come as an unexpected blow, partly because Brolin makes us want to find the good in the misguided White.

San Francisco’s Castro district is also given the biographical treatment, as we witness it rise from non-descript obscurity into the heart and soul of the world’s gay community. Van Sant could have made more of the transformation of this district but he wisely chooses to focus on the man and the issues at hand. As the population increases and Milk’s popularity soars, the community becomes a family and rallies together to stand up for justice and civil rights. It could be a cheesy concept but it is handled with sensitivity and power. Milk’s entourage allow us to revel in his successes and mourn his defeat, and we never forget that this is history in the making.

Harvey Milk is an advocate not only for gay rights, but basic human rights. His courage and strength of character resonate through every scene without seeming preachy or overly dramatic. It is the human qualities that Penn brings to the role that makes Milk such an accessible and important film. This is not a political soundboard; it is a simple tale of a man who stood up for what he believed in with dignity, passion, and pride. A fine example to us all.

Independence Day

The DVD release of the new Indiana Jones movie opened my eyes to the horror that is development hell. In one of the interviews, Steven Spielberg claims that the release of Independence Day sidetracked the script for Indy 4. Excuse me? Independence Day? I think we should all count ourselves lucky that we were spared the sight of Harrison Ford flying a WWII fighter jet into the side of a flying saucer. Makes KOTCS look spectacular, right? This prompted me to take a look through my DVD back catalogue to find other films that almost turned out completely unrecognisable.

5) Beverly Hills Cop

This 1984 Bruckheimer action/comedy masterpiece cemented the popularity of Mr. Eddie Murphy and has been shamelessly imitated, but never surpassed, since. Murphy’s manic banter and fish-out-of-water charisma was what made the movie work as well as it did.

Now imagine an alternate 1984, when Beverly Hills Cop climaxed with a chiselled bodybuilder in a stolen Lamborghini playing chicken with an oncoming freight train and you have Sylvester Stallone’s Beverly Hills Cop. Sly was reportedly offered the part after Mickey Rourke turned it down, but even he could see his muscle-man features might look a bit silly in a comedy about upper class snobbery. Stallone’s rewrite featured his character avenging the death of his brother in Beverly Hills and, from the sound of it, destroying most of the surrounding area while he’s at it.

Stallone recently compared his perceived version of the film to the opening sequences of Saving Private Ryan. If you’ve ever felt the need to watch this sequence with Harold Faltenmeyer’s ‘Axel F’ theme playing in the background, you’ll get a pretty decent idea of why this was never made.

4) Alien 3

“On Earth, everyone can hear you scream!”

I was seven years old when I first saw Aliens, and it stands up as one of the finest movies of our time. I remember visiting London during the release of Alien 3 and seeing a poster the size of a building advertising the forthcoming release of Alien 3. I couldn’t believe it! A sequel to Aliens? Amazing! I set my older brother the task of gathering together anything he could about this film. I wrote a few ‘short stories’ about what I wanted to happen and most might have been more satisfying than what we ended up with. This was a time before the Internet existed but somehow, news of this trailer trickled back to me. Aliens were coming to Earth. This movie is going to be the greatest movie of all time.

The movie came and went and by the time I saw the tie-in action figures and comic book, I quickly realised that this film wasn’t set on Earth, the advance buzz had been misinformation. It was also far too dark and broody for a nine year old to get any interest out of. In retrospect, whiles not living up to my admittedly high expectations, it’s a pretty solid movie. Ripley’s still fighting the good fight, that alien is still impossible to kill, and all those bald convicts died in pretty gruesome and entertaining ways.

Those who have seen the documentaries on the Alien Quadrilogy box set can testify that this almost wasn’t the case. Vincent Ward, a New Zealand filmmaker, was given a stab at the Alien 3 script and his ideas were quickly rushed into production. Only problem was, his ideas were insane. Ripley crashes on a wooden (yes, wooden) planet inhabited by monks who end up believing the alien is Satan and Ripley is a test from god, sent to tempt them away from their vow of celibacy. I’m not exactly sold on a wooden planet for starters, but when you add religious metaphors and iconography in the mix, you have a recipe for disaster. David Fincher took the reigns of this doomed production and had enough sense to keep things simple. There’s an alien. It needs to die. End of. Though not the most imaginative of the series, it still has its fair share of memorable moments… and no wooden planet. Thank goodness.

3) Big

Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia jumping around a giant piano in one of the world’s largest toy stores is an iconic image of ‘80s cinema. Hanks’ sensitive and joyful portrayal of a child trapped in a man’s body helped make Big one of the most successful films of 1988 and it still holds up to repeated viewings today. The criminally under-marketed recent release of the extended cut of Big offers few surprises in terms of additional scenes but it does explore another potential casting misstep.

Robert DeNiro accepted the role and it was to be rewritten to reflect the actor’s dark side, depicting a street-smart youth trapped in a man’s body. DeNiro is a mighty fine actor, and I’m not disputing the fact that this would have been an interesting movie, but DeNiro was never getting on that piano (not in 1988 anyway).

Big was set to be more of a comedic drama than a dramatic comedy, until the deal with DeNiro broke down and Hanks became available. DeNiro’s Josh would no doubt become involved in the criminal underworld and his decision whether or not to go back to being a kid probably ended in some kind of breakdown or shootout. What we ultimately received was one of the finest family comedies of the decade thanks to Hanks’ sincerity and the nuances of his performance. I watch it now and see myself at that age. And by that age, I mean 12. I doubt DeNiro would have been that empathetic.

2) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade/Monkey King

Yeah, yeah, there’s an alien in Crystal Skull. At least it doesn’t talk. In Chris Columbus’ initial story outline for what would have been the third Indiana Jones film, there’s a monkey and he talks. Indiana Jones and the talking monkey. Does the phrase ‘nuke the fridge’ come to mind? To add insult to injury, the opening sequence was set in a haunted Scottish castle and Indy was set to marry some lady named Clare.

Please check out J.W. Rinzler’s wonderful book The Complete Making of Indiana Jones for the full story, but believe me when I say, the comic banter of father and son, and the personal discoveries of the final film are nowhere to be found. In fact, I found the synopsis pretty incomprehensible so I dread to think what the finished version would have been like.

Last Crusade arrived five years after the critically maligned Temple of Doom, and while not as imaginative or exciting as that first sequel, it recaptured some of the magic and fun that was so prevalent in the initial Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Monkey King would have been a cash-in and an embarrassment. For what it might have looked like, please check out the 1995 film adaptation of Michael Crichton’s Congo.

1) Jurassic Park 4

OK, so this film is still stuck in development hell. Last I heard, Keira Knightley and Laura Dern were scrapping it out for the female lead, but rumour has it, the dinosaurs would have once again stolen the show. Only this time they were armed with automatic weapons. Yes, dinosaurs with guns.

Rumours persist that in John Sayles’ unfilmable draft, dinosaurs would have been genetically crossed with humans to make a super-race of gun-toting dinosaurs. On paper that sounds pretty cool. On film, with the Jurassic Park logo tacked on, well, I can’t even imagine. Perhaps the film is shooting as I write and Vin Diesel has signed up to provide the voice of the T-Rex. We can only dream.

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Lightspeed Champion - Falling Off The Lavender Bridge

Yep, you heard it right. Mr. Devonte Hynes, a.k.a. Lightspeed Champion, is playing a one-off show at the British Film Institute on London’s Southbank, on December 11.

He’ll be playing an acoustic set of Cat Stevens songs taken from the classic film Harold and Maude, and there may even be the chance to hear some new original material. The Hal Ashby cult Brit flick will also be shown that night.

More information available here

Big Screen Little Screen

My personal favourite is Man on Wire, the story of Philippe Petit’s 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Center. Also on the list is Errol Morris’s Standard Operating Procedure and Werner Herzog’s Antarctica film Encounters at the End of the World.

The 81st Oscar nominations in all categories are scheduled to be announced on January 22nd 2009.

It looks great to me, but let the debate about whether ‘300′ director Zack Snyder can do Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ work justice start now.

You can watch it at this link.

CERT: 12A

UK DVD RELEASE DATE: 10 November 2008

DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg

STARRING: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Kate Allen, Shia LaBeouf

THE MOVIE

“Nuke the fridge.” This phrase seems to have been banded about quite a bit in relation to Indiana Jones’s latest cinematic adventure – which arrives in UK stores this week. ‘Nuke the fridge’ is a reinvention of the oft-used phrase “jump the shark“, supposedly pinpointing the exact moment when the Indiana Jones film series lost the plot and the respect of fans worldwide. I love to be in the minority and I love to stand up for an underdog, and gosh darn it, I just love ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’.

The moment in question sees Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) fleeing from an atomic blast in a 1950s picture-perfect town etched out of plastic in the middle of the desert. He finds his sanctuary in the form of a lead-lined refrigerator and seals himself inside. The ensuing nuclear blast throws the fridge, and Indy, clear of the devastation and the audience heaves a collective sigh of relief. However, the resulting silhouetted shot is pure Steven Spielberg and I immediately forgave the illogical sequence. Spielberg effortlessly places Indiana into 1950s America, a world as alien to him as it is to us.

Revisiting ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ offers up a whole new viewing experience. No, George Lucas hasn’t digitally altered the chipmunk in the opening sequence or added a hundred new monkeys to the Tarzan-inspired vine swing, but we know what to expect – and what’s good about the film becomes a lot more obvious: they got the little details right. The classic-style Paramount logo, the font for the opening credits, the references to past characters, and John Williams’s triumphant score (before all his stuff started to sound the same). ‘Quantum of Solace’, the twenty-second James Bond film, suffered from a case of ambiguity: no vodka martinis, no ‘Bond, James Bond,’ and no Monty Norman theme until the final moments. ‘Crystal Skull’ has enough nods to its roots, both audibly and visually, to make it feel like a natural continuation rather than a pointless reinvention. Indy isn’t trying to compete with the Bruce Waynes or Jason Bournes of the world. He’s trying to recapture the heyday of 1980s entertainment, when heroes were free to be infallible and action scenes didn’t always have to be followed by a shot of the characters in pain, literally licking their wounds. Indy simply places that signature fedora back onto his head and he’s ready for another round. This is pure escapism for the whole family.

Harrison Ford is sixty six years old, and he does a damn fine job of kicking ass and taking a beating. However, he’s sixty six fricking years old; of course they were gonna bring in a sidekick to take over the action and, predictably, he became the victim of critical fanboys. Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) is a pretty thankless role, though luckily it has been cast with a pretty likeable actor. LaBeouf takes over much of the stunt work, particularly during the chaotic jungle chase sequences, and he holds his own as an action hero. Sure, he’s no Indiana Jones, but he gels well with Ford and ‘Raiders’ returnee Karen Allen, and as teen sidekicks go, he’s pretty inoffensive and proactive.

The same can’t be said for Ray Winstone’s Mac. He plays a double/triple/quadruple/whatever agent that inexplicably shouts most of his lines and feels like he’s walked in from an episode of ‘Only Fools and Horses’. As Indiana is trailed by his four (!) sidekicks during the film’s climax, Winstone definitely stands out as one pointless sidekick too many.

Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) is an interesting if unmenacing villain, declaring psychic warfare on Indiana without…actually…doing anything, but who cares? Blanchett has fun with the role; the accent and haircut being enough to ensure she’s a memorable if not villainous foe.

However, in a wider sense, Blanchett’s role speaks to perhaps the biggest flaw: missed opportunities. Why bring the delightful Karen Allen back into the fold only to give her very little to do? Why tease us with images of the Nazca Lines without fully exploring their significance? Why blacklist Indiana as a communist and then drop the storyline completely? The film feels unfinished; an obvious victim of numerous rewrites and the demands of three Hollywood bigwigs in the form of Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford.

For all its faults, we should be grateful that ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ turned out as fun as it did. I won’t speak of the plot-holes, the unfortunate use of CGI, or the ludicrous climax, but I will say that personally, it captured my imagination the way films used to do when I was kid. Maybe I was blinded by nostalgia or predisposed to love it no matter what (just like ‘Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace’) but it’s classic family entertainment.

It’s simple. It’s fun. It’s popcorn. And that’s what Indiana Jones has always been about.

THE FEATURES

The film has been given the 2-disc special edition DVD treatment by Paramount and the obligatory Laurent Bouzereau documentaries are typically thorough and entertaining. The moviemaking process is covered from conception to post-production and the documentaries feature on-set interviews with most of the key cast and crew members.

It’s nice to hear from Lucas and Spielberg about the development hell this film lingered in, but what’s missing is an exploration of the film’s reception. Though reviews were generally positive, this film was never embraced fully by the fanbase and it would be nice to hear Lucas and Spielberg’s thoughts as to why this was. Also missing are any deleted scenes and an audio commentary but these will no doubt appear in the inevitable re-release.

UK RELEASE DATE: London Film Festival

DIRECTORS: Dino Gentili, Filippo Gentili

STARRING: Massimo de Santis, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Giorgio

‘Sono Viva (I Am Alive)’, is the lovechild of Italian TV screenwriters and first-time directors Dino and Filippo Gentili, and follows the impoverished Rocco as his consciousness blossoms and he discovers he is ‘alive’.

In production for five years following the granting and retracting of government funding and the subsequent reliance on a personal loan, ‘Sono Viva’ was shot in twenty-three days and illustrates twenty-four hours in the life of the principal protagonist.

Rocco is a poverty-worn, unemployed labourer on the verge of having his house repossessed and it’s this situation that forces him to take the peculiar job of watching over a dead body. An almost mute man that walks through life without experiencing it, his encounter with the corpse ‘Silvia’ and her self-absorbed kin awakens his compassion and subsequently induces him to defend what for the first time he truly believes in: avenging injustice. By entangling himself in Silvia’s life, he discovers unknown strengths, and in this conscious discovery he accepts his place in existence.

Combining elements of thriller, ascetic realism and drama genres in equal parts, ‘Sono Viva’ is an ambitious film. With its use of gritty and sometimes disturbingly protracted cinematography, and investigation of incestuous and overlapping themes of life and death in its portrayal of an anesthetised man, it offers a fresh look at the genre.

Unfortunately the potential hinted at in the film’s opening is almost eclipsed by a character that is hard to understand, lazy continuity errors, misplaced shots and a soap opera soundtrack, all of which reveals the inexperience of the directors.

Clearly influenced by both David Lynch and the Italian Realists, Dino and Filippo Gentili definitely have something important to say; they just haven’t found their pitch yet. But with a sold-out showcase and the exposure that accompanies a London Film Festival release, by their next outing there’s no doubting they’ll be breaking down barriers.