Natascha Kampusch ordeal to be made into film

In the last few days it has been announced that the horrifying ordeal of Natascha Kampusch, an Austrian woman who was held captive in a cellar for eight years, is to be made into a feature film. This case is not to be confused with the Jozef Fritzl crimes that were also reported around a similar time.

The working title of the film is '3096' which is the number of days she was imprisoned for within the cellar. The screenplay is being written by Bernd Eichinger who is no stranger to writing claustrophobic films after being the man behind Downfall which followed the final days of Hitler in his bunker in Berlin. He met with Natascha on numerous occasions before he died in January 2011. The aim of the studio is to re-create the 2m x 3m cell to make it look exactly the same as the real one and to attempt to stay close to the real facts which includes dealing with the sexual abuse that she suffered during her imprisonment.

Natascha Kampusch will be played by Amelia Pidgeon as a teenager and then by Antonia Campbell-Hughes as an adult whilst Danish actor Thule Lindhart will play the role of Prikopil who abducted Kampusch. There is no doubt that this will be a difficult film to watch due to the subject matter which will have to be carefully dealt with and will be made all the more horrifying by knowing that the events have really happened. I'm still not convinced that showing what happened to Natascha Kampusch on the big screen is a good idea, the information is out there to be read through various books and news outlets. What is to be gained by making the film?

Film Review: Headhunters

Director: Morten Tyldum

Adapted from the best selling book by Jo Nesbo and like all popular Scandanavian novels it was adapted to the big screen in it's native language first. This is the Norwegian version, meaning subtitles, and Hollywood as already announced an English speaking remake to be released in 2014 sometime with the rumour being that Roger Brown will be played by Mark Wahlberg. Now that sounds like literally the worst idea of all time to me and even more so after I watched this movie. It's not perfect but it is still very good and will only improve when a remake is finally released.

Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie)

Roger Brown (coolly played by Askel Hennie) is a suave and hugely successful businessman, as demonstrated at the beginning of the movie when he mets an applicant for a director's job, he has personal issues regarding his height and the fact his wife is a lot more attractive than he is. On the side from his recruitment business, he steals art paintings and replaces them with forgeries in people's homes so he can sell them on the black market to help pay for his expensive home, that he doesn't like, and his wifes new art gallery. Although he seems to have met his match when he mets Clas Greve who appears to be the perfect candidate for a role but also has an original Rubens painting potentially worth millions.

The three main characters played by Hennie, Coster Waldau and Synnøve Macody Lund (Diana Brown) are all perfectly cast in their roles. Continuing with the theme of Roger Brown doing the narration from his own point of view was certainly the correct one as it added a lot to the book. A few scenes which I felt were quite key were cut out of the movie but this is inevitable when cutting a book down into a film. I was delightfully looking forward to scenes such as the outdoor toilet near the cabin in the woods and the crash with the police car, I was certainly not disappointed.

Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) with his attack dog 

The main disappointment for me is that the character of Clas Greve is under-used, certain scenes where he is at his best are left out of the film. This leaves him as less of a person and makes him seem like a man without any emotion to presumably make him seem more threatening and scary to the watcher. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau was very good as Clas Greve so it's a shame he wasn't fully utilised.

But the book itself is a thrill ride with twists and turns at every corner which are all fully played out in the film. I would highly recommend reading the book first but it certainly isn't crucial. The film does have a very Norwegian feel to it, aside from just the subtitles, especially when it comes to the cinematography which again should be applauded. After seeing the film, think about the house Roger Brown lives in and tell me you don't want to live there? Just not sure I'd steal paintings to do so!

3.5/4 Great adaptation that is thrilling and has clever twists from start to finish

Original Film Ideas

As more and more films are now remakes or sequels, it begs the question. Are there any original ideas in the film industry anymore? It seems that these days that even if we aren't looking at a remake or sequel then the film is either adapted from a book or based on real life (which could be argued as being original as based on real life usually means very little).

Transformers director Michael Bay who is frequently criticised

My girlfriend has been complaining of this problem for a while now and it's only when you look deeper that you realise that there is a struggle for original new films. The risk of spending big money making a movie that flops is greater than ever, just look at John Carter, and remakes and sequels tend to be more certain in terms of revenue. I think many people are frustrated with unimaginative film franchises like Transformers which is to now be re-booted by Bay himself, which literally makes no sense. Spider-man has also been re-booted this summer which is a trick that should just be left to the Batman franchise as per tradition. Without a doubt though the Spider-man reboot will make money compared to it's budget so everyone involved in funding and making the film will surely be happy.

Spider-man reboot: a good idea?

But then Tarantino once said "If the movie industry makes one masterpiece a year then it's justified it's own existence".

Feel free to agree or disagree in the comments box.

Film Review: The Pianist

Director: Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski directs an adaptation of the memoirs of Jewish-Polish musician Wladyslaw Szpilman during the Second World War when the Jews were persecuted and made to live within the ghetto in Warsaw. Polanski felt deeply connected to the story as he escaped from the Krakow ghetto as a child when his mother was killed and survived on a Polish farm until the end of the war. The Warsaw ghetto was recreated in Babelsburg studios and old Soviet army barracks were also used. The film was very well received on it's release with Polanski winning Best Director and Adrien Brody winning Best Actor at the Academy Awards in 2003.

Wladyslaw (Adrien Brody) in the ghetto after many Jews were sent to the  concentration camps

Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody who fully deserved his Oscar award for Best Actor) is a a famous Jewish pianist who is live on the radio as the Nazi's invade Poland. The conditions for the Jews slowly deteriorate until they are forced to live within a ghetto where Szpilman narrowly avoids transportation to a concentration camp by his friend in the Jewish Police. The rest of the film follows his attempts to survive from the Nazi's during the war in the hope of being able to play the piano again.

Despite having read a lot and seen quite a films on the subject I still found The Pianist quite harrowing. It is a heartfelt film which owes a lot to the historical accuracy that has been maintained to the original memoirs of Wladyslaw Szpilman. As a famous pianist he was inevitably able to pull strings to help as the Jews were being abused and killed around Warsaw. Polanski directs some truly horrific scenes which include Jews being forced to lie on the floor to be shot and a wheelchair bound man being tipped off a balcony and Jews eating off the muddy floor due to hunger. 

Wladyslaw showing off his piano skills

The tense scene where Szpilman plays the piano for Wehrmacht Captain Wilm Hosenfeld (Thomas Kretschmann) who is so moved by the performance that he helps him and gives him food is a superb climatic scene. I was pleased the film shed light on the uprisings that happened in the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, many Jews were unhappy to just wait around to be killed and took on the Nazi's even if it meant they would be killed when caught. They were unhappy to be taken out without a fight and shows the bravery of them during this tough time. 

It's a film where you can feel it was close to Polanski's heart and the unflinching brutality on display is obviously born out of his real experiences as a child. This only makes the film more realistic and seriously makes you think about life at this time.

4/4 truly horrific and moving film

This week's releases

A quick look at this week's movie releases

Cabin in the Woods: Five friends (who've obviously never watched a horror movie before) decide to spend a holiday at a secluded cabin in the woods and are soon given a set of rules to follow. Once they get there they start breaking the rules they find out that the cabin has been built for for punishment for rule breakers.

Reviews have been positive so far despite the clichéd idea so could be a sleeper hit.

Battleship: Technically this film is already out after a release on Wednesday 11th April (great day!). Our planet is battling for survival in this epic action movie mostly set on boats and submarines with some aerial action thrown in for good measure. A host of stars appear including Liam Neeson, Taylor Kitsch (John Carter) and Rihanna.

Delicacy: French romantic comedy starring Audrey Tautou (Amelie) as Nathalie who has to deal with the death of her husband by working every hour that she can. Her plan is quickly ended when she starts dating a young colleague from work.

Film Review: Into the Abyss

Director: Werner Herzog

Into the Abyss, subtitled A Tale of Death, A Tale of Life is a documentary by Werner Herzog which looks at two men convicted of murder in the state of Texas where the death penalty is still in use. At some points it discusses whether the death penalty is the right thing to do in these cases or whether life imprisonment is sufficient. Herzog himself is against the death penalty but doesn't use this film as an opportunity to promote this, he just presents the facts as well as the thoughts and feelings of every involved in the murders. Werner Herzog and editor Joe Bini found that editing the footage was so stressful due to lack of material that they both took up smoking again.

Jason Birkett who was given a life sentence in 2001, he is up for parole in 2041

The film begins with an interview with law enforcements officers who take us through the scene of the murders and attempt to explain what happened. After this we move on to interviews with Michael Perry (convicted and executed just 8 days after the interviews and Jason Birkett (life sentence) as well as family members of the victims. There is also interview's with Jason Birkett's father who has also spent most of this life in prison who speaks of the blame he feels for not being there when his son was growing up. He also spoke at the trial pleading with the jury not to murder his son and to give him a life sentence. To finish off there are some slightly stranger interviews with Birkett's wife who married him after his incarceration and is now believed to be carrying his child.

The interviews with Jason Birkett's father were the most interesting as he speaks of home life for Jason without a father and a single mother with disabilities trying to raise 4 children. Jason certainly comes across as the more intelligent person compared to Michael Perry which does make you wonder why he committed these crimes but alcohol and drugs are usually present. The film does suffer from the questions being a bit pedestrian at times but also does have a fascinating interview with the former Captain Fred Allen who attended and performed over 120 executions for the state of Texas before having a mental breakdown about his job.

The main flaw is that both Perry and Birkett maintain their innocence for the murders, despite the fact that Perry led the police to the two of the bodies that they hadn't found, meaning that we never find out why they committed these crimes and what they were thinking at the time. This is the huge insight that a lot of people are looking for when murderers are interviewed and profiled.

2.5/4 Fascinating look at the case and people behind but lacks the cutting insight into the murders minds.

Film Review: 2001: A Space Odyssey

Director: Stanley Kubrick

2001: A Space Odyssey is an amazing visual spectacle

Released in 1968, 2001: A Space Odyssey was co-written by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. On watching this film again I found it incredibly difficult to review in the conventional sense as it is very different to most other films. The dialogue in the film is incredibly limited and most of the film is portrated visually and by the use of classical music throughout the film. It is a triumph of visual art especially in the final 20mins when Dr. David Bowman (Keir Dullea) approaches Jupiter in his pod and is transported into a tunnel of light displaying many strange astrological phenomena.

The film itself is in 4 distinct sections which are all based round a large black monolith that is present all 4 parts that emits a loud radio signal that deafens anything nearby. The first section depicts the dawn of man as early humans search for food and slowly learn to use tools before we are transported into space where a Pan Am Space Plane where there is a rumour of a mysterious epidemic at the base. They also run into the black monolith that emits a loud radio signal just as they are being photographed in front of it. The third and fourth section is most renowned in the film where a crew are in deep space with HAL 9000, an intelligent computer that runs the ship.

HAL 9000 intelligent computer that seems to be capable of having emotions

The computer HAL is quite a sinister character, the red dot in each room which represents the computers eye which could even read the lips of the crew members who were having a conversation out of hearing range for the computer. It has an ominous feel and by some people has been used to represent God as HAL controls everything on board the ship. There are numerous shots of just the red dot which is quite unnerving as it is an inanimate object that controls so much.

The monolith is the central figure in the film as it continues to re-appear, after being buried on Jupiter and being found by the first space crew. Writer Arthur C. Clarke referred to it as as ''the alien Swiss army knife'' as a tool used by advanced intelligent life in the books but is certainly given a different and more ambiguous meaning in the film. It's possible that it is a star gate which transports people like Bowman at the end of the film to another universe or another time.

The black monolith at the dawn of man

It's difficult to review this as a normal film, as a spectacle to watch its fascinating and memorable. The plot is a secondary thought throughout the film and takes a back seat to everything else that is happening, in this sense it is a film without comparison except for maybe Begotten by E. Elias Merhige which was released in 1990. To criticize the lack of plot would be missing the point about the deeper meaning of the film that can be derived from what is seen. There are still so many questions asked and left open by the film that it doesn't need more plot development, something which is still hugely effective over 40 years later. That is the sign of a truly great movie and is probably one of the only films that would really benefit being in 3D.

4/4 visual masterpiece with amazing score but certainly won't appeal to everyone.