As there are fewer press screenings at the weekend, and because I was only able to see one movie today for tediously practical reasons, I am compressing the weekend into one blog. I began Saturday morning with a movie I had been looking forward to: the Norwegian
Trollhunter, whose title gives you a pretty good idea of its plot. Some student filmmakers meet a guy in Norway who hunts trolls. Our man in Oz -
Oliver Pfeiffer reviewed it at the Sydney Film Festival recently. The trolls, and the trollhunter himself, do not disappoint. They are fairly imaginatively rendered, and there is plenty of humour throughout. The rules about the trolls come from Norwegian and Scandinavian mythology. They can smell the blood of Christians, for instance, and sunlight will turn them into stone (though a strong UV bulb will do it). When a Muslim character turns up, and asks if the trolls can smell her, the hunter finally looks uncertain. You know, I really dont know, he admits. There are a few big laughs, and plenty of smiles, but part of me was slightly disappointed in the movie. I dont think the problem lies in the movie being too Norwegian, in its allusions to trolls and myth. A lot of these references I probably missed, but I dont think it stops the movie being enjoyable. What I did have a bit of a problem with is the basic format of the film: its another handheld, found footage movie, like Cannibal Holocaust. And The Blair Witch Project. And Cloverfield. And Paranormal Activities. Im just bored with it. I realise in this case its a bit of a parody, specifically of Blair Witch, and the pretence of passing it off as genuine is entirely tongue-in-cheek in this case. But why parody Blair Witch 12 years after the fact? After a certain point it felt like the whole conceit was done because there just isnt enough plot after the basic idea of the movie is expressed; it just becomes a series of, well, Troll hunts. I would have preferred a normal movie of the same story.
I didnt have as high expectations for
The Caller, a low-budget thriller starring
Rachelle Lefevre and
Stephen Moyer. Despite their vampiric backgrounds (theyre from Twilight and the True Blood TV series respectively), the basic concept is less gothic horror than sci-fi; a woman starts receiving slightly creepy phone-calls from a woman who claims to be from the past. Its a simple enough idea, and a modest little movie, but I thought it was surprisingly enjoyable, and the plot worked despite the fact I kept expecting it to go off the rails. Its not my favourite scary-caller movie (that would be the original Black Christmas, followed by the first ten minutes of Scream) but Id recommend it;
my full review is available here.
The Edinburgh Film Festival has very early press screenings (9am is very early by my standards) and over the years they have had a perverse habit of putting the most stomach-churning stuff on first thing. So as I digested my porridge this morning I got to watch a Chilean movie called
Post-Mortem, whose title ought to have been a clue. It is full of cadavers, although most of them are more energetic than the lead actor, Alfredo Castro. He works in a morgue, wheeling the dead around and watching post-mortems take place. That these scenes are pretty unpleasant is no surprise, and I suppose they ought to be. But this movie has that classic Film Festival combination of repulsion and boredom. He is not an interesting character. He develops a slightly pathetic relationship with a cabaret dancer who lives next door. They engage in some of the least erotic sex ever committed to film. She disappears mysteriously and he goes in search of her while people are being killed by the Chilean army (it is set during the 1973 military coup). There was promise in the movies early scenes: they are well filmed, on an appealingly grainy film stock. But it quickly descended into self-important twaddle. Oh well. Tomorrow I am back on regular schedule, with movies including a documentary about
Bob Marley, and
Meet Monica Velour starring
Kim Cattrall.
Adam Whyte, our man in the Highlands is attending the Edinburgh Film Festival. Check out all his reviews HERE.