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| Spring Breakers |
Harmony Korine’s rampant return
to feature films is a loud and garish look at the Britney loving youths of
Beach Party MTV and while seemingly bright, thrilling and drenched in EDM tack,
with Korine pulling the strings it’s clear that something more sinister is at
work.
Teen stars Selena Gomez, Venessa
Hudgens and Ashley Benson join Korine’s wife Rachel to play four tempestuous
college students who, following a slick one-shot diner hold up, set off on a
spring break trip of partying and debauchery. A police bust leaves the girls in
prison where they turn to Alien, a RIFF RAFF
–channelling Pied Piper played by James Franco, to bail them out. A
whirlwind of escalating madness and depravity ensues causing shifts in the
group’s eerie dynamic as Alien succumbs to his newfound Sirens.
The
casting really is a phenomenon. Franco provides a welcome break from his baffling
descent into half-baked art projects with a great turn as Alien but the squeaky
clean girls backing him up are the film’s defining coup. Art wickedly imitates
life as Korine dangles the golden carrot of artistic integrity in front of his young
starlets.
Korine was 17 years old when he wrote Larry
Clark’s Kids and with Spring Breakers
it’s clear the great agent provocateur has lost none of his edge,
a bold, uncompromising director whose work feels as fresh today as it
did almost two decades ago.  |
| Fantasy Filmfest Nights: Stoker |
For a weekend in mid-March
the ever popular Fantasy Filmfest will return for a springtime instalment and
while smaller than its Autumnal counterpart the confident and compact programme
should prove a welcome diversion from all those post Berlinale blues. As ever,
Sci-Fi and Horror are on the cards with a few big hitters and some promising
debutants providing the thrills.
Following the death of her
father a gifted girl (Mia Wasikowska) enters a game of cat and mouse with her
mysterious Uncle(Matthew Goode) in Park Chan Wook’s Stoker. Well received at Sundance, the Oldboy director’s first English language work is sure to be the weekend’s hottest ticket; Tanked
on a new drug called “Soy Sauce”, Paul Giamatti and his friend John must defend
the earth from a surreal invasion in the spoilerifically
titled John Dies at the End, the
latest offering from legendary cult director Don Coscarelli; Oscar winning director Barry Levinson takes a shot at the
found footage genre with eco-terror piece The
Bay; 26 directors (Including Ben Wheatley) contribute a short piece on
death, each one based on a letter of the alphabet in The ABCs of Death; Also screening are debut works from Juan Carlos
Medina (Painless), long time horror
prosthetics artist Paul Hyett (The
Seasoning House) and Irishman Ciarán Foy (Citadel).  |
| Safe Haven |
A girl on the run finds sanctuary in the quaint town of
Southport. Taking on a new identity, Katie (Julianne Hough) begins to set up a
new life. Here she meets handsome widower Alex (Josh Duhamel) and the pair
begin to go through the motions. They ride Kayaks and kiss in the rain- she even
charms his kids- but, just as the mush levels hit critical, the skeletons in
Katie’s closet show up to crash the party.
