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Monki makes a PROPOSITION to the fiends behind PIRATE RADIO: USA!!!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with one of Monki's final Bermuda Film Fest reports. This one he talks up a documentary about pirate radio (not the "Arrrr" pirates, but the little punks that Metallica and Jack Valenti hate) and a badass sounding bloody western starring Guy Pearce called THE PROPOSITION. Enjoy!
Hey there folks, Monki here in Bermuda checking out a couple more films at the Bermuda International Film Festival. I saw two completely different kinds of films today: one, an Australian western and the other, a look at the underground world of pirate radio.
THE PROPOSITION
Based on a true story, this film is about brotherhood and the determination to do what is right, at no matter what the cost. The film begins with a vicious shootout resulting in only a pair of brothers remaining alive. It turns out the sheriff who has captured them is hunting for their brother and if one of them will murder that sibling, he will let them both go with a full pardon.
What follows is a brutal film set in the Australian outback with some of the grittiest action I’ve seen in a long time. The British Empire is trying to “civilize” the continent and drastic tactics are being taken. Two separate stories develop as we track the brother trying to find his sibling as he travels the outback and we also watch the sheriff’s struggle to keep control of his own personal demons as he sees brutal violence and pain inflicted by his own men.
This film is the best classic western I’ve seen in a long time. The violence is horrifying, as a Western should be. The amount of dirt and blood and crap all over the actors in this movie is incredible. I’ve always imagined cowboys having a rough life, but these Australian guys are insane!
Guy Pierce channels Clint Eastwood in his performance as Charlie Burns. He is cool under pressure and can certainly handle himself. He plays Charlie as a man who is torn between honoring his blood and stopping a monster. Ray Winstone is Captain Stanley, the man who propositioned Charlie to track his brother. His performance is shattering.
John Hurt makes an appearance as a bounty hunter also looking for Charlie’s older brother. For his few scenes he does make quite an impact as well.
I am pretty sure this one has distribution, so make sure to see it if you are a fan of classic bloody westerns.
PIRATE RADIO: USA
To follow The Proposition, I found myself an informative and fun documentary called Pirate Radio USA. This film was made by two pirate broadcasters and follows their journeys in illegal broadcasting over the past 7 years.
DJ Him (Jeff Pearson) and DJ Her (Mary Jones) got their start pirating radio in 1998 on a Seattle station called F.U.C.C. and have been helping the pirate revolution since.
The exploits of Him and Her go from the west coast of Seattle and San Francisco to Washington DC and Arizona. They traveled the country searching for pirates and getting their perspective on the government-run airwaves.
The information in this documentary at times is stunning. Did you know one of the biggest anti-pirate lobbyist is actually NPR? That’s right, the Public Voice wants to shut down the public in order to have a clearer signal. Fascinating.
As informative as this film is, it is also quite fun. The narrative portion of the film takes place as a pirated broadcast with DJ Him on the mic and DJ Her spinning records in the background. The people involved in the making of this film obviously had a great time, be it building model cities or climbing on top of ships to place antennas.
The heavy narration fleshes out the doc but is entertaining as well with some great quips. (Pearson is also a stand-up comedian.) This film would best be explained by saying it is like David Cringley’s documentary Triumph of the Nerds (the computer evolution documentary) but put to the radio revolution.
I expect this film to do well and to eventually have a follow-up to see the ongoing efforts of pirates nationwide. I haven’t had this much fun watching a movie about pirated radio since Pump Up the Volume.
So that wraps up the second to last night of the Bermuda International Film Festival. I’m planning on catching a couple of narratives tomorrow including the closing film Kinky Boots (which I missed at SXSW.) So until then I scurry back up my tree!
-Monki
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that's the first review i've read of the proposition that didn't mention Nick Cave. impressive.
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I thought this film was a bit overrated. Not a complete dud, still an enjoyable film, but a classic? Hmmmm. The soundtrack was pretty good, and I just bought the UK poster because the poster is one of the best I've ever seen, and was one of the main reasons I saw the film (the poster with Guy Pearce and Danny Huston with guns in hand). Acting was top-notch, Ray Winstone actually acted instead of playing his normal "I'M FACKIN' RAY WINSTONE" role, John Hurt was a small delight, Guy Pearce was cool without trying and Danny Huston was eerily well done. Just not a classic.
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And why not mention Cave, his dialogue may be a little creaky at times, but there's some interesting parallels made between Stanley and Charlie. It also references Peckinpah quite a bit.
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Hmmm. I like Nick Cave's stuff with the Bad Seeds, and some of the themes were done well, but the dialogue wasn't brilliant (creaky as you say). Though I love some of the lines.
"What's a misanthrope?"
"A bugger that hates all the other buggers". -
I wonder what you class as brilliant dialogue. I liked it because it wasn't too aware of itself. It's difficult to write Western dialogue and not think Eastwood or Wayne. It propelled the plot so it did its job. Anyway, I sent a review in to AICN so hopefully I made myself clearer in that.
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At no stage, have the creators implied that it is.
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It sounds like it's one hellofa badass flick.
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Great scenery, great acting, great story. What more could you want?
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Apr 03, 2006 12:54:55 AM CDT
The Proposition was hands one one of the best films...
by leiadown&fuckher
...I saw last year, absolutely loved it, just too bad that the region 4 dvd release is bare bones or it'd already be on my shelf (I bet there's an SE on the way, they're just not putting it out until after the film sees cinematic distribution in other territories, which is why I'm waiting). And acting wise, while Guy Pearce was his usual quality self, it's the guys around him that really stood out. John Hurt, in his brief role, gave one of his most memorable performances in years, Ray Winstone actually acted, and damn well to boot, rather than just trotting out yet another variant of his now cliched "Grumpy Low Class Thug With Delusions Of Grandure Performance 101", and Danny Huston was an absolute revelation, and definitely a talent to watch. I hope his turn here gets him noticed and lands him much more work in the future. Oh, and then of course there's the score, the amazing cinematography, the gritty texture and unflinching violence, the lyrical, almost poetic story structure...if I had to put it into five second summation form I guess I'd describe it as the Australian spiritual blood brother to Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man. And just as great. Nick Cave and John Hillcoat made a damn good film with Ghosts Of The Civil Dead, but they made a fucking great one with The Proposition. If you get a chance folks, see it. My opinion anyways.
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Sorry... it's hard to resist punning riffs on this 'un.'
I loved The Proposition. I can understand the criticisms many have of it in the sense that it could be accused of overreaching thematically, with respect to Nick Cave's fetish for Biblical themes and mythology, amongst other things. I thought it was a bit wonky in places but, having, said that, in many parts it is nothing less than absolutely extraordinary - a revelation! Forget if you love Westerns or not. If you just love CINEMATOGRAPHY you have to see this film. I don't know if there has been a quantum jump in camera technology recently, but I watched this movie and 'Constant Gardener' back-to-back and was simply floored by the magnificent cinematography in both these movies. The imagery simply leaps off the screen. It is lush, vivid and superb! It's a Nick Cave movie so the music is integrated beautifully into the film. I couldn't stop humming or singing the opening theme or the beautiful rendition of Irish ballad 'Peggy Gordon' for a couple of days afterwards. And, yes, the violence in this movie is genuinely shocking at times. Overall a pretty damned wonderful film. I'd recommend it to anybody with a strong constitution and a genuine love for cinema. -
I won't go into war stories but Pirate radio is only worthwhile if the participants play music that is not represented by mainstream radio and reflects their culture and surroundings.I'd be interested to learn/listen to what music these people play,good luck to them if they represent underground future sounds......
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I'm not a big extras hound so the lack of extras on the Region 4 DVD wasn't a problem for me. The transfer and sound is fantastic so unless the Region 2 has a DTS soundtrack I'm happy with this one.
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I really dug it.....it's got that slow burn thing happening. The violence is only sporadic, but horrific when it appears....as it is in real life. John Hurt overacts a little but I guess the role called for it a bit. Ray Winstone is good, Emily Watson & Danny Huston are better & Guy Pearce is really solid as we aren't really sure which way he's going to roll come the conclusion. The story probably has more in common with Apocalypse Now than any western. It's good to finally see a great aussie western.
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isnt he in this? they shoulda called this movie "The Bad Seeds"
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Not to be a smartass Quint, but how many other Pirate Radio movies have you seen in that time?
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