Film Review - 12 Years a Slave

Curzon Mayfair, 14/1/2014
Steve McQueen returns to the big screen with this charged affair based on the memoirs of Solomon Northup, a black man born free in the northern states, who is abducted to the south and illegally sold into slavery. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Northup, and the film follows him through the 12 years of his ordeal until he is released.

I am not going to make many friends by saying this, but though this is an important film due to its subject matter, I don't think it is remarkable as a film. Aside from the first ten minutes and the very last scene, which set the context for Northup's story, the rest of the film is a pretty generic depiction of slavery, tells us nothing new, and is largely irrelevant to the story. Northup's reluctance to reveal his legal status as a free man, for his own survival, and thus his true self, means that he has little genuine interaction with the other characters. The story is thus reduced to a series of episodes that do not develop either his character or the storyline, until the moment when the sympathetic Bass (Brad Pitt) comes along and agrees to help him. There is no sense at all of the twelve years passing, or of Northup developing any new insight or thoughts on his predicament or the wider question of slavery. If not for the clue in the title, this could have just as easily been six months a slave, for all that we see. The substance of the film is reduced to its depiction of the horrors and brutality of slavery, something I feel was portrayed at least as well in Django Unchained, to quote a recent if less serious example, and is just saying 'isn't it awful?'. In fairness, McQueen does innovate by acknowledging a degree of complexity in the culpability of some of those 'caught up' in slave ownership, such as Benedict Cumberbatch's sympathetic landowner Ford.

Ignoring the issue of substance, this is a beautifully shot film, as you would expect from McQueen. There is less use of the signature sense of detachment from use of medium range stationary camera angles than might be expected from previous films, with most of the action taking place outdoors. The south has rarely looked as sumptuous. The standout scene shows a prolonged near-hanging of Northup, as life goes on around him, and children playing nearby indifferent to his suffering. Ejiofor is outstanding, and indeed has to be to carry the film, as his aforementioned reticence about his situation limits his interactions and dialogue with the other characters. McQueen's long takes are very demanding of his ability to convey Northup's state of mind through subtle changes in his facial expression, and he rises to the occasion. Michael Fassbender as the sadistic Epps provides a counterexample at the brasher end of the scale, but is no less accomplished. Lupita Nyong'o also shines as Northup's fellow slave Patsie.

In the end this is an important work as one of few serious mainstream films that tackle slavery in America, and it will and should be widely seen. It is to its credit that it doesn't offer easy judgements. For instance Northup's outrage isn't obviously about the injustice of slavery, but about him being legally a free man who is abducted into slavery. The real Northup apparently went on to campaign for civil rights, but this is not covered in the film. Ultimately it is a nicely made depiction of episodes of barbaric cruelty and injustice bookended by 15 minutes of story, and says nothing on the subject that hasn't been said elsewhere. Not McQueen's best. 3.5/5

Film Review - Beware of Mr Baker

High times for Mr Baker

Riverside Studios - 11/6/2013
Ginger Baker is best known for being the drummer and driving force behind the 1960s English rock power trio Cream, in which Eric Clapton did his best work, supported by Bassist Jack Bruce. Clapton and Bruce feature prominently in this biopic, which is compiled from stock footage of Baker and his various bands through the years, interviews with Baker and others, and animated sequences.
Though Baker comes across as a cantankerous, unconventional and irresponsible old man, the film is sympathetic enough to try to develop an understanding for his seemingly constant need to up sticks and start again from scratch, whether it be with his bands, marriages, or various countries around the world. This is a man who has three passions in life: music, his polo horses, and drugs. Everything else is by-the-by.
We see his life from his childhood, the early jazz drumming days, rock superstardom with Cream and Blind Faith, jazz fusion in the early 70s, living in Nigeria, Hollywood, Colorado, Italy, and finally back to South Africa.
The snappy editing and music clips, underpinned by Bakers rollicking drumming keep things moving along at a brisk pace, and given the subject, there is no way this could turn into a turgid hagiography, as music docs sometimes do. Remarkably, given the diverse nature of the source material, there is a strong visual style running through the film, helped by the editing and subtle manipulation of the older material. Baker is strident, forceful, selfish, and not always a cooperative subject, but all this is handled with understanding and humour, and I for one came out with renewed respect for the old man, despite what I have read about his behaviour elsewhere.
I saw this as the second part of a double bill with Not Dead Yet, the Jason Becker biopic, and it made for a nice companion piece, given the contrasting familial themes, and the more upbeat mood of the Baker film. Sitting directly behind me in the cinema was none other than Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, who laughed hard and often throughout the film, except when Ginger and Eric compared Ginger's drumming to John Bonham's. Now there's an exclusive you won't find in any other review. 5/5


Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5seWMYG9kk

Film Review - Not Dead Yet

Jason Becker speaks through eye movements

Riverside Studios, 11/6/2013 (+ Q&A with director Jessie Vile)

Avid readers of 1980s guitar magazines will be aware of Jason Becker, the electric guitar prodigy from Mike Varney's seemingly endless stable of shredders, which included Yngwie Malmsteen, Vinnie Moore, Greg Howe, Shawn Lane, Marty Friedman, and Paul Gibert. Nostalgia aside, I have to admit not being a fan of Becker at the time, as (perhaps unfairly) I had him down at the Friedman/Yngwie end of the spectrum, whereas I was more of a Howe/Vai fanboy. Imagine a wasp humming Bach at 240 bpm, or Paganini, you get the picture. Becker had just got the gig as David Lee Roth's guitar player and was recording the A Little Ain't Enough album for Roth when he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease), a debilitating neurodegenerative condition. Not Dead Yet documents Becker's life and his continuing career as a composer.
Given that Becker was on the point of going stratospheric when the diagnosis and rapid deterioration came, most of the first two acts are pieced together from amateur footage, whether 8 mm film shot by his uncle, or VHS video from various sources. Aside from this we have interviews with various figures who knew him at the time, and many musicians who were aware of his work. He appears to led a charmed life until the diagnosis, and his personality and humour come across very clearly. Oddly, there are only two pictures in existence of Becker with David Lee Roth, who refused to appear in the film.
ALS hits Becker hard and he is given three years to live. He deteriorates very quickly, culminating in an strange moment in the film where we are seemingly led to believe he has died. The director even goes as far as to imply that his childhood friend thought he was dead and was shocked to receive a message from him. This seems to be an unnecessary cheap trick that the film doesn't need.
Following this mysterious near death experience, although almost completely paralyzed and able to communicate only through eye movements, Becker regains his spirit and humour and continues to compose music through some ingenious devices and with the help of his father and various musical folk.
Ultimately the film is about one man, his fierce spirit and will to live, and his family without whose incredible love and support he would be nowhere. Jason Becker would almost certainly have faded away and died had he not been the willful character that he is with the humour and personality that he has. Despite the absence of a narrator, the film maintains its momentum, and everything comes across through the clever editing of the mostly found footage, reinforced through interviews and snippets of Becker's own memoirs, read by his father. Apart from the cheap shot death scene, this film is a moving and inspiring testament to the human spirit, and you don't even have to like the music to enjoy it. 4/5

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGFDWTC8B8g