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Out on Friday 10 July
Justin Simien delivers one of the comedies of the year. Paul Dano is Brian Wilson. The Human Centipede franchise dines out again. Yes, heres this weeks new releases. Click on for our reviews of Ted 2, Dear White People, Love & Mercy, The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence), Song Of The Sea, The Choir, Touch Of Evil, The Reunion and PTit Quinquin. For the best movie reviews, subscribe to Total Film.
TED 2
After last year's wretched A Million Ways To Die In The West, Seth MacFarlane is back on safer ground with the return of his foul-mouthed talking teddy bear. Of course, the novelty is no longer there; and with the early re-appearance of Sam J. Jones (aka Flash Gordon), who proved such a highlight in the original, it might seem like Ted 2 has bear-ly (ahem) anything new to offer. But MacFarlane can still offend with the best of em. This time it's personal and political, as Ted's attempts to adopt to a baby with new wife Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth) leads to him having his civil rights revoked. No job. No bank account. Nothing. Joined by his old friend John (Mark Wahlberg), still nursing a broken heart after splitting from Mila Kunis' Lori, Ted (voiced again by MacFarlane) takes the case to court. His lawyer is Amanda Seyfrieds pot-smoking law graduate Samantha. Faced with John Slatterys slick legal eagle, they lose and Ted is declared property not person. John, Ted and Samantha head to New York to implore Morgan Freemans equally slick lawyer (I want to sleep in a bed made of your voice, jokes Ted of the smooth-toned one) to help them appeal the verdict. Well, as plots go, its not exactly 12 Angry Men, but Ted 2 is really just an excuse for MacFarlane to splatter the screen with puerile humour. Wahlberg covered in a shelf-full of sperm? Check. Seyfried sucking a penis-shaped bong? Check again. Ted watching bear-porn? Oh, yes. MacFarlane's urge to shock leaves no taboo unturned not least when the trio head to an improv comedy night to throw out bad-taste suggestions: 9/11, Robin Williams, Bill Cosby and even Charlie Hebdo all get referenced. Too soon? Not if youre MacFarlane. The better jokes are the more random ones like a sly nod to The Breakfast Clubs library dance or Teds repeated jibes that the wide-eyed Seyfried looks like Gollum. Theres also a return for Donny (Giovanni Ribisi), the psycho from the first movie, who has evil plans for Ted, not to mention a couldve-been-funnier trip to Comic-Con (albeit with a nice nod to the three-breasted lady from Total Recall). Liam Neeson also pops up for a bizarre Taken-like pastiche, while old rent-a-cameo Jay Leno gets in on the act. Youll laugh, occasionally out loud, but you might not remember why in the morning. THE VERDICT: Still provocative but lacking in real punch, Ted 2 is a quick-fix comedy thatll be forgotten by the time you leave the stalls. Time to put Ted to bed. Director: Seth MacFarlane Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Seth MacFarlane, Amanda Seyfried, Giovanni Ribisi Theatrical release: 8 July 2015 James Mottram
DEAR WHITE PEOPLE
Opening with national newscasters reporting on a riot at the prestigious Winchester University, where an end-of-term party encouraged white students to liberate your inner negro, Justin Simiens savagely smart, incendiary, responsible satire then rewinds five weeks to track the escalating events leading up to the powder-keg spree. The cast of characters is sizeable and tangled, though the four principal players are Troy Fairbanks (Brandon P. Bell), head of an historically all-black residence; militant activist Sam White (Tessa Thompson), running against Troy in the house election and host of the titular radio talkshow (Dear White People stop dancing); CoCo Conners (Teyonah Parris), determined to elevate her social position and to be chosen, over Sam, as the star of a reality TV show; and shy misfit Lionel Higgins (Tyler James Williams), a gay student with a huge afro. Clashing ideas and ideals, these four African-Americans, further prodded by the white staff of satirical campus magazine Pastiche, anchor Simiens microcosmic study of black identity and race relations in todays America. Comprised of titled chapters, meticulous compositions, impossibly articulate dialogue, neat, patterned plotting and judicious use of Swan Lake and Fr Elise on the soundtrack, Dear White People might be a little too arch and airless for some. But its this formal rigour, the precise presentation of a hermetic world, which brings the satire into scalpel-sharp focus, allowing for the dense packaging of ideas and theories, jests and jibes, attacks and counterattacks. No stereotype is left unturned, with Siemens providing unexpected twists and layers to subvert preconceptions, while the US media is surgically scorched for prescribing narrow notions of identity and homogenised images that seek to turn African-American culture into commodities. This is high-altitude satire that dares to press hot buttons while targeting and empathising with all, black and white. Some of the potshots are easy (Tarantino and Tyler Perry), some have the ring of a Kevin Smith-style pop-culture monologue (reading Gremlins as white suburbias fear of blacks the offending invaders talk slang, love fried chicken and hate to get their hair wet) and some thornily complex. All, however, hit squarely home, delivered with real quality by a fresh-faced cast thats overseen by Dennis Haysbert as Winchesters dean. As debuts go, Dear White People is, for all sorts of reasons, a genuine attention grabber. Be sure to give it yours. THE VERDICT: Dear everyone stop whatever youre doing and go see Dear White People. One of the freshest, funniest and most vital films of the year. Director: Justin Simien Starring: Brandon P. Bell, Tessa Thompson, Teyonah Parris, Tyler James Williams, Dennis HaysbertTheatrical release: 10 July 2015 Jamie Graham
LOVE & MERCY
It should sound like a cry, but sort of in a good way, says The Beach Boys Brian Wilson in Bill Pohlads biopic, educating his musicians in the art of sweetly sad pop. Pohlads film picks up the California pop savants lesson, loud and clear. Cast in Wilsons image, Love & Mercy is a cine-song of sun-glazed innocence and bruised experience, surfing between excruciating suffering and extraordinary redemption. It makes you cry, but sort of in a good way. It learns from Wilsons clich-busting ingenuity. After all, any conventional attempt to transcribe his life directly would surely risk bum notes: if it werent true, would you believe Wilsons tale of troubled childhood, genius, mental illness, chemical dependency, radical (read: troubling) therapy and unlikely but exultant rebirth? Pohlads solution is to channel Wilson through his songs style and subjects, not unlike Todd Haynes Im Not There, a seven-actor Bob Dylan composite designed to convey his Bobness mysterious ways. Pohlad lacks Haynes visual pizzazz but he has his writer (Oren Moverman) and two brilliant Brians. Playing the 80s-era Brian, John Cusack seems studied initially, a natural live-wire struggling to restrain himself, until that mannered delivery gradually hits Wilsons strange mix of guarded and disarmingly direct. But Paul Dano is a revelatory instant hit, a heart-rending picture of puppy-ish innocence wracked with genius. As Wilson the younger (60s version) aspires to transfer the symphonic sound-worlds in his brain to peak-Beach Boys LP Pet Sounds, music lovers will get excitations; when the noises from without (bullying dad, peanut-minded bandmate Mike Love) and within (plus copious LSD intake) become too much, his retreat to his home-based sandpit and subsequent breakdown devastate. Enter the heroes and villains, creepin- a-cardi Dr Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti) and saintly car saleswoman Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks). The lines of demarcation are tidily drawn here manipulative quack, woman holding the car-keys to freedom but Giamatti and Banks anchor near-clichs in controlled, non-showy conviction. If Wilsons salvation beggars belief, it isnt the only miracle on show. As Pohlads elegant 360-degree studio pans show Wilson summoning magic from turmoil, working musicians, hairpins, bicycle bells and even barking dogs, one things certain: youll believe in Brian Wilson anew. THE VERDICT: Dont worry, baby: Pohlads biopic is reverent, duly, but also rich, clever, warm and sensitive. Banks and Giamatti provide anchor, Cusack impresses and Dano surfs to glory. Director: Bill Pohlad Starring: Paul Dano, John Cusack, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Giamatti Theatrical release: 10 July 2015 Kevin Harley
THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE III (FINAL SEQUENCE)
Dutch director Tom Six completes his notorious schlock trilogy with the most outrageous yet, and sewing 500 people mouth to anus has little to do with it. Far more distressing than the last 20 minutes when the 100% medically accurate surgery kicks in is the first 80, an unremitting deluge of racial epithets, misogyny, rape (male and female), castration and thunderous overacting. After Germany and England-set entries, The Human Centipede III is located in the good ol US of A, in a scummy penitentiary run by warden Bill Boss (Dieter Laser, who played the mad doctor in the original) and his accountant Dwight Butler (Laurence R. Harvey, the sick security guard at the centre of II). Given two weeks by the governor (Eric Roberts) to clean up the prison, the damaged duo turns to The Human Centipede and its sequel for inspiration, enlisting the help of director Tom Six (himself) as they set about conjoining 500 inmates to act as the ultimate crime deterrent. Theres satire in here somewhere, albeit applied with a bludgeon and buried under a mountain of blood, shit and vomit. Six should at least be awarded points for making a film thats so gleefully self-aware: Human Centipede III is best seen as an overblown black-comedy, for its tongue is firmly in its cheek. So to speak. Its a splatter movie thats willing to do anything and everything to burrow under viewers skin, not least have a bellowing, vein-popping Laser deliver what is surely the loudest, biggest, please-make-it-stop-est performance in cinema history. But after the genuinely nightmarish and really rather moving second instalment, III is a regression. It has to be seen to be believed, certainly, but one viewing will prove quite enough. THE VERDICT: Tom Sixs third contains hard gore and is, as the tagline says, 100% politically incorrect. So horrid it almost inspires awe. Almost. Director: Tom Six Starring: Dieter Laser, Laurence R. Harvey, Bree Olson, Eric Roberts, Tom Six Theatrical release: 10 July 2015 Jamie Graham
SONG OF THE SEA
Tomm Moores folklore-inspired tale of selkies, harpies and man-shaped mountains arrives with magic in its veins and hand-drawn visuals to make the heart skip. As with Moores 2009 debut, the similarly Oscar-nommed The Secret Of Kells, Song Of The Sea is a fiercely imaginative tale steeped in myth. Our young protagonist Ben (voiced by David Rawle) lives with his father (Brendan Gleeson) and mute younger sister Saoirse. When Saoirse falls ill in the wake of a nighttime sea jaunt that sees her transform into a seal, the childrens formidable grandmother (Fionnula Flanagan) takes them to live with her in Dublin, where she serves tough love alongside the cups of nettle tea. As the children embark on a dangerous mission home to their father (encountering fairies and scary owls on the way), Moore deftly balances the fanciful (theres a chance it could all be happening in our heros head) with the frightening. Moon-eyed seals and dopey sheepdogs up the cute factor, but the villainous Macha the Owl Witch (also voiced by Flanagan) is genuinely terrifying, not least because her motives are unsettlingly human. Theres impressive artistry in the visuals, too, with stormy watercolour backdrops and doodle-like repeated motifs (there are spirals everywhere) lending the film a rich, mesmerising texture, like a picture-book brought to life. If The Secret Of Kells was an epic medieval fantasy and pretty dark in its delivery, Song Of The Sea is an Irish answer to Disneys animated fairytales. Similar in tone to Roald Dahls bedtime stories, it could prove too whimiscal for some but odds are itll turn you into a saucer-eyed child. THE VERDICT: A spellbinding fairy tale bursting with magic, humour and heart, Song Of The Sea confirms Tomm Moore as a major animation talent. Director: Tomm Moore Starring: David Rawle, Brendan Gleeson, Lisa Hannigan, Fionnula Flanagan, Lucy OConnell Theatrical release: 10 July 2015 Josh Winning
THE CHOIR
From Pitch Perfect to TV choirmaster Gareth Malone, the unaccompanied human voice is currently on screen and on song. Yet Franois Girards drama about a promising choirboys relationship with a stern musical mentor proves that, sometimes, a degree of back-up is required. Say, from a drum kit. While making comparisons is reductive, here theyre inevitable. The Choir is in the unfortunate position of arriving after Whiplash, being exactly the type of benign, old-school affair that Damien Chazelles Oscar-winner upgraded with bravura. On the surface, the two films are near-identical, down to a plot point about missing sheet music and a climactic New York concert. Yet the National Boychoir Academy offers a statelier environment, where the worst put-down mustered by conductor Carvelle is, Quitting is all you know. As played by Dustin Hoffman, Carvelle offers wry, Mr. Magorium-esque cuddliness rather than chair-throwing rage. Not quite Terence Fletchers tempo. Ironically, the attitude here is supplied by the kid. Twelve-year-old Stet (newcomer Garrett Wareing) is caught between an alcoholic mum and an uncaring dad (Josh Lucas) until a combination of tragic fate and dramatic contrivance sees him parachuted into Boychoirs rarefied atmosphere. Bullied by the rich kids and patronised by Eddie Izzards sneering teacher, Wareing lashes out. However, while the socially conscious screenplay explores the issue of class in classical, Girard makes Stets progress look surprisingly easy. Then again, the focus here is on the sounds, and here Girard delivers. The Canadian has long specialised in films about music; if The Choir seems unambitious next to the experimental structures of 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould or The Red Violin, its pleasures derive from Girards palpable love for his subject. Crucially, Wareing captures his characters irresistible joy of singing something that Whiplash mostly skipped over. THE VERDICT: A film that rarely convinces in portraying the pressures of a gifted musician but at least it hits the right note when showcasing musics joys. Director: Franois Girard Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Garrett Wareing, Josh Lucas, Eddie Izzard, Kathy Bates Theatrical release: 10 July 2015 Simon Kinnear
TOUCH OF EVIL
Made in 1958, this was Orson Welles last Hollywood movie and one of the last of the original, classic film noir cycle. Set in a squalid township straddling the US-Mex border, it centres on the clash between a law-abiding Mexican detective (Charlton Heston) and a corrupt American cop (a sweaty and hugely bloated Welles). Right from the famous three-minute take that opens the action, TOE presents an ominous view of a world of moral and physical instability. It was much mutilated by the studio; this is the re-edited 1998 version. Director: Orson Welles Starring: Charlton Heston, Orson Welles, Janet Leigh Theatrical release: 10 July 2015 Philip Kemp
THE REUNION
Swedish artist Anna Odell gives a masterclass in excruciating awkwardness here. After being snubbed from a 20-year high school reunion, Odell has created a film of two distinct parts. In the first, she imagines herself attending the reunion and confronting everyone for bullying her; in the second, she tracks down the former classmates in real life and shows them this fictional account. Its an interesting idea with real resonance, but as she pushes her subjects it seems she has vindication in mind rather than closure. By the end, youll be begging her to just get over it. Director: Anna Odell Starring: Anna Odell, Anders Berg, David Nordstrm Theatrical release: 10 July 2015 Matt Looker
PTIT QUINQUIN
Bruno Dumonts four-episode mini-series named the best picture of 2014 by French film magazine Cahiers du Cinema here gets a bum-numbing-but- worth-it cinema release. Set in rural northern France, it muses upon good and evil as a chopped-up woman found inside a dead cow initiates a spate of grisly murders. True Detective this is not, however Dumont also finds his funny bone, giving us a bumbling police captain (Bernard Pruvost), part Clouseau, part Monsieur Hulot, and mischievous kid Quinquin (Alane Delhaye), who pelts after the investigation on his bike. Mesmerising. Director: Bruno Dumont Starring: Alane Delaye, Lucy Caron Theatrical release: 10 July 2015 Jamie Graham
