1111I1I11~rl~III~~II~1~1~:9 770037 480083

March IIVolume 21 Issue 3 £3.95

Kazuo Ishiguro on

ever LetMe Go'~e last British

mantic:

·colas Roeg

.d O.Russell

'The Fighter'

seve story:

xing in the movies

Films

Civic LifeUnitedKingdom/Ireland/Singapore2010Directors:cilriStine Mol~JoeLawlorcertificate: not submitted 73m-- -

Released in 2008, Helen was a featuredebut from Christine Molloy and JoeLawlor that came and went withoutever finding the audience it deserved;its case wasn't helped by one of theUK's best-known broadsheets runninga 'review' that was actually of anotherfilm called Helen. Though on the onehand a shocking revelation as to thestate of film criticism in general, therewas a curious perfection to thisinfelicity, since the Molloy/LawlorHelen was all about the shifting ofidentity - a girl taking part in a crime-scene recreation slowly assumes the lifeof the person whose shoes she walks in.In the view of this critic, Helen was

the most important British featuredebut of the past five years, and so it'sa pleasure to see the short film thatengendered it, Joy, released for the firsttime, along with eight other projectsfrom Molloy and Lawlor. Here wesee a brief version of the Helen story:a teenager has gone missing; perhapsanother girl, wearing an identicallemon-yellow coat and walking thesame route in the park, might jog thememory of casual passers-by. It is apencil sketch of a grand portrait, andit has integrity in itself, though afterHelen it remains just a pencil sketch.What Helen revealed, though, was thatover the years the Molloy/Lawlor teamhave been quietly producing - withminimal and innovative funding-works of heretical brilliance.Here then are the jewel-like heresies:

social-conscience stories told as adream, themes that wouldn't beunappealing to Ken Loach yet withmore in common with Russian andJapanese cinema and photographicgallery installations than with thetyranny of soap opera, the lodestodeof most social drama in the UK. Thisis a good thing; homegrown socialrealism has at last become post-Soviet.There's a well-nourished quality to

these dreams. They use lavish 3smmphotography instead of grubby digitalformats, and play all sorts of gameswith form. They're not afraid to usevoiceover, direct-to-camera addresses (inJoy and Moore Street for example); lavishorchestral scores (Who Killed BrownOwO or synthesiser tonics (Joy) with thedirect intent to manipulate the mood ofthe viewer. With an extraordinary longsingle take peppered with visual jokes(a tethered goat, a shark's fin in a citycanal, a youth leader face-down with acomic-book axe embedded in her back),Who Killed Brown Owl creates an air ofstudied poise and formality while atthe same time not bothering to hidethe shadow of the camera crane. It'slike a 3D tour of a photograph by JeffWall, and the standout here.Of the others. Tiong Bahru is

especially interesting, set as it is inSingapore. far away from the Irish= a;:,c ~ban landscapes of the

north of England for which Molloyand Lawlor are known. It's a visualtouchstone for their oeuvre, for there'san aesthetic at work in all their filmswhich is reminiscent of a certain strainof Japanese and Taiwanese cinema-restrained and lavish, formallyaudacious and sentimental, oftenisolating individuals with a crowd.Everything always looks incredibly

beautiful, as iflife is art-designed, fromthe locker-room doors in Leisure Centre,in which a young couple discuss theirnew baby, to the blue-saturated framingof Twilight, where an elderly womanreveals her terminal cancer diagnosisto others on a ferry on the Tyne. Mostof these films use non-professionalactors, playing characters who are oftenprivately grieving in some way, or onthe verge of being paralysed by anxiety.It's not surprising that the micro-

budget production company whichmade these films, Lawlor and Malloy'sown, is called Desperate Optimists. "Allthings start small," says a schoolgirl inTiong Bahru; it serves as a mantra bothfor their themes and their methods ofmaking cinema. ~ Roger Clarke

CREDITSA series of short filmsbyChristine MolloyJoe Lawlor

©Desperate Optimistsproductions Limited

In order of appearancethe films are:Daydream (2006)(extractl)Who Killed Brown Owl(2004)Moore Street (2004)Twillght(2005)Daydream (2006)(extract 2)Town Hall(2005)(extract)Leisure Centre(2005)Joy(2008)Tiong Bahru (2010)

DAYDREAM

DirectorsChristine MolloyJoe LawlorProducerJoe LawlorWritersChI/stine MolloyJoe LawlorDirector ofPhotographyOle Bratt BirkelandEditorsChI/stine MolloyJoe LawlorArlDesignIndianna McMillanParker

ProduclionCompaniesliverpool CultureCompany, LiverpoolBiennial presents aDesperate OptimistsproductionThiS film wascommissioned forMade In liverpool 2006by the liverpool CultureCompany in partnershipwith Liverpool Biennial.Funded by the liverpoolCulture Company, aspart of the CreativeCommunitiesProgramme, supportedwith lottery money fromthe MillenniumCommission and ArtsCot.n:::iIErgl2iIl

through the UrbanCultural ProgrammeExecutive ProducerHelen WhiteheadLine ProducerChristine MolloyProduction ManagerJulie LauLocation ManagerTom HarnickAssistant Directors1st: Dan Winch2nd: Laura CogganCamera OperatorOle Bratt BirkelandGafferKevin RobertsKey GripChl/s McDonoughCostumeIndlanna McMillanParkerTitlesFrameline DesignSoundtrack"Parade ofthe General";"Riding the Horse in aSpring Field"; 'NowThat the Summer HasCome" - HelenaFearon. April Murray;"To Burn" - SecondNatureSound MixerMartin BeresfordSound EditingJoe Lawlor

CASTKeith Sahapark wardenMrLiconductorPagoda Chinese youthOrchestraorchestraJoanne LiuChinese businesswomanPolly GreenChinese interpreterAnna LevinRussian businesswomanNatasha KalyuzhnayaRussian interpreterDavid WashbrookBritish business man(daydreamer 1)RalfNuttalbartenderHarold PattersonwaiterAdam Jonesboy on chairGosia McKaneGeage McI<ane

Visual pleasure: 'Leisure Centre'

Barbara Richards Joshua McDonough Production Manager ProducerMax Zadow missing teenager 1 CleoW,lIl3ms Christine MolloyRiverView residents Hannah McLoughlin Property Manager WritersEmma Hirons missing teenager 2 Rebecca Pilkington Christine Molloybereaved mother Samira Boubir Titles Joe Lawlor(daydreamer 4) missing teenager 3 Frameline Design DireclorofGraham Hicks KatyHarlles Soundtrack Photographybereaved father girl in the forest 1 "Fantasia on a Theme Ole Bratt BirkelandHelena Fearon Sophie Harlles by Thomas Tallis" byApril Murray girl in the forest 2 Ralph Vaughan Williams ProductionSingers (daydreamer 5) - Academy of St Martin- CompaniesGary Lloyd in-the-Flelds The Navigateman on barge 1 WHO KILLED Sound Editing Consortium presents.=:(daydreamer 2) BROWN OWL Joe Lawlor Desperate OptimistsAdam Byrne

Directorsproduction

man on barge 2ChI/stine Molloy CAST Made With funding

Denise Armstrong support from thewoman abandoned as a Joe Lawlor The Worshipful the NatIOnal Lotterybaby Producer Mayor of Enfield, Cllr through Arts CounclZacharyHarl Joe Lawlor Anne Marie Pearce England and thechild of woman Writers Danielle St John Millenniumabandoned as a baby Christine Molloy Carolyn Deby Commission. AmiocVera Tague Joe Lawlor Chris Johnson Forma. Baltic, NaV@3'woman who found Director of D. Yiangou 2005 Aliveabandoned baby Photography E.M. Holdcroft Executive Produ~Ken Butterfield Ole Bratt Birkeland Emily Marlow Lee CallaghanBSL interpreter Hannah Ben PontonDave Young Production Ian Strickland Michelle Hirschhor-metal band - vocals Companies J. Jones Production Manage:--Alan Kelly London Borough of Jean Barlow Kamal Ackariemetal band - bass Enfield Council. Arts Kenneth TitlesPete Conley Council England Louis Johnson Frameline DeSignmetal band - gUitar presents a Desperate M.J. Cohen Sound RecordistPaul Sefton Optimists production Mark Stone Ross Neashammetal band - gUitar This film was Naomi Johnston Sound EditingKris Slattery commissioned by the P.K. Christopher Joe Lawlormetal band - drummer London Borough of Rebecca St JohnPeter Scott Enfield Council with S.Zaveri CASTman with head Inlury financial support from Molly Rose Lawlor(daydreamer 3) the Arts Council Janet WilsonDavid Trevorrow England through th811

TWILIGHT Maurice Richards:cStjohn Ambulance Strategic Initiatives Fund ............... Thelma Stuartofficer Executive Producer Directors June Wylie

Lorraine Cox Christine Molloy Allan FlintJoe Lawlor

SYNOPSIS Since 2003, Christine Molloy and Richard Lawlor have been workli:.gon a series of short films made with local residents and community groups inNewcastle, Ireland and Singapore. This collection of their work comprises ninefilms of varying lengths.In Daydream (extract no. I), a youth leader briefs a group of schoolchildren

about finding two of their number lost in the forest. Who Killed Brown Owl is asingle-take crawl over a summer park which reveals a face-down body with anaxe in its back. In Twilight, a woman on a Tyne ferry announces the return ofh::-cancer. Daydream (extract no. 2) features a youthful thrash-metal band rehearsqIn Town Hall (extract), a master of ceremonies at a noisy town-hall gatheringcongratulates his audience on their diversity. In Leisure Centre, a young coupleworry about their future with their newborn baby. Joy follows a police re-enactment of the last movements of a missing teenager. A young Africanimmigrant wanders a Dublin Street and resolves to be positive about her newlife in Moore Street. And in Tiong Bahru, a group of young Singaporeans strugglewith issues in their lives, including pregnancy and schoolwork.

TOWN HALL (Irea-<: 3'1: =n ................. H:5Z=Directors Filml:n:Christine Molloy f'ro<b:;e:".lo€Lawlor M2g5E3cProducer Prod!.E5rJoe Lawlor KE'.- :::o.reWriters LocalD:'.1fcChI/stine Molloy Arc'? ~.'.lo€Lawlor Assistri ::cDirector of lst:_~.;3Photography 2no.SrEa:Ole Bratt Birkeland Stea<ica:iiO::e:=rArtDirector Step-e-' J...T:rYvonne Toner Gaffe<

Gcn;::: =.ac.Production CoshroJ;;Companies Mla\a=-,~'ne Public, Arts Council Titlesengland. Greets Green Frame- --e :es.g-~rtnership presents Sound Re::<:'iS:,'lith the participation of Mich2~=ierce Festival a Sound Edi3rgJesperate Optimists JoeL2',',",O'":xoduction:Ommissioned by The CAST=tlblic as part of Fierce'estival and was funded AmyCorr':J<j Arts Council England Nicola Moore2nd Greets Green Robert o'Connor=trtnership as part of John Nesbitt:re New Deal for Karen Halpin:Ommunities John Ward:J(ogramme inWest Maeve Hurley3romwich Rhonda DempseyProduction Manager Teresa Carey~maJones Ann KellyAssistant Directors Maureen Doyle:si: Joe Tumelty Megan Nugent2nd: Katy Connor Chantelle NugentSteadicam Operator John Burke!JfTramontin Daniel KennaGaffers Lynn O'Neill.l.ndy8ates Brandon Lawlor~gene Grobler Willie WhiteTItles Jimmy Harper=rameline Design Amanda HarperSound Recordist Nathan Lawlor:ross Neasham Dean LawlorSound Editing Adam Lawlor"':08 Lawlor Cindy Lawlor

CAST JOY

Nareen Khan DirectorsPauline Marshall Christine MolloyCarley Rose Jones Joe LawlorSaul Augustus-Dare ProducersShane Cresswell ChI/stine MolloyJohnMercer Joe LawlorJ.Lawrence WritersAntonyLee ChI/stine Molloys'T.Smith Joe LawlorHeather Daffon Director ofNadine Favre PhotographyClara Roberts Ole Bratt BllkelandSylvia King Soundtrack?<lui J. Instone Dennis McNulty_!mne WilkinsMauricea Pottinger Production:lave Pollard CompaniesSamantha Etheridge Arts Council England.Caire Turner Birmingham City.JezTurner Council presents a

Desperate Optimists

l..E15URE CENTRE production_... ..... Made with funding fromJirectors Arts Council England:;"-;stine Molloy and Birmingham City..J:J€Lawlor Council~ucer Executive Producer...ceLawlor Bob Jowett'irn London Producer Production Manager=T]kyGhundale Julie LauMiters Location Manager:::;-<istine Molloy Andrew Cooke..s:::eLawlor Assistant DirectorsA-ectorof 1st: James Davison=t.otography 2nd: Alison Hopper:'8 Bratt Birkeland Titles

Frameline Design=rnduction Sound Mixer:bmpanies Simon Gillman'='~klng Ground, Arts Sound Editing:.:unci I England, Film Joe Lawlor.JXJon presents with7€partlcipationof CAST3'Cjsh Council (Ireland)n:I Project Arts Centre Sonia Saville::~perate Optimists Annie Townsend:r:::duction Charlene James=..mod by Breaking John BarnabasflJnd and Arts Ife Njock Barnes::.:uncil England with Rose Blair-e support of Film Roisin McMarron.....:n:!on. in partnership Stephen Cherry·--j)the British Council

~JE30<JA=:::rdi~::::~-L.C'.i?2

i'I1::ddioo~---ew::.ra~8....~...eec::ne~07P..rlS,S~andTounsmlAnROinn Eatalon. Speirtagus Turasoireachta.Artis Council/AnChomhalrle Ealafon,Projects Arts Centrepresents with theparticipation of BritishCouncil (Ireland) aDesperate OptimistsproductionFinancially supported byThe Cultural RelationsCommittee at theDepartment of Arts.Sports and Tourism/AnRoinn Eala(on, Spoirtagus Turasoireachtaand the Arts Council/AnChomhairle Ealafon andin partnership withBntish Council (Ireland)Steadicam OperatorFlachra JudgeTitlesFrameline DesignSound EditingJoe Lawlor

CASTCaroline LambeGabriel AkujobiKunle AnimasaunSamuel BrayLola JamesFemiLateefMoradeyo MorounkejiBola Olusanya

Leah FlynnvOice-over

TIONGBAHRU

Directed byChristine MolloyJoe LawlorProduced byDan PrichardJoe LawlorWritten byChristine MolloyJoe LawlorDirector ofPhotographyDaniel LowEditorChristine MolloyArt DirectorJames PageOriginal MusicKavinHoo

©Desperate OptimistsProductions LtdProductionCompaniesNational Museum ofSingapore presents incollaboration withBritish CouncilSupported by UrbanRedevelopmentAuthority. Singcoore.

::0 :.:un:.,_L~~~~by=a-3:tga-3'1 f'oog ChengProduction ManagerJoey LamAssistant Directors1st: Chan Pul Mei2nd: Nooraini ShahGaffer8ertTanKey GripAbdul MalikTitlesTechnicolorSound SupervisorsBarnaby TemplerJake RobertsSound MixerJames ChoongRe-recording MixersGraham DanielAdam Daniel

CASTMadamUmAmahVeronica Patricia RioVeronicaLeoMakLeoAndreaKwanLeo's wifeCherilyn ChiaAmah's granddaughterTan Shzr EenarratorVincentNaiLeo's fatherKeithChiaAmah's sonChristine ChiaAmah's daughter-in-lawKimberley ChiaAmah's granddaughterRapti SiriwakdaneVeronica's social workerIreneHoVeronica's foster parentSiti NuraishaqirinVeronica's new friendSiti LaniraAbdul Hadi Bin IndraJasniMuhammad Danial BinAzmanVeronica's old friendsJosh ChanAriel YeoKrissaChanZechariah Yeochildren in forestIsadora Leigh Slaterabandoned baby

Dolby DigitalIn Colour[2.35:1]

DistributorDesperate Optimists

SYNOPSIS After informing her seventh-grade class that she is quitting, softlyspoken teacher Moriguchi Yuko offers one final lesson on the value oflife. Shetells how her fiance recently died of Aids-related complications after their five-year-old daughter Manami was found drowned in the school's pool. She thendescribes how she worked out that Manami was murdered by two pupils-academically gifted Shuya and his low-achieving accomplice Naoki - whoboth, when confronted, admitted their crime. Finally, she reveals that the milkjust drunk by the two boys was spiked with HIV-infected blood.The next term, the pupils (apart from suicide-obsessed Mizuki) bully Shuya,

while sending coded hate mail to the absent Naoki through Moriguchi's cluelessreplacement Terada. As Naoki's mental health declines, he tells his mother of theHIV in his blood, and of the role he played in Manami's death - which was greaterthan even Moriguchi realised. Horrified, his mother plans to kill first him and thenherself, but Naoki kills her and is arrested. After testing negative for HIY,Shuyastarts going out with Mizuki, and reveals to her that his actions have been designedto attract the attention of his estranged mother. Mizuki relays this information toMoriguchi. Shuya murders Mizuki.Confused by an email from his mother (in fact sent by Moriguchi), Shuya posts

a video testimony online stating his intentions to blow up himself and his fellowpupils with a homemade bomb - but Moriguchi intercepts the testimony andsecretly moves the bomb to the workplace of Shuya's mother. After Shuya hasdetonated the bomb, Moriguchi reveals to him that he must live with havingkilled his mother .

ConfessionsJapan 2010Director: Nakashima Tet5uyaWith Mat5u Takako, Nishii Yukito,Fujiwara KaoruCertificate 15 106m 265

The lessons of cinema are best taughtin images rather than words, soNakashima Tetsuya's decision to openConfessions (Kokuhaku) with what is ineffect a 30-minute monologue mightat first sound foolhardy. But in adaptingMinato Kanae's bestselling six-partnovel, Nakashima has found anaudiovisual language which transformshis film's first 'confession', deliveredby teacher Moriguchi Yuko (MatsuTakako) to her middle-school class,into something that feels right at homeon the big screen. The pupils, at least atfirst, are bored and boisterous, throwingobjects about, texting each other,moving around the classroom or evenleaving altogether for some baseballand bullying on the school roof. Allthis unruliness contrasts with thespeaker's quiet monotone and affectlessdemeanour, which slowly draw inboth her immediate audience and themore general viewership. Meanwhile,by presenting all the ambient activityin elegant slow motion andorchestrating it to a subdued guitarscore that builds, ever so gradually,to a raucous crescendo, Nakashimaensures we never lose focus on eitherMiss Moriguchi or her story. As herlesson on life turns into a shockingpublic accusation and a revenge servedvery cold, Moriguchi is the mesmerisingcalm at the centre of an explosive storm.The rest of the film traces the

repercussive ripples of this explosion,both backwards and forwards in time.Unfolding, like Minato's novel, in aseries of further confessions - a dreamy(and unsent) email, a diary entry andsuicide note, a crazed staircase soliloquy,a disingenuous video testimony, a frankphone message - the narrative is anuncomfortable tapestry of truth andlies, crime and punishment, causeand effect, where a bursting bubble canlead, years later, to a more destructive

5".::.= a:::d X;wki are !o\·ed tooi~.2E";C :00 much by their respective::lOthers, so i:s..<>emsoddly appropriatethat the boys' initial punishmentshould involve milk, that mostmaternal of drinks, being used as avehicle for poison. In the world ofConfessions, redemption is certainlypossible - after all, Moriguchi's latepartner was a onetime delinquentwho went on to become aninspirational pedagogical theorist- but Moriguchi vindictively refusesher young wards any hope of recoveryor reform, and coldly manipulatestheir tragic downfalls. She allowsherself to become as disconnectedand casually cruel as the young peopleshe is supposed to improve, so thateven confused misfit Mizuki(Hashimoto Ai) will soon cite herexample as a justification for furthermurder. As revenge scenarios go, thisis responsibly disorienting, setting outmoral equations with no easy solutions.Nakashima's noughties films

Kamikaze Girls (2004), Memories ofMatsuko (2006) and Paco and theMagical Book (2008) have associatedhim with vibrant colours, but inConfessions he restricts himself to arestrained palette of cool blues andsubdued greys, in what often seemslike an extended emo music video(with Radiohead actually includedon the soundtrack). This drab colourscheme, as well as the sedate pacingand a dreamily detached vibe, alldistract to an extent from the shrillmelodrama of a film that turns outto be a bombastic, almost operaticaffair, as overwrought as it is overwordy.Nakashima delivers his Heathers-likesatire with a determinedly straight face- at least until the final punchlinegives the game away, echoing Shuya'scatchphrase "Just kidding". Here,Moriguchi's elaborate educative schemereduces to a bitter joke any possibilityfor her pupils' improvement.~ Anton Bitel

Sight & Sound I March 20111 53