Free Fire

Dir: Ben Wheatley

2017

****

I’ve read very little about Free Fire since its release. In early 2017 the film’s awesome poster was released and its brilliant trailer was shown everywhere, then nothing. My local cinema didn’t show it, in fact, very few cinemas showed it, which really annoyed me as all the cinemas I go to boast how they are committed to supporting home-grown film etc, and yet a film made just over a hundred miles away is totally ignored. Everyone knows Ben Wheatley is one of the most exciting British directors working today, I’m not sure how well all his previous films have been distributed but 2016’s High Rise enjoyed global praise and 2012’s Sightseers has already reached cult status. People should have been excited about Free Fire, I think those that heard of it probably were, but that wasn’t nearly enough. It’s a great film, one of the year’s best but literally no one is talking about it. It’s a great shame that the distribution rights that went from StudioCanal, to Sony, to Alchemy and finally to A24. I have big love for A24 but they’re relatively young and Free Fire only reached a few cinemas. I believe it is as good as Baby Driver and better than Lucky Logan, two films that certainly had more than their fair share of the 2017 limelight. The premise is gloriously simple: It is 1978, a group of four IRA members meet outside a warehouse beside a dock somewhere in Boston. They’re there to buy guns from an arms dealer with a couple of mediators in there to make sure everything goes smoothly. Cillian Murphy and Ben Wheatly regular Michael Smiley lead the IRA group, with a drugged up Stevo (Sam Riley) and Bernie (Enzo Cilenti) acting as bag men/heavies. Armie Hammer is the smooth-talking mediator and Brie Larson is the IRA intermediary. They take the four men into the warehouse to meet Vernon, a flamboyant and irritable arms dealer who never quite got over the revelation that his child-prodigy status was officially found to be misdiagnosed. Vernon is played by the brilliant Sharlto Copley who is on fine form, a much better choice in my opinion than Luke Evens who was cast in the role originally. He is partnered with Martin (played by Babou Ceesay) and supported by stooges Harry and Gordon (played by Jack Reynor and Noah Taylor respectively). The exchange doesn’t start well when the wrong guns are brought by Vernon and each player finds something unlikable about their counterpart. When Harry recognises Stevo as being the man who assaulted his cousin the previous evening, the meeting goes pear-shaped and soon enough everyone is shooting at each other. Wheatly set the film in the 70s largely so that technology wouldn’t interfere in the situation and in the character’s isolation. They are trapped in the warehouse and the only way out is to shoot their way out. The 1970s also gave Wheatley the opportunity to pimp up the film and have a bit of fun. The characters wear leather jackets and sharp suits, they look authentic but aren’t over the top. The cast is largely English and Irish but everyone but the IRA characters lay on their best Boston accent. It’s like watching kids playing shoot-out in the school playing grounds but with a million dollar budget. It’s so much fun you want to be part of it. Everyone is on level pegging, everyone gets shot and no one is safe from anyone form either team. The best thing about it is the absurd realism. We’re so used to watching films whereby our hero gets shot but still runs about, jumping from helicopters and climbing skyscrapers. The Free Fire characters get shot in the leg and have to crawl. Intense shoot-outs are paused as participants temporarily pass out and resume once they come round a few minutes later. The film’s one and only car chase is under five miles an hour, it’s ridiculous but still ends in spectacular style. It rare that you have so much fun watching other people having so much fun. Each actor plays their character straight but Free Fire is 100% comedy. It is gory, intense and fairly horrific in places but irresistibly funny. I’m sure there are many directors out there who saw it and are angry at themselves for not thinking of it first. It seriously should be a film everyone was talking about, it wasn’t, so I can only assume it will become a future cult classic. It is also refreshing to learn that the actors did their own stunts. I noticed the glorious absence of CGI but it is shocking seeing the actors do some of the things they do in the film, it goes to show there was a level of respect and enthusiasm there for Wheatley and his film and I would argue that it is a beautiful rarity.

High-Rise

Dir: Ben Wheatley

2016

****

J.G. Ballard's critically acclaimed and cult classic 1975 novel is a dystopian masterpiece that carries on the torch from greats of the genre such as George Orwell, Philip K. Dick and William Golding and offers a contemporary vision of a future that isn't that far off the mark in many respects. The old cliché 'Ahead of its time' springs to mind. Written a decade after Britain's brutalist boom, the architectural style and way of living the idea promoted were becoming increasingly unpopular. Many saw the style as being inherently totalitarian, a misunderstanding in my opinion but even though it's undergoing something of a rehabilitation it is always going to be something people will either love or hate. Personally I'm in the love camp. However, it's not just the idea of brutalism and Barbican living that is being explored in the story, the high-rise tower itself lends itself well to the social structure at the heart of Ballard's message. The inhabitants of the High-rise represent the different layers of the human psyche, the lower floors are where the lower class live and represent man's primal desire or the id and the penthouses are inhabited by the superego, 'conscience' and sense of right and wrong. The middle levels form the ego, the part of the subconscious that mediates between the id and the superego. It's an exploration of the psychological effects of gated communities and architecture, two things we are meant to desire. Ballard's childhood spent in a Japanese prisoner of war camp (as seen in the film Empire of the Sun) is somewhat of an influence. It's interesting then when you hear of places such as the Tower of David in Venezuela. Envisioned as a great monument and a living symbol of capitalism's material prosperity, it turned out to be quite the opposite when in construction halted suddenly following a banking crisis and squatters moved in. They formed a co-operative commune that had shops and even a dentist surgery. There was a socio-economic split in the tower but the collective leadership was so effective it was deemed safer than the streets of Caracas. Certainly no accounts of cannibalism were recorded. It was a beautiful thing but it was finally closed because of safety issues but more importantly because it wasn't making anyone any money. Ballard was the king of provocation though, High-rise gets much of the human side right as far as I'm concerned, particularly paranoia, and it's this idea, as well as his other greats (such as Crash) that really makes his work stand out as something quite special. He got under the skin of his contemporaries, he annoyed many people by saying his childhood spent in a Japanese prisoner or war camp wasn't unpleasant but how dare anyone challenge something so personal. This is why I love him. I also love Ben Wheatley's films, but I was concerned that he'd bitten off more than he could chew here (Nicolas Roeg and Vincenzo Natali both tried and failed to get it to the big screen) and I think the reality is that he did and he didn't. Wheatley's adaptation looks great and I'm so glad he set it in the era the book was written. The casting was spot on as were the impressive performances. The message does come through, in this sense Wheatley succeeded with bells on. However, he does let his indulgences get the better of him. As glorious as they look, the countless montages are overlong and overcooked and dilute the stories depth. Wheatley takes a swipe at Conservatism and Thatcherism that came after High-rise was published but this was well accomplished, more than acceptable and rather intelligent given today's social and political climate. I don't like it when older stories are updated but this is an exception. I do wonder if it was lost on the audience I watched it with though. I was surprised when Wheatley essentially spelled out exactly what the film was about at the end of the film but perhaps less surprised when I heard many ask 'What the hell was that all about' straight after. Wheatley clearly wants to be the next Kubrick, maybe he will be, but his desire to make the ultimate 70's film nearly forty years after the decade ended needs to be kept in check in my opinion, with his 2012 film Kill List nearly going too far. It's funny though, speaking of Kubrick and 70's cinema, my Dad and I have often spoken about film together. I clearly love it but he doesn't so much and yet somehow we share the same favourite film, Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. My father has often reminisced about going to see it when it came out and has proclaimed that he was one of the few people still awake by the time the credits rolled. I can now say the same of a film, one that may well turn out to be a misunderstood future classic. If the stunning visuals weren't enough, they are accompanied by a glorious score by my favourite composer working today, Clint Mansell.

Kill List
Dir: Ben Wheatley
2012
***
Absurdly over-hyped by film-folk, I can't believe Total film magazine gave it 5 stars (actually, I can). Ben Wheatley has talent and knows his stuff but I can't help but think he got this one wrong. It is full of suspense and it has it's powerful moments of uncomfortable intensity which I won't deny are very well done, it's just that in the end what you essentially have is a Brit Gangster film vs. Brit 70's horror, filmed in a Dogme style without being as good as any of that might sound. I understand the conclusion as well, I realise the situation - I just didn't think it was particularly clever and the build up only added to the feeling of being let down in the end. Michael Smiley was good though, he will always be Tyres O'Flaherty to me though.

Sightseers
Dir: Ben Wheatley
2012
*****
Sightseers is the ultimate black comedy. That is it is very black and very funny in a surprisingly equal measure. I don't think I've seen a film like it really, I've seen many funny horror films and horror films that are very funny but this is out there on its own. I suppose it's closer to the sort of thing done in certain surreal comedy sketch shows these days but a brave and accomplished feature version. I was shocked and amused in equal measure which surprised me as I prepared myself to hate it. The writers were also the main leads which I think was key, Low and Oram had to play the characters to make them real. I was lucky enough to see this at a preview screening before release with a Q&A session with Low, Oram and director Ben Wheatley and they put all of my initial thoughts about this film to rest quite quickly. The film is a reaction to the silly things people say in relationships, the stupid lyrics we hear in love songs and the stupid things people do for the ones they love but also because it's a funny idea and it's about time we saw something new. I would have failed miserably if it hadn't have been funny but luckily it is very funny and very much worth a watch. The ending is one of the best examples of black comedy I've ever seen.

A Field in England
Dir: Ben Wheatley
2013
*****
Ben Wheatley once again gives us something new, albeit influenced by classic British film making. Five men in a field with a bit of smoke seems a bit too simple given that it is supposed to be during a huge battle but it works really well. With Reece Shearsmith and Julian Barratt in the cast I was expecting a comedy, and it sort of was, but not really in League of Gentlemen way and certainly not in a Mighty Boosh way (none UK residence might want to google both of those). It is funny, scary, surreal and eerie. It premiered on TV, DVD and Cinema simultaneously which was an odd choice (how did it make money?) but then this film has odd written all over it. The performances are brilliant, the cinematography is brilliant, the story is brilliant and the script is brilliant. Probably a future classic but will divide audiences in half for sure.

Down Terrace
Dir: Ben Wheatley
2010
***
I seem to have watched Ben Wheatley's films the wrong way round. Now I've seen all but one, I'm starting to think the man is a genre unto himself. Much like his other work, Down Terrace is eerie, dark, clever and funny. Other directors have managed similar feats but there is something individually sinister and funny about Wheatley's work that really makes it stand out among the rest. I dare say it's love or hate stuff but I for one can't wait to see what he does next! It's nice to see a Father and Son team up that isn't the Smiths (Will and Jaden). It's nice to see natural performances too, everyone does a great job without trying too hard or not trying hard enough. I always thought there was something wrong with Jay's Dad.