I want to be English today.
The choice of TV and movies in Australia sucks hard. For a start, most programs and movies start airing here long after they have in the States. More importantly, quite a bit of stuff just doesn’t get released here, period. That “limited release,” thing? Either I’m going to the wrong cinemas, or we just don’t have that here. So practically everything you get in limited release doesn’t arrive Down Under at all.
Usually I’m envying America, but right now, it’s the UK. For example, I am absolutely dying to see Doomsday. Since I plan to review when I do see it I’ll just say that it’s directed by Neil Marshall, half the cast is from his first two movies, and the entire thing looks intentionally over-the-top to the point of bloody insanity. Insane is fuuunnn.
Then there’s Happy Go Lucky. This one I can’t get mad at my country’s limited amount of movie imports, this actually was released here, and I just missed the boat on it. Kicking myself plenty over that now, because it sounds like an English Amelie and the trailer is brilliant. Yes, I know Poppy seems kinda annoying at the beginning, but damn if she doesn’t win y’all over by the end of the 1 minute and 47 seconds.
This one was a TV movie over there. It might be on UKTV someday, or else I could perhaps find it on DVD. Wedding Belles is from the writer of Trainspotting, and concerns a woman about to get married and her three friends. Shauna MacDonald, whom I love from The Descent, plays an ex-model whose fiance was murdered and now she’s using the insurance payout to fund her worsening drug addiction. Shirley Henderson, whom I love from Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, plays a woman bullied by her mother and losing her hair from stress. There’s also someone nailing a priest and selling Viagra to the elderly, and the bride of the upcoming wedding, who is trying to look after her friends. And if the posters are anything to go by, things are going to get violent.
Shauna Mac and guns probably isn’t the best combination. She’s shown herself quite capable of going on a killing spree with a pickaxe, animal bones and her thumbs, so imagine what she could do with something that’s actually meant to hurt people.
Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you. On the other hand, onscreen weddings and onscreen violence does sound like a good combination. Either this movie is going to be very funny, very tragic, or both. Or possibly all three.
Finally, the last one is called English Language (With English Subtitles). It’s a short film, actually, and I think my chances of ever getting to see it are pretty small, but I would like to try. Anyway, it’s a strange little mostly-black-and-white romantic comedy about the couple’s break-up. And there are subtitles, through the whole thing, that paraphrase, reveal subtext, sometimes cut under what they’re saying. Which sounds pretty fascinating, and I would love to see it in action.
I guess this is the bit before they break up, or the happy memories montage, which would explain the signs they’re messing about with. The fact that they’re either about to seperate or have already done so stops it from leaning too far over the sappy line. Really, the whole thing’s adorable, although I think “The Time The Frisbee Got Stuck In The Tree,” is taking it to Pushing Daisies or Wall-E levels of cute, which is pretty impressive. This isn’t in black-and-white, BTW.
Then there’s the trailer, which is in b&w. I like the music better on this one, although what with the random shots of the artists playing, it does make it seem a bit like a music video. Like the park clip, this doesn’t have any dialogue. No signs either, this time. I’m impressed they managed to still convey what it’s about at all actually. No dialogue [that inlcudes voice-overs], no signs or captions, the girlfriend’s only even in three shots and half the rest of it is shots of deer or a train, but it’s still clearly about them breaking up and the dude dealing with it. Anyway, it’s very well shot and quite a nice odd little trailer.
Seriously? TV. 
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