Megalopolis Review

I have just seen Megalopolis and loved it. So much better than I expected from reviews. I found the story clearly told and well carried by the actions, visual metaphors and performances. It helps to appreciate literature, history, culture and philosophy - woven into this are the words of Shakespeare, Sappho(!) and Marcus Aurelius(!). The scene with featured quotes from Marcus Aurelius is my special favorite. My special thanks to Nathalie Emmanuel for making movie magic of ancient philosophical wisdom. In an age of passive play-it-safe mass entertainment it is so good to have a creatively intense movie for the literati. Excellent visual design of New Rome costumes and settings. Amazing visual metaphors moving into experimental filmmaking territory to depict extremes of emotional elation, loss, grief and near-death moments. If you love Shakespeare, you will love this. If Shakespeare was here today he would create this.  - John Calder

Movie Review: Stranded Pearl

John Calder and Bronwyn Calder with cast and crew of Stranded Pearl at a screening at Event Cinemas Manukau, NZ. 12 Sep 2024.

Producer and male lead actor Aunanda Naaido pulls off an impressive indie achievement to film across a big variety of locations in the Cook Islands. If this very ambitious project was filmed under pressure I can see no sign of it. The cinematography features excellent coverage of points of view. Female lead Kristy Wright has the time and space to take the title character on a personal journey from workaholic corporate leader to a more balanced person becoming aware of environmental issues - a journey triggered by being stranded on a desert island. The vibe through the early and middle scenes reminds me of classic Hollywood romantic comedies like The African Queen (1951) with Aunanda Naaido and Kristy Wright doing a fine job as the new Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. The final Act takes a different dramatic direction where of course I cannot say more because of the "no spoilers!" rule. Except to say that one of the many plot twists is borrowed from William Shakespeare and as a Shakespeare fan I gotta love that.

Brave Love: The Problem of Hans

Brave Love is our 96 min Mock Epic movie, adapted from the writing of Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923). More at: Brave Love the movie

KM got a popularity boost at the time of World War 1 by mocking Germans in her early “German Pension” stories. "Brave Love", also an early story has a moment of German mocking. Meet Hans the long-suffering German waiter:

"Madame," said the German waiter appearing from nowhere with a thick bandage round his neck.

"What is the matter now?" said Mildred in a disgusted voice. "More boils again, Hans. Ugh! How dreadful you look."

"Ah, Madame, please to excuse," mumbled the German waiter.

"No I won't excuse you Hans. I'm sure it's because you don't wash."

She scolded him in a hard angry voice that Valerie and Mitka heard all the way up the stairs.

We have been seeing the adaptation of classic works to follow contemporary sensibilities. First it was Dr Suess, then Roald Dahl. Do we now do the unthinkable and censor Katherine Mansfield? Fortunately, Mansfield herself gives us some guidance from later in life. This from a 1920 letter to John Middleton Murry

Bogey I cannot have the German Pension republished under any circumstances. It is far too immature & I don’t even acknowledge it today; I mean I don’t ‘hold’ by it. I can’t go foisting that kind of stuff on the public – it’s not good enough  … It’s positively juvenile and besides that it’s not what I mean: it’s a lie.

We think that a reason for republication was to cash in on the post war unpopularity of Germans. We also take for further guidance, evidence of Mansfield’s sympathy for the Germans in their treatment by the victorious allies. 

A letter, Sunday, October 27, 1918 - To the Hon. Dorothy Brett ([edit] added October 24, 2023)

Really, in spite of all England shrieking and imploring everybody not to make Peace until they've had a rare kick at him and a rare nose-in-the-mud rubbing one does feel that Peace is in the Air.

"It is all about, my sister, Yet it is unborn”

A letter, Saturday, May 1, 1922 - to the Hon. Dorothy Brett

Manoukhin's partner here, a very exceptional Frenchman, started the subject yesterday, said, Why did not we English immediately join the French and take all vestige of power from Germany? This so disgusted me I turned to Manhoukhin and felt sure he would agree that it simply could not be done.

We needed to adapt Hans to fit in to a contemporary corporate workplace. We believe we are true to Mansfield’s later attitudes in removing the negative German moment and turning Hans around. Hans the mocked ugly waiter becomes Hans the honest company accountant mocked by his dodgy colleagues.

This article is an excerpt from "Brave Love” – A contemporary adaptation to film" by John Calder and Gerri Kimber, presented by Gerri Kimber at the Katherine Mansfield Society Conference, Pavillon de l’Erable, 70 Rue du Vieux Ru, Avon, Fontainebleau, France. Friday 13 Oct 2023
Read the complete version here.

"Brave Love", our "Mock Epic" feature. The Synopsis.

Valerie Brandon has a relationship crisis. Her boyfriend Evershed is an oil billionaire who delights in attention-getting showmanship as a climate change denier. But he has a deep dark climate change secret. Valerie is having an awareness awakening triggered by greenie activist Mitka getting into her elite lifestyle bubble. The climate change battle is then fought out in Valerie's relationship with Evershed, complicated further by Valerie's growing attraction to Mitka. 

From director John Calder: ‘My mentor asks "what's the genre?" I say "this is highly original alternative cinema that is beyond genre". The mentor says "don't talk rubbish, what's the genre?". I come up with "classic literature retold as a near-future science-fiction mock epic" or "mock epic" for short.’ 

Satirical comedy takes on climate change sceptics, corporate culture and billionaires. The classic literature comes from Katherine Mansfield: “Brave Love”, “The Garden Party”, other stories as well as letters, poems, book reviews and articles. With support acts from Jonathan Swift and William Shakespeare.

Regarding visions of the future: move over Nostradamus, here comes Katherine Mansfield! 

The big production experiment is to make a no-budget co-op mock epic possible by filming green screen. We report that as a success for filming the actors but we also discover in doing the often animated backgrounds that there is a reason epics have hundreds of background artists in the credits. After many years of epic DIY post-production, it feels surreal and exciting to be submitting to film festivals and meeting our audiences.

"Sliding Door" - green screen filming of actors with a meccano miniature set.

From "Brave Love", our indie co-op green screen climate change mock epic now entering film festivals.

Water Effects - "Old School" wins again.

About greenscreen scenes with water. At the time of filming I was into watering actors with a spray bottle and we imagined the rain etc. Whatever James Cameron is doing is not "trickling down" to indie land that I can see. So I reach for the garden hose.

From "Brave Love", our indie co-op green screen climate change mock epic now entering film festivals.

"The House of Seville" wins Film Festival Award

"The House of Seville" has won Best Animation Spring 2022 in the "Golden Nugget International Film Festival". Awards page:
https://gniff.com/winners_season_11.html

Golden Nugget had a subtitles requirement. View that version on Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/666695009

Golden Nugget nominations page Spring 2022:
https://gniff.com/selection.html

I remastered and entered "..Seville" into "Golden Nugget" after I was impressed by their NZ screening. My review of that:
https://iafilm.blogspot.com/2020/11/indie-screenings-finding-audience.html