I saw Children of Men last night. It was a good film, bleak and brutal and though I enjoyed it immensely I remember thinking to myself that I need never see it again. The Guardian's reviewer said he was reminded of Threads when we watched it. Threads is a docu-drama made for the BBC in the early 1980s chronicling, without pulling any punches, how unmitigatingly horrific nuclear war would be. I saw it first when I was 12 and had nightmares for 2 years. It followed the lives of 3 families living in Sheffied, then the nuclear attack itself, then the aftermath of nuclear winter and complete hellishness of it all. Now Children of Men is a pretty grim portrayal of future Britain, and not withstanding the lack of nuclear annhilation, if it all goes to shit, Britain would become a very unlovely place.
I've two other decidely unlovely dvds languishing on my shelf. One is 'Ichi the Killer', which a friend described as being completely horrific (but in a non-nuclear kind of way). Its Japanese and directed by the guy that did 'Audition', and its fully fucked up. I tried to watch it the other day and got as far as the menu screen and couldn't take any more. Total Film said of it, "Virtuoso... Teeth gnashingly violent, deleriously inventive". A bit like Wallace and Gromit with chainsaws then.
'Oldboy' is the other dvd awaiting my viewing pleasure. Its definitely Korean, and definitley fucked up and wrong on a massive number of levels. Still the Daily Telegraph descibed it as "Magnificent" and it won the Cannes Grand Prix du Jury 2004.
I saw a film called 'Hostel' a few months ago which I actively discourage people from watching. I didn't understand why it was made. It wasn't enjoyable. It wasn't literally sickening, but gratuitous violence as a description doesn't come near. Violence aside it was also a very shit film.
So don't go there.
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