The Square and Compass

Beginning of yore as an alehouse in 1776, (the Harvey review does follow), it’s retained its original charm and architecture, (by and large), ever since. Attracting a variety of bohemians throughout the years they’re notable for their many events such as the ‘Square Fair’ and, recently, through the landlord Charlies aforementioned Cider as well. It also bares the Masons insignia but, (quickly moving on), in short it has a vast history within.

Going into a cobbled alcove type room with wooden beams and a projector screen above an open fire-place, (which luckily wasn’t burning), it was as if I’d stepped into a medieval fashioned cinema like something out of a steam-punk novel. There was a small crowd, some leaving from the previous showing, (including one enthusiastic guy in a rabbit outfit who I hoped everyone else could see). Although the chairs were slightly uneven I quickly forgot as the place definitely had atmosphere. We were then given an informal introduction as to why Harvey before commencing.

The sound was good and the acoustics, (along with the room size), made it seem like a fairground simulator; I half expected to be suddenly jolted forward with the opening trailer. It was snug though, (especially considering the wind outside).

Anyhow, on with the film review itself:

Harvey

Before Wilfred and Donnie Darko, (which, despite similarities Richard Kelly has stated it was ‘not influenced by), there was Harvey. Only this time its title star was actually invisible leaving the audience to decide whether or not he was really there. Directed by Henry Koster in 1950 it’s based upon Mary Chases 1944 Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway play of the same name, (and star Josephine Hull), who here adapts her work to the screen. Not just inspiring ‘numerable’ television remakes along with the recently ill-fated attempt by Spielberg, (whose particular brand of sentimentality would’ve been suited to it I think), but also as a guide-post for more light-hearted fare as a whole. Whether that’s for better or for worse you decide, either way it’s a difficult genre to get right as seen with the proliferation of mediocre ‘Hollywood Lite’ that followed in its wake. Harvey contained a level of subversiveness as its core that kept it going and for all its faults it did offer a message of tolerance. This was extremely prescient considering the decade of McCarthy-ism that was just coming under-way. I’d seen this film intermittently before in more of a ‘Sunday afternoon’ type of sitting so it was interesting to view it on the big screen in all its, (black and white), glory. I think there was a colourised version but the less said about that the better…

Harvey is the classic tale of Elwood P. Dowd, (enunciated by James Stewart throughout), who’s a perfectly genial but eccentric barfly, (although his ‘alcoholism’ is only hinted towards). Incidentally he’s also befriended a six foot invisible rabbit called Harvey much to the gaping horror of Veta Simmons, his neurotic sister, (Josephine Hull), who tries to have him committed. Things don’t work out as planned though as the charismatic Elwood ambles innocently around acting as a catharsis to the problems of others. Ultimately it’s a comedy of manners centred upon the ambiguous definition of madness along with his alienation and outsider status.

I’ll re-iterate once again that I realise there are faults to this film despite which I did and do enjoy it, (I did decide to go and see it after all). I’ll get these set-backs out the way first though before going onto explain why I think this is a decent film. I’ve mentioned before, (albeit in more crass turns), why I’m not usually so keen on Hollywood’s breezy ‘shine on you crazy diamonds’ handling of mental illness and insanity that they’ve pushed throughout the years so it might seem contradictory of me to enjoy a film such as this. This added to its cheery handling of alcoholism, (something which I’ve seen parodied in shows like The Simpsons since), but it would’ve been a whole other film if Elwood took a turn for the worse and decided to bottle someone. It wasn’t that film though but a film that needs to be seen within the context of its time, (I could probably be classified as a celluloid enabler now). This is also the case with the ‘emancipation through madness’ trope that’s been peddled and diluted over the years peaking with films such as ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest’, (which is obviously a far more insightful analysis of the subject), but it had to gain its feet somewhere. Whilst other films like Ian Softleys K-Pax may have slipped through the net more recently by and large this theme has become sullied and generic but it wasn’t always the case of which the evidence is Harvey. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a lot to be said upon the theme of madness I just feel it’s become slightly coying when we get stuck romanticising it in the way Hollywood does. This brings me to my next point which is its use of whimsy that could be seen as mawkish but I feel is genuine in its intent and, while it would definitely be viewed as over-earnest by today’s standards has again got to be viewed within its time. When compared to films like ‘The Notebook’, (or any other number of god-awful Nicholas Sparks adaptations), this shows evidence of Harvey as a film that used sentimentality effectively for its time whilst still retaining a sense of purpose to it, (unlike any number of those god-awful Nicholas Spark adaptations). We may have become cynical in it over-use of these conventions now but here, (and I’m sticking to this), it seems original in its low-key approach.

Being adapted from a stage-play could also have been a hindrance in many respects which shows in its long static shots and the dialogue heavy script, (especially with film being a visual medium and all). Other films similar to this were Sidney Lumets ’12 Angry Men’ which came out not long after in 1957 which drew the location down to a minimum of one thereby resting the action primarily upon the actors themselves. As with that Harvey also bases itself on its performances which, while they maybe slightly over the top at times, (occasionally the sister pushes it a bit too far), they nonetheless keep it fun and lively. So often it can be the case that a stage translation doesn’t work so well such as Alan Bennett’s ‘The History Boys’ which lost itself despite its strong source material but this manages to overcome these difficulties with its upbeat pace. The minimum of locations also works in its favour keeping it grounded thus avoiding the pitfalls of any potential ‘schmaltz’ lurking round the corner. As I say it could so easily have veered into the territory of Hallmark but it doesn’t keeping it just on the right side of heart-warming. We may now have great masterpieces like Donnie Darko now but credit where credit’s due; Harvey is a classic whether it inspired it or not.

Finally all in all it was an ideal place to show this film, it fitting the venues charm and, although it was pleasant watching it there next time I’ll remember to bring a cushion. Another plus point is their on-site brewed cider that could lead to you seeing a Harvey all of your very own, (not forgetting there’s the driving distance to consider with its fairly remote location). Overall though I did enjoy going as it was great viewing this classic properly so I would definitely recommend something similar next year. Hell, maybe even braving your own fancy dress…

In terms of the films, I couldn’t help but notice the astounding variety in the types of features screened at this festival. Not only did they have films from all around the world, they also took on movies from a wide number of genres, I didn’t see two features that were alike throughout the entire festival. Normally independent films tend to fall in a select few categories as a result of budget restrictions, but the Raindance guys managed to find films to please everyone. I can’t imagine there is a single person in this country who wouldn’t have found something to love in this line-up. And the quality was surprisingly high as well, their selection process is clearly very refined, even the movies I personally wasn’t as keen on had alot of merit to them and I could see exactly why they were chosen in the first place.

In my Introduction to the Raindance Festival coverage, I talked about how I really wanted to be surprised by these films, because for me there is nothing more exciting than when a feature captures your imagination in ways you weren’t expecting. And boy did this festival deliver on that front, films like Monk3ys and A Thousand Kisses Deep really caught me off guard by completely subverting my expectations of them and movies like Act’s of Godfrey and Seamonsters caught me off guard by being far better than I ever imagined they could be. And for me, this was the real joy of the festival for me, an event ripe with pleasant surprises.

Beyond the films, the other remarkable thing the festival achieved was that it really managed to capture the spirit of independent film without ever coming across pretentious. 90% of the screenings I went to were followed by fascinating Q&A’s with cast and crew and they almost always opened the floor to audience questions. The people behind the movies were always happy to talk after the screening in the lobby. And the location itself, the Apollo Cinema in Piccadilly is such a great place to watch films, the screens are fair in size and the theatres themselves are very clean and comfortable. All in all I found the festival had been very well organised, there was never much confusion and the films were spaced out just enough to ensure I had enough time to pick up a ticket between the screenings. They were also careful to avoid genre clashes, so, for example, the horror fans never had to choose between two horrors screening side by side.

The only criticism I have of the organisation of the festival was the decision to tag short films on to the front of selected features. I understand why this decision was made, it definitely gave some shorts more exposure than they otherwise would have had, but ultimately it feels vaguely dismissive of the format to put them on as a warm up for a feature. Also it causes all sorts of chaos when the short films cast and crew are present in the theatre to watch it, because when the short ends they don’t want to stick around for the feature so suddenly dozens of people are trying to file out around you while you try to watch the opening minutes of the feature.

The amazing thing about this festival is that you could spend hours and hours there watching film after film, and still feel like you have missed out on great stuff. There are so many amazing things to do and see, that one person simply cannot enjoy everything the festival has to offer. I honestly only managed to scratch the surface with the films I saw. Overall, I had an absolute blast and would like to thank the people of Raindance not only for organising such a brilliant event, but for inviting the Farmyard in to cover it. It was a wonderful event and I honestly urge everyone reading this who didn’t go this year, to make the effort next.

Thanks for reading.
You can read the rest of my Raindance Coverage at the following links.

Introduction To Raindance
Raindance Film Review – Another Earth
Raindance Film Review – Hollow
Raindance Round Up #1
Raindance Film Review – Black Pond
Raindance Film Review – Act’s Of Godfrey
Raindance Round Up #2
Raindance Film Review – Monk3ys

So let me start this rather déjà vu review by reiterating a point I made at the start of the Hollow review. It is an absolute fallacy that found footage is an easy genre to tackle, sure it’s potentially cheaper and simpler to produce but these films entirely rely on their ability to convince the audience the events in the film are a matter of document rather than fiction. And that level of believability is not easy to achieve. Hollow failed to achieve that, Monk3ys did not.

So Monk3ys, for those unaware, is a brilliant little found footage physiological thriller that screened at this years Raindance Film Festival. The premise is that two scientists are conducting and documenting a behaviour experiment in which they place three conflicting personalities, each representing the Id, the ego or the super-ego, in a small confined space for 48 hours. The majority of the film is the footage captured by the in-room cameras, allowing the audience to observe the experiment as the documentary makers eventually would after the fact. But things take a turn for the worse when the 48 hour mark passes, and the doors don’t open.

So because I’m not one to bury the lead, I will outright state that Monk3ys was one of my favourite films of the entire festival. The script is utterly fantastic; it’s a simple story told well and its greatest strength is the characterisation of the people involved. It’s a film about people and personalities, and its thin plot allows it room to properly develop complex and three dimensional characters. And while it is a complex film, it never resorts to holding the audiences hand by going for on the nose, elaborate and detailed explanations. Much like a real experiment it simply presents us with evidence and trusts us to draw our own conclusions.

It’s written very naturalistically, the dialogue feels very conversational and genuine, almost as if we really were watching a documentary rather than a piece of fiction, and this adds real impact to the later portions of the film when the situation starts to get out of hand. Even in moments when the characters were spouting what could arguably be described as exposition, it was handled expertly and blended into the story without the audience realising they were being fed information at all. And I think this result is a combination of a well written script, intelligent direction and the amazing performances.

And speaking of which, the acting in this film is nothing short of astounding. The premise is so heavily focused on the idea of exploring personality types and the actors really had to work very hard to ensure the audience believed they fit into those roles. The film explores the gap between the expectations of the people running the experiment, in terms of their subject’s personalities, versus the reality of how the subjects act in the room once they drop the masks as their real, far more complex, personality traits shine through. And while the script does alot of the heavy lifting regards to elaborating on this, the actors are really the key to making this complex notion function and they do a wonderful job of doing so. In my opinion, without these performances it wouldn’t matter how good the script was, these elements would all fail miserably.

The film also avoids potentially boring its audience by mixing in footage of the experiment being set up, which allowed the audience to get out of the room itself. I particularly enjoyed the pre-experiment interviews with the subjects that give the audience a deeper insight into the characters. These moments also contain thoughts from the people running the experiment and while the film never capitalises on this and used it as a chance for them to explain why they did certain things (for example, leaving the subjects in the room for a longer period of time than they were originally told) it does give us insight into their intentions and expectations for the experiment.

I was also impressed with how the film looked. Being more interested in screenwriting, it’s very rarely that I point out the visual style of a film, and even less often that the film in question is from the found footage genre; a genre that doesn’t exactly have a history of visually strong films. But Monk3ys was different somehow, as a result of the documentary premise and the single room they weren’t forced just to use shaky hand cam, and could get away with using locked off cameras cleverly placed; this actually lead to some really strong and interesting imagery that gave the film tonnes of atmosphere. Without going into too much detail the look of the film also benefited from some amazing editing. The last few minutes are particularly spectacular.

But that does bring me neatly on to my only genuine criticism of this film; its ending. Firstly, without giving too much away, one problem with this ending is that tonally, with the film doing such a brilliant job of presenting a believable and naturalistic world, the surreal nature of the climax makes it feel like the ending of an entirely different movie.
And secondly, Monk3ys was far too open ended. Don’t get me wrong here, I am all for ambiguity, I love it when a film has an ending that can potentially mean a multitude of different things that leaves the audience debating their theories hours after the credits roll. Monk3ys attempts to achieve this, but doesn’t leave with audience with enough information to even construct their own theory. The last moments contain so much conflicting information, it’s almost impossible to form an explanation that completely works and makes 100% sense. As a result the audience were confused and in need of closure that they would never receive.

I’ll be honest, if it weren’t for this ending Monk3ys would have been my favourite film of the entire festival. And while it still easily falls into my top three, it’s a real shame that it fell at the last hurdle like that. But, ending aside, Monk3ys is one of the most intelligent and fully realised films of this year’s Raindance, a great idea executed well that engages and entertains in a way not many other films can.

Thanks for Reading.

Seamonsters

A teen drama set in a sleepy seaside town telling the story of two young boys who have their friendship tested when they meet a divisive new force in the shape of a girl. And while this isn’t the most original concept it was handled in a relatively original way, in this case, what I found interesting was that the girl simply brought the differences that already existed between the boys to the forefront and while this did cause conflict the girl in question wasn’t directly responsible for it, instead she was merely the catalyst. The majority of this films story was wonderfully underplayed and that added real impact to scenes that pushed the plot forward in larger ways, which were much more subtle and interesting as a result. A seemingly unimportant scene has a simple three word sentence that absolutely turns the story on its head and is one of the films most powerful moments, and that’s a tremendous feat in itself.

Another rather remarkable thing this film achieved is that it managed to utilise the human trait of putting on a front to hide behind in some social situations to actually flesh out the characters. In the opening scenes I actually thought the characters were flat, but discovered as the film moved forward that these personas were adopted by the characters as a defence mechanism and when they started to step out from behind the mask they felt more fleshed out for it. And obviously the writers deserve all the credit for realising this strong characterisation, but the performers really brought it home in those initial moments by making us feel like there might be more to their characters as it drew the audience in even further.

If I was being picky I would argue it could have been a little punchier in the pace department, but this might be a result of the source material being a play, and the dialogue could have been stronger in places, but overall, I enjoyed this film, it had alot of great ideas and they were executed well. If I were asked about this one I would definitely recommend it. It’s worth your time.

Sailcloth (Short)

I didn’t see many shorts during this festival, but I did catch a couple, sometimes as a result of them being attached to other films. And I wanted to talk briefly about Sailcloth, a short staring John Hurt which the director introduced as a deeply personal film for him. Without giving too much away, this film tells the tale of an elderly gentleman escaping from his care home to enjoy a last trip out on open waters.

The film is shot well, John Hurt is as wonderful as expected and the story is suitably contained, that is to say that it isn’t too involved to be told well in the short film format. My only criticism would be that the film felt a tad indulgent at times, spending far more time than necessary on some of the less relevant shots, but I suppose plenty of people would argue they gave the film atmosphere. Either way I thought it was a heartfelt and interesting short and certainly deserves to be seen should the chance present itself.

X

No, that’s not a typo. This film is called X. And while I feel it should technically be a criminal offence to give a film such a ridiculous title, it’s otherwise a pretty entertaining hour and a half of cinema. X is an Australian film set in Sydney and is about two prostitutes who witness a murder while on the job and are pursued relentlessly by the murderer looking to tie up this loose end. It’s a dark and paranoid film that confidently weaves its story together at the pace it feels comfortable with. This works well for the most part, although I would argue in terms of pace it could probably have lost a few minutes at the top of the film. It simply spent more time than I would have deemed necessary to set up these particular characters.

Because while their story is interesting and their motives are clear, these two characters are not particularly unique or fleshed out in themselves. Don’t get me wrong, the film tries really hard to force character into these girls by giving them tragic back stories but these are fairly incidental and ultimately feel a little hollow. The ‘seedy’ world in which they dwell could also have used a little work, it’s full of clichés, and while they were all handled quite well, I couldn’t shake the feeling I had seen much of this movie before. On a more positive note, the performances in this film are fantastic, pretty much every cast member brought life and originality to the characters even when the writing failed to do this.

While I didn’t hate this film, I also didn’t love it. It was entertaining in its own right and did a good job in almost every area; the problem was it didn’t manage to excel in a single one. It didn’t evoke a strong reaction from me in either direction and sadly films that fall into this category are mostly forgettable, and while overall enjoyed it, that’s the fate I fear for X.

So that’s all for the Raindance Roundup, but not to worry, I’ve still got my last full Raindance Film Review coming for the found footage psychological thriller Monk3ys, which should be available Saturday, a wrap up of my thoughts on the entire festival that should be up around Tuesday next week and of course come back tomorrow for my second ever edition of The TV Rundown, which is exactly what it sounds like, a rundown of my thoughts on the weeks new TV episodes, news and ratings.

Thanks for reading.

Now don’t get me wrong rhyming couplets are a nice thing, but the promise of quality they don’t necessarily bring.

As I watched the film I discovered my fear was unfounded, the way it avoided placing gimmick over substance left me completely confounded.

I couldn’t help but leave feeling vaguely impressed, while it was not my favourite of the festival it was certainly one of the best.

Not to worry I’m not writing this entire review this way, it’s far harder than it looks and it would take all damn day…

Alright, that’s enough of that. So Act’s of Godfrey, if you haven’t already guessed, is a comedy written entirely in rhyming couplets and as a concept I’m sure that sounds about as off putting as my opening paragraph but hear me out. There is far more to this film than a gimmick and while that won’t be immediately evident, the couplets alone will keep your interest until the film earns your attention on its own merits. It’s a difficult film to summarise but ultimately it’s about a god, known as Godfrey, who is trying to demonstrate his ability to shape the lives of a particular group of people, who don’t always bend to his will, a result of that pesky gift known as free will. But I’ll be honest, to suggest that’s what this film is about would be a lie, really Godfrey is the framing device that brings the plot together and really Acts Of Godfrey is about the people and exactly how much of their lives they have ability to control.

At first they seem unrelated, even random, but as things move forward it becomes clear that these peoples lives are intertwined and Godfrey may indeed have as much control over the situation as he suggests he does, even if in certain moments it doesn’t appear that way. And that’s really the beauty of the film, it doesn’t examine the debate of free will versus fate, it simply presents the audience with thoughts and ideas on the topic and leaves them to debate it them themselves. It doesn’t force any particular stance on the audience and on closer inspection viewers will find this is a surprisingly thoughtful film underneath some of the more obvious and vulgar attempts at humour.

Acts of Godfrey contains a large number of characters; each comes complete with their own back stories, which often intertwine with the other characters history, leaving the film feeling surprisingly complex. Most films would utterly buckle under the pressure of this level of plot and would become a cluttered mess, but despite the dense nature of the narrative, Act’s of Godfrey finds a way to both focus and balance these plots and the result is a surprisingly tight and even script with clear arcs and good pacing. No element feels underplayed, every central character gets equal time to develop and the plots are sufficiently scaled down so that they have room to breathe comfortably and stretch their legs within the confines of the films brisk 84 minutes.

And it really flies by, as all good films do. And this is in no way hindered by the wonderful performances, which will no doubt be the most talked about of this film’s successes. It’s one thing to write and read sentences written in rhyme on paper, but try acting while saying them aloud. Keeping the sentences feeling as natural as possible while maintaining the correct speech rhythm is incredibly difficult, and its utterly astonishing these actors managed it all, let alone so damn well. Predictably Simon Callow’s Godfrey is one of the best performances on the screen, but did anyone expect any less of him? But I was not expecting to say that Harry Enfield’s portrayal of morally corrupt Malcolm absolutely steals the show, the character is both amusing and loathsome and between Enfield’s fantastic work bringing him to life and the great writing, Malcolm is the most memorable character this film has.

But as much as I enjoyed Acts of Godfrey, it’s not perfect, what film is? As I pointed out earlier some of its jokes are about a subtle as a punch in the face. I’m not against this sort of, more obvious, humour but sometimes it feels like it’s trying too hard to make us laugh, instead of finding comedy naturally it forces ‘Gags’ and when these land they can be great, but a worrying portion of the time they fall flat. The film actually disguises a few bad jokes behind the rhymes and they washed over the audience without them even noticing the attempt. But with that said the film does find a few moments of genuine comedy that mostly make up for these weaker gags.

My other criticism would be the ending, because as great as all the development was, I couldn’t help but feel with all the intertwining narratives, Acts of Godfrey didn’t capitalise on its potential to bring all these plots and characters together for a climax that took place within one sequence. Godfrey had gone so far to bring these people together that I really wanted to see one event wrap everything up at once, as if it was the moment Godfrey had been planning and building towards from the beginning.

But instead the film has a couple of small separate endings that wrap up the plots and each bringing only some of the characters together but not all of them at once. Now I’m sure the writer would say that due to the nature of free will to have everything come together as if Godfrey planned it would lean the film too far in favour of fate, thus negating it’s rather balanced and even debate (you can have that one for free). This is of course a valid point; but I would argue the audiences satisfaction should come before putting a balanced argument forward.

So I’ve decided to end this review in the style I began, summarising my thoughts in rhyme is the plan.

Underneath the gimmick a well told story is at this films heart, it expertly balanced complex narratives right from the start.

And while thirty minutes in, the rhymes started to grate, this film kept me interested with its fascinating tale of free will versus fate.

The acting is easily one of the films greatest strengths, to achieve this feat the actors must have gone to some incredible lengths.

It breaks with ease from a formula that could have been constraining; ultimately it’s clever, well written and vastly entertaining.

So as usual I leave you with nothing too leading, I simply wish you well and thank you for reading.

Tilva Ros

A Serbian drama telling the story of two Skaters quietly competing for the attention of a girl through a series of increasingly dangerous stunts. Put simply, I enjoyed this film, but I didn’t love it. I was interested in the way it told its story in such a subtle way, but wondered if it was maybe too much. The story was so slight, you could forgive someone for thinking the film had no story at all because at a glance you could easily mistake this film for a collection of unconnected scenes involving the same characters with no clear through line. Upon closer inspection there are a couple of plots and subplots tying it all together.

The interesting thing is, Tilva Ros seems to be highlighting the aimless and self destructive nature of the youth culture it depicts, but it is in itself entirely aimless. Failing to ever really make any sort of comment on this aspect of society or indeed any of it’s themes. I’m not suggesting the film should have had a clear defined message at it’s heart, but any sort of message or point at all would have been welcome. As it stands I left this film feeling it had managed to both vaguely entertain me and waste my time.

A Thousand Kisses Deep

This is another one of the pesky films where revealing the plot would be doing it a great disservice. A Thousand Kisses Deep has a surprisingly intelligent script and audiences really need to discover it for themselves. But avoiding the specifics, A Thousand Kisses Deep is the story of a woman forced to examine her life so far, and in particular her rather self destructive desire to keep going back to a man she knows is more than likely going to ruin her life. Ultimately, this film is a character study and as it moves forward you start to feel like it’s emulating the steps of a psycho-analytic experience.

It’s a very engaging film, with an interesting plot that will definitely keep you on your toes as it twists and turns. One of its biggest strength is easily the performances; particularly that of Dougray Scott, who manages to make a very cruel character seem oddly endearing. One of the films other great strengths is also one of it great weaknesses. I’m all for ambiguity, over explaining a film can occasionally leave an audience feeling as though their intelligence is being insulted. And it’s for this reason I don’t object to this film leaving many of its questions unanswered when they don’t directly pertain to the central character or her development. But this film crosses a line for me when it fails to answer the most fundamental question. What effect did this self exploration ultimately have on the central characters life when it was all said and done? With the character arc left feeling incomplete, while I enjoyed the experience overall, a Thousand Kisses Deep is ultimately a cold and unsatisfying film.

Victim

When I showed up to the festival for the 2 o’clock screening on Sunday, my intention had been to see ‘How To Start A Revolution’. But when I arrived I had completely mixed up the times and it actually wasn’t on until that evening. So being stood at the ticket desk with hours to kill, I simply grabbed the schedule and chose a film completely at random. That film was Victim, and let me say this, it’s an absolute gem and I’m really glad I mixed up the times, otherwise I might have missed it. It’s essentially the story of a group of street smart Londoners who have turned to a life of crime, all for different reasons.

It’s a film designed to flip assumptions about the sort of people who commit crimes and while I’m not sure it succeeds in doing that, it’s a fantastic story. One that elegantly balances multiple narratives while allowing enough room for the characters to develop in interesting ways. I must admit I took exception to the last scenes, as it could have had a thousand times more impact if the dramatic thing that occurs had happened as a consequence of a poor decision of the main character made earlier instead of being entirely incidental to everything else that had occurred. But other than that it’s a great little indie flick with some incredible performances and a tight script and I thoroughly recommend it.

The Most Important Thing About Life Is Not Being Dead

I’ll be entirely honest when I say that the title is about 90% responsible for me choosing to see this film during the festival. And while I didn’t regret the decision, I certainly wasn’t in love with what I saw. Set in Francoist Spain, this film tells the story of a Piano Tuner who has spent years harbouring the secret that he doesn’t tune the piano’s brought to him at all, they simply fix themselves at night while he sleeps; but when he becomes an insomniac he starts to discover the secret behind this odd phenomenon.

And while this film is beautifully shot, has some strong moments of comedy and some truly wonderful performances, I was never able to be fully engaged with any of it. And there are two reasons for this, the first is that the films plot is spread so thin it might as well not exist, and secondly because it’s over artistic style is far too intentional and unfortunately came across as nothing but pretentious to me. It’s exactly the same smug self-indulgent nonsense you find in Michel Gondry’s films, simply trying a little too hard to be intentionally quirky for my tastes. And I appreciate that like with Gondry’s work, not many will agree with me. And it’s for this reason that I actually recommend you see this film to decide for yourself.

So that’s all for now, but not to worry, there will be at least one more edition of the Raindance Roundup towards the end of the festival as well as a full review of Act’s Of Godfrey and a Raindance Wrapup discussing the overall best and worst of the festival once it’s finished.

Thanks for Reading.

First and foremost this film is funny, I mean, genuinely funny. It doesn’t go for the big obvious laughs and stereotypical jokes at the expense of its integrity but instead chooses to find humour in the mundane and derives its laughs from the situations and character moments rather than ‘Gags’. Black Pond doesn’t create humour, it finds it. This leaves the film’s comedy feeling organic and natural, something increasingly common in TV shows such as Peep Show and The Office, but incredibly rare in films. I have been waiting for a while to see a film successfully take on this approach and I think Black Pond is that film.

Black Pond is an absolute acting clinic from start to finish, everyone involved has impeccable comedic timing and those engaging performances all compliment the more subtle humour of the script by delivering the lines with a tone that removes any awareness that the dialogue might be amusing, making it even funnier. On top of that the cast have wonderful chemistry, particularly Chris Langham and Colin Hurley. Both were so brilliant I would be hard pressed to choose who truly stole the show, Langham brought an oddly lovable quality to his caring but oblivious character and Hurley made a character that could have come across as creepy feel sincere in a way I didn’t think possible. But that’s not to take away from the rest of the cast, there is honestly not a single bad performance in this film.

And the strength of the characters isn’t entirely down to the stellar work of the actors, they are all really well written and engaging people, which for the most part clash and come together in very logical ways. Their motivations are simultaneously clear and convoluted, making for very interesting and three dimensional characters that the audience still feel, on some level, like they understand even if they disagree with them. It also helps that the dialogue is brilliantly executed; it felt genuine and managed to be both funny and insightful at once.

The story works well for the most part, it’s a fantastic premise and is executed well until the third act, which as a climax doesn’t satisfy its audience as much as maybe it could. It delivers on the promise that the film makes to the audience in the opening act but doesn’t do anything more. As a rule if you’re going to tell the audience how the story ends in the opening moments it might be a good idea to, in a small way, put some small twist on the idea rather than do exactly what was said in minute one.

One, admittedly very minor, flaw is that Black Pond contains a surreal dream sequence half way through, which felt entirely unnecessary. And on top of serving little purpose, it was severely out of place in a film with such a naturalistic tone, sure it had stylised visuals in places but the dream sequence to me was this films one moment of pretention. It genuinely felt like the filmmakers screaming “Look at how indie this film is, surreal and quirky images, come on indie cred!”. But with that said, I must admit it that even though it didn’t belong there, it was well done and probably would have been a great scene had it been in a different film.

The other flaw is that Black Pond does not portray it’s women in a particularly good light. The film has six central characters, three male and three female; and all of the male characters come across as naive but generally lovable and decent people; all trying, no matter how misguided, to do the right thing for their loved ones. The female characters of this film on the other hand come across as shrill unreasonable and generally selfish human beings, ignoring those who love them and thinking about nothing but themselves while moaning at the male characters for their efforts. I’m not saying it’s intentional, these characters personalities seem to be more a product of the plot than a sexist agenda, I’m merely pointing out that there could have been a little more balance.

But I’ll be honest, while I have spent as many words discussing its flaws as I did its victories, the flaws are incredibly minor and don’t come close to spoiling this wonderful film. Black Pond often surprised me in how thoughtful it could be, it’s the film equivalent of someone saying something both amusing and profound out of nowhere in the middle of an otherwise ridiculous conversation. It’s clever, unique, funny, charming and absolutely demands to be seen.

Thanks for reading.

You can catch it at Raindance either this evening at 9PM or tomorrow at 1:30PM at The Apollo Cinema in Piccadilly. Tickets can be found here. 

Or if that’s too short notice, the film will  be screening at the Prince Charles Cinema from November the 11th. Tickets can be found here.

I also would like to briefly mention that there is a misconception that the found footage genre is an easy one to tackle, I think that is a result of the fact these films are on the whole cheap and simple to physically make. But the truth is; I think this might be one of the toughest genres to get right, because the entire film hinges on the writer and director’s ability to make the events of the film seem believable. So no matter how much you save on the production, the creative challenge of convincing your audience to view it as a document rather than entertainment far outweighs the financial benefit.

Now, with that said let’s talk about Hollow, a film I got to see recently thanks to the fantastic Raindance festival. It’s a British horror film that you might have already guessed comfortably fits into the found footage genre. You also may have guessed that this film, like most others in the category, is a horror film. It’s set in the Suffolk countryside and follows four stereotypically obnoxious self-important twenty something’s (something this genre can’t quite seem to shake) as they uncover the mystery of a series of suicides connected to the rather large and creepy nearby tree that terrified one of the characters as a child.

I’m afraid this is the point I’m going to have to be honest about my feelings on this film; I did not enjoy it. In fact, I would argue this film makes every mistake it is possible to make within the genre. The absolute most important thing in a found footage film is that it needs to be is subtle and naturalistic in its tone, because if you do not achieve that and you fail to convincingly present your story as if it is real found footage, then all you are left with is an average horror film that could have used some better camerawork and higher production values.

The first thing I noticed when this film began to play was how incredibly unnatural the dialogue was. In a traditionally shot film this dialogue would have been serviceable, a little ham-handed and exposition heavy at times maybe, but certainly not capable of hindering the films effectiveness. But in this genre it’s just so glaringly wrong to have characters talk with such purpose. The characters speak in a manner that is not remotely conversational. Simply put, sounds scripted; almost as if they had this conversation ten minutes ago but forgot to film it so they wrote it down and are just now repeating it for the camera. It feels incredibly false and almost awkward for the entire film. Some would argue that some of that depends on the actor’s delivery, but in my experience when dialogue reads like that, it’s more often than not a combination of poor writing and a director more interested in how it looks than how the actors are performing.

The other thing is, in a film where dialogue is arguably the biggest weakness it’s pretty unfortunate that these characters never shut up. No matter what is happening in Hollow, these characters mouths just keep on moving, spouting dialogue that is often completely unimportant or outright stating the obvious. The film constantly treats its audience as if they are incapable of understanding the characters feelings based on their actions. For example, if a character is angry as they storm off they will verbally explain that they are angry and why, which is unnecessary as it removes the impact from the moment and insults the audience as it suggests they couldn’t have figured it our for themselves based on what they have observed. The exposition is also problematic, it’s so heavy handed and unsubtle that you actually notice it, like someone paused the film and handed out the relevant text to one member of the audience and asked them to read it aloud over the film.

And while I’m on the topic of story, in terms of the mythology regarding the tree and the suicides, even with the heavy handed exposition the story is very cluttered and unclear by the end. There is a fine line between ambiguity and confusion and this plot just about falls on the wrong side, it just gets a little lost under a heap of entirely unnecessary information and a large number of conflicting ideas, non of which are ever fully developed. And in terms of the secondary plots, which revolve around the rather mixed up personal relationships of our four central characters, they are serviceable and tie nicely into the central plot later on in the film, but when combined with the  tone of this film it sometimes slips into melodrama territory and often feels more than a little obvious.

The other issue is that Hollow isn’t scary. It seems to resort to sudden loud noises a large percentage of the time which usually gets a jump from the audience, but I truly believe it’s one of the cheapest things a horror film can do. It takes absolutely no skill to make a loud noise suddenly and get that reaction. It’s worrying how few filmmakers don’t seem to understand that startling someone is not the same thing as scaring them. And on top of that the film keeps outright telling its audience to be scared instead of creating and earning genuine fear on its own steam. The characters breath heavily, look around with terrified expressions, run, scream and do all the things that tells the audience something scary is happening, but beyond a couple of rustling noises we are never presented with much evidence of this to feel that fear for ourselves.

I honestly don’t mean to sound dismissive of a film, so maybe I should mention some aspects I did enjoy. I thought the actors did the best they could with the material given. The film for the most part was shot well; it plays with light in interesting ways and the director achieved that balance of shaky camera work that is still very watchable. And while the plot is very cluttered most aspects have great idea’s at their roots, and while the unsubtle approach pushes it into melodrama, the personal relationships are all relatively interesting and tie into the overall plot well. There are also a couple of fleeting moments of decent horror towards the that demonstrate the potential this film had.

Ultimately, Hollow had some great ideas but failed at the most basic level when it came to the execution. Nothing about it felt even remotely believable to me and when the effectiveness of the concept relies so heavily on it being believable then it’s not exactly a surprise that I didn’t enjoy it. Maybe my background in screenwriting hindered my enjoyment and made the cracks and screenwriting techniques more evident to me, effecting my view of the film alone, but I can’t help shake the feeling that some of these issues are so glaring that even general audiences are going to leave this film a little disappointed too.

Thanks for reading.

Find Hollow at the Raindance 2011 here.

History

Now in its 15^th year it’s the longest, (and largest), running rural film festival in the UK, (and there have been plenty of others). With its flagship cinema being the antiquated Rex cinema in Wareham it main aim is to celebrate films in rural areas by bringing it, (and I quote), ‘wherever we can find a 13 amp plug and an enthusiastic local organiser’, (which makes it sound kind of like a rave).

Last year they honoured Johnny Depp as a notable screen icon showing off his major films and this year they’re giving a similar treatment to the works of Alfred Hitchcock with films like Vertigo, The Birds and the slasher godfather Psycho, (I know, I’m overlooking Peeping Tom there).

Beginning with only a few small select locations, (I still have vague memories of seeing a halogen projected silent film in Church Knowle village hall as a kid), it’s now spread across the county growing year by year.

From the Winchester Bar in Bournemouth and the Lighthouse in Poole to the East Bar in Swanage and the Square and Compass in Worth Matravers, (plus particularly quirky ones like the one I saw listed as ‘Sue at 24 Curzon Road’…I hope she puts a brew on). It’s the idiosyncratic locations though that add character to the festival giving it the make-shift appeal you wouldn’t find elsewhere.

And Why This is a Good Thing

As you probably noticed from the articles title I made reference to it being Dorset’s equivalent of the Secret Cinema, (and not just because it made a snappy title). Whilst there might not be so much in the way of dressing up, (although there’s an idea for future festivals), it does offer a more homely quality. Plus it has the eccentric locations pre-existing with no need for contrivance. The main point though is that it’s local to Dorset bringing something only this area could. I personally would’ve liked to see more genre cinema on its listings, (as it could branch out a bit). But what it does do well is offer rare classics on the big screen.

The short film night is also notable though, (Friday 21^st October), as it’s a great place for establishing local talent on a local platform showing what we have to offer which is definitely no bad thing.

With a whole host of films from Hitchcock such as Notorious, (and that’s not the misguided attempt at filming the late great Biggie Smalls career), along with others such as Sylvain Chomet’s, (of Belleville Rendez-Vous), The Illusionist and the silent classic A Cottage on Dartmoor.

Shortly I’ll be giving a run-down of all the films playing there along with what I’ll be planning to attend followed by a low-down on the screenings themselves. So join us all there, (if you can), and until then, keep watching.

You can find out about the Purbeck Film Festival here.

So, if you haven’t guessed already, this is my spoilerless review of science fiction drama Another Earth, which I got to see recently thanks to lovely folks at the Raindance Film Festival, who will be opening the festival this Wednesday with this film. It’s going to be tough to review without giving away plot details but trust me when I say enjoyment of this film will increase tenfold if you go into it knowing very little about the actual plot. So to ensure I’m not the reason someone doesn’t enjoy the film as much as they should I’m going to retreat into vague mode and talk about this film without using specific details.

Now the first thing I would like to mention in regards to this particular film is that when I say ‘science-fiction drama’, the emphasis is on drama. Don’t get me wrong, there are science-fiction undertones that are clear and present throughout, but first and foremost in this film is a drama, and a damn good one at that. For me, good drama should be at the heart of every film regardless of genre and writer/director Mike Cahill and writer/actress Brit Marling understand that, and the real test is that even without the genre elements this film would stand up as a great film all on its own.

In my opinion one of the biggest traps a modern day film can fall into is trying to cram too much into the story and not having enough screen time to actually do any of those ideas justice, leaving every element feeling under-developed. Another Earth entirely avoids this, instead crafting a beautifully elegant and simple story that gives the film room to fully elaborate on the plots, themes and characters.

I’ve not exactly been coy about it, but just in case you haven’t yet worked out my position on this film, I absolutely loved it. It’s honestly not hard to see why it picked up such buzz at Sundance this year. From a visual stand-point, Another Earth is wonderfully shot. It has a very fitting earthy feel to it; the world the director crafts is naturalistic and imperfect, but oddly beautiful. The contrast of these perfectly naturalistic, almost documentary like, visuals with the striking science fiction image of another earth hanging in the skyline, somehow appearing to be both entirely out of place and completely as it should be at the same time,  is truly something to behold. And even when the film moves indoors and these convincing special effects are put to the side, simple dialogue scenes are shot well, and in an interesting manner.

While this film is great, it’s not without flaw. After the opening scene the film spends about fifteen to twenty minutes taking it’s time to let the characters and their situations sink in and I felt the audiences attention drifting, but to be honest as a screenwriter I understand that these scenes are absolutely necessary to help the audience understand the characters so that when their stories start to develop in more interesting ways later, you care more about the outcome. But audiences don’t see it this way and writers must find more interesting ways to present the information to ensure they don’t lose the audience when they are building their stories.

The other (albeit entirely minor) flaw is that this move contains one too many lingering shots of our main character simply walking around or sitting looking wistfully off into the distance, lost in thought, and while some of these scenes are fascinating and actually inform the character a great deal, not all of them are necessary and I feel at least couple of them could have been removed to tighten the film a little.

But speaking of these moments, the acting in this film is nothing short of astounding. It’s one of those rare screenplays that knows exactly how to convey emotions far too complex for words with actions and well placed moments of silence between characters, but whether this works or not entirely depends on the actors being good enough at what they do to find ways to communicate thoughts and emotions with the audience by embracing the character so well that they understand from the actions and expressions, and in this film, writer Brit Marling does an astonishing job portraying the lead role. She has this undeniable gift for telling the tale with out opening her mouth. I also want to mention the work of William Mapother, who manages to be so many things at once while inhabiting his character. I always felt a healthy mixture of loathing and sympathy when he was on screen.

Another Earth is an utterly brilliant and thought provoking piece, it’s unnatural narrative structure and fascinating plot pull you in, but the great execution, wonderful acting and superb directing come together in a way that might make this one of my favourite films of the entire year. I truly recommend anyone who gets the chance to go see this film takes it.

Thanks for reading.

Find Another Earth opening the Raindance here.

That’s not to say we didn’t spend some time playing more mainstream titles. We started with Ico and Shadow of Colossus Collection, the highly acclaimed PS2 title now revamped in HD for the PS3. If you haven’t heard of Ico and Shadow of Colossus then I suggest you watch the following trailer. Visually the game is stunning and although we were sleep deprived and in great need of coffee, we were still awake enough to respect just how good this new HD Collection looked.

Resistance 3 is a game I have seen trailers for on TV and have actually thought to myself that a PS3 might be a good idea one day. Being a Microsoft fan (I sport an Xbox360 & a Windows Phone 7 device) this is something that still leaves me feeling cold and used. Anyway knowing that I could get some hands on time at Eurogamer I made sure we stopped so I could see what all the fuss is about. The game looked great albeit a bit sluggish at times when in combat and, if I am completely honest, didn’t quite grab me as I thought it would. For one thing the game was full of nasty little clichés like the collection of diary notes, postcards and audio logs. Haven’t we moved on from this? Anyway I managed to spend 30 minutes or so playing Resistance 3 and I won’t be rushing out to buy a PS3 anytime soon to play this.

After bumming around a bit with Resistance 3 we decided to check out The Lord of the Rings: War in the North and having spent the last hour or so playing with the hugely uncomfortable PS3 controllers we decided Xbox360 was the way to go for this. Sam and I were thrown into the deep end a little and as the bumbling idiots we are, we had to restart pretty quickly. Once I got the controls in order, which  is incredibly simple, we were off. War in the North is basically an Action RPG title allowing you to play multiplayer CO-OP and create your own Fellowship with two of your online buddies. Elf, Dwarf and Human are your choices… yeah I know, I was disappointed to not see Hobbit in this list. But then, in the Middle Earth lore I don’t believe the Hobbits had quite explored that far up north, although I may be wrong!?! Anyway Sam and I were supposed to be defending some large wooden door against an attack of Ogres. We did alright for a time but they eventually overwhelmed us 1000 against 2, and were forever known as heroes defending to our last breath. In fact the truth is we did so badly I sheepishly walked away as one of the Warner Bros (games developer) reps was watching us play and was smirking at our pathetic attempt.

From here we went on to play some Tekken Hybrid, (Sam wanted to chill out with a little button bashing), and then made our way into the Indie Games Arcade which is where the main part of our day was spent playing great little games like Pineapple Smash Crew, Waves and Smuggle Truck. But we have a separate feature coming up soon on that part of the Expo, so I won’t go into too many details here.

Note to self... remove ones bags from the shot before taking the picture.

As we walked the expo floor and explored as much as we could we stopped by and watched a FIFA tournament happening live sponsored by Samsung, we watched some pretty cool Jedi vs. Sith battles in Star Wars the Old Republic (and a pretty awesome queue to take part in the battle also!). There was the usual assortment of hard-core gamers, families, old folk who took a wrong turn somewhere outside  Earls Court and of course an ever increasing number of girl gamers in attendance. Let’s not of course forget every spotty teenager’s favourite wet dream, the Eurogamer booth babes. Oh yes, they were in attendance. From dancing in podiums, to stopping random horny 14 year old boys and getting them to play the Nintendo 3DS they were also somehow in my field of vision.

The Expo was bigger than the last one I attended in 2009 and I guess I should say with the increase in size came an increase in fun. I have  a grumble mind you; where was my free drinks fridge in the press room? Don’t they realise playing games, talking to indie developers, taking pictures and generally looking after Sam makes me a thirsty guy? It’s a hard job out there and I require adequate refreshment. And definitely not enough freebies! Bottles of Guild Wars 2 branded water and Xbox Avatar items are good and all but I would like a one of their 50inch Samsung HD/3D TV’s.

If you haven’t checked out our photos of today then just follow this here link and bask in the glory of my amateur photography skills. And with that I am going to leave you and head back to work on my Indie Game Arcade write up.

For those of you unaware, Raindance Film Festival is Europe’s leading independent film festival, now it’s 19th year. So, armed with a notepad and no breakfast (I woke up late) I rushed into central London and to the press gathering. Within moments of arriving I was greeted by festival founder Elliot Grove who has unfathomable enthusiasm, but more because of what the festival does for undiscovered talent than what it physically is. When he stood up to address the gathered press (Never seen so many notepads in one place) he talked with passion and honesty about the success this festival has become. He talked about the dedication with which these films were produced and how proud he was to be able to screen these “Deeply passionate films, often made with the filmmakers own money”.

What struck me most was the desire to keep the festival’s focus on small and truly independent films and not films produced by small sub-divisions of larger studios. This isn’t a festival trying to gain traction so it can acquire more expensive films made by more famous filmmakers, but a festival trying to gain traction so it can showcase and expose lesser known films to as large an audience as possible. And that’s such a pure and noble goal. I really respect the festival for that.

I felt almost ignorant when I laid eyes on the full line-up of films on display, I was aware of only a handful of them before being given the full list. Films like Black Pond, Hollow, Acts of Godfrey and Another Earth had been on my radar for one reason or another for a little while now. But I knew absolutely nothing about Chilean drama Bonzia or Serbian skater film Tilva Rosh before. Even British thriller A Thousand Kisses Deep had not penetrated my conscious until this festival brought it to my attention. And I’ll be honest, I know it’s my job in this instant to talk about these films in more detail in order to sell you on the great films this festival is showing, but to be honest, I don’t want to learn much about them before I see them myself.

There is nothing more exciting than when a film truly surprises you, and the way big budget blockbusters are marketed these days it’s almost impossible to go into a cinema not knowing what to expect and being genuinely surprised by something. On the whole one of the things I’m most looking forward to is discovering films that achieve this, unexpected films that sneak up on you and capture your imagination in ways you didn’t know possible. Something I haven’t experienced in years with bigger, more commercial, films.

So, what can you expect from The Farm in terms of coverage for this festival? Well, nothing is set in stone yet but I’m hoping to do full reviews for some of the more interesting and discussion worthy films I see, with the odd article collecting my thoughts from everything else, closing with a Raindance Wrap-up piece giving my thoughts on the festival as a whole from the other side. In the meantime, check out this trailer for the festival…

In closing I feel very excited to be apart of this festival and want to thank the guys at Raindance for letting us cover it.

Thanks for reading.

Unluckily it appeared the grey skies had set an omen as this was to be the last flight of Flight Lieutenant Jon Eggings, aged 33, who sadly crashed his Hawk T1 aircraft; Red 4, just outside of Hurn airport at precisely 13.50PM and was pronounced dead at the scene.

People are planning to wear red in his memory during tomorrows remaining events. Whilst people wishing to pay tribute can do so by leaving floral reefs outside the Bournemouth Town Hall.

This was unbeknownst to the spectators upon Bournemouth beach as the air display carried on (although gossip was heard yet unconfirmed) and although some of the evening festivities were cancelled a fine aerial display was put on during the remainder of the day including fireworks off the end of Bournemouth Pier at 10PM.

Lou Maby from Bournemouth was quoted as saying:

The Red Arrows have always been the highlight of my trips down to the beach to watch the Air Festival.

Our thoughts remain with the family, friends and colleagues of Flight Lieutenant Jon Eggings during this difficult time.

[Show as slideshow]

1234►

For those of you that were present for the 2010 Bournemouth Air Festival will likely remember being huddled together on the beach waiting anxiously to hear over the PA system whether or not any planes would be braving the weather. It was wet, cloudy, extremely windy and generally horrible in terms of the weather. This year organisers, local businesses, Bournemouth residents and of course thousands of tourists from across the United Kingdom were holding their breath and keeping fingers crossed for good weather. Unfortunately Day 1 was a washout, and I mean that quite literally.

A bus station is flooded in the centre of Bournemouth. A whole months worth of rain had fallen by early afternoon.

It has been reported that Bournemouth received 2 weeks worth of rainfall in less than 30 minutes during the morning of Thursday 18^th August. I would like to add that it felt like a years worth of rain fell from between 10AM and 12.30PM…. especially considering I was caught in the middle of it. However being caught up in the rain did have it’s advantages, I was able to snap some quick pictures which were featured across the nations press as well as some quotes from myself. Check out the pictures below and some quotes including links to the websites I appeared on. Take a look at our YouTube channel to see some of the videos I recorded during the downpour.

It was absolutely surreal, the shops were all flooding and owners were putting down their shutters in a bid to keep the water out. The Sun.

There were loads of people grabbing any sort of shelter they could find, some were paddling in the water streaming down the streets. There was a bit of Dunkirk spirit going on a some motorists stopped to pick up stranded people and take them to dry land. The Telegraph

It was like a disaster movie. The Daily Mail

[Show as slideshow]

Pictures by Kristian Wingfield-Bennett

Day 1 of Bournemouth Air Festival was cancelled and there was disappointment for everyone involved. The daytime and evening festivities were cancelled, and tourists along with the locals were both left disappointed. Fingers crossed tomorrow would be a good day.

Tomorrow (today) was a perfectly sunny, beautiful day in Bournemouth and thousands of people flocked down and battled to find a seating position on the beach between Boscombe and Bournemouth piers. Bournemouth Pier approach and as far as the eye could see either side was crammed with people ready to enjoy everything the Air Festival has to offer. They didn’t need to wait long as the Tigers Parachute team were ready and on hand to kick off the afternoon with a dramatic entrance leaping from up high to land up on the beach (amongst the crowd in some instances) with flags and flares. The applause and cheers were thunderous as the festival was now in full swing.

Over the course of the afternoon we were treated to displays by the Hawk jets, Royal Navy Merlin helicopter, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flyby team, the Breitling Wingwalkers, the Blades, the Miss Demmeanour Hunter Jet and Bournemouth’s very own Sea Vixen. The two most outstanding displays were performed by Gerald Cooper in his Avions Mudry Cap 232 aircraft who stunned and surprised the crowds with breath taking and seemingly impossible twist and turns between both piers. And then of course the Red Arrows burst across the sky in a blaze of blue, red and white. Last year the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team were cut short and unable to perform properly due to bad weather, this year however they more than made up for it with a spectacular and awe inspiring 24 minute display that had everyoneon the beach, upon the cliffs and along the piers stood up and clapping.

We are back down there again tomorrow with our Media/Press passes so expect another evening update from us. Until then check out the pictures and video from Day 2 below, both courtesy of the Bournemouth Daily Echo.

[Show as slideshow]