Tag: Scottish

Outlaw King

Posted on by Jeremy Clarke

Robert the Bruce is one of Scotland’s most significant historical figures. Following in the footsteps of William Wallace in the late 13th Century, who inspired Braveheart (Mel Gibson, 1995), Robert the Bruce led a revolt against the English in the early 14th Century to become the King of Scotland.

Scots director Mackenzie previously worked with leading man Chris Pine on the impressive Texas bank robber drama Hell Or High Water (2016). Pine is however much less convincing playing a 14th Century Scot than he was a present day Texan, which is unfortunate since Outlaw/King is constructed around Pine as Robert The Bruce.

Numerous minor roles furnish much better performances – among them the down to Earth Stephen Dillane as the ageing King Edward I of England and the adrenaline-fuelled Billy Howle as his son with something to prove Edward, Prince Of Wales. Last but not least, Florence Pugh steals the scene as Elizabeth, the daughter of a nobleman married off to Robert in an attempt to cement peace between England and Scotland immediately after Edward I’s defeat of Wallace.

One could easily construct a film around Elizabeth. The subplot here goes from arranged marriage with a disinterested husband, her immediate rapport with his young daughter Marjorie (Josie O’Brien), his slow thawing as he comes to realise she has his best interests at heart, her flight to a safe castle, her capture by the enemy and her being literally hung out to dry outside a castle wall in a metal cage.

Elsewhere, the piece lurches between fragments of ineffectual character study, multiple protagonist historical drama where you’re constantly struggling to keep up with who’s who, gratuitous drone shots flying over highlands landscape and big medieval warfare action set pieces complete with enough blood and occasional gore to make the whole thing a BBFC 18.

The famous story about Robert the Bruce drawing inspiration – from watching a spider make several attempts to complete a web before finally succeeding – for fighting another battle following previous defeats is briefly referenced as a blink and you’ll miss it, dew-covered web in an opening shot on the morning of the decisive battle. Scottish audiences ought to be thrilled at the prospect of this movie, although sadly it lacks the focus needed to achieve the epic status its subject deserves.

Outlaw King is out in the UK on Friday, November 9th in cinemas as well as on Netflix. Watch the film trailer below:

Bitch

Posted on by victorfraga

The best thing about Bitch is that you don’t have a clue about how it is going to end. Scottish filmmaker Marianna Palka‘s fourth film – check Good Dick (2008) and Always Worthy (2015) – is so absurd that it subverts logic in every conceivable way. And every single frame is thrilling.

The opening scene grabs you by your neck. Jill (played by Palka herself) attempts to hang herself with a dog leash or a belt – it is not clear at first. She fails, but her mind finds another way to draw her husband Bill’s (Jason Ritter) attention: she begins to behave like a vile bitch. Not in metaphorical sense, but in the literal, canine sense instead. An aggressive and dirty dog that is not capable of taking care of herself, let alone her four children, and who prefers to remain confined to the basement instead.

Bill is your average hard-working and self-centred businessman. He cheats on his wife with a co-worker and forgets to buy Christmas gifts for his family. When he finds her wife in the basement, he continues to deny she is mentally unstable. He evades his husband and fatherly duties by calling Jill’s sister into the house in order take care of the kids. Meanwhile, he postpones all business meetings, as he thinks he’s about to be fired.

The movie raises a number of questions, some of them quite unusual: what are the ingredients of a happy family life? How do you connect to a relative who believes that she is a dog? Should you show sympathy towards this new tragic personality? Bill finally decides to find answers, and it all begins to change once the starts to pick up his wife’s faeces.

The movie is supported by a fast-changing photography and music score. They shift from one extreme to the other: the inside of the house is dark and oppressive, while the outside is full of sunny parks, where people take their dogs for walks; the music also veers from hair-raising horror to more subtle dramatic tones.

Palka is simply delving with deep and painful wounds in a very unusual and absurd way. Family life can be very awkward and unsatisfying, and the consequences can be surreal. That’s why Bitch is not a feel-good movie. In fact, it feels very uncomfortable because everyone can relate to Jill’s inner battles.

Bitch premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2017, when this piece was originally written. The film is out in cinemas across the UK on Friday, October 13th.