January 30th Archives - Big Gay Picture Show

Walk On Water (2004)

May 30, 2012 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Lior Ashkenazi, Knut Berger, Caroline Peter, Gideon Shemer
Director: Etyan Fox
Running Time: 103 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: January 30th, 2006

Etyan Fox’s follow-up to his LGBT Israeli hit Yossi & Jagger follows Mossad agent Eyal, who is assigned to pose as a tour guide when young German Axel comes to Israel to visit his sister, who’s working on a kibbutz. Axel’s grandfather was a Nazi war criminal and Mossad wants Eyal to gather info on whether the old man is still alive.

A friendship begins to develop between the two men, although cultural differences soon raise their head, especially when Eyal discovers Axel is gay, something he’s not comfortable with. When the German makes friends with an Arab, Eyal reaches the end of his tether. However eventually he decides to visit Axel in Germany, which may also give him a chance to lay to rest his guilt over the death of his wife. [Read more…]

Le Clan (DVD)

March 12, 2012 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Nicolas Cazale, Stephane Rideau, Thomas Dumerchez
Director: Gael Morel
Running Time: 90 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: January 30th, 2012

The 2005 French flick gets a welcome re-release. Le Clan follows three young brothers, with the narrative split into three sections, each focussing on a different brother, but carrying on the overall story.

Things start off with middle-brother Marc (Nicolas Cazale), who’s a bit of a hard nut and on the edge of the drug dealing world. When a deal goes wrong, his life is suddenly in danger, which may have dangerous repercussions for both him and his dog. Older brother Christophe is fresh out of prison and trying to turn his life around, getting a job in a meat packing factory. Finally there’s Olivier, who’s carrying on a secret relationship with another young man, trying to find his way to happiness against the backdrop of his slightly wayward brothers and harsh father. [Read more…]

Cleopatra (Blu-ray)

February 12, 2012 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Hume Cronyn
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Running Time: 251 mins
Certificate: PG
Release Date: January 30th, 2012

If you ask someone about Cleopatra, they’re more likely to talk about how it famously went over-budget and nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox than they are the movie itself. It’s known for its incredibly difficult production (you can read more about that fascinating story here), being a flop (which it wasn’t, incidentally) and for being the first movie where the main star pocketed $1 million upfront for a single movie.

Indeed Elizabeth Taylor ended up with a lot more than that. Her contract meant she got paid extra for every day production overran compared to initial projections, so after an illness nearly killed her, production moved from England to Italy, the director and actors around her changed and other overruns added months to the production, it meant she got paid millions. Cleopatra is famous for perhaps being the most expensive movie ever made, if adjusted for inflation, and Elizabeth Taylor may well still be the best paid actress ever for a single movie, by the same measure. [Read more…]

Perfect Sense (DVD)

February 10, 2012 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Eva Green, Denis Lawson, Ewen Bremner
Director: David Mackenzie
Running Time: 88 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: January 30th, 2012

Perfect Sense has a problem, which isn’t really anything to do with the movie. It’s to do with the fact that we like to pigeonhole film and so that when something comes along that doesn’t fit into any boxes, it tends to fall by the wayside. In the case of Perfect Sense the issue is that the plot synopsis makes it sound like a sci-fi flick, but it’s actually far from that. In reality it’s a rather touching, slightly arty romance, shot through with existentialist musings, but it’s a difficult sell, simply because it doesn’t sound like what it is.

Here’s the plot: Susan (Evan Green) is an epidemiologist, who’s asked to investigate a mysterious illness where people are losing their sense of taste. As this spreads around the globe, Susan meets chef Michael (Ewan McGregor), and the two begin an affair. However losing your sense of taste is only the beginning, and the strange illness continues to its course, slowly stripping people of their senses one by one. [Read more…]

Rolling Thunder (Blu-ray)

February 5, 2012 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: William Devane, Linda Haynes, Tommy Lee Jones
Director: John Flynn
Running Time: 93 mins
Certificate: 18
Release Date: January 30th, 2012

Controversial for its violence on its first release, 1977’s Rolling Thunder has since become a bit of a cult classic, partly because of Quentin Tarantino’s admiration for it, and partly because it’s been mysteriously absent from DVD. As a result its reputation has grown while it’s been pretty difficult to actually watch it.

Now it’s arrived in the UK in a new Blu-ray & DVD release, and we can finally get to see what the fuss is about. The movie is essentially a revenge thriller, but one that’s more grounded and morally complex than most entries in the genre. The film opens with Major Charles Rane (William Devane) arriving back in the US, after years being tortured in a North Vietnamese prison. While he has hopes of rebuilding his life, he discovers his wife has taken up with another man and his son doesn’t remember him. [Read more…]

A Bigger Splash (Blu-ray/DVD)

January 31, 2012 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: David Hockney, Peter Schlesinger, Celia Birthwell, Mo McDermott
Director: Jack Hazan
Running Time: 105 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: January 30th, 2012

A Bigger Splash is the very definition of enigmatic. The best description I can think of is that it’s kind of like The Only Way Is Essex, but made in the early 1970s and featuring artist David Hockney and his circle. Yep, that does sound weird, because it kind of is.

On the surface it seems like a fly on the wall documentary looking at Hockney, but as you watch it slowly becomes clear that what you’re seeing isn’t a documentary at all. Instead it is recreation of reality, using all the real players in Hockney’s life, who are taking part in a devised reflection of the truth. It is therefore an odd ally to TOWIE and its ilk, but of course made at a time when reality soaps would have seemed like the idea of a madman. [Read more…]