Exclusive Filmmaker Interview with Ryoo Seung-wan

 

 

Ryan Izay: You are no stranger to action, in a variety of different style and genres throughout your filmography.  The Berlin File utilizes many of these, including some gun play, hand-to-and combat, chase sequences and more. Do you have a favorite to work with?

 

Ryoo Seung-wan : I must’ve liked to work with all of them in order to have put them in the movie right? Of course, I do like to add actions scenes that I prefer but I now try to think more about what kind of action scenes the movie needs. The above mentioned action scenes that you’ve mentioned are a combination of my personal preferences and also what the movie needed to push the story forward. It’s hard to choose a favorite because each type of action has its own unique flavor. It was so difficult choosing the various action scenes while making the movie, please don’t make me choose again!

 

The Seasoning House Blu-ray Review

Actors: Sean Pertwee, Kevin Howarth, Rosie Day, Anna Walton

Directors: Paul Hyett

Format: Blu-ray, Dolby, NTSC, THX, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: December 3, 2013

Run Time: 89 minutes

 

 

        The Seasoning House is a film with a premise that never quite pans out in a satisfactory manner, although it delivers all that it promises in terms of vengeance. The problem with revenge thrillers is the success that others have had in the genre in the past decade or so. There have been quite a few of them, and since the 1970s with Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left (1972) and the cult hit I Spit on Your Grave no sub-genre seems more determined to push the limits of violent revenge. Unfortunately, there is little memorable about the methods of revenge in The Seasoning House, making for a surprisingly tame tale of vengeance.

 

        The other difficulty I had with The Seasoning House was the real-life scenario which sets the film up. A young deaf mute girl named Angel (Rosie Day) is ripped from her home during the war in the Balkans and taken to a house where young kidnapped girls are forced into prostitution for any passing military personnel. The saving grace for the film’s narrative is also the most unbelievable aspect of the story when Angel is never prostituted. Somehow her disabilities make her better suited for maid-like duties, which seems strange considering how much communication is key to her job in comparison to the jobs of the other girls in the house.

 

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane Blu-ray Review

   Director: Jonathan Levine

Writers: Jacob Forman

Format: Blu-ray, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Anchor Bay

Release Date: December 3, 2013

Run Time: 90 minutes

 

 

        The hype far surpassed the actual content of All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, which actually seems quite tame despite initial ravings from a select few able to see the film when it was first made seven years ago. After collecting dust for much of those seven years, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is now old news. Even the casting of Amber Heard in the title role has little of the same impact since she has shed her virginal teen image, though fans may find it refreshing to see her in a film with a little baby fat in her cheeks. As often happens with a few years in the spotlight, Heard is more of a cookie cutter starlet these days, with little to no fat in her cheeks or anywhere else on her body.   

 

        It is actually quite easy to see why this film was shelved, because aside from the casting of Heard in the leading role, there is nothing much inventive or impressive about Jonathan Levine’s film. It simply utilizes the popular slasher narrative of a group of partying teens in a remote area, each picked off until the final cause of the deaths is revealed. There is an adequate amount of violence, though none feels altogether inspired.

 

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones Blu-ray Review

Actors: Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Robert Sheehan, Kevin Zegers, Lena Headey

Director: Harald Zwart

Format: Multiple Formats

Language: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: December 3, 2013

Run Time: 130 minutes

 

 

        Anytime there is a surprise success in the film world, it is followed up with endless duplicates and imitations. We can expect these to be of lesser quality than the original, and this does not bode well for any of the countless films following the Twilight franchise. Those movies were atrocious, and the first (but, unfortunately, not the last) installment of The Mortal Instruments somehow manages to be even worse.   

 

        The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is based on yet another young adult book franchise which fulfills the popular fantasy and romance elements in a way that is far from inspired. There is a seemingly ordinary teenager, Clary Fray (Lily Collins), who is actually half angel with the ability to see demons others cannot. This narrative is used in nearly every popular young adult novel which has been adapted to film, from Twilight to Ender’s Game, simply infusing an ordinary protagonist with the ability to quickly surpass their elders in every facet. This teen fantasy element is paired with another familiar plot contrivance; the love triangle.

 

Wrong Cops Premiere Coverage

 

        This past Wednesday evening I was invited to attend the premiere of Wrong Cops at The Vista Theater in Los Angeles, a perfect off-Hollywood site for the opening of a film teetering on the outskirts of mainstream cinema. I’m not sure if there is a name for this new sub-genre of extreme comedic irreverence in independent films, but writer/director Quentin Dupieux is a pioneer of the movement. These films feel like a marriage between David Lynch and Jared Hess, what might happen if the random carnage and dreamlike narrative were to take place in a world of awkward character actors. He got up in front of the audience to introduce the film, apologizing for the scenes being out of focus, humorously explaining that it was “almost on purpose.”

 

Ray Wise, Quentin Dupieux, Eric Wareheim,  Mark Burnham, Arden Myrin, Marilyn Manson

Wrong Cops is the latest feature from Dupieux, following his cult hit Rubber in 2010, and the similarly titled Wrong from 2012. Despite the similarities in titles, Wrong Cops is not a sequel to Wrong, despite a brief cameo from Dolph Springer (Jack Plotnick) and his dog. Plotnick is only one of many surprises in the ensemble casting of Wrong Cops, many of which were able to make it out for the celebration on Wednesday evening.

 

Giveaway Contest: Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters Blu-ray Combo Pack

 

Join the Quest of a Lifetime, Packed with an

All-New Motion Comic and Collectible Cards, on 3D Blu-ray

Deluxe Edition December 17 and Digital HD™ December 3

 

 

Synopsis

The magical, mythical adventures of teenager Percy Jackson — son of the Greek god Poseidon — continue in this heroic, action-packed thrill ride!  Out to prove he’s not just a “one-quest wonder,” Percy and his demigod friends embark on an epic, cross-country journey into the treacherous Sea of Monsters, where they battle terrifying creatures, an army of zombies, and the ultimate evil. With time running out, Percy must find and bring home the fabled Golden Fleece, which has the power to save his world...and save us all!

Angels’ Share DVD Review

     Actors: Paul Brannigan, John Henshaw

Director: Ken Loach

Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: December 10, 2013

Run Time: 101 minutes

 

 

        Kitchen sink realism has been a staple of filmmaking for Ken Loach’s impressive career as a director, most notably with the coming-of-age film, Kes. That realism has been carried over into his latest dramedy, Angels’ Share. What starts as a somewhat lighthearted drama about the struggles working-class life in the United Kingdom eventually turns into a heist film which is part comedy of errors. The manner in which the comedy and drama blend together without ever overpowering each other is the mark of a truly gifted filmmaker, making Angels’ Share far more engaging than your typical comedy and more entertaining than the average drama.

 

        The film’s protagonist is a former thug named Robbie (Paul Brannigan), who is attempting a life without crime due to the pregnancy of his girlfriend. Preparing to be a father leaves Robbie with a new outlook on life, though that does little to get rid of the trouble which has already wormed its way into his life. With the help of a kindly supervisor while doing his community service, Robbie becomes interested in the world of whiskey tasting. Along with three fellow social miscreants, Mo, Albert and Rhino, Robbie learns as much as he can about the distilling of whiskey.

 

Berberian Sound Studio DVD Review

     Actor: Toby Jones

Director: Peter Strickland

Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: December 10, 2013

Run Time: 92 minutes

 

 

        Peter Strickland’s Berberian Sound Studio is a masterpiece in style and direction, which makes it so disappointing to find the third act such a failure in storytelling. It almost seems as though there was nowhere left to go with the film, instead trailing off into unmemorable David Lynch imitations. Yet even when the film is repetitious and dealing with an uninspired narrative flow, Strickland’s direction is able to carry each scene to the next despite the inconsistency of the whole.

 

        Employing an Englishman abroad fish-out-of-water narrative, the quiet sound engineer Gilderoy (Toby Jones) takes a job in Rome working on the soundtrack to a film called The Equestrian Vortex. Though he doesn’t speak Italian, we get the impression that he understands much of what the others are saying around him. Sound doesn’t just play a large part in the story; it is the most important part of the film in every aspect. We are never permitted to see the violent images of the horror movie Gilderoy is working on, instead limited to the images and the sounds utilized in the engineering of a soundtrack. There is a lot of stabbing and smashing of food in order to simulate the torture and killing in the movie, which begins to decay as time passes. The only other indicator we have to the gruesome nature of the film is the reactions coming from Gilderoy as he is forced to endure the images.

 

Sightseers DVD Review

      Actors: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram

Director: Ben Wheatley

Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: December 10, 2013

Run Time: 88 minutes

 

 

        The relentlessly bleak nature of the violence in Ben Wheatley’s Kill List made it a difficult film to enjoy, which may explain the filmmaker’s choice to go for a more comic edge in his latest film, Sightseers. There is still a large amount of violence and gore, though it is boldly applied in a darkly comic manner. Blending a road trip narrative with a serial killer storyline, this is something like Arthur Newman meets Natural Born Killers.

 

        Chris (Steve Oram) has a plan to take his new girlfriend on a vacation in a motor home. Tina (Alice Lowe) has been something of a recluse ever since a tragic accident with her dog, and it has left her somewhat unhinged. Road trips and vacations with new couples can often be eye-opening, revealing truths previous able to be hidden, and this can destroy a relationship which is not stable enough to withstand this trial-by-fire. This is the case with Chris and Tina, who have only been dating for a few months. This is not long enough for Tina to discover that Chris is a serial killer with specific targets of poor social etiquette.

 

Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus Blu-ray Review

 

Actors: Michael Cera, Gaby Hoffmann

Director: Sebastián Silva

Format: Blu-ray, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

Release Date: November 19, 2013

Run Time: 99 minutes

 

       

        It is quite clear that a majority of the dialogue in Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus (and 2012) is improvised, but that is not necessarily a fault. Each of the actors embody the characters so unabashedly that they feel sincere in their actions even when the film feels a bit contrived, such as the film’s emotional climactic close. Based on writer/director Sebastián Silva’s own experience with a San Pedro cactus and woman named Crystal Fairy, there is a realism in the narrative which often defies any structure or clear message. These are simply very different people who come together over the hallucinogenic trip to the beach.  

 

        Michael Cera heads up the cast as obnoxious American expatriate Jamie (Michael Cera), whose personality often seems to grate on those closest to him. When Jamie runs into a free-spirited American at a party named Crystal Fairy (Gaby Hoffman), he impulsively invites her on a road trip with him and the three Chile friends that put up with him. Crystal Fairy is a completely different personality type from the snarky and condescending Jamie, and much of the film is a quiet battle between these two strong personality types in an otherwise passive group of people. Are these the two personalities that Chile thinks of as American? Either way, it makes for an engaging road trip film with clashing personality types.

 

Impractical Jokers: The Complete First Season DVD Review

Number of discs: 2
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Release Date: November 26, 2013
Run Time: 374 minutes

 

 

        I was a bit of a troublemaker when I was younger, mostly due to my overactive imagination and the inability to remain bored. When my physical situation is dull, I find my mind compensating with creative inspiration of endless amusement and less than traditional amusement. In other words, I would have fit right in with the guys of Impractical Jokers, despite the fact that they are fully grown and still amusing themselves through immature methods. The adult in me is somewhat embarrassed for these four grown men, while the kid in me is simply jealous of their job.

 

        The premise of the show is creative and unique, but at its barest essence “Impractical Jokers” is simply a hidden camera show which cares much more about the embarrassment of those aware of the cameras than the revelation that these unsuspecting people are being filmed. There isn’t even a ‘reveal’ section of the show, where we would typically see the victim’s reactions when they discover that they are on a television show. The dynamic lies far more with the four friends participating.

 

The Canyons Blu-ray Review

Actors: Lindsay Lohan, James Deen, Nolan Funk, Amanda Brooks, Tenille Houston

Director: Paul Schrader

Writers: Bret Easton Ellis

Producers: Braxton Pope

Format: Blu-ray, Director's Cut, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

Release Date: November 26, 2013

Run Time: 100 minutes

 

 

        I enjoyed the article about the making of this film far more than I did the movie itself. It isn’t as bad as you might imagine, but it also isn’t good. It isn’t even as shocking as it may have you believe, other than Paul Schrader's willingness to show a semi-erect penis in the background. Lindsay Lohan shows nothing more than you would expect to see in her Playboy shoot, appearing more desperate than sexy in the role of Tara. Basically, this movie is just a waste of time which has garnered a small amount of attention due to casting choices, none of which are actually interesting in the actual film itself. We were all interested in the fact that Lindsay Lohan was doing this movie out of the same curiosity that drives motorists to leer at a bad car crash, but in the end The Canyons feels like sitting through two hours of traffic only to find a stalled car blocking the path.

 

        Author and screenwriter Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho, The Rules of Attraction) joined forces with Paul Schrader (writer of Taxi Driver and director of American Gigolo) to create this modern day attempt at campy cult classic. Nobody wanted to finance the film, so they made it themselves by selling things and scraping together just enough money to make this look a little better than soft-core porn. Lohan’s horrid reputation made her suitable only co-starring with a real-life porn star. James Deen is truly the star of the film, though that is not necessarily a compliment as much as it is a fact. He plays Christian, a manipulative movie producer who discovers his girlfriend once had a relationship with the leading actor of his upcoming project.

 

Fast & Furious 6 Blu-ray Review

Actors: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster

Director: Justin Lin

Writers: Chris Morgan

Producers: Vin Diesel, Neal H. Moritz, Clayton Townsend

Format: Color, Widescreen

Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (DTS 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (DTS 5.1)

Subtitles: French, Spanish, English

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: Universal Studios

Blu-ray Release Date: December 10, 2013

 

 

        This was supposed to be the last film of the Fast and Furious franchise; the real last film amongst what seemed many. The only problem came down to a timing issue for Actor Jason Statham, who was set to play the final villain. When he was unable to film this one this franchise set up for Fast and the Furious 7, boasting even more cast members in the already impressive ensemble. With the early departure of Paul Walker, the film franchise’s main protagonist from film one, the last film’s future looks uncertain. Fast and the Furious 6 is not a masterpiece, but it is a solid action film from the initial racing premise, only slightly less exciting than Fast Five. 

 

        Two films prior had seen the demise of Michelle Rodriguez’s character, Letty, who suddenly comes back from the dead with a case of amnesia in Fast and the Furious 6. This revelation brings the whole gang back into action, in pursuit of a mastermind criminal (Luke Evans) leading a team of mercenaries on a mission to steal a top secret weapon. Teaming up with the government officer previously hunting them (Dwayne Johnson), Dom (Vin Diesel) and his team of criminally good drivers set out on a mission to take down this deadly enemy. 

 

Paranoia Blu-ray Review

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Dubbed: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Blu-ray Release Date: November 19, 2013

Run Time: 90 minutes

 

 

        Paranoia boasts an impressive cast, perfectly balanced with both veteran actors and young stars. Gary Oldman and Harrison Ford carry each scene they are in, while Liam Hemsworth and Amber Heard are pretty to look at while the real actors perform. In the end, however, it is all cancelled out by an uninteresting script that hardly has enough thrills to qualify this as a thriller. Only a twelve-year-old would think this film is intelligent, and the rest of us are just bored. It fits in perfectly as a double feature with Brian De Palma’s equally unimpressive Passion.

 

        Based on the best-selling novel by Joseph Finder, Paranoia is a cat-and-mouse thriller in the business world, and Adam Cassidy (Hemsworth) is the mouse stuck between two deadly feline aggressors. Cassidy works as a lowly employee at a powerful technology corporation dealing primarily with cell phones, but even that job is threatened because of the way he thinks outside of the box. When his boss Nicolas Wyatt (Oldman) fires him, it comes with an interesting offer of espionage. Blackmailed into working for the competition in order to steal their trade secrets, Cassidy finds himself working for another business tycoon; Jock Goddard (Ford).

 

Throwback Thursday Review: After Life

 

Actors: Liam Neeson, Justin Long, Christina Ricci, Josh Charles, Celia Weston

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment

Release Date: August 3, 2010

Run Time: 103 minutes

 

 

        The premise of After Life (I refuse to call this film After.Life, because I have no idea what the point of the period is) is rather compelling. In fact, it seems like the kind of scenario which would work perfectly as a short film. As a feature film, it is nothing but frustrating. At first I was convinced that the film was compelling simply because it kept me guessing about the end.

 

I knew that the film was going in one of two directions; ghost story or serial killer. As long as I didn’t know what type of film it was, I couldn’t predict where it was going. Here is the problem: the distinction is never made. Rather than make a decision, this film backs itself into a corner which makes either implausible, giving no final conclusion either way. It is one thing to allow the audience to decide, but only when the clues are there. After Life attempts to have it both ways, failing miserably.

 

See This Film: Pride and Prejudice (2005)

 

 

 

 

        When people ask me what my favorite film of the year has been I’m almost hesitant to tell them for fear that it will reflect badly upon my masculinity, but if I were to be completely honest I would have to say that it was Joe Wright’s take on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. I have never been a fan of period films or Jane Austen, but I was absolutely mesmerized by each frame of this adaptation. Not one shot seems wasted and each detail is meticulously formed to create a captivating and beautiful film. Each role is expertly cast and even more impressively portrayed, and the only thing that is able to upstage the talent is the breathtaking cinematography set to a simple yet poignant score. In short, I would be hard pressed to find more than a few things that I don’t like about Pride and Prejudice.

 

        This version of Jane Austen’s story focuses largely on Elizabeth Bennet, one of the middle children in a liberal household. Elizabeth speaks her mind freely which gets her into some trouble when she meets the seemingly uptight Mr. Darcy. In a family filled with girls, Elizabeth’s mother’s main goal is to marry them all off, but she refuses to marry unless it is for love. Mr. Darcy seems the last person in the world she could love, but first impressions prove to be very deceiving.

 

Throwback Thursday Review: Adoration

 

Actors: Devon Bostick, Rachel Blanchard, Louca Tassone, Kenneth Welsh, Yuval Daniel

Director: Atom Egoyan

Writer: Atom Egoyan

Producers: Atom Egoyan, Jennifer Weiss, Laurent Pétin, Marcy Gerstein, Michèle Pétin

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date:  2009

Run Time: 100 minutes

 

        Born in Egypt and raised in Canada, filmmaker Atom Egoyan brings a unique worldview to his films. Adoration isn’t a political film in the sense that any coherent message is made, but there are still present nonetheless. Rather than making a film which utilizes the medium to make a point, Egoyan simply shows how the issues of terrorism and religious/political beliefs come to affect the lives of a group of people after a high school teacher encourages a student to tell a white lie.

 

The story involves a teenage boy named Simon (Devon Bostick) and his uncle, Tom (Scott Speedman). They both seem to be having a difficult time with life, Tom struggling to make enough money to raise his sister’s son away from his hateful father. Things only get worse for Simon when his French teacher, Sabine (Arsinee Khanjian), gives a translating assignment about a terrorist threat. When he tells the story as though his deceased parents were the ones involved, Sabine insists that he repeat the exercise out-loud to his class. After that he tells the story to larger audiences, and they all believe it to be true. The deeper issue is why Simon seems to believe that this story is close to his own truth about his parents’ death.

 

The Wolverine Unleashed at 20th Century Fox Studios

 

       

        Unrated and extended versions of films for the home entertainment release have become so commonplace that the title hardly has significance any longer. The extended cut of Fast and Furious 6 was less than a minute longer than the theatrical cut. Even when there are differences to the cut of the film, it is hardly of significance, so I was somewhat surprised by the fanfare the unrated extended cut of The Wolverine was met with by 20^th Century Fox and the film’s director, James Mangold. In anticipation of the film’s release on DVD and Blu-ray this week, on December 3rd, Mangold attended a screening of the extended cut of the film held on the Fox studio lot.

       

New BBC TV on DVD and Blu-ray: Doctor Who, Last Tango in Halifax, The Paradise and Silk

Actors: William Hartnell, Michael Craze, Anneke Wills, Robert Beatty

Director: Derek Martinus

Writers: Kit Pedler, Gerry Davis

Producers: Innes Lloyd

Format: NTSC, Black & White

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: BBC Home Entertainment

DVD Release Date: November 19, 2013

Run Time: 93 minutes

Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet

 

        As all fans of classic “Doctor Who” are painfully aware of, many episodes were destroyed in an infamous purge of old film and television content by the BBC in the 1970s. Only through discoveries in personal collections and various archives have some of these episodes been recovered, though there are still many storylines which have been left incomplete for decades since they were first created. “The Tenth Planet” was one of these storylines, taking place during William Hartnell’s three years as the first of many to play the Doctor.

 

        “The Tenth Planet” is story number 29 in the “Doctor Who” timeline, and it involves the discovery of Earth’s forgotten twin planet in the year of 1986. The planet Mondas is inhabited with the emotionless Cybermen attempting to convert all of humanity on Earth into the same fate. Only the Doctor can help to save humanity, though very few episodes actually show the otherworldly invaders, and one of those is the episode which is missing. The missing episode has been replaced with a brand-new animated version of the lost section. This storyline also marks the last appearance from Hartnell as the Doctor, making history as he becomes the first to retire from the role.

 

Throwback Thursday Review: Across the Universe

 

Actors: Evan Rachel Wood

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: 2009

Run Time: 133 minutes

 

 

The announcement alone of a Beatles spectacle from the director, Julie Taymor, was enough to irritate a wave of purist fans. Taymor is not unfamiliar with the reforming of previous works of art in different mediums. She was responsible for the Broadway adaptation of the Disney cartoon, The Lion King, now adapting a series of Beatles song into a filmed musical which is able to ride on the past success of Moulin Rouge which did the same. Although The Beatles purists may shy away from the young voices altering the songs to make them fit in the musical better, both meaning and tunes, there is no denying that the plentiful selection of songs from this period fit quite well in this simple love story set during the turbulent days of the Vietnam War in the 1960s.

 

The music really is the most important element in the film, especially towards the end of the film when the plot starts to run thin and song after song fills the ending sequences. The music is also the most creative part of the film, such as the scene in which a lonely lesbian sings “I Wanna Hold your Hand” to her fellow cheerleader as a ballet of football players spiral across the screen in a violent dance of tackles and catches, or a small child singing “Let It Be” amidst a raging riot in Detroit. Although Taymor is an accomplished film director having made several successful films before this, it is the theatrical background that comes into play as the film fluidly moves from music to dialogue as if it were the most natural thing in the world.