Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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September/October 2011 3
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04 | Reel World
The Railway Children
20 | Four Frames
Stand By Me
26 | On Location
Los Angeles, USA
30 | Screengem
My Life as a Dog
34 | Parting Shot
First Person Shooter
38 | Listings
A Roundup of this Issue's
Featured Films
contents Issue Sixteen. September/October 2011
Features
06 | Spotlight
Growing Pains:
Cinema of Adolescence
1 4 | Art & Film
Mr. Strong:
The Bright and Brilliant
Poster Art of Tom Whalen
22 | 1000 Words
Absolute Beginner:
John Hughes and the
Films of American Youth
In Transition
22
06
intellect | www.intellectbooks.co.uk Published by
'But face it. You're a neo
maxi zoom dweebie, what
would you be doing if you
weren't out making yourself
a better citizen? '
John Bender
The Directory of World Cinema aims to play a part in moving intelligent, scholarly criticism beyond the
academy. Each volume of the Directory provides a culturally representative insight into a national or regional
cinema through a collection of reviews, essays, resources, and flm stills highlighting signifcant flms and
players. Over time, new editions will be published for each volume, gradually building a comprehensive
guide to the cinema of each region. To contribute to the project or purchase copies please visit the website.
www.worldcinemadirectory.org
To viewour catalogue or order our books and journals visit www.intellectbooks.com. Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG. | Tel: +44 (0) 117 9589910
experience global culture
through the magic of film
directory of
world
cinema
The Big Picture ISSN1759-0922 2011 intellect Ltd. Published by Intellect Ltd. The Mill, Parnall Road. Bristol BS16 3JG / www.intellectbooks.com
Editorial ofce Tel. 0117 9589910 / E: info@thebigpicturemagazine.comPublisher Masoud Yazdani Chief Editor & Art DirectionGabriel Solomons Guest Editor Neil Mitchell
Contributors Jez Conolly, John Berra, Daniel Steadman, Robert Beames, Neil Mitchell, Sam Price, Nicola Balkind, Scott Jordan Harris, Gabriel Solomons
Please send all email enquiries to: info@thebigpicturemagazine.com / www.thebigpicturemagazine.com l The Big Picture magazine is published six times a year
beyond their tender years,
culminating in the famous
'daddy, my daddy' tear-jerking
climactic family reunion.
The Railway Children's
gentle view of childhood has
an enduring place in the hearts
of those who have read or seen
it, with its evocative name now
used in the real world for a vital
and ongoing concern, that of
combating child homelessness.
Founded in 1995 by David
Maidment, former Controller
of Safety Policy for British
Rail, the Railway Children
charity, whose mantra is 'getting
to street kids before the street
gets to them', has 117 projects
set up in the UK, Africa and
Asia and last year helped over
25,000 street children. With
the latest theatrical production
of Nesbit's classic supporting
the charity and with 24
partner organisations working
in conjunction with Railway
Children, the plight of the most
vulnerable members of society
will not go unnoticed. [tbp]
September/October 2011 5
gofurther [weB] book tickets to see the London set Theatre production at www.www.railwaychildren.org.uk
The Railway Children's
gentle view of childhood
has an enduring place in
the hearts of those who
have read or seen it.
Te Railway Children, an iconic 1970s
children's novel has inspired more than just
flm and theatre productions. Nei l Mi tchell
jumps aboard to follow its trail of infuence.
edi th Nesbi t' s pereNNi ally
popular children's novel
The Railway Children has in
recent years been successfully
transferred to the stage,
a production that follows
in the footsteps of several
small screen versions and
Lionel Jeffries' iconic 1970
flm adaptation. Jeffries'
unashamedly sentimental and
nostalgic take on Nesbit's book
sees the Waterbury family
relocate from London to a
small village and learn to live
in relative penury after the
father of the family, a foreign
offce employee, is wrongly
incarcerated for selling state
secrets to the Russians. The
children of the title, Roberta,
Phyllis and Peter, immortalised
in Jeffries' flm by Jenny
Agutter, Sally Thomsett and
Gary Warren, experience a
series of events all connected
to the nearby railway line that
requires them to show wisdom,
courage and understanding
fi lm beyond the borders of the screen
reel world
Left LioneL jeffries' cLassic 1970 fiLm / aBove London's theatricaL version is staged at the former eurostar terminaL which features the stirLing singLe, a 60 tonne steam Locomotive
On Te
Rails
Image: www.railwaychildrenwaterloo.com
4 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
K
o
b
a
l (2
)
ci nema' s themati c strands
spotlight
Films about the trials, tribulations and triumphs of
childhood are plentiful, but which ones stand the test
of time?. JohN berra and saM pri ce retreat into
their past to better assess some classic examples.
Left
david BradLeY and friend
aBove
david BradLeY, freddie fLetcher and LYnne Perrie
Now that Kes is routinely
recognised as a British cinema
classic, and its director is feted
as one of the countrys greatest
living flmmakers, its easy to forget
the potency of the flm proper.
Kitchen-sink dramas tend to get
a rough ride by contemporary
audiences and critics, lazily and
ignorantly dismissed as hunks
of Northern miserablism. Its
a good thing, then, that Ken
Loachs flm contains timeless
themes. An unvarnished look at
the shortcomings of the British
class system in the late 1960s, Kes'
enduring attraction lies in Loach
taking something almost bizarrely
specifc (a bullied underachieving
school boy learns to train a kestrel
falcon to fend off his woes) and
rendering it as a universal tale
of the frustrations of childhood.
Unsentimental but emotionally
devastating, its one for the ages.
[Sam Price]
kes (1969)
Dir. Ken Loach
cover
feature
Y
Kes' enduring
attraction lies in
loach taKing something
almost bizarrely
specific and rendering
it as a universal tale
of the frustrations of
childhood.
Pains
Growing
September/October 2011 7 6 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
aBove
jean-Pierre Laud
toP Left
haYato ichihara
The flm strives to show
that Antoine is a victim
of circumstance, whose
fedgling talents deserve
better than a dysfunctional
family environment and an
oppressive education system.
socially isolated
adolescents listen to the
ethereal music of titular
pop idol Lily Chou Chou
and discuss the meaning of
the singers lyrics through
internet message boards
Kobal (2)
The cruelties of youth are
fltered through a fragmented
narrative that follows two Japanese
schoolboys as they attend junior
high and take an ill-fated vacation
to the island of Okinawa with their
classmates. It is suggested that high
school is an institution that must
be survived as blackmail, bullying,
shoplifting and rape are among
the acts committed by teenagers
on a daily basis, while teachers
struggle to maintain the respect
of their students and parents are
either absent or ignored. These
socially isolated adolescents listen
to the ethereal music of titular
pop idol Lily Chou Chou and
discuss the meaning of the singers
lyrics through internet message
boards, but virtual friendship is no
substitute for the real thing and the
flm ends in devastating tragedy.
[John Berra]
ALL AbouT LiLy
Chou Chou (2000)
Dir. Shunji Iwai
Although the teachers of 13-year-
old Antoine (Jean-Pierre Laud)
regard him as a troublemaker, he
can more accurately be described
as misunderstood, or easily ma-
nipulated by the mischievous
children around him. Skipping
school to roam the streets of Paris,
squandering time in seedy ar-
cades, resorting to petty theft and
plagiarising Balzac result in a trip
to the principals offce and, even-
tually, a transfer to an observation
centre for troubled youths. Yet the
flm strives to show that Antoine
is a victim of circumstance, whose
fedgling talents deserve better
than a dysfunctional family envi-
ronment and an oppressive educa-
tion system, although he achieves
some measure of freedom in the
legendary parting shot. Antoines
eventful later life would be ex-
plored by Truffaut and Laud in
four subsequent collaborations.
[John Berra]
The 400 bLows (1959)
Dir. Franois Trufaut
spotlight growing pains
8 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com September/October 2011 9
September/October 2011 11
spotlight growing pains
New York City circa 1994:
directionless teenager Luke
Shapiro (Josh Peck) spends the
summer days that follow high
school graduation selling pot out
of an ice-cream cart, listening
to the latest hip-hop artists, and
trying to win the affections of
popular classmate Stephanie
(Olivia Thirlby), who is also the
step-daughter of his psychologist
Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley).
Hanging out with Dr. Squires
leads to some off-the-hook advice
like, Get your heart broken, fnd
yourself face down in the gutter, get
your balls sucked, make a real mess
of a life, and Luke must step-up
when it becomes apparent that
his family is in serious fnancial
trouble. Lukes mix-tapes form a
slamming soundtrack with choice
cuts by A Tribe Called Quest,
KRS-One and Wu Tang Clan.
[John Berra]
The wACkness (2008)
Dir. Jonathan Levine
aBove Left
Ben kingsLeY and josh Peck
oPPosite
katharine isaBeLLe and and emiLY Perkins
Lukes mix-tapes form
a slamming soundtrack
with choice cuts by A
Tribe Called Quest, kRs-
one and wu Tang Clan.
Burying the body of a school
hockey player in her back garden,
moments after attempting to rip
out the girls jugular with her teeth,
misanthrope and burgeoning
teenage werewolf Ginger Fitzgerald
(Katharine Isabelle) ventures, No-
one ever thinks chicks do shit like this.
A girl can only be a slut, bitch, tease
or the virgin next door Well just
coast on how the world works. Free
of the Scream-infected irony and
pre-dating both the chaste cultural
inferno of the Twilight series and
self-aware cult efforts stalking
similar ground Teeth, Jennifers
Body - Ginger Snaps is a flm
which, even after two superfuous
sequels , still feels as dementedly
rabid as it did on release. Gingers
turn as a murdering lycanthrope
remains the deftest blend of
suburban satire and late-pubescent
horror since Sissy Spacek
unleashed her adolescent fury
in Brian de Palma's 70s shocker
Carrie. [Sam Price]
GinGeR snAps (2000)
Dir. John Fawcett
ginger snaps
is a film which,
even after two
superfluous
sequels, still feels
as dementedly
rabid as it did
on release.
kobal (2)
10 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
September/October 2011 13
ci nema' s themati c strands
spotlight
right
rawiri Paratene and
keisha castLe-hughes
www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
director niKi caro' s
film sidesteps the
plots obvious potential
for pat melodrama,
revealing itself as
uniquely transcendent
by the time of the
moving conclusion
Keisha Castle-Hughes captivating
performance as Pai is Whale
Riders ultimate strength, a
refreshingly unaffected and
joyous thing shorn of the usual
lugubrious and dead-eyed
machinations associated with
certain Hollywood child actors.
Castle-Hughes plays a young
Maori girl tasked with the less-
than-enviable task of convincing
her grousing old grandfather that
the tribal chief-ship should pass
to her, a role traditionally the
preserve of the frst-born male
heir. With a mother dead from
childbirth and a distant father
pursuing a career on another
continent, the flm could have
been an up-market, self-important
Free Willy by way of romanticised,
tourist board approved myth-
making prone to descending
into trite emotionalism. Instead,
director Niki Caro's flm sidesteps
the plots obvious potential for
pat melodrama, revealing itself as
uniquely transcendent by the time
of the moving conclusion.
[Sam Price]
whALe RideR (2002)
Dir. Niki Caro
12 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
the art of the movi e poster
one sheet
14 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
The Shining (2010)
4-color screenprint
Private commission
The Fly (2010)
4-color screenprint
produced for Colonial Theatre's
'frst friday fright nights'
Raised by feral robot wolves in the backwoods of northeastern
pennsylvania and nourished on a steady diet of comic books,
arnold schwarzenegger movies and swedish fsh, toM waleN of
Strong Stuff is fast becoming the go-to guy for intelligent, fun and
highly stylized flm posters with a vintage illustrative touch.
Mr.
Strong
i [was] inspired by the
fantastic painted art that always
accompanied horror movies and
decided to translate some of those
classic movies into my style.
16 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Great Pumpkin (2011)
8-color screenprint
Produced through
Dark Hall Mansion
The Wolf Man (2008)
4-color screenprint
Part of the 'Universal Series'
Steamboat Willie (2011)
4-color screenprint
Released through Slideshow
Collectibles
previous page
one sheet tom walen
[weB] www.strongstuf.net [Buy Tom waLeN'S work] www.strongstuf.deviantart.com gofurther
"it wasn't until sometime in 1986 when
i really felt the urge to create art of
my own. From there, i consumed every
comic i could pilfer off of nana's spinner
rack and spent endless hours at the
drawing desk that my dad gave to me."
one sheet tom walen
Paul (2010)
4-color screenprint
produced for the US premiere
of the flmat the SXSWfestival
Monsters, Inc. [Variant] (2011)
5-color screenprint
size: 18" x 24"
18 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
e a r l y o n in his rites of passage trek
out of the fctional town of Castle Rock
along the Oregon railroad in search of
missing boy Ray Browers dead body,
Gordie (Wil Wheaton), together with
his three pals, resorts to a short cut
across a train bridge and narrowly
avoids suffering the same fate as little
Ray. Gordie comes to the rescue when
Vern (Jerry OConnell) stumbles on the
precarious track and freezes in the path
of an oncoming locomotive. Chris (River
Phoenix) and Teddy (Corey Feldman)
look on in horror as Gordie and Vern
make a desperate scramble to the safety
of the far side of the bridge. They make it,
just, and end up in a dusty heap, battered,
bruised but relieved to be alive. Director
Rob Reiner shot the scene at Lake Britton
Bridge on the McCloud River Railroad in
Burney Falls State Park, California.
Read More f o u r f r a me s online at
www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
the art of abbrevi ated storytelli ng
four frames
Runni nG sCARed Stand By Me, Dir. Rob Reiner, 1983
1 2
4 3
Te transition from
childhood to adolescence
at its most exhilerating.
Jez coNolly steps
onto the tracks for an
extreme close-up.
20 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com September/October 2011 21
Beginner
aBove/BeLow
john hughes and matthew Broderick
moLLY ringwaLd in sixteen candLes
w h e t h e r y o u ' r e a
literature lover or a flm fan,
coming of age stories are
ubiquitous. The heyday of the
bildungsroman began with J.D.
Salinger's enduring Catcher in
the Rye, and was revived for
the screen by John Hughes in
the 1980s. A powerhouse of
writing and directing, Hughes
invented the contemporary
teen movie as we know it. Be-
tween 1984 and 1991, the John
Hughes (Movie) Academy
educated an entire generation
of high schoolers on the mean-
ings of love, sex, and rock and
roll. Though he wrote until
2008, during his most active
period he penned 11 features,
of which he directed fve, in-
1000 words
moments that changed ci nema forever
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