Movie Review - Knuckle

The fight film has been a cinema staple for decades, with a smorgasbord of flicks  , from the films of Bruce Lee to Fight Club celebrating the primitive glory of the pugilist, and the machismo inherent in the brutal act of pummeling an opponent to a bloody  pulp.However, the reality of this mano et mano brutality is often   a million miles away from the glamorised bloodshed of Hollywood.And so it is with the often stomach churning Irish documentary Knuckle, a no holds barred look at the world of organised, bare knuckle fights within the Irish travelling community.

Director/Producer  Ian Palmer spent close to a decade following the exploits of two warring traveller families, the Quinn Mc Donaghs and the Joyces, and the film pays particular attention to James and Michael Quinn Mc Donagh, two brothers at the forefront of the feud between the two clans, the former older and almost, it seems, reluctant to fight, the latter  hot headed and with , it seems, a lot to prove.We follow the two , along with their kin, through a series of battles with the members of the Joyce family, mostly conducted along country lanes and refereed by members of neutral families.We also get an insight into the home life of the men on both sides of the feud,an insight that is fascinating particularly if you are not Irish, and have always wondered about the other side of Irish culture, one that does not feature heavily in tourist guides, one can imagine.

First off, and although it goes without saying, the fights are horrific, for the most part.Filmed on cheap cameras, and clearly shot by men worried about their own personal well being, the initial impression, and one that the director himself acknowledges, is one of watching a video nasty.Unflinching in their spare, shaky style(essentially it's high quality YouTube footage) they give the documentary a feeling of gritty immersion that other documentaries of this nature sometimes lack .The rest of the film is made up of interviews conducted with the various men involved, and these, it has to be said are possibly the strongest part of the film, with the most interesting subject being James, a charismatic,seemingly loving family man, who for much of the documentary appears to be at odds with his status as a bona fide hardman in a world chock full of them.It is his contributions that are the most interesting, and provide an interesting contrast against the comparative belligerence of his brother, and rivals.

However,despite Palmer's repeated attempts to dig deeper into the causes of the feuds,  Knuckle never really digs deep enough into this netherworld to provide any real answers.There is also the nagging feeling, which Palmer also acknowledges at one point in this narration , of a feeling of a voyeuristic thrill on the part of the filmmaker at watching such brutal contests, and this, it has to be said,was reflect on my own personal viewing of the film.There were indeed moments where, rather than be horrified by the pointlessness of one of these brawls, I was instead slightly looking forward to seeing the next one.And this , I feel, is the film's major failing, as , rather than condemn these fights as what they are, mindless thugs resolving minor conflict with major violence, we instead get , through an admittedly slick editing job, a sort of roughshod fighting/redemption flick, with the protagonists showing no real regret or indeed care that they are doing real damage to themselves and the men they fight.

Moral quandaries aside though , Knuckle is a fascinating and candid look at an otherwise hidden world, and an equally fascinating group of men, that those outside of the travelling community would never otherwise get a chance to see.And perhaps it is the film's non judgemental and self reflective outlook that will ensure it is one to be debated and discussed long after  the final credits have rolled.Gripping, powerful, if at times maybe too sympathetic towards it's subjects.

Rating :8/10
Stephen O ' Connor
bornagainnihilist@gmail(dot)com

Hangover 2 - Movie Review

The first thought on seeing the trailer for The Hangover 2 was an astounded "Why?" . The first film had wrapped everything up so well , one would have though there was no need for Stu, Alan ,Phil and Doug(sorta) to embark on another post piss up scavenger hunt .Tragically , Hollywood has not deemed it so , and a sequel has been wheeled out.

I'll dispense with a plot synopsis, suffice to say that Justin Bartha's lost groom has been replaced with Mason Lee(son of Ang)'s almost painfully stereotyped  Asian-American teenager, who , you guessed it , gets . . lost . .again, after yet another night with the  wild and crazy guys . . .

What ensues is  a chase around Bangkok where the trio run into a bizarre mix of ladyboys , violent monks and , particularly disturbing , a drug peddling monkey.The problem however this time out is this : where the first film threw a couple of genuine curveballs out there and garnered more laughs than expected , largely through Zach Galifinakis' excellently skewed man child Alan, this time around, the writers settle for repeating almost exactly  the same plot ,to the point where the repeated references to the first film are  before long  enough to make one wince.Add to this the fact that Alan , the first film's only half interesting character , is reduced to a few throwaway encounters with the aforementioned monkey, and one admittedly funny engagement party speech. Paul Giamatti also goes tragically to waste, a gift for comedy timing squandered  in the flurry of shouting and swearing that constitutes the main characters' dialogue this time around.

That's not to say it's all bad though.Director Todd Philips shoots Bangkok beautifully , and the opening sequence is visually arresting,as is  a bizarre sequence where the quartet's antics are played out by four adolescent boys in a dream sequence . Ken Leung's Chow is also still a hoot , pretty much stealing whatever scene he's in .Overall , The Hangover 2 just about passes muster , and there are worse ways to kill ninety minutes  . But please, for the love of God , let this be the last one.

Rating 4/10

Film Review- Such Hawks Such Hounds

Film Review
‘Such Hawks Such Hounds’

Stoner Rock. Could there ever be a more vague term to describe a genre? Show me a stoner that doesn’t listen to music and I’ll show you anything you want! But let’s ignore this problem of language for the moment and focus on the task at hand, John Srebalus’ 2008 documentary ‘Such Hawks Such Hounds’.

At the time of writing this review it has been months since I watched the film so my facts and references will be loose but my impression has been thoroughly digested. Reminded by stumbling across a trailer on YouTube, I felt inclined to write it up.

I dislike writers who disguise a negative review by withholding criticisms to the final paragraph so I will get mine out of the way at the outset and concentrate on the positives, of which there are plenty. This film is a little too long for its own good. The extended scenes of live performances are excellent for the opportunity to see each band doing their own unique thing but by the ¾ way mark of the film this begins to get tedious. I can think of two positives to this however; if you love all the music then of course you will be happy to listen to it all if the mood strikes. The second is, I suspect, a certain harking back to music documentaries of the 60’s and 70’s. Films such as the iconic Woodstock film with their ‘forget commentary, we want music, music and more music!’ attitude.

There is a particular humility to this film that I think is very admirable. So many films that focus on certain genres of music try far too hard to instil seriousness and credibility into the genre and the vibe of the film. Such Hawks Such Hounds confronts the not-so-cool aspects of its chosen genre head on, chief among them being the troublesome ‘Stoner’ label. Asked in interviews the majority of artists grudgingly accepted the label but do not seem to hold it in high regard. And why would they really? It seems a shame to reduce a whole genre to a stoned past-time. But then again, show me ANY musical tradition that can’t be reduced to that using crafty rhetoric!

Such a myriad of artists are interviewed in the course of this film that almost every popular opinion is covered, without the cheesiness that films such as ‘Heavy Metal a Head Banger’s Journey’ tend towards (don’t get me wrong here, that was an OK film). Perhaps a little too much reverence for trippy experiences in the woods late at night but at least there are no anthropologists saying ‘it’s a pathway to God!’ The film opens with Matt Pike, of Sleep and High on Fire fame, giving a now infamous definition of heavy, which I will encourage you to check out for yourself since I think about 50% will agree and the other 50% will laugh but few if any will say they really disagree.

High on Fire, Sleep, OM, Dead Meadows, Goatsnake, Sunn 0))), Wino, Scott Reeder and more are represented here excellently by both themselves and the film makers. And if there is one important thing that this film conveys it is the seemingly timeless nature of stoner rock. Thrash Metal, one can easily and quite correctly say is associated with San Francisco during the early to mid 1980’s. Similarly, one could tie Grunge (a term I’m not totally comfortable using, stay tuned to future articles to find out why) to Seattle in the late 80’s and early 90’s, whereas Stoner as we know it today has remained much the same since the late 60’s and early 70’s. I can’t help but feel that Kyuss, for example, would have been a welcome support act on an early Black Sabbath tour. OM probably would be cult legends if they had been doing exactly what they do now in the hippie environment. Just imagine how mind-blowing that relentlessly intense bass sound would have been to an audience that thought Jefferson Airplane was a trip! Yet in that period of time of 40 odd years, stoner has still expanded to encompass many other sounds, sights and experiences. It has never been afraid to absorb outside influences, a problem which strikes all musicians and probably halts creative progress more than anything else. Nothing was going to stop Matt Pike exploring his Slayer influences, nor was King Buzzo of The Melvins going to ignore the greater love he held for Black Flag rather than Black Sabbath.

All things considered, I would recommend this film to anyone interested in the music and even more so to those folks, like myself, who so truly need the encouragement it offers: YES, the scene DOES exist, YES there are people who feel and share the love and YES you can be part of it!

Cheers,
And when in doubt, DOOM it out!

For Bornagainnihilist 2011
Edward Gerard Brophy