Offside

In Iran, women are banned

from men's sporting events.

In 2005, Iran defeated Bahrein

to qualify for the World Cup.

I recently got this film on DVD and was amazed. From director Jafar Panahi, who also directed the amazing White Balloon, this is a tale of feminism and football, prejudice and patriotism.

It follows a group of Iranian girls who get arrested for disguising themselves as men and trying to sneak into the men-only football stadium to see Iran play Bahrein to qualify for the world cup. They are held in a pen where the football action is frustratingly out of sight for the young women.

Panahi uses this bizarre and unjust situation to expose and ridicule the archaic restrictions imposed on young Iranians by the right wing government and to poke fun at the gender clichés of Islam. One scene in which one of the girls must be escorted to the toilet by one of the guards is particularly amusing (there are no ladies toilets in a men-only stadium).

The amateur cast are completely convincing, especially the rough-talking tomboy, and the mini journey-of-discovery of the head guard is a joy to watch, as the film wonderfully illustrates the unifying power of a major sporting victory and consequent explosion of national pride can overcome such conservative prejudices. 

It's certainly the best football film I have ever seen, even though you don't actually see a single football being kicked.

Watch the trailer here

WATCH THE FULL FILM HERE

Shortbus

A film about which must fuss has been made, mainly due to the sex scenes, reportedly the most graphic ever to go on general release in America. However this film is less about sex but more about sexuality, love, and emotional repression/liberation.

The sex scenes are more there to completely lay the characters (and the audience) totally bare, vulnerable and exposed. They are intimate and realistic, often uncomfortable and sometimes unintentionally hilarious, much like real sex. They are more likely to make you laugh than turn you on or shock you. In fact the sex is often secondary to the relationships it's illustrating.

The film follows a small group of screwed up people who find solace in the 'salon for the gifted and challenged' known as Shortbus, an anarchistic arts centre and squat with a sex room based on a real place in Brooklyn called DUMBA, which was closed down during mayor Giuliani's prudish purge. Male and female, straight and gay, the characters find one and other, and eventually find themselves, when they set foot in Shortbus, "a mad nexus of art, music, politics, and polysexual carnality."

"The boldest provocation of Mitchell’s sweet, tender and gently funny film may not be its depiction of graphic sex, but rather its exuberant celebration of community and togetherness at a cultural moment rife with fatalism and disconnect." ~ LA Weekly

"If there is such a thing as hard-core with a soft heart, this is it." ~ Rolling Stone

The film sparkles with subtly hilarious dialogue and a great array of characters played by an ensemble cast and more cameos than you can shake a stick at. The soundtrack is awesome too.

So sit back, relax and climb aboard the Shortbus (just don't watch it with your granny)

WATCH THE FULL MOVIE HERE

PART ONE

PART TWO

The Elephant in the Room

For everyone who finds all those conspiracy documentaries about 9/11, the war in Iraq and the US government hysterical and insufferable, but is still interested in the subject, there is thankfully this wonderful and intimate film by Dean Puckett, a man who came to my home town and showed the film at one of the film nights at our local community centre.

Rather than simply having an unseen narrator ranting and raving about conspiracies over stock footage and archive film (a la zeitgeist), this film instead investigates the cultural impact the event has had on the world using real people; face to face soundbites from people all over the world who have been directly or indirectly affected. From the appalling treatment of NYC's first responders to the Muslim backlash in Britain, and much much more. 

There are many fascinating interviews with all number of people including famous democratic politician Cynthia McKinney, whose willingness to speak out about numerous human rights matters has lost her a seat in congress, and MI5 whistle blower Annie Machon.

The director travelled the world to make the film and you can tell it was as much a voyage of human discovery as a documentary about bigger matters. Intimate, intelligent and at times devastating, this is fascinating viewing, whatever your opinion on what may have happened on that day in September may be.

The film won Best Documentary at the London independant film festival 2008

Check out the trailer

WATCH THE FULL MOVIE HERE (1hr 50mins approx)

An American Tail ~ Fievel Goes West

Watch it for free here!
(You know you want to)

Since I been gone...

...I went to Secret Garden Party

Here's a couple of photos, click 'em for HQ



I'll try and get all of them online soon, along with a new mixtape, working on three actually; Motherland (afro-sounds) Tropic Thunder (Baile, Kuduro etc) and volume 2 of the Vintage Compendium...
Hurray! Just need internet at my new house and all will be well...