REVIEWS Dredd Reviewed by Brent Simon


An action movie with confidence, style and unapologetic brawn, Dredd — much like its blunt protagonist — does not invest a lot of energy in oblique sketching of motivation or playing coy. An adaptation of the popular UK comic book focusing on the justice-dispensing character of the same name, this dystopian neo-noir unfolds as a full- frontal assault on the senses, while also carving out enough of a personality to establish a beachhead as a potential franchise for distributor Lionsgate. Dredd should surely satisfy fans of the source


material far more than 1995’s summer entry Judge Dredd, which starred Sylvester Stallone. Though that movie grossed $113m worldwide, only 30% of the total came from North American box office, and the film’s ill-fitting inclusions of humour and a love interest drew significant derision. At an indeterminate point in the future, the


world is an irradiated wasteland, and in America 800 million people are crammed into Mega City One, a sprawling metropolis running along the eastern seaboard, from Boston to Washington DC. Crime in this urban jungle is rampant, and the only force of order lies in helmeted officers who com- bine the powers of judge, jury and executioner. The no-nonsense Judge Dredd (Urban) is one of


these more known and feared justices. Tabbed as the evaluating officer for a clairvoyant recruit, Cas- sandra Anderson (Thirlby), Dredd takes her on a training exercise, responding to a brutal triple- homicide at Peachtrees, a 200-story high-rise slum.


Lore Reviewed by Frank Hatherley


This gripping off-road movie is Australian direc- tor/co-writer Cate Shortland’s first feature since her debut success, Somersault (2004). Lore is played entirely in German with English subtitles, and Shortland and her UK co-writer Robin Mukherjee base their taut script with its spare dia- logue on a 2001 Booker Prize nominated novel by Rachel Seiffert, The Dark Room, which consists of three thematically linked novellas — Lore is the centrepiece — with the spotlight on post-war Ger- man awareness, guilt and responsibility. In a deadly, real-life variation of The Hunger


Games, teenager Lore attempts to shepherd her four siblings, one of them only a few months old, across lawless, war-ravaged Germany during the bitter end days of Nazism. Their terrified father (Wagner), an SS officer,


burns a huge pile of papers and photographs at their stately Bavarian home before shooting the family dog and disappearing; their traumatised mother (Lardi, brilliant) decides to give herself up. She abandons her children, urging them to some- how make their way to their grandmother, who lives in Hamburg, 900 kilometres (560 miles) to the north. Demure Lore (Rosendahl) and the children —


Führer-loving, Jew-hating, indulged, innocent of the war — are creatures of a strict upbringing and years of lying propaganda. But innocence offers no


September 7, 2012 Screen International at Toronto 21 n


SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS


Ger-Aus. 2012. 108mins Director Cate Shortland Production companies Rohfilm, Porchlight Films, Edge City Films International sales Memento Films International, www. memento-films.com Producers Karsten Stöter, Liz Watts, Paul Welsh, Benny Dreschel Screenplay Cate Shortland, Robin Mukherjee, based on the novel The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert Cinematography Adam Arkapaw Main cast Saskia Rosendahl, Kai Malina, Nele Trebs, Ursina Lardi, Hans-Jochen Wagner, Mika Seidel, André Frid, Eva- Maria Hagen


protection against ragged fellow countrymen reduced to primal needs. Their ability to survive a hostile cross-country


trek without money or identification is constantly questioned. Begging for meagre food and cold shelter, they meet stunned Germans, dangerous soldiers and the thin, wild-eyed refugee Thomas (Malina) who takes an immediate interest in the budding Lore. Their relationship, at once wary, hostile and needy, is beautifully handled by Short- land and her two young actors. The deep-feeling Saskia Rosendahl makes a major impression as an


intelligent girl learning the power of her sexuality and resolve under maximum stress. We see the Nazi disaster filtered through her teenage decency and incomprehension. Co-produced by Australia’s Liz Watts (Animal


Kingdom), Lore is perfectly designed by Germany’s Silke Fischer (Tabu) and shot in exemplary outdoors style by award-winning Adam Arkapaw (Snowtown, Animal Kingdom), who captures both the harshness and the lush, wet colours of the forested landscape. There is excellent music by Max Richter and a tense, unsettling soundscape by Sam Petty.


MIDNIGHTMADNESS


UK-US. 2012. 96mins Director Pete Travis Production companies Reliance Entertainment, DNA Films, IM Global International sales IM Global, www. imglobalfilm.com Domestic distribution Lionsgate Pictures Producer Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich, Alex Garland Screenplay Alex Garland, based on characters created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra Cinematography Anthony Dod Mantle Editor Mark Eckersley Production designer Mark Digby Music Paul Leonard- Morgan Main cast Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Wood Harris, Langley Kirkwood, Junior Singo, Luke Tyler, Jason Cope, Domhnall Gleeson, Warrick Grier


The area is controlled by a prostitute turned vicious drug lord, Ma-Ma (Headey), who is using the building as the hub of distribution for a new drug, Slo-Mo, which causes users to experience reality at a fraction of its normal speed. When one of her clan’s inner circle is captured


alive, Ma-Ma commandeers the compound’s con- trol centre, seals it off and puts a bounty on the judges’ heads. Unable to get out, Dredd and Ander- son choose to battle their way up to the top. This iteration of Dredd is a darker, more visceral


incarnation of John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra’s comic-book character than the effort starring Stal- lone. While comparisons to Doom, Robocop and


Max Payne are apt, the movie’s hectic, bottled, ver- tical assault strongly recalls the recent The Raid: Redemption, except with more sci-fi trappings. Working with cinematographer Anthony Dod


Mantle, director Pete Travis also makes solid use of the film’s 3D. The narrative inclusion of Slo-Mo fits the effect hand-in-glove, allowing for painterly images that approach art. Eschewing any of the vanity associated with the


previous adaptation, Karl Urban keeps on his mask throughout, yet still ably communicates a steely resolve. The eyes may be the window to the soul, but Urban re-affirms there are other portholes as well — posture and gait among them.


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