jason_millhouse Reviews

Random (2011 TV Movie)

Riviting television

[24 August 2011]

I really didn't know what to expect from Random. I'd seen the TV trailer and it looked interesting but didn't tell me much. I started watching and came dangerously close to turning off. The narrative seemed too fractured, too...random. But I stuck with it and I was so happy I did. It was an excellent piece of television.

What makes this so interesting (and ironically off putting in the first 10 minutes) is that the main four main characters of a West Indian family are portrayed not only by actors but by one actress (a remarkable performance by Nadine Marshall) appearing not only within scenes but also in a performance space, often with the actress superimposed as different characters on screen at once.

It is immediately obvious that Random started out as a one woman stage play with the story being told in a series of internal and external monologues. The creative decisions writer and director Debbie Tucker Green makes to adapt her work to the screen work extremely well.

Nadine Marshall reprises her role(s) from the original stage play and she moves effortlessly from an overbearing mother to a grumpy father, a bossy sister and a cocky son. The mundane nature of life is captured brilliantly with comic observations (which reminded me of the plays of Martin McDonagh) until a random act of violence straight from the newspaper headlines changes everything and brings on a tragic tone.

Well worth watching for an unusual, artistic, poetic and intriguing experimental TV drama.

Running Scared (2006)

Violent, nasty, disturbing fun!!!

[8/10 · 6 January 2006]

I went into this movie knowing nothing at all about it (despite working in a cinema)and it totally blew me away. The violence is turned up to 11 from the opening scene. If you like the Sam Pekinpah/John Woo/Robert Rodriquez style of violence, then you'll love this. Shot using a mix of ultra-cool slow-mo, reverse time, bullet-tracing effects and just about every other possible trick, the movie is a real visual treat. One particularly bloody sequence is even shot under UV light so the gore has less impact on the viewer thus passing the censors. A technique used previously in Kill Bill. Writer/director Wayne Kramer has clearly been influenced by the extremes of Asian cinema from such directors as Takashi Miike and has brought this style of film-making boldly to western audiences (which is why this won't be to everyone's taste). Kramer is clearly a talent to watch out for proving himself to be a great director shooting from his own solid script and getting strong performances from the cast, young and old. Paul Walker gives his best performance yet, playing against type and convincingly putting aside his good guy image. This film will likely get overlooked due to very little publicity but I urge anyone with a love for cinema (and a strong stomach) to track down and watch this film. You won't be disappointed. A future cult classic.