quiet paws.

Moon is set at a point ‘in the future’, but combines new technology with old-school science fiction movie styling to make it a movie which could almost be set in ‘any time’. Astronaut Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is due to complete his three year contract with Lunar Industries, a job which has seen him living on the far side of the moon to harvest Helium-3, the Earth’s current primary source of energy. As you’d expect, being the solitary astronaut responsible for the mining base is lonely work, a fact not helped by the lack of ‘live communications’ to and from earth (there is a significant delay in the sending and receipt of recorded messages). Aside from these sporadic messages received from home, Sam’s main source of companionship is ‘Gerty’, the base’s computer (which features the cool, calm voice of Kevin Spacey) who is fully equipped with a wide range of mood-relevant emoticons.

With only three weeks left at the mining base, Sam is understandably excited about returning to normal life on earth with his family. However with the deadline fast approaching, Sam unfortunately begins to feel unwell, a side-effect of which seems to be random hallucinations. Beyond saying that Sam Rockwell is an absolute GENIUS in this role, I don’t want to reveal any more of the story-line, as the suprising twists and turns of the plot are what help make this film so refreshing… Perhaps I can just say, ‘expect the unexpected’, or as the awesome tag-line for this film suggests, ‘the last place you’d ever expect to find yourself’…

While Moon builds the same sharp, edgy tension reminiscent of that other space great, 2001: A Space Odyssey, the two are very different films. Moon reinforces a similar idea of the regimented structure you’d expect from life on a remote space station. However rather than present a quiet, ‘epic’ vision of space, the visuals of Moon fill the screen more with buzzing activity than implied serenity. While Moon still evokes a sense of grandeur, the ‘busy’ action-filled setting complements perfectly the confusion and drama which slowly surrounds the main character of Sam, thus creating the perfect suspenseful environment.

Anna Wintour, as the editor-in-chief of Vogue for over 20 years, has become a one-woman legend in the fashion world. Like many incredibly successful fashion ‘legends’, Wintour tends to polarise people’s opinions of her. Some see her as a hard-nosed, uncompromising businesswoman who wields her incredible power to wrongly influence and shape the entire fashion industry. Others see her as an incredibly talented saviour of fashion, a strong supporter of up-and-coming new talent, a trend-spotter, or in other words, nothing less than a fashion institution.

The September Issue is a fascinating documentary which covers the lead-up to the production of the September 2007, 840 page, record-breaking, fall-preview issue of Vogue. While the film centres on Wintour, we gain a much wider perspective of who she is as a person through the eyes of her family and her work colleagues – in particular the insights provided by Grace Coddington, Vogue’s creative director, whose relationship with Wintour is filled with a very healthy dose of conflict and criticisim. Coddington is the creative genius to match Wintour’s tough business focus.

Aside from the influence she wields within the fashion industry, Wintour is almost instantly recognisable as a visual icon as well – with her sharp bob haircut and trademark oversized sunglasses (which she pretty much wears all the time), she is hard to miss. While Wintour is strongly rumoured to have been the inspiration for The Devil Wears Prada, the view of Wintour contained within The September Issue is one thousand times more complex, more impressive and quite simply just ‘more’ than the fictionalised account ever presented.

Throughout the film, Wintour shares her thoughts about other people’s views of the fashion industry, we see how she operates in meetings with legendary designers, photographers and new fashion talent, we watch how she interacts with her colleagues and family, and perhaps most importantly of all we see how much work is involved in editing and re-editing one of the most important issues of Vogue for the year. In one of those ironic contrasts, it often seems that most of the people working behind the scenes at magazines are far from being stylish themselves, and there are plenty of examples of this phenomenon within the Vogue offices. As for Wintour…well, she is the epitome of feminine style and classical elegance, though suprisingly she certainly isn’t one to simply opt for black at every occasion.

In watching The September Issue I feel that I’ve come to appreciate the ‘business of fashion’ a little more, as well as having a clearer picture of who Wintour is, and an understanding of the huge workload that the production of a magazine involves. The secondary story of this documentary for me was really watching the other side of the magazine’s production unfold from Coddington’s point of view. She leaves me with no doubt of her talent as a styling master and in awe of her gifted eye for creating inspired, jaw-droppingly beautiful fashion spreads. I feel privileged to have been let into the secretive world of Vogue and the lives of Wintour and Coddington, even if it was for just a short amount of time.

The September Issue is a great documentary on many levels, but for me the highlight was seeing the somewhat tempestuous and complex marriage of Wintour’s business focus and Coddington’s idealistic creative eye, which has come to represent what Vogue – and I suppose ultimately, what fashion – is all about.

Black Dynamite is a former CIA agent who is called back into service when ‘the man’ attacks his family, gets children addicted to drugs and takes the fight to African-American men in a very personal way. Set in the 1970’s, Black Dynamite is partly spoof, partly a homage to the blackploitation films of the time. As you’d expect much of the film and much of the plot is set in the ghetto, and focusses on drug dealers, pimps and general kung-fu treachery. Black Dynamite is the one man willing to take the fight from the blood-soaked city streets all the way to The White House.

Michael Jai White is amazing as Black Dynamite and never once breaks character, playing it straight so well that is just makes things even funnier. Black Dynamite is a martial arts warrior, has a second sense about bad guys, has an amazing gift for fashion and is of course an absolute hit with the ladies, all the ladies. It’s safe to say that this film is hilarious – there is some awesomely deliberate over-acting, bad choregraphy, great use and reference to cinematic cliches, and flawed scene continuity throughout. The storyline is ridiculous and ridiculously funny, as is the accompanying musical soundtrack.

This movie is just so fun and so enjoyable – the oneliners are great, but the overall story is also fantastically funny. I certainly hope it secures a wide release later in the year. What more can I say? You’ll laugh, you’ll cry (because of all the laughing), and then you’ll laugh some more.

Tragedy has a way of defining portions of our lives, almost in reverse. First comes the end of something – how things were before something terrible happened, and secondly comes the beginning – the start of something after that terrible thing. Truly tragic events split and fragment our previous life until we find a new way to move forward. Just as great love can humble and ground us, great loss can cause us to lose our footing in the world, so that we can no longer know who we are or who we were. In other words we can become a ‘missing person’.

Michael Shannon is John Rosow, a private dectective who is hired to tail a man on a train from Chicago to Los Angeles. Given very little information to work with at the start of the case, Rosow gradually comes to discover more information about the man he is following (Harold Fullmer), and at the same time more of Rosow’s character is revealed. Without spoiling any of the plot, I will say that the past experiences of Rosow and Fullmer intersect in a shared event that left me reflecting on who the title of the movie is actually referring to as ‘The Missing Person’.

The Missing Person explores the ways in which people can react in response to a personal tragedy. It is a film which takes a very human and real view of the emotional impacts of love and loss. At a broader level The Missing Person is a well-paced mystery story presented with a firm nod to the classic film noir style. Visually, the film is a wonderful mix of black and white, washed-out grainy textures and full colour reflecting the situation of our main character at that particular moment in time. The narrative doesn’t unfold freely from beginning to end, there is also very clever and tasteful use of flashbacks to add new dimensions to this already fascinatingly layered film. The cast is exceptionally strong, though the standout performances have to go to Michael Shannon and Amy Ryan.

The film seamlessly blends and contrasts the past and the present – old school detective work vs new technology, travelling by train vs travelling by plane, smoking and drinking excessively vs modern rules and acceptable social behaviour, tired femme fatales vs old-fashioned flirtation and romance…and the list goes on. Michael Shannon is the perfect ‘noir hero’ of this film, he is flawed, his humour is dry, he often seems out of place, and he knows how to charm. While the plot is built around tragedy and mystery, the film isn’t gloomy and miserable, it is a genuniely rewarding story with some really funny moments, and the jazz soundtrack is fabulous.

I watched The Missing Person at the Brisbane International Film Festival, so I’m not sure what kind of release the movie will be given in Australia once the film festival season is finished. With any luck it will be given wide release and more appreciators of fine film will be given the chance to see this wonderful, wonderful movie.