Film Inquiry Recommends: Prison Films

Over at our official Facebook page, we are currently posting daily film recommendations, with each week being a different theme. This is a collection of those recommendations! This week’s theme is prison films.

The Purge Election Year
THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR Trailer

The central concept that for 12 hours the American government makes all crime legal has always been the main selling point for The Purge series. There’s inevitable sociopolitical commentary there, not to mention the smaller question of what kind of people would participate in such brutality. Striking ad campaigns for the first two films turned them into massive financial successes, and the forthcoming third film, The Purge:

Catherine Hardwicke
The Beginner’s Guide: Catherine Hardwicke, Director

Catherine Hardwicke’s name may now be synonymous with a certain teen vampire movie, but her career has spanned a diverse and accomplished selection of films encompassing skateboarding SoCal teens, adolescent angst, fantasy action and moving comedy drama. Hardwicke is now also well-known for her work in raising the profile of both female filmmakers and highlighting the industry bias against them, an issue she has experienced first hand throughout her career and one on which she is not afraid to speak out. Whatever project she undertakes, her work is full of energy, vibrancy, and authenticity.

The Mask You Live In
THE MASK YOU LIVE IN: Masculinity Under The Microscope

A fatal flaw runs through many conversations about gender issues: they narrowly focus on women. The problem largely stems from comfort, as that is how the battle has been framed for decades.

10 Cloverfield Lane
Movies Opening in Cinemas On March 11

Every Tuesday Film Inquiry publishes the movies that are opening in cinemas! This week: 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Young Messiah, The Perfect Match, The Brothers Grimsby, Creative Control, Eye in the Sky, Hello My Name Is Doris, Lolo, Marguerite and River of Grass.

Trumbo
What is Film Analysis? Part 1: Narrative & Character

Film analysis, as far as I can tell, isn’t conducted any more in mainstream film criticism. That’s because these days anyone can write about film, and do. The film theorists and heavy-weight reviewers of the past have been overtaken by the age of the internet and by all the people ‘having a go’.

Becoming Bulletproof
BECOMING BULLETPROOF: Filmmaking As A Communal Convergence Of Differences

If you’ve ever wondered what inclusive cinema looks like, you should watch Becoming Bulletproof. Michael Barnett’s documentary captures the filming of a Western, called “Bulletproof,” starring performers with different abilities. Among the cast are people who struggle with impediments to speech and mobility, and working with their different needs creates an unique atmosphere behind the scenes.

Adira
ADIRA Trailer

If there is a universal desire in this world, it’s for our children to live a good life. No matter how you define good, the possibility of this seemed remote for Jewish families during World War II, forcing many parents to make desperate choices to keep this hope alive. And so there was a generation of lost children, boys and girls who had been flung to the wind after all other options were taken away.

Riefenstahl
Leni Riefenstahl: The Best Director You’ve Never Heard Of

Some of you may have come across Helene “Leni” Riefenstahl, so I hope you’ll forgive the introduction for those who haven’t. Born in 1902 in Berlin, Germany, Riefenstahl defied gender norms and became one of the most successful documentary filmmakers of the 1930s. At a time when most industries, especially film, were dominated by men, Riefenstahl found herself not only directing films but developing new techniques which influenced cinema up to this very day.

Rolling Papers
ROLLING PAPERS: Fun For The Initiated

The old is boring and the new is exciting; right or wrong, that’s just how our brains our wired. So when something is in danger of becoming not just old but extinct, it’s only natural that they would seek to extend their longevity by latching onto something new. We could be witnessing an extinction event for one such aging institution, the daily newspaper.

Sunset Song
SUNSET SONG Trailer

Writer/director Terence Davies has released only two narrative features since the turn of the millennium, The House of Mirth and The Deep Blue Sea. Both are acclaimed pieces about a woman trapped by circumstance, which makes his dogged fascination with the poor Scottish farm girl at the center of Sunset Song perfectly understandable. He pitched the film fifteen years ago but was unable to land financial backing, shelving the project after even an open letter in The Guardian didn’t bear fruit.

Ghostbusters
GHOSTBUSTERS Trailer

There’s something strange in your neighborhood. There’s something weird, but it could be good. Who you gonna call?

The Beginner’s Guide: John Hughes, Director

Accurately reflecting teenage experience in film is no mean feat, and there aren’t many filmmakers to achieve it like John Hughes. Born in Michigan in 1950, Hughes described himself as a “quiet kid” who loved The Beatles. Aged 12, he and his family moved to the Chicago suburb Northbrook in Illinois.

Theeb
THEEB: A Bedouin Western

Theeb is an excellent film from this past year, and I’m afraid the precious few people will make it out to see it due to the lack of distribution. Had it not been nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar this year, I probably would have never come across this little gem. Theeb is set in 1916 toward the end of the Ottoman Empire, in a province known as Hijaz (around Saudi Arabia and Medina) where two brothers, who hail from a family nomads, escort a British soldier with a mysterious wooden box to the Ottomon railway.

Green Room
GREEN ROOM Trailer

Green Room marks the second of writer/director Jeremy Saulnier’s blood-drenched thrillers to have premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. You may have heard whispers about 2013’s Blue Ruin as it trickled out of the festival circuit, lauded by audiences and critics alike as a paradigm of the vigilante genre. Now Saulnier takes on the backwoods, pitting some young punk rockers against a group of white supremacists.