Leonard here. The following column is written by my colleague Mark Searby highlighting British cinema past and present. Please enjoy A Bit of Crumpet.
Radiance Films are boutique Blu-Ray label out of the UK. They have been running several years now and their output has ranged from arthouse provocateurs to genre classics. It’s run by Fran Simeoni, who used to be director of content at Arrow Films. So, it’s far to say Fran knows his way around a good quality release or two.
Trenque Lauquen is one such quality release, and it’s one I’ve been looking forward to seeing for some time. A sprawling four-hour movie set across two parts (and two Blu-Rays) that is in no rush for anyone to tell the story. A story that see’s two men seek to discover the disappearance of a woman they both loved. Set in the Argentine suburb of Trenque Lauquen, it’s a mystery that has been compared to Twin Peaks thanks to its barren landscapes, haunting locations and eery characters, and not to mention that the central character in both is called Laura. It’s very much a thought-provoking piece of work that keeps you invested for the full runtime. Possibly that’s because the storyline changes at the halfway point and flips to a supernatural mystery that involves a creature in a lake. It also features Laura meeting with a mysterious doctor, and a discovery of a pregnancy. I know some had trouble with the second half of this film (Part II to give its official title). However, I rather enjoyed its brazen disregard for conventional storytelling after the first half of the film and instead flipping it to a story that has multiple stands that might or might not all fit into the central narrative. It’s a welcome change after Part I’s interesting yet pretty standard lost girl story. There’s nothing wrong as such with Part I. It’s just that the two male leads are not the most welcoming of characters. One smiles every hour and the other one doesn’t smile at all. Sure, I don’t expect them to smile when on the hunt for a woman they both love, but a bit of warmth to each character would go a long way to feeling empathy for their situation and understanding a bit more about why these two men, one of whom is married, have travelled a long way to try and find a woman.
Thankfully, Laura is a far more emotional and interesting character. A radio show host who has become obsessed with loaning a series of books by one author from her library because she has found secret love letters that point to an illicit affair. These letters bring about a shocking turn of events that play like a parallel to Laura’s own life. This is where the mystery begins, and you truly want to know what happened to her because she is such a fascinating character who has uncovered a similarly fascinating story. Laura Paredes, who plays Laura, has a way of drawing you in through her eyes. She gives a compelling performance that is less about the dialogue and more about her subtle movements.
Iconic French film magazine Cahiers du Cinema ranked Trenque Lauquen as the best film of 2023. While I disagree with that, I will say that this film, even with its four-hour runtime, is one deeply complex and beguiling mystery movie. It defies being pigeon-holed in one category. For those looking to go beyond Special Agent Dale Cooper and Detective Benoit Blanc then this film will have you curious, intrigued, mystified, dumbfounded, shocked, frightened, spooked and scratching your head.
The Agitator: Three Provocations from the Wild World of Jean-Pierre Mocky is a boxset showcasing three films from actor/director/novelist Jean-Pierre Mocky. Not a name I’m familiar with, and while not classed as an Enfant Terrible of French cinema, Mocky certainly liked to mix things up if these three films are anything to go by.
Agent Trouble involves government cover-ups, poisonous gas, assassins, mystery deaths and a museum employee out for revenge. It’s a crime thriller that struggles to get off the ground after an intriguing opening where a bus load of passengers are found poisoned. From there Amanda Webber seeks to uncover the truth as her nephew was one of the people on that bus that was killed. But this is no race-against-the-clock thriller, instead it’s a meander through a bunch of sluggish exposition set pieces that see’s Webber both running for her life and trying to fight back against the criminal masterminds that have killed her nephew. It’s a cocktail that just doesn’t mix. Catherine Deneuve stars in the lead role, but looks to be going through the motions (not helped by a hideous wig) and lacks the passion & charisma to make us believe that Webber is the one to finally uncover the conspiracy. Richard Bohringer as Alex, a government assassin, is the more intriguing character. But clunky dialogue and wild shooting doesn’t help the performance. However, there is something about this guy that you can’t help but be fascinated about, and maybe even a little empathetic to. The film also has a great finale between Webber and Alex set onboard a tram that is travelling up a snow-covered mountain. But sadly, Agent Trouble doesn’t breakout of being anything more than a mid-level, b-movie thriller.
Kill The Referee, on the other hand, is a terrific film that goes from joke-y soccer-fans-want-to-kill-the-ref to serious foot-chase-and-building-dangling thriller. Any sports fan will at one point or another have been annoyed with the referee of their sport, so will emphasize with the fans who hate the ref in this film. However, Mocky’s film really ramps up when serious violence and bloodletting after the game. The soccer fans have found the home of the referee and his wife, who then must go on the run, including a terrific chase sequence through a shopping mall that has echoes of Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. Baying for blood (and more) the soccer fans have suddenly become wanna-be killers and the ref, a usually placid man, is now questioning his own morals in-order to stay alive. Running at only 82 minutes, Kill The Referee is a relentless and intense revenge thriller that also has a social commentary about crowd mentality/hooliganism.
The best film in the boxset is Litan. A strange, discombobulating movie that takes its lead from both The Wicker Man and Don’t Look Now. Nora and Jock, a young couple, pass through a small village as the local inhabitants hold a Festival of the Dead. Locals wear disturbing masks that ensure Nora and/or Jock are never sure who is whom or where they stand with any of them. As they walk, and later run, through the small streets the feeling of claustrophobia sets in, and the fog, and they struggle to find anywhere that doesn’t have a local in a mask seemingly following their every movement. The colour Red appears throughout almost as a signifier as to what might be around the corner for the two visitors. Mocky uses surrealism throughout this film, and a good dollop of esotericism, as the weird becomes weirder and the scares become scarier. Haunting imagery and disturbing visions plague the two protagonists, and the viewer, as the film goes for broke in its finale. Litan is a truly strange and nightmare-inducing film.
Trenque Lauquen and The Agitator: Three Provocations from the Wild World of Jean-Pierre Mocky are available now from Radiance Films.