Willow Creek

Year of Release:  2013

Director:  Bobcat Goldthwaite

Screenplay:  Bobcat Goldthwaite

Starring:  Bryce Johnson, Alexie Gilmour

Running Time:  79 minutes

Genre:  Horror

This found-footage horror film revolves around a young couple: Jim (Johnson) and Kelly (Gilmour), who are on a trip into the Six Rivers National Forest in California to make a documentary about the legendary Bigfoot.  Jim is an enthusiastic believer in the creature, but Kelly is a sceptic.  Needless to say, they soon discover the truth.

Written and directed by comedian turned filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwaite (possibly best known for his recurring appearances in the Police Academy films), this is similar in style to The Blair Witch Project (1999) if the opening scenes of the Blair Witch extended for over half the film, and the wandering around in the forest only lasts for the last half hour or so.  For much of the film it's like a satirical look at the Bigfoot tourist industry, and pop culture impact.  They travel through towns where everything seems to revolve around Bigfoot, and visit a Bigfoot diner, bookstore, and eccentric local folksinger who sings Bigfoot-themed songs.  Jim and Kelly are searching for the location of the famous Patterson-Gimlin Film, which purportedly shows a female Sasquatch walking, and you have probably seen a still from it if you have ever looked up Bigfoot.  Aside from a disturbing encounter with a aggressive local, the scares don't come in until late in the film, in an extended scene where Jim and Kelly are in a tent and we hear strange noises and something thrown against the tent.  It all ends very abruptly.  It does have some very effective moments, and Jim and Kelly are likeable and engaging characters who, unusually for a found footage film, actually do have character and personality. It's not really scary enough to work as a horror film, but it is an entertaining diversion.

Kelly (Alexie Gilmour) meets a new friend in Willow Creek

      

"Single & Single" by John le Carre

 Year of Publication:  1999

Length:  374 pages

Genre:  Thriller

What connects the murder of an English lawyer in Istanbul, a shabby children's party magician in Devon who finds a vast fortune mysteriously deposited in his daughter's trust fund, and the disappearance of the head of a once respected financial institution with ties to organised crime?  Tenacious British customs officer Nat Brock investigates the mystery and uncovers a vast international criminal conspiracy.

The death of British author John le Carré, the pen name of David Cornwall, in December 2020 robbed the world of one of the great writers of popular fiction.  Making his name with Cold War spy thrillers in the 1960s, le Carré managed to navigate the complex and ever shifting landscape of international politics.  As with most le Carré novels this is essential of a conventional thriller and more a psychological piece about the moral and spiritual price of lives built entirely on deceit.  It's not one of his best books, the book starts well and then gets bogged down in the middle with complex debates on money laundering and other legal and financial issues, but it does pick up as it moves towards it's conclusion.  However, it ends so abruptly I thought my book was missing a chapter.  Like a lot of John le Carrè, the characters are all deeply flawed, which makes it more realistic but also means that it's really hard to care about most of them, which really isn't good for a thriller.

   

12 Angry Men

 Year of Release: 1957

Director:  Sidney Lumet

Screenplay:   Reginald Rose

Starring:  Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, E. G. Marshall, Jack Warden

Running Time:  96 minutes

Genre:  Courtroom drama

In a New York City courthouse, a young Puerto Rican man is on trial for the murder of his father.  As the all-male jury retire to consider their verdict it appears to be an open and shut case.  However one of the jurors (Fonda) is not so sure, and believes that there may be room for reasonable doubt.

Originally produced as a television play, this is one of the classic courtroom dramas, even though the trial itself is never actually shown.  Aside from some brief scenes at the beginning and end of the film, the entire story takes place in the cramped, claustrophobic confines of the jury room and, aside from a brief dialogue exchange at the film's conclusion, none of the characters are named.  The film brings up themes of racism and classism which are sadly still relevant today, as the characters' preconceptions and prejudices are revealed.  It's about men who are complete strangers to each other, who are forced together and have to reach an agreement, and we get the group dynamics, some characters are more dominant and some more passive, and alliances are formed and break apart.  The film is set during a swelteringly hot day, and there is a real sense of claustrophobia, heightened by the fact that the camera movies from wide angle images at the beginning of the film to increasingly tight close-ups in on the individuals as the story progresses.  It features some powerful performances from a talented, if not particularly diverse, cast.  Henry Fonda is fantastic in the lead role, as the reasonable juror who just wants his fellow jurors to discuss the case and not just immediately vote to convict.  The film has been referenced and parodied countless times since its release, and was remade in 1997.

   12 Angry Men