Prison stuff. In prison movies.
‘A Song of Love’. Jean Genet had all the credentials to write and direct a prison movie – in his younger years he was a petty thief, vagrant and prostitute and spent a number of years in juvenile and adult penal facilities. This 26-minute, soundless, black & white film draws on some of that experience, and no doubt his experience as a gay man in prison. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 2:04 pm. Updated on May 7th, 2020 at 9:46 pm.
Having been very critical of Midnight Express for its xenophobic vilification of the locals, I was keen to see a slightly more trustworthy portrayal of the Turkish prison system. And the two films are different; while Midnight Express has not one prison guard who is neither corrupt nor brutal, Duvar has… one! (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 1:38 pm. Updated on April 28th, 2020 at 10:14 pm.
More a Borstal film than a prison film, perhaps, but we’ll leave it in. The BBC commissioned a TV film on the British Borstal (juvenile justice) system in 1977, and then banned it, leading Director Alan Clarke to recreate it as a movie. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 1:00 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
From the very first scenes, where Randy (Michael Pitt) is silently preparing to go to court, you know things aren’t going to go well for him. His tie is all awry in a schoolboyish sort of way, he’s pasty, he has a constant pouty look, and his hair is tied back in a vain little ponytail. (more…)
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 10:00 pm. Updated on March 6th, 2016 at 12:36 pm.
This purports to be a prison movie spoof, or rather, a gay spoof of prison movies. (more…)
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 9:35 pm. Updated on August 11th, 2013 at 12:06 pm.
A surprisingly poetic film about… deliverance, really. Alex (Hill Harper) is a former drug user serving a sentence for a rape he is adamant he didn’t commit. He also has AIDS. His family have little contact with him; they are too ashamed, too busy, and too cowed by Alex’s unforgiving father. But it is Alex’s relationship with his disappointed father that is the story’s heart. (more…)
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 8:56 pm. Updated on April 21st, 2020 at 11:01 pm.
This is as close to being inside a women’s prison in Iran that I think I’ll ever get, and a fascinating peep inside it is, too. It’s a brave film in that as well as being a prison drama, it serves as a metaphor for the treatment of women in post-revolution Iran, guaranteeing that the film would be banned there upon its release. (more…)
Posted on May 2nd, 2009 at 12:24 am. Updated on April 25th, 2020 at 9:12 pm.