Film Review: Romance in the Strangest Places
‘I have chosen three films that at first appear to be rather diverse in terms of their genres. Sci-fi - 'Z.P.G', crime thriller - 'Danger Diabolik', and Fantasy Horror -'The Shape of Water'. The one consistent theme that runs throughout is romantic love. Love is a complicated emotion that can bring strength in the midst of extreme adversity. All our protagonists in these films are under stress but find absolute power to rise above their predicaments in their undying love for each.’
Aspasia Leonarder aka Miss Death
Zero Population Growth aka Z.P.G (1972)
Humanity has finally brought themselves to the brink of destruction by polluting the Earth so much that the air is unbreathable, and most animals and plants are extinct. Married couple Russ (Oliver Reed) and Carol (Geraldine Chaplin) work in a museum of 20th century living, where people can view taxidermy domestic pets and the odd wilted pot plant. Along with their neighbours George (Don Gordon) and Edna (Diane Cilento) they depict the way people lived pre-pollution and overpopulation, eating real food as opposed to the colourful pastes that come out of tubes that people are force to eat due to food degradation. The government’s solution is to ban anyone having children for 20 years and the penalty for disobeying is death to all involved. To address the need the government issues couples of child-bearing age with AI robotic children. Carol and Russ defy the law and end up having a baby, but their neighbours find out and want in on the rearing of this child. They begrudgingly agree but now George and Edna want to take possession of the baby full time, or they will notify the authorities. Russ and Carol realise that they must find a way to escape alive with their child.
Z.P.G. is a much neglected and partially forgotten addition to the pantheon of environmental catastrophic/sci-Fi/dystopian films. It takes contemporary situations and turns them inside out. What may seem as a fairly prosaic and harmless activity, such as a Sunday roast dinner or a picnic, we are now driven to re-examine as a sign of extravagance and gluttony. I watched this film when I was in my mid-teens, and it traumatised me so much that I was fearful this scenario could be on the cards in the not-too-distant future. So, when I did fall pregnant a couple of years later, I thought I better keep the baby just in case!
This low budget entirely set driven production is able to rise above its constraints and bring an air of authenticity to its despotic landscape. Maybe it's the use of special effects expert Derek Meddings, who had just left the Gerry Anderson's Century 21st Production company. He was the genius behind all the modelling and effects work for Anderson's most popular shows (Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and UFO) and had been approached in the mid 60's by Stanley Kubrick to work on 2001. That never happened, so Z.P.G was his first foray into feature films. Apart from doing all the intricate model work including the flying death dome he was also responsible for the design and construction of the animatronic robot replacement babies and children. The two lead actors Reed and Chaplin give a sensitive and restrained performance as the couple who defy authority and remain subdued throughout the film conveying an acute sense of oppression generated by this apocalyptic society, they find themselves in.
Z.P.G has an important message that is even more relevant today than it was when it was first released. This micro-budget English Danish co-production gem should have been mandatory viewing for all those attending the G20 Summit. You have been warned, this may just be what our future holds. If you now need to see this film, you won’t need to look far!
Danger: Diabolik (1968)
Time to step aside Marvel Universe! Have you ever heard of Diabolik? There's a different kind of action hero in town and he doesn't need factious superpowers to get by. Diabolik utilises cunning, ingenuity and unlimited charisma to win the day and when he blows up the Tax Department just for fun Diabolik feels more like an anti-hero than a run of the mill one. In Italy, during the early 60s, two sisters Angela and Luciana Giussani, created a very popular comic book series based on his adventures. So popular that maverick Italian director Mario Bava adapted it for the screen in 1968.
Diabolik (John Phillip Law) and his divine girlfriend/partner in crime Eva Kant (Marisa Mell) live in an elaborate breathtaking fully electronic underground lair. It’s from here they plot and plan various ways of shaking up authority and in particular the current inspector of police Ginko (Michell Piccoli) to fund their extravagant lifestyle. We see an increasingly frustrated police force driven to the brink of insanity as they try to outwit Diabolik and Eva from stealing their counties gold. Diabolik cuts a crucial profile at the wheel of a black E-type Jaguar clad in a skintight body suit, while Eva's constantly changing wardrobe leaves very little to the imagination. Their sexual chemistry together is simply sensational.
Some would deem Diabolik as a criminal but his various escapades not only benefit him and Eva, but many times the common man. They take great satisfaction in flaunting their cutting-edge technology and talents against authority and the aristocracy.
This film ticks so many boxes, so let’s just start with the Director Mario Bava himself. A master craftsman who utilised miniatures, mat paintings, unique cinematography and an exaggerated colour pallet to create a retrofuturism that exemplified all that was 1960's pop culture. But wait there's more! What about the score by Enio Moriccone? Heralded as one of his best, and with the master tapes lost to a studio fire the only way to hear his brilliance is to watch this film.
And then there is the international cast including Terry Thomas and many Italian character actors that are all superbly cast.
John Phillip Law would leave the set of Barbarella (Pygar the blind angel) and with a two day turn around would find himself in Rome on the sound stage of Bava's Danger: Diabolik. He was so amazed and elated at the director’s ease and ingenuity, that he embraced the roll like no other. Bava had the uncanny ability to frame scenes that stayed true to the form of comic book panels. Along with extreme camera angles, psychedelic visuals, and rapid fire editing, this film remains a more authentic graphic adaptation to the screen than what Roger Vadim had tried to create with Barbarella. Not a financial success it it's day, Danger: Diabolik has gradually gained a cult following and rose back up to the mainstream surface in 1998, thanks to the Beastie Boys. Their music video for the track Body Movin' incorporated scenes and parodies of the film.
And they say crime doesn't pay! Watch here.
The Shape of Water (2017)
Its 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland at a secret corporation/government facility. The head man at the company is a misogynistic racist named Strickland (Michael Shannon), who swaggers around carrying a cattle prod. It is the Hight of the Cold War, and everyone is paranoid about the Russians, especially once "The Asset" arrives in a portable tank. Discovered in the Amazon, and worshiped as a god, the Amphibian Man (Doug Jones) is now contained in a giant tank, and endures torture at the hand of Strickland's cattle prod.
Elisa Espisito (Sally Hawkins) one of the many faceless janitors working there, stumbles onto the amphibian/merman creature that is being studied. She is fascinated to find out what it is and secretly visits every day sharing her lunch of boiled eggs. Elisa, a mute, having been abandoned as a child with cuts to her neck, is able to communicate via sign language. When she finds out that the corporation are trying to utilise its abilities for warfare and are about to dissect it she enlists the aid of her African American co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer) and her closeted artist neighbour Giles (Richard Jenkins).They hatch an elaborate plan to break it out of the secure facility and she takes him home. Clearly not having thought it through to the end, once at her place, the environment is not conducive to this water dwelling creature.
Directed, produced, written and scripted by Guillermo del Toro (being a huge fan of his movies) I think that The Shape of Water is his magnus opus and was justified in thinking so when it got 13 nominations at the 90th Academy Awards, the most of any film in the 2018 race. It won in four categories: Best Production Design, Best Original Score, Best Director, and Best Picture.
Production designer Paul D. Austerberry, creates exquisitely rich worlds, so real you are feeling the dampness that permeates the whole film, whether in the dank corridors of the facility or in Elisa's bathroom. Cinematographer Dan Laustsen conveys a clammy wet mood, utilising streaming windows, swirling raindrops and shadows wavering on the walls to transport you into the underwater environment that the amphibian inhabits.
For me, one of the most enchanting scenes from this film is when Elisa seals the bathroom, as best she can, and floods it creating a giant fish tank, for the two of them to consummate the ever growing connection and attraction that these two fish out of water are feeling. This film is about who is valued in our society, what is considered human, and who we are permitted to love. It is a story about empathy, compassion friendship, and above all love with no bounds, that elevate the characters to their full potential.
Let’s not forget the reference to the Amazon, which is more than a nod and a wink in homage to Jack Arnold’s ‘The Creature’ from The Black Lagoon. Even though Del Toro has never gone on the record to state that this could possibly be a sequel to that film he certainly has been inspired by what has gone before.
Aspasia Leonarder aka Miss Death trained as a diversional therapist and went on to become Radio Host on FBI Radio , Naked City and now Co-hosts the Naked World Podcast. She is not only a film enthusiast but also a vinyl DJ and an Eco warrior, who utilises discarded materials to create sustainable art and home wares.
