LOVELACE

The real Linda Lovelace

The story of 1970s porn icon Linda Lovelace has always fascinated me. At just 22 she became the face of the sexual revolution as her explicit pornographic film Deep Throat flew to the top of the mainstream box office and catapulted her to fame and celebrity status. However, 6 years later Linda Lovelace released her autobiography 'Ordeal', which revealed the far from liberated truth behind the scenes of her pornographic career, at the hands of her abusive and controlling husband Chuck Traynor.

Aesthetically, Lovelace is beautiful. Set in the 1970s there is a grainy feel to the film that gives a sense of authenticity and the bright colours, groovy soundtrack and classic retro fashion (I need to get me a pair of velvet dungarees!) made the film a joy to watch with a hint of old-time nostalgia. As the film starts it is clearly hellbent on representing Linda as your typical girl next door and it is really interesting to watch how her relationship with Chuck Traynor develops as she gradually transitions from her parent's darling girl to the star of the most popular pornographic film in history.

I was wary of how Linda's descent into the porn industry would be portrayed due to some of the cynicism that revolves around her tell-all book (which was proven true by polygraph tests). I was worried that the film would just portray her as a stupid little girl who was fully in control of her decision to be involved with the film, however, the representation of Lovelace throughout is compassionate, honest and above all sympathetic - showing her in the light that I feel she truly deserved to be shown in.

Amanda Seyfried is beautiful as Lovelace

I was also apprehensive of Amanda Seyfried taking the starring role as I am not the biggest fan of her previous films; she also hasn't really played such a complex or dark role before and I did have my doubts as to whether or not she would be able to pull it off. However, with her freshly dyed brunette hair and adorable freckles she simply dazzled as sweet, fresh-faced Linda Lovelace as she gave an out-of-this World performance that showcased every side of the character. The way she morphed from an electric, innocent but fun girl to the dead-behind-the-eyes, angst-ridden woman was incredible and there is one particular scene where hardly any words are spoken yet the audience are able to pinpoint the exact moment of Linda's utter resignation as she realises that there is no hope for her to be saved. This is a standout part of both the film and Seyfried's acting career so far for me as her performance of this particular, highly-poignant moment almost drew me to tears.

I heart Big.. I mean Chris Noth

The supporting cast is also incredibly strong; Peter Sarsgaad slips with frightening ease into the role of the horrific Chuck Traynor, James Franco has a  minor role as the young Hugh Hefner and The OC's Adam Brody plays Linda Lovelace's onscreen porn partner Harry Reems with an innocent charm. It was Chris Noth who stole the show for me though, as one of Deep Throat's producers Anthony Romano. I may be biased due to an excessive love of Sex and the City (of which Noth plays playboy lothario Big) but I just find Noth's onscreen presence overwhelming and even with little dialogue he effortlessly steals the scenes that he is in with a cool and comforting warmth.

Despite the stronger-than-expected performances and the great story of which the film's directors had to work with, the overall execution of the film was disappointing and a bit flat. Even though I admit i probably know more about the Lovelace story than many, the basic premise of the film that most people going to watch the film would know and is mentioned in every synopsis is the fact that she was abused and controlled by Traynor. However, the film itself only implies a minor form of abuse to start with before showing the full story in a kind of flashback format, I expect that this would be very hard-hitting and have a strong impact on those who didn't know anything about the story - for others it just slows down the pace and gave it a bit of a disjointed feel. Despite that some parts were still quite disturbing and uncomfortable to watch, it just didn't have as strong an impact as I expected.

I also feel like for an 18 certificate film about porn, abuse and violence it was relatively tame in what it showed. Most significantly with the level of violence; don't get me wrong, I was personally happy to not be shown anything more graphic than I was as I find this kind of abuse very unpleasant to watch and sometimes it is the more implicit hints that have the hardest impact. However, there isn't really anything that warrants the high certificate that it got and it is the certificate that I found misleading as it heightened expectations for the film and I was prepared for something the complete opposite of what I got. Ultimately, Lovelace is a film about a horribly disturbing true life experience but it has a kind of bubblegum, vanilla essence to it, as though the filmmakers were too scared to go all the way with a truly dark and gritty story that will do Linda's actual experiences justice.

The true story of Linda Lovelace has been screaming out to cinema for years and the premise alone was already the making of an incredible, hard-hitting and powerful film. Sadly, it fell into the wrong hands and even a strong and talented cast were not enough to revive the film's potential - leaving us with a good albeit underwhelming watch that I will probably have forgotten about by tomorrow.

All in all I award Lovelace with ★★★☆☆

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Love,

THE CONJURING

I have said it before and I will say it again - I have been watching horror films for as long as I can remember and they simply do not scare me. Every time a new horror film comes out I get really excited and think to myself 'this is the one, this is the one that will terrify me!' And each time I am left disappointed. Even if a horror film is jumpy and creepy it is usually let down by an awful storyline, ridden with plotholes. If a horror film has a great storyline then it usually isn't very creepy - in fact, I had just ended up accepting the seemingly obvious fact that horror films can't be both really good and really, truly scary.... But then The Conjuring came along and showed me otherwise!

The real Perron family

Based on the true story of the 1970s, the Perron family move into an old farmhouse, only for a dark presence to start terrorizing them. Out of options and scared witless, the Perrons call on paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren for help.

I was wary of this film from the get-go purely because paranormal, ghost stories don't usually interest me. I have very little time for the whole supernatural aspect of horror and the way Hollywood had jazzed up classic horror with over the top CGI and ghastly glossy graphics makes my skin crawl. I was therefore relieved to find that director James Wan hadn't pandered to Hollywood's expectations of horror and had instead reverted back to old school techniques that gave the film an authentic essence, reminiscent of the 1970s era of which it is set.

Another issue I  find with horror films is that I very rarely care for the characters. Too often the characters put themselves in stupid and unrealistic situations that make it difficult for the audience to relate too. For example - why are you heading towards the danger? Why are you still in the house?? Wan made a point of avoiding all typical horror cliches in his last film Insidious and was clearly keen to address them again here. First of all, once the Perrons establish that something scary is happening, they seek the help of the Warrens almost immediately and are sure to mention that they would move but have no money and with a family of seven they have nowhere else to go. The fact that the characters were actively seeking out the danger of the spirits was also covered - after all Lorraine and Ed have been called in to help the family get rid of the evil presence, they're going to have to interact with them in order to do so! This avoidance of typical horror movie stupidity made the characters likeable and whilst i was watching i was definitely vouching for them, which is more than I can say for other films of this genre!

Vera Farmiga is the star of the show!

All of the performances in this film were outstanding, especially impressive when the Perron family is largely made up of young actresses, but Vera Farmiga stole the show for me as she fast becomes one of my favourite actresses. Having seen most of her previous films, Farmiga continues to bring a certain element of warmth to the screen and gives the audience an added insight into her characters with just a simple look or expression. I just find her entire presence quite calming and true to how I imagine the real Lorraine Warren would have been, Farmiga was an element of calm amongst the chaos and terror of the film and as silly as it sounds, even as just a member of the audience, I instantly felt safer whenever she was on the screen.

The general storyline was also incredible strong, the true life story was delivered in an engaging and emotive way and unlike most horror films, when it ended there were no unanswered questions or plot holes that always end up discrediting the entire film. The conclusion of the film is more or less definitive but Wan was also sure to make the final scene something that will leave the audience wondering...

Now, we have established that the general premise and the performances were strong, but this is the important bit: how were the scares?!

The scares don't stop at 'Annabelle'...

Absolutely terrifying. I am not kidding, I have genuinely never been so scared in my entire life. There was one segment in particular where I genuinely felt sick with fear and part of me wanted to leave the cinema but at the same time I needed to know what was going to happen. The scares weren't just jumps for no apparent reason; even when there was nothing actually on the screen there was a creepy atmosphere that had you on the edge of your seat and a majority of the time it wasn't as predictable to guess when something terrifying was going to happen as it is in most horror films, meaning that the audience didn't have time to cover their eyes! Wan successfully creates horror through every aspect - he flawlessly merges the visual and audio of the film with the storyline to heighten your senses and doesn't just depend on cheap jumps to shock the audience into submission. It was obvious that the entire process had been thought out in detail and the gradual build up of terror was perfectly paced whilst providing the necessary character and plot development.

From the scares to the narrative to the performances to the execution, there is not a single thing that i can fault this film for. As a huge fan of the Saw franchise I did have faith in James Wan but he exceeded my expectations and provided me with not only the thrills and terror that i was hoping for but also with a great film that made me think.

Despite not usually liking paranormal horror films, personally I do believe in ghosts and so I believe that this allegedly true story is actually  a true story. Wan had the full support and guidance of both Lorraine Warren and the entire Perron family in order to create a film that represents what happened to them as real to life as possible and i think that guidance definitely aided the film. Wan was careful to portray all of these characters in a positive light, for example the Warrens are shown early on in the film telling a couple who think that their house is haunted that the creepy noises are actually coming from the old pipes in their cellar, proving that they were not con artists, and the Perron family are also seen as just your average, every day American family - not some crazy fruit loops who hallucinated ghosts.

All in all I do thoroughly recommend this film as one of the scariest horror films of our time and I would encourage anybody to go and see it. However, having been desperate to be terrified by a horror film for my entire life now that it has happened I don't think that I like it! The night after I watched The Conjuring I was woken up at 5am by a massive bang in my room that I could not find a logical explanation for, since then I have been scared of rummaging in my wardrobe, going to sleep or even just being home alone and I have been making my cats come everywhere with me (animals can sense spirits, right?!) And this is all from somebody who has watched every big horror film that has been released and not even flinched, so I would say to go and watch it but please, watch it with caution.

I award The Conjuring with ★★★★★


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Love,