Evrim Ersoy’s Top Duke Discoveries Of 2014

06/01/201509/01/2017alxkdd 1 Comment

What better way to start the New Year than with a list of Top Duke Discoveries – these are pulled from across the entire watching spectrum – there are no rules, no limits, no release date limitations – these are simply my favourite films I saw this year all across 2014.

Whiplash: I don’t think there are enough words in the English language for me to be able to do justice to the experience of watching ‘Whiplash’ – it’s a kind of exhilaration, a constructive perfection that I have not seen for years. Anyone with any love for film should make sure to watch this on the biggest, loudest screen that they can catch it on.

Blind: The nuances of ‘Blind’ are mesmerizing – switching between fantasy and reality and carefully intertwining the stories of a blind woman trapped within her own head and the construct world she has created, this emotionally astute and darkly funny film manages to achieve an emotional honesty which I have not yet encountered since the astonishing ‘Vanishing Waves’.

I Am Here: Perhaps one of the most daring films of 2014, this astonishing film features a standout performance by Kim Basinger who brings an incredibly delicate vulnerability to the role of Maria – a succesfull businesswoman with a particular obsession. Asking some of the most difficult questions on-screen this or any year, ‘I Am Here’ succeeds despite its occasional failings – a flawed masterpiece if there was ever one.

Street Wars: The less I say about this 1992 gem the better as there might be a Duke surprise for everyone in store. But let me just put this out there: of all the boys-in-the-hood gang films I’ve seen across the course of my film-discovering life, none has had the swagger and the daring of Jamaa Fanaka’s epic which delights and surprises in every turn with outlandish characters, brilliant action scenes and a sense of rebellion that touches the viewer even after all this time.

When Animals Dream: Gentle and melancholy, this incredible effort from director Jonas Alexander Arnby blends the gentle horror of classic Universal monster movies with an updated treaty on female sexuality and small-town oppression. A love story, an exploration of puberty and an out-and-out horror film, this incredible effort deserves to be seen more widely.

Eat Your Bones: Of all the films about masculinity in 2014, none could match the swagger and honesty of ‘Mange Tes Morts’ – set within a gypsy community in Northern France, this incredible outing blends documentary cinema with the best of classic gangster films and captures a world so familiar and yet foreign that it’s impossible not to be mesmerized. The final confrontation left me breathless and hopefully will capture audiences elsewhere in a similar fashion.

The Treatment: The closest to the hard-nosed thrillers of 80’s that any film has ever come, ‘The Treatment’ ; on surface; is a classic police thriller – but its dark corners are many and its unflinching handling of the central concept is incredibly brave and daring. Perhaps the staging is by the numbers and the resolution of the case a little clichéd – and yet it’s hard not to be taken in by the brilliant acting and the sense of dread and tension that director Hans Herbots builds from the first scene and does not let go until the very final, dreadful, heart-breaking frame. You will not see a better thriller this year.

Petit Quinquin: Let’s be honest, I’m not a fan of Bruno Dumont and his over-composed and very slow approach to filmmaking but in his first T.V. outing he has managed to create one of the out-and-out masterpieces of the year. Funny AND incredibly astute this tale of an investigation into a series of Northern France is blessed with outstanding performances and an ever-darkening mood which draws the audience right in. Unmissable whenever it airs anywhere, it’s even worth tracking down on the big screen just to appreciate the majesty of the cinematography.

Magical Girl: Carlos Vermut’s tale of unpleasant things happening to odd people is finely judged, brilliantly executed and incredibly hard-to-watch. The material is familiar, yes, but the result is so outlandish it’s hard not to be impressed by his building on the brilliant debut of ‘Diamond Flash’. A director to watch if there was ever one.

The Raid 2: Look, it ended and I wanted to be thrown against objects and run around screaming. It’s the best adrenalined ride I’ve ever encountered. The car chase scene alone puts everything else within the genre to shame. Just – let’s accept it – Gareth Evans has discovered the fountain of fighting and the rest of us will have to look on whilst he brings together sequences technically impressive and visually arresting beyond imagination.

La French: It’s familiar, it’s predictable, it’s totally stuff we’ve seen before – and yet… who cares when the end result is so absolutely brilliant? Blessed with mesmerizing performances from the two leads, this gorgeous and utterly wonderful gangster epic treads familiar territory with such confidence that you’d have to be cinematically blind not to be impressed. I love ‘La French’ and I want to forever live in its sun-drenched, blood-soaked vision of 70’s Marseille. There.

Wild Tales: The funniest film of the year by a wide margin. The last 20 minutes alone is worth the price of admission but that’s not enough for director Damián Szifrón who invents even more outrageous scenarios with a speed hitherto unknown in comedy films. Sheer marvel and bloody funny.

The World of Kanako: No other film can match the outrageous madness of director Tetsuya Nakashima‘s story of awful people doing awful things to each other. Fantastically nasty and wonderfuly ugly, this has to be the best neo-noir that has hit our screen for a long, long time.

Norway: Flawed? Yes. Repetitive? Sometimes. But damn if it’s not also engrossing, funny and absolutely mesmerising to watch. Blessed with a killer soundtrack and an ending which demands to be played loud, ‘Norway‘ is the best Greek-disco-vampire story that I’ve ever seen.

The Year In Review – A Duke Tradition

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Every year, around December, we like to cast our eyes back over the past and look at all the glorious achievements of The Duke. There’s much cheering and back-slapping and champagne.

Actually that’s a lie.

Every year, around December, we look at what we’ve done in the past 12 months or so and try to decide how we can top it in the coming 12 – it’s a case of looking at what worked, what didn’t and how we can avoid repeating ourselves in terms of content and interaction.

The Duke is a strange entity – on one hand it is what’s technically called ‘a film club’ – we screen films in an informal setting – but on the other we don’t fit into the ‘film club’ definition very well – our passion is for intelligent curation and endless discovery – we like our events to be content-rich and our ambition, sometime to our own detriment, can sometimes take over all logic and reason.

But we wouldn’t have it any other way.

2014 is what you might call a ‘game-changer’ of a year for The Duke. Though if you did call it that I’d find you and punch you until you swore never to use the phrase ‘game-changer’ ever again. And even then my bloodlust might not be satisified.

Back to the point I was making – this year proved exciting and saw us exploring uncharted territory – 2014 was the year The Duke travelled more than before, explored new venues, put on new events and generally took bigger risks.

A transitional period in 2013 saw us pondering the future of the club: was it worth continuing? We spent an entire day arguing the pros and cons of quitting, continuing and changing format. Our conclusion was that we loved what we do too much to stop but that we’d try something different and if it still did not work, well – then we’d have to see.

However our gamble paid off – starting with the screening of ‘Rewind This’; The Duke entered what you’d call a renaissance period. And 2014 represents the pinnacle of that so far.

Right at the top of the list was Dukefest – alongside our friends at Prince Charles Cinema who supported us unequivocally – we put on a film festival which we felt represented the best of what Duke stands for: odd, irreverent journey of discovery.

We were proud, delighted and absolutely chuffed that the UK premiere of the wonderful ‘My Name Is Jonah’ was so well attended. Ditto our OFFICIAL anniversary screening of ‘Strangers In Paradise’ – a lost gem if there was ever one.

Our Found Footage battle brought forth some of the weirdest clips we’d ever seen and it was fantastic to see a crowd of regulars for the Duke developing – also ‘MOUNTAINS’! (If you didn’t do the gesture then you clearly weren’t there.)

But Dukefest was only a small part of a bigger picture – The Duke went to Supersonic Festival in Birmingham with Death Waltz Recording Company to take over their cinema for the Friday Night of the festival – the result was a manic 3 and a half hour show which somehow managed to attract a big crowd who – and remember this – were there for a music festival!

The Duke, with the blessing of his friends at Film4 FrightFest, took over two slots in the Discovery Screens at the festival and again the response was overwhelming: ‘Coherence’ ; The Duke’s choice of a 21.00 film; not only played incredibly but was also featured in many of the best-of-the-fest lists. Trust me when I say that we couldn’t be prouder.

And then the party…well – what can we say about The Duke party at Film4 FrightFest? If you missed it – imagine a roomful of film lovers, makers, actors, actresses viewing some of the rarest, oddest, newest, funniest material ever found in a cinema with free-flowing drinks and you might capture a splinter of what, for us at least, was the pinnacle of the year. I don’t think anyone had laughed that hard for a while and we’re very proud.

But that wasn’t the only party The Duke enjoyed – no sirree, only a month ago , invited by the Flanders Film Festival, The Duke travelled to Bruges as the closing night event of the festival. A different crowd, a different vibe but incredible fun nonetheless – the evening ended with Death Waltz Recording Company’s maestro Spencer Hickman DJ’ing and Duke maestro Alex Kidd taking a turn behind the table! (And let’s not forget Wrong-Speed Would.)

Christ, what’s meant to be a brief highlights reel is turning into an essay – let’s wrap up… so what was the highlight of Duke in 2014? Everything. The highlight was the interaction, the laughter, the audience reaction, the conversation, endless hours of viewing for discovery, the drinks – the highlight is the sense that we’re all growing together and we want to take The Duke further than before: a bigger festival, more travelling shows, more collaborations – and honestly – the highlight is being allowed to this – every month of the year, with people we love.

Thank you and Season’s Greetings!

Evrim & Alex

A Massive thank you to our friends & hosts and colleagues at all the festivals, venues and companies!

Evrim joins the Fantastic Fest programming team!

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Yes here’s some amazing news, our leader Evrim is now part of the Fantastic Fest programming team! Here’s the full press release that was sent out today:

Austin, TX – Wednesday, December 4, 2014 – Alamo Drafthouse is pleased to announce Evrim Ersoy as the latest cinephile extraordinaire to join Fantastic Fest’s Programming team. Evrim brings a wealth of global credentials with him having programmed for Los Angeles’ Beyond Fest, the Boston Underground Film Festival and London’s The Duke Mitchell Film Club, anointed by Time Out as “London’s best film club,” of which he is also the founder. Prior to joining Alamo Drafthouse, Evrim was the assistant manager at The Cinema Bookshop, Europe’s first and largest film archive and specialist bookshop. He has also directed a number of short films including 2014’s Abdullah, which was featured in competition at Fantastic Fest, Sitges and Fright Fest.

Evrim joins Fantastic Fest’s team on the heels of its 10-year anniversary in which it celebrated its biggest year featuring 80 films and 22 World Premieres.

“We’ve long admired Evrim’s programming expertise and we’re proud to have him aboard,” says Fantastic Fest founder Tim League. “What we really love about Evrim is that he is the complete package: a true cineaste with an obsessive passion for film that extends beyond programming into directing, film commentary and film history.”

“It’s no exaggeration to say that Fantastic Fest is one of the most exciting and progressive film festivals in the world. To build upon a decade’s worth of maniacal brilliance and help shape its future is an absolute honor,” said Evrim. “It’s truly inspiring to be a part of the team who have influenced genre cinema on an international level.”

Evrim joins a distinguished team of Fantastic Fest programmers including Tim League, Karrie League, James Shapiro, Kristen Bell, Brandy Fons, Todd Brown, Rodney Perkins, Brian Kelley, and Luke Mullen.