THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS (SHIRLEY ABRAHAM & AMIT MADHESHIYA)

We love cinema. I say this as I sit in line for my fourth film for the day wondering whether I need to get more coffee or not.

This documentary follows a travelling tent cinema in India that shows films for remote villages that don’t have immediate access to any multiplex. The film follows some of the key people in making this production happen. We watch as the tent is propped up; people scramble that the print of the film they plan to show hasn’t shown up yet for a showing to go on in minutes; as old rusted vans are repaired to be able to be projection houses for the films. This movie is cinema in its own way.

One of the many things I can say about documentaries is that while I believe they can be fun and entertaining; their informative value is the highest one they do have. It’s that moment you get to ask questions on a topic you may know nothing about. However, I felt my curiosity not really satiated with what this film had to present.

While we got to know a lot about the people behind the scenes of this world I still left with more questions than were there in the first place. I sit there looking on as I see pronographic materials being played in the theatre, and while I know I very little about India as a culture, I know they have crazy censorship laws as it relates to film presentation and not one mention of why or how this sort of material is being played in this setting. Later in the film we see these guys make the technological leap of going digital; but we never see them discuss film procurement in any sort of way.

THE BELKO EXPERIMENT (GREG MCLEAN)

Do you remember 2011? Do you remember when everyone was still asking about whether Cabin in the Woods will ever get released? The Belko Experiment feels like that time again. I’m here to tell you that we can have those days again. Luckily the film already has a release date for next year, but strap in for a fun wild ride again.

The Belko Experiment grabs tightly the fervor for a crazed bottle episode of people being murdered with a twisted comedic flavour and repackages it to us as an afterthought to Office Space.

One day in the office in a South American branch of an American company all the expats enter for another day at work. HR is admitting new staff, meetings are being set up, that creepy guy keeps staring at that woman who keeps pretending it’s not happening; and more. However, today’s different as a voice comes on over the intercom telling the staff that they will be part of a social experiment. They are asked to kill two members of staff or four will be killed. The experiment begins.

The film walks around with it’s tongue firmly in it’s cheek as we watch half of the staff attempt to come up with plans to ignore the supreme being’s commands and save them all and the other half completely plan on how to be the top dog and not be the one dead on the floor.

I feel that many will come to this film with the claims that it isn’t original. That it doesn’t twist in any way that can rightfully be called as revolutionary, or even subversive. I can’t really argue with that. What I can say is that this film still had me loving my time and reminding me one of the many reasons I love movies in the first place.