Movie Review - Mala Noche

Director – Gus Van Sant
Cast - Tim Streeter, Doug Cooeyate and Ray Monge

After many years making short films Gus Van Sant took his first step into features with Mala Noche. This was 23 years ago and while showing signs of age and it's $25,000 budget it is still identifiably a Van Sant film.

The story is based upon a portion of Walt Curtis' autobiography. Lonesome and unappreciated Walt finds himself becoming increasingly fixated upon one of two young men who have drifted in from Mexico. This is about all the story that there is as Van Sant, typically, expands more energy examining the unrequited desire between Walt and his drifter. Van Sant enthusiasts will observe the many buds here that bloom in his later work in particular the tender pain of an obsession not returned (My Own Private Idaho) and his portrait of the American underbelly (Drugstore Cowboy). The scenes where there is no plot development and where few words are spoken show that even in his early work Van Sant is never in any hurry and is much more interested in mood and tone and character.

Scenes fade in and out and we are left wondering what may have happened just before we arrived and what may have happened after the scene has faded. Maybe this is a conscious thing to empathise with the life of the drifters, maybe it's a device to highlight life's constant flow or maybe simply a way of creating atmosphere.

This is very definitely an indie film, an ode to a marginalized strand of society and quite obviously from the heart. Whether it is entertaining is questionable and while it is less than 80 minutes in total it somehow manages to feel longer. The rawness of the production and the poor performances do not always make this enjoyable viewing but this will definitely appeal to Van Sent completists.

CD Review – My Brightest Diamond – A Thousand Sharks Teeth

Shara Worden has a solid musical pedigree being a former member of Sufjan Steven's touring band, a student of Opera and the daughter of a National Accordion Champion (!). Her debut album as My Brightest Diamond was released in 2006 and purveyed a fairly conventional rock/indie sound. The follow up, A Thousand Sharks Teeth, is the other side of the same coin.

As a child Worden was exposed to a range of musical styles such as gospel, jazz and classical as well as contemporary rock and pop and on first listen A Thousand Sharks Teeth feels original. However, after a while it's clear who Shara Worden's influences are. Her vocal has elements of Beth Gibbons' detached chill and Bjork's stop-start intonation and her operatic power gives many of the songs added drama.

Lead single Inside A Boy is the perfect example of when all of these ingredients blend together perfectly. It's brooding and epic and shimmers with confidence. Another highlight is the devastating To Pluto's Moon that seems to be going nowhere before suddenly seven minutes have passed and you are back on earth.

There are a few slow burners so just when you think you've got it all figured out another song blooms and the album is renewed. It's all very serious though and it is a pity Worden is not a little more playful once in a while. Perhaps she could follow Sufjan Steven's example in that it is possible to make an artistic statement while still having fun now and then.

Some of the slower tracks are short on melody and the kind of thing you might expect to hear at parties you are not cool enough to be invited to. All in all this is impressive stuff and it will be interesting to see My Brightest Diamond's next step.

Concert Review - Wallis Bird

Venue - Crawdaddy
Date - 17th of April 2008

Setlist - See below

Sometime last year I was trawling through the music channels on telly and caught the last minute of a song and found myself completely transfixed. I had no idea who the singer was but I spent the next couple of days watching that same channel until the video was played again. I discovered it was Wallis Bird and the song was The Circle. Seconds later I was on the net, my fingers punching the keys as fast as they could but finding out very little other than that the release of her debut album was imminent and that she was Irish! For the next few weeks I spent a large amount of time in the "B" section of The Secret Book And Record Store, Rhythm Records and Comet Records in the hope of finding a promo copy of the album. Eventually I was rewarded with what turned out to be my favourite release of 2007, Wallis Bird's Spoons.

So I was absolutely counting the seconds to her appearance in Crawdaddy, the intimate Harcourt Street venue. Crawdaddy is without doubt the best venue in Dublin at the moment. I would guess it holds no more than 250 at a squeeze and the sound is consistently perfect. My expectations were probably unfairly high for this gig and yet as I floated out afterwards I knew they had not just been met but blown away. Like finding a light switch after a lifetime in the dark, Bird was instantly incredibly luminescent. From the moment she bounded onto the stage I knew there was nowhere else in the world I would have rather been. The cute 6 ft 8 was the opener and proved Wallis was in fine voice. Then she played one of her trump cards early with uplifting, foot stomping, smile inducing Counting To Sleep and we were on our way. For nearly two hours Crawdaddy was leaking sunshine and creaking as it struggled to contain the pure concentrated joy.

Wallis seemed to be an antenna picking up the soul of Etta James, the rawness of Janis Joplin and the spider web delicacy of Dusty Springfield while still retaining her own originality and essence. Apart from her stunning vocal prowess she is a whirling dervish on stage, conducting a storm of her own creation from the eye of it. Totally at ease and totally in love with each moment it seems as though she is only barely able to contain her passion. This passion is displayed in jumps, stomps and head shaking all topped off with the most contagious smile.

Wallis Bird is an artist who deserves to be loved, cherished and protected from the machinations of the music industry. This is someone whose sheer devotion to her trade will ensure she is here to stay. Grab the album as soon as you can and if you get a chance to see her live go along and you will be smiling for a week afterwards. This is the beginning of what should be a beautiful adventure.

Setlist
6 ft 8
Counting To Sleep
Slow Down
Country Bumpkin
Your Daddy Is A Liar
You Are Mine
Your Morning Dream
Moodsets
The Circle
Blossoms In The Street
Just Keep Going
All For You

Game Review - Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops Plus

Publisher - Konami
Platform - PSP

Solid Snake, the central figure in the Metal Gear Solid series has been appearing on our consoles for a decade now. Since 1998 we have seen the series become a benchmark for graphically superior, inventive, stealth based gameplay. This latest addition to the series follows on from last years Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops but to call it a sequel would not be entirely correct. It is more of an expansion or an upgrade with the focus more on online gameplay. It is a similar release to the Substance or Subsistence expansions on the PS2.

Last years original was another fine accomplishment by creator/designer/living legend Hideo Kojima that fleshed out the Solid Snake saga even further. It concentrated on the single player experience and was very well received by the massive Metal Gear fan base. As well as the fully realised single player game there was an excellent multiplayer angle too where you would choose a squad and use them to challenge others online. Unfortunately this latest release removes the single player adventure altogether and replaces it with a new mode called "Infinity Mission". Infinity Mission is merely a succession of randomly chosen maps in which the player must locate an advance point so they can move on to the next. It is squad based so before a mission a squad must be selected and prepared for battle. Then during the mission the player can switch between squad members and also gain new squad members by kidnapping enemy soldiers.

The typical Metal Gear Solid gameplay is intact but without any story to drive it it becomes boring and repetitive almost instantly. If you have played the first game and are expecting another chapter in the story you will be extremely disappointed. If you did not play the first game you will be confused and disappointed. So it's disappointment all round. The menu system is more complicated than it needs to be and even the simplest of actions require many button presses. The look of the game has not changed but as the levels are not part of a developing story they remain very similar to each other and have a basic box-like finish.

The online experience is as enjoyable as it was before with the usual deathmatch and target shooting modes. But all in all this seems to be a cynical cash in on last years Portable Ops. It's a shame to see a series that was once a standard bearer for originality releasing something so bland and hopefully this is not a sign of things to come. I guess we will find out with the next instalment in the series.

In the meantime if you were a fan of last years release there is nothing new here. If you do not own either game then the original Portable Ops is the one to buy and as a result of this new release it will probably be cheaper now too. Maybe some good has come of Portable Ops Plus after all!

....If anyone would like a promo copy of Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops Plus on the PSP drop me an email with your name and address at denehan@gmail.com. First one gets it!....