"Tornado" - Review

In the year 1790, across the ribbon of cold moors known as "Scotland", a young Japanese woman named Tornado (Koki) performs in a travelling puppet show with her father Fujin (Takehiro Hira), rebellious and chafing against his authority. When they cross paths with a ruthless gang of bandits led by "Sugarman" (Tim Roth), Tornado's world becomes the namesake of her name and against a backdrop none-too-removed from her family's shows, and she is forced to become a whirlwind across the landscape just to survive.

(Photo Credit: The Upcoming. What a fucking poster, man!)
John Maclean did "Slow West" a few years ago: a delightfully droll, pleasant, picturesque little surprise of a Western, and I thought he'd done more films in the meantime, but no! Hollywood is a nightmare and it has taken him 10 years to get a 2nd film released. I don't believe that this is going to get the acclaim and adoration "Slow West" did, which is fair but also a shame as I really rather liked this.
It's a lean affair, began in media reas and clocking in at 91 minutes with a flashback in the middle and a bloody, fun finale. A hybrid of a chase movie and a Samurai film, dressed up in the beautiful scenescapes of Scotland with the visual flair, colours and oddities; it is reminiscent of the Coen Brothers with its quirky humour. It could do with being a bit longer, and some of the tonal shifts never land quite as fluidly as they should (fitting, considering the setting of a travelling circus troupe), but the tone as a whole is strong: the movie feels like a mournful lament, the dying gasps and whispered sorrows of a dying man. The central arc and foreshadowing/parallels of Tornado are well done, and the cinematography and colour grading make this look closer to a storybook or an oil painting than a traditional "gritty" Western, and I really enjoy this. The finale is fun too, very chanbara in the woods

"Mercy Falls" - Review

A group of friends set off for the Scottish highlands to find the cabin left to Rhona (Lauren Lyle) by her father. She hopes to hook up with Donnie (Joe Rising), is accompanied by her boisterous best friend Heather (Layla Kirk), and her quiet unassuming boyfriend Donnie (James Watterson), and concerned that Donnie has brought his arsehole friend Andy (Eoin Sweeney) along. But soon the group have bigger problems when they run into Carla (Nicoletta McKeown), a mysterious drifter...

It's a rather generic affair, where I was waiting for the script to pop or subvert things, with little in the way of atmosphere. Still, I can't be mad at it as it was clearly made for about 20 quid, and it's competent enough fare set to be a film on the Horror Channel.