STACK NZ Jan-Feb #59

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SUMMER EDITION 2015 JB Hi-Fi
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It’s shaping up to be a big year for MilesTeller, whose latest movie
Whiplash arrives on DVD and Blu-ray on February 25. As well as
reuniting with ShaileneWoodley for the Divergent sequel Insurgent –
due to open in cinemas in March –Teller will also star as Mr Fantastic
in the reboot of the Marvel super-heroes The Fantastic Four. Directed
by JoshTrank (Chronicle) and co-starring Kate Mara, Jamie Bell; and
Michael B Jordan, is due in cinemas in August. As well as Whiplash
– in whichTeller plays a promising young jazz drummer who joins a cut-
throat music conservatory – this monthTeller can also be seen opposite
AnaleighTipton ( Warm Bodies) in the quirky rom-com Two Night Stand,
which is out on DVD and Blu-ray on February 18.
Bob Dylan as Ol’ Blue Eyes? Believe it or not,
that’s the theme of Shadows in the Night the new
album from the legendary singer-songwriter out
on February 6. The 10-track LP consists mainly
of American standard popularised by Sinatra,
although Dylan looks to have gone for a much
more stripped down approach.
“It was all done live, maybe one or two takes,”
he says. “No overdubbing. No vocal booths.
No headphones. No separate tracking, and,
for the most part, mixed as it was recorded.
“I don’t see myself as covering these songs in
any way. They’ve been covered enough. What me
and my band are basically doing is uncovering
them. Lifting them out of the grave and bringing
them into the light of day.”
In the wake of The Interview controversy, a newAustralian
documentary offers a funny and fascinating insight into the
North Korean film business.
NEWS
T he James Franco/Seth Rogen
comedy The Interview, which was
originally pulled from its US theatrical
release after Sony came under sustained
cyber-attack, will open in New Zealand
cinemas on February 19, with a DVD release
to follow towards the middle of the year. The
film tells the story of two inept TV journalists
who gain an exclusive interview with North
Korean leader Kim Jong-un
and are recruited by the
CIA to assassinate him.
While The Interview
clearly did not go down
well with the North
Korean authorities,
Australian
documentary
filmmaker Anna
Broinowski
found them
far more welcoming for her new project
Aim High In Creation, which is released in
February on DVD.
Determined to stop a new fracking mine
near her Sydney home, she travels to
North Korea to learn from the masters of
propaganda cinema. The government gave
her access to the country’s top directors,
composers and movie stars, who teach her
the techniques outlined by the late
Kim Jong-Il in his manifesto The
Cinema and Directing.
“Kim Jong Il was passionate
about movies – in particular
Hollywood ones,”
Broinowski says. “As
‘Creative Commander’
of North Korea’s
film industry, he
restyled himself
as an Eastern Bloc
Spielberg, upgrading the dour propaganda
films he hated by adapting western film
genres and techniques.”
On returning to Sydney, she sets out to
produce a didactic socialist melodrama ,
full of song and kick-ass fights, in which
“heroic workers” rise up to defeat the
“evil, gas-fracking miners.” The result is
a intriguing doco-comedy about a side of
North Korean society rarely seen before.
Aim High In Creation is out
on DVD this month.
Aim High In Creation
north korea on screen
DYLAN TACKLES THE
STANDARDS
The Interview
EXTRAS