Instead of beating us over the head with the issues or going for a underdog versus corporate scenario, Matt Damon and John Krasinski have written a screenplay from the salesman’s perspective. Matt Damon is known for playing likable, everyman characters and he delivers a fine performance from a difficult standpoint. Beyond the ecological frame, it’s a small town drama about pioneering, doing what it takes to clinch the deal and being able to keep your head high.

In many ways, the eco-drama is a skin for a high school popularity, Mexican stand-off or election contest as two forces go head-to-head in a race to get the sway of public approval. Promised Land rumbles with enough humour and infotainment to keep us locked in, but it’s Damon’s performance that elevates the film.

Damon knows the script well, which helps him translate the complex character of Steve Butler with great aplomb. It’s not as determined as Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich, but he manages to make us like him despite his apparent oblivion. He’s supported by heavyweights in Frances McDormand as his colleague and Hal Holbrook as a local science teacher, with co-screenwriter, John Krasinski filling in for Ben Affleck as a charming environmental activist and thorn in his side.

Promised Land is a product of our times. You could argue that Man’s proclivity towards hedonism and narcissim has made us a selfish, self-made, independent and vain species. However, the “plague” or “scourge” of the Earth as David Attenborough put it, better known as humanity, is becoming more environmentally-conscious. Then another trend is that community can effect change – just take a look at the rise of organisations like Avaaz, Groupon, Kickstarter and Waze.

Most films of this type generally underplay the issue or fall headlong into a preachy one-sided affair bordering on propaganda. Gus Van Sant’s film falls into neither, which would put it at risk of being bland. The human drama has real weight and we’re able to get an insider’s perspective. By taking the flawed salesman’s point-of-view with sympathy, he disarms us. Keeping the fracking and social context as the glue, Van Sant affords the opportunity to inform his audience in a subtle manner and he doesn’t harp on.

The end result is an entertaining coming-of-age small town drama with an ecologically-conscious message. While fracking leads to a clean energy source in natural gas, the method of extraction has a serious impact on the environment. By the end of the film we’re both moved and enlightened by a first-rate cast, solid performances, subtle direction and a script that bristles with life.

The bottom line: Compelling

Stephen ‘Spling’ Aspeling
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Now here’s an interesting concept! The world’s first cashless fashion boutique, The Exchange, has been opened by NATIVE at Cavendish Square in Cape Town.

Stocked with clothing and accessories from more than 25 of South Africa’s top designers, nothing in the store can be purchased with cash or credit cards – only by becoming an organ donor.

The concept for The Exchange (outlined at www.facebook.com/organdonorfan) was conceived by Ryan McManus, Executive Creative Director at NATIVE.
“Fashion has typically been synonymous with consumerism,” he explains. “We were looking for a way in which we could change the currency of meaningless consumerism and shift it to the currency of life by purchasing fashion with organ donor registration. We partnered with the Organ Donor Foundation and came up with the idea of opening a fashion boutique where, in exchange for a garment, the consumer can literally purchase an item by registering as an organ donor to potentially save lives.”

Samantha Volschenk, Executive Director of the Organ Donor Foundation SA says, “It’s not often that we come across such a compelling piece of work that will undoubtedly make such a big impact on our organisation. Each donor registration can hopefully save seven lives and with over 500 items in the boutique, we hope to reach a target of over 3500 possible lives saved. This will be an incredible result for us.”

The pop-up boutique opened 10 May 2013 and will remain open until all the clothing and accessories have been ‘exchanged’. This means any fashion conscious Capetonians with big hearts had better move fast.

To register as a donor online, visit www.facebook.com/organdonorfan.

This dynamic conference will take place in Cape Town, South Africa (World Design Capital 2014) from 6-9 October this year. It follows popular annual conferences already held in Nairobi, Kenya and Dakar, Senegal. The ACEC has proven to be instrumental in creating demand for markets and raising the profile of African cultural goods and services within Africa and beyond.

With research revealing that Africa’s share of the global creative economy is less than 1%, the conference will be a well-timed opportunity to access the latest facts and findings on the continent’s creative industries. It will also be an ideal means of networking with key stakeholders and gathering the opinions of thought leaders from around the globe.

Visit the website to register and get your early bird discount: https://acec2013.org.za/.

The story is truly heartbreaking and there’s a tensile emotional undercurrent that drives this simple, yet beautiful film. The endless reserve of love this mother has for this abandoned child is inspiring and you can’t help but be drawn into this contemporary take on the Good Samaritan. In our violent and ruthless society, we find someone who is able to rise above as justice runs its course.

While Little One deals with the rape and brutality of a child, it does so after the event. Roodt doesn’t take away from the severity of the crime or its affects on the victim, instead he chooses to show the flip side by focusing on the guardian angel. Her selfless act and unconditional love for the child lead to transformation in both of their lives.

Darrell Roodt (Yesterday, Cry the Beloved Country) has created a quietly powerful crime drama that blends the authenticity of South Africa’s socio-economic conditions with the sincerity of a heartfelt and redemptive love story. Little One can be likened to the cinema of Iran, engaging in life-affirming storytelling that cuts across age, race and culture. We can all identify with Little One and journey with ordinary people behaving in extraordinary ways.

Lindiwe Ndlovu is the life force of Little One. While probably best known for her comedic TV roles, she’s seamless as Pauline, concerned with more than simply conveying an accurate dramatic performance. In much the same way as Precious, you can sense a beauty that goes beyond circumstances. She embodies a naive and spirited character in a performance that works for and against Little One, lifting the film’s standards and showing up some of her supporting cast.

Mutodi Nesheshe delivers a solid supporting performance as Detective Morena. There may not be much in the way of exposition, but he represents the frustration of the justice system – determined to serve, yet unable to protect. It would have been fascinating to see the same story with a greater focus of the crime from his perspective.

Young Vuyelwa Msimang’s performance as the title character may be sheltered by bandages and behind-the-head shots for most of the film, but she’s there to represent every child. Her performance is instinctive and its a matter of letting the love in. Roodt uses her character to create deeply moving and symbolic scenarios involving her rehabilitation and reintegration.

One of the film’s drawbacks is the character and casting of Pauline’s husband, Jacob. While Luzuko Nqeto’s performance is sincere, it’s difficult to believe his character’s day and night transition. He’s stereotyped as an abusive and disconnected husband, who just wants his dinner on time. The actor has a comic edge, amplified by his features, that ultimately make him likable. This shines through, affecting the integrity of the drama and creating some unintentionally discordant moments.

Little One’s simplicity may not hold everyone’s attention. This is a quietly powerful drama that taps you on the shoulder to get your attention. Beautiful cinematography and symbolism make for a visceral experience that could be likened to walking through a gallery of South African photo-journalistic imagery with the subjects as your guide.

The bottom line: Powerful

Stephen ‘Spling’ Aspeling
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A fine art auctioneer (McAvoy) becomes the missing piece to a gang’s recovery of a stolen Goya artwork. After a knock on the head… the task becomes much trickier as a hypnotist (Dawson) tries to foil the gang leader (Cassel) and puzzle altogether.

Danny Boyle is a versatile director, having delved into an array of genres with great aplomb. Who would imagine that someone could shoot a film in-between orchestrating the opening of the Olympics? He’s an energetic force, and while he agreed to direct the Olympics opening, he prefers smaller scale projects in which he has more control. Trance is one of those projects, teaming up with John Hodge (Trainspotting) again to adapt a 2001 TV movie script into something with more panache.

Trance stars James McAvoy, although to be fair, this is a three-headed creature with Vincent Cassel and Rosario Dawson flanking the likable actor. This role reveals a much darker side to McAvoy, who recently played MacBeth on stage. It seems that the cheerful upstart is a type McAvoy is trying to shake with a series of performances with a much more sinister edge. Perhaps he’s just trying to give X-Men’s Professor Xavier more mystique?

In Trance, McAvoy delivers Simon in a complex performance that harnesses equal measures of light and dark, shifting his flawed character with demented sincerity. Vincent Cassel seems destined to play another typical Vincent Cassel villain as Franck, but all notions of this are shattered as Boyle bends the crime genre’s rules from a straight art heist thriller into a swirling and surreal mystery drama.

Then, Rosario Dawson almost hijacks the lead as Elizabeth, as the psychological puzzle locks in place. Dawson wants to fall in love with her roles and she immerses herself in the world of Trance, giving a beautifully controlled performance.

Trance is a sleek film with a fragmented reality and sensuality based in the subconscious, which gives the director free range. Danny Boyle doesn’t shy away from nudity or violence making the journey visceral and thrilling in every sense of the word. He uses a trail of breadcrumbs to lead you into a space, where several realities exist.

While as mesmerising as a kaleidoscope, the narrative does get a little messy. Boyle likes to feel his way through a film to journey with the audience and the set is an extension of him. He uses mirrors and interesting angles to represent these altered states, casting us in the deep end of the maze and making the process of getting lost deeply affecting and fascinating.

As they say in the film “No work of art is worth a human life.” Trance is not a masterpiece and it isn’t as good as its Nolan and Fincher contrasts, but it is a work of art. Boyle has crafted a film with artistic flair that will: evoke emotion with a selection of solid performances, enchant viewers with dazzling visuals, immerse us in another dimension with a surreal score and lose us in a maze of mirrored realities.

The bottom line: Mesmerising

Stephen ‘Spling’ Aspeling
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The Bursary offers an emerging theatre director a mentor, a small budget, a month’s rehearsal space and a week of performance at the Theatre Arts Admin Collective. It is recommended that directors work with already existing scripts as the month-long period has proved insufficient for devised work.

Previous winners of this bursary include Amy Jephta, Tara Louise Notcutt, Asanda Phewa, Leopold Senekal, Pusetso Thibedi, Kim Kerfoot, Tsepo wa-Mamatu, Thando Doni, Nicola Elliott, Lidija Marelic and Khayelihle Dom Gumede. The 2013 bursaries will run over two periods:

Bursary 1:15 July – 17 August 2013
Bursary 2: 28 October – 30 November 2013

The Bursary is specifically designed for emerging theatre directors who have had some experience in directing and whose passion is to have a career as a theatre director.

If you are an emerging director and would like to grab this opportunity please submit: a 1-page creative proposal; your CV including 2 references with contact details; and indication of your preferred date to
artsadmin@mweb.co.za by Friday 10^th May 2013.

The Bursary winners will be announced on Friday 24^th May 2013.

Bauke’s short film “The Fallen” received a finalist nomination in the FILMMINUTE international short film festival and was featured in the New Directors profile on the Shots reel, while Candice has received Loeries for her work in TV and Radio whilst in Advertising.

Following the positive response to the “Just 60 seconds” films Bauke completed, the team discovered that most small companies are in need of bespoke films for online use. Narrative Truth’s 60 Second films include some of Cape Town’s most loved brands such as “Yogi’s barber shop”, “The Creamery”, “The Kitchen” and a series for the “Eat Out Awards” which featured the top 10 winning restaurants.

For more information visit www.narrativetruth.com.