UK Film Review interview with Short Film director Patrick Ryder

UK FILM REVIEW
INTERVIEW WITH
PATRICK RYDER

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Patrick Ryder, I'm an award winning film maker, designer, full time dad and probably the biggest film geek in a 10 mile radius.

Film geek dads are alright in our books. How would you describe your movie B4 and why you made it?

It is a difficult film to pigeonhole really. First and foremost it is a story about love. It touches upon other subjects such as regret, loss... Oh and a little time travel too. I really wanted to make film with a solid underlying story which would throw the audience a few curve balls too.

What are the issues the film raise?

Fighting to get back someone you love is the biggest issue in the film, the depths and levels you would go. I find it quite a fascinating subject, especially how it can control and distort someone's inner beliefs and boundaries.

All sounds like serious stuff. Were there any funny stories or difficult moments in the filming?

My favourite story behind this film by far is that the two main leads 'who have since become my closest of friends' are now engaged to be married. So it is a true love story too

Aw sweet. What was the budget (of the film, not their wedding)? and where did you shoot?

The budget was about £600, we had a beautiful scored orchestral soundtrack created specifically for the film and some live instrumental recordings were actually created for that. It was filmed around Watford, Harrow and Ruislip.

As a filmmaker, do you have any strong influences? Be it people, genres or abstract?

Christopher Nolan is a huge influence, absolutely love his work and his dedication to projects. Also a massive Spielberg and Coen brother fan too. Memento, Jaws, Raiders are just perfect films.

Why do you like making short films?

Film is something I am slightly obsessed with. I love the creation process from writing, to casting to filming. Seeing an idea jump from the page to the screen is a truly magical experience and it just seems to get better with every film.

What is your favourite film?

Shawshank Redemption. It is a film that hits you at every level, and the ending still gets me everytime. It's inspiring.

If you were a dolphin, what would you say?

Can you tweet using fins?



B4 is the latest film from multi award-winning director Patrick Ryder. Rupert Shaw 'Christie-Luke Jones' (Red Sky/The Ice Field) is a man who has recently lost his wife Amanda 'Sian Abrahams' (First World Problem) who committed suicide, his life is tumbling out of control and he has lost his way. One day he receives a call from a mysterious stranger who promises him the chance to get his wife back. At first Rupert dismisses the caller and a prankster, but as things develop he realises maybe there is hope and maybe he can change the cards fate has dealt him.

Read reviews of Ryder's two short films, B4 and Coffee To Go @ www.ukfilmreview.co.uk

A Walk Among The Tombstones - UK Film Review

“Digging up old bones”
By Chris Olson

Liam Neeson gives his best performance since Taken, in this utterly gripping and enthralling Thriller based on the book by Lawrence Block. Set in the malevolent streets of New York, in the areas where law enforcement have little authority, a private detective called Matt Scudder (Neeson) gets drawn into a disturbing kidnapping.

The film opens with Neeson appearing like a drunken bum with a badge in a bar. The bar gets robbed by armed thugs, causing Scudder to chase the robbers in the streets and popping caps in lots of asses. Jumping eight years on, Scudder no longer has the badge (well he does, but he is no longer a cop and just uses the badge for his own ends), but is cleaned up and sober, taking private jobs using his “particular set of skills”. Any eastern European baddies should scatter now…

One job comes up which at first seems too dirty even for a guy called Scudder; attempting to find the killers of a drug dealer’s wife. Even with 20K up front, Matt declines the case, but as more of the kidnapping’s darker details come to light it seems this private dick will be coming out to play (even as I wrote that it felt wrong).

Dark, oily, and (appropriately) sobering, A Walk Among The Tombstones is how a Thriller should be! It has the atmosphere of a film like Se7en and the unravelling of a film like Ransom.

Matt as the lead character does not conform to typical clichés, even when he becomes a surrogate father to a street punk called TJ (Brian Bradley). His heroism is limited to a diluted sense of urban ethics, teaching TJ not to have a gun - not because it is wrong or illegal, but because it will most likely be the kid’s death. But for the most part, Matt shows little emotion, keeping a stony façade of indifference - even when TJ is hospitalised from a beat down.

Another refreshing avoidance of typical Thriller clichés is A Walk Among The Tombstone’s approach to a mystery plot. It reveals along the way without resorting to ridiculous twists and turns, which have becomes the norm, and still manages to keep a gripping sense of tension. Perfect for fans of the darker side of Taken.

A slight throwback to nineties thrillers, AWATT doesn’t redefine the genre, but it does dig up some old bones and make a freaking good show of them.

B4
Short Film from director Patrick Ryder
Starring Christie Luke-Jones, Sian Abrahams & Sharon Lawrence.

"The Time-Traveller's Strife"

A thought-provoking and beauitfully-shot short drama from Patrick Ryder, that explores the depths of fate and its complex relationship with love.

With a gorgeous opening, using natural shots accompanied by an emotional score, B4 looks to be a wild contrast to the sterile feel that the name suggests. The story, however, is science fiction, offering up a Matrix-style connundrem: what is our reality?

Enter Rupert Shaw (Christie-Luke Jones), a broken and defeated man who is living a fraction of his life after the death of his wife Amanda (Sian Abrahams) several years before. Out of the blue, Rupert is contacted by a mysterious voice (over the phone – not some floating vocal spirit) who offers our protagonist the chance to be with Amanda again...if only he will inject himself with a drug.

Desperate for the chance to be reuinited with his lost love, Rupert jacks up and enters what he first believes to be a hallucination, where he is with his beloved Amanda again. However, after being brought back to reality and questioning the Voice, he discovers this is not the first time this has happened.

An intriguing story, beautifully filmed and with a very impressive soundtrack, B4 is a thought-provoking science-fiction short that has all the trappings of a powerhouse film...apart from the performances. Unfortunately the script reads likes an amateur play, with the key players phoning it in – literally in some cases! Jones' lead lacks conviction and the voice on the end of the phone needed far more menace and presence.

That being said, Sharon Lawrence, who plays Dr Sanders does a commendable job of bringing some life to the show.

Ryder's techinical abilities are undeniable, creating a myriad of absorbing scenes that fluctuate in pace but not in effect, even throwing in some lens flare for good measure! Furthermore, this is Ryder's story – boldly trampling into heavy themes of love, time, and fate, without any hesitation. Proving more and more that he is a very relevant filmmaker in the industry at the moment.

Overall, B4 is a beautiful and engrossing science-fiction drama. It boldy goes where others have before, but does so with confidence and style. With a little more attention to the script and getting a little more out of the actors, Ryder could have brought us the film B4 he makes it.


Head over to www.ukfilmreview.co.uk for more reviews :)

All Things Hidden - Short Film Review

All Things Hidden
Directed by: Sean Avichouser, Co-Directed by Persephone Vandegrift
Written by: Persephone Vandegrift

Atmospheric and emotional, All Things Hidden is a short film to be reckoned with! Powerful performances and a deeply engrossing story drip from the screen with superb professionalism.

Set in the American suburbs, a family secret riddles a young woman with emotional turmoil as she attempts to confront the past that haunts her. The vivid and disturbing flashbacks which Dannie (Carollani Sandberg) suffers from during the movie become increasingly shocking as we learn of the emotional abuse which she witnessed as a child.

The haunting yet ethereal approach to the aesthetics of the film is perfectly suited to the tone of the story, gripping the viewer with every frame. The score is a little on the morbid side, but overall works to compliment Vandegrift’s story.

Thematically, All Things Hidden explores some big and sensitive issues, and does so with a bold ferocity which is rare. Within the 18 minutes of actual film time, enough punch is given to knock most viewers on their ass. Without giving too much away, Dannie’s whole outlook on relationships is explored within a short period of time, given uncomfortable scrutiny, and then concluded sharply.

All Things Hidden, then, is a ferocious and unrelenting exploration of the effects of childhood trauma, and the way in which the human condition learns to cope with such brutality. Fantastic viewing for fans of short, sharp drama.

The Rewrite

The Rewrite - starring Hugh Grant and Marisa Tomei

“School of Schlock”

By Chris Olson

Hugh Grant plays an unenthusiastic screenwriting teacher at an American university when his career as a Hollywood writer seems to be languishing in the boulevard of broken dreams. His unorthodox, and somewhat reckless, approach to moulding the minds of these future greats, though, places his new career in jeopardy.

Those who can’t do teach. The old adage that haphazardly dismisses a significant proportion of working adults forms the basis of The Rewrite, as we see a dried-up writer having to take a job as a teacher in order to stay afloat. However, in a similar style to Jack Black’s character in School of Rock (2003), Keith Michaels (Grant) fails to pay much attention to the rules and finds himself at loggerheads with the powers-that-be. Rulers at the ready.

In a story about a jaded, washed-up writer from L.A. who once wrote a famous screenplay and has been living off its popularity for years, you can imagine his cynicism forms a large part of his personality. Which is definitely true, and to have Hugh Grant play such a character is a genius move. The bumbling, politely awkward gent is in full-swing in The Rewrite, with Grant being the main focal point. Even Marisa Tomei doesn’t get much of a look in as the mature student-cum-mother-of-two.

This is Grant’s classroom and all eyes are fixed firmly on him, with a few comic turns from J. K. Simmons and Allison Janney.

Films that take writing as its main focus have a tendency to become sermonic; rattling on about clichés and the oh-so-ghastly nature of popular culture. The Rewrite, luckily, contains all of this but ridicules writers nontheless. Keith is a perfect example of where being on your high horse will get you, what all your purist beliefs will amount to, and how writing can be meaningful to all walks of life - not just those considered to be “talented” (luckily enough for me).

Having made the School of Rock references earlier in this piece, it seems fitting to conclude with another comparison. Whereas Jack Black stole the show amongst a group of child musicians, riffing off Rock clichés and middle-class snobbery, Grant steals this show amongst a diluted group of student stereotypes by babbling through a series of tired jibes about industry standards and the people who made him who he is.

The surrounding characters are not given enough focus, but if you want to major in Hugh Grant-isms, welcome to the textbook.

Exorcism - from 101 Films

“Whatever Possessed You?”

Remember that film from the seventies, The Exorcist? Yeah, the one with the vomit and the spinning head and the soundtrack that, if you were completely honest with yourself, had you reaching for a clean pair of underpants. That film is now over forty years old and still filmmakers are trying to emulate its success. This found-footage film from Lance Patrick will not have you reaching for new underpants, but may make you vomit…and your head spin.

A group of actors and crew journey to an isolated house that is rumoured to have a ghastly and gruesome past. Some say it was the location of an exorcism that turned awry (do they ever go as planned?), with an evil spirit still lurking in the shadows. The perfect setting, then, for a horror film about an exorcism.

As the ensemble attempt to shoot their exorcism story, strange happenings disrupt the filming - like peculiar noises, slashed wrists and actor’s dialogue turning into beastly, and foul-mouthed, growls. Will any of these doomed creative types make it out alive? Let’s hope not.

The film within a film method is always slightly irksome, allowing poor actors to blame their limited range on a “resemblance” to reality. None of this film’s cast are believable - from the egomaniacal director Rob (Alex Rendall), whose ranting and raving will have you rooting for the murderous spirit, to the make-up girl Jo (Sarah Akehurst) who is as wooden as a church pew. All captured by the “behind-the-scenes” cameraman who fails to step in when his friends are obviously experiencing some otherworldly trauma, instead he just carries on filming.

Found-footage has long been the thorn in the horror genre’s paw, missing the mark with so many stories by simply trying to adhere to inane rules that try and scare up online commotion about “true events”. Ironically enough it is the online community who tear these films apart; ridiculing them for goofs and continuity errors whilst cynically dismissing every aspect of the film company’s so-called “unearthing” of footage “captured” by missing “people” (who are on IMDb).

This begs the question that in 2015, why are films still emerging with this contrived basis? Whatever possessed them to make, and release, this movie? The glut of found-footage that is out there is more than enough to drown the purists who cannot seem to get past how “awesome” The Blair Witch Project was. Why add to it?

Perhaps in forty years time, when film buffs are wading through the decades of films looking for a genuinely brilliant horror film about exorcisms they will find one…The Exorcist from 1973.


Head over to: www.ukfilmreview.co.uk for more reviews, film trailers, short movies and #supportindiefilm projects.

Coffee To Go

Directed: Patrick Ryder & Alex Brock

Written by Victoria Delaney


"In-Her Monologue"

Review by Chris Olson

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if people could hear your train-of-thought? Perhaps your inner ramblings are the stuff of innocuous twaddle and you haven’t given it much though, but it is certain that a good deal of the British public, nay, the earth’s population, would be terrified if their thought process was spoken aloud.



This forms the quintessential element to this short film, written by, and starring, Victoria Delaney, in which a young woman sits drinking her coffee and we hear her chaotic and often self-deprecating thoughts.



Whilst doing a Sudoku, Mae (Delaney) has her relaxing coffee break disrupted by a handsome man (Huw Hamill) standing at the counter, whose pleasing looks send Mae into a whirlwind of inner angst and insecurity. She furiously debates every aspect of the situation, which we hear via over-voice, and attempts to gain control of the social interaction she anticipates.



“Get a grip girl” is one of Mae’s lines, which sums up the anxiety of the human condition pretty well, and reveals the way in which our inner monologues are actually a necessary, if hilarious, technique of preparing ourselves for social combat.



Mae’s dilemma is so typical that watching this short film feels like a diary entry, a snippet of the bludgeoning we give ourselves on a regular basis when faced with a potentially embarrassing situation.



Patrick Ryder and Alex Brock co-direct this charming, funny and painfully relatable short film with a great deal of professional expertise. The cuts and edit are superb, with some fantastic music attached which compliments the style and genre of the piece perfectly. All this with a budget of £40!



Hope the actors at least got a free coffee.