Release (2010)

Redundant and unnecessary.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This prison drama was recently described on the message boards as "tragedy porn", and I can't think of a more appropriate term. No one in "Release" suggests a human being; all of them are sociological constructs designed for yet another demonstration of the waste and meaninglessness of life, a la Clint Eastwood. This is the kind of movie in which as soon as you see the female warden (Dymphna Skehill, whose performance consists of chewing her tongue while keeping her lips clamped together) proudly hang a framed certification on the wall, you know it's going to be smashed. (Authority is a sham!) And, topping even that, an inmate can't just be stabbed--he has to be stabbed with a sharpened crucifix! (Religion is all hypocrisy!). And so on, and so on. The story concerns a priest, Father Gillie (Daniel Brockleback) who has been jailed for ambiguous reasons and is suspected by the other inmates of pedophilia, which sets off a near-psychotic reaction in his teenage roommate (Wayne Vigo), a victim of abuse and (possibly) rape. Gillie is persecuted by almost the entire prison, led by Max (Bernie Hodges), and his only solace comes in a love affair with one of the guards (Gerry Summers, who is very appealing but seems too sensitive to have passed the screening process). Surprisingly, this affair is the element that comes off most believably, mostly due to the personal charm and naturalness of Brockleback and Summers. But with this setup, there's really nowhere to go but down, and everyone works very hard to make all the ghastly events that follow seem "inevitable"and "tragic". Unfortunately, we're given far too much time to think about all the implausibilities--such as why everyone listens to Max in the first place? We're told he's the unofficial leader of the prison, but we never feel it, especially since Hodges is the kind of actor who tries to seem "sinister" by whispering all his lines. And we're just supposed to accept that Vigo is "unstable", which explains why he's so easily manipulated into precipitating the final crisis.Why is it that the movies that strive the most to be "gritty" and "realistic" come off as the most contrived? Wake up, filmmakers--"life is unfair" is not a daring or original message, and it won't come as a big surprise to the majority of moviegoers. When someone works this hard to pound us over the head with bitter truths, the glossiest old 1940s MGM musical seems a model of naturalism by comparison.

Cruel discussion. About faith, love and shadows of gestures. About sacrifice and its root. About silence as cage. It is a beautiful gray movie. Delicate as burnt paper. Bit as dust of cinnamon. Strange as a walk behind present. Story of a priest and his fake errors. A murder and life in prison. A love story. Silhouette of devil. And the punishment . A movie like melted lead. Few crumbs of Dostoievski, some drops from old British film, air from cold spaces of memory, game of a world. It is only a challenge. So, it is difficult to say if it is a good film, boring or mediocre. It is a picture. Bitter, salty, sour, with taste of gall.Nothing is alright. Every character - a broken doll. It is not a drama. Only a search. And a way without destination.

The makers clearly had a good go at presenting some big issues but it's not enough. It's not so much a story as a bunch of socio-political observations strung together by a school play.And while it shows dedication that the cast must have worked for a share of the profits (ie. nothing) the acting is *so* poor that it detracts horribly from the film's various statements. The statements themselves are worthy but presented in a simplistic way that lacks punch - (Metaphorical) prisons are dark and bad; (Metaphorical) freedom is light and good. Good-looking gays on one side; ugly mutants on the other.I don't want to pile up the complaints because I think the motivation for the film is sound but you've got to do better if you're going to ask for people's time and money.

This film seemed to come out of nowhere for me, I'd heard next to nothing about it but boy am I glad I sat down to watch it! I recommend you do the same! The film centres around Father Jack, a priest imprisoned for a 'crime' that is not revealed to us until the last third of the movie, though we and the other prisoners suspect paedophilia. Whilst incarcerated, Jack finds himself falling for a prison guard (played by Garry Summers, who also appears in SHANK for those who are familiar with these writers' body of work) as well as under threat from a sinister prisoner named simply Max (Bernie Hodges.) Firstly the atmosphere created inside the prison is amazing - I don't know where it was filmed but it's tense, frightening, claustrophobic - and you constantly feel the threat of the other inmates just around the corner. The two leads in Daniel & Garry are excellent, creating a relationship you are absolutely able to believe and immerse yourself in, desperately rooting for them to be able to continue their relationship outside the prison.The script is well written and the skillfully woven narrative cleverly combines all manner of devices from dream sequences, to flash-backs and flash-forwards (forget LOST!) to keep you guessing right up until the end! Special mention must also go to Bernie Hodges who is fantastic in his portrayal as the eerie Max - I think a chill went down my spine whenever he appeared on screen! The film is romantic, scary, sad and heart-warming all at the same time and had me hooked throughout. It also carries a pretty strong message about the hypocrisies of religion and actually made me angry in places as well, particularly during a final confrontation with Father Gillie towards the end.I recommend you track this one down if you can and hope it gets a DVD release later in the year! I shall be looking out for more from this talented writer/director team, though it seems this film won't be getting shown at the London LGFF - what the hell BFI?!? Explain yourselves? Presumably it was submitted?!? A major oversight on their part in my opinion!