All Divided Selves - Glasgow Based Director Luke Fowler

World premièring in Glasgow, All Divided Selves, by Luke Fowler is a complex journey through the work of psychologist R.D. Laing.

All Divided Selves is a powerful film which merges art and cinema to show Laing’s work, but also the world through the eyes of someone with schizophrenia. Luke Fowler, director, said: “It’s not what you see; it’s how you see it.”

This was the key message conveyed throughout the film.

Laing was born in Govanhill, Glasgow in 1927 and is now world renowned for his work with schizophrenic patients in particular.

I found that a dark humour which is seen to be typical of the Scottish, was present throughout the film. It seemed to resonate Laing’s sense of humour and his way of dealing with what was a very emotionally difficult job. This was a very enjoyable aspect of the film and gave the audience relief from what was often a very dark subject.

But the film also showed the beauty of life itself, with the words “beautiful” and “moving” used constantly by the audience in the Q & A after the film.

Fowler said: “I employ a powerful use of sound and still imaging to show the complexity of the human mind yet the simplicity with which we perceive it to be.”

The use of sound and still images in this film was remarkable and very emotionally moving. The camera shots were often used as metaphors which gave the audience the feeling of being trapped or shut out from society.

This highlights the everyday problems faced by those with mental illness. Something as simple as a still shot of a fence with the sound of wind whistling through it gave the audience the impression of reality and fantasy intertwined in a confusing and inseparable way.

This film would appeal to history lovers as Fowler used archive footage to show the contrast between Glasgow in the past and present, or Laing’s time and his.The footage also highlighted the Neo-Liberalism movement of Britain which was hugely important to Laing’s work.

Fowler commented: “The neo-liberalism of the new right was a business revolution. The country was run by businessmen and bankers. There were psychological flaws as a result.”

Laing believed that this movement highlighted the way in which psychology did not deal with external issues, only internal ones. The people of this time were suffering as a result of living in this bankers’ world. He felt that they were not cared about or understood.

“All Divided Selves” is a powerful film telling us of the fine line between reality and fantasy. It is as much art as it is film and although complex, and at times, difficult to follow, it captures the essence of cinema in a unique way. Overall, I would say it is one of the best films I have ever seen and director Luke Fowler is hugely talented. I would highly recommend this film to anyone.

Serial Killer Thriller – The Raven

The Raven is a gruesome thriller set in the 19th century, about the last days of famous poet Edgar Allan Poe.

In this film Poe, (John Cusack) is approached by Baltimore police to help catch a serial killer who takes inspiration from his macabre stories.

The plot follows the twists and turns in the case with Poe’s beloved Emily, (Alice Eve) being captured by the killer. He joins forces with Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) to try and rescue her.

This film received mostly negative reviews from critics who seemed to blame in particular the director, James McTeigue, whose previous work includes V for Vendetta and The Matrix. But, I found this film quite enjoyable.

I felt it was a film which relied largely on the atmosphere created through costume, setting and colour. McTeigue created a convincingly gritty and menacing 19th century Baltimore which seemed the perfect place for a murder to be committed.

The dark costumes and drab setting seemed to portray what the city would have been like at that time. It was mostly dark colours used throughout and the only light ones were very pale adding to the threatening atmosphere. Sitting in the audience, the atmosphere felt very oppressive and powerful to the extent I realised I had been holding my breath a little throughout the film.

The acting  in “The Raven” was noticeably well done. There were a lot of semi-famous faces throughout the film but the two main actors, Cusack and Evans, were very convincing. Overall, the acting was the best part of this film in my opinion.

The only aspect of this film which I felt let it down was its gore. In particular the scene from Poe’s story, “The Pit and the Pendulum”, in which a man is chopped in half by a swinging axe. This scene was drawn out with the audience watching an inhuman amount of blood splattering across the room as he was dissected.

I found myself looking away at these parts in the film. My friend who watched them all said she felt “physically sick” when a man’s throat was slit and the blood pulsed out of his neck.

These parts seemed more Tarantino dark humour than serious murder movie as they were so over-the-top and exaggerated. I felt that they only reminded the viewer that an otherwise convincing film that rely drew them in, was indeed a work of fiction.

The Raven is a movie which sheds a lot of light on the type of man Edgar Allan Poe was but none on the circumstances of his death. But what scriptwriter, Hannah Shakespeare, has come up with is an intriguing plot full of twists and turns which keep the audience guessing right to the end. It is like a Sherlock Holmes but with a more enjoyable plot. Although it does have much more gore and is definitely not one for the squeamish.

I would recommend this film for anyone who enjoys thrillers and horrors. In most
British cinemas it seems to only be showing at the weekend as it was released in
the UK on March 9. Catch it while you still can!