In a new foreign film feature,Benjamin Lewisreviews Pablo Larrain’s film No, which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2012. Critics raved at the time, but was it worth the hype?
When you can’t get the Spanish for ‘Chile, happiness is coming’ out of your head and start singing it enthusiastically around the house – much to the confusion of your parents – it’s fair to say that the Chilean film No has had a lasting impact. Directed by Pablo Larrain, No focuses on the 1988 Chilean referendum to decide whether to extend Pinochet’s rule by eight years, from the perspective of the respective ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaigns.
Larraín’s film is an expertly crafted blend of fact and fiction revolving around a subject matter that is historically important, and still relevant in the context of political upheavals like the Arab Spring. The cinematography in particular makes you feel like you’ve stepped into 1980s Chile by bringing the historical events to life. This is mostly due to the use of the now obsolete analogue U-matic camera from the early 1980s, which Larraín used to merge the archival footage with his own vision. The result is an air of authenticity, as film and archival footage seamlessly blend together. So seamlessly in fact, that at times it’s hard to know what’s being acted.
Image credit: BFI
Larrain’s directing is highly stylised, with a tone that whilst not dark and oppressive as per V for Vendetta, is far from that of Rush Hour 2 where danger and violence is trivialised. It’s perhaps best described as cautious optimism. This tone is reflected in the desire of René (Gael García Bernal), an advertising executive, to focus on happiness as the central theme for the ‘No’ campaign.
My only criticism, barring the ratty haircut that García Bernal has in the movie, is that the scenes with his son and his estranged wife detract from the compelling war between both advertising campaigns and the even more interesting relationship between René and his boss Lucho, whose bickering and insulting add another layer to the conflict. His wife, Veronica, is unlikeable and his son offers very little to the plot, despite an attempt at heightening the tension at the breakup of the ‘No’ rally.
What is most remarkable about this film are the parallels that can be drawn with contemporary politics. At one point in the movie, during a meeting with leaders of the ‘Yes’ campaign, someone says: “you have a system in which anyone can be rich. Careful; not everyone. Anyone’. In other words, No tells us that an individual, with dedication and focus, can make change. This is something that has been seen here in Exeter, with the university recently becoming the first English university to go ‘conflict free’, thanks to the work of the members of‘Project Congo’ of the ‘Be the Change’ society.
Ultimately I strongly recommend No, and whilst it may be an oversimplification that an advertising campaign and catchy jingle was responsible for Pinochet losing power, Larraín believes it had an important role. As a result, we should consider the impact of marketing in politics, even twenty-five years ago.
The catchiness of ‘Chile, happiness is coming’ is undeniable, and as a master class in marketing, the film should be at the top of the Christmas list of Gocompare.com’s advertising department. Then at least, we might get some relief from the considerably crueler regime of the opera singer. Just say “no”, kids.
Here we are at the beginning of a new year with new games and soon enough an entirely new generation of platforms. 2012 has been quite the year for games and at the same time it has been quite strange. This generation for consoles has been the longest yet, almost reaching a decade and yet there have been some incredible and innovative releases. We have seen the launch of the PSVita and the WiiU and Steam has grown into a mammoth for the PC world. But enough of the inspirational stuff, we at the Exeposé Games team want to produce a year in review. This isn’t the ‘Game of the Year’ prestigious awards which will be in our print edition, this is just a quick look at some of the defining features of 2012 and the best moments that this year’s games have produced. So here it is the ‘Exeposé Games Year in Review 2012’
Top 5 weapons of this year
1. Anything in Borderlands 2: Yeah it’s a slight cop out because there are a ‘kajillion’ guns but it is impossible to decide because there are just so many. When you pick up a gun in ‘Borderlands’ you never know what will happen when you pull the trigger, be it a gun that shoots acid or a gun that instead of reloading you throw as a grenade! It’s pure insanity, match that with a script as sharp as armour piercing electric bullets and you have yourself an arsenal of madness.
Photography by Official Xbox Magazine
2. Bow and Arrow:Far Cry 3 and Assassin’s Creed 3: It has been a great year for hunting old timey style. With the dawn of that underrated badass Hawkeye in Avengers Assemble, all of a sudden bows and arrows are cool again. One of the more satisfying aspects of Far Cry was picking off the pirates (80% of which are happy to admit they have the clap) one by one whilst they run around manically trying to you. This year with the new Tomb Raider and Crysis games sporting more stringed weaponry, this trend is far from over.
3. Bricks and lots of them: This has been a good year for the Lego games with the releases of the last Harry Potter game, Lego Batman DC Heroes 2’and most recently Lego Lord of The Rings. The unique humour and ability to tell a story through blocks has made these puzzle games fun for all ages. From wands and batarangs, to swords and heat vision, Lego has provided us with some of the greatest weapons of this year to cause blocky carnage.
4. Your ability to make choices: If there is one thing I have learnt from The Walking Dead series is that I am a terrible human being and I should never be given charge of other humans. The experience is truly harrowing and emotionally up-roaring. You feel the consequences of every decision. Just like any weapon it has a result only this result is more disruptive and painful than any gun. I have never felt like a bad person until I played this game and I am the one who use the rope dart way too liberally in Assassin’s Creed 3!
5. Vegetables: In Sleeping Dogs the executions are brutal and entertaining. From electric eel tanks to electrical substations. However, one of these diabolical weapons of destruction stands above the rest. The darkly hilarious Pak Choi execution whereby you pick up your victim and drop him on a rather pointy vegetable. Its good green family fun that teaches you the importance of reaching your five a day.
Top 5 Villains of the year
1. Vaas, Far Cry 3. So yeah this guy is crackers. The trailer says it all. It shows Vaas from a first person perspective explaining the definition of insanity. His voice, his eyes, his movement are all just so unsettling, you never know what he will do next he is just pure insanity. At the same time he is incredibly charismatic and likeable. There is just something so engaging about him. I can’t really do it justice so check out the ‘Definition of Insanity’ trailer.
2. Zombies: Yup the brain munching undead horde have featured in all sorts this year including, Black Ops, ZombieU and The Walking Dead. It seems we as gamers just can’t get enough of bashing, slicing and blasting away the undead. Maybe it is the ever present over the top gore or the racism against our deceased bretheren but whatever the reason these guys are great to kill and still scare us to this day!
3. Handsome Jack, Borderlands 2: Handsome Jack is hilariously insane. Whereas Vaas is just unsettling, Jack is just gut-splittingly funny. He is witty and has a great dark sense of humour. You find yourself eagerly awaiting his dialogue and his moments on screen just to hear what nonsense and backchat he has to say next. Credit to Gearbox, the writing has always been incredibly tongue in cheek and quick, Handsome Jack personifies this skilful dialogue. Keep an ear out for his magnificent diamond encrusted horse, ‘Butt Stallion’.
4. Raul Menendez, Black Ops 2: He is probably the biggest super-villain of the year in that he has scale and ambition. His tragic back story really creates a deep and emotional character that is so believable and his motives are pretty justified as opposed to just simply take over the world. He is charismatic and it shows in his massive following. I found myself both sympathetic and hateful towards him as the tragedy revealed the reasoning behind the menace.
5. Your targets, Dishonoured: It is hard to pick an individual from ‘Dishonoured’ because all the characters you target are just so delightfully evil. They scheme, they plot, they murder, they poison and it works so well. They all work so well with each other to create horrible individuals that you look forward to disposing of. Then out of nowhere the game gives you opportunities to non-lethally dispatch them, making the decision making element even deeper. If you want to see a collection of horrible b***ards look no further than ‘Dishonoured’.
Top 5 Developer Gaffes
1. Frank Gibeau on EA policy: Anyone noticed that it’s nigh-on impossible to buy a single player game with zero multiplayer functions these days? It may be something to do with a boast by EA President Frank Gibeau that:
“I have not green lit one game to be developed as a single player experience”
And while he may have meant features like Apps or online social content, as he stressed in a hurried restatement, to a gaming world that is beginning to be aggrieved by the pretty cynical efforts to cram profitable multiplayer options into everything that moves *cough cough f’ning Mass Effect*, it provoked more than a few raised eyebrows. Thank the good lord for Bethesda.
2. John Hemingway on The Mechromancer character: Talking about the DLC character for Borderlands 2, lead designer John Hemmingway talked about the character’s skill tree ‘Best Friends Forever’, a set of skills designed for those who “suck at first-person shooters”. All well and good. Unfortunately, instead of calling it Best Friends Forever, he referred to it as ‘the girlfriend skill tree’. Whoops. Cue a frantic twitter attempt to rectify the situation on the part of Gearbox senior management, and outrage all over the internet.
3. Jessica Merizan on Mass Effect 3: What she said in her role as Bioware Community Manager on the Bioware attempt to rectify the ending debacle: ‘When I played [the DLC] it really drove home the fact that my last choice wasn’t setting me up for a certain ending… and the ending I got was reflective of all my experiences whether I played just Mass Effect 3 or all of the trilogy’.
What she should have said: ‘It’s 1.9 Gigs of pictures and a weird cutscene which entirely spoils the pacing of the final rush toward the citadel, and you still don’t really find out what happens to your girlfriend or why a tiny child is determining the fate of the galaxy, whatever that fate is because that’s not really explained either. And it’s all you’re getting’.
4.Chris Metzen on the Mists of Panderia expansion for World of Warcraft: For those unaware, the latest expansion for WoW revolves around the mysterious island of Pandaria… wooohhh… lost out at sea and hidden by powerful magics… wooohhhh… and inhabited by a strange race of fearsome beasts KNOWN ONLY AS……. Pandas. Of the Kung-Fu variety. VP Creative Development Chris Metzen:
“This is no joke”
Whatever helps you sleep at night.
5. Stanley Woo (On ME3) again: Stanley Woo was or is known as something as a menace on the Bioware forums. A Bioware employee and moderator, he was quick to defend the company against any criticism, constructive or otherwise, and punish those who said it. He wins the top spot for this little gem, referring to the highly controversial utterly terrible ME3 ending:
“If you wish to sum up the conclusion of a multi-part epic game series as “Red, Green, and Blue,” then feel free to. But please don’t then complain that the endings are oversimplified. You are the one who has slapped that label onto it, not us.”
Top 5 Art in Games
1. Ghost Trick: released in 2012 on iOS having previously been released on DS, was widely praised for its fantastic animation, and it’s not hard to see why. The art style works seamlessly with the dynamic of the game, and it’s genuinely such a pleasure to watch, which is something not many games that rely on cut-scenes for plot development can offer.
2. Skyward Sword: It dazzled last year with its gorgeous, ethereally glowing scenery and its quirky character design reminiscent of its predecessor, Wind Waker. While the excessive bloom can occasionally induce headaches, it’s still a joy to explore the vast, scenic worlds that lie below the clouds.
3. Dishonored: The dystopian steampunkery of Dishonored was one of the most impressive settings of this year’s game haul. Playing around in such a large and varied world is fun enough even without the fantastic design and attention to detail that this game has.
4.Journey: for the most part, is simple, monochromatic and not too taxing on the eyes, but its simplicity allows for incredible vistas, subtle yet brilliant animation and truly gorgeous, engaging gameplay. From the creators of Flower, a similarly simple yet enticing game, this little indie game is a wonderful hidden gem of artistic flair that shouldn’t be missed.
5.Bastion: while released all the way back in 2011 on XBLA, was brought to the iPad in 2012, and so deserves a mention. Heartbreaking soundtrack and fantastic narration aside, this game makes the most of some absolutely phenomenal hand-painted scenery to make the game feel like a painting come to life. The bright colours and watercolour-like texture bring a naivety to the game that only serves to make the tale of the apocalyptic Calamity all the more poignant.
And one to look forward to:
Bioshock Infinite. Oh my god. Have you seen the trailer. The colours, the floating city, the brilliant style – the art alone makes me want to throw bundles of money at the developers, Irrational Games, just for having created something as visually stunning as the first Bioshock in a completely new and compelling setting.
Top 5 Ridiculously over-sexualised characters
1. Citra Talugmai, Far Cry 3: I’m desperately trying to write this with as little knowledge of Far Cry as possible. I haven’t played it yet, so don’t tell me anything! According to the interweb, Citra is a warrior-goddess-totally-hot-holiday-romance-may-kill-you kind of gal. Mystical powers and plot relevance aside, she’s totally fine despite chilling on an island with no decent healthcare or cosmetics. She does little except questionably sexually assault you in a drug induced hallucination. Sounds pretty sexualised to me.
2. Cortana, Halo 4: If the below picture doesn’t tell you Microsoft know how to make their fans happy, then I don’t know what does. The vast outpourings of Cortana porn that accompany each iteration of the series are a testament to the designers’ ability to make an AI construct stupidly attractive, for no real reason other than LOOK AT THE VIRTUAL VIRTUAL-BOOBIES. In my spaceship, the AI is going to be a large black gentleman with a gravelly voice. Maybe then the marines will stop being mown down while they’re gawking and actually f’ning fight. But regardless of how distracting she’d be in a combat zone, she definitely takes the crown of most-fantasised about AI. Poor old EDI must be crying her eyes out.
3. Anyone vaguely female spoken to by Commander Shepherd, Mass Effect 3: Now, of course a game which allows players to woo women (and by woo I mean hit the obvious dialogue response until they fall into your arms, just like real life) isn’t going to get very far presenting a parade of homely soldier gals. We gamers are a simple breed. And throughout the series the good people at Bioware have continued to make it clear they understand this by working very hard to demonstrate that there’s clearly an attractiveness requirement for female special forces operators, or that Shepard is the luckiest/seediest bastard alive. And one could attribute the increase in virtual squadmate attractiveness to increases in technology but by Mass Effect 3 its gone waaaaaay further than that. The above is Ashley Williams, given one hell of a makeover from her appearances in the previous two games and now looking like… well, fill in your own superlatives here. The Asari are as always a race entirely comprised of blue promiscuous attractive women, and they are all over your space-armoured ass. The reporter and the new PA are both particularly svelte and will happily have you pretty much at hello. Tali, longtime masked favourite of many players, is revealed to look like (Spoilers)
4. This again- Seduce Me: Yeah yeah yeah I’ve used it before blah blah blah. You aren’t reading this for the scintillating prose. Just look at the pictures. As if you needed to be told. For complicated analysis of the above, try here, he says, shamelessly.
5. Juliet Starling, Lollipop Chainsaw: Yeah. One of the cleaner pictures available. Cheerleader. Chainsaw. Lollipops. Zombies. Tiny Skirt. High School. One of Japan’s saner offerings. Truly. It’s a grittily realistic RPG with a complex moral choice system and profound revelations about the global economic system and human reality. Not so truly. You don’t even have to play it to know what kind of squeal she makes every time she chops up a zombie. Yeah.
Top 5 handheld games
1. Sticker Star: the latest, but perhaps not the best in the Paper Mario franchise, nevertheless brings back the humour and silliness of the first three games. The concept of stickers as battle items is somewhat gimmicky, but mostly it works well, after all, gimmicks is what Nintendo does best. Altogether, Sticker Star is fun, lighthearted and worth the wait.
2. Pokémon Black and White 2: While it’s true that Nintendo are flogging a near-dead Rapidash with the Pokémon franchise, Black and White didn’t disappoint. Ignoring its over-reliance on online connectivity – come on, Nintendo, I don’t actually have any friends – the game does end up doing what Pokméon does best: establishing a bond between you and your chosen starter Pokémon much stronger than any trifling familial bond. The added features, such as seasonal Pokémon and new battle mechanics, increase the replayability and ensure kids will be playing for years if they ever really want to catch em all.
3.Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask: It revitalises the lovely art style that Layton games are known for by introducing 3D animation. It can seem jarring at times as it switches schizophrenically between 2D and badly-designed 3D, but the story and logic puzzles bring back the classic Professor Layton charm that we know and love, with the added daily downloadable puzzle a nice bonus too.
4. CRUSH3D: It didn’t exactly have the most engaging or comprehendible of plots, yet it still stood out with its novel approach and use of the 3D capabilities of the 3DS. The action revolves around perspectives, logical thinking and the ability to “crush” the world to reach new places; once the easily ignorable plot is glossed over, the game was really quite fun.
5. The Room: Whether you agree or not, apps are really the new branch of handheld gaming, and it is for this reason that The Room makes the list. Widely praised and greatly hyped, The Room is one of those escape-the-room type point-and-click logic puzzles, but the design is so beautifully intricate that it stands out as something spectacular rather than just a run-of-the-mill app. I have no idea what I’m doing half the time but it’s bloody GORGEOUS.
And one to look forward to:
It’s got to be Pokémon X and Y. It’s just got to be. Finally, it seems like Nintendo are ditching their desperate need for all new Pokémon to be spikier than the love child of a hedgehog and a fox’s penis. And it’s 3D. ❤
Top 5 Anticipated Games of 2013
1.Grand Theft Auto 5: One of the most popular franchises returns with what looks like its most graphically stunning and in-depth world to date. Set in Los Santos (Los Angeles) and the surrounding Californian countryside the environments look varied, the characters on typical tongue in cheek GTA form. The proposed size is bigger than San Andreas, Red Dead Redemption and GTA IV combined so this looks like to be Rockstar’s most ambitious production to date. Put on top of that three playable characters and you have the biggest game of the year.
2.Elder Scrolls Online: Not being a huge MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) fan I do have my concerns with this game. Personally I would much rather an RPG like Skyrim that explored the world of Tamriel further but with the same game play and style. An MMO will mean very different things indeed but having followed it closely I may, just may, be enticed by an MMO. Graphically it looks pretty good for an MMO but oh my lord the locations, THE LOCATIONS. It is on a scale vaster than any I actually thought realistic, spanning damn near all of Tamriel. So for me it will boil down to do I want to explore or do I want my RPG. It will be a tough choice to make. For the MMO loving world I am sure it will be a hit.
3.Watchdogs: Cast your minds back to E3 last year. It all seemed terribly dull, just a sequel here, a sequel there and maybe a dancing related Kinect game. Then out of the mists of mediocrity came Watchdogs. The visual urban setting intrigued me, it was deep and had great colours and lighting which created a very heavy and suppressive atmosphere. However, the main feature above all else was the game’s hook, controlling technology. By taking a good look at just how dependant on technology we are, Watchdogs has tapped into how that technology can be manipulated and controlled in ingenious ways. The results are in-depth knowledge of random people on the street, jamming mobile phone signals and my personal favourite, changing traffic lights to cause a pile up. It looks both clever and beautiful and I just can’t wait!
4.Pokémon X and Y: New Pokémon do I really need to say more? Alright I will. It is the first fully 3d entry in the series and from the brief trailer, it looks fantastic. The colours are vibrant and the Pokémon themselves are just as varied as ever as the trailer showcases the starter and the legendary Pokémon that will feature. Apart from that there is very little else to say except get hyped and get a ‘3DS’
5.Rome Total War 2: Potentially one of the most successful PC games of all time, Rome Total War provided gamers and history geeks with hours upon hours of empire building and nation conquering. Now with it’s sequel on the horizon both veterans and newcomers are excited alike. With incredible looking graphics and animation, it looks to provide the most intense and true to life experiences of classical warfare. Check out the trailer it is full of lovely Roman politics including daggers in the back and snakes in your bed. YAY HISTORY!
Well that is it for our year in review. Overall it has been a pretty good year full of laughs, chills and thrills. Now we are in 2013 and with it comes a whole new wave of adventure, mystery and fun. As the gaming community grows larger and larger everyday, the future for gaming looks brighter and a whole world of opportunities await the industry. Thank you all for a great year!
I’m the first to admit that I was a latecomer to the Two Door Cinema ‘Club’. I shunned them and their screaming tweenage fan girls at Reading – after all, how could a band fronted by a floppy haired ginger twat, who didn’t even have a drummer, actually be any good? Humble pie came to me when “Tourist History”turned up in my stocking with an apologetic note: “You’re always hard to buy for – now you’re not in your ironic gothic phase maybe you’ll like something catchier and less…angry?”
Photo credits to yesgoodmusic.com
It turned out that I was a sucker for repetitive choruses that make up the flesh and bones of pretty much every song on “Tourist History”. But two and a half years, almost too many tours and a Debenham’s Christmas advert later, I was ready for something different. Two Door were vocal about their enthusiasm for change as well. A bigger record, a bigger fan base and bigger venues were all on the cards – sights that scream far from a tent of tweens.
It turns out they actually pulled it out of the bag. “Beacon” provides the sound of an ambitious band who have matured but remained fun. Just one listen to the album confirms its difference to “Tourist History”. Sure, it’s not as twangy, and perhaps not as catchy from the off-set, but it’s definitely cleverer. TDCC have jumped over the awkward second album hurdle without morphing into boring bastards. “Someday” and the anthem-esque “Wake Up” confirm as much. The first half of the album is definitely stronger than the second, so make sure you get the Deluxe Version. Its inclusion of a live set at Brixton reminds you why you loved TDCC in the first place.
2012 has been an interesting year for art. Munch’s “The Scream” set a new bar for art sales at auction; the Olympics paved the way for countless new and controversial developments in the world of British art, not the least of which is Hirst’s Verity sculpture; and the Turner Prize’s 2012 opening generated the usual mix of vitriolic indifference and outright acerbic apathy among art critics at the Tate Britain that we’ve come to expect, albeit mixed in with some surprisingly high praise. Post-postmodernism and the almost disturbingly nihilistic elements of popular Dadaism have taken an even more notable front seat in seminal arts culture, and exhibits such as the upcoming Picasso vs Duchamp in Stockholm look set to challenge even our most basic cultural assumptions on a field that has lain stagnant for decades, if not centuries.
Photo by Matt Cardy
It’s easy to miss, then, underneath the veneer of self-absorbed egotism that art so proudly displays, the little things that make us wonder why names, art culture and the ubiquitous pushed envelope are so valuable and quality itself is so often ignored. Where does the value lie, if not in the aesthetic appreciation of the work? Why does the painter’s identity matter so much? Questions like these can give even the most educated art critics pause, and the Beltracchi art forgery scandal that rocked the European art scene this year demonstrates exactly why these plutocratic elements make something that should be so basic and intrinsic to our culture so aloof and complex to consume. This year, one of the biggest art forgery scandals of the 21st century has brought this dichotomy of art values to light, with aplomb endemic only to the baby boomer generation.
Wolfgang Beltracchi (formerly Fischer), artistic virtuouso extraordinaire and genius forger, was imprisoned in 2011 for his on-again, off-again practice, persistent from his youth. Noted for his nigh-unmatched skill and the perceived authenticity of his work, Beltracchi was particularly notorious for the lies he told that so many art brokers fell for enthusiastically, and the assistance of his wife, Helene: together they “forged” the Sammlung Werner Jagers, a priceless collection belonging to Helene’s grandfather Werner Jagers that had come into his possession from legendary German collector Alfred Flechtheim. Supposedly containing a range of paintings from Heinrich Campendonk to Max Ernst, each of stunning technical quality, the Beltracchis used this front to sell their technically high-quality forgeries to a wide range of art seekers, from comedian Steve Martin to corporation Sotheby’s, some (such as an imitation of Campendonk’s Rotes Bild mit Pferden) for up to €2.8mln.
In the end, it was that self-same picture that led to the eventual arrest and indictment of the two hotly-debated career criminals in Freiburg in 2006, when art experts Ralph Jentsch and Andrea Firmenich conclusively proved the paintings created by the two were forgeries, this painting in particular containing titanium white, a pigment not available at the time of the picture’s provenance in 1914. Today, 58 of the Beltracchi’s many forgeries have been identified, as the couple serve out their sentence in a minimum security prison, considered national heroes for spitting in the faces of the high art community by the German public; the publicity has strengthened their careers, and a documentary of their lives is currently in the works.
exeposedev 