Though we at Film In Dublin love a prestigious evening of sophisticated cinema as much as the next website, there’s no doubt that sometimes it’s good to kick back and enjoy a late night of wild and weird cult movies. And who says the latter can’t have as much artistic intrigue and worthy discussion as the latter? Cabaret Noise certainly agree with us on that front. This new Dublin-based film events company are dedicated to bringing cinemas greatest and most forgotten oddities to all manner of venues and locations around Dublin, and they’ll be introducing themselves to the fair city of film with a series of oddities set to screen in Stoneybatter over the next few months.
You Will See That Giant of a Man is Cabaret Noise’s introductory programme, a three film cinematic examination of the intersection between masculinity and violence. In Louie de Witt’s Joe Bullet (1973) a black man in 1970s South Africa, uses his forbidden body to save his local football team. Jean-Claude Van Damme attempts to play a toddler clone while Michael Rooker learns to be a father to his nemesis in Ringo Lam’s Replicant (2001). Finally, in the American midwest we discover the deterioration that revenge causes to the self and those around it in Deadbeat at Dawn (1988) by Jim Van Bebber.
These screenings will be taking place at The Darkroom , Stoneybatter and while admissions are free, donations are welcome for this examination of oddities. See below for further details of the screenings for You Will See That Giant of a Man, with descriptions courtesy of Cabaret Noise themselves.
Joe Bullet 06/05/19 at 7pm
Deep in the South African countryside, two football teams—The Eagles and The Falcons—fight a bitter rivalry to obtain the pride of local superiority. Originally banned in apartheid era South Afirica, Joe Bullet follows this contest as it swiftly goes beyond the pitch. In order to get the upper hand, The Falcons hire gangsters to kidnap The Eagles’ two best players. These gangsters did not, however, account for the fact that Joe Bullet (Ken Gampu) is an Eagles fan. The bald headed man mountain is tasked with saving the key players any way he can. Using his karate skills, Macgyver-like ingenuity, and hulking frame Joe Bullet fights his way through jungles and construction sites with seemingly nothing able to stop him. He is very much a nostalgic vision of the masculine action hero. Bullet is infallible and disciplined, strong at all times but compassionate when he needs to be. His mere presence is enough to shake any enemy to their core, but also undeniable in its likely influence to any young black South African kid watching him save the day.
Replicant 10/06/19 at 7pm
How do you even begin to stop a pyromaniacal serial killer when that killer is played by Jean-Claude Van Damme. Easy—you clone an exact replica of that serial killer without any memories, train it in gymnastics, and use its inherent psychic abilities to find him. Michael Rooker plays the dogged Seattle cop who has been chasing Jean-Claude Van Damme’s The Torch for years, even in retirement he can’t be parted from this case. Rooker has the unfortunate job of working with the clone of his nemesis, forging an unlikely father/son relationship built on equal parts determination and disgust. Together the three characters and how they interact with one another offer up peculiar perspectives. In Michael Rooker, the patriarchal instinct takes hold despite hating the sight of his strange new son, The Torch has his ego blown out of proportions when he encounters his clone, and most intriguing—watching the clone itself find its feet physically and psychologically, conjures up images of a ripped Buster Keaton.
Deadbeat at Dawn 15/07/19 at 7pm
In smalltown Dayton, Ohio, rival gangs The Ravens and The Spiders encounter each other almost every day, always ending in violent conflict. Goose, leader of The Ravens, finds this to be too much eventually, as the safety of his girlfriend becomes most important to him. Of course, one cannot just leave a gang war without a hiccup. The Spiders send their most ferocious member, Bone Crusher, to send this message to Goose. Bone Crusher, however, encounters only Goose’s girlfriend and in a frenzied moment murders her in a way only someone called Bone Crusher can. This inevitably sends Goose on the warpath, from then on he relies on primal instinct to take vengeance on the entire Spiders Gang. Director and star Jim Van Bebber is as equally committed as his character, not just by doing his own incredibly dangerous stunts but by laying bare his absolute horror at the state of 1980s America. The degradation caused to Goose’s body and relationships is catastrophic. His revenge, born of too many violent conflicts was ultimately chosen for him—leaving him with no conclusion but destruction.
