A Home @ the End of the World: British Indie Awards & Ministry...this could get ugly...

Another day, another European Film Awards show that I'm not that familiar with....this one's apparently an Indie version of yesterday's. There was no sweep like The King's Speech had last year...but Tyrannosaur came the closest. I really need to talk about that one as I HAVE seen it recently. The only award I really have a problem with is this strange Best Technical Achievement. How can you actually vote on the editing of one film compared to the cinematography or production design of another. Pure bullocks, that's how!

Here are winners:

Best British Independent Film: Tyrannosaur
Best Director: Lynne Ramsay for We Need to Talk About Kevin
Best Actor: Michael Fassbender for Shame
Best Actress: Olivia Colman for Tyrannosaur
Best Supporting Actress: Vanessa Redgrave for Coriolanus
Best Supporting Actor: Michael Smiley for Kill List
Best Screenplay: Richard Ayoade for Submarine
Best Achievement in Production: The Weekend
Best Foreign Film: A Separation
Best Documentary: Senna
Best Newcomer: Tom Cullen for The Weekend
Raindance Award: Leaving Baghdad
Best Debut Director: Paddy Considine, Tyrannosaur
Best Short Film: Chalk

Best Technical Achievement: Maria Djurkovic for Production Design on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Special Jury Prize: Graham Easton

Richard Harris Award for outstanding contribution by an actor: Ralph Fiennes

Yesterday being my brithday, I decided to take in a free movie. Yes, believe it or not, there actually are several nice theaters that actually give you a free movie on your birthday these days. I discovered that the new documentary about the bank Ministry, Fix, was playing. I knew instantly which one I had to choose (it was either that or Kevin Smith's Red State, which I'd already seen, and, as readers of this blog already knew...I loathed with a passion).

Here's a trailer (hadn't seen it before I saw the film):

I must admit, my fascination with Ministry began when I read that Stanley Kubrick wanted to use their music in A.I. when he was still alive. I guess he thought "Thieves" was really good. Of course, they did end up in the film when Spielberg directed it in the Flesh Fair scene, just as Kubrick intended. Although, they used different songs and I'm not sure if Stanley would have obliged. I imminently got some of their best albums. Their music definitely shaped my perception of industrial music and the potential of creating different music period.

Ministry at the A.I. premiere in 2001.

That being said, I really didn't know much more about Ministry until now other than that. I didn't really care that they spent so long in the 2000s creating an Anti-Bush album trilogy, then abruptly "retired" from the scene. Now, they're back and more abrasive than ever with an album due in March. But, first, let's look at their past...and wonder how on earth are they still alive? Of course, the frontman, Alien Jourgensen, has taken legal action against the film, which delayed its distribution until the case got thrown out this summer...and it's not too hard to see why...

With special guest appearances from Timothy Leery, William S. Burroughs, Trent Reznor, Maynard James Keenan, Ogre, Jonathan Davis, and so many more, Fix, only occasionally lifts above the regular claustrophobic "talking head" documentary format. I just wanted this barely coherent, unfocused, blithe, and poorly shot film to be over by the halfway mark...and what a mark it made on me. The saving grace of the film is probably what irked the singer so much and that is actual footage of this insane genius behind the scenes of his tours. He is scary, grotesque, pathetic, unfunny, a liar...and all around brilliant to behold! Of course, it is interesting to watch the band perform while a nude tour member (pun!) runs around dry humping the live musicians. It's enough to make you miss the 90s....again...(I'm not sure if that dream of the 90s is still alive in Portland)

Overall, it's a portentous, frightening, insightful, and just plain nasty look into a true creative genius/human cesspool and the realization that brilliance and the creative process ain't always pretty. But...we kind of already knew that. If you're a Ministry fan, this is a must see. If you're a recovering addict, I would consider taking your sponsor with you to maybe to coax you out of suicide. How these people are still alive and making music and Amy Winehouse is dead will forever remain a mystery, but that doesn't mean that their carnage isn't cinematically fascinating. I mean, anyone who freaks Trent Reznor out to this day and lives to be able to say he worked with Steven Spielberg on a family film 10 years later has to be pretty special, right?