Midlands Review of Powerless

midlandsmovies • January 25, 2020

Midlands Review - Powerless

Directed by Nicole Pott

2020

Sonder Films

Powerless is the latest short film from Sonder Films, written and directed by Nicole Pott who previously brought us 'Charlie' and 'Kaleidoscope' and is the organiser of the High Peak Film Festival.

It's the story of Clara (Katie-Marie Carter), a young boxer who's preparing for a big fight while trying to keep her brother Dan (Ellis Hollins) out of trouble. Their mother died two years ago and as the older sibling Clara is trying to look after Dan as best she can – but it's not easy as he's a boisterous lad and he runs with a rough crowd. She's not best pleased when he calls up late to dinner on the anniversary of their mother's death, but when the police turn up things take a turn for the tragic.

This is an extremely moving and powerful story. It's a testament to Pott's skills as a filmmaker that no scene is wasted, and the film does so much with little fanfare or melodramatics. It's a quiet, personal story that reaches out and prods you right in the heart.

Carter and Hollins are excellent together, with easy chemistry that makes the brother-sister dynamic clear and believable right from the start. Carter is the standout as her role carries more emotional weight, and she does a brilliant job as a weary young woman who has to juggle the demands of her own dream with those of looking after a wayward teen boy.

Her sorrow and rage are entirely believable, and I'd wager it's impossible to watch the performance without choking up a little.

The sad piano soundtrack towards the end is a little on-the-nose, and a couple of the secondary performances are a bit on the flat side, but overall this is a superb film that handles the powerlessness of grief extremely well.

There are so many things that are beyond our control, and nothing reminds us of this more than the death of loved ones. It spins you out of orbit and sends you reeling into the unknown. But it is possible to claw your way back, to regain control step by step, as Clara does with her cathartic boxing. You can rebuild and move on.

Nicole Pott has a few more shorts in development at the moment, and I for one can't wait to see what comes next.

Sam Kurd

Twitter @Splend

By midlandsmovies April 26, 2025
Up! (1976) Dir. Russ Meyer  Well, bi-Adolf Hitler BDSM is not something (a) I thought I’d ever see 5 minutes into a movie and (b) ever expected to write in my lifetime to be fair but this spicy start is pretty standard for the work of exploitation filmmaker Russ Meyer. Up! is a kind of r*pe-revenge softcore p*rn film (there’s gonna be a fair bit of self-censorship in this review so apologies in advance), the type Meyer is known for. I’d describe the plot in more detail but it’s mostly a convoluted and incoherent mess of double-crossing, murder, violence and lots and lots of humping. In short, a man called Adolph gets murdered and a woman investigates (kinda) the circumstances but as she does so, a group of locals blackmail, attack and screw each other with the murder mystery barely mentioned throughout. With so little narrative, it could be argued if it’s essentially p*rn? To be fair, not far off. It’s about extreme as you can go without simply making a s*x film. Is that a…no, it’s a belly button hole. Bookending the film (and also seen at various points throughout) is a Greek Chorus - simply a busty fully nude woman of course - who delivers dialogue like “Pummelling the scrotum with joyous supplication” and other such poeticisms. This artistic flourish is mostly pointless - the actress herself saying the words were tough to learn because it was utter nonsense. On a technical level, the editing is surprisingly well done and the 4k image is frankly fantastic. Someone somewhere must be putting together a post-modern take about the beautiful landscapes and cinematography of Meyer’s * ahem * output. But it definitely does have a kitsch artistry. It has certainly provided plenty of cinematic influence though. Elements of Tarantino grindhouse sensibilities are on show - Meyers likes bosoms as much as Quents likes feet - and there’s even a leather gimp early on. I can also see how its had an impact on Ti West X’s with a focus on sexuality and the body as well, more obviously, Anna Biller’s feminist-twist The Love Witch (2016). Suffice to say it’s not for the weak of heart. I think in this day and age you can’t go into this completely blind to its style, period and context though. It's an X-rated Carry On style that was bad taste then and it’s bad taste now. It revels in its sleaziness without a single hint of shame or apology. Simply saying 'deal with it'. The main negative though is the absence of plot - if the film can even be looked at like that - which is barely present. This is a shame as the whole thing could do with a bit more coherence rather than endless shagging. But it’s far from titillation, it’s mostly clowning - albeit a very adult version of it. More saucy than sexy. Trying to review this through modern sensibilities is almost impossible. It’s as offensive can be from the first scene through to the final credits - heck even this 4k menu is simply one of the film's many s*x scenes. But there are some progressive themes as it doesn’t shy from confronting sexual freedom, bisexuality, gay sex, BDSM and consensual exploration. There's moments of comedy thrown in and I enjoyed a frankly hilarious 5-minute monologue explaining the culprit’s intentions, which was a ludicrous way to deliver a slasher-style ending. I suppose the main thing about Up! (and Meyers’ work overall) is there’s a sort of love it or loathe it quality about the whole shebang. But it’s so unlike anything being made today - for good or bad - that it’s never anything other than unpredictably fascinating. More explicit than most Meyers films - in fact more than any film - it’s a lewd, rude and crude (s)exploration with a satirical edge and campy enjoyment bouncing from every frame. ★★★ 3 / 5 Michael Sales Severin Films releases Russ Meyers' UP! (1976) and MOTORPSYCHO (1965) on 28 April 2025 in newly restored and scanned 4k with hours of new and archival Special Features https://severinfilms.co.uk/
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