Midlands Review of Fortune Cookie

midlandsmovies • June 25, 2022

Fortune Cookie


Directed by Georgia Hampson


2022


“You will soon reconnect with a long lost love”.


Writer-director Georgia Hampson explores loss and hope in her new 14-minute short film Fortune Cookie which mixes the spiritual and soulful.


We open with Maya (Aimee Powell) who returns home to open a fortune cookie which says she will reconnect with a loved one. Dismissing the superstitious treat as nothing more than a vague statement, she tosses it aside not knowing how prophetic the message may actually be.


However, later that night a noise wakes Maya from her sleep and after grabbing a baseball bat she heads downstairs where a mysterious woman is sitting at her dining table.


The woman intruder is Natalie (Laura Rollins), Maya’s sister who we find out actually died three years ago. They move to the sofa as Maya questions how she could possibly have returned.


The film really works when director Georgia Hampson infuses the film not just with a heartfelt tone but also with lots of funny moments. A throwaway banana-throwing joke had me laughing out loud whilst a dance around the house gives some positivity to some of the sorrowful conversation.


Explaining she has just 5 hours on earth, Natalie refuses to share anything about the afterlife and simply asks her sister about her current life. The conversation quickly turns to the incident that caused Natalie’s death with regret, blame and acceptance all brought up between the two women.


The film brilliantly balances the jokes with these more poignant beats without any issues in tone due to a clever script also from the director. And towards its conclusion, the film gently pushes  the story along into a moving and sobering sequence about what we would say to loved ones if they were still here with us.


Fortune Cookie’s excellent attributes leads it to end as a funny and warm short, that is centred around two fantastic performances by Aimee Powell and Laura Rollins. They both inject the film with the surprising laughs and deliver the cheeky dialogue with charm and plenty of spirit.


The finished film therefore comes heartily recommended as it delivers fantastic direction and an excellent script, both bolstered by the terrific lead actresses who are impressive in every aspect.


★★★★★


Michael Sales

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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