Simon Magus / The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz

Everyone who says that there are no decent films being made in the UK are dead wrong. There are plenty of decent movies made in the UK. It's just that no-one really gets the chance to see them. With UK distributors consistently playing it safe, there's a raft of excellent stuff that - apart from an occasional screening at a film festival - that's gathering dust on a shelf. But thanks to the advent DVD, there's been a re-discovery of many of the films that seemingly slipped through the cracks. A couple of these happen to be two of the finest British films made over the past decade both directed by Ben Hopkins. Prepare to the enter the fairy tale land of Simon Magus and the chaos that surrounds The Nine Lives Of Thomas Katz

Set in 19th Century Central Europe, Simon Magus is a remarkable debut feature that stars Noah Taylor as Simon, an outcast in his village as many people believe that he's possessed by the Devil. Meanwhile business Hase and the scholar Dovid compete to control a new railway that will safeguard the village's future. Hase enlists Simon as a spy and events soon spiral out of control. Are there really supernatural forces at work? Beautifully shot (but with an acute sense of the mud and grime of the village) and with some fabulous acting from Taylor, Rutger Hauer (yes, you read right) and Sir Ian Holm this is a darkly compelling fantasy adventure with a sense of classic cinema about it..

Which makes The Nine Lives Of Thomas Katz such a surprise. For his second feature Hopkins eschews to formality of his previous film and goes for a gloriously chaotic and free-wheeling style which contains the gamut of genres from thriller to German Expressionism, from MTV promo to Ealing comedy. Here Thomas Fischer - in an absolutely astonishing performance - plays the eponymous title character who shifts from person to person as he attempts to bring about the apocalypse in London. Only the blind and spiritual police inspector (played with a hilarious air of bemusement by Ian McNeice) seems equipped to stop him. Just brimming with great ideas, moments of laugh out loud humour (Never has the line "Get the tea ladies," been mad so funny) and some moments of quite overwhelming beauty it's sheer energy and enthusiasm put many other films that managed to get wide distribution to shame. Does it make sense? Does it hell. But that's half the fun.

At the centre of both films is - obviously - Hopkins and the commentary who provides for both films are revealing though, sadly, sometimes for the wrong reasons. The Katz commentary - conducted in conjunction with Fischer seemingly a couple of years after the film had been made - is a funny affair which can be boiled down to Hopkins saying "What the fuck was I thinking of making and what the fucking hell are you idiots doing watching it?" Partly this seems to be a deliberate provocation towards the audience but also there's an element of being jaded here. Recorded at the time when the film was gaining critical plaudits but was being distributed in a way that could be generously be described as ham fisted must have been a frustrating experience (though the film was a massive hit in Germany). The Magus commentary - seemingly recorded only a couple of years ago - is another bittersweet affair in which Hopkins admires the film but feels it's made by someone else, a someone else who was much more enthusiastic and hopeful about making films in the future.

Thankfully Hopkins has continued to make films and his excellent documentary 37 Uses For A Dead Sheep should be showing at festivals son. In the meantime, this brilliant DVD release (not only do you get both films but you also get Hopkins' award winning short National Achievement Day) will allow these films to be re-discovered and garner the respect that they deserve.

Released by: Fabulous Films and Fremantle Home Entertainment
Cert: 15
Region: 0 (All)
101mins / 84 mins
Language: English
Subtitles: English, German