'The Guinea Pig Club'

Impressed by upcoming film by director Roger Donaldson, 'The Guinea Pig Club'. Written by Mike Riddell, who looks to be about 60/70 and a newcomer.

Donaldson also directed 'The Bank Job' -- possibly Jason Statham's best flick, but the main reason he's on my radar is 'The November Man', or more precisely, the trailer for same. Don't know off the top of my head who edited this trailer, but it's cut like a gem.

Flick could also be one of, if not best by, Pierce Brosnan, so there's a pattern forming.




What gets me about 'The Guinea Pig Club' is it's based on Archibald McIndoe's life. According to Wiki, McIndoe was a plastic surgeon who treated severly burned and facially disfigured pilots in England during World War II.

Very moved by this account by one of McIndoe's patients, Richard Hillary:

Gradually I realized what had happened. My face and hands had been scrubbed and then sprayed with tannic acid. [...] My arms were propped up in front of me, the fingers extended like witches' claws, and my body was hung loosely on straps just clear of the bed.

Shortly after my arrival at the Masonic the Royal Air Force plastic surgeon, A. H. McIndoe, had come to see me. [...] Of medium height, he was thick-set and the line of his jaw was square. Behind his horn-rimmed spectacles a pair of tired friendly eyes regarded me speculatively.

"Well," he said, "you certainly made a thorough job of it, didn't you?" He started to undo the dressings on my hands and I noticed his fingers – blunt, captive, incisive. By now all the tannic had been removed from my face and hands. He took a scalpel and tapped lightly on something white showing through the red granulating knuckle of my right fore-finger. "Bone," he remarked laconically. He looked at the badly contracted eyelids and the rapidly forming keloids, and pursed his lips. "Four new eyelids, I'm afraid, but you are not ready for them yet. I want all this skin to soften up a lot first."

This time when the dressings were taken down I looked exactly like an orang-outang. McIndoe had pinched out two semicircular ledges of skin under my eyes to allow for contraction of the new lids. What was not absorbed was to be sliced off when I came in for my next operation, a new upper lip.

This is looking like an awards contender. Looking forward to first trailer.

Thing about 'The November Man' trailer is it's edited very well. Considering this is directed by Roger Donaldson (The Bank Job), and co-written by Michael Finch (Predators) and Karl Gajdusek (Oblivion) from the novel by Bill Granger, it has potential.

DP is Romain Lacourbas (Colombiana, Taken 2). Edited by John Gilbert (The Bank Job). I don't know if Gilbert cut this trailer (probably not) but somebody cared. If the movie is edited as well as this trailer it'll be worth watching just for that reason.

Music is by Marco Beltrami, who scored 'The Giver', 'Snowpiercer', 'World War Z', 'The Woman in Black', and others. He seems to be go-to for weighty stuff, so I'm hoping that's a reflection of the type of story we can expect from 'The November Man'. The soundtrack to another of Bletrami's movies, 'Carrie', is embedded below the trailer, and is worth a listen.

'November Man'

I like the intro into the world of this movie -- about how some bullets travel at 4000 fps. Good way to parse out those who might want to see 'The November Man' from those who could care less. Put it up front, got it out of the way. Smart.

Also like how we don't get a glimpse of a weapon that could fire a bullet at that velocity, or Brosnan's character at work. We see the shadow of such a rifle, for a second, but that's it. So, I figure we'll get more details in future trailers. Smart again.

My problem is Pierce Brosnan as a hitman. It's tough to buy, the way that guy looks.

Directed by Roger Donaldson, whose 'The Bank Job' was fairly underrated. 

First teaser is mechanical, but necessarily so, and sets the movie up pretty well. Waiting to see the next trailer.