Rag Tale

This movie can only be viewed as some sort of "what not to do when shooting a movie". The constant cutting and shifting leaves one feeling physically ill. I watched this movie with another person and we both experienced the same symptoms. A headache, strained eyes and eventually a strong urge to throw up.

The pity was that this movie was kinda promising. There is probably a big market out there for a satire of this kind demonstrating the type of spin that goes into publishing a red-top. However the director doesn't seem to want to do that and the end product is a 100 minute music video.

The acting was also pretty dire, having wondered "whatever happened to Jennifer Jason Leigh" for the first few minutes of this movie, I soon realised why i hadn't missed her.

The final nail in the coffin though had to be the resolution. Absolutely awful, I have never seen such and obvious attempt at a directorial get out of jail card.

Set during the momentous U.S. election week of 2004, this satirical story follows the editor of The Rag (Graves) – a London newspaper - as he embarks upon an affair with the Chairman's wife (Leigh) and follows him as he tries to save his job over the course of the week.

With subtle side-swipes at the establishment, this film delves into the seedy underworld of tabloid journalism. Improvised performances from an established ensemble cast helps RAG TALE create a realistic world inhabited by ruthless, back-stabbing hacks, intent on their own advancement.

The frantic pace of a news room is conveyed by the editing style, which features many more cuts than usual, and with hardly a still moment, the camera flits effortlessly between HD and mini-DV, creating the type of realism you would associate with a fly-on-the-wall documentary. The stunning visuals of the film are complimented by an energetic score and exploratory sound-design. This is heightened by the improvised dialogue and sense of inter-character relationships that build from the start to their shocking conclusion.

More cutting and experimental than television shows which attempt to cover similar ground, RAG TALE convinces us that what we read in the newspapers is very often manufactured by an elite group of people who care more about themselves than correctly reporting the news.

A film for the younger audience, this is one that will leave you thinking.

This is a shame. Great cast (why aren't these people on our screens all the time?), completely wasted. The direction in this movie is the worst I've ever had the misfortune to see - the camera is constantly moving, often rotating round so actors are at angles, or zooming. Combined with extremely quick editing, it makes it difficult to tell which actor is which, let alone what their facial expressions are. This would be excusable perhaps if an inexperienced director tried it for one scene, but it's the entire movie. I suppose the attempt is to convey the pressure and fast pace of a newsroom: instead, it conveyed to me a headache (a good director would allow the actors to do some of the conveying emotion: the direction more or less screams look at me in every scene, to the extent the participant I was most aware of was the camera).

Putting aside the direction, the improvised script does not produce a comedy. The cast do a good job of conveying some relationships between the group, some amusing, but really asking them to improvise a script of one liners in a few weeks was always insane and this really could have used a decent scriptwriter. The audience I was in laughed twice. The original concept isn't bad, the cast try hard and are good, but the director never gives them the chance to salvage this. Avoid.

This had to be turned off after about 15 minutes. It is easily the worst shot thing ever. If you want a masterclass in generation tension without moving the camera, check out The Collingswood Story. If you want a masterclass in HOW NOT TO MAKE A FILM, watch this sh*t. Rupert Graves is pathetic as some sort of Pier Morgan character - about as intimidating as a dead moth. Truly poor, feeble effort. The director should be shot, and so should everyone else involved for not telling her this was a bad style to adopt. I purchased this dung from Blockbutser for 1.99. It wasn't worth 0.01p. You want to see this sort of thing done well - improvised script, floating camera, and so on - see Festival or One for the Road. This joins Confetti in the 'bin' list. Get lost, the lot of you

There is hardly a shot in this film that lasts longer than 2 seconds. MTV style plus plus. A formal choice made to stress the hectic and crazy world of tabloid journalism. The cast is good, but when people get so much visually fragmented and reduced to mere short visual and aural stimuli it's difficult to care at all for them. Foul language is omnipresent and the ending is ludicrous. At least some of the film is funny as absurd headlines for tomorrow's edition of the "Rag" are discussed and a battle for power and control between the chief editor and management breaks out. A big headache is more likely what you take home from this experience than insight, concernment or merely a good time. Textbook example of style over substance.