Film Review of the Week

Comedy

California Schemin' (15)

Review: Not all underdog stories bark loudly or bare their teeth. Some politely raise a paw to ask for a treat and reward attention with a warm lick to the face. Scottish actor James McAvoy’s directorial debut is an outlandish comedy drama about two unlikely folk heroes, inspired by Gavin Bain’s self-explanatory memoir California Schemin’: How Two Lads From Scotland Conned The Music Industry.

Opening in 2003 Dundee, McAvoy’s feelgood picture introduces self-doubting wannabe rapper Gavin (Seamus McLean Ross) and rhyme-spouting best friend Billy Boyd (Samuel Bottomley), who work side-by-side in a telephone call centre with the latter’s girlfriend (Lucy Halliday). Billy confidently adopts a British accent to cold sell broadband, quietly telling Gavin, “You’ve always got to give the customer what they want to hear”. Away from the headsets, the duo attend an audition in London to find the next So Solid Crew but sneering talent scouts (Amber Anderson, Sonny Poon Tip) dismiss their lyrics because of the Scottish accents: “It’s like the rapping Proclaimers!”

In response, Billy and Gavin pass themselves off as Californian rap duo Silibil N’ Brains, constructing an elaborate back story to convince clueless British record executives that they are the next Eminem or D12. Neotone Records scout Tessa (Rebekah Murrell) is impressed by an impromptu performance and introduces the pair to her boss, Anthony Reid (McAvoy). Fate dictates that the scouts from the disastrous audition are also Neotone staff but, thankfully, they fail to recognise Billy and Gavin with west coast makeovers. Consequently, Anthony offers Silibil N’ Brains a record deal and the friends buy wholeheartedly into their lie. When the truth threatens to surface and Tessa stands to lose her job, reality bites hard as Billy and Gavin prepare to face the music.

California Schemin’ is an assured first effort behind the camera for McAvoy, which handcuffs our emotional investment to Gavin from early scenes of him being chased by bullies and openly crying on the long bus ride home from the humiliating London audition. Bonds fray in the second half when Gavin, in particular, sacrifices likeability to protect his house of cards from being blow down between snorts of cocaine.

Screenwriters Elaine Gracie and Archie Thomson take gentle sideswipes at the politics and image-obsessed shallowness of the early noughties (Billy and Gavin initially intended to reveal their true identities on MTV as a two-fingered salute to the music industry) within the framework of a wee rags-to-riches fairy tale. McLean Ross and Bottomley are well matched as Dundonian pretenders and McAvoy replicates home video footage of the real Gavin and Billy, glimpsed during the end credits, with scrappy, stylised inserts. “This is for the documentary when we’re rich and famous!” grins Billy, wielding a handheld video camera. Only one wish comes true.

Horror

Undertone (15)

Review: Some of the most memorable moments in cinematic horror send chills down the spine because of what you hear. The shrill, staccato violins of Bernard Herrmann’s score as a knife repeatedly descends towards Marion Crane in Psycho; the low-pitched guttural death rattle heralding the approach of ghost Kayako in The Grudge; the increasing tempo of motion tracker beeps in Aliens as acid-blooded predators prepare to swarm. Written and directed by Ian Tuason, Undertone attempts to replicate the goosebump-inducing immersion of found audio, popular in the podcast space, with sonic scares on the big screen.

Evangeline Babic (Nina Kiri), known affectionately to friends as Evy, cares for her comatose mother (Michele Duquet) in the family home. At around 3am, she records episodes of The Undertone podcast with her good friend Justin (voiced by Adam DiMarco), who is based in London. The time difference between self-declared “in-house sceptic” Evy and her believer co-host accounts for the ungodly time that Evy dons noise-cancelling headphones in her mother’s darkened living room to record her part of the conversation. For the latest instalment of the show, Evy and Justin listen to a series of 10 recordings emailed anonymously by one of the listeners.

These audio files weave a tangled tale of lovebirds Mike (Jeff Yung) and Jessa (Keana Lyn Bastidas), who set out to prove that she talks in her sleep by recording themselves at night. Mike discovers Jessa’s nocturnal mutterings could be cause for concern and as Evy and Justin listen to successive files, they hear references to a female demon named Abyzou rooted in European folklore. The spookiness of Mike and Jeffa’s shared experience bleeds into Evy and Justin’s lives.

Shot in writer-director Tuason’s childhood residence in Rexdale, Toronto, Undertone is a fascinating exercise in sensorial stimulation that didn’t work for me. I’m usually a shamefaced scaredy-pants with anything that goes bump in the night on the big screen but I found this deep dive into the macabre origins of children’s nursery rhymes Baa Baa Black Sheep and London Bridge Is Falling Down to be oddly soothing and soporific rather than skin-prickling or scary.

Some of Evy’s choices are baffling. She leaves her sleeping mother alone in the house overnight and when she returns the next morning, her first thought isn’t to check on the terminally-ill parent who has consumed every waking moment. Instead, she heads to the kitchen to switch on the kettle and casually graze on breakfast cereal, unnecessarily delaying a big reveal in her mother’s bedroom. Kiri works hard to sell her embattled heroine’s escalating fear but the absence of jump scares (or an aural equivalent) can only strain nerves so far. Sounds like a great idea that falls short in execution.

Romance

You, Me & Tuscany (12A)

Review: Talented chef Anna (Halle Bailey) put her professional life on hold to care for her terminally ill mother and now she is ready to embark on the next chapter of her life. Following a meet cute with Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor) in a bar, Anna throws caution to the wind and travels to Tuscany to sample the culinary delights of the region. All the local hotels are full because of a summer food festival so Anna cheekily squats in Matteo’s vacant home, without his permission.

She discovers a ring in the house and puts on the jewellery shortly before Matteo’s mother Gabriella (Isabella Ferrari) enters the property and jumps to the conclusion that Anna is her son’s fiancee. Anna allows the misunderstanding to flourish and is welcomed into Matteo’s family with open arms. Hunky winemaker Michael (Rege-Jean Page), who is Matteo’s cousin, catches Anna’s eye but she cannot pursue romance because she needs to maintain the lie about being an engaged woman in a romantic comedy of errors directed by Kat Coiro.

Reviews of You, Me & Tuscany are embargoed until Thursday morning. Check back later in the week for our full review.