Status: Single
City: Poitoullywood
Country: FR
Signup Date: 6/5/2007
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Saturday, November 28, 2009
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(Screened as part of the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival running from 4th-22nd November 2009.) What makes the Decaillon Brothers' vampire thriller Sodium Babies so special? It's an obvious calling card, yes, messy, gaudy and hyper-kinetic, throwing every low-budget editing and post-production trick in the book at the screen. Here's the genre flavour of the week; here's paying homage to every Hollywood blockbuster they ever saw; here's comic books, computer games, music videos and all the rest of it. But it's fun. There's a vitality, an energy to it all, a warmth and sense of humour conspicuously absent from both high-profile calling cards and a lot of French genre cinema for some time. The film relies a little too heavily on its convoluted mythos, it's uneven, questionably paced and for all the brothers' skill the low budget is still obvious. But it's a tremendously entertaining watch, hugely inventive, fantastically memorable in places and suggests Benoit and Julien Decaillon could well go on to much better things. Though it's about vampires, Sodium Babies is much closer to the neon-tinted grime of White Wolf's Vampire: the Masquerade mythos than anything recently put to film. No sparkling pretty-boys here; the story follows Dead Dog (Benoit Decaillon), a lowly ghoul, a nobody pressed into service as a footsoldier for one of the head vampires in an unnamed city. It starts with the final confrontation about to begin, then flashes back to show Dead Dog recruited into the ranks more than three decades before. Plucked from incarceration in an asylum after shooting his girlfriend in the grip of a nightmarish vision, he quickly finds a new life as an enforcer for the bloodsucking elite. The Decaillons then attempt a montage spanning the thirty years since, leaping forward through the ages in a flurry of different colour palettes, costume changes, split-screen and lighting effects like some shoestring DV crime epic, before setting up the power-play from a rival vampire who convinces Dead Dog to try and topple his masters as revenge for a life wasted on pettiness and filth. The montage bears noting because it encapsulates the strengths and weaknesses of the film all at once. The brothers conceived the backstory to Sodium Babies as part of a series of short films they shot with friends in their home town of Poitiers - these are recurring characters played by the same actors time and again. There is a definite sense that the Decaillons, their cast and crew are in on the joke to the exclusion of the audience, at least to some degree. The montage doesn't actually convey that much concrete information and when events are set in motion that inspire Dead Dog's change of heart, meaning he's open to the idea of backing a coup, while the sequence of events is easy enough to follow the viewer never entirely stops wondering 'who', 'what', 'how' or 'why'. With the story never entirely grounded the pacing feels awkward and disjointed, betraying the brothers' inexperience somewhat, and the plotting occasionally comes across as less than coherent. Still, though Sodium Babies certainly has its faults, as a low-budget debut it's hugely impressive. Any half-attentive viewer can see the joins - again, many of the effects rely on creative framing, lighting and colour tinting, and the intermittent switching between live-action footage and comic book panels is far from seamless. But it has a genuinely impressive magpie artistry to it and a self-effacing humour that means even the weakest parts have some kind of impact. 'Maybe my problem was I couldn't dance,' Dead Dog muses as the montage races through the seventies, and it raises a wry smile. Visions in a puddle of bloody vomit; people drowning in bathtubs; a lonely forest in total silence, snowfall heading upwards - much of it's been done before, but it's still done with enough of an eye for eerie, haunting beauty and a self-awareness that excuses any missteps in the process. At its best, the film buys much more than twenty-five-thousand Euros would suggest; Dead Dog's acceptance of the rival vampire's blood and their conversation inside the depths of his psyche are witty, haunting, compelling, and fantastically eye-catching. And for all the plot arguably trips itself up the ending is both neatly resolved and surprisingly bleak. The acting varies wildly, but each of the principals have their moments and Benoit Decaillon shows quite some talent in front of the camera as well as behind it. Dead Dog isn't the most original character ever written, but he's an effectively sympathetic everyman, enough that his ultimate fate is a lot more affecting than audiences might expect. Sodium Babies is an obvious calling card, but as well as technical proficiency it demonstrates the Decaillon brothers' aptitude for something a little more lasting or profound. It's an obvious homage to a string of readily identifiable genre influences, but it mashes them together to make something far more distinctive and individual than that. Vibrant and spirited, messily artistic, it makes for great entertainment as well as a dizzying ride, and for all its flaws comes highly recommended.
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Saturday, November 21, 2009
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Bonjour à tous et à toutes,
Nous sommes heureux de vous annoncer qu'après avoir reçu le Prix Chrysalis au Wild Rivers Film Festival (Eureka, North California, USA), Sodium Babies s'est vu décerné la mention spéciale du jury lors du 23ème Leeds International Film Festival (Leeds, Royaume Unis) :
Fanomenon: The jury for the Silver Melies competition had a tough task, with a very strong line-up of genre films from across Europe making up this year's entries. We are pleased to announce that the winning film, which goes on to compete for the coverted Golden Melies next year is Philip Ridley's UK film, Heartless. The French debut from the Decaillon brothers, Sodium Babies, also gets a special mention.
Quelques photos de ces 2 festivals dans la galerie de MySpace :
Le Q&A (Question-Réponse avec le public) des frères Decaillon à Leeds est disponible ici:
Pour ceux qui souhaitent voir plus de photos à la découverte de cette ville de Leeds, la galerie complète est par ici :
Et la galerie d'Eureka se trouve ici :
(points de ventes habituels mais également en ligne).
en vous remerciant de votre attention,
l'équipe des Films de la Lymphe
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Tuesday, November 03, 2009
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On en parle dans la presse américaine:
Sodium Babies, le 07 novembre 2009, 14H, Town Hall Leeds International Film Festival
Le film concourra dans la section Fanomenon pour le Mélies d'Argent et sera également partie intégrante du 3ème Day of the Dead organisé cette année, sorte de marathon cinéma de 12 heures...
LIFF's presentation of Sodium Babies:
Benoit and Julien Decaillon’s debut film is an incredible contemporary vampire epic with a Lynchian feel that oozes style from every pore. Set across thirty years with a fantastic soundtrack to accompany each decade, the film tells the story of Dead Dog, a ghoulish slave employed by the vampire Prince to hunt and kill on his behalf. When another vampire shows Dead Dog how twisted his loyalties have been, he decides to take revenge against his master for 30 years of pain and torment.
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Friday, October 30, 2009
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nous sommes fières de vous annoncer la sortie DVD du long-métrage de l'équipe des Films de la Lymphe : Sodium Babies, réalisé par les Frères Decaillon et produit par Maël Mainguy (Les Films du Bailbari)
Le film est en effet publié par WE Edition, et distribué par M6 dans la collection Sable Noir depuis quelques jours maintenant.
Petit rappel de la précédente newsletter :
Initiée en 2006, la série cross-média imaginée par le producteur Laurent Tolleron ( Cartel ), révèle donc sa saison 2 intitulée : Vampyres.
Comme précédemment il s'agit d'une série de 5 court-métrages adaptés de 5 nouvelles originales. Le point commun de chacune de ses histoires et de se dérouler à Sable Noir, village sur lequel s'est abattu une malédiction. Pour cette deuxième saison un nouveau thème est "imposé" aux artistes : celui du vampire, ainsi qu'un nouveau média : la bande-dessinée.
Après la sortie de la bande-dessinée le 02 octobre dernier (chez Dupuis), et des nouvelles le 28 (chez J'ai Lu), le DVD est sortie la semaine dernière, le 29 octobre 2009 très précisément.
De part son thème, le film Sodium Babies s'imposait donc comme un bonus à cette série. En plus d'un long-métrage schizoïde sur les trépidations d'une goule au service d'un Prince vampire, le coffret comprend donc les 5 courts et moyen-métrages suivant :
La Nuit Eternelle de Jonathan et Alexis Ferrebeuf In Mémoriam de Victor Jaquier et Hugo Veludo Les âmes meurtries de Benjamin Holmsteem Eden de Bruno Merle Légende de sang de Julien Seri
En vous remerciant de votre attention, nous vous laissons avec la bande annonce de Vampyres :
Dailymotion :
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Wednesday, October 21, 2009
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The directors of the feature film Sodium Babies won an award during the Wild Rivers Film Festival (Eureka, CA).
Press-Release
Big Screen's Acquisition "Sodium Babies" Wins Chrysalis Award
HOLLYWOOD, CA, Oct 21, 2009 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) ----Big Screen Entertainment Group (PINKSHEETS: BSEG) is pleased to announce that its acquisition of the French vampire film "Sodium Babies" has won the Chrysalis Award at the Wild Rivers Film Festival. The movie was so popular with the audiences that a special second screening was held. The French directors, Julien and Benoit Decaillon -- The Deka Brothers -- attended the festival held in Eureka, CA. In addition to recently playing at the Edmonton film festival and Wild Rivers Film Festival, "Sodium Babies" has been accepted into the Leeds Int'l Festival where it will make its UK premiere. Leeds International Film Festival is now celebrating its 23rd edition in November 2009. The largest regional Film Festival in the UK, Leeds regularly attracts over 25,000 visitors and is referred to by The Guardian newspaper as 'The Jewel in the North.' The Fanomenon film section is the UK's greatest genre film event offering a unique combination of great fantasy cinema experiences, both light and dark, that cannot be found together anywhere else on the planet. The Silver Melies competition for European fantasy cinema (organised by the EFFFF - European Fantasy Film Festivals Federation) returns to Fanomenon for the fifth year with a superb line-up of films from across Europe including the UK, France, Norway, The Netherlands and Sweden. As well as competing for the Silver Melies, "Sodium Babies" is also playing as part of the Day of the Dead programme -- a 12 hour marathon of the best new horror to emerge from around the world in the last 12 months. Taking place on Saturday 6th Nov in the prestigious surroundings of Leeds Town Hall, this event is guaranteed to attract a large audience of horror fans, all thirsty for blood! Previous films in Fanomenon have included "Martyrs," "Quarantine," "My Name is Bruce," "A Bittersweet Life," "American Astronaut," "The Grudge," "The Machinist" and "Severance" and previous Silver Melies winners have been "Hotel," "Isolation," "The Orphanage" and "Mum & Dad." For ticket information on attending the festival: "Sodium Babies" is being distributed by Big Screen Distribution and Cartel Productions in France. The Deka Brothers are currently in Los Angeles taking meetings with various film executives and setting up their next project. Recent reviews of the film: About BSEG: Big Screen Entertainment Group (BSEG) is a media conglomerate with divisions in film, television, music, cell phones and gaming. Headquartered at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood, California, BSEG's films have premiered at the world's most prestigious independent film festivals, played at the country's largest theatrical chains and can be found in America's top retail outlets. In addition BSEG, under its distribution banner, distributes its film library directly to buyers internationally.
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Saturday, October 10, 2009
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The US premiere of Sodium Babies went very well here at Eureka.
The Festival Team liked so much the movie, Sodium Babies will be screen a second time!
Saturday 10/10 9 PM, at the Arcata Theater Lounge (Eureka, CA)
Writers/Directors will do a Q&A
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Thursday, October 08, 2009
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Wild Rivers 101 Film Festival, in Eureka (California)
Indie, classic and documentary films in venues along the highway 101 corridor in Humboldt County, California. Meet with filmmakers from New Zealand, France, Canada, and the U.S. Check back for frequent updates and exciting announcements.
Sodium Babies is in the official film selection. The writers/directors will do a Q&A.
10/08 thursaday at 9 PM
at the Arcata Theater Lounge (Eureka, CA)
Find all schedules for the festival fallowing this link:
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Sunday, September 27, 2009
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Canadian Premiere
The Edmondton International Film Festival is screening Sodium Babies.
Saturday 26 of October 2009, 9:45 PM
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Tuesday, August 04, 2009
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Un nouvel article vient de paraître sur le site français Zombi Burger Land :
une critique acerbe, et finalement assez juste, que nous vous proposons de lire ici-même :
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Aujourd'hui "Sodium Babies" des frêres Decaillon. L'histoire : En 1973. Maurice Chienhmord revient de l’armée, heureux de retrouver Marie-Jeanne et ce squat hippie qui fleure bon la détente. Mais son repos n’est que de courte durée : Max, goule tortionnaire au service du Prince vient l’enrôler de force au service de la Communauté. Maurice devient Dead Dog ; il en prend pour trente ans, affecté au basses besognes, les mains dans les cadavres laissés par ces assoiffés,… et Max toujours sur son dos. Mais Dead Dog, derrière son comportement de looser, sait qu’un jour une goutte de sang de trop fera déborder le calice…
Si "Sodium Babies" n'avait pas été ce qu"'il est et n'avait pas eu le genèse qu'il a eu, je l'aurai certainement démonté d'office. Mais il faut reconnaitre que le premier long métrage des frères Decaillon, deux jeunes amoureux de cinéma de genre venu de Poitier est tout de même un vrai tour de force. Tourné sur une période de 5 années pour un budget absolument ridicule voir nulle par moments, sauf sur la dernière période de tournage "Sodium Babies" est techniquement impressionnant. De plus il a le mérite de traiter d'une créature souvent sous employé dans le fantastique la goule, ce larbin pour vampire dont on oublie souvent qu'au final il est bien mieux loti que les princes de la nuit, car il peut sortir le jour et vivre une vie quasi normale. Et il est clair que les deux frères Decaillon ne visent pas la réalisation d'épisode de téléfilm pour France 2, mais directement Hollywood. Et c'est disons le visuellement bien parti pour séduire la Mecque du cinéma qui profite toujours d'une aubaine pour pomper l'énergie des jeunes créateurs venus d'Europe. Si "Sodium Babies" est par moment réussi, il n'est au final qu'une grosse bouillie filmique visuelle, rappelant au mieux les grand moments de Caro et Jeunet et au pire refilant au spectateur les sensations d'un adolescent ayant découvert le cinéma dans les années 90 dont le cerveau a été embrumé par de vilains mélanges entre bibine frelatée et vieux shit tout moisi acheté en bas de la cité. En gros "Sodium Babies" soufre principalement d'un scénario (qui partait pourtant d'une bonne idée) trop fouillis, souvent puéril. certains passages de "Sodium Babies" dépotent franchement comme la scène du night club, ou certains passages en foret au début, et quelques autres, qui ne mettent pas en valeur une mise en scène énergique, imagée et dynamique. De plus côté casting le bas blesse aussi. Car l'age des protagonistes principaux n'excède pas les 24 ans; Ce sont des immortels me direz vous. Il est clair que de proposer a des acteurs de théâtre renfrognés et frustrés de travailler durant 5 ans pour des nèfles, ce n'est pas une chose facile quand on désire mettre a bien la fabrication d'un film de genre a Poitier. C'est certainement pour cela que L'un des deux réal joue le rôle principal de Dead Dog. Car j'en sais quelque chose quand on a pas d'argent et de temps il vaut mieux jouer soi même le rôle principal car au moins on est certain d'être là au moment du tournage. Bon il est clair que la qualité général du jeu des acteurs est plus que discutable, (même si l'interprète de Max possède un charisme qui crève l'écran) mais ça aussi je crois que je vais la fermer car ce serait l'Hospital qui se foutrait de la charité. Et au final bien que le film en souffre assez, ce n'est pas si grave car après tout "Sodium Babies" est plutôt un catalogue de capacité de réalisation de ces deux acharnés qu'un véritable pamphlet filmique. On imagine bien qu'en 5 années ils ont pris de la maturité et qu'il devaient terminer ce qu'ils avaient entrepris. Et non de dieu quelle entreprise. Car non contents de réaliser ils montent, jouent et signent une grande partie des SFX numérique. a des moments sublimes a d'autres assez au raz des pâquerettes, mais toujours possédant cette volonté d'en mettre plein la vue et surtout de se débarrasser des stéréotypes filmiques qui piègent le cinéma français dans un amas de barbelés depuis bien des années. Si par moments "Sodium Babies" rame un peu dans le potage, comme dans ces interminables scènes de bad trip du personnage principale qui prennent bien un bon quart du métrage, "Sodium Babies" arrives à d'autres a être franchement sidérant. Car une chose est à noter et de façon positive, le montage est réellement créatif, certes hystérique, mais vraiment disons le différent. Malgré ses défauts scénaristiques et son casting bien trop juvénile en particulier pour les deux chefs vampires, "Sodium Babies" reste un œuvre ovniesque, visuellement originale (tant qu'on a pas vu trop de clips), même si elle n'est qu'un melting pot de culture 90's. Mais attention "Sodium Babies" est loin d'être un ratage, il est même un film techniquement fort intérressant et prouve que l'on peut faire du gros avec peu. Et c'est surtout une admirable tentative de changer et de proposer du genre a un publique Français butté et ignorant. Si "Sodium Babies" n'est pas un chef d'œuvre, il a le mérite d'être ambitieux, peu être trop par moments, mais il a sacrément a en remontrer a pas mal de prods dans l'hexagone. Une chose est certaine, ces ptits gars de Poitiers iront loin, car ils voient grand et ont osé pondre une œuvre n'ayant jamais été pondu dans nos contrées. "Sodium Babies" c'est surtout un travail de titan de plus d'un an et demi de post production avec plus de 95 % des plans retouchés avec leur ordinateurAu final "Sodium Babies" est un gros délire pour fan de vampire arpentant les boites de nuits, qui aurait largement mérité plus d'effets gore en live et non pas en numérique, mais qui participe fièrement au développement du film de genre en France.
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Monday, August 03, 2009
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A new cool review on an english web site called "Taliesin meets the vampires" :
(please copy the adress in your web browser since MySpace is giving hard time to this link)
Thanks a lot to Andy for taking care of our film. It looks like we will have a Premiere in UK for November... I'll let you know asap.
Read Taliesin's review below:
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Sometimes you watch a trailer and think wow, and then the film does not live up to that expectation. Other times you watch a trailer and think wow, then the film blows your mind and the trailer simply did not do it justice. Sodium Babies falls into the second camp.What we have is a graphic novel drawn onto screen in live action, the film has all the sensibilities of the best examples of graphic novels. If you ever played the PC games Max Payne, we are on that sort of trip where the two mediums – in this case film and graphic novel – are sewn together seamlessly. More interestingly, from the point of view of this blog, the film comes up with an altogether new and interesting angle for the genre.
The film begins with scenes of Maurice (Benoit Decaillon) being chased through the countryside by a dog. He caries a shotgun and, as he runs, accidentally discharges it. As though that gives him an idea he turns and faces the dog, firing the second cartridge. Something approaches him as he reloads. Then we fall into the wonderful graphic novel art that peppers the film. A deal is going down under the watchful eye of Prince (Julien Guibert), who is stood with Foss (Gautier Pras). Though we do not know it at this point they are vampires. Foss comments that, for a ghoul, Max (Edouard Audouin) is fairly bad ass. They are collecting the latest human traffic sent by Rhesus (Hugues Caron). There is a psychic flash and Max turns, distracted, to Prince. A girl runs – we later discover she is called Pussy Cat (Virginia Michaud) – but Max intercepts and carries her back to a cage – he calls her the Belfort Bitch. Two come in – one being Maurice – a can of kerosene is thrown into the air and the second man blows it up with a psychic blast.
For Maurice this is the revenge for a crime dating back thirty years. It is 1973 and Maurice has returned to his squat after a year in the army. He is back with his girl Marie-Jeanne (Camille Berthomier) and she goes for a shower before bed as he smokes another joint. It appears as though he is given a gun – but we do not see by whom. He stalks the house but in his mind he is chased by the dog. The film from the prologue (what he believes is happening) interlaces with the film of him stalking the house, his actions in each mirrors the other but, when he shoots the dog he actually shoots Marie-Jeanne.
Maurice ends up in an asylum for the criminally insane, clearly drugged and given electro-shock. He is removed by Max who names him Dead Dog and begins his education or, perhaps, that should say reprogramming. “Nosferatu” he is told “signifying nocturnal predatory, but lets go by the denomination VAMPIRE”. The scenes are wonderfully surreal but we discover that, due to the vampiric reaction to sunlight, they create ghouls.
Ghouls are beings enslaved by their master’s blood (injected like a drug). They are stronger, do not age, are resilient and can go in the sun. They drive prey towards their masters. When asked who is at the top of the food chain Dead Dog replies the ghouls – the response is “I need the right answer, Dead Dog, not the truth.” To me this is one of the most poignant lines in the film, signifying the entire undercurrent of the narrative. The drug simile is rather accurate and after the torturous education Dead Dog is rewarded with his fix We see the decades pass, an endless parade of killing in the name of his vampire master, Prince, and discover that there is an enemy of Prince and he is a vampire named Duc Gael (Samuel Gally). Things reach a peak when a vampire ally of Prince, Siegfried (Pierre Biton), is slain in a club - shot and then staked he explodes in flames. Dead Dog was deliberately distracted by a girl – Pussy Cat. He is ordered to find her but discovers that she sports the exact same tattoo that Marie-Jeanne wore; it is enough to have him rebel… The film is marvellous to look at and wonderfully inventive. The programming of Dead Dog and subsequent reprogramming is wonderfully surreal in such a way that it is almost Jean Rollin reminiscent and yet manages to maintain a tightness in focus that perhaps Rollin sometimes lacked. This is perhaps due to the graphic novel-like nature of the film or just because of the excellent structure that the Decallion Brothers maintain throughout. We get very little in the way of lore other than that which I have already mentioned. The vampires are telepathic but we learn little about them and this is because they are seldom in the film. This is why I said that the film approaches the genre at a new angle. We are not seeing the film from the point of view of the vampire, the hunter or the victim. We are firmly in the world of the servants, the ghouls. Yet we can never shake away the presence of the vampires, looming like shadows behind all that occurs. When I watch a vampire film I am already thinking, during its running time, about the subsequent review. As I watched this I thought to myself that it was certainly looking like an eight out of ten but that score could drop dependant upon what was done with the Dead Dog back story, depending on how it was explained and resolved. The answer was it wasn’t and that was the perfect way for the film to go. We don’t know why he did what he did, not for certain. You see, the film has story elements breaking through the ground like bleached bones, fractured and incomplete and yet the incomplete narrative is not a problem, rather it is a deliberate device. Rather than be frustrating it becomes part of the pattern of the film and there is enough clue and exposition to lead one to explore the possibilities of what has happened rather than become frustrated with lack of resolution. We are watching through the eyes of a peon, we will never know the whole truth as he is only told enough to lead him along the path he treads. This was a marvellous experience, a film surreal and thoughtful, beautifully drawn around us. Flashes of violence pepper through a film that leaves us exploring all we have seen once the film has ended. Various visual effects and film treatments keep the imagery interesting and lure us deeper into the world that the Decaillon Brothers draw around us. Certainly not for everyone, the film’s arthouse soul may put some off, but to me films should be challenging more often. I mentioned what I felt the score should be as I watched the movie and, as it concluded and then subsequently swam around my mind, it maintained a well deserved 8 out of 10. At the time of review there is no imdb page but the film has a MySpace page here.
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