Pontypool (film)

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Movie
German title Pontypool
Original title Pontypool
Country of production Canada
original language English , French
Publishing year 2008
length 95 minutes
Rod
Director Bruce McDonald
script Tony Burgess
production Jeffrey Coghlan
music Claude Foisy
camera Miroslaw Baszak
cut Jeremiah Munce
occupation

Pontypool is a 2008 Canadian film directed by Bruce McDonald based on Tony Burgess' 1998 novel Pontypool Changes Everything . Tony Burgess was also the scriptwriter for the production.

action

On Valentine's Day , radio presenter Grant Mazzy takes his car to work on the local radio station CLSY in Pontypool in the Canadian province of Ontario . A mysterious woman appears out of the snowstorm , knocks on the passenger window, stutters incomprehensible words and just as suddenly disappears again in the snowstorm.

Grant Mazzy is still haunted by this encounter, but he tries to concentrate professionally on his morning show . At first, the day seems to be moving in an orderly manner. The editor and unit manager Sidney Briar with the young assistant Laurel-Ann Drummond, who has returned from Afghanistan as a war hero , are preparing an interview with the local singing group “Lawrence and the Arabians”. Meanwhile, Ken Loney, the radio station's foreign correspondent , reported more and more reports about unusual events in the small Canadian town. Loney, who reports from the "Sunshine Chopper", a vehicle parked on a hill outside the city, is an eyewitness to an uncontrolled crowd that enters Dr. Mendez penetrates and eventually even collapses the building. When he sees the angry crowd attack the city's residents, he holed up in a hut and kept in touch with the radio station via his mobile phone. The violent mob makes its way to the radio station, where Mazzy barricades with Briar and Drummond.

Nigel Healing from the BBC is connected to a live broadcast in the Pontypools broadcasting studio. Mazzy is confronted by Healing with the question of whether the Canadian military is on the ground to end the riots. At this point in time Mazzy cannot answer this question, only the next telephone contact with Loney leads to the verification of the presumption of healing.

Dr. Mendez arrives on the radio station and confirms that the residents of the place are behaving strangely. He found the symptoms he described in the assistant Laurel-Ann Drummond. Since he is convinced that it is a virus that is transmitted via verbal communication, he locks himself in the soundproof booth with Mazzy and Briar. That way, Drummond cannot hear them and therefore cannot take in the scent. Little by little, Dr. Mendez, Mazzy and Briar reported that certain words in the English language were infected by the virus. If these are spoken, heard and understood, the virus is transmitted.

The infection occurs in three phases. First of all, the infected, the so-called “conversationalists”, repeat individual words; preferably these are nicknames . In the next phase these are mixed up, the "conversationalists" can no longer express themselves meaningfully. The last phase is marked by deep despair, which leads to the fact that the "conversationalists" finally try to chew through other people's mouths.

The infected assistant Drummond keeps running against the pane of the soundproof speaker's booth despite her bleeding face. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to break into the cabin, she vomits in a bloody gush and collapses dead.

Mazzy and Briar suspect that Dr. Mendez was also infected on his way through the village. Therefore they leave the speaker's booth. Shortly afterwards, the "conversationalists" return, which is why Mazzy and Briar have to retreat to the kitchen of the radio station. Dr. Mendez is now aware of his infection and climbs out of the kitchen window to attract the attention of the “conversationalists” and thus distract them from Mazzy and Briar. The two took this opportunity to go back on the air and tell the citizens of the city that they can protect themselves from the infection by giving words a different meaning and thus no longer understanding the language.

As soon as they go on the air, they are asked by the Canadian military to stop broadcasting. When they do not comply with this request, the radio station building is blown up after a ten-second countdown .

background

On March 1, 1998, the screenwriter Tony Burgess published the novel "Pontypool Changes Everything", which was filmed under the film title "Pontypool". The film was shot in Toronto . Filming began on May 20, 2008. The film had its world premiere on September 6, 2008 at the Toronto International Film Festival and on September 26, 2008 at the Edmonton International Film Festival . In Germany it was shown for the first time on February 6, 2009 at the European Film Market and was then shown at various other film festivals. In Canada it was released on DVD on July 21, 2009 and in the USA on January 26, 2010. During its two-week cinema screenings from May 29, 2009 to June 11, 2009, it grossed around 32,000 US dollars worldwide .

Screenwriter Tony Burgess glanced at the place-name sign while driving through Pontypool and thought the name of the town was bizarre enough to place the plot he had invented there.

The undulating oscillation shown in the opening credits was synchronized with Stephen McHattie's voice. In the novel “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson , as in the film, there is talk of a memetic virus that spreads through verbal information.

The screenwriter Tony Burgess can be seen with a cameo as the singer of the group "Lawrence and the Arabians", which performs in the radio station's studio.

"Pontypool" was implemented as a film and radio production . Both versions are based on Orson Welles' radio play " War of the Worlds ", which was broadcast on the evening of October 30, 1938 by the US radio station CBS and was considered by parts of the audience to be an authentic report.

Two sequels were planned for the film , the plot of which was devised before the first film was produced. The title of the production planned for 2012 is " Pontypool Changes ".

criticism

The film received mostly positive reviews and an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes .

Björn Helbig from Filmstarts is of the opinion, “The film is a must for every horror fan who likes to experiment. [...] By means of an almost cacophonic carpet of speech and noise, McDonald approaches the eerie events outside the radio station entirely through language. "Helbig praises the director:" In a confined space, with minimal backdrops and a very manageable cast of actors, he finds a strong one cinematic approach that actually uses the means of the cinema and modern sound systems. ”Furthermore, Helbig welcomes the casting of the leading role, because in his opinion the film would not have succeeded if he had not found such a convincing leading actor as the face and voice of the film drives the action ”. Helbig sums up: “Once again Bruce McDonald proves to be a very original and experimental director. With his new film, too, he confidently took a seat between the chairs. "

Nominations and Awards

Tony Burgess was nominated for the Chlotrudis Award in 2010 in the “Best Adapted Screenplay” category. In the same year, he was nominated again in the Genie Awards in the category "Best Screenplay, Adapted", while Bruce McDonald received a nomination in the category "Best Achievement in Direction" and Stephen McHattie in the categories "Best Performance by an Actor in." a Leading Role ”and“ Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role ”was nominated.

literature

  • Tony Burgess: Pontypool Changes Everything . 1st edition. Ecw Press, Toronto, Canada 1998, ISBN 978-1-55022-356-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Locations according to the Internet Movie Database
  2. ↑ Budget and box office income according to the Internet Movie Database
  3. ↑ a b c Start dates according to the Internet Movie Database
  4. ^ Box Office Mojo
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g Background information according to the Internet Movie Database
  6. ↑ Pontypool at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
  7. ↑ Björn Helbig: Film start criticism for Pontypool. Film releases , accessed April 10, 2011 .
  8. ↑ a b Nominations and awards according to the Internet Movie Database

Web links