HOME |  CULT MOVIES | COMPETITIONS | ADVERTISE |  CONTACT US |  ABOUT US
 
 
 
Newest Reviews
American Fiction
Poor Things
Thunderclap
Zeiram
Legend of the Bat
Party Line
Night Fright
Pacha, Le
Kimi
Assemble Insert
Venus Tear Diamond, The
Promare
Beauty's Evil Roses, The
Free Guy
Huck and Tom's Mississippi Adventure
Rejuvenator, The
Who Fears the Devil?
Guignolo, Le
Batman, The
Land of Many Perfumes
Cat vs. Rat
Tom & Jerry: The Movie
Naked Violence
Joyeuses Pacques
Strangeness, The
How I Became a Superhero
Golden Nun
Incident at Phantom Hill
Winterhawk
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Maigret Sets a Trap
B.N.A.
Hell's Wind Staff, The
Topo Gigio and the Missile War
Battant, Le
Penguin Highway
Cazadore de Demonios
Snatchers
Imperial Swordsman
Foxtrap
   
 
Newest Articles
3 From Arrow Player: Sweet Sugar, Girls Nite Out and Manhattan Baby
Little Cat Feat: Stephen King's Cat's Eye on 4K UHD
La Violence: Dobermann at 25
Serious Comedy: The Wrong Arm of the Law on Blu-ray
DC Showcase: Constantine - The House of Mystery and More on Blu-ray
Monster Fun: Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror on Blu-ray
State of the 70s: Play for Today Volume 3 on Blu-ray
The Movie Damned: Cursed Films II on Shudder
The Dead of Night: In Cold Blood on Blu-ray
Suave and Sophisticated: The Persuaders! Take 50 on Blu-ray
Your Rules are Really Beginning to Annoy Me: Escape from L.A. on 4K UHD
A Woman's Viewfinder: The Camera is Ours on DVD
Chaplin's Silent Pursuit: Modern Times on Blu-ray
The Ecstasy of Cosmic Boredom: Dark Star on Arrow
A Frosty Reception: South and The Great White Silence on Blu-ray
You'll Never Guess Which is Sammo: Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon on Blu-ray
Two Christopher Miles Shorts: The Six-Sided Triangle/Rhythm 'n' Greens on Blu-ray
Not So Permissive: The Lovers! on Blu-ray
Uncomfortable Truths: Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold on MUBI
The Call of Nostalgia: Ghostbusters Afterlife on Blu-ray
Moon Night - Space 1999: Super Space Theater on Blu-ray
Super Sammo: Warriors Two and The Prodigal Son on Blu-ray
Sex vs Violence: In the Realm of the Senses on Blu-ray
What's So Funny About Brit Horror? Vampira and Bloodbath at the House of Death on Arrow
Keeping the Beatles Alive: Get Back
   
 
  Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey, The A Spire To Greatness
Year: 1988
Director: Vincent Ward
Stars: Bruce Lyons, Chris Haywood, Hamish MacFarlane, Marshall Napier, Noel Appleby, Paul Livingston, Sarah Peirse, Mark Wheatley, Tony Herbert, Jessica Cardiff-Smith, Roy Wesney, Kathleen-Elizabeth Kelly, Jay Saussey, Charles Walker, Desmond Kelly
Genre: Fantasy, AdventureBuy from Amazon
Rating:  8 (from 2 votes)
Review: Cumbria in the mid-fourteenth century and the Black Plague is abroad in the land, laying waste to countless villages and towns across Europe as the death toll rises ever higher with no apparent end in sight. The denizens of this hamlet are awaiting the return of their hero, Connor (Bruce Lyons), who has been away for some time to scout the surrounding areas and bring word of the cathedral that they hope will prove their salvation, as they have no option but to put their trust in God to deliver them from this fatal disease. But among their number is the young boy Griffin (Hamish MacFarlane), and he sees things that are beyond this realm, into the future: could he be their actual saviour?

Director Vincent Ward made his name internationally, albeit to a smaller extent than many of his contemporaries, with this curio, apparently a science fiction yarn that was more using its time travel theme for mystical ends instead of something like Back to the Future Part II which was being filmed when this was released across the world. Ward certainly had a vision for how he wanted his film to look, the medieval sequences coming across as not only authentic in image, but also in how they sounded too, with a version of English that was appropriately arcane, yet possible to be understood by the 1988 audience. The fact that he had his cast speak in hybrid Northern English-Scottish-Irish accents helped with that impression, and for a work shot on such a low budget, this was an undeniable achievement.

On the other hand, do not go expecting something like France's Les Visiteurs, which took the similar concept and applied to comedy and therefore was a far bigger hit: The Navigator was strictly cult material, and a lot of that was down to the way its meaning was kept deliberately obscure, leaving more audiences scratching their heads by the conclusion than those who were stroking their chins and going "Ah, yes, it’s all clear to me now!" It was clear to Ward and his co-writers what was going on, but to cotton on you had to be attuned to its particular mixture of the down and dirty medieval landscapes and characters and the high-falutin' weirdness that was in every frame, a deliberate move towards the dreamlike, though not necessarily the nightmarish.

This was not a horror movie, though the occasional horrible thing happened, and the threat of falling ill and dying was arbitrarily affecting just about every community in the land (the decade's AIDS metaphor showing up here), with the one we were focused on believing if it just made a "spike" for the spire of the cathedral then God Almighty would preserve them for being so devout in their expression of faith. When Connor returns, he seems shocked by what he has seen, and reluctant to progress much further when a cynicism has crept into his bones, but the positivity of Griffin shakes him out of his funk and he agrees to lead a party to the cathedral, which somehow involves he and five others, including the boy, travelling underground. This is ostensibly to gather the copper necessary to take to the foundry, but while they are beneath the earth Griffin has a vision again.

Thus what has been black and white turns to colour, though Ward was careful not to splash the hues across his frame, he was shooting at night as the point was to get the spike on the spire before dawn broke. The party has broken through to the other side of the world in New Zealand, but not in 14th century New Zealand, the 1988 nation where some higher power has been guiding them through Griffin's possible hallucinations which may not be that at all. There they will have to negotiate traffic-filled roads and rowdy locals, but as if God genuinely is on their side, they manage to find a foundry on the very night it is set to close, and the bemused workers, three of them, are happy to assist them. And then they spot the cathedral, one without a spire... The Navigator had such an authentically strange atmosphere that it was tempting not to bother about its themes of sacrifice and fate and simple enjoy the tone and appearance that was so meticulously crafted by Ward - it was little wonder he was snapped up to make blockbusters, and even less of a wonder that his skills proved too individual to adapt to the big productions. Not for everyone, but if you were on its wavelength, you would surely appreciate it. Music by Davood A. Tabrizi (a major contributing factor to the effect).
Reviewer: Graeme Clark

 

This review has been viewed 2912 time(s).

As a member you could Rate this film

 
Review Comments (0)


Untitled 1

Login
  Username:
 
  Password:
 
   
 
Forgotten your details? Enter email address in Username box and click Reminder. Your details will be emailed to you.
   

Latest Poll
Which star probably has psychic powers?
Laurence Fishburne
Nicolas Cage
Anya Taylor-Joy
Patrick Stewart
Sissy Spacek
Michelle Yeoh
Aubrey Plaza
Tom Cruise
Beatrice Dalle
Michael Ironside
   
 
   

Recent Visitors
Mary Sibley
Enoch Sneed
Darren Jones
Mark Le Surf-hall
  Louise Hackett
Andrew Pragasam
Graeme Clark
  Desbris M
   

 

Last Updated: