“ALEXANDRE AJA”
Easily one of the most exciting new directors to emerge over the past decade has been France’s own Alexandre Aja. He made quite the splash with 2003’s Haute Tension, and since then he has been on my radar. He made his debut when he was 18, with the short Over The Rainbow, and his feature length debut with Furia when he was 20. The man has passion, and I find him to be such an inspiration, he does give me hope that at my young age I can achieve my goals. What sets him apart as a filmmaker for me is his unique style and vision, even though he’s tackled a few remakes he’s managed to make those films his own. He doesn’t shy away from gore, or going to the extreme with his films to pleasure those of us who enjoy that.
BEST WORK
I had a hard time deciding on one film that I consider to be his best, for me to comes down to two. Both of these films completely blew me away the first time I saw them. I have seen them many times since, and appreciate them with each viewing. These two films would be Haute Tension (High Tension) and The Hills Have Eyes remake, they are both just fantastic genre films and of course fantastic films in their own right. However I would give the edge to The Hills Have Eyes remake, which in my opinion is one of the best remakes in recent times, surpassing the original film which I have always been a fan of. I don’t want to take anything away from Haute Tension; my first viewing of this is an experience I wont forget. From the get go this film did not hold anything back; there were some gruesome scenes and interesting characters. The twist towards the end of the film was something I didn’t see coming, and upon repeating viewings I noticed how much it made sense and the clues were all there. It is something that worked so well for me, and I loved that there was fresh film in the genre.
Now on to The Hills Have Eyes remake, I remember when this was announced I was rather against it. But then Alexandre Aja’s name was attached and that all changed, after Haute Tension I had faith this was a remake that was not going to suck. Sure enough, I went into this film with rather high expectations and this was one of those rare times where not only were my expectations met but exceeded them. Everything about this film I loved, from the setting, the characters, the people who targeted them, the script, the cinematography, gore and make-up effects. I mean the situation the characters find themselves in is one of sheer terror, and I always find myself feeling so bad for them. I have no idea how I would react being stranded in the middle of nowhere with deformed cannibal’s after me. The reactions the characters have to each situation felt natural, and just so real. There is a fantastic build up to the initial attack, and the pay off is outstanding. Aja knew exactly what he was doing with this, adding his own spin to the story and actually giving the villains in the film a really good back-story. He even managed to make the family dog an interesting character, and not something that seemed out of place and silly (which is a bit of an issue I had with the original). The performances he got from his actors are all great, especially from Aaron Stanford who I felt had one of the most difficult roles in the film. The Hills Have Eyes should be a how-to for any director who is doing a remake; this is how it’s done right, thank you Aja.
WORST WORK
This almost pains me to say, but yes Aja does have a bad film, and that film is Mirrors. This is a film I was really excited to see, it has Kiefer Sutherland in the lead role (one of my favourite actors), it was his follow up to The Hills Have Eyes, sure it was another remake but he proved he was capable. Well something went really wrong here, I haven’t seen the original so I cannot comment if that was any good, and I don’t know what he was working off with it. The idea was a great one, personally I think mirrors are quite spooky. So what exactly went wrong? Well the first 20 to 30 minutes were quite good, really engaging stuff. But then it just lost me, it just wasn’t interesting and the performances suddenly went from good to hilarious. The story really didn’t work for me, and I just didn’t care. It went from having the mirrors being the horror to the water now possessing the evil and it just didn’t make much sense to me and it was far too comical as well. The film, which could have easily been 80 minutes long, was actually 110 minutes long, with a good 20 minutes of useless stuff. The only really good things about the film were Kiefer Sutherland (when he wasn’t channelling Nic Cage from The Wicker Man) and Paula Patton who was quite good. The other good thing about the film was the gore and the interesting kills. Most notably the awesome scene involving Amy Smart and the bathtub, that was classic Aja and I wish the film had more of that. I really wanted to like this film, but all I could think when the end credits rolled was that I wanted to rewind my life and make the decision not to waste my time with it.
TRADEMARKS
The first thing that comes to mind when I think about his trademarks is his work with Gregory Levasseur. The pair have been friends for most of their lives, and they both clearly love and respect the genre. Levasseur has worked with Aja on Furia, Haute Tension, The Hills Have Eyes and Mirrors as writer. He has also served as Producer, Art Director and Second Unit Director for those films as well as Over The Rainbow and Piranha. All of his films (even Mirrors) have amazing visuals, they really do tell the story for the films. He has a great mind for gore and blood; his films always contain interesting kills. From the first kill in Haute Tension to piranhas going crazy, you always know you are in for a treat with an Aja film. I cannot talk about this man without mentioning his eye for nudity! Oh yes Aja isn’t afraid to show that, and he shows it all as well. You’ll get full frontal nudity in an Aja film, and it never feels out of place. He really went all the way with that trademark in Piranha and it was fantastic, I loved every second of it. He is now known as the remake man, having three under his belt already. It is funny to note that all three of those remakes also have sequels (Piranha’s sequel is in the works) and he did not direct them.
HIDDEN GEM
I recently discovered his debut feature length film Furia, and this really is something special. The film is one of the most impressive debut’s I have seen from a director, especially keeping in mind he was 20 when he made this. Furia is an adaptation of a short story called ‘Graffiti’ written by Julio Cortazar. It is a French language film, and the copy I have did not have very good English subtitles. However I did not have any problems understanding the film, as I mentioned earlier Aja is a very visual director and he really let those visuals tell this story. The film is a sci-fi/romantic/drama/thriller that is set in the future, the government no longer has any opposition and they forbid artistic expression. However there are those who rebel against that, which is where our main character of Theo comes in. He uses his art to express himself, which he does at night in order not to get caught. His father also did the same thing, he was caught and as punishment he was no longer able to see in colour. Theo meets Elia (A very young Marion Cotillard), who is also an artist and rebelling against the government. They fall in love, however things get dangerous when Theo’s brother Laurence shows up and Elia gets caught and taken away. The film has amazing performances from all of the actors, Stanislas Merhar as Theo was especially fantastic. There is so much to admire about this film, I can’t recommend this enough, please check it out.
NEXT PROJECT
As of August of last year Aja has been attached to direct the live-action adaptation of Cobra: The Space Pirates. I am not too familiar with the manga or the anime but with a title that says ‘space pirates’ I am so there. It is nice to see Aja going for something a bit different, and it will certainly be interesting to see how this turns out. Aja has said he has been a fan of the series for a long time, and this is kind of a dream project for him. I can’t wait to hear more about this, I really hope this ones goes well for the man.
OVERALL
Aside from one film, Alexandre Aja has an impressive resume and he’s made films I can easily watch over and over again. He is the kind of director I long to find in this genre, I think he came around at the right time too. He’s awfully ambitious and such a huge fan of the genre, these are two things I really think have made his films so fantastic. Since Haute Tension I have gotten excited every time I see his name, I have followed his career closely. I really hope he is one who is going to stick around and continue to make films for many years to come.