Parky at the Pictures (DVD 6/9/2018)

First seen being prepared for a bare-knuckle boxing bout by a young boy (Paradorn Areepak) who precedes him into the ring, Billy Moore (Joe Cole) is lurching from one smack fix to the next. At the end of his fight, he has to be held back from punching one of the Thai officials and spends the rest of his night in a daze selling drugs in a Bangkok nightclub. The following morning, however, he is arrested by armed police and taken to Bang Kwang Central Prison, where he is subjected to searches and medical checks without understanding a word that is being said to him. His head is shaved before he is deposited in a large cell with dozens of mocking and heavily tattoeed Thais, from whom he is plucked by sympathetic ladyboy named Tiffany.

After a night sleeping like sardines, the prisoners are marched into the yard. But Billy gets into a shoving match with one of his cellmates and is frog-marched to a secondary compound, where he is bundled into a tiny solitary cage. On his release, he is taken to a smaller cell, where he is interrogated by an inmate with a smattering of English, who quizzes him about being gay before forcing him to do press-ups to prove he's a boxer. There's much laughter when Billy admits he was jailed for dealing `yaba', but this seems to gain him a degree of acceptance, as he is given a puff on a joint before being sent to sit on his mat on the floor.

During the night, Billy gets up to take a leak and is held at knifepoint by a callow cellmate, who is promptly set upon and raped by two of the senior prisoners. Terrified, Billy crouches in the corner with a blade against his forehead until he is told to return to his place. The following morning, his assailant is found hanged against the wall and Billy is confronted by Saiyok (Sakda Niamhom), a menacing bruiser whose cold stare serves as a reminder to say nothing about what he knows. 

However, Billy doesn't remain in the cell for long, as he is placed in a security block after biting a guard in frustration on being told that he has to pay for painkillers. He's in a bad way and is shown kindness by Fame (Pornchanok Mabklang), a ladyboy with bobbed hair who works in the prison shop. She gives Billy some cigarettes on tick, which he gives to Saiyok in gratitude for him letting him share a spliff in the showers. But he is soon exposed again when the guards wake the inmates in the middle of the night in reprisal for a prisoner being killed. As they stand in the darkened courtyard, they are searched for contraband and Billy argues that he has been framed when a packet of yaba is found in his shirt. Saiyok shoots him a glance along the line, as the man standing between them is led away and Billy is allowed to return to his cell. 

Officer Preecha (Vithaya Pansringarm) sells drugs to the prisoners and he persuades Billy to beat up the Muslims who oppose his trade in return for some heroin. He pummels two kitchen workers and Preecha has to remind him not to let himself get carried away when dishing out punishments. But word soon spreads that Billy has a supply of yaba and he becomes so dispirited at forever being targeted that he tries to slash his wrists with a razor blade. 

He is found in time and the wounds tightly bound and Billy turns a corner after he receives a visit from his boxing prodigy, who tells him that he won his latest fight and wishes he could so something to help him. Realising that he can only help himself, Billy applies to join the Muay Thai boxing team after his manacles are removed, although it takes another carton of cigarettes donated by Fame to persuade the coach (Somlock Kamsing) to give him a trial. He begins spending his time in the gym and steers clear of the cell, even though boss Keng (Panya Yimmumphai) gives his fellow inmates a lecture on treating each other with more respect and settling their difference with dialogue rather than violence. 

Keng intervenes when a cellmate tries to cheat Billy out of the cigarettes he wins while betting on a fight between two fish in a jam jar. He takes his haul to the shop to repay Fame for trusting him and she allows him to come behind the counter. She reveals that she killed her father because he didn't approve of her lifestyle and Billy reveals that his father and brothers have no idea he is behind bars. They hug and their intimacy contrasts with the grappling between Billy and M (Chaloemporn Sawatsuk) during a training session. The coach has detected promise in the Scouser and gives him a chance to show what he can do. But M proves a doughty opponent and their brutal bout goes to the fourth round before Billy knocks him out. 

The warden is suitably impressed and arranges for Billy to be transferred to a cell with the boxing squad and informs him that he is the first foreigner to represent the prison in a tournament. He also hands him two letters from his father, which he reads in the middle of the night. As time passes, Billy gets to know his teammates, including M, who explains that he was sentenced to five years to protect his girlfriend, but killed three men in prison and now uses boxing as an escape from his pain. Another reveals himself to be a hitman. But they all line up for a blessing when a Buddhist monk comes to the prison and they support Billy when he gets a tattoo of a rampaging tiger on his back. 

As he makes progress in training, Billy becomes Fame's lover. However, when he sees her with another man, he becomes so jealous that he is confined to solitary after losing his temper with an opponent in the ring. He continues to exercise in his cell and is welcomed back to the fold after he apologises. Indeed, he gets to see Fame and two ladyboy backing singers perform a special song for the boxers in their cell and he realises from her smile that she has special feelings for him. 

Training intensifies, as the competition draws closer. But Billy is not immune from attacks in the yard and one man with AIDS threatens to inject him with his blood if he fails to hand over a substantial sum of money. He insists that he will get cash if he wins and has to plead with the doctor in order to stay on the team after he is warned that his bouts of vomiting are down to internal traumas caused by his drug and alcohol abuse. Saying nothing to the coach, he drives through the lush verdant countryside to the prison hosting the contest and steps into the ring against a confident and popular challenger. A kick to the ribs slows Billy down and he suffers a sly blow after the bell at the end of the first round. But, with his vision blurring, he somehow finds a knockout blow, only to spew blood and collapse on the canvas. 

Billy is rushed to hospital and wakes to find himself manacled. When he is escorted to the lavatory, he emerges from the washroom to see that his guard has disappeared and he takes the chance to hitch up his chains and make a dash for the street. He has not got far before he sees the futility of his flight and he returns to his room and, on being taken back to prison, he receives a visiting from his father (Billy Moore). A closing caption reveals that he spent three more years in the Bangkok Hilton before being transferred to a British prison, from which he was released under an amnesty from the Thai king in October 2010. 

Notwithstanding a titanic performance from Joe Cole and some touching support from Pornchanok Mabklang, this gutsy prison picture works because of the bold decisions taken by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire. By refusing to translate the bulk of the Thai dialogue, he leaves the audience as much in the dark as Billy Moore about what is being said about him and the dangers that he faces morning, noon and night. Moreover, by contrasting Moore's pale torso with the lavishly decorated bodies of his cellmates, Sauvaire isolates him within the cramped confines of a cell in which he takes his life into his own hands each time he rolls on to his side to sleep. But Sauvaire is also prepared to bring the camera in closer to focus on Moore's eyes, which frequently betray his determined efforts to hide his feelings and fear.

Cinematographer David Ungaro also excels during the fight sequences, as he keeps his handheld camera moving to capture David Ismalone's bruising Muay Thai choreography. Marc Boucrot's punchy editing and Séverin Favriau's bone-crunching sound design enhance the viscerality of the boxing action, which is counterpointed by a Nicolas Becker score that switches adeptly between rhythmic pounding and unsettlingly low-key passages that reflect Moore's shifting emotions. Lek Chaiyan Chunsuttiwat's production design is also outstanding, as are the efforts of a largely non-professional supporting cast. Moreover, Cole acquits himself admirably in a challenging role as a self-sabotaging addict with a consciously shrouded backstory that should boost him several rungs up the star ladder. 

As the king of the jobbing actors, John Hurt found himself in numerous movies that were unworthy of his prodigious talent. Sadly, his final credit proves to be one of his least distinguished, as Daniel Zelik Berk's espionage thriller, Damascus Cover, lacks the intricacy, suspense or spectacle to compete with similar genre outings. 

Despite the odd nod in the direction of James Bond and Jason Bourne, Berk cleaves more closely to the kind of low-key spy saga that had its heyday in the 1960s. Consequently, this updating of Howard Kaplan's 1977 novel owes much to the likes of Michael Anderson's The Quiller Memorandum, Raoul Lévy's The Defector (both 1966) and Sidney Lumet's The Deadly Affair (1977), as well as higher-profile offerings like Martin Ritt's take on John Le Carré's The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965) and the trio of Len Deighton adaptations that saw Michael Caine excel as the languidly urbane Harry Palmer. 

As a Mossad agent, Ari Ben-Sion (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) has been posing as German Hans Hoffmann in order to track down Ehud (Herzl Tobey), who has been passing secrets to the Syrians. On 9 November 1989, Ari and partner Shaul (Aki Avni) ambush Ehud in his hotel. But the snatch goes wrong and Ari has to kill the target and explain why to his handler, Miki (John Hurt). Having passed a psychological examination to determine whether he is fit for duty - during which Ari reveals that he didn't acclimatise well after relocating from Germany as a boy and has struggled to cope since his wife left him after their son was killed in an accident - Ari rescues American photojournalist Kim Johnson (Olivia Thirlby) from some Orthodox Jews who were taking violent exception to having their pictures taken on the Sabbath. 

Shortly afterwards, Miki sends him to Damascus to befriend Franz Ludin (Jürgen Prochnow), a low-ranking Nazi who is negotiating with the Syrians to export carpets to Europe. His maid, Rachel (Shani Aviv), is related to a leading chemical weapons scientist whose repatriation is considered a matter of some urgency and Ari is required to discover his whereabouts and delivery him safely. By pure coincidence, Ari runs into Kim at the Sheraton and they kiss after dining together and witnessing an abduction in a trendy bar. 

Having stolen Ludin's wallet during a stroll by the Jewish Quarter, Ari wangles an invitation to his house and meets fellow Nazi sympathisers Ludwig Streicher (Wolf Kahler) and Heinrich Wolf (Hartmut Volle). He is also introduced to Suleiman Sarraj (Navid Negahban), the head of the Mukhabarat secret service, whom we have already seen murder a captured Jewish agent in an effort to discover the identity of an undercover spy known as The Angel. While Sarraj smarmily extends his good wishes, Ludin's German friends are suspicious and Ari is thrown out when his host catches him kissing Rachel in the kitchen. As she went along with the pass to maintain Ari's cover, she comes to his hotel room, where he is giving her instructions about an escape bid when Kim enters and is nettled by him being alone with another woman. 

The next night, Ari patches things up with Kim and they wind up in bed after he overhears her calling her eight year-old on his birthday. His pillow talk is the story of how his own son accidentally shot himself with his gun while looking for a pump to blow up a football. They agree to meet again that evening and Ari gets her beloved father's watch repaired. But he is also beaten up in a back alley and Shaul confides in Miki that he is worried that he might be out of his depth, even though they have used him as bait by passing on information through corrupted agent Sabeen (Gem Carmella). Sarraj and Syrian general Fuad (Igal Naor) are not impressed by the revelations, but they go along with the trade of intelligence to see where it leads. 

Waking from his pummelling, Ari gets back to the Sheraton in time to see Kim being bundled into the back of a car and he follows to a compound in time to see her embrace Sarraj in a basement room. Needing reassurance, Ari makes contact with Sabri (Selva Rasalingam), who is a Mossad fixer who promises to get him out of the country. Ari thinks Sabri is The Angel and goes along with his plan because this will lead to Sarraj being toppled and the Assad regime being humiliated. 

Consequently, he returns to the hotel to sleep with Kim, even though he has Rachel on his conscience, as he has been unable to tip her off that her escape has been postponed. The next day, however, Ari loses his patience with Kim and pulls a gun on her to force her to go along with a plan to get him out of the Sheraton without Sarraj's goons stopping him. Several luckless Syrians are gunned down and Ari realises that Kim loves him when she shoots the last one to save his life. Setting off the fire alarm to create chaos, they slip away in Sabri's car and meet him at a border rendezvous. He is furious that Ari has brought Kim (whose real name is Salma), however, and wastes no time in killing her before vanishing into the night with Ari holding off the pursuing Syrian forces. 

It will come as no surprise to many to discover that Sabri is merely a front for the real double agent, who turns out to be Fuad. He is an old school soldier who has seen too many children perish and has forged a deal with Miki to help with prisoner exchanges whenever possible and keep fanatics like Sarraj from achieving power. Fighting back the tears, Ari clings to the watch belonging to Kim's father, who appears to have been an Arab who was brutalised by the Israelis, hence her desire for revenge. It's a spy novel cliché for emotion to prove the undoing of even the best female agent and it feels chauvinistically outdated for this to be the case here, despite the late 80s setting. But this is a minor concern compared to the other problems hamstringing this earnest, but flat-footed feature. 

Much of the trouble stems from the clumsy dialogue penned by Berk and co-scenarist Samantha Newton. But Kaplan's source plotline is equally specious, with its red herring references to unrepentant Nazis and chemical weapons. Moreover, it seems highly unlikely that an experienced agent like Ari would not be suspicious when a reporter he had met by chance shows up in Damascus and promptly tumbles into bed with him. The world weariness of old-timers Miki and Fuad also smacks of contrivance and will feel very familiar to fans of Oscar Homolka, who was Michael Caine's supposed nemesis in The Ipcress File (1965), Funeral in Berlin (1966) and Billion Dollar Brain (1967).

At least John Hurt and Igal Naor inhabit their characters. Resembling a younger version of Donald Sutherland, Jonathan Rhys Meyers looks very uncomfortable beneath his pompadoured quiff, as he channels all of his energy into sustaining the hybridic accent that is the only interesting thing about this dullard in a sharp suit. Proving little more animated, Olivia Thirlby betrays that she has something to hide on first acquaintance, while Jürgen Prochnow is utterly wasted in a pointless cameo. Cinematographer Chloë Thomson manages to impart a noirish feel to the Casablanca locations, but Martin Brinkler's editing is intrusively choppy during the action sequences, which are punctuated by the blarings of Harry Escott's formulaic score. However, it is nice to see a film in which people rely on landlines.

While promoting his documentary, Chancers: The Great Gangster Film Fraud (2016), director Ben Lewis declared A Landscape of Lies to be `a giant cinematic alibi'. Now, audiences have the long-overdue chance to assess Paul Knight's fabled feature for themselves, as it reaches the various home entertainment formats in a director's cut. A little context is required before viewing, however. 

In 2011, British Iraqi entrepreneur Bashur Al Issa and Irish actress Aoife Madden joined forces to make a movie. But, while they had a script entitled A Landscape of Lives and a supposed budget of £19.6 million, they could only offer Knight the princely sum of £100,000 to complete the project in a matter of weeks. Having produced his debut feature, Thugs, Mugs and Violence (2009), for just £10,000, Knight thought he had hit the jackpot. He should, perhaps, have been suspicious when names like Michael Caine, Omar Sharif, Liam Neeson and Brian Cox were being bandied around. But Knight ploughed on in good faith and was as surprised as anyone to discover that Issa and Madden had been arrested on the recommendation of HMRC for receiving £1.2 million in VAT and film tax relief and preparing a further claim of £1.8 million in exploiting a rule entitling producers of films budgeted under £20 million to a 25% rebate. 

Able to prove his own innocence of entering into a conspiracy to defraud with the producers, Knight was left with a rough-and-ready crime thriller and reasoned that its infamy might help him recoup some of the £20,000 of his own money that he had invested in its making. Much to his delight, A Landscape of Lies was accepted by the 2012 Las Vegas Film Festival and promptly won the Silver Ace award. However, on learning of the picture's nefarious past, the festival hierarchy withdrew the accolade. Undaunted, however, Knight has continued to polish his film, seven years after the camera started to roll, it is finally ready for its UK premiere. 

From the moment Danny Midwinter beats seven shades out of a man who refuses to laugh at his joke, it's clear that he has a screw loose. But he is a big noise around town and is furious that property developer Philip Brodie has beaten him to a vacant piece of land on Christ Street. Midwinter tries to intimidate Brodie, but he is not one to budge, as wife Lucinda Rhodes-Flaherty and troubled teenage daughter Rosie Ginger know all too well. The latter keeps getting into trouble at school and is convinced her parents are going to get a divorce, making her the kind of kid Andrea McLean became a psychiatrist to help. Receptionist Christina Baily admires McLean's passion for her job, but wishes she would also let off a little steam to release the strain. 

Across town, Iraq veteran Andre Nightingale is still having nightmares about the mission that wiped out most of his unit. He is also finding it hard to make ends meet and readily accepts a backhander when ex-sergeant Marc Bannerman asks him to provide an alibi for his betrayal of wife Samantha Cunningham. However, when he is found dead on the Christ Street plot, DCI Mel Mills and Sergeant Anna Passey interrupt a meeting between Brodie, assistant Daniel Young and wheeler-dealer Daniel Peacock to ask what they know about the deceased, who appears to have been the victim of a bungled mugging. 

Furious at being forced to delay construction, Brodie misses an appointment with McLean and Rhodes-Flaherty takes the opportunity to confess to an affair that began because she felt neglected. Nightingale hears about Bannerman's death on the news and goes to console Cunningham, only for Mills to question his integrity when Nightingale fibs to prevent the grieving widow from learning about her hero husband's infidelity. She asks him to make private inquiries and Mills warns him about playing the vigilante. But he stakes out the crime scene and bumps into Midwinter, who claims that Clancy ruined his chances to building a community project and hints that his marriage is a mess. He also offers Nightingale work at his burlesque club, The Blue Lounge, and manager Aoife Madden explains how she needs him to stop the punters pawing the dancers. 

Word soon reaches Mills that Nightingale is involved with Midwinter and he comes clean about Bannerman having an affair. They wonder if he was seeing Rhodes-Flaherty, who is horrified when Brodie comes home from work after being head-butted by Midwinter's Australian heavy, Victoria Hopkins, who regards his wife, Helen Latham, as a sister. Brodie is so shocked by the threats that Hopkins and Nightingale make to his family that he vows to recommend to Peacock that they sell Christ Street. However, Young is already accepting bribes from Midwinter to stall the project and he receives his next handout at the club, as McLean (who is Midwinter's sister) arrives with the intention of seducing the naive Baily. 

In fact, she leaves with Young and a tipsy McLean sleeps it off in Nightingale's bed while he kips on the couch. However, McLean does keep a dinner date with Midwinter and Latham and witnesses Mills arresting Hopkins after her tyre tracks are found at the murder scene. While Midwinter refuses to lift a finger to help her, he asks McLean to cajole Brodie into selling the plot for the good of his marriage. She seems to assent to his request. But Midwinter leaves nothing to chance by barging into her surgery the next day and stabbing Brodie before Nightingale can stop him. Mills and DC Kelly George take Midwinter into custody, while Nightingale escorts McLean home. But there are a couple more twists to come before the end credits finally roll. 

As regular readers will know, this column has little time for spoilers. But, as this plucky picture needs all the help it can get, it will be allowed to keep a few of its incestuous secrets. In the circumstances, the self-taught Knight does well enough behind the camera and it's not always possible to detect that this only cost £84,000. That said, some of his framing is a bit clumsy and he seems to have no regard for the 180° rule. His dialogue writing could also do with some polishing, while he struggles to coax competent performances out of some of the minor players. 

Nevertheless, onetime weather girl and Loose Women presenter Andrea McLean manages to hold her own, even in her exchanges with the scene-stealing Danny Midwinter. Consequently, this is not appreciably worse than such recent British misfires as Sean Spencer's Panic (2014), Ryan Bonder's The Brother (2016) and Ed Christmas's The Man With Four Legs (2017). But it's still not a patch on the story own its own genesis, although fans of Vittorio De Sica's neglected movie scam comedy, After the Fox (1966), will doubtlessly appreciate its merits. 

The Norse mythology movie has come to the cinematic fore, thanks to the Marvel trilogy comprised of Kenneth Branagh's Thor (2011), Alan Taylor's Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok (2017). But, as Nicolas Winding Refn's Valhalla Rising (2009) and Farren Blackburn's Hammer of the Gods (2013) demonstrate, not every story told in the nine realms based around Yggdrasil has its origin in a comic-book. David L.G. Hughes's Of Gods and Warriors joins this growing list, although this modestly budgeted follow-up to Hard Boiled Sweets (2012) often feels as though owes more to Game of Thrones than the Codex Regius.

In the kingdom of Volsung, a child born to an absent father is cursed. The flame-haired Princess Helle (Anna Demetriou) is doubly hexed, as, when mother Queen Alva (Victoria Broom) died in labour, King Asmund (Andrew Whipp) was duped into swapping with his newborn nephew by his scheming brother, Prince Bard (Timo Nieminen), in order to convince their enemies that the future of the dynasty had been secured. Over the next 21 years, Bard treats Helle as a servant in order to teach her humility. But Lord Soini (Will Mellor) trains her in combat and she develops the sword skills that her feeble cousin, Hakon (Taylor Frost), lacks. Moreover, she is given guidance by Odin (Terence Stamp), who materialises from Valhalla to remind Helle that there is always a path through a darkened forest. 

However, the evil Loki (Murray McArthur) is similarly guiding Bard, who persuades Helle that she will earn the favour of her uncle if she slays the kraken, which is the only thing of which he is afraid. She sets out to find the beast's lair, but Hakon follows her and Bard orders Kirkwood (Ian Beattie) and his hulking oppos Torstein and Steiner (both Martyn Ford) to dispatch them. As Hakon urges Helle to assume the crown, she is attacked by Torstein, who is lunging at her with his hammer when Asmund wakes from a nightmare and arrives in the nick of time to kill the brute. He confesses his folly to Helle and Hakon, but is murdered by Kirkwood and Hakon sacrifices himself so that Helle can escape. 

Refusing to remain in Volsung under Bard's rule, Soini gathers his truest warriors and ventures forth to find Helle. She wanders along the coast and keeps looking back wistfully at the castle. But she just about keeps her wits about her when Loki disguises himself as Odin and tricks her into eating some scarlet mushrooms. Indeed, he almost coaxes her into self-slaughter before she comes to her senses and swings her sword at the dastardly deity, who disappears in a puff of smoke. 

Intent on casing Helle's skull in an iron mask, Bard sends Kirkwood to capture his niece. But she has found sanctuary among a band of unarmed travellers led by Tarburn (Paul Freeman). Disciples Vern (Laurence O'Fuarain) and Tait (Kajsa Mohammar) teach Helle to live off the land and she makes love with Vern in a meadow. But he has made a childhood promise to marry Tait and Tarburn reassures her that heartache will strengthen her soul. 

Joined by Soini and his followers, Helle vows to fight Bard and is surprised when Vern and Tait stand beside her, as they are tired of wandering and want a permanent home, When Helle promises to reinvent Volsung according to Tarburn's principles, he throws in his lot and they charge into battle on the back of a rousing speech. Bard hangs back from the fray with Steiner and Helle chases after him (after Tait sees her kissing Vern). She manages to defeat him with a low blow after an epic struggle and races through the forest to find her wicked uncle. While Soini stands toe to toe with Kirkwood, Helle hangs Bard from a tree by a iron mask chain and she uses this to kill Kirkwood as he is about to stab Soini. 

As Loki tempts the envious Tait at Helle's coronation, this eager saga ends with a plot twist designed to flag up a potential sequel. Sophomore writer-director Hughes strains every sinew to make the action involving and exciting. Given the limited resources at his disposal, he deserves credit for the glossiness of the visuals, along with production designer John Leslie, cinematographer Sara Deane and costumier Hazel Webb Crozier. But the formulaic nature of the scenario and the threadbare characterisation undermine their efforts at every turn. Moreover, Hughes and co-editor George Adams deprive the fight sequences choreographed by Andrei Nazarenko of any kinetic flow. Maybe they should have watched a few more Japanese chambara movies.

Doing their best with some portentous dialogue, the ensemble enters into the spirit of the piece. Making her feature bow, Anna Demetriou acquits herself well, although she's required to do a lot of wistful distance gazing while pursing her immaculately made-up lips. It's rather puzzling why Odin disappears just when Helle has the greatest need of him, but Terence Stamp looks thoroughly disengaged and his mumbling lethargy contrasts starkly with Murray McArthur's scenery gnashing as Loki. Timo Nieminen makes a sneeringly effective villain, although it seems a little gratuitous to have him slay a naked woman in a moment of post-coital rage. Will Mellor and Paul Freeman also provide capable support, although the Vern/Tait subplot feels hugely contrived and one suspects that we may  never get to see how it plays out.