LWLies 69: The Free Fire Issue

We’ve ded­i­cat­ed our lat­est print edi­tion to the hard­boiled may­hem of Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire, in which the British writer/​director gath­ers up a coterie of charis­mat­ic chums and has them shoot one anoth­er in a filthy, aban­doned fac­to­ry. The film is proof (were it need­ed) of Wheatley’s mas­tery of the film medi­um, par­tic­u­lar­ly the way he’s able to pro­duce breath­tak­ing screen fire­works from the most rudi­men­ta­ry of materials.

Free Fire is a film that is as fun to watch as it report­ed­ly was to make. In this new issue of LWLies, Wheat­ley takes us on a mag­i­cal mys­tery tour of Brighton, where the film was shot, while telling the sto­ry of how he got to where he is today. We in turn took inspi­ra­tion from the film’s high-octane thrills to explore the out­er expans­es of this ter­ri­bly enter­tain­ing, sin­gle set stand-off.

The cov­er was cre­at­ed by LWLies cre­ative direc­tor Tim­ba Smits, who drew inspi­ra­tion from the short-lived 1970s kids com­ic ​‘Action’, which deliv­ered vis­cer­al vio­lence to a gen­er­a­tion of knee-highs.

In this issue…

Gen­tle Ben
Adam Wood­ward heads down to the Eng­lish sea­side town of Brighton to take a stroll with Free Fire direc­tor Ben Wheatley.

The World’s Tough­est Ben Wheat­ley Quiz
Adam Nay­man, author of Ben Wheat­ley: Con­fu­sion and Car­nage, devis­es some bas­tard-hard BW mul­ti­ple choices.

Grand Lar­sony
Ella Don­ald tells sto­ry of how Brie Lar­son was final­ly able to wave good­bye to sec­ond-tier arche­type roles to become one of the world’s hottest actors.

Poly­graph Test #1 – Sharl­to Cop­ley
The South African lead­ing man answers a series of ques­tions on Armie Hammer.

Poly­graph Test #2 – Armie Ham­mer
The hon­ey-toned actor answers a series of ques­tions on Jack Reynor

Poly­graph Test #3 – Jack Reynor
The Irish upstart answers a series of ques­tions on Sharl­to Copley

Call to Action
Who remem­bers ​‘Action’, the most gra­tu­itous­ly vio­lent kids com­ic strip ever made? We do… Words by Paul Fairclough.

Gun-Fu Hus­tle
Nick Pinker­ton lav­ish­es praise on Hong Kong mae­stro John Woo, archi­tect of the time-hon­oured bul­let ballet.

Threads #1
A new fash­ion col­umn by Christi­na New­land look­ing at movies through the prism of cloth­ing. This issue’s focus: the wide-col­lared shirt.

In review

Mul­hol­land Dri­ve reframed as a musi­cal, by Adam Nay­man; The Hap­pi­est Day in the Life of Olli Mäki by Adam Wood­ward; Cat­fight by David Jenk­ins; Raw by Anton Bitel; Neru­da by Ben Nichol­son; Space­ship by Aimee Knight; The Hand­maid­en by Abbey Ben­der; The Eyes of My Moth­er by Dan Einav; The Trans­fig­u­ra­tion by David Jenk­ins; The Lost City of Z by Matt Thrift; City of Tiny Lights by Kat McLaugh­lin; Grad­u­a­tion by Trevor John­ston; Har­mo­ni­um by Anton Bitel; Their Finest by David Jenk­ins; The Sense of an End­ing by David Jenk­ins; Lady Mac­beth by Ele­na Laz­ic; Mind­horn by Adam Wood­ward; Heal the Liv­ing by David Jenk­ins; The Love Witch by Ele­na Laz­ic; Clash by Christi­na New­land; A Qui­et Pas­sion by Sophie Monks Kauf­man; The Sales­man by Mal­lo­ry Andrews; I Am Not Your Negro by Manuela Laz­ic; My Life as a Cour­gette by David Jenk­ins; Jaw­bone by Phil Con­canon; Aquar­ius by Ian Barr.

In con­ver­sa­tion

Raw direc­tor Julia Ducour­nau talks hor­ror and grow­ing pains; Park Chan-wook, direc­tor of The Hand­maid­en, explains how to shoot the per­fect sex scene; Cyn­thia Nixon dis­cuss­es her trans­for­ma­tion into poet Emi­ly Dick­in­son for A Qui­et Pas­sion; Gem­ma Arter­ton talks about her role as a Blitz-era screen­writer in Their Finest; and Brazil­ian direc­tor Kle­ber Men­donça Fil­ho expands on the impor­tance of John Car­pen­ter in the mak­ing of his new film Aquarius.

And final­ly…

Home Ents reviews of Bel­ladon­na of Sad­ness, Fright Night, Mil­dred Pierce, Cul-de-sac, Two Films by Lino Broc­ka, Lud­wig, The Sto­ry of Sin, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Any­more and Two Rode Togeth­er. Plus Ex Rent Hell presents… Mon­ey Train, by Adam Lee Davies.

LWLies 69: The Free Fire Issue is released on 15 March. Order your­self a copy or sub­scribe today via our online shop.