Paul Cowan Movies

Director Paul Cowen traces the The United Nations Department of Peacekeeping's efforts in preventing a Rwandan-style disaster in the Democratic Republic of Congo by shifting between the events unfolding at the United Nations headquarters in New York and the rising tensions in the DRC. Watch as the peacekeepers in the "Crisis Room" attempt to balance the risk of loss of life against the large amounts of financing required from skittish donor countries, and see the chaos that unfolds when northeast Congo erupts, threatening the future of the DNC, and the stability of central Africa. With memories of Rwanda hanging heavy in his head and the entire world spiraling into chaos, Secretary General Kofi Annan implores the General Assembly to act quickly, lest history condemn them for their inaction. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Brian Stirner made his directorial debut with this British drama about child abuse, as seen in the attitudes of a half-dozen traumatized London teens -- a gang run by Stu (Harley Smith) amid homeless street people, hustlers, hookers, alcoholics, and junkies at Kings Cross. Vigilante gang members victimize homosexuals, seducing unsuspecting johns who wind up beaten and robbed. Stu works at a hotel restaurant where his boss (Roy Hudd) and the boss's wife (Jeanie Drynan) provide a surrogate family. He's also befriended by Irish waitress Kathleen (Marcella Plunkett), who has little information about the dark side of Stu's past. Meanwhile, Stu is pulled back into violent gang activities. Shown in competition at the 1998 San Sebastian Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Don't Get Me Started a combined German and British production directed and written by Arthur Ellis, is a not very funny, not particularly mysterious comic film noir. Jack Lane (Trevor Eve) wants to quit his job as mob hitman and start a new life working as an insurance salesman. Jack, who is mentally disturbed, kills a co-worker and tries to hide the crime. Insurance investigator Jerry Hoff (Steven Waddington) is brought into the case to find out the truth. The direction by Arthur Ellis in uninspired, and he gets only mediocre performances from his cast of stock characters from previous noir films. There is nothing new here, and the attempts at black humor are labored and not very convincing on any level. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

In this successful psychological thriller, a reluctant agent of the Irish Republican Army discovers that some people just aren't who you expect them to be. Fergus (Stephen Rea) is an IRA "volunteer" who, despite personal misgivings, takes part in the kidnapping of a black British soldier, Jody (Forest Whitaker), stationed in Northern Ireland. The IRA hopes to use Jody as a bargaining chip to win the release of IRA operatives behind bars, but, while guarding Jody, Fergus becomes fast friends with his prisoner. Jody makes Fergus promise him that if he dies, Fegus will look in on his girlfriend, Dil (Jaye Davidson), and see if she's all right. Jody escapes, and Fergus doesn't have the heart to shoot him; as fate would have it, Jody runs from the woods into a street only to be run over by a British police vehicle, which then flushes out the IRA compound. Fergus escapes to London, where he's wanted by the law for Jody's kidnapping and also by his former girlfriend, IRA operative Jude (Miranda Richardson), who thinks he knows too much to fall into the hands of the British authorities. Good to his word, Fergus tracks down Dil, and soon the two outcasts find themselves entering into a love affair, although Fergus discovers that Dil is not the sort of woman he thought she was. Writer/director Neil Jordan won an Academy Award for his screenplay; the title song, which was a U.K. hit for Dave Berry in 1965, was re-recorded for the film by one-time Culture Club vocalist Boy George with backing by the Pet Shop Boys. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Peter Medak directed this fact-based drama, chronicling the lives of the infamous Kray Brothers, notorious celebrities in 60s London. The Krays were twin gangsters who ruled London's stylish East End club scene, staking out their territory by committing the most violent crimes imaginable, preferring to perform the most torturous acts themselves. The film stars Gary Kemp and Martin Kemp, founding members of the pop group Spandau Ballet, as Ronald and Reginald Kray. The film opens as their mother Violet Kray (Billie Whitelaw) recalls a dream in which she is a swan from which two beautiful babies have hatched. She can't tell if the swans are angels or demons, but the film soon answers that question for her. Brought up in London's East End in the 1930s, Ronald and Reginald Kray are raised in the resentful world of Violet, who is hateful of her lot in life and bitter at the control men have in running the world ("Housework is a lethal business," she says). The twins react to each other almost telepathically and they take out their anger by clogging the nose of their sleeping father (Alfred Lynch), pushing around fellow schoolboys, and even beating each other to pulp at a boxing match. When her mother chastises them for their fight in a fairground boxing ring ("You fight them up, but you don't fight each other"), the twins veer into the London underworld. In their self-contained world of Us-Against-Them, the Krays rapidly rise to the height of power, first taking over the territory of a petty mobster by violent means and then putting together an underworld empire of posh clubs, cars, and fancy suits. But at the height of their fame, the twins begin to break from each other. Reginald falls in love with Frances (Kate Hardie), while Ronald gets involved in a homosexual relationship with one of his underlings. Ronald, in a jealous rage over Frances stealing his brother away from him, becomes even more brutal in his crimes and while the brothers' backs are turned, a group of older mobsters challenge the Krays' authority, invoking a horrible bloodbath that effects not only the two brothers but Frances and Violet as well. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Set in sexually repressive 1950's London, We Think the World of You features actor Alan Bates as Frank, a gay middle-aged businessman whose lover Johnny (Gary Oldman) is married and in jail for burglary. While Johnny (Oldman) is behind bars, his beloved German shepard Evie becomes the center of a heated custody battle between himself, his wife (Frances Barber), his mother (Liz Smith), his stepfather (Max Wall), and finally, Frank (Bates). Frank eventually becomes more enamoured with the scene-stealing German shepard than he is with her absent master. We Think the World of You was directed by Colin Gregg and based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Joseph R. Ackerley, one of the first modern authors to come out as openly gay. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

This darkly haunting slightly fictionalized film is a retelling of the life and death of Ruth Ellis (Miranda Richardson), the last woman to be executed in England. Ellis, a divorcee and ex-prostitute works as a "hostess" in a tacky nightclub. There she meets and begins an obsessive love affair with upper-class David Blakely (Rupert Everett), who eventually discards her. Still obsessed and jealous because of David's upcoming marriage to a woman of his own class, Ellis murders him. Miranda Richardson, in a stark, knock-out performance is outstanding as the cold, calculating Ellis, unscrupulous in her use of everyone to get what she wants. Ian Holm, in an often-overlooked performance, is superb as the man who loves Ellis, supporting her and her teenage son, without ever gaining her love. He is her mainstay and the surrogate father to her teenage son, who Ellis has little time for. In his own, quiet way he is as obsessed as Ellis. The screenplay, adapted by Shelagh Delaney remains faithful to the true story, taking only minor dramatic license. Dance With a Stranger is an uncompromising look at obsessive love and its consequences on others. The story is made even more poignant because of the sad life and eventual suicide of Ellis' real son. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

This biographical semi-documentary casts a slight shadow of human vulnerability and a little doubt over the legendary Canadian national hero and World War I pilot William (Billy) Bishop. Director and writer Paul Cowan started out by wanting to turn the musical "Billy Bishop Goes to War" into a screenplay -- and then after a little research, changed his mind and produced this documentary instead. Interviews with people who knew Bishop are mixed with segments from the stage play about him and a summary of his life. Actor Eric Peterson plays Bishop's mechanic, giving his own impressions of the man. Taken all together, director Cowan raises some questions without toppling the legends. Canadians are more likely to sustain an interest in these proceedings rather than foreigners unfamiliar with Bishop. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

On April 30, 1981, directors John N. Smith, Michael McKennirey, and Cynthia Scott filmed the performances at the Canadian Dance Spectacular in Ottawa's National Arts Centre. Several of the dances naturally lent themselves to a cinematic format, such as the five lone performers in "Prairie Song" by Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers, or the piece by the Anna Wyman Dance Theater which included principles of movement in athletes and machines. A few of the eight dance troupes featured in this 90-minute documentary include the National Ballet of Canada, the Toronto Dance Theatre, and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Dolby Sound enhances the aural aspect of the performances, all top-notch in their own right. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Udo Kier and Fiona Richmond star in this psychological thriller concerning a successful novelist who becomes obsessed with the pretty occupant of an isolated farmhouse. As his intrigue regarding the mysterious woman intensify, the writer is gradually overpowered by frightening hallucinations and compulsive feelings of lust and violence. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide