"They come out with a strange, fantastic feeling and they can carry that, and it opens some little door or something that's magical and that's the power that film has." - David Lynch
I'd planned to see the Roy Andersson shorts but MIFF-fatigue got the better of me and I took the early part of the day off. I wasn't impressed with either film I did see.
Hansel and Gretel (Yim Phil-Sung, South Korea, 2007)
Double Take (Johan Grimonprez, Belgium/Germany/Netherlands, 2009)
Hansel and Gretel Koreans are great with horror, when they get it right. Unfortunately, this isn't one of them. It looks great, but the story is a narrative mess and is way too long. A man crashes his car on an isolated road and is lead by a child through the forest where he is taken to a remote cottage. The film re-imagines the Hansel and Gretel tale, subverting expectations along the way. It starts out almost farcical and perhaps would have been better had it stayed that way. When the story becomes darker, its horror never quite convinces. The story is all over the place and I found it very unsatisfying. It's my least favourite film at MIFF yet.
Double Take I imagine there's a large festival demand for films like this one, but Double Take did nothing for me. Basically it's a visual essay with what I felt had very little to say and padded the film's very long 80 minutes much like a reality TV show - the way the same scene is repeated over and over again.
OK, Hitch had body doubles. OK, The Birds is a metaphor for the Soviet threat and tapped into people's anxieties of the era. And OK, JFK was assassinated because of his liberal stance on the Cold War. I could see it all coming a mile away, and it took so long to make its points, and it made them without substance. This is not my kind of film at all - neither satisfying as a documentary and nor for its playful manipulation of Hitchcock's signature image.
Le renard et l'enfant (The Fox and the Child, Luc Jacquet, France, 2007)
DVD:
T is for Teacher (Rohan Spong, Australia/USA, 2009)
SHORT FILMS:
MIAF - International Program #3
MIAF - Studio Watch: The Mill
Work in Progress Quite a fascinating film whose documentation of the demolition of an old neighbourhood is reminiscent of the films of Pedro Costa (though without the same level of bleakness - not a criticism of either director's work). I don't have a lot to say about it other than, like In the City of Sylvia, Guerín demonstrates a photographer's fascination with capturing the soul of a city and its inhabitants.
Innisfree Guerín's unconventional style is anything but mainstream. This is quite an odd film, an ode to the locations where John Ford shot The Quiet Man. Once again, Guerín is fascinated by location, this time rural Ireland. He certainly is an enigma.
Bastardy Remarkably, Amiel Courtin-Wilson spent some seven or so years making this film, and in the Q&A session afterwards he explained why. Firstly, there was an issue with money, that came in dribs and drabs. The fact that the subject spent significant periods incarcerated also caused problems.
As I have mentioned previously, I met Jack Charles a few years ago and, having found him a very colourful and gregarious character, was keen to learn more about him. What a journey! As a 10 month old baby, he became a member of the Stolen Generation, and has never known his father. He discovered acting at age 19, set up the first Aboriginal theatre troupe in the 1960s, has been addicted to heroin since 1973, He's subsisted on burglary ("collecting the rent", he called it), has seen the walls of HM Pentridge up close and personal several times and has been homeless for large stretches of his life. There's more - much more - but that's it in a nutshell.
I found it fascinating that Jack sat in the front row (I was two rows directly behind him), with every conceivable shame on full display to him and the audience that filled the large Kino cinema. I was going to ask him during the Q&A how he felt about seeing himself like that, but he addressed it anyway. He said something to the effect that he was inspired to be able to set an example to his own people of what can be achieved, how he had left all this behind him and was now a respected elder of his mob. Since his last release from Deer Park prison, he's gone straight and says there's no going back to that life. I sincerely hope so.
[Pictured: John Safran, Jack Charles and Amiel Courtin-Wilson]
MIAF From my perspective, animation shorts are a good interlude to serious film-going, which could be interpreted as some sort of snobbery, but that's what it is for me. I saw one of the international programs as well as a curated selection of shorts from The Mill, a London studio that has made many award-winning advertisements (some of which have appeared on Australian TV), music videos and short films. The Mill's work is very impressive and many of the pieces were not obviously animated, using animation to create hyper-reality to various situations.
T is for Teacher I'm reviewing this ahead of the films screening at the Bayside Film Festival. I liked this a lot, and (with Rhys Graham's Skin) it's screening at 7pm on Thursday 16 July at Palace Brighton Bay, followed by a Q&A with director Rohan Spong. The film documents four transgender individuals as they transition from men to women in their roles as high school teachers in the US. My review is coming soon.
The Fox and the Child This is a beautiful looking film that merges documentary with fiction. Basically, it takes a glorious rural landscape in France and contrives a little story - almost a fairy tale - about a young girl who befriends a wild fox. I would have preferred seeing the original French version, but the voice-over narration by Kate Winslet is quite OK and obviously makes it more marketable to an English-speaking audience. The story sometimes goes on a bit longer than necessary, but this is a very enjoyable film that is also well-suited for children.
IMAGES OF AGE: These are a collection of local films screening in competition (in other sessions) at the festival that share a theme of old age. My pick of them is Fallen and Lover's Walk and the other two (both documentaries) did little for me. In fact, I allowed myself to doze off during Royboys, not necessarily a reflection of the film but rather, my disinterest in football and my lack of sleep.
Fallen (Mark Priems, 17’50”)
Lover's Walk (Abigail Hargrave,15’47”)
The People's Plot (Mikael Bones Olsen, 12’27”)
Royboys (Brett Swain, Michael Wannenmacher, 27’52”)
FRENCH SHORTS: These films are a selection from the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival.
Skhizein (Jérémy Clapin, 13'10")
Forbach (Claire Burger, 35’)
Dix (Bif, 7’)
Citizen Versus Cane (Severi Shun, 18’)
Lila (Broadcast Club, 12'30")
Skhizein is a clever and entertaining animated short that I really relate to. It's an exploration of the concept of matter and its occupation of time and space. When a meteor strikes Henry, his physicality is displaced by 91 cm and he must retrain himself to act in a parallel reality. As a film, it's visually compelling but its novelty belies the thoughtfulness of the concept. I remember as a teenager being amazed at how we fill a certain space at a certain time, and I used to imagine that space leaving a trail as I, for example, travelled in the 67 tram to school. It was all part of my life-long quest to understand consciousness and the nature of the universe, which this film also alludes to in a humorous way.
Forbach completely fooled me until the end. I truly thought it was a documentary about Samuel, a famous TV actor, returning to his small town, Forbach, to visit his family and to receive town honours. Things don't go well and we can see why Samuel doesn't visit often. His mother is an alcoholic and his brother has been in the wrong crowd. Very cleverly made.
Dix (literally, ten) also recalls something from my childhood, the fear of stepping on pavement lines. My mother used to tell me to watch out for the boogey man, and I often had nightmares about it. In this film, Marc has the same phobia, multiplied many times and has ghastly visions of the consequences that recall Vincenzo Natali's Cube.
Citizen Versus Cane has English actors speaking English but it's a French crew. It's a fairly formulaic comedy and OK, but nothing special. Lila is without dialogue, a visual compilation of people on summer vacation. Again, OK, but nothing special. The Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival is one of the most reputed short film festivals in the world, screening some 500 French films, and I find it hard to believe that some of these are among the pick of the festival.
I was blown away by the two sessions I attended this evening at the St. Kilda Film Festival. I originally intended to see just the German Shorts but was able to squeeze a session of the local films in competition also. As expected, the German session was stronger, being the best of the InterFilm Berlin Film Festival. The real surprise was how strong the Australian films are. The programming has really picked up since I last saw a local session, with less of the one-joke plots, more variety and documentaries being the strongest contenders.
The Australian shorts I saw (session 4) were:
Collide-A-Scope (Gregory Godhard, 3')
Birthday Girl (Angie Black, 6'30")
A Different Cut (Fahim Ahad, 9'30")
Home Away From Home (Riyadh Abdul Hussain, 18'37")
Multiple Choice (Michael Goode, 4'46")
One Shoe Short (Jackie van Beek, 8'17")
Wounded (Fiona Corke, 6'09")
Undressing Vanessa (Matthew Pond, 22'36")
My biggest belly laughs were with Undressing Vanessa, a documentary about Tobin Saunders, better known as drag queen/performer/social activist Vanessa Wagner. Now, I've had friends who were cross-dressers, but this cat is totally wild and over-the-top. She's an impressive character with a social and political conscience and was involved with the Pauline Pantsdown spoof of Pauline Hansen several years ago. He's also a man with HIV and the film charts his struggles to come to terms with that. If you ever get the chance, see this wonderful little gem.
I loved that several of the films in this session had a political and/or social element to them. HomeAway From Home is a very moving account of a lovely Iraqi man who worked as a marketing manager at Al-Jazeera TV and now finds himself driving a taxi in Adelaide. I couldn't help but surmise that that is how the director met him and got talking about his life. So my two favourite Australian shorts are both documentaries.
Also very strong are A Different Cut, which addresses racial prejudice, and Wounded, a story based on true accounts of former shooters who have been traumatised by their experiences of killing animals. I exchanged a few words with the director, Fiona Corke, after the session to ask her intent. It wasn't vegetarianism (which she isn't) but rather, to point out how damaging violence can be, in ways that aren't foreseen.
Collida-A-Scope is an experimental film that did nothing for me. Birthday Girlis about a woman grieving the death of her child that is OK but perhaps a little derivative (reminding me of Juliette Binoche in Paris je t'aime). One Shoe Short would make a good companion piece to Samson and Delilah, depicting aboriginal children living in poverty in Alice Springs, and recalling Iranian cinema with its focus on children. Multiple Choice is the only film that came close to that one-joke formula that I have disdain for, but it was clever enough not to be too silly and being only the one, it was quite OK.
The German shorts were:
Pingu Q (Kun Jia, 1’)
The Pick Up Artist (Der Aufreißer, Steffen Weinert, 13’)
Robin (Hanno Olderdissen, 20'30")
Apple on a Tree (Astrid Rieger, Zeljko Vidovic, 4'50")
It's My Turn (Bende Sira, Ismet Ergün, 10'05")
Cuddling with Politicians (Christian 3 Roosen, 4'50")
Frozen Sea (Likas Miko, 27’)
Our Wonderful Nature (Tomer Eshed, 5'05")
Where to start? Frozen Sea is the clear stand-out and this Likas Miko should be a talent to watch. I predict that his name will become more prominent. The film looks gorgeous with a raw naturalistic look, set in winter. The film has a mysterious edge to it, and we gradually learn about family secrets and lies. Told from a child's viewpoint, we see his parents quarrelling and the father is often absent. Things come to a head at Christmas and we realise that things are not always what they seem.
Apple on a Tree is a real festival crowd-pleaser. Highly inventive, visually amazing and very funny. Basically it's a musical (lyrics in English), an absurd pantomime not unlike the inventive music videos of Michel Gondry (think Björk). It depicts a man who is an apple on a tree who becomes a human and realises that it's better being an apple. This description doesn't do it justice, you just have to see it.
It's My Turn screens without sub-titles, and that is its original intent, because it's not even in German. Unless you're Turkish, you won't understand the words, but that's part of the experience. This film so strongly uses the language of cinema that it doesn't matter and maybe it's a better film because of it. It's terribly moving and it had me in tears like I haven't been for a long time. It's a very simple story which also recalls Iranian cinema's preoccupation with children and would have been very much at home in the Chacun son cinéma collection of shorts, made for the 60th anniversay of the Cannes Film Festival, that are an ode to cinema itself. It depicts a group of young boys who find a way to enjoy the cinema vicariously. I loved it immensely.
Pingu Q is just a quick little animation that serves as a crowd warmer. The Pick Up Artist is a bit of a one-joke plot, but well done. Robin is a fairly gritty social tale that looks very Kieslowski-like but not in the same league (which is not a criticism because I don't think anyone else is in that league). Cuddling With Politicians is OK for variety (but not much else). I saw Our Wonderful Nature at the Festival of German Films recently and obviously so did many others in the audience because the laughs came long before a fresh audience would know to laugh. Basically it's a spoof of a nature documentary, about the mating behaviour of water shrew, using Pixar-quality animation. In fact, you'd almost swear it was a Pixar production.
My evening at the George cinema (where the festival is running until Sunday night) restores my faith in short film, which received a kick-start at the recent Thornton shorts. I'm planning to see the French ones tomorrow along with a local session, and one or two sessions on Sunday. Kudos to Paul Harris and I believe this is his 11th year at the helm of the festival.
Just a quick one: the Nova has added a couple more sessions of the screenings of the Warwick Thornton shorts. Check out my earlier post about these four films that precede the Camera d'Or-winning Samson and Delilah.
The sessions are on Wednesday 3 June at 7pm and 8.30pm.
Samson and Delilah may give the impression that Warwick Thornton’s talents have suddenly sprung from nowhere. In fact, he has been quietly honing his craft, working as a cinematographer, writer and director on many short films and documentaries for over a dozen years. Next Thursday 21 May, Cinema Nova is screening the following selection of his short films that highlight his talents across a range of diverse films.
Green Bush (26 min, 2004) Kenny (David Page) is a DJ each night at a remote community radio station. Single-handedly, he plays music, takes requests, answers the phone and handles business in general. The portable building housing the radio station is a focus of the local community and Kenny finds himself offering cups of tea to, shelter and support to others.
Thornton has found his style in this medium-length film, largely using music and visuals to tell the story. Like Samson and Delilah, there’s not a lot of dialogue and there’s also a lot of understated, naturalistic humour. Kenny’s choice of music enables social and political themes to be subtly raised, without being didactic, much like Kelly Reichardt’s talk-back segments in Old Joy. The same could be said for Kenny’s taking requests for prison inmates.
The story, visuals and acting are all strong, and this is one of my favourites of the shorts. The story is clearly personal to Thornton – he once worked as a community DJ – and this personal nature of his work and the humanism he infuses into it are largely what I connect with. I sense that Thornton is passionate about various social issues but he never rams them down our throat. As I mentioned in my review of Samson and Delilah, he has a great instinct for cinematic story-telling.
Cast: David Page Awards:
Short Award Special Mention, AFI 2005
Special Mention, Almería International Short Film Festival 2006
Jury Prize Best Short Film BendFilm Festival 2005
Panorama Short Film Award, Berlin International Film Festival 2005
Best Short Film, IF Awards 2007
Clip from Green Bush
Payback (10 min, 1996) This is Thornton’s first short film and is beautifully shot in black and white. Set in a prison, the black and white initially recalls Alkinos Tsilimidos’ Everynight, Everynight…, but the stories are completely different. Thornton’s film is much more subdued, and the choice of black and white suits the mystical element that is explored.
After years behind bars, Paddy is on the eve of his release when he is visited by the spirits of his people. He is forewarned of tribal payback and learns first-hand that there is white man’s law and there is black man’s law. Doing time for one does not release him from the other.
Short films are a great medium for a director to explore and experiment with the craft of film-making. This is quite different in style to what we see in Thornton’s more recent work yet it is an impressive and thoughtful debut. Even from the start, Thornton displays elements we see in later works, such as sparse dialogue and effective use of sound and music.
Cast: George Djilaynga, Charlie Matjiwi
Clip from Payback
Mimi (13 min, 2002) This is the most conventional of the Thornton shorts and uses known actors. It is a comical story that satirises the commodification of indigenous art as well as introducing a character if central Australian indigenous culture. The Mimi is an ancient mischievous spirit who is said to have taught the aborigines of the region how to hunt and paint.
Catherine (Sophie Lee) purchases some pieces of indigenous art – a Mimi carving and a barramundi painting – at auction for investment purposes, but finds the statue has eaten the barramundi. To deal with the troublesome spirit, Catherine calls in a ‘real aborigine’, urbanite Jonathan (Aaron Pederson) who consequently calls in his grandfather (David Gulpilil).
This is a fine-looking film, probably the most accessible for conventional audiences, but my least favourite.
Clip from Mimi
Nana (6 min, 2007) This film pre-empts Samson and Delilah with the appearance of Mitjili Napanangka, who plays the grandmother of Delilah in that film, and who is the actual grandmother of Marissa Gibson who plays Delilah. In Nana, Napanangka takes centre stage. It seems to be Thornton’s homage to this colourful and feisty character, who is idolised by her grand-daughter (Kiara Gibson, the younger sister of Marissa).
The child’s narration is a real joy as we see Nana being depicted in various roles as cook, artist and community protector. The humour is just right and is the perfect choice to end the Thornton retrospective.
Crystal Bear Generation Kplus – Best Short Film, Berlin International Film Festival 2008
Best Short Film, IF Awards 2007
The retrospective underscores the talents of Warwick Thornton, highlighting the quietly humanistic and ultimate universality of his work, while at the same time being culturally specific. Technically, his films are very accomplished with a naturalistic beauty using solid camera work that never draws attention to itself. Thornton has a very strong way with sound and music that complements the excellent visuals. This is a one-of opportunity to see these little gems and I highly recommend them.
As an aside, while I was at ACMI this afternoon, I was discussing the shorts with an ACMI programmer. I suggested that the other works of Thornton could be worth screening at ACMI, and he said that was something that was being looked into. As can be seen from the Screen Australia website, Thornton has been involved in a lot of film-making.
The Warwick Thornton Shorts are screening at Cinema Nova on Thursday 21 May at 7pm. Samson and Delilah is screening at the Nova, Rivoli and Palace Brighton Bay cinemas, and is currently screening at Cannes Festival in the Un certain regard section.
All clips sourced from Australian Screen who, incidentally, are currently featuring Warwick Thornton's Green Bush.
Christmas holidays are here, so what better way to spend time during these hot days than in a cool cinema. Nothing really stands out for me this week.
FILM:
The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson, USA, 2007)
The Golden Compass (Chris Weitz, USA, 2007)
Coeurs (Private Fears in Public Places, Alain Resnais, France, 2006)
Crackers (David Swann, Australia, 1998)
Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, USA, 1942)
The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, USA, 1941)
DVD:
Duel (Steven Spielberg, USA, 1971)
Paris, je t'aime (Various, Leichentstein, 2006)
The Darjeeling Limited It seems some people love Wes Anderson's style and some hate it. I tend more towards the former camp, though I've only seen The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Of the two films, I prefer The Darjeeling Limited, which could be viewed as a family drama with comedic elements or a comedy with dramatic elements. In actuality, it is highly comedic, but there is also much dry and understated humour and much drama with strong threads based in reality that we can grab onto.
The characters are great, better than I expected after seeing the shorts many times. Having established the family dynamics between the three brothers, it was quietly amusing to see the understated way Anderson introduced another family member. You'll know what I mean when you see the film. The Indian characters are terrific, especially the Chief Steward. Bill Murray gets an obligatory cameo, and Natalie Portman's small role is sweet.
Much has been said about Anderson's use of colour (highly stylised in The Life Aquatic). India makes a great natural backdrop for The Darjeeling Limited, where colour is a natural element of the social and cultural life. I found the depictions of the country mostly authentic (except for one amorous scene on the train, but which most Western audiences would not pick up on).
Anderson's use of colour, his eccentric characters, the story arc and his creative use of camera angles makes for an enjoyable experience. Many films have come out of the US in recent years that I call 'quirky', which could almost be considered a separate genre. In my opinion, most of them don't work, because the quirkiness is too self-conscious, too contrived. For me, Wes Anderson joins Hal Hartley as someone for whom quirkiness works.
The Golden Compass There's a novel device that differentiates this film from other children's films of a similar genre - in this parallel universe, people's soul's live outside the body in the form of an animal. Other than that, it's basically a CGI extravaganza of the order of say the Harry Potter franchise or Narnia. None of these films particularly impresses me. I find them too formulaic and predictable, with some hero figure, a victim to be saved and some
The film has an open-ending; it is obviously to be continued. This leaves a slight frustration, though thankfully the film ends around the 90 minute mark. The performances are OK, especially by the young Dakota Richards. Nicole Kidman seems a little it like a fish out of water, but does her best with a fairly weak role while Daniel Craig seems more credible in a smaller role. I found Ian McKellen's easily recognisable voiceover for one of the CGI characters a bit distracting - he has a good voice, but it was hard not to picture the actor, so a less recognisable voice would have been better.
The film is entertaining enough for children (my seven year old enjoyed it), but not recommended otherwise. Personally, I'd like to see more children's cinema like John Sayle's The Secret of Roan Inish (1994) where characters are more nuanced, there's a little more naturalism and less CGI. Or even Tim Burton's fairytale-like stories, that play on stereotype, but usually have some bent twists.
Coeurs Oh, what a dreary, boring film, and I endured all 120 minutes! This film was one cliché after another, terribly staged (as if were were watching a third-rate live theatrical performance) with stereotypical characters that seemed straight out of The Bold and the Beautiful. People did not respond as people do. The writing was puerile, so there wasn't much the actors could do with the material.
So many devices annoyed me, including: - the soft camera lenses on 60+ year old women to attempt to make them look gorgeous - the intrusive and manipulative music - the sets and setups - the snow-fall fading in and out at the end of each scene as if it were a stage curtain - the acting that was like a third-rate stage play (and the sets reinforced that)
Melodrama doesn't have to be stupid. This film lacks any subtlety, is very stupid and is currently on target to just make it onto my worst 10 films of the year (along with 5 other French films!).
Crackers Hey, it's Christmas-time, so what an appropriate film for ACMI to screen as part of its Australian Perspectives program. The dysfunctional family get-together at year's end. In many respects, this is a fairly stereotypical Australian comedy, at least on paper. Yet it has an edge and an underlying authenticity that extracted much laughter from the small audience at the single ACMI screening I attended with my family (and my seven year old loved it).
My elderly mother still dreams of getting another caravan and going away on a holiday, perhaps with one or more of her adult children. The start of this film drives home for me why I absolutely refuse to have any part of it. Hell on wheels, that's what I remember it as, and that's how the film depicts it.
Crackers is not a particularly consistent film. There's various flat spots at times, a few stereotypes and weaknesses in the direction. It does, however, have a good heart and some good humour that makes it stand out in the genre. My favourite bit was when the dog gets burnt over the barbeque. My son couldn't control his laughter at that bit.
In spite of some predictability, the film does have some redeeming features, like not using clichés like referring to men as blokes or Aussies. You know, that mythological "Strine" that just doesn't exist anymore (at least, not as films depict it). I much prefer a modest little film like this, with a good heart and some good writing than a big budget poorly written film. Kudos to ACMI for unearthing little gems like this for the Australian Perspectives program.
Humphrey Bogart double at the Astor I don't think there's anything I can say to add to these two classics: Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. I preferred the former, and the number of famous lines was awesome. But I enjoyed them both. Duel I saw this DVD on special somewhere and thought I'd give it a go. I think it was Tarantino's Death Proof that got me thinking about it. On occasions, I've revisited 70's films that impressed me on original release, only to be disappointed at how much they've dated. That happened, for example with Tommy (Ken Russell, 1975). Sure, I still like the music, but the film is cringe-worthy.
Duel was originally made for TV in the US, but was distributed elsewhere as a feature movie - director Steven Spielberg's first - by adding a few scenes to bring it up to 90 minutes length (I believe it was originally 74 minutes). As I recollect, it screened here as the opener to a movie double, and was the minor feature. I saw it at a drive-in theatre, something my family (with four children) found economical. I don't remember the main feature, but Duel always stuck with me. Even though it has dated in some respects, I think it has withstood the test of time and is just as enjoyable now as I remember it then.
Basically, a travelling salesman finds himself the victim of a malevolent truck driver who tries to eradicate him on a lonely desert road. The film consists of a cat-and-mouse chase with various twists. I can't say I'm a big fan of Spielberg, but this film really shows his talent at an early age (he was in his early to mid 20s at the time). What is basically a one-man show holds its own for the whole duration, a real edge of your seat thriller. The camera angles are great, the truck looks genuinely menacing and the twists are believable. The finale is excellent. I got my money's worth with this one.
Paris, je t'aime Revisiting this after six months or more was an interesting exercise. I think I liked this compilation of short films more than most, for reasons detailed in my original post. Watching the interviews and other DVD extras perhaps enhanced my appreciation, and I liked the film even more this time round. The injured Nigerian immigrant, the grieving mother, the lonely driver, the boy by the Seine - all these stories affected me at least as much as the first time. Even the stories that had a lesser affect (like Christopher Doyle's Chinatown segment) seemed to improve over time.
With the school holidays I've been home - what a great opportunity to catch a few films, including the Focus on François Ozon at ACMI. Ozon's one of my favourite French directors and I'm expecting to catch everything I haven't already seen that ACMI is screening from this retrospective, though I did unfortunately miss Sitcom. It's been a phenomenal week with some really historic compelling films such as Loach's Family Life, Klimov's Come and See and Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days which just gets better on repeat viewings (I've seen it twice now).
FILMS:
Une vieille maîtresse (An Old Mistress, France/Italy, Catherine Breillat, 2007)
Family Life (Ken Loach, UK, 1971)
Ivanovo detstvo (Ivan's Childhood, Andrei Tarkovsky, USSR, 1961)
Idi i smotri (Come and See, Elem Klimov, USSR, 1985)
4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Cristian Mungiu, Romania, 2007) - 2nd viewing
Michael Clayton (Tony Gilroy, USA, 2007)
Angst essen Seele auf (Fear Eats the Soul, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Germany, 1973)
Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes (Water Drops on Burning Rocks, François Ozon, France/Germany, 1999)
Tales of the Riverbank: Autumn (Paul Sutherland, 14 min, Canada, 1960)
DVD:
Dekalog: 2 ("Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain", Krzysztof Kieslowski, Poland, 1989)
An Old Mistress Catherine Breillat's latest film, very different from anything she's done previously. A very nice period drama with edge and a separate review is on its way.
Family Life What can I say about Ken Loach? The man is a fucking genius. This gutsy family drama depicts generational family conflict with such realism and insight. The performances are amazing, and while psychology and psychiatry has evolved in thirty years, much remains the same (and I know this from first-hand experience). The film has an almost documentary-type realism to it.
This was Loach's 3rd feature film after Poor Cow (1967) and Kes (1969). The latter screened at ACMI last year and brought my young son to tears (he loved it, as did I). It's great to see this great director's early work, even if it was on Splodge's small makeshift screen at the Empress of India pub in North Fitzroy. I attended for the first time, and by chance it was Splodge's tenth anniversary. The screenings take place on the first Monday of each month and I can highly recommend it based on this month's experience. The seating is not the best, but it's a terrific opportunity to see some rare cinema. Check the Splodge! site for more details.
Vicious Cycles This short film uses stop-motion and is dated, but that's much of its appeal. The film in its entirety can be found below. ..
Tales of the Riverbank: Autumn A bit of frivolous fun. This is pretty bent as adult entertainment. It was made for children's television. The actual episode (which screened at Splodge) can be viewed below. ..
Ivan's Childhood This is an excellent film, and a good companion piece to Come and See. Both depict willing teenage protagonists who join the partisans in the fight against the Nazis. Other than that, they are completely different pieces of work. Ivan's Childhood is in most respects a less ambitious film, but less disturbing and more enjoyable.
Come and See I don't like war, and I generally don't like war films. Generally. I've got to say, this is one of the most powerful films I have ever seen and possibly the best war film I have seen. I have been debating with others about the horrors of war, and why we should not be in Iraq. This film documents why we should not be sending young men into the theatre of war, except as an absolute necessity. Sure, WWII was different to Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and every other war. They all have their individual differences, but the brutal side of human nature that is unmasked under the cloak of war, and the criminality that is allowed to take place with little consequence, is a given.
The politics of war aside, the film is a very physical experience. It affected me for hours after. Through the eyes of a teenage Belarusian partisan (Flor, played impressively by Aleksei Kravchenko), we get to vicariously experience the horrors of war. When he narrowly misses being bombed, the sound reflects his experience of shell shock, which permeates much of the length of the film. The sound design and music throughout the film is excellent. The cinematography, including much Steadycam camera-work was thoroughly absorbing. The film was visually spectacular, taking in the most amazing landscapes as well as extreme closeups of people's faces that capture the emotions of the moment.
Flor's family (along with most of the village) is butchered in his absence and we become emotionally absorbed in his struggle to come to terms with his predicament, indeed for his very survival. Wading through sludge to an island retreat must have been a gruelling experience for the actors, and it was taxing to watch it.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Flor finds himself in another village that also comes to grief (we are informed at the end of the film that 628 Belarusian villages were destroyed under the Nazis). The Nazi contempt for Russians at the time is well-known. This film realistically depicted that and how it physically manifested.
While the story is specific and local, the themes are universal. This is a film that every serious film-lover should see. Absolutely.
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days I saw this for the second time and liked it even more. I hope it does well and Kojo films import some more prints. This is a serious and important film that deserves to get good distribution. A separate review is on the way. There will be advance screenings at the Como this coming weekend, and it opens the following Thursday. Go see it! One of my strongest recommendations for the year.
Michael Clayton I went into this film with hopes but not expectations. I have a lot of admiration for George Clooney in particular, but also Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton. In actuality, their performances are not too bad at all, and for lovers of conventional Hollywood thrillers this film should provide some entertainment with a little more edge than most. Tony Gilroy scripted all the Bourne films, and fortunately the editing and cinematography are not so frenetic as those films.
For me, the film's narrative was too incoherent, and deliberately elusive in a contrived manner. I don't think a film's meaning should be spelt out excessively, but Michael Clayton feels a little too manipulative when we are deliberately kept in the dark. I can almost see the levers and pulleys being pulled. I realise that this is often the norm for thrillers these days, but I don't think it needs to be. This aspect seemed to drag on, contrasting with an ending in which everything came together just too neatly and conveniently in just five minutes or so.
Fear Eats the Soul This is the second Fassbinder film I have seen. The other was Effi Briest, a very different film. Fear Eats the Soul is much more a social realist film, though stylised and at times just a little surreal (particularly at the start). It depicts an elderly German woman who invites a Moroccan immigrant, 20 years her junior, to her apartment and the subsequent scandal. The cinematography has a rough naturalistic look to it, reflecting the bleak story which, in spite of its genuinely touching moments, has a sense of inevitable doom.
The story is universal, and applicable in all places and at all times. It is as relevant now in Australia as it was in Germany in 1973 when the film was made. The ignorance of society and how racial intolerance is manipulated is especially relevant when one considers the recent racial remarks by our Immigration minister, Kevin Andrews, or past remarks by the likes of Prime Minister Howard or Pauline Hanson. It also reminds me of the scandal that Boris Becker caused when he married a black woman.
Water Drops on Burning Rocks I found this an interesting piece for Ozon as it integrates different genres he likes to work with. It depicts the seduction of a 20-year old man (Franz, played by Malik Zidi), planning to marry his high-school sweetheart (Anna, played by Ludivine Sagnier), by a 50-year old man (Léopold, played by Bernard Giraudeau). From the outset, Bernard is revealled as a manipulative and self-assured control-freak. He beguiles the vulnerable and keeps them spellbound, largely with his expertise in the area of sexual pleasure. The relationship between Franz and Léopold is very convincing, and Ozon demonstrates much expertise in his depictions.
Things get complicated when Anna turns up on the scene, and the film takes a turn towards melodrama and parody. This might turn off some, but I found it unexpected, amusing and original. There are some twists, some expected and some not. Léopold's former long-time lover also appears on the scene adding to the mayhem, comedy and drama.
It was interesting to see a very young Sagnier (who later appeared in Ozon's Swimming Pool) and Zidi (who was impressive in Emmanuel Bourdieu's very chilling Les amitiés maléfiques). The performances were very good, especially the two male leads. Ozon mostly depicts female stories, and the only two films of his that I have seen with male stories have been about gay men (the other being Le temps qui reste).
Water Drops on Burning Rocks is visually aesthetic and Ozon uses the frame effectively. The entire film is set in Léopold's apartment and at various times the characters are framed individually within windows as if imprisoned. I enjoyed this film a lot. It screened as a companion piece to Fassbinder's Fear Eats the Soul (and was selected by Ozon for the retrospective). The common ground I see between the two films (which are stylistically very different) is the sense of loneliness.
Imitation of Life This is the first time I've seen a Douglas Sirk film and I can't say I'm a big fan of the melodrama genre. There's no doubt the film was well made, and it appeals to my sense of colour, but the narrative and lack of emotional realism leaves me cold. I'm not writing off the genre or Sirk, as I'm still exploring, and clearly there's something about the director's work that has inspired the likes of Ozon and Fassbinder, so he can't be all bad (can he?).
I was pretty pissed off that this film screened at ACMI from a DVD - the picture quality (ie pixellation) was terrible.
Dekalog: 2 Kieslowski's Dekalog was filmed around the one set of apartment blocks, which was depicted in the Cinémathèque screening of A Short Story About Love earlier in the year. A Short Story is actually a longer version of one of the episodes of Dekalog. Kieslowski is a master of moral conundrums and complexity where there is no black and white, but many shades of grey. Decisions must be made and, while there is no right or wrong, each decision will produce a vastly different outcome. What to do? This is Kieslowski's world, and I love it.
Dekalog: 2 is not as strong as some of Kieslowski's stories, but is still compelling viewing. The characters are all well-developed, ambiguous and mysterious. The film requires some patience to understand what is happening and what is to happen.
While watching this film (well, actually it was made for TV), I felt I could see some parallels with Alkinos Tsilimidos' work. I recently asked Tsilimidos if Kieslowski was an influence. While their styles and apparent world views are quite difference, they both started with documentary which appears to inform their fiction work, and they use bleak social realism in combination with high levels of stylistic devices. Contrary to my theory, Tsilimidos cited the Maysle brothers as an early inspiration to his work.
This Week in Review is not for this week, it's for last week. I started writing this post as usual, but circumstances prevented me from completing it. I usually post my weekly review on a Sunday evening, for everything I've seen from Monday to Sunday. Alas, it's now Saturday evening so I'm nearly a week late. C'est la vie.
The high point of this week was 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, which I intend seeing again before I post a review. I saw the first screening of a brand new print that had arrived the previous day. All I will say for now is it is excellent, social realist film-making that has much in common with the Dardenne brothers' L'enfant or even Tsilimidos' Em 4 Jay. It is a worthy winner of this year's Palme d'Or at Cannes that just has to be seen by serious cinephiles.
FILMS:
Sedmikrásky (Daisies, Vera Chytilová, Czechoslovakia, 1966)
Valerie a týden divů (Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, Jaromil Jires, Czechoslovakia, 1970)
A Nocturne (Bill Masoulis, Australia, 2007)
4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Cristian Mungiu, Romania, 2007)
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Sam Peckinpah, USA, 1973)
SHORT FILMS:
Otrantský zámek (Castle of Ostranto, Jan Svankmajer, Czechoslovakia, 1977)
Zánik domu Usheru (The Fall of the House of Usher, Jan Svankmajer, Czechoslovakia, 1981)
Kyvadlo, jáma a nadeje (The Pit, the Pendulum and Hope, Jan Svankmajer, Czechoslovakia, 1983)
Daisies I really like this unusual Czech New Wave film, though I know some of my fellow Melbourne Cinémathèque members thought less of it. It's experimental nature demonstrates some of the psychedelic devices of the period, and contextually I had no problems with it, though it has dated. It was banned by the Czechoslovakian authorities for a time, largely (if not entirely) out of ignorance. They feared the avant garde.
Daisies is about two young women (both named Marie), self-indulgent to the extreme. I call this type 'Princess Bitches' and was recently amused to find a book by Melbourne child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg about the same condition (and it's called The Princess Bitchface Syndrome). I have a daughter around this age who, it must be said, has caused much grief, and Daisies satirises the mayhem such girls can cause by pushing it to the max.
The film is an anti-war statement, a connection made clear at the start with imagery of destruction wrought by bombing. The director's intent is to show how obnoxious behaviour manifested on an individual level correlates to obnoxious behaviour on an international level. The two Maries plot to hoodwink older men to pay for their meals and other favours, in exchange for pleasure which is never delivered. What I find particularly fascinating is how such behaviour has proliferated especially in contemporary times.
The film comes to a climax when these two terrors discover an unattended banquet in a hall. There was a terrific long take capturing the carefree destruction by the girls. Once again, thanks to the Czech embassy, we had excellent prints on the night. Check out this site for more info, including links to Deputy Pruzinec's speech to the Czech National Assembly condemning Daisies and director Vera Chytilova's letter to President Gustav Husak, pleading to be allowed to resume work with film.
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders This was a fantasy/horror film, the least engaging of all the Czech season. It's a fairly camp vampire story which tries to tantalise with a little nudity and hints of incestuous relationships. While it has some beautiful imagery, the plot was fairly puerile.
Other than as a curio, the film did little for me. As it's been over a week since I saw it, I find I have nothing more to say about it, though Chris Hyde has written an interesting piece.
A Nocturne I struggled with this film, partly due to sleep-deprivation, partly due to the quality of the screening (at Toff of the Town, a non-cinema venue with a small poor quality screen) and partly due to the content. It's a vampire flick set in Melbourne, made by local film-maker Bill Masoulis. This was the opening night film for MUFF 2007, and as the festival finishes tonight, it will be the only film I got to see at the festival. It's just not humanly possible to fit everything in.
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid I'm not a big fan of the Western genre and consequently have had little exposure to Sam Peckinpah. Maybe it's the "over-abundance" of manliness (as it's referred to in Sunshine) that doesn't appeal. Or maybe it's the guns and violence. So this film, while it has some redeeming features (like James Coburn's depiction of Pat Garrett), this film also did little for me. The director assumes the audience has knowledge of the characters. It was only by reading about the film afterwards that I learnt what was the significance of the opening scene (repeated at the end).
Kris Kristofferson's role as Billy the Kid was reasonable but somewhat tame, and Bob Dylan's cameo was amusing, entertaining if not gratuitous. He provided the music to the film, which worked quite well. Like most westerns, the role of women was relegated to mostly window dressing. Perhaps that's another reasons why I don't generally like the genre - there's no balance of the real-life day-to-day, the drama of real people interacting.
I find it fascinating that the film depicts events that are scarcely more than a century ago - times that can surely be considered modern. Yet, the 'wild-west' nature of the times, with the proliferation of firearms and cavalier manner in which they were used (at least as depicted in the film) surely gives some hint as to why the US has so many problems connected to violence and firearms to this day.
Short Films by Jan Svankmajer I presume this name means something to those a bit more educated in Eastern European cinema than myself. I found each of these films of little interest and didn't engage me at all.
It's taken me a while to write on these films, but are my thoughts on them.
FILMS:
The Strawberry Blonde (Raoul Walsh, USA, 1941)
Waitress (Adrienne Shelley, USA, 2007)
Trust (Hal Hartley, USA, 1990)
Forbidden Lie$ (Anna Broinowski, Australia, 2007)
DVD:
Chacun son cinéma (Various, France, 2007)
The Strawberry Blonde I found this film an enjoyable enough experience, but unexceptional. And because of that, and the passage of time since seeing it, I find I now have little to say about it.
Waitress Adrienne Shelly's start as an actress was in two Hal Hartley films: The Unbelievable Truth (1989) and Trust (1990). As far as I can ascertain, these were the only Hartley features she appeared in, though she did also appear in Hartley's 8 minute short Opera No. 1 (1994).
Hartley's style must have had a seminal influence, because his touch is evident in Shelly's last film, Waitress. Unfortunately she died last year under unfortunate circumstances (she was murdered, to be a little more precise), which you can check out on Wikipedia.
Waitress is being marketed at the same people who watch Sex in the City or Desperate Housewives, which might put off some for whom this film will really appeal (it should appeal regardless of gender). This is a US indie gem, that will especially appeal to Hartley fans. It uses a similarly dry but whacky humour, intelligent dialogue and an unpredictable narrative arc. And like a Hartley film, there is a dramatic core that is emotionally moving because it is grounded in truth.
The film is beautifully shot, with food and its preparation a joyous visual sub-theme. The character development is excellent, and it was interesting to see Cheryl Hines post-Curb Your Enthusiasm. Centre stage is Keri Russell who plays Jenna, a waitress at the local diner, along-side co-workers Becky (Hines) and Dawn (Shelly). Jeremy Sisto authentically portrays Jenna's jealous husband Earl and Nathan Fillion plays her gynecologist. An aging Andy Griffith also had a small but effective role.
While Hartley's films often end tragically, Waitress is not quite so dismal, and the film's overall mood is more upbeat and lighter than Hartley's style. The film appeals to one's sentimentality, but that's not a complaint - rather that's part of its enjoyment. It is well-written with intelligent dialogue and story - well worth seeing.
Waitress premiered at ACMI and screened with Hal Hartley's Trust as part of an Adrienne Shelly double. Waitress has a theatrical release starting 25 October.
Photo: Cheryl Hines, Keri Russell and Adrienne Shelly
Trust I think one either loves or hates Hal Hartley's style. I fall into the former camp. I've now seen three of his films, the others being Amateur (1994) and Fay Grim (2006). Trust is an excellent companion piece to Waitress, and it fascinating to see a younger Adrienne Shelly convincingly portray a 17 year old (at 23 or 24 years of age). After seeing Amateur, it was also good to see Martin Donovan taking lead role in another Hartley film (a search of IMDB indicates Donovan in 7 Hartley films). Hartley uses him to very good effect, especially with his style of deadpan humour.
The parallel stories of Donovan's Matthew and Shelly's Maria alienation from their respective families must surely strike a cord with many disaffected youth, though hopefully not to many would emulate Matthew's carrying a hand-grenade. The character of Matthew's father reminded me of Ricky Fitts' father (played by Chris Cooper) in American Beauty. While the development of Matthew's and Maria's relationship is central to the film, their bond is unsurprisingly unconventional, yet grounded in a reality that resonates. One can connect with these guys. The inter-twining of various tangential stories (like a baby kidnapping) adds to a whacky other-worldly vibe that permeates the film and gives opening for the unexpected.
I haven't found any of the Hartley films I've seen earth-shattering or the top of any lists but they are immensely enjoyable. They are intelligent comedy/thriller/dramas that are definitely out of the square, interesting and keep ya' guessing. I like the way he creates characters that are down-and-out losers, puts them together, throws in some impossible coincidences and lets the narrative go wild. I'm surprised it took me so long to discover him.Trust is a dark but humorous film that is also very moving.
Photo: Martin Donovan and Adrienne Shelly
Forbidden Lie$ In examining a literary hoax - Norma Khouri's claims in her best-selling book, Forbidden Love, about honour killings in Jordan - this Forbidden Lie$ is a fascinating portrait of a liar. By this I mean not so much as getting into the mind of a liar as in recognising one. Shifting sands is an image seen periodically during the film and how relevant a metaphor that proves to be, as Norma Khouri is revealled not just as a liar, but a con-woman on the run from the FBI.
What a fascinating journey Anna Broinowski went on, a journey she could never have imagined when she set out to prove Norma Khouri was genuine. In fact, Broinowski's belief in Khouri is the reason the film ever got made (Khouri almost certainly would not have cooperated otherwise).
While it is clear to me that Khouri is a fake, I'm sure there will be some who will come away from watching this documentary still unsure. In isolation, any one statement made by her is convincing enough to fool the average person (or any person for that matter). What gets her ultimately is the fact that she has been captured on film. One completely plausible explanation of the truth has already been contradicted by previous explanations that were equally convincing. Oh, what a tangled web we weave...
This well-made documentary is very entertaining and compelling due to Broinowski's combination of various factors: first and foremost, an interesting and willing subject (though, not so willing as her fabrications crumbled), relevant and varied perspectives, its international scope, a narrative arc that unfolds like a thriller and the use of effective dramatic recreations (a la Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line).
I predict this film will win best Australian documentary awards do well in the US (where some of the story unfolds) and elsewhere. It is well worth a look.
Chacun son cinéma I've been watching this DVD over a period of time. It's the omnibus film to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Cannes film, made up from the contributions of some of the most respected names in cinema. What the heck, I'll list them here:
Theodoros Angelopoulos, Olivier Assayas, Bille August, Jane Campion, Youssef Chahine, Kaige Chen, Michael Cimino, Joel & Ethan Coen, David Cronenberg, Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Manoel de Oliveira, Raymond Depardon, Atom Egoyan, Amos Gitai, Hsiao-hsien Hou, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Wong Kar-Wai, Aki Kaurismäki, Abbas Kiarostami, Takeshi Kitano, Andrei Konchalovsky, Claude Lelouch, Ken Loach, Nanni Moretti, Roman Polanski, Raoul Ruiz, Walter Salles, Elia Suleiman, Ming-liang Tsai, Gus Van Sant, Lars von Trier, Wim Wenders & Zhang Yimou.
That's 33 short films, each three minutes long, and each one is the respective director's take on the importance of cinema. It's impossible to give a detailed analysis (like I did for Paris, je t'aime) without at least a second viewing. In short, I liked this compilation a lot. The results are inconsistent, as you'd expect with this type of project, but it was very moving to see the way in which each director was able to depict aspects of cinema that were important to him or herself.
Surprise local short opens the festival There was a surprise short documentary prior to the screening of the official opening night film, Sicko.Remember My Name is a subversive project that was conceived, written, produced and co-directed (with two others) by local film-maker Bowen (Bo) Duffy.I have met Bo several times with another of the film's participant's at a certain inner city cafe.
The film took much planning, six weeks of rehearsals by a team of thirty and resulted in taking over the Bourke St. Mall for all of four minutes one day last December.Without any official permission, a ute fully laiden with equipment set up opposite Myers, trams were prevented from entering the Mall at all costs and the participants – with no form of identification on their bodies – mingled into the shopping crowd.About ten others armed with video cameras posed as tourists, but whose actual aim was to document the about-to-unfold subversion.
I won’t spoil the surprise by revealling what took place.Much of the film’s twelve minutes contained interviews with participants talking elusively about what was to transpire, the significance of it and why they chose to be involved.There was a couple of characters whose ad lib dialogues were absolute gems.This was an excellent programming choice for opening the festival – it’s local, subversive, good fun to watch and complemented the official opening night film.Check it out when it has its only other MIFF screening on Tuesday 31 July at 7pm at Greater Union.
"A group of ordinary people, disaffected by the way things are, see a different way forward and put their bodies on the line for change."
With MIFF approaching, I've been preoccupied with planning for the big event. French classes have resumed (term 2), and I've got lots of homework. I'm also still a little fatigued from the Isabelle Huppert season at ACMI. Consequently, my only film-viewing this week has been the weekly Cinémathèque screenings and a kids' film today. Next week: MIFF starts.
FILMS:
The Bellboy (Jerry Lewis, 1960)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (David Yates, 2007)
SHORT FILMS:
The Frozen North (Buster Keaton, 15 min, 1922)
Sherlock Jr (Buster Keaton, 44 min, 1924)
The Bellboy Jerry Lewis, as his own man, free from the Dean Martin partnership and captain of his own ship, was brilliant. I always remembered him from my childhood as slapstick, zany and over-the-top. In The Bellboy, his directorial debut, he uses some of the same trademark zaniness but with such restraint and intelligent application that it seems like almost a different Jerry Lewis to the one I remember.
Lewis' loud zany voice used to grate, but in this film it is used to a minimum. In fact he hardly speaks throughout the film, perhaps alluding to the films of Jacques Tati or the greats of the silent era such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton (the film screened after a couple of Keaton shorts). The film directly references Stanley Laurel, with a Laurel impersonator making a cameo. One gag between Lewis (whose character's name is Stanley) and the other Stanley was particularly poignant, a highlight of a film that has no weak spots and is consistently funny and intelligent.
The film beautifully captures both overstatement and understatement in physical comedy. It blends in the absurd/surrealism, self-deprecation, self-parody, subtle critique of the cult of celebrity and more. All done with perfect timing, not just in delivery, but with such skill in knowing when to stop and always with the unexpected. Not a hint of profanity or puerile toilet humour (it has a G rating).
It seems no-one knew better how to utilise Lewis' talents than Lewis himself. This film is one of the best comedies I have seen, ever. Contemporary cinema is seriously denied good comedy, and this film really underscores that. I look forward to discovering more of this great comic genius.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix I think you pretty much know what you're getting with any Harry Potter movie, but I found this one a bit tired and not quite up to scratch. The cinematography wasn't overly appealling, the lighting was too dark, there's way too much dependency on CGI, the narrative wasn't very coherent (perhaps it assumes you've read the book, which I haven't), the children have lost their cutesy factor and the film just seemed too long. But my six year old son and three year old niece loved it. For me, it was passable entertainment, but nothing special.
Buster Keaton These films are a reminder that it doesn't take great technology to entertain the masses. That silent films can be more enjoyable than the vast majority of contemporary cinema, is a pretty sad indictment of how far we have (or haven't come). I don't feel particularly qualified to write about this from any historical perspective, but I did find them immensely enjoyable, intelligent, and funny. The gags were very clever and seemed quite innovative for the time.
Koreans are great with horror, when they get it right. Unfortunately, this isn't one of them. It looks great, but the story is a narrative mess and is way too long. A man crashes his car on an isolated road and is lead by a child through the forest where he is taken to a remote cottage. The film re-imagines the Hansel and Gretel tale, subverting expectations along the way. It starts out almost farcical and perhaps would have been better had it stayed that way. When the story becomes darker, its horror never quite convinces. The story is all over the place and I found it very unsatisfying. It's my least favourite film at MIFF yet.
I imagine there's a large festival demand for films like this one, but Double Take did nothing for me. Basically it's a visual essay with what I felt had very little to say and padded the film's very long 80 minutes much like a reality TV show - the way the same scene is repeated over and over again.
