By day, I work as a technical business analyst and I'm reasonably well-paid for analysing how to make repetitive processes as streamlined as possible in a business environment. It comes natural to me, then, when using the MIFF website or going through MIFF procedures to see what works well and what doesn't. Each year, I take a note of what I feel could be improved, and this forms the basis of a document that I send after each festival as feedback. I also provide comments that I think are working well. I used to be self-employed and appreciated both kinds of feedback.
I'm sure I wasn't the only one who complained about the repetitiveness of those bloody MIFF ads at each screening. Even worse was the one by Yalumba, who are returning this year as festival sponsors. Their ad is still running in cinemas and I hope to god we don't have to again hear that smug cunt telling us he knows what the fucking ending is... beware of the man in a hat. I felt like sticking a wine bottle up his fucking ...
Well, one of my suggestions last year was that if they're going to have ads, they run more than one for each sponsor. MIFF are this year rotating three "everyone's a critic" ads, and two of them previewed at the festival launch last night. One is a couple of astronauts in space discussing a film, being heard as their discussion is broadcast to mission control. Another is a couple of wrestlers fighting over their opinions.
OK, aside from the fact that this theme has been regurgitated from last year (there's a GFC after all, and everyone is cutting back), and ignoring some other arguments about the theme (the subject of another upcoming post), the problem I identified with these ads is they are both just way too long. You'll see what I mean when the festival starts. They're OK for the first time, but if you're going to see 20 films, that's roughly 7 times you'll see each ad. We're going to be sick of them by the second viewing. They need to be short and snappy. The wrestler one is full of yelling, and that is going to grate big time. And what to speak of if you're seeing 40, 60, 80 or more films (I'm aiming for a relatively modest 40).
You can check out all three trailers at the MIFF website. What do you think of them?
MIFF tickets go on sale on Friday, the same day that the program is distributed with The Age.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Monday, July 06, 2009
MIFF 2009 - more info
These films have Q&A sessions:
- $9.99
- 35 Shots of Rum
- Alphaville
- Anna
- Balibo
- Bastards, The
- Blessed
- Blind Company
- Bronson
- Cove, The
- Defamation
- Dogs in Space
- Education, An
- Indonesia Calling: Joris Ivens in Australia
- Loved Ones, The
- Mum & Dad
- Murch – Walter Murch on Editing
- My Asian Heart
- Perfect Life
- Prime Mover
- Shadow Play: The Making of Anton Corbijn
- Stolen
- Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls, The
- Unmade Beds
- Van Diemen's Land
- Victoria
- Waiting for Sancho
- We Live in Public
- We're Livin' on Dog Food
- Zift
- Accelerator 1
- Going Down
- Inglourious Basterds
- Intangible Asset #82
- My Magic
- Pierrot le fou
- Post-Punk Mixtape #1
- Post-Punk Mixtape #2
- Post-Punk Mixtape #3
- Post-Punk Mixtape #4
- Post-Punk Mixtape #5
- In Conversation with Anna Karina
- In Conversation with Claire Denis
- In Conversation with Nicolas Winding Refn
- In Conversation with Michael Nyman
- Anna Karina retrospective
- The End of Europe: New Balkan Cinema (Romania, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria)
- Young Blood (adult films that see the world from a child's or adolescent's perspective)
- Eros + Massacre (Japanese New Wave)
- Vengeance is Mine (retribution)
- States of Dissent (brave docos, many screened secretly, that reveal human rights issues)
- Arts and Minds (films about other arts: fashion, architecture, visual arts, photography, literature or music)
- The Primal Screen (docos about film-making)
- Animation
- Punk Becomes Pop: The Australian Post-Punk Underground
- Homegrown
- International Panorama
- Night Shift
- Neighbourhood Watch
- NextGen
- Docos
- Backbeat
- MIFF Shorts
- Inside Film's post of MIFF press release
- The Age article
MIFF 2009 List of Films
OK, the festival launch has happened and the attending members have the program. Here's the list of films at least 60 minutes long. Any recommendations for or against are greatly appreciated.
[Update]: titles in blue are receiving a post-festival release. See my separate post for details.
[Update 18/7/09]: removed from list Blank City, Looking For Eric and compilations of shorts
[Update]: titles in blue are receiving a post-festival release. See my separate post for details.
[Update 18/7/09]: removed from list Blank City, Looking For Eric and compilations of shorts
- $9.99
- 12 Lotus
- 35 Shots of Rum
- À l'aventure
- About Elly
- Action Boys
- Adela
- Ajami
- All About Actresses
- All Around Us
- All Tomorrow's Parties
- Alphaville
- Amos Oz – The Nature of Dreams
- Amreeka
- Anna
- Antichrist
- Art of Failure: Chuck Connelly Not For Sale, The
- Awaydays
- Balibo
- Bastards, The
- Beaches of Agnès, The
- Big River Man
- Black Dynamite
- Blank City - not available
- Blessed
- Blind Company
- Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
- Blood Appears
- Blue Beard
- Blue Film Woman
- Boris Ryzhy
- Bran Nue Dae
- Breathless
- Brendan & the Secret of Kells
- Bronson
- Buick Riviera
- Burma VJ
- Burning Down the House: The Story of CBGB
- Burrowers, The
- Celia the Queen
- Chaser, The
- Che Part 1 - the Argentine
- Che Part 2 - Guerilla
- Cheeky Girls
- Chinese Roulette
- Chocolate
- Citizen Havel
- Coraline
- Cove, The
- Dead Snow
- Deathbowl to Downtown
- Defamation
- Divorce Albanian Style
- Dogs in Space
- Dogtooth
- Double Take
- Draughtman's Contract, The
- Eastern Plays
- Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl
- Ecstacy of the Angels
- Eden is West
- Eden Lake
- Eden log
- Education, An
- Embodiment of Evil
- Empty Nest
- Endgame
- Englishman in New York, An
- Entrepreneur, The
- Eros Plus Massacre
- Everyone Else
- Examined Life
- Exploding Girl, The
- Film ist. a Girl & a Gun
- Filmphobia
- Fish Tank
- Flame & Citron
- Flicker
- Food, inc.
- Forward Motion
- Funeral Parade of Roses
- Girlfriend Experience, The
- Going Down
- Gushing Prayer: a 15 Year Old
- Hansel and Gretel
- Heidi Fleiss: The Would Be Madam of Crystal
- Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno
- Higher Force, The
- Home
- Home Movie
- Horrors of Malformed Men
- Humpday
- Hurt Locker, The
- I Need That Record!
- In the Loop
- Indonesia Calling: Joris Ivens in Australia
- Inglourious Basterds
- Intangible Asset #82
- It Came From Kuchar
- It Might Get Loud
- It's Not Me, I Swear!
- Jermal
- Journey With Peter Sellars, A
- Karamazovs, The
- Katalin Varga
- Kill Daddy Goodnight
- Kimjongilia
- King and the Bird, The
- Kisses
- Krabat
- Lake, A
- Land of Madness
- Land of Scarecrows
- Letter to a Child
- Letter to Anna
- Liberty of Norton Folgate, The
- Lights Camera Tracktion
- Like You Know It All
- Little Joe
- Living Together
- Looking for Eric - withdrawn by the director
- Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine
- Louise-Michel
- Love Exposure
- Loved Ones, The
- Maid, The
- Man Who Came With the Snow, The
- Maradona by Kusturica
- Martyrs
- Members of the Funeral
- Miao Miao
- Milk of Sorrow, The
- Misfortunates, The
- Mommo
- Moon
- Morphia
- Moss, The
- Mother
- Mum & Dad
- Murch – Walter Murch on Editing
- My Asian Heart
- My Magic
- My Neighbor, My Killer
- My Suicide
- Nak
- No One Knows About Persian Cats
- North
- Nun, The
- Nymph
- Oblivion
- Onoff: Mark Stewart From the Pop Group to the Maffia
- Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
- Our City Dreams
- Outrage
- Paper Soldier
- Pardon my French
- Perfect Life
- Petition: The Court of the Complainants
- Pierrot le fou
- Prime Mover
- Private Lives of Pippa Lee, The
- Prodigal Sons
- Promised Land: A Swamp Pop Journey, The
- Queen and I, The
- Red Army/PFLP: Declaration of War
- Red Riding: 1974
- Red Riding: 1980
- Red Riding: 1983
- Rem Koolhaas: A Kind of Architect
- Rough Aunties
- Sauna
- Schoolgirl's Diary, A
- Sell Out!
- September Issue, The
- Sergio
- Shadow Play: The Making of Anton Corbijn
- Silent Wedding
- Skirt Day
- Sky Crawlers, The
- Snow
- Still Walking
- Stolen
- Strange Luck of VS Naipaul, The
- Sweet Rush
- Tales from the Golden Age
- Tea with Madame Clos
- Tears for Sale
- Theater of War
- Thirst
- Thriller in Manila
- Tonight or Never
- Tony Manero
- Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls, The
- Tour, The
- Town Called Panic, A
- Treeless Mountain
- Troubled Water
- Two Lines
- Tyson
- United Red Army
- Unmade Beds
- Valentino: The Last Emperor
- Van Diemen's Land
- Varese, the One All Alone
- Victoria
- Villa Amalia
- Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman
- Waiting for Sancho
- We Live in Public
- Wedding Song, The
- We're Livin' on Dog Food
- White Lightnin'
- White Night Wedding
- White Ribbon, The
- Who's Afraid of the Wolf?
- Woman is a Woman, A
- Yakuza Eiga
- Yes Men Fix the World, The
- Young Freud in Gaza
- Yuri's Day
- Zift
The Week in Review - 5/7/09
Circumstances conspired to enable me to see more films than usual this week. First, there's been an abundance of films worth seeing: Melbourne Cinémathèque, of course, but also ACMI's Focus on Girls 24/7 and advance screenings that I didn't want to miss. Also, it's school holidays, which means I have a two-week break from my Alliance Française classes and on top of that, with conflict in the home, what better to avoid stress than sit in a dark cinema? Don't worry, it's a long story. A very long story.
FILMS:
I'm loathe to cricitice a film like this. It's like many I see that are well-made, technically proficient and yet do nothing for me. I'm simply not part of the more mainstream target audience that will revel in the drama, the period and the background to this iconic character. I don't find that her life is that interesting and that she never married is no great accomplishment.
Four Nights With Anna
This film does so well what I love about Eastern European cinema: it looks absolutely beautiful (in a decaying sort of way - check out my profile, urban decay is one of my interests) and its minimalist story-telling leaves one guessing. The film does have Hitchcockian elements and you feel that the director is messing with your expectations. This is my first experience of Skolimowski, so I'm interested to see the other Cinémathèque screenings to get a sense of what he's about.
Deep End
Having discussed this elsewhere, I don't really feel like regurgitating much of this. I liked it, it's historically fascinating, a kind of document of its time. As I was discussing with someone last night, it seemed to do for 1970s London (by a Pole) what Wake in Fright did for outback Australia (by a Canadian). Both films seem very frank and truthful analyses of their respective settings by so-called outsiders.
Winged Creatures
I don't care what Rowan Woods produces; anyone that can make a The Boys has won my respect. For me, the uncompromising brilliance and edge-of-your-seat suburban terror of that film indicates unusual talent. I took the opportunity of telling him after the Q&A that The Boys is a film that he can probably never equal. I know a director is focused on the current and upcoming projects, but the truth has to be said.
It can be easy to fault Winged Creatures and Matt Ravier has done an excellent job of pointing them out, though I don't feel the faults are as fatal as he. During the Q&A, Woods seemed to acknowledge some of the flaws himself, and knew that an ensemble film is inherently difficult.
As much as I would love Rowan Woods to make films like The Boys, I suppose every director wants his or her films to be seen, to make money and to make work for future work. Maybe Woods doesn't see a future in uncompromising bleak social dramas. So what we have now are compromised bleak social dramas.
Winged Creatures is a more ambitious project than his previous endeavour, Little Fish. First, it was made in Los Angeles with a fairly high-profile cast that includes Forest Whitaker, Kate Beckinsale, Dakota Fanning, Jackie Earle Haley, Jennifer Hudson, Guy Pearce, Jeanne Tripplehorn and others. It's visually a nicer film to look at and the themes are also more interesting. So, I feel it's an improvement on Little Fish.
The film is clearly looking for an audience, and compromises have been made to succeed in that direction. As Matt Ravier points out, there is little subtlety and little is left to chance that the audience won't understand the narrative each step of the way. It makes the film accessible to a wider audience but, as with Coco avant Chanel, this is not what I look for in cinema.
I liked the themes the film explores. Various survivors of a random shooting in a diner try to come to terms with their trauma, each in their own way. Dakota is chilling as a born-again Christian and her final transformation is very moving. But her initial transformation is just too over-the-top. I was surprised how gripping the film starts out. Unfortunately, the ensemble structure diffuses the opening dynamics and the film gradually loses momentum.
Cleo From 5 to 7
I found this rivetting. At first, it seemed to have the frivolity (sans the experimental nature) of Daisies, also screening as part of the ACMI Focus on Girls 24/7 and which I saw at Melbourne Cinémathèque a year or two ago as part of the Czech New Wave program. Clèo is a young female singer with a sort of princess bitch syndrome a la Daisies. As she wanders the streets of Paris, with concerns other than the latest hat or shoes (she may have cancer), the film takes on an element that strongly recalles Louis Malle's Le feu follet. Like Malle's film, the protagonist's journey takes us on a walking tour of the back-streets of Paris, but without anywhere near the level of bleakness of Le feu follet's Alain Leroy. Interestingly, these films were made about a year apart (Clèo was made first).
The 5 to 7 refers to two hours in an evening of Clèo's life, depicted in real-time, as she worries about her hospital test results, interacting with various people.
Jeanne Dielman
Is this the film that inspired Van Sant's Gerry? Two very different films, different scenarios and aesthetics, yet strangely parallel. Sure, one is set in mountain and desert regions as two Gerrys try to find their way; the other about a widow/housewife/mother-cum-prostitute who is trying to find her way.
This film is an amazing and confident accomplishment for the young Akerman (she was 25 when this was made). Like Gerry, it demands much of an audience. You must submit to it, to its pace, to its rhythm. You have to get into another mode of experiencing cinema. In Akerman's film, the camera is static virtually the whole time, and the subject is banal beyond belief. We view Jeanne as she cooks, cleans, tidies and receives clients. Takes are long, no detail is left unseen. The story takes place over three days, and each day seems superficially much like the previous.
Yet there's change we can't help noticing. We are not privy to Jeanne's inside world, which is clearly conflicted, but we can deduce this by the slight ripples in her daily rituals. She has decent middle-class standards and yet a pragmatic need to survive financially, which she achieves through prostitution. This film rewards the patient and I was surprised to see only one walk-out during its 200 minute run-time.
Balibo
This is the film that opens MIFF in a couple of week's time and I was lucky to attend a media preview, introduced by the director. I was thinking it was the closing film and I mentioned to someone that it would make a good opening night film, which of course it is - silly me! The buzz coming out of the screening was palpable, with some saying it's not just another good Australian film, but one of the best films of the year. Refer to my comments about Chanel.
I like the film, in fact parts of the film I like a lot. Firstly, Australian films rarely touch political issues, but this is one political issue - a tumour in the nation's psyche - that has festered for way too long and needs to come out into the open. In a sense, the film confirms that which we always knew, or at least suspected. It demands questions, but doesn't necessarily ask them, if you get my drift. It leads us to water but doesn't make us drink, trusting an audience to understand the issues, without ramming them down our throats.
The performances are generally good, especially Oscar Isaac as a young and charismatic José Ramos-Horta (now the president of East Timor). The film has a couple of problems, the main one being coherency. There are different narrative threads, taking place in different time frames and the film's effectiveness is, as I mentioned with Winged Creatures, diffused by the parallel handling of the threads. Despite this, the film manages to rise above the flaws, and present what feels not just worthy, but important. It involves us in events that are historic and relevant, in an authentic way. The film is particularly effective in its bringing the story to a climax; it's very moving without cheap sentimentality.
For a more positive and extensive response to the film, check out Matt Ravier's review.
Wanda
What a remarkable piece of film-making - they don't make 'em like this any more! With grainy 16mm film and an aesthetic that strongly recalls Cassavetes, we just don't see enough of films like this. Barbara Loden directed and played the main role, a raw depiction of a woman with not a lot going for her. Divorced as an irresponsible mother with no regard for her children, she takes up with a thief and finds her situation going into downward spiral. The revelation of characters, in particular the thief, is both clever and funny. There is a truthfulness to the depictions that is chilling and awesome.
FILMS:
- Coco avant Chanel (Anne Fontaine, France, 2009)
- Cztery noce z Anna (Four Nights With Anna, Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland/France, 2008)
- Deep End (Jerzy Skolimowski, UK/West Germany, 1971)
- Winged Creatures + Q&A (Rowan Woods, USA, 2008)
- Cléo de 5 à 7 (Cleo From 5 to 7, Agnès Varda, France/Italy, 1962)
- Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Jeanne Dielman, Chantal Akerman, Belgium/France, 1975)
- Balibo (Robert Connolly, Australia, 2009)
- Wanda (Barbara Loden, Barbara Loden, USA, 1970)
I'm loathe to cricitice a film like this. It's like many I see that are well-made, technically proficient and yet do nothing for me. I'm simply not part of the more mainstream target audience that will revel in the drama, the period and the background to this iconic character. I don't find that her life is that interesting and that she never married is no great accomplishment.
Four Nights With Anna
This film does so well what I love about Eastern European cinema: it looks absolutely beautiful (in a decaying sort of way - check out my profile, urban decay is one of my interests) and its minimalist story-telling leaves one guessing. The film does have Hitchcockian elements and you feel that the director is messing with your expectations. This is my first experience of Skolimowski, so I'm interested to see the other Cinémathèque screenings to get a sense of what he's about.
Deep End
Having discussed this elsewhere, I don't really feel like regurgitating much of this. I liked it, it's historically fascinating, a kind of document of its time. As I was discussing with someone last night, it seemed to do for 1970s London (by a Pole) what Wake in Fright did for outback Australia (by a Canadian). Both films seem very frank and truthful analyses of their respective settings by so-called outsiders.
Winged Creatures
I don't care what Rowan Woods produces; anyone that can make a The Boys has won my respect. For me, the uncompromising brilliance and edge-of-your-seat suburban terror of that film indicates unusual talent. I took the opportunity of telling him after the Q&A that The Boys is a film that he can probably never equal. I know a director is focused on the current and upcoming projects, but the truth has to be said.
It can be easy to fault Winged Creatures and Matt Ravier has done an excellent job of pointing them out, though I don't feel the faults are as fatal as he. During the Q&A, Woods seemed to acknowledge some of the flaws himself, and knew that an ensemble film is inherently difficult.
As much as I would love Rowan Woods to make films like The Boys, I suppose every director wants his or her films to be seen, to make money and to make work for future work. Maybe Woods doesn't see a future in uncompromising bleak social dramas. So what we have now are compromised bleak social dramas.
Winged Creatures is a more ambitious project than his previous endeavour, Little Fish. First, it was made in Los Angeles with a fairly high-profile cast that includes Forest Whitaker, Kate Beckinsale, Dakota Fanning, Jackie Earle Haley, Jennifer Hudson, Guy Pearce, Jeanne Tripplehorn and others. It's visually a nicer film to look at and the themes are also more interesting. So, I feel it's an improvement on Little Fish.
The film is clearly looking for an audience, and compromises have been made to succeed in that direction. As Matt Ravier points out, there is little subtlety and little is left to chance that the audience won't understand the narrative each step of the way. It makes the film accessible to a wider audience but, as with Coco avant Chanel, this is not what I look for in cinema.
I liked the themes the film explores. Various survivors of a random shooting in a diner try to come to terms with their trauma, each in their own way. Dakota is chilling as a born-again Christian and her final transformation is very moving. But her initial transformation is just too over-the-top. I was surprised how gripping the film starts out. Unfortunately, the ensemble structure diffuses the opening dynamics and the film gradually loses momentum.
Cleo From 5 to 7
I found this rivetting. At first, it seemed to have the frivolity (sans the experimental nature) of Daisies, also screening as part of the ACMI Focus on Girls 24/7 and which I saw at Melbourne Cinémathèque a year or two ago as part of the Czech New Wave program. Clèo is a young female singer with a sort of princess bitch syndrome a la Daisies. As she wanders the streets of Paris, with concerns other than the latest hat or shoes (she may have cancer), the film takes on an element that strongly recalles Louis Malle's Le feu follet. Like Malle's film, the protagonist's journey takes us on a walking tour of the back-streets of Paris, but without anywhere near the level of bleakness of Le feu follet's Alain Leroy. Interestingly, these films were made about a year apart (Clèo was made first).
The 5 to 7 refers to two hours in an evening of Clèo's life, depicted in real-time, as she worries about her hospital test results, interacting with various people.
Jeanne Dielman
Is this the film that inspired Van Sant's Gerry? Two very different films, different scenarios and aesthetics, yet strangely parallel. Sure, one is set in mountain and desert regions as two Gerrys try to find their way; the other about a widow/housewife/mother-cum-prostitute who is trying to find her way.
This film is an amazing and confident accomplishment for the young Akerman (she was 25 when this was made). Like Gerry, it demands much of an audience. You must submit to it, to its pace, to its rhythm. You have to get into another mode of experiencing cinema. In Akerman's film, the camera is static virtually the whole time, and the subject is banal beyond belief. We view Jeanne as she cooks, cleans, tidies and receives clients. Takes are long, no detail is left unseen. The story takes place over three days, and each day seems superficially much like the previous.
Yet there's change we can't help noticing. We are not privy to Jeanne's inside world, which is clearly conflicted, but we can deduce this by the slight ripples in her daily rituals. She has decent middle-class standards and yet a pragmatic need to survive financially, which she achieves through prostitution. This film rewards the patient and I was surprised to see only one walk-out during its 200 minute run-time.
Balibo
This is the film that opens MIFF in a couple of week's time and I was lucky to attend a media preview, introduced by the director. I was thinking it was the closing film and I mentioned to someone that it would make a good opening night film, which of course it is - silly me! The buzz coming out of the screening was palpable, with some saying it's not just another good Australian film, but one of the best films of the year. Refer to my comments about Chanel.
I like the film, in fact parts of the film I like a lot. Firstly, Australian films rarely touch political issues, but this is one political issue - a tumour in the nation's psyche - that has festered for way too long and needs to come out into the open. In a sense, the film confirms that which we always knew, or at least suspected. It demands questions, but doesn't necessarily ask them, if you get my drift. It leads us to water but doesn't make us drink, trusting an audience to understand the issues, without ramming them down our throats.
The performances are generally good, especially Oscar Isaac as a young and charismatic José Ramos-Horta (now the president of East Timor). The film has a couple of problems, the main one being coherency. There are different narrative threads, taking place in different time frames and the film's effectiveness is, as I mentioned with Winged Creatures, diffused by the parallel handling of the threads. Despite this, the film manages to rise above the flaws, and present what feels not just worthy, but important. It involves us in events that are historic and relevant, in an authentic way. The film is particularly effective in its bringing the story to a climax; it's very moving without cheap sentimentality.
For a more positive and extensive response to the film, check out Matt Ravier's review.
Wanda
What a remarkable piece of film-making - they don't make 'em like this any more! With grainy 16mm film and an aesthetic that strongly recalls Cassavetes, we just don't see enough of films like this. Barbara Loden directed and played the main role, a raw depiction of a woman with not a lot going for her. Divorced as an irresponsible mother with no regard for her children, she takes up with a thief and finds her situation going into downward spiral. The revelation of characters, in particular the thief, is both clever and funny. There is a truthfulness to the depictions that is chilling and awesome.
Friday, July 03, 2009
Begging more or more begging
I was sitting in Centre Place having lunch with my good friend Matthew and was approached by another beggar. I detect my mind making judgements:
So, Matthew had declined the offer to help out this person, and I make no judgements of him one way or the other. Begging is an uncomfortable situation to find oneself in. On the one hand we don't want to be part of someone's problem (and money to purchase substances that may be abused aren't really helping anyone). On the other, we have some degree of compassion and it pains us to see others suffering. What to do?
Once again, I engaged this person. Leanne is her name. I asked her what she wants money for and she said for food. With whatever sincerity I could convey, I said that many people feel uncomfortable giving money, but that I'd be happy to pay for a meal. I suggested she order a meal and tell the cafe person I'd pay for it (they know me). Well, this is the first time someone's taken me up on the offer. Leanne looked all excited and appreciative. I must say that my way of dealing with Leanne was a slightly modified version, which I developed as a result of the discussion from my last post. Leanne actually said she'd really just appreciate a coffee.
A couple of guys were sitting adjacent to Matthew and I (FWIW, we were at the front of "5", a tiny little cafe). They complimented me on my attitude and one of them ended up pulling out the coins for the coffee.
Coincidentally, I was at the Nova cinema in Lygon St. Carlton that night seeing the preview screening of Winged Creatures with a Q&A with Rowan Woods. As I was leaving the cinema, who should approach me but out Leanne asking for some money. I said "Hi, Leanne" and she was surprised. "How did you know my name?" she asked. Now, I was wearing a suit and tie earlier in the day and at this time I was in my motorcycle gear. "I gave you some money for a coffee in Centre Place at lunch-time", I said and a light of recognition flashed across her face. Some other people walked by, she left me and approached them, and I left to go home. Make of that what you will.
Scrawny, aboriginal woman, maybe 40 or so. Substance abuser, homeless, maybe some mental illness, maybe associated with the substance abuse.Now, I posted about on this topic recently, which roused a little response. I discussed the thinking behind my usual responses to beggars. Some suggested theirs and I was also criticised for my "naive, middle class and condescending" attitude. Now, I thought the latter comment was quite disingenuous, but nonethess I gave it some thought. I reckon I give a shit a lot more than the average naive, middle-class, condescending person and I do - despite my faults and limitations - give a shit. Did I mention that I give a shit?
So, Matthew had declined the offer to help out this person, and I make no judgements of him one way or the other. Begging is an uncomfortable situation to find oneself in. On the one hand we don't want to be part of someone's problem (and money to purchase substances that may be abused aren't really helping anyone). On the other, we have some degree of compassion and it pains us to see others suffering. What to do?
Once again, I engaged this person. Leanne is her name. I asked her what she wants money for and she said for food. With whatever sincerity I could convey, I said that many people feel uncomfortable giving money, but that I'd be happy to pay for a meal. I suggested she order a meal and tell the cafe person I'd pay for it (they know me). Well, this is the first time someone's taken me up on the offer. Leanne looked all excited and appreciative. I must say that my way of dealing with Leanne was a slightly modified version, which I developed as a result of the discussion from my last post. Leanne actually said she'd really just appreciate a coffee.
A couple of guys were sitting adjacent to Matthew and I (FWIW, we were at the front of "5", a tiny little cafe). They complimented me on my attitude and one of them ended up pulling out the coins for the coffee.
Coincidentally, I was at the Nova cinema in Lygon St. Carlton that night seeing the preview screening of Winged Creatures with a Q&A with Rowan Woods. As I was leaving the cinema, who should approach me but out Leanne asking for some money. I said "Hi, Leanne" and she was surprised. "How did you know my name?" she asked. Now, I was wearing a suit and tie earlier in the day and at this time I was in my motorcycle gear. "I gave you some money for a coffee in Centre Place at lunch-time", I said and a light of recognition flashed across her face. Some other people walked by, she left me and approached them, and I left to go home. Make of that what you will.
More MIFF drip-feed
Being a/the major sponsor of MIFF must give The Age some scoop-rights. Today the Melbourne broadsheet has published some info not yet on the MIFF website, nor emailed out in the festival's Widescreen e-newsletter. Apparently, we're to be treated to some Melbourne punk from the 1970s and 1980s with a retrospective called Punk Becomes Pop: the Australian Post-Punk Underground. According to the article in today's paper, the retrospective:
I have no familiarity whatsover with the Melbourne punk scene. In 1979 I left my home-town for Adelaide which was my base for the following seven years. And during that time, though I travelled widely throughout South and Western Australia, I pretty much lived in a social and cultural time-warp. Do any readers have any opinions about this retrospective? Are these likely to be hidden gems? Trash or treaure?
The full MIFF program will be in The Age on Friday 10 July. As a MIFF member, I'll be getting mine from the program launch on Monday 6 July, so expect some posts announcing some highlights that Monday and Tuesday.
will feature films, video clips, live concerts and lost Super-8 footage of bands such as the Boys Next Door, Primitive Calculators, the Models, Essendon Airport, Plays With Marionettes and Crime & the City Solution.I haven't been around MIFF for long enough to know if this is a new direction for the festival. For the last couple of years at least, retrospectives have focused on directors rather than themes or actors (MIFF's other previously-announced retro is on Anna Karina). It seems MIFF might be taking a leaf out of ACMI's and Melbourne Cinémathèque's books, who have been doing this for some time.Highlights include a digitally restored version of Richard Lowenstein's post-punk classic Dogs in Space, featuring Michael Hutchence in a role based on Sam Sejavka from the band the Ears, fashion designer Alannah Hill and actor Noah Taylor; Lowenstein's documentary on the making of the film, Living on Dog Food; Haydn Keenan's Going Down, which has been described as "Sex and the City for the post-punk set"; and Punkline, about fabled St Kilda venue the Crystal Ballroom.
I have no familiarity whatsover with the Melbourne punk scene. In 1979 I left my home-town for Adelaide which was my base for the following seven years. And during that time, though I travelled widely throughout South and Western Australia, I pretty much lived in a social and cultural time-warp. Do any readers have any opinions about this retrospective? Are these likely to be hidden gems? Trash or treaure?
The full MIFF program will be in The Age on Friday 10 July. As a MIFF member, I'll be getting mine from the program launch on Monday 6 July, so expect some posts announcing some highlights that Monday and Tuesday.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
MIFF program is on the way
Not so far from the MIFF offices (and my own), I was sitting at lunch in a city cafe this afternoon when MIFF director Richard Moore by chance sat next to me. I said hi and I asked if he had any scoops I could post on my blog. He said he has the whole MIFF program in his hands, which he could show me, but would then have to kill me. So I pushed it and asked if I could, but that was met with a definite no. D'oh! (I didn't resort to pretty-please, but I'm sure it would have been to no avail).
I'll have to wait another five days for the official festival launch, at which attending MIFF members will receive an advance copy of the program, four days ahead of its publication in The Age.
So, I continued reading the Senses of Cinema article about Jerzy Skolimowski, ahead of tonight's opening of a three week season of his films at Melbourne Cinematheque.
This year marks my third in which I'm taking two weeks off work to attend MIFF pretty much full-time. Like the previous two years, I plan to see around 40 films, an average of 2-3 per day. I know some people cram 80 or more films into the 17 days, but that's not my thing. I struggle to limit the number to 40; there's certainly more than that that I'd like to see. It's always a juggle of times, sacrificing of one film over another and so forth. I'll be posting more about the program after I have one of the suckers in my hot little hands.
I'll have to wait another five days for the official festival launch, at which attending MIFF members will receive an advance copy of the program, four days ahead of its publication in The Age.
So, I continued reading the Senses of Cinema article about Jerzy Skolimowski, ahead of tonight's opening of a three week season of his films at Melbourne Cinematheque.
This year marks my third in which I'm taking two weeks off work to attend MIFF pretty much full-time. Like the previous two years, I plan to see around 40 films, an average of 2-3 per day. I know some people cram 80 or more films into the 17 days, but that's not my thing. I struggle to limit the number to 40; there's certainly more than that that I'd like to see. It's always a juggle of times, sacrificing of one film over another and so forth. I'll be posting more about the program after I have one of the suckers in my hot little hands.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
The Week in Review - 28/6/09
FILMS:
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.
- En construcción (Work in Progress, José Luis Guerín, Spain, 2001)
- Innisfree (José Luis Guerín, Spain, 1990)
- Bastardy +Q&A (Amiel Courtin-Wilson, Australia, 2008)
- Le renard et l'enfant (The Fox and the Child, Luc Jacquet, France, 2007)
- T is for Teacher (Rohan Spong, Australia/USA, 2009)
- 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.
Skolimowski at Cinémathèque
Poetry, Paradox, Politics: The Film of Jerzy Skolimowski
Screening at ACMI, July 1 - 15
The Melbourne Cinémathèque is proud to present, in association with The Consulate General of the Republic of Poland, & the Australian Institute of Polish Affairs, a season of films from one of Poland’s greatest living directors, Jerzy Skolimowski.
Commencing July 1, this season of specially imported 35mm prints provides a provocative sample of Skolimowski’s politically explosive filmmaking trajectory. Skolimowski, who is also a screenwriter, actor and poet, was an accomplished writer by his early twenties. His love of jazz added another dimension to his restless filmmaking style, particularly his penchant for improvisation, and brought him into contact with composer Krzysztof Komeda. Skolimowski has also collaborated with filmmakers of the “Polish School” including Andrej Wajda and Roman Polanski.
Long and tangled threads of irony, absurdity, poetry and fantasy link the deeply political work of Skolimowski, a director whose career spans five decades and who made films in several countries. This season includes his semi-autobiographical Andrej Leszczyc trilogy [Identification Marks: None (Ryopsis) (1964), Walkover (1965) and Skolimowski’s favourite of his own work, Hands Up! (1967/1981)], his stylistically inventive Barrier (1966), key works of his non-Polish career [Deep End (1971), Moonlighting (1982)], as well as the Melbourne premiere of Four Nights With Anna (2008), his return to filmmaking after a 16-year hiatus. Screening as follows:
Wednesday July 1Wednesday July 8
- 7.00pm Four Nights with Anna (2008)
- 8.40pm Skolimowski early shorts: Oko wykol (The Menacing Eye, 2", 1960), ErotykErotique, 3", 1960), Hamles (Little Hamlet, 9", 1960), Pieniadze albo zycie (Your Money or Your Life, 5", 1961)
- 9.00pm Deep End (1971)
Wednesday July 15
- 7.00pm Identification Marks: None (Ryopsis, 1964)
- 8.25pm Walkover (1965)
- 9.55pm Barrier (1966)
- 7.00pm Moonlighting (1982)
- 8.50pm Hand
- s Up! (1967/1981)
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