Blind Company session 'selling fast'

For me, the most anticipated film of MIFF 2009 is Alkinos Tsilimidos' Blind Company. My regular update of the selling out sessions reveals it's 'selling fast' and it only has the one screening. The film stars Colin Friels and Nick Barkla, is set in Tasmania and will be followed by a Q&A. I just secured my tickets and if you're thinking about it yourself, get in quick before they're all gone.

For what it's worth, Tsilimidos' previous films include Tom White, Em 4 Jay (my equal favourite Australian film - the other being The Boys) and Everynight, Everynight... In my opinion, this man makes films that deserve to screen at Cannes with the best of them.

[Update]: poster added: doesn't it look great?

[Update 15/7/09]: As expected, the session has now sold out.

[Update 19/7/09]: This title is now listed as 'selling fast', so tickets are still available.

Tsilimidos' Latest Film

Alkinos Tsilimidos' latest film, Blind Company, is due to premiere at this year's MIFF. Shot entirely on the east coast of Tasmania last October, the film stars Colin Friels (Tom White), Nick Barkla (Em 4 Jay) and Gloria Ajenstat (Tom White). Written and directed by Tsilimidos, it's his first film not using cinematographer Toby Oliver, using Adam Arkapaw instead, who filmed the very fine and well-received looking short, Jerrycan (2008).

The premise:

Geoff Brewster is seeing out his final days at the family's isolated coastal shack - walking the beach and leaving tape-recorded confessions for his estranged wife, Sally. But when his Porsche driving nephew, Josh, arrives unannounced, a deadly game ensues that threatens to destroy both men.

In my opinion, Tsilimidos is Australia's finest director whose work is on a par with the best of the European independents. Like Catherine Breillat or the Dardenne brothers, his films are serious dramas that grapple with social issues. Cinema is, at its best, an art form that challenges an audience and their prejudices, and this is true of a Tsilimidos film.

Alkinos Tsilimidos and Colin Friels on location for Blind Company.

Tom White

Tom White (Alkinos Tsilimidos, Australia, 2004)
My first encounter with the name Alkinos Tsilimidos was in 2004 when I saw Tom White. I had unfortunately missed the theatrical release, but caught it later at an AFI screening. This was the year that Somersault and Tom White were the only films in serious contention for AFI awards. Somersault walked away with fifteen and Tom White none. While the cinematography in Somersault was nice, Toby Oliver's cinematography in Tom White was considerably better, and on every other account that I can think of, Tom White was a vastly superior film (1).

Daniel Keene's writing collaborations with Tsilimidos produce compelling stories that cry out in a way that we are able to appreciate the humanity of those around us that we normally give no thought to. With Everynight... Everynight the protagonist is a criminal, with Em 4 Jay they are junkies, and in Tom White it is the homeless. Tsilimidos is a master of inspired casting and hit gold with Colin Friels' gut-wrenching performance as the title character. Tom White's descent from comfortable suburban middle-class to homelessness via a crisis of identity and a mental health breakdown is captured with a feeling of "that could be me". And it could. That's what makes this film so important.

I've read complaints about the film: "the stories are too episodic", "there's not enough the wife's story", "the ending is too ambiguous" and so on. These miss the point. This is Tom's story. This is life as he sees it. The episodic nature is a reflection of the volatility in his life, and of his lack of ability to commit to a given situation: he moves on when emotionally it's too much to handle. The narrative follows a true sense of reality rather than what we as a comfortable audience may wish to see. The glimpses of Tom's family are mere reference points to compare Tom's life, a sort of before and after, in much the same way that the glimpses of Em's sister Janey in Em 4 Jay enabled us to see how far she had descended into addiction.

Tsilimidos' films may be viewed as gritty social realism, but there is a stylised aesthetic he uses that differentiates him from film-makers like say, Ken Loach, Mike Leigh or the Dardenne brothers. Melbourne is used as a unique and clearly recognisable backdrop without resorting to stereotypical postcard shots (like The Jammed did, for example). While the characters and their situations may be bleak, the visuals combine beautifully with the music to create an uplifting type of visual poetry. Paul Kelly's music is a common element in his films (2), and there's something about Kelly's mournful laments of the everyman that stir up emotions without the film becoming overtly manipulative.

The blend of characters keeps the film interesting and for me recalls a very different film, David Lynch's The Straight Story, in which the protagonist meets one character, engages in some curious but understated dialogue before moving on and meeting yet another character. While Friels is centre-stage for most of the film, the impressive cast is considerably larger than other Tsilimidos films and includes Rachel Blake, Loene Carmen, David Field, Bill Hunter (in perhaps one of his finest roles), Dan Spielman and Jarryd Jinks.

A couple of interesting details regarding Tom's job: Alkinos Tsilimidos started studying as an architect after high school but changed courses after a couple of years (3). Laura Gordon and Nick Barkla, the title characters in Em 4 Jay, both have small roles in Tom White. In an early scene, Gordon can be seen approaching Tom's desk as he is retrieving some pencils he has dropped while Barkla plays the architect that Tom belts with some architectural plans at 'Clearwater Springs'.

Permeating the film is Tom's self-questioning in his search for identity: "Who am I?", "am I the man that was over there a minute ago?" and "this face is me". I found this heart-achingly rendered by Friels and the dialogue was effective, believable and at times funny. Anyone who has experienced pain in life should be able to relate to Tom's anguish. It reminds me of personal crises of my own, such as the breakdown of my marriage many years ago. I found it particularly traumatic at the time, and I have strong recollections of staring at myself in the mirror and not fully recognising the person I was seeing. The film has an uncanny ability to tap into the concerns, indeed the very real and darkest fears of real everyday people. It brought tears to my eyes more than once.

I found the ending particularly moving, plausible and uplifting not just in spite of its ambiguity, but also because of it. We see Tom still haggard with long hair but neat, clean, with trimmed beard and apparently in a safe place. Will he reconcile with his wife? Will he receive treatment for his mental state? We'll never know, but like reality, there's no "and they lived happily ever after" ending. As we fade to black, I once again find myself sitting quietly in my seat, moved and ruminating about the experience. I love this type of cinema and I hope Alkinos Tsilimidos keeps making honest and touching films like this.

NOTES:
(1) Tom White did receive considerable accolades: At the Film Critics Circle awards, Daniel Keene won for best original screenplay, Colin Friels won for best actor, Dan Spielman won for best supporting actor and Ken Sallows won for best editing. Toby Oliver won both the Golden Tripod and the NSW awards for best cinematography and Friels also won the IF award for best actor.
(2) Em 4 Jay features the music of The Black Keys, though Jay (Nick Barkla) sings a couple of lines of a Paul Kelly song, from memory it was Before Too Long.
(3) Alkinos left university to care for a dying friend and classmate, who he acknowledges in the final credits of his first film, Everynight... Everynight. Maybe Tom's role is semi-autobiographical, as I've read an interview where Tsilimidos considers Tom's predicament something he could find himself in.

The Week in Review

[Update: I've added a review for Die Hard 4.0, which I've just seen as part of a family outing]

While I had a quiet week with film viewings, I did get to interview Alkinos Tsilimidos, my favourite Australian film-maker on the weekend. This was something I alluded to in my overview of 2006, but have been keeping quietly to myself. I'd been wondering whether I would ever find the time to carry through with it. Now I have the ball rolling.

I am trying to work out how to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking, to automate some of the transcribing. I didn't get to record the entirety of the interview due to teething problems with my new digital voice recorder (my fault, not the technology). I'm hoping to have another meeting with Alkinos soon, to continue the discussion we started. The subject I'm covering with him relates to his work but ultimately is bigger than him and bigger than Melbourne Film Blog. I'm hoping to write an article for Senses of Cinema in relation to his films and the type of film-making that constitutes. My inspiration has been Michael Guillen, with his many interviews at The Evening Class. More later.

FILMS:

• Dr. Plonk (Rolf de Heer, Australia, 2006)
• Sunset Blvd. (Billy Wilder, USA, 1950)
• Die Hard 4.0 (Live Free or Die Hard, Len Wiseman, USA, 2007)
  

OTHER:

• Poets Against the War (The Age Melbourne Writer's Festival, Beckett Theatre, CUB Malthouse)

Sunset Blvd.
Sharp dialogue, clever self- and cross-references, various cameos and a knowing cynicism of Hollywood celebrity mark this classic film that I finally got to see for the first time at Melbourne Cinémathèque. While the film is widely known, I'm told the print we viewed is the only one in Australia, from the National Film and Sound Archives. This is only the second Wilder film I have seen, the other being Irma La Douce, which was nowhere near as gripping and intelligent as this. Great stuff!

Die Hard 4.0
One expects the latest installment of a franchise like Die Hard to be derivative, predictable and unbelievable, so there's no point seeing it without cutting it some slack. Despite some aspects that bothered me, Die Hard 4.0 initially surprised me how engaging and suspenseful it is. Well, at least for the first third of the film. Then, oh dear, there was much to cringe at.

I will say here, though, that in spite of the many, many flaws that unfolded, if you like the earlier Die Hard films, as I do, you're sure to like this. I just think it's a pity there wasn't a bit more thought to make this a more satisfying experience.

So let me mention some of the things that bothered me:

• Hackneyed racial stereotyping that could be offensive to some. French terrorists? The French are the enemy of the US? Sounds like a right-wing US perspective that bothered me. And a part-Asian kick-ass female bad-gal was similarly potentially offensive to some. There's two aspects to this: one the cross-racial aspect, and two, the depiction of Asians in US films. To the film's credit, it went against the unwritten (politically correct) code that you never beat up a woman. I thought it was great that McClane (Bruce Willis) gave this 'chick' as good as he got. But then his repetitive references to her as an Asian bitch was unnecessary.
• Hackneyed film and editing style from the MTV school of music video that seems to have swamped US television and blockbuster film-making. You know? Digital photography, accentuated contrast, unnecessarily dark, bleached look, rapid intercutting, unnecessarily shaky camera, even when a car is travelling unrushed. The same old stupid devices that have been done a million times and are so tired and distracting.
• Derivations that border on plagiarism:
  
  • A Keannu Reeves-like character (á la The Matrix) who looks like - wait for it - Keannu Reeves in The Matrix (but 15 years younger)
    
  • An action sequence that manages to borrow/steal from not one, not two, but three films: Speed, True Lies and Terminator 2

• The film felt the need to spell out what was going to happen about three times
• A hostage scenario that was predictable from the very beginning, that ended in such a predictable and cringe-worthy way
• At 130 minutes, the film was way too long. It needed to be edited to 90 minutes max
• Gratuitous references to terrorism, 9/11 and homeland security
  
• A relatively minor point, but people's teeth were too white - I always find that distracting
  

I will say that I didn't have a problem with the unbelievability of the stunts, most of which I found exciting and well done. I also didn't have a problem with McClane's getting beat up beyond all plausibility. Again, you know this is coming with this franchise. It's kinda funny, and Willis does this quite well, along with his wise-guy humour.

Basically, the first third of the film is exciting, the second third is flat and the end is embarrassingly trying to find a way out of a mess, and relying on ridiculous contrivances and derivations to get there. It's a shame, because if the film had stayed on the track it started on, many of the flaws could easily have been overlooked, and it would easily have been a four or more star film (for the genre). It's still good fun for what it is, and vastly superior to that other franchise, James Bond. Good as a time-filler or a break from all those bleak and slow films at MIFF.

Poets Against the War
While I'm not particularly interested in poetry, I am vehemently opposed to the war in Iraq (and war in general) and wanted to show my support. I was alerted to this event by Alison Croggon, who was one of the speakers at the event, the others being J.S Harry and Barry Hill.

I can honestly say I am a poetry philistine and that I got more out of the Q&A afterwards. In answer to to questions from the audience at the end, the three speakers were in agreement that there is no difference in approach to writing poetry about war or any other subject. The other stand-out point made was that writing about political matters generally needs to be discreet rather than overt. Quotes were made from Orwell, that I can't recall in enough detail to try to paraphrase here.

The Week in Review

It's almost a relief to be doing my weekly review, after the 19 day intensity of MIFF. I'm going to try to reduce the number of films I see (seriously, I find it hard not to go to more) as time is really scarce, and I'm not putting the time into my French studies that it really needs. I'm roughly planning to get to France in a year or two, for a visit at least.

FILMS:

• Ratatouille (Brad Bird, USA, 2007)
• Love Serenade (Shirley Barrett, Australia, 1996)
• The Home Song Stories (Tony Ayres, Australia, 2007) + Q&A
  

VIDEO:

• Everynight... Everynight (Alkinos Tsilimidos, Australia, 1994)

Ratatouille
I generally like Pixar films, and Ratatouille looks like it will be a very popular film among the young 'uns. I was at the Australian premiere at ACMI, and many of the invitation-only audience were children (we received our invite on account of our suggestions for children's programming). I've never heard my six year old son laugh so unrestrained in a cinema before.

Pixar films are gorgeous to look at. The visual in Ratatouille are simply stunning, and the characters are mostly interesting. While the film is sure to be popular with the school holiday crowds (its September 6 release is a couple of weeks before the start of term holidays), I find the story a bit tired. It relies on stereotypes and over-used plot devices that, like the previous Cars, are just a bit too safe. A degree of narrative inventiveness and darkness that manifested in say, The Incredibles and Finding Nemo are nowhere to be seen in this film. Some aspects were too predictable and the 'but wait, there's more' dragged the film on way too long for a young audience (and an adult one, too, for that matter).

Children's film is a subject I care about, and while Ratatouille is entertaining and bound to be popular, I also feel it's a wasted opportunity to nurture children's minds. Rather it seems to be grooming them for the mediocrity that Hollywood pumps out for older generations. To the film's credit, it avoids the unnecessary (and for me, distracting) use of celebrity voices, using mostly 'unknowns', though Peter O'Toole is used effectively as the food critic.

ACMI director Tony Sweeney introduced the film, which was preceded by a seven-minute short called Lifted as well as a preview of Pixar's blockbuster for next year, about a robot called Wall-E. Lifted depicts an alien kidnapping gone wrong, and had the kind of edge that Ratatouille lacked.

Here's some tidbits about Ratatouille that may be of interest (courtesy of Disney):

• The Pizza Planet Truck, which first made an appearance in Toy Story, has made a cameo in nearly every Pixar film. In Ratatouille, the infamous Pizza Planet Truck can be seen on a bridge over the Seine during the scene in which Skinner is chasing Remy.
• The number A113, which refers to Brad Bird and John Lasseter's former classroom at CalArts, makes an appearance in every Pixar film. A113 also appears in Ratatouille, but you'll have to look carefully for yourself to find it.
• Pixar's official "Good Luck Charm," actor John Ratzenberger, makes another appearance in Ratatouille as the head waiter, Mustafa. John's voice has appeared in every Pixar movie.
• The character Bomb Voyage from The Incredibles makes two appearances in Ratatouille. He appears as a mime on the bridge by Notre Dame when Linguini and Colette skate past. Bomb Voyage's second appearance is the front-page headline and photo on the newspaper Colette is reading with the Solene Le Claire review.
• "Bar Des 7 Chanceux" is a storefront seen on the streets of Paris. It is named for the "Lucky 7 Lounge," a homemade secret lounge inside Pixar Animation Studios.

Love Serenade
Wow, how did I ever miss this little gem on first release? While overlooked for the minor AFI award categories it was nominated in, it won the Golden Camera at Cannes 1996. It's the first film by Shirley Barrett, whose only other feature film (Walk the Talk) was made four years later, but appears not to have been released locally.

I was encouraged to see Love Serenade on someone else's recommendation. It has a number of features and devices that I usually deplore in Australian films yet manages to use them to great effect. For example, the soundtrack of 'easy listening' music (with the likes of Barry White and Tom Jones) is in your face, yet like the Abba music in Muriel's Wedding, it works well with the narrative. The strength of the film is in the intelligent script (also by Barrett) and excellent character development.

Two lonely sisters fight for the attention of a city radio announcer that has moved to their quiet Riverland town. These three are the main characters, though the local Chinese restaurant owner (for whom the younger sister, played by Miranda Otto, works) is a very curious secondary character.

The film's visuals are very nice, the acting is spot on, and the quirkiness of the characters works a treat. The dialogue is sharp and original, with an underlying honesty that resonates and engages. The end is so abrupt and unexpected; it completely took me by surprise. The final shot leaves a sense of the bizarre. This is not mind-blowing cinema, but is a good example of low-budget Australian cinema done very well. This film is well-worth seeking for a pleasant evening's entertainment.

Link: Article about Shirley Barrett in The Age

Everynight... Everynight
I finally hunted down a copy of Alkinos Tsilimidos' first feature film on video and borrowed it from the ACMI Lending Collection. Let me qualify that since seeing Tom White (2004) and especially Em 4 Jay (2006), I'm a big fan of this director's work. In fact, he is my favourite Australian director, and Em 4 Jay my equal favourite Australian film (the other being Rowan Woods' The Boys).

After seeing Em 4 Jay, I purchased Silent Partner on DVD. It has much in common with all of Tsilimidos' feature films, most notably its concern with the dregs of society. Unlike his other works, this film is most obviously comedic, and for me not as strong as his more gritty social realist works. What surprised me about Everynight... Everynight, is how gritty and uncompromising it is, something that Em 4 Jay appears to be a return to. Yet in spite of the bleak narrative in both these films, let there be no doubt that humour (and much of it) is to be found.

Shot in stunning black and white by Toby Oliver (cinematographer on all four of Tsilimidos' films), the film grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go. The fact that it's loosely based on an actual story is chilling. Co-written by Tsilimidos and Ray Mooney, it's derived from the play by Mooney who experienced first-hand Pentridge Prison's notorious H-division (where the film is set). This is the only Tsilimidos feature film where playwright Daniel Keene was not involved in the writing.

The film portrays Dale (by Tsilimidos regular, David Field), a fictionalised version of Christopher Dale Flannery, before he became the infamous hit-man who disappeared in 1985 without a trace, believed murdered. The fact that the film is dedicated to a notorious criminal is interesting, to say the least. For me, it confirms the director's sense of humanity - even the so-called scum of the earth are humans and due the dignity of being treated as such. That's something that later Royal Commissions have uncovered that prisoners were denied.

Like all of the director's films, the dialogue is full of authentic coarse language, the language of the streets and gutters inhabited by the lowest of the low. When we meet Dale on remand at Pentridge for assault, he appears to be a lost cause, but not yet the ruthless killer he was to become. Maybe Tsilimidos is suggesting the penal system, rather than rehabilitating him, assisted him down this path. The main antagonist is a prison officer, Berriman, played with chilling brutality and authenticity by the ubiquitous Bill Hunter. Hunter is almost a legend in Australian cinema, often playing affable larrikins, as he did in Tom White. I wrote at the time of Tom White's release that that was perhaps one of Hunter's best ever performances. His performance in Everynight... Everynight is at least on a par, and one of the best hatred-filled psychopathic depictions I have seen. It's right up there with Dennis Hopper's Frank Booth in Blue Velvet. Unlike David Lynch's landmark film, there is none of the surrealism - just gritty reality (though aesthetically stylised), which makes it even more scary.

Dale enters Pentridge on remand for assault but is assigned indefinitely to H-division for swearing at the prison governor. H-division had been taken over by sadistic prison officers who revel in the humiliation and dehumanisation of its residents. They take any opportunity to beat the prisoners viciously and relentlessly. In effect, they have become worse criminals than those they are overseeing. It brings to mind the soldiers we send to war zones (think Abu Ghraib), and the effects this must have on them reassimilating into normal society.

The array of characters that fills Tsilimidos' H-division (it was filmed in the then recently closed HM Prison Geelong), the brilliant character development and idiosyncratic dialogue add immensely to the appeal of the film. Haunting music that reflects the underdog, by Paul Kelly (who also contributed to the next two Tsilimidos films), also adds nicely. The lighting and dark shadows are reminiscent of 1940's film noir, and there is a timelessness to the look of the film. I love the way one of the prisoners screams out from his cell "you fucking poof-tah!!!". And how Dale defiantly 'resigns', not just from prison, but from life.

This film shook me with its believable content and also surprised me with the technical expertise that I have come to recognise in Tsilimidos' later films. I find it unfortunate that his name is not more readily recognised, and that his films are not more widely distributed.

Everynight... Everynight is being re-released on DVD by Shock DVD around September/October. It is an historic Australian film and I highly recommend it.

The Home Song Stories
Tony Ayre's Walking on Water (2002) received many rave reviews upon its release but I was underwhelmed by it. His latest film, The Home Song Stories, which recently screened to acclaim at MIFF, hits the mark that was missed in his earlier film. This is a much more assured work, and a much more personal one, depicting the director's difficult childhood. I have heard it compared to Romulus, My Father, and both share some common themes. I attended a preview screening today, which was following by a Q&A session with the director, producer and two of the stars. The time I have available to me at present can't do justice to the event, so I will leave the details to a separate post during the week. In short, this film is moving, well-made and depicts some universal themes.

Rabbit Hole

Writ: David Lindsay Abaire, Dir: Naomi Edwards, Red Stitch Theatre

Rabbit Hole was my second experience of live theatre after seeing Don's Party at The Arts Centre earlier in the year. By chance, Naomi Edwards was assistant director of that production. The Red Stitch Theatre is a smaller and intimate venue. I don't feel particularly qualified to comment in detail on Rabbit Hole as I am not acquainted with the various devices of the medium and have few frames of reference. I offer my perception as a newbie.

My interest in theatre was first roused after reading Alison Croggon’s review of Alkinos Tsilimidos' Em 4 Jay (my favourite film of 2006) on Theatre Notes, and the subsequent contact I had with her. This blog came about as a result of Alison’s suggestion (I’d been contributing to IMDB and At The Movies message boards prior to that).

By chance, late last year I picked up a Red Stitch Theatre brochure at the Westgarth cinema during the Italian Film Festival. I noticed pictures of Laura Gordon and Kat Stewart, who played Em and her sister Jane in Em 4 Jay. I decided then that I’d like to see a performance with these fabulous actors. While Gordon and Nick Barkla (as Jay) excelled, for me Stewart’s small nuanced role at the Kew Boathouse was the heart and soul of this remarkable film.

I understand that Gordon has a US agent and is pursuing her career there. Rabbit Hole has Stewart playing the pivotal role of Becca, a grieving mother who lost her four year old son Danny when he chased the family dog into the path of a passing car. Howie (David Whitely) is the grieving father and much of the play concerns itself with the roller coaster of emotions as the couple argue over their conflicting grief. Becca is tormented by memories of Danny; Howie is aghast that Becca appears to be erasing signs of his existence.

Jason (Martin Sharpe) is the young driver who may or may not have been speeding, is consumed by guilt and has a need for resolution with the grieving family. The title of the play is a reference to a story he wrote at school dedicated to Danny, but also refers to the way the plot unravels at the start. Becca has discussions first with her sister Izzy (Erin Dewar) and then Howie. The audience has to make sense of their realities, which gradually unravels as the dialogue progresses. The title then seems to be an indirect reference to Alice in Wonderland.

The play’s theme is grief – how people deal with it differently and how this results in friction and conflict. Prior to the performance, I had no idea of its subject. Straight away my points of reference are cinematic, and it strongly recalls Sean Penn's excellent The Crossing Guard (1995), a small independent film in which a drunk driver (David Morse) is being released from jail after serving time for the death of a young boy. His parents (Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston) are still grieving. Rabbit Hole has a different way of telling a similar story.

Having lost my own teenage son less than four months ago, my emotions are still quite raw. The ways in which each protagonist expresses grief, and the nature of their conflict was very real. The dialogue was nuanced, natural, idiosyncratic and felt very authentic.

Stewart’s role was pivotal - the play depicted her character interacting with her husband, sister, mother (played by Collette Mann) and the devastated young driver torn with guilt. Having appreciated Stewart's performance in Em 4 Jay, it was a delight to see her with significant stage presence in Rabbit Hole. Sharpe’s performance as the young driver was especially stunning and convincing.

Overall, I found the play well-written and convincingly performed. It was quietly insightful with subdued naturalistic humour, and interesting without being overly profound. It perhaps didn’t have the emotional impact it could but that’s possibly because the writing skilfully avoids the melodrama or sentimentality that the subject could easily have produced. I found it a modest but serious production.

In contrast to my other theatre experience, Don's Party was more mainstream and played to a larger audience in a major venue. I preferred the more casual environment of Red Stitch. Don's Party was more observational than insightful and entertaining rather than challenging. I saw Rabbit Hole on its closing night to a full house.

Photos: David Whitely and Kat Stewart, Martin Short and Kat Stewart