MIFF 2009 Day 10 - 2/8/09

• Blind Company (Alkinos Tsilimidos, Australia, 2009)

Blind Company
I first discovered Tsilimidos' work with Tom White, a film that impressed me with it's beautiful visuals, humour and humanistic narrative. That film also changed the way I looked at the homeless. Coming soon after Candy and Little Fish, I didn't have high expectations for Em 4 Jay, a film about a couple of drug addicts. I was so over drug addicts and yet this film blew me out of the water. Again photographed by Toby Oliver, the visuals are just amazing but it's once again the deeply humanistic story-telling that won me over, and this remains my equal favourite Australian film. It may then be no surprise to hear that Blind Company was my most anticipated film at MIFF this year.

I never took much notice of Colin Friels until I saw him play the titular role in Tom White, in which he magnificently demonstrates frailty and an understated desperation. Once again he takes centre stage in Blind Company as Geoff Brewster, who is living in isolation at the family beach cottage, waiting for inevitable death. Geoff's quiet daily routine is thrown into turmoil when his nephew, Josh (Nick Barkla), arrives unannounced and consequently engages in antagonistic behaviour.

Tsilimidos is a competent and assured director. With Blind Company, he is in no hurry to reveal the secrets of its characters, but that shouldn't test the patience of the film's target audience. The story is basically a relationship slow-burn that reminds me a little of Nuri Bilge Ceylan's style of narrative in films like Climates or Three Monkeys.

The performances are, as expected, convincing. Friels is always good value and his role as a dying academic is full of ambiguity. Nick Barkla gets to show his range. He was completely convincing as the junky in Em 4 Jay. In Blind Company, he is almost as convincing as the Porsche-driving reckless son of privileged parents - somewhat a yuppy.

I presume it was Adam Arkapaw's cinematography on Julius Avery's excellent award-winning (Cannes Jury Prize, no less) Jerrycan that caught the eye of Tsilimidos. His camera work has a very Eastern European aesthetic about it. The outdoor shots are reminiscent of Christopher Doyle's beach scenes in Paranoid Park and have the strongest visuals.

Indoors, however, is a different matter, and while there is a reliance on natural light, the camera exposure often leaves characters in silhouette. The effect is to shroud the film in darkness which distances the audience. This is the single-most flaw in the film.

I spoke to the director briefly after the film and he confirmed that Toby Oliver was unavailable. Being the film's premiere screening and Alkinos being pre-occupied post-screening, and me being sick, I didn't get the opportunity to discuss further. There was to have been a Q&A session which didn't happen because the film ran late. Apparently there will be one at a future screening, which I will aim to attend.

Overall, the film is worth-seeing and another fine addition to the country's body of work. It's especially worth seeing as part of the director's body of work, even if it isn't his best film. Tom White and Em 4 Jay were always going to be hard to beat.

The Week in Review - 26/4/09

This week was exceptional for its quality more than its quantity. Le feu follet and Pandora's Box are both outstanding films that lifted my spirits immensely, in spite of their potentially bleak subject matter (suicide and Alzheimer's respectively). To see two films of such high standard in the same week is fantastic and highly recommend them both. I really liked Palermo Shooting as well.

FILMS:

• Selvi boylum, al yazmalim (The Lady with the Red Scarf, Atif Yilmaz, Turkey, 1977)
  
• Les amants (The Lovers, Louis Malle, France, 1958)
  
• Le feu follet (Louis Malle, France, 1963)
• Pandora’nın Kutusu (Pandora's Box, Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Turkey/France/Belgium/Germany, 2008)
• Lulu und Jimi (Oskar Roehler, Germany/France, 2008)
• Palermo Shooting (Wim Wenders, Germany/France/Italy, 2008)
  

The Lady with the Red Scarf
Other than opening and closing night films, this is the only other Turkish Film Festival film I could squeeze in at ACMI. It's a classic film, based on a novel and very popular in Turkey and elsewhere. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I didn't like it at all.

This kind of melodrama would play out well in India and other countries where films tend to be, shall we say, simple. I found it beyond melodramatic, moving into soap opera and downright corny. I could have walked out at any point and left a few minutes early for Melbourne Cinémathèque.

Les amants
Louis Malle's second film, and a little disappointing after his thrilling Lift to the Scaffold. The film looks good and starts of with promise. The story of a philandering provincial couple has all the right tension. However, after Jeanne Moreau's character has done so much to convince us what a completely selfish bitch she is, I couldn't buy into her falling in true love with a stranger and elope with him. I wonder what Malle's intent was. Was he just messing with our expectations? Messing with our heads? Was there supposed to be some intuitive chemistry between these unlikely lovers that I missed? I love Moreau as an actress. In terms of both looks and demeanour, she's like a French Bette Davis.

Le feu follet
This is one of the most remarkable films I've seen from this era (early 60s). Stylistically, Le feu follet looks French New Wave, but thematically, it's decades ahead of its time. At times, it reminded me of early Cassavetes. Full of wise insights into relationships and the human condition, the film is basically an under-stated portrait of a suicidal alcoholic.

Alain Leroy (Maurice Ronet) wanders the streets of Paris, in all it's glorious urban decay and beautifully filmed in black and white. We've already seen his service revolver, perhaps a remnant from a distant war, with which he intends to kill himself. The film follows Alain as he visits his old haunts, saying good-bye to those he considers friends and associates. We know he is doomed, because no matter how sincere are the attempts to help him, he is beyond help. All he wants is to leave.

Alain's occasional outbursts about his personal failures reveal much about the mind of a depressive man, and much about the nature of relationships. It also demonstrates the destructive nature of alcohol. This is a film I could watch over and over. Some may find it depressing, but I find it life-affirming. There's still another week to go of the Malle season at Melbourne Cinémathèque, but this is my favourite so far.

Oh, and by the way, does anyone know the significance in the film of 23 July (scrawled on the mirror)?

Pandora's Box
This was the closing night film for the Melbourne Turkish Film Festival, and what a film! This is a pan-European production, and it shows. While family friction is a common dramatic theme (hinted at in the film's title), old age and Alzheimer's disease aren't.

The latter subjects were, of course, tackled in Sarah Polley's Away From Her. I have much respect for Polley and don't doubt her sincerity and integrity. However, her romanticised story, also featuring an elderly woman with Alzheimer's and starring an impossibly gorgeous Julie Christie, just isn't in the same league as this amazing film by Yesim Ustaoğlu.

Pandora's Box tackles multiple themes, masterfully handles them all, is poetic, naturalistic, funny (without trace of comedy), dramatic and moving. The festival blurb forewarns us of the adult sibling conflict, which is not as prominent as I expected. It is merely an element, woven into a greater tapestry, the tapestry of life.

The film is to different degrees about various types of relationships, generational change (thematically similar to Summer Hours) and the effects of Alzheimer's as well as documenting the rural and urban divide. The latter element seems to be a recurring theme in European cinema, as a way of life that has remained largely unchanged for many decades (if not centuries) slowly dies.

The main character of the film is the elderly Nusret played by Tsilla Chelton, a 91-year old French actress who learnt Turkish for the role! Her performance is so convincing, so realistic, that it's hard to believe that she is acting. Her blend of smouldering attitude and frail vulnerability is terribly moving. The whole ensemble cast performs wonderfully, a credit both to their skills and the direction.

An element of the film that I strongly related to was the way in which virtually all the characters in the film rejected, in one way or another, the controlling nature of one of the siblings. It alienated her husband, her son, her siblings, and even her mother in a very amusing and poignant way.

The film is filmed in a very naturalistic and beautiful way without the slightest trace of pretentiousness. The music, which seemed to be absent until the 80-minute mark, is subtle, full of melancholy and added beautifully, especially in its restraint. The film was a lovely way to finish the festival and I left on a high. Now I want the DVD, and intend seeking out the director's earlier works. Check out the official website.

The closing night film was preceded by various presentations. This is the inaugural year of the Turkish Film Festival and the indicators are that it will continue and grow on the success of this year. Expect a longer, larger festival next year, and without the clash it had this year (with the Festival of German Films.

Lulu und Jimi
Fortunately I was forewarned about this film, screening at the Festival of German Films. It was compared to early Ozon, ie, bizarre/unconventional melodrama, and that's largely whey I made a point of seeing it. Bizarre it certainly is, entertaining too. It has shades of Lynch - Jennifer more than David - with its over-the-top plot, bright colours and its surreal aburdity and fantasy. I respect its audacity but it doesn't pull it off quite as competently as it wants. The lead actors aren't completely convincing and the dubbing for the English dialog for Lulu is a bit rough. Still, it's a lot of fun and way left-of-centre.

Palermo Shooting
What do you do when you're a famous international film-maker, you've been around for a long time and made a lot of films, two of your favourite directors die (on the same day) and you're feeling your vulnerability. Well, if you're Wim Wenders, you'd make Palermo Shooting and, despite it being canned at Cannes 2008, I really dug it. Mind you, Wenders' previous feature, Don't Come Knockin' wasn't exactly warmly received, but I liked that a lot, too.

Palermo Shooting is, however, a very different type of film. It's a small budget project, a film that could be compared with Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth. Compared, because they are both made by established and aging directors that deal with the passage of time and death (albeit treated in very different ways). In a sense, they might both be considered indulgent, about subjects that are very personal to the respective directors, but I think that perception is unfair.

Death and aging (also a theme in the above Pandora's Box) is every bit a part of life and a universal experience, a topic ripe for exploration in cinema. Finn is an in-demand photographer, well-heeled and well-travelled. He's experienced much and is known in all the right circles. But he can't sleep well. He has recurring dreams, and he is suffering an existential crisis. If that sounds a lot like a Bergman film, it should. Filmed at the time of the dual Bergman-Antonioni deaths, Wenders salutes the great masters and incorporates aspects of their work into the film. Berman is most apt, as existential crises and a preoccupation with time, aging, death and the meaning of life are themes he dealt with throughout his life's work.

The film most obviously references Wild Strawberries with the surrealist dreams of Finn and The Seventh Seal, with Dennis Hopper taking the role of Death, and thematically with Winter Light's existential crisis. I think critics take issue with the audacity of a director taking on such iconic films but then, Bergman himself was ridiculed for the being too arty farty towards the end of his career. I had no problems with the self-conscious references, and I thought Wenders take and variations on these was quite moving (and funny at times, too). There were aspects of the writing that seemed a little unpolished, but always managed to stay on track, even if it seemed they wouldn't.

Death, consciousness and the meaning of life are topics I've contemplated since my childhood. Less than a week ago, I was discussing with a friend how my entire outlook has changed since my motorcycle accident in which I too looked Death in the eye (figuratively, of course). It's had a quietly profound effect on me, and I really related to Finn's existential crisis. I even articulated to my friend that I felt death was simply like walking through a door, a door we don't walk back through. I was thunderstruck when virtually the same dialogue appears in the film. Of course, when one walks through a door and doesn't return, we are gone to those who remain, but we continue in another room. This cosmic-view is a strong argument against suicide, another subject I would like to write on in this context, but not now. It was also relevant to another film I saw this week - the brilliant Le feu follet (see above).

Palermo Shooting is a return by Wenders to his native Dusseldorf. It's a personal film, it's an indulgent film. It tackles some of the most relevant, important and universal themes of life. It's explorative, it's derivative, it's moving. I don't think it's for everyone, but I loved it. Riding away from the cinema on my motorbike, I was surprised how much it moved me and affected me in a physical way.

My exposure at the Festival of German Films 2009 hasn't really been representative of German cinema: One, Two, Three is American (though set in Berlin), Lulu und Jimi has an American protagonist and much of the dialogue is in English, and now Palermo Shooting, a significant part of the dialogue is in English and features a couple of American actors (Dennis Hopper and Milla Jovovic as herself). I really wanted to see Jerichow, but life got in the way (the missus says cinema gets in the way of my life, but what does she know?).

Turkish Film Festival - Autumn

The Melbourne Turkish Film Festival debuted this evening, opening with Özcan Alper's Sonbahar (Autumn, 2008). There were a number of formalities, including introductions by the festival director, the Turkish Consul-General (a very happy man!) , the Turkish minister for Trade and Culture (apologies for lack of details like names, or errors in titles) and Richard Sowada, ACMI's head programming dude (also, not his exact title, but you get the drift).

From the introductions, we learnt that since 2004, the Turkish film industry has gone from producing around 12-15 films a year to 40 or more, and that audiences at Turkish films in Turkey have gone from around 15% to 65%. I'm not sure how this inspirational cultural turn-around has been achieved, but it's something our own industry should be looking at.

I was introduced to the festival director after the screening of Autumn, but the lovely Turkish music was playing so loud that I couldn't catch her name. Furthermore, the official website is down, so I can't grab it from there either. Oh well, such is life.

Autumn is an impressive little film, in style not unlike the films of master director, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, whose Üç maymun (Three Monkeys) screens on Wednesday (and I implore you all to see Ceylan's film - it won best director gong at Cannes last year, and you won't see too many films better than this all year).

Autumn is a slowburn, minimalist drama, about Yusuf, a young man who is released from prison after ten years. He was involved in radical student politics and socialism at university and has lost the best years of his life. He returns to his home in a mountainous village in the Black Sea region, an area that is spectacularly beautiful. Some things have changed, some haven't, but Yusuf certainly has.

There's not a whole lot of narrative to the story; rather the film focuses on the everyday existence of Yusuf, his friend Mikail and a Russian prostitute he meets in town. A particularly poignant moment occurs when the prostitute learns that Yusuf spent time in jail for fighting for socialism, something that the Russians were glad to get rid of.

Unlike Australian cinema, politics is an element that European cinema doesn't have an aversion to. It's certainly prominent in many of the Spanish films I saw recently at La Mirada, and it seems to be also true of Turkish cinema. Politics is about as prominent in Autumn as it was in say, Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy. For those of you that haven't seen Old Joy, you'd hardly know that there was a political element to the film - it's very subtle. Autumn acknowledges recent Turkish political history but is, on the surface, concerned with the personal. Yusuf is simply trying to get his life back in order and in the course of his activities, we get an amazing cultural glimpse into a way of life that surely is slowly dying.

Autumn is Özcan Alper's first feature film. He's a talent to watch. The film screens again tomorrow (Monday 20 April) at ACMI and is highly recommended. My friend Nilgün, who kindly invited me to the opening, highly recommends Dry Summer (Susuz yaz), which screens on Thursday, so I'm making a point of trying to see that. If I could, I would see all seven films, but I'll have to settle for four or so. This festival is screening films that appear on face value to be of a very high quality, much more so than most regional festivals. This is a great opportunity for cinephiles to see quality cinema from a part of the world that we sadly don't see enough of.

The Melbourne Turkish Film Festival screens until Friday at ACMI.

[Image: Onur Saylak as Yusuf in Autumn]

Germany vs. Turkey

No, Europe is not at war, though Melbourne is being bombarded by European cinema. We've recently had the French Film Festival, La Mirada: Jewels of Spanish Cinema concludes today and this week sees the start of two festivals running concurrently.

The Festival of German Films opens on Thursday (16th) with the much-lauded The Baader-Meinhof Complex. Screenings of 30 films will be held until Sunday the 26th at the Como and the Kino cinemas, an advantage of the relatively new Kino/Palace partnership. The Melbourne Turkish Film Festival is a new event, opening on Sunday (19th), screening only seven films at ACMI until Thursday 24th April.

While the French Film Festival is my favourite outside of MIFF, I find its focus on commercial cinema a bit disappointing. I still usually manage to find close to a dozen serious films to see, but there seemed to be little edgy material this year. I'm of the opinion that film festivals should be a showcase of cultural and artistic excellence, not just those likely to attract the largest number of bums on seats. Both the Turkish and German festivals appear on face value to be aiming in this direction. There's not a whole lot in the way of comedy, with the focus on drama.

Reunification is a theme of this year's German festival, with a retrospective of films from the former GDR (East Germany). In addition, contemporary films such as November Child, 12 Means I Love You and Peaceful Times also address the topic.

My focus at the Festival of German Films is largely on the six-film retrospective, as well as Billy Wilder's 1961 comedy, One, Two, Three, which commenced filming in Berlin just prior to the Berlin wall's construction, which consequently disrupted the film's completion. In spite of being canned at Cannes, I'm also interested to see Wim Wender's Palermo Shooting. Others that I'm giving priority to include Cloud 9 (which has won various awards including the Un certain regard award at Cannes), Trade (a film about human trafficking like Australia's The Jammed), Lulu and Jimi and Eye to Eye - All about German Film, a documentary about a cinema of German cinema. The Baader Meinhof Complex also looks like it's worth seeing, bearing in mind that it has a theatrical release date (7 May 2009).

Australians don't get much exposure to Turkish cinema. Greater Union and Hoyts screen the occasional melodrama or B-grade action flick, but something tells me the Turkish films won't be anything like this. In fact, Three Monkeys was not only one of my favourite films at MIFF last year, but also one of my favourite films of the year, period. All the Turkish films look like serious films. There's only eight screenings, so I'll list them all here (check out ACMI's website for details). Note that the opening and closing night films are invitation only.

I don't know how to wrangle it, what with life and the German festival happening, but I'm going to try to see all of these, with the exception of Three Monkeys, as it conflicts with the Louis Malle screenings at Melbourne Cinémathèque.

• Sun 19 Apr 7:30 PM - Sonbahar (Autumn, Özcan Alper, Turkey, 2008) - opening night
• Mon 20 Apr 7:15 PM - Sonbahar (Autumn, Özcan Alper, Turkey, 2008)
• Tue 21 Apr 7:15 PM - Yumurta (Egg, Semih Kaplanoglu, Turkey/Greece, 2007)
• Wed 22 Apr 5:30 PM - Selvi boylum, al yazmalim (The Girl with the Red Scarf, Atif Yilmaz, Turkey, 1977)
• Wed 22 Apr 8:00 PM - Üç maymun (Three Monkeys, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey/France/Italy, 2008)
• Thu 23 Apr 5:30 PM - Susuz yaz (Dry Summer, Metin Erksan, Turkey, 1964)
• Thu 23 Apr 8:00 PM - Dilberi'in sekiz günü (Dilber's Eight Days, Cemal San, Turkey, 2008)
• Fri 24 Apr 7:00 PM - Pandora'nin kutusu (Pandora's Box, Yesim Ustaoglu, Turkey/France/Belgium/Germany, 2008) - closing night

OFLC Film Classification
A point of interest that has pretty much flown under the radar is that changes have been made to OFLC classifications. Until recently, to receive a classification, a film's distributor (in this context, a festival) had to apply to the OFLC, pay a hefty sum, receive a classification and thus make a film accessible to under 18 year olds (unless it received an R-rating). I've read nothing anywhere about the changes, but first noticed during the French Film Festival that virtually every film had a classification. In most instances, it was an MA15+, even when it was clear that a film was intended at a younger audience. From what I understand, most of those films (those without post-festival cinema releases) were not given OFLC classification; the festival organisers
assigned the classifications themselves. It was then up to parents to determine what was suitable for their children.

This is a fantastic step forward, something I've been whinging about for years. Until now, it's been illegal for high school media students, for example, to attend important film festivals, which was just ridiculous. Festivals and parents should be free to decide what's suitable for their children, rather than the arbitrary blanket black-ban for under-18s we've had for many years. Now, I've gleaned much of this, so if anyone has more authoritative information they'd like to share or provide links, I'd love to hear about it.

I've noticed that all the German films are listed with classifications. Aside from the five with G or PG and clearly suitable for children, there's a number of others with M that may also be suited. From my perspective, it means I can get to more films as it becomes a family event rather than me slinking away on my own to see a film (you can only do that so much without flak from the missus).

The Turkish films at ACMI are all unclassified and I noticed that the same was true of the La Mirada screenings at ACMI. Maybe ACMI hasn't woken to the changes, or there's some other reason.

A Rumour

At the media preview of the Festival of German Films this week, I heard from a Turkish friend that there will this year be a Turkish Film Festival screening eight films at ACMI over a few days (a week, perhaps?). Now, Turkish cinema can be hit and miss, and some of it is less than ordinary. But then, Turkey has also produced a true auteur, like Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director of sublime films like Climates and Three Monkeys. I believe that the latter film (one of my favourites of MIFF 2008) will be screening and rumour has it that Ceylan may himself attend the festival. From memory, I believe the festival will be in April or May.

Ceylan has a remarkable eye for visuals, though his contemplative, slow-burn dramas aren't everyone's cup of tea. It's no surprise that he has a long background in stills photography, which reminds me of the photographic work of Abbas Kiarostami, that featured in last year's ACMI exhibition of Kiarostami and Erice. Check out Ceylan's photographic work on his website. Here's a sample, Rough Sea (2007).

[Update 29/3/09]
Thanks to Simon de Bruyn, who has brought to my attention an Inside Film article that confirms some of the above:

Melbourne will play host to the first Melbourne Turkish Film Festival presented by The Republic of Turkey Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Antalya Culture and Arts Foundation together with ACMI, Australian Centre for the Moving Image.

Running between 19–24 April, this debut event will screen a selection from the latest international award winning films to the cult classics from Turkey’s cinema vaults. Through film, universal issues and human emotions will be explored in intriguing Turkish contexts.

Check out the full article. There's no mention of Ceylan appearing, though my source mentioned it's up in the air - he's a man in demand.

The Melbourne Turkish Film Festival website is down at this moment, but I've ascertained the following program info, which includes Ceylan's excellent Three Monkeys. Note the very reasonable ticket prices:

Sunday 19, April 2009
Opening Night
7.30pm Autumn/Sonbahar (private screening)

Monday 20, April 2009
7.15pm Alone/Issız Adam

Tuesday 21, April 2009
7.15pm Milk/Süt

Wednesday 22, April 2009
5.30pm The Girl With The Red Scarf /Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalım
8.00pm Three Monkeys/Űç Maymun

Thursday 23, April 2009
5.30pm Dry Summer/Susuz Yaz
8.00pm Dilber’s Eight Days/Dilberi’in Sekiz Günü

Friday 24, April 2009
Closing Night
7.00pm Pandora’s Box/Pandora’nın Kutusu (private screening)

Tickets
General admission $10
Concession $8
3 Films Pass $20
Gold Pass $55 (excludes opening and closing night films)

MIFF Day 9

Sat 2 August
Üç maymun (Three Monkeys, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey/France/Italy, 2008)
Dead End Drive-In (Brian Trenchard-Smith, Australia, 1986)
Matewan (John Sayles, USA, 1986)

Three Monkeys
Nuri Bilge Ceylan really impressed me with his MIFF 2006 film, Climates, my festival favourite that year. Three Monkeys is no less a film, that I found very, very satisfying. This is what I go to the cinema in search of. And after the previous evening's Lorna's Silence, that's two top films in a row. Both these films have another screening on the last day of the festival and highly recommend them before they sell out. Ceylan's film won Best Director at Cannes this year, and I can see why.

Looking at Ceylan's very slick and informative website, I learnt that he has a long background as a stills photographer. It's worth putting aside some time and exploring this site (which documents both his films and photography), as not only is his work visually remarkable, but it also gives some insight into the photographic aesthetics that inform his film-making.

This guy has an amazing sense of frame. The film's opening scene as the darkness swallows up a passing car, the wind-swept sea- and landscapes, the child's hand appearing out of nowhere all have a breath-taking impact. Another thing that struck me was the cinematography. Shot on high-definition digital, the film uses a stylised palette similar to two films that screened at MIFF last year: Still Life and Alexandra, with strong use of desaturated colours and with a bias towards greens. The transfer to 35mm film was excellent, with none of the graininess of those two other films.

The film is about how small lies become big problems when we adopt the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" position. Ceylan is so accomplished a visual story-teller that he doesn't need to rely so heavily on dialogue or musical cues like most directors. What he depicts of people's inner turmoil is a beautiful experience to behold. This film moved me so much that I have just now ordered everything I can of his works on DVD.

Dead End Drive-In
After last year's festival intensive, I had a better idea of how to plan for this year. Based on past experience of Nuri Bilge Ceylan's work, I made sure the film I saw after it wasn't too deep. What better than a 'throw-away' Ozploitation flick like Dead End Drive-In? I really enjoyed this a lot and can see why Quentin Tarantino is a big fan. I could just imagine his enthusiastic squealing and hooting over the old-style stuntwork, the spirit of which he replicated in Death Proof. In fact, most stylised big-budget Hollywood equivalents today don't even come close with their over-reliance on CGI and manic editing. This film captures something of its era and perhaps, rough as it is, could inspire a return to some of the old (and better) ways of genre film-making.

Matewan
This is a great-looking film, and it starts out very promising with a strong and recognisable cast. There's a host of actors that I would not have recognised at the time: Chris Cooper and Mary McDonnell, who both performed in Donnie Darko, are there. There's David Strathairn, Will Oldham, James Earl Jones, Gordon Clapp (NYPD Blue) and others.

The story depicts the struggle of coal-miners for decent working conditions and the part that the union played against the mine owners. I enjoyed the film, but found it a bit unnecessarily sentimental at the end. Nonetheless, I was keen to see another film by Sayles, the maker of my favourite family film, The Secret of Roan Inish. I've heard it said that every Sayles film is different to anything else he made. I have a lot more of his work to catch up on.

MIFF Days 2 - 7

We're a week into MIFF, and I've only written about the Opening Night film, Not Quite Hollywood. Fatigue, time (or lack of) and the realisation that I have to get to bed by 1am have prevented me from writing as promptly as last year (as I recollect, I did a write up every night, no matter the time - crazy!). I must say, I made a big mistake this year. I went to Opening Night with not enough sleep, and have struggled since. I'm trying to catch up now, but it's difficult. Memo to self: next year make sure you're well-rested before the festival starts.

Day 2: Sat 26 July
A fost sau n-a fost? (12:08 East of Bucharest, Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania, 2006)
Long Weekend (Colin Eggleston, Australia, 1978)

Day 3: Sun 27 July
Vikaren (The Substitute, Ole Bornedal, Denmark, 2007)
My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, Canada, 2007)
Of Time and the City (Terence Davies, UK, 2008)

Day 4: Mon 28 July
Terra Sonâmbula (Sleepwalking Land, Teresa Prata, Portugal/Mozambique, 2006)
Momma's Man (Azazel Jacobs, USA, 2008)
Katyn (Andrej Wajda, Poland, 2007)

Day 5: Tue 29 July
El Baño del Papa (The Pope's Toilet, Enrique Fernandez, Cesar Charlone, Uruguay/Brazil/France, 2007)
Moartea domnului Lazarescu (The Death of Mister Lazarescu, Alexandru Munteanu, Romania, 2005)

Day 6: Wed 30 July
Bam gua nat (Night and Day, Hong Sang-soo, South Korea, 2008)
Élève libre (Private Lessons, Joachim Lafosse, Belgium/France, 2008)
40 x 15: The 40 Forty Years of the Directors' Fortnight (Olivier Jahan, France, 2008)
Ashes of Time Redux (Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong, 2008)

Day 7: Thu 31 July
Gitmek: My Marlon and Brando (My Marlon and Brando, Huseyin Karabey, Turkey, 2008)
Qing mei zhu ma (Taipei Story, Edward Yang, Taiwan, 1985)


12:08 East of Bucharest
This is a quietly satisfying film. It starts out as an ensemble drama with understated dry wit and somewhere along the way - I'm not sure when - it becomes a black comedy. The film documents the impact of the fall of the Ceacescu dictatorship on a micro level, analysing social changes, people's recollections and how lies are perpetuated. I'm making a point to see as many of the Romanian films screening at MIFF, and this was a good start.

Long Weekend
Screening as part of the Ozploitation stream, I'd heard good things about this film. With a low budget and a cast of two, despite its obvious flaws, this is a film that has much to admire and enjoy. Director Eggleston is able to maintain a high level of suspense without dialogue for long stretches. I liked the film and the missus really loved it.

The Substitute
I took the kid to see this, and while I didn't think it had anything scarier than a Harry Potter movie, there was one scene that unsettled him to the point that he started crying (he's 7 years old) and the missus had to take him out. Aside from that, I found the film fairly clumsy, like many Australian or German films. It felt like an Australian kids flick you might see after school on the ABC. It also seemed quite derivative (from parts of Men in Black). It has, however, won overseas awards as a children's film. It has funny moments, but I found it unsatisfying as either a children's film or as a film in general.

My Winnipeg
This ode to Guy Maddin's hometown reminded me of a film I watched online on Matt Clayfield's blog a while ago, but be damned if I can find it. This is the second Maddin film I've seen, after Brand Upon the Brain at MIFF last year. In the context of a film festival, I like the unconventional nature of Maddin's work, though this one is not as gripping as last year's title. Still, it's worth a look.

Of Time and the City
I found this pretty dull, perhaps a made-for-TV BBC documentary. Because I set up my MIFF schedule and forget what each film is about, I often go into the cinema without a clue of what I'm about to see. It took me quite some time to work out that this film is an homage to the director's hometown Liverpool. I found the narrative using mostly prose, including quotes from a wide range of writers like Jung and Engels, distancing. With a short run time of 72 minutes, I still found myself looking at my watch waiting for the end.

Sleepwalking Land
This film looks good and had some good elements, but just didn't work for me. I found it's narrative too clunky, too contrived. The dynamics between the actors just didn't seem quite right and I couldn't believe in the story.

Momma's Man
Low budget indie US film-making that aspires for the transcendence of Old Joy, replete with subtle political messages. Not bad, but doesn't achieve Old Joy's peaks.

Katyn
Wow, this film packs a punch. It looks great (with the same cinematographer from Polanski's The Pianist and Oliver Twist). Like other Polish films I've liked (including others by Wajda and also early Kieslowski), there's historical and political references that may seem a little oblique to non-Polish audiences. If anything, that only piques my interest to learn more about them. Perhaps more of a problem, though, are some of the relationship dynamics that I didn't completely work out - it'll take another viewing to clarify some of them for me.

Nonetheless, this is a powerful film that was clearly a very personal project - it depicts the World War 2 massacre that took the life of Wajda's own father and clearly impacted not just many of the films he has made, but his whole life. It certainly shows that the Soviets were not benevolent dictators but rather treacherous murderers who colluded with the Nazis for their own ends. Massively popular in Poland and that's country's entry for this year's Oscars, hopefully it will get a local release. This was the first stand-out film at the festival for me.

The Pope's Toilet
An enjoyable enough dark comedy that captures the social and cultural life of poverty in an Uruguayan village as it prepares for the visit of the Pope. The ending is somewhat predictable but it's the journey that is more satisfying.

The Death of Mister Lazarescu
This is the kind of film I want to see at a festival, or any time for that matter. A film like this would never be made in the West, yet it is as universal as any film could be. Who would think a story that follows an obsese and drunken slob through the last hours of his existence could be so compelling? With long takes, the film has a documentary look and feel very similar to 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, my favourite cinema release of 2007.

The film is an damning indictment, not just of Romanian bureaucracy, but of the failings of hospitals everywhere. In all its minute detail and documenting of hospital admissions, I could see no material difference between how we operate here on the other side of the globe in a much more affluent society. Perhaps the only departure from Australian society is that we could more reliably expect an ambulance when needed.

Like 4 Months, this film has a fly-on-the-wall feel to it, as we get a glimpse into this poor man's life: how he lives, what is family situation is, who his neighbours are and how his addiction to alcohol is about to lead to a descent into bureaucratic hell as he is shunted from one hospital to another. Must-see cinema at its finest!

Night and Day
Pardon me now, and for the rest of my mini-reviews of MIFF films, if I become repetitive in my use of the term "quietly satisfying". For that is how I found this film, as I did with the director's Woman on the Beach, which screened at MIFF last year. A Korean guy flees to Paris to avoid possible arrest for possession of marijuana. Not seeking to absorb French life in any way, he simply bides his time and we see a foreigner's experience of Paris as he hooks up with various compatriots. While I've been a little disappointed with my overall selection of films so far, this one is enjoyable and - wait for it - quietly satisfying.

Private Lessons
I should not have gone into this film with the high expectations I did. But I couldn't help it: after the director's magnificent Private Property, my favourite film at last year's French Film Festival, this is one of only two films that this year I decided I must see. It is not a bad film, but lacks something that his early film had.

Both films have a common theme: boys growing up without their fathers. While Private Property was extremely restrained and understated, Private Lessions goes for the jugular and puts to the fore, transgression that is only hinted at in Private Property. The film looks good and has some good elements. I think it lacks subtlety. Perhaps after Christophe Honoré's Ma mère (My Mother), it is a little too predictable and a little too contrived. Still, if you like transgressive and challenging cinema, this is a good film to see.

40 x 15: The 40 Forty Years of the Directors' Fortnight
I suppose this is a reasonable festival selection considering the Directors' Fortnight stream at this year's MIFF. It was interesting enough, but nothing compelling that says you've gotta go out and see it. It covers how the DF came into being, its rocky history and where it is now.

Ashes of Time Redux
This film is all style and very little substance. It's a story in the vein of Zhang Yimou's martial arts spectaculars though with Wong Kar Wai's vivid and impressionistic visuals. I found the story very confusing and would need to see it again to understand it better, but there's no way I'd want to see it again, regardless of how good it looks. There's some good humour there, especially the way the film at times resembles or emulates the American Western genre. For me, the film is meh.

My Marlon and Brando
An interesting film that is not spectacular in any way but holds much interest for its depiction of a Turkish woman who tries to travel to Kurdish Iraq to hook up with her lover. It's 2003 and the US has just invaded Iraq, and she has to go via Iran. What I found most compelling was the difference in social mores as she travelled from one country to another. Turkey is really progressive compared to some of the places she went.

Taipei Story
I found this disappointing after all the hype surrounding Edward Yang. The film is austere, with minimal dialogue or narrative exposition. Generally, this is a quality I admire and it's on display in a MIFF film I liked a lot more, The Death of Mister Lazarescu. In Taipei Story, I found it kept me confused for way too long and I failed to understand the nature of the relationships between some of the central characters.