Festival of German Films 2010 - 2

It's been a Fatih Akin blitz this week, having watched his new comedy and two older films - a music documentary and his dramatic feature debut. I've also revisited The White Ribbon, the must-see film of the festival (though it has a cinematic release just after). All up, there's six films reviewed.

• Soul Kitchen (Fatih Akin, Germany, 2009)
• Das Weiße Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (The White Ribbon, Michael Haneke, Austria, 2009)
• Aimée & Jaguar (Max Färberböck, Germany, 1999)
• Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul (Fatih Akin, Germany/Turkey, 2005)
  
• Kurz und schmerzlos (Short Sharp Shock, Fatih Akin, Germany, 1998)
• Die Päpstin (Pope Joan, Sönke Wortmann, Germany/UK/Italy/Spain, 2009)
  

Soul Kitchen
While Fatih Akin's latest film, a comedy called Soul Kitchen, is being described as very different to his earlier works, it has much in common with his first film, Short Sharp Shock in terms of place, characters and themes. In both films we see signs for Altona, a suburb of Hamburg that appears to crime-ridden and rundown. The restaurant in Soul Kitchen's title looks much like wharf warehouses we see in the earlier film. Adam Bousdoukos plays a petty crim in the earlier film, and the lead in Soul Kitchen, while Moritz Bleibtreu takes on a role similar to Bousdoukos' in the earlier film. And crime and trying to get ahead (honestly for some, by any means for others) are themes in common to both.

Bousdoukos' role in Short Sharp Shock provided welcome comic relief to a fairly dark story - in this film the comedy takes front row and he play a fairly boofhead sort of role that, despite the somewhat slapstick element, works quite well because of the authenticity of both his role and that of Bleibtreu, who plays his brother recently released from prison on day-release. Bleibtreu's performance is particularly effective, given that he has no Greek background yet channels the characteristics perfectly. I was a bit surprised at how well he resembled both in appearance and behaviour some of my in-laws.

Birol Ünel played an acclaimed role in Akin's Head On (which I have yet to see). In Soul Kitchen, he plays my favourite character - a chef, somewhat like the soup Nazi in Seinfeld - and we don't see enough of him. I like that despite making a light comedy, Akin uses heavy-weight actors like Ünel and Bleibtreu who play it largely straight, while the comedy is in how the story is constructed.

There's actually a lot going on in the story, which I won't detail here. It becomes quite convoluted and one doesn't have to be too astute to see some of the set-ups with the array of characters. The mood of the film is instantly upbeat from the start and never really lets up for its duration. Akin obviously has a fascination with music (his 2005 music documentary Crossing the Bridge is also screening at the festival) and I was impressed with how well a very diverse range of music styles is incorporated into the film.

As someone keen to see more of Akin's films (there's three at the festival and I've now seen them all), the film is definitely worth seeing. However, it's more of a curiosity and I much prefer his more dramatic work. I think the biggest mistake in the film is an overt sex scene which pretty much rules this film out as suitable for children - it's actually a little gratuitous and quite unnecessary. Otherwise, the comedic elements would have made it good for children. This film should appeal to a more mainstream arthouse audience (ie, Palace, etc), and it opens in cinemas on 6 May.

The White Ribbon
As I wrote in my FoGF preview, this was my favourite film at MIFF last year and, outside of the pressure cooker environment of MIFF, it was a joy to revisit it. This time I made more of an effort to follow which children belong to which families, to try to get a better handle on the intrigue. Haneke films frequently raise more questions than they answer, and he provides all the keys to unlock the mysteries he creates, but it's never simple at first glance.

While the film is relatively long (144 minutes) and even though there are long Haneke-signature static takes, it is always compelling. The camera's dwelling on a door while we hear what's on the other side of it is just a beautiful thing to behold. I noticed on this viewing how well constructed and edited the film is. Haneke quite cleverly and seamlessly blends one scene with children into another. It actually taxes the audience and one is forced to take mental count. I love a film that involves the audience, that doesn't hand things on a silver platter and make one work for it.

The film's elderly narrator in the present (one of the young characters in the story) makes a lovely comment at the start - what we are seeing cannot be entirely trusted because the truth is obscured over time. It adds uncertainty to a story which - even based on what we see - is already uncertain. At one stage, we see this character questioning another as to why he is engaged in risky behaviour. The answer to this question might offer insight into some of the mysteries that unfold, but the other's silence frustrates his pursuit of the truth. The whole film is like a 'whodunnit' where we try to solve these mysteries. And yet, that's not really what the film is about - it's really a parable about the nature of people, the causes of evil culminating in two world wars, and ultimately an examination of current world events - all without a mention of war. This is my kind of film - one of the three best to be released in theatres for the year so far (the others being A Prophet and Animal Kingdom, opening in June). The White Ribbon opens in cinemas on 6 May.

Aimée & Jaguar
This moving 1999 film is part of the festival's 'Berlin Based' stream and was followed by a Q&A with the author of the non-fiction book (Erica Fischer) that the film is based on. It's about a woman whose soldier husband is absent and who takes a lover that is not only a woman but a Jew. The story is so fantastic that, were it not true (and reportedly accurate), one might have trouble swallowing it.

I don't recall seeing any Holocaust depictions in Germany during the war. There have been many films from many countries depicting the subject and I always assumed that Jews were pretty much eliminated from Germany - or the cities at least - by the time the early stages of World War II had commenced. Certainly there was a nasty round-up of Jews well before that time in Germany. So it came as a surprise to me to see that Jews were still very much a part of a clandestine life in Berlin so late during the war (late 1944).

The cinematography is excellent, giving a strong feel for the period and the performances are mostly good. The story seems just a little melodramatic at times.

The author of the book, Erica Fischer, fielded questions after the screening. She mentioned that there were some elements of the story she wasn't entirely happy with but accepted the director's discretion in changing some details to make the story more cinematic. She said that the dialogue is very true to the book. She made up some of the dialogue in the book, but it's all based on interviews she did with the real-life Lilly Wust (d. 2006) and research she did on historical documents. The film is mostly concerned with the relationship between Wust and Felice Schragenheim, but the book contains much historic material such as photographs and documents.

Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul
I really enjoyed this Fatih Akin music documentary. Perhaps in tracing his own ethnic roots, Akin is exploring the soul of the city of Istanbul. Music is clearly important to him, and he treats the subject with much respect in this film. Many artists of various styles - traditional, modern and in-between - are depicted and interviewed. There is much crossover or fusion between styles and it's quite moving to see rap artists talk with respect about pop artists. Or the meaning and significance of their work. Rap in Turkey, for example, eschews the gansta elements of American rap and is more interested in contemporary social and political issues. The film is not particularly coherent in telling a story, but works as a sort of map of the different styles and influences in Istanbul.

Short Sharp Shock
This is Fatih Akin's feature debut and has a lot in common with the Australian film, Cedar Boys. Gabriel (of Turkish background) has just got out of prison and hooks up with his petty thieving mates Costa (Greek) and Bobby (Serbian). Bobby wants to go big-time and work for the Albanian mafia while Gabriel wants to go straight and maybe return to his homeland.

As mentioned above, Costa provides some light relief to what is fairly dark material - not surprising given it's a film by Fatih Akin, and this early piece shows all the hallmarks that he has mastered in his more recent films. Akin also has a cameo role as a drug dealer (that's him on the right in the photo), also as a bit of light relief.

Akin's films always seem to be on the go, with a lot of energy and music to match. This is quite an ambitious debut, grabbing quite a lot of dramatic elements - there are various dynamics with sisters and girlfriends complicating matters, parents and religion, and of course multiple ethnicities. The various ethnicities of the three mates were almost irrelevant in the sense that these guys bonded regardless, and is very reminiscent of major Australian cities (certainly mine, Melbourne).

Having seen Akin's more recent work first, I come to this film from a different perspective than someone who saw this one first. I still think that I would have liked it for its themes and it definitely signposted the talent that has further developed. It's a very worthwhile film.

Pope Joan
The audience seemed to be enjoying this film, laughing in all the right places, etc. It looks very nice as a period film (9th Century Europe) and has an impressive international cast (including David Wenham in a significant role). But it did nothing for me and I could tell pretty much from the start that I wasn't going to like it (but I tried, I swear!).

The biggest problems for me were a lack of subtlety, over-theatrics and plausibility. The story is about a woman who pretends to be a man and becomes the Pope. The director, who answered questions afterwards, said he believed the story may be based on truth, but now doubts it. I think it's highly implausible, and the way much of the story panned out required a pretty big stretch in suspending disbelief.

I really didn't like the way characters were almost caricatures. It betrays a distrust in an audience's ability to perceive the obvious, that everything has to be spelt out in huge letters, so to speak. A father isn't just unreasonable, he's not just brutal, but he's massively brutal. Bad guys looked like bad guys, really bad guys. And so it continued throughout the film, and it all felt so theatrical - actors performing on a stage. But that's me, and a mainstream audience will lap it up.

Looking at both this film and Visions, and seeing what a black history the Church has, one has to question why any sane person would want to be part of such an organisation. So much of its history has been founded on violence and treachery.

Cross-posted on Club Troppo

The Week in Review - 18/4/10

Another week heavy with film - the stand-out is Man with a Movie Camera which screened at Melbourne Cinémathèque on Wednesday, an amazing film given it's place in history. Starting this week is a three-week season of films by (and one about) Jacques Demy, which I'm looking forward to - I've seen none of his work. My reviews of the two German films listed below can be found on my preview of the Festival of German Films.

FILMS:

• Greenberg (Noah Baumbach, USA, 2010)
• A Serious Man (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, USA/UK/France, 2009)
• Good Hair (Jeff Stilson, USA, 2009)
• Madeo (Mother, Bong Joon-ho, South Korea, 2009)
• Chelovek s kino-apparatom (Man with a Movie Camera, Dziga Vertov, USSR, 1929)
• Aelita (Yakov Protazanov, USSR, 1924)
• Le concert (The Concert, Radu Mihaileanu, France/Italy/Romania/Belgium, 2009)

DVD/BLU-RAY*:

• Sturm (Storm, Hans-Christian Schmid, Germany/Denmark/Netherlands, 2009)
• Vision - Aus dem Leben der Hildegard von Bingen (Vision, Margarethe von Trotta, Germany/France, 2009)
• *Nikita (La Femme Nikita, Luc Besson, France/Italy, 1990)
• In Bruges (Martin McDonagh, UK/USA, 2008)
  

Greenberg
I prefer this latest Baumbach film to his previous Margot at the Wedding (which I found a bit dull) but not as much as The Squid and the Whale, which I think more compellingly captured some home truths. This latest film seems to aspire in part with mumblecore, particularly with the character of Florence (played wonderfully by Greta Gerwig), the themes of adult lack of direction in life, and perhaps alluded to by the appearance of mumblecore wunderkind Mark Duplass. But it's not really mumblecore per se, as Greenberg (Ben Stiller in a solid and welcome serious role) is in his forties, as are his friends. And the heavy use of soundtrack music also gives it a different aesthetic.

I like that the film is nuanced and demonstrates Baumbach's eye for details within dysfunctional relationships. Given that the titular character has recently spent time in a psychiatric institution, it's not quite as universal a story as Baumbach's previous films. What is universal getting to a point in life and realising that things have not gone to plan, and of opportunities lost.

Baumbach is a thoughtful film-maker and has a take on life that for me is real. There's an underlying truthfulness to his films, one that many of his compatriots are not prepared to handle so frankly. Yet this film doesn't fully grab me. I would have preferred the film give more time to Gerwig's role. Stiller performs surprisingly convincingly, given the puerile material he normally works with, but his deliberately unlikeable character lacks something - there's a kind of monotony to it whereby he's going nowhere, though that seems to be the point of the role. This film will likely appeal mostly to fans of Baumbach, mumblecore and Stiller.

A Serious Man
This screened as part of double feature with Greenberg at Nova. I can see how they make good companion pieces, but I don't understand why (1) Greenberg is getting advance screenings as a double, (2) the advance screenings are over the course of a week and not just a weekend, (3) the film has no confirmed release date, and (4) it's screening only during the day (when most people are at work). Though I'd seen A Serious Man already and have it on Blu-ray, I decided to stay and see it again on the big screen.

I noticed a lot of small details that I missed on first screening, but otherwise, I don't think I gleaned much that I didn't on first viewing. The Yiddish story at the beginning remains my favourite part and the main story to me seems to be all about the Jewish identity, and the indefinable aspects of Jewish culture. I love that the Rabbis are very matter-of-fact as opposed to a false saintliness that their Christian counterparts often assume. I'll have to watch this again on the Blu-ray with the extras.

Good Hair
I wasn't going to see this documentary at ACMI, but changed my mind after the missus showed me the Chris Rock clip from YouTube below. It has nothing to do with Good Hair, but it demonstrated to me how intelligent and insightful Rock is.

Good Hair is about black American women's obsession with their hair and the lengths they go to in order to have "good hair", i.e., like Asian or European women's hair. Rock ensures the material is always entertaining without allowing his personality to shadow the material. It effectively presents information that should surprise audiences, for example, how much these women spend on hair products, how widespread their obsessions are, and what these products are made from and where they are sourced.

I've read criticisms that the film isn't balanced but I don't think a documentary necessarily has to have a counter view to be worthy. Rock presents various pieces of information, clearly has his own view, but leaves it to both his subjects and audience to make up their own mind. It's definitely worth a look.

The following clip is for my pleasure, and if you like it too, that's a bonus. Here's Chris Rock in full-flight stand-up.

..

Mother
There was a lot of buzz about this film coming out of MIFF last year and I was happy to catch it out of the pressure-cooker environment of a major festival, which gives one a bit more space to appreciate it. There's been comparisons to Hitchcock and others and they're all valid. The film looks nice, confounds expectations quite cleverly (but not too cleverly) and is definitely worth seeing. Like Bong's previous film, I like it, but not as much as others seem to. Kudos to the Nova cinema for giving it a chance to find a non-festival audience. The Nova has so many screenings these days that no-one else is supporting, so in support of diversity, it behooves us to support these small-run screenings so that Nova keeps putting them on.

Man with a Movie Camera
This is one of the most amazing silent-era films I've seen, a veritable masterpiece. I had no idea that cinema was so introspective and developed at such an early stage. Vertov sets out to prove that cinema is an art distinct from literature and theatre by proclaiming that this film includes no sets, no inter-titles and no actors (with a brief exception). The film is mostly documentary in form, but not entirely. It has elements that are socially anthropological and it is also self-reflexive, including elements that are about the process of making a film. The array of techniques on display is awesome and puts Paul Greengrass to shame (hand-held doesn't have to look like shit).

Watching it at Cinémathèque, I was frequently reminded of social realist and essay films such as the works of Agnès Varda, Chris Marker and others. I imagine this film would have been treasured by the early social realist movement in Australia, who were largely influenced by Soviet cinema and communism.

I was also amazed at how Russian society at that time looked almost indistinguishable from say American society, with all the trappings of bourgeois life - bikinis, hair salons, dressing up, art deco artwork and architecture, etc. Equally fascinating is Vertov's presumed intention of capturing the seemingly banal; he must have known that this would document a particular place and time. It's focus on machinery in action is reminiscent of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, made two years earlier. Of course, what may appear banal today, is not necessarily banal even in the near future. I thought this title was available from Criterion but can't find it online. I'd like to get this on DVD or (preferably) Blu-ray. If anyone can point me in the right direction, that'd be great.

Aelita
I was getting pretty tired by the time this first Russian sci-fi (silent) film screened at Cinémathèque. It's worth seeing if one has the chance, particularly on the big screen, but it didn't engage me anywhere near as much as Man with a Movie Camera. It's futuristic sets also remind one of Metropolis, but was made three years before.

The Concert
This comedic drama (or dramatic comedy) has a central conceit that is basically an impossible premise (though the director claims it is based partly on factual incidents). One's ability to enjoy the film is - initally, at least - dependent on one's ability to suspend disbelief, which shouldn't be a problem for the mainstream audience it targets. A former orchestra conductor for the Bolshoi Orchestra witholds an invitation by the Chantelet Theatre, and brings together all his old friends from the Soviet era to perform in Paris in place of the actual orchestra.

There is social and political parody of the Soviet era, which Mihaileanu allows the audience to absorb without feeling they're being preached to. The film's first third is largely slapstick and enjoyable enough, though a bit formulaic. The middle is a bit flat before the film really kicks into gear, when the luminous Mélanie Laurent charismatically consumes the screen (as she always does). Along with the wonderful musical element, the film surprisingly grabs the audience in a way I didn't expect, and it had me in tears. Mind you, Mihaileanu's more serious Live and Become also had a similar effect on me. This film is clearly aimed at the Palace demographic and I imagine it will be well-received. It's not must-see for cinephiles, but it's not bad fun either. It opens in cinemas on 29 April.

Nikita
I was pleasantly surprised to find that this Luc Besson film stands up quite well after twenty years. It was the first French film I saw that emulated Hollywood blockbusters and I thought it had an edginess that Hollywood lacks. On this second viewing, my observation was that the film shifts between cartoonish violence not so different to a good James Bond film (and it's been a long time since there's been a good one of those) and drama in which the character development and actor performances are just so real. Small details, like Nikita's torn nylons and bleeding leg for example, are a nice touch that Hollywood would normally gloss over. These elements give the film gravitas that one doesn't usually associate with the genre.

Like my recent viewing of Besson's Léon, I had a lot of fun watching this. The film introduces us to Victor (Jean Reno) who re-surfaces as Léon in a full-bodied role in Léon. Nikita was remade by Hollywood, with Bridget Fonda as the lead, but I couldn't bring myself to see it.

In Bruges
Looks good, good characters, good fun. And lots of profanity. Not much else to say. Except that it's nice to see Ralph Fiennes playing something other than a broody, whiny prick.

The Most Dangerous Man in America

The Most Dangerous Man in America:
Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Judith Ehrlich/Rick Goldsmith, USA, 2009
Errol Morris' The Fog of War is a brilliant study of the principals of war and how the US went wrong with its policies in the Vietnam War, as enunciated by its chief architect, Robert McNamara, with parallels applicable to the current Afghanistan/Iraq conflict. The Most Dangerous Man in America is a complementary study from the perspective of Daniel Ellsberg, a Vietnam War strategist who worked under McNamara and was involved in research that was used to justify the war. This is no small story, because the actions of Ellsberg in 1971, when he leaked 7,000 pages of top secret documents to the New York Times and other newspapers, are linked to the Watergate scandal and the ultimate demise of President Richard Nixon.

The film's title are derived from Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's description of Ellsberg and the Nixon tapes reveal the then President's contempt for who he considered a traitor. The story is fascinating and it's a wonder that a Hollywood rendition was never made in the mould of say, All the President's Men. The film works cinematically on two levels: firstly, the transformation of Ellsberg from a war hawk to dove and secondly, the suspense as the protagonist goes underground and evades a national hunt for him.

Ellsberg was a marine and later served in Vietnam in order to get first-hand understanding of the war. As a researcher for the government, he had access to policy documents that proved that what was being said in public to justify the war were bald-faced lies that spanned four presidencies. The refusal to abandon the war was clearly to do with a loss of national pride than anything else. As the film unfolds, it's clear that the story has universal application, with relevance to current conflicts. And not just the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Just look at the train bombings in Moscow and the immediate political rhetoric. Politicians say what needs to be said, and what needs to be said is rarely the truth, anywhere in the world (Australia included).

Ellsberg's integrity and personality are most impressive - few would take the personal risks that he did, and there's no doubt he paid a tremendous price for his actions. He was charged with various offenses and became a pariah within his professional circle. He was branded a traitor and "the most dangerous man in America". Apparently Errol Morris contemplated the story for his first feature documentary, and eventually gave his blessings and a 500-page interview. Ultimately, the events depicted in the film led to important precedents confirming First Amendment rights to publish information significant to the people's understanding of government policy.

An aspect of the film that I find most fascinating is that even though it's a struggle to reveal the truth, that's only the start. Ellsberg handed the press the story of the century, but that didn't mean the truth was going to prevail. Rather, the struggle had only just begun. We see that today also. Everyone knows that the war in Iraq was predicated on lies, but we're still there. It reminds me of a faux-documentary, Imamura's A Man Vanishes (1967) in which the audience ultimately learns the story is false but, because the artifice continues, we get sucked back into the fiction. People "want to believe", they want to believe in their leaders and it's often too confronting to accept the truth and then act on it. This film raises all these quandaries.

The story is very well told and it's fascinating in both the context of the period it documents and the contemporary parallels. It has won various international awards and was nominated for the Oscars for best documentary feature. It has an exclusive screening at the Nova from 8 April - highly recommended.

The Week in Review - 28/3/10

The offerings at the cinema are so thin at the moment. I did a bit of research and worked out a few films worth seeing at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, but couldn't work any of them into my schedule. Weekends I've been busy with family and weekdays the screenings just haven't been convenient times. So, I've resorted to DVD: three of them this week.

FILMS:

• A Single Man (Tom Ford, USA, 2009)
• Daguerréotypes (Agnès Varda, France/West Germany, 1975)
• Yo también (Me, Too, Alvaro Pastor/Antonio Naharro, Spain, 2009)
  
• How to Train Your Dragon (Dean DeBlouis/Chris Sanders, USA, 2010)

DVD:

• The Terminator (James Cameron, USA/UK, 1984)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (James Cameron, USA/France, 1991)
• Funny Ha Ha (Andrew Bujalski, USA, 2002)

A Single Man
I was planning not to see this film, because the trailer gave the impression that Firth was reprising his glum role in Winterbottom's effective though unremarkable Genova. However, reading Lynden Barber's post on the film, I decided to give it a try and wasn't disappointed.

Yes, Firth is reprising that role, more or less. People have raved about his performance, which is perhaps the best I've seen him - not that that's saying much because he normally imitates a door. Too much is made of an actor's ability to induce tears before the camera. It might be impressive, but it sometimes becomes little more than a party trick (and I'm thinking of Penelope Cruz here).

In this film's case, the acting is fine. What makes the film so watchable, however, is all to do with the film's construct and style and less to do with the acting. I kept thinking of Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - the unconventional approach to how the image is framed and how the story is constructed. The visuals all serve to suck you into the emotions of the story. I don't think it's a substantial film, but definitely worth watching for its unconventionality. It could be accused of style over substance, but I'd say the style is the substance.

Link: Audio interview with Tom Ford

Daguerréotypes
Agnès Varda, documentary, need I say more? The micro-level capturing of a local community, of a life-style perhaps long gone is rivetting. It mirrors thousands or perhaps millions of similar experiences world-wide. I love this woman's work and will jump at any opportunity to see more of it on the big screen. It screened at Melbourne Cinémathèque.

Me, Too
This is the opening night film of La Mirada Film Festival, my favourite Melbourne festival after MIFF and the French Film Festival. It's a curious film in its own right, and moreso as an opening night film - in fact, I'd call that gutsy programming. It blends elements of romantic comedy and black comedy, but is mostly social drama made in a manner that is accessible for a relatively mainstream audience.

Me, Too is unashamedly an 'issue' film, championing the cause of those with Down Syndrome. The story largely follows Daniel (Pablo Pineda) who starts his first job at age 34 in a government social services agency having just completed his university degree. The film challenges preconceptions of those with the condition. The actor factually has it and yet is able to effectively portray the intellect, characteristics and abilities of such a person. It's an impressive accomplishment and certainly challenged my notions.

Laura (Lola Dueñas) is a co-worker with issues of her own that form a tangential story. Both characters are social misfits of very different sorts, and very different backgrounds. While their pairing, so to speak, adds a populist slant to the film, it also serves to further challenge the audience, and there's some anticipation where their relationship might or might not go.

I don't think I'm quite the target audience for Me, Too but found it quite enjoyable nonetheless and appreciated the challenging nature of the story. It's quite ambitious, which is a good thing, but leaves the director with quite a number of threads to manage at the end, which gives the film a slightly overlong ending.

Me, Too opens the La Mirada Film Festival on Thursday 1 April at ACMI. The festival runs to 11 April.

How to Train Your Dragon
This is quite a likeable film, if you're part of the target market. My 9 year old son has read five of the books in the series and he thoroughly enjoyed it. It's not completely faithful to the source material, but is true to the spirit (on his say so - I've not read any of them). I like that the film doesn't market itself on any 'name' actors. The voice actors are all thoroughly competent and enjoyable without a single Tom Hanks, Mike Myers, George Clooney, Cameron Diaz or Miley Cyrus among them - thank god. I usually find the use of celebrities for voice actors a distraction.

This is a Dreamworks production, so you know it's going to be fairly conventional and mainstream. It's full of cliches, but that's not a negative. It is aimed at fans of the book and its lovely visuals don't disappoint - some of the scenes are quite reminiscent of Avatar. For what it's worth, my son gives it five out of five stars, but in his words, "dragons are my favourite fantasy creature". I think it's a good film for primary school age children and younger, and parents should find it enjoyable enough.

The Terminator
I first watched this on video in the early 90s and was struck by the power of the story, and still am. Much has dated in the film, but not necessarily to its detriment. The clothing, hair, makeup, music and colloquialisms all reveal a certain period. The film's special effects are the most dated, but I'm inclined to cut some slack here, because the film has to be looked at in context of time. Just like King Kong (1933) - the SFX are a joke by today's standards, but because the story is so good, and the film employs the best technology of its time, there's a certain reverence one may have for it (well, I do).

Arnie and Linda Hamilton are both so young in this flick, and little is done to Arnie to endear him to us. His hair style is terrible and basically he's just an unstoppable killing machine. There's something particularly terrifying about his character, a cyborg that will stop at nothing, neither bullets, fire nor explosions. His is a primal stereotype, the stuff of nightmares, more like the stuff of the horror genre - like say a zombie or vampire, only scarier. Perhaps this is one of the reasons this story works so well - it combines science fiction with drama, action, suspense and its own brand of horror. As Sarah Connor says, you could go crazy thinking about the logic (because ultimately the logic of it fails), but it's a great concept nonetheless.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Perhaps it's my 52" flat screen television, or my improved powers of observation because this film - long my favourite in the genre (action/SFX/sci-fi) - betrayed flaws I hadn't seen previously. Mind you, it's been many years since I saw this last. The technology has dated compared to what's currently available to film-makers, but it still holds up extremely well. Unlike similar types of films today, the SFX are used gratuitously, in a showy manner to showcase the technology without necessarily furthering the narrative. Hollow Man (2000) is a classic example of this.

In T2, Cameron employs the technology sparingly, only when needed. The story is always first and when the SFX appear, they are so organic to the narrative that one can't help but be impressed and absorbed in what's transpiring.

With what's available now, the SFX in T2 are not as impressive now, and one can see the 'seams' that weren't so obvious nearly twenty years ago. Like Arnie's character cutting his arm, or the face damaged by bullets (sometimes it's his face with prosthetics over the top, other times it's actually a mask).

Watching both Terminator films back-to-back (and for me, the franchise ends with the second), the humour stands out in spite of the terror. Both films have parallel trajectories and often parallel incidents. For example, Arnie appears first in both (obviously a trick in the second), getting clothes from punks in the first and bikies in the second. When Arnie throws the bikie onto the stove, it's like the blackest of black humour to see this guy burning himself. Yet when we next see Arnie in his clothes, they're all immaculate, like they're straight off the racks, all to the tune of "Bad to the Bone". It's quite a blast, really.

For the integrity of the franchise, they really should have stopped at 2. I saw 3 and it was just a shadow of the originals, milking blood out of a stone. I didn't even bother with Terminator Salvation. T2 is a very rare example of a sequel bettering the original, though on these viewings, I thought that T1 has bridged some of the gap. When I want to see a blockbuster, this is how I like to see them done.

Funny Ha Ha
This Bujalski film is reputedly the first of what is now known as mumblecore, a so-called movement of independent film-making. It seems to borrow heavily from the aesthetics, narrative style and low-budgets of John Cassavetes' work as well as the so-called Dogme school (without the rules). I can't say I'm a big fan of some Dogme but I do love Cassavetes' films. Unsurprisingly, the elements of the film that seem to borrow more from Dogme bother me while the strengths of the film have more in common with Cassavetes.

The devices that initially gave me reservations are the deliberate camera shake, the sometimes poor sound and the unusual framing characters often have part or all of their heads cut off. These were initially distracting but as the story and character development unfolded, I developed some empathy and emotional engagement and the distraction reduced. It didn't go away completely, but I started thinking about what is Bujalski trying to achieve.

Is it a variation of cinéma vérité, where we're taking a fly-on-the-wall perspective, as if we're present but obscured to the characters in some way? Or is Bujalski skewing the camera, in a sense like what Hal Hartley does with his camera rotations, albeit differently - in this case pointing the camera down slightly? Is he challenging the audience, and its conventional expectations of how a picture should look? Or just being different, to differentiate himself? Or trying to create a different aesthetic, consciously emulating Dogme? Maybe it's a bit of all of the above. I reserve my judgements for now and would like more exposure to mumblecore in general and Bujalski in particular.

I find it hard to believe that the sound could not have been better, without too much cost or effort. This appears to be an example of true guerilla film-making (ie, making it as cheaply and quickly as possible) and/or it's deliberately compromising (ie, reducing) the quality at times to disguise the genuine flaws.

The grainy 16mm film has a nice grungy aesthetic, and despite the high level of emotional honesty and social realism, some care has gone into the visuals with the use of colour and frame composition that I found enjoyable to watch. The story itself is well told. We follow Marnie, a 24 year old who loses her job, pines for someone who seems just out of reach and basically is struggling to find her place in an adult world. She parties and hangs out with her friends but, despite her attractiveness (think Natalie Portman), appears onely and confused. I don't think its fair to call this a slacker film, partly because the characters are not true slackers and partly because of the degree of realism is so Cassavetes-esque (think of the part that alcohol plays in his films).

I like that such an engaging film can be made on clearly a very low budget - perhaps some will find it too much like a student film. I also like that it addresses the very real and contemporary concerns of a particular demographic, which unsurprisingly is the demographic of the director (who plays a not insignificant role in the film, as a potential love interest), namely the early to mid twenties. In this sense, it serves as a kind of document, a documentary-like film very much unlike anything typically made about or for this demographic.

The film has a chastity you mightn't expect. Love and yearning are a strong theme, and mixed with excesses in alcohol, one wouldn't be too surprised where this could leave. There is no explicit sex or sexuality and little more than a kiss on-screen. The use of profanity is also very minimal, an element that is all the more noticeable when it occasionally occurs. This is much more representative of the middle-America it depicts than the populist Hollywood cinema that wildly exaggerates profanity. While we in Australia think we know American culture through TV and cinema, the real America does not engage in public cussing and sex as depicted in the media.

I did watch Bujalski's Mutual Appreciation on the (very) big screen at the Astor a while ago, but didn't appreciate it at the time (pun not intended) - perhaps my consequent discovery of Cassavetes helps me to better understand his work now. I thought this film might be a bit raw (aesthetically) for the missus, but she also likes it. For now, I hold on to my above-mentioned reservations about mumblecore and look forward to discovering more. Funny Ha Ha seems like a good place to start. It offers hope that a new generation of 'indie' film-makers is emerging.

The Week in Review - 13/12/09

FILMS:

• The Intruder (Roger Corman, USA, 1962)
• The March (James Blue, 30 mins, USA, 1964)
• Istoriya Asi Klyachinoy, kotoraya lyubila, da ne vyshla zamuzh (Asya's Happiness, Andrei Konchalovsky, USSR, 1966)
• Katok i skripka (The Steamroller & the Violin, Andrei Tarkovsky, USSR, 1961)
• Avatar (James Cameron, USA, 2009)
• American Dreamer (L.M. Kit Carson, Lawrence Schiller, USA, 1971)
• The Last Movie (Dennis Hopper, USA, 1971)

The Intruder
I'm not familiar with the work of Roger Corman, who I'm told was a prolific B-grade film maker. This piece is pretty much also a B-grade film, but one with a message - one of racial tolerance that highlights the hatefulness of those who opposed racial integration in America in the early 1960s. It's a blast to see a young William Shatner in an early role as a political antagonist, who arrives in a town to fan the flames of racial hatred. The film doesn't feel significant artistically, but fascinating for both the subject, the context within the Hopper season at ACMI, and the casting of Shatner.

The March
This film is notable for including, in its entirety, Martin Luther King's famous "I had a dream" speech outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC in 1968. It is not an exceptional documentary in any way, concerning itself largely with the small details of ordinary people making their way to the Freedom March. It is, however, an excellent companion piece to The Intruder - both films are concerned with charismatic speakers on opposing sides of the race issue. It's also very relevant as part of the Hopper season to setting the scene in terms of the social and political climate at the time of "the New Hollywood". Apparently Hopper also partook in the Freedom March and took many photographs at that time.

Asya's Happiness
Screening as part of the Melbourne Cinémathèque season on dissenting Soviet cinema from the 1960s, this film doesn't seem overly subversive at all. In fact, it pretty much just depicts bleak rural life as it was, and perhaps that is why it was banned for over twenty years. Perhaps anything that depicted the proletariat as anything but happy and satisfied was a threat to the former regime. The film has an almost documentary look and feel, perhaps partly because of the largely non-professional cast.

The Steamroller & the Violin
I don't have much to say about this early Tarkovsky film, other than to say it was of most interest to me to see another piece by this famed director.

Avatar
This film will do very well, no doubt about it, though it is over-hyped of course. Here's my initial random thoughts, just to get them down in words.

I'll preface my comments by saying that I don't like 3D and watching Avatar confirmed to me that the technology is a distraction. But this is also the best example of 3D that I've seen. The glasses are the lightest and the effects are easily the best. I decided pretty early in the film that I didn't want to focus too closely on the 3D effect, because it kept distracting me. At first it reminded me of the stereoscope glasses we had in our childhood, where something in the foreground appears to be in front of something in the background, much like a cut-out story book. This is especially so for the live action, which probably constitutes 10% or less of the film, which is mostly CGI animation.

All up, I'm glad I saw the film in 3D and it's quite a marvel to see how far it has come, especially with the animation which is of a very high quality. The film obviously toys with the cross-over between live action, animation and gaming. The creation of fantasy creatures is very inventive (though some stereotypes/cliches are obviously there, but I didn't have a problem with it as it comes with the territory). The visuals are both flawed and yet better than I expected. This is a film that needs to be seen on the giant screen at Melbourne Central or similar. I've never been to I-max, but that could be an amazing experience.

The film's blend of action, fantasy and yes, romance, gives it fairly wide appeal. Some of the issues it addresses are a bit overt - like environmentalism, alternative energy and the war on terror - but I didn't want to nitpick over that.

Giovani Ribisi, quite an OK actor in his native tongue, really irritates me in his English language roles, perhaps because he always plays a sleaze as he does in this film. In terms of actors, he is the weakest link. The colonel is an obvious stereotype and you can see where his role is going to go from the start, but it's all in a spirit of fun I suppose.

The film is quite a bit more violent than what I expected and while my 9yo enjoyed it (3.5 stars from him - and I expected he'd give it 4-5), it would be distressing for kids under 6 or 7.

Mostly, what I think the film achieves - nothing in narrative, of course - is that it has pushed the envelope in terms of technology. It's trying something different and deserves accolades and needs to be seen for that. Not that it has achieved the levels the hype leads us to believe. Maybe it will get credit in time to come as the turning point when it all started, but it's just not there yet.

I'm reading a series of books at the moment, the Books of Pellinor by Alison Croggon, who is the person that got me started at blogging. They're fantasy and very much in the vein of The Lord of the Rings. These books and Avatar have much in common thematically, as does The Matrix.

I might see the film again, but in 2D to see how it compares. Some impressive effects won't be there, but I'd like to just enjoy the film without the distraction.
4 stars from me.

American Dreamer
The American Dreamer highlights how out of it Hopper was at the time of making The Last Movie and it was just as incoherent as he was. It's only value for me was to demonstrate where Hopper was at and where the fringe of society was at, at that time. That's not insignificant, given that it helps to set the scene for the Hopper season of films. But as a film, it's pretty shit, at best.

The Last Movie
Not must-see, that's for sure, though the latter has more to engage one. Apparently Hopper made a cut for the studio for release then Jodorowsky got into his ear and Hopper made a wild director's cut, which is what screened today. I'd like to see the commercial cut, which was hardly distributed anyway, because the director's cut has interesting moments but is incoherent. It could be more watchable if it were put into a less jump cut version.

I have/had a friend who I recently lost to drugs. I say lost, not that he died, but that he's lost in a haze and that haze filters all his interactions and we can no longer relate because I don't take drugs. For me, the devastating effects of substance abuse are obvious, though my friend can't see it at all. Hopper was deep in such a haze when making The Last Movie and seems to have been suffering various delusions of grandeur and had intended profound meanings in the film that aren't obvious to the audience. To me, it's just lost, like Hopper once was.

The Week in Review - 25/10/09

Ah, my first week in review in a while. I still don't find I have the time to write as much as I'd like. And, for what it's worth, I installed Windows 7 today, so you can be sure that everything in my world will change for the better.

FILMS:

• The Box (Richard Kelly, USA, 2009)
• ... A Valparaíso (Joris Ivens, France, 1962)
• Les statues meurent assi (Statues Also Die, Chris Marker & Alain Resnais, France, 1953)
• La jetée (Chris Marker, France, 1962)
• Dimanche à Pekin (Sunday in Peking, Chris Marker, France, 1956)
• The Boys Are Back (Scott Hicks, Australia, 2009)
• Sonnensucher (Sun Seekers, Konrad Wolf, East Germany, 1958)

The Box
All of Richard Kelly's films have been ambitious. Donnie Darko was pretty much flawless for me. Southland Tales was admirable for its ambitiousness and I really enjoyed the quirkiness though it obviously wasn't as well received as Kelly's previous film. The Box puts Kelly back on track and is sure to be better received than Southland Tales, though it's also sure to confound some critics and audiences.

Think Donnie Darko, Southland Tales, X-Files, The Invaders and others I can't think of, all rolled into one, and you get an idea of what The Box is about. It's a blend of science fiction, thriller and fantasy, in many respects like Donnie Darko, ramped up with suspense, strange but not quirky like Southland Tales. The use of music is excellent and the score keeps the tension just right throught. It's 110 minutes long but it's engaging every step of the way.

The film cuts to different scenarios that create a rich tapestry of events but strangeness permeates them all. Something is not quite right and you wonder where this is going. I don't want to give anything away, so will just finish by saying I found the film very enjoyable and satisfying. I noticed that the film was shot in digital, though others I spoke to afterwards didn't notice. It's one of the best-looking examples of digital that I've seen, in fact, probably the best. Richard Kelly is a man with ideas.

Chris Marker season at Melbourne Cinémathèque
I was surprised at how effected I was by these simple films that were written and/or directed by Chris Marker. ... A Valparaíso is an amazing document of a unique port town in Chile. Life there at the time was amazing and I wonder how it is faring today. On paper, Statues Also Die has little to say and yet is strangely compelling, largely because of the clever narration. Marker clearly has a warped sense of humour, entwining irony and sarcasm, particularly evident in Sunday in Peking. La jetée is, of course, the film that inspired Gilliam's 12 Monkeys. That the film consists almost entirely of still images is a fascinating testament to the power of Marker's story-telling abilities. The dystopian imagery is still borrowed by science fiction today.

The Boys Are Back
I have a soft spot for Scott Hicks and, for many years, Shine was one of my favourite Australian films (perhaps it still is; I don't know without seeing it again). There's no doubt that he makes fine looking films but there's something about this latest one, competent that it is, just doesn't quite work for me. Maybe it's a bit flat dramatically, or just a bit too cliched. In general it's quite OK but it never really soars or breaks free from the ceiling it boxes itself into.

I've never really been a fan of Clive Owen. I've always found his acting wooden and unconvincing. It worked well in Children of Men where this was required, much like Keanu Reeves' role as Neo in Matrix. But while Owen's character in The Boys are Back similarly requires an emotionally stunted male, I find my old prejudices returning and thus Owen unconvincing. Maybe it's because he's too much of a 'star', too well-known. Maybe this makes it a plus for others and will draw them to the film. Maybe they will like it more than me. It's definitely a cut or two above the mediocre suburban dramas we've all grown to hate and criticise in recent years, and should be well-received by audiences both here and abroad (most likely the UK, because of the English element, and the BBC co-produced it). It's also adds positively to what is an exceptional year in local cinema (from a broader perspective). But it doesn't particular affect me or drag me into its world.

Sun Seekers
This is quite an extraordinary film for both its time and place. While we normally associate the Iron Curtain and film with images of smiling proletariat and beneficent leaders, this film is gutsy even by Hollywood standards of the day. Wolf shows how life was, pretty much in a matter-of-fact way, and no wonder it was banned. The film is amazing for its honest depictions of social depravity, political shenanigans and the friction that existed between the Germans and the Russians. The print was excellent quality and I look forward to seeing more of these films screening as part of ACMI's Focus on East German Cinema.

The Week in Review - 16/8/09

Illness is often the prime motivator for me to watch DVDs, and so this week I watched two. It was a very strange week, in which one day I thought I might die, and the next I was almost back to normal. As I wrote, not dead yet.

FILMS

• Tyson (James Toback, USA, 2008)
• Coraline (Henry Selick, USA, 2009)

DVDs

• Apache (Robert Aldrich, USA, 1954)
• L'avventura (The Adventure, Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy/France, 1960)

Tyson
Suffering post-MIFF film withdrawal, I had to see something on the big screen, but my need was not so bad that I would resort to most of the pulp screening at the moment. I figured I'd see this documentary that also screened at MIFF and it's not too bad at all. I'm not big on boxing by any stretch of the imagination but what makes this documentary so compelling is the honesty and introspectiveness of the film's subject.

Tyson is completely up-front about his inner world and what motivated him at different stages of his life. He fell into fighting out of fear of being attacked. He desired various things, the tokens of success. When he denies having raped the woman for whom he was convicted and jailed, he says it with the conviction of an innocent man. While I never admired the animalism of Tyson, I found him a character I could empathise with, which is quite an achievement by Toback.

Coraline 3D
The last time I saw a 3D movie, it was at the same Sun Theatre and it was again without knowing that the session was 3D. The initial response of myself and the missus was disappointment. Disappointment that it was costing $3 more per ticket and disappointment that we'd have to don those stupid bloody glasses. So how was the experience?

Well, you'd think that paying those extra dollars would get you a nice clean pair of glasses, perhaps sealed in a plastic bag. No such luck. These glasses are all greasy and sweaty, with smudges all over the lenses. It's DIY cleaning, a real downer, like turning up at the local cafe and finding you have to remove the previous customer's dirty plates and wipe the table yourself.

The glasses are quite bulky and as excellent as Coraline's 3D effects may be, one is always aware of the intrusion of the glasses on the cinema experience. It's both a gateway to the experience and a ball and chain that detracts from it. When all is said and done, there seems to be no net benefit.

Still, the 8yo kid loved the effects, which have certainly improved since we last saw Bolt. In that film, the 3D effects seemed to be concentrated at the start and end of the film, and pretty thin in-between. I don't know if it's because the technology has improved, or whether Coraline had a better budget, but there's no denying that the effects are impressive. But if the technology were to proliferate and become more common, I think one would bore of it. I think the appeal is wholly because it is uncommon.

Another problem with 3D is that it's not really 3D. Rather, the film-makers are very selective as to what to make appear in 3D, which gives the illusion of 3D, but it always feels inadequate. To really get absorbed into the 3D world, the whole image needs to be treated with the 3D effects. Until then, the 3D effects are a distraction from the story as one's consciousness is drawn to analysing what is 3D and what isn't.

In conclusion, even if the tickets were the same price, I'd prefer the regular cinema experience. The main reason is that I find that the glasses intrude on the experience, making me conscious of being in a cinema and preventing my absorption in the story. That I have to pay extra for the experience is a strong negative.

The film itself is very enjoyable and well-done. I haven't read the story, and after seeing the film, I asked my son if he'd like me to buy the book (which was selling in the bookshop across the road from the cinema). He liked the film but his answer was no, to my surprise.

The film is basically a horror story for kids. The idea of an alternate, happy world where everyone has button eyes, and your entering the world means relinquishing your own eyes certainly has the potential for nightmares. Alexander had no problems with that element, so maybe it's more of a problem for some young 'uns. The film's visuals are nice and the story satisfying for adults as much as children.

Apache
Westerns are a re-discovery for me. I pretty much grew up on a regular diet of 1950s westerns in my childhood; they screened and re-screened regularly on Sunday mornings on Channel 9 and consequently I grew not to take them seriously. I don't know much about Aldrich, nor much about American history. This film's use of caucasians with face-paint is both amusing and yet effective. I understand the cultural implications, and that native Americans would not have appealed to cinema audiences of the day.

The film has both an air of camp and seriousness and Aldrich seemed determined to depict the Apaches in a sympathetic light, something I imagine was quite rare for the day. I wonder how historically correct it is.

L'avventura
While I didn't like Antonioni's The Passenger, Zabriskie Point impressed me and so does this 1960 film. It's focus on the idle middle-class and their sexual shenanigans reminds me of Buñuel's obsessions with a similar demographic, though the mood is very different.

The mood is very dour, a type of mystery as a woman goes missing and her friends try to find her (if she is still alive). Antonioni is one of my favourite Italian film-makers, especially given that I'm not a big fan of that country's cinema. In fact, I generally don't like the dubbing of Italian films, something I barely noticed in this film. The characters are well-drawn, the narrative is beautifully elusive and the observational nature of the camera is very enticing. The visuals are stunning. I look forward to discovering more of this director's work.

MIFF 2009 Day 16 - 8/8/09

• La nana (The Maid, Sebastián Silva, Chile, 2008)
• Zift (Javor Gadev, Bulgaria, 2008)
  
• Das Flüstern der Bäume (The Whispering of the Trees, Tom Lemke, Chile/Germany, 2007) + Salt (Michael Angus/Murray Fredericks, Australia, 2009)
  

The Maid
Psychopaths are everywhere, even in our own homes. That's the message of this film about Raquel, a jaded and bitter maid to a middle-class Chilean family who's been around a little too long. Twenty years in fact, since a year before the oldest daughter was born. When the parents decide to get another maid in to assist Raquel, she sabotages all their endeavours but the mother is too attached to let Raquel go.

I found the film a little frustrating, because I hate this kind of character (I've seen my share of corportate psychopaths) and wanted to see successive maids overcome the obstacles put in their way. I also hated how the maid mostly gets her way each step of the way, but none of this is a reflection of the film. It's an OK story, nothing special and the film was enjoyable enough without showing any great insights.

Zift
Film noir, Bulgarian-style. Aside from some sub-titles that disappeared into the print, this is a tremendously enjoyable and satisfying film that uses every noir cliche, but uses it with style, tongue-in-cheek and with a strong, dark Balkan flavour.

Salt
I was keen to see this short (28') on recommendation and also after winning a festival award (don't ask me which one). The visuals of Lake Eyre, including time-lapse photography are absolutely inspirational and I'd love to be able to recreate what Murray Fredericks has. I also loved the personal nature of his story, the video-journal nature of his record and his frankness. A beautiful story and film that I highly recommend. This screened prior to The Whispering of the Trees. Check out the official website for some amazing examples of the time-lapse photography.

The Whispering of the Trees
I knew nothing about this film and went sight unseen on the strength of its accompanying Salt. I had planned to attend the Closing Night film, Bran Nue Dae, but figured I'll see it when it gets its inevitable (but yet unscheduled) release. With a fascination for indigenous cultures, I found it a very endearing documentary, about a slowly disappearing culture in southern Chile and Argentina. This remote community survives entirely by their harvesting of pine nuts, a dangerous job that has sustained them for generations.

MIFF 2009 Day 7 - 30/7/09

Running at 190 minutes, I figured I'd drop United Red Army off my schedule yesterday, have a little break and do some other things (like blogging). Then darn, the person who suggested it to me in the first place tells me it's the best film he's seen yet. I'm a bit pissed with myself and yet not. I've long given up on the idea that one can see everything one wants to at MIFF, or even during the year in general.

• Red Riding: 1983 (Anand Tucker, UK, 2009)
• Away We Go (Same Mendes, USA, 2009)
  
• The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, USA, 2008)

Red Riding: 1983
What an incoherent mess this finale to the Red Riding series this is. Unlike the first two, you have to see the others to make any sense of it. And even if you have seen the others, you'll still struggle! There are unexplained shifts between the three time frames and nothing to signal which period the film is in. John Dawson, the developer murdered in 1974, suddenly appears when we're thinking it's 1983. The number of characters who flash past in quick succession makes it hard to know who plays what role and what the hell is going on. At the end, confusion reigns and I'm left wondering "what the...?"

I expected James Marsh's 1980 to be the best instalment and it was.

Away We Go

My planning for MIFF avoided seeing three films in a row, and this one wasn't really on my radar because it's getting a commercial release. I had a spare two hours between films and because I knew this would be light-weight comedy and Red Riding isn't really emotionally challenging, I slotted this between the other two.

There is nothing about this film that identifies it as a Sam Mendes film. No particular insights, no revelations about relationships, just another 'quirky indie comedy', a genre that I find I'm a bit bored with, and have been with at least Little Miss Sunshine. It's not as stupid or contrived as that piece of populist trash, but it pushes all the right formulaic buttons: hip music in all the right places, a parade of idiosyncratic characters, quirky diaogue, characters who struggle with their age and responsibilities. It looks nice enough and audience laughter came at all the intended places but it's only worth seeing if you want to see how Mendes does mainstream. Or if you're a 30-something feeling directionless in life, or pregnant.

The Hurt Locker
At the risk of sounding sexist, you wouldn't know this thrilling film was directed by a woman. It's heart-in-your-mouth from go to whoa as we follow a US Army bomb disposal unit in Iraq. The suspense, the dialogue, the understated humour, the character development are all excellent. The film is like a cross between Beaufort (MIFF 2007, for the suspense), Full Metal Jacket (for the characterisations), Jarhead (itself derived from FMJ, but set in the region) and Children of Men (for the embedded journalist style of camera work and editing).

I found the choppy look a bit more than required and tend towards the David Stratton perspective on that account, though I expect he would acknowledge the strengths of the film. This is perhaps the best film I've seen that depicts the current military situation in the Afghanistan/Iraq region and maybe that's because the film does nothing didactic. Like most of the other films mentioned above, it simply depicts the lives of these men in war and the small details of their day-to-day existence. And man, what a bloody struggle, as they count down the days to their return to the US, just hoping to stay alive each day. Definitely worth seeing.