MIFF Day 7
Weird fake docos and an awesome serial killer film today.
THE JUCHE IDEA
Juche is the official ideology of North Korea, and in its service Kim Jong Il has written extensively on the art of cinema and its relationship to the socialist struggle. The Red Chapel quoted his work a bit as it felt its way around for a structure. This film goes one better and is an embodiment of his philosophies as well as a parody. Mind you, the ideas are worthy of ridicule anyhow, so even if it was completely in earnest it would still be a parody by necessity, at least to my western capitalist pig eyes. Ostensibly a doco about a South Korean who has moved to North Korea to participate in an arts internship, we sit through "lessons" in how a film should carry its ideological payload and deliver it. Extensive quotes from various edicts by Kim, along with examples from North Korean cinema are both funny and illustrative of the points. Then there are the exercises by the "student", as she attempts to implement Juche into her own short films. It's only an hour long, which is fortunate since it can labour the point at times, but the payoff at the end is worthwhile: A fully realised Juche film celebrating Kim Jong Il that is completely ridiculous and kinda fun too.
THE KILLER INSIDE ME
I can't call this the greatest serial killer / psychopath film of all time, since Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer trumps it, but only barely. It's a ripper of a film, brilliantly realised with a palette that recalls pulp novel covers of the 50s and 60s, and an impressionistic editing flow that provides you with enough information to understand, but not enough to get inside Lou (Casey Affleck) Ford's head. Instead, he constantly surprises as he acts in ways that seem irrational at first, but are slowly revealed to have a sick logic to them. Short flashbacks give us some suggestion to how he's come to be this way, but the emotional distance the film plays at means compassion is absent, only slight understanding seems possible. The film has a dry and quiet demeanour to it, with a streak of black humour that leavens the tension. Affleck plays cool and creepy very well, but the surprises are Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson as his two lovers. Each is excellent and incredibly game, given the graphic nature of some of their scenes. The denouement is let down slightly by a few poor effects shots, but that's a minor quibble in what is a masterful film.
FIRST SQUAD: THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
Incredibly silly, this is a fairly classic sort of anime tale. During World War 2, German mystics summon the spirit of an ancient warrior, Baron Von Wolff, who swore to destroy Russia. If he succeeds in crossing over to the land of the living, he will annihilate the Russian forces and Germany will rule all of Europe. The Russian counter-offensive involves the First Squad of the Sixth Division, an intelligence unit dedicated to psychic powers. Most of the First Squad were killed at the start of the war, so the only surviving member must journey to the land of the dead, contact her comrades and bring them back to defeat Von Wolff. The story is full of potential, but evidently there wasn't much money for the production. It's short, and peppered with live action interviews of actors portraying psychologists, war historians and veterans in an attempt to counterpoint the animated tale and inject some sense of realism to it all (and pad out the runtime to something vaguely respectable). It's not very successful. This could have been an epic tale of war, science and sorcery if someone had invested in a solid script and more money for animation. Instead, it's an interesting experiment.
THE JUCHE IDEA
Juche is the official ideology of North Korea, and in its service Kim Jong Il has written extensively on the art of cinema and its relationship to the socialist struggle. The Red Chapel quoted his work a bit as it felt its way around for a structure. This film goes one better and is an embodiment of his philosophies as well as a parody. Mind you, the ideas are worthy of ridicule anyhow, so even if it was completely in earnest it would still be a parody by necessity, at least to my western capitalist pig eyes. Ostensibly a doco about a South Korean who has moved to North Korea to participate in an arts internship, we sit through "lessons" in how a film should carry its ideological payload and deliver it. Extensive quotes from various edicts by Kim, along with examples from North Korean cinema are both funny and illustrative of the points. Then there are the exercises by the "student", as she attempts to implement Juche into her own short films. It's only an hour long, which is fortunate since it can labour the point at times, but the payoff at the end is worthwhile: A fully realised Juche film celebrating Kim Jong Il that is completely ridiculous and kinda fun too.
THE KILLER INSIDE ME
I can't call this the greatest serial killer / psychopath film of all time, since Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer trumps it, but only barely. It's a ripper of a film, brilliantly realised with a palette that recalls pulp novel covers of the 50s and 60s, and an impressionistic editing flow that provides you with enough information to understand, but not enough to get inside Lou (Casey Affleck) Ford's head. Instead, he constantly surprises as he acts in ways that seem irrational at first, but are slowly revealed to have a sick logic to them. Short flashbacks give us some suggestion to how he's come to be this way, but the emotional distance the film plays at means compassion is absent, only slight understanding seems possible. The film has a dry and quiet demeanour to it, with a streak of black humour that leavens the tension. Affleck plays cool and creepy very well, but the surprises are Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson as his two lovers. Each is excellent and incredibly game, given the graphic nature of some of their scenes. The denouement is let down slightly by a few poor effects shots, but that's a minor quibble in what is a masterful film.
FIRST SQUAD: THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
Incredibly silly, this is a fairly classic sort of anime tale. During World War 2, German mystics summon the spirit of an ancient warrior, Baron Von Wolff, who swore to destroy Russia. If he succeeds in crossing over to the land of the living, he will annihilate the Russian forces and Germany will rule all of Europe. The Russian counter-offensive involves the First Squad of the Sixth Division, an intelligence unit dedicated to psychic powers. Most of the First Squad were killed at the start of the war, so the only surviving member must journey to the land of the dead, contact her comrades and bring them back to defeat Von Wolff. The story is full of potential, but evidently there wasn't much money for the production. It's short, and peppered with live action interviews of actors portraying psychologists, war historians and veterans in an attempt to counterpoint the animated tale and inject some sense of realism to it all (and pad out the runtime to something vaguely respectable). It's not very successful. This could have been an epic tale of war, science and sorcery if someone had invested in a solid script and more money for animation. Instead, it's an interesting experiment.
posted by Andrew Lee at 11:21 PM
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