MIFF 2012 - Day 1
I settle into my seat in Greater Union cinema 6 and it's as if the past year didn't happen. It's the same feeling every year. The same faces, the same dodgy broken seats and the same applause at the end of a good film. There's something nice about finding yourself in a cinema full of people who enjoy the same thing as you, even if there's always the odd moron or two who need to narrate the film to each other. Mr and Mrs Moron, thank you for shutting up about five minutes into the film and may you both get cancer of the tongue if you do it again. So, onto the movies.
Moonrise Kingdom
Does Wes Anderson make bad movies? I don't think he has yet, and this whimsical confection isn't about to break his streak. The story of Sam and Suzy, two twelve year olds who run away together. Sam is an orphan who leaves his scout troop, Suzy hates her parents and leaves her family. The resulting search, capture and rescue of the kids blends WW2 tropes with a deft and compassionate look at childhood fantasy and the awkwardness of growing up. It's an incredibly sweet film.
Safety Not Guaranteed
Years ago there was an ad placed in a magazine seeking people to accompany the advertiser on a trip back in time, safety not guaranteed. It periodically crops up because it poses an interesting question, what would you do if you could, and why? That's the launching point for a very fun film about three journalists tracking down the writer of the ad, with two of them trying to recapture something they've lost, whether it's a dead loved one or a memory of being young. The other guy is there to be the straight man, and doesn't really get to do much. And when they find the author of the ad, naturally the girl and him fall in love, then he feels betrayed, but it all works out in the end. Much like Another Earth last year, the plotting is fairly predictable, but the performances really sell it and it's not short of snappy dialogue. It's really good fun.
Two crowd-pleasers in one night, MIFF is off to a good start this year.
Moonrise Kingdom
Does Wes Anderson make bad movies? I don't think he has yet, and this whimsical confection isn't about to break his streak. The story of Sam and Suzy, two twelve year olds who run away together. Sam is an orphan who leaves his scout troop, Suzy hates her parents and leaves her family. The resulting search, capture and rescue of the kids blends WW2 tropes with a deft and compassionate look at childhood fantasy and the awkwardness of growing up. It's an incredibly sweet film.
Safety Not Guaranteed
Years ago there was an ad placed in a magazine seeking people to accompany the advertiser on a trip back in time, safety not guaranteed. It periodically crops up because it poses an interesting question, what would you do if you could, and why? That's the launching point for a very fun film about three journalists tracking down the writer of the ad, with two of them trying to recapture something they've lost, whether it's a dead loved one or a memory of being young. The other guy is there to be the straight man, and doesn't really get to do much. And when they find the author of the ad, naturally the girl and him fall in love, then he feels betrayed, but it all works out in the end. Much like Another Earth last year, the plotting is fairly predictable, but the performances really sell it and it's not short of snappy dialogue. It's really good fun.
Two crowd-pleasers in one night, MIFF is off to a good start this year.
posted by Andrew Lee at 12:22 AM
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