MIFF 2012 - Day 14
The dreaded MIFF flu has struck. I was sneezing all morning, though fortunately it went away after the first film. I debated cutting short my viewing, but thankfully I didn't need to. Fingers crossed it's gone for good.
Alois Nebel
A strange but beautifully animated film about a railway worker named Alois Nebel who back during the war witnessed one of his neighbours, a nazi collaborator, murder someone as they were herding people onto the trains. At least, I think that's what was happening. The guy definitely killed someone though, and now runs a shop. A stranger sneaks across the border, hellbent on finding the now old man and taking revenge. That part of the story is kind of irrelevant to what seems to be the main interest of the film, life in post-war Czechoslovakia. Alois suffers from memories of the war, and ends up in a mental institution to recover. Then he discovers he's lost his job, and somehow regains it after visiting Prague and meeting a woman there. There are lots of unexplained gaps between events, but it's more of a mood piece. I suspect it would make more sense if I'd read the graphic novels on which it's based. The storytelling is very frustrating, but it's still a likeable film.
Pink Ribbons, Inc
I really wished I'd watched this with some of my friends who work in cancer research and public health, since it's hard to get a clear perspective on this one. Clearly it's about the state of things in the USA, but I wonder if it speaks to anything beyond those borders. Essentially it's about "pinkwashing", the way corporations glom onto the cause of breast cancer in order to sell products and improve their image. Did you know you can buy handguns with pink grips to support breast cancer research? Interestingly, the whole pink ribbon thing wasn't originally pink. It was a more orange colour ribbon and it was started by a women who wanted people to lobby Congress to spend more money on research into breast cancer prevention. A company decided it liked it, but when the woman refused to let them use her symbol they changed the colour and we are where we are today. And only 15% of funds are spend of research into how to prevent breast cancer. The reast apparently goes on devising treatments, often by companies who sell things with known carcinogens. There's a lot of analysis of the culture of breast cancer, and the fairly disgraceful practices of some companies. It's a bit of information overload, but definitely a great analysis of how there's a buck to be made out of appearing charitable.
Wild Bill
So, I picked this to fill a gap in my schedule. And as if often the case, I landed on a great film. Dexter Fletcher (remember Spike from Press Gang?) writes and directs this feel-good film about a dad who has just been released from prison learning how to be a good father, and stuffing up a fair bit along the way. With a son who gets in with the local drug dealers, and his own trouble with them, there's plenty of scope for this to get very grim and dark, but it manages to keep an optimistic tone despite the material it works with. And there's a lot of love for the characters, despite their many faults. It's a really enjoyable film.
Metropia
A guy starts hearing voices in his head as he enters a subway station. There he spies a girl who looks like the girl on his shampoo bottle, and he chases after her. Then he finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy where the shampoo is being used to turn hair into antennae that lets the company monitor and mind control their customers. With a weirdly stylised animation technique that appears to take live-action footage and heavily manipulate it, it's a beautiful film to look at and a wildly crazy story to follow. Great fun.
Alois Nebel
A strange but beautifully animated film about a railway worker named Alois Nebel who back during the war witnessed one of his neighbours, a nazi collaborator, murder someone as they were herding people onto the trains. At least, I think that's what was happening. The guy definitely killed someone though, and now runs a shop. A stranger sneaks across the border, hellbent on finding the now old man and taking revenge. That part of the story is kind of irrelevant to what seems to be the main interest of the film, life in post-war Czechoslovakia. Alois suffers from memories of the war, and ends up in a mental institution to recover. Then he discovers he's lost his job, and somehow regains it after visiting Prague and meeting a woman there. There are lots of unexplained gaps between events, but it's more of a mood piece. I suspect it would make more sense if I'd read the graphic novels on which it's based. The storytelling is very frustrating, but it's still a likeable film.
Pink Ribbons, Inc
I really wished I'd watched this with some of my friends who work in cancer research and public health, since it's hard to get a clear perspective on this one. Clearly it's about the state of things in the USA, but I wonder if it speaks to anything beyond those borders. Essentially it's about "pinkwashing", the way corporations glom onto the cause of breast cancer in order to sell products and improve their image. Did you know you can buy handguns with pink grips to support breast cancer research? Interestingly, the whole pink ribbon thing wasn't originally pink. It was a more orange colour ribbon and it was started by a women who wanted people to lobby Congress to spend more money on research into breast cancer prevention. A company decided it liked it, but when the woman refused to let them use her symbol they changed the colour and we are where we are today. And only 15% of funds are spend of research into how to prevent breast cancer. The reast apparently goes on devising treatments, often by companies who sell things with known carcinogens. There's a lot of analysis of the culture of breast cancer, and the fairly disgraceful practices of some companies. It's a bit of information overload, but definitely a great analysis of how there's a buck to be made out of appearing charitable.
Wild Bill
So, I picked this to fill a gap in my schedule. And as if often the case, I landed on a great film. Dexter Fletcher (remember Spike from Press Gang?) writes and directs this feel-good film about a dad who has just been released from prison learning how to be a good father, and stuffing up a fair bit along the way. With a son who gets in with the local drug dealers, and his own trouble with them, there's plenty of scope for this to get very grim and dark, but it manages to keep an optimistic tone despite the material it works with. And there's a lot of love for the characters, despite their many faults. It's a really enjoyable film.
Metropia
A guy starts hearing voices in his head as he enters a subway station. There he spies a girl who looks like the girl on his shampoo bottle, and he chases after her. Then he finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy where the shampoo is being used to turn hair into antennae that lets the company monitor and mind control their customers. With a weirdly stylised animation technique that appears to take live-action footage and heavily manipulate it, it's a beautiful film to look at and a wildly crazy story to follow. Great fun.
posted by Andrew Lee at 12:32 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home