MIFF 2012 - Day 15
Well, the MIFF flu is definitely about. More screenings are full of coughs and sniffles, hopefully it doesn't come back and hit me again.
Teddy Bear
Dennis is a 38 year old professional body builder who lives with his over-protective mother in Denmark. He has no luck with women, but when his uncle marries a girl he met in Thailand, Dennis asks his uncle's advice and heads over there himself. He quickly discovers the seedy side of things, as the man who introduced his uncle to his wife runs an "introduction service" for middle-aged sex tourists. Disillusioned he wanders into a local gym where they already know him as a famous body builder, and there he meets Toi, the owner of the gym. What follows is a sweet and awkward courtship, and then the problems of dealing with his mother when he brings Toi back to Denmark. This is the sort of film you go to a festival to watch. It's unlikely to get even an arthouse release here, but it's an absolute charmer with a wonderful central performance from Kim Kold. Teddy Bear is the feature follow-on from director Mads Matthiesen's short film Dennis. It's on YouTube in two parts. A quick google also reveals he made the equally funny and sweet black comedy short Cathrine, which I saw at MIFF a few years ago. This guy is one to watch.
The Imposter
Truth is stranger than fiction. But fiction is useful to tell the truth, at least in the case of this film. Combining re-enactments and talking head interviews mixed to follow the structure of a thriller, we learn the story of the disappearance of a young boy, who resurfaces a few years later in Spain. Except it's not actually the boy, but a professional con-artist who adopts the identities of missing children to try and get looked after by foster homes. At least, that's what he says. When your main character is an inveterate liar, you're a bit stuck for what the truth of the matter is. But this is an absolute ripping yarn, full of twists and turns and some dark (though potentially dubious) revelations about the fate of the missing boy. Judging by the Madman logo on the front of the print, this one is getting a release sometime over the next year. It's an expertly crafted documentary about a case that just boggles the mind.
Room 237
I think this may qualify as outsider art. Gathering together a bunch of people obsessed with Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of The Shining, it gives full rein to their whacko theories about the film. My favourite is that it's the secret confession of Kubrick to directing the faked footage of the moon landing. Though there's other ones where it's about the colonisation of American and the massacre of the Native Americans, the obligatory "it's about the holocaust" and a few others too. This is one of the funniest documentaries I've seen in a while. These people are seriously crazy. But it's the perfect film for a festival, because throw a bunch of film obsessives in a room and people will come up with all kinds of wild theories about the meaning of a bad film. The film's technique is worth commenting on though, as it remixes imagery from all of Kubrick's films, as well as a dozen or more other films, to dramatise the narration of the various theories offered by the participants. One thing I did take away as wholly valid though, the architecture of the hotel makes no sense. There are windows where they cannot possibly exist, and other such oddities. It serves to show how intent Kubrick was on subtly messing with your sense of place. So even while I groaned at a lot of the ridiculous statements made, I did learn something. I still think The Shining is a bad film though.
Teddy Bear
Dennis is a 38 year old professional body builder who lives with his over-protective mother in Denmark. He has no luck with women, but when his uncle marries a girl he met in Thailand, Dennis asks his uncle's advice and heads over there himself. He quickly discovers the seedy side of things, as the man who introduced his uncle to his wife runs an "introduction service" for middle-aged sex tourists. Disillusioned he wanders into a local gym where they already know him as a famous body builder, and there he meets Toi, the owner of the gym. What follows is a sweet and awkward courtship, and then the problems of dealing with his mother when he brings Toi back to Denmark. This is the sort of film you go to a festival to watch. It's unlikely to get even an arthouse release here, but it's an absolute charmer with a wonderful central performance from Kim Kold. Teddy Bear is the feature follow-on from director Mads Matthiesen's short film Dennis. It's on YouTube in two parts. A quick google also reveals he made the equally funny and sweet black comedy short Cathrine, which I saw at MIFF a few years ago. This guy is one to watch.
The Imposter
Truth is stranger than fiction. But fiction is useful to tell the truth, at least in the case of this film. Combining re-enactments and talking head interviews mixed to follow the structure of a thriller, we learn the story of the disappearance of a young boy, who resurfaces a few years later in Spain. Except it's not actually the boy, but a professional con-artist who adopts the identities of missing children to try and get looked after by foster homes. At least, that's what he says. When your main character is an inveterate liar, you're a bit stuck for what the truth of the matter is. But this is an absolute ripping yarn, full of twists and turns and some dark (though potentially dubious) revelations about the fate of the missing boy. Judging by the Madman logo on the front of the print, this one is getting a release sometime over the next year. It's an expertly crafted documentary about a case that just boggles the mind.
Room 237
I think this may qualify as outsider art. Gathering together a bunch of people obsessed with Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of The Shining, it gives full rein to their whacko theories about the film. My favourite is that it's the secret confession of Kubrick to directing the faked footage of the moon landing. Though there's other ones where it's about the colonisation of American and the massacre of the Native Americans, the obligatory "it's about the holocaust" and a few others too. This is one of the funniest documentaries I've seen in a while. These people are seriously crazy. But it's the perfect film for a festival, because throw a bunch of film obsessives in a room and people will come up with all kinds of wild theories about the meaning of a bad film. The film's technique is worth commenting on though, as it remixes imagery from all of Kubrick's films, as well as a dozen or more other films, to dramatise the narration of the various theories offered by the participants. One thing I did take away as wholly valid though, the architecture of the hotel makes no sense. There are windows where they cannot possibly exist, and other such oddities. It serves to show how intent Kubrick was on subtly messing with your sense of place. So even while I groaned at a lot of the ridiculous statements made, I did learn something. I still think The Shining is a bad film though.
posted by Andrew Lee at 12:13 AM
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