MIFF 2012 - Day 2

And the crowd pleasers continue.

Robot and Frank

This may well be the feel good film of the festival. Frank Langella plays Frank, a retired catburglar with dementia who lives alone in a little house outside of town. His son visits once a week to clean up and make sure he's ok, but it's taking its toll on him so he gets Frank a robot to look after him. It's been designed to care for him and ensure he eats well and remains active and engaged to ward off more symptoms Frank's failing memory. When Frank realises the robot has no inhibitions programmed into it concerning larceny, he convinces it that burglary is a great way to keep his mind active. And shenanigans ensue in an incredibly sweet way. A film that deals with dementia, family, forgiveness and how to rip off a-hole hipster rich kids, it's an absolute winner.

Into the Abyss

Actually two Werner Herzog Death Row documentary episodes packaged together for the festival crowd, it's an interesting look at the people on death row. The first inmate is incredibly smart, manipulative and a guaranteed serial killer. But his defense attorney is probably the wisest man in the whole doco. He avoids worrying about the death penalty per se, but instead emphasises that process is what must be served, and the reasons for it. He saw atrocities in South America where the law had no meaning, so he freely admits that he could both defend or prosecute with equal fervour, so long as he knows that the rights of the individuals are being served. It's also noted that the death penalty is no deterrent, and the only logical reason for its continued existence can be the desire for retribution. What this says about those who support it is somewhat damning. The second doco concerns a woman who insists she did not commit the crime, though circumstantial evidence is fairly damning. But she did not receive a fair trial, her lawyer holds the world record for largest number of clients on death row. He didn't even do basic research before defending her. Where the admitted murderer gets a lawyer determined to see his client accesses all his available legal rights, she got a guy who took the money and ran. It's just another reason the death penalty is so stupid. Both cases are still on appeal, neither has had a date set for execution.

Shock Head Soul

I now want to read Daniel Paul Schreber's autobiographical account of his madness. Because this film told me nothing about it other than the fact that he wrote a book about it. There's some nice animation sequences and it looks very pretty, but given this was made in conjunction with an art installation or some such wank, well, I should have realised I was going to get arty garbage. Very disappointing.

100 Bloody Acres

I hope this doesn't suffer the same fate as The Loved Ones. That was a brilliant pisstake of the whole torture-porn horror genre, and didn't fare too well when it hit general release. 100 Bloody Acres is just as hysterical, and far more "Aussie" to boot. It's also impressively written, as it begins with a set of unlikeable characters and by the end, at least two of them are humanised and somewhat loveable. See this one with an audience, because you're gonna want people to laugh, cringe and howl with. And stay right to the end of the credits, you don't want to miss the payoff to a gag set up almost in the first scene of the film.

The Legend of Kaspar Hauser

I want to know a bit more about Kaspar Hauser, since this surrealist film is playing off elements of the story in ways I can't currently access, not knowing much about it. But I'm unlikely to watch it again, even if I do like Vincent Gallo quite a lot. The black and white cinematography is stunning, but it's just a collection of scenes that go nowhere interesting. That said, I'm definitely going to track down the soundtrack, which is awesome.