MIFF 2012 - Day 4
I'm feeling pleasantly surprised by almost every film I see. Are my critical faculties failing or are these films really as solid as they seem? I'm suspicious, there must be some dogs waiting out there, surely...
Liberal Arts
Josh Radnor (the dude who hasn't met the mother in How I Met Your Mother) is yet another television actor parleying his fame into getting a personal project off the ground. And here's hoping he doesn't suffer the same fate as Zach Braff. It doesn't have the killer soundtrack that I suspect let Garden State cut through, but hopefully it still gets attention because it's a far more intelligent film. Josh plays Jesse, a guy with a liberal arts education who now works as an admissions officer for a college in New York. When his old professor announces his retirement, he heads out to say nice things about him at the farewell dinner. And while there he meets Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen), the 19 year old daughter of some other friends of the professor. Zibby takes an immediate liking to Jesse, and a relationship slowly forms. But he's 35 and she's 19 and the story doesn't play out the way you think it might. This is actually a fairly wise film about different stages of life, the regrets and incompatibilities of them, and the ways it can creep up on us. It's also really funny and well written. Definitely worth a look on the highly likely arthouse release.
We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists
Director Brian Knappenberger has made a really interesting doco about the birth of Anonymous, from their initial taking on of Neo Nazis and Scientology to their role in supporting Wikileaks and assisting the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, through to Lulzsec and the rifts caused as some decided to push harder the more unpleasant side to their activities. What's interesting is the willingness to engage in debate on what's fair game and what isn't, and how the chaotic nature of Anonymous means there's people there in it just to cause chaos and others who want to create chaos to make a point. There's an excellent Dungeons and Dragons reference that puts it all into context. Not everyone is articulate, and some of the people come off as jerks rather than activists, but that's true for any group. What makes this doco great is that it doesn't shy away from that fact, but discusses the complexities without damning the movement as a whole, or trying to paint them as heroes. It just tells the story and lets them argue their case. And oftentimes, it's persuasive.
Liberal Arts
Josh Radnor (the dude who hasn't met the mother in How I Met Your Mother) is yet another television actor parleying his fame into getting a personal project off the ground. And here's hoping he doesn't suffer the same fate as Zach Braff. It doesn't have the killer soundtrack that I suspect let Garden State cut through, but hopefully it still gets attention because it's a far more intelligent film. Josh plays Jesse, a guy with a liberal arts education who now works as an admissions officer for a college in New York. When his old professor announces his retirement, he heads out to say nice things about him at the farewell dinner. And while there he meets Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen), the 19 year old daughter of some other friends of the professor. Zibby takes an immediate liking to Jesse, and a relationship slowly forms. But he's 35 and she's 19 and the story doesn't play out the way you think it might. This is actually a fairly wise film about different stages of life, the regrets and incompatibilities of them, and the ways it can creep up on us. It's also really funny and well written. Definitely worth a look on the highly likely arthouse release.
We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists
Director Brian Knappenberger has made a really interesting doco about the birth of Anonymous, from their initial taking on of Neo Nazis and Scientology to their role in supporting Wikileaks and assisting the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, through to Lulzsec and the rifts caused as some decided to push harder the more unpleasant side to their activities. What's interesting is the willingness to engage in debate on what's fair game and what isn't, and how the chaotic nature of Anonymous means there's people there in it just to cause chaos and others who want to create chaos to make a point. There's an excellent Dungeons and Dragons reference that puts it all into context. Not everyone is articulate, and some of the people come off as jerks rather than activists, but that's true for any group. What makes this doco great is that it doesn't shy away from that fact, but discusses the complexities without damning the movement as a whole, or trying to paint them as heroes. It just tells the story and lets them argue their case. And oftentimes, it's persuasive.
posted by Andrew Lee at 12:33 AM
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