MIFF 2013 - Day 17

A GLIMPSE INSIDE THE MIND OF CHARLES SWAN III

Will this course-correct Charlie Sheen's career? Probably not, but it does show he can still act. Roman Coppola's surrealist story of a man struggling to deal with his much younger girlfriend dumping him delivers repeatedly in both comedy and humanity. There were moments, especially early on, where it looked like it was going to turn into a vaguely misogynist rant against the unfairness of people not loving you for being a dickhead, but it very smoothly slides into a gentle satire of the kinds of reactions men have to being denied the object of their affection. I could have done without the fourth wall breaking credit sequence, but everything up until that point is golden.

PRINCE AVALANCHE

Or, why it's bad to read Walden. Paul Rudd and an unrecognisable Emile Hirsch (he packed on the weight for this role) are two men putting down the dividing lines on a stretch of road devastated by bushfire. Rudd's character is a self-important outdoorsman, while Hirsch's is young and horny. It's just a two-hander, but it's got an awesome soundtrack by Explosions in the Sky, and the story as it develops turns into something really good. I suspect the material could easily be dull in other hands, but with these actors and the excellent David Gordon Green directing, it's a really enjoyable film.

BLUE RUIN

Featuring the most incompetent man-bent-on-revenge in cinema history, this is a frustrating and funny tale of cycles of violence. It's basically just a tit for tat revenge thriller, but pretty much at every turn our hero screws things up, runs away frightened or gets himself into a jam. And because of all this, it's a reasonably fresh take on the revenge thriller. The plot is nothing special, but the way scenes play out are either excruciating or slightly unexpected.

THE EAST

Brit Marling is now three for three. She's got to be one of the most interesting writer/actors around. This time she's playing a corporate spy, sent to infiltrate an eco-terrorist group who are punishing the CEOs of corrupt companies with doses of their own medicine. Literally, in one case. As she comes to understand their cause more, she starts to sympathise, even if she's repelled by the extreme nature of their acts. I've noticed a theme in the films Marling writes, they're all stories of people transformed by pretending to be someone else. I wonder what her next transformation will be? Whatever it is, I can't wait to see it.

And with that, MIFF 2013 is at an end. Back to reality. At least until next year.

MIFF 2013 - Day 16

THE ROCKET

The problem with doing mini reviews of so many films so close together is that you run out of superlatives if you get a good grouping of excellent films. I feels wrong to repeat yourself, and you become painfully aware you have a set stock of phrases you use to describe good work. In other words, you're not as original as you think you are. The Rocket is a film where I was trying to think my way out of this problem while I was watching it, because it really is excellent. Beautiful cinematography, great performances, and a coming-of-age story that frames issues like forced relocation, the dangers of living with the unexploded ordnance of a past war, and tribal beliefs and rivalries. It really runs the gamut of experiences, while painting a hopeful but sad portrait of modern Laos. It's getting released, so race out and see it, it deserves the awards it's won.

FRANCES HA

So, do you like Greta Gerwig? No? Then don't watch this film. Wait, you do? Well, then you'll enjoy this. She plays the titular character, a self-absorbed 27 year old who doesn't handle her best friend moving out of their apartment very well. It's filmed in black and white, I assume to meet the checklist of New York indie cliches. Much of this film is typical of that oeuvre. Lots of sitting around apartments talking, being painfully hip or painfully awkward, making bad decisions with hilarious results and finally bringing it all together for a final resolution where everyone grows up. It's fun, but nothing special.

BENDS

The story of a Hong Kong socialite and her driver. Her husband abandons her, leaving her to struggle to find money to maintain her lifestyle. He's struggling to raise the money to get his wife into Hong Kong from the mainland, as she's pregnant with their second child and they need to give birth in HK to avoid the second child fine. The whole film is a gentle descent into desperation, as both compromise much of themselves to try and achieve their goals.

LESSON OF THE EVIL

Miike Takashi is a hit and miss director, though given he makes at least two films each year, if not more, that's not surprising. This is a bit of both, as it tells the story of a psychotic schoolteacher who massacres his entire school. But not before blackmailing or murdering the other teachers, one of the parents, and having an affair with one of the students. It's an ugly film, but intentionally so. early on trying to put you on his side, before flipping you the other way. The guy is insane, cruel and relentless. The last hour or so is just him walking around the school with a shotgun blowing away students. And it doesn't push into comic territory with its excess either, it's a kind of awkward horror where it's not really fun. And I like that about it, given the subject matter is so loaded. But the end gets silly, setting up a sequel for no apparent reason. Stupid ending aside though, it's pretty good.

MIFF 2013 - Day 15

CHASING DAD

Amazing, charming and bittersweet, this is the story of two sisters packed off to see their estranged father who is dying of cancer. Once they get to the prefecture he's in, they discover he's already passed away and end up attending his funeral. It's a beautiful study of two girls learning about their identity and what aspects of their father and mother they've taken on. Also it's hysterical. I doubt it will see a release here, but I hope it turns up on SBS. It's a really lovely film.

JIMMY P

The true story of a psychoanalyst who helped a Blackfoot Indian overcome his childhood traumas. The sessions play out against a backdrop of a veterans hospital, as initially the thought is that Jimmy's mental issues could be the result of an injury he sustained during WWII. It's fascinating for the way it gives you an insight into the psychoanalytical process of the time, and the story just rolls along gently as well. It touches on things like the disempowerment of the Native Americans, and the issues that brings, as well as the suspicion of psychoanalysis by the medical profession. It's low key, but engrossing.

LOVELACE

This is two films. The first is an occasionally uncomfortable but generally funny comedy about the making of Deep Throat. Then we rewind and see a different side to the story. Linda threatened and beaten by her husband Chuck Traynor, forced into prostitution and porn to keep the money coming in. It's an interesting structure, intelligently handled. This will almost certainly get a release, and it's worth checking out, though it's not the most comfortable of films to watch.

HONG KIL DONG

This film has everything! Thwarted love, warring families, assassination plots, filial duty, kung fu, ninjas, pro-communist and anti-Japanese propaganda. It can only be a film made in North Korea. The entire audience was in hysterics, partly at the poor continuity and dubbing, but mostly at the embarrassingly awful delivery of its ideological payload. It's a great piece of kitsch, and would make a great double feature with The Pervert's Guide to Ideology.

MIFF 2013 - Day 14

THE DAY OF THE CROWS

With a healthy dose of Miyazaki in the mix, this excellent French animation tells the story of a boy raised in the woods by his father. He lives in fear, knowing that if he steps beyond the edge of the wood he will cease to exist. At least until his father breaks his leg and the forest spirits guide him to the nearby town where a kindly doctor helps him. Having experienced kindness, the boy spends the rest of the film trying to find where his father has hidden his love for him, searching the woods for it like a lost toy. It's beautifully constructed, more than a little weird, and has a lovely emotional ending.

A HIJACKING

Tobias Lindholm is quickly carving out for himself a niche as the writer of dark and arresting stories. Having previous written The Hunt for Tomas Vinterberg, here he writes for himself, directing the story of a ship hijacked by pirates, and the protracted negotiations undertaken by the company's CEO to get his men released. What starts off looking like it will be a story about the men on the ship very quickly becomes a study of a hard-nosed businessman's alpha-male tendencies brought under the microscope. Like The Hunt, it's a film you admire more than enjoy, but it's an incredible piece of work.

MONSOON SHOOTOUT

The first third of this film had me questioning why I'd bothered to see it. It's tedious. A rookie cop who is too naive for his own good screws up an investigation and lets a crook get away. It ends up with the crook throwing acid on him and his girlfriend. Stop. Rewind. Now he shoots him dead instead of letting him get away. A totally new reality plays out. and a third, and a fourth. While it's not particularly brilliant, the contrasting stories are ok and the final version is a smart little suckerpunch that pulls things out of a formal experiment and into a more traditional narrative. It's not that satisfying, as the final image pulled me out of that reality too much, but it's a reasonable piece of entertainment.

THE CONGRESS

Robin Wright is all washed up, offered a deal to sign away the rights to her image and be scanned into a computer. She takes it, and becomes an action star inside a computer, while caring for her ill son in her actual retirement. Then she's invited to the Futurist Congress, enters a world where drugs turn everyone into animated characters, and falls through multiple layers of reality. It's a loose adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's The Futurological Congress, and the animated sections are really trippy. As a whole it fails to cohere, but that can be said of most Lem adaptations. There's heaps of interesting ideas explored, but I thought Brandon Cronenberg's Antiviral and the short film More used them to greater effect. This has a lot of nice animation though.

MIFF 2013 - Day 13

APPROVED FOR ADOPTION

A frank and emotionally honest reflection on the experience of being a Korean child adopted into a French family. The animation style used wasn't particularly my cup of tea, but the story slowly grows into a compelling examination of the psychic traumas that need to be overcome when you are alien to two cultures.

MICHAEL H - PROFESSION: DIRECTOR

Michael Haneke is something of an acquired taste. You'd struggle to point to a film of his you could say you enjoyed, but nonetheless they are very good. Working backwards from Amour through his entire filmography, we learn very little about what each film means to him, but a lot about the ideas he wanted to explore, and the things that drive and fascinate him as a filmmaker. He's evasive on some points, but remarkably articulate about others. Worth a look for anyone who's ever watched any of his films.

NARCO CULTURA

This was preceded by a short film called In Guns We Trust, which is really just a photo essay about the American fascination with firearms. It was interesting, but didn't tell you much you didn't know already. The main feature is far more fascinating, contrasting the grim and dangerous work of Crime Scene Investigators in Juarez, Mexico, with the Narco Corridos musicians who make a living singing songs glorifying the crimes of the cartels. Notably, the musos almost all live in the US, and stay well clear of Mexico. In Juarez, the body count now sits at roughly 10 people murdered each day. Pretty much all these cases will remain unsolved. This is an excellent film that paints a portrait of a sick culture profiting from glorifying horrific violence, while those who are actually involved in the reality of it can do nothing but mourn their dead.

THE APOSTLE

An absolute ripper of a ghost story. Ramon is a petty thief who escapes prison and ends up walking the Camino to find a village where his partner stashed some jewels. When he arrives, he's drawn into a centuries-long curse and must find a way to escape before he ends up a victim of some vengeful ghosts. Beautiful stop-motion animation, an excellent script and good music make this one of the most entertaining films of the festival.

MIFF 2013 - Day 12

EVERYBODY IN OUR FAMILY

Can you make a messy divorce into a really funny black comedy? Yes. Marius rocks up to his ex-wife's house (formerly his house) to pick up his daughter Sofia for a short holiday. But the wife isn't home, just his former mother-in-law and the new boyfriend. And the boyfriend won't let him take his daughter out until the ex-wife gets home. A war of words escalates into accidental violence and the whole thing ends up as a farcial hostage drama as Marius ends up with his ex-wife and her new boyfriend bound and gagged in the living room while the police knock on the door. It's very funny, and makes the wise decision to not take anyone's side. Both Marius and his former wife are fairly terrible people, each refusing to acknowledge the ways in which they contributed to the collapse of the marriage and their current sorry state. Bleak and very entertaining.

GORE VIDAL: THE UNITED STATES OF AMNESIA

Preceded by a short doco on how The New York Times underreported the Holocaust, and the circumstances surrounding it, the Times also gets a bit of a bash in the main feature. They refused to review Vidal's novels, for reasons detailed in the doco. But that's an incidental detail in a film that tells of the richly lived life of Gore Vidal. His writing, his politics, and above all his wit. Few people were or are as analytical, outspoken and sharp as him. A presence that will be sorely missed.

PADAK

Korean animations seem to all rail against the bullying conformity of Korean society. At least, the ones I've seen recently. It's a grim outing, and will put you off sushi in a serious way. The story of a mackerel caught and kept in a tank outside a fish restaurant, and her fight against a flatfish who believes that hiding and playing dead is better than trying to break free and escape back to the ocean. It runs on slightly too long, it's dramatic ending coming a few minutes before it actually concludes. But the sort-of-happy ending doesn't diminish the point. It's definitely worth a look.

MIFF 2013 - Day 11

UPSTREAM COLOR

Believe the hype. This is a highly experimental, elliptical science fiction story that I completely loved. Around the festival, there's a lot of bitching about it, and I can understand why. It requires an awareness of certain SF elements to really get what's going on. But it's seriously brilliant, with a score that channels Vangelis at his best. One of the most unusual and inventive science fiction films since, well, since Primer. Hopefully we don't have to wait as long again for another film by Shane Carruth.

DIRTY WARS

Yet another "America is Fucked" film. This time detailing the rise of JSOC, which at this time appears to be an unstoppable paramilitary arm of the Whitehouse, able to assassinate anyone with impunity, and free from any consequence. The film details war crimes, secret wars in 75 countries and more to really give you the sense that America has completely lost it's grip on itself. Formally, the doco suffers too much from being a private journal of the investigative journalist, rather than a piece of reporting itself. I suspect the book on which it's based is more illuminating, but this is enough to scare the shit out you. And also to reinforce the idea that Obama was a Republican plant. Seriously, this isn't the sort of change you want to believe in.

MIFF 2013 - Day 10

MOON MAN

Parents, keep an eye out for this one at the DVD store. A really unusual and very sweet story about the Moon Man, who catches the tail of a comet and rides it to Earth because he's bored and lonely. The President of Earth, having just conquered the last remaining holdout, looks to the Moon for something new to conquer, and the Moon Man as something new to fear. At its core it's a story about what friendship is, with a very simple moral. And it's got a killer soundtrack too.

VALENTINE ROAD

A 14 year old boy murders another kid in his class in cold blood, because the boy was transgender and had asked him to be his valentine. Charged as an adult, and facing a life sentence for a hate crime, a couple of lawyers rally to save the boy from life in prison. But he murdered someone for being different, and it turns out he was a white supremacist with a fascination for Hitler and severe issues with violence. But the defense argued that he was the victim, bullied by a trans kid and humiliated by him to the point where the only solution he could see was killing him. And you see from this wonderfully made film how so much bullshit is thrown up to avoid a simple fact. He murdered a boy in cold blood. Lots of people are homophobic, and teachers and jurors aren't excluded from that unfortunately, and will go to great lengths to defend their opinion. The fallout of this case is genuinely depressing. Hopefully this film will start a conversation about the appalling behaviour of those who tried to defend an act of murder as an acceptable response to prejudice.

TIP TOP

This feels more like the failed pilot to a television series than an actual film. The basics are it's a typical French farce, where two Internal Affairs detectives are sent to investigate the murder of a police informant. Did someone on the force rat him out? Yes, and that stuff plays out as a sideline to the sexual kinks of the two detectives. One is a compulsive peeping tom, the other likes to be hit. It's a bit of a nothing film, not exactly boring, but never particularly engaging either. Disappointing.

CAMILLE CLAUDEL 1915

I saw this for the simple reason that the director's previous film was Outside Satan, a film I love for reasons I can't articulate or fully understand. And I'm stuck in much the same place here. Juliette Binoche plays Camille, the former mistress of Rodin and an artist in her own right, locked up in an asylum by her brother and wracked by persecution complexes including a belief that Rodin wants to murder her and steal all her work. Not much happens, but it's arresting viewing. The rhythms of the asylum are interesting, and Binoche is painful to watch as someone who is probably insane but still very lucid, making it hard to tell what's really going on.

MISTAKEN FOR STRANGERS

This is not a documentary about The National. This is a documentary about what it's like to have your older brother be the lead singer of The National. Tom Berninger is 9 years younger than Matt, and gets invited to be a roadie on The National's tour around the world. He films the experience, including getting sacked halfway through the tour, and pulls it all together in a fairly spectacular way. Incredibly funny, touching and lightly peppered with insights into the band themselves, it's a unique experience you should seek out.

MIFF 2013 - Day 9

LYGON STREET - SI PARLO ITALIANO

A history of the iconic Melbourne strip, told by the Italian immigrants who made it what it is. Depressingly, it shows that Australia hasn't really changed the way it treats immigrants, both then and now they're demonised. An old newsreel is shocking in its open racism. But the film doesn't dwell on the negatives, and focuses on how these men and women remade Melbourne, and in turn Australia, bringing espresso machines, pizza and other delights to the masses. I love how one guy admits to inventing the "Aussie" pizza, and also putting pineapple on them, with a sort of comical shame. It's a great potted history of Melbourne and its culture. Watch out for it because it's a dead cert for a release at the Nova.

MAGIC MAGIC

Umm, yeah. A girl goes to visit her cousin in Chile, hangs out with her friends and goes insane. Or maybe she was possessed by a demon when someone attempted to hypnotise her. But she was already crazy and paranoid before that. Or maybe the friends are arseholes, Michael Cera plays a real jerk. This really doesn't amount to much. Disappointing and underwritten, but not so bad if you take it as a nonsensical mood piece. Maybe that's what it meant to be, I don't really know. When I was over I shrugged my shoulders and forgot about it.

TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM

Oh dear lord I hope this gets a cinema release here. This is an amazing documentary about the unsung heroes of the music industry, the backup singers. Some do it because that's where they want to be, some because they couldn't break out into solo careers, and others are still trying. The film covers some of the luminaries of the backup scene, letting them tell their stories and they're absolutely fascinating. How the vocals for Gimme Shelter were recorded is hysterical, and you'll get yet another reason to be disgusted with Phil Spector. The fact that some of the biggest hits of yesteryear were "ghosted" by session vocalists then lipsynched by the stars is enlightening, you'll be surprised at some of 'em. But the main reason to see this on the big screen is for the big sound. This is a film about music and you'll want to hear this on the loudest, biggest soundstage you can find. Awesome.

MIFF 2013 - Day 8

A day for fantasy and things you wish were fantasy.

BLANCANIEVES

Snow White meets bullfighting in this black and white silent film. Much like The Artist, it uses an old medium to great effect, and the 4:3 cinematography proves you don't need anamorphic lenses to create spectacular vistas. It's a visually impressive and cheekily perverse reinterpretation of Snow White, but don't expect any happy endings. This is a grim tale.

CALL GIRL

Speaking of grim, you're gonna want to take a shower after this one. Imagine your country's leaders, both the government and opposition, are using the services of a madame who supplies them with underage girls. How do you prosecute such a thing when almost everyone implicated is powerful enough to make the scandal go away? This horrific film from Sweden states that it's based in fact, with names and timelines changed for dramatic effect. I'd imagine it's also to avoid legal issues, if half of what they suggest here is true. The most chilling thing I found wasn't just the traffiking in underage girls though, there's an underlying suggestion that some of Sweden's more liberal laws around sex were driven by perverts in power. It's a remarkable and claustrophobic thriller, grimy and depressing and thoroughly brilliant.

A TOUCH OF SIN

And another depressing film ripped from the headlines, this time from the Weibo social network in China. Four stories, all based in actual events, tell the sorry tale of modern China. In one story, a villager gives up on protesting the corruption around him and just takes his shotgun and kills everyone involved. In another, a receptionist at a massage parlour murders a client when he demands she sleep with him for money. It's just grim stuff, often with a violent catharsis to get the anger out of your system. I didn't know it was based on actual news stories going in, but it's just another thing to make you question the state of the world. And also how much your smartphone really costs.

WTF SHORTS

And after all that depressing stuff, finally some weirdness to lighten the day. I had so much fun with these short films. Pandas is a trippy take on Panda evolution, running from the time of the dinosaurs to the distant future. Unicorn Blood is the story of two teddy bears hunting unicorns to a heavy metal soundtrack. A Story for the Modlins posits the life story of an actor in the background of a scene in Rosemary's Baby, which is even stranger than the film. I have no idea if it's all made up or partly based in truth, or whatever, but Google says Elmer Modlin was a real actor who died in Spain, so maybe... And Flytopia is an adaptation of a Will Self short story, which should be enough to explain it. Weird fun stuff.

MIFF 2013 - Day 7

99% - THE OCCUPY WALL STREET COLLABORATIVE FILM

Much like the doco on Anonymous last year, this was a film I went into slightly hostile to the subject matter. The Occupy movement seemed to me to be too diffuse and ill-defined, but that's as much a product of poor reporting as it is communication. Coming out of this film I got it, and while I still have criticisms I agree with them almost whole-heartedly. The short version is: America is fucked. But the stories of different people addressing the issues just makes you more and more depressed. There's a retired Police Captain who explains that in police recruitment, personality tests are used to ensure you hire people with less compassion or emotional responses. That explains a lot of the abuses suffered by protesters. They document the fact that sometimes the police will willingly break the law, budgeting for payouts later on simply to ensure that an action they don't like can be broken up now. The economic disparity that's only accelerating is explained in historical terms, and the social unrest it brings is contextualised within that. Interestingly, they interview Naomi Wolf and she's less than sympathetic to the Occupy movement. I assume they meant to get Naomi Klein and someone got confused. But extra points for not interviewing Noam Chomsky. All up, a really interesting and informative film.

TOWER

Ugh, mumblecore moves north to Canada. I enjoyed bits of this, but everyone was checking their watch at some point. I did like the way it was almost entirely shot as a close up on the main character's head. It was claustrophobic, but created an interesting effect.

ANIMATION SHORTS

Always a highlight of MIFF, and this was no exception. There were some stunning animations this year, with standouts being: The Wolf, The Demon and The Moon, a spectacular and highly polished gem from local RMIT graduate Leanne Lee. Possessions by Shuhei Morita, a lovely CG animated piece that channels more than a little Miyazaki. And Requiem for Romance, by Jonathan Ng, sporting a gorgeous watercolour and brushed ink style with some beautiful kung fu and a solid story. The rest were great too, but these were the ones that stood out.

GALORE

So, I was meant to see Upstream Color tonight. I raced to the cinema, got in early, sat down. I was puzzled by the huge number of reserved rows, and then the presence of the festival director to introduce the International Premiere. WTF? This film came out months ago at Sundance. And then I realised I was in the wrong cinema. Fuckdammit. It was already 9:15 by this point, so there was no point running to the other cinema. I spoke the festival prayer, "Please don't suck", and settled in. It didn't work. Galore is a film where the amount of talent on display is almost painful to watch. And I mean that in a good way. This is really well acted, well directed, etc. But it's also overlong and dull. There's an entire subplot about a bunch of bullies that's totally irrelevant and should be cut out. It also commits the sin of having a character come in near the end and deliver a moralising monologue explaining the whole film. Cut it, you don't need to insult your audience. There's actually a real gem of a film inside this version, it just needs a more ruthless editor to bring it out. As it is though, it's not great. Which is a pity, given how gifted everyone who worked on it manifestly is.

MIFF 2013 - Day 6

Today was a day for strange stories and stunning cinematography.

WORKERS

The MIFF guide finally got a description right. I'm always suspicious when a film is compared to the work of some luminary or other, and the writeup namedropped Roy Andersson. Andersson has a very specific take on the world, and it turns out so does Jose Luis Valle. This is an incredible feature debut, telling the stories of a long-separated couple struggling towards retirement and the lengths they have to go for justice after being dudded by the employers to whom they have given unstinting service. It's a really black comedy, full of warmth and genuine love for all the characters. There's the odd moment where you fear for the heroes, but the film is on their side and their victories are celebrated. I loved every minute of this, and it's just gone up to my number one for the festival so far. It's the best looking film I've seen this MIFF too, though Stoker does give it a run for its money.

A FIELD IN ENGLAND

I don't know what it is about Ben Wheatley that makes me come back for more. He's weird, really weird. Kill List was wonderful and confounding in equal measure, and Sightseers was just silly fun. This is way more trippy and experimental than anything he's done before. It's like Beckett met Crowley and they decided to collaborate on a play. The whole film takes place in a single field, as weird shit goes on involving a man trying to discover buried occult treasure. I can't explain this film, it's an experience. But it's worth it. And the black and white cinematography is gorgeous. After the irritating way Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing was shot, it's nice to see that not everyone has forgotten the art of high contrast black and white cinematography.