MIFF 2014 - Day 3
A day of extremes, from sweet to horrifying to labyrinthine to confused.
Love is Strange
I've never seen an Ira Sachs film before, but I'm told this is his most accessible one. It's a very sweet and well observed story of two men, Ben and George. Finally able to marry legally after a lifetime of living together, George loses his job at the local Catholic school because the bishop finds out and is unhappy. Without the income from his job, they're forced to sell their apartment, and into couch surfing with friends and family. The strains of living apart, and living with others, form the backbone for a series of well observed scenes. John Lithgow and Alfred Molina bring depth and honesty to their roles, and while the supporting actors are solid, their characters aren't as well served. Plot threads go nowhere, which is annoying, but I think the intention was to use them as shading for the story of Ben and George. It's a lovely film though.
The Kill Team
The story of a group of US soldiers in Afghanistan who murdered innocent civilians and framed them as Taliban, just so they could say they killed someone in combat. Deeply disturbing, it mainly focuses on the experiences of Private Adam Winfield, who tried to blow the whistle without getting himself killed in the process, and ended up being prosecuted for one of the murders. There's a number of elements at play here, and one of the more disturbing is that the man who eventually did blow the lid off the thing defends the practice, painting a sick picture of a military mindset gone horribly awry. The idea that this kind of thing is more endemic than the US Army would like people to believe is both believable and horrifying.
The Infinite Man
Time travel is one of the go to concepts for low budget science fiction. Primer is the apogee of this kind of cinema, but there are others like Timecrimes that also make use of the conceit to maximise a minimal budget. The Infinite Man is Australia's contribution to this sub-genre, and it's a bit of a ripper. It starts awkwardly, because Dean, our hero, is a deeply awkward person. He wants to recreate what he felt was a perfect anniversary with Lana, mapping out a schedule to relive the past. But it all goes wrong, and he builds a time machine to go back and try and fix it. And then he goes back again, and again, multiple versions of himself vying with each other for Lana, and trying to fix everything. I felt that Lana was underwritten, but a few late third act twists lessened that for me. Alex Dimitriades turn as a jealous ex-boyfriend is weird and fun too. It's a nearly perfect construction, with only a single unresolved paradox that I could spot. And I don't really care. It's a really fun film, tightly written and well acted that you should try and see as soon as possible.
The Distance
At an abandoned power plant, three psychic dwarfs are hired by an imprisoned artist to steal something known as "The Distance". It's weird, very pretty in a drab way, and kinda pointless. If you like weird for the sake of weird, this is definitely your jam. I didn't mind it, but it lacks the personality of something like Rubber, which is probably my favourite example of this genre.
Love is Strange
I've never seen an Ira Sachs film before, but I'm told this is his most accessible one. It's a very sweet and well observed story of two men, Ben and George. Finally able to marry legally after a lifetime of living together, George loses his job at the local Catholic school because the bishop finds out and is unhappy. Without the income from his job, they're forced to sell their apartment, and into couch surfing with friends and family. The strains of living apart, and living with others, form the backbone for a series of well observed scenes. John Lithgow and Alfred Molina bring depth and honesty to their roles, and while the supporting actors are solid, their characters aren't as well served. Plot threads go nowhere, which is annoying, but I think the intention was to use them as shading for the story of Ben and George. It's a lovely film though.
The Kill Team
The story of a group of US soldiers in Afghanistan who murdered innocent civilians and framed them as Taliban, just so they could say they killed someone in combat. Deeply disturbing, it mainly focuses on the experiences of Private Adam Winfield, who tried to blow the whistle without getting himself killed in the process, and ended up being prosecuted for one of the murders. There's a number of elements at play here, and one of the more disturbing is that the man who eventually did blow the lid off the thing defends the practice, painting a sick picture of a military mindset gone horribly awry. The idea that this kind of thing is more endemic than the US Army would like people to believe is both believable and horrifying.
The Infinite Man
Time travel is one of the go to concepts for low budget science fiction. Primer is the apogee of this kind of cinema, but there are others like Timecrimes that also make use of the conceit to maximise a minimal budget. The Infinite Man is Australia's contribution to this sub-genre, and it's a bit of a ripper. It starts awkwardly, because Dean, our hero, is a deeply awkward person. He wants to recreate what he felt was a perfect anniversary with Lana, mapping out a schedule to relive the past. But it all goes wrong, and he builds a time machine to go back and try and fix it. And then he goes back again, and again, multiple versions of himself vying with each other for Lana, and trying to fix everything. I felt that Lana was underwritten, but a few late third act twists lessened that for me. Alex Dimitriades turn as a jealous ex-boyfriend is weird and fun too. It's a nearly perfect construction, with only a single unresolved paradox that I could spot. And I don't really care. It's a really fun film, tightly written and well acted that you should try and see as soon as possible.
The Distance
At an abandoned power plant, three psychic dwarfs are hired by an imprisoned artist to steal something known as "The Distance". It's weird, very pretty in a drab way, and kinda pointless. If you like weird for the sake of weird, this is definitely your jam. I didn't mind it, but it lacks the personality of something like Rubber, which is probably my favourite example of this genre.
posted by Andrew Lee at 12:16 AM
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