MIFF 2015 - Day 10
Another fiver. I must be getting my second wind...
Song of the Sea
What a way to start the day. This is a gorgeously animated children's story, taking a bunch of celtic myths and weaving them into a fantastic adventure. Ben and his little sister Saoirse live with their father on a small island. Their mother vanished when Saoirse was born, their father still grieves her and Ben resents Saoirse, who doesn't speak. But it turns out she's a selkie, part seal, and Ben and Saoirse get caught up in an adventure involving fairies, wicked owls, a witch and the titular song of the sea. There are points where it's at a Miyazaki level of character art, and the story is full of strong messages about the importance of emotions, even if they scare you. It's definitely one to take the kids to see.
7 Chinese Brothers
Dammit MIFF, you tricked me! A deadpan comedy starring Jason Schwartzman, basically doing his usual schtick. It sounded appealing. And it is mostly. But dammit, I'm still pissed coz it becomes quickly apparent that it's another bloody mumblecore film. Ok, so for the most part it's a good one, mainly because Schwartzman is such a charismatic actor, but I still hate the genre... Even if I didn't mind this one.
Being Evel
Wow, Evel Knievel was a bit of a dick. This doco isn't a hagiography, it's a warts and all portrait of a man who made his name doing ridiculous stunts. He paved the way for the extreme sports of today, and it's no coincidence that the documentary is mostly narrated by Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame. But geez, he wasn't a nice man. In fairness, it's a complete portrait, and talks about his good as well as his bad. There's a lot about how he started, and there's a lot about his achievements as well. People may have beaten his records, but they did it on custom built bikes. He did it on regular ones. For anyone interested in Evel Knievel, this feels like a very rounded view of the man and the legend.
Cartel Land
An extremely brave documentarian goes out onto the front lines of the war against the drug cartels in Mexico to record a citizen militia that formed to combat them. The autodefensas slowly take back their state, but find themselves becoming the thing they despised. Meanwhile, on the other side of the border, another group of vigilantes have formed their own border patrol and try to curtail cartel incursions into the USA. We're presented with a complicated situation that looks almost impossible to resolve. In Mexico, the government is depicted as being in league with the drug cartels, and the autodefensas end up being taken over by a cartel, then armed by the government. The level of betrayal and corruption is staggering. Meanwhile in the US, the militia there has been classed as a hate group, as they too get colonised by people bringing their own issues into the equation. In the end, we're left with a picture of crime out of control, governments unable to do much about it, and people taking the law into their own hands and becoming the thing they hate. Depressing really
Haemoo
And the prize for most inappropriately timed sex scene goes to... Seriously, who feels like shagging after they've seen all their friends butchered and the captain of the ship murder the ship's engineer. It's just a dumb blockbuster horror, as an impoverished fishing captain agrees to smuggle some illegal immigrants from China to Korea. When they hide them in the hold for an inspection, they end up dying and everyone starts to lose their minds. Especially when they find out one girl survived. It's attempting a more serious take on the same essential setup as Donkey Punch, and it's just as ridiculous. A bit of fun, but nothing more.
Song of the Sea
What a way to start the day. This is a gorgeously animated children's story, taking a bunch of celtic myths and weaving them into a fantastic adventure. Ben and his little sister Saoirse live with their father on a small island. Their mother vanished when Saoirse was born, their father still grieves her and Ben resents Saoirse, who doesn't speak. But it turns out she's a selkie, part seal, and Ben and Saoirse get caught up in an adventure involving fairies, wicked owls, a witch and the titular song of the sea. There are points where it's at a Miyazaki level of character art, and the story is full of strong messages about the importance of emotions, even if they scare you. It's definitely one to take the kids to see.
7 Chinese Brothers
Dammit MIFF, you tricked me! A deadpan comedy starring Jason Schwartzman, basically doing his usual schtick. It sounded appealing. And it is mostly. But dammit, I'm still pissed coz it becomes quickly apparent that it's another bloody mumblecore film. Ok, so for the most part it's a good one, mainly because Schwartzman is such a charismatic actor, but I still hate the genre... Even if I didn't mind this one.
Being Evel
Wow, Evel Knievel was a bit of a dick. This doco isn't a hagiography, it's a warts and all portrait of a man who made his name doing ridiculous stunts. He paved the way for the extreme sports of today, and it's no coincidence that the documentary is mostly narrated by Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame. But geez, he wasn't a nice man. In fairness, it's a complete portrait, and talks about his good as well as his bad. There's a lot about how he started, and there's a lot about his achievements as well. People may have beaten his records, but they did it on custom built bikes. He did it on regular ones. For anyone interested in Evel Knievel, this feels like a very rounded view of the man and the legend.
Cartel Land
An extremely brave documentarian goes out onto the front lines of the war against the drug cartels in Mexico to record a citizen militia that formed to combat them. The autodefensas slowly take back their state, but find themselves becoming the thing they despised. Meanwhile, on the other side of the border, another group of vigilantes have formed their own border patrol and try to curtail cartel incursions into the USA. We're presented with a complicated situation that looks almost impossible to resolve. In Mexico, the government is depicted as being in league with the drug cartels, and the autodefensas end up being taken over by a cartel, then armed by the government. The level of betrayal and corruption is staggering. Meanwhile in the US, the militia there has been classed as a hate group, as they too get colonised by people bringing their own issues into the equation. In the end, we're left with a picture of crime out of control, governments unable to do much about it, and people taking the law into their own hands and becoming the thing they hate. Depressing really
Haemoo
And the prize for most inappropriately timed sex scene goes to... Seriously, who feels like shagging after they've seen all their friends butchered and the captain of the ship murder the ship's engineer. It's just a dumb blockbuster horror, as an impoverished fishing captain agrees to smuggle some illegal immigrants from China to Korea. When they hide them in the hold for an inspection, they end up dying and everyone starts to lose their minds. Especially when they find out one girl survived. It's attempting a more serious take on the same essential setup as Donkey Punch, and it's just as ridiculous. A bit of fun, but nothing more.
posted by Andrew Lee at 12:15 AM
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