MIFF 2015 - Day 16
Hmm, nothing particularly great today, solid, but not special.
How To Change The World
Telling the story of the origin of Greenpeace, this is an interesting look at the birth of the global ecology movement, and the egos involved. The film is cleverly structured, with Barry Pepper (sounding like Johnny Depp) narrating sections from Bob Hunter's memoir, while the surviving members of the original group either contest or agree with his account. It shows how they grew from an idea of direct action and awareness building into what we know today. One of the more interesting things is how one of the members is now a climate change skeptic and critic of Greenpeace. If you want to learn about the early days of Greenpeace, this isn't a bad place to start.
Ryuzo and his Seven Henchmen
Takeshi Kitano is clearly having fun these days. Here, he's telling the story of a bunch of geriatric yakuza who are bored and come out of retirement. But they're old and a bit useless, humoured more than feared, save for their encounters with some younger gangsters who don't identify as yakuza, even if they behave a bit like them. It's all just an excuse for some really broad comedy, and lacks the depth of Kitano's older gangster films. Lots of plot threads are set up and ignored in pursuit of the gag, which tells you what they were going for. But it's funny, enjoyable and disposable.
Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine
I wish Alex Gibney would stop narrating his documentaries. He's the least interesting thing about them, and his musings don't tend to add a lot. The cinema was half empty for this screening, either because people have given up on the Comedy Theatre due to the uncomfortable seats, or else the word on the film wasn't great. It could be either really. Gibney assembles a bunch of people to tell the story of Jobs the arsehole, which isn't exactly news. It's well known he wasn't a very nice man, even if his drive did lead to some major revolutions in how we use technology. The film attempts to tell the story of both, but falters when it tries to interrogate its central question. Why were so many people upset when Jobs died? Why are people devoted to the Apple brand? The failure is in the structure, as the question is asked at the beginning and the end, but in between is mostly concerned with the character of Jobs, rather than how he wooed the world. It's got some great anecdotes, but it doesn't really hold together as anything more than that. It asks a question, then doesn't bother trying to answer it. Possibly because the question isn't really about Jobs himself, but the marketing of Jobs and Apple, which is a different topic entirely.
How To Change The World
Telling the story of the origin of Greenpeace, this is an interesting look at the birth of the global ecology movement, and the egos involved. The film is cleverly structured, with Barry Pepper (sounding like Johnny Depp) narrating sections from Bob Hunter's memoir, while the surviving members of the original group either contest or agree with his account. It shows how they grew from an idea of direct action and awareness building into what we know today. One of the more interesting things is how one of the members is now a climate change skeptic and critic of Greenpeace. If you want to learn about the early days of Greenpeace, this isn't a bad place to start.
Ryuzo and his Seven Henchmen
Takeshi Kitano is clearly having fun these days. Here, he's telling the story of a bunch of geriatric yakuza who are bored and come out of retirement. But they're old and a bit useless, humoured more than feared, save for their encounters with some younger gangsters who don't identify as yakuza, even if they behave a bit like them. It's all just an excuse for some really broad comedy, and lacks the depth of Kitano's older gangster films. Lots of plot threads are set up and ignored in pursuit of the gag, which tells you what they were going for. But it's funny, enjoyable and disposable.
Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine
I wish Alex Gibney would stop narrating his documentaries. He's the least interesting thing about them, and his musings don't tend to add a lot. The cinema was half empty for this screening, either because people have given up on the Comedy Theatre due to the uncomfortable seats, or else the word on the film wasn't great. It could be either really. Gibney assembles a bunch of people to tell the story of Jobs the arsehole, which isn't exactly news. It's well known he wasn't a very nice man, even if his drive did lead to some major revolutions in how we use technology. The film attempts to tell the story of both, but falters when it tries to interrogate its central question. Why were so many people upset when Jobs died? Why are people devoted to the Apple brand? The failure is in the structure, as the question is asked at the beginning and the end, but in between is mostly concerned with the character of Jobs, rather than how he wooed the world. It's got some great anecdotes, but it doesn't really hold together as anything more than that. It asks a question, then doesn't bother trying to answer it. Possibly because the question isn't really about Jobs himself, but the marketing of Jobs and Apple, which is a different topic entirely.
posted by Andrew Lee at 12:03 AM
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