MIFF 2015 - Day 5
A bit of a mixed bag today, but interesting.
The Russian Woodpecker
A documentary about an artist trying to get to the bottom of what caused the Chernobyl disaster. He links it to a nearby military radar installation that was meant to allow them to scan beyond line-of-sight, bouncing signals of the ionosphere of the earth. Different officials claim different things, it worked, it failed, it was never operational, etc. But it was definitely transmitting, the signal disturbed radio waves across Europe and the US, and became known as the Russian Woodpecker for its staccato signal. As they delve deeper, a theory emerges that the Chernobyl disaster was orchestrated to prevent the dud device getting field tested, as the punishment for wasting funds in such a way was death. The investigation manages to piss off enough people that they're threatened by the secret police, lending some credence to the theory. Or maybe not. At the end, it's all very murky and there are no answers, just a strange signal that has restarted inside Russia.
Racing Extinction
Louis Psihoyos' followup to The Cove takes a look at the illegal trade in endangered species, as well as the reality that we are in the midst of a mass extinction event, as animals disappear faster than we have the ability to document them. It's notable for its positive approach to this however. Where people were overfishing sharks, they go in and help the fishermen transition to tourism which makes them more money than fishing ever did. This isn't a finger-wagging documentary that's ignorant of the broader circumstances that drive behaviour. It's so much more positive and hopeful, with a few answers rather than lots of brooding. Here's hoping the message catches on.
As a side note, I remember back when The Cove screened at MIFF, the Q&A afterwards was nearly hijacked by a militant vegan who wanted to talk about more than just dolphins. Louis politely shut him down and returned the discussion to the film. The vegans were showed up again tonight. This time using the Q&A to announce they were handing out leaflets to encourage people to take a vegan challenge. Funnily enough, this time the message was in keeping with the film, but it's the second time this festival I've seen people hijack a film to sell their own message. I wonder if it's going to become a thing.
Victoria
The single take film is slowly becoming its own genre, like found footage films. And Victoria highlights one specific limitation of the form. Context. You're locked in a moment, all information must come from the moment. And in this case, we needed a bit more I feel. Victoria meets Sonne at a nightclub, and in the course of several hours flirts, drinks, becomes the getaway driver for his friend as they rob a bank, goes on the run, kidnaps a baby and evades the police. There's a few leaps in narrative logic that are a bit hard to get past. The main one being that she's fallen so deeply for Sonne in the short time they spend together that she'd agree to do any of what comes after. But she does, so in theory, character is action / action is character, so that's the kind of person she is. I just had a very hard time buying it. Also, the film is awfully long, with a near perfect ending thrown away to continue for maybe another 40 minutes to an hour that adds nothing to the story. It's long, dull and self-indulgent. Pure style with no substance.
The Russian Woodpecker
A documentary about an artist trying to get to the bottom of what caused the Chernobyl disaster. He links it to a nearby military radar installation that was meant to allow them to scan beyond line-of-sight, bouncing signals of the ionosphere of the earth. Different officials claim different things, it worked, it failed, it was never operational, etc. But it was definitely transmitting, the signal disturbed radio waves across Europe and the US, and became known as the Russian Woodpecker for its staccato signal. As they delve deeper, a theory emerges that the Chernobyl disaster was orchestrated to prevent the dud device getting field tested, as the punishment for wasting funds in such a way was death. The investigation manages to piss off enough people that they're threatened by the secret police, lending some credence to the theory. Or maybe not. At the end, it's all very murky and there are no answers, just a strange signal that has restarted inside Russia.
Racing Extinction
Louis Psihoyos' followup to The Cove takes a look at the illegal trade in endangered species, as well as the reality that we are in the midst of a mass extinction event, as animals disappear faster than we have the ability to document them. It's notable for its positive approach to this however. Where people were overfishing sharks, they go in and help the fishermen transition to tourism which makes them more money than fishing ever did. This isn't a finger-wagging documentary that's ignorant of the broader circumstances that drive behaviour. It's so much more positive and hopeful, with a few answers rather than lots of brooding. Here's hoping the message catches on.
As a side note, I remember back when The Cove screened at MIFF, the Q&A afterwards was nearly hijacked by a militant vegan who wanted to talk about more than just dolphins. Louis politely shut him down and returned the discussion to the film. The vegans were showed up again tonight. This time using the Q&A to announce they were handing out leaflets to encourage people to take a vegan challenge. Funnily enough, this time the message was in keeping with the film, but it's the second time this festival I've seen people hijack a film to sell their own message. I wonder if it's going to become a thing.
Victoria
The single take film is slowly becoming its own genre, like found footage films. And Victoria highlights one specific limitation of the form. Context. You're locked in a moment, all information must come from the moment. And in this case, we needed a bit more I feel. Victoria meets Sonne at a nightclub, and in the course of several hours flirts, drinks, becomes the getaway driver for his friend as they rob a bank, goes on the run, kidnaps a baby and evades the police. There's a few leaps in narrative logic that are a bit hard to get past. The main one being that she's fallen so deeply for Sonne in the short time they spend together that she'd agree to do any of what comes after. But she does, so in theory, character is action / action is character, so that's the kind of person she is. I just had a very hard time buying it. Also, the film is awfully long, with a near perfect ending thrown away to continue for maybe another 40 minutes to an hour that adds nothing to the story. It's long, dull and self-indulgent. Pure style with no substance.
posted by Andrew Lee at 12:11 AM
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