MIFF 2016 - Day 12

The Family Fang

Jason Bateman and Nicole Kidman are Baxter and Annie Fang, the children of famous performance artists. As children they were players in their parent's art pieces, or possibly just their pranks. Opinion is divided on their work. Adults now, their parents go missing, presumed kidnapped and murdered. Annie thinks it's another piece, and wants to track them down. Baxter thinks they're probably dead, and if not, isn't that even worse? It's a gently paced story of how parental neglect comes in many forms, and how legacies are hard to shake. I'm not sure it quite nails everything it's going for, but it comes close. Definitely worth watching.

Animation Shorts

A mixed bag, as always. There's POP, which is a student film obviously in love with Peter Chung's work. Bird Flu is a trippy story of a birdhouse in love with a pestilence that destroys the ecosystem it lives in. It's probably closest to my favourite. The Crossing is a technical marvel, animated using salt and sand, and looks awesome though the plot didn't grab me. Of Shadows and Wings could have been amazing, but is let down by an arch and pretentious voiceover. Without it it might have been transcendent. Instead it's just good. Mrs Metro is a dark story about a baby on a train disturbing the peace. Funny and ugly. Those are the ones that stick in the mind for one reason or another. There wasn't a bad one in the bunch, but nothing special sadly.