MIFF 2016 - Day 8

The Magic Brush

An animated kids film where a young painter is gifted a magic brush by the God of Ink. It's kind of like getting a ring from the Green Lantern Corps, whatever he can imagine becomes real. But an evil general wants it, and connives to steal it. Weirdly, it's a mixture of paint by numbers plotting and incoherent. non-sequitur scenes. Good for young kids, and fun enough for everyone else.

Don't Blink Robert Frank

A documentary about the photographer Robert Frank. I hadn't heard of him. He photographed the Beats, made a bunch of films, produced some interesting books and has a really positive way of looking at life. It's a fun, if rambling, look at a man who is fascinated by life at the margins.

Gary Numan: An Android in La La Land

You have to love a film that ends with a rock star reading his daughter Giraffes Don't Dance, and uses it to tie the whole thing together. This is a really funny and personal look at the career and comeback of Gary Numan. His wife Gemma is the real star though, a superfan who went to all his gigs and now they're a really good couple. The stuff they've been through is toe curling, but they come through it. It's a great film for fans, but I think just about anyone would enjoy it.

The Handmaiden 

 Park Chan Wook presents us with his take on Bound, at least, it's hard not to make the comparisons. A loose adaptation of The Fingersmith, this is one of those films that delights in transgression, a staple of Park's work throughout his career. Here, he tackles Japanese pornographic literature, Korea-Japan relations and wraps it up in a lesbian neo-noir con thriller. Broken up into three parts, part one has so many "Chekov's Guns" it's funny to see each of them fired later on. The twisty narrative sees betrayal upon betrayal, cross and double-cross, so much so that you're waiting for the tables to turn again when things seem to finally be at an end. It's a cheeky and funny film, wrapped up in an arthouse presentation. Better and more coherent than Thirst, but kind of on that level.