MIFF 2017 - Day 17

Loving Vincent

Made up of 63,000 oil paintings, this is a rotoscoped animated feature exploring the life and final days of Vincent Van Gogh. It's framed as a bit of a murder mystery, and generally works pretty well. The art varies between the excellent and the awful. The black and white flashbacks look like bad video, they chose a particularly poor art style for those scenes. But it's absolutely worth seeing, when it's working its spectacular.

Austerlitz

People watching: The movie. A series of locked off shots observing tourists visiting Auschwitz. It's slow, but yields interesting moments. Especially listening to the different tour guides providing conflicting information on the camp, or using it as a platform for their own views. It also invites judgement as you see some of the incredibly tasteless posing for photos. A hard watch, but worthwhile.

The Ornithologist

A gay, surrealist version of the life of Saint Anthony of Padua. Fernando is an ornithologist who gets trapped in rapids while kayaking, is found by two Chinese pilgrims walking the path of Saint James, except they're lost. They attempt to kidnap Fernando to protect them from tengu, and it gets progressively weirder from there. It's not a film I'm in a hurry to rewatch, but I really enjoyed the experience.

MIFF 2017 - Day 16

Aelita, Queen of Mars

A fascinating silent film from the USSR that pre-dates Metropolis. It tells the story of corruption and idealism in post-revolution Russia and also the story of pre-revolutionary Russia by way of the culture of Mars, where the queen, Aelita becomes obsessed with the human Los. When he finally builds a rocket and gets there, he brings revolution and it doesn't work out so well for the queen... It's visually striking, with inventive costumes and sets. Sadly, you probably won't be able to see it with the excellent live score provided by The Spheres. I felt a bit sorry for them though. By my count, the print we saw was about 15 minutes shorter than what's commonly available online. And it showed as the band had to jarringly transition between tracks on a number of occasions. It was a brilliant live event all the same.

I Am Not Your Negro

Somewhere between a documentary and an essay on race in America, Raoul Peck brings to life the words of James Baldwin, a black writer and activist I had never heard of, but who is incisive in a way that speaks as prophetically now as it did when he was alive. And that's damning. It's a powerful film that'll enlighten, provoke and depress you in equal measure. Go see it.

Marlina the Murderer I'm Four Acts

Damn, I did not see this one coming. Surprises are the best thing about MIFF. A feminist Indonesian spaghetti western with surrealist elements. Beautifully shot, with a deadpan sense of humour and an unflinchingly grim depiction of the struggles of Marlina and the women she encounters, it's a story of empowerment, oppression and indifference. The violence against the women is nasty and shocking. The denouement powerful. It's bloody brilliant.

The Void

The B-est of B movies. Take Assault on Precinct 13, The Thing and In The Mouth Of Madness and throw them in a blender. It's not particularly well written and the cinematography is too muddy for my taste, but it was fun enough. Some great gore and creature effects, but it doesn't aspire to be much more than that. But hey, those films are enjoyable.

MIFF 2017 - Day 15

Otherlife

Ren Amari is the inventor of Otherlife, a piece of nanotechnology that implants memories into minds ala Total Recall. She's trying to find a way to get her brother out of the coma he's in, and is misusing the company resources to achieve her ends. Then it all goes wrong, someone dies, and her business partner does a deal with the government to drop charges in return for using the technology for virtual incarceration. The thriller element steps up from there. Anyone versed in SF will pick almost every plot beat, and it's not a perfect film, but it's an enjoyable ride. A solid entry to the "what is real" genre, unfortunately about two decades too late to really blow your mind.

The Untamed

Imagine David Cronenberg made a kitchen sink relationship drama after watching too much Japanese tentacle porn. And imagine it's way better than you could expect. This is weird, smart and surprising. Also really graphic. The basic plot is about a dysfunctional family who come into contact with an alien that's the embodiment of libido. And then we follow the chaos and destruction that unbridled lust causes. Not for the queasy or the prudish, but it's really good.

MIFF 2017 - Day 14

Winnie

It's always interesting to hear the other side of history. Perhaps no more so than here, with Winnie Mandela telling her story in her own words. A lifetime spent fighting for her people, against the state apparatus. We hear from police and intelligence agents who spent their careers trying to discredit and isolate her. And frame her, as we discover witnesses paid to lie and we learn truth around some of the charges levelled against her. Depressingly we also hear how the apartheid government attempted to groom Nelson Mandela for the presidency, with a goal to preserving their power. And part of that was to set the ANC against Winnie. Something they achieved. The end is a bit grim, celebrating the achievements but also mourning the cost and wondering at the compromises made by some in pursuit of power.

Brigsby Bear

James is raised in a small bunker by his loving parents who warn him of the toxic air outside and get him his weekly Brigsby Bear videotape. Then the police raid and reunite him with his real parents and the real world. But all he wants is to know what happens next in Brigsby Bear. So he decides to make it himself. As a way to explore emotional trauma it's smartly done with a lot of humour, and never minimises the underlying horror of what happened to James. It's also dope as shit.

Have a Nice Day

A man steals a million rmb, and kicks off a series of interrelated incidents as people screw each other over to get the bag of cash. It's a fun and effective comedic thriller, with a through line examining how capitalism and the desire to be wealthy has broken family and social bonds in China. It's a running theme in the Chinese films I've been seeing, which is interesting. There's also an hysterical musical number in the middle parodying Chinese propaganda posters. Loved it.

MIFF 2017 - Day 13

The Force

Follows the Oakland police department from 2014 to 2016 as it tries to implement reforms. At first it looks like they're having success. No police shootings, violent crime down. And then the shit hits the fan. A series of police shootings create distrust in the community, and then corruption scandals further damage credibility. The film shows how up against it the force is. Even when video evidence shows that the shootings are justified, activists peddle conspiracy theories. One even says on camera that there is no such thing as a good cop. But as the department falls further and further into disrepute, seeing off three police chiefs in nine days, it's hard not to sympathise with their frustration. And with the good cops trying their best in a really shitty situation.

The Face of Another

About halfway through, I decided this was more of a dramatised essay rather than a narrative film. But it's a really interesting one, exploring the connections between identity and the body. Who are we if we change our face? What is beauty and how do we perceive and define it? It's not for everyone, the pace could generously be called measured, plodding would be the less kind way to put it. But for the philosophically minded, there's a lot to consider and enjoy.

Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web

The larger than life figure at the centre of a notorious copyright case gets the documentary treatment. It shows his extravagant lifestyle, his history and the case that turned him into a folk hero for the internet freedom movement. The political impact in New Zealand is particularly interesting, with the original raid being a complete disaster from a legal perspective. And subsequent revelations of the illegality of how evidence was gathered transformed NZ law... They made it legal. It's a sobering look at how the law is both catching up to and overreaching technology, with consequences for all of us.

MIFF 2017 - Day 12

Marjorie Prime

The credits say adapted for the screen, but really this is just a filmed play. It's not particularly cinematic and it's science fiction elements are an excuse for long expository monologues rather than something to be explored. But it is a fine contemplation of memory, love and grief. Not particularly deep, more a lesser episode of Black Mirror elevated by incredible actors. But still satisfying and worth a watch.

Free and Easy

A bunch of con men run afoul of each other in a nearly deserted rural town in China. Slow but never boring, it has a dark and surreal humour to it as everyone screws each other over, reconciles then conspires to screw over yet more people. It does overstay itself through, with an epilogue ruining what felt like a perfect ending. Clearly the director was trying to say something different, but it was lost on me. Excellent until the last 5 minutes or so.

Tokyo Idols

A really interesting deep dive into Japanese Idol culture. Beginning with the interesting observation that this is Japan's answer to punk, the film examines the phenomenon from the perspective of both the girls and their middle aged male fans. It's seriously creepy in parts, especially the borderline(?) paedophilia of guys fawning over 10 year olds. But it also deals with the hopelessness and escapism that idols offer the men, in an economy and society failing to offer them meaning. But the men are fleeing from the challenging work of reality and the film is not uncritical of this. Both sides know it's a fantasy, and the men prefer it. As for the girls, it's a business and might offer pathways to other careers in entertainment. But as one journalist interviewed puts it best, this society will do anything to ensure men aren't challenged or required to put real effort into a relationship. So Idol culture endures and protects men from the destruction of their fantasies.

The 10th Victim

Marcello Mastrioianni and Usula Andress star in this pop art delirium that prefigures The Running Man, through it's closer in some ways to They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Hunter and hunted play with each other in a legalised manhunt designed to vent humanity's dark side. It's weird and friggin funny. If you ever get a chance to see it, it's a must watch.

MIFF 2017 - Day 11

The Family I Had

Absolutely harrowing, but also slightly hopeful. It's a documentary about a mother whose son murdered her daughter. Years later, she still visits and speaks to him, but she is under no illusions about how dangerous and manipulative he is. The entire family is full of tragedy, bad life choices and dysfunction, but they struggle on. It's a complex and detailed investigation of a family under extreme stress trying to love, and a generational legacy it finds hard to break free of.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Well, that was cheery. A very, very offbeat horror movie about a surgeon being terrorised by the son of a patient who died on the operating table. There's no logic to it, but then it's Yorgos Lanthimos and nothing he does makes sense. But it's powerful and unsettling.

PACMen

Follows two Super PACs campaigning for Ben Carsons in the Republican primary. It's purely observational and lacks a lot of insight as a result. I learned more from the Q&A afterwards. But it's fun and has its moments.

MIFF 2017 - Day 10

Ancien and the Magic Tablet

A really cool magic realist take on corporate intrigue, Japan's traditionalism and self driving cars. It's all wrapped up in the story of a girl who dreams of a magic kingdom under assault. Some great mecha stuff along with a really intriguing story that has no regard for reality or fantasy, sliding between the two effortlessly.

My Entire High School Sinking Into The Sea

It's a very adult swim or spike and mike style animated feature overdramatising life in high school. Riffing off The Poseidon Adventure, a group of kids and their lunch lady have to navigate cliques, sharks and other natural predators as they try to reach the roof of the school and rescue. It's floridly animated, lots of strobe and other effects combined with lofi character animation. It's a lot of fun and sharply observed.

Ethel and Ernest

A beautiful, compassionate and humorous biography of Raymond Briggs's parents. It's such a warm and lovely story, animated in a way that pays proper respect to Briggs's distinctive style. An absolute gem.

My Year with Helen

Follows Helen Clark's unsuccessful bid to become Secretary General of the UN. It has a great insight into the process, where being a good candidate works against you. Especially if you want to make the UN effective. With 5 members able to veto you, it's about being the least threatening. Helen Clark is not that. Add in institutional sexism and it makes for depressing viewing. But Clark herself is an inspiring figure, and her dad is a funny chap too. So it's an enjoyable, albeit dispiriting watch.

Japanese Girls Never Die

I kinda feel sorry for the people in the audience who have never seen a Daigo Matsui film before. He's an acquired taste, and is pretty experimental. But I really like his stuff, and here he plays with the gender tropes of cinema to explore sexism and relationships. There's a bit of jumping around in the timeline, and it doesn't completely fulfil its promise, but that's Matsui in a nutshell. Great ideas, an interesting aesthetic and a story that satisfies, but doesn't let everything play out. I enjoyed it though.

MIFF 2017 - Day 9

Mountain

Baraka for mountaineers and extreme sports types. It's short, and a mix of the contemplative and mournful. Lamenting the loss of mystique and adventure that has been supplanted by commercialisation and showboating. Gorgeous cinematography and a solid narration by Willem Dafoe.

These are the Damned

An old Hammer thriller that starts off being a girl in trouble thriller with a group of bikies terrorising a older bloke who she runs off with. That bit hasn't aged that well. But the second half is a grim apocalyptic nuclear paranoia thriller, bleak and despairing. Definitely worth a look.

Lucky

Harry Dean Stanton is Lucky. An old bloke in his twilight years fighting against death. And slowly making peace with it and coming to love the world. It's a lovely meditation on death and vulnerability. Plus it has David Lynch as Lucky's friend who has lost his tortoise.

78/52

A love letter to the shower scene in Psycho. If you're a film nerd it's a must watch. It does suffer a little from the fact that almost everyone involved has passed away, but the insights of other editors and film nuts is great.

MIFF 2017 - Day 8

Animation Shorts

Always a mixed bag, but always a few gems too. There were a couple of spectacular ones this year though.

Birdlime was a cool puppet stop motion about a wild bird captured and seemingly domesticated. Full of humour and heart.

Catherine was a darkly funny story about a girl who keeps killing her pets, and the taxidermist in love with her.

The Burden was an amazing stop motion musical about the trials of life. Very well observed and sharply written. Kind of like a Roy Andersson film, which is the highest praise I can give.

Nocturama

Ugh. Why do I still fall for MIFF hype? The first act of this is pretty excellent, as a Benetton catalog's worth of multicultural youth orchestrate a massive terror attack on Paris. Then they hole up in an upmarket department store to bore the audience shitless. Basically, it's a well polished turd with nothing interesting to say or do.

MIFF 2017 - Day 7

Guardians of the Strait

It's a bit of a mess, but charming all the same. A doco about various groups and individuals who live and work along the Bosporus and try to prevent disasters, be they shipping or ecological. Structurally the film spends too much time early on dealing with shipping and the need for pilots, despite an international treaty that lets companies get away without them. When it detours into deforestation and a third bridge that is destroying a beach, it lost me. Some judicious editing early on could have set up a different set of narratives and stakes to make it flow better. But it's still an insight into life along one of the busiest naval passages in the world.

Jupiter's Moon

Wow. Just, wow. I'm getting spoiled. A Syrian refugee enters Hungary and gets shot by an overzealous police detective. And then suddenly the boy can fly. He's found by a disgraced doctor who the detective pressures to cover up the shooting. Instead, he helps the boy escape and uses his new powers to con patients out of money. All the while the detective is hunting them. And that's just the first act. It's constantly reinventing its genre and surprising you, while taking all the characters through interesting journeys. And it's shot with deliriously original long takes that would make Cuaron weep. Add in a great score and it's a must watch.

MIFF 2017 - Day 6

Trane

A doco about John Coltrane. It's pretty bog standard talking heads, archival footage and the music. There's a weird detour into Japanese fans for reasons I assume were to do with the financing as it adds nothing, but otherwise it's a great overview of a great musician.

Ikarie XB 1

An old Czech black and white science fiction film, it's hardly subtle in some of its communist messaging, but it is also smartly subversive in its approach to the heroic tropes of SF. Action moments are defused with reason, horror is due to mankind not some alien threat, and weird events are benevolent not malignant. It's very episodic, but looks beautiful and packs a lot into its short runtime.

The Endless

Trying to capture the uncanny is a really hard thing to do. Plenty of filmmakers try it, but very few of them can pull it off. These guys did. The story of two brothers who escaped a cult 10 years ago, and return to visit after receiving a weird video tape. The younger brother doesn't remember much and is quickly enamoured with the life on offer, but his brother is more cautious. Things unravel from there with some excellent character work that underpins the broader creeping dread. This is what MIFF is for me. The chance to see something smart and original on a giant screen.

MIFF 2017 - Day 5

In This Corner of the World

An anime that in some ways serves as a counterpoint to the grim despair of Grave of the Fireflies, we're presented with the story of Suzu, a young and naive girl from Hiroshima who marries a stranger from Kure and basically we just follow her domestic life during wartime. The animation has a slight childishness to it that neatly suits Suzu's nature. It also serves as a harsher juxtaposition with the horrors the family experiences. It's occasionally awkward, though I can't tell if that's due to cultural specificity or just the writing, but it's genuinely sweet and heartfelt.

Ingrid Goes West

How black do you like your comedies? This is really really black. It's also awesome. Ingrid is desperate to have a friend. So she stalks an instagram celebrity, kidnaps her dog and returns it to ingratiate herself. It goes very Single White Female from there, but her new friends are awful narcissistic people she kind of despises. It's dark, funny and a great skewering of the fake reality social media celebrities.

MIFF 2017 - Day 4

So, what happened to days 1, 2 and 3? My gall bladder, unfortunately. But I'm back on deck and in the MIFF mood...

Trophy

Enter the morally gray world of African animal conservation. From trophy hunting that pays for conservation efforts, to rhino farming that increases their numbers while trading their ivory, it's going to challenge you. And what you're left with is the sense that moral absolutism is not going to save these animals. But it also depresses you with the stark fact that unless there's a value placed on the animals, they're unlikely to survive.

A Revolution of Sound - Tangerine Dream

A great doco on the pioneering band using Edgar Frosse's life as its narrative through line. It's follows the different phases of the band line up and their adventures scoring films in Hollywood. It never gets very deep, but addresses the philosophy driving the band's creative style and gives a great overview of one of the most important bands in electronic music.

A Gray State

A film maker and his wife and child are found dead in their home. Allah Akbar is written in blood on the wall. It was a murder suicide. As one of his friends states, all that's missing is the why. And we will never really know. But we do get the story of a family descending into madness as they fall in with the alt right. The crime becoming another conspiracy they must unravel. It's a complex portrait of a very unusual situation. Not satisfying, but that's because the reality is unsatisfying. But it is grimly fascinating.