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.