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.