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.