MIFF 2018 - Day 15

The King

Elvis as metaphor for the rise and decline of America. That's an idea too big to be contained in a two hour film. But they try, and they cover an immense amount of social, cultural, and political ground. Ultimately it can't bring it all together, but gee it throws a lot at you. A confused and enlightening mess.

Documentary Shorts

The usual mixed bag. Some, like House of JXN, feel like a proof of concept for something longer, while others like Silica and Symphony of a Sad Sea are perfectly constructed gems. Though I have no idea what Armageddon 2 was. I think that was meant to be in the WTF shorts program.

Donbass

Scenes from a faked civil war. It's fiction, but all about the war in Ukraine. It's genuinely unsettling in parts, horrifying and also sometimes comic. Opening with a faked bombing and actors portraying shocked bystanders, it ramps up from there demonstrating the manipulation of a populace. Not every sequence works, but it's a powerful film.

The Spy Gone North

A ripper of a spy thriller with a heart crying for a reunified Korea. It's tense and well paced from the get go, only occasionally let down by some bad cgi. The core is a conflicted spy who is caught between serving his country and the needs of the intelligence agency he works for, navigating corrupt politicians in the south and deadly mistrust in the north. Based on a true story, some of the events are insane. Like South Korean politicians paying the North to attack just before an election to favour the ruling party. It's fictionalised, but still, damn.