seen from India
seen from China
seen from Norway
seen from United States
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Poland
seen from Hong Kong SAR China
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Norway
seen from Austria
seen from Norway
Throughout MIFF I did some reviews for ArtSmitten on SYN. Have a read/listen:
11 Minutes: http://syn.org.au/node/35678
Cosmos: http://syn.org.au/node/35679
Kaili Blues: http://syn.org.au/node/35680
The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki: http://syn.org.au/node/35681
Some horror films (The Eyes of My Mother, Baskin, Under the Shadow, Fear Itself): http://syn.org.au/node/35683
Sunday August 14
LOVESONG ★★★
My 38th, and final film of MIFF for 2016! Lovesong was a nice enough film about two college friends who flirt with each other and have a romantic connection, but don’t seem to proceed to quite fulfilling it (bar one night). I’m not really sure I got the point of this, as it seemed the two women were into each other, but remain true to their male partners on the two occasions that present an alternative, and seemingly better option (in each other). One of the best representations I’ve seen in a movie or on TV of what it’s like to have a three year old kid.
Saturday August 13
LITTLE MEN ★★★★
Wonderful film set in Brooklyn, and about two young (13-ish) boys who are a little different to the regular kids and form a friendship. My biggest disappointment was falling asleep for about 15 minutes in the middle of it (due to tiredness, not boredom) and missing some plot points. Will definitely be re-watching this again when I have the chance.
HELL OR HIGH WATER ★★★☆
A not bad modern day ‘western’ or sorts, set in Texas. Two brothers set out to right the wrongs of the banks, who have very little respect amongst the people. Nicely paced (for a western) and with some great characters throughout.
Friday August 12
MERCENARY ★★★☆
Nicely shot French film about a pacific islander rugby player trying to make a go of it in a minor league team in France. Had a really nice, slow pace (in a good way), and reasonable story. It kind of echoed Mahana in the sense of an iron-fisted patriarch dominating the lives of his offspring and how they managed to cope and keep going in spite of it.
GIRLFRIENDS ★★★
I read that this 1970s film inspired the HBO show ‘Girls’, and you can really tell when watching it. I almost walked out about halfway through, but stuck it through and glad that I did. The film quality was t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e. Dirty and blurry, but I guess that’s what you get with low budget 40 year+ old indie films.
Thursday August 11
MAHANA ★★★☆
I really enjoyed this New Zealand film about feuding families. Very well acted, nice shots of NZ’s beautiful countryside, and a pretty good story too. It could have easily scored a little higher if it didn’t have plot points that felt like it needed to tie everything up neatly by the end. (the shearing competition for example felt a bit jarring to me). Worth a look though.
Wednesday August 10
SUBURRA ★★
An Italian mafia film that promised to be high action. I love mafia films (Godfather, Goodfellas, etc), so I was looking forward to this. I guess it had action, but this was painful to watch. All the characters were completely unlikeable, and other than everyone just being assholes to each other, it didn't really feel like there was a story to tell amongst the constance violence.
Tuesday August 9
GIRL ASLEEP ★★
Australian film that seemed to suffer an identity crisis. Couldn’t figure out it if it was a Wes Anderson film, Donnie Darko, or Muriel’s Wedding/Strictly Ballroom. Volume was way up too loud (said the old man) for this session, too. I dunno, it just seemed to be trying too hard, and relying on original techniques that had already been done to tell a story of a girl starting at a new school and the friend she makes there.
This weekend I escaped the country for a jaunt in the city.
It’s always nice to get away for a little bit and enjoy the things you can’t in a small town: theatre, art, restaurants, etc. Between catching up with friends I managed to see 2 films and one musical.
The first film was the Lobster. In it Colin Farrell’s character is sent to a hotel for singles after his wife leaves him for another man. At the hotel he must fall in love within 45 days or he will be turned into an animal of his choosing. It was really weird to watch this one as tje only person in the theatre, kind of appropriate really. The Lobster is bitingly hilarious but with that same kind of cloying claustophobia and impending sense of dread that Dogtooth had as well.
The next day I went and saw Avenue Q. I don’t think I need to say much about that. It’s dead brilliant. I was really confused at first, like, am I supposed to ignore the puppetmaster? They’re standing right there, not hiding at all but technically its the puppet that’s speaking... What do You do with a BA in English has been my theme song since graduating with a BA in English.
Last I managed to nab standby tickets to the Handmaiden at MIFF. I’d devoured Sarah Waters’ novels in high school after stumbling upon the tv adaptation of Tipping the Velvet on ABC one night so I’d been looking forward to the Handmaiden since I first heard it was going to be made. It’s a gorgeous production, really well done. I really liked how they strayed from the novel’s ending (mostly to streamline it I suppose) and I was surprised how funny it was considering how tense the trailer seemed.
I’m not booked in for anything else in the city until Book of Mormon next year but hopefully something will come up between now and then,
