#miff2019

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System Crasher (2019)

Director: Nora Fingscheidt

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For Sama (2019)

Director: Waad al-Kateab

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A Colony (2018)

Director: Geneviève Dulude-De Celles

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MIFF Chats on Another Bloody Movie Podcast

Talking all things Melbourne International Film Festival 2019, The Unknown Saint, The Death of Dick Long, Machine & The Dead Don’t Die on Another Bloody Movie Podcast (below from 45:15)

Listen here

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The Farewell

It’s far from unheard of that a film’s production or genesis is as if not more interesting than the finished product, but it’s rarely the case for so quality a picture.

Billi (Awkwafina), on finding that her beloved Grandmother may likely soon pass, departs New York for China where her extended family reside. Managing to a degree with the local dialect and the familial differences given her predominant Chinese-American upbringing, harder still is swallowing that her family, as is custom, don’t plan to tell the matriarch that she is terminally ill; instead choosing to let her live those prospective final months content, surrounded by loved ones.

A decision intrinsically shocking to many, it’s a remarkable testament to the talent herein and dexterity in depicting this distinct cultural divide that so many present in the subsequent Q&A with Director Lulu Wang so openly shared their like experiences. Wang, significantly permitting both sides of this debate to air absent overarching judgement or the imposition of overt moralising any which way, situates those unfamiliar with such circumstances in these environments about as well as can be done.

When flashpoints as to those cultural differences emerge over dinner, the discussions elucidating on that all too familiar to many of diverse cultural backgrounds, save one very blatantly expository exchange between Billi, her father and uncle, are imparted well and as natural consequences of proceedings. Awkwafina, playing against type in a dramatic role, fares exceptionally well; the emotional resonance of her performance exceeded only by Zhao Shuzhen (Billi’s Nai Nai) and one exceptional sequence at a wedding heralded by Billi’s uncle – an uproarious turn that is too a very definition of pathos.

Now; that ending. The screenplay suggests (broadly) one of two directions that this film could go, raising questions as to whether Nai Nai will be told and whether Billi, least au fait with the family’s decision, will tell her. What transpires, well, it’s about as upending and impacting as can be, down in no small part to the deftness of the scripting and a series of superb performers.

It being worth in no small measure reading up on this film’s production and the real life circumstances which inspired it, while these truths may be as if not more interesting than their corresponding fiction that rendered here so skilfully is rewarding unto itself and a clear highlight, and stand-out for this author, from this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival.  

on Festevez

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The Death of Dick Long

The Death of Dick Long is having none of your genre.

For this film, it’s title itself inviting you to balk at this much as the opening minutes of the Director’s previous effort Swiss Army Man dared you to depart the cinema, pays no heed of the poor soul who has to describe it to the unsuspecting.

A rural Alabama dark comedy-detective drama with shades of that most crude (before you say anything no this is nothing like the Coen Brothers’ work), in borrowing motifs from the most disparate of inspirations The Death of Dick Long achieves something unusual in that in an excellent piece of misdirection it purports to change gears but never does.

Taking place following the disappearance of their eponymous best mate, Zeke (Michael Abbott Jr.) and Earl (Andre Hyland) know a lot more than they’re letting on to their respective partners or the local cops. If this sounds at all regular, the latent ‘twist’ (it’s really more of a revelation and it’s a great one) dramatically upends the mystery forms we’re familiar with and more than comfortably settled in to by this time and in spite of the heightened circumstances does so seamlessly and, on only the slightest reflection as to the first act, without actually shifting the narrative into different territory entire.

What could have been outrageous and nonsensical being otherwise well established by subtle groundwork in service of a reveal that is anything but subtle, the about-face, tonally blazing and uncommonly idiosyncratic to no doubt the appeal of many, will turn a lot of others off. A lot of the same crowd who would walk out of the aforementioned masterpiece, those nonetheless hoping for something akin to Swiss Army Man won’t go home so elated.

Not unenjoyable, aside the reveal and some spectacularly dark humour henceforth there are simply no significantly engaging nor greatly fleshed out characters (the two male leads being necessarily muted in their performances) to carry proceedings to the heights this film aspires. With Virginia Newcomb and Jess Weixler, two of the supporting leads, delivering the more memorable characterisations within significantly less screen-time, the outright more interesting conflicts inherent within their characters’ arcs are never nearly so explored as they could have been.

Concluding ably regardless, The Death of Dick Long is mildly entertaining stuff that does well to play so loose with our expectations.

The Death of Dick Long screened as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival

on Festevez

[filmsisobelhasseen]

Midnight Family (2019)

Director: Luke Lorentzen

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