Father Geek here with the "Indie Film" filmlovers dream fest THE 50th MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL. We have 2 different reports on the fest today... and except for one flick our agents watched completely different films...Bad for them... Great for you...
Today was a fantastic day at the fest. Enjoyed all the films.
The first we saw was "Smell of Camphor, Fragrance of Jasmine" an Iranian
film. It was quite different from the other Iranian films I've seen because
the people were wealthy and lived in houses. The first fifteen minutes were
a little slow and I was starting to worry. It was worth the build up
because the rest was fantastic. It was about a film director who hasn't
worked for 20 years (because he was banned by the Censors) until he is
offered to make a documentary for Japanese television about the funeral
habits of Iranians. In making the documentary he becomes obsessed with his
own death. The real director had also not worked for over 20 years and he
also stars in the film as the "director". It was completely absorbing and
wonderfully executed.
Next up was BROTHER, the newest film from Takeshi Kitano (Hana-bi). This is about a
member of the Yakuza who has to leave Japan and heads to LA to see his
younger brother who is now working as a small-time drug runner. Omar Epps
plays one of his gang members. When the Yakuza member arrives, he turns his
brother and his friends into big-time gangsters by starting a war with the
Mexican gangs. It spins out of control and there are lots of gun battles
and funny English/African-American/Japanese communication problems. Great
fun!
Then we jumped to a completely different world with "The Turandot Project"
which was a documentary about the staging of the opera "Turandot". The
famous conductor Zubin Mehta brought in Zhang Yimou (you'd know from "Raise
the Red Lantern" and "To Live" and a zillion others) to help stage the
opera. They started it in Italy and then ended up staging it in Beijing for
the first time. The budget ended up being over US$14 million and it was
pretty spectacular. The doco showed some interesting behind the scenes
stuff...Zhang is a little bit of a perfectionist. It would be amazing to
see this show for real in Beijing.
The next session was a Frenchy, "Pretty Things" about a slutty girl who
moves to Paris to become a "star" and she manages to con a record deal but
she can't sing. Her twin sister (who she hates) agrees to join her in Paris
to help out but only to make money. Her sister also hates makeup and
doesn't shave her legs. They pretend to be one person and the public love
the music. It is too much for the slutty twin and she commits suicide. The
'ugly' twin decides to assume her sister's identity to continue her musical
career. This was a pretty great idea that went on a little too long. It
could explore some interesting themes within this idea but sometimes
focussed on melodrama rather than anything deep. They tried to do some
different visual stuff which didn't always work but overall it was worth the
look.
The next film was fantastic. It was called "Sexy Beast" and starred Ray
Winstone (from "Nil By Mouth") and the absolutely amazing Ben Kingsley (who
played a character that was the complete opposite in all ways to Gandhi).
Ray plays a retired gangster who has moved to Spain with his wife, best
friend and his best friend's wife. Ben Kingsley plays the person who tries
to talk him into coming out of retirement for one last job. It is so much
better than the "Guy-Ritchie-I'm-so-cool" club and the entire reveal of the
story is perfect. I loved this one.
Our final film was "Nurse Betty". This had a lot to measure up to, not only
with the day's great films but also with Neil LaBute's last two. I think it
was really well written and acted and directed but I wasn't really 'digging'
it the entire way through. I think once the main 'idea' was presented it
didn't really thrill me anymore. The audience really enjoyed it which is
probably what really matters but I was a little disappointed. Aaron Eckhart
was fantastic as he always is.
There you have it...the day's films. Tomorrow is another biggy (the
weekends are always larger).
Tamsin
Father Geek back with another MIFF report... this one from Norman...
It's always worth watching when Takeshit Kitano stars in his own films. In BROTHER he's Aniki, a gangster new to Los Angeles, the muscle behind the rise and rise of his half-brother's drugs operation. Kitano makes a very stylish piece of film, cutting in novelistic flashbacks where a less elegant director might have used dialogue. And the sound! I doubt I've ever heard gun blasts with as much visceral grunt. The story doesn't quite transcend the sum of its parts like Kitano's earlier HANA-BI did so brilliantly, but this is well worth catching.
Next up was a Werner Herzog doco double. LA SOUFRIERE and LESSONS OF DARKNESS. There's something about Werner Herzog's dry voice and plain-spoken wit that I've always loved. And he can always be relied to put his camera in interesting places. The highlight here was LESSONS OF DARKNESS, Herzog's look at the horror following the Gulf War. Long helicopter shots over twisted oil refinery equipment, land despoiled by lakes of oil... As Herzog observes, it's like the landscape of a science fiction movie. This is unmissable, beautiful and horrifying.
Another Oz film followed, the premiere of LANTANA. Director Ray Lawrence (BLISS) fumbles the rich source material provided by writer Andrew Bovell. This isn't quite a character-driven piece ala Altman, but it also isn't quite the mystery/thriller the enigmatic opening promises. Local actor Kerry Armstrong shines in a supporting role, contrasting with the flat work turned in by bigger names Geoffrey Rush, Barbara Hershey, and Anthony Lapaglia.
Another doco followed - the early part of my schedule is chock-full of them! THE VIDEO DAIRY OF RICARDO LOPEZ. This was... devastating. You know films so utterly devastating that the audience just walks out and everybody is avoiding each other's looks?
RICARD LOPEZ... is assembled 100% from 18 tapes worth of Ricardo's soliloquies to camera. In it he candidly talks about the two acts that will define him to the world: his suicide, and the mail-bomb that will - he hopes - kill pop singer Bjork. We see him agonising about what sort of acid to use in the bomb - testing 36% proof sulfuric acid on his own hand and deciding that only 100% would do. This is the real heart of darkness, a real Travis Bickle twisting in the wind: someone struggling with their sanity and eventually losing the battle. Hard to watch but equally hard to forget.
Old Norman could barely stand up at this stage but I had a crack at my sixth film of the day... I'd been hooked by the festival synopsis of Japanese anime BLUE REMAINS that promised "cutting edge 3D graphics". Post FINAL FANTASY this is pretty far from cutting edge. This underwater sci-fi feature has fairly nice Playstation2-level graphics, but nuthin special. Last year's MIFF anime features BLOOD and JIN-ROH blew this away on a story and graphics level. I gave it 30 minutes before wheeling the roadster back to my gentlemen's abode for the night.
Norman
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