Father Geek here with more MIFF news from Tamsin and Norman. First up is Tamsin's report from Melbourne...
Today started out as documentary day for me with two feature length docos and four from
Errol Morris' "First Person" Series.
But firstly I started with the Iranian film, "Legend of Love" by director
Farhad Mehranfar who is known for his 1999 film, "Tree of Life". "Legend of
Love" follows a young female doctor's journey to find her doctor boyfriend
who had given up his medical school training to travel through Kurdistan and
set up a clinic for war victims in Boonon. It is another great Iranian film
which, due to major censorship, subtly explores the futility of war through
a humanistic story of love, song, myth and legend.
Then was the first doco for the day, "My Khmer Heart" by Australian
filmmaker/journalist Janine Hosking. This was about a large-than-life
Australian nurse, Geraldine Cox, who has been in Cambodia for a number of
years running an orphanage and experiencing the terrible political ups and
downs of a nation torn apart by violence. This was an extremely
well-produced and directed documentary which benefited from the charisma and
personality of its main voice, Geraldine Cox, but also because the
filmmakers were obviously dedicated to their subject over a long period of
time that you are able to experience a depth within the work which is often
missing in other documentaries. This is an amazing achievement and
extremely emotional viewing.
From the emotional to the wacky. MIFF is featuring Errol Morris' series
"First Person" which has already been on cable here. It is typical Morris
which is always entertaining and a little frightening. The four I saw were
about the cleaner of crime scene/undiscovered bodies, a spy, a parrot who
witnessed a murder and a guy who was writing to the unabomber.
Then it was on to another documentary, "Keep the River on Your Right: A
Modern Cannibal Tale" by David and Laurie Shapiro. This is a story of a
painter/anthropologist who lived with a number of different jungle tribes in
Peru and West Papua throughout his life and lived to tell the tale. At 78,
the filmmakers encouraged him to return to both Asmat and Peru so he could
retrace his steps and reunite with some of his old tribe members. It is an
emotional film for him as he also has to face many old demons (including
being a part of a violent massacre of another tribe and eating human flesh)
which had been exploited throughout his life by himself, in the form of
books and memoirs, as well as via the talkshow circuit, where narrow-minded
hosts like Charlie Rose asked him exploitative and ignorant questions about
his time spent with the tribes. This was a documentary which took seven
years to complete and the dedication shows. It is both entertaining and
absorbing viewing.
Now to my first narrative feature of the night, the Oscar-nominated, Julian
Schnabel-directed, "Before Night Falls." This could have been a brilliant
exploration of the life of Cuban novelist Reinaldo Arenas, but
unfortunately, the audio track and Javier Bardem's (who did a fantastic
acting job) English was so difficult to understand that I missed a great
deal of this film. My ear is quite tuned to other English-speaking
cultures, however, I found it incredibly difficult to understand. I don't
understand why they didn't just commit to doing the entire film in Spanish
with English subtitles. There were already some subtitles in the film and
the audience who would see this film, I'm sure, would be the type that would
see films with subtitles anyway. It was one of the most frustrating
experiences, because the film was obviously poetic and reliant on its
dialogue and the words of a writer.
The next feature was from a New Zealander, Christine Jeffs, and was a story
set in the 70s of a family spending the summer holidays together at the sea.
Janey, 13, is growing up and is at the age where she can tell her parents
are not happy in their relationship. A photographer, Cady, who has also
docked for the summer, widens the gap between husband and wife and mother
and daughter, through his flirtations and relationship with Janey's mother.
This is a sad story with the destructive nature of both parents played out
extremely well without melodrama but confronting all the same. The
performances were mostly good especially from Janey's little brother, Jim
played by Aaron Murphy.
Lastly, I started watching "The Irrefutable Truth About Demons" at 11:30pm
but made it to 12am and couldn't do anymore. It was my seventh film for the
day and really had to grab me and slap me stupid from the first frame for me
to be able to stay. Unfortunately the performances and dialogue were bad to
begin with and couldn't engage my brain.
I've made it past the halfway point of the Festival and I'm still alive.... I've made it over the 50 film mark...51 films.
Today I next took in the French film, "Blame it on Voltaire" which is the
story of a Tunisian immigrant, Jallel who has to find a way to stay in Paris
not only physically but mentally and emotionally as well. This film begins
extremely well, with a fantastic performance from its lead actor, Sami
Bouajila, but you can actually pick the exact moment where the film takes a
wrong turn and plummets. There was another story in there which would have
been a lot more fascinating and engaging however, they went entirely in the
wrong direction. Extremely disappointing.
Had to run to make the next one, "The Chateau" by music video director,
Jesse Peretz. I was expecting whams and bams in this one but it is actually
an extremely funny, mini-DV shot, improvised comedy about a couple of
brothers (one white and the other black) who inherit a chateau in the south
of France. It works well because, even though it is improvised, the premise
appears to have been extremely well planned and layered with story rather
than just witty masculine one liners. It is also impressive to see
Americans poking fun at themselves for once. We were also given a treat by
one of the lead actors, Romany Malco, who has just finished the tele-movie,
"Too Legit to Quit: The M.C. Hammer Movie" and he busted out some kick-arse
M.C. Hammer moves for us after the screening.
From M.C. Hammer to the hills of Iranian Kurdistan, for our next feature, "A
Time for Drunken Horses." This is the depressing story of a young orphaned
boy, trying desperately to keep his ill, handicapped brother and two sisters
fed, clothed and educated. He is forced to smuggle goods into Iraq by mule
where there are always threats of ambushes and landmines. The performances
are amazing in this film and it is an extremely depressing look at the
aftermath of war and the present conditions where children and adults are
still being used as slave labour.
Second last is an Australian/Spanish/Italian film called "La Spagnola" set
in the 1960s about the relationship between a feisty Spanish mother and her
daughter after the head of the household leaves them for an Australian
woman. The production values are high on this one and it is overall
well-designed however, the characters are underdeveloped and therefore
unengaging. It is often difficult to join them mentally when they perform
questionable acts because there are so many lows and not enough highs to
make you want to stay with them for the bad ones.
It is a pity because the overall production is good but, once again, the
script could have used work.
Lastly is another from the master of Hong Kong action, Tsui Hark called
"Time and Tide". It is the story of a young bartender who impregnates a
lesbian and then starts working as a bodyguard to make money to pay for the
child. It is full-on Honky action, with amazing gun battles and innovative
fight sequences. I'm sure a lot of these sequences will be turning up in
big budget Hollywood movies next Summer. A crowd pleaser.
Only one more week to go...If I can make it through alive.
Tamsin
Now here's Norman's latest...
I woke to find the Robot From Daft Punk had dumped my body outside my gentleman's abode. It was stiffening with rigor mortis. Luckily Spencer - who studied medicine for a couple of semesters in the sixties - was only a phone call away. A few practised moments later and I was shaving off the five-o-clock shadow and straightening my lounge suit. Back on the road again...
I'd forgotten the synopsis of SOUTHERN COMFORT but when it started I got a flash of art imitating life. For this documentary looks at a group of Americans who believe - no, they know - that they have been born into the wrong body shape.
The story flows through the gregarious central figure of Robert Eads, a female to male transsexual who is dying from ovarian cancer. As he remarks, the one female bit left in him happens to be the part killing him. He's not bitter though, just eager to tell his story to camera and talk one more time at "Southern Comfort", an annual conference for transgendered issues. There's several other transgendered characters Robert brings into the story, and to Kate Davis' credit we are never made to feel like unwelcome strangers as they talk, honestly and frankly, about their situations.
Although we don't witness any hostility towards Robert and his friends, we know it exists. Early on we learn he lives in the heart of KKK land. As Robert slowly dies, though, the focus of the film shifts to his relationship with man-turned-woman Lola, which slowly deepens into love. They make a wonderful couple, gently sparring with each other, and I felt lucky that they trusted Davis enough to portray what they had.
A total change of pace next, Tsui Hark's TIME AND TIDE. It's his first film back in Hong Kong after some unhappy experiences in Hollywood, and can't you tell - big time!
TIME AND TIDE crackles with exuberance. Each frame, thunder pan, juddery zoom, yells "I'm free!". It's great to see a filmmaker so confident he's riffing on his material, letting the style flow out of the moment. The story - well, the story aint much. I've scribbled some notes about friendship and broken trust and redemption ("the end of RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY where Joel McCrea forgives his friend") but it's really all about the set-pieces, and Hark throws together four beauties. The way in which Hark works the labour of a female character into his final sequence, which takes place in an airport, is inspired.
A side note: one of the characters occasionally spoke English dialogue which was still subtitled. The difference between the two was pretty amazing - the spoken dialogue was a whole lot more colloquial and natural than the subtitles. Made me wonder about the many laughs I've had at the expense of wooden subtitles in Asian films. Perhaps what they're translating is technically correct, but the spirit of the words? It's hard to know, but perhaps subtitle-ists need a little assistance from the filmmakers.
Norman out, with LUZHIN DEFENCE, LONELY HEARTS, TIGERLAND, and THE OLD MAN WHO READ LOVE STORIES coming tomorrow...
Norman
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