Greetings humans, Monki here with another couple reviews from the Bermuda International Film Festival.
I can't express how incredibly beautiful this island is. Last year the weather literally dampened the spirits of the fest, but this year the sun has been shining and the rum has been flowing. Everything you need for a great festival. I've had opportunities to chat with some young filmmakers that are making their impact on the community and some veterans as well.
One thing insanely awesome that I got to do was wander around one of the undeveloped areas of Bermuda and look at some beautiful scenery. I ache to get an HD camera and get my ass back to the island as quick as possible to shoot something there.
I've got one more batch of reviews in store for the festival, until then though here are two radically different films.
Sweet Mud
Sweet Mud was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and I went into the film knowing very little about it. The film focuses on a young boy who is being raised in a kibbutz, basically a commune in Israel. The boy's mother has become mentally unstable and yearns to be with her Swiss judo champion boyfriend. The young boy is upset when the judo champion turns out to be in his 70s but ultimately falls for the gentleman who cares for his mother.
Of course nothing good lasts and eventually the Swiss boyfriend must exit their lives and the boy's mother spirals into a deep depression to which he does his damnedest to get her out of. Not to shabby for a kid going through his bar mitzvah preparation as the same time.
I love films like this. I went in with absolutely no prior knowledge of the film and it turned out to be a real winner. The boy who plays Dvir, the son, manages an incredible feat in acting for someone of his age. He wears the pain of a conflicted youth on his face as one would wear a halloween mask.
The film is pretty heavy and painful but it is equally moving. This is one of those you need to track down in the foreign section of your local movie shop.
Deliver Us from Evil
Damn.
Last week I saw a movie about some guys getting fucked by a horse...this movie was more uncomfortable than that one. Seriously.
This is a documentary that focuses on the Catholic church hiding a known child-molesting priest throughout California over a 20 year period.
This guy is a sick son of a bitch. Father Oliver O'Grady has stepped forward and admitted his past and was willing to share his story with the cameras in this film. This guy is a fucked version of Mr. Rogers. Seeing him wander around Ireland (where the church sent him) and being near children would seem benign enough until you hear his confessions. He goes on and on about the children he was with and how adults don't arouse him sexually, but an 8 year old in a bathing suit...whoa nelly.
We meet the grown up versions of the children he molested...people who are still in pain due to this sick bastard. The most screwed up part about the whole situation though is the fact that the Catholic church in California knowingly hid this guy from the correct authorities.
Deliver Us from Evil will challenge your faith in humanity. When a man like O'Grady can speak candidly about molesting children in the most casual of tones...it's hard not to fly to Ireland and just punch this guy in the kidney. Two women who go to the Vatican to ask about the church's stance on what happened are actually turned away by guards. So much for the open-armed helpers of all.
An important film like this one should not be overlooked. It is a powerful look into a corrupt system and shouldn't be taken lightly.
So just one more article to go and then I'm taking a trip out to California to check out a very cool video game hitting in the next couple of months. I'm excited by that one. Really quickly, here are a couple more images from this glorious island nation.
