July 31st, 2008

ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD
7.5/10
One of the few documentaries that I'm seeing this film festival. It's by Werner Herzog, whose film 'The Wild Blue Yonder' was at MIFF a couple of years ago, and which I particularly enjoyed. It's about a few of the base stations down in Antarctica. However, instead of the more typical documentaries which focus on historial expeditions to Antarctica, or the land itself, he primarily shows us what kind of people work down at the bottom of the world, and finds some real gems. The true quality though is in his narration, which is very humourous and makes the film.

WENDY AND LUCY
5/10

A few years ago I got suckered into seeing a couple of films by Andrew Bujalski, the 'new indie darling of American cinema' at MIFF (They were Funny, Ha Ha and Mutual Appreciation. Both were atrociously bad IMHO.) This year it's Kelly Reichardt's turn. Now, admittedly this film wasn't actually 'bad' - not like the two other films I mentioned, but anticipation was high for me that this may be the pick of the festival, so when it wasn't to my liking it was all the more disappointing. I think the main problem I have with the film was the lack of enough content to make up the already short at 80 minutes feature length film. This should have been a short film and it would have been fantastic if it had been. I don't mind slow pace (see my review for 'Time to Die'), but this just didn't deliver much. I don't think I was alone in my low opinion given the number of people who I saw leave during the session, and the groans I heard when the credits came up at the end followed by uncertain applause.

July 30th, 2008

TIME TO DIE
7.5/10

A Polish film about an old woman, living alone in her house of many years. Her son's grown up and doesn't pay attention to her, and her days are spent monitoring the neighbours and talking to her best friend, Phila, her dog. It's filmed in black and white and beautifully done. The pace is quite slow, enough that I started to drift off. But if you're happy to sit and watch as the film goes by, may be worth looking at.

CARAMEL
7/10
A comedy/romance set in Beirut, at a hair salon. It's watchable, and probably would appeal to women more than men as it tracks the various relationships of the women hair stylists as well as a couple of others nearby. Favourite scenes were the ones involving the old mother of the seamstress across the road.

July 29th, 2008

APRON STRINGS
7/10
This is a NZ film, but mostly set in a shopping strip that once was once primarily caucasian, but now has many minorities including Vietnamese and Sikh. It mainly tells the stories of two different families; a caucasian and a sikh one, and how they've experienced a family related trauma in the past that continues to have effects today. Worth seeing, and thankfully plays through without turning into a hollywood 'everything turns out super in the end' ending.

IN BRUGES
8/10
A dark comedy that tends towards violent drama at points, set in Bruges (which is in Belgium), and starring Colin Friels and Blendan Gleeson as two english hitmen who are sent by their boss (played by Ralph Feinnes) to Bruges to 'cool off' after a hit goes wrong. A funny and original story which keeps you entertained throughout. It's getting a major release really soon, so if you miss it at MIFF you'll certainly still be able to watch it. Fiennes does a great job at the criminal boss.

July 28th, 2008

FROZEN RIVER
6.5/10
Not a terrible film, but not fantastic either. This film was about a mothers doing what they have to in order to make a better life for their kids - one, a Mohawk (American Indian/Native American) and the other a 'white woman' (as referred to by the aforementioned woman) who is trying to get enough money together to upgrade her trailer home to a kit home. In this particular case, she does so by delving into a somewhat 'grey' area of the law relating to people smuggling between the Canadian and US border. I must admit that I was jumping ahead in my mind to guess the plot, and what I predicted didn't happen, so thumbs up there. It's just that some of the acting was so poor by the small parts that it really jarred.

July 26th, 2008

A fantastic MIFF day today - caught four films (but missed Noodle - may catch it the next time it's on), and all of them were great!

RUMBA
7.5/10
This is what the film festival is about for me - a total risk and something I know I'd never see despite any potentials anywhere else due to time or other constraints. It's a very visual comedic film about a couple who love to dance - an unfortunate accident awaits them though which throws their world into disarray. Very little dialogue, but entertaining to watch throughout. A cute film to make you smile.

WELCOME TO THE STICKS
7.5/10
A light French comedy about a postal manager who is feeling a lot of pressure from home to get transferred to the Riviera. However, when his efforts go a little too far, and he gets caught out, he ends up being sent to Northern France as a punishment. Good fun involved, particularly the scene where his wife visits the town up North to see how bad it is for him.

THE VISITOR
8/10
Really touching film from the US which is about the collision of lifestyles between a university professor in a rut and a couple of illegal immigrants who are innocently living in his unused New York apartment without his knowledge. A strong message about detention centres in America, and how to the land of liberty and justice for all isn't necessarily so. At the same time it doesn't pander to too many cliches. Highly recommended.

THE BANK JOB
7/10
This one's getting a major release soon. UK Heist flick about a bunch of petty crooks in London who rob Lloyds Bank in the early 1970s, and the various types of trouble that ensues. The police aren't the only parties interesting in finding them... It's no Lock Stock, but still worth a watch.

July 25th, 2008

THE GUITAR
5/10
The premise of this film was pretty interesting, I thought. A girl finds out she has terminal cancer (with one month to live), and then on the same day, loses her job, and her boyfriend dumps her. So, with that as the introduction, the film proceeds to show how she deals with the short path before her. One of the recurring elements is her memories as a child of wanting a red guitar very badly, yet never realising that dream - until now. I thought the first 10 minutes of the film were excellent, and perhaps this set me up for a bigger fall ultimately. The problems are in the execution - the plot borders on ridiculous, isn't anywhere near realistic, and I had a lot of trouble empathising with Melody, the main character, which made it hard for me to go along for the ride. I really don't want to say too much about the plot points lest I spoil the film for others, but let's just say the ending would have been better had she wound up as the first president of the world, after solving world peace. Oh, and someone should tell her about eBay.

Future film junkie

Pic of my bub wearing last year's MIFF t-shirt, purchased while he was in utero. I rememember at the time being disappointed that they didn't have newborn sizes. But he's five months old now and he's almost outgrown it! Luckily I might spring the bucks for a new one in a couple of weeks :)

Fourth Year

Hi,

Another year has passed and I return to the blogosphere for the fourth time for MIFF '08. I must say it'll be an interesting year. For the first time in a couple of years I'm taking a full two weeks off instead of trying to work full time (flexibly, mind you), *and* see lots of films. However, I am now a dad, so that will certainly cause some impact to the film watching (as it should). Hope to see some great films and be pleasantly surprised. I've got the official guide that came out with yesterday's Age, and am looking forward to making my pics. I'm usually pretty pre-organised, but am slowing things down a little this year. Hopefully I'll have read through the guide in the next few days and have made my picks, but if that never happens, and I end up picking films on the day, don't say I didn't warn you :-).

If you're running a blog, or would like to discuss any of the posts, please feel free to drop me a line!

Previous Blogs

To see my Melbourne International Film Festival blog posts from previous years, please click on the links below:

Mark's MIFF 2005 Blog
Mark's MIFF 2006 Blog
Mark's MIFF 2007 Blog