THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE
6/10
This wasn't a bad film, but I can't help but think I wasn't the target audience. It's about a middle aged woman, Pippa Lee, who's married to a man a reasonable amount older than her (played by Alan Arkin). It begins just after they've moved to a retirement village near their children, a place that's far smaller and not as glamourous as the home they came from. Pippa reminisces throughout the film about her various stages of life and the 'different' lives she's led. Has Winona and Keanu in it in small parts, but Alan Arkin does a great job (as usual). Probably more aimed at the more 'mature lady' than 30 something gentleman. Watchable.
ALPHAVILLE
6/10
My second film of the festival starring Anna Karina. She's a guest of the festival too and did an intro and Q&A. She seems like a sweet lady and very down to earth. Alphaville is a 1965 black and white film by Jean-Luc Godard, about a secret agent who travels from Earth to Alphaville in order to try and take down an evil scientist. To be honest, I didn't really enjoy the film, and fell asleep through parts of it, only to wake up and feel like I hadn't missed anything. The print wasn't the best, and white subtitles without shadow made for some difficult reading. Anna Karina looked great and the film was visually entertaining enough to stick around for, but it probably won't rank very highly in my favourite sci-fi films of all time. Interestingly, JLG didn't give a script to the cast at the beginning - they had to just show up and were given their lines on the day, so they never really knew much about what was going on. Neither did I.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Saturday July 25 2009
TROUBLED WATER
8/10
Eric Poppe did 'Hawaii, Oslo' at MIFF in 2005 and which I rated a 7.9 at the time. This is his next film, and he's got two for two with me now. I may have to track down his first film 'A Bunch of Five' after this. Anyway, this film's about a convict whose robbery attempt went wrong and tells the story of his life after receiving parole and getting a job as a church organist. Excellent writing means that several opportunities to turn the story into a predictable yay-fest are kept well within check. A fine drama, and recommended.
THE COVE
6/10
This wasn't initially on my list, but the producer is Jim Clark. A lot of Australians know him as the rich guy who married an Australian supermodel. I know him because he co-founded Netscape Communications, a company that I highly respected and was fortunate enough to work for in the late 1990s. I'd heard a rumour that Jim would be doing an intro/Q&A and really wanted to meet him so I booked in for the session. Unfortunately the rumour was incorrect, but I did get to chat briefly with the Director, who was friendly. Anyway, the film itself was quite good - It's a documentary about a small Japanese town that is responsible for the slaughtering of thousands of dolphins each year, for no apparent good reason. As you can imagine, this is a little gruesome in some scenes and they did a pretty decent job telling the story. I think it was only a little bit too long, and the message was a bit cloudy - by the end, I was unsure whether I should have been angry that kids were being fed food with mercury levels well beyond safe levels, or the inhumane slaying of animals, or that the animals that are being slain don't appear to be done so for good reason. That said, it needs to stop, and the fisherman and town leaders in the town of Taiji, Japan should be ashamed of themselves. It's pretty disgusting too that the town of Broome in Western Australia is the sister city to this place. Please go to http://thecovemovie.com/ and watch the trailer. And if you want to do something about it, visit http://www.takepart.com/thecove to find out how. I'll also add a The Cove gadget thing to the right hand column of this site if you'd like to sign the petition.
ANNA
6/10
Harmless musical television vehicle from the late 60s featuring Anna Karina and Serge Gainsbourg. Great fashion moments and mostly enjoyable, especially if you're into 60s fashion. The number of girls with bob hairstyles was high at this event :).
8/10
Eric Poppe did 'Hawaii, Oslo' at MIFF in 2005 and which I rated a 7.9 at the time. This is his next film, and he's got two for two with me now. I may have to track down his first film 'A Bunch of Five' after this. Anyway, this film's about a convict whose robbery attempt went wrong and tells the story of his life after receiving parole and getting a job as a church organist. Excellent writing means that several opportunities to turn the story into a predictable yay-fest are kept well within check. A fine drama, and recommended.
THE COVE
6/10
This wasn't initially on my list, but the producer is Jim Clark. A lot of Australians know him as the rich guy who married an Australian supermodel. I know him because he co-founded Netscape Communications, a company that I highly respected and was fortunate enough to work for in the late 1990s. I'd heard a rumour that Jim would be doing an intro/Q&A and really wanted to meet him so I booked in for the session. Unfortunately the rumour was incorrect, but I did get to chat briefly with the Director, who was friendly. Anyway, the film itself was quite good - It's a documentary about a small Japanese town that is responsible for the slaughtering of thousands of dolphins each year, for no apparent good reason. As you can imagine, this is a little gruesome in some scenes and they did a pretty decent job telling the story. I think it was only a little bit too long, and the message was a bit cloudy - by the end, I was unsure whether I should have been angry that kids were being fed food with mercury levels well beyond safe levels, or the inhumane slaying of animals, or that the animals that are being slain don't appear to be done so for good reason. That said, it needs to stop, and the fisherman and town leaders in the town of Taiji, Japan should be ashamed of themselves. It's pretty disgusting too that the town of Broome in Western Australia is the sister city to this place. Please go to http://thecovemovie.com/ and watch the trailer. And if you want to do something about it, visit http://www.takepart.com/thecove to find out how. I'll also add a The Cove gadget thing to the right hand column of this site if you'd like to sign the petition.
ANNA
6/10
Harmless musical television vehicle from the late 60s featuring Anna Karina and Serge Gainsbourg. Great fashion moments and mostly enjoyable, especially if you're into 60s fashion. The number of girls with bob hairstyles was high at this event :).
Friday July 24 2009
My first year at MIFF was in 2001, where I saw a couple of films. Since 2002, I've gone with a festival passport ticket. However, I've never been to the opening night gala event, until this year. Thanks to a very generous invitation from Screen Legend friends, I was able to see what it was all about. It was held at Hamer Hall in the Arts Centre which was nicely decked out. On the way in, VCA students were handing out leaflets trying to 'Save the VCA'. Find out more about that at www.savevca.org if you're interested.
Once seated there were speeches. Lots. But that's okay. Interestingly the Vice Chancellor of Victoria University, someone who I'd have thought was used to public speaking, was the least able to ignite the crowd. Luckily Geoffrey Rush came on after her and did a great comedic intro where he compared festival director Richard Moore to Master Chef judge Matt Preston.
On to the film itself...
BALIBO
5/10
I am sure there will be much publicity about this film, which is about Roger East's journey into East Timor in 1975 to investigate the disappearance of five Australia journalists who had been covering the invasion of the nation by Indonesia. I really like Anthony LaPaglia as an actor, and of course can see the futility in the deaths that occurred. However, a good cause ought to be separated from the quality of a film. The film wasn't bad, but I felt a bit let down. Knowing very little (close to nothing) about the story, I found the beginning a bit confusing with its cutting back and forth between different times. Additionally, I thought that a little more regard to the 183,000 timorese who were slain might have been appropriate rather than just the few Australians. Finally, I don't feel that the film dug deeply enough in to explaining the justifications of either side for their action, nor the political machinery in play that led to the events (or lack of regard to them afterward). Mentions of the US government's supply of military equipment paid for in UK pounds and suggestions the Australian Gov't was involved was about as far things went. Finally, in order to tell a story, the film came across as a bit black and white. The good guys seemed to have no flaws and the bad guys no flicker of compassion in their invasion. This story probably would have made a better documentary. One thing that seemed a little strange/morbid was that the families of the killed journalists were called to come up on stage with the respective actors who played the journalists that were killed. Anyway, you'll doubtless find many reviews claiming this film is a must-see, etc. It's up to you, but I think it can wait for DVD.
After the film, everyone crowded over four floors of the Hamer Hall being served drinks and snacks. I must say it was very nice food, and while there seemed to be a lot of very nicely dressed people, I'm afraid I don't know enough about celebrities to be able to say whether I saw anyone famous amongst the party-goers.
Overall, it was a fun experience, and I'd like to do it again next year, but see it as a very different feel to the rest of the film festival.
Monday, July 6, 2009
2009 Festival
It's almost here! Another year of Film Festival. No more sessions at the Capitol Theatre though :(. Gossip says that RMIT couldn't meet the OH&S needs of MIFF so it wasn't used. A real shame.
Went to the Launch tonight. Exciting news is that Quentin Tarantino will be coming to introduce his new film, and Anthony LaPaglia will also be here. Studded with stars...
Will update the films I plan to see as soon as I've had time to go through the guide and figure out what's what.
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