ADELAIDE FILM FESTIVAL 2007
The Adelaide Film Festival commences on Thursday February 22.
Check guides for screening dates and details, or visit: www.adelaidefilmfestival.org
PETER KRAUSZ is a member of the inaugural FIPRESCI jury at this year's Adelaide Film Festival, and he will be covering the festival for us. He will provide daily updates, reviews, and news during the festival. Other reviewers include PETER MALONE (PM), WENDY RAWADY (WR), CYNTHIA KARENA (CK).
Last Updated March 6
PETER KRAUSZ'S FESTIVAL DIARY
Adelaide Film Festival Day 1
Over 1,700 people packed two cinemas in the heart of Adelaide for the launch of the 2007 Adelaide Film Festival, which was opened by the SA Premier Mike Rann, the chair of the festival Cheryl Bart and the Festival director Katrina Sedgwick. A party at the Town Hall followed the screening of the opening night film Lucky Miles.
Lucky Miles is one of a slew of films supported by the SA Film Corporation and the Adelaide FF. Written and directed by first time filmmaker Michael James Rowland, the film set in 1990 and deals with a group of Iraqi and Cambodian refugees who are given sanctuary on the Western Australian coast by a group of refugee smugglers. The journey that these refugees take upon landing, and their encounters with locals and the defence force team guarding the shores, makes for a somewhat uneasy comedy drama. Mixing farce, political observations, large vistas (with SA standing in for WA) and comedy, the film is a journey that occasionally trivialises their plight. In This World and other such films have been stronger in their observations. Nevertheless, this is a well-made film that perhaps needed more attention to scripting.
Adelaide Film Festival Day 2
Adelaide is buzzing with filmmakers and film buffs from around the world and Australia, as the Adelaide FF now presents over 150 films at various locations around the city.
The highlight was the World Premiere of Passio, Paolo Cerchi Usai's challenging combination of found images from 12 film archives around the world, and Arvi Part's lyrical chamber music and voice score accompanying the images. Many of the images were from the early days of silent cinema and covered death, illness and decay juxtaposed against filmmaking scenes, indicating the death and rebirth of cinema and life. Some of the audience could not cope with the graphic images (including an eyeball operation, stomach surgery and mental breakdown) but this was a confronting marriage of images and music that provokes the audience to respond. A major highlight of a festival that has been cleverly programmed.
The FIPRESCI jury will be viewing 10 films for adjudication on the final night of the festival, while the Natuzzi International Jury will also be adjudicating a best film award.
Adelaide Film Festival Day 3
The highlight for today was the premiere screening of The Home Song Stories, the latest film from Tony Ayres (Walking On Water). This autobiographical tale of Tony's childhood in Melbourne in the early 1970s is a personal reflection on his mother's attempts at coping with relocating from Hong Kong to Australia, and her efforts to improve her life. Together with his older sister, the film is a clinically well directed, if somewhat muted emotionally, observation of the impact of cultural differences and personal ambition. Joan Chen is excellent playing Ayres' mother, as indeed is the whole cast of actors. Attention to period detail is thorough, and the film makes a number of comments about assimilation for Chinese Australians. It is a shame that ultimately the film, which does build to an emotional crescendo, never quite achieves a cathartic denouement.
Adelaide Film Festival Day 4
The crowds have already established this festival as the most successful yet, with many sold-out sessions and additional sessions being added for some of the popular Australian and overseas films. A free session was held today with visiting co-producer and co-writer of The Simpsons, Mike Reiss, who hilariously regaled the audience with tales of writing the show, condemning George Bush, sprinkling in lots of Jewish jokes, and discussing his writing on The Critic, Queer Duck etc. Clips were shown from these programs and he certainly knew his Australian audience when he mentioned that CSI Alice Springs was shooting an episode, where the victim died of boredom! A terrific session which indicated Mike should have been a stand-up comic as well.
Adelaide Film Festival Day 5
It is incredible to note that the premier of South Australia has been featured quite prominently at the film festival. He is not only a strong supporter of the Arts and this Film Festival (indeed he announced Katrina Sedgwick, the AFF director's contract renewal publicly at one of the screenings he introduced), but he has been attending a number of screenings with not a minder in sight! I wish other state premiers were as encouraging and supportive. It is also apparent that the support the AFF has had in funding a raft of feature and short films in Australia has established an important base for film development and culture that other film festivals around the world could also establish. Crowds are appreciating this film festival and the variety of films on offer, with still lots of buzz around Mike Reiss quick visit to Adelaide to talk about The Simpsons. I would suggest ACMI invite him back to present a session or two as he is an excellent raconteur. Five short films made in South Australia were shown tonight, again introduced by Mike Rann, and highlighting the talent involved in the industry. All filmmakers and cast were invited on stage to popular acclaim, including Marcus Graham and Roy Billing, who starred in Spike Up. The films shown were:
The 9:13, reminiscent of Last Train To Freo, this film dealt with a taciturn's man encounter with an abrasive fellow train traveller. The twists were clever although somewhat prosaic.
My Last Ten Hours With You was about a gay couple's last evening before one of them was about to leave for a trip to Vietnam. Although not completely explicit the film's focus on the romantic relationship leavened by some playful encounters, proved a little challenging for the audience; unfortunately the ending of the film needed some rewriting I thought.
Swing is a delightful tale of a disaffected Vietnamese teenager (Vi Nguyen) who visits the home of a blind Vietnam war veteran (Chris Haywood) and they form a bond which affects both their lives.
Sweet And Sour is a superb animation and co-production between Adelaide and the Shanghai Film Studios about a dog who is lured to the sights and scents of Chinatown. The food analogies and amusing twist to the tale sets thuis apart from other animations, which is beautifully designed and lyrical in approach. A sheer delight.
Spike Up is a blackly edgy tale of a veteran police officer (Roy Billing) whose life appears to be at a crossroads through an encounter with a drug-addled aboriginal, his wife's infidelities and a younger undercover police officer's drug addiction (Marcus Graham). The film's climax is both startling and revealing about police life, a terrific short film.
Adelaide Film Festival Day 6
Sessions are beginning to sell out fast, with an extra screening scheduled of the award winning documentary Death Of A President which I will review later in the festival. The two fellow FIPRESCI judges, Barbara from France and Kirril from Russia are a delightful pair of experienced film critics who travel the world to be on various FIPRESCI juries. They were particularly keen to explore Australian cinema and found the few films we have seen so far from Australia an enlightening experience for the perspectives they take. The final judging takes place on Saturday and the awards presentation will be on Sunday followed by the world premiere of Rolf de Heer's latest film (a silent b/w homage) called Dr.Plonk.
Adelaide Film Festival Day 7
The festival announced today that ticket sales have increased by around 50% from the last film festival, already making this 3rd AFF the most successful in a short period of time. The buzz around the centre of Adelaide is very strong, with filmgoers discussing films at every possible opportunity. A lone protestor at last night's screening of Call Me Mum obviously had had enough with the oppressively dark scripting of a dialogue driven drama about the fate of a blind Torres Strait Islander teenager caught up in foster family issues. He railed against the film noisily near the end by shouting: "We have suffered enough, get the film off, enough already". Most audience members ignored him (in a full house) and decided to judge the film for themselves. Shades of Cannes are appearing here! It is interesting hearing the perspectives of fellow FIPRESCI jurors Barbara and Kirril who have been involved in juries that became quite heated, making it difficult to come to an agreed decision on the award winning film. We certainly look like having quite a lengthy discussion on the FIPRESCI award at Adelaide with some strong contenders amongst the ten films we are judging.
Adelaide Film Festival Day 8
The number of filmmaker attended sessions has increased at the festival, with many Q & A opportunities available at many of the screenings. It was great to catch up with Paul Cox who has a new documentary at the festival, and Kriv Stenders whose low-budget digital filmmaking has been taken to another level. Both Kirril and Barbara have marvelled at the interesting array of Australian films and have lamented the lack of distribution and screening opportunities for Australian films in Europe, especially at film festivals. Barbara, who advises on various European film festivals, has been discussing options with some local filmmakers and the film festival itself, which has invested heavily in producing 12 Australian films. FIPRESCI judging occurs tomorrow, and the sold out closing night the day after, will feature the award announcements.
Adelaide Film Festival Day 9
We are almost at the end of the successful third Adelaide Film Festival, and I managed to catch up with Margaret Pomeranz and James Hewison who are on the Natuzzi Best Film Jury, as well as Andreas Strohl, the director of the Munich Film Festival who was in Adelaide for a film symposium and is now visiting the festival. Andreas was part of the film panel at last year's Festival of German Cinema which will be occurring again around Australia, in late April. More details to follow. The Adelaide FF continues to enjoy record crowds, and what is particularly exciting is the promotion the event is receiving in the local newspaper (Adelaide Advertiser), and the positive nature of the funding of 12 films by the festival. Tomorrow sees the FIPRESCI jury making its difficult decision on the film award, and Sunday sees the closing night awards presentation and the screening of Rolf de Heer's Dr.Plonk.
Adelaide Film Festival Day 10
Today turned out to be FIPRESCI jury deliberation day, where Barbara, Kirril and myself enjoyed dinner while discussing the merits of the ten films that were up for the FIPRESCI International Film Critics Prize. For the record the ten films were: Boxing Day (Australia); Clubland (Australia); Daratt (Africa); The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Japan); Grbavica (Bosnia); How Is Your Fish Today (China); Lucky Miles (Australia); Playing The Victim (Russia); Special (USA); Taxidermia (Hungary). The winner will be announced by FIPRESCI and the Adelaide Film Festival publicists tomorrow (together with the Natuzzi International Best Film Award) at the closing night screening of Rolf de Heer's Dr.Plonk. I am sworn to secrecy until then!
Adelaide Film Festival Day 11
The final day of the Adelaide Film Festival has finally arrived, with everyone beaming at the success of the festival. Mike Rann, the South Australian Premier announced a 25% increase in ticket sales from the last AFF, with 35 sold out sessions, compared to 15 last time. The closing night event saw the announcement of the two awards at the festival. The Natuzzi Award for best film, with a $25,000 cash prize for the filmmaker, went to Jia Zhangke’s film Still Life. This Chinese/Hong Kong produced film won the Golden Lion at Venice, and Jia’s thank you speech was transmitted on the cinema screen to the audience. The FIPRESCI award, presented by Barbara, Kirril and myself, went to the French/Belgian/Chad/Austrian film by Mahamat Saleh-Haroun, Daratt (Dry Season). These presentations were followed by the world premiere screening of Rolf de Heer’s latest film Dr. Plonk reviewed below. At the after party everyone remarked that this was a terrific film festival, and that the 2009 event, again to be co-ordinated by Katrina Sedgwick, has a firm base to work from.
FILM REVIEWS
Exiled, by prolific Hong Kong director Johnnie To, centres on the fate of an ex-hitman whose last hit was a failure. Two hitmen arrive at his home to avenge his lack of success, and find that he is being protected by another group of underworld characters. What ensues is a contemplative series of stand-offs and ruminations on the exigencies of life and death, and whether redemption is possible. At times blackly amusing, this well directed wide-screen action offering from To is a well developed piece of face-saving cinema that reaches a crescendo with a pointed resolution. Highly recommended. (PK)
After The Wedding was nominated for an academy award as best foreign language film this year, and turns out to be another emotionally wrought morality tale from Susanne Bier (Danish director of Open Hearts and Brothers). On this occasion the film focuses on a humanitarian worker in India (played by recent James Bond villain Mads Mikkelson) who is desperately seeking financial help to keep an orphanage running. The offer of millions by a Danish businessman leads to a reunion, a series of dramatic incidents, and a number of moral dilemmas that affect all the key family members of the businessman as well as Mikkelson’s character. For the most part this is a stirring, emotional drama, but on this occasion, Bier and her co-writer Anders Thomas Jensen, have overplayed the melodrama with one moral issue too many. By the end of the film, I was left wondering about the real point of the film, and whose moral imperative was being adequately addressed. Still, it is worth seeing, but seems somewhat overrated to me. (PK)
Al Franken: God Spoke is a revealing documentary by Chris Hegedus (and executive produced by famed documentary filmmaker DA Pennebaker) about the satirist, media commentator and liberal critic of the Bush administration whose constant battles with a right wing Fox news commentator. The film follows his book signings (Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them), establishing of a left-wing, liberal radio network, and his constant public battles to portray Bush as a liar. This is a thoroughly entertaining political doco that highlights Franken as a sharp satirist, who points out the illogicalities from opposing arguments. (PK)
Dr.Plonk demonstrates the versatility of Rolf de Heer’s films and his attempts to do different things all the time. In this case, de Heer has made a silent film, replete with all the style and manner of a typical silent movie in the early 20th Century, accompanied by a musical soundtrack (played live at the Adelaide Film Festival, but recorded to film for its release later in the year). The film stars Nigel Lunghi (a noted street performer) Paul Blackwell and Magda Szubanski, plus a very expressive dog, and a guest appearance by the South Australian premier Mike Rann. The story centres on the discovery by Plonk in 1907 that the world will end in 2008, and so his aim is to build a time machine that travels to 2007 to warn everyone about impending doom. The film is modelled on all the time travel films you have seen: mistakes, escapes, culture clashes etc…and turns out to be a lot of fun, especially as the homage to silent cinema has been effected so cleverly. Highly recommended for both film lovers and film buffs. (PK)
Taxidermia is a viscerally challenging film from Hungarian filmmaker Gyorgy Palfi (Hukkle) about three generations of lascivious, gorging family members which culminates in a nauseatingly explicit tableaux of Meaning Of LIfe proportions, mixed with an eviscerating body operation. If this film ever gets a classification for cinema release, the audience will see a brilliantly directed Eastern European black satire that is both compelling for its style, but repellant in its explicit tone. It certainly stretches the boundary of what is acceptable in mainstream cinema, yet deserves to be seen by a discerning audience. (PK)
What The Future Sounded Like is a lively Australian short film, funded partly by the AFF, directed by Matthew Bate, and concerns the electronic music movement that began after World War 2 and reached its peak in the 1970s, before the advent of home computers and improved technology. The film features musician Tristram Cary (a guest of the festival) from the UK who developed a synthesized music score for Dr Who. Amusing anecdotes and good examples of this electronic music used by various groups and musicians are scattered throughout this enjoyable documentary. (PK)
Life In Loops, from Austrian filmmaker Timo Novotny, is a compelling piece of visual imagery, not unlike Koyanisqaatsi about urban life in New York, Bombay, Mexico City, Tokyo and Russia. Overlaying an experimental music score, and interpolating existing footage shot by Michael Glawogger, (A Megacities RMX, and MIFF06 highlight Working Man's Death), the film reveals startling imagery about soul-destroying dirty work and other activities that occur behind the scenes in major cities - such as rubbish disposal, fish markets, sex shows, cock-fighting, dye making, textile production, and other incredible events. Winner of the best feature documentary at Karlovy Vary, this is an excellent piece of cinema verite set to music, that deserves a wider audience outside the festival. (PK)
Death Of A President is a remarkable "fake" documentary that seamlessly presents a "what if" scenario set in October 2007. George Bush has just been assassinated in the wake of 9/11, Iraqi/Al Qaeda hostilities, and a general terrorist alert. What unfolds is a totally credible scenario about the lead up to, and aftermath of the assassination, and the interviews with various people "involved" with the event. The use of actual news and archival footage, together with carefully constructed current material, highlights the strength of this superb and thoughtful documentary by television director Gabriel Range. What is even more fascinating is the explanation for the death based on current political events (such as Hicks' situation) with a slight twist. Highly recommended. (PK)
Special is one of a slew of American independent films that take a left of centre topic and turn it into an unusual film (such as Primer and Pi). Hal Haberman and Jeremy Passmore have written and directed a film about being different, being special and what that means in normal life. Michael Rappaport plays an average guy, a parking inspector who participates in a drug trial for no other purpose than to test a new drug to make people less depressive. The drug slowly turns Rappaport into a "superhero" whose experiences of life are slightly askew, which concern his bemused comic book store owner friends. This low budget film with a witty script, eventually overplays its "paranoid" hands and succumbs to overstatement. The issue of mental illness, schizophrenia, or hearing voices, is a clear subtext of the film, yet this notion of difference becomes somewhat prosaic and diluted due to the concentration on visceral affect. A good performance by Rappaport, and some good ideas in the script, don't quite gel into a satisfying whole: not so special perhaps. (PK)
Words From The City, another AFF funded project, is a moderately engaging music documentary about the hip-hop scene across Australia featuring a number of performers ruminating on their "art" and snippets of their performances. Natasha Gadd and Rhys Graham directed this benign film with some occasionally amusing moments, as well as a slew of indulgent comments and repetitive performances. Shot in various locations around Australia, the filmmakers clearly chose to find the grungiest and least appealing parts of Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Perth etc. The film's cinematography tends to be underlit hence making the whole thing appear darker and gloomier than it should be. Still, as a counterpoint to the American music docos on hip-hop, this Australian variation is a welcome addition to the field. (PK)
The Lives Of Others (Das Leben Der Anderen), which just won the Oscar for best foreign language movie, is a riveting tale about the operations of the East German secret police (the Stasi) who exposed pro-Western sympathisers in the 60s through to the 80s and the fall of the Berlin Wall. In this film, a notable East German playwright is investigated for anti-East German articles appearing in the Western German press. His relationship with his girl-friend actor, and in particular, the investigations by a Stasi detective, combine to make a revealing narrative about the secrecy, suspicions and invasive procedures operating at the time, leading to many suicides amongst the victims. The film eventually highlights an intriguing development that results in a satisfying conclusion. This is a superb, finely crafted film from first time filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, a filmmaker definitely worth watching. Highly recommended. (PK)
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a delightful anime about a teenage girl who discovers that she is able to turn back time and revisit events the day, or longer, before, many times. Borrowing the central idea from Groundhog Day, Hosoda Mamoru has fashioned a nicely developed story involving teenage romance, career goals, and a complex mix of fate, destiny and meaning for life. The visuals in this anime are generally finely crafted (if occasionally mildly grating, as faces seem to be unusually elongated at times) with good use of backgrounds and colour, plus clever editing. It is very unusual to see a Japanese anime amongst the nominees for a FIPRESCI award, and it is a very welcome development for this festival. Lovers of anime will need no further encouragement to catch this fine film. (PK)
Paul Cox revisits Molokai, the setting for his sadly misappropriated big-budget film on Father Damian, (which continues to provide him sadness about the way producers botched this film), for Kalaupapa – Heaven, a documentary on the current few survivors of Hansen's disease (leprosy) still on the remote part of the island. This deeply humanistic and beautifully directed reflection on the poor treatment these people received from successive Governments and the wider community, is combined with breathtaking scenery and a meditation about life and death. The support they received from the church communities, and the importation of marvellous medication that arrested the development of the disease in the 1940s, for some too late, plus some incredible photos dating back to the early 1900s, make this a superb documentary from Australia's foremost filmmaker. That Cox has suffered himself from miserable treatment by some producers, funding bodies and the filmmaking community, highlights the way we sometimes undermine iconoclastic talent in this country. It is no surprise that we lose good filmmakers overseas. It is time that was arrested. Kalaupapa-Heaven (funded by the Adelaide FF and the SA FC) is highly recommended. (PK)
Boxing Day is Kriv Stenders latest film (funded by the Adelaide FF) after Illustrated Family Doctor and the low budget digital success of Blacktown. Working with ex-prison offender Richard Green, he and Kriv have fashioned a fictional story outline/treatment, that was shot in one week after a two week rehearsal period. The film has been shot in real time with a single hand-held digital camera (yet including 12 unnoticeable edit points, although the film appears to have been shot in one complete take). The story centres on an ex-prisoner, on home detention, whose life is infiltrated by a drug-dealing friend who tries to inveigle him back to deal more drugs, and his family, including an aboriginal niece (first time actor Misty Sparrow) who may have suffered at the hands of her stepfather (Syd Brisbane). That the whole thing is played out as an 82 minute extended drama which grows into a compelling piece of cinema verite, gives credit to Stenders and Green who have turned this story into a piece of fine filmmaking art. This final version of the film, interestingly enough, is the third run through of the story after they discarded the first two efforts. Boxing Day demonstrates yet again that budgets do not craft good films, ideas do. Highly recommended. (PK)
This Splendid Hobby Of Ours was a specially curated documentary by Flinders University Screen Studies and the State Library of South Australia. At the last festival they screened Reel To Real, a documentary on the non-fiction films produced from the 1930s to the 1960s by the South Australian Amateur Cine Society and the Adelaide Filmo Club, and screened free by the AFF. This year, the documentary deals with the amateur fictional films that were produced during this period. Using slapstick, radio drama and rudimentary special effects in these films, this was an amusing, if static, look at some of these films and how they were made. Hosted by SA TV personality Lional Williams, the 50 minute program indicates the essential need to preserve as many kinds of films as both social and historic documents, which the two organizations are encouraging. Quentin Tourner from the National Film and Sound Archive spoke warmly about what was happening here in SA and encouraged the whole country to further the cause of film collection and preservation. (PK)
Meokgo And The Stickfighter is a short film from South African filmmaker Teboho Mahlatsi about a mythic prince in search of a kidnapped woman. Combining realist and fantasy elements, this is a well directed film that indicates a good future for this filmmaker. (PK)
Daratt (Dry Season) is a strongly humanistic tale set in Chad, in Africa, in the aftermath of their bloody civil war. A young man, angered by the Government granting amnesty to all the people responsible for war crimes, decides to seek revenge for his father's murder by infiltrating the home of the mercenary responsible for the death. He discovers instead a sickly baker and his pregnant wife, and by turns the young man finds meaning and redemption for the revenge he is obligated to achieve. A beautifully modulated tale of hate, war and the aftermath of conflict, this is an excellent film from Mohamat Saleh Haroun, an emerging filmmaker to watch. (PK)
On The Other Ocean is a short film from Australian filmmaker Amiel-Courtin Wilson. This is a wistful and edgy tale of the impact of a terrible car accident and the images and memories they evoke for a young survivor. Well made, if a little too frenetic for its own good. (PK)
Crocodile Dreaming unites actors David Gulpilil and Tom E Lewis in a mythic short fiction about a sacred stone, the death of a girl and a massive crocodile implicated in the death and destruction. Based on aboriginal dreaming stories, this carefully directed film by Darlen Johnson and produced by Sue Milliken, is a good piece of filmmaking, and serves as a useful counterpoint to Ten Canoes. (PK)
How Is Your Fish Today? is a curious amalgam of fictional storytelling, documentary like narrative plotting and a docudrama approach to the story. A screenwriter tries to come to grips with redrafting a film he is working on while going on a journey to the deep north of China to witness the Northern Lights. Somewhat reminiscent of Adaptation and Stranger Than Fiction, this film becomes more annoying as it goes along, due to its reliance on voice-over narration. There are some exquisite scenes in this Chinese film from Guo Xiaolu, including his lucky goldfish: Belle de Jour and some other filmic references dotted throughout the film. A valiant first film that doesn't quite achieve what it set out to do. (PK)
Call Me Mum is an SBS Independent production, made for TV, with a nod to a cinema release. It is a dialogue driven story of a 5-year old Torres Strait Island boy who was fostered out of to a white mother (Catherine McClements). Dayne Christian is now 18 and ready to be returned as a ward of the state, and the film deals with the regrets by his natural mother (Vicki Saylor) and reflections by McClements’ parents (Lynette Curran and Ross Thompson). This stirringly written drama is mitigated by the direct dialogue to camera and the unflinching political statements that abound in the script. An important story that is generally well acted and presented, but would probably work better on stage or TV, as filmically it is quite static and visually unappealing. (PK)
FAMILY LAW. This film, from Argentinean director Daniel Burman, is the third part of a trilogy following the travails of a young Jewish man from innocent exploration (Waiting For The Messiah), to youthful romance (Lost Embrace) to this film. Starring again Daniel Hendler, this film explores the young man who is now in his 30s, married with a young son and working with his father in legal cases, when he is not lecturing at the University. The film deals with the two father-son relationships and the way it impacts on Hendler’s relationship with his wife (a Pilates instructor) and his career. Although developed slowly, the narrative is always compelling and inviting, with a terrific performance by Hendler as the Jewish man caught up eventually in an emotional situation that his faith may not be able to resolve. It is interesting to note that the film presents a glossy and welcoming version of Buenos Aires, a side of which has not been explored in recent films due to the economic difficulties of the country. This is a lovingly crafted, unsentimental, yet moving film, that explores issues of faith, career, relationships, and heritage in a subtle way. (PK)
THE SUN. Noted Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov (Russian Ark, Father And Son) turns his hand to the last day in power of Emperor Hirohito, at the end of WW2 in Tokyo, as he discovers that Japan has lost the war and he must renounce his “divine’ leadership. Atmospherically set in his residence, and shot in sepia-tones and muted lighting, the film portrays a leader trying to make sense of his role in history, along the lines of the director’s other films on Hitler (Moloch) and Lenin (Taurus). Especially noteworthy is the dialogue between Hirohito and what purports to be General MacArthur. (PK)
Into Great Silence (Die Grosse Stille) is a 164 minute langurous exploration of a monastic order in Switzerland whose main function is to provide a quiet retreat for religious scholars and those finding their faith. Philip Groning took 16 years to gain permission to spend 12 months at the monastery and he has put together a deeply felt documentary about the great silence that inhabits the remote order. Not that it is completely silent, as there is occasional chanting, some meetings involving discussion, and encounters with cats, not to mention the fun of sliding down snowbound mountains for a bit of light relief. The exploration of death and the commitment to God though are fundamental to this beautifully observed film that some audiences will find overlong. I found it quite appropriate to the subject matter, and a real revelation. A festival highlight. (PK)
Playing The Victim is one of a slew of new Russian films at the AFF and was the winner of best film at the Rome Film Festival. Using black comedy and a partial take on Shakespeare's Hamlet, the film by Kirill Serebrennikov, portrays a disaffected young man who acts out the victim for video police evidence in investigations of murder. Haunted by his own father's death and sneering of his mother, uncle and others around him, the tragic player turns the tables to become the instigator of destruction. A commentary on generational change and unhappy youth in Russia, this one note film becomes repetitive and illogical the more it progresses. The interpolation of b/w animated sequences seem to belong to another film and serve to further undermine the narrative which needed another script draft (it was based on a popular stage play). The English subtitling was replete with grammatical errors which I was assured was not a good translation of the fruity dialogue in the film. There were some amusing black comedy moments but overall the film lacks a unified vision. (PK)
Colossal Youth is an incredible film on many fronts. Shot in long takes in a claustrophic housing area in Lisbon, this amazing film from Pedro Costa, slowly reveals the lives of quiet desperation of a group of people affected by drugs, poverty, political tension, marginalization and personal fears. Reminiscent in tone to Desperate Characters, the blackly comic tale of 1970 based on a Jules Feiffer story where people were trapped inside their homes due to external forces beyong their control, Colossal Youth is a challenging and engrossing narrative that some audiences will find difficult but I found it to be a masterwork in world cinema. The controlled use of the camera, the way the camera is angled, and the selective use of minimal scenes, with one startling scene set outside, indicates that Costa is a superb filmmaker whose next film I very much look forward to. (PK)
Please Vote For Me, by Chinese filmmaker Weijun Chen, who is a guest of the festival, is one of a series of internationally commissioned documentaries exploring the meaning of democracy. This 55 minute film shot entirely around a school and the homes of three of the children in Year 3 (8 year olds) in Wuhan, central China, uses the simple idea of an election for class monitor and turns it into a compelling political tale of the way these children develop their strategies to win the election. The one child policy in China highlights the way the parents assist their children to win, with these children running the roost at home and somewhat at school.
Analogies abound as the children resort to bribery, coercion, emotional manipulation, standover tactics and other approaches: just another typical day on the electoral hustings! A highly symbolic and involving documentary. It screened with a short film, The Isabel Fish, an American and French coproduction, about a teenage girl's attempts to cope with the death of her friend and the implication that either she or the dead girl's boyfriend were involved. A well made mood piece. (PK)
The Tenth Day is a documentary work in progress from director Gonzalo Arjon, and in over 2 and a half hours details the experiences of the survivors of the infamous plane crash in the Andes in 1972 when they had to resort to cannibalism to survive. The documentary, sorely in need of editing, but otherwise is a very moving and heartfelt account of an extraordinary event, serves as an excellent antidote to the exploitation film Survive. I am looking forward to seeing the final cut. (PK)
Clubland is a new Australian film from Cherie Nowlan starring Brenda Blethyn as a pokies club comedy entertainer and her two sons, Kane Chittenden who is trying to form a relationship with a young woman he met and Richard Wilson as her brain damaged son. Also in the cast is Frankie J Holden, Phillip Quast and Rebecca Gibney. The film is competently directed and there are a few amusing scenes revolving around Kane's relationship and Brenda's nightclub act, but there is an air of unbelievability about the whole film, and the depiction of the brain damaged son seems totally anathema to how he would really behave and speak. (PK)
Forbidden Lies is a compelling documentary about Norma Khouri who wrote a book about the supposed murder of a Jordanian woman by her father because she formed a relationship with a non-Muslim man. Anna Broinowski has made a well-researched and incisive film set around the world, detailing the con-artist that Norma is alleged to be, and the stories she spun to remain in the media and make money. A strong piece of filmmaking, highly recommended. (PK)
GRBAVICA.
A modest first feature from Jasmila Zbanic, a woman director in Sarajevo. It was a winner of the Golden Bear at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival, a surprise win given that there were so many other high-powered films in competition. What makes Grbavica special is that it takes up the theme of how the wars in the Balkans affected the parent generation, with loss of family, brutality and abuse, loss of years. And it takes up the theme of what the consequences are for the young generation born during and after the conflicts. Sarajevo now looks and sounds like anywhere else. But there are deep wounds and scars. The film makes a strong appeal to audiences to appreciate that it is not just the experience of war while it is being waged that is traumatic – and that is traumatic enough – but it is the suffering in the aftermath that lingers. (PM).
This subtly devastating film from Jasmila Zbanic focuses on a mother daughter relationship in contemporary, post-war Sarajevo. The film reveals the aftermath of the atrocities perpetrated during the Serbian/Chechin/Croatian conflicts through the eyes of a group of women haunted by their appalling experiences. Winner of many awards, this superb film, with a beautiful central performance, demonstrates the power of simple, effective narrative construction that eschews phoney dramatics. (PK)
THE HOST is a pretty nonsensical monster movie from Korea. This is the kind of thing (albeit with modern setting and modern technology) that they used to make fifty years ago, the kind of almost amateurish B or even C grade science fiction with some corny thrills and an attempt at an ecological message.
This one is rather farcically ‘acted’ (for want of a better word) except for the little girl who does provide some tense moments towards the end. The monster itself, a result of formaldehyde being poured into the river by an overbearing American authority – who else? – and is a rubbery all-swimming, all-leaping, all-girder-hanging, rather unfrightening, teeth-baring and human swallowing something-or-other who is like a latterday Godzilla on rather a small scale. Oh, and the solution is Agent Yellow brought in by the Americans to the protests of environmental groups.
In the meantime an oddball family goes in pursuit of the monster, escaping from authorities, escaping from brain surgery with little effect and performing as if they were in a cartoon version of the story.
Regressively silly – though it has pleased the Saturday matinee audience and some highbrow critics. (PM)
THE HOST
By turns hilarious and also graphically horrifying, this amusing Creature From The Black Lagoon-style film set in contemporary Korea, but with resonances to the science fiction and horror films of the 1950s, pits an alien like sea monster against residents of the city. Some incredible, realistic special effects (some produced at WETA, New Zealand) and a very tongue in cheek approach to the horror genre, make this film one of the highlights of this year’s AFF. (PK)
RED ROAD
This is one that you definitely have to stay until the end if you are to appreciate the film as a whole. Not that many audiences will not be tempted to give up during the first half and even beyond.
Red Road is in Glasgow and has a huge block of flats which are continuously under surveillance, as is the whole area, by the city security cameras. Jackie watches the screens – and we watch Jackie watching the screens. She gets the chance sometimes to change screens! We are being asked to share the pace of her work, the boredom, the curiosity, the alerts. (It is very easy during our surveillance of Jackie to let our minds wander – far away.) She sees a married man for a brief rendezvous every fortnight. She goes to a family wedding. She lives quietly and alone.
For a lot of the film, she is curious about a paroled prisoner, watches him, follows him, even goes to a party at his flat. We have gathered that Jackie has been married, then, that her husband and daughter have died. And the penny drops. Once it drops the film becomes far more interesting, as we try to guess what Jackie is going to do. When she does it, we are forcibly made voyeurs, at length, to her vengeance. But there seems to be no catharsis. But, if we wait longer, this does come and brings the film to a satisfactory conclusion (except for the missable end credits song, ‘Love can tear us apart’.
So, it does come together, slow pace, intense close-up on Jackie, the enigmas, mystery and all.
Kate is played with some self-sacrificing intensity by Kate Dickie. Red Road is a first feature from Andrea Arnold (Oscar winner, 2005 for Best live action short film). It is the first in a trilogy, backed by Zentropa (with memories of Dogme) where the same characters will appear in three films. The other directors are Lonne Scherfig (Italian For Beginners) and Anders Thomas Jensen. (PM)
THE ITALIAN.
Andrei Kravchuk’s brave film, The Italian (2005) deals with the troubling phenomenon of the ‘selling’ of children in inter-country adoptions. This is a bleak story, its impact heightened by the ghastliness of the Russian weather, involving a large group of abandoned children, aged between five and late teen years. The older children have organised themselves into a social group of thieves, beggars and prostitutes and it is a key to the story how, no matter what the situation, there is always a leader who will exploit the weaknesses of others. This is, by far, the saddest aspect. Once again, we see the bullying tactics of a few ruining the chances of progress for the whole group. But the thread of the story is wound around the early stages of adoption into Italy of young Vanya, an illiterate youngster who treasures an ideal portrait of the identity of his mother. In a determined step to find her before being packed off to Italy – where she would never have access to him – he endures all kinds of torment within the space of a month. Plus he learns to read at quite a high level of comprehension. His brightness and determination add to the sadness of his situation which mirrors that of so many others in Russia. Kravchuk make his ‘Madam’ character and her 2-I-C Grisha, just a tad too slapstick for my liking and there was a barrier to feeling totally compassionate for the child or his situation because of this clowning.
As well, the soundtrack was at odds with the style and, for the most part, was made up of background noise (the furnace scene being particularly bad) and ambling, high pitched whiney notes almost reminiscent of a performance on theremin and adding nothing to the story. It didn’t, for instance, have the heart of even that great sob-fest, Cinema Paradiso, where the child’s journey was completely entrancing, being underlined by the Morricones’ (father and son) powerful score. Yet the performance of the boy, played by Kolya Spiridonov, was excellent and it is to be hoped that someone fosters him through to a career rather than the abandonment that happened to at least one of the boys in The Return (Andrei Zvyagintsev, 2003).
The expression in little Kolya’s face is, at all times, magic. (WR)
Many Russian filmmakers have taken it upon themselves to explore, warts and all, the current state of play in politics and society in a country that has undergone a number of recent difficult transformations. Andrei Kravchuk’s deceptively simple film is about a young abandoned boy living in a tough orphanage, torn between possibly discovering his erstwhile mother, and being adopted by a well-to-do Italian family. The film is replete with metaphor and symbolism, as this young boy struggles to discover his real heritage and not face a family that will abandon his heritage. The sub-textual yearning for a revisioning of the past, rather than facing an uncertain future, makes this both a moving and subtly political tale. It is no surprise to see it acclaimed by FIPRESCI in the international arena. This is an excellent opening night film for the festival (in Melbourne) and augurs well for a season of fine Russian films at this festival. (PK)
FIRST ON THE MOON. This film is a very cleverly constructed conceit, or mockumentary (partially reminiscent in style and tone to Forgotten Silver and Zelig) supposedly documenting the 1938 Russian attempt to reach the moon after an accidental crashing of a rocket. Utilizing mostly contemporary shot footage with a small amount of archival footage used for other purposes initially, this convincing, but totally fabricated documentary, plays with the audience through a plausible scenario and manipulated imagery. It is good to see the Russian film industry diversifying into a range of styles and genres. Highly recommended, but don’t take it seriously. (PK)
BLACK GOLD. Do you ever wonder what goes into a cup of coffee? Not so much what makes it taste great, but where your $2.50 goes? Black Gold (Nick Francis, 2006) looks at the billions of dollars involved in the global coffee industry and how the profits rarely reach the impoverished farmers who make it all possible. They earn around 50 cents a day. Black Gold looks at how the coffee industry works through the eyes of an Ethiopian co-op manager, Tadesse Meskela, on a mission to save his 75,000 struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy. It is also his hope that the consumer will understand what they’re drinking. We are taken on a journey from the poor farms and the almost starving children of Ethiopian coffee growers to the wealth of the global marketplace. For the first time ever, Ethiopian farmers are caught up in the country’s famine. The coffee industry is booming, yet these people are struggling to get food. Yes, it is a passionate exercise in important issues from the filmmaker, but it is done in such an engaging way. You have to see it. (CK)
THE PERVERT’S GUIDE TO CINEMA. Made as a three- part TV series for cable TV, and certainly not accurately represented by its title (perhaps Psychoanalysis And The Cinema might be more accurate). This film is both a highly entertaining piece of quasi-analysis by omnipresent philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Zizek, and an arrant piece of didactic analytic nonsense at the same time. Combining three Ph..D topics into one (as I see it: Psychoanalytic issues in popular cinema; sexual representation in film; and the interface between audience and film culture), the film uses some excellent clips from a number of films, including from Chaplin, Hitchcock, Lynch, Kubrick, etc., to illustrate the way cinema dissembles Freudian theoretical frameworks. As directed by Sophie Fiennes, who occasionally places Zizek in scenes that reflect the style of the clip we have just seen, the film turns into a lecture cum-cinematic analysis that becomes somewhat repetitive during its 150 minute running time, and serves better in its original three parts. Nevertheless, a mostly interesting piece of analytical discourse that provides fodder for further academic film study. (PK)
INVISIBLE WAVES. Pen-Ek Rataraung, the Thai director of the interesting mood piece Last Life In The Universe, turns his hand to more overt comedy nestled inside a mystery thriller. Set between Hong Kong and Bangkok, the story unfolds in flashback about a gangster who has killed his girlfriend and tries to escape the consequences. Laced with existential sequences and some amusing set-pieces, especially on the ship, this is an enjoyable film, lensed by the inimitable Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle. (PK)