HA-CHAN, SHAKE YOUR BOOTY! – ★★★☆

Music-and-dance-laced film (but not a musical) about a Japanese woman, married to a Mexican, living happily in Tokyo, and who both enjoy ballroom dancing, until an unfortunate and unexpected passing leaves her a widow. This film is hard to put into a genre, but as far as a mood goes, it is overall stylish, joyful, and uplifting, despite the subject matter. Good fun.

CHILI FINGER – ★★★☆

American comedy/thriller-ish film about a small-town lawyer who finds a severed finger in her fast-food chilli. A great cast of familiar favourites (John Goodman, Just Greer, Sean Astin, Bryan Cranston, etc.) and well put together. I’d suggest that the plot/script is the weakest part, but if you’re willing to suspend disbelief a little more than normal, it’s watchable. Probably the kind of film to watch on an aeroplane, or after a hard week at work. 

KINGS OF VENICE – ★★★☆

Documentary about the Paddle Ball scene in Venice, California. Paddle Ball is a sport that’s been around a long time, gone through some name changes, but is on the downward trend in popularity. It’s played on a small court with a deflated tennis ball, and has a strong resemblance to the newer sport of pickleball, which is gaining in popularity. Generally amusing as it introduces several of the characters who play the game, who take it very seriously. Sometimes perhaps too seriously. It’s a mixed bag of folks, who are concerned about the impact of pickleballers who are quickly encroaching on their territory. It’s not an important film, but it was nice light entertainment. I suspect the competition at the end was rigged, but not in the same way that Ernesto suspected it.

NINO – ★★★★

French film about a young man who on his birthday finds out that he has throat cancer, and whose treatment will begin the following Monday. We spend the weekend as he goes through through multiple locations, interactions with others, and processing the news. It’s the type of film the French seem to do well, finding a way to tell a story in refreshing ways. Made me think of others like Conversations with my Gardener and The Intouchables. Perhaps not quite as good as either of those, but still very good. 

SCHOOL FOR DEFECTORS – ★★★

Interesting documentary about a small South Korean boarding school specifically for children whose parents (and often themselves) have defected from North Korea. Harrowing stories, and watchable, but it didn’t overly grab me. I was possibly spoiled by the documentary Beyond Utopia at MIFF a few years ago, which showed footage of people as they actually defected. The documentary today though could have been cut down to a one hour TV show instead of the way it was presented. 

BLUE HERON – ★★★★

What an absolute punch in the gut of a film. Watching made me feel like my head was in a vice. I’m not going to say it was a pleasant experience, but it was an extraordinary film in its power to demonstrate the difficulty of a situation where immigrant parents are trying to raise four children, and the oldest has behavioural/mental health issues. Filmed on Vancouver Island, it was lovely to see the Pacific Northwest, one of the most beautiful areas on Earth.

LA BOLA NEGRA – ★★★☆

Spanish film that cuts across three timelines, with a running theme across all regarding how homosexuality has been treated historically in the country, as well as in modern day. Very nicely shot, well paced, especially for a relatively long film. The quick moral of the story can be best summarised by quoting David Lynch’s character FBI Deputy Director Gordon Cole: “Fix their hearts or die“.

CONGO BOY – ★★★☆

Snappy African film about a young man who is a refugee in Central Africa, and juggling raising four younger siblings while his parents are in prison, trying to finish his final year of high school, working to pay for food, and also follow his music passion to become an artist. Overall I enjoyed this, and it was nice to have some feel-good moments amongst a difficult situation.

JOYBUBBLES – ★★★★

Similar to yesterdays’ documentary about (ice) hockey, this film related to an interest area of mine, telephones and phone phreaking. This film did a nice job of showing more than the nature of the act of navigating phone systems by focussing on Joybubbles, a person was born blind, and from an early age had an extraordinary fascination with phones, which they carried with them their whole life, until their untimely death. Many tapes were saved from interviews and Joybubble’s own recordings, so the filmmakers were able to use this, as well as many interviews with those that knew him to create an excellent at touching story. Joybubbles is presented as a decent human, always finding a child-like wonder in their world, and trying to make other people’s life experience happier, despite hardships that they encountered. Highly recommended.