FROZEN
not rated
I was really looking forward to this one – unfortunately it started about 15 minutes late, and I ended up having to leave before it finished, so I don’t feel that it’s fair to give it a score. I’ve been told that the last 20 mins or so of the film does tie up a lot of what’s been going on which is good to hear ;-). The first chunk was very nicely shot and I did enjoy its lazy pace, but after over an hour of watching a woman who was obviously very much still in mourning for her missing (presumed dead?) sister wander somewhat aimlessly through her existence, I did begin to yawn a bit. Given I didn’t see it all, I can’t suggest whether it’s worth going to the cinema for if it gets a local release, but I’d certainly recommend it as a DVD rental.

DARK HORSE
8/10
I really liked this one and I suspect it will eventuate into one of my faves of the festival. Shot in Black and White, it has a great sense of humour with some laugh out loud moments during the first ‘chapters’ of the film (of which there are 12). It did tend to drag towards the end, but redeemed itself by the closing credits. Highly recommended!

HIDDEN
7/10
A french film starring Juliette Binoche is difficult for me to pass up. This was a soft thriller/stalker/drama, and I doubt that you’ll see a ‘No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of this Picture’ line in the credits… Was certainly watchable, and had a cryptic enough ending that had everyone looking at each other when it was over to see if they missed something or not. (Well at least our group did that anyway). Would be interested to hear what others thought though. I never claimed to be a brainiac when it comes to cinema, so subtleties go over my head on many an occasion :-). It certainly wasn’t an awful film by any stretch, but it didn’t really give me enough satisfaction to say it was anything better than okay to good.

If you’ve seen any of the above films, please feel free to add your thoughts or comments. Or, if you’ve seen something else or have other comments, that you’d like to contribute to me, please feel free to get in touch by emailing me.

BROTHERS
7.5/10
I liked this film – it had some humour to it, but also had some quite dark tones and violent scenes that I didn’t really expect. It’s an interesting Danish film about two brothers who lead very different lives, and how after a particular event, they begin to switch roles. Makes you question how much a ‘good’ or ‘evil’ person is decided on the circumstances you’re dealt.

Showed a couple of people the blog now and, well, I kind of expected to be ridiculed a little more than I have been. Really, is seeing this many films that normal? Anyway, I’ve made some changes tonight to the side-bar, which lists all the sessions I plan to see, as well as highlighting those that I’m most looking forward to, and I’ve added links for each film to the MIFF website so you can see what they’re about… Now do you think I’m sad? Good. It’s about time.

Some other random musings/tips I’ve thought about as I picked films this year, which others may find handy (or not) – these are my opinions based on what I like in a film. So, keep in mind that other people’s tastes may very easily be different to mine;

– If it’s showing at ACMI, the ‘film’ quality is quite possibly not going to be great – last year they showed a lot of movies shot with video rather than film. I tend to treat anything at ACMI with a bit of apprehension.

– If you can see something at the Capitol Theatre, choose it over any other. Even if the film sucks you can still check out the ceiling which is absolutely amazing. My brain begins to melt every time I look at it and try and imagine how anyone sat down to design it in a pre-computer era…

– If the film is from South Korea, it’s likely to be amazingly good, or incredibly bad. How to tell a bad one? Well, if the description of the plot doesn’t seem to make sense, it’s possible that it’s actually and accurate description of a film that doesn’t make sense… Be warned!

– If the film is scandanavian and sounds like it might be humourous, (even if it’s with a dark edge) it will probably be good.

– If the words “experimental” “dreamlike” “surreal” etc are used, be warned you may be watching a super 8 film that is less interesting than the part of the credits of Lord of the Rings – extended edition where they thank all the members of the Lord of the Rings fan club…. One film this year is described as having an “evocative, dreamlike visual code”… and that it “traces the physical and metaphysical journeys that Louis must undertake in his existential quest”. I’m sure this stuff is great to a fan, but I’m going to be running in the opposite direction.

😉
mark

Hi,

I’ve decided to start this blog as a temporary site during the Melbourne International Film Festival (2005). I’ve been going to the film festival for a few years now, and this will be the fourth year in a row that I’ve taken time off work and bought a ‘festival passport’, which grants me access to every session over the 2.5 weeks… This is also the first time I’ve done a blog. I’m not sure I get why most people blog, but I am doing this one as I know a lot of people will ask me what I’m seeing, what I thought of the films, etc etc. We’ll see how it goes from here I guess :-).

Mark