MUTUAL APPRECIATION
3/10
Crap. Sorry, I don’t care if he’s America’s Indie Darling or whatever – you’d think that all the crappiness of his first film (see comments on ‘Funny Ha Ha’ below) would be cleaned up and improved for his second. But no, it’s got all that made Funny Ha Ha bad, but is even less interesting. Audible groans were heard amongst the audience as this film progressed. Avoid.

NORDIC SHORTS
7/10
Shorts. Some were good (Bawke, Roswell Enterprises, The Last Farm, It’s My Turn Now) and some were okay. None awful.

I’m a bit tired so these one’ll be short (yes, even shorter than usual).

C.R.A.Z.Y.
9/10
Great flick, following the life of a guy who’s a member of a typical family with their quirks and oddities. See it. ASAP.

I FOR INDIA
7/10
Interesting documentary about an Indian man who moved to the UK in the 1960s and communicated with home through film and audio tape. The recordings are used to show life in the UK for an Indian family as well as life in India.

LOUDQUIETLOUD: A FILM ABOUT THE PIXIES
8/10
Possibly the best band documentary I’ve seen. How badly do I want to listen to Pixies again right now? Very. This was produced by Kelley Deal and I suspect that meant that the filmmaker was able to get some great candid snapshots of life on the road with the Pixies during their 2004 reunion tour. If you’re a fan of the band, you must try and see this film.

A SOAP
6/10
This was an okay film about a woman who leaves her doctor boyfriend after deciding her life with him was boring. She moves into a new apartment building above a cross-dresser who is awaiting his confirmation that he can have a sex change operation. Well shot, but lordy lordy lordy that main character shat me up the wall. Very hard to like her given her constant indecisiveness and the way it affected the people around her.

THE WAY I SPENT THE END OF THE WORLD
5/10
One of the biggest problems with sub-titled films is that if you are getting a little tired and rest your eyes for a minute, you end up missing important lines of script that are displayed on the screen. I did this a few times in this film, and therefore the score may be lower than it deserves to be. This was a story about the last days of Romania under communist dictatorship in 1989 particularly focussing on a rebellious school girl who is trying her best to survice in a regime that doesn’t suit. Didn’t do a lot for me, but if it’s your kind of thing and you can stay awake, it might be worth it.

OPAL DREAM
8/10
Yep, another great aussie film! How unreal is that? This one stars Vince Colosimo, Jaqueline McKenzie and a couple of great little kids. It’s about a family who lives in Coober Peey, the Opal Capital Of The World. Vince plays a miner/prospector who runs into some trouble while playing along with his daughter’s emotional outcry after losing her imaginary friends Pobby and Dingan. It’s a feel-good type flick that was financed by the UK Film Council – hopefully more films like this won’t need overseas funding in future.

BUBBLE
7/10
Acting was either very understated, or extremely poor. This low budget film was directed by Steven Soderbergh who has done some films that I’ve quite liked; Insomnia, The Daytrippers, Solaris (2002). He’s also done some I’m not as big a fan of; Traffic, Out of Sight, Ocean’s Twelve. Anyway, this story revolves around the relationship (as friends) between two factory workers living in a somewhat depressing American town who make dolls, and how things change when a new girl starts at the factory. It was certainly watchable, and interesting enough too, but the acting just seemed so wooden to me that it distracted me a little. A quirky little film that will be worth your effort when cheap enough on DVD rental.

TWELVE AND HOLDING
8/10
Really enjoyable film about three 12 year old friends and how they cope with the problems in their lives, particularly after a tragic accident befalls the brother of one of them. This film had a similar kind of feel to it that The Ice Storm did, though with a different story. Yet another high score for a film at MIFF this year.

CLIMATES
5/10
This was a fairly last minute whim, so I was unsure what to expect. The first line of the film (after several minutes of watching a woman’s face as she watches her husband take photos of some ruins was “Am I boring you?”. I never use the word languid in everyday life, but I can’t think of a better way to describe this film, where not very much happens, and ultimately for me, it wasn’t in an entirely good way. There’s nothing wrong with this type of film – I loved ‘3 Iron’ last year, but in this case, I just didn’t really get into what little story there was on offer.

RATS & CATS
8/10
Wonderful Australian comedy, and truly Australian. This film follows a magazine journalist who is assigned to cover a ‘where are they now’ story about an Australian actor who had been growing in popularity in the 90s, but then disappeared out of the industry altogether. This leads the journo to a small country town where the ex-actor is a bit of a lost soul, and seems to be pursuing several (sometimes conflicting) paths. The film dragged a bit in some points, and some more closure on a few of the sub-plots might have been nice, but overall this was champagne comedy. One thing I liked too was the naming of some of the characters based on who they were (which I assume wasn’t accidental). For example, the prosititute in the film’s name is Cin (i.e., ‘Sin’ short for Cindy). One of the characters that the actor played in his 90s heyday was a priest who was intimate with a young girl and his name was ‘Father Roger’. Then the most obvious one is Teddy, who… well, you can find out why his name is Teddy if you watch the film. The humour is somewhat Late Show/The Castle-like, but with a darker edge. Be sure to check out this great local flick.