REBUILDING PARADISE – ★★☆

Documentary about the 2018 forest fires that devastated the California town of ‘Paradise’. Some amazing footage and tense moments that were captured, but as a documentary somewhat directionless. Long stretches of the life of the local school administrator that didn’t seem connected or relevant were included.

CODED BIAS – ★★★☆

Documentary about how AI is being used to decide so many things in the world today, and how the AI itself is often flawed with bias based on gender, race, etc. It was a one-sided documentary and should have included more ‘response’ from the large tech companies that created the systems, so it was a pity that that wasn’t there. That said, I am glad that at least this film exists, at least to make people more aware of the wrongs being committed by companies like Facebook.

THE KILLING OF TWO LOVERS – ★★★☆

Low budget American film set in Utah, about the relationship of a couple, post-separation. I’m not against long slow scenes in films to build impact, and some of them were well done, but there were many where it felt like it was padding to make this story movie-length. That said, like a good western, the slow pace made some of the climactic scenes all the more tense when they happened. Special mention too for the sound work.

I USED TO GO HERE – ★★★

Disappointed by this comedy/drama starring Jermaine Clement (Many great NZ films) and Gillian Jacobs (Community, Love). The story is about a recently published author going back to her university town, and spending a few days there reliving her past. It wasn’t terrible, but it just didn’t feel like it knew what it wanted to be. You could see the parts that were meant to be funny or dramatic, but they didn’t connect. Ultimately I didn’t feel connected with the characters, or really see the point that was trying to be made.

IDENTIFYING FEATURES – ★★★

Mexican film about a mother trying to find out what happened to her son, after he left home and hasn’t been heard from for two months. Takes a couple of twists and uses sound to create good atmosphere, but mostly a slow moving journey. Very nicely filmed, but a little bit hard to follow at some points.

ELLIE & ABBIE (& ELLIE’S DEAD AUNT) – ★★★★

Romantic comedy about a high school girl coming out to her mum, and the path towards going to the school formal with the object of her affection. Helped along the way by the ghost of her lesbian aunt. This probably doesn’t really deserve four stars; it wasn’t bad by any stretch, but did feel like it kind of lost its way from a story point of view around 2/3s in. That said, I think it’s an important and necessary film for a younger audience, just to represent the many high school kids who need something like this – a film that promotes and accepts LGBT as a normal part of society.

LARA – ★★★★

This film really resonated with me. It’s the story of the mother of a young pianist/composer on the opening day of a recital where he will play his first composed work. There’s a lot of reasons to find the mother an unpleasant person, but underlying this is the story of her own past and how that has created the person that she is; a somewhat bitter and overbearing judge that obvious has driven her son to his levels of skill, but also torn their relationship into what it is.

THE LEADERSHIP – ★★★☆

Another documentary that demonstrates how unfair the world can be, this time on a women’s leadership retreat to Antarctica. Similarly to ‘9to5’, and a dash of ‘On the Record’, both also shown at MIFF this year, this shows the inexcusable inequity of women, particularly those who work in STEMM (Science/Technology/Engineering/Maths/Medicine). At points there’s (unfortunately) unsurprising details about how much women have to put up with; unequal pay, abuse, sexual assault, etc. And then there’s the impacts of the women who go on the first of these voyages, and the aftermath of that. Worth watching. I hope that existing business leaders that have the power to make changes to create equity, inclusiveness and diversity see the film and start making the positive changes desperately needed.

MADDY THE MODEL – ★★★

This documentary should be celebrating Maddy’s mum more than Maddy herself. Maddy, who has Down syndrome, wanted to be a catwalk model, and her mother who is endlessly supportive, did what she could to help realise the dream. You can see that the mum’s expectations are reasonable, and she’s not a stage mum. But it’s a difficult situation that requires a real commitment and juggle. Congrats to Maddy’s mum for the hard work, and to Maddy for pursuing her dreams.

THE LETTER – ★★★

Maybe I’m hitting documentary fatigue. This film about an African community that appears to be suffering from issues around the elderly being accused of witchcraft and then attacked by machetes just felt a little but too surreal. At points it felt like a war of Christian beliefs vs Witchcraft, when both feel like the wrong answer in the face of science.