A QUIET DREAM ★★★
A (mostly) black and white Korean film about a half-Chinese woman who moves to Korea after her mother’s death to find (and care for) her incapacitated older father. She runs a small, quiet bar, which is frequented by three self-confessed ‘losers’, all of whom wish to win her heart. It was pleasant, though I felt that perhaps a lot of symbolism went over my head, either due to cultural differences, translation, or maybe I’m just not bright enough. Slow, but pleasant enough.
A LIFE IN WAVES ★★★
This documentary is about Suzanne Ciani who was one of the first people to experiment with using synthesisers and computers to make music. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she did not become a household name for her efforts. The documentary wasn’t bad, but I would have liked more details on the area she was clearly knowledgeable about – how the machines that she was using were able to be used to generate sound. Her existence did seem familiar to me, and I realised while watching that it was because she was shown on the kids’ science show ‘3-2-1 Contact’ which I used to watch in the 1980s. I’ll be interested to check into some of her music in the future
GOOD TIME ★★★★
A Safdie brothers film, set in New York. I’ve not seen any of the other films by these two, as far as I can tell, despite there being a retrospective at MIFF a couple of years ago. I really enjoyed this action story about two brothers, one who is a person with an intellectual disability, and the other who’s moral compass is probably a little broken. They rob a bank, and the brother without disability gets away; the brother with is not so fortunate. And thus the story goes on, showing how over one night the brother who escaped attempts to help the one who was caught. I liked the filming at night, and the soundtrack, as well as how the scenes were edited for impact. I’ll be trying to find their other work in coming months.