THE PRESIDENT’S CAKE – ★★★☆

Iraqi film set in the 1990s at a time when Saddam Hussein was president, and America was bombing it with regularity. It’s centres around a young grade three girl, who despite living in poverty is tasked by the teacher to make and bring in a cake to class to celebrate the president’s birthday. It’s well made, and had some great set design and shots; depicting several examples of the expectation by the Iraqi population to give up everything for their president regardless of their plight, with many images of him in hospitals, murals, and other places, always keeping a watchful eye. It didn’t paint either side of the conflict as the good side or the bad side specifically, but showed how the situation was a complicated one, with the citizens themselves often losing out to the actions of those performing actions beyond their control. Excellent performance by the young lead actress as she traverses the challenges of trying to gather the ingredients needed to make the cake.

BUT ALSO JOHN CLARKE – ★★★☆

I don’t know what it is about the late John Clarke, but his presence always resonated warmly with me. And his style of humour was right up my alley. This documentary was an excellent look at his life, presented through a good curation of private home videos, photos, and audio recordings amassed and presented by his daughter, Lorin. It seems like his impact on others was similar to mine, and of his friend’s comments about the glint in his eyes with a sense of mischief hit the nail on the head. I didn’t realise he was from New Zealand before his Australian work, and you can see how his methods have influenced a lot of the great NZ comedy we have today. If you like John Clarke, documentaries, or feeling good about a human, this one’s recommended.

TWST – THINGS WE SAID TODAY – ★★☆

It took a while this MIFF, but I finally saw a film that I would suggest is “not good”. It wasn’t terrible either, but I felt a little bit like it was misrepresented, and that’s likely what led to this rating. With The Beatles mentioned at least six times in the film’s description, and IMDB’s headline description being “August 1965, The Beatles arrive in New York for a sold-out Shea Stadium concert. Crowds of frenzied fans fill Manhattan streets, hoping to catch sight of the band from their hotel.”, I expected more Beatles. It started out strong, it felt like seeing a bit of behind-the-scenes of the Beatles arriving in New York in 1965. But after the first 20 minutes or so, they almost disappeared for the rest of the film. It’s sometimes fun to watch someone else’s home movies from the past, but as a film, it felt lost in purpose, as it jumped between Beatlemania, L.A. Riots, and World Fair footage. I’d say that while it used a lot of news reel and film footage taken from the time, the addition of fictional stories, plotline, and animated characters over it makes calling it a documentary a bit iffy. It was interesting enough just to see New York (and sometimes LA) from 60 years ago, but overall not worthwhile for me.

LUCKY LU – ★★★

Film about a Chinese immigrant in New York who’s worked hard to prepare for his wife and daughter’s arrival, but is financially in strife and having some bad luck in a dog eat dog world. It wasn’t terrible, but if you want to see a film about someone’s bike being stolen, see Bicycle Thieves. And if you want to see a film about an immigrant who’s being exploited while working within a food delivery ring, see The Story of Souleymane (MIFF 2024), both which are much better films.

LOVE LETTERS – ★★★☆

Deaf was a Spanish film I saw the other day about a deaf mother soon to have her first child, and some of the complexities involved. Today was a French film about two lesbians expecting their first child, and some of the complexities involved. It was set in the mid-2010s, shortly after same-sex marriage was legalised in France, and yet there were still legal and other barriers that stopped short of providing the couple the same experience that a hetero marriage would have, particularly in regards to the non-biological mother’s status as parent for their daughter. The casting and acting of the two leads was great. Overall I think it handled the topic well, and hopefully provided some insight to those less aware of the kinds of bias and extra friction that same-sex couples experience.

DREAMS (SEX, LOVE, DREAMS TRILOGY) – ★★★★

The third film in the trilogy of films. I’ve not seen the second of the three, but really enjoyed this one – better than Sex (yeah, I know, ha ha). About a young girl feeling love for her teacher, who writes down her thoughts and the many conversations about it.

SORRY, BABY – ★★★★

American indie film about an academic living her life in the small town where she attended university. It plays out in a few different chapters at different times and centres mainly about her sexual assault. It’s moving, and well told. Her friendships are touching, and while the topic itself is seriously handled, the moments of levity were also nicely balanced. Highly recommended. Something about it reminded me of Indignation from MIFF 2016.

ONE MORE SHOT – ★★★☆

Australian comedy set on New Years Eve, 1999. Using the Groundhog Day time loop trope, this film involves a woman attending a small NYE party. She is trying to win the affection of her backup-plan friend, who’s now found someone else. Every time she needs to reset, she takes a shot of tequila mezcal, and the night begins again. This kind of film has been done many times, but overall I enjoyed this one. It had a couple of kinks in the overall quality and pacing, but was easily enjoyable enough. The characters were a creative collection, I’d like to see them again in another story.