Oh yeah, MIFF 2016 is almost here! Looks like I never got around to finishing my summary of last year’s festival, but we all know I’m pretty much writing this for myself, so if anyone’s upset, it should be me. Interestingly, I looked through Netflix to see how many films of the ones that I thought looked interesting last year are currently available, and it’s not too many. Worth noting then, that MIFF can be a treasure trove of stuff that you mightn’t easily find at cinemas, or streaming, even a year later. Looking forward to seeing what’s in the new program real soon. More posts to come!

THEEB ★★★★

If The Assassin was the biggest disappointment of the festival, this was the nicest surprise. I didn’t originally have this one booked, but after having heard good things about it, decided to give it a try. An engaging Arabic film about a boy who follows his brother who’s asked to guide a British soldier to Mecca in World War I, the pacing, suspense and emotional connection with the characters was spot on. See it if you can.

THE LIAR ★☆

I think I’m being generous with this rating. A film about an unlikeable girl doing shitty things to people with little to no narrative. Wish I’d walked out.

THE ASSASSIN ★★★

The biggest disappointment of the festival for me, though certainly not the worst film. I was really excited to see this, having loved a lot of the martial arts films shown in previous years at MIFF. The cinematography was incredible, gorgeous, and almost worth seeing the film for alone, but unfortunately I couldn’t follow the story, and its slow pace wasn’t enough to keep me there till the end, in part due to my disappointment in the film earlier in the day.

Mid-way through the festival. Here’s a couple of my thoughts;

• It’s been a great festival so far, all the staff and volunteers should be proud
• I’ve seen lots of really good films, very few bad one, but am still looking for that special one that hits higher than four out of five stars
• In regards to the Comedy Theatre which MIFF used for the first time this year… Well, I think my friend Dan said it best on the Facebooks yesterday, when he wrote “With a bit of schedule manipulation, that’s the last Comedy Theatre session of #miff2015‬, and hopefully forever.”
• I feel like I need to cut down on the documentaries and see some more fiction.

HOW TO DANCE IN OHIO ★★★★

A documentary about autisitic kids on the more functioning end of the spectrum and their preparation for a formal being organised by the centre that they go to regularly for treatment. A wonderful film offering insight into those with autism.

STEVE JOBS: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE ★★☆

I dunno, I guess it was sort of okay in parts. But really, logic like “Eight companies were doing this, one was Apple -> APPLE IS BAD!” and “A company in China who any number of companies use that is also used by Apple -> APPLE IS BAD!” and “Let’s interview an anti-Apple journalist about Apple -> APPLE IS BAD!” kinda gets tired. The premise of the documentary was good; why did so many people feel sad when Steve Jobs died, to the point of leaving flowers outside shops, etc?. Too bad Alex Gibney couldn’t come up with an answer.

THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL ★★☆

Had a choice to see this film or catch up friends for drinks. I chose the latter after about 20 minutes. Call me a party pooper but I didn’t find the 15 year old main girl having sex with her mom’s boyfriend as funny as some.

808 ★★★☆

The bass goes BOOM. This was a pretty good doco about the Roland TR-808 drum machine. Yep, a documentary. About a Drum. Machine. I really like Zane Lowe as a DJ on Beats 1, but his enthusiastic shouty narrative didn’t really fit so well. Not a biggie. The parts with some of the (incredibly broad and extensive) interviewees were great. Particular highlights were the interviews with The Beastie Boys and Goldie. If it had a flaw, it was that it kind of went a little too long, and started to feel a bit disjointed towards the end. Easily worth a look if you’ve had a passing interest in dance/pop/hiphop since the 1980s. Looking forward to seeing if there’s a sequel for the TB-303