TICKLED ★★★☆ 

I was told that the less you know about this film before you see it, the better, so I’ll say little about it. The documentary is about competitive tickling, but furthermore about what happened to the film makers when they wanted to make a film about it. Check it out if you can. I felt my heart racing at points as the story unfolded. 

INDIGNATION ★★★★

Surprise of the festival, so far. Before I went into this, I re-read the synopsis and couldn’t remember why I’d picked it. I was wondering if I’d possibly made a mistake and booked it accidentally. Anyway, I’m so glad I made it because Indignation has been one of my festival favourites this year. It’s a love story set in the early 1950s about a young jewish man from New Jersey entering college in Ohio, and his relationship with a student there who’s had some difficulties in her past. It deals with a variety of topics and interrelationships, sons and parents, men and women, students and educators. The final scene made my eyes water a little bit. Wonderful.

LOUIS THEROUX: MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE ★★★

As expected, Louis provided an entertaining look at a scary/weird ‘religion’, whom I have very little time for. The thing is, *EVERYBODY*’s been doing these investigations for a while now. Lots of people have written books about how scientology is full of freaks. Lots of people have done documentaries about how scientology is full of freaks. Lots of people have run websites about how scientology is full of freaks (and then they proved it by chasing and harassing the hosting provider of one of them. At one point in this film, one of the ex-scientologists refers to another saying that he knows where the dead bodies are. Where were they? Tell us something new Louis, or at least uncover something that warrants this being a cinema release rather than a two part TV documentary. Anyway, it wasn’t a *bad* film, though it did seem to kind of just end without resolving anything. I enjoyed it, I just wanted it to be more.

EVOLUTION ★★

Like the Russian film, Under Electric Clouds at last year’s MIFF, this French film was incredibly beautiful to watch visually, but was let down by a seemingless random and indecipherable plot. What a pity. It was about an island inhabited by young boys and women, and I guess they were experimenting with breeding and possibly inter-species breeding between squids and people. But don’t take my word for it.

THE FAMILY FANG ★★☆
American dark comedy/drama directed by and starring Jason Bateman with a great cast including Nicole Kidman and Christopher Walken. I think I’ve seen too many films about grown adult siblings getting together after a long time of not being in touch to work out their childhood issues with their parents. Started strong, but I lost interest about halfway through.

THE LOST ARCADE ★★★★
I was a kid in the 1980s and video arcades were just about the best place on earth (Hello to Wizards, Illusions and Three Rings in 1980s Calgary, and 10/4 Amusements in 1980s Melbourne). So, it’s probably not super surprising that this film was one I highly anticipated. It’s about one of the last old school video arcades in NYC, but was just as much about the friendships and tribe that was built around it. Worth seeing if you ever loved, or still love arcade games. BTW, if you’re hankering for some old retro video game playing, check out https://retropie.org.uk

TONI ERDMANN ★★☆
A well meaning German film about an aging father’s attempts to reconnect with his high-powered executive daughter who lives in Romania and doesn’t have much time for a personal life. This wasn’t a bad film, but I think it could have been a little better edited and possibly 20-30 minutes shorter. Had some nice moments, but didn’t really deliver for me.

HIRED GUN ★★★☆

Pretty awesome doco about session musicians who help lay down some of the famous riffs you’d attribute to major artists, mainly because they’re rarely attributed. I thought the guy from Filter seemed like a dickhead back when he ripped off NIN’s sound in the 90s, and now I’m pretty sure of it. Was glad to see Toto in there (who were session musicians for a little album called ‘Thriller’ by  Michael Jackson), and it was a bit of a thrill to have Ray Parker Jr in the audience and doing a q&a after. Who knew he worked with Stevie Wonder and the Rolling Stones before making that tune that sounds suspiciously like Huey Lewis & The News’ ‘I want a new drug’?

OPERATION AVALANCHE ★★★

Clever idea suggesting a (conspiracy) theory where the US government faked the apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. Not a new idea but an interesting perspective on how it might have been done and an interesting execution in that it was pieced together using film footage taken at the time. Might’ve got an extra half star if the handheld camera work hadn’t been so shaky throughout.

LATE SPRING ★★★

Part of MIFF’s Setsuko Hara retrospective, this was a restored showing of a 1949 film. It wasn’t earth moving to me but the Japanese have a knack for sweet films around family (see also STILL WALKING, MIFF 2009). Almost certainly of its era, I’d like to know whether the inane constant smiling of the characters was a japense cultural thing or part of the way actors portrayed everyday life at the time.

A NEW LEAF ★★★

Walter Mattheau starred with Elaine May (who also directed) in this 1971 film that forms part of this year’s MIFF spotlight on female New York directors of the 1970s. It was watchable, but I kind of expected a little more based on reviews I’d read. Additionally I was surprised how the film didn’t really advance the notion of gender equality but instead had the lead female role being fairly subservient to the sometimes quite mean male.

PATERSON ★★★★

Loved this film. A perfect example of how a good filmmaker (in this case Jim Jarmusch) can take a fairly simple premise without any major barrier to be overcome by its protagonist but still make something so immersive and enjoyable. This stars Kylo Ren.., err, Adam Driver as a content New Jersey small town bus driver who writes poetry in his spare time and leads a fairly predictable daily routine. He seems entirely happy in this, and without ambitions beyond what he’s got. An enviable position. While they are happily married, his state is in contrast to his wife who appears to be still pursuing her destination. And his bus station colleague is often turning the daily grind of life into reasons to be dissatisfied. Probably going to be my festival highlight.

THE DEATH AND LIFE OF OTTO BLOOM ★★★

First feature film by Cris Jones, and funded in part by the MIFF Fund. It’s the second time in the past few years that we’ve had an opening night film based on time travel (the previous being Predestination). I like sci-fi, but I find that dealing with the mental head muck that is time can sometimes be hard to work with in film, as you keep needing to try and think about what’s going on, and it removes you from the experience before you. That doesn’t always happen, but it did with this one, where the story’s premise is about a man who experiences time backwards; he can remember the future, but not the past, opposite to the way we experience time. He ages the same way we do though. Overall, and especially for a first feature, I thought this was pretty well done. I think experience might’ve made for a better film and perhaps some slightly different decisions in length/storytelling, but it’s worth a watch. As far as opening night films go, this is one of the better ones I’ve seen.