WE ARE TOGETHER
7/10
Documentary shot on digital video showing the plight of an orphanage in Africa housing some very spirited young kids. As can be expected from a story like this, we’re shown some of the difficulties that these children have had to live through (and continue to in some areas). The uplifting side is that while they have such troubled pasts, they still are able to smile, laugh and have fun. They also sing, and pretty well too! From a ‘film’ perspective, I felt that there were slight levels of manipulation in regards to trying to be more an advertisement for supporting the plight of this group/orphanage, rather than a disassociated look into their world. This is not a film that needs to be seen in the cinema – watch it when it’s on TV, and do consider contributing, because a lot of us are truckloads more lucky than these kids, and they need the help. See http://www.wearetogether.org for more info.

FIDO
7.5/10
This was a good sci-fi/comedy in a world where zombies are kept as pets. The backstory is that a meteor hit the earth and something in it caused all the dead to come back to life as zombies. Luckily an inventor was able to curb the zombies’ need to eat flesh by attaching a special electronic collar. There’s plenty of fun to be had here – especially in the various ways that zombies are being used for various purposes around the town. There was pretty much no horror in this film, despite being billed as one – had a good start and a reasonably good end, but it dragged a little bit around the middle. Fantastic set design and wardrobe/styling of the actors for that 50s feel.

The case of the disappearing sessions. I’ve caught a cold thanks to one of the several thousand people around Melbourne who had it before me. Nearly everyone I know at the festival (of which there are at least five or six) has caught a cold this year. It was my turn a couple of days ago, and I’ve been dropping planned sessions like never before (except for one year where I was totally out for 4-5 days with a flu). So I’ve missed some good ones apparently, like Azur and Asmar, I Served the King of England, and others. I’ve also been a little moody and less resiliant to films.

So, that might explain why my sessions on the left have been disappearing in great quantities, and it may indicate a certain tendency towards less favourable reviews over the past couple of days.

WIth all that said, let’s do today’s films.

WOLFSBERGEN
3/10
This was an unplanned session since I skipped the first two today due to feeling like crap. Starts with a four hour still shot of a forest with birds tweeting. Uh-oh. Continue with a bunch of folks who don’t seem to believe in two way conversations. Yes, when your husband tells you he’s been having it off with your sister, stare into space. When your dad’s crying like a baby and you’re a 12 (or so) year old, don’t say anything, just hug him. Oh and for god’s sake, if your son is helping you pack ceramics into a box, don’t even think about using anything like newspaper to wrap said fragile wear. No, just place it in the box – it’ll be just fine. Couldn’t take it any more and walked out. Okay, there were some nice shots in this. And it probably wasn’t as bad as I’m making out. But not for me on a day like this.

THE BOSS OF IT ALL
4/10
Potentially funny film about a company who’s real boss is a bit of a fraidy-cat and so has spent years telling staff that the ‘boss of it all’ is a guy over in the US who is leading, so that he doesn’t have the confrontation directly. When a prospective client comes on the seen though, he’s got to present the real boss, and his solution is to hire an actor to do it. This was probably also better than I’m rating it, but I have a cold, was feeling dizzy and started falling asleep. And it was freaking hard to watch this as it was subtitled with white text on white scenes so often that half the words looked invisible. Walked out, but might give this another go one day when I am more conscious (and maybe SBS has had a go with their wonderful yellow subtitle machine).

TIME
6/10
The second of two Kim Ki Duk films being shown at this year’s festival – the first was Breath, which as I mention below was really enjoyable, but with a pretty strange plot. This one’s got an unusual plot too, but wasn’t nearly as good in my opinion. It’s about a girl who has such low self-esteem that she decides to leave her boyfriend of two years by disappearing entirely out of his life and getting plastic surgery so that she can come back six months later and woo him again. See, she thought he was getting bored of her looks, even though he wasn’t. And six months later, when she goes back to him, she succeeds in seducing him as this new girl, except that he’s still hung up on the gal he loved that disappaered. And so on the story goes. It’s an interesting look into relationships and what is important, but the real lesson I learned is not to ever go out with mentally unstable Korean girls. (Not that I would since I’m married and all, but you get the idea). I’ve liked every other Kim Ki Duk film I’ve seen, but I’ve not seen all of them. So far, this is my least favourite.

A FEW DAYS IN SEPTEMBER
6/10
A few yawns in August. This one came highly recommended to me. It stars Juliet Binoche (good), and John Turturro (good), and is a French thriller type film (good) about spies and stuff (good). So all these things pointed to reasonably good expectations for me. Maybe that’s why I was disappointed. Or maybe it’s the bad cold I have. Anyway, this didn’t grab me – it felt long and dragged out, lacking in story, characters like the one John Turturro played seemed more a nuisance than a necessary part of the story, the whole relationship between the two ‘kids’ of the missing spy from different families was almost grating to watch. I mean really, they’re 20-something years old – why are they acting like 12 year olds half the time? Try it in case it was my cold making me a little less tolerant, but don’t have very high expectations…

THE BUBBLE
7/10
My second Israeli film of the festival, which was a reasonable effort. It tells the tale of a bunch of twenty-somethings who live in the bohemian part of Jerusalam. It’s kinda like an american ‘friends’-esque sort of feel film, but with the minor issue of the political sensitivity going on in the area, what with bombings and strict border patrols, etc. Great soundtrack too, including songs by Nada Surf, Belle and Sebastian and Bebel Gilberto.

Sorry I’ve been lazy. Here’s what I thought of Sunday’s films….

FALLING
3/10
Walked out. Didn’t care what was happening with a bunch of Austrian women who went to the funeral of their teacher and then proceeded to hang out at a wedding which was held at a carnvial. Or something. This was billed as being like an Austrian Big Chill. I’ve never seen the Big Chill, but hopefully it was better than this. Maybe it was just the wrong film at the wrong time for me, but couldn’t be bothered with it.

HANA
5/10
Samurai film which was stronger on the comedy than it was on the sword-fighting. In fact there was very little of the latter. I started dozing, and this may have reduced my interest in the film (since it’s always a lot harder to follow a subtitled film when your eyes are closed). The beginning was good, the ending was good, the middle was extended and without thrills for me. BTW, to the guy at this sold out session who felt his bag deserved a seat more than paying patrons – you are a butt head, and I’m glad the people near you finally forced you to let someone sit in the seat next to you.

BELLA
9/10
Best film of the festival? Could be. This film really did it for me. It’s set in New York City and tells about a day when a restaurant hostess and the head chef of the restaurant spend their day together after certain events cause her to lose her job. I don’t want to give too much away, but this was a film with spirit, showing a blooming relationship between two people as well as the man’s Mexican family and his past. Lovely in every way. If you liked films like ‘In America’ you’ll probably like this. I’ll be buying this on DVD when I can.

FAY GRIM
7/10
Sequel to Hal Hartley’s ‘Henry Fool’. The original was pretty close to unwatchable for me – I like Hal Hartley’s stuff usually, but I just couldn’t bear to watch HF. Nevertheless, I was going to give him another chance with this film, set 10 years after the first. And, it wasn’t that bad – not great, but certainly a lot more to offer than the original. This film centres around Fay Grim’s brush with international espionage as various government agencies attempt to get their hands on the handwritten confessions of Fay’s husband, Henry, who disappeared years earlier. Parker Posey does a great job in the title role as an almost naive woman in the middle of a whirlwhid of spies double crossing and scheming around her. She picks up her game after not too long and provides some good comic moments. Not bad.