A fantastic MIFF day today – caught four films (but missed Noodle – may catch it the next time it’s on), and all of them were great!

RUMBA
7.5/10
This is what the film festival is about for me – a total risk and something I know I’d never see despite any potentials anywhere else due to time or other constraints. It’s a very visual comedic film about a couple who love to dance – an unfortunate accident awaits them though which throws their world into disarray. Very little dialogue, but entertaining to watch throughout. A cute film to make you smile.

WELCOME TO THE STICKS
7.5/10
A light French comedy about a postal manager who is feeling a lot of pressure from home to get transferred to the Riviera. However, when his efforts go a little too far, and he gets caught out, he ends up being sent to Northern France as a punishment. Good fun involved, particularly the scene where his wife visits the town up North to see how bad it is for him.

THE VISITOR
8/10
Really touching film from the US which is about the collision of lifestyles between a university professor in a rut and a couple of illegal immigrants who are innocently living in his unused New York apartment without his knowledge. A strong message about detention centres in America, and how to the land of liberty and justice for all isn’t necessarily so. At the same time it doesn’t pander to too many cliches. Highly recommended.

THE BANK JOB
7/10
This one’s getting a major release soon. UK Heist flick about a bunch of petty crooks in London who rob Lloyds Bank in the early 1970s, and the various types of trouble that ensues. The police aren’t the only parties interesting in finding them… It’s no Lock Stock, but still worth a watch.

THE GUITAR
5/10
The premise of this film was pretty interesting, I thought. A girl finds out she has terminal cancer (with one month to live), and then on the same day, loses her job, and her boyfriend dumps her. So, with that as the introduction, the film proceeds to show how she deals with the short path before her. One of the recurring elements is her memories as a child of wanting a red guitar very badly, yet never realising that dream – until now. I thought the first 10 minutes of the film were excellent, and perhaps this set me up for a bigger fall ultimately. The problems are in the execution – the plot borders on ridiculous, isn’t anywhere near realistic, and I had a lot of trouble empathising with Melody, the main character, which made it hard for me to go along for the ride. I really don’t want to say too much about the plot points lest I spoil the film for others, but let’s just say the ending would have been better had she wound up as the first president of the world, after solving world peace. Oh, and someone should tell her about eBay.

Pic of my bub wearing last year’s MIFF t-shirt, purchased while he was in utero. I rememember at the time being disappointed that they didn’t have newborn sizes. But he’s five months old now and he’s almost outgrown it! Luckily I might spring the bucks for a new one in a couple of weeks 🙂

Hi,

Another year has passed and I return to the blogosphere for the fourth time for MIFF ‘08. I must say it’ll be an interesting year. For the first time in a couple of years I’m taking a full two weeks off instead of trying to work full time (flexibly, mind you), *and* see lots of films. However, I am now a dad, so that will certainly cause some impact to the film watching (as it should). Hope to see some great films and be pleasantly surprised. I’ve got the official guide that came out with yesterday’s Age, and am looking forward to making my pics. I’m usually pretty pre-organised, but am slowing things down a little this year. Hopefully I’ll have read through the guide in the next few days and have made my picks, but if that never happens, and I end up picking films on the day, don’t say I didn’t warn you :-).

If you’re running a blog, or would like to discuss any of the posts, please feel free to drop me a line!