MEMOIR OF A SNAIL – ★★★★

The best opening night film I’ve seen at MIFF, though I’ll admit that the bar for that isn’t always high. Nevertheless I was highly anticipating this new film from Adam Elliot, who’s previously done Mary & Max, and the Oscar winning short, Harvey Krumpet. If you’ve seen Adam’s previous work, this probably won’t surprise you; it’s a stylistically made claymation film. All made by hand without any CGI. It’s an incredible achievement visually, and like the previous films has a health my dose of darkness and black humour throughout. It’s about a girl who’s had her share of traumatic life events, and her recounting it to her pet snail. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but if you enjoyed Mary & Max, chances are you’ll like this one too. 

Still here, but it’s been a busy year, so unsure how many films I’ll succeed at seeing. Might be slow at posting reviews, or maybe even miss some…

I think I made a list of the films that looked interesting to me, but will have to find it and will edit this post if I do.

JOAN BAEZ I AM NOISE – ★★★☆

I’m not overly familiar with Joan Baez’s music, but definitely familiar with her legendary status as an artist. This documentary was perhaps a tad longer than it needed to be, but dug deep into her personal history with much of it interviewing her, and using a great archive of recordings. It was interesting to see that everyone can be impacted by their personal demons, including someone who most would consider a great success in their field, and who has spent a lot of their lives campaigning for needs of others. Am I likely to delve deeper into her history or music after seeing this? For me, not likely; I had enough from what this offered.

ART TALENT SHOW – ★★☆

Documentary showing the applications process for art students at a college in Czech Republic. Pretty miss-able, it seemed to show more about the teachers themselves than the students, and when showing the students, it seemed to be less about their art, and more about twisted and sometimes inappropriate interview questions.

THE SHADOWLESS TOWER – ★★★☆

Chinese film set in Beijing about a restaurant critic and a complicated collection of family and other relationships; he is divorced and living alone, with this daughter being raised by his sister and brother in law. (Why he isn’t raising his own child isn’t explained). There’s a slightly awkward sub plot around the young photographer who assists with his reviews. And the relationship (or lack of) with his father. This isn’t a film with a huge narrative direction, but was watchable in itself.

THEATER CAMP – ★★★☆

A good closing night film for MIFF; nothing very hard about this American comedy mockumentary, set at a drama camp for kids. There’s a reasonable amount of premise that has been covered before by Christopher Guest’s films and American camp movies (it almost felt strange not seeing Parker Posey in this). Not quite as glossy as some of its predecessors; there seemed to be a bit of confusion around the key story it was trying to tell amongst the various characters. That said, it was enjoyable, and had several laugh out loud moments.

BEYOND UTOPIA – ★★★☆

Documentary about North Koreans trying to defect. Incredible effort, all footage is actually take during the attempts, without recreations. The abilities to brainwash people is apparent, and poses many levels of questions. For example, in the face of disgusting human rights violations, is low level brainwashing by a Christian pastor teaching a family to say Amen in prayer acceptable? Given the obvious exploitation being performed by the guides to free these people for money, are they evil? Is South Korea, a country known for its own share or corruption a good place? What are satisfactory levels of any of this? Needless to say, the worst offender by far is North Korea, and I’m glad for anyone who succeeds in escaping when they need or want to.

O CANADA! SHORTS FROM THE MAPLE-LEAFED NORTH – ★★★☆

As with any collection of short films, you’ll get a mixed bag. I’m pleased to say that all the films in this collection were watchable or better. There’s a lot of Canada, and this seemed pretty Quebec focussed; I wouldn’t have minded seeing some Vancouver in it.

AMA GLORIA – ★★★★

Another MIFF 2023 hit. This is a beautiful film about a little French girl whose mother figure (Gloria) is a nanny from Cape Verdean, an island off the West African coast. It’s mainly a story of family and relationships with the nanny being responsible for two; that of young Cleo, and of her own family. Very touching film, and an astoundingly good performance by the young actress who plays Cleo. This will be one of the four films I highly recommend to people when asked for my highlights this year.