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.

CONVERSATIONS WITH MY GARDENER
9/10
A lovely French film that explores the friendship between two gentleman who were young school friends many years before but are reunited when one, an accomplished artist moves back to his village and hires the other as his gardener. The film has a wonderful warm feel to it, and tells a nice story without having to turn to melodrama or excessive sentimentality. Must see, and probably the highlight of the festival.

IRINA PALM
8/10
Funny film starring Marianne Faithful as a grandmother who is desperate to get together enough money so that her sick grandchild can get the medical attention he needs. She’s already sold her home to pay for medical expenses and has no more assets. Banks won’t lend her the money, so she gets a job ‘servicing’ men with her hands in a soho sex club. Conveniently she’s separated from the men by a wall with a hole in it, so her age isn’t nearly as important as the softness of her hands. Or so the story goes. Obviously she’s not keen to tell people in her life how she’s getting the money, and with her friends and son increasingly curious, while demand for her efforts by patrons are increasing, it’s only a matter of time before the reality of the situation hits a head.

THE HOME SONG STORIES
7/10
My second Australian film in as many nights. This was an improvement over the last (and the director didn’t feel the need to spend too much time with thankyous before the film started). It’s about a Chinese mother who moves to Australia in the late 60s/early 70s with her two children. She was a nightclub singer in Hong Kong, but moves to Australia following an Aussie sailor who is going to look after her. Except that things don’t work out, and this leads her and the kids to move houses to the next gentleman who is willing to host her. And repeat. The story is told from the perspective of the youngest child (her son). I felt that it went on a little bit longer than it needed to, and the story began to wane after some time – the number of times that they move house, suicides are attempted, man leaves, man returns, man leaves, etc began to wear a bit thin. It must have been difficult for the children, and while the mother isn’t painted in an entirely positive light, I’m surprised how much they tried not to cast an ever more negative slant on her character. At least it was an interesting new story and perspective for an Australian film.

Will need to give short reviews on these as more there are more films to see today, and I’m running behind!

AFTER LIFE
6/10
This is a japanese film, and the story centres around a building where people go when they die. They spend five days there where they, with the help of an assigned counsellor are asked to decide on their favourite memory of their life. Then this memory is acted out and they carry it on to the after life as the only memory that is remembered. What I liked about this film was how strong the first 30 or so minutes were – I was enjoying it so much I thought we might have a best-of-the-fest coming. As I watched, I started thinking about what I would choose, and in doing this realised how many good memories there are – I thought the film was a great mechanism for making the audience consider their own happy memories and this as a result would generally leave people in a more positive mood. The problem is that the film contained extra story that were unnecessary and worked against it, and it felt way too long. For example, the new arrivals are given three days to consider their favourite memory, and the two days that are left are used to re-enact that memory on film. This is totally unrealistic, didn’t even seem necessary, and in some cases would have been impossible or cheapened the actual memory itself. Ultimately the film dragged and was disappointing. It was a film with a good premise that doesn’t quite deliver. But, do feel free to spend a few minutes thinking about what you’d choose if you could only pick one happy memory to take with you to the afterlife – it’s not as easy as I’d have thought…

FOREVER NEVER ANYWHERE
8/10
This Austrian film was one that could have gone either way, and for me it went the right way. It’s a comedy about three men stuck in a car; two who are brother-in-laws, and one who’s a German ‘comedian’ that is picked by them on a highway at night. The car drives off the road and ends up in a spot that prevents any of the men from being able to get out the vehicle, due to a perfect storm of blocked doors and non-functioning windows/doors/etc. Most of the film is shot with the men in the cabin of this car, so is a little claustrophobic – as can be expected it involves a lot of dialog as the men get to know each other, create and resolve anxieties, and deal with the one boy who knows where they’re stuck, but seems more interested in conducting experiments with them rather than running to get help. Had a good ending too.

VIVA
5/10
I like 70s paraphernalia, furniture, outfits, etc, and this film did a fantastic job at showing it – an amazing effort so far down the track to find everything that was used in this film – however, it had very little more to offer. The forced ‘bad acting’ grated on my nerves (unlike one of my festival favourites from 2004, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra), and the plot didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Just about everything was done by Anna Biller for this film; acting, writing, directing, producing, production design, editing and costume design. So, credit to her for trying, but next time, maybe someone should tell her to let go of the baby a little bit so that it can grow into something much better. This would have made a great short film.

MANUFACTURING DISSENT: MICHAEL MOORE AND THE MEDIA
6/10
Hold onto your seat as I prepare to rock your world. Ready? Here goes: Michael Moore edits his films and manipulates information and people to tell the stories he does in his films. Are you shocked? Do you need a hand to get up off the floor? You know how you thought all his stuff was in true documentary style showing 100% facts and telling both sides of a story fairly? Well it’s not true! Yawn. Maybe this doco will be a shocker to the left wing folk who eat up Michael Moore’s stuff without questioning, but I’m not one of them. I happpen to support most of Michael’s viewpoints in his films, and I’m glad he’s out there fighting for good causes. One of the best things I liked about his series ‘The Awful Truth’ was that he makes people question what they’re fed by the media and the goverment. For anyone to take that opportunity and not start questioning Michael himself is missing the point, I think. So yes, basically he uses the same weapons as the right-wing media to get a message across, except he’s one of the few doing with with left-wing ideals. So, get your own brain, stop believing everything you’re spoon-fed from whatever source you choose, and try and find your own truth or beliefs if you can. Personally, I’m glad that gun control, health care, etc are being scrutinized more closely as the result of Michael Moore’s films. And, I never really considered them as ‘documentaries’ given their obvious slant and over-simplification for the masses. So, if this film was meant to leave me disillusioned, it failed.

SEPTEMBER
7/10
My first Australian film of the year. Was nice enough, but I didn’t feel the story was particularly original. And, the introduction consisted of a short funny speech by the sponsor (Holding Redlich lawyers) followed by what felt like four hours of thank yous by the films producer and director. Sheesh. Anyway, after that they finally started the film… It’s set in 1968 and is about two young boys on a farm in WA; one’s white and the other is aboriginal. They’re mates, and yes, you guessed it, race becomes an issue which causes tension. I don’t want to say too much as I don’t want to spoil the film for those intending to see it – and it *is* worth seeing, but it just seemed a little too predictable to me.