Leeds Abbey Dash
Before the first and only film today, I had to do the abbey dash. It became part of my challenge when the LIFF foolishly decided to coincide their last day with the dash. It's fair to say, I was knackered by the end (because my training schedule went out the window these past few weeks) and I came a long way back from my best time. (In fact I don't know what my time was because I forgot to stick my watch on, so I'll have to wait for the chip time. However, it was a great, positive atmosphere of 8000 people all doing their bit for charity. The weather kept mostly well-behaved, and I was glad I took part.
Ponyo (Jpn) (site/wiki)
My final film was one of the most anticipated. Ponyo is a little goldfish-type creature who one day becomes stuck on a dredged-up jam jar. Washed ashore, and nearly dead, she is found and rescued by 5-year old Sōsuke. Naturally, Ponyo becomes smitten and falls in love, but before she can tell him, is dragged back to the seas by her protective father, previously human but now living at the bottom of the sea tirelessly trying to protect it from the thoughtless humans above.
A lot of things happen in Ponyo that do not, and are not meant to, make sense to an adult. For instance Ponyo in a desire to be human grows herself some arms and legs just by concentrating really hard (and using a little magic). Comparable with his other children's fable, My Neighbour Totoro, Ponyo is all about telling a magical story from the viewpoint of a child, something that Miyazaki, now fast approaching 70, still seems to pull off with ease.
I spent all of Ponyo with a stupid big grin on my face. It was lovely. Miyazaki's films often manage to take an old fart like myself and just for a short time, turn them back into children, and Ponyo is yet another example of this. This was the subtitled version, but I hear the dub is of very good quality, and UK cinemas will have a limited release of the film in February. If you have small children, or fancy returning to your childhood self just for a short time, then go see it. 8.5/10
Film Count: 154/150
And that's it. I managed my target with a few films to spare. I think next year, I'll put a cap on the film count of 100 films max, because that level of films is too much to enjoy completely. However, I've really enjoyed this years' films, they were certainly of a higher standard than last year. Keep your eye out for the Golden Plantpots in a short while.
Leeds Film Festival 2009 - Day 17
My final 3 films are all anime.
Angels Egg (Jpn) (wiki)
This early film by Mamoru Oshii, writer of Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell, is almost unheard of outside Japan, and having the chance to see it is a rarity. Made with the artistic modelling of Final Fantasy's Yoshitaka Amano, it is an experimental, almost surreal piece about a young girl, clad in rags but face and hair powder white, who leaves her refuge every day to walk through the decayed, dead city nearby. She scavenges for food and bottles in the abandoned houses, and carries with her a large and mysterious egg. One day, she meets a man, seemingly arrived as part of a passing military unit. He has a strange cross-shaped weapon over his shoulder and bandages on his hands. After gaining the girls' trust, they move together through the cold and empty streets, and return to her sanctuary.
Angel's Egg is one of those films where you shouldn't so much attempt to extract a story, more interpret your own from the symbolism on display and your own life experience. As Oshii stated, even he doesn't know what it's about. The film has deliberately sparse dialogue, relying instead on small movements and actions to convey what the characters are thinking. It has moments of beauty and heartbreak, but always remains a mystery. 7/10
Summer Wars (Jpn) (wiki)
In a possible depiction of what life will be like a decade or so from now, Summer Wars imagines a logical extension of the online communities we have today. Beginning with simple bulletin boards and chat rooms, these have become increasingly graphical as the technology becomes able to keep up, to the current cutting-edge social networking of Second Life. In the world of Summer Wars, this has progressed to the point where a single, giant on-line community called Oz has billions of users. Presented as a perfect utopia, people can chat, date, buy things, advertise their wares, and just about everything else. It becomes so popular that companies rent land space on it; governments set up virtual headquarters on it. Being worldwide, automatic translations allow everyone to communicate seamlessly. It can be accessed on your phone, computer or games console. In short, Oz becomes an extension of the lives of just about everyone on the planet.
Rather than depicting the world as a disconnected place full of fat, spotty drones attached to their computers all day, Summer Wars presents it in a much more positive way, Oz being a natural extension of the Internet to allow everyone to come together and all things be equal. Outside the game, they get on pretty much as normal. This in itself is a refreshing change to the usual portrayal of technology's impact on society.
Into this story comes mathematical genius Kenji, a young man on the crest of his hormonal wave who ropes himself into the job of pretending to be the boyfriend of the class beauty Natsuki, while he escorts her to her extended family's birthday celebrations for her 90 year old grandmother. Natsuki's family is a proud one and she wants to ensure that granny sees her happy with a boyfriend before she kicks the bucket. While there however, Kenji is duped into solving a maths puzzle sent to him anonymously by phone, and the next day, all hell has broke loose in Oz - turns out, he just cracked the password to the admin account for someone.
It takes little imagination to guess that Kenji and Natsuke end up together by the end, but the journey there is what counts. It's inventive story moves quickly when required but doesn't rush through the times when a more delicate moment comes along. What you get is a fresh blast of beautiful artwork, high-quality animation and an entertaining storyline about family, relationships and legacy wrapped in a semi-science-fiction glove, and I really enjoyed it. 8/10
No films tomorrow. There is only a re-screening of Departures (a very good film, I heartily recommend it if you can catch it anywhere) so I am taking a well-earned break. Then, it's my 10k Leeds Abbey Dash (I'm running for Help The Aged again) and finally, the Japanese sub of Miyazaki's latest, Ponyo.
Film Count: 153/150
Angels Egg (Jpn) (wiki)
This early film by Mamoru Oshii, writer of Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell, is almost unheard of outside Japan, and having the chance to see it is a rarity. Made with the artistic modelling of Final Fantasy's Yoshitaka Amano, it is an experimental, almost surreal piece about a young girl, clad in rags but face and hair powder white, who leaves her refuge every day to walk through the decayed, dead city nearby. She scavenges for food and bottles in the abandoned houses, and carries with her a large and mysterious egg. One day, she meets a man, seemingly arrived as part of a passing military unit. He has a strange cross-shaped weapon over his shoulder and bandages on his hands. After gaining the girls' trust, they move together through the cold and empty streets, and return to her sanctuary.
Angel's Egg is one of those films where you shouldn't so much attempt to extract a story, more interpret your own from the symbolism on display and your own life experience. As Oshii stated, even he doesn't know what it's about. The film has deliberately sparse dialogue, relying instead on small movements and actions to convey what the characters are thinking. It has moments of beauty and heartbreak, but always remains a mystery. 7/10
Summer Wars (Jpn) (wiki)
In a possible depiction of what life will be like a decade or so from now, Summer Wars imagines a logical extension of the online communities we have today. Beginning with simple bulletin boards and chat rooms, these have become increasingly graphical as the technology becomes able to keep up, to the current cutting-edge social networking of Second Life. In the world of Summer Wars, this has progressed to the point where a single, giant on-line community called Oz has billions of users. Presented as a perfect utopia, people can chat, date, buy things, advertise their wares, and just about everything else. It becomes so popular that companies rent land space on it; governments set up virtual headquarters on it. Being worldwide, automatic translations allow everyone to communicate seamlessly. It can be accessed on your phone, computer or games console. In short, Oz becomes an extension of the lives of just about everyone on the planet.
Rather than depicting the world as a disconnected place full of fat, spotty drones attached to their computers all day, Summer Wars presents it in a much more positive way, Oz being a natural extension of the Internet to allow everyone to come together and all things be equal. Outside the game, they get on pretty much as normal. This in itself is a refreshing change to the usual portrayal of technology's impact on society.
Into this story comes mathematical genius Kenji, a young man on the crest of his hormonal wave who ropes himself into the job of pretending to be the boyfriend of the class beauty Natsuki, while he escorts her to her extended family's birthday celebrations for her 90 year old grandmother. Natsuki's family is a proud one and she wants to ensure that granny sees her happy with a boyfriend before she kicks the bucket. While there however, Kenji is duped into solving a maths puzzle sent to him anonymously by phone, and the next day, all hell has broke loose in Oz - turns out, he just cracked the password to the admin account for someone.
It takes little imagination to guess that Kenji and Natsuke end up together by the end, but the journey there is what counts. It's inventive story moves quickly when required but doesn't rush through the times when a more delicate moment comes along. What you get is a fresh blast of beautiful artwork, high-quality animation and an entertaining storyline about family, relationships and legacy wrapped in a semi-science-fiction glove, and I really enjoyed it. 8/10
No films tomorrow. There is only a re-screening of Departures (a very good film, I heartily recommend it if you can catch it anywhere) so I am taking a well-earned break. Then, it's my 10k Leeds Abbey Dash (I'm running for Help The Aged again) and finally, the Japanese sub of Miyazaki's latest, Ponyo.
Film Count: 153/150
Leeds Film Festival 2009 - Day 16
Can Go Through Skin (Ned) (review/trailer)
I missed this at both Edinburgh and Cambridge, so it wasn't getting missed again. It tells the story of Marieke who, after being attacked viciously by a pizza delivery guy in her own house shortly after a painful breakup with her ex, immediately withdraws from the world. Moving into a remote, run-down house she begins to make it habitable once more, and even though it needs a lot of work and lacks the most basic of facilities she stays there, little more than a squatter.
Within this isolated cocoon, she is able to feel a degree of safety and control over her environment, and the process of healing her mental scars begins. However, for every home improvement, every venture beyond the walls, and every tiny increase in confidence, she seems to be battered back down almost to square one, particularly at the outcome of the trial, where the attacker smiles wickedly as her case is thrown out. Dark thoughts of revenge begin to manifest, spurred on by her online friend in a 'survivors of rape' bulletin board who encourages Marieke to feed the hatred. This is most powerfully depicted in the scenes where Marieke talks to her hallucination of the attacker, that she imagines is kept as a hostage in the attic. Only due to the patience of nearby kind and lonely soul John who bares the brunt of her anger when he tries to help, does she slowly begin to patch the scars for good.
As a realistic portrayal of the breaking and healing of a damaged mind, Can Go Through Skin works really well. The real and imagined are mixed up and played against a grating, unsettling soundtrack that reflects the confusion, anger, hatred and fear constantly spinning around the mind of someone who has had their life taken away, seemingly for kicks. 7.5/10
Small Crime (Ger/Cyp/Gre) (review)
On the quiet Greek island of Therasia, there is often little to do, but for the largely ineffectual policeman Leonidas, things are about to get a little more interesting. At the bottom of the cliffs lies a body of Zaharias, an old man with a reputation for drunken late-night walks. His body is bruised and cut by the fall, but the expression on his face is pure happiness. Oddly, his shoes are missing and turn up neatly placed at the top of the cliff. How did he end up falling off the cliff, and was it suicide?
Small Crime's backbone is all about this mystery, with a little comedy and romance thrown in. Shortly afterwards, daytime TV goddess and local girl Angeliki arrives back to much celebration, but something about the behaviour of her mother sets Leonidas onto a trail of clues that might lead to cracking the case, even though Angeliki seems to have an eye for him. Along the way, several theories of how Zaharias copped it are played out in flashback, leading to the poor man dying in several ignoble ways, until the truth is finally uncovered.
Small Crime plays games with the viewer, using the various signposts present in many whodunnit mysteries to send you down the wrong path of assumption, which depending on your mood, might entertain or annoy. Effectively, this is a lighthearted film version of Columbo. Make of that what you will. 7/10
If You Are the One (Chi) (wiki)
My 150th film is a romantic comedy from China. Qin Fen is a deadpan cynical fortysomething guy who has just come into some pretty big money, but he isn't banding it about. He is on the online dating circuit, and is an old hand at it by now. On the occasions he doesn't put them off outright with his 'old before his time' looks, he tends to be the one doing the rejections, when after a little digging (using his one major selling point, a sense of humour) he usually finds some oddity or other in his prospective mate. One woman has a side job selling graves and uses his guilt over his cremated father to have him buy one on the date. Another expects him to pack his bags there and then and live with her in a remote village that is 'an hour by ox-cart' from the nearest road. Another has an aunt who cannot remember what happened the previous day, and so would need constant re-teaching of everything. Yet another prays on old and sick men so she can play nurse to them and keep them like a pet.
Only the beautiful Smiley, a headstrong air stewardess having an affair with a married man seems to attract him at all, and he immediately discounts her because of her perfection; she could aim so much higher than him. However, their blind date runs its course and they part company on friendly terms, each not expecting to see the other again.
Naturally they do, and as things progress, the sparring between the two leads moves from China to Hokkaido in Japan, where they tussle and work out their feelings for each other, in the midst of Smileys assertion that there will always be a place in her heart for someone else.
This film is a surprisingly touching bitter-sweet comedy with two likeable leads and a storyline that survives the trip halfway around the world very well (even if the quality of the print didn't - the sound was appalling and the video was grainy and darkened as if they had done an old-fashioned VHS tape-to-tape copy, twice). It was consistently funny, it's pace was kept relatively bouncy (for this sort of film) all the way to the end, and I didn't look at my watch once. 7.5/10
The King of Escape (Fra) (trailer)
Those crazy French. Those crazy, crazy, crazy-assed French. The King of Escape is Armand, supposedly, although he's not very good at it. A rather chubby gay man in his forties, he sells tractors by day and has intimate liasons with whoever will have him in the local lay-by in the evenings. Days go by without much else happening, until he confronts a gang of youths trying to assault a teenage girl. Once dispatched (less heroically than he would prefer), Curly falls in love with him. Although she is barely of age, and the wrong sex, Armand becomes infatuated himself. After a great deal of confusion as to who did what, Armand and Curly go on the run, helped along by his discovery of the local village secret: the roots of some woodland plant giving a natural Viagra-like effect, something the village inspector is investigating, along with Armand's under-age frolics.
The rest of the film is one big chase, with various strange and plot-confusing things happening, mostly involving either gay or straight sex, and the straightening out of Armand's confusion, complicated still further by his competing fascination with a 70-something old man with an enormous willy. If Bruno put you off because of its many man-flesh scenes, then you definitely don't want to see this. There were a few funny moments, and a couple of others where I had a glimmer of empathy for the couple as they attempted to evade the law and the pitchfork wielding villagers, but for the most part, it was a let-down due to it's inconsistent narrative, its tendency to go off in a direction and then leave it hanging, and its lack of a satisfying conclusion. 5/10
Film Count: 151/150 - Get In!
I missed this at both Edinburgh and Cambridge, so it wasn't getting missed again. It tells the story of Marieke who, after being attacked viciously by a pizza delivery guy in her own house shortly after a painful breakup with her ex, immediately withdraws from the world. Moving into a remote, run-down house she begins to make it habitable once more, and even though it needs a lot of work and lacks the most basic of facilities she stays there, little more than a squatter.
Within this isolated cocoon, she is able to feel a degree of safety and control over her environment, and the process of healing her mental scars begins. However, for every home improvement, every venture beyond the walls, and every tiny increase in confidence, she seems to be battered back down almost to square one, particularly at the outcome of the trial, where the attacker smiles wickedly as her case is thrown out. Dark thoughts of revenge begin to manifest, spurred on by her online friend in a 'survivors of rape' bulletin board who encourages Marieke to feed the hatred. This is most powerfully depicted in the scenes where Marieke talks to her hallucination of the attacker, that she imagines is kept as a hostage in the attic. Only due to the patience of nearby kind and lonely soul John who bares the brunt of her anger when he tries to help, does she slowly begin to patch the scars for good.
As a realistic portrayal of the breaking and healing of a damaged mind, Can Go Through Skin works really well. The real and imagined are mixed up and played against a grating, unsettling soundtrack that reflects the confusion, anger, hatred and fear constantly spinning around the mind of someone who has had their life taken away, seemingly for kicks. 7.5/10
Small Crime (Ger/Cyp/Gre) (review)
On the quiet Greek island of Therasia, there is often little to do, but for the largely ineffectual policeman Leonidas, things are about to get a little more interesting. At the bottom of the cliffs lies a body of Zaharias, an old man with a reputation for drunken late-night walks. His body is bruised and cut by the fall, but the expression on his face is pure happiness. Oddly, his shoes are missing and turn up neatly placed at the top of the cliff. How did he end up falling off the cliff, and was it suicide?
Small Crime's backbone is all about this mystery, with a little comedy and romance thrown in. Shortly afterwards, daytime TV goddess and local girl Angeliki arrives back to much celebration, but something about the behaviour of her mother sets Leonidas onto a trail of clues that might lead to cracking the case, even though Angeliki seems to have an eye for him. Along the way, several theories of how Zaharias copped it are played out in flashback, leading to the poor man dying in several ignoble ways, until the truth is finally uncovered.
Small Crime plays games with the viewer, using the various signposts present in many whodunnit mysteries to send you down the wrong path of assumption, which depending on your mood, might entertain or annoy. Effectively, this is a lighthearted film version of Columbo. Make of that what you will. 7/10
If You Are the One (Chi) (wiki)
My 150th film is a romantic comedy from China. Qin Fen is a deadpan cynical fortysomething guy who has just come into some pretty big money, but he isn't banding it about. He is on the online dating circuit, and is an old hand at it by now. On the occasions he doesn't put them off outright with his 'old before his time' looks, he tends to be the one doing the rejections, when after a little digging (using his one major selling point, a sense of humour) he usually finds some oddity or other in his prospective mate. One woman has a side job selling graves and uses his guilt over his cremated father to have him buy one on the date. Another expects him to pack his bags there and then and live with her in a remote village that is 'an hour by ox-cart' from the nearest road. Another has an aunt who cannot remember what happened the previous day, and so would need constant re-teaching of everything. Yet another prays on old and sick men so she can play nurse to them and keep them like a pet.
Only the beautiful Smiley, a headstrong air stewardess having an affair with a married man seems to attract him at all, and he immediately discounts her because of her perfection; she could aim so much higher than him. However, their blind date runs its course and they part company on friendly terms, each not expecting to see the other again.
Naturally they do, and as things progress, the sparring between the two leads moves from China to Hokkaido in Japan, where they tussle and work out their feelings for each other, in the midst of Smileys assertion that there will always be a place in her heart for someone else.
This film is a surprisingly touching bitter-sweet comedy with two likeable leads and a storyline that survives the trip halfway around the world very well (even if the quality of the print didn't - the sound was appalling and the video was grainy and darkened as if they had done an old-fashioned VHS tape-to-tape copy, twice). It was consistently funny, it's pace was kept relatively bouncy (for this sort of film) all the way to the end, and I didn't look at my watch once. 7.5/10
The King of Escape (Fra) (trailer)
Those crazy French. Those crazy, crazy, crazy-assed French. The King of Escape is Armand, supposedly, although he's not very good at it. A rather chubby gay man in his forties, he sells tractors by day and has intimate liasons with whoever will have him in the local lay-by in the evenings. Days go by without much else happening, until he confronts a gang of youths trying to assault a teenage girl. Once dispatched (less heroically than he would prefer), Curly falls in love with him. Although she is barely of age, and the wrong sex, Armand becomes infatuated himself. After a great deal of confusion as to who did what, Armand and Curly go on the run, helped along by his discovery of the local village secret: the roots of some woodland plant giving a natural Viagra-like effect, something the village inspector is investigating, along with Armand's under-age frolics.
The rest of the film is one big chase, with various strange and plot-confusing things happening, mostly involving either gay or straight sex, and the straightening out of Armand's confusion, complicated still further by his competing fascination with a 70-something old man with an enormous willy. If Bruno put you off because of its many man-flesh scenes, then you definitely don't want to see this. There were a few funny moments, and a couple of others where I had a glimmer of empathy for the couple as they attempted to evade the law and the pitchfork wielding villagers, but for the most part, it was a let-down due to it's inconsistent narrative, its tendency to go off in a direction and then leave it hanging, and its lack of a satisfying conclusion. 5/10
Film Count: 151/150 - Get In!
Leeds Film Festival 2009 - Day 15
199 Tips to be Happy (Chi/Spa) (trailer)
In the heat of a Spanish summer, Tomas tries to look for alternative employment while at the same time, fulfil the obligations of his current job by marketing a self-help book written by his friend, Jordi. Titled (eventually) '199 Tips to be Happy', its sales are unexpectedly poor, and so under pressure from his boss he comes up with the idea of putting some of the little zen-style tips onto posters, to show around town, in newspapers, etc. They become a central theme running through the film, reflecting the situation of Tomas and his wife Helena.
The couple are invaded (there is no better word for it) by free-spirited tease Sandra - the living embodiment of the self help book - who after her boyfriend Milo (Helena's brother) disappeared when he dived into a lake and never resurfaced. Both Helena and Tomas' behaviours are immediately altered by their new lodger; Helena cuts her hair short and looks for a different job, Tomas begins to secretly skip work and becomes obsessed with where Sandra disappears off to, putting his current job in jeopardy and skipping preparations for new ones.
The film plays out a little bit like Desire, with both Tomas and Helena having a ménage a trois with Sandra (including some sexytime), only with less cohesion between the characters, and a less accomplished outcome. There are moments of beauty, such as the scenes where the apparition of Milo appears seamlessly as Sandras' memories of the good times she shared with him are brought to the fore. However, where Desire managed to generate genuine empathy for the characters and a want for their situation to persist and it all be alright, this film falters a little and the end comes unexpectedly. 5.5/10
Crush and Blush (Kor) (wiki)
For a film from the same guy who gave us the dental-tastic Oldboy, you would expect a bit of squirm-in-your-seat torturous face mangling action, but none exists here. Instead, we concentrate on the relatively sedate life of Yang Mi-Sook, a plain-looking and unpopular teacher at a school. When she studied there as a student, she fell in love with Mr. Suh, one of the other teachers. Now a teacher herself she works alongside him, still smitten.
One day she discovers that Mr Suh is cheating on his wife, with the beautiful Ms Lee, another of the teachers. Spying a confidante with Suh's equally bullied and put-upon daughter, Jong-Kee who also wants Lee out of the way, they team up together against both the parents and the ungrateful students who constantly belittle them to sort the situation out, somehow entering themselves into the school talent contest in the process.
I won't pretend that I understood what was happening some of the time during Crush and Blush. Among the periods of fast-track talking I lost touch with who was who and how they related, and this was only clarified later on as each of the characters are caught out and sat in class like naughty students as the bewildered wife tries to extract who did what to who. In these moments of lucidity, Crush and Blush became very entertaining and funny, and my feelings towards it were improved after a shaky start. If I had chance, I would probably watch this film a second time and I feel that this would give me a much clearer grasp of the film's earlier stages. The fact that I would like to do that rather than just give this 146th film up and move onto the next one should tell you a little about what I thought of it's potential second time around. 6/10 (based on first viewing, would probably increase if I saw it again)
Cracks (UK/Irl) (wiki/site)
Every now and again in my schedule, I include a film that I didn't think would be much good, and it was just stuck there because it filled a gap. Some of these films have turned out to be absolute crackers (Ander, Departures, Disco and Atomic War, and Heimat all qualify) and Cracks is another to add to the list.
Set on the fictional Stanningley Island in the UK during the mid-thirties, it shows the lives of a half dozen girls at a boarding school, and their favourite teacher, Miss 'G' a charismatic and liberal woman who regales the group with stories of her adventures abroad, and encourages them to gain confidence by taking them diving into the nearby lake. Of the six, headstrong Di is assigned captaincy and keeps a tight ship, until Fiamma, daughter of a wealthy Spanish aristocrat is assigned to their group. As you would expect, Di feels intimidated by this new threat to her leadership, especially when she shows herself to be better off a diving board than all of them. It is Miss G who is the most changed by this new addition, and her arrival becomes a catalyst not only for a power shift in the group, but also the beginnings of an unravelling of the reputation the mysterious Miss G has built up for herself.
Cracks is not easy to watch in places, it has the ability to quietly shock the sell-out audience, our mouths collectively agape at some of the scenes, while others charm us with their artful yet realistic depictions of life for these abandoned children. On more than one occasion, I was surprised to be reminded of Haibane-Renmei which explores some similar emotional areas, the role of Reki being taken by Miss G, whose covered past and devotion to her family unit run parallel to similar themes there.
The film begins relatively subdued, and the look of the piece fools you into thinking that it will be your standard period drama, but there is much more here than that. It is a very impressive first film from Jordan Scott (daughter of Ridley Scott) with one of the most powerful endings I've seen in a long time. Really recommended. 8.5/10
Film Count: 147/150
In the heat of a Spanish summer, Tomas tries to look for alternative employment while at the same time, fulfil the obligations of his current job by marketing a self-help book written by his friend, Jordi. Titled (eventually) '199 Tips to be Happy', its sales are unexpectedly poor, and so under pressure from his boss he comes up with the idea of putting some of the little zen-style tips onto posters, to show around town, in newspapers, etc. They become a central theme running through the film, reflecting the situation of Tomas and his wife Helena.
The couple are invaded (there is no better word for it) by free-spirited tease Sandra - the living embodiment of the self help book - who after her boyfriend Milo (Helena's brother) disappeared when he dived into a lake and never resurfaced. Both Helena and Tomas' behaviours are immediately altered by their new lodger; Helena cuts her hair short and looks for a different job, Tomas begins to secretly skip work and becomes obsessed with where Sandra disappears off to, putting his current job in jeopardy and skipping preparations for new ones.
The film plays out a little bit like Desire, with both Tomas and Helena having a ménage a trois with Sandra (including some sexytime), only with less cohesion between the characters, and a less accomplished outcome. There are moments of beauty, such as the scenes where the apparition of Milo appears seamlessly as Sandras' memories of the good times she shared with him are brought to the fore. However, where Desire managed to generate genuine empathy for the characters and a want for their situation to persist and it all be alright, this film falters a little and the end comes unexpectedly. 5.5/10
Crush and Blush (Kor) (wiki)
For a film from the same guy who gave us the dental-tastic Oldboy, you would expect a bit of squirm-in-your-seat torturous face mangling action, but none exists here. Instead, we concentrate on the relatively sedate life of Yang Mi-Sook, a plain-looking and unpopular teacher at a school. When she studied there as a student, she fell in love with Mr. Suh, one of the other teachers. Now a teacher herself she works alongside him, still smitten.
One day she discovers that Mr Suh is cheating on his wife, with the beautiful Ms Lee, another of the teachers. Spying a confidante with Suh's equally bullied and put-upon daughter, Jong-Kee who also wants Lee out of the way, they team up together against both the parents and the ungrateful students who constantly belittle them to sort the situation out, somehow entering themselves into the school talent contest in the process.
I won't pretend that I understood what was happening some of the time during Crush and Blush. Among the periods of fast-track talking I lost touch with who was who and how they related, and this was only clarified later on as each of the characters are caught out and sat in class like naughty students as the bewildered wife tries to extract who did what to who. In these moments of lucidity, Crush and Blush became very entertaining and funny, and my feelings towards it were improved after a shaky start. If I had chance, I would probably watch this film a second time and I feel that this would give me a much clearer grasp of the film's earlier stages. The fact that I would like to do that rather than just give this 146th film up and move onto the next one should tell you a little about what I thought of it's potential second time around. 6/10 (based on first viewing, would probably increase if I saw it again)
Cracks (UK/Irl) (wiki/site)
Every now and again in my schedule, I include a film that I didn't think would be much good, and it was just stuck there because it filled a gap. Some of these films have turned out to be absolute crackers (Ander, Departures, Disco and Atomic War, and Heimat all qualify) and Cracks is another to add to the list.
Set on the fictional Stanningley Island in the UK during the mid-thirties, it shows the lives of a half dozen girls at a boarding school, and their favourite teacher, Miss 'G' a charismatic and liberal woman who regales the group with stories of her adventures abroad, and encourages them to gain confidence by taking them diving into the nearby lake. Of the six, headstrong Di is assigned captaincy and keeps a tight ship, until Fiamma, daughter of a wealthy Spanish aristocrat is assigned to their group. As you would expect, Di feels intimidated by this new threat to her leadership, especially when she shows herself to be better off a diving board than all of them. It is Miss G who is the most changed by this new addition, and her arrival becomes a catalyst not only for a power shift in the group, but also the beginnings of an unravelling of the reputation the mysterious Miss G has built up for herself.
Cracks is not easy to watch in places, it has the ability to quietly shock the sell-out audience, our mouths collectively agape at some of the scenes, while others charm us with their artful yet realistic depictions of life for these abandoned children. On more than one occasion, I was surprised to be reminded of Haibane-Renmei which explores some similar emotional areas, the role of Reki being taken by Miss G, whose covered past and devotion to her family unit run parallel to similar themes there.
The film begins relatively subdued, and the look of the piece fools you into thinking that it will be your standard period drama, but there is much more here than that. It is a very impressive first film from Jordan Scott (daughter of Ridley Scott) with one of the most powerful endings I've seen in a long time. Really recommended. 8.5/10
Film Count: 147/150
Leeds Film Festival 2009 - Day 14
White Night Wedding (Iceland) (wiki/trailer)
Jon and Thora are going through their wedding rehearsal, but something is wrong. The spaced-out look in Jon's eyes are giving Thora and the vicar cause for concern. They are on the beautiful island of Flatey, in the north of Iceland. Up there, the summer days never end, and the 'white night' at the summer's peak where the sun doesn't go down at all, has been chosen as the big day. Jon is preoccupied by the memories of his first wife, Anna, who died the previous year.
Told in a non-linear style by flashing back and forth between the big day and the events of a year or so before, it tells of Anna's last days, and Jon's flirtations with Thora, a young student of his philosophy classes at the local university, some 18 years his junior. Back then the people of the village were respectful and friendly, but in the present day, they are guarded in their dealings with him, particularly Thora's mother, who distrusts Jon after she and her husband lent him money for a ludicrous golf course project, which he hasn't paid back yet. Only his closest friends, Borkur, the entrepreneur behind the golf idea and local tourist guide, and Sjonni, Jon's old friend from the south with an impressive foot size and belly to match, over to ensure he has a good stag night and play the organ on the big day.
Using great camerawork in the gorgeous Icelandic countryside, White Night plays as a gently humorous but at the same time emotional study of a man filled with self-loathing at the actions he seems unable to stop doing to the people around him. Though at the start he just appears nervy of the impending day, it becomes clear that it is not as clear-cut as that and his problems run far deeper. 8/10
West of Pluto (Can) (site)
This French-Canadian film is split down the middle, playing first in a semi-documentary format showing us the interests, insecurities and passions of a dozen or so teenagers. During a 'show and tell', they tell us about what grabs their interest. Hollywood actors, fishing, peanut butter and others are subjects covered in their presentation, and one boy professes a passion for the universe, and particularly the 2006 decision to remove Pluto's status as a planet of our solar system. We see them finding themselves in various ways, playing in a band, skateboarding, plucking up the courage to ask a girl out, and debating and philosophising (in the way the French seem to always do) about their assorted un-matured ideals.
The second half switches form, to where the characters seem to shed their 'real person' image and become actors in a film. Most of the teens end up at a party hosted by a young girl out of her depth with the situation. More and more people arrive, who she doesn't know, and things start getting broken or stolen. The gang eventually leave with the family photo of the girl's deceased parents. When the older brother returns, he heads out in pursuit, filled with rage.
This film led me through quite a few emotions. Several scenes will affect different people in different ways, evoking childhood memories that are either good or bad, and at several points during the film, my feelings towards the group swayed between understanding and empathy, and bitterness and pity. I confess, I enjoyed the experience much more than I thought I would, and the progression of the main characters by the end felt right and satisfying. 7.5/10
Love and Rage (Den) (trailer)
Daniel's piano skills have earned him a reputation. After passing an exam despite fluffing one or two of the notes, we learn immediately that he has a problem with his nerves. His hands constantly sweat and he is shaking, but one of the examiners, Pierre, believes in him enough to accept Daniel's request to be his tutor.
Things begin to look up; his practice and tutorage help him improve, and he is called in to replace another student at a major concert, where a representative from prestigious Juilliard school in New York will be watching with interest. On top of that, he catches the eye of Sofie, a Cello player at the same school who sees his passion and skill at the piano and falls in love.
Daniel's passion, concentration and skill have a downside. He has inherited those traits from his father, who was also known for his anger. He committed suicide some time ago, and his mother doesn't want to talk about it. When Daniel goes mental after a coming together at the cinema and is thrown into the cells, everything he has worked for begins to fall apart, and will destroy him unless he learns to control it.
When watching this film, I really felt that I was in the mind of a person whose mental state was deteriorating. Rage, jealousy, hallucinations; it was unclear at some points whether what you were seeing was 'real', and I think that was deliberate. It was also quite Freudian in places, with the characters of Sofie and Daniels mother Birgitte, having closely linked character development. It is a well acted, tight and fascinating psychological study, overlaid with some beautiful classical scores. 8/10
Film Count: 144/150
Jon and Thora are going through their wedding rehearsal, but something is wrong. The spaced-out look in Jon's eyes are giving Thora and the vicar cause for concern. They are on the beautiful island of Flatey, in the north of Iceland. Up there, the summer days never end, and the 'white night' at the summer's peak where the sun doesn't go down at all, has been chosen as the big day. Jon is preoccupied by the memories of his first wife, Anna, who died the previous year.
Told in a non-linear style by flashing back and forth between the big day and the events of a year or so before, it tells of Anna's last days, and Jon's flirtations with Thora, a young student of his philosophy classes at the local university, some 18 years his junior. Back then the people of the village were respectful and friendly, but in the present day, they are guarded in their dealings with him, particularly Thora's mother, who distrusts Jon after she and her husband lent him money for a ludicrous golf course project, which he hasn't paid back yet. Only his closest friends, Borkur, the entrepreneur behind the golf idea and local tourist guide, and Sjonni, Jon's old friend from the south with an impressive foot size and belly to match, over to ensure he has a good stag night and play the organ on the big day.
Using great camerawork in the gorgeous Icelandic countryside, White Night plays as a gently humorous but at the same time emotional study of a man filled with self-loathing at the actions he seems unable to stop doing to the people around him. Though at the start he just appears nervy of the impending day, it becomes clear that it is not as clear-cut as that and his problems run far deeper. 8/10
West of Pluto (Can) (site)
This French-Canadian film is split down the middle, playing first in a semi-documentary format showing us the interests, insecurities and passions of a dozen or so teenagers. During a 'show and tell', they tell us about what grabs their interest. Hollywood actors, fishing, peanut butter and others are subjects covered in their presentation, and one boy professes a passion for the universe, and particularly the 2006 decision to remove Pluto's status as a planet of our solar system. We see them finding themselves in various ways, playing in a band, skateboarding, plucking up the courage to ask a girl out, and debating and philosophising (in the way the French seem to always do) about their assorted un-matured ideals.
The second half switches form, to where the characters seem to shed their 'real person' image and become actors in a film. Most of the teens end up at a party hosted by a young girl out of her depth with the situation. More and more people arrive, who she doesn't know, and things start getting broken or stolen. The gang eventually leave with the family photo of the girl's deceased parents. When the older brother returns, he heads out in pursuit, filled with rage.
This film led me through quite a few emotions. Several scenes will affect different people in different ways, evoking childhood memories that are either good or bad, and at several points during the film, my feelings towards the group swayed between understanding and empathy, and bitterness and pity. I confess, I enjoyed the experience much more than I thought I would, and the progression of the main characters by the end felt right and satisfying. 7.5/10
Love and Rage (Den) (trailer)
Daniel's piano skills have earned him a reputation. After passing an exam despite fluffing one or two of the notes, we learn immediately that he has a problem with his nerves. His hands constantly sweat and he is shaking, but one of the examiners, Pierre, believes in him enough to accept Daniel's request to be his tutor.
Things begin to look up; his practice and tutorage help him improve, and he is called in to replace another student at a major concert, where a representative from prestigious Juilliard school in New York will be watching with interest. On top of that, he catches the eye of Sofie, a Cello player at the same school who sees his passion and skill at the piano and falls in love.
Daniel's passion, concentration and skill have a downside. He has inherited those traits from his father, who was also known for his anger. He committed suicide some time ago, and his mother doesn't want to talk about it. When Daniel goes mental after a coming together at the cinema and is thrown into the cells, everything he has worked for begins to fall apart, and will destroy him unless he learns to control it.
When watching this film, I really felt that I was in the mind of a person whose mental state was deteriorating. Rage, jealousy, hallucinations; it was unclear at some points whether what you were seeing was 'real', and I think that was deliberate. It was also quite Freudian in places, with the characters of Sofie and Daniels mother Birgitte, having closely linked character development. It is a well acted, tight and fascinating psychological study, overlaid with some beautiful classical scores. 8/10
Film Count: 144/150
Leeds Film Festival 2009 - Day 13
2 films is enough for today :)
Chaw (S Kor) (this trailer makes it look like a serious film, but it isn't)
The quiet countryside of San-mae is known as 'a crimeless village'. This is good, since the trio of policemen in charge of it, (headed by clumsy, greedy idiot Captain Yoo) are next to useless. However, it's neighbouring fields become home to a beast with a taste for human flesh. At about the same time as the first disappearances are being noticed, Kim, an ex-officer in Seoul gets re-posted with his pregnant wife and insane mother to the village. There, he meets with a mad woman who latches onto any stray child and insists that she is their mother, and you don't want to disagree either. There is also a pair of curious backpackers, a couple of scientists on the lookout for this strange beast in case it's a new species, Mr. Chun, an elderly game hunter, recently met back up with the famous TV hunting celebrity Baek, who for good measure has brought along a couple of beefcake 'Finnish' men (even though they sound like Americans).
A fair old cast, some of whom are picked off by the beast and some make it to the ending. It's thus a typical Predator-style movie, but with an eastern twist, which in this case is a bit of slapstick overacting and a couple of comic situations that were genuinely funny. It did manage to hold my attention all the way through, and as well as the laughs, there were some genuinely heart-racing moments, particularly with the final hunt through an abandoned factory. You could do worse. 7/10
North (Nor) (trailer)
High up in a Finnish ski resort, ex-skier Jomar sits in his cabin watching TV, only getting out of bed when he must to buy more alcohol and antidepressants, sort out the ski lifts, or help people with equipment and passes. After a nervous breakdown, his wife Linnea left him and moved to another town with Lasse, his one-time best friend. When Lasse returns one day out of the blue and tells him he has a 4-year old son, a desire burns within to travel north to see him, but fighting with his agoraphobia, he does nothing. Unfortunately, he burns the house down and with only a handful of tablets and booze, he decides to set off north on his snowmobile, not really knowing whether he will make it, where he is going, or whether he wants to get there anyway.
On the way, Jomar meets with a few isolated inhabitants of the harsh wilderness, where blizzards sting the face and snowblindness is easy to catch. He spends a night in the cupboard of a young girl, another one with a deeply suspicious guy who has the secret to getting wasted on only a drop or two of alcohol, and a lonely man in a wigwam chained to a skidoo. Each encounter boots him a little further across the countryside, sometimes because of a shared, positive experience with the people he meets, or more often because things go horribly wrong and he has to leave quickly.
North is a very simple film, it's very funny in places, quiet and relaxing in others, although the ending may feel a little flat to some, it was still a good experience. 7.5/10
Film Count: 141/150
Chaw (S Kor) (this trailer makes it look like a serious film, but it isn't)
The quiet countryside of San-mae is known as 'a crimeless village'. This is good, since the trio of policemen in charge of it, (headed by clumsy, greedy idiot Captain Yoo) are next to useless. However, it's neighbouring fields become home to a beast with a taste for human flesh. At about the same time as the first disappearances are being noticed, Kim, an ex-officer in Seoul gets re-posted with his pregnant wife and insane mother to the village. There, he meets with a mad woman who latches onto any stray child and insists that she is their mother, and you don't want to disagree either. There is also a pair of curious backpackers, a couple of scientists on the lookout for this strange beast in case it's a new species, Mr. Chun, an elderly game hunter, recently met back up with the famous TV hunting celebrity Baek, who for good measure has brought along a couple of beefcake 'Finnish' men (even though they sound like Americans).
A fair old cast, some of whom are picked off by the beast and some make it to the ending. It's thus a typical Predator-style movie, but with an eastern twist, which in this case is a bit of slapstick overacting and a couple of comic situations that were genuinely funny. It did manage to hold my attention all the way through, and as well as the laughs, there were some genuinely heart-racing moments, particularly with the final hunt through an abandoned factory. You could do worse. 7/10
North (Nor) (trailer)
High up in a Finnish ski resort, ex-skier Jomar sits in his cabin watching TV, only getting out of bed when he must to buy more alcohol and antidepressants, sort out the ski lifts, or help people with equipment and passes. After a nervous breakdown, his wife Linnea left him and moved to another town with Lasse, his one-time best friend. When Lasse returns one day out of the blue and tells him he has a 4-year old son, a desire burns within to travel north to see him, but fighting with his agoraphobia, he does nothing. Unfortunately, he burns the house down and with only a handful of tablets and booze, he decides to set off north on his snowmobile, not really knowing whether he will make it, where he is going, or whether he wants to get there anyway.
On the way, Jomar meets with a few isolated inhabitants of the harsh wilderness, where blizzards sting the face and snowblindness is easy to catch. He spends a night in the cupboard of a young girl, another one with a deeply suspicious guy who has the secret to getting wasted on only a drop or two of alcohol, and a lonely man in a wigwam chained to a skidoo. Each encounter boots him a little further across the countryside, sometimes because of a shared, positive experience with the people he meets, or more often because things go horribly wrong and he has to leave quickly.
North is a very simple film, it's very funny in places, quiet and relaxing in others, although the ending may feel a little flat to some, it was still a good experience. 7.5/10
Film Count: 141/150
Leeds Film Festival 2009 - Day 12
I hadn't realised, but the Return of the Dead screenings echoed the film list of the Night of the Dead screening a couple days before (except in reverse order) and that also included some extra short films.
The Horribly Slow Murder with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon (US) - An ordinary joe is attacked constantly by a hooded figure, with a teaspoon in a hilarious trailer for a nonexistant 9-hour movie. 8/10
Welgunzer (US) - When Donald invents a time machine to sort out his past, he encounters a pair of his temporal dopplegangers who have different ideas of how he should go about things, leading to arguments, complex time paradoxes, and at least one body. 7/10
Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl (Jpn) (trailer)
A whole 100 minutes of pure WTF. Really it was. Only the Japanese can mix high-school angsty romance, conformity and individuality, sexy, deadly schoolgirls and a swimming pool's worth of blood used liberally by mad scientists, zombies and vampires, and get something that you cannot help but laugh at, even in the bits that are hugely poor taste. On valentines day, cute and quiet schoolgirl Monami is the only one to smuggle through a choccy present for her crush, the school heart-throb Jyugon. Turns out, she is a vampire and likes the thought of eternity shared with him, so the choc is laced with her vampire blood to turn him. When Keiko, spoilt rich girl sees that her choice of boyfriend is being led off, she gets some background information and is intrigued with what she sees. So too are the furtive-looking science teachers who do strange experiments in their basement.
It all culminates, via a bit of Frankenstein-style body stitching into the titular battle halfway up the Tokyo Tower, but not before an awful lot of blood has been sent gushing improbably from many severed limbs, and some hilariously ridiculous stunts and body modifications have been attempted first. As one example among many, one girl chops off her arm and screws it into her head, to provide a rudimentary helicopter blade so she can chase after the heroine. It's that sort of mental.
Aside from a couple of aspects of the story which were pretty hard to find funny (the members of the 'Gonguro club' - Japanese girls who have put on make-up and false lips to look like various African races, and the Wrist Cut Rally where suicidal [or attention-seeking] teens get to practice 'safe' wrist slicing), it was non-stop too-stupid-to-be-scared-of horror comedy that has to be seen to get any idea of what it's about. 7.5/10
Wolfy (Rus) (synopsis)
A very brutal film, without a single drop of blood spilled. Wolfy is the name of the only toy that an unnamed child has been given by her mother, and she values it accordingly. Born and then abandoned to her grandmother, her mother remained absent until she was seven. When she did begin to visit, there was no love returned for the affection the girl attempted to give, and the mother treated her as nothing more than a reminder of a mistake, and a tether to the ground when she wishes to remain 'young' and without responsibility. With decreasing regularity she visits before having the girl forced upon her by the grandmother, sick of her irresponsibility.
Wolfy is told in a deliberately impersonal manner so to heighten the sense of alienation and extreme loneliness of the little girl, who innocently fell in love with her mother as soon as she saw her for the first time, but the natural bond that she feels is missing and replaced by selfish greed. It gave me a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach to see the abuse being meted out, but it is a very well scripted and acted film, and very affecting. 7.5/10
The Nail (Iceland) - Robert, a high-ranking official, fancies a bit of a go with the simple art of painting his window frames when the workers take a break. Unfortunately, he falls and ends up with a six inch nail in his forehead. Gradually, his behaviour changes, right as he is about to have an important business meeting. 7.5/10
The Revenant (US) (site)
Bart was a young soldier serving with distinction in Iraq in the US army, when he was killed and brought back to his home town for burial. Girlfriend Janet is distraught and prays by his side, leaning on their close friends at the lowering of the coffin. Fortunately later that night before the earth is put on top, he re-animates and breaks out of his coffin, his zombie-like mumblings coming from his sewn-together mouth.
Instead of terrorising the neighbourhood, Bart just wants to know what has happened. He is a Revenant, a hybrid undead that still has his brains and morals plugged in, and for the most part is still human, except he now has scary eyes, and bits of him are decaying. He also finds that come sunrise, he drops down dead again, only to come alive the following night. Fortunately, he made it to his best friend Joey's house on time, and after a bit of screaming and swinging with a baseball bat, he has calmed down enough to listen to Bart's situation.
There is relatively little gore in The Revenant, in favour of a tale of friendship and love between friends beneath a large slab of sometimes quite intelligent humour. I would recommend this film even to those who aren't keen on horror films, because it did well to bridge the gap and bring a new perspective to the usual zombie gore. 8/10
Slovenian Girl (Slo) (site/wiki)
While taking English classes to improve her job prospects in the future, Alexandra sells her body in the small ads, under the trading name 'Slovenian Girl' in the city of Ljubjana. The trade pays well, allowing her to not only pay for tuition and expenses, but get a mortgage secured on a fancy apartment as well. Naturally, she keeps this other part of her life completely secret from her friend Vesna, her re-married ex Greg, and her father Edo, currently trying to bring back his small-time band of fiftysomethings, 'Electroshock'.
The death of an important dignitary from viagra overdose while Alexandra is entertaining him is the first of a handful of events that throw this situation off course. Once the mysterious 'Slovenian Girl' is mentioned in the papers, people try to trace her, including a shady pair of pimps who pose as punters, forcing her in a tense, uncomfortable scene to give over her entire life to their 'company' with quiet, but forceful tone that is truly chilling.
Much more happens besides; a sometimes uncomfortable, often empathic film about a person forced to split herself in two and keep isolated as much as possible from those she loves, and then trying to heal those wounds when things begin to go wrong. 8/10
Puccini and the Girl (Ita) (a more lucid synopsis)
Giacomo Puccini is a much loved opera composer, especially in his native Italy. The film apparently had to go through many hoops in order to be made, since the government were keen not to have his name dragged through the mud. With a film describing Puccini's relationship with a young housemaid Doria Manfredi who later went on to commit suicide, this obviously required a delicate hand.
The main selling points of this film are the beautiful locations and the use of nearly zero dialogue to tell the story through actions and expressions. Most of what is said, is in the form of letters between Puccini and Elvira, his wife, detailing the events of the time. This lends a more authentic feel to the film, but unfortunately also makes it a little harder to follow. I liked the film, but too few obvious signposts as to what was going on hurt it (and admittedly my wavering concentration) a bit, although I might have come out with a better opinion had my mind been more alert and receptive, which by day 12, it isn't. However, even then, I wouldn't really consider the subject matter to be of interest to a general audience. 6/10
Film Count: 139/150
The Horribly Slow Murder with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon (US) - An ordinary joe is attacked constantly by a hooded figure, with a teaspoon in a hilarious trailer for a nonexistant 9-hour movie. 8/10
Welgunzer (US) - When Donald invents a time machine to sort out his past, he encounters a pair of his temporal dopplegangers who have different ideas of how he should go about things, leading to arguments, complex time paradoxes, and at least one body. 7/10
Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl (Jpn) (trailer)
A whole 100 minutes of pure WTF. Really it was. Only the Japanese can mix high-school angsty romance, conformity and individuality, sexy, deadly schoolgirls and a swimming pool's worth of blood used liberally by mad scientists, zombies and vampires, and get something that you cannot help but laugh at, even in the bits that are hugely poor taste. On valentines day, cute and quiet schoolgirl Monami is the only one to smuggle through a choccy present for her crush, the school heart-throb Jyugon. Turns out, she is a vampire and likes the thought of eternity shared with him, so the choc is laced with her vampire blood to turn him. When Keiko, spoilt rich girl sees that her choice of boyfriend is being led off, she gets some background information and is intrigued with what she sees. So too are the furtive-looking science teachers who do strange experiments in their basement.
It all culminates, via a bit of Frankenstein-style body stitching into the titular battle halfway up the Tokyo Tower, but not before an awful lot of blood has been sent gushing improbably from many severed limbs, and some hilariously ridiculous stunts and body modifications have been attempted first. As one example among many, one girl chops off her arm and screws it into her head, to provide a rudimentary helicopter blade so she can chase after the heroine. It's that sort of mental.
Aside from a couple of aspects of the story which were pretty hard to find funny (the members of the 'Gonguro club' - Japanese girls who have put on make-up and false lips to look like various African races, and the Wrist Cut Rally where suicidal [or attention-seeking] teens get to practice 'safe' wrist slicing), it was non-stop too-stupid-to-be-scared-of horror comedy that has to be seen to get any idea of what it's about. 7.5/10
Wolfy (Rus) (synopsis)
A very brutal film, without a single drop of blood spilled. Wolfy is the name of the only toy that an unnamed child has been given by her mother, and she values it accordingly. Born and then abandoned to her grandmother, her mother remained absent until she was seven. When she did begin to visit, there was no love returned for the affection the girl attempted to give, and the mother treated her as nothing more than a reminder of a mistake, and a tether to the ground when she wishes to remain 'young' and without responsibility. With decreasing regularity she visits before having the girl forced upon her by the grandmother, sick of her irresponsibility.
Wolfy is told in a deliberately impersonal manner so to heighten the sense of alienation and extreme loneliness of the little girl, who innocently fell in love with her mother as soon as she saw her for the first time, but the natural bond that she feels is missing and replaced by selfish greed. It gave me a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach to see the abuse being meted out, but it is a very well scripted and acted film, and very affecting. 7.5/10
The Nail (Iceland) - Robert, a high-ranking official, fancies a bit of a go with the simple art of painting his window frames when the workers take a break. Unfortunately, he falls and ends up with a six inch nail in his forehead. Gradually, his behaviour changes, right as he is about to have an important business meeting. 7.5/10
The Revenant (US) (site)
Bart was a young soldier serving with distinction in Iraq in the US army, when he was killed and brought back to his home town for burial. Girlfriend Janet is distraught and prays by his side, leaning on their close friends at the lowering of the coffin. Fortunately later that night before the earth is put on top, he re-animates and breaks out of his coffin, his zombie-like mumblings coming from his sewn-together mouth.
Instead of terrorising the neighbourhood, Bart just wants to know what has happened. He is a Revenant, a hybrid undead that still has his brains and morals plugged in, and for the most part is still human, except he now has scary eyes, and bits of him are decaying. He also finds that come sunrise, he drops down dead again, only to come alive the following night. Fortunately, he made it to his best friend Joey's house on time, and after a bit of screaming and swinging with a baseball bat, he has calmed down enough to listen to Bart's situation.
There is relatively little gore in The Revenant, in favour of a tale of friendship and love between friends beneath a large slab of sometimes quite intelligent humour. I would recommend this film even to those who aren't keen on horror films, because it did well to bridge the gap and bring a new perspective to the usual zombie gore. 8/10
Slovenian Girl (Slo) (site/wiki)
While taking English classes to improve her job prospects in the future, Alexandra sells her body in the small ads, under the trading name 'Slovenian Girl' in the city of Ljubjana. The trade pays well, allowing her to not only pay for tuition and expenses, but get a mortgage secured on a fancy apartment as well. Naturally, she keeps this other part of her life completely secret from her friend Vesna, her re-married ex Greg, and her father Edo, currently trying to bring back his small-time band of fiftysomethings, 'Electroshock'.
The death of an important dignitary from viagra overdose while Alexandra is entertaining him is the first of a handful of events that throw this situation off course. Once the mysterious 'Slovenian Girl' is mentioned in the papers, people try to trace her, including a shady pair of pimps who pose as punters, forcing her in a tense, uncomfortable scene to give over her entire life to their 'company' with quiet, but forceful tone that is truly chilling.
Much more happens besides; a sometimes uncomfortable, often empathic film about a person forced to split herself in two and keep isolated as much as possible from those she loves, and then trying to heal those wounds when things begin to go wrong. 8/10
Puccini and the Girl (Ita) (a more lucid synopsis)
Giacomo Puccini is a much loved opera composer, especially in his native Italy. The film apparently had to go through many hoops in order to be made, since the government were keen not to have his name dragged through the mud. With a film describing Puccini's relationship with a young housemaid Doria Manfredi who later went on to commit suicide, this obviously required a delicate hand.
The main selling points of this film are the beautiful locations and the use of nearly zero dialogue to tell the story through actions and expressions. Most of what is said, is in the form of letters between Puccini and Elvira, his wife, detailing the events of the time. This lends a more authentic feel to the film, but unfortunately also makes it a little harder to follow. I liked the film, but too few obvious signposts as to what was going on hurt it (and admittedly my wavering concentration) a bit, although I might have come out with a better opinion had my mind been more alert and receptive, which by day 12, it isn't. However, even then, I wouldn't really consider the subject matter to be of interest to a general audience. 6/10
Film Count: 139/150
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