filmsandmore

Incendies

2011-08-22T17:13:00.013+12:00

Incendies was one of the two films I was disappointed to miss during the Film Festival. Luckily I got to see it at the Brooklyn Penthouse four days later. In summary, if I had seen it during the festival I would have classed it as the best film of the festival.

Incendies is an adaptation of Wajdi Mouawad's play about twins (brother and sister) who have to unravel the mysteries of their dead mother's life. Often plays adapted into movies give away their origins by having a small cast, a limit number of locations, very little action and depend on dialogue to move the plot forward. But unlike many adaptations of plays this one hides its roots very well.

Twins Jeanne and Simon Marwan have opposing ideas on whether their mother was crazy. At the reading of her will Simon begins to think that his mother's Notary and long time employer, Jean Lebel, is equally crazy. Simon wants to embrace his North American upbringing and forget his Lebanese heritage (and associated baggage that created the crazy mother who brought him up). The will includes 3 odd requests from his mother. While Simon washes his hands of his mother, Jeanne takes on the mission set by their mother and flies to Lebanon.

Phrase book in hand Jeanne tries to track down mum's family. The film flashes back from time to time into their mother's recent and distant past. So we find out the back story slightly ahead of Jeanne. Jeanne and her mother, Nawal, look similar and so it pays to concentrate to verify whether the young woman is Jeanne or Nawal in flashback. That the young Nawal was involved in a war generally gives it away. Eventually Jean Lebel brings the reluctant Simon to join Jeanne in Lebanon to wrap up the mission and make sure they are both on hand when the final secret is revealed.

This is a mystery story that starts very slowly, but gradually the pace picks up as you (and the twins) get to know more of the back story and find out that they didn't know their mum at all. Eventually the mystery unfolds to a suitably dramatic climax. At the end you realise that the Quebecois Notary knew a lot more than he originally let on.

While Canada is mentioned a lot in the film, Lebanon is not mentioned once, but what other Arab country has a power struggle and civil war between Muslims and Christians? Where French is commonly spoken, there a powerful enemy to the south and Palestinian refugees? What is the taboo about mentioning Lebanon (or Israel for that matter)? Is the idea to make the war, the politics and the atrocities more abstract by not mentioning their location? But given that the Muslim versus Christian conflict is openly discussed, this is not an abstract civil war but clearly one where religion is used to identify factions. My guess is that they were trying to avoid upsetting some people, by in effect saying "you may think this is Lebanon and those planes are from Israel but we refuse to confirm or deny that". That said they don't flinch from the horrors of war and what passes for 'peace' in Lebanon.

Incendies is sometimes translated as Scorched.

Ian's rating 5/5

Award Ceremony NZ International Film Festival 2011

2011-08-17T09:26:00.196+12:00

This year we saw about 40 feature films and 8 shorts between us. I was disappointed at missing out on seeing Incendies and Sleeping Beauty, but Bill Gosden et al jam far too many films into 16 days. The Festival really needs to be stretched over four weeks. For me this year's Film Festival was the year of slacker movies, French films and thrillers.

I shall put my ten-cents worth in italics - Anne

Best Film
I can't decide on a best film and rank three films (all thrillers) as equhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifally good:

The Man from Nowhere - Tarantino's flair for stylish violence meets Spielberg flair for pathos and humour.
Point Blank - Underground, overground, on the run in Paris.
Viva Riva! - Où est Riva? Everyone wants a piece of this man.

I didn't see many thrillers (which was probably unfortunate, given Ian's ratings) but I think The Trip deserves best film with The First Grader as runner up.

Best Documentary
Nominations:

Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D - Werner Herzog, an acquired taste?
Hot Coffee - Hoodwinking the public about frivolous lawsuit.
Guilty Pleasures - Mills and Boon, the inside story.
Sons of Perdition - The down side of polygamy.
Project Nim - Chimps belong with chimps.
Tabloid - How not to date a Mormon.
Windfall - How not to introduce wind energy.
Page One: Inside the NY Times - Will journalism be missed?
Moving - From South Korea to Christchurch.

My pick is Tabloid, a mind-boggling documentary about an obsessive woman who goes the extra 5000 miles to get what she wants.

My award would go to Hot Coffee

Best Drama
Nominations:

Weekend - A gay romance.
The Forgiveness of Blood - Home detention Albanian style.
Submarine - Dysfunctional in Wales.
Tomboy - Laure is Mikael today.
Footnote - The Professors Schkolnik, father and son.
She Monkeys - "Sexually power play and small-town emotional austerity".
Love Like Poison - Girl comes of age.
Terri - The picked-on kid.
Meek's Cutoff - Does the guide know the way?
The First Grader - 84 year old Kenyan, Maruge, takes the government at its word when it promises free education for all.
Taxi Driver - Being driven mad by New York.

My pick is Meek's Cutoff, a study of the dynamics in small group leadership and decision making.

For me The First Grader was way out in front.

Best Comedy
Nominations:

Let the Bullets Fly - A Chinese shaggy dog story.
Happy, Happy - Misbehaving in the snow.
Romantics Anonymous - The emotionally challenged find ... each other.
The Salt of Life - The power of women over men.
The Trip - Two comedians, one car.
Nothing to Declare - Franco-Belgian customs.
The Women on the 6th Floor - Finding out how the other half live.
A Cat in Paris - Is Dino Zoé's cat or Nico's cat?
The Guard - The Irish Garda and CIA "work together".
Troll Hunter - The Norwegian Blair Witch Project.
Love Story - Woman on subway with cake.

My pick is Let the Bullets Fly but if that is too violent for you, my next pick is Romantics Anonymous.
I loved Romantics Anonymous but The Trip has to be best comedy as well as best film.

Best Thriller
Nominations:

Point Blank - Run Samuel Run.
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within - What happens if you kill all the baddies in town?
The Guard - Not a recruitment advert for the Irish police.
Viva Riva! - A hot time Kinshasa.
The Man from Nowhere - Don't mess with the mild mannered pawnbroker.
A Cat in Paris - Will Zoé escape the evil Victor Costa?

See the Best Film above.

French Film
In order from best to worst:

Point Blank - Underground, overground, on the run in Paris.
Romantics Anonymous - The emotionally challenged find ... each other.
Nothing to Declare - Franco-Belgian customs.
The Women on the 6th Floor - Finding out how the other half live.
A Cat in Paris - Is Dino Zoé's cat or Nico's cat?
Tomboy - Laure is Mikael today.
Love Like Poison - Girl comes of age.
Le Havre - An unrealistic film.

I thought Romantics Anonymous and Nothing to Declare were equally good.

Slacker Movies
A slacker is someone who tries their best not to work. In slacker movies not much happens. The film that gave its name to the genre was Richard Linklater's 1991 film Slacker. But filmakers were making slacker movies before the term was coined. This year we saw an extra-ordinary number of these films (and I am too slack to pick the best, or worst):

Terri - Kids go to school.
Submarine - Dysfunctional in Wales.
Taxi Driver - Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro's 1970's slacker movie.
The Innkeepers - Slacker ghost hunters get scared.
The Salt of Life - Slacker looks for love.
She Monkeys - Girly power-play.
Love Like Poison - A girl's summer hols.
Happy, Happy - Misbehaving in the snow.
Meek's Cutoff - Mucking about in Oregon.

.........Yawn.....

Odds and ends

A Cat in Paris - The animation.
Space Battleship Yamato - The sci-fi film.
13 Assassins - The samurai movie.
Love Story - Mockumentary love story.
Troll Hunter - Mockumentary horror/comedy.
The Innkeepers - The ghost story.
Le Havre - Somewhat strange.
The Last Circus - Incredibly strange.

Disappointments

Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D - Werner Herzog gets distracted.
Le Havre - Doesn't know what it is.
The Last Circus - Not quite comedy or horror or serious.
She Monkeys - Silent teenage mind games.

Best Actors
In order:

Brendan Gleeson (Sgt Gerry Boyle) in The Guard
Robert DeNiro (Travis Bickle) in Taxi Driver
Agnes Kittelsen (Kaja) in Happy, Happy
Hoji Fortuna (César) in Viva Riva!
Manie Malone (Nora) in Viva Riva!

Benoit Poelvoorde deserves a special mention - he starred in both Nothing to Declare and Romantics Anonymous.

Best Child Actors
In order:

Zoé Héran (Laure/Michaël) in Tomboy
Kim Sae-ron (So-mi) in The Man from Nowhere
Camille Gigot and Jean-Charles Deval (Bertrand and Olivier Joubert) in The Women on the 6th Floor

Troll Hunter

2011-08-16T15:54:00.000+12:00

One of the offerings in the incredibly strange section of the film festival programme, Troll Hunter is a Norwegian mockumentary. It claims to be footage shot by 3 now missing college students who stumble upon a real-life troll hunter, who is a government employee whose raison d'etre is to keep the Norwegian populace from finding out trolls really exist. At first the Troll Hunter is very hostile and tries to shake the plucky students off his trail but he warms to them and they end up accompanying him all over Norway and encountering many different types of Troll.

It should be no surprise that Troll Hunter is very silly but it was a bit disappointing that it wasn't in the least frightening. I enjoyed the trolls themselves which were impressively large and very noisy and I enjoyed the liberal use of troll "facts" all delivered absolutely straight - that they turn to stone in bright light, that they can smell the blood of Christians, that gestation takes years, and that a string of power pylons is in fact an electric fence to keep the trolls out. I especially liked the government official creating large artificial bear paw-prints in the forest to cover up troll activity. However, it did drag a bit at times, and didn't even come vaguely close to being believable.

Anne's rating 2.5/5 Ian's rating 3/5

Viva Riva!

2011-08-14T23:28:00.061+12:00

If you don't know any French then well before the end of Congolese thriller Viva Riva!, you'll figure out that "Où est Riva?" means "Where is Riva?"

Recently returned to petrol starved Kinshasa from Angola with a fist-full of US dollars and a truck load of petrol, Riva is a popular guy. He wants to go out and party while waiting for the petrol price to peak, so he can make a killing. But his big spending, womanising behaviour is attracting attention. Soon his dapper ex-boss, César, arrives from Angola asking "Où est Riva?" and local crime boss Azor is asking the same question. César is cool, calm and ruthless in his mission to recover his truck load of petrol whereas Azor is a more standard issue African "big man", who is angry and jealous that his seductive girlfriend Nora has been flirting with Riva.

The film divides its time almost equally between Riva, Nora and "The Commandant" a female army officer blackmailed by César to hunt down Riva. The two women are the most interesting characters. The sultry Nora is the shiniest thing in Kinshasa, but is little more than Azor's play thing, but that doesn't stop her going after what she wants with little more than her beauty. The Commandant is a more tricky character, it seems that her main weapons are not her military position or gun but her contacts around the city. She helps under the duress of blackmail which means no-one trusts her.

The finale is suitably climatic and more pessimistic than Hollywood would make it. The message delivered by Viva Riva! is a bleak one, that money is poison, and it contaminates everyone it touches.

Sub-Saharan African cities usually turn up in films as colourful backdrops for short sequences, so it is refreshing to see Kinshasa and its population being the centre of the action rather than the backdrop. Even the outsiders (César and his two henchmen) are only slightly foreign. Kinshasa is portrayed as a chaotic, dirty city, corrupted at all levels where the electricity is intermittent (but the cell phone system works OK). While the actors and the problem of petrol shortage are African, the style of film making is European.

As you might expect some American critics are concerned about the nudity and sex. More seriously some critics consider Viva Riva! to be an exploitation film, but I wonder if they comment equally on the exploitation that is common place in Hollywood films and TV.

Ian's rating 5/5

A Cat in Paris

2011-08-14T23:28:00.013+12:00

I can't let a Film Festival go by without at least one animated movie. This year it is A Cat in Paris. There weren't many kids in the Saturday morning session, which is a pity as this film is very much at a kids level (though like all the best kids books there is also stuff at an adult level). The style of drawing is a cross between childish and Picasso, which could have been annoying but grew on me, especially the care taken over animating Dino the cat.

The story is simple; Dino has two homes. During the day he is Zoé's cat and at night he is Nico's cat. Zoé is the young daughter of Jeanne is the Paris Police Commissioner, whereas Nico is a successful cat burglar. Zoé hasn't talked since her dad was killed by crime boss Victor Costa. Nico and Dino clash with Costa and his gang drawing Zoé and her mother into a chase across the roofs of Paris. It all ends happily of course though some pesky kids might ask awkward questions about why Jeanne didn't arrest Nico.

Perhaps the kids went to the dubbed version so they wouldn't have to read the sub-titles - I guess younger kids could have trouble reading sub-titles fast enough.

Ian's rating 3/5 Anne's rating 3.5/5

The Guard

2011-08-14T23:27:00.021+12:00

The 2011 International Film Festival seems to be the year of thrillers. The Guard is the Irish contribution to the genre this year. The twist is that it is also a comedy. Don Cheadle plays straight man and by-the-book FBI agent to Brendan Gleeson's irreverent, unorthodox Irish village cop. They end up working on the same international drug smuggling case after a dead gangster shows up in Irish Garda's village.

Brendan Gleeson delivers his lines so perfectly that, like the hapless FBI agent, the audience is left in doubt whether to take some of Sergeant Boyle's statements as his sincere opinion or not. Don Cheadle is very much second fiddle as this is Gleeson's film.

Nothing is taken seriously in this film (except by Don Cheadle's character). Not only easy targets like the Americans and British, but also the Irish themselves, the IRA and the Police are fair game. It comes with gangster philosophy that takes over where In Bruges left off. If you liked that film then you'll like this one too.

Ian's rating 4/5 Anne's rating 3.5/5

Footnote

2011-08-14T17:44:00.008+12:00

There are lots of topics worthy of a movie - father/son relationships, moral dilemmas, academic rivalry and Asperger's syndrome but few movies deal with all of these at once. Footnote does. It's hard to try and describe the plot succinctly, but I shall try.

Footnote centres around the two Professors Schkolnik - the Father (Eliezer) and Son (Uriel) who both work in the Talmudic Studies Department at the Hebrew University. Eliezer is a philologist whose life's work on translations of the Talmud was gazumped by just before publication by a Professor Grossman's rival publication. Eliezer exhibits signs of Asperger's syndrome - he has walked the same route to work every day for the last forty years, always works with industrial ear protection and has an impressive scrapbook collection and a permanent frown. Uriel is much more involved in teaching and networking and is a more sociable and communicative guy.

One day, Eliezer gets a phone call to say that he has been awarded the Israel Prize - remarkable not just because it's Israel's highest honour but because he has been nominated every year for the last twenty years and never won, and because Professor Grossman is the chairman of the judging committee.

Next, Uriel gets a phone call from Professor Grossman summonsing him to a secret meeting at the University. The meeting is the Israel Prize judging committee and they tell him he's there because he has been nominated for the Israel Prize and that the phone call to his father was a mistake. They want Uriel to be the one to break the news to his father, which is, of course, an appalling prospect This meeting is the comic centrepiece of the film - about 8 mostly elderly academics packed into a tiny office (the door can't be opened without someone getting up) discussing a highly emotive topic. Initially Uriel agrees to tell his Father but later persuades the committee to award this prize to his father anyway. Grossman agrees but only if Uriel writes the judges citation.

And therein lies the problem. Eliezer is a wordsmith, and he recognizes his son's style. He's already had his suspicions raised by the very long time the letter confirming his prize took to arrive. The great lengths that his son has gone to to preserve his dignity and his feelings are to no avail. And of course being inhibited in the communication department, they're never going to discuss it.

Footnote is, at times, almost excruciating to watch. It has elements of a detective story, like Name of the Rose, so you get quite involved. At times, its very funny. Given how much the people next to me were laughing, it's probably funnier if you are more familiar with Israel that I am. It certainly makes you reflect on the merits of trying to spare someone's feelings, whether they'd be grateful if they knew and whether they'd reciprocate if they were in the same position. And you can reflect on how relatives aren't always easy to love.

Anne's rating 3/5

Moving

2011-08-13T20:55:00.004+12:00

Going to Moving on Wednesday afternoon was an impulse move to help use up Ian's second 10 trip ticket. It featured a Korean Immigrant couple, Jung and Lee whose two Korean restaurants are in what's now the red zone in Central Christchurch. Unlike most of the television you've seen about victims of the Christchurch earthquake, the focus wasn't really on the impact that the earthquake had had, because the back story was so much more incredible.

Moving alternates between filming Jung and Lee talking and footage of the red zone post earthquake. The earthquake footage is sombre with falling leaves and bulldozers methodically demolishing buildings.

Jung and Lee had lived and worked in New Zealand prior to immigrating. A failed business venture in Korea meant that when they finally immigrated they had almost no money. And so they recount how by a colossal amount of hard work and determination and a timely loan from a fellow Korean immigrant they haul themselves away from the poverty line and into relative prosperity. And then the February earthquake struck, but they are not too downcast by this particular adversity because it doesn't seem all that dreadful compared to what they've been through.

You couldn't help but like Jung and Lee because they were so hard-working and had a complete lack of self pity. They admitted to being depressed by their circumstances early on. And there was the insight that it wasn't all bad working so had because there's not that much to do in New Zealand "Of course you can play golf, but not every day"

Moving wasn't really like watching a film, it was more like actually meeting some pretty interesting and likeable people, who told you an incredible amount about themselves in a short space of time. The only downside was that to listen to the same people talk for 90 minutes with only short interruptions for earthquake footage required rather more concentration than I'm used to.

Anne's rating 2.5/5

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within

2011-08-13T17:41:00.020+12:00

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within is the most successful film in Brazilian history (beating Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands made in 1976). It is a sequel to Elite Squad. Both the Elite Squad films are semi-fictional accounts of the Special Police Operations Battalion (BOPE) of the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro State. (Unlike NZ, Brazil has parallel Military and Civil Police forces both report to State Governors). The BOPE has a controversial reputation for shoot first policies and targeting of slum dwellers in Rio de Janeiro, and one has to wonder about a police unit with a skull on its badge.

While Elite Squad: The Enemy Within is a sequel, it is also self contained and I didn't feel I was missing anything, given that I hadn't seen the earlier film.

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within focuses on Lt. Colonel Roberto Nascimento the BOPE commander whose wife has left him and is now married to his arch enemy, left wing academic Diogo Fraga who heads a Human Rights organisation. These two men have opposite views on solving Rio's crime problems. Nascimmento's views are challenged as he gradually realises that the BOPE is being used by corrupt police and state politicians to replace the drug gangs in the slums with their own henchmen.

The action scenes are exciting and well handled and while there are a number of interesting characters (a great shock-jock TV presenter, various police inside and outside the BOPE, Nascimento's ex-wife, son and son's girlfriend) they don't get enough screen time, as the camera stays on Nascimento. In fact the major fault with the film in my mind is the excessive use of voice over narration to explain things and tell the story. I think the director could have let the action and dialogue tell the story, rather than rely on narration.

What may appeal to Brazilians is that the film clearly lays out the Catch-22 situation that authorities in Rio face as they try to police the city. There is no simple answer that works.

Ian's rating 3/5

Homegrown: Drama

2011-08-13T17:40:00.016+12:00

Homegrown: Drama is a group of New Zealand short films (though 2 were made overseas).

I've ordered these from best to worst in my opinion.

3 Hours
Set in Baghdad, but filmed in Jordan (everyone's favourite stand-in for Iraq), using Iraqi refugees as actors, this was the best of the short films. It is based on real events when unidentified militants killed some children in a mixed Shia-Sunni neighbourhood sparking off a 3 hour gun battle between neighbours who blamed each other for the killings. The heat of the moment reactions and miss-identifications are realistically portrayed in a 14 minute film.

Darryn Exists
Unpublished novelists are subjects of fun. As are romance novelists. Penelope is both. Will she find love? Surreal in places, but no more than it should be.

Hauraki
In a drive across the Hauraki plains a carsick girl provokes a very Kiwi argument between her mother and a farmer's wife. There is a happy ending.

With My Little Eye
Mother, daughter and a man that might be her father go away for a weekend somewhere in Australia. Daughter averts a rape.

Elaine Rides Again
An odd little film about an anxious, religious mother who is concerned about her daughter and boyfriend. Cakes are used a punctuation.

Monifa
A simple film about a young African refugee girl in suburban New Zealand trying to cope with memories and a loud boy.

No bicycle helmets were worn in the making of these films.

Terri

2011-08-13T15:34:00.006+12:00

Terri the movie is named after its hero - Terri the teenage oddball, who is overweight and often wears pajamas to school. He's the object of low-level ridicule. He lives with his Uncle, who is an only marginally functional care-giver, who appears to be addicted to prescription drugs. Often its Terri who is doing the caregiving which means he's often late to school.

The other major character in the movie is the Assistant Principal at Terri's school. He's called Mr Fitzgerald and he keeps a kindly eye on the oddball and behaviourally-challenged pupils, partly because its his job, but partly because he was (is?) an oddball himself. These pupils get a weekly interview with Mr F, and so we get to know them and him quite well. Mr F is played by John C Reilly, who also starred in Cyrus

Terri befriends two other "problem" students - Chad, who pulls his own hair out and Heather, who almost got suspended for (arguably unwilling) participation in sexual activity in Home Economics class. Their interaction with each other and Mr F is funny and heartwarming but ultimately not that much happens.

Terri felt like the opening episode of a TV series - it did some exposition and we got to know and like everyone and now we're looking forward to the next episode and finding out what happens. Sadly, there is no more - its a film and not a TV series - and so despite great acting and great characters it was somewhat unsatisfying.

Anne's rating 2.5/5

Love Like Poison

2011-08-11T23:27:00.010+12:00

The Film Festival has a music section which could have included Love Like Poison. For much of the film it is not clear what Love Like Poison is about, but there is beautiful singing to enjoy while you are trying to figure it out. The church figures big in Anna's life so we get the congregation singing like a professional choir with and without the organ. We also get an altar boy wooing Anna with a love song.

First-time director Katell Quillévéré likes to make her audience work by constructing a film of short disconnected sequences, that we have to make sense of. Anna is home from boarding school and preparing for confirmation. Her father has left home for another woman, leaving her mother distraught. Her local friend is leaving the village, so she finds herself spending time with three very different people: an earnest young priest, her jazz record playing bedridden grandfather and the infatuated altar boy.

Once you get used to the disconnected sequences and the aimless lack of story telling you can relax and enjoy this coming-of-age film which doesn't shrink from an octogenarian sex drive and a mother's jealousy of her teenage daughter's body. There is also the bonus of nice music and rural France.

Ian's rating 3/5

Windfall

2011-08-11T23:26:00.032+12:00

At first glance Windfall is about the evils of wind farms. While all sorts of evils are pointed out (the noise, the flicker of shadows through house and car windows, ice being flung from the blades in winter, the killing of bats, the interference with TV transmission and the need to back them up with another generating source) the main problems dealt with in Windfall are man made.

There are no regulations on wind energy at either the federal level or the state level in New York state and it is left to each town to come up with their own regulations or not. On top of that most of the funding to build windfarms come from the subsidies and tax breaks from the state and federal governments. There is also a wierd accelerated depreciation system that allows a new owner to start depreciating the wind farm all over again. This encourages wind farms to be bought and sold at short intervals.

Windfall focuses on the small dairy farming town of Meredith in New York state (pop. 1500), as an example of how the process works in that part of America. The windfarm companies don't make public anouncements or talk to the town council, they approach individuals and get them to sign non-disclosure agreements before any deal is discussed. The individuals chosen are those with significan land holdings and either an important position in town or possible financial issues. So the town supervisor (equivalent of our mayor) and other on the town council and its planning board are among those approached. This approach stymies, or taints the creation of town regulations. The documentary also notes how the more affluent nearby towns aren't approached.

Given that many of those who oppose the windfarm are self confessed green retirees from New York city I began to wonder if this was a case of NIMBYism. But it seems like these were the ones that were suspicious enough to ask questions, and with the time to research wind turbines. Everyone in the town, regardless of side of the debate they were on, agreed that the wind farm debate was the most divisive thing to hit Meredith. The film climaxed with the election for town council.

Windfall is an object lesson in how corporations behave when governments give them handouts and tax breaks and how they behave in a regulation free environment. It is a strong argument why the Resource Management Act should not be weakened and illustrates how government handouts and tax breaks distort business decision making. Ultimately it is an argument against lopsided negotiations between individuals and corporations especially when those decisions affect neighbours.

Ian's rating 3/5

On 16 August 2011 Kathryn Ryan's Nine to Noon radio program (podcast available) covered a documentary called Gasland about the lack of regulation of the American natural gas industry and the process of fracking (hydraulic fracturing). In NZ there is fracking going on in Taranaki and Canterbury.

Point Blank

2011-08-11T23:26:00.031+12:00

Be warned, Hollywood will remake Point Blank and people will tell you that you should have seen the original French version. The premise is simple enough: a wanted man is in hospital, people want him out before he can talk to the cops so they kidnap a trainee nurse's wife and blackmail him into smuggling the man out of hospital.

The presentation of the story is signalled by the opening scene of a wounded man running. Pain and speed are two of the main themes in this thriller. The gangsters, the police and our hero, Samuel, race through Paris day and night, above and below ground, mostly on foot. Almost all the surviving players are wounded by the end of the film. Point Blank is also characterised by sudden plot twists that come at you out of nowhere and throw your conceptions of what is happening out the window. It is an edge of your seat thriller that doesn't let up until the final scene.

Like most thrillers there are a couple of spots where implausible things happen but the pace of the film is so fast that you'll forget instantly what they were. It is nice to see the cops using nothing more sophisticated than cellphones and close-circuit TV. One thing Hollywood won't be able to reproduce is the gritty, unattractive looking French cops. As Hugo points out when Samuel asks:

Why can't I be the cop?

You're too good looking.

Samuel is the centre of this film. He is no superhero, though he can run and usually pick correctly who to trust. No mean feat given all those stairs and the double crossing going on.

Ian's rating 5/5

She Monkeys

2011-08-11T23:25:00.014+12:00

Incisive direction and unwavering performances by a non-professional cast lend startling force and psychological exactness to this raw, sexually charged drama of adolescent power play and small-town emotional austerity.

In otherwords She Monkeys is one of those Swedish movies that give Scandinavian movies a bad name. Not in the way they did in the 1970s, but in the way that appeals more to professional film critics rather than audiences.

A more accurate description is:

Immersed in the world of competitive equestrian vaulting, introverted striver Emma and cool, self-assured Cassandra find themselves drawn to each other, first as friends, then as rivals. Meanwhile, Emma’s eight-year-old sister tests out her own understanding of attraction and power as she attempts to seduce her alarmed teenage babysitter.

Because Emma is a silent, brooding, expressionless teenager she becomes boring to watch after a while. Luckily for us, she attracts the attention of both the more photogenic and marginally more outgoing Cassandra and a good looking young policeman. While Emma's silent mind games are interesting they are not riveting. For me the film was saved by Emma's sulky little sister and her attempts to seduce her teenage cousin/babysitter.

To summarise, some parts of the film were interesting, though overall presentation was dull.

Ian's rating 2/5 Anne's rating 2/5

The Women on the 6th Floor

2011-08-11T21:56:00.008+12:00

Set in a prosperous pre-TV and post-WW II Paris, where domestic servants are still the norm The Women on the 6th Floor is a gentle comedy. Jean-Luis loves the simple life. Running the investment business inherited from his father (long term investments only, no short term speculation), a hands-off appreciation of the female body, married to an ex-country girl, sons at boarding school and most importantly an egg boiled for exactly 3½ minutes for breakfast every day.

An argument with the maid over his breakfast egg causes her to resign and be replaced by Maria (Natalia Verbeke), a pretty Spanish maid. Through her he is gradually drawn into the lives of the maids living on the 6th floor of his apartment block. Lives he finds much more interesting than those of his wife, friends and work collegues. His ability to solve their issues due to his position in society plus the fact that he takes them seriously and treats them as equals endears them to him.

Neither Maria nor the quiet Jean-Luis hog the limelight, leaving plenty of space for the supporting cast to sparkle. In particular the obnoxious and stuck-up sons who have to make sense of the changing domestic situation when they return home each holidays.

Unltimately this is fairy tale comedy set in a Paris that probably never was and where the bad things come with generous silver linings.

Also known as Service Entrance.

Ian's rating 4/5

Tomboy

2011-08-10T10:10:00.012+12:00

When you move to somewhere new there is an opportunity to remake your image, but it pays to be a prepubescent if you want to change your gender. When 10 year old tomboy Laure goes out to meet the neighbours she introduces herself as Mikael and the local kids all treat her as a boy.

Tomboy is a gentle middle class suburban drama about gender identity among kids. By keeping her hair short, wearing t-shirt, shorts and sneakers and by joining in with the other boys it is easy for androgynous Laure/Mikael to enjoy being a boy. Though there are a few tricky moments such as going swimming, and kissing a girl but Laure/Mikael is resourceful. But of course she realises that at the end of summer, school is a looming unsolved problem.

Not only is Laure's gender ambiguous but some aspects of the film are too. Was this the first time that Laure had pretended to be a boy? Was this the decision to call herself Mikael a spur of the moment one? Was she relieved to be found out so that she could get out of the tricky issue of school? Why did she want to be a boy in the first place (her little sister is very girly)? Is she jealous of her baby brother?

The opening scene and later comments by Laure's little sister and mother suggest to me that Laure has pretended to be a boy before, though other people see it differently. This is one of many things to think and argue about afterwards.

Of course this wouldn't be much of film unless it dealt with the secret coming out. This is where I think the film falls down. In my opinion I think Laure is too passive and accepting of being outed by her mother to the neighbourhood. I would have expected a determined and resourceful kid like Laure would have tried much harder to resist the outing. I know I would have tried a lot harder if it were me.

Apart from that one issue this is very well acted and well crafted enjoyable film. The film makers have kept the action simple to allow the kids to tell the story, and to avoid making judgements and preaching to us.

Ian's ratings 3.5/5

Nothing to Declare

2011-08-10T10:05:00.019+12:00

Dany Boon follows Welcome to the Sticks with another comedy about prejudices arising from the minor difference between two communities. It is Christmas 1992 in a small border village on the eve of the end of border controls between France and Belgium. Customs officer Ruben Vandevoorde is horrified at the impending end of his raison d'être (to protect his beloved Kingdom of Belgium from the cheese munchers from the south).

Ruben (Benoît Poelvoorde - who was the inhibited chocolate factory owner in Romantics Anonymous) alternates between barely contained rage and apoplexy. The only calming influences are threats of hell by the parish priest and something more immediate by his boss. Meanwhile timid French customs officer Mathias Ducatel (Dany Boon) has been secretly dating Ruben's little sister for a year, but finds his proposal rebuffed unless he overcomes his fear of her volcanic brother and acknowledge their relationship publicly.

To combat drug trafficking the authorities on either side of the border have decreed that at a joint mobile customs unit be set up. Unexpectedly Ruben volunteers, as does Mathias. The main act of the film becomes a buddy movie, as this mis-matched pair chase smugglers around the countryside in a Renault 4.

Many of the jokes are based on the differing accents on either side of the border, which unfortunately get lost in the sub-titles. But the more cultural jokes and set piece humour translate much better. I personally rank Welcome to the Sticks as the better comedy than Nothing to Declare, though Anne ranks them equally good.

Ian's rating 4/5 Anne's rating 4/5

Love Story

2011-08-08T22:42:00.004+12:00

Love Story is a movie about making a movie. New Zealand film maker Florian Habicht won an Arts Foundation Residency to New York in 2009/10 and while he was there he decided to make a movie. He organised a couple of friends to help shoot and edit it before he had decided what it was to be and ended up making it up as he went along. When he was short of ideas he asked random New Yorkers for advice and he also consulted routinely with his Father on Skype - filming all these encounters and making them part of the movie. These encounters add charm and novelty.

The central story stars Florian himself and he's a pretty amazing character. He bears more than a passing resemblance to a flamingo, being tall and thin with a penchant for wearing pink jeans. He has a kind of sheepish openness which is moderately endearing and certainly gets impressive results in terms of contributions from the people he meets. The encounter with the woman in the cab is one of the most incredible in terms of talking round an initially hostile participant.

Florian spots a striking woman (Masha) on the subway who is carrying a piece of cake and he decides she should star in his movie which will be a love story. So he tracks her down and persuades her to participate. She's as tall and thin as he is, and has a beautiful face. The way they look together is one of the many ways this film appeals visually.

Their love story takes place on the streets of New York and in Florian's tiny apartment. At different times both Florian and Masha appear in his gray and black stripy long johns which is pretty unforgettable, but not as unforgettable as Masha eating breakfast cereal out of the dent in Florian's sternum.

Love story is quirky, original and entertaining. The key to absolutely loving it would be to be completely entranced with Florian and to be convinced that Masha was completely entranced. At the other end of the scale, there's a distinct possibility you could find Florian and his happy-go-lucky approach totally irritating and so as a result you'd probably hate the movie.

I'm between the the two extremes. I can't help but admire someone who has the guts to put their personality, their physique and their film project out on such public display. It helps that he's not hopelessly arrogant. A minor gripe is that the love story itself seems a little contrived. But there's a big bouquet for it looking like it was a lot of fun.

Anne's rating 3.5/5

The Last Circus

2011-08-08T10:49:00.017+12:00

Like hand puppets, clowns get a bad rep in films (e.g. Pennywise in It, the clown doll in Poltergeist, Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight) and The Last Circus is no exception.

The Last Circus starts during the Spanish Civil War with the Republicans/Loyalists bursting into a theatre during a performance for children to recruit men to defend Madrid from the Nationalists/Facists. Javier's father, a clown, joins the fight armed with a machete and is taken prisoner. After the war he and other PoWs are forced to work on the Valle de los Caídos (a memorial to the Civil War).

The story jumps forward to 1973 Javier is now a clown and joins a small circus. Naturally he falls for the beautiful Natalia, the acrobat and girlfriend of Sergio the head clown, a vicious tyrant, that everyone including the circus owner, is scared of. Natalia unexpectedly returns the affections of chubby, wimpy Javier, enjoying the risks of two-timing Sergio. This precipitates the wroth of Sergio on both of them. Finally the worm turns precipitating open warfare between the two clowns in which Franco himself becomes colateral damage. The final denouement takes place 150 metres up on the cross above the basilica in Valle de los Caídos.

If we were Spanish we might understand that Sergio and Javier represent Facist authoritarianism and democracy/humanitarianism respectively and Natalia is symbolic for Spain itself (the prize to be fought over and attracted to both).

Overall I'd class The Last Circus as somewhat surreal, very violent and overly dramatic rather than funny or horrific or a thriller.

Ian's rating 1.5/5

Tabloid

2011-08-07T14:46:00.014+12:00

Tabloid is an Errol Morris documentary about Joyce McKinney, who I'd never heard of.

Joyce grew up doing beauty pageants, culminating in winning Miss Wyoming. In 1977 she fell in love with Kirk Anderson, a Mormon, whose mother (and church) didn't approve of their relationship and shipped him off to the UK as a missionary. Joyce financed and masterminded an elaborate intervention which unravelled somewhat, but she and a friend Keith May managed to take Kirk from London to Devon where they had rented a cottage. Tying him to a bed she seduced/raped him. Returning to London with Kirk, she claimed they were going to get married. He reported to police that he had been abducted by Joyce and Keith and held against his will.

Joyce and Keith were arrested and charged. Joyce protested the charges telling the magistrate that Kirk had gone to Devon willingly and that the idea of a woman raping a man was "like trying to put a marshmallow in a parking meter". Joyce and Keith jumped bail and fled disguised as deaf people to the US via Canada. The British police didn't try to extradite them.

A story like this is ideal fodder for tabloid newspapers like the Express, Mirror, Sun and Daily Mail. The Express sent Peter Tory to the US to continue interviewing Joyce while the Mirror sent Kent Gavin to Los Angeles to check out her past. The Mirror discovered that Joyce had worked as a nude and fetish model and as a call girl specialising in fantasy dressing up.

Joyce comes across in interview as mostly eloquent and funny. Whereas the British tabloid journalists Peter Tory from the Express and Kent Gavin from the Mirror come across as pompous and up themselves. The most balanced view point comes from ex-Mormon missionary Troy Williams, who gives us an insiders view of it is like being a 19 year old Mormon boy. Unfortunately Keith May is dead and Kirk Anderson won't talk.

If the story stopped there it would seem pretty amazing but Errol Morris and Joyce McKinney haven't finished with us. Joyce is not a person to lead a boring life. After years of further harassment from journalists she got a large guard dog, which mauled her badly. Her life was saved by another pet dog, Booger.

Finally she attracts the tabloid media attention again by arranging to get a clone made of her beloved Booger in South Korea. Initially she used her second name and claimed she wasn't Joyce McKinney to vainly try to avoid the limelight.

Tabloid is amazing story, that is told with a style that emphasises that the British tabloid newspapers were an active part of the story. Errol Morris times all the twists and revelations in the story to keep you engaged through out. Joyce is obviously a very determined woman who gets obsessed by things. She has the gift of the gab, unafraid to use her beauty and equally unafraid to live larger than life. How many young women do you know who would hire 3 men, fly them half way around the world and kidnap their boyfriend?

I see that the Kirk Anderson fan club has been out in force on Flicks.

Ian's rating 4/5

Le Havre

2011-08-07T14:41:00.015+12:00

Described by its Finnish director, Aki Kaurismäki, as an “unrealistic film”. Described by the the Film Festival programme as a comedy. Described elsewhere as a political movie. While there is lightest sprinkling of funny moments in Le Havre and illegal immigration is a political issue, I agree with the director.

Le Havre is a simple story of an old shoe-shine man who tries to save a refugee. It is told in an unrealistic style that is reminiscent of 1950s films in a way that is hard to put your finger on. For me the stand-out character is Inspector Monet (Jean-Pierre Darroussin - the gardener in Conversations with my gardener) who drives a Renault 16 and channels Casablanca's Captain Renault (Claude Rains) - I doubt this is a coincidence. Unfortunately this one performance, the few odd-ball moments and Elina Salo's smile don't add up to the ticket price.

View trailer

Critics at Cannes liked this film, but in my opinion Romantics Anonymous is a far better French comedy.

Ian's rating 1/5 Anne's rating 2/5

Sons of Perdition

2011-08-06T23:09:00.004+12:00

If you're in need of a movie to make you grateful for your upbringing, Sons of Perdition is a good one. It features three teenage boys who are escapees from the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) community in Colorado City. The FLDS are a sect that still practice polygamy so there's not really room for too many adult males. It treats women as chattels, undisciplined men as expendable and children as a free source of labour. Growing up in Colorado City means no TV, no pop music, no toys, not much education, an ingrained belief that you'll be going to hell if you leave the community but also lots and lots of brothers and sisters and a deep sense of family. And a much closer relationship with your mother than your father, because you don't have to share her with quite so many others.

Escapees tend to move to St George, a nearby city, where there is a remarkable degree of support from other past escapees. It seems if you've grown up with 13 siblings, you don't find putting three teenage boys in your spare bedroom too perturbing. Life doesn't run especially smoothly for our three featured boys - Sam, Bruce and Joe. They move house often, struggle with trying to enrol in high school without birth certificates, dabble in drink and drugs and succeed in liberating some of their siblings only to have them returned to Colorado City.

It's a really interesting story. Lack of education is a downside for the boys, but on the upside they have amazing practical skills and work ethic and they're really unattached to things. For people who have been told what to do all their lives, they're amazingly unresentful.I'm hopeful they'll go far. I am a bit disappointed in retrospect that the fact that expulsion is really common for boys didn't feature more and very little time was spent on why these particular boys left, whether there was any compulsion and whether they grew up expecting to leave. It was obvious that the families made much more effort to try and retrieve escaped daughters than they did sons.

Sons of Perdition wasn't quite as gripping as Hot Coffee but does expose you to an area of the US you may not have seen before and slice of society you're unlikely to have had anything to do with. It's worth a look.

Anne's rating 3/5

Project Nim

2011-08-06T18:22:00.019+12:00

In 1973 Herbert Terrace of Columbia University started a scientific experiment to determine if a chimpanzee could be taught American Sign Language and hence disprove Noam Chomsky's hypothesis that only humans have the ability to communicate using language. He put a 2 week old chimpanzee with a human family and later with some student researchers to see if it could be taught American Sign Language. The chimp was named Nim Chimpsky.

The documentary Project Nim is not about whether the use of hand signs and groups of signs by chimpanzees constitutes a use of language or not. You'll have to read about that elsewhere. The focus is on how the baby chimp is brought up, and what effects he has on the people around him. Contemporary video footage and interviews with the family he was with in New York and the researchers leave no doubt that the experiment wasn't rigorous enough to produce much useful data and that Herbert Terrace took a very casual and ad hoc approach. What is more interesting about this phase is not his use of sign language but how a chimp uses its social skills in an alien human environment. Even as baby he began asserting his dominance over certain people. Later one research student demonstrated her understanding of this by responding to a bite from Nim by biting him back (on the ear). He never bit her again. He did bite other researchers often drawing blood and sometimes requiring stitches (chimpanzees have strong jaws and large canine teeth and humans have lots of body fat, looser skin and no protective fur).

Eventually the language experiment was abruptly terminated and he was returned to the Oklahoma primate research facility he was born in. This cage environment was a huge change from the up state New York mansion and 38 acre grounds where he lived during the sign language experiment. The bigger change was meeting other chimpanzees for the first time. Unfortunately the Oklahoma facility was running out of funding and the chimps were sold to a New York University pharmaceutical testing laboratory (in late 1970s to early 1980s many chimps were bred and used for AIDs and hepatitis research in America).

The second half of the film races though the next 20 odd years of Nim's life in large leaps. Nim's adult life was depressing and boring, including 8-10 years in solitary confinement in an equine animal sanctuary. Meanwhile the owner issued legal threats against one of Nim's keepers from Oklahoma who wanted to maintain contact and improve his social conditions. Eventually 2 other ex-medical testing chimps join Nim.

The animal cruelty message of the film is never in doubt, even though you could argue that focusing on an intelligent and social animal like a chimp, and specifically focusing on a named chimp that was initially treated well and then going from bad to worse plays strongly on the emotional side of the argument. Especially with half the film showing Nim when he is young and cute. But cinema is largely an emotional media. If you want reasoned argument about animal cruelty there is plenty of philosophy to read.

Herbert Terrace eventually decided that Nim wasn't using the hand signs in language like sequences and that his main motivation for signing was only a means of obtaining an outcome (mostly food and hugs) and not to express meanings, thoughts, or ideas. Though in my mind these two things are not as far apart as he is suggesting. For instance my writing of this blog is a means of obtaining an outcome. It is more a case that I am interested in a wider range of outcomes than Nim.

There are interesting insights into the more casual 1970s attitudes to the ethics around both research and student-teacher sex and the differences in the money that different universities have (or had) in America. The interviews in the film are remarkably candid.

Ian's rating 4/5 Anne's rating 2.5/5

The Trip

2011-08-06T10:16:00.005+12:00

As its name implies, The Trip is a road trip movie, and it's done really, really well. I discovered after I started writing this blog that it's actually a condensed version of a 6 part BBC TV series of the same name - so I'm not sure if we or the TV audience got the best of the deal. British Comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon go on a gastronomic trip around Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire, purportedly because Steve Coogan's girlfriend dropped out at short notice.

This premise provides layers and layers of entertainment potential. Firstly, the scenery is great, and since we went to most their destinations 20 years ago it had the pleasure of the revisiting old haunts. In particular, Malham Cove in Yorkshire is just as spectacular as I remember.

Secondly, it puts two very funny people together to amuse us. Lots of time is spent in idle banter, competitive impersonation of other actors, making puns and singing. It's just fun to be tagging along.

Thirdly, there's an interesting investigation of Rob and Steve's friendship, with a clever contrasting of their personal lives and personalities. Steve is portrayed as sexier but more troubled - the bigger woman magnet and the one with the broken marriage. Rob is portrayed as the devoted new dad with a loving wife waiting at home. Their relationship is portrayed as superficial and competitive, but as the film unfolds it seems that genuine affection and enjoyment of each other's company emerges. An insight into how much this is fact or fiction appears in a Guardian Article if you want to know more.

Fourthly, there's a background of gourmet food - I thought this was going to part of the comedy, a sort of piss-take on pretentiousness but this wasn't the case. Maybe the food was a bigger part of the TV series.

And fifthly, there's a kind of celebration of Englishness - epitomised, I thought, by Steve Coogan's parents - cups of tea, an enthusiastic dissertation on the best route from A to B and a dismissal of Steve as being not as funny as his siblings.

The Trip is laugh-out-loud funny and I think you should go.

Anne's rating 5/5. Ian's rating 3/5.

Submarine

2011-08-06T10:14:00.004+12:00

Oliver, the subject of Submarine, is the only son of a depression-prone marine biologist and an office worker . He worries a lot about his parents relationship (particularly since one his mother's old flames has moved in to the house next door) and about the fact that he's still a virgin. When he's not mooching about in his bedroom he's walking on the beach or on industrial wasteland near home.

One of his school mates, Jordana, who is equally odd but more outgoing, initiates a relationship and then they mooch together. She burns the hair on his legs because it amuses her, and they sit in an old bath in the aforementioned industrial wasteland. They have sex. Eventually Oliver is brave enough to tell her about his fears for his parents relationship, and she confides that her mother has a brain tumour. They teeter towards a meaningful and supportive relationship but Oliver misses his chance to really secure Jordana's affections. She asked him to come with her to the hospital the day her mother has an operation and he doesn't, so she dumps him. Meanwhile, his parents sort their differences.

Submarine takes place in the winter in Wales and so the landscape is gloomy as well as the plot. Sally Hawkins and Noah Taylor (Oliver's parents) are completely unbelievable caricatures - think George and Mildred with slightly higher IQ's. Oliver and Jordana are more believable but not very likeable. You could call Submarine a teenage love story or you could call it an oddball coming of age movie. For either of those genres to be successful its necessary to like or at least sympathise with the protagonists - and I didn't.

Anne's rating 1.5/5

Romantics Anonymous

2011-08-06T10:13:00.003+12:00

At last! The planets align (or at least our film schedules do) and Ian and I manage to go to the same movie at the same time. Romantics Anonymous (think alcoholics anonymous for people with emotional and/or romantic issues which hinder them functioning well in society) is a love story between two such individuals, Angelique and Jean-Rene.

Angelique is generally nervous and has a tendency to faint when under scrutiny, particularly when she's praised. Jean-Rene is pathologically terrified of women and attempts to cover this up by being brusque. Angelique applies for a job at Jean-Rene's hand-made chocolate factory - she thinks its a chocolate-maker's job (since that's what she does) but in fact the job is for a sales rep. When you see how short the interview is, you can grasp how this misunderstanding gets perpetuated.

Anyhow, spurred on by his shrink, Jean-Rene asks Angelique out for dinner. Their date borders on the excruciating to watch, but is very funny. Undeterred by the disaster, Angelique continues to turn up to work trying to sell not-very-good chocolate to local businesses.

She brings the company back from the brink of financial ruin by suggesting and helping create a new line of chocolates and of course she and Jean-Rene manage to get it together eventually, united by a love of good chocolate and recognising in the other a soul as peculiar as their own. The fact that you're pretty sure there will be a happy ending doesn't detract at all from this film.

If you're looking for a charming, short (80 minutes), escapist and funny film to brighten your day, then Romantics anonymous is a good choice.

Anne's rating 4/5 Ian's rating 4/5

Space Battleship Yamato

2011-08-06T09:59:00.027+12:00

Space Battleship Yamato is classic space opera with the usual disregard for physics and common sense. It is a live action / CGI remake of a 1970s Japanese anime series. Despite an unmilitary overdose of emotion in every scene (enough to make a samurai cringe) I found it completely uninvolving. If you channel your inner 9 or 10 year old you'll better suited to enjoying this space adventure story which follows Susumu Kodai as he re-enlists and learns the hard lessons of military command (learn why mummy and daddy do mean things sometimes).

If you are not going to engage with the story on that level intended you can still get your money's worth looking for the space battles and camaraderie of Star Wars, the bridge scenes from Star Trek and many other homages to sci-fi films and TV series. Contrast that with the grey, cramped interiors and craziness of making a spaceship that looks like a WW II battleship. Judging from audience reaction at the Paramount Bergman, most of the audience were engaging with the film on this level. Don't see this at home, it is best enjoyed on a big screen where you can fully appreciate this nostalgic spectacle.

The spaceship of the title bares more than a passing resemblance to the Japanese WWII battleship Yamato the largest battleship ever built and a legend in Japan for its final one way mission to try and protect Okinawa from the Americans.

Ian's rating 2.5/5

The Salt of Life

2011-08-05T14:46:00.015+12:00

In Mid-August Lunch Gianni Di Gregorio looked at old women and their demands on the younger generation, as represented by eager-to-please middle aged Gianni (this writer-director doesn't have a lot of imagination with naming his characters).

This time he starts with a similar character (also played by himself and also called Gianni) and takes on the more challenging assignment of exploring a middle-aged man's relationship with women of all ages. Gianni complains to his friend that his is invisible to women. This is not strictly true. He has been forced into early retirement. His wife goes to work leaving him a to-do list. His daughter goes to university leaving him to feed her boyfriend. His cute neighbour is happy to have him walk her dog and do her shopping. While his mother rings him incessantly for various trivial "emergencies". He longs to be taken seriously as a male, rather than taken advantage of as an eager-to-please person. His attempts to make even slightly romantic contact with either younger women or those his own age fail ignominiously. It is not that the women swat him down, they just don't seem to notice that he is trying.

In British or American hands such a comic premise is likely to end up taking a crueller view of either men or women. But this Italian comedy is much gentler on both women and middle age male fantasies.

Ian's rating 4/5

The Innkeepers

2011-08-05T09:54:00.005+12:00

The Innkeepers is almost worth watching for the super cute elfin Claire (Sara Paxton) who spends most of the movie creeping and running around an old hotel scaring herself to near hysteria by doing all the things that have the audience whispering "don't do that".

Claire and the cooler, geekier Luke are the sole staff on duty on the last weekend the hotel is open. They are so obsessed with ghost hunting that between them they manage to get off side with all the guests. Which also has the audience thinking: "don't do that".

This is an exceedingly slow burning slacker horror movie that waits until its final minutes to deliver its punch.

Ian's rating 2/5

The Forgiveness of Blood

2011-08-04T21:38:00.012+12:00

Glibly speaking, The Forgiveness of Blood is about home detention Albanian style. Nik's dad and uncle are in a long running feud with Sokol over a road that runs across land that was once in the family but since the end of communism is now owned by Sokol. In a society of gun and knife wielding, honour obsessed, hot heads such disputes can go from jokes and jibes at the pubs to dead bodies before you can say "Enver Halil Hoxha".

Once Sokol is dead, uncle Zif arrested by the police and dad has vanished, the real blood feud starts. The Sokol's extended family insist that teenage Nik and little brother Dren are valid targets and will be shot on sight if they leave the house. This means no more school for Nik and his brother and sisters. Older sister Rudina has to take over the family horse and cart bread delivery business, and a teacher comes back to give home tuition to the two primary school age kids. Nik's best friend from school visits and reminds him of a kid they used to know who had to stay inside for over 5 years until the feud his family was involved in was solved through mediation.

This concept of blood feud that everyone in the community including the school teachers take seriously is based on Albania's traditional law code called the Kanun (an oral tradition that was first written down in the 20th century). It is not part of Albanian law and was suppressed under communism but is being revived again in the north of the country. The Kanun is based around honour, respect, revenge and the family as a unit. As there is no central enforcement authority it can also be misused by large and powerful families to persecute smaller weaker ones. Luckily in the Kanun the family home is more or less sacrosanct (though theoretically so are women and children).

In a tradition where women and teenagers have no say in what happens and with their father gone, the decisions are in the hands of uncles and more distant male relatives who not living under the same curfew are happy to wait the feud out. By focusing on Nik and Rudina, otherwise normal cellphone wielding teenagers, the film shows how badly this tradition works in the 21st century and how both teenagers try to make the best of the situation. This film is a must see for those people in NZ who clamour for a system of justice that puts the victim's desire for revenge in the driving seat (and is an interesting look at life in a part of Europe few of us will ever go to).

Ian's rating 4/5

Weekend

2011-08-03T18:25:00.003+12:00

Weekend is a gay romance which takes place over the course of three days. Russell, a quiet and tidy swimming pool life guard meets Glen, who is off to the USA to study, in a gay bar. Despite Russell thinking Glen is out of his league, they end up having sex at Russell's flat.

In the morning, over cups of coffee in bed, Glen indulges his habit of interviewing the person he's just had sex with about how it went and what they were thinking, recording the conversation on a small dictaphone. He confesses to sharing the recordings with his female flatmate. And so Russell and Glen get to know each other better.

Watching this process is really the guts of the movie, and it's done with some charm. It turns out Russell likes to keep a record of sexual encounters too - he has a diary on his computer, and he reads it to Glen. They talk about coming out, about Russell being a foster child, about public displays of affection and their attitudes to goodbyes. There's drinking, drug taking and more sex, but, crucially, more talking. So, when 4 o'clock on Sunday afternoon arrives and Glen has to catch a train as the first stage of traveling to the USA, Russell achieves a personal breakthrough by publicly kissing him goodbye at the station and we feel a potentially great relationship has been formed.

Visually, I found the grainy appearance of this film quite annoying. Perhaps it was supposed to underline the slightly gritty nature of the environment - Russell's flat is in an ugly high rise block in Nottingham. Whatever its purpose, eventually I forgot about it. In contrast, the two leads were visually appealing and the dialogue was great. I don't think this is a film to set the world alight, but it was absorbing and well-acted. I liked how what started as a one-night stand blossomed into something more meaningful and fulfilling, even it was doomed by circumstance not to last.

Anne's rating 3/5.

Meek's Cutoff

2011-08-03T16:23:00.006+12:00

Three families with their covered wagons follow their guide Stephen Meek on a route through Oregon that he told them would take two weeks. Five weeks later they are running short of food and even shorter of water and are having doubts about Mr Meek. Is he lost, did he never know the way, is he mad or is he out to kill settlers? More importantly do they continue to follow him south west or strike north to try and find the main trail (who knows how far north)?

Their dilemma is further complicated when a third option arises bringing with it some hope but even more unknowns. Meek's Cutoff is a very slow paced film and it is a long time before the dialogue starts. But that pacing bring with it the rising tension of the life or death situation the three families are in, once past the point of no return. The camera generally stays with the three wives as they become aware of the problem the men have tried to keep to themselves. Eventually a power struggle emerges and Meek himself finally admits that power has already transferred to the new leader of the expedition.

The film is a study of the dynamics in small group leadership and decision making. How many of the apparent choices really exist when faced with a decision? How and why does power transfer itself from one person to another?

The camera work is very nice as is the attention to detail of trail life so you won't be impatient with the slow pace of the film. This is one of those films that will have you thinking and talking after you leave the cinema and might end up on some feminist top 10 list.

The real Stephen Meek led 200 wagons and 1000 people into the Oregon Desert in 1845.

Ian's rating 4/5

The Man from Nowhere

2011-08-02T23:02:00.013+12:00

I've generally had a good experiences with South Korean films, and The Man from Nowhere is no exception. While there is a tendency towards the violent end of the spectrum in South Korean cinema, there is also focus on the human element of story telling.

In The Man from Nowhere the core of the story is the relationship between a lonely little girl and a reclusive young pawnbroker living next door. So-mi is bullied at school and ignored by her stripper, drug addict solo mother. She is much cuter than but just as stubborn as Marcus in About a Boy. As in that film the relationship between the lonely child and the reluctant man ends up involving him in the complications of the mother's life. And those complications involve a drug deal gone wrong and two warring gangs, with the police closing in.

In many violent thrillers the baddies mostly exist to charge towards the protagonist and die in a flailing of arms and legs and fountains of blood. Lee Jeong-beom (who wrote and directed The Man from Nowhere) has made the effort to give his baddies personalities, albeit relatively thin ones; with varying attitudes to our hero ranging from fear to contempt to admiration. But of course it is the audience attitude to the hero that matters. It is difficult to get the audience on side when the hero is a silent loner, hence the crucial importance of So-mi.

Overall this is a film with Quentin Tarantino's flair for violence and Steven Spielberg flair for pathos, with a sprinkling of humour. If you want to see a crime thriller done well and packing an emotional punch this should be on your must-see list. That said there is a lot of violence and the crimes go beyond drug dealing and kidnapping.

Ian's rating 5/5

Happy Happy

2011-08-02T19:59:00.004+12:00

Happy Happy is billed as a comdey in the Film Festival program, but this is stretching the definition of comedy even by Scandinavian standards. There are some blackly comic scenes to smile over as you recover from cringing at other scenes. Elisabeth, Sigve and their adopted son Noa arrive from urban Denmark to rent the house next door to Kaja, Eirik and son Theodor out in the middle of snowy rural Norway. Chirpy, annoyingly talkative, overly outgoing Kaja has an inferiority complex to end all inferiority complexes, and is obviously mismatched to her silent, gruff, hunting fishing husband. The new couple seem urban sophisticated and perfect in her eyes.

But nothing is right in either relationship and Kaja's need to reach out to people cause skeletons to come out of closets in both households. In the background the boys are also forcing by circumstances into an unhealthy unequal relationship. All six characters misbehave, to remind you that no-one is perfect, regardless of how it looks on the surface. It is also arguable that through hurting each other they facilitated resolving issues as far as such issues can be resolved.

This film reminded me of last years Cyrus, both films dealing with serious relationship issues in a darkly funny way.

Ian's rating 3/5

Let the Bullets Fly

2011-08-02T11:56:00.009+12:00

You know you are not in Kansas now when someone on horseback stops a train by throwing a couple of axes which embed thmeselves into the rails. From the outrageous opening scene Let the Bullets Fly attempts to out do itself in an orgy of stunts and plot twists. Set in anarchic 1920's China when a lack of strong central government left opportunities for local governers to enrich themselves, and when such governerships could be bought and sold. The story follows 3 protagonists on the wrong side of the almost non-existant law as they strive to be top dog of a small town.

Unlike many Chinese and Hong Kong movies I've seen the plot is completely coherent and no expense has been spared on the special effects, sets and the expected over the top fight scenes. You might go to this film for the fight scenes but it is the plot which twists and turns for 132 minutes which will keep you entertained.

One or two of the more sadisticly violent scenes seemed unnecessary to me. But overall Let the Bullets Fly is an amazing entertaining Chinese shaggy dog story.

Ian's rating 4/5

13 Assassins

2011-08-02T09:26:00.018+12:00

Are 13 Assassins, six assassins too many?

The more characters one has in a film the greater the difficulty in giving enough screen time to each character to make them memorable, especially when they are part of a gang and hence not differentiated by role. One way to deal with this problem is to make the various characters look different (a tall one, a short one, a fat one etc). This is one area where 13 Assassins falls down, despite the long build-up the most memorable characters are the 13th assassin and Naritsugu (the bad guy).

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The plot of this Japanese samurai movie is simply summed up as "Naritsugu must die". From the start we are left in no doubt that Matsudaira Naritsugu is a blood thirsty sadistic bastard with no redeeming qualities. The wrinkle is that not only is he the half brother of the Shogun, and hence above the law, but he is about to be appointed senior advisor to his brother. A secret assassination attempt is arranged to give the government plausible deniability of the murder. Twelve samurai, unemployed or bored with peace, set out from Edo (Tokyo) to ambush Naritsugu. An ad hoc bunch of samurai choosing to fight against the odds for little or no reward, does this sound like another more famous Japanese film?

The attention to detail, the classy camera work, the slow build up, the tension, the flashes of humour and finally the climactic battle. The 13 Assassins matches the Seven Samurai and in terms of colour photography betters it. There is also social commentary (the lead assassin shocks his old classmate by claiming to be fighting for the the people rather than his lord) and a really bad baddie. But it lacks novelty and in the end it is just a very well made samurai movie. If you haven't seen the Seven Samurai then see this film but only fanatics need to see both.

Ian's rating 3/5

Page One: Inside the New York Times

2011-08-01T18:27:00.015+12:00

Page One: Inside the New York Times initially bills itself as the 'daily fight to get on A1' (the front page). But if you were expecting a no holds barred dirty office fight between journalists and editors you'd be disappointed.

The New York Times likes to think of itself as America's premier newspaper. For years it has been aided and abetted by other American newspapers and TV networks taking their daily cue for what is news by what is printed in the New York Times. In the internet age this continues with online news publishers and aggregators (such as Huffington Post, Druge Report and Google News), bloggers and tweeters taking their cues, republishing and feeding off, commenting on and linking to NYT content. But there are two big trends that are killing newspapers around the world. Fewer and fewer advertisers interested in running adverts in newspapers. While simultaneously readers are moving to the internet where they expect to read stuff for free.

Websites like craigslist and Ebay have killed the classified adverts section. Companies large and small now have their own websites and feel less need to put adverts into newspapers. The concept that everything on the internet is free and the difficult in setting up internet pay-per-view websites has reinforced this idea.

Page One: Inside the New York Times is a documentary that gets inside the NYT and sees how it is trying to cope with this new reality. It concentrates on the Media Desk, the department where journalists report on the media itself, and in particular on David Carr, a most unlikely senior reporter.

Some of the older journalists at the Times think that the NYT is different and what has happened to other papers couldn't happen here. But ultimately there are two main views of the future. The optomistic view is that there is a technology driven change here and that traditional paper newspapers are on the way out, and that new internet media will take over the written media space. Then there is the pessimistic view that most (or all) the internet news media is parasitic. It can only exist because it feeds off traditional media. During a TV debate one NYT journalist illustrates this with two pictures of the front page of the news aggregator news site. One unaltered and the other with all the connect that came from traditional media removed. The fear is that if the internet kills the newspaper industry (and the TV news networks too) then they will have killed the golden goose that they depend on.

Ultimately the questions are:

Is journalism independent of the technology and hence can it survive in the internet age, if so how will it be funded?
Is journalism necessary to modern democracy and if so does it need protection of some sort to survive in a post-newspaper world? Will the death of journalism mean the death of democracy? (No one asked the next question: with the death of journalism will anyone notice the death of democracy?)

There was a diversion into a red herring argument that what is hurting the NYT is a couple of scandals. First the Jayson Blair plagiarism and fabrication scandal, and secondly Judith Miller's articles that lead to the US invasion of Iraq through a feedback circle. She quoted the US government as saying that Iraq was making or attempting to make WMDs and was in turn quoted by Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld using the NYT as authority. She later wrote that WMDs had been found in Iraq. As damaging as these scandals are they are not the real reason why newspapers are on the way out.

Technically this is a well crafted documentary with articulate talking heads that covers the subject well, leaving the audience in no doubt of the trends for newspapers while resisting the temptation to predict the future.

It is difficult to beat The Onion's headline on the subject.

Ian's rating 3/5

Guilty Pleasures

2011-07-31T19:42:00.003+12:00

Mills and Boon romance novels are big business and are enduringly popular. Why is that and who reads them? Guilty Pleasures explores those questions by making a film that meets three readers (all women) and an author and a cover photo model (both men) and examines them and their relationships in a gentle and good-humoured way.

Hiroko, the first of our readers, lives in Japan with her husband and two young sons.Her husband seems like a perfectly nice guy who admits to not being that demonstrative or romantic and seems comfortable with his wife reading novels as compensation. Hiroko moves on from reading and takes ballroom dancing lessons to increase the romance and glamour levels in her life.

Shumita lives in Delhi and she separated from her husband five years ago, but seems unable to let go. This is a pity, because he's clearly a self-centred bastard and she should move on.

Shirley lives in Blackpool and her husband is the most romantic of the three, (and a definite improvement on her previous abusive partner) but he's bipolar and so she has to live with his regular periods of gloom. He, too, is unperturbed by his wife reading romance novels.

Stephen the cover model is included (I think) to remind readers and watchers to be careful what they wish for. Beautiful men with perfectly sculpted bodies don't get that way without hard work and this probably means that they're obsessed diet, exercise and themselves which is not really ideal romantic hero.

And then we have Roger the author, who prefers his own company. We learn that most Mills and Boon authors are older people and that writing romance novels is a learned craft and not a reflection of the writer's views or experience.

Now, in case you're thinking this all sounds rather dysfunctional, Hiroko and her husband come to the rescue. Hiroko wants to move onto competitive ballroom dnacing and finds that having her dance teacher as a partner will be very expensive. So she persuades her husband to learn to dance. He is surprisingly enthusiastic and they go on to win a competition. And if that's not a dream come true, I'm not sure what is.

I'm not sure if Guilty Pleasures is really trying to make a point or just give us an interesting overview of the genre. The featured characters are interesting enough for that not to matter particularly.

The last word should go to Hiroko's husband; "I have to be careful not to polish myself too much, otherwise I'll become attractive to other women and my wife will suffer. So I have to aim for just the right level of improvement" Very considerate!

Anne's rating 3/5

Hot Coffee

2011-07-31T14:55:00.004+12:00

This talking heads doco looks at the influence of big business on the civil justice system in the US, and the lengths that big business will go to to erode individual rights, and to influence both the nation's politicians and the judiciary.

This is New Zealand, not America, but even here we buy into the concept that Americans sue big companies at the drop of a hat and for the flimsiest of excuses. Once you've watched this documentary, you won't be so sure. Hot Coffee will ensure you never use the phrase "frivolous lawsuit" unthinkingly again. And you'll reflect that if you received a dollar for every time a republican politician used that phrase, you'd be quite rich by now.

Hot Coffee is named after a world-famous-in-America case where an elderly lady in New Mexico named Stella Liebeck sued Macdonalds after being burned by their coffee. Stella has become a poster girl for the ultimate in frivolous lawsuits, but only because spin doctors have made her so. Hot Coffee the movie examines this case and three others and shows how the concept of the frivolous lawsuit has been used to sanitize some outrageous miscarriages of justice. You'll learn about tort reform, big business "buying" the outcomes of judicial state elections, mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts (and what's wrong with that) and about how republican politicians have been lobbied so effectively that they'll parrot the Chamber of Commerce's line on tort reform over and over again. And the best part is, you'll be engrossed, educated and probably outraged so your time in the theatre will fly by.

My new fact for the week is that the American Medical Association is a member the Chamber of Commerce. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised - Medicine is big business after all.

Anne's rating 4/5

Taxi Driver

2011-07-30T22:53:00.005+12:00

Martin Scorsese's 1976 film Taxi Driver is one of those films I was aware of without knowing anything about it. A film that appears in people's top ten film lists. A film that writers drop into articles without explanation, in expectation that the reader is already familiar with it. It is the first film I saw at this year's International Film Festival.

Taxi Driver stars Robert DeNiro as Travis Bickle an inarticulate, contradictory, angry young Vietnam veteran who takes a job as a night time taxi driver in New York to cope with insomnia. Apparently from a small town, Travis is both repulsed and fascinated by prostitution, pornography and homosexuality. Ranting (mostly in his diary) about the need to clean up the filth, he watches porn during the day. Travis becomes obsessed by two women: romantically by Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) a political campaign worker and Iris a child prostitute (played by then 13 year old Jodie Foster) who he wants to rescue. Neither is keen to fit in with Travis's ideas for them.

Taxi Driver is a slacker film for the most part, with a violent end that is clearly signalled during the long slow build up. We know he wants to kill someone but it is not clear that he knows who or why. Robert DeNiro is in virtually every scene, and there an obvious contrast between the to-the-audience narration by his character which comes across as moderately articulate (albeit somewhat vague and rambling) and his often tongue tied conversations with co-workers, clients and others where he comes across as a throwback from another time and place. The ending was a bit odd, the police were on the scene extremely quickly, but for reasons not explained it seems that they chose not to prosecute Travis.

The film is more about an idea than a character or events. The alienation of people from each other caused both by living in a big city and by serving in a war like Vietnam. You could substitute the Iraq War and both the US and USSR's wars with Afghanistan, but I am not sure that current day New York is quite as exciting and menacing as 1976 New York.

I particularly liked Harvey Kietel's performance as a long haired pimp, while the late Peter Boyle looked almost the same in 1976 as he did in the almost current Everybody loves Raymond.

Ian's rating 3/5

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (3D)

2011-07-30T22:04:00.005+12:00

The Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Chauvet Cave) is in Southern France. It houses wonderful 32000 year old animal sketches, pristine stalagmites and stalactites, animal bones, cave bear and wolf paw prints, all undisturbed since a rockfall closed the cave some 20000 years ago. Access to the cave is tightly controlled so unless you're a French archaeologist or the German film maker Werner Herzog you'll never get to see the real thing. Viewing the cave on the big screen in 3D seemed like the next best option although I was slightly worried by the fact that the film was written, directed and narrated by Werner Herzog. (I suffered through his Aguirre:Wrath of God at a film society showing a few years back). Foolishly, I thought a documentary about a cave shouldn't go too badly.

Unfortunately, it did go badly. It was too loud (probably not Mr Herzog's fault), the music was discordant, the narration was slow and condescending and there were far too many talking heads. Ricky Gervais or the Monthy Python team could have had a field day with the experts talking in this film, who included an pony-tailed ex-juggler, an aging archaeologist demonstrating throwing a spear to kill a horse without there being a horse, and a younger one clad in reindeer skin playing "The Star Spangled Banner" on a bone flute. Talking heads in 3D seemed a technology overkill. I'm wondering why Werner Herzog got to visit the cave and make a film - why not the French equivalent of the BBC natural history unit?

And what of the cave itself? It was certainly worth seeing. The drawings were lovely and seeing the animal's heads emerging through openings in the rock was charming. However, rather than subject yourself to this very peculiar film I'd recommend getting a book out of the library and admiring the pictures while playing music you actually like.

Anne's rating 2/5,

The First Grader

2011-07-30T14:34:00.007+12:00

The First Grader was my first watch of this year's NZIFF and it was a great start. A big landscape, an engrossing story, a minor history lesson, great acting and cute kids - what's not to like? And in case you think that all sounds a bit saccharine, there are some hefty doses of brutality - this is Africa, after all, and you don't have to look far to uncover injustice and bloodshed.

It's the story (based on fact) of an 84 year old Kenyan, Maruge, who takes the Kenyan Government at its word when it promises free education for all. He's illiterate, and he wants to change that, so he fronts up at his local primary school and asks to be admitted. There's resistance to this idea from both the teachers and the parents of the current pupils parents but eventually Jane the headteacher relents and lets him in. It's not all plain sailing once he's in - Jane's boss has a particular objection to him being there and insists he should be at adult education classes in Nairobi and not taking up valuable space in an overcrowded rural school. Jane gets round this problem by appointing Maruge as a teacher aide.

Meanwhile, we get Maruge's (and Kenya's) past in flashback. He was part of the Maumau uprising in the 1950s and his wife and children were murdered. He was imprisoned and tortured by the British. There's particularly poignant scene in the classroom when Maruge has a meltdown at the pencil sharpener as he flashes back to being stabbed in the eardrum with a sharpened pencil by a British Officer.

In addition we get to find out the effect that going out on a limb has on Jane's career, her personal safety and her relationship with her husband.

I particularly enjoyed the pupils rioting when the education board tried to impose a new headteacher on them, having banished Jane to another school 300 kilometres away. I also enjoyed Maruge interacting with the children and him paying his minibus fare to Nairobi with a goat (who came along in the minibus since there was nowhere else to put him). The happy ending completes a very satisfying film.

Anne's rating 4/5

Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine

2011-07-15T16:02:00.012+12:00

I saw this 2002 documentary on Monday night about Garry Kasparov's second match with IBM's Deep Blue in 1997. The film follows Kasparov's view of the match and the related conspiracy theories. Unfortunately apart from some interviews with 3 of the Deep Blue team it doesn't seek the views of computer chess experts, so the naive views of computer chess by Kasparov and others are not challenged. The film is punctuated with shots of "The Turk" (actually a replica), which clearly signal where the film maker's sympathies lie. That said it is an interesting film.

For those of us who can't tell one Russian world chess champion from another the film gives us a background on Garry Kasparov's rise and his challenge to the reigning world chess champion, Anatoly Karpov (with those amazing ^ ^ eyebrows).

Garry Kasparov had beaten Deep Blue in their first match in 1996, winning 4-2 in a 6 game match (Kasparov winning 3 and drawing 2 games). But before the rematch in 1997 Deep Blue's hardware was upgraded to make it twice as fast and it's software had been improved and tuned by a team including 4 grand masters.

The six game 1997 rematch was played at an IBM building in New York. Kasparov won the first game easily and was surprised at how differently Deep Blue played in the second game. He offered a sacrifice and was taken aback when the computer ignored the offer. He went on to resign. He accused IBM of cheating, claiming that a human must have intervened during a 15 minute move. He publicly demanded to see Deep Blue's logs from the match (a demand he repeated before and after every game for the rest of the match). That night another grand master suggested that Garry could have forced a draw if he had continued.

Kasparov was convinced that computers were stupid and thought that all computer programs couldn't resist sacrifice offers and accused Deep Blue of not playing like a chess program. The next three games were draws but Garry was unsettled by losing game 2 to a computer that didn't play like a computer, by IBM's refusal to hand over the logs and the general attitude of a public relations conscious corporation. IBM may or may not have deliberately played on his nerves, but ultimately it looks like he was psyched out by game 6, which he lost hence losing the match.

Unfortunately the film doesn't talk to independent computer chess experts about the match. They might have pointed out that there is nothing implicit in chess programs that mean that they have to take offered sacrifices. It is just that comparing material is about the easiest calculation to put in a chess position evaluation function, and hence the tendency for chess programs to prefer to take pieces.

IBM retired Deep Blue after the match. The other conspiracy theory in the doco was that IBM's share price rose 15% because Deep Blue beat the world chess champion and IBM didn't want to risk someone beating Deep Blue.

Note that the 1984 Karpov Kasparov match lasted 48 games before being called off, they played 4 other matches each lasting 24 games over the next 6 years, so the 6 game match against Deep Blue was unusually short by comparison.

Here IBM's description of Deep Blue and of the match including log files.

Ian's rating 2/5

Another Year

2011-05-07T16:58:00.008+12:00

Another Year is the latest offering from British writer and director Mike Leigh. I feel like I should have seen a lot of his films, but the only other one I'm sure I've seem is Secrets and Lies - which I have a soft spot for since it's one of the few films out there with an optometrist as one of the main characters. And it's got Timothy Spall in it, for whom I also have a soft spot. Both Secrets and Lies and Another Year are the British antithesis of a Hollywood movie. The stars look like ordinary people, rather than beautiful people chosen for their looks. They're filmed in ordinary homes (although I'd have to says Tom's brother's terraced house was almost extraordinary in its dreariness) and the characters are portrayed warts and all.

The characters and their warts are pretty much the point of the film. The central characters are a married couple called Tom and Gerri who seem remarkably contented with their lives and each other. He's an engineering geologist and she's a counsellor at a medical practice and they live in a very pleasant house in London. Their alotment garden is a big feature in their lives as is their adult son Joe.

Another year watches the rhythm of Tom and Gerri's life- they are the sun and friends and family spin around them like planets, using them for light and warmth. Mary is one of the friends - she's a typist at the medical centre. She's single, fond of a drink and Tom and Gerri's son Joe and short of money and consideration for others. Her life is chaotic and her planet seems liable to spin off course. And then there's Ken, whose life is equally disastrous, and Ronnie (Tom's recently bereaved brother), and the aforementioned Joe and his new girlfriend.

Not all that much happens in Another Year. The rewards of watching it are the amazingly convincing acting (it's almost like a documentary) and the human interest factor. Mary is particularly well-acted and she's splendidly self-centred. Tom and Gerri come across as generous with their time and resources but a bit self-satisfied with it. Definitely not an escapist movie - more an examination of the human condition

Anne's rating 3.5/5

Coup de torchon (Clean Slate)

2011-04-12T22:11:00.012+12:00

Coup de torchon (or Clean Slate) is based on the Jim Thompson novel Pop. 1280. Last year I watched The Killer Inside Me also adapted from a Jim Thompson novel. I haven’t read any of Jim Thompson’s novels, but if these two films are anything to go by he favours dark psychological crime stories told from the perpetrator’s point of view.

The novel Pop. 1280 is set in Texas circa 1917, but French director Bertrand Tavernier has moved the setting to French West Africa in 1938, and has made the highly stratified and racist white society the antagonist to protagonist Lucien Cordier. Lucien Cordier is the sole policeman in a small town. He is apparently stupid, lazy and ineffective (he prides himself on never having made an arrest), a man who knows his place in society (looked down on by almost all the white people in town but superior to all the black people) and understanding the injustice of the situation but feeling powerless to openly oppose it. His pathetic attitude is underlined by his wife's apparently open affair with her live-in "brother" and by a Laurel and Hardy like scene where he gets his butt kicked.

Cordier gets his revenge by using his reputation and the "system" against itself. From childish revenge plots to murder of the town's undesirable elements - including his mistress's husband. Cordier sees himself on a self appointed crusade to clean up the trash. Finally he moves from murder to arranging situations where other people kill each other to his satisfaction. This is the ultimate manifestation of God-like powers - the situation has come full circle (as does the film).

Coup de torchon was filmed in Senegal. A climate that affects the white women into wearing very little, and the casual female nudity marks this as very definitely a French film.

Here are a couple of other opinions.

Ian's rating 3/5

My Wedding and other Secrets

2011-03-30T13:59:00.005+13:00

My Wedding and Other Secrets is a kiwi love story. Short, Chinese, myopic film student Emily meets tall Caucasian nerd James at Auckland University and they fall in love. Emily lives at home with Mum and Dad and James lives in a flat with two computer science students. Emily keeps the relationship a secret from her parents because they expect her to date Chinese boys. The plot thickens when Emily suggests to James they get married so that she can use the student allowance to make a movie. Her plan is to make a horror movie but she ends up making a documentary about her relationship with James and revealing said relationship to her parents.

The Director and co-writer Roseanne Liang (on whose life the film is based) says its the story of "a selfish but well-intentioned girl" who learns about how both romantic love and familial love are important in life and how to balance and cherish those two kinds of love.

This film is a romantic comedy but it isn't light and fluffy at heart. There are definitely light elements - James' flatmates, Emily and James getting to grips with sex, the chicken head in the restaurant but there are dark moments as well - like neither James nor Emily's parents coming to the documentary screening. You will laugh but you're quite likely to cry as well.

I think I'll always have a soft spot for this film because falling for someone much taller than me while at Auckland University is something I can identify with. And I particularly like that the happy ending isn't manufactured to make a nice film - it really did work out well in the end with a happy couple and happy parents.

Anne's rating 4/5 Ian's rating 3/5

The King's Speech

2011-02-11T18:06:00.064+13:00

The King's Speech is the second nostalgic British historical drama that I have seen in recent weeks. Two such films might be too few to infer a trend, though it could be claimed that the British have been looking nostalgically at their history since Dad's Army arrived on TV.

The King's Speech follows Prince Albert, Duke of York, (second son of George V) as he struggles to overcome his stammer with the help of an unorthodoxy Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue. The prince is under pressure from his father, George V, to do more public speaking and this becomes more urgent as his father dies and his elder brother is on a collision course with the British establishment, that will see Albert become King George VI in his place.

The way this story was told made it feel like a fairy story.

The nice but shy prince is cursed by his overbearing father and teased by his brothers. His princess hears about a magician who can cure the curse and sets up a meeting. The treatment is slow, meanwhile his father, the bad king, dies and the new king is feckless and runs off with the evil witch. Leaving the stuttering younger brother to reluctantly become king and make the speech of his life rallying his people in their darkest hour and leading them to victory against the evil empire with his plucky little queen and the magician at his side.

This sentimental treatment of history is reinforced by the look of the film. London is foggy and quaint. The countryside looks unspoilt. The royals look and act regal. The common people are respectful and keep their distance. In addition there is a cute side story around Lionel Logue's family. Plus some historical titbits to keep the history buffs amused.

There have been some liberties with the truth to assist with the story telling. For instance Winston Churchill is introduced into the film giving advice to the Duke of York at a time when he was an out of favour backbencher.

One thing I didn't understand was that during the first consult Lionel demonstrated that Albert could deliver a speech without stuttering while listening to music through headphones. But for a reason that is never explained, this technique is never used when Albert/George VI is giving later radio speeches.

Anne found the CGI intrusive. It occasionally leaves the impression that the actors have accidentally wandered into a computer game set in 1930s London.

But it is hard to be overly critical of this film as it is well crafted. A story about royalty and leadership is brought down to a human level. Our sympathies are tugged firmly in the direction of the future George IV. The abdication crisis is explained without it coming to dominate the film. The build-up to WWII is signaled

Colin Firth plays Prince Albert in a way that reminded me of his shy and retiring author role in Love Actually with the addition of the stutter. Geoffrey Rush plays Lionel Logue as a more rounded character which is useful as he has to portray most of the friendship between Lionel and the future king.

Much of the tension in the film comes exploiting the natural tension we all feel when listening to a stutterer -- will they manage to get to the end of the sentence or not?

Despite this being a story of how a shy and damaged man became a great king and inspiring leader, there is in counterpoint, a republican theme. This is also a story of two princes, neither of whom wants to be king. Hence the film slyly poses the republican criticism, namely: isn't hereditary monarchy a stupid way of choosing a leader.

Ian's rating 3.5/5 Anne's rating 4/5

Made in Dagenham

2011-01-30T18:34:00.005+13:00

We might have the beginnings of a Christmas Eve movie tradition. In 2009 we went to Where the Wild Things Are, and Made in Dagenham was Christmas Eve 2010's effort. The fact that we were in Dunedin and that there were only 2 or 3 others in the tiny Metro cinema added novelty value.

Made in Dagenham is the story of the fight for equal pay for women at Ford's massive car assembly plant at Dagenham in Essex. Women were a tiny proportion of the work force at Ford, and they made car seat covers. They went on strike in 1968 for two reasons - firstly because their work had been re-classified from skilled to semi-skilled and secondly because they were paid less than semi-skilled men. You can't deliver cars without seat covers so production at the entire plant ground to a halt. The dispute was resolved with the involvement of the Secretary of State for employment, Barbara Castle and the way was paved for pay equality with men.

From my 21st century perspective, I wonder why Ford was so stubborn about the issue in the first place since there were only 180 or so women and many thousands of men - it could hardly have made much difference to their bottom line to pay women the same rate as men. I guess they thought there was a principle involved - its good to be able to reflect that few people these days think that paying women less than men is justifiable.

You could call Made in Dagenham docudrama or edutainment but whatever you call it, it's an easy watch with great sixties costumes and sets, unusually good-looking factory workers and a generally good-humoured tone. Apart from documenting a pivotal event in industrial relations in the UK it explores the human impact of the strike - the effects on relationships when one or both breadwinners in the family are on strike, the effect on a town with one major employer when hardly anyone is earning, and what happens when women workers meet a woman politician. Well worth a look.

Anne's rating 3.5/5 Ian's rating 3/5

The Social Network

2010-12-09T22:31:00.013+13:00

It's official, I am an older person. According to The New York Times there are two different audience reactions to the portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in the film "The Social Network". Older people are upset by how Mark Zuckerberg behaves towards those around him, especially his best (only?) friend. Younger people are impressed by his genius. In particular they are apparently impressed by results regardless of methods used to get there. I fit in the first camp.

I think it is difficult to display genius in a film. But "The Social Network" goes some way to show how this works. It shows people talking about new ideas they have had, people using other people's ideas and choosing between different ideas (often for irrelevant reasons). This seems like a more realistic idea of how life works than the myth of the self contained genius whose ideas are entirely their own, whose decisions are always logical and execution of those ideas entirely their own effort. Genius is seldom in a vacuum and rarely perfect.

The film is less good at showing the hard work around writing software or raising capital or getting advertisers. But it does show how social convensions like honesty, friendship, honour, politeness, etc can be sacrificed to achieve results. Though in my mind this doesn't equate to genius. But that is perhaps my bourgeois, middle age mind-set.

As entertaining story telling goes, "The Social Network" does very well. Don't expect to find well rounded characters or character development here. Everyone, from Mark Zuckerberg, to the lawyers, girlfriends and dancing girls, is cut out of very thin cardboard and held stiff by stereotyping. It is amazing that they stay upright. For instance Mark himself is an ubergeek and therefore an order of magnitude more insecure, arrogant and lacking in social skills than the ordinary everyday geeks around him, and there is only the faintest suggestion that the events affect him. There are no sex scenes, no nudity (OK most of the females do spend time in their underwear), no guns or car chases. The film is carried entirely by the script and style of story telling, which kept me entertained in the cinema and the ideas it throws out there kept me thinking about it afterwards.

Did Mark have an overall plan from start to finish or was he opportunistic, swayed by the people around him, and by a need to get his own back? Did any of those who sued him really have a case or was it more a case of sour grapes and wanting to suck at the tit of guy who suddenly got rich?

Do sudden riches make otherwise nice people vindictive? Was Karl right? Is it really still all about the ownership of the means of production? (The current obsession with intellectual property being yet another way of establishing that ownership). Are ideas property? Is software property even?

How do you put a value on a company like Facebook? From a business point of view it is channel to get advertising to 500 million potential viewers. When did you last click on a Facebook advert or even read one?

One of the things that struck me about the film was how unusual it was for law suit averse Americans to make an unflattering film about a living, rich, fellow American. Then my mind started to wander. Perhaps Mark Zuckerberg doesn't find it unflattering, or doesn't care. Conspiracy theories bubble to the surface. Perhaps the film is a cunning self deprecating marketing ploy by Facebook. Or may be I have been nibbling those funny tasting afghans again.

Ultimately "The Social Network" is a film that both entertained me and made me think.

Ian's rating 4/5 Anne's rating 2.5/5

City Island

2010-11-30T21:27:00.005+13:00

Now that Belly Dancing classes have finished for the year, Tuesday nights are free for going to the movies. Last week we went to see City Island which is a charmingly feel-good story about the perils of lying to your nearest and dearest.

The family whose lives the movie revolves around are the Rizzos. They live on City Island, which is a very pretty small island that's part of New York, one square kilometer in size, connected to the Bronx by a bridge. The novelty location adds an extra level of charm to the film.

Vince Rizzo (Dad) is a corrections officer and he's a secret smoker and a closet actor. He has a son from a previous relationship about whom his wife (Joyce) doesn't know . Joyce is also a secret smoker but apart from that is relatively uncomplicated. Their college-age daughter (Vivian) is also a secret smoker and although her parents think she's studying, she's actually working as a stripper. Their high-school-student son Vince Jr is (yes, you guessed it) a secret smoker and he also has a thing for fat girls.

Vince's long-lost son (Tony) turns up in Vince's jail and on release he comes to live at the Rizzo's. Naturally Vince doesn't let on who Tony really is and of course his identity is revealed eventually.As the movie progresses all the cats are let out of all the bags, and very amusing it is too - laugh-out-loud funny, in fact. Add the great location and generally beautiful and talented actors (Steven Strait as Tony wins my eye-candy of the year prize, I think) and a great script and you have the recipe for a very enjoyable film. There are quite a few plot-holes and it's not to be taken too seriously but it is genuine good fun.

Anne's rating 4/5 Ian's rating 3/5

The Gay Divorcee and Shall We Dance

2010-09-04T17:25:00.004+12:00

Event Cinemas, who are now running the Embassy, are having a season of old movies which screen on Sunday afternoons and are the repeated on Wednesdays. One Wednesday recently, I decided to give The Gay Divorcee a whirl, thinking that, since it stars Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, at the very least there'd be some good dancing to watch.

It turns out I under-estimated the entertainment value. This splendid movie, made in 1934, not only has great dance sequences but is funny as well - witty dialogue and the kind of mistaken-identity/situational humour which I'd expect from a French farce or a Shakespearian comedy.

Buoyed by having fun on Wednesday, I persuaded Ian and two other friends to try Shall we Dance on a wet Sunday afternoon. It was made in the same mold, but I thought it even better than The Gay Divorcee. In both cases Fred Astaire plays a self-deprecating hero who falls in love (or at least gets infatuated) at first sight. Ginger Rogers plays a slightly aloof woman in each case who eventually becomes as enamoured of Fred as he is of her. Edward Everett Horton (who seems to have been in more movies that you could comfortably count) plays Astaire's sidekick in both films and Eric Blore plays a member of the hotel staff in each.

I can see that the American comedy convention of men being lovable but stupid and woman being smart and good-looking (think I love Raymond, or Gary Unmarried, or Modern Family or... ) started a VERY long time ago. The 1930's slant seems a little difference in that Fred's characters can sing and dance whereas the modern male comedy character has fewer redeeming qualities. Comedy aside, the song and dance numbers in these two movies are superb and Fred and Ginger look like they're enjoying themselves hugely which is just so appealing to watch. There's tap and ballroom and ballet (Harriet Hoctor bent over backwards while dancing en pointe is unforgettably wierd)and even a number on rollerskates. There's good singing, fabulous frocks and great cars and its all so good humoured you can't help but enjoy yourself.

I've read that Shall We Dance isn't one of Fred and Ginger's best movies so things like Top Hat and Show Time must be fantastic. Do I wait for a screening somewhere, or try and track down a DVD?

Anne's rating 4/5

Award Ceremony NZ International Film Festival 2010

2010-08-03T23:45:00.051+12:00

This is really just a personal summary of this year's Film Festival, in a style I have used before.

This was a year of political films. A year when directors couldn't help themselves from playing with time lines, and they often couldn't be bothered with the traditional cinematic conventions to signal flashbacks. It was also a year of superfluous final scenes.

In summary, this year's...
Best Film: Cell 211
French Farce: The Concert
Classic Film: Once Upon a Time in the West
Special Mention: A Prophet - educating us on how prison educates

Best Comedy
Nominations:

Predicament - the beginners guide to blackmail.
The Concert - have conect booking, need orchestra.
A Somewhat Gentle Man - adjusting to the madness of life on the outside
Cyrus - the perils of dating a solo mum
Four Lions - don't shoot the Wookie

All good, but The Concert just beats Four Lions, but I wouldn't like to pick a third place getter from the other three.

Best Thriller
Nominations:

Predicament - blackmail is such a dirty word.
Animal Kingdom - you can trust granny, can't you?
Cell 211 - let me tell you about my first day on the job.
Farewell - how the French won the Cold War.
The Ghost Writer - ghost writers are kittens, don't know.
How I Ended the Summer - two men, one mistake, one short fuse.
The Killer Inside Me - stylish, but flawed.

My pick is Cell 211 - tense from beginning to end.

Best Mystery Film
Nominations:

Once Upon a Time in the West - why are they killing each other?
Kawasaki's Rose - is Pavel Josek a hero or a traitor?
The Ghost Writer - who is pulling whose the strings?
The Double Hour - noises off.
Triangle - why didn't they go straight to the bridge?

The best told, yet simplest mystery was The Double Hour.
Triangle was the most mind bending,
while The Ghost Writer was the 3rd most entertaining mystery.

Best Political Film
There were plenty of films with a political theme or drama based on political conflict this year.

Nominations:

Kawasaki's Rose - who chooses the heros and the traitors?
Four Lions - more dangerous to themselves than the public?
Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story - is everything political in Egypt?
The Time that Remains - are Palestinian Israelis frozen in time?
The Ghost Writer - who pulled the strings?
Agora - Christianity behaving badly.
Lebanon - mummy I want to come home!
Ajami - collision courses in Israel.
White Material - can you be a white African?
Russian Lessons - pawns in The Great Game.

Four Lions was the most irreverant, Russian Lessons was the most thought provoking, Kawasaki's Rose and Agora also made me think, while White Material, Ajami and Scherezade did a good job of presenting consequences of political conflicts.

Best Horror
Nominations:

The Loved Ones - does for outback folk what Hitchcock did for shower curtains.
Dream Home - an apartment to die for.
The Human Centipede - mad doctor has it all sewn up.
Wound - the angry by-product of being bored by the utterly predictable banality of our mainstream movies.
Triangle - didn't I kill you five minutes ago?
Splice - Picaso meets genetic engineering.

My pick is Triangle. Usually people take a cruise to escape, but these people want to escape from the cruise. Stylish Splice was my next pick, with The Loved Ones as the best of the splatter movies.

New Zealand Films
In order from best to worst:

Predicament - what did you do in the school holidays?
The Hopes & Dreams of Gazza Snell - come crashing down.
Wound - love it or hate it.

The acting in the Kiwi films was often better than the films. In particlar Kate O’Rourke and William McInnes were outstanding and Jemaine Clement was delightfully spooky.

Disappointments

Wound - too surreal for my poor brain
The Myth of the American Sleepover - I'm not the target audience

Time Travel
This was a year where directors used non-traditional techniques jumping around in time.

White Material - is it yesterday or tomorrow?
Ajami - isn't he dead?
Dream Home - 3 timelines, with subtle hints
Triangle - its is meant to be tricky to understand
Wound - surreal, 'nuff said

Superfluous Final Scenes

The Housemaid - what's with that final birthday scene dubbed into English?
The Loved Ones - should have stopped in reverse.

In addition Splice ran out of inspiration near end. The Time that Remains had superfluous scenes in 2nd half even though the final scene was great. While the final scene of The Killer Inside Me was full of problems.

Best Actors
In order

Kate O’Rourke acts her heart out in Wound
Luis Tosar was mesmerising as Malamadre in Cell 211
Everyone knows a Gazza like William McInnes
Casey Affleck was The Killer Inside Me

Eye-candy
Previously I have noted the unrealistic or unjustified use of a sexy actress. I didn't notice any blatant eye candy this year. Even Kim Cattrall and Rachel Weisz were looking restrained and aren't all female violin soloists beautiful?

But I have it on good authority that there were two pretty boys in The Hopes & Dreams of Gazza Snell.

One offs
Western: Once Upon a Time in the West - the best of the West?
Animation: In the Attic - junk having fun
Documentary: Russian Lessons - eye openning
Science Fiction: Splice - shock and humour
Surreal: Wound - amazing acting, pity about the film
Silent: Marvellous Corricks - weird and wonderful pre-1910 silent films

The Hopes & Dreams of Gazza Snell

2010-08-03T20:19:00.006+12:00

Gazza is good Kiwi bloke, ambitiously in pursuit of his dreams and hopelessly optimistic to the point of being blind to risk and consequence. A man with a "can do" attitude and boundless energy. Not a good person to be married to if you are the worrying type (or even merely well adjusted). We all know a "Gazza" or two and William McInnes plays him perfectly.

The plot of The Hopes & Dreams of Gazza Snell is very simple, yet it is so dominated by Gazza that only his son Mark gets to share the limelight. Some of the interesting events (like the election campaign or Gail and Ron or Mark and Jee) are handled so abruptly that they seem contrived. I wonder if the story would seem more complete if either more had been made out of them or if they had been cut.

Gazza's passion is go-carting and he lives his passion through his sons and his desire to see them to top of the sport and dreams of Formula 1. He finances his dreams with proceeds of his cleaning business, and what ever schemes he can come up with, to the despair of his wife, Gail (Robyn Malcolm). His risk taking both financially and on the track are leading inevitably to disaster one way or the other only Gazza (and his sons) can't see it.

Overall it a nice simple story with a strong central character that we can all identify with, but the execution of the supporting characters and story elements lets it down a little bit. Still, I have it on good authority that the two boys are eye candy.

Ian's rating 2.5/5
Anne's rating 3/5

The Red Shoes

2010-08-03T02:51:00.003+12:00

Made in 1948, the Red Shoes is, apparently, THE great ballet movie of all time. The reason it features in the 2010 film festival is that is has recently been restored. (You can read all about the restoration here .) I read lots of English Ballet novels when I was a child (no TV, you understand) and while I can't remember references to The Red Shoes, Moira Shearer definitely featured. Sunday afternoon at the film festival seemed a good time to see what all the fuss was about.

The story is all a bit melodramatic by twenty-first century standards but gripping nonetheless. Moira Shearer plays Vicky Page, a rising ballet star. Vicky is given her big break by the ballet company director (Boris) who offers her the leading role in The Red Shoes. The director has also given a big break to young conductor and composer Julian Craster, getting him to score the ballet music. In the process of rehearsing and performing the Red Shoes Julian and Vicky fall in love, much to Boris's disgust - he prefers his artistes to concentrate on their jobs and lavish any spare emotion on him. Poor old Vicky has to choose between love and dancing and this causes more turmoil than you'd expect - it turns into a tragedy on an epic scale, echoing the plot of the ballet itself.

There's definitely justification for the fuss - this is a beautiful film to look at on all sorts of levels. Moira Shearer is just gorgeous - wonderful red hair and big blue eyes and an hourglass waist and her party clothes are fabulous. It's fun to see Covent Garden when there was still a working market next door, and the scenery in Monte Carlo is suitably splendid. There's a big chunk of the ballet to watch which is great. There are 1940's hairstyles to admire and that clipped English delivery to marvel at - did people REALLY talk like that? The Red Shoes is escapism on a grand scale and you should take the opportunity to escape if it arises.

Anne's rating 4.5/5

Russian Lessons

2010-08-02T22:03:00.023+12:00

Russian Lessons was the only documentary I saw in this year's Film Festival. A couple of years ago during the 2008 Beijing Olympic games Georgia attacked the city of Tskhinvali in the break away region of South Ossetia. The Russians claimed that 2000 civilians and some Russian peacekeepers had been killed in the bombardment, and that they were counter attacking to protect their peacekeepers and the South Ossetians. The Russians quickly took control ofSouth Ossetia and expanded the war into other parts of Georgia. The US, who had military advisors in Georgia, blustered that this was Russian aggression. The French tried to broker a ceasefire and a Russian withdrawal. The ceasefire took effect but the Russian withdrawal was much slower than they promised. There was talk of Russia being annoyed by a oil pipeline through Georgia that bypassed Russian controlled pipelines. Out of the mainstream there was sketchy information about the larger scale presence of Israeli military advisors and hardware in Georgia and the Georgian Minister of Defense with Israeli citizenship. The general consensus in the media seemed to be that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili (emboldened by Dick Cheney et al) had tried to retake South Ossettia by force, while the world's media attention (and Russia) was focused on the Beijing Olympics and it had backfired.

At the start of this war Olga Konskaya and Andrei Nekrasov (documentary film makers based in St Petersburg, and connoisseurs of Georgian wine) decided to document the war. Andrei flew to Georgia to reach the front line from the south while his wife Olga went to North Ossetia (in Russia) to reach the front line from the north. Olga found the interesting information. At the Russian border she found people who saw the Russian army moving into South Ossetia before the war started. In Tskhinvali a city of about 25,000 where 2000 civilian were killed she couldn't find anyone who knows someone who died or were wounded, and only 50 new graves mostly of young men. People she talked to said that they had left the city before the war (about half the population left before the war started). Outside Tskhinvali amoung the Georgian villages she found plenty of people who's houses and businesses had been destroyed and evidence of deaths. Strangely most of the destroyed businesses were brand new, evidence of an ecconomic boom amoung Georgians in South Ossetia in recent years.

In Beslan, North Ossetia she finds witnesses from both inside the school and outside it who claim that the killing and destruction was caused by Russian soldiers and tanks attacking the school, rather than by the 7 gunmen inside the school. Turning the official story of this 2004 terrorist incident on its head. The Russian 58th Army was involved in Beslan, South Ossetia and the Second Chechen War.

In the second half of the film Olga and Andrei supplement their field work with uncovering TV footage played in the West and in Russia of Geogian victims in hospital mis-identified as South Ossetians, of Russian planes attacking Gori mis-identified as Georgian planes attacking Tskhinvali. They also look back at the earlier conflict in 1991 especially at the Russian involvement in atrocities in Abkhazia, with interviews of Georgian victims and corroborated by a Russian soldier.

The conclusions they draw are that the break up of the USSR was at least as brutal as Yugoslavia, that Russia is not to be trusted and its interest in Abkhazia is more about access to the Black Sea than the interests of Abkhazians and that western media is often too trusting or lazy about verifying facts. Even though they blame the entire 2008 war on Russia they don't explain Russia's motives. Though Putin made it clear in 2008 when the US recognised Kosovo that it would lead to Russia recognizing separtists in places like South Ossetia.

In my view the last 20 years has seen a ressurection of The Great Game between the UK and Russia in 19thC, but this time played out between the US and Russia with eastern Europe and the break away parts of the USSR as the chess board. While Russia is very short of pieces and is pinned in a corner, it is trying to play itself back into the game. Not a good time to be one of America's pawns.

Russian Lessons isn't neutral but it is a dramatic demonstration that even with today's technology the media (and through them the rest of us and our political leaders) can still be fooled.

Ian's rating 4/5

Cyrus

2010-08-02T22:03:00.021+12:00

Boy meets Girl and Girl's parents don't approve is a familiar romantic theme, all the way back to Romeo and Juliet. With Cyrus we have the theme reworked for the older, second-time-around crowd; divorced man meets solo mother and her son doesn't approve. Not only does he not approve, he regards his mother's new suitor as direct competition for her affections.

Cyrus is a fraught, funny and slightly painful story. John is our divorced man, a freelance editor who is overly dependent on his ex-wife for a sympathetic ear. He meets Molly, (the very attractive solo mother) at a party and they hit it off and end up in bed at his house. A relationship ensues, but John, who is not the best adjusted chap in the world, decides to follow her home one morning since he feels she may be hiding something from him. And so she is - her 21 year-old son, Cyrus. Cyrus and Molly have an unusually close relationship which seems to cross boundaries in the realms of personal space and propriety and watching John discovering this relationship is fun if slightly uncomfortable. Watching Cyrus attempt to sabotage the new romance is a similar combination of fun and discomfort.

Cyrus is played very straight (the acting is excellent) and you are left to make your own interpretation of the characters and their motivations - there are no Sex-and-the-City lunches with best mates where the characters explain what's going on in their heads. Despite the subject matter it's relatively light-hearted and ends on an up-beat note and was one of the festival's surprise pleasures

Anne's rating 3/5
Ian's rating 3/5

After the Waterfall

2010-08-02T19:54:00.004+12:00

I was disappointed in After the Waterfall even though my reasons for going (centred around seeing Antony Starr in something other than Outrageous Fortune and also trying to be support New Zealand movies in general) weren't that compelling in terms of guaranteeing a good watching experience.

In fact, Antony did an awesome acting job and the Waitakeres and West Auckland looked wonderful but the film's premise was too slim. It's the story of a man whose four-year-old daughter disappears while he's minding her and she isn't found. As is often the case, the loss of their child destroys his marriage and almost destroys his ability to relate to anyone else. Eventually he emerges from his dark night of the soul and recovery looks possible.

The director was at the screening and she explained that the film is based on a novel and what appealed to her about the story was the lack of closure; that sometimes (often, even) in life we don't know what happened or why it happened and she wanted to explore that. Now, in lots of ways I agree with her - I think the media is obsessed with who or what to blame for untimely deaths, and it's full of stories of grieving parents campaigning about something to prevent others having a similar experience, because that seems to help them deal with their grief. And one of the refreshing things about Antony's character was a complete lack of that campaigning spirit. However, it really wasn't much fun watching his personal struggle, nor was it especially uplifting or edifying. So why would you want to? I'm not sure that you would, unless you just wanted your mind removed from your own issues.

Anne's rating 2/5

Triangle

2010-08-01T22:17:00.010+12:00

Triangle starts off in suburban Florida with a solo mum (Jess) frustrated with her autistic son and trying while trying to make a sailing trip with a her boyfriend and four other people. The trip starts smoothly, though Jess seems inexplicably dazed and distracted. But the spooky stuff starts soon enough and Jess (Melissa George) is at the middle of it.

This is more of a mystery horror movie than a splatter one. The basic mystery is signaled in the title, but like an onion there are layers of mystery here and at the bottom it becomes a psychological thriller as the protagonists try to escape the trap they are caught in.

Triangle is carefully constructed, and it pays to keep your attention on the details, as the you try to decipher it faster than Jess. In fact at the end I felt like watching it again, to double check the revelations against the earlier events to see if it all makes sense or if I'd been taken for a ride by some cinematic slight of hand.

Ian's rating 4/5

In the Attic: Who Has a Birthday Today?

2010-08-01T15:16:00.014+12:00

Every day Buttercup bakes a cake and her three friends toss a die with 5 blank sides and a birthday cake on the sixth side to determine whose birthday it is today.

Stop motion animation has been popularized by Wallace and Gromit, but tends to be the poor cousin to the output of Pixar et al. This Czech film is based on discarded toys and other rubbish left in a capacious attic. Buttercup is a doll and her three friends are a lazy teddy bear, a pompous, windbag marionette soldier and a frenetic plasticine man with a bottle top hat. In fact it is fascinating to try and identify the junk that appears and often re-purposed into machines by Curie (the engineer and radio announcer), or used by the baddies.

Like many good stories for children there are other themes aimed at accompanying adults. In this case the baddies have over tones of a Soviet style regime, led by a talking golden, glasses wearing bust. This authoritarian leader has hots for Buttercup and Soviet style persuasion techniques, but never fear her friends are coming to her rescue (if the cat doesn't get them).

Ian's rating 3/5
Anne's rating 4/5

Splice

2010-07-31T19:56:00.026+12:00

Made by the director of Cube but using a much bigger budget, Splice is sci-fi horror movie set in the near future when genetic engineering and in vitro gestation are a bit further advanced on current state of the art. Elsa Kast and Clive Nicoli are bio-engineers working at the Nucleic Exchange Research and Development lab (part of the research division of pharmaceutical company Newstead Pharma). N.E.R.D. focuses on gene splicing and protein production. Proteins that will have pharmacological uses. Their initial success is a slug like creature made from the DNA of 6 or 8 different species. Not satisfied with that they want to move onto using human DNA to create a creature that will produce proteins to be used in even more useful drugs.

Unfortunately their law suit averse and bottom line focused management want profits from the existing creature, rather than spend their money on a new creature. You should be able to see where this is going. Unlike Cube this is not a cerebral sci-fi thriller, rather an update on ideas from Frankenstein and The Fly. Aimed at sci-fi and horror fans, there is even a lab scene stolen straight from Alien. It is all quite stylishly done, even if the plot becomes extremely predictable and clichéd in the final few scenes, it still had alternating shock and humour that got the loudest audience reaction at this year's film festival.

The lead characters keep our sympathy in a way that most mad scientist characters don't, and the creature itself gradually acquires a personality. The only downside was the lack of inventiveness in the plot.

Ian's rating 4/5

The Killer Inside Me

2010-07-31T15:04:00.007+12:00

It looks like no expense was spared in acquiring the props for The Killer in Me. They seem to have rounded up an endless supply of 1940s and 50s cars, set them among period buildings and populated the film with faces that look right for period. The clothes, furniture and even the way of talking seems right. The only cast member who looks out of place is Jessica Alba, and even she could be excused her exotic looks on the grounds that she is a prostitute from out of town. Though what a woman this good looking is doing working as a small town prostitute rather than making it big in Hollywood stretches credulity.

The script is based on a 1952 pulp novel of the same name. As the title indicates it is the story of murder told from the murderer's point of view. I haven't read the book so I don't know if the faults in the film lie with the book or its translation to film. Outwardly Lou Ford is a fine upstanding young man, living a house he inherited from his dead parent in Central City, Texas. Where he is now a Sheriff's depute. On the inside he is much darker, with an unhealthy attitude to women that up till now he has managed to hide from the girl friend that is more interested in him than he is in her. In fact it seems odd that Lou, who prefers to spend his off duty time sitting alone reading old books and listening to opera or playing the piano, even has a girlfriend. But I guess psychopaths have to keep up appearances.

I wanted to like this movie. I am a sucker for stylish movies. But the stylishness and polish of The Killer Inside Me casts its faults into sharp relief. Is it the difficulty of converting a novel into a film that accounts for all the loose plot threads? How and why does Joe Rothman (the union man) know and figure out so many of Lou's secrets before people closer to him? The initial scene between Lou and Joyce stretches credulity to point that I wonder if Lou is a reliable narrator. How does Lou so effortlessly find the masochistic women he craves? But the house doused in petrol through which a hoard of people can walk through without smelling it, and even safely smoke in, which later literally explodes in flame is the biggest fault.

The film highlights a strange American attitude that a film about murder and sex can show some simulate sex (with clothes on) and graphic and sustained violence (worse than in the splatter movie Dream Home) yet it can't show any nudity. (The film gets it's nudity rating from a brief shot of a woman's buttocks). May be I am a decadent European, but give me nudity over someone being slowly beaten into a pulp.

Casey Affleck is very effective as the outwardly charming psychopath Lou Ford, and Ned Beatty is effortless as the one dimensional but under estimated Chester Conway. But unfortunately the film follows the solitary Lou around so much that the other actors merely get walk on bit parts. (Literally the film consists of people turning up to say something to Lou and leaving or Lou arriving somewhere to say something and then leaving.) This may accurately reflect the self centred nature of Lou Ford and his inability to know anyone around him any better than the pigeon holed stereotype he labels them with, but it makes telling some of the story threads difficult.

Ian's rating 2.5/5

Sam Hunt: Purple Balloon and other Stories

2010-07-30T21:45:00.004+12:00

Sam Hunt is a rarity - a New Zealander who has managed to make a living from poetry. He's a household name and he's close to the nation's heart, despite that incredibly upper-class voice. Even though Kiwis aren't very tolerant of difference, I guess we can forgive being a poet and sounding posh if the poet determinedly takes his poetry to every corner of the country and the poet doesn't look posh and is fond of a drink (or three). And I guess we like the consistency of the shaggy haircut, the aviator sunglasses, the stovepipe trousers and the way a Sam Hunt poem sounds

Purple Balloon gives us a bit of a look at the man behind the image and it's fascinating stuff. He didn't talk til he was four. He's been writing poetry forever. His big brothers are apparently as unimpressed by his achievements as only older siblings can be. This national icon is actually very shy person. He struggles with alcohol.

The film gives us a mix of Sam talking to camera, a selection of other iconic Kiwis talking about Sam, Sam's family talking about Sam and a huge variety of archival footage including clips of poetry performances, old TV interviews, and even Jon Gadsby impersonating Sam. The New Zealand landscape features, particularly the Pauatahunui inlet.

I could happily watch this film again. The film-makers were at the screening and it seems they may make further films about Sam Hunt which would be something to look forward to.

Anne's rating: 4/5

Ajami

2010-07-30T16:19:00.003+12:00

"I knew something bad was going to happen today" says Nasri, the young Muslim Arab-Israeli narrator of Ajami, which is the neighbourhood of Jaffa where the film is set. In fact it seems that something bad happens in Ajami every day and its just a matter of degree. The bad stuff isn't all what you expect - a number of Israeli or Palestinian films we've seen in recent years focus on how Israeli Government policy has made life difficult for Arabs, particularly in terms of restricting freedom of movement (and Ajami has its share of illegal labour coming in from the West Bank) but this film gives additional perspectives.

The first new perspective is on home-grown terrorism by Bedouin gangs who, mafia-style, demand protection money from local businesses and indulge in drive-by shootings and arson if they don't get what they want.

A second new perspective is the difficulties of inter-religious relationships - Nasri's older brother Omar has a Christian girlfriend (his boss's daughter)and one of his fellow employees has a Jewish girlfriend - which just goes to complicate what's already a complicated existence.

Thirdly we have the local drug trade and the local police force thrown in for extra excitement.

Ajami is a circular story which follows Omar for a few days and shows how all the factors I've described impinge on his life and the lives of those around him. The credits roll with Omar running for his life , and you can see his life isn't going to get any less complicated anytime soon.

Anne's rating 3/5
Ian's rating 4/5

White Material

2010-07-30T12:03:00.007+12:00

The last of Claire Denis's films I saw was the beautiful but confusing Beau Travail. Whereas White Material is less about the beauty and more about the story.

The story is of Maria Vial the white French manager of a coffee plantation owned by her sick ex-father in law, who is trying to harvest the coffee crop as the country disintegrates around her. Her staff flee, so she heads off with a wallet full of money to hire more. She hurries round cajoling them, her son and her ex-husband (who looks disturbingly like a stoned Robert Redford) to help her with the harvest all the time denying and turning a blind eye to evidence that the rebels have the upper hand and she should leave for her own safety.

The theme is that white people may own land in Africa, may be destitute if they are forced out of Africa, may even be born in Africa but are they really African? A secondary theme is the fragility of civilisation.

You could possibly read a feminist sub-text into this film too, as Maria is surrounded by unreliable men: her plotting ex-husband, their lazy son, her sick ex-father in law, her deserting staff, the retreating French army, the devious mayor, her son's gym teacher - now extorting money at a rebel road block etc. It is the men who are destroying things and betraying her, and the target of her bottled anger.

To add to the feeling of chaos, it is ambiguous as to which side the men with guns are on and the story telling is some what abbreviated. A local radio DJ plays the role of providing expository information. At the end I talked with the people seated either side of me and we couldn't agree on exactly who was who and what happened.

There are a couple of odd events, the son's unexplained metamorphosis and the final scene. The presence of English speaking child soldiers in Francophone country is also not explained.

Ian's rating 3/5

How I Ended This Summer

2010-07-30T11:09:00.001+12:00

How I Ended This Summer isn't a film about the Arctic or the Russian Meteorological Service. It is a film with a generation gap, a technology gap, an experience gap and a trust gap between two men working at a met hut on the Russian north coast towards the end of summer. An older man wed to a 75 year tradition of manual met reading and regular radio transmissions and a young one threatening that way of life with computer telemetry. One mistake leads too quickly to another and things spiral rapidly out of control in a confined environment (ironically, thousands of square kilometers of arctic landscape). It brings into sharp focus how we rely on social norms, the interventions of other people or at least on being able to get away from people to avoid screwing things up even more than we already have.

Sergei Puskepalis plays the older Sergei Gulybin with a threatening combination of aloofness and superior competence, but it is Grigory Dobrygin who steals the show playing the younger Pavel Danilov displaying just the right combination of diffidence, fear and bravado.

Ian's rating 2.5/5

Wound

2010-07-28T14:03:00.003+12:00

The film festival program says that:

Wound is the angry by-product of being bored by the utterly predictable banality of our mainstream movies

The warning bells should have rung louder. This is code for "Wound is a surreal movie". Unfortunately I have a checkered history with surreal movies. I either enjoy them or am confused, frustrated and bored by them - nothing in between.

It is obvious that Kate O’Rourke (who plays Sue) acted her heart out in this movie. She is in almost every scene and displaying a range of extreme emotions in most of them. It feels exhausting just to watch her. The same way it was exhausting to watch the heroine of Run, Lola, Run running for 90 minutes. Kate certainly deserves recognition for her acting in Wound. Te Kaea Beri, who plays Tanya the sulky, silently raging teenager does good job too. I thought that the dolls were the next best characters after Sue and Tanya.

There is plenty of violence and even more symbolism which suits a film about a sexually abused and hence mentally ill woman with revenge fantasies. In my view many of the scenes could have been jumbled up and played in a different order or left out all together without distracting from the story or experience. If a film maker leaves too much up to the viewer they are no longer telling a story, but proving some images which the viewer can interpret any way they like or more likely give up trying to interpret. I suspect that I should make greater efforts to avoid surreal films, as more often than not I don't enjoy them.

Mental illness is probably good subject for a surreal movie and if you like disturbing images and things that don't make sense then by all means go and see Wound, it is well acted and full of symbolism and other craziness.

Ian's rating 1.5/5

The Human Centipede (First Sequence)

2010-07-27T19:34:00.006+12:00

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) is probably not a movie you want to rave about to your elderly, church going, relatives if you want to be invited back or want to be left something more than their unpaid rest home bills as your inheritance. It is a simple horror film that unashamedly uses the clichés of horror movies with glee. Two cute American girls in search of a German nightclub, break down in the woods and decide to walk for help through the trees rather than along the road. They arrive at a house owned by mad doctor with a passion for home surgery and an odd fixation for sewing things together. His latest project is to sew three people together to form a 12 legged centipede.

Don't ask why. In fact don't get him angry or he will put you in the middle of his concoction, and he doesn't use post operative pain killers. Unlike your general splatter horror, the disgust here is in the concept of how the three victims are sewn together.

There are a couple of glaring plot holes, but it is a straight forward horror romp, with no redeeming features I can think of. Not frightening, just a little disgusting with a send up of some horror film clichés.

Ian's rating 3.5/5

Lebanon

2010-07-27T11:06:00.006+12:00

Soon after this film started I had to ask Anne which Lebanon war this was about. Because the film takes place entirely inside a tank there is little to identify where and when the events are taking place. Lebanon (like Waltz with Bashir) is about Israel's 1982-2000 invasion (rather than the 1978 or 2006 invasions). The enemy is merely identified as terrorists (but are the PLO).

The first thing that struck me was how scared and undisciplined the four Israeli tank crew are compared with the ten or so Israeli soldiers walking ahead of the tank. This difference in attitude is never explained. What is going on outside the tank is mostly seen through the gunner's sight, which gives a magnified, yet constricted view of the world. The other thing that seemed odd to me is that the turret hatch is operated from outside so people can jump into the tank without a by-your-leave!

This is a movie about four scared young men who don't want to go to war, don't want to be in the army and don't want to kill people. They bicker with each other. They are horrified by what they see and are ordered to do. The war as we/they see it is obviously a one-sided affair with a modern war machine pitted against lightly armed amateurs and civilians, with predictable results.

Written and directed by Samuel Maoz, who served in this war, it is a look at war from the point of view of those that don't want to be involved in war and don't see the point of it. It has the feeling of a film that was made from a play, with its small cast, single set and the importance of the dialog as opposed to action. If you want to see a film about the 1982-2000 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Waltz with Bashir is a much better film (I have yet to see Beaufort - set at the other end of this war).

There was odd moment of shock at one point when a Christian Phalangist fighter (Ashraf Barhom) turns and smiles with the same feral smile he used as Ammonius the Christian preacher in Agora a couple of days ago!

Ian's rating 2/5 Anne's rating 3.5/5

Anne: This wasn't just a film about not wanting to be involved in war; it also deals with what it's like to be inside a tank (something I hadn't considered before), what it's like to be required to actually fight rather than practice and what its like if your fellow soldiers don't behave in the prescribed way. I was engrossed, and not just because the gunner looked like Daniel Carter. And we saw some little blue penguins on the way to the movie - always a highlight. .

I Love You Phillip Morrison

2010-07-27T09:55:00.000+12:00

Jim Carey's not everyone's cup of tea, but there isn't so much of the cable guy in this movie - this is more a presentation of [true] subject matter which is in itself unbelievable - but is topped off with Carey's comic abilities. The film follows the life of Steve (something), from childhood, when he learns he was adopted, leaping to adulthood when he meets (in church) and marries his wife, then admits to her he's gay... at which point the film really begins. Steve is a serious con-artist, who'll do pretty much anything, but is honestly serious about a guy (Philip Morrison) and there's no cheating involved - he's just cheating everyone else - insurance companies, employers, the beauracracy & courts... to pay for it - and to escape - from the law, custody, prison - and there REALLY are a good many approaches to this.

The film ends with the admission that while Phillip got out in 2006, Steve became "an embarrassment to the state of Texas, and it's governor, George W Bush, and was handed an unprecedented life sentence" (one presumes it was unprecedented due to the lack of violence etc in the crimes) and that he's still inside...

The story is incredible, and the presentation is "a laugh a minute" - there's a spot towards the end where it seems to drag a little, but overall was fairly evenly- and quick-paced from start to end; I think the depictions of intimacy were well done (I assume at least not all of those involved were queer) though aside from these and Carey himself, the acting was a bit lacking in places. Notwithstanding this, watching this film was very enjoyable, and in some respects offers a fair amount of food for thought.

John's rating 4/5

Winter's Bone

2010-07-27T09:54:00.001+12:00

I thought this film was dead loss - it was completely lacking in positive emotions or positive outcomes (at least the outcomes the participants in the film would have wanted) or anything else to draw me into the world the film presented to me - but the acting was quite good, the music etc all fit, and the portrayal of small town/rural attitudes and values were all excellent.

John's rating 2/5

The Double Hour

2010-07-26T23:11:00.005+12:00

My first reaction to The Double Hour is that it is a very clever film. There are no shortage of hints and red herrings in this mystery story. Yet I was taken in.

Sonia is working as a chambermaid at an Italian hotel and goes speed dating and ends up meeting ex-cop Guido. On a date with Guido things go very wrong. The aftermath leaves her jumpy and seeing all sorts of disturbing coincidences.

There are no special effects or jaw-dropping CGI or amazing stunts or sexy naked bodies. It is basically an old fashioned film. I am not going to say too much more about The Double Hour, but recommend that you go and see it if you like clever story telling.

Ian's rating 4/5

Farewell

2010-07-26T18:46:00.010+12:00

The French need someone to pick up top secret documents from a Francophile KGB colonel in Moscow, who thinks the USSR has lost its way and needs shaking up. Who better to do it than Pierre, a French electrical engineer living in Moscow with a wife and two young and no spy training? Grigoriev, the KGB colonel seems to have similar disregard for normal professional spy techniques. The French call their new source "Farewell". While the initial information from Farewell is explosive, what the French really want is the list of KGB spies in the West. As more and more people are dragged into the secret it becomes increasingly dangerous for Grigoriev and Pierre and his family, and escaping the USSR becomes the top priority.

The story is very loosely based on real life "Farewell", Vladimir Vetrov.

While sometimes you want to reach out and shake the characters and say "don't be so stupid", on the whole the movie is a competent thriller with the added interest of Pierre and his wife being amateurs but also the human interest of Grigoriev who wants to be paid in French poetry and cassettes of Queen for his teenage son.

(A longer review from the Independent)

Ian's rating 3.5/5
Anne's rating 3/5

Agora

2010-07-25T14:30:00.009+12:00

Hypatia is one of those historical characters nobody knows much about (and many of us have never heard of) hence there is plenty of scope for the scriptwriters to be imaginative. She was an academic in Alexandria in late Roman empire, who was murdered in 415AD. At that time Alexandria was still one of the academic centres of the Roman Empire (a hang over from the hay day when its Library was world famous). Agora (which sounds more exotic than "Town Square") covers a period in history that is rarely covered by film. The time when Christianity moves from being a minor (and persecuted) religion to being the state religion, and thence starts exercising political power.

There are ingredients here for two movies: the story of how Christianity evolved and the story of a woman who becomes an academic, seeks to maintain her self determination and then faces religious persecution. Unfortunately it is not clear which movie Agora is trying to be.

The evolution of Christianity is described in terms of its consequences for others around them. The appeal of Christianity to the poor and slaves through its ideas of all men being equal and through its charity work is very briefly dealt with, similarly the phase where people join, out of convenience or fear because Christianity has become the most powerful game in town is also briefly dealt with. But why people converted during the phase in between these two is skipped. The Christians (and in fact all the religious groups) are mostly depicted as a mob, with their leaders depicted as one dimensional power hungry men of action. It feels like one of those B-movie or TV programs where bad guys are just bad because they are evil and they exist only to be eventually defeated by the good guys. Except here one of the groups of bad guys defeat all the others.

The story of Hypatia is not a story of evolution, she seems to be the one constant. She is doing and saying the same things at the end of the film as she does at the beginning, while all around her major social changes are taking place. She (Rachel Weisz) doesn't seem to age either. The boys she taught grow up and become men, but she seems to remain that ambiguously aged beautiful woman to the end. There is a love triangle involving Orestes (one of her pupils) and Davus (one of her slaves). But it is so under played (Hypatia seems not to notice those who adore her) that at times it is not clear if Davus in particular loves her or hates her.

It seems like a lot of money was spent on making this lavish film about an unusual woman living at a very interesting time in history. It is not clear to me if this is supposed to be a film about Hypatia or about an interesting, but usually ignored, era in the history of Christianity. The film concentrates too much on the events happening around Hypatia, and she is too passive and unchanging to be a story about her. The Christian characters are barely more than names and centre of the story is too far removed them for Christianity to be the centre of the film. It is a pity because the sets and costumes are excellent and there is nothing wrong with the actors. On the other hand I wasn't bored and I have had plenty to think about afterwards. For instance, researching for this review I found that historians disagree on when the great library at Alexandria was destroyed, giving four possible dates: 48BC, 273AD, 391AD or 642AD.

In case you are wondering if this is an anti-Christian film. I don't think it is. Several religions have gone through the same evolution from persecuted to persecutor. Islam did it 300 or so years after Hypatia died. Jews have gone through it more than once, most spectacularly in the 1940s. Non-religious groups have also gone through this metamorphosis, so I think it is a more general human phenomena.

You have to admire the film makers for having the balls to star Rachel Weisz in a serious film set in Egypt.

Ian's rating 2.5/5
Anne's rating 2.5/5

The Ghost Writer

2010-07-25T11:41:00.005+12:00

Here's the deal: a recently retired British Prime Minister played by Pierce Brosnan (and yes, you're supposed to think Tony Blair) is writing his memoirs and his ghost-writer and former aide drowns. His publishers quickly rope in a replacement (played by Euan MacGregor) who is shipped off to the USA to the publisher's beach house to join the ex-PM and finish the book. What seems like a straightforward task becomes somewhat problematic as the new ghost-writer discovers hints of unpleasantness about the ex-PM and his old ghost-writer's demise. And meantime the attention of the world's media is focused on the ex-PM as a possible prosecution for war crimes looms.

The unease begins early and builds relentlessly. The beach house is in a gated compound in Cape Cod or somewhere similar and it's winter - the sky stays ominously gray all film. There are no leaves on the trees. The house's decor is black and gray and the art is gloomy. Dark-clothed staff hover or drive about in dark-coloured cars. There's ominous music. In contrast, Euan Macgregor's character seems a very ordinary bloke, not given to flights of fancy and not above putting his head in his hands and groaning when confronted with the ex-PM's prose. So when he gets spooked, the feelings of apprehension are infectious and believable.

The Ghost Writer is a rip-snorter of a thriller which will keep you thoroughly diverted for the two hours involved. It's stylish to look at and the plot, while it has a few holes, is on the whole pretty tight. The ending is a surprise, which is how it should be. Seeing Kim Cattrall as the ex-PM's assistant is an added reason to go.

Anne's rating 4.5/5 Ian's rating 4/5

The Most Dangerous Man in America

2010-07-25T11:40:00.003+12:00

This film is also known as The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers. Now, I'm not the world's biggest documentary fan (I blame an unfortunate experience watching Noam Chomsky early on in my exposure to this genre) but I have been known to attend documentaries on my own volition. Often this is because I already have an interest in the subject matter. This is not the case for this film - the film festival programme description sounded interesting but I had no prior knowledge of either Daniel Ellsberg or the Pentagon Papers.

As the title suggests, its all about Daniel Ellsberg, who is one of the world's interesting guys and a famous whistleblower as far as the US government is concerned. He went to Harvard in the early 1950s , and then joined the marines. Later he worked for the RAND Corporation, finished a PhD in decision-making theory, worked for the Pentagon (for Robert Macnamara), went to Vietnam in the mid 1960s working for the State Department and then back to the Rand Corporation. He was a contributor to a top-secret United States Department of Defense report called "History of United States' decision-making policy in Vietnam 1945 -1967" which was commissioned by Robert Mcnamara, the then Secretary of Defense, in 1967. This history (all 7000 pages of it) became known as The Pentagon Papers when Ellsberg leaked it to the New York Times in 1971 and the American public found out the extent to which successive American presidents had lied to them about their intentions in Vietnam.

The film chronicles all these events in detail and the fallout following the publication of the papers. There are interviews with Ellsberg and his wife and son. There are interviews with colleagues and journalists. There are excerpts from White House Tapes, there's historic footage and old photos. I learned lots. I boggled at the concept of working 12 hour days six days a week at the Pentagon (no wonder wife number one left) but also at the logistics of photocopying 7000 top-secret pages at night without getting caught. Having grown up thinking of Richard Nixon as a bad guy I was amazed to find out he won forty-nine out of fifty states in the 1972 Presidential election.

I hesitate to say you must go and watch this film, but if it should come to a documentary channel near you it's well worth watching. The US Government has all sorts of skeletons in its closet and this story about the revelation of some of them was really interesting.

Anne's rating 3.5/5

A Prophet

2010-07-24T17:42:00.010+12:00

Another day, another prison film.

A Prophet follows the young Malik though six years in jail as he goes from being a bumbling, illiterate nobody who gets beaten up, into being someone not only knows the system but learns how to use it. Prison is a hard place to learn things, but one thing Malik learns quickly is to take advantage of opportunities.

This isn't the tense thriller that Cell 211 is, this is a long drama divided into chapters that chronicle Malik's time in jail. Each chapter documents a notable event in Malik's incarceration: learning who is really the boss of the jail, learning the value of loyalty, making other useful contacts, first day release, rewards, taking the initiative and leaving jail. Most of these also involve César, a Corsican whose control extends beyond the other prisoners to the guards and to Corsican organised crime and politics. Over the years not only does Malik grow in confidence but the power shifts from one organised crime group to another and Malik has to reconsider alliances.

While Cell 211 is an intense portrayal of a few violent hours in a prison, A Prophet is a considered, longer term portrayal of one man's voyage of discovery over 6 years inside.

Ian's rating 3/5

The Time that Remains

2010-07-24T16:42:00.004+12:00

The Time that Remains seems to start out as a biography of director Elia Suleiman's father Fuad and then morphs gradually into an autobiography of Elia himself. It also serves as a chronicle of life in Israel for Palestinians, and (appropriately) kicks off in 1948. The Israeli army is advancing on Nazareth and many citizens are preparing to leave while Fuad fights with the local resistance and narrowly avoids execution.

We fast forward to the 1960's when Fuad is married to Nadia and Elia is growing up. Aunt Olga still lives in the family home and Fuad and Nadia live close by. Their interactions with the neighbours illustrate the close-knit nature of the community. Daily life is illustrated by recurring vignettes. We see life in Nazareth gradually becoming more suffocating and we see Elia become an adult. His father dies and, much later, his Mother's death concludes the film.

This film isn't an easy watch. It moves quite slowly and there's a lot of repetition. There are long stretches (especially towards the end) where there is very little dialogue. There are some bits that will stay with me for a long time, particularly a sixty ton Israeli tank parked outside a home and the gun barrel tracking the occupant as he paces back and forth across the road talking on his cellphone, seemingly oblivious. Almost as poignant was the armoured car outside the nightclub in Ramallah being steadfastly ignored by the dancers.

As is often the case after watching films involving Israel, I came away shaking my head.

Anne's rating 3/5 Ian's rating 3/5

Dream Home

2010-07-24T12:16:00.014+12:00

You are working three jobs. You are not out boozing with your pals. You are saving every last red cent, but your Dream Home is still out of your reach? What's a girl to do? Come on, we are in a Hong Kong horror movie, what's a girl to do? Go on a killing spree in the neighbouring apartments to give the building a bad reputation and drive down the price, of course.

The back story of Li-sheung's life is simple, the premise is simpler. But how well equipped is a tele-sales girl for a killing spree? Actually she proves so adept at it you might want to reconsider that rude retort the next time you are rung up by someone trying to sell you something.

The film is very stylishly shot with three parallel timelines that director generally leaves up to us to marry up and sort out. There are the flashbacks to Li-sheung's childhood when she see violence being used to clear people out of buildings developers want demolish. There is the present day story of Li-sheung working, begging for loans and negotiating with the real estate agent. In parallel for these is the killing spree itself, which all happens on one night.

There is an element of social satire at work here but ultimately this is a slasher horror movie in which every victim is killed in a different (and sometime inventive) way. Unlike many such killers Li-sheung (played by the cute Josie Ho) is not omnipotent. Like her victims she is physically vulnerable. She mostly relies on the element of surprise and her ruthlessness. There is plenty of gore and unpleasantness to make you squirm and in the druggie flat there is some humour and nudity.

Review on MTV IGGY with trailer.
Time Out Hong Kong interview with Josie Ho.
Twitch interview with Josie Ho.

Ian's rating 3.5/5

Cell 211

2010-07-23T19:57:00.008+12:00

Your first day at work can be stressful but I guarantee it was never as bad for you as it was for newbie prison guard, Juan Olivier. In fact for Juan things start to go badly the day before his first day. While he is being shown around the prison, a riot breaks out led by the swaggering Malamadre.

This tense thriller rarely gives you a moment to unclench your fingers as it plunges from one crisis to the next. The balance of power snaps back and forth between the prisoners and the prison authorities as each side looks for an edge over the other, with Juan being caught in the middle. Circumstances force him to deal with the dangerous and unpredictable Malamadre and their relationship is the thread that runs through this movie.

Violence is an integral part of Cell 211 and the woman sitting next to me almost leaped on her companion at one point. It also captures and reflects the anger, fear and frustration of each side, with an intensity that is often missing in thrillers with less mundane settings. These people don't have the high tech resources and extraordinary skills that are all too common in films like the Bourne series. Both sides have limited information, limited resources and internal conflicts, and are only separated from each other by one or two walls and some bars or glass. The violence is mostly inflicted at short range, making the experience much more intense.

There are almost no wasted scenes and it pays to remember every unimportant detail and throw away line, because they may become important in deciphering a later turn of events. Despite the fact that because the action takes place in a prison, which constrains the events, Cell 211 still manages to be unpredictable to the end.

Ian's rating 5/5

Kawasaki’s Rose

2010-07-22T09:46:00.014+12:00

Kawasaki’s Rose is a complex origami flower and this film is about peeling back layers in an effort to get at the truth underneath, and raises questions about truth, memory, how much people are culpable for their behaviour under stress and are myths more valuable than the truth?

The film follows a TV film crew as it films a Czech psychiatrist, Pavel Josek, who is going to be awarded an honour in recognition of his role as a dissident under the Communist regime. By coincidence the sound engineer is Pavel's son-in-law, who feels rejected by Pavel. As the TV crew researches Pavel they discover something that changes the direction of their TV show. (If you are keen on plot spoilers look here or IMDB).

This is a film that asks some tough questions that are relevant to many countries that have undergone trauma in the 20th Century. On a domestic level is it worth wrecking a family by exposing the skeleton in the closet? On a national level is the need for heroes worth suppressing the truth for? Who gets to decide what the collective memory is?

Because the number of characters is small (5 in Pavel's family) and 3 or 4 others, and because the secret is more personal than political the film is intimate and understandable. While the film does a good job of explaining the methods used by secret police to put pressure on people. Unfortunately it doesn't adequately explain why governments would want a relatively unimportant individual to either capitulate so entirely or leave the country with no middle ground possible. I guess this is probably more understandable to Czechs than Kiwis. This minor issue aside this was an absorbing movie either as domestic drama or as a political/philosophical dilemma.

I was interested to learn that the Czech Communist Government regarded exile to "the West" as a form of punishment. Which is quite different to the attitude of the Soviet government!

Ian's rating 3.5/5
Anne's rating 2.5/5

Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story

2010-07-21T16:53:00.010+12:00

The star of Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story is Hebba Younis, a very fashionable, petite, young daytime-TV host with a pageboy haircut. She lives with her good-looking, newspaper reporter husband in a luxury apartment high above Cairo. Their lives are far removed from ordinary Cairo both literally and figuratively. He is on the short list for promotion to the politically sensitive job of editor in chief, an appointment that needs government approval. But her political stories are annoying the government and his colleagues tell him to shut her up. Under pressure she switches interviewing non-political women. The interviews morph into long flashbacks as the interviewees tell their stories.

In the first interview a middle-aged psychiatric patient from an upper class family is interviewed about her choice to remain a virgin. Unfortunately for Hebba's husband it centers on a date the woman's mother set up for her many years earlier with a man who came armed with a list of demands including that she give up driving in return for marriage. It turns out the the man is now a cabinet minister.

In the second interview an ex-inmate who is looking after a retired prison guard is interviewed about her crime (murder). This flashback teases the viewer with a who-done-it to who mystery story as three sisters made orphan by their father's death struggle to run a hardware shop with the help of their father's apprentice and the meddling of a drug addict uncle.

In the third interview a young dentist describes how she was wooed by an older American-educated economist, who seduces her and then blackmails her. The blackmailer is also appointed to a cabinet post.

Though easy on the eye Hebba is too selfish and touchy to be a likable character, which probably helps in drawing our sympathies to the three interviewees. The three stories have themes of women talking openly about love and sex and betrayal or oppression by men but also have or are seen to have political consequences (it also gives the impression that Egyptian cabinet ministers are particularly bad in this regard... and thin-skinned about it to boot). Overall it feels contrived and melodramatic, but the middle story in particular is well told and acted (and could probably expanded into a film by itself). While women talking openly on screen about sex and love might be common place in Western films like Sex and the City, I suspect it is not the case in Egyptian films.

Ian's rating 3/5
Anne's rating 4/5

The Concert

2010-07-21T15:34:00.006+12:00

Another day, another movie. The ticket queue stretched out the door and down the street - and this was Tuesday lunchtime. Happily the Embassy's large capacity ensured we didn't miss out on a seat.

And so we met Andrei, a cleaner at the Bolshoi Theatre. He's also the Bolshoi's ex-conductor and alcoholically challenged. His career was brought to a sudden stop (in the middle of a performance of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto in D) some thirty years ago because the communist regime took exception to his pro-Jewish attitudes. Lea the Jewish violinist was send to the Gulag. At the time Andrei and the orchestra's violin soloist Lea were obsessed with perfecting this violin concerto, and as a result of what happened Andrei has been obsessed with it ever since.

One fateful day, Andrei is cleaning the office at the theatre when a fax arrives from Paris asking if the orchestra can perform there in few weeks time. Andrei intercepts the fax and hatches a plan to conduct the Tchaikovsky concerto using an orchestra of his fellow musicians, a member of the previously mentioned communist regime and a talented french violinist who never plays Tchaikovsky.

Here we have all the ingredients for a french farce and there are lots of laughs. Getting the motley band of ex-professional musicians to Paris is one thing, getting them to perform is quite another. And of course there's the problem of keeping the concert from the "real" Bolshoi Orchestra and it's management.

However, this is so much more than a French Farce or a good opportunity to take the mickey out of the Russians. It's a stirring and affecting tale about an exorcising personal demons and about what people will do to help out someone they care about. It falls into the feel-good category but it gets the heart rate up as well as the hair on the back of your neck. There are so many obstacles that you're not completely sure that things will turn out well. The story and Tchaikovsky will keep you glued to your seat for the whole two hours.

Anne's rating 4.5/5
Ian's rating 5/5

A Somewhat Gentle Man

2010-07-21T11:25:00.006+12:00

A person leaving jail is a common opening film scene (e.g. Zift and Sherrybaby), but don't hold this cliché against A Somewhat Gentle Man. Don't hold the bleak, winter urban setting and slow pace against this film either, because unlike some of the Scandinavian comedies I've seen, which are not only dark, but also surreal (e.g. The Bothersome Man), the most surreal thing here are the coincidences. Stay with A Somewhat Gentle Man beyond its slow, unpromising start (and occasional violence) to enjoy some off beat humour delivered slowly, unexpectedly and sometimes below the belt.

Ulrik having finished a 12 year stretch for murder, discovers that his old crime boss is more keen on revenge against the man who squealed to the police 12 years ago than he is. But how can he upset the man who also finds him his first job and place to live (even if the room has a clanging metal door)? In fact the world is divided into those that want to take advantage of him and those who don't want to know him.

You know that you are not in Kansas when a woman, arriving home with her young son, is horrified to find her husband kneeling in a pool of piss on the living room floor with a gun to his head, reacts by offering to make everyone some tea. If you like black comedy delivered with barely a drop of melodrama then this is your sort of film. There is even a happy ending of sorts.

Ian's rating 3.5/5

Love in a Puff

2010-07-21T10:12:00.008+12:00

Love in a Puff, which is the unfolding of the romance between Cherie (a cosmetics saleswoman) and Jimmy (who works in advertising), was made in Hong Kong. When I think of movies made in Hong Kong I think of Jackie Chan, martial arts and police dramas, so a romantic comedy was definitely a novelty. A romance born in an alley outside work amongst a group of smokers is also a first. The firsts kept coming - early on I remember thinking how refreshing to have the girl making the first moves. Cherie is older than Jimmy. A man who puts dry ice in the loo for kicks is definitely an exception to the rule. And it was great for us myopes to have a good-looking, glasses-wearer as the male lead.

The attractive leads, the witty dialogue and the incorporation of text messaging into the plot all work well and add to the watching pleasure. Smoking is a integral part of the plot, not just the title and the means of girl meeting boy. Cherie and Jimmy driving all over town the night before the tax on cigarettes goes up adds a comic and urgent element. Cherie's asthma is another important plot aspect.

Loathing smoking shouldn't keep you away. This a feel-good movie on lots of levels and the ending should keep all viewers happy.

Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 3/5

Animal Kingdom

2010-07-21T09:40:00.002+12:00

Melbourne is known for its shopping, trams, food, wine and criminal gangs. Animal Kingdom looks at a fictional crime family from the point of view of a seventeen year old boy. From this point of view things are not black and white. The people who nurture him are on the wrong side of the law. The police are not always on the right side of the law. There is a severe shortage of trust in this story, which provides much of the tension.

The story builds gradually as the focus moves gradually from one family member to another as different members take an interest in the silent Joshua, who mostly wants to be invisible. Once the police take an interest in him, Joshua finds that he can no longer take a passive role.

If you like dark, morally ambiguous thrillers then Animal Kingdom is a film you should see. If you prefer cheerful, morally black and white films then it is a film to avoid.

Ian's rating 3.5/5

The Housemaid

2010-07-20T09:53:00.009+12:00

Last year we had a Chilean view of the master servant relationship. This year we have the South Korean view. This Korean view centres on exploitation of servants and the dangers posed to powerless servants by malicious employers. The story is about a young maid hired by the very rich Hoon family. The Hoon household consists of the piano playing Mr Hoon, the very pregnant Mrs Hoon, their little daughter and long time servant Mrs Cho. When things go wrong the extremely vicious mother in law joins the family.

Like The Maid, The Housemaid is about a world that will seem odd to most Kiwis, but whereas the Chilean film is about a middle class family we can identify with, the Korean film is about a family that is too rich to identify with, and who's casual arrogance is jaw dropping.

The film builds up from a chaotic, almost plotless beginning, focusing itself through the series of event that lead to the climax. Technically the film is very stylish with arty shots of the Hoon's house and lifestyle, and clever touches of humour. But I think it largely misses in engaging a Kiwi audience (though it may play better at home), and it finishes with a confusing scene that seems both unnecessary and out of place with the rest of the film.

Ian's rating 3/5
Anne's rating 2.5/5

Four Lions

2010-07-19T13:11:00.006+12:00

Going to a comedy about four incompetent British Muslim would-be terrorists seemed an attractive proposition to me and Wellingtonians obviously agreed, since the Sunday night showing was totally full. Apart from wanting to be amused, there was also the curiosity about how the subject matter would be handled and who would find it offensive.

A reviewer quoted in the film festival programme said Four Lions was In the Loop meets Paradise Now and having seen both of those movies I'd agree - but that comparison doesn't give you the full picture. Throw in Mr Bean (for the painful cringe-making type of humour) and Inspector Clouseau (for the slapstick and added stupidity) and you'll have a better idea.

The Four Lions want to stage a suicide bombing. The film documents their arguments about what to bomb (Barry the white muslim convert wants to bomb the local mosque and one of the others wants to bomb the internet), their attempts to video their explanation of their actions, two of them going to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan, their agreement on the London Marathon as their target, and their explosive making efforts.

There's a lot to make you laugh in Four Lions and as much to make you groan - the silly stuff like swallowing the car keys so the others are forced to hotwire the car to get to the airport, running through London in an Ostrich suit, strapping explosives to a crow, and the philosophical stuff like why your concept of paradise is so strong that you'd want to give up a beautiful wife and a charming son to get there early and why you'd think that women are second class citizen. And then there's the inescapable fact that the dynamics of four not-very-bright men trying to organise anything is just bound to be funny.

One reviewer suggested that the point of the film was that most terrorists were incompetent so we shouldn't we worried about them and I disagree entirely. The purposes of the film that occurred to me are that there's often humour to be derived from serious subjects, that even stupid terrorists are dangerous - and not only to themselves, and that terrorists are just ordinary people with unusually strong convictions.

Four Lions is a comedy that will take you a bit outside your comfort zone, so cast political correctness aside and go and watch it.

Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 4/5

The Loved Ones

2010-07-19T12:55:00.011+12:00

Two boys: a funny one and a sullen one. Three girls: a good one, a bad one and a misunderstood one. The end of the year school dance. Girl gets boy... but which boy? And which girl?

One boy learns that the hospitality of outback folk can be painful, inventive with household objects and difficult to escape from. Though he might have been pre-warned if they taught William Congreve in English class. The other boy's evening doesn't go to plan either.

This is a good film to test your squeamish levels with, as this is a surprise and violence horror movie rather than a suspense one. While it is difficult for horror movie makers to avoid formula in the structure of their films Sean Byrne has been inventive in the detail of implementing the formula. It is also an equal opportunity horror movie, the girls are not scream queen victims, in fact for most of the film they drive the action. So if your date is up to it, lock away all sharp objects, make sure you are on good terms with all your ex's, dress up and see this film in a cinema where you can share a sofa and you can hold more than each other's hands.

Did I mention the father-daughter relationship that will be seared on your brain as much as the unspeakable things that happen to the hero?

Ian's rating 4/5

(I advise against seeing the trailer for this film as it gives too much away)

The Marvellous Corricks

2010-07-18T22:50:00.005+12:00

I was suspicious that this was going to be a mockumentary - like Forgotten Silver, but I was mistaken, it was the real deal. The Corricks were a real family of vaudeville performers who bought a projector and later a camera and showed films as part of their act, starting in NZ and moving onto Australia and then a world tour.

This was a showing of nine of these films from before 1910, with a piano accompaniment and a narration. The narrator not only described the action but between reels he talked about the Corricks and early film making and projecting, in the age before the film industry and the cinema evolved from chaos into something resembling what we have today. One of the films was so odd that it wasn't even vaguely clear what the story was supposed to be. There were flowers that turned into women who then turned a man into a flower. Apart from the travelogs (including one about London in 1904 without a single motor vehicle or even a tram), most of the films had some form of special effects. It seems that the early film makers were more interested in what was possible than telling stories.

The narration was initially a little wooden but that aside I would recommend this to anyone interested very early films.

Ian's rating 2/5

The Myth of the American Sleepover

2010-07-17T22:32:00.008+12:00

We were lured into going to this film (which is a late addition to the festival) today by a 2 for 1 ticket offer and we should have resisted the temptation. It was a slow-moving story about how assorted bunches of American teenagers spend the last night of the summer vacation. They're all supposed to be at single sex sleepovers but they go AWOL to fraternise with the opposite sex and drink a lot. The brochure blurb suggested a charmingly nostalgic tale of adolescence, but that isn't what was delivered.

It is perhaps not surprising that a film with the word myth in the title is unbelievable. Ludicrous, even. Given the quantity of alcohol that was consumed, nobody seemed worse for wear - there was only one delicate vomiting episode from which the victim recovered incredibly quickly. Not only did no-one appear drunk, there was no bad language, no breakages and they all drove or walked all over town in the middle of the night and came to no harm. There was no sexual aggression or unwanted groping and I found it amazing that not only did one boy say "can I kiss you?" or "I want to kiss you" before doing it but they all did. All the characters were ridiculously articulate.

Just to round out my list of gripes, the film was a funny colour - sort of faded. Perhaps this was supposed to add to sense of nostalgia that the maker was trying to cultivate, but I just found it irritating. And while it was clearly supposed to be set on a balmy summer evening, it just didn't look warm.

Anne's rating 2/5

This film followed a cute Kiwi short film about young boys breaking into an old house in search of Playboy magazines. By comparison The Myth of the American Sleepover was filmed with a faded looking colour cast. This plus the timeless fashion might be intended to give the film a nostalgic look but really nostalgia is better achieved by picking a subject the viewers are familiar with and emotionally attached to. Unfortunately alcohol and chasing the opposite sex were not part of my teenage years, so I am probably not the target audience for this film, and it didn't win me over.

I agree with Anne about how impervious to alcohol these teenagers seemed to be. I wasn't as irritated by the film as Anne was but it isn't a film I'd recommend.

Ian's rating 1.5/5

Once Upon a Time in the West

2010-07-16T23:40:00.000+12:00

Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow is not only a dance rhythm, but also the rhythm of Once Upon a Time in the West. The film switches back and forth between slow sequences where nothing seems to happen and explosions of violence.

The opening scene, with its irritating noises (squeaky water pump, buzzing fly, etc) and lack of dialogue is one of cinema's best remembered opening sequences. It is also the first hint that Sergio Leone might be playing with us. The harmonica that seems to be part of the score until one of the characters notices it in a way that seems like he is breaking the fourth wall in an unusual way, is the confirmation that Sergio Leone is using all his skills to tell this story with as much flare as possible. In fact the story is secondary to the way it is told. The whole plot seems to be his MacGuffin. This is the Western as style rather than substance. The sun, heat, lack of water and women, the machismo, the ritual of the gunfights, the division of labour between the toiling (and cowardly) workers and the otherwise idle gunslingers, violence as a means of decision making, the lack of consequences for some actions and fatal consequences for others.

That said, the two plots are presented as mysteries. We know who is being killed and who is killing but the motives are only gradually revealed, one motive being kept secret until the final scenes.

The humour is laconic and dry.

Frank: How can you trust a man who wears both a belt and suspenders? The man can't even trust his own pants.

Or more famously:

Harmonica faces three gunmen at the railway station.
Harmonica: Did you bring a horse for me?
Snaky: Well... looks like we're...
[snickers]
Snaky: ...looks like we're shy one horse.
Harmonica: You brought two too many.

The largely imperturbable Jill (Claudia Cardinale), the lone female character around which all the gunfighters orbit like comets, has to put up with men who range from patronising, to non-PC, to misogynistic. Unfortunately she isn't given much acting to do. The orbiting men played by Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson and Jason Robards are all menacing, ruthless dominating characters. In particular Charles Bronson's cool, quiet, unbelievably fast shooting harmonica player is the best I have seen him act.

I think Sergio Leone must have had a passion for blue eyes, given the number of lingering close ups of staring blue eyes (especially Henry Fonda's).

Ian's rating 4/5

Predicament

2010-07-16T23:35:00.006+12:00

The Film Festival's Wellington season kicked off tonight with the New Zealand Premiere of Predicament which is the film of a novel by the same name. This black and comic tale is set in 1930's Taranaki,and it's teenager hero is named Cedric. He is a slightly anorexic-looking version of Harry Potter and he and the movie have a kind of story-book yesteryear charm - think Boys' own annual, or possibly the Famous Five, and then try to imagine how either of those might try to handle a tale involving murder and sex.

It's school holidays and Cedric becomes acquainted with an unemployed petty criminal named Mervyn and his creepy but hilarious side-kick, Spook. They hatch a plan to blackmail some unfortunate locals, particularly the property developer who ripped off Cedric's Grandmother. As the plan is executed Cedric wrestles elaborately with his conscience about his level of participation and anything that can go wrong does go wrong. You'll have to go and see the movie to find out what happens but I can promise you a wholesomely happy, if somewhat cunning, ending to an unwholesome tale.

Predicament doesn't take itself very seriously. It makes fun of all sorts of things, and all kinds of movie genres but especially thrillers and detective stories. There is gloriously deadpan humour, some slapstick physical comedy and some "lets zoom-right-in-your-face" camera work.It is very atmospheric and the dialogue is witty. Spook (played by Jemaine Clement) is a joy to watch and listen to - he materialises from nowhere and almost steals the show.

I could happily watch this movie again tomorrow - I feel there's plenty more to appreciate than I took in in one viewing.

Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 3/4

Peaceful Times

2010-05-02T17:00:00.005+12:00

Like Boy, Peaceful Times is a narration of a particular childhood told from the point of view of one of the children, and like Boy it's a comedy with dark undertones.

The particular childhood is that of one of the two school-age daughters in a family who have escaped from East Germany to West Germany in the 1960's. Their father (Dieter) is thriving in his new environment, their Mother (Irene) isn't. She has difficulty making friends, pines for her old lifestyle and worries constantly about West German germs (I'm not kidding!), the Russian Army invading and what her husband is doing while he's out. It's as if she has agoraphobia and West Germany is outdoors.

The parents argue often, and the girls conclude that the family would be better off if their parents were divorced, so they conspire to make this happen. One of my favourite scenes was the girls tying their little brother to a chair and brow-beating him into colluding in their scheme.

The fundamental question of the film is whether Irene's neurosis is too much for her marriage to bear, though there's no question that her husband and children love her profoundly. A trip back to East Germany for Irene when her mother dies is a make-or-break experience.

Peaceful Times is a tremendously likeable film. The characters are engaging and the costumes and sets and attitudes conjure up the sixties perfectly. For a film that revolves around relationship struggles it is very good-humoured and easy to watch.

Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 3/5

Boy

2010-04-28T16:27:00.007+12:00

Boy is one of those rare things - a New Zealand film that's doing well at the box office (a week ago it had almost made as much money as Sione's wedding), that doesn't take itself too seriously and that isn't (too) black. It's comedy, and while it has tragic undertones you don't have to dwell on those if you don't want to.

Boy has been described as a coming of age movie but I think it's more a "this is what my childhood was like" movie. It's told in a very matter-of-fact way and part of its charm is that the boy narrator seems completely unconscious of what an amazing story it is - how an eleven year-old whose mother is dead and whose father is in prison can be left in charge of four younger siblings and cousins while their care-giver grandmother goes to a tangi in Wellington. Boy draws us a very vivid picture of life in a mainly maori community not far from East Cape in the 1980s where normality is no-one having any money, having a more intimate relationship with your pet goat than with your father, your friends having picking marijuana as their after school job, and being fascinated with Michael Jackson. Boy is the aforementioned eleven year old and his little brother Rocky (who might or might not have magic powers) is an almost equally important character

Into this normality comes Boy's father(Alamein), who roars onto the scene in a big black Chrysler Valiant with two fellow gang members (this gang affiliation is not to be taken too seriously since the three of them are all the members!) with the intention of finding the proceeds of a robbery that is buried in a field near his mother's house. And the crux of the story is Boy adjusting to the real Alamein, after having had a fantasy father figure for the last seven years. Alamein introduces Boy to drugs and alcohol with almost tragic results, and Boy finds the buried money with differently tragic results.

There are lots of things to love about this film - the cars, the clothes, the child actors, the dialogue and the accents. On of my favourite scenes was Boy serving his father and fellow gang members cups of tea in the Chrysler and another was Boy doing battle with the school floor polisher which was almost as big as he is. The finale (a Michael Jackson dance number which involves almost the entire cast) is a particular gem.

Watch the trailer here

Anne's rating: 4/5

The White Ribbon

2010-04-15T16:46:00.020+12:00

At the start of "The White Ribbon" the narrator tells us that this is a story of strange events he doesn't fully understand but feels they explain what happened to Germany in the 20th century. If you were late finding your seat and missed this bit you'd think you were watching a particularly convoluted series of revenge mysteries in a small uptight north German village, where the most high tech thing in the village is the Baron's bicycle.

The narrator is the school teacher in a village where the biggest employer is the local Baron who employs most of the small village during harvest time. A fatal accident and a series of attacks (most of which look like revenge attacks though it not always clear who carried them out and why) disturb the life of the village. As events unfold we get to know various people's unsavoury secrets. Despite appearances this village is far from idyllic.

Inexplicably the children of the village seem to know more about what is going on than the adults, though they don't let on what. It seems that I was not alone in being reminded of Village of the Damned. But this film is full of red herrings, and I am sure most people will feel cheated by the end, as the director Michael Haneke is deliberately subverting our expectations of how films should work.

In addition to all the mystery, violence and secrets there is a cute love story between the school teacher and the Baron's children's young nanny, including a priceless meet the family scene.

I suspect everyone left the cinema with a different idea of how (or if) the film tied in with German history. That said, it is a very nicely made film -- filmed in colour apparently but turned into harsh but beautiful black and white during post-production.

Watch trailer here.

Ian's rating 3/5

Cairo Time

2010-04-15T13:22:00.006+12:00

An unplanned romance between a beautiful blonde 50+ year old Canadian woman and a somewhat younger and equally good looking Westernised Egyptian while the former is at a loose end in Cairo seems a likely synopsis for a shallow chick-flick or date movie. But Cairo Time fails to deliver. Patricia Clarkson is a good actor and she does a great impression of jet lag, but she unfortunately keeps it up for the entire film. She is also saddled with a character that is too neurotic and selfish to be engaging and her relationship with her husband doesn't make sense. He is a UN official in charge of a refugee camp in Gaza but she shows a complete lack of understanding of what that means. There are other irritating inconsistencies. At the beginning of the film she is followed and jostled by men when she walks the streets alone. Later she walks alone unmolested.

Alexander Siddig as Tareq does a reasonable job as a man comfortable both in the ways of the West and in the slower life of Egypt, but he does seem somewhat detached from both. He is conveniently without family, friends or much in the way of job commitments.

All of this might be forgiven if there was some chemistry between the lead characters. Even that is missing and the script doesn't help here. It meanders along without much direction or plot. A few unconnected things happen but don't amount to anything. This includes a promising sub-plot of Tareq's ex-girlfriend reappearing.

On the plus side Cairo looks good. The early scenes are especially good at summing up the crowds, noise, traffic and buildings. But all this is lost in later scenes when the streets are often empty, and a lot of the street noise is replaced by music. The Pyramids naturally play a big part in the film and there is some nice filming in an unnamed mosque and a bit of desert, but there are plenty of other sights in Cairo that could have been used to give viewers more of a taste for the city but in fact for much of the film it is an anonymous backdrop and could have been any large 3rd World city.

Watch trailer here.

Ian's rating 1/5 Anne's rating 2/5

Endgame

2010-04-15T11:22:00.004+12:00

I suspect most people who have heard about Nelson Mandela know that the South African government held secret talks with him while he was still in jail. What I didn't know was that the ANC wasn't aware of what was being talked about and were suspicious that he would be pressured into some deal behind their backs (as they saw it). I also didn't know that Consolidated Goldfields (since bought by Hanson plc) were worried about their South African mines and started a parallel series of secret talks in the UK between the ANC and white South Africans with indirect links to the government. These talks were organised by Michael Young and are the subject of Endgame.

The film is structured around a slow moving build up to the talks; following Michael Young as he tries to find white people willing to talk and is dogged by less than subtle secret agents. The camera work here is jumpy in an unsubtle and (to my mind) unsuccessful attempt to create tension. Mid-section of the film follows the two sets of talks. One in a posh English country house and the other in a South African jail. This is less about the substance of the talks than the roles of Thabo Mbeki (as a sophisticated and unyielding negotiator for the ANC), Professor Willie Esterhuyse (under orders to negotiate nothing and act as a reluctant spy) and Dr Neil Barnard (head of the Nation Intelligence Service as spider in the middle). This is the most successful part of the film, capturing the ambiguities of the government trying to both destroy the ANC and talk to it and similarly the ANC trying to figure out if the government is serious about peace talks or if it is a divide and conquer strategy. The final act begins with P.W. Botha's stroke and things happen so quickly I found it slightly unsatisfactory. Almost like F.W. de Klerk comes to power and then a miracle occurs.

People sitting around a table talking is not a good subject for a film, but Endgame succeeds in bringing out the irony of negotiations between a powerful government and the representatives of the people it is subjugating. The government wants concessions from the ANC but any concessions by the ANC would lead to it agreeing to some special deal for whites.

Watch trailer here.

Ian's rating 3/5 Anne's rating 3/5

Transports Exceptionnels and Shapeshifter - Weekend Outdoor Culture

2010-03-10T14:03:00.009+13:00

Sometimes going for a walk can be just a little dull, especially if you've been wherever you're going before. On the other hand, the weather has been so nice lately that its a bit of a pity to stay inside in order to be amused. So the fact that there's been some good entertainment in the great outdoors recently seems noteworthy.

On the last Saturday in February we went to see Transports Exceptionnels,which was a free event in Waitangi Park, part of the International Festival of the Arts. This event has been described as Dance with the Digger and it features two talented Frenchmen -one to dance and one to drive the digger- accompanied by Maria Callas singing Opera. The digger was sourced locally and was particularly shiny and splendid-looking

Philippe Priasso the dancer brought a cat burglar to mind, probably because of the combination of graceful movement and wearing black leather gloves. He hung from the digger bucket in every possible way, he posed on the digger arm, he ran in circles apparently pursued by the digger rotating and lay on the ground in its shadow. It was beautiful, daring and original, and the sun shone while the crowd sat on the grass in a circle and cheered and clapped.Top-notch entertainment and on the walk home we had local youth leaping into the harbour en masse as a bonus.

Last weekend we we went to Shapeshifter which is an outdoor sculpture exhibition that's also part of the Arts Festival. Not free, but the entry fee of $5 is completely reasonable. Most of the exhibition is in Lower Hutt's Civic Gardens and a few things are in the Dowse over the road. Civic Gardens (which we'd never visited before) is nice, with lots of big trees and a somewhat murky stream.

We had a programme which helpfully told us what each work was called and who had done it and how much it cost and then usually some art-speak about the artist's message and inspiration which seems pretty pretentious to a philistine like me but it added to the amusement we derived from the whole outing. The sculpture varied from the completely recognisable (a marble satchel) to quite abstract (twisted strip of metal) and it made for a pleasant stroll with interesting things to look at.

The Road

2010-03-02T21:42:00.013+13:00

For a change the Wellington Film Society got a scoop on a new film due for general release on 18 March (courtesy of the Paramount). The Road stars Viggo Mortensen as a father protecting his son in a post-apocalyptic world. Post-apocalyptic films are almost genre of their own. Usually they are either a sub-genre of SciFi or Horror, but in this case it is more of a human interest drama.

The lead characters in The Road don't have names, they refer to each other as Papa and Son. The film centres around Viggo Mortensen's character's all consuming goal of keeping his son and himself alive after his wife has committed suicide in despair that civilization will never return and humanity will inevitably starve to death. It is unusually bleak for an American film. Things start badly and you are left in no doubt that they will not get better.

The future is not a nice place and you have to be prepared to put aside niceties to survive, but will that turn you into a bad person?

Father and son are travelling somewhere ("south to the coast") but it doesn't matter as the father knows it is a futile exercise. The question is: how selfish and inhuman do you have to be to survive in a world where they will be no new food? As the father is driven to more and more extreme acts to survive, his distance on the moral spectrum from the cannibals at the other end is getting shorter and shorter, and his son's questions become his conscience. The latter is an interesting device. Which doesn't entirely make sense, given that the boy (a foetus when the catastrophe happened) has never known our pre-apocalyptic society and moral values.

I am in two minds about the ending as to whether it is a cop-out or a useful shock to underline message of the film and possibly undermine the inevitability of the moral journey. Either way iI think it was clumsily done. This may seem vague and hand-wavy but I don't want to give away too much about the ending in case you go and see it.

Like Where the Wild Things Are the plot is a light for a full length feature film but given that this film has to take you on an emotional and moral journey into the despair of its characters it probably needs most of the 11o minutes to get the audience there. The scenery, lighting and weather and other CGI effects all work to get you there. Winter in this film - grey, cold and muddy - is properly miserable.

Viggo Mortensen dominates the film and even Kodi Smit-McPhee (playing his son and constant companion) is effectively in a supporting role. There are cameo roles for Charlize Theron and Robert Duvall - the former representing a romanticised past (i.e. civilization).

Some of the filming was done on the Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike which I'd never heard of before, but looks like a useful place for film makers.

Ian's rating 3/5