Day One

Film number one today was Footnote which I got up bright and early to go and see at 1.30pm at ACMI. Not the most comfortable seats for the first film of the day, and I was off to the side, but what a great film. From director Joseph Cedar, this film is comedy meets family feud, a tale of unappreciated hard work, heartbreaking mistakes and a rivalry between father and son. We're given all of the facts from opposing points of view in this film, shown the creed of each character and left with the decision of a lifetime for Eliezer; will he or won't he? A beautifully written film, a wonderfully hilarious jaunt, but boy do Israeli people talk fast. Those subtitle's were flying thick and fast, don't stay out late the night before you see this film.

I wasn't so lucky with my next film. I stayed in ACMI cinema 2 so I picked prime positioning for Silence Of Joan the story of the betrayal of Jeanne D'Arc when the French handed her over to their enemies the English, for a sum, to be executed at the stake as a witch. I thought Clemence Poesy did well with the material she was given but that didn't save this film for me. The cinematography was cheap and tawdry and made the whole thing feel like a bad tele-movie, complete with weird slow motion sequences of seemingly random details, non-sequitur sequences featuring unrelated characters and weird inter-titles. I wish I had have fallen asleep in this film but I didn't hit the hump until the next film.

Le Havre told the wonderfully sweet tail of a poor old man who once lived the Bohemian lifestyle and now cleans shoes for a living while his wife, whom many believe to be too good for him, stays home cleaning and cooking and awaiting his return. When his wife becomes ill and takes leave of her homely duties to spend some time in the hospital, our hero shoe shine man takes an illegal immigrant under his wing and with the help of his friends in the small French port town of Le Havre successfully hides him from the police and raises enough money to help the boy across the sea to England where the rest of his family are waiting. A sweetly told tale of the warmth and humanity, the fact that I fell asleep for a portion of the film is no indication of it's quality, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment, the characters were true and delivered a gentle twist on the issue of illegal immigration.

Face to Face I chose simply for the fact that it's an Australian film but I really thoroughly enjoyed it. A simple, contained story of a group of work mates and family called together to have a discussion regarding a disgruntled employee who maliciously rams his car into his boss' right out the front of his own home. You may think you have all the characters worked out at this point but as the layers of the onion are peeled a bizarre (and true if you can believe) story unravels to reveal workplace revelry gone wrong, lying, cheating, pranking and more. a wonderfully delivered tale that is simple, funny and full of wonderful performances, including a pitch perfect Matthew Newton as the mediator of discussions. some of the issues may seem like they would have upset him considering his recent misgivings, but this film is a wonderful example of just how good Australian comedy/drama can be when you have a good writing team that don't get bogged down in the bullshit so many of them do, trying too hard for action or a laugh and not letting it just happen organically. I skipped out on the q&a to see my next film.

Hobo With A Shotgun is a crazy, wild, action packed gore fest. Crazy gratuitous gore, terrible acting, terrible dialogue, and totally new and inventive ways to die. With lines like "baby you make me do hot I wanna cut off my dick and rub it all over your face", you know you're in for a guilty pleasure. Not as good as the recent grindhouse spoofs flying onto cult cinema screens around the world such as Tarantino's Death Proof or Rodriguez's Planet Terror and Machete, or even the MIFF 2008 hit Black Dynamite but this film sprung up from a trailer competition run by Rodriguez for SXSW and has all of its roots in bad, grindhouse spoof origins so you really can't expect great quality. I normally love this kind of film however there was something missing that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe it was the fact that this was a predominantly Canadanian production and for some reason the can't do bad good, maybe it was the poor cinematography HD cinematography that let it down, maybe it's because there wasn't enough of the hobo using his shotgun, or maybe it's because the trailer was better. But if you love ridiculousness and Rutger Hauer then you'll love this film.

Pick of the day
I'm going to go with Footnote, it was a great start to the festival and I really felt for the characters. It was sweet and funny and I loved it.
Surprise of the day
Face to Face was hugely surprising. I don't generally go into Australian films with too many expectations, which left me pleasantly surprised by this one.
Film total so far
6