Day Six

First up today was the heartbreaking documentary Project Nim about the monkey brought up like a human and taught to use sign language. Nim is an absolutely adorable monkey and full of energy and personality, ripped away from his mother at birth and bought up in the house of a liberal hippy with lot's of children and a professor husband. Initially the film is a blending of quaint home movies of Nim's "childhood" and interviews with his "family". Nim's life was documented with amazing comprehension and filmmakers had a treasure trove of stock footage to tell Nim's story. The interviews were fantastic and the characters that emerged through these discussions were compelling. The film was composed chronologically so as each individual interview came to an end and the interviewee left Nim's life for good, for one reason or another, the camera panned away from them and lead into the next stage of his life, which I really loved as it made it a lot easier to keep track of all of the people coming and going from his life. The film became quite disturbing and incredibly sad. A fantastically heartbreaking tale of animal cruelty and a devastating warning for people who work with animals about how receptive and aware they are.

My next session was accidentally The Guard so in the morning I looked at the other films in the time slot and decided to see the Israeli film The Matchmaker, and I absolutely loved. The matchmaker is the incredibly sweet and moving coming of age story following the adventures of crime novel aficionado and 16-year-old Arik when in the summer of 1968 he is hired by a childhood friend of his father, Yankele, to spy on potential love matches at his matchmaking agency. When his best friends beautiful cousin comes to stay, love is in the air and his life becomes a lot like the plots of his favourite Dashiell Hammett books as he and his friends work to understand what Yankele actually does for a living and also understand what he and Arik's father went through in the Holocaust. The music and costumes are brilliant, I loved it.

Next up was the documentary Tabloid, exploring the bizarre life of Joyce McKinney, the "Mormon sex in chains" girl embroiled in a bizarre mystery in the late '70s. She is quite the character and I can see how this story captivated the attention of the British public so fervently. Some words I used in my post film notes were; insane, very dry, hilarious, twisted, unbelievable and utterly engaging. I don't want to say too much because although this story was huge in Britain at the time it never really got here, so part of the joy of the film is not knowing what is coming next. Errol Morris is an inventive story teller, presenting each perspective of the film but managing to make an uproarious tongue in cheek film that is incredibly enjoyable. McKinney is a lively, vivacious character and I was left thinking how nobody could write a person and a story so delicious as this.

In the same cinema again I picked the perfect spot to sit and saved a seat for my friend. I like watching all the people pile into the cinema, seeing how diverse the crowds flocking to the film festival are, and there were quite a variety of Melbournian film buffs coming to see the latest from Miranda July, The Future. I am not an avid follower of the bizarre career of Miranda July but I have seen Me and You and Everyone We Know and although it was weird and left me in an odd mood, in a weird way I enjoyed it. This one however felt completely unfinished, not as a film but as a script. The plot was bizarre and disconnected with intermittent voice overs from the perspective of a cat the leads were supposed to adopt. It did have some redeeming elements, such as the cat, but ended in an unresolved and unbelievable way (within the context of the film). I thought it was going in one particular direction and then went completely off the rails and I was left wanting more. If it had have gone where I'd thought I might feel differently but I actually hated it.

Pick of the day
The Matchmaker was just so beautiful and lovely and quaint and I absolutely loved it despite it being one of the "kids films". One of my favourite films from a previous film festival was Son of Rambow and that was a kids film too. Maybe I'm not as mature as I think.
Surprise of the day
Tabloid was just so outrageous beyond belief and was an absolute joy to watch, especially with such a receptive audience.
Film total so far
25

Day Five

Got out of bed in time to see my first one today, although I kind of wish I hadn't.
The Piano in a Factory was a sweet but unfocused tale of a working class man so desperate to hold on to his child after his messy divorce from his self absorbed wife that he asks his friends to help him make a piano so she can practice. Complete with non-sequitor musical sequences and shots that made little to no sense, panning away from the action mid sentence to focus on nothing in particular, not even anything beautiful, just nothing. But the film was very sweet, quite simple, lovely, but unfocused. An odd film for the beginning of the day that I found hard to pay attention to constantly, but at the heart of it the story was lovely.

I had a free space next so in the morning I booked in the Elvis/Ann-Margret 60s classic Viva Las Vegas as I have never seen the whole film start to finish and I really wanted to see some Ann-Margret big screen style. This film is a guilty pleasure of mine. OK, so I'm not even guilty about it, I LOVE THIS FILM! I love films with singing and dancing and gorgeous red heads outshining Elvis in his own film. If you haven't seen Viva Las Vegas, then shame on you. I haven't seen too many Elvis films but this one is great. Director George Sidney was already an old hand at musicals when he directed to two (secret) love birds in this rambunctious adventure, so you know you're in capable hands. Go and see this film. And fall in love with Ann-Margret. I dare you not to.

Next up I went an settled in for a double up at Kino, two doco's from the same era back to back, beginning with Bobby Fischer Against The World. Bobby Fischer became the undisputed king of chess after battling Russian and world champion Boris Spassky in Iceland. At the height of the Cold War this tournament was important for both the Russian's and the American's, and as stock footage of news updates showed, the outcome was so integral to the American people that the announcement of Bobby winning was the number one story on the news that day, even bigger than the Watergate scandal. The film was amazingly insightful and I had never heard of this guy before, but he was such a powerful figure of the 60s and 70s and the filmmakers had found so much footage. The latter part of the film focused on his eventual fall from grace and I found what they tried to fill the film with was inventive, as he was pretty underground and there was little footage to use. The world of chess baffles me and this film did wonders in explaining the mindset of people that excel in it.

I got a great middle back spot for Magic Trip and I absolutely loved it. The film was the result of Ken Kesey and his friends getting on a trippy looking bus, taking hallucinogenic drugs and driving across America to the World's Fair in New York in the 60s and film everything that happened along the way. Interviews with the people involved explaining, or trying to explain, what was happening on the screen gave a world of perspective to the experience. When they arrive in New York City they party with Allen Ginsberg; recordings of him reading his beat poetry give the film a real "things I love" vibe. I understand the Bono rolling into NY on a bus, ranting about freedom and acid and driving the cast of Across the Universe out to the mansion of weird, sterile, institutional East Coast acid heads and leaving some people behind now; that part of the film was meant to be these guys (although I don't see Bono as Ken, Kesey is much more charismatic and far less pretentious). I absolutely loved this film, including the insane ramblings of the real Dean Moriarty (I hated On The Road). If this gets a release I highly recommending seeing it, it is a fun filled journey and a great hour and a half of escapism.

Pick of the day
Magic Trip, it was just so much fun. In the notes I wrote right after the screening I wrote "love it love it love it".
Surprise of the day
Bobby Fischer Against The World was super surprising, I had no idea that someone who grows up in Brooklyn with a Jewish mother and a Jewish biological father could become such an anti-Semite.
Film total so far
21

Day Four

Today I decided to sleep in a bit, sitting in a perpetually dark room all day starts to get to you after a while, so I missed my first film which meant that I didn't have a film until 6.30 and could only fit two in for the day, and they were both Australian.

First up was 33 Postcards which I booked in purely based on the fact that I saw very few Australian films at last year's festival and I wanted to remedy that, and also it starred Guy Pierce and I love me a bit a Guy. The film was a sweetly dark tale of the nature of redemption and what, if anything, can you do to make up for crimes committed. A co-production between Australia and Japan the screening was attended by star Guy Pierce, who gave an outstanding performance. The film was a beautiful tale of the simplicity of human connection and the complicity of love. The films director was supposed to come to the screening too but was stuck in a hospital bed in New York after tripping down some stairs and breaking her neck. She sent an email through however thanking the film festival and apologising that the only thing that would keep her from coming did. The film was pleasantly surprising and just simply wonderful.

I can't say the same of the next film. Swerve was preceded by a rousing speech from some of the films stars and the director, leading me to believe we were in for an action packed outback thriller along the same lines as Wake in Fright or Road Games but instead what I viewed was a shambolic mess of plot, terrible acting and more and more ridiculous outcomes to simple problems. The characters were terrible, the premise was fine enough but the plot just completely lost it in the middle. I liked the twist at the end but that didn't make up for everything that happening in between. The film would have done well to take itself a little less seriously, but after the directors introduction it actually became embarrassing and I would have loved nothing more than to just leave. The film was laughable but with cast and crew in attendance it didn't seem appropriate. There is no more perfect word to describe this film with than 'lame'. A friend of mine attended a different screening without the intro and enjoyed it thoroughly as the audience was in bouts of rapturous laughter the whole time. If you see this film please do not take it seriously.

Pick of the day
33 Postcards was the best of the two, as you can tell. It is a beautiful film and definitely worth while.
Surprise of the day
My not being able to get out of bed. What a lazy git I am, and I think that the film I missed would have been really good.
Film total so far
17

Day Three

First of the day was a short film made up of clips submitted by Australians to Youtube for a project documenting the many experiences of an Aussie Summer. The first word I wrote in my notebook was "dreadful". The premise, as we know because this film precedes Life in a Day, is not exactly original, but the chosen sequence of clips are sometimes beautiful and poignant, sometimes amusing, sometimes amazing, often times a sad portrait of the decay of youth in this country. Obviously a portrait of Summer needs some partying and drinking, but as the clips show, some people, actually a lot of people, take partying too far. The repetition of certain clips indicates that there was a lack of material to work with, although without knowing what was submitted, it is hard to know what was omitted and I absolutely hated the product. It may not necessarily have been a case of misguided creative choices, but I can only judge what I see.

Life in a Day was the exact opposite. The filmmakers had over 4000 hours of content to work with and the result was awe-inspiring. The clips were submitted to Youtube by users from all over the world, displaying events from their day on July 24th last year, so it was only fitting that the premiere screening in Australia be played on July 24th 2011. The film was beautiful, brutally honest, often times scary, heart breaking, and sometimes disgusting. Shocking, hopeful, funny, amazing, truly a unique view of the world. If you want to see just how varied, how individual and how amazing this world truly is then see this film. It is absolutely incredible how much happens around the world in one day and some of the characters that appeared throughout were incredible. I loved it.

The Solitude of Prime Numbers started off well as a portrait of two emotionally scarred characters who through a series of misguided events become entwined in each others madness and just spun out of control. Little secrets about their past are revealed slowly throughout and the film jumps between the future and various moments in the future. The film got a little better as it went on and then just plateaued and then lost it all together. Once the major reveal occurred the film became a bleak portrait of two brutally flawed people who see nothing in their lives to cling to but their sadness, solitude and each other. I have seen films that better handle manic depression and in-distinguished mental illness so this didn't fly with me. I don't like being really depressed after watching a film.

13 Assassins was great fun, a perfect Samurai film if ever I saw one. Complete with a tyrannical, sadistic, murderous young lord who is threatening the peace that has been reached in Japan, it is up to a group of real Samurai to stop this bastard where he stands, for as he is the brother of the Shogun he is politically protected by the Samurai who believe that the Samurai's job is to protect the lord, not the people. A group of 13 are assembled and a plot is set in motion. Great action sequences, inventive ways to illuminate anonymous henchmen, dramatic, funny, pure evil bad guys, truly honourable good guys and a wonderful ending. The fight scene was epic and an absolute classic. I was put off at first because I could not read the subtitles due to a very tall man sitting in front of me and Greater Union 3 being the worst cinema ever, but I thoroughly enjoyed this film and would definitely watch it again.

Pick of the day
Life in a Day was just too good for words and left me with such an overwhelming feeling of joy and awe and sadness and "what am i doing with my life"ness that I couldn't help but keep thinking of it all day.
Surprise of the Day
13 Assassins, I'm not a huge Asian movie buff and I haven't seen too many Samurai films but I absolutely fell in love with the genre after seeing this one.
Film total so far
15

Day Two

Today started in the office. One of the projects I was coordinating required some supervision, unfortunately I missed a considerable chunk of my first film. However I did hear that the film messed up a bit (as 3D seems to do so often) so I wasn't too wigged about it. That meant that my first film of the day was Bunce.
Bunce is a short film written by Steven Fry. I love Steven Fry so it was an obvious choice for me but an enjoyable. I don't know for sure but seeing as the main character is referred to as Fry I assume this is a somewhat semi-autobiographical film about Steven's misadventures at boarding school as a child. Bunce refers to a new kid whom Fry takes under his wing somewhat and teaches him how to avoid the bullies whilst substantially expanding the boys vocabulary and showing him what not to do if you don't want to be in and out of the prinicipal's office (played by Fry himself with absolute precision). But Fry has ulterior motives and the film is a beautiful tale of misguided youthful abandon and friendship.

The Guard screened with Bunce and as I simply wanted to see Bunce I didn't read up on The Guard and was pleasantly surprised. The Guard is hilarious. I haven't laughed so much at a film since the final sequence of Hot Fuzz. The beginning is fast paced, unexpected and made the theater erupt into laughter. A perfect blend of humour, action, violence and drama, this film has everything. The characters are original, unaffected, refreshing and so, so, so funny. A small town cop becomes embroiled in a drug smuggling saga and does his best to help the FBI bust the mules. Starring Don Cheadle, Mark Strong and Mad-Eye Moody from Harry Potter, Brendan Gleeson as the greatest don't give a shit cop ever. It comes out in cinemas on August 25th and I will definitely be heading along to see it again. If you like a good laugh I suggest you do too.

Next up was the much anticipated Australian drama The Eye of The Storm, the Fred Schepisi adaptation of the 1973 novel by Australian Nobel Laureate Patrick White. Starring Geoffrey Rush, Charlotte Rampling and Judy Davis the film tells the tale of the two spoiled and un-appreciative children (Rush and Davis) of dying eccentric (Rampling), come home to ensure their inheritance is not being swindled by the house staff as their ailing mothers mind starts to unravel. An interesting story of flawed human character, with insightful but ultimately inconclusive flashbacks that reveal little about the reasons for their depravity, but perhaps add a little to the insecurity of Davis' foreign princess character. Schepisi's own daughter plays the sweet house nurse who stars in a very awkward sex scene with the twice her age Rush (directed by her father). With these people sitting in the row in front this screening was very awkward, but pretty good. I didn't love love love this film like I thought I would, but it was pretty good.

Next up was the quirky, odd, hilarious Spanish film Finisterrae, the tale of two Russian ghost, which as you can see in the picture are just two guys in sheets with eyes, who want to be mortal again and seek guidance on how to do this from a mysterious fire spirit who directs them on a journey to their goal. This is by far the most original road movie I have ever seen. At turns hilarious, bizarre and odd, this would have to be a highlight of the festival. The visual humour alone is enough to make you laugh until you cry but then they go so far as to read out, in their slow, deep, monotonous voice, all the credits from the actors, to the gaffers to the names of the animals who appeared throughout. Complete with a forest of trees with ears, an opera singing hippy, a stripteasing lady ghost and stuffed animals arranged into bizarre scenes in mysterious caves along their journey.

Last of the night was The Innkeepers which I saw with Volunteer Coordinator of MIFF 2010 Alex. I don't remember why I chose this film, maybe because it was billed as being Clerks meets The Shining. While I haven't seen Clerks, I know enough about it to know that this would be an interesting combination. The Innkeepers tells the tale of two hotel clerks whose hotel is about to close. They are paranormal enthusiasts and spend the last weekend working at the hotel trying to record proof that the hotel is haunted by the spirit of a bride who killed herself a hundred years (or there abouts) ago in the hotel after being stood up at the alter. The film is relatively predictable but still made me jump out of my skin. It is funny, scary, sweet, weird, the two leads are greatly unaffected and natural. I enjoyed the film, it was not altogether unexpected but full of great suspense. I was however left with a lot of unanswered questions which bugged me, but not enough to make it un-enjoyable.

Pick of the day
Finisterrae was so so funny and I spent the whole trip home acting out and remembering every moment of the film to my boyfriend in the hope that he would go and see the next screening.
Surprise of the day
The Guard, which I only booked in to see Bunce, but it was so laugh out loud funny and I absolutely loved it. SEE THIS MOVIE!
Film total so far
11

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

Opening Night

The opening night of the 60th Melbourne International Film Festival will be one I shan't easily forget (mostly because I got to go for free and rub shoulders with some of the coolest, best dressed, chicest film people in Melbourne) but also because of The Fairy. I'm sure many will agree that it was an odd film to open the festival with, but an enjoyable one none the less. Harking back to the simpler days of film when Monsieur Hulot waddling around and getting himself into mischief was enough to send a cinema full of people into hysterics, The Fairy is a quaint enjoyable romp full of visual gags, quirky characters, beautiful French scenery and oddness of the best European kind.
I don't care what everybody else has been saying, I love Tati, Keating and Chaplin, and I loved The Fairy. If you also love these directors then you will too. Specifically I loved the underwater dance sequence, the butch female rugby player musical sequence and the birthing scene.
But Opening Night is really all about the party and I'm pleased to say that Old Mout Cider, sponsors of the festival, were on hand with all their fancy flavours and therefore I wasn't bloated from too much beer or dry mouthed from too much wine (or risking a terrible morning after too much champagne). Andrew McClelland provided some funky beats for us all to dance to and with my trusty crew of Bacchus Marshians we took over the dance floor and danced the night away.
After being felt up by the sleezy Russian's from the MIFF trailer, taking more than enough free photo booth photos, talking to everyone I possibly could (and you think I'm talkative sober!), getting snapped by more than one photographer, receiving compliments for the dress I had only just finished making that day (one person even called it "outfit of the evening") and dancing so much I had to take my shoes off, we headed to Cherry for Soul Night where we continued to dance the night away.
I got snapped by one photographer as I was coming up the stairs at GU and it made the cut to be sent through, yay. I jumped a little as the flash went off because I was intently looking at someone I thought I recognised and didn't realise he was taking the picture. He asked if I was ok and I said I was fine then he looked at the picture and went "Woah, gorgeous". His words, not mine. But I do like it. I only wish I had a picture of my dress to show y'all.
Film total so far
1