Film Festival 2009: Day 15
There's a few more things to say about Dogtooth, I think. For example, the scenario seems unbelievable, but that kind of situation could just creep up. For example, if the father had some odd ideas about education and home-schooling; once he managed to convince the mother to stay at home, she'd no longer have any external feedback to tell her how weird the situation has become. And I was certainly reminded about the Austrian case (or cases?) where the father kept his daughter in a basement cell he built as a sex-slave -- I was grateful that nothing like that happened in the film.
I think that Steve would like the movie a lot.
* * *
It was interesting to see Eternal Moments the day after Picasso & Braque Go To The Movies, since I saw definite resonances. In this movie, a Swedish woman married to a philandering dock-worker takes a camera that she won just before her marriage to a photographer to sell; he convinces her to keep it, and start taking pictures, which she turns out to be very good at.
This is based on a true story, and one of the questions that is unanswered (and possibly can't be answered) is why she chooses to stay with her husband, even though he drinks, sleeps with other women, and threatens to kill her, when there's a lovely, caring and supportive man in her life. Her daughter, who is narrating the story; aks the same question... which might boil down to how much you're willing to forgive someone you love? Except... something in me says that if someone is violent towards you, maybe you have to walk away, even if you love them. Of course, it's easy for me to say that, being male, employed and having a supportive family.
Huh, I guess it shares a "controling fathers" theme with Dogtooth too, though in this case the father is only brutal physically, isn't as good at control, and eventually comes right.
But to get back to the resonance -- there's the idea of instantly capturing moments of time with photography, and being able to tell the story of a situation with a picture. There's one photo that they showed, with a drowned girl formally laid out for burial inside, while outside kids slightly scruffy in winter coats and hats peer in, misting the windows, while the light streams in behind them... maybe I'll have to see if I can find more of her photos online.
Some of the images in the film itself were simply beautiful, and kudos should go to the DoP -- in particular, one image of a couple, child and dog walking through the sunlit forest made me think of some of the Impressionist paintings that were recently exhibited at Te Papa, while the shot of the person cradling the horses head made me think of the paintings when they're just staring to experiment with shadow properly... I wish I knew more about painters, so I could describe this stuff.
I'm glad I went.
* * *
Just came from Rachel, a documentary about a US peace activist who died in Palestine, almost certainly because an Israeli armoured bulldozer ran her over. The documentary maker interviewed many people on both sides of the conflict (the Israeli coroner, the Palestinian doctor who treated her initially, the MP in charge of the investigation, the activists who were there, and the written testimony of the soldiers, as well as what was identified as some of the radio chatter from the unit at the time), but it was fairly clear where the film-maker's sympathies lay.
I think... that it's certainly true that she would be alive if she had stayed at home, barring accidents. But she'd also be pretty alive if someone hadn't driven a bulldozer over her. And I think that it's likely that the Israeli military lied about there being a 3m-high mound between the bulldozer and the activist, so that there was no way that the bulldozer could have seen her; but I'm not absolutely convinced that it wasn't a horrible accident caused by inattention, either.
That's not to say it definitely wasn't deliberate -- they interviewed a former tank soldier who talked about shooting buildings in order to clear them, and shooting water tanks at night because it looked awesome in the night-vision scope. And about how some of the more lenient commanders would let them shoot the guns for fun, instead of just on the hour; and that he knew that some of the people he killed were innocent, and that he saw no conflict at the time between his actions and his religion; and while he thought that what he did then was wrong now that he was a civilian, he didn't think that he could promise that he wouldn't do it again if put in the same position. People under pressure can do evil things, and when you're not sure whether you're doing the right thing, it can be easier to lash out at the people who are telling you off.
Unfortunately, it seems like this sort of situation (with foreigners protecting Palestinians with their bodies) means that some of those foreigners are eventually going to get killed -- the soldiers can't stop following their orders, the activists can't back down, and the people giving the orders don't see the activists directly, and have agendas that don't allow them to stop. And the international media don't care until someone pretty or sympathetic dies. But I don't know what a good answer might be.
I thought the documentary was pretty well done, although there was a white guy (one of the activists interviewed) rapping over the end credits about what happened, which occasionally worked, but was mostly cringe-worthy (just because it was so very white).
I don't think I need to watch it again.
* * *
Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl was quite interesting as a film experience, even if it didn't totally work for me as a film. They managed to make it feel very much like it was made in the seventies, with quite a warm yellow grading; and the most camera movement we got was a slow pan. Indeed, many of the shots had no camera movement at all: it was set in place to frame things very particularly, and the actors would walk into shot and come to rest, and most of the film was languid mid-shots. The acting, language and plot was even more mannered and old-fashioned -- which isn't surpising, since it's lifted directly from a 19th century short story. But the setting was obviously modern, with characters talking about prices in Euros, and the accountant working at a computer with an LCD monitor.
The story was fairly simple -- a young man is being set for a rest-cure by his uncle, and while on a train he pours out the story of why he needs to be sent to a stranger, a woman sitting next to him. (The shot just prior to this was really well done -- we see a man clipping the tickets, looking up the carriage. He does everyone (while credits show), and moves to the next cabin. The shots stays for a while, and without it being obvious, our eyes are drawn to the only people whose faces are fully visible, in the lower-left of the shot -- these turn out to be the people who will be our framing characters. I guess the director being 101 this year, he's learned a trick or two.)
The following paragraph is spoilerific; I'll try to hide it, but you should be able to see by selecting it. The young man falls in love with a girl he sees across the street; he is working for his uncle, and asks his uncle's permission to marry, but is abruptly refused without being given any reason. He leaves, and is unable to find work, until he's offered a dangerous job in Cape Verde by a man he met while getting to know the girl. He makes his fortune, returns to marry the girl; and then loses the money while acting as guarantor for the man who got him the Cape Verde job. He is offered a chance to go back to Cape Verde and make his fortune again, but his uncle takes him back in, allows him to marry, and all is well; except he finds out while buying an engagement ring (and pearl earrings) that his fiance is a kleptomaniac (as has been hinted throughout the film), and so he bitterly breaks it off with her; which brings us to the train and rest cure.
An interesting film to look at, and possible a good film to study; I wish it had been more gripping to watch.
* * *
I was in the Paramount for Goodbye Solo, in row L. This mean my knees were un-bruised, but I was very worried about wiggling my row or crunching the knees of the woman behind me -- this meant that my heels actually had pins and needles by the end of the film, and my back and bum are aching.
Physical complaints aside -- an enjoyable film. A Senegalese cab driver with dreams of becoming a flight attendant realises that his fare, an old man, is booking him a couple of weeks in advance to drive to a place where he'll commit suicide. The cab driver, a garralous and friendly man, does his best to draw the old man back into life, while also trying to convince his wife that it's a good idea that he pursue his dream (she wants him to continue to drive a cab, since that means he'll be there to support her, rather than away for days at a time).
His wife's daughter is very well written and well played, but the stars of the show are Solo and the old man, a convincingly grizzled and surly William. I found Solo's accent a little impenetrable at first, but I think it helps that he's so ebullient that he repeats himself two, sometimes three times.
A story with a bit of a sad ending, but I liked it.
Now, for some stretches to try and put stop my back aching.
* * *
OSS 117 - Lost in Rio was a fun spoof of cheesy French spy films, with Nazis hiding in Brazil, rubber crocodiles, vengeful Chinamen, and a borderline racist, reactionary, mildly misogenist but charmingly oblivious French spy.
As a tribute to the excellence with which they created the look of an old film, there is one sequence where I thought, "They didn't have the CGI to make it look that good when this film was made; they must have been doing it practically!" Of course, it was made last year; but that's how well they simulated the look for me.
I found it funny, even though I missed some of the French puns; but it is very much Airplane funny, rather than something more subtle. I might try and find a copy of the first one.
I think that Steve would like the movie a lot.
* * *
It was interesting to see Eternal Moments the day after Picasso & Braque Go To The Movies, since I saw definite resonances. In this movie, a Swedish woman married to a philandering dock-worker takes a camera that she won just before her marriage to a photographer to sell; he convinces her to keep it, and start taking pictures, which she turns out to be very good at.
This is based on a true story, and one of the questions that is unanswered (and possibly can't be answered) is why she chooses to stay with her husband, even though he drinks, sleeps with other women, and threatens to kill her, when there's a lovely, caring and supportive man in her life. Her daughter, who is narrating the story; aks the same question... which might boil down to how much you're willing to forgive someone you love? Except... something in me says that if someone is violent towards you, maybe you have to walk away, even if you love them. Of course, it's easy for me to say that, being male, employed and having a supportive family.
Huh, I guess it shares a "controling fathers" theme with Dogtooth too, though in this case the father is only brutal physically, isn't as good at control, and eventually comes right.
But to get back to the resonance -- there's the idea of instantly capturing moments of time with photography, and being able to tell the story of a situation with a picture. There's one photo that they showed, with a drowned girl formally laid out for burial inside, while outside kids slightly scruffy in winter coats and hats peer in, misting the windows, while the light streams in behind them... maybe I'll have to see if I can find more of her photos online.
Some of the images in the film itself were simply beautiful, and kudos should go to the DoP -- in particular, one image of a couple, child and dog walking through the sunlit forest made me think of some of the Impressionist paintings that were recently exhibited at Te Papa, while the shot of the person cradling the horses head made me think of the paintings when they're just staring to experiment with shadow properly... I wish I knew more about painters, so I could describe this stuff.
I'm glad I went.
* * *
Just came from Rachel, a documentary about a US peace activist who died in Palestine, almost certainly because an Israeli armoured bulldozer ran her over. The documentary maker interviewed many people on both sides of the conflict (the Israeli coroner, the Palestinian doctor who treated her initially, the MP in charge of the investigation, the activists who were there, and the written testimony of the soldiers, as well as what was identified as some of the radio chatter from the unit at the time), but it was fairly clear where the film-maker's sympathies lay.
I think... that it's certainly true that she would be alive if she had stayed at home, barring accidents. But she'd also be pretty alive if someone hadn't driven a bulldozer over her. And I think that it's likely that the Israeli military lied about there being a 3m-high mound between the bulldozer and the activist, so that there was no way that the bulldozer could have seen her; but I'm not absolutely convinced that it wasn't a horrible accident caused by inattention, either.
That's not to say it definitely wasn't deliberate -- they interviewed a former tank soldier who talked about shooting buildings in order to clear them, and shooting water tanks at night because it looked awesome in the night-vision scope. And about how some of the more lenient commanders would let them shoot the guns for fun, instead of just on the hour; and that he knew that some of the people he killed were innocent, and that he saw no conflict at the time between his actions and his religion; and while he thought that what he did then was wrong now that he was a civilian, he didn't think that he could promise that he wouldn't do it again if put in the same position. People under pressure can do evil things, and when you're not sure whether you're doing the right thing, it can be easier to lash out at the people who are telling you off.
Unfortunately, it seems like this sort of situation (with foreigners protecting Palestinians with their bodies) means that some of those foreigners are eventually going to get killed -- the soldiers can't stop following their orders, the activists can't back down, and the people giving the orders don't see the activists directly, and have agendas that don't allow them to stop. And the international media don't care until someone pretty or sympathetic dies. But I don't know what a good answer might be.
I thought the documentary was pretty well done, although there was a white guy (one of the activists interviewed) rapping over the end credits about what happened, which occasionally worked, but was mostly cringe-worthy (just because it was so very white).
I don't think I need to watch it again.
* * *
Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl was quite interesting as a film experience, even if it didn't totally work for me as a film. They managed to make it feel very much like it was made in the seventies, with quite a warm yellow grading; and the most camera movement we got was a slow pan. Indeed, many of the shots had no camera movement at all: it was set in place to frame things very particularly, and the actors would walk into shot and come to rest, and most of the film was languid mid-shots. The acting, language and plot was even more mannered and old-fashioned -- which isn't surpising, since it's lifted directly from a 19th century short story. But the setting was obviously modern, with characters talking about prices in Euros, and the accountant working at a computer with an LCD monitor.
The story was fairly simple -- a young man is being set for a rest-cure by his uncle, and while on a train he pours out the story of why he needs to be sent to a stranger, a woman sitting next to him. (The shot just prior to this was really well done -- we see a man clipping the tickets, looking up the carriage. He does everyone (while credits show), and moves to the next cabin. The shots stays for a while, and without it being obvious, our eyes are drawn to the only people whose faces are fully visible, in the lower-left of the shot -- these turn out to be the people who will be our framing characters. I guess the director being 101 this year, he's learned a trick or two.)
The following paragraph is spoilerific; I'll try to hide it, but you should be able to see by selecting it. The young man falls in love with a girl he sees across the street; he is working for his uncle, and asks his uncle's permission to marry, but is abruptly refused without being given any reason. He leaves, and is unable to find work, until he's offered a dangerous job in Cape Verde by a man he met while getting to know the girl. He makes his fortune, returns to marry the girl; and then loses the money while acting as guarantor for the man who got him the Cape Verde job. He is offered a chance to go back to Cape Verde and make his fortune again, but his uncle takes him back in, allows him to marry, and all is well; except he finds out while buying an engagement ring (and pearl earrings) that his fiance is a kleptomaniac (as has been hinted throughout the film), and so he bitterly breaks it off with her; which brings us to the train and rest cure.
An interesting film to look at, and possible a good film to study; I wish it had been more gripping to watch.
* * *
I was in the Paramount for Goodbye Solo, in row L. This mean my knees were un-bruised, but I was very worried about wiggling my row or crunching the knees of the woman behind me -- this meant that my heels actually had pins and needles by the end of the film, and my back and bum are aching.
Physical complaints aside -- an enjoyable film. A Senegalese cab driver with dreams of becoming a flight attendant realises that his fare, an old man, is booking him a couple of weeks in advance to drive to a place where he'll commit suicide. The cab driver, a garralous and friendly man, does his best to draw the old man back into life, while also trying to convince his wife that it's a good idea that he pursue his dream (she wants him to continue to drive a cab, since that means he'll be there to support her, rather than away for days at a time).
His wife's daughter is very well written and well played, but the stars of the show are Solo and the old man, a convincingly grizzled and surly William. I found Solo's accent a little impenetrable at first, but I think it helps that he's so ebullient that he repeats himself two, sometimes three times.
A story with a bit of a sad ending, but I liked it.
Now, for some stretches to try and put stop my back aching.
* * *
OSS 117 - Lost in Rio was a fun spoof of cheesy French spy films, with Nazis hiding in Brazil, rubber crocodiles, vengeful Chinamen, and a borderline racist, reactionary, mildly misogenist but charmingly oblivious French spy.
As a tribute to the excellence with which they created the look of an old film, there is one sequence where I thought, "They didn't have the CGI to make it look that good when this film was made; they must have been doing it practically!" Of course, it was made last year; but that's how well they simulated the look for me.
I found it funny, even though I missed some of the French puns; but it is very much Airplane funny, rather than something more subtle. I might try and find a copy of the first one.