My final post about MIFF2016. These are the documentaries I enjoyed.
The Eagle Huntress
Wonderful story. Young girl supported by her family, especially her Dad, to become the first ever female eagle hunter. Wonderful scenery. WE are taken to the wilds of Western Mongolia – incredible vistas of steppes and mountains seen throughout the different seasons. Lush green pasture and snow covered landscapes. Incredible portraits of the hunters in all their regalia. The girl, Aisholpan, is wonderful. Round faced and rosy cheeked she meets every challenge set for her; and there are quite a few. Starting with convincing her father she is serious about taking over the role normally reserved for eldest sons, showing her commitment by working with his bird and then the biggest test of all – collecting her own bird from its nest. This means clambering down an almost vertical cliff face into the nest, with mother eagle hovering; capturing the chick (a misnomer – the thing was big and fierce); then getting it back up the cliff by wrapping it in cloth, hoisting it up to waiting father before clambering back herself. Then after training this bird, she’s off to the big eagle hunting contest. (Spoiler) The outcome never really in doubt but fun to watch the whole thing; amazing! Her achievement is passed off by the old guard hunters (resplendent in their animal furs and feathers) as driven by political correctness and / or the needs of the tourist industry. They’ll only be convinced if she succeeds in actual hunting with her bird. So on she goes. Into the cruel white winter world. Amazing. A wonderful glimpse into a very different culture.
Sour Grapes
The world of high finance and wine auctions for those who have more money than sense. I found it hard to be sorry for any of those taken down by the ambitious Rudy Kurniawan who is currently in gaol and refusing to say anything about this extraordinary tale. He’s an energetic, and seemingly charming hustler of mysterious heritage; Indonesian or Chinese. We see the wine cellar of one of the three Koch brothers (this one is not overtly involved in politics). Obscene wealth. There are two people in the film Industry – a producer and a director – who still can’t believe Rudy was a crook. Despite the evidence presented in court of what was found in his suburban LA home. The carefully selected used bottles of expensive wines (used as templates for his counterfeit ones), stacks of used bottles and corks collected from restaurants, reams of freshly printed labels from all the French wine houses, and the hand written recipes used to achieve the same taste and nose to fool the sharpest critics (e.g 1/3 merlot, 2/5 cab etc.) A fascinating glimpse into how people who have too much money live. The only person I felt sorry for was the French wine maker who turns up at an auction demanding the withdrawal of wines that he know are fake. “Like Banquo ‘s Ghost”, someone said. Very dignified, well turned out, charming; in short very French. His interest was protecting his reputation and as he put it, the hard work of everyone involved in producing his wine. We see him back home thanking his workers for all of the hard work involved in producing another great vintage. He rumbled the scheme when he saw one of his wines in an auction catalogue bearing the wrong date. And so he became the star witness. An experience he recounts in the film. Articulate talking heads; everyone involved either as victims, wine experts, investigators or prosecutors; and the right footage; including some historical clips of Rudy at work charming his fellow wine buffs, make this a rewarding documentary.
Janis: Little Girl Blue
Such a sad documentary. Great footage of Janis; there’s obviously quite a lot of material out there. Interviews with her former band members give lots of insights into her life. One wonders what she would have thought of their interpretation. That’s what happens when you die early – you leave it to others to interpret you. As W H Auden says in his great poem, In Memory of W. B. Yeats, “The words of a dead (wom)man, are modified in the guts of the living “. I thought of this while listening to her former band members talk about her. The public mockery endured at school. The sense of always being an outsider. Should these things define her? I think not. The poor Janis trope is even reflected in the title of this film. I always thought she was fantastic. Both her music and her behaviour. So feisty. She was her own woman and I think she was strong. She certainly comes across that way in all of the direct interviews with her that are screened here and also in her letters to her family. It does appear that her death was completely unintentional – just a hit gone wrong. It’s shocking that she had only two and a half years of fame. She packed a lot in. Leonard Cohen doesn’t come out of it well; in an interview she says she got nothing back from him. I will hear his Chelsea Hotel a little differently now.
Everything Is Copy
A documentary about Nora Ephron made by her son, Jacob Bernstein. This is another film where there is plenty of footage (or ‘copy’) but one is left wondering whether those interviewed have their own agenda. It’s all in the selection of talking heads and how it is put together. We know Carl Bernstein has a particular perspective! Still it was great viewing and I enjoyed it. Another feisty woman. There wouldn’t be many who could do what she did. Exact such revenge on her cheating husband by writing a best seller. I loved Heartburn. According to Meryl Streep who played her (Nora) the film was unsuccessful because Nora insisted that the Bernstein character (played by Jack Nicholson which seems appropriate) be completely black. No nuanced portrayal was allowed! That’s a fun fact. And illustrates her strong character; not many would have got away with ordering a director about like that. I didn’t see the film, but here is the trailer which seems to demonstrate Meryl’s point – certainly not much humour there. The book was side-splittingly funny.
I’m not sure that I would have liked her. As the title says, she took everything from her life and used it in her writing. It’s interesting that her son chose this title, and the ongoing theme of the documentary. She upset many of her friends by not telling them of her final illness and they were shocked to hear of her death. Which is sad I think, but who nows how one would react to a life threatening illness.
Zero Days
This was mesmerising. Cyber warfare. Early days but scary. Lots of very knowledgeable talking heads, including insiders from both the frontline, people actually doing it, and top level government advisers trying to work out appropriate responses. It’s happening all around us. How much damage could be inflicted on countries by this sort of warfare. The experts are pretty amazing and I like how they work collectively. They appear driven by the pursuit of knowledge; in the film this is the quest to understand a new and very complex virus called Stuxnet that they work out could only come from a nation state not an individual or group of individuals. But as one of the operatives says there is worse ahead; if not already happening. The film details how the US that held up Iran’s nuclear programme, maybe preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons through successful cyber interventions. Is this legitimate action by a nation state? It’s quite riveting film-making. There are clever graphics and real time footage from Iranian tv and interviews with people involved. There’s reference to attacks on the West’s financial system supposedly by China. More clever graphics help us understand how cyber viruses work and how our cheerful experts identify them. I was heartened by one of the government people interviewed who asserted that an international agreement could be forged to limit the use by nations of this form of warfare; after all this has been achieved in relation to nuclear and chemical weapons. Why not cyber? That hope seems forlorn at present. In fact all of the information in this documentary takes on a new dimension post the election of Donald Trump in America.
Cameraperson
A camerawoman in fact. She has put together fragments of films she’s made over the years and put them together as a sort of personal diary. I was in two minds while watching it but bits have stayed with me. There are lots of confronting moments. The worst is viewing the birth of a baby in Africa who needed oxygen to survive; available in every western hospital. The baby is left swaddled in a crib, without any attention apart from the camerawoman and her off-sider . Who eventually flee in search of someone to provide some care and attention to this new life. The nurse’s acceptance of the fact that there is nothing to be done is terrible to behold. There is a frightening episode outside a foreign (Iraq / Iran?) prison. She is filming from a taxi; the guards come over, they speed off. Sounds simple but you experience the dread. She interviews members of a family, a very old woman, young women, children, who endured the Serbian / Bosnian conflict . They insist (maybe she is sceptical) they didn’t experience any violence during the war. At the same time she is following European Court of Justice officials who are collecting evidence for prosecutions arising out of the war. They are interviewing women held in concentration camps in that same conflict. Their stories are harrowing. Then there is some family footage; of her mother, who has dementia, visiting her old family home and elsewhere. It is, like a diary, a bit of a mixture. The good, the bad, the mundane, the shocking. Watching, you get a good understanding of the life of a professional cameraperson and what it takes to get some of the footage that comes our way. A roller coaster ride.
Kedi
A lovely little film about how people living in Istanbul care for the large number of cats that live in the city. These cats are everywhere, as we noticed when we visited some years ago. We also noticed the piles of cat food that people put out in doorways and laneways. The film shows that this is a two way street; the humans look after the cats and kittens, and the animals give something back to the people. Not always affection. There are some cats with attitude! It’s often their choice whether they live on the street or in a home. The very different cat personalities are wonderful. Its also interesting to see the motivations of the people who care for them. It seems to cross all sorts of class and social division. Some people have had health problems. Some are lonely. But mostly they are just people living their ordinary lives who see a cat or kitten around and start caring for it. It seems it’s mostly the cats who adopt the people rather than the other way around. In some instances individuals provide care, at others people in a street or neighbourhood join together to do so. Sometimes businesses are the focal point. In one cafe all the tips are given over to getting vet care for the neighbourhood moggie. In another cafe a cat undertakes mousing duties. In yet another, in a flash part of town, and in a flash restaurant an imperious grey cat sleeps under or beside patrons and demands food (of the restauranteurs) by banging against the glass window. Humorous and heartwarming.
The Music of Strangers, Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble
I enjoyed this very much. this is because I enjoyed all of the the music, in particular some of the slower, laments and songs. We follow the backstories of a small number of the ensemble members. They are all interesting and some are heart breaking; stories of exile, exclusion and suffering. We see some a player’s reunion with his wife, accompany players back to their homes in China and Galatea. We accompany a player and his partner on a visit to refugee camps in Lebanon. Heartbreaking. We meet other amazing musicians the players make contact with. The most amazing of which is a rock and roll band made up of very old Chinese men who are eventually brought to America for a gig. Keeping different cultures alive despite lines on maps and the efforts of national governments is a common goal. We see the ensemble in rehearsal and in concert. We learn about some of the extraordinary instruments they play. This is interspersed with interviews with Yo-Yo Ma about his journey to classical musical stardom. This is his idea and what a great idea it is. Check out the album.
Don Juan
I was surprised to discover, after watching it, that this film was a documentary. It looks and feels like a feature film. Amazing footage if it’s real. It’s a Swedish/Finnish production but we are in Russia. An autistic boy, Oleg, is being subjected to lots of different ‘interventions’ by his mother One in particular, with some sort of psychiatrist, seemed incredibly cruel. Brutal scenes between his mother and grandmother; lots of talking about him as though he is not there. All these domestic scenes take place in the confines of a very small, and shockingly over furnished apartment. Claustrophobic. Oleg spends a lot of time pressed against the walls. Listening. There are intimate scenes with his mother; one in which he gives her a massage. All a bit confronting. From time to time he meets an older man, the ‘colonel’, a friend of his mother. There are some lovely shots of snow covered gardens. The colonel gives him mad advice about how to pick up girls. Acting sessions look to be one of the better interventions. The director is straightforward and the young people he works with are kind. Slowly he gains confidence enough to take on a role and to act in a love scene; he is Don Juan. One of the actors, a young woman, takes him under her wing. You hope life works out for him.
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