And here are the rest of the films I saw at MIFF2021, from the comfort of my couch. Hopefully our last MIFF in lockdown. I’m not linking these to trailers, but they’d all be easily found on YouTube.
Coda
This is an American remake of a French film The Bélier Family that I’ve seen ages ago. I thought this remake – as often happens with American versions of European films – overdid the sentimentality. But when I checked the trailer for the original it seemed to follow the same script pretty consistently. But it did seem a bit schmaltzier. The only hearing member of a family, in this case with a fishing business, whose assistance is critical in running the business has to choose whether to stay or follow her dream of becoming a singer. The three people playing the deaf members of the family – Mum, Dad and brother – were all deaf in real life. The performances were all excellent; the story a bit of a cliché. But remember, at festival time I get super critical!
Girl/Museum
This was advertised as a guided tour through art history as seen through the female gaze – and a savvy, subversive rejoinder to the centuries of representation from the eyes of the male beholder. Which would have been great! It wasn’t quite that because the young girls doing the gazing were mostly too young to give that sort of critique. They were between seven and nineteen and were asked to speak to camera about what a painting represented to them. Mostly it didn’t conjure what older, feminist viewers (i.e. me) expected. At the end when they are asked directly what they think of the fact that so few paintings in the gallery are by women, most say things like women artists aren’t good enough to be shown! Or some such. They finally get there but it was an effort. There are great views of a range of paintings – all in the Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts. I really liked how the film-maker extracted portions of the paintings and held them up for scrutiny while we were looking at the whole. So, not as feminist as I expected, but very articulate young women and interesting paintings.
Playlist
Another young woman unexpectedly pregnant! But in modern, progressive France there are no obstacles to her getting an abortion. As in Ninjababy she is an aspiring illustrator. Black and white photography which I didn’t think enhanced the story telling – I’d have preferred to see Paris in full colour. The playlist refers to the possible love interests she encounters as she goes about her daily life. Fine as far as it goes – trouble is it doesn’t go far! And it’s a fairly flimsy framework – searching for the perfect fella! There is no narrative arc taking us from point A to point B – we end up where we started. And there’s certainly no character development – our protagonist doesn’t get any wiser. It’s interesting to make the comparison with Ninjababy – both are described (unpleasantly I think) as slacker movies. What made the one work and the other not – I think it is an engaging protagonist, some other engaging characters and ultimately something learned along the way. This was disappointing.
I Was A Simple Man
Another disappointment. But some very beautiful scenes. A man is dying and recalling incidents over the course of his life – going backwards (mostly). His wife’s early death, his abandonment of his children to his wife’s sister, his exclusion from the Japanese community and abandonment by his parents for choosing a Chinese girl. He is apparently partly estranged from his own family because of his bad behaviour in the past but what is depicted is fairly mild – a fight over a snooker game, pinching beer from his in-laws. Scenes with the ghost of his wife – at the age she died, and memories of her as a young woman – were the best bit about it. Set in Hawaii, on the island of Oahu, there are some stunning vistas sprinkled throughout. But overall didn’t cohere enough (no narrative arc) to engage me.
Rock Bottom Rise
Experimental as advertised, so no narrative and lots of disparate bits and pieces. But also as promised some spectacular images – especially of volcanic eruptions. About Hawaii – geography, history, culture. Lava up close – frightening. Stars guiding canoes long distances. Extraordinary foliage. A cameo from Dwight Johnson (the Rock) but unclear what he’s talking about. Which was the case with most of the monologues that accompany some of the visuals. So pretty opaque and I didn’t learn much except to stay well clear of lava!
Stray
We follow stray dogs through the streets of Istanbul. A very different Istanbul to that seen in Kedi which is about that city’s love of cats. These are mean streets – down by the water, construction sites, empty houses. Abandoned animals, abandoned children – refugees from Syria who spend their days sniffing glue. I found it a bit depressing – occasional philosophical quotes from Diogenes and others notwithstanding.
Queen of Glory
Enjoyment of this was muted – literally – by my deafness. I found it very hard to pick up the dialogue which was often accompanied by a cacophony of sound. Another slice of life – I certainly feel I’ve been around the world at this year’s MIFF. We’re in New York – the Bronx in fact – amongst the expat Ghanaian community. Lots of colour and movement. There’s a Russian family (I think) next door to add to the mix. Our heroine gradually embraces her Ghanaian background – although I would have chucked the men in her family out of the house if I’d been her. Ghanaian funeral rituals are something else!
The Macaluso Sisters
A film of a successful stage play. About five sisters. The opening section was quite lovely. a house full of activity, laughter and tears, frivolity and drama as the five get ready to go to the beach. All vibrant colours and lovely vignettes about the relationships between the different sisters. The beach itself is beautiful; lovely clear blue water. You know something is going to happen and I don’t think it is a spoiler to say that it does. The film then moves forward in time. I found the depiction of the older women completely grotesque – wrinkled and screaming at each other. Horrible. They have all been affected by what happened at the beach but it’s all too opaque. Not enjoyable at all.
Eyimofe (This Is My Desire)
A slice of life in Lagos, Nigeria – where it is not easy to have your desires met. We follow Mofe who wants to go to Spain and then in an unrelated story Rosa who wants to emigrate to Italy. Certainly vibrant; you get a good picture of what it is like living in Lagos. A city divided between rich and poor. But as promised by the MIFF note it reflects a Kafkaesque capitalism where people are on their own and have to fight bureaucracy every inch of the way. I found it too depressing.
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