I’ve written about this year’s 10⭐️ MIFF films here. Now, looking at my contemporaneous tweets I find I didn’t give any films nine stars. So we move directly to the 8⭐️ ones. This really demonstrates the difficulty in grading festival films. The great ones stand out then there are a lot of really good films that you would recommend enthusiastically outside of the festival environment. Ratings also depend on how tired you are, and also the order in which you see them. In any event I recommend all of these films although in each there is something or, more often, a lack of something that made me give them less than 10 stars. But perhaps they should have got 9! Words in italics are from the tweets I sent immediately after seeing the film.
8⭐️ The Real Charlie Chaplin Inventive, stimulating, haunting overview of Charlie’s life, with contemporary resonance. Wonderful archival film footage and oral recordings. Sad story. This was a very innovative documentary using re-enactments very cleverly – I normally don’t like them – of interviews and press conferences. The actor playing Charlie really looked like him! The material was taken from recordings and from published reports. One was an interview with a woman who knew Charlie as a boy when he was really poor. At the end we get to see a photograph of the real person. The archival material was fascinating. I had no idea how popular he was all over the world – no language barriers with silent movies. We see huge crowds turn out to see him in London, Paris and in Germany. We also see excerpts from his movies including footage of the making of various scenes. He was an extreme perfectionist; for instance trying all sorts of different ways of falling down stairs until he got the funniest. His fall from grace was brutally quick – at the start of the McCarthy witch hunts. Terrible. It fell away a bit at the end. When he was living in Switzerland. Lots of home movies but no real narrative – apart from a sense that he was always acting in front of the camera. His children for the most part don’t remember him fondly.
The trailer is here.
8⭐️ One Fine Morning Beautiful slice of life – so real! A single mother juggling needs of primary school aged daughter, father’s devastating decline, work as a translator, family relationships & a burgeoning, complicated love life. Terrific. This maybe should have got a ten. It’s winning plaudits from all the critics. You either like You either like the films of Mia Hansen-Løve or you do not. I like them a lot. Nothing much happens but you get immersed in the ordinary lives of the characters. We follow Léa around as she deals with what life is throwing at her. Her beautiful, dignified, acclaimed academic father’s cruel decline. Emptying out his apartment along with her mother, his ex-wife and her current partner, and her sister. Unexpectedly meeting his former students. Bumping into an old flame, now married and deciding whether or not to re-ignite old passions. I like films that show characters dealing with work and with real lives. The daily walk to and from school to pick up her daughter. All quietly compelling. But given less than ten because nothing much happens and it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
The trailer is here.
8⭐️ The Blue Caftan Beautifully restrained story telling, if a little slow in parts. Closeted gay master tailor, beautiful new male apprentice. Film doesn’t go (directly) where you expect interspersed with work on the exquisite titular caftan. Another that maybe should have got a ten. I expected this to be about an emerging fraught forbidden attraction and it was in the early stages. The master, Halim, is played by the very handsome Saleh Bakri – all taciturn dignity carefully executing intricate embroidery while listening to his wife deal with the customers out the front. Customers from hell I must say! The apprentice, Youssef is played by Ayoub Missioui in his first film and he is beautiful! The most wonderful, languid eyes. I didn’t like the wife, Mina played by Lubna Azabel at all at the start but the film takes an unexpected turn midway through and I liked her much better. The embroidery is amazing, the caftans are exquisite and you get to experience life in Morroco. I found the story very moving. It didn’t get a ten because it goes on a bit too long in the concluding section, which while lovely did drag on.
I couldn’t find an English language trailer but a French one that shows you the actors and gives you a feel for the movie is here.
8⭐️ Moja Vesna Extraordinary performance from young Loti Kovačič, onscreen most of the time – barely speaking but so expressive. All performances great. Set in Melbourne including Edinburgh gardens! About different responses to grief. Quite wonderful. I always check out the Australian films at MIFF and have seen some great ones. Including this. Another film that thinking about it maybe should have had a ten. The actors were in the Forum when we saw it and I was pleased to be able to congratulate the very young Loti Kovačič who plays Moja. She’s in nearly every scene and barely says a word but you can see clearly what she’s thinking! Amazing performance. As are all the others. It’s not immediately clear what we are looking at but gradually we understand mother has died in a motor car accident. Father and two girls are dealing with the aftermath – in their very different ways. Father and Moja internally, older sister Vesna by raging against the world. Vesna wonderfully played by Mackenzie Mazur, is pregnant. Little Moja prepares to welcome a baby into the family. It was nice to see Claudia Karvan in a small, supportive role. We are in Melbourne – there’s a very short scene in the Edinburgh Gardens- but it’s recognisably in the Western suburbs. The director Sara Kern has a Slovakian background and this is an Australian-Slovenian co-production. Father is played by Slovenian actor Gregor Baković properly depicting the migrant experience in Australia. He’s a cook and seemingly quite isolated. He doesn’t speak English at home and so conversations with the girls are in Slovak and are sub-titled. A beautiful film. I can’t think of a single reason I didn’t give it a ten!
The trailer is here.
8⭐️ Pacifiction This one’s for Albert Serra fans (of which I’m one). Not his most dazzling but terrific. Charismatic lead, ravishing cinematography and beautiful people abounding. Story of intrigue & paranoia not so successful but I loved it anyway. I have loved two of Albert Serra films – Story of My Death and The Death of Louis XIV both of which were drenched in colour and atmosphere and very European in mood; the first set in the Transylvanian forests, the second in the King’s richly appointed bedchamber. Both had strong story lines. This one, set in Tahiti is drenched in the colours, moods and atmosphere of the Pacific. MIFF called it a Polynesian fever dream. We follow the charismatic French High Commissioner as he spends his days in Tahiti. In seedy nightclubs, where the staff are scantily dressed highlighted in fluorescent lighting. Overseeing dance rehearsals – an amazing cock fighting theme performed by Indigenous Tahitians – which I hoped we would see in full at the end but that was not to be. Undertaking negotiations with Indigenous leaders and seeking to influence local elections which required a plane flight over the islands. Meeting newcomers – shady characters, are they developers or warmongers? A fantastic scene out on the ocean as part of a local festival. The camera lingers on the physical beauty of the Tahitian characters which is stunning and on the lush landscape. The High Commissioner is played by Benoît Magimel and he is mesmerising as he wanders around – unable to work out what is happening but sure that something is being planned. We have a mad Naval Commander and his sailors on the island and a suspicious American. You feel the humidity and rising tension. Didn’t get a ten because the story line was not strong – not that you expect much a a story line from Serra – just atmosphere and beauty and there’s plenty of that. I loved it.
A trailer focussed on the dance rehearsal is here. A more comprehensive overview is here.
8⭐️ My Old School Terrific documentary about obsession, duplicity, ambivalence. Innovative film-making – animation, interviews, archival footage. Alan Cummings the only actor – and as usual, very good. Fascinating story. This is another really innovative documentary. This time in its use of animation. You can find all the details about it on the internet if you google Brandon Lee. I didn’t know anything about him and only signed up for the film because of Alan Cummings. Sitting on a chair in a classroom he lip-syncs to audio recordings of the hoaxer Brandon Lee who refused to be filmed. The real classmates who were fooled are also in a classroom responding to questions from the film-maker. Incidents from their schooldays are replayed as animations. They describe Brandon Lee’s arrival at school and here he is – looking as though he’s in a Daria cartoon. The interviewees are great with their often conflicting memories about their memories of Brandon Lee. He transformed the lives of some of them – overcoming exclusion of a black classmate, introducing another to wonderful music. Memories of a key scene in a school play are teased out. Half way through we get the big reveal and then footage of the real Brandon Lee which is when we find out just how false some memories can be. We also get to hear from the teachers who were fooled. One of whom is voiced by Lulu! It was quite mesmerising. Can find no reason I didn’t give it a ten!
The trailer is here.
Leave a Reply