It’s taken me ages to get to this blog, given the festival concluded at the end of August! Now I’ve done three and even after six weeks there were only two that I couldn’t remember. I suppose I remember them because I enjoy the experience of watching them so much. Anyway these are the films to which I gave ten stars immediately after seeing them. In the heat of the moment so to speak. They’re in the order I saw them. Having had time to assess their impact on me I’d include a few more films in this group now but this is my contemporaneous judgement.
Memoir of a Snail
I tweeted about this straight away: Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful. Congratulations to Adam Elliot and the whole (very large) team. A must see. I think it’s already been out commercially, if not it soon will be. I do recommend seeing it as it’s quite lovely. A whose who of Australian actors voice the characters – Sarah Snook, Jackie Weaver, Eric Ban, Nick Cave…. See if you can identify them. Great animation, and a moving story-line about difference, acceptance, family, friends. And familiar settings, Melbourne, Canberra, W.A.
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger
It probably helps if you’ve seen the films these two made – Powell the quintessential Englishman and Pressburger the cosmopolitan Hungarian. They did not distinguish between writer, director, producer – all films were labelled “by Powell & Pressburger”. They were really ahead of their time. Martin Scorcese was a fan, and is responsible for this documentary. I remember seeing The Red Shoes as a girl and being terrified of it – even though it was screened on a very rudimentary black and white television. I don’t think I could bear to watch it again. I’ve loved most of the others which I’ve seen at Cinematique relatively recently. Including A Matter of Life and Death, an excerpt from which you can see here. It’s wonderful. David Niven is an a pilot who has miraculously escaped death, having abandoned his burning aeroplane over the British coast.
Other films of this duo are Black Narcissus, Colonel Blimp, I Know Where I’m Going and The Small Back Room (see below). All great movies. One of the great things about this documentary was hearing Scorsese describe how scenes from some of these movies influenced his own film. He also explains why they have been so influential on other directors. Which is all very illuminating, not just about these films but film-making in general. Overall it was a great documentary.
All We Imagine As Light
I tweeted Beautiful main character and sympathetic others. Mumbai in all its complexity. Female directed sex scene – beautiful! As indeed it was. It starts with multiple voices explaining why they have come from rural India to this teeming city – the voices of real people and real reasons. It’s an amazing looking place – teeming with humanity. We follow the lives of three women; all of whom are wonderfully realised; each character portrayed as fully rounded individuals. There’s the registered nurse, Prabha played by Kani Kusruti, whose husband is working in Germany and incommunicado. She is mentoring a trainee nurse , Anu played by Divya Prabha who is chafing at the restrictions placed on young women in the city. She’s also dating a Muslim boy – secretly she supposes but there’s not much privacy in Mumbai. The third main character is Parvarty played by Chhaya Kadam who’s a cook in the hospital canteen. She’s being evicted from her home because she doesn’t have the right papers. I loved the lack of any judgement about the choices these women make. There is also a quite beautiful sex scene – proving again what a difference a woman director makes re same. In this case Payal Kapadia. There’s something of a scandal within the Indian film industry that this film – the first from India to play at Cannes for years – has not been nominated as that country’s contender for best international film at the Oscars. Should have been. Great movie.
Bob Trevino Likes It
This is one of a number of movies we saw at MIFF in a theatre full of young people. Eleanor and her friend Ruby came with us. Barbie Ferreira who played the role of Lily Trevino is famous for a Vice series called ’How To Behave’ and a web series for Teen Vogue called ‘Body Party’. She’s an ”outspoken supporter of the body positive movement’. Who knew?! Most of the audience I reckon. In any event she was terrific and her performance made the film. Which tells the true story of a relationship the director, Tracie Laymon – a vivacious Texan who was at the screening we saw and wonderfully articulate – formed with a complete stranger over the internet. Her father was a shocking narcissist wreaking havoc on his daughter’s self esteem. Estranged from him, she typed his name into the internet one day and was amazed when she found it had been liked. Not as she thought by her father, but by a much nicer older man who became her friend and mentor. John Leguizamo played the friend and French Stewart played the father. As noted in the Q&A after the screening the tricky thing the film accomplishes is avoiding any creepiness in the relationship between an older man and a young women. Thanks to the acting and directing. It really was a very moving and uplifting story. My immediate response was “Spectacular performance from the lead character complemented by others”. I couldn’t find a a trailer but here is a ten minute interview with the actors and director.
And here’s a video review. It’s sure to get a commercial release and is really well worth a look. Plus you’ll be in with the kids!
Menu Plaisirs – Les Troisgros
After seeing my second or third Frederick Wiseman documentary – can’t remember what it was – I vowed and declared I’d never watch another. They’re all very long. Including this one. But it was about my favourite pastime – fine dining – so why not. I’m so pleased I did as I ended up sitting spell bound for the whole four hour playing time. It was mesmerising. Beautifully shot segments – shopping for ingredients, planning menus, picking produce, preparing and critiquing extraordinary dishes and finally seeing and hearing the responses from diners. There were also visits to local producers – a beef farmer, a cheese-maker, a vegetable grower. Beautiful French country-side. The people are so articulate. The same family has run this restaurant for generations. More recently it has moved from the centre of town to the country-side in a beautiful modern building. There’s also accomodation next door. All you need is money. Chef Michel converses with guests and in so doing tells the history of the restaurant as well as the issues they are confronting – for himself that means when to retire. It’s all beautifully done. And it needed the long running time to properly experience the whole effect of such a place. Wiseman is over ninety. He took friends to the restaurant to thank them for ehlping him through Covid isolation and asked whether the family would allow him to make this documentary. After a quick google search of the director the answer was yes!
Dying
When I tell people this was my favourite film at the festival everyone arcs up and says Oh no – a film about dying you must be crazy! So I wish it had a different title. But it is accurate as it stands – it’s about ageing parents, one of whom dies, and a middle-aged friend who also dies. And it’s about people dying on the inside – a daughter / sister who turns to alcohol, a son / brother who wraps himself up in work and other people’s lives until finally embracing his own. There are some unforgettable moments. An excruciating conversation between mother and son with the expression on Lars Eidinger’s face (the son) expressing incredible emotions. There are laugh out loud moments and tragic scenes. All totally engaging. You feel for the characters and it makes you really think about your own relationships and how you would deal with the issues that these people face. Really wonderful.
Romulus My Father
I loved this film when it first came out and I loved it all over again as it has been re-mastered. I didn’t realise it was the first and only directed by Richard Roxburgh. He was sitting at the back of the theatre waiting for his Q&A and I was pleased to congratulate him for it – the great thing about film festivals! The film looks wonderful – lush colours and great cinematography showing central Victoria in all its glory. It’s set in my mother’s home territory and we have in our possession one of Romulus’s pieces of iron-work – a magazine holder. She remembered going out to his place and buying it. The locals were a little afraid of him; a cousin of mine said of him: he was that fellow who used to ride his motor bike around the place. Eric Bana as Romulus is just terrific. He’s also so young! And Marton Csokas as Hora is also wonderful. Everyone is. The film depicts immigrant life in all its facets – the closeness of those who’ve come to this new and strange place that doesn’t appreciate them. The fact of working class life, young Raimond can’t be looked after by Hora when his Dad is in Lakeside because factory work won’t accommodate it. I loved that the story of his mother’s behaviour – the result of mental illness – is told without any sense of judgement. A truly magnificent movie.
Cars That Ate Paris
I can’t remember seeing this film although I’ve always had scenes from it in my head. It’s another restoration and another terrific one. It’s so good. Wonderful cinematography, wonderful performances and such a subversive story. John Meillon is fantastic as the mad mayor. And it’s terrific to see such well-known actors as Max Gillies and Bruce Spence so early in their careers. It was Chris Hayward’s very first role – not that you’d know it. It was Peter Weir’s first feature film after a career as a director of advertisements, and he also wrote the story on which it was based. One wonders what viewers in Cannes in 1975 thought of Australia having experienced this film.
And here is this is David Stratton talking about it.
Lee
I’ve read a biography of Lee Miller and been blown away by her character and her life. I’ve also seen an exhibition of her photographs at Heide – about which I was a little disappointed. I didn’t think the exhibition did her justice. So I was really looking forward to this movie even though reviews out of Cannes were, I thought, a bit tepid. In the event I loved it. Kate Winslet who produced as well as starred is terrific. I also liked the framing which has an older Lee being interviewed by a young man played by Josh O’Connor who has a charismatic presence on screen. You don’t discover his identity until the end, which was good. Sensibly – given the extraordinary amount of living Lee managed – the film concentrates, after a snippet on life amongst the bohemians in France – on her time reporting for Vogue during the Second World War. It is all beautifully done – enacting some of the photographs that she is famous for. All without in any way trivialising or exaggerating the horrors of war.
The Small Back Room
This is a Powell & Pressburger production that I’d not seen. The two main actors, David Farrar and Kathleen Byron (who comes seventh in terms of billing on IMDb despite playing the second major character) were both in Black Narcissus (she being the mad nun enraptured by the only English man within cooee played by Farrar). Powell & Pressburger wanted to cash in on the interest shown in these two actors but the film was badly received. I’ve no idea why. It’s wonderful. Terrific performances from everyone but it’s the cinematography that really makes it – all sombre shadows, reflecting the inner turmoil of the characters. And lots of tension. Will he or won’t he give up the bottle? Will he or won’t he take up her challenge and contribute as much as he can to the war effort? Will they stay together or not? Will he or will he not disarm the bomb?! There’s a great sequence where his mind is spinning out of control – a very typical Powell & Pressburger trait. A wonderful film.
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