It's day 2, and the good news is that I still love the movies...
Young Freud In Gaza
Mood Before movie: Fine and 32 degrees.
Ass-o-meter: Getting slightly numb by the end.
Comments:
“I am calm, I am comfortable, I am safe.” These are some simple words that certainly most of us living in Australia take for granted. However, in Gaza these words, as spoken in a relaxation exercise used by Psychotherapist, Ayed, is a whole different story. To these people having lived their whole lives in daily fear of Israeli attack, or infighting between factions of Hamas and Fatah these words are obviously little more than a dream.
This documentary follows Ayed around Gaza as he speaks very candidly with some of his regular clientele about their issues. Issues which range from depression, stress, anxiety attacks and suicidal tendencies.
I found this documentary to be interesting and offered a very human face to an area of the world that only ever makes the news here as a result of some type of bombing. Beyond bringing these stories in a fairly rudimentary fashion to the screen, I didn't really feel that this film quite delivered anywhere else in much depth. If it makes it to the TV I would definitely recommend you give it a look, however, I wouldn't go rushing out to see it at the cinema.
Rating: 2/5
Accelerator 2 - Short Films
Accelerator 1 and 2 are a series of short films chosen from 1000 entries specifically for the festival.
Jacob (12 min)
Jacob is a short film set in 1940's Central Australia, where an Aboriginal family are expecting a child. When the child is born it turns out unexpectedly to be white, which raises some questions.
I found that this film really didn't really offer me any incite into anything, and it didn't seem to be commenting on anything beside the shame that someone might obviously feel having a child from what is alluded to be a forced encounter. 2/5
One Night (27 min)
This film followed the evening of woman on a night out on the town. I found this film to be really quite repulsive, and I think that was mostly because I couldn't figure out whether the film maker intended for the audience to be repulsed or not.
I really didn't like the woman that were being depicted in the movie, and in most cases where the audience found something funny, I found it to be mostly what I find frustrating about people. I'm going to give this film 1/5 cause the music and sound design was well done with some nice subtleties in the audio mix.
Boxer (12 min)
Thank god for Boxer, there had to be an oasis somewhere past the last 2 mirages. Boxer was a born of a simple idea and delivered in a well paced and interesting a way. For me, this is what a short film is all about. 3.5/5
Undergrowth (10 min)
This film felt like a technical exercise that was made to put in the film makers show reel. It made no sense and did little more than fill 10 minutes. 1.5/5
Mokopuna (11 min)
Ahhhhh, dialog, I knew there was something missing in these short films. Why not have some of the characters talk to each other? It's a genius idea. 3.5/5
Imprint (12 min)
Another technical exercise seemingly in aid of a show reel. This film looked nice and had some quite annoying plinky piano mood music over it. 2/5
The Cat Piano (8 min)
Yes please. This is an animated film made in South Australia and was narrated by Nick Cave. The stylised animation of this movie was obviously very deliberately conceived and perfectly executed. Nick Cave's cool cat delivery of dialogue put the icing on the cake of this little beauty. This film saved this session for me. 4.5/5
Overall Rating: 2/5
North
Trailer:
Mood Before movie: Powering through.
Ass-o-meter: I barely noticed that my seat was last re-sprung in 1972.
Comments:
This movie was like a Norwegian Western, with Jomar making his way North on his trusty steed (Lynx Snowmobile) meeting a bunch of interesting Norwegian characters along the way. It's delivery style is also not unlike a slow burn western, with not a flashy jump cut to be seen.
I quite enjoyed going on the journey with Jomar the depressed Norwegian anti-hero. I felt like it had a lot of deeply engrained charm, and just enough quirk to keep me interested all the way through.
This film is worth seeing if only for the scene with the old man in the teepee that mysteriously has a chain tied with one end around his leg and the other attached to his Ski-Doo...
Rating: 3.5/5
10 Conditions Of Love
Trailer:
Mood Before movie: Ready for controversy.
Ass-o-meter: Given that ACMI's seating is about 30 years younger than every seat that I have sat in during the whole festival thus far, this seems hardly fair...
Comments:
Based on the fact that the Chinese consulate in Australia formally requested (read: demanded) that MIFF pull this film from the festival, it is safe to say that it has received quite some hype in the media. Not to mention that the MIFF web site is basically out of order right now due apparently to Chinese hackers. It's safe to say that this things got a bit of buzz on it.
Content wise, I found this film to be very interesting, I really wasn't aware of the plight of the Uyghur people or even that there was such thing as Eastern Turkestan before this seeing this documentary. (which as far as the Chinese government is concerned is business as usual.) So it's content was all very interesting for me.
The film covers the life of Rebiya Kadeer and the history behind the Chinese assimilation of East Turkestan.
During the Q&A session with the director (Jeff Daniels), he mentioned briefly something that summed up a fatal flaw in this documentary. The film contains no real stand point from the Chinese Govenment's side, and this is mostly because the Chinese Government have not supplied a stand point. Also, because this has all happened in China, there is very little footage available to tell the story in a documentary format. That said, what this documentary does well is put a face to the Uyghur people, and shows vividly Rebiya Kadeer's passion and strength in fighting for her people's cause. Given that it took Jeff Daniels 3 years to gain the trust of Rebiya (ie. prove he wasn't a Chinese spy) to actually make the documentary this in itself was quite a feat.
The producer said that they are currently in negotiation to show the film on the ABC. So when/if that happens you should check it out.
Or read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebiya_Kadeer
Rating: Topic 4/5, Execution 2/5
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