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Off-topic Rants
Despite the occasional dodgy film, we have been so lucky to see so many quality films so far at the festival. Page One: A Year Inside The New Work Times, for me now however has definitely been a highlight. This is a serious slick, fun, enthralling and inspiring documentary that has been skilfully been put together with an incredible attention to detail.
Every now and again you come across a documentary that is slick, sophisticated, and really makes you think. Freedom Riders has got to be one of the most professional, and thought provoking films I have come across in recent years. Almost one hundred years after United States President Abraham Lincoln issued Emancipation Proclamation, formally abolished slavery, and despite the increasing influential Civil Rights Movement, in the south of the country, racial segregation still ruled the land. As racial tension mounted, the current government in power – the Kennedy administration – were far too preoccupied with other matters, and remained indifferent on the subject.
At the Academy Awards this year, the beautiful and incredibly intelligent Susanne Bier picked up the Best Foreign-Language Film award, so the expectations for this film were obviously fairly high when we walked into the cinema. After an insightful question and answer session, we were straight into this extraordinary and exceptional work of art.
I am currently travelling with two other LateNite Films people at MIFF, and we all went and saw this film, titled Marimbas From Hell. One person thought it was a complete and utter waste of his time, another thought it was seriously funny – so hilarious that he kept on giggling like a school girl all the way to dinner (and no, it’s not hard to guess which member of our team I’m talking about). Personally, although I liked elements of the film – and yes, I did laugh at a few of the jokes – it was also one of those festival films where you just can’t wait for the closing credits. It was painful to watch, because it was slow, predictable, and just plain dull. It was also projected in the wrong aspect ratio – which never helps things!
At film festivals, there are always a few war documentaries thrown into the mix. Normally they are either very anti-war, or very pro-solider. One of the reasons I really loved this film is that it wasn’t forcefully pushing an opinion either way – although there were definitely moments where it showed war in a very negative and horrible light, at other times, it really showcased the role of a soldier is being a vital role in the fight against terrorism. Although the film-maker would have definitely have had a bias one way or the other, they definitely treated the subject with a huge amount of respect, and left the audience with a lot of questions that they need to answer on their own.
Potiche (slang for “trophy wife”) is one of the funniest films that I have seen in a long time! From the opening Disney-like scene where the Madame Pujol is prancing around the woods in a tracksuit and hair curlers, listening to cheerful birds, and surrounded by friendly deer and a playful squirrel, only to come across two bunny’s going for it, I instantly knew that this was going to be a film on my wave length.
Daniel Cockburn’s debut feature film, You Are Here is a bizarre and mindstraining experimental film (despite what the director claimed in the Q&A session) that follows a woman investigating several documents and seemingly random objects that continue to reappear as she keeps filing and archiving them away.
Over the next few weeks I will be uploading as many brief reviews as I can manage, from films that I come across at the Miami International Film Festival. I’m going to be writing them on an iPad, and uploading them whenever I come across free Wi-Fi, so please excuse any poor grammar and spelling mistakes! I’m also going to take photos of all the tickets on my iPhone just for fun. If you agree or disagree with anything I write, please let me know via the comments! Also, if you’re at the festival this year, let us know!
What a crazy year 2010 was for everyone at LateNite Films! As we already start to get completely crazy busy in the new year, we thought we’d give you a quick summary of what’s been happening over the last several months:
Well I’ve just come off one of the more intense weekends I’ve had in a long while, stretching from Friday afternoon to Monday night (quite a contrast to the intense weekend before, an marathon of MetallicA). Where to start? At the beginning. Yes. That seems suitable.