# Off-topic Rants

Essentially this is a New Zealand film about a whole lot of mutant sheep that go on a rampage to try and kill everyone, due to a generic engineering experiment going horribly wrong. It’s tremendously funny, and gives the audience exactly what they want – sheep killing people. The visual effects are fantastic, and are so real that they’re funny. To be honest, I don’t know what else to write. It’s a lot of sheep killing people – nothing more, nothing less! It’s completely mad, and very fun! Everything is tongue in cheek. The story isn’t hugely complex, or that well written, but it doesn’t really matter. No one really cares about these things when there’s some sheep killing to be had! Very sick – very funny!

Set mainly in a single location, Bug is an American horror/thriller essentially about two people who believe bugs are invading their home and their bodies. An exceptionally strange, yet pleasant man is brought along to a woman’s hotel room, and despite all odds, the two quickly become friends. Basically, the woman is lonely, and this man actually listens to her and talks to her as a normal human being. The man obviously has a few loose screws, and convinces the lady of all kinds of weird and absolutely crazy things – mainly revolving around information transmitting bugs. This is a seriously strange movie. It builds up as this very scary and ghastly horror film, but ends up being more silly and funny than anything else. It does have some very gory and gruesome movements, but even they are so over-the-top, that you can’t help but laugh. The film introduces several characters into the story – the girls best friend, and ex-husband, however they really only play minor roles. This is mainly a film about a guy and a girl, and one insane person can make another sane person crazy! The cinematography and set design is fantastic! Despite the fact that there was really only one location, it was never visually boring – in fact it was the polar opposite. Towards the end of the film, when everyone was pretty much raving mad, the whole hotel suite was covered in aluminium foil – which looked absolutely magnificent! The sound design was also noteworthy – surround sound was used to great effect. It was an entertaining film I must admit – it was never dull or boring – however, it was just a little too weird and over-the-top. I was expecting this very serious, very dark and very scary film, and instead I got this strangely humorous and very sick thing instead. The female lead was acted very well, despite the eccentric script. I honestly don’t know what to make of this film. I don’t exactly know what it was trying to be. It certainly wasn’t a horror film in the traditional sense. And it wasn’t an all-out comedy by any stretch of the imagination. I really like the concept – your brain convincing you that bugs are everywhere – however, this film was just a little too odd for me. Never-the-less, it kept you interested, and will no doubt be a good discussion point once the film festival is over.

This is a film about a reclusive Chinese harp player who purchases a dead fish from a sexy lady at a seafood market, places it in his bath and lets his imagination run wild. This is a typical VCA film – very arty, with a rather unclear message. The cinematography and sound design are good – although they are pretty much like every other VCA film of this variety. To be perfectly honest, I don’t like this type of film. It’s just all a bit too weird for me.

I actually stumbled into this film by accident, as the many days of movie watching finally took a toll on my brain and logical thinking. However, it was a great mistake to make as Everything’s Gone Green is a really good film. This is a very Garden State-like film about a guy called Ryan. In one unfortunate day, he is dumped by his girlfriend, kicked out of his house, fired from his job, told his family has won the lottery, and then finds out it’s a mistake. Nothing seems to be going right for the poor man. Things start to look up when, by chance he meets a beautiful film set-dresser named Ming, at the site of a dead whale on a beach. But, as fate would have it, Ming is already dating a shady entrepreneur named Bryce. Things start to look up for young Ryan when he finds himself a job at the National Lottery Corporation, and his brother hooks him up with a fantastic apartment. When Bryce proposes a bizarre money-laundering scheme, Ryan ignores his ethics, signs up and is on the fast track to wealth. After all, everyone is doing something dodgy to make a living! Even his apparently innocent parents are selling dope to make a lot of cash quickly. This is a very light hearted comical critique of our notions of corruption and success. It has some pure gold moments in it. The cast is fantastic – there is some great chemistry between Ryan and Ming, as well as an interesting four way relationship when you include Bryce and Ming’s traditionally Chinese mother. Ryan’s best friend, parents, brother, and boss are also fantastic characters that really make this film stand out. It’s very quirky, with some funny yet eccentric moments thrown in for good measure.

This is a very strange and unconventional film about a screenwriter who is trying to write a screenplay about a young man who is on the run after he murdered his lover. The film constantly switches between fantasy and reality, as we move from the screenwriters world into the world of his character. The journey the screenwriter designs for his character, inspires him to take the same voyage himself. The film is narrated right throughout the whole movie by the screenwriter, which helps seamlessly blend the two worlds together. This is a very odd movie. At times it’s very hard to work out what it’s all about. However, due to the complex nature of the film, it’s quite an interesting watch. Some of the locations are very beautiful – featuring vast snowy mountains. This film almost feels like a strange dream. It just floats around, with no strict story or structure. It feels as if the director is making it up as he goes along. Although some sections of the film were a tad uninteresting – most of the film was enjoyable and entertaining. It had a lot of film and television references and jokes in it, which is always interesting. Overall, a very strange film – but worth watching!

This is a seriously funny and very peculiar film about an old man reminiscing about how, from a very young age, all he wanted in life was to become a millionaire. Over four decades, we watch him transform from a cunning hot dog vendor, to a man of great fortune and eventually a hermit, in constant pursuit of money and women. Full of fantastic slapstick comedy, with some dark political and social satire, this is an enthralling and action-packed film about a vertically challenged man’s life. From a technical point of view, the lighting and photography in this film is fantastic – it has a very fairy tale, yet at the same time realistic look about it. The camera work is also very noteworthy – with some great shots of tables spinning to portray time passing. The story is completely engrossing and enchanting, with some fantastic and extremely unique characters. The way it blends history and fiction is also very cleaver. A very funny film that is very colourful, with some of the most amazing set designs I’ve seen. A masterpiece in so many ways…

Soft Words is a very political film about how John Howard and the government misuse the English language for political gain. Mixing interviews with archive footage, as well as text overlay quotes; this is a very powerful short film that pushes its point incredibly well.

Spider is an absolutely fantastic short film about Jack – a man who loves to play practical jokes on his girlfriend – and what happens when things don’t go exactly to plan. Opening with a quote, “it’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye – mum”, this film is a very simple idea, but executed brilliantly. It has several key moments where things just don’t happen as planed – leaving the audience in complete and utter shock. The events are so unpredictable and heart breaking, that they’re funny. The film looks great – despite the fact that most of it takes place in a single location – a car. The characters and acting are superb, especially the extras (specifically the two Indian men who work in the petrol station). This film has some fantastic visual effects, which look completely realistic. Overall, this is just a really entertaining film. A great concept that was filmed perfectly!

The Bet Collector, a Philippines film, follows the life of Amy, an uncanny saleswoman who runs around town convincing people to part with their hard earned cast by placing bets on the illegal game of Jueteng, or by collecting money for the families of recently deceased locals to cover the funeral costs. This film had a really great central topic to base its story around – Jueteng. Despite the fact that it’s banned, everyone it seems is addicted to it, even the police who are responsible for ensuring it doesn’t take place. However, although the game is referenced to right throughout the film, it doesn’t play as bigger role as I would have hoped. Instead, the film is basically about Amy’s troubles – endless cycles of poverty, corruption, and trying to avoid the cops. It has some funny moments – Amy is constantly working out potentially winning numbers based on situations that happen around her (for instance, when a boy gets scared by a frog he thinks is a snake, she puts a bet on 12 and 9 for frog and coward). There is also some humorous chase and hiding sequences, as the Jueteng players and bookies think that the police are near. By overall, this was a pretty disappointing film. There seemed to be not point to the film – or at least, if there was one, I didn’t pick up. The film made reference to Amy’s dead son quite a bit, but I’m not exactly sure why. The film had a very documentary feel to it – especially at the beginning, and as a result, everything looked very real and natural. It had some dramatic moments – for example, there was a shooting sequence – but it didn’t really seem to help propel the story. It felt like more of an observational film about a whole lot of people addicted to a game they called Jueteng.

Shohei Imamura’s 1979 film, Vengeance Is Mine, tells the story of a 78-day crime spree by a serial killer who is constantly evading police in Japan. The film constantly jumps too and fro in time; one moment the killer is locked up, the next we are seeing the crimes he has committed in the past. This is a very powerful and dramatic film, with some very graphic images of people getting murder in cold blood. Its action packed from start to finished, and hasn’t really aged. I really liked this movie – although it’s hard to say that I enjoyed it. There are some really tough moments to watch. The characters in this film are very well acted, and portray some very mysterious and intriguing relationships between each other. Right throughout the movie you, as a viewer, are constantly trying to work out what the main character is thinking, and why he does the horrible things he does – it very rarely gives you a second to relax, and absorb the information. The only think I disliked about the film was the very bizarre ending. Maybe there is some kind of religious message throughout the whole film that I simply didn’t get.