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Off-topic Rants
As part of our Language and Communications class, we split into groups of four people and conducted a series of interviews. One person acted as camera tech, another sound tech, an interviewer and an interviewee. The purpose of the interview was to try and learn something about the interviewee that the interviewer didn’t previously know. It gave us a chance to consider documentary ethics, practise the technical aspects of documentary production, and to experiment with different interviewing styles.
As Robert stands in the middle of a street contemplating the text written on a coin, he is suddenly hit by a SUV and instantly killed. In the waiting room of the afterlife, Robert soon is told by a clerk that he’s destined for Hell. All the little bad things that Robert has done in life have added up and his “score” is not good enough for the likes of heaven. When the clerk’s Windows computer crashes, Robert makes a quick getaway, and returns back on earth. He then foils a robbery, visits his girlfriend, dances and drinks a smoothie with his dad. His score rises with each good deed – but the afterlife authorities are on hot pursuit. This is an extremely funny film with great production values. It has a very “Run Lola Run” style to it as Robert races around just to stay alive.
It truly is an amazingly uplifting sensation, when you leave a cinema knowing that you’ve just witnessed a cinematic masterpiece. It feels even better when the film has been produced by people from your own home country. Like Minds is a refreshingly new and unique Australian film (despite the fact that it is set in the UK), which is sure to make a huge impact in the box offices not only locally, but internationally as well.
15-year-old Nils invites his 12-year-old girlfriend Livia to spend the holidays with him and his mother and father at their summer home. One day whilst sailing, Nils returns home without Livia, much to his families shock. Silvia returns home later that day, with Bill, a much older man who took her sailing. When the brazenly sensual Livia begins flirting with Bill, Miriam (Nils’ mother) feels it is her responsibility to stop the questionable relationship. But as she does so, it is she herself who falls for the shy and charmingly insecure Bill. Miriam forges ahead, seducing him, seeing him secretly. But it is Livia that Bill loves, not Miriam. And suddenly the vast horizons of her life vanish in a fog of jealousy and rejection – emotions that prove to be far less controllable than she thought. This is a beautifully shot German film, with a simple yet unpredictable and mesmerising screenplay. Once you start watching, you can’t look away.
One of the worst things about attending any film festival is that unfortunately, you will, at least once (although probably more often than not), be trapped in a jammed packed theatre and forced to witness some of the worst footage ever projected onto the big screen. It’s simply a matter of common courtesy not to walk out during a film, however, during the Melbourne Film Festival this year, I made the disastrous mistake of watching the Quay brother’s second feature length movie, The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes. In retrospect, I should have ignored etiquette, and just have made a run for it. I would say it’s a “cinematic abomination”, but that would be an understatement. The fact that it won several prizes in the Locarno International Film Festival, makes me seriously wonder if all the judges were all high on marijuana, seeing as it’s still legal to grow in Switzerland. All I can say is, lucky them! The only possible way of making sense of this film would be to watch it under the influence of some kind of weird and wonderful mind altering substance. Don’t get me wrong, I’m normally strongly against all forms of illicit drugs, but this film is making me seriously reconsider their use as a tool to make sense of other people’s sick and twisted ideas and interpretations.
This is a short Australian documentary that focuses on the stories from a group of “old blokes” that live in a public high-rise building. The occupants tell us about their daily routines, their past and dreams. And that’s basically it. The filmmaker got a camera and filmed a group of old people as she asked some rather random questions. To me, I found this film to be a lazy attempt of a documentary. The photography was average, and the sound quality was pretty ordinary. Even though the characters in the film were very interesting people, it seemed as if they weren’t being fed the right questions to spark up exciting conversation. Although there were some funny moments, and it did give an insight into a world I’m unfamiliar of, I think it could have been pulled off a million times better. I wasn’t impressed with this film.
This is a fascinating documentary about a group of journalists who have travelled to France, to cover and report on the 2005 Tour de France cycling race. Offering a very uniquely Australian perspective into the massive sporting event, this film has some great interviews with all kinds of people involved in the event, from cyclists, to commentators, the public, celebrities, and even bus drivers. You are really taken on a journey with the four large larrikins, as they drink a lot of beer, and make full use of their press passes, interviewing everyone and anyone. Although this film is extremely entertaining, you almost feel embarrassed watching it, as the four are hardly the most appropriate Australian ambassadors (getting pissed all the time, and generally making a lot of noise). Never-the-less, it’s clear that they love the event and the lifestyle lived whilst the race takes place. They add a bit of extra, well lets be honest, actually quite a lot of extra life to the whole event. Technically, this film isn’t anything special with some really poor audio quality in places and some dodgy looking computer graphics. The musical score is also very amateur, although it suited the feel of the film. This film was much like a low-budget surfing movie. However, it makes you laugh, and at places almost makes you cry, and is a really enjoyable ride. Not really high class entertainment, but well worth a look.
Having never seen a Royston Tan film, I must say I was really impressed! Starting with D.I.Y, Royston explores the music found in everyday life. The footage in this film was really bold and beautiful with some great panning/dolly shots. His film, Cut, is a hilarious attack at the Singaporean film censors in the form of a full blown singing and dancing musical. I really loved the humour of this film, and the big, loud and colourful performances. I didn’t really understand the story behind Monkeylove; however I really liked the look and sound of the film, with its grainy amateur-like images, and unnatural ear-piercing effects. Mother was a really narration driven story, with some great archive footage. Sons, like Mother, was again heavily narration driven, and explored the relationship between a father and son. New York Girl is a hilarious short film that shows an audition tape of a Chinese New York-born girl and her dream of becoming the next Wonder Women in an upcoming feature film. Although it’s just a girl, white backdrop and a camera, it really makes you laugh! Hock Hiop Leong, is an ode to an old café that has long since closed down, that starts off quite simple and documentary like, but latter breaks into full swing singing and dancing, almost Bollywood style! Careless Whisper is a love story, about a geeky man and his quest to get the attention and love of his dream women. Inspired by a dreadful singer that auditioned for the TV show Singapore Idol, this is a truly funny, yet painful film. Unfortunately, I can’t reminder what the last film, 24 hrs was about – but I’m sure it was good. Royston Tan is an amazingly diverse filmmaker that has a great attention to detail, and an obvious love of life. It would also seem he’s quite a fan of just randomly breaking into song and dance! I can’t wait to see some of his feature films!
This is a truly fantastic film about an attractive young woman called Eva that lives at her parent’s home with her brother and is coming to terms with adulthood and love. Eva blends the joys and confusions of growing up with the sadness and restriction of living in a country under brutal dictatorship (Romania). It’s a film that explores the feelings of everyday people in a time of disorder. The cast is truly magnificent – Eva and her young brother are the most lovable characters, who bring to the film a huge amount of hilarious moments. A truly beautiful movie.
This is an impressive animation about a Brooklyn teenager who is asked to look after a local store owner’s dog whilst he goes on holiday. Although the film is rather dark and depressing, the look of the film is quite incredible and overall it displays a powerful, yet tragic story.