# Off-topic Rants

Despite its slow pacing, I really liked this film. It’s about a very improbable friendship between a miserable film teacher, and an overly friendly and understanding door-to-door religious educator who saves his life, after the film teacher is locked in his own bathroom. It explores their relationship as they discuss and fight about religion, politics, war, family, faith, nationalism and film. I guess the reason I liked this film so much is because I could really relate to the film teacher, as he shared a lot of the same views as me. There were plenty of unsubtle anti-George Bush moments and anti-war conversations. But, I especially agreed when he fought with a movie theatre owner about allocated seating. I also agreed with most of what he said about religion and faith, although it was really great to hear the other side of the argument, from the religious educator. I also agreed with a lot of the views this man had, especially in regards to conscription laws. Overall, this was a really interesting film, with some funny moments, and a fascinating insight into South Korea. I’m a big fan.

Over the course of the film festival, I spent a lot of time travelling on trains, which although I hated, did give me a lot of time to spend reading books. I’ve spend so much money over the years on film-related books. I basically got a collection that rivals the ACMI bookshop! I’ve got everything from scripts, magazines, lighting books, production books, post production books, user manuals, audio books, movie books, acting books – pretty much something for every department. During MIFF, I’ve been reading some of my more recent purchases.

To be perfectly honest, I quite enjoyed complaining to people about having to attend MIFF. No sleep, no food, too many films, I would whinge. Although, I didn’t really care! It’s all part of the fun and adventure! I’m used to working in the entertainment industry, so my stomach is already minute, and I have the fantastic ability to be able to happily manage my sleeping pattern. So I’m basically the perfect candidate for attending MIFF. The look on peoples faces when you tell them you’ve just been watching film after film after film as part of your university course is priceless. What a great life I lead! While others at uni are reading pages and pages on highly complicated and technical mumbo-jumble, doings tests, exams, projects, and all other kinds of hard work, I’m just sitting back at staring at the big screen. But now that MIFF is over, I have to say I’m pretty depressed. I can now imagine why people who make films spend so long just going on the festival circuit. It’s such an amazing atmosphere! The amount of times I had to run from venue to venue (as I booked continuous sessions – no time to waste!), wide eyed and ears ringing, scoffing down a no-doubt week old 7/11 meat pie, only to realise that there are another four or five sophisticated looking people behind me doing exactly the same thing! It was great to see all these stylish people eating complete and utter crap, just so they could make it from film to film. MIFF brings together a whole lot of things that I’ve never experienced before in the one event. It’s pretty much a military campaign. You have to plan well in order to survive! I spend hours and hours reading up on all the movies and wanted to see, and spend a huge amount of time designing my non-stop timetable. Unfortunately, the three weekends in which MIFF runs over coincide with my brothers and two of my closest friend’s birthdays, so I had to count out weekends from my schedule. Never-the-less, I still fitted in a lot of movies. Some of them were crap, but, hey, that’s the price you pay! One of the best things about this festival was that as there are seventy or so of us first year film and television students, there was always someone in the theatre or in the lines that you knew and you could chat to about what you’ve seen and what you will see. I was kind of selfish and anti-social in planning my schedule, as I just decided what films I wanted to watch, didn’t allow for any social time, and didn’t really plan to meet up with anyone specific. But, it worked out great, because I still got to meet up with heaps of friends in the short time between films. I also had some really interesting conversations with random people in the MIFF queues, about various films. I made a special effort to see a wide range of films, from local to international, comedy to action, animation to documentary. I also decided to see most of the documentaries, to give me a better idea of what sort of film I would like to make this year. I’ve never seen such a hugely wide variety of different films! It was fantastic! I feel so more educated in cinema, now that I’ve successfully survived MIFF. What’s scary though is that after reading an article in “The Pundit”, a free independent guide to the festival, I realised that I had become, what the author described as a “MIFF Zombie”. I had become one of those people who had “taken it too far”. The only conversations I was having were about films. The festival guide became my bible. I was one of those people who could be found “leafing painstakingly through the festival guide, looking confused” as I tried to work out what day it was, and what I had planned to see next. I was one of those people who “shovelled in food absently and ignored dining companions as I pondered what to see”. I reached the “second stage of zombification”, as I sent out a mass e-mail listing what films I was going to see, and noted that if people wanted to see me, you’ll find me in the appropriate cinema. As the author put it, “The mass e-mail is terrifying proof that MIFF zombies have lost all interest in any social plans that don’t involve seeing films”. Admittedly, I even reached the final stages of “infection” towards the end of the festival, as I was “stripped of all social skills beyond primitive mutterings about genre, auteurism and mise en scene”. But you know what, it was worth it. I quite liked being a temporary, MIFF zombie. I felt like I was part of something special. I felt as if I belonged to a group of likeminded “film geeks”, who survived off the love of cinema, McDonalds and train station vending machines for a couple of weeks. But, despite the fact I loved it, there were some moments which were tough. Catching the last train out of Flinders Street every night, changing at Ringwood station, and then driving home everyday was a struggle. It’s always packed of tired people who just want to get home. Friday nights are the worst however, when all the drunken idiots are coming home from the footy. I hate public transport at the best of times, so that was a bit of a struggle. Another thing that was challenging was staying awake to write a bit about the films I saw each night. The last thing you want to do after watching films all day, and catching the last train home is sit in front of a computer and attempt to type relevant notes! But I’m so glad I had the self discipline to do it. Reading back over my notes is the only way I can remember the vast amounts of films I saw. Also, writing at the early hours of the morning, when I was desperate to go to bed, means that everything I typed was straight from my head, giving a very accurate and honest view of what I thought of the film. Overall, I’m so glad I came to university, if only because it forced me to attend MIFF. It was such a terrific experience, and I can’t wait to do it again next year!

You can tell a lot about a film by its opening titles. The first minutes of Alien gives a very accurate forecast of what you’re in for: dark, spine chilling and ominous. As seemingly random lines appear on the screen, building up to reveal the title of the movie, you can also predict it’s going to be slow and precise. The star-dotted background gives you the distinct sense of the isolation and vulnerability that comes with intergalactic travel. This and the addition of the soft and eerie soundtrack get your heart rate pumping.

I’m sure this film is going to get a lot of mixed reviews, much like the opening night film, 2:37. It’s very, well, different, and very controversial. 19-year-old Katrina is stuck in boring suburbia, still living at home with her divorced father and for her toddler daughter, although her devoted stoner boyfriend looks after the child most of the time. When Katrina’s brother Danny is sent to jail for life, after committing one of the most stupid crimes I’ve ever seen, she is devastated and will do absolutely anything to get her brother out. She decides that she needs money for an appeal, but having never worked a day in her life, and knowing that her father’s not going to help her financially, she has to think outside the box. Her solution: she must kill her father as she’s first in line for the family inheritance. She’s too lazy to do it herself, so she will have to convince one of her many boyfriends to do the job for her, but luckily she’s never had any trouble getting men to do what she wants. This film takes sibling devotion and support to a totally new and disturbing level.

This is a slightly boring film about six ordinary people whose lives are affected by their journeys on the Sud Express. Although all the character were unique and quite interesting (a racist taxi driver, his unfaithful wife, two old men who didn’t walk to one another, a African migrant who tries to find a life elsewhere, another migrant who goes hunting for a lost lover, a guy in a wheelchair and his best friend), I think I’m just over stories that lack a beginning and an end. The highlight of this movie for me was the non-human actor in the film, a lovable dog that narrowly escapes death by owner. This wasn’t a beautiful film, nor was it exciting. It was basically a look into a city from the viewpoints of several interconnected characters. Nothing special.

I honestly believe this film has really changed me as a person. I’ve learnt a lot from it. Daniel, a talented male dancer is abducted by three hooded women, raped and tortured for twelve days, then dumped in the middle of no where with no clues to his attackers’ identity (other than one girl’s hair colour and some intimately located birthmarks and tattoos). Completely and utterly emotionally damaged, humiliated, and broken, Daniel tries to get his life back in to order, but struggles and eventually makes a huge mistake, in a very threatening and horrifying scene (although as a viewer, I can forgive him). This film is incredibly confronting, and has some horrendous rape scenes. The director wanted viewers to witness this kind of abuse with “fresh eyes” and as “human beings” instead of from either side of a gender divide. She has certainly achieved this. After watching “Last Train to Freo”, where the young lady onboard the train is in constant fear of violence and sexual abuse, this film really makes you think about the issue of sexual violence in a new light. The tables have turned. I’ve personally never seen a man getting raped by a woman, and after witnessing some of the scenes in this movie, they really got to me. I felt really sick and completely terrified. Actually, I still feel really terrified. But also numb. There have been plenty of movies with females getting raped by males. It really is something new to see it the other way around. I feel educated now. Scared shitless, but educated none-the-less. Any rape scene is horrible, and I really hate watching them. But theses scenes felt different emotionally. This is an amazingly powerful movie. But the unconventional context aside, the film is visually very beautiful and captures some great desolate tight urban locations in my home town, Melbourne. This film shows the city in a way that I’ve never looked at it before. The musical score and soundtrack is quite powerful, although I didn’t really appreciate it at the time, as the film had me sucked right in to its world.

When inventor Paul Nipkow completed his “electric telescope” in 1884, he could not have predicted the impact it would later make on the world. Nipkow’s device, which allowed the sending of images over wires, inspired others to build upon this exciting new technology (Wikipedia 2006). In 1900, the term “television” was coined by Russian Constantin Perskyi. Thirty years later, the first television commercial was transmitted, and the British Broadcasting Commission began regular broadcasting (Bellis 2005). “Television” was now a recognized term. By 1948 over one million homes in the United States alone had television sets, allowing them to tune into shows such as Allen Funt’s Candid Camera, a show where ordinary people were caught on film during embarrassing staged pranks (Murray & Ouellette 2004, p.3). The post-World War II Americans of the 1950s were content with this type of good humoured show. Funt suggested that its success was due to its presentation of “people caught in the act of being themselves” (Balkin 2003). Even though participants might have been briefly embarrassed, their privacy and dignity were ultimately protected, plus no one was actually hurt (Balkin 2003). With the advent of network television, a new genre of programming had arrived: reality TV.

As you know, every time we come across a media text, we’re not seeing reality, but instead someone’s interpretation of it. The media take something that’s real, manipulated its form to suit a specific purpose, and we end up something very different to the original. This is the process is of mediation (Northallerton College).