Off-topic Rants

This is a really, really boring film that shows a group of people aimlessly walking around a theatre, and eventually watching a section of an equally boring film. But, despite the fact that the images on the screen put you to sleep, the soundtrack and music is truly amazing. The attention to detail is just incredible. You really just need to watch this film with your eyes closed, which admittedly, I did for most of the film. It really is some of the most sophisticated and complex uses of sound I’ve ever heard in a film. It reminded me much like the first Alien movie.

This is a fantastic film about an actor aboard a sailing ship that becomes shipwrecked on a deserted island. Phillippe de Nohan and the ships dog are the only survivors. However, they gather everything from the destroyed ship leaving him with plenty of provisions, supplies and a large collection of theatre bits and pieces. After a while, he starts to lose his grip with reality. But before he goes completely and utterly bonkers, he befriends a native islander he names Friday. This film explores the relationship between the man, the dog and the native. I love the main character in this film. You can certainly relate to him, which is a little bit scary. The dog in this film is also truly entertaining and plays just as big a role. As Phillippe starts to hone in on his primal instincts, at times the dog seems more civilised than the human. The soundtrack is fantastic, but what really makes this film special is the cinematography. The colours and look of the images are constantly changing. A lot of the scenes are quite surreal, others greyscale with hints of bold colours. It just looks amazing. I’m a huge fan of this film.

This is a short film made up of local children’s drawings turned into animations and local adults voice over’s, that tell the tale of living in Landsborough. Although it offered some laughs, this concept has been done to death (using kid’s drawings and adult voices), so it didn’t really grab me. Although it was slightly entertaining, it was nothing special.

This is a depressing film about an affable man, who is left to look after his three young children, as well as trying to keep up his demanding taxi driving work, when his wife runs off with another man for several months. When she returns, he is kicked out of his home as the couple fight for the terms of the children’s living arrangements. When an insane neighbour kills his daughter’s new pet, the man, who is hopelessly drunk at the time, unintentionally kills the neighbour in a fit of rage. Sent to jail, the film then explores the relationship between the now divorced husband and wife. Although I quite liked this movie, with its bleak locations, and convincing characters, its not easy viewing, as this poor mans life just falls apart in front of your eyes. You really feel for him as the director just continually picks him up and drops him. This film is very real, and very painful, but well worth watching. At the end though, you just feel sad and depressed.

This is a film that explores the life of Marnie, a young lady who has just recently graduated from college, parties most nights, is looking for a good job and a boyfriend. It’s a film about someone who is stumbling and drifting into adulthood. She’s a slacker, keeps a notebook of self-improvement initiatives (such as “go to museum” and “learn chess”), and is struggling with love. This film looks ultra-low-budget, with long single grainy shots, poor sound quality and slow and natural dialog. It almost feels as if it’s more of an unscripted documentary than a drama. However, despite its film student look, the characters really start to grow on you and you become part of their world. Although nothing really exciting happens, you just go along for the ride (although it’s more like a scenic railway). It has some really funny moments, although it’s hardly a barrel of laughs – more just a look into someone’s life. I really loved this film and fell in love with the character of Marnie.

These are funny little Japanese 3D computer animations about a cute girl and her two crazy pets. Although I’m not a fan of this kind of thing, it was quite refreshing to see something funny after watching a couple of emotionally draining films.

This is a really fantastic and insightful documentary about the Danish filmmaker Nicholas Winding Refn’s struggle to pay off his debts after the box-office flop of his latest film, Fear X, despite the fact that his debut film, Pusher, was a huge success. He decides the only way to get out of debt is to make some more movies, and starts work on Pusher II and III. I guess the reason I loved this film so much is because I really admire people who attempt to make movies. It’s a constant uphill battle. I can personally relate to a lot of what Nicholas was going through, especially the writer’s block and cleaning up the house, only so you don’t have to think about the movie you’re supposed to be writing! Technically speaking, this movie was nothing special – it had very generic documentary qualities. However, the content was fantastic and truly interesting. It’s kind of sad, but human beings seem to get a kick out of watching other people hit rock bottom. I just loved the determination and nativity of the people in this film. For a person studying film and television – this is a great educational documentary to watch.

This is a really funny short animation about an enthusiastic but unqualified dog that answers an advertisement for a guide dog position, but finds the task slightly more challenging than he could ever imagine. Nothing seems to go right for this poor dog! Again, this film shows that if you hurt a cute character, you are assured instant laughs!

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.

I’ll start off by saying I wasn’t really a fan of this movie. I just couldn’t be bothered trying to keep up with it – I just found it boring. It’s basically a film about an ex-criminal who receives a strange commission from an illegal organisation to produce a documentary about decolonisation. I guess I just found this movie to be too old fashion, with its cool tone (verging on stagnant) and vintage soundtrack. I couldn’t relate or connect with the characters, nor did I care about any of them. I found the story too slow and it seemed to go off on random directions. I didn’t like the voice over narration either. Basically, I just didn’t like the movie at all.

This is a film about a Korean-born girl struggling through life with her mother in America – although, to be honest, I didn’t realise it was set in the US till after the movie! It explores the relationship between Aimie, and her only real friend, Tran. At first it seems Tran is looking to have a relationship with Aimie, but she’s not interested. But then it seems that Aimie has fallen in love with Tran, but he is more interested in another Korean girl. With no one to turn to, Aimie finds comfort in the memory of her father, whom she no longer has contact with. This is again, a really slow paced film, with an almost documentary feel to it. I didn’t really connect with the main characters, which meant I didn’t really care what happened to them. The photography and sound was very bland and boring, which suited the story. Overall, I found this movie a bit of a drag. I also hated the first scene, when Aimie gave Tran a “homemade” tattoo as I have a real phobia of needles.

This is a documentary that follows a colourful construction crew over two years as they work on Mexico City’s Periferico Freeway, in an effort to cope with the ever expanding traffic. It shows the struggles and daily travails of building a freeway without the machinery expected in modern day construction. It has some fantastic tales and viewpoints from some very unique and out of the ordinary workers. Although it offers a great insight into these peoples world, you have to be really awake and concentrating to appreciate this film. Unfortunately I watched it when I was tired, and almost fell asleep in a few places. Not because it was boring, quite the opposite! It’s truly fascinating hearing these people’s views and beliefs. But if you’re not in the right frame of mind, the film can easily wash over you, as it’s not overly action packed – although there are several moments of excitement. This film makes you laugh, makes you think and appreciate the little things in life. After watching this film, you’ll find it hard to abuse the so-called “lazy” road workers in the future! It has some fantastic helicopter shots, and some lovely time lapse photography. I think I really need to watch this film again to really appreciate all it has to offer. But my general opinion is: it’s a great film.

This is a documentary about a community of a former mining town, which is dealing with poverty and illegal drug use. It’s a compelling, yet chilling portrait, but unfortunately, I found it kind of dull.

I really liked this movie. It still amazes me that people can come up with such fantastic scripts, which only feature one location and a couple of actors. This is a film about two dodgy looking ex-criminals that are travelling on the last night train to Fremantle; basically your stereotypical loud drinking train bogans. One of the men is a real big and scary man, although clearly smart but also with obvious anger management issues. The other is more of a side kick; young, less intelligent, immature, but quite funny. When an attractive woman gets aboard the train, both men are instantly captured. To an outsider, it would look like a couple of drop beats are harassing a young attractive woman, which is basically correct. At the next station, an older woman boards as well as a quiet geeky young man. As the trip to Fremantle continues, the power balance takes a much unexpected twist. This is one of the best Australian thrillers I’ve ever seen. The whole movie is just so tight and unpredictable. Although you know that the characters aren’t what they seem, you can never quite work out what their real story is. The best part is everything only becomes clear at the very last moment, so you’re pretty much at the edge of your seat the whole movie. I really loved everything about this film. The acting was superb. All the characters felt very, very real. The dialog was absolutely spot on. I really liked the classical music that played right through out the film. It added a nice subtle ambiance and helped set a great mood. It also helped reinforce the feeling of danger in some of the more dramatic scenes. The sound effects and Foley were great. Audio wise, the film felt very natural and authentic. This is a really entertaining film that keeps you guessing none stop. It also shows that you don’t need a lot of money to make a fantastic film. All you really need is a good idea.

Markus lives in a small German village, with his adoring wife, working as a metal worker, and a part time fireman. After saving the life of someone who attempts to commit suicide, he goes on a weekend training session with the fire brigade. On the first night, he gets blind drunk and wakes up in bed with a waitress. Despite the fact that he still loves his wife, the relationship between Markus and the waitress grows and continues. This film explores Markus’ life, as he attempts to keep both relationships going. I found this film to be very slow and boring, and I guess because Markus was cheating on his wife, I didn’t really feel any respect for this character. The photography was very bland, and dreary, and the soundtrack was also very uninteresting and unexciting. It was another one of those typical “look inside someone’s life” kinds of films – but it was a life I would have preferred not to intrude into. As soon as this film started, I couldn’t wait for it to end.

This is a strange collection of different stories, and funny sequences. It begins with a story of a wedding party that waits in suspense for the bride and groom. It then tells the story of a shy young girl (and her turkey) who travel to visit her sick mother in hospital in an attempt to convince the doctors to operate. Changing directions again, it then tells the story of two children who are born on the same day in the same city, but have no possibility of getting to know each other. As the film rolls on, more seemingly random stories are told. This is a really hard film to get your head around, as it just seems to be a collection of ideas thrown together. I can’t say I’m the biggest fan.

Without being bias, as Rhys is one of my teachers at Uni, this is truly a fantastic short film. It tells the story of Nouria, as she deals with trying to keep a family together after the death of her mother. Her father won’t get out of bed, and she is left to look after her younger brother. The acting in this film is fantastic and extremely moving, despite the fact that all of the cast are young. Even the dog did a great job. The look of the film is beautiful, and portrays and paints a very accurate picture of outer city Melbourne suburbs. I especially loved the colour and tone of the film, with its grey/gold feel. It adds another layer of authenticity to the movie. The soundtrack was terrific, very clean and natural. This is one of the features missing from a lot of Australian shorts; no one seems to pay attention to sound. The music score was also very appropriate, and helped add to the overall mode of the film. It’s basically a film about love, as the film explores the relationship between Nouria, and her new boyfriend. I have only good things to say about this film, even the titles looked great.

This is a fascinating documentary about Sue, a woman who has devoted her whole life and energy to professional wrestling. Her house is covered in wresting photos and memorabilia; she has hundreds of hours of wresting footage on tape, and has travelled to the USA on several occasions just to see wrestling. What makes this film so captivating is that Sue is genuinely a really unique and completely wrestling obsessed person! Wrestling is what she lives for. Spaning over ten years, this film gives a great insight into Sue’s world and her travels. But it also explores Sue’s personal life, which adds to the emotion of the film. The editing of this film is fantastic, mixing interviews, with video diaries, archive footage and plenty of wrestling shots. I’m really impressed that so many hours of film can be compressed into such a well rounded 52 minute film. Overall, a great documentary!

This is a contemporary fable on the butterfly effect, the stress of apartment living and the challenges of modern policing. I wasn’t a fan of this animation as I found it technically poor, and lacking of a good storyline.

This film is basically exactly the same look and feel of “Funny Ha Ha” made two year before by the same team. Having seen “Funny Ha Ha” just a few days before this one, I’m not sure I was ready to watch this one just yet. However, despite that, I still enjoyed it, although I did wish it would speed up. It’s basically a story about a young man who moves to a new town to pursue his music career as an indie rock musician. He spends a lot of time with one of his closest friends and his girlfriend, and grows more and more attracted to this woman. Like “Funny Ha Ha”, this film basically just shows everyday life, and everyday conversations, including the long pauses. It relies on honesty and simple humility to communicate its charms. Although I quite liked this film, as the characters grew on me more and more towards the end, I found “Funny Ha Ha” to be more entertaining as I really loved the girl in it. However, she does make an appearance in this film, playing much the same character. In fact, this is basically just a clone of “Funny Ha Ha”, telling a different story, and changing the main character from a female to a male. Well worth watching, just be aware that it’s slow and precise. At the end of the day, nothing really happens.

This is a really magnificent observational documentary that explores the close relationship between two brothers. It crosses all cultural boundaries, capturing a loving relationship full of humour, wit and positive energy, whilst examining social issues, and Indigenous families. Although it has a very low-budget documentary feel to it, the people and content within the film is so attention-grabbing and fascinating, that you don’t even notice. This is a short film that will make you laugh, and even bring a tear to your eye. But at the end of it, you leave with a smile.

This is a really great, yet very creepy New Zealand short film about a man who murders a young girl in a rain forest, and is later haunted by her in the most frightening of ways. Basically, nature fights back! This is one of the most professionally looking short films I’ve ever seen. Watching it at ACMI, the picture quality was absolutely amazing. I’m fairly sure it was shot on 35mm, as the resolution was perfect. The audio quality was also really, really impressive. The musical score was also very nice. To top it all off, the screenplay was great. Spine-chilling, but great none the less! I really like the whole concept of the film. Obviously a lot of money has been put into this short, as all departments were producing results that easily matched the quality of high budget Hollywood movies. Also, the credits did roll on for quite some time. As you can see, I was really impressed with this film. It makes me wonder if I should move to New Zealand and work with all the amazing filmmakers that seem to be there!

This is a film about a kickboxing coach and his son’s struggle with life after losing their wife/mother and daughter/sister in a car crash two years previous. The father is a well respected and highly regarded kickboxing teacher, but his career is put in jeopardy after he hits his son in front of guests and students at a birthday barbeque, after his son makes a peculiar attempt for his father’s attention. As father and son separate, the film explores the two coming to turns with the past, of love and of what the future holds. As a viewer, I could quite easily connect with the characters and feel their pain and frustration. The look of the film was quite beautiful, with some lovely colourful scenes. I also loved some of the more modern sections of the soundtrack. There are even a few small laughs scattered throughout the movie.

I’m a really big fan of this movie. Set in Coober Pedy, a young girl called Kellyanne, spends all her time playing with her two make-believe friends Pobby and Dingan. She is completely adamant that these two people exist, which is driving her mother, father and older brother completely crazy. When Kellyanne’s Dad takes her two imaginary friends mining with him one night, he forgets to bring them home, which completely devastates the young girl. Kellyanne starts getting really sick, presumably due to the emotional stress caused by no longer having her two friends by her side. The family have no option but to search for the unseeable people, which indirectly, turns the whole town against them. But, all thanks to a brother’s love and devotion, things turn dramatically at the end, after a serious of very gripping circumstances. I felt that the acting in this film was really fantastic, especially as the two central characters were children. Although it was a very typical Australian film, I felt that the storyline was really strong, and it had a lot of unpredictable twists and turns. Visually, the film was stunning, with some great shots of a very mundane, yet matchless location. The soundtrack was perfect, and the musical score was really good. But the story is what made the film stand out from a crowd of other Aussie films. It had a really innocent feel to it. It was full of action and suspense; it made you laugh, and it was also very sad and moving at times. Overall, I was really impressed with this film. I know some people have complained that the young girl’s acting was poor, and she looked way to sick at the end of the film, but I doubt these people have had experience with unorthodox young children. I felt this film was very real.

This is a film about a foreign couple who move to a Sydney beachside apartment to start a new life. However, their expectations and experiences of Australian urban life create a conflict between them. The characters in the film were great; very real. The story was good and kept you interested. The production values were good, with nice clean sound and fairly good looking camera work. Overall, this is a very nice short film.

This is a really well structured documentary, exploring the history of Punk over the last 30 years. Mixing interviews with video clips, and animations, this is a really good film that sheds some really interesting and cool facts on a world I’ve never had anything to do with. It had some really funny moments, but what made it so entertaining was that the pacing was so fast. You didn’t get a chance to even think about being bored, which is great. I really enjoyed this film.

This is an amazing insightful documentary that takes an extremely close look into the world of Raul Castells, an Argentinean man who is fighting for the rights of the poor people in his country. You are right there with him, as he organises peaceful and non-violent protests against the corrupt government. Raul is non-religious, big and loud, walking, talking, yelling, screaming machine that devotes all his energy and power to his beliefs. He would die for the good of the people that support him – and this film proves it. This film really takes you on a journey, and helps you understand what this country is going through. It has some amazing footage and has been edited together perfectly. This is a very inspiring film.

This is a film about a young man who travels with his mother to a shopping centre after a really big night of heavy drinking. Whilst driving along, we watch and observe some really uncomfortable and depressing conversations between the two. This is a really simple film, that is mostly driven by powerful dialog, although the opening scene is quite dramatic as the man returns home really, really drunk and without a key. It’s a short film that basically shows a unique insight into a troubled man’s life. I’m not quite sure if I liked it or not.

After watching so many slow films over the past couple of days, it was a relief to see a non-stop action packed movie. Despite the fact that I’m really not a fan of sword fighting movies, I was definitely ready for this one. It’s an epic movie about a group of 17th century sword fighters that team up together to defend a village against an army of ruthless killers, who aim is to exchange the dead bodies of the towns people for cash. Jam packed with sword fighting, decapitations, disfigurations, lush landscapes, strong men, sexy women and fancy wirework, this film is a visual masterpiece. The soundtrack is complex and in-your-face, with some face-cringing skin-slicing moments. The music is grand, with some great orchestral sections. Although I didn’t really like the story line, as it was a bit to fantasy for me, that didn’t matter. There was no time to think about it. You basically sat down and were taken on a hair-raising rollercoaster ride, full of magic and almost traditional special effects. If you’re in to blockbuster fight sequences, or have recently watch way to many human interest movies, then you can’t go past this one!

This is a film based on a true story of a Catholic priest and a young idealistic English teacher who found themselves caught up in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Filmed on location and employing actual survivors of the genocide, this is a deeply affecting and moving film that conveys a very important and powerful message. The cast is truly remarkable. As a viewer, you develop a huge attachment to all of the characters. The images are incredible, and although there are a lot of horribly graphic scenes, they needed to be included. Although you come out of the theatre feeling completely emotionally drained, it feels like a privilege to watch this film.

Why was this film in the festival? It’s basically just a whole lot of random shots of an empty town. It’s just ten minutes of boring footage with a poor soundtrack. What a waste of my time!

This is a really great short film about a young Latino-Australian man, who lives with his loving mother and grandmother at home and works night shifts at a produce market. He decides one day that he’s sick of his current job, and wants to apply for a job at a shoe shop. This film basically explores the struggle to even get to the point of an interview. It’s so great to see a financially struggling family work together and think outside the box. This film also focuses on the courage needed to turn ones life around. Visually, this short was very well filmed, with an appropriate soundtrack and score. It tells a very basic story, and thanks to a strong yet small cast, does it very effectively.

This is a really intriguing film about a father and son living in a remote snowing location. The son is doing some kind of weird experiment, burying rabbits in the snow. Despite the fact the footage originated from film, the quality was quite average and really grainy. The sound was fine; perfect realism. The story was interesting, although I still feel like I missed the point.

This is a fantastic moving and revealing glimpse into history, as an 83-year-old World War II pilot views 16mm film footage of his 1943 Spitfire crash for the first time. I especially loved the introduction to this film, as the director explains how the whole story came about, with the help of animation/motion effects. This was a really high quality production, and really inspired me to make a good documentary this year.

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.

This film follows the life of tobacco industry lobbyist Nick Naylor, as he promotes and defends cigarette smoking in a time when the health hazards have become too plain to ignore. Nick, a master of manipulation, who has the skill and flair to convince anyone of anything, can talk his way out of any situation. Nick’s son Joey needs to understand and respect his fathers philosophy, and Nick works hard to respond to that need without compromising his lack of values. When a beautiful news reporter betrays Nick’s sexually-achieved trust, his world seems in danger of collapsing. But with the help of the MOD Squad (Merchants of Death – his equivalents in the firearms and alcohol industries), Nick takes on the big guns. This is a seriously funny film with truly amazing and side splitting dialog. Nick is such as loveable character despite the fact he’s working for an organisation that kills people to make a profit. It’s stylish, slick and fast paced, but best of all, every single line of dialog is perfection. I really loved this film.

This is a cute film about two people who reflect on their betel-chewing, teeth-lacquering and their displaced past while creating future memories for their grandchildren. Although it offered an interesting insight into another culture from my own, I found the story rather boring, although there were some funny moments (such as when one of the ladies was getting high of chewing betel).

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.

A really strange and distinctive erotic fantasy of growing pains, imagined fetishes and ravished rabbits. This is truly a weird and wonderful animation that really makes you laugh and wonder what the hell you are doing watching it!

This is very powerful Australian short film that gives a brief insight into the life of a seemingly depressed and troubled teenager in a typical suburban setting. Visually it’s most impressive, despite the obvious low budget, with some fantastic night footage. I’m a big fan of the use of red light to highlight the freeways and party scenes. The soundtrack was great; I especially liked the sound used in the party scene, when the main character starts to drift off into another world. The music was really nice as well. I’m a big fan of the punchy acoustic steel string guitar sound. Overall, I was really impressed with the film.

This is basically just twelve minutes of black and white grainy footage, of a group of boats catching giant tuna using a large net. It was more of an observational piece, but I just found it boring.

This may well be my favourite film so far! I have never seen such a fantastic audience reaction and participation, as I have with this film. It starts with an US Army officer, who orders the dumping of litres of nasty looking chemicals into the sink, which consequentially, runs out into the main river of Seoul, in South Korea. Somehow, the mixture of chemicals creates a mutant creature, which emerges six years later, and wreaks havoc in the city. The creature kills many people, and grabs a young girl, which it takes to its lair in the sewer tunnels. Her family, sure that she’s still alive, set out to bring her back home, while the US Army quarantine the river, claiming the creature is host to a horrific virus. This is a truly exciting and thrilling film, which is also extremely funny and very, very random. The special effects are fantastic, but what makes this film so special is that you seriously have no idea where the story is headed. What will start of as an emotional, and sad scene, will end up being a hilarious tongue-in-cheek fight sequence. One minute the monster is killing people, the next, some crazy doctor is drilling through the protagonists head! I have no idea what to make of this movie. I feel as if I missed a really important political or social message that was hidden behind the confusing, yet remarkable storyline. This film really has everything. It will make you jump out of your skin, it will make you cry, and for most of the film, it will make your cheeks hurt with laughter. This is a really unique film, that will, no question about it, become a cult classic. It’s a kind of a bit like a South Korean version of Shaun of the Dead, with a mutant monster instead of zombies. Very random – very funny! Like I said, it’s probably my favourite film so far of MIFF 2006.

This is a quite powerful short film about an elderly man who has lost his wife, and is about to loose his farm, independence and his dignity. In desperation, he finds a way to keep it all. The look of this film is quite beautiful, set in a wonderful remote snow covered landscape by the ocean. But, although the main character does a fantastic job, and you really do feel his pain, his actions and the story in general is very predicable. However, it doesn’t really matter. Predicable or not, the film gets it point across and brings a tear to your eye.

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!

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.

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.

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).