Change Your Image
missingtth
Reviews
Avida (2006)
Don't be misled by people trying to tell you not to be misled by festival booklets
This film is brilliant - but there will be a fair share of naysayers who will criticize the film for ridiculous reasons. The fact is that AVIDA is extremely creative and progressive film-making and might actually make you think about society at large, the symbols that flow throughout - religious or social - and a bunch of other ideas that certain authorities would rather have you ignorant of.
This is one of those films, like Jodorowsky's HOLY MOUNTAIN, that is shat on in the year of its release but inevitably becomes a cult classic and will be loved by generations to come. It's just that it takes balls to put yourself behind this film and espouse its charms. Something that very few critics, most of whom are coerced by the mediocrity of popular opinion, rarely do these days.
See it if you can.
Flandres (2006)
Packs a veritable punch
It's funny: a previous entry suggests a turn to Carlos Reygadas (over Dumont); the fact is that Reygadas is obviously borrowing from Dumont in his latest Silent Night. Make no mistake though, Dumont IS the original.
There isn't a more progressive, uncompromising, audacious filmmaker working in the world of cinema today. And you should be very cautious when you run into someone who puts down his work so angrily. These people have serious political motivations in criticizing Dumont's approach, just like I have serious political motivations in defending him. But if you don't see the humanist tone to his films and you're only aware of the misery and depredation, then you're not looking at the film properly or you have very little humanism in you to begin with.
I know that might sound harsh, but it must be stated, frankly.
I know for sure that Dumont's work gives a lot of hope to socially responsible artists and filmmakers. In the end he's just picking up on a legacy of bold, realistic film-making that was abandoned by the Americans in the seventies (read: What ever happened to the progressive independent American Cinema?).
See all his films open minded, and your world view will be challenged in a way that it hasn't before.
Belfast, Maine (1999)
Thinking Incarnate
This response is a reply to "Boredom Incarnate", a few lines down.
First of all, the documentary you're referring to - the one that would capture the truth about Belfast Maine - doesn't exist for a reason. That's because Wiseman would probably find that film mediocre at best. At least here he can explore (or more simply, observe) a range of human experience, most of which couldn't be captured with a more privileged, middle class demographic or subject. And make no mistake, his are WORKING class subjects.
The film is largely about processes, big or small, be they industrial relations (with the many factory sequences) or simple human relations. It is hugely perceptive, and extremely captivating, but the problem is that it leaves too much up to the viewer in terms of interpretation. This leads people to review the film with expressions like "boredom incarnate" when they should be saying things like "as close to the truth about 'some' forms of human behavior as you're likely to get with a camera in the room."
See it.
Anna M. (2007)
if you like this...
...then you have to back-up and start watching some Michael Haneke films. His work is brilliant, and makes Spinoza's film seem like a generic French thriller that pales in comparison.
This film requires an immense degree of suspended disbelief which makes it unwatchable in my opinion. Am I supposed to believe the events that transpire in the film? Seriously? This film is really far fetched and the lead actress' performance is grating because of its one-dimensiality. Her obsession is just too much. And it cannot carry the film. No one is that obsessed in this world (okay, almost no one), certainly not over a Doctor??? Come on. Get serious.
If they would have examined her relationship to her mother (like Haneke did in The Piano teacher) in a more thorough manner then it might have helped out in terms of the character development, but these characters just develop in such narrow terms.
I take French Cinema very seriously, but I must admit that this is just average fare. Mediocre at best.
Boxing Day (2007)
Long-takes are the way to go
This film blew me away. I didn't know anything about the film before entering the cinema (which is usu. better to start) and even though I wasn't on board in the first 10 minutes, I stuck with it and it proved to be one of the gems of the festival.
This film is potent. As Kriv the director noted, casting is 99% of a film, and he couldn't be more right. The characters ARE real. They don't seem to be acting. And Richard Green's performance must be seen and heard to be believed. I hope this talented man can stay out of detention (the story behind his casting is pretty nuts) and keep acting.
As for Kriv, this kid can carve out an incredibly tense film with relatively few elements (setting, performance, hand-held camera etc...)And then there's the story itself! Unbelievable.
Don't listen to what anyone says; this film should be seen by everyone, and should (will/must) be appreciated by most.
I only wish the film had been subtitled in English, because the accents are pretty thick and the vocal qualities can be rough around the edges making some passages difficult to understand.
First-rate film-making.