Melbourne International Film Festival 2010
I went to see some films. I liked some of them more than others. Air Doll, Philip Morris, Scott Pilgrim and more...
In rough order of preference... Be warned that links are mostly to the trailers and some of them may start playing automatically. So don't click on them when the bub is asleep.
In rough order of preference... Be warned that links are mostly to the trailers and some of them may start playing automatically. So don't click on them when the bub is asleep.
- Air Doll: Hauntingly beautiful, tragic story of an inflatable sex doll that comes to life and explores her world. Stand out best film that I saw! Just lovely.
- Tim Burton's version of Hansel and Gretel: Another one that wasn't in the film festival. It was showing at the Tim Burton exhibition at the Australian Centre of the Moving Image. Absolutely brilliant, and a great bridge between his early work (where he is riffing off everyone from Mad Magazine to Dr Suess) and his own particular vision.
- Toy Story 3: Not actually a Melbourne International Film Festival movie, but we went to see it during this period, so I'm happy to count it. Loved it. Every single bit of it.
- I Love You, Philip Morris: Jim Carrey is hopelessly in love with Ewan McGregor. What more do I need to say? This was, in fact, an absolutely amazing movie. I usually don't like Jim Carrey, but he was trying hard not to be a comedian here. Anyway, without giving anything away, it was brilliant and I loved it. And, mostly, true story.
- Scott Pilgrim vs the world: a very silly movie about evil ex-lovers and video games. Every tragic in Melbourne seemed to be at my session (including moi, obviously).
- Bruce (4 minutes - minutes - part of Animation Shorts 2): Brilliant! Plug a hunk of meat into your USB slot, choose an architype and the computer sculpts a little man that you can play with. In this case, the user chose Action Hero and got Bruce. Exactly what a short should be: punchy, clever and smart. Amazingly, this is a 4 minute short with a trailer - who woulda thought.
- Alice in Wonderland: Not a film festival movie and not a Tim Burton exhibition movie either. We saw this with Toy Story 3 (see above) at the Astor. Mmmmm - Astor choc ices. Loved the story. Loved that Tim Burton look and feel. Especially loved the costumes. Hated the stupid, stupid ending.
- 1st Squad: An amazing Japanese - Russian collaboration that tells a secret story of the Eastern Front during World War II, using a combination of survivor interviews and anime. I thought that it was a brilliant way to tell history, but others thought that the interviews interrupted the story.
- Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll: are all my brain and body need. Ian Dury was an amazing arsehole. Andy Serkis is just plain amazing.
- Bring 'em Back: Documentary about Melbourne's tram conductors. Best bits were the shots and stories from the blockade in 1998, when there were trams parked down St Kilda Road as far as the eye could see. The most bizarre thing was that this feel-good homage to bygone days was matched with Drive (see below).
- Summer Wars: Fun little anime about bad things happening in a Second Life version of the Internet.
- Four Lions: Four English fanatics who just want to blow themselves (and a chunk of England) to Allah. You know a movie is a dark comedy when you feel guilty about laughing at people who are trying hard to die. I loved this, but Sophie thought that it made them out to be stupid.
- The Wonder Hospital (12 minutes - part of Animation Shorts 2): This was an amazing surreal little story about a sad person who goes to a very very weird fun-fair hospital for a facelift to make her happy. And it does, sort of.
- Alma (6 minutes - part of Animation Shorts 2): Little girl. Magic toy shop. A doll that looks exactly like her. We knew what was going to happen, but we were happy to go on the journey anyway.
- Scary Therapy (5 minutes - part of Animation Shorts 2): Various monsters talking to their therapist. Best bit was the Fly Boy talking about how his Mum and his Dad got together. For a taste, see Monster Auditions.
- The Astronomer's Sun (6 minutes - part of Animation Shorts 2): Lovely animation about a boy who wants to be just like his dad, and how his wind-up bear helps him out.
- Mammuth: Gérard Depardieu retires and rides an old motorbike.
- Mother of Many (6 minutes - part of Animation Shorts 2): Lovely little homage to midwives.
- Angry Man (20 minutes - part of Animation Shorts 2): Domestic violence, cured by the kind king, who takes the father away because the son dobbed him in. Public service announcement that made me sad.
- The Henhouse (7 minutes - part of Animation Shorts 2): Fox goes to work at a restaurant called the Henhouse. Conforms and loses himself.
- A Family Portrait (5 minutes - part of Animation Shorts 2): Happy families, not!
- Drive: Documentary about kids in North West Tasmania killing themselves in cars. Amazing interviews with survivors who were living with the fact that they had quite literally killed their best mates. Very full on. Very depressing. Why the hell was this matched with Bring 'em Back (see above)? And what was all the skateboarding about?
- Maska (23 minutes - part of Animation Shorts 2): Sometimes, twenty-three minutes is way too long. Luckily, I fell asleep for most of this. Apparently, there was a woman who turned into a preying mantis (but Sophie isn't sure as she fell asleep, too).