description: Children, house, gang in the making, girl, father, zombie
(Geoffrey): (rating 8)
Excellent short zombie movie about some children having trapped a zombie which seems to be the father of the girl. There is a smaller boy who admires/loves Sarah. The rest of the boys mock with the zombie. The shoot it and eventually blow it up, at least half of it. When mocking the other half, the zombie bytes the leader of the group. The girl finishes it off :-)
Children play a more important role during this festival and I love it. Now we have children with a zombie, which makes it even more fun. I wouldn't mind seeing a bigger picture with children and zombie..specially when it comes to buthering them ;-)
Zombies in an apocalyptic world won't stop a boy from falling in love
A short showed before Lake Mungo. Wouldn't go as far as to call it a gem, but well-done and a funny enough story of teenagers in a zombie-infested Oz.
Rating: 7
A short showed before Lake Mungo. Wouldn't go as far as to call it a gem, but well-done and a funny enough story of teenagers in a zombie-infested Oz.
Rating: 7
Non-campy Twin Peaks
Links: AFFF / imdb
This film made sense until about an hour into the film. Carefully disguised as a documentary, Lake Mungo tried its best not to go down the familiar road of creepy ghost apparition films. Unfortunately this was not the direction the film was headed, and so we ended up with a ghost film after all. A pity, because this could have been a good film if they had stuck with the observatory non-shocking style of the first sixty minutes.
In my opinion this film should have focused on the real life aspects and not the ghostly ones. By this I mean that to me the strongest emotional theme that should have had center stage was how a family deals with the death of a (young) family member, how they cope and how they try to make sense of it. Part of the ghost story could then still have been intact, but it would have served as an illustration of denial, of finding and giving meaning. It would have shown human behaviour in these difficult circumstances instead of the "this is the supernatural story that really happened".
Rating: 6
Links: AFFF / imdb
This film made sense until about an hour into the film. Carefully disguised as a documentary, Lake Mungo tried its best not to go down the familiar road of creepy ghost apparition films. Unfortunately this was not the direction the film was headed, and so we ended up with a ghost film after all. A pity, because this could have been a good film if they had stuck with the observatory non-shocking style of the first sixty minutes.
In my opinion this film should have focused on the real life aspects and not the ghostly ones. By this I mean that to me the strongest emotional theme that should have had center stage was how a family deals with the death of a (young) family member, how they cope and how they try to make sense of it. Part of the ghost story could then still have been intact, but it would have served as an illustration of denial, of finding and giving meaning. It would have shown human behaviour in these difficult circumstances instead of the "this is the supernatural story that really happened".
Rating: 6
"I love Sarah Jane" is a short movie shown before Lake Mungo. It was a pleasant surprise. TEOTWAWKI with one zombie, gore and a strong girl. The only drawback was the use of the word fuck in almost every sentence, but maybe that's what you do if the world is taken over by zombies.
Rating : 9
Rating : 9
Judging from my ratings, an exceptionally good day. Wonderful films providing endless food for thoughts. On a not-so-related note, good to see that my AFFF-mice-feeding bore fruit since the whole Arthouse Tuschinski #4 room saw one of them sprinting along the screen.
The mentioning of Ballard seems to introduce the dark and grim into the films I watch. No complaints from yours truly.
Pain! Been hurt deep in the roots of my very soul: Barista of the Other Day lied to me. Lungo simply means espresso + a lot more water (as much as you'd add to a normal cup of coffee). Saw a Japanese "Ramen" restaurant right around the corner, might try that for dinner soon. Today Subway-Day.
Slowly ideas start to trickle through while watching films. Day 6 already though, indicating the mental attic was stuffed to the ceiling. More syslog-rotations in the brain?
The mentioning of Ballard seems to introduce the dark and grim into the films I watch. No complaints from yours truly.
Pain! Been hurt deep in the roots of my very soul: Barista of the Other Day lied to me. Lungo simply means espresso + a lot more water (as much as you'd add to a normal cup of coffee). Saw a Japanese "Ramen" restaurant right around the corner, might try that for dinner soon. Today Subway-Day.
Slowly ideas start to trickle through while watching films. Day 6 already though, indicating the mental attic was stuffed to the ceiling. More syslog-rotations in the brain?
Finally the moment I had been hoping and waiting for: leaving the cinema impressed by a film, admiring the contents and execution, replaying the film in my head. The clone returns home had the honour, my first and certain rating of 9.
Apart from La crème, today offered a high standard of films. The festival is far from over!
Most remarkable special appearance today: a mouse ran over the full length of the bottom of the cinema screen during Sleep Dealer! :-)
Apart from La crème, today offered a high standard of films. The festival is far from over!
Most remarkable special appearance today: a mouse ran over the full length of the bottom of the cinema screen during Sleep Dealer! :-)
What to say, what to do? After a brief rest of yesterday, I saw another 5 movies today: The Clone returns home, La Creme, Sleepdealers, Grace, Sauna. Best movie is The Clone returns home, the worst is.......La Creme.
Why? Read the reviews ;-)
We past half of the total movies to be watched already. Just 4 more days and then it is finished. In case you are wondering how I/we can keep it up, I am wondering how the time flies to quickly.
Why? Read the reviews ;-)
We past half of the total movies to be watched already. Just 4 more days and then it is finished. In case you are wondering how I/we can keep it up, I am wondering how the time flies to quickly.
description: 16th century, war Russia/Sweden just ended, drawing borders, maps, soldier from both sides, Sweden brothers, older brother is a killer, sauna, girl trapped, ghost of girl trapped, glasses, haunting, border agreements, swamp village, one child, 73, 74, 75, gay
(Geoffrey): (rating 8)
This can be considered as a ghost movie I guess, but this is one of the most original I have seen. I was thrilled that it did not concern a house hunting.
There are 2 brothers and also soldiers, together with 2 Russian soldier, who walking through an area to draw borders to distinct Russia from Sweden. During the trip, they visit an Inn where a father and daughter lives, they demand some food and go to the basement. The father is shot, the girl is locked in the basement. Though the younger Swedish brother asks the older one to free her again in the morning, he does not and tells his younger brother the truth later. The younger brother sees ghost appearances from the girl and she follows him all the way till a village in the swamp, where there is a strange looking building, which seems to be a sauna. There is something weird going on in the village as well.
I like the movie, because of the settings, acting and also a little bit because of the soundtrack used. Further, the historical perspective is convincing me, so that is ok. I only had some doubts about the strange building looking like a sauna. It does not seem to match the other building structures, so it is almost alien. I can imagine that it was possible to create such a building in that time. All this causes me to have some thaughts afterwards and therefor I give the movie a big plus.
(Geoffrey): (rating 8)
This can be considered as a ghost movie I guess, but this is one of the most original I have seen. I was thrilled that it did not concern a house hunting.
There are 2 brothers and also soldiers, together with 2 Russian soldier, who walking through an area to draw borders to distinct Russia from Sweden. During the trip, they visit an Inn where a father and daughter lives, they demand some food and go to the basement. The father is shot, the girl is locked in the basement. Though the younger Swedish brother asks the older one to free her again in the morning, he does not and tells his younger brother the truth later. The younger brother sees ghost appearances from the girl and she follows him all the way till a village in the swamp, where there is a strange looking building, which seems to be a sauna. There is something weird going on in the village as well.
I like the movie, because of the settings, acting and also a little bit because of the soundtrack used. Further, the historical perspective is convincing me, so that is ok. I only had some doubts about the strange building looking like a sauna. It does not seem to match the other building structures, so it is almost alien. I can imagine that it was possible to create such a building in that time. All this causes me to have some thaughts afterwards and therefor I give the movie a big plus.
Sauna is set in the 1600s. A 25 year war between Russia and Sweden has just ended and a group of people from both sides travel around to determine the new borders. During the journey they discover a village in the middle of a swamp with a mysterious building. Slowly they discover what the buildings purpose is.
It is a well made movie which kept me interested till the end. I didn't get what the building was, they said it washes away all your sins with prayer or baptizing,
Rating : 7
It is a well made movie which kept me interested till the end. I didn't get what the building was, they said it washes away all your sins with prayer or baptizing,
Rating : 7
Links: AFFF
- Eelsgirl; funny, liked the short syslog-details
Rating: good - Coupe court: dwarf's love is, well, dwarfed. Without her consent
Rating: nice, good setting - Cold and Dry"Norske Folkepreservertig", all people are deepfrozen to await a better future. Yet too bad there's no one to create that better future
Rating: okay - Schrik: fun enough by the "trick" which made the script work. Ending was as expected, but overall well-executed
Rating: ok - The Big Store: the effects work for a minute or two, then become tedious. Totally missed the references (if any?) to the political murder
Rating: okayish - Cotton Candy: a choking shirt has seldom been portrayed in such a gripping way
Rating: good - Morana: past, future, what's real, what is dream, etc
Rating: couldn't interest me - Operator: talk to God. Fun, short enough
Rating: good - Elevador: the elevator is aliiiiive
Rating: fun, but too long - Mortified: a common "trick-ending" short.
Rating: ok, nothing special
Links: AFFF
Watching some of these shorts really hurts, because of the amount of time, money and resources spent on some productions that are IMHO not that special at all. Annoying as well to see that at least half of the short films has a proper 35mm print! :-(
My highlights in this block of short films:
Key lesson that I realized once again after seeing these shorts: character, character, character! It's crucial to spend a lot of time developing the characters and to get them right.
Watching some of these shorts really hurts, because of the amount of time, money and resources spent on some productions that are IMHO not that special at all. Annoying as well to see that at least half of the short films has a proper 35mm print! :-(
My highlights in this block of short films:
Key lesson that I realized once again after seeing these shorts: character, character, character! It's crucial to spend a lot of time developing the characters and to get them right.
The images in this movie are truly beautiful. The movie is about an astronaut who stores his DNA and memory at a cloning center. During a mission in space the astronaut dies and the clone is made. The first clone isn't working well and a second clone is made. Throughout the movie the astronaut's clone is followed to his past. I didn't understand the meaning of some parts of the movie, but I found it a beauty to watch.
Rating : 8
Rating : 8
pregnant girl travels on train with unknown destination through dystopian landscape
Links: AFFF / imdb
Very very grim; no-one will deny that.
Quite poetic; many disagree, judging from the mere 5.27 (out of 10) it currently received from the audience. Me, I absolutely adored it. You have been warned.
As soon as the openinglines came through the speakers I knew I'd love this one, like I need to listen to Cohen's parlando version of "Democracy" every 3 to 4 months, alone, somewhere after 1am. This film is extremely poetic for me. I am not describing the monologue as a poem, I'm saying that the film is not about a realistic making-sense story or believable character(-arc). Instead it references through visual, textual and stylistic methods deeply human emotions, trying to break through the filter that every day morphs so much of our thoughts and feelings, directly into primal instincts like agression, love, fear and their more subtle descendants.
The train and landscape are CGI, the humans are gritty manual drawings. This juxtaposition estranges its already dark settings from the daily world we experience around us, their difference disorients. There was exactly one short cut in which this didn't work for me: somewhere near the beginning gritty handdrawn humans are seen as reflections on the CGI train. I wrote down many possible references that the film offered to me through visual or textual hints. There is no use in sharing these since they are highly personal and I'd better think them over and watch the film again. This might sound as if I was constantly crossreferencing, deducting, stripping away the layers to reveal the aphorisms, but nothing could be further from the truth. I let the film grab me by the hand and pull me through the raw, neverending dust that a world without hope has to offer. But now and then ideas, no, feelings, surfaced, hints of possible references.
Rating: 9
Links: AFFF / imdb
Very very grim; no-one will deny that.
Quite poetic; many disagree, judging from the mere 5.27 (out of 10) it currently received from the audience. Me, I absolutely adored it. You have been warned.
As soon as the openinglines came through the speakers I knew I'd love this one, like I need to listen to Cohen's parlando version of "Democracy" every 3 to 4 months, alone, somewhere after 1am. This film is extremely poetic for me. I am not describing the monologue as a poem, I'm saying that the film is not about a realistic making-sense story or believable character(-arc). Instead it references through visual, textual and stylistic methods deeply human emotions, trying to break through the filter that every day morphs so much of our thoughts and feelings, directly into primal instincts like agression, love, fear and their more subtle descendants.
The train and landscape are CGI, the humans are gritty manual drawings. This juxtaposition estranges its already dark settings from the daily world we experience around us, their difference disorients. There was exactly one short cut in which this didn't work for me: somewhere near the beginning gritty handdrawn humans are seen as reflections on the CGI train. I wrote down many possible references that the film offered to me through visual or textual hints. There is no use in sharing these since they are highly personal and I'd better think them over and watch the film again. This might sound as if I was constantly crossreferencing, deducting, stripping away the layers to reveal the aphorisms, but nothing could be further from the truth. I let the film grab me by the hand and pull me through the raw, neverending dust that a world without hope has to offer. But now and then ideas, no, feelings, surfaced, hints of possible references.
Rating: 9
Caution: cynic hard at work to kill every last glimmer of hope for mankind.
Links: AFFF / imdb
Grim pitch-black story about the end of days. The narrator, a pregnant woman, finds herself on a train plowing through a blood drenched landscape, away from whatever happened before, whoever is left behind and who knows what destination. All of this is not really relevant, because the film is a bleak contemplation on life, death and motherhood.
Films like this show that there's always new and innovative ways to make illustrated / animated stories. It can only be this focused when it's done with a minimal crew, it is almost a one-man show by John Bergin. A groovy mix of visual and auditive styles create a broiling nightmarish atmosphere of very little hope.
Rating: 8
Links: AFFF / imdb
Grim pitch-black story about the end of days. The narrator, a pregnant woman, finds herself on a train plowing through a blood drenched landscape, away from whatever happened before, whoever is left behind and who knows what destination. All of this is not really relevant, because the film is a bleak contemplation on life, death and motherhood.
Films like this show that there's always new and innovative ways to make illustrated / animated stories. It can only be this focused when it's done with a minimal crew, it is almost a one-man show by John Bergin. A groovy mix of visual and auditive styles create a broiling nightmarish atmosphere of very little hope.
Rating: 8
"Let the Right One in" is the best movie of the festival (IMO). The movie is basically a love story between two kids of which one happens to be a vampire, bitten at 12 years old. Lots of subtle (and also not so subtle) hints at the vampirism. The vampire kid climbs walls, her pupil changes from cateye to human, all showed as side things, which makes the movie stronger. The grand finale is excellent, you know something got to happen, but how....?
Go see it :)
Rating : 10
Go see it :)
Rating : 10
description: woman, pregnant, car accident, baby dead, baby alive, alternative doctor, mother in law, blood
(Geoffrey): (rating 6,5)
I'll keep this one short. The movie starts with one of the most boring sex-scenes you've ever seen. "Honey, please wake me up when you're done!" sort of feeling. The woman get's pregnant and goes to an alternative doctor for support when she gives birth. Just before that, she and her husband get in a car accident and the woman is the sole survivor. Though the unborn baby is dead, she wants to give natural birth. At some point, she gives birth at the alternative doctor's place. Like a miracle, the baby lives........
Overal ok, not briljant. At the end of the movie, I got a Bonny & Clyde vibe and a small spoiler....it could well bel Let the right one in, the prequel ;-)
(Geoffrey): (rating 6,5)
I'll keep this one short. The movie starts with one of the most boring sex-scenes you've ever seen. "Honey, please wake me up when you're done!" sort of feeling. The woman get's pregnant and goes to an alternative doctor for support when she gives birth. Just before that, she and her husband get in a car accident and the woman is the sole survivor. Though the unborn baby is dead, she wants to give natural birth. At some point, she gives birth at the alternative doctor's place. Like a miracle, the baby lives........
Overal ok, not briljant. At the end of the movie, I got a Bonny & Clyde vibe and a small spoiler....it could well bel Let the right one in, the prequel ;-)
description: cyber plugin, mexican, teenager, brother, father, hacker for beginners, father killed, moving from village to city, virtual construction worker, woman, writer, love/drama
(Geoffrey): (rating 7)
In the near future, a teenager in Mexico is busy with picking up radio transmissions. At some points he picks up a transmission from the US, which is intercepted by a soldier. They think it is a terrorist spying and send an aircraft to that place to destroy it. The teenager is not home at that time, but his father is and is killed by the aircraft (remotly controled).
since there is little left to do over there, the teenager decides to take the big step and goes to the big city to find a job. He does that and so can pay his family. In the meantime, he meets a beautiful woman, a writer, who more or less falls for him. She uses his meeting to write a new novel for selling. Someone notices the story and is prepared to pay more for the rest.
Overal the story is nice. It takes place in Mexico and has some nice settings in the border. The movie has some CGI effects here and there which look a little bit cheap, but still watchable. You see some Matrix vibes in here as well, but not overdone. Acting is good and I really got the feeling watching a Mexican movie. Sad thing to say is that there is lots of people being pore in the future as well, which is nicely shot.
(Geoffrey): (rating 7)
In the near future, a teenager in Mexico is busy with picking up radio transmissions. At some points he picks up a transmission from the US, which is intercepted by a soldier. They think it is a terrorist spying and send an aircraft to that place to destroy it. The teenager is not home at that time, but his father is and is killed by the aircraft (remotly controled).
since there is little left to do over there, the teenager decides to take the big step and goes to the big city to find a job. He does that and so can pay his family. In the meantime, he meets a beautiful woman, a writer, who more or less falls for him. She uses his meeting to write a new novel for selling. Someone notices the story and is prepared to pay more for the rest.
Overal the story is nice. It takes place in Mexico and has some nice settings in the border. The movie has some CGI effects here and there which look a little bit cheap, but still watchable. You see some Matrix vibes in here as well, but not overdone. Acting is good and I really got the feeling watching a Mexican movie. Sad thing to say is that there is lots of people being pore in the future as well, which is nicely shot.
Partly written by Bruce Dickinson, the lead-singer of Iron Maiden. Also the music is made by him and since I listened a lot to Iron Maiden (and still do) I had high hopes for this movie. It was okay. There were some Iron Maiden songs in it.
The movie is about Aleister Crowley, who is trying to reincarnate in present day. The actor playing the person in which Crowley wants to reincarnate plays him well and has the looks you expect. There is cameo of Bruce Dickinson.
Rating : 6
The movie is about Aleister Crowley, who is trying to reincarnate in present day. The actor playing the person in which Crowley wants to reincarnate plays him well and has the looks you expect. There is cameo of Bruce Dickinson.
Rating : 6
Mexican becomes WALL-E through The Matrix and returns to his roots.
Links: AFFF / imdb
The most political / social film so far this festival. Set in North America in a nearby future, the film paints a picture of a hypothetical society where workers have implants (nodes) and do their work in factories (sleep dealers) using remote presence. The film follows a Mexican young man who leaves the no-future countryside in search for a way to support his family, after his father has died indirectly because of him.
Several social issues are interwoven in the narrative: exploitation of workers, virtualization of the workforce, water scarcity, border patrol, privacy and the exploitation of memories. Ambitious but still quite believable on such a limited budget. Written, produced, directed AND edited by the same guy, Alex Rivera.
Rating: 8
Links: AFFF / imdb
The most political / social film so far this festival. Set in North America in a nearby future, the film paints a picture of a hypothetical society where workers have implants (nodes) and do their work in factories (sleep dealers) using remote presence. The film follows a Mexican young man who leaves the no-future countryside in search for a way to support his family, after his father has died indirectly because of him.
Several social issues are interwoven in the narrative: exploitation of workers, virtualization of the workforce, water scarcity, border patrol, privacy and the exploitation of memories. Ambitious but still quite believable on such a limited budget. Written, produced, directed AND edited by the same guy, Alex Rivera.
Rating: 8
working from a distance doesn't imply emotional detachment
Links: AFFF / imdb
"Cyberpunk" was the first thought that entered my mind. The "new Mexicans" do not physically cross the border, they remotely work through robots as nannies, gardeners or constructionworkers.
This though, is more of a plot-device than an important story-element. The story is about a boy who tries to escape his father's death, a girl who starts to like him because of the financial value he (unknowingly) offers her, then -really- likes him for (oh dear) who he is, and finally a soldier who tries to find redemption for killing the boy's father.
No fast-paced music, no splurging of cyberhizzle, the film is fairly modest for her kind and that suits her.
Rating: 8
Links: AFFF / imdb
"Cyberpunk" was the first thought that entered my mind. The "new Mexicans" do not physically cross the border, they remotely work through robots as nannies, gardeners or constructionworkers.
This though, is more of a plot-device than an important story-element. The story is about a boy who tries to escape his father's death, a girl who starts to like him because of the financial value he (unknowingly) offers her, then -really- likes him for (oh dear) who he is, and finally a soldier who tries to find redemption for killing the boy's father.
No fast-paced music, no splurging of cyberhizzle, the film is fairly modest for her kind and that suits her.
Rating: 8