Oh what a (fort)night!
I have been a little out of the loop for the last few weeks as my boyfriend and I have been attending the 57th Annual Sydney Film Festival - which finished the night before last. Over 13 days, we managed to go to 17 films... and we didn't even have to give up our day jobs! This meant though that on each weekend we saw around 7 films. I love going to the festival which shows great range of films from all over the world including Peru, Taiwan, Thailand, Spain, Canada, Namibia, and Australia of course. I also love it because its spiritual (and physical) home is the State Theatre on Market Street - which has to be one of the most extravagant 1920's art-deco buildings on the planet. The amazing detailing throughout the building is a delight and it really adds a sense of occasion to the Festival's opening and closing nights. Another fun part of going to the festival is that there are audience rating cards to vote with after each film and my boyfriend and I always enjoyed chatting about the film, comparing our ratings, and wondering which would win best audience award (still yet to be announced)
Just in case you hadn't guessed it yet due to the subtlety of my description, I give the festival two thumbs up this year. Aside from the great films I saw (more to come on my top 5 below), it all ran very smoothly. Ticketing was easy, with the option of printing off your own tickets, or in our case, bringing with my boyfriend's iPhone and having the ticket displayed for scanning. There was also a good opportunity to talk to people who had made the films in Q&A's after the films and I think this is such a great part of what makes a film festival interesting and unique. Well, now to my favourite films.
1) Me, too/Yo Tambien /from Spain. This was a seriously flawless film. It was the story of a down syndrome man navigating his was through life including family, work and love. It was funny, charming, moving and fun - I literally was crying in one scene and 2 seconds later in the next having a hearty chuckle. As highly as you can recommend a film, I recommend this one.
2) I Killed My Mother from Canada. This film was written, directed and starred up-and-coming film-maker Xavier Dolan - from Quebec. This is not a violent or sadistic film as the title might suggest. Rather, it's a really charming and engaging story about a boy and his relationship with his mother. It is funny, very real and I strongly recommend seeing it. To attest to Xavier Dolan's talent, his other film that showed in the Festival, Heartbeats, won the Sydney Festival Best Film prize.
3) Undertow/Contracorriente from Peru/Colombia was a very moving film about a married man and first-time father who is having an affair with another man in a rural Peruvian village. The village is located on the Pacific coast in a breathtaking position between the ocean and cliffs and is a very dramatic setting for the story. The story is gripping and very touching and explores people in conservative towns deal with complex questions of human sexuality - highly recommended
4) Au Revoir Taipei from Taiwan was a last minute choice as we had a ticket remaining in our flexi-pass and thought this might pleasant enough. This turned out to be a true gem of a film. Set over 24 hours in Taipei, it is the story of a guy who is planning on visiting his recently departed girlfriend now in Paris. However, as events transpire he ends up going on an adventure going throught Taipei with a new female friend, with lots of bumps along the way. Though it might sound a bit light and fluffy, it is very funny, romantic and fast-paced and a really well executed film - very worth going out to see - highly recommended.
5) Game of Death from France is a documentary - it was excellent and the best of the 4 we saw. The film follows 80 people signing up for a pilot game show. In fact, the show was a ruse, they were really taking part in an adaptation of the infamous experiments by the psychologist Milgram; a 1960s study in authority and obedience involving volunteers administering electric shocks. In the TV version, a glamorous presenter orders the contestants to zap their fellow players when they fail to answer a question correctly. The participant is not actually ‘shocked,’ but neither the questioner or audience are aware of this – and his shrieks are convincing. Behind the scenes, a team of psychologists analyse the outcomes.
The documentary very clearly and frighteningly demonstrates its central claim, that most people will obey authority to the extent that they may be causing extreme pain to an innocent individual and putting them in extreme danger (and of course causing possible death). It raises many questions about the manipulative power of television itself. It argues that TV has such authority over people that it is only a matter of time before at TV station produces a reality TV show whose focus is inflicting extreme pain on participants, all in the name of higher ratings. It really is an excellent documentary and made me wonder why we slavishly accept the worst of reality TV, regardless of the moral debasement it entails.
So, that's about if from me about the 55th Annual Sydney Film Festival of 2010. Let me know if you saw any of the films and which ones you did or didn't like. Come along next year if you're never been - it's a lot of fun and there's definitely something for everyone
Disclaimer: I do not, nor does anyone I know, work for the festival, nor was I paid anything to write this - I just LOVED it!
Posted
by Michael
