EIFF 2007 Part 3
SARATOGA was next in line in the Anita Loos retrospective and while not as good as the last couple of films, it was nevertheless another enjoyable romp. It's slightly marred however by its reputation as being the film during which Harlow died, giving rise to the morbid but unavoidable habit of trying to spot which scenes they've obviously used a stunt double for in order for them to finish the movie and get it out there. Crass exploitation or fitting tribute? You decide.
ROCKET SCIENCE is an enjoyable high school comedy about a boy with a bad stutter joining the school debating team. It's that oddball quirky humour that you've already seen loads of (NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, anything by Wes Anderson, etc.) but it's a decent enough example and will provide enough laughs to get your money's worth. It was made by the same chap who gave us the documentary SPELLBOUND - makes me wonder if he has some serious issues about his time in school.
COMRADES IN DREAMS is for all you cinema lovers out there, i.e. people like me. It's a documentary about four cinemas across the world (USA, India, North Korea, Burkina Faso) or rather the projectionists and owners behind the cinema. It tells of their love of cinema and why they do what they do, but also paints a fascinating contrast of what cinema means to each of them. The highlight is when three of them offer their differing viewpoints on TITANIC (the funniest being the Indian POV - the film is almost fantasy, as hardly any of the cinemagoers have seen the sea). The only one not (directly) included here is the lady who runs the North Korean cinema, as she's too busy showing films designed to motivate the workers. This film's about the love of film; appropriately, I loved it.
YO is a Spanish drama about a German man named Hans who turns up in a sunny seaside town and takes up a job that until recently was occupied by another man named Hans. He had disappeared; the locals aren't very welcoming; odd things happen. What happened to Hans? You never really know for certain and that's pretty much the general theme of this let-down which looks about as good as it could for the evidently low budget but is lacking in almost every area.
Back to the Anita Loos retrospective again, and George Cukor's THE WOMEN. This was actually the only one of the films I'd seen before but I wasn't going to pass up a chance to see it again. It's one of Loos's best works (adapted from the stage version) and really showcases her biting wit. It's helped no end by a marvellous (and all female) cast including Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford at the height of their powers.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COUNTRY is a starkly affecting documentary about the effects of the long and bitter civil war in Uganda and how it has affected the lives of all who live there. Particular focus is on the children and accordingly it's not the cheeriest of films, but there's enough determination and spirit on show to give some hope for the future.
I'M A CYBORG BUT THAT'S OKAY is the next film from Chan-Wook Park, the genius behind the vengeance trilogy SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE, OLD BOY and LADY VENGEANCE. Far more light-hearted but also a lot madder, this was probably the most insane film I saw at the festival this year. A young lady is committed to an asylum as nobody believes her claims that she's a cyborg; here we're introduced to more wacky characters and the insanity kicks off bigtime. It's nuts, it's beautifully shot and it's a love story quite unlike anything you've seen. From a personal viewpoint I don't think it's quite in the same league as the aforementioned trilogy, but if you're in the mood for something lighter and less violent, this could be the time to introduce yourself to Chan-Wook Park.
For the first time ever (my schedule allowed it for once) I attended the surprise movie. It was Peter Berg's THE KINGDOM, showing for what was I believe its first public screening anywhere in the world. It's a big Hollywood action movie that takes place in the Middle East. The setting and the story might be contemporary, but any chance of it carrying some kind of profound weight or serious political message (and it's a slim chance) is buried beneath things exploding, hoary dialogue, more explosions, lots of people shooting and being shot and some really big explosions. Then more people being shot. It also manages the incredible task of under-using almost every actor in the film. In a nutshell, it's just not very good.
More from this year's EIFF still to come...
ROCKET SCIENCE is an enjoyable high school comedy about a boy with a bad stutter joining the school debating team. It's that oddball quirky humour that you've already seen loads of (NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, anything by Wes Anderson, etc.) but it's a decent enough example and will provide enough laughs to get your money's worth. It was made by the same chap who gave us the documentary SPELLBOUND - makes me wonder if he has some serious issues about his time in school.
COMRADES IN DREAMS is for all you cinema lovers out there, i.e. people like me. It's a documentary about four cinemas across the world (USA, India, North Korea, Burkina Faso) or rather the projectionists and owners behind the cinema. It tells of their love of cinema and why they do what they do, but also paints a fascinating contrast of what cinema means to each of them. The highlight is when three of them offer their differing viewpoints on TITANIC (the funniest being the Indian POV - the film is almost fantasy, as hardly any of the cinemagoers have seen the sea). The only one not (directly) included here is the lady who runs the North Korean cinema, as she's too busy showing films designed to motivate the workers. This film's about the love of film; appropriately, I loved it.
YO is a Spanish drama about a German man named Hans who turns up in a sunny seaside town and takes up a job that until recently was occupied by another man named Hans. He had disappeared; the locals aren't very welcoming; odd things happen. What happened to Hans? You never really know for certain and that's pretty much the general theme of this let-down which looks about as good as it could for the evidently low budget but is lacking in almost every area.
Back to the Anita Loos retrospective again, and George Cukor's THE WOMEN. This was actually the only one of the films I'd seen before but I wasn't going to pass up a chance to see it again. It's one of Loos's best works (adapted from the stage version) and really showcases her biting wit. It's helped no end by a marvellous (and all female) cast including Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford at the height of their powers.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COUNTRY is a starkly affecting documentary about the effects of the long and bitter civil war in Uganda and how it has affected the lives of all who live there. Particular focus is on the children and accordingly it's not the cheeriest of films, but there's enough determination and spirit on show to give some hope for the future.
I'M A CYBORG BUT THAT'S OKAY is the next film from Chan-Wook Park, the genius behind the vengeance trilogy SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE, OLD BOY and LADY VENGEANCE. Far more light-hearted but also a lot madder, this was probably the most insane film I saw at the festival this year. A young lady is committed to an asylum as nobody believes her claims that she's a cyborg; here we're introduced to more wacky characters and the insanity kicks off bigtime. It's nuts, it's beautifully shot and it's a love story quite unlike anything you've seen. From a personal viewpoint I don't think it's quite in the same league as the aforementioned trilogy, but if you're in the mood for something lighter and less violent, this could be the time to introduce yourself to Chan-Wook Park.
For the first time ever (my schedule allowed it for once) I attended the surprise movie. It was Peter Berg's THE KINGDOM, showing for what was I believe its first public screening anywhere in the world. It's a big Hollywood action movie that takes place in the Middle East. The setting and the story might be contemporary, but any chance of it carrying some kind of profound weight or serious political message (and it's a slim chance) is buried beneath things exploding, hoary dialogue, more explosions, lots of people shooting and being shot and some really big explosions. Then more people being shot. It also manages the incredible task of under-using almost every actor in the film. In a nutshell, it's just not very good.
More from this year's EIFF still to come...
Labels: Africa, documentaries, Edinburgh Film Festival, Film festivals
posted by Alan at 7:27 pm
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