JDIFF09: HEART OF FIRE

HEART OF FIRE (or FEUERHERZ) is the story of a little girl adopted as a child soldier into the conflict in Eritrea after her sister comes to take her home from the school where she has been staying.

The film certainly has a heart, that's for sure; everything seems to have been done with the nicest intentions. Unfortunately, apart from a couple of good performances by the kids and some nice locations, there's little to recommend this one.

The story, what little there is, never seems to get going. From the off, a showdown with the girl's estranged father seems a certainty and yet the payoff never really arrives; aside from that, there's little to the film other than the occasional well-staged action sequence joined together by interminable scenes of people travelling across the country.

Best of 2008 (20-16)

20 WAITING FOR THE LIGHT
Ciarin Scott gives George Morrison the biography treatment - it's about time someone did. Talking of which, MISE EIRE is getting an anniversary screening at the Dublin Film Festival next month - buy a ticket now!

19 THE JOHN AKII BUA STORY: AN AFRICAN TRAGEDY
This documentary is a sad tale of what might have been, detailing the rise and fall of the legendary Ugandan athlete who conquered the world but fell foul of Idi Amin's regime.

18 A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH
This year's Wallace and Gromit special from the BBC's Christmas schedule was as impressive and funny as we've come to expect.

17 THE GIRL BY THE LAKE
Laid-back but suspenseful Italian murder mystery with beautiful location work.

16 THE ORPHANAGE
One of the best horror films in recent years, a Spanish take on THE INNOCENTS with great performances, plenty of chills and an ending that satisfies while leaving you wondering.

Best of 2007 (10 to 6)

10. FARO: GODDESS OF THE WATER
It was a good year for African cinema, with the emotional drama DARATT and the updating and relocation of the Jesus story in SON OF MAN, but this film from Burkino Faso was the best. When a young man returns to the village where he grew up, he finds that his modern ways are at odds with the superstition of the locals and it seems the river is angry about his return. Well acted and features some gorgeous photography.

9. 2:37 (above)
It might owe a lot to Gus van Sant's ELEPHANT, but this Australian teen drama packs an emotional punch that is hard to shake off. The day begins with tragedy and then flashes back to let us work out what has happened and to whom. Powerful film, but hardly seen by anyone on this side of the world.

8. KINGS
A group of Irishmen living in England get together at the wake of the first of their group to die, and reminisce about the plans they made when they first left their home in the 70s. Tinged with a palpable melancholy, the film is a heartbreaking look at a group of men who don't belong in England but know that the Ireland they left no longer exists.

7. IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON
Fantastic documentary about the Apollo missions which correctly sweeps aside technical chat in favour of concentrating on the human effect of the missions.

6. APOCALYPTO (above)
On one hand it's a historical epic, on the other a typical action movie - Mel Gibson's mythical adventure movie is magical (and wasn't released in the UK until January, hence it making it onto my 2007 list instead of 2006).

Best of 2007 (40 to 31)

40. STUCK
Stephen Rea is the homeless tramp who crashes through Mina Suvari's windscreen and gets stuck there for most of the film. She panics and leaves him there. Then they try to kill each other. Blackly hilarious horror mayhem (based on a true story!) from director Stuart Gordon.

39. TEETH
A young girl has teeth where she shouldn't in this gruesome but hilarious comedy horror which is destined to be a cult classic.

38. RESCUE DAWN
An actor of Bale's calibre teaming up with Werner Herzog - how can that not be gold? Herzog revisits the story of a pilot's escape from Laos (the subject of his documentary LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY) but as a drama. Moving and spectacular (apart from some poor special effects), but sadly little seen.

37. 28 WEEKS LATER
If there's one thing that sums this one up, it's surprise. Hollywood making a big budget sequel to a low-budget Brit horror hit? Without the original writer-director team? It had "dross" written all over it so it was to everyone's surprise when it turned out to be a highly entertaining horror thriller. Having Danny Boyle come back as overseer if not a director may have helped.

36. POITIN
Bob Quinn's tale of dodgy characters carrying out their nasty deeds in Connemara was actually a film from the 1970s, however the version I saw at Cork in 2007 was the new director's cut, so I'm chucking it into my top forty of 2007 on a technicality!

POITIN

35. ZOO
A surprisingly touching film is not what I expected from a documentary about a secret gang of people who were a little, er, "enthusiastic" about animals, but that's what we got in this controversial but beautifully made investigative film.

34. SON OF MAN
A retelling of the Christ story relocated to modern day Africa which is another fine example of how wonderfully vibrant African cinema currently is.

33. ZODIAC
This meticulous recreation of the world of the 1970s' unsolved serial killings somehow overcomes the fact that we already know that nobody has ever been caught. Bravura direction from Fincher and superb performances from actors like Downey Jr and Mark Ruffalo certainly help.

32. SEACHD: THE INACCESSIBLE PINNACLE
The first theatrically-released film in Scottish Gaelic was more than just a script translated into the language. It was unashamedly a Scottish film with so many national traditions and stories woven throughout. A celebration of the whole of Gaelic culture which was unfortunately denied the widespread release it deserved.

31. NO REGRETS IN THE WEST & WITHOUT WORDS
Yep, I know I've banged on about these before and that you're probably sick of me going on about Irish short films and all that, but these two were special and really deserve a mention. So I'm going to break the rules and stick them in here together despite them being two entirely separate films.

My first viewings of HotDocs 2008

Okay, after a brief burst of activity it's all gone a bit quiet again. I am now in Toronto however for HotDocs 2008 (North America's largest documentary film festival) and you may remember that last year I managed some blog entries while there. No difference this year, as it gives me a chance to shelter from the sweltering heat outside.

After a combination of late-night arrival, tiredness and a sun-burn inducing baseball match I've only seen two films so far - MEMORY BOOKS and SEAVIEW.

MEMORY BOOKS is a German film following families whose lives have been affected by the AIDS crisis in Uganda. It's not the first film to look at the problem, but alas it's a tragic measure of the scale of the problem that people can still find ways to document the problem without going over old ground.

In this case, the books of the title refer to albums put together by families (primarily mothers) with the aim of letting their children remember their parents and giving them somewhere to turn when they want to remember them - since, unfortunately, they know that the parents are not likely to live to see their kids grow up.

It's beautifully shot, finds some positive activity amongst all the gloom and is deeply touching. It's not perhaps as uplifting as WAR/DANCE or WE ARE TOGETHER but it should find widespread distribution among art house cinemas all the same.

SEAVIEW is a haunting documentary about a grave situation in Ireland where asylum seekers are being held - in many cases for years - in a former Butlins holiday camp while awaiting a decision on their fate. The contrast of their life in the camp compared with the camp's holiday-maker glory days is a stark but effective one, and the ghostly, poetic shooting style makes it all the more affecting. If all this sounds familiar to you, it's because I already saw it and reported on it when it received its Irish premiere at Stranger Than Fiction last year. It was just so good I had to see it again.

(Last year it was called MOSNEY - I spoke to one of the directors last night briefly who explained why, for reasons I won't go into here, they changed the name. But whatever it's called, it's worth seeing - as both an artistic piece of cinema and an important insight into a major human rights issue.)

More from HotDocs soon.

Glasgow Film Festival - viewings so far

Just a few hours later, it's another update!

Quick update from what I've seen at the Glasgow Film Festival so far as I'm pushed for time.

I kicked off with BUNNY CHOW, a low-budget South African film about a bunch of wannabe comedians on a journey to a major South African rock festival. It's a stoner comedy with a likeable cast of slackers and while it's a little rough around the edges and the ending hasn't had much thought put into it, it's still an enjoyable movie that should find a cult following.

Next up was the "Night Terrors" strand of dark short films. The highlights for me were the excellent animated short EVERYTHING WILL BE OK, following a man's descent into nervous breakdown, and Matt Palmer's ISLAND, a tense affair that doesn't bring anything new to the table but does create an air of suspense from start to blackly comic finish. And if I'm not mistaken it looks like it was filmed near where I live too, which is nice.

George Romero's next zombie film, DIARY OF THE DEAD, has perhaps been beaten to the punch by CLOVERFIELD (Romero's film takes us back to the beginning of the NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD series and observes it through the camera of a student filmmaker) but nevertheless I found much to enjoy.

If you're one of the many who were underwhelmed by Romero's long awaited LAND OF THE DEAD, this isn't going to win you over. It suffers many of the same flaws, and in greater number. The cast, with the exception of Michelle Morgan, are all unsympathetic nobodies, making it difficult to care about them. They're not helped by some really dodgy dialogue either - some of it's terrible, some of it is just a little too heavy-handed.

That heavy-handedness however stems from one of the film's strengths - the fact that, as always, Romero at least has something he wants to say (this time round, he's looking at media coverage and the YouTube generation). It's unfortunate that Romero seems to be in a minority of horror filmmakers interested in making political horror but it's this integrity, combined with plenty of well-handled set pieces and an atmosphere of dread, that reminds me why even a Romero misfire is usually far more interesting than the very best efforts of many of today's younger generation of horror hacks. Eli Roth, I'm looking at you.

In the Bette Davis retrospective, I took in THE OLD MAID, which is the best film I've seen at the festival so far. It's a weepy old melodrama from the 1930s and it's wonderful. From zombies to weepy melodrama - I love them both.

EMPTIES, a Czech film from the director of KOLYA, is another must-see movie. A hilarious look at the life and exploits of a man approaching retirement who gives up his teaching job and tries his hand at various other pursuits, including meddling in the lives of his companions. It went down really well with the audience I saw it with, and deservedly so, and should find an audience on the arthouse circuit given the critical love of Eastern European cinema.

Finally, I saw the low-budget (almost no-budget) Scottish drama THE INHERITANCE. Its lack of funding is obvious but this Scottish road movie has plenty of heart, captivating performances by Fraser Sivewright and Tim Barrow (the latter also wrote the script) and stunning photography that shines through the shot-on-video roots. Already receiving good word of mouth on the festival circuit, it's unlikely to break out into large theatrical distribution but is far too good to simply fade from view. Part road movie, part film noir, part relationship drama, it's another fine entry in the canon of Scottish cinema. It also gets bonus points for me for a scene towards the end in which director Charles Henri Belleville is surely making visual reference to THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. Sergio Leone on the Isle of Skye - nice combination.

That'll be the last update for a week or so, as tomorrow night I'll be popping off to the Dublin Film Festival for a few days. If you're there, why not go and see THE INHERITANCE.

EIFF 2007 Part 7 (the end)

The final day of the festival is usually given over largely to the Best of the Fest, where extra screenings of the more popular or acclaimed films are put on for those who may have missed them. And so it was that I took in a few I'd missed earlier, together with the final film in the Anita Loos retrospective.

THE COUNTERFEITERS was probably the best I saw on the day. It's a tense drama, based on real events, about a group of technically talented Jews who were drafted by the Nazis to help with their plan to destabilise the Allies' economies by flooding them with fake currency. The choice faced by the prisoners was beyond tough - succeed, and they would help the Nazis win the war (and the screams from the rooms next to them in the camp serve as a chilling reminder how unthinkable that was to them); fail, and they'd join their comrades back in the concentration camps facing certain death.

It's not without one or two light moments but by and large is an unsurprisingly sobering affair, filmed in subdued colours that make the whole screen seem like an extension of the dark walls and grim, muddy grounds of the concentration camps. Not a feelgood film per se, but not devoid of uplifting sentiment either. It's more a gripping thriller that manages to sift through the terror to find some triumph in the face of unimaginable adversity.

Also a German film, AUFTAUCHEN falls at the other end of the spectrum. I don't mean in subject matter, I just mean in how good it is. An overly-emotional girl falls for an uninteresting, and ultimately uninterested, younger boy only to have her life fall apart around her. There's lots of whiney angst and lots of sex, but really it's like NINE SONGS but without the songs. And I didn't like that film either. Avoid this one.

TEKKONKINKREET is an anime movie which I can't even remember the plot of other than that it involved a couple of young boys and that the style of art used really didn't appeal to me. Another one to miss.

WE ARE TOGETHER is a wonderfully uplifting documentary about a group of South African AIDS orphans who live a tough life and find their circumstances even more unbearable when their orphanage burns down. okay, I don't make it sound uplifting, but you'll just need to trust me on this one. It is depressing in places and indeed almost unbearably heartbreaking; but ultimately it's another tale of human endeavour and triumph in the face of great hardship. Like the previously-mentioned SHADOW OF THE MOON, I expect it to be a documentary contender come Oscar time, although it could face stiff competition from a couple of other films I've already discussed from both EIFF and HotDocs this year.

Finally, I forgot to mention, the Anita Loos retrospective concluded with GENTLEMEN MARRY BRUNETTES. It's not as good as its predecessor and it doesn't have Marilyn Monroe. That's about the size of it really.

I'd love to say that normal service is resumed at the Freakpit, but aside from being busy with other things I'm about to go to another couple of film festivals over the next couple of weekends, so once more I will apologise in advance for the lack of frequent updates over the next couple of weeks.

EIFF 2007 Part 4

Do you know something else, aside from spotting Harlow's double, that really took me out of the film when I was watching SARATOGA? At one point in the film it suddenly hit me that Hattie McDaniel looked just like Idi Amin. After that, I couldn't stop thinking about it whenever she was on screen. That could be a problem for me; I've never seen GONE WITH THE WIND and fully intended to watch it one day. Now I'm not sure if I'll be able to.

But anyway, back to the EIFF and the next part of the Anita Loos retrospective. SUSAN AND GOD sees Joan Crawford once more at her best as the woman who appears to have found religion, much to the surprise of all her friends and colleagues. Is it real? Is it a fad? By the end of the film, she'll realise what's really important, all the while serving up a helping of melodrama and comedy for the audience.

FARO - GODDESS OF THE WATERS is a low budget film from Burkina Faso which relates the tale of a modern man returning to the village where he grew up (looked upon with suspicion due to his father being unknown) only to find that he no longer has the time for their old-fashioned beliefs. But has his return and his doubt made the river angry? Good performances all round, a balanced look at a clash of cultures and some stunning photography that belies the low budget all add up to make this African gem one of the standouts of this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival.

A MASSACRE FORETOLD is a grim and revealing documentary that uncovers the truth behind one of the most horrific and yet least known incidents in Mexico's recent political history. Archive footage shot at the time combined with up to date information tells of the poignant and terrible story of the tragic victims of political unrest.

THE SERPENT is a French thriller in which a man sees his life fall apart as, while already heading for a divorce, he ends up being blackmailed, accused of murder and just generally having nasty things done to him. It seems someone has a desire to get back at him for something buried in his past. There are some nice twists and plenty of suspense but there are moments when it all just gets a bit silly. Most people will point to the crazy action stuff, and justifiably so, although for some inexplicable reason the moment when the nasty incident in the past is revealed caused me to cry with laughter. In particular, it's the newspaper headline - I know it shouldn't be funny but something about the exact arrangement of the words (or rather subtitles) just sounded funny. If you see the film you'll either agree or, like most people I suspect, you'll think I'm a bit nuts.

SHROOMS sees a bunch of American kids come to Ireland for the weekend for the express purpose of doing lots of drugs. They have some bad mushrooms however and the situation is made worse by the nasty creatures said to roam the woods (all tying in to an abandoned Catholic school nearby, obviously). Although it's an Irish film, you wouldn't know it as there's barely an Irish accent in the whole film, but then I guess this was probably a deliberate ploy to try and sell the film abroad. It's as good as any teen horror being churned out by Hollywood and offers up some neat set pieces, spooky imagery and one or two satisfying twists.

More from the EIFF soon.

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...

Final round-up: Hot Docs 2007

Sorry, took longer than I anticipated to get round to this, not to mention to get over my jetlag. I'll try to be quick as I'm currently packing my stuff for yet another trip, this time to London - which I'm sure you'll hear about eventually.

WITHOUT THE KING scooped one of the awards at the festival and deservedly so. It's a look at the life of the monarchy of Swaziland and compares the luxurious life of its king with the hardships of its people. Stuck between the two is his young daughter who on one hand cherishes her country and her roots but on the other goes to university in the west and talks like she was taught English by MTV. There are some fascinating characters on both sides and the film does get you thinking, even if it's only to wonder how much longer the monarchy can avoid a bloody civil war of the kind that has ravaged so much of Africa. It's an excellent film and I feel the prize it picked up at HotDocs won't be the last recognition it receives.

No such praise for REVOLUCION, however, which manages some equally scary stuck-in-the-danger zone moments in its examination of life under Chavez but its attempts to be some kind of guidebook to revolution aim far wider than the film achieves. Certainly worth a look if you're interested in South American politics though.

COLD RUST was a short experimental film combining a voiceover and old home movie footage to touch on a girl's memories of her murdered father and is a memorable, haunting effort that deserves wider exposure. It paired with the slightly longer, but not quite feature length, FORGIVENESS: STORIES FOR OUR TIME, a documentary examining how four people from various parts of the world saw their lives torn apart by murder and terror and how they coped. Forgiveness, reconciliation, call it what you will, they are tales that are awash with sadness and yet reverberate hope. Another prizewinner, this was another real gem of the festival.

THE UNDERGROUND ORCHESTRA, playing as part of a Heddy Honigmann retrospective, examines the impact of immigrants on the Parisian busking scene. Some of the stories are incredible, such as the Bosnian orchestra violinist reduced to playing on the French streets after being driven from the Balkans. Ultimately though, the film disappointed me because it offered a lot of stories that crossed over without ever interacting or heading towards any kind of conclusion. I realise that's just a kind of storytelling that you like or don't - it's just not my thing. I prefer a direction of some sort, which this film doesn't really offer.

HOLY WARRIORS was an okay effort about Russian soldiers adopting various religions but was more notable for the characters involved requesting that it not be shown in Russia than for anything in the film. This short documentary played with IN MEMORIAM: ALEXANDRE LITVINENKO, which uses interviews with friends, family and the deceased himself to paint a picture of the kind of man he was and the kind of country he left. Putin admirers might want to avoid this one.

WINGS OF DEFEAT is an interesting look into the lives of Japan's surviving kamikaze pilots. What went through their mind, why they did it and many other questions are all investigated with the aid of a handful of surviving kamikaze pilots.

It wasn't anywhere near as harrowing however as the next film I saw, which also looked at Japan's activity during World War 2. NANKING combines eyewitness accounts with readings (by a cast including Woody Harrelson and Mariel Hemmingway) of letters and communications from the time and, most shockingly, archive footage including some rarely seen aftermath footage. It all comes together to paint a horrifying picture of Japan's invasion of China and its infamous, and still controversial, attack on the city of Nanking. This was one of the most stunning films I saw at HotDocs but I do not advise it for the squeamish.

A lot more fun was CITY IDOL. For those unfamiliar with the concept, as I was, there was an AMERICAN IDOL-style competition arranged in Toronto for people to try their hand at politics, with the winner being encouraged to stand in the next council elections. A handful of the more successful entrants, including the eventual winner of the competition, are followed throughout, as the film contrasts the idealised politics of these hardy souls with the antics of Toronto's elected officials and election hopefuls.

It's an entertaining effort and while I think its appeal will be limited outside of Toronto it at least deserves points for showing politics in a fun way, for exposing such a great idea, and for reminding us that occasionally you'll get an aspiring politician who isn't either lazy, crooked or both. It's currently election day here in Scotland and man; I wish some of the candidates had the integrity of the City Idol participants. Desmond would have got my vote.

Compare CITY IDOL with ELECTION DAY, the next film I saw, and CITY IDOL would win this particular vote. ELECTION DAY follows a group of people on American election day (including a poll monitor and an ex-con voting for the first time) but to be honest none of the stories are that interesting. There are moments of humour but it's not a classic.

Finally, THE LAST DAYS OF YASSER ARAFAT is literally that. An Australian documentary filmmaker tries for months to get an interview with Mr Arafat. Eventually she does. Shortly afterwards, he dies. She may have got the last ever interview with him, but it doesn't contain anything of substance and the film doesn't shed new light on any of the events or characters it portrays.

All in all though, I loved this festival and I loved Toronto too. I might just pencil it in for next year too.

Next trip: London, this weekend!

Another update from Hot Docs

Next up at Toronto's Hot Docs festival, for me at least, was THE RIVER WHERE WE LIVE. This film documents the everyday life of the inhabitants on and around the Niger river, from canoe-makers to fishermen to herders.

It looks great and is an interesting look at an entirely different culture and how the changes in the environment have impacted on the area but unfortunately it didn't make quite the same impact on me as it did on others by virtue of the fact that it was a bit reminiscent of Thierry Michel's CONGO RIVER, which you heard me rave about on more than one occasion last year.

If you want to know the full story (or close to it anyway) about those disturbing pictures that landed the US military in such hot water, THE GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB is the film for you. It addresses some of the reasons why the soldiers acted in the way they did and, while justifiably not excusing them entirely, it does go some way towards showing just how much the US government was to blame for the atrocities committed at the prison. Not too many documentaries seem to bringing anything new to the table when covering the recent problems in the Middle East so it's nice to see a subject that really needed a film making it into one.

I followed that up with MANUFACTURING DISSENT, a Canadian documentary about Michael Moore. While I'd urge anyone interested in Moore's films, or even if you've only seen one of them, to check this one out at the earliest opportunity. I mentioned the other day that Moore was guilty of "massaging the truth" - it seems it's a little more than that. The filmmakers started out making a film about a documentary maker they admired - what transpires is a portrait of maniacal paranoia and outright lies. If you don't already take what Moore says with a pinch of salt, you'll certainly think twice after seeing this entertaining and insightful film.

THE SUICIDE TOURIST might be the most affecting film I've seen at the film yet. It documents the journey of a man from North America living in England who, when his body begins to succomb to motor neurone disease, makes the trip to Zurich to undergo assisted suicide (Switzerland being the only place where a foreigner can legally undergo the process).

The film also follows another couple in a slightly different situation who also want to undergo the process but their plight takes second stage to the agonising and touching case mentioned above. This film may or may not change people's minds about the euthanasia debate but it does show a very human side to the process and if nothing else will surely start debate - and that in itself can be regarded as a success, and something that all documentaries would justifiably be happy with.

That's all I've time for now - I'll tell you all about the final batch of films when I'm back on home soil. Bye!

More Hot Docs from Toronto

I guess if there's one advantage to everything opening so late in the morning here, it's that I get to pop into the internet cafe and add another little bit of waffle to my blog, once more coming to you live from the Hot Docs documentary festival in Toronto. Well, not really from there, actually it's from an internet cafe near my hotel, but you know what I mean.

That said, I did manage a trip to Niagara yesterday, which was nice. Well, the falls were nice anyway - the actual town itself is like a ghost town. Half the shops on the main street are closed, there were hardly any people in the street - all that's missing is tumbleweed. It's like the town in THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. That's the dark side of tourism I guess - all the life seems to have been sucked out of town and down to the falls.

What's that? Oh yeah, the films.

WAR/DANCE is like a cross between LOST CHILDREN and MAD HOT BALLROOM. The documentary is about a bunch of children who have suffered all manner of tragedy and hardships growing up in war-torn Uganda. It's not, however, just another documentary about how horrible it is in Africa. The film follows a group of kids from a school in one of the most affected regions as they embark on a quest to win a song and dance competition that takes place in Uganda for schools across the country.

While it doesn't shy away from some of the more horrific experiences, it does at least offer some hope and paints a touching portrait of the warmth and spirit of the kids involved. Despite the countless documentaries that have been made about Africa of late, this one offers something that many of them do not - hope. That, and the all too rare sight of African children with smiles on their faces, enjoying themselves. We can only hope that this becomes a more common sight in the future.

When the directors were asked about distribution, one of their people popped up to announce not only details of the film's American distribution but also that they were planning on getting it out there "on the Oscar trail". Speaking as a regular viewer of the Oscars, it wouldn't surprise me one bit to find myself sitting cheering this on one next February. In fact, as an aside, I've been to a lot of festivals (as you'll know) and seen a lot of films given ovations. This is the only one to date for which everyone in the theatre has been on their feet.

Hmmm, only managed to cover one film but my time is just about up. I will return later in the week with more from Hot Docs though. Bye!

The Freakpit - Live from Toronto!

Some might say that flying three thousand miles to sample a documentary film festival is perhaps taking a devotion to films a bit too far. I did it though, so what's the extra effort of actually trying to update the blog while I'm here?

Well, okay, so it's also because I plan to do a bit of shopping this morning too but most of the shops don't open until 10am (it's currently just after 9am). I guess that's why they all manage to stay open to midnight then.

I've been impressed with what I've seen here so far, though I confess that so far it's limited to shops, some nice weather, a couple of films (obviously) and watching people be terrified at the top of the CN Tower. One of those people being terrified was kind of my fault, but that's another story - after all, you tune in to this blog to read my nonsensical ramblings of a film-based nature, not to listen to how nice my holiday is. I did have quite a nice chicken caesar salad in the hotel before bed last night though.

The first film I attended at the Hot Docs festival yesterday afternoon was THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK, a rather depressing and disturbing look at the crisis in Darfur. It's told through the eyes of an ex-marine who was working as a photographer there and spent six months taking photos of the atrocities. Dismayed at being unable to do anything, he came back to the USA and began doing his best to alert the world to the crisis and the need for action.

As you'll know if you keep up with the news, it hasn't exactly been a resounding success. Lots of people thanked him for raising the issue, some didn't, and marches and television appearances seem to have ultimately fallen on more deaf ears than willing helpers. Or rather, those who are willing are not the ones who wield the real power.

It's an affecting and unsettling piece but one needs to take into account the fact that it's a very personal film. As a view into the life of a helpless witness, it's a stunning piece of work; as an overview of the situation in Darfur and the Sudan in general, it's limited in scope. That said, the film still deserves to be seen by a wider audience in the hope that one day it might be seen not just by the willing but by the willing and able.

That film was shown in a theatre in the Royal Ontario Museum - it was okay, but not as nice as the lovely little Isable Bader Theatre, where I was to see my next film.

ZOO is an oddity indeed. The springboard for this film came from a man being admitted to hospital with serious internal bleeding (which later killed him) after indulging in a rather inappropriate act with a horse. No, I'm not kidding. This incident not only resulted in a change in the law in Washington (it wasn't illegal to begin with?!?) but also in the discovery of a circle of men who got together to, er, show their love for animals.

While it sounds ripe for titillating exploitation, ZOO actually paints a very serious portrait of the men involved in this and does its best (with mixed results) to explain why people would do such things, and examines the effects it has on the people involved, on their families and even on the animals themselves. And it isn't very pretty.

If there's a flaw with the film it lies in the mix of documentary style and dramatic reconstruction. I don't have a problem with people who massage the truth to suit their own ends (I'm looking at you, Michael Moore) but as soon as you introduce reconstructions and actors into a documentary it makes me immediately wonder how much of what I'm seeing is true.

Yet, at the same time, the style works in creating a real mood and sense of foreboding as we follow the different characters leading up to the incident in question, aided by a slightly too earnest classical score to give the piece some added gravitas.

For the most part it's a succesful experiment, but you can't help but have some niggling doubts about the whole thing when you find yourself laughing at some of the more ludicrous aspects. Funny they may seem, but it distracts from the very serious problem at the heart of the film - a man not only had some serious issues with his life, but died. The film seems to forget that on occasion.

And on that cheery note, I'm off for a muffin and a coffee. Cheers!

Dublin Film Festival 2007

As previously mentioned, I spent a bit of time at a couple of film festivals recently, namely Glasgow and Dublin. Both are fairly new in the world of film festivals but are certainly beginning to establish themselves. Today's ramble concerns my movie intake in Dublin.

The first film I was due to see was ALL THE LITTLE ANIMALS however it was cancelled so I decided to wander the streets of Dublin for a while before popping into the Irish Film Institute to see the re-release of arthouse classic BELLE DE JOUR. Well, it's described as a classic anyway. Personally, I thought it was exceptionally dull, lovely though Deneuve may have been in the title role.

The first film I saw as part of the festival therefore was HALF NELSON. It's probably not one that I'd have normally gone out of my way to see but felt I should on this occasion since Ryan Gosling had picked up an Oscar nomination for his lead performance. You know me, I've got to try and check out as many of the Oscar contenders as possible.

Gosling plays a teacher with a drug problem in a school in a poor neighbourhood. Normally you'd think it's another of those inner city poor kids being shown the way by the loving teacher, etc. and you'd be forgiven since that's pretty much a staple of these movies when Hollywood churns them out. This low-budget number is a surprise however - the teacher also coaches basketball for example, and yet the old cliche of the misunderstood pupil scoring the winning basket in the last second of the game is never trotted out. The film subverts all expectations of the genre and actually makes the idea seem fresh. No mean feat after the number of times the formula has been used.

The following day began with a screening of the late-80s political thriller MELANCHOLIA, a post cold war suspense film that offers little suspense or thrills. As a mood piece it certainly lives up to the title but it's a drag of a movie.

Things improved a little with a screening of MERRY CHRISTMAS MR LAWRENCE, but I didn't find this film nearly as impressive as its reputation suggests. There's a lot of over-wrought amateur dramatics on display from all the cast members, the non-English speaking members of the cast struggle with their English lines, there's some really bad dubbing and some of the fight scenes look incredibly false. Despite all this, it's not actually that bad a film.

The first real gem came with the screening of Zhang Yimou's RIDING ALONE FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES. Although Chinese, the film is shot mainly in Japanese and concerns the efforts of an old man to make up with his dying son by travelling thousands of miles to film an opera. Trust me, it makes sense.

The film is a world away from Zhang's usual epic sword-fighting period pieces (HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS and the forthcoming CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER) but is still shot on an epic, breathtaking canvas. It gets its UK premiere as part of this month's Cinema China season at the Filmhouse in Edinburgh and will be touring the UK - you really should check it out.

The evening finished with RESCUE DAWN, the new film by Werner Herzog. The acclaimed documentary filmmaker had already given this film the documentary treatment, but here he returns to the story as a dramatic movie, with Christian Bale this time taking on the role of Dieter Dengler, a German-American pilot who was shot down and captured behind enemy lines in the Vietnam conflict and began to hatch an escape attempt.

There are some surprisingly bad special effects near the start and end of the movie but Herzog makes up for that with some of the most stunning jungle photography I've ever seen. That, added to the gripping true story and strong leads by the cast, especially Bale, make this movie a must see. I believe it's due to hit UK cinemas in April.

The first documentary I saw while in Dublin was LOST CHILDREN, a haunting portrait of the lives of children in Uganda who had been used as child soldiers by the rebel army. While some kids are happy to escape, it seems like some miss the life they had as a soldier. It's doesn't make for the happiest of stories, but it's a fascinating insight into one of the darker sides of the conflicts in Africa and presents a fairly balanced picture of the horror and despair as well as some hope for the future.

SMALL ENGINE REPAIR was the next real highlight for me. Although set somewhere in Northern Ireland, the location is pretty ambiguous (we never really see anything except forest and a few buildings) and, with its combination of country music, rugged men who spend all their time drinking, working and fighting, and the undercurrent of hostility, betrayal and revenge, it feels more like a modern-day western. It's not all grim though, as this tale of an aspiring middle-aged country singer offers hope, humour and reconciliation in abundance. I only hope it actually gets rewarded with a deserved UK theatrical release.

CATCH A FIRE is another interesting effort. Tim Robbins stars in this story set in apartheid-era South Africa, as an agent determined to crack down on the so-called terrorists of the ANC. The movie, directed by Philip Noyce, is a passable thriller and a gripping insight into the troubled South Africa but functions best as a mirror of today's society, taking a good look at why young law-abiding men would be driven to joining "terrorist" organisations.

Tim Robbins also stars, along with darling of the indie film Sarah Polley, in THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS, a low-budget movie about a former Balkan refugee (Polley) who gets a job on an oilrig tending to Robbins, who has been seriously injured in a fire. Love blossoms, but the horrors in the young deaf girl's previous life make it difficult for her to relate to anyone. The film is a small-scale intimate effort that feels not unlike something Lars Von Trier might have come up with (aside from the oilrig setting, it has a similar feel to BREAKING THE WAVES) but isn't afraid to look at big issues.

The next film was another highlight. The makers of 2:37 must surely have seen Gus Van Sant's ELEPHANT as the similarities are more than superficial - an over-the-shoulder camera prowls a high school showing overlapping scenes from the lives of the students in the build-up to a tragic event.

2:37 however, takes a slightly more cinematic approach and breaks up the fly-on-the-wall look with sporadic interviews with the pupils. The plot begins with the discovery of a pupil's suicide. We then rewind to the start of the day and follow each of the students, learning of their problems and issues, as the film tries to keep us guessing who it is that finally takes their own life.

While there are some cliched aspects of the story (guess what, one of the homophobic jocks turns out to be a closet gay), the film makes a good job of incorporating a lot of teenage problems and is aided by terrific turns by the largely unknown cast of youngsters. It could be said that there is a lot of misdirection involved in pointing to the eventual victim, but in hindsight there was actually a major clue, which I won't list here for fear of spoiling the film. Let me just say that while the film owes a huge debt to ELEPHANT (which employed the same technique in the build-up to a Columbine-style massacre) I actually thought this film was better. The ending is both achingly tragic and difficult to watch, but it's a rewarding experience, which I urge anyone to seek out if they get the chance.

When funding fell apart for a movie that European cinema legend Wim Wenders was working on, he quickly put together this low-budget quickie about a slightly unhinged Vietnam vet who prowls the streets of LA watching for terrorist activity, and the girl who comes back to America to find him, being his only living relative. It's shot on video and looks pretty cheap but it's a haunting movie about the state of America in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. It's one of those films that didn't really register with me when I first watched it but played on my mind a lot afterwards. Whether you'll get much of an opportunity to see it remains to be seen - it was made in 2004 and has not been seen until this year.

The next documentary I saw was GHOSTS OF CITE SOLEIL, about gang warfare and political misbehaviour among the streets of the ghetto in Haiti that the UN has described as the most dangerous place on Earth. It's an incredible view of a country in chaos and one wonders how the filmmakers managed to piece it together without being killed themselves. Fascinating though it is, it tends to wander a bit and doesn't really focus on any one issue or character long enough to build up momentum. Instead, it ends up a montage of gruelling an unpleasant imagery and situations which just leaves you feeling a bit miserable and, at the same time, thankful.

My time at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2007 came to a close with one classic and one last documentary.

After a delightful burger in the IFI's bar, I headed up the stairs to take in the original version of THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR. I love a good heist movie and this is certainly that; large parts in the middle of the film are heist-free and taken up with Steve McQueen's attempts to outfox Faye Dunaway, the insurance investigator determined to prove him guilty of the opening heist while falling slowly in love with him. When there's no crime caper going on, the chemistry between the two leads is enough to keep the film ticking over. And I just love the split-screen look.

Lastly, just before hopping on the bus back to the airport, I took in WHY WE FIGHT, Eugene Jarecki's documentary about America's war in Iraq, its history of wars in foreign lands and how warnings delivered by Eisenhower as he departed office have been totally ignored in the years since. The documentary seems to be driving at the fact that military might has governed a lot of US policy and lifestyle but it drifts about between topics and interviewees to the point where it's difficult to remember what the film's talking about. It's full of fascinating interviews and footage, to be sure - but when the titles roll it's difficult to say just what you've learned.

That's all for now. Still to come is my roundup of the Glasgow Film Festival, but first I just have to say that as much as I enjoyed my time in Dublin and at the various cinemas there, I can't finish without mentioning the pre-screening music in the auditoria of the Screen Cinema. Dear God, the music... if you've ever heard Boney M's cover version of "King of the Road" and thought it couldn't get any worse, think again. The Screen seems to have unearthed a version that sounds like a 13-year-old was playing it on a £30 synthesiser. Nice cinema though.

This diamond needs polished

With a Best Actor nomination for Leonardo DiCaprio and a Best Supporting Actor nomination for the only marginally easier to spell Djimon Hounsou, BLOOD DIAMOND was my latest taste of the Oscar hopefuls. That's why you obviously ended up with such a tired and predictable gag as a title for today's effort as well.

The story is that of diamond smuggler DiCaprio, operating out of Sierra Leone in the 90s during their turbulent civil war, and his attempt to get his hands on the titular trinket, the location of which is only known by a poor farmer who will trade the secret in exchange for the return of his family. I almost described the plot as being about DiCaprio's attempt to get his hands on Hounsou's massive jewel, but that would be another sort of film entirely.

Along the way, they bump into nasty diamond dealers, mercenaries, crazy blokes with machetes, etc. and of course the token American character, journalist Jennifer Connolly. As a rousing action adventure, it hits almost all the right buttons. As anything else, it's flawed.

The action sequences and the horrific scenes of the brutal war in the country are hard to flaw, with the latter doing a reasonably effective job of portraying the horrors committed. Not as effective as THE EMPIRE IN AFRICA of course, but let's not make me relive that one. (Click on the link if you want to read about me turning into a wimp)

Unfortunately, on the story front, the film is simply too Hollywood. A promising beginning and gripping midsection are let down by a banal ending that is positively riddled with cliches, to the point where you can almost speak the dialogue before the characters say it. It's a transparent attempt to tug at the heartstrings and makes such a hash of it that you just want to laugh.

The real problem however lies in the film's noble but misguided attempt to shame us all over our action and inaction in Africa. Has the Western world committed horrific atrocities in Africa? Yes. Have we done enough to help the continent? No. There is no argument over these facts from me, and the film is right to point them out. The problem is that the filmmakers have no idea how to do this effectively.

For one thing, there are far too many pretentious lines about how cruel we all are, what horrible things we've done, what we've not done, oh won't humans ever learn, blah blah blah. The point is valid and in moderation may have succeeded; instead, we get bludgeoned over the head with it repeatedly, with as much subtlety as something that isn't very subtle at all. Sorry, I couldn't think of a hilarious metaphor, but I'm sure you can make one up yourself.

The end result? Well, I fancy Jennifer Connolly as much as the next man, but it got to the point where I just wanted to slap her every time she opened her mouth because I knew she was about to chastise me for my species being so horrible. Actually, I've just read that last sentence, and I'd like to clarify that when I say "I fancy Jennifer Connolly as much as the next man", I mean that I fancy her as much as the next man fancies her, not that I fancy her as much as I fancy the next man. Damn the English language and its hilarious double meanings.

Filmmakers really need to learn that it's possible to make a film which makes us feel horrible, guilty and ashamed and it's also possible to make a film which lets us leave the cinema feeling entertained and happy; but it cannot do both in the space of one film, and unfortunately it's BLOOD DIAMOND's attempt to do just that which steers it off course.

And as for the acting? DiCaprio's role is a major one, certainly; but aside from a couple of very, very brief emotional scenes, the cynic in me sees him being rewarded for nothing more than playing an objectionable little turd with a shoddy Zimbabwe accent. The rest of the roles are barely fleshed out enough to leave anyone else with anything much to do - with the exception of Hounsou, who is superb as the desperate father trying to find his family and recover his son, who has fallen in with the child soldiers of Sierra Leone.

In other words, I'd be very surprised if DiCaprio won and while I'd also be surprised if Hounsou won, I do feel that at least the latter deserves it. Mind you, if I had to pick any of the nominations that BLOOD DIAMOND is up for, I'd rather it won for Sound Mixing and Sound Editing, as they really did do a terrific job there. That's not as exciting to write about though.

Freakpit's Faves of 2006 (Top Five)

Here it is, the home stretch, the five best films of 2006 according to me. But wait, there's more - it turns out that this is the 100th post I've made to this blog and, not only that, it's also exactly a year to the day since I started it. How about that? It's almost like a planned it.

So without further ado, let's bring the Freakpit's first year to a close with the very best films from that period, my top five of last year.

5. BLOODY SUNDAY: A DERRY DIARY

This is yet another documentary that I saw at the Stranger Than Fiction documentary festival in Dublin in 2006. It follows the survivors and victims' families throughout the ongoing enquiry into the infamous events of one day in the early 70s when a group of British paras in Northern Ireland opened fire on a civil rights march, giving rise to one of the grimmest periods in the recent history of the troubles.

The film, made by one of the eyewitnesses herself, is not totally biased against the British - there is an acknowledgement that an IRA gunman was present and opened fire, and there is a hint that perhaps her memory of the events is not as clear as she thinks - but on the whole doesn't leave too much doubt as to which side its on, and understandably so. I'm not about to try and start a political argument here, but suffice to say the Brits do not come out of this looking good and probably with good reason.

As yet I don't believe it's had much of an outing outside of festivals and one or two TV appearances (not in this country that I know of) but it really deserves a wider audience. It was stated that when the results of the enquiry are known (expected this year) that further information will be recorded. One only hopes that when it does, someone picks the film up to distribute to the wider audience it deserves.

4. CONGO RIVER

Thierry Michel's documentary charts the history of this bloody area of Africa using the river itself as a metaphorical timeline. Documentaries are rarely made on this scale and are rarely as fascinating - this is no simple history lecture; this is the birth and life of a nation, its people, its conquerors and everything in between. Once more it was a highlight of Stranger Than Fiction - once more, I've yet to see it receive a decent distribution in this country. I hope someone will fix that soon as this stunning historical portrait needs to be seen.

3. THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY

2006 was a good year for the Irish in the Freakpit, wasn't it? Ken Loach's drama following the Anglo-Irish war of Independence and two brothers who take up opposite sides in the ensuing civil war picked up the top prize in Cannes but that didn't stop it courting controversy in the British press, some of whom seemed to think it was nothing more than IRA propaganda.

The truth is that it's a gripping historical drama that is as good as anything of Loach's that I've seen, regardless of where your political leanings lie. Yes, it makes the British look like a bloodthirsty bunch of monsters but here's a newsflash for you - the British did commit countless atrocities in Ireland, so why not show them? The detractors seem to have completely missed the point that first of all it's historically accurate and, secondly, that it's not as if Loach makes the Irish out to be all sweetness and innocence.

In truth, most of the conflict arises not from the Irish fighting the English but from the Irish against Irish civil war that followed. This means nothing to some people however, but then the sort of people who would trash this film because of its political nature are probably the same sort of people who refused to watch BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN because it's "totally gay".

2. GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK

George Clooney's second film as director was a triumph, though it was just pipped to most of the Oscars it deserved. It's intelligent, it's relevant today as it ever was, and it's a superbly crafted, well-written, wonderfully acted ensemble piece that tells a gripping tale about a group of people who stood up to a great injustice that overtook many people during a shameful period in America's history. I raved about it accordingly.

For a long time, it was my best film of 2006 - but then, just before the end of the year, there emerged a new choice...

1. THE PRESTIGE

Christopher Nolan's drama about duelling magicians in turn of the century Victorian England models itself on the magic tricks it portrays - it's all about misdirection. Throughout the film Nolan allows the audience to think that they're getting a handle on what is going on and then promptly pulls the rug out from under you. There are twists and turns like nobody's business, the impressive cast are all perfect and, in short, I never wanted it to end.

But end it did, and when it did so, it left me feeling more amazed and more satisfied upon leaving a cinema than I have been in a long, long time.

And that wraps up my round up of my favourites of 2006. If you agreed with any of them, terrific. If you didn't, well, it's my list so tough. But if you think I've been totally wrong about something or overlooked a classic feel free to contact me. I won't change my mind, but at least I'll know you're paying attention.

I will now resume my usual pattern of managing about one post a week about films you've never heard of.

Good night.

My latest movie marathon

Once again, it's not my favourite movies of 2006 (that one's taking longer to put together than I thought) so in the meantime here's the skinny on my latest movie marathon.

Every so often, I like to spend a day in the cinema cramming as many movies as possible into a very short period. Yesterday was that day as I embarked upon another 12-hour cinema session. No, really.

Believe it or not, it's not something that's particularly easy to do even when you're a movie geek like me. It's not that I have trouble sitting through that many films - if you've seen my festival posts you know that's not an issue - but simply that it actually requires a bit of planning and a lot of luck.

You see, if you're as fussy as me, then the first hurdle to get over is just having that many films on at the cinema at one time which firstly you've not seen and secondly you're actually interested in. Sure, it's easy enough during festival time, but it's not so easy on a run of the mill cinema day. Then, assuming you find enough of them, you need a bit of luck in the programming stakes as well, or else you'll find they overlap or leave huge gaps in between.

Well, with it being awards season, there are some decent films out at the moment. Some of them I've seen - APOCALYPTO I've mentioned recently and PAN'S LABYRINTH is still packing them in - but there were a few I'd not. And of course there's always the chance of some old classic playing somewhere too.

So that's the number of films sorted out. As for the timing - well, it seems the gods of cinema schedules were smiling yesterday. A brief stop at the Filmhouse at lunchtime for some veggie soup and my engine was running. Off I popped to the Cameo for this week's European matinee - THE QUEEN.

Helen Mirren plays the titular monarch in this British film about the goings on behind closed doors in the days following the death of Princess Diana, as tabloid-fuelled lunacy saw the crazed public railing against the Royal family for daring to grieve the way they wanted to.

Growing up in the UK, the Queen must surely be the most impersonated person on TV sketch shows so my first reaction upon seeing Mirren in the role (an incredible transformation) was to expect some punch line every time she spoke. I quickly recovered from this though, although the feeling did occur again every time some other actor wandered onto the screen playing someone famous.

It's a finely crafted piece of cinema regardless of your feelings about the Royals, and does a cracking job of portraying the Royal family and its traditions, the workings of government and the gobsmacking tactlessness of the deplorable British tabloids, whose job is not to report the news but to sensationalise everything and tell stupid people what to think.

Mirren does indeed deliver a terrific performance that has seen her nominated for numerous awards (I think we'll see her pick up a Golden Globe tonight, too) although my one reservation is that it's hard to assess how accurate her portrayal of the private Liz actually is, since it's a side of the Queen that we rarely see.

The other stand out performance comes from Michael Sheen who plays Prime Minister Tony Blair, in the days when he was only recently elected and before he turned into a mass murdering war criminal. The bloodthirsty madman's every move and mannerism is captured to perfection by Sheen, right down to that insidious painted-on smile of his, the one that says "look at me, I'm a family man and I stand for modern values, but I'm not afraid to kill thousands of innocents and refuse to answer to you for it."

All in all it's a very good film and while Mirren herself is almost guaranteed of big acting prizes it wouldn't surprise me at all if the film itself picked up a gong or two on this side of the pond.

From there it was back down to the Filmhouse for a screening of CINEMA PARADISO, the classic Italian tale (with wonderful score by that man Morricone) about a man reminiscing about his childhood and the love he had for a girl and the local movie house. It's a wonderfully touching movie that was being shown as a tribute to the recently departed master Philippe Noiret. He doesn't actually appear for too long in the film but when he does he leaves every woman in the cinema in tears and every man pretending they've got something in their eye. A definite hankie effort.

Time to replenish vital energies, so a quick stop off at Subway was required for a large toasted sub. I've no idea what the hell kind of red onions they use in there but damn, they're strong. At one point I did get a mouthful of little else but onions which, combined with the fact that I ate far too much of my friend Grant's homemade salsa the night before, means that even now I can taste nothing but onions. Actually, if you lean close enough to your monitor, you can probably smell me.

But I digress.

Back to the Cameo it was, where I then witnessed the late Robert Altman's final film, the just-released A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION. The movie is based around the final night's performance of a country and western radio show that has somehow survived long after its contemporaries have disappeared. The film boasts some great music and a stellar cast from seasoned pros like Meryl Streep and LQ Jones, through quality actors such as John C Reilly and right down to the latest generation with teen queen turned booze hound Lindsay Lohan. It's a heart-warming film that touches on the shadow of death without becoming morbid.

While to date the only Altman film I actually like is the one everyone else thinks is a turd (QUINTET) I'll add this one to the list of positives. It's certainly a swansong worthy of the man.

Then it was quickly back down to the Filmhouse again for I SAW BEN BARKA GET KILLED, a French drama based around the disappearance of a major figure in French-African politics. Based on a real event but crafting an entirely fictional story involving crooks, a documentary film and the French director Georges Franju (EYES WITHOUT A FACE, FANTOMAS), this film was a dull, plodding affair that might have delivered a reasonable punch if the ending had arrived a lot sooner.

If you want a fiction film that uses real events to anchor its story, then a far better option would be the next film I saw. After killing half an hour with a Peanut KitKat, a can of Red Bull and the latest issue of Video Watchdog (best magazine ever), I returned to the Cameo for my final screening of the evening. Expecting the crowds outside (unusual for a late night screening) to be for this movie, I was surprised when only five people turned up inside. I'd hate to think that many people were turning up for this week's special late show ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL. It's really not that good. Anyway, back to my choice...

If I had to list my favourite ever head-refrigerating African cannibal madman, I guess I'd pick Idi Amin. I've read about him, and I've watched a couple of films about him - the trashy film THE RISE AND FALL OF IDI AMIN, which I already featured in my Gobsmacking Cinema series (gobsmacking for many reasons, not least of which was just how much of the film's lunacy was based on real events) and the documentary IDI AMIN DADA: A SELF PORTRAIT, which I've also mentioned here briefly while talking about documentaries.

Naturally then, particularly having recently read the novel, I was enthusiastically awaiting the release of THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND. Adapted for the screen from the novel by Giles Foden, the film is the drama feature debut of accomplished Scottish documentary filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (who gave us TOUCHING THE VOID and the Oscar-winning ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER) and stars James McAvoy as a young Scottish doctor who finds himself acting as personal advisor to the crazed tyrant Idi Amin (a powerhouse performance by Forest Whitaker).

When a director makes his feature debut they can often end up overusing their bag of tricks to the point where the film becomes over-directed. Macdonald however has already proven himself with his documentaries however, and ends up striking the perfect balance between stylish presentation and offering a story free of artistic intrusion.

There is plenty of style on offer, to be sure - there are some documentary style touches and the most wonderfully effective use of quick zooms since the glory days of kung fu and spaghetti westerns. Macdonald manages to give the film a highly polished and distinct look while at the same time keeping it entirely separate in style from his documentaries.

As I've admitted above, I was excited about seeing this film and right from the off it grabbed me. In fact, it grabbed me even before the titles rolled, thanks to a fondness for the Fox fanfare at the start of the films. I can't help it - having spent my childhood growing up with STAR WARS and its sequels and then becoming obsessed with PLANET OF THE APES (greatest film ever made) I still get filled with child-like glee every time I sit in the cinema and that Fox fanfare comes on.

Anyway, the film itself... It's a stunner. It'll come as no surprise that large parts of the book are missing from the film - it always happens - and some of the supporting characters feature a lot less as a result. However, what is preserved on screen is certainly faithful to the book and the support characters are just that - the movie is all about Amin and Dr Garrigan, and how the latter becomes seduced by the charm and power of an evil man, to the point where he can hardly see that evil being committed (and when he does he's already in too deep).

The film has one or two moments that will make for uneasy viewing for more sensitive viewers (including one nasty scene that is alarmingly reminiscent of an infamous scene from CANNIBAL FEROX involving some metal hooks). However, it's worth it even if such things aren't your cup of tea as it's a captivating look at a fascinating man, it's a terrific thriller and it's a showcase for some great performances both in front of and behind the camera. It's a marvellous film and deserves all the accolades it gets.

Whitaker is certainly a stick-on for the Best Actor Oscar as far as I can tell, and I fully expect him to get a Golden Globe tonight too. That is, if he hasn't already. I don't know what time they're on and I don't know what the time difference is between here and America. It's just after 10pm here, so let's see... sod it, I'm off to look and see if they've started yet. Probably not, but there's not much point in me making predictions if they've already happened. Bye for now.

Coming soon (seriously, I speak the truth this time)... The Freakpit's favourite movies of 2006!

The Freakpit Festival Frenzy continues: Cardiff 2006

Three posts in three days - I'm on a roll!

Next on my festival frenzy was a brief trip to Cardiff for, surprisingly, the Cardiff Film Festival 2006. Or Gwyl Ffilm Caerdydd, if you speak Welsh. But I don't, so to continue writing in Welsh would be both stupid and very difficult. Let's move on.

I'd initially pencilled in the very explicit SHORTBUS as my first film on the Friday night (you knew I'd go and see something like that, didn't you?) but alas my timing wasn't quite as good as it had been at the London festival and I had to scratch that one from my schedule. Instead, I wandered the streets of Cardiff in heavy rain and got shouted at by a homeless person.

My first outing was therefore to a double bill of Kenneth Griffith documentaries. Having died earlier this year, this fascinating Welshman was the subject of a retrospective at this year's Cardiff Film Festival. While many will undoubtedly know him from his acting, he wrote and presented a number of documentaries which were receiving rare (and very welcome) screenings at this festival.

I'd have liked to see his numerous documentaries on the subject of Ireland and its troubles - in particular the controversial Michael Collins film HANG UP YOUR BRIGHTEST COLOURS - but unfortunately was not in town when any of them were screening.

I did, however, get to witness this double bill of Africa-focused documentaries, both of which were outstanding. Camp theatrical performances, insightful writing and an utter refusal to take a neutral stance would seem to be what put Griffith's documentaries into a class of their own and those qualities are in abundance here.

The first of the documentaries wears its heart on its sleeve from the off - with a title like A TOUCH OF CHURCHILL, A TOUCH OF HITLER, you can be assured that the subject of the film, Cecil Rhodes (after whom Rhodesia was named), was not going to be getting off lightly. And so it was, in a wonderfully stirring polemic against Rhodes and colonialism. Griffith does not avoid acknowledging admirable traits in Rhodes but for the most part is interested only in driving home what a villain he was.

The second part of this double bill was the equally eye-grabbing title BLACK AS HELL, THICK AS GRASS, another tirade against Britain's colonial activities in Africa (focussing on the incident famously made into film in the Michael Caine movie ZULU).

It's a joy to behold such a passionate, honest and stirring approach to documentaries and while sometimes Griffith's performance goes so far over the top he almost topples off his soapbox the films are like nothing you'll see on the History Channel. Someone please get this guy's documentaries out on DVD now. Please.

TRUE TRUE LIE is a British psychological horror (filmed in Eastern Europe and made to look American) that follows a girl freshly released from an asylum and her two friends as a secret from the past threatens to catch up with them. After all, the reason for the incarceration was the belief that three of them had murdered someone as children, but they're assured it's all a figment of the imagination... or is it?

To be honest, I was struggling to care by the end of it. For such an apparently tight schedule and meager budget, the director has turned in a reasonably polished flick but it offers absolutely nothing new to the genre at all. If this one even makes it to a widespread theatrical release I would expect it to disappear within a week.

AMNESIA: THE JAMES BRIGHTON ENIGMA is a low-budget Canadian film alledgedly based on a true story (though how much I'm not sure) and tells of a young man who wakes up in a car park one morning completely naked, remembering absolutely nothing about himself except that he believes he's gay.

The shot-on-video, intimate documentary-style camera work takes a bit of warming to and once the origin of James's trauma is revealed, the film feels like there's nowhere left to go. Yet it ponders on towards a damp squib of a conclusion that doesn't offer a tidy resolution but at least hints at an ending of sorts. Shame, as there were some interesting scenes in the middle.

KARDIA is a rather surreal story of a woman scientist who does research into cardiovascular matters but with a rather more human than scientific approach - the whole crux of the film would seem to be the question of whether someone can actually have died of a broken heart rather than a simple heart attack.

The film has interesting ideas and the flashbacks to the scientists youth (telling of her relationship with her adopted dad) do a good job of intertwining them with some tender moments that all build up to a couple of twists at the end - one of which is quite predictable, but it leads to another one that isn't quite so expected.

It's a shame that a shallow, lacklustre secondary plot about two lab assistants' relationship was forced into the (already rather short) running time, as it isn't developed nearly enough and ends up feeling like its been forced into the script in order to provide some extra weight to the film's theories about the heart.

That's unfortunate, because the film could stand up well without it - the final revelations are shattering and leave you truly haunted by the ending, which is, well, heartbreaking. And I guess that was the point.

Finally, WIL is an Australian film about a young man who is offered a promotion and has a minute to think about it. In that minute, the titular man finds himself going over his entire life, all within the confines of a lift, with characters and situations from his past blending together in a stream-of-conciousness dream life that throws humour and philosophy into the mix without really succeeding at either.

It seems very much like it's trying to achieve the clever weirdness of ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, but it's just a mess and not nearly as funny or clever as it wants to be. It has its moments for sure, but not enough to merit a recommendation from me I'm afraid.

Admid all this, I also managed one little late-night trip to an entirely non festival related screening, SAW III to be precise. It was much the same as the first two but not quite as good. As for the stories of people fainting during the film... having watched it, I'm more convinced than ever that it was a PR stunt. You'll see a lot worse.

Next on my list of festivals to write up... Brighton!

LFF 2006 - Great cowboy, crap eskimo

Okay, time to catch up on all those film festivals I've been to recently. Tonight, it's my brief (and first ever) visit to the London Film Festival (which was celebrating its 50th this year). Not bad, I'm only running a month behind schedule.

Flying down on Saturday morning, I managed to time it to such perfection (or to put it another way, I was very lucky that my cavalier planning paid off) and made it to the cinema (Odeon West End on Leicester Square) with fifteen minutes to spare before my first screening.

And what was that first screening, I hear you ask? Well, I don't hear you at all obviously, such is the isolated nature of internet communication but you know what I mean.

It was a brand new restored print of classic fifties western THE BIG COUNTRY. Pretty famous film certainly, but not one I'd ever seen (my favourite westerns are usually more obscure and nine times out of ten are Italian). I'm kind of glad I'd missed out on it all these years because to have seen it in any other format for the first time would have been criminal.

The title music by Jerome Moross is world famous and deservedly so; the photography is stunning and makes full use of the widescreen format. It was just amazing.

But the best aspect of it all for me was Gregory Peck. I don't know if you know what the film's about but, to cut a long story short, a great deal of it concerns Peck's pacifistic view of life and his refusal to fight people when they want a fight or to rise to the abuse he receives when being branded a coward for his actions. The character is just the coolest, most heroic man I've ever seen on screen, and anchors the film as not just a great western but a great anti-war movie, a sentiment that will always be relevant somewhere in the world.

A brief stroll across the Thames (not literally - I used a bridge) took me to the British Film Institute, where I have been before, and in particular to the National Film Theatre (where I haven't). My first film in this cinema was another newly-restored print, this time being the UCLA's preservation of classic film noir THE BIG COMBO.

I don't consider this to be the best noir I've seen - it wouldn't even make my top ten - but it does have all the ingredients you want from one and is certainly still a fine example of the genre, and the work done by the UCLA in preserving it deserves high praise.

If there's one thing I took from THE BIG COMBO, it's the remarkable relationship between two minor hoods in the film (one of whom is played by future spaghetti western stalwart Lee Van Cleef), who are clearly supposed to be lovers, before such things were deemed acceptable in Hollywood. I won't list all the clues here, but the biggest laugh of the film was undoubtedly when the two men are hidden away together, obviously rather edgy, and LVC offers his companion something to eat - only to be met with the response "I can't swallow any more salami!"

Or maybe the audience I was with just have a dirty mind and it's all entirely innocent. I seriously doubt it.

It was back the NFT again shortly after that for a premiere of African film BAMAKO. In this film, a trial takes place in a poor African town, in which the global corporations of the western world are taken to task over their treatment of Africa.

The film obviously employs non-professional actors and while it's true that their performances spring passionately to life during the court scenes, the film becomes flat when it moves back to the domestic lives of the participants, when the limitations of the actors become obvious.

This film was followed by a special panel discussing the current emergence of Africa on film, and I did pick up a ticket for the event (free when you bought one for BAMAKO). Unfortunately, due to the late running of BAMAKO, the fact that I was starving and the exceptionally slow service in the NFT restaurant when I decided I needed food, I abandoned my plans to attend the event. I'm sure it was very interesting though.

Sunday's films began with THE U.S. VS JOHN LENNON, back in the Odeon again, which I mentioned last week. A fascinating portrait of a star, showing a rarely seen side of him that really wins you over - against the sinister machinations of Nixon and friends on the other side of the political divide. One of the best documentaries of this year in my humble opinion and it gets released here in the UK in a few weeks. Go and see it.

I was due to attend LIVES OF THE SAINTS after this film, but it was at the Rio cinema, some way out of central London and I decided that I was struggling to get out there in time and would probably not make it back in time for my next film, so once again I abandoned this one. I admit I could probably have planned that one better but what can I say, London's a bit bigger than I remember it being...

So it was back to the NFT again for FRAULEIN, a touching tale of Serb immigrants in Switzerland and how one youngster impacts on the life of an older compatriot, and vice versa. It certainly can't be described as a happy movie but it's an accomplished and memorable work. No idea if its been picked up for distribution in this country yet, but I'm sure it'll be well received if it is.

Back to the Odeon again, and Sunday night finished with the premiere of RED ROAD, the first feature film from Oscar-winner Andrea Arnold. It had much to live up to, having bagged a major prize at Cannes, but it more than equalled the hype (and has since swept the boards at the Scottish BAFTAs).

Kate Dickie plays a CCTV operator whose life is turned upside down when she sees on one camera a man she hoped never to see again. An obsession develops and you can't help but be reeled in, desperate to find out what he did, why she's so affected by it and what she's doing in response to it. It's a slowburner but well worth every minute of it - Arnold somehow manages to capture the grim and gritty side of a run down Glaswegian estate while still retaining a cinematic look to the film, and the performances are uniformly excellent from all involved.

It won't be to everyone's taste (there are a couple of moments of violence, a lot of very strong language and a pretty explicit scene towards the end that is integral to the plot) but it should be seen. It'd be a great film anyway, but from a purely parochial view it's great to see a Scottish film this good - they don't happen very often.

The last film I saw, on Monday morning, was THE JOURNALS OF KNUD RASMUSSEN, a documentary-style drama about how a European explorer introduced Christianity to the Innuits and destroyed their belief system. It's filmed in a fly-on-the-wall style that simply doesn't work; I try not to use the word when describing films but I'm afraid "boring" is the best fit I can think of. The ending is haunting but it was too much of a chore to get there. Avoid.

And that was all. A couple of observations on London cinemas to finish.

First of all, the layout of NFT1 and OWE2. If you end up with seats at either side, it's not the most comfortable as the auditorium in both instances is rather too curved for my liking - unfortunately getting there early doesn't help, as an allocated seat system was in operation. There's no doubting the quality of the NFT's facilities but I still prefer my own favourite cinemas in Edinburgh (links on the right hand side of the main Freakpit page).

The other issue is that it ain't cheap. That's not just the festival though - in fact, compared to average London cinema prices, the festival isn't too bad - but cinemagoing in London will really make you think the next time you're grumbling about paying too much for a cinema ticket. The average price for a popular screening would seem to be about three times the price of its Edinburgh equivalent. Ouch.

Coming soon... Horrorthon 2006, Dublin!

Document 4 @ the GFT

A few weeks ago I spent a weekend at Document, the International Human Rights Film Festival at the Glasgow Film Theatre. It might not sound like a bright and cheerful way to spend several hours of your time and, er, that's because it wasn't.

Don't get me wrong, there were some well-made films and a number of not-so-well-made films, but the majority of them were at least interesting in some way. But of course, with a subject like that, you just know that no matter how good the films are you're going to come out depressed, especially after watching two days' worth.

The very mention of "human rights" tells you it's going to be depressing - because, after all, how often do you hear the phrase in conjunction with anything positive? Nope, it's always about human rights being removed, infringed, denied, etc. - never about someone doing a lot of good work for human rights, or a country having an excellent human rights record.

Nevertheless, being the cinema-addicted junkie that I am, and having a bent for filling up my schedule these last couple of months with festival after festival, I went along anyway, armed with weekend pass. At £30 for unlimited access to all the films, it was good value, but there can't have been too many sold judging by how empty a lot of the screenings were. I guess it comes back to the depressing subject matter - not everyone's idea of a fun weekend.

And what of the films? Well, I personally saw:

• A RELUCTANT SILENCE - a short film illustrating one man's struggle with aphasia, shot in an original and effective blend of interview and special effects
• I AM DEAF - part heartwarming and part heartbreaking study of the lives of various deaf people and how they have overcome their affliction
• DARFUR DIARIES - documentary on the current situation in Darfur which unfortunately suffers through its rather scattershot approach to the issue
• OUR HOUSE - Award-winning documentary about a group of people with various disabilities and their relationship to each other and the volunteers who help at the home. It's a fascinating and sometimes saddening insight but at times comes dangerously close to an invasion of privacy for my liking.
• RADOVAN KARADZIC - MOST WANTED? is about the man who was, at one time, the most wanted man for war crimes during the Balkan conflict. Interestingly, the film points out that he could have been caught before now but has not, and questions whether there is any truth in the rumour that he did an underhand deal with the international community to avoid capture.
• UNSER AMERICA is a German-made documentary following a quest to locate two former female guerillas who fought in Nicaragua to see if things are really so much better two decades afterwards.
• SCYTHIAN SUITE is a haunting portrait of the daily life of a man who has grown up in the gulag, now a wasteland.
• FLOWERS DON'T GROW HERE is a disturbing look at the underside of European cities, via the life of a gang of homeless youths in Kiev.
• ODESSA, ODESSA looks at the Jewish community in Odessa and those who emigrated to the USA and Israel.
• BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT is an insight into the trial concerning the genocide at Srebrenica.
• VIERKA - OR THE MYSTERY OF FAMILY B'S DISAPPEARANCE is about the clash of cultures between a prodigious young Romany singer and the Czech society that she finds herself in as a result of her incredible singing talent.

Most of the documentaries on show were worthy efforts that relied more on passion than resources, with a most of them being shot on video and being fairly unprofessional in appearance. Nevertheless there was a lot to be commended and the festival really deserves more audience support than it received.

It was really depressing though, but then luckily I could cheer myself up shortly after that with my first ever trip to the London Film Festival. But more on that next week!