New Zealand Film Festival - the final reviews

Here's a wrap up of the New Zealand Film Festival's closing weekend and therefore, the final reviews!

The Sapphires -
An unabashed utter crowd-pleaser, The Sapphires is one of heck of a roof-raising movie. It centres on four Aborigine women discovered by talent scout Dave Lovelace ( a dishevelled but scene stealing Chris O'Dowd) and who are moulded into the Aussie answer to the Supremes before scoring gigs entertaining the troops in Vietnam as the war rages there in 1969. Sure, there are the cliches aplenty - the sassy fiery one, the sexy one, the naive one and the talented one make up the band but thanks to a rousing soul soundtrack The Sapphires rises above as the band comes together in Aussie under the tutelage of Dave and his very funny put downs. Hints of tensions bubble under but unsurprisingly come to a head when the band hits Saigon and their naivety gives cause to many eye opening moments for the girls from the Aborigine mission. While that may be predictable and the Saigon scenes play out in a somewhat sanitised way, (this film's never really about the politics of what's going on and things only come to an explosive end - unsurprisingly -when Dave and the sassy Sapphire finally find a middle ground) The Sapphires is nothing short of a rollicking good time, with oneliners guaranteed to get the audience onside. But it's Chris O'Dowd who really impresses here, building on his charming performance in Bridesmaids, he shows he's one of the best comedy actors around delivering lines with charisma, comic deftness and to killer effect. Sure, the political is shoved to one side in favour of the superficial feel good, but when the feel good is so raucous and so rousing you can't help but get swept along in this tale of a family coming back together again and discovering their voices. They shimmy through the slightly dodgy bits of storytelling with such ease that it's pointless to quibble with the energy, warmth and overall positive vibe. The Sapphires is occasionally less than polished, but it's never anything less than a great time at the movies (even if it does devolve into cheesy in its final scenes)

Shadow Dancer -

A tautly acted piece starring cracking performances from Andrea Riseborough and Clive Owen, Shadow Dancer is set in the murky world of the IRA. Riseborough is IRA member Colette McVeigh, who finds herself picked up by MI5's Mac (a grim faced Owen) after a bombing incident on the London Underground in 1993. Forced to turn informant, Colette finds herself trapped between the machinations of MI5 and its shadowy cabal and murky agenda and the IRA who senses a betrayal within the ranks. As the net grows tighter, Colette finds herself running out of time and angles to play before the cat and mouse game of spy and spymaster grows fatal. A deadly tight suspense thriller, Shadow Dancer really benefits from terrific performances by Riseborough, whose relative silence throughout conveys more about her emotional state of mind than any pointless exposition ever would. Equally impressive is Owen (the Bond we never had) as an agent trapped and an unwitting pawn in the games being played above his head. With a sombre pace and intelligent plotting, Shadow Dancer is a slow burner of a compelling film which slowly creeps under your skin as it rolls out its low key tension. Events hit a powder keg moment in the cat and mouse game of back and forth, but director James Marsh (Man on Wire and Project Nim) never relies on anything other than the acting to convey the suspense and it's a welcome touch to push the highly intelligent narrative forward. There's a sickening sense of inevitability about this film but it's a smart, masterful piece of taut story telling and acting which commands patience and concentration as its gripping conclusion plays out.

Whores' Glory -

The third of director Michael Glawogger's films looking at the nature of work, Whores' Glory visits the oldest profession in the world - and sells a very depressing story of how the women have ended up there. But really, it's more about the clock punching of the workers - a visit to one shows the group of them following the mundanity of the daily (bump and) grind as they clock in, worry about whether there will be enough work for them all and whether they've eaten before they start work. Equally depressing is the sight of women all lined up in a fish tank wearing numbers and sat quietly on cushions waiting to be selected by potential clients who discuss with the MC whether they will do everything they want. There's an overbearing sense of gloom in this film as it casts a major pall over the reality of the work of the prostitutes in the various different countries and while Glawogger's never intended to set out to glamourise the work, what he ends up doing is creating a sense of a deeply depressing industry to work in as he follows each of the workers and their clients. Each moment seems to show the women as nothing more than to barter for - one client discusses cutting the rate so that he can eat that night - while the women worry about whether they'll have enough cash and have to consider getting a second job. Whores' Glory is a bleak film but one which firmly showcases what it set out to. Just don't expect it to be a titillating piece in any way shape or form.

How To Meet Girls From A Distance -

Scripted, edited and shot within a few months and made (on paper) for $100K, How To Meet Girls From a Distance is a minor NZ cinematic miracle. The peeping tom rom-com follows Richard Falkner's Toby, a stalker in Wellington whose luck with the ladies is less than impressive. So, while receiving coaching from dodgy date expert Carl (an utterly brilliant Joanthan Brugh), Toby ends up meeting Phoebe (Scarlet Hemingway) and falling for her. And of course, he does what any normal person would do - follows his heart, takes illicit pictures of her from a distance and stalks her to get to know her better. However, there's a stumbling block - Phoebe's with Owen Black's Brad - but for any decent stalker, that's not a problem. And soon, Toby is ingratiating himself into Phoebe's life and heart... How To Meet Girls From a Distance deserves to be admired for its turn around and chutzpah - but it also deserves to be admired for what's actually turned up on the screen. Funny, charming and kooky, this piece of celluloid is a commendably good effort from all those involved. Falkner makes Toby sweet rather than borderline psychotic and Jonathan Brugh's Carl deserves a place in the pantheon of Kiwi oddball characters. A funny script plies on the laughs while never losing sight of the overall plot. From cringe-worthy dancing to dodgy tracheotomies, How To Meet Girls From a Distance is highly amusing, utterly rewarding and a totally unmissable experience at the New Zealand Film Festival.

Compliance (Guest review Jacob Powell)

Being accustomed to 'difficult' cinema that ofttimes sends a portion of the audience scuttling for the exits I was surprised by how gruelling I found Craig Zobel's Compliance; forcing me to squirm in my seat and make a few deep exhalations once the credits rolled. Based on a true story of some recent extreme prank calling crimes involving fast food restaurant workers in the USA this disturbing psychological head trip is affectively constructed as a lock-in film with almost all the action occurring on location in the restaurant. This essentially puts the viewer in the same position as the characters - a very suffocating and claustrophobic environment - serving to ratchet up the tension to near breaking point. Framing, editing, and sound choices are smartly and artfully applied to lift a potentially sensationalist movie into a psychological horror which bears comparison to a Haneke work, if by a less formed director. Compliance was a fantastic, if discomforting, end to NZFF 2012.

Dreams of a Life (guest reviewer Leanne Meikle)

A bleak film about a young woman called Joyce Vincent whose skeletal body was found in her bedsit in London after 3 years, with no contact from friends or family.  As her heating and television continued on in the background and the bills mounted up by the front door.   The film interviews old friends of the deceased who painted a picture of a once happy and attractive young woman, who studied hard at school but left with no qualifications, had a family of sisters but no parents and a past that no one knew or could understand.  
Each character not believing this once vibrant and beautiful young woman was the actual person they had read in the newspaper, questioning “how could this have happened”? 
This film left me feeling hollow and numb, how a life could simply “slip away between the cracks” of society, how today's communities are so large a person could just fade away out of sight.  When close friends and families who don’t call, visit or file a missing persons record, while a young person dies alone in a bedsit at Christmas, the most family orientated holiday of the year.  What left me puzzled was that Joyce died among the Christmas presents that she had wrapped for her family and friends but then none of them came looking for at her flat which they could have easily did if they had cared.  
Unfortunately we hear in the news how this situation just happens but really how can it? 
Dreams of A Life provides few answers but offers plenty of questions and provides a discomforting night at the cinema. 

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