The Kindergarten Teacher: NZIFF Review

The Kindergarten Teacher: NZIFF Review

Based on the film Haganenet by Nadav Lapid, Maggie Gyllenhaal stars as Lisa Spinelli, an adrift kindergarten teacher in this rather odd piece that veers creepily into territory that's unsettling.

Unhappy with her kids refusing to eat dinner as family, with one who would rather use Instagram to further her once burgeoning photo career and flailing in her poetry class, Spinelli finds her life changed one day thanks to five-year-old Joe (Parker Sevak).

Joe appears to spontaneously erupt into poetry, and Spinelli, sensing there's more here, decides to nurture him after taking one of his poems, reciting it in class and receiving accolades.

But she spirals further into pursuing his talent, what emerges is dangerously close to obsession.

The Kindergarten Teacher is an odd watch at times, with Spinelli's behaviour seeming borderline unsettling in its naivete and its execution.

And while there are definitely questions over Spinelli's actions, there are no questions over Gyllenhaal's performance as she descends. Committed, human and with subtle changes as the film goes on, Gyllenhaal imbues her character with the signs of some kind of breakdown and innate sadness.

It's hard to keep a film like this ambiguous without the audience becoming ambivalent, and while some moments border very closely to steering the film in a direction where you don't want it to go, Gyllenhaal and to a lesser extent, Sevak, manage to keep it just on the right side of uncertain.

"This world is going to erase you" is just heartbreaking to hear and when the frustration behind this is expanded further, Gyllenhaal gives Spinelli soul and a reason for her growing insanity - sadly, it's all too reflected in the modern world and in Spinelli's children.

In a weird way, The Kindergarten Teacher does feel like a psychological horror wrapped up in a drama, as the edges and lines become blurred - but as a subtle portrait of a breakdown and potentially, abuse, it perhaps works better.

Dogman: NZIFF Review

Dogman: NZIFF Review

A brutal yet intensely intimate piece about the corruption of crime, male friendships and the pecking order of society, Matteo Garrone's thriller Dogman is about as far from the glamour of crime as you can get.

Marcello Fonte plays Marcello, a dog groomer in the middle of a seaside estate that never really came to fruition. In among the uncompleted construction and the grim vistas, Marcello's a popular man with his shopworker colleagues.

But the area has a problem in the form of towering man mountain, Simone (a hulking Edoardo Pesce), who terrorises the neighbourhood and is a volatile presence. However, Marcello, used to taming ferocious animals in his grooming parlour (as witnessed by an opening sequence where a snarling pitbull refuses his washing advances before ultimately submitting to a shampoo, followed by a blow dry of the jowls) believes Simone to be his friend. It's a relationship of subjugation and domination, that's corrosive yet compulsive for both parties.

It's an assumption fed by Simone's cocaine habit, and Marcello's desire to feed it, despite the money for the transactions stopping long ago, and Simone's use of bullying to get what he wants.

With the neighbourhood determined to rid themselves of Simone, Marcello finds his relationship with the brute pushed into more dangerous territory than expected.

Dogman's feel is one of a simmering powderkeg, as you wait tensely for the eruptions to come.

But Garrone (Gomorrah) wisely piles the stakes high, while keeping the drama low. The explosion never comes in the way you'd expect, and yet throughout the audience spends its time willing Marcello to tear of the shackles of this oppression and strike back.

Here's the thing with Dogman though - it's all about a wry examination of relationships.
From Marcello's bond with Simone, to his loving relationship with his estranged daughter via the bonhmie dealt upon him by his fellow shopkeepers, Marcello appears to be aware of what the order of things is and also inherently what the right thing to do is.

When Simone is attacked, Marcello's instinct is to do what he can to save him, fundamentally knowing this is what is to be done, even though the right thing would be to let him die. Equally, when Simone suggests a plan that's fuelled by greed and will impact others, Marcello's reticent fearing for his friends, and also his place in that society.

Fonte imbues his scrawny and weedy Marcello with a tragic pathos throughout - as Garrone lingers on his face (a cross between Peter Lorre, Klinger from M*A*S*H and Steve Buscemi), the conflict is etched deeply within. Physicality plays a large part here from Fonte's almost weedy like posture and appearance to Pesce's towering brute, the contrast could not be more evident - likewise with outlooks.

However, what Garrone does well in Dogman, is to show a man wrestling with his place in the system, a man who shouldn't really take any more and a man whose loyalties are stretched in ways unexpected. This is the tragedy of the slow-burning piece, the price of personal corruption, and the personal cost of crime - it's a searing look where no one is perfect, nobody is innocent, and ultimately, everyone pays the price.

‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ Announces Cast - Carrie Fisher will be involved

‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ Announces Cast - Carrie Fisher will be involved

The cast for ‘Star Wars: Episode IX’  has been unveiled.

And despite Carrie Fisher passing away in 2016 before work on it had been completed, director JJ Abrams has revealed she will return, with unused footage from the previous film to be used.

It's also been revealed Mark Hamill will return (despite dying apparently in The Last Jedi).

And the big news is that Lando Calrissian is back, with Billy Dee Williams returning to the role that made him famous.

Also confirmed in the cast are Anthony Daniels, who  will reprise his role at C-3PO. Naomi Ackie and Richard E. Grant have also joined the cast.

Variety previously reported that Keri Russell was in talks to join the cast for “Episode IX.” Sources confirmed on Friday that Russell has just closed her deal to join the film.

“Finding a truly satisfying conclusion to the Skywalker saga without her eluded us. We were never going to recast, or use a CG character,” director J.J. Abrams said in a statement. “With the support and blessing from her daughter, Billie, we have found a way to honour Carrie’s legacy and role as Leia in Episode IX by using unseen footage we shot together in Episode VII.”

Returning cast members include Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, and Billie Lourd. John Williams will return to score the film.

“Star Wars: Episode IX” is set to be released December 2019.

Occupation: Film Review

Occupation: Film Review

Cast: Temuera Morrison, Dan Ewing, Stephanie Jacobsen
Director: Luke Sparke

There's a great deal of set-up present in Occupation, a B-movie film that in truth, feels more suited as a pilot for a low budget cable channel, rather than a proposed franchise.

With a sequel in the works already, this alien invasion film does little to rise above its early aspirations - the opening 15 minutes set up the protagonists in Australia who will come under attack.

There's the nuclear family, headed by Tem's just-out-of-prison dad (let's side step why the brown fella in the white cast had to be the former crim); there's the comeback rugby captain whose last tackle saw him in a coma; there's the just-found-out-I'm-going-to-be-a-dad jock, and a whole cast of other cliches coming together in a small Aussie town.

But when the town comes under attack, the disparate group must throw aside its problems and conflicts (for now, until the narrative demands they be rebirthed later) to face off against the aliens.

Occupation has some pretty damn impressive FX for the B-movie budget.

Certainly, the first scenes where the lights are glimpsed across the hills plays on the likes of Close Encounters before segueing into Independence Day as the attack begins.

While the invaders appear to be nothing more than a space-age version of Knights with some truly awful stock-standard alien heads beneath their masks, the film's motives for their invasion are so rote they date back to the likes of The Invaders TV show.

But Sparke's less interested in reinventing the wheel, preferring to set up a franchise and further the films than provide depth to the characters. In fairness, Morrison has genuine warmth as the stepdad who wants to protect his brood, but he, like the rest of the cast, can do little to lift the script from its depths.

With corny cheeseball one-liners and a feeling there's nothing new here to say (even the Aussie flag hoisted high as the one-last-desperate-push into battle takes place is more laughable than stirring), Occupation unfortunately makes little case for a film series.

Despite its high gloss FX and scope, the familiar is what drags Occupation down to ground - sure, B Movie aspirations are fine, but either fully embrace them or aim higher. Sadly, Occupation does neither of these and flounders as a result.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post: NZIFF Review

The Miseducation of Cameron Post: NZIFF Review

An impressive performance from Chloe Grace Moretz helps lift The Miseducation of Cameron Post from the middle of the road, seen-it-all-before mire it seems determined to plow.

Set in 1993, this adaptation of the 2012 novel by Emily M Danforth centres on Moretz's Cameron Post, who's discovered at prom getting hot and heavy with her girlfriend in the back seat of a car.

Shipped off to God's Promise camp, Post is subjected to attempts to steer her away from the sin of Same Sex Attraction.

Initially resistant to life within the camp, Post befriends fellow incarcerated teens Jane Fonda (American Honey's Sasha Lane) and Adam (Forrest Goodluck) as she tries to negotiate her way through.

If you want a tween version of gay conversion that dance around the big issues and is more interested in making the whole thing hip and attractive to teens, then this is for you.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is very Hollywood fare, mixing in some elements of Dead Poets Society and a laissez-faire mocking of religious doctrine.

It helps little that those in charge are figures to be mocked, meaning the conflict, such as it is, never feels anything but against the fighting of the therapies.

With lines like " Cameron is already a masculine name, to abbreviate it further only exacerbates your gender confusion" delivered by camp mistress Dr Marsh (Jennifer Ehle, in severe form) and the fact the pastor is a grinning moustachioed man, the film tries little to bring subtlety to those in charge, which in turn ensures sentiment is never but in the kids' corner.

Fortunately, at the centre of all of this is easily a career best from Chloe Grace Moretz, who gives the film heart where there deserved to be none. Delivering a nuanced performance, with the empathy needed for someone in this position, and with someone searching inwardly to truly be themselves, Moretz raises Post to levels of reality that are hard to ignore.

Actually, the teens in the film are perhaps the best thing, but it's Moretz whose subtle facials and withdrawn underplaying of Post does much to increase the conflict that lies beneath the surface. There are genuinely heartbreaking moments for Post as she reflects on her life, and Moretz gives them much sincerity throughout.

While there are no "shocking" scenes as such, The Miseducation of Cameron Post never feels like a balanced film, a flat adaptation of what could be a spiky genre-defining piece.

Its simplistic approach to the situation is saved only by Moretz's life breathed into her self-questioning character - cliches abound among the compassionate touches. Perhaps it's an age thing, and this film is aimed squarely at the younger generation, destined to give them a torch heroine they may want. For those who've lived life and seen much, The Miseducation of Cameron Post feels like a squandered light attempt to breathe life into a big topic.

Sure, it's likely to offer some hope given these centres still exist, but by avoiding any real debate or discussion within the film, The Miseducation of Cameron Post feels like just another drama that barely rises above its tween intentions, and fails to escape its twee execution.

Mandy: NZIFF Review

Mandy: NZIFF Review

Placing the psycho among the psychotropic, Panos Cosmatos' Mandy is a curious beast, likely to satiate an Incredibly Strange audience, but unlikely to burst out of its cult bubble.

Starting with Nic Cage in full lumberjack mode felling a tree (not a euphemism), Cosmatos's under siege piece takes its 80s vibe and fully runs with it.

Cage is Red, who lives with Mandy (Andrea Riseborough) in a remote cabin. Their dream existence is granted a rude awakening when the Children of the New Dawn pass Mandy on a path one day, determining that she should be with them.

Their leader (Linus Roach, in full messianic mode) orders his followers to steal her away - needless to say Red ain't having that.

It's a case of 80s style over substance with Mandy, which is no bad thing if that's what you're looking for. Drenched in a Johann Johannsson score, the film's atmospherics hit every level they're intending to, but it's a case of genre style ahead of anything else in effect here.

Cosmatos makes his piece a masterclass in lighting, soaking many scenes in red and backlighting the fight scenes with spotlights - it's a visual lunacy that's worth embracing.

Mandy may drag a little in parts, a fever dream that's extended beyond need, but Cage's fans will be happy to see their hero, in his tighty-whiteys, doing what he does best - chewing up the scenery (and doing a large amount of cocaine at the end of one scene).

Mandy fulfills its exploitation vibe well, but beyond the deaths and gore it proffers up, it offers little more.

However, if it's perfect for the Incredibly Strange section, and will serve a Timpson-fuelled Hollywood Theatre audience expertly well.

The Harvesters: NZIFF Review

The Harvesters: NZIFF Review

The Cain and Abel of the bucolic world, South African drama The Harvesters gets its power more from what's not said, than what is.

Writer / director Etienne Kallos' modern day parable concerns itself with teenage Janno, who as the film starts is stalking through the fields herding cattle while his mother prays for strength for him, and for his seed.

As the farming life routines become evident, Janno's place in it all seems secure, but not fully fortified. As is his connection to the other farming boys around - he's isolated, but also part of what goes on.

However, into this religiously devout family, comes Pieter, a halfway house boy with a troubled past, a sullen temperament and an innate ability to rock them to their core. Tensions arise between the mother and the father of the embattled ranch (the death of farmers all around is continually hinted at) as she wants to save him and he wants him gone.

But it's Janno for whom the bell tolls in The Harvesters, as his foundations look like they could be gradually, yet permanently, eroded.

The Harvesters is an intriguing look at trauma, the psychology of "brothers" and male role models, and the perils faced within family units.

In many ways, it feels like a horror, particularly with its very last shot, but Kallos' desire to pull away from these trappings and leave the interpretations to the viewer shows how well the whole thing is orchestrated.

Last reel reveals place earlier interactions in different defiant lights, and are unguessable early on.

Bernt Vermeulen delivers a vulnerable turn as Janno, uncertainty etched on his innocent face throughout, and a masterfully underplayed turn helps greatly.
Equally, Alex van Dyk's cold Pieter swings wonderfully between lost boy damaged in the past to master manipulator fuelled by self-survival. There's much to dissect and engage in these two leads and much to luxuriate in in Kallos' cruelly different take on the farming world.

Scathing resentments simmer all around in all the protagonists - from the damaged Pieter apparently looking for retribution to the farmer father, his family unit discombobulated by threats from all sides.

The Harvesters is psychological terror from all angles, but hidden in plain sight. It's a stark, sparing portrait of farming life in post Apartheid South Africa, and it's laden with menace. But Kallos wisely never overplays that angle, meaning The Harvesters plays first and foremost as a compelling human drama, a cautionary tale about male insecurities that's riveting from beginning to end.