La Belle Époque: NZIFF Review

La Belle Époque: NZIFF Review

Mixing The Truman Show along with a sweeter more heartfelt idea that could be part of Black Mirror, director Nicolas Bedos' romantic drama and comedy La Belle Époque makes great fist of its older lead's charisma.

Daniel Auteuil's Victor is jaded; his son works for a company making digital programming, and his wife is obsessed with the VR world, but he, as a former cartoonist, is stuck in the medium he has lived his life in and in the rut he's always been in.

However, his wife (Fanny Ardant) is not happy and kicks him out. Victor is offered a chance to relive some of his youth, thanks to an agency that builds sets from people's pasts and relocates them there for a night or whatever they want.

For Victor, the chance to live back in the past is too much to resist...

La Belle Époque is a light, frothy, romantic love story masquerading in parts as a drama and buried under a conceit that some may feel is just merely a construct to fuel a crowd-pleasing romance.

And that's fine, largely due to Auteuil who provides an earnest heart to the proceedings. The story may have some political allegories, and be a tale generally of how it's currently better to be living in the past (surely, French will get more from the political allegories and subtleties of Bedos' digs), but it's amiable fare that does what it needs to.

If there's to be a criticism, it's that La Belle Époque could have used some more of the randomness and levity it has in its opening moments, which surprise, delight and amuse, but that's not to denigrate the late-in-life romance story that fuels the fire of what makes it such an elegant success.

Bellbird: NZIFF Review

Bellbird: NZIFF Review

Hamish Bennett's follow up to his award-winning short Ross and Beth from 2014 is a crowd-pleasing, quietly restrained film about life on a Northland farm.

Marshall Napier is Ross, the third generation farm owner, who's left devastated after a loss and who tries to find what's next in his life. Recently returned to his life is his son Bruce (a dramatic and poignant turn from Cohen Holloway, who shines throughout), who works in the local dump but who's gradually coaxed back onto the farm and into family life in general.

Bucolic and beautifully shot, Bennett's film is a small restrained movie about relationships and reconnections, that taps into the rural way of few words.

If Bennett overdoes it with the cutaway shots which depict life on the farm, it's seemingly about building an atmosphere and a sense of location within Northland that goes to explain Ross' connection to the land and his community.

Suffused with charm, and lovely wry one-liners (particularly from Rachel House), Bellbird has a heart that's hard to deny, as it negotiates grief in a typical she'll be right mentality.

Its leads are where the film's strength are, and Napier deserves as much credit as Holloway, for bringing to life a Kiwi type that's prevalent in the community. In truth, it's more about what's unsaid than said as this slow-paced family drama unfolds, but Bennett's wise enough to pepper his script with heartland humour that will prove a winner with audiences.

Newcomer Kahukura Retimana also deserves mention for neighbouring Marley who injects a level of care into how he tries to look after Ross; there's much of the film which speaks to how communities try to care for their own, something city dwellers may ruefully gaze upon as they view this low-key relationship piece.

Ultimately Bellbird wins by its gentle restraint, and its affectionate celebration of the quieter moments of life, and of what comes next when the worst happens.

mid90s: NZIFF Review

mid90s: NZIFF Review

Much like Skate Kitchen at last year's NZIFF connected slacker audiences, Jonah Hill's directorial debut centring on a clutch of waster skaters and the youngster that ingratiates himself among them follows similar coming-of-age themes.

Sunny Suljic is 13-year-old Stevie, who hides from the beatings from his sullen brother (Lucas Hedges, inward and violent) and who falls in with a cooler crowd to escape his life. As Stevie negotiates the day to day, he finds the pull of his friends above all else.

mid90s' 16mm film look and also its vibe is probably what Hill wanted to channel for the all-too-familiar tale.

The vibe may be spot on, but a lot of the film takes it cues from its music, with a soundtrack blasting throughout to try and get audience members into the right mood.

There's a low key vibe running throughout, and Hill's insistence on no nostalgia and no skate porn is evident from the beginning - his film is about the relationships, from Stevie and his brother's pained frustrations to Stevie's relationships within the skate crew and the fallouts which usually evolve from close friendships.

In all honesty, mid90s is more about a mood, than a long form narrative, but what Hill manages to do with it, is enough to make it charming and engaging, thanks to some strong central performances and by drawing deep from the well of his own life.

You Don't Nomi: NZIFF Review

You Don't Nomi: NZIFF Review

While it scores points for its pun in the title, You Don't Nomi loses out on the documentary stakes, pulling together something that lacks the pull and draw of the trashfire piece it's examining.

That piece is Paul Verhoeven's critically dividing, the stultifyingly unsexy 1995 movie Showgirls.

Tackling the critical mauling the film got on its initial release back in the 90s, director Jeffrey McHale takes a look at what happened to the film, why it got another life, and why it's worth considering again.

But what emerges from You Don't Nomi is that it's a doco with not too much to say for those who already know the story of Showgirls, and its rise from the ashes. Using context of the time, and positing that Verhoeven's derided when he steps away from the violence and machismo of his other movies, McHale makes the case, once again, that this movie is misunderstood.

Voiceovers provide interviews, offer insights and generally pontificate on what went wrong, why those who made it go wrong are wrong and why it deserves to live again. Archive footage of Verhoeven amid filming makes it clear the blame lies at his feet, but where You Don't Nomi is more successful is in examining how the film was probably released at the wrong time.

Equally more enticing, and feeling absent for all throughout is Showgirls' original star, Nomi Malone aka Elizabeth Berkley. The doco offers little from her, which is a shame given the movie destroyed her, until near the end, and in the briefest of moments shows how she was unfairly vilified for the film's floppage, which lies solely at someone else's feet.

You Don't Nomi delivers clips in a smart and clever way, reframing them within other Verhoeven fare, but it's the sole directorial flair the documentary offers - if the focus had been tighter, or we'd have followed Berkley more both during, after and now it could have offered a fascinating insight into what makes a phenomenon, a cult failure and subsequent rise from the ashes.

Instead, what emerges from You Don't Nomi is a tediously flaccid doco that emerges with very little to say - and certainly not enough to engage an audience for its 90 minute run time.

The Farewell: NZIFF Review

The Farewell: NZIFF Review

Director Lulu Wang puts family drama and reunion squarely on the table in this piece which is based on an actual lie, as the opening title board points out.

Chinese born Billi (Awkwafina, in a muted and conflicted turn) lives in New York, with her mother and father, and is a struggling writer. When she learns that her beloved Nai Nai is dying, her immediate desire is to get back to China and help her cope.

But the family decides to withhold the fatal cancer diagnosis from Nai Nai, telling her she only has benign shadows on her X-Rays and that she's fine. However, they all decide to fly back to China under the pretence of a wedding for one final family reunion.

The clash of familial duty and the affairs of the heart comes delicately together in The Farewell, and is all anchored by Crazy Rich Asians' Awkwafina's rueful turn that brings together both the inner turmoil and deep emotions needed in something that projects her from the screen into the stratosphere.

But as the subtleties of familial relationships are poured through the prism of escalating tensions and imminent sadness of the loss of the matriarch, the film pivots on its ideas and never milks the emotion for easy drama.

East vs West is explored (obviously) and the family arguments and discussions are all set against some gorgeously shot scenes of dining and food.

It all means that Wang brings together the film in ways that are warm, earnest and also amusing. From Nai Nai's nagging to Billi about how she shouldn't wear earrings in New York as they'll be ripped from her ears to the reunion of the two brothers after twenty-plus years, this is a film that's rich in nuance and deep in feeling.

The Farewell is a nuanced take on family, one that balances perfectly on resonance.

It may be based on an actual lie, but its truths are universal and its performance by Awkwafina is delicate and complex, and well worth absorbing.

Les Miserables: NZIFF Review

Les Miserables: NZIFF Review

Director Ladj Ly's urgent street film crackles with an unpredictability that's hard to cope with throughout.

Centring on a very familiar trope (a new cop joins an urban crack unit) and stretched out over one day in the poverty-stricken streets of inner Paris, it's the tale of new cop Ruiz as he partners up with the anti-crime brigade's Chris and Gwada on a day when France is celebrating a win in the football.

At first, the nation seems united, but as Ruiz begins to discover there are fragile and uneasy allegiances and pacts which punctuate the daily routine of life on the streets. However, when a lion cub is stolen from a visiting gypsy circus, it becomes the light which is igniting the touch paper and threatens to blow a powderkeg dangerously open.

Electric in every frame, and wildly unpredictable, Ly's street drama is part Training Day, part The Shield and all parts thrilling as it crackles and builds its way through a tension that gnaws at you.

It may begin with France seeming unified but as the banlieues are patrolled, Ly shows how France is still divided with immigration, with seething resentments and with simmering tensions, and uneasy lines to be negotiated by those seemingly in power.

Morals are thrust into the viewers' hands, and while Ly isn't keen to point out who's right or wrong, it appears clear early on as the camera swirls around all sides during various confrontations. Never really overplaying the drama helps greatly as the story unfolds, with tragedy never too far away.

While the Victor Hugo allusions are minimal, but obvious, Les Miserables points to society being to blame as the gritty film ends with a denouement for the ages. It's heart-poundingly thrilling and utterly compelling from beginning to end, and best experienced with a less-you-know attitude to ensure the ride is as taut as you'd want from one of the first unmissable films of the New Zealand International Film Festival.

NZIFF 2019 Q&A - Tearepa Kahi for HERBS: Songs of Freedom

NZIFF 2019 Q&A - Tearepa Kahi for HERBS: Songs of Freedom

HERBS: Songs of Freedom will receive its world premiere at the NZ International Film Festival on August 3rd, followed by a nationwide general release on August 15th

My film is....
HERBS: Songs of Freedom

The moment I'm most proud of is....
Seeing these men sound checking together together for the first time in 39 years.

The reason I carried on with this film when it got tough is.....
Belief. Belief in them, belief in their music and belief in the idea that a guitar can be a powerful tool for change.

The one moment that will resonate with an audience is.......
Listening to Tama Renata, sing goodbye to his dearly departed friend, Charlie Tumahai.

The hardest thing I had to cut from this film is........ 
More amazing music.

The thing I want people to take from this film is ...... 
'Uncles matter' and 'nothing heals like music'.

The reason I love the NZIFF is.......
The way it delivers on its promise every year to bring the hearts, minds and imaginations of the year's greatest story tellers into our world, during Matariki.

What I want to see at this year's NZIFF is......Les Miserables and Maria By Callas and lots and lots of others.

The one thing I'd say to aspiring filmmakers is.....
Never be afraid to throw away the map and get lost.