At Darren's World of Entertainment

Saturday, 3 August 2019

Mystify: Michael Hutchence:NZIFF Review

Director Richard Lowenstein pulls together a relatively intimate portrait of the famed INXS rock icon, in a documentary that soars for the majority of its time before crashing into more sombre territory in its final 30 minutes.

Eschewing talking heads and having them provide soundbites over footage from the archives, concert moments and Hutchence himself gives the feel of a family album being narrated by mates and family around a good bottle of wine.

But Lowenstein's also smart enough to pepper the piece with moments of Hutchence himself, allowing the man's clear charisma to shine forth and illuminate the screen.

Vignettes from Kylie Minogue about their relationship and earlier lovers help build a portrait of a man lost in the world at some point - but also humanise Hutchence beyond the rock icon label that he's gained since his death at 37.

In some ways, Mystify: Michael Hutchence is a relatively formulaic doco presented in an albeit unusual way.

There's no denying the music still stands strong, and Lowenstein wisely uses only a smattering of the live footage to boost the appeal of the Aussie.

But the film hits a screeching halt and almost derails as it reveals the change in Hutchence after a head injury. It appears to echo Michael himself in that the tone shifts awkwardly from more hedonistic fare to an almost funereal pace that wonders dangerously close into mawkish territory.

And there's an odd feeling towards the end that veers dangerously into hagiography with various drugs issues mentioned, albeit fleetingly, and hinted at rather than doing anything to darken the appeal of Michael Hutchence.

There's a sense of being too close to the subject - but it's a double-edged sword, as without the closeness, there wouldn't have been the abundance of footage to present something compelling.

All in all, Mystify: Michael Hutchence is a fine tribute to the star, and one that explains the appeal to all, rather than just fans.

Friday, 2 August 2019

Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw: Film Review

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Jason statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Ryan Reynolds
Director: David Leitch

Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw is an assault on your cinematic senses.

A highly stylised, intensely choreographed piece of leave-your-brain-at-the-door cinema going, this beat-em-up bloodless bromance is all about hits to the head rather than massaging the brain.

In this latest, Johnson's Hobbs and Statham's Shaw are forced to set differences aside (a little) to track down rogue MI6 agent Hattie (Kirby, keeping up with the boys), who's apparently stolen a bio-weapon that can destroy the world.

But hot on their heels is cyborg-powered Brixton (Elba)...

Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw is pure blockbuster action, that cares not for sense or sensibility.

Fight sequences have replaced the Fast and Furious’ trademark action sequences and while initially it’s welcome, the non-stop barrage of beat downs becomes tedious.

In between it all, Statham and The Rock’s continual quarreling fills the time, as these frenemies are forced to face up to the franchise’s enforced code of family, shoehorned in as it is.

It’s OTT to the point of ridiculous at times, but it’s the frisson between the duo that just keeps this action movie alive for its bloated run time. It's best not to think things like how Johnson's character can take a full bottle to the face, and emerge without a scratch at all - it's that kind of film, and oddly that kind of thing - like with the CGI - that can take you out of the goings on.

Kudos must also go to Vanessa Kirby who proves she can kick ass with the best of them and who uses her eyes to convey much more depth than either of the leads can. And Elba proves a welcome addition to the series, layering his Brixton with considerable swagger as the bad guy.

All in all though, Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw has little to no stakes, and really doesn't care about any kind of reality in the hyper stylish edges. It's instantly forgettable fare, and probably not one of the franchise's best - setting up a spinoff universe induces eye rolls, but what is truly missing from Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw is the heart that imbues a lot of the original franchise.

The Day Shall Come: NZIFF Review

Lacking the savagery of a lot of Chris Morris' earlier work, and based on "a hundred true stories", The Day Shall Come's tale of ineptitude reeks of some of the themes laid down in the brilliant Four Lions and which course through the veins of his work like Brass Eye and The Day Today.

In this latest, which heads to America, Morris tells the tale of Marchant Davis' Moses, who leads a church of six (basically, his family plus a couple of hangers-on) who are trying to build a farm in downtown.

Heading up the Star of Six, and constantly praising Black Santa, Moses is waiting for the day he and his followers are called to "overturn the accidental dominance of the white people."

But through an escalation of circumstances, Moses is thrust into the middle of an FBI office looking to make arrests of Jihadi to stand out, putting his idealism beliefs in the firing line of idiocy.

Essentially, The Day Shall Come sees Morris tackling themes he's already dealt with with his co-writers and perhaps more successfully so in Four Lions; the escalating one upmanship of those in power, the rise of idealism and the downtreading of the common man and their rights.

However what feels most disappointing about The Day Shall Come is how tame it appears to be when compared to the rest of his work.

Using his outrage more sharply, both he and co-writer Jesse Armstrong could have gone for savage barbs, instead of occasionally tame jabs. It's a major disappointment that feels under-developed and weak in parts, even if there are a couple of quotable moments which are up there with "Rubber Dinghy Rapids" from Four Lions.

The film's shot and edited in a workmanlike way, and Denis O'Hare and Anna Kendrick are simply okay in proceedings - it's with Marchant Davis the film rests. The debut actor's humanity shines through, and it's only the script that lets him down, leaving you feeling his arc's end is nowhere near as tragic or outrageous as it should have been.

Depressingly, The Day Shall Come will get lost in the pantheon of Morris' other work - it lacks the clarity and precision of the satirist that we needed for these times we live in, and consequently, it's underwhelming.

Cold Case Hjammarskjold: NZIFF Review

What starts off as a zany eccentric's investigation into a 58 year old cold case soon turns into one of the weirdest offerings of the New Zealand International Film Festival.

Doco maker Mads Brugger, who appeared at the festival in 2012 with The Ambassador, heads up Cold Case Hjammarskjold, his investigation into the death of United Nations Secretary General Dag Hjammarskjold.

For years, the death has been mired in a conspiracy theory that Hjammarskjold was assassinated, something which time and theories have multiplied.

It's into this wormhole that Brugger plunges, dragging his audience with him as he and fellow Scandi investigator Göran Björkdahl, see what they can find. But what they turn up swiftly shifts the film from a comic outing of degrees of madman zaniness into something which may be one of the biggest scandals of our lifetime.

That is, if it's true.

Part of Cold Case Hjammarskjold's thrill is a bit about indulging the crazy in all of us, but there's a noticeable shift when Brugger discovers something he'd never intended to - it's at this point the entire film flips and shifts on its own paradigm and makes you question what you've watched.

It may be 130 minutes long, but Cold Case Hjammarskjold hurtles along, partly due to the geniality of Brugger and the "Are you kidding me" content of what he's looking into. It's this which propels Cold Case Hjammarskjold along, because in parts, it's largely about indulging the conspiracy theorist among us all.

Not once does Brugger put his claims to anyone in some kind of authority, preferring us to draw our conclusions with only one side of the evidence submitted. It doesn't make it any the less fascinating, but it does reflect the times we live in, a kind of madcap world where one person's word is taken as gospel.

And while there are plenty of people indulging this gospel, Brugger's decision not to go elsewhere leaves a strange tinge in your throat - especially given his claims and what he apparently uncovers.

Simultaneously indulging the meta-side of investigative documentaries and also providing something that flips the genre, Cold Case Hjammarskjold is the most indefinable and singular film of the entire festival.

Thursday, 1 August 2019

NZIFF 2019 Q&A with Ben Berman, director of The Amazing Johnathan Documentary

My film is.... The Amazing Johnathan Documentary

The moment I'm most proud of is ...
Embracing the unforeseen and unplanned. At the start I started making what I thought the film would be and then it changed and I had to lean into the problem instead of running away.

The reason I carried on with this film when it got tough is ...
I’m a pretty persistent person and I knew I couldn’t give up so just found other ways to attack the movie.

The one moment that will resonate with an audience is …
Drugs.

The hardest thing I had to cut from this film is … During the filming I kept asking Johnathan what he thought the title should be and every six months I would get a new answer. I really wanted to include that but it just didn’t work.

The thing I want people to take from this film is ...
Just question everything and everyone. It’s healthy to question what is real and what’s not.

The one thing I'd say to aspiring filmmakers is … Be persistent and don’t give up.

Animals: NZIFF Review

52 Tuesdays director Sophia Hyde heads to Dublin for this tale of female friendship in among the arty sector.

Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat are best mates, Laura and Tyler. Laura's been trying to write a book for nigh on 10 years now and has as many pages as she's spent years doing it. Tyler, a barista, spends her days waiting for the nights, disappearing into a haze of booze and friendly banter, as well as flirtatious talk at parties.

But when Laura meets Fra Fee's Jim, a talented pianist, she falls for his talent and his charms, throwing a spanner in the works of the hedonistic partnership.

Hyde's Animals has a vibrant energy to start off with, but it soon falls away, leaving Grainger to take the lead where really it should be Shawkat's character who comes into the spotlight.

There's an empowerment in place here, but in all honesty, the familiarity of the story arc prevents the film from truly transcending.

What is obvious though is the impressive performances of both Grainger and Shawkat who remain eminently watchable throughout, even if the film feels like its petering out before it's even begun.

The bottom line with Animals is that it's perfectly pleasant, but ultimately ends up being somewhat forgettable, dampening down its opening fire with fare that feels too familiar and underused to linger a long time in the after memory.

Wednesday, 31 July 2019

Win a double pass to see ONCE UPON A TIME.... IN HOLLYWOOD

To celebrate the release of ONCE UPON A TIME.... IN HOLLYWOOD from visionary director Quentin Tarantino, you can win a double pass, thanks to Sony Pictures.

About ONCE UPON A TIME.... IN HOLLYWOOD

Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood visits 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing, as TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore.

The ninth film from the writer-director features a large ensemble cast and multiple storylines in a tribute to the final moments of Hollywood’s golden age.

Starring Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate.

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood hits cinemas on August 15th

All you have to do is email your details and the word ONCE!

Email now to darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com
Or CLICK HERE NOW

Bacurau: NZIFF Review

To talk of Bacurau and to review it is fraught with danger.

Essentially, this Brazilian film starts out as one thing before transforming into something else completely in terms of narrative.

Loosely though, it's set in a small Brazilian village in the dusty regions in the country a few years from now. The film begins with a scientist Teresa (Barbara Cohen) returning home after the death of her grandmother before a clutch of bodies is discovered in a nearby home...

To say more about Bacurau is, as alluded to, to rob you of some of the surprises that directors Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles had planned.

It's not that they're massive game-changing plans, in the scale of things, but part of the thrills of Bacurau is where it goes and how it goes there.

One thing that can fairly be levelled at Bacurau though is how some of the characters feel loosely sketched, and hollow in parts, and certainly there's no substantive lead as the film shifts gears and moves through.

Sure, there are some politics of poverty at play here (again, to say more is to spoil) for those looking for other levels to wallow in, but the character edges of the film are a little lacking, denying you an element to latch on to throughout.

That's no bad thing, because as Filho and Dornelles hurtle through what's going on, it's in keeping with the switching allegiances approach they appear to have.

Ultimately, Bacurau represents the cinema of intrigue, the cinema of politics and the cinema of
crossing genres with ease as it carefully teases out its storyline.

Tuesday, 30 July 2019

Amazing Grace: NZIFF Review

There's one reason to see Amazing Grace - and it's simply staring quietly and unassumingly in the background at you throughout.

It seems woefully stupid to say Aretha Franklin is the reason to see the finally released documentary which captures the recording of a live album in the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church, a disused movie theatre, in Watts, Los Angeles.

But the power of the voice lives on and is captured easily in the doco from Sydney Pollack which has been stuck in legal and digital hell for some 45 years. (Bizarrely, also due to Franklin claiming there were no rights to use her image.)

However, it's the sheer power of Franklin's voice which carries Amazing Grace, and lest it simply become a concert recording, side characters give the film a bit more life.

As well as a couple of members of the choir who are either moved by the power of the church or Franklin's voice, the energy brought by an essentially live commentary given by the Reverend James Cleveland is central to the film's tactile success. Providing links to the tracks and to the proceedings, Cleveland's energy is what carries the film, given how silent Franklin is in between songs.

If anything, Pollack's Amazing Grace captures the vibe of being in the moment like nothing else.

Whether it's panning to the crowd, and capturing Mick Jagger grooving on the second night of recording, or simply capturing the everyday African American moved by the gospel sounds, the feeling of the extraordinary in the mundanity of the church is inescapable.

Technically, the film looks as good as it could, and the sounds are simultaneously stripped back and incredible.

Ultimately, Amazing Grace offers a timeless snapshot of a talent in ascendance. Placed in among the everyday setting, the meshing of the music and the people is transcendant.

High Life: NZIFF Review

More of a frustration than an outright success, Claire Denis' High Life is an intriguing space odyssey which doesn't quite know what exactly it wants to say.

Equal parts mesmerising and equal parts confusing to its narrative, High Life focuses on Robert Pattinson's Monte as he tries to bring up his daughter in what appears to be the confines of outer space.

But as the film progresses, the reasons for his isolation play out, leaving you with more questions than perhaps answers.

And yet some of the visuals that Denis commits to the screen convey both the isolation of the void and the beauty of it. There's a feeling science is at play here, and an idea perhaps that this is the future we get not the one we aspire to in many ways.

Slow and moody, frustratingly paced, there are many arguments why High Life is not the full package, but a mesmerising turn from Robert Pattinson gives the film the life it needs. There's a feeling of redemption from his character, given his predicament, and a broodiness in the opening sequences that doesn't quite feel right.

Yet, as the elements combine toward the end of High Life, there's a desperation and a sadness which sets in that's hard to shake off. It may be arty, it may be moody, and it may fall short of what you'd expect, but there's no doubting that High Life will provoke some form of discussion long after it's done.

NZIFF 2019 Q&A - Richard Lowenstein, director of Mystify

My film is.... Mystify: Michael Hutchence

The moment I'm most proud of is ...
The level of unseen archive and especially finding the Kylie and Michael footage.
When we interviewed Kylie for the doco she described how Michael had filmed their first date in Hong Kong using a little wind-up camera which I had given him. I asked Kylie if she knew where the footage was and she said it was lost a long time ago and possibly at Paula’s place.
Months later, I had handed over films for scanning and the guy from the lab called me and said ‘we’ve got this footage of a very young Michael and Kylie on a boat on Hong Kong Harbour’.
It had been in my attic all along.

The reason I carried on with this film when it got tough is.....
I’m stubborn.
Filmmaking is chipping away at a big wall and trying to convince people to give you 2, 3, 4 or 10 million dollars all based on what’s written down on paper. Every time someone threw barriers up, it just made me more resilient and determined to push through and achieve what I wanted to do. There were extraordinary hurdles we had to get over to get it done

The one moment that will resonate with an audience is......
This is a very sad film.
You’re not going to come out signing and dancing, you’re going to have real feelings about a real story and this is something that’s going to make you really feel.

The hardest thing I had to cut from this film is........
Footage of Michael performing so I could keep it to 100 minutes. I would have liked to have shown more songs and to have had a section about his acting career.

The thing I want people to take from this film is ......
Notice what’s happening to people around you. This is a plea for observing and understanding, and in a way it’s my apology. I was in Michael’s inner circle and I saw something disturbing and didn’t do anything either. Watch, understand and do something – watch the car crash happen.

The one thing I'd say to aspiring filmmakers is.....
Persevere. You need to have passion for what you are doing, and perseverance to keep doing it … and be unique and different.

NZIFF 2019 Q&A - John Chester – director of The Biggest Little Farm

My film is....
The Biggest Little Farm

The moment I'm most proud of is....
At Year Five on the farm when we started to see the purposeful intent behind the coyote, the weasel, the gopher and the badger. Before then we didn’t understand their role in what was happening. I had turned my back on filmmaking to be a farmer, but was so inspired by things that I kept capturing them on film and then at that Year Five mark I realised we had our key players in nature and there was a story to tell.

The reason I carried on with this film when it got tough is.....
Even when things are not easy, there isn’t really the option to walk away from other things which depend on you including plants and animals. In the end the film was made over eight years and I just stuck with it because I knew we have a profound story to tell which hadn’t been told before.

The thing I want people to take from this film is ......
Hopefulness about the future. I hope people will be inspired and that hopefulness exists when humans focus on a collaborative and innovative way to co-exist with nature to solve problems. Within diverse eco-systems, the solutions are infinite.

The one thing I'd say to aspiring filmmakers is.....
You must be so inspired and passionate about your subject matter to be willing to live with it and go as deeply as you can get to bring it to life. And be open to feedback, but know your own compass.

Vivarium: NZIFF Review

Irish director Lorcan Finnegan's Vivarium has been compared to Black Mirror, because of look and tone.

Though this tale of two would-be surbanites (Jesse Eisenberg, Imogen Poots) finding themselves stranded in a housing estate after a visit to an oddball estate agent's, has more in common with a darker Tales of The Unexpected or Inside No 9 via Escher.

Gemma (Poots, digging deep when needed and yielding great rewards) and Tom (Eisenberg, increasingly detached and desperate) are wannabe homeowners, given the chance to visit a new housing estate called "Yonder".

When their creepy estate agent disappears while they're looking around the house which is "near enough and yet far enough away", the pair find themselves stuck when they can't escape Yonder....

Finnegan creates an atmosphere of unease early on in the piece, after a cutesy opening showcases both Gemma and Tom's relationship and their approach to life.

But with some digital trickery and some genuinely unsettling moments (it's wise to go into this unspoiled, and with a blank mind approach), what Finnegan crafts is something that haunts you after you've seen it.

Colour palettes add to the cinema of unease, and the sense of suspense as the rug threatens to be pulled out from under you at any moment. Parts of the film occasionally feel like the idea's been stretched as far as it can with its essentially two-hander cast, but just when the film seems to be out of breath, an audacious third act moment visually jolts you back into it.

There's a satire in Vivarium here both of suburban expectations and family expectations - albeit poured through a prism of genuine discomfort.

It's heady, thrilling, exciting, frustrating and audacious - Vivarium truly messes with you - but its ride is well worth hopping on.

Monday, 29 July 2019

American Woman: NZIFF Review

Sienna Miller excels in this portrait of life after grief from director Jake Scott.

Book-ending the film with two distinct portraits of the same character, Miller is Deb, a wild-child mum at 16, now a grandma at 38. With a laissez-faire attitude to both her own family (including a fraught relationship with mother and sister)and reputation, Deb's heading for destruction.

But when her daughter goes missing, Deb finds her world completely changed, as she becomes a sole carer to her grandchild and needs to re-evaluate, and start over again.

Essentially a portrait of grief, survival and coping, American Woman's strength in its familiar story comes from its lead actress, who burns up the screen with a powerhouse performance from the moment it begins.

Miller gives Deb a fiery heart at the start that allows you to support her through everything - from her sister (played admirably by Christina Hendricks) and her judgement through love to the abusive cheating men she aligns herself with.

"You make do with what's left" Deb says at one point early on, and that's equally true of what Miller delivers with Scott's material of flawed people and life's mistakes and bumps.

Scott delivers some time jumps that bleed into the screenplay with ease as years segue, and lives evolve; it's a fascinating technique that never disorients but cleverly ruffles perceptions and the usual dramatic cliches.

Ultimately, it's the honesty of American Woman, coupled with an awards-worthy performance from Miller, that wins you over - quiet moments deliver such gutpunches towards the end that you realise how invested you are in Deb's life.

It's a powerfully acted film that breathes life into a story and tropes we've all seen a million times before - and for that, it's one of the festival's most quiet and under-lauded triumphs.

NZIFF 2019 Q&A - Armagan Ballantyne - Hush (part of Short Connections)

My film is…. HUSH

The moment I'm most proud of is….I loved how up for a challenge the Toi Whakaari Actors were, I’m really proud of them.

The reason I carried on with this film when it got tough is….. Because so many of the crew had given their time generously I knew I needed to push through the tricky bits and try to make something they could feel proud of

The one moment that will resonate with an audience is…….Hopefully the scene in the spa where Ava connects with her friend after feeling alone in the world

The hardest thing I had to cut from this film is........
We had shot a couple of scenes that had lovely performances from other actors in them but we needed to cut them so the film wasn’t too long

The thing I want people to take from this film is …… I hope people will empathise with Ava and her struggle to find comfort because she doesn't feel like she can honestly express what has happened to her.

The reason I love the NZIFF is……. There is nothing better than sitting in the Mighty Civic filled with people and watching a Film Festival film !

What I want to see at this year's NZIFF is......So many ! All the Agnes Varda films, The Invisible Life of Euridive Gusmao, For my Father’s Kingdom, Animals, Bellbird, Come to Daddy, Judy and Punch to name a few…

The one thing I'd say to aspiring filmmakers is….. Try not to be too hard on yourself, you learn the most from your mistakes !

Sunday, 28 July 2019

NZIFF Q&A 2019 - Adriana Martins da Silva, director of Upstream

My film is....”Upstream” from the Short connections’ section. / a part of myself. All films
are but this one more so. The story is deeply connected to my journey here in New
Zealand.

The moment I'm most proud of is.... Getting the local community as involved and central to the making of this film as the professional cast and crew. From Palmy all the way to Portugal. From my neighbour next door building props for the film, to my boss from the hospital brewing beers for the crew. The weaving of the cultures and
relationships that happened on and off screen is what I’m most proud of. For me a film is as much about the end result as it is about the whole journey getting there.

The reason I carried on with this film when it got tough is.....The same reason that made me want to birth the film in the first place. Wanting to honour my journey in New Zealand, the people, the land. As well as my own roots. I’m not the same girl that arrived here on the 1st of January 2014. This land has taught me so much... Whenever it got tough (and there were many such times), that calling is where I sourced the strength to carry on.

The one moment that will resonate with an audience is.......I hope more than one moment, but I’m sensing the last scenes of the film will resonate more deeply.

The hardest thing I had to cut from this film is........
The scene that takes place at Tui’s kitchen. It had so many details on the page and we ended up having so little time to shoot it... It’s still hard for me to watch it without cringing.

The thing I want people to take from this film is ......
I’m not really into telling people what to think or feel. A film has its own personal resonance with each person and their life experience. That relationship is sacred to me and it sits at the core of the magic of storytelling.

The reason I love the NZIFF is.......It’s such a diverse program that screens all across the country! It’s remarkable, really. I love that is not centralized to one city, we don’t have that in Portugal.

What I want to see at this year's NZIFF is......
Well, first of all our film on the big screen, of course! (laughs) But every year I’m especially keen on the Aotearoa section of the festival. Kiwi humour has grown immensely on me and I value any opportunity to immerse and learn about Maori culture. Also, this year I’m quite keen on the Agnès
Varda section of the festival .

The one thing I'd say to aspiring filmmakers is…..
If you can feel it in your heart, you can do it. Don’t let perfectionism or the lack of resources get in the way, just start.
Be flexible, as things will change. Actually, a LOT will change. And that’s the beauty of it as well. It’s like a dance... So stay centred and keep listening to the beat and enjoy the ride.

Brittany Runs a Marathon: NZIFF Review

Easily one of the most commercial films of the festival, and crowd-pleasing in extremis, Brittany Runs a Marathon's commitment to good humour and geniality is obvious from the get go.

Jillian Bell is Brittany, an overweight party goer who's in a dead end attendant job at the local theatre, and whose propensity for casual hook ups and nothing serious has sent her into an early downward spiral.

Heading to the doctor to score some free drugs, Brittany gets a wake up call and decides to lose some weight and shake her life up.

The lifestyle-choices-catch-up-with-you sentiment is not exactly a new one, and the sentimental edges of Brittany Runs a Marathon can be seen coming a mile off, but that doesn't mean Paul Downs Colaizzo's screenplay doesn't present some highlights and positivity for everyone to take away.

Pitch Perfect's Jillian Bell makes great fist of the comedic elements of the script, and there are some genuine laugh-out-loud moments as the authentic and earnest film plays out, and deals out a character that's messed up and not necessarily one that's going to get perfection by the final frame.

Internal loathing, social awkwardness and lashing out as well as self-deprecation are the orders of the day as Brittany Runs a Marathon's body image message is got across through great swathes of recognition. It's hard to negotiate both insecurities and deal out empathy, but Colaizzo and Bell deliver in spades.

Brittany Runs a Marathon may collapse in gooey sentiment at the end, but it's almost forgivable, given how criminally enjoyable it is.

Saturday, 27 July 2019

Hale County This Morning This Evening: NZIFF Review

There's frustration and beauty a-plenty in Hale County This Morning This Evening, a freewheeling doco that plays fast and loose with the traditional idea of a documentary.

Director RaMell Ross has, in truth, constructed something which is more of a moving exhibition of photos and moments to reveal more of Hale County in Alabama.

Using intimate shots, and moments of beauty behind a lens, Ross channels the excitement of a first-time filmmaker, capturing the people and the sights of the area that he came to as a teacher. But a traditional narrative aches to be placed into the context of this documentary, with glimpses rather than fully formed foundations informing his characters and the people within.

From sweat falling onto the ground like raindrops, to a neon pink religious sign glistening in the wind, to two people playing in a car lot while the storms swirl around them in the sky, Ross has an eye for the artful and the artistic in droves.

But punctuating the shots with bizarre title cards does little to add to the experience, and if anything, takes you out of what is clearly meant to be an experimental experience of a filmmaker capturing life at both its most mundane and day-to-day voyeuristic.

It's a frustration more than a condemnation of Hale County This Morning This Evening, because it's guaranteed you won't see a more carefully considered piece of documentary making this year.

But it's also a frustration, because the freeforming nature may capture some wondrous moments of banality and of life in its truly most basic form, yet it does so without turning them into something cohesive.

Come To Daddy: NZIFF Review

Come to Daddy: NZIFF Review

Incredibly Strange programmer and industry stalwart Ant Timpson's directorial debut is a strange slice of sentiment mixed with the usual gonzo horror gore you've come to expect.

A terribly haircutted Elijah Wood is Norval, a hipster musician who's called back to his father's side after a letter shows up without warning decades after they were last seen. But upon Norval's arrival, his father is a crude and unsympathetic father figure, apparently disinterested in his son, but fervently keen in abusing him and mocking his musical success and limited edition Lorde designed phone.

However, things take a turn for the dramatic as time goes on.

To say more about Come To Daddy is to rob the ride of some of the uncertain richness that's portrayed within. And that's kind of the point of most of the film, as it toys with the intimate and preys on the audience expectations.

But what Timpson's delivered, along with writer Toby Harvard, is a film that ripples in parts, and feels under-explored in others as it bends genres and audience hopes.

Shot in close up styles, and with a cast that's best described as intimate, rather than sparse, there is more of emotional heft than you'd expect as you watch Wood's uncertain Norval try to impress his father and reconnect. Wood channels awkwardness and misplaced bluster as he tries to show off, and the excruciating scene is made even stronger by some tautly shot moments and some wide angles suggesting the divide between them.

Apparently, there are autobiographical elements within, and one senses the early scenes speak to a generational gap that has been witnessed for years as families try to reconcile their hopes for their siblings / paternal relationships.

Timpson makes great fist of the claustrophobia here and there, and never loses the propensity for laughs - obvious or otherwise (a plastic bag on a beach being one of the chief examples).

But when the film moves out of the confines of its dramatic journey and into genre areas it's destined to fulfill, it loses some of the scope that's kept it together as it looks to satiate an audience seeking a gore quota and a sleaze factor.

The payoff is an interesting one, and one which speaks volumes to the relationship, but which to discuss more is to spoil - ultimately, Come To Daddy may offer a Friday night's worth of entertainment, but it's never as gory or as humorous as it could or should be.

And for that element alone, it's more of a sentimental film than you'd ever expect from Timpson et al - and all the more interesting because of it.

NZIFF 2019 Q&A Justin Pemberton, director of Capital In The Twenty-First Century

My film is....Capital In The Twenty-First Century

The moment I'm most proud of is....

A scene with a young Margaret Thatcher where she says, “I don’t think there’ll be a woman prime minster in my lifetime”. She’s a poster child for the post-war era of high social mobility - an ordinary shopkeeper's daughter from the North who becomes Britain's first female prime minister and very wealthy.

NZIFF 2019 Q&A Justin Pemberton, director of Capital In The Twenty-First Century

The reason I carried on with this film when it got tough is.....Because the only way out is through.

The one moment that will resonate with an audience is.......

The rigged game of monopoly. It’s a simple but powerful experiment by a psychologist who shows some remarkable behaviours changes in people.

The hardest thing I had to cut from this film is........
Bitch Better Have My Money by Rhianna - we played with the track in an early cut but it was impossibly expensive to clear the rights. Thankfully there’s loads of other great pop-culture moments I did get to use in the movie, so I don’t miss it.

The thing I want people to take from this film is ......

To see how our relationship with capital has changed over time and get people talking about how it needs to change again.

The reason I love the NZIFF is.......

It’s the prefect excuse to slack off work and to over-indulge in film... plus there’s always a great collection of docos.

What I want to see at this year's NZIFF is......

Amazing Grace, Meeting Gorbachev, Sorry We Missed You, Where’s My Roy Cohn?

The one thing I'd say to aspiring filmmakers is.....

Always be able to tell your story in one sentence.