Coded Bias: NZIFF Review

If you weren't worried about AI, Coded Bias will definitely unnerve you.

This festival's warning shot across the bow is a documentary warning us about how facial recognition technology is dangerous and is misshaping society.

Slickly presented, and polished, the doco zips across the globe, taking in the trials within London, where a 14 year old is pulled from the streets on a technological whim after the system mislabels him a troublemaker. Visibly shaken by the affair, the teen's reaction is disturbing and the ramifications more frightening than anything.

But a calm approach from doco-maker Shalini Kantayya manages to deliver a measured and studious approach to the technology issues from various protest groups campaigning against it, as well as US representatives as they question whether they want to go the way of the Chinese society where CCTV and facial recognition technology is prevalent.

Disappointingly not once does Kantayya go to those involved with the technology to get their point of view, or even proffer that they weren't interested in talking. And occasionally there's a feeling that the doco is repeating itself and fuelling the fear (no matter how rightly placed it is), but Coded Bias and its approach to invasive AI is likely to be the festival's rallying cry.

Mainly talking heads and footage comprise most of the clealry outlined arguments against, but a feeling there's never really a desire to get the other side leaves Coded Bias with a definite impression of disappointing documentary bias.

Perfect 10: NZIFF Review

With elements echoing the grit and realism of Fish Tank, Eva Riley's smartly deft Perfect 10 centres around Frankie Box's Leigh.

A wannabe gymnast, Leigh's prone to the usual bullying by young girls and the torment of trying to fit in with her own family life thanks to an absent mum and a wayward dad. Things are further complicated when a half brother Joe she didn't know about shows up.

Despite initially not wanting anything to do with his world, Leigh gradually falls in with Joe, as she seeks to reject everything else and everybody else in her life.

Perfect 10 opens with Leigh hanging upside down, her world disturbed by the chatterings of others, and the sounds of laughter troubling her. From locker room cruelty to a phone permanently clutched to her hand, Leigh is the typical teen, struggling to find her place - and Box imbues her Leigh with a spiky vulnerability and strength that's compelling to watch.

With a growing confidence - misplaced or otherwise - Leigh becomes her own person, and Riley sensitively and cleverly weaves this coming-of-age story with familiar tropes and themes while making them all seem fresh.

A good eye behind the lens delivers close ups and precision upending Leigh's world but gradually inviting us in. A strong decision to stay away from cliches amid the familiarity helps a lot of the journey of Perfect 10. 

A final moment of utter bravado emerges as Perfect 10's voyage from the chrysalis is complete - audiences should lap up this intimate tale of street life and inner strength.

Fritzi: A Revolutionary Tale: NZIFF Review

Tackling societal change via the eyes of a children is not a new conceit.

However, the animated German film Fritzi: A Revolutionary Tale does it sweetly and successfully in just under 90 minutes.

It's the story of two young friends Fritzi and Sophie in East Germany in 1989. One day, Sophie and her family go on holiday and never return - Fritzi is heartbroken and can't believe there's no reason why she can't go and find her friend. But this is East Germany in 1989 where the Wall is prevalent, communism is on the rise and the divisions are deep.

Pertinent as it promotes the power of protest, Fritzi: A Revolutionary Tale benefits from its simplicity of story-telling.

There's no preaching to be had here, even though there is a strong message coursing through the film's veins. Authority figures are drawn out in strong angular edges and rounded off with an element of cruelty; a visual cue that these are not to be trusted - whereas the kids and the other protagonists have more rounded, kinder faces.

Sure, there's an innocence of a child in revolutionary times here, but the story never acquiesces to patronising its characters or its audience - the power of friendship is the driving force here, swept up as it is in the time of change and an adventure at heart. 

While actual photos at the end show the divisions and the reintegration, the film's authenticity is kept throughout, rather than a heavy-handed finale that screams "This really happened."

Fritzi: A Revolutionary Tale is a strong, family-friendly tale that shines a light on a period of history and does so without ever losing sight of the people involved, fictional or otherwise.

Instinct: NZIFF Review

Definitely one of the most uncomfortable films of the festival, Dutch psychological thriller Instinct is a queasy look at the power dynamic between men and women.

Game of Thrones' Melisandre aka Carice van Houten is Nicoline, a therapist working at a prison. Newly installed in the position, Nicoline finds herself unwisely drawn to sexual offender Idris (Aladdin's Marwen Kenzari).

Despite every instinct of her training telling her otherwise, Nicoline puts herself in positions that offer temptation at every turn - however, the question remains, is she the victim or the instigator?

Instinct skirts around forbidden desire in an extremely uncomfortable way.

For most of the film, it feels like van Houten's character is the questionable one, with every single action leading you to scream at her and her behaviour in the rehab centre. 

But that's also where the power of this film lies - in its manipulation dance and in inviting you along for the uncomfortable ride. 

Mood lighting helps greatly, with the director's use of blues and whites blurring the lines as the complexities and uncertainties of the two flirt with each other.

There are deeper questions to be raised here, and perhaps Nicoline's character is not as fully fleshed out as she could be (a relationship with her mother seems odd to say the least) but robbing her of the character context actually works to the film's advantage and the viewer's disadvantage.

Relic: NZIFF Review

Japanese Australian director Natalie Erika James' generational horror arrives at the festival with plaudits ringing in its ears.

Praised for being female-led and for being disturbing, the film's the story of Emily Mortimer's Kay who discovers her mother is missing. Suspected dementia adds a layer of tension to the story as Kay and her daughter (Bella Heathcote) investigate - but when mum returns home, it soon transpires something else has come with her...

Slow-burning and somewhat akin to the rather marvellous The Babadook, this is a horror that leaves an impression long after it's ended.

Twisting shots inside the film's location add to the atmospherics and James' eye for the slow clever use of shots add much to Relic.

It begins with what looks like a flashing red light that transpires to be a Christmas light, and ends with something that's led to much debate - in between snapshots of moments mix with jump scares and the psychological tricks played on the mind's eye.

Murky rotting walls give the film a sense of the creeping dread, but Mortimer and Heathcote do much to keep the film's humanity alive as the talk of the demon and its reality builds.

A taut 90 minute run time helps greatly as well, without any of Relic feeling like bloat as the unease adds up to something that may trouble some more than others. Granted, the reveals are less about unleashing cheap thrills, more planting the seed of an idea into the viewer's mind and watching it unfold.

Relic is a film blessed with as much intrigue as it has smarts. It will take up residence in your mind as it delivers on its promise.

Tench: NZIFF Review

Patrice Toye's sensitively handled portrait of a young paedophile returning to society has much in common with Paul Schrader's First Reformed.

23 year old Jonathan (a fearless Tijmen Govaerts) has just returned to his home, having been released from prison and into the care of his mother. Apparently acquitted, Jonathan is trying to integrate back into life - when temptation literally moves in next door in the form of a young girl, Bes.

Faced with temptation, Jonathan finds himself at a crossroads, and dangling between what he knows is right and wrong.

Like First Reformed, Tench deals with the notion of temptation and societal ills, but also delves deep into the psychology of what the struggle is for those caught up in the worst of society's criminals and perceptions.

Stunningly empathetic, but not overtly so, Tench aims to open up a conversation around paedophilia. For this, it's confrontational in some ways, but it's also carefully constructed and all the more troubling for it.

As mentioned Govaerts delivers a tortured and fearless performance with the conflict rippling through every frame that Toye puts on the screen. Muidhond asks much of Govaerts, and it's a tough film that places you squarely in the place of the paedophile, but Toye carefully pieces together a nuanced film that is as thought-provoking as it is troubling.

Tench is nowhere near as confrontational as it could - or indeed should - be. The film is more about what could happen - scenes like when Jonathan is tasked with placing a plaster on Bes' knee ripple with uncertainties over what may transpire, and Toye gently leads the audience to a darker place and perception, rather than painting every moment on screen.

Not once does the film ever walk the guilt away, or absolve its protagonist of its pain and paint things in a perfect light.

For that, Tench makes a discomforting watch, and poses a lot of questions, rather than preaching the answers. Granted, the subject matter won't be for everyone, however, thanks to Toye's sensitive framing and Govaerts' ferocious turn, Tench makes for compelling, if uneasy, viewing.

Driveways: NZIFF Review

Driveways is one of the New Zealand International Film Festival's unmissable films.

The achingly intimate small-scale story from director Andrew Ahn concerns a young Asian boy's friendship with his elderly neighbour, played by Brian Dennehy.

It may be one of Dennehy's last roles, but that sentiment is not the reason to adore Driveways.

It's the story of 8 year old Cody (Lucas Jaye) who's dragged to a new town with his mum Kathy (Hong Chau) after she has to clear out her dead sister's home.

Next door is former Korea war vet Del (Dennehy), a grouchy and widowed old man. Grudgingly, and out of circumstance, Del ends up being part of their lives, and Cody forms an unexpected bond with him.

Sweet, innocent and profoundly moving even though nothing really happens, Driveways is a timeless film of connection that doesn't rely on cheap narrative tricks or reveals to detonate an emotional timebomb in its final frames.

Both Dennehy and Jaye underplay their roles massively, with the script offering them moments of visual nuances rather than verbal subtlety. It's the kind of film where a look says more than anything, and it's one whose final frame will utterly destroy you.

Driveways is a gentle easy watch, made stronger by Chau, Dennehy and Jaye, who cement the growing bond between the two families.  That's not to dismiss it - in fact, it's the opposite as this is where the film's power lies. There are simplicities to the relationships formed by children and there are also complexities in how the script slowly reveals what's under the surface.

Every frame drips with sincerity and heart, and it's this veracity that makes Driveways a powerfully understated film, one that's packed with a bittersweet final feeling.