Jumbo: NZIFF Review

Easily the oddest sell in the Incredibly Strange portion of the programme, Jumbo is the tale of Portrait of A Lady on Fire's Noemie Merlant's Jeanne, who falls for a rollercoaster at the amusement park where she works.

Jeanne has a condition, objectum-sexuality, that leads her to fixate a relationship between herself and the new rollercoaster in town.

Despite her over-bearing mother trying to pair her off with her new boss, Jeanne's less interested, coming only alive when she's around the rollercoaster.

What could easily be exploitative and laughable, becomes surprisingly intimate and unconventionally humane in Jumbo. 

Director Zoe Whittock's preference to never mock its subjects ends up leaving you with a wistful and thoughtful meditation on what desire means to many.

Merlant is thoughtful and awkward as this weirdly sweetly told tale unfurls in its esoteric edges; much like last year's Deerskin where a man became obsessed with his jacket, Jumbo deals with an unconventional subject with much aplomb.

Initial scenes where Jeanne believes the coaster is talking to her have both Close Encounters edges and an almost ET like naivete as the pair connect - on paper, this is a difficult sell admittedly; however, on screen, the Spielberg-esque aesthetic joys bring back memories of films of kids connecting with aliens and robots and society not understanding them. It's a mesmerising and inventive watch to say the least.

Don't overlook Jumbo - it's one of the programme's hidden secrets that's well worth discovering.

The Prince's Voyage: NZIFF Review

It may look handsome in its animation, and have elements of a Planet Of The Apes style class clash, but The Prince's Voyage feels slight in comparison to the other animated offering of Fritzi: A Revolutionary Tale.

When an ageing monkey washes up in an unknown land, he's taken in by a boy, Tom, who's living with two scientists. Curious about where he came from and battling with the concepts of other lands, the Prince forms a bond with Tom as they head out to have adventures. But all the while, suspicious scientists draw ever close, worried over what the revelation of new lands could mean for them.

The Prince's Voyage has hand-painted stylings which are truly sumptuous to behold as it pushes its cross-generational message of friendship and understanding.

But the story feels slight in comparison to the visuals, leading to a feeling of adventures being episodic rather than strongly connected to what's going on.

The film's better when it heads out of the labs and into the wider city, as the creeping rot from the outside attacks the buildings in the shape of vines. But The Prince's Voyage doesn't quite know what to do with these edges and while it uses the outsider allegory to push an element of fear, it's never cohesive enough to firmly cement its message.

A "Festival of Fear" brings a more nightmarish edge to proceedings, as a street festival allows the apes to go wild at night, but the film feels too afraid to fully embrace what it wants to be and its whimsical edges collapse under closer scrutiny.

The Prince's Voyage is pleasant enough and a visual feast, but sadly, it's not memorable enough once it's ended.

Yummy: NZIFF Review

The latest zombie splatter fest to hit Ant Timpson's Incredibly Strange section of the festival suffers somewhat from being an at home experience.

Belgium's first zombie film centres around Alison, an amply-endowed woman who's heading to a treatment centre for a breast reduction. Tagging along is her cosmetically-obsessed mum and her wet blanket boyfriend, but none of them have a clue what they're in for, when it all goes wrong.

After a patient zero zombie's set loose in the hospital, the rag-tag gang try to make it out alive...

Director Lars Damoiseaux channels the more excessive edges of splatter gore-fest with Yummy, and the film's admirably fun for at least half of its run time.

But the emphasis is more on the comedy and the gore, as well as the nudity. And while some of the kills show a degree of creativity, there's a streak of this film that cries out more for a communal cinematic experience, fuelled by puerile behaviour and booze-addled patrons.

The East-European aesthetics and setting make you feel like you're in line for a blast of Hostel's nastiness, but in truth, there's more ineptitude in these characters combined - only the lead in the form of Maaike Neuville's Alison takes it seriously, and delivers a committed performance throughout.

Ultimately, Yummy's trashy and lurid enough to last the 90 minutes, but robbed of the creativity and originality, most of it feels all-too familiar to be memorable.

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.