The Long Walk: NZIFF Review

Meditative, and almost soporific, filmmaker Mattie Do's Laos-set thriller about one man walking back through his timeline is filled with mystery and atmosphere.

It begins with a man harvesting scrap and trading it for credits to a chip in his arm, and builds to a complex story about forgiveness, fate and family - as well as ghosts.

The Long Walk defies easy explanation and confounds immediate examination of what's transpiring.

But what Mattie Do commits to screen, thanks to an oddly aloof leading man (Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy, whose facial lines betray every ounce of his existence) is something deeply thoughtful and frustratingly slow with answers.

That said, its rhythms are to be relied upon and weighed into as the meandering narrative unwinds. 

Beautifully lensed and sparsely shot, The Long Walk's central performances are what give it its indefinable edge, and deliver its benefits to the screen. In Chanthalungsy, the camera has found a wearied man, contemplating his errors and trying to correct some of his ways as the tangled time lines unfold.

Not everything is successful in The Long Walk, but if you take a step back, there are plenty of joys - and discussions - to be had within.

Jesus Shows You The Way To The Highway: NZIFF Review

It's obvious that Jesus Shows You The Way To The Highway is going to be in some people's wheelhouses a lot more than others.

Miguel Llansó's nutty film is really a mashing of various genres and for some, a test in patience.

Riffing kitsch with Commodore 64 graphics, stop motion with martial arts, and 70s capers with sleaze, the loose story concerns CIA Agents DT Gagano (on his last job) and Palmer Eldritch. 

Both are guinea pigs in a top-secret experiment where they’ll go into a coma to fight a Soviet computer virus named Stalin in a virtual reality world. Only that world sees them wearing paper masks in a kind of low-rent Hallowe'en style showdown.

Granted, there's creativity rippling through Jesus Shows You The Way To The Highway, but to be honest, you need to be at least three beers deep or deeply in love with film-making to fully appreciate what's transpiring here.

There's no doubting Llanso's gonzo style recalls portions of Town Called Panic's creativity, and the head-trippery on show here is something that really does need to be embraced before it induces a migraine.

Jesus Shows You The Way To The Highway won't be for everyone, and that's fine. It could only be part of The Incredibly strange section of the programme - so embrace its weirdness for what it is.

Martin Eden: NZIFF Review

Martin Eden is the very definition of a film festival film.

Artfully shot, with a central character who's lost in purpose and deep in love, and a protagonist whose looks are set to swoon.

And yet, it's all so painfully meandering and devoid of real emotion that Martin Eden becomes a slog not an uplifting experience.

Luca Marinelli stars as the titular Eden, a sailor who is considered lowly in the world.

Romanced by women, but ultimately adrift, he one day saves a lad from a beating on the docks and is taken home to say thanks. There he meets Jessica Cressy's Elena, and promptly falls in love.

But lacking an education and a sense of culture, he feels he's not worthy and so sets out to better himself - all the while clashing with the world he's come from.

There's no denying Pietro Marcello's adaptation of Jack London's Martin Eden is beautifully shot.

On 16mm film and lensed with subtlety and with throwback soundtrack, it feels like the essence of a coastal Italian holiday, complete with lots of good looking people and working classes mingling and clashing.

But the heart is missing within, making Martin Eden feel like the characters are just that - certainly Elena is nothing more than a doll speaking lines, and it's distracting.

Marinelli makes a more likeable lead, with his old time good looks marking him out from the crowds and showing his conflict within the classes.

However, ultimately, this tale of self-education is a little too self-obsessed and brooding to appeal to the masses. Its self identity is lacking, and while its wafting qualities are committed well to the screen, its final feeling is one sadly of indifference.

Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist: NZIFF Review

The Exorcist is not a film that requires further discussion.

Much has been written, filmed and even spoken about the 1973 film, which would lead you to believe that Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist isn't worth your time.

And while director Alexandre O. Philippe's documentary at times feels like more of a director's commentary on a DVD rather than an essential hitherto unseen or unheard chat of the film, it has one single thing going for it - William Friedkin.

Over the 100 minutes duration, Friedkin is the sole reason to stay for this examination of the most influential horror movie ever.

With a spry touch and an energetic dissection of parts of the film and the making of it, Friedkin is great company. From the spat with Lalo Schifrin that ruined their friendship to Friedkin's disappointment after a meeting with a composer, the director's penchant for a good story and a level-headed approach to the movie and its legacy renders Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist a little more heft than perhaps it's due.

Philippe may have done previous work on dissecting Psycho and Alien, but it's here that he lets Friedkin perform the dissection, gifting insights from inside the production and his own thoughts on fate and the flaw he perceives to be in The Exorcist.

There may be a feeling that much of the discussion's come from previous releases, and there is only really one new insight into the movie, but Friedkin makes for such a genial host and gifts you the feeling you alone are being talked to, that Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist feels like a more intimate experience than you'd expect.

There are moments when Friedkin looks lost in reflection, and perhaps a more aggressive interviewer and format would have pestered their subject to prise more information out.

But by leaving Friedkin to do the work, Philippe's documentary feels more authentic and more insightful than what thousands of others have said on The Exorcist before.

Animation Now 2020: NZIFF Review

The 2020 Animation Now selection greatly benefits from the personal touch of its curator, Malcolm Turner.

Every single film in this collection feels personal to Turner, who delivers eloquent introductions, advising the audiences what to look for and why the shorts have been selected.

It's a masterful use of the VOD platform for the festival strand, and while the collection has its usual hit and misses, there's no doubting Turner's passion throughout - and it's infectious.

Some of the animated fare is the usual mindboggling stuff that's more abstract and obtuse, but nevertheless visually entertaining.

That said, the mix of handpainted fare and simpler computer animated drawings shows the industry itself is in rudely good health, with some 4000 selections needing to be waded through by the festival.

Japan's Locomotr is a curious surreal 3 minute piece; elsewhere, Swiss director Michael Frei's Kids leans heavily into Escher and is all the better for it, its simplicity rendered in the most mind-blowing way; and Polish superhero drawing Rain amuses as much as it uses its blank canvas to tell a compact story.

All in all, Animation Now 2020 feels globally more personal than ever before - and it's all the better for it.

Wendy: NZIFF Review

Perhaps the most obviously commercial offering of the New Zealand International Film Festival for 2020, Wendy has pedigree in its director, the creator of the wondrous Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Blessed with a prodigious lead in Devin France as Wendy, Benh Zeitlin's take on the Peter Pan story is a film that's more in love with the land and its leads than in its actual storytelling.

When Wendy tires of her life in a railwayside diner, she is startled to see another kid atop a train. Jumping on the train with two friends, she finds herself transported to Neverland and into the life of Peter Pan.

JM Barrie's tale is gifted an environmental feel in among Zeitlin's eye for the wild. 

Through the deltas and over the lands of the heartland of America to the lost island, Zeitlin's freewheeling camera makes a great fist of the landscape, and recalls many of the shots of Beasts of the Southern Wild.

While not every child actor hits the necessary straps, and while the older section of the actors feel too ragtaggle to be complete, the exuberance and wide-eyed nature of France makes for a great companion on this journey.

"The more you grow up, the less you get to do the things you want" may be a fair adage espoused at one point, but thanks to a haunting score, talent when it's needed and a sense of adventure, this is a Peter Pan story like you've never seen before.

Family Members: NZIFF Review

A little more than just a hang-out movie (though barely so), Argentinian film Family Members concerns siblings Gilda and Lucas.

The pair return to their mother's home after her unexpected death and find it taped up, the scene of a crime. Breaking in and settling in, they begin what they believe will be a simple goodbye to their mother and issues, but are subsequently thwarted by the onset of a nationwide bus strike.

Rendered unable to leave and effectively stranded, the duo finds ways to live - Lucas strikes up a friendship with local Guido, a bond born of shared bodybuilding loves; meanwhile Gilda spends her time flirting with a long distance boyfriend, whom Lucas suspects doesn't exist.

To say Family Members is languid is a massive understatement - the film is in no hurry to go anywhere anytime soon.

However, weird messages from within a hole in the beach and thanks to quirky scenes like throwing their mother's prosthetic hand in the sea, the film finds a kind of pace that's intriguing, but occasionally soporific.

The push-and-pull dynamic between the duo is interesting enough to keep you entertained, and while the blandness of seaside life is nicely committed to the screen, the film's subtleties keep the long term love far away from it.

It may be a film of growing pains, but Family Members' slow-burn to get anywhere ethos is also its worst enemy - despite the occasional whimsy, this one doesn't have the lingering power after the film's done.

Sandra Beerends - They Call Me Babu New Zealand International Film Festival Q&A

Your Name

Sandra Beerends

Title of your film

They Call Me Babu

Tell us about your 2020

The premiere of They Call Me Babu was at Idfa in Amsterdam, end of November 2019.

The film released directly afterwards and from then on I had a Q&A tour around the country,

which continued in 2020.

Then in the first week of January 2020, I received the ‘Christal Film Prize’ for reaching 10.000 visitors in the cinema, which is huge for a documentary in The Netherlands.

End of January I was visiting Biarritz (France) for the screening on FIPA, where I had a Q&A for a sold- out theatre in the wonderful Casino at the beach.

In February and March I still had Q&As and lectures and won the Audience Prize at IFA .

March 2, I was nominated for The DDG award (Dutch Directors Guild).

How has Covid-19 impacted you and your film?

March 12, was the Award Ceremony for the DDG Award, and then it was cancelled, due to Covid 19.

(March 14, my youngest son was supposed to travel for 4 months to South America, but 1 hour before the plane leaves I read about the outbreak of Dengue and Corona and we cancelled the trip, I am so happy he stayed home)

March 16, all the theatres were closed (after 16 weeks in the theatres for They Call Me Babu)

and all lectures cancelled.

The film was then screened via PICL (on line streaming in cooperation with distributors) 

All the film festivals were cancelled or postponed.

May 6-17, screening at on line Dokfest (Munchen/Germany)

May 17, winner Dokfest Horizonte award.

May 19, winner of BUMA award (for the music of Alex Simu for They Call Me Babu)

May 19- 28, screening at on line TDF (Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival), Thessaloniki (Greece).

May 20, release of the DVD.

June 10-21, selected for Sydney Film Festival (Australia) in the program ‘Europe! Voices of Women’.

June 29, broadcast on NPO 2 (Dutch Television), a lot of publicity on radio, TV and other media, almost 500.000 people watched it.

July 24- August 3, Selected for New Zealand International Film Festival

So about the impact of Covid 19

Everything stopped at our ‘Intellectual lockdown’ (as called by our Prime Minister Mark Rutte).

But I was lucky to already have had a wonderful premiere at IDFA, 16 weeks  in the theatres and wonderful (inter)national reviews). So for me it was- although sad - not a big deal to be screened only on line.  And it did bring me an award at Dokfest and maybe a greater audience and publicity at Sydney Film Festival. The only restriction about not screening at online festivals is for Indonesia. 

Because  the film is about the history of Indonesia, from the perspective of an Indonesian young woman, working as a nanny for a Dutch family, I really want to be there when it is screened.

For me, as a filmmaker with Indonesian roots,  it is very important to talk about the film with the Indonesian public. There is a lot of discussion going on about our ‘shared’ history. And I hope this film can be a start to look together at our history and share our feelings.

I want to end with saying that I am very happy to have been selected for the NZIFF and I hope a lot of people will see it.

What's the moment you wish audiences were seeing in a theatre, and why?

See also question 7.

But in general, looking at a film in the theatre can be magic!

Maybe, people online don’t look at the credits, and that is a pity, because it is there I made a special moment to make a tribute to all the women who contributed with their stories. I made a kind of graphic moment to get them out of the shadow, mirroring the scene  with the white kapok (plantseeds used for pillows and matrasses), in which you will see the women responsible for tossing up the kapok.  And because it has been a life changing journey for Alima, the music for the credits is kind of consoling to give the audience a moment to come back to reality.

What have you learned about film-making, the film-making community and the film-going audience during the pandemic?

From one moment to the other, it felt like there was suddenly a virus attack, like in a movie. The whole world stopped and so did the film industry. Luckily in The Netherlands there was a financial allowance from the government and the National Film Fund. After some weeks people start to make movies with others by ‘zoom’, developing new stories and plans and film ‘beautiful silent Amsterdam’. The film audiences looked at all kind of online platforms, mostly for free, but after some time, it was boring, nothing new and then luckily there were all the books that you planned to read one day… 

What's the single best moment of your film?

How can I prefer one single moment? Every moment is precious to me…

But if I have to, maybe it is the moment that my main character Alima falls in love with Riboet (before that she felt very lonely without the Dutch kid Jantje, she was taking care of) and this love, triggered not only her female physical awareness but also her intellectual and political awareness and she feels she can contribute to the world and feels connected to the women in the world. 

The music support her emotions from loneliness, to falling in love, to  I can dream, I can make a difference, I feel connected to all the women. And the portraits of all this different women are beautiful.

What do you plan to do next in terms of filmmaking?

I have lots of Ideas but they are all growing inside, as a kind of creative pregnancy.

Heroic Losers: NZIFF Review

Wildly accessible, heist movie Heroic Losers is here for a good time, and nothing more.

When a group of elderly Argentines band together to pool money for a co-operative, they're stunned after handing over their life savings when the bank they've invested into collapses. 

Learning that all of their cash was taken out by a swindler, the group decides on payback....

Heroic Losers is a slickly pulled together, crowd-pleasing affair, that does exactly what it says on the tin, and little more in between.

That's not to deny it its many pleasures though - from taking notes off of Hollywood heist films, Sebastian Borensztein clearly knows what he's doing, pulling the pieces together and ending it with a crescendo of comeuppance and good vibes.

Led by Ricardo Darin, La Odisea de los Giles packs in much energy and gusto in its 2 hour run time.

Its set up and payoffs are well paced, and its tale of ordinary people against the banking criminals will hit a timely note for many.

This is escapism in its purest form, and while it's essentially a lads-only affair (albeit elderly ones), the vibe is purely flighty and fun. Popcorn festival fun doesn't come more readily than this, and that's no bad thing.

Because when the final showdown comes, you'll realise just how much you're in the losers' corner and how sweet this genial level of payback feels.

Last and First Men: NZIFF Review

Composer Jóhann‌ ‌Jóhannsson is best known for his music from films like Sicario and Arrival.

And despite having died relatively young, Jóhann‌ ‌Jóhannsson also left a movie, mixing imagery and his evocative score to relatively strong effect.

Robbed of a big screen presence, Last and First Men's multimedia presentation feels more slight than it should. A voiceover from Tilda Swinton that starts with pomposity but gradually finds a place of its own despite claiming to be from "2000 million years in the future."

Adapted from the 1930s book of the same name, Last And First Men is a collection of Balkan landscapes shot in black and white, and slow swirling camera movements.

Dissonant, dizzying and discordant, this dystopian piece of work is more successful without the voiceover, as the series of images and sounds progress building to a hypnotic crescendo. There's something mesmerising in what Jóhann‌ ‌Jóhannsson has committed to screen, and the electronic screeching and maudlin feel of the soundtrack fits perfectly with the apparently disconnected architectural structures.

Then, somehow, against the odds, in the final 15 minutes of the film, everything comes together - the voiceover finally clicks into place and it feels like the jigsaw puzzle pieces have all dropped to reveal a wider picture - it's a deeply commendable result, given the initial struggle to have it all gel.

Last and First Men is Jóhann‌ ‌Jóhannsson's acutely aural experience; it's the kind of film headphones and a large screen were made for - and even though there's no sense of urgency in the final destination, much like parts of 2001: A Space Odyssey's mix of future visuals and audio, the journey of Last and First Men is a deeply engaging and strangely spiritual one.

Corpus Christi: NZIFF Review

Polish drama Corpus Christi was nominated for an Oscar - and it's easy to see why.

The story of ex-con Daniel (Bartosz Bielenia) who's just out of juvie and who decides on a whim to masquerade as a priest is one rife for comedy and misunderstanding. But what director Jan Komasa delivers is a film of outstanding dramatic value, and of morally questionable virtues.

Integrating into a nearby community after his panicked attempts to bail out fail, Daniel finds something of a rebirth as the priest, tending to a flock damaged and torn by a recent tragedy. 

After initially ripping off the sermons he's been part of in juvie, the community responds to Daniel's apparent freshness of approach and his unconventional ways of administering faith. But as Daniel spends more time there, he finds his own sense of morality intruding into the job, and politics begin to clash with personal faith. Just around the corner though, is the sense of the inevitable, building Corpus Christi into a film that bustles with tragedy and dread.

Thanks to an intense performance from the steely-eyed Bielenia, Corpus Christi finds the magnetism it needs from its lead. 

With piercing blue eyes and a dogged determinism, Bielenia never once shows any sign of fading from the screen, keeping every single sequence alive with electricity and uncertainty.

The script helps greatly, building from the initial comedy of the confessional to the raw treatment of tragedy within the community and the divisions that arise from it. While Daniel appears to come at this side of things with his own sense of judgement and humanity, the script plays fast and loose with questions over whether Daniel is undergoing a rebirth of sorts, and whether in fact, faith is infecting his life for the better.

Muted colours, unusual scenes and a never-less-than-compelling performance from its lead grant Corpus Christi a great deal more than its conventional "con hiding in plain sight" trope.

It may be about forgiveness at its core, but Corpus Christi is unforgiving to the end - its final moments are desperately bleak and yet, offer a sense of Daniel's rebirth at a key moment in time. Maybe it's not the rebirth the audience wants, but this drama is of the top tier and well worth seeking out.

The Truth: NZIFF Review

Resting largely on a haughty performance from Catherine Deneuve, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Paris-set follow-up to Palme d’Or winner Shoplifters is a meandering film that's about the conflict between mother and daughter.

A relaxed Juliette Binoche stars as Lumir, who returns to Paris with her actor husband (Ethan Hawke) and daughter in tow. Summoned home for the launch of the memoirs of her mother Fabienne (Deneuve), Lumir's incensed to discover her mother's made up portions of her memoir, sugarcoating it for her own image.

But while Lumir rages, Fabienne is filming a science fiction film about a mother reconnecting with her daughter after years of absences - and as Lumir sticks around, it becomes clearer that her ageing mother is in a reflective mood.

A brittle Deneuve simmers in her dismissiveness throughout Kore-eda's The Truth, a film that's as much about atmosphere as it is familial issues.

Genial to the n-th degree, The Truth wafts along on the breeze as much as the leaves do in the Paris courtyards that Kore-eda's film opens with.

It may lack the punch of a Shoplifters, but there's a pensive atmosphere throughout the Truth, and while it may feel inconsequential in the wash, the careful and precise examination of tensions throughout the years yields some impressive results.

Unhinged: Film Review

Cast: Russell Crowe, Caren Pistorius, Jimmi Simpson, Gabriel Bateman

Director: Derrick Borte

Unhinged is peak 2020, a grubby would-be B movie of a sustained campaign of terror against a woman.

A heavy set Russell Crowe is The Man, a man so far over the edge he's committed double murder and arson before the five minute mark of the film's even hit. Pistorius is Rachel, a woman on the edge, after waking up late, a messy divorce and a school run all collide.

When Rachel repeatedly beeps her horn at The Man at a junction, her day gets immeasurably worse when he takes affront, and starts pursuing her and her loved ones in a vendetta of road-rage induced revenge.

Unhinged really is the kind of low rent film that would have made it straight to DVD back in the 80s.

Shorn of any real background other than cursory exposition from the cops, Crowe needs do nothing more than look menacing and threatening throughout. And to be fair, when he fixes the screen with a dead-eyed stare, the threat levels reach a crescendo.

But Unhinged requires nothing more of any of its actors.

Certainly the script, loaded as it is with coincidence and nothing more, treats all those involved at the dumbest level possible, with Rachel's character behaving improbably and The Man's escalating rage attracting no attention anywhere else other than inside Rachel's world.

Perhaps that's the most frightening thing about Unhinged - that it gives oxygen to such brutal treatment of a woman and the women in its film. Beaten, stabbed, terrorised - the majority of the victims are female, and the camera appears to relish the horrors visited down on them.

Coupled with clumsy dialogue, and the buzzwording of things like "Fortnite scenario" that are thrown in purely to appeal to the kidz, Unhinged makes no case for subtlety or smarts. Repeated shots of objects show they will become important in just a few frames' time and leave no room for doubt within the script.

But Unhinged's worst crime is how it uses its victim. Even in the final frames, she's robbed of any power or sense of victory in the story, and it's shocking to say the least. The loss of agency and the fact she will forever be a victim is a morally reprehensible message, no matter how dumb the rest of the film is.

Ultimately, Unhinged is a film that deserves to be forgotten - the predictable formulaic action lacks any real redeeming points, and its long term message is enough to leave you needing a shower after you've experienced it.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette?: Film Review

Cast: Cate Blanchett, Kristen Wiig, Judy Greer, Billy Crudup, Emma Nelson

Director: Richard Linklater

With a haughty Cate Blanchett and a meandering script, Where'd You Go, Bernadette? feels like an opportunity weirdly squandered.

Blanchett is former superstar architect Bernadette Fox, who disappeared after having potential to turn the designing world upside down. Settled in with her husband Elgin, (Crudup, amiable and occasionally over-looked) and their daughter Bee (Nelson in a standout performance for a newcomer), Bernadette is overwhelmed when her daughter requests a trip to Antarctica as a reward.

Already brittle and disinterested in any connection with neighbours or friends, Bernadette is disaffected by the "banality of life". With a work-obsessed husband and a fussing daughter, things reach a crescendo and she disappears when the FBI shows up after she inadvertently floods a neighbour's house with mud....

Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a film that would be nothing without Blanchett's penchant for haughtiness. She's the best thing in the somewhat muddled narrative that veers through indifference to everyone's condition to a screwball farce that clearly aims to bring down some of the more WASPish neighbours and concerns.

There are moments of humour as Blanchett's growing weariness with everyone becomes acerbic and fraught, but Linklater's meandering approach to the story means the audience becomes as disaffected as Bernadette herself.

Equally, a series of cameos from a YouTube video should have been left on the cutting room floor, or beefed up to be more amusing and ludicrous as Bernadette rediscovers her passion.

Unable to decide upon a tone, and stuck with an indifference in the plot, Where'd Do You Go, Bernadette? really only thrives on Blanchett and her alone - other characters have little to no resolution in their arcs as the plot goes toward lunacy and relatively unearned heartwarming sentiment.

True History of the Kelly Gang: NZIFF Review

"Nothing you're about to see is true."

The opening lines of Justin Kurzel's True History of the Kelly Gang sets the stall out early on, with a disclaimer of what transpires for one of Australia's most prolific criminals.

There's a punkish vibe throughout True History of the Kelly Gang, but at times, its disparate approach to the Ned Kelly story feels less rounded than it should.

1917's George MacKay makes a ferocious Ned Kelly count when he should, but he also delivers a softer approach when it's necessary. Kurzel, who delivered a fantastic Snowtown and subsequent on-the-streets Q&A after a fire alarm necessitated an evacuation, has an eye for the details here, but a rambunctious almost ramshackle script nearly foils him,

There are some wonderful visuals helmed by Kurzel, including the final shoot out where Ned and his gang find themselves surrounded by apparent torch-bearing law-abiding citizens wanting to bring him down. One moment in the showdown alone is worth the price of admission.

But to get there is somewhat of a slog.

Characters have no end to their arcs, rendering some of their actions inconsequential and feeling like non-sequiturs in their own story. Granted, the film is of the Kelly gang, but given how much time is spent setting up proceedings and weighting some heft to incidental supports, it feels bereft to leave them wanting. It feels particularly cruel to Thomasin MacKenzie and Nicholas Hoult's characters who are pivotal early on, but tossed aside in the final furlong.

In among it all is MacKay, who delivers a softer Kelly than perhaps you'd expect, but never shies away from channeling moments of pure ferocity. From the indignant scenes of bare-knuckle fighting to a Reservoir Dogs moment, MacKay never holds back from summoning up the anger that Kelly clearly felt.

There is beauty in the wide shots that Kurzel's helmed here showing the rough countryside and the growing divide within the Kelly family, but True History of the Kelly Gang lacks the cohesive feel it needs to feel truly great.

Exile: NZIFF Review

Excruciating, excoriating and excellent, Exile is one of the NZIFF's best.

This German slow cooker film showcases more of a similar vibe as previous fest entrant Toni Erdmann, but with a slightly more uncomfortable feel, and an edge of nastiness.

That mix is a potent concoction though, giving Exil an unshakeable edge in the final wash.

Visar Morina's masterclass in discomfort is the tale of Albanian Xhafer, a chemical engineer from Kosovo, who's moved to Germany for work. Heading home one day to his wife (Erdmann's Sandra Huller) and family, Xhafer discovers a rat tied to his gate.

Whirling round his cul-de-sac in suspicion, Xhafer's at a loss as to who has done this and why. Things only get worse for Xhafer - at work, he appears to have been missed off emails, not told of meeting room changes and can't get the information he needs from a colleague, despite repeated promises it will come.

This "series of oversights" sets off a chain leading to a meltdown within Xhafer as suspicions abound, tensions arise and the pressure cooker begins to boil up.

Where Exile excels is in the slow burn.

As the discrimination and apparent bullying grows, Morina's screenplay dallies with who's right and who's wrong. Revealing gradual flaws within Xhafer is a masterstroke, giving the viewer an uncertainty that he's the victim here - the shades of grey flood the screen and make the experience all the more queasy for it.

There's much to unpack here - from ethnic tensions, racial exclusions and persecutions to frail male ego; Morina throws a lot into the script, bathing many of the more subtle elements in uncertainty and insecurity. A sense of foreboding is greatly exacerbated by Morina's desire to shoot his lead from behind. With a constantly sweaty head and a POV from the protagonist, the tensions rise and the sense of dread never really lets up.

But Xhafer's predicament is also about the reaction of others to his behaviour - and it's here Huller comes into her own. A force of initial restraint and bubbling indignation and resentment delivers more than a verbal blast of character exposition could - and Huller's performance grounds the film in a dose of reality.

Don't expect answers at the end of Exile - perhaps that'll be a source of frustration to many, but it adds to the sense of what's transpired. The deeply flawed protagonist with his life in tatters makes for a queasy bedfellow and delivers one of the festival's most complex and unlikeable characters. Morina deserves plaudits for how allegiances switch as the film plays out.

The orchestrated campaign may target Xhafer on screen, but watching this sustained nightmare unfold, audience members could be forgiven for feeling they've been targeted too, thanks to this immensely uncomfortable and compelling German drama - simply put, it's unmissable.

Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie's Dead Aunt Too): NZIFF Review

Perfectly charming and sweetly told, Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie's Dead Aunt Too) is a high school romance set within the walls of LGBTQI world.

Ellie (Sophie Hawkshaw) is an awkward teen finding her way through high school and trying to find the words to tell her crush Abbie (Zoe Terakes) how she feels about her. When she tells her mother that she's gay, her mother goes into a tailspin, but Ellie's world is changed when the revelation brings back her dead aunt into her life.

Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie's Dead Aunt Too) is a film that's as breezy as they come.

But that's not to damn it with feint praise.

Bursting with life and with a pace that's rewarding to the narrative, Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie's Dead Aunt Too) benefits from its leads, as well as Julia Billington as dead aunt Tara. While the film does veer dangerously close to sentimentality in parts, it's to be forgiven, simply because it avoids the usual bullying tropes in these kind of coming of age films.

It's heartwarming but slight in many ways, enjoyable but largely forgettable - it's the very definition of sweet and cute, but as a festival palate cleanser, it has a heart that's hard to deny.

Dinner in America: NZIFF Review

There is a moment of pure beauty among all the ugliness of Dinner in America - but it doesn't come until 10 minutes before the end.

Holed up in a basement, mismatched losers Simon (a snivelling Kyle Gallner) and Patty (Emily Skeggs) take a few moments to write a song. After Simon's delivered the chords, Patty offers lyrics to the song - and it's truly beautiful, an earworm that sings with joy and stays with you long after the film's done.

It's a shame, because most of the rest of Dinner in America is unfortunately forgettable fare.

After a full on pre-credits opening sequence that delivers energy and a middle finger to the status quo, Dinner in America settles into a format that's more familiar than anything, and less original than it wants to be.

It's the story of punk rocker Simon meeting oddball Patty and their subsequent on the lam adventures.

Natural Born Killers this is not, nor is it Sid and Nancy. Somewhere in the midst of the mid-western anarchy it purports to proffer lies the beating heart of a told too many times story, slathered in trashy and low-rent vibes throughout.

Dubbed as a punk romcom, it's obviously about two losers finding each other, their place in the world etc - these are not new themes.

But thankfully, in Gallner as Simon, the film's found its anti-hero who's all fire and brimstone early on and misplaced anger. However in one scene late in the film, Simon falls to pieces, revealing a much needed emotional edge.

Skeggs is mainly awkward as Patty, all grimaces, pauses and lip-chewing. But there's a feeling of a butterfly emerging from the chrysalis of the writing, as Dinner in America progresses. 

However, the anarchy feels questionable at best, and while scenes of Simon with his peers reek of veracity thanks to the spitting dialogue angrily delivered by some lost in life, the film's overall feeling of nihilism is misplaced.

"Take it down a notch" various family members are told throughout - and in truth, maybe the filmmakers would have been wise to listen to their own bon mot. 

A touch less need for exuberance could have greatly lifted Dinner in America; its warped comedy is nowhere near as fresh as it assumes it is, and were it not for its two leads and their obvious star power, the overly smug and self-righteous Dinner in America would rightly have been dead in the water.

Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets: NZIFF Review

Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets is an exercise in freewheeling filmmaking that will, in all honesty, test the boundaries of your patience.

Give in to its rhythms, and this tale of the final night of the Roaring 20s, a Las Vegas divebar may fully be your jam. 

But in truth, the ramshackle nature of the documentary finds no truck with this reviewer, making most of what "happens" in Turner Ross and Bill Ross IV's piece an exercise in endurance, akin to 2011's Whores Glory.

As the camera captures the bar's patrons at the very start of the day after a heavy night before, leading to its closure, the doors open and close, people come and go, and booze-soaked arguments and opinions are espoused in perpetuity thanks to the close capture of the camera.

While the Ross' camera work does much to capture the triviality of life in a bar, it also does a great deal to showcase the burgeoning camaraderie and the reasons why hangouts still are so vitally important.

The banal conversations largely pepper proceedings, and as the bittersweet end approaches, there's something akin to poignancy as the clientele ponder what's next. But it's such a hard road to even get to that stage, that Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets feels like its loose approach is its own worst enemy.

There's little in the backgrounds of the patrons to make them fully stand out - with the exception of the old timer who's always there and the bartender - and it cripples proceedings greatly. It's not that background exposition is necessary in this, but some framework would have lent a greater emotional heft to proceedings, and granted the film a degree of emotion it desperately needs.

As it stands, Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets feels like the dregs of a drink - sure, what gets consumed before is delicious, but the closer you get to the bottom of the glass, the more you realise just how shallow and pointless it all is.

Rūrangi: NZIFF Review

Director Max Currie's webseries Rūrangi is a sharply-lensed story that in many ways is a very familiar one.

A breakout performance from Elz Carrad as trans-activist Caz anchors the story that in fairness hints at times in what may come in a sequel. 

Caz starts the film/ webseries happy, helping the gender community post activism, and try and take on the walls of bigotry within Auckland. However, Caz is living a lie, dating a sportsman and apparently slightly conflicted over identity.

When tragedy strikes, Caz is forced home to a rural community once left behind and has to deal again with old prejudices anew - as well as trying to reconcile with a father who doesn't want to know.

Rūrangi starts with a blast of energy, and joie de vivre, that it feels obvious to know what's coming - such happiness can't last. However, Carrad carries Caz with such charisma that the central performance lifts the script from beyond its trope trappings, and its all-too-familiar reconciliation narrative.

Scenes with Arlo Green feel real, personal and hint at pasts gone but not forgotten - the characters here are fully drawn and fleshed out within minutes of appearing on screen, and draw audiences in right away. 

Born of a need to tell a story of a community not be about one, Rūrangi has lofty ambitions over its 5 part series. And it rightly deserves plaudits for its use of diversity in front and behind the camera.

Director Max Currie has an eye for the intimate, and the script from Cole Meyers has a penchant for character moments that ring with veracity. And some of the bucolic backgrounds look wondrous, taking in both the beauty and stifling nature of rural lifestyles.

However, in the wider writing, the film/ webseries feels a little light on the heft, shoving in topics that are current concerns but are narratively left wanting, hinting frustratingly at future dalliances on the screen yet to come.

An early suicide is treated heavily in the beginning, but disappears into the background, a catalyst of the return home, but also burdened with hints of what's gone unexplored threatening to bubble up later on; a Māori woman struggles to connect with the language once forgotten, and talk of phosphates within the land simmer in the background.

A final sequence feels more cliched than celebratory, riddled as it is with stereotyped prejudice and awkward exposition (though, while granted this may be the reality of rural life and acceptances, a little more subtlety would have left the end feeling less rushed and ultimately more transcendent.)

There's much to love in Rūrangi, however, one can't help but feel the second series will make a more effective companion piece, picking up some loose ends and tightening the focus more. 

When the film's centred around Caz, thanks to an Aaron Paul-like Elz Carrad, it soars; when it tries to bring in other issues, it flounders and flails.

Rūrangi is a film of a personal nature, and it's this connection that lasts - coupled with the launch of Elz Carrad as a bona fide star, it remains watchable and a welcome sign that New Zealand stories are widening their sights.