Sun - August 22, 2004

My Neighbour Totoro


Magical, mystical and charming

There's a Miyasaki Festival on at Cinema Nova and I've promised myself I would go a see a few of these charming animations. Today I finally got to see My Neighbour Totoro - at the third attempt. I bought the ticket a few days ago - just to be sure. I'm so glad I did!

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Sun - August 15, 2004

Farenheit 911


I'm glad someone made this film.

There wasn't much new in this film (I'm not sure I call it a documentary), but I'm glad MIchael Moore got this footage together and kept it safe in one place. I had forgotten about the debacle that was the Florida result, I had forgotten about the business and political links and I think we should be reminded that there really isn't anyone "watching" the President. I'm not sure that's how democracy is supposed to work. I guess I can even forgive Michael for being biased and using tragedy to hammer home his point, given that at least we know his bias - as he has told us, and I guess he feels unable to express his horror except by horrifying us. See it.

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Wed - July 14, 2004

Battle For Algiers



Tonight I went to see the Battle for Algiers a 1965 film in the documentary style which details the events, mainly from the arab point of view, however it did appear to have an even hand. The French characters were more well rounded and to my sensibilities, easier to relate to. I found our protagonist, Ali La Pointe to be a particularly unsympathetic character.

It was strange to be found to be expecting second, bigger bomb blasts in the cafes after the initial blast had attracted people to the site. I link this back to the Bali bombings which used this technique to cause more terror. I found myself wondering why there hasn't been more of an outcry here following the release of the news that the USA didn't pass on to it's "good ally" the full details of the intelligence they received before the Bali bombings.

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Sun - January 4, 2004

Spellbound


Documentary about spelling bees

I'm always been a bit fascinated with the idea of the spelling bee which seems such a central part of USA gradeschoolers with nerdish tendencies (or maybe they just do it to annoy their siblings?)

Some great kids - some annoying kids and some downright scary kids all competing to be the best speller in the US. Actually it's quite fascinating - but was it good luck that one of the kids they choose to follow won? How would the documentary play out if they didn't have a winner or runenr up in their posse? Hmm

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Sat - January 3, 2004

In This World


Documentary style - story of refugees leaving Afghanistan

Perhaps I wasn't the target audience for this film, but I definitely felt like it was trying far too hard. Surely all us left-wing pinkos can well imagine the hardship of an overland journey as a refugee, can imagine the horrors of being packed into a shipping container with less care than we'd give to a live sheep export. Surely we can imagine that life in the asylum camps would motivate a lot of people to try to do exactly what our main characters do. Surely? Besides that I felt the director used pretty unsophisticated storytelling techniques which really took what could have been a truly unique story and lifted it above the dross. But ultimately it failed in this regard for me. The idea was refreshing, the actors fine, the basic story arc well developed - but why push me away with a scene of gratuitous cow killing? why push me away with heavy-handed guilt? I really wanted to embrace this film, but ended up feeling let down by it.

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Fri - January 2, 2004

Laurel Canyon


Frances McDormand, Kate Beckinsale, Christian Bale.

There was a familiar feeling to the style of this film - it reminded me of the light in Queensland, golden and bright and very different from the light down here in the south. I enjoyed the reverse comedy of manners aspect and the whole band scene. I'm not sure who's film it was supposed to be but Frances definitely stole the show. I started off feeling embarrassed for her character, but that gradually changed to admiration for an "older" woman who refuses to "go quietly into middle age". You've gotta admire her spirit!

Posted at 10:29 PM     Read More  

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