Showing posts with label INLAND EMPIRE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label INLAND EMPIRE. Show all posts
August 23, 2007
August 16, 2007
Five Random Observations/Thoughts
I'm terrified of clowns. I refuse to watch It because of it. The only clown I like is the one Bill Murray plays in Quick Change, but it helps that Quick Change is hilarious and brilliant. But, you know what's even worse than clowns. Clowns with painted on frowns. I mean, really. And today my supervisor mentioned clowns and then I had the clown theme music stuck in my head for ages and then all I could think of was how do they get so many clowns in those tiny cars?!?
Today I had a really bizarre moment at work. I started speaking in am American accent. Only three words ("where are you"). I'm not sure how, it just came out that way and it felt incredibly strange and I didn't like it. I'm not used to pronouncing my Rs so predominantly. Needless to say I snapped right out of it and went on my merry way. Next perhaps I'll start saying "tuna fish" (is it not tuna if you don't say "fish"?) and be wanting to go to summer camp.
I have two scars on my face that I don't remember getting. I have a vertical one above my left eyebrow and one horizontal one under my bottom lip. They're not very prominent at all, but I still wish I knew how they got there!
I'd really like someone to take a screengrab of that moment in Inland Empire where Laura Dern runs at the camera with that horrified look on her face. And how long will it be for David Lynch to make another movie, I wonder?
The Crying Game is amazing.
That's all.
Today I had a really bizarre moment at work. I started speaking in am American accent. Only three words ("where are you"). I'm not sure how, it just came out that way and it felt incredibly strange and I didn't like it. I'm not used to pronouncing my Rs so predominantly. Needless to say I snapped right out of it and went on my merry way. Next perhaps I'll start saying "tuna fish" (is it not tuna if you don't say "fish"?) and be wanting to go to summer camp.
I have two scars on my face that I don't remember getting. I have a vertical one above my left eyebrow and one horizontal one under my bottom lip. They're not very prominent at all, but I still wish I knew how they got there!
I'd really like someone to take a screengrab of that moment in Inland Empire where Laura Dern runs at the camera with that horrified look on her face. And how long will it be for David Lynch to make another movie, I wonder?
The Crying Game is amazing.
That's all.
August 12, 2007
MIFF is Over
Tonight was not only the last night of the Melbourne International Film Festival for me, but also the final night of the festival as a whole. It closed with the closing night film, This Is England, as well as the special screenings, which were announced just the other day as a tribute to Bergman and Antonioini.
Unfortunately for myself (and for a few others I imagine) the festival ended on a bad note with the last screening in the Come to Cannes showcase. Bela Tarr's The Man From London was a dreadful and painfully long 132 minutes of people staring off into space or walking somewhere or looking at a wall as the case was for nearly five minutes towards the end. The Forum (where it was screened) had a sell out crowd for the screening and probably around 100 people walked out. Some as early as 20 minutes in (as the first scene was still going!) and some as late as a mere ten minutes from the finish line. I can't blame them, really. It was terribly dreary and I could tell that most of the cinema was restless by the half way point. Lots of fidgeting and stretching (some lucky buggars got to really stretch out because everyone around them deserted the theatre, I wasn't so lucky).
For me though there were two really bad films, one moderately bad film, three really great films and six others that were in the B range, which all had their strengths and their weaknesses.
2. Still Life
3. Bella
4. Control
5. The Boss of It All
6. Ils
7. Savage Grace
8. The Witnesses
9. A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory
10. Syndromes and a Century
11. The Man From London
12. The Untouchable
You can read my initial comments on all over at the MIFF roundup I've been using. Overall I enjoyed the festival and was glad I did it. It was exhausting sometimes, and I can't even imagine implementing the pass that allows you unlimited sessions. That'd be crazy. But it was worth it just to be able to see some of those really good movies and, hell, even the bad ones because now I can use these overly pretentious wastes of time as punching bags instead of the usual Adam Sandler dreck.
Biggest disappointment would have to be A Walk Into the Sea, which could have been amazing if the director (Esther Robinson) had used her cinematographer and actually focused and kept the camera still and delved a little deeper into the Warhol sensation.
Biggest surprise was Still Life, which I really liked. It used that medetative Asian style in a much more interesting and fascinating fashion than Syndromes and a Century, which I thought was a bit of a wasted opportunity.
Best performance of the films I saw was most definitely Laura Dern's in Inland Empire, but that was a given. I was also very fond of Samantha Morton and Toby Kebbell in Control, Julianne Moore in Savage Grace and the women from Lars Von Trier's The Boss of It All.
Worst performance was Isild Le Besco from The Untouchable, which would take the cake as worst film and worst director too. Yawn!
Best theatre was, for me, the RMIT Capitol (where I saw The Untouchable, Ils and A Walk into the Sea), followed by ACMI (Inland Empire), The Regent (The Boss of It All, The Witnesses and Syndromes of a Century) and lastly The Forum (everything else). The Forum had shocking seating - very uncomfortable, while The Regent doesn't have stadium style seating so during The Boss of It All I had to constantly manoeuvre my head to see the subtitles behind the man with the big head in front of me. I never got to see a film at the fifth place though (Greater Union), which was odd.All in all though it was a great experience and depending on how I'm going next year (living closer to Melbourne, working more, less $, etc) I'd definitely try and do it again.
Glenn's MIFF Experience
Initial comments on all films including The Untouchable, Still Life, Bella, Ils, Syndromes and a Century, The Boss of It All, A Walk Into the Sea, Savage Grace, The Man From London, Control and so-brief-they-barely-exist comments on David Lynch's Inland Empire with more words to come when I feel like it/get the time.
A work in progress. Will be updated with my thoughts and opinions once I've seen each movie. As you can tell I had to change something from the original bookings. I forgot I was going away to the Grampions for a weekend so I had to dump Syndromes and a Century and the Aussie doco Night. I instead picked up a different session of Syndromes as well as another doco I wanted to see and completely forgot about (so it was quite fortuitous actually) called A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory about, as you can probably guess, the Warhol Factory. It features what is said to be the first ever recorded performance by The Velvet Underground (probably my favourite band ever - edit: which turned out to be a lie!) so that should be tops! It all starts tomorrow with screenings of The Untouchable and a film I've wanted to see for a long time, Still Life. Can't wait!
The Untouchable (screening 27/07):
This was really terrible. I contemplated walking out so I could say "I had my first walk out ever!" (if you exlude me walking out of The Patriot to get a drink and just not returning for 20 minutes) but then I was all "Wait, I don't have anywhere to go until the next movie", and then I frowned and decided to stick it out through the entire labourious 85 minutes of this awful French flim-flam shlack. D
Still Life (screening 27/07):
And then there was this, which was like some beautiful filmic poem. At first I wasn't feeling it at all - too mannered, and the performances were awkward - but then something just clicked, especially towards the second act which was an elegaic beauty of sorts. The cinematography was superb and the music! And, yeah, it was very good, indeed - much better than that ridiculous French crap, that's for sure. B+.
The Witnesses (screening 28/07):
I liked it, even if it was a bit long and the final act wasn't anywhere as interesting as the first two. More later, perhaps. B-
Control (screening 11/08):
Thoroughly interesting biopic of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis. It was nice to see a music biopic that wasn't on a person everyone considers a legend and who lead the typical rock star life (which movies like Ray, Walk the Line and La Vie en Rose have all followed to a tee to varying degrees of failure). In fact, for the most part Curtis' life seems relatively quaint compared to the overly-hystrionic lives of Edith Piaf and co. The downfall of Curtis was depression and not drug addiction, like it so routinely is with these biopic subjects. It was also nice to see a biopic on a musician that I knew I liked, yet knew nothing about. It was great to hear the first strums of a guitar and wonder "Is it 'Transmission'? 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'? 'She's Out of Control'?" Speaking of which, the performance sequences are all done nicely, and they look great in the clean black and white. Performances are good, especially Samantha Morton as Curtis' wife. It's essentially just another Samantha Morton performance, but just another Samantha Morton performance is always welcomed. B
Bella (screening 05/08):
Bella really does owe a lot to Before Sunset, doesn't it? But then again, so does Once and I don't hear anyone complaining about that movie. Hmm. Anyway. I really enjoyed this movie. Sometimes it's nice to just sit down in a darkened theatre for an hour and a half and be in the company of people who are interesting and a worth spending time with but who aren't depressed or on drugs or who have no reason to live. You know what I mean? I really liked the texture and vibrancy of the opening sequences. I really liked the connection between the two leads (Eduardo Verástegui and Tammy Blanchard). I really liked how the story developed. I really liked how the ending was completely unexpected. I just really liked Bella. Although it slightly terrified me how scarily similar Blanchard looks like Hilary Swank! B+
Ils (screening 05/08):
Eep! This movie was quite scary. It was only 70 minutes long, but then if they had filled out the running time it would just be "character development" and who wants that? We don't know anything about the two lead characters (played by Olivia Bonamy and Michaël Cohen) other than she's a teacher and he's a writer. I guess that I still felt for these people as they're brutally terrorised despite not knowing anything about them should count for something. I think the reason I was so scared was because it was based in reality. I don't tend to find vampires and werewolves and the like very scary at all. But something like The Blair Witch Project? ABSOLUTELY FRIGHTENING! Anyway, it also helps that two days before viewing this film I had a very similar experience (just, ya know, without the possible outcome of death - I'll explain later! It's terrifying). Oh, yeah, the movie. Umm. It's scary. Oh, and the sound design was amazing (I know!). B
INLAND EMPIRE (screening 07/08):
Flimflamshmozzleboogiewoogieamazingpurplemonkeydishwasher. A-... I think.
Syndromes and a Century (screening 08/08):
I don't think I "got" this movie. Actually. No. Scrap that. I don't think I didn't "get" it, I know I didn't "get" it. And not in the way that I didn't "get" Inland Empire, which despite not making sense was at least still fascinating and amazing to watch. Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Syndromes of a Century however I just didn't "get" and didn't really enjoy, either. I was into it for a while, but then... I dunno. Just nothing. I didn't "get" why the story started all over again. I didn't "get" what these people were talking about beyond the rudimentary. I didn't "get" what all the symbology was about. I dunno. It was weird and I nearly fell asleep (fourth film in 24 hours!) The cinematography and music was nice. C+
The Boss of it All (screening 10/08):
Lars Von Trier's attempt at a comedy is surprisingly good. It is essentially an episode of The Office set in Denmark and expanded to 100 minutes, but that can still be entertaining! I enjoyed seeing Von Trier regular Jens Albinus (Idioterne) as well as Mia Lhyne and Iben Hjejle. And while she didn't really do much I loved Louise Mieritz's character who works in the copy room but is afraid of the photocopier. Funny stuff. And, naturally, Von Trier inserts his own wicked sense of humour into the side proceedings. Overall it was an enjoyable time, which was only sullied by the unfortunate subtitles. This is a very white movie - there are white walls, while skies, white floors, white everything and they use... white subtitles. It made it very hard to read sometimes (it also didn't help that I had a big head in the way to the left of the screen and I had to keep moving my head around to see what they were saying!) B
A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory (screening 10/08):
Damn! This could have been so much better. Alas, as it is, it gets by due to the strength of it's topic. This documentary by the niece of oft-forgotten Warhol Factory regular Danny Williams who mysterious disappeared without a trace. It features some amazing never-before-seen footage of the Factory taken by Williams as well as film clips. It even includes a rare short directed by Williams entitled The Factory, which uses Williams' trademark strobing and hectic editing (one talking head says that Williams would have been "happier than a shit eating pig" with todays use of rapid-fire editing).
Unfortunately director Esther Robinson chooses to film the movie in a very bizarre manner. Closeups are routinely out of focus, simple moments - for example, the viewing of a newspaper clipping - are used for more focus pulling and shaky camera movements (so much so that we can't even see what we're meant to be looking at). At one point the camera even veers away from a person talking and focuses on the wall for several seconds. It's as if director of photography Adam Cohen wasn't even there. And in all the old footage taken from Warhol's famous Factory, we never know who is who because they aren't labelled. That Brigid Berlin sure is a character though, isn't she? C+
Savage Grace (screening 12/08):
Hahah! This movie is utterly bonkers. It's not getting anywhere near the Oscars though, which is a shame for Julianne Moore because it's wonderfully entertaining here as an incestuous mother. The film does have major flaws though, particularly when it comes to said incest storyline. There are hints throughout that lead to how it comes about, but the sexuality of all of it's characters is incredibly confused so when it comes around the the scenes in question it hasn't really been explained as to why it's happening. Everybody in this movie must be bisexual, that's my theory. B-
The Man From London (screening 12/08):
Oh dear, this was painful. Firstly though, the cinematography in Bela Tarr's film noir of sorts is amazing, as is the sound design, which is all crashing waves and haunting sound effects. The music score sounds like some long lost collaboration between Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch, which is a good thing.
...but.
There's not necessarily always a "but" as they say, but there most definitely is in the case of The Man From London. This film is painful. It really is. It is in swift need of an editor (it's only 2 hours and 10 minutes, but it feels like 20) to cut down all the extraneous scenes. Actually, if they did that there'd be no movie because it has no plot. There is a vague form of a plot, but it's a subplot - and barely - and the rest of the movie is just filled with characters, quite literally, staring and stuff. Occasionally they walk somewhere. Sometimes they move from left to right, but that's about it. There's next to no dialogue in the entire first 30 minutes. There are scenes that last five minutes of characters walking somewhere and we don't even get to see where they're going! We just see them walking and that's it. No point whatsoever. Frustrating! And Tilda Swinton is incredibly bizarre. It's like she's in one of those poorly dubbed Asian kung-fu movies. Her lips are moving but it appears that she's been dubbed (the dialogue isn't in English), which makes me wonder why they cast Swinton in the first place if she can't speak the language. And furthermore, if she can speak the language why not let the dialogue soundtrack reflect that? And why were all the actors delayed? I swear there was a chasm of empty space between each line of dialogue. Ugh. This movie was terrible. D+ (for the photography and music).
A work in progress. Will be updated with my thoughts and opinions once I've seen each movie. As you can tell I had to change something from the original bookings. I forgot I was going away to the Grampions for a weekend so I had to dump Syndromes and a Century and the Aussie doco Night. I instead picked up a different session of Syndromes as well as another doco I wanted to see and completely forgot about (so it was quite fortuitous actually) called A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory about, as you can probably guess, the Warhol Factory. It features what is said to be the first ever recorded performance by The Velvet Underground (probably my favourite band ever - edit: which turned out to be a lie!) so that should be tops! It all starts tomorrow with screenings of The Untouchable and a film I've wanted to see for a long time, Still Life. Can't wait!
This was really terrible. I contemplated walking out so I could say "I had my first walk out ever!" (if you exlude me walking out of The Patriot to get a drink and just not returning for 20 minutes) but then I was all "Wait, I don't have anywhere to go until the next movie", and then I frowned and decided to stick it out through the entire labourious 85 minutes of this awful French flim-flam shlack. D
Still Life (screening 27/07):
And then there was this, which was like some beautiful filmic poem. At first I wasn't feeling it at all - too mannered, and the performances were awkward - but then something just clicked, especially towards the second act which was an elegaic beauty of sorts. The cinematography was superb and the music! And, yeah, it was very good, indeed - much better than that ridiculous French crap, that's for sure. B+.
I liked it, even if it was a bit long and the final act wasn't anywhere as interesting as the first two. More later, perhaps. B-
Control (screening 11/08):
Thoroughly interesting biopic of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis. It was nice to see a music biopic that wasn't on a person everyone considers a legend and who lead the typical rock star life (which movies like Ray, Walk the Line and La Vie en Rose have all followed to a tee to varying degrees of failure). In fact, for the most part Curtis' life seems relatively quaint compared to the overly-hystrionic lives of Edith Piaf and co. The downfall of Curtis was depression and not drug addiction, like it so routinely is with these biopic subjects. It was also nice to see a biopic on a musician that I knew I liked, yet knew nothing about. It was great to hear the first strums of a guitar and wonder "Is it 'Transmission'? 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'? 'She's Out of Control'?" Speaking of which, the performance sequences are all done nicely, and they look great in the clean black and white. Performances are good, especially Samantha Morton as Curtis' wife. It's essentially just another Samantha Morton performance, but just another Samantha Morton performance is always welcomed. B
Bella really does owe a lot to Before Sunset, doesn't it? But then again, so does Once and I don't hear anyone complaining about that movie. Hmm. Anyway. I really enjoyed this movie. Sometimes it's nice to just sit down in a darkened theatre for an hour and a half and be in the company of people who are interesting and a worth spending time with but who aren't depressed or on drugs or who have no reason to live. You know what I mean? I really liked the texture and vibrancy of the opening sequences. I really liked the connection between the two leads (Eduardo Verástegui and Tammy Blanchard). I really liked how the story developed. I really liked how the ending was completely unexpected. I just really liked Bella. Although it slightly terrified me how scarily similar Blanchard looks like Hilary Swank! B+
Ils (screening 05/08):
Eep! This movie was quite scary. It was only 70 minutes long, but then if they had filled out the running time it would just be "character development" and who wants that? We don't know anything about the two lead characters (played by Olivia Bonamy and Michaël Cohen) other than she's a teacher and he's a writer. I guess that I still felt for these people as they're brutally terrorised despite not knowing anything about them should count for something. I think the reason I was so scared was because it was based in reality. I don't tend to find vampires and werewolves and the like very scary at all. But something like The Blair Witch Project? ABSOLUTELY FRIGHTENING! Anyway, it also helps that two days before viewing this film I had a very similar experience (just, ya know, without the possible outcome of death - I'll explain later! It's terrifying). Oh, yeah, the movie. Umm. It's scary. Oh, and the sound design was amazing (I know!). B
Flimflamshmozzleboogiewoogieamazingpurplemonkeydishwasher. A-... I think.
Syndromes and a Century (screening 08/08):
I don't think I "got" this movie. Actually. No. Scrap that. I don't think I didn't "get" it, I know I didn't "get" it. And not in the way that I didn't "get" Inland Empire, which despite not making sense was at least still fascinating and amazing to watch. Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Syndromes of a Century however I just didn't "get" and didn't really enjoy, either. I was into it for a while, but then... I dunno. Just nothing. I didn't "get" why the story started all over again. I didn't "get" what these people were talking about beyond the rudimentary. I didn't "get" what all the symbology was about. I dunno. It was weird and I nearly fell asleep (fourth film in 24 hours!) The cinematography and music was nice. C+
Lars Von Trier's attempt at a comedy is surprisingly good. It is essentially an episode of The Office set in Denmark and expanded to 100 minutes, but that can still be entertaining! I enjoyed seeing Von Trier regular Jens Albinus (Idioterne) as well as Mia Lhyne and Iben Hjejle. And while she didn't really do much I loved Louise Mieritz's character who works in the copy room but is afraid of the photocopier. Funny stuff. And, naturally, Von Trier inserts his own wicked sense of humour into the side proceedings. Overall it was an enjoyable time, which was only sullied by the unfortunate subtitles. This is a very white movie - there are white walls, while skies, white floors, white everything and they use... white subtitles. It made it very hard to read sometimes (it also didn't help that I had a big head in the way to the left of the screen and I had to keep moving my head around to see what they were saying!) B
A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory (screening 10/08):
Damn! This could have been so much better. Alas, as it is, it gets by due to the strength of it's topic. This documentary by the niece of oft-forgotten Warhol Factory regular Danny Williams who mysterious disappeared without a trace. It features some amazing never-before-seen footage of the Factory taken by Williams as well as film clips. It even includes a rare short directed by Williams entitled The Factory, which uses Williams' trademark strobing and hectic editing (one talking head says that Williams would have been "happier than a shit eating pig" with todays use of rapid-fire editing).
Unfortunately director Esther Robinson chooses to film the movie in a very bizarre manner. Closeups are routinely out of focus, simple moments - for example, the viewing of a newspaper clipping - are used for more focus pulling and shaky camera movements (so much so that we can't even see what we're meant to be looking at). At one point the camera even veers away from a person talking and focuses on the wall for several seconds. It's as if director of photography Adam Cohen wasn't even there. And in all the old footage taken from Warhol's famous Factory, we never know who is who because they aren't labelled. That Brigid Berlin sure is a character though, isn't she? C+
Hahah! This movie is utterly bonkers. It's not getting anywhere near the Oscars though, which is a shame for Julianne Moore because it's wonderfully entertaining here as an incestuous mother. The film does have major flaws though, particularly when it comes to said incest storyline. There are hints throughout that lead to how it comes about, but the sexuality of all of it's characters is incredibly confused so when it comes around the the scenes in question it hasn't really been explained as to why it's happening. Everybody in this movie must be bisexual, that's my theory. B-
The Man From London (screening 12/08):
Oh dear, this was painful. Firstly though, the cinematography in Bela Tarr's film noir of sorts is amazing, as is the sound design, which is all crashing waves and haunting sound effects. The music score sounds like some long lost collaboration between Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch, which is a good thing.
...but.
There's not necessarily always a "but" as they say, but there most definitely is in the case of The Man From London. This film is painful. It really is. It is in swift need of an editor (it's only 2 hours and 10 minutes, but it feels like 20) to cut down all the extraneous scenes. Actually, if they did that there'd be no movie because it has no plot. There is a vague form of a plot, but it's a subplot - and barely - and the rest of the movie is just filled with characters, quite literally, staring and stuff. Occasionally they walk somewhere. Sometimes they move from left to right, but that's about it. There's next to no dialogue in the entire first 30 minutes. There are scenes that last five minutes of characters walking somewhere and we don't even get to see where they're going! We just see them walking and that's it. No point whatsoever. Frustrating! And Tilda Swinton is incredibly bizarre. It's like she's in one of those poorly dubbed Asian kung-fu movies. Her lips are moving but it appears that she's been dubbed (the dialogue isn't in English), which makes me wonder why they cast Swinton in the first place if she can't speak the language. And furthermore, if she can speak the language why not let the dialogue soundtrack reflect that? And why were all the actors delayed? I swear there was a chasm of empty space between each line of dialogue. Ugh. This movie was terrible. D+ (for the photography and music).
August 6, 2007
One Day To Go!
There's only one day until I get the chance to see David Lynch's three-hour experimental opus Inland Empire, which I have not had the chance to see for nine months. Actually, as of this very moment it it one day, one hour and one minute exactly until 9pm on Tuesday the 7th of August, the time of the Melbourne International Film Festival's first screening of two (the next screening is, I think, the 11th). I'll be there mightily early in order to get a prime seat for the sold out session at ACMI.
David Lynch: My mental wellbeing is in your hands.
July 13, 2007
Phew! (and other MIFF-related info)
THANK GOD FOR THAT!
This is (most of) my Melbourne International Film Festival schedule as of right now. I basically didn't give a rat's arse what I got as long as I had Inland Empire on there AND I DO OMG! The August 7 screening at ACMI, so I'm mucho happy. As the clock ticked 11am the site still wasn't working and then it wouldn't let me do anything for fifteen minutes so I was panicking. It just kept coming up with "ONLINE SALES CLOSED" and I just couldn't do anything. But, yes, thankfully it all worked out and I'm booked for all the movies I really wanted to see bar one. I was a stupid idiot and forgot all about David Gordon Green's Snow Angels. By the time I finally remembered I had already maxxed out my pass. I would have substituted it for Control, but it was too late. Oh well. Maybe I could still swap it? I'll see. I would have tried to see Eyton Fox's The Bubble as well, but I can deal.
The only movie that isn't listed on the above grid is a film called The Witnesses, which sounded good in The Age MIFF guide.
I'm happy about my selections. I got the higher-profile director films that I was dying to see like Lynch's Inland Empire, Bela Tarr's The Man From London and Lars von Trier's The Boss of It All. Plus some other ones I was less-familiar with, but which sound great like Bella (won TIFF's People's Choice Award), The Untouchable (woman tries to find her Indian father), Night (An Australian documentary) and The Witnesses (GLBT-themed mystery... I think). I even have some French horror (Ils), two acclaimed Asian films (Syndromes and a Century, despite my friend Simon trying to tell me not to see it, and Still Life), and Savage Grace by Tom Kalin with Julianne Moore(!!!).
For me it all starts July 27 (that's exactly two weeks from today) so omgyay! I may try and see
This is (most of) my Melbourne International Film Festival schedule as of right now. I basically didn't give a rat's arse what I got as long as I had Inland Empire on there AND I DO OMG! The August 7 screening at ACMI, so I'm mucho happy. As the clock ticked 11am the site still wasn't working and then it wouldn't let me do anything for fifteen minutes so I was panicking. It just kept coming up with "ONLINE SALES CLOSED" and I just couldn't do anything. But, yes, thankfully it all worked out and I'm booked for all the movies I really wanted to see bar one. I was a stupid idiot and forgot all about David Gordon Green's Snow Angels. By the time I finally remembered I had already maxxed out my pass. I would have substituted it for Control, but it was too late. Oh well. Maybe I could still swap it? I'll see. I would have tried to see Eyton Fox's The Bubble as well, but I can deal.
The only movie that isn't listed on the above grid is a film called The Witnesses, which sounded good in The Age MIFF guide.
I'm happy about my selections. I got the higher-profile director films that I was dying to see like Lynch's Inland Empire, Bela Tarr's The Man From London and Lars von Trier's The Boss of It All. Plus some other ones I was less-familiar with, but which sound great like Bella (won TIFF's People's Choice Award), The Untouchable (woman tries to find her Indian father), Night (An Australian documentary) and The Witnesses (GLBT-themed mystery... I think). I even have some French horror (Ils), two acclaimed Asian films (Syndromes and a Century, despite my friend Simon trying to tell me not to see it, and Still Life), and Savage Grace by Tom Kalin with Julianne Moore(!!!).
For me it all starts July 27 (that's exactly two weeks from today) so omgyay! I may try and see
July 12, 2007
So Anxious!
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!
So, I'm going to wake up early tomorrow and go buy The Age and scan the MIFF pullout and then at 11am jump onto the computer (here's hoping it doesn't die on me!!) and try and book my sessions. I am desperate to be able to go to Inland Empire most of all (in case you hadn't noticed from the last year and a half of ramblings: I REALLY WANNA SEE IT!) and maybe Still Life, The Man From London, Syndromes and a Century and Savage Grace most of all, plus whatever comes along my way. EEP! So excited, but also really anxious. I hope Inland Empire doesn't get booked out. I'm sure I'll be able to get a ticket, but I've never done a film festival like this before so I really can't say for sure. I just hope I can follow the instructions!!!
So, I'm going to wake up early tomorrow and go buy The Age and scan the MIFF pullout and then at 11am jump onto the computer (here's hoping it doesn't die on me!!) and try and book my sessions. I am desperate to be able to go to Inland Empire most of all (in case you hadn't noticed from the last year and a half of ramblings: I REALLY WANNA SEE IT!) and maybe Still Life, The Man From London, Syndromes and a Century and Savage Grace most of all, plus whatever comes along my way. EEP! So excited, but also really anxious. I hope Inland Empire doesn't get booked out. I'm sure I'll be able to get a ticket, but I've never done a film festival like this before so I really can't say for sure. I just hope I can follow the instructions!!!
June 30, 2007
MIFF Musings
So, the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF for short) starts towards the end of July and runs through to August over 19 days. I'm getting myself one of the mini-passes which allows me into 10 sessions but some other stuff. I dunno. I guess I'll discover what I really get when I actually get tickets, hey? Well, the full list is available on July 13, apparently, and that's the day tickets go on sale so I'll most definitely be getting in there straight away merely so I can get to see David Lynch's Inland Empire, which y'all know I wanna see right this second. It will definitely sell out, so eep. I hope I get in.
Anyway. The official list goes up on July 13 as I said, but Paul from the great resourceful Melbourne Film Blog got his hand on a near-full list (it is missing something like 40 titles from a total of 280 or some number like that). Some of the titles I am thinking about trying to get tickets for are:
Inland Empire for obvious reasons.
Syndromes of a Century, because this film by Apichatpong Weerasethakul has gotten some amazing reviews and as of right now my interest is piqued so might as well.
Savage Grace isn't on the list by Paul mentioned it as a likely candidate so, omg!
Still Life is the controversial Chinese film about the Three Gorges dam project. It won the Golden Lion at Venice two years ago as well and doesn't have a release plan.
The Boss of it All is Lars Von Trier's latest. It's a comedy set in an office, hilariously. It doesn't have a distributer and considering Von Trier's Manderlay took freakin' ages to get a release I'll definitely try and seek it out.
Brand Upon the Brain. A new film by Guy Maddin is always an interesting beast and if it has the live orchestra and the other features it's had around the world at festivals then it's an opportunity to be missed!
The Man From London played at Cannes and even though it apparently wasn't much good, the cinematography looked flatout amazing (all black and white noir) and I decided I wanted to see this theatrically so I hope I can.
I really want to see Once, but I know my friends Hannah and Georgie will love it so I'll wait until it's released (September apparently) and see it then. As for the other 200+ titles, well a lot of them I've never heard of and have yet to IMDb them, but I'm sure there's some good titles in there worth seeking out. Plenty of Aussie features too. Can't wait!
Anyway. The official list goes up on July 13 as I said, but Paul from the great resourceful Melbourne Film Blog got his hand on a near-full list (it is missing something like 40 titles from a total of 280 or some number like that). Some of the titles I am thinking about trying to get tickets for are:
Inland Empire for obvious reasons.
Syndromes of a Century, because this film by Apichatpong Weerasethakul has gotten some amazing reviews and as of right now my interest is piqued so might as well.
Savage Grace isn't on the list by Paul mentioned it as a likely candidate so, omg!
Still Life is the controversial Chinese film about the Three Gorges dam project. It won the Golden Lion at Venice two years ago as well and doesn't have a release plan.
The Boss of it All is Lars Von Trier's latest. It's a comedy set in an office, hilariously. It doesn't have a distributer and considering Von Trier's Manderlay took freakin' ages to get a release I'll definitely try and seek it out.
Brand Upon the Brain. A new film by Guy Maddin is always an interesting beast and if it has the live orchestra and the other features it's had around the world at festivals then it's an opportunity to be missed!
The Man From London played at Cannes and even though it apparently wasn't much good, the cinematography looked flatout amazing (all black and white noir) and I decided I wanted to see this theatrically so I hope I can.
I really want to see Once, but I know my friends Hannah and Georgie will love it so I'll wait until it's released (September apparently) and see it then. As for the other 200+ titles, well a lot of them I've never heard of and have yet to IMDb them, but I'm sure there's some good titles in there worth seeking out. Plenty of Aussie features too. Can't wait!
June 21, 2007
Two Thumbs Down
In my casual trevails throughout the never world of the internet I came cross an amazing website LynchPosters.com which is all about movie posters for David Lynch films. I had already seen about 90% of them, but one that I had never seen was the below ad poster that was used for Lynch's 1997 bizarro film Lost Highway in which Jeff Daniels apparently murders Patricia Aquette and then he turns into Balthazar Getty (back on the acting scene thanks to a role on the quite great tv series Brothers and Sisters) who is dating Patricia Arquette... or something. The film also has Robert Blake giving the greatest cameo performance of all time. If you haven't seen it, do so. If you're in America then you'll have to deal with a dodgy-arsed DVD, but regions 4 and 2 have great two-disc editions (like me!).
Anyway, back to the poster. Roger Ebert has been a famous detractor of Lynch's work - Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and Lost Highway in particular - and he, along with his reviewing partner Gene Siskel, gave the film "Two Thumbs Down!"
Lynch being the sneaky devil that he is used it to his advantage and employed this rating as part of the advertising for Lost Highway. God, he's a genius.
And while we're on the topic of Lynch, while I am sitting here being incredible jealous at Adam (grrrr) I found this in Today's HiT about the situation of his latest INLAND EMPIRE. Unfortunately, it merely confirms the constant state of limbo that it lies in. Seriously, Dendy or whoever it distributing. RELEASE IT NOW!
I tell ya though, if I see the film is going to be playing at the Melbourne International Film Festival I'm gonna do my darndest to get tickets. Eep.
Anyway, back to the poster. Roger Ebert has been a famous detractor of Lynch's work - Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and Lost Highway in particular - and he, along with his reviewing partner Gene Siskel, gave the film "Two Thumbs Down!"
Lynch being the sneaky devil that he is used it to his advantage and employed this rating as part of the advertising for Lost Highway. God, he's a genius.
And while we're on the topic of Lynch, while I am sitting here being incredible jealous at Adam (grrrr) I found this in Today's HiT about the situation of his latest INLAND EMPIRE. Unfortunately, it merely confirms the constant state of limbo that it lies in. Seriously, Dendy or whoever it distributing. RELEASE IT NOW!
I tell ya though, if I see the film is going to be playing at the Melbourne International Film Festival I'm gonna do my darndest to get tickets. Eep.
June 5, 2007
Linkabout
I'm not feeling inspired right now, so here's some links.
The New Yorker has a fabulous article by Jeffrey Eugenides about a longlasting summer movie-going experience. It's not Jaws or Star Wars. It's actually the Australian/British film by Nicolas Roeg, Walkabout that starred a young David Gulpilil. It's a fascinating read. I wish I was that articulate.
Friez.com discusses David Lynch's experimental opus INLAND EMPIRE as well as his future plans (he really likes Poland, apparently). The film has had it's June 21 release date vanquished and is, as far as I can tell, in limbo with Australian distribution. I hate the world. I think it's out on DVD in August in America so I may just have to import it. How incredibly depressing.
[It was here where I did a quick link to Dave Poland's Hostel Part II review, but then it spun out of control in my brain and turned into a blog entry all of it's own. Nice how that stuff happens from time to time.]
The other day The Film Experience linked to the trailer for Neil Jordan's new Jodie Foster-starring film The Brave One. I'm glad Jodie is out of the claustrophic-thriller sub-genre (although I still reckon Panic Room is pretty darn amazing). After a bit of searching I found that the (amazing) song used in in the second half of the the trailer is the (amazing) "Auto Rock" by the (sometimes amazing) Mogwai. I didn't mention him for some reason, but he worked on Clint Mansell's score to The Fountain. And we all know how that one turned out. I just have a feeling about this movie that I'm gonna really like it, even if it's not incredibly well-liked by others. I don't know why I have that hunch, but whatever. Jodie's looking feisty in the image below.
Who knew a Franz Ferdinand remix of an LCD Soundsystem track ("All My Friends") could be so good?!
So, I was having a discussion with The Brother last week about Saw and Hostel (a popular topic these days) and when I mentioned that they were making a Saw 4 he said that it'd be even more pointless than the other movies in the franchise **SPOILERbecause the two villains diedEND SPOILER** I joked that there'd be an evil twin or something. Well, that may or may not be the case. Blah yada etc. The vicious cycle of doom continues.
Does this picture (below) of Will Ferrell and Sasha Baron Cohen freakin' anyone else out? It was from the MTV Movie Awards held last week. It's so... :/ I dunno. Is it good or bad that a gay kiss (as in between two men) has won the Best Kiss category two years in a row? Although, I do have the urge to watch Brokeback Mountain again now. Hmmm....
And lastly, as the deathtoll continues to rise the Victorian train disaster, I send my thoughts out. What a terrible accident. Sad.
The New Yorker has a fabulous article by Jeffrey Eugenides about a longlasting summer movie-going experience. It's not Jaws or Star Wars. It's actually the Australian/British film by Nicolas Roeg, Walkabout that starred a young David Gulpilil. It's a fascinating read. I wish I was that articulate.
Friez.com discusses David Lynch's experimental opus INLAND EMPIRE as well as his future plans (he really likes Poland, apparently). The film has had it's June 21 release date vanquished and is, as far as I can tell, in limbo with Australian distribution. I hate the world. I think it's out on DVD in August in America so I may just have to import it. How incredibly depressing.[It was here where I did a quick link to Dave Poland's Hostel Part II review, but then it spun out of control in my brain and turned into a blog entry all of it's own. Nice how that stuff happens from time to time.]
The other day The Film Experience linked to the trailer for Neil Jordan's new Jodie Foster-starring film The Brave One. I'm glad Jodie is out of the claustrophic-thriller sub-genre (although I still reckon Panic Room is pretty darn amazing). After a bit of searching I found that the (amazing) song used in in the second half of the the trailer is the (amazing) "Auto Rock" by the (sometimes amazing) Mogwai. I didn't mention him for some reason, but he worked on Clint Mansell's score to The Fountain. And we all know how that one turned out. I just have a feeling about this movie that I'm gonna really like it, even if it's not incredibly well-liked by others. I don't know why I have that hunch, but whatever. Jodie's looking feisty in the image below.
Who knew a Franz Ferdinand remix of an LCD Soundsystem track ("All My Friends") could be so good?!
So, I was having a discussion with The Brother last week about Saw and Hostel (a popular topic these days) and when I mentioned that they were making a Saw 4 he said that it'd be even more pointless than the other movies in the franchise **SPOILER
Does this picture (below) of Will Ferrell and Sasha Baron Cohen freakin' anyone else out? It was from the MTV Movie Awards held last week. It's so... :/ I dunno. Is it good or bad that a gay kiss (as in between two men) has won the Best Kiss category two years in a row? Although, I do have the urge to watch Brokeback Mountain again now. Hmmm....
And lastly, as the deathtoll continues to rise the Victorian train disaster, I send my thoughts out. What a terrible accident. Sad.
May 15, 2007
Inland Empire, WWII, Time Travel and the Oscars
Seriously. I have the most crazy dreams. Last night I basically dreamt and entire movie. It was about this family during WWII (a pretty WWII if you can imagine) of four kids who had been seperated from their parents and then they finally find their parents and it turns out the father is a genius scientist who had invented a time travel device that would send people five years into the future. But it can only send four!
Thing is I woke up and started to write it all down, but several hours later I realised that too was a dream because I woke up and I had no notes. Crazy. It felt so weird.
I also dreamt that me and some friends went to the Academy Awards but it was more like the MTV awards because we were in a moshpit as some no-name singer performed a song with a choir and then Ellen and Justin Timberlake came out and introduced Meryl Streep.
I also dreamt that Inland Empire was out at the movies over a month early and I was really excited until I awoke and realised, no. No it's not.
My brain hates me sometimes.
Thing is I woke up and started to write it all down, but several hours later I realised that too was a dream because I woke up and I had no notes. Crazy. It felt so weird.
I also dreamt that me and some friends went to the Academy Awards but it was more like the MTV awards because we were in a moshpit as some no-name singer performed a song with a choir and then Ellen and Justin Timberlake came out and introduced Meryl Streep.
I also dreamt that Inland Empire was out at the movies over a month early and I was really excited until I awoke and realised, no. No it's not.
My brain hates me sometimes.
May 9, 2007
Something that's quite amazing...
...but I have no idea what it is. I mean, I know what it is, but I have no idea what it is. Ya know? No? Nevermind. I speak of the new music video for the new Siobhan Donaghy song "So You Say". The song is clearly meant to be a hit because it is nowhere near the bonkers delights of first single "Don't Give It Up" (which wasn't very successful) or album track "Ghosts" (which has large parts of it sung in reverse).
Still, conventional pop music by Siobhan Donaghy is still better than most other music out there. The song is class. But the video...? The video is something else entirely. It's directed by Jamie Thraves and has floating birds and flying shards of glass and trips down long dark corridors following men in hoodies and it has a man with sparks flying out his mouth and eyes and then Siobhan kisses him and then she has sparks flying out of her mouth and eyes and I'm so lost, but I love it.
Apparently, according to PopJustice and Wiki, the video is actually based on David Lynch's Inland Empire. I, obviously, don't have a clue what they're on about (it's not out here until late June), but I can definitely see the Lynch in it. If this is what I have to look forward to then, my god, I can't wait.
But, til then, we have this amazing song and an amazing video and I could just listen to Siobhan 24/7, really.
April 6, 2007
Announcement
LOL. I totally make it sound like it's even remotely interesting. It's about my "annual" awards, The UMAs. Let it be known I am only going to see two more 2006 films theatrically - Inland Empire and Curse of the Golden Flower because I want to see them for myself, not because I think I should just so I can add one person to the Best Actor category (that means you Ryan Gosling). I figure, by April that I just have to cut them off unless I really want to see them (such as those two films I mentioned). So that means there will be no Half Nelson, Running with Scissors, The Painted Veil (I really did want to see this but it has no release date. If it suddenly gets released within the next month I'll totally see it though), Sherrybaby, Fur (YES, even though it's Nicole), Three Times, The Science of Sleep, The Dead Girl (I did really want to see it but the time has passed) or a few others. There's a few more that I just won't get to see such as Venus, Letters From Iwo Jima (ugh, I really wanted to see this one too), Blood Diamond, etc. You can blame bad distribution for some and disinterest for others. I can't see everything! I'll choose to see some of these on DVD and adjust the awards when I do, but... yeah. Don't expect them to be getting any prizes this time around despite high praise from places (and Oscar nominations for some). I blame the distributors for not releasing stuff like Half Nelson when it had Oscar buzz. They've lost my $12 now. And I only have illegal DVDs (thanks Par! thanks Georgie!) for being able to see Dixie Chicks: Shut Up & Sing and Factory Girl. At least that's something. I wish they'd just release movies like Fur or The Dead Girl as direct-to-DVD. At least we'd get to see them.
I still have some 2006 films to see on DVD that are in my QuickFlix queue, stuff like The Wind that Shakes the Barley,
But. Yeah. Hopefully when Inland Empire finally gets here I'll be able to do my awards, because that's probably the only movie left that even has a hope to disrupting the major categories (Picture, Director, Actress specifically). By the way, I have finally decided on a concrete final five for my Best Picture category should Inland Empire not make it. I was umming and aahing over what the last slot should go to, but I decided and it's delightfully off-centre (no, not The Black Dahlia) so I'm happy now. Although that final spot in the director category is up for grabs still. Best Actress is still tricky but I think I've got it, although as mentioned, Laura Dern could throw a wrench into the works. Supporting Actor is, typically, a big fat mess with only one performance that I just wanna surround myself in, but I think there's a surprise or two in there (rock stars! mutes! non-performers! but that could still change).edit: So, I'm scrapping Inland Empire from the awards. Reasoning? Well, turns out the movie has a new Aussie release date. It makes me wanna throw up (JUNE 21!!) So, I think when I see Golden Flower (out in 2 weeks I think) I'm just gonna go ahead with the UMAs because I'm not waiting until bloody JUNE! Ugh. I tellsya. The lineup is still pretty good though and there's good films represented throughout so the omission of Inland Empire won't be felt that badly. But still. I totally expected it to play a somewhat major part. Oh well.
A Documentary
Over the course of two years we were allowed to film David Lynch as he worked on his latest film INLAND EMPIRE. Over 700 hours of footage was gathered both on location and in David's home. This film will give the most current perspective on one of cinema's greatest directors and will bring to life his creative process and joy for living life to its fullest potential.
The director began filming David in December 2004 when he went to Lodz, Poland to work on INLAND EMPIRE and photograph abandoned factories. In February of 2005, the director travelled to Los Angeles where he lived at David's residence and filmed him on a daily basis for seven months, documenting not only David's filmmaking process but also each of his other creative interests. After primary filming was completed, the director spent the next year isolated in a mountain home in Guffey, Colorado. He would leave twice to film David, first travelling to Lodz in January of 2006 and then to New York City in October of that same year. In December of 2006 the director returned to Los Angeles to complete the film.
Watch the trailer here
The director began filming David in December 2004 when he went to Lodz, Poland to work on INLAND EMPIRE and photograph abandoned factories. In February of 2005, the director travelled to Los Angeles where he lived at David's residence and filmed him on a daily basis for seven months, documenting not only David's filmmaking process but also each of his other creative interests. After primary filming was completed, the director spent the next year isolated in a mountain home in Guffey, Colorado. He would leave twice to film David, first travelling to Lodz in January of 2006 and then to New York City in October of that same year. In December of 2006 the director returned to Los Angeles to complete the film.
January 29, 2007
...
It's not on their official site, but the mere fact that DendyFilms have picked up Inland Empire for distributions means it won't be 2010 by the time we get to see it. This mysterious April 26 date mentioned on the IMDb forum sounds logical. Well, that it's a Thursday (the day that movies are released here) is the only real clue, but it feels legit.
Man, if that is true though... April 26 can't come soon enough. I'll catch the train up and see the very first session. eeeeeee! So excited. Also, The Notorious Bettie Page is out on March 1. We're finally getting it!!!
January 28, 2007
More Inland Empire
This time it's the German poster. Is every single European country going to have a different poster?
January 17, 2007
Laura Dern and her face of a thousand expressions...
The French poster (top, from IMP) and the Italianian poster (bottom, from InlandEmpirecinema.com.
*explodes*
January 11, 2007
Some more obsessing on Inland Empire
How come I hadn't seen this European trailer? It's better than the American one I saw, and it's much clearer because it's in HD and not YouTube quality. God, this movie looks so strange I need it now. That bit with the record player and the woman's face...? Man oh man. And Laura Dern really is pulling out all the stops on her wacky face tour, ain't she?Now, I'm gonna go cook dinner.
November 15, 2006
*explodes*
I think my head just exploded over these new pictures from David Lynch's Inland Empire. If we're to believe the reviews so far and the word from cast members, Empire is Lynch's most bizarre outing yet, and considering his recent Cows Do Hollywood and LeBrea escapades I have to think that it will be confusing up the wazoo.
Anyway, check out Cinempire for all the rest of the pictures. It's hard to tell whether some of these are actual shots from the film or just behind-the-scenes shots because there are a few of those on there. Am definitely loving the look of Lynch regulars Laura Dern and Grace Zabriskie.
Anyway, check out Cinempire for all the rest of the pictures. It's hard to tell whether some of these are actual shots from the film or just behind-the-scenes shots because there are a few of those on there. Am definitely loving the look of Lynch regulars Laura Dern and Grace Zabriskie.
November 11, 2006
Without Cheese There Would Be No Inland Empire
The sign obviously says something along the lines of "without cheese there would be no Inland Empire" not "without cows there would be no cheese in the Inland Empire", but whatever. How fuckin' crazy is this. I doubt anything will come out of this, but I'd love to see Laura Dern up again for Oscar. For more of my writings about Inland Empire you can click here. There's a lot. Can you tell I wanna see this movie? It was my #1 most anticipated film of the year all the way back in January...
[src]
edit - OMFG! A video has now surfaced of the publicity stunt! Check it out! Turns out the sign says "Without Cheese There Wouldn't Be An Inland Empire" CHEESE IS MADE FROM MILK! I... have no idea.
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