Thursday 23 July 2020

July 23rd
House of Cardin
Guilty (DOCPlay)
La Haine (Kanopy)
Calm With Horses
The Vigil

What a strange and disturbing life we are leading, especially those of us in Victoria. While three of the films I review today are screening in other states, viewers will have to wait a while to catch them in our virus-plagued city. However, the reviews may pique your interest, and if you live elsewhere, go track ' em down. Meantime, for the housebound lockdownees, I cover a couple you can catch up with on online platforms. Keep safe folks, stay home, and wear your masks! 

House of Cardin
Dir: David Ebersole, Todd Hughes 
Length: 97 mins
© Umbrella - the man behind the legend  
Over the years there have been many films about iconic fashion designers, but none so fascinating and inspiring (for me) as this one, featuring Pierre Cardin, a creative genius in not only haute couture, but furniture, accessories, the arts and more. The film is a virtual smorgasbord of fabulousness - his ground-breaking clothing, his branded accessories and furniture, theatrical spaces he has created, his visits to other cultures and lands where he has become a household name, and the invaluable  insights from so many unexpected people: singers Alice Cooper and Dionne Warwick, actress Sharon Stone, other famed designers to name a few. Best of all the man himself - a workaholic who lives to enjoy his work and is still going strong at 98 years old. For anyone who wants to see that age is no barrier to keeping on creating, this is the film for you. It's vibrantly shot, with so much packed in - a treat for the eyes as well as the heart. 
4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended

Guilty
Dir: Matthew Sleeth
Length: 82 mins
Streaming on DOCPlay: https://www.docplay.com
© DOCPlay - Heartbreaking anti-death penalty doco
In 2015, after ten years in prison in Indonesia, Myruran Sukumaran and Andrew Chang, two of the so-called Bali 9, were executed. This heart-wrenching documentary looks at the lead up to their deaths, focusing on the last three days of Sukumaran's life, as all appeals for clemency fell upon deaf ears. Adam McConvell plays Sukumaran in the recreated scenes; other segments of the film deal in archival footage. The grief of Sukumaran's family is near impossible to watch. The film-maker shows Sukumaran's incredible talent for painting, fostered by Ben Quilty, and which he developed and used to also benefit other inmates. Without preaching, the film asks the question of whether redemption is possible, and if it should be a reason to show mercy. With searing emotion, it makes the viewer feel the ultimate penalty is too harsh and cruel a price to pay, even for such a crime as drug-trafficking. This is powerful, thought-provoking film-making.
4 - highly recommended   

La Haine 
1995
Dir: Mathieu Kassovitz
Length: 98 mins
Streaming on Kanopy (https://www.kanopy.com/ - accessed with your local library card)
Recognise the young Vincent Cassell?
Winner of the 1995 Palme D'Or for Best Film and Best director, this film is a French classic, following the lives of three young men in the Paris suburbs, a day after rioting has occurred. Vincent Cassell, now a household name, plays Vinz, a restless, violent youth whose aimless day goes downhill. Not a heap happens, but it is the capturing of an era, a milieu, a feeling of the youth malaise of the time that is wonderfully portrayed in stark relief in impressively broody black and white cinematography.
4 - highly recommended  

Calm with Horses
(Also known as The Shadow of Violence)
Dir: Nick Rowland
Length: 101 mins
© Vendetta - tough story of a man torn between two
very different senses of duty
In a rural town in Ireland, Doug Armstrong (Cosmo Jarvis) tries to be a good father to his special needs son Jack. His estranged partner Ursula (Niamh Algar) is distressed because Doug hangs out with local criminals, the Devers family, headed  by father and son Paudi (Ned Dennehy) and Dympna (Barry Keoghan). Torn between his job as enforcer for the gang, and his love for Jack, Doug's life is headed for disaster. This is a confronting story, superbly acted, complex in its issues, and yet recognisable in the basic themes of parental love, forgiveness and redemption. Not everyone likes viewing such gritty tales, but this is worthy watching.
4 - highly recommended 
 

The Vigil
Dir: Keith Thomas
Length: 89 mins
© Rialto - Hasidim meet horror
Yakov (Dave Davis) is a former Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn's Hasidic community. Bad things happened in his past that alienated him, but now he needs  money, so takes a job via the local rabbi to act as a Shomer. This means watching over a dead body for a night. But creepy things are afoot in the Litvak household, and this will be no ordinary night for Yakov. Fans of horror should enjoy this genuinely creepy tale, but what gives it an extra twist is the clever blending of traditional horror tropes with aspects of Jewish tradition and superstition, featuring a malevolent presence known as a mazzik. Equally creepy is the wizened Mrs Litvak (Lyn Cohen), but there is intriguing interweaving of a more serious backstory into her character. Davis is a standout as he goes through th emotional wringer and holds the film together. 
3.5 - well recommended  

Tuesday 7 July 2020

July 8th
Dogs Don't Wear Pants
A White, White Day
More from Melbourne Documentary  Film Festival - The Walrus & the Whistleblower
Sommerdahl (Acorn TV)

Scandinavia certainly features large this week, in online films, cinema features and streamed series. Uh-oh!! But since writing this, we've gone into lockdown again, so anything showing only in the cinema may transfer to online, or simply have to wait in the wings again. So, for the next few weeks my reviews will revert to what is accessible online, as we'll all have plenty of time for that. I feel an overwhelming sadness at what is happening, and also a modicum of anger towards those over-optimists, or those in denial, who think this pandemic is getting better, or not to be taken seriously. To me it was obvious that as soon as restrictions eased, numbers would start skyrocketing. We need to be super-vigilant, even paranoid, if we want to beat this thing and ever go back to the cinemas again. 

Dogs Don't Wear Pants
Dir: Jukka Pekka Valkeappa
Length: 105 mins
Available now VOD  via Google Play, iTunes, Fetch and Umbrella Entertainment
© Umbrella  -  kinky but compelling
Juha Pekka Strang) loses his wife in a drowning accident. Trying to rescue her, at the moment he goes unconscious he believes he sees her alive again. Years later he stumbles into an exclusive BDSM (Bondage Disciplie Sado-Masochism) club run by raunchy dominatrix Mona (Krista Kosonen) and starts visiting her for "strangulation sessions". Gradually he rediscovers a new passion in life. This much awarded film will sure please any fans out there of the Bondage and Discipline sexual oeuvre. It makes 50 Shades of Grey look like a kid's film, and won't be to everyone's taste. But it is skillfully made, beautifully shot, features great lead performances, and underneath all the kinky stuff manages to deal with issues of coming to terms with loss, self-awareness and identity, along with an engaging plot of Juha's relationship with his motherless daughter.  

Along with Nova, Classic, Lido and Cameo, Palace Cinemas were up and running on 2 July. A reminder that several of the films currently screening were reviewed by me last week: Love Sarah, The Taverna, Master Cheng, Romantic Road. Supposed to be releasing tomorrow was A White, White Day, winner of, and nominee for, umpteen high-profile festival awards. I promised a review so here it is, and I'll run it again when the cinemas reopen, as they close again tomorrow. Aargh!!!

A White, White Day
Dir: Hlynur Palmason
Length: 109 mins
© Palace  -  austere and compelling
Taciturn, gruff policeman Ingimundur (Invar Eggurt Sigursson) is still grieving his wife, who died in an accident on a remote road in Iceland. Tending his land and minding his beloved grand-daughter, one day trawling through old photos he becomes obsessed with the suspicion that his wife was having an affair with a man he knows. Lovers of bleak, Scandi, character driven thrillers should get a lot out of this. One draw card is the amazing central performance, depicting a man so embedded in his grief, and suppressing all emotions except a burgeoning rage, jealousy and desire for revenge. The endless white, bleak landscape becomes almost something to meditate upon, in what is an intense,  challenging but rewarding film.   


The Sommerdahl Murders
8 episodes, each around 45 minutes
Streaming on Acorn TV: https://au.acorn.tv/
© Acorn TV  - Scandi police drama well worth
a look
Set in Denmark, the first two episodes (that's where I'm up to so far) introduces us to police investigator Dan Sommerdahl, his wife Marianne, a forensic technician with the police, and Dan's best friend Flemming Torp. While celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary Dan is called away to investigate a body washed up on the beach, throwing a bit of a spoke in the marital harmony. The plot draws a nice balance between the interpersonal drama, and the police investigative drama, which also involves tracking down a newborn baby belonging to the dead woman. The series has hooked me, and ongoing episodes appear to follow the relationship threads, with new crimes thrown into the mix. Acting is strong, scripting believable, and characters are compelling enough to make me look forward to the next episodes. A treat for Scandi crime lovers. 

More from . . .
Melbourne Documentary Film Festival
Online now until 15th July 
For ticketing and synopses of films visit: mdff.org.au
Streaming via https://watch.eventive.org/mdff
© MDFF  -  who'd have thought?
The festival is in full swing and you still have a week to catch many terrific docos. See my previous two posts for earlier  reviews. This week I add:

The Walrus and the Whistleblower: If you remember the doco Blackfish from 2013, you'll know people have been protesting for years about keeping such mammals as dolphins and whales in captivity. This tense doco features the battle waged by Phil Demers, a former trainer at Marineland Niagara, Canada, who became a sort of surrogate mum to an orphaned walrus pup, Smooshi. Phil eventually realised many creatures were suffering (abused, neglected, mishandled - whatever you want to term it) at the facility, and decided to mount legal action against the owners of Marineland. The legal ins and outs of the case are great for law buffs, but it is the remarkable and moving relationship between Phil and Smooshi that makes this doco well worth seeing.