November 2 2017
Loving Vincent
Suburbicon
The Ornithologist
Three Summers
Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (from Cunard British Film Festival) 

Yessirree, another week, another batch of movie offerings. A couple here I really loved, and even the others I'm less enamoured of still have something that could appeal to various viewers. 

Loving Vincent
Director: Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman
Length: 95 min

© Madman - see Van Gogh's painting come to life!

If you've seen the trailer, you've probably already gasped in amazement as the instantly recognisable paintings of Vincent van Gogh come alive on the screen, characters speaking and landscapes swirling into animated life. The stats of this film are gob-smacking: every one of the 65,000 frames in the film is a hand-painted oil painting, each done by 125 professional artists from all over the world. The pictures come to life to tell the story of  Armand, the son of a postman, charged with delivering a letter from Vincent  to his brother Theo. Upon discovering Theo died a week after Vincent supposedly killed himself, Armand goes on a quest to find out what he can about the life and death of the artist. This is groundbreaking film-making - never before has a whole film been done using individually oil-painted frames. In a technique called rotoscope, real actors play the scenes, and somehow by computer wizardry this is overlaid with the paintings, and voila, the artworks come to life! Some folks say the technicality outshines the story-telling, but I find the plot fascinating, and the clever use of reverting to black and white sketches when townsfolk tell Armand of past episodes of Vincent's life, make it easy to follow. This film is so visually stunning, and exciting in its concept, it deserves to be revelled in.  
4 - highly recommended!

Suburbicon
Director: George Clooney
Length: 104 min

© Roadshow - Mr Nice Guy is not so nice
under his mild-mannered veneer 

Here's a conundrum: this film got nominated for a Golden Lion at this year's Venice FF, yet only rates 26% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes! Who can you believe? Me of course!! And I say it's not so terrible as to warrant the tomato-score, but it is somewhat muddled in its structure. With Coen Brothers having  a hand in the writing there have to be some good points - surely? The plot intrigues - in a 1950s white American suburb all seems rosy, until a black family moves in, inflaming the neighborhood. Gardner Lodge (Matt Damon) lives with his crippled wife, Rose, and her twin, Margaret, sweet as apple pie and carer to her sister (both played by Julianne Moore). Young son Nicky (Noah Jupe) rounds out the "happy" family. One night robbers break in and tie up the family, managing to kill Rose. Things are never what they seem, and as insurance monies are claimed and police line-ups arranged in vain, it seems there's more than meets the eye. Meantime the anti-race sentiment erupts into full-blow rioting. I was entertained by the way things got steadily worse for a bunch of unpleasant characters. The only vaguely nice folk are Uncle Mitch and of course the kid (Jupe's performance is a winner), but my big beef is that this is like two different film plots rolled into one, and ne'er the twain shall meet! Suburbicon, while wryly exposing the dark underbelly of suburbia, tries to interweave a racial plot and it just doesn't gel as a whole. Nevertheless, performances are great, (including a ripper from Oscar Isaac as the insurance assessor) and there's enough black humour to warrant my score . . . 
3 - recommended (just)!

The Ornithologist
Director: Joao Pedro Rodrigues
Length: 118 min

© Sharmill - critically acclaimed film that leaves
me floundering to understand its religious
symbolism

Fernando (Paul Hamy) is on a bird-watching expedition, canoeing on a remote river in northern Portugal when his kayak unexpectedly encounters rapids, and he is swept away. Two Chinese pilgrim girls, walking the Camino but now lost in a forest, find his near lifeless body and rescue him, only to then tie him up, for who knows what purpose. The director writes in his notes much about revered Portugese saint, Anthony, and sees this film as a version of  the saint's journeys and travails. I am so out on a limb here compared to many other critics, mainly because I simply fail to to follow what the film is trying to convey to me. There are aspects I admire - the languid scenes on the river, the beautiful birds, and the tension that mounts as Fernando flees, not only from the girls, but all manner of strange threats lurking in the forest. But when the movie unexpectedly shifts into what feels like a different genre, with topless Grecian huntresses, revelling young men in bizarre costumes, a gay mute goatherd and more, I no longer comprehend - my ignorance of mythological and religious symbolism, perhaps! With its totally inexplicable conclusion, the film finally lost me. 
2.5 - maybe!

Three Summers
Director: Ben Elton
Length: 95 min

© Transmission - fun at the folk festival - three
years in a row!

This romantic ensemble comedy is set at a WA music festival, three years running. Keevey (Rebecca Breeds) and her dad (John Waters) play in the WArrikins, an Irish folk group. When Keevey meets snobby intellectual theremin player Roland (Robert Sheehan), who is keen on her, they fall to brawling over musical differences. Each year DJ Queenie (Magda Szubanski) runs the radio commentary and interviews, while local Morris dancer Henry (Michael Caton) shows his racist side when a troupe of Aboriginal dancers led by Jack (Kelton Pell) join the festival. Ok, so it's a self-consciously feel-good movie with plenty of predictability, and a lot of digs at the current political sore spots in our country, including indigenous recognition and immigration policies. But I really had more than three stars worth of fun with this, loved the characters, enjoyed the music, and while it breaks no film-making boundaries it's a charming entertainment with the cream of Aussie comedic talent, including Deborah Mailman, Jacqueline McKenzie, Kate Box and Peter Rowsthorn. British writer/director  Elton, who lives here now, has a keen eye for Aussieness, and incorporates it well into his script. 
3 - recommended!

Another winner from the ongoing British Film Festival . . . 
Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool
Still a chance to catch it on 11 and 12 November!

© BFF - Annette Bening and Jamie Bell bring an
age-disparate, true life romance to the screen

Peter Turner (Jamie Bell) started acting in his teens, and wrote a memoir of an incredible affair he had with Hollywood screen siren Gloria Grahame (Annette Bening), many years his senior. Their true story is told here in this delicate film which focuses upon Grahame's later years when she has left Hollywood glitz and now acts in theatre. With ailing health she reaches out to her former lover and heads over to Liverpool for some recuperation with Peter's family. The emotional feel and quality of acting in this is a revelation. The leads are perfect together, and Bening shows again why she is one of today's top actors. Julie Walters is adorable as Peter's compassionate mum. As a glimpse into the terrible tyranny of aging, especially for someone once so beautiful, this is heartbreaking stuff, as is the tender romance which speaks of a love beyond mere sexual attraction. I loved this film! 
4 - highly recommended!
Visit britishfilmfestival.com.au for details of times