February 11th

Nightmare Alley

Drive My Car

Belfast

Benedetta

Simple Passion

FREE!!! Japanese Film Festival online - from 14th February

I've caught up with a couple I missed earlier, and they are terrific. With Oscar nominations now out, there is plenty of buzz and excitement, and three of the films I've reviewed this week are on the list with plenty of nominations each! And of course how can you go past a FREE film festival, with plenty of excellent Japanese films headed for your living room.

Nightmare Alley

Dir: Guillermo del Toro

Length: 150 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q81Yf46Oj3s

© Universal - good old fashioned 
entertainment. And what a cast!

Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) dumps a body, sets a house on fire and gets himself a job with a travelling carnival run by Clem (Willem Dafoe). There he learns psychic tricks from Zeena (Toni Collette) and her husband Pete (David Strathairn, while wooing another performer, sweet-natured Molly (Rooney Mara). When Molly and Stan leave the show, and set up their own mentalist act they run into manipulative psychiatrist Lillith Ritter (Cate Blanchett), who decides to seduce and use Stan to make them some money, doing psychic readings for very rich men. This remake of a 1947 film noir has received a nomination in just about every possible category at various festivals, and now has four major Oscar nominations. As a total entertainment it is an absolute winner: a top shelf cast, evocative sets, glorious cinematography, and some memorably horrific scenes. Plus it's just a damn good thriller - a tale told chillingly and captivatingly and depicting the worst in human beings - exploitative, greedy, deceptive and brutal. The final twist is a real winner, and if you can grit your teeth through a couple of very disturbing scenes, it will reward you richly with old-fashioned entertainment.

4 - highly recommended

Drive My Car

Dir: Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Length: 179 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lagauhb5GyY

© Universal - human pain front and centre

This film is the winner at Cannes 2021 for Best Screenplay, FIPRESCI (international critics) Prize, Ecumenical Jury prize and the coveted Palme D'or. Not to mention another 45 assorted wins, and Barack Obama's top choice of film for the year. Now it has four Oscar nominations. Phew!! That doesn't mean this three hour film will be for everyone. Theatre director Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) has had his share of trauma - death of a small daughter, his wife's affair and then her sudden death. Two years later he is offered a residency at a theatre company in Hiroshima, to direct the play Uncle Vanya, a multi-lingual, inclusive production, in Japanese, Mandarin and sign language. A condition of employment is he must be driven (in his own car) by Misaki (Toko Miura), a 25-year-old woman who is taciturn, but hiding traumatic secrets from her own past. The film feels like three stories in one - a prologue for half an hour in which we meet Yusuke's wife and try to understand her motivations; the story of Yusuke and the gradual bonding with his driver; and the (lengthy) episodes involving the rehearsals for Uncle Vanya. I would have liked the film to be shorter - the rehearsals for the play were difficult for me, not being a Chekhov buff. However one cannot deny the emotional power that builds up as regret, guilt, self-reflection and deeply wounding emotions bubble up, slowly culminating in an extremely moving scene. 

4 - highly recommended

Belfast

Dir: Kenneth Branagh

Length: 98  mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja3PPOnJQ2k

© Universal - beautiful on every level

With a mighty 37 wins and 211 nominations in other festivals, Belfast has a mighty seven nominations for this year's Academy Awards. Nine-year-old Buddy (Jude Hill) lives with his Ma (Caitriona Balfe) and brother, while Pa (Jamie Dornan)works  over in England. Riots start up in 1969, with Catholics attacking Buddy's Protestant neighborhood. When Pa returns home he finds himself under attack from a local Protestant hoodlum and so-called mate, but Pa has no wish to be part of the sectarian rioting. If you take no part in the hostilities, you are perceived as being against the cause. Ultimately the family must decide whether to move from their beloved city for the safety of their two sons. Inspired by Branagh's own childhood, Belfast captures not only a critical moment in Ireland's troubled history, but it is also a tale of familial love, between the parents, for the children, and also for the grandparents, impressively played by Judy Dench and Ciaran Hinds. As a childhood reminiscence, more about family than politics, Branagh highlights the positives in Buddy's life (some call it sentimental), but I find it moving and thoroughly engaging.  With mostly black and white cinematography, Branagh recreates time and place, when a simple life became complicated. Young Hill gives a transcendent performance, while Dornan and Bale (famous as Claire in Outlander) are perfect in their roles. I'd hardly expect anything less than this assured directorial hand from such a mighty craftsman as Branagh. The Van Morrison soundtrack is the cherry on top.

4 - highly recommended

Benedetta

Dir: Paul Verhoeven

Length: 131 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-31QJXV3iA

© Hi Gloss - is she really someone special
or just a misbehaving nun?

You don't often hear a film touted as a "lesbian nun thriller", but this one, based upon a true story, is just that. In the early 1600s, a time of plague, nine-year-old Benedetta (Virginie Efira) is sent to a convent, where, by the time she is in her early twenties she is causing quite a stir. She reports experiencing miracles, having visions, seeing Jesus naked, and then seems to develop stigmata along with scratches on her forehead. Fellow nun Bartolomea (Daphne Patakia) is sent to watch over her, but the two soon develop a passionate sexual relationship. The abbess of the convent (Charlotte Rampling) finally loses her position to Benedetta. Eventually various enquiries are held to examine the authenticity of Benedetta's claims, and a papal nuncio (Lambert Wilson) is sent to investigate (bring in the men to sort out the women!) How much of the minutiae of the story is or isn't true I have no idea; but it does make for an intriguing insight into life in a convent, and a worthy addition to the religious history and lesbian catalogue of films. The film was a nominee for the top award at Cannes, 2021. 

3.5 - well recommended

Simple Passion

Dir: Danielle Arbid

Length: 99 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVgtakJvX3A

© not so simple
for Helene

Helene (Laetitia Dosch) is a lecturer, researcher, and divorced mother. When she meets Alexandre (Sergei Polunin), a mysterious,  married younger man, who hails from Moscow, she falls into a passionate love affair. Soon her obsession with him threatens to derail her entire life. I'm somewhat torn about this film. On the one hand it depicts really well the totally irrational state people can go into when they fall heavily in lust with one another, and Dosch embodies this state of madness superbly. However that is not enough to carry an entire plot. So much of the film is devoted to depicting the couples' lovemaking, and very little to exploring their inner feelings and motivations. Even Helene's mental deterioration takes a constant backseat to her endless waiting and yearning. Polunin (a famous ballet dancer in his own right) looks the part - handsome, full of lustful longing, yet withdrawn and arrogant. The film is well enough made, nicely shot, and yet without greater insight into why such an intelligent woman would allow herself to fall prey to this opportunistic guy is beyond me, and so colors my overall view. Not to mention the voice-over ending, which seems a cop-out way of tying it all up. Nevertheless as a study in self-defeating behaviour, it works well and many women will no doubt be able to relate to it.

3 - recommended

Japanese Film Festival

February 14-27 - FREE online

For all the info go to https://jff.jpf.go.jp/watch/jffonline2022/film-lineup/

The 2022 Festival presented by The Japan Foundation, Sydney will screen 17 films nation-wide for free, including feature films and documentaries. Some are as old and classic such as the 1950 film Rashomon, and others are the latest in Japanese cinema. Having visited Japan (and loved it), for me this is a great chance to catch up on a country and its culture that are truly intriguing, distinctive and captivating. More to come hopefully as I watch further once the festival starts.

Sumodo: If, like me, you always thought sumo wrestling was just about super fat guys pushing each other about, this highly-acclaimed doco should set you straight on the skill and tradition behind Japan's national sport. The film follows the lives of two particular wrestlers, tracking their gruelling training regime and the many contests they enter, until they face each other in the ring. The ancient sport has much ritual and elements of Shinto religion in it, and the wrestlers are revered. The film is an intriguing insight into a way of life and the finer details of the sport (not to mention what they have to eat to achieve those bodies!)  

Her Love Boils Bath Water: This is my favorite so far. It tells of Fukuba, a young mother, whose husband has left her a year before. When she finds out she is terminally ill, she decides to put many of her affairs in order: restart the family bathhouse business, get her husband back into her life, and tell her teenage daughter Azumi some confronting facts about the family history. I haven't cried so much for quite a while in a film. Is that a good or bad thing - truly moving or emotionally manipulative? I'll go for the former. There are so many surprises and unexpected plot points in this sweet, funny, poignant and ultimately uplifting film. Despite upsetting revelations from the past, this family finds a way to handle it all. These are movie characters I totally enjoyed spending time with.   

Mio's Cookbook: Best childhood friends Mio and Noe are separated and orphaned on the night on the great flood in Osaka in 1801. Mio ends up as a cook's apprentice in Edo (now Tokyo), and eventually becomes a fine chef in her own right. The fate of Noe becomes evident as the plot moves along. This is a film to delight foodies, and lovers of all things traditionally Japanese. With geisha houses, handsome samurai warriors, pretty kimonos, and of course some mouth-watering dishes, there's much to enjoy in this sentimental, but touching story, which is beautifully shot with great production values.