May 10th 2024
Housekeeping for Beginners
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Monster
HSBC German Film Festival
From blockbuster big screen adventure, to small intimate stories from Macedonia and Japan, along with the latest German Film Festival, here's another week of huge choice for lucky film-goers.
Housekeeping for Beginners
Dir: Goran Stolevski
Length: 107 mins
 |
© Maslow Entertainment - family can be
what you make it |
Dita (Anamaria Marinca) owns an old house in Skopje, Macedonia. She shares it with a motley crew of characters: several gay women, her lover Suada (Alina Serban), Suada's two kids, teenage Vanessa (Mia Mustafi), and younger cheeky Mia (Dzada Selim), her old friend Toni (Vladimir Tintor), and Ali (Samson Selim), a recent young lover Toni has brought home. The place is a refuge for outsiders in a country that is not supportive of homosexuality. When Suada is diagnosed with a terminal illness, she makes Dita, who has never wanted to be a mother, reluctantly promise to look after the children. Yes, this theme of "not the family you're born with, but the one you create" is not new, but Stolevski approaches it with an innovative narrative, that includes the LGBTQI community, political corruption and crime, but and more importantly issues of the Roma (gypsy) population, and how they are marginalised in Eastern European countries. Suada and Ali are Roma people, and the stark contrasts between life in Skopje and in the Roma-run municipality of Shutka are eye opening. The characters are all beautifully realised; the mischief of Mia and the rebellion of Vanessa, Toni's pretense at being straight, Dita's juggle living between her "white world" and that of the Roma people she has befriended, and best of all the heartfelt compassion that Ali exudes, as he of all of them seems to be a natural parent, despite his blatant gayness. Macedonian-born, Aussie raised Stolevski makes everything about this film so authentic, and it is such an emotionally beautiful story that is the deserving winner of many awards, including the Queer Lion at the Venice Film Festival. 4 - highly recommended
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Dir: Wes Ball
Length: 145 mins
 |
© Disney - gentle Noa faces big
challenges as a cruel king reigns |
Generations after War for the Planet of the Apes, (the third film in the rebooted trilogy) life has changed. A virus has almost wiped out humans, and of those left, most can no longer speak. The apes however can. King of the apes, the cruel Proximus Caesar, has perverted the teachings of the original leader Caesar, and uses them to oppress other ape clans. Noa (Owen Teague), a member of a peaceful clan which raise eagles, teams up with a human, Mae (Freya Allan), and together they challenge the prevailing order of things. No-one can take away from the amazing special effects in this film. The CGI motion capture is splendid, as are the settings. The opening sequences where Noa and family climb vertiginous heights to collect eagles' eggs for their breeding program are beautifully executed. But the film is overly long; taking its time to rev up and really get going. The battle scenes of aggro gorillas on horseback hunting down other apes along with vulnerable humans drinking at a pond with zebras are typically bombastic and detract from the deeper story. When we come to the nitty-gritty of the megalomaniac king and his enslaved tribes, it then starts to feel like a credible commentary upon power and oppression (rather like watching the nightly news!). The wise old orangutan Raka (Peter Macon) comes across as somewhat of a trope, and not a lot feels original. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it as a big screen impressive experience, especially those expressive eyes and wonderful simian faces, but I can't go bananas for it! 3 - recommended
Monster
Dir: Kore-eda Kirohazu
Length: 127 mins
 |
© Madman - intriguingly ambiguous
story of friendship and getting to the truth |
Single mother Saori Mugino (Sakura Ando) gets wind
that her son Minato (Soya Kurokawa) is deeply disturbed by something happening
at school. It emerges that teacher Mr Hori (Eita Nagayama) has possibly been
persecuting him, even physically violent. Her complaints are met by blank-faced
resistance from Hori and school principal Makiko Fushimi
(Yuko Tanaka). Minato has a close friend at school, Yori (Hinata Hiiragi),
and that friendship becomes a refuge, but also disturbing in its own way, as
other kids pick on them. Here's where the film gets really interesting. In the
first part we see the situation from the mother's viewpoint. In the second we
see the same scenario played out, but this time from the viewpoint of Hori and
the principal. Pieces of the jigsaw start to fall into place. All is not as it
seemed. Then in the final third we see more deeply into the lives of the boys,
how it was for them, as they shelter from a storm in an old abandoned rail
carriage that has become a secret haven for them. Everything is
open to possibly differing interpretation, especially the very end of the film.
Director Kore-eda has a wonderful skill in directing stories about kids (I
Wish, Like Father, Like son, Our Little Sister, Broker), and this is no
exception. The two young lead actors shine, the score by recently deceased composer Ryuichi Sakamoto is haunting, and wins at Cannes for Best Screenplay and Queer Palm are well deserved.
4
- highly recommended
HSBC German Film Festival
Melbourne 10-29 May
For other states, film synopses, bookings etc visit:
This year the festival includes top German films from the last 70 years of German cinema, along with six latest releases from the Berlinale, a children's sidebar and a Werner Herzog restrospective.
Lubo: Lubo (Franz Rogowski) belongs to the Jenisch community, one of several groups of gypsies wandering Switzerland. Before the outbreak of the second world war he is co-opted into the army to defend the borders. Subsequently he learns that his wife died and his three children were taken away by the authorities as part of a persecution campaign to "re-educate" nomadic kids. Over the course of decades Lubo tries desperately to discover what happened to his family. Despite being a powerful narrative, this sweeping three-hour epic from Switzerland is probably too long, and I have a huge gripe that nothing was done to age the actor. However, cinematography and period settings are splendid, and Rogowski's fine lead performance firmly anchors the story with a poignancy and steely determination that is palpable, no doubt helping its nomination for a Best Film Golden Lion.
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