July 27th 2024
The Teacher Who Promised the Sea
Totem
The Boy and the Heron (streaming on Prime)
Another from Saxo Scandinavian Film Festival
Here's an eclectic bunch of films for you this week. Animation, historical stories, and human drama - a bit of everything for your viewing delight.
The Teacher Who Promised the Sea
Dir: Patricia Font
Length: 105 mins
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© Palace - stories of oppression entwined
with selfless people remain highly relevant |
Set in 1935 and the present day, this powerful yet moving film is based upon the true story of a teacher, Antonio Benaiges (Enric Auquer). Young, idealistic, and anything but traditional, he is sent to teach in a little school in the north of Spain. The kids love him, but when Franco's regime comes into power, he is definitely not on the approved list. The film runs in two timelines, constantly alternating. In the present day Ariadna (Laia Costa) is searching for the remains of her great grandfather in one of the many mass graves in which people murdered by the Franco regime were buried. Just when I thought this story might become overly cute, it took a dramatic turn and became tense and moving, highlighting issues of progressive teaching, tyranny, and the importance of free speech. 3.5 - well recommended
Totem
Dir: Lila Aviles
Length: 95 mins
Exclusive to Cinema Nova
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© - tender and delicate film-making
with a winner child actor |
Somewhere in Mexico, seven-year-old Sol (Naima Senties) and her mother are driving to Grandfather's home where a birthday party is beng planned for Sol's father Tona (Mateo Garcia). The house is bustling with relatives, all engaged in some aspect of party preparation. But the celebration has greater significance, as Tona is terminally ill, and unlikely to see another birthday. The winner of the Golden Bear 2023, Totem is the sort of film that is so difficult to make, as so little of an eventful nature happens. It is all about feelings - the emotion, the anticipation, but most of all the love between those in the family, and a little girl for her father. Senties is a revelation - she gives a stupendously impressive performance, as Sol mooches around the house and garden, observing nature and asking her aunts when she can see her father. Every role feels like a real flesh and blood person, not an actor portraying a character. The director's camera takes in all the conversation, and every small detail, as if the audience were in the room with the characters. This film captures life in all its messy glory - the sadness, pain, love, loss and joy. It is a small treasure.4 - highly recommended
The Boy and the Heron
Dir: Hiyao Miyazaki
Length: 124 mins
Streaming on Prime & Apple+
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© - more glorious animation and
weirdtales from Studio Ghibli |
Studio Ghibli has been responsible for some of the most incredible animations over many years. Beloved director Miyazaki, now 83 years old, has returned with another film (his last?) revisiting many of his favorite themes: loss of a mother, step-families, magical worlds, weird creatures, growing up . . . In this tale, young Mahito is mourning his mother's death, but in the new place to which he, his father and stepmother move, he learns that his mother may be still alive. Wit the help of an ugly heron-like creature, he enters an alternate world under a tower to go on the quest. What I adore about Miyazaki's films is their look - the painterly images, with their sublime watercolor washes, sometimes giving way to arresting, in-your-face scary creatures and stunning visual overload. The plot of this one has many twists and turns and is not always as easy to follow as some of Miyazaki's other films, but for lovers of all things Ghibli, this should reward amply. It won Best Animated Feature at this year's Academy Awards.3.5 - well recommended
Another from . . . Saxo Scandinavian Film Festival
Running until 7 August (Melbourne)
Palace cinemas
I've seen another from this excellent festival celebrating the best of Nordic cinema from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland. This is an intriguing and tense true story, about which I knew absolutely nothing.
Riot: At the start of the 20th century, 18-year-old Konrad goes to work for a Norwegian copper mine. The boss Wennstrom is ruthless and the workers are exploited and enduring dangerous and often brutal conditions. This is a true story of how those workers revolted, and how their actions finally gave rise to the first Norwegian workers union. The film is tense, well-acted, and, though dark in subject matter and look, is an inportant glimpse into history that is still relevant today, as workers reman exploited in many parts of the world.
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