October 27th
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris
Bros
McEnroe - digital download
Jewish International Film Festival (JIFF) - 10 films reviewed:
The Art of Silence
America
The Partisan with the Leica Camera
Fiddler's Journey to the Big Screen
Prophets of Change
My Neighbour Adolf
The Burning Cold
Four Winters
Where Life Begins
The Auschwitz Report
It's a huge week for reviewing. Ten reviews so far for the Jewish International Film Festival, which opened in Melbourne on Monday night. Mrs Harris has been part of the British Film Festival but gets a general release this week. Bros is the first gay rom-com, while McEnroe is a deeply personal portrait of a sporting legend.
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris
Dir: Anthony Fabian
Length: 115 mins
 |
© Universal - a Cinderella story (almost) that
will enchant you |
Several words come immediately to mind as I watch Mrs Harris: unbelievable, frothy, romantic but most of all an unadulterated entertainment. Ada Harris (Lesley Manville) is a widowed cleaning lady who falls in love with a Dior gown belonging to one of her wealthy clients. She decides she will scrimp and save to go to Paris and buy herself such a magnificent dress. This is a delightful and heartwarming film, with a winning central performance from Manville. Accompanying her is a bevy of wonderful characters, among them Andre (Lucas Bravo), the Dior accountant secretly in love with Natasha, one of the models, uppity Dior director Claudine Colbert (Isabelle Huppert), potential love interest French aristocrat Marquis de Chassagne (Christopher Lambert), and back in England local bookmaker Archie (Jason Isaacs), and Ada's best friend Violet (Ellen Thomas). The film champions the values of the underdog - the invisible women who are used and looked down on by the wealthy. Ada manages to maintain her sense of self-worth through it all, and even manages to have a seminal influence upon the mighty House of Dior. The film could have overstepped the mark into sentimentality, but never does - it maintains that delicate balance between fairytale and reality. In a fraught world, Mrs. Harris gives us just the right amount of hope that dreams can perhaps come true, not always in the way we might expect. So go and just surrender to one of the most charming films you'll see in a long while. (And revel in those gorgeous gowns!)4 - highly recommended
Bros
Dir: Nicholas Stoller
Length: 115 mins
 |
© Universal - commitment phobia and love - the same
old story regardless of your sexual proclivity |
Bobby Leiber (Billy Eichner) is director of an about-to-open museum on LGBTQI history. He loves to play the field and is commitment phobic. But then he meets Aaron (Luke Macfarlane), a buffed handsome lawyer, equally wary of a committed relationship. You can possibly predict how the plot goes from here, as Bros has all the expected tropes of a typical rom-com. Except that this one is the first rom-com in which the leads, and in fact the whole cast, are from the LGBTQI community. The engaging script is chock-full of funny one-liners (some of which went over my head but pleased the gay audience greatly) and plenty of explicit man-on-man sex. The characters supporting Bobby in his museum venture are a bit stereotyped and lacking nuance, but perhaps this is Eichner's idea of having some self-deprecatory jokes, based on the straight community's image of the queer community? What strikes me is this: the story is ultimately something that everyone can relate to, regardless of sexual orientation; it's about love, wanting it, avoiding it, and finally giving it a go, because that's what most human beings crave. This film is really a whole heap of fun. 3.5 - well recommended
McEnroe
Dir: Barney Douglas
Length: 104 mins
McEnroe is available to rent and own on all major digital platforms in Australia from 26th October
 |
© Universal - intensely personal story of a legend,
both on and off the court |
"Thirty-seven psychologists and psychiatrists couldn't help. I was melting down." So says tennis legend John McEnroe as he talks about his life, his drive to win and his pursuit of perfection. No need to be a tennis fan to enjoy this self-analytical doco about one of the bad-boys of the sporting world. The film features fabulous old match footage plus interviews with people in McEnroe's life, among them Keith Richards, Billie Jean King, Bjorn Borg and wife Patty Smyth, making the film also intimate and personal. Then we have scenes of the man himself just walking through New York, and talking frankly about what he has been through, good and bad in his life. Footage of confrontations on the court, with other players and umpires, shine a light on the rise of the cult of bad-tempered sporting superstars. We are also treated to top-level tennis, and relive some of the epic matches between McEnroe and Borg. As a study of one of the greats of the sporting world, both on and off the court, this is a revelatory, entertaining and award-winning doco.4 - highly recommended
Jewish International Film Festival
Melbourne : on now until 27th November
Classic Elsternwick and Lido Hawthorn
For details of other states, films, times, synopses, bookings visit www.jiff.com.au
Showcasing 30 feature films, 20 documentaries, 47 Australian premieres, TV shows and shorts, it's another bumper year for one of my favorite festivals. Everything I've previewed so far comes highly recommended (that's what I always find with JIFF!)
The Art of Silence: Arguably the world's best ever mime artist, Marcel Marceau experienced much tragedy in his life, growing up during WW2 in France and becoming involved in the Resistance. We've had a feature film about him before, but never a doco on his amazing life. This one features so much excellent footage of the great performer, with insightful commentary from his friends, family members and protegees. Adding extra depth to the film is the fact that the filmmaker grew up with a deaf father, who signs and talks to camera about ways of expressing oneself non-verbally. The film is an absolute must-see for all fans of Marceau and mime, and for anyone wanting an inspirational story of compassion and talent in a truly great artist.
America: Eli is an Israeli-born swimming instructor living in the USA. When his father dies he heads back to settle up the estate. There he reconnects with his childhood best friend Yotam, who is about to marry Iris, a florist. But tragedy strikes and everyone's lives are irrevocably changed. The style of narrative story-telling this film employs is very delicate and beautiful. Emotionally the film packs a real punch, moving between love, pain, grief and sensuality. Lead actress Oshrat Ingedashet gives an exquisite performance that won her a Best Actress award at the Jerusalem Film Festival.
The Partisan with the Leica Camera: Lovers of wartime resistance stories, and of photography should not miss this documentary. It deals with Mundek Lukawiecki and his wife Hannah, who hid out in the Polish forests with the partisans, fighting the Germans. Mundek took many photos, and these form an invaluable record of those incredible times. Mundek's son Simon, now 65, gets out an old photo album left to him by his father, to reveal the shocking truth about his parents' past and some of the things they were forced to do. The film blends beautifully the disturbing sepia images with scenes of the forest where the partisans hid, as it is today, peaceful and beautiful.
Fiddler's Journey to the Big Screen: Norman Jewison, a Gentile, always wanted to be a Jew and was overjoyed when he was chosen to direct the iconic 1971 film Fiddler on the Roof. This doco is an all-encompassing look at how the film of the beloved Broadway play came into being. It features scenes from the film, with commentary on how they were shot, along with revealing present-day interviews with the cast and crew. How they recreated the world of European Jewry in the days of the Czar is a fascinating tale, as are the machinations of choosing the cast, especially the lead role of Tevye which went to Topol. Jewison is a delight, as he reminisces upon the film and his spiritual and creative journey. Not to be missed by Fiddler fans, or those keen to see the inner workings of the making of a film that became universally loved.
Prophets of Change: In a previous JIFF, the film Breaking Bread dealt with a foodie festival in which Israeli chefs from Arab and Jewish backgrounds teamed up to cook together. Here it's musicians who team up, to use their combined music skills to perform and record together, in the hope of bringing about a level of reconciliation between Palestine and Israel. Some fantastic collaborations involve songs in both Hebrew and Arabic, combining traditions and defying stereoptyped prejudices. There's some excellent music, but it's the philosophy behind the film that really packs a punch.
My Neighbour Adolf: Polsky (David Hayman) is a grumpy and lonely Holocaust survivor living in a remote part of the Colombian countryside. When a German neighbour, Herzog (Udo Keir), moves in, Polsky is convinced the man is Hitler, and sets about spying on him to get proof. But when the Israeli embassy won't accept the "proof". Polsky is forced to set up a friendship with his nemesis. With terrific performances by the two lead men, this is a really enchanting and very funny film about prejudice, loneliness, paranoia, and ultimately friendship.
The Burning Cold: This historical narrative tells a little known story of Jews escaping through the Pyrenees mountains via the tiny nation of Andorra, a rare setting for films of this nature. In 1943 Antonio and Sara, who are expecting their first child, have their lives upended when a family of Jews fleeing Poland land up in their tiny village, bringing everyone to the attention of the Nazi soldiers stationed there. This is truly gripping film-making, with tension, emotion, and plenty of moral dilemmas for the characters.
Four Winters: Here's another rivetting documentary about the partisans of World War Two. Eight individuals, now very old, talk openly and shockingly, about the four years they spent hiding out in the forests of Eastern Europe, living like animals, and fighting the Germans. It is a story of bravery, resilience and heroism. Each person is a captivating story-teller, and I found myself glued to their every word. I am astonished to learn that 25,000 Jewish partisans fought against the Germans, in what became an army to be reckoned with.
Where Life Begins: Each year a family of ultra-Orthodox Jews heads to southern Italy to spend two weeks on a farm which grows citrons, a special fruit used in Jewish festivals. Farm-worker Elio (Riccardo Scamarcio) is a talented artist, estranged from his wife and kids, while Esther is the Rabbi's daughter, trapped in a world of conservative Orthodoxy, torn between her desire for freedom and loyalty to parents trying to marry her off. Elio and Esther, from such different worlds, gradually develop a bond which will help them both to find new paths in their lives. This is such a beautiful and understated film that never goes where you expect it to. Set in the glorious Calabrian countryside, it looks wonderful, has joyous moments, and is suffused with deep emotion generated by the powerful lead performances.
The Auschwitz Report: Uncompromisingly distressing, but also incredibly inspiring, this feature film is a co-production from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. It tells the story of Alfred Wetzler and Rudolph Vrba, two Slovak Jews who, with the help of other inmates, planned a successful escape, and took proof of the horrors of Auschwitz to the Red Cross. The film will be incredibly hard to watch for some people, but it gives one of the most chilling and realistic portrayals of how it must have been, along with the most depraved and sadistic cruelty of the Nazis that I've seen in a concentration camp film. It is also testament to the bravery and determination of two men who risked it all to bring the ghastly truth to the world.
JIFF has something for everyone - it is a fabulous film festival - check it out regardless of your faith (or lack thereof!)
