Mountains May Depart
A Chinese family saga melodrama that starts with a Pet Shop Boys hoedown.
Month: February 2016
Colours of the Alphabet
A beautiful documentary about a year in the life of primary one class in Zambia where the official language is English but the teacher speaks Nyanja and the pupils speak Soli. Despite being focused on the disadvantage of learning in second language, this is a bright, hopeful, positive portrayal in which people are active in…
Getting gross
Actually bought a GFF16 t-shirt just so I would have something clean to wear tomorrow.
Experimenter
I really enjoyed it. A biopic of the work of social scientist Stanley Milgram. Because it was thematically focused on conformity, perception, shared belief and shared suspension of disbelief, it was played as open theatre, with Peter Sarsgaard directly addressing the camera and some scenes performed in front of still blank-and-white photograph back-drops. Reminded me…
An update
By the way, that’s now 11 dogs #GFF16 #Dogageddon
Remember
A Memento-esque crime caper that oscillates oddly between comedy and tragedy. Christopher Plummer plays an elderly dementia sufferer who hunts down the former Auschwitz guard he believes is responsible for the death of his family.
A repeating theme
Just wanna say, it’s been a big dog death festival this year. Seen 10 dogs killed in these movies so far and I’m not even halfway through.
Land of Mine
A piano-wire tense drama about the German POWs who were forced to clear landmines in Denmark after the end of the war. Brutal and not one to miss.
The White Knights
A movie about an aid agency that’s actually an illegal adoption racket. The main character is a hothead, an asshole, a liar and a cheat but he CAN’T be a bad guy because he’s helping the kids. Shows up just how much colonialism is in the international aid dynamic and how much ‘help’ is about…
Evolution
Slow, atmospheric with sparse, brief dialogue, it is a French coming-of-age reproductive horror. Think Shadow Over Innsmouth meets Rosemary’s Baby.