Zero Charisma

My favourite movie of the festival by a country mile! Laugh out loud funny. There’s another showing tomorrow, if you can possibly go, do so. It’s about hardcore Game Master Weidemeyer facing off against his geek chic nemesis. Honestly, GO!

A Thousand Times Goodnight

The first scenes are so beautiful the rest of the film couldn’t help but be a let down. It was actually a bit hokey, despite excellent performances from Juliet Binoche and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (that’s Jaime Lannister to you and me). It’s about a photojournalist trying to get a good work-life balance, which is actually incredibly…

The Congress

Best movie of the festival I’ve seen so far. Psychedelic sci-fi about copyright and consciousness, switching between animation and live action. Simply, it’s a surreal fairytale, ideal for those that enjoyed something like Spirited Away. But the plot’s springboard is more about the idea of marketable fantasy, not celloid but chemical, a sort of lo-fi…

The Last of the Unjust

A 4 hour documentary on the Holocaust. Is it okay to say it was boring? There were four other people in the cinema with me, one of whom fell asleep and started snoring over the film. To me it felt bloated, overlong and self-indulgent. Just because the subject is important doesn’t mean your three thousand…

The Quispe Girls

One of *those* films, where people ask, “Who will buy our cheese?” for 2 hours. Very beautiful all the same, with extra points for featuring enthusiastic Chilean herding dogs and a goat wearing a cardigan.

Mystery Road

A slow-burning Western set in an Australian Aboriginal community, in which every scene seethes with threat but plays out subtle and slow. Excellent if you like something like No Country For Old Men.

Ilo Ilo

A really good film about a maid, the family she works for and their little shit of a boy, and how they weather the financial crisis of 1997. Touching and tinged with humour, recommend!