MIFF announced some surprise screenings on the last day. These are films that weren’t part of the festival program and were a mixture of classics – Abbas Kiarostami’s A Taste of Cherry to mark his passing last month – and new films like this New Zealand drama that had just premiered at the NZ Film Festival and been chosen for the New York Film Festival. It’s based on a book by Eleanor Catton, author of the much better know The Luminaries so it has some credentials. Overall it was a pleasant experience though I was left wondering what the film was really about. Continue reading
One of the great things about MIFF is that you get to see older films that you can’t easily access. I don’t book many of these as there are so many new films to see but I liked the sound of this 1978 one by director Claudia Weill. It’s a simple story about two room mates, Susan and Annie, whose friendship is tested when Annie moves out and gets married. 
Seeing three films in a row is hard, particularly when they are 4pm, 6.30pm and 9pm sessions with only enough time in between to power walk to the next venue. Knowing that the Graduation was a 2-hour Romanian social realist drama, I didn’t have a lot of confidence that I would make it through to the end. I found myself, though, absorbed and swept up in a story about Romania and parenting and regret and acceptance. 
A lovely film, beautifully told, this triptych of stories directed by Kelly Reichardt (Meek’s Cutoff) immerses us in the lives of three women, played by Laura Dern, Michelle Williams and a luminous Lily Gladstone (above). Each of the three stories has a small interconnection with the others but stands alone as a meditation on loneliness and the sad reality of our inability sometimes to help others. 
Directed by Jim Jarmusch and starring the seemingly ubiquitous Adam Driver, I was expecting something interesting but mainstream from Paterson. That’s not quite what this film is. On the surface it is an uneventful study of the routine of a single, ordinary life, with some humour provided by a dog. Underneath, it is a meditation on the difficulty of reengaging and finding meaning in life after military service, or perhaps any trauma. 
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The French title of this lovely family film is Jamais Contente, which I think translates as ‘never satisfied’ and this seems an apt description of both the affliction of the central character, 13-year-old Aurore, and the attitude of the adults around her. Aurore is repeating year 7, has a younger sister who always gets good grades and an older one who seems to do what she likes. Aurore feels misunderstood by all and disenfranchised from her family. 
I loved this Danish film. It is poignant and engaging, an exploration of ageing, relationships and the difficulty of embracing change. It centres around Anna, Erik and their teenager daughter Freja. Set in the 70s, Anna is a well-known newscaster, Erik a lecturer in architecture. When Erik’s father dies, he is left the huge house of his childhood and Anna convinces him not to sell it. Instead they will live in it and invite friends to form a commune. 
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