Virtual Reality: 6×9

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6-X-9-AN-IMMERSIVE-EXPERIENCE-OF-SOLITARY-CONFINEMENT-1My second VR experience was a sobering one. This time I was ushered into a room with a circle of chairs and settled in with nine other people. We are kitted up with our goggles and headphones and then all of a sudden, I am in a solitary confinement cell. Bed, toilet, shelf, door, blank painted walls, a heavy door with a clouded window. As I move my gaze around the room, objects light up and fragments of audio interviews of people talking about their experiences play. Continue reading

The Commune (2016)

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THE-COMMUNE-2I 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. Continue reading

Virtual Reality: The Turning Forest

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TURNING-FOREST-1I love virtual reality! Wow, what an experience. The Turning Forest is a short (10 minute) animation and the virtual reality goggles insert you right into the middle of it. MIFF has a series of VR experiences this year and for this one, I was ushered into a curtained off space and seated on a stool that swivels 360 degrees. With goggles and headphones on, the blackness suddenly falls away and I am in an iridescent forest with orange trees towering above me. Continue reading

Bleak Street (2015)

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BLEAK-STREET-3Too bleak for me. Beautiful black and white but claustrophobically grim, this Mexican drama centres on two ageing prostitutes who struggle to make enough money to live. They are exploited by everyone and do the same to others in order to survive. The only true connection seems to be the friendship, or perhaps commonality, between them. Continue reading

The Unknown Girl (2016)

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THE-UNKNOWN-GIRL-1The Unknown Girl is a film that will have an unknown ending for me as I walked out on it. It’s by the Dardennes brothers and I was really looking forward to it but I just couldn’t engage with the storyline. Jenny is a young doctor in her last days at a general practice for low-income patients before she moves on to a better job. One night after closing time, the clinic bell rings and she doesn’t answer it. It turns out to have been a young girl who was then murdered. Feeling responsible, Jenny tries to find out who she is. Continue reading

Album (2016)

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ALBUM-1Oh boy, I loved and hated this Turkish film. It is excruciating to watch, like the Lanthimos film Dogtooth where the characters are so extreme, the story so odd and metaphorical that you are not really sure what it is you are seeing. And then the resolution is so devastating that you know you have just watched something with deep resonance. Continue reading

Don Juan (2015)

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don-juan-jerzy-sladkowskiWhat a powerful documentary about our ability to be destructive to those we love. Oleg is a young Russian man with autism. He lives with his mother who wants him to be normal, sending him to multiple therapies, berating him for not being a ‘real man’ who can support and protect her. We can see she carries a bitter well of resentment and her only focus is Oleg. Continue reading

A Dragon Arrives! (2016)

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A DRAGON ARRIVES 2I have no idea what this Iranian film is about. It’s stylish, unconventional and full of beautiful moments and promise but ultimately I felt I was missing out on a cultural context that may have made sense of the story. It begins as a drama with a man, Babak, recounting to an investigator the events that had led up to that moment. We then see the events unfold; he is sent to make a report on a man who has killed himself on the island of Qeshm. He was an ‘exile’ living alone in a derelict boat in the middle of a desert cemetery and Babak can see that he was murdered. His investigations begin to reveal surreal and confusing facts. Continue reading

Apprentice (2016)

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APPRENTICE-1I cried at the end of this film, I’m not sure why. There is a quiet reverence to it and beauty that is at odds with its setting. By Singaporean director Boo Junfeng, the setting is a Malay maximum security prison where Aiman has just begun work as a guard. He seems kind, conscientious, though emotionally distant from his only sister. Soon he is taken under the wing of Rahim, the prison executioner, who teaches him how to ‘kill well’, with the least pain and the most compassion. Continue reading

Starless Dreams (2016)

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STARLESS-DREAMS-1This is a beautifully made Iranian documentary that immerses itself in the lives of teenagers in a ‘rehabilitation and correction’ centre, which seems to be a cross between a juvenile justice centre and a refuge. With no narration, we see these young women establish lives and friendships in the centre and slowly hear their individual stories. Continue reading