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My first Japanese Film Festival outing for this year, I stepped in to a multi-coloured tangled web of a tale about disaffected youth in rural Japan. Ai (a radiant Sairi Itô) is rejected by her mother and shipped off to a religious commune. Finding a sense of belonging there as Ananda, her peaceful world is upended when cult leader Levi (Matthew Chozick) is arrested. Continue reading
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Can Taika Waititi please direct every Marvel/DC film? Then I might be tempted to watch them. Not my favourite genre, New Zealand director Waititi (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, What We Do in the Shadows, Boy) for the most part refuses to take his job too seriously and peppers the script with largely improvised and genuinely funny dialogue. Continue reading
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The way to make a sequel, and big budget movie, is to give the directing job to a non-American it seems. French-Canadian, Denis Villeneuve, who directed the superb Arrival and Incendies, takes a fair stab at this one and manages to equal the original in mood, visual impact, leisurely pace and partially clothed women. Continue reading
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This unusually constructed documentary is an illustrated recitation of the words of James Baldwin, American writer and social critic. It begins with a letter to his agent about an idea to write the stories of Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X, all men who are outspoken about civil rights and all assassinated in the 60s. Continue reading
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The second feature from Iranian director Ida Panahandeh, Israfil is a quiet exploration of the repercussions of the cultural oppression dealt with much more histrionically in Leila. Unlike Leila, where the thoughts of the protagonists were spelt out to us, Panahandeh lets us watch and feel and imagine. Continue reading
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I missed this one at MIFF and it’s a timely tale of the damage caused by a lack of love and acceptance. Johnny (Josh O’Connor) lives on an isolated Scottish farm with his dad (Ian Hart) and Nan (Gemma Jones). There’s not much warmth in his world. His dad, whose physical ability has been limited by a stroke, lets Johnny know of his expectations and also his constant disappointment. Continue reading
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On the surface, this is a charming and adept musical odyssey of Scottish folk music. Aidan Moffat, lead singer of band Arab Strap that gained some fame in the 90s, has developed an interest in traditional ballads. Continue reading
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This is essentially a one-hander for nonogenarian Harry Dean Stanton who beautifully captures the fragility and complexities of old age. Continue reading
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My first Indonesian, feminist, spaghetti western. Marlina (Marsha Timothy), a young widow living alone, defends herself with cool insouciance against a rapacious gang. Continue reading
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An artful satire about collective responsibility and contemporary art, The Square is clever and sometimes challenging but overlong in delivering its message. Continue reading
