Image via http://www.newyorker.com
The best way to see a Star wars film is at iMax in 3D (thanks Vaughan for the tip) with your three daughters, some popcorn and a frozen drink. Why? Because it gives a movie reliant on action and special effects its best chance and it will be an enjoyable event regardless. Rogue One has something going for it; being only a fragment of the original Star Wars story (what happened just before Episode IV: A New Hope) it isn’t weighed down by the original Star Wars characters or the unquestioning reverence for Star Wars canon that The Force Awakens seems to struggle under. Continue reading
Gosh this movie sounded good. The synopsis used words like ‘breathtaking’, ‘existential odyssey’, ‘abstract allegory’ and ‘a political version of a Beckett play.’ It really wasn’t any of those things though it has an interesting topic and some nice moments. It is a film in two distinct parts: we see Nero, a teen of Mexican origin who grew up in LA but was deported with his parents, trying to cross the border back to the US. In LA he meets up with his brother but not before being picked up by the police for looking too Mexican in a wealthy area of Beverley Hills. Nero’s plan is to be a ‘Greencard soldier’ where he can join the US military in exchange for a Greencard. 
This film was likened to 
My 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. 
Too 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. 
I wanted to really like this movie. It’s Australian, it has a young cast, it’s quirky and has a great sense of style. It’s set beautifully in the 70s; the fashions and decor making me want to go out there and redecorate. It starts off with an oddball lightness and a great sense of colour and framing but then veers into darker territory and seems to lose its way. I was left unsure as to which demographic the film is aimed at and how authentically it explores the anxieties of contemporary teens. 
MIFF has ‘night shift’ screenings around 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays and tonight I went to my first one. I had booked to see Baskin, a Turkish high-gore horror, but lost my nerve and swapped for the only other screening, Killing Ground. It’s an Australian thriller that will make many a city person afraid to go camping in the bush. 
fillums 