Wellington Film Festival

I saw 6 films in this years International Film Festival.
Naked Childhood
French cinema verite from 1968, with a non-actor cast following the life of a boy in foster care and the difficulties of the various relationships. It was incredibly engaging, but sometimes painful. The film cycled through the boy doing something horrible, then finding some measure of peace and engagement with his family, then doing something horrible again to mess it all up. The message, of course, being that the problems are going on a long way under the surface. There was a very old grandmother, nearly bed-ridden, who formed a special bond with the boy, and who everyone in the theatre fell in love with – she was just an incredibly warm and genuine presence. When she died, a pall fell over the place and you knew the boy was going to get himself in real trouble.
Also of note: I flinched when the boy hurled a military knife at his foster brother, embedding it in the door by his head; I flinched even more a moment later when I realised they hadn’t used trick photography or special effects, they’d just hurled a bloody knife at the actor’s head. *shudder*
Thank You For Smoking
Fun satire on the lobby industry, through the lens of big tobacco – following a lobbyist through his work undermining truth and exploiting uncertainty and patriotism. It was a bit too ‘adapted from a novel’ for my taste, big and sprawling but thinly-spread, clearly leaving out lots of stuff from the novel but not balancing that with a solid focus. It made me laugh a bunch and I liked it, but I doubt I’ll remember much about it in six month’s time.
Dave Chappelle’s Block Party
Wonderful concert film, with lots of the very funny Dave Chappelle and a very genuine community-building underpinning to some great concert footage. The only problem I had with this film was, I wanted it to be a half-hour longer and have that half hour be concert footage. It was great. And I admit, seeing the Fugees reunite on stage was a pretty awesome moment for me – the Fugees live in ’98 was the best hiphop gig I’ve ever been to.
The Heart of the Game
This movie was a ridiculous and cheesy sports story, where a black girl comes to a white school and becomes the star of the basketball team, overcoming the prejudice of her friends towards her school and her school towards her, and under the mentoring of a wise and demanding coach she leads the team to success, until a massive personal crisis upsets everything, and the team has to unite around her in the face of legal and personal challenges, until finally everything is resolved in the final seconds of a championship match against their arch-rival team from the school across town…
…if it wasn’t a documentary I woulda walked out. Incredible. Very, very cool. And I’m underselling it here – there’s so much to this film, lots of very interesting stuff that is only briefly touched on due to time constraints. It’s no Hoop Dreams, but it’s amazing nonetheless.
The Host
Crazy Korean monster movie. Was sold to me as a horror movie, but when the giant creature comes stomping out of the river ten minutes in and goes on a rampage, its true nature becomes obvious. Lots and lots of fun, with one of the best reversals-of-expectation I’ve seen in any movie ever. Hurray!
Ten Canoes
Australian aboriginal folk tale. Wonderful, gently paced, full of wry humour and ravishing cinematography – Aussie swamps have never looked so good. This is one of those films that stay with you. The death dance sequence I don’t think I’ll ever forget.