Emotion Pictures

23:08 Jun 22, 2011 21

The full schedule for the Auckland Film Festival (July 14 - August 3) is now on-line, with bookings opening on Friday and Wellington (July 29 - August 14) to follow suit next Thursday. It's a time for cinephiles to go wild like small children with their own weight in sweets -- including the miserable hangover from far too much of a good thing, far too fast -- and the never-ending battle between enthusiasm, fiscal reality and the impossibility of being in two or more place at the same time flares into life again.

But let's kick things off with an impressionistic Top Ten that I'm sure a good proportion of you will hate, and which will probably be totally different tomorrow. (Terence Malick's Cannes Palme d'Or winner The Tree of Life and Lars von Trier's latest trollish provocation will have their fans and get plenty of ink. Just not from me. Local films will get their own pimp post. Just because.)

3-D UBER ALLES. Has 3-D turned out to be anything more than a gross-inflating gimmick? For every Avatar there's been a dozen others that weren't much chop to begin with, and definitely not improved by a migraine. Still, if anyone can give 3-D artistic legitimacy, Wim Wenders' Pina (a posthumous tribute to avant garde dancer-choreographer Pina Bausch) and Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams (what it says on the box, more or less)

THE FUTURE ISN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE... What self-respecting science fiction fan would pass on a chance to see Fritz Lang's Metropolis as close-to-its-original-glory-as-it's-likely-to-get? Not me.

... BUT AT LEAST THE VAMPIRES DIDN'T SPARKLE. Yes, kiddies, F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu is a blatantly copywrong rip-off of Stoker's Dracula, and it's often dangerous to vegans and the lactose intolerant. But Max Shreck is too busy being an evil mother to sparkle, whinge or wink at the camera. Which forgives all sins -- even if it wasn't the festival's Live Cinema, with the Auckland Philharmonia performing a new score in front of a shiny print from the British Film Institute.

THE MORMON MISSIONARY POSITION AND THE ELUSIVE NATURE OF TRUTH! Welcome back, Errol Morris. Yes, his Oscar winning doco The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara and less-warmly received Standard Operating Procedure are significant films about serious issues. But I've missed the more quirky observer of ordinary madness, and Tabloid sure fits the bill as Morris tells the tale(s) of Joyce McKinney. Who is truly... something else.

ANY NEW FILMS BY LIVE PEOPLE?

Arietty isn't a new Hayao Miyazaki film but I've get to see a Studio Ghibli production I haven't adored. Director Yonebayashi Hiromasa (aged 37) is the youngest director in the studio's history, but has worked on every one of their films from Princess Mononoke. Like Howl's Moving Castle this is an adaptation of a classic English kid's fantasy novel - this time, Mary Norton's The Borrowers - that tells the tale of the friendship between a 10 year old boy and a girl who's four inches tall.

You want incredibly strange? Hobo With A Shotgun. Hobo. Shotgun. Rutger Hauer. Cananda used to be such a nice place. (WARNING: Link to film's official site includes extremely NSFW trailer.)

Space Battleship Yamato The Earth is doomed, what do you do? Retrofit a World War II vintage battleship, snap off a ridonkulous salute and head off to save humanity to the strains of a Steven Tyler power ballard. What were you thinking of?

I'm a sucker for historical fiction and labyrinthine mysteries, but Raul Ruiz's four and a half hour Mysteries of Lisbon sound like great fun. And an enormous risk. Which is where any good film festival should leave you at least once a year.

21 responses to this post

Isaac Freeman, 11:08 Jun 23, 2011

The thing is, the Yamato wasn’t just any battleship. It was the pride of the fleet, and promoted by the wartime government as the very symbol of an aggressive modern Japan. Yamato was an ancient name for Japan, and for the dominant Japanese ethnic group. Its sinking was a crucial symbolic moment in the war, and it's been freighted with cultural significance ever since, perhaps more so even than Hiroshima.
Thus, the 1970s Battleship Yamato anime, in which the battleship is sent on a final mission to save the world, has layers of meaning for the Japanese. It plays with disturbing imagery, and it questions the popular image of a redeemed Japan emerging from the ashes of war. It’s one of the most popular anime series ever made.
Erm… end lecture. The live action remake does look crap, of course.

Christchurch • Since Feb 2007 • 134 posts Report
Craig Ranapia, 11:15 Jun 23, 2011

Erm… end lecture.
Please don’t – it was shiny. I just have a weak spot for cheesy SF apocalypses set to Steven Tyler power ballards. Armageddon, sigh…

North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report
Hugh Lilly, 11:17 Jun 23, 2011

It's "Palme d'Or," not "Palm D'Or."
Also, what do you have against Malick and von Trier?

Auckland • Since Feb 2007 • 5 posts Report
Craig Ranapia, in reply to Hugh Lilly, 11:21 Jun 23, 2011

Also, what do you have against Malick and von Trier?
Malick’s films are a succession of astoundingly beautiful images that end up being much less than the sum of their parts. As for von Trier – well, I can really do without the increasingly sour and nasty misogyny. At least the interminable Saw franchise is a no-bullshit exercise in torture porn for fun and profit.
Or more tersely: Malick is a bore and von Trier is repugnant. I know a lot of people beg to differ on both scores, and if anyone is interested in a guest post on The Tree of Life and Melancholia drop me a line. Since it's exceedingly unlikely the New Zealand Film Festival trust has an open-ended comp in the mail, I'm paying my own way and don't see the point of seeing (or writing about) films by directors I'm totally unsympathetic to.

North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report
Danielle, 11:33 Jun 23, 2011

Breaking the Waves kicked my ass so much that I have never been able to bring myself to watch another of von Trier's films (or hear 'Life on Mars' without thinking of poor Emily Watson). I am a wimp. Or someone with a finely tuned instinct for self-preservation.
I am VEDDY VEDDY excited by: Taxi Driver, Metropolis, Nosferatu, and La Dolca Vita, because I am a repertory/restoration whore. I'm also a documentary whore, but so many of them nowadays are shown on DVD at the Sky City Theatre (particularly the music ones) that it rather bums me out - it isn't Film Festivally enough. I'd rather just rent those and watch them at home with more - I mean some - no, I mean ANY - leg room. ( Cave of Forgotten Dreams being the exception here.)

Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report
Leopold, 11:52 Jun 23, 2011

Just wondering - Do Chch film Society members, if they venture North or South, get the same discounts as 'home' FS members for the respective festivals? And any thought of FS members in other centres providing accommodation for such film refugees?
(Sorry - can't oblige myself - we already have rellies coming)

Since Jan 2007 • 153 posts Report
Josh Addison, 12:16 Jun 23, 2011

At one point in Hobo With A Shotgun, Rutger Hauer's character begs on a sidewalk with the sign I AM TIRED NEED $ FOR LAWNMOWER - particularly compelling, since both of those statements apply to me at the moment.

Onehunga, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 298 posts Report
Sacha, in reply to Danielle, 12:22 Jun 23, 2011

Emily Watson
Still one of the most astonishing performances I've ever seen - at a Festival screening, too. Haunting. And an Oscar best actress nomination for her first movie role.

Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report
Craig Ranapia, in reply to Leopold, 12:28 Jun 23, 2011

Just wondering - Do Chch film Society members, if they venture North or South, get the same discounts as 'home' FS members for the respective festivals?
I believe that's always been the case, but will double check.

North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report
Craig Ranapia, in reply to Leopold, 13:08 Jun 23, 2011

Leopold:
Tweet from @nzff:
As long as it's a full membership, they can get the Film Society ticket price at other Festival locations.
Hope that helped.

North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report
Leopold, in reply to Craig Ranapia, 13:14 Jun 23, 2011

Thanks

Since Jan 2007 • 153 posts Report
Kumara Republic, in reply to Hugh Lilly, 14:05 Jun 23, 2011

It's "Palme d'Or," not "Palm D'Or."
Actually, didn't you mean, "Facepalme d'Or?"

The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report
Aquila G, in reply to Danielle, 14:39 Jun 23, 2011

I'll be lining up to sit in Skycity Theatre's very uncomfortable seats, because some of those documentaries do look great, and I find I don't get around to obtaining and close watching them on DVD.
I'm gleefully enjoying the "what would you say to a doco in 3D..." *wince* "... by Werner Herzog?" *sudden interest* conversations.
Others on my still to be radically trimmed longlist include A Boatload of Wild Irishmen, Sons of Perdition, Better this World, Hot Coffee, Page One, Mana Waka, Position of the Stars, Miss Representation, Project Nim, Buck and Guilty Pleasures.
Neither Tree or Life or Melancholia interest me.
I'm still trying to figure out if I'll enjoy Spaceship Battleship Yamoto. I'll disappoint my stepdad by not wanting to see Metropolis again, or Nosferatu. I'd rather see Troll Hunters and Arrietty - I read all the Borrower books as a kid. And maybe Mill on the Cross.
Meek's Cutoff is already on my definite list, and She Monkeys and Tomboy.
I have a genius for picking sad films to go to, to try and escape that I want to see Happy, Happy, but not My Joy. The Giants, Kid with a Bike, the Acacias, and Attenberg have caught my attention.
My mother wants to see Mysteries of Lisbon. I'm just boggled that it has an interval! Very sensible, but I feel like taking teenagers to it and quavering about "when I was a child".

Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 9 posts Report
Islander, 15:58 Jun 23, 2011

I’ll wait for Arrietty (first touted as “The Borrower Arrietty”) to come out with English dialogue..and see if anyone in the family has access to a 3D player for “The Cave of Forgotten Dreams” (archaeologists have been raving about it! And I have all the books available in English on Chauvet!) before buying both as dvds-

Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report
Craig Ranapia, in reply to Aquila G, 17:00 Jun 23, 2011

Others on my still to be radically trimmed longlist include A Boatload of Wild Irishmen,
Walked into a pub?

North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report
Robyn Gallagher, in reply to Islander, 20:09 Jun 23, 2011

I’ll wait for Arrietty (first touted as “The Borrower Arrietty”) to come out with English dialogue
Which reminds me - why is it that people are happy to watch foreign-language cartoons dubbed into English, but turn their noses up at the same for live-action films? The English script still has to be written and spoken to fit the voice moments of the original language.
Having said that, cute French animation A Cat in Paris is screening at the festival with both English-dubbed and subtitled versions.

Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report
Steve Parks, in reply to Craig Ranapia, 00:58 Jun 24, 2011

…four and a half hour Mysteries of Lisbon sound like great fun.
Four and a half hours!
But yes, it does sound good. Will have to check that out.
As for von Trier, I hated Dancer in the Dark, but I suppose I should give his films another shot. Melancholia seems like as good a film as any to try.

Wellington • Since May 2007 • 1165 posts Report
Craig Ranapia, in reply to Robyn Gallagher, 08:06 Jun 24, 2011

Which reminds me - why is it that people are happy to watch foreign-language cartoons dubbed into English, but turn their noses up at the same for live-action films?
When I tooking the younglings to see Ponyo, the only screening that worked was the Japanese ;anguage version amd I had some concerns. When I warned them that there would be some reading involved, I got the cutest "oh, listen to the old man being lame " eye-rolls. :)

North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report
Martin Lindberg, in reply to Robyn Gallagher, 08:26 Jun 24, 2011

Which reminds me - why is it that people are happy to watch foreign-language cartoons dubbed into English, but turn their noses up at the same for live-action films?
Well, the cartoons are by definition already dubbed. Those animated characters can't really speak by themselves. Real actors can. Still, I'm happier with subtitles myself.

Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report
Jackie Clark, in reply to Craig Ranapia, 08:30 Jun 24, 2011

Along the lines of wanting to see stuff, and the money thing, one of the things I mean to do every year is rock along to the Documentary Festival wit a couple of my friends who do that whole "20 films in 2 weeks" thing. And every year, I do not. So imagine my joy and pleasure to look at my Listener this morning, and see, that on TVOne, very late at night. next week they will be showing Bloody Dirty Hippies, which was one of the very docos I was itching to see. FTW!

Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report
Martin Lindberg, 16:08 Jun 25, 2011

Ever since I first read about Terence Malick's Tree of Life I've been wondering with increasing irritation why it's never mentioned that Patrick White wrote the novel.
Until today, when it suddenly dawned on me that Patrick White's (excellent) book is called Tree of Man.
Ah well, brain rot...

Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report