Monday, Monday
The weekend was, in a word, disorderly - I didn't wind up attending any movies.
So tonight I was able to get along to two films, Blacktown and Three of Hearts: A Post-Modern Family.
(Luckily I can link straight to the MIFF website's excellent online synopsis, allowing me to avoid having to heavily summarise these movies.)
I decided to get a minipass, and got into the festival box office with time to spare before the 7.30pm screening of Blacktown. No matter what time of day you are there, there is always a queue, and during today's queue I was joined by three French exchange students who presumably thought they were on exceedingly crowded public transport and each suffered from poor hearing. STEP BACK LOUD FRENCHIE!
The lady festival volunteers (surely they can't all be silly enough to volunteer for this stuff?) are almost always trendy looking, extraordinarily cute, and precisely the sort of girl I'd love to be seen with on my arm. The girl who served me was no exception, right up until she told me there were no minipasses left - "We'll have some more tomorrow, maybe." - and secondly, DENYING my student card as a valid form of concession ID - "Sorry, this isn't stamped with this year's date." - to which I did the only thing a well restrained festival goer could do, I muttered and rolled my eyes.
I was now shitty, and $30 poorer - she was still alarmingly adorable.
The queue at ACMI was massive, as Blacktown sold out. When seated, in a first for me, I struck up conversation with the girl next to me who was taking notes. I'm not going to reveal how I did this, I don't want everyone lifting my best lines for their personal use, but she was a smart type, with a burgeoning interest in cinema. In and amongst some name dropping and general talking myself up, I noticed that one of the notes she had taken "because I'm interested in directing movies" was Movie is sold out. Hmmm... telling observation.
Blacktown was shot on DV and according to film maker Kriv Stenders, who introduced the film, 'has come to your straight from my computer desktop.' The storyline of this was easy enough to follow, and I have to say, was quite captivating. It treads a fine line between gently leading you on, and risking boring you, yet pulls it off in way that never leads you to second guess the film.
One thing I cannot stand, especially in something this low budget, is a camera which moves during setting shots - it's a small thing, but I'd rather watch a movie without thinking "damnit, buy a FUCKING tripod" every three minutes.
Blacktown tells of an unconventional story, in an unconventional way and still delivers. The energy between leads Niki Owen and Tony Ryan is constant, as both characters grow and bloom during the film.
Unfortunately Blacktown doesn't screen again this festival, but is worth seeing if it happens to pop up locally sometime.
3.5 lattes.
Three of Hearts: A Post-Modern Family featured a majority gay bisexual couple, Stephen and Sam, who decided that a woman was what they were missing in their monogamously gay relationship. Enter Samantha, a gorgeous second generation East Indian woman who becomes the loves third wheel.
This film wins nothing for it's overtly crap title, but it's professionally put together and tells the triangular story in a way that involves the viewer in what could otherwise be a very very very boring 'we're so happy/positive energy/how super modern!' story.
The star of the show is the terribly piss funny Sam, who nails one liners across the 90 odd minutes. The trio marry, and have two kids together, and as the their lives evolve (the documentary was shot over 8 years) it's becomes apparent how normal they are in and amongst the total whatthefuckness of their life situation. Samantha struggles with the same typical stranded mother situations present in most families - despite the children having two fathers, as the film makers are careful to illustrate the normality of the trio's lives.
The documentary slows through it's middle stages, but is worth sticking through even if it's just to hear how effortlessly each character refers to their time 'in therapy' again, and again, and again.
Once again, Three of Hearts: A Post-Modern Family, has finished up for the festival - but is defiantly worth a look if you see it around.
I give it 3 very therapeutic lattes.
So tonight I was able to get along to two films, Blacktown and Three of Hearts: A Post-Modern Family.
(Luckily I can link straight to the MIFF website's excellent online synopsis, allowing me to avoid having to heavily summarise these movies.)
I decided to get a minipass, and got into the festival box office with time to spare before the 7.30pm screening of Blacktown. No matter what time of day you are there, there is always a queue, and during today's queue I was joined by three French exchange students who presumably thought they were on exceedingly crowded public transport and each suffered from poor hearing. STEP BACK LOUD FRENCHIE!
The lady festival volunteers (surely they can't all be silly enough to volunteer for this stuff?) are almost always trendy looking, extraordinarily cute, and precisely the sort of girl I'd love to be seen with on my arm. The girl who served me was no exception, right up until she told me there were no minipasses left - "We'll have some more tomorrow, maybe." - and secondly, DENYING my student card as a valid form of concession ID - "Sorry, this isn't stamped with this year's date." - to which I did the only thing a well restrained festival goer could do, I muttered and rolled my eyes.
I was now shitty, and $30 poorer - she was still alarmingly adorable.
The queue at ACMI was massive, as Blacktown sold out. When seated, in a first for me, I struck up conversation with the girl next to me who was taking notes. I'm not going to reveal how I did this, I don't want everyone lifting my best lines for their personal use, but she was a smart type, with a burgeoning interest in cinema. In and amongst some name dropping and general talking myself up, I noticed that one of the notes she had taken "because I'm interested in directing movies" was Movie is sold out. Hmmm... telling observation.
Blacktown was shot on DV and according to film maker Kriv Stenders, who introduced the film, 'has come to your straight from my computer desktop.' The storyline of this was easy enough to follow, and I have to say, was quite captivating. It treads a fine line between gently leading you on, and risking boring you, yet pulls it off in way that never leads you to second guess the film.
One thing I cannot stand, especially in something this low budget, is a camera which moves during setting shots - it's a small thing, but I'd rather watch a movie without thinking "damnit, buy a FUCKING tripod" every three minutes.
Blacktown tells of an unconventional story, in an unconventional way and still delivers. The energy between leads Niki Owen and Tony Ryan is constant, as both characters grow and bloom during the film.
Unfortunately Blacktown doesn't screen again this festival, but is worth seeing if it happens to pop up locally sometime.
3.5 lattes.
Three of Hearts: A Post-Modern Family featured a majority gay bisexual couple, Stephen and Sam, who decided that a woman was what they were missing in their monogamously gay relationship. Enter Samantha, a gorgeous second generation East Indian woman who becomes the loves third wheel.
This film wins nothing for it's overtly crap title, but it's professionally put together and tells the triangular story in a way that involves the viewer in what could otherwise be a very very very boring 'we're so happy/positive energy/how super modern!' story.
The star of the show is the terribly piss funny Sam, who nails one liners across the 90 odd minutes. The trio marry, and have two kids together, and as the their lives evolve (the documentary was shot over 8 years) it's becomes apparent how normal they are in and amongst the total whatthefuckness of their life situation. Samantha struggles with the same typical stranded mother situations present in most families - despite the children having two fathers, as the film makers are careful to illustrate the normality of the trio's lives.
The documentary slows through it's middle stages, but is worth sticking through even if it's just to hear how effortlessly each character refers to their time 'in therapy' again, and again, and again.
Once again, Three of Hearts: A Post-Modern Family, has finished up for the festival - but is defiantly worth a look if you see it around.
I give it 3 very therapeutic lattes.
posted by The Student at 12:53 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home