Films, films, films 6
Managed to drag myself out of bed on this cold and wet June morning. The past few days have been very cold here in Sydney and when it's cold and I have no plans I'm very tempted just to stay in bed reading and hiding under the covers. Have had some breakfast and a shower though and am now sitting in front of my computer listening to a Faye Wong compliation that I burned from a CD that one of Moreno's friends gave him.
The film festival finishes tonight (the closing film is Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle) but I saw my last films on Thursday night. It's been a satisfying but long two weeks. I still can't believe I've been to see so many films - twenty in the end.
Duck Season (Temporada de Patos)
This was the film I chose to go and see in place of the cancelled Palestinian film, so I had no expectations. I was actually feeling pretty tired as I'd had a very long day at work trying to finalise the marks for my class, which finished this week, and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to stay awake. Turned out to be a very wry comedy that had me laughing the whole way through. According to the blurb in the festival programme the director, Fernando Eimbcke, is Mexico's answer to Jim Jarmusch and I could definitely see parallels with some of Jarmusch's film. There were so many beautifully funny moments - particularly after hash-brownies!
Forgiveness
Went to see this South African film which deals with our ability to forgive with my friend Cath, who is originally from South Africa. Although I thought some of the acting was a bit wooden, overall the film was a very powerful look at how South Africa is trying to deal with the scars of the past. Basically the film was about an ex-police officer, who had been granted an amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, going to meet the family of an ANC activist that he had tortured and killed to seek their forgiveness. The question is of course can we forgive such acts and if we don't forgive how does this affect our lives, holding that anger and hatred inside, and prevent us from moving on.
The Hamburg Cell
This was a very interesting recreation of the events leading up to the September 11th attacks, focusing on three of the hijackers who met in Hamburg. When I read about this in the programme I really wanted to go and see it and although I'm not sure if it worked completely I found it fascinating and at the same time disturbing how and why a group of seemingly normal men could conspire to kill so many innocent people. What is it that results in people taking their own lives and the lives of the others in the name of their faith.
Yasmin
Another film set around the events of September 11th and how those events changed so many people's lives, but this time seen from the point of view of a Muslim woman living in Yorkshire. In many ways I film more interesting - perhaps because their was more character development - but also because it looked at what it is to be a Muslim in the West and how immigrants deal with that dual-identity, something which I can identify with being an immigrant myself.
Accused
A very powerful and disturbing Danish film about a man accused by his daughter of sexually assaulting her and how the accusations change his life completely. The film kept me guessing right until the very end, which made it all the more disturbing.
Am not really sure what I'm going to do with myself now that the film festival is over. I have no plans this weekend (unless Qurban gets back to me and we end up meeting tomorrow) but maybe that's a good thing. The weather kind of lends itself to being at home anyway. I just hope that the renovations next door are not going to go on all day as the noise from whatever machine it is that they're using is starting to get to me.
The film festival finishes tonight (the closing film is Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle) but I saw my last films on Thursday night. It's been a satisfying but long two weeks. I still can't believe I've been to see so many films - twenty in the end.
Duck Season (Temporada de Patos)
This was the film I chose to go and see in place of the cancelled Palestinian film, so I had no expectations. I was actually feeling pretty tired as I'd had a very long day at work trying to finalise the marks for my class, which finished this week, and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to stay awake. Turned out to be a very wry comedy that had me laughing the whole way through. According to the blurb in the festival programme the director, Fernando Eimbcke, is Mexico's answer to Jim Jarmusch and I could definitely see parallels with some of Jarmusch's film. There were so many beautifully funny moments - particularly after hash-brownies!
Forgiveness
Went to see this South African film which deals with our ability to forgive with my friend Cath, who is originally from South Africa. Although I thought some of the acting was a bit wooden, overall the film was a very powerful look at how South Africa is trying to deal with the scars of the past. Basically the film was about an ex-police officer, who had been granted an amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, going to meet the family of an ANC activist that he had tortured and killed to seek their forgiveness. The question is of course can we forgive such acts and if we don't forgive how does this affect our lives, holding that anger and hatred inside, and prevent us from moving on.
The Hamburg Cell
This was a very interesting recreation of the events leading up to the September 11th attacks, focusing on three of the hijackers who met in Hamburg. When I read about this in the programme I really wanted to go and see it and although I'm not sure if it worked completely I found it fascinating and at the same time disturbing how and why a group of seemingly normal men could conspire to kill so many innocent people. What is it that results in people taking their own lives and the lives of the others in the name of their faith.
Yasmin
Another film set around the events of September 11th and how those events changed so many people's lives, but this time seen from the point of view of a Muslim woman living in Yorkshire. In many ways I film more interesting - perhaps because their was more character development - but also because it looked at what it is to be a Muslim in the West and how immigrants deal with that dual-identity, something which I can identify with being an immigrant myself.
Accused
A very powerful and disturbing Danish film about a man accused by his daughter of sexually assaulting her and how the accusations change his life completely. The film kept me guessing right until the very end, which made it all the more disturbing.
Am not really sure what I'm going to do with myself now that the film festival is over. I have no plans this weekend (unless Qurban gets back to me and we end up meeting tomorrow) but maybe that's a good thing. The weather kind of lends itself to being at home anyway. I just hope that the renovations next door are not going to go on all day as the noise from whatever machine it is that they're using is starting to get to me.
<< Home