Press & Updates
13th floor
July 19, 2014
13th Floor’s intrepid team – Steve Austin, Clayton Barnett and Veronica McLaughlin – are currently hunkered down in cinemas around central Auckland enjoying as much of the New Zealand International Film Festival as they can. This is a daily diary of capsule reviews of movies viewed on 19th of July.
Jonathan Glazer’s dystopian sci-fi thriller opens with a loose homage to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, travelling through space with no sense of time or proportion, culminating not with the rising sun, but in Scarlett Johansson’s blinking eye. Then we are in the midst of a Glasgow winter. Mysterious men traverse the city at breakneck speed on golden motorcycles. One disappears into a gully and returns with a limp female body – which Johansson’s character undresses, dons her clothes and leaves to die. The alien Johansson knows how to dress, to drive and seduce young men – the latter being her apparent purpose. She cruises the grimy backstreets of Glasgow and the wonderfully desolate Scottish Highlands in a white van, looking for unattached young men, whom she coldly lures to her place, presumably for sex. Not what they get, of course. When she meets a severely disfigured young man, the standard pouting looks and flattery don’t work. As she struggles to seduce him, she suddenly experiences empathy and sympathy. She begins to explore her human skin, its contours and colours, how it responds, how it can connect her to others. But this is no coming of age story where all is revealed for better or worse. Glazer reveals only what Johansson and her victims can see. If they are pawns in a bigger picture, they have no idea what it is. Johansson has several nude scenes, inspecting her marvellous body through an alien’s curious eyes, including a startling discovery that provides the single laugh-out-loud moment. She gives her best performance yet, birthing an unfeeling personae then subtly infusing her with stirrings of humanity. Glazer returns from a ten-year hiatus since Birth with a spare, glistening vision, impeccably shot and tightly directed – worth waiting for. (VM)
Ari Folman, director of Israel/Lebanon conflict animated documentary Waltz With Bashir, returns with a tale no less uniquely told in this very loose adaptation of Stanislaw Lem’s 1971 novel,The Futurological Congress. Robin Wright plays herself as an ageing second-rate unreliable actress, prone to tantrums on set and a strong need to take care of her kids. When her agent Al (Harvey Kietel) lands her the contract that will set her up for life, she is dubious, but goes along to find out more. It turns out Jeff, head of the fictional Miramount studio, wants her to join the latest trend of digital scanning technology to create her image as a digital character to be used by the studio in perpetuity. Wright at first refuses, but later has second thoughts and the results leave her both full of regret and irrevocably changed. Half animated, half live action, Folman establishes his trademark vivid style early with well delineated characters and clean lines, kicking into the many concepts at the heart of the work early on. When the animation kicks in, it does so in a pretty unexpected and abrupt way, leaving the viewer swimming in an ocean of colourful psychedelia and an overabundance of ideas. The later part of the film does tend to take pretty some pretty wild tangents from those which were initially set-up at the beginning, leaving a bit of confusion as the credits roll. Nonetheless, Folman has constructed a rich tapestry that is as interesting to look at as the many layered themes at play here, so it should leave most audiences with plenty to chew on afterwards. (SA)
Imagine a world that never went through the Renaissance. No books, no arts, very little in the way of music, everyone living in complete squalor. Russian director Aleksei German took twelve years to build this premise and transplants it on a planet of his own making, full of filth and piss and blood, and introduces a few scant characters from our Earth who are more advanced but without luxuries and technologies – simply holding the knowledge of a more advanced civilisation puts one in a higher class than those who cannot fend for themselves, therefore something of a god in the eyes of the general populace. It’s shot completely in black and white, with an almost documentarian eye for lensing – extras, props and set get right in the way and characters actually look at and address camera frequently, like it is another participant in this “story”. I put that word in speech marks because there is very little story here, despite being based on a popular Russian novel, so is more an exercise in wallowing in as much filth as can be fitted on the screen. Everything is mud-soaked and fetid, violence is archaic, graphic and brutal, shit is smeared everywhere. Despite this, there is enough of a slim narrative for adventurous festival-goers to grab hold of and mine for catharsis. I for one found it a fascinating indulgence and one of my highlights of the festival so far. (SA)
A mistaken identity in the delivery of lunches leads to an unexpected, quiet affair via missives hidden under breads for an aging office worker and a younger married woman. He’s completely taken by her cooking, she by his ability to write so eloquently. Neither bother to confront the fact that someone in the middle-ground, the delivery service, have mucked up the daily order. Things get complicated by partners, colleagues and government officials. The essential everyday comings-and-goings at the core of this story should be just enough to sit outside of the norm for most festival goers, while a native Indian audience should lap up the cultural intricacies of the characters too; especially Irrfan Khan’s touchingly nuanced and subtle performance in the lead, as working man Saajan Fernandes. It delivers its story simply and with a direct sincerity that is refreshing. Mundane working lives are captured in a measured, straight-forward way. A low rumble in the background soundtrack captures the oppressiveness of Mumbai throughout, giving just the faintest suggestion of a world larger than the characters we witness and offsets the indirect encounter that unbalances the everyday lives of the characters. It ultimately becomes something deeper and more personal, reflecting on memory and loss, by helping us realise that sometimes “the wrong train will get you to the right station”. As realist as an Indian comedy gets, although a little predictable in its direction and conclusion, this charming unrequited rom-com is a satisfying, profound morsel that will leave you hungry for some masala and chapati. (SA)
Melbourne, 1983, a provincial rugby club room post-game piss-up. Likeable doofus, Ray Jenkins (Angus Sampson), is awarded player of the year by club president, Pat Shepherd (John Noble), and he’s given the mandatory handshake, an airfare to Thailand and forced to skull a yardie to celebrate. It soon becomes clear that Pat and Ray’s best mate, Gavin (Leigh Whannell), have something a bit darker in mind for him when they bundle him away on holiday and set him up for his first drug run. When he’s caught and interrogated by the police, in the personage of Detective Croft (Hugo Weaving), Ray does his best not to break, but is detained in a hotel room until he ejects the suspected drugs from his person. Ray won’t give a shit though; literally. By turns consistently funny and unrelenting, centered around suburban depression and violence, which works over the familiar trope of the drug-run movie in down-beat kind of way. The film works best as a well visualised rendering of 80s Australian culture, male style and politics, throwing its characters into these situations with a twisted sense of glee. Sampson is terrific as the gormless Ray and finds the right trajectory for the internal story to tick over properly to change this guy from droll simpleton to stubborn damaged victim. Hugo Weaving and John Noble both deliver excellently intense performances of weight and crazed intensity. If you have a weak stomach, be warned: there’s a scene late in the film that gets pretty stomach churning, even for the hardiest. A hardcase, intense comedic thriller. (SA)
Nga Whanaunga 2014
This year, instead of taking in NZ’s Best Short Films, I thought I’d take a gamble and try Nga Whanaunga Maori Pasifika Shorts. I’m glad I did, as there’s a plethora of talent on both sides of the camera that deserves a wider audience. Nga Whanaunga means relatedness and connectedness between peoples, and the shorts on show here are proof of that – with most stories touching upon family, community and even spirits. The lasting impact of those who have left this world is a theme that touches a lot of these films. Pumanawa: The Gift, one of the standouts, is a beautifully crafted and haunting short from Hokianga that gives a unique glimpse of Maori spiritualism. The respect for culture and tradition was also a highlight. From Footsteps, an Aitutaki fable with an authentic attention to detail, to Inc’d, a story of a son who has lost his roots returning home for his father’s tangi. Historical crimes against Maori play a large part in two stunningly shot period pieces.Tohunga is a powerful tale of Maori healers who were practically outlawed in 1907. Ahi Ka, produced by The Dark Horse actor Cliff Curtis, highlights the practice of the Crown taking unoccupied Maori land and is driven by a dazzling performance from it’s 13-year-old lead. And it’s young talent that steals the show across the board – the young boy in Footsteps(who has never acted before) David Rawere-Pene hip-hop dancing his way through Rising Dust and the young girl sadly all-too-convincing in the animated tale of neglect In the Rubbish Tin. With each film getting justifiably rousing applause you definitely felt the aroha. Recommended. (CB)
Patriarch of the titular Noble family, German (Gonzalo Vega), has decided enough is enough, his three children have been living off his trust-fund and are completely out of control. Javi (Luis Gerado Mendez) is full of crazy business ideas, but can’t get a pitch to stick with hi workmates. Barbara (Karla Souza) is a vacuous clothes shopping junkie with a habit of casting of men. Lucho (Ianis Guerrero) is a bearded hipster art douchebag, who just wants to get wasted and laze around all day. So German takes the drastic move of staging a sting by the authorities, pretending he has defrauded his own company so the family must go into hiding and the children must, gasp!, get themselves jobs. If this sounds a bit predictable and a comment on a lot of current “celebrity” trends, that’s exactly what it is. The style is very over-the-top, quite similar to many things from those areas of South America, but still manages to have enough smarts smarts and specific Mexican political commentary to have something interesting to say. The fish-out-of-water storyline that it turns into for all of the characters is farcical and not particularly credible, but it’s certainly a swift and entertaining ninety minutes diversion which should appeal to a broad spectrum of festival-going audiences. (SA)
Print The Legend
3D printing has been all over the news this year with celebration over working human body parts and controversy over 3D printed guns. After the industrial revolution, 3D printing is seen as the next major shift in how we live. Lucky you that you get to go behind the scenes at the dawn of this new age with engrossing documentary Print the Legend. It follows two high tech start-up 3D printing companies, Makerbot and Formlabs, and their struggles and personality clashes that come with chasing the American Dream. Print the Legend nabbed the special jury award at the SXSW Film Fest, and deservedly so – it’s a captivating and beautifully filmed documentary from the people behind the unhinged arcade doco King of Kong and last year’s Oscar-winner Undefeated. With artful composition and deft editing they also amp up the drama with a killer soundtrack featuring the likes of Johnny Cash, Nina Simone and Buddy Holly. Just like Kong, they’ve found some absorbing characters that you can’t quite classify as hero or villain. Makerbot’s CEO Bre Pettis, described as the Steve Jobs of 3D printing, is one of them – charismatic, ruthless and someone you just can’t tear your eyes away from. Throw in Formlab’s meek Mark Zuckerberg look-a-like Max Lobovsky and Texan anarchist Cody Wilson (the man behind the 3D printed gun) and you’ve got pure documentary gold. (CB)
