Mid-way through the Film Festival

The festival has reached its halfway point and what better time to take the night off and recharge for the final four movie packed days. So here’s the news so far:

Day One: Friday, Sept 24

Of the three movies I had originally planned to see, I could only attend the midnight feature, Saw (from America by James Wan). The two that I missed were August Sun (from Srilanka) and Kamchatka (Argentina).

Saw (directed by James Wan): Rating a solid 9/10

A midnight feature is deemed to be cultish, gory, scary, etc. Saw is not as gory as the original version that premiered at Sundance, but it is still a stellar movie. The opening scenes are some of the best I have seen this year. Picture this:

The movie opens in darkness with a man immersed in a bathtub with a blade looking device escaping down the drain. The man hears another man’s voice. The other man says he has found a light switch. The lights come on slowly, one by one. Two men, strangers to each other, find themselves on opposite corners of a large, dirty bathroom. In the middle of the bathroom floor, equidistant from the two men, is a man lying dead, face down in his blood with a gun in one hand (part of his head seems blown off). Both men have one of their legs chained to the pipes on the wall. The men can’t remember why they are here? Who has brought them? What’s going on?

The movie then unfolds brilliantly. Echoes of Seven and Cube come to mind. But this movie stands on its own. The only negative point is a bit of slack near the ending but usually with this kind of genre, the endings try to achieve too much. A worthy see nonetheless. And when you consider this is an effort from a first time director, then the movie seems an even greater achievement.

Day Two: Saturday, Sept 25

11’09”01 – 11 different directors with each short film lasting 11 minutes, 9 seconds and one frame.

There are some interesting flicks in this one and some which will offend for sure. Here is a quick rating of each one

1) Segment from Iran by Samira Makhmalbaf: Rating 6/10

For some reason I didn’t take to this one. It is set in Iran dealing with refugee Afghani children and their school teacher trying to tell them about the incident. Topics of God and destruction are brought up.

2) Segment from France by Claude Lelouch: Rating 7/10
Set in New York dealing with a deaf, mute woman whose is on the verge of breaking up with her boyfriend (who works as a tour guide in the Trade Centers).

3) Segment from Egypt by Youssef Chahine: Rating 6/10

It brings up interesting ideas of a certain country's foreign policies and killing of innocent people but does not have a consistent flow. Also, made with the mood of a typical Egyptian movie (with dramatic background music)

4) Segment from Bosnia-Herzegovina by Danis Tanovic: Rating 9/10

An emotional piece which shows that one must keep on demonstrating even though no progress is being made.

5) Segment from Burkina Faso by Idrissa Ouedraogo: Rating 10/10

This was the only humorous segement. A boy believes he has seen Bin Laden in his small African village and rounds up his friends to nab Bin Laden so that they can claim the 25 million dollar prize.

6) Segment from United Kingdom by Ken Loach: Rating 10/10

This is the best of the lot. It shows an exiled Chilean in London remembering Sept 11, 1973 when America helped dispose of Chile’s government and supported the installation of Pinochet’s dictatorship.

7) Segment from Israel by Amos Gitai: Rating 8/10

This was a good episode which showed the media circus that follows real life terrorist incidents news reporting.

8) Segment from Mexico by Alejandro Inarritu: Rating 9/10

Powerful. Effective. And ends with the words “Does God's light guide us or blind us?”

9) Segment from USA by Sean Penn: Rating 10/10

Sheer genius. But the one to offend most people. It can be interpreted in a number of ways.

10) Segment from India by Mira Nair: Rating 7/10

Based on a true life story about a Pakistani person mistakenly judged as a terrorist in New York because of America’s blanket 1984 laws.

11) Segment from Japan by Shohei Imamura: Rating 3/10

This one sticks out from the rest. Set in 1945 Japan. A solider returns from the war and chooses to live like a snake rather than be human. The movie ends with the snake saying “There is no such thing as a Holy War”.


Clean (directed by Oliver Assayas): Rating 6/10

Oh the hype. Maggie Cheung won the Best Actress award for this movie at Cannes this year. And yet, she is the weakest element in this movie. The movie lacks any emotion and is cold and un-interesting. The only time Maggie acts with emotion is when she switches to Cantonese but in French and English, she delivers her lines with zero emotion. A huge let-down.

Kontroll (directed by Nimrod Antal): Rating 10/10

The buzz around this Hungarian movie ensured the line-up’s were huge and people were turned away. And what a movie it is!!!! The movie follows the lives of the underground subway metro staff on their daily routines – the insanity, the male power games, the inner turmoils, hilarious passengers, etc. The first half is a hilarious movie but the second half explores the shades of darkness lurking beneath.

Day 3: Sunday, Sept 26

Hukkle (directed by Gyorgy Palfi): Rating 7/10 


No dialogues, but simply beautiful countryside of a small Hungarian town. An old man hiccups while life moves at a snail’s pace. In between the close up shots of snakes, insects, water, fishes, pig’s behind, there is a murder taking place. Enough clues are shown for us to piece together who was killed and how. A very offbeat movie which demonstrates the power of images.

Nathalie (directed by Anne Fontaine): Rating 9/10

A classic French movie. Emmanuelle Beart and Fanny Ardant are just perfect in their roles but Gerard Depardieu is not given much to do.

Nothing (directed by Vincenzo Natali): Rating 7/10

I headed into this movie only because it was by the director of the cult hit, Cube. The movie starts off poorly but really kicks into high gear after the first 20 minutes. The premise is best not told but that two friends who are social outcasts find themselves stranded in white empty space.

Note: The other option instead of Nothing was the Swedish movie, Kopps. Everyone I have talked to says that Kopps was hilarious. And sure enough, Hollywood is planning to remake this movie.

Day 4: Monday, Sept 27

I passed up the chance to watch the Czech movie, Zelary and award winning French movie, Since Otar Left. From word of mouth, it seems Zelary was well received.

The Shield (directed by Frederic Provost): Rating 6/10

I was disappointed by this French action movie. The slow and dull start really dampened things but the movie eventually managed to pick up.

Day 5: Tuesday, Sept 28

Choker Bali (directed by Rituparno Ghosh): Rating 6/10


This was the first time in the festival that my view of the screen was blocked by tall people sitting in front making it was hard to read all the subtitles. The movie started 20 minutes late and since I wanted to make the Brazilian movie later in the night, I had to leave the theater with 20 minutes to go. Will have to catch up with it later on.

Man of the Year (directed by Jose Henrique Fonseca): Rating 8/10

The hype around the movie was staggering because everyone had compared it to City of God. Well the movie is not as good as City of God but it is a good movie. A man loses a soccer bet and has to dye his hair blond. From then on, his life takes a completely different turn. Shades of Scarface, City of God, and every other slick gangster movie out there. Visually the movie is really good (the cinematography oozes with coolness, right out of a Michael Mann movie).
Note: For the second time in the night, it was hard to read the subtitles. This time we sat in the 2nd last row (as opposed to the 6th row from the front in Choker Bali) and a cascading stream of heads made it impossible to sit still. Apparently everyone around had the same problem.