Sunday 1 February 2009

(*DEAR ROTTERDAM...|'

...thank you for the most wonderful 11 days. I'll miss you! We watched lots of movies and partied together until early morning. Next year again perhaps.
These are all the films I've been able to watch during the IFFR:

Bronson (Very funny, great powerhouse performance by the guy playing Charlie Bronson, never heard of the guy but apparently he makes the UK jails unsafe, much better than I expected, glad I saw it as it would not have been a choice of my own when I would have read its description, I assume especially the youth will enjoy this)

Tiro En La Cabeza (No dialogue at all except for one sentence, interesting premise, but soon becomes boring, too experimental-ish)

Identification Marks: None (Great cinematography, didn't pay much attention to the story)

Walkover (same director as film above, again, cinematography is pretty awesome)

Nulle Part Terre Promise (started watching it without much interest, but it pulled me in near the end making that I quite liked it, in the end I did feel a connection with the main female character)

Awaydays (has that typical British coolness, a bit Control-like, not perfect, but definitely worth seeing, soundtrack is brill, acting by the two leads is great to watch)

Je Ne Suis Pas Morte (over three hours long, very fresh and original feel to it, feels also very French meaning lot of conversating, philosophy, questioning love, life, death, has a great close-up at the end of a girl which last for quite a while, made me ask a question during the Q&A to which the director answered a simple: no)

The Strength Of Water (will remind you of Whale Rider for multiple reasons, it's good not great, very sweet, liked the openness of its ending)

La Frontière De L'Aube (Features a none smoking Louis Garrel which is such a shame as I find him the number one person who makes smoking look tremendously cool so please Mr. Garrel never ever quit, takes a while to really get going but once it does it really wins you over, great performances especially from Laura Smet)

Breathless (mix of brute violence and comedy working surprisingly well, best film I've seen at the IFFR, fresh, funny, daring, great acting, especially from the actress playing the female lead, perfect from beginning to end, a triumph!)

Pomegranates And Myrrh (at first too much of a reminder of films such as The Syrian Bride, but gradually wins you over, has too much of a heart which can't be ignored, not fantastically great but still really good)

The Coffin (horror, I didn't see all of it, but what I saw was okay, am not a big fan of the genre, did't scare me at all, seemed to have a big budget because it looked very expensive but images to me looked too stylish)

I Am From Titov Veles (watch if you want to see a film with great composition and great use of colour, a little bit like Amélie, but a bit too vague, it's a good film but with flaws)

Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly (just very strange and different, which isn't at all a bad thing, one of those films that are hard to compare to anything else out there)

That's It (film student made film, low-budget a la In Search Of A Midnight Kiss also reminiscent of 2 Days In Paris as well as Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, a talking walking type of film, very funny, very charming, sweet, nice performances as well)

April Showers (although I fell asleep a bit so can't really say I've seen it, but from what I've seen it's confusing, pretty boring, too serious)

Jerichow (second film I've seen by director Christian Petzold, first one was Yella, expected to be a bit of the same so started to wait for a big surprising film which would throw me into surrealism, but none of this at all, it's a very straightforward drama, still very good though, but not as fresh as I thought it would be, but still really very good, just solid and done well like it should, kept looking for underlying meanings but couldnt find them)

Unmade Beds (My personal favoutire, has some flaws 'cause it doesn't work completely, but Alexis Dos Santos has won my heart, love his vision which is like mine and thought his style was great, very nice performance from girl from L'Enfant which I mentioned before)

Rachel Getting Married (very solid film, great camerawork which gives you the feeling you're real part of the diegetic world making that at times you want to clap when people are giving speeches on screen, you really feel like you're there, Anne Hathaway's Oscar nomination is very well deserved, a great meaty role to show off your acting skills, it's funny and very recognizable, very well written)

Exhausted (the most horrible film I've probably seen so far in my entire life, shot completely in super 8 which is the only cool thing about it but makes watching it pretty exhausting hence the title??, the rest seems useless, strange strange strange, no clue why we had to endure this, nipples are being cut off and a fetus pops out from a vagina)

Wrong Rosary (exquisite lighting in this film, so dreamy, and that the entire film long, great close-ups and angles, sweet story though doesn't feel to work completely, still very enjoyable and great, but mostly the cinematography is amazing, what a great looking film)

Native Dancer (okay film, ends up being a bit too Hollywood-ish with kidnapping and stuff, expected something more intelligent)

Still Walking (very different from Nobody Knows, but still good, like Nobody Knows this one also ends up feeling to be a little bit too long, funny, charming grandma character, presenting a Japanese family, differences between new and old generation)

Pranzo Di Ferragosto (very charming film with very funny characters, very solid and enjoyable, simple premise done well and turned into much more than it could have ended up being, shows you don't need much to capture an audience's attention for 70 minutes)

That makes 24 films.
Here are the ones I liked the most and/or thought were the best:

Breathless
Unmade Beds
Wrong Rosary
Awaydays
Rachel Getting Married

No comments: