Mark's blog about the 2005 Melbourne International Film Festival.Sunday, July 24, 2005
THE TAKE
8/10
The Take is another documentary about globalisation and the little guy standing up to The Man. Luckily, these can still be highly entertaining, and this one was certainly one of the better ones I've seen. This particular film is about how workers in Argentina are taking over deserted factories, and re-starting the businesses themselves as a co-operative. I found it interesting that most people think of activist/protesters as younger upstarts with dreadlocks or hippies, etc etc - in this case it was literally silver haired seamstresses, and other people of all ages who were trying to fight the system to give themselves employment, and trying to regain a sense of self-worth. Avi Lewis one of the film makers was present and gave a great little talk before the film started. Highly recommended.
FORGIVENESS
7/10
This film is about a white ex-policeman in South Africa who, ten years after killing a black activistist, is still trying to overcome his guilt over the matter, and what happens when he goes to the village of the boy's family to try and work through the matter. I was a little unsure whether to see this film or not - it looked like it might have potential, but sometimes one can't tell. Often these can turn out to be the pearls of the festival, but in this case it was just a fair to okay experience. Don't you hate it when 30 mins into a film you guess how the plot will proceed, and then you turn out to be right? That happened to me on this one. I suppose the audio commentary from the guy sitting next to me didn't help make the experience any better either. I'd highly suggest checking out the podcast from the Film Buff's forecast from last week (not the latest one) as they discuss the film with the filmmaker and that's a lot more interesting than anything else I could say about it :-).
One thing I thought I'd mention - this was my fifth day at the festival, and I must say I am pretty happy so far with the quality of the films! I'm sure I'll catch some tragic ones yet, but really, the ratings I've been giving aren't because I'm a softie. I'll be sure to let you know what I think if this year's 'Goodbye Dragon Inn' shows up somewhere along the way...
8/10
The Take is another documentary about globalisation and the little guy standing up to The Man. Luckily, these can still be highly entertaining, and this one was certainly one of the better ones I've seen. This particular film is about how workers in Argentina are taking over deserted factories, and re-starting the businesses themselves as a co-operative. I found it interesting that most people think of activist/protesters as younger upstarts with dreadlocks or hippies, etc etc - in this case it was literally silver haired seamstresses, and other people of all ages who were trying to fight the system to give themselves employment, and trying to regain a sense of self-worth. Avi Lewis one of the film makers was present and gave a great little talk before the film started. Highly recommended.
FORGIVENESS
7/10
This film is about a white ex-policeman in South Africa who, ten years after killing a black activistist, is still trying to overcome his guilt over the matter, and what happens when he goes to the village of the boy's family to try and work through the matter. I was a little unsure whether to see this film or not - it looked like it might have potential, but sometimes one can't tell. Often these can turn out to be the pearls of the festival, but in this case it was just a fair to okay experience. Don't you hate it when 30 mins into a film you guess how the plot will proceed, and then you turn out to be right? That happened to me on this one. I suppose the audio commentary from the guy sitting next to me didn't help make the experience any better either. I'd highly suggest checking out the podcast from the Film Buff's forecast from last week (not the latest one) as they discuss the film with the filmmaker and that's a lot more interesting than anything else I could say about it :-).
One thing I thought I'd mention - this was my fifth day at the festival, and I must say I am pretty happy so far with the quality of the films! I'm sure I'll catch some tragic ones yet, but really, the ratings I've been giving aren't because I'm a softie. I'll be sure to let you know what I think if this year's 'Goodbye Dragon Inn' shows up somewhere along the way...
