| 2011 NZ FILM FESTIVAL - week one! |
| Written by Shahlin Graves |
| Thursday, 21 July 2011 10:20 |
 In order of my viewing... 'MEDIANERAS' - Gustavo Taretto Aside from a friend telling me vaguely that it was some kind of "foreign romantic-comedy", I knew nothing about 'Medianeras' before watching it on the night of the Auckland festival programme launch, and that worked out really well for me. I've been getting more and more into the habit of preferring not to watch trailers and/or reading too much background material before watching movies I am unsure of, as I usually end up ruining the storyline for myself by [accidentally] reading too many spoilers. Therefore, just trust me on this one... 'Medianeras' is super cute. 'Medianeras' will make you happy. 'Medianeras' is my third favourite thing that I've seen at the 2011 NZ International Film Festival so far. YOU WILL LIKE IF YOU LIKE: 'Where's Wally?', cute rom-com's, warm fuzzies... and Seth Cohen. Click HERE to watch the trailer for 'Medianeras'. 'LOVE STORY' - Florian Habicht Of absolutely no relation to Taylor Swift's song of the same-name, I feel like I would have liked this movie more if it had been a short-film - say of the same length as Swift's hit single. 'Love Story' had its moments, but as a whole it failed to appeal to any of my film-watching sensibilities. However, if you choose to go watch 'Love Story' when it's released in NZ cinemas in August, make sure to watch out for the amazing stockbroker lady that Florian hijacks the taxi-ride of. She mutters "tourist" under her breath and it is the best call that I've heard all month so far... you'll understand once/if you see it for yourself. YOU WILL LIKE IF YOU LIKE: David Farrier, talking to random strangers, New York City... and dreaming about a girl carrying a slice of cake on a plate.  'SUBMARINE' - Richard Ayoade I loved 'Submarine' so much that I have already watched it twice, all within the space of one week. I love the film's colour-coding... I love lead-character Oliver Tate's endearing awkwardness... and I especially love that director Richard Ayoade consulted Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig when first considering the film's script - which for the record, I only learnt after watching the film's credits during my second screening. There's a scene where a despondent Oliver is curled up on his bed while the rest of the scene crashes away into the sea, which I don't think I'll ever get tired of. Likewise with the Super 8 Oliver and Jordana date-montage, which is soundtracked by Alex Turner's 'Stuck On The Puzzle'. There's just nothing that I don't like about Ayoade's film-adaptation - and for once, it's a film that actually does its original book a great deal of justice. YOU WILL LIKE IF YOU LIKE: 'The Perks Of Being A Wallflower', 'Catcher In The Rye', Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys singing acoustic songs... and duffel coats. Click HERE to watch the trailer for 'Submarine'.  'MYSTERIES OF LISBON' - Raúl Ruiz Five days later and I am still so terribly confused in the aftermath of the four-and-a-half-hours that I spent squinting at The Civic's screen trying to work out what was going on. It may have helped if I had slept more prior to watching. It may have helped if the interval in-between parts one and two had been longer than ten minutes... and it definitely would have helped if the film's soundtrack hadn't been punctuated by extremely odd whooshing and jet-plane ['INCEPTION'] noises every few minutes. I must admit that I am still slightly disappointed that all the weird bonus sound effects didn't actually foreshadow any kind of supernatural and/or science-fiction surprise plot... I feel cheated. More importantly though, the film featured pirates, countesses, old-fashioned duels, arranged marriages, and a charming presentation of cardboard cut-out characters moved from side-to-side on a toy storybook stage. I just wish I had a long enough attention-span to more thoroughly enjoy all of the above - minus the creepy noises, of course. YOU WILL LIKE IF YOU LIKE: 'Love In The Time Of Cholera', telenovelas, 'Romeo and Juliet'... and a never-ending parade of different characters. Click HERE to watch the trailer for 'Mysteries Of Lisbon'. 'THE TREE OF LIFE' - Terrence Malick There are dinosaurs in this film... and Jessica Chastain wears some really pretty dresses. These are the only two things that I am really sure of from the entire 138-minute-long visual [insert-adjective-here]. YOU WILL LIKE IF YOU LIKE: [see above] Click HERE to watch the trailer for 'The Tree Of Life'.  'PAGE ONE: INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES' - Andrew Rossi David Carr is officially my new favourite person in the whole wide world! I wish he would adopt me. Thanks to his amazing one-liners, I actually really enjoyed 'Page One: Inside The New York Times'. Trying to repeat some of Carr's wisdom here really wouldn't do him any justice, so just make sure you go watch this one, please. Also, Media Editor Bruce Headlam looks sort of like Jim Adkins. Like a more grown-up [and has a responsible job] version. This made me happy... and Baghdad Bureau Chief Tim Arango is a babe. AND there is a real-life person interviewed whose last name is 'Cohen'. Question [after you have watched] though: where are all them girl-journalists at? / Do girl-journalists exist? [Judith Miller does not count]. YOU WILL LIKE IF YOU LIKE: 'The September Issue', @carr2n, @tarangoNYT... and shirt/blazer combos. Click HERE to watch the trailer for 'Page One: Inside The New York Times'.  The 2011 NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL runs from July 14th to July 31st in AUCKLAND, July 29th to August 14th in WELLINGTON, August 4th to August 21st in DUNEDIN, August 11th to August 28th in CHRISTCHURCH, August 18th to September 4th in PALMERSTON NORTH, August 25th to September 11th in HAMILTON, September 1st to September 18th in NELSON, September 8th to September 24th in TAURANGA, September 15th to September 28th in NEW PLYMOUTH, September 21st to October 9th in HAWKE'S BAY, October 13th to October 19th in GREYMOUTH, October 27th to November 9th in MASTERTON, November 3rd to November 16th in GISBORNE, and from November 10th to November 20th in KERIKERI. Click HERE for the official NZ Film Festival website and to sign up for their mailing list. |
