tiggymalvern | SIFF 2012

The Seattle International Film Festival is back! I saw three films the first weekend - one documentary, one Ghibli animation, and one more conventional film.

First up for me was the documentary The Mexican Suitcase. In 2007, thousands of negatives taken by three photographers during the Spanish Civil War were recovered from Mexico City, after rumours of their existence had circulated for years. The Spanish Civil war was notable for a number of firsts - it was the first war in which professional photographers really covered the front lines and battles in action, and sadly the first war in Europe where civilian populations are known to have been deliberately targeted. The negatives were thus important from both a national historical perspective, and for the history of photography. The documentary covers the stories of the three photographers (one of them was a woman, rather unconventional in the 1930s), pieces together what happened to the negatives before they were 'refound', and interviews survivors of the civil war, weaving their stories together with the photos.

This is emphatically not a documentary about the Spanish civil war. It is a Spanish language film about a Spanish war, and thus it assumes you have a certain basic knowledge of events. I read one review by a disgruntled person complaining that the film didn't explain things, and he had no idea what the survivors were talking about. You don't need to know a whole lot, but if you don't know who General Franco was, you're going to have trouble! This documentary looked at an old subject from a new and fascinating perspective, but perhaps it tried to squeeze in a few too many angles for its running time. 8/10.

Only Yesterday is a Studio Ghibli film from 1991, which never had a US cinematic release. 27-year-old Tokyo office worker Taeko is figuring out what she wants from her life, while recalling events from her childhood.

For me, this film really took off when 10-year-old Taeko was centre stage. It covers so many aspects of growing up which are common to everyone, both good and bad, in fabulous little vignettes. It's also a commentary on changing generations, of 1960s child Taeko with her traditional father, who is from a generation who expect women only to marry and have babies. This is very conventional subject material, without the crazy, imaginative fantasy that Studio Ghibli is so famous for. As a result, it feels slower than most Ghibli films, but it's cute and sweet, and made the whole audience laugh and smile. 8/10.

Goodbye is an Iranian film about a subject very personal to the film-maker. Noora is a human rights lawyer in Iran, until the authorities revoke her licence. As the state becomes ever more watchful and invasive in her life, she struggles to find a way to leave Iran, while simultaneously dealing with the news that her pregnancy might result in a handicapped child.

This film is inevitably somewhat depressing in its subject matter. Its focus is tight on Noora the whole time, and she's in almost every shot. It works hard to create a claustrophobic feel, showing the difficulties of even the small details of Noora's life, but in doing so, the tension sometimes flags, and the film can feel a little slow. It is stunningly well filmed, with lots of static camera and the cast moving in and out of perfectly framed shots. The cinematography kept me intellectually intrigued when the plot wasn't in a hurry. 7/10.