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tiggymalvern) wrote2014-05-27 11:03 am
tiggymalvern) wrote2014-05-27 11:03 am
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SIFForty report no 2
Three more films under the cut. There should have been four, but the one we tried to see on Sunday had technical issues and the screening was cancelled. There's usually one film I see each year that has glitches and gets delayed, but this is the first time I've known them to give up. So down below, it's one fictional film and two documentaries.
Clownwise. Oskar was a Czech comedy icon, one member of a revered slapstick trio, when he fled the country in the 1980s. He went on to build a successful career in France, and now in his 60s, he is returning to Czechoslovakia for the first time in 30 years. There he attempts to reconnect with his estranged family, and also deal with the emotional fallout from the two members of the group he left behind.
Clownwise is a drama with a current of gentle humour running through it. Its themes of dealing with ageing and trying to reforge old bonds are familiar ones, but the film handles them well with entertaining lead performances, and Kati Outinen's performance as Sylvie is wonderful. 7/10
A Brony Tale is a documentary on the Brony phenomenon, the male fans of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cartoon. It focuses around actor Ashleigh Ball, who voices two of the main characters in the series, with her reaction to the Bronies and her appearance at Bronycon, as well as multiple interviews with a variety of Bronies, who talk about why they love the cartoon and its effect on their lives.
The best part of this film is undoubtedly the Bronies. They are so effervescently enthusiastic about their fannish love, and it's wonderful to see a portrayal of fandom that is overwhelmingly positive, setting out to show us why these people are not weird, just having fun. The downside is that the film-maker admits to being a friend of the actess, and it shows. There are times, particularly at the start of the film, when it feels like an advert for Ashleigh Ball - hey, here's this wonderful voice actor, this is her resume, and did you know she sings and tours with a band too? But you can forget that aspect when the Bronies are allowed to take centre stage, and grab it they do. This could have been 10/10 if it had been more Bronies and less actor. 8/10
The Green Prince is a documentary about the eldest son of one of the leading members of Hamas, who spent ten years spying on the organisation for Israel, beginning at the age of 17. The film consists almost entirely of interviews with just two people - the Green Prince himself (that was the code name the Israelis gave him), and the man who was his Shin Bet handler. There is some additional archive footage and photos, and a few reconstructed scenes, but mostly the director just lets the men talk.
The subject material is utterly fascinating. The reasons that a young Palestinian made the choices he did, and the conflict in his handler between exploiting an 'asset' and protecting a young man he genuinely likes, are all laid brutally bare in frank, unapologetic statements. The film left me overwhelmingly saddened at the fate of one genuinely thoughtful teenager, whose life was doomed by birth to be a train wreck. I question some of the editing choices, and the use of the reconstructed scenes could become annoyingly intrusive. The subject is a 10/10, but I scored the film 8/10.
Ending on a high note, the animated film Wrinkles that I loved so much two years ago is finally getting a Region 1 and 2 DVD release! It came out in April in Europe;the release date is July in the US. No, I don't know why the three month difference for an English language dub that was made in America.
Clownwise. Oskar was a Czech comedy icon, one member of a revered slapstick trio, when he fled the country in the 1980s. He went on to build a successful career in France, and now in his 60s, he is returning to Czechoslovakia for the first time in 30 years. There he attempts to reconnect with his estranged family, and also deal with the emotional fallout from the two members of the group he left behind.
Clownwise is a drama with a current of gentle humour running through it. Its themes of dealing with ageing and trying to reforge old bonds are familiar ones, but the film handles them well with entertaining lead performances, and Kati Outinen's performance as Sylvie is wonderful. 7/10
A Brony Tale is a documentary on the Brony phenomenon, the male fans of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cartoon. It focuses around actor Ashleigh Ball, who voices two of the main characters in the series, with her reaction to the Bronies and her appearance at Bronycon, as well as multiple interviews with a variety of Bronies, who talk about why they love the cartoon and its effect on their lives.
The best part of this film is undoubtedly the Bronies. They are so effervescently enthusiastic about their fannish love, and it's wonderful to see a portrayal of fandom that is overwhelmingly positive, setting out to show us why these people are not weird, just having fun. The downside is that the film-maker admits to being a friend of the actess, and it shows. There are times, particularly at the start of the film, when it feels like an advert for Ashleigh Ball - hey, here's this wonderful voice actor, this is her resume, and did you know she sings and tours with a band too? But you can forget that aspect when the Bronies are allowed to take centre stage, and grab it they do. This could have been 10/10 if it had been more Bronies and less actor. 8/10
The Green Prince is a documentary about the eldest son of one of the leading members of Hamas, who spent ten years spying on the organisation for Israel, beginning at the age of 17. The film consists almost entirely of interviews with just two people - the Green Prince himself (that was the code name the Israelis gave him), and the man who was his Shin Bet handler. There is some additional archive footage and photos, and a few reconstructed scenes, but mostly the director just lets the men talk.
The subject material is utterly fascinating. The reasons that a young Palestinian made the choices he did, and the conflict in his handler between exploiting an 'asset' and protecting a young man he genuinely likes, are all laid brutally bare in frank, unapologetic statements. The film left me overwhelmingly saddened at the fate of one genuinely thoughtful teenager, whose life was doomed by birth to be a train wreck. I question some of the editing choices, and the use of the reconstructed scenes could become annoyingly intrusive. The subject is a 10/10, but I scored the film 8/10.
Ending on a high note, the animated film Wrinkles that I loved so much two years ago is finally getting a Region 1 and 2 DVD release! It came out in April in Europe;the release date is July in the US. No, I don't know why the three month difference for an English language dub that was made in America.