Tagged: sydfilmfest
Greetings from Tim Buckley – Review
I enjoyed this film, but it probably isn’t to everyone’s taste, particularly if they are not fans of either Tim or Jeff Buckley and their music. It is set around a tribute concert given in Brooklyn in 1991 for Tim Buckley, about 16 years after his death from an accidental overdose. Tim’s son Jeff Buckley is somewhat reluctantly encouraged to perform some of his father’s music and the experience becomes a bit of a reconciliation for him about his very limited relationship with his father. After my own father’s recent death, I found this part of the film very touching, and probably quite realistic. The event seems to have been the catalyst that convinced Jeff to follow in his father’s footsteps and three years later he recorded the seminal album Grace. Sadly, Jeff too was to die tragically early in a drowning accident less than six years after the tribute concert.
Jeff is played very convincingly by Penn Badgley and Tim is also played very well (in flash-backs) by Ben Rosenfield. Both parts feature a lot of musical performances. I’ve said this about a lot of the films I saw at Sydney Film Festival this year, but Greetings from Tim Buckley was also very well shot. Some of the scenes are really beautiful and the cinematographer seems to have used some very subtle colouring to distinguish the flash-back scenes.
There is one really intriguing scene between Jeff and Gary Lucas (as played by Tony Award winner Frank Wood) in which Jeff first hears the guitar theme from his single “Grace”, played by Gary who says it is a bit like church bells. Jeff then messes around with it and we hear more of the beginnings of that amazing song. This has all now been confirmed in a comment below by Gary himself. He started Grace as his own solo guitar instrumental and you can see and hear it here:
As I said above, it it is unlikely to be a film for everyone, but I really enjoyed it. 4/5
And a sketch of Jeff by me to finish:
Lasting – Review
Lasting is visually beautiful and set in Spain and Poland. It is easy to see why it won a Cinematography award at Sundance. The two leads, Jakub Gierszal and Magdalena Berus, are good as the two young lovers. Much of their acting is done without any audible dialogue as the film tells a lot of the storyline with some effective imagery. In parts I think it could have done with a little more dialogue, but maybe the Director-Screenwriter Jacek Borcuch wanted viewers to take away what they interpreted for themselves. Lasting is really story-telling as art and thus something we don’t see enough of.
It is a shame that even in Sydney, we need to wait for festivals to see foreign (i.e. non-US/UK) films such as this. They are very different from the run-of-the-mill rubbish that is regularly served up in cinema complexes. 4/5
What Richard Did – Review
This is a slow-paced Irish film about teenage jealousy, then anger, rage and deceit. It is perhaps a little too slow in places (or maybe I am too impatient), but the acting is good by a mostly young cast. It is well made and edited. 4/5
The Iceman – Review
Sydney Film Festival http://www.sff.org.au/films-container/the-iceman/
My second shoot-em-up of this festival. The star of this film with a strong performance in the leading role is Michael Shannon. He has a lot of bad hair days, but then again so do most of the cast as it is set in the era of bad hair (1960s-1980s). This makes actors like David Schwimmer, Stephen Dorf and Chris Evans barely recognisable. Winona Ryder plays his largely ignorant, but not quite long-suffering wife. Michael’s character Richie is a contract killer and is based on a real-life serial murderer and Mafia hitman, Richard Kuklinski. Kuklinski is said to have executed over 100 individuals. It is a pretty violent journey, set mostly in New Jersey and New York.
Unfortunately the film loses one star for taking far too long to give James Franco any screen time and then it limits it by having him killed after only a couple of minutes, mostly spent on his knees praying in vain. Having a hit put on James Franco is simply unforgivable.
The two other amazing things in this story are: the amount of time it took for the police to catch up with him and that his wife and daughters (in the film) seemed to be completely unaware of his “profession” until the very end.
So, between the bad hair and the Franco fiasco, I can only give this one 3.5/5
What Maisie Knew – Review
This is yet another beautiful film from the Festival. It is very, very well done. A really beautiful portrayal of the impact on children of relationships, like marriage, that simply do not work or have run their time.
I will usually see anything with Julieanne Moore in it and she is brilliant as the terrible mother as you actually feel sorry for her because she keeps adding humanity to her character that makes it real. Onata Aprile is also brilliant as the six year od Maisie. You feel that she really does know what is going on around her and the film skilfully stops short of her character taking control of it all.
The additional attraction is Alexander Skarsgård and I guess I would go and watch any film with him in it, even if he was just playing a chair. He is no hero in this, just someone who also falls in love with Maisie, as well as Maisie’s father’s new wife.
It’s a must-see film if you enjoy stories like this. No special effects, no big star egos getting in the way, no 3D, no stunts or violence, just very enthralling story-telling. 5/5
The Way, Way Back – Review
This film was my third for the festival and the second of two on the second night. I wasn’t expecting it to grab my attention and I wasn’t expecting it to be anywhere near as good as it is. It is a hysterical coming of age story. Very well written with a run of gags from Sam Rockwell that I could not keep up with because they just kept coming and I was laughing too much to hear them all. His delivery is almost unbelieveable.
It presents some lovely observations from a teenager’s perspective on just how hideous many adults really are. The other actors are great, with a stunning performance from Liam James (from The Killing) as our teenage hero Duncan. Allison Janney (The West Wing) is also a scream as the neighbour Betty.
Toni Collette and Steve Carell made a brief appearance on stage at the premier in the State Theatre. Steve plays a convincing dick of a man who is dating Duncan’s mother (Toni Collette). I don’t like the movies in which he plays the awkward funny guy at all, but I guess he is successful here because you do grow to really hate his character in this film.
5/5 because I laughed and laughed.
Outrage Beyond – Review
This was the first film I saw for the Sydney Film Festival this year. I was disappointed. It had much promise, but I think tended to get lost in far too many characters who were not properly established before they were shot. There were also continuity and reality issues, such as the main hero surviving a gunshot to the stomach for some time without bleeding to death, any apparent medical attention or any lasting disability. There seemed to be a lot of random violence and this tended to diminish the effect it could have had if they left it more like a constant threat that someone could lose it and blow your head off in a rage. There were some good moments, but it did not live up to its promise: 3/5.
The East – Review
This is a brilliant film and is bound to win many awards I would think. It does everything well. The story and characters are believable and relevant and it is beautifully shot in many different locations. I loved the way it held back pushing the storyline in your face (just in case you were not keeping up) and how it grabbed your attention from go to whoa. It contains some really beautiful moments, particularly those that illustrate complex relationships between different people and also deals with the ethics behind “eco-terrorism”. The acting is superb, particularly the leads: Brit Marling and Alexander Skarsgård. See it or you’ve really missed out on something very special.
Oh, one more thing, it is almost worth going just to see and hear the short piano piece played by the Dr on an old piano in the hide-out. Superb! 5/5
William Yang My Generation – Review
I saw this at its premier in the Dendy Opera Quays. William was there as were many of those featured in the images like Kate Fitzpatrick and Jenny Kee. George Gittoes was there too representing those from the Yellow House years who could not attend (like Martin Sharp) and those who had passed like Brett Whiteley. I caught up with George after the film as we had spent some time together in Iraq a few years back. He told me he was just back from Afghanistan and introduced me to a friend who was curating an exhibition of his work from those years. So, back to the film …
It is a film that documents one of his live performances, in this case 10/11 “My Generation”. I saw this live in Carriage Works back in 2009 I think and I still love it. I really like the way he carefully provides just enough context for his photographs, preferring to let his images talk for him. William has documented a fascinating period of Australian cultural (and gay) history that features those named above as well as many other significant figures including Patrick White, Jimmy Sharman, Rex Cramphorn, Little Nell Campbell, Margaret Fink, and Linda Jackson. This film is a visual potted history of that part of Sydney in the 80s and 90s.
I think it is wonderful and I think it is also being broadcast on ABC TV on 16 June, so don’t miss it. If you’ve not seen one of his performances and can remember the 80s and 90s it will ring many bells.
5/5 because I loved it and I think William is a national treasure.
FromMelbin 