THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (dir Rupert Julian, USA, 1925)
It's not often you get to see a decent print of this silent horror classic starring 'the man of a thousand faces', Lon Chaney; let alone a screening in the suitably-chandeliered Regent Theatre with a live accompaniment on the Wurlitzer organ.It was with glee that I attended this second screening of the film on the second weekend of the festival; and with rapture that I took in the various delights the film had to offer, including some wonderful scene composition (typified by Christine's first descent to the Phantom's underground lair, deep below the opera house), lavish sets, the iconic unveiling of Chaney's skull-faced Phantom, and - a scene that I knew existed but had somehow forgotten - an early and striking sequence in primitive Technicolour in which the Phantom appears as the Red Death, from the Poe tale, The Masque of the Red Death.
Even for a film from the silent era, the cinematography in Phantom is remarkably static - zooms and pans had already been introduced, though none are visible here; the plot is thin and two of the main leads are awfully wooden. But oh, Chaney's performance is excellent, from simple gestures to murderous fury, making us sympathise with the monster he plays even as we fear him; and the lavish production of the film, including the full-scale sets of the Paris Opera House, is still remarkable even today.
Not the world's greatest horror film, but certainly a landmark one. Maybe next year we could have Nosferatu or Der Golem screened in similar circumstances?
BLACK SHEEP (dir Jonathan King, New Zealand, 2006)
My final film for MIFF 2007 was, alas, something of a disappointment. I had high hopes for this horror-comedy about genetically engineered killer sheep terrorising the inhabitants of an isolated farm; but while the gore factor was high, the comedy lacked the black bite I'd expected; going for the safer, broad option instead.The plot is a simple one: estranged farm-boy, Henry Oldfield (Nathan Meister), returns to the family estate just as older brother Angus (Peter Feeney) is preparing to reveal - and sell - the results of his highly-profitable and rather taboo animal husbandry on the world stage. Unfortunately, an interfering pair of animal rights activists intervene, and before you can say 'the sheep are revolting', they are. Heads fly, blood spurts, and the hills are alive with the sounds of screaming. The premise is made even more challenging - at least for Henry - by his crippling ovinophobia, a fear of sheep (due to a traumatic childhood incident seen in flashback at the start of the film); or as Henry himself describes it, "the completely unfounded and irrational fear that one day this was going to happen!"
There are some nice gags, and some truly breathtaking moments - seeing a couple of sheep nibbling on human entrails is not something you forget in a hurry - but ultimately, I was disappointed by Black Sheep. Maybe I was expecting too much; if you're planning on seeing the film, which opens in cinemas tomorrow, I believe, keep your expectations low and you should have a good time.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA: Three and and half stars
BLACK SHEEP: Three stars
So, overall a good festival experience; skipped quite a few films I'd planned to see for scheduling reasons and work committments, which meant that some of the more esoteric titles I'd planned on catching I missed. That said, I only walked out of one movie, which is a pretty good success rate.
With MIFF over, that mean's it's time for The Age Melbourne Writers' Festival, which will be closely followed by the Fringe, then MIAF... Ah, festival season, how I love thee!
4 comments:
With no work commitments, I had planned to see around 40 films, booked 53 and ended up seeing exactly the 40 I originally planned. The standouts for me were Mister Lonely, Inland Empire and Still Life.
Overall, I found the festival good, but not great. There were too many slow, arty films that I normally like, but not in large doses, one after the other.
Last year I saw 3 duds out of 15, and 1 walkout. This year I saw 1 dud out of 40 and no walkouts.
That's a bloody good strike-rate, Paul! There were several, as you call them, 'slow, arty' films I'd scheduled, but after seeing Glue one night for instance, I didn't feel up to the film I'd booked which followed it.
For me the festival this year was about pacing myself - enjoying the quality, rather than the quantity of films I saw, and not jumping in headfirst like a a kid in a lolly shop, which has previously been my want.
And did you think numbers seemed slightly down this year? There weren't as many massive queues as in previous years I thought, though maybe that was just my imagination...
I'm not in a position to compare queue numbers, Richard. This was my first year with a full festival passport. I went to a number of sold-out sessions, and many of the other sessions were busy, even the early ones during the day. The only session that seemed light was the final session (I saw Ingmar Bergman's The Silence, which had about 100 attending).
I completely agree about quality vs quantity. I'd like to do the full pass again next year, and keep the number of films at 40 or under. A lot depends on what films one wants to see and how they're programmed. The most desirable films are usually in the evenings, and with a family, it was hard for me to get to many of these.
For me, the festival started off with lots of promise, and ended on a high, but there was quite a big 'flat spot' in the middle. Next year I'm going to spice it up a bit by scheduling across more of the festival strands. Many of the Neighbourhood Watch films were too similar to each other (which is something the programming needs to address). I should have seen more of the Full Moon Fever and Forbidden Pleasures, and maybe some of the more mainstream films that I overlooked, just to break up the monotony.
Ernesto Corpus already did a live score to Nosferatu at MIFF a few years ago I think. It was at the Melbourne Town Hall.
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