MAD MAX II
Part of the festival's committment to showing classic Australian films from the past decade, this screening of George Miller's high-octane action flick Mad Max II was introduced by actor Eric Bana, who had hand-selected it (although apparently he actually wanted to screen the original Mad Max, but no print was available) as being one of his favourites. Bana also took part in a Q+A after the film, in which questions ranged from the insightful (such as one about the film's lack of dialogue and strong visual narrative) to the banal (one nervous fan asked: 'I was wondering, um, how you learn your lines?' To his credit, Bana answered most questions well, although I think he dodged mine a little.
I asked about a homophobic element of the film; whether he'd been aware of it as a youth, when he saw the film, and how he interpreted the scene now. If you've seen the film, you might remember the sequence I'm thinking of. It comes quite early in the film, and introduces the film's gay couple: the mohawked bad guy Wez (pictured, above) and his effeminate blonde boyfriend. The camera pans from the ground up, we see two sets of legs and we think it's a guy and a girl but - shock! horror! - it's then revealed to be two men.
It's a classic example of homosexuality being coded in a way that presents a gay couple as objects to be feared and hated - and ultimately derided, in that we're encouraged to celebrate, even laugh, when the femme blonde guy gets killed as punishment for his subversion of traditional masculine codes of behaviour...
So yeah, that irked me a bit on seeing the film again, and I don't think Bana's question was entirely honest; but he probably thought I was bringing the mood down, or having a go at him or something. I wasn't: I was genuinely interested in his reading of the scene now, as an adult, as compared to when he saw the film originally as a teenager.
And hey, it's still a great action film with some truly breathtaking vehicle stunts - and seeing such a clean print on the big screen was fucking awesome! And for more details on the film and its structure, visit this blog here...
MEN'S GROUP
Some audiences may be put off by the fact that this simple drama about men and their at-times painfully repressed emotions is A) very talky, and B) Australian. Please don't be - it's a superb film. The debut feature from director Michael Joy, Men's Group was shot using a simple idea - a group of strangers meet weekly in a suburban lounge room simply, painfully, to talk - and employing a semi-improvised structure that meant the bombshells dropped by each character in certain pivotal scenes were not known beforehand by the other actors, heightening the authenticity of performances. Learn more about it here.
Characters include Alex, a chronic gambler growing increasingly estranged from his wife and son (Grant Dodwell); an incredibly buttoned-down and straight-laced businessman, Lucas (Steve Le Marquand); the surly, silent Moses (Paul Tassone); urbane senior, Cecil (Don Reid); and wanna-be comedian Freddy (Steve Rodgers). As the film unfolds, the secrets of each man are revealed - in at least one instance under truly shocking circumstances - resulting in genuine depth and an emotional impact I certainly wasn't expecting. Initially slightly strained - befitting the situation its characters find themselves in - Men's Group quickly finds its feet, becoming a finely-tuned, powerful drama that I unreservedly recommend.
DEREK
This long-overdue documentary about the life and work of English filmmaker, artist and activist Derek Jarman doesn't try to be a cohesive biography. Instead, it seeks to capture something of Jarman's bohemian spirit. Rather than a dry, distant voice-over, actor Tilda Swinton (who worked closely with Jarman over the years) reads from a heartfelt and poetic letter she wrote to Derek after his death; coupled with extracts from a judiciously edited interview with Jarman himself, which provides biographical details and insight about his films straight from the horse's mouth. Stills and extracts from Jarman's films, both seen (Caravaggio, Edward II) and unseen (private Super 8 footage) show us his art, while additional footage from gay rights demonstrations and other events represent Jarman's indomitable spirit in the face of homophobia, a commercial and conservative film industry, and the ravages of AIDS. A triumphant, luminous exploration of Jarman's life and work that had me beaming amidst tears.
[*REC]
Aptly, for a festival in which genre played a major role, this year's MIFF closed with one hell of a horror film; the tense, creative and often truly startling [REC]. Think 28 Days Later crossed with Romero's The Crazies with a bit of The Blair Witch Project thrown in for good measure, and you'll have something of an idea of what this first-hand-subjective handycam-shot film is like. Screaming blood-thirsty zombies, faceless authority figures clad in biohazard suits, a claustrophic environment, and a cast of characters who are rapidly being whittled away: it's all here.
I won't go into details, because to say too much about this film would be to spoil some of its surprises: but let me just state that it made me jump in my seat like no other horror film I've seen in years, for me is certainly something to celebrate. The sound design is fantastic, making great use of ambient sound; the direction conjures up some truly remarkable tension (which resulted in people in the cinema I was in literally screaming in fright) and performances - and effects - are top notch. [*REC] is a horror film with one hell of a buzz, and I for one reckon it's well deserved.
3 comments:
Richard,
perhaps you should see it in a more positive light -- I think at that time the idea that there could even be homosexuality in films was fairly radical. Can you think of any mainstream films from around that time where there were gay couples at all?
La Cage Aux Folles, 1978. OK, it was about a drag show, but showed a loving relationship that had it's own quirks.
why ask bana about it? he didn't make the film.
and yours is a kneejerk reaction.
in fact max is repressing his homosexuality -- he can't form female relationships at all in mad max 2 & 3 -- and therefore he sees the gay gang members as a tribe to be despised. in fact, the film makes very subtle allusions that he is no different to them, just that he once had a badge to say he was a good guy but that got lost a long time ago. now there's nothing holding him back but still he can't give in due to his conditioning.
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