The 50th anniversary of the
International Film Festival Rotterdam took place in its extended format from Wednesday 2nd through to Sunday 6th June, with the first part taking place earlier in the year between the 1st and 7th February, and connected via a series of physical and online events in between. Taking place on a special Spring date that honours the festival’s very first edition in 1972, the second part of the festival was a festive celebration that invited larger audiences. Here IFFR presented ‘IFFR’s anniversary programme’ which tapped into the rich history of IFFR by inviting luminaries of the last five decades to enter a dialogue with fresh names and faces.
For this second part of the IFFR, the opening film was
'The World To Come', a romantic frontier drama by Norwegian filmmaker and Actress Mona Fastvold, with the closing film being
'Poupelle of Chimney Town' a Japanese animated family feature with climate change at its heart, Directed by Hirota Yusuke.
Among the line up of feature films, documentaries and short films showcased there were a total of twenty World Premier feature screenings, which included : -
* 'All About My Sisters' from the USA and Directed by Wang Qiong. Jin was born in the 1990's, during China’s one-child policy. It was normal then for unborn girls to be aborted, right up to the last month of a pregnancy, because boys were preferred. Living babies were also ruthlessly dumped in the garbage, or in the woods. Jin survived for a week in a box on the streets. The story of this rebellious fighter unspools before the camera’s gaze, which follows her everywhere over several years. Jin is now a mother herself, struggling with her heritage.
* 'BERG' from Switzerland and Directed by Joke Olthaar. Three hikers meet shortly before climbing a mountain together. They discuss their expectations briefly in voice-over. The protagonist here is not the people setting out to climb the mountain, but rather the mountain itself. Here it is man who has to adapt, picking a path step by tentative step, hoping that the mountain will not block the way.
* 'Damascus Dreams' from Canada and Directed by Emilie Serri who had only visited Syria, her father’s country, a few times prior to the start of the civil war. Following her grandmother’s death, a desire grew within her to form a stronger connection to this country of which she knew so little. Serri studied old family photos and films, interviewed members of her family and other Syrians forced to flee their homeland, and in this documentary mixes her own memories with theirs.
* 'Decameron' from Hong Kong and Directed by Rita Hui Nga Shu. Here, a coronavirus-ravaged Hong Kong that is also still struggling with traumas from the recent past presents us with a valuable political document which, by placing the recent protests within a broader context, enters into a complex dialogue with the city’s present, past and future.
* 'Fat Chance' from Canada and Directed by Stephen Broomer. Laird Cregar was one of studio-era Hollywood’s heavies, for he was a huge guy who resented what life and the film industry had to offer men like him. Cregar died aged 31 from subjecting his rotund body to a crash diet that he believed would thin him down to romantic-lead size. Using various techniques of mainly chemical image manipulation, the Director took excerpts from films featuring Cregar, and turned the actor’s anguish and anxieties into a black-on-grey delirium of shadows, silhouettes, spectres and blots.
* 'Feast' from the Netherlands and Directed by Tim Leyendekker. There was music and wine, but also syringe needles - crates of objects from the scene of the crime displayed on tables. Based on the troubling Groningen HIV case whereby men were purposely drugged and injected with contaminated blood at parties, this is the Directors no-compromise search for the truth, taking in deep, primary emotions such as lust, aggression and the need for security.
* 'Glossary of Non-Human Love' from India and Directed by Ashish Avikunthak. In a parallel universe in our own space-time continuum, humanity has been overrun by artificial intelligence. The machines are better, faster and more efficient at everything, outstripping their makers. However, one aspect of humanity escapes them, love. Here, the Director outlines a worrying, yet confusing impression of a post-human future in which technology has overtaken and annexed humanity.
* 'Hotele Lerallaneng' from South Africa and Directed by Charlie Vundla. Here, two storylines involving artists in lockdown intersect in this drama about creativity, mindfulness and wellbeing.
* 'Looking for Venera' from Kosovo and Directed by Norika Sefa. Calm, taciturn teenager Venera lives in a small village in Kosovo. At home, three generations are constantly under one another’s feet in their cramped house, so she has hardly any privacy. Outside too, on the streets, it’s not much better either. All this makes it difficult for Venera to go her own way. Her spirits lift when she makes friends with rebellious Dorina, who already has a boyfriend. The two girls go out having fun together, as far as Venera’s father allows. One thing they know for sure, they don’t want to end up like their mothers.
* 'Lumina' from Italy and Directed by Samuele Sestieri. A naked woman awakes on a deserted beach. After wandering around, she ends up in the ruins of an abandoned town. The living left long ago. In a tumbledown house she finds artefacts of existence - clothing, furniture, a record player and a telephone. The latter contains a young couple’s photos and videos.
* 'Pebbles' from India and Directed by P.S. Vinothraj. The inhabitants of the village Arittapatti in southern India depend entirely on agriculture, which has suffered terribly due to a long drought. The women catch and roast rats or wait for hours until it is their turn to pull muddy water from the well. The men hang around, play cards and sleep. One of the latter is Ganapathy, whose wife has fled the home and his domestic violence, but he is determined to fetch her back from her village. He forces his young son to join him. At his in-laws, Ganapathy causes a terrible scene and in revenge, his son tears up the money for the return bus journey. This is the start of a 13km walk on one of the hottest days of the year.
* 'The Rain Falls Where It Will' from Iran and Directed by Majid Barzegar. Do we prolong life or death by trying to keep a dying family member with us as long as possible? Here nurse Sara decides it is time to euthanise her friendless patient. She calmly adds a drug to the intravenous line, just like she does with the other hopeless cases she encounters. However, everything changes on a new assignment. Is it truly this comatose man’s last week?
* 'Phoenix' from Belgium and Directed by Bram Droulers. A freewheeling film that celebrates both sexual and stylistic fluidity. A medical student who sometimes rents out a room in his house receives a visit from a young woman he was romantically involved with the previous summer. But he shows little interest in her – mainly because he’s now in love with Harry.
* 'Under Tomorrow's Sky' from the Netherlands and Directed by Jan Louter. The global population is set to rise by billions in the coming decades, with the majority of these new earthlings living in cities. A different architecture will be required to keep future urban living pleasant and healthy, says the co-founder of MVRDV, a globally operating firm of architects. Instead of uniform tower blocks, he argues in favour of 'high rises on a human scale', stacked structural volumes with open spaces and greenery around them that feel like vertical villages.
For the rest of the World, International, and European Premier screenings, feature length films, documentaries, short films, 50th anniversary specials and more you can visit the official website at : https://www.iffr.com/en
Turning the attention back to this weeks latest new releases, of which there are five, coming to an Odeon screen near you, we kick off with the ninth instalment in this massively successful and popular action packed franchise that sees all the old stablemates return plus a few new ones as two brothers clash and all manner of vehicles crash. This is followed by a drama of a single mother raising her only daughter, who is forced to take matters into her own hands after tragedy strikes; and next up, returning to his childhood home in Italy, a former business executive, his family and a few locals try to reinvigorate an old vineyard to produce wine. Then we turn to an Australian documentary following the life of a pioneering scuba diver who has dedicated her life to exposing the myth surrounding our fear of sharks. And finally, we have a Chilean documentary about an elderly man who poses as a resident in a nursing home to see if he can find signs of abuse.
Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the coming week.
'F9 : FAST & FURIOUS 9' (Rated M) - this American action film is Directed by Justin Lin who also co-wrote the Screenplay and story. His previous film making outings take in the likes of
'Annapolis', 'The Fast and the Furious : Tokyo Drift' both in 2006,
'Fast & Furious' in 2009,
'Fast Five' in 2011,
'Fast & Furious 6' in 2013, and
'Star Trek Beyond' in 2016. This is the sequel to 2017's
'The Fate of the Furious', the ninth main instalment, and the tenth full-length film released overall in the
'Fast & Furious' franchise. Those ten films (including the 2019 spin-off
'Fast & Furious Presents : Hobbs & Shaw') has so far grossed US$6.15B off the back of combined production budgets amounting to US$1.41B.
'F9' was originally slated for worldwide release in April 2020, but was delayed several times, first due to the releases of
'Hobbs & Shaw' and then
'No Time to Die' and then the COVID-19 pandemic. It was released in Hong Kong and South Korea in mid-May and is scheduled to be released in the US in late June. This instalment has so far grossed US$271M off the back of a US$200M budget and has generated mixed or average Reviews.
Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) is leading a quiet life off the grid with Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and his son, little Brian, but they know that danger always lurks just over their peaceful secluded horizon. This time, that threat will force Dom to confront the sins of his past if he's going to save those he loves the most. His crew joins together to stop a world-shattering plot led by the most skilled assassin and high-performance driver they've ever encountered, a man who also happens to be Dom's forsaken brother, Jakob (John Cena). Also starring Tyrese Gibson, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, Kurt Russell, Michael Rooker, Cardi B, Lucas Black, Shea Whigham with uncredited appearances by Gal Gadot and Jason Statham. As is the staple for this fast paced franchise you can expect bonkers action sequences, grinding metal on metal, grinding metal on tarmac, explosions, gun play, fist fights, and all manner of vehicular destruction writ large.
- is a drama film Written, Directed and starring the French American Actress Julie Delpy whose previous directorial outings include
'2 Days in Paris, '2 Days in New York', 'The Countess' and
'Lolo'. All up Delpy has sixty-four screen acting credits to her name, thirteen as Writer, six as Producer, ten as Director, two as Editor and four as Composer. She has twenty-eight award wins and another sixty-six nominations including two Oscar nods for her writing work on
'Before Sunset' and
'Before Midnight'. The film saw its World Premiere showing at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September 2019, was released in Germany in mid-November 2019, in the UK in early October 2020 and only now does it get a limited showing in Australia from this week. Having so far taken just US$51K at the Box Office the film has garnered mixed or average Reviews so far, although Delpy's performance has been praised. Isabelle Perrault-Lewis (Julie Delpy), a geneticist recovering from a toxic marriage, is raising her only daughter, Zoe (Sophia Ally), with her contentious ex-husband James Lewis (Richard Armitage). Zoe means everything to her mother and so when tragedy strikes the fractured family, Isabelle uses her expertise to take matters into her own hands. As this mother’s love knows no bounds, Isabelle travels to Russia in seeking the help of a world-renowned fertility physician Thomas Fischer (Daniel Bruhl) who Isabelle believes can help bring back her little girl. Also starring Gemma Arterton and Lindsay Duncan.
- this Canadian drama film is Directed by Sean Cisterna who started his career directing a string of straight to video horror films in 2006 including '
War of the Dead', 'The Legend', 'Blood Creek' and
'The Haunting at Thompson High' before turning to more main steam fare with the likes of
'Moon Point', 'Full Out' and
'Kiss and Cry' most recently in 2017. This film saw its Premier screening in June 2019 at the Italian Contemporary Film Festival in Toronto, and was originally scheduled for commercial release in May 2020, although this was cancelled due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, instead being released on digital platforms in July 2020. Now it gets a limited showing in Australia from this week. Based on the novel
'Finding Marco' by Kenneth Canio Cancellara, here we have Marco Gentile (Joe Pantoliano), as a burned-out business executive from Toronto who gives up on the corporate rat race, and moves his wife Marina (Wendy Crewson) and daughter Laura (Paula Brancati) to Italy to revive his grandfather's vineyard in Acerenza with the aid of some helpful locals.
'PLAYING WITH SHARKS' (Rated PG) - Written and Directed by Sally Aitken this Australian documentary follows Valerie Taylor - the shark fanatic, photographer, filmmaker, an inaugural member of the diving hall-of-fame and an Australian icon. A marine maverick who forged her way as a fearless diver, cinematographer and conservationist, she filmed the real sharks for Steven Spielberg's classic
'Jaws' and famously wore a chain mail suit, using herself as shark bait, in experiments that changed scientific understanding of sharks forever. Over her career she also filmed underwater sequences for other notable films including
'Orca', 'Gallipoli', 'The Blue Lagoon', 'Return to the Blue Lagoon', 'Honeymoon in Vegas' and
'The Island of Dr. Moreau'. Her love affair with the ocean spanned half a century... and a whole lot of danger. This feature documentary draws on five decades of re-mastered film footage, features a stranger than fiction script, a magnetic heroine, and world-famous faces. And, of course, sharks. The film has garnered positive Reviews.
'THE MOLE AGENT' (Rated G) - is an internationally Co-Produced documentary film Directed and Written by the Chilean film Producer, Director, documentarian, Screenwriter, and film critic Maite Alberdi. It was screened at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition and at this years Academy Awards it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Released Stateside in early September last year, the film gets a limited release this week in Australia and has so far generated mostly positive press. Here then, a private investigator (Romulo Aitken) in Chile hires a stoic 83 year old man (Sergio Chamy) to work as a mole at a retirement home where a client of his suspects the caretakers of abusing his mother, or at least having her possessions stolen.
With five new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the coming week, at your local Odeon.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
