While you're not looking » Films

Bresson & von Trier

Wendy Cooper — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 03:10:27 +0000

I finally watched Robert Bresson’s Journal d’un curé de campagne and was marvelled by the editing and lighting. What I loved most was the use of sound from outside the screen. Combined with the editing, in particular scenes starting at the end of conversations, it’s a clever and succinct way of storytelling. I also enjoyed the resonating power when you track the words written down in the journal as you hear them spoken. The selection of passages extracted from the Georges Bernanos novel were wisely chosen, creating a mood that was true to the book. Despite its frequent praises I avoided this film for sometime because I have never been a fan of Bresson, unlike most, or of von Trier. Their bias storytelling and their character manipulation irritates me. The overt use of character as a vehicle of storytelling, betraying their own essence undermines too great even in the beautiful mood they set so well on screen.

This week Antichrist had its general released and I’m tired of hearing about it. It’s shameful when professional critics voice the general consensus that is so shallow and misleading. Damn it, It was more than misogyny! What about von Trier’s persistent fear of men and science, the excuse man use to play god. Critics are contemporary philosophers. They have power and the means to establish or sway opinions and it makes me mad to hear them speak in bullshit.

Chinese retaliate by hacking

Wendy Cooper — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 02:27:49 +0000

It’s a busy time in Melbourne when MIFF hits the calendar. From here onwards the rest of the year is jammed pack with the arts. Someone whose also busy is the Chinese Government when they demanded the banning of the documentary made about exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, The 10 Conditions of Love, from this year’s MIFF programme. This year’s Asian selection has suffered tremendously by the several last minute withdrawals. It is only understandable when you are part of the regime and there is no way of retaliating. But in the western world, we are not part of that hold and to remove a film for no just reason is simply not on. When the Chinese government did not get the response they desired they childishly sabotage the website early yesterday. What sort of statement are they making with all this trouble? This tantrum fit would only bring prominence to the film they so wish to dampen and forget.

Source: The Age

Nocturnes

Wendy Cooper — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:18:00 +0000

When I think of Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go potently resonates like that rekindle of the smell of last night’s dinner as you wash the dishes. It forms through senses that enraptures me back to the place that once was and no longer exists. A film version by Mark Romanek, notably for his visionary experience in NIN’s Closer, with Alex Garland adapting the screenplay is currently in post production. My judgment will be reserved but it’s a mighty high bar they will have to meet and to achieve that it will have to deliver a visceral experience that the book cannot in its medium.

Not many books have made that impact on me and I am looking forward to plunging into his latest, Nocturnes. Faber & Faber has gone all out in marketing this book with a surprising, poetic video by a newcomer named George Wu.

Paul Rand in motion

Wendy Cooper — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:37:27 +0000

Two legendary greats have join forces to create something simply remarkable. Combining original animation with a videotaped interview, Imaginary Forces created a short film of Paul Rand for his posthumous induction into The One Club’s Hall of Fame.

SXSW 2010: 12–21 March

Wendy Cooper — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:59:46 +0000

Today I’m excited about SXSW 2010. Largely it is to do with the simple fact that I have remembered this annual event and have marked it in my diary to prevent missing it for the gazillion time. Hooray!

SXSWeek 2010 12–21 March
Interactive 12–16 March
Film 12–20 March
Music 17–21 March

Forget the wax and feathers, and do a better job on the wings

Wendy Cooper — Sun, 24 May 2009 15:04:03 +0000

An insightful documentary, Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes was on TV today. It evoked memories of seeing his archive exhibited at ACMI many moons ago. This funny snippet demonstrates his inquisitiveness and attention to perfection, which explains the quality or essences in his work. I particularly love the beginning of his debate about break time. It ends with the last record of him before his death, which was an acceptance speech for the DGA Award. His articulation on personal satisfaction and problem solving, “Forget the wax and feathers, and do a better job on the wings”, is genius.

Stanley Kubric’s acceptance speech for the DGA D.W. Griffith Lifetime Achievement Award

Pirate Baby & My Film Without Sophistication

Wendy Cooper — Sun, 24 May 2009 10:51:35 +0000

Pirate Baby’s Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006

Homegrown animator extraordinaire, Paul Robertson, pepped up my day with his hilarious homage to pop culture (Thanks, Alex!). In this video, my highlights were the ambivalent Channel 7’s corporate zombies and babies exploding from the girths of suburban trash. The horizontal pan that is so quintessentially in platform games evoked flushes of childhood arcade memories and the stunning one-shot fight sequence in Old Boy, which was to me the best part of the relentless film.

Speaking of relentless, today’s fine complimentary experience care of Radio National was Sarah Watt’s My Year Without Sex. I will burn in Baby Boomer hell for saying this but there is next to nothing redeeming about her work. My Year has improved marginally compared to her directorial debut. Her heavy handed executions and clunky writing with unrealistic dialogues is a common issue with her work. In this film, the husband played by Matt Day was only a vehicle of storytelling, a supporting character in the most literal sense. It had no depth nor development and yes, mind as well be a cardboard cut out. The scenes he was in were merely to make or emphasis an unnecessary point. Redundancy is a reoccurring theme in Watt’s work. The shot of a lottery ticket left behind was indeed needless. The point was made when the son randomly picks them without care. If a visual cue is needed, a close up shot of his action would have sufficed. Another is the awkward moment of the couple in bed after a long separation. The dialogue seemed unworthy when there were so many poignant issues needed to be addressed to give the characters or the film depth. But instead, Watt decided to use as a device to create a neatly wrapped up ending. The list goes on… She tries too hard to be clever and as a result her work lacks earnestness. The shot selections to make Melbourne generic is an obvious attempt to reach the international market. The interminable monthly chapter titles and their painfully blatant double entendres seemed only a constraint to fulfil the film’s name and created a staccato experience. Some redeeming features were Sacha Horler’s stunning performance in resuscitating the script. The editing style at the beginning was a poetic reflection of setting scene and its contrasting style complements the protagonist’s change was appropriate but could improve with creative techniques. Overall, stay well away and don’t settle over curiosity because it will hurt.

A mesmerising, moral tale

Wendy Cooper — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 15:26:42 +0000

When a boy and girl find an idol in the stomach of a rabbit great riches follow, but for how long?

Rabbit by Run Wrake received the animation award at the Rushes Soho Shorts Festival. Bravo and well deserved.

It is a 8′ 30″ animated short, commissioned through Finetake by Arts Council England and Channel 4.

300 Spartan deaths in Nine Inch Nails

Wendy Cooper — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 09:36:27 +0000

Frank Miller’s graphic novel 300 is a ferocious retelling of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae. The comic has been transferred into a feature film directed by Zack Snyder of Dawn of the Dead and it’s bursting at the seams with testosterone. It is not surprising to see another Frank Miller comic on the screen after the success, both cult and mainstream, of Sin City. The over contrast and sepia colour palette with bursts of a solitary colour is Miller’s signature and has needlessly stylise the film. It will create a further separation of the excessive violence to reality as distance as history to the mind’s of its target audience. Embellish it with scarcely clad women and sex and it paves the road to blockbuster success. I won’t be surprise if it’s a shot for shot based on the comic because why reinvent when it’s not broken? And isn’t amusing to watch a bunch of over pumped men in leather diapers?