THOROUGHLY MIFFED PART II: FINAL CHAPTER (PART 2) - ONCE UPON A TIME IN MOVIE-OCCUPIED MELBOURNE

The time for preamble has well and truly passed...

MY TOP 10 FILMS OF MIFF 2009 (5th - 1st)

5th - BALIBO

Last year, noted Australian producer/director/screenwriter Robert Connolly wrote a document for the then-Australian Film Commission to explore what was wrong with the Australian film industry, known forevermore as the "White Paper". His findings and suggestions were logical, practical and brilliantly advocated. At the point he wrote the White Paper, Connolly had written and directed two features: 2001's THE BANK and 2005's THREE DOLLARS. I haven't seen THE BANK -- though I hear it's rather good -- but they both seem to be very personal, humanist takes on modern life in a capitalist society. Not exactly box-office magnet material, and what's more, THREE DOLLARS was thoughtful yet not entirely successful in its exploration of that issue. So, although his films had shown Connolly to be a thoughtful man and a quality filmmaker, they weren't game-changers. After the White Paper, fairly or no, Connolly's next film had to be. To rock a cliche, he had to put his money where his mouth is. Boy, did he ever. BALIBO is Connolly's Babe Ruth move. Man pointed to the fence, took a huge swing and smacked the ball out the park.

Everything about BALIBO is world-class. From the performances, to the writing, to the cinematography, editing, score and, most of all, Connolly's direction, you never get the feeling you're watching "an Australian film" in the traditional sense. It's arresting, bracing, engrossing filmmaking. It's an exploration of a true-life tragedy beautifully and sensitively framed through genre as an investigative political thriller, and delivers as heroic tribute, political indictment and entertaining movie. Many reviews have highlighted the film's "importance" and "worthiness", exploring as it does the fractured history of East Timor and Australia's role in it, and I suppose it is both of those things. But what should really be prized, what prospective audiences need to know, is how flat-out suspenseful it is.

By the time we get to the opening credits, it's clear Connolly is playing at another level, and the film continues on that path, with the introduction of semi-retired Aussie journo Roger East (a terrific Anthony La Paglia) and charismatic Timorese revolutionary Jose Ramos Horta (the electric Oscar Isaac), and on through their journey to East Timor, which is juxtaposed against the formation of the two rival Aussie news crews (a wonderful ensemble of young actors, highlighted by Damon Gameau and Gyton Grantley) who headed there a month earlier and haven't reported back.

I can't talk about BALIBO without mentioning its centrepiece scene. As the reason the film (and Cover-Up, the novel upon which it's based) exists is the death of the Balibo Five journos, it's not a spoiler to tell you that the young men met their end in that East Timorese town. But the scene in which they meet their end... this is the scene Connolly's film will be remembered by. It's genuinely frightening, horrendously tense and incredibly, heartbreakingly sad. It's among the most visceral scenes of the year and by far the most notable scene in Australian film this decade. The film continues its excellence thereafter, but the callous murder of those journalists will be what you'll take away with you. I can only imagine what the dead men's families must have been going through, as they watched the film's premiere.

What it shares with Connolly's previous work is a deep sense of humanism, of ordinary people trying to survive as the landscape around them distorts into something increasingly senseless. Other than tiptoing around the Whitlam Government's negligence in the entire matter -- from allowing the Indonesian invasion to happen unchecked to taking its sweet time investigating the journalists' disappearance -- BALIBO rarely puts a foot wrong. Connolly, screenwriter David Williamson and their team have made a world-class political thriller of heft, respect and prestige. If we made more pictures like this, Australia would have a world-class industry.

4th - INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS represents the end of an era for Quentin Tarantino. His career has two definitive phases: the Enfant Terrible (from RESERVOIR DOGS to FROM DUSK TILL DAWN; the initial, exciting burst of scripts) and the Rock Star Director (JACKIE BROWN to BASTERDS; his subsequent attempts to live up to/play with his superstardom). Of all the projects he's talked, hyped and written during the last eighteen years that actually had a chance of being made (THE VEGA BROTHERS was a pipe dream and you know it), BASTERDS is his last long-in-gestation project of legend. He seemed to have realised this as the decade drew to a close, and he put it on the fast track. Now I've seen BASTERDS, and thus the end of this second phase, I've never been more excited to see what he does next. But right now: just how does Tarantino's World War II epic stack up?

Thankfully, much of it is glorious (or glourious). The film opens with a chilling, elegantly paced masterclass in sustained suspense and clever wordplay -- I'm talking PULP FICTION vintage here -- all of which serves to gleefully remind us that we're back in Tarantino's World. This opening is anchored by one of the filmmaker's most delicious creations: Nazi Col. Hans Landa, known by self-perpetuated legend as "The Jew Hunter". Colonel Landa -- played to thoughtful, devilish perfection by German TV actor Christoph Waltz, a star-making effort which should land him an Oscar -- is a lateral-thinking master detective in a Gestapo uniform; a man who would've been at home in tales by Conan Doyle, Chandler or Hammett if he hadn't hitched his star to the twentieth century's most diabolical regime.

After this, we're introduced to the Basterds themselves, led by an hilariously exaggerated Brad Pitt (who stays only just on the right side of mugging) and Eli Roth (who is effective enough, but smartly, sparingly used). Here he springs spaghetti western iconography, a punchy origin story and inspired violence on us in his mischievous way. Then, we meet Shoshanna Dreyfus (a fantastic Melanie Laurent, who is affecting as both bruised victim and guerilla warrior) and we're suddenly veering into intelligent, seething, genuinely emotional territory; the kind we haven't seen Tarantino deal with since JACKIE BROWN. There are more terrific characters that pop up (Daniel Bruhl's reluctant celebrity Nazi sniper, Michael Fassbender's dapper British soldier, Til Schweiger's serial Nazi killer, Jacky Ido's steadfastly faithful projectionist) which reminds us of one of Tarantino's greatest qualities as a writer and director: there's no such thing as a small part in one of his films. Everyone gets the chance to make an impression.

Tarantino makes each scene its own symphony, drawing them out for suspense, dramatic effect, or merely to immerse the audience in this alternate history he's created. The film is superbly assembled -- editor Sally Menke and cinematographer Robert Richardson distinguish themselves again -- but with all these very distinct symphonies going on, some scenes can feel a little isolated from the rest. But when these set pieces are so brilliantly executed, it's silly to complain. From the quietly Hitchcockian opening interrogation scene, to the berserk imagery of the insane denouement, it's packed with sure-to-be classic movie moments.

My only issue with this film is that, even at 152 minutes, it feels severely truncated. The loss of an hour or more of Tarantino's script does hurt. I would have loved to have seen origin stories of all of the Basterds, and more scenes of them making their way through more enemy lines like the proverbial unstoppable force. The film's title characters are actually the least explored, and come off -- to employ a WACKY RACES metaphor -- as the wacky The Ant Hill Mob to Shoshanna's Penelope Pitstop, helping her to stop Landa's Dick Dastardly. It really feels as if Tarantino started with his much-quoted "men on a mission" concept but, when it came to finishing his script last year, became more interested in Shoshanna. I'm actually fine with that, as Tarantino and Laurent make her a fantastic character. And, of course, there's Landa...

But Tarantino isn't just concerned with making a definitive World War II action picture. He peppers the film with cinema, and cinematic references, throughout, highlighting just how key the moving picture was to the twentieth century (and continues to be): since invention, cinema has been an important cog in the wheel of society; from a powerful form of mass escapist entertainment, to a method of communication, as a vehicle for ideas and a tool of propaganda. In the wrong hands, cinema can be deadly, and in the right ones, a stunning force for change, and I suspect this is Tarantino's raison d'etre behind BASTERDS, as he hits all these issues right on the button. There's also been the inevitable charges that the film aims for some kind of post-9/11 catharsis, to see terror brought to bear by victims tired of fighting without answers or end, and I don't think these claims are without validity.

Most of all, BASTERDS is a big-canvas popcorn epic the likes of which Tarantino has never attempted before (as opposed to KILL BILL's big-canvas exploitation cult epic) and largely succeeds. The dialogue is his best since PULP FICTION, the characters as iconic as The Bride or Jules Winfield, the reimagining of the fall of the Third Reich as audacious as plunging a hypodermic needle into Uma Thurman's heart. His symphonic scenes do swirl, dovetail and build to quite the crescendo, and Pitt's final line reflects the ambition on display. Is it Tarantino's "masterpiece"? No. The whole is not quite perfectly cohesive enough to topple PULP's crown, or match DOGS' youthful punch and punk brevity, but the man won't die wondering.

3rd - EDEN LAKE

In today's hyperbolic entertainment media, we're always being told some here-today, forgotten-tomorrow blockbuster is the new *insert classic film title here*, or the "just like the dramas/comedies/horror films of the *insert classic film decade here*, with only the barest, most cosmetic relation to such things. The thing is, I've heard no such thing about this brilliantly nasty little UK thriller, but it is the real deal. Believe me when I say this:

EDEN LAKE is the best 1970s horror film made in the Noughts/Oughts/Noughties (what IS the name of this decade, anyway?).

It's tight. It's gritty as all hell. It's, as mentioned earlier, nasty -- but not maliciously so. Just because, that's the world we live in and, at times, nasty is exactly how life plays out. It feels so damned REAL. You'll find no comfort here. And, underneath the most white-knuckle, emotive thriller I've seen in years... it's PACKED with social comment. EDEN LAKE effected me on a truly visceral level, more than any film I can remember. Again, this sounds like hype, but I can assure you of two things: 1) It's not, and 2) It may just be something very personal to me.

You know how the Neighbourhood Watch (the NWA, heh heh) in HOT FUZZ are always up in arms about the "Hoodies"; the hoodie-wearing teen ne'er-do-wells stalking around town? It's one of countless funny things in that flick, but I have to make a reluctant confession: I'm a little like that myself. I refuse to buy into the kind of depressive, apocalyptic, right-wing headlines of the tabloid press; I'm in no way a Current Affair/Today Tonight-style guy. The world is not on the verge of economic collapse, nor are the local magistrates slapping every criminal in the state upon the wrist. But, walking through the city at night, it's hard not to notice that there's a more violent flavour to young people these days.

I've seen cops counseling some beaten, unassuming looking dude with a swollen face, as young assailants scamper away up the block. I am in no way a confrontational person, nor out in the city all that often, yet on two occasions this year I've had someone make an unprompted crack at me; possibly for the heinous crime of looking at someone for a split second. On both occasions, I kept walking away. Had I turned and responded, I'm sure -- as the kids say -- shit would've been ON. It just seems that so many young people in their late-teens to early-20s are so damned angry nowadays. Get a couple of drinks into them, they'll just mouth off to anyone and, it seems, throw down in seconds. Scoff if you like, but it can be sort of terrifying out there. So, this film hit me in a very personal place. (Also: My partner, who doesn't share my rampantly ageist sentiments, was also terrified by the film. So it doesn't matter how you slice it, it's just a damn good and scary horror/thriller.)

So why am I telling you all this? Because EDEN LAKE is very much about this generation. The story concerns a 30ish couple (Kelly Reilly and the ubiquitous Michael Fassbender, his 3rd film this MIFF) go for a camping trip on a beach just outside a struggling outer-city town, where all looks fine, until they encounter a group of teenagers who set up nearby and turn their music up to 10. Fassbender tells them to turn it down, they refuse... and that's all it takes. From there, the teens (who include Shane Meadows favourite Thomas Turgoose) just start screwing with them, and this escalates to horrific, frightening proportions. But before we get to the lake, we see the kids in town and the home life of one in particular, which is harsh and abusive. None of this is signposted or hamfisted, it's all extremely organic to the film. (Okay, there's ONE SCENE where our path to a destination feels a mite contrived, but it comes early and it's done.) And the couple's fight for life is so harrowingly realistic, and so patently inescapable, my partner and I spent much of the film digging into each others' arms. It really is that effective.

It's a rare horror film which manages to hit hot-button social issues, address firmly entrenched English class divisions, tap into all sorts of primal fears AND scare the holy crap out of its audience, but EDEN LAKE does it all with vicious precision. It is these qualities that give it more of a kinship to 1970s classics like LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT or THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE than a million Platinum Dunes remakes. Writer and debut director James Watkins emerges as a serious horror talent to watch. This is essential viewing for horror/thriller enthusiasts, but I won't kid you: it's as bleak as hell.

2nd - THE COVE

Some documentaries make you think. Some elicit empathy. And some, like THE COVE, are calls to action. Funnily enough, I saw this film pretty much purely on the Twitter recommendation of Nash Edgerton. I've ordinarily no interest in documentaries about dolphins, or marine life, or animal cruelty. Just not my cup of tea, frankly. So, expecting little, I went along to see it. And now, although we've never met or spoken, I want to thank Mr Edgerton, with all my heart. My eyes have been opened to what is one of the very best documentaries of the decade.

Yes, it's one-sided. Yes, it's angry, cocky, blunt, emotive and, at times, manipulative. Calls to action always are. And, let's be honest: there's no defence for whaling Dolphins. The people in charge of the whaling parties claim Dolphin meat is a traditional Japanese delicacy -- even though several average Japanese citizens are interviewed and seem to know nothing about this tradition, and that Dolphin meat has been shown to display lethal levels of Mercury -- but that, too, is indefensible. It's like Bullfighting: screw tradition, it's just cruel and pointless. Cease, desist, evolve. It's that simple.

But the most fascinating figure in THE COVE is Ric O'Barry. In the 1960s, he captured, trained and looked after the dolphins that played "Flipper" in the famous TV show, which made the world fall in love with the grace and intelligence of dolphins. The reason we now have dolphins in captivity and performing tricks in marine parks all round the world is almost directly attributable to "Flipper's" success, and O'Barry knows this. He always respected the great mammals, but one day -- I'll let him tell it, because it's saddening -- he realised they were much more. They were not just like us, but exactly like us, at least in their cogent understanding of captivity and craving freedom. With that, he became an activist against dolphin captivity virtually overnight and, by his own admission, he's spent the last 30 years trying to destroy an industry he spent years helping to create. His guilt over his part in the dolphin trade has never left him, and this makes O'Barry a poignant figure, as well as an inspirational one.

O'Barry's been trying to expose the Dolphin whaling trade in Japan for years, in particular the activities that go down in a naturally cloistered cove in Taiji, a coastal fishing village. It's his ultimate attempt to show the world these hidden atrocities that form the backbone of the film, as he's found a kindred spirit in nature photographer, and the film's director, Louie Psihoyos. Psohoyos uses his contacts to assemble a crack team of free divers, special effects gurus (from ILM, no less!), extreme sportspeople and surveillance experts to pull off a daring plan to sneak into Taiji, set up cameras and get this stuff on tape. The director refers to this as an "Ocean's Eleven-style" operation, and he isn't far wrong. The formation of this ragtag group, and their various personalities, is actually a hell of a lot of fun, and the efforts they go to capture the footage is nothing short of heroic. It really is stunning, and when you see the footage... I won't presume to speak for anyone else, but it brought me to tears. It's tough, heartbreaking, truly shocking vision.

For a first-time documentarian, Psihoyos really knows how to keep things humming along, and although it isn't always visually resplendent (surprising for a film made by a photographer), the man clearly has a gift for telling a riveting story. THE COVE is an effective piece of propaganda most will agree with, a inspirational document of how far people will go to save other living beings, an enormous screw-you to the Japanese whaling industry, and a crackerjack tale. A must-see.

...and now... *ahem* ...drumroll please... my favourite film of MIFF 2009 is............

1st - AWAY WE GO

Before I review a single frame of AWAY WE GO, I would like to take a moment to thank Ken Loach. See, I was originally booked in to see his comedy LOOKING FOR ERIC, but due to a fairly tiny amount MIFF were accepting from the Israeli government to fly a filmmaker over for the premiere of an Australian-Israeli co-production, he pulled his film from the festival. In its place, obviously working some clever string-pulling, the good folks at MIFF announced that they would be screening the new film from Sam Mendes. That's all I needed to know. Cast & story be damned, this is the man who made AMERICAN BEAUTY and JARHEAD. Having never seen a full-length Ken Loach film before and thinking JARHEAD and BEAUTY are each among the best films of their respective decades, I was likely happier than most that Loach had dropped out. And this was all before I saw the film.

I'm happy to say I absolutely, unequivocally, unashamedly loved AWAY WE GO. It's a terrific screenplay from novelist marrieds Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, full of left-turns, sharp observations, real emotion, clever laugh-out-loud dialogue and, well... just good intentions. It's about a couple (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) who are about to have a baby and, like all young parents-to-be, want to do the best they can by their unborn and aren't sure they have the first clue how to do it. They're living a rather green existence out on the fringe, which is all fine, but circumstances force them to make a change, and they vow to raise their child in an atmosphere of both love and stability. So they head off on a journey around the US and Canada, dropping in on family and friends and looking for the perfect place to raise their family. It sounds schmaltzy on paper, but the film is anything but. Thing is, I adored this film as someone who is not in the least bit paternal, and has no desire to ever father children. I'm never a sucker for this sort of thing, but -- ultimately -- it's about love, real love, and who can't relate to that? Also, it's just too great and smartly executed to resist.

First of all, it's hilarious. Not in a dull, one-for-the-oldies, DEATH AT A FUNERAL-type way, but in a clever, sharp, observant way that recalls -- but is absolutely distinct from -- films like GARDEN STATE and JUNO. (They're all children of THE GRADUATE. Actually, the very end of this film reminded me a little of THE GRADUATE's final shot, at least in tone.) Eggers and Vida's dialogue sounds a little contrived and writerly when film begins, but your ear acclimatises pretty quickly, and it never seems to strike a false note.

The performances are all wonderful; from the ever-loveable Krasinski, to the surprisingly affecting Rudolph, to guest roles from the likes of Allison Janney, Jeff Daniels, Catherine O'Hara and Maggie Gyllenhaal. But the ones who really stole the film for me were Chris Messina and Melanie Lynskey as their friends living in Montreal. There's a scene with Lynskey and Messina in a Montreal pole-dancing bar that absolutely breaks your heart in two. It's beautifully shot and everything is done just right; the Alexi Murdoch song score is reminiscent of Nick Drake, but works beautifully, perfectly capturing the smart but gentle tone of the piece.

All in all, the film is another unqualified triumph for Mendes, who can do no wrong from where I sit. We're so used to seeing him make sumptuous, big budget, Oscar-baiting dramas (but in the best way), to see him turn his hand at an indie-style comedy/drama and succeed so brilliantly is a testament to the man's skill. This is clearly a very personal project for both recent father Mendes and Eggers & Vida (apparently the authors based the script loosely upon their own experiences) and the pure love and goodwill shines through in every frame. This film is flat-out gorgeous, without insulting one's intelligence or turning on the schmaltz for a second. It ends on an optimistic note of discovery, but tempered with caution about the ever-uncertain future. And, if we're honest with each other, that's pretty much how we all live day to day, I suspect. AWAY WE GO is a wonderful, magnificent beast; a film that should speak to anyone who's ever tried to find their place in this world.

Thank you for following me on this epic countdown, I hope you've enjoyed reading it almost as much as enjoyed watching the films!

Over and out,

TSIK