The Tragedy Of Macbeth

Tonight Sally and I went to the Palace Pentridge Cinema to see Joel Coen's new film The Tragedy Of Macbeth, which was written by Coen based on William Shakespeare's play Macbeth. It stars Denzel Washington as Macbeth and Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth and they put in incredible performances along with all the other actors in the cast. 

 

The film is shot in black and white and the cinematography and brutalist architecture of the set really add to the tension and drama of the scenes and actors emerge from shadows into the light. It took a bit to get my brain into the rhythm of iambic pentameter at the start, but then I could just sit back an enjoy this adaptation.

Belfast

The British Film Festival is currently on and Sally and I met at the Kino Cinema this afternoon to see Kenneth Branagh's new film Belfast. Loosely based on his childhood, the black and white film is a coming of age story set in the late 1960s around the start of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. 

 

Buddy (Jude Hill) lives with his brother and parents (Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe) in a mixed working class neighborhood. Their peaceful existence is shattered when a mob of unionists comes and firebombs the houses of Catholic families on the street. While in the background a barricade goes up and people patrol the local streets, the focus of the story is Buddy and his family as they live through these times and try to determine if they should stay or move to England where there is work. It's more of a sentimental film that skims the surface of the political tensions of the time, but it was entertaining and Jude Hill's performance as Buddy was fantastic.

 

Belfast opens for a broader release in Australia in January 2022.

MIFF 2021

Despite all the planning and risk mitigation efforts by the organisers of the Melbourne International Film Festival to have an in-person festival this year, COVID-19 reared its ugly head again and Melbourne went back into its sixth lockdown on 6 August (which also coincided with me taking a month's annual leave from work). While in-cinema screenings scheduled in regional Victoria were able to proceed, Greater Melbourne only had access to the MIFF Play online screenings once again, which contained a portion of the films that were due to be part of this year's program. 

 

Of the seven films I had originally booked only three were available to watch on MIFF Play, along with another film that I was interested in seeing. Once again, my main focus was documentaries:

The Gig Is Up by Shannon Walsh is a documentary that showed the true impact of the gig economy in different countries around the world. It explored not only the tech companies making trillions of dollars off the backs of vulnerable workers, but the true cost of all this convenience, particularly as the coronavirus pandemic started to hit in 2020.

Set! was a fantastic documentary by Scott Gawlik about a group of nine competitive table setters vying for the Best In Show ribbon at the Orange County Fair. They were a bunch of interesting and diverse people, and you learned about their backstories, histories competing against each other, and what drives them to enter these competitions every year.

Moments Like This Never Last is a documentary by Cheryl Dunn about the life of artist Dash Snow, who was an iconic figure of the 2000s New York art scene. Using archival footage from the time period along with present day interviews with his friends and colleagues, you got a very raw portrait of Snow, his short life and the underground art scene of that time.

Palazzo di Cozzo was one of the films I was most looking forward to seeing, and thankfully it had its world premiere on 14 August as a special online screening. Franco Cozzo is a well known iconic figure in Melbourne through his baroque furniture stores in Brunswick and Footscray. This documentary by Madeleine Martiniello told the story of his life, from growing up in Sicily to migrating to Australia in the 1950s, and how he worked to build his furniture empire through a combination of entrepreneurial spirit and media charm. It's a fantastic film that also provides the historical and sociological context of the times, particularly for that generation of European migrants, along with some amazing footage of homes completely decorated with his furniture.

 

Fingers crossed that next year I will finally get to enjoy MIFF again in a cinema after two years of watching films online.

Ema

The Chilean film Ema by Pablo Larraín is currently playing as part of the Moro Spanish Film Festival (it also was the closing film of MIFF in 2020). Ash and I headed to the Kino Cinema this evening after dinner to watch it. The film stars Mariana Di Girolamo as Ema, a young dancer and teacher who is married to the director of her contemporary dance company, Gastón (Gael García Bernal). The couple end up bringing their adopted 12-year-old son, Polo, back to the orphanage after he set fire to their house, injuring Ema's sister.

 

This decision impacts the couple's relationship as Ema regrets the decision and goes on a secretive mission to get Polo back. The film is a mix of pyromania as Ema wanders around town with a flamethrower lighting things on fire, contemporary and reggaetón dance sequences with her friends, and romantic affairs with different people. The film is a wild ride and while you may not know what's going on plotwise at some points, it is entertaining.

French Film Festival 2021

After being interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic last year, the Alliance French Film Festival was able to go ahead in person this year. Once again I bought myself a five film pass and have attended the following films over the past couple weeks:

 

Summer of 85 by François Ozon is an adaptation of Aidan Chambers' novel Dance on My Grave. The story is told in flashbacks about a summer romance between teenagers Alexis (Félix Lefebvre) and David (Benjamin Voisin) and the tragedy that ultimately occurs. While it had a good 1980s soundtrack, the movie was a bit melodramatic and all over the shop.

 

Miss is a feel-good film by Ruben Alves about Alex's (Alexandre Wetter) dream of entering the Miss France beauty pageant and challenging the traditional gender binary. It's a heart warming film about chosen families supporting each other and a bit of a satire on the televised elements of beauty pageants.

 

De Gaulle is a biopic by Gabriel Le Bomin focused on General Charles de Gaulle (Lambert Wilson) during World War II as he met with Winston Churchill after Hitler seized Paris and led the French resistance. While de Gaulle is in exile the film also follows his wife (Isabelle Carré) and children as they travel around France trying to stay ahead of the German armed forces. It is a gripping war drama that covers some key moments for France in during World War II.

 

Eiffel is a biopic about Gustave Eiffel (Romain Duris) and what inspired him to design and build the Eiffel Tower for the 1889 World's Fair in Paris. The film shows the issues Eiffel dealt with during the building of the tower, including engineering innovations, protests and financial challenges.

 

Delicious is a historical comedy by Eric Besnard set in 1789 France prior to the French Revolution. Manceron (Grégory Gadebois) is a cook for the Duke of Chamfort, but gets fired when he cooks an inventive dish that is criticized by the Duke's guests. He goes to stay in a regional inn, where he takes on a female apprentice (Isabelle Carré) and ends up creating France's first restaurant to feed travellers coming through the area.

The Alliance French Film Festival runs in Melbourne until 31 March 2021.

Promising Young Woman

Tonight I met up with Ebony at the newly opened Palace Pentridge Cinema in Coburg to see Promising Young Woman. Each cinema has large leather reclining seats, which countered having to wear a mask throughout. This film by Emerald Fennell stars Carey Mulligan as Cassie Thomas, a 30-year-old woman who is a one woman vigilante going after guys who prey on intoxicated women. As the movie progresses it is revealed Cassie is trying to exact revenge for the death of her college friend Nina as she tracks down the key players in what happened to her and the aftermath. The film is pretty full on at times but really well done, and it goes to show that you never can tell who is a "nice guy," especially in this era of #MeToo.

MIFF 68 1/2

Normally at this time of year I would be racing between cinemas to line up for my next movie as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF). However, this year's physical festival was cancelled once the coronavirus pandemic hit. With Melbourne currently in Stage 4 lockdown, MIFF thankfully has gone online as MIFF 68 1/2 and is available for streaming across Australia. Since there weren't any mini passes available this year, I was good and only purchased six films to watch instead of my usual 10 plus.

I started with the Opening Night film First Cow by Kelly Reichardt, which is based on the Jonathan Raymond novel The Half Life. Set in the Oregon Territory in the 1820s, the movie is about the unlikely friendship between Cookie (John Magaro) and King-Lu (Orion Lee) as they enter business together selling oily cakes at the market with the secret ingredient of cow milk they've stolen from wealthy Englishman Chief Factor. The tension of the film is will they eventually be found out?

My usual preference of film genre at MIFF is documentaries, and this year was no exception. The Go-Go's told the story of one of the greatest all female bands as they emerged from the LA punk scene in the late 1970s to international stardom. It contained archival footage of them performing, photos and interviews with all of the band members as they detailed the trials and tribulations of the band's history. Martin Margiela: In His Own Words featured the avant-garde Belgian fashion designer speaking for the first time about the inspirations for his key fashion collections throughout his career. Margiela shunned fame and publicity in order to let his clothes be the focus (and he still doesn't show his face in this film).

My other three films were part of the Social Justice 3 Pack bundle. 9to5: The Story of a Movement detailed the women who came together and organised female office workers in the 1970s and 80s into a huge movement for better pay, professional recognition and ultimately as a union. These office women's stories were the inspiration for the movie 9 to 5, and unfortunately the struggle of underpaid primarily female workforces continues to this day. My favorite film of all the ones I watched was Coded Bias, which explored the research done by some female academics into the racial and gender biases that are written into the coding for AI and algorithms used by the main tech companies. It's an incredibly important film that shows the real life impacts of this so-called "impartial" technology on society. 

 

My final film was Hong Kong Moments, which documented key dates in the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong as told from seven citizens from all walks of life on both sides of the movement. Filmmaker Zhou Bing allows them all to speak for themselves and the film documents daily life alongside the street battles between police and protestors. It culminated with the local district council elections, which saw a large group of pro-democracy candidates elected.

MIFF 68 1/2 is available for streaming from 6 - 23 August 2020.

Parasite

I have been hearing great things about South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's latest film Parasite for months now, and I finally managed to see it tonight at the Cinema Nova with Belinda. The movie focuses on two families at opposite ends of the socioeconomic spectrum. The Kim family, who are struggling to make ends meet, catch a break when son Ki-woo takes over a tutoring job from his friend for the daughter of the wealthy Park family. Ki-woo then works to get other workers in the Park household fired and secretly replaced by the rest of his family, including the longstanding housekeeper Moon-gwang.

When the Kim family thinks they have it all under control, Moon-gwang returns when the Park family is away on a camping trip and reveals that her husband has been secretly living in a bunker in the house. It is then that the Kim's accidentally reveal themselves and the tables turn as Moon-gwang threatens to expose them to the Park family. From this point the film takes a dark turn from a comedy to a thriller that culminates at the young Park boy's birthday party at the house. The movie provides strong commentary on social class and income inequality, and you can see why it has won so many awards this season and will probably do well at the Oscars in a few days.

Jojo Rabbit

One benefit of being in the States at the moment is that I had the opportunity tonight to go with my friend Lynne to see Taika Waititi's new film Jojo Rabbit, which doesn't open in Australia until Boxing Day. Billed as an anti-hate satire, it is based on the book Caging Skies by Christine Leunens.

The movie is set in Germany towards the end of World War II and centers around young boy Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis), who is being raised by his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson). Jojo becomes part of the Hitler Youth, and is cheered on by his imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler (hilariously played by Taika Waititi). As the movie progresses Jojo discovers that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl, Elsa (Tomasin McKenzie), in the attic of their house. Jojo realises that he needs to keep this secret to protect himself and his mother, and ends up becoming friends with Elsa as time goes on.

While the movie has some absurd and funny parts, it also has some quite dramatic moments, and is a more serious film than people might expect from Taika Waititi. Both Lynne and I really enjoyed it and it will have you thinking about the correlations to the present times we are living through as you leave the movie theater.

MIFF- The Dead Don't Die

Tonight was the last of my films for MIFF this year as Belinda and I met up at Hoyts Melbourne Central for Jim Jarmusch's latest movie The Dead Don't Die. This comedy/zombie horror film contains an all star cast and revolves around the small town of Centerville. Polar fracking has caused the Earth to tilt off its axis, and as a result it has thrown out electronics and when day and night time occur. Zombies start to gradually emerge from the local cemetery, and the local cops (Bill Murray, Adam Driver and Chloe Sevingy) along with a small band of locals (including Danny Glover who runs the local hardware store and Tilda Swinton as a samurai sword toting coroner) try and fight off the zombies and prevent themselves from being eaten. It's a very deadpan film with some recurring gags, breaking down of the fourth wall, and a lot of blood and gore.

MIFF- A Family, Skin, Judy & Punch, and Martha: A Picture Story

In order to fully take advantage of my MIFF mini pass I took a few days off work so I could attend some daytime sessions. On Thursday afternoon I went to see the Australian film A Family, which was shot in Ukraine in a local Ukrainian dialect. Director Jayden Stephens was there to open the film and do a Q&A afterwards. The film centers around a man who hires actors to play his family. He writes up scripts and then films the interactions like home movies. I thought the premise would be funny, but the overall tone of the film was creepy, and I didn't feel any empathy for him or get an understanding of why he was doing all this.

Today I started my afternoon of movies at the Sofitel Auditorium with Guy Nattiv's film Skin. Based on a true story about reformed white supremacist Byron Widner, the film jumps back and forth from Widner (Jamie Bell) getting his racist tattoos removed to flash back scenes of how he tried to extricate himself from the Vinlanders Social Club and start a new life with his girlfriend Julie (Danielle Macdonald) and her three daughters. The film obviously had strong parallels to what we're facing in the world today, and both Bell and Macdonald gave great acting performances.

Next I headed over to The Capitol for the Australian film Judy & Punch by Mirrah Foulkes. A feminist retelling of Punch and Judy, the film stars Mia Wasikowska as Judy and Damon Harriman as Punch, two puppeteers who return to Judy's hometown of Seaside with their baby daughter. In this black comedy, Judy manages to battle the misogyny she and the other women in the town face, and after nearly being killed by Punch works with inhabitants of the hidden heretics camp in the woods to get her ultimate revenge against the abusive Punch. It was a well done and entertaining movie.

My final film for today, also at The Capitol, was the documentary Martha: A Picture Story about US photographer Martha Cooper. Australian director Selina Miles and US Consul General Michael Kleine introduced the film, which tells the story of Cooper's amazing career photographing people for National Geographic, the New York Post and as a freelancer. She manages to build relationships with the people she photographs, and has focused a lot of her work on capturing American gentrification and street art around the world. Her 1984 book with Henry Chalfant Subway Art is considered a bible for street artists, and she still travels globally to photograph street artists at work. Her archives are simply amazing, and she captured a historic period of time in 1970s and 1980s New York City with the emergence of street art and hip hop culture. After the film there was a Q&A led by Melbourne artist Rone with Cooper, Miles and producer Daniel Joyce. She was just as lovely in person as in the film, and admitted one of her main reasons for coming to Australia was to catch some rare Pokemon Go characters.

The Chills: The Triumph & Tragedy Of Martin Phillipps

Not only is it currently MIFF in Melbourne, but Palace Cinemas are also holding a Music Film Festival at its cinemas around Australia featuring music films from the past 40 years. Tonight was the closing night of the festival with a screening at the Palace Westgarth of the documentary The Chills: The Triumph & Tragedy Of Martin Phillipps.

The Chills are one of the great bands to come out of the Dunedin music scene in New Zealand in the 1980s on Flying Nun Records. The documentary is a brutally honest accounting of the history of the band, which has had 21 different line ups over the years as founder and lead singer Martin Phillipps pursued his musical vision. There are interviews with Martin and many of the former members of The Chills about their experiences in the band and on the road, which for some were still raw and painful. It also showed the highs and lows of the band with the breakout success of the 1990 album Submarine Bells (one of my favorites of all time by any artist) and trying to surpass those heights with subsequent releases.

The other overarching story line of the film was Martin's health issues. A former drug addict and alcoholic, he has had hepatitis C for over 20 years. At the start of the film we watch his doctor give him the grim news that due to his poor liver function he has a 30% chance of dying within 12 months. While put onto an experimental drug treatment to cure his Hepatitis C, the news sets Martin in motion creatively to finish off music ideas and go through the many massive collections of things in his house, some of which fed into an exhibition on The Chills at the Otago Museum. Overall it was a fantastic music documentary with insights into the creative genius of Martin Phillipps and just how much the music industry has changed over the years.

MIFF- It Must Schwing! The Blue Note Story and We Are Little Zombies

My first MIFF film for the evening was with Sally at the Kino Cinemas for Eric Friedler's documentary It Must Schwing! The Blue Note Story about the famous jazz label. I had no idea that it was founded by two Jewish/German immigrants who escaped the Nazis in Berlin. Childhood best friends Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff had a deep love of jazz music and set up the label in 1939. They both took care of the musicians who worked for the label during a time of racial segregation, and those musicians considered them to be friends. The label's distinctive album covers were due to Francis Wolff's amazing photographs and some cutting edge graphic design. It's a wonderful story of friendship and features some amazing music and interviews with key people in the history of Blue Note Records.

Next I headed to Hoyts Melbourne Central for the Japanese film We Are Little Zombies. This incredibly creative film by Makoto Nagahisa is about four young teens who meet at a crematorium after the deaths of their parents from different circumstances. The film is structured like a video game as you learn about Hikari, Ikuko, Ishi and Takemura and their lives. The four end up forming a pop band that becomes a viral sensation with their very catchy songs, but it's all short lived. The film is visually exciting with a unique storytelling structure. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.

MIFF- Suede and Extra Ordinary

This afternoon I continued my MIFF journey at Hoyts Cinema with the British documentary Suede: The Insatiable Ones. Belinda and I were both big fans of Suede back in the day, so it was interesting to watch the story of the band's history, which included unexpected people like Mike Joyce of The Smiths auditioning for the band, and Ricky Gervais, who managed them at the start for a short period. The film contained interviews with many of the key players and band members over the years as well as archival footage from the studio and on the road shot by drummer Simon Gilbert. I didn't know lead singer Brett Anderson had such a bad drug addition in the late 1990s that it led to the band breaking up. They did reform in 2010 for a charity gig, which went so well that eventually the band started recording together again. It's a really good film and those early songs still stand the test of time.

After dinner at Cookie I headed back to Hoyts and met up with Sally for the quirky Irish comedy Extra Ordinary. Rose (Maeve Higgins) is a driving instructor in her small town, but she also has a not so secret past in dealing with paranormal activity. It is only when she meets widower Martin (Barry Ward) who is being haunted by his dead wife, that she agrees to use her talents to help him and his teenage daughter Sarah out. However, things get a bit more serious when one hit wonder Christian Winter (Will Forte) decides to resurrect his music career through doing a virgin sacrifice, and targets Sarah as his victim. Rose and Martin team up to help save Sarah, and the movie really kicks into gear once they end up at Christian's castle to fight for Sarah's soul. It was a funny little film and very entertaining.

MIFF- Watergate and What You Gonna Do When The World Is On Fire?

The latest two films I saw at MIFF were both American documentaries. On Sunday afternoon Sally and I met up at the newly renovated, beautiful art deco Capitol Theatre on Swanston Street for the *four and a half hour* documentary Watergate - Or: How We Learned To Stop An Out Of Control President by Charles Ferguson. The films used a mix of archival footage from the news and Congressional hearings, interviews with many of the key players, and re-enactments of the Nixon tapes with actors to tell the story of Watergate and how it all unfolded. Despite the length it was quite engrossing, and of course there are many parallels to what we are currently living through with the Trump administration.

This evening Megan and I went to the Forum Theatre to see Roberto Minervini's documentary What You Gonna Do When The World Is On Fire? about New Orleans. Shot in high contrast black and white, the film follows four different members of the black community in the city over a summer. There's Judy who owns a local bar, brothers Ronaldo and Titus, Mardi Gras chief Kevin, and members of the New Black Panther Party who are fighting for social justice. The film cuts back and forth between the different people, and there isn't much of a cohesive narrative to bring all the different threads together. The highlight of the film for me was the lovely relationship between the brothers as Ronaldo looked after and taught his younger brother Titus about the realities of life they face.

MIFF- Beats and Come To Daddy

Last night I attended another two films at MIFF. I started my evening at the Kino Cinemas for the Scottish film Beats, based on the play by Kieran Hurley and shot in black and white by director Brian Welsh. Set during the mid-1990s rave scene in Scotland, childhood best friends Johnno (Christian Ortega) and Spanner (Lorn MacDonald), who have very different home lives, are in search of an illegal rave warehouse party advertised via pirate radio. They make some friends along the way and have a night to remember, although not entirely as they planned. It was a really enjoyable film although the thick Scottish accents were at times difficult to understand.

Next I headed to the Sofitel Auditorium where I was joined by Belinda for the late night showing of the comedy/horror film Come To Daddy. There was a brief intro by the director Ant Timpson, which gave us a glimpse of what was to come. The movie stars Elijah Wood as Norval, a thirty-something hipster who after receiving a handwritten letter travels to the remote coastal home of his father, who abandoned him as a child. It's a bit of a slow burn at the start but there are lots of twist and turns in the plot (which I don't want to give away) and it became a comedic bloodbath towards the end with some completely over the top ways of killing off the villains.

MIFF- Matthias & Maxime and The Australian Dream

It is time once again for one of my favorite winter events in the city- the Melbourne International Film Festival. This year's festival runs from 1-18 August, and I have even become a MIFF member this year to make my moving going experience even easier. I began my festival last night at Hoyts Melbourne Central for French-Canadian film director Xavier Dolan's latest film Matthias & Maxime. It focused on twenty-something childhood best friends Matthias (Gabriel D'Almeida Freitas) and Maxime (Dolan) and their circle of friends over a few months before Maxime moves away for two years to Melbourne (which was an amusing subplot for those of us in the audience). While up at a summer cabin the two agree to appear in a short student film by Matthias' sister in which they have to kiss, and this event triggers underlying dormant feelings that drive the plot for the rest of the film. The film was good and has some recurring familial themes from Dolan's previous films, but I think it didn't have the same cinematic beauty of some of his earlier works.

This morning Sally and Megan joined me at The Plenary in the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre for the film that opened MIFF, the Adam Goodes documentary The Australian Dream. While the other current documentary out about Adam, The Final Quarter, pulled together media and archival footage from the last few years of Adam's AFL playing career when constant booing forced him from the game, this documentary involves Adam himself. It focuses on his life story, from his family life growing up to his AFL playing career, and sets his story within the broader context of racism in Australia and how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been treated since European settlement. The film has interviews with with a wide variety of people involved in Adam's life as well as journalist Stan Grant, who was a screenwriter for the film and did the fantastic speech in 2016 that really set the broader context of what Adam was dealing with to the Australian public. After the film there was a Q&A with the British director Daniel Gordon, and their goal is for this film to have an international release.

French Film Festival 2019

This year is the 30th Alliance Francaise French Film Festival, which is running from 6 March - 10 April 2019 in Melbourne.  I once again bought a five film pass and have attended the following films over the past few weeks:

A Faithful Man is a romantic comedy directed by and staring Louis Garrel as Abel, a man who's relationship with his girlfriend Marianne (Laetitia Casta) ends when she tells him she's pregnant by his best friend Paul and they plan to get married. Fast forward seven years and Abel ends up reuniting with Marianne after Paul dies unexpectedly. However, he encounters some roadblocks to rekindling their romance due to her son and Paul's sister Eva (Lily-Rose Depp), who has been in love with Abel since she was a teenager. The film shows key events from each character's point of view, and it is amusing to watch Marianne and Eva battle for Abel's affections.

Celebration: Yves Saint Laurent is a documentary about the late fashion designer by Olivier Meyrou. It covers the lead up to the release of his final collection before the fashion house was sold to Gucci in 1999, and contains archival footage and interviews with the key players, including the seamstresses, his business partner Pierre Berge and the reclusive Saint Laurent himself. It's not the most flattering portrait of the man, which is probably why it has taken nearly 20 years to get permission for the film to be released.

One Nation, One King by Pierre Schoeller is based around the events of the French Revolution, from the storming of the Bastille in 1789 to the execution of King Louis XVI in 1793. It was not the most exciting of period dramas as the main focus was more on the National Assembly and parliamentary speeches instead of the street battles or glamour of the French royals.

Jean Paul Gautier: Freak & Chic is a documentary by Yann L'Henoret about the fashion designer as he prepares for the opening of the revue "Fashion Freak Show" at the Folies Bergeres. It is a very entertaining film as you watch them develop and rehearse for the revue and create the different costumes for the show. The film is also a unique way of delving into the career of Jean Paul Gautier as you get to hear him talk about the events from his life that inspired each vignette in the revue. Definitely check this film out if you get the chance.

The Sisters Brothers is a western directed by French filmmaker Jacques Audiard, but the film is in English. Set during the California gold rush in the 1850s, it stars John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix as Eli and Charlie Sisters, two brothers who are hit-men. They are hired by The Commodore to kill chemist Herman Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed), who has a secret formula for finding gold. Also on the hunt for Warm is John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal), who happens to be a few days ahead of the brothers on the trail from Oregon to California, and he ends up finding and partnering with Warm. The film is not your typical western as it has not only humor, but more of a philosophical undercurrent along with some beautiful cinematography.

Fahrenheit 11/9

I have been wanting to see Michael Moore's latest film Fahrenheit 11/9 for a while now, but it only recently opened with a limited release here in Australia. Going into the movie after the mid-term elections meant I was feeling slightly more optimistic about things because of the blue wave and the Democrats winning control of the House (and therefore being a check on Trump).

The film began with the 2016 Presidential election and that horrible night when Donald Trump became America's 45th President. It spends some time on Trump, but the main focus of the film is on the corrupt and criminal behaviour that has led to some major issues in the country such as the Flint water crisis in Michigan, the West Virginia teacher's strike, and the Parkland school shooting in Florida. He also focuses on the political, from the disenfranchisement of Bernie Sanders delegates at the 2016 Democratic National Convention to meeting with several of the new wave of progressive candidates that ran for office this year. This is one of Michael Moore's stronger films and I highly recommend seeing it if you get the chance.

MIFF- Won't You Be My Neighbor? and McQueen

My last two films for this year's MIFF were appropriately both documentaries. I started my afternoon at Hoyts Melbourne Central with Morgan Neville's film Won't You Be My Neighbor? about the children's television host Fred Rogers. I grew up watching Mister Rogers' Neighborhood on PBS, so this film was like reliving my childhood. It mixed archival footage with interviews of family, friends and crew members. It was amazing to see how trailblazing the show was, from teaching children about kindness and empathy to addressing serious topics such as death, divorce and war. During the Civil Rights movement Mister Rogers made a point to share a wading pool with Officer Clemmons, played by Francois Clemmons who was African American. In addition, through national tragedies such as Bobby Kennedy's assassination and the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, Mister Rogers was there to help children make sense of it all. It was an emotional film to watch, but a great tribute to Fred Rogers and the important role he played in educating children for over 30 years.

My other film for the afternoon was Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui's documentary McQueen about the British fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen. Using his personal archives, fashion show footage, and interviews with family, friends and those who worked with him, the film told the story of how McQueen went from an apprenticeship on Savile Row to being one of the great fashion designers and couturiers of the 1990s and early 2000s. The film was broken up into different sections based around key collections for his McQueen label and Givenchy. It gave you a glimpse of his life as became more popular, and how he kept pushing the envelope with his often controversial runway shows. After the screening Dr Hannah McCann, a lecturer in gender studies from the University of Melbourne, read a short essay about the film and McQueen himself.