The best of the world's film-making is coming to town, Otago Daily Times film reviewer Mark Orton writes.
The first thing to note about the World Cinema Showcase film festival is that it doesn't "just" include subtitled foreign-language films, although there are quite a few of those too.
When recommending films I am often asked whether a film is subtitled, which I am frequently astounded to discover is an impediment for many film-goers. Seldom does a year go by when a film from the non-English speaking world is not one of, if not the best, films released.
So, to help narrow down the selection and celebrate the wonderful diversity that this brilliant festival brings to town, I have isolated a few films that exemplify the breadth of diversity in world cinema, and yes, some are subtitled.
MENTAL NOTES
Jim Marbrook's documentary about personal experience in New Zealand's psychiatric institutions is likely to have particular resonance for Dunedin audiences old enough to remember the infamy of Seacliff and Cherry Farm.
Mental Notes follows five former patients as they recall their experience of being institutionalised at a time when mental-health care was viewed with curiosity and horror by the public. Few then had any idea of the grim reality lived by those unfortunate enough to be sectioned off into the scary "loony bins". Marbrook's three-year mission to uncover the secrets contained in the stark concrete confines of yesteryear's psychiatric hospitals, is moving and funny.
It is also difficult to believe that it was allowed to happen, and not so long ago.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA
Hardly a fairy tale, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is an amazing cinematic amalgamation of creeping dread, brooding emotions and dark humour.
Based on the experiences of one of the film's writers, the film follows three carloads of men as they search for the body of a murder victim on the Anatolian steppe. Filmed mostly at night with available light, the journey is fraught with difficulty as the murder accused struggles to remember where the body is buried and the police officials bicker constantly with one another. Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who got his start in the industry taking still photos, is incredibly bold in his pacing and understanding of his audience. Interminably long takes, static camera positions, extended passages of dialogue and abstract angles will reward any cinephile hungry for something more profound than escapist multiplex fare.
HELL AND BACK AGAIN
Award-winning photojournalist Danfung Dennis was embedded with US troops in Afghanistan in 2009 to cover a pivotal air assault. He had no intention of making a film, but a chance meeting with Sergeant Nathan Harris on the battlefield started a process that would become one of the most immersive pieces of modern warfare story-telling outside The Hurt Locker.
Gaining the trust of Harris after spending time with his platoon, Dennis learned that Harris had been shot in combat so decided to shift focus to tell the story of what it means for a soldier to try to integrate back into society after such a harrowing experience. Using his Canon DSLR camera with a modified rig to help him shoot video while tailing the Taliban, Dennis has captured an amazing array of footage that he cleverly intercuts with Harris undergoing rehabilitation in North Carolina. Nominated for an Academy Award, Hell and Back Again is a remarkable piece of film-making that cuts deep to the cost of war.
WOODY ALLEN - A DOCUMENTARY
It's a marathon this one, clocking in at a whopping 192 minutes split into two parts.
That's kind of inevitable given Allen's contribution to cinema and popular culture. Obviously tailored towards Allen fans, Woody Allen - A Documentary will certainly enrich anyone with even the most basic curiosity about his work.
Director Robert B. Weide supplements a host of interviews from Allen's past and present, sharing amusing anecdotes about his life and work, with an impressive array of archive material, some of which has seldom been screened. Weide clearly had a remarkable level of access to the notoriously private director, as he chronicles the highs and lows of Allen's prolific career, starting from his formative days in television as a stand-up comic and frequent talk-show guest.
Together with a cast of Hollywood's stars on hand to give their two cents worth, Weide has managed to condense a career that has averaged a film a year for the last 40, into a single sitting. Quite a feat.
ALOIS NEBEL
The prize for the festival's most visually evocative film does come with a wee bit of a surprise. It's black and white, 2-D and animated. Alois Nebel is a rather unconventional thriller from the Czech Republic, set in a small village near the Polish border. Adapted from a novel, it tells the story of a middle-aged train dispatcher (Alois) who is troubled by memories of the past. Happiest when basking in the grim solitude that a remote outpost offers, Alois nevertheless loses a struggle with his demons, leading to a mental breakdown and institutionalisation.
Alois Nebel might lose the odd viewer with its recourse to specific episodes in eastern European history, but that is easily made up for by the ocular spectacle. Using the same method of rotoscoping that Richard Linklater used in A Scanner Darkly, director Tomas Lunak has made a debut feature that is nothing short of extraordinary.
The festival
The World Cinema Showcase runs from Thursday until May 9.
In total there are 30 countries represented in the film festival, in 35 films. They all screen at the Regent Theatre with the exception of Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, which screens at the Rialto in 3-D.
- Mark Orton
