A place for movie lovers

My baby was sick and I had to be at the hospital for him most of the day, hence I could only watch one of the movies I had planned to watch, but it was a good one, so it was a good way to end this year's BIFFF

Saving Sally (Philippines) : a high school guy has the ability to see monsters in our world (some of them passing as humans). He's friend with a girl who's abused by her parents. He's decided to help her... This movie was strongly recommended to me, and I had met with the director, who is a really nice guy, earlier this week, so I wanted to watch it. I don't regret it. Real people mixed with animated characters and settings, Saving Sally is a sweet fable about friendship and love, visually stunning. It's mostly a romance, and though I'm not usually interested in that, it was great. 5 stars.

(postcard of an image of the movie, offered by the director)

(back of the postcard, with a drawing made by the director)

Final movie count : 49.

And here ends this year's BIFFF for me. I plan to make a couple of 'top 5' before posting about this year's awards that’ll be released later today, but I'm not sure I'll have time for that. If not, they'll be posted sometime next week.

Regular day at the BIFFF :)

- Call of heroes (HK/China) : the son of a general murders 3 people in a village and is arrested. But his father's soldiers can't accept that : if the local law officer won't release him, they will burn the village to the ground... A typical martial art movie, with themes of filiation and honor above duty. Despite the cables in many scenes, the action is still real (thanks to Sammo Hung). 4 stars.

- The big everything (France) : 5 people – scientists, mechanics, shrinks... – are aboard a space ship, to go and explore a black hole. Maybe they'll discover more than they expected. Maybe even the reason for everything... The director sold this movie as hard SF, and in a sense, it is. Think of 2001 a space odyssey, but cheap and with meh acting. The inside of the space ship looks like what a kid would do in his bedroom, but the space images are amazing ! Unfortunately, the dialogues can be pretty stupid at times. I still give it 3 stars.

(Coline Sapin, visual effects artist on The big everything)

(Nicolas Bazz (left), director, and his brother Yann Bazz (right), visual effects supervisor, contacted through Skype)

- Kung fu yoga (China/HK/India) : a famous Chinese archaeologist is given an old map that'll help him find a legendary Indian treasure. But he isn't the only one looking for it... What the fuck did I watch ? It was entertaining and Jackie Chan, at his age, still has it. But it felt like the script was just an excuse to travel through Asia and Middle East (and it was heavily plagiarizing Indiana Jones). And the Bollywood ending... Don't get me wrong, it was enjoyable, but not very thought out. 3 stars because it's never boring.

(Stanley Tong, director of Kung fu yoga (right))

- Dead man tells his own tale (Argentina) : a sexist man becomes the undead slave of Celtic goddesses who plan to end patriarchy. It won't go as planned... With its feminist plot and its dark humor, it was fun at first. But then it became too talkative, and seriously, I dozed off right at the end and I don't know what happened. 2 stars because of its subject.

Movie count : 48

No chance of meeting Stanley Tong *shrugs* A lot of good and great movies, and a surprise guest :)

- Vampire cleanup department (HK) : in Hong-Kong, a special department fights secretly against vampires. On a blood moon night, a powerful vampire is awakened, along with his fiancée... A typical HK horror comedy with a touch of romance. What I enjoyed is the fact that they used traditional Chinese vampires instead of western vampires. But the pathos... If you don't like sweet, don't watch this ! It was still quite enjoyable. 3 stars.

- Interchange (Malaysia) : a police officer and a forensics photographer are faced with brutal murders, possibly ritual murders. But who is this mysterious woman who seems to know more than she admits... I admit I dozed off for most of the first part of the movie. It wasn't bad, but too slow for my sleepy mind. I regret now, because it was an interesting fantastic thriller, very original, pretty and with solid acting. 3 stars.

- Memoirs of a murderer (Japan) : a serial killer decides to out himself by writing a book about his murders when the statute of limitations on his crimes has expired. The police officer who investigated the cases 22 years before won't stand by idly though... Remake of a Korean movie, Confession of murder, which I haven't seen so I won't compare them. Well written, well acted, with an interesting reflection on the power of media. 4 stars.

- The Limehouse golem (UK) : at the end of the 19th century, a series of brutal killings is scaring people in Limehouse. At the same time, a young woman is accused of killing her husband. A Scottland Yard inspector is going to link both events... Wow, what a great police investigation movie ! Bill Nighy has taken Alan Rickman's place playing Kildare, the inspector, and he does great. The movie is beautiful, gritty ; the Victorian atmosphere is well done. Women's condition is at the center of the movie. Highly recommended. 5 stars.

- The autopsy of Jane Doe (UK/USA) : a mysterious woman is discovered on the scene of a weird multiple murder case. Her body is brought to the morgue to find out who this Jane Doe is, and how she died. But the local mortician and his son will spend a dangerous night working on this case... Wonderfully scary and well performed, quite gruesome (the autopsy is very explicit), it's a great horror movie, directed by Andre Ovredal who brought us Trollhunter. A must see. 5 stars.

Movie count : 44

Surprise guest yesterday: Timo Vuorensola, director of Iron sky, came to show the new trailer of Iron sky 2... and sing a song :)

A little mistake in today's schedule, but I sorted it out. Aaron offered some of his free drinks for guests to dear husband and me. Aaron is just super cool:)

- Missing you (Korea) : a man is accused of several murders but is found guilty of only one. When he comes out of prison, the police is waiting for him to make a mistake to put him back. There's something they didn't take into account though... An effective thriller, with maybe a little bit too much of pathos for my taste. It offers various degrees/forms of psycopathy, and you realize that a psycopath can be a fully functional human being and go under the radar. 4 stars.

- Boy missing (Spain) : a boy has disappeared for a couple of hours. He tells the police that a man has kidnapped him. His mother, a lawyer, won't go to rest until her son is safe. But has the boy told the truth... Another thriller. Spain has done some really good ones in the past (like La isla minima) and this one is again pretty effective, though I thought the various twists looked like a cheap way to get the movie going longer. At least, they all kind of made sense in the end. 3 stars.

- Tarde para la ira (Spain) : a quiet man becomes friend (and lover) with people met at a bar. But he may have a reason for being there. A deadly reason... Again, a Spanish thriller. Again, quite effective. This one is directed by Raul Arevalo, who was in Ghost graduation (reviewed on this blog) and La isla minima. He did a good job, and the main actor is perfect ! A good movie against personal revenge, if you really think about it. 4 stars.

- Eat local (UK) : a group of vampires has a meeting in a remote farm. They brought a young guy who may join their community. But they also have uninvited guests : holy soldiers who want to destroy them... A wonderful horror comedy, that also brings some social problems with great intelligence. Jason Flemyng, who makes here his first attent at directing, has called some recognisable faces of UK cinema and TV : Charlie Cox, Tony Curran, Mackenzie Crook, Freema Agyeman, Eve Myles, Dexter Fletcher, Vincent Regan (if the names ring no bells, check them out, I know you've seen them somewhere). Billy Cook plays the young Sebastian and is incredible. 5 stars.

(Rod Smith, producer of Eat local (right))

- The chamber (UK) : two men and a woman on a mission for the government take over a small submarine in Korea's seas, looking for something at the bottom of the ocean. After some mistakes, they found themselves stuck there... Even at the BIFFF (where the audience can change a meh movie in a great experience), this one was boring. Keeping the tension for a whole movie with only four people in a small space isn't an easy thing to do, I understand that. But all the characters do is talking (and yelling), always about the same thing. It's redundant and not enjoyable. 1 stars for the effort.

(Ben Parker (second on the left), director of The chamber, with two of his producers, including one zombie)

Movie count : 39

Another big day today, and maybe I'll be able to meet with Stanley Tong. See you later !