Kinoliebe Reviews

Dir: Martin Koolhoven

Dir: Werner Herzog

The first ever word that was transmitted via the internet was the word "Lo" from the biblical "Lo and behold". In reality the message was less portentous as the system crashed when typing the word "login". Leonard Kleinrock transmitted a message from a computer at UCLA to Stanford. Now this is the beginning of the internet story told by probably one of the best film makers of the world. When you hear that Werner Herzog making a film about the internet and technology development makes you chuckle a bit when you hear it first. As if a mainstream Hollywood director would suddenly film a black and white portrait about Siberian fishermen experiencing the impact of climate change. However Herzog is a scholar and there is no one who has studied the subject of life better. He has organised his documentary in ten chapters. Beside the historical milestones in the development of internet the more interesting aspects of the documentary is what impact it had on us as a society. In equal shares, advantages and the uncontrolled dark side are explored - although he doesn't drill to deep into the hellish corners of the dark net. There is no mention of social media and pornography. The dark side is briefly represented by victims of internet bullying. The documentary takes a light hearted academical route and interviews mostly scientists, researchers, robotics and AI experts, sociologists, contributing and analysing the phenomenon. The political aspect is also kept brief and only shown through some entertaining stories of hacker icons such as Kevin Mitnick. But all this is fine as Herzog's biggest skill is to tease out the eccentricities of the individuals interviewed - no matter if they are highly intelligent scientists or hermits living under the no radio wave cheese dome caused by mega-dishes trying to absorb any snowflake signal our extraterrestrial neighbours may send us from outer space. With time the questions posed in the documentary become more philosophical and existential. Although its scale, rapid evolution and interdependencies can lead to further unknown developments of our humanity, especially with all the automation and ambitions to let machines conduct more work it is not an invisible myst surrounding us." The cloud" is just a term to simplify the concepts of grid computing. In the end it is the accumulation of compute and storage resources that are hosted in huge facilities by someone else. So grounded but at the same time so vulnerable. What is stopping an army to march into a Datacenter and taking control not just of the" internet of things" (iot) but also of the multiple facets of the "internet of me". The Q&A conducted by Richard Ayoade (IT Crowd) was a treat. He had the intellect and understanding to ask the right questions. I just love Herzog's voice. I could listen to him reading a refrigerator manual.There is something therapeutic about it. Is Werner Herzog at the end the sane entity who has not fallen victim to digital overconsumption and is politely pointing us to the bookshelf? Please Werner, heal me from the internet. Let me stop posting these redundant reviews on social media.

Dir: Jon Nguyen, Olivia Neergaard-Holm, Rick Barnes

A documentary about a director who is a closed book in every aspect sounds like a challenge. The smartest approach to this documentary, that ran over a decade before the director was able to capture some useful footage that occurred in the period of two years, was not focus on Lynch as the film maker. A period where David Lynch was painting from the time he woke up and went to bed, only interrupted by coffee, cigarette breaks and occasional playing with his toddler daughter. The most surprising fact about his life is that his existence as an artist started off being a obsessed painter. Through his ambition bringing movement to paintings he only became an animator and film maker. Some of the childhood stories and memories that are shown as images or Super 8 material give some intimate insight. Memories are always bound on small location that sometimes don't leave the perimeter of suburbian neighbourhood - this is very evident in his films. He doesn't need global locations to tell his stories. They all can happen within the dreamy and cold environment of a crowded snowglob that surrounded by white picket fences. His move to Philadelphia, escaping the lovely childhood of suburbia, created the struggle that was responsible for his anxieties which resulted in developments of his darker side. Fascinating  to to watch how he utilised the set for "Eraser"as his little universe. Not only filmed he in the location of old stables, he actually lived there procrastinating living the real world. This is a fairly calm documentary, not overly sensational. Even it doesn't really touch on any of his films with a slight exception on "Eraserhead" it draws a nice picture of a man that usually loves to surround himself with mysteries.

Voyage of Time

Dir: Terrence Malik

Every year the BFI shows an experimental film in IMAX format (Guy Maddin’s" The Forbidden Room" and Godard’s" Adieu au langage" were shown in previous years). This year it was Terrence Malick’s turn to blow everyone visually away with his version of 2001: A Space Odyssey - there is almost a direct bone wielding first human reference. The creation scenes of “Tree of Life” have made it into their own film. As a trained philosopher it is home territory for Malick to process the questions of life with stunning National Geographic footage and breathtakingly crafted CGI. Cate Blanchett narrates the existentialist edit with a calming but somehow lascivious voice. I couldn’t stop associating her voice with her Galadriel role from" Lord of the Rings", especially when the camera was flying over majestic landscapes. As silly as this comparison sounds (and Malick would probably laugh at me) but as described in" Silmarillion", Tolkien’s Middle Earth and material universe was created by the" Music of the Ainur" which was sung by the Maia - gods to which Cate Blanchett’s character Galadriel belongs to. This film reassembles Malick’s godly orchestra to create our universe on screen. The film is not subtle when associating “Naturgewalten” (forces of nature) with the creation and evolution of life. It shows you the epic images you would expect and certainly the elements clash. Although seeing lava streams collapsing into the ocean is nothing new, they way it is edited and dubbed with biblical choirs and drone pads it remains jawdrapping. The Big Bang, planetary formation, development of Earth, microbes, first life and zig billion of years are squeezed into a take-away coffee cup with David Attenborough cream on top. Yes, even the universe has to bow to the 90 minutes foreverness of film. A version half the length exists narrated by Brad Pitt (I personally hope it is in his Southern hilly-billy accent: “Dis ain’t no small busines, dis universe business”).

The transition between cgi and real scenes is seemless. The progress of the film is further separated by grainy video style stock footage, depicting human behaviour by showing people practising rituals across different religions. You would think that the religious and the more clinical evolution narrative might clash, however they actually complement each other - as mentioned biblical choirs are used to dub scientific circumstances. The CGI is really convincing. The last time I was similarily excited about CGI in the theatre was during the black hole scene in Chris Nolan’s “Interstellar”. The ultimate test if a film can sustain, is the challenging use of dinosaurs - bad cgi dinosaurs have the potential to kill the entire film for me. However when the lonely Raptor was strolling along the sunset beach just before the meteor hit, it had the same melancholy as if Sean Penn, would walk down a windy beach bare feet. This film is not feeding the information hungry but is more a philosophical lollipop for an audience who are in love with aesthetics. And honestly, if you don’t want to think about sciences and philopsophical questions, just enjoy the psychedelic trip. Emerge in colourful explosions and bombastic soundscapes with this celluloid fix.

AMERICAN HONEY

Dir: Andrea Arnold

“In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue“

Dir: Barry Jenkins

You have to give credit to the London film festival for taking the under-representation of black artists in film seriously, which was particularly made visible during the Oscars. Barry Jenkins is a black director that brings "chopped and screwed" - a slowing down and pitch technique in modern Hiphop - to poetic cinema. His screenwriter who usually writes plays showed in the London Young Vic theatre tells Miami neighbourhood stories that normally don't pass the see breeze and glammer of Southbeach. In Moonlight black boys look blue. A transformation in three chapters that struggles with parental drug addiction, bullying and discovering fragile sexuality. For once it is refreshing to see that an all black cast and crew can create a contemporary, emotional tale which doesn't follow the usual stereotype of the period slave and hood gangster. Regardless, a young boy, black or white, will see this film and not feel so alone anymore. The waves in this one come slowly, but in the last act they crash into windy beaches and make the palm trees fall.

Dir: Gilles Marchand

"Popularity is the slutty little cousin of prestige, my friend."

I am glad that I was able to watch one of my most anticipated films for 2015 so early in the year. So many beautifully acted scenes with some that are punches into the faces of art critiques who empower negativity in their reviews. In my favourite scene the character has a confrontation with the theater critic Dickinson. He tells her that "all critics are full of labels", that "there is no real analysis of the work or execution", "all adjectives and bitchery that signifies nothing" - in a situation where the creators and executioners of art have everything to lose and the critique, nothing. The neverending balancing act of mainstream and underground, pleasing audiences and critiques, the legacy of blockbusters that haunt actors like a curse when they try adjusting for "something more serious". "Popularity is the slutty little cousin of prestige." Every single performance from any actor is gold. The actors who play actors work really hard from scene to scene. There is little relief by traditional cuts, so they have to sweat through crafted tracking shots. The tracking shots are pretty much Gravity minus space and CGI and therefore jazzy drum-solos within a Broadway vibe. After the film I looked up to find out that the cameraman (Lubezki) from Gravity was indeed responsible for these crazy shots. However the real genius is Michael Keaton (who I adored as a teen for the Burton Batman series and Bettlejuice) and how he uses the film as a platform to quote his own existence. To phrase it with Birdman's words:"How did we end up here? This place is horrible, smells like balls. You had it all. You were a movie star, remember? Now you're about to destroy what's left of your career. We should have done that reality show they offered us."

My new favourite anti-superhero film.

Pinaster

"The Duke of Burgundy" is definitely the prettiest film I have seen this festival. The isolated world of two females, whose world focuses on dominating, being dominated and the study of insects. The film is detailed in its prettiness and so in love with itself that even the perfume "Je Suis Gizella" gets honourful mention in the stylish main credits. This film is such a diva that it even has the prettiest film poster. However just because everything is so pretty doesn't mean it is innocent. Peter Strickland leads into the nightmare in style of "The Beberian Sound Studio" after we realise the master has become the slave and is caught in a nightmarish Moebius loop, altough a very pretty loop, all you are left with is the sound crickets clicking and moths wings flapping. Even safe-word (Pinaster!) won't help you.

Very real and personal

"Winter Sleep" is the most personal film I have seen this festival. Personal because I could really identify myself with the strengths and weaknesses of the main characters. The dialogues reminded me of so many daily life situations and conflicts. The struggles and questions of being so wonderfully portrayed and acted without falling into a cliché. A philosophy that is rather insightful than pretentious. Other Ceylan films do not use much dialogue to tell their stories, so the heavy dialogue was a surprise and completely blew me away. The film almost reflected the experience of three lived lives without being artificial. Needless to say that the Anatolien mountain and village shots are absolutely beautifully photographed, but the characters are the real stars of this Ceylan film.

No translation, no voice over, no subtitles

"The Tribe" is a sign language film with no translation, voice over or subtitles. To get the confusion out of the way, it is a film for everyone and not specifically for deaf people. It is only stars deaf actors. This film is the role model for the film makers "Show don't tell" principle. For me this is the freezing cold Ukrainian version of "Lord of Flies" - instead of retreating to an island after a post-nuclear war these perspective-less young people find shelter in a decaying boarding school in Kiev where everyone communicates in sign-language. The boys establish a brutal pecking order and business. From robbery to pimping out their female companions. Even this is a sign language film, there is a lot of noise with some violent scenes burning into memory. All the time I felt the film was reflecting the mood of the time when the political conflict started in the Ukraine, which the director confirmed in the Q&A. When a girl in the audience accused him of portraying his country in a too grim way, he added while filming in Kiev he walked to McDonald's for lunch where people shot dead were lying on the street with their brains scattered over the pavement.

Dark secrets in the basement

Well what is there to say about an Ulrich Seidl documentary, especially if he shows us the pleasures and passions of Austrian citizens with the simple title "In the basement". Is it a commentary on the "Fritzl" story? Doesn't really matter. Perhaps this is just insight of what Western society hides preciously in their basements which is only accidentally set in Austria. He pulls your balls until it hurts and if you tell him that it hurts, he will pull a little harder. We knowsomething bad is going to happen, but our own sensationalism keeps us starring - wonderfully summarised in the introdutionary scene with the Boa constrictor. If there is one key take away from this, then it is the fact that Wiener Schnitzel a la warthog is actually isn't that bad, that even the toughest Domina needs a bit of cuddling and logic justifies casual racism.

Andrey Zvyagintsev is a master

Not to confuse with the experimental film which is also a masterpiece. Just when you think you are half way through the film festival and that you have seen most highlights, “Leviathan” emerges from the abyss and blows you out of the water. This film combines so many genres and executes them flawlessly. From a political thriller it wanders into family drama and satire before it unfolds into a poetic dream I have only witnessed in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s films (with Winter Sleep still on the festival list). Andrey Zvyagintsev’s film is beautifully photographed as well, making me want to check out all his other work I haven’t seen. The opening scene is a montage of cold blue Russian landscapes that look like oil paintings beautifully underpinned with music from Philip Glass. Throughout the film there are still many breathtaking shots even this film focuses more on dialogue and storytelling. A skeleton ribcage of a whale [leviathan] on the beach between bronze green shipwrecks hints at the decay of Russian society that is riddled with government corruption, but also refers to the Bible at the same time. Perhaps the best film I have seen from one of my favourite directors thus year.

Godard IMAX 3D

There is the word god in Godard for a reason. It is also in the original title "Adieu au langage" (dieu = god). He did to 3D what Punk did to guitars. He sneaked into the room of block buster film makers, mutilated their toys to beat them at their own game. Unpretentious but cool at the same time. The 3D got out of control, saturation and grainy textures, the sound distorted/abruptly cut off and frames mixed as two cameras where taped together. The star is a dog, everyone else is just there to deliver dialogues and quote history, painters, philosophers and mathematicians. Perhaps my other famous 3D film was "Pina" ..until this.

This is not earth, this is a different planet

"Hard to be a God" was my first festival endurance run and possibly my last as part of lff. 3 hours I was caught in a black and white Bruegel and Bosch painting. Mud, blood, slime, excrements and even more mud - in closeup. Set on a sibling planet which is 800 years behind, and where the renaissance never happened, it suggests strongly how the dark middle ages must have been. The only thing beautiful is the detail that it is shot on 35mm. In this world rain showers are short and sticky but the fog is permanent. When the credits were rolling [and half of the audience left] I checked for dirt under my shoes. Aleksei German pushed Tarkovsky down the poo hole. I am glad humanity made it through the renaissance, but was glad that I could take an intimate peek at this hell-hole.

Death does determine life (Pasolini)

Abel Ferrara & Willem Dafoe ARE Pasolini. Such a tragedy that this great mind was killed by a [political] hate crime.

(…) Don’t be fooled. And you, with the school, the television, the calmness of your newspapers, you are the great conservatives of this horrendous order based on the idea of owning and on the idea of destroying. Blessed are you who are all happy when you can put its beautiful label on a crime. To me this seems like another of the many operations of mass culture. Not being able to prevent certain things from happening, peace is found manufacturing shelves”

Palm Dog

White God is the adult version of "A day in a life of a dog" that starts as a typical story about a little girl, her dog and growing up. The beautifully shot Hungarian film quickly shifts into something I haven't seen before and becomes one my favourite films involving the nightmare of filmmakers - kids and animals. Some of the dog crowd scenes have biblical scope and the girl's acting is absolutely mesmerizing. The ride starts heartwarming but soon takes you to some dark, bloody corners - resolving in absolute carnage (Night of the living dog) with a final wideshot that will long stay in my memories.