10. Best Review
Winner: ENTER THE VOID - Sydney Film Happenings
Runner up: TRASH HUMPERS - Rich on Film
It's no exaggeration to say that I read all of your MIFF reviews. No, really. I have a fairly insatiable appetite for film criticism and while trying to read every review in a year is impossible, reading every review in a two and a bit week festival isn't.
This ENTER THE VOID review manages to sum up the film using just a few images, the last one being the most apt. Meanwhile in a post called “Trash Humpers Made Me Hate People & The World”, Rich on Film gives a fairly straight-forward take on Harmony Korine's latest.
11. Most Unwelcome guest
Winner: THE MOVIE ORGY - Dude with a grin
Runner up: I KILLED MY MOTHER - Woman at the fire exit.
What was up with the guy in the aisle of THE MOVIE ORGY? At first it looked like he was trying to find something... then he was just chilling and watching the film... then he was crawling up and down the aisle for fun? The massive grin that never left his face suggests the answer was probably drug-based. He was ejected by staff and let loose outside Greater Union, off to crash something else no doubt...
In Greater Union 3, a woman opened the fire exit door from the other side, clearly trying to find her way out from a previous screening. We all laughed at her. A felt a little bad after. She quickly closed it when she realised her mistake.
12. Best Controversy
Winner: SON OF BABYLON -Asks to be removed.
Runner up: L.A. ZOMBIE -Told to be removed
Everyone who saw SON OF BABYLON had nothing but good things to say about it. I guess they should consider themselves lucky. Basically the filmmakers wanted their film pulled because they're a Palestine co-production and MIFF receives funding from the government of Israel. I don't really want to touch this because it makes me uncomfortable. Just go read the leaked emails over at Crikey if you want to be filled in.
Friend who read my LEAP YEAR write-up: "You realise Bruce LaBruce's films are shit right?"
Me: "I know, but that's hardly the point is it?"
This is easier for me to comment on because there's an unambiguous bad guy with a hilarious name. Donald McDonald and the Office of Film and Literature Classification decided to not let L.A. ZOMBIE have classification exemption, effectively banning it from the festival in a move that made the country seem delicate, backwards and homophobic. Congrats.
13. Biggest Phone-based Cheer
Winner: THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT - Jules hangs up on Paul
Runner up: I KILLED MY MOTHER - Chantale hangs up on chauvinist Principal
I was just going to have “biggest cheer” but coincidentally (?) the circumstances behind both are similar.
Paul's speech to Jules that she should 'gather up the kids' so they can start a life together was touchingly pathetic. When Jules felt she just couldn't listen to another word she hung up on him generating a large cheer from the cinema I was in.
I can't believe the couilles (I've limited French, remember?) on this principal that he would suggest to Hubert's Mother that maybe she can't handle raising her son without a Father-figure. She had every right to tear into him and boy, did she ever. A massive cheer went up when she finally hung up the phone (well, she threw it at her desk anyway).
14. Biggest Disappointment Runner up: LEBANON
I learn a valuable lesson in hype.
If you're wondering why LIFE DURING WARTIME didn't make the cut. It's because part of me knew it would be terrible. PALINDROMES and STORYTELLING both were.
15. Biggest Fright
Winner: ENTER THE VOID - Car Crash x3
Runner up: UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES - The first Monkey Ghost.
After the very first car crash, The Very First One, I said to myself “I bet we'll see that again.” I was right but that didn't stop me from losing it the next two times! God-damn it Gaspar Noé, I don't even like your film and you've managed to weasel your way into five of my 'awards'!
Calling it a 'monkey ghost' makes it seem kinda silly, but the first shot of this creature after the long saga of a buffalo breaking free and going for a roam was like someone throwing a bucket of cold water over me! It will haunt my dreams.
16. Best Performance
Winner: THE MESSENGER - Woody Harrelson
Runners up: THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT - Annette Bening. I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS – Jim Carrey
I really like Woody Harrelson and I really love it when he takes roles like this. Such a powerful performance. When he laughs, we laugh. When he cries, we cry.
Annette Bening has such a small filmography (7 roles in the last decade) that every movie she makes feels like an event. THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT was no exception and a pairing with Julianne Moore generated a great deal of buzz. The final product is hilarious with Bening's tremendous performance the heart of the film.
We all know Jim Carrey *can* act in serious roles. We also know that Jim Carrey can play hyper-energetic camp characters. Somehow, I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS combines the two performance styles in a way that's extremely funny one minute and deeply touching the next. I know plenty disagree that he achieved this, but I was completely sold.
17. Best Use of Looney Tunes.
Winner: GREMLINS 2 THE NEW BATCH - Daffy's rebellion.
Runner up: INNERSPACE - Bugs in a sling.
For the opening of GREMLINS 2, when the Warner Bros logo appears, Daffy breaks the forth wall asking for the music to stop and declaring that he'll be riding the shield instead of Bugs. This of course doesn't end well for him. Legendary animator Chuck Jones came out of retirement to do this segment, as well as a similar one at the end. Terrific anarchism.
INNERSPACE: A Bugs Bunny plush toy can be seen in the lab before it's attacked. At the end of the film, with the lab still a bit of wreck, the same toy can be seen heavily bandaged, with his arm in a sling. A nice touch. Pure Dante.
18. ...and Finally My Overall Top Five:
5. I KILLED MY MOTHER
4. UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES
3. CATFISH
2. LEAP YEAR
1. THE MOVIE ORGY
It was *always* going to be THE MOVIE ORGY. How could it not? It was the only film I attended this festival that actually blew me away. Everything else was 'great' or 'really good' but THE MOVIE ORGY was 'fucking fantastic'.
The remaining four films are fairly interchangeable with the order I have there being my final feelings as I hit 'Publish Post'.
And that's a wrap.
