Movie reviews

Finally posting, got a bit behind, no time even to copy my notes...

DOCS AGAINST GRAVITY

VIRTUAL REALITY 7 SHORT FILMS

INSIDE AUSCHWITZ

Watchable. Shot from the air a bit above the ground which makes it less realistic, but presenting the camp throughout. You enter through the gate, listen to survivors' tales and get to see how enormous the area was - the expanse of the camp was something I hadn't realised before.

ENFANT PREMATURE (PRETERM BABYor whatever the title was since they showed a different film than they were supposed to)

Watchable. The only one shot from below. You see parents and doctors from a baby's hospital bed. Being an infant isn't fascinating, especially a premature one, in hospital but good-looking parents and VR soften the watching.

CLOUDS OVER SIDRA

Watchable. Life in a refugee camp looks like in ordinary documentaries but is shown from the point of view of a girl living and going to school in such a place.

PIERWSZY DZIEN W PRACY

Watchable. A unique chance to get inside a mind of a person with Asperger's syndrome, the story ends well and contains an interesting mathematical task but is just a day in the office.

NOTES TO MY FATHER

Watchable. Shown from above which detracts from realism. Contains one terrifying scene when you're surrounded by men leering at you, all that right after you've heard the teenage sex slave's harrowing story.

AFRIPEDIA

Watchable. Contrary to a popular belief Africans aren't good dancers. They just tend to slack. The film is shown from a bit above so you don't really face the dancers either. But it's short and musical.

NOTES ON BLINDNESS - INTO DARKNESS

Recommended. The only interactive one. With beautiful bluish shades on black background. A fascinating focus on sounds and recognising your surroundings with them.


BLACK CODE

Recommended. Subveillance (citizens filming riots) and hacktivism are the most efficient weapons against regimes. When all your phone calls can be tapped, emails read, online chats intercepted, the safest thing to do is to stay high-profile. When invisibility is no longer feasible, visibility becomes a weapon.



THEIR FINEST

Watchable. Not very appealing at first: set during the second world war among scriptwriters of a propaganda war movie, it gains in meaning and quality as you get to know and like the characters. It's British so sarcasm is quality stuff, e.g. to an actor training his voice singing about a kettle: "If I hear about that kettle one more time, I'll find one and shove it up your ass! Sideways!" The serious tones tackle defiance in the face of loved ones' death and the fragility of life, but also age and sex discrimination and how you must take an opportunity when given one. Constant script adjustments are one look behind the curtain of film-making, which looks exactly how Olivia Hetreed once described her work so that's certainly realistic.



12TH AFRYKAMERA FESTIVAL

BANGAOLOGIA - THE SCIENCE OF STYLE

Recommended. Rich in colour and music. Teaches you how much of contemporary western fashion comes from Africa. I wonder if patterned tights and leggins do. They look so. It's also about how Angolans take pride in their look. "African women don't run" so they wear very high heels to strut. African men have their own style too and take great pride in their appearance. Fun to watch.

(L'AFRICAIN QUI VOULAIT VOLER) THE AFRICAN WHO WANTED TO FLY

Recommended. The first picture you see is of a Chinese temple and as the camera lowers you see black men practising kung fu. A Luc Bendza, training them, is the first African wushu master. The movie tells his incredible story of teenage fascination with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan's movies which led to a sports championship and moving to China. It also tells you how to deal with racial abuse: Luc came up to such a guy and told him in Chinese he was a disgrace to his country. The African became so popular, Gabonese press made jokes about him, e.g. there was a comic strip showing the... Chinese-Gabonese border. With Luc placed on the Chinese side. And the border guard saying: "We can train our own karatekas without your help."

GILBERTE'S WORLD

Walked out. An extremeley talented artist's day-to-day and nearly minute-after-minute struggle with a disease?! Her paintings and her flower garden are beautiful. the rest of the film is boring and frustrating.



FAI BEI SOGNI (SWEET DREAMS)

Recommended. First comes a mystery, then a tragedy happens. And you have to deal with the burden for the rest of your life. The movie's deeply sad but it moved me to the core. It has a heavy, dark atmosphere about which you know it veils a secret. On a happier note, it's about "se" ("if") meaning a failure and a "nonostante" ("in spite of") propelling you in life.