Movie reviews

THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE 2

Watchable. Fun, full of colour, with soft-shaped creatures. Very pleasant, though too crazy at times to be 100% engaging. A few 60s-90s songs, most being probably 80s. Some cross-cultural references, e.g. a bird reads "Crazy Rich Avians". And it's all just sweet.

ELCANO Y MAGALLANES. LA PRIMERA VUELTA AL MUNDO (ELCANO & MAGELLAN, THE FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD)

Watchable. While the palette consisting of all shades of brown sticks to the rules of painting I remember from my watercolours classes, it's broken only a couple of times when a deluge is grey or a tropical island sunlit - though even there it's just much lighter brown and those just aren't my preferred hues in movies. The plot is very adventurous, with good lines and twists of action. No specific finale. The ending took me by surprise. All in all, it's enjoyable but lacks an edge.


FIVE FLAVOURS FILM FESTIVAL

This year's festival (Warsaw, 13th-20th Nov.) is set to be the largest in its history. Such a multitude of interesting movies have appeared that more films will be shown and screened more than once. Those will be all Polish, European or world premieres (i.e. outside the country they were made in). About 40 full-length films are to be expected online or in the cinemas. Below is a rundown of who, what and how:
Midi Z from Burma used to work on construction to pay for his film school, he's grown over the years and has made a high-budget movie this year.
Marcin Krasnowolski talked about the recent protests in Hongkong. The country with a population of just a few million stands no chance against China. No outside assistance will be provided since no one will meddle in China's domestic affairs. Hongkong is rich, with probably the most expensive flats in the world. "Made in Hongkong" by Fruit Chan tells about those who can't afford even a small one. His 6 movies will be screened: 5 early and 1 new - each in a different mood and style. Meetings with the director will take place after the screenings and additionally there'll be an extended masterclass on Sunday 17th November. Fruit Chan currently is making movies in China which means huge budgets and 1 bn potential viewers. Most have been shot on 35 mm tapes - 90% of the festival budget has been spent on transporting them. Nowadays only 2 cinemas in Warsaw: Iluzjon and one room at Muranow enable watching 35 mm. The director is flying into Warsaw in business class, together with his wife.
Some movies are banned in China. Vietnam has this problem too: the producers of "Rom" were told by Vietnamese authorities to destroy all copies because, just like in "Xich Lo" ("Cyclo"), Saigon is depicted as a city ruled by gangs. So "Lê Văn Kiệt" ("Fury") - an Oscar candidate will be presented instead. Lots of Vietnamese audience come to those screenings at the festival in Warsaw.
Since little literature on the Asian cinema of the last years has been available, a few books are to be published by the organizers. 
The Asian Cinerama section is meant for beginner audience.
Viewers always ask for Japanese films. Japan produces 400-500 films per year. Most are family manga adaptations. But the festival has selected those from the fringe of the cinema. Public funds virtually are non-existent in Japan, most financing is private.
"Smak pho" ("The Taste of Pho"), " ལག་དམར་" ("Jinpa") and "메기" ("Maggie") will be on general release in Poland next year. 
After last year's viewers' survey some changes have been implemented: more screenings, from earlier hours, a retrospective again, all discussions and debates in screening rooms between films.
Asian ads before movies, like before, and on top of that a separate set with a discussion.
The organizers strive towards makers' and speakers' gender balance.
"Lê Văn Kiệt" ("Fury"), "Mr. Long",  "柔道龍虎榜" ("Throw Down") will contain martial arts. As for the genre, martial arts films are typically big budget productions. That also means they earn millions so 2K$ from a festival is of no interest to them. Other ones have no cinematic releases at all since Netflix has got worldwide rights.


UKRAINA! FILM FESTIVAL

АТЛАНТИДА (ATLANTIS)

Watchable. Slow-paced, with an interesting post-war setting: empty buildings, forensics of cadavers. What is missing is a plot. It describes a world instead of using it as a background for some action, intrigue or whatever. The post-war archeologist in the film says her job now is like digging up their own history instead of that of 1000 years ago - that's about as interesting as it gets.

The lead is not a professional actor but he played the part because he wanted to become part of history. As he says, the picture is in part Ukrainian reality and in part an anti-utopia.