IFFR 1999: Day 4

IFFR 1999, day 4

Project A, Survival Guide to the IFFR 1999

Review: Max & Bobo

DIRECTOR: Frédéric Fonteyne

CAST: Alfredo Pea, Jan Hammenecker

Midnight Cowboy must have been the last time I saw a touching film about two fuck ups, about two losers spat out by their environment and completely clueless about their next step to survive. Dispair will pair the strangest people and will make them do horrible things. This film shows this better than most others.

Review: Rushmore

DIRECTOR: Wes Anderson

CAST: Jason Swartchman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams

Wes Anderson is a director who can make offbeat movies with much deadpan humor and hard to predict storylines and Rushmore must be one of his best. This story about an allround organizing nerdy kid who becomes friends with the local beneficiary (played by Bill Murray) and falls in love with a teacher who falls in with the beneficiary and the nerdy tries everything in his power to win her back, is original and keeps the viewer unknowing of what comes next. And that is pretty amazing for a film that falls into the highschool comedy genre.

Review: Fetch/Fresh Air

DIRECTOR: Lynn-Maree Danzey/Neil Mansfield

CAST: Matt Day, Rebecca Frith, Mindy/Nadine Garner, Bridie Carter, Marin Mimica

Screenings of Fresh Air open with the excellent short Fetch which is more effective in three minutes than most are in ninety.

Fresh Air is a window onto the world of three young Australian. It's so loose in structure and storyline that this film almost resembles the indiefanzine which one of the characters is making. A collection of snippets visual wisecracks, music and offbeat dialog. It becomes very clear where the original ideas you see in so many Australian movies come from.

Review: Crime Kings

DIRECTOR: Thanit 'Pued' Jitnukul

CAST: Amphon Lumpoon, Dorn hetrakul, Supakorn Kijsuwan

One of the themes of this filmfestival is the Thai crimefilm, rumour had these can be as good as any actionmovie from Hong Kong om Japan. The rumour is true, the actionscenes in this story about a Robin Hood figure who steal from the rich and gives to the poor, situated in sixties Thailand contains so many excellent actionscenes that even remind me of the work of Sam Peckinpah. Squirting blood everywhere, big explosions, many camerangles and very fast editing. Bloody amazing. Hope to see more like this.

Review: A Simple Plan

DIRECTOR: Sam Raimi

CAST: Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Bridget Fonda, Gary Cole

So for some reason they decided to seize the opportunity and use the festival to promote this film to European audiences. Good idea to send Bridget Fonda in, but there's nothing she does in this movie any other good looking girl could have done. It's just not a strong enough movie for that. But for a thriller, it's original enough.