tiny furniture (miff film #7)

I tend to make a habit of seeing any film at MIFF whose description includes the words ‘New York’, ‘twenty-something graduate’, ‘what now?’, and in this specific case, ‘the Woody Allen of Generation Y’. This year, the honour went to Tiny Furniture.

Lena Dunham writes, directs and stars in this film, which chronicles what happens when you finish uni and have no idea what to do next.

Aura is in just this situation so she moves back into her mum’s New York apartment, which also houses Aura’s younger sister (Lena’s real mum and sister take on these roles). Once the stage is thusly set, the rest of the film explores Aura’s uncertainty about what she should be doing with her time and newly minted uni skills – apart from a hot, young chef.

I always enjoy films that offer a snap shot into someone else’s life and this is exactly what Tiny Furniture gave me. There aren’t any explosive moments, and I even wondered exactly what the ending would be, but it made me feel that after the screen went dark, these characters were still going on with their lives, and I quite liked that.

3 stars!

london burning

The riots currently tearing England apart have been the source of countless pieces of writing. I’m not going to add to the number. Instead, I’m going to point you in the direction of this piece, Panic on the Streets of London, by Laurie Penny who has been watching her city burn over the past few days.

Rather than making snap explanations and racist remarks about why the riots are taking place, Laurie takes the time to see the madness for what it is. Indeed, to see what happens when those shown no respect rise up and tell the world that this time, they’ve got the control and they’re going to do anything they want with it.

mad development (my new favourite blog/website/tumblr #5)

I know there are many people out there convinced that an Arrested Development film is just around the corner. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Instead, I’ll just keep looking at this tumblr, which is freaking hilarious.

magic trip (miff film #6)

I think I was around sixteen or seventeen when I first read The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test. I loved it. I was going through a Tom Wolfe phase, which quickly turned into a Ken Kesey phase. When I saw that Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search by a Kool Place was on the MIFF program, I was definitely on the bus.

Directed by Alex Gibney, Magic Trip wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be. It was much better. Ken Kesey, his ‘Merry Pranksters’, and a bus called Further drove across the USA soon after America lost it innocence, with the assassination of JFK. Their trip (in all its connotations) was filmed but hadn’t seen the light of day since Kesey et al had been editing it for thirty years. I really didn’t expect the documentary to make much sense, what with all the acid, but Gibney (and the narration skills of the brilliant Stanley Tucci) did a terrific job in bring out a cohesive and fascinating story.

With audio from those actually on the bus, including snippets of the speed-mad Neal Cassady, aka Dean Moriarty, I really felt like part of the journey in a way that Wolfe’s book hadn’t quite delivered. It was also quite thrilling to see cameos of Kerouac and Ginsberg. So for those fans of the Beat Generation, Kesey or the sixties in general, this documentary is a must see.

4 stars!

littlerock (miff film #5)

LiTTLEROCK Trailer from Small Form Films on Vimeo.

I was immediately drawn to Littlerock after reading it described as a ‘clever fish-out-of-water indie’. While a very accurate description, the true heart of this lovely film is in its gentleness.

After their car breaks down, travelling siblings Atsuko and Rintaro find themselves stuck in the very small Californian town, Littlerock. The brother and sister quickly make friends with their party-ing motel neighbours so begins a quietly heartfelt journey for the Japanese tourists and the American locals.

What struck me most about this film was how the friendships developed between Atsuko and the locals (namely Cory), regardless of the fact that she doesn’t speak English and they didn’t speak Japanese. The scenes between Atsuko and Francisco are particularly engrossing, comical and heartwarming. (They work together in a kitchen, speaking to each other in their own language that the other doesn’t understand. Brilliant.)

This terrific film is another MIFF win.

4 stars!

cute dog tucks himself in

Just taking a little break from MIFF madness so...look at this!


see more Gifs

client 9 (miff film #4)

Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer has been an absolute highlight of the festival. It's a well-crafted documentary (unsurprising since it's directed by Alex Gibney) about a fascinating man.

Hearing the full story behind the Spitzer scandal put a whole new light on the subject, and I fell for him, hard. I think I was still a little bruised from having watched Inside Job a few weeks ago (and I highly recommend watching this first and then Client 9), and knowing that Spitzer was there, trying to regulate Wall Street made me respect the crap out of him. Even though I knew how the story was going to play out, I wanted more for him. I wanted him to become Governor so he could keep doing good and honest work. But he made too many fat-cat enemies and they went after him and brought him down. (Okay, Spitzer had a hand in bringing himself down, what with the prostitutes and all, but I don't think that's the point.)

Politics and sex will always go hand-in-hand and I think this documentary shows how devastating the repercussions can be when promising people make bad choices. And get caught.

5 stars!