God knows what’s happened with the Sydney Film Festival this year. The promotional material has gone from being gorgeous, arty and incredibly cinematic to, well, featuring an ugly dog sitting on a chair. The festival is running for a week shorter than usual. The program is a tangled, unclear mess and the hype engine seems to be running on empty. I can only conclude they’ve lost a significant amount of funding due to the Financial Crisis. But despite these setbacks there are still some fantastic films showing, if you look hard enough through the program to find them. See below for some of the real highlights!

$9.99

Geoffrey Rush, one of the all-star voice cast in this first Australian-Israeli co-production, calls this animated ensemble piece ‘a claymation of Robert Altmans Short Cuts’, and that’s a spot-on description for a funny, surreal film. Single dad Jim Peck (LaPaglia) endures a day of sartorial accidents. Sons Dave (Samuel Johnson) and Lenny (Ben Mendelsohn), have their own adventures, as does soon-to-be-married Ron (Joel Edgerton), fiancee Michelle (Claudia Karvan), youngster Zack (Jamie Katsamatsas), retiree Albert (Otto) and kinky supermodel Tanita (Leanna Walsman). Created in 40 weeks by nine animators under director Tatia Rosenthal, the provocative $9.99 winner of the Mexico City festival’s audience award is unlike anything else in this, or any, film festival.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=39

500 DAYS OF SUMMER

Sure it only got made because Garden State, Little Miss Sunshine and Juno were commercial successes. But it still looks charming, and features Tommy from “3rd Rock from the Sun” all grown up. -D

The Rom-Com is pleasurably reinvigorated in Marc Webb’s post-modern spin on the agonies and ecstasies of unruly, unrequited love. Hapless Tom (Gordon-Levitt, Brick, SFF06) architect by training, romantic by nature and a greetings-card writer by trade is instantaneously smitten with the alluringly kooky Summer (Zooey Deschanel, Yes Man), but she happens to believe that true love just doesn’t exist. The wryly comic dissection of their subsequent new millennium romance is chronicled, with considerable verve and pace, in a non-linear sequence that catches us constantly off guard. Visually inventive and brimming with playful references, there’s a lot to embrace in this unconventional tale of idealism and self-discovery set to become the indie flick du jour.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=43

THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF PHIL SPECTOR

Phil Spector is basically the white Michael Jackson, and fittingly there’s been hardly any public discussion about what’s occurred. -D

Legendary music producer (Lennon, Harrison, the Ramones etc), songwriter (’You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’), originator of the ‘Wall of Sound’, and accused murderer, Phil Spector is interviewed at length in this mesmerising documentary. Archival footage of his greatest hits (The Righteous Brothers, Tina Turner, and more) is interspersed with scenes from his 2007 murder trial. Spector talks about his father’s suicide (when he was a toddler), his early singing career, and his spat with Scorsese over the illicit use of ‘Be My Baby’ in Mean Streets. His bizarre hair backgrounded by the famous white piano from Imagine, he rants about everything and everyone (Tony Bennett is a frequent target), making Jayanti’s film, notwithstanding the violent crime of which Spector is accused (and since the film was completed, found guilty of), highly amusing, and his discriminating musicianship all the more startling.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=106

ART & COPY

An insightful film about the advertising aristocracy. If you’ve been fascinated by the insider accounts of different campaigns showcased on the Gruen Transfer, you’ll be sure to enjoy this exploration of technique and tradition. -D

US advertising legends talk about their iconic campaigns, reflecting on an industry that’s shifted from an old boy network to an estimated 26,000 agencies worldwide; from a time when the art director didn’t speak to the copywriter to massive productions such as the ‘1984′ commercial which launched Apple Macintosh. Stellar interviewees include: Hal Riney (’Morning in America’ for the Reagan re-election campaign); Dan Wieden (’Just Do It’); and Phyllis K. Robinson, who developed the concept of the ‘me’ generation. Director Pray (Hype!, Surfwise) doesn’t raise any moral or ethnic questions (that’s for you to consider), rather he’s out to celebrate the industry’s creativity and influence.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=49

BLACK DYNAMITE

BLAXPLOITATION IS WHERE IT’S AT! -D

Listen up, jive turkeys! Legendary baadasssss Black Dynamite (a playfully suave Michael Jai White) is on a mission of revenge. He’s an ex-CIA agent, a mustachioed master of taking down bad guys, bedding women, and keeping drug dealers off the streets, and his kung-fu kicks and .44 magnum blasts are as stupendously timed as his slang-slinging one-liners. This high energy, raucous homage to the blaxploitation flick perfectly treads the line between satire and spoof, tipping its faux fur pimp hat to 70s films and TV - from the flared threads, to the tall ‘fros, and, er, the ‘hos. Art direction and costumes are flawless, with the flocked wallpaper holding its own against the polyblend wardrobe.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=114

CEDAR BOYS

Sydney’s western sprawl, alien to many harbour city-dwellers, is home to a trio of youthful Lebanese-Australian mates. A panel-beater with dreams of more under the bonnet, Tarek (Chantery) is the least confident of the three, while Nabil (Dannoun) seems, at first, a steadier sort. Drug dealer Sam (Sari) is definitely the hotheaded one. Clubbing in the city, Tarek meets a hot eastern suburbs girl (Taylor) and their east-west relationship triggers his shift into crime. Caradee, in his feature debut, has crafted a forceful city drama that provides an insight into Sydney’s multicultural underbelly.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=67

CHE (PART 1): THE ARGENTINE

Steven Soderbergh is one lucky boy, with three films showing in this years festival. The first two are Che: The Argentine and Che: Guerrilla. It’s a thrilling mixture of action movie and provocative social commentary. Despite it’s fascinating content, it does (all up) go for FIVE FUCKING HOURS. -D

You’ve seen his face in posters on countless walls and on boxer Mike Tyson’s torso. But what do you really know about controversial Argentine doctor-turned-Cuban revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara? Steven Soderbergh’s ambitious, kaleidoscopic exploration of the icon and his turbulent life begins as Che (Del Toro) is interviewed during his visit to the United Nations in 1964, jumping to his first meeting with Fidel Castro (Bichir) in 1955. After their modest forces’ attack on a government outpost in 1957, the film follows the pivotal 1958 battle of Santa Clara, which cemented Che’s reputation as a fearless fighter and brilliant military tactician. ‘Some craziness is good’, he tells one sceptic; an apt description of Soderbergh’s audacious film.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=117

CHE (PART 2): THE GUERRILLA

In 1965, Che Guevara resigned from his official posts, renounced his Cuban citizenship and dropped out of public life. Director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Peter Buchman pick up his narrative as he arrives in Bolivia, intent on overthrowing the government. But when local Communist leader Mario Monje (Lou Diamond Phillips) balks at his violent approach, covert KGB operative ‘Tania’ (Franka Potente) unwittingly undermines the already feeble mountain force, and the US exerts pressure, Che’s fate is sealed. Throughout, Soderbergh’s utter command of filmic language and rock-solid story sense hold him in good stead: Che is a confidently composed socio-political epic that proves richly rewarding for those in the proper frame of mind for a serenely monumental journey.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=118

CORALINE (Official Competition)

Henry Selick, the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and Giant Peach creates a spooky and visually captivating world in the first stop-motion feature shot in stereoscopic 3D. The fearless, blue-haired Coraline (Fanning) is dead bored. Her parents (Hatcher and Hodgman) are too busy writing garden manuals to play games and her only distractions are provided by goth-boy Wybie, ageing burlesque ‘beauties’ Miss Spink (Saunders) and Miss Forcible (French) and nimble Mr Bobinsky, the Russian acrobat (McShane). Then she finds the secret door and behind it, a parallel world. Like the saccharine free fairytales of old, in which children get eaten for supper and grandmothers are devoured by wolves, the tale of Coraline based on Neil Gamain’s (Beowulf, Stardust) beloved book is ‘Grimm’ through-and-through and has a moral lesson at its core: be careful what you wish for. Superbly enhanced by Bruno Coulais’ (Brendan and the Secret of the Kells) lingering score, the titillating use of 3D occasionally bursts forth into the cinema hummingbirds, flying trapeze, a scary metal claw but more often provides an intoxicating depth to the film’s exquisitely crafted universe.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=123

CRUDE

Northeastern Ecuador is the site of the ‘Amazonian Chernobyl’, the polluting of 1,700 hectares of tribal lands with toxic oil waste, poisoning waterways and people alike. Cancers and birth defects are rife amongst the indigenous communities and they’ve been fighting a bitter lawsuit with US petrochemical giant Chevron for more than 13 years. Director Berlinger (My Brother’s Keeper, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) endeavours to show all sides of the story: the local hero and lawyer, Pablo Fajardo; the US legal team bringing their weight to the fight; Chevron’s scientific experts; the newly-elected Ecuadorian president; and celebrity supporters, Trudie Styler and Sting. Crude skillfully depicts both an epic battle for justice and the changing approach to environmental campaigning.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=124

FOOD INC.

According to Kenner’s eye-opening documentary, the US food industry doesn’t want its customers to know the truth about what they’re eating; the reality of agri-business is just too hard to swallow. Experts such as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) tell the shocking stories behind the plump chicken, the perfect tomato and the insecticide-resistant crop, as well as the increasing rates of obesity and diabetes, which are linked to food industrialisation. Food, Inc. does however offer signs of hope from forward thinkers such as Gary Hirshberg, CEO of the world’s largest organic yoghurt company, who clearly believes that ‘business can be part of the solution’.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=132

THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE (Official Competition)

Combining a relaxed, freewheeling style with a fragmented temporal structure, Steven Soderbergh breathes out after the grand scale project of Che Parts 1 & 2 with this nimble, deceptively sophisticated film. Chelsea (adult film star Sasha Grey) is an expensive escort with taste and intelligence to match. Focused on her business success, she aims to provide her clients with the true, well rounded ‘girlfriend experience’. For most of her stressed-out customers she functions as therapist more than sex toy and indeed very little is seen of their physical encounters. Wedged in a particular historical moment just prior to the 2008 American elections (stay until the end of the credits for the post-election payoff),the onset of the Global Financial Crisis permeates almost every scene. The savvy and energetic script (co-written by the writers of Oceans 13 working in a very different mode) parallels the nature of transaction and exchange alternately consequential and meaningless in both the worlds of fi nance and the high-class sex trade. Soderbergh’s own fluid camerawork (using the digital Red camera) vividly captures the pulse of New York City.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=34

THE LIMITS OF CONTROL

Jim Jaramusch doesn’t something that isn’t shit! A Neo-Noir! Featuring Bill Murray! Tilda Swinton! Gael Garcia Bernal! John Hurt! and Isaach De Bankole!

Actually, maybe it is shit. But whatever. -D

Slippery and seductive, Jim Jarmusch’s anti-thriller is a perfectly calibrated exercise in conspiracy cool. The Lone Man (Isaac de Bankole) is an enigma wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a selection of very fine silk threads. Travelling first to Madrid then to Seville (ravishingly photographed by Christopher Doyle) he attracts a lot of attention from double-crossing agent Paz de la Huerta (naked beneath a transparent trench-coat) and a string of mysterious associates including Tilda Swinton in white wig and matching Stetson; John Hurt in full rant; and a hyped-up and muscular Gael Garcia Bernal. With a perfectly honed eye for surrealist form and modern Spanish design, Jarmusch is preoccupied with modus operandi, far more interested in the shimmering approach than the thrill of the chase.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=214

THE LOST HONOUR OF KATHARINA BLUM

The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum is one of the most moving films ever made. Made by a generation of Germans who began to question the obscenely repressive nature of their parents paradigm, which was paralysed by anxiety after the war. The film represents the beginning of New German Cinema and touches on authoritarianism, terrorism, the media and political diversity through a petrifying personal narrative. Certainly not to be missed! -D

Katharina Blum is accused of being a terrorist collaborator after what appears to be a one-night-stand with a wanted man. Seemingly innocent, she stands her ground, refusing to respond to both police interrogation and the subsequent media onslaught. This integrity proves her downfall as police and journalists conspire to break her, turning her into an unwilling celebrity. This is a powerful and increasingly relevant adaptation, by Schlondorff and von Trotta (whose films together and separately are integral to the New German Cinema movement), of a novel by Nobel-prize winning author Heinrich Boll, itself sparked by an incident during the height of Baader-Meinhof activities.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=162

LOUISE-MICHEL (Official Competition)

The wildly anarchic duo Delepine and de Kervern, creators of the cult hit Aaltra (SFF05) are back in full-frontal form with this absurdist, politically incorrect comedy. Writhing with social significance at the best of times, their very particular brand of subversive humour drives home a scathing critique of contemporary global business ethics and could not be more resonant during the Global Economic Crisis. Louise (the superbly deadpan Moreau) is a slow-minded ex-crim whose work-a-day job at a toy factory comes to an end when management simply vanishes along with the machines. She convinces her fellow employees (played by actual redundant textile workers) to pool their union funds and hire a hitman to track-down and take out the boss. Step in Michel (Delepine and de Kervern regular, Lanners), caravan park security guard and bumbling firearms enthusiast, who convinces Louise he is good for the job. Cancer, eco-farming and cross-dressing are amongst the many subjects to get a good drubbing, but for all the hilarity and discomfort that ensues, this careening comedy sings a resounding chorus of solidarity to workers everywhere.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=163

THE MISSING PERSON

Down on his luck and holed up in a flea-pit hotel on the wrong side of the tracks, private detective John Roscow is woken from a gin-soaked stupor by an unexpected call. He begrudgingly accepts the assignment and starts to shadow a mysterious man travelling with a Mexican boy from Chicago to Los Angeles. Noah Buschel’s broody, jazz-inflected film noir ripples with melancholic wit, is rich with off-kilter characters and has a surprisingly resonant twist that locates it firmly in the present day. More Elliot Gould in The Long Goodbye than Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep, Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road, Shotgun Stories SFF07) is superb as the craggy detective flawed and lovable, sure, but smouldering like the aftermath of a Richard Widmark outburst.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=21

SALT (Doco Prize)

Salmon-pink clouds and reflections in a vast lake photographer-artist Murray Fredericks emerges into the picture, laden down with gear as he cycles onto Lake Eyre. On his sixth trip to the region in as many years, he’s familiar with the tribulations of dust on the camera and bogged wheels, even of the monotonous food. In this stunning video diary, Fredericks chronicles his creative process and the value of solitude - ‘When the space is that over-powering you lose some sense of self’ as well as the surreal beauty of Lake Eyre’s 360 degree horizon (footage augmented by dramatic aerial photography and haunting music from Aajinta’s Harmonic Spheres).

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=16

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE

Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue for 20 years, is the most powerful and polarising figure in fashion. Larger than life and more complex than fiction, Wintour embodies a fascinating contradiction of passion and perfectionism as she reigns over a dizzying array of designers, models, photographers, and editors. Director R.J. Cutler delivers a rare insider account of the nine months leading up to the printing of the highly anticipated September issue of the magazine, which promises to be the biggest one ever… At the eye of this annual fashion hurricane is the two decade relationship between Wintour and Grace Coddington, incomparable creative director and genius stylist. They are perfectly matched for this age-old conflict between creator and curator. Through them, we see close up the delicate creative chemistry it takes to remain at the top of the ever changing fashion field.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=20

WAKE IN FRIGHT

Decades of dust has finally been blown off one of the greatest Australian films ever made. After years of searching for a negative and a painstaking restoration (a passion project for its editor Anthony Buckley), this cornerstone of the Australian 70s filmmaking renaissance is presented at SFF hot off the heels of its Cannes Classics World Premiere (it first screened Cannes in 1971). Based on Kenneth Cook’s blistering novel, the film sees outback school teacher (Gary Bond) rub the wrong way against ‘Yabba’ locals, resulting in a booze-fuelled gambling bender that rapidly descends into violence and despair. The last film to feature iconic Australian actor Chips Rafferty and the first with Jack Thompson was directed by Canadian Ted Kotcheff, who returns to Australia for SFF’s premiere.

http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=171

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