JohnDoe
Bryn
BrentonThe 55th Sydney Film Festival - John Doe's Wishlist
May 30th 2008 00:56
Top 11 Highlights of the 2008 Sydney Film Festival
Poster for Time Crimes
This is going to be a 2 part post, Part 1 being a Top 11 and then the second part citing runners up. (Translation: films JD wants to see but won’t be able too)
This years Sydney Film Festival is fast approaching and there is an impressive selection of cinematic triumphs scheduled for the event. The program boasts elite titles from around the globe, often well ahead of there official release dates. (Certain films like last year’s confrontational documentary Zoo end up never arriving)
The sad truth is that there is no way Johnny will get to see every celluloid excursion in this post. Is still fun however, to compile and share a selection of movies without thoughts for cash and time restraints.
Like chance the Gardner “I like to watch” and the SFF is treated as a religious holiday by this cinephile and many others. Before the projectors fire up and start rolling, here are some of John Doe’s must see contributions. These are the titles that pique interest, trigger curiosity or release endorphins of joy at witnessing talented Directors cinematic possibilities.
Time Crimes – Los Cronocimenes
Director: Nacho VigalondoScreening: June 6 - 8.30pm and June 7 - 6.30pm
Hordes of positive buzz has come Johnny D’s way about this film. What's been read while still trying to keep spoiler free has put Time Crimes at the very pinnacle of a toughly contended must see shortlist.
Time Travel, murder and perplexing morality these are the vibes…confounded paradoxes, JD’s refusal to read any reviews or a synopsis for the film means that he can’t really tell you anything about the actual story. Maybe that’s best, just get excited and watch the trailer below, which may or may not be good because we haven’t watched it ourselves.
Unstick your mind with the Trailer forTime Crimes
Cool retro poster for Choke
Choke (US)
Director: Clark GreggStarring: Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly McDonald, Brad William Heneke
Screening June 6 - 9.10pm and June 8 - 5.45pm
This is one JD has been amping up about for a while, (Read and earlier Choke post here so to catch up to speed) Chuck Palhunick, the writer of Fight Club has penned other books and this is one of them. Telling of a conman who gorges himself in restaurants so he can sue when asphixiation checks in, the novel is a blend of sinister dramedy that thrills, repulses and amuses depending on the page number.
Choke the movie is Directed by Clark Gregg and Stars Sam Rockwell (Lawn Dogs, Safe Men), Anjelica Huston (Prizzi’s Honor, Chinatown), Kelly McDonald (Trainspotting, No Country for Old Men) and Brad William Henke (Dexter)
Choke Clip – The Sex Addicts Meeting
Phase IV Poster
Phase IV (1974)
Director: Saul bassScreening: June 11 5.50pm
Saul Bass is the graphic genius behind the title designs for Directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorcese, John Frankenheimer, Stanley Kubrick and Ridley Scott. He was a talented visionary who amongst other claims to fame is said to have been instrumental as co director of the notorious shower scene in Psycho.
Directing only a handful of films, Phase IV has a premise that could easily have just been a sad rehash of Them or worse a stupid Z grade Sci-Fi about deadly ants with a collective conscience for devouring life. In the hands of Bass we get bold images filling the frame and an careful but anxious pacing drawing suspense from tiny creatures that we see everyday.
Phase IV - TV Spot
Takashi Miike's western
Sukiyaki Western Django
Director: Takashi MiikeScreening: June 7 - 8:30pm and June 12 - 8:45pm
Takashi Miike is a devilish filmmaker who is more than pleased to go to excesses to achieve his blood drenched head games. JD has been a Miike (Ichi the Killer, Audition, Visitor Q) fan for years and the thought of him blending a Fistful of Dollars with Django to make a spaghetti western parody has him tightening his gun belt and adjusting his holster.
Trailer for the Takishi Miike Western Sukiyaki Western Django
A second Takashi Miike film, Crows Episode 0 - Kurozu Zero is also screening.
Starring: Shun Ogruri, Kyosuke Yabe, Takayuki Yamada
Screening: June 8 - 8pm and June 9 - 8.30pm
Poster for Stop Loss
Stop Loss (US)
Director: Kimberly PierceStarring: Joseph Gordon Levitt, Channing Tatum, Abbie Cornish and Ryan Phillipe
Screening: June 13 - 6.30pm and June 14 - 11.50am
The is Director Kimberley Pierce’s (Boys Don’t Cry) second film. An anti war study that focuses on an Iraqi grunt forced through bureaucratic red tape to recanter his returning home from a tour of duty.
Joseph Gordon Levitt (Brick) hasn’t made a misstep since Mysterious Skin and this looks like another engrossing part for him to explore. Channing Tatum was daunting in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints and from the trailer he seems to be carrying the same energy around.
If treated with the same probing emotion as Boys Don’t Cry this could take something sensational and distill it into humanity.
Trailer for Stop Loss
Redacted Poster
Red Acted (US)
Director: Brian de PalmaScreening: June 20 - 8.30pm and June 21 - 8.50pm
Another film about the military price of oil in the Iraq War, this one has the legendary Writer/Director Brian De Palma (Scarface, Carrie, Blow Out) embracing all the lensing and sound tricks of the mass media to convince that an interpretation of the truth is only half the story.
Employing largely unknown actors and mashing propaganda techniques to study a very real event that drifts between fact and fiction…just like the evening news.
(Read an earlier post that JD did on Redacted by clicking HERE)
Brian De Palma talks Redacted
Ben X Poster
Ben X - (Dutch)
Director: Nic BalthazarStarring: Greg Timmermans, Marjike Pinoy, Laura Verlinden
Screening: June 18 - 8.15pm and June 19 - 3.45pm
This could be the underground hit of the festival, imdb.com describes the story as "As an alternative to getting bullied at school, an autistic teenager (Timmermans) retreats into the world of online role-playing games.". The trailer makes it look like a complex narrative full of drama and suspense plus fresh visual character development, maybe Donnie Darko will drop in to help?
Ben X Trailer
This poster is a warning
Import/Export (German/Russia)
Director: Ulrich SeidiScreening: June 7 - 8.45pm and June 9 - 6pm
Bleak cold and piercing, this pretty much sums up the scenery and tone according to those who have seen this German/Slovak drama about how tough life can really get as a human possession. Surrounded in controversy with cries of good taste the viewer is subjected to explicit and grotesque examples of poverty and perversion.
The feel good entry in JD's list
Son of Rambow (UK)
Director: Garth JenningsStarring: Neil Dudgeon, Will Poulter, Jessica Stevenson
Screening: June 9 - 12pm and June 22 - 1.45pm
Two young lads in the 80’s are inspired to make there own movie version of First Blood after seeing it on VHS.
JD was about the same age as these kids in the era and wanting to make movies. These twerps do it and have a ball, all the while learning lessons in life and experiencing what it means to be a kid.
Trailer for Son of Rambow
Appleseed 2 poster
Appleseed Saga: Ex Machine (Japanese)
Director: Shinji AramkiScreening: June 14 - 8.15pm and June 22 - 4.45pm
Manga/Anime sequel to the spellbinding 2004 animated science fiction film Appleseed. Reteaming the original creative minds this promises to be another visual arresting study of how to take utopia into dystopia.
Prepare for animated wonders and technological combat, here’s the trailer for Appleseed Saga: Ex Machine. (Best enjoyed by ignoring the tacky American narrator)
So there they are, John Doe’s Sydney Film Festival essentials - Coming Soon: The
Runners Up
Noticed that my esteemed fellow Orblers Bryn and Cib have also done there own idiosyncratic posts related to the Sydney Film Festival, so for further information visit horrorphile.net and moviecritic.com
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
I was looking at Timecrimes... that much buzz, eh? I'll see if I can fit it in...
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Nice list - will try and get mine up this weekend if work does not kill me.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
The artwork is fantastic on a lot of them, the Time Crimes and Choke posters being instant classics IMO.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
All 11 are must see for me but the ones that I have to see are Times Crimes, the Takishi Miike Western, Choke and Ben X.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
There are 26 films all up that I want to see at the festival.
I agree Son of Rambow should get wide release, but then Choke will too. (I'm certainly seeing Choke!)
Ben X has me intrigued and the trailer looks interesting. Stop Loss has a talented Director and Joseph Gordon Levitt tackles deep complex parts with skill so I have high hopes too.
Look forward to reading your list...I'm doing part 2 of mine in the next few days.
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
First cab off the rank for me is:
Donkey Punch on June 6th. It looks like Dead Calm and I just loved that film. Will write more about it later but am off to watch Earth now and am very excited to hear a bit of Jean Luc Piccard for an hour and a half while watching amazing footage of the finer bits of our planet.