Year: 2017

Film Review: KEDI (Turkey/USA 2016) ***

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Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival: http://www.wildsound.ca

kedi.jpgDirector: Ceyda Torun
Star: Bülent Üstün

Review by Gilbert Seah

 Right on the paws of the controversial Hollywood animal movie A DOG’S PURPOSE comes KEDI, a film about cats. KEDI is set in Istanbul, Turkey. The film’s niche is that it is a documentary looking at the ancient city of Istanbul (a city that has survived through the rise and fall of empires) through the eyes of cats. Director Torun live in Istanbul and understands the city.

Cats are not as trainable as dogs. Torun had to basically follow her cats around, hoping that they do what is expected of them and that a story (or stories) can be told. The difficulty of using cats is immediately noticeable upon watching both A DOG’S PURPOSE and KEDI. But there are dog persons and cat persons.

Unfortunately, I am a dog person and basically despise cats, but I will try to be unbiased in reviewing this cat documentary.

Istanbul is seen through the eyes of seven cats. Torun has chosen her cats to be as distinct as possible from each other. The stories are not interweaved and unfold one after another. During the breaks, many cats are shown together at different spot in the city. The film first introduces Sari, a yellow tabby. After she roams the streets, she is revealed to be with young kittens to feed. Sari is a persistent hustler, a quality that has earned her the love of a local shopkeeper. The send is Aslan Parçasi, better known as “little lion”. He is rewarded by a famous fish restaurant for keeping it mice-free. Psikopat is a tough cookie who fears no one, respected by local humans for her boldness. Duman, a little chunky thanks to his gourmet diet, has become a fixture at an upscale deli, where he refuses to beg. Deniz is known as the Ferikoy Organic Market’s social butterfly, Gamsız is a tough fighter with a sweet face that can charm any human, and Bengü is sweet and cuddly, beloved by everyone in her neighbourhood. Torun divides equal screen time among the cats without favouritism. So, whig cat is the most adorable? It is entirely up to the individual.

The film also deals with the plight of the cats as the city is modernized with less greenery. The result would be fewer places for the cats to poop. The film also shows the relationship between certain people and the cats. Thousands of stray cats in Istanbul. But the film omits completely the problems street stray cats can cause.

KEDI is no Disney film – so there are no special effects and human-style stories, There are also no messages to be learnt in this movie. But the film is just a light, entertaining look at cats and what they do in their lives.

KEDI has a special engagement run at the Bloor Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. Cat lovers take note! There are lots of cutesy shots of the felines to keep cat lovers purring.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKq7UqplcL8

_________

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month:http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

 

Interview with Kevin Clark (NYC Indie Film Awards, Festival Director)

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The NYC Indie Film Awards are a monthly online awards competition based in the center of the most exciting city on this planet, and is a platform for Independent Filmmakers from all over the world to show their talents! For filmmakers by filmmakers.

http://www.nycindiefilmawards.com/

 Matthew Toffolo: What is your Film Festival succeeding at doing for filmmakers?

Kevin Clark: Giving new and established filmmakers from all around the world the opportunity to show off their work, compete with others and celebrate their achievements. We also try to promote their accomplishments as much as we can,

MT: What would you expect to experience if you attend the festival this year (2017)?

KC: Getting your work seen and judged by industry professionals, for all kinds of categories.

MT: What are the qualifications for the selected films?

KC: We really care about quality more than anything else, weather it’s the writing, the cinematography, or the score. Our standard is very high but we get so many great submissions every time, that it’s just a pleasure to watch them all.

MT: Do you think that some films really don’t get a fair shake from film festivals? And if so, why?

KC: Yes and no, there has never been a better and a worse time to be a filmmaker than right now, simply because everything is so affordable, from equipment to software, and because of that there are WAY more filmmakers than ever before. So filmmakers have a lot more competition, which makes it harder to stand out, but we believe that quality will always find it’s way.

MT: What motivates you and your team to do this festival?

KC: A lot of members of our team are filmmakers themselves, or at the very least hardcore film lovers, which makes this so much fun, we get the perspective of people who simply appreciate the art of film as well as a very technical view. Making a film takes up so much time, and it can also be very hard, so we want to give every filmmaker the opportunity to show off what they’ve worked so hard on.

MT: How has your FilmFreeway submission process been?

KC: FilmFreeway is by far the best platform to accept submissions, it is so intuitive, easy and constantly improves, we love it!

MT: Where do you see the festival by 2020? LK

KC: Since right now we’re “only” and online competition, we hope that very soon we’ll have annual or even bi monthly screening, to celebrate with everyone in person, and make them feel even more appreciated.

MT: What film have you seen the most times in your life?

KC: We’ve asked the team, and the top three answers were:

1. Fight Club

2. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

3. Psycho

MT: In one sentence, what makes a great film?

KC: The combination of creativity and emotion.

MT: How is the film scene in your city?

KC: It couldn’t be any better, it’s creative, refreshing, very alive and constantly changing.

nycindiefilm1.jpg

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Interviewer Matthew Toffolo is currently the CEO of the WILDsound FEEDBACK Film & Writing Festival. The festival that showcases 20-50 screenplay and story readings performed by professional actors every month. And the FEEDBACK Monthly Festival held in downtown Toronto, and Los Angeles at least 2 times a month. Go to www.wildsound.ca for more information and to submit your work to the festival.

Interview with William Greer (Cinema Touching Disability, Festival Director)

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 Now in its fourteenth year, the Cinema Touching Disability Film Festival helps dispel misperceptions about disability by screening films that portray people with disabilities living full lives. Film entries should avoid stereotypical representations. Instead, the festival seeks imaginative, multifaceted portrayals of people with disabilities.

http://www.ctdfilmfest.org/

Matthew Toffolo: What is your Film Festival succeeding at doing for filmmakers?

William Greer: Cinema Touching Disability gives filmmakers a chance to show their films about and starring people who have disabilities. We focus on films that have a positive and accurate representation of disability. cinema Touching Disability puts a central focus on these films, and events surrounding them.

We featured, for instance, an interview with Dr Temple Grandin, the most famous person in the world with Autism the year we featured a dramatic biography about her. We had a guest appearance by Jessica Cox, the only licensed armless pilot in the world when we featured “Right Footed”, the documentary about her. We had a live demonstration of American Sign language (ASL) poetry when we featured “Deaf Jam”, a documentary about ASL poets who compete alongside spoken word poets in 2016.

MT: What would you expect to experience if you attend the festival this year (2017)?

WG: This year we are featuring films that focus on service animals and animals with disabilities. we will have live service dogs at the theater before the festival. People will have an opportunity to see the winners of our short film competition, the feature film and a chance to meet service dogs.

MT: What are the qualifications for the selected films?

WG: The films need to have an accurate, interesting and compelling story about disability. We feature films that dispel common misperceptions about disability, entertain the audience and are informative.

The films must not have stereotypical representations about disability and show honest and accurate portrayals of people who have disabilities.

MT: Do you think that some films really don’t get a fair shake from film festivals? And if so, why?

WG: Some films definitely do not get a fair shake. There would not be film festivals that specialize in certain genres, such as science fiction, horror, asian and disability if all of these films had an equal chance at festivals. There are so many films being made that the sheer number of them makes it impossible for every film to have an equal opportunity.

In the case of disability there is simply a lack of interest in the subject. Many people do not think disability films will be either interesting or entertaining. This, combined with the history of bad representation of disability and people who have disabilities, makes it very hard for disability films to gain an equal opportunity.

MT: What motivates you and your team to do this festival?

WG: We are motivated by the desire to give people with disabilities equal opportunities and to raise awareness about disability. Our organization is a non-profit dedicated to promoting equal civil and social rights of people with disabilities, so the festival is a natural outgrowth of this.

MT: How has your FilmFreeway submission process been?

WG: Outstanding. Tracking and receiving the submissions has been incredibly easy. The submission process is also improving steadily.

MT: Where do you see the festival by 2020?

WG: I hope to see the festival expand to include an additional evening and the audience to grow enough to require a larger theater.

MT: What film have you seen the most times in your life?

WG: That is a difficult question to answer because I have seen so many films. I might have seen “The Empire Strikes Back” the most times because I was so young when I first saw it. This is an excellent film that I have had an opportunity to see for 27 years. I have had many chances to see it, in other words.

MT: In one sentence, what makes a great film?

WG: An interesting, thought provoking and engaging story.

MT: How is the film scene in your city?

WG: Incredible. Experimental, international and mainstream films are regularly featured at many theaters here.

cinematouchingdisability1.jpg

—–

About the interviewee: I became legally blind at the age of 17 as the result of an open skull wound. Since then I graduated from college worked in a variety of political campaigns, gained a job at a non-profit organization and started running marathons.

I created a film festival as one of the fund raising projects for the disability advocacy organization I work for. The festival has grown to take place on multiple evenings, include an international short film competition and have stars of our feature films visit as speakers.

I also oversee various other fund raising events, ranging from hand cycle marathons to participation in annual fun runs.

For recreation I run in marathons. The 15 I have run so far include the 2013 Boston marathon and the Prickly Pear, a 30 mile ultra marathon.
Cinema Touching Disability (www.ctdfilmfest.org)

Cinema Touching Disability is designed to raise awareness of and dispel common misperceptions about disability. This festival, which started in 2004, features films, has guest speakers and often has special events.

The events range from a demonstration of martial arts by a team of people with disabilities. This demonstration included Jessica Cox, the only armless pilot in the world, since she also holds two black belts in Tae Kwan do. Another special event featured a demonstration of people in wheelchairs demonstrating mobility dancing, which happened before a film about wheelchair dancers.
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Interviewer Matthew Toffolo is currently the CEO of the WILDsound FEEDBACK Film & Writing Festival. The festival that showcases 20-50 screenplay and story readings performed by professional actors every month. And the FEEDBACK Monthly Festival held in downtown Toronto, and Los Angeles at least 2 times a month. Go to www.wildsound.ca for more information and to submit your work to the festival.

Interview with Nathan Ludwig (GenreBlast Film Festival, Festival Director )

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 GenreBlast is an upstart film festival that had a very successful first year at the revitalized state-of-the-art State Theatre in wonderful downtown Culpeper, Virginia. Our second year will emanate from an exciting, soon-to-be announced venue! They celebrate the finest in true genre cinema and are looking for your best features, shorts, music videos and screenplays in the categories of horror, action/adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, martial arts, exploitation, documentaries, animation, grindhouse, suspense/thriller, international, experimental and more!

http://www.genreblast.com/

Matthew Toffolo: What is your Film Festival succeeding at doing for filmmakers?

Nathan Ludwig: We pride ourselves on creating a completely welcoming experience for both filmmakers and movie lovers alike. It’s all about the movies and it’s all about the artists who make them. In our first year, we had about half of our official selections represented by either directors, writers, producers or actors. We had about 19 features and around 80 shorts as well as over a dozen screenplay finalists – so to say we were pleasantly surprised by the response would be an understatement. The bottom line is we take the time to get to know all of our filmmakers and their passions. We are also independent film makers and screenwriters in our other lives and we have been to many festivals as official selections, awards nominees and just as moviegoers and we know what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to putting on a fun weekend of movies, parties and networking.

MT: What would you expect to experience if you attend the festival this year (2017)?

NL: We are moving to a new venue this year – the Alamo Drafthouse Theater in Winchester, VA. Last year, our first year, we emanated from the historic State Theatre in Culpeper, VA. It was a newly restored classical movie theater originally constructed in 1938. We were literally the last event to play there before it closed its doors due to problems with fundraising. It’s currently in turnaround to new owners and the fate of the State Theatre is up in the air so we decided to change locations and get the word out as soon as possible. We were very lucky to secure the weekend of Sept. 8-10 of this year for GenreBlast 2. Andy Gyurisin is the Creative Manager at the Alamo Winchester and he was on board from the beginning for what we are offering to film nerds and film makers with out upstart fest. We really hope to make the Alamo the official home of GenreBlast for the foreseeable future. It’s such an amazing venue and extremely conducive to events like GenreBlast.

This year, there will be plenty of networking parties, discussion panels and Q&A sessions after each and every screening, for both shorts and features. The owners of the Alamo Drafthouse Winchester also own the neighboring Country Inn & Suites and will be providing room discounts for fest attendees. They also own the adjacent Green Turtle bar & restaurant which will also be at our disposal the entire weekend. The Alamo itself has a full bar and a huge food menu. You’ll be able to eat and drink to your heart’s content all weekend! It’s going to be one long, continuous party for artists and lovers of film and screenwriters to come together and celebrate what we all love the most. Movies!

MT: What are the qualifications for the selected films?

NL: I’m not quite sure what you mean by this question. Do you mean what do the selected films all have in common or what do you need in order to be a selected film? Or something else?

MT: Do you think that some films really don’t get a fair shake from film festivals? And if so, why?

NL: I truly believe, at this level of film fests, the cream rises to the top. It just does. If your film is worth a screening, it will find an audience. Not everything gets into every fest, that’s just unrealistic. You just have to know what you have, know your audience and do your homework as to which fests to submit to. Don’t submit your shot-on-VHS zombie ninja movie to an indie film fest that focuses on straight-up dramas and comedies. You’ll end up frustrated and disappointed. Stay informed and keep up with the festival scene on a regular basis.

MT: What motivates you and your team to do this festival?

NL: We are obsessed with movies. It has been a dream of mine to hold an annual film fest curated by myself and my closest friends. For a handful of years, I kept making excuses as to why it wasn’t possible or feasible. One day, I just decided to get up off my butt and actually do it. Lo and behold, it happened and the whole thing went off without a hitch. We had an amazing turnout and many attendees commented it was the best run first year film fest they’ve ever been to. If you check out our reviews on FilmFreeway, you’ll see we’re not lying.

At the end of the day, all I care about is movies – whether it’s watching them, writing them (or about them) or making them. I wanted to channel my unconditional love and idiosyncratic passion for that into one yearly cinematic event. The fact that two of my closest friends agreed to come along on this weird, crazy ride is one of the biggest rewards so far.

MT: How has your FilmFreeway submission process been?

NL: The response on FilmFreeway has been positively insane. We are already outpacing last year’s submissions by a ridiculously wide margin. However, that shouldn’t deter anyone from submitting. We watch EVERYTHING from start to finish, even if you submit it at the very last second of the final deadline. If you care enough to submit, we care enough to watch/read and evaluate your work fairly and accurately. We have a very eclectic taste in movies and there’s nothing that really offends us or turns us off (except for poor filmmaking).

MT: Where do you see the festival by 2020?

NL: By that time, we will be in our fifth (!) year and by then, we want to be one of the premier genre film fests in the country. We want to be a destination fest for audiences and artists alike to converge and mingle amidst a killer lineup of genre films. We want to be like Fantastic Fest when we grow up.

MT: What film have you seen the most times in your life?

NL: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Or maybe Scarface. Or was it Casino? Maybe it was one of the Godfather movies. If it’s three hours long and features tough fellas being tough, I’ve probably seen it several dozen times.

MT: In one sentence, what makes a great film?

NL: A great film is one you can’t go without recommending to anyone who will listen.

MT: How is the film scene in your city?

NL: Winchester has a fiercely intelligent as well as warm and inviting film community – from the Winchester Film Society to Andy Gyurisin’s Film Club 3.0, which screens eclectic selections at the Alamo Drafthouse itself on a regular basis. GenreBlast will be right at home in this picturesque Virginia town.

genreblast1.jpg

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Interviewer Matthew Toffolo is currently the CEO of the WILDsound FEEDBACK Film & Writing Festival. The festival that showcases 20-50 screenplay and story readings performed by professional actors every month. And the FEEDBACK Monthly Festival held in downtown Toronto, and Los Angeles at least 2 times a month. Go to www.wildsound.ca for more information and to submit your work to the festival.

Film Review:JOHN WICK CHAPTER 2

festreviews 2017 movies, movie, Movie Review, Uncategorized , , , , , , , ,

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival: http://www.wildsound.ca

john_wick_chapter_2Director: Chad Stahelski
Writers: Derek Kolstad, Derek Kolstad (based on characters created by)
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Riccardo Scamarcio, Ian McShane

Review by Gilbert Seah

The second in the series of John Wick films is in fact a continuation of the first JOHN WICK film, with the same director and star Keanu Reeves as the hit-man John Wick.

When the first film was left, Wick’s prized Mustang got stolen and his dog killed by the son of a Russian mobster. In an extended car chase and fight sequence when CHAPTER 2 begins, the audience sees the mobster grunt in disbelief to see his shop and all his men, one after another, demolished by Wick as he comes hunting for his car. The comedy is black and funny enough with sufficient violent action fight choreography to satisfy the action fans. Director Chad Stahelski knows how to stage fights, him being Reeves’ stunt double in THE MATRIX films.

CHAPTER TWO runs at full-throttle for over two hours with a minimum plot The premise involves legendary hit-man John Wick forced back out of retirement by a former associate plotting to seize control of a shadowy international assassins’ guild. Bound by a blood oath to help him, John travels to Rome, where he squares off against some of the world’s deadliest killers. Though the story obviously is inconsequential, one would have expected the filmmakers to put in a bit more effort into the story.

Keanu Reeves makes the perfect anti-hero John Wick, shown with face bruises more than half the time. It is worthy of his character in BILL AND TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE that brought him to fame. CHAPTER TWO sees more well-known actors lending a hand to make the film more exciting. COMMON plays Cassian, the head of security of a female crime boss who gives Wick a good fight for his money. Laurence Fishburne plays The Bowery King, a ruthless crime boss and Italian star Riccardo Scamarcio plays Santino, an assassin while Ian McShane reposes his role as the head of hotel, where no killings re tolerated.

The first JOHN WICK film had lots of fresh ideas whereas CHAPTER TWO rides on the first success, adding no new inventive surprises. In the first the hotel where truce must be obeyed is again reprised with Wick and the security played by Common forced to have a drink there. In the first film, there is a very sexy fight between a lady assassin in black and Wick. In CHAPTER TWO, there is a fight between Wick and a girl, this time in white, Ares (Ruby Ros) but the fight scene can nowhere be even described as sexy. Rose looks incredibly unsexy, when she dies with her huge eyes bulging. CHAPTER TWO also contains lots of repetitions. The joke of Wick and the security head fighting and rolling down the steps is repeated not once, but twice in the same sequence. Wick’s affinity to his dog, a black pitbull is also repeatedly drummed into the audience’s heads.

JOHN WICK CHAPTER 2 has lost its spark. Running at a length of over 2 hours does not help matters either. The case of more and louder in this sequel leads to boredom and a headache.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/user/eOnefilms

 

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Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month:http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

Film Review: THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE

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Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival: http://www.wildsound.ca

lego_batman_movie.jpgDirector: Chris McKay
Writers: Seth Grahame-Smith (screenplay), Chris McKenna (screenplay)
Stars: Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson

Review by Gilbert Seah

 
The LEGO BATMAN MOVIE screening was preceded by the trailer for the next LEGO project entitled THE LEGO NINJA MOVIE, which looks even more hectic from this one.
The simplistic story of LEGO BATMAN could do with a few plot twists. Batman (Will Arnett) goes on a personal journey to find himself and learn the importance of teamwork and friendship in the hopes of saving Gotham City from a hostile takeover set by The Joker (Zach Galifianakis).

The film is relatively free of violence and foul language (though BATMAN does quip: “I like fighting around…”), making it suitable for children’s viewing. But there might be too much activity taking place at any one time on the screen. The best target audience suitable would be the video game generation, whose minds can decipher multiple happenings on screen.

The film gives affectionate nods to the first LEGO MOVIE. There is a nod to the ‘Everything Is Awesome’ hit song and a quip about Master builders. Gotham City is also built like Lego Construction. The Joker’s explosion will break the connection of the city’s construction just as if the city was built on Lego blocks. Chris McKay (ROBOT CHICKEN TV film/series) takes over the directing reins from Chris Lord and Christopher Miller who serve as producers of this film. Lord and Miller directed as well as wrote THE LEGO MOVIE. THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE is credited with no less than 5 writers (Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna, Eric Sommers, Jared Stern and John Whittington) with less effective results – a case of maximum effort, minimum results, instead of the other way around.

THE LEGO BATMAN is too repetitious and manic for its own good. The message of Bateman/Bruce Wayne needing a family and lacking the ability of appreciating a relationship is drummed into the audience’s head much too often. From the framed photographs in Batman’s bat cave room to the dialogue – enough is enough of the message. The film contains too many scenes in which too many things occur so that it is hard to figure out what is going on. Lego-shaped blocks fly across at the screen too fast to see and words are spewed out to fast to hear. In Wikipedia, director McKay got into filmmaking cited Hitchcock as his film influence. Hitchcock always had ‘breathers’ in his films, when nothing really happens, just for the purpose of the audience to take a break.

THE LEGO MOVIE was inspired, fresh full of ideas and funny as hell. THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE should take lessons from the first movie. Too much, louder and faster never really works. THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE turns boring quite fast despite so much happening on screen at any instant. It is a question of quality vs. quantity.
McKay is fond of parodying classic films like the STAR WARS films and THE LEGO MOVIE.

Will Arnett’s BATMAN low key voice occasionally sounds like President Donald Trump – and even more so in one segment when he says: “I don’t pay taxes.” But these inspired hilarious laugh-out moments are too few and far between. But what can I say? I am only an over-rated film critic.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGQUKzSDhrg

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Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month:http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

Film Review: 2017 Oscar Nominated Animation Shorts

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Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival: http://www.wildsound.ca

Just in time for the Academy Awards ceremonies at the end of February, there will be screenings of 3 programs of short featurettes – short features, animated shorts and short documentaries.  These run from February the 10th  and make a welcome change from feature films.  These are the budding filmmakers who might make it big one day in Hollywood.

The total running time of this animated shorts program is 86 minutes.  The program runs for Feb 10th to the 16th at different times each day at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

For complete showtimes, click on the link below:

http://www.tiff.net/events/oscar-shorts-animation

Capsule Reviews of each animated short areme0w! outlined below:-

BLIND VAYSHA (Canada 2016) ***

Directed by Theodore Ushsev

Canada’s National Film Board’s (NFB) BLIND VAYSHA has the strangest animation of all the nominees.  Done like eerie paintings, the tale centres on poor BLIND VAYSHA who was born with a green and a brown eye.  The left eye sees the past, the right the future, so she is blind for not being able to see the present.  It is an eerie story, with appropriate weird animation and colours.  It is based on a short story so I would think the animation likely flowed the illustrations of the story.

BORROWED TIME (USA 2015) ***

Directed by Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadji

A sheriff returns to the cliff, the scene of a past accident where he reminisces a past tragedy which is shown in flashback.  This animated short stands out for its attention to details (the finger movements, the puffed up flesh brow the eyes) and the music by Gustave Sabtiallaly.  The short is also exciting enough with the sheriff trying to save, one assumes is his father.

PEARL (USA 2016) ***

Directed by Patric Osborne

A feel good musical with catchy country and western songs sees a girl (the PEARL of the title is not her name but the name of the car she and her father call home) chasing her dream to make it big in the music world.  Lyrics like ‘unbroken love carried inside’ and ‘no wrong way home’  make the songs memorable.  This she does with her band as they drive off in the sunset.  It takes a bit to figure out what it happening on screen – which tends to be a bit confusing.  Still, this is an entertaining short, memorable for its music and lightness.

PIPER (USA 2016) ***
Directed by Alan Barillaro

PIPER is the new animated short form Pixar Studios.  As expected, this short is the best in terms of animated quality, and one wonders if the Academy will give a chacne fto the other nominees.  This is a funny cute tale of a sandpiper nestling, who be ventures out from her nest, edged on by her mother, to look for food like cockles.  But the nestling is scared of the incoming wave, the first of which ruffles all her baby furry feathers.  It is cutesy fun, typical of Disney with a few laugh out laughs.

PEAR BRANDY AND CIGARETTES (UK/Canada 2016) ****
Directed by Robert Valley

Told in voiceover in the first person, the narrator has been commissioned by his friend’s father to 1) to get his son, Techno Stypes to stop drinking and have a liver transplant and 2) bring from China to Vancouver.  It is no easy task as Techno has no qualms in changing his ways.  As the story implies, this is one animate short that is full of swering, full-busted women and swearing.  The drawings are done like the Dick tardy style comic strip with lanky figures often in dark background.  Director Valley does not compromise his characters by making them likeable.  An original piece and the longest running nominated short at 36 minutes.  A sad and beautiful piece, this one gets my vote for Best Animated Short.  The credits give thanks to Techno’s parents – so this might be a true story of friendship.   This short will be played last in the program, so that children can be ushered out of the auditorium owing to the short’s content.

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Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month:http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

LAND OF MINE (Under Sandet)(Denmark/Germany 2015) *****Top 10

festreviews 2016 movies, movie, Movie Review, Uncategorized , , , , ,

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival: http://www.wildsound.ca

land_of_mineDirector: Martin Zandvliet
Writer: Martin Zandvliet
Stars: Roland Møller, Louis Hofmann, Joel Basman

Review by Gilbert Seah

The Danish entry for this year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, LAND OF MINE is a film where hate dominates, but a film in which a hidden story needs to be told. It is a film that took a while to reach screens in Toronto, having premiered two years ago at the Toronto International Film Festival. It is a difficult film to watch, but an essential one. I have seen the film three times and is my favourite choice for the Winner for Best Foreign Film after TONI ERDMANN.

The film begins with the title, May 1945, five years after the German Occupation in Denmark. A Dane sergeant, Carl Rasmussen (Roland Møller) is driving along the road while German troops are evacuating. He sights a German stealing a Danish flag and lets him have it. “You are not welcome here,” he screams. This same sergeant is responsible for 14 young German POWs with no prior training, given the dangerous task of dismantling the land mines left on the west coast of Denmark.

Based on a true but previously hidden story, Martin Zandvliet’s LAND OF MINE is a tension-filled drama about Denmark’s darkest hour when a group of German POWs – most of them young boys – were sacrificed in the aftermath of WWII. With minimal training, they must remove 45,000 land mines from the local beach, among 2.2 million that the Nazis planted along the western coast. The POWs are just boys, recruited late in the war as older able-bodied men were dwindling.

The German boys dream of going home, to get a girl, to eat decent German food. But danger lurks every second, as they can be blown up by a land mine, if they let their guard down for even a second. There are 6 blow ups in the film, but director Zandvliet is smart enough to let them occur when least expected. So be forewarned that you will be jumping out of your seat in fright too often for comfort. On my third viewing, I still jumped up twice.

Despite the prevailing hatred for the Germans by the Danes, the German boys survive – for their innocence, their youth and the triumph of the human spirit. They even save a little Danish girl who ventures on to the mined beach despite them being mistreated by the mother. Among those playing the POWs are Emil and Oskar Belton (as identical twins), Louis Hofmann (as the group’s natural leader) and Joel Basman (as a cynic who would have liked to be leader).

This is one film that will bring tears to ones eyes. It is moving film about forgiveness, tolerance, racism and finally about doing what is right. The sergeant hates the Germans, mistreats the German boys under his command initially. After seeing them blown up by the mines, mistreated by the other Danes and mostly seeing them innocent as young boys caught in a world beyond their control, even though they are German, Rasmussen finally decide to side with the boys.

I watched an interview on director Zandvliet on TV two years ago. He says that his film is based on a story that has to be told. He also expressed his concern for the Syrian refugees and how governments should be more sympathetic to let these refugees in. This is one man who is dedicated for doing right for the human race. His awesome film LAND OF MINE demonstrates his conviction. I highly recommend this film, a great watch even after a third viewing.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GafFkkl0xt0

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Film Review: OSCAR NOMINATED SHORTS – LIVE ACTION

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Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival: http://www.wildsound.ca

OSCAR NOMINATED SHORTS – LIVE ACTION

Just in time for the Academy Awards ceremonies at the end of February, there will be screenings of 2 programs of short featurettes – live action and animated shorts.  These run from February the 10th  and make a welcome change from feature films.  These are the budding filmmakers who might make it big one day in Hollywood.

The total running time of this animated shorts program is 130 minutes.  The program runs for Feb 10th to the 16th at different times each day at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.  The Live Action program is the most international of all the programs.

For complete showtimes, click on the link below:

http://www.tiff.net/events/oscar-shorts-animation

Capsule Reviews of each live action short are outlined below:-

ENNEMIS INTERIEURS (France 2015) **

Directed by Selim Aazzazi

An interview at a local police station turns into an inquisition during which a French-Algerian born man sees himself accused of protecting the identities of possible terrorists.  This close-up of France’s troubled history with its former colonies has one man controlling the fate of another with the stroke of a pen during a turbulent period in the 1990s.  The film is basically  two handler with the two men arguing with each other.  The film is clearly biased towards the Algerian, even though the narrative does not stay in one direction.

LA FEMME ET LE TGV (Switzerland 2016) ****

Directed by Timo von Gunten

This French short from Switzerland tells the tale of elderly woman, Elise Lafontaine and the Le Grand Trains Vitesse (GTV), the high speed train.  Her daily routine is to wave the Swiss glad every morning and evening the train passes her house by the tracks.  She leads a humdrum life cycling to work in her barry store in the town of Monbijou.  Things take a turn when she starts exchanging notes with the driver daily.  I want to live life again, she tells her son who thinks she should be in a home.  This is a very charming and beautiful film based on true events about hope and living.  Elise is wonderfully portrayed by veteran French actress Jane Birkin.  

SILENT NIGHTS (Denmark 2016) ***
Directed by Aske Bang

What is remarkable about this 30 minute short is the amount of material in the story that should easily fill a full-length feature.  The story follows Inger, a Danish single woman who volunteers at a homeless shelter.  She meets, pities and falls in love with an illegal immigrant from Ghana, Kwame who hides the fact that he has a family back home.  Ing has a mother who is old and eventually passes away.  SILENT NIGHTS is set during Christmas and shows how human decency prevails.  A touching and moving short, well acted and directed.

SING (Hungary 2015) ****
Directed by Kristof Deak

SING is my pick for the Best Live Action Short.  The entire project is a metaphor for the prejudice present in the modern adult world.  And the children in this choir show the audience how to deal with the problem.  Zsofi is struggling to fit in at her new school and singing in the school’s famous choir is her only consolation.    However the choir director may not be the inspirational teacher everyone thinks she is.  Zsofi is told her singing is not good enough.  She is told to mime during the performances.  Zsofi and her new friend Liza work to uncover the cruel truth and set things right.  Brilliant and wonderfully executed!

TIMECODE (Spain 2016) ***
Directed by Juanjo Gimemez Pena

This Cannes short Palme d;Or Winner tells the story of two parking security guards Diego and Luna.  Diego works the night while Luna the day shift.  They communicate through the video surveillance recordings at the timecode each of them leaves at the end of their shifts.  Irrelevant, comical and utterly charming, this is also Spanish dance at it most original.  Do not try to logically analyze the narrative, the trick is to just enjoy the its flow.

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Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month:http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

Film Review: A MAN CALLED OVE (Sweden 2015) ****

festreviews 2017 movies, movie, Movie Review, Uncategorized , , , , , , ,

a_man_called_ove.jpgDirector: Hannes Holm

Writers: Hannes Holm (screenplay), Fredrik Backman (novel)

Stars: Rolf Lassgård, Bahar Pars, Filip Berg

Review by Gilbert Seah

Nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film and Make-up & Hairstyling, A MAN CALLED OVE stands to compete with the big guys like the favourites THE SALESMAN, TONI ERDMANN and THE LAND OF MINE but the film has already been a hit in the U.S. when it opened last September as well as in its native country Sweden. The film is a dark horse but it might just be the winner as the Academy is made up of older voters and this film about an old retied widower is just the type of film that suits the voters.

Based on Fredrik Backman’s beloved novel (a 3.8 million bestseller), A MAN CALLED OVE tells the story of Ove (Rolf Lassgård from Downsizing, The Hunters, After the Wedding), a retired widower and a curmudgeon who keeps a critical eye on his neighbours and their goings on. He is all but given up on the world, until Parvaneh (Bahar Pars) and her family moves in across the street and an unexpected friendship emerges.

When the film opens, Ove is shown as an old grump. Films about old codgers have always been a favourite subject for filmmakers with films like GRUMPY OLD MEN (Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon) and the recent Scandinavian entry by Dome Karukoski called THE GRUMP. Like the grump in THE GRUMP, Ove is angry at all around him, but director Holm (Adam & Eva, Behind Blue Skies) ensures that he is a likeable character.

Ove (young Ove played by Filip Berg) is shown pining over his late wife (Ida Engyoll). He smells her clothes and visits her grave at least once a day bringing flowers. Who cannot like such a devoted husband? But Ove wants to end it all, as he sees no purpose in living. So, he attempts various ways of doing himself in including hanging himself in the middle of the living room, often with no success. During the time, when he is in ‘limbo’, his brain races to recall past memories. Director Holm uses this time to flashback and reveal to the audience the early life of Ove – from the loss of both parents to finding the love of his life. The film also plays as a romance. The dinner date scene and the marriage proposal scenes are both very romantic. Though more than half he film is in flashback, the transition from current to flashback is carried out very smoothly.

Holm’s film is not one with special effects or stunning cinematography. The cinematography by Göran Hallberg is still impressive with him giving the film a hazy romantic atmosphere. It is a film about human beings. It is good that Holm trusts the source material and the charm of the book rubs off the film nicely.

The film is immediately likeable for it will make the audience both laugh and cry at Ove’s undertakings. One can also relate with the main character – whether it him being a loner, a romantic or a senior or a misunderstood man.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMZuic0dG1w
 

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