June
2009 ...
Sydney Film Festival
“... The movie should come with a scratch-and-sniff
card as there are references to odours and scents throughout Moth’s
carnal and chaotic misadventures. Zift is an underworld odyssey of
vulgarian Bulgarians, flammable flatulence, chewing black gum, and
licking asphalt; a genre-bending highly-stylised exercise in unusual
sensuality. Definitely one to see on the big screen, perhaps after
a big blunt hooter, and a pint of Guinness ...”
Bryn Tilly previews
the festival .....
The Sydney Film Festival might be considered middle-aged if you
were to compare it to a human, but if the latest program is anything
to go by, the Festival just gets fresher and more invigorating with
every passing year!
However the schedule has been compressed from a fortnight down to
just twelve days, and with 120 films that’s one hell of a crash
course in world cinema. Everything from hot subversive documentaries
to chilling paranormal experiences, from black as coal comedies to
spoof blaxploitation, Che Guevara to Roman Polanski, Phil Spector
to Anton Corbijn, surreal cutting edge animation to glorious rock
and roll, zombies and more zombies.
I’m very excited about the new film from Festival legend Jim
Jarmusch and the restored print of the rarely seen Aussie Outback
nightmare flick Wake in Fright (1971), plus the plethora of those
usual suspects; the wonderful short films that accompany many of
the features, which you’ll only ever see at the Festival. As
this year’s tagline warns: Don’t Try This At Home.
Get yourself tickets and get into the Festival cinemas!
Opening Night Gala screening is Ken Loach’s new hybrid drama-comedy-thriller
Looking for Eric. The rest of the program has been broken into several
customized categories: “Take Me On A Journey” (get whisked
away with tales both real and imagined), “Push Me To The Edge” (bring
on the intensity and leave your comfort zone behind), “Fire
Me Up” (get the adrenalin pumping or prepare for heated debate), “Give
Me A Kiss” (be romanced or get tangled up in love’s complexities), “Freak
Me Out” (be chilled to the bone with this selection of terrifying
tales), and “Make Me Laugh” (crack your sides and tickle
your funny bone).
There’s the usual talks and forums, awards ceremonies, and
this year the official Festival lounge is the very swanky and elevated
Hemmesphere (4th floor, Establishment, George Street), where you
can schmooze in style while you discuss the philosophical stylistics
of Soderbergh.
Here is a cross-section of Festival highlights:
$9.99
Saturday 6 June 7pm @ Dendy Opera Quays
An Australian-Israeli co-production that features an all-star cast
providing voices to what’s been described as “a claymation
of Robert Altman’s Short Cuts”, Aussie-style. Created
in 40 weeks by nine animators under the direction of Tatia Rosenthal,
the movie won the audience award at a recent festival in Mexico City.
44 Inch Chest
Friday 5 June 6.30pm @ Dendy Opera Quays
Saturday 13 June 8pm @ Greater Union 8
From the writer of Sexy Beast comes a perverted tale of male bonding
and revenge. Debut feature from award-winning photographer Malcolm
Venville, this powerful drama uses striking visuals set to a theatrical
narrative approach.
Bronson
Saturday 6 June 7pm @ State Theatre
Sunday 7 June 12.15pm @ State Theatre
From the director of the Pusher trilogy is this high-octane cabaret
with an explosive soundtrack and heightened use of visual and sound
design. It’s a biopic about Britain’s most notorious
criminal “Charles Bronson”.
Che (Part 1): The Argentine & Che (Part 2): The Guerilla
Sunday 14 June 2.15pm @ State Theatre (Part 1)
Sunday 14 June 4.45pm @ State Theatre (Part 2)
Steven Soderbergh’s hugely ambitious epic biopic on the legendary,
bordering on mythical, doctor turned revolutionary, Cuban Che Guevara
played with astonishing conviction by Benicio Del Toro. The first
tells of his political dealings with Fidel Castro and his brilliant
military tactics. The second part deals with his resignation from
duty, his exile and his life in Bolivia. The movies are told with
Soderbegh’s masterful control of cinematic story-telling.
It Might Get Loud
Wednesday 3 June 8pm @ Greater Union 8
Saturday 6 June 8pm @ Greater Union 8
The award-winning director of An Inconvenient Truth pays tribute
to the electric guitar by bringing together three wildly different,
yet utterly distinct and extraordinary guitarists: Jimmy Page, The
Edge and Jack White. They each describe their influences and eventually
we see them jam together.
The Limits of Control
Thursday 11 June 9.15pm @ Dendy Opera Quays
Saturday 13 June 8pm @ Dendy Opera Quays
Jim Jarmusch’s anti-thriller is a perfectly calibrated exercise
in contemporary cool. Could it get even cooler than Isaac de Bankole
as the enigmatic drifter and cinematography from Christopher Doyle?
Yes, with John Hurt ranting away, Tilda Swinton in a Stetson, and
Gael Garcia Bernal amidst surrealist Spanish design.
Prime Mover
Monday 8 June 4pm @ State Theatre
A diesel-fuelled romance with a truck-load of visual chutzpah from
mullet-loving director David Caeser (The Idiot Box, Dirty Deeds),
and with Michael Dorman and Emily Barclay (both from Suburban Mayhem)
sparking chemistry once again, this burns emotional rubber and honks
a big horn o’ roadhouse lovin’.
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Sunday 14 June 12pm @ State Theatre
The toxic influence of media and the double-edged allure of celebrity
are the main themes of this compelling portrait of director Roman
Polanski, still a fugitive from American law, of which the 1977 case
of statutory rape is delved into deep by documaker Marina Zenovich.
Sunshine Barry and the Disco Worms
Monday 8 June 12pm @ Greater Union 8
Saturday 13 June 2.45pm @ Greater Union 9
A Danish animated feature about a worm that turned. Barry is bored
of working in the compost industry. He finds an old disco record
and he’s hooked. He forms a band with fellow invertebrates
Tito, Jimmy, and Gloria, whose voice can shatter disco balls. This
one’s for funky kids and adults alike.
Zift
Thursday 4 June 8.15pm @ Greater Union 9
Saturday 6 June 6.15pm @ Greater Union 9
This is one seriously strange movie. If you can imagine David Lynch,
Jim Jarmusch and Guy Maddin lost in Bulgaria then that’s a
good start. Shot in luminous black and white, it tells the bizarre
and fragmented tale of Moth, a convict wrongly imprisoned, a black
diamond, and a vengeful partner who wants the rock back. There’s
also Ada, the gorgeous femme fatale, and Van Wurst the Eye, with
his creepy glass eye. The movie should come with a scratch-and-sniff
card as there are references to odours and scents throughout Moth’s
carnal and chaotic misadventures. Zift is an underworld odyssey of
vulgarian Bulgarians, flammable flatulence, chewing black gum, and
licking asphalt; a genre-bending highly-stylised exercise in unusual
sensuality. Definitely one to see on the big screen, perhaps after
a big blunt hooter, and a pint of Guinness, you won’t forget
Zift in a jiffy.
For complete program and further information visit www.sff.org.au
Bryn Tilly is a Sydney-based writer & DJ,
email him via: bryntilly@yahoo.com
or for more on his DJing click here and to check out more of his
writing click
on this website: http://www.horrorphile.net
