Melbourne Film Festival: The Congress (2013)

Year: 2013

Running Time: 122 minutes

Director: Ari Folman

Writers: Stanislaw Lem (novel), Ari Folman (screenplay)

Cast: Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, Jon Hamm, Paul Giamatti, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Sami Gayle

The Congress screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival on the 28th of July and 8th of August 2013.

The Congress is a film like no other.

With it's combination of live action and animation, The Congress is incredibly creative and original and is visually an absolute masterpiece. However, you can count on one thing when it comes to The Congress, and that is that opinions will absolutely be divided. Some people will love it for it's creativity and original take on the future, will others will find it's surrealistic elements just too strange and bizarre to tolerate.

Robin Wright (played by herself) is an actress faced with the reality that she has not made a decent film in 15 years and is unsure what where her career is going. Her manager, Al (Harvey Keitel) comes to her with an offer that would see her signing her life away to the studio as a result of the changing face of the film business. This decision affects Robin in ways going into the future that she, nor anybody else, ever would have considered possible.

Based on the novel by Stanislaw Lam, "The Futurological Congress", The Congress is really one of a kind. It can be described as sci-fi in it's futuristic qualities. The future in the film is represented by animation and with this animation comes the ability to create a more surrealistic feel to the film, as there is so much more which animation is capable of when creating this world. It is able to do things for the visuals of the film which CGI still would not be able to accomplish. As a result of this mix of live action and animation to tell the story about the future of the film business and then the future of human kind, The Congress is not like any other film. It is completely intriguing and very, very clever.

However, it is the content and visuals combined that will make this film just too strange for some to tolerate a full viewing of. Many of the futuristic scenes contain some very surreal images, especially when Robin inhales hallucinogenic fumes (that could well speak for itself) and the many of the scenes that follow that. If surrealism in film doesn't interest you and you don't find it entertaining, than The Congress will not do anything for you. Indeed it is something you need to be open to and accept in order to see the beauty of the film.

The animated scenes are visually brilliant. The colours used are exquisite and overwhelming in the emotions which they themselves are capable of evoking. What is so incredible about the animation, is that it is not just the main characters and objects that receive the most attention, but everything around them. There is so much going on in each scene that it is impossible just to concentrate on one item or character. One such scene is where Robin and Dylan (voiced by Jon Hamm) are in the restaurant and there are many animated versions of well known personalities wandering around in the background, which is a real treat to try and spot as many as you can!

Robin Wright is the centre of the film. She is really quite wonderful in all the live action scenes of the film which she is in. Her performance, in both the live action and the animation which she lends her voice to, is really very melancholy and she never really seems very happy, which after awhile can become quite distressing to watch. Harvey Keitel is very good in the scenes which he is in. He has one really incredible scene in which he goes from telling and amusing and funny story to ending up in heartbreaking tears. Kodi Smit-McPhee also does well as Robin's unwell son and Sami Gayle does well as her sassy daughter, Sarah.

The Congress will definitely prove a little too weird for some, but for those who are open to the concept of surrealism and the marriage of that surrealism with animation, they will have a wonderful treat.

7/10

You may have also seen Robin Wright in.....
The Conspirator as Mary Surratt

Melbourne Film Festival: The Rocket (2013)

Year: 2013

Running Time: 96 minutes

Director: Kim Mordaunt

Writer: Kim Mordaunt

Cast: Sitthiphon Disamoe, Loungnam Kaosainam, Thep Phongam, Bunsri Yindi, Sumrit Warin, Alice Keohavong

The Rocket will be screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival on the 8th and 10th of August 2013. Please see official site for more information http://www.miff.com.au

The Rocket will open in Australian cinemas on the 29th of August and is distributed by Curious Films.

Winner of the Sydney Film Festival's Audience Award this year,  The Rocket is a piece of pure beauty.

A film that will both break your heart, but also fill you with love and joy, The Rocket is one of the first films for international distribution that is set and filmed in the war torn country of Laos. It gives the world a look inside of the broken yet beautiful country while telling a coming-of-age story like no  other. This combination with the addition of incredible performances of memorable characters makes Kim Mordaunt's debut feature film one of the best of the year. 

A set of boy twins are born in Laos, where it is believed that each set of twins contains one child which is a blessing and one which will bring bad luck on the family. One of the boys is a still-born and the other is allowed to live, but Ahlo (Sitthiphon Disamoe) is always believed to be the bad luck twin, especially by his grandmother (Bunsri Yindi). When his family is forced to move from their native home, they come across hard times. Ahlo believes that he can win a rocket competition and win the prize money that will allow his family to live on their land and grow the mango trees he wants to plant in rememberence of his mother.

 

Writer and director Mordaunt has done an absolutely incredible job at telling the story of Laos by telling the story of Ahlo and his family and friends. There are not two stories being told during the film, but we are learning just as much about the characters as we are about the country at the same time. The Rocket is the film that it is because of the country it is filmed and set in and as it is so rare to have a film set in Laos, it is completely original and like no other.  The Rocket Festival is indeed a real competition and according to Mordaunt and producer, Sylvia Wilczynski, is almost metaphorical in the most bombed country in the world, as they are sending the bombs back up to where they fell from. That really says something about the beautiful people living in Laos, as they have made a happy occasion out of something so terrible. It is this spirit that assists in the overall beauty of the film, as it starts off so heartbreaking, but turns into something so uplifting.

The cinematography and musical score do nothing but give complete and utter support to the beauty aspect of the film. The landscape shots are breathtaking and you can smell the incense in the air. One incredible scene is when Ahlo is swimming and the camera sees everything he sees, including all the fallen spiritual statues underwater. The music is wonderful and fitting for every scene. There is traditional music, but it is a great moment when James Brown suddenly starts blaring as Ahlo is being chased. 

The characters and those who play them are just as wonderful as each other. Both Sitthiphon Disamoe and Loungnam Kaosainam, who plays the little orphan girl, Kia are incredible in their very first on screen roles. Disamoe has talent beyond his years and plays a character who the audience connects with and instantly feels sorry for. However, when Kaosainam is on screen, she absolutely steals the show. At such a young age, she is as good a supporting actress as any you will see. Like Disamoe, she is beyond her years and a complete natural on the camera.

Purple, who is played by Thep Phongam is one memorable character, particularly for his obsession with James Brown. He has some hilarious scenes and is like an enigma for the better partof the film. Alice Keohavong, who plays Ahlo's mother, Mali, cannot be forgotten. When on screen, you are bewildered by the fierce love she has for her son. It is so intense how she feels for her son and it is not hard to believe that he is her everything. Bunsri Yindi, who plays Ahlo's grandmother is also a fierce character, but has some very funny moments. 

The Rocket is one of the most incredible films of the year. It is a flawless film which is entrancing, suspenseful and a masterpiece. A wonderful way to capture the true essence of Laos.

9.5/10

Remembering Sharon Tate



Sharon Marie Tate-Polanski

24 January 1943- 9 August 1969

It was 44 years ago tonight that the world lost the beautiful Sharon Tate. 44 years ago that Charles Manson's followers took the lives of five innocent people who they had never met and wrote themselves into history by doing so.

It's a tragedy that these days when people hear the name Sharon Tate, they instantly think of her death rather than who she was in life. I'm not going to lie, as a fan of Hollywood history, I have done a great deal of reading on the Manson Family and "Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders" by Vincent Bugliosi is my favourite non-fiction book so I have come to know more about Tate through reading about the circumstances surrounding her death. However, through my reading I have come to realise how sad it is that Tate is remembered for her death more than for her beauty or for her successful yet brief career.

For those who are not familiar with Sharon Tate, she was an American film actress born in 1943 to parents, Doris and Paul Tate. Her early life was one of constant moving around as her father was in the military. She started acting and modelling when her and her family were living abroad in Italy and when they returned home to America, Tate wanted to try her luck in Hollywood. Her natural beauty and ambition landed her many modelling jobs and several small acting roles. Her first role of note was as Janet Trego in "The Beverly Hillbillies" where she sported a short brown wig to hide her long blonde locks. Tate's biggest roles were in Dance Of The Vampires, The Wrecking Crew and Valley of the Dolls, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination. She passed away aged only 26.

During my reading, something else also struck me about Tate. Not only was she an incredibly beautiful woman on the outside, but from all accounts she had an absolutely beautiful soul. According to the book, "Restless Souls: The Sharon Tate Family's Account of Stardom, the Manson Murders and Crusade For Justice" by Alisa Statman and Brie Tate (which has proved quite controversial), Sharon was very close to her mother and father and two younger sisters, Debra and Patti. In an interview which Debra did with photographer, Alan Mercer, she quotes that Sharon was her everything, she was her world. She was a kind soul who loved animals and was a wonderful friend. Her husband, director Roman Polanski said of his late wife that she was a friend to everyone and could never turn away friendship.

Tate was about to have something else to love in her life before her life was so cruelly taken away, she was 8 months pregnant at the time of her death. Tate was the last to die that night at Cielo Drive and before she died, she pleaded with Manson family member, Susan Atkins to take her away and let her have her baby and then kill her. Tate already had the love of her mother and would have sacrificed herself for her baby, which was a boy who Polanski named Paul, after Sharon's father. From reading all I have about Tate, there is no doubt in my mind that she would have been an incredible mother.

I recently read "Inherent Vice" by Thomas Pynchon and one of the characters said something in reference to Tate which stuck with me. In one part of the novel, the character of Shasta talks of how the murder of Tate really cut to the core of those starlets in Los Angeles at the time because it showed that even if you were a good girl in Hollywood, that didn't make you immune to meeting a violent end in that town. Even though "Inherent Vice" is a work of fiction, it is something I could imagine would have been on the minds of many girls in the same world as Tate. She was one of the good girls. Not saying that she never took a step out of line, but she was well liked by everyone and madly in love with her husband. Her only other great love besides Polanski was her ex-fiancé and celebrity hairstylist, Jay Sebring, who remained a close friend of her and Polanski's and was also among the murdered at Cielo Drive that night. The death of a beautiful soul such as Tate scared those who inspired to be a good person. The horrible reality is that Tate was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

All this information I have gathered about Tate reinforces why I believe it is so sad that she is remembered by many purely for how she died. She clearly was one of those rare and amazing people who make the world a better place. The Manson Family almost became celebrities themselves when they committed their crimes and here I don't want to focus on who they are or their role at Cielo Drive here as there is plenty of material out there to find out all about them. Sharon Tate deserves to be remembered for all the beauty she had, both inside and out and not always in the same sentence as murderers.

Based on how much I know now about Sharon Tate, I hope she is an angel in Heaven nursing baby Paul and I have no doubt she happily is.

References
The Official Sharon Tate Website
The Tate Family Legacy Website
The Tate-LaBianca Homicide Research Blog
Sharon Tate IMDb.com
Statman, Alisa, Tate, Brie, 2012, Restless Souls: The Sharon Tate Family's Account of Stardom, the Manson Murders and Crusade For Justice, It Books
Bugliosi, Vincent, 1974, Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, Bantam