A Festival Diary - Thursday 13 March 2014

Thursday 13 March 2014
The Passing of the Year / Winter Nomads / Ilo Ilo

Abbbots Bromley hobby horse ©Simon Garbutt

Another free event: Barrie Gavin presents a documentary (The Passing of the Year) he made for Omnibus in 1973. Working with folklorist A. L. Lloyd (or Bert as he knew him) Gavin made six films for the BBC, recording British folk traditions and World Music before it was categorised thus. It was a fascinating and touching forty-five minutes. Most of these traditions continue but they have been relabelled as quaint, co-opted by the tourist trade or, in the case of the trade union movement’s May Day marches, ignored by today’s chroniclers. It’s usual to mourn for lost times at this point. It is not the haircuts or clothing that have changed. It’s the effort people used to put in: an hour practising madly complicated dances every week every year.

Winter Nomads

Winter Nomads is a soothing documentary about two shepherds leading 800 sheep, four donkeys and three dogs across Switzerland. It’s not the first film about shepherds that Borderlines has shown. Its tone – people who are happy in their work because it’s tough – reminded me of Être et Avoir, another award-winner. The subject of that documentary did not like the end result. I wonder what Miss Pastoral Chic and the Philosopher King made of this. It’s as unbelievable as Man of Arran – I can’t believe the worst a sheep suffered was a nip from their dog. Animals wandering in the wrong direction always raised a chuckle. Forgot the sudden, random appearances of snipers and suicides, in terms of audience reaction, the moment the donkey slipped over registered the highest level of concern during the whole festival. There are plenty of films with donkeys in them.

My back was feeling the pace during Ilo Ilo. This is why film critics are crotchety. Alfred Hitchcock said that a film’s length is related to the size of the human bladder. When a critic reappraises a film it means he had trapped wind the first time he saw it. Ilo Ilo is notable for having two unappealing characters. The boy is a brat and his mother distrusts most of the people around her. To her, one ‘rightly’ justifies a thousand slights. The story provides a snapshot of Singapore during its late-1990s economic crash. A family and their Filipino maid adapt to changing circumstances. A family of three hire a maid; it becomes a family of four that can’t afford one. The boy’s behaviour is troubled: self-mutilation in the expectation of framing a teacher is not normal. (The lack of pupil care in Singapore schools was not good.) The maid is the only person with the time to work with him but has to deal with his received prejudice first. Racism is another strand through this festival’s line-up: horrific in 12 Years a Slave and The Golden Dream.

Ilo Ilo

The boy is incapable of expressing his fears with words but shows his displeasure through actions. Unfortunately, his parents have problems enough. His mother puts her faith in a motivational speaker. His slogan is 'Hope is Within Yourself' and he picks her, a pregnant woman, out from the crowd. He’s a professional. The father is not the kind of person who can exploit a recession. It ends: the maid returns home to her son; the parents have a new child to raise; the boy, at least, has had feelings for someone other than himself. Some films feel like the director needed to put something on the record.

Ten films from eight countries. I look forward to next year, by which time the organisers will have sifted through a few thousand more titles. We get to watch the best ones.

Robin Clarke (Festival Volunteer)

The achievment of 2014

Audiences at The Courtyard © Christopher Preece www.unlimitedphotography.co.uk 2014

With enthusiastic audiences, talk of “the best festival yet” and still another weekend to go, I had to ask, does this mark a highlight in contemporary cinema, or is Herefordshire becoming increasingly affectionate about this springtime film marathon?

The answer is not so simple and cannot be resolved with certainty here, but that shouldn’t stop one trying.

The crucial point that drives cinema sales across the country and has dramatically benefited Borderlines in recent years has been the awards season and the fanfare and interest that is created around a handful of films.

Before this year, the best example of a film which combined a successful awards season with a triumphant appearance in Hereford was The Artist in 2012 (winning  five Oscars). Up to now this is the best performing film in the 12 year history of Borderlines. However 12 Years a Slave is coming ever closer!

Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o and Chiwetel Eljiofor in 12 Years a Slave

Looking at the film release schedule for January and February 2014 it reads like a film of the year list.  In the space of 3 weeks from mid January to early February, the heavyweights - 12 Years a Slave, Dallas Buyers Club and The Wolf of Wall Street (not playing at Borderlines) battled it out garnering 19 Oscar nominations between them and sharing four of the key six awards; Best Film (12 Years a Slave) Best Actor (Matthew McConaughey - Dallas) Best Supporting Actor (Jared Leto - Dallas) and Best Supporting Actress ( Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years.)

Jared Leto and Matthew McConaughey  in Dallas Buyers Club

Bookmarking these three were American Hustle, the Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis and Her with Joaquin Phoenix. It has been a phenomenal period for cinema with film playing a much greater role in cultural life, interjecting daily conversations and a massively expanded media coverage. Of course this is a seasonal, industry-led distribution cycle that we see every year and Borderlines is perfectly poised to reap the benefits.



In terms of box office the main benefactors of the Oscar attention were 12 Years and Dallas, although this is somewhat stating the obvious as both won awards, yet it is inevitable a summer or autumn release would have been seriously detrimental to their performance? The awards fanfare was less critical for Llewyn Davis and Wolf of Wall Street due to the reputation and historical success of their respective directors, the Coen brothers and Martin Scorsese.

National UK Box Office
1.    The Wolf of Wall Street - £21,970,632
2.    12 Years a Slave - £18,921,943
3.    Dallas Buyers Club - £4,490,052
4.    Inside Llewyn Davis - £2,411,016
5.    August: Osage County - £1,890,549
6.    Nebraska - £995,000

And how does this national popularity compare to the taste at Borderlines? As of Tuesday 11 March film sales compared to audience rating at Borderlines (at the Courtyard Hereford only, many of these films were also shown at other venues)read like this:
Clearly 12 Years is the outright winner for audience reaction and ticket sales. The gem that is Nebraska was neglected by UK audiences but fared better at Borderlines. The melancholic and mopey Llewyn Davis did not warm to Hereford despite selling a good share of tickets
Had Wolf of Wall Street been in the program would it have fared better than 12 Years? Highly unlikely and perhaps its performance would have been closer to Nebraska in 5th place, in contrast to its national box office domination.

My conclusion, yes, 2014 has seen an incredible plethora of film, however the success of Borderlines is not limited to a group of glossy American films.

As anyone reading this must be thinking, to bang on about numbers, box office and to pay such attention to the Oscars is to completely miss the point about Borderlines. Strong audiences crossing French classics (La Belle et la Bête), independent UK features (Kiss the Water) and Hereford’s own offerings (Chewing the Cud and Rural Media/BFI Film Academy) illustrate the point. Spanning 2,000 square miles of Herefordshire and Shropshire rural bliss, projecting Jean Luc Godard, Robert Redford and Cate Blanchett across venues from Oswestry and Ledbury to Wem Town Hall is part of the magic.

Finally I take nothing but sheer delight from the fact that the Harry Dean Stanton documentary, depicting the fragile soul of Paris Texas, Alien and Twin Peaks is currently winning the audience award.

Harry Dean Stanton in Paris Texas

Incredible Borderlines!

Luke Doran (Borderlines board member)

First Night 2014

1st screening at Borderlines 2014 - 12 Years a Slave

The sun shines on snowy Hay Bluff in the distance and Borderlines kicks off with a record 9000 advance bookings.  My first film is 12 Years A Slave and the 230 strong audience watch in utter silence, transfixed by the story, which is beautifully told period drama, without the gush and clamour of a Hollywood soundtrack.  Then Like Father, Like Son - family drama in contemporary urban Japan, and The Golden Dream - young people leaving South America, driven by the dream of a new life in the USA - a stunning film, of trains and landscapes.  Windows on very different worlds - Borderlines trademark.  BBC Midlands Today gives the festival a great plug in the evening - bringing the best of film culture to the rural areas, some of it made here in Herefordshire too.  And Emma Watkins, half of our great film programming team from the Independent Cinema Office, arrives to introduce films and soak up the buzz at the Courtyard.  Another 16 days to go and many more worlds to visit.

The Golden Dream

Does BAFTA matter?

Steve McQueen with the Best Film BAFTA for 12 Years a Slave

So, a week after the ceremony at The Royal Opera House in London, why does BAFTA matter? In 2001, the date of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards shifted from April to a February slot in order to hoick up its global significance as a pointer for the Oscars in March.

With the BBC1 broadcast lagging at least and hour and a half behind live activity, the ceremony itself possesses all the excitement of a deflated balloon. The buzz is all on Twitter. BAFTA itself coyly circumvented the spoiler issue by tweeting a link to its Tumblr account ('expand at your own peril')

while floating in a spume of winner revelations. Watching BAFTA on TV is all about seating plans, frocks and the professionally masked facial tics of elation and disappointment.

The plaudits however, an endorsement by vote from around 6,500 individuals in the industry based in the UK and US,  do count for something. Gravity, with its Mexican director and American stars Bullock and Clooney, won the most awards (7 in total), and had to hassle like some loose-limbed young colonial athlete for British status. The fact that it was shot at Shepperton Studios employing the incredible special effects expertise of British company Framestore seemed rub off into the announcement early this week that Pinewood is to open major new studios in Cardiff.

Similarly Steve McQueen's statement that there are "21 million people living in slavery as we sit here now” in his acceptance speech for the Best Film BAFTA for 12 Years a Slave was matched topically the next day by a news report on child trafficking as  the Modern Slavery Bill that is currently going through Parliament.

For us as a film festival, and one that falls almost exactly between the two major sets of film industry awards, the BAFTAs and Oscars matter. They're a badge that lifts a movie; its public profile rises and wafts into word of mouth. It's a selling point.

The Great Beauty

So here, shamelessly partisan but all in one place, are the films we're showing that won:
Best Film - 12 Years a Slave
Film Not in the English Language - The Great Beauty
Adapted Screenplay - Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope for Philomena
Leading Actor - Chiwetel Eljiofor for 12 Years a Slave
Leading Actress - Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine
Supporting Actor - Barkhad Abdi  for Captain Phillips
Editing - Dan Hanley, Mike Hill for Rush

Congratulations!

Drilling DEEPER into the BFI London Film Festival #lff (Part 2)

Continuing my very intuitive London Film Festival 2013 taxonomy...

FATHERS AND SONS

Where would you find a film festival without a handful of films on this eternal theme? Three excellent ones here, a very controlled performance in Nebraska from Bruce Dern as an old, semi-alcoholic grump who is convinced he’s won a million in a lottery and wants to go to claim his prize. His son David takes the path of least resistance and decides to take him on a road trip that explores and redefines family ties with humour but without cloying sentimentality. 

Nebraska

Like Father, Like Son, the latest from Hirokazu Kore-eda takes a hypothetical situation, two boys swapped at birth, and tries and tests tests the two very different couples through what it means to be a parent as they contemplate exchanging their six-year-olds.  

Like Father, Like Son

A terse and contained British prison drama from David Mackenzie, Starred Up avoids the genre clichés through the strength and brutal detail of its opening scenes. Eric, a young offender is sent to adult prison because he is uncontrollable. His father happens to be banged up there and a conflict arises between the tensions in their relationship and progressive attempts to rehabilitate him through group therapy. A tough watch that only slightly dilutes as the plot moves towards its resolution.

FILMS WITH ESSENTIALLY ONLY ONE CHARACTER

 In which case the speculation is what happens to dialogue? Does the character talk to him or herself? Do we get interior monologue? Will it be a silent film? Three notable cases at the LFF: lost in space drama Gravity which delivers its very own 3D roller coaster ride, Locke (which I regretfully didn't see but is Tom Hardy in the interior of a car, driving from Wales to London for the duration of the film) and All is Lost in which Robert Redford is a yachtsman adrift in the Indian Ocean in a leaky vessel.

All is Lost

NEW BLACK AND WHITE FILMS

Computer Chess

Cinematography is the crucial element here, spectacular widescreen photography in Nebraska to convey the vast open spaces of midwest America and the closed, monotonous structures of small town life; in the US Indie offbeat comedy Computer Chess to simulate early 80s grainy video; and to stunning effect in the glittering, deep focus landscapes in the Polish biopic of 20th century Roma poet, Bronislawa Wajs, aka Papusza, a revelation, though there were barely 30 people in the audience at the public screening I attended.

Papusza

 

NATIONAL CINEMAS: GREECE

Luton

There were three Greek films in total, of special interest to me; I sought them out. Two of them - The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas and Luton - could be classified as Greek 'weird wave' films following in the footsteps of Dogtooth, Attenberg, The Boy Eating the Bird's Food,  though the young director of Luton repudiated this categorisation in his Q&A.  They reflect, as you might expect, a troubled and fragmented society and eschew a conventional narrative story-telling. The third, The Enemy Within, was similarly dystopian but in straightforward revenge thriller form. I was delighted to run into Margaret, formerly Flicks in the Sticks promoter at Garway, at the Luton screening at Vue Leicester Square. Her verdict on Luton was 'pretty hard to take', unremittingly grim social and personal relations, long, long sequences and not much indication of where the film was headed. Or indeed why it was called Luton. The director explained that the airport had something to do with it: a mundane place where not much goes on (?) that is a gateway to London where everything is happening. Thus the episodes depicted in the film.

The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas

 

  AND FINALLY...  TEN BEST LIST (NOT IN ANY STRICT ORDER)

• 12 Years a Slave - a tour-de-force from Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame).
• Gloria
• Papusza
• Like Father, Like Son
• Ilo Ilo -  fresh, low budget Singapore family drama which won Anthony Chen the Sutherland Award for best first feature at LFF as well as Camera D’Or at Cannes.

  

  Ilo Ilo

• Exhibition
• Nebraska
• Sacro Gra - surreal, in the sense of bringing out the extraordinary in the everyday, this documentary that skirts around the margins of Rome's ring road won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Would make intriguing double bill, a long one, with The Great Beauty.
• The Epic of Everest - unseen since it was a box office draw in 1924, this restoration from the BFI National Archive of Mallory and Irvine's tragic attempt to reach the summit of the highest mountain in the world is fabulous, down to the lyrical but occasionally dodgy inter-titles.

  

  The Epic of Everest

• La Belle et La Bête - restored and simply magical. It seems likely this will play at Borderlines 2014 so come see and bring children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces (it's a PG) to catch the bug of cinema. 

  

  La Belle et La Bête