Dublin Film Festival 2018

johnny_ultimate

Zama was great as well this evening. Took me a while to tune in properly, possibly a mix of the Isle of Dogs rush and the hasty & snowy trek between venues. But eventually got on its wavelength, and loved its Herzog-like vibe, somewhere between a (fever) dream and nightmare. A distinctive, meandering critique of the ugliness of colonialism, from the perspective of a bureaucrat driven mad by the bureaucracy. All this weird sensuality and tension that boils over in unusual ways or unexpected moments.

Had a really solid run of films so far, actually (assuming the run isn't over, which it could well be if the beast is as cold as expected). Everything has been at least good, with a mounting list of greats on top of that. Decided to take a lot more gambles this year, and quite a few have paid off. A nice mix of reliables and oddities all-in-all, and particularly happy to have pretty much completely by accident seen so many films by female directors too.

Decuc500

I was really looking forward to Lean on Pete so the weather wasn't going to put me off. It was as good as I had hoped. Willy Vlautin's characters from the book were brought to life in a warm and likeable film. Very quiet night in Cineworld for obvious reasons!

Bozo Skeleton

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Zama was great as well this evening. Took me a while to tune in properly, possibly a mix of the Isle of Dogs rush and the hasty & snowy trek between venues. But eventually got on its wavelength, and loved its Herzog-like vibe, somewhere between a (fever) dream and nightmare. A distinctive, meandering critique of the ugliness of colonialism, from the perspective of a bureaucrat driven mad by the bureaucracy. All this weird sensuality and tension that boils over in unusual ways or unexpected moments.

Feck. I decided to skip this in favour of getting a bite to eat, a pint, and home out of the weather after Isle Of Dogs!

Outlaw Pete

Liked Lean On Pete a lot also. It did seem a little Disney esque in parts for me though, which kinda took away from some of the more dramatic scenes and seriousness of some of the issues touched upon. Perhaps that's deliberate in order to appeal to a younger audience. Whatdoiknow.

Also seen Throughbreds. Enjoyed it, especially how it was shot. Nice long shots without too much editing allowing the viewer to decide what to look at and a couple of scenes where the viewer is even taken to the next scene rather than cutting to it. Bliss for me as I hate constant edits.

The dialogue had a somewhat 80's vibe to it too (dark comedy in the vein of Heathers - which I liked but many may not) and really interesting characters too, but..... it kinda all felt a bit cut short for me (the story and plot I mean). That last third fizzled out and felt rushed which is a shame.

Guy called Cory Finley wrote and directed it, first I have seen and heard of him, but I will absolutely look out for more stuff from him for sure.

Decuc500

I agree about Thoroughbreds. It did kind of fizzle out towards the end. But it had a good look to it and the two leads were excellent. Quite stylishly shot. It reminded me of Wild Things. That kind of smart dialogue thriller.

Sad that it's Anton Yelchin's last role.

johnny_ultimate

Bozo Skeleton wrote: »

Feck. I decided to skip this in favour of getting a bite to eat, a pint, and home out of the weather after Isle Of Dogs!

You weren’t the only one I reckon, cinema was only a third full or so - although one of those films where I don’t know what the typical attendance would likely to have been. But hey, special circumstances and all that - at least a good crowd made it out for Isle of Dogs.

Was at Berlinale a few years ago, and tonight reminded me of that - braving the conditions for frantic runs between cinemas. Dublin is a bit more manageable than Berlin mind I think Sundance partially sells itself on a similar ‘appeal’.

Outlaw Pete

Decuc500 wrote: »

Sad that it's Anton Yelchin's last role.

You know, I hadn't recognized him at all. Didn't even associate the name with the tragedy. I was thinking a few times that I had seen him in something before but couldn't think what (hadn't seen Star Trek) and IMDB helped me out because as soon as I seen the poster for Green Room I knew it was that.

Anyway, he was excellent in Throughbreds, not just his acting, but his reacting. Some of his facial responses to what was being said to him was funnier than words. Two come to mind.....

The scene where Amanda is the back of the car and he can tell she knows he's full of it and that she sees him as going nowhere and also when she tells him he only slept with an underage girl as he was too afraid to speak to an adult.

27, no age really.

Outlaw Pete

https://twitter.com/DublinFilmFest/status/969297437356589057

Vanessa Redgrave interview and Volta Award presentation, March 4, has been cancelled. ADIFF is offering customers with tickets to this event a full refund AND the opportunity to avail of a free ticket to the screening of Vanessa Redgrave's documentary, Sea Sorrow, on March 3, at Cineworld.

ADIFF will resume all film screenings on Saturday March, 3.

johnny_ultimate

Few rescheduled screenings here:

Saturday 3rd March

Wonderstruck will now be screened on Saturday, 3rd March at 10.30am in Cineworld

L’ Apparition will be now be screened on Saturday, 3rd March at 10.10am in Cineworld

Sunday 4th March

The Image You Missed will now be screened on Sunday, 4th March at 2pm n Omniplex Rathmines

Catch the Wind which will now be screened on Sunday, 4th March at 10am in Lighthouse

Anchor & Hope will now be screened on Sunday, 4th March at 10am in Lighthouse

Foxtrot will now be screened on Sunday, 4th March at 10am in Lighthouse

Fantastic Flix - Family Friendly films

Vampirina (BB TV 44mins + Presentation) will now be screened on Friday, 9th March at 10am in Light House

Cloudboy + (Earthly Encounters) + (98+22mins = 113mins) will now be screened on Friday, 9th March at 11:30am in Light House

Outlaw Pete

https://twitter.com/DublinFilmFest/status/969636652883808256


Complete schedule of updated screenings.

delbertgrady

Paddy Considine has tweeted his regrets that he is unable to attend the screening of Journeyman this evening, due to the weather and travel issues. Such a shame.

johnny_ultimate

A Sicilian Ghost Story was definitely one the most ‘widescreen’ films I’ve seen recently - made use out of the full screen in ways that are reasonably rare these days. Really made it look it more expensive than it likely cost to make, by orders of magnitude I’d reckon.

Not a bad little film, shades of something like Ugetsu at times but also less ‘ghostly’ than the title suggests. Unhurried, arguably to a fault at first - but gains confidence as it goes and some very strong sequences in the back half. Definitely one of the most poetic

decomposed body

shots in the history of the cinema

Outlaw Pete

Seen 'A Mother Brings Her Son To Be Shot' earlier. Was underwhelming for me tbh. Expected far more. Would have made a good episode of 'Would You Believe', maybe.

Also just out of 'A Prayer Before Dawn' and aside from the clown who thought Screen 9 would be the perfect place to have a picnic (with each item seemingly individually wrapped in it's own plastic bag) I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Knew nothing of the story beforehand and I expect that helped. Thought Cole Was excellent. Gonna have to read the book it's based on now. Amazing story.

Decuc500

A Prayer Before Dawn was brutal stuff. A very visceral film that was tough to watch at times. Probably the ultimate 'Westerner trying to survive Far Eastern prison hell hole' movie. I thought it was great!

I also saw Paddy Considine's Journeyman, an unusual boxing movie in that it was about the effects of being punched in the head too much. It was quite an emotional film, excellently acted with a real sense of humanity and humour.

Outlaw Pete

Any rumours on what the Surprise Film will be? Not in the mood for another Cedar Rapids or similar.

'Greenberg' and 'This Must Be The Place' the only pleasant surprises I've had.

Spoiler it of course if you are in the know. Some like the surprise I guess. The groans can be fun mind :P

johnny_ultimate

Tomb Raider or A Wrinkle In Time are possibilities. Ready Player One mentioned a lot on Twitter, but I think that’s wishful thinking. Pacific Rim also I reckon a slightly more unlikely bet - I think the first two are a tad less prestigious, and Wrinkle has already shown elsewhere.

An outside bet would be something like The Square, which I don’t think has received a public screening yet? That would be a hell of a troll film to show a surprise film audience. I’d bet on walkouts

There’s no buzzy film like Get Out floating around that I’m aware of, so reckon it’ll be a b-list blockbuster mentioned above or something fairly random. Wrinkle would be my bet, albeit with the caveat there’s been no silly Disney ‘review embargo’ sent out like with the Muppets that time.

Actually, my real hope would be Annihilation, which would be an incredible pick and a very welcome opportunity to see it on the big screen. Would Netflix be decent enough?

Finally: Death Wish, following through on a joke from years ago

Decuc500

I wonder would they possibly show three different films in each of the three cinemas? Surely not!

Decuc500

So it was Unsane, Steven Soderbergh's iPhone shot thriller. I liked it a lot. It could have been gimmicky but Soderbergh is too good for that. Unusual idea very well executed. Claire Foy was excellent too.

RubyRoss

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

Seen 'A Mother Brings Her Son To Be Shot' earlier. Was underwhelming for me tbh. Expected far more. Would have made a good episode of 'Would You Believe', maybe.

I agree. It meandered on without a point. The director's flippant attitude in the Q&A suggests she wanted to film an attention-grabbing story rather than really explore the topic.

BelovedAunt

I was quite disappointed with My Friend Dahmer. One thing that's always interested me about Dahmer was how he seemed more remorseful than the majority of serial killers but he was played like an emotionless freak in this. Also, of all the Dahmer stories you could make, the highschool backdrop was boring and clichéd and lacking in any real charm.

johnny_ultimate

Foxtrot was a 'final' (not quite final) day highlight. A bold, vivid piece of anti-war filmmaking that tears shreds into the idea of nationalist militarism. No surprise whatsoever the Israeli authorities were displeased with it. It's a raw, affecting family drama on top of that, while the middle section is basically what Jarhead should have been. Stylistically it's immensely interesting and surprising. One or two of the indulgences don't quite pay off (an animated sequence nearly lands, but maybe not quite) and a few final act punctuation marks are undeniably poetic but one could argue overly neat. These are BUT minor concerns in a brave, compelling film.

Surprise film was the solid if unremarkable Unsane. Lesser Soderbergh for sure, but within its narrow confines I felt it did what it needed too with confidence and just enough flair. So-so on the use of iPhone cinematography - gives things a cheap, nasty feel which I actually kinda liked, and it allows for some strange off-kilter and uncomfortably intimate shot choices. Still, the limits of the technology are also wholly evident - perhaps most obviously in low-light situations. Tangerine remains the 'iPhone film' of choice. Still, a decent enough thriller that's also a big old middle finger to the privatisation of healthcare in America (this is not a subtle subtext).

C'est La Vie wasn't for me (huzzah for rhymes). I didn't dislike it as violently as I disliked Intouchables, but it's still weak sauce - broadest possible school of comedy that always takes the easy route. There's one decent big climactic setpiece, and it's a lively watch if nothing else. But basically it was the restaurant sequence from Playtime with all of the artistry and thematic substance removed.

Anyway, or or two more rescheduled films over the next week or so. But a good festival overall, with C'est La Vie the only real stinker of the bunch. Highlights were definitely Dawson City: Frozen Time, Isle of Dogs, Zama and Foxtrot, but also was very fond of Marlina The Murderer, Phantom Islands and You Were Never Really Here.

delbertgrady

I found the whole thing this year a bit... meh. Obviously, you pay your money and you take your chances, but the batting average for me was poor. Black 47 was a very promising start, but it was a while before anything else impressed me.
It may be sacrilege, but I was disappointed in The Breadwinner. Paradox, The Line and Above the Law were all fairly forgettable. The Cured was truly awful, definitely the worst thing I saw over the ten days.
Revenge was my highlight early on and remained so for the duration. It didn't finish until ten to one. Definitely worth staying for. You Were Never Really Here was solid. Filmworker and My Generation were both fairly accessible, entry level documentaries, but none the worst for it. Neither screening was well attended, and both were on before the weather turned.
Journeyman wasn't as hard hitting as Considine's peerless Tyrannosaur, but the two leads were excellent and my overall lack of enthusiasm for the festival puts it among the more impressive of the films I saw. Likewise, Unsane is no masterpiece, but Claire Foy was superb and - in relative terms - the film almost snatched an eleventh hour victory from the jaws of total defeat.
Overall, not a great year, not helped by the snow. But even then, while they did their best, there were some unfortunate rescheduling choices, such as the ridiculously ambitious decision to move Wonderstruck to 10:30 on Saturday morning, a time which - as one person remarked on Twitter - was before their public transport would be reinstated.
The loss of the Screen and now the Savoy has taken some of the lustre (one might even say credibility) away and while Cineworld's Screen 17 became the large auditorium of choice, the over-reliance on a shabby cineplex (see the other thread) sets the wrong tone, as does the incessant handing out of Just Eat vouchers.

RubyRoss

BelovedAunt wrote: »

One thing that's always interested me about Dahmer was how he seemed more remorseful than the majority of serial killers .

Based on the docs I've seen, he seemed to lack emotional response. In one, he and his dad do talk about their newfound religious faith, but it didn't seem very genuine.

uniemaia

Loving this thread! sub'd

Bozo Skeleton

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Actually, my real hope would be Annihilation, which would be an incredible pick and a very welcome opportunity to see it on the big screen. Would Netflix be decent enough?

So this has turned up on Netflix. Might have been there a while, but I just noticed it today. I was going to post just this, then I saw that Tuva Novotny is in it. She was also in a superb Norwegian black comedy series called Dag, which was shown on Sky Arts, and is still available on Sky On Demand. If you haven't seen this delightful gem I would recommend watching at least an episode.
It's on Youtube as well, well it was anyway, but the screen has a weird fish eye lens effect, which is not how it was broadcast.