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By: Martyn Pedler
Date: 7th Jul 08
Format: Festival
Mood: Whimsical
What:
MIFF Random Play
Where:
Check the program from July 11
When:
Uh. Check the program
How much:
Tickets here from July 11
With seventeen days of films on offer, some of your choices will come down to guesswork - even if you fine-tooth through the program with IMDB bookmarks and a magnifying glass. We roll the dice with some random, synopsis-selected, will-they-or-won't-they picks.
Why not embrace the proud ThreeThousand tradition of choosing a flick based solely on its title? This year it's debut feature with French New Wave tendencies The Pleasure of Being Robbed. The word ‘whimsical' appears alarmingly often in the synopsis, but a girl stealing from strangers and expecting their thanks sounds perfectly charming.
"A typical Icelandic murder," says the cop in police procedural Jar City. "Messy and pointless." Warmly embraced by Icelandic audiences, this noirish murder-mystery promises to be so bleak that Melbourne's winter will seem like long-lost track from Pet Sounds.
Royston Tan fought a long war with censors over his first film, 15, a compelling story of Singaporean street kids that swung between grimy realism and ADHD fireworks. In 881, he puts his excess style in service of one of the most difficult cinematic genres of all - the musical. Fingers crossed.