Film Appreciation Nights
MIFF said it, democracy relies upon it, the great forums of our global internets prove it every day... everyone's a critic. And this year at Rooftop Cinema, everyone (well, not everyone, but, you know, some people who Rooftop Cinema emailed a while ago) is a programmer too.
Each Wednesday a different host, or bunch of hosts will present a film that inspires them in some way.
Burn After Reading
Ever since Blood Simple back in 1984, Joel and Ethan Coen have produced a steady stream of unrelentingly oddball features that totter on the border between melodrama and black humour. Now, after the unexpected success of last year's No Country for Old Men, it seems the Coen Brothers can do, well, whatever they please.
In Bruges
Don't be fooled by the fact that Martin McDonagh's In Bruges stars legendary douchebag Colin Farrell. Gone is his whiplash-inducing Miami Vice-era pout, replaced here with his native Irish accent and type-shattering performance as Ray, an alternate universe Father Dougal McGuire. Instead of being a priest, he's hired to kill them.
MIFF Auteur Picks
Let's start with some of the festival regulars who show up each year with a new film and a friendly wave. You're already familiar with their work, so they make comforting first choices if the program's heft is freaking you out.
The new MIFF program 'Free Radicals' has the strangely sweet Guy Maddin front and centre.
Fay Grim
Ever found yourself wondering, "If only there was a film that combined my passion for vintage pornography, international espionage and foxy European ladies with low blood sugar"? The wait is over: Fay Grim is here.
With camera angles thrown constantly askew, performances from a cache of hardcore art darlings (Parker Posey, Elina Löwensohn, Saffron Burrows), and his signature dialogue style as electric as ever, Fay Grim smacks of Hal Hartley's auteurist vision.
The Counting/Ocular Proof
Rogue is a bunch of dance renegades who've recently stampeded, possibly Fame! style, beyond the mirrored walls of the VCA. The Counting/Ocular Proof, part of Next Wave's 'Things that Dance' program, is a double bill by young, tough and talented dancers that sets out to explore and exploit the body's senses.
The Counterfeiters
In 1949, philosopher Theodor Adorno said: "To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric.” It’s this fear that instantly hamstrings most Holocaust films, and colours the true story of The Counterfeiters.
A group of Jewish prisoners in a concentration camp are forced to forge foreign currency for the Nazis, receiving special treatment for their skills, but facing the creeping guilt that they’re aiding the enemy.
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