“…there have been some special moments.
Best documentary: Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work: ….
…This jawdropping biographical portrait was the first film in the programme I saw, on a DVD screener in May.
By turns toe-curlingly hilarious … and deeply sad … it was a raw image of the desperation that so often underlies creativity.
I sat next to an elderly blue-rinsed matron at another screening … and asked her what her favourite film had been.
She singled out this “disturbing” film and added “It’s important, I think, for films to be disturbing”.
I could have hugged her.
Close runner-up: Exit Through the Gift Shop, but if I told you why this Banksy film which was simultaneously not about Banksy and all about Banksy I would spoil it for you.
If you missed it, don’t make the same mistake when it returns.
Best feature: A Prophet: I actually saw this almost a year ago but it remains seared on my retina.
Fortunately for those who missed it, it returns in September and my interview with the director, Jacques Audiard, will run in TimeOut.
Close runner-up: Poetry: The sublime Korean film which won the best screenplay award at Cannes should have been in the slow cinema section, probably …
… since it unfolded at such a contemplative pace …
… but as an exploration of character … abetted by a spellbinding performance by its sexagenarian star …
… it was a knockout.
Disappointments: The Tree …
… an Australian set, Oz-French co-pro never really knew what to do with the ideas that it came up with …
… Charlotte Gainsbourg was intensely irritating and girlish …
… and only the enchanting Morgana Davies as the child lead seemed to have the measure of her role.
Babies: No doubt this appealed to the hormonally engorged … and Anne Geddes fans …
… but other people’s babies are as interesting as other people’s holiday snaps.
Which is to say … not at all…”
go to source/story>>>In fading light – Entertainment – NZ Herald News
