Film Reviews: The 26th Galway Film Fleadh

July 11, 2014

Stay [2013 drama dir. Wiebke von Carolsfeld]

• This film starred Taylor Schilling as a young Canadian woman living with an older Irish archaeologist and struggling with the possibility of motherhood. Shot in Galway!
• Opens with softer vistas – lots of greens, blues, and grays. But this is only a partially romanticized Ireland; the countryside is beautiful, but described more as an “edge of the world” place for outcasts, and Dermot is shown haphazardly scraping mud off his shoes and falling into bogs – as if at odds with the landscape
• Interesting sound design: a music match cut transitions to the radio, and a chef berating Abbey rips up a pepper with an intensified sound. Also very soft lighting. Sound and lighting lend themselves to a dreamlike reality
• I want to throw a watermelon at someone (just occurred to me that this could be symbolic – Abbey jokingly throwing a melon at Dermot. The watermelon sometimes represents a baby, for instance when Abbey holds it against her stomach. Later, the cutting of the watermelon may represent abortion. And food/meals are rather prevalent in the film, as Abbey is a cook and one way in which she and Dermot bond is through her preparation of meals)
• Age – and differences in age – is a trope in this film: ECU shots of smooth versus wrinkled skin. What separates people and what connects them
• Biggest related themes of the film: Life/Death symbolism, motherhood/pregnancy, and babies/bodies. Various instances: pregnant woman having contractions next to her mother’s dead body; woman gives birth and says, “For a minute there I though I was dying”; Abbey struggles with whether or not to have an abortion while Dermot struggles to unearth the bog body; Dermot finds new life (shopping and cleaning) after death (as represented by the bog body)
• Film opens with sounds of a can being kicked, and then shots of Dermot kicking it. Later, Abbey is in Canada and kicking a can across the road. Once again – things that connect people and things that separate
• Another explored trope: repeating mistakes. Are we destined to repeat our past mistakes or the mistakes of our parents?
• Hilarious and tense conversation between Abbey and her father as they talk marriage proposals over dinner. Chew. Snap. Glasses. Snap.
• Dermot the Hermit.
• Ireland is presented more in shades of blue, Canada in shades of yellow. The final shot features both blue and yellow, as if reconciling or connecting Dermot from Ireland and Abbey from Canada

Reefer and the Model and Waterbag [cult drama dir. Joe Comerford]

• Waterbag (a short film) set me up to hate anything that came after. The knife freaked me out (GIRL, GET THAT AWAY FROM YOUR EYE) and the blood put me in a belligerent/grumpy/unforgiving mood
• I was not a huge fan of this film, and I find myself uninspired to provide any sort of recap
• Intriguing shot of feet on the road with Aztec print and a canary in the cage
• Did this film pass the Bechdel test? I don’t think so, but I will admit that I fell asleep for a bit and could have missed something. I did not see women treated particularly well in this film. Other than that, I did not care at all for “the Model” (also, WHY DOES ONE OF THE ONLY FEMALES IN THE FILM HAVE TO BE CALLED “THE MODEL”?), though the old mother was my favorite character
• “He’s a born bastard, dear.” I’ll say
• Some great Western-y Celtic-y music that supported the sense of exploration and frontier adventure
• I think there was some humor in the film, but most of it was not farcical enough to pass the horrifying/disgusting line into funny

Gold [2013 comedy dir. Niall Heery]

• Here’s the great trailer: http://www.rte.ie/ten/news/2014/0716/631128-watch-trailer-for-new-irish-film-gold/
• A hilarious family comedy with a real “indie” feel and look to it (and there’s a definite Wes Anderson vibe there)
• Catchy intro (Kids, don’t do drugs)
• Well-scripted conversations, the actors played it cool
• Light and often unexpected humor: biological father comes back to visit his daughter after 12 years because the mother’s letter said “visit anytime”; little moments with the moustache; the couch on top of the car; James Nesbitt and his tennis shoes (also, his face.); Frank McGunn workout video; the NO PANTS SURPRISE REVEAL; kid’s face after seeing the parents having sex (Also, juxtaposing the sex scene with the comatose face in a hospital bed. And glorified sexual tension versus reality); the Incan music (which was actually just wonderful)
• James Nesbitt warning that lack of vigilance will mean you are airlifted out in a body bag – foreshadows his plunge into the river (a moment of humor that leads to his serious hospitalization)
• The film includes humorous heart-warming moments as well as heart-breaking moments. Some more serious heart-breaking moments: the parallel of the dads in the hospital; questions of genetics (Are we destined to repeat the mistakes of our parents? Must we be just like them, or can we pick our own path?); the need for respect and achievement; cycles and the possibility of inheriting loneliness or suicidal tendencies; drug use
• Warped visuals to express a warped state of mind
• High ISO
• Lyrics from background song: “I’m fed up again, barely know who I am. Lost in this world.” And yet, there is light and hope

Glassland [2013 drama dir. Gerard Barrett]

• An intense film about a dysfunctional family, poverty, and addiction in urban Dublin
• Handheld/Steadicam – lots of motion. Also, visually, high contrast. Jumpy cuts and jumpy narrative mimic the experience of reality. Repetition and jump cuts create an unusual cadence. Alternating between close shots that connect the audience with characters, and longer shots that separate us. The look of the film is often urban and gritty, with unusual/unsettling focus, light, and sound choices
• In some ways, the film seems connected by a series of single/few shot vignettes
• Ireland’s underbelly
• Dancing alone – Tainted Love. The silent dance is absolutely heartbreaking
• One theme of the film is motherhood (especially the relationship between a mother and son) – represented by the Mary and Jesus token. Motherhood, loneliness, neglect – “mad, baffling, cunning,” addiction is a disease that threatens the good in motherhood
• A stunning performance from Toni Collette
• Funny scene: “Want a cup of tea?” “Yeah.” “… MA!”
• High contrast filming – oftentimes people are underexposed or shown in silhouette. It is bright outside, but dark in here (aka a visual representation of the darkness of life tainted by addiction, poverty, and addiction). However, in the last scene, he steps outside and looks up at the sky, finally in the light

 

July 12, 2014

Brown Bag Retrospective

• We watched a bunch of animated shorts created over the years by the founders of Brown Bag Animation. The founders now have offices in both Dublin and LA, and they as well as their old friends/colleagues have gone on to do great work (for instance, one friend who helped out with the hand-drawn-on-acetate Creation of Life short went on to become a special effects manager for Avatar)
• The Last Elk: created in 1997 when they got their first computer. It is beautiful, simple, dreamlike, and has a moving score
• Give Up Your Own Sins/Give Up Yer Aul Sins: created in 2002 using an old recording. It is adorable
• Ding Dong Denny O’Reilly’s History of Ireland: created in 2009, this turned out to be unexpectedly adult in it’s content. Hello drawing of full frontal male nudity. An animated short that is definitely not a “kids film”
• Granny O’Grimm: SO HILARIOUS! I want to watch this again. Fantastic and different styles of animation. Creepy (watch here: )
• 23 Degrees 5 Minutes: Numbers are better than words? Not sure I agree. In the end, let’s just say I didn’t see the Santa thing coming
• Bird Food: Quirky film that takes a dark and unusual turn (trope of Brown Bag = scary grandmas)

New Irish Shorts 7: IFB Premiere Shorts

• Rockmount: Intense little boy with a big attitude. Coloring, animals, “lots to frown about.” LOVED IT
• The Duel:PLEASE DO NOT DESTROY THE LIBRARY. Simple. Cool idea with the books, and good music
• Personal Development:Long intro. Dads, daughters, and girl things. Tampons: dad says, “This one looks cool.” What a good papa, trying so hard. Funny that he deals with his daughter’s first period, but can’t handle the blood of the horror film (a nice touch at the ending)
• Rince: Why do you all need to hide your dancing? I don’t get it. Probably the worst film of the weekend.
• Sophie at the Races: The opposite of uplifting. Last shot: mother/child role-reversal
• First Love (in Irish): Adorable and heart-warming! What good child actors these shorts are finding. The little boy who does the dance to distract the parents while his friend steals cigarettes. Also, the young gay boy who responds to the older boy’s “There are other fish in the sea” with “I don’t like fish” (HA!) and then proceeds to look at him with the cutest gaze as the older boy plays guitar and fireworks explode in the background. The best kind of cliché.
• Somewhere Down the Line: Animated. Ok. Another story about family. The whole Fleadh prominently featured family themes and relationships among families. Perhaps this is partly because family is universally relevant, but also because smaller family stories lend themselves to smaller budgets
• Cutting Grass: Sometimes I really hate kids
• Deadly: A unique idea and a well-animated story. I loved Bridie’s sass and her unexpected friendship with the grim reaper

Still [2014 thriller dir. Simon Blake]

• A film about a photographer who loses his son to a car accident, and who then becomes the target of young gangsters
• WOW. Aidan Gillen is an amazing actor. And what a dark, intense film. I do not suggest sitting in the front row (Although, mise en scene will make sense like never before from that close proximity. People sitting on opposite sides of the screen will seem SO far apart)
• The look/cinematography/lighting/editing becomes more and more fractured over the course of the film as the protagonist’s sanity becomes more and more fractured
• Yay for two female producers!