Begin the day with a trip to the Filmhouse (home of DEFF) in order to get
the latest information on what's on and who is around. The press room is
chaos. Basically everyone (including me) has tunnel vision and all we can
see is David Cronenberg. A horde of reporters and a couple of crews hover
around him. It is not as mad as Cannes where there are exponentially more
reporters and crews dying for an A interview, but is a bit too frantic for
such a small space.
I attempt to send a report to Film Scouts from an Internet centre of sorts
(which shall remain nameless) and have no luck - some mail server problem
- and proceed to my first film of the day. And what a film. Danish director
Lars von Triers' "Breaking the Waves" is extraordinary.
My expectations were low, thanks to a bundle of totally absurd ideas about
Scandinavians which I have garnered from school social studies and a couple
of sleepy festival films (sorry Mr Bergman) - i.e., they drink a lot of
nasty white spirits, eat rollmops, and make boring films. "Breaking
the Waves" is set on the Scottish Isles where it is very cold, they
drink to excess, eat lots of oats and, until Lars von Trier came along,
probably didn't make a whole lot of films.
"Breaking the Waves" has a strong story, terrific performances
and is superbly shot. Almost two and a half hours long, it is perfectly
paced and lingers beautifully between chapters. In short: it is classic.
If you don't see it this time around - and you should - you will be seeing
it on arthouse screens well into the next century of cinema.
Enough preaching. Back to the Filmhouse where Roberto Rossellini's post
WWII docu-drama "Germany, Year Zero" is playing. Part of the "Dreams
and Nightmares" section of DEFF which features films of 1947, the film
is a heavy-handed morality play - perhaps the "Pixote" of its
time. Set in Berlin after the war, it is meant to be in German but I hear
Italian (perhaps the voice of the auteur) and read the English subtitles.
With an hour to spare and no films to see, I make for the video screening
room where I watch the latest from Oscar-winning animators Aardman and The
Granton Star Cause. There is something of a buzz surrounding this 30-minute
film because the screenplay was written by Irvine Welsh and the story is
adapted from his novel "The Acid House". Welsh is the author of
the novel "Trainspotting", and although he uses far too many profanities
to be deified, he is a household name among young Britons.
The Granton Star Cause is essentially one of those "what if everything
that could go wrong did go wrong" ideas. Starting with a game of amateur
football and moving quickly to the pub, the film has incredibly high production
values. My first impression was that I had stumbled across a hybrid of a
beer commercial (for boy's beer) and a music video. Add a bit of Kafka
(the hero turns into a fly), lots of lads, a barrage of expletives and big
colours and you're almost there. Entertaining, brilliantly executed, but
I am left with a "what if emerging directors were banned from using
the what if everything that could go wrong did go wrong idea" feeling.
Next, the highlight of the day - David Cronenberg's "Scene by Scene"
examining clips from "Crash". I approach the cinema to find a
queue which I join half-way up the street. Within ten minutes the line stretches
around the corner. Tickets are sold out but for some reason the auditorium
is not ready. After half and hour the queue begins to move forward. When
the auditorium is full the lights go down and Cronenberg enters from the
rear. The crowd goes wild and is on the verge of a standing ovation (thankfully
the applause dies away) and Cronenberg begins a charming double act with
festival director Mark Cousins.
It becomes apparent that Cronenberg is not allowed to screen clips from
"Crash"; however he does have some fascinating fragments of a
film by an unknown Canadian filmmaker whose style bears a remarkable resemblance
to that of Cronenberg. Screening and discussion of the auto-erotic proceeds
with Cronenberg playfully exercising his right to talk about himself in
the third person. The boys in the audience are in seventh heaven - thanks
to the presence on the screen of cars and chicks - and the director gets
the warm fuzzy feeling of one well-loved.
Out of Cronenberg and into the Australian vernacular. Director Nadia Tass
presents the world premiere of her latest film "Mr Reliable".
Colin Friels (the baddy in "Darkman", star of countless Australian
films and husband to Judy Davis) plays alongside Jacqueline McKenzie (best
known for "Romper Stomper") in this comic - yet true - tale of
an unlikely hero. (Australia does a great line in unlikely heroes from "Breaker
Morant" through "Mad Max" to "Priscilla".)
And, last but not least, "Where's the Money Ronnie" and "Small
Time" from director, writer, actor, producer, photographer and editor
Shane Meadows. Shot on the lowest of budgets, this is the shining star of
emerging work so far and great late-night fare. People say things like Tarantino-esque
and "Trainspotting". Yeah right. It is, however, well worth seeing
and will travel the festival circuit.
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