Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist

Documentary... or commentary?

Just a quick FYI: William Friedkin is the director of The Exorcist. And so this movie is him talking about how he made The Exorcist. That's it. In some ways this is The Exorcist: The Commentary Track: The Film. Friedkin takes us through various scenes, tells us about his inspirations, and how he decided shots should go. It is, in short, fascinating.

Which kinda makes it hard to review. Either you want to hear him talk about how he made The Exorcist, or you don't. I did, so this movie was aimed right at me, and I enjoyed it immensely.

However, that does make this review rather short.

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Huo zhe chang zhe

Based on a documentary.

A Sichuan Opera troupe is experiencing trying times. Audiences are less and less as opera becomes less popular, and all the buildings around them are being destroyed. The troupe tries to stay together, but the younger members want to move on to other activities, and their theatre is about to be demolished as well. They face the end, and must accept what is happening.

This features an actual Sichuan Opera, but they haven't quite disbanded yet as this was filmed, but it is looking inevitable. In the mean time, Johnny Ma takes advantage to tell their story and portray the conflicts the team went through as well as extrapolate out what is going to happen. (All events are real if not actually as they occurred.)

This is quite a charming story, and I quite enjoyed it!

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Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets

Another documentary... or is it a "documentary"?

It's the last night of the bar, and we are there as it happens. From the opening at 11am through to the close at around 5am the next morning, we see various dezidens of the bar make their home there, chat about anything and everything, and pass the time in their home one last time.

There isn't much to say about the plot, because that's it. Just filming people on the last day of the bar, as they pass time away. There isn't much more to it...

...or is there? This might be spoilers, on the other hand I do think the movie is better knowing this fact (which I have only seen on a review or two), to whit: the bar is a fake. This is all on a sound studio somewhere else and they are all just putting it on. Certainly this seems real, but then it goes to say a lot that this could just be any bar anywhere. There isn't any particular traditions being observed, and while they are saying goodbye, no-one seems that really upset... and some of the names are actually actors who have appeared in other things. Suspicious much?

Given that this puts a different spin on it, it's a well captured moment that neatly encapsulates a lot of human experience. Otherwise it's just a bunch of people drinking at a bar.

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Martin Margiela: In His Own Words

Sure, another documentary. This time about an unseen fashion icon.

Martin Margiela has put in 20 years into the fashion industry, and this movie basically charts each fashion show. He has a rather unusual sense that appeals to a lot of people, and we can see the creative process in action as he takes clothes and presents them in rather odd ways. And one of his common gimmicks is covering the faces of his models so that people concentrate on his clothes. In a similar vein, he never gives interviews because he's fed up with the questions and doesn't want to deal with them, just let his clothes speak for him.

He's definitely an admired figure, a lot of praise for his stuff. We get him talking about things, and get to see him... putting things together. Hands and arms is about the most we get of him, in keeping with the "don't see him" attitude.

While I can see his fashion pieces as art, I'm not sure I see them as clothes, as things people would wear on any basis other than "hey, I have this strange outfit I'm going to show off at this strange party". This makes me wonder if anyone has done a documentary on "once the clothes leave the catwalk, what happens to them next?" Are people buying these things in droves? Are they just art pieces for the moment? I have no idea.

A decent documentary that has the idea of showing off his work, and just getting on with it.

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Aasta täis draamat

I do seem to like documentaries. Such as this one about going to the theatre... or is it? (Again, no IMDB entry, so I'll link to their main site.)

This started as an experiment: someone is picked (Alissija) to go to a play nearly daily for a year, and write about her experiences, the intention to being "how does an everyman view the theatre experience?". We follow her as she goes to many plays, some in more indie set ups, some in full on grand theaters, and some even in a community style. Moreover, she goes through some life events (she is a young woman), as theatre casts its spell on her, and she falls out of interest, back in interest again, in and out of love with someone else, and otherwise spends the year dedicated to this one thing, with only some thought as to: what next?

This movie didn't really work for me, and I've been trying to work out why. I think the answer is: they made the wrong movie. The concept they went with for the movie "what if someone saw (basically) a theatre a day, what would that mean?" but what they got was "this is the movie of Alissija and how she changed over a year", but since they were insisting on the gimmick, the movie doesn't really work.

(If you want to recast this as a review of a theatre experience, I'll leave that to you, but note that in a theatre production you generally have more control over the script than what happens in a documentary.)

This movie could probably be reedited into one thing or the other, but at the moment it is in a very unsatisfying middle ground.

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Seishin

Documentary time... I didn't realise this was from 2008. Damn this film festival with fine films from all sorts of times...

We are at the Choral Clinic, run by one Dr. Masatomo Yamamoto. We follow several of his patients as they talk about their mental health issues, helped by what services the Clinic can provide. We definitely get the tales that these people need help, and there is little being done to help them aside from limited services, and there is a bill about to be passed which could start costing them money (which we don't get a resolution on). These are people that are otherwise capable to some degree, but suffer from depression or similar that just making living in society that much worse without support.

The main reason I mention 2008 at the start is that I hope things are better now a decade later... but I doubt it. Mental issues are seen as taboo in Japanese society, and while cultures are improving, the less fortunate are always hidden away by most societies and I can't say that even New Zealand is doing overwhelming in this area.

This movie does help in that it helps raises awareness, or "removes the curtain" as the film puts it. These people do need support... but then so do so many others...

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Hong Kong Moments

A documentary about modern day Hong Kong. Well, this won't be political. (I would link to IMDB, but it isn't on there yet.)

The movie follows seven different people over three different days, two around protest moments, one around an election day. They demonstrate the different aspects of life in Hong Kong, a protestor, a police man, a first aider, two people involved in elections, and two people just doing their work, all with different takes on what life in Hong Kong is like at the moment and how they view the protesters and the police.

While this movie definitely lets people speak for themselves, I wouldn't say it was entirely neutral. No one specific person is portrayed as "the bad guy", but when you see the actions of the police as a large force they speak for themselves. And yes, I agree that it isn't simple, there are a lot of stupid things the rioters do, such as trash shops and such. But this isn't a black and white situation.

However, there are parts of the stories left unsaid, assumed to be known. For example, that there is a "pro-democracy" group and a "pro-Beijing" group, as they style themselves. And one of the protestors mentions the five demands they have, without anyone saying what that is.

And no doubt many people seeing this will compare this to what is happening in America at the moment, but I'll let better people than me take up that conversation.

A good look at what is happening, but it might be better to learn some facts before watching this to appreciate it more. Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.

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