Sydney Film Festival Round-Up

7 films at this year’s Sydney Film Festival, which is okay but there’s never enough time for everything. As usual, film selection was determined by timing and serendipity as much as anything else.

Here’s the gen on those I did catch:

Breathless: Grim Korean movie about domestic violence and its effect on children. Has that queasy combination, characteristic of much East Asian cinema, of shocking brutality and a sugary sentimentality about children.

44 Inch Chest: Reservoir Dogs meets Last Orders. Some very good actors (including Stephen Dillane, yay!) play London low-lifes hanging out in a warehouse. Could've been brilliant but doesn't quite take off.

In The Loop: Movie adaptation of brilliant TV political satire The Thick of It. Lovely to watch this in a crowded theatre, so the big laughs were a proper communal experience.

Overlord: A fascinating interweaving of historical footage and a fictional narrative about D-Day.

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles: Surely the most hardcore art movie I've ever seen. 3 and a half hours long, no music, no camera movement, no close-ups, barely any dialogue, feminist...and Belgian. We observe the title character going through her daily routine 3 times, including household chores, dealing with her hopeless teenage son and servicing paying gentleman callers in the afternoon. By day 3 (about two and a half hours in), great significance has accrued for tiny changes in her behaviour and the violent denouement has been set up. Throughout the gruelling experience there were lots of walkouts and a growing sense of suppressed hysteria. Strangest of all, I think it may be a masterpiece.

The Big Parade: Splendid 1925 silent film about WW1. Performed with live music, the audience loved every moment.

Wake In Fright: Revived Aussie pscho-thriller about hard-living outback types. I'll never forget the scary kangaroo hunting sequence.

Here's a typical clip from Jeanne Dielman, I think this is from the third potato-peeling scene (oh yes), when Jeanne's ice cool manner is beginning to fray. Bear in mind, the whole movie is like this.