FILM - Choi Voi (Adrift), DIRECTOR - Chuyên Bui Thac,
COUNTRY - Vietnam, SECTION - Horizons
Why I wanted to see it? - Linh Dan Pham, from The Beat That My Heart Skipped and Indochine, plus Do Thi Hai Yen from The Quiet American.
Impressions :
Adrift is a very strange film to talk about, so this will literally be my impressions and not much of a "review". The film is about a couple of newlyweds who don't immediately consumate their relationship. What that results in is the wife becoming more and more frustrated at her cab-driver hubby who is always too tired to give her a roll in the hay. They've moved into a new place and the young neighbour downstairs takes an obvious liking to the husband, and the wife's best friend seems more intent on leading her astray than anything else.
The most interesting thing about the film for me was the visual approach, I found myself watching it thinking "If this was a Wong Kar-Wai film you'd have a longer shot than that" or "If this was a Kieslowski film there'd be a close up of that". There are a lot of open shots, it's smoothly made but there's a distinct choice to show the environment these people are in, whereas others would go for a more intimate, claustrophobic feel. It doesn't make it better or worse, but it's certainly not going for the easy, trite option.
This is the kind of film where the best thing I can say about it is that it's never boring, but on the other hand I have no idea whether I actually liked it or not. The acting was fine, with Linh Dan Pham's very restrained performance being the pick of the bunch. Thematically this should have been something I would be really into with the Wong-ish holding of everything back, but something prevented it from taking hold emotionally. Perhaps a really good score would elevate the film quite a bit, but I do think the second half doesn't quite live up to the intriguing promise of the first.
Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 25 (76 cumulative).
FILM - 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup, DIRECTOR - Jacques Rivette,
COUNTRY - France, SECTION - In Competition
Why I wanted to see it? - Liked a couple of RIvette's films in the past.
Impressions :
So I made my way to the Palabiennale for a double bill for the second time, but this time actually had the intention of watching both, and this was the first of the two. Quite simply, I liked it. This is a very simple, watchable little film about a man (Sergio Castellitto) who has an impact on a travelling circus. There are numerous characters but the central role is taken by Jane Birkin, who has returned to her high-wire act for the first time in 15 years. Castellitto persues her, having witnessed the accident which made her stop performing.
Sometimes Sergio has a very annoying screen presence but he didn't bother me here at all. He's natural and doesn't overplay it as he befriends the clowns, chips away at Birkin's defences and goes from enthusiastic audienc-member to basically running the show as his "suggestions" increasingly become more like orders.
Rivette's technique is very smooth, he shifts the film along with some seamlessly spritely pacing and it's all very well put together. Sometimes you don't know if the performers are practicing or if it's their actual act, but it's seemingly irrelevant as it's just what these people do. It is a comedy as the tone is light, and it is occasionally very funny. The whole cast acquit themselves nicely. Not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but very watchable, inoffensive stuff.
Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 80 (156 cumulative).
FILM - The Informant!, DIRECTOR - Steven Soderbergh,
COUNTRY - USA, SECTION - In Competition
Why I wanted to see it? - It was essentially free as I'd paid for the Rivette.
So from the clowns to the clowning - the latest Steven Soderbergh offering is one of a few real life-based comedies (the biggest other being George Clooney's The Men Who Stare at Goats). Here we find Matt Damon playing a delusional executive at a food company who turns informant for the FBI whilst simultaneously (and naively) trying to take control of the company he works for.
For the first 45 minutes of this it really isn't very funny at all and as a result Soderbergh utilises one of the most condescending scores in recent memory, screaming to the audience "IT'S A COMEDY DAMMIT!!!". Seemingly the exclamation mark in the title wasn't enough 
. This self-consciousness highlights the first half of the film's major shortcomings, it wants to be light, fresh and breezy but for the most part it's rather dull and not very entertaining. Once Damon starts taping the meetings it does pick up and hits more frequently with the laughs.
Damon is fine, Melanie Lynsky completely wasted in a nothing role, Scott Bakula gives some nice support and the rest of the cast are inoffensively average. The latter comment is representative of the film as a whole, it's not bad but it's far from great, it's not a waste of time but it merely passes it rather than filling it. That is probably the worst reaction a film could get - apathy.
Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 16 (172 cumulative).