Just the lazy six for this year's Rev festival but it was a fun time all round (my balding ginger scone sneaks into the far left of the pic above). Here are the films I saw, descending in order of least to most liked.
Dùthchas ★½
A found 8mm footage doco from the island of Berneray in the Outer Hebrides. The approach could have been better, it's bit dull - just talking heads interspersed with said footage from the 60s & 70s. The idea of a culture and language on the brink of extinction has merit but it just takes to long to get to the nub. There's a film in here somewhere but the execution needed more oomph and less chat.
Holy Shit! ★★
This is a scatological German porta-loo thriller (words I've never said or written in that order before). A dude wakes up in a dunny with a metal rod stuck through one arm, trapping him in this enclosed filth. This is a more disgusting, less claustro version of that Ryan Reynolds flick, Buried. It sets up the story well enough, with some minor political intrigue but can't keep pace with its high concept idea.
Frank and Frank ★★★
Albany set drama about two fellas called Frank (Myles Pollard and Trevor Jamieson) who bond when one of them can't start a fire. Fine performances (esp. Jamieson) and some clever writing but one or two things didn't quite sit right for me. Minor grumbles aside, there's a lot of good stuff here - the camel monologue was pure class, the Great Southern region scrubs up nicely, and most of the jokes played well in the screening too. More to come from director Adam Morris and his crew, shooting around Albany - they plan to make one or two a year in the area.
Devil's Peak ★★★
This is a taut little thriller set in the southern US about a crime overlord and his unfortunate dependents. Billy Bob Thornton is excellent as the patriarch Charlie, Hopper Penn, less so as his son Jacob. It plays a bit like a redneck Animal Kingdom and Perth director Ben Young had some fascinating things to say at the Q & A afterwards. Considering its low budget, it's a credit to the technical folk that it looks so good and the final 20 minutes or so really cranks up the near-Shakespearean drama. Robin Wright and Jackie Earl Haley add some heft to the cast, and Young seems to be one of the good guys re: wanting to deliver character films rather than template streamer fare.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline ★★★½
Here's an environmental message piece dressed up as a clever thriller, complete with separated character 'chapters' in flashback and effective cross-cutting of the preparations and execution. Strong performances from a handful of semi-familiar faces fill this timely, noodle-provoking film. Whatever you may think about the politics of this film, there's no denying it's sharply shot and edited. Director Daniel Goldhaber hasn't made much up to now but I reckon that's due to change soon - he seems to know his way around a script.
Citizen Sleuth ★★★★
This is an intriguing backhander to true crime podcasts with a really engaging central character, Emily Nestor. She's a young West Virginian woman curious enough about a local girl's death to start the 'Mile Marker 181' podcast, but was it an accident or was it murder? The first half of the film shows an energetic, almost manic Emily, excitedly explaining the problems with the 'accident', but then it swings on a pivot when someone explains something that she had previously assumed about the tragedy, and from then on, the director, Chris Kasick takes things into his own hands, thereby diminishing Emily's role in her own film. Sounds odd, but it works in that this action gives her the impetus to face some hard truths (at least, that's how I read it). Like any doco about current events, there are multiple viewpoints from many concerned parties but I found this to be pretty balanced and entertaining to boot.
*Special mention must go to a great short film I saw before one of the main features. It's called Bald Future and it's a fucking hoot. Set in an awful office with an unhinged boss, it shows the trouble us chrome domes have to endure daily:) A cracker.
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