Into The Void
Soundtrack of a shattered city
Rain, rain, go away – or at least, hold off until Thursday (July 14), when the Auckland leg of the annual New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) opens at the Civic Theatre.
Things kick off with Poi E: The Story of our Song, the eagerlyanticipated and purportedly ‘‘irresistible’’ ode to part of our nation’s cultural history.
Riding high from recordbreaking audiences at last year’s festival, the NZIFF team have compiled another fortnight of pure cinematic heroin. So what sort of hit are you looking for?
They say that cinema holds up a mirror to reality, so it is sadly unsurprising that war stories regularly make for artistic fodder.
Two extremely fine documentaries lead the pack: the enthralling Jim: The James Foley Story paints a compelling tribute to the well-intentioned, charismatic, freelance journalist whose kidnapping by Isis in 2014 culminated in the shocking internet video of his beheading.
While the film largely steers clear of his death and focuses on how he lived, through archive footage and family interviews, the testimony from those who spent time with Foley in captivity is predictably sobering.
New Zealand director Pietra Brettkelly’s A Flickering Truth tackles a slightly gentler topic, following a native Afghan filmmaker and his efforts to restore previously hidden or damaged films unearthed since the Taliban destroyed these crucial aspects of the country’s cultural history. It is heart-warming to see a very different side of Afghanistan than we’re used to, with remarkable footage of happier times and astonishing historical moments. Beautifully photographed, A Flickering Truth couldn’t be a more apt vessel for its subject.
Fiction films embrace conflict as lifeblood, of course, and A War (director Tobias Lindholm’s festival follow-up to the brilliant A Hijacking) portrays the everyday threat of the Taliban with horrifying resignation. Reminiscent of Brothers’ quotidian realism, the audience is embedded with Danish troops whose job is peacekeeping, but whose wellmeaning impact is anything but. The moral dilemma at the heart of it draws the viewer into questioning their own principles.
This is all sounding a bit rough, but wait, there’s more.
Before turning the festival brochure’s page to investigate lighter fare, consider the blistering eye-for-an-eye drama at the core of Italy’s Suburra. It’s a gangster movie where initially all of the players are so morally reprehensible, you wonder who to root for – and then, as vengeful carnage ensues, you are unexpectedly drawn into caring. Not for the faint-hearted, but definitely for those curious about the ordinary lives of Rome’s provincial criminals.
If you can handle that, you will be champing at the bit to see Green Room, the most exciting, nerve-shredding, and shocking film I’ve seen this year. A group of young people head into the middle of Nowheresville, US, to play a punk rock gig, and find themselves unwittingly and unwillingly caught up in the evil machinations of a surprising Patrick Stewart and his gang of skinheads. Starring the recently deceased Anton Yelchin, and a cast of bright young things, Green Room may be the highlight of your festival.
But let’s not speak too soon – there is also love, intrigue, and vicarious gluttony on offer from other sections of the programme.
You cannot go past Tanna if you’re in the mood for love. This sumptuously photographed, instantly beguiling and yet unassuming offering from Papua New Guinea, tells of a young woman who comes of age and falls for the chief’s grandson just as tensions flare between her village and the rival tribe. With naturalistic acting and drama intermingled with delight, it’s films like this the festival exists to show.
For those whose tastes are considerably more ‘‘First World’’, three more documentaries deliver fascinating insights into very different subjects.
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