Five of the best from Doc Edge
The life and works of Steven Spielberg and an Aussie seeking fame in Japan are not to be missed. By
New Zealand’s annual celebration of documentary films screens next month in Wellington and Auckland. Now in its 13th year, the Doc Edge International Film Festival brings together a selection of the finest examples of real-life storytelling from here and abroad. This year it includes more than 70 featurelength and short documentaries. Here’s a quintet of must-see titles.
Spielberg
Susan Lacy’s 147-minute look at the films and fears of the world’s most-successful movie director is a fascinating trawl through his back-catalogue.
Culled from almost 30 hours of interviews, it provides viewers with the opportunity to hear how he used to terrorise his sisters, why he deliberately shot E.T. in continuity and fought to retain Duel‘s sombre ending. Also features a stellar cast of supporting characters, including Brian de Palma, Martin Scorsese, Tom Hanks and Ralph Fiennes.
Big In Japan
Keen to investigate the idea of fame in contemporary society, three Aussie film-makers embark on a mad scheme to turn one of them into an online celebrity.
David Elliot-Jones is an ordinary 26-year-old Melburnian, whose only talent is his lankiness and willingness to do whatever it takes. In the case that includes moving to Japan, where he aims to emulate the likes of US boxer Bob Sapp, 19-year-old Canadian Idol Kelsey Parnigoni and countrymate ‘‘Ladybird’’ in making it big in the Land of the Rising Sun. Much hilarity ensues.
George Michael: Freedom (Director’s Cut)
An extended version of the documentary that aired on Prime last October.
Made by the man himself (along with his friend and manager David Austin) before his death on Christmas Day 2016, this offers fascinating insight into the life and loves of the man who made it big with Wham, became one of the world’s biggest-selling artists in the late 1980s and then, thanks to contractual disputes, tragedy and tabloid headlines virtually disappeared. Filled with revelations and regrets, its best line goes to Stevie Wonder, who remarks, ‘‘You mean George is white?’’.
The Gospel According to Andre
He was Diana Vreeland’s protege, Anna Wintour’s right-hand-man and is still the fashion guru to many stars.
More than four decades after he was Andy Warhol’s receptionist at Interview magazine, Andre Leon Talley is still pretty much unrivalled when it comes to his beauty and style knowledge. Kate Novack’s documentary sees the self-described, kaftan and capeloving ‘‘manatee’’ hold court on everything from his churchinfluenced childhood to the Jaws sequels, with all action playing out with a background of the 2016 US Presidential race.
Hot to Trot
While New Zealand focuses on the latest instalment of Dancing with the Stars, Gail Freedman’s tale notes that the competitive side of the pastime will be ‘‘one of the last homophobic bastions to fall’’ – ‘‘because it’s a vertical expression of a horizontal desire’’.
As a result of that, same-sex dancing has become a separate ‘‘sport’’ all together, with the quadrennial Gay Games the pinnacle. This follows some eclectic couplings, including Type 1-diabetic Emily Coles and Kiwi Kieren Jameson, as they strive to take home the spoils. ❚ The 13th Doc Edge International Film Festival will be held at Wellington’s Roxy Cinema (May 9 to 20) and Auckland’s Q Theatre (May 23 to June 4). For more information, see docedge.nz As centenary commemorations of World War I, the Great War, come to a close, there are still heartwrenching tales of life on the battlefields being portrayed on stage.
One such play is A Time Like This, which tells the experiences of a New Zealand soldier who was also a war-artist and the nightmares he suffers on returning home, through the eyes of the soldier as an old man in a rest home.
The programme notes refer to writer/director Jackie Davis having first written the story as a novel but, unable to get it published, decided to turn it into a play.
The resulting play however still bears all the hallmarks of a novel, with long narrations and descriptive passages that make the play static and one-dimensional, with very little character development.
The soldier in question, Old Douglas, is seen as a curmudgeonly old man sitting in his room in the Eventide Rest Home. As he reminisces, often with great bitterness, the scenes he talks about are played out across the stage in various locations.
The naivety of soldiers supposedly going off on a big adventure, never being told what the real reasons where for going, the horror of life in the trenches and the sickness that was rampant among the troops, and then the persisting nightmares of those who returned and the effect of this on family and friends, are all vividly portrayed through the writing.
But although the actors make a valiant attempt to imbue some life into the scenes, there is little they can do with the way it is written.
Tensions do arise through the writing, but there is little interaction between the characters, thus many opportunities are missed of showing the real emotion of what they were going through.
One exception is Barry Mawer as Old Douglas, as he has a much more rounded character to portray as it is his story and Mawer finds many layers from anger, guilt, heartache and much more in an old man with nothing left but memories and countless paper poppies from attending endless Anzac services. – Ewen Coleman