NZIFF Film Review: "Nobody's Daughter Haewon" ("누구의 딸도 아닌 해원") (2013).

The new film by Hong Sang-soo comes Nobody's Daughter Haewon (누구의 딸도 아닌 해원). This South Korean drama film written and directed by Hong. University student Hae-Won meets up her mother, who is going to emigrate to Canada the next day. After meeting her mother, Hae-Won feels depressed and she decides to meet her teacher Sung-Joon for the first time in a long while. She had a secret relationship with him. On that day, Hae-Won and Sung-Joon happen to meet students at a restaurant who study the same major and their relationship becomes known to others. Hae-Won becomes more depressed. Sung-Joon then suggests they runaway to somewhere else.

There are certain elements that are commonly found in Hong's films. A typical Hong film highlights a theme of domestic realism with many of the scenes set on residential streets, cafes, hotels, schools, and in the stairwells of apartment buildings. Characters in the film are seen walking around the city, drinking soju, and having sex. The main characters in his films are often movie directors or actors, and scenes typically consist of a single shot, often beginning and ending with a camera zoom. The budgets for his movies average about $100,000. Hong is often spontaneous when shooting, delivering the day's scene on the morning of the shoot and frequently changing stories while on set. He rarely prepares scripts in advance. Hong instead begins with a basic guideline and writes his scenes on the morning of the filming day, making changes throughout the day. Hong starts the filming day at 4 a.m. when he begins to write the dialogue for that day's shoot. Hong also develops close relationships with the actors over alcohol and cigarettes and sometimes shoots certain scenes while the actors are under the influence. Given the fact that the film is director Hong's fourteenth directorial effort, it is another great addition to director Hong's study on human relationships that has been synonymous to the director's career since his 1996 debut film The Day a Pig Fell into the Well (돼지가 우물에 빠진 날). In mid March 2012, principal photography began and lasted for two weeks, typical for a Hong Sang-soo film.

The film stars Jung Eun-chae, Lee Sun-kyun, Kim Ja-ok, Kim Eui-sung, Ye Ji-won, Yoo Jun-sang, and Jane Birkin. Emotionally solid performances were given by the cast, in particular with Jung. Our beautiful and fragile protagonist turns out to be the lost soul from Seoul, whose utterances of love and seemingly sincere actions always remain suspect.

South Korean director Hong Sang-soo unleashes yet another emotionally stunted protagonist in Nobody's Daughter Haewon, a rambling study of female arrested development. Very Korean in its emotional content, while also preserving a quizzical distance that is quite French, pic is one of his lightest and most easily digestible metaphysical meals to date. An intriguing look at a woman in the midst of a personal crisis, a creep whose dalliances and denial slowly catch up with her.

Simon says Nobody's Daughter Haewon (누구의 딸도 아닌 해원) receives:

Also, see my NZIFF review for The Bling Ring.

NZIFF Film Review: "The Bling Ring" (2013).

"I think we just wanted to be part of the lifestyle. The lifestyle that everybody kinda wants." Which sums what the meaning of The Bling Ring. This satirical black comedy crime film based on actual events. Directed, written and produced by Sofia Coppola, it features an ensemble cast including newcomers Israel Broussard, Katie Chang and Claire Julien, as well as Taissa Farmiga and Emma Watson. Inspired by actual events, a group of fame-obsessed teenagers, Rebecca (the ringleader), Marc, Nicki, Sam and Chloe, known as the Bling Ring, use the Internet to track celebrities' whereabouts in order to rob their homes. Victims included Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Megan Fox, Rachel Bilson, Audrina Patridge, Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr.

The Bling Ring, sometimes called the "Hollywood Hills Burglar Bunch", "The Burglar Bunch", or the "Hollywood Hills Burglars", were a group of 7, mostly of teenagers based in and around Calabasas, California, who burgled the homes of several celebrities over a period believed to have been from around October 2008 through August 2009. In total, their activities resulted in the theft of about $3 million in cash and belongings, most of it from Paris Hilton, whose house was burgled several times. However, over 50 homes were reportedly targeted for potential burglary. The ring members included Rachel Lee, Nick Prugo, Diana Tamayo, Johnny Ajar, Roy Lopez, Jr., Courtney Ames and Alexis Neiers. They were all found guilty on counts of burglary and were all sentenced to prison for 30 days to 4 years. Some of them have been released, except for Ajar - who was reported to be back in jail in May 2013.

Emma Watson's character, Nicki, is closely based on Alexis Neiers. "Twitterers meet Nicki, Nicki meet twitterers", Watson tweeted. "Nicki likes Lip Gloss, Purses, Yoga, Pole Dancing, Uggs, Louboutins, Juice Cleanses, Iced coffee and Tattoos." Alexis Neiers wasn't particularly impressed. "Close but I've never & would never wear that", she tweeted about Watson's wardrobe—but she was quick to add, "It has been a blessing to work with Mrs Coppola & I'm still in shock that Emma is playing me. I am sure she will be fantastic." Watson said that she prepared for her part by watching The Hills and Keeping Up With the Kardashians to "understand the psychology" of her bling- and celebrity-obsessed character. She said that she also listened to Britney Spears' Femme Fatale album to get into the mind-frame of her character. American Horror Story star Taissa Farmiga joined the ensemble cast, as well as Leslie Mann, Israel Broussard (Flipped), Katie Chang, Claire Julien and Georgia Rock. Besides Watson and Farmiga, Coppola chose relative newcomers to play the group of teens.

It's hard to remember a film that mixes disparate, delicate ingredients with the subtlety and virtuosity of Sofia Coppola's brilliant The Bling Ring. There's an outrageous quality here, a satirical humor that speaks to the public’s needs and obsessions of celebrity life. It covers familiar territory for Coppola, but the film remains a hypnotic, seductively pensive meditation on the nature of celebrity life, anchored by brilliant performances from the cast.

Simon says The Bling Ring receives:

Also, see my NZIFF review for Dial M for Murder 3D.

NZIFF Classic Film Review: "Dial M For Murder 3D" (2013).

"Murder calling in 3D!" This is Dial M For Murder 3D. This crime mystery film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, adapted by Frederick Knott from his play of the same name. Ex-tennis pro Tony Wendice wants to have his wealthy wife, Margot, murdered so he can get his hands on her inheritance. When he discovers her affair with Mark Halliday, he comes up with the perfect plan to kill her. He blackmails an old acquaintance into carrying out the murder, but the carefully-orchestrated set-up goes awry, and Margot stays alive. Now Wendice must frantically scheme to outwit the police and avoid having his plot detected.

In 1952, the play premiered at London's West End, and then at New York's Broadway. After 1953's I Confess, Hitchcock began production on The Bramble Bush, based on the 1948 novel by David Duncan. However, due to script and budget problems, the project was abandoned. Hitchcock then began production on Dial M for Murder at Warner Bros. Hitchcock was forced to make the movie to fulfil his contract with Warner Bros. Because of this, Hitchcock claimed that he "could have phoned in his direction, and that action wouldn't have been any less interesting if he'd staged it in a phone booth." Hitchcock wanted Deborah Kerr, Cary Grant, and William Holden for the roles of Tony Wendice, Margot Wendice and Mark Halliday. Kerr and Holden were busy making other movies. Grant refused to play a villain, and Warner Bros. felt that he would be miscast as a villain. Ultimately, Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, and Robert Cummings were cast. Williams reprised his Broadway role as Inspector Hubbard. With a budget of $1.4 million, principal photography commenced in early August 1953, and wrapped in late September. Filming took place at Warner Bros. Studios, and the film was shot in 3-D, at the insistence of Warner Bros. This marked Hitchcock's first and only time he filmed in the format. The film was shot using Warner Bros.' own proprietary 3-D camera rig, the so-called All-Media Camera. Although the craze was fading and Hitchcock was sure the movie would be released flat. Hitchcock wanted the first shot to be that of a close-up of a finger dialing the letter M on a rotary dial telephone, but the 3-D camera would not be able to focus such a close-up correctly. Hitchcock ordered a giant finger made from wood with a proportionally large dial built in order to achieve the effect. This explains Hitchcock's prevalence of low-angle shots with lamps and other objects between the audience and the cast members. In addition, Hitchcock not only expressed a great deal of interest in selecting Grace Kelly's wardrobe, he selected nearly all of the props for the Wendice's apartment. Hitchcock made a special effort to shoot scenes indoors, almost exclusively. Only a few brief shots, usually involving Chief Inspector Hubbard, take place outside. Hitchcock believed the decision to shoot most scenes indoors would create a sense of claustrophobia.

Originally intended to be shown in the dual-strip polarized 3-D, as well as the roadshow, presentation, the film saw only a brief original release in 3-D. After one preview performance on May 18 and four showings on the 19th, the manager frantically contacted the studio and said that people were staying away in droves. He asked for permission to drop the 3-D and show it flat. On Sunday May 23, a Philadelphia Inquirer headline proclaimed: "Play's the Thing as Philadelphia Fans Spurn 3-D for 2-D Version of DIAL M." Mildred Martin wrote: "The first audiences proved to be a jury that could not only make up its mind, but could make it up in a hurry. In exhibitors' own terms, DIAL M literally died. And after just four performances on Wednesday, some long-distance telephoning to report complaints, the increasing skimpiness of customers--a good many of them making no bones of their dissatisfaction--permission was given to throw away the glasses and hastily switch to the 2-D version. Whereupon business at the Randolph took a turn for the better." Dial M for Murder marked the end of the brief flirtation with 3-D films of the early 1950s. Hitchcock said of 3-D, "It's a nine-day wonder, and I came in on the ninth day." It was then followed by a conventional "flat" 2-D release in most theatres due to the loss of interest in the 3-D process (the projection of which was difficult and error-prone). The New York Times review mentioned it opened with the "flat" release at the Paramount Theater in New York City. The film became a critical and commercial failure. At the end of its original theatrical run, the film only earned an estimated $2.7 million at the North American box office. In February 1980, the dual-strip system was revived for the 3-D presentation at the York Theater in San Francisco. This revival did so well that Warner Bros. did a limited national re-release of the film in February 1982, using Chris Condon's single-strip StereoVision 3-D system, including a sold out engagement at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Over time, the film slowly became another Hitchcock classic. In 2001, the film was listed #48 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Thrills list, and #9 in its Top 10 Mysteries list.

The film stars Milland, Kelly, Cummings and Williams. The cast gave terrific Hitchcockian performances. Terrific performances were given by the cast and made a great addition to the Hitchcock gallery. Milland gave a performance better than his performance in The Lost Weekend (1945), and Ms. Kelly made herself, probably, the best Hitchcock blonde.

Its minimal yet fearless attempt to do something new makes Dial M For Murder 3D one of Hitchcock's most interesting movies, I can't pretend to regard it as anything but one of his best. This underrated masterpiece is a brilliant technical experiment, with the cast in the typically Hitchcockian form. Hitchcock liked to pretend that the film was an empty technical exercise, but it introduces the principal themes and motifs of the major period of his body of work.

Simon says Dial M For Murder 3D receives:

Also, see my reviews for North by Northwest and Prince Avalanche.

NZIFF Film Review: "Prince Avalanche" (2013).

The new film by David Gordon Green comes Prince Avalanche. This comedy-drama film adapted and directed by Green from the 2011 film Either Way by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson. The film follows two road-crew workers, who spend the summer of 1988 isolated and away from their city lives, eventually finding themselves at odds with each other and their women back home.

Following the restoration of Bastrop State Park, following the 2011 Bastrop County Complex fire, the band Explosions in the Sky proposed the idea of making a movie with Green. Green then adapted Sigurðsson's film. Despite the 65-page script, the project was fast tracked in to production and completion. Green commented "We really didn’t have time for proper or traditional development... We had the idea in February of 2012, we were filming in May, and sound mixing in July. It was an unusually tight production schedule." Paul Rudd joked to Entertainment Weekly, "I found the biggest challenge of working on this was trying to stifle my alpha-male [masculinity]." The film's entire production was done in secret; it was only announced to the public after completion in June 2012. After his last three films were completed by a major film studio, Green wanted to get back to his independent roots. In May 2012, principal photography and lasted for sixteen days. Filming took place in Bastrop State Park. Because of its scale, the film was shot with a small 15-person film crew.

The film stars Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch. The film's success is due in large part to actors who are both faithful to all the social minutiae and genuinely compelling enough to keep you watching. Although, they show how people learn codes of affection and aggression from having as much fun as possible in a small town, but when they try to pull them off in crucial situations they did come out a little bit awkward, embarrassed and futile.

With fine acting and considerable emotional depth, Prince Avalanche aptly captures the highs, and especially the lows of human relationships. The film is a compelling, and often comedic, portrait of small-town lives. It's surprisingly good, while also writing, the film's characters get inside your skin, your soul. It's enough to make you want to both laugh and cry. So when the film's moment of drama arrives, it's not with comedy but instead the sort of dully anticipatory inevitability that drains as much energy from the story as from the audience. It's well-made. Searingly acted. Potent. And by the time it was over, its climax realised at the point of acceptance and friendship, I felt as though I've been on a emotional roller coaster ride. Yes, it's painful, but the film is so full of rich performances and characterisations that even a fire can't kill it. The film is aching with cross-purposes and shimmering with simple yet effective jokes. Impressive for the mood it creates, the film may not totally satisfy, but the characters are richly depicted and reflect the snowy winter chill that surrounds them.

Simon says Prince Avalanche receives:

Also, see my NZIFF review for Charulata (চারুলতা).

Film Review: "Before Midnight" (2013).

"Everything's better with maturity" in Before Midnight. This This romantic drama film directed by Richard Linklater, and co-written by Linklater, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. It is the third in a trilogy, following Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004). We meet Jesse and Celine nine years on in Greece. Almost two decades have passed since their first meeting on that train bound for Vienna.

Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy had all discussed doing a sequel to Before Sunset. Linklater, Delpy, and Hawke have all agreed on interviews that the final thing that made them decide to make the movie was the fact that the three of them are parents and could know how to write that into the characters' lives. In June 2012, Hawke confirmed that the sequel would be filmed that summer. Soon after, Delpy denied filming would take place that year. But by August 2012, numerous reports emerged from Messenia, Greece, that the film was being shot there. In early September, it was announced that principal photography on the sequel, entitled Before Midnight, had wrapped. Linklater said that, after ten weeks of writing and rehearsing, the film was made in fifteen days for less than $3 million. Although the movie features naturalistic dialogue, every scene was heavily rehearsed, rigidly followed the script and involved no improvisation. The film is dedicated to the memory of Amy Lehrhaupt, the woman who was the inspiration for Before Sunrise. Linklater had spent a night walking and talking around Philadelphia with her in 1989. Though initially they stayed in touch over the telephone, they lost contact eventually. In 1994, Linklater started shooting Before Sunrise and when the world premiere was about to take place, Linklater was secretly hoping that Amy would show up but she did not. Ten years later, Linklater shot Before Sunset and had yet to hear from Amy. Finally, in 2010, a friend of Amy's who knew about their story, contacted Linklater to tell him that Amy had died in a motorcycle accident on May 9, 1994 at the age of 24, only a few weeks before he started shooting Before Sunrise. Both Linklater and Hawke were devastated but found comfort in the inspiration for the Before Trilogy.

The film stars Hawke and Delpy. Like the previous two films, Hawke and Delpy find nuance, art and eroticism in words, spoken and unspoken. The actors shine. Both Hawke and Delpy are excellent and their performances have real depth. This time, too, they're doing more than appearing as fictional creations in a Richard Linklater film. They now share the writing credit with him and are clearly putting much of their experiences of the past two decades into characters they have possessed and been possessed by.

Filled with engaging dialogue, Before Midnight is a witty, poignant romance, with natural chemistry between Hawke and Delpy. The film was a remarkable celebration of the fascination of good dialogue. But the film is better, perhaps because the characters are older and wiser, perhaps because they have more to lose (or win), and perhaps because Hawke and Delpy wrote the dialogue themselves.

Simon says Before Midnight receives:

Also, see my review for Bernie.

Film Review: "Epic" (2013).

"Discover a world from the creators of Ice Age and Rio" with Epic. This 3D computer-animated action-adventure film directed by Chris Wedge, adapted by William Joyce, James V. Hart, Daniel Shere, Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember, based loosely on William Joyce's 1996 children's book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs, and produced by Blue Sky Studios. Mary Katherine, or M.K., is a headstrong, spirited teenager who has a strained relationship with her father. She loses patience with her dad's tales of unseen people who live in the woods, but when she is magically transported to that mythic realm, she gains new perspective. M.K. joins a race of beings known as the Leafmen in their battle to protect their queen from their enemies, evil Mandrake and his crew of Boggans.

In 2006, it was reported that Wedge would be directing an animated feature film based on Joyce's children book for Fox Animation. Joyce, who had already collaborated with Wedge as a designer and producer on Robots (2005). At one point, Wedge got permission to find a new home for the film and turned to Pixar, led by John Lasseter, a close friend that Wedge knew from working on Tron (1982). When Pixar tried to close the rights for the film and start development, Fox changed their mind, and the film returned to Fox. Although the film is based on and borrows many characters from Joyce's book, its plot has been significantly changed. In 2009, the film was officially greenlit in 2009, under the title Leaf Men. In May 2012, Fox announced that Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Colin Farrell, Christoph Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Chris O'Dowd, Jason Sudeikis, Beyoncé Knowles, Thomas F. Wilson, John DiMaggio, Steven Tyler, and Pitbull were cast. In addition, Fox revealed the title and plot details. According to Wedge, he was not satisfied with the renaming, which was decided by the marketing department.

The film stars the voice talents of Seyfried, Hutcherson, Farrell, Waltz, Ansari, O'Dowd, Sudeikis, Knowles, Wilson, DiMaggio, Tyler, and Pitbull. This family delight features wonderful voices from its talent cast with an uncertain blend of sanctimonious principles and Saturday-morning cartoon aesthetics.

With production, writing, acting and animation, this cautionary fable sets an admirable example for the governments of said nations. Yet praising the punctual effort to do something different, the movie falls on all the topics associated with Disney cinema and it doesn't try to hide it. Children would learn more about natural processes from five minutes of Avatar (2009) than they could from all of Epic. Sufficiently entertaining - as long as the adults are ready for a post-movie conversation about the realities of tough environment versus development questions. A self-important environmental message piece that only Sting could love, and hardly an obstacle to the Disney machine, though it is still plesant. The visuals are very pleasing. The story tells a useful lesson, the jungle inhabitants are amusing, and although the movie is not a masterpiece it's pleasant to watch for its humor and sweetness.

Simon says Epic receives:

Also, see my review for Ice Age: Continental Drift.

Film Review: "The World's End" (2013).

"Tonight, we will be partaking of a liquid repast as we wind our way up the Golden Mile. Commencing with an inaugural tankard in The First Post, then on to The Old Familiar, The Famous Cock, The Cross Hands, The Good Companions, The Trusty Servant, The Two-Headed Dog, The Mermaid, The Beehive, The King's Head, and The Hole in the Wall for a measure of the same, all before the last bittersweet pint in that most fateful terminus, The World's End… we will be in truth blind - drunk!" This what you’re in for with The World's End. This British science fiction comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg. It is the third in the Cornetto trilogy, following Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). The film follows a group of five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from 20 years earlier. But as they unwittingly attempt to reconcile the past and present, they realize the real struggle is for humankind.

The World's End began as a screenplay director Edgar Wright wrote aged 21 titled Crawl, about a group of teenagers on a pub crawl. He realised the idea could work with adult characters to capture "the bittersweet feeling of returning to your home town and feeling like a stranger". Wright said he wanted to satirise the "strange homogeneous branding that becomes like a virus", explaining: "This doesn't just extend to pubs, it's the same with cafés and restaurants. If you live in a small town and you move to London, which I did when I was 20, then when you go back out into the other small towns in England you go 'oh my god, it's all the same!' It's like Bodysnatchers: literally our towns are being changed to death." After the story was complete, Wright and Pegg examined a list of real pub names and "tried to make them like tarot cards" to foreshadow the events of the story. All twelve pubs in the film use identical signage on menus and walls, reflecting what Wright called "that fake hand-written chalk" common to modern British pubs. The exteriors of the fictional pubs were shot at locations in Welwyn Garden City and Letchworth Garden City, with altered signage.

The film stars Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan and Rosamund Pike. The performances in this film were some of the most hilarious performances I have ever seen. I believe no other filmmaker, apart from Seth MacFarlane and Wright himself, had directed actors to make me laugh my head off in the theatre. I enjoyed the performances from Pegg, Frost, Considine, Freeman, Marsan and Pike. Also it was a nice change to see that Pegg plays the 'idiot' or the 'incompetent' of the group when he was known to play the 'serious' and the character who had to carry the responsibility. But this time we see Frost take on that role when he was known to the 'clown' and 'idiot'.

The brilliant minds behind Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz successfully take a shot at the sci-fi genre with The World’s End. The result is a bitingly satiric and hugely entertaining parody.

Simon says The World’s End receives: