Unsurprisingly, I'm behind on blog posts! I've also switched gears a little on the movie watching, but more on that for the next post.
Alice
Australia, 2019
Ballot vote: 4
Letterboxd rating: 4
I wasn't sure if I'd be able to switch back to full length feature films after all the shorts, but I had no problem watching this one. This is an Australian film, but it's in French and set in France. I found it to be a solid film. Not a must-see, but I was glad I saw it. It paired very well with the film I saw next. Both are stories of women trying to find ways to survive difficult times and the almost hopeless situations that men and society put them in. Both are directed by women. Even though they're set in very different circumstances many years apart, there's still the common thread of resourcefulness and resilience.
Thousand Pieces of Gold
USA, 1991
Ballot vote: 5
Letterboxd rating: 4
SIFF generally shows a few "archival" films during the festival, so this is my archival pick, a newly restored version of a 1991 film. I had never heard of it, and when I read the description, I was (pleasantly) surprised that a film like this even existed: female-directed Western about an Asian American woman who was sold into slavery in Idaho. And apparently it's based on an actual person. I thought it was a good story. I found the accents to be distracting, since they're all clearly Asian Americans and you can hear it when they're speaking Chinese and sometimes when they're speaking Chinese-accented English. Plus, there's no way a woman from the rural mountains of China would speak clear Taiwan-accented Mandarin (that's what it sounds like to me, anyway). But that's really just nitpicking. I'm mainly happy that the movie exists. And I'm glad that people don't decide that all Asian women are called "China Polly" or "China Mary" anymore.
The Breaker Upperers
New Zealand, 2018
Ballot vote: 5
Letterboxd rating: 4
After all of that mistreatment of women, I was ready for some comedy, and The Breaker Upperers really delivered. It has what I'd consider a New Zealand middle-aged Booksmart vibe. Written and directed by the two leading ladies. I thought it was hilarious!
The Man Without Gravity
Italy, 2019
Ballot vote: 4
Letterboxd rating: 3.5
Italian film about a guy who is somehow not subject to the forces of gravity, so he floats. His family tries to hide him away to make sure no one finds out. It was a decent movie, but I felt like things were pretty predictable. Also, I like it when foreign films do things differently than the formulas we get used to in Hollywood, and this one didn't do that at all.
Asako I & II
Japan, 2018
Ballot vote: 5
Letterboxd rating: 4.5
A Japanese film about a woman and her relationships with two men who look very similar but are quite different. Same director who did "Happy Hour," but this film is mercifully much shorter, and I enjoyed it more. It's a small and quiet film, but I thought it was very well directed.
A Fortunate Man
Denmark, 2018
Ballot vote: 4
Letterboxd rating: 3.5
Oooh, a beautiful epic Danish period movie, that's totally up my alley! Too bad the main character is such an asshole, erm, I mean, a fortunate man. The movie is based on an old Danish novel that won the Nobel Prize. They definitely made changes to the plot for the movie and I suspect the tone of the novel is very different from that of the movie. The movie wasn't bad, and it was very pretty to look at, but I think I might be more interested in the book. The novel was published in eight volumes, and the movie comes in at slightly shorter than that but still a pretty lengthy 160+ minutes. I ended up watching it in several different sessions.
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