MIFF: 1029 – THE EAST

Woooooh! My 2nd ever attendance at a film festival was marked on Sunday the 11th of August, 2013. This time with my Father.

We went to see ‘The East’, which is Zal Batmanglij’s masterful take on guerrilla-corporate espionage. I truly enjoyed this film. It was very different to ‘Manuscripts Don’t Burn’ and was set at a much higher pace – something I usually require to enjoy films. The fact that the cinema didn’t smell as weird as The Forum also made a difference.

Set in the present-day States, ‘The East’ follows the work of Sarah; an undercover operative for an elite private intelligence firm as she is tasked with infiltrating an guerrilla- anarchist group who undertake revenge-driven sabotage missions on major corporations. The group, fittingly called ‘The East’, is full of cast-out type individuals who avenge their own personal vendettas through the operations of the clandestine organisation.

The film’s tagline ‘Spy on us, we’ll spy on you’ (IMDB: The East) truly sums up the feel of the story as the audience wonders who knows what at which point in the storyline until the final, exciting climax where all is revealed.

An excellent film with sensational casting guaranteed to provoke thought. Might even make you wonder how much we should trust the big players in the business world right now. 4/5 stars.

Thank you Melbourne International Film Festival for another pleasant night, see you next year.

MIFF: 6052 – MANUSCRIPTS DON’T BURN

Last night marked my very first film festival. On Saturday the 10th of August, 2013, I drove in to the city with Mum and made it to the 6.30pm screening of Mohammad Rasoulof’s ‘Manuscripts Don’t Burn’.

Before the film, we got some chow at a nice little Japanese place on Flinders Lane, where I unfortunately ended up wearing a cup full of my ginger-miso soup due to my clumsiness. Regardless, we enjoyed dinner and made our way down towards The Forum theatre, where I had previously witnessed Tame Impala in all their psychedelic greatness.

The queue to get into the cinema ran along the Forum’s length on Flinders, around the corner and halfway up the intersecting street – a good sign for a film’s hype, I’m guessing. Despite the length of this line, it moved very quickly and Mum and I found our way into some seats within about 10 minutes.

The cinema was absolutely packed to the brim and some late-arriving groups we’re even having to sit apart – the disadvantage of being ‘fashionably late’. After a few short commercials for local bars/Maltesers/Foxtel and Maltesers, the film begun and the audience grew silent.

The film (fully spoken in Farsi with English subtitles) struck me as very well written, directed and shot. I was quite literally blown away by the cinematography – the scenery was spectacular. Definitely recommended for anyone with an interest in the Iranian censorship situation, or anyone who loves a good ‘fighting for freedom’ film.

3.5/5 Stars

Below is the synopsis from the MIFF website:
     “Kasra is an Iranian author who manages to secretly write down his memoirs, although being under strict monitoring by the security service. His stories are related to his time in jail as a political prisoner, as well as different events connected to his life as an intellectual in Iran. He has prepared everything in order to publish these writings and is getting ready to leave the country. Several people in the security service apparatus manage to uncover Kasra’s plans. They will do anything to destroy his manuscripts.”

I’m now looking very much forward to going to see ‘The East’ tonight at the Greater Union Cinema – review to follow.

That part of YouTube…

So… last night I was perusing through YouTube and I ended up in THAT WEIRD PART.

I don’t know when exactly I strayed from ‘normal’ and reached ‘downright strange’ but all I know is that I became truly lost.

I’m sure everyone has experienced this before. You start with a video you intended to watch and after viewing a couple of seemingly harmless ‘related’ videos you end up fatigued, thirsty and without a damned clue where you are.

Becoming lost on YouTube is a lot like being lost in a forest. At night. With creepy noises. Quite often you’ll be scared, whether it is because of the sheer irrelevance of what you’re watching or whether is it the fact that you honestly have no idea where the last hour(s) of your life went.

Below is one of ‘those’ videos that made me realise I seriously need to sort my shit out…

Escalator Conventions

In the interest of originality, I’m going to share my thoughts on escalator conventions and vent my distaste with those who don’t follow the unwritten laws of use.

I remember my first week at uni, how I felt aimless and ‘in the way’ of individuals who walked with a certain purpose in their steps – the business people and those with leather briefcases. I felt that I walked slower and with less conviction than the experienced regulars of the city. These feelings of difference from the majority of the city-slickers were only confirmed when I was told to ‘get the f*** out of the way’ by a bloke who looked old enough to be my dad. This harsh exclamation shocked me at first – but now, I look back on that interaction as a valuable life lesson.

Having spend over 12 weeks commuting to and fro’ the city, I have found myself becoming unjustifiably frustrated when people – particularly CBD novices, are determined to stand motionless on the left side of busy escalators and block the way of those who have places to be and things to do.

It appears I too have become an impatient and slightly unstable escalator Nazi, in only one semester of uni. I wonder what other transformations I will experience in the remainder of my time in the city. Will I start wearing a suit? Carrying a briefcase? Swearing at strangers? Who knows. I sure as hell am interested to see how I turn out.

Here is a link to the work of a modern day Gandhi – a man who seeks peace on the world’s escalators which I think should be a compulsory read before one steps onto a moving staircase.

The state of our public transport system

Now, I s’pose I should go ahead and make my first post…

After mulling over a number of ideas I thought that I might share my experiences on trains over the last few days…

T’was the 25th of July, 2013. And I was on my way home from an exhausting 3-hour day at uni. Sitting on the train minding my own business, I was shocked when I heard the most exaggerated laugh I’ve ever heard coming from a fellow commuter. This lady, who must’ve been in her mid-late 20s was giving her lungs and vocal chords an absolute workout – the projection of her semi-psychotic cackle was INSANE… and closely resembled the laugh of one particular meth-head from Breaking Bad who may or may not have crushed her husband’s head with an ATM. Regardless, the laugh proved to be only the beginning in a series of worsening behaviours exhibited by this maniac. After scaring most of the occupants of the train to the point of changing carriages, the perpetrator decided it appropriate to loudly start ranting about the state of Australian Politics, Nelson Mandela, Aboriginals, Babies, The Royals and just about anything else making the news. This rant was made up of the most foul combination of swear words and racial slurs I’ve ever heard – truly disturbing the peace which usually floods Melbourne’s Metro train network. Now I’m not saying that this woman was definitely a psychopath – but some of the things I heard coming out of her mouth would redefine the meaning of insane. This experience, however was not the first of the week…

The following mid-morning as I jumped on the train into uni at the brutally early time of 10.21am, I was met on the carriage by a couple with a couple of drooling Staffordshire Terriers. Not only were these dogs making an enormous amount of noise – they also climbed the hierarchy of the natural world and sat on the train seats as a human would. Normally this wouldn’t even phase me, but it was the first of 3 major events that made this train ride one of my most memorable to date. Another 10 minutes into the trip, a relatively normal-looking man jumped on and sat into the seat next to me. This is another example of something that usually wouldn’t bother me – but the fact the there were at least 20 free double-seats in the carriage made the situation a bit more unusual. Next, I noticed that the man was making an awful lot of hand gestures, which was strange because he was talking to himself – madness… As if all of the above wasn’t enough, at Clifton Hill station, a man who was obviously intoxicated (may I remind you that it was about 10.50am) graced the carriage with his presence. Slung over the man’s shoulder was a huge rucksack concealing a rather large object, and in his other hand was a plastic shopping bag filled with a number of beers. The man stumbled through the train and took a seat not too far from mine on the opposite side of the train – before he proceeded to crack another coldie and neck it in about 4 minutes flat. Clearly in need of another – the man reached into his bag and summoned another beverage. Now, I have absolutely no problem with a troubled individual enjoying a nice beer or two at 11 in the morning, but my tolerance of such a character goes out the window when they feel the need to let the whole train hear their rubbish music. Much to my dismay, this bloke decides to pull a stereo the size of a small human out of his rucksack and starts blasting some heavy rock – just what you want to hear when you’re half-asleep on the train. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the opportunity to capture any evidence of this most recent train ride – but I assure you it was easily my most memorable to date – for all the wrong reasons.

Sincerely,
Disgruntled Metro customer.