Un an plus tard.....One year later

So here I am again reentering the blogesphere, it has been a while my friends but better late than never right?

Lately I have had the desire to see more cinema and as a welcome back to the blog I will be creating my own film festival of sorts. From 11-21 August I will be packing my schedule full of great cinema outings, and I am proud to say not all of which will be to mainstream Hollywood blockbusters, although I do love them from time to time.

In the time that I have been away I have fallen in love with ARC cinema, mostly due to their dedication to show fantastic films from all across the world, many of which would not make it to Hoyts or Greater Union. There are also many classic films from the 60's and 70's shown there too.

ARC also sponsors and hosts numerous film festivals throughout the year including the Italian/French Film Festivals and recently the Human Rights Film Festival. A full schedule of their events can be found at http://www.nfsa.gov.au/whats_on/arc/index.html.

Being shown at the 2010 Kensington Film Festival will be:

• Lust, Love and Lies
• Boy
• The Samurai
• Me and Orson Wells

Others I am sure will be added but for now that is all! If you have a film you think should be included into the film festival line up leave a comment and let me know!

My Sister's Keeper

I have been wanting to see this film for quite a while and found out earlier this week that my local cinema will stop showing it after dark starting mid-week, meaning that last night was my last opportunity to see it. After being turned down by one of my friends (who shall remain nameless...for now) to see the film and not having the time or energy to try and find a date who would want to see the film, I decided to go and see the film by myself.

I used to think that going to the movies by yourself was a weird thing and would take pity on the people that I saw by themselves in the theatre, but you know what after last night I have a bit of a better understanding of why people do it. It was kind of liberating to go and see the film by myself and not have to worry about whether or not my date would be on time( I die for tardiness!), who I would take and if they would even want to see the film I wanted to. Going by myself proved to be no stress and I could just chill in the theatre by myself, quite delightful really. I don't think I would do it all the time, but I will definitely do it again. There is quiet dignity to going to the movies solo.

But to the film itself. My Sister's Keeper is based on the novel (of the same name) by Jodi Picoult and has quite the star studded line up, including Cameron Diaz, child prodigy Abigail Breslin, Alec Baldwin and screen delight Joan Cusack. It follows the Fitzgerald family through the treatment and management of the eldest daughter Kate's (Sofia Vassilieva) battle with leukemia. Kate was diagnosed with the disease as a child and a radical option to help cure it was to create a sibling (Anna played by Breslin) with perfect DNA which could be used transfer organs to Kate. But now Anna has had enough and so enlists the services of high flying Californian lawyer Campbell Alexander (Baldwin) to medically emancipate her from her parents.


Anna (Breslin) and her lawyer Campbell Alexander (Baldwin) in court

As a result of Anna's decision and legal challenge the family is put into chaos, especially as Kate's health rapidly deteriorates at the same time and it is apparent that she may be losing the battle she has fought all of her life.

The way that the story is told by director Nick Cassavetes is very stirring. The delicate subject of a sick child and the way that it affects an entire family, throughout many years, has been executed beautifully. Audiences are able to get a real sense of what real life families must go through when a child gets cancer. The majority of the film is a real tear jerker, but not all of it is because of the desperate situation the family finds itself in, rather the film scatters poignant every day moments that show a families love for one another, which had everyone in my theatre clutching for their Kleenexes.

Cameron Diaz and Sofia Vassilieva

While performances by Diaz and Breslin were as spectacular as audiences have come to expect from them both, there were three real standouts. Middle child Jesse Fitzgerald (Evan Ellingson) was able to to explore the other parts of life that go on when Mum and Dad are busy looking after another child all the time. Joan Cusack who plays the judge that presides over the case (herself a recently grieving mother) breaks with all conventions about what a typical judge should be and displays all the sensitivities you would want a judge to have if the case were real life. Finally Vassilieva was simply amazing, she actually shaved all her hair and eyebrows off for this role. The bravery showed by her character in the final scenes was spectacular, her acting has never been finer.

4.5 stars.

Balibo

Friday night saw me and one of my best friends Tommy T head to Dendy in the city and catch the new Australian film, Balibo. I was really excited about seeing this film, as it has been talked up by many film critics and I believe will help go along way in selling the credentials of the Australian film industry to both domestic and international audiences. It is also nice to go to a mainstream cinema and see Australian's telling Australian stories.

Balibo, re-tells the story of the five Australian journalists (commonly referred to as the Balibo Five) who were covering the imminent invasion of East Timor by Indonesia after East Timor had declared Independence from the Portuguese in 1975.

When it was clear that something had happened to the five, East Timorese Freedom Fighter Jose Ramos -Horter (Oscar Issac) convinces another Australian journalist Roger East (Anthony LaPaglia) to find out what happened to the Balibo Five and tell the world their story.

Anthony LaPaglia as Roger East

The film is told in three ways, by the Balibo Five themselves, through Roger East and also through a witness who lived through the 1975 ordeal as a small girl in Dili. The majority of the story is told by Roger East and for the most this method works, however at times, and especially at the end, a simpler way of explaining what happened should have been used as it depicts the tragic events that unfolded in a far too complex way.

The way that the film's director (Robert Connolly) sets the amazing cruelty of the Indonesian army against the beautiful backdrop of the forests of East Timor is intense. Stand out performances by Oscar Isaac and Damon Gameau, (who plays Channel 7 reporter Grey Shackleton), make the portrayals of their characters authentic and enjoyable. However unfortunately the same can not be said for Anthony LaPaglia. Undoubtedly one of Australia's finest actors, you only need to look at his acting in Lantana to see that, but in Balibo his performance was underrated and in the end scene was incredibly lacking. However the scenes with him and the Timorese hotel girl was very touching.


Damon Gameau as Ch 7 reporter Greg Shackelton

As the final credits rolled, Tommy T and I almost in unison said to each other "I am not ok". We were mostly not ok for two reasons. Firstly for the sheer violence that happened in East Timor by the Indonesian Army in 1975 and also because the Australian Government at the time did nothing to help either the people of East Timor nor the Balibo Five.

Balibo is an incredibly important film for all Australian's, its telling of one of Australia's worst war-journalism tragedies is a haunting reminder of just how much danger journalists reporting war will put themselves into so that people watching the news will know the truth.

3.5 stars.

The September Issue

So last night I has a rendez-vous with Velveteen Libertine to see The September Issue.

The September Issue is a documentary that follows the inner workings of the production of Vogue Magazine's September Issue, which is more like a fashion almanac than a magazine. Each year the team at Vogue, under the direction of their fearless leader Anna Wintour, strives to make that year's September Issue bigger and better then the previous one.

I must admit that the only thing that I knew about Anna Wintour before watching the film was the fact that she was meant to be the magazine world's fiercest lady who everyone is scared of but who is incredibly talented and successful, as well as being a complete bish to everyone in the process. Meryl Streep's character in the Devil wears Prada is meant to be largely based on Anna Wintour.

Vogue Editor Anna Wintour on the red carpet

What was so interesting about this film was that while you were tantalised and engrossed with the every day going's on in the Vogue office, the layers of this seemingly fashion driven ego centric world and character development (of real people remember) was just amazing.

As much as the film was about Anna Wintour it was equally about the work of Vogue creative director Grace Coddington. Grace, who used to be an English model, has worked in both the UK and American Vogue publications and started with Anna in the US branch on the same day.

Her amazing talent for fashion photography has been able to transform fashion into an art form, with many of the prints from her photo shoots seeming more like modern art than magazine photography. Audiences are treated to seeing this genius at work. Another treat is the constant bickering between Grace and Anna. Grace fights tooth and nail over the artistic integrity of the magazine and concepts behind her photo shoot, while still remaining dignified and ultimately knowing that if there is something that Anna really doesn't like it won't go in, no matter how hard Grace tries.

Anna and Grace with Marc Jacobs

R.J Cutler (the films creator) has been creative in the way that he has chosen to perceive Anna. There were two moments in the film that showed her true character, which might not necessarily conscribe to how people regard her. The first was when she spoke of what her brothers and sisters do and think of her work. One of Anna's brothers is a social housing worker in London, another is the executive at The Guardian Newspaper and her sister also has an important occupation, in the film she said something along the lines of "they are amused with what I do....they're amused" and like all good documentary film makers Cutler left camera rolling for a little too long, easily picking up the fact that as powerful and successful as Anna is she still desperately wanted the approval of her family, in many ways humanising her to the audience.

The second scene was when she was showing the final version of The September Issue to the executive of Conde Nast for their approval. They were all men. Her discomfort of having to justify her work to other people and actually be answerable to someone appeared strikingly clear on camera. Anna's relationship with her daughter is also interesting to follow, as her daughter wants nothing to do with the world of fashion magazines and provides the film (and her mother) with some reality checks.

An element where I thought that the film was lacking was the fact that they never mentioned what kind of input Anna has with the content side of the magazine, it covered remarkably well the work that goes into the photographic, artistic and fashion pages but it was odd for the film maker to leave out this part of the editorial process.

Having said that though it was only a minor point and hardly detracted from what was one of the year's most intriguing and spell binding documentaries.

4.5 stars.

Kensington in E-Town

Hello and welcome or Bonjour et bienvenue as the French would say!

This is my nice new blog where you will be able get a glimpse into the life and times of me, Kensington, and all my friends.

Currently I am busy guest blogging for my wonderful friend Velveteen Libertine but starting next week the blogging on this site will begin!

Some of the lovely things you can expect to read are about the comings and goings of a 20 something hot Young Professional living, working and generally just being in the nations capital and all of the beautiful things and beautiful people I meet along the way!