latest notices
QPIX STUDENTS ARE TROPFEST FINALISTS
Graduates of QPIX’s 2011 Diploma of Production course have won their way into the finals of TROPFEST, the world’s largest short film festival, with their student production PHOTOBOOTH. Set in the Afghanistan conflict, PHOTOBOOTH is one of a sequence of...
'Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu' Out February 10
(Nationwide)
Over The Fence Comedy Film Deadline
(Nationwide)
Rottofest 2012: Call For Entries Now Open!
(Nationwide)
latest news
Geoffrey Rush Joins Tropfest
The acclaimed actor and newly-crowned Australian of the Year, Geoffrey Rush, will be a key player in 2012’s Tropfest activities.
Naomi Watts To Play Princess Diana
The Aussie actress is set to play the people’s princess in an upcoming film that chronicles the final two years of Diana’s life.
Sullivan Stapleton Signs On To ‘300’ Prequel
The Aussie actor has beat out the competition to land a role in the upcoming blockbuster.
James Cameron Loses Long Time Australian Collaborators
Producer Andrew Wight and cinematographer Mike deGruy lose their lives in a helicopter crash.
search the site
newsletter
Enter your email address below to receive the weekly Filmink newsletter
The Wife and Girlfriend Experience
FILMINK's MIFF correspondent gives us the latest on the festival's fantastic films.
MIFF Blog, Session 2
Anthony Roberts explores the program at the Melbourne International Film Festival.
First of the night's double header was Katalin Varga, and for all those nineteenth century Romanian history buffs I'll stop you right there - no, this is not a biopic on the life and times of Katalin Varga, the leader of the Transylvania Miners' Movement in the 1840s. I'm very sorry to disappoint.
Rather, this a contemporary revenge drama set against the backdrop of Romania's picturesque Carpathian Mountains. From first time helmer Peter Strickland, the story begins with Katalin and her son, Orban, being harshly exiled from their village by her irate husband Zsigmond, who finds out that Katalin was raped eleven years previous (he calls her a "whore", probably not the reaction she was hoping for).
Katalin and Orban (who was actually fathered by the man who raped Katalin) proceed to take a road trip across the Romanian countryside in a horse and cart (on a side note, I found it strange that she owned a mobile phone, but still got by using this method of transportation). While Katalin continues to tell her innocent companion that they're going to visit her ailing mother, she has more sinister plans in mind - to avenge the traumatic crime that was committed against her all those years ago.
What has all the makings of a taut, archaic revenge flick misses the mark a little. The pace is too slow, and while the sweeping shots of the Transylvanian countryside are aesthetically pleasing, Strickland holds many of these shots too long, and you kind of become aware of it. It was also difficult to buy into Katalin's motivation for revenge. It seems as though it was spurred on by the fact that she was kicked out of the house by an unsympathetic husband, and vengeance was just something to do.
The film does have fairly strong performances from lead actress Hilda Peter, as well as Tibor Palffy who plays Antal, the man at the center of Katalin's retribution. And the fact that it was shot over four years, with an entire budget of less than 30,000 Euros, is pretty damn extraordinary. I wouldn't think many filmmakers could produce such an effort for so little money.
Katalin Varga next screens Monday August 3, 4:45pm, Forum Theatre
The second act of the night was Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience, a sporadic, digitally shot endeavour which is his follow-up film to the five-hour biopic Che, which is also showing at this year's festival (split into two parts, reviews to come). This film follows high-class escort Chelsea as she navigates her way through the trendy haunts of Manhattan to give her clients a slice of the perfect girlfriend that they seemingly don't have time for.
The story takes place over five days on the eve of the 2008 Presidential election and smack bang in the middle of the Global Financial Crisis. Over this short period we encounter Chelsea as she deals with her slew of different clients, her relationship with boyfriend and personal trainer Chris, and her attempts to expand her brand in a time of economic peril.
Soderbergh is on top of his game here, with his thoughtfully fragmented editing along with his honest cinematography - using only natural light - perfectly capturing dimly lit trendy Manhattan nightspots and boutique shops. He also does a terrific job of adapting the story and the GFC, which hit right at the time the film was being made. You feel much of the story dealt with these issues anyway, but the transition is fairly seamless.
Soderbergh doesn't allow the film to be a simple narrative of the escort business either. He doesn't portray Chelsea as the stereotypical bed-hopping vixen who has to deal with a bevy of sweaty men and their weird sexual fantasies. In fact, the film doesn't contain anything close to a graphic sex scene, unless you count the unexpected climax of the film which takes place in a Hassidic bakery. Rather, this is a story of the escort as businesswoman with her own brand, and the notions of power, control, and capitalism.
This project first garnered a significant amount of attention when it was announced that Sasha Grey, a well known adult film actress, was cast in the lead role. And Grey is somewhat of a revelation here, bringing a genuine realism to the role of the seemingly unaffected Chelsea. Grey plays it perfectly as this detached, very cold persona, a necessity in that line of work (as explored in the film by a journalist who is doing a story on her). But there are a couple of moments of unexpected vulnerability, and Grey plays these scenes understatedly well. Chris Santos, another unknown actor (the film is filled with a cast of unknowns) who plays boyfriend Chris, is also great in his role as he attempts to financially stay afloat, as well as dealing with the difficult nature of his relationship with an escort.
Also watch out for a coincidental tie-in to this year's MIFF, and a scene in which two street folk singers spout the words "Everyone's a Critic".
The Girlfriend Experience next screens Sunday August 9, 9pm, ACMI