Moonrise Kingdom
Directed by Wes Anderson
It is the summer of 1965, on an island off the coast of New England and 12 year-olds Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) and Suzy Bishop (Kara Haywood) are in love. Sam is on a scouting camp and doesn’t get on with the other scouts or his foster family, and Suzy feels misunderstood by her megaphone mum and distant father. They decide to run away together and the totally clueless authority figures set out to find them – Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton), Mr and Mrs Bishop (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand) Police Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis) and Social Services (Tilda Swinton). The film is reminiscent of Wes Anderson’s stylised and quirky masterpiece on dysfunction, The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). Newcomers to the screen, Gilman and Haywood, hold their own alongside the experienced cast of grownups as they undertake their own delightfully absurd adventure in the magical summer of first love.
Bully
Directed by Lee Hirsch
Lee Hirsch admits to being bullied as a kid, as do one in four American children and also one in four Australian children. He selected a random city; Sioux City in Iowa, based on where he could get filming permission and followed 5 kids aged 12, 14 and 16 for a year. His footage allows the audience to walk in the shoes of these youngsters as they suffer continual abuse from the kids around them (who seemed oblivious of the camera). Things became so bad for one of the participants, 12 year-old Alex, that Hirsch decided to show the footage to the parents and the school administration. And that’s when things get really nasty as “kids will be kids” platitudes are bandied about and the victim is further attacked by the very people who are there to protect. Young African-American Ja’Meya tries to fight back and lesbian Kelby leaves school, but some of the young people to not survive. This is a must-see film.
Vysotsky, Thank God I’m Alive
Directed by Petr Buslov
Vladimir Vysotsky was a Russian actor, singer, songwriter, poet who mixed social and political commentary with humorous street jargon. Of course, unless you understand Russian, you won’t get this from the film because subtitles are not supplied for the song lyrics. Born in 1938 and dying in 1980, his Bob Dylanish songs have had a great influence on many of Russia’s popular musicians. The script for the film was written by his son Nikita and captures only four tumultuous days of his life in the year before his death when he suffered a cardiac arrest and was clinically dead for several minutes while on a tour of Uzbekistan.
A chain smoker and alcoholic, Vysotsky was also addicted to amphetamines which his circle of minders sourced illegally. This film is an interesting and exciting insight into the man and the times and is part of the Russian Film Festival screening 19-26 September at Cinema Paradiso.
Kath and Kimderella
Directed byTed Emery
Most of Australia has come across the television Kath and Kim at some time, and now they have not only made it to the big screen but all the way to Europe as well. Kath Day-Knight (Jane Turner) wins a trip to Papiloma in Italy and he husband Kel (Glenn Robbins) can’t accompany her because of his fear of flying. So she goes premium economy with her daughter Kim (Gina Riley) and their friend Sharon (Magda Szubanski). Kath has always thought she was foxy and Kim has always considered herself to be a princess, and the bankrupt rule of the principality of Papiloma King Javier (Rob Sitch) and his peculiar mask-wearing son agree with them. Meanwhile, the confused Sharon (Magda Szubanski) stalks the obviously gay royal page Alain (Richard E Grant). With a script written by Turner, Riley and Szubanski, our Aussie treasures from Fountain Lakes will have you rolling around in the aisles.
The Beasts of the Southern Wild
Directed by Benh Zeitlin
Six year-old Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis) is a little piece of a big, big universe. She knows that the whole universe depends on everything fitting together and ruminates “if one piece bust, even the smallest piece, the whole world will be busted”. Hushpuppy is a serious child who lives by herself in a ramshackle construction near her father Wink (Dwight Henry) on a forgotten piece of the Louisiana Bayou known as the Bathtub. Her mother is long gone and she narrates a fable of a small group of people who refuse to leave their homes on the seaward side of the levy that has been built to keep the water back, even though “the big storm” is fast approaching.
It is good to see that the levy system held up against the latest big storm brought by Hurricane Isaac but Director Benh Zeitlin visited Louisiana shortly after the ravages of Hurricane Katrina. He reflects that ”there was a feeling that this was going to be constant, that life in Louisiana was going to be storm life”. He remembers that the place seemed magical and mythical and this influenced his film which captures the intensity as a ragged group of people stand up against the horrific force of nature. He mixes myth with fact when pre-historic creatures awake as a hurricane heads towards the Bathtub. The film is “less like an interpretation of a current event and more like we were entering this age of an almost Biblical apocalypse, with the waters rising and the fish dying and the trees dying.’
Quvenzhane Wallis and Dwight Henry have never acted before but they are captivating as they struggle against powers far greater than them. Zeitlin wanted to fill his films with wild, brave, good-hearted people and he has succeeded with these are fearless warriors. He says, “Whatever amount of chaos and disaster that leads to doesn’t matter because you are going through it with the people you love” … and, despite their flaws, we do.
Lezly Herbert
