You hear that, Mr Andersen?

Film Festival 2008: Day 5

By three methods we may learn wisdom:
First, by reflection, which is noblest;
Second, by imitation, which is easiest;
and third by experience,which is the most bitter. -- Confucius

This is the quote that started Up the Yangtze, a film that was a lot busier than I was expecting - according to the woman I sat next to, the director had been giving some really good interviews on National Radio, which she thought accounted for the excellent attendance. The film-maker's grandfather had told him all about the Yangtze when he was growing up, and then his family recently went on a cruise up the river. They're calling these the "farewell cruises", since the water is rapidly rising because of the Three Gorges Dam, and the film looks a bit at how this is affecting the people that live by the river.

There is some footage about the new housing that has been created for the displaced citizens, and some of the anger that these people feel about corrupt officials not paying the proper compensation, but the film mostly focuses on a couple of teenagers who have taken jobs with a particular cruise liner. One is a city boy, who boasts to his friends about how he'll be much richer than them, and talks about how he can't be bothered to help anyone but middle-aged people (because the young and old are such poor tippers). The other is a girl who really wants to stay in school, but her parents are very poor, and need her to get a job. We get to meet that family, who are living in a shack that they've built on land abandoned because it's right next to the river and will soon be flooded; they've planted a bunch of vegetables, and are taking advantage of being able to live off the land for a while. She obviously finds it quite hard adjusting, and misses her parents; but by the end, it seems like she fits in.

(The guy is let go for arrogance after his initial trial period.)

One of the things that was quite surprising was how much access that the cameras seemed to have, given other films I've seen set in China (like China Blue a couple of years ago). Apparently the director formed a relationship with the cruise-line, which allowed him to go with them when they were doing their recruiting drive, and let him follow a bunch of different applicants, as well as giving him access all over the ship. And because he is ethnically Chinese (as well as being Canadian), he was able to blend in - he said that people thought that he was with a local news crew, and were quite open in their complaints about corrupt officials.

(Actually, that's one of the things I think is most worrying about this particular mega-dam project: widespread corruption coupled with a large construction project that could catastrophically fail seems like a recipe for Disaster Stew.)

There was some mention of the idea that "the little family must suffer for the benefit of the big family", and many of those affected seemed resigned to the fact that the flooding would take place, and actually believed that the government was doing the right thing; but in some ways, that's probably one of the reasons why the compensation issue was so touchy.

Speaking of touchy subjects, there was a scene where we saw the new recruits being told about topics to avoid - Quebec separatism, for example, and the Northern Ireland question. In fact, telling them what they shouldn't talk about would probably constitute a fairly good primer on world affairs.

There's some stuff to say about the culture of tipping, but it's getting late, so I'm just going to move on.

* * *

I had hoped that C was going to make it to The Hollow Men, but unfortunately she couldn't. This was a documentary about the behaviour of the National Party in the last election, and how they very carefully engineered their message to allow them to shift to the right while still claiming to represent the centre. Using PR people, an advertising agency that specialised in conservative political advertising in Australia, and focus groups, they made sure that their potential voters weren't scared off by the unpopular positions that they held - undoing the nuclear ship ban, and scrapping various worker's rights, for example.

Looking at the sausage factory behind the closed doors in politics is never likely to be pretty; but the thing that disturbs me is the idea that National knew that the majority of NZers wouldn't agree with a large number of their policies, so they made sure that they only heard about stuff that they'd like, with the idea that they'd get in, and then make the changes that they felt needed to be made for our own good. I guess that Labour has an advantage in theses stakes, since they've been running things for quite some time, so people know what they're trying to do.

Overall, it was a bit light, but I enjoyed it.

* * *

Just before going to In Bruges, I bumped into Steve, and was having a chat when work rang. I wasn't able to diagnose the problem over the phone, so I ended up knowing that I was gong to have to go into work that evening, which rather put a damper of the rest of the day.

I'd heard that this was a good movie, and wasn't disappointed. Two Irish gangsters are sent to Bruge to hide out after a hit gets complicated; the older one loves it, and the younger one thinks it's a crap-hole. But, as it turns out, it's a crap-hole where they're making a movie with a midget, which mollifies him somewhat.

I thought it was a funny film, and I liked the twisted sense of honour that the gangsters showed. The tone gets noticeably darker towards the end of the film, and there's quite a bit of gore by the credits. I'm not saying it's a bad thing - just something that I noticed.

I'm really glad I saw it, and would happily pick it up on DVD.

* * *

After this, I dashed up to the Film Archive for Flower in the Pocket, a Malaysian film about a father who has more or less abandoned his sons to look after themselves while he sinks into shift-work and depression. There's not a whole lot of plot going on, but there was plenty of interesting character interaction to watch - in particular, how the two boys relate to a young Muslim girl that they end up playing with.

A bit of a slow film, but pleasant. Not one that I feel a need to watch again, though.

* * *

And finally that night, I met up with Jenni to watch Ben X. Basically, a teenager with Aspergers finds he does really well in a MMO, but can't handle real life, especially the intense bullying. Jenni felt some trepidation, because of some stuff she read on IMDB; and there were definitely some moments where we both had to look away, and that I for one was grateful that there was someone else there to look worried at.

In the end, however, I found the movie very satisfying indeed - one of the movies that make it worth my while going to things that I think may be outside my comfort zone, and one of my best experiences so far at the festival. However, just like my positive feelings towards Ringu might be influenced by the fact that I drank a litre of Mountain Dew before watching it (and so might have been inclined to a jumpiness that made the movie even more deliciously creepy), the expectations that I had going into this movie (and the amount of speculation that I did in my head about where the movie was going) probably made a big difference to my enjoyment, and I'm not at all surprised that many people didn't enjoy it as much as I did.

I liked how they cinematically suggested that the main character was casting the things happening around him in MMO terms, and I think I'm definitely going to watch this again, since there are some stuff that I think would benefit from a second viewing. But I'm not sure whether I need to own the DVD.

(I have the pending days reviews finished; but I might not have time to post them before polishing them; luckily, tonight is an early night! Well, I finish at 10pm, anyway. Unless I decide to go to the Batman movie. :)

Posted by svend at July 25, 2008 10:11 AM