A little bit of history - An Ode To My Father & Taklub

For Filmed in Ether, two Reviews From Biff.
One from the Philippines and the other from Korea.
Two very different films but both are dealing with major events in their respective countries.
Actually in style and how they deal with history they are poles apart.
Taklub from Brillante Mendoza is gritty realism dealing with the aftermath of the super typhoon Haiyan. It is a empathetic observation of life after a disaster where the psychological scares are greater than the physical wreckage. The setting is Tacloban which was literally leveled through wind, rain and waves and the film follows a handful of survivors. It is a far from sensational observation of the heartbreak involved with picking up the pieces.

This is the life of a devastated community waiting to be relocated, waiting for life to be returned to normal, waiting in vain for promised relief beyond daily rations and a canvas roof over their heads. They live with the guilt of a survivor, the fear of the next storm bringing a new tsunami and the want of life’s basics and wanting a place that they can call home.

 read the full review here

Brillante Mendoza

 













Ode To My Father from Yoon Je-kyoon differs greatly in that it spans Korean history from the end of the civil war, or at least when there was a truce on the fighting, right up to the present. It's epic in scale, in production value and in box office takings. The treatment of the history is a lot more stylised and sentimental. This is a tear jerker of a film.

Ode to My Father is the story of one man, Yoon Deok-soo (Hwang Jung-min) who dedicates his life to the service of his family and the nation after his father gets left behind in the mass evacuation from the northern Korean port of Hungnam toward the end of the war. His life is hard and his tales are epic but some say that it is a romanticised and sycophantic rewriting of history. Certainly right wing elements of this society have hijacked the film for their own purposes. When it was released earlier this year, the director in fact stopped doing interviews because the focus was solely on this subject.

 read the full review here

Yoon Je-kyoon

Both are fine films but in very different ways and they both come from very fine filmmakers.

BIFF 2015 - Up Close & Personal

The thing I love the most about BIFF, apart from the great programming, is the GV's or guest visits. They work hard to make it a filmmakers festival and invite lots of directors, producers and actors to attend the festival. It's a great chance to hear it straight from the horses mouth and to meet and greet if you are in the right place at the right time. My festival program revolved around GV's and pretty much every film I wanted to see had a GV. The glaring exception was Sion Sono but I have heard from him at past festivals and hey I got to meet him at BIFAN earlier this year. The other which was a bit more disappointing was Hong Sang Soo (his one GV was booked out very early on) and Brillante Mendoza (not in attendance) but I got to see Taklub, his latest film.

Ode to my Father - Yoon Je-kyoon

This film spans the history of South Korea from the civil war up to today and is a classic example of how to play the audiences emotions. I wept on at least six different occasions and on some I couldn't keep watching. This man is a meastro of sadness, melancholy and nostalgia and he played me like a violin. 
Zubaan - Mozez Singh
This was a world premiere and it is a debut feature plus it opened the festival, a lot of firsts!
A great movie about destiny and music is central to the plot. The music is hybrid Bollywood/modern along with some traditional spiritual Punjabi. A beautiful visual feast.

Director Mozez Singh

Sarah Jane Dias

Manish Chaudhari & 설화

Lav Diaz & Hazel Orencia (Filipino Royalty)

 Not showing any films this year but he was over to talk about work in progress of the latest film Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis and show a few clips. Having reviewed a couple of his films and conversed via email it was a real treat to meet him in person and have a bit of a chin wag.

Stop - Kim Ki duk

Hiromitsu Takeda

Kim Ki duk & fan pose for selfie

Tsubasa Nakae

The gang at the Q&A

Not his best and it did suffer from the production values, a result of shooting it on location in Japan with only him as the crew! But the acting is good and the message is right.

Office - Hong Won chan

Sungwoong Park 박성웅, Hyunkyung Ryu 류현경,Asung Ko 고아성 & Hong Wonchan 홍원찬

What a cracker this was. Tight and compelling with at least five 'jump out of your seat' moments. A thrilling story of how fucked up the office politics can get and the pressures the workers face on a daily basis.

Asung Ko 고아성

She may look cute but she is a mad, cold killer though the circumstance that compel her to such behavior are not in her control and a product of the system. She gets away with it all to apply for another intern position in a different company. She also had a role in Hong Sangsoo's film Right Now Wrong Then. Her diversity and range is very inspirational.














Highway to Hellas - Aron Lehmann
A very funny German comedy set in Greece about banking. Ironic but true!

Aron Lehmann & Producer

A Korean in Paris - Jeon Soo-il A surreal searching for movie that has many open ended questions.

Mi Kwan Lock, one of the stars from A Korean in Paris

What a absolute treat of a festival and this year I was only there for five days. Looking forward to the next already.