Past Students rocking the World # 6

WELCOME TO DOOKIE
don't know where it is? That's cool most don't but if we get behind this project then you will!
Regional Australia has been in decline now for years, decades but not centuries and Dookie is no exception.
It's in the food bowl of North Central Victoria, tucked between Shep and Wang. I only know it because I flirted with Ag science once upon a time and it has the college out there.
Oh shit that's right it also has a train! but that hasn't stopped there since the 50's
 

 Past student, MIFF buddy and friend Alta is part of a creative team that is going to put Dookie back on the map.
A short comedy about the last two citizens of Dookie running a campaign to get the train to stop and 'hopefully' repopulate the town, get it back on its feet so to speak. But Dookie does have real people living there and part of the effort is to raise awareness of their town and I would suggest the plight of most regional/rural towns of Australia.
Concept is good, Team is good and they have some great people getting behind the film.
They're running a crowd funder at the moment on Pozzible if you feel so inspired.

God's Country....right!

Resurrection Music MIFF

Love a good music doc and yesterday I did two
but gee although they were the same they were also entirely different.
Both were about resurrecting an old music and bringing it to a new audience of today. 

Harana,
about the dying art of the serenade in the phillipines.

The Stone Roses - made of stone
about the seminal Madchester Brit Band's reformation & come back gig

So both had a similar format. After revealing the music, they roll out the exponents of the music (rather old at this stage), they bond and play, then they rehearse for a finale show. That's pretty stripped back but sorta it essentially.

Music as feel good.
It's pretty hard to dodge if the musicians are good and these are two examples of just that!

Harana was like a nice cozy, fluffy blanket that slowly enveloped you until you realised you were warm as toast with a beaming smile on. And what a great feeling that is. The gentleness and fragility of the Haranaistas is totally engaging and you wonder if they are up to it. Some have not performed for 20+ years, but as their journey unfolds we are witness to a beautiful bond between them that grows and becomes infectious and before you know it you to are connected. Lovely settings, beautiful souls and sublime music and singing. And it's all in the name of love. Brilliant!

Made of Stone was a lot more up-beat, the music was more recognisable but you still had that warm feeling and that big big smile.  This doco didn't have a lot of material to work with which may come as a surprise but just have a look at one of their early interviews (1988 or so) and they just don't go beyond monosyllabic answers whilst looking supremely stoned. Most of the doco features the band reforming and rehearsing for the big come back concert but the way it is structured, using the archival footage sparingly and effectively takes us on their journey in a truly engaging way. Unlike the band in its heyday the film is not indulgent but gives you just enough of the music to please the die hard fans with one great extended track at the end which demonstrates the bands ease with 'the groove'. They have such a great tight sound for a four piece. The editing of this section is excellent and great example of the craft of cutting to music but still driving a story. Beautiful!

But it would be a disservice to the films and the filmmakers if it wasn't pointed out that the musicians, ie the people are very central to both these films. We get into their world, their extraordinary world.

and there is still a chance in Melbourne to see both these docs

Sun 4 Aug 9:00 PM ACMI 1

Tue 6 Aug 6:30 PM Greater Union Cinema 6

Don't MIFF out!

Well I'm going to open my MIFF 2013 account with the latest film from Australia's most exciting auteur, Ivan Sen. My opening night will be Mystery Road and following it up the next day with a talk by Ivan Sen and Aaron Pederson.

 
Most have heard of his debut feature Beneath Clouds from 2002 which traveled and was well received at Cannes. But I came to his films via the intense, brooding and thoroughly noncommercial masterpiece Dreamland.


Dreamland - Trailer from Dreamland The Film on Vimeo.

This was followed up by Toomelah, bleak but beautiful and totally engaging. But it is the way Ivan makes his films that is just the icing on the cake. He is a one man band, not 100% but essentially. He writes, directs, shoots, composes and probably edits (though I'm not sure of this?) No one in Toomelah is an actor but can you pick it? No one had a script as such, Ivan fed them the lines that were for the shots/scene they were doing.


This one also traveled to Cannes in 2011.

But that is all in the past now because Mystery Road is upon us.
Ivan has returned to a more usual filmmaking process (he had a crew) and word is it is shot beautifully and has an amazing performance from Aaron Pederson plus other actors like Hugo Weaving, Ryan Kwanten, Jack Thompson, Jack Charles, Tasma Walton and Damian Walshe-Howling. Sounds cool on paper eh?

I'm up for a cracker. This Friday 26th July at the Forum. It is currently sold out but they will release the final tickets at 5pm on the night and there is always the stand-by queue at the venue.
One screening only? so it's tomoz or never! Why only one screening?

Box Fresh

Box Fresh.
Heard the term today.
Funny language.
Brand new, fresh out of the box. esp with sneakers.
We must talk Unboxing Videos one day, ...fascinating genre.
They'd be very Box Fresh
The latest cover from , Just back from Japan, Nylon Pink's version of BIGBANG's Monster
featuring Scotty the Kid.

Here's the original.

And here's some more

I reckon they should cover this one from Rurouni Kenshin

Who Rides That Bike # 5

The Huntresses (조선미녀삼총사)

Like your all girl, historical action flick to have a wee bit of tongue in cheek?
Look no further. The Huntress teaser

  

Set in the Joseon period of Korea (a rather large slab of time of 500 years or so?) it features 3 bounty hunters Jin-Ok (Ha Ji-Won), Hong-Dan (Kang Ye-Won) & Ga-Bi (Son Ga-In) who form a group to thwart a power play against the royal throne.
Are they Musketeers? or more probably Ninjas?, possibly three Stooges? or even Charlies Angels....Nah. Directed by Park Je-Hyun, set for release in May 2013, it is a martial arts romp that has a good dose of the comedic. However the few comedies that I have seen from Korea always seem to run deeper than the silly and stupid that we have come to expect from Hollywood so I'm expecting interesting at the very least.
Maybe this is along the lines of what Maria Tran is doing with her filmmaking in Sydney?
I shall wait and see.

Ha-Ji-Won

     

Son Ga-in

Kang Ye-won

Synopsis

As a child, Jin-ok witnessed the murder of her father and narrowly escaped death. She is taken under the wing of Mu-myeong, the man who saved her life, and trains in martial arts alongside two other girls. 10 years pass and the girls are now Joseon's best bounty hunters. One day, Jin-ok is asked to take on a case for a handsome reward. Against their master's wishes, the trio takes on the job, not knowing it will eventually lead them to the man responsible for the death of Jin-ok's father 10 years before.

 

Battōsai - from Manga to Live Action

directed by Keishi Ōtomo, and staring Takeru Satoh and Emi Takei
Samurai with the most integrity.
Kenshin, once Battōsai, carries a 'backward sword' to remind him of his vow to never kill again.
Most noble, especially with what is thrown at this now retired assassin.

 

Being no expert in Manga and Anime I wasn't sure what to expect from this live action adaption of the very well known Rurouni Kenshin. 

It's a great Samurai tale with some fabulous action and fight sequences and a great sense of the fantastical. Sometimes the camera work and the shots very much reminded you of watching a cartoon but it was so OK and very cool because you realised how well made those Anime are and that they are the perfect shots and moves for the story at that time. In fact it was rather delightful!

The film was released in Japan last August 2012 and it went a bit gang busters at the box office. It premiered in South Korea at the Busan Film Festival and also went a bit nuts in the Phillipines.
It has been praised as a pretty spot on live action adaptation and has since been released around the world. Not so sure about Australia but it was certainly shown at the Japanese Film Festival last year and I got to see it through Madman's "cultography' screening at the Cinema Nova

It is certainly available on DVD & Blu Ray