48 entries in category 'iffr'
IFFR film 23 (final): Les Barons (Ben Yadir Nabil, Belgium): 4/5
A perfect film to end my festival experience with. Some forced drama, but consistently very funny, through the credits even.
A perfect film to end my festival experience with. Some forced drama, but consistently very funny, through the credits even.
IFFR film 22: Symbol (Matsumoto Hitoshi, Japan): 4/5
The most original film I've seen in a long time. Even more surreal than Matsumoto's previous film Big Man Japan,
and a lot more enjoyable and moving.
The most original film I've seen in a long time. Even more surreal than Matsumoto's previous film Big Man Japan,
and a lot more enjoyable and moving.
IFFR film 21: Police, Adjective (Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania): 3/5
Seemingly boring at first, but saved by some brilliant and long single-shot dialogs on language and meaning of words.
Seemingly boring at first, but saved by some brilliant and long single-shot dialogs on language and meaning of words.
IFFR film 20: Visage (Taiwan/France): 3.5/5
Not as impressive as 2007's I Don't Want To Sleep Alone, but Tsai Ming-liang + Lee Kang-sheng = always good. I wish I could have also caught the Déjà passer series of Taiwanese short films, which featured works by/with both of them.
Not as impressive as 2007's I Don't Want To Sleep Alone, but Tsai Ming-liang + Lee Kang-sheng = always good. I wish I could have also caught the Déjà passer series of Taiwanese short films, which featured works by/with both of them.
IFFR film 19: Café Noir / 카페 느와르 (Jung Sung-Il, South Korea): 4/5
Wow, very long at over 3 hours (they even included a 15 minute break in the middle which is rare for a festival showing), but quite something special, especially for those well versed in Korean films. Luckily the second half was even better than the first. An interesting mix of styles, switching from colour to b/w for some scenes etc. And I've never seen the city of Seoul itself used as a character quite as beautifully like this, with long single-take shots where the camera just glides along the streets or river for minutes and minutes.
Also: it wasn't until the credits that I realized one of the characters that looked so familiar to me was played by indie music star Yozoh! The little keyboard she continuously carried on her back should have been a hint, I suppose.
Wow, very long at over 3 hours (they even included a 15 minute break in the middle which is rare for a festival showing), but quite something special, especially for those well versed in Korean films. Luckily the second half was even better than the first. An interesting mix of styles, switching from colour to b/w for some scenes etc. And I've never seen the city of Seoul itself used as a character quite as beautifully like this, with long single-take shots where the camera just glides along the streets or river for minutes and minutes.
Also: it wasn't until the credits that I realized one of the characters that looked so familiar to me was played by indie music star Yozoh! The little keyboard she continuously carried on her back should have been a hint, I suppose.
IFFR film 18: My Daughter (Charlotte Lay Kuen Lim, Malaysia): 2.5/5
IFFR film 15: Twisted Roots / Väärät Juuret (Finland): 4/5
Another one of my favourites of this year. Colourful family story, in pretty Finnish winter scenes that (as explained by director Saara Saarela during the Q&A) had to be shot quickly during the 2.5 hours of daylight available each day. Nice soundtrack too.
Another one of my favourites of this year. Colourful family story, in pretty Finnish winter scenes that (as explained by director Saara Saarela during the Q&A) had to be shot quickly during the 2.5 hours of daylight available each day. Nice soundtrack too.
IFFR film 14: Nymph / นางไม้ (Thailand): 3/5
Dreamy atmospheric Pen-Ek Ratanaruang treatise on the dangers of extra-marital treehugging.
Dreamy atmospheric Pen-Ek Ratanaruang treatise on the dangers of extra-marital treehugging.
IFFR film 11: All That I Love / Wszystko co kocham (Jacek Borcuch, Poland): 4/5
After this very enjoyable film that I chose mostly as a schedule filler, an extra surprise was to see that the director and part of the cast had arrived in Rotterdam just in time to do a fun Q&A afterwards. Always quite special to suddenly see the real actors walk out in front after having just watched them on the big screen.
After this very enjoyable film that I chose mostly as a schedule filler, an extra surprise was to see that the director and part of the cast had arrived in Rotterdam just in time to do a fun Q&A afterwards. Always quite special to suddenly see the real actors walk out in front after having just watched them on the big screen.
IFFR film 10: Where Is Africa: Concert 1 - Opening Night
One animated short from 1966, followed by two silent films (one from 2010, one from 1927) accompanied by excellent live music!
One animated short from 1966, followed by two silent films (one from 2010, one from 1927) accompanied by excellent live music!
IFFR film 9: Trash Humpers (US): 3/5
Crazy ugly funny repetitive VHS weirdness from Harmony Korine. The funny stories and voicemail messages shared beforehand were a nice treat. Lots of walk-outs during the film itself though. I laughed a lot, but can imagine it was a real rough film to get through for those audience members that went in without any idea of what to expect :)
Crazy ugly funny repetitive VHS weirdness from Harmony Korine. The funny stories and voicemail messages shared beforehand were a nice treat. Lots of walk-outs during the film itself though. I laughed a lot, but can imagine it was a real rough film to get through for those audience members that went in without any idea of what to expect :)
IFFR film 7: Adrift / Chơi vơi (Vietnam): 3/5
In my experience Vietnamese films are some of the most photogenic films in the world, this one certainly was too. Had to run to another film afterwards so I missed the Q&A with director Bui Thac Chuyen (who also directed Living in Fear, which I saw at IFFR 2007).
In my experience Vietnamese films are some of the most photogenic films in the world, this one certainly was too. Had to run to another film afterwards so I missed the Q&A with director Bui Thac Chuyen (who also directed Living in Fear, which I saw at IFFR 2007).
IFFR film 6: Susa / სუსა (Rusudan Pirveli, Georgia): 3.5/5
Strikingly gritty landscapes. Also, I learned the Georgian alphabet is really pretty.
Strikingly gritty landscapes. Also, I learned the Georgian alphabet is really pretty.
1. posted by gmail.com,skype.ge,სულაკაური at 20:58 on March 30, 2010
rodis gamodis es filmi ekranebze ?
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IFFR film 5: Autumn Adagio (JP): 4/5
This one caught my eye because of having seen director Inoue Tsuki's fun quirky short film Woman Who Is Beating The Earth at last year's festival. Great soundtrack and piano performances by musician/actress Shibakusa Rei.
This one caught my eye because of having seen director Inoue Tsuki's fun quirky short film Woman Who Is Beating The Earth at last year's festival. Great soundtrack and piano performances by musician/actress Shibakusa Rei.
IFFR film 4: A Grammar For Listening (Parts 1-3): 3.5/5
Not so much a film, just a series of dreamy wonderful sound/sightscapes, the kind that make me want to go out and shoot some macro/bokeh photos. Followed by insightful Q&A with director Luke Fowler.
Not so much a film, just a series of dreamy wonderful sound/sightscapes, the kind that make me want to go out and shoot some macro/bokeh photos. Followed by insightful Q&A with director Luke Fowler.
IFFR film 3: Running Turtle / 거북이 달린다 (Lee Yeon-woo, South Korea): 3.5/5.
Lots of fun this one, like a non-gloomy version of last year's excellent The Chaser (starring the same actor even).
Lots of fun this one, like a non-gloomy version of last year's excellent The Chaser (starring the same actor even).
IFFR film 2: Air Doll / 空気人形 (Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan): 4/5
Though the half hour pre-Air Doll interview turned out to be a bit boring, it was still pretty cool to see master director Kore-eda (Still Walking, Nobody Knows, After Life) in person. And the film itself was beautiful, as expected. Including a small role for prolific actor Susumu Terajima who I have gotten used to seeing appear in at least one japanese film each festival.
Though the half hour pre-Air Doll interview turned out to be a bit boring, it was still pretty cool to see master director Kore-eda (Still Walking, Nobody Knows, After Life) in person. And the film itself was beautiful, as expected. Including a small role for prolific actor Susumu Terajima who I have gotten used to seeing appear in at least one japanese film each festival.
IFFR 2009 swag
One of my favourite things about film festivals is collecting various posters, flyers and booklets for movies and festivals from all over the world. Here's my loot from the International Film Festival Rotterdam earlier this year! The big items are A4-size.
my IFFR 2008 log
Seen at the International Filmfestival Rotterdam this year (in descending chronological order, rated x out of 5):
- Sad Vacation: 4/5
- Any film with Asano Tadanobu is always worth seeing.
- Persepolis: 4/5
- Beautiful animation, funny and moving. Though I feel I would have liked the version with the original french dialog better than this english dub.
- Japanese 8mm Kicks Ass Beautiful
- Real Dreams
- The Darjeeling Limited: 5/5
- Just wonderful. First Wes Anderson film I actually saw on the big screen. And biiig it was, being Pathé 1.
- Black Snow: 3/5
- Chinese film from 1989 starring a very young Jiang Wen. The overdubbed dialog and cheesily translated subtitles kinda distracted from the okay story. Nice to see the Q&A with director Xie Fei afterwards.
- Of Monster Mode: 4/5
- Entertaining Japanese silliness.
- Magnus: 4/5
- Probably the first Estonian film I've ever seen. From the description I was expecting something bleak and depressing, but it turned out to be very funny at times. Beautiful visuals and landscapes throughout.
- Only Child, Upward, Downward, Forward, Backward, Rightward and Leftward: 2/5
- I noticed quite a few walk-outs during this one, a weird and uneventful story full of strange dialogs, in other words: a perfect filmfestival film to start off with :)
1. posted by frenchy! at 12:28 on February 06, 2008
Hey, Milo. Have cut down the number of movies this year?
I thought the festival was enjoyable, saw some nice flicks..
I thought the festival was enjoyable, saw some nice flicks..
2. posted by Dal Jean at 17:45 on June 08, 2008
I also like'The Darjeeling Limited'. After seeing this movie, I listened Peter Sarstedt's song many times. :)Especially I like Owen Wilson's character, like he I also very like a printer and coating machine!
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IFFR 2008
1. posted by 历历 at 14:03 on February 07, 2008
我喜欢
2. posted by Milo at 16:39 on February 07, 2008
历历 谢谢
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luxor
1. posted by frenchy! at 08:45 on January 31, 2007
argh! you beat me to it.. ;o)
excellent!
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excellent!
IFFR 2006 recap
Number of feature-length films seen: 29
Number of short films seen: 7
Number of legs worn out from the constant sitting in cramped theaters: 2
Number of times I found myself sitting next to snoring journalists: 1 (maintaining my record from last year)
Favourites: It's Only Talk, NEXT, Linda Linda Linda, Play, Ahlaam, Princess Raccoon, Haze and Taking Father Home.
Also very good were: Blue Cha Cha, The Magicians, Citizen Dog, Black Brush, Some Kinda Love, Heart, Beating in the Dark and Langer Licht.
Funniest Q&A: David Lammers after Langer Licht.
Cutest producer/director couple: Peng Shan and Ying Liang of Taking Father Home.
Funniest moment in any film: the Don't try this at home, kids!
freeze-frame in The Great Yokai War.
Number of films seen that feature a Susumu Terajima appearance: 1 (out of a possible 3), upping my Susumu-index from 24 to 25.
Best soundtracks: Linda Linda Linda, NEXT and Black Brush.
Best poster (though I can't find a big version online): Blue Cha Cha.
IFFR day 10
-
Seen on the last day of the festival:
- Taking Father Home
- Ultra-low-budget or not, this was a pretty good film, making the absolute most of limited means and amateur actors. The combination of "distant" cinematography and the realistic and close-up feel of cheap-DV-camera footage in general gave this an interesting atmosphere.
- Vendredi Ou Un Autre Jour
IFFR day 9
-
Seen on friday:
- A Little Trip To Heaven
- Best part of this film was seeing Forest Whitaker (who talks with a weird voice here which took some getting used to) walking through all the wonderfully grimy looking landscapes and locations. Interesting soundtrack too. Story could have been a little better though.
- Blue Cha Cha
- Beautifully shot, with quite moving performances.
- Glue
- Midnight, My Love
- Beautiful and funny in a lot of ways, but slightly spoilt by a couple of strange and fantastical plot twists near the end.
IFFR day 8
-
Seen today:
- It's Only Talk
- Another favourite... Simply beautiful. And quite a fun experience to suddenly recognize one of the characters as being the same actor playing the villain in The Great Yokai War, which I saw only hours before.
- The Great Yokai War
Don't try this at home, kids!
- Walking On The Wild Side
- Analife
- Wrong (short)
IFFR day 7
-
Seen yesterday:
- Green Mind, Metal Bats
- 9 Dragons
- Princess Raccoon
- Somehow I was expecting this to be a much grander, epic tale, but it really does have the feel of a theater/musical stage most of the time (though there are a couple of great outside location shots). Simply a very colourful, very uplifting and most of all very silly film, with a wide variety of musical styles. Not a bad choice for 09:45 in the morning.
IFFR day 6
-
Seen today:
- Shanghai Dreams
- La Perrerra
- Langer Licht
- One of the best things about this showing was the Q&A with director David Lammers afterwards, which was definitely the funniest and most enthousiastic I've seen yet.
- NEXT: A Primer On Urban Painting
- I wasn't expecting to vote 5-out-of-5 on a documentary this week, but I did today. This film is simply dripping with awesomeness; the first one I'm seriously considering attending a second time. Packed with so much inspirational and original and varied art and design from all over the world - all set to great music of course. Highlights: the trek deep into a cave below the Paris underground to find tags from the 19th century, the ninja-like Tokyo speed-taggers, and the pleasure of seeing the PIPSlab 3D lightsigs on a giant cinema screen.
1. posted by frenchy at 17:38 on February 03, 2006
hi milov,
yep, I agree, twas an excellent documentary. Great to see the old school combined with the new. Especially LEE, awesome art!
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yep, I agree, twas an excellent documentary. Great to see the old school combined with the new. Especially LEE, awesome art!
IFFR day 5
-
Seen today:
- Clear People
- Basically a collage of scenes and sounds in and around an apartment complex, emphasis more on the surroundings than on the people. Lots of interesting shots that made me wish the picture quality/resolution was better.
- Linda Linda Linda
- Probably the movie I had the highest expectations for, and though it started a little slow, I was not disappointed. Lots of very funny moments, some subtle, some not so subtle but not at all as slapstick-y as I was fearing. With a great soundtrack (highlight: a version of Happy End's 風来坊 by 湯川潮音). My new favourite.
- Black Brush
- Since Ode to Joy was sold out I went to this one instead, which turned out to be very funny and entertaining. With a very cool occasional thumping soundtrack-beat by the director's brother, that I wish would occur even more often during the film.
- Play
- Beautiful Chilean film. Reminiscent of Amélie in parts, though far less fantastical. Another definite favourite.
- Look for Me (short)
1. posted by lokman at 02:37 on February 05, 2006
good to hear you liked linda 3x!
looking forward to seeing it .. hopefully it will play at the philly filmfest. ps. i wrote a short review, more an impression, of three times. i know you missed it, but maybe i just gave you reason to try to catch it somewhere else ;)
looking forward to seeing it .. hopefully it will play at the philly filmfest. ps. i wrote a short review, more an impression, of three times. i know you missed it, but maybe i just gave you reason to try to catch it somewhere else ;)
2. posted by Milo at 21:33 on February 05, 2006
Yeah I think you'll love Linda Linda Linda as well... Best Bae Doona performance ever. Real amazing how she manages to carry some scenes without speaking at all.
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IFFR day 4
-
Not having bought any tickets in advance for today, I just went with what was available, which (after hearing "sorry, sold out" upon asking about four other films at the register) turned out to be these two:
- Some Kinda Love
- Nagasaki's films are turning out to be quite good fallback-choices; at the very least the Q&As afterwards with Nagasaki and his wife Mizushima are always entertaining. At this (very enjoyable) film in particular since it featured Mizushima in the leading role.
- Trying To Kiss The Moon
- Lots of walk-outs at this one; I guess people expecting something like an actual film with an actual story could only be disappointed in Stephen Dwoskin's seemingly endless collage of old home video and film clips.
IFFR day 3
Didn't have anything planned for today (most interesting films were sold out and most non-sold-out films didn't seem interesting), but decided at the last minute to attend the Nagasaki Shunichi interview in the Schouwburg, which inspired me to go and see his Heart, Beating in the Dark (new version), which turned out to be pretty good.
IFFR day 2
-
Seen yesterday:
- The Lonely Hearts Club Band In September
- Citizen Dog
- Best film I've attended so far. Extremely colourful, funny, full of original special effects / fantasy sequences, with a great musical opening.
- Daddy's Vacation (short)
IFFR vipspotting
Tony Rayns, Nagasaki Shunichi, translator guy and Mizushima Kaori at the Q&A after Wild Side/After That, all completely blinded by the stage lights, unable to see who in the audience wanted to ask a question.
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Films seen on my first day at the festival:
- The Lost Hum
- Having to wait for 30 minutes until the "technical difficulties" with the projector were solved made this seem a very long sitting, but still an impressive unusual and original film.
- Ahlaam
- The first and only Iraqi film I've ever seen, and it's a great one... Shot with mostly non-actors in various very photogenic locations in and outside of Baghdad, all the more amazing after hearing the director talk about how the crew itself had (and has) to deal with threats and kidnappings as well.
- The Magicians (short)
- Very moving 40 minute story filmed in one single continuous shot by Song Ilgon (three films of whom appear in my best-of-2005 list).
- Haze (short)
- Shinya Tsukamoto's amazingly intense vision of claustrophic hell, painful to watch at times but still left me wanting for more. Looking forward to seeing the extended 49 minute version.
- Worldly Desires (short)
- After That
- The first Nagasaki film I saw, apparently one of his most inaccessible (or so Tony Rayns warned). A behind-the-scenes documentary with very poor picture and sound quality, the first half is difficult to sit through, but the second half gets quite funny and exciting as the filmcrew secretly trails the girlfriend of one of the actors through Tokyo.
- Wild Side (short)
big IFFR tiger
My current to-see list of movies playing at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (though I doubt I'll actually manage to see them all):
1. posted by Roel at 12:02 on January 28, 2006
Gisteren heb ik Takeshis en Ode to Joy gezien. De eerste was vreemd maar wel grappig. Het einde duurde echter eindeloos, en dat was toch zeker 20 minuten te lang naar mijn idee. Het gebrek aan beenruimte hielp daar ook niet mee. ;)
Ode to Joy is een erg mooie film. Aanrader!
Zondagavond 9 Dragons. Ik ben benieuwd... :)
Ode to Joy is een erg mooie film. Aanrader!
Zondagavond 9 Dragons. Ik ben benieuwd... :)
2. posted by Milo at 12:44 on January 28, 2006
Bedankt voor de tip, klinkt interessant... Ode to Joy is volgereserveerd zie ik, maar misschien heb ik nog geluk aan de kassa.
Ik zit me al te ergeren aan het gebrek aan beenruimte in Pathé, hoop niet dat het nog erger is in Luxor (waar ik in ieder geval 1 film ga zien).
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Ik zit me al te ergeren aan het gebrek aan beenruimte in Pathé, hoop niet dat het nog erger is in Luxor (waar ik in ieder geval 1 film ga zien).
The International Film Festival Rotterdam 2006 programme has been released! Featuring at least a couple of films that I have been looking forward to seeing for ages:
- Linda Linda Linda !!!
- Haze !!
- Princess Raccoon !
- Solntse
- Takeshis'
- Analife
- The Great Yokai War
- Citizen Dog
- Good Night, and Good Luck
- Linda Linda Linda !!!
- Haze !!
- Princess Raccoon !
- Solntse
- Takeshis'
- Analife
- The Great Yokai War
- Citizen Dog
- Good Night, and Good Luck
1. posted by Mathieu 'p01' HENRI at 18:15 on January 19, 2006
oO that site blocks Opera 8. Why ?! What's wrong with them ?
2. posted by Milo at 22:07 on January 19, 2006
Ugh, that sucks. Only allowing a specific set of browsers is such a stupid design decision on an open-standard medium such as the web. Chances are it works fine in Opera anyway.
3. posted by Mathieu 'p01' HENRI at 14:13 on January 21, 2006
It doesn't block OP9tp1, but their JavaScript based navigation ( AAaarrr!! ) completely fucks up the layout. I guess it's not even worth trying with Lynx.
http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200511/a_web_professional_can_never_stop_learning/
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http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200511/a_web_professional_can_never_stop_learning/
My favourite film of IFFR 2010. Wonderful directorial debut (and starring role) by one of my favourite actors, Kôji Yakusho. A funny colourful moving story, in some parts reminiscent of the surrealness/sensibility of Taste of Tea. Also a nice role for Satomi Kobayashi of Megane / Kamome Diner.
1. posted by Riekele at 22:25 on February 14, 2010
2. posted by Milo at 15:18 on February 16, 2010