The Auckland and Wellington programmes for the NZ International Film Festival are out and first tickets on sale. We’ve already published a guide to this year’s Incredibly Strange features, here our writers share some of the films they’re excited about catching this year. As usual, there’s plenty to take in, so read on as Flicks’ writers wax lyrical about one particular film they’re each looking forward to and also tip us off to a few other gems on their radar.
JAMES CROOT’S PICKS:
Part of Ant Timpson’s Incredibly Strange section, I’m sure myself and many others will never be able to look at Frodo the same way after seeing Franck Khalfoun’s 2012 remake of the 1980 cult horror. That’s because Elijah Wood plays a serial killer with a Mannequin obsession (Andrew McCarthy eat your heart out). While most of the “re-imaginations” of the classic ’70s and ’80s horrors have been bland disappointments, this one comes to us with a fantastic twist, virtually the entire film is shot from Wood’s point-of-view (his face is only shown in reflections). Could be this decade’s Old Boy.
To read more on James Croot’s other recommendations, click the images below:
ADAM FRESCO’S PICKS:
Takeshi ‘Beat’ Kitano, writer, director and star of the superlative Violent Cop, Hard Boiled, Sonatine and Brother, returns to the Yakuza genre with the sequel to last year’s cracking Outrage. Takeshi stars alongside Toshiyuki Nishida and Tomokazu Miura in the second part of a trilogy that’s part Japanese Godfather, part bonkers. I’m in love with the stunning cinematography and minimalist acting style, combined with slow build character studies, intrigue and power play, that lead to explosive action set-pieces in an ever-escalating cycle of violent revenge. Ah, yes – when it comes to violent existential gangster movies – you can’t ‘Beat’ Takeshi.
To read more on Adam Fresco’s other recommendations, click the images below:
LIAM MAGUREN’S PICKS:
It’s slim pickings for animation fans, with Ernest & Celestine being the only animated feature in this year’s festival. But if there was only space for one, I’m damn happy it’s this adaptation of Gabrielle Vincent’s Paris-set children’s tale. Utilising a hand-drawn watercolour aesthetic, the film moves like the pages of a storybook turning at the highest of fluidity. It looks gorgeous, complemented by two lead companions whose relationship absorbs audience affections with a single frame. This is also helmed by the directors of A Town Called Panic – which rocked my world at NZIFF 2010. I couldn’t be any keener for this.
Read more on Ernest & Celestine.
To read more on Liam Maguren’s other recommendations, click the images below:
STEVE NEWALL’S PICKS:
This year’s Searching For Sugar Man swaggers along with a bunch more balls. OK, there’s no intriguing apartheid-era subplot, but there are a bunch of eerie similarities between Rodriguez and the three Hackney brothers who make up Death – except these dudes know to plug guitars in in and turn that shit up. Like Rodriguez, Death hail from Detroit and no doubt the decay of the city made an impact on this band, too. For a while there, they would have been gigging around in crappy venues at the same time, but Death’s breed of heavy rock – presaging punk – sounds more energetic and vital today than Rodriguez’s retro singer-songwriter flourishes. Still, it didn’t help them at the time – as this doco shows, they didn’t get either Americans or Afrikaners kicking out their jams. Until… well, you’ll see.
Read more on A Band Called Death.
To read more on Steve Newall’s other recommendations, click the images below:
DANIEL RUTLEDGE’S PICKS:
I liked the first V/H/S more than a lot of people did, but it wasn’t without its problems. The sequel to that found-footage horror anthology is apparently a huge improvement, with reviewers saying the subtleness and slow-burn approach has been eschewed for a more full-throttle thrill ride of visceral shocks. New directors include Gareth Evans (The Raid) and Jason Eisener (Hobo with a Shotgun), two blokes who have in recent years crafted intense film violence in ways that have given me blissful gratification. Experiencing this at Auckland’s Civic late on a wintery Saturday night following on from Goblin playing Suspiria live the evening before is going to make for an amazing weekend of horror not to be missed.
To read more on Dan Rutledge’s other recommendations, click the images below:
TONY STAMP’S PICKS:
Writer-director Shane Carruth’s Primer, famously made for $7000US, is a richly satisfying experience whether you unravel its time travel narrative or not, and it’s one of my favourite films. I’m slavering with anticipation then to see Upstream Color, Carruth’s second film, finally with us 9 years after his first. The trailer (cut by Carruth) is beautiful, and the film looks like it contains an emotional element that was absent from Primer, as well as some comparably mind boggling science fiction. A puzzle movie about a parasitic lifeform and its effect on human behaviour from the director of one of our generation’s finest debuts? Oh man, bring it on!
To read more on Tony Stamp’s other recommendations, click the images below:
AARON YAP‘S PICKS:
When it comes to polarising European provoc-auteurs, I prefer my Bruno Dumont over Michael Haneke, and it’s been sometime since New Zealand has been “treated” to Dumont’s brand of chilly Bressonian austerity in theatres. I was blown away by the transcendent likes of L’Humanite (‘99) and Twentynine Palms (‘03) at previous fests, and this period piece, depicting the time French sculptress Camille Claudel spent at a mental asylum, looks to be as mesmerising and uncompromising as his other works. Intriguingly, the film marks a bit of a departure for Dumont: usually a proponent of working with non-actors, it’s the first time he’s cast a professional name (Juliette Binoche, who’s received raves for her performance).
Read more on Camille Claudel, 1915.
To read more on Aaron Yap’s other recommendations, click the images below:
