Wednesday, October 3, 2012

VIFF 2012 - Day 6

Valley of Saints
directed by Musa Syeed
IndiaIndia
A low key drama set in Kashmir, a picture perfect location seldom seen on film. There's a slightly preachy environmental message but overall it works well, has good performances from an unknown cast, provides a nice display of life in the region, and sticks to a small personal story keeping the region's political turmoil mostly in the background.
Tabu
directed by Miguel Gomes
PortugalPortugal
A beguiling piece of work. Inventive, but never feels gimmicky despite some whimsical moments and characters that recall something in between Wes Anderson and Aki Kaurismaki. Black and white academy ratio images look glorious on the big screen. Cool retro soundtrack. Will need some time to ponder, or even a rewatch before I can decide how I truly feel about this one.

Full Review
The Last Time I Saw Macao (A Última vez que vi Macau)
directed by João Pedro Rodrigues, João Rui Guerra da Mata
PortugalPortugal
A fascinating b-movie/film noir infused documentary the likes of which I've never seen. It's mostly static ponderous shots of random locations in the city, with emphasis on the places Guerra da Mata remembers from his youth. All embellished with a mysterious story played out by intentionally bad actors who are mostly heard and seldom actually seen on screen. Nothing spectacular but well worth a look.
Abu, Son of Adam
directed by Salim Ahamed
IndiaIndia
Finally caught up with India's submission to the 2012 Oscars. A touching tale of morality and faith. Takes quite awhile to get going, and also some time to get used to the slightly off sync dubbing and overwhelming amount of subtitles, but the physical acting from the lead actor and the scenery are very impressive.

6 comments:

Ricardo D. R. Watson said...

Tabu: perhaps the best film showed early this year at the BAFICI (Buenos Aires Independent International Film Festival). Extraordinary script, performances and use of the sound

SDG said...

You've got it wrong Bonjour. Indian submission to Oscars is Barfi! not Abu, son of Adam.
I am actually really interested in Valley of Saints. I don't remember where but it played in few other festivals as well. I will love to see that since it's really different and looks like quite good too.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yes you are correct about Barfi! it is the 2013 entry. Abu was last year's (2012) entry.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

It keeps growing on me the more I think about it. I too love the use of sound, particularly in the second half.

d_4 said...

After the comments, I'm convinced I wanna see Tabu. Not too excited about some of these others..

Ricardo D. R. Watson said...

yes! The second half is a complete revelation. The sound but also soundtrack (i e: The Ramones song)

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