June 2008 ...
(the) Sydney Film Festival 2008
BRYN TILLY previews the 55th Sydney
Film Festival ...
Film buffs' favourite time of the year! A time when we burn the midnight
oil, the candle at both ends, attempting to balance our mundane working
lives with our passion for film by seeing as many movies as we can
within the fortnight that the Sydney Film Festival programme spans.
This year the festival starts June 5th and runs until
Sunday June 22nd. And there are hundreds of films to enjoy from local
Aussie fare to the extensive “world views” section, from
a retrospective on Hollywood screen legend Deborah Kerr to a section
of movies dealing with the hideous reality of the Iraqi war.
There are the usual digital innovators, a clutch of
cult faves and classics given the restoration/re-issue treatment,
sounds on screen, a new kids’ movies section, a multitude of
short films (always a treat within any festival), the proverbial talks,
forums and events, and one of my favourite festival categories: the
red hot docs.
Here's a selection of upcoming documentaries well
worth checking out ...
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S.
Thompson
Friday 20 June 7:1pm - Greater Union 9, George Street
Alex Gibney directs a savage journey into the heart of the legendary
gonzo journalist Hunter Thompson’s passionately insane search
for the American Dream; from the Hell’s Angels to the streets
of San Francisco, from the campaign trail of 68 to running for sheriff
of Aspen, forging a drug-addled simpatico with artist Ralph Steadman
at the Kentucky Derby, becoming Raoul Duke with Oscar Acosta as Dr.
Gonzo in the desert with a saltshaker half full of cocaine, and subverting
acid culture with more weird and twisted nights than you can shake
a bottle of bourbon a day at, then breaking down on Paradise Boulevard,
craving a perpetual running crisis to energize the writing mojo, relishing
the fear and loathing on the campaign trail of 72, where the buffalo
roam, and where writers become rock stars, having breakfast at 5pm,
swimming in Zaire hotel pools giving Cassius Clay tickets away instead
of rumblin’ in the jungle, then nursing ridicule and Woody Creek
hangovers from a failed Rolling Stone article, rooting big for Jimmy
Carter, then taking potshots in the snow with his 22 loaded guns,
a prisoner of his own notoriety, whilst there’s two many bimbo
tramps on the side, spells divorce from his wife (he was married?!,
they all ask), sleeping on Jimmy Buffett’s sofa, racking up
a $9000 phone bill, only lawyers, guns and money can get him out of
this mess, but he always knew how he’d go out … and he
did, one bright clear day with his second wife and adult son in the
next room …BANG!
El Pollo, El Pez y El Cangrejo Real (The Chicken,
The Fish and the King Crab)
Thursday 19 June 9:00pm – Greater Union 9, George Street
Saturday 21 June 2:15pm – Greater Union 9, George Street
If you like food (silly question) and you like the art of cooking,
then this doco will be right up your galley. A Spanish production,
although some dialogue is in English and French, which charts the
progress of a Spanish team of gastro-heads as the prepare for the
world famous chef’s contest the Bocuse d’Or, a two-day
event (started by legendary French master chef Paul Bocuse twenty
years ago) in which 24 countries compete for the main title in front
of a turbo-charged audience and a panel of ruthless chef judges. Each
country must produce two dishes from a small set list of ingredients;
in 2007 they were the “happy” Halibut fish, the famed
French Bresse chicken and Norwegian King Crab. The dishes must reflect
the respective country’s cuisine essence, yet they must also
follow traditional French gastronomic techniques. The first dish must
be presented to the expert judges at bang on five hours, with the
second dish coming out exactly half and hour later. Spanish chef Jesus
Almagro and his assistant Felix Guerrero are the two men responsible
on the day, but as the doco shows in the months leading up, there
are too many chefs spoiling the broth; a bunch of Spanish food authorities
are omnipresent to taste and criticize Jesus’s artful creations,
so he must refine and refine. How does Spain fare on the day? That
would be telling; but suffice to say Spain has never featured well
in previous years, so the pressure is on. While not the most inspired
documentary filmmaking, it’s ultimately the fascinating content
and the process which makes this such an enjoyable kitchen rollercoaster
ride. Jesus is genuinely affable, and damn, there are some fine food
combinations on display, like the roasted boneless butterflied chicken
sandwiching foie gras and figs! My mouth is watering just remembering!
Wild Combination
Thursday 19 June 7.30pm – Metro, George Street
I’ve been a professional DJ for nearly fifteen years and I’d
never heard of Arthur Russell, the shame, the shame. Arthur Russell
was an experimental musician who emerged during the turbulent, avant
garde 60s, flourished during the hedonistic, escapist 70s, pushed
the boundaries further during the identity crisis that was the 80s,
and died of AIDS at age 40 in 1992. He was born and raised on a farm
in Iowa to conservative parents (who it seems are still coming to
terms with the fact that their only son was gay), but after learning
the cello (which his mother had mastered) he escaped the monster feed
mix of the cattle stations and went underground into the heady muso
mix that was San Francisco in the where he was befriended by poet
Allen Ginsberg. Later he moved to Manhattan and became a key figure
in the pre-Studio 54 disco scene producing a handful of rarified dance
tracks including the wicky-wacky Go Bang! (I do know this track …)
under the moniker Dinsoaur L (which featured prominently at David
Mancuso’s infamous Loft parties). He jammed with early Talking
Heads (there’s apparently an uber-rare recording of Psycho Killer
with Russell on cello!), was admired by composer Philip Glass, obsessed
with mechanical drones (he’d often jam at home with the blender
on in the background!), adored the sound of the ocean and the electronic
manipulation of echo. Over the years he recorded hundreds of hours
of music on reel-to-reel and cassette, most of which was never released.
To be blunt, Russell was hardly commercial fare, he certainly didn’t
possess the necessary elements that could propel him into true stardom;
he was shy and awkward, had dreadful acne scars, and was a difficult
perfectionist, and rarely completed tracks, suggesting he preferred
the process more than the finished product. Yet he shone with a dark
fierce light that is often attributed to genius. Wild Combination
features some fascinating insights into the left-field music and sub-culture
of the periods, and numerous clips of archival footage showing Russell,
and his contemporaries (actually he was considered by most of his
peers to be ahead of his time), at work shaping and forging compositions.
Wild Combination screens as part of Underground at The Metro,
which kicks off with local DJ Ben Drayton (an excellent DJ I might
add), then the doco, and then the Trash Vaudeville Drag Show who will
bring to colourful life one of Russell’s cult classic disco
numbers. Tix $20
Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story
Saturday 21 June 7.00pm – Metro
There was Motown in Detroit, and then there was Stax in Memphis. Motown
was the sweet, polished soul; “Hitsville, U.S.A.” as the
studio banner declared, so Stax went one deeper; “Soulville,
U.S.A”. Yes, Stax Records was a legendary label and recording
facility founded in the early 60s by a honky banker whose attitude
toward music was colourblind, and became home to several of the most
luminary figures of that rich and vibrant era in Rhythm and Blues;
Booker T. & the MGs, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, The Staple
Singers, The Bar-Kays, and of course, Isaac Hayes. Narrated in almost
earnest fashion by Samuel Jackson (hmmm, who else?!), this two-hour
loving tribute is a sensational back catalogue of extraordinary soul
and early funk music; think Soul Man, Green Onions, Knock on Wood,
Respect, Soulfinger, Hold On I’m Coming, Shaft, Respect Yourself
… just to name a few. But it wasn’t all hot, buttered
goodness. Tragedy struck in 67 (Otis and most of The Bar-Kays were
killed in a plane crash) and 68 (the black community’s hero,
Martin Luther King was assassinated from the balcony of the Lorraine
Hotel where many of Stax recording artists would congregate and chill
between sessions). After also discovering that small print in a distribution
deal with Atlantic Records meant that Stax didn’t own the rights
to any of the music they’d recorded, it took the promotional
brilliance of Al Bell to turn Stax Records into a commercial force
to be reckoned with. In the early 70s Stax released 27 albums at once!
But the soulshine was clouded by further legal disaster several years
later which eventually saw Stax Records go bankrupt, but not before
they staged WattStax, a multi-act concert extravaganza which payed
to 100,000 people. If you love soul music then Respect Yourself is
essential viewing. Sho’ ‘nuff!
Respect Yourself screens as part of The Big Soul Review at The
Metro, which kicks off with the sounds of DJ Dynamite, then the doco,
then outfit Johnny G & the E Types, and then DJ Hot Grits. Tix
$32
For more on The Sydney Film Festival check
out http://www.sydneyfilmfestival.org
