#thessaloniki intenational film festival

[allforusophia-blog]

55th Thessaloniki International Film Festival

“The festival itself has become one of the Balkans' primary showcases for the work of new and emerging filmmakers. The event features the International Section, a panorama of Greek films, the New Horizons program, the Balkan Survey, and numerous retrospectives and tributes to leading figures in the world of film. The Festival is competitive with the International Section jury awarding several prizes each year, most notably the "Golden Alexander" for Best Feature-Length Film.”1

Deciding to visit my 2nd hometown during the film festival meant choosing some features. Behold the chosen few:

En chance til (A Second Chance) (Susanne Bier), Denmark

It seems Susanne Bier has gone a bit Hollywood. This is what this film felt like. Although it played with people’s perceptions of what good and bad people looked and behaved like, it did in a way manage to fall into its own trap. It lacked a certain “Danish” quality like her first few films. It felt too stylised, although it did mean to shock with scenes of babies covered in their own faeces, people shooting up, jumping off bridges and doing in general unthinkable things. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's house was stunning though...

Two out of five hypodermic needles

  Deux jours, une nuit (Two Days, One Night) (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne), Belgium

Marion Cotillard is stunning in this. Very far removed from anything we’ve ever seen her in before. It’s the story of a young mother and wife, who is living with depression, gets fired from her job and tries to convince her colleagues to give her back her job in exchange for their bonuses. Her moodswings are frequent and severe, her family supportive and her colleagues’ reactions deeply human and realistic, covering the whole spectrum of expected behaviour. Astonishing performance and a very worthwhile film in typical Dardenne style.

Four out of Five Zanax

  Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev), Russia

Russian realism at its best with some stunning scenery to boot. This already award winning film has been said to be pointing the finger at Putin’s Russia and its social injustices, corruption and endless red tape. Also at Russia’s relentless vodka drinking it seems. The story is starting simple enough and it evolves with the help of a great script and some truly beautiful performances. The at times overwhelming natural scenery helps everything beautifully along. Here’s to hoping this will be successful this coming awards season.

Four out of Five bottomless vodka bottles

  Love Is Strange (Ira Sachs), USA

This is ultimately a love story with a twist. Nothing too exciting really, although it is interesting to see how an elderly gay couple come to terms with some of life’s twists and turns. The most anger inducing part for me was the reaction of the church to their wedding. That hypocrisy still manages to infuriate me. Apart from that it’s really a story about love, life and family and how different generations react to different circumstances. Marisa Tomei was fine, although the role is not really a great departure for her. John Lithgow and Alfred Molina as the elderly couple were adorable and completely sold this for me. Especially Molina was a delight to watch.

Two out of Five missing books

  The Little Death (Josh Lawson), Australia

We finished the festival with a comedy. After watching films featuring either:

1. Suicides or

2. Suicide attempts

we kinda aimed for a comedy to finish on a high note. This is a comedy, so well done there. I was a bit worried after the first few minutes, because if there’s something I don’t like it’s crude and tasteless humour. Of course that’s subjective, but toilet humour and/or vulgar sex references are a definite no-no. This looked like it was going to be one of those no-nos, but thankfully it wasn’t. It was quite clever I found and very pleasant. Funny too, although some parts didn’t really hit home, but all in all a very entertaining film. It’s essentially the story of several couples living in the same neighbourhood and their fetishes. The story right at the end of the film was the best one for me. Very heart-warming and funny.

Three and a half out of Five golliwogs