Lake Mungo is a faux documentary, horror film about a pubescent girl Alice Palmer, who drowns at a family picnic. After the family bury Alice they feel her presence in their house and are convinced at one stage that she did not die and have her body exhumed. Her character is a beautiful, well-to-do young lady, however the more the family discover the less they realise they knew of her.
The film is full of twists that pull you back into the story after some conclusion is made. I think there are too many up and down moments that keep changing your view and eventually it evokes doubt making the film less suspenseful and frightening. Its unsatisfying, open ending leaves you not knowing if Alice’s ghost is real and gives many unanswered questions, the audience wants to know more, hence the film quite anticlimactic.
It is interesting to note that the mobile phone footage was actually recorded on a real mobile. The attention to detail in trying to make it as realistic as possible is remarkable. The acting is more or less believable and the locations are well used.
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Lemon Tree is an Israeli film that tells the story of a widow Salma, who earns an income from her lemon grove that her father planted 50 years ago. However her new neighbour, Navon the Israeli defence minister, and his team of security men decide the lemon trees are a security problem against terrorists and order them to be cut down. Salma does not let them touch her trees without a fight with the help of lawyer Ziad, she takes the Defence Minister to court.
The relationship between Ziad and Salma I believe was awkward and unnecessary. The writer was trying to add interest to the plot with a taboo love affair, however the actors had no chemistry whatsoever. Their needed to be more focus on Salma’s relationship with her lemon trees rather then introducing another relationship with Ziad. I felt I could not connect with her emotions towards the grove and by the end wanted the Defence Minister to win, and Salma to just go live with her son.
The film attempted to show the troubles between Israel and the Palestinians, it showed that the values of the Israeli government are a lot different to Australian customs. Bulldozing an innocent woman’s trees that are her life and soul for no major reason frustrated me, however, I could understand the need to protect the Minister.
The Grocer's Son Antoine agrees to help out with the family shop in Province, after the grocer suffers a heart attack, accompanied by his neighbour from the city, Claire. Antoine delivers groceries in the van, however he does not have very good customer skills much to the disappointment of the elderly customers who are used to his father. Antoine is an unhappy character much like his father. Ultimately the story is about the coming of age and the re-discovering of place, life and love in the countryside.
The film seamed to take a long time to get anywhere and I found myself falling asleep. The best part of it was the look at the communities visited by Antoine, the locations of narrow lanes, and the scenery.
I've Loved You so Long is a dramatic tale of a forty-something year old lady, Juliette played by Kristin Scott Thomas, who is coming to terms with grief after being institutionalised for 15 years for the murder of her son. It is a tale of sisterhood, life and love. Thomas’s performance in eerily realistic, her expressions suck you right into the screen and she manages to convey a standoffish presence as well as allowing the audience to empathise with her even though she murdered her son, with the reason not being revealed until the last few moments. I don’t know if it were necessary to actually tell the audience exactly why Juliette killed her son, perhaps implying it would have been more dramatic. I felt that the ending was rushed and just finished with Juliette explaining why she committed the murder purely to answer the underlying question in the film.
Juliette character is brilliantly portrayed. Her costuming of grey cardigans and make-up are so realistic that the audience can really connect. He sister Lea played by Elsa Zylbertstein, has perfect chemistry with Thomas, and emphasise the sisterhood theme. An all-round good drama film that evokes many emotions.
The Wackness is set in New York in 1994. It follows the few months of loner, Luke who has just finished high school and is waiting to go to collage. He sells pot to make a living under the disguise of being an ice-cream seller. His customers are well-developed characters that make for an interesting film. One of his customers, Dr Squires pays for his drugs with counselling sessions. The two characters become good friends and evidently it is Luke who helps Dr Squires. Luke has a relationship with his doctor’s stepdaughter, Stephanie, however the real emotional relationship and overall message of the film is the one between Luke and Squires, their connection on screen is one the audience can relate to.
The characters are well defined and developed and the acting is quite good. There are many themes such as the depression of Squires and the bullying and isolation from friends of Luke that an audience can connect with. Overall I think it’s a good coming of age film and my favourite of the Travelling Film Festival.
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