Last month the 30th Helsinki International Film Festival took place between the 14-24th of September 2017. I volunteered as theater staff and also set myself the goal to break my record of movie watching. Last year I watched 11 movies and this year I managed to watch 14 movies in 10 days! that was doable thanks to the festival voucher that gives a reasonable price for 10 tickets, plus the privilege I had to enter any movie for free with the staff badge. And also feasible thanks to all the extra time I spent at WHS and Savoy theaters while volunteering.
The volunteering experience was very good, not only because of the benefits of getting the full festival swag and free tickets, but also because it was lovely to check the tickets of all the avid movie goers (after some moves I could already recognize some familiar faces). And also because while volunteering I got to watch impressive movies that were not part of my original selection, case in point: ‘Three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri’ and ‘Risk’. So without further ado here is a mini review of each movie I watched during the festival, I’ll be finally using a bonus points score (up to 5 points) and link to the trailers (just click in the film title):
‘The party’ is the story about a dysfunctional group of friends who gather to celebrate a recent achievement of one of them. During the party the viewer gets to discover who is who, and learns key details of each character’s lives. The dialogue is clever, and being filmed in black and white creates a mysterious and seductive atmosphere. And best of all the timing of the music is excellent! it really adds a comedic touch to the development of the story.
Bonus points for ‘The party’: 4/5
This film is odd at times…to begin with it is difficult to explain the relationship between the two main characters. One is an orphan raised by his cousin, and Rachel is the wife of said cousin, the relationship between the two turns out to be quite obsessive and meddled by the opportunistic money interest and dubious character of Rachel. The way in which the relationship and events develop is odd, and I would say the first half of the film is hard to watch, but as the story progresses, the film it gets better. The best thing about this film was the closing sentence: “Was she? or was she not?” it closes the story in a wonderful manner, leaving the viewer with a sort of paranoia and wondering what really happened?
Bonus points for ‘My cousin Rachel’: 3/5
Three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
If you can only watch a film from this list, this is the one! the story is very engaging, the film will surely keep you interested as the story grabs you from the very beginning. There is some strong language, violent scenes, and some crude black comedy, so be warned, but also be sure that you are about to watch the story of one very brave woman and find some laughter and shocking scenes on the way. This was definitely the most original film I watched during this year’s festival, and it was a pleasant surprise as I didn’t intended to watch it, but it just happened to be shown during one of my shifts at Savoy theater.
Bonus points for ‘Three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri’: 5/5
Savoy theater
‘Heartstone’ is also one of my favorite films from this year’s festival. Heartsone tells the story of two Icelandic teenage boys who are best friends and are discovering who they are and who do they like. Set in Iceland the film has undoubtedly amazing scenery, the young actors performance is amazing, and the story beautifully transports you to their universe, friendships and family relationships, particularly those between siblings are portrayed in a fantastic way.
Bonus points for ‘Heartstone’: 4/5
‘Easy’ shows a road trip from Italy to Ukraine that the lead character does to do a favor to his brother. I mostly chose this movie to practice my Italian and not by a love of Italian cinema, because usually is not my style, even if I usually love everything Italian. This movie was supposed to be a comedy but didn’t really do the trick for me…not only wasn’t it funny but also the characters were not that interesting and the acting wasn’t so good. The only things I appreciated was the creative use of both Italian and Ukrainian languages and the showcase of some of the Ukrainian characters, even if stereotypical.
Bonus points for ‘Easy’: 1.5/5
Kino Engel – open air terrace, where I watched ‘Easy’
‘Happiness’ is a shocking film, it is almost as watching two films in one. The film tells the story of a Japanese craftsman that builds a helmet with some mechanism that allows to trigger the happiest and the worst memories to the person who wears it. The movie shows the helmet as a source of happiness to many people as they remember their happiest memory, there are some funny ones and quite charming ones. But then there is a turn of events and everything gets darker, the helmet is used for revenge and there is repetitive blood splatter, too much of it. Although the first half is very light-hearted and joyful, and it is original to have such a plot twist, even switching the film genre; the change in the second half is extremely gore: blood and a violent scene is re-played turning the film very gruesome and distressing. In addition, the soundtrack was almost not existent, making the depressing parts even more depressive and the violence more crude. So, this is definitely a complicated film and you need a strong stomach to watch it fully.
Bonus points for ‘Happiness’: 2.5/5 I would have given it more points, but the gore was way too much.
Also Japanese, ‘In this corner of the world’ is an animated film showing the story of a young girl, her family and their hardships during the WWII. Although this film touches a very sensitive historic time, it is done nicely from the point of view of a regular family. It was engaging to see the daily struggles and family dynamics, as simultaneously the characters strive to survive in a city constantly bombed, with food shortages and other war related issues. I particularly liked that the main character Suzu was a talented painter, and she enhanced her drawings of nature with charming twists e.g. she portrayed the foamy waves of the sea, as little white jumping rabbits. I also loved the way Suzu cooked lovingly for her family and even in the times of severe scarcity she managed to prepare provocative meals, and as me by the end of the movie you might end up craving some Japanese food.
Bonus points for ‘In this corner of the world’: 4.5/5
I was really looking forward to watch this film since the trailer shows a quite cute and funny relationship between father and son. ‘Menashe’ tells the story of a widowed father estranged from his son due to the strict rules from the Hasidic Jewish community. I was expecting more from this film to be honest, but still it was interesting to watch, showing how fatherly love is strong and how the family and community support can lift up a man’s life.
Bonus points for ‘Menashe’: 2.5/5
I watched ‘Risk’ during my first shift at WHS theater. ‘Risk’ is a documentary showing the period before and after Julian Assange is granted asylum in the London Embassy of Ecuador, due to his issues with Swedish and UK justice. The documentary includes up-close footage of how Assange managed to disguise to reach the Embassy, which was quite impressive. Assange is a very controversial character mostly recognized as the founder of WikiLeaks, the documentary successfully shows key moments of his negotiations with US government, conversations with his team, and some aspects of his complex “friendship” with the film-maker. Setting aside political opinions about Assange, I think it is a documentary worth to watch and that gives a glimpse to the manipulative world of politics.
Bonus points for ‘Risk’: 3/5
WHS theater
This documentary shows the majesty of mountains and how they have captivated humans and lure them to explore all their crevices and go into exhausting journeys to conquer their peaks. The intensity of feelings is extraordinarily heightened with music by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and the mysterious voice of Willem Dafoe. There are so many thrilling scenes! you will be in awe either for their beauty and the impressive aerial shots, or because several scenes will make you feel so uneasy that your hands might even sweat.
Bonus points for ‘Mountain’: 4/5
This film is based on the real life story of Maud Lewis (played by Sally Hawkins), a Canadian artist. Maud suffered from rheumatoid arthritis from an early age causing several obstacles in her life and a difficult relationship with her family and, with her husband Everett Lewis. The life journey of Maudie and the performance of Sally Hawkins are impressive, it is inspiring to see how Maudie overcomes all the obstacles posed by her physical limitations with her imagination and her good heart. The film was shot in a near exact replica of the one-room cabin where Maud and Everett used to live, and the paining scenes are beautiful! the close up to the brush, the bright colors and unique style of painting are very charming. The only thing that didn’t convince me much, was that Everett was portrayed so extremely irritable and violent that it might have been a bit excessive? I’d like to believe that he wasn’t so harsh in real life…at least it doesn’t seem like it from few pictures online where he appears.
Bonus points for ‘Maudie’: 4/5
When I saw the trailer for ‘November’ it captivated me, immediately one is impressed with the extraordinary black and white photography and the exotic and weird components of Estonian folklore. The film shows one very unusual practice that farmers do, they somehow do pacts to obtain a supernatural servant known as “kratts”, such creatures are very uncanny and may not to any real favor to the master, but often cause more trouble than anything. There is also a love story and many other magical story lines that intertwine the inhabitants of a small village. This film is definitely one of the more unique I have ever seen, but it left me with mixed feelings since I felt the rhythm of the movie was not sustained and it got better in the second half; but also because being seated next to two Estonians who were laughing often, I felt there were several things I missed that were only funny to them. So I’d like to watch this film again with an Estonian to get some insight to those inside jokes.
Bonus points for ‘November’: 3.5/5
How to talk to girls at parties
Three words: worst movie ever. I only watched this film, because it happened to have a screening during my last shift at Savoy theater, so I just watched it to kill time. The plot is so weird, that I won’t attempt to explain it, but let’s just say that aliens and UK punk teens are included and do not create the best story. It’s hard to explain how awful it was, but I must say that some people in the audience seemed to enjoy it, and some even stayed until all the credits rolled out. So who knows, maybe you will like it? but one thing is for sure I wouldn’t recommend it.
Bonus points for ‘How to talk to girls at parties’: 0.5/5 ok, let’s not be that tough, I’ll give it 1/5 just for 1-2 acceptable scenes.
This was the third documentary I watched during the festival, although technically this was before the festival started: I watched this film as courtesy from the festival organizers on the volunteer’s introduction night. This documentary follows the lives of two sisters and their friends growing up in Brooklyn during 3 years, so one can see how they transition from high school to university, how their relationships evolve, the struggles of self discovery and several other key moments in a teenage girl’s life. There is several story lines included in the timeline as each girl has different experiences and issues, some are explored deeper than others…but overall the struggles and concerns they voice, and seeing how they change through the years makes the film very gratifying and approachable.
Bonus points for ‘All this panic’: 3/5
Bonus Points 