Edinburgh International Film Festival

Here is a collection of thoughts from various things I attended at the festival:

Moon actually took me by surprise. I knew very little about it except that it starred Sam Rockwell as a character who is (I had guessed) alone on a lunar base. Not being a Rockwell fan in any shape or form it was not him that drew me to it but more the curiosity of how a drama would work with only one character. Also I wanted to see if it was simply a copy of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and essentially it was the same ingredients but shaken up and mixed around enough to make it something new. Cleverly it managed to subvert the expectations an audience may have from 2001 and even use them to mislead; particularly with regards to the HAL-like computer on the base. The film is very emotionally colourful and explores the psychology of a character that we have to be interested in simply because he is the only one there is. To begin with it seems that the science-fiction setting of the film is no more than an attempt to give a slow psychological drama a more interesting flavour but an unexpected twist provides the viewer with a mystery and character conflict; something which is hard to achieve with only one character. It is still a psychological thriller, only in a sci-fi setting, but it is well-made and I quite enjoyed it.

I attended a panel discussion on Digital Restoration which was very interesting and rather enlightening as to the processes that are involved in restoring old picture and sound. What fascinated me most was the ethics involved and when exactly restoration starts to actually turn the original into something totally different. It was great to see the difference that could be made to old films to really bring them to life again but I suppose, as with anything, there’s a responsibility to not go too far.

Pushing Buttons was an event taken by James Harkin, author of Cyburbia: The Dangerous Idea That’s Changing How We Live and Who We Are, and was extremely relevant to what we are learning about in Adam’s class on Mobile/Web Content. Harkin argued that our new cybernetic age has spawned a new and sophisticated type of storytelling, that he called cyber-realism, which is made up of four elements. He described his theory very effectively and gave clear examples from contemporary cinema and television, most notably Duplicity, Memento, The Wire and Lost. It was quite exciting to see a break-down of a story structure which is almost entirely new and I felt afterwards that not only did I have a greater comprehension of these types of stories but I was actually equipped to even write one myself. It is good that a new form of storytelling is emerging which is less predictable and more engaging for a modern audience but at the same time there is a serious danger that these stories may simply operate like a machine and have no soul or meaning.

Der Architekt was a German drama that actually had nothing to do with architecture as the name might suggest. The main character happened to be an architect but this was actually entirely irrelevant as the story focussed on his past and his family. It was set in the snowy landscapes of the Alps and the lush cinematography was at times breathtaking. Although not being a particularly up-beat story it was surprisingly easy to watch because the performances were so enthralling and the editing and music were both generous and simple. It wasn’t the kind of film I would choose to watch again and yet it was quite refreshing viewing. It made no attempt to conform to more conventional, or Hollywood-type, structure and instead reflected the good old Shakespearean tragedy. This was Ina Weisse first full-length feature as a writer/director and it was very impressive for that. I think what I liked most was how humble this film was. It didn’t set out to make the ultimate story about an architect but instead took a normal human and showed us an incident in his life. Unfortunately therein also was its failing. I came out of that screening no more enlightened about humanity than when I went in; this film had no inspirational message, it had nothing new to say.

The Family Shorts Programme was an event where eight short films suitable for families were screened. I was rather disappointed that they were not at all aimed at families but aimed at children which is in fact not the same thing at all. I was hoping to see some good quality family entertainment but instead it seemed every second film was about an outcast child who is bullied and lonely… because that appeals to children apparently. However there were some gems amongst them and I was substantially impressed by the professional technical execution of almost every one; both live-action and animation. The field of short filmmaking is one which I am having to comprehend more and more and it was great to see some examples of top-of-the-range shorts from all over the world.

No Greater Love was a fascinating documentary about the alternative lifestyle pursued by an order of Carmelite nuns in the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Notting Hill, London. It provided insight into a community devoid of all the conventions, speed and bustle of modern society; these nuns are silent for most of the day, socialising only on two separate hour-long occasions, and have little contact with the outside world. Their fulfilment is found not in material possessions or even human relationships but in their connection with God, which is often an intense struggle, and in a deep, often painful, discovery of themselves. Though the documentary was an unbiased and respectful glimpse of this strangely industrious way of life it is hardly possible to watch it without forming some opinion of such an alien existence. For myself I could comprehend it with relative ease. God allows us into a real and living relationship with him if that is what we strive for, he reveals himself to us if we seek him with all our heart and he longs to draw us closer if we are willing to let him. I believe God does call some people to an existence like the one displayed by these nuns but often in order for us to find life he does not require us to change our relationships or community, for he is tending a far greater and more permanent change deep within us. Another audience member’s opinion, mentioned in the question time with director Michael Whyte after the screening, contained the phrase “wasted lives”. To this Whyte replied that the nuns would never see it this way and that he himself on sensing an inner peace within them could only say, “They’ve found something”. Far from ‘wasted life’ it seems that these nuns are somehow richer. Have we found that something, or are we still searching? Have we allowed God to find us, or are we still running?