EU Film Fest: DAY 2

 The Magic Tree (Poland, 2009)

A family movie about a magic chair that is made from the wood of a magic tree. The chair grants wishes to whoever sits on it.  The movie was enjoyable, sure. But you know how there's a trio of kids, and the littlest one always has this catchphrase that makes adults laugh? Yeah. For this one, it was "I smell trouble."

I didn't laugh, but a lot of other people did. But I liked how the chair granted wishes. When the kids needed to get on a ship that was sailing away from shore, the chair conjured up a huge waterslide that connected the shore to the boat. Creativity! 

  Dust (Luxembourg, 2009)

This film definitely isn't for everyone, but I can imagine that it would mean a lot to someone if it was for them. For starters, the cinamatography is brilliant. Every second of the film could be on a postcard. I took this in the theatre:

Anyway, the film takes place in a post-apocalyptic time, when virtually all of the human population has been wiped out. Twins Elias and Elodie live by themselves in an old mansion: growing their own food, swimming together, etc. Their relationship is freakishly close. You get a kind of an Adam-and-Eve vibe from them. Things get complicated when a wandering guy arrives at their mansion. 

the twins

Minimal dialogue, but everything is mostly conveyed visually. You can tell during the first minute that they're too close, and not one word needed to be said, nothing explicit needed to be shown. Long stretches of silence, shots of landscapes, and piano music complete the haunting-ness. Trailer here:

 An Ordinary Execution (France, 2010)

Not much to say about this one, because compared to Dust it wasn't that memorable. There's only a 10-min break between films, so I was still thinking about the last one while watching this one.      Let's see, what was it about? Oh, yeah. A young woman doctor has to treat Stalin, who's a fat jerk. 

 Run If You Can (Germany, 2009)

A love triangle between a wheelchair-bound man, his assistant, and a cello girl. Wheelchair guy is all cynical and dryly humorous about his disability, garnering lots of laughs from the audience. Great acting by all, especially when the girl thinks there's been a suicide and she's screaming hysterically. Very fitting music editing.

Then a quick, relaxing sax+guitar performance. 

 Exit Through the Gift Shop (UK, 2010)

Easily the best film of Day 2. Exit is an art documentary about Thierry Guetta's abrupt rise to fame in the world of street art. Thierry's friend, the street art legend Banksy, features in the film and also directs. Google Banksy if you don't know him. 

Banksy is kept anonymous with voice change, too

One Banksy work on the Israeli West Bank Wall

Exit is made so well that you don't even feel that you're watching a documentary, because you're laughing so hard. How can a documentary be so funny?!