danie

My last day of DIFF had 3 films and they starred strong women. The storylines are so different – one is a monkey, the other is an elderly Chinese mother and the third is a vampire.

Day 6 kicked off with the beautiful wildlife doccie called Amazonia in 3D. The film follows a capuchin monkey called Sai, who is dumped in the Amazon after a a plane crash. I would love to know how this was filmed. It is a tale of an animal that has to survive although she is tame. The soundtrack, only monkey clicks and shrieks combined with facial expressions, is astounding. See it  on 24 and 27 July.

Sundance darling Lilting is a tender film that pictures a sad, yet funny story of what happens when the half of a gay couple dies in a car accident and his boyfriend has to look after his mother. The main problems are the language barrier (she’s Chinese and it is set in England) and she didn’t know her son was gay. Ben Whishaw as the main character, Richard, gives the role of his life.  See it on 27 July.

Only lovers left alive is the vampire story about Adam and Eve with the lovable weirdo Tilda Swinton excelling. The film is visually breathtaking, although the story is a bit slow. It is worth seeing for Jim Jarmusch’s directing and the visual splendour. No other screenings at Diff. Hopefully it comes on circuit.

The verdict: The best film I’ve seen this week is In order of Disappearance. I predict that it will be a killer on the circuit if it gets released. The mix between Fargo and Pulp Fiction is a winner.

My festival for 2014 may be over, but there is still so much to see till Sunday: award-winning Chinese film Black coal, thin ice, Wim Wenders’ Cathedrals of culture (if buildings could talk what would they say?), Peaches does herself described as Lady Gaga  on meth, The lunchbox (beautiful Indian love story), An episode in the life of an iron picker (sad story set in Bosnia after the war),  Something must break (Swedish lesbian love story), The Congress (strange vision of filmmaking in the future), Lars von Trier’s sexfest Nymphomaniac and Boyhood, if you’ve missed it the first time. The closing film is the world premiere of Million Dollar Arm, which examines if cricket players can play baseball or not.

Auf wiedersehen till 2015.