Tilda Swinton in Okja.
Okja ####
I really don’t know how she does it, but every film that Tilda Swinton stars in manages to be interestingly odd and uncomfortably fascinating. The plot involves a huge genetically engineered pig made to control the population and what they eat. A brilliant piece.
Hounds of Love ###
Using a Kate Bush album title for this cruel Aussie horror flick was quite a bold move for first-time director Ben Young. A torture tale about a couple who kidnap a scared but determined young girl, the viewer watches as they inflict harm on her while she does her best to drive a wedge between them as her means of escape. The jury’s still out on this one.
The Wall ###-1/2
Doug Liman is making war movies. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and John Cena are snipers trapped for 24 hours in a stand-off with an Iraqi sniper, an unsteady wall being the only thing separating the warring factions. The actors do their best in the odd yet gritty roles but the screening did leave me feeling a little uninspired.
Stephanie ###-1/2
A Beautiful Mind (2001) director Akiva Goldman’s latest feature is in full-on creep mode starting in media res and revolving around a young girl called Stephanie. All alone at home, she has to fend for herself as ‘the monster’ lurks. The dull tone gets turned on its head when suddenly her parents arrive out of nowhere and things get even more absurd and complicated. This one leaves you feeling rather creeped out.
Indiana ##
Being a first-time auteur at a film fest, trying to get your film picked up for distribution cannot be easy. Director Toni Comas introduced his first feature at the screening about duo Josh and Michael who encounter a paranormal help group called ‘The Spirit Doctors’. But even amongst like-minded people, this film falls flat.