ROTTERDAM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2021

Drawing to a temporary close last weekend, the 50th edition of the Rotterdam International Film Festival (better known as IFFR) switched up its format for these pandemic stricken times, mirroring most of the other big-hitter festivals by shifting online, but rather than offering a reduced festival Rotterdam is setting itself apart by expanding and splitting in two - a February programme and another, more optimistic instalment scheduled for June that aims to incorporate outdoor screenings an in-cinema events across The Netherlands that will highlight the festival's rich history and reputation of championing emerging filmmakers from around the globe.

Incorporating different areas of competition - the Tiger Competition, the Big Screen Competition and the Tiger Shorts Competition -  that comprised 30 features and nearly the same amount of shorts, the winners were announced as part of the closing night celebrations, that also honoured director Kelly Reichardt with the second annual Robby Müller Award for her work in film. With so many films on offer it's simply impossible to take them all in - I missed out on the new Mads Mikkelsen film Riders of Justice that I was hoping to see - but along with the switch to a virtual format there's a newfound joy in going into screenings (at home) blind with no pre-conceived ideas or word of mouth buzz that you'd expect at old-fashioned "physical" festivals, apart from the occasional mention on Twitter that's not always a sure-fire benchmark of quality.

Directed by Félix Dufour-Laperrière, French animation Archipelago/Archipel creates an almost trance-like world of imagery and poetry, using natural landscapes and archive film as part of their palette to aide the animation of the imagined islands of the title. Using a variety of techniques from simple line drawings to rotoscoping, my personal favourite element was the inverse silhouettes it employed that draw the eye like the keyhole of a door to another world. It's a technique used before, perhaps most notably in the Pixar short Night and Day, but accompanying the dialogue that's delivered as if it's a confessional diary entry written by a warring couple ("You don't exist", "You're wrong"), there's a deeper emotional weight to it. I'll be honest that it's the visuals that make Archipelago a compelling experience, and even if you do check out from the continuing narrative as you're entranced by a rotoscoped swimmer or old film brought to new life with some animated enhancements, the cyclical nature of the film is forgiving.

Drawing way too much inspiration from Todd Phillips' Joker, The Cemil Show follows a shopping mall security guard (Ozan Çelik) as he lives out his fantasy of being a movie star by studying and copying the performance of his idol, Turgay Goral, the villain in a series of films in the 1960s. By chance, Cemil's co-worker Burcu (Nesrin Cavadzade) happens to be Goral's daughter, giving Cemil access to a VHS archive of his past performances that will push the already unhinged wannabe actor over the edge of insanity. As his delusion becomes a psychotic desire to become Goral's villain for real, Cemil puts the lives of Burcu and the original film's director in serious danger.

It's a sad, joyless film with a thoroughly unclear message that's drastically and un-ironically hampered by its own desire to ape Joaquin Phoenix's Oscar winning turn as Arthur Fleck in Joker, not helped at all by budgetary limitations that mean a large proportion of scenes are shot on the empty level of a multi-storey car park. There's some surprisingly effective character work by Cavadzade, as Burcu becomes increasingly fed up with her lot in life, but the performance of Çelik as an average Joe turned homicidal madman just isn't convincing.

Dutch director David Verbeek's Dead and Beautiful follows the nocturnal activities of a group of young, wealthy urbanites as they explore the benefits of their newfound blood lust on the streets of Taiwan. Waking up after a spiritual cleansing with fangs, they retreat to the empty luxury penthouse owned by one of their billionaire fathers and plot how best to make the most of life as a vampire. Equal parts socio-political and sociopathic, Dead and Beautiful taps into the 80's yuppie excess of Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys and Flatliners. It's a pleasingly inventive update on the genre that treats vampirism like a designer drug, starring a group of characters that are blinded by their immense privilege and contempt for everyone else.

Nodding heavily towards Ana Lily Amirpour's A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Alice Lowe's Prevenge and Abel Ferrara's The Addiction, Black Medusa stars Nour Hajri as Nada, a near mute young woman who picks up random men in the nightclubs of Tunis in order to violently and sadistically murder them. When her workmate Noura extends an offer of friendship, Nada rejects her, until a dangerous turn of events sees her calling on her in her time of need.

Presented as a 'Tale in Nine Nights', it's a mystery as to why Nada is doing this, although the sexual humiliation she inflicts on these men (such as penetrating them with a broom handle) hints towards her motivation. Shot over 12 days with a small crew, it's a gorgeous black and white that features a number of outdoor day-lit scenes that show off the vibrancy and beauty of Tunis. Despite being almost entirely mute and carrying a blank, numb expression, Hajri's a compelling presence on screen and manages to convey a lot with a simple stare. A troubling look at a woman taking action against the repulsive side of life in her city, Black Medusa is a dark, catharsis-free revenge fantasy. 

More than 50 years after competing at the Tokyo Olympics, the surviving members of the Nichibo Kaizuka volleyball team are brought back together to reminisce about their worldwide success that lead to them being dubbed the Witches of the Orient, and the rigorous training they were put through by their head coach, Hirofumi 'The Demon' Daimatsu. Using some of the vintage volleyball anime that became prevalent after their success on the world stage and footage from their training sessions, director Julian Faraut has crafted a truly fascinating documentary on the young lives of these women, and the pressure they were under to succeed.

Cut together to create a collage of animation, old footage and a new propulsive soundtrack, Witches of the Orient (or to give it its original French title, Les Sorcières de l'Orient) resembles something akin to a Spike Jonze music video montage, but with a deeper emotional journey served with its use of the present day interviews with the women, now in their seventies. As the film sets into the final showdown against the team from The Soviet Union, the reveal of the restoration work is incredible, making it a gripping, joyous experience to watch. Inventively presented and compelling, Witches of the Orient is a fantastic achievement in documentary filmmaking.

In Karen Cinorre's dreamlike Mayday, Grace Van Patten stars as Ana, a waitress at a wedding who in the middle of a storm warning is transported into a new world where soldiers are falling from the sky and the world she knew is out of order. Teaming up with a troop of young women lead by Mia Goth's Marsha, they listed to radio signals from their beached submarine and fend off the danger posed by the continuing appearance of new soldiers around them.

A 'girl's own adventure' with a World War II meets Wizard of Oz slant to it, Mayday throws a lot of creativity at the screen and not all of it sticks. The world they're in is a befuddling one, and although unexpected dance routines and synchronised swimming might make for charming interludes, it's hard to see what relevance they have to the story. Van Patten, an absolute star on the rise after solid performances in Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories and Dolly Wells' Good Posture, serves the script well and has a great interplay with Mia Goth, but there's not enough substance to make this feel more than just a flight of fancy.

The final feature I was able to see and one of the absolute delights of the festival was Ana Katz's The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet/El Perro Que No Calla, following a young man, Sebastian (Daniel Katz), as he tries to placate his neighbours and his workplace when his dog suffers immense loneliness when he's not there and cries out until he returns. The deserved winner of the Big Screen Competition prize, it's a fascinating and completely unpredictable story that jumps ahead to key moments in Sebastian's life as it takes a number of unforeseen turns, including a segment that sees characters forced to wear breathing helmets and obey a strict protocol to stay below 4ft. Science fiction that's utterly feasibly given the 2020 we just had, it's a film that continually shifts what you think it is, giving lovely, sweet moments of unexpected comedy to balance the rigours of Sebastian's life.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SUICIDE SQUAD review

After the events of Batman Vs Superman, government agent Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) puts together a task force of criminals and sociopaths that she believes can do some good in the fight against these new unknown entities.

In the long fought war between Marvel and DC, two things have become abundantly clear; Marvel make the better cinematic versions of their characters, and DC have all the best bad guys. Put those two things together and Suicide Squad was always going to be a risky project. From the title alone this film was different, and the first of the current wave of superhero films to ask the audience to directly identify with the bad guys (Guardians of the Galaxy were always more charming rogues, so they don't count). Of course, bringing in film stars such as Will Smith, Jared Leto and Margot Robbie all but guarantees a high level of exposure, but apart from the Joker, who are these characters?

Leading the pack is Will Smith's Deadshot, a deadly assassin with a code of ethics and a daughter who gives him a reason to live. He's not a widely known character outside of the comics, but provides Smith with enough internal conflict to make his choice of this film over the Independence Day sequel an easy one. The poster girl for the group is Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, delivering the first live action iteration of Joker's former Arkham Asylum psychologist turned girlfriend. All agreed, with her impossibly wide smile and manic eyes she's perfect casting for the role, and brings a lot to a character that is severely under-written.

Keeping Waller's team in check is Joel Kinneman's Rick Flag; a soldier who has been brought into the fold thanks to his romantic interest in Cara Delevigne's June Moon (aka Enchantress). Flagg is sadly quite a one note character, obeying his orders dutifully and having zero reaction to witnessing his employer murder a bunch of innocent agents; but he's Liberace in comparison to the other soldiers (including Scott Eastwood's GQ), who are so bland they could have been rolled into one character and still be lacking. The most interesting thing about Flagg is that he appears to stop and get a drastic haircut once the shit starts to hit the fan, although this may be explained away by the extensive reshoots and new material that make up the first act.

But, I suppose this is a film about the bad guys, and that it does have. There's something quite hypnotic about Leto's Joker, although that may just be that there's so much dazzle about his appearance it's hard not to stare at him whenever he is on screen, which isn't much. Unlike the much lauded big screen interpretations that have come before him Leto ups the gangster aspect of the character, depicting him as a crazy gangland kingpin/club owner. It kinda works, but the character needs to be better explored when he inevitably reappears to face off against Batman.

Joker's relationship with Harley Quinn provides ample opportunities for some lovestruck lunacy, but their scenes together are mostly limited to flashbacks (oh god, there's far too many flashbacks) and do little to flesh out their connection. It's a shame as there's clear chemistry between the actors, but little chance to let it develop. The same goes for Joker and almost all of the cast. For all the highly publicised disturbing artifacts and live rats Leto sent to his co-stars, he spends almost zero screen time with them. Again, it's a shame, as there appears to be an interesting dynamic between him, Harley and Deadshot that will have to wait to be explored another day.

As for the rest of the Skwad, they're a collection of poorly drawn caricatures and borderline racist stereotypes that know their place is to stand behind Smith and Robbie as they walk down the street in their (anti-)hero poses. Some characters are introduced purely to be killed off or be a walking weapon, whereas others such as Jai Courtney's Captain Boomerang are left with nothing to do but tick a number of bogan stereotypes of the list. Boomerang is a jovial presence and is honestly the best Jai Courtney has ever been; but he's sidelined by the finale and not given much to do.

The most pleasant surprise of the film is Jay Hernandez's Diablo, who despite barely appearing in the trailers and also conforming to a whole checklist of unfortunate stereotypes, ends up being the best character in the entire film. He's the only one with any fire to him, and has a backstory that has given him real conflict about his abilities. The quiet man of the group, he has the depth that characters like Killer Croc and Slipknot could only dream of from their cells.

Having too many characters and not enough 'character' is not Suicide Squad's only issue. Once again the world is threatened by an underwhelming big bad that turns their mission into a game of capture the Flag as it descends into generic action (there are THREE separate helicopter crashes that people walk away from unharmed) and CGI madness. Edited to within an inch of its life, it's clear that Suicide Squad has gone through a few changes on its journey to the big screen; but with his background writing films like S.W.A.T. and Training Day and directing End of Watch and Fury, David Ayer seemed like the perfect director for this film. If he couldn't bring Suicide Squad to us unscathed by the negative response to Batman Vs Superman, no-one could.

Yet, despite all the negative reactions this film has garnered from critics and some audiences, it would be wrong to say I didn't still enjoy it as a generous helping of dumb popcorn entertainment. A masterpiece? No. A let down to everyone who thought this could be the film to put the DCEU finally on the right track? Undoubtedly. But it's still a fun but heavily flawed film, and without the weight of an entire cinematic universe on its shoulders, it could have been brilliant.

Verdict
3/5