The second day of my Sydney Film Festival experience started with two panels at the Statement Lounge in the basement of the State Theatre.
Life During Wartime (2009), Todd Solondz's sequel to Happiness (1998) which I saw at Toronto last year was the subject of the first panel of the day which featured Christine K. Walker (Producer), Shirley Henderson (actress) and Ruth Hessey (Journalist). A very enlightened panel discussing the development of the project and the production of the film. Christine Walker is a very savvy producer who provided very insightful background about the film production and the intricate details about the film making process. Shirley Henderson is an amazing actress who's truly a unique and fascinating person who detailed the secrets behind her performance as Joy in Life During Wartime. Ruth did a great steering this panel to make it a wonderfully informative sessions for the audience. I enjoyed Life During Wartime but the film will polarising audiences but it is one of those films that must should be experienced for you decide.
The FREAK ME OUT panel discussed the return to genre films in Australian genre with the directors, Patrick Hughes (Red Hill), Sean Byrne (The Loved Ones) and Adam Blaiklock (Caught Inside) with Gary Maddox, journalist. Maddox actually did a great job getting the directors to give the crowd a great insight into their individual projects and the resurgence of genre filmmaking in Australia. The underpinning theme for the success of these films was that all the filmmakers had played with existing genre and remixed the traditional elements to build on the concepts. All three directors had graduated from film schools over 10 years ago before they successful got their first feature films made.
Cell 211 (2009), Spain, is almost the perfect prison film. You can see a Hollywood remake on the horizon for this little ripper of a film. The film doesn't stop from the moments we are introduced to Juan who drops into his future employment as a prison guard in the forthcoming days. While on a guided tour of the prison, he finds himself stuck in the middle of prison riot which leaves him stranded in the prisoner controlled area of the prison. Juan finds himself the enemy within and plays a dangerous game with the inmates as trying convince them that he is one of them. Juan situation goes from bad to good and finds himself intricately to the prisoners plans as he becomes one of the masterminds behind their tactics with dealing the authorities. The twist in turns in this game are deadly for all the players, as the politics of Spain and the prison system collided with Juan the innocent person caught on the inside. This film is brilliantly executed action/drama that we leave you on the edge of your seat while the drama plays out.
The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009), UK, is a clever and smartly executed kidnapped film that doesn't contain any dialogue for the first ten minutes of the film. We are witness to the detail planning and preparation of their target, then rather then showing the execution of their plan, the audience rejoins after the two kidnappers have captured their target who's now tagged and bagged.
We then join them as they execute their careful planned operation and the hostage is in the dark about who know is behind her incarnation. We learn about her captors, hostages and their true motives. The majority of the film takes places in the apartment and slowly unravels the real story. This is a perfectly executed film that will keep audiences guessing to the final frame.
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