The Film Festival organizers have managed to procure a print of this year’s Palme d’Or winner, Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Loong Boonmee raleuk chat) for a one-night-only run of screenings as a coda to the 2010 festival. The film is about “human beings taking on animal forms,” and, as the title might suggest, follows a Buddhist monk … Continue reading “It ain’t over ’til it’s over”: Uncle Boonmee at the NZIFF

nziff ’10: I Love You, Phillip Morris Dir. Glenn Ficarra & John Requa | USA | 2009 | 103 mins. From the writers of Bad Santa comes this pitifully absurd caper comedy about a jackass con-artist (Jim Carrey) who pretends to be a lawyer in order to continually bust out of jail to be with his homosexual lover, the titular character played by Ewan McGregor. … Continue reading NZIFF ’10: I Love You, Phillip Morris

nziff ’10: White Material Dir. Claire Denis | France | 2009 | 102 mins. Isabelle Huppert stars in the latest film from Claire Denis (35 Rhums, Trouble Every Day) as a white French coffee plantation owner harbouring a militant rebel hero known as “Le Boxeur,” played by Isaach de Bankolé (The Limits of Control). Set in an undefined African country besieged by racial tension, the … Continue reading NZIFF ’10: White Material