EIFF top picks

Despite overly expensive films and the usual EIFF website broken-ness, I managed to see a few films this year.

There were five shorts in Mapping the Extraordinary. All were good, but these three make me we want to see more from the directors:

Pentecost by Peter McDonald

I suspect this will mean more to you if you had any sort of Catholic upbringing. The end is a righteous, well deserved, FU to the local church establishment. The football analogy was a little overplayed at times, but it didn't spoil it.

Animal Control by Kire Papput

Link:

The trailer doesn't do this justice. The very spare use of dialogue and the repetition of the same shots, with subtle but significant changes, build up nicely to illustrate the change in the inner life of the main character.

Six Strands by Chaitanya Tamhane

Though just a short, the story is well-developed and deep. It leaves you satisfied and wanting to return and watch it again.

The only main feature I saw was Almanya, Welcome to Germany:

This had me laughing for half of it and with a lump in my throat the rest of the time. If you've ever stayed in Germany for any length of time then I'm sure you'll recognise some of their reactions (particularly to the food). Not only is this a great story with emotional depth, it's also cleverly told. I'm definitely buying this on DVD.