A Visual Trifecta: 2 films and a tele binge

Trifecta sounds so much more exciting that “threefa” . we’ve two film reviews from Nick Scott and Rosemary Balu has reviewed the Danish language (with subtitles) The Killing on TVNZ on demand.

I try to be as supportive as possible of “local” but I just couldn’t watch whatever series of Broadwood it’s up to. I haven’t seen the earlier series and maybe they’re different and better but I tried. It’s not like “One Lane Bridge” where I was hanging out for the next episode and was stunned by performances.. With Broadwood I just couldn’t do it.

Part of this may be I’d just binge-watched “The Bay” – what a stunner. Wish I could get to see the earlier series. And I was gripped by the Danish crime series (with English subtitles) The Killing. Superb may seem over excited but it is “superb”. It’s so believable and so well done.

I’ve had moments watching Sarah Lund when I have held my breath. I can’t think of a greater compliment for a television series than that unless it’s “I had to keep the hall light on”.

The Killing (Danish) reminds me not so much of Scandi noir but of so many European-Northern Hemisphere real, gritty, ghastly looks down the telescope of criminality. Believable characters. Believable settings. Believable violence. Believable humanity.

If you want a series to make you hold your breath – this is it. And of course Sarah Lund another flawed star in the firmament of fictional detectives.

Check the series out on TVNZ on demand

Nick Scott sent me this review a while ago – The Prado: a collection of wonders

Okay, it is a doco but remember fact is often far more interesting than fiction. And so this movie proves. The narrator is a wise choice: Jeremy Irons.

Having seen the movie about the Vatican Museums, I was expecting a basic tour of the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain. This movie goes further and tells the strory through space and time of the Museum, the works within the building and the history surrounding the Prado including the various Kings, Queens and Holy Roman Emporers involved with it.

It is impossible to get bored with this type of presentation, which touches all parts of society. Seeing the film on DVD would require a big screen television because the camera work is amazing, letting the audience see the exhibits from angles and distances unavailable to regular viewers. The one thing I really felt at the end of this film, that I have not at the end of most films is a feeling of fulfilment.

This movie is gone but another will be on the way. In the mean time, try out the Art on Screen films which deal with one artist per film. Look for them on the Tauranga Rialto website. And make an effort to go back to Rialto, they are still trying to get their custom base back. Certain days of the week are $10 or even $5.

And who wouldn’t want to see this with a title like this “Bye bye morons”

I always look forward to the French Film Festival, they always bring films that are very new different and in the case of the French – usually good comedies. While this movies is not listed in the festival booklet as a comedy it is full of dark humour and a lot of absurdist humour. People doing things or ending up in situations that you would think impossible in a normal life.

The central plot of a woman diagnosed with a terminal illness, trying to find the son she gave up at a younger age is a nice simple anchor point for the whole movie. She enlists the help of two very unlikely men( one going through a breakdown, one blind) The story grows more complex from here on as the background of the two men is meshed into the main plot.

This movie won the CESAR award for best picture; the CESAR awards being the French Academy awards. For a long time after the film ended I looked back and couldn’t believe just how clever some of the scenes were. Maybe it has to do with being French.

So, for raw originality and humour to match, Bye Bye Morons is hard to beat. Despite the sheer absurdity of some scenes, the directors have included enough footage of s life that we can all relate to or at least imagine.

Long story short: the best film I’ve seen this year.

Nick Scott Nick Scott has a B.A from The University of Waikato where he studied film under Sam Edwards. Nick has retained a keen interest in cinema. He studied Te Reo Maori at Te Wananga O Aotearoa part-time for 3 years and then from 2014 to 2016 Nick collaborated in writing “The Traveller’s guide to Maori Place Names”. Nick is a regular Film Reviewer on ARTbop. Nick has received occasional tickets from the wonderful Rialto Cinema in Downtown Tauranga!

Rosemary Balu. Rosemary Balu is the founding and current Managing Editor of ARTbop. She purchases her power from Trustpower and is a beneficiary of the Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust. Rosemary has arts and law degrees from the University of Auckland. She has been a working lawyer and has participated in a wide variety of community activities where information gathering, submission writing, community advocacy and education have been involved. Interested in all forms of the arts since childhood Rosemary is focused on further developing and expanding multi-media ARTbop as the magazine for all the creative arts in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.